Hey RT & WM, what is your relationship?

I miss rocks, Not many here, the rare ones I find are fist size or smaller iron ore, but mostly sandy loam with underlying red clay.

I grew up across the river probably about 50 or so miles due north of Nocona between Ardmore and Duncan. On the last stretch of hills from the Arbuckles, and at the end of the blackjacks, before the plains start.

It probably gets about the same rain fall as it looks like you guys get about 25" a year. Did I guess about right? When growing up I always wanted to live in the piney woods. I didnt make quite that far but pines grown well here and I am only about 30 miles from were native pines start growing with the hardwoods. Here if you can find a rare speck of virgin woods there are cedar stands where the cedar grow like pines to over 50' and lose their christmas tree bushy look.

But I miss the hills and rocks but still not the arid climate.

What you said about collecting rocks reminded me of me. My mother and step-father (that raised me)has passed away, and my sister moved about 25 miles from the our place. So I don't go there often anymore. But when they were alive I always picked up a load of rocks and collected them from the bar ditches along the county roads because washes always revealed new ones. My back yard is too shady for grass and with rocks from there I built a 50' and at the widest 20' fern bed surrounded by those rocks, with a few rocks here and there inside it. And like you said the rocks go from a light cream to dark red, when some having swirls of mixed colors in them. The ferns, mostly chain ferns which are very pretty, I collected here battling cottonmouths in creek beds on friends and neighbors property. The one fern I found on my property was a royal fern that was about to wash away or die. I put in the bed and it is huge now.

Unfortunetly I live 180 miles from the home place and hardly ever go there any more.

Looking at your rocks today kind of got me homesick.

Keep us updated on the pictures.

Edited because you guys post while I am writing my long-winded posts. When I lived in Garland I came down and fished Lake Fork all the time, and my father live on a water front lot at Lake Tawakoni. I haven't been out on Lake Fork in over 7 years and almost that for Tawakoni. Just lost interest. I have a boat, nothing fancy alum. V-hull with a inboard motor and when I parked it 5 years ago it worked. Still don't have anyone really to fish with and just got tired of the hassel. Before I just totally gave up I got more into chasing sandbass and fishing humps with slabs on Tawakoni. I don't if you know what I am talking about but north of Emory SH 19 crosses Lake Fork there is a huge bay (shallow back water slew) that real boats can't get into. I live 1/4 mile on a FM that crosses Lake Fork creek and it's about a half of mile of creek to that huge slew. It dried up last year but has a few foot of water in it now. It is always so shallow and has so much flooded timber you never see boats there. But I bought an inflatable kayak a few weeks ago, and took it out a couple of times on the Sabine River between Mineola and Lindale. It was fun and is so light I can get in anywhere. I am debating to do it this year or wait to next spring but I am going down that creek into that slew area! The are no roads accessing it where the creek comes in. Several years ago my brother and I took off from my property and managed to trespass across fences and creek beds that took us forever to find a place to get across to get there. It was full of beaver dams, hog wallows, deer tracks, etc, etc. This little light kayate would be perfect to get there with. If I come across log jams it is so light I could pull it out of the water and carry it around them. I bet that slew and the creek right above the lake in late winter early spring is full of crappie, and later full of bass spawning. But I don't even think I could get my john boat back into there.

But if you ever come down to fish and you've got the time let me know and I'll buy you a cup of coffee or a beer where you put your boat in.

Last edited by Bill Webb; 10/24/07 10:31 AM.
I wish I had the tenacity of GSF!