High point from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real have been trudging around in the mud waiting for things to dry up enough to get some outdoor chores done.

I tried to mow down the turnip green patch on Saturday and almost got stuck in the mud on the first round, so I gave that project up until things dry out.
The news around here has nearly dried up, but I did manage to scrape up eight bits’ worth.
Kenny Callaway passed away late last week at the age of 68. He was good fellow and will be missed in our community. Kenny leaves behind lots of good memories for us to enjoy.
Please keep his mother Mary, his wife Robin, his children, Shane and Holly and the rest of the family in your prayers as they mourn his passing.

It’s Leap Year so we’ll get an extra day of February even though I don’t know what we are supposed to do with it. Julius Caesar is the person who brought us Leap Year 2,000 years ago.

It was all well and good until the Catholic Church figured out that this calendar was throwing Easter off by about 10 days.

They adjusted it again and that is what we hold to today. We always get a frost right before Easter, so if we don’t know the exact time Easter is supposed to be, then how do we know when to plant our tomatoes? No wonder the Roman civilization failed.
Our middle son Grant was born in a Leap Year and my wife panicked over the fact that he might be born on Feb. 29 which would have caused all sorts of problems. She managed to hang on and didn’t have him until March 1.
Happy birthday, Grant!
We celebrate Texas Independence Day this week and I can’t think of a better place to celebrate than right here on El Camino Real. If you travel from one end of this old road to the other it’s a trip through Texas’ colorful history.

While I’m looking back, I realize that I started writing this column about the happenings along our old road 23 years ago this coming week.

When I start reading through some of those old stories, it is hard to believe how many people are gone now and how many new folks have popped up.

Alto is always changing, but even though it’s changing it always stays the same.
I don’t think people realize what an important place our little stretch of road had in the history of Texas.
In the summer of 1832 things were getting pretty heated between the Mexicans and the Americans. The Mexican Colonel Piedras decided that he was going to have to settle the settlers down, so he started throwing his weight around over in Nacogdoches and ordered his men to take up all of the settlers guns.
On Aug. 2, 1832, the settlers had enough and they attacked the Mexican Army. Col. Piedras did the best he could, but the Texas settlers were out-fighting him. After dark he and his troops snuck out of Nacogdoches and headed down El Camino Real towards the Angelina River.
They were attacked again by the Texans that were on their trail. The Texans let up and the Mexicans headed on towards the river.

When they made it to the river, three of the Mexican soldiers went down to get a drink. The Americans were laying in wait on the Cherokee County side of the river and shot all three of them.
Col. Piedras tried to fight them off and attacked them four times, but the settlers on our side held firm and when it got dark, Col. Piedras had to retreat again. He went to John Durst’s house and the next morning Mrs. Durst sent a message by her son to the Texans to tell them that Piedras had surrendered.

Jim Bowie arrived in Nacogodoches a few days later and they got him to carry Col. Piedras and his troops to New Orleans and they put him on a boat and sent him back to Mexico.

As a result of this battle Mexican troops were never stationed east of San Antonio and that is why General Sam Houston was able to head to San Jacinto without any Mexican diversions in East Texas.

We need to stick our chests out and grin big on Texas Independence Day because there were plenty of East Texans who did their part in the fighting. On March 2, we will honor these brave men.
The big fox squirrel that has been vandalizing our porch pillows had a rough weekend. I got my shotgun and a box of shells out and laid them on the picnic table in the backyard when I went out to work Saturday morning.

The squirrel is smart and he never showed his face the whole time I was out. On Sunday morning I was walking around in the back yard and I heard a big redtail hawk let out a squeal, I looked up and heard a big thud on my metal roof.

That hawk had grabbed that squirrel out of a tree and was flying off with him, but the squirrel broke free and fell and hit the roof.
I ran around the house to try and find him and finish him off, but I was too slow and he had already jumped up and run off. I bet he’ll be sore for a few days.

I had a few more things that needed telling, but they’ll have to wait until the next paper comes out. I’ll see ya next week!

And remember, It is not necessary to blow out the other person’s light in order to let yours shine.