Almost every acre of range and pasture land we saw was a vivid green, courtesy no doubt of the ample rain that soaked the High Plains during April. Man, it was a sight to behold. It had been just a few weeks earlier that I had made the same drive, but the land still was still brown and barren in the wake of winter’s grip on the region.

I mentioned what we saw to a friend of mine, Jimmy Wells, who farms in Moore County. He put a farmer’s spin on what he, too, witnessed on a recent trip downstate.

“The area had its postcard face on,” Jimmy said. “The land was green, the ponds were full of water, the bluebonnets were beautiful, the cattle were fat and the wheat fields near Vernon were waist-high and waving in the breeze. It just doesn’t get any better than that.”

And who says this area ain’t pretty?