Daily observations of my simple life.

Sunday Morning:

The plan for today was to head to Big Bend National Park to the hot springs so we were up and moving in the a.m. Another beautiful day. We did a little more exploring before we left the ranch and did actually pass by the house of the young couple the dome builder had wanted us to meet. It was a charming little house with lots of inovative structural design. I loved that around the vegitable garden there was an octillo fence and young seedlings were shaded by pieces of shale. We didn't stop but hope to meet them next trip.

We stopped in the little town of Study Butt on our way to Big Bend. One  of the quick stops has hand painted bricks on the wall. Each brick is hand painted by a different person and tells a little story. Fun to take some time to enjoy each painting.

At the hotsprings there are a couple of interesting old buildings that are empty. One I thought was an old mission but in fact it was once a store. Palm trees and bamboo grow along the pathway beside the river. Once at the hotsprings you can gaze across the river where some Mexicans have a camp set up. Old iron beds and hammocks with colorful blankets mark their outdoor simple lifestyle. While we were soaking they came riding joyfully up on there horses laughing and calling "Hola hola" Of course they cannot come across the river but they make their presence known. Off their  horses they quickly went for a swim while one man said, " a six mile ride for torteas"  laughing.

After a good soak we made the hike back to our trucks. Kathleen was headed out to Marathon and I was headed back to Terlingua where I was to meet a man about some land. We said our goodbyes and headed out. Back at Terlingua somehow there was a mix up about the meeting so I went out and looked at the land and walked it then after making a phone call I decided to head on to a town called Alpine. My thought being that I would return the next day but I didn't. It was a nice drive to Alpine the country turns greener and more tree laden. There I found a place to spend the night .

Posted by: cactusandquail at 06:56 | link | comments

The Trip Continues:

Saturday morning Kathleen and I were up again to a beautiful morning. The red mountains surrounding the ranch facilities , well  , it makes your morning. I headed up to the cafe for a cup of coffee and then met Kathleen down at the map room.  It would take some study for me to grasp the vast country and where things are. There were adds up of land for sale so we studied where the day would take us. Strolling in the room came three city slickers by there looks who diffenently had a deal in mind. They made me uncomfortable because they had the look and smell of developers. They were talking big acreages. Once we got our paperwork together we headed out in separate trucks to meet further down the road at Kathleens property. After stopping to get in one truck we headed out to explore and see some of the properties for sale. Then we headed into town to the coffee shop.  Couldn't resist that. Did some computer and relaxed a bit and I walked out back of the shop to see the herb garden. There was some kind of tia cha lesson going on down the hill in a cleared field. Again I was surprised to see any kind of cultue out in no mans land so to speak.

We met up with some land sales person and toured the little town then stopped at a little Mexican restaurant for lunch before heading back to the ranch. We met up with a fellow back at Kathleens property who was going to do her roads. Finally we got out to visit with the Dome builder . This is a dear man who has a life style of his own. We found him sitting in one of his domes with many tools . He showed us how he builds different ones as we walked out through bits and pieces of welded this and that partially built ideas and completed ideas. We walked down and saw his goats, many , who were housed in domes. I thought what a great garden the goat domes would make as they were shaded and well fertilized. After touring his place he took us to see a young couple who were experimenting with wind power and cob building. We met someone on the way who said they were not home  did we know where they were so we turned around. Finally Kathleen and I made it back to the ranch and were ready for dinner. We cleaned up and headed for the restaurant. This was Saturday night when all the locals come in to visit and there is live music. We sat back and listened to the music, met a few people and had a lively conversation with the fellow who was going to do Kathleens road. Then off to bed in the back of our pickups.  

Posted by: cactusandquail at 06:18 | link | comments

More Texas:

I must say I do have a hard time with this site. I finally found my way back in, sorry for the delays.

Terlingua is a special place with it's own culture. Kathleen and I had a great time. Like two teenage girls, we used the pretty stone camp restroom to shower and set our hair in the evenings, chatting. Early the next morning we were off to see land. First Kathleen showed me her newly purchased 20 acres with electricity. We walked the land and she dreamed and then planted some palm trees she had brought. After leaving we headed over to my new piece. The 5 acre I planned to buy from her. There I met Richard a man who was parking there and looking for a piece of land. Can you imagine buying a 5 acre piece of land for $1000.?  Desert, but in a beautiful setting with mountains around. After that initial looking we headed into the little town of Terlingua. There we stopped at the little coffee shop. This is a lovely little place. Southwestern style with a stone fireplace in the main eating area. It has wifi so Kathleen and I had a great time going on line to our group and talking back and forth while reading and commenting. The coffee shop is also a very well stocked natural food store. They serve fresh made baked goods with their coffee and have a cold storage room with organic vegitables. For a place that is 150 miles to the nearest Walmart and 100 + miles to any large shopping, that really impressed me.  It has a very good feel and is a great place to hang out. I was so pleasantly surprised to find this kind of back to earth, artsy culture. Across the street there is a place called the Starlight where they have plays and other public meetings. 

Kathleen and I went back and picked up Richard and then spent the rest of the afternoon looking at properties. It gave me an overview of the country there. We dropped Richard off and then went back to the ranch to clean up and head for a dinner date at another e mail friends house.  As we drove out we reached an area that looked a bit like a smaller version of halfdome at Yosmite. Awesome site. We saw a beautiful stone house to the left up close to the dome and wondered where the home was where we were going. It was the stone house. What a beautiful house and what an awesome site. This couple had found this house that had been empty for 18 months on 140 acres. Standing on the balcony watching the sunset made me think they must feel like the owners of the world.   This was a handsome and educated couple and dinner was delicious with great conversation. We had a wonderful formal type dinner in their big lovely dinning room in front of a huge stone fireplace. The bathroom in that house was bigger than my front room and kitchen. I LOVE big bathrooms. It was a great dinner party and they had included a rather excentric fellow who lives down the road with his goats. He experiments with dome buildings and has built multiple buildings on his property. 

Kathleen and I left reluctantly, feeling happy and well welcomed to this new for us community of people. We had an appointment to visit the dome builder the next day and we were happy to turn in to our campers sleeping quarters.

Posted by: cactusandquail at 15:01 | link | comments (6)