tomorrow cav and i head to the ranch. the pletcher ranch. in 1960, my dad's dad bought around 1500 acres of beautiful wild hill country land and lived off it (quite well i might add), using it as a deer lease to hunters. before that he and my grammar and their two youngest children, karen and zale (my dad) lived in leakey, texas. i only need mention garner state park and you know where leakey is. (for my dad, i must stress that leakey is pronounced "lake-ee") after he purchased the ranch, he moved his family out there and spent years walking every square inch of the place and putting up handmade fences and deer blinds. fences of "bob wire" (!) and blinds that consisted of a few pieces of wood in a tree. he also built a small lake near their house. i recently discovered that this lake is actually on maps and is listed as "pfletcher lake." it's like the mapmakers weren't sure if it was pletcher or fletcher, so they settled on both.
now, i'm sure this was quite the shock for my poor dad and his sister, having to move from the big metropolis that is leakey to five miles off the main highway on the ranch. five miles may not sound like much, but hey - they just paved it (parts of it, not all of it) a few years back. then of course there were bumper gates every mile that are now rotting cattle guards. (note: i believe my next post will be an investigation of how to actually USE a bump gate.)
fast forward a bit to the important part…when zale and his young pretty wife welcomed their daughter bethanie into the world. my first experience on this ranch was from within the womb.
aunt karen (my dad's sister), bonita the horse, my dad zale,
and my mom cathy, expectant with yours truly
to be continued…
I love this. Brings back wonderful memories- the first time your dad took me to
ReplyDeletethe ranch, the first time I sat in a deer blind, and when you were about 3 months
old, we moved to the ranch for a while. I can't wait to read more of your
memories.