R.W. Hampton

Still flying high!
What fun we had last Friday here in Amarillo/Canyon Texas! HUGE THANKS to everyone who showed up!!!

As I get older, I have come to really appreciate the circle of friends and family that The Good Lord has gifted me.

As the years roll by, I have bid farewell to a great many making that circle smaller and smaller.

This morning I am coming to grips with the news that Robert “Shoofly” Shufelt had been called home.

The other day, I just got this really urgent feeling that I needed to call Shoofly and thank him for letting me be among those who knew and loved him. I also wanted him to know how much I appreciated how he brightened our world with his God given gift. Of all the art that hangs in our home, it is the work of Shoofly that visitors are drawn to first and I have always enjoyed folks reaction when they realize that it is “just pencil?!”

Our phone visit was short but it filled my ol heart to overflowing. How could I have known that our brief conversation would be our last?

Ya never really know do ya?

Adios Shoofly, till our trails cross again, Lisa and I will be praying for comfort for your family.

RW

(I thought you might enjoy the little drawing & notes he added to a book he sent me earlier this year. It is one of those “treasures” that can’t be measured.)

A little over 3 weeks ago my wife, Lisa, drove up to Oregon for a few days to celebrate her mom’s 85th birthday. The night before she left Oregon had a massive lightning storm that started hundreds of fires from over 8,000 strikes that night.

I had some work in Kansas and Nashville so I couldn’t join Lisa until the 25th.

We drove away today, knowing that for now there was nothing more we can do but it’s hard with the cloud of smoke billowing out of the Ochoco National Forest in the first photo in our rearview mirror.

Her parents ranches are located in the Mill Creek and Polly Creek valleys north of Hwy 26 and to the East of Mill Creek Road. All part of the Rowe Creek Complex outside of Prineville.

They have spent 3 weeks now watching a complex of fires that has reached over 357,000 acres burn closer every day - and as we left they are literally at the property’s edges. (*Mahogany Butte Ranch is the top red one and Polly Creek Ranch is the lower orange one).

These are cattle ranches with irrigated pasture land along the valley floor, creeks running through them but mostly they are steep rocky buttes covered in old growth timber - very hard to reach and the undergrowth and the trees are extremely dry.

Thanks to everyone’s help the cattle are off, the homes are protected as well as we can and most of their favorite valuables (with the exception of his library) have been evacuated. Lisa’s dad ended up with pneumonia last week from “supervising” up in the smoke too long, but he is better now too.

In the midst of it all we had a fire right behind our home ranch back in New Mexico that thankfully was put out quickly, and then Lisa and I both came down sick….

With everyone in the mend it was time for us to head South. But you can still join us in praying not only for her parents places but also for ALL the ranchers and farmers and people whose homes, lands, and livelihoods across the West are being consumed by these fires. Also pray for those fighting these fires. There have been some on this fire and other fires in Oregon who have lost their lives this summer.

Prayers for all. 🙏🏻