Country Lifestyles
SESQUICENTENNIAL WAGON TRAIN – Betty Magaha’s Story
By Judy Wade
“WAGONS, HO!” Was a cry Betty McGaha heard every time the Sesquicentennial Wagon Train began its day’s journey as it trekked over 3,000 miles across Texas to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Texas’ independence from Mexico.
The six-month odyssey began Jan. 2, 1986, in Sulphur Springs and zigzagged its way across the state, coming within approximately 100 miles of every city or town in Texas so each could host the wagon train and its own celebration.
Some folks traveled the entire route; others joined for a day or a week. A total of 10,000 riders from 27 states traveled at least part of the way. While people and wagons came and went, a core group of participants and support staff completed the entire trip, ending up at the Fort Worth Stockyards on July 3, 1986.
One of those who made the entire journey was Betty McGaha. She and two friends, Randy Chadwick and Pam (Blancet) Schenk, teamed up with a wagon. “I knew nothing about horses,” McGaha admitted. “I was raised on a farm, but my dad made his living in construction and as a substitute mail carrier.
“After I graduated from Hirschi, I attended UNT for a year and then Tarrant County Junior College with a dental hygienist degree and worked in Fort Worth five years before returning to Wichita Falls and finally Clay County,” she added. “I learned about the wagon train through the Historical Society, and I thought it would be an adventure, but the main reason was for my son Shad to learn about Texas the way I love Texas,” McGaha explained.
To read more pick up a copy of the August 2018 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By Lacey Vilhauer
Ingredients:
1 whole lemon, seeded and roughly chopped
2 cups sugar
2 pounds strawberries, hulled
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons
¼ cup water
Directions:
Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor and pulse until combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree the strawberries in a food processor and add to the lemon mixture along with juice of one lemon and water. Taste and add more juice as desired.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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.
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