Peppy's Now Open on Main Street

Peppy's at 210 Main Street.

Peppy’s, a new business on the corner of Main and Third Street, just across from Vickie’s Gifts, is now open and selling Mexican imports, Southwestern pottery, and other items.

Owned and run by Eddie and Minnie Castro, it is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00am to 5:00pm or so. 

Some of the merchandise is outside and some inside.  Items for sale include chairs, pottery, ironwork, wall hangings, patio and garden décor, aluminum lampposts, bird feeders, birdbaths, and other odd and assorted products.

Their phone number is 325-766-3356.

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PLOWBOY CENTER BRINGS IN PORTABLE BUILDINGS, BEGINS CONSTRUCTION ON SITE-BUILT ROOMS

The Plowboy Center at 1000 W. Broadway.

The Plowboy Center, across from the Community Center on 1000 Broadway and owned by Tom and Max (Maxine) Watt, is making some new additions. 

There is now a small office along with an Ulrich Log Cabin, a portable home that they are using as a display for those who might be looking for something like it or something similar with a different size or options.  They will be selling such homes as well as other buildings produced by the same company such as offices, hunting lodges, storage and commercial buildings. 

The cabin is also available to rent for overnight use or small get-togethers.  Max says it is furnished with everything but a suitcase.  She also says to remember that it’s a “Bed and Breakfast” where you make your own bed and breakfast.

Behind the cabin, construction has begun on three “Rent-a-Rooms,” separate site-built rooms with either two queen beds or one queen bed with a sitting area, a kitchenette and eating area, a loft for storage, a bath with closets, and a covered patio for outdoor use.  These should be completed and ready to rent by late April or early May.

Plowboy Center also offers 14 10’x20’ storage units—Lock and Leave Storage—and includes a three-bedroom home that serves as a part-time residence for the owners.
 
For more information, contact Max Watt at 575-799-0812, or e-mail max@isellclovis.com.

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CROP OUTLOOK FOR 2013 NOT GOOD, SAYS "INJUN ROBERT"

The fire at dawn showed a wind from the southwest.

Using an ancient Indian method of foretelling the prospects for the coming year’s crop, “Injun Robert” McBride has lit the fire and done the dance, and the result is not pretty.  This year’s southwest wind at dawn on the day after the beginning of spring has forecast a below-average crop.

Those who were reading the Roscoe Hard Times this time last year will recall a couple of articles about “Injun George” Parks, who every year on March 22 used to go out into the country and light a fire shortly before dawn.  Then, as the sun came up, he would throw something on the fire to create a lot of smoke, and the direction of the wind at that moment would foretell the prospects for the coming year’s crops.

This ritual was an annual custom of the Plains Indians long before the white man came.  Known in the Comanche language as Taba’na Yuan’e or the “Sunrise Wind” ceremony, it was observed around 1880 by a Mr. Crim, who was in charge of the mule teams used in building the T&P railway across west Texas.  While in the Van Horn area on the morning of March 22, he noticed puffs of smoke coming from all the Indian huts in sight.  He asked what was going on and was told that the Indians were seeing what kinds of crops they would have that year by building a fire just before dawn and then, as the sun appeared, observing which direction the wind blew the smoke.  This was always done on the morning after the first day of spring. 

If the wind that carried the smoke upward was from the east or northeast, crops would be plentiful. A north or northwest wind foretold average yields, a west wind was bad, a southwest wind worse, and a south wind the worst of all. 

In the early 1970s “Injun George” learned of the ceremony, which was still being performed annually in Muleshoe by old Mr. Crim’s son, referred to by the locals there as “Injun John.”  “Injun George” found out the particulars from “Injun John” and replicated them here for many years until shortly before his death in 1983.  In addition to observing the smoke, “Injun George” added a rain dance around the fire in hopes that the dance would lessen the effects of a bad forecast and increase those of a good one.

Last year, “Injun Robert” McBride revived the practice in Roscoe, and the prediction turned out to be an accurate one.  On dawn of the day after the onset of spring, the wind was from the northwest, forecasting an average crop—and that’s just what we got. 

Let’s hope that “Injun Robert’s” rain dance around the fire will improve the prospects for something better than the inferior crop forecast by this year’s southwest wind.  

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AN OPEN LETTER FROM ROSCOE COLLEGIATE ISD SUPERINTENDENT KIM ALEXANDER

Monday, March 25, 2013

Dear Parents and Community Members:

Roscoe Collegiate ISD is excited to be a member of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium (The Consortium).  After an application process, the Texas Commissioner of Education announced in September 2012 that our district would join 22 other districts from across the state of Texas to develop high priority learning standards, meaningful assessments and a community-based accountability system that is not over-reliant on high-stakes testing.

The Consortium is charged with making a number of recommendations to the governor, legislature and commissioner of education that will be designed to make the schools stronger so that our students are prepared to succeed in post-secondary education settings and the workforce.

We are committed to providing you with all of the information, resources, and updates necessary to keep you apprised of the work of the Consortium.  On the link provided, http://texashpsc.org, you will find a Consortium Overview, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), reports related to the Consortium, Consortium Members’ School Districts, and legislation associated with the Consortium.  As more information becomes available, we will share it by means of this webpage.

Thank you for your support in our district’s effort to create student-centered, future-ready schools.  I look forward to the innovative work of the Consortium and this first step in our continued partnership with the legislature to provide a better, brighter future for the public school students of Texas.

Sincerely,

Kim Alexander, Ed.D
Superintendent of Schools

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PLOWBOYS, HORNETS COMPETE AT COTTONWOOD CREEK RELAYS IN ROBY

Several Roscoe and Highland athletes did well at the Cottonwood Creek Relays last weekend in Roby.  The boys competed against a field of eight teams and the girls against a field of ten.  

Shelton Toliver finished second in the high jump with a leap of 5’10”, followed by Jacob Richburg of Highland with 5’6”.

Michael Hyde of Highland was first in the pole vault with a vault of 10’6” followed by Dillon Freeman’s 8’6”.
 
Sheldon Hall of Highland won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:03 and was third in the 400 meter dash with a time of 53.36.

Roscoe was second in the 1600 meter relay with a time of 3:43.

On the girls’ side, Amber Craig was third in the 3200 meter run (15:21), while Kelsi Johns of Highland won the 800 meter race (2:38:57).  Beth Richburg of Highland won the 100 meter hurdles (17.2), finishing just ahead of Plowgirl Olivia Saddler (17.21).

Lora Stewart of Highland was second in the 400 meters (1:08.02), and Beth Richburg of Highland was second in the 300 meter hurdles (51.2).

The Lady Hornets’ 1600 meter relay team finished first (4:36.59) while the Plowgirls were second (4:41.31). 

In the Hamlin Piper Relays the previous weekend Plowboy Jesus Leanos was third in the 3200 meter run (10:57.54)

The Plowboys travel to Aspermont on Friday to compete in the Double Mountain Track Meet.

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McVEY’S NATIVE NURSERY FEATURED IN ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS ARTICLE ON MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

In case you missed it, last Thursday, March 21, the Abilene Reporter-News ran an interesting article by Big Country Journal writer Ronald Erdrich, who interviewed Regina McVey of McVey’s Native Nursery in Roscoe about Monarch butterflies and the native west Texas plants they prefer.  

The article can be accessed online by clicking here.

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WEATHER REPORT

There was ice in the birdbath three mornings in a row.

As I mentioned last week, spring has officially arrived.  And it’s true that the buzzards are back and so are the robins, both sure signs of spring.  But it certainly didn’t feel like spring for much of this past week with the mercury dropping below freezing for three nights running—with the low of 25°F coming on Monday morning and with highs of only 50° and 51° on Sunday and Monday.

On Friday night from 2:00 to 3:00am, there was plenty of lightning and thunder, and it sounded for certain like we were in for a big rain, but all that sound and fury produced almost nothing.  My new high-tech rain gauge registered only four-hundredths of an inch total.  Even that, though, was the most precipitation we’ve had in weeks.

The outlook for the next few days is for warmer, windier weather with highs in the seventies and lows in the fifties.  There is no rain in the forecast.

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