The Legendary Joel Chisum

I had a rare opportunity to visit my oldest brother and his family (most of them) in Colorado last week. You met his oldest daughter, Katy, in my previous post. He has two others that are just as beautiful and talented and amazing. But this post isn't about them, it's about him. My oldest brother, Joel.

People have told him his entire life that he was just a younger version of our dad,

but I've always seen my mom in him, too. He has her blue eyes, for sure. Really fantastic.

Well, legend has it that Joel and I got off to a rough start. He was 13 when I was born and really wanted/needed a new saddle that summer. Instead, he got a baby sister. We've come a long way since then. Here we are at our Grandmother's 90th birthday last year (before I cut my hair off.)As is tradition when I visit Joel's house, we did chores. He must have been tired, because this was the easiest chore we've tackled in a while. Last time we (along with our brother, Jeff aka Skip) loaded many bales of hay into his truck. The time before that, we tried out his new chainsaw on Thanksgiving Day and cut firewood for a few hours. This time, we all loaded up in his non-Toyota SUV and checked the water levels in the ponds. My job was to take pictures of cattle.

Not really, but I did it any way.

After that exhausting task, Joel cooked dinner. We picked anaheim peppers, squash and green tomotoes from the garden (one of the few things I miss about living in the country).

May I introduce you to Joel Chisum's Famous Beef Stirfry:

Where's the beef, you ask? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) It's getting all tender and yummy on the bottom in a sweet balsamic vinegar marinade. The man's got real talent.

This random photo is brought to you by Fiesta Dinnerware (because I LOVE my sister-in-law's dish collection.)

The next day I joined Joel at work. We drove around in his non-Toyota SUV listening to Celtic music (because his current obsession in Tim O'Brien's bouzouki) and 'looking for fat cows.' Other guys got around the old-fashioned way. Too bad for this cowboy because he didn't get to listen to bouzouki music.

It was lunchtime for these guys. They are from Mexico. They have cool hides.Joel calls this bunch The Golden Girls. Hee hee. They are from Canada, though, not Florida.

We named this guy Buddah.

And, one of my favorite shots of the day:

Thanks for a great 24 hours, Chisum-style. I'll never forget it.