HIGH POINTS FROM EL CAMINO REAL
CHRIS DAVIS elcaminoreal@consolidated.net
Folks along El Camino Real don't have much to talk about besides the weather. Most of us were looking for another dry summer like we had last year, and here it is the middle of July and it's still raining. My lawn mower is going to be smooth worn out before this summer's mowing is done. People aren't letting the rain storms slow them down and lots of people are just enjoying the cooler temperatures that have been coming with the rain. I managed to dip out another four bits' worth of news floating down El Camino Real for this week.

We are saddened at the of loss one of our longtime citizens and characters last week. Jimmie Magruder passed away on the fourth of July after a short illness. Jimmie has had some pretty close calls over the past several years with his heart and other ailments, but Jimmie always seemed to pull through when anybody else wouldn't. Jimmie worked for the county, he drove a school bus, and he was a mechanic. You could find Jimmie at the café or you'd run into him just visiting around downtown. Everybody knew Jimmie. I remember watching Jimmie at the skating rink in town when I was just a kid. He could skate better than anybody I'd ever seen. Jimmie was one of our regulars around town and he will be missed in our town. Please keep his wife Bonnie, his children Paulette and Jamie, and all the rest of his family and friends in your prayers as they mourn his passing.

Blake Bailey made his official trip over the hill on July 2. Blake is now 40 years old. His wife Christy treated him with a surprise birthday party on June 30. Lots of friends were on hand to eat barbecue and help make Blake's trip over the hill a little bit easier. Happy birthday, Blake!

David Petty, who ran our locksmith shop here for a while, called to tell me about the Pineywoods Association of Treasure Hunters that meets on the third Monday of every month at the Norman Activity Center in Jacksonville. The group meets at 7:30 p.m. The club is for people who enjoy using metal detectors to find old coins and other buried objects. I tried my hand at that one time and all I found was beer tops and old nails. I guess I should have gone to one of these clubs and learned how to do it before I started. If you would like to attend one of their meetings just show up - there is no cost. It sounds like a fun hobby to me, and I bet it's cheaper than deer hunting or fishing.

On June 26 a lady stopped at Bob and Mae Gean Pettit's house to tell them their cow was out on El Camino Real. With some help from a truck driver who blocked the road they were able to get their cow back behind the fence. They just wanted to thank the nameless friends who helped them out that day. Traffic on SH 21 El Camino Real moves a lot faster now than it did back in the1800s. Armadillos and cows don't stand much of a chance once they get on the pavement. A big thanks to passing strangers who lent a hand.

The 110 th Annual Holcomb Reunion is going on this weekend at The Cold Springs Methodist Church just west of Alto. As usual the Holcombs have planned another big one in anticipation of the annual kin gathering. Holcomb relatives will be pouring in from all across the state to see their kin and find out what has been going on over the past year. The reunion was or- ganized in 1897 so that the descendants of two brothers, Joseph and Zachariah Holcomb who came to Texas in the 1830s, would not lose touch with their kin. There is a lot to be said for a family of people who think enough of their roots to keep a tradition like this going for 110 years. Families and friends will gather on Saturday evening for supper and lots of visiting. On Sunday morning there will be a memorial service in the church starting at eleven followed by a big lunch under the pavilion. If you are a part of this family then you know where you are supposed to be this weekend. If you married into this family you know where you have to be.

The torrential downpours on Thursday and Friday of last week finally did the garden in. The tomatoes busted wide open and the peas laid down ever which way. I was tired of picking stuff anyway and it is fixin' to get hot. The deep freeze is full of peas and tomatoes and if we have any kind of luck during hunting season, I'm going to need some more room. I talked to Jay Jones and he said that they had lots of stuff growing, but it was too wet to get in the field and pick like they need to. Tanner Jones was on the corner selling watermelons this weekend, so I had to stop by and give him a hard time. I sat on that corner and sold watermelons for his grandpa Carlton Jones. They were $2 back then and a real big one was $3. They are $6 now. I bet Carlton isn't paying his help any better than his Grandpa Tanner. I think I'll take the two for $10 deal next week and see how sweet those melons really are.

Ms. Bessie Parker and her girls came by the house on Saturday to get a mess of peas. G.W. "Dad" Parker didn't come with them. When you start talking about picking peas he becomes a medical miracle. He has more ailments then anybody I've ever heard of walking around above ground. Don't worry about him - he'll perk back up as quick as those peas are sitting on the table next to a pan of cornbread. Dad jacked up the price of a watermelon a dollar after I had paid him $6 and picked it up and he said that I had a $7 melon. I still owe him that dollar and I believe he is stingy enough to come collect it. I told Ms. Bessie to feed him a dollar's worth of my peas and we would be even. Dad Parker and Virgil Schochler are the only two men I know who could squeeze a dollar 'til they made George Washington holler.

I guess this just about winds it up for this issue. If you have something going on around your place that needs telling, please let me know. I'll see ya next week! And remember, Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip!