Hobbs Reunion Planned for October

The Hobbs School reunion has been planned for Saturday, October 21 this year. There will be a morning program and lunch in the gym. If you want to be added to the invitation list (either e-mail or paper mail), drop me a line at leslietempleton@yahoo.com. If you're here during the week, be sure to check out the old auditiorium, which I believe was restored a couple of years ago. There are photos of past graduates in the gym, and there have been upgrades done to the school itself.
Take some time to stop by the cemetery and pay your respects to family members and friends, and maybe run over to Rotan to see what's new there.
They're hoping for a big turnout this year!

Hobbs News

I have added two new links over in the right hand column, one with information about the local newspaper, the Rotan Advance/Roby Star, and one that goes directly to the Hobbs High School Classmates registration page.

Classmates basic membership is free, and there is always some sort of information to be gleaned there. I signed up for a 3-month gold membership recently, which was nice because I could add photos and announcements, and also look around a little deeper into the site.

I had to make sure to go in and change the payment plan on my account, though, because their default is an automatic draft from your bank or credit card account.

I am going to dig up some alumni information and make that available here, soon. I believe a Hobbs High School Reunion is scheduled for this year.

Todd Matthies Dies at 37

John Todd Matthies of Roby, Texas died May 29 in Roby.

Todd, as he was known to everyone, was born September 9, 1968 in Abilene, Texas. He was the son of Shirley (Farmer) Jeffrey and the late John Matthies (died at age 42). He graduated from McCaulley High School in 1987 and Tarleton State University in 1991. Todd married Fonda Jeffrey August 27, 1990, in Snyder.

Todd worked for the Texas Department of Transportation in Roby as a sign man. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Roby.

He was preceded in death by his brother-in-law Todd Wayne Jeffrey, as well as his father, John.

Survivors include his wife, Fonda, son and daughter Heath and Hope, mother and stepfather Shirley and Billy Wayne Jeffrey, brother Rodney Matthies, sister-in-law Jana Bond and husband Ricky, step-grandparents Truett and Jewell Jeffrey, and nephews and niece David Bond, Judd Bond, Carl Bond and Kristi Smith and husband Joe.

Todd was buried at Roby Cemetery on May 31. The funeral procession was lead by the TxDOT sign truck that he worked in.

Rotan High School Graduates

Rotan High School Class of 2006 graduated Friday night at 8 p.m. It is so exciting to see these young people on the doorstep of adult life. The program was emotional, with the presentation of the Haley Helms Scholarship and the Coach Eric Alvarez Scholarship, a memories slide show ending in the song "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and presentation of roses by the graduates to the special people in their lives. A special thank you goes out to Principal Bob Spikes, who persevered and made graduation possible for students that others had serious doubts about reaching the goal. Congratulations and Woohoo! to the Class of '06!

What the Hail?

We really took a pounding last night when tennis and golfball size hail moved through the area. This formed between our place and Snyder within a 45 minute time frame and within a 17 mile area. I could hear roaring as it approached and I thought it was a tornado. My daughter and I were in the cellar, but my husband stayed inside with the dog. He said it looked like cannonballs were being thrown into the tank (that's a pond) when the hail hit the water. It was scary and another hailstorm followed just a while after this one. The windshields were broken on all our vehicles and there is a lot of body damage. There was also a window broken on the house. I don't always love living in Texas, ya know.

Prickly Pear Blooming

A friend gave me a field guide this week, written by Zoe Merriman Kirkpatrick, entitled "Wildflowers of the Western Plains". It has been invaluable in helping to identify all the pictures of flowers I have taken. It's nice not to have to shuffle through a bunch of plants that don't grow in this region, and the photos make for fast identification. I just can't get enough of the flowers!

Andrew Williams Dies at Age 80

Andrew Williams died this past Wednesday at the age of 80. His son, Ricky, drives the school bus out here at Hobbs. The Williams are known as an upstanding family and one of the historical families in Fisher County. Details can be found in this Abilene Reporter News article.

Scarlet Globemallow...

is the name of the little orange flower I posted about previously. I finally found the information at NCRS, the USDA's Plants Database. I was able to download a list of the plants that grow just in Fisher County, and got lucky enough that this flower was just about number five on the list. I say download, but all I had to do was cut and past into Excel. Lots of plant info!

Small Beauty

I've searched for the name of this flower for a couple of hours, but I haven't come up with anything. These are fairly common here in Fisher County. Out here in this semi-arid country, where everything seems to have a fang or a thorn, you have to take beauty where you can find it. Some of the flowers aren't even as large as a pencil eraser, but a closer look will show intricate design.

A couple of good sites for viewing Texas wildflowers are Maddog'n'Miracles, which has a jillion thumbnails that come up quickly, even with dial-up, and Wild About Texas Wildflowers, which has neat little pop-up pictures that have all the information, including the scientific name, in a caption below the photo.

Spring Signs

We've spotted a buzzard, a scissortail and budding mesquites in the past few weeks, so we can be pretty sure that Spring is here. Some folks are worrying about drought, but my sources say that the cattle are indicating good times ahead, which, for this area, equals to rain.

There's a building in Rotan that I think is interesting and I finally snapped a photo of it today. It's around the east corner from the Lance Theatre. I believe it's at the back of the building that used to be the bank, but I sometimes get these things confused. If anyone out there knows which building this is, give me a holler.