Sable Antelope -- Sat., June 23

Cotulla, Texas:

Long dry spell for us as far as seeing exotic animals on the ranch across the road. Today, however, was my lucky photography day. A few sable antelope were grazing across the road, one came down the fence line. I told Bob, "Every time I go out there to take a picture of sable antelope, they stampede away."

So, ever hopeful, I grabbed my camera and SLOWLY sauntered toward the road, sometimes straying to the left, then to the right, stopping, walking forward a few feet, but never looking straight at the gorgeous, chestnut brown, mask-faced beauty about 100' away.

With the zoom lens, I was able to snap these photos before one of the other antelope "yelped" (?) a warning and "my" antelope bolted off into the trees. (Double-click to enlarge photos.)

Our gate, antelope across the road. Close!

We can see the antelope from the 5er. Pretty mask.

Gorgeous horns.

Pregnant? (Don't even know if this is a female.)

The gray cottontails are out again this evening. Earlier in the day the mockingbirds were teaching their young how to fly and hunt. A family of four was sitting in the mesquite tree by Bob's truck and you could hear them communicating with another bird or two across the field.

Watching the beautiful animals today caused my mind to wander to the subject of hunting. I can't wrap my head around it. Conflicting thoughts occur to me. People hunt for food which I can understand if they're hungry and game is plentiful. Hunts are also scheduled if one species over-propagates and there are no natural predators to cull the group. Culling the herd or flock or whatever can help stop the spread of disease, can stop over-grazing, and over-population.

What I can't wrap my head around, and perhaps hunters out there can help me "see," is why animals are hunted as trophies to hang on the wall. Why can't a hunter "stalk" the animals with a camera, take an intimate, up-close photo of the animal in its natural habitat, enlarge it into a poster, and hang that on the wall? The animal lives. The species doesn't become extinct, and future generations can then enjoy the LIVE animals as well.

Is hunting such a primal instinct from our caveman days that it's in humans' DNA? Why only some people? Others wouldn't dream of harming an animal. Is it needing to feel powerful? Can anyone explain it to me?

Tonight in Oregon, our pinochle group is playing. For many years when we lived in Oregon we played pinochle once a month. I sure do miss it. Mom, my sister, my son, and my brother and sister-in-law still play, plus many of our friends who were regulars. Hello to the group! I wish for you many pinochles, double runs and thousand aces.

That's all I've got for today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend wherever you may be.

A Change of Scenery -- Mon., May 21

Carrizo Springs and Cotulla, Texas:

This morning I was able to get some pics of the sable antelope. I saw them just across the road, grabbed the camera, walked out the gate and took a few shots. They were spooked, but I caught some of them running away. I got a couple of pretty good shots of the bucks. You can click on the photos to make them bigger.

Today I took the Escape pod and made a get-away to Carrizo Springs to do laundry. My mental jury is out on whether it is worth an 80-mile roundtrip to go to a newer, nicer laundromat that charges almost double what the Cotulla laundromat charges. Certainly it doesn't makes sense budget-wise. Peace-of-mind-wise: um, maybe, maybe not.

What made the trip worth it was seeing another small Texas town. Carrizo Springs was settled in 1865 because local springs provided plenty of water for farming. Their artesian wells are known for pure, clean water. Today, the population of the town is around 5,000. (Cotulla's population is around 3,000.)

After laundry, I drove around town to see what was there. Kit told me there was a a very old, very small Walmart, which I found. I bought two new throw rugs for the 5er (since two of my old ones disintegrated in the washing machine today).

Walmart: check. Fill up with gas: check. Car wash: check. Next on the list: bakery. 

Anyone who knows me knows I am a fool for bakeries and the goodies lurking within. The Just Crumbs Bakery is a small storefront in old town Carrizo Springs, kitty corner from the H-E-B grocery store. When I saw the "Hours" sign in the bakery door, I figured they would be sold out of all their good stuff by 11:30 a.m. as they had opened at 5:30 a.m. Upon walking in, the display cases were almost empty.  : (  


However, it was lunch time and the Turtle Brownies looked fresh out of the oven. Two brownies just jumped in my bag somehow along with two Lemon Breeze cookies. 


After the bakery stop, to satisfy my curiosity, I drove around the back streets of town and literally drove right up to Our Lady of the Guadalupe Catholic Church, built in 1949. Two pictures later, I continued on my way.

My time in Carrizo Springs was complete. I drove 50 miles back to Cotulla, checked for mail and headed back to the 5er. 

While driving back on the road to our rig, about a 1/4 mile down from us, I saw the herd of sable antelope on the ranch (down the fenceline a few hundred feet from the road). I stopped the car, rolled down the window, zoomed in the camera and voila!, here's the results:

Sable antelope herd

By the time I made it home, my growling stomach indicated I better have some lunch. After eating a tuna with avocado sandwich and fresh red pepper slices, a turtle brownie was calling my name from its Styrofoam container, "Susan, it's time for your treat. Let me out of here." 

I opened the box and took a whiff. Mmmmmmmm...the scent of chocolate. Heavenly deliciousness delighted my taste buds. The chocolate chips and caramel in the middle of the brownie were still warm and ooey-gooey, melty and oh so yummy. This, in my mind, made the trip to Carrizo Springs worth it.


A little later in the afternoon, Bob and I ate our Lemon Breeze cookies. Think lemon, white chocolate chips, coconut, and chewy. Both of us enjoyed the cookie break.


Later in the evening, as I talked to Mom on the phone, Bob finally ate his Turtle Brownie. He was sitting in the recliner, blissful, giving me two thumbs up on his brownie dining experience.

Another gate guarding day complete. You know, when I thought about blogging during our stint gate guarding I thought I'd blog maybe every few days because I didn't think much would be happening. Guess I was wrong.  I've written almost every day we've been out here. 

Exotic Animals -- Sun., May 20

Cotulla, Texas:

Susan: 2; Gate: 1. I have conquered the gate! Tonight I successfully closed it twice even with a light wind blowing and the distraction of new (to me) exotic animals across the road.

That's right, as the gate was closing, across the road was a herd of about 15 large, dark-brown exotic animals with horns that curved over their backs. These were much bigger than the Springbok antelope I normally see. Into the 5er I went to check my exotic animal brochure. (Yes there really is such a thing, published by the Kerrville, Texas Convention & Visitors Bureau.)

There it was on the second to the last page: Sable antelope (Hippotragus niger). Introduced from Africa. Chestnut brown to brownish-black. Mane from neck to shoulders. Underside of body and narrow thigh band white. Mask pattern. Female: 190-230 lbs.  Male: 200-270 lbs.

Excitement courses through my body whenever I see majestic animals. Tonight was a great gate-closing moment!

For those of you not familiar with why there are exotic animals in Texas, I refer you to a 60 Minutes news story from January 2012: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7396832n on the exotic game ranches of Texas. The video is about 14 minutes long.

The brochure "Exotic & Native Animals of the Texas Hill Country" by the Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau states:

Exotic game animals were introduced to the Texas Hill Country over sixty years ago. Due to the efforts of the Hill Country game ranchers and their diligent wildlife management practices, the Texas Hill Country has vast herds of some species that are now endangered and even extinct in their country of origin. Today in this area, there are more than 100,000 exotic game animals from over 45 different species.

Also see my previous post RV + River + Ranch = Roaming about our tour at YO Ranch.

There are SO MANY mosquitoes here. At night, whenever we open the door to outside, about 10 mosquitoes come in. I spend a lot of my awake time tracking them down and smashing them to smithereens.

Time for sleep. Getting up early to go to Carrizo Springs to do laundry and investigate the town. Bob will hold down the fort gate. Today was really slow and we didn't fill one whole page of the log. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Good night.