High Points| from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real are patiently waiting on some sunshine to lift their spirits and dry things out. This has been one of the most dismal, wet winters that I can remember. All we can do is bury up in the mud like catfish and crawdads and wait until it’s over.
The newspaper office in Rusk moved down the road to the little strip center across from the auto parts store. I guess I’m the only relic still around from the old place. I’m not going anywhere as long as I can keep coming up with six bits worth of news.
Please continue to keep Jean and Judy Williams in your prayers. They are the couple that were brutally attacked and beaten in their yard on the evening of Saturday, February 23. Everyone I talk to that knows this couple tell me what sweet people they are. They are out of the hospital recovering at home, but the trauma of this event will haunt them for years to come.
It’s hard to believe such evil can happen so close to home, but it does make us more vigilant in watching out for our neighbors and what is going on around us.

Please keep these folks in your prayers until health and peace returns to their lives.
Spring Break is coming up next week for Alto and many of our area schools, but spring seems a long way off to me after that cold norther blew in on Sunday afternoon dropping our temperatures into the low twenties. It’s going to have to warm up a whole lot if you are planning a beach or lake vacation for Spring Break.
I guess all we can do is pray that it doesn’t rain. Being shut up in the house with all of the little darlings for a week might make you really appreciate teachers. Wherever you go and whatever you do, I hope you have a safe and restful Spring Break before you have to return to school for testing and all the other fun stuff that comes with the countdown to the end of the school year.
The Alto Mean Sting Music Machine headed to Galveston on Saturday to liven up things at the Galveston Mardi Gras Parade. The band did an outstanding job as always as they danced, marched, and played through the streets of Galveston. They do make us proud. Its just hard to believe that so much sound can come out of such a small little town.
It seems that I’m always writing about somebody’s birthday in the paper, but this time I’ve got three to write about that are very important to me. Our son Grant turned 27 years old on March 1 and our son Garrett turns 31 on March 15. Our two March boys have brought lots of joy into our lives and we have lots of birthday memories to remind us of all their wonderful birthday parties.
Now we have added another March birthday to our family. Our first grandchild, Sawyer Davis will be celebrating his very first birthday on March 8. I guess I never really knew how wide a smile could stretch my mouth until I had my first grandchild. Happy Birthday, boys! You are much loved.
I guess all the rivers and creeks being out over the bottoms has run the wild hogs to higher ground. Last Monday morning I looked out my window and the hogs had rooted up the yard all the way down my driveway. When I got dressed to go to work, and was leaving, I noticed some hogs in my hog trap in the field beside the house. I got my 22 and went down to take care of them before I headed to Rusk. When I got down to the trap I saw that I had caught nine hogs. They went to running every which a way in the pen and it was like trying to shoot beans in a boiling pot. I shot and cussed until I ran out of shells. One hog tried to get out and having no more shells I hit it in the head with piece of rebar to get it back in the pen.
My yard was rooted up, I had on my dress clothes and good shoes and I was mad. I went back up to the house and got my double barrel and a pocket full of buckshot and went back to my hog killing. When I finally got the job done, I threw my shotgun in the seat, straightened up my tie, and got back in the truck. This was when I noticed the litter crew on the edge of the highway right behind me. I guess they thought they had gotten let out in front of a crazy man’s house.
I figured I owed them some sort of explanation for my behavior, so I rolled the window down as I pulled out of the driveway, and told them I was sorry I was having a little hog problem. Not a one of them said a word. They just stood there with their mouths open as I waved and drove off. I guess I shouldn’t worry to much about what people think about the way I act. The buzzards love me.
It seems like I got a little long winded last week, so in the interest of saving trees and all of that green stuff we are supposed to be thinking about now, I’m going to wind this one up. If you have something that needs telling by all means give me a call and I’ll get it spread around. I’ll see ya next week!
And remember, Everything in your life is a result of a choice you have made. If you want a different result, make a different choice.