High points from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real can rest easy knowing that they will have a big head start on Christmas this year. I went to Tyler with my wife on Sunday, so she could buy some comfortable shoes. I don’t know why anybody would intentionally buy uncomfortable shoes, but after 36 years of marriage I know not to go there.
Everything is already out for Christmas in all the stores. We have totally skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving. Maybe somebody will get a Halloween bonus so they can start shopping early. I don’t think so. We’ve got a couple of months before the fat man comes, so this fat man is going to try and keep the seasons in order in this six bit worth of news.
Marjorie Warner moved to Durango, Colorado on Saturday and it was sure hard to say good bye. She has been a big part of our little town since she and Bill moved here and bought Boyds Drugstore 1964. She has been a part of 55 years of great memories for us here in Alto and we are keeping those here with us.

She has a beautiful new home just a block or two from her daughter Martha and her husband Fred Elbert and her grandsons. Don’t worry, she will be coming back for visits and I’m sure folks from here will be going up there to see her. Norma Jones says she can’t fly on an airplane. I’d like to see her try to fly without one. I know Jay Anna and I are going to make the trip when its summertime and too hot to stay in Texas.
I wish somebody we loved would move to the Caribbean, so we could go see them in the wintertime. Best wishes to Marjorie Warner on her new adventure!
We love you, Marjorie!
ShaMeka Johnson and her mother Margo dropped by on my birthday and brought me three little lemon pound bundt cakes and some cupcakes. The little card on top of the box said Mother & Daughter Treats and Thangz. ShaMeka and her daughter ShaRayah are doing a little baking on the side. I put a big slice of butter in the middle of my cake and put it in the microwave for a few seconds and it was plenty fit to eat. I don’t know what they are cooking up but if you want to see call (903) 574-8189 and find out. Thanks girls!
The grand opening of Harry’s Building Materials new store in Jacksonville was on Thursday, so I made the trip up there to make sure the refreshments were adequate for such an event and to see if I could win a door prize. I might have gone to support my friend Bobby Tosh and his wonderful family, and thank them for being apart of doing so much for our area over the years, but I knew I wasn’t going to have time to do that until after the refreshments.
My friend Whitney Graham Carter, owner of the Ritual in Jacksonville, was doing the catering and it was absolutely delicious. If I would have known she was doing the catering, I would have brought my own lawn chair and sat right next to the refreshment table.
I thought about buying a hammer while I was there, but you can’t hold a hammer and eat cake at the same time. I guess I’ll have to go back for the hammer another time. I hope the sale is still on. There was a huge crowd in attendance for the ribbon cutting including several dignitaries, and celebrity ribbon cutter, Shelly Cleaver.
Saturday was a great day to be living in East Texas. It was the first day of Youth Deer Season, it was a beautiful fall day, the deer and hogs are running around just about everywhere you look, and the rivers are full. If the leaves had changed color just a little sooner we wouldn’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to celebrate. I was hanging an old door on the barn and heard something in the sky. When I looked up I saw a big flock of geese flying over honking away. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
I kept piddling around the barn thinking about how blessed I was to be able to enjoy such a day. Then the wife hollered out the back door and said that we needed to go to Tyler to get her some comfortable shoes. My day couldn’t have turned to crap any faster if that whole flock of geese had unloaded their bowels on me as they flew over my head.
This is the last time I’m telling you about this. Alto will be having lots of Halloween festivities in downtown Alto on Wednesday, October 30 between 5 and 7. So get your kids dressed up in their costumes and bring them to town for lots of Trick or Treat fun at the library, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, and all around the downtown area. They are doing this so people can go to the football games on Thursday night.
If you miss it and try to go trick or treating on Thursday night some people aren’t going to turn their porch lights on and you might step in a hole or get dog bit.
Rusk is doing their Halloween stuff downtown on Thursday which is really Halloween. The not-so-smart people will hit both places and have their kids so hyped up on sugar they won’t be able to stay in the house with them. Have a Safe and Happy Halloween, whenever you celebrate it.
Deer season opens this weekend and I think its going to be a really good year for all the deer and hogs that like to eat corn, and for the feed stores that sell it. I fooled around and didn’t kill anything last year, so I’m meat hunting this year.
Hunting season is a great time to enjoy your family and rekindle some old memories around a camp fire. Have fun, be careful, and shoot straight or lie big.
I guess that just about covers all I know for now. If you have something folks need to know about just give me a call or send me an email. Go Astros! I don’t care what Joe Buck thinks.
I’ll se ya next week!

And remember, Always notice the people who are happy for your happiness, and sad for your sadness. They’re the ones who deserve special places in your heart.