About Me

 

The Ruby Ranch was my home in Texas for 30 years,
I sold the Ranch and presently live in Florida due to age and health.  I still maintain this site and my rubyranch e mail acount.
(see The Ruby Ranch page)

It is named in honor of my mother, Ruby Lee Snodgrass Wootton.  She was originally from Arkansas, and was one of the worlds best cooks, well, at least in my opinion! :-)

 

My dad, Bryon (nmn) Wootton,  was a coal miner and then a minister. He founded 7 churches during his career and was professionally active in the church until his death at age 82.

 

I am retired from the US Army and continued to work as a Physician Assistant until my retirement at age 70 a "while" back.

I am a past associate professor of Health Sciences at UTSA and am a penticostal minister.

 

I have three children, all beautiful girls (women, as they are all adults) who have provided me with seven grandchildren, 3 girls and 4 boys.

Being a grandparent is one of God's rewards and blessings.

 

I have visited and lived in several countries in Europe and Asia and still visit Europe every year.

My grandfather emigrated to the USA back in the late 19th century from England, and I have cousins  living near Newcastle (Northumberland) whom I visit periodically. Not as often as I would like, as the cost of living (and visiting) in England is extremely high.

I usually restrict my European travels to less expensive countries, such as Portugal and Spain.

However  we recently visited Germany where I was stationed a couple of times while in the U. S. Army, to visit one of my daughters (Barbi) who was attending university  in Dresden.

I also have cousins living in New Zealand and Australia, who I communicate with, however, I have never met them.
One of the items on my "bucket list" that never got done, visiting Australia.

I was privileged to visit Israel in 2013 and even more so to have been baptized in the Jordan River. Wonderful experience.
I recently visited Ireland (2nd time) taking my daughter Susan and granddaugter, Megan, there as a graduation present. She graduated from high school in May and is presently attending college.

 

 

You can see some of my photos from my travels and of my family at www.flickr.com.

After accessing the home page,  type in Wootton family in the photos search block, then click on 'more photos' next to my  photo icon.

I do appreciate comments. To add comments to the flickr site, just double click on the picture you're interested in and a comment text box will appear, along with the enlarged view of the photo.
Or better yet, just click on the link here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rubyranch/

 

 

I am a life member of both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I was commander of my American Legion post 4 times and was Service Officer and then Senior Vice Commander of  my VFW post here in San Antonio and also served as Quartermaster/Adjuntant for two years of the VFW Post in Clayton New Mexico while working in the panhandle of north Texas.

 

I also also served on the  City Council in Texline, Texas for two years while living there.  Some people NEVER learn. Why in the world would I want a thankless job like that, especially at my age?
Aactually, serving on the city council was an honor and a privilege, and I strongly believe we should attempt to serve our community and fellow man when the opportunity presents.

 

 

I hold a private pilots license.

The photo to the right came from the internet, not from my files.

I own a gyrocopter, a Benson B8M, one of  the original designs by Igor Benson.

Here are a couple of urls referencing Igor Bensen and his Bensen B-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Bensen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bensen_B-8
* See my page on gyrocopters on this site for the history of and more information on a fascinating subject.
 

 

I am an avid hiker, and enjoy camping.

 

Reading is a favorite pass time.

recently completed  William Manchester's 2 volume biography of Winston S. Churchill, The Last Lion and Walter Isaacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin An American Life.

I am presently reading Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, fascinating life, but slow reading.
I must admit that biographies are not my favorite books!

 

I have also read the Holy Bible more than a dozen times and continue to read it daily. (that is fascinating and interesting).

 

Some of my favorite authors are:

WEB Griffith, Stephen Coontz, John Grisham, James Michner, Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow, Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Clive Cussler, Elmer Kelton, Louis L'Amour, William Johnstone, Dick Francis, Fredrick Forsyth, Jack Higgins, Mary Higgins Clark, John D. MacDonald, Garth Wallace and Lee Childs.

 

These are not listed in order of preference.

By favorite, I mean that I purchase the book by author, only checking the title to make sure I haven't read it before.

 

I am also an active geocacher (see my geocaching page) and I presently  have 1380 caches found to my credit and have placed 82! I picked up a few more in Ireland.
Note: I presently only have 64 caches active .

(August 26, 2017)
 
Cowboy Church:

I worked in the Texas Panhandle for 3 years, and while there I attended 'The Saddle Mountain Cowboy Church" in Channing, Texas. (Home of the historic headquarters of the XIT Ranch)
Cowboy churches are known for being 'non-judgemental' regarding their attendees. Their position is that God does the judging, not man.
One of the more interesting things about the church that I enjoy is they have a chuckwagon team.
The team is a church ministry that sets up a chuckwagon at various events in the area and serves cowboy chuckwagon food. Prepared the oldfashioned way originally developed in the late 1800's for cattle drives.
The 'chuckwagon itself was created/designed by Charles Goodnight, utilizing a surplus US Army Studebaker wagon.
The church originally shared a chuckwagon with the Palo Duro Canyon Cowboy Church near Canyon, Texas

Historical Note: the Palo Duro Canyon was where Charles Goodnight set up his ranch and started raising cattle for the eastern market. Rough country, but year round water and grazing available for the cattle.

We decided that we would be better off having our own wagon rather than sharing with another church 100 miles away. However, a complete chuck wagon in today's market runs around 8-11 thousand bucks.
So we decided to purchase a farm wagon and 'deck' it out ourselves.
I purchased a John Deere farm wagon (circa 1930) while living in the Panhandle for our church, which we converted ourselves into a beautiful and functional chuckwagon.


 
I had a mule for a while but had to sell her do to my traveling so much.  See photo to the right.
I have wanted a mule for several years after having ridden one into the Grand Canyon. (on a trail! duhh)
They are gentle animals, ride very smoothly compared to a  horse, and are extremely intelligent.
Mine was red, and I named her Ruby.
Perhaps now that I've retired (!?) I will be able to get another one.
The photo to the right is of the corral with the mule in the foreground and the shelter and small tack room at the rear.
The red tub was her water supply until replaced by a slightly used cast iron bath tub.
The posts are of red cedar cut on the Ranch and are set in concrete. The fence is 'no climb' and is 5 feet high. I don't think mules can climb fences, but why risk it?


This page updated on 1/25/2018


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