The rainfall which blessed our Bottoms, Pecans that is, last week did an excellent job of putting down much needed moisture in fine fashion. Seemed like it was fairly general over most of the County, as we’ve heard reports of around 2.5" up to about 5" from different areas and communities. Both gauges I monitor on the west end of town measured right at three inches, even. Visiting with Ms. Sue at the Store in Cherokee, she reported 3.5" there in Town, R. Thompson got 5" a bit east of Cherokee, while W. Perry had about 4 ½" out on the Johnson Kuykendall this side of Potter Flat.

I’m sure that John & Lovell were pleased as well. T. Noel said they got 2.8" up near the Algerita Cemetery and Beto Trujillo told me they had a little over 2 ¾ down close to the River on the ol’ McDaniel. Emmett Lee reported about 4.40" on the gauges on Johnny Brown Lane near 5 Mile Hill. Macy reported from the Ledbetter place That Spring Creek Proper received rains of 4.30" last Wed. and the draws were running and the tanks full. Surely good rains for the bottoms, orchards, pastures, and the small grain patches, as well. I would imagine that some of the farm folks will start sewing grain as soon as they can get into the fields. The fishermen should be proud of the rain, also, as both Rivers should have gotten some benefit from their being a bit flush from the

run-off. Shaw & yrs. truly were visiting yesterday as to the advisability of baiting our lines during the next good sign due to the cooler temps. now, as well as the scarcity of Doves at present. We’ve bagged a few birds the past week or so, but there has been a bit more hunting than there was shooting. While speaking of fishing and baiting lines, I happened to be the recipient of an interesting package a little over a week back. The ladies down at the "News" called that I had a package down at the office from someone in Rockdale. Being that I know only one person in Rockdale, I had a fairly good

idea of the I.D. of the sender. Anyhow, I made it on down to the "Paper" and opened my surprise package. It contained a letter and a set of hooks, already set with staging. The note spoke of a recent article in the "Highlights" where I was teasing Son, Will, somewhat as to his using some special hooks on our drop-lines down at the River Place. Cousin, Jack Clark, was kind enough to point out all the advantages of using "Circle" hooks, as well as a very complete set of instructions on how to stage them on drop lines, even going so far as what kind of weight he used on the bottom of the line. He also included several photos of 50-60 lb. Yellowcats they had landed down at Lake Somerville. Well, Jack, Shaw & I have been using circle hooks for a few years now and even learned, on our own experience, to carry a set of needle-nose pliers in our pocket, as the big fish are very well "caught" when they get on the line. We recently landed a 37 pounder up the San Saba below Harkeyville, that happened to stay on the lines 3 days before we could get down the bank to haul him in as we had a good rain then & the steep bank was way too slick & muddy to navigate. Will & I also use a J-hook cast-off from the railroad for our sinkers down on the Colorado at the Colony. By the way, the subject of the teasing I gave Will happened to be the fact that we realized after fishing with some of his hooks for a couple of months was that he had mistakenly purchased barbless circle hooks which

would hardly keep bait on, much less a yellowcat, with no one pulling on the other end. We had been wondering what to do with those "catch & release" hooks, so due to our respect for aging anglers & to return the favor of your

sending "good" hooks, I see it only proper to send you Will’s "sporting" hooks in trade for the ones you so kindly sent us. I happened to be down in Austin this past weekend, tail-gating at

the Wyoming game with Will & a bunch of his t.u. buddies. They had a great table set of all sorts of grilled & smoked meats,as well as some bacon-wrapped, stuffed Jalapenos. Charley Maldonado & Kate stopped by Will’s tail-gate spot, with a contingent of friends from Wyoming and Colorado and visited for about an hour. The Longhorns came out victorious and everyone in our group was extremely well fed. Hopefully, Will might come home this weekend and we might get Jarvis to help us bait out the lines with some of Jack’s new hooks and staging, anywhere the Mayor & I mightbe, out around——Harkeyville!!!!!!!