Country Gal by Vanita Blundell---- 8-01-06

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell---- 8-01-06
The old saying that you can never go back home. This is so true even if you do not go far away. When I was a kid we had a tree about ¾ of a mile from the house, by a small creek that we called the ‘picnic tree’. I would take a walk or go on horseback with a small picnic- I packed Miracle Whip with green olives sandwiches and if I was lucky I would have a Pepsi. My favorite time to go was after a rain and the water would run down the gyp and make little waterfalls. I thought it was just beautiful just like the waterfalls in Colorado. Actually, it was nothing like the falls in Colorado. But I had never been there so I had nothing to compare it to. But it was still pretty and unique. Under the tree it was gyp and very little grass. I would spread out a cloth and sit down and open my sack to see what Mom had put in it. I thought that I was really living. Sometimes if I walked Mom would go with me and we would look at the creek and collect some rocks. Now the ‘picnic tree’ is gone and the creek is almost dried up. There is a little water but not much. Now I am going to have to move the cattle out or start hauling water. This pasture is a little rugged and you can see large pieces of rock that have fallen off the overhangs it is mostly gyp. I always wondered if it fell all at once or if it fell slowly and how much noise did it make. Kind of like the saying, if a tree fell in the forest and no one was there to hear it does it still make a sound? Jim and I were out checking things out and there was this huge rock that we both thought would be neat to have I our back yard. The trick would be to get it loaded and hauled home. The boulder is probably better off where it is. You can look and see how the pastures are continually changing.
Keeping the changing of the pastures in mind I, have some family who think that they know where some buried treasure might be. It was in the late 1800’s that a gold shipment was lost and some think that they might know where it is. I do not think that after over 100 years that the landmarks are even close to being the same. The land has changed not only in looks but with owners as well. But it might be fun to look for it.