HIGH POINTS FROM EL CAMINO REAL
CHRIS DAVIS elcaminoreal@consolidated.net
We haven't had a good dose of stifling hot East Texas weather all summer. Folks along El Camino Real are in a pleasant state of shock over our mild and wet summer weather. If global warming means cooler East Texas summers, then I might be all for it. I just wish that I knew what kind of winter we have in store for us, so I would know how much firewood I need to get cut and stacked. I might not know how many cords of wood I need for the winter, but I do know how much news it takes to make four bits worth, so don't worry about me cutting you short.

Danny Landrum is retiring from the Union Pacific Railroad after 37 years of working on the railroad. His wife Judy retired in May after working in the public schools for many years. The couple plan to spend their retirement days playing with grand-babies and traveling. Danny and Judy's son Heath is still working for the railroad and he has a long way to go before he has been there 37 years. Congratulations and best wishes on a relaxing future for Danny and Judy Landrum.

David l Chan of Alto shows off a mystery vetgetable in his garden. The plant is native of Cambodia, and Mr. Chan does not know the Cambodian to English translation.

Brenda Kay Lindsey called last week from somewhere up north. I don't remember where she said it was, but it was a long ways from here. She is working hard to get a class reunion together for the class of 1976. The reunion will take place Sept. 15 and plans are being made for a great get together. She has had some problems locating a few members of their graduating class, so I agreed to help her find them. She still hasn't found Jerry Hamilton, Michael Johnson, Donny Schaefer, Debbie Hammons, Shirley Harrison, or Mark Hanes. If you know how to get in touch with them, give Brenda Kay a call at (215) 712-0316 or tell me and I'll get word to her. The class of 1976 was two years ahead of me, and I still remember most of them, and they were a pretty fun bunch, so this reunion ought to be a good one if the years haven't slowed them down too much.

I ran into Judy Johnson at the post office on Sunday and she told me about a trip that they made to the National Beefmaster Show and Convention in Brenham. That is the home to Bluebell Ice Cream, if you thought you'd heard that name before. Anyway, she and Tony Ray and their son Ben went down there so Ben could show his Beefmaster cow and calf. Ben won a third place ribbon and Judy was really proud - something to go in Ben's scrapbook always makes her proud. She has been working on those scrapbooks for as long as I can remember and she sure has made some fancy ones. I figure some mean daughter-inlaw will wind up with those scrapbooks one of these days. I know that Randy and Paula Low were down there with their son, Lance. I don't know how many cows he had, but he always brings home some kind of award. Mandy and Terry Black had their son Trey at the show with his heifer. Lots of hard work goes into training and preparing these animals for the shows and it takes some pretty dedicated young people and parents to participate. Congratulations to our Beefmaster team that represented Alto well at the home of Blue Bell. I wish someone would turn me loose in that Blue Bell Factory for two hours with a big spoon.

Pam Black called to tell me about the Alto Trailriders Club's big weekend starting this Friday night. The club will have a fish fry at the S & J Ranch north of Alto on Friday night. On Saturday they will gather for the trail ride and probably head out around four p.m . She has told me wrong before, so you better check before you go. The Alto Trailriders Club was started in 1996 by the late G. L. Skinner and Tyrone Johnson. Hopefully the weather will be dry and cool for the upcoming weekend. Pam's son T.D. Black is having his 16th birthday on Aug. 4. B. J. Johnson is celebrating his birthday on Aug. 3, and Jada Johnson is having a birthday on Aug. 8. Happy birthday to all these folks.

David Chan, the donut man, invited me over to his house on Sunday afternoon to look at some kind of Cam- bodian melon or cucumber or something that he is growing in his backyard. He has been telling me about these things and how good they are to eat, but he doesn't know what they call them in English. The leaves and blooms look like a cucumber vine, but the fruit is much bigger and longer with dark green and a lighter green stripes running from end to end. David said that they smell really good when you cut them open and they eat them with a little sugar water poured over them. The fruit is a light yellow color. David's eight-yearold daughter Kalyn said I should just call it a giant sweet cucumber. If those things are cucumbers then we are going to need some really big jars for the pickles. They have promised to call me when the first one gets ripe and they cut it so I can be there for a sample. David told me that he is going to save some seeds so I can grow some in my garden next year. Word of my great gardening abilities is even spreading through the Asian community. I told David that I couldn't sell them if I didn't know what to call them. He said that I could sell them at the Asian market. I told him that we didn't have but five Asians in Alto and I didn't see a big future in sitting next to the folks with the watermelons at the red light waiting for some Asians to drive through. He said that he meant the Asian market in Houston. I don't know when the things will be ripe. I don't know if you thump them to see or give them a karate chop. I'll get back with you as soon as I have tasted the "melon with no name."

I was going to give my friend Marie Whitehead some wiggle room on the page this week, but there is just so much going on in Alto that I couldn't stop. It is a good thing we know just about everybody in Alto and Rusk or we wouldn't have anything to write about. I'm glad we aren't writing for a Houston or Dallas newspaper. We'd play the devil trying to keep up with all of those folks.

I'll see ya next week! And remember, Education is what survives after what has been learned has been forgotten.