T-ball and Little League 2010 begins!

Summer sports begin..... Dad's helping the little Jim Ned Indians T-ball
Moms, brothers, sisters, grandparents and friends all gather for the seasonal ritual
of the beginning of summer baseball....
As the evenings warm, the grass turns green and
the familiar crack of the bats can be heard right behind the high school gym.
How many years has this been done?
Learning the rules of the game,
Dads and boys.... and a few little ladies in pink batting helmets.
LOVE THIS SEASON!
LOVE OUR little INDIANS!

Hawks and wildflowers

Blue bonnet time again!!! After our winter rains (so abundant this year) we have these
beauties everywhere! Can't wait for the ones across from the BarBQue barn to bloom!
Take a bicycle trip down Lemons Gap Road... you'll have to stop to smell the flowers...
GRAPE JELLY FLOWERS that is!
These are just between Buffalo Gap and Lemons Gap.

.... and if you drive to the West... What a treat we will have in store all season long!
This lovely lady is allowing us a clear view of her nursery!
perhaps she doesn't appreciate being spied upon:)
but it will be fun to watching this magnificent Redtail Hawk bring up her babies...
I'm betting on a pair.
How bout you?
Nothing like the beautiful raptors in flight!

I'm thankful for a country life where this is what we are allowed to see EVERY DAY!
God's country... that's with what I'm thinking we've been blessed!

Easter Parades, baseball, and softball the JIM NED INDIAN WAY!... SPRING 2010 is here!

Spring is all about signing up for summer leagues...
talking it over coach to coach!
Hamburgers from Lucy's or Vickie's
... and the traditional RABIES CLINIC!!!! better get it done folks!
after our very very wet Winter, Rabies will certainly be an issue this year!
Whether you get your burgers at one of the local "joints", or at the game...
GO OUT AND SUPPORT OUR INDIANS!
Only in a place like our little JN Valley can you watch the game in the saddle!
Buffalo Gap 8th annual Easter Parade...
the girls made their Easter Bonnets and the boys made woven Easter baskets.
They entered to the memorable strains of "In Your Easter Bonnet"...
arm in arm, they were truly lovely ladies and gentlemen:)
Jim Ned entered 8 softball teams this year in the Abilene South League.
Way to go girls!
It doesn't matter what color shirt you may wear in the summer leagues...
You will always be JIM NED RED and BLUE... through and through!
Our girl's softball is doing quite well with a very young group of girls! Go INDIANS!

Colt McCoy is a winner in our Jim Ned Valley hearts!

*The above picture was taken by the Abilene Reporter News when Colt played for Jim Ned High School*
**The following is from an e-mail about our local man and reveals the inspirational person that will no doubt encourage HEROES of all ages in the fact that God's plans are always bigger than man's... and even if it appears that things are not going your way, GOD IS THE ONE WHO makes the plans and designs our lives for HIS purposes....
COLT.... you make us proud!!! (even if some of us "bleed" maroon and white...:)**

Colt McCoy: a national champion
with or without the crystal trophy

By Dr. Scott Elliott / guest columnist

January 10, 2010 12:19 am

- "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."
--JER. 29-11

With apologies to our understandably proud and jubilant Crimson Tide faithful, the University of Alabama, to me, wasn't the biggest winner in Thursday night's BCS national championship football game.
That distinction went to a young man from Tuscola, Texas, named Colt McCoy.
Colt McCoy! Are you crazy, you say?
Yes, Colt McCoy, the Longhorns' All-American quarterback who suffered an injury on the game's opening drive, knocking him out of the remainder of the contest. The same Colt McCoy who won more games as a starting quarterback than anyone in the history of NCAA Division I football.
Yet, you may ask, how in the world can you argue that Colt McCoy was the game's biggest winner? After all, he hardly even played.
In reply, I would reference the young man's post-game interview before millions upon millions of people who watched the nationally-televised matchup. The reporter asked McCoy, "How did you feel, watching the game from the sidelines?"
Smarting from a shoulder injury that numbed his cannon-like throwing arm after being hit by Alabama's Marcell Dareus, McCoy kind of gazed up in the night sky, cleared his throat a couple of times trying to fight back emotion, and couldn't really respond for five or six seconds. Finally, the recipient of the prestigious Maxwell Award acknowledged that "it was unfortunate that I didn't get to play" and that he "would have given everything I had to be out there with my teammates." He then congratulated Alabama and later called the Tide "a tremendous football team."
But what he said next was the real clincher. Still makes me a little misty-eyed. He told the interviewer, "I always give God the glory. I never question why things happen the way they do. I know God is in control of my life, and I also know, if nothing else, that I'm standing on the rock."
Now, folks, let's think about the profound nature of that response. Here's a kid who always seemed destined to play in that national championship game. My goodness, with a name like Colt McCoy, he was born to be the gunslinging quarterback of the fabled Burnt Orange. His entire experience playing junior high, high school, and college football had been vested toward Thursday night, Jan. 7, 2010, in Pasadena, California's Rose Bowl.
And he got to play one ill-fated series. One.
Now, the 6-2, 210-pound Heisman finalist completed over 70 percent of his passes and threw for 112 touchdowns and 13,253 yards in his storied college career. Just phenomenal. Those accomplishments aside, in his post-game interview, the Longhorn quarterback hurled the most important scoring pass of his life - a real "Hail, Mary," if there ever was one. Despite his obvious and deep disappointment, Colt McCoy came through like a true champion for his God, giving praise and thanks even in bitter defeat. Notwithstanding religion, he taught the nation a lesson in class and humility.
You know, as all of us progress through this life, we experience what some call "defining moments." It's those crossroads episodes that establish, for good or bad, whatever legacy we leave on this Earth. Most of us will never have a national television audience, like Colt McCoy, when our defining moments come, but I have a feeling, in God's eyes, that a street corner ministering to just one other human being might do.
Colt McCoy may never become a star in the National Football League, although I suspect he will. Nonetheless, in this age of professional athletes having well-publicized extra-marital affairs, brandishing guns in locker rooms, lying to grand juries, and using performance-enhancing drugs, Colt McCoy is a star on a stage far transcending any football field. No, he never got to hold that coveted crystal trophy, but Thursday night he made a resounding statement to the youth of America about what it really means to be a winner.
And I know God will continue to bless him for that.

Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc.
--
Steve Crouse

Christmas Eve Blizzard 2009 .... a WHITE CHRISTMAS in the JIM NED VALLEY!

We might have been disappointed that our man, Colt McCoy, didn't get the Heisman :(,
but Christmas held no such disappointment!
It came wrapped in WHITE this year!
The hills around our Jim Ned Valley were blanketed with the purest covering we've seen in years!
Holiday traffic was slowed to a snail's pace, but our local residents got to see
what many had been "dreaming of" for a long time!
As I stopped along the roads, there were others precariously perched with me... just hoping that the demanded slower speeds would prevent our indulging in the pictures from fender bender possibilities!
May the end of 2009 bring in a stunningly brilliant 2010....
and may the joy of the season be blanketed in
PEACE that passes any of our understanding!

Erinshire in the Gap 4.25.09

Erinshire in the Gap

April 25, 2009

I got there just as the "gates" were open...

THIS YEAR WAS A TREAT!!!! for all the senses!

Amy and the crew at the Buffalo Gap Historical Village had every corner

readied for the 100s of visitors to this annual event!
Stages and sound crews, along with videographers and photographers, all were preparing the stages for their performers.

.... and once again... the "village gardener" answered all my questions

amidst his Eden of heirloom vegetables and flowers.

(YEAH... I even got a little bunch of his hard-to-find replicating onions...

I'd looked everywhere!)

I only saw a couple of the performers for this year... But
Slim Chance and the Bagpipe group were amazing as usual....
all that I missed was my partner and a dance floor!
In a "Willie Nelson" picnic atmosphere,

all the people began to gather in the sun and wind of a West Texas April afternoon.

I got to see the people who anticipated the entire day... places secured,

they camped on the grounds in readiness for an

absolutely excellent exploitation of their senses.
Click below to hear 30 seconds of an entire afternoon into evening.

If you missed it this year... I'm sad...

BUT

Make sure, to be there early next year!

We'll be looking for ya!

Jim Ned Valley Chamber Banquet April 09 : Colt McCoy guest speaker!

Colt McCoy

"back home again"

to talk about supporting our home town advantage!

What Happened at the Spring Banquet

The Jim Ned Valley Chamber of Commerce had a great spring banquet, Saturday, April 11, at the Jim Ned High School, with our hometown hero and Jim Ned High School grad, Colt McCoy, present as guest speaker.

Colt spoke on "What Makes a Great Community?"

and expounded on the three areas that made Jim Ned a great community --

the people, education, and faith.

The chamber honored community members for their contributions to the Jim Ned community, which includes the smaller communities of Buffalo Gap, Lawn, Tuscola, Cedar Gap, Moro, Lemon's Gap, Rogers, Bradshaw, Guion, Elm Valley, the Canyons, Ovalo and even Possum Trot!

Honorees given special awards were:

Outgoing Jim Ned CISD Superintendent: Kent LeFevre, 30 years at Jim Ned, 14 years as Superintendent

Jim Ned CISD School Employee of the Year for each of the four campuses:

Buffalo Gap Elementary - secretary Marcie Tutt Lawn Elementary -

teacher Jennifer Willis Middle School -

secretary Carolyn Golson High School -

teacher Bobbidee Thompson

Community Volunteer of the Year: Genny Abercombie

Business Leader of the Year: Super S Foods Store

Also appreciated were the nominees in the above categories, who were asked to stand as his/her name was announced:

School employees: at Buffalo Gap Elementary -

Sue Harris and Nan Egger at Lawn Elementary -

Kathy LeFevre and Rosie Ortega at the Middle School -

Steve Bryant and Mike McClure

at the High School - Debbie Cook and Jan Pearce

Community volunteers: Tim Brannon Bob Eisenberg Maxine Poindexter

Business leaders: The Jim Ned Journal Carpenter's Interiors

Colt McCoy spent six years of his youth in Jim Ned schools,

played sports, especially football,

and brought Jim Ned into the limelight as a gifted quarterback under the coaching of his father, Brad McCoy, now at Graham, Texas.

Colt is now finishing up his junior year at the University of Texas

and is known across football America and beyond for being the star quarterback for the UT Longhorns. He was a runner-up for the 2008 Heisman Trophy, much to the chagrin of local fans, who view him as the best of the best.

Colt McCoy did a wonderful job at the banquet greeting old friends and old and new fans

as they moved through the food line for a delicious dinner of rib-eye steaks and chicken cooked by Big G's Steak and Barbecue of Tuscola.

Colt also made many fans happy when

he signed their Longhorn souvenirs for them

- helmets, stuffed animals, pictures, magazines, and Longhorn shirts.

More than 300 fans came from as far away as Roswell, New Mexico, and the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the event.

The Jim Ned Valley Chamber of Commerce promotes the economic, civic, and cultural well being of the Jim Ned communities.

(Thanks Grace for this contribution to the blog... courtesy of the Jim Ned Journal Newspaper)