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June 2021

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Under New Direction

The Big Spring Pride Drive has a new leader; however, he is no stranger to Big Spring or Steer Nation. RAised a steer, he has been doing his part to help bring up a new generation of Steer musicians for the past several years. Gabe martinez was recently named the new head band director of the big spring pride drive.

On a Cattle Drive, 1880

Local Howard County resident joel miller shares another one of his stories with us. This month, he gives a little bit of insight to life on a cattle drive in the 1880s. As miller has stated before, each of his stories hold little nuggets of truth from his life and memories, but for the most part are ways to express his creative writing talent.

Pen and ink

Local artist kay smith shares with us a few techniques invovling pen and ink when it comes to creating an art piece. the imapct that an artist can have on a life is everlasting; every stroke - whether it be from a brush, watercolor, pen, pencil, or mixed media - counts, and tells a part of the story. this month, kay smith focuses on ways to improve, tutorial opportunities, and more for those looking to design a piece with pen and ink.

Women’s Health

This month, Jenny wiggins smith, an ob/gyn with shannon medical center, offers a look at women’s health and the importance of screenings and routine check ups.

On the cover: Local photographerMatt Warren shares a photo of a view from the Big Spring State Park, taken this past month. The photo captures the horizon as the rain clouds begins to roll into Howard County. Photo Courtesy of Matt Warren.

Looking at the world of fantasy sports teams

Herald sports writer dustin pope gives an inside view of the draft kings and fantasy sports world.

Published by the Big Spring Herald. Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Living Magazine is published monthly and distributed to businesses and residents of Howard County. Amanda Duforat is the editor of the Living Magazine. Editorial correspondence should be sent to Living, P.O.Box 1431, Big Spring, Texas, 79721. For advertising rates and other information, please call 432-263-7331.

Under new direction

Big Spring Pride Drive gets new band director By ROGER CLINE

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Great things are brewing in the Big Spring ISD band program, and new Head Director Gabe Martinez is at the center of it. Martinez related a story about a recent sixth-grade band trip to contest at Clyde. The band was on its way home from the contest with First Division honors in hand. “This is how I know we have some-

thing special with this sixth grade class: When we pulled Martinez made the decision to switch gears from law into the parking lot at BSI, I have never heard a parent enforcement to music education at Texas A&M in Comcrowd honk and holler so much as the buses pulled in,” Martinez said. “You would have thought they just won the State Marching Contest. You know how we do the big send-off for the State Marching Contest? They had just as much of a ruckus, this crowd coming in, as when we go to State or something and do a send-off. The kids came out waving and taking pictures. I was thinking ‘Y’all are awesome!’ It was really neat, so I’m excited for them to grow up in band. If you have that much parent support right now, the sky’s the limit.” Martinez is no stranger to band in Steer Country. “I grew up born and raised in Big Spring, went to Big Spring High School. My original plan, I had a dream, and it was THE dream, to become a Texas DPS trooper, a state trooper. I wanted to be a highway patrolman,” Martinez said. “But as I went through Howard College and playing my horn, I just decided that music education was the avenue for me, and a calling. I think it’s paid off well up to 501 N. Birdwell Ln. • Big Spring • (432) 267-7781 this point.” Living Magazine

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merce before returning to his high school alma mater for his first post-college job. “I graduated from there, and I’m here now,” Martinez said. “It’s been a great experience to be here in Big Spring and to serve these students.” Martinez started out as an assistant band director under longtime Big Spring band director Rocky Harris. “When I first came, he was the head director. Two years ago, we changed over to John Landin and obviously this year and next year, it will be me,” he said. “It kind of landed in my lap in a great way. I’ve been very blessed to work with Rocky and with John. John was a godsend to keep things afloat, and Rocky...Rocky was my high school band director. Since sixth grade, I always knew him, so I was getting that experience of working with someone who I knew cared about me.” Martinez said he learned about the promotion April 21. “The Wednesday when I found out I got the job, the first order of business was...Mr. (Jay) McWilliams our superintendent said, ‘You’ve got to tell the kids first. They need to hear it first before we say anything.’ So we went to the high school band hall and we announced it to the kids,” Martinez said. “The kids, in their minds, they had it kind of going that this was something that may happen, and we were all like, ‘Well, you never know.’” The band students reacted positively to the news. “When we made the announcement, the kids cheered. I cried. When I started talking to them, I couldn’t help but get emotional,” Martinez said. “I told them that band has changed my life and it’s still changing my life every day. The biggest thing, I told them, people tell me is my work ethic. ‘You work so hard for this band.’ And I do. I told the kids, ‘Guys, I work hard for you...You have to keep working hard too. That’s the only way we’re going to reach the next level of excellence. We all have to work hard. It’s not ‘The band director works hard and the assistant band directors work hard...the student leaders...’ It’s everybody.” Martinez said he has a good relationship with his stu-

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dents. “It’s kind of like that father/son or daughter dynamic,” he said. “I can tell they’re proud of me, and equally, I am proud of them. It’s a weird thing to say, but they are so proud. I can see it in their faces.” Since Martinez is so familiar with Big Spring schools and the band program in particular, the transition has been extremely smooth so far, he said. “The best part is that this is a smooth transition between John and I. The kids see that. They know the friendship that John and I had. They know how closely we worked together over the past two years considering that horrible year we just went through and all the challenges that it brought forth,” he said. “We’re just going to continue. We’re happy for Mr. Landin going to Abilene. For him and his family, it’s a great opportunity, we understand. We’re happy with what we’ve got here and the momentum is going forward for sure.” Martinez hasn’t planned any major shake-ups in the Big Spring band program. “That would be the quickest way to destroy it,” he said. “It’s one of those things. That’s the biggest thing that I have brought to this staff change. I worked with Rocky Harris and a whole different staff. When John came two years ago, I was the only director that these kids knew. For two years trying to get a band program convinced to follow three new teachers...I told everyone ‘Consistency is key,’ and I’ve been the stability that kept that consistency going for Big Spring. John came in from Coahoma and he could very easily have said, ‘We’re going to do things my way,’ but he didn’t. He said, ‘What’s the Big Spring way?’” Martinez said he learned from some of the best in Harris and Landin. “We’ll tweak things here and there, but you kind of have to do that carefully, and we do. I have a lot of the mannerisms of Rocky Harris and my teaching style is very much like Rocky’s, but next year I guarantee you people are going to say, ‘You’re John Landin Jr. You have a little bit of Rocky and a little bit of John,’” he said. “That’s the beautiful part: Those are two fantastic directors right there. You take all the tools you can get and put them on your belt and you’re ready to go. We had to keep growing as teachers. But no major changes.” The new director said he’s already working on the Marching Band’s show for next school year. “I’m excited for next year’s show,” he said. “Next year’s show will be a tribute to the 1986 Challenger explosion. That’s our marching show for next year. We’ll include props. I literally want to have the whole solar system out there on the field. Seven astronaut helmets.” Martinez plans to keep that consistency and “Big Spring way” going with this new transition as he takes over the lead reins of Big Spring’s Pride Drive band.

ByDUSTIN POPE One of the primary questions I get asked when people find out I play DFS or Daily Fantasy Sports is, "What is Daily Fantasy Sports?" Well, that's a good question, one I will try to answer to the best of my capability. So the first step in learning about DFS is, is understanding what Fantasy sports are and where that began. Season-long fantasy sports are where it all began. A group of sportswriters got together a long time ago and

tried something new. They all covered and loved baseball, so they came up with a plan to draft and create a fantasy team of their own to compete. They would all take turns drafting their players until they fielded an entire team of a few pitchers, every position, and of course, bench players. The group of men then had to figure out a way to keep score. So they gave point values to hits, home runs, RBI, walks, and a bunch of other stats. This group of guys

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created what we would know as Rotisserie league scoring. There have been minor tweaks to the scoring system, but the basis for most season-long fantasy sports comes from this. When all of this first began, there was not as much TV coverage as they we have now; they had no MLB Extra Innings package where you can watch any game you want. So they relied on the box scores of the games that came out in the newspaper to calculate their scores. This was the basis for the start of what would be a huge phenomenon. Nowadays, millions of people still draft year-long teams in every sport. People hold draft parties and make wonderful friendships through playing Fantasy sports. In season-long Fantasy, you start at the first of whatever sport you are playing and draft a team; it usually a snake draft and nobody has the same players; each unit is unique to the drafter. Of course, as with actual sports, the tricky thing about season long is the fact injuries can hamper a team, slumps, suspensions, to name a few. These things can contribute to a winning or losing season. While season-long Fantasy is undoubtedly a grind and highly challenging, some people realized we could do this daily. There were versions of Daily Fantasy Sports back in the ancient times of the 1990s. A bunch of newspapers carried a game called Dugout Derby and a football game called Pigskin Playoff. These games followed a basic template to how DFS works currently, except the internet wasn't what it is now. Hence, you had to call a phone service that cost $2.00 for the first minute and 1.50 for each additional minute to manage your teams. As the internet became more readily available, some of the first Internet DFS began business. In 2009 FanDuel became one of the most prominent DFS providers. FanDuel was one of the first of its kind offering big payouts for tournaments and intruding the salary cap system (which I’ll explain a little later). FanDuel dominated the DFS industry until 2012 when DraftKings came along. DK was the first big-time competition that FanDuel ever had. DraftKings showed they were a legit company by securing sponsorship from Major League Baseball. Once MLB signed with DraftKings, more sponsorships followed in 2015, FanDuel signed the NBA, and DraftK-

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ings signed the NHL. Individual NFL teams also started signing deals with the sites as well. With significant sponsorship from professional sports and a massive marketing campaign, DFS was on its way. Now that there were two major players in the DFS industry for the players to choose from, both DraftKings and FanDuel flourished. By 2017 DraftKings had become the DFS leader and wanted to merge with FanDuel, creating a DFS super power. The mega-deal was not to be as the Federal Trade Commission stepped in to block the merger on anti-trust grounds. Since the deal could not go through, both FD and DK went on their separate ways; both still offer substantial prize pools daily. Ok, so how do you build a lineup? Well, that depends on what site you are playing on. For this explanation, I'm going to stick with how DraftKings works. You can play pretty much any sport you choose to play, and how it works is this: Let's say you decide to play an MLB lineup for the day. First, we pick our contest we want to enter. On DK, they have a contest of all buy-in

prices, from 10 cents to thousands of dollars. After you choose your game, we get down to building lineups. In baseball, you have 10 positions to fill: two pitchers; a catcher; First, Second, and Third bases; Shortstop; and three outfielders. DraftKings give each player a salary based on how good he is or is not. They price pitchers more than most of the position players. Now to build your lineup of 10 players, you have a $50,000 salary cap. So trying to figure out who to play and where to save salary is the hardest thing about DFS. That's where studying the lineups and knowing the metrics of the game come into play. Learning how and what statistics to study for any sport separates an average player from a skilful player. Nowadays, several DFS content websites will give you a basic breakdown of their pros, ideas, and philosophies. There is nothing wrong with subscribing to a site to get help. Heck, I worked for a few of these sites.

When you don't have the time to study all day, some DFS content sites want to help you better. Because everyone can draft all the same players, another aspect of winning in DFS is ownership percentage. Let's say Trevor Bauer is pitching against the Pittsburgh Pirates. That, by all accounts, should be an easy matchup for one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. If Bauer has ownership of over 80% of lineups, that means 80% of all lineups that are drafted have Bauer in

them. Then, to be different, fade him and find another pitcher that isn't as chalky. Of course, if Bauer dominates and puts up 40 fantasy points on the night and you don't have him. Well, then your ship is probably sunk, and you are not winning that night. There is always some give and take in DFS. Knowing what chalky players to play and what not to play will always make a difference in winning or losing. I don't know that I explained this very well because it's kind of hard to explain. It's one of those things you have to do a couple of times to understand how the process works. Daily Fantasy Sports is a growing, booming business that is fun and difficult to master. If you like sports and are up for a challenge, check out DraftKings or FanDuel.

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By KAY SMITH The first time I saw line and wash art I fell in love. A combination of ink then paint said to me that the artist was very confident. Put down a stroke, go on to the next one. Add watercolor if you want to. In the attached image of an old abandoned building made of clay, ink was used initially. This deserted scene could stand on its own without color. Some brief pointers: Use Bristol board paper or watercolor paper without much tooth, such as hot press 140 lbs. Surfaces of these two types won’t get your pen stuck in a tiny divot on the page. 10 Living Magazine

What about mistakes? We should ignore lines that are in the wrong place and work around them. Use drawing tutorials and books to try the different techniques. There are very few workshops given on pen and ink, so it is often a matter of self-study. A few times per year I set up a workshop either online or for small groups of students to learn the basics. One appeal of drawing with pen and ink is the clean, finished appearance that can be created. Preliminary drawings can completed using graphite and then drawn over using ink. When the ink has dried, the graphite can be erased, leaving a “controlled” high contrast image. With the old building, pencil was not used first, only the ink of Micron 01 pens, with hatching, cross hatching, and stippling to create values. A few pen and ink techniques: - Hatching Using linear marks to make values - Cross hatching Lines cross over each other, slanted or straight - Random lines Various directional lines, curved or straight - Stippling Adding numerous dots close together or far apart -Ink wash Apply ink with a brush Visit Brushworks Studio, 2106 Scurry or https://kaysmith.artspan.com

June House Call Checking in on women’s health May was Women’s Health Month and a great opportument is used to collect cells and mucus from the cervix, nity to check back in on your physical and mental health. which is then sent to a lab. Women should get their first As women, it’s easy to put the pap smear at age 21; if your doctor needs of other before yours. Put sees nothing out of the ordinary, yourself and your health first this you should be able to drop down to month by making healthier choices, receiving them every three years. discovering new habits and learning Pelvic Exams: In addition to Pap more about women’s health topics. tests, a pelvic exam will be conSimple ways to make a huge differducted during a gynecological wellence for your physical and mental ness visit. health include: Your healthcare provider will • Schedule an appointment with examine your vulva and internal your doctor for a health screen and reproductive organs—the vagina, a well-woman checkup. cervix, fallopian tubes, ovaries and • Eat healthier: cut down on uterus. They will also gently press processed foods and sugars when on your stomach to check for tenpossible. derness or pain around the uterus. • Get active: set aside time each Endometriosis: The tissue that day to get moving. Even five minlines the uterus is called the utes daily can make a difference. endometrium. Endometriosis is a • Pay attention to your mental condition where this tissue grows health by managing stress levels in other parts of the body, such as and getting enough sleep each the fallopian tubes, ovaries and night. anywhere between the bladder, • Avoid or make steps towards cututerus and vagina. This condition ting out bad habits such as smoking can cause inflammation, pain and, Jenny Wiggins-Smith, DO and excessive drinking. in some cases, infertility. If you are Having annual visits to an OB/GYN experiencing these symptoms, or Shannon Clinic OB/GYN Gynecology for a gynecological examination and have a family history of endomeconsultation is beneficial for many triosis, talk with your doctor about reasons. treatments options. A gynecologist can provide scripts for birth control, run PCOS: PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome, is a comtests for sexually transmitted infections, identify irregumon hormonal disorder that affects the ovaries in women larities in breast tissue and vaginal function, and discuss of reproductive age. Signs and symptoms of PCOS inpreconception and fertility counseling. clude irregular or nonexistent periods, elevated androgen Women’s health topics can vary on significance to the (a male hormone) levels and cysts in one or both ovaries. patient, depending on age, family history and other facIf you are having concerns about your menstrual cycle, tors. Staying focused on the topics and examinations that schedule a visit with your doctor. most readily apply to you can help prevent or early-detect STD and STI Testing: If you are sexually active, getting health concerns. tested for sexually transmitted diseases and infections Mammograms: Mammograms are low-dose x-ray picafter each new partner is recommended. Urine and blood tures of the breast and the best way to detect early signs samples are collected and sent to a lab to test for a variof breast cancer. ety of different STDs and STIs. It is recommended that women start getting a mammoFor more information on these topics, or any other gram once a year starting at age 40. health concerns you may have, please call Shannon Pap smear (or Pap test): These tests help detect Clinic OB/GYN at 325-481-2285. cancerous cells or cell changes on the cervix. An instruLiving Magazine

By JOEL MILLER Editor’s Note: Joel Miller is a Howard County resident and former Emergency Services Chaplain. In his spare time, Joel has written several stories to share with his kids and grandkids. He has chosen to share some of those stories with the Living Magazine readers. As Joel said, many of his stories are based off of real life events, but each have a twist of fiction in them to keep the reader entertained.

am a farmer in Southern Oklahoma, making a living, just barely, for my wife, Molly, and our ten children. We have six girls and four boys. I always try to find odd jobs to supplement the money needed to raise a big family. While we grow most of our own food, there is always shoes, cloths, and household items to be bought. I heard of a trail drive starting in Eastern New Mexico going to Denver, Colordo. I left my family, seeking a job as a drover with the Goodnight/Loving ranches. I did not realize how large the trail drive would be, but I needed the money so I signed on. My first job was to inspect the cattle, being driven to Denver, to make sure that they we all branded. We did find a few and cut them out. They received the proper

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brand and was returned to the herd. We let them graze for several days to feed them good and to get themsettled down. Then we started toward Colorado. The first day, we had a lot of trouble keeping then bunched together. I spent more time chasing rogues that trail driving. Later, I found out that was the job for new cowboys, new to the trail. On later drives, I would be one that kept then heading north and let others do the chasing. It took some getting used to sleeping on the ground and listening to the cattle and night drovers all night. Of course, part of my duties was night herding, and then grabbing a few hours sleep before the next day started. Up before dawn, we would grab a cup of coffee and eat breakfast, saddle up one of our horses, and start the herd moving again. We always gave the cook, Cookie, a bad time if he burned the biscuits or made the gravy too thin. Little did I realize I would be that same cook several years later. The daily grind was boring. We just had to keep the cattle moving in the right direction. The excitement came if there was a thunder storm at night. The cattle would spook, causing a stampede. Then it was run, grab a horse and saddle it in the dark, and start chasing cattle. The next several days was spend rounding up the scattered cattle, then start driving them again. The first time I saw lightening going across the horns of cattle happen, we were awake, hoping the cattle did not run. The eeriest thing I had ever seen was what the boss said was called St. Elmo ’s fire, lightening jumping across the cattle’s horns, all blue in color. As common drovers, we were not concerned about the trail, water, or a place to bed down. We just kept them

moving. We also never gave a second thought about the food, coffee or medicine, if we got sick. That would come later, after I was given the job as assist cook. It was a long, dull, exciting, rough job for three months. But the money was good at the end of the drive. It was more cash than I had ever seen at one time. It would see us through until next year. I was glad to get home and see my family. It didn’t take near as long to come home as it did to get those ornery critters to Colorado. My wife and kids had kept the home place up while I was gone. There had been no problems they couldn’t handle. Mr. Goodnight said I had a job next year, if I wanted it. Of course, I wanted it, it was money in my pocket. So, the next year I showed up at the cattle drive a week early. I was assigned duties of getting ready for the drive. Part of what I did was help cookie load the cook wagon. There was a lot more to it that I had ever thought. Loading not only food, but extra saddles and ropes, tenting, cooking pots and tripods, tools, medicines and coal oils, water barrels. Where were we to put all this stuff? Cookie had all the answers. I found out right fast, you did not argue with him. Put them where he said. Then, we had to get horses picked out. They had to be horses that were broke to pulling a wagon. We also had to have extra horses in the remuda for the cook wagon and those horses did not like to be rode, they were work horses. Then we started work on the drive. The cowboys had their own six horses in the same remuda. All were driven along, close to the cattle by the wranglers. Really, if you want to look at it in a single way, we were a small city of our own. Cookie and a couple of the cowboys would go into towns close by the trail to get fresh supplies, when available. The water barrels were filled to the top every time we camped by water. Meals on the trail consisted of red beans, beef from the herd, biscuits or cornbread, and coffee. Cookie would usually have something sweet, like

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of the Indians. When we were within a day or two of a town, the boss would let several of us go into town for the evening. The first place most would go was the saloon. I would drink a little, but since I was on the drive for the money, I spent very little. Mostly, I was just looking for excitement, other than all those beeves. When we reached Denver, the trail boss would look for a buyer. When the herd was sold, we would be paid and then we would get home the best way we could. It would take me about a week of hard ridding to get back to Oklahoma. Then it was back to running a farm and catching up on all that Molly could not do. The kids were a big help, but most were too small to really help with the chores. When I got back, Molly had had a problem with a wayward cowboy one night. It was raining and he stopped to see if he could sleep in the barn and if she would feed him. When she said no and I was gone he started to leave and then told her he could have her anytime he wanted, she reached behind the door and got the shotgun and killed him. He lay in the yard all night and the next morning she had the oldest boy ride into town and get the sheriff. He came and got the body. End of the problem and story. We went into town the next day and bought all the things we needed and was able to pay cash and settle up the charges Molly had charged while I was gone. We got the catalog and went home to browse through it and order what we did not get in town. The next year, I left for New Mexico again. Mr. Goodnight has said I would have the job again when I showed up. We got the herd ready and started to Wyoming this year. After the cattle settled into the Available for Ages 16+ at drive, things were going smoothly until my horse stepped into a gopher hole and fell. He broke his (432) 264-1911 leg and mine too. We had to put 1700 W. FM 700 the horse down and the cook set my leg. Setting my leg consisted of two cowboys holding me down and Cookie pulling my broken leg back into, what he hoped, was the right position. Then, someone cut four pieces of mesquite for splints and wrapping pieces of cloth around to secure the limbs. Since I couldn’t ride a horse, the trail boss made me help the cook, after the pain died down a little. That is when I found out just how much a cook really does. I thought he just cook, drove the cook wagon to the next stop and cooked again. Saturday Well Checks For Healthy Pediatrics He had me picking up cow 1700 W. FM 700 (432) 264-1900

a pie or cobbler, if available, in the way of fruit or berries. This was morning, noon, and night. Coffee was the first thing put on when we stopped for the night. Beans were warmed over and/or added to from the night before. Just don’t complain or you get less on your plate the next meal. The night duty was the worst. You see in the movies where the night herders would sing for the cows. That didn’t happen. If the herd was restless, we would talk to then in a calming voice, but most of us didn’t know soothing songs to sing. Most of our songs were bunk house or saloon songs. Mostly we just rode our two hours, looking for anything that would spook the herd or for someone trying to steal a beef. When we were short on water we really had to watch the herd. They were really thirsty and hard to handle. It was up to the trail boss to keep us within a couple of days of water. Sometime that was a problem, especially when we had a herd of over five thousand head. There were times, when it was a dry year and especially in northern New Mexico there was just no water. The scouts would have us going, what I thought was the wrong way, just so we could water all those cows. Of course, when we found water, we took baths and washed cloths. You see in the movies that Indians were a problem. We saw very few Indians, but the trail boss was always sympathetic to any that were hungry or that charged for crossing their reservation. We never challenged the right

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chips and wood for the campfire that night, mending the saddles and anything else that had broke the day before and all sorts of things I never knew he did. After a week, he didn’t have to tell me what to do as I was a fast learner. I knew I had to clean the dirty dishes after we ate and set the fire for the morning. The next morning, I lit the fire and got the coffee going again. Coffee was an all-night affair, all we to do was to put more coffee grounds into the pot and fill it with fresh water. Then breakfast started. Make the biscuit dough and start the bacon cooking. Set the plates out and and do whatever else I was told to do. Getting around was fairly easy. I just hobbled around, holding on to anything close. The hardest thing was the gathering of wood and cow chips. I had to run to keep up with the wagon, but it was that or I didn’t have a job. By the time we reached Wyoming, my leg was healed, but I had a permanent limp. It was not enough to keep me off a horse or impede my work, just a slight roll. In that three and one half months with Cookie, I learned a lot. I decided I wanted to be a trail cook. While the hours were longer, there was not the night guard or the trail dust. All I had to do was set up or take down the cooking area and do the cooking. I would have some kid as a helper to do the cleaning and gathering. Of course, I had to take care of all the broken bones, cuts, and gun shots. By now, we didn’t have to worry about the arrows or scalped cowboys. The only time that came into play was when some cowboy started something with an Indian girl and then it was mostly a threat or knife cut. This year, there were stories about Geronimo and his band of renegades, but we stayed out of his range, just as a precaution. We did meet one trail drive that had a problem with him. They lost some beeves and a couple of men. When I got back to Oklahoma, the kids wanted to hear all about the Indians, not my broken leg. “Did you see any Indians, did you see Geronimo, and how many Indians did you kill?” were the barrage of questions. “Kids, let Daddy get settled before you talk his good leg off” and then my wife, Molly, said, “well did you?” It was a good drive and I was able to save a lot of my pay since I couldn’t go into town with the rest of the gang. I was able to buy five head of cattle for the farm (and now ranch). We were improving our way of

life. I got the kids in school and some new clothes for Molly. Oklahoma wouldn’t be a state for another twenty-five years, but we still had good people running the town. We lived five miles out, but everyone in the County was considered town members. The next year Mr. Goodnight hired me on as the trail cook. I got all that I thought I needed for the drive, hoping I had not forgotten anything. I enjoyed my time of the drive. My first year as cook went by with no problems. We still had the stampedes, the regular problems of the trail, but, as cook, I didn’t have to worry too much about them. I only got to be the trail cook for two years. By this time, the railroads were hauling the cattle to markets and all we had to do was get the cows to the railhead and load them up. Several of the cowboys rode the train but I didn’t want that. Anyway, the farm and ranch was getting to where I needed to be there full time. The boys were getting older and were a big help now. I am writing this in the first person, but in reality, this was my great Grandfather, Jasper McMurtry. A lot of the incidents are true, as told to me by my great Grandmother, Molly McMurtry. She lived to be one hundred years old and was just as talkative as ever.

Living Magazine

Welcome Back! Have you been delaying routine care due to concerns related to the Corona Virus? Now is the time to catch up! Martin County Family Clinic maintains a clean and safe environment for you and your family. We want to welcome you back into the facility for all your healthcare needs.

Do You Know Medicare Offers Free Services? These services include: *Welcome to Medicare visit: If you are new to Medicare, this initial "welcome" visit is covered at no cost to you! This visit includes a review of your medical history, education, counseling about preventative services and certain screenings, flu and pneumococcal shots and referrals for other care.

*Annual Wellness Visit: A yearly appointment with your Primary Care Provider (PCP) to create or update your personalized prevention plan.

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Living Magazine