Gypsies At Heart: Pioneer and Ranching Crafts Day at The Museum of South Texas History

Musuem of South Texas History

The bus from Winter Ranch took a bunch of our folks over to Edinburg for the Pioneer and Ranching Crafts Day at the Museum of South Texas History. We didn't sign up for the bus because we thought we might want to stay longer so Al and Miriam Hight and us went over in their pickup. We left a little later than the bus and arrived there about 10:30 AM. Our goal was to get there in time to see the La Joya High School Mariachi Los Coyotes Band which started at 11:00 AM. Well, we didn't know just how slow a line could go until we stood in line to get into the museum. We stood in line for an hour because they didn't have enough people there to enter the info on their computer system. None of us were too happy about that long a wait! They insisted they just had to do it on their very slow computers because they need our zip codes in their system! Well, the day didn't start out too well.

Bob and Dorothy Tesdahl Waiting In Line Ahead of Us

We finally got to the building and
look at the line to get to the door!

Had to take a picture of blue skies - it has been rainy a lot lately!

We made it to the tent before the show started but the seats were pretty full. I managed to find some by Sharon and Bill Wagner that were clear in the back and facing the side of the stage. At least we were seated though!

Richard and Donna got better seats - they came over on the bus!

Sharon and Bill - They had a few more seats by them!

LaJoya Mariachi Band

Al and Miriam - She's trying the Cowboy Bread

Judy and Jerry Blanc

The Gillette Brothers

He's playing rib bones from a steer!

The Mariachi Band was really good, however, since we've heard them in their facility with better acoustics, it wasn't as impressive as it could have been. The highlight of the day for us was the next group under the tent. They were the Gillette Brothers who do traditional cowboy music and poetry. They live on a ranch that has been in their family for over a hundred years and the cowboy music and poetry is something they grew up with. They were really entertaining. They played a variety of instruments: banjos, guitars, kazoos, and a tambourine that was played with a foot. The real hoot was that the also played bones from a steer. I took a video of that because we'd never seen it before and he did an excellent job. We might even attend this next year just to see this duo again.

There were tons of things to eat and try at the event. We tried cowboy bread which didn't thrill any of us very much. It was dry and flat and not much taste. It was made in the bottom of a Dutch Oven. Obviously, cowboys weren't concerned with taste! We also tried the Mexican chili and cornbread. The chili lacked taste. I thought it might be too spicy but it was exceptionally unspiced. It even lacked salt! With a little salt and a bit of paprika and chili powder, it would have really been good. The corn bread was excellent though. It was moist and tasted as if it were sweetened with honey.

I guess they call this event Pioneer & Ranching Crafts Days because they had demonstrations of every type of craft from horsehair braiding and Crow Hook Stitching to leather working and butter churning. We tried some of the butter on some home made bread and it was excellent. We also tasted some Mexican Hot Chocolate and really liked it. It had cinnamon in it.

Mean Looking Hombre

Food

More Food

Native American Musical Instruments

Pelts

Wood Working

Tepee

Inside Tepee

Explaining the Breast Plate

I'm right between North and South!

Spinning

Carding Wool

Mosasaur Skeleton Replica

Lots of Handwork

Lee Trying Mexican Hot Chocolate

Candles and Soaps

Mexican Trinkets

These Mexican Goodies Were shaped
just like my Mom's Periogies

Corn Husk Art

After we all walked around the museum for awhile, we decided that we would go out and get a real lunch since we just tasted stuff here and there. We stopped at Rudy's BBQ. Rudy's is a gas station, convenience store sort of place with a BBQ joint attached. We've heard rave reviews on the place so we had to try it. Since we were new, we tried the beef brisket and the turkey BBQ. Those tasted good but Lee and I ended up ordering pork ribs. They were dry rubbed and pretty good. I was going to add some BBQ sauce to it until I had a small taste of the Sissy Sause (that's their spelling). It was way too hot for us. We skipped the sauce because the dry rub gave it enough flavor. The place is not a linen napkin kind of place. You sit at picnic tables and get plastic silverware and some parchment paper for a plate! I'm glad we went once but it won't be somewhere we frequent constantly!