High points from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real are continuing to stay hunkered down by their air conditioners as we enter the first week of August. Most of the grass is dead from the heat and lack of rain, so there isn’t much mowing to be done.
If someone drives by and sees a few bahia grass heads sticking up out of my yard, I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over it. It might not get mowed again until its time to chop up the leaves in the fall. I can’t lay your six bits worth of news by like I can my garden and my yard, so I guess I better get to it.
Wayne Pegues got his heart out of rhythm last week and wound up staying in the hospital a few days for tests. They are trying to figure out what to do, so hopefully he will be straightened out before long. Please keep Wayne in your prayers until he gets his rhythm back. If he can survive riding El Camino Real on a bicycle everyday for years without getting run over, then this little heart thing ought to be a breeze. Get well soon, Wayne!
One of the sweetest ladies I have had the pleasure of knowing in my life, Barbara Grogan is under Hospice care in Lufkin. Barbara’s health has been failing for a couple of years. Barbara passed away Monday. Please keep her husband Dwayn, their children Brian, Laci, Leisha, and all the rest of the family in your prayers during this difficult time.
My Grandfather’s sister Mearl Davis Scott came up to Alto on Saturday to celebrate her 96th birthday with a big fish fry with her grandchildren, nieces and nephews. I hope I’m in as good of health as she is if I ever reach 96. She asked me if I was still working at the courthouse and I told her I was. She said that her daddy, my great-grandfather, worked cutting out the stone blocks that the courthouse was built with and she even told me the general location of where it was.
I had never heard that story before, so now I guess I’ll think about him now every time I’m looking at those walls. It was sure great to see so many of my kin folks that I haven’t seen in a long time. As soon as I got through with that birthday party we headed up to the Legacy in Jacksonville to help celebrate Herbert Davis’ 90th birthday. I’m not kin to Herbert, but I kind of wished I was after I heard so many people there get up and tell what a fine fellow and a good Agriculture Teacher he was. Herbert was an Ag teacher in Cayuga and many of his former students from there drove over to honor him and tell what a great influence he was on their lives. Herbert and his wife Martha live in New Summerfield. Happy Birthday to Herbert Davis!
The Dog Days of Summer are upon us. These are the hot sultry days of summer that we all dread every year. The ancient Greeks and Romans connected these days with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, and bad luck. I think we’ve had it all but the thunderstorms and mad dogs. However I did get in a mess the other night that had me thinking about rabies, screaming like a girl, running faster than a fat boy is supposed to. I forgot to close the door on my chicken pen, so I got my big light and headed outside to the pen. I was shining the light straight down on the ground and walking slow to make sure Mister Wiggle Tail wasn’t coiled up somewhere. When I got to the pen I turned the light on the door so I could see to latch it. When I did I heard a strange chattering sound at my feet behind me. I turned the light to see what it was and I was standing in the middle of seven skunks with their tails sticking straight up. This is when the screaming and running started.
If there were any women within earshot of my house, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the words that were coming out of my mouth. The seriousness of the situation didn’t strike me until later after I had calmed down. If I had gotten sprayed then I couldn’t have gone in the house and would have had to sleep outside in the heat and mosquitoes. They say that skunks are big carriers of rabies and if my wife got bit I don’t think I could live with her. Come to think of it maybe she has already been bit. If I shoot the skunks they’ll stink, if I trap’em they’ll stink and I might get bit, so I don’t really know the answer to my problem. They say that Hydrophobia( fear of water) is some bad stuff. I got a dose of Hydrobillaphobia the other day when I got my water bill and liked to died over that. The dog days of summer sure aren’t starting out good for me.
I wish I knew some more wonderful words of wisdom that I could pass onto you, but this is just about all I could scrape up for one week. Football practice is going to be starting up in a week or so and the band has already started practicing, so fall should be just around the corner. We are going to make it through this hot weather, we always do. I’ll see ya next week!
And remember, The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.