West Texas

The first weekend of November is the annual Terlingua Chili Cookoff. Every year we say we are going to go and we never do. Well, this year we went!!!

My dad was going to go with my brother and a family friend, but they bailed on him at the last minute. So, the Wednesday afternoon before, dad calls me and asks if I want to go with him to the cookoff and quail hunting at Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. Since I don't have much happening in my life, I decided to go with him and take Rylie with us!

I was excited to go because I have heard how crazy the cookoff is and wanted to see for myself. And I wanted to go hunting, especially with Rylie, because I heard from dad how good she does. And I really wanted to get out of town to get away from having no job!

Terlingua did not disappoint! I think it was a little crazier than I was expecting! But we had a lot of fun walking around checking out all the cooks and everyone else who came just to party.

Speaking of crazy...we watched a 'Best Breast' contest! Talk about quality father-daughter bonding time! The top pictures are of the stage and the bottom are some of the "spectators."

We spent the weekend at Stillwell Store in a rundown trailer, which actually turned out to not be as bad as I thought it was going to be. Thankfully it had AC because it got quite warm a few nights.

We hunted at Black Gap two days and had a pretty good time. Dad got 7 birds, and it was a good thing Rylie was there to find a few of those. She did awesome hunting! Better than I expected! She really does have a nose for it.

There was only one problem. She got a thorn in her eye. Her eye eye. And I had to pull it out! On the first day, in the evening when we took her boots off, she immediately started rubbing her eye. I just assumed she was rubbing it because she had had the boots on all day. When we got back to the trailer I noticed that she was holding it closed, so I got a flashlight and was able to see something on her eye. It looked like a big piece of dirt, so I go a tissue and while dad held her I tried to kind of wipe it off. That's when I realized that the "dirt" wasn't moving. I got the flashlight out again and held it to the side and could then tell that it was a thorn. I don't know how I did it, but with dad holding her, I was able to take the tweezers and pull it out.

Poor baby was miserable! She woke up with her eye goopy and crusted over! Thankfully I had some eye medication from last year when she scratched her eye. I wasn't sure if I could use it though so we drove the 10 miles to the National Park where there was cell reception and got a hold of my friend Jennifer who told me that I could use it, but to watch her.

Once we got out hunting, you wouldn't know anything was wrong with her. She was such a trooper! Once we got back home, I checked her eye again and could tell that there was still something in there. I kept putting the medicine in and luckily got through this without a trip to the vet! Jennifer had told me that if it didn't get better I would have to take her to a veterinarian opthamologist! I can't imagine how much that would be!

Rylie and her Grandpa RoRo!

Wildflowers blooming and mountains in Mexico through the window of an old adobe house

The only blooming Ocotillo that we came across

Beautiful grasses

I had a lot of fun and was worn out for days! So was Rylie! She slept for two whole days once we got back! But now it's back to civilization, the real world, and to the grind of trying to find a job.