“Crazy Water” is Booming Again

Twenty miles down the road from our home is Mineral Wells, a town made famous in 1904 by a highly mineralized spring whose waters have healing powers.

In the early years, Mineral Wells was a happening place. People came by the thousands, motoring in, arriving by wagon or in droves by rail. Health seekers, politicians, A-list movie stars, rich cattlemen and the curious – they all came to the “City Built on Water.” They could stay at the elegant, “high-rise” Baker Hotel featuring dining and dancing along with the beneficial waters. As interest in Botox, collagen, and the Adkins diet increased, the restorative powers of Crazy Water waned.

Then in 1999, Scott and Carol Elder purchased the Famous Mineral Water Company and brought new life to Crazy Water. They spent the next few years reintroducing the once nationally known waters locally and regionally. They kept the historic part of it going and enhanced and built on the heritage/tourism aspect, always remembering their dream for a bathhouse.

The bottled mineral water is now sold in Whole Food stores, Central Market and Albertsons with Kroger coming on board soon. With the bottled product thriving, The Elders focused on the longed-for Crazy Bath House which is now a reality. They kept the turn-of-the-century look and feel, appointing the house with period pieces that help create the experience of an old- fashioned, take-a-load-off soak in mineral water. Patrons can schedule mineral bath treatments during the day or stay overnight in the guest rooms with private mineral baths. The Crazy Bath House also offers a Micro Bubble Tub. The bubbly apparatus injects countless oxygen-rich micro bubbles into the bath, resulting in natural cleansing, exfoliation and moisturizing of the skin. A number of massage techniques and services are also available.

Once again, things are good down at the well. If your Rhumatiz or Arthur-itis is acting up, take the long “Crazy” road to the bathhouse.

The Misfits

America’s wild horses don’t really belong anywhere – yet nothing symbolizes the spirit of the American West like the Mustang. And some of them are finding love and sanctuary in Parker County, Texas.

Megan Parks, a photographic artist, loves beautiful, wild-spirited things so she was naturally drawn to the mustang. She and husband, Gary, own several and say that they are gentle and easy to train. They purchased them from the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency that has legal oversight of mustangs. The Parks search BLM websites where they view photos and profiles. Confirmation (how well they’re built) is a priority. And the horse must be sane. Gary and Megan say they love mustangs because they tend to be hardy, beautiful and sweet- tempered.

Their latest acquisition is Wakita, cremello-colored with crystal blue eyes, who they found in a Herd Management Area in Colorado. Megan began working with him the morning he arrived. Now, two weeks later, Wakita is completely focused on Megan. He follows her around the pen and leans his head on her shoulder.

The BLM reports that there are some 40,000 mustangs, or about 14,000 more than the federal regulations allow. The herd, which has not been culled for years due to lack of money, increases a fifth every year. Some groups want the mustangs slaughtered because they get in the way of commercial land use. Advocates for the mustangs say they should be allowed to roam freely. Ranchers say failure to manage the herds has sharply cut the availably of range grasses needed for grazing their cattle. Whatever happens politically in the rest of the world, The Parks’ mustangs know that here, they are safe.

The Parks say the mustangs are awesomely intelligent. They are examples of survival of the fittest. If they aren’t smart, they don’t live long out in the wild.

Grace After Fire

When you hear the phrase, “troubled veteran” and you think of a bearded guy in worn combat fatigues sleeping under a bridge with a dog, you may want to think again.

Far too many veterans in this country fit that stereotype, but the number of women veterans with serious issues is on the rise. In fact, women veterans are the fastest growing homeless population in the nation.

The non-profit organization, Grace After Fire, has a mission to help female veterans help themselves by providing resources to boost their emotional health and careers upon returning home. Women coming out of military service don’t have the support that men do. A woman is expected to immediately switch roles and be a wife, mother and career woman. That’s a tough assignment. Since Grace After Fire was started, unemployment for female veterans has dropped from 16 percent to 8 percent, the number of homeless female veterans has greatly declined, and they have not had a female veteran suicide in four years.

You might like to get involved in a branch near you. They can use volunteers and funds.