November 5, 2009

The bean counters are at it again! Jane Mills, left, and Nina Saxton are two of the United Methodist Women at the First United Methodist Church in Johnson City who are making up jars of beans for mixed-bean soup as a Christmas fund-raiser. Last year, they made up jars with colorful layers of beans, from the familiar (red) to the odd (yellow myocoba) to see if they would sell.

The Blanco County Historical Commission will meet November 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the PEC Community room in Johnson City. All members are urged to attend and guests are very welcome. Bring a favorite dish for the Pot Luck Supper. Anyone interested in working with the Historical Commission projects is urged to attend and become a member.

Another hunting season is here. With archery season coming to a close, many more hunters will join the ranks when November 7 ushers in the general hunting season for white-tailed deer. However, there are many people who will never participate in the hunt, but are just as excited about the potential results it brings.

The Pleasant Hill - Rocky Community Club will host its annual benefit dinner Saturday, the opening day of deer season for residents, community and area friends, and visiting hunters. Serving will begin at 5:00 p.m. and continue until 8:30 p.m. or food runs out. Meals are by donation. The clubhouse, the historic Pleasant Hill – Rocky schoolhouse on CR 205 (Rocky Road) at U.S.

The Johnson City Library will be honoring our veterans with a reception on Wednesday, November 11th at 2:00 PM. To honor your service we invite you and your family to please join us for a Veterans Day Reception. A short program presented by Donnea Simon with the Blanco County American Legion will begin the tribute to veterans.

Signs that autumn is near: temperatures drop below 100, mysterious clear drops (rain) fall from the sky, yellow school buses are seen around town and the Community Garden Club of Johnson City resumes its monthly meetings after a summer vacation. Each September, the Garden Club kicks off its community fundraising activities with the Annual White Elephant Sale.

Our Foot Clinic was attended very well. This is a great service to us and sponsored by Texas Health Care Solutions. Our feet feel so good after the clinic that you feel like you have been to a spa. Halloween was fun for us. We got to sit outside and pass out candy.

This is a great quilt for a beginner and it can be put together in a day. Start at the center of the quilt and work outwards. Make your center rectangle any size you want. The size I chose is 15 ½ in. x 5 ½ in.. You will need 8 different light fabrics and 8 different dark fabrics.

Being the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first astronomical use of the telescope, 2009 is being celebrated as the International Year of Astronomy. As such, it’s not surprising to see new books and articles on the subject. One book that has come to my attention is Galileo’s New Universe by astronomers Stephen P.

Just about the time I get used to the old time, its time to change the time again. Don’t you just abhor this time change thing? I know there were reasons back in the dark ages, pardon the pun, when the time change came into being to help the folks who made their living in the fields and there needed to be longer days or something like that.

*****If you saw the Oprah show that aired on Monday about her visit to the State Fair of Texas, you might have caught a glimpse of a lady talking to her Miniature Donkey. That was Sally Armstrong and her donkey, Bond, between classes at the Donkey & Mule show. *****Congratulations to Camey Carbary Marks on her graduation from the Police Academy. *****Charlotte Matthews is back from Alaska.

Pedernales Electric’s Board of Directors, in a 5-1 decision, voted in its Oct. 30 special-called meeting to issue up to $4 million in capital credit refunds, primarily in the form of checks, which will be distributed in November. Capital credits are unique to cooperatives. PEC members invest in PEC through the electricity they use, and members share in PEC’s positive financial margins in the form of capital credits.

The Flora Subcommittee of the Johnson City Townscape Task Force planted 12 trees on the south side of Johnson City Tuesday morning. The task force was formed in July as part of the ongoing process to beautify Johnson City. Subcommittee members were Sherry Justus, project manager for the subcommittee; Toni Reyes, representing PEC; and Charlotte Matthews with Remax Realty.

Dr. Kent Rylander, retired Texas Tech University professor, will speak on “Bird Displays, Bird Song, and Human Speech” on Tuesday, November 10, at the Gillespie County Extension Agrilife Building, 95 Frederick Road in Fredericksburg, beginning at 7:00PM. The presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Fredericksburg Nature Center as part of their monthly Nature Series programs conducted during the school year. Dr.

As the H1N1 swine flu increases across the country — now widespread in 48 of the 50 states — Blanco County’s flu-fighting coalition is increasing its support to local flu victims and their caregivers. Despite the flu’s overall expansion, a few states, including Texas, reported a slight drop in cases, though still well above the peak of any recent flu season. “We don’t know what the dips mean, if, indeed, they mean anything” said Dr Thomas Frieden, Director of the US Centers fo ...

Is your home full of Halloween candy? Are you tired of trying to think of rules to dole it out? Or, is it just a free-for-all? Here are some options to utilize your children’s bounty. If your child has a fall birthday consider repackaging the candy into favors. Every discount store sells plain and themed goody bags that you can fill with candy to send home to all your little party guests.

America’s Heartland, a television proram showing the families in farming ranching and rural life, opened its fifth season on Sept. 9. “Broadcasts in high definition show how people across the nation work hard to earn a living in agriculture,” said Adrian Schulze of Blanco County Farm Bureau. “It is upbeat while informative and entertaining.” Reporters have traveled across the nation finding stories of history, topics of personal interest and health news.

Brett Sultemeier (left), son of Shelby and Becky Sultemeier of Cypress Mill, and Ross Sultemeier (right), son of Shannon and Cindi Sultemeier of Johnson City, each shot an 8 point buck on Saturday afternoon at their great-grandma’s ranch in Sandy during the youth weekend. Send us your hunting photots to jcnews@moment.net.

Texas Weather Finally November has arrived. We need to think about moving our plants back inside either our homes or our green houses or both. Why? The average first freeze in the Texas Hill Country is the 15th of November. As predicted we will be having a very cold and wet winter.

Master Gardeners of Blanco County will be hosting a program by Malcolm Beck on Tuesday, November 10th at 1:00 PM. The event is being held at the Blanco United Methodist Church in Blanco and is open to the public. If you enjoy vegetable gardening or just puttering around in your yard, Malcolm Beck has the answers to making life better.

Ever thought of going in to business growing grapes, peaches, tomatoes, watermelons, pecans or other horticultural crops? The Texas AgriLife Extension Service – Blanco County invites you to participate in a 2-part webinar series, focusing on Small Acreage Horticultural Crops Fruits, Pecans and Grapes November 18, 2009 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Vegetables Crops April 13, 2010 10:00 am - 12:00 pm The goal of these programs is to assist in identifying and evaluating diversification strategie ...

Gladys Virginia Cheshire Stubbs passed away Oct. 30, 2009. She was 89. Mrs. Stubbs was born on Aug. 12, 1920 in Keyser, WV to H.R. Cheshire and Blanche Boyce Cheshire. After high school she lived and worked in Washington D.C., Atlanta, GA., and Birmingham, AL. She moved to Texas in the early 1960’s, and married Blanco Co.

Another big Little project completed — this time an expanded children’s playground at First United Methodist Church in Johnson City. As the number of children in classes and programs at the church grew, and the MOMs group of mothers and pre-schoolers expanded beyond just members, the old playground was deemed too small.

On Sunday, November 8th, the First Christian Church of Johnson City is going to dedicate their newly remodeled sanctuary. The original building is 100 years old and has not undergone a major renovation in years. Since June, the congregation has been meeting in their fellowship hall while remodeling was underway.

The LBJ Middle School cross country teams competed in the District 27-2A cross country meet this past Wednesday, October 28 at Comfort High School. The Eagles came away earning 1 team medal, a silver and 4 individual medals. Topping the individual medalists was 7th grader Dalton Crofts who won the 7th grade boys division and is the 2009 district champion.

The Johnson City Eagles traveled to San Antonio last Friday night to play the Randolph Ro-Hawks. The Eagles were defeated by a score of 29 to 6. The Eagles score was made by Senior Cody Atwood when he ran the ball in from the 2 yard line, kick failed. Team stats: Quarterback Junior Cody Smith was 8 completions in 19 attempts, for 118 yards.

The LBJ High School cross country team competed in the District 27-2A meet this past Wednesday, October 28 at Comfort High School. Kelya Jureczki placed 3rd in the varsity girls division with a time of 13:51 over the 2 mile course. This result qualified her for the regional meet in San Antonio on Saturday, November 7.

During medical school, aspiring physicians are often taught the principle of primum non nocere, more commonly known as “first, do no harm.” It holds that, faced with a delicate medical situation, a doctor should survey whether intervention will actually cause more trauma than healing. Today, Congress is confronted with the critical task of reforming our nation’s health care.