Reading recommendations:

Wanted, Historic County Jails of Texas, Edward A. Blackburn, Jr. -

Along with the settlement of the Texas Frontier came Rustlers, public drunks, gun fighters, and other outlaws. A jail in which to incarcerate the law breakers was thus often the first public building raised in a new town.

Later, as government developed public buildings, notably county courthouses and jails assumed not only practical but also symbolic importance. The architecture of these buildings in the nineteenth century reflected the power and status with which the community imbued the government: many of the same architects applied the aesthetic standards of the day to both. In later years, the safety and at least limited comfort of the prisoners became concerns and jails were remodeled or abandoned to other uses in favor of modern, more utilitarian structures.

Edward Blackburn found material on early Texas jails sorely lacking. Magazine articles and a thesis by Craig M. Cowden from Texas Tech University proved invaluable. Books by Williard R. Robinson, late professor of architecture at Texas Tech University provided a working foundation.

The journey to all 254 Texas counties took three and a half years and required more than thirty five thousand miles of air and auto travel. This is such an interesting and informative source of history, including a picture and narrative of our own San Saba County jail. A new book available for checkout.

And, God's Master Plan For Your Life, Ten Keys to Fulfilling Your Destiny, Gloria Copeland -

It may not seem that way, especially when you stumble and fall, but you aren't just an accident of nature God took pity on. Though it may seem that you're blindly making your way through this world, the truth is that God is behind you all the way.

Gloria Copeland knows just how hard it is to come to terms with that idea. When she and her husband, Kenneth were newlyweds in 1962 they had nothing – no money, no long term plans and most important, no relationship with God. But then Gloria picked up a Bible given to Kenneth and read a simple inscription his mother had written. Something inside her shifted into place. She shared her thoughts with Kenneth, who at the time was an unbeliever, and soon the power of God began to work in him as well. For the first time, they began to connect to God's Master Plan.

This is their story, Gloria's really. The path was not always easy. Gloria is the author of several best-sellers, she is the cofounder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, based in Fort Worth.

And, Cowboy, The Story of a Working Cowboy by Fred Gibson -

Readers brought up on Hollywood westerns will have their eyes opened by this story of a working cowboy. Although he never chased a rustler or rescued a pretty girl and probably couldn't even hire on as an extra in a B-grade western. Ed Alford (or "Fat") has worked cattle most of his life. Fred Gibson's vivid, earthy book about his cowhand, now in a new edition, tells what the job is Really like – the hardships, the hell raising and the sheer monotony of daily tasks.

Fat Alford became a cowboy because he didn't think picking coffee was a way for a man to make a living. Although he may not have looked much like a cowboy and certainly started out green, he learned to rope a cow in impenetrable brush, to break a mean horse, to get by with poor gear, worse food and sorry mounts in freezing cold or blistering heat and still got the job done. All this of course, knowing that it is the livestock and not the hand that counts.

But there is another side to this life, too – the high times in town; the not so harmless pranks that Fat and his fellows practiced on each other; and the ingenious ways they found to supplement their meager pay. Like most of his kind, Fat has always met life head on. As Fred Gibson says "He goes after life as if it were something that had to be roped in a hurry before it got away. And whether he catches it or not, it's a good chase."

Ranching has changed drastically since Fat Alford was hired on with whoever needed a good hand, and Fat himself, who now lives in Ozona, Texas, is more or less retired. But Gibson's warm and rousing account captures the vivid reality of how it was and introduces us to a remarkable character, a working cowboy.

See you at Rylander!