THE COWBOY CORNER EDITION 13 VOL.1

Ranch Stories

Sam And Mary's 30th Anniversary

 Mary and Sam married in the summer of 1994. Only a few years later, the two of them moved into the ranch house where they would live until the present. The two have strived together as a team with the dream of creating a successful Texas ranch built on the legacy of American ranching. If you haven't picked up on it in my past newsletters, this is one of the country's most demanding and underappreciated jobs. They don't do it for fame or piles of cash but for the legacy of their family and the connection to the land.

The mission for the weekend was to throw an epic anniversary bash. This included inviting a ton of people, loading up the coolers, and, of course, a ton of food, particularly beef. It was a time of celebration, and when we celebrate, we celebrate hard. We had over 30 pounds of tomahawks all cooking on Sam's new smoker, a smoker so big that it was converted into a trailer. I also have to give a shout-out to the Mac and Cheese Aaron and Faith made, which was cooked on the smoker. Let me tell you that there is nothing better than an excellent smokey Mac and Cheese.

I made a Jeopardy game in which the parents duked it out with their daughters. Here are the categories for a little insight into our game and family: Donald Trump Trivia, Harrell Ranch Trivia, Family, Conspire Theories, and Saying & Nicknames. During final Jeopardy, the parents overtook the kids for the win. Everyone knew the answer about the new Buc-ees being built in Amarillo but with both teams all in on their cash the parents were able to sneak out a win.

Overall, we had a wonderful time, enjoying the view of the canyon on our porch while digging into some amazing steak. We are all so proud of Sam and Mary and all they have done to accomplish so much. We are so grateful to have them as the heads of our family and look forward to another 30 years full of laughter, love, hard work, and of course, beef! 

Ranch Task

Flying Videos

A few months ago, I embarked on a huge endeavor, at least one that turned out to be a lot bigger than I had thought. With the intention of making more videos for the ranch, I decided to get my commercial drone license. This would enable us to get beautiful shots of the animals, the landscapes, the farm equipment, and much more.

I initially didn't think getting my drone license would be all that hard.  Boy, was I wrong!  The more I dug into the drone textbook for the required test, the more I was astounded by the wealth of data. In fact, there was a lot of information that would be on a normal pilot's test. For instance, one has to learn how to read sectional charts–which is how pilots determine airspace–as well as learning flight patterns and how runways work.

In the end, I was able to pass my drone examination with flying colors, but it took hours of studying. I have already been producing footage with the drone, and this is all leading up to a very exciting project I am working on. You can expect an amazing surprise coming to TriTails this August (and we'll let you know very soon!). In the meantime, you can see an example of our drone video on our new YouTube channel. Keep in mind that everything is in a test phase, but in the near future, you can expect videos to be released bi-weekly on YouTube.