Cooking for cowboys and hunters who became friends..(changed the post title)

Friday began a whole lot better than the day before.  We made a little toast to the weather gods last night, so maybe the wind event will be all over with.  It was still pretty nippy, and it was really noticeable when you tried to get dressed around 4 am and before there was any fire in the stove.  Once the stove was warmed up the tent became nice and toasty.  We again provided burritos and empanadas as requested, and the hunters took them on the run since they missed their early morning start yesterday.  Lunch was leftover brisket sandwiches and homemade cookies. What was especially fun was working with Glenn and Skip doing all the stuff getting ready for the meals.  There is a tremendous amount of work involved but in the end it was worth it just hanging out in such an environment. 

Notice the coffee pots have a bungee strap to keep the lids on and already mentioned was the use of the horseshoes.

However, we weren’t thinking it was so much fun when we spent about 2 ½ hours picking up everything that had blown away.  We collected everything that was scattered and clinging to every creosote bush for 100 yards.  The biggest mess was that the wind had managed to neatly take a couple of rolls of paper towels and carefully separated each one and placed them in a separate bush.  Most of the heavy stuff like Dutch ovens, didn’t go very far, but things like gloves, jackets, coffee pots, towels, enamel pans, and the like were scattered here and yon. Skip found both of his heavy gloves hanging on a nearby fence. 

Glenn Benson, Eddie Goynes, Rusty Reed,  and Bump Williams inspect a buck.

After the lunch was over and we had a little time to relax we needed to go to the sheep pens to fill up our water barrels from Wayne Sutton’s tanks, but first we put a pot of beans on for supper.  He wasn’t especially interested in us using his water because it is so difficult to come by.  He has the water piped in from somewhere.  Lord only knows where because there aren’t any windmills to be seen in close proximity to this camp.  So we got only what we needed plus we felt that it would be advantageous to use a little extra to try and somewhat take a bath using a hose from the enclosed tank.  Try and consider how cold that water was.  The daily temps were usually hanging around the mid to high 30’s.  The sunshine was nice but the water was damn cold. I am sure the hunters were glad that their cooks were somewhat more hygienically presentable than they had been the last two days. While we were at the sheep pens a couple of the hunters brought in a nice mule deer and hung him to be gutted and skinned.  Skip was interested in preserving the skin for a Native American friend of his who had asked him to bring him one if the chance presented itself.  Skip busied himself getting the skin real clean and rolled it.  There was no fear of it spoiling before we got it home because of the temperatures. 

Skip says.....Ahhhh, a little time to relax.

Once the water supply was restocked we headed over to the camp and began preparations for supper. Tonight’s meal was to be enchiladas, frijoles, tostadas, pico de gallo, lettuce & tomato salad, followed by sopapillas and honey for dessert.  It goes without saying that there was always coffee on the fire.  We joined the boys around the fire pit for a while and joined in on the hunting stories of the day and swapped a few lies with the best, then took an early leave and went to bed about 9 pm.

He puts jalopenos in everything...this time...onions.

Saturday was a pretty good day.  We started off giving the hunters breakfast by 5:30 am so they could get to their site before the deer got there.  After breakfast, Skip and I took off on a hike towards the Rio Grande. We found an “alien” trash site of a flashlight, plastic bottle, clothes, jacket, and some condoms.  Go figure that one out.  Anyway the stuff had been there a while.  This is some pretty rough country to be hoofing it through.  I guess it happens all the time because the main road is well used all the way to the river with a lot of trash.

 

Rusty, the outfitter is telling everyone "how the cow ate the cabbage".  No one seems to be over whelmed.

Mesquite grilled hamburgers.

Lunch was hamburgers and French fries and a pineapple upside down cake. After lunch we were able to sit outside in the sun and read a while.  The temperature was somewhere in the 30’s but quite pleasant in the sunshine.  A person doesn’t get much time to relax so it wasn’t long before Glenn started making the salad while I prepared the two inch rib eye steaks (prime) that Eddie Goynes purchased.  I was a bit concerned that it would be a fiasco if the rib eye steaks weren’t done to perfection because, after all, these were prime cuts of meat and very expensive.  Glenn finally came up with a way to rig a grill and a way to cover the steaks to conserve the heat.  He pulled it off really well and the steaks were perfect. We served them with baked potatoes, green beans, and tossed salad and made a  Banana Creme Pie for dessert.

 

I think Glenn is correct....you really can put jalapenos in anything.

Hummm as I recall, along about this time it starts to get colder....................to be continued....

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