High points from El Camino Real

Lots of prayers were answered for folks along El Camino Real as rains fell steady off and on ever since the Fourth of July. Some people got more rain than others, but everyone was thankful for every drop they got. I don’t think anyone will be more thankful than the cows will be this winter. There has been a good amount of stuff going on that needs telling, and for the most part its all good news, so that makes your six bits worth even better.
Sandy Wallace called me on Friday evening to let me know that she and Freddy were officially Great Grandparents. Amy and Steve Clugstons’ daughter Callie and her husband Taylor Guinn had twin boys on July 6 in Houston. They had the twins a little early because one of the boys was getting a lot bigger than the other one.
Graham weighed 6 lbs 2 ozs and Grayson weighed 3 lbs 12 ozs. I’m sure there is some medical term for why one twin gets fat while the other is smaller, but its no mystery to anybody that has ever tried to get ahead of Freddy Wallace at a church dinner. Graham obviously knew his way around an umbilical cord like Freddy does a covered dish lunch, so I think he takes more after the Wallace side. Both babies are progressing well and will hopefully get to come home in about a week or so. Congratulations to Callie and Taylor and the Guinn twins.
A big congratulations to all the kids that are going to be going to state in the different baseball and softball leagues over the next couple of weeks. There are going to be some really hot and exciting games being played around the state. Now might be the time to invest in a better lawn chair and some extra strength sun screen. All three of Paul and Laurie Goulds children made it on three different state teams, so I’m wondering how that will go if you have to be in three different places at one time. A big congratulations to all the young people that worked so hard throughout the season to get to this point.
The 121st Annual Holcomb Family Reunion is this weekend, on Sunday, July 15 in the Cold Springs Community just west of Alto. Holcomb family members 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 organized in 1897, so that the descendants of two brothers, Joseph and Zachariah Holcomb who came to Texas in the 1830’s 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 121 years. On Sunday a service will be held in the Cold Springs Methodist Church followed by lunch under the pavilion. The Holcomb Reunion has become an East Texas tradition that I’m proud to be a part of. If you are a part of the Holcomb family then I don’t have to tell you where you belong this weekend.
Jay Anna and I got to have our grandson Sawyer spend the night with us for the first time on Saturday and it was absolutely wonderful. I spent most of my time rocking on the front porch or swinging on the side porch and wondering how I ever made it this long without a grandchild. I think I’m really going to enjoy becoming the best grandfather ever.
I told y’all last week that I was sick of picking peas and tomatoes and then on Saturday morning before the grand baby arrived I picked four five gallon buckets full of tomatoes and ran them all through a juicer. My daddy and my Aunt Joan came over to boss me while I was doing it, but they finally left, so I could do it like I wanted to.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with over five gallons of tomato juice, but I guess I’ll think of something. If we have a cold winter I’ll have plenty of makin’s for soup. The recent rains may have been too late for some folks, but I think a good many will be able to make a pea crop now. I wonder how many of our problems today could have already been solved if families still sat in circles in the their yards and shelled peas together. It seems like families with purple fingers are always the closest families. Farming is about more than just eating, it’s a way of life.
If you have some news that needs telling then be sure and let me know about it. News is hard to find when no one is stirring and the only thing anyone has heard is the hum of their air conditioners. I’ve never heard the sound of angels singing, but they couldn’t sound any sweeter than a Friedrich Air Conditioner on a hot Texas afternoon.
I’ll see ya next week! And remember, Little compromises can become big mistakes.