Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is almost here again, and people all over the country will be getting together tomorrow with family and friends to celebrate this uniquely American holiday.  No matter what our race, religion, or political persuasion, we all use the day to pause, count our blessings, and give thanks for the many good things we enjoy in this land of ours.

As always, the central event of the day is Thanksgiving Dinner, which involves turkey and dressing, along with the other familiar Thanksgiving dishes--giblet gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and others. Some of the dishes go all the way back to the pilgrims’ original Thanksgiving dinner, although certain modifications, such as Cajun-style turkey deep-fried in peanut oil, are more recent. In any case, the main idea is to have good food and plenty of it so that no one leaves the table wishing for more. Americans eat more food on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year.

Another long-held Thanksgiving tradition is football, which goes all the way back to 1876, shortly after the game’s invention. That was the year that Yale and Princeton began an annual tradition of playing on Thanksgiving, primarily because it was a day that most people had off from work.

Today, the games we watch are played by the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys on television, and both games are long-standing traditions. The Lions' game that day goes back to the 1930s when their owner contracted with NBC to carry its Thanksgiving games nationally on the radio. In 1966, the Dallas Cowboys began Thanksgiving games because no other NFL teams were hosting TV games on that day.

There were a couple of years in the 1970s when the Cardinals hosted the Thanksgiving game, but they were not a good TV draw because they weren’t a good team. So, in 1978 the NFL commissioner asked Dallas, a perennial contender at the time, to resume hosting the game, which they did on condition that they host it forevermore.

So, since 1978, “America’s Team” and the Detroit Lions have always played on Thanksgiving with the Lions' game first followed by the Cowboys. Also, since 2006, when Thursday Night Football was introduced, there has been a third NFL game on TV that evening.

This year’s games are Bears-Lions at 11:30am, Bills-Cowboys at 3:30pm, and Saints-Falcons at 7:20pm. Go, Cowboys!

Here’s wishing you all a great day tomorrow, but remember to get plenty of rest tomorrow night so you’ll be full of energy and ready to go when you wake up on Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

--o--

DOWN MEMORY LANE: THANKSGIVING & THE RAT RACE

Editor’s note: I ran a version of the following in the Hard Times back in 2013, so some of you have already read it, but a Thanksgiving never goes by without my recalling how we observed the day when I was a boy, and I’m guessing the same is true for several other “old boys” who read this blog. So, I’ve decided to run it again today for them and also for any others who may be interested. For doubters about what you read, I can only say that I am not making up any of this. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who ever went on one of these outings.

Since that first Thanksgiving feast shared by the Pilgrims and Indians in New England, the holiday has been observed in many ways, but if you were a boy growing up in Roscoe in the 1950’s or 1960’s, you may well have been involved in a yearly Thanksgiving ritual that was celebrated in a way like no other I ever heard of.

The Roscoe Boys Club had an annual Thanksgiving Feast, usually held on a little creek on a ranch not far from Maryneal. Each boy who participated, and there were usually about twenty or twenty-five who did, was instructed to bring a dish from home—potato salad, pie, cobbler, cake, cranberry salad, macaroni and cheese, green beans, potato chips, sweet potatoes—anything except the turkey and dressing, which was furnished by the Boys Club and prepared by the local Steak House. Boys Club director George Parks would make up a huge steel vat of lemonade made with fresh-squeezed lemons and pour in Welch’s grape juice from quart bottles. The squeezed lemon rinds would be thrown into the vat for flavor, and the top of the lemonade was covered with crushed ice and floating lemon rinds.

All the boys would meet at the Roscoe Times office at about nine or nine-thirty on Thanksgiving morning and go out to the ranch in a borrowed school bus, arriving at the creek around ten. Time between then and feast time was taken up with games, explorations up the creek, and shenanigans of one sort or another—like stripping off all our clothes and running around “in the raw” as we called it.

Then, when it was time to eat, the food would be brought out and set up on rock ledges. Boys would get a paper plate, line up, and fill their plates with everything that looked good to them. They would then go sit on a rock somewhere and start eating. There was always glory for the boys who could eat the most. But everybody ate two or three times as much as normal, especially since there was always an abundance of dessert, and the time after the meal was punctuated by the moans of those who had gorged themselves, that is, the majority of the boys. Nothing happened for at least a half hour while everyone lay on rocks and tried to recover, but then as stomachs started feeling better, activity would once again start up. Now it was time for the Rat Race, the highlight of the day.

The Rat Race was a kind of initiation ceremony. Boys who had run the Rat Race on a previous Thanksgiving were the throwers, and boys making the trip for the first time were the rats, the runners. First, a nice grassy expanse was located, one which could be run on barefooted without hurting the feet. This was always somewhere down by the creek. Then, all the half-lemon rinds in the lemonade vat would be distributed to the throwers. There would generally be enough rinds for every thrower to have two or three.

The hapless victims, the runners, would then strip down completely naked. This in itself could be harsh, especially in those years when Thanksgiving happened during a cold spell with a sharp north wind. In the meantime, the throwers with their lemon rinds arranged themselves in a long line running parallel to the creek. The runners, who were at one end of the line, waited their turn to “run the gauntlet” between the creek and the throwers.

When George said, “Go,” the one whose turn it was took off running as fast as he could past the line of about twenty howling boys, who pelted him with the lemon rinds as hard as they could throw them as he went running by. When he got to the end of the line, he jumped into the creek for a quick, cold wash-off because he would be covered with the sticky lemonade juice that came from his pelting. Throwers then retrieved their lemon rinds, lined up again, and yelled out threats and taunts at the next victim until George set him off and the pelting resumed.

This process was repeated until every rat had run. The only rules for the throwers were that you couldn’t throw until the boy was even with or past you—and that you couldn’t aim for the head. Backs, sides, and butts were the acceptable targets, and a hard-thrown half-lemon rind could raise a welt, especially when thrown by some of the older boys. The only mercy shown was to the littlest boys who bravely endured the ordeal. Everyone else was pelted unmercifully. The only solace for the runner, often through held-back tears, was that once he had run the Rat Race, he never had to do it again. Instead, he could look forward to being one of the throwers the following year and forever thereafter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

--o--

PLOWGIRLS LOSE A CLOSE ONE TO POST 32-29

Despite being handicapped by injuries, the Plowgirls played Post down to the wire before losing 32-29 in Post Monday evening. Playing at times with three freshmen and two sophomores, they still managed to lead 25-23 at the end of three quarters before losing by three in the fourth. Shauna McCambridge had a big night rebounding with 16 total rebounds, 6 offensive and 10 defensive.

Scores by quarters:
Post                    13        18        23        32
Plowgirls            6         14        25        29

Indiviual Plowgirl scoring: Mia Lavalais 8, Shauna McCambridge 6, Kaylea Perez 6, Cameron Greenwood 5, Riley Sheridan 3, Layla Herrera 1.

The Plowgirl Junior Varsity beat Post’s JV team 24-23 to remain undefeated. Victoria Martinez had 20 points and Malieja Munn 4.

The Plowgirls are off for the rest of the week for Thanksgiving and will resume play next Tuesday, December 3, with Jayton in Jayton.

--o--

ANSON TOPS PLOWBOYS 55-25

The Plowboys fell to the Tigers in Anson Monday evening 55-25.

Scores by quarters:
Anson              14        24        39        55
Plowboys          5          8         16        25

Individual Plowboy scoring: Ryan Highsmith 6, Zachary Parrott 4, Antonio Aguayo 4, Vidal Aguayo 4, Brayan Medina 3, Hunter Anglin 2, Tristan Baker 1, Junior Martinez 1.

The Plowboys are off the rest of the week for Thanksgiving. They will resume play next Tuesday with Jayton in Jayton.

--o--

CENTRAL ROLLING PLAINS CO-OP GIN REPORT

Central Rolling Plains Co-op Gin.

 As of yesterday afternoon, Roscoe’s Central Rolling Plains Co-op Gin had produced 31,380 bales of cotton from this year’s crop.

Gin manager Larry Black believes they are about half done with the ginning and will make somewhere around 60,000 bales of cotton this year. The 12-year average (since 2007) for annual bales from the gin is 63,024, so this year’s crop is shaping up to be just about average.

--o--

FOOD BANK GIVES FOOD AT COMMUNITY CENTER

The Food Bank yesterday afternoon.

The Food Bank of West Central Texas was at the Community Center yesterday giving away free food. They will be returning again sometime soon with more. So far, they have distributed over 6400 pounds of food, which is free to anyone who needs it. 

Yesterday they were distributing hams, tomatoes, carrots, bananas, breads, and desserts. The Food Bank works out of Abilene and serves 13 Big Country counties.

Their slogan is “We can end hunger one helping at a time.” The phone number is 325-695-6311, and the web page is at fbwct.org. They also have a Facebook page.

--o--

TRASH PICKUP ON FRIDAY THIS WEEK

City Hall wants to remind Roscoe residents that trash trucks will not be operating on Thanksgiving Day but will instead pick up trash on Friday. Please inform those who might not be aware of this change in the normal schedule.

City Hall will also be closed for Thanksgiving both Thursday and Friday. For questions, contact City Hall at 325-766-3871.

--o--

WEATHER REPORT: MOSTLY NICE

Monday's sunset.

The weather was varied this past week, but most of the time it was nice, and some of the time it was very nice—at least up until yesterday afternoon when a strong west wind blew in with sustained speeds of 35mph and gusts up to 40mph and more. The wind blew up enough dust to color the sky a dull brown.

Temperatures were cool on Friday, when the high never got over 45°F and we got a little rain, but Saturday was nice with 62° and the following three days all had afternoon highs in the seventies, 73° on Sunday, and 71° Monday and yesterday. Lows were in the thirties and forties.

That all changed beginning with the high west wind and dust storm yesterday, and temperatures will definitely be cooler today and tomorrow. Today will be increasingly overcast with a high of 46° anf a 50% chance of rain this afternoon increasing to 90% tonight. Tomorrow will be more of the same with an east wind and a high of 47° with a 70% chance of rain. Friday will be windier and warmer with a high of 70° and blustery south winds of 20-30mph and clouds along with a 50% chance of rain. Saturday will be windy with sunny skies and a high of 61°, and Sunday and Monday will be similar to Saturday as we move into December.

--o--