HIGH POINTS FROM EL CAMINO REAL
CHRIS DAVIS elcaminoreal@consolidated.net
Folks along El Camino Real are still recovering from the shock of an Easter snow. I've heard about Easter cold spells for as long as I can remember, but I never heard of an Easter snow until last Saturday. God is still in control and on the Easter of 2007 He reminded us of that fact. I didn't have any trouble coming up with four bits' worth of news amidst all the confusion.

We were sorry to hear of the passing of Lila Selman of the Central High Community. Services for Ms. Selman were held Easter Sunday afternoon. Please keep her friends and family in your prayers as they mourn her passing.

I'm supposed to keep up with things going on in town and I was sorry to find out so late that Ms. Jessie Ash had passed away. Ms. Ash was an important party of our town for many years and she will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Please keep her family and friends in your prayers.

Jerry Knott is out of the hospital and doing well. I don't think he had a heart attack at all and what he is having to get over now is all the tests that they ran. Doctors have to eat, same as carpenters, so we all have to go through some tests some time.

Jay and LeAnn Jones are stepping over the hill together on April 12. I guess marrying a woman with the same birthday as yours makes it easy not to forget. The couple is turning 40 and they can get through this milestone birthday together. They should be stepping over the hill with a few more pounds, because Jay's dad, Carlton Jones, cooked for the birthday celebration, and on Saturday night he fried fish. A big crowd showed up to help the couple celebrate their trip over the hill. You can't forget a 40th birthday in April with snow. Happy birthday to Jay and LeAnn Jones!

I ran into Polly Smith at the grocery store on Saturday and she told me that her daughter, Ronesha Smith, received her phlebotomy license from Angelina College in February and is working at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital in Nacogdoches. I'm pretty sure that phlebotomy has something to do with taking blood. It is always good to talk to my old classmate and I'm proud her daughters are doing so well. Congratulations to Ronesha on her new career!

Two of our young people from Alto who have moved on to college, Tory Pearman and O. T. Allen, will be starring in the play "The Glass Menagerie" at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville on April 12-15. O.T and Tory have leading roles in the play and now is your chance to go see what they have learned in college. Lon Morris College is known for its great performances ever since the days when the late Zula Holcomb Pearson directed the plays. If you have the opportunity, go see our Tory and O.T. in this production.

When I started hearing weather reports on Thursday about the coming cold spell, I thought that the weather people were exaggerating. We had already been running our air conditioner, the cattle egrets have already come back for the summer, and the pecan trees had bloomed, all the signs of spring were in place. When the cold spell hit on Friday evening, I figured that we might get by without a frost, so I didn't worry too much about covering up all my tomato plants. On Saturday morning when the snow began to fall, I panicked. How in the world was I going to cover up all of those tomatoes? With the help of all my boys, I finally accomplished the task, all the time I was thinking about what my late neighbor Virgil Schochler would have done in case of an April snow. I'm sure he would have had some real smart things to say about our predicament. I was totally in favor of global warming on Saturday when the snow started falling. Even though the snow came down in huge flakes and began to accumulate on the ground, covering the entire garden in a blanket of white, the temperature never got below freezing at our house. On Easter morning I went outside to survey the damage and I only lost part of one tomato plant. I think my youngest son, Creager, stepped on it while we were covering them up. The only problem that I had was the dry ground. When I covered my rows with the insulated tarps, I kept all the moisture from the melting snow from getting to my plants. Now there is no telling when we'll get another rain or snow. After all the work and worry, Carlton Jones told me that the snow wouldn't hurt the plants as long as it didn't freeze. Where was he before I went to all the trouble to cover the stuff?

The whole ordeal threw my mother-in-law into a tizzy; she had to completely change her Easter dinner menu. She said that nobody was going to want peas as cold as it was, so she cooked Christmas food. I wanted the peas, but my opinion didn't count.

The real victims in the April snow were all the girls who were heading out to the Alto Junior-Senior Prom on Saturday night in their strapless and spaghetti strap prom dresses. Snow is even colder on a bare back. I'm glad men can just wear suits on days like Sunday. Our April snow will probably be one for the record books, but I would just as soon forget it. Gardening is stressful enough without any weird stuff happening.

I'm down to my last few sticks of firewood too. I guess I'll save the rest in case we have a Christmas in July. Keep me informed on good things happening around your place and I'll spread the news around.

I'll see ya next week! And remember, A man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame.