Eagle Pass – Most days, downtown Eagle Pass lands a plethora of people thanks to the town’s proximity to the border. Just a few blocks from Mexico, folks traverse between our countries bringing business to both sides. One of the most popular stops in the Lone Star State for foreigners and locals alike is Eagle Grocery. “I remember getting in trouble all the time for stealing candy, and my grandfather would say, ‘Man, look at that guy taking some more candy off the shelf,’” said Jaime Rodriguez.

Jaime hasn’t checked out on his family’s legacy. He’s keeping Eagle Grocery flying high for people who prefer the feel of a small-town market. “I grew up in this store,” said Jaime. “It was started by my grandfather in 1938, so as a little boy, we’d walk into here and this place was huge to us. We’d come in here and sweep the floors and work in the meat market. And then my parents came into the business in I would think the early ’80s, and now here we are, I’m the third generation now that’s in charge of keeping the family business up and thriving in downtown Eagle Pass.”

You’ll find South Texas staples at Eagle Grocery like chili peppers, avocados, and a massive meat market. You’ll also always find Jaime’s parents, Benjamin and Angelica Rodriguez, still working the floor. “Both my parents are 80 years old and they still come to work every morning and they’re here all day long, Monday through Sunday,” said Jaime. “So they’ve set the bar high for someone like myself and especially for someone like my son who grew up in these technology ages. So a lot of times they’re the first ones here and they’re the last ones to leave.”

Jaime’s parents both played important roles when it comes to running a successful business, on the front end as well as the back. “My mom, she is, I guess the CEO, CFO, COO and anything that you’d like to call her, she’s got a knack for business,” said Jaime. “My dad has been shaking customer’s hands for as long as I remember, for the last 20 years. People come in and say hello to him every day as he walks through the door and he thanks him for the patronage and he walks him in and tells them goodbye and thank you on the way out.”

Another aspect of Eagle Grocery that makes it stand out is the ridiculous amount of racks they have hanging from the rafters. “1980s, our patron city in Mexico started calling us La Tienda Los Ganados because they would come in and everybody would see all the deers hanging on the wall,” said Jaime. “So they started referring to us as La Tienda Los Ganados, which is called the Deer Store. And it stuck.”

Each one of the mounts from as far back as the 40’s has some sort of story. “My grandfather had a great relationship with all the ranchers and we’re the only business in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, that would deliver groceries to all the local ranches here and in return for that, they’d give us access to hunt on the ranches,” explained Jaime. “So we grew up being able to hunt these whitetails before whitetails became a big business in Texas. My first deer that was killed with my grandparents, it’s somewhere up here. Then deers that I’ve killed with my sons are now hanging inside. A lot of Texans coming down here and hunt, and they come in and see the deers that we have in the store and they say, ‘Wow.’”

Bagging a big buck every winter isn’t the only family tradition at Eagle Grocery either. Turns out, this family is big into saying ‘Gig ‘em.’ “I went to school at A&M,” said Jaime. “My eldest son is a graduate of Texas A&M College Station. My second son is a graduate of Texas A&M College Station. My third son is going to graduate in May from Texas A&M in College Station, and my fourth son is in Mays Business School in Texas A&M College Station, graduate in 2024. So that’s a lot of us Aggies that are coming through there.”

While the country, state, and border have seen big changes over the years, Eagle Grocery remains the same. A family business dedicated to serving the community, enjoying the South Texas lifestyle, and catching a little Aggie football on Saturdays. “I’ve seen our business grow,” said Jaime. “I’ve seen our customers come in, and I’ve seen the love and passion my parents had, not only for this business, but for downtown Eagle Pass. And I told them, I said, ‘My goal was to make sure that this family business and their legacy continued to prosper.’ So when you think of downtown Eagle Pass, you think of Benny and Angie Rodriguez and the Rodriguez family and the business that we’ve created in downtown Eagle Pass. So it’s important for me to continue that legacy in our community.”

Lubbock – At farmers markets across Texas, you never know what you’re going to find. Entrepreneurs from every corner of the Lone Star State rely on these weekly gatherings to showcase their unique products, and over in Lubbock the West Texas Beard Company is usually on hand for them. Chris Lambert is the beard behind this brand but, he’s not the boss. Turns out the head honcho of the West Texas Beard Company couldn’t make it to the market because she’s busy with school. “Well, it started when I was nine, 10, right?” said Piper Lambert. “I did not think it was going to be where it’s at today as a nice little company, which is really cool.”

Piper and her dad got things growing on the West Texas Beard Company back in 2017 when a simple chore turned into a lesson in work ethic. “I was in a really bad mood that day,” said Piper. “Mom had told me to do a fold the laundry, and I was just… So mad. Angry for whatever reason, and I was just doing a bad job. Dad came in the room, ‘You’re fired from doing the laundry. You’re still going to do it, but you’re not going to get paid.’”

Chris saw the perfect opportunity unfold before him and proceeded to teach his daughter about earning a dollar and having a positive attitude while doing it. “From a dad’s standpoint, I want my kids to know that you always have the ability to earn,” said Chris. “And you’re either going to earn money working for somebody else, which is 100% fine, or you’re going to earn money working for yourself, but you have a choice, but you should never not be able to earn. But if you’re going to make money from somebody else, they hold the keys to the kingdom, which is that dollar you’re trying to earn. And if you do bad work with a bad attitude, they have a choice to not employ you, and they’ll let you go.”

That lesson quickly turned into a conversation about entrepreneurship. “He said, ‘Piper, you’re going to have to learn how to make money some way. And either it’s do you want to be your own boss, or do you want to work for someone?’” said Piper. “And I said, ‘Oh, I want to be my own boss.’”

“She went downstairs, chewed on it, and came back upstairs, and I said, ‘What are you going to do?’” said Chris. “And she goes, ‘I’m going to start my own business.’ And I said, ‘Fantastic. What are you going to do?’ She goes, ‘I don’t know. I was hoping you could help me out.’ And that was the start.”

After a few brainstorming sessions, beard care came to mind thanks to dad’s flowing locks of facial hair. They enlisted the help of Piper’s mom, Holly, to help create beard balms and oils all from home. Once they perfected their product, Piper put it to test and got her first lesson on salesmanship. “We were having a get-together and a lot of those guys had beards,” said Chris. “And I was like, ‘Okay, Piper, here’s what you do. You’re going to take that bottle, and you’re going to walk up to somebody and go, ‘Hey, have you ever tried beard oil?’ And they’re going to say no. And you’re going to take the dropper out, and you’re going to put some in their hand and have them rub their hands together and run it through. And they’re going to love the way it smells, and they’re going to buy it from you.’ She comes home. She’s got 80 bucks in her pocket, and I was like, ‘Well, how do you want to earn money? I mean, do you want to fold clothes for $7 a week, or do you want to go do this for three hours and make 80 bucks?’ And she goes, ‘I want to do that.’ I said, ‘Good. Give me 40 of it.’ You got to pay the bank back.”

With another lesson learned, this time about business capital, Piper was always prepared to sell and took her West Texas Beard Company sales kit with her to every gathering the family attended. Once again, it paid off.

“She would just have it with her, ready to sell,” said Chris. “Well, that day, a group of bikers came into the bar. And their beards are just magnificent.”
“Braided,” said Piper.

“And I mean, it’s like fishing and just seeing a line of tarpon or something coming down,” said Chris. “You’re like, ‘Oh, man, we’re about to feast here.’ Picks up per little box of products, walks up to the first guy. And that guy looks at her, and he’s like, ‘Not interested.’ And Piper looks at him, and she puts her stuff back in her box, walks onto the next one, and proceeds to sell like a hundred and something dollars to all these other guys. Man, what a thing to watch at nine or 10 years old get told no in a public place and the embarrassment that goes with that and to saddle up and just move on to the next. I was like, ‘That girl’s got the tiger by the tail.’”

The West Texas Beard Company brand has grown and now includes some fancy soaps. Their products can be found in stores across the Lone Star State and even as far away as New York. “If you want your beard to smell good, I mean, try it out,” said Piper.

“I mean, do you want your beard to look fantastic or not?” said Chris.

The beard oil itself is made with two goals in mind; to make your beard smell good, and to nourish the skin underneath it. “It’s for the skin under the beard to prevent itchiness, dryness,” said Piper. “Just hydrate the skin, really.”

There’s no factory, no employees and no marketing budget, but the Lamberts are getting by as a family. Working together to help build the West Texas Beard Company. “This thing has its own heartbeat, and it’s going to be here whether she chooses to be a big part of it or not,” said Chris. “But, when I look at that logo, I can say me and her, and that’s special to me.”

Lewisville – On any given day, you’ll find Odin Clack using his hands to make leather goods.  His sturdy grip on the skin, a determined look in his eyes, and a beard that would make any Viking proud, it’s no wonder he shares a name with the god of war. “Well as I tell people, I am as Norse as they come,” said Odin. “So it obviously connects, right?”

Despite being born on the shores of Galveston Island, building ships and sailing the seas aren’t where this Odin rules. Instead, he’s the captain of his shop, Odin Leather Goods in Lewisville. “It’s a team effort to keep things going here,” said Odin.

Odin has had skin in the leather game since 2012, but his craft wasn’t something that he learned through lineage. “For a lot of people, leather is something that their families, they have some family heritage or history with leather,” said Odin. “I’m not the same. Leather was something that really came to me. I was looking just for a creative outlet.”

With a degree in marketing from Texas A&M, Odin has had a successful career, but he wanted to go against the grain and try something new.

“Even if you love your day job in corporate America, you can get burned out on doing certain things,” said Odin. “And I was getting burned out on being on the phone all night long with officer teams, being on the computer around the clock. Email, email, email, conference call. It was just nonstop, and I needed a little bit of a creative break.”

That creative break came for Odin in the form of a passive interest in what he thought might be a neat hobby. “That’s all leather work was for me to start,” explained Odin. “I tried it out, went to the store, saw a bunch of cool tools on these hides, asked a bunch of questions, walked out $300 later with an arm full of stuff. I went home, pulled out a table, and started trying to make, in that time, I think it was a laptop sleeve, all right. I made it. It turned out okay. My wife was very kind and generous. She said itas great, it was not great. She was absolutely lying to me, but I appreciate her lying to me at the time. I thought I was very proud of it, but I figured if I made it once and it was okay, what happens if I make it again?”

Once Odin knew he was capable of leatherworking, he wanted to take it to the next level. “What is the difference between what I’m making here at my dining room table versus what someone is making in Europe or some other big factory elsewhere that determines what makes it appropriate for a larger audience?” asked Odin. “What makes it a quality item? What’s the difference? Is it skill? Is it that they have some magical ability I don’t have yet? And that’s what I started chasing after. What’s the difference? How can I make my work better? This was not intended to be a business. This was intended to be an experiment, and then it turned into a bit of a hobby, and then it turned into something I put a little, what my father would call, walk around money in my pocket. And then from there, it turned into a brand.”

With his wife Rachelle by his side and a few faithful employees helping hold down the fort, Odin has opened two stores, and he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for other leatherworkers who helped him by sharing knowledge and tooling techniques. “I may have met one or two old guys or gals out there who just don’t want to share with you,” said Odin. “They do not represent the whole. Most of them, if you walk in a shop and you say, ‘Hey, my name is Odin Clack, I have interest in your craft, the thing that you’ve been dedicating your life to for the last 30 years, I would love if you allow me an opportunity to learn from you,’ they’re very willing to help you. They just want to see that you care. They don’t consider sharing with you wasting their time. They consider you being lazy. They consider you being not willing to figure out things on your own and try. That’s a waste of their time.”

Odin’s appreciation for those who have mastered the art of leatherworking has granted him access to a wealth of knowledge only available from the masters themselves. “These are people who deserve respect,” said Odin. “They’ve been doing this stuff for a long time, and they do beautiful, beautiful work. And so you talk to them and say, ‘Hey, do you mind if I look over your shoulder for a little while?’ And a lot of them will say, ‘Absolutely. Come on back.’”

Those skills have helped Odin create a business that does more than just make wallets, or belts, or bags. His items make memories. “There is not another material out there that holds memories like leather does,” said Odin. “Almost everyone has some memory in mind of some leather item that gives them this thing where their eyes kind of roll back in their head like ‘oh, I remember that.’ A baseball glove, a pair of boots, a wallet, a belt, a saddle, right. It could even be sitting inside of a new car, and what do people say? ‘New car smell.’ It’s a memory, right? Leather holds memories. Name another material that does that. Hard-pressed to find one.”

Despite his job being tough as… well, you know the rest. Odin drives his business forward to further his family life, and the families of those that work with him.

“This is not a blind passion, this is passion with some intent we have behind it,” said Odin. “We know what we want to do. We know that we want to have a thriving business that supports these families, our team, but we are very authentic and transparent here. We share almost everything. We share with other leather crafters. We share with our customers. I think that’s one thing that we’re very proud of is having a transparent family-based business that is not just our family but our extended family now as well.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bertram – Most days, things are pretty quiet around the Living Grace Canine Ranch in Bertram.  The gentle breeze through the central Texas hills and cascading fountain in the front yard make for senior dogs to catch up on some sleep.

“This is their home,” said Rhonda Minardi. “We just happen to be in it.”

Rhonda is the person behind the pampering of these pooches. “We’re in the house with the dogs,” said Rhonda. “As you can hear, they’re resting. This is their nap time. We run a very tight schedule here. They’re fed at the same time every day. They go out at the same time every day. They have music at the same time every day. They go to bed at the same time every day. We have our schedules. Right before they go to bed at night, they get their little graham cracker, the lights are dimmed, the music comes on, and you could bring a newborn here. It’s quiet just like this.”

This sanctuary for dogs living out their days was an idea that Rhonda had after her mother was given a grim diagnosis. “Back in 2015, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and my mom just stared, and she looked at me and she said, ‘Who’s going to take care of Lucy?’” said Rhonda. “That was her dog. That has been in the back of my mind. Where do they go?”

Dogs left behind by their owners, dogs nobody wants, and dogs that have been through a traumatic event in their life all call this place home. “Some of these dogs have had horrible lives, but now all they know is love,” said Rhonda. “It’s a beautiful thing that we can give them that.”

Rhonda showed off one pooch that’s older than any of the others on the ranch. “That’s Jellybean,” she said. “He’ll be 23 this year. He’s a little yorkie. He’s sleeping.”

Taking care of these 128 dogs is not something Rhonda imagined she’d be doing after a career in rehab therapy but for some reason, she felt a calling to do just this. “It was never a dream of mine to open a sanctuary,” said Rhonda. “It was the work that I’d seen that needed to be done, and I believe that the Lord entrusted me with this because he knows I’m not going to screw it up. I’m not going to shortchange the work that we’re doing here.”

Not all the rescues made by the ranch are planned, but each and every dog at Living Grace is treated with love and care all the same. “This is Texas and Bandit,” Rhonda said of two beautiful large white dogs. “They were at a kill shelter here in southern Texas. I went to pick (Texas) up. He was going to be euthanized at noon, and I got there to the shelter, and it was animal control. They said, ‘Well, do you want his brother?’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t know he had a brother.’ Four pens down was Bandit, and when they saw each other, because they were kept separate this whole time, they just were kissing and loving on each other, and I said, ‘Well, you’ll never be separated again. I can promise you that.’”

Rhonda worked with humans for a long, long time, and when asked if she misses it? “Nope,” Rhonda said. “Nope, 34 years working with people, and taking care of them and doing the various things I do today, but I’m doing it with dogs.”

The beauty of the Living Grace Dog Ranch is that it pays total respect to a phase of life that is often held in a negative light. “It’s just the circle of love,” said Rhonda. “Love in life. That’s what we do here. We complete the circle, taking care of them to the very end.”

The very end is the toughest part about this place.  Eventually, father time catches up with these furry friends.  That’s when Rhonda and her team must decide what’s best, and that’s never an easy decision. “No matter how hard it is, that’s our job, to take care of them to the end,” said Rhonda. “Death is a part of life. Knowing that we gave them love, respect, and treated them as if they were ours all the way to the end, there’s nothing more beautiful than letting them pass in your arms. It’s our arms to Jesus. It’s just a direct, and there’s nothing closer to the Lord’s work than that.”

American writer Agnes Sligh Turnbull wrote “Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.”

At the Living Grance Canine Ranch you understand that saying every day, but to see these loving pets enjoying every second of their remaining time on earth is a heartwarming moment that only a dog could provide. “This job was honestly asked of me to do,” said Rhonda. “Even though it made no sense, and I’m questioning it the whole time, because I have no idea what I was doing, but in my mind, and in my heart, my feet kept walking forward like ‘this is impossible.’ And as I’m saying that, my feet are still marching forward doing what I’m being asked to do. Here I am, doing it.”

 

Benjamin – The beauty of Texas never ceases to amaze and impress. The sunsets in El Paso, the majesty of El Capitan in the Guadalupe Mountains, the terrain of the Big Bend, and the Texas State Bison Herd roaming Caprock Canyon are just a few of the greatest sites across the state.

These spots and many more should be on every Texan’s bucket list, but for those who haven’t gotten a chance to visit some of the Lone Star State’s more scenic areas, photographer Wyman Meinzer has got you covered. “I know what I want out of life, out of my images, and it’s a good feeling to finally get to this point,” said Meinzer, who has had a long career shooting some incredible scenes across the state since 70’s.

Meinzer’s passion for photographing nature all started with a love for the outdoors as a boy in Benjamin, Texas. “Being raised on the ranch out here, my dad was a foreman on a 27,000-acre ranch east of Benjamin, and I hunted all the time,” said Meinzer. “I mean, that was my first love, hunting. Hunting and archeology and paleontology. I loved to look for bones, look for Indian artifacts, but mostly I just loved to hunt.”

That love turned into a passion that he lived. “I decided that I wanted to just totally immerse myself in hunting, seven days a week, 30 days a month,” said Meinzer. “All winter long I wanted to hunt, and so I moved into a little half dugout shack on the Pitchfork Ranch, and that’s what I did for four, actually, I lived there for three winters and I did it two more winters after that, but I worked out of Benjamin and ran trap lines, 150 mile trap lines. I mean, we’re talking about making a living with a rifle and steel trap. Some of the greatest times of my life.”

When Meinzer made it to college, he naturally studied wildlife management and that opened the door to a new kind of way to bag his prey; photography. “The interest began when I was at Tech, when I received a grant to conduct research on coyotes, to study the food dietary habits of coyotes in Rolling Planes of Texas,” said Meinzer. “My major professor said ‘you need to document some of this stuff that you’re doing.’ I would shoot coyotes and eviscerate them and find out exactly how much different species are in their stomachs, what percentages, and so he loaned me a camera and I went, whoa, I like this, this is cool.”

It didn’t take long for Meinzer to get his pictures published. “In 1974, I was out there and running a line on the backside of a pasture called J2, and I caught this coyote, and there was something about it and I pulled out a camera and with a 50 millimeter lens, and that coyote, he was like, ‘I know I’m going down, but I’m going to take you with me if I can,’” said Meinzer. “And I was really mesmerized by that, and so I got down low and I took the picture of him and little did I know that in the future it would be published in Texas Monthly and selected as one of the best 100 pictures ever published in Texas Monthly. And I had no experience with photography. I had no training, no schooling on photography, it’s just stuff I picked up.”

As he grew in his skill and knowledge, there wasn’t anything Meinzer wouldn’t do to get the perfect shot. “I’m a pilot, private pilot, have been since 1977, and I used to shoot aerials just by flying the plane, taking the door off and flying the plane with my knees and shooting out the door,” said Meinzer.

Despite the mesmerizing beauty of his landscape photos, Meinzer’s true love is wildlife. “That is the hardest photography of all,” said Meinzer. “I have a photograph of grizzly bear in Alaska, moose, caribou. I’ve photographed stone sheep in the Yukon, and nothing can compare with the difficulty of getting a great predator image because they’re so elusive, they’re so aware of their surroundings, and you have to really know what you’re doing in order to get a really top-notch image of a coyote. You can’t hate predators and love nature, they’re intertwined. There’s this fantastic coyote with this look on its face, it’s just like, wow, that defines the whole personality of a coyote.”

From hiding out in blinds made of earth to sitting completely still for hours at a time, taking the perfect picture requires patience, tenacity, and being ready for that split second moment to capture awe. “Back in the eighties it was a snowy day and I was bored with being here, and I thought, ‘I’m just going to go out and try to get some photographs’, so I went to Prairie Dog Town and there were burrowing owls everywhere, and so the wind was blowing, it was overcast, it was just a miserable day, and I saw a little burrowing owl hiding behind a mountain of snow,” said Meinzer. “So I crawled out of the pickup with a 500 millimeter Canon F4.5 lens, with a Canon F-1N, with a Kodachrome 64, and I crawled on my stomach through the snow and I got that photograph, and that is probably one of the more memorable shots.”

Although it may seem like Meinzer has captured everything there is to be seen in Texas, there are still a few projects that he never tires of chasing. “There’s always going to be something,” said Meinzer. “Weather related. I’m not a tornado chaser, I’m not a big storm chaser, but I love sky shots. I get all the sky shots I need right around here. I mean, you get the big frontal systems coming off the Llano Estacado and they start really churning, getting energized right about here, and you get some fantastic sky shots. I’ve done two sky books. I really don’t need to do another one, but I never tire of shooting skies.”

In 1997, Meinzer was named the official state Photographer of Texas. “I’ve been very lucky because I never held down a steady job, not one time,” said Meinzer. “All the jobs I’ve had were just interim jobs and I worked for one thing, and that was to be a photographer.”

Over the years he’s released 30 books of his stunning photographs. Many of the places he’s been able to capture aren’t open to just anyone with a camera. “I try to go on private land holdings that protect very special places, canyons, old ruins dating back to the 1800s, 1700s, that the average person will never get to see,” said Meinzer. “Through my imagery, I offer that to the viewing public. That’s what I want to continue doing.”

As for what’s next in his career, Meinzer plans to just keep doing what has always worked for him. “I just keep my options open,” said Meinzer. “I’ve shot a lot of stuff. I’ve done this for over 40 years. I know there’s something out there, I’m just waiting for it. I’m just waiting for the right moment, and I’ll be prepared for it when it gets here.”