"I Do Hereby Proclaim, I have found It"

He was “all wet” all right, but not in the Fountain of Youth discovery. Juan Ponce de Leon hop-scotched over from Puerto Rico and has been given credit for discovering what he thought or hoped was the fountain of youth at St. Augustine, Florida in the 16th century. It ain’t so. Or at least in my opinion.

The fountain of Youth is in Luckenbach, Texas. No one probably noticed but I have been absent a day or two. I took a couple of days off from the office while The Boss and I took a short vacation to Fredricksburg, Texas. Six million, eight thousand, three hundred and six , (that is where I stopped counting), motorcycles decided to do the same thing. On Saturday, on our way back home, we “cut through” to stop in on Luckenbach, Texas. The motor cycle riders decided to do that too. Most of you know I am a frustrated wanna be git-tar picker and If you had a radio and only listened to one country song, around ’78-’80,you have heard , “Let’s go to Luckenback, Texas, with Willie Waylon and the Boys”. Sooo, that is what I did.

Everyone must have thought this was the fountain of youth because most of us there had more wrinkles in ourselves than our jeans. After sass-shaying around the grounds and in and out of the “fountain” part of the party, I did feel a little better. See there? I told you. It was hot so I go me another bottle of youth and plopped down in an empty chair and just stared at all the people. Everyone seemed to feel younger than their gray hair indicated. I did. How come that is, reckon?

It was just like Ole’ Ponce. He felt better when he splashed off in what he thought was the fountain of youth just because he “thought” he felt better. Me too, ‘cept I didn’t splash off in anything, I just had a good time reminissin’. I know I felt better than that dude that was walking so bow-legged that his steps were wider than they were long. He had had a long trail ride and the last half of that ride was coming up. All I had to look forward to was air conditioning, cruise control and power steering. Besides, we only had about twenty miles until we got to the next bed and breakfast at which we were going to stay.

I was gonna write a real “sturring” response on the effects of this fountain of youth but I think ya’ll would have a good time doing a little research on your own. There is quite a bit on this part of Texas even though there ain’t much to the place itself. It is all in one’s mind and you will see what I am talking about….maybe. I will post a couple of clicking links ( go ahead and “Google “ – Hondo Crouch )and If I can figure out how to get ‘em in the right places, I will post some pics.



http://www.luckenbachtexas.com/ 

http://www.lone-star.net/mall/literature/hondo.htm

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2635408420099034237ZVALZX

These high pixel pics take forty forevers to upload, so I will post more pics later.  One more thought.  I was telling my oldest daughter about Luckenbach and she finally asked,,"You mean, they don't even have a Walmart"?  I 'bout fell out of my chair I stopped my story right there.  :)

It is Prononced "Tatersaaalliiiiiiiiddd"

We’re dropping like flies. Us “Bloggers” that’s who. Me too, but I am going to try to hang in there.

It has been awhile since I posted. A lot of things have been going on around the Ole Casa. Everyone has had a lot to do. Me too, but I sometimes don’t really know if you all enjoy reading what I slap up on the screen or you are just real nice people, about it. I think maybe it could be a little of both. Reckon? What I do know is, I enjoy reading what you folks write. I think what it is, is “Battling Fatigue”. Not battle fatigue, but , well you get the kinda play on words. I could go on about it but I think for me to fight my “battle” of fatigue is to tell you about this barbeque place, "Ribmasters" in this small community that The Boss and I go to quite regularly.

The Boss’s favorite is a plain chopped beef sandwich with lots of barbeque sauce on it. In Texas, beef is pretty much the king of B-B-Q. Pork is the favorite in other parts of the south but Texas has always had an abundance of cows ready to be a participant in this age old range cuisine. Brisket is a part of the cow that if not cooked properly is rather tough to eat, but with slow consistent temperature, it can be mouth watering tender. If any of you read the story about The Boss and me going to Denton and Greenville, well during that time of early life experiences, I worked at a Barbeque place in Denton. It was a bad thing. Oh, no, Not the Barbeque, but the fact that I went from 220 pounds to 275 in short order.

Pork ribs is another specialty that is different than some parts of the south. Beef ribs are popular in other parts and we cook them fairly regular here too but pork ribs reign king as far as I am concerned. They can be found either with the “dry rub” or “glazed”. Dry rub is with a mixture of seasoning rubbed on the slab of ribs before cooking and that is all you do to them. To glaze the slab, seasoning can or cannot be rubbed before cooking, but just before they are “done”, a sauce is put on the ribs and the fire “glazes” them to a tacky consistency. The sauce is often times a sweet and tangy sauce with a little bit of a “fire-ie” punch to it. I guess that is where the term, “season to taste” comes from.

Potato salad is a staple side dish, but a lot of people around here might look at you sideways if you order it that way. “Tatersaaaaaliiid” is the preferred pronunciation in these parts. I ain’t much on tatersallid. It use-lee has un-yunns in it. But, this place also has baked potatoes. I have my own recipe with that. Instead of me going all through the proper grammar and mixin’ procedures, I have posted a picture of a real “Texas BBQ Tater”. It ought to be a secret, but I will share it with you just this one time.

  Wouldn’t ya like to have a bite of this? Yummm