Davenport platform comes down

There has been visual confirmation that they weren't just tripping pipe last week at the Davenport Ranch horizontal drilling site.

Late this morning the tower was down and the platform was being stripped. This afternoon, all the equipment was on wheels and rolling.

Is everything hinging on the outcome of this well? It seems that breaths are being held and knuckles are white waiting for the first production report. I wonder if it means anything to anyone other than the owners of the ranch land and minerals. Perhaps it's all that possibility that has everyone so giddy.

I was sorry to hear that Doshia Cave died earlier this week. I had the opportunity to get to know her and Dale pretty well a few years ago. She was an icon to me when I was a kid going to Cross Roads Baptist Church because of the songs she taught us at vacation bible school. I knew it was going to be a good, fun day whenever she showed up to teach us.

The word is that there was a big turn out for the reunion today. Howard and Judy Gordon generously donated the use of the auditorium and annex for the event. Hopefully, someone will share a photo with me which I can share with all of you.

Hobbs Cafe to open Wed., Hobbs Reunion Sat.

I heard it from a friend who heard it from Howard G. that the cafe will be open this coming Wednesday, so bring a coffee mug and be there when the doors open at 5 a.m.

Rooms for lodging and office space will be available soon in the Hobbs School, and there will be rv spaces for rent on the old football field. It's looking pretty nice.

The Hobbs Reunion is this year, next weekend, Oct. 20, and will be at the school as usual. Registration is at 9 a.m., the program at 10 a.m., and lunch will follow with a choice of brisket or chicken (well, now I'm hungry!). The photo to the right is the registration form, click on it to make it larger so it can be read. I think it can also be printed out, if need be.

I drove past the Davenport Ranch horizontal well today, and it looked like they were pulling pipe. I heard they were through drilling, but I don't know the sequence of events after that. I'm just hoping they hit, giving me a better chance at some of that mailbox money.

The times, they are exciting

Hobbs School repurposed

A lot of changes are taking place around the Hobbs and Fisher County area. The Hobbs School is taking on a new life, water hauling trucks are making good time, horizontal wells are aplenty, and windmills are going up north of Rotan.

I was driving round and round the school the other day in search of a cheeseburger, until I realized the sign said "coming soon". I talked to Howard Gordon and he said they're still working on it, getting things lined up to open. The cafe will be in the school cafeteria.

The new big commerce around here is the selling of water. Wells and berms are popping up everywhere to supply the oil well diggers with water for drilling.

Last night on KTAB, there was a segment shot in the Rotan Dairy Queen regarding the rumor of a big oil boom in the area. Bobby Gruben was coy about the speculation, "believe it when I see it", a familiar sentiment.

With all the activity we're seeing, though, it's almost like we might have won the lottery, hahaha! Exactly.

Going horizontal, 611 activity

- Davenport Ranch FM 611 -

If you happen to be on FM 611 between the Davenport Ranch main entrance and Buster Wright's house, you'll see that there's a steady stream of traffic headed in and out of a newly made gate on the ranch property.

Obviously oil-field related, confirmation of the exact activity has been reported today.

A reliable source gave me an eye-witness account of the scene. Please keep in mind that I don't know oil-field jargon, in case something sounds skewed.

The source said the pad covers about 25 acres. So much water has been brought in or pumped in that it looks like a lake. There's more pipe, mud pumps and other machinery, than the likes of anything that's been seen around here. There are also six or seven mobile homes on site that people are living in.

A source at the site said that this is the first horizontal well to be drilled in Fisher County and that they'll be there about three months.

While I was driving by, over-size big rigs were coming and going, bringing in equipment.

Will the outcome of this well define whether we're going to have a bust or a boom?

Morning moon & the hypocrite

- A Shiny Moon -

The moon was shining brightly over the promised land this morning It was slowly setting on the western horizon around 6:30 a.m. Can't you see George Maule's house directly beneath it? It's somewhere thereabouts.

I crack myself up a lot of the time, this time it was with a dream I had. It started out I heard a ruckus in the front yard and I went out to find there was a drilling rig being put down on the lawn. I told them (the hands, they were really friendly) I hadn't signed a contract, yet, and they told me that now I could get a hefty price for my lease. I woke up feeling pretty good about all that. Me, the complainer, the one who gripes about loud pump jacks and fast dump trucks. I'm telling' ya, it's all a matter of perspective.

A small mystery

A few months ago, I noticed a small solar light, like the ones people put in their yard, on the south side of the road. It's near the fence, about mid-way between my house and the old J.C. Cave place. I thought maybe it marked a pipe or some such, and let it slip from my mind.

Today, I saw a nice red car drive by here and stop in that place. I was thinking they were checking the cotton when I remembered the marker on that side of the road. I also recollected that I had seen another vehicle or two stop there, but I had justified the activity with simple reasons, like maybe someone was talking on their cell phone or had a bee in the car.

After I saw the car take off, I drove up there to see if I could figure out what they were doing and found that the solar light is now marking a full-blown grave. It is small, about the size of a baby or medium dog. I've been around here my entire life and have never heard of a wreck or incident in that spot where a human life ended. That nearly covers a fifty-year span.

When I say a small mystery, I am referring to the size of the grave, but if it is human, it is not such a small matter, at all.

The big find

My best find of the week was a big book of maps of all the counties in Texas. I also found a book of soil maps for Borden County. Both are from the mid-70's.

I also picked up some very cool books from the 1978 & 1979 OS Ranch Steer Roping & Art Exhibit in Post. These informational catalogs are choc full of photos of ropers, artists and attendees. Ken Curtis, known to all Gunsmoke fans as Festus Haggan, was the Arena Marshal both years. The events benefited the West Texas Boys Ranch.

I gave in to a whim and bought five vintage haute couture hat boxes that had Texas logos such as Sakowitz Houston and Trix Wood Millinery Lubbock printed on the lids. I try to only buy books because they're easy to ship, but I couldn't pass the boxes up for $3.00 a piece.

Angry birds

A few days ago, I noticed a mockingbird on the clothesline, and it wouldn't let one of the cats get across the yard without dive-bombing it's head. I could hear a clonk whenever the bird's beak made contact with cat skull.

I figured it had to do with a wing I found in the yard, clearly that of a mockingbird. I thought the cat had killed the mad bird's mate.

This morning there were two mockingbirds at it, taking on two or three cats. So I'm thinking there's a nest nearby, or these birds have just decided they want this property.

They're getting a little cocky, running around on the ground pecking at bugs like they own the place. They need to remember mockingbirds don't have claws and teeth, or they won't be long for this world.

A hard woman, I quit, etc.

Good Lord! Either I had too much coffee this morning or all my thoughts from the week are culminating, because I woke up with a lot of opinions. I think that's just pesky. I prefer to daydream about non-controversial things, like my discovering Oveda Culp Hobby.

I'm going to throw it all out there in what I hope is an inoffensive manner.

-I'm glad to see the changes in the Rotan ISD administration, and was surprised to find that others felt the same way. It will be interesting to see where the new leaders take the school.

-If anyone else had the same experience I had when my child was "diagnosed" with autism, you'd think all the hype was bogus. I flinch every time I hear the catch-phrase "Autism Speaks". I've got a laundry list of gripes on this topic, but I'll just say that my "autistic" kid, now an adult, drives, works and pays bills. I'm glad we took a pass on that billing. Sometimes people are just different, and that's ok.

-Keep an eye on those oil-field folk working on your land, and hold them to a high standard from the git-go. You didn't sell them your soul when you leased your land and minerals.

-I quit smoking eight weeks ago and it's not the cravings or depression that are eating my lunch, it's that I seem to have forgotten how to breathe. A lot of yawning, sighing and trying to catch my breath is going on. I wonder if there's a re-breathing class I can take.

My big book find this week was Mr. Chairman, an educational volume written by Oveta Culp Hobby. In researching this author, I found that she was a remarkable person and left a great legacy. In her photos, she looks hard and determined, enviable traits, especially for a woman of her time. She was born in 1905, and the book was copyrighted in 1936, this particular edition printed in 1938. She was the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps, and chairman of the board of the Houston Post.

Mrs. Hobby was from Texas, born in Killeen, died in Houston, 1995.

Not news

I just have to pop in here and express my quizzical confusion about a few items that keep popping up in the news as hot topics.

I.D. Law: I have to show my license at the polls when I forget my registration card, which is always. So, not getting the big deal there, at all. Perhaps because I've known the people asking for my id as life-long neighbors, I'm incapable of understanding the nature of the offense.

Amazon Texas tax: Every purchase I've ever made from Amazon has been taxed. I buy books for my Kindle regularly.

If only I would read beyond the headlines, I might know what the hullabaloo is about, but I just can't get past these.