Fire in the Wichita Mountains and Tarbone Ranch

Here is our buffalo bull and a small buck right after the fire. We ended having to put The bull buff down.

My pictures are not in any kind of order. Most all of Tarbone's bucks died in the fire. Here are a few of them.

Three days after the fire we have a glimmer of hope. Adam, Monica, Joe and Serena were able to find us alfalfa and it didn't take long for this doe to find it.

This fawn is not wanting to move. I hope everyone will think twice before they throw out a cigarette butt or use a welder or anything that might start a fire.

This was a forest!

Karen, Aly and Marti all came to help out. We are so blessed with family.

Jason and Rylee brought us a tree of hope. We got it planted and hope our grandchildren will some day be able climb it.

Copperhead dead along with many other snakes.

Serena holding the melted art that came from the fire. This was once a set of Mag Wheels.

Taking a break from working and cutting limbs out of the fence.

Hunter, Tanner & Jason grabbed the chain saws and removed the cedar trees that remained near the house... Thanks guys, match sticks gone!!

Monica taking pictures.

Tanner and Aly looking at the fire damage.

Ken cut all the antlers off the bucks so each one can be remembered. More found later.

The kids and family brought ham, enchiladas, meatloaf, cookies, pies, cakes.. So much food. Thank you so much for coming down and spending time with us.. It's a healing process.

Digging a hole for the tree.

Don and Dede showed up. Don played a huge roll in saving our home. Thanks Don!

Serena putting dirt around the tree.

Captain enjoyed getting wet and black.

Jason, Rylee and Ken. Our tree of hope.

Ashed shoes..Thanks guys!

With Ken's hand still in a cast he manged to fight the fire.

We wore HEPA masks when the ash was bad.

So sad

Burned feet and not knowing where to go.

Burned and not wanting to move.

11 homes burned. We are one of the lucky ones that did not.

Nowhere to hide.

This doe found the oasis of un-burned ground by the barn.

Thomas and David helped Ken fix the fence.

Everyone wanted to help and they did. We got calls from so many people wanting to help in some way.

The fire marches up Mt Sheridan.

Aly and Marti looking at the land.

Blackened with ash all the guys pitched in and helped Ken get stuff done. The Hays brought us 20 bails of alfalfa donated from area ranchers. We are so blessed!!

Saw a lot of this!!

Many trees simply burned off and only a stump, or sometimes a hole in the ground remained.

Jason and Tanner digging the hole for the Hope Tree.

Aly.. =) Due Dec 17

Monica.. =) Due Sept 27

Tanner checking for dead leaves in the gutters before the fire.

Our dog house burned. This along with one of our "shooting houses" were the only structures we lost. Probably won't need the Shooting houses any time soon.

This chopper played a huge roll in keeping our home from burning up.

Tanner, Adam, Don and Ken along with the VFD's were at the house fighting the fire. They are the reason we have a home... No words can express what my heart feels.

The fire getting closer to our gate.

This is when I had to leave the gate.. and move our vehicles back further.

The grader tried but it didn't work. Everything was so dry.

The chopper dropping water on our barn area.

This is a scary photo.

These are the cedar trees exploding near our gate on the neighbors.

Outside our gate. Our mailbox post burned down.

Tarbone Ranch will recover, eventually.

Looking south down our creek bed. Everything gone!

Ken had just disced the ground here. We were getting our fields ready, in case it ever rains.. Thank goodness we had already done this. Because it helped slow the fire.

Every blade of grass is gone but about one acre and that is around our home.

Jason had a set of mag wheels in the old trailer and when it burned the wheels melted and made some beautiful art.

The brushpile is now gone.

This old trailer had been on our land since we bought it. Many pack rats are now homeless.

Cotton electric had our electric back on in no time.

Hope is on the way. Rylee, I hope that someday you can take your children to this tree and tell them the story of how it became the tree of hope..

All of us are healing because of our family, friends, phone calls, emails, prayers. We are so fortunate and blessed to have you all in our lives. I stand back and say WOW! I hope I can be as a good friend back in anyone's time of need.