Mule Deer at the Lado

It's one of my favorite times of the year--it's almost time to head down to the Lado!  The next few weeks will probably be pretty West Texas focused as I get ready for my fall pilgrimage down to the ranch.  There's nothing better than the desert, mountains, and blue sky to clear your mind and your lungs.

These photos were taken of mule deer watering at the guzzlers on the ranch.  The Lado has gotten some rain this year and there are plenty of animals out and about.

Cleaning the Water Troughs

Neil's wondering why his kids aren't older...

At Wexford, a lot of the water for cattle is found in water troughs fed by underground wells that are pumped by windmills. 

One summer when I was in high school, my friend and golf partner, Amy, and I worked on the ranch--our job was to clean all the water troughs.  It was convenient for our golf schedule, but not necessarily a great job.  It was hot, dirty, slimy, and wet, and my dad and Amy's stepdad still talk about it more than a decade later.  Since there's no cheap manual labor (kids) on the ranch any more, Neil, the Straw Boss, was responsible for cleaning the water trough in the West Pasture recently.  I'm sure he was wishing that his kids were old enough to send out to do that, but I guess the next time the troughs will need to be cleaned the Heard children will be the prime age.

Cleaning over a decade of muck out of the trough.

You know the drought is serious when...

 

... Water Mocasins are drinking bottled water.  

This photo was staged last year, but really isn't that funny.  Both the ranches in South and West Texas have received quite a bit of rain in 2012, but there are plenty of people in between who need water desperately.

Teal at the Duck Pond

Wexford Ranches posted about a new duck pond on the ranch a couple of months ago.  This past weekend, a Norther brought a ton of Teal into the pond.

It's time to go hunting!

Chile Pequins!

If there's anything that's distinctive about food in South Texas (there's a lot!), it's chile pequins.  Most people say it chilli patine, but it doesn't matter as long as it's on the table.  These bursts of flavor and heat are about the size of a pencil eraser and are great fresh, dried, or preserved in oil.

The drought wreaked havoc on these native plants, but since it's started raining again, they are starting to come back.  Gloria de la Garza lives on the ranch; her family has worked for Wexford for generations and lived in the Coastal Bend since Texas was part of Mexico.  She has been collecting the chiles and they'll be planted on the ranch as well as eaten in something delicious.  Gloria found the bottle of chile pequins recently.  Her father Alejandro de la Garza, or Elek to all of us, bottled these chiles before he died in 2004. 

Seeds Gloria collected from Chile Pequins that have been growing for generations.

I keep a stash of chile pequins in Idaho picked by Gloria that I save for when I'm cooking Texas food, though I've started putting it in my Italian food too--delish!  Gloria taught my sister and I how to make hot sauce in mocajetes with chile pequins and I roll out tortillas (and everything else) with part of a broom handle that her father, Elek, used to roll out his tortillas with.  I'm proud to have grown up with a strong food culture, and replanting the chile pequins on the ranch is keeping that culture strong. 

I tried to grow some in my yard in Idaho, but they just couldn't take the cold.  You can purchase a number of varieties of chile pequin seeds from Native Seeds Search.

San Antonio Rainwater

Water backing up the creek bed.

In Texas, especially in the Hill Country and West Texas, when it rains there are often flash floods.  I saw a wall of water come down the Frio one time which was terrifying and have heard a number of stories of being caught in the wall of water.  Last week, San Antonio received up to six inches of rain in places so the ranch was expecting the water to hit the ranch at some point.  Minohuila Creek is a tributary of the San Antonio River, which runs through the ranch.  Kai happened to catch the water backing up Minohuila Creek and took some great photos and video.

2012 Bighorn Sheep Hunt

Last week, the Lado harvested their second Class IV Desert Bighorn Sheep.  There was a hunt in February with no success so when the sheep were seen again, Kai and the hunter headed out west to track him down.  A mere 17 hours after arriving on the ranch, a very happy hunter had his photo taken with a trophy of a lifetime. 

Texas Parks and Wildlife conducted an aerial survey on the ranch the week before the hunt and the Lado will know soon if they will receive a tag for the 2012-2013 hunting season.

Kai 'humpin' it down the mountain.

A very heavy skull.