§ Ranch Hand Breakfast

Main House

On the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving, The world wide famous King's Ranch holds their annual genuine [authentic] Cowboy's Ranch Hand Breakfast. People from near by and far away come to eat the food prepared as they have for many many decades [for the workers and ranch hands, maybe a hundred years or close, I don't know]. Bud and I try to attend. Some years we've missed out. This weekend [Saturday, November 23rd] we were debating to go. The weather wasn't all that super. Damp and only 52° F...cloudy and in Corpus, threatening rain. The breakfast begins at 7 in the morning, and it's an outdoor event. Inclement weather is a factor for us going or not. By 8:30 a.m. we thought maybe we'd chance it. So in a short while we were out the door and on the highway.  The sky was clearing.  They stop serving at 11 a.m. And, we are about 40 minutes from Kingsville, Texas. When we arrived, the line of cars entering the ranch land was stop and go, at least 2 miles long!! Normally, driving into the ranch, the ranch road to the serving area takes about 3-5 minutes. This particular morning...35 minutes!! We had our breakfast finally, consisting of orange juice, coffee, sausage, refried beans, eggs, biscuits and gravy, and tortillas. It's yummy. Not healthy for us these days, but I guess a ranch hand can work off the calories and fat consumed each day out herding cattle, etc.

Lots of extra activities all around, calf roping, branding [the walking W], demonstrations with fire arms, blacksmithing just to name a few.  Also, country bands.  There are also booths selling ranch books [history, cook books, nature], coffee mugs, t-shirts and more.

Last year, 5000 tickets were sold...this year, 8000!!!

Here is our Saturday morning breakfast in the great outdoors!!!  In photos...

A view of some of the millions of acres




The Main House's Carriage House

§ City Slickers....Part II

... Our son will be with us for Thanksgiving thru Sunday, so I won't be online much until he goes home.   I have this post and another one pre-scheduled for later.   If you're celebrating the season, have a safe holiday.  And, a glorious weekend.  Now, for part II of King's Ranch Cowboy Breakfast....


....Part of the King's Ranch in buildings, animals, and sights. Along with the main house and guest houses [white] as we drove out of the ranch property to drive back home from the annual King's Ranch Cowboy Breakfast [part one HERE]

Again, if you missed part one...the cowboy breakfast, CLICK HERE

§ City Slickers meet Ranch Hands....

This past Saturday, before daybreak, Bud and I were on Interstate 69 corridor heading to Kingsville, Texas for their annual Cowboy Breakfast on the ranch [the world renowned King's Ranch]. We arrived about 15 minutes after the ranch hands opened the gates and all who arrived before us, were on the road to park and buy our tickets. It has been held every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving for 28 years. It's been a long, long time since the two of us have gone. The day was partly overcast, but no rain, and mild temperatures. The attendance tally hasn't been posted on the news yet, but I know for a fact, there were hundreds of cars along the ranch road, sometimes at a stand-still...I figure just a rough estimate 3 per vehicle...probably exceeding 3000 came to dine with the ranch hands, the longhorns, and enjoy the ranch atmosphere. There were several lines forming once we walked uphill to the fire pits and serving lines. All along the ranch road, the famous Walking "W" brand formed in iron can be seen.

The breakfast served, cooked over open fires, was biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, tortillas, refried beans, orange juice and coffee. Definitely not the healthiest of meals, but considering this is a traditional ranch breakfast for the hard workers, those worked off the calories and fat in no time laboring with chores; like rounding up stray cattle, branding, feeding livestock, etc. etc. etc.

During and after breakfast, there was country entertainment, displays of ranch work, volunteers sharing some of the ranching expertise, and most all the ranch hand employees were dressed in period style. Of course, for us City Slickers, it's a novelty...but they're dressed in everyday clothes for the most part. By the way, King''s Ranch has its own school and fire department.

We stayed around to watch some of the calf roping in the arena, and walked some of the near-by grounds looking at the quarter horses, the stables, the headquarters, the longhorns, etc. before departing for home. We made a couple of short stops on the exit to take photos of the main ranch house and more out buildings along the way out. I'll post those in another blog soon.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:   Today, King Ranch sprawls across 825,000 acres of South Texas land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. As the home of 35,000 cattle and over 200 Quarter Horses, King Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world today.

King Ranch Overview

Website: www.king-ranch.com
Headquarters: Houston, TX
Size: 501 to 1000 employees (plus their families)
Type: Company - Private
Industry: Animal Production & more
Revenue: $100 to $500 million (USD) per year

§ Whazzz-up?

There is a HERO in every "walk" of life!! A calf, Hero, with no back hooves gets 'a lift' from veterinary surgery. Read more...

Our local theater, Harbor Playhouse, opens their annual Christmas Musical this weekend...From the 1843 story by Dickens...A CHRISTMAS CAROL. We've attended this several times, and it never fails to completely entertain us!!! The amateur actors do a fantastic job under their directors. The music, the singing, the stage direction, the scenery...all very well done.

For the last 23 years, the world renowned cattle ranch, rich in Texas history, will hold their annual Cowboy Breakfast on Saturday, the 23rd of November [it's always held on the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving]. It's a good way to visit and see a partial area of the historic ranch and enjoy a breakfast of coffee, juice, eggs, sausage, beans, and tortillas in an outdoor, ranch-hand, atmosphere!!! We've attended several times, and depending on the weather, Bud and I may go again this year. Not only the breakfast that is attended by thousands from around the Coastal Bend, there are exhibits and live music, along with cattle roping in the arena. A lot for $6!!! It's been a couple of years since we've been...

read more...

As I was sitting on the patio bench, letting the water drizzle slowly on the potted hibiscus tree, a small leaf fell and touched my lips before it landed on the hand rail...reminded me of the Nat King Cole song..."A Blossom Fell" and touched two lips that lied...it's no lie!!

For me, personally, I have no qualms about the Christmas Season Decor showing up in the shops/malls before Thanksgiving. Why not? Afterall, the boutiques, stores, shops, malls are there for us to enjoy the ambiance many-a-times, and they ARE there for one purpose; to bring in revenue. So, I say why not?   If you were in the shoes of retailers, you'd be doing the very same!!  I tend to have an open mind, I don't shut the door to thinking this is not right, to those who disagree, I have two words...Bah Humbug. In fact, since it's just the two of us at home now, we actually don't BUY, buy, buy...we just enjoy the festive surroundings and the hustle and bustle of the city shoppers. Anyway, the day we walked the mall for exercise, it was a cloudy, gloomy sorta day, and seeing all the bright, sparkling lights and the colossal tree in the very center corridor, my spirits were lifted.  The child in me was in awe.

PS...this is my last post for the upcoming week. Today, before I begin preparing for the special day Thursday next week, I will try and catch up on my visitors from yesterday, here in Blogville.  I don't plan on returning to my blogging schedule 'til Monday...after Thanksgiving.  I will, tho, have a pre-scheduled Birding Photo Link Tool set up for those birders that frequent my Photo Blog...so, if you're missin' me a bit...then, stop by to view the birds I've seen recently. . . at "I'd Rather B Birdin'"...or, if the link just provided doesn't work...it can also be found on my sidebar.  Erik is coming to be with us several days while his classes at the university are on holiday break. We expect to help him grade term test papers and have fun being together...over eating...playing games...and going on a few day trips close by. So, to all my American visitors, have a safe, blessed holiday. Enjoy the turkey and all the fixin's. Everyone else...have a great week ahead. See you in December. 

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