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Welcome to Joel & Teresa's Website Mobile-Friendly Version! |
Click HERE for our BLOG
Latest news and report.
In Memory
Coach Eric Alvarez Tribute.
In Memory
Jenna Young Tribute.
Space-Time Productions Z-80 SBC
Technical support pages,
and ongoing projects for my vintage Z-80
Single Board Computer.
Includes how-to on Computer-Controlled
Christmas trees!
Space:1999
The greatest TV show ever televised!
Hondo High School
Class of 1981
Pictures and memories of days gone by.
Chinglish!
The funniest Christmas toy instruction sheet ever!
You'll snicker! You'll laugh! You'll blow rice out your nose!
What is the "Mightiness of Sunlight Bottom"?
The Pecos River Encampment
[This site is not Mobile-Friendly Yet].
Church of Christ-based summer camp
in operation since 1943.
Offsite, we invite you to visit us
not only on the web,
but in person at the
Merkel Church of Christ.
We are headed to Heaven,
and we want you to come with us!
Answers to the questions:
"How can I be saved?"
Click HERE to find out more!
Merkel, Texas - This Town Is Our Town
We call Merkel, Texas home,
just west of Dyess AFB.
This rugged town in arid West Texas was once called "The Windmill City". When this area was first being settled rain was naturally scarce. Fortunately, the water table is about 75 feet below ground, so everyone went to drilling. The whole town and surrounding area looked like a sea of windmills for bringing water up to the people, the cattle, and the farmland.
The surrounding hills are once again a sea of windmills, but they're now for electrical power generation. Wish I had one in my backyard!
Water is still somewhat scarce here, and we have to treat it as a carefully guarded commodity. Nearby Lake Sweetwater is some 30+ feet below normal levels. People still have a lot of water wells around here, but they are electric now, and not nearly as many windmills as back in the day.
Merkel has a few modern features, but mostly keeps the atmosphere of an old farming community close at hand. There is some really interesting history about the settling of this area, and some interesting events have taken place here. Merkel is the site where Cornelia Clark Fort crashed and died during WWII while ferrying trainers from California to Dallas Love Field. She was the first woman pilot to lose her life during WWII. Back further in the day there are tales of shootouts between outlaws and lawmen. This was definitely the Wild, Wild West.
Last update to this mobile page:
May 15, 2007
This site, all pages within and
all images contained are
©2006 Joel Owens.
