Blog 3141 – 12.26.2024

Name It, Frame It, Claim It

The above title is a quote that my beloved brother Robert used in a text to me yesterday after I had shared in a text responding to his Merry Christmas text that I had recently purchased fifteen and a half acres of timber/recreational property near Bon Weir, Texas adjacent to sixty acres that my son Jonathan (Jay) owns. And that I plan to do my very best to help my son make it a place where family can relax and recreate on weekends, vacation and special holiday gatherings. I told him I already envisioned a deck and our on our “sweet pond, and a cabin/ load that will grow as the family grows and always be a place to retreat from the big city and enjoy the woods, with a big barn to house horses and ponies for the adults and children to ride, a big pasture for the horses to run and to graze.

This morning Jonathan and I are headed to the property to clear aside enough path from a power pole on the Farm to Market Road that the property faces so that we can have power and water run to a clearing big enough for an RV camper trailer that I recent purchased and hope to live in full time someday.

Some years ago I read a wonderful Mother’s Day sermon by Peter Marshall called The Keeper of the Springs about an old man that was listing on the town payroll ledger as Keeper of the Springs receiving a small monthly amount for his labors. Near the small town was a beautiful lake with the freshest cleared water and swans. The towns children were all healthy and loved the swans, the adults too.

Time passed and a new young mayor was elected who wanted to make a name for himself by cutting municipal expenses and when he saw the listing of a city employee called The Keeper of the Springs he asked if anyone knew what this old guy actually did and since no one did he figure that was an expense they could afford to cut.

When the old man stopped getting paid he stopped keeping the springs. He had kept them free of debris and dead things and since those mountain springs fed the lake he was the reason the water had been so clean and clear. Soon the springs were clogged and full of dead and filthy things, interrupting most of the water flow to the lake causing the water level to drop drastically. What water did flow to the lake from the streams was mostly polluted, undrinkable, and this caused the swans to fly away and the children began to get sick. Someone finally figure out the root cause of all these problems and the old man was rehired and in a short time the springs were clear again and flowing fresh and clean water into lake. Even the swans came back as did the smiling children’s good health.

I see myself performing such a role when I can live full time on the proper – keeper of the springs, and the trails, keeping them clear – gardener, caretaker, handyman. Naming it, framing it, and claiming ii.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

Would be full-time caretaker and game keeper of the Bar JDJWW (Jay’s initials) Ranch near Bon Weir, Texas.

David White