Summer 2007

SK has officially been retired from teaching for one year and what a wonderful year it has been! Alan and I have enjoyed working at Ranch Brand Jewelry together and the business has continued to grow and be a prosperous endeavor.

Jake is officially a SENIOR! He will be working at Circle 6 Ranch this summer. It is a Baptist encampment that he has attended since he was a child; now he gets to fulfill his dream to be a staffer. It will also be a trial "moving away from home" period for us all. He plans to attend Texas Tech after graduation to major in broadcast journalism, theatre, and music.

The goats still rule at Rocking F Ranch. We have cut down the herd to about 50 Boer Goats which is considerably less than we have raised in years past. Jake only has one more year of 4-H, so we plan to drastically down-size after this year's stock show season.

Welcome to the Fires' Place! We will also include news from Rocking F Ranch Boer Goats and Ranch Brand Jewelry.

Alan retired March 2003 after 33 years as a County Extension Agent for Texas A&M University. Sharron Kay retired August 2006 after teaching for 28 years. Retirement is wonderful! To keep us busy, we decided to open a jewelry store. Alan has been repairing jewelry as a hobby for several years and decided to turn it into a professional career. He specializes in custom design and refurbishing heirloom jewelry. We are a full line jewelry store with a complete showroom. We also take advantage of traveling to jewelry shows, seminars, markets, and conventions.

Jake is a junior in high school. He is already planning to attend Texas Tech University in Lubbock to major in broadcast journalism, theatre, and music. He aspires to be an actor or writer on Broadway in New York City.

We all just returned from the family trip of a lifetime to Vienna, Austria. Jake is a member of the Kermit Honor Choir and we accompanied them to the Advent Sing. The choir toured and sang for a week. It was an awesome experience!