Red Neck Saturday Nights

We worked the fund raiser Truck and Tractor pull two Saturdays ago for the Fire Department again this year and I am still in awe over the laid back life we have come to enjoy. Folks brought pies and baked goods to sell and the Auxillery barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs while those of us who are firemen worked the gates and groomed the track. Its loud, its dusty, the young guys all drive their pickups and have the regulation uniform of a well worn seed cap or cowboy hat, short hair, jeans, and a pearl button shirt (and about half the time missing the sleeves). The young girls we all dressed up like they were going to a dance and smelled good while the older folks mostly wore bib overalls or work clothes.

There are varied brackets ranging from "run what ya brung" to pro stock and they have everything from blown gas 4x4s to diesel 4x2s and of course my favorite...tractors. Its like drag racing but you pull a weighted sled that progressively offers more resistence and they are going for distance of the coveted "full pull". These are mostly farm or ranch type folks who do their own wrenching and its a lot of fun for everyone...some of the little kids knew all the drivers, what their stats were and the whole works. You are only feet away from the action, it is loud as all get out, and you can walk around the pits and talk to the drivers and mechanics who are all local people anyway. To sum it up...its a hoot.

This was my favorite truck of the bunch, absolutely beautiful truck with a big block 454 that sounded like what you would think a big block with a radical cam and straight headers would sound like.

Unfortunately he broke a drive shaft shortly after I took this picture and he didnt place.

This tractor and owner doesnt live too far from us and he is a perennial winner.

Lots of extremely clean 80s and 90s Chevy's and Fords but Dodge was only represented in the Diesel category.

They weigh the trucks to determine the resistance on the track and put them into the right bracket (I dont actually understand it). This guy had a turned up headers and a blower.....awesome truck.

The show went on until about 2300 and it was really entertaining when it got dark...noise, flames, dirt flying....

And this is my favorite tractor. The detailing and work that goes into these is impressive to a gear head like me...

And for a change of pace, just a couple of pictures of some produce. Our garden is doing well but the weather has us off to a late start and we arent really harvesting much yet. We do have tonnes of grapes this year and these are Concords and sweet as sugar.

Our onions are getting huge..partly because we learned you have to pick off the scrapes (flower buds) so the plant puts more energy into the bulb.

Our 43 tomato plants all have tomatoes and are doing great. This year we are watering by running the water along the irrigation channels between the rows instead of overhead watering which seems to be working great and we hope it helps eliminate or reduce leaf blight and blossem end rot

We have about 7 different types of peppers already producing, everything from Jalepenos to Thai chilies to banana peppers.

And we will be awash in Tomatillos which we like for cooking our favorite Mexican and South American dishes.

Now last night (Saturday) our big night out was to a benefit Spaghetti supper at the senior center where they were trying to raise money to fix some termite damage. Good food, lots of nice people, a family sang some gospel and country songs and if you wanted to experience the distillation of small town Americana this was it.... but they kept thinking I was over 55 and wanted me to join the center....hmmphf.