Antelope Creek - My Disney World posted 6/27/2008 12:49:28 PM | 5 kudos what's this?     report abuse

SaintBacon

I'm a townie. Living in the small city were I was born. However, I come from rural stock. Dad grew up on a Kansas dirt farm and Mom a Texas cattle ranch. So the rural life is in my blood...along with a variety of cereal malt beverages!

Enter Antelope Creek. It's a small 205 acre farm owned by a good friend that I've know for 35 years. A typical farm it is not. Rog has most of it in pasture and hay meadow. He runs about 35 head of cattle. And I use the word cattle in the technical sense. They are most certainly bovines...but they are also pets. Most of them have names and most will come right up to you wanting to be scratched and petted. Friendly for sure, but it can be a bit annoying at times, because an 1800 pound cow can be VERY insistent when she wants her head massage! You can't exactly tell her no or ignore her. To do so is to risk being head-butted into the creek!

Rog works the place alone and also manages to run a thrift store in town, as well as working for the county farm office. So sometimes the management duties of the farm are left to his dog Mike. Which is okay, Mike is a hell of a dog. He has a reputation of being the best bear dog in Kansas. When informed that there are no bears in Kansas, Rog will tell the naysayer - "Yeah, well Mike's doin' a helluva job, ain't he"? Mike

Antelope Creek is especially important to me as I have carte blanche priviledges there. When I get sick of "city life", I pack up my truck and drive the 20 miles of gravel and dirt roads to this little slice of heaven.

To say that Rog and Antelope Creek life is laid-back wouldn't begin to describe how stress free the atmosphere is in this oasis. Rog is a bachelor. He answers only to himself, his dog Mike, his cows, cats and a few assorted chickens and ducks. If you can't relax at Antelope Creek...then you must be wound too damn tight! Hell, dedicated speed freaks would switch to 'ludes after 5 minutes at Rog's. I've seen deer on the run, jump the fence into one of Rog's pastures and suddenly stop...pull up a seat and have a smoke before ambling back off into the woods. Yeah...it's laid back alright...

Boots muddy? Don't bother taking them off before walking into the house...the chickens prefer a little earth to scratch around in! Yeah, I said chickens. In Rog's house, EVERYONE is welcome! The house is a veritable treasure trove of STUFF. Old stuff, new stuff, good stuff, not so good stuff...it's all there. His fish tank is filled with water from the creek . Which is handy, because that's were the fish came from too. At first I thought he had them in there as a convenience when he didn't have time to fish for dinner. Nope...he just needed to have someone to talk to when Mike was out fighting with coyotes.

When I go out to Antelope Creek it's because I like vacationing in a different dimension. AC is definitely that! It also lets me touch bases with my rural / farming heritage. I help out working the cattle (which means I pet them a lot). I assist Rog in running new fence, moving bales of hay, working on one of his 50+ year old tractors (no sense investing in new equipment when you have baling wire a plenty), clear brush and any number of other chores.

But mostly I just go to relax. Sitting on the back porch with a glass of homemade elderberry wine, a dog at my feet...and yeah, maybe a chicken or two, and just let the southerly breeze caress my face while the stresses in my life take to wind and magically head..well, someplace else.

Cause when you are Antelope Creek, your cares are few, the company is friendly and the cows like to have their ears scratched....

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Blogs by SaintBacon: Piglet Memories - Tails from the Sty Random Grunts and Squeals One Pathetic Pig Return to Antelope Creek Antelope Creek - My Disney World A Pig in a Poke A Girl Down the Street - Part 2 A Girl Down the Street I Don't Think These Genes Fit The Art of Creative Procuremnt - Part 2 St. Sneaky or The Art of Creative Procurement - Part 1 My Hand Jive