On the way into town, we stopped at the bookstore in San Marcos. I was surprised to find an entire table devoted to local authors. On it were three books for young adults by Marcia Allen Bennett. Though I'm not exactly a young adult, I couldn't resist purchasing the one called Mystery At Jacob's Well. As I've mentioned before, I have this fascination for roads with interesting names. Not long after we bought our place, I came across Jacob's Well Road, which is where you turn if you are headed out to the VFW hall to play bingo on a Friday evening. Of course, soon as I saw it, I immediately started wondering about Jacob and his well. Wouldn't you? I was picturing one of those little wishing wells, of the sort that Jack and Jill lowered their buckets down into, but I was pretty far off the mark.
Thanks to my new acquisition, I now know that the well is actually a large opening in the middle of a creek bed, where icy fresh water has been bubbling forth for hundreds of years, and which was revered by the Tonkawa Indians who once lived in the area. It is some of the cleanest, purest water you will find anywhere. While the water in most streams in the area will have a fecal coliform count of 830 colonies per 100 milliliters of water, the water in Jacob's Well will have a count of only 2 colonies. Some say that a long time ago, the water gushed out with such strength that it actually formed a geyser. At the time this book was written (2001), it still had enough force behind it to spill out thousands of gallons of water per minute. A great place to learn to swim, because you couldn't sink if you wanted to. Divers who wanted to explore the caves beneath the well had to weight themselves down in order to descend. Although it has been a popular swimming and picnic place for generations, it has also earned the reputation of being a very dangerous place. At least eight divers are know to have perished there over the years.
OK, maybe this wasn't the best book I have ever read (the pre-teen characters spoke like mini-adults from the 50's, and never used contractions). Still, I did manage to get caught up in their adventure, and got a real kick out of her mentioning things I was familiar with. It reminded me of the good ol' days, when kids could still stick a lunch in their backpacks, and take off on their bikes to go exploring for the day with their pals. Also, I picked up quite a bit of local history from it. It actually gave me the itch to go explore places which had barely ruffled my curiosity before. I plan to purchase her other books as well, and have them ready for future grandkids. The first time one of them says "I'm-bored-there's-nothing-to-do", I'll slap one of these books in their hand. Next thing you know, they will be begging us to take them to see the caves at Wonder World, or to see Jacob's Well, or to let them ride bikes to the cafe in the square to have some Blue Bell ice cream. Unfortunately, they will also want to go exploring in the woods and along the creek near our house, to look for Indian artifacts and ghosts and treasures. I'm such a nervous nellie, I will spend all of my time worrying about snakes and bobcats and who knows what else!
I think I also need to get a copy of the new movie How to Eat Fried Worms. It should make a great addition to my grandkid arsenal, as parts of it were filmed here at the famed Blue Hole (another popular swimmin' hole), and some of the Wimberley kids are even in it. The Blue Hole was on private property for years, but the owners always allowed the public to use it. Not long ago, word got out that it was in danger of being sold to developers, and would no longer be open to the public. The entire community rallied around, and managed to raise enough money to purchase it, and keep it as a public jewel forever. Now won't that just be a kick in the pants, after all they went through to rescue it, if this drought causes it to just dry up?
John and I are going to be really neat grandparents some day. The main reason we just had our fire circle built is that we can't wait to roast marshmallows and make S'mores in it (if they ever lift this dang burn ban!). John's the type that will probably be begging the kids to please, please, please let him take them to Schlitterbahn, so he can ride all the water rides. They will be rolling their eyes and asking their folks "When is he ever going to grow up?", to which Austin and Alexis will probably reply "Hopefully, never!"
Thanks to my new acquisition, I now know that the well is actually a large opening in the middle of a creek bed, where icy fresh water has been bubbling forth for hundreds of years, and which was revered by the Tonkawa Indians who once lived in the area. It is some of the cleanest, purest water you will find anywhere. While the water in most streams in the area will have a fecal coliform count of 830 colonies per 100 milliliters of water, the water in Jacob's Well will have a count of only 2 colonies. Some say that a long time ago, the water gushed out with such strength that it actually formed a geyser. At the time this book was written (2001), it still had enough force behind it to spill out thousands of gallons of water per minute. A great place to learn to swim, because you couldn't sink if you wanted to. Divers who wanted to explore the caves beneath the well had to weight themselves down in order to descend. Although it has been a popular swimming and picnic place for generations, it has also earned the reputation of being a very dangerous place. At least eight divers are know to have perished there over the years.
OK, maybe this wasn't the best book I have ever read (the pre-teen characters spoke like mini-adults from the 50's, and never used contractions). Still, I did manage to get caught up in their adventure, and got a real kick out of her mentioning things I was familiar with. It reminded me of the good ol' days, when kids could still stick a lunch in their backpacks, and take off on their bikes to go exploring for the day with their pals. Also, I picked up quite a bit of local history from it. It actually gave me the itch to go explore places which had barely ruffled my curiosity before. I plan to purchase her other books as well, and have them ready for future grandkids. The first time one of them says "I'm-bored-there's-nothing-to-do", I'll slap one of these books in their hand. Next thing you know, they will be begging us to take them to see the caves at Wonder World, or to see Jacob's Well, or to let them ride bikes to the cafe in the square to have some Blue Bell ice cream. Unfortunately, they will also want to go exploring in the woods and along the creek near our house, to look for Indian artifacts and ghosts and treasures. I'm such a nervous nellie, I will spend all of my time worrying about snakes and bobcats and who knows what else!
I think I also need to get a copy of the new movie How to Eat Fried Worms. It should make a great addition to my grandkid arsenal, as parts of it were filmed here at the famed Blue Hole (another popular swimmin' hole), and some of the Wimberley kids are even in it. The Blue Hole was on private property for years, but the owners always allowed the public to use it. Not long ago, word got out that it was in danger of being sold to developers, and would no longer be open to the public. The entire community rallied around, and managed to raise enough money to purchase it, and keep it as a public jewel forever. Now won't that just be a kick in the pants, after all they went through to rescue it, if this drought causes it to just dry up?
John and I are going to be really neat grandparents some day. The main reason we just had our fire circle built is that we can't wait to roast marshmallows and make S'mores in it (if they ever lift this dang burn ban!). John's the type that will probably be begging the kids to please, please, please let him take them to Schlitterbahn, so he can ride all the water rides. They will be rolling their eyes and asking their folks "When is he ever going to grow up?", to which Austin and Alexis will probably reply "Hopefully, never!"
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