6th Annual Mock Thanksgiving

This weekend we celebrated our 6th Annual Mock Thanksgiving at Ashley's Ranch in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Each fall friends gather for some fun, food, and fellowship just before Thanksgiving. The weekend is packed with hunting, fishing, jeep rides, skeet shooting, Ashley's great cooking, chillin' by the fire pit and more.

Ashley and I left Austin about 4:30 Thursday afternoon and headed toward Fredericksburg to meet up with Brett, Wally, and Misty. After a quick trip to HEB we joined them at Hondo's for a quick bite before heading to the ranch. We made it to Hidden Valley Ranch by 9pm and we were oh so glad to have some extra helpers to help unload the suburban. Wally and Brett made a nice fire as we waited around for the rest of the crew. Charlotte, Kirk, Keri, MC, and Ben rolled in about midnight after leaving Fort Worth at about 7. We all settled in quickly and assumed our usual positions. But, things did progress quickly and it seems that Keri and Char had been ruffied by their Ruffino vino. Hmmmm.


The Friday morning sun brought us a few aches and pains, but Ash was quickly there with her cure all breakfast....oh and one or two bloody mary's can't hurt either. That afternoon we packed up the jeeps and headed out to Antelope Ridge for some skeet shooting and lunch. Most of us spent the next few hours drinking beer, shooting skeet, eating chili, and enjoying the beautiful day...while a few of the crew crashed on the couch in an attempt to recover from being ruffied. Our resident pregnant person was quite the trooper as she supervised our day drinking....of course, she is our day drinking mentor. The hunters took to their blinds by 4 that afternoon and the rest of us headed back the the Lodge for a little refreshing (cocktails, naps, showers). Ash came back that night having shot a pig with her bow, but she couldn't track the sucker through the hills and brush. Friday night we enjoyed a great dinner and we once again assumed our positions around the fire. Friday night somehow went south for our dear friend Kirk. Somehow the kid got overserved and headed in to hit the hay at a decent hour. Turns out hitting the hay wasn't the only thing he hit....after jumping on the bed (yes, that's what I said), Kirk fell and hit his head on the window of the 4th floor and broke the glass. Classic. After waking Nurse Misty to ensure that Kirk was in fact normal (or as normal as he could actually be), we put him safely to bed.


Saturday was another beautiful day in the hill country. After the hunters had returned we enjoyed some of Ashley's famous breakfast casserole. After breakfast we packed the jeeps and divided the group....the girls set out for a jeep cruise and some pistolry and the boys hit the pond for some fishing. We all met up again at Antelope Ridge for a late lunch and some more skeet shooting. The hunters again took to the blinds late that afternoon and the rest of us headed back to the Lodge to prepare our annual Mock Thanksgiving dinner...complete with turkey and all the trimmings. While preparing dinner we were thrilled to see that Ben had shot himself a nice 12 point buck and Brett had shot himself a sick ass piggie. After many ohhhhs and ahhhs Ben (with the help of Crazy Uncle Wally) "field" dressed the buck while the girls (and Kirk) finished dinner.

As usual, we "dressed" for dinner, and that night we gave thanks for great friends and our many blessings over a wonderful dinner prepared by our favorite chef....Ash! After dinner we played Wally's favorite get to know you game and recapped our weekend of fun.


So sad for Sunday to roll around. :( We packed (ok, I supervised) the cars and cleaned up the house before we all said our goodbyes and we hit the road. Mock Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. Thanks to Ashley for having us, cooking for us, and planning a great weekend.

Here are a few of our quotes from the weekend:
I'm a little concerned about how this is all gonna come together. – Wally
I was like swamp ass all the way to Granbury. – Wally
I forgot I'm a guy for a minute. – Kirk
She shouldn't have been so fertile. – Ben
I think you should go to Brazil….I can remember that better. – Kirk
She just chunked it up in there. - Kirk
He loves the balls out of me. – Wally
Do you know how hard it is to manage the iPod, hold my drink, and hold your pistol? – Leigh
I checked out the workbench. – Wally
I would have rode off into the sunset with that pink bitch. – Kirk
I just visualize a big wad of gay. – Misty
What are we gonna do with a kid? – (pregnant) MC
Wasn’t that phase 1? – Leigh
I think I got ruffied. – Char
Ker….what’s going on with your sideburns? – Wally
That’s one crafty little sucker. – Kirk
I like the wife I have. – Wally
I’m sorry…I have to say…you look like crap right now. – Ash
It’s all sprees all the time. – Kirk
They’re Reeboks….oh but they say Addidas. – Kirk
It's not in the wallet...it's just in the fold. - Ben
I’m sensitive to matters of the heart and I don’t cheat at parlor games. – Wally (I know I didn’t get that one exactly right Wally)
Good point. – Kirk
What….hmmm? - Kirk

Other things I've learned from this weekend...
You might not want to take fashion advise from the October 2006 In Style.
Kirk is the most likely to fall through a window.
MC is a champ.
You can't beat Chuy's crack.
You can get ruffied from one bottle of wine.
Eating jelly bellies in excess can cause the shakes.
Kirk never changes.
Just because you have the biggest beef jerky, doesn't mean you have the tastiest beef jerky.
Pigs smell like crap.
Bobby and Bobby Ray rule!
That black buck is a crafty little sucker... but he is on borrowed time.
You might now want to take a full cocktail when trying to track down a dead pig.
Keri is the most likely to poll dance (or at least Wally hopes so).
Pellet ice rules!

Brett may sell a billion dollars worth of yard bird.
The Ranch is a judge free zone!
What happens at the ranch never ever stays at the ranch.

Check out the rest of my pics from the weekend.