Fish as visitors after three days

Another result has come forth from the storm last month. Thousands of fish have died underneath the culvert next to my house. I know, I know, if I'm unhappy, just think how it has affected the fish, but I can tell you, they are not feeling anything at this time, and the smell is putrid. I'm torn between wishing the wind would lay and wishing it would keep blowing until all the fish smell has dried out. The birds (Starlings? Mud Martins?) don't seem to mind, though, maybe it makes food-gathering easier for them, like a bird convenience store.

There are some dinner-plate sized bullfrogs in the tank out back that have been putting on entertaining performances made up of basso profondo croaks, with peepers bringing in back up. The big ones make a lot of other sounds, too, like they're knocking around logs. Very entertaining, just add some fireflies, drinks and a spritz of mosquito repellant for a perfect summer evening.

The house for sale at Camp Springs is now being handled by Williamson-Branson Real Estate. They also have a once in a lifetime offer of a home overlooking the locally famous Longhorn Valley on Rough Creek. It's divine, and I wish I had $1,625,000 to buy it.

I'm going to speculate, as usual, on a rig that is just west of Camp Springs. It would seem that frac'ing is going on there, since there are many lines of flexible black piping running to the site from nearby water sources. That's all the activity I've noticed lately, but I don't make the block everyday, or even every week.

Hobbs Cafe hours have changed, now open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, still 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. Stop in for some good home-cooking and fresh coffee!

The cost of internet freedom

Four weeks after the big storm and I finally have internet, again. Sort of.

I have parted ways with Dish on internet service. Since they have changed contractors, they felt that an outage was a perfect time to charge me an arm and a leg to install a new system and get me signed up for a two year contract. I was not in agreement.

I'm fed up with satellite anything. I would not refer anyone to any type of satellite service. They are unreliable and expensive. Shyster-y, too.

I'm also fed up with two year contracts, such a magic number. I'm not signing up for another darn anything.

Which brings me to my current internet situation, getting usage through a portable wireless device. After paying more than $200 for the item itself, a warranty and service, I have contract-free internet. Now, grant you, it's only a bit faster than dial-up, but here I am, talking to you all once more.

With no contract, I will be free to pursue the next good thing to come along, if this latest new thing doesn't break me.

Nix night coming up

Remember, ya'll, Jodie Nix and the Texas Cowboys will be at the Hobbs School Gym next Saturday at 8 p.m. Call 325-574-4170 to reserve a table.

Directions to the school are printed on the poster, just click to make it larger. The address for the GPS is 1317 FM 1614, Rotan, Texas.

A sentiment that some locals are expressing is that the oil boom isn't going to spread this far north. There are rumors that there's not enough water out here for the fracturing process. Maybe it's going to be a slow boom. That might not be so bad. I hear all kinds of things about the problems in Midland, a town that has recently Spindletop boomed, and how many traffic fatalities they have there. A simmering boom is fine if it helps avoid all that mess.

Oil people in Westbrook tell me there's a lot of wild-catting going on, and that's what the activity north of Snyder is all about. I tell you what, you don't want to be at the traffic light on the north side of the square in Snyder, on College, come 5 p.m. Vehicles are backed up for blocks coming in off of North SH 208. I've also noticed traffic on SH 350 south of Snyder just keeps getting heavier and faster. You also have to watch out for transport trucks on little roads, I mean dirt back-roads, these days. It's best just to hit the ditch and get out of their way.

In the April issue of Texas Monthly, The Texanist tackles grackles. Some of these obnoxious fowl showed up out here last weekend, and I have the luxury of being able to shoot at them with a shotgun. City folk are not as fortunate. For a long while, the Mall of Abilene had speakers on top of the facility that played loud, pitiful grackle sounds, as thought someone were standing on a wing, twisting a beak, and pulling out toenails (do grackles have toenails? Maybe claws would be more appropriate.). I haven't noticed that cacophony lately, and I don't see any grackles, so maybe that worked. 

Anyway, come on out and see Nix next weekend, enjoy some of this good country air, and scoot a boot.

Jody Nix takes the stage May 18, Hobbs Gym

- Jody Nix -

Jody Nix & The Texas Cowboys are going to help kick the summer off right with a late May dance! It sure will be good to have them back in Hobbs.

When you check out the Jody Nix website, you'll find that he and his bunch have a lot going on, like a Western Swing Cruise in September that stops at Jamaica and Cozumel.

Nix also hosts a radio show, Sunday Night Country, on Big Spring radio station KBYG. That's Sundays, 7 to 9 p.m., and you can listen to it on the internet as well as the radio.

So get your table reserved for SATURDAY, May 18, 8 p.m. to midnight, $15 a head / $5 cooler. Call 325-575-3393.

Shady Mitchell band set to play dance on Saturday

- Shady Mitchell & Kickin' Kountry -

Shady Mitchell and Kickin' Kountry will take the stage at the Hobbs Gym this coming Saturday, April 20. Come on out around 8 p.m. for a real good honky-tonkin' time. Cover charge is $15, cooler fee $5. Call 325-575-3393 to reserve a table.

Speaking of singers, local snake-charmer Kyndra Lee was featured in an article in the Los Angeles Times. Rattlesnake Republic superstar Riley Sawyers and prominent local figure Tom Henderson of the Blue Goose Ranch also got a mention.

There was a notice in the Rotan Advance / Roby Star Record a few weeks ago that an application has been filed for a local option election to legalize the sale of alcohol in Fisher County. The result of that vote will be interesting, should it make it to ballot.

There was also a public notice announcing that South Central Water Company of Houston has submitted an application for a water quality permit to authorize the discharge of treated waste water just south of the US 180 and FM 611 intersection. The water will be allowed to drain into Buffalo Creek.

Here are a few catalog sites that the ladies might enjoy: Garnet Hill, At West End, and King Arthur Flour.

The guitar-playing guys might like reading about the Martin Backpacker. It's a portable, compact guitar that's easy to carry along camping or fishing at a length of just 24". It's easy to get a tune on anywhere with this handy little dude.

The former gin, known as Hobbs

- Hobbs Gin, 2007 -

Since I mentioned this photo in the previous post, I thought I'd go ahead and show it to ya'll. It was pretty well dilapidated in 2007, when this was taken. It looks like it was being scrapped.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online, the Hobbs Co-op Gin was formed in the 1940's. I also found an Environmental Protection Agency Facility Detail Report that has some obscure details about the gin.

Trespassing, but just a little

- Hobbs Gin Office -

You can't get anything past me. This morning I went out to look for a photo opportunity and found that the Hobbs Gin is no more. It must have been torn down between April 2007 and now. I give that year because that's the last time I took a photo of the gin. I suspect it was more recently, though, to make room for trucks filling up at the fresh water station that is now there, built a little north and west of the Conestoga storage building. The photo is of the gin office door. Sorry about my shadow.

I remember seeing an oil painting of the gin at Dale and Doshia Cave's house. I'm pretty sure Doshia painted it, she was talented that way. Dale was manager of the gin for many years.

I drove on around to Aunt Vera's house (Guy Weems) and noticed the barns and outbuildings are now gone. A little building in the field just south of house has also been leveled, where there was always stacks of Treflan jugs and buckets.

Claude's house (Claude was Guy's brother), just to the east of Vera's, has been gone for some time, but the tall pine trees and cellar remain.

There are some new looks on our road, too. The Landes's are nearly finished with their country house, the Munoz's are putting up a nice pipe fence, and Ronnie Green's house just got a fresh coat of paint. I've thought about contributing to the neighborhood aesthetics, but just a little effort makes me feel like napping right away. Maybe I'll get it into gear by the time the scissortails show up and the mesquites start to bud.

Hobbs Cafe closed for Easter weekend

I didn't want anyone to be disappointed in case they made plans to have Sunday dinner at the cafe. Open again on Monday!

Worms, houses and family

- Custom Touch Village -

The early bird gets the worm, but the early worm isn't so lucky, right?

Anyway, the Snyder Daily News beat me this week, with their photo of the groundbreaking on the new Custom Touch Village on SH 208 south of Snyder, because I played hooky from writing last week. I took the photo a week before they did, in case I get points for that.

The lazy reporter lets someone else scoop the story then just adds her two cents worth. Or this one does.

I first saw a photo of the barracks on the Cline Shale Alliance facebook page. The Alliance reported that the unit was being shipped from South Dakota in time to be featured in the Rattlesnake Roundup Review parade.

A few days later, I saw the unit on a truck trailer in the La Quinta Inn parking lot in Sweetwater. I snapped a photo and shared it with the Alliance group.

The theme continued when I saw the barracks again on SH 208 last week.

I am very susceptible to advertising and multiple exposure, so now I wish I had a whole bunch of housing units so all my kids and family could live right next to me. I just know that they fantasize about living next door to their mother. I'm sure their spouses would appreciate having their mother-in-law underfoot. What a perfect life!

The Abilene Reporter News also did an article on the Custom Touch Village site this week.

Local girl makes good, Kelly Spinks next weekend

- Kelly Spinks -

Kyndra Vaught from Hobbs took home the 2013 Miss Snake Charmer title from the Sweetwater Jaycees annual pageant, held in the Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium Thursday night. She won $2,000 in scholarship money, part of that from also winning the talent portion of the contest. We heard her sing when Greg Maldo performed at the Hobbs Gym for the New Year's dance, and that little lady can belt it out. We're proud to have her representing the community.

Speaking of dances, Kelly Spinks & Miles of Texas will be performing at the Hobbs Gym this coming Saturday, 8:00 p.m. Call to reserve a seat, 325-575-3393. They play traditional country music, so get ready to hear the fiddle!

It seems like a new well is being drilled every day around here. I noticed yesterday a rig just southwest of the Camp Springs corner. That's in Scurry County, but it's mighty close to Hobbs. I've been paying close attention to the caller id numbers lately, just in case a landman should get my number.

If you want to see a "bevy" of oilfield activity, drive north of Snyder on SH 208, where there's a rig, tank or pumpjack about every five acres.

There's also a cool collection of salvaged vintage pickups out there, just as you're leaving town. This has nothing to do with the oilfield, but I want the green one.