A short bike ride up to the San Macos, Texas area today...........

[TexasCharley]

We're used to drouth in Texas. I lived through the drouth of the '50s. In 1954 Comal Springs in San Marcos, source of the Comal River--which, though it's only 2

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Yes, it has always been dry down here in South Texas, but as we get older I think the heat and dryness for some reason seems more pronounced. Some folks subscribe to the eleven year cycle theory...eleven years between abundant rain and drought conditions. It just seems to me that it got hotter and drier earlier this year than normal.

I will never forget the flood of 1998. We could not get out of the area for several days because the low water crossings were flooded. I do not know why they are called low water crossings because the water is definitely not low! When the rain started that Saturday morning, I sensed that something was not right and brought all the horses to the barn. I had never seen Leon Creek flood like it did during this flood. I do not think that the flood of 2002 was as bad in our area, but folks in other areas think it was worst than the flood of 1998. I also remember that the snakes were more abundant than normal because the flood flushed them out of their hiding places and they went to higher ground...which happened to be where we were located.

I keep thinking that sometime in the 1970's I went through Seguin, Texas right before they had a big flood that damaged many old historical homes on Highway 123 near the river. A week or so later, when I came back through Seguin, I was saddened by the damage to some of those old homes. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Cupajo]

During some of those moderatly dry to dry periods builders sold some fancy homes along the bottom lands of the Guadelupe River and when she kicked over her traces with a vengeance those home were destroyed.

Too bad people don't seem to benefit from common sense and check out a bit of "river history" from the old timers that could tell them!

Seems like there's always something!

CJ

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

n/t

 

[TexasCharley]

Right after after the '98 flood a bunch of moneymen from Houston came down & bought a lot of riverfront property. A year later they sold it to folks from out of town for a bundle. In '02 it flooded again, wiped out the suckers. Canyon Dam was supposed to control flooding on the Guadalupe, but in '98 we had a terrific rainfall below the dam. Fortunately, I'm over a mile from the river & nearly 100 ft higher than it is. If I get flooded look for a Jew in a big, big boat. My dad always said that drouths come in a 20-year cycle. 1918 was a really dry year, then came the one in the '30s, then the one in the '50s. I've been saying for several years that we were overdue for a big one. We've had a few dry years, but it's been 52 years since the '50s dry broke. When I lived in the Dallas area a lot of my neighbors were from back east or up north. We had a dry spell of about 5 months back in the '70s and they were talking about 'this terrible drouth.' I told 'em 'Drouth, nothin'. This is just a dry spell. I've been through a drouth & it lasted 7 years.'

The two best books on the '50s drouth are THE TIME IT NEVER RAINED by Elmer Kelton (TCU Press, these days) & A GOOD YEAR FOR THE BUZZARDS by John Duncklee. Elmer was the farm-and-ranch man on the San Angelo paper at the time & John was ranching in southeast Arizona.

Both of them are Western Writers of America members. Elmer's been president of the organization. John just prefers to sit in the hotel bar at our conventions. This year's was in Okie City, but I didn't get to go..My pocketbook took a big hit when a lot of my regular markets dried up.

Texas Charley

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

This newspaper clipping came from the front page of today's San Antonio Express-News. Stock tanks that held water during the famous drought of the early 1950's are dry, and crops are burning up in the fields. Kelley (Texas)

[attachment 132592 drought_2.jpg]

 

[TexasCharley]

It's so dry that last New Years most of the counties around here banned all fireworks except professional displays. That was after something on the order of 90 fire calls in a day with the 4th of July '08 fireworks. This 4th the ban was 'rockets with sticks & missiles with fins.' It worked--very few fire calls. The whole country around here is a tinderbox. South of here it's even worse. Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, where I teach muzzle-loading to FFA & VoAg high school students twice a year, had about 95% burned in a wildfire last fall. They lost their research building--got the computers & records out of it but nothing else--& a lot of field monitoring equipment. The only carcasses they found, though, were some feral hogs. Apparently the deer & other lge mammals got out.

I kinda hope it got some of the rattlesnakes. That place was alive with 'em. They've got an ongoing rattlesnake research down there--they capture 'em, weigh 'em, measure 'em, & tag 'em. In the

 

[Cupajo]

I grew up in "snake country" along the Texas coast and have seen plenty during those years. When they were a threat to livestock or two legged critters I would remove them from the area (mostly dead!).

I saw one that had to be over six feet long near Port Lavaca late one day just before dark.

It crawled off into the roadside brush and those rattles sounded like a monstrous bee hive that had been stirred up!

Needless to say it was left un-disturbed.

I've often wondered just how big that rascal got!

Head 9" wide??

Holy cow, that would be some snake all right!!

CJ

 

[TexasCharley]

When the Burnham Brothers had their gun & sporting goods store in Marble Falls they never had a burglar alarm. Instead, they turned 5 rattlesnakes loose inside when they closed & everybody knew about it. One weekday they didn't open the store until about 2 in the afternoon. They only found 4 snakes up til then. The store was never burgled.