Mission Accomplished

I moved to Texas in 1985. I don’t recall which year we started going to the State Fair but it could have been that same year and then every year since except two. Pregnancies and Texas heat don’t mix. We met Tom the horned toad man at the fair.

He is a sculptor that makes pewter horned toad figurines. He has a lot of variety in what he sells. His figurines represent every variety of horned toad and he sells them both in pewter or hand painted. I have bought everyone he has had on offer since I met him.

One year he said come out for a visit, I’ll put you to work in my shop. It is hard to know if these offers are sincere. He repeated that offer again and again. Then my husband fell ill and eventually passed. I continued going to the fair and saw Tom. Ray came into my life and met Tom. Again, Tom made the offer.

Not too long after that we went to see Tom and he had lost a lot of weight. I asked about his health and he assured me he was great. The thought was in my head, we don’t live forever. Ray’s health hasn’t been great and mine is ok but I have my struggles. I told Ray this was the year, we were going!

We went to see Tom and made arrangements to contact him when we were on our way. We did that and set a time. We showed up at his house at the appointed time.

We got a quick tour of the living room and kitchen/dining area. He showed us some of his early work and some of his collection. It was interesting to hear that what really got his clientelle excited was the addition of a baby horned toad next to an adult.

Tom told us he had a sanctuary where he keeps convelescing lizards. He has had injured and starving that he has cared for.

He has two of these structures. Even though the weather had turned cooler one of his lizards was still out and active. My first time for seeing a real live horned toad!!

I was like a kid at Christmas giddy with excitement!

We then moved to Tom’s workshop. He walked us through the entire process explaining each step. He then put Ray to work doing the pouring steps and cleaning the pieces. He offered to let me as well but my balance isn’t the best and I didn’t want a liquid metal accident!

After working in the shop Tom took us to his office and showed us the rest of his collection. The item you see in his hand is a flute made in Mexico or Peru. It’s a hirned toad of course! Just above that is a box of chocolates he had commissioned. They had been handled a lot so we did not get a taste. Darn!

As we left we got on the topic of pinion nuts. Tom has a tree in his front yard. We got the run down on crops and harvesting and eating!

We parted company and left to resupply for our continued travel. I thought the shot below was perfect for Veterans day. You can also see the snow on the mountain.

More to come!

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