Columns

Happy Thanksgiving! Texas Weather Well here it is the first of November and we have already had a couple of freezes here in the Hill Country. Those first freezes are about three weeks earlier than the average first freeze date of November 15th in the Hill Country. This just supports Bob Rose’s prediction of a chilling Winter, now if we could just start getting that moisture that we need so badly. Naturally the weather rebounded from earlier freezes back into the 80’s so all the vegetation is saying “Ah yes we are in Texas”. Some Bright Spots In spite of the drought, we still are experiencing some beautiful Fall colors with the Cedar Elms, Texas Sumacs, Native Walnuts and all the fruit trees to name only a few.

Halloween was a lot of fun for us. We dressed up and played our parts and had a fantastic lunch. The turn out for the luncheon was really great. Costumes winners were Dorothy Turner - First Place as a witch, Jimmie Young - Second Place as a farmer’s wife, and Bill Stokes - Third Place as a beauty queen.

Decorating with quilts can be fun and historic. You can easily use quilts for decorating your walls. Framing miniature quilts or vintage fabric in old frames will give your home a variety of colors. If you have old quilts from your mother or grandmother, this will add warmth to your home and a great topic of conversation.

Starting Weight: 288.6 This Weeks Weight: 259.6 Down 29 pounds Time Spent: 18 Weeks Next Goal: 40 Pounds On Saturday, my wife and I decided to go on an adventure. With the weather fully cooperating we made the trek through Fredericksburg to Enchanted Rock for the first time. Upon our arrival, the pink granite boulder could be seen towering over the Hill Country – with multi colored ants crawling all over it. Once we were at the park we had to decide which trail we wanted to take; the 4-mile loop or the steep 0.6-mile summit trail.

“The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley” and apparently my plans can and did go haywire as well. Just last week you read about my impending cataract surgery, never giving thought about it not happening. What could go wrong? Little did I know that other than the doctor’s early demise that there were things of a mechanical sort that might go awry.

• Do you know about the Veterans parade for Blanco County in Blanco? JC & Blanco bands are participating. It will be held on Saturday, November 8 at 10 a.m. Over 50 entries have signed up so far. Contact person is Carolyn Moore 833-4671 *****Beverly and Bill Voron enjoyed a wonderful trip to see Bill’s brother and family in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Things are still happening here. Our deer and turkeys still do their daily visits with us. This is an unbelievable sight. Wow, woke up this morning and talk about cool weather, it is cool and a change for all of us. It is sort of nice to have a change of weather, however, we still need rain. Do not forget the Texas Department of State Health Services providing FLU vaccinations at the United Methodist Church Activity Center @ 105 N LBJ Drive, Johnson City, Texas on November 7th, 2008 from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm.

I used to get my eyes checked in Fredericksburg by one of the chain type optometrist there. I had been perfectly satisfied with the service I got there but one unusual visit made me think that just maybe they had too many bells and whistles in their office. What used to be a routine eye exam where you look through some gadget that the doctor pushed up to your eyes and you’d try to read the letters in varying degrees of fuzziness turned out to be about 30 minutes of the most unusual machines to test eyes I have ever used.

Well, as usual, there is so much going on that we missed the Houston Quilt Show again. If you have the opportunity to go, you really should go and see what all the fuss is about. It is a wonderful exhibit of beautiful quilts from all over the world.

• Bob and Maureen Johnson recently had a special trip with their son Bobby and grandson Connor. They spent awhile in Corpus Christi and visited the USS Lexington. You see, Bob served on the Lexington from 1961 through 1965 as a Radio Mechanic 3rd Class in the US Navy. When they signed in on the ship, Maureen told them about Bob’s service on the Lexington.