The places I look

If you want information, you must seek it.

This is a list of the places I look for it.

Fisher/Nolan Co Clerk search - official records for Fisher and Nolan Counties - Guest>Continue>County

Fisher County - county website - commissioners court agendas, burn ban, posted notices 

Fisher CAD - appraisal district- when searching, run last name, first name together: JonesFred; interactive map is under Services tab; meeting agendas are under Resources tab>Records/Data/Reports>scroll down

Nolan CAD - appraisal district

RRC Online Research Queries - Texas Railroad Commission: Drilling Permits

The Portal to Texas History - newspaper archives and a whole lot more; there are no Fisher County newspapers included, but old Sweetwater papers have a lot of Fisher County articles in them.

TT Newspapers - Texas Tech has some Rotan newspapers in their digital collection. I've had trouble getting that site to come up lately.*

Texas File - Land Records and County Records - this has the same information as the Fisher County site above and posted a month late, but there is a helpful variation in the search parameters. Many counties are listed, so it's an all-in-one place for research.

I take subscriptions for the Double Mountain Chronicle, the Sweetwater Reporter and the The Snyder News.  

I run searches for "rotan" and "sweetwater" on facebook. Results are spotty, but I come across some interesting people/pages to follow and articles pertaining to the areas.

Meetings for the cities of Roby and Rotan are on the second Thursday of each month, and the commissioners meetings are on the second Monday of the month. Mark the calendar. 

Commissioners agendas are on the Fisher County website. City agendas can be requested at city offices.

For more sites to search, use the website view (at the bottom of the mobile app page) for Hobbs Holler and look at the list on the right.   

 *There is an announcement that the Texas Tech newspaper archive went down for maintenance July 10

July 2025 city council meetings

- City council agendas -

Rotan and Roby City Councils will hold regularly scheduled meetings tomorrow. Rotan meets at 7 am, Roby meets at noon.

Items on the Rotan City Council agenda include approving rate changes, adopting RV park guidelines, opening water tower bids, holding a hearing on substandard properties, and appointing a city marshal.

Roby City Council will consider minutes from the last meeting.

Missing you (not)

- Grasshoppers - 

The topmost thing I don't miss about summer is BUGS. I'm afraid that when I'm walking through the yard, pulling grasshoppers out of my hair, that one is going to jump up and scratch my eye. 

Then, of course, there are mosquitoes, chiggers, ants, moths, etc. 

Every morning, before I make coffee, I take a little flashlight and shine it into the water reservoir to make sure a flying ant or tiny beetle hasn't gotten trapped inside. That was a disgusting lesson learned.

I guess I spoke too soon about the burn ban. I'm glad to be wrong.

The local NOAA* weather radio station is back on air as of yesterday. It's been off since right after the big June 8 Rotan storm. I read somewhere they were upgrading equipment.

I'm not sure if KTXS is fully back on air since the station was torn up during that same storm. I kept checking in for a while, but nothing was coming up. I like to tune in when the weather gets bad and see what Mark Rowlett has to say.

* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Burn ban on, burn ban off

The official Texas A & M burn ban list shows Fisher County among the counties that are on it. The Fisher County site banner shows it is off. It's just a matter of time before they are in agreement.

We've been having the crazy, whistlin' winds of summer for three straight days, with huge gusts that seem to lift unplowed fields straight up into the air in a whirling dance. 

Frightening storms, plagues of grasshoppers, crazy ass winds: check, check, check. Next up: stultifyingly hot days mixed with the deafening buzz of locusts that will lull us into the summer doldrums. 

After Fourth of July, it's a long shot to September. Oh, well. Let's do it again.

Sale of community centers

- Fisher Co centers -

During the March 20, 2025 Fisher County Commissioners meeting, members talked about getting county properties ready to sell at a live auction; specifically, community centers in precincts 1 and 4. 

The community centers at Capitola/Claytonville, Longworth and Sylvester all have new survey sticks around them.

Capitola CC is at the corner of FM 611 and FM 419 in Precinct 4. Longworth CC is in the community of Longworth on FM 57 in Precinct 1. Sylvester CC is in the community of Sylvester, on the corner of FM 57 and County Road 817 in Precinct 1.

There haven't been any posted notices of the sales or deed changes in the county records for the parcels. Fisher County Appraisal District indicates the properties are presently owned by the county.

Keep an eye out. 

 Links:

Fisher CAD: search by parcels 33182, 32152 and 7339; use owner number R1697 to see all county-owned properties

Fisher County Online Records Search: (click Guest Login and Continue if you don't want to make an account), search by dates or name (Fisher County)

Fisher County Posted Notices

Texas Law for County Land Sales 

Public sales for July 2025

Sheriff Sales are on the first Tuesday of each month. July 1 is the next set date.

The only near-local auctions listed on Perdue Brandon are for Jones and Mitchell Counties.

Nolan County has one foreclosure for 5+ acres.

Jones County has two foreclosures; one in Stamford and one at Fort Phantom Hill.

Scurry County has three foreclosures, all in the city of Snyder.

Other auctions: 

The Sweetwater Reporter has a public notice for a store room sale at Santa Fe Self Storage, on July 12 at 10 a.m.

Texas Communities Group has properties to bid on in Archer City, Crosbyton, Jeff Davis County (numerous), Levelland, McLean, Olney (numerous) and Stamford. Check the website for sale dates and purchase contingencies. 

Next

- Next Dickens binge-

After reading all my Anne Tyler, Stella Gibbons, Larry McMurtry, Richard Russo, etc. favorites too many times to start in on them again, I desperately downloaded Charles Dickens's Bleak House from Project Gutenberg without much hope.

I've picked up the book pictured here a few times and put it back down. I thought it looked boring and full of old English language that wouldn't let me be immersed in the story.

Man, was I surprised to find out how compelling Bleak House is, and a twisting mystery to boot. In over 800 some-odd pages, it never let up, and, like any good book, I was sad to see it come to an end.

So I started in on Great Expectations and found it to be the same way. This is a book I feel I should have read a long time ago, at least so I could understand pop culture references to Miss Havisham.

About halfway through Bleak House, I noticed a striking similarity in it to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned. Both feature a man seeking a fortune due him and the frustrations he endures that ruin his health and mind. I think Fitzgerald's writings are gloomier and sort of depressing to read. I don't know, maybe I need to re-read that to come to a better comparison of the two. I remember reading Fitzgerald's books with the notion of something to be gotten through, like homework, whereas Dickens's make me yearn for the next word.

I try not to read anything much below 320-350 pages to keep from having to find a new book sooner, but these huge Dickensian tomes keep me occupied longer, and I don't have the anxiety of finding the next book so often.

Now I'm going to meet Nicholas Nickleby and see what he's gotten up to. 

Gotta stay cool, relaxed

- Frog friend -

I was thinking the other day that the way to take the measure of a man is to look at him and ascertain whether or not it is likely that he can change a tire. It's a fun game and separates the wheat from the chaff pretty quickly.

I've got to quit watching the Rotan City Council meetings. I commented about it this morning on facebook, spent four hours typing an email to the newspaper, looked for a document for two hours, then turned around and deleted everything. Just gotta look out my own back door and tend to what's there.

The grasshoppers are crazy out here in the country. Last year it was giant ones, this year it's trillions of tiny ones. I got something called Tempo from Ace Hardware in Rotan, and man, does it work. It kinda made me sick at my stomach to see all those dead grasshoppers. 

A little friend joined me in the cellar the other night. It looks like a small frog in the photo, but its head and legs were hanging over my hand when I grabbed it to throw it out. I was sitting in the dark to keep the bugs away and it just plopped right onto that rail. I thought it was a bat until I got the light on it.

Here comes summer after all that rain. I'm surprised every year, even though it's always the same. Good luck to all the tomato and okra growers.

More about June 3 Nolan County Sheriff's Sale

The Nolan County Appraisal District has a break-down on the pricing of the properties that will be sold at the Nolan County Courthouse next Tuesday. I appreciate the CAD for posting this information on their website.

It looks like the taxes on the Bowie Street parcels have been paid, so don't look for them to be offered anymore.

If you're looking for a commercial building on the cheap, Lulu's store on Lamar Street will be up for bid.

Also up for auction is the Red Dawn house on Elm Street.

Nolan County auctions June 2025

Three foreclosure sales will be held at the Nolan County Courthouse around 1 p.m. on June 3. Those properties are:

• 1612 Silas
• 1409 McCaulley
• 900 James St

The Nolan County Sheriff's Sale will be held at 2 p.m. the same day. The following properties will be offered:

• 203 W Oklahoma
• 907 W Louisiana
• 605 Bowie
• 607 Bowie
• 611 Bowie
• 904 W 4th
• 901 Elm
• 1001 Lamar
• 408 E New Mexico

Complete information for sheriff's sales can be found on the Brandon Purdue website and in the Sweetwater Reporter Weekend Editions.

All parcels are within the Sweetwater City Limits.