FairOaksRanchMagazine - Community Circular36 Freshen Yourself Up: Teeth Whitening Tips 38...

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Publishers:Community Circular Magazinesa division of White-Frisbie Media

Creative DirectorTaylor Davis

Graphic DesignTaylor Davis

James Tootle

Copy EditorSheryl Hawkinson

SalesRachel Danley

Sheryl Hawkinson

To advertise your product or services in Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine, please

contact Rachel Danley at210-348-3709 or by email at

[email protected]

Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine is published by Community Circular Magazines, a subsidiary product of White-Frisbie Media. It is provided for the enjoyment and education of its readership. The information presented in this magazine is believed to be true at the time of publishing. Community Circular Magazines does not guarantee or warranty any of the services or products produced by the companies represented herein.

Community Circulars is a proud member in excellent standing with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). If you have any feedback on this publication, please contact us at 210-348-3709 or visit our web site at www.FairOaksRanchMagazine.com

contents10 Feature Article: History of Fair Oaks Ranch

18 James Voeller: Legal Column, Estate Planning

22 John Merritt Homes: Delivering Style & Taste

24 Stone Creek Ranch: Welcome To The Neighborhood

30 Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & Country Club Fitness Center Opening This Summer

32 Local Pharmacist Offers Customized Prescriptions

36 Freshen Yourself Up: Teeth Whitening Tips

38 O’Krent’s At Home: Brings The Showroom Floor To Your Door

40 The Benefits of Harvesting Rainwater

43 The Rustic Gallery: Hacienda & Country Interiors

44 Bracken Bat Cave: Largest Bat Colony In The World

Become a contributor to Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine!We are looking for contributors to our new magazine. Have an article idea? Or maybe you would like to write periodically for the magazine. We’re looking for readers to contribute their ideas, articles, photography, short stories, poetry and more! Have a photo that you think would look great on our cover? Send it to us! To send us your content or ideas, please go to our web site at www.FairOaksRanchMagazine.com

• We’re also accepting photos for our Fair Oaks Ranch Pet’s Corner - send us photos of your furry family members so our readers can learn more about how special they are to you. • Where in the world is Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine? Traveling? Be sure to take Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine with you! Take a picture holding the magazine. Tell us a little about your travels. We would love to know where you’ve been traveling and where in the world Fair Oaks Ranch magazine has been!

We would like to say “thank you” to the local businesses that support Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine. Many Fair Oaks Ranch area business owners and/or employees are also residents in the area; we appreciate

their support and thank them for the services they provide to our readers.

Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine is a periodical published for the enjoyment of the greater Fair Oaks Ranch area. Mailed three times annually to all households and available at several local businesses and organizations, the magazine is intended to cover entertaining and informative topics that are of interest to the Fair Oaks Ranch area community. The magazine is not affiliated with the City of Fair Oaks Ranch or any other government agency and is supported by its advertisers.

We want your feedback!What do you think of the all-new Fair Oaks Ranch Magazine? As a reader, we want to hear from you. If you have feedback on any of our articles, or the magazine itself, we want to know about it. We encourage you to visit our web site at www.FairOaksRanchMagazine.com and let us know what’s on your mind.


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The History ofFair Oaks Ranch

The City of Fair Oaks

Ranch has, in the last

40 years, blossomed

into one of the Hill

Country’s finest small

cities. Nestled just

outside San Antonio,

the city is home to

over 6,000 residents

and has a rich (and

boldly Texan) history.

A century ago, a 14-year-old boy ran away from his California home to try his luck in a then-burgeoning oil business. As he grew into a man, he worked his way up in the industry. And just 15 years later, in the 1920s, Ralph E. Fair Sr. was travelling the world to develop oil fields. A decade later, he began buying oak-studded land in the rolling hills north of San Antonio, which would eventually become the city of Fair Oaks Ranch.

Fair was a handsome and determined man, an early photo indicates. With a cigar in one hand and papers in the other, he seems comfortable with his suit and closely cropped hair, while looking directly at the camera with a look of steady confidence.

Fair’s success as an oil man took him around the globe throughout his life, to Germany, Russia, Africa and many places within the United States. He was involved with developing the world-famous Ploiesti Oil Fields with the government of Romania. Ploiesti was one of the world’s leading oil extraction and refinery sites and a significant source of oil for Nazi Germany

Ralph Fair Sr.

W R i T T e N b y

Rachel Danley

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during World War II. As a result, the Allied forces repeatedly bombed the site. Mr. Fair was directly involved in planning the bombing of these sites in World War II.

As the Germans held the Ploiesti refineries and the Allied bombings raged, Mr. Fair Sr. moved to Texas and began developing oil fields here. While living in Dallas, he met Dorothy Dunlap Exline, a Louisiana native, and they married in 1932. During the 1930s, the couple made a number of land purchases at the foot of the Hill Country, near San Antonio, which at the time had a quarter of a million residents. From the purchases, the Fairs knitted together the original 5,000-acre Fair Oaks Ranch. In the 1950s, the guest house was damaged by fire and then remodeled by the Fairs along with the main home into a grand 13,000-square-foot rustic mansion. The large estate home now serves as the Fair Oaks Ranch Golf and Country Club.

Mr. and Mrs. Fair raised their three children on the ranch, and Mr. Fair enjoyed many hobbies, including raising well-bred race horses. Later, Texas law changed regarding horse racing and Alamo Downs in San Antonio was closed in 1937. Mr. Fair then turned his attention to raising registered Polled Hereford cattle, hornless red and white cows prized for their quality and bloodline. The Fairs’ most renowned bull, Battle Intense, was used for pedigree breeding by artificial insemination, a cutting-edge technology at the time that few breeders used. Fair Oaks Ranch had cattle auctions and shows, and it is said that buyers came to the ranch from all over the world for the auctions. The cattle sales were also social occasions at the ranch and a focal point for the city of San Antonio for many years.

According to stories, the game room in the Fair Mansion was a hub for high-profile guests and occasional gambling. Mr. Fair would hide his poker tables in a hideaway slot. Friends and family naturally would have joined him for a game of pool or poker. The game room is now known as the Trophy Room of the country club and is used for fine dining. The original pool table sticks are still in this room today. >>

The Frost bank tower was a key landmark for Fair Oaks Ranch for many years. The tower was removed in 2003 when

maintenance became an issue.

The Fair family ranch home was constructed in the 1950’s and was converted into the Fair Oaks Ranch Clubhouse in 1978.


Ralph Fair Jr. grew up on the ranch where he and his wife, Janis Fair, also raised three daughters, who today reside in the city of Fair Oaks Ranch. Mr. Fair Jr. played an integral role in transforming the ranch into a community. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Fair in 1960s, family members began studying the feasibility of dividing the ranch.

In 1975, the Fairs joined forces with nearby developer Don Smith and began selling lots of five to 20 acres. Don Smith Company was selected by Ralph Fair Jr. to be the sole developer and maintain the environmental integrity of the ranch. In 1976, the Fair Oaks Ranch Homeowners Association was formed to serve the needs of the growing community. Smaller tracts of two-and-a-half to four acres were developed and a trade was made with the Pfeiffer Ranch to begin construction of Fair Oaks Parkway to provide better access. Construction of an 18-hole golf course began in 1977, and the Fair family mansion became the Main Clubhouse in 1978.

Founding fathers Bob Herring, Mayor Boots Gaubatz and Don King are credited with the successful incorporation of the city of Fair Oaks Ranch in 1988. At the time, there were 600 homes in the community and the only commercial site was the Fair Oaks Ranch Country Club. The City Hall, maintenance and homeowners association offices were all based out of existing Fair family buildings, many of which are still in use today. Incorporation was done to protect the

community from annexation by surrounding cities. After two years of successful negotiations with San Antonio and county judges of the three counties that Fair Oaks Ranch straddles, the City of Fair Oaks Ranch was formed.

In 1995, Ralph Fair Jr. donated land and voters overwhelmingly passed a bond issue to build Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary. Also, the city government has grown to include separate police and fire stations and a water system. With the help of abundant volunteers who are expert in a variety of areas and careful planning by city officials, Fair Oaks Ranch has become a vibrant and enjoyable place to live.

“Fair Oaks Ranch is more than just a subdivision,” said Linda Sue Phillips, who began working with her father, Don Smith, in 1989 and now serves as company president. “It has been developed in small stages, and the majority of land has been sold to individuals to maintain the country feel and uniqueness of the ranch.”

With its large lots snuggled into forested hills that are still home to deer and other wildlife, and an intriguing history involving the can-do spirit of a 14-year-old boy, it is no wonder that Fair Oaks Ranch is such a successful community. The city is home to more than 6,300 residents, who enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the countryside that Ralph Fair Sr. and his family helped preserve and share the excitement of a dynamic community that the family helped bring to life.

1890 Ralph Fair Sr. born

1920s Fair works in oil fields across the world

1930s Fair family acquires 5,000 acre Fair Oaks Ranch

1950s Fair family constructs 13,000 sq. ft. estate

1969 Ralph Fair Sr. dies

1975 Fair family begins developing ranch with help of Don Smith Co.

1976 Homeowners Assoc. formed

1978 Clubhouse & Golf Course opens

1988 City incorporated as a Class A General Law Municipality (pop. 1,500)

1995 Fair Oaks Ranch elementary opens

2006 Fair Oaks Ranch annexes additional 3,258 acres

2008 Population reaches 6,367

DeMOGRAPHiCS2008 Population

Median Resident Age

estimated MedianHousehold income 2007

estimated MedianHouse Value in 2008

COMMuNiTy FeATuReSNumber of Police Officers

Firemen-Volunteer

Tax Structure

6,367

45.9

$130,729

$444,380

13

43

0.2415 per $100

Data Sources: City of Fair Oaks Ranchand City-Data.com

T i M e L i N e

Ralph Fair Sr.’s original pool table sticks on display in the Trophy Room.

The Golf Shop is housed in what was once the Fair family carriage house.







Did you know that you have probably unintentionally disinherited your grandchildren?

The majority of people who set up wills and revocable or irrevocable trusts leave their assets outright to their children when they die. There is nothing wrong with that, but it’s probably not what you really want to do. Instead of leaving your assets outright to your children, consider the potential advantages of leaving your assets to your children’s trusts, which you can design and create during your lifetime, as part of your estate planning.

A descendant’s trust is created within your own estate plan, naming your child as trustee and beneficiary when you die. For example, if your daughter were named Mary Carter, the name of the trust would be “Mary Carter, as Trustee of the Mary Carter Trust.”

There are a number of good reasons to create trusts for your children as part of your planning. Consider the following: • the assets will be protected from your child’s spouse in the event of their divorce • the assets can be protected from their creditors in the event of a financial hardship • the assets are sheltered from lawsuits which your children may someday suffer • the assets can be removed from your children’s estates so that no further estate taxes will be due when the property passes to the next generation, effectively disinheriting Uncle Sam • on your child’s death, the unused assets will go to your blood relatives (such as grandchildren) instead of in laws or others who are not a part of your plan.

These trusts may be drafted to provide that, during your children’s lifetimes, they have complete access to the income and the principal of their trusts so that you’re not necessarily giving them a “gift with strings attached” or “ruling from the grave.” (If circumstances are warranted, you may elect to impose tighter control over these assets.) But when your child dies, you can ensure that the unused portion of their inheritance goes to your grandchildren. If a grandchild is under the age of 30, for instance, you may direct that their share will be held in trust for them until then, with the Trustee (which may be one of your other children) using so much of the assets as may be needed for their health, education, maintenance and support. Once the grandchild reaches age 30, you may want them to be the Trustee of their own trust. If one of your children dies without leaving children, then the assets left in their trust at the time of their death could be added to the trusts for your other children.

Grandchildren are oftentimes unintentionally disinherited when an estate plan provides for outright distributions to a child. What happens is that upon the death of the child, their will leaves everything (including the inheritance) to their spouse. When their spouse subsequently remarries, who knows if the grandchildren will ever receive anything? It frequently is the case that the grandchildren never see a dime. The sad thing is, a properly designed trust would protect against these unintended consequences.

While we are preparing or reviewing your estate plan, we can offer these trusts to you at a fraction of the cost it would be to your children if they were to go out and set these trusts up for themselves, either now or many years later when they receive their inheritance. In addition to the cost saving of creating this type of trust within your own estate plan, in the overwhelming number of states, including Texas, once your children have inherited, it is too late for them to create their own protective trust.

A final benefit of a descendant’s trust is that it is much easier for your child to keep assets separate from a spouse when these assets are left to them in trust. On your death, all of your assets are re-titled directly from your trust to your children’s trusts. Not only do the assets not become community property, but your child will be able to truthfully say to their spouse “my parents left this money to me in a trust”. Compare this to their receiving the inheritance “in hand,” and having to take active steps to keep those assets separate from a spouse, or trying to shelter the inheritance from an unexpected lawsuit.

If you’re going to leave it all to them anyway, consider leaving your child’s inheritance to them in a protected trust by doing some additional good planning today. Your children will greatly appreciate what you’ve done to put them on the right track to plan for themselves and their families. Someday, your grandchildren may thank you as well!

If you would like to discuss whether a descendant’s trust makes sense for you and your family, please call me at 210-651-3851 to arrange for a complimentary consultation.

Keeping Your Assets“All in the Family”

by James N. Voeller

Law Office ofJames N. VoellerAttorney At Law19311 FM 2252San Antonio, TX 78266Phone: (210) 651-3851





This isn’t just a house, it is your home. To be your

home the structure must reflect your life, style

and your taste. John Merritt Homes takes this

charge seriously and lays its experience and

reputation on the line for every client.

John Merritt Homes

John Merritt Homes has been building custom homes for 11 years and counts 50 Fair Oaks Ranch friends as past clients. These custom homes have ranged from Tuscan to Hill Country Classic to Country French. Most have open floor plans, large master suites with at least two bedrooms downstairs, professional-style kitchens, walls of windows to capture the natural beauty Fair Oaks has to offer with accents of wood beams, native limestone and faux finish antiquing. Homes have ranged from cottages under $100,000 to large complex statements in the $800,000s. For Fair Oaks Ranch residents who like their lot and where they live, remodeling and renovations have been a cost-effective alternative. John Merritt Homes enjoys assisting these clients with kitchen or master bath updates, an extra bedroom or media room.

By building superior homes at competitive costs John Merritt Homes works to exceeded client expectations and established long-term trusting relationships. Bob and Alice Childers built two homes in Deer Meadow Estates with John Merritt Homes, the second to downsize and build their second dream home. “We were extremely happy with our first home and chose John without talking to anyone else.” Alice said. “We placed our first home on the market, immediately had offers and the house sold in three weeks.” Alice also said, “It was really nice to know our builder is an engineer and knows structural building.”

John Merritt Homes is a family owned and run business. John has used his 30 years of engineering and project management experience along with his professional home inspector training to develop a home

building approach that emphasizes listening skills, efficient scheduling and attention to detail to deliver quality homes in a short time frame. Daughter Maggie earned a degree in Construction Science from Texas A & M University and uses her degree and five years of experience to manage the field operations. Cathy leads the interior design team and assists clients with choices for tile, colors, patterns and the many design finishes that make each house a home. Cathy also provides specialty painting and faux finishes. JMH is an Energy Star Builder and incorporates green building practices to deliver an easy-to-maintain, low operating cost home. The company maintains low overhead costs and passes this valuable savings on to the client.

At John Merritt Homes, John, Maggie and Cathy form a team with the client beginning with the architect and designer and expanding through to the long-standing subcontractors and suppliers. This team leverages the skills of each participant to create a well-crafted home that each are proud to be a part of and where the client feels their own personalities are brought to life.

John Merritt Homes is a Preferred Builder at Fair Oaks Ranch’s newest neighborhood, Stone Creek Ranch, where the company is currently offering two homes for sale, each on a 1+ acre lot. Both homes are around 4,000 square feet with one offering a Tuscan styling and one a Hill Country – French feel. Both homes are accented with wood beams, interior rock work, faux finishing and outdoor kitchens and fireplaces. The company is also a Key Builder in Fair Oak’s Cibolo Trails neighborhood where homes in the 2,000 to 2,800 square feet are being offered in the mid-$300,000s.

John Merritt, his wife, Cathy, and daughter Maggie

DeLiVeRiNG STyLe AND TASTe



in the thriving and growing community of Fair Oaks Ranch, a neighborhood like Stone Creek Ranch is the choice for many homeowners who want the best of the Hill Country, the finest amenities and the flexibility to build their dream home.

Stone Creek Ranch is a 358 acre community in the northern area of Fair Oaks Ranch. The Hill Country landscape is rich with majestic live oak, Spanish oak and elm trees with breathtaking views of rolling foothills. This gated and guarded neighborhood offers the convenience of nearby cities, while allowing owners to enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of Hill Country living. Stone Creek Ranch is a place with vibrant skies, crisp air and nature’s abundance, making it a unique and satisfying place to live.

Fair Oaks Ranch residents, Lisa and Charles Harthan, decided San Antonio was coming closer to the Hill Country and they wanted to get away and find a place out of the traffic. The large lots of Stone Creek Ranch enabled the Harthans to customize a house large enough to accommodate guest suites on the property

Stone Creek RanchWelcome to the Neighborhood


for their aging parents and the flexibility the community allows for them to select the builder of their choice. Stone Creek Ranch was also the obvious choice for their children. “The home sites are close enough for our kids to play and have friends,” Lisa said, “and we can still have our privacy.”

The estate home sites in Stone Creek Ranch were carefully planned and offer residents a uniquely wide one to two acre piece of Hill Country to call their own. The dramatic Hill Country surroundings are the perfect backdrop for a custom built dream home. Three beautiful examples of these masterpiece homes were available for viewing at the Homes of Distinction at Stone Creek Ranch tour. Stadler Custom Homes, Matern & FitzGerald Custom Homes and Character House Homes

are three builders who participated. These luxury home builders have shown that even in a today’s economy Stone Creek Ranch is a community worth investing in. Each home in the tour offered the latest in uniquely green features and outdoor spaces that maximize the value of these Hill Country sites.

In addition to owning a beautiful piece of Hill Country, the neighborhood offers a clubhouse within the community. The resort style clubhouse is complete with a lavish swimming pool, lazy river and spa area. Inside the clubhouse, a fitness center allows homeowners 24 hour access and outside a 16 acre park provides walking and jogging trails. The clubhouse is the perfect place for homeowners to relax around the outdoor fireplace or gather for a game in the billiard room or bridge room

with friends. Additionally, residents may enjoy the benefits of membership in the Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & Country Club.

Homeowners, Victor and Jennifer Farias said, “Stone Creek Ranch made the unattainable and impossible doable.” After searching for a home site for three years the Farias’ felt like all the pieces came together for their dream home in Stone Creek Ranch. The tremendous amenities center, outstanding schools and the quality of the neighborhood were exactly what they were looking for.

Homeowners in Stone Creek Ranch benefit from low Kendall County taxes and exemplary schools in the acclaimed Boerne Independent School District all while residing in the dynamic and enjoyable city of Fair Oaks Ranch.

stadler custom homes






The new slogan, “Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & Country Club, Where Fitness Matters!” is starting to catch on.

The Club’s new 4,050 square foot Fitness Center has been received as welcomed news and several new members have joined as a result of this addition. And now that the facility is ready and Spring is here, I can finally get busy with my New Year’s resolution!

General Manager, Greg Hatch said, “We are extremely excited to offer this new facility to our Members as this has been a long awaited amenity. Social, Tennis, and Golf memberships will have the privilege of utilizing the new fitness center to help enrich the lives of their families. “

The new Fitness Center nicely compliments the Club and will include approximately 20 cardio machines equipped with individual TV’s, 12-15 resistance machines, a Smith Machine for free weight plates, dumb bells, bar bells, beauty bells, benches along with various stability balls, medicine balls, mats and even a group exercise room for holding classes.

I’m also extremely pleased that not a single Live Oak tree had to meet its demise during construction of the new facility. These majestic century-old Live Oaks add so much to the Club’s atmosphere and peaceful setting.

In addition to the new fitness center, which is scheduled to open this summer, Fair Oaks Ranch Country Club has 36 Holes of Championship Golf, a driving range, 14 tennis courts, fabulous dining areas for every occasion, swimming pools, and the new poolside pavilion.

If you’re not a member yet, now is a great time to join. Hopefully you’ll see me in the new Fitness Center this summer; I plan to be in there every week as it’s time to finally get in shape!

Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & Country Club

W R i T T e N b y

Travis WagnerMember of Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & County Club

FiTNeSS CeNTeRSCHeDuLeD TO OPeN THiS SuMMeR

John Hopkins on the driving range at Fair Oaks Golf & Country Club



In a world of increasingly depersonalized treatment, more patients need and want customized care. Working with the patient and physician, compounding pharmacists can prepare a “customized” medication in a special compounding laboratory, using the latest techniques and devices available. This customized medication can meet the unique needs of the patient to improve therapeutic outcomes simply by using a special dosage form or delivery system suited for the patient. For example, a compounding pharmacist can prepare the medication using several unique delivery systems, such as a sublingual troche or lozenge, a suppository, or a topical gel, cream or ointment. Or, for those patients who are having a difficult time swallowing a capsule, a compounding pharmacist can make a flavored liquid form instead.

There are several reasons why pharmacists compound prescription medications; yet, the most important one is patient non-compliance. Many patients are allergic to preservatives or dyes, or are sensitive to standard drug strengths. With a physician’s consent, a compounding

Local Pharmacist Offers Customized Prescriptions

pharmacist can change the strength of a medication and alter its dosage form to make it easier for the patient to ingest.

Compounded medications can improve outcomes in almost every field of medicine. Dermatological preparations can be made for skin disorders including psoriasis or shingles. Compounded bio-identical hormone replacement therapy offers fine-tuned relief to menopausal women and andropausal men. Ear gels for pets can be made to avoid unpleasantness of oral medications. Chronic pain management solutions can be used for syndromes such as fibromyalgia, neuropathies, and sports injuries. Alternative dosage forms and strengths offer options to pediatricians when the commercially available product is only made for adults. The benefits that compounding provides are countless.

Talk with your physician to see if a compounded medicine is the solution for your life’s problems. Once a dying art, compounding is today’s personalized medicine.

W R i T T e N b y

Leigh Ann Grasso, Pharm.D., R.Ph.Owner of Annie’s Apothecary – Specialty Pharmacy





What’s the easiest way to look more youthful without spending a lot of Money? Everyone wants to look the best they can but not everyone want to spend a lot of money.

Freshen yourself up and look more youthful with a whiter smile. It’s one of the first things that catches someone’s eye. A healthy white smile projects an image of a healthy, more youthful person.

There are many products available on the market. The main differences are the strength of the product and the time required.

If time is not of the essence, then most of the over the counter products are just fine. Products from Rhembrandt and Crest can be found in your neighborhood store. The products range from gel strips to trays. Keep in mind that these products are made to fit most people’s mouths. The size of the strips and trays are generic. If you’re looking for something even easier and are not in a rush to whiten, try Listerine’s Whitening Pre-Rinse. It’s easy to incorporate into your everyday routine.

For those special moments in your life, try an in-office whitening procedure or custom bleaching trays from your dentist. These products

Freshen Yourself UpT e e T H W H i T e N i N G T i P S

use professional strength ingredients only available from a dentist. Because the strength is stronger, the time required to achieve whiter results is shorter. In-office procedures take about an hour and custom trays are worn at home.

All of these suggestions can be used in combination to fit your needs and maintain your whiter, youthful smile. Just don’t do everything at once! Your teeth will be too sensitive!

If you have sensitive teeth or cavities, consult with your dentist before whitening.

Drs. Tran and Nguyen are not compensated by any company.

W R i T T e N b y

Dr. Allison Tran-Rico DDSDr. Thuy Nguyen DDSFair Oaks Dental, P.A.

9091 Fair Oaks Parkway # 304



O’KRENT’S AT HOMEBrings the showroom floor to your front door

O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center is making shopping for floor covering easier than ever by making house calls. O’Krent’s At Home is a mobile showroom, fully equipped with flooring product options.

“Service is everything,” says Sam O’Krent, president of O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center. “It’s what we’ve built our business on. At O’Krent’s, we know that consumers are smart, savvy shoppers with plenty of choice before them; we are committed to providing truly exceptional customer service and want the customer experience to reflect how very much we value their business. From the moment they walk-in our door, or from the moment we walk into their home; we do everything possible to ensure customer satisfaction.”

The O’Krent’s At Home program helps customers find solutions for the way they live. The process usually starts with a phone call to asses need. Some of the important questions asked include:

• How many people will be living in your home?• Do you have children? if so, how many and what ages?• Do you have pets? if so, what kind and how many?• Do you, or will you, have an extended family member living with

you?• Do you have any special needs such as wheelchair accessibility?• What overall atmosphere would you like to create in your home?• Do you entertain in your home?• What colors do you prefer?• Are you planning for a room or space to be used as a home office,

home gym or hobby (craft/art)?• Will you be purchasing new furniture for your remodeling

project?• Who will be cleaning your home?• Are you interested in products that are easy to maintain?• is the resale value of your home a consideration?• Have you determined a budget for your project?

O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center is San Antonio’s oldest and largest family-owned floor covering store and the only flooring company in San Antonio to have its

sales staff and mechanics certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute. Since 1915, now in its fourth generation, its reputation lies in its quality installations, fair

pricing, and lifetime labor warranties. Products include carpeting, ceramic tile, natural stone, wood and cork floors, area rugs, and vinyl laminate floor coverings.

O’Krent’s is so proud and confident in their abilities that it offers a full lifetime installation warranty on every product installed. Visit the O’Krent’s Abbey

Flooring Center website at www.okrentfloors.com.

The answers to these questions help the flooring specialist to guide the customer through the decision-making process from color, design, and products selected. They then equip the mobile van with flooring options specifically selected for this particular project.

O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center understands that your time is valuable and it’s not always convenient to take time out of your busy schedule to shop for floor covering. With its’ O’Krent’s At Home shopping service, there is no better way to pick the perfect floor covering for your particular needs.

Flooring continues to be the anchor for any room’s decorating scheme, and understanding the interplay of line, shape and form and how it works together to create a room that is nothing short of a functional three-dimensional work of art is our specialty.”

O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center located on 1604 & Gold Canyon near Best Buy



The Earth is known as the Blue Planet for a reason, as water is a dominant part of our everyday lives. The world’s current challenge is to improve the planet’s water quality and support all life forms in our diverse environment.

Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water, like streams, lakes, rivers, reservoirs and aquifers, which is usable as clean water. In 2002 the EPA reported that 45% of stream miles, and 47% of lake acres were not suitable for swimming or fishing. Urban run-off is the number one cause of water pollution. Water is our most precious resource because, quite simply, we can’t get along without it.

Collecting rainwater or run-off water to reuse, can and will make an impact on our water resources. Recycling rain reduces water bills including city storm sewer charges, alleviates demand on municipal systems and helps to avoid strict watering schedules. There are no chemicals in rainwater like city water contains. Rainwater is rich in nutrients and will reduce the use of fertilizers, which is much better for landscapes than city water.

Did you know that in a 1” rainfall a 2000 square foot roof can generate about 1,250 gallons of water? This water can be collected, stored, filtered and reused for future use. In our area, the average annual rainfall is about 30 inches annually which generates about 41,000 gallons of reusable water. The average household uses about 12,500 gallons of water monthly with about 9,000 gallons for landscape watering.

The Benefits of Harvesting Rainwater

Rainwater harvesting can be done in many forms and capacities. The most common collecting systems are rain barrels, which are the smallest. The rain barrels will collect anywhere from 25-75 gallons of water. The next type would be the cistern, which is an above ground tank that comes in many different shapes and sizes. Cisterns can range from about 250 to 5,000 gallons of water storage. The last type to discuss is the custom underground storage tank. These tanks can store 500 to 100s of thousands of gallons. Each system has its pros and cons. Some are more adaptable and acceptable for certain situations and applications.

The underground storage system collects rainwater from the roof as well as run-off from the ground. All the plumbing from the downspouts are buried underground and a pump and filter system is easy to hide and provides better filtration. The biggest addition to the buried style collection chamber is that a water feature can be added. You can have a waterfall, bubbling jar or bubble rock that aerates and filters the water as the water moves through the system. The below ground storage tanks allow you to maintain a clean and neatly landscaped yard, maximizing available outdoor space.

Many people start with a simple rain barrel, and later move to larger storage systems after enjoying the benefits rainwater harvesting has to offer. No matter where you choose to start, the most important thing is to get started now.

W R i T T e N b y

John Cenicola, AquaEco LLC




THE RUSTIC GALLERYHacienda & Country Interiors

One-of-a-kind interiors that incorporate Old World charm with modern design

Steeped in Grand Hacienda Style, The Rustic Gallery, also known as “Hacienda & Country Interiors”, offers an exquisite selection of home furnishings, eye-catching accessories and distinctive wall art. The Rustic Gallery introduced itself to the American trade as wholesalers in 1998 by its owners and co-founders, Ricardo and Elisabeth Vazquez. “We spent two years of intensive research seeking the best manufacturers of Hacienda, Country, Western and Spanish style” says Ricardo. “We were looking for the best pieces featuring Old World elegance and Spanish Colonial Themes crafted in Mexico.”

Ricardo, known as “Ricky”, was born in Laredo, Texas and had been in the import / export business for over 20 years before opening The Rustic Gallery with his wife Elisabeth. Elisabeth, born and raised in Paris, France, enjoyed a successful career as a travel agent before the opening of The Rustic Gallery.

The successes of their new business quickly lead the couple to open their first retail location on Highway 281 in San Antonio in 1999. However, they quickly outgrew their first location and in 2006 the store was relocated to their current location: a 6,000 square foot showroom in north San Antonio on Highway 281 South between Thousand Oaks and Book Hollow. In 2006, the Rustic Gallery was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show in Eva Longoria’s “Desperate House” Makeover.

The store features numerous, one-of-a-kind, eye catching, hand-crafted furniture collections from all over the world. These collections include Hacienda & Spanish style furniture, Western and Hill Country Designs and Mediterranean to Traditional Mexican style interiors. The store offers home furnishings crafted in copper, marble and wrought-iron that combine to create Old World elegance and Spanish Colonial Themes. The Rustic Gallery also offers unique accessories to decorate any home, ranch or office.

All pieces are uniquely hand-crafted with the finest earth-friendly materials, such as hand-hammered copper, wrought-iron, genuine leather, natural travertine and a variety of exquisite woods. This includes popular pieces crafted from reclaimed and recycled Hacienda Old Doors, which beautifully bridges the past and present together.

“We offer great value to our customers” says Elisabeth. “Our store offers quality, a unique selection and innovative / functional designs. The Rustic gallery provides eclectic custom designed pieces to enrich your decorating experience while always astonishing your friends!”

Ricardo & Elisabeth Vazquez


Do you know your neighbors?Bracken Bat Cave: the world’s largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats

Recently a lot of attention has been given to neighbors just north of the city of San Antonio: millions upon millions of Mexican free-tailed bats that reside in the world’s largest colony, only minutes from your home! The National Geographic Channel, Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe (featured on the Discovery Channel) and even CNN have profiled this fascinating and spectacular display of nature.

Every summer evening, some 20 million clattering and fluttering bats erupt in a swirling vortex from a hole in the ground as a few wide-eyed guests stand nearby. The bats circle out of the cave, looping back in and then out, until a dark tornado slowly lifts and widens in a trajectory that gives the tiny mammals a chance to gain altitude while avoiding collisions. The spiral reaches tree level after three to four loops, after which columns of bats snake like a black river into the sky.

By Rachel Danley

Lucky spectators have just witnessed the world’s largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) start its nightly hunt for high-flying insects. Each bat, weighing a third of an ounce, will devour its own weight in food – removing a total of 250 TONS of insects from up to 150 miles away – before returning to the dark, moist and downright hot protection of Bracken Cave.

Most agree that these mammals which are big-eared, beady-eyed, and long-snouted– essentially rats with floppy wings – are important to the ecosystem. The 100 million free-tailed bats living in Central Texas caves consume 1,000 tons of insects nightly, saving U.S. farmers $1.7 million a year in damages from pests such as the corn ear-worm moth.


45FairOaksRanchMagazine.comphotos by ©Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org

• The cave’s temperature reaches over 100 degrees.

• Owned & operated by BCI.(Bat Conservation International)

• BCI acquired the Bracken Cave in 1992 from the Marbach Family.

QUICKFACTS

Meet MAlColMBats have also been valued for their excrement. Entrepreneurs have long

mined the phosphorus- and nitrate-rich guano from caves, producing fertilizer and even gunpowder.

Malcolm Beck, author of “The Secret Life of Compost,” has been harvesting bat guano from Bracken Cave since 1959, using it for farming and gardening. He founded Garden-Ville, a small organic farm that has grown into a large scale organic composting operation and continues to sell proven organic-only gardening products to the community.

“It takes a special kind of person to work with nature,” he said.Sitting in his office, surrounded by hundreds of books, a microscope

and a plethora of other scientific equipment, Malcolm is obviously just as comfortable with research as he is with nature.

Guano, nature’s most refined fertilizer, is actually the final product of guano beetles that digest bat droppings, Malcolm said. During the summer, the beetle population swells and covers the cave floor like a freakish scene from an Indiana Jones movie.

Another type of beetle, a flesh-eating dermestid, joins the ghoulish drama to consume bats that fall to the floor. These beetles strip meat from dead and sick bats within minutes, leaving just bones and a cleaner environment. In an experiment once, these beetles ate a whole whale within days after it was picked up from a beach and placed in Bracken Cave.

Over the centuries, this intricate ecological process has produced a unique and valuable resource. Malcolm recalls stories by Irving Marbach and his two cousins, who once owned five acres of land containing the Bracken Cave, about how at one time a wagon of guano was worth a wagon of corn in trade to the German settlers.

And no one has ever gotten sick from being in Bracken Cave, Malcolm claims. In fact, the beneficial microbes in the guano seem to cure the common cold. Malcolm keeps a jar of guano handy so that, when he’s sick, he can shake and open the jar frequently to breathe the fumes and build immunities.

Meet the BATSMexican free-tailed bats come in reddish to dark brown or gray colors and

roost in the densest mammalian colonies in the world, according to various sources. The bats have wrinkled lips, long and narrow wings and tails that extend more than a third beyond their membranes, which is where their name comes from.

Free-tailed bats usually fly around 12 mph, and sometimes as fast as 25 to 50 mph in high winds. Such speeds don’t prevent hawks and owls from circulating over Bracken Cave to snatch meals from the swirling pack as it emerges nightly, when lingering daylight keeps the furry targets well lit for about 15 minutes. In addition, raccoons, snakes and other predators wait at the cave’s mouth to grab exiting bats. >>

• BCI recently acquired nearly 700 acres surrounding the cave.

• The Bracken colony is primarily composed of female bats that give birth around June each year nearly doubling the cave’s population to 35-40 million.

• The bats primarily consume the corn ear-worm moth and cotton bollworm moth, not mosquitoes as commonly thought.

• Bats are not actually blind, however they do use echolocation to navigate in the dark and hunt their prey.

• The bats leave the cave empty each year in the winter, migrating and spreading out over Mexico. This allows harvesting of valuable guano without disturbing the colony.

• Millons of dollars in local agricultural benefit annually.



Bracken Cave, carved out of limestone with a roof about 30 to 40 feet thick and a floor dropping down 100 feet, is a critical nursery site for the world’s Mexican free-tailed bats. The rock room goes back 650 feet and is 80 to 100 feet wide. Temperatures range from 80 to 90 degrees on the bottom to 104 degrees on the ceiling where the bats roost.

The cave is home primarily only to female bats and their pups. Males hunker down in separate “bachelor” colonies in locations such as Austin’s Congress Street Bridge and New Braunfels’ Walnut Street Bridge.

Bracken Cave provides the perfect environment for roosting and nursing. The mothers living there migrate up to 1,000 miles or more, into Mexico and other areas, to find warmer weather in the winter and then mate before returning in February, March and April. Around June 10, the free-tailed bats each give birth, which nearly doubles the Bracken Cave population to 35 to 40 million.

Interestingly, the pups roost separately from their mothers, in a nursery covering thousands of square feet of the cave walls and with up to 500 newborns packed into each square foot. Mothers spend an hour with their pups to learn their scents and vocalizations before leaving, and they return several times a day for six weeks. Bats learn to fly at four weeks and strike out on their own at eight weeks, by the end of August.

enjoy the ShowBracken Cave is a priceless and irreplaceable resource sitting in the

Texas Hill Country. The Mexican free-tailed bats living there help populate large swaths of the Southwest United States and Mexico and each night they put on an awesome show that only nature can orchestrate. An urban area where people can sit back and watch such an extraordinary treat night after night is a rare and special place.


ConServATion effects Bracken Cave and 696 acres of scenic landscape, once owned by the

Marbach family, Reeh family and others, is protected by a conservation easement held by Bat Conservation International, a private nonprofit organization based in Austin.

BCI is devoted to conservation, education and research to help bats and the ecosystems they serve around the world. The organization protects bats from the ever-present threat of urbanization and deforestation by conserving their natural habitats.

visit www.batcon.org for more information on bats or to join BCi.

You can support BCI by becoming a member. Rates begin at $35 a year and will allow you and three guests to visit

Bracken Cave on member nights throughout the summer.







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