Recently I took my 88 yr old Mom for a drive in the country to the gas plant I was raised at, called Fain. It's approximately 30 miles north of Amarillo on the Dumas highway and 2 miles east of the road. We drove into the plant without having to check with anyone and drove around where the houses use to be. The garages are still there, but without doors, and they store junk in them. Storing junk everywhere! Where my house use to sit and where our park use to be. And to top it off - the basketball/volleyball court where I spent thousands of hours shotting and playing around the world, now has an office building sitting on it. Just broke my heart. Mom said that it seemed like a dream that we ever lived there.
I remember moving there when I was five, and I was standing outside on the sidewalk by my house when 3 or 4 kids came up and started talking. They turned out to be my future best friends and family, as all 16 families became one big family. No one locked doors and everyone was in and out of each other's houses. The ladies got together each morning to "drink coffee" but we kids knew it was to watch the soap operas and gossip, but we kids loved that, it gave us an hour or so to play together inside. The rest of the day was spent outside, either playing in my front yard which was the largest, or the park, or at the basketball court. Needless to say with our own court and being 30 miles from town, we formed quite a team, boys and girls, and almost everyone of us made the school team. I actually won the school's best athelete award primarily for basketball, but I was also the setter on the volleyball team and did a little softball although we didn't have a softball school team.
At night the parents would get together at the courts to place hours of volleyball, while us kids played around the fringes, and as we got older, they allowed us to sub in once in a while. I know I made the school team because of those nights.
But us kids played so many things as a group. We had work-up baseball games in the park, and I remember swinging real hard once and the catcher was too close and I bashed his mouth. Boy, it was bad. Problem was, he was my off and on again boyfriend. Maybe that accident was the reason we never got serious.
We also had awesome football games, and I use to love to kick that ball as far as I could. Yes, I'm a girl, but none of us "Fain campers" realized we girls were different from the boys, and we just all played as equals.
We had a cellar for storms and it was huge enough to hold 16 families; and we turned the top into our skating rink, stage, and later dance area. It was next to my house, which was very convenient.
There was only one house phone at Fain, and it was in my house. It was a dousy. If you wanted to make a call, you turned a handle for two longs and two shorts, and a dispatcher in Amarillo would answer. You would give him the number, and he dialed it from in town. Talk about an open sytem. Every phone on that network could be picked up and listened in on your calls. The Turkey Creek Plant between Amarillo and Borger had a line, the plant where I lived had a line, and no telling how many other places could listen in. We hated to get the dispatcher named Jim, as he was grouchy as could be. You could not make a call 15 minutes before or after the hour as that was when the plants called in their pressures. So if you wanted to make a call, you had 30 minutes maximum. Jim was not opposed to butting in and saying, "Hey, you kids, get off the line. I need it." One time my godmother who was in her late 50's was using our phone - her husband was daddy's assistant superintendent at that time, and Jim got on the line and said, "Hey, if you kids at Fain would stay off the line, we could get some business done." By that time, we only had two families at Fain, us and the Hunts. Mildred, my godmother, never let anyone step on her, and she said, "I'll have you know that this is a 50 year old woman talking, and about all those kids at Fain, there is only one kid lives here, and she isn't using the phone." He shut up, hung up, and we all laughed.
But from the age of 5 to 7th grade, we had 16 families. I can still name each and every member of every family and tell you where they lived. I was especially close to the Lewis family and after they moved to town, their home was my home when I needed to stay in town due to school or extracurricular activities.
Due to a change in tax laws, the company was going to have to start charging the employees for their homes, and of course, people gripped that they were required to live there and would have to pay for the houses. So they decided to let people move to town if they wanted to, and slowly, but surely, people started moving to town. Some of the moms had begun to work outside the home and that daily trip to town for them was getting hazardous, and before long we had only 2 families left, the two that the company required, the Superintendent (my dad) and his assistant. Eventually when I was in my 30's the company changed that rule too and Mom and Dad moved to town also.
Before all the houses were emptied, and it was a slow process, we would have 2 houses, and then an empty, and then more houses, and then an empty. We used the first two empties (the Words and the McGills houses) to hold sleep over, at least us girls did. Those turned into perfect opportunities for the boys to sneek up to the empty houses after dark, which was kind of spooky, scratch the walls outside, throw ketchup on the windows, and send us girls into screaming ninnies. Oh, but it was fun.
We rode a school bus to school and home driven by Mrs. Waters. Her daughter Sandy also rode the bus, and they lived at a nearby ranch. Our route to school included several ranches, which changed from time to time. I remember going to Mrs Fain's Ranch and picking up Susie who was our age, but she moved in 2nd grade. There was another ranch way off the right and a precious little blonde my age lived there, but only for one year. Then there was the Kritser Ranch to the west just before the Canadian River and we went down a cottonwood lined road to get to it to pick up a young boy. He was several years younger than me, but I don't remember his name. He lived there several years. After the plant was emptied and Mrs. Waters had retired, my mom drove her car one year and a short bus until I graduated. We went north to the Dunn Ranch and picked up the 3 Felts kids, and for a while up close to Masterson and another part of Fain where these families had several kids. But it was weird, the ranch kids came and went and never stayed too long, except the Felts, who one girl in their family, Phyllis went thru graduation with me.
Those were long bus rides, taking up to an hour and a half each way. When school let you, the bus had to pick up the kids at the high school,, then the jr. high and then to our elementary school. So Fan Campers at the elementary level stayed until 4 when the bus arrived, and each week a different teacher was assigned to watch us. I read thru the first, second and third grade libraries after school my first grade year. We had alot of bonding time with these teachers who rotated to keep us, and we were accused many times of being the school's favorites - honestly I think we were. We were all good students, conscientious, smart, caring, honest, and who wouldn't just love to have us!!
LOL One of the teachers I had for 3 years as home room teacher, was Mrs. Kate Waters, the sister-in-law to Mrs. Waters the bus driver. We called her Battleaxe Waters behind her back, but I really did like her. She was a great teacher and I can conjugate verbs and do my pronoun boxes to this day because of her.
I use to love to write books, stories about love (I was in middle school by then) and I'd cut out pictures from catalogs to illustrate them. They were continuing stories, and each morning when I got to school, the girls would be waiting for that day's installment. All day my book would make the rounds of all the girls in my class. Mrs. Waters knew this and never conviscated it, but encouraged me constantly to keep writing. We need good teachers like her, even if us kids called her names. She was tough!! But she could teach like no one else I've ever known. Years later when she went to the same beauty shop as my mom, she told my mom that she thought I was the best writer and possibly best student she'd ever taught. That really, really was a compliment, because she had taught alot of kids. She was always adjusting her straps inside her neckline - and today I do the same thing. It must to postmentopausal lack of shoulders or something. She also had a little mustache, and you got it, I have to fight that too. But we thought those were just "her" problems, and now I know its an age thing. She wore her hair up in a bun, wore long dresses, high heels and commanded her classes. She never lost control.
I went to River Road School for 9 years, as an elementary and later junior high, and I loved every single minute but my last year. By then the area had grown, my camp friends were gone, the new kids were a different breed, and I knew I would be going to a different high school from the other kids, so I was sort of left out of some things. Being the star of the basketball team put me on a little pedestal for part of the year, but after basketball season, all anyone talked about was high school, and I felt left out. I was going to another school where I'd know no one, and it was a little scarey. But River Road was a great school for my first 9 years of education, and it is still there. My son actually coached his team through a tournament there last year!! Oh the memories, and yes, I took my mom there on our little journey down memory lane. She said, it didn't look the same and that those memories too seemed like dreams.
This will end this chapter of remembering those days, but I plan to add other stories later. Those were truly "the good ole days.".
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friend needs Prayer
My co-worker Nancy, is in surgery today for two brain tumors, that they believe are malignant. Nancy is a feisty realtor that handles estate sales, and is passionate about jewelry. She buys estate items herself and sells them to a loyal Ebay clientele. Nancy is the type to always have a smile on her face and an idea of how to build someone up or give them a pat on the back.
Last week she became ill on Tuesday, throwing up and a headache and it continued until Thursday, when she drove herself to the emergency clinic, who then hurried her to icu at the hospital. After several tests, she was put in a room at the hospital with more tests, given pain for the excruciating headache, and given the timetable of tests to surgery.
She has now reached the surgery stage, as they couldn't find another location that hte cancer could have come from. Please pray for this awesome realtor, friend, mother, sister, and co-worker; that the Lord will guide the surgeons hands, that the problem can be fixed, and that Nancy will return to her life good as new. Pray for her daughter who is a college student, her sister a nurse at the same hospital and all the realtors in our office who love Nancy and want her recovery. When two or more are gathered to pray, God promises results, and I figure the world wide internet will get more than two or more together in prayer. Thank you for reading this and praying.
Last week she became ill on Tuesday, throwing up and a headache and it continued until Thursday, when she drove herself to the emergency clinic, who then hurried her to icu at the hospital. After several tests, she was put in a room at the hospital with more tests, given pain for the excruciating headache, and given the timetable of tests to surgery.
She has now reached the surgery stage, as they couldn't find another location that hte cancer could have come from. Please pray for this awesome realtor, friend, mother, sister, and co-worker; that the Lord will guide the surgeons hands, that the problem can be fixed, and that Nancy will return to her life good as new. Pray for her daughter who is a college student, her sister a nurse at the same hospital and all the realtors in our office who love Nancy and want her recovery. When two or more are gathered to pray, God promises results, and I figure the world wide internet will get more than two or more together in prayer. Thank you for reading this and praying.
Monday, September 19, 2011
FORECLOSURES TO RENTALS - HARDER THAN ONE THOUGHT.
Well, it's turning out to be harder to turn foreclosures into rentals than the government thought, and if they are not successful, in 5 years the homes will have deteriorated to the point they won't be saleable. Here's a great article I copied from a newsletter for mortgage lenders that I subscribe to. Let me know what you think the answer is.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Foreclosure-to-Rental Program Great in Theory, Tough in Practice
What seems like a no-brainer — turning the hundreds of thousands of vacant, foreclosed homes controlled by the federal government into rental units — is going to be tough to accomplish.
The logic behind the idea is compelling. Across the country today, the federal government controls around 250,000 foreclosed homes, through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration. More than a million more are in the foreclosure pipeline, with homeowners having fallen well behind on their mortgage payments.
Vacant homes deteriorate quickly. And the government is selling these homes individually at what some consider fire-sale prices, often to cash-paying investors, because it is hard to get financing to buy them.
At the same time, rental housing is becoming scarcer. The nationwide rental vacancy rate is currently 9.2%, its lowest level since 2002.
"You have people thrown out of their homes who are now finding it very difficult to afford to rent a modest place just to put their family," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a recent speech.
So the Obama administration is looking for a way to turn the real estate-owned homes, or REOs, that it controls into rental housing.
"I would argue that this approach can create value if done carefully and diligently, not just minimizing losses," said Reed, a longtime champion of the idea. "The other way to look at it is: if five years from now, nothing's done, those houses are going to be, you know, it's a ghost town. The pipes will be gone. The roofs will be broken. The lawns won't be cut. And then try to sell them."
But while there is broad agreement that a rental strategy makes sense, it faces enormous operational obstacles, including disagreement over the appropriate policy goals and questions about how to account for the local nature of real estate across the United States.
It now falls to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, to build a rental program that can make a real dent in the foreclosure inventory.
But several large challenges remain including: Specifying the program's goals.
Last month, FHFA asked housing market participants, community groups and others to provide suggestions on how the government might facilitate the sale of the REOs it currently controls in ways that are less costly to taxpayers than its current retail sales strategy, and also help to stabilize neighborhoods and home values.
The agency made clear that these are its primary goals and that its strategy for selling off foreclosed properties will not always involve turning it into rental housing. For some homes, demolition may be a possibility.
Meg Burns, who heads the housing and regulatory policy team at FHFA, said during an appearance last week that she estimates that fewer than half of the government-controlled homes in foreclosure will end up as rental properties.
"I believe that right now our expectation is that it will not be the majority, that the dynamics in enough markets nationwide are such that moving a large number of these properties into a rental arrangement will be difficult and maybe won't make sense from a financial perspective," Burns said.
But the FHFA will have to decide whether to pursue other goals as well.
The logic behind the idea is compelling. Across the country today, the federal government controls around 250,000 foreclosed homes, through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration. More than a million more are in the foreclosure pipeline, with homeowners having fallen well behind on their mortgage payments.
Vacant homes deteriorate quickly. And the government is selling these homes individually at what some consider fire-sale prices, often to cash-paying investors, because it is hard to get financing to buy them.
At the same time, rental housing is becoming scarcer. The nationwide rental vacancy rate is currently 9.2%, its lowest level since 2002.
"You have people thrown out of their homes who are now finding it very difficult to afford to rent a modest place just to put their family," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a recent speech.
So the Obama administration is looking for a way to turn the real estate-owned homes, or REOs, that it controls into rental housing.
"I would argue that this approach can create value if done carefully and diligently, not just minimizing losses," said Reed, a longtime champion of the idea. "The other way to look at it is: if five years from now, nothing's done, those houses are going to be, you know, it's a ghost town. The pipes will be gone. The roofs will be broken. The lawns won't be cut. And then try to sell them."
But while there is broad agreement that a rental strategy makes sense, it faces enormous operational obstacles, including disagreement over the appropriate policy goals and questions about how to account for the local nature of real estate across the United States.
It now falls to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, to build a rental program that can make a real dent in the foreclosure inventory.
But several large challenges remain including: Specifying the program's goals.
Last month, FHFA asked housing market participants, community groups and others to provide suggestions on how the government might facilitate the sale of the REOs it currently controls in ways that are less costly to taxpayers than its current retail sales strategy, and also help to stabilize neighborhoods and home values.
The agency made clear that these are its primary goals and that its strategy for selling off foreclosed properties will not always involve turning it into rental housing. For some homes, demolition may be a possibility.
Meg Burns, who heads the housing and regulatory policy team at FHFA, said during an appearance last week that she estimates that fewer than half of the government-controlled homes in foreclosure will end up as rental properties.
"I believe that right now our expectation is that it will not be the majority, that the dynamics in enough markets nationwide are such that moving a large number of these properties into a rental arrangement will be difficult and maybe won't make sense from a financial perspective," Burns said.
But the FHFA will have to decide whether to pursue other goals as well.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Fires in Austin area or Bastrop
My brother just sent me some pictures of the fires in Austin area; he's in Oregon at this time, living there 6 months of the year, and 6 months in Georgetown. Thence he wasn't there at the time of the fires. His daughter and her family live in Georgetown, and I'm sure they kept him informed of what was going on. But the pictures he sent, were similar to the ones I'd already seen online, and one looked like hell had opened up into the skies. The other is a view from the interstate down the traffic with billows of gray and black smoke billowing as far as the sky can be seen.
Then I read this morning about the toxic ash from the twin towers falling on 9/11/01 and how the first responders are being found to have lung diseases and cancer due to inhaling the toxic fumes.
My question is this: Will the people in the Bastrop area also have lung diseases, as well as the firemen, from the fumes of these massive fires. I really had never given much thought to why they would be toxic.
When my daughter was in middle school, her best friend's house caught on fire on Valentines day. (By the way, that young lady is getting married today, and I so wanted to go but thought I'd be out of town at the State Convention - congratulations Jennifer!)
It didn't burn the house down, the shell and walls were still there, but it was all smoke infested and everything was ruined from the heat and the smell was awful. We spent a few days emptying the house and inventorying it for the insurance company. I took a few things home with me to keep until they moved into the next home. I spent hours trying to clean them and get the awful smell out. In the end, they rebuilt the inside of the house, moving walls, rearranging the floorplan, modernizing the house, and then moved back in. But when they came and got the stuff I had, it still smelled bad and I imagine they didn't use it in the new home.
After that experience, my daughter and I and several others who had helped, got sick as dogs. I'd had pneumonia a few years earlier, and this sickness felt the same way but without fever, and I knew it was breathing in all the burned up stuff!! Imagine if a whole town burns down how many toxins are exposed to the general public, not to mention the firefighters who put their lives on the line.
Let's just pray that this doesn't happen, that the ruin of their homes and possessions won't be compounded by health problems. Our hearts go out to all who were affected by these fires, and want you to know we'll continue to pray for good health and hope that through the goodness of others, you find a way to get back on the track you were on before the devastation. Many blessings from the Lord God are wished on you this day.
Then I read this morning about the toxic ash from the twin towers falling on 9/11/01 and how the first responders are being found to have lung diseases and cancer due to inhaling the toxic fumes.
My question is this: Will the people in the Bastrop area also have lung diseases, as well as the firemen, from the fumes of these massive fires. I really had never given much thought to why they would be toxic.
When my daughter was in middle school, her best friend's house caught on fire on Valentines day. (By the way, that young lady is getting married today, and I so wanted to go but thought I'd be out of town at the State Convention - congratulations Jennifer!)
It didn't burn the house down, the shell and walls were still there, but it was all smoke infested and everything was ruined from the heat and the smell was awful. We spent a few days emptying the house and inventorying it for the insurance company. I took a few things home with me to keep until they moved into the next home. I spent hours trying to clean them and get the awful smell out. In the end, they rebuilt the inside of the house, moving walls, rearranging the floorplan, modernizing the house, and then moved back in. But when they came and got the stuff I had, it still smelled bad and I imagine they didn't use it in the new home.
After that experience, my daughter and I and several others who had helped, got sick as dogs. I'd had pneumonia a few years earlier, and this sickness felt the same way but without fever, and I knew it was breathing in all the burned up stuff!! Imagine if a whole town burns down how many toxins are exposed to the general public, not to mention the firefighters who put their lives on the line.
Let's just pray that this doesn't happen, that the ruin of their homes and possessions won't be compounded by health problems. Our hearts go out to all who were affected by these fires, and want you to know we'll continue to pray for good health and hope that through the goodness of others, you find a way to get back on the track you were on before the devastation. Many blessings from the Lord God are wished on you this day.
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