Woohoo!!  The dam has been repaired!  Come out and take a look, we'll be taking some time-lapsed photography as the water rises.  Some work remains, but the pass to the east side of the property is open  again.  The landscape with be undergoing some minor changes.  Should be interesting to see how it matures, as the land recovers and we take advantage of the opportunity re-scape with flair!

A MASSIVE rainstorm moved through our area.  The rain was so immensely heavy that the dam that holds in our beloved pond has been breached.  The entire pond has drained and the landscape surrounding the creek has been transformed.  Currently, we see no way that east side of the property can be accessed by any of our campers to take up camping gear.  A somewhat treacherous track can be found to make your way to that side of the porperty, however.

It was with heavy hearts we had to cancel our upcoming Mud / Wrestling weekend, scheduled for June 11th thru June 13th.  The majority of the activities we had planned were to take place on the now inaccessible side of the property and the now drained pond.

For those of you that would still like to come out to the ranch, we will, as always, do our very best to ensure you have a fun and memorable weekend.  Please keep in mind that we will be in the process of assessing and repairing the unbelievable damage caused by this natural disaster.

If you have any questions or concerns, call us at 903-479-4189 and thank you all for your understanding and support.

2010 Crawfish boil really had us all stuffed to our pinchers.  Mike spent the day cookin' up a storm to feed us all giant heaps of freshly boiled crawfish, sausage, mushrooms and any and everything else he wanted to throw into the pot.  We spent the day pinching and sucking Mardi Gras style!

The weather and the boys were beautiful. It was a great weekend to spend lounging on the deck by the pond and hanging out (all out) by the campfire.  There is only a short period of time here in Texas when the weather is not too hot, not too cold...and this was certainly the time...just right.

We luckily survived the tornado that hit the area just a week before.  The ranch looked like a war zone (or a typical Monday), but fortunately, all we lost was that huge tree between the shower barn and the main house.  It did come woefully close to crushing our beloved minibago, but have no fear, she's still there waiting for you.

Leather Weekend 2010 was a fantastic success!  Thanks to everyone who came out and made it a weekend to remember.  We had the best group of guys here for the event and everyone had a great time.

The party got started early on Friday as all of our VERY enthusiastic members gathered to get their leather on.  The weather was perfect throughout Friday and Saturday.  We were joined by the Houston Misfits, the Battalion Motorcycle Club and the representatives of the Dallas Firedancers.

On Saturday night, everyone went to the hilltop for the first ever Mr. Circle J contest.  The fire was blazing and the men were HOT!  What a great show we had.  Several contestants stepped up to strut their stuff in front of our three judge panel and all of the rowdy campers.

In the end, there can be only one, so we are pleased to announce our first Mr. Circle J, Mr. Chris Love.  Chris has been a long time  supporter of the ranch and an active member of the community for many years.

We missed you guys!  Winter got it's last lick in this March.  Mitch and Dennis didn't take it lying down.  In a act of diffience they stripped down and took the plung.  The first skinny dip of the year, or the last polorbear swim of the winter (depending on how you look at it).  Anyway you do look at it, the season is upon us.  Judgeing by our attendence, in March; looks like it's going to be a bang up year at the Circle J. 

  We've worked our butts off this winter to bring our guests some much deserved improvements.

  The bunkhouse has a whole new look.  Thanks to Michael's designs the bunkhouse has been transformed.  There are actual bunks now.   More people will be able to enjoy the space.  The new bunks are less like bunkbeds, than individual cubicals.  Soon we'll be fitting them with privacy curtains.  There are now lockers available to keep your valuables safe.  Don't forget to bring a lock.   The TV viewing area is also improved, for your movie watching enjoyment.

  If you havn't been here since last summer you may not know about the New party deck/dock at the pond.  Over six hundred square feet of space for sunbathing, swimming, fishing and more.

  The 2010 calves are starting to drop.  Three new longhorns in the past week.

    The sunroom and check-in station has been completely updated,  with new ceramic tile floor, granette top check-in desk, resturant style professional coffee service and more.  You won't recognise it.

There are more great improvements are on the herizon.  Come on out soon, and see it all for yourself.  2010 is going to be our best season yet!

Three new calfs in a week.  The wild flowers are blooming.  Randy's birthday celbration was a great success, and the contrator is comming out to make ready the pool for another great season.  The weather is getting better everyday.   Get a jump on the camping season and come on out and have some fun in the sun.  Great fun, fine food and old friends, what could be better?

I'm talkin snow here guys!  What were you thinking?!  That's what we had here at the ranch last night, 9 inches of snow!  It's a winter wonderland out here!  Thought we'd post some pic's for everyone.  This is why we close in February!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Circle J Ranch to celebrate Thanksgiving.  The feast was of epic proportions.  After all of that gluttony, it's now time to go on that diet before the new year rolls around and we all find ourselves 50 pounds heavier!

Thanksgiving day was the greatest ever and the food offering was a site to behold.  Three turkeys, one of them deep-fried even, ham, stuffing...and the list just keeps going.  There were so many pies and other deserts on the table that even Oprah would have been overwhelmed.  Thanks to everyone who took all of that time and effort to bring something delicious to share with us all.

The day after thanksgiving, also known as "Turkey Recovery Day" was a pleasant day of relaxing and moaning about our bloated conditions.  Brett bought a new teak wood travel bar for his RV and treated everyone to a cocktail party featuring a very strange beer-lemonade concoction that was really pretty good!  We spent the evening up at the campfire.  The air was brisk and it definitely felt like Autumn.  Fortunately for us all, Albert spent all day rebuilding the fire pit and Mike collected plenty of wood for us to burn.  That ensured we all had a comfortable time up on the hilltop gazing at the glorious campfire...and doing tequila shots...thank you Beau.

Saturday was Christmas decorating time.  All of the boxes were hauled down from the attic.  The guys spent the afternoon stinging garlands of popcorn and cranberries.  It's amazing how beautiful a tree can be when it's decorated by dozens of people.  It also helped that Paul and Mike made us a somewhat non-traditional egg-nog punch to get us in the Christmas spirit.  That night we all decided to forgo the campfire and played card games under the warm canopy.  We are all now in love with a new card game called "Apples to Apples" and it will be very easy next time you come out to get someone interested in a game.

Again thanks to everyone who helped start off the holiday season with a bang.  We do hope to see all of you very soon.  Remember to make your reservations for New Year's Eve.  Most of all we want everyone to have a safe and happy holiday season and we are thankful to all of you for making this the best year ever here at the ranch.

This year's Annual Chili Cook Off / Turkey Shoot certainly set some hearts and tongues on fire.  The event was sponsored by the Batallion Motorcycle Club and is held every year here at the Circle J Ranch.

The weather was perfect all weekend and this year's turnout was beyond our wildest dreams.  There were no less than seven fantastic entries in the cook-off and our own Paul and Craig each prepared a heaping helping of their own take on chili.

Most of the entrants began preparing at the crack of dawn and labored over their chili pots all day long...in between the "occasional" cocktail/beer break.  All of our guests started by purchasing a spoon, ballot and bowl for $5.00, with the proceeds benefiting the Batallion Motorcycle Club.  Then it was off to the campground to decide on the best chili and the best presentation.  Sounds fun and easy, doesn't it?  Well, it was almost an impossible task!  All of the chilis were so delicious and some were so unique that making a decision was like forcing a mother to choose her favorite child.

Alas, however, a decision had to be made.  This year's best chili went to James Bell and Kieth Partin, for their Fiesta Chili, made with organically grown peppers from their own garden.  The award for Best Presentation and 2nd place went to Kevin Lively and his minions, who set up an incredible spread on hay bales with a giant blow up turkey, lots of props and an almost naked chili-waiter.  Although his chili was straight from heaven, Kevin says that "it's all about the presentation, baby."  So all of you entertaining the idea of entering next year, take note.

Throughout the day, the members of Batallion also held the Annual Turkey shoot.  This gave a chance for all of our members to grab a rifle and pop off a few to see just how good they really shoot (not just what their boyfriends say).  Batallion member and Circle J Ranch's very own Mitch set up the perfect rifle range in the north pasture and monitored the competition to make sure no one shot anyone else and everyone played fair.  Batallion's Russ Barnett provided the rifles and made sure they were all very accurately sighted and ready.

A few different awards were given for the Turkey Shoot competition;

• Keith Partin - Best Standing Position
• Jim Peabody - Best On His Knees
• Scott Bamburg - Best Prone Position
• Scott Bamburg - Best Overall

We would like to thank all of our members and the boys from Batallion for making this event a real success.  We hope that all of you will be back next year with some more of that divine chili...now we're off to chew on Tums for the rest of the week. :-)

For those of you who need to get online while enjoying your stay at the ranch, we now offer wireless internet access.  Given our rural location, the connection is somehwat limited, but fast enough to get most everything.

We now have a touch screen jukebox with thousands of songs!  Please bring any and all of your CDs to rip into MP3 format and help us build the greatest music collection of all time.  ALL MUSIC TYPES ARE WELCOME.

The spell we cast for Halloween worked and this year was the best celebration of all things dark and creepy.  Thanks to all of you who came out and made this weekend one to remember. We can honestly say that no one had as much fun this Halloween as everyone at the Circle J Ranch this year.  We apologize in advance to all of you who missed it and will have to hear about it often from those who made it out.

The weather was so fantastic we were all able to really enjoy the days and the nights of Halloween this year.  The RV park was huge fun this year because everyone decorated their rigs with fun and spooky holiday attire.  The bunkhouse was packed to the rafters with handsome campers and it was a really cozy place to spend the night.

We cleaned out some pumpkins and did some good 'ol fashioned pumpkin carving -- of course, with a bit of a twists only our demented members would think of.  We all want to thank our very own Larry (also known as Dr. Phyngerphucer) for carving the sexiest pumpkin any of us have ever seen.

After the carving, it was time for the cocktail party and appetizers.  Mike turned us all into the living dead with his zombie punch and kept us wanting more with his great Halloween chips, dips and other devilish munchies.  For dinner, Paul and Jim grilled up delicious chicken with Paul's experimental mole.  We don't know about you, but he can experiment on us anytime!

Once everyone had zombied up and got to reveal their freaky costumes, it was time to cheat death on Randy and Mitch's Hayride of Horror.  There was definitely not enough room for all of the enthusiastic party-goers, so they ended up making several trips just to get everyone delivered to the campfire.  No one seemed to mind waiting for the fun trip through the woods on a full moon Halloween night.

Once everyone had been safely (ahem) dropped of at the campfire, we enjoyed hot apple cider and rum prepared over the fire.  We had our parade of costumes and this year saw some of the most elaborate and creative costumes.  Our clear winner this year was David, with the most amazing Gene Simmons of KISS fame.  We're pretty certain it was the cool special effect of spitting blood that put him over the top and coasting into costume victory.

The fire was roaring and since the night was fairly comfortable.  In fact, it was warm enough for most people to strip off their costumes and clothing to perform their own pagan rituals at the midnight witching hour.

Thank you all for coming out.  Each weekend here at the ranch just gets better and better.  We are so happy to see all of you...and sad to see you go.  Please keep an eye on this website and get your reservations in for the next upcoming event, our annual Turkey Shoot/Chili Cook-off weekend.

We are tickled to death to announce the opening of the NEW Party Deck and Dock!   Now, you can enjoy the pond the way you've always wanted.  If you want to get wet, you can jump off the new dock and back stroke to the swim platform.  Now, if you don't appreciate the feel of the mud oozing between your toes, you can enter from the clean edge of the new structure.  If you just want to relax, there is almost 600 square feet of deck for sun and fun... or maybe just sitting on the edge and cooling your feet in the refreshing waters.  It's yet another great place to fish as well.  Already "keepin' sized" bluegills have been spotted checking out the shade under the piers.  We're thinkin' about an organizing a fishing weekend sometime soon.  Let us know what you think.  No matter what your mood, it's a great place on the edge of the pond to enjoy the beautiful days, wonderful sunsets and starry nights.

This coming weekend, August 28th-30th, we will be having a White Trash Weekend party.  We'll do the grilling and cocktail party on the new deck for it's inaugural weekend.  It looks as though the worst of the summer heat has moved on, although it never really seemed to be too sweltering over this summer.  The high temperature this weekend is only going to be in the upper 80's to just about 90 degrees.  It's also easy to forget that's it's always a little cooler out here where there is lots of grass and trees and not so much concrete and glass.  It is going to be a great time and we're all very excited.  We're also happy to have it completed before the big Labor Day Weekend Party, which is always a crazy, amazing time.  Everyone be sure to make plans to be here and get your reservations in.

As most of you know, we continue to make improvements to the property for the enjoyment of our members. None of this would be possible without the continued support and enthusiasm we receive from each and every one of you.  We are very grateful to have such fun and wonderful members.  Thanks to everyone and we hope to see you real soon.

Well, it turns out a bear actually does many other things in the woods, too!  It was a furry good time at the Camp Circle J Bear -n- the Woods Weekend blowout.

We guess we're doing something right, because the monsterous storms that rolled across the area just one night before the weekend was due to start, blew on out just in time for us to get the party started.  It was sultry and steamy right after all the rain.  Fortunately, that encouraged our first wave of sexy bears to strip down to their fur and it just got more interesting from there.  The turn out for the this summer's Bear-n-the Woods was even better than we had imagined.

The pool and the pond felt wonderful all weekend.  Our first camper of the weekend, on Thursday, was so drawn to the pond, he didn't even wait for the rain to stop.  He jump right in and splashed around like the otter he is.  Jake got himself set up in the fabulous Minibago.  From there, he spent a good deal of the weekend on his porch doing a little bear hunting of his own.

Friday...and Saturday...and Sunday were nothing but sunny skies, cold beer, cool water and naked men.  That's what the Summer at the Circle J Ranch is all about!  Randy, Craig, Mitch and Hunter spent a good portion of saturday cooking up a summer sensation for dinner...and man, was it ever the sensation.  The perfect way to end a day of fun in the sun and start a night of fun in the woods.

Sunday morning was the finale of the bear hunt.  All of those campers that found the bears and other stuffed critters hidden throughout the ranch received some fantastic prizes and more than a little teasing.

Thanks to all of you who came out and made this event a complete success.  We really look forward to seeing you all again soon.  Don't forget to check out the events page, because in two weeks, we have a fantastic hayride to the exotic animal ranch planned.
 

If you weren't here this weekend, you missed a special treat.  It was a quiet, not too busy kind of weekend.  The weather was warm and breezy and everyone was relaxed and peaceful.  Great days of laying by the pool, roaming through the woods, visiting at the campsites and horseback riding.

If you've never had a chance to come to the ranch on one of the off weekends, we HIGHLY recommend it.  You can grab yourself a book, go hiking, explore and nap at your leisure.  It's also alot easier to really get to know new people and make some new friends.  We had a few new members, and we're glad they got the chance to get to know the ranch in it's more peaceful form.  Now they can come back for some big, blow out weekend and have friends and be more comfortable with the place.  So if any of you are considering bringing out a friend for their first time, consider one of the quieter weekends - especially if they're a little bit nervous.

Friday night, our own Jim got the 50 year old army jeep running and we promptly took it for one hell of a ride.  We are grateful to report there were only minor injuries - most of them mental trauma (doctor bills are to be forwarded to Randy).

Mike and Paul were away this weekend, so Saturday found Randy working the kitchen.  He spent all day making up a delicious meal for us.  He made dozens and dozens...and dozens of stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon for an appetizer.  Along with a corn/black bean relish.  It was awesome.  The blackberry cocktail was a great combination.  Fire and ice.  Then he pulled out, among other things, his superb Texas Chili.

After cocktails and way too much food, we all played around at the campfire and in the woods under a clear, pleasant full moon.  It was so bright, you didn't even need a flashlight to get around.

Now we're gearing up for the Bear -n- the Woods weekend, which is going to be great.  Make sure you check out the Ranch Events page.  We've added one more event, Splash at the Ranch,  in the middle of July.  It's going to be a water soaked tiki-torch luau.

Memorial weekend 2009 was definitely one for the record books!  We had well over 100 guests...and all of them the greatest bunch of guys we could ever hope for.  There are many theories here at the ranch as to why all of our members are such outstanding guys.  Maybe it's because coming out to the country and letting it all hang out has an effect on us all.  It tickles us to no end when our members tell us how happy and unstressed they are when they're here.  That's kind of the whole point of this place, we guess.

The weekend actually got going on Thursday as some of our members came out early to claim prime spots on the hill.  Sometimes it's a good idea to come out early if you're tent camping to get your favorite spot on the hill, because often times it's also someone elses' favorite spot.  We never want members fighting over camping spots unless they agree to strip down, oil up and let us all watch!  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, it never came to that.  With acres and acres of shady woods and great views, finding a good spot is never really that hard.

We managed to get our new volleyball court and horseshoe pit up in time for the weekend.  We hope next time you come out, we can get some games going...and maybe some interesting wagers!  As most of you are aware, we are on a big push to try to enhance the campground.  The support of our members is what makes continued improvement possible.  Each and everyone of you are valued and appreciated.  It has always been our hope that members know that this is their ranch, their campground and their place to get away.

The campground really started filling up by late morning Friday.  We still get excited every time someone arrives.  It's like heaping more icing onto an already delicious cake.  We added many new great members that we hope you will all get to know over the summer

Friday night saw Randy and Hunter working the grill like gunslingers.  Hot dogs and hamburgers flew off the flame and into stomachs to fuel us all up for the weekend.  This was the first night we lit up the woods with the torches and it was very cool looking.  Sometimes it's nice to actually be able to see the person you are (temporally) in love with :-)  The campfire was already at full flame (insert gay pun here) as well, and everyone gathered 'round to drink and generally misbehave.  Many of us didn't make it back to where we were going to sleep until early the next morning.  That's our kind of Friday!

Saturday morning started with the usual giant pot of fresh coffee, juices, toast, etc. Because it was a high holiday weekend, brunch was also served around 10:00-10:30.  Mitch had a special new treat for us all, FRESH WAFFLES!  He and Craig made up batches of waffle batter and everyone could make themselves hot waffles with blackberries picked fresh from the property to go along with their brunch.  We loved the way it worked out and look forward to making it a regular thing from now on.

Even more people arrived on Saturday.  The weather was comfortable with the occasional small rain shower, nothing major.  It was fun to go from campsite to campsite making new friends, visiting (ahem) and exploring.  It was a great day for fishing, paddling on the pond, drinking, sunning on the swimming platform or by the pool.

Early Saturday evening Randy threw us all a great cocktail hour to get the night started.  Randy came up with a fantastic new concoction called a "Blackberry Morning" using the abundance of berries we have.  That really got us going.

After that, Paul and Mike presented us with the slow-cooked, melt-in-your-mouth briskets and all of the trimmings they had been laboring on for days.  Dinner was FANTASTIC!  Everything a true Texan could want from a summer holiday.  Mike also pulled out his famous Jalapeno Salsa, which is definitely NOT for the intestinally challenged.  He conveys his sincerest apologies for those of you who suffered the next morning :-) We know that won't stop him from doing it again, though.

We lit up the woods again that night and it turned out to be beautiful after making it through a little bit of rain.  The campfire and the glowing woods were very inviting and again, some of us saw the sun rise (and then some) before finally making it to bed.  There's a lot to be said for not needing to find your way home at 2:00 am like the rest of the world has to do.

Sunday morning started out with another brunch and more waffles.  By now we had the process down pretty good.  It was a beautiful day.  Charlie and David caught bunches of fish in the pond and all of us got our summer tans started.

Once again, Mike and Paul blew us all away with an amazing dinner.  Fajitas!  Everyone got stuffed to their sombreros with the incredible Tex-Mex spread and washed it down with dangerously good margaritas.  At this point, it was absolutely impossible to say you've eaten this well in a long time.  Ignoring the howls of pain he had heard that morning, Mike once again offered up his Jalapeno Salsa for those who had not learned their lesson from the night before.

After dinner, Randy hopped on the tractor and took the bravest of our guest on a hay ride around the property.  Some of you (you know who you are!) decided to break out in a chorus of "Green Acres" - the cattle now require ongoing psychological therapy to repair the damage.

We lit up the woods as best we could Sunday night, but after searching every store in this and the surrounding three counties, there was no lamp oil to be found.  We managed with what we had on hand and it still looked really neat.  It's fun to watch all of the flashlights and flickering torches dancing through the property.  Thanks to all of you who got conscripted into helping re-fill the torches.  Of course, it was another night of campfire until dawn.

Monday morning also started out with brunch. We can't have our members going hungry, now can we?  How else were you going to suffer through yet another day of running around naked, drinking, sunning, swimming, fishing and relaxing?  Some of the members seem to think it's important to head home first thing in the morning, but with DFW only being a little less than an hour away, it's better to stay for the day and enjoy yourself some more.  Nobody is in a hurry for you to leave :-)

We know many of us are facing really tough economic times right now.  Alot of us have lost jobs and seen our situations get more and more difficult and precarious.  We feel it is important for you to know that when you need to get away and leave your troubles behind, you are ALWAYS WELCOME here at your ranch.  We are keeping the price for a weekend visit very reasonable for all of the fun you can have.  It's a matter of pride for us that you can come here and have an entire weekend of food, fun and friends for the price of just one night out in the city.  All with no closing time, no driving around and no clothes (if you desire)  :-)

Overall, Memorial Weekend 2009 was one of the best weekends ever!  We hope to see all of you again very, very soon.  We miss you when you leave.  We've worked up this new website and have posted all of the events we have planned for the summer.  We'll be adding more, so please visit the new site often.
 

Wow, talk about a major fun weekend!  The crawfish boil was one of the finest and most fun meals ever served up here at the ranch.  Spicy sausage, fiery mushrooms and an overflowing table of crawfish made this one to remember.

This whole affair was orchestrated by our very Mike, who hails from New Orleans.  He really brought his Cajun upbringing and culinary genius to the table for our pleasure.  Every bite was pure heaven.  After a heavy dose of Louisiana cuisine and some serious cocktails, we all recovered at the campfire until the wee hours of the morning.

We also had the pleasure of having the DAMN (Dallas Area Male Naturist) out for the weekend.  They are the nicest bunch of boys and we hope to be seeing alot of them this summer...and we really do mean SEEING ALOT :-)

This was also Mike's birthday weekend, so that made it extra special for everyone.  Thanks for coming out and celebrating with us.

Just $15.00 each,  Available in sizes med, large, XL, and  XXL, they are made of comfortable 100% pre-shrunk cotton.  The Circle J brand emblazons the left breast.  The back reads "Camp Circle J  an east Texas campground for men".

This year's Annual Firedancers run at the ranch was an incredible weekend!  We laughed, we cried, we got in touch with our inner pig.

The turnout for this year's run was fantastic!  Everyone began arriving on Thursday in order to claim a primo spot for the coming weekend.  By Friday night the party was really going with the first cocktail hour starting promptly at 5:30.

The fun continued Saturday morning with an indoor card game (cuz it rained a little that morning).  After noon and everyone finally got their asses out of the tents, the fun really got going.  The firedancers scheduled a full day of cocktail parties and meals.  The evening began with a talent contest, judged by the officers of the Firedancers and then everyone danced the night away under the stars.

Sunday rounded out the weekend with a morning of club awards and a day of relaxing, fishing and goofing off before heading back to the real world late Sunday or early Monday.