2008: Over and Out

Well, it's New Year's Eve and tomorrow we will start a new year. New Year's Eve has always been rather anticlimactic for me. We worry about what fun and exciting thing to do to ring in the new year, yet it never quite lives up to expectations. It's almost like I expect some big explosion of confetti, fun and amazingness to occur at midnight. While the countdown is exciting, once you hit 12:01 it's all downhill from there as far as the evening is concerned.

I remember one New Year's Eve a few years ago we spent the whole night trying to figure out what to do and a consensus was never reached so I saw the new year come in by the clock on an oven.

When the new millennium rang in, I was at a party at a Christmas tree farm. We heard loud booms and for a split second thought the skeptics were right and the world was coming to an end all because computers were confused by the changing digits. It turned out to be really big fireworks in Fayetteville at someone else's really cool New Year's Eve party.

I haven't quite had this blog a full year yet, so I can't see it feasible to do a recap. So, instead here's some pictures from my holiday at home in Arkansas.

This is Sadie with a dog mullet wig on Christmas Eve.

This is a blazing sunset on Christmas Eve. Either that or Santa caught on fire.


These are pies about to be eaten (by me) on Christmas Eve.

This is a 'W' in one of our fences. Obviously, it stands for 'West', but just to clarify, if you happen to be wandering aimlessly through Viney Grove and need a compass, don't rely on the W's to point you in the right direction, because they stand for a last name and have no directional meaning.




And these are Christmas lights on my house. We had to replace a couple of bulbs and didn't get them all replaced when we put them up over Thanksgiving and the lights have yet to be lit this season. So, my house has sat there pretending to be in the Christmas spirit.

Dad and me did a little walking up on the mountain on Christmas day to work off all the pies we'd eaten. On our 40 acres up on Stevenson Mountain, there's bluffs and a cave. I consider myself to be a friend of the outdoors, but I choose not to be friends with caves. While they're neat and I like the idea of them, I really would just rather not go inside them.


Meanwhile, back at the farm, I strolled around the pond bank to enjoy the beautiful winter's morn. Actually, it was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.


Later that night we had an ugly sweater party. Even the dog got a sweater, but it was actually cute.


So, over and out 2008. May 2009 be way cooler than you were.

Feral Hogs

An unwritten rule of the outdoors (mainly if you're a hunter) is any time you go out to scout the scene for wildlife and you take a gun with you, you likely won't see a darn thing.

But, if you leave your guns at home like the Johnny Cash song tells you to do, then you will see every wild animal, Sasquatch and exotic bird in North America. It never fails.

A group of us were in Rotan last weekend and decided to scope the countryside for species of the feral existence. We opted to leave the weaponry at home.

The result? We saw a whole pack of feral hogs, three decent bucks, a passel of does, a yeti and Elvis. Unfortunately, I only got a picture of the hogs.

While we were driving along a field that had been planted in winter wheat, I noticed a black animal below us. I thought it was an Angus cow, so I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to appear too jumpy since I was the only female in the truck. Turned out it was a stinkin' huge black wild hog.

We scurried out of the truck and I tried to take a few shots (I didn't have the appropriate camera gear, of course) and the darn things bolted out of a bush right at us. There were at least six in that group, and several others, including the large, beastly one, ran off in the other direction.


By the way, for those of you who have never seen or been where feral hogs have been, they stink. They stink really bad. Plus, they leave their nasty smell behind for you to enjoy.

These last two pictures don't really have anything to do with the hogs.

Attack of the Giant Tumbleweeds

Obvious statement: The wind blows a lot in West Texas.

Another obvious statement: There are a lot of tumbleweeds in West Texas.

The little cold front that blew through here on Tuesday that brought us some nice, tranquil snow flakes that violently blew across the sky like millions of tiny white pieces of Styrofoam really brought some wind. The wind was straight out of the north. Let me reiterate (and this is mainly for those of you who do not live in West Texas): when the wind blows out here, it REALLY blows. Wind speeds of 10-20 mph are considered "breezy" days. They go virtually unnoticed by weathermen and regional inhabitants alike.

When they forecast wind, that usually means it's going to blow at least 30 mph, with gusts often up to (and not limited to) 50-60 mph.

There's nothing to block it out here folks. Nothing. And when it's cold, it cuts like a knife.

With that being said, I saw something really funny when this front moved through. A large crowd of tumbleweeds had gathered in the banks of the overpass of I-27, which runs very near our office. I mean there was a large pile of these things.

The winds started blowing straight out of the north, which was just enough to push this large pile of tumbleweeds out of their "nest" so that they individually rolled south up the entrance ramp onto the interstate. Hilarious. I witnessed tumbleweeds playing a game of follow the leader.

Meanwhile, we have a fence that divides the office property from a bordering field to the north. On our side of the fence is a well manicured lawn. On the field side of the fence is a baron, prickly, sticker-filled, tumbleweed-breeding field. When the wind started up on Tuesday, the tumbleweeds that didn't merge onto the interstate piled up on the fence line like a pile of marshmallows.

*On another note, I need to explain a correction to yesterday's post. The economic impact of the WNFR in Las Vegas is $70 million in non-gambling money, not a meek $7 million. That's a rather substantial piece of information that makes my story from yesterday make more sense.

Lady Luck

There's nothing like wrapping up 10 days on the road with a trip to Vegas for an extra three days on the road.

After five days in Amarillo, I jumped on a direct flight to Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo - not as a contestant, just to clarify any potential confusion.

When I got to the Amarillo airport, the lady at the check-in counter gave me some lip about having a heavy suitcase. I wanted to backhand her, but didn't feel like a public scuffle. I thought about explaining the complexity of having to pack for three very different types of trips all in one suitcase, but I figured she wouldn't really care anyway. She just didn't enjoy having to hoist the world's largest suitcase onto the conveyor belt.

Flights to Vegas have an atmosphere on board that is noticeably different than any other flight you may take. It's almost like a Christmas Eve feeling - you really don't know what you're going to get into, but it's going to be fun.

The airport is basically right next to The Strip, so you being to see all the craziness right as you fly past the Grand Canyon.

This was my third trip to Vegas for the NFR. I've never been to Sin City during any other time of the year. I like the NFR crowd. The whole city recognizes the economic impact the NFR brings in (nearly 70 million non-gambling dollars) during Vegas' downtime.

I went this time with five Vegas newbies. I think it takes several trips out there before you really comprehend everything that is going on in this A-typical setting. I still haven't fully comprehended it. In fact, I'm not even sure if that's possible.

Vegas knows just how to capitalize off of everyone's weaknesses: greed, gluteny and, well, I'm sure you can guess the other one. But, the great thing about Vegas is you don't have to partake in all the things from which it has gained its fame.



And it's not uncommon to see a random gathering of Elvis impersonators. This particular group at Mandalay Bay was a mixture of Japanese and British folks.

Every rodeo fan needs to go to the NFR at least once in their lifetime. For those of you who for some reason scowl at the idea of rodeo, well, that's your problem, but the 10 nights of the NFR are unlike any rodeo experience you may have had in the past. It's very Vegas. It's not hokey. It's the best of the best. Fortunately, there's no stupid clown acts. It's broadcast on ESPN every night, so it's made for TV. It goes quick, and it's entertaining. Over $5 million was up for grabs at this year's NFR.

We attended the third round, and were in attendance along with Charles Barkley, Miranda Lambert and William Shatner.


That's Charles Barkley if you didn't already see him.

There's three "Cowboy Christmas" tradeshows to walk through, offering merchandise galore and all things cowboy.

Meanwhile, we ran into Pete Rose who was signing autographs at Caesar's Palace - most likely to raise money for his terrible gambling problem. Good thing he was in Vegas.


Despite winning an occasional $40 after losing $20 in slot machines, wandering through the casinos is my favorite part of experiencing Vegas. Every hotel is larger than life. Nothing there makes sense - the architecture, the engineering...it's all huge and ridiculous and awesome.

We went to see Cirque du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio our last night in town. That show was so amazing I'm still trying to figure out what all happened. Unreal.

Perhaps the craziest part of the whole trip was the flight leaving Las Vegas. We hit the worst turbulence I've ever been through. I've been on enough flights that I usually don't care about a few bumps. Only these were more than bumps. The plane was going from side to side, up and down, and we had a few drops.

People were screaming. I've never been on a plane were people we're screaming. We were over the Grand Canyon at the time, which luckily I had a beautiful view below to help distract me from an uncertain firey death.


At least it would've been in one of the Seven Wonders of the World if the plane had crashed.

Extended Stay

Staying in hotels can be fun. But when you run out of underwear, well, that gets serious.

Fortunately, I haven't run out of underwear.

I've been on the road since Nov. 26. I drove home for Thanksgiving, where I reunited with family and friends, gave thanks and ate pie. Along the way, I drove by camels roaming in a field.
Does this seem a little out of the ordinary to any of you?
While at home, I put Christmas lights up on my house. Actually, I had help this year and a gracious volunteer put them up for me.

From there, I drove here to Amarillo on Nov. 30. Along the way, I drove by the most immaculate rest stop in the history of the world. On both sides of I-40 there rises an oasis from the prairie, complete with free wireless Internet, a museum, and of course, a place to rest.
At the corn and peanut office, we've been planning for months for the Texas Commodity Symposium. It's an event that five Texas commodity groups produce during the Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show. We have a politician or two come in, a few NRCS and FSA lead personnel, and sometimes an economist, to address an audience of 200-300 people about what's going on in agriculture - more specifically, what's going on that will affect Texas commodity producers.

It's a lot of work to produce such an event. We kick it off the night before with a reception. This year, we were able to have U.S. Congressman Mike Conaway speak at the TCS. He also came to the reception. After taking his picture many times with various board members, I decided I might try being on the other side of the camera.

He's a nice man and he seems to genuinely care about agriculture. Thanks for representing the 11th district of Texas Congressman Conaway.

It's been a long week at the Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show. Tonight will be my fifth night in the Ambassador Hotel. It's starting to feel like home, and the staff now knows me by name. I think it's time to move on.

Tomorrow, my journey will continue by plane further west.