Oil & Cattle

Workover rig on the Maddox Ranch
Roberts County, Texas
Summer 2006

The grass is new and green because it had been
burned a few months earlier during the out-of-control
prairie fires that broke out all over the Panhandle.

This is about two miles east of where I grew up.

Panhandle Topography

(click the pic for larger view)

Yep, it's purdy flat in the Panhandle at first glance and if you've only driven through here via Interstate 40, it's definitely easy to get that impression from the monotonous scenery from that route. Just south of Amarillo though, is Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US and to the north is the rugged Canadian River basin.

It's understandable why this is labeled "Tornado Alley", what with the Rockies on the right creating a funnel for storm systems and nothing but a three strand barbed wire fence between us and the Canadian Arctic and its cool air that sometimes mixes with the warm, humid air rising up the gentle slope from the Gulf of Mexico. It's a recipe for twisters!

This is a royalty-free image from the national weather site.

The Grandeur Within

That only which we have within, can we see without. If we meet no Gods, it is because we harbor none. If there is a grandeur in you, you will find grandeur in porters and sweeps.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Snakes Alive!

I went over to the Groom Cross the other afternoon and took a shortcut down this county road and (nearly) ran into this guy, a prairie rattler, about three foot long.

It wouldn't even move when I got out and threw some pebbles at it, didn't even rattle. For a minute, I thought it'd been run over and squished already because it looked so flat near its tail.

I had absolutely nothing longer than my arm on me except the tripod for my camera, and I really didn't want to wave it at the snake, esp. since I would soon be using it.

To be honest, I really didn't want to harm it. Now, if it was in my yard...

It moved a bit, so I figured it was only wanting to be left alone to soak up the setting sun's last warmth, some solar energy storage for a night's hunting. I really wanted it to make it coil up in strike position for a good shot, but didn't want to get close enough to make it assume that position.

I inched my truck up to it, the tire barely touching it and then I'd move the steering wheel, making the snake move but it didn't budge on its own, responding to this danger with nothing more than a lazy flick of its tail, not even a decent rattle!

I backed up, then drove right alongside it.

It finally started moving a little bit after I poured some water on it and I could finally hear an audible rattle, absolutely spine tingling. If you've ever been walking in tall grass and heard that sound, it will freeze you, root you to the spot!

There's something fishy about this cow...

Taken in the amphitheatre in Palo Duro Canyon last summer.

Why the Long Face?

Just outside my late parent's home.

It was a little bit anti-social, even with the offer of some stale celery from the bottom of mom's crisper.

It didn't BITE, though, like this one: