Here above Sulfur Creek...

by Pat Gibson

About 28 years ago, my husband decided the United States Air Force was not where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He drew a circle on the map of Texas and told this Army brat (and smile when you say that sir, it's a title of distinction) to pick a town. We were settling down.

After 30 years of moving around, I had one town that would be home for the rest of my life. I'd moved about every two years for most of my life, adjusting to a new school and a new town, usually an apartment complex commonly called military housing.

I've always been a town kid. We would visit my grandmother in Colorado and for a month or two and pretend to be country kids, but I had never really lived in the country. My husband, on the other hand, grew up on farm land in the Rio Grande Valley. His family rented the farm land out, but he had picked cotton and grown vegetable and knew what country living was all about.

When we decided that Austin was where he could find work, we began looking for a place in the country. It had to have a creek and trees because we wanted to raise a house full of kids and John said those were very essential for country kids. One afternoon, we followed a newly constructed road in Hays County to where it ended on the top of a hill. Our oldest was only about a year old then and since he was asleep, I stayed in the car while John explored.

He climbed back up the hill to where a sleeping baby and I were waiting and the grin on his face announced it better than words. He had found the place to settle and raise his kids.

We've been here on the hill where Sulfur Creek empties into Barton for more than 25 year this spring. In those years we've been blessed with four more kids. (I refer to them as the Crew.)

We've weathered storms and droughts, blessings and disasters and I've learned quite a bit about living in the country. I'd like to tell you about some of the critters I've encountered and some of the things the Crew has done. I hope you'll join me here above Sulfur Creek each week.

© 1996 by Sulfur Creek Enterprises, Austin, Texas