Texas Ranch House . Meet the Adventurers . Lacey Cooke


		"I'm calling it 'sexist ranch house,' because that's how everyone seems to view it -- at least in my house."


			The Texas Ranch House Cooking Show


			A newborn calf takes its first steps.

Lacey is the middle child and a budding filmmaker. She loves to film family and church events with her digital video camera. She also loves rock 'n' roll, and any chance she gets she goes to San Francisco to hear live music, especially her favorite band, Something Corporate. Lacey also loves to watch old movies with her mom and act in school plays. You will most likely find Lacey in jeans and a T-shirt listening to her iPod or text-messaging her friends on her cellphone. Lacey's only vice, she says, is coloring her nails black, which her Mom "really doesn't like."

"The women on this ranch feel very disrespected and very belittled and demeaned by some of the guys. So instead of calling it TEXAS RANCH HOUSE, I'm calling it 'sexist ranch house,' because that's how everyone seems to view it -- at least in my house."

Lacey is the middle daughter of a California businessman who has just purchased 10,000 acres of Texas rangeland. She has left behind her San Francisco friends for a new and difficult life on a cattle ranch. There is quite a shortage of females in the unsettled areas of the state; many women of her age in frontier Texas are already married and raising children. Every child on the ranch should learn that in their mother's home, her will is supreme. Lacey's main objective is to help create a happy home and community on the edge of the frontier. She is building a new life and is expected to work hard and contribute to the support of her family. She may choose to show off her ingenuity and work with her sisters to develop business opportunities on the western frontier.

It is expected that the women of the house will share the burden of kitchen duties. These include preparing and cooking meals for the family, maintaining the safety of the food supply, and cleaning. The women must also complete the laundry, ironing, bathing, and baking. They are expected to water, maintain, and harvest the plants in the garden. They are also responsible for keeping these plants safe from rodents or other predators. The daughters must care for and feed the domestic animals housed near the ranch headquarters. The "milch cow" and chickens will be entirely dependent on their care. She must know how to "sew plain" and mend and possibly even make her own clothes.