Thursday, May 04, 2006

Texas Ranch Show

I watched the Texas Ranch Show on our local PBS channel. And I was very disappointed. It was supposed to be a reenactment of how a family would act during the 1800's if they had just bought and moved into a small ranch in Texas. Well it just goes to show you how unprepared the people of this century would be if they suddenly found their selves trying to exist in a land of no electricity, cars, running water, or all the other modern conviences of today.
On top of that I don't think any of them (especially the women) had done any research into what they would be doing, and what it would be like. The training they got must have been just the bare minimum.
It was unbelievable to me that the women would seem so lazy as to leave their dishes unwashed with that many flies around. They should have been washing them as soon as they were used and if it had been me I would have been out there making sure that there was no animal poop near the house. I would have found something to kill flies with. I could have made some kind of a fly swatter. A rolled up piece of paper, a piece of cheesecloth streached over a wooden frame.
Even worse was the fact that, although they grew a decent garden they didn't harvest and use any of the vegies. They let food rot when they had that many people to feed. And if they weren't going to use it part of it could have gone to the pigs, goats, even horses.
And the men back in the 1800's would have never treated women like those cowboys were doing. It would have been unthinkable, and if they had they would have been run off.
I can't believe that Rancher Cook was unwilling to ransom his cowhand from the Indians. That was unheard of - unless he was your worst enemy.
I'm sure I will make enemies by writing this but maybe it was all that disappointing. Just depressing that these people, who didn't seem as if they really cared about making a go of the experience were the ones chosen for it.

1 comment:

  1. I've watched a few of those types of shows and they just annoy me. The "pilgrim" ladies threw off their caps and staged a protest and the entire village refused to go to church. On the "neolithic" show, they all got food poisoning when they couldn't figure out how to cook a chicken. (News flash, Neoliths: cut it up and put the little bits on skewers-- it'll cook all the way through, no problem!)

    I think they pick dumb folks for these shows so the people who watch can feel smart or smug.

    I like your blog-- I'm a relatively new reader, but my extended family lives in ABQ and parts south, with my dad in Bosque. Elfego Baca is in my family tree, as is one of OƱate's lieutenants. Lots of family history in NM!

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