#nucla

[jacobvanloon]

Nucla’s Prairie Dog Problem

Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper, 9x12”

2019

[mrtuckerlane]

Nucla Invitational, Senior Year

My soon-to-be college wrestling coach came all the way to Nucla to meet my family the week of the Nucla Invitational my senior year.  It was a nice gesture on his part; I had already signed, so his presence had no influence on the recruiting process.

I am sure he had never been to a place like Nucla, Colorado.  So remote, so isolated.  He got lost a couple times trying to find the high school, but eventually made it in time for the tournament.  It was really ironic: he traveled all that distance, went to all that effort to watch one of the top recruits in the nation wrestle in one of the easiest high school wrestling tournaments.  There were only two other HWTs in my bracket.  I didn’t know it at the time, but the Nucla Invitational was one of the last times in my life I would cakewalk my way through a wrestling tournament.  Even though I recorded two falls and was a senior wrestling at home for just the fourth time in my high school career, Stryker won the outstanding wrestler award.

After the tournament, we brought him home with us for dinner.  My parents had hosted many college coaches over the past several months and were excited to finally meet and get to know the head coach of the program I had chosen.

He did his best to fit in, but soon found out what we all knew for a long time: a conversation with my dad is not so give-and-take—it’s more listen and agree.  Everybody sat around the table, eating their dinner as Red Dog professed his life philosophy and told the story behind every picture and trophy decorating the house.

After Red Dog had exhausted all of his rhyme and wit, he charged my new coach with a task, words so important I will never forget their momentousness.

“Coach, Tucker has been a champion ever since he stepped on a wrestling mat,” my dad explained.  “He has been dominant at all levels, all across the nation.  I have been his coach the entire time, but now you're taking over.  It's your job to make sure he continues to dominate.  Can you handle that?”

“Yeah…….yeah!  You bet!”  he replied, unsure whether to be excited or intimidated by the gravity of my dad’s statement.  We all gave a silent chuckle, smiled in acknowledgement, and finished our meal.

He left shortly thereafter, two hours away from his airport, facing the real possibility of hitting a deer or getting lost in the western-Colorado dusk.

He had signed Tucker Lane to be his HWT, but he didn't know what to think of the Lane family.

[fiberglasspoolprices-blog]

Bunny Day Sunny Day

Ever just feel the need to put text on your tumblr?  I do.  Five skins in Nucla or Shallotte have decided to make a run at potting a new Willoway Cedar in the yard.  Artistic expression will ruin the idea of a minimalist approach to their water designs. 

Just let them know that Texas Fiberglass Pool prices are very important to the residents of Houston.