In this excerpt from the work "The Two JRB's Tour Guide of Val Verde and Coahuila",
our tourguides Dr. John Romulus Brinkley and Judge Roy Bean talk about
"They say this system of irrigation is America's "Second-oldest
continuously operating irrigation system using canals and water gates that run
through lands once owned by a family named Losoya" or something like that.
They enabled the Gringo side of the creek, called South Del Rio, to become lush
and shady with lawns, giant trees of many tropic and sub-tropic species, flowers,
and the coolness that comes from damp ground in an arid land of dry winds."
Judge Bean stops scraping from under his thumbnail
with his three inch wide Bowie knife. "Tain't like that in San Felipe."
"No, this San Felipe creek once ran through
town like the Berlin Wall, separating the ostentatious wealth of Mohair Goat
Ranching families bilking the government out of subsidies to not produce wool,
contrasting that with the east side of the creek wher the hispanic po;ulation
lived in cute but tiny homes on dusty streets."
"Shee-oot! Yankees! They's just not from
around here, tha’s all. Tain't nothin' wrong with a yard of limestone rock,
caliche, prickly pear, and a couple of strategically placed horse-crippler cactus."
GRINER STREET Floating Doorway
"Yes, and a couple of broken wagons to add
balance to the leaning chicken coops, ay Judge? San Felipe retains much of
it's pedestrian charm even though the culture has moved on to the automobile.
South Del Rio became even more lush over the years; Griner Street just a block
west of South Main Street, looks like a storybook residential area, with little
bridges crossing the canal to get to the front door. Many residences added
decorative whimsical stand-alone doorways without walls."
"Ya want whimsy? I'll give ya whimsy. Sit
out in your yard at night and watch the fallin' stars. Try that in a yard full'a
trees!"
"Residents pay a fee every year, and city
crews shunt the water around town; opening, closing, and clearing the sticks
and debri which accumulate in the water gates, so residents can occasionally
flood the entire lawn and really soak it."
"I'd say the city was really soakin' the residents,
that's what I'd say."
"So say it. I agree with you. We're just
quibbling about the price. I can afford it. Until the city accepts rocks for
payments, you're plumb out of luck, Judge."
"I oughta plumb you with
a couple o' these here rocks…"
Del Rio’s
Dog-proof Trashcans
Judge Bean
has foggy recollection about these unique trashcans. "There was this man,
see, here in Del Rio, and he hears back in the fifties I think it was dat that
they's looking for a new trash pickup way, national-wise, so he's got this idea
a' puttin' big steel fifty-gallon oil drums on pipes see, fer plumbing-type
pipes, so they swivel when a dog tries ta look for som'thin' ta eat, jump up
in der an, you know. Well, when there is garbage guys comes they tips the garbage
into these, uh, transport carts, or containers er som'thin', an' wheel it lickety-squeek
over to the dump truck. So he builds a couple trashcans for display, builds
'em for his neighbors and what-not, gets some friends to help him, and here
Del Rio folks support him, so's they be puttin' these Dog-Proof Trashcans up,
dat's what they call 'em, Dog-Proof, all over Del Rio and he's just as happy,
smilin' as can be, but then the National Government or somebody, some stinkin'
know-it-all prob'ly wid a college edge-you-cajun, decides he don't like the
Dog-proof way and goes with these other methods, like Plastic Trashbags, big
ugly black color or 'Luminum lookin' Plastic Trashbags so they can keep the
oil men happy I bet, so nowadays you got a big dumptruck where these guys ride
along and jump off at every house to haul the Plastic Trashbags to the truck
instead of using the transport cart like dey was a-plannin' before. So this
Dog-Proof trashcan idea sort of didn't take off here Nationally and make him
a rich man, but eveybody still uses them around here, in Del Rio and all over
Texas I reckon, least of all I seen 'em in San Antonio just t'other day. We
loves thems here. You don't see dogs gettin' into garbage much round these parts,
if ya know what I mean. Look at that purty little bird jes a hunkered down on
the rim there. What says I can pick him off with one shot?""
This excerpt from the work "The
Two JRB's Tour Guide of Val Verde and Coahuila", where
the ghosts of "Doctor" Brinkley and
Judge Roy Bean lead us around West Texas and
Mexico for some great Coahuilan desert snorkeling, might soon be released as part of a publication on CD-ROM and hardcover coffee
table book, both with high-resolution multi-media, sound, photographs,
and artwork.
Contact System Administrator
for more information.
All content and images Copyright © 2002 Mark Plimsoll. All rights reserved.