ALL THE WEST NEWS FIT TO PRINT

The Southwestern Regional Rendezvous will be at a 37 acre spot along the banks of the Dead Horse Creek. The event will feature men and women dressed in costumes depicting the fur trading era between 1700 and 1840. A Rendezvous was traditionally where mountain men came down out of the mountains to an agreed on location to sell-trade their pelts for supplies, re-connect with old friends, hoot, holler and carry on... They set up primitive time period camps, dress time period and live that way for the duration of the evert. It began Wed. and will go on through March 12, and there will be 200 camps where people will be portraying various aspects of this period of time.There will be blacksmiths, mountain men, native Americans, settlers, traders, natural fur dyers, soap makers hat makers, fur traders, colonials, Scottish-Irish (Celtic influence), seamstresses, gun makers and many more.People from all over the country including Canada come to take part in the activities.This event is rotated from location to location and Aquilla was chosen for this year.Though competition is limited to the participating members, the public is invited to attend from 9am to 4:30pm, this Saturday and Sunday. Amission is $3 a person.Some of the traders set up shop and will sell period trade goods. Plus there are various types of competition like the back powder shoot with period rifles, a tomahawk and knife throwing contest, archery shoot, fire starting, etc. There will also be seminars and demonstrations during the weekend..
Now that sound slike fun.
The Purple Heart Chapter 476 plans a meeting today...RVOS Lodge 46 has scheduled a meeting and social this Sunday at Cottonwood Hall. The West Rest Haven (old farts home) is having a salad fund raiser.
The City has hired a ordinance enforcement officer..This is part time job to enforce peple to keep their yards clean, trim their trees, haul away their junk, cars, trash etc. I refer to him as the pretty police...
West Libraray is starting a Book Club..beginning in March. Hmmmm that sounds interesting.
The first ever Czech American Polka Cruise is back...The Polka Bus left Feb.6th with 57 West Czech's and met over 80 other Czech Americans at the pier in Galveston where the Carnival Cruise Lines Elation departed for the ports of Progresso and Cozumel. According to the West News the high light of the cruise was the Vaneks of West, a polka band who had the crowd yelling and screaming for more..There was a polka contest and a Czech costume contest for both men and women.They also had a Taroky Tournament.The cruise was such a success that they are organizing another one for fall.
There were 8 birthdays celebrated this week, 2 engagements, 1 birth and four deaths, including David Odens aunt Jean Oden, his Daddy's brother's wife..Plus an anniversary ..The Joe Longs celebrated their 60th anniversary..and never once in the article about them was she refered to by her name..just Mrs. Joe Long...guess after 60 years she doesn't have one...
Sad news the boy's Basketball team lost to Iowa park 69-50. Damn.But both the girls and boys weightlifting teams won the regionals.. We are also having a High School rodeo tomorrow..it begins with a Cowboy Church Service...God is big in West.
Apples are on sale at Food Mart so am going to pick some up and maybe make a pie.
I have more reasons to bitch...they put up more stop signs...think some one is making some money off of this deal.Can't drive 10 feet with out coming to a stop sign...
Jeanete Karlik's article about her Uncle Raymond who when he was 12 years old would take the interurbn to Dallas to pick up Model-T's and drive them back to West. They were paid $1.50 a trip. When she asked him about a 12 year old's drivers license, he said no one had a drivers license back then. He said he remembered paying $3 for a commercial license and it was a little button that you clipped on to your shirt.
That I think is pretty damn cool...she tells great stories about her uncles, they did what sounds like really exciting things but were just common occurances back then...One time they left West on horse back and rode to Colorado spent a few weeks and then rode back. Eeach one took $10 for the trip.
That's all the news for this week in West...going to go rake the yard before the pretty police come after me...