Pictures from hillbilly country

[Ron G.]

Last month, my 2nd oldest boy bought himself a new .357 magnum revolver. Here he is practicing with it. He can't seem to hit much, but it looks intimidating enough that he shouldn't have to.

Portra 160 NC

What happens when you pin targets to a tree and shoot it enough times? It falls down.

Portra 160NC

Here is the town near where I live. Leslie, Arkansas, population 481 or so. It's 7 miles away which is good because I don't like being too close to densly populated urban areas like that.

Fuji 400

Each year, Leslie holds a festival and here is a shot from the egg toss compettition.

Fuji 400

The whole town turns out and everyone is treated to free pinto beans and cornbread prepared by the retired sheriff.

Fuji 400

Here is a kid named Mikey. He can really eat some beans!

This is a lady sitting in a field. I don't know is she likes beans much or not. The subject didn't come up.

Fuji400

A couple of years ago, I had a goat. That same year I started 100 Roma tomato plants. When I was anticipating lots and lots of delicious tomatoes for my salsa, home made ketchup and tomato sauce, the goat ate every damned one of my seedlings.

CAUTION: cheap digital image of goat taken with cheap digital camera

The goat died of lead poisoning (see photo 1) and now resides on this wall where he poses for photographs like this one. He did make some wonderful chili!

Fuji 400

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a car show to get some shots to sell to participants and prize winners.

Portra 160NC

I made a few bucks, but the highlight was when I was standing by the prize winners line taking photos, the lady handed me a plaque. I told her I didn't have a car in the show, but she gave me the plaque, anyway. I took my plaque and went out on the parking lot to my '84 Blazer, raised the hood and had Andrew shoot this of me with my prize.

It's the first and only award I've ever won at a car show.

Fuji 400

Edited July 17, 2008 by Ron G.

[DontWorryBeHappy]

thanks ron g.!.............great pics!............great thread!...................peace.

[Rocky]

2nd oldest?

I never knew you had more kids than just Andrew.

I like the pic with the girl, but mostly because of the nicely composed shot of the scenery.

[dmiller]

Ha!! Those pics remind me of the late 1970's early 1980's, here in Duluth.

The limb leader at the time was John-Somebody-or-other (don't remember his last name now).

and he came to Duluth, and brought his pistol with him (friendly like -- don'tcha know),

to go shooting with some other folks (*twi family*) while here.

Everyone ended up on the firing range --- and one of the locals here gave his wife his magnum .45 caliber pistol (with a hair trigger), so she could target practice. As luck would have it (woops!! can I say that here??!), a mosquito, or something started buzzing around her head as she was lining up the target.

Waving the pistol in the air, trying to swat the offending insect, she swung around in a complete 360, and everyone on the practice range dropped to the ground immediately!! (Including the limb leader!!) :D

I really wish I could remember that limb leader's last name.

He was here in Minney-soda just before Duke Cl@rk.

A barrel of laughs, quality guy --- through and through!

[it's me tcat]

Great pics Ron, reminds me of when I lived in the Ozarks. Really miss the place sometimes.

And didn't your son get that gun from Texas?!?!? Looks like the one they issue with your birth certificate here.

[waterbuffalo]

Ron, lovely pictures. Your town looks like a little slice of heaven on earth.

Love the old car...sweet.

[T-Bone]

Ron, great pictures - thanks for sharing!.....That looks like a Ruger Redhawk .44 magnum Pistol...I had the same model...matter of fact, killed a goat with it [he sort of looked like the one in your other picture]. Ugh - it was a canned hunt - don't do those any more...Love the shot of you with the award - how funny they gave you that.

[George Aar]

Is the guy in the green T-shirt Snuffy Smif?

(David, that was John B*tler wasn't it?)

[Tom Strange]

great pics and stories Ron... I always enjoy hearing from my neighbor to the northeast...

[J0nny Ling0]

I liked the pic of the girl. But mostly because she looked so pretty!

[mstar1]

Excellent pics Ron--

I know youve talked about cameras over the years here, but those are of very high quality---Have you ever done any photojournalism besides this that is accessible?

In total it captures your area very well--

good stuff!

Edited July 17, 2008 by mstar1

[brideofjc]

Great to see a better pic of you Ron. Your son looks a lot like you! Must be the breeding, huh?

[Belle]

I shot a .357 and my ex's Glock .45 once - felt like I was going to break my wrist on the recoil. I'll stick with my little Kel-Tec, thank you very much. I can hit a gecko between the eyes using that one.

I never won an egg toss, but I did win a cow chip toss contest once and came in second in a watermelon seed spitting contest.

Great pics, Ron! Thanks for sharing them. :)

[Bramble]

This reminds me of the one thing I really miss about the hillbilly midwest area of the country--the gardening! We're a mile high now in the Rockies with thin topsoil and a short growing season. Sure miss the bushels of produce!

[ChasUFarley]

I felt like I'd visited your town by the time I was done with your first post - great thread. Lovely town - I love small towns and country. This gal is too in-town for her tastes - I envy you.

[Linda Z]

Ron, I love the photos of your small town and the people enjoying themselves there. I share Chas's envy.

Ahhhh, pinto beans and cornbread. My mom's from Arkansas, and she made that for us often when I was growing up. It's still one of my favorite comfort meals.

Goat meat, not so much. One night when I was maybe 5 years old, we were eating hamburgers at my grandparents' house. I was enjoying mine in blissful ignorance until my grandfather said, "Lindy, do you know what you're eating?" It was "Billy," my grandpa's little goat that I played with every day and considered a pet. It would have been really nice if he had prepared me by letting me know Billy was destined for the dinner table! It also would have been nice if he'd refrained from telling me mid-bite.

Speaking of the goat, is that goat skull really from the same goat as the living goat in the other photo? The horns are different, but can they start out straightt when a goat is young and then twist (like on the skull) as a goat gets older? Just curious.

[cheranne]

Very Nice Place

[rhino]

This is a lady sitting in a field. I don't know is she likes beans much or not. The subject didn't come up.

Nice shots Ron ... nice hills around your place ... do you have a vista view from your house?

I guess you used fill flash for that cute gal pic. That's a nice simple option even on the cheap digital cameras, and it seems to help a lot of shots when the background is brighter than the foreground.

Really nice light on that shot. I'll give you the Rhino Award for that shot. But you'll have to send 29.95 plus S&H for the plaque.

[GarthP2000]

I can think of the perfect caption for Ron's son with the .357 Magnum and the downed tree.

"Go ahead tree! Make my day!!"