Friday, December 27, 2013

The Whittington Center


We visited Mimi and Papa in NM.  They took us to the NRA Whittington Center near Raton.  It was really interesting!


Papa is a great gun safety teacher.

Pake shooting his judge.

Pake, Tate and Justin all shooting.

The boys and Mimi!

Did I mention Pake likes to shoot and hunt?

We had a great day!

Speaking of guns... Santa brought guns to our house.  
Happy Holidays Y'all!


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Pictures of the Snow!

It snowed!  
Tate, Cade, Hunter, Pake, and Bray plus Maxie and Remi had a ball playing in it!


Guess who?  Yep it's Pake!
 They got all the snow clothes out they had, most of them don't fit!  They were swapping and trading around with their friends and cousins.  They have outgrown everything!  Needless to say, there were a few pairs of high water coverall!  

Before long they'll be as tall as their Daddy.

Some of the crew!

These girls came from Texarkana and they don't quite know what to think about the snow!

Pistol didn't quite know what to think either...

Kerry Don hauled hay.  I took pictures...

These girls were happy to see us!

This is my favorite shot of the day.

It's so funny to watch the cows play in the hay! 

And last but not least.... I had to throw in this picture in.  This is my guys unhappy about me making them take a family picture in the snow.  Now work and playing in the snow is one thing, but the second I request a family picture... GEEZ!  I think I might have to stick to taking pictures of the cows!  They at least cooperate!  

Monday, November 4, 2013

Las Vegas

It's been about 15 years since Kerry Don and I have been to Vegas.  
I had forgotten how crazy it is out there!
We stayed downtown... the signs are so bright.  

The light shows are amazing.


We went out to the drag strip for some NHRA drag racing.  Let me tell you there is something about this dragway.  When the cars race, you feel it!  It will rattle your insides and burn your ears.  


Cheryl loves the drags too!

She wanted me to meet her drag racing friend, Jack Beckman.

He's also a cancer survivor.  Plus he was stationed in Clovis and raced in Idalou.

He was so sweet!  He told me to STAY strong!  I wish he'd told me to open my eyes too!!!!

Glad I got this pic with him too ;)

Kerry Don likes his racers too ;)


The Vegas Drag strip did NOT disappoint... it was awesome!

It was awesome to share it with good friends!

Gary wants to drive too!

I thought this pink car was cool!  Speaking of cool, it was not COOL in Vegas.  
Thank goodness for good iced tea!

You just have to roll the dice alittle in Vegas.

Speaking of rolling the dice.... I decided to ditch the wig!  Who needs a wig in Vegas? Or ever? 
 I haven't worn it since!


Then, before you could blink your eyes at the bright lights of Vegas we were on the plane home. 
 Look at the pretty white snow on the mountains.  Bye Bye Vegas!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Riding with Pake


Saturday, I took supper out to the guys.  Kerry Don requested Keeter's sausage wraps, and of course he gets what he wants!  I also, made some Pioneer Woman potatoes, coleslaw and oreo brownies.  They said it was pretty good!  Yes I spoil them, but they do deserve it!  This is Pake, Chad, Butch, & KD.


Then, I decided to hop on the tractor and find out what it looks like from the perspective of a tractor boll buggy driver. Pake is a pretty good driver, and quite the expert (yes he's just 14).  It's also funny to me that on these new fancy tractors... the drivers seat is air ride, but the buddy seat is not.  Now that's just not fair is it! 

When the cotton stripper has his bin up in the air, that means that he's full. 

So the boll buggy driver pulls up right beside the cotton stripper.  Hi Butch!  This is the tricky part because you have to get right up against the cotton basket with the buggy with out touching.  Inches, I'm talking inches.

Then, the cotton stripper driver dumps all the cotton he has stripped onto the boll buggy.  And this is the part where you better make sure the wind isn't blowing in the wrong direction and you're positioned just right or all that cotton will end up on the ground.  Aren't y'all glad you're reading this post and getting a cotton stripping education?  I knew you were!



Hi Jose, and this is the module builder where the boll buggy driver dumps the cotton.  And the module builder packs and packs the cotton and makes a module.  That's the big white trailer house looking things you see in the fields. 


Then, we headed back into the cotton field and met up with this cotton stripper, AKA Chad and he had some cute passengers... his kids Mack and Catfish. 

This process goes on over and over.  They have to keep up with which cotton stripper is full and how many dumps each module builder has had.  It's complicated.  I had no clue what was going on, but I just kept taking pictures.


Then, when the module builder gets enough dumps to make a module and he's got it packed.  He has to pull the tractor forward so he can start a new module.  Hi Chincho and KD! 


When all the cotton is stripped and all the modules are built, then they have to clean up.  This is a boll buggy vacuum.  There's a lot of cotton on the ground and they suck it right up!  This is Butch, Pake, Drew and Aaron.  Drew and Aaron are our twin nephews and they're going to help us this year.  Isn't that cool!


This is McKenley.  She's the daughter of Chad and I don't even have to tell you how cute she is.  We buried her in cotton, and I got this really cute picture.  However, I don't know if her Momma was very pleased with us.

Last but not least, I just had to throw in this picture.  For some reason, I think it looks cool when all the pick-ups, strippers, combines and module builders are all neatly lined up.  It's a crew and it's going to be a great year!