Misc data and adventures of a Tayopa treasure hunter

[coazon de oro]

In the past 15 years, I believe I have cooked outside in only two occasions. Not that one of those occasions called for a true pitmaster, just that no one else was around to do it. The other was because my wife wanted "tripitas".

I am just lucky to have had to good boys, and a good son-in-law that enjoy tending the pit while I kick back. Yes it was 15 years ago when the boys took over the bbq pit. They were already cooking pretty good when I gave them their last lesson. It was the starting of the fire that they had problems with. They would ask me to start the fire so that they could bbq. A caveman commercial was popular at the time, so as I went to show them, I said "It's so easy, a caveman can do it". They never bothered me anymore, now they compete, and have several trophies to show for it.

Homar

 

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[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Dit, your snow [emoji300]️ photos reminded me of one of my earliest Christmas memories...

Now, I was born in West Texas ( yep, that’s right, capital W and T. It’s a State of Mind. )

Anyways, before I was three, I had never seen more than two or three
Snow flakes in any given day. I knew what they looked like, just not piled up.

On my third Christmas, for some reason or another, my dad was working in some foreign country called Nebraska. Back then, it was just me and my older brother, before the other four came along.

I remember living in a small two bedroom trailer house, that was so cold at night, that my brother and I slept in the same bed and wore those heavy pajamas with the hoods and booties and the little mittens with no thumbs and worst of all, those button up flap in the back that were impossible to open in a bathroom emergency [emoji599], let alone getting your hands out of the mittens, without a free thumb.

Your rear end just as well be in Fort Knox!

Anyways again, Christmas morning Bub and I woke up and we could see our own breath.... for the first time ever! We pushed and kicked at the covers till we were free from all ten of them and rumbled and thumped our way to the Christmas tree [emoji319], and there in amongst the branches was a three story “ TEXACO “ gas station with an elevator to move the cars up to the top and a ramp to drive them back down!

It just didn’t get any better than that.

Then there were stockings with candy canes and chocolate too! But the bottom was just an apple and an orange, just to take up space.

We could have one of those for breakfast but not none of the candy.

Anyways again, after we ate half of an apple [emoji519]Dad took us outside, in our pajamas and showed us what real snow [emoji301]️ looked like. Everything was white and I could barely keep my eyes open. Dad kinda slid Bubba off the porch and he was half gone. I didn’t quite understand what had just happened.

I was even less prepared for what happened next... yep, he took me by both hands and swung me back between his legs and forward and I couldn’t believe it, but he turned me loose!

I flew feet first through the air and into the snow, bottom flap first and then it just got dark all of a sudden like and about ten minutes or so later I felt him grab me and pull me up.

There is no explanation for what happened next. Those datblasted buttons came undone and about seventy’leven pounds of that snow crawled through that fanny flap and down my legs!

You won’t believe it, but right then I had a bathroom emergency!

And that is exactly how I remember it happening.

Snow was never the same again.

#/80(•)(••)

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Okay Homar, now you got me thinking about cooking a few steaks 🥩 on the grill for Christmas dinner.
And I’m still thawing and reheating my chicken pot pie....

#/;0{>~

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Your wife is now my new Superhero.

Does she do Seminars?? I'm in!

Dit, I don’t know what she does after I take my night time meds....

[emoji99]

If she does, I’m not invited.

#/:0{>~

 

[Ditlihi]

Dit, your snow [emoji300]️ photos reminded me of one of my earliest Christmas memories...

Now, I was born in West Texas ( yep, that’s right, capital W and T. It’s a State of Mind. )

Anyways, before I was three, I had never seen more than two or three
Snow flakes in any given day. I knew what they looked like, just not piled up.

On my third Christmas, for some reason or another, my dad was working in some foreign country called Nebraska. Back then, it was just me and my older brother, before the other four came along.

I remember living in a small two bedroom trailer house, that was so cold at night, that my brother and I slept in the same bed and wore those heavy pajamas with the hoods and booties and the little mittens with no thumbs and worst of all, those button up flap in the back that were impossible to open in a bathroom emergency [emoji599], let alone getting your hands out of the mittens, without a free thumb.

Your rear end just as well be in Fort Knox!

Anyways again, Christmas morning Bub and I woke up and we could see our own breath.... for the first time ever! We pushed and kicked at the covers till we were free from all ten of them and rumbled and thumped our way to the Christmas tree [emoji319], and there in amongst the branches was a three story “ TEXACO “ gas station with an elevator to move the cars up to the top and a ramp to drive them back down!

It just didn’t get any better than that.

Then there were stockings with candy canes and chocolate too! But the bottom was just an apple and an orange, just to take up space.

We could have one of those for breakfast but not none of the candy.

Anyways again, after we ate half of an apple [emoji519]Dad took us outside, in our pajamas and showed us what real snow [emoji301]️ looked like. Everything was white and I could barely keep my eyes open. Dad kinda slid Bubba off the porch and he was half gone. I didn’t quite understand what had just happened.

I was even less prepared for what happened next... yep, he took me by both hands and swung me back between his legs and forward and I couldn’t believe it, but he turned me loose!

I flew feet first through the air and into the snow, bottom flap first and then it just got dark all of a sudden like and about ten minutes or so later I felt him grab me and pull me up.

There is no explanation for what happened next. Those datblasted buttons came undone and about seventy’leven pounds of that snow crawled through that fanny flap and down my legs!

You won’t believe it, but right then I had a bathroom emergency!

And that is exactly how I remember it happening.

Snow was never the same again.

#/80(•)(••)

Omg, Mikel, I'm laughing so hard picturing that!! That has to top Don Jose's lovely dismount off a perfectly good mule by a nose.......make that a furlong, lol. He better up his game if he plans on retaining his title after that one.

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Dangdest thing is it really did happen that way. It may not have taken Dad ten minutes to pull me out, but it sure felt like I was not going to get to play with that Texaco gas station till spring thaw!

I hope Jose laughs till he has a bathroom emergency (!80)>~

#/;0{>~

 

[coazon de oro]

Okay Homar, now you got me thinking about cooking a few steaks 🥩 on the grill for Christmas dinner.
And I’m still thawing and reheating my chicken pot pie....

#/;0{>~

Ahh grilled steaks , makes my mouth water.

I once watched a televised steak grilling competition here in Texas. Ribeye was the cut that everyone had to grill. I enjoyed the show as they would go by to check on many of the competitors, each showing them using everything in the spice shelves. All with different grills, and heat choice, and many of them had their own steakhouses somewhere, or another.

The judges couldn't get over the taste of the winning ribeye steak. Turns out that the Ol Man who won it all, just used salt & pepper. Butter is optional, but the taste of the steak doesn't get lost with spices. Aaron Franklin from Franklin Barbecue here in Texas, also uses just salt & pepper, and no one can beat his brisket.

Homar

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

That winner uses the same thing that I learned from my Dad...

The salt and pepper, with a dash of Worcestershire (What’s ‘is here) sauce all in the melted butter in a pan, stayed right next to the 🥩 steaks on the grill so it was the always hot when he mopped the meat and put the wet side down, and re-mopped the tops.

Lids for the pan and the grill were a must and when the outside was done they got tossed into a cornbread pan on the grill to cook the gravy out of them!

Poor ole dog never got a bone till all the meat and gristle were gnawed off and half the marrow was sucked out of them.

We grew up, fully indoctrinated that steak was food, and everything else was what food ate!!

#/;0)~

 

[coazon de oro]

Amigo, now you've got me slobbering, feeling like the dog.

 

[Real of Tayopa]

Ya-al can wax eloquent over snow, but when i was in Texas all we had was blue northerners. a clear beautiful day until obout 10 am, then the sky starts getting dark and it rains MUD. and as for music, I have had my fill of ole Roy Akuff and lousy beer,

 

[coazon de oro]

Every beer tastes lousy when you drink alone, and every beer tastes great when you share it with good friends.

Homar

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Ya-al can wax eloquent over snow, but when i was in Texas all we had was blue northerners. a clear beautiful day until obout 10 am, then the sky starts getting dark and it rains MUD. and as for music, I have had my fill of ole Roy Akuff and lousy beer,

Jose it’s good to see you posting again...
Not much I can do about the lousy beer [emoji481], but I can send you a copy of my Willie Nelson’s greatest hits!

That third Christmas was one of a kind, for me!

All of the others, when I was a little kid, and living in West Texas were very much as you described.

Many memories of running into the house and quickly grabbing the dirty clothes hamper and throwing everything into bathtub [emoji370] to get it all wet, then stuffing them under doors and windows to hold back the sand storms that slowly turned into mud.

We all seemed to be hardwired to recognize that panic call to get home or under a tarp.
Those datburn tumble weeds couldn’t be trusted to stick around if we tried to hide behind them!

Brown clouds were a dead giveaway as to what was coming!!

Now, about that mule dismount
I don’t recall reading that story, is there a refresher course on that one?

#/;0{>~

 

[Loke]

The Panhandle (in TX) can be quite bad weatherwise - as one local put it: "The only thang tween us and the North Pole is a bob war (barbed wire) fence - and that blew down last year!!"

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

The Panhandle (in TX) can be quite bad weatherwise - as one local put it: "The only thang tween us and the North Pole is a bob war (barbed wire) fence - and that blew down last year!!"

Don’t you worry about that fence. They’ll get it fixed by summer, so the snakes can find some shade !

No trees, no hills, no reason for me to move there....

#/;0{>~

 

[audigger53]

I remember dust/sand storms in both Florence and Cooligde Az. But missed the one 1/2 way to Tucson where cars had to pull off the side of I-10 and afterwards found that the windward side of the cars were sandblasted to bare metal. Bad Juju!

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Repainting cars and houses was just a part of life , an Odessa and Crane.

I grew up thinking that everyone did it all of the time....

The only thing that stood up to the sandstorms was one of the family homes that had the asbestos siding..

Tuff stuff...?.....

 

[Shortfinger]

I remember dust/sand storms in both Florence and Cooligde Az. But missed the one 1/2 way to Tucson where cars had to pull off the side of I-10 and afterwards found that the windward side of the cars were sandblasted to bare metal. Bad Juju!

I remember as a kid, going through a sandstorm in New Mexico where my Dad had to have the windshield of the car replaced. It was like trying to look through frosted glass.....

JB

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

I remember as a kid, going through a sandstorm in New Mexico where my Dad had to have the windshield of the car replaced. It was like trying to look through frosted glass.....

JB

I don’t recall ever needing that done, but I do recall seeing several side windows stacked up in my papaw’s shop, (that we weren’t supposed to be in).

He had a huge shop, that we kids couldn’t resist exploring and playing with his tools.

That was the one thing that would get our hides tanned in a hurry.... If we got caught!

It happened too often for me.

I think the one that finally stopped me was when he caught me dragging a chain towards the door and asked me why I was dragging it around.

I gave him an answer that I thought would cover up the fact that I WAS going to leave the shop with it...

I said, “It was too hard to push it “...

First time I ever saw his whole head turn red...

#/80(•••

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Ahaa !! The gauntlet hath been cast!

The second best story will be the first loser.

When I posted the wisecrack, above, it was a poorly thought out attempt to get folks telling stories.

This thread IS NOT, NOR SHALL IT EVER BE A COMPETITION!!!

While meaning well, it was in direct opposition to this thread’s very existence.

It won’t slip through my fingers again.

I have only a few rules that I live by.

The second one is,”Never kick a sleeping dragon [emoji236].”

The third one is, “ Dont kick sand on the boot of a legend.”

While rereading a chunk of my book, I realized that most of what I have written sounds more like my mentors, than it sounds like me.

Everyone here has been a part of that, and mostly our beloved Jeffe,
Don Jose de real Conquistador Tayopa.

I believe I have some dusting to do.

Oh, if you don’t already know my first rule... Air goes in and out, blood goes round and round. Do not deviate!

#/;0{>*~

 

[audigger53]

OK Story time.
When 18 went driving out to Picatcho "Lake", where the water diverted from the Gila River ended up for Irrigation. On the way hit a pothole that was filled with powered dust, so I couldn't see it and drive around it. Right rear leaf spring broke the top leaf and sheared the brake line. Was almost at the "lake" so continued and went fishing, didn't catch anything, so started back. On the way back (this was a 1954 Chevy 4 door, heavy and solid) we stopped at a food joint 5 miles from town to get something cold and wet to drink (Soda). As we pulled in we opened the doors (3 of us) and put our feet down to stop the car as I had coasted in from the road (going slow with no brakes). Well it was gravel so our feet slid and then the left front bumper hit the low cement and flag stone wall. It knocked off a 3 inch thick by 12 inch wide by 18 inch long (roughly, we didn't measure it with a ruler). That stopped the car and I jumped out and put the piece back in place so owners wouldn't yell at us for doing damage. Looked at the front bumper and it had hit right on one of the bolts holding the bumper one, had scratched the chrome on the bolt a little, nothing more to the cat for damage.
I dropped off the other guys by slowly slowing down and then dragging the feet on the pavement. After dropping both off drove to the house and parked on the side of the house. It had a 2 speed Power Glide Trans so I was shifting in to reverse and just before it would cath, back to drive then back to reverse, until slow enough to put the shoe to the ground and stop it.
Went into the house and was told to sit down and eat dinner. Dad "Why are you late getting home? Me "Had to drive slow because the car has no brakes." Dad "Give me the keys." I gave him the keys and heard him back his car out of the carport. Then I heard him start up my car and drive it around the circle to put it in the carport on the other side of the house from where I parked.
As he came into the driveway, I said, "He should be putting it in reverse now. Nope, he's not going to stop." CRASH! I went outside and found that he had hit 4 or 5 five gallon water bottles (broke them all) and stopped short of the tool shed at the end of the carport. He came in and said, "Why didn't you tell me that the Emergency Brake didn't work?" Me "No brakes, means NO, Brakes!" We did fix the brake line and finally freed the emergency brake cable after soaking it for a week.
That is when my Dad realized that I was very literal when I stated something. LOL
Glad I did a copy before posting as it took to long to type, so I had to log on again and then did a paste. See I can get smarted even though I have gotten older. LOL