The beginning of
Bois d' Arc Springs Ranch

Don and Jeanette ended up single in Tulsa Oklahoma in the fall of 1992. Jeanette had given up on marriage but not her long time dream of having and riding horses again. Don had given up on marriage and his dream of having horses of his own again had been pushed so far back that he rarely ever remembered it.

They both however wanted a permanent relationship with that "right" person. Some one they could like and be comfortable with, and who didn't require more of them than they could be. So they each went to "Together" in Tulsa and placed their order. After a few unsuccessful introductions each, "Together" got enough of an idea of what each was looking for and introduced them to each other.

Their partnership was pretty much sealed within 2 months. Don had one child, Marshall living at home, and no pets. Jeanette brought with her 2 dogs, 2 cockatiels, a cat and a ferret. In the first two years, one dog died of an immune disease, the other one died of heart attack due to lightning, or the lightning itself, the cat apparently fell out of the giant pecan tree, and the ferret overheated even in the shade one hot Tulsa August day.

So Jeanette, being Jeanette, had to have something to fill the space. One day she brought home a "birthday present" for Don. A Java Rice Sparrow. It sure looked lonesome in that cage all by itself, so in a couple of weeks, they went looking for a companion for it. They came home with 3 pairs (male and female each) of birds, but none of them were Java Rice Finches. They finally found some Java Rice Finches, after they had started raising and selling finches and tiny parrots and had over 150 birds in the house. Prices were good in the beginning, but as the new import restrictions began to take hold and people began to think exotic birds were not available and quit looking for them, the prices began to drop. So when they could no longer pay for themselves, Don and Jeanette quit raising and began to sell them off.

They were beginning to feel confined, what with rumors of the soybean field next door being bought for development, new stores going in down the road, etc. So they bought 30 acres 20 miles west of Tulsa, out toward Lake Keystone. And bought a big mobile  home to put on it. They hadn't anticipated the shock of moving from a 2 story 5 bedroom house to a 3 bedroom mobile home. Or the troubles involved getting raw land ready for a mobile home.

Just when they were beginning to get things settled down, Dons employer went bankrupt. His previous employer had been sold and moved, leaving a lot of engineers in Tulsa without work. Now there were even more. So when a job with a fresh new start-up company with lots of stock options was offered, They decided to leave Tulsa and head for the open spaces of Texas. Well, if you get far enough from Dallas, there is open space. After 4 months of looking, they finally found the perfect place. Even better than the one they had left in Oklahoma. Bigger, more pasture and more trees. Only a little run down, over grazed pastures, ramshackled two tractor barn, and water, and septic tank already installed, and electricity on the place.