This has turned into a rather large entry. Scroll down to 'British invasion' and read in reverse for chronological order.

GARAGE SALE AND PANCAKES....
I got these Amish dolls at Tylers garage sale.They have plain faces, in the Amish tradition, so a child can imagine the 'mood' of the doll.

Dale, Kolbi and Tyler.

Julie tucks into Caryls homemade pancakes.

MORE TWO-STEP AND TEQUILA....
Ricky and Paula.


Julie and 'Slim Jim'.
Ricky.

Cliff

Kurt and greta Gehring.
TOP DINING.....
We were invited for dinner at Amarillo country club which is a restaurant at the top of the one and only 'skyscraper' in Amarillo. Situated in central downtown, it boasts unrivalled views showing 360 degrees of the Panhandle plains. Flat as far as the eye can see.

Judy and George West.

HOME ON THE RANGE.....
Sally and Jim Kohler are the parents of Susan, who i work alongside at Avondale. Their hospitality was fabulous and we had a great time. Thankyou!




More peach cobbler anyone?














Sally at work on her quilt.
She has been working on this for 2 months... pretty fast work for hand stitching!!

Julie gets down to work while next months beef looks on....



















We were let loose in the pick up to explore the ranch...typically, we had a calamity! We had a puncture, 5 miles from nowhere. No tools, no phone!
Julie got a chance to break in her cowboy boots!



Ranch life calls for self sufficiency, so the tornado shelter (how cool is that!) doubles up as a store room for home made pickles and preserves (Rach and Julie are pretty well preserved don't you think..... and often pickled! ha).

OHHH-KLAHOMA!.....
We took a trip to visit the Kohlers Ranch where id first been over Labor day back in September. We arrived just in time for feeding.

The Oklahona Panhandle sits directly above the Texas Panhandle and is considered part of the high plains region.



This is a typical working ranch and cattle are reared in this way before heading off for the feed lots.

BUSY BEAVERS!!...

In the canyon......

.....and at the truck stop!!

















Dam(n) it!!

'TO THE LIGHT HOUSE...'








On horseback again. Rach and Julie were bitten by the bug so we all opted to do a 4 hour trail ride to 'the lighthouse'.
The ride was more challenging than previous ones, and we had to jump creeks, and climb steep paths.







In one of the river beds our guide pointed out this fossil which he guessed was some sort of prehistoric horse.




We made it to the light house.


On the way back, our horses knew they were headed home, so we broke into a comfortable lope. This was fine, until the lope became a run and our guide got left behind. Not fully understanding the psychology of a trail horse, i tried to stop mine...which it did not like one bit. It reared up, causing me to have to do a 'rodeo roll' (hahaha). and jump off...anyway, i was unscathed and didnt even lose my hat!! It felt a bit like a 'rite of passage', but i dont wish to repeat the experience!!

RANDALL COUNTY FEED-LOT.

Cliff took us to see for ourselves Amarillos 'raison d'etre'. He works as a 'cow doctor' on the feed lots.

If it werent for ranching and the beef industry, there would have been little incentive to populate the panhandle region. (harsh conditions, little water etc..).

In the late 1800's however, there was a rising demand for beef from the east coast so land was practically given away to pioneers who were up for the challenge.

Today, this region provides nearly 80% of Americas beef.

After some time on the range, cattle find themselves in the feed lots for final fattening up before slaughter.

Oprah Winfreys court battle in the mid 90's took place in Amarillo following her comments about BSE and beef production. A beef-baron took her to court for slander.... and lost!
She spent 6 months living in Amarillo and broadcast her show from the local theatre.
Apparently she didnt have much nice to say about the place, except that it had fantastic sunsets!


Despite trying to 'blend in' (!!??), we drew a litle too much attention to ourselves on this visit, only to find 'the law' on our tails..... they were suspicious that we were terrorists, or animal liberationists, or diseased!

BEEF....IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!!

Outside one of Amarillos most respected meat packing firms.

Cliff gave Julie this hat with the beef industry slogan. He couldnt really get his head around why she was vegetarian....and thats a bean burger by the way!

Stanley Marsh again!

RETRO-AMERICANA!
The commercial break at the Drive-In was one of those 'pinch yourself moments'.
When Danny sings 'Sandy' in 'Grease' the movie, remember the screen behind him with this very advert playing as he swings on the playground?....there was even a playground here just like that!

'SAVE A HORSE....ADOPT A COWBOY!'...
This is Cliff who we met on a night out. In actual fact he adopted us, and tracked us down while we were at breakfast. Being the good mannered cowboy thay he is, he wanted to make sure we saw Amarillos finest.


Cliff loaded us up in his pick-up to go to the Drive-in......I think we saw 'scarey Movie 4', but that was totally irrelevant!

EASTER SUNDAY AT COWBOY CHURCH.......

Referring to iself as 'The Arena of Life', these cowboy churches provide a place of worship without the heavy ideology of more traditional institutions.

The service was very uplifting. We were introduced to the 800 strong congregation, made to feel very welcome, and came away with our 'cowboy bibles'.

No need to remove your hat in this church.

Hard to see, but the girls are pointing to the 'cowboy church' sign.



















Nicole and one of the ushers.