 By Linda Kirkpatrick The time of the Texas Indian Wars would go down in history as a rugged and dangerous time. It took brave and determined people to come here and scratch out a life. On October 13, 1864 one of the most famous skirmishes between the Indians and the settlers occurred. This battle was the Elm Creek Raid of Young County, Texas. Many lives were lost and many lives were changed forever. It has been written that the John Wayne movie, “The Searchers” was written around this incident. Even though the movie was filmed in Monument Valley, the story line is set in Texas. With all the errors in filming and settings, the movie depicted the time and a story very similar to the real incident at Elm Creek.
Some film critics think that the novel “The Searchers” was inspired by the kidnapping of Cynthia Ann Parker. Cynthia Ann was only nine years old on the day of her capture. She spent over 25 years as a captive before she was retrieved, against her will, by Texas Rangers on the Pease River. However, the notes that were made in the writing of the “Searchers” indicate that the story leans more towards the story surrounding the Britt Johnson incident.
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 By Linda Kirkpatrick
I figured that the best way to approach this month’s article was to talk about the ghosts of Texas. No matter if you believe or not, ghosts stories in October is a fun way to pass the time. I must admit that when I started researching ghosts, I didn’t realize that I would be opening a Pandora’s Box. I have always wanted to use this next word and now I finally am able to do that. There are a plethora of ghosts in Texas. So I will only be able to touch on a few and will include our own local lore as well. And for the safety of everyone, please don’t read these in the dark of night around a campfire. My nephew, Connor, can attest to this, because sometimes you can hear them. Texas is a large state and to address just a few of the favorites has been almost impossible. For the record, always keep this in mind, that when you hear stories of old, folklore or ghost stories for that matter, at the root of the story is a smidgen of truth. So never say, “That ain’t true,” because it probably is, just what part? Ghost stories are passed from one storyteller to another and with each telling a new twist is more than likely added. And not all ghost stories are intended to scare the “begeezers” out of you even though those are the most fun.  Guest post by Michael Longsdon
Your home has served you well. It’s been the site of all your favorite memories, and it’s where you raised and nurtured your family. However, it’s become more burden than beacon. You’ve started to look at housing prices and are thinking about moving. But moving is so much work, and it can be a little scary! Fear not. We’re going to walk you through decluttering and downsizing into a home that’s just right for your golden years. Location Consider your finances and talk to a realtor about how much you can expect to net from the sale of your current home. Include all the anticipated costs, and plan with an eye for the future. While you may have no mobility issues right now, you’ll want to look for a place in close proximity to healthcare and community resources, with ground floor accommodations and accessibility features. Making such modifications to an existing home can get pricey; the average bathroom remodel for handicap accessible features runs about $20,000. However, new construction trends are being set by aging baby boomers, and entire neighborhoods of senior-friendly, mobility accessible houses are going up in communities across the country. You may find something perfect in your area. To Rent Or To Own? For many seniors who have owned their own home for decades, the idea of renting might seem a little strange. However, when calculating the total cost, including maintenance, renting might make more sense in some markets, especially those with a lower cost of living. It can take years to recoup a home purchase investment, and once you’ve purchased, you are locked into that location for the immediate future. Renting allows you to change your living arrangements as your circumstances alter. Additionally, many senior living apartment communities offer particular amenities that might be beneficial in your retirement, including fitness centers, recreational organizations, and even catered meals. Saying Goodbye Moving is an emotional experience for everyone, but it’s particularly tough when you’re leaving a place you have loved for many years. The task of sorting through your belongings can become overwhelming. Enlist the whole family to help. Call your kids and tell them it’s time to get their skis, their dollhouse, and your granddaughter’s wedding dress out of your closet. If they live across the country, take photos and ask them to specify which items they want. Everything else goes out to the yard sales, consignment shops, pawn shops, or donations to charity. Separate items by utility: those that you use regularly are going to the new house but consider the intermittent items individually. Do you really need to own your own rug shampooer, or would it be more space and cost efficient to rent one as needed? Ask yourself, “Do I need it? Do I have other items that perform the same function?” A good rule of thumb to follow while downsizing is this: If you haven’t worn, used, or touched an item in a year, it’s up for discard. For sentimental items, focus on quality over quantity. How much joy are you getting from two boxes that contain every Christmas card you’ve ever received? In this case, less is more. Select individual items that make you feel happy. Choose to display them in your new home, where you’ll enjoy them each day. Your memories are in your head and your heart, not boxes under your bed. Consider having physical media such as photographs and home movies transferred to electronic media with cloud storage and display a few hard copies of your best photos in frames and albums in the new house. Choose to look at downsizing as a way to refocus your life and change your lifestyle. A smaller residence, with lowered maintenance requirements and a cheaper cost of living, will free up money and time to do more of what you enjoy. It can give you the freedom to travel and try things you’ve always wanted. It can enable you to live closer to family and friends, making new memories in the process. You are simplifying the material aspects of your life in favor of enriching the emotional bonds that make life worth living. Michael Longsdon is the creator of ElderFreedom.net, which advocates for the rights and support of seniors.  By Linda Kirkpatrick
The history of surveying travels back to early time. The Egyptians recorded plots of land as far back as 3000 B. C. What is astounding to me is that the Great Pyramid is only a few inches out of square. The Bible notes, “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit…” Lewis and Clark, Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln were all surveyors whose work helped map the early United States. The Spanish were some of the first in Texas. Early Texas surveying was unusual and varied to say the least. The terms, “a cigarette’s length” or “half a day’s walk,” recorded in field notes are somewhat inaccurate. Juan Antonio Padilla, land commissioner of Mexico, had to have a survey recorded before Austin’s colonist could claim their land.  Texas Rangers Company D3, 1888 In this part of Texas, in the late 1800’s, times were very hard. And, who are we to judge those who did their very best to keep food on the table when there was no money available. The people and the families of this era survived any way they could. That is just the way things were back then. Still, some of the ways of survival were on the edge of breaking the law, so enter the Texas Rangers, men who did their best to control the lawless ways of some.
 Henry Robinson, Settler, Scout and Indian Fighter
By Linda Kirkpatrick Henry M. Robinson was born in England in 1811 and it seems that he came to the New World alone. In October 1834 he married Evaliza Christine “Cherokee” LaGrone. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born in Alabama. Their second child, John F. was born in 1837 in Sabine County, Texas. Of their nine children, the seventh child Andrew Henry, was born in Uvalde County, Texas November 24, 1850, to be followed by William Harrison and Ann. It seems that the family arrived in Texas in time to be part of the Texas Revolution. At the request of Houston, his friend, Henry did his part at Goliad and helped in the evacuation of Texas during the Runaway Scrape. He was rewarded a head right of 1180 acres.  Christmas Soiree on the Nueces By Linda Kirkpatrick It was back in 1888 in the town of Vance, Texas; the Taylor family was putting the finishing touches on the Christmas soiree that would be held at their house. These “get-togethers” were common practice and served as an important role of socialization for folks in those remote areas of Texas. At this same time the lawmen of the area were planning their own little get-together. Sheriff Ira Wheat, of Leakey, Texas, got word that two brothers were heading to the Christmas soiree on the Nueces. He sent word to his deputy, Will Terry, in Vance, Texas that the brothers were headed that way and they were wanted……dead or alive. Terry then gathered Texas Ranger Captain John Hughes, Captain Ira Aten and Ranger Bass Outlaw. He assigned a local posse that included Paul Jones, Dan Crier, Jim Rhodes, Henry Wells and about twelve or fifteen other men to serve as back up to the Rangers. Alvin and Will Odle were looking forward to the dance at the Taylor’s and as anxious as the Odles were to get to the party that Christmas Eve, the law was just as anxious for the Odles to arrive at the party. The Odles had problems with their in-laws and the law. When the family lived in Burnet County, John Odle, brother to Alvin and Will shot and killed his father-in-law and before the dust settled the family up and moved to the Nueces Canyon in the area of Vance, Texas. Then another death occurred. John Stroope , the brother in law of Alvin and Will, was killed. There is some inaccuracy as to the death of John Stroope but rumors have it that Will and Alvin were the guilty parties. Will was only twelve years at the time but to cover all bases both brothers were wanted dead or alive for the murder and for stealing horses. So you have to wonder why they thought that attending this Christmas party would be a good decision. With the excitement of dancing and Christmas vittles, it is no wonder that the two young men made their way to the remote hills along the Nueces River to join this Christmas party at the Taylor home. Why, who in the world would be hunting them in this faraway place they thought, especially on such a special holiday. They really underestimated the long arm of the law.  Photo of Henry Charles Wells, courtesy of Ancestry.com The Rangers and the posse set up an ambush and waited patiently until they heard the distant clip of metal horseshoes upon the rocks. The sounds got closer with the occasional blow from the horses. The Texas rangers and the posse patiently waited for the signal from Captain Hughes. They didn’t have to wait long because soon the captain stood and yelled, “Halt!” Those Odle boys turned their horses on a dime and were leaving faster than they were arriving. The Texas Ranger, Bass Outlaw, opened fire and didn’t stop until the two Odle brothers lay on the ground, not moving or breathing. Or so everyone thought. Someone identified the two bodies as those of Alvin and Will Odle. But wait, Will was only twelve years old; would they have killed a twelve year old boy? It was later discovered that Will, also known as Walter, was charged with perjury in Arizona. A news paper later reported that Walter Odle died of typhoid fever. So who is buried at the foot of Bullhead Mountain besides Alvin? Maybe brother John had ventured down to visit during Christmas. Or maybe it was a friend of the Odle family, Henry Cavin. This is still a shivering cold case. Will the mystery ever be solved as who is buried next to Alvin Odle? Probably not but we will keep looking! I wonder if the soiree continued, just a little thought.  Linda Kirkpatrick is a ranch real estate agent, author and Texas Hill Country historian These Ranchers and Farmers May Bend, But They Won’t Break 
The very heart and soul of America and what makes our country great has been on display in rural Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado since early March of this year. That’s when a massive series of wildfires swept through more than 1,000 square miles of ranchlands and farmlands, leaving devastation that to those on the ground must have appeared a lot like the blast of a nuclear bomb. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was throwing fireballs. It was mean, ugly. It was loud,” Gena Kirk, owner of the Kirk Ranch in Clark County, Kansas, told Harvest Public Media. In Clark County alone, 85% of the land was scorched. The fire spread so rapidly, by some estimates consuming everything in its path at speeds of as much as 70 miles an hour, that ranchers had little opportunity to save any of their livestock and only by divine providence did all but seven people manage to save their own lives. “It burned every acre of the ranch. There’s not a blade of grass standing there,” third-generation rancher David Bouziden told CNN. Bouziden, who was plowing on his ranch in Southwest Kansas when the smoke from the fire engulfed him and sent him fleeing through soot and ash, was lucky to escape alive. However, he estimated that he lost 90% of his cattle. Greg Gardiner, co-owner of the Gardiner Angus Ranch, one of the most recognizable Angus breeders in America, lost 500 head of cattle on his family’s 48,000-acre ranch, where about 88% of his land burned. Gardiner, whose family’s ranching roots date back five generations to 1885, told Drovers that he had 6,000 round bales spread out over a five-mile distance in the hope of protecting them from any possible disaster; nonetheless all of them were consumed during the fire. In total, Gardiner estimated his ranch’s losses could reach $5 million to $10 million. Lessons Learned Gena Kirk drove through heavy smoke across a mile of pasture seeking an escape route. When her pickup truck got stuck in deep sand, Kirk ran the rest of the way scaling fences and navigating barbed wire before making it to the state highway. She was later treated at a local hospital for smoke inhalation. By the time the flames were finally doused, 23 Kansas counties had been impacted, as well as parts of northwestern Oklahoma, northeastern Colorado, and the panhandle of Texas. What helped contain the damage from being even more catastrophic – if you can imagine anything even worse – was the recovery experience area residents and officials gained just a year earlier when another enormous grass fire consumed more than 620 square miles of prairie and cattle grazing land in Oklahoma and Kansas. At the time, the Anderson Creek Fire was considered the worst wildfire in Kansas history. Neighbors Helping Neighbors More remarkable than the size and speed of the blaze – the largest in Kansas history – has been the resilience of the ranchers and farmers whose lives, possessions and legacies were left in ashes. Even while the worst of the wildfires, which some are calling the “Starbuck Fire,” was still consuming grassland, livestock, homes, pens, and fencing, men and women who lost everything were out volunteering to help others in the effort to save what they could for their neighbors. Kendal Kay is mayor of Ashland, Kansas, which with a population of 850 is the largest city in and the county seat of Clark County. Miraculously, Ashland is still standing, although the fire’s flames got within a half-mile of the town on almost all sides. Mayor Kay told reporter Amy Bickel of The Hutchinson News about one exhausted rancher, his home destroyed and almost all of his cattle dead, who showed up on Day Two of the fire wanting to know how he could help. “I have 50 employees that want to have jobs tomorrow,” Jeff Kay said. “I wasn’t leaving. I was out here with a wet gunny sack like back in the old days.” “They lose their home, their ranch burns, and they still try to figure out a way to help others,” the Mayor explains. That, he adds, is what living in a close-knit community in rural America is all about. Additional noteworthy incidents reported by The Hutchinson News, The New York Times, and others include:
Ad Astra Per Aspera Five days after the fires broke out, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts was on the scene in Southwest Kansas witnessing the devastation firsthand. Like so many, Senator Roberts was struck by the resilience and spirit of area ranchers and farmers. “All of those I met with today in Clark County are thankful the lives of their friends and families were spared,” the Senator said. “The Kansas spirit as embodied by our motto, ‘To the Stars Through Difficulty’ – Ad astra per aspera – is amazing.” Indeed, three weeks after the disaster struck his ranch, 71-year-old Bouziden, who lost his home and 90% of his cow herd, had two fencing crews re-fencing his land and was holding meetings with contractors about building a new home. Matt Wilson, whose family roots date back to the homesteading days of 1884, lost the family’s original 19th century home and a modern house where he, his wife, and their six children lived. The Wilsons, who did manage to rescue photos of his great-grandfather standing in front of the original family home, plan to rebuild and keep ranching. 18,000 miles of rural fencing were destroyed. At $10,000 per mile, replacement costs for fences alone will be in the range of $180 million. The final toll in terms of lost animal life, lost productivity, infrastructure damage, and destroyed inventories may never be fully tabulated. Among the high costs of the fires:
The tales of individual bravery, heroics, generosity, and selflessness coming out of the Starbuck Fire are inspirational and will endure long after the scars of the land have faded. The stories of survival, rescue, and recovery are vivid reminders that the ranches and farms of America rely on much more than land, seed, soil, feed, and water to prosper. At their very foundation is individual character and self-reliance. Mother nature does, at times, sweep away the visible assets of rural producers. But for all the fury she is capable of unleashing, as the Starbuck Fire once more illustrates, she cannot undermine the spirits of the men and women who in good times harvest her many bounties. How You Can Help It will take years, perhaps even decades, for the dedicated ranchers and farmers of Southwest Kansas and surrounding areas to fully rebuild and recover. They need our help and now, thanks to a matching grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, every dollar donated to the wildfire relief fund will be matched through July 31, 2017. To learn more and make a much needed and appreciated donation, visit: http://www.wildfirerelieffund.org. All donations are tax-deductible. Attribution: In writing this article, I relied on coverage of the March 2017 wildfires primarily from these news and information sources:
 Ranching: An Investment You Can Love Now and Share with Future Generations There is simply no other investment that can be simultaneously so financially rewarding and emotionally satisfying as ranching. Playing the stock market, especially for those few who win consistently, is wonderful. Buying and flipping houses has helped some real estate venturers amass fortunes. Gold bugs, rare coin collectors, philatelists, fine art accumulators, liquid asset (wine and scotch) dealers, and other connoisseurs certainly derive enjoyment from their speculations. But nothing in the world compares to stepping out under the endless blue sky, inhaling the fresh air, and gazing as far as the eye can see, knowing that this stretch of mother earth, your ranch, is an asset that you can love now and pass on to future generations. Once ranching gets in your blood – like the love of your life – it stays with you forever. I know, I’m a fourth-generation rancher, and I’m proud to be sharing my passion for the ranching life with my children, our family’s fifth generation of ranchers. DEEPLY SATISFYING Whether you live on and work your ranch; treat it as a getaway home; avail yourself of fishing, hunting or boating; raise cattle, cultivate crops, or enjoy more than one of the above, there is nothing as deeply satisfying as ranching. Better still, done right, ranching can be an incredibly good investment and an annuity that returns both financial and spiritual dividends for generations to come. Whether you’ve previously lived on a ranch, regularly visited one, and especially if you grew up in the concrete and glass cage we call urban America, you owe it to yourself to explore how owning ranch acreage can lift your spirits and propel your net worth. Once ranching gets in your blood – like the love of your life – it stays with you forever. I know, I’m a fourth-generation rancher, and I’m proud to be sharing my passion for the ranching life with my children, our family’s fifth generation of ranchers. I am a dedicated ranch broker. Whether you’re new to ranching – or like me, have it in your DNA – I can fit your needs, your budget, and your dreams to the perfect ranch. Some ranch brokers look at their profession like just another job. They are all about the quick sale and their commission. Not me. I consider helping people buy and sell ranches a calling, something I am meant to do; my higher purpose in life. GLORIOUSLY INFECTIOUS For me, it’s all about my clients, their families, their destiny, and, of course, the land. (How blessed are we in America, and Texas especially, to have such abundant, productive, breathtaking land?) Ranching is gloriously infectious. I was bitten when I was hardly old enough to walk. It would be my sincerest honor to “infect” you with my love of ranching and the great outdoors. I promise you’ll thank me for it.
Texas Economy Update  Monthly Review of the Texas EconomyAli Anari (Oct 31, 2016)
Texas gained 207,500 nonagricultural jobs from September 2015 to September 2016, an annual growth rate of 1.7 percent, equal to the nation's growth rate. The nongovernment sector added 166,200 jobs, an annual growth rate of 1.7 percent compared with 1.9 percent for the nation's private sector. According to the Real Estate Center's latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy,Texas' seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September 2016 was 4.8 up from 4.5 percent in September 2015. The nation's rate decreased from 5.1 to 5 percent. All Texas industries except mining and logging, and manufacturing had more jobs in September 2016 than in September 2015. Leisure and hospitality ranked first in job creation followed by education and health services, financial activities, and the government sector. All Texas metro areas except Odessa, Texarkana, and Midland had more jobs in September 2016 than in September 2015. Dallas-Plano-Irving ranked first in job creation followed by College Station-Bryan, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, San Angelo, and Austin-Round Rocks. The state's actual unemployment rate in September 2016 was 4.8 percent. Amarillo and Austin-Round Rock had the lowest unemployment rate followed by Lubbock, College Station-Bryan, Dallas-Plano-Irving, and Sherman-Denison. |
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