Busy-ness limits blog activity

There are always things to do with all the animals on a ranch (farm), -- and living on a gravel road creates more things to do IN the house - what with all the dust! It has been SO dry here for MONTHS, -- so there is a lot of dust kicked up by passing vehicles (5 or 6 a day!!!).
On the left, note the dust in the air compared to our more usual Texas sky on the right! Also note the lack of green secondary to the drought conditions!








This week we've had a couple of storms come through, so for the first time in a long time, there's no dust in the air!!! In fact, with 3" of rain about 10 days ago, and another inch 4 or 5 days ago, things are starting to green up nicely!!

Aside from the busy-ness associated with 'ranch' life, I became a member of the Hospital Auxiliary (i.e. 'pink ladies') a little over a year ago, and don't you know, they voted me in as President last fall! We only have a small hospital, Hamilton Hospital, here in Olney (about 20 beds), but it has a rich history. At one time, Olney was a thriving community of over 5,000! There were 3 clothing stores, a nice hotel with an ice cream parlor, a bowling alley, several banks, a tea room, a couple of five and dimes and lots more. Now we have around 3400 (at last census) which includes more than our fair share of government housing. Oil activity has fallen and taken with it much of the industry/business that was once here. Back then the hospital had over 100 beds and supported 8 or 10 doctors. Now we only have a couple and they bring docs in from around the area to cover the Emergency Room. Anyway, our auxiliary was once around 40 strong and now we have under 20! Since I've been president, the first regular BIG activity of our year is a bean and cornbread luncheon put on each spring. This is THE MAIN FUNDRAISER every year. Aside from that, we assist with projects wherever we can, and we provide fresh ice water, newspapers, and some companionship for the 7-18 patients. Our beans and cornbread meal was March 26th, so I was quite involved in that (but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures). Even Mike helped serve as we expanded to serving at Air Tractor (a major employer in Olney) as well as at the Civic Center. We also had a raffle (an afghan that my mom donated for the event). Then on April 8th & 9th, we had our first ever Book Fair and also finished up on the raffle. It was a very successful event, earning us just under $600 that will allow us to donate some additional things for the hospital. We're not done yet either! In 2 weeks the town of Olney celebrates it's centennial. The whole town will be turning out for city-wide events, and we'll have a pink lady table somewhere along Main Street. As the new president, I find myself busy organizing all these projects, new and old. 'My ladies' have been wanting new members and now I think I can keep them busy, so we're going to have a 'new member drive' along with the big Centennial Celebration!!!