Country Lifestyles
July 2018 Profile: The Snow Sisters — Who We Are
By Jessica Crabtree
The last name Snow has a new-found popularity since the airing of the hit show “Texas Flip N Move” in 2014. What some may not know is that the Snow name associated with moving houses has been around for decades. C.A. Snow originated the house moving business back in 1942. His son, H.D. Snow, entered into the business after his father fell ill. After C.A.’s passing in 1966, the company changed to H.D. Snow House Moving, Inc., and finally changed to the present H.D. Snow and Son House Moving, Inc. when H.D.’s own son Gary came aboard.
Today perhaps the best known Snows are Donna (Snow) Landers and Toni (Snow) Barksdale from the hit reality show “Texas Flip N Move.” What is more impressive than the ratings, is the years of experience behind the Snow family house moving company and the values that have been established and upheld through the multiple generations. Their daddy H.D. only had one other job in his entire life. Daughter Donna explained, “When he [Daddy] was in high school, he worked in a soda shop as what he called a ‘soda jerk.'” Laughing, Donna continued, “He said that he only lasted one day after dropping a tray of sundaes and breaking all the glass.”
As a second generation house mover, H.D. was only seven when his father went into business for himself. That allowed H.D. to experience such moves as army barracks, libraries, homes, historical buildings and much more in and throughout what is now Fort Worth. Marrying his wife Carlene, the devoted couple has been married 64 years. Together they raised their three children in Haltom City, a suburb of Fort Worth.
Living only one block from school, there were very few times the children ever missed. Memories of their childhood flood the minds of Donna and Debbie Smith’s (a high school friend and current employee) minds, such as spending summers helping their father on what they called a 4″X”4 (four-by-four) crew. Donna said, “We were cheap labor; he just had to feed us!” she laughed. Donna admitted that she, her sister Toni and brother Gary, “grew up learning the [house moving] industry. This is what we do for a living.”
That lifestyle accounts for many memories such as Donna’s first horse, “I got my first horse when Daddy traded moving a greenhouse for it,” she laughed. Learning to ride at a young age, Donna said there was no saddle in the trade, so riding bareback was the only option. “You either held on or fell off,” she finished.
To read more pick up a copy of the July 2018 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
Siblings, the Snow children, Donna (Snow) Landers, Gary Snow and Toni (Snow) Barksdale.
H.D. Snow and son, Gary Snow.
Donna (Snow) Landers and her father H.D. Snow, digging a Ditch.
Donna (Snow) Landers as a young child in one of her grandfathers old pull trucks.
Donna (Snow) Landers and her truck, affectionately labeled for her by her father, H.D.
By Nicholas Waters
As winter plods along – come Spring and gopher mounds – homeowners and farmers find themselves playing a familiar song – fiddling while Rome is burning.
Let’s make a mountain out of a molehill. Those mounds on your lawn and pasture could be moles, but they’re more than likely gophers; Plains Pocket Gophers to be pragmatic – Geomys bursarius to be scientific.
These rodents dig and chew, and the damage they can do goes beyond the mounds we mow over. Iowa State University cited a study in Nebraska showing a 35 percent loss in irrigated alfalfa fields due to the presence of pocket gophers; the number jumped to 46 percent in decreased production of non-irrigated alfalfa fields.
The internet is replete with academic research from coast-to-coast on how to curtail gopher populations, or at least control them. Kansas State University – then called Kansas State Agricultural College – also published a book [Bulletin 152] in February 1908 focused exclusively on the pocket gopher.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Annette Bridges
Everyone needs a room with a view that makes their heart happy. My honest favorite panorama would be either the mountains or the ocean. I have yet to convince my hubby to make permanent moves to either, although he does enjoy the visits as much as I do.
The location of our house on our ranch does not provide the expansive field of vision of our land that I would enjoy. So, I have created a room decorated and furnished in a way that gives me smiles, giggles, and a wonderful peace-filled feeling when I am hanging out in it. I am in that place right now writing this column. I am in a lounging position with my computer in my lap on the chaise that was once my sweet mama’s. I had it reupholstered this year to give it a fresh look.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
Local celebrity dancers of the greater Gainesville area brought the house down recently at the second annual “Dancing With Our Stars” contest in Lindsay. The event raised more than $200,000 as the sponsored dance teams did their best to take home the grand prize.
The money raised will go to the “Heart of NTMC” Campaign for the purchase of a cardiac capable CT machine for the Gainesville hospital. Rodolfo “Rudy” Martinez and Sherry Sherriden took home the Mirror Ball Trophy.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
-
Country Lifestyles1 year agoScott & Stacey Schumacher: A Growth Mindset
-
Equine7 months agoThe Will to Win
-
Country Lifestyles7 years agoStyle Your Profile – What your style cowboy hat says about you and new trends in 2017
-
Country Lifestyles4 years agoAmber Crawford, Breakaway Roper
-
HOME7 years agoGrazing North Texas – Wilman Lovegrass
-
Country Lifestyles7 years agoDecember 2016 Profile, Rusty Riddle – The Riddle Way
-
Country Lifestyles8 years agoJune 2016 Profile – The man behind the mic: Bob Tallman
-
Country Lifestyles8 years agoCowboy Culture with Clay Reid – Being a Man