High points from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real are trying to get used to mud again after the long dry summer we had. Things are beginning to get a little soggy around here, but the creeks and lakes aren’t filling up much yet. The ground is pretty soaked by now, so if we get one of those good frog stranglers in the next few weeks maybe the creeks and lakes will rise. I’m not a weather man and I don’t need to tell you what you already know, so I’ll get on with what you paid your six bits to find out

My heart broke late Thursday night when I got the call telling me about the tragic death of little Asher Peacock in an accident. He was not quite three years old. Asher lived across the road from us and on pretty days I could hear him playing in his yard. I can’t imagine what his parents, Austin and Emily, are going through right now and all any of us can do is pray that the good Lord gets them through it. It doesn’t seem like it was anytime ago when Austin was that little boy playing in that yard. It hurts to see good people hurt so much.

Ronnie David Arnold passed away on April 12, 2018 in Sugar Land, Texas. He was preceded in death by his mother and father Gertrude and Vaughn Arnold, brother Vaughn Henry Arnold, and step mother Verna Lee Townley Arnold. He is survived by his wife, Mary, son, Todd and Wife , Brandy, daughter, Staci, and four grandchildren, and his sisters June Jones, Sharla Carver and her husband Don, and numerous nieces and nephews. Family and friends will gather at the Arnold Cemetery on FM 1911, Saturday, Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. for a graveside service. The Rev. Marty Vershel of the First United Methodist Church of Missouri City will officiate.

Verdie Harrison aka Mamma Verdie celebrated her 87th birthday on Sunday, Sept. 30. Mama Verdie has been traveling around with the Mean Sting Music Machine for lots of years and is the best band mother any high school band could ever hope for. Even at 87, she is still working hard for her New Hope Baptist Church, the Alto Mean Sting Music Machine, and for our community. She is much loved in Alto and I want to wish her a very special happy birthday!

I’ve been writing about Marie Thomas for a lot of years in my column because Marie is a great source of information about old Alto when I need it. Marie has been around a long time and on Oct 2, she marked another milestone in her life. She turned 98 years old. Marie is having a birthday party on Oct. 6 with her family and friends. She lives in Nacogdoches now, but I still keep up with her through her niece Judy Johnson. Judy has always been good about spreading the word if anybody needed to know anything and sometimes even if nobody needed to know. Happy birthday, Marie! We love you!

I know that I left some of you hanging last week when I didn’t write my column, but I was tied up tying the knot on two of my favorite people. On Sept. 23, Amanda Dover of Maydelle, married Hayden Scott of Alto at the A. Frank Smith United Methodist Church. It was a beautiful wedding complete with a church house full of folks to wish this couple the best on their new life together. Congratulations to Hayden and Amanda!

Jared and Kelsey Moore have a new beautiful new baby girl at their house that I am some late reporting on. McKenna Ann Moore was born on Aug. 27 and weighed 7 lbs 11 ounces. I know they are proud of her. McKenna’s aunt, Beverly Milner, sent me the information about the baby this week, so I appreciate the help in getting me caught up. Congratulations to the Moore family on their new baby girl.

Justin and Jordyn Scott have a new baby girl who was born on Sept. 24, in Bryan/College Station. Ella Rose Scott was welcomed into the world by her three sisters and brother. This makes 13 grandchildren for Kim and Mindy Scott. Justin and Jordyn came to Alto for the wedding of Justin’s baby brother Hayden and then drove straight back to the hospital in College Station to have the baby. Leaving a wedding and going home to have your fourth girl must be a little unnerving when you start thinking about what four weddings are going to cost. They have five sweet kids. I was around Justin the whole time he was growing up and don’t ever remember him being that sweet. Jordyn must be doing a great job. Congratulations to the Scott family on another beautiful addition to their family.

I hate to bring up the Army worms again, but they are still hanging around. In fact in some places I don’t know if they haven’t gotten worse. Last week I decided the army worms might even be worse than the wild hogs, so when I caught four hogs in a trap in the edge of my pasture, I decided to do a little experiment. I had some old cans of John Deere Green spray paint and I painted all those hogs green and opened the gate on the trap. The hogs headed across the pasture running as fast as they could, by the time they got to a pine thicket on the other side there wasn’t nothing left of them hogs but skeletons. The army worms had eaten them plumb up before they could get to the other side. The grasshoppers that are left around here are so poor you can’t even stick a fish hook through them without tearing them in two. Well I might be exaggerating a little bit, but not much.

I did decide to go ahead and take my chances on getting my tender green patch planted for the winter even if I do have to keep the army worms fought off of them.
There isn’t anything better than a big pot of greens, a pan of cornbread, and a bottle of pepper sauce when the weather starts getting cool. A pot of greens is especially good when you get tired of eating all that Thanksgiving and Christmas food. I may plant some collard greens just in case the army worms eat up my tender greens. I would personally just as soon eat oak leaves as collards, but if you don’t have anything else, they’ll do. Whatever kind of greens you cook, you better look ’em over and wash ’em good because those army worms are going to be so fat they may not float to the top when you cook’ em.

I guess I’ve covered just about everything that needs telling for now. If you have something going on that everyone needs to know about then give me a call. I’ll see ya next week! And remember, There are two kinds of people in the world: Giver and Takers. The Takers may eat better, but the Givers sleep better.