HIGH POINTS FROM EL CAMINO REAL
Folks along El Camino Real who had big plans for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend got a big rain out. Fortunately the weather didn't get as bad as the weather men kept saying it was going to be. Ice storms aren't any fun for anybody. When the power is out for a few days, we quickly remember how dependent we are on electricity. My boys would have run me completely crazy with no football games to watch or video games to play. Not to mention the wife asking me when the lights are going to come back on every few minutes. Your four bits' worth of news does come in handy in the event of an ice storm. You can read the paper over and over in the daylight and when it gets really cold, you can wad it up and start a fire in your fireplace with it.

CHRIS DAVIS elcaminoreal@consolidated.net

Sonny Skeeters had surgery Jan. 5 and had a titanium disc put in his neck to replace a damaged one. His neck is sore, but it shouldn't effect his redneck ways. He has to wear a collar for a while, but as of press time his wife, Charlotte still hadn't tried it with the leash. Sonny is going to be laid up for about four to six weeks, so I imagine she'll be needing it to make him be still for that long. Keep Sonny in your prayers as he recuperates.

Julian Willis, the young man who led Alto to a state championship win as quarterback for the Alto Yellowjacket football team, has had a turn of bad luck. Julian broke his ankle last week playing basketball. I'm sure glad he didn't do that during football season. He is doing fine, but it takes a little time for broken bones to heal. It looks like he is going to have some cast signing in his future as well as all the autographs. Get well soon, Julian!

Joe Pierce is recovering slowly but surely at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler after his bad truck wreck. The word is he may be moved into a rehab unit before too much longer. He still has a ways to go. Get well soon, Joe!

John and Kimberly Griffith's daughter, Presley celebrated her fourth birthday on Saturday with a Supergirl birthday party. Presley is a precious little girl who will be turning four on Jan. 22. She had to celebrate her birthday a little early because of all the livestock shows her daddy has to attend as our agriculture teacher. There are some busy days ahead for John with all the projects and animals that will be entered in contests across the state. This weekend is the big heifer show in Fort Worth. About nine folks from Alto will have entries in the show. The calf scramble at the show will have four Alto girls and two Alto boys scrambling for calves. Happy birthday, Presley, and good luck to John on this year's livestock show season.

I ran into Bodie Cruseturner the other day at Austin Young State Farm in Rusk and he was wondering how many people from his graduating class at Alto High School were still alive and kicking. Bodie is either 93 or 94 and he graduated in 1932. If you know anyone who graduated in 1932 who is still around, drop me a line or give me a call at (936)858-3651. I imagine that this would be of interest to a lot of folks. That would be 75 years ago if you're counting. It's a shame Bodie had to wait 75 years after his graduation to see Alto win a state championship in football.

It is funny how the threat of ice storms always come just a couple of weeks into the New Year. We all rush to the grocery store to stock up on food just in case we are iced in. We buy things that we don't even need just to be prepared, then we can't go outside because of the rain, so we just sit in the house and eat. All the hopes of keeping our New Year's resolution to lose weight are out the window with the first good cold snap. It just doesn't seem fair.

I love to cook big pots of soup, so the first thing I did when they warned about the weather this past weekend was run to the store and buy all the ingredients to cook for the weather ahead. I wound up eating soup all weekend and it never got that cold. The only exercise I got was carrying soup out to the mother-in-law. My soup is one of the few things that she doesn't complain about. I guess I didn't give up my New Year's resolution completely since I didn't make any Mexican cornbread to go with the soup. I think the next time the weather man cries wolf, I'm going to cook chili. It is funny how different kinds of weather make you hungry for certain foods. The people at the grocery store told me that they probably sell more ice cream in the winter time than the summer. I didn't even know there was a season when ice cream wasn't on the menu.

Fortunately winter probably won't hang on very long. In less than a month it will be time to plant potatoes. Everyone knows that you're supposed to have your potatoes planted by Feb. 14. When we get a warm day or two you better start thinking about getting your garden cleaned up and broken if you want to meet the potato deadline. I never do. I learned a long time ago that in East Texas the fire ants like the potatoes better than I do. Digging potatoes is bad enough on your back without adding stinging fire ants to the work. I have started working on getting the garden ready, but ever so slowly.

I guess this is about all the news I have for a boring January. Hopefully some good news will be coming your way that needs telling by the next issue. I'll see ya next week! And remember, Cherish your children for what they are, not for what you'd like them to be.