As we proceeded with building the ranch, it began to occur to us that, once completed, it would be easy to look at Mercury Ranch and think it just happened. Alan and I decided to capture conception to maturity timeline. Like many conceptions, the true beginning of Mercury Ranch is a little murky. We discussed it and have come up with the following:
Jean doesn't believe the ranch idea was really any more than "I'd like a large plot of land in the country I could build in the middle of and get away from it all" until the 1990's. When she met him in 1985, Alan already had the 1946 Mercury convertible and the four door. He acquired the woodie in the early 1990s. There may have been some discussion back and forth before we were married, but neither of us remembers for certain. At some point, Alan had Mercury Ranch business cards made up, and they have Jean's name on them, too, so we surmise these cards were created after we were married. That's where the timeline begins.
Late 1994/early 1995: Mercury Ranch business cards made up with our San Antonio address information.
April 1995: We purchased cool weather jackets and had them embroidered with "Mercury Ranch: Home of the '46 Mercury" at the Pate Swap Meet (we seem to recall it was the second to last one before they moved to the Speedway).
Sometime 1997: Alan bought two summer weight jackets and had the same embroidery as the cool weather jackets emblazoned on them.
1998: We decided we wanted to settle in the area of intersection between Dallas. Houston, and San Antonio. After a little looking around, we discovered the Giddings area in Lee County.
1999-2000: We browsed the internet searching for property. We found some properties in Lee county north of Giddings, but we could never catch the realtor open, and they were unresponsive when we called. Further research turned up some property we knew we wouldn't like in Milam County.
January, 2001: Jean was deployed but Alan suggested he drive up to Milam County to talk with the real estate company about a particular property we'd seen on the web. We knew we didn't want that property, but she encouraged Alan to make the trip as a means of establishing contact and finding someone willing to work with us. We hit the jackpot. What is now Mercury Ranch had just been listed, and it sounded like what we wanted. Alan took pictures and sent them to me in Kuwait. He knew he loved the place; he thought Jean would, but he needed to find out for sure. He had nothing to worry about. Jean wanted the place too.
March, 2001: Jean returned from deployment and liked the place as much in person as she did in the pictures.
March 23, 2001: Mercury Ranch is ours. We bought the tractor.
Summer 2001: Bought tractor accessories and a 16' trailer to haul them with. Installed a small upright Rubbermaid storage unit on the house site. Made arrangements with our neighbor for him to harvest our hay from the hayfield. We bought new cold weather jackets, had them embroidered, and added "Cameron, Texas" to them and the summer weight jackets. Hay harvest for the year: 400.
Fall 2001 - Fall 2002: Cleared path for road from back gate.
December 2002: Bought and assembled 10 x 14 metal shed. Total hay harvest for the year: 2700 bales.
Spring 2003: Alan installed shelves in the shed and finished making the floor permanent.
May 2003: Address assigned.
September 2003: Alan saw an 8 or 10 point buck. He also ran into an Indigo snake. Black, 6 feet long. They are harmless, kill rats, and attack rattlers. He was over by where we took the limb off the tree to get the motorhome in at the bottom of the house hill. Alan was on the tractor, and the snake was running away as fast as he could. Most snakes we have encountered so far, including the copperhead, want only to get away from us or ignore us until we go away. We're trying to keep the relationships on these terms, and are doing what we can to encourage this neighborliness. Alan also managed to get a Cameron phone book during this trip.
April 2004: Jean's brother and his family toured the ranch. We put them to work unloading things and moving the culvert to the site on the road where we will install it. The day after they left, Jean scared the daylights out of a beautiful copperhead snake. He/She ran the other way, and Jean chased it to get a better view. Not the wisest of moves, to be sure.
September 2004: Alan found a three-foot snakeskin in the kitchen of the motor home. The original occupant is still in the motor home. Alan has a plan to oust it. We're not real good at this sort of thing, but in an attempt to match the skin with pictures of snakes on the Herps of Texas site, we think it's a Coluber constrictor, also known as an Eastern Racer. If this is the snake, it's nonpoisonous. We don't mind sharing the land with it, but we do want to convince it not to try to be a housepet.
Thanksgiving Weekend, 2004: Alan caught the snake. It was in the bed. Ugh! He had done his business in the bathroom. A cuddly, housebroken snake. Imagine that! Despite all that, Alan explained we really don't want snakes as housepets and released him on the next hill. We're certain he was hungry, thirsty, and happy to be back on his own. After look at the picture Alan took and comparing t to the "Herps of Texas" website, Jean thinks it's a Rat Snake.
In 2005, Alan found another snake in the motor home. We think it had been there the whole time, and he released it into the wild.
In 2006, we tried to get some fence line cleared in preparation for bringing in power. We made some progress. It's become increasingly clear that the 150 mile distance from San Antonio is contributing to our slow progress. We also don't have room in the San Antonio house for both our things. The logical solution is to look for a home closer to the ranch that's large enough for both of our things.
In January, 2007, we found a home in Cameron that appeals to both of us, so we are slated to close on the home in March.
Last Updated: February 11, 2007