CELEBRATING THE RAIN

My big rain gauge had exactly one inch of rain this morning from the rain last night. We walked to get the mail and the road was clear of any water so the rain came steadily and soaked in. We watched hundreds of butterflies work on the flowers. There are a lot of yellow butterflies on the yellow flowers plus lots of other black, brown and yellow ones everywhere. I made some more hummingbird water and put my new feeder from Fredericksburg on the front porch. Someone sent me a video on email showing a hummingbird doing back flips chasing a bug while eating. They are amazing aviators. They are also mean to others who want to feed.

Bob Green's book is a great historical book about the Albany area. He has a first chapter on the history of the Comanches and their relation with the Texans during and after the Civil War. It is graphic in the description of the torture of captives by the Comanches. I had read the story about the meeting of the six chiefs with Texans in San Antonio but not the aftermath back in the camps later. As Green points out the Comanches never had a main chief. Each tribe had peace and war chiefs but they only served as long as the people accepted them. This caused problems with the US who wanted to make treaties with leaders. There were four different Comanche organizations, or nations, each with several tribes. Another point Green makes is that the Colt revolver was a turning point in the "war". Before the revolver the Texans had to defend themselves by firing rifles and while they were reloading the Indians would be able to launch multiple arrow attacks. After the revolver the Texans were able to attack the Indians with effective fire that caused the Indians to call for a peace meeting. That meeting went bad due to what Green calls arrogance on the part of the Comanches.

He then tells about the early Indian commissioners who built trading posts near what is now Albany and worked with the Indians, but with tragic results later when one was murdered by Indians who wanted his team of horses. The post was located in a fertile farming area where the commissioner raised corn to sell to the Army troops. That area later became Watt Matthews ranch and there are still arrow heads and other items to be found in the area.