i have a hat i call my girl catcher . girls in texas , and i guess elsewhere, always fall for guys wearing a cowboy hat. i also had an ols work hat, cowboy hat , been wearing it for 19 years , dirty , hat band rotted away, all grungy and nasty looking. i really loved that hat.
im heading out to the bar , i take off my old hat put it on the desk and put on my girl catcher. gone to the bar for dinner.
come back a couple hours later, hang my girl catcher on the nail and go to bed., next morning i go to put on my work hat and cant find it. over the next few days a spend a few hours looking for the hat , it nowhere to be found. im starting to think maybe somebody came in my house and stole it. i have suspictions but no proof. i have been fighting with xgf for some time now and im thinking maaybe she would just cuz she knows how i love that old greasy hat.
a week or so goes by, i have a date , im on my way out to the date and decide i better get my penis pump ready just in case the new date wants to come to the farm. i open the desk drawer and no pump, its gone . the first thing out of my mouth was ,,that fing bitch ,, cuz i knew the xgf had taken the hat and the pump. as i was cussing i also had to laugh , dont ever think i thought she wasnt smart . lol , she had over a barrel now.
i went to the date, and took her antiuque shaopping instead of asking her to the farm. i also canceled 2 other dates as it was on friday and no way to replace the pump till monday or tuesday. i bet the xgf still luaghs about that.
kind of like when she contacted me with a different id and a pic of her sister, made a date with me 30 miles away, then drove by to see me sitting , waiting for the date that was really her . lol gotta give her credit, that was a classic. i should have known better. hell ive been on yahoo mesenger for over 10 years and i thought this was my first date from there . lol, silly me
Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
500 dollar dog
one afternoon i came out of my house and heard my neighhbour, larry , talking to a woman in the yard. she was crying and carrying on about how she had lost her little dog . he sneaked out of the house and ran off, just a mile up the road. she was really upset and said shed pay 500 bucks to anyone who found him. jokeingly i said, hell for 500 bucks ill find him ,, she said yes do it and ill give 500.
i had no intention of looking for the dog and just wanted to get away for all the camotion she was causeing. i turned to walk away and as i turned i saw somethimg move in the field across the street. i pointed, said ,500 bucks , there he is. and sure enough here comes the little dog looking for his mama. i guess he heard all the camotion and recognised her voice. anyway the lady was all haapy to see her dog and started crying and called her daughter who rushed over to the siene and they all carried on like it was the second comeing.
i turned to walk away and as i did i told larry, get the check and ill split it with you, then jumped in my truck and got out of there . sometime later i returned home and larry met me in the yard and gave me half of the 500 bucks. i couldnt beleave she had payed, but i guess she was so happy to get her dog back,, ooo well, easy money :) and happy lady.
good nite blog :)
i had no intention of looking for the dog and just wanted to get away for all the camotion she was causeing. i turned to walk away and as i turned i saw somethimg move in the field across the street. i pointed, said ,500 bucks , there he is. and sure enough here comes the little dog looking for his mama. i guess he heard all the camotion and recognised her voice. anyway the lady was all haapy to see her dog and started crying and called her daughter who rushed over to the siene and they all carried on like it was the second comeing.
i turned to walk away and as i did i told larry, get the check and ill split it with you, then jumped in my truck and got out of there . sometime later i returned home and larry met me in the yard and gave me half of the 500 bucks. i couldnt beleave she had payed, but i guess she was so happy to get her dog back,, ooo well, easy money :) and happy lady.
good nite blog :)
single again
well i guess it no secret that im single again. have been for about 3 mobths now. had a little fight with the gf and it was over.
seems its not really bad being alone anymore. most of the time im a pretty happy camper. have lots of things to do on the farm to keep me busy and most of it i really enjoy.
still miss the female company of course and would be nice to find the right gal just to share life with. its nice to share the simple things that happen everyday.
dont seem to have much stress or deprestion in my life these days. retired, dont have to work, have good income from the farm rentals to do whatever i want to do. i just built a new cabin to rent out , got it all finished and rented now have that much more income.
the goats always seemed to be a big expence and of course always waiting for the profit from goat sales, but i dont think there ever was any real profit. i lived off of it for several years but mostly it was just an expence with not much return.
so i now have 12 goats and one pig, just enough to keep things interesting :) lots of grass and all the animals are fat.
been doing dinner at the brick strret taveren in town last few weeks. a internet date took me that one night and it sseemed like a nice place so i been going back ever since. i just have dinner and hang out for awhile befor i leave , sometimes run into people i know. good to see them and sometime spend a little time. i dont do any booze , the alcohol would ruin my diet , and mostly just dont want to drink anymore. would be fine with me if i never had another hangover. guess i havent been drinking for 10 years or so now. and dont miss it one dam bit . must admit i did have a lot of good times drinkin, but i think people dont seem to remember all the bad times drinking, the many nights sitting alone in the bar till closeing , then trieing to figure out how in hell to get home without driveing or ending up in jail.
seems its not really bad being alone anymore. most of the time im a pretty happy camper. have lots of things to do on the farm to keep me busy and most of it i really enjoy.
still miss the female company of course and would be nice to find the right gal just to share life with. its nice to share the simple things that happen everyday.
dont seem to have much stress or deprestion in my life these days. retired, dont have to work, have good income from the farm rentals to do whatever i want to do. i just built a new cabin to rent out , got it all finished and rented now have that much more income.
the goats always seemed to be a big expence and of course always waiting for the profit from goat sales, but i dont think there ever was any real profit. i lived off of it for several years but mostly it was just an expence with not much return.
so i now have 12 goats and one pig, just enough to keep things interesting :) lots of grass and all the animals are fat.
been doing dinner at the brick strret taveren in town last few weeks. a internet date took me that one night and it sseemed like a nice place so i been going back ever since. i just have dinner and hang out for awhile befor i leave , sometimes run into people i know. good to see them and sometime spend a little time. i dont do any booze , the alcohol would ruin my diet , and mostly just dont want to drink anymore. would be fine with me if i never had another hangover. guess i havent been drinking for 10 years or so now. and dont miss it one dam bit . must admit i did have a lot of good times drinkin, but i think people dont seem to remember all the bad times drinking, the many nights sitting alone in the bar till closeing , then trieing to figure out how in hell to get home without driveing or ending up in jail.
here i sit
what can i say :)
all pastures rented out, renter moveing from house , will find another. colected his check today, he doesnt know it yet . hes waiting for the bank to cclose before he pays me. doesnt know i already got the money from the bank.
so all is well in valley view.
couple days ago i lit a fire to clean fence line , called the sheriff to ley them know i was burning. 10 minutes later i heard sirenes. thought well shit here comes the fire department.
wrong . some guy was shot bye the cops on his motor cycle, heard he stole it. then he ran off in the woods. took a few hours to find him. i heard helicopter looking for him. some say the guy killed somebody in pineer valley, other say he just stole the motor cycle.
all pastures rented out, renter moveing from house , will find another. colected his check today, he doesnt know it yet . hes waiting for the bank to cclose before he pays me. doesnt know i already got the money from the bank.
so all is well in valley view.
couple days ago i lit a fire to clean fence line , called the sheriff to ley them know i was burning. 10 minutes later i heard sirenes. thought well shit here comes the fire department.
wrong . some guy was shot bye the cops on his motor cycle, heard he stole it. then he ran off in the woods. took a few hours to find him. i heard helicopter looking for him. some say the guy killed somebody in pineer valley, other say he just stole the motor cycle.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
front page story
i put a classified add in the local paper to rent out one of my cabins. lyles cabin :)
before the ad came out in the paper i got a call from ohio, rodger said he was comeing to gainesville for a new job and was looking for a place to stay. couple days later rodger shows up at the farm to check out lyles cabin, as he was looking it over he told me how impressed he was with the way i had rebuilt this old rv into a pretty nice little cabin. he seemed so impressed with my building( which i thought was no big deal) i told him he should go bye and see my brick horsehead at the ranch. he did
it turned out the job rodger had come to fill in gainesville was the editor of the gainesville Daily Register, out local daily newspaper. couple days later he send a repeorter out to interview me and they put the story on the front page of the sunday paper . ill try to attachthe story here, if i can figure how:)
Related Photos
Bricklayer John Groves, above, relaxes in the grass with his Great Pyrenees, Bebé, and Hampshire pig, Oreo. Groves built the brick horse head, below, at E.T. “Ernie” Chrustawka’s Par 3 Ranch near Interstate 35 in Gainesville. The horse head, completed in 1981, is the iconic centerpiece at the ranch entrance. Staff photo by Delania Trigg
Brick Horse Staff photo by Jim Perry
Guest Book
Sign Our Guest Book
January 22, 2012
The Brick Artist
Designs just happened for bricklayer
By Delania Trigg, Register Staff Writer Gainesville Daily Register
Cooke County —
The unassuming artisan also built one of the county’s most recognizable landmarks — the 30-foot brick horse head at the Par 3 Ranch on Interstate 35.
Groves came to Cooke County from Canada in 1981 to complete the project for his friend and ranch owner E.T. “Ernie” Chrustawka.
“When he bought the ranch he said he wanted to build something that would attract attention from the highway,” Groves said.
When he became a bricklayer, Groves said he wasn’t planning to hone his skills for artistic endeavors.
“I wanted to be a bricklayer to make a living,” Groves said. “I’ve been laying bricks all my life. I taught myself. I never had an apprenticeship or anything. I just started doing it myself and I learned the hard way.”
He was living Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta when Chrustawka approached him about building an elaborate entry for his Par 3 Ranch in Texas.
“I was in Canada at the time and Ernie said he’d be back in Edmonton in a few weeks,” he said. Chrustawka asked his friend to come up with a design for the ranch.
“Ernie said, ‘I don’t know what I need but just think about something,’” Groves said. “A couple of days later I woke my wife up in the middle of the night and I said, ‘I know what I’m gonna do.”
Meanwhile, Chrustawka had ideas of his own.
“When Ernie came back to Edmonton, I met him at his place and he was all excited because he had this big plan — this big blue print he’d had drawn up at the university in Denton of this real fancy entryway and he said, ‘Look at this, John. Look what we can build.’ ”
“I looked at his plan and I said, ‘Well, that’s pretty nice ... I guess you wouldn’t be interested in my idea.’ and he said, ‘Well, what is it?’ ”
Groves pulled out his drawing of a horse head. He’d sketched it on the back of a business card.
“I showed him the plan and said, ‘We build this out of brick.’ It was the horse head. He looked at me and said, ‘Can you do that?’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’”
Groves admits he had no idea how he’d build the centerpiece, but Chrustawka had faith in his friend’s vision.
“He took that blueprint from the university, and he tore it in half,” Groves said, laughing softly. “And then we came to Texas and built the horse head.”
Groves started with a steel I-beam armature to support the horse’s neck and facial features.
The 30-foot structure contains approximately 8,000 antique bricks which Groves said were salvaged from a Chicago fire.
He and a team of laborers built the horse head in approximately 20, 12-hour days.
Groves said it’s no accident the horse head resembles a chess piece.
“Ernie’s company at that time was Check Mate Quarter horses,” Groves said.
The entire presentation is designed to resemble a chess board including pawns and a rook.
Groves later duplicated his creation at a Ponca City, Okla., apartment complex.
He said he never intended to stay in Texas but liked the temperate climate. In the early 1990s he and his wife Kathy settled on a rural Cooke County ranch where they turned a weathered 1950s-era barn into a 4,000 square foot dream home.
“It was just an empty barn ... it was falling apart,” Groves said. “When we moved in we had to put plastic tents up because the roof leaked so bad and then we built the house from the inside out.”
Like most things Groves builds, the house is stunning.
It has soaring ceilings, a kitchen trimmed in rough-hewn timber, a massive stone fireplace and a handcrafted wagon wheel chandelier.
Now retired, he leases land to local livestock producers and maintains a small herd of goats.
His pets are a Great Pyrenees named Bebé, and a Hampshire pig named Oreo.
Groves said he doesn’t mind the brutal Texas summers. Working in 100-plus temperatures beats the cruel Canadian winters, he said.
“My son is a journeyman bricklayer [in Canada], and he's working in 20 or 30 degree weather right now,” Groves said. “The heat here is nothing compared to that cold.”
His magnum opus may be the distinctive brick horse head that stands near I-35, although Groves said he built the structure with little more than intuition and hard-won experience.
“There was no plan,” he said. “We just built it as we went along.”
Text Only
Local News
Bricklayer John Groves, above, relaxes in the grass with his Great Pyrenees, Bebé, and Hampshire pig, Oreo. Groves built the brick horse head, below, at E.T. “Ernie” Chrustawka’s Par 3 Ranch near Interstate 35 in Gainesville. The horse head, completed in 1981, is the iconic centerpiece at the ranch entrance.
The Brick Artist
Cooke County resident John Groves learned his craft the hard way — brick by brick.
January 22, 20122 Photos
holly shit i think it worked, but no pics
before the ad came out in the paper i got a call from ohio, rodger said he was comeing to gainesville for a new job and was looking for a place to stay. couple days later rodger shows up at the farm to check out lyles cabin, as he was looking it over he told me how impressed he was with the way i had rebuilt this old rv into a pretty nice little cabin. he seemed so impressed with my building( which i thought was no big deal) i told him he should go bye and see my brick horsehead at the ranch. he did
it turned out the job rodger had come to fill in gainesville was the editor of the gainesville Daily Register, out local daily newspaper. couple days later he send a repeorter out to interview me and they put the story on the front page of the sunday paper . ill try to attachthe story here, if i can figure how:)
Related Photos
Bricklayer John Groves, above, relaxes in the grass with his Great Pyrenees, Bebé, and Hampshire pig, Oreo. Groves built the brick horse head, below, at E.T. “Ernie” Chrustawka’s Par 3 Ranch near Interstate 35 in Gainesville. The horse head, completed in 1981, is the iconic centerpiece at the ranch entrance. Staff photo by Delania Trigg
Brick Horse Staff photo by Jim Perry
Guest Book
Sign Our Guest Book
January 22, 2012
The Brick Artist
Designs just happened for bricklayer
By Delania Trigg, Register Staff Writer Gainesville Daily Register
Cooke County —
The unassuming artisan also built one of the county’s most recognizable landmarks — the 30-foot brick horse head at the Par 3 Ranch on Interstate 35.
Groves came to Cooke County from Canada in 1981 to complete the project for his friend and ranch owner E.T. “Ernie” Chrustawka.
“When he bought the ranch he said he wanted to build something that would attract attention from the highway,” Groves said.
When he became a bricklayer, Groves said he wasn’t planning to hone his skills for artistic endeavors.
“I wanted to be a bricklayer to make a living,” Groves said. “I’ve been laying bricks all my life. I taught myself. I never had an apprenticeship or anything. I just started doing it myself and I learned the hard way.”
He was living Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta when Chrustawka approached him about building an elaborate entry for his Par 3 Ranch in Texas.
“I was in Canada at the time and Ernie said he’d be back in Edmonton in a few weeks,” he said. Chrustawka asked his friend to come up with a design for the ranch.
“Ernie said, ‘I don’t know what I need but just think about something,’” Groves said. “A couple of days later I woke my wife up in the middle of the night and I said, ‘I know what I’m gonna do.”
Meanwhile, Chrustawka had ideas of his own.
“When Ernie came back to Edmonton, I met him at his place and he was all excited because he had this big plan — this big blue print he’d had drawn up at the university in Denton of this real fancy entryway and he said, ‘Look at this, John. Look what we can build.’ ”
“I looked at his plan and I said, ‘Well, that’s pretty nice ... I guess you wouldn’t be interested in my idea.’ and he said, ‘Well, what is it?’ ”
Groves pulled out his drawing of a horse head. He’d sketched it on the back of a business card.
“I showed him the plan and said, ‘We build this out of brick.’ It was the horse head. He looked at me and said, ‘Can you do that?’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’”
Groves admits he had no idea how he’d build the centerpiece, but Chrustawka had faith in his friend’s vision.
“He took that blueprint from the university, and he tore it in half,” Groves said, laughing softly. “And then we came to Texas and built the horse head.”
Groves started with a steel I-beam armature to support the horse’s neck and facial features.
The 30-foot structure contains approximately 8,000 antique bricks which Groves said were salvaged from a Chicago fire.
He and a team of laborers built the horse head in approximately 20, 12-hour days.
Groves said it’s no accident the horse head resembles a chess piece.
“Ernie’s company at that time was Check Mate Quarter horses,” Groves said.
The entire presentation is designed to resemble a chess board including pawns and a rook.
Groves later duplicated his creation at a Ponca City, Okla., apartment complex.
He said he never intended to stay in Texas but liked the temperate climate. In the early 1990s he and his wife Kathy settled on a rural Cooke County ranch where they turned a weathered 1950s-era barn into a 4,000 square foot dream home.
“It was just an empty barn ... it was falling apart,” Groves said. “When we moved in we had to put plastic tents up because the roof leaked so bad and then we built the house from the inside out.”
Like most things Groves builds, the house is stunning.
It has soaring ceilings, a kitchen trimmed in rough-hewn timber, a massive stone fireplace and a handcrafted wagon wheel chandelier.
Now retired, he leases land to local livestock producers and maintains a small herd of goats.
His pets are a Great Pyrenees named Bebé, and a Hampshire pig named Oreo.
Groves said he doesn’t mind the brutal Texas summers. Working in 100-plus temperatures beats the cruel Canadian winters, he said.
“My son is a journeyman bricklayer [in Canada], and he's working in 20 or 30 degree weather right now,” Groves said. “The heat here is nothing compared to that cold.”
His magnum opus may be the distinctive brick horse head that stands near I-35, although Groves said he built the structure with little more than intuition and hard-won experience.
“There was no plan,” he said. “We just built it as we went along.”
Text Only
Local News
Bricklayer John Groves, above, relaxes in the grass with his Great Pyrenees, Bebé, and Hampshire pig, Oreo. Groves built the brick horse head, below, at E.T. “Ernie” Chrustawka’s Par 3 Ranch near Interstate 35 in Gainesville. The horse head, completed in 1981, is the iconic centerpiece at the ranch entrance.
The Brick Artist
Cooke County resident John Groves learned his craft the hard way — brick by brick.
January 22, 20122 Photos
holly shit i think it worked, but no pics
im back
well is been awhile since ive been here, i guess most of a year.
here i am alone again on the farm.
spent 3 of the most peacefull, and exciting years of my life with bernie. sadly she is gone now , liveing with her family in east texas. shes been gone 6 0r 8 months now.
had a ggod ole gal for awhile after that , untill she got a little silly and wanted to fight more than love :) that ended after 6 months or so and now im back here on line doin my thing again. ole forest gump was right, life is like a box of cocolates ,, never know what you gonna get .
had a date friday , had a date saterday , got a date today , just wish i could figure out what in hell theses gals want. just aint no tellin.
had a date at a downtown bar , met for lunch , the lunch was so good i go back there most days to eat :) . no booze , just eat and then leave , sometimes meet people i know ,, nice to see them again.
sometimes see how i used to act when i was a drunk , lol , all seems pretty foolish now. man, i wasted a lot of my life in those bars, but i guess it wasnt really a waste , i enjoyed it back then. kind of funny i dont think about all the lonely hours i spent there by myself ... mostly just remember the good times.
meeting a rental custmer in a couple of hours , sounds like she wants to rent the last 2 pastures i have avalible . that will make a good start for my day
guess i didnt ell you bout the new rental cabin i build over the last few mobths. got tired of spending all my money on goats with not much return so i sold most of the goats and started spending the money on a new cabin , just finished it and got it rented out yesterday. thats another 700 bucks a month income :)
guess i didnt tell you i retired either, the econame kind of went to hell so it was either work for half price or quit. i quit , now makeing enough money off the farm and enjoying the hell out of retirement
ooooooooooooo and i had a day of fame ,,lol,,,,, remember that horsehead i built back in 81 :) the local newspaper did a front page story on it. wow , that was great , i little late for advertiseing, 32 years after the fact , but its never to late for a great ego trip . rodger, i thank you :)
here i am alone again on the farm.
spent 3 of the most peacefull, and exciting years of my life with bernie. sadly she is gone now , liveing with her family in east texas. shes been gone 6 0r 8 months now.
had a ggod ole gal for awhile after that , untill she got a little silly and wanted to fight more than love :) that ended after 6 months or so and now im back here on line doin my thing again. ole forest gump was right, life is like a box of cocolates ,, never know what you gonna get .
had a date friday , had a date saterday , got a date today , just wish i could figure out what in hell theses gals want. just aint no tellin.
had a date at a downtown bar , met for lunch , the lunch was so good i go back there most days to eat :) . no booze , just eat and then leave , sometimes meet people i know ,, nice to see them again.
sometimes see how i used to act when i was a drunk , lol , all seems pretty foolish now. man, i wasted a lot of my life in those bars, but i guess it wasnt really a waste , i enjoyed it back then. kind of funny i dont think about all the lonely hours i spent there by myself ... mostly just remember the good times.
meeting a rental custmer in a couple of hours , sounds like she wants to rent the last 2 pastures i have avalible . that will make a good start for my day
guess i didnt ell you bout the new rental cabin i build over the last few mobths. got tired of spending all my money on goats with not much return so i sold most of the goats and started spending the money on a new cabin , just finished it and got it rented out yesterday. thats another 700 bucks a month income :)
guess i didnt tell you i retired either, the econame kind of went to hell so it was either work for half price or quit. i quit , now makeing enough money off the farm and enjoying the hell out of retirement
ooooooooooooo and i had a day of fame ,,lol,,,,, remember that horsehead i built back in 81 :) the local newspaper did a front page story on it. wow , that was great , i little late for advertiseing, 32 years after the fact , but its never to late for a great ego trip . rodger, i thank you :)
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