Last American Cowboy

Sandy and I have been watching a series on the Animal Planet. It's called the Last American Cowboy and covers three families the Stuckys, the Galts and Hughes ranches in Montana.
I've always had the desire to be a cowboy and work on a ranch. But, after watching this series I'm not sure. This series follows the three families which are tough cowboys through freak storms, deadly outbreaks of disease, hungry predators and forest fires that threaten their livelihood. (photo above from web site of Animal Planet)

LAST AMERICAN COWBOY shares the highs and lows of life on a ranch for the Hughes, Galt and Stucky families. From the multi-generational ranch family committed to working only on horseback to the modern rancher who uses high-tech equipment, ATV vehicles and even a helicopter to manage his massive operation to the small nuclear family determined to persevere against all odds, all must struggle to make ends meet and all are deeply committed to this classic way of life lived close to the land.

The Hughes family, the smallest of the three ranches, live on a 12,000-acre ranch and manage their herd of 500 Black Angus all alone. Comparatively, the Galt Ranch is one of the largest cattle ranches in Montana with over 100,000 acres, 5,500 cattle and 100 horses. It is so vast that the owner Bill Galt manages it from the sky in his own helicopter. The Galt family believe technology is the future of ranching and necessary to efficiently run a ranch of this size and caliber. Contrary to the Galt family, the Stuckys are traditional ranchers choosing horseback over ATVs and doing most of the work by hand. Keeping these traditions alive is deeply important to the entire clan, and as the ranch continues to grow and expand, the Stuckys hope it will be passed down through generations

Another interesting point we learned is they come to one another's aid when one was in need. Kind of reminds us of the RV friends we’ve made and have read about in following their blogs. We all seem to come to one another's aid in times of trouble or need, and helping if in the area.

We’ve been following Rollie and Gina's blog for some time and here are two strong Christian people who give of themselves to fellow Rver’s. Example, in the building of Mike And Pats summer cabin in Custer, SD. They recently were at Mikes and Janna’s home in Big Timber, MT helping with chores around their place. Then their is Mike himself who seems to be always helping his neighbors. My friend Mark has come to my aid many times. Then their is Rick in Cowichan Bay, B.C., Canada  who has shared his expertise with all of us with his computer/tech knowledge. His recently published 101 Tech and Tips is just great. If you haven’t seen it check it out on his side bar. There are many more out there who give of themselves and we all are so fortunate to be apart of this family.

While in Tyler today we had breakfast at a very unusual Whataburger. They had some interesting sports memorabilia throughout. Here are a couple photos I took of the two motorcycles on display. (click pictures to enlarge)

 
Until next time…MtnAire Travelers.

Our Trip To “Big D”

We were up at 5:45am this morning for our trip to the Apple Store in Dallas. We left the motorhome at 6:45am as we wanted to eat breakfast somewhere along the way. The morning was just great a cool 65F and not a cloud anywhere to be seen. The sunrise wasn't to shabby either. We chose Whataburger for breakfast and each had a sausage B.O.B (Breakfast on a Bun). (click on pictures to enlarge)

We were on our way before 7:30am and headed west on I20 toward Big D. Sandy, the night before went on her GPS on her Iphone 3GS and put in the address for the Apple Store in the Northpark Mall off of North Central Expressway. The GPS said the drive was 65.6 miles one hour thirteen minutes. Gosh our appointment with Apple wasn’t till 10 am “What to do?” Sandy said lets go ahead to the Mall anyway as I under stand it’s huge with  lots of fancy and expensive stores. Gulp! now I’m in real trouble. They have every imaginable store that ladies just love to walk around in and shop. I replied only if we leave the check book and credit cards at home. I picked myself off the floor and we were on our way.

Yes, they did have those fancy department and women's stores, Two levels of them. I was a little shocked as they all appeared to be the kind you would find in NYC. Let’s see Tiffney & Company, Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Fossil, Williams Sonoma, Coldwater Creek, Dillard's, Nordstrom’s just to name a few. Of course when we arrived at about 8:30 most were not opened… Yea! We decided to walk the Mall for exercise and just see what was their. Yes, we walked and walked and low and behold we came up on the Apple  Store and they were open. 

This is our first ever visit to a Apple Store and boy were we impressed. When we walked in we were greeted by one of the Apple Tech’s (Ben).
This guy really knew is product and explained the app ISO 4.0 was just to much of a download for the 3G phone and it would lock up time to time. How about a 4.0 Iphone he said, I told him before we do that that lady over at the Ipad display will someday probably get one of those.

While I wondered through the store looking at all the MAC, Iphone 4.0 cell phones Sandy was over visiting the Ipad display. What a machine. I joined in on the conversation and this Ipad sure had a lot of features and someday maybe we can have one in our family. After visiting the store for about an hour and a half we wondered around in the rest the rest of the Mall,  Found a Food Court which was surprisingly small for a Mall like this. We found a  Chickfla and got us a drink. We then walked down to the Williams Sonoma and passed this water fountain which had small turtles and ducks in the water.
Overall we had a good trip and I had no worry with Sandy other than she said “I would love to go back.”

Until next time….MtnAire Travelers. 

Can’t Believe This Weather!

We were up at dark-thirty and headed out at 6am this morning. The air outside was crisp and with a little wind it felt just great! In fact the temperature this morning was 63F. This is the first time in awhile we have driven in no daylight. We could see the nearly full moon and it felt just like fall. Their was a small layer of fog in the low lying areas. As the sun begin to come up it was just beautiful. When one gets in this kind of weather you  fell rejuvenated with energy. Going from our normal 80-85 degrees in the mornings to 63F is quite a temperature change.

The new hog panel fence my BIL put up is doing its job. As you can see it’s keeping the wild hogs from getting into the feed area. Their is an automatic feeder that disperses corn for the deer who can jump the fence. They do not entrap the deer as they are free to come and go as they please. This just happens to be the way most avid hunters  here in Northeast Texas do it. Being from the city I have never hunted. I will join my BIL this hunting season at their deer camp for the sole purpose of shooting pictures only. Besides being right handed I couldn’t site in on one anyway due to the very poor vision in my right eye.

Sandy and I are headed to Dallas tomorrow morning to visit The Apple Store. Ever since I downloaded the 4.0 update on my 3G Iphone it really locks up more. Maybe we’ll also visit the nearby Camping World to see if there just might be something we can’t live without.

Until next time…MtnAire Travlers.

Is Autumn Maybe Here?

Our temperatures the past several days have been in the low 90’s instead of the 100-105F we’ve experienced this August. The lower humidity even makes you want to stay outside longer. Our winds are out of the Northeast and our lows for the rest of the week is suppose to be in the low to mid seventies. Enough about what appears to be autumn approaching.

Right now we just need some rain. We’ve had no measurable rain so far this month and you can really tell it. The lake level is down 3-4ft, grass is dying and leafs are falling from the trees.

Good news! My VA doctor finally signed my release for the cataract surgery and I will have it done in Tyler on September 7th. This will be after Canton’s First Monday and I feel a lot better about it than the previous schedule I had the later part of July. Since the 7th is on a Tuesday after Canton weekend, we will drive over to Tyler Monday morning and stay at a RV Park. This way we want have that far to drive.

We are getting the motorhome ready to head for Canton first thing in the morning. We will have everything done this evening where all we have to do Friday morning is let the slides in, air up and pull the power plug. I guess since this is our only traveling here lately we both are kind of excited about going and Canton weekend. Maybe its the cooler weather.  Also our crowds should be getting better each month as the fall shows is where you makeup for all those slow summer months shows.

Here are some more photos taken at the Texas Music Hall of Fame in Carthage earlier this month (click on photos to enlarge).

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

A Day Trip To Carthage TX - Home Of Texas Country Music Hall Of Fame

When we were at the VA sleep apnea clinic last Monday there was a couple from Henderson, TX  whose husband was been retested. In conversation the lady mentioned there was an HEB store in Carthage which is about an hours drive from us. Sandy nearly fell out of her chair with excitement as HEB was her favorite grocery store when we lived in Austin, TX.

On return home I asked Sandy if she wanted to go to Carthage as it was only 34 miles from Shreveport. She said she would prefer to make it another day and invite her sister Pam to go with us sooo yesterday was that day.

We both got up early and headed to Longview to pick Pam up. We first stopped at the Whataburger for our breakfast.  We then drove to Pam's home where she was outside awaiting our arrival.
We where off by 8am and drove the 39 miles to Carthage. Upon our arrival we drove around town checking thugs out. Lots of old homes and neat shops around the square.

We then headed to HEB and what a surprise! It was a very small store and did not have all the things one expects from HEB. In fact the Walmart next door was probably one of the smallest we've seen in a while. Sandy and Pam were a little disappointed to say the least. My feelings were its a small town and would not have the big stores like in Austin and Fredericksburg.

After a quick trip through the store we headed back to find The Texas Country Music Hall Of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum. The museum  honors those who have made outstanding contributions to country music and were born in the state of Texas.This includes singers, songwriters, disc jockeys and others. Click on photos to enlarge.

 

The museum is a large multi-purpose room, and a gift shop comprise the major areas of interest within the facility. The multi-purpose room can be configured to serve as a lecture hall or a dining room. The museum contains informational panels that cover each inductee's career and accomplishments through text, photographs,and artifacts. For more info click here.

The 2010 inductees are George Jones, Al Dexter and Ray Winkler.

The wall of inductees
Here are just a few of the information panels I took photos of (click to enlarge).

I have many more but want bore you with them now.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

It's Beginning To Fell A Lot Like Autumn

Cooler temps in the mornings, humidity in the mid to low 40's, lower heat indexes, and school about to start. Yes, just  maybe we have turned the corner and are headed into autumn. Let’s hope so as this has been one of the hottest summers we've been in in a long time.

I've been using just the mornings to do our outside chores and about midday till night fall I spend most of my time in the motor home watching TV, catching up on all the Blogs I follow and from time to time snoozing  in my recliner. I’ve spent the past few evenings backing up my computer. Also the grass is not growing as fast primarily due to the like of rain. I now mow the three acres about every ten to twelve days.

Today was the day we took care of some maintenance on our Jeep Liberty like having it serviced at our favorite  oil changing place, state inspection, new wiper blades and a good wash at the car wash in Longview.

We met Sandy's sister Pam at Jucy’s which serves the best chicken fried steak, hamburgers. fries, onion rings and a side of the best pinto beams I've ever tasted seasoned just right with onions and jalapeño peppers.

After lunch we did grocery shopping for Sandy's mom and ourselves. We headed back to Lone Star around 2:30pm. We also picked up some mothball hangers to but in our engine compartment hoping to keep the critters out.

  Our blogger friends Mike and Gerri asked me to take some photos of the 7ft folding two sided ladder we purchased from Camping World a few weeks back. They had it on sale for $129. It looks like it's going to work out for putting the windshield cover on and reaching  the crown of the motor home. As you can see when folded it does not take up a lot of room in the bay. The dimensions when folded are approx. 3 1/2” x 4 3/8” x 88" long. We no longer have to carry the 6th aluminum step ladder and it took up so much of our bay and didn't give me the height needed to wax the crown and upper third.

I plan to pick up a 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 92” fiber glass fence post at Lowe’s or Home Depot and strap it to the motor home frame railings just above my green storage tube for the windshield screen with  flexible metal bands. This will get it off the floor of the bay. I learned this from talking with my friend Mark who mounted his 7th ladder in a similar fashion in their 2009 Phaeton.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Busy Week Of Visits To VA …That 5GB Limit

Let’s see where to begin, I guess it would be best to start with Sandy and I both using our computers, we came very close to exceeding our monthly Version Air card limit of 5120MB. So, we’ve stayed off the internet for several days. Our new usage data rolled over on the 9th.

If you recall my VA doctor refused to sign my release to have cataract surgery on my left eye until I saw the VA eye doctor. They finally sent me a letter for that visit on September 7 which we could not make due to other comments. We called to reschedule and they said how about Saturday August 7th at 8:40 am. Sound’s good to us so we were up this past Saturday at 5am I drove to the VA Eye Clinic in Shreveport. I was the first patient and the doctor saw me right away. He confirmed my cataract and noted it in my records. Now just maybe I’ll finally have that surgery.

This was not our last visit this month to VA Shreveport as Monday night I had an appointment to sleep over in the sleep apnea clinic. This was my third visit and this time they were going to hook me up to a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. 

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the upper airway becomes narrow as the muscles relax naturally during sleep. This reduces oxygen in the blood and causes arousal from sleep. The CPAP machine stops this phenomenon by delivering a stream of compressed air via a hose to a nasal pillow, nose mask or full-face mask, splinting the airway (keeping it open under air pressure) so that unobstructed breathing becomes possible, reducing and/or preventing apneas and hypopneas.

It is important to understand, however, that it is the air pressure, and not the movement of the air, that prevents the apneas. When the machine is turned on, but prior to the mask being placed on the head, a flow of air comes through the mask. After the mask is placed on the head, it is sealed to the face and the air stops flowing. At this point, it is only the air pressure that accomplishes the desired result. This has the additional benefit of reducing or eliminating the extremely loud snoring that sometimes accompanies sleep apnea.

The tech greeted me and took me to my room where she proceeded to connect about 28 leads to my head, chest, and legs. These leads were connected to a computer that would tale tell my sleep habits. Then I was connected to this face mask and was told to go to sleep.

Now please tell me how in the world is a person to sleep with all this garb on! And sleep I did not. The sensors off the leads that were connected to my face and head felt like needles sticking into me. Now I know what it feels when a lady has to sleep with rollers on her head. I believe finally I dozed off and maybe got about three hours sleep. My next visit will be in about three weeks where I will visit the sleep apnea doctor and pick up my machine. I already have my mask as I brought it home with me.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

There Is Deer In Them Their Woods

Yes, it looks like on BIL’s James and David’s deer lease they may be able to harvest some pretty good size bucks this season. This picture was taken on 7/29 with their game camera and it looks like one is at least a ten point and the smaller a eight point. I can tell dear season is drawing closer as both of their necks (BIL’s) are beginning to show signs of swelling and they are in the woods ever chance they get. Since they have added the heavy duty hog fence panels they have had no more problems with the wild hogs getting into their feeder area. They were out their over the past weekend filling up their feeders with corn and were able to harvest some wild hogs.

When we returned from Canton Monday we had the motorhome inspected and filled with propane. It held 18 gallons so we are  in pretty could shape for the rest of the year. Afterwards we drove over to the bank in Mt. Pleasant where the actual temperature was 107. You don’t stay out in this weather very long. Tuesday morning I was up and outside mowing the three acres by 7am. The grass hasn’t grown as fast with the heat and no rain  but surprisingly it was still pretty tall.

Yesterday UPS delivered my 7ft two sided folding ladder and I had forgotten just how heavy this dude was. Sandy will have to assist me in getting this thing set up for use. My friend Mark with Rving with Poppa has one and I’m sure he has no problems being  younger than myself. I do love it though as it takes up very little space in my bay and allows me to reach the crown of the motorhome without getting on the roof. Now if I can only remember how Mark mounted his ladder???

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.