Mankins

            I saw Mankins on the list of Ghost Towns of Texas. We stopped by there this afternoon to take a look. Take note of the construction of the walls, particularly the storage barn door, which seems reminiscent of what we might see on the Greek isles in their own construction methods of taking stones from other structures and from other places to construct new buildings.

This small building stands on the side of Hwy 82, eighteen-wheelers rushing past it at sixty miles per hour. 

On the front door, Fedex had left a note.

The white figure at the top of the stairs looks like a gargoyle, one of several we saw standing guard at the entrances of the two dwellings. 

Ghost Towns of Texas: McClean

          McClean held a Prisoner of War camp during WWII, housing 3000 inmates from enemy nations, predominantly Germany. This spring, I saw flowers and agave plants growing over any foundations that they may have left after removing the 20 or 30 buildings of the prison. Our visit seemed particularly striking with the storm in the short distance, and the single images subsequently enhanced by HDR.

Windmills at the Panhandle Plains Museum

The exciting facade of the Panhandle Plains Museum.

Ambling Through a Ranch

       My post consists of some things I saw as I ambled across a ranch for a couple of days. Out of several hundred pictures, I chose the ones I thought would remind me of my week in the Texan Panhandle and which I had not posted previously.

Cowboys gathering hay.

Still smoldering hay that burned five days ago.

An abandoned barn falling down.

Wheat surrounding a windmill.

Harvesters waiting for the rain to stop falling overnight.

Brad fumigating the cattle.

Pretty, curious, and wary cows.

Pretty, curious, and wary horses.

Turkey Vulture nest at the abandoned ramp.

Valleys through which  .  .  . 

.  .  .  the antelope roam.

Rabbits watching out for predators.

Prairie Dogs barking at my approaching truck.

A Mourning Dove sitting in a Mesquite Plant.

When they can, birds living in barns.

And a gas well surrounded by flowers.

Curious Horses

Will's horses approached us to say hello.

Rivers. No, Channing

       Channing, with the smallest population in Texas, maintains a school from Kindergarden to Grade Twelve.  The town at first had the name Rivers. I found these tidbits on the Texas Escapes web site. The city is surrounded by vast, unendless views of undulating country, this year embellished by flowers. We stopped in Channing this afternoon for lunch at the Cowgirl Cafe (How the West Was Won!). The ingredients in the food were fresh and put together by a lady who knows how to cook. The middle picture shows the First United Methodist Church. The red roof of this historical landmark caught my eye.

Antelopes Have Cute Rumps

Cadillac Ranch

 

         If you would like to take a look, Wikipedia published a nice entry about Cadillac Ranch on Interstate 40 outside Amarillo. If you go to Cadillac Ranch, remember your can of spray paint. Enjoy the experience of dynamic art.

Cowboys and Hay

         I took a few images this morning of Monty's cowboys hard at work, plus a few shots from the HQ where I saw the Red-headed Woodpecker. On my way there, I took a picture of a Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker, saw some Mississippi Kites, and swerved several times to avoid Horned Toads on the roads.

Cowboys rounded up the cattle and moved them into the pens.

A cowboy hung his chaps on a fence post.

A sunrise I did not get to see for the thunder clouds above us.

Cowboys with trailers full of horses drove to town after work for a lunch at the Dixie Cafe. In the foreground I show part of one of the Prairie Dog towns.

Three bulls played at locking horns.

        Spotting the Red-headed Woodpecker is always a delight, and I have always seen it and heard it at HQ.

           Jim drove us around the ranch in his needed four-wheel drive. Moore County received an unusual amount of moisture, snow and rain, this winter, making a nice, but wet spring.

A hail storm destroyed the wheat crops, so Jim rolled it up to sell for hay. So much wheat was destroyed, I thought of the expression, "As far as the eye can see," for I saw rolled hay seemingly endlessly.

Jim powers some of his windmills with solar power.