Having written the number ’11 in the date space 3 or 4 times the

past couple of days has had little effect in confirming the coming of the New Year. The weather has seemed a bit more cold than I recall from most years past, and then it dawned on me that the Stock Show is right around the

corner. Shaw & I have been curtailing some of our outdoor activities and confining most of those to what we can get done from the pick-up, due to the cooler weather. I did feel a little shameful the other day when the mercury dropped to 24 degrees after hearing from Kenny Hinyard up in Paonia that he registered minus 9 out on his barn. I don’t care where you might be from, that is rather frigid.

You know, the new year usually seems to bring some changes; some expected, while some are a surprise. Many of the folks around my age seem to not need to celebrate as much as we used to. Lady Z & yrs. truly have been quite content with watching the ball drop in Times Square as we can get that done by 11:00 and then go back to bed. We even went so far as to have our party on Thursday evening this year, going over to Lost Creek Winery down close to Sunrise Beach for an extremely sumptuous dinner with Kate & Charley. We were wise in having an early reservation and was back home before 10:30. I would highly recommend the fare as well as the ambiance, but you might need to check with Tom Murray for a small advance prior to dining there. Chef Ralph visited with us to see how everything turned out and asked us to say "Hi" to Chef Felts for him.

I think we still have some Blackeye peas and hog jowl left over from New Year’s day dinner,as well as the Cabbage and ham. We can all use the good luck and the prosperity part will make anyone feel lucky. Speaking of luck; all of our local Aggies might think of sending some sort of lucky charm with R.T. Miller for Friday as he treks up to Arlington to help the Aggies battle the Bayou Bengals of L.S.U. in this year’s edition of the Cotton Bowl. Son, Will should be in this weekend from Waco, and help me and

Shaw close out some of the hunting season. Jason is scheduled to be in with a couple of his buddies from Austin, so the Ags might even be getting some support from the Longhorn side. I think we’ll be needing all the help we might muster as the Tigers should be listed as a slight favorite. If you listen to all the sports journalists on the TV, it should be a good game. We see a lot of folks around town & out in the country tilling their garden plots so as to be ready for spring planting. I noticed that Arnie spaded on his garden all day earlier in the week getting his properly prepped. If you have a lot of weeds & grass turned under, it might be wise

to spread a bag of fertilizer on the garden to help decompose the vegetable matter prior to your March-April planting dates. If you are not sure as to what rate & mix to apply, you can check with W.D. or Mitchell and they will be glad to help you out. If you need more instruction on the entire plan,

check with the County Agent’s office and they can supply you with all the educational material you might need.

Most of the Pecan pickers have just about gotten around the majority of the orchards and bottoms and are tending to some scrapping now. Prices have been fairly favorable to the producers this season which has been a boon to our area agriculture this season. Pecans play a major part of our County’s annual gross income. If you ever need more information on such said subject, check with the Mayor & yrs. truly anywhere out around——Harkeyville!!!!!!