HIGH POINTS FROM EL CAMINO REAL
A touch of Spring seems to be in the air along El Camino Real after the bitterly cold weather we received last week. The weekend warmed up enough to get area folks stirring a little and it looked like folks were dusting off their bass boats and heading to our lakes that have had a much needed rise in their water levels. I didn't get to go fishing but I did use the warmer weather to do some outside cleaning that had been put off for most of the winter. The nice weather made it a lot harder to drag myself indoors and hammer out your four bits' worth of news.

CHRIS DAVIS elcaminoreal@consolidated.net

Ronnie Lucas is recovering from some major surgery that he had last week. His mother-in-law, Laverne Grogan, told me that he came through the surgery fine and his prognosis is very good. Hopefully he will be back at work at the Cherokee County Electric Co-op before we need him to get the lights back on after a storm. Get well soon, Ronnie!

One-year-old Cayden West is in Herman Hospital in Houston undergoing some tests for a possible cyst they found in his brain. He had a fall last week and the doctors in Nacogdoches discovered the cyst when they were checking him out from the fall. Tests in a hospital are bad enough on an adult and even more difficult for a child to understand. Cayden is a precious little boy and I'm figuring he will be just fine. He is taking it in strides except for when they won't let him eat. Please keep Cayden and his mom and dad, Jake and Adria West, in your prayers during this stressful time. Cayden's maternal grandmother,

Glenda Pierce, is a few blocks down in St. Luke's hospital undergoing a procedure on her heart. Joe Pierce, Cayden's greatgrandfather is still at home recovering from his truck accident. They say the Lord doesn't put more on you than you can stand, but I believe this family is getting pretty close to having enough. Keep all of them in your prayers as they get through these tough times.

President's Day was Monday and my nephew

Adam Davis celebrated his 13th birthday. I can't imagine that Adam is already a teenager. Teenagers are a lot of fun if they are living in someone else's house. Happy birthday, Adam!

Area boys and girls are digging to the bottoms of their closets and toy boxes looking for their baseball gloves and bats in preparation for the upcoming youth baseball season. Alto Youth Baseball/ Softball sign-ups and try-outs will be held March 3 at the Youth Baseball/Softball Complex beginning at 9 a.m. T-Ball sign-ups and try-outs will be held at this time also. Sign-up forms will be passed out at the schools beginning Feb. 19. The cost per child for the summer 2007 season is $45. For more information contact Jay Jones at (936) 635-1919. We are looking forward to another great year, so get out your lawn chairs and get ready to cheer on our area youth.

The saga of the new hog hunting team of Billy Ray Johnson and my dad, Larry Davis, continues as the pair keep their trap out for a few more weeks. The hogs alluded them last week by getting tangled up in the trip wire and pulling the trap door all the way open instead of closing it behind them. The hog hunting pair learned a valuable lesson on their first catch. They shot a hog in the back of the trap and neither one of them was small enough to crawl up in the trap and get the hog out. They had to tilt the trap up on its end and pour the hog out. It looks to me like they ought to be growing lettuce or broccoli instead of catching hogs to eat. They caught four little hogs last week and Billy Ray took them home and put them in a pen. My dad said that he figures Billy Ray will say the hogs got out of the pen and ran away when it comes time for him to get his part of the meat. At least my dad is learning something about being in the hog business with Billy Ray.

I had to go to Austin last week for work and as usual everything went haywire at home while I was gone. I should have expected trouble when the temperature began to dip on Tuesday night. About the time I sat down for supper in Austin my cell phone rang. My wife was on the other end and started telling me their troubles. My middle son, Grant, had tried to build a fire in the wood heater and the house started filling up with smoke. He turned on the ceiling fan full blast and it started wobbling until it slung off an arm and blade. I instructed the wife to open the damper on the wood heater and turn off the ceiling fan. She got mad and said that I was trying to act like they were stupid. I wasn't the one who built a fire with closed dampers. The boys have been throwing footballs in the den for years and she knows it, but I wasn't the one who turned a ceiling fan on full blast that had been hit with more footballs than Terrell Owens. The motherin law went over to the house the next night for Valentine's and she complained about it being cold in the house and she couldn't believe that I was gone for Valentine's Day. She is always a big help to me. I wonder who keeps the fire going under the cauldron she is always stirring? I made it home in time Thursday to build a fire before the big cold spell hit on Thursday night.

I guess I've hit all the high spots for this week. I'm hoping that we will be loaded down with good news by the next issue. If something is going on around your place that needs telling give me a call or drop me a line. I'll see ya next week! And remember, Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.