Most folks that we have visited with lately have generally agreed that the green pastures, good rains, and cooler weather are all very welcome. You’ll have to exercise some patience & bear with me the next several editions of the “Paper,”, as I continually comment on the facts of Fall that are so enjoyable to the folks fortunate enough to get to live in the Hill Country of Texas. I always thought it was a fairly well kept secret, but then the city folks found out about Kerrville & Fredericksburg, then Llano & Mason, and now, some of them have gotten plumb up to very secret places such as The Colony, Harmony Ridge, McMillin, Algerita, Skeeterville, Rock Shoals, Potter Flat, Chapel, Lost Creek, Cowboy, Holt, and Bowser.

I happened to make a turn-around trip down to Kerrpatch this past weekend to tend to a few things, & really enjoyed the ride down & back. It’s amazing what 8-10" of rainfall over a 30-day period will affect our sometimes semi-arid Edwards Plateau area. Cherokee, Sandy, & Legion Creeks were all running, as well as was Marschall Spring. My R.N. buddy, Nurse Cormack, had me stop by the V.A. to get my regular flu shot for the season & backing up a bit, I had dropped a few boxes of fresh San Saba Pecan Pralines by Segner’s for Olan Tisdale. The ladies at the Candy Factory over by Daddy’s make a bunch better Praline than this ol’ Cook. Fact is, lil’ darlin’ Katylee absolutely loves any of the gift tins of assorted Pecan treats you can find at any of the Pecan Shops of San Saba. Anyhow, back to the Kerrville thing. Saturday, Tony Navarra, Jim Neil, & yrs. truly boiled up a big pot of Sika Venison Chili as one of the 13 different items offered at the 20th Annual Lions -4-H Club Wild Game Dinner & benefit. I had to leave prior to serving time as there was so much activity of interest here at home. I made it home just in time for the kick off of the A&M game & really enjoyed it for about the first ten minutes. The Razorbacks pretty well put an end to that enjoyment. The street dance & band activity down around the Square was next on the list, and it turned out much better than the Aggie ball game. Getting to visit with Billy Mata & his band members brought back many memories of old times when I saw them for so many years down in Kerrville. I hear that Bobby Galindo might have known of them for some time, as well.

Mary Barber came down with Dale to help with their Hereford Special out at the Harkeyville Auction of Jordan’s on Wednesday and got to watch & listen to Billy’s Band also. Bubba Barber came over from Tow Valley on Sunday afternoon with a pretty good bag of Catfish filets and we fried up a box full, along with some hushpuppies, taters & onions. We’d heard that folks from up around Channing hardly ever turn down a fish fry or a bag of San Saba Pecans. Anyhow, it all made up for a busy, but interesting fun-filled weekend. Mary did request that the City Dads go ahead & schedule the Texas Tradition & Mata for the same weekend next year. Seems like a sound idea to this humble scribe.

I would be remiss in my mentions if we didn’t congratulate the

mighty Armadillos and their miraculous finish of the Bangs ball game, last Fri. evening. They are sitting with good company in the District standing right now, but have a couple of steep hills to climb the next few weeks. The Coach might want to recommend the players watch the movie “Miracle” before the game, as that is one of the most inspirational picture shows ever made & it’s a true story. Lady Z loves it & watches the show prior to any arduous task. Other than that, the Mayor & yrs. truly will be doing our best to keep things squared away out around————Harkeyville!!!!!!!!