Seems as if we were enjoying the Labor Day weekend just a couple of weeks back, & here we are getting everything ready for Thanksgiving. Lady Z & yrs. truly enjoy most of the Holidays and do our best to celebrate them in proper fashion. However, the time for Thanksgiving ranks fairly high on our list of importance. First of all, Fall is our favorite season of the year. I always see calendars showing scenes of Fall colors & landscapes of foliage turning, usually with a lake or river in the picture, but we have some pretty sights to offer around our Fair Valley of the Pecan. If you take a turn around Mill Pond Park, there is more to see than the waterfall. The Water Cypress along Mill Creek there by the the ol’ Pecan Grove Bridge that is now a foot bridge turns a beautiful color for the Fall. Mayor Adams says that the walk path in the new Park between the Highway & the San Saba shows some pretty sights. Jimma Byrd told me that if you have the patience, one might even sight some secretive birds one seldom sees. I think there is even a place for folks to fish down by the River. We’re fairly fortunate to have two very nice parks so close. If you want to take a scenic drive, go down to the Bend and travel on down the River to the Colorado Bend State Park. I hear they have more hiking trails than most folks might want to traverse. You can even stop by Bad Bob’s at the Bend Store & enjoy a cold soda water or more. Some folks like to cross on over to Cherokee from the Bend and stop by the Cherokee Grocery to enjoy lunch with Ms. Sue or have some Barbecue at Zulauf’s Southside BBQ. If you want to see the colors of the Sandyland, you can go west through Harkeyville & Algerita to Richland Springs and use the drive-thru at the Feedlot where you can load up the ice box & get your deer corn or livestock feed as well. I won’t be able to list all the sights & spots to visit in this article, but you can pick up the Fall Hunting Guide at any of the news stands that the folks down at the San Saba News do such a fine job with each year. One of the most distinctive aspects of the Fall for San Saba is the availability of Pecans all around Town. We are enjoying a fine harvest of quality nuts for the retail outlets in San Saba this year. We enjoy the title and reputation of being the Pecan Capital of the World. San Saba is to Pecans what folks would think of Stonewall & Fredericksburg being to Peaches. Folks travel to our town to pick up supplies of the delicious, nutritious nut,as well as some of the wonderful condiments we fashion from Pecans. It is said that visiting Hunters are oft scolded if they return from San Saba and forget to bring any Pecans home for the lil’ Lady. So now I’ve shared a secret as to how to stay in good graces at Home. It even works for local folks, as well! Lady Z is already busy in the kitchen getting a jump on our Thanksgiving menu. She has a Pecan Cake in the oven, Turkey Tom thawing in the fridge, as well as having her shopping done for the accompanying dishes. She does her stuffing a bit different than our typical cornbread dressing from around here, but it’s still very good. I mentioned to the ladies down at the “News” about my semi-secret dressing recipe that I fixed for Momma the past few years when she had trouble getting around it all. Anyhow, it’s pretty simple. I would fix one batch of Momma’s regular Cornbread dressing, while adding a batch of Stove Top Dressing, following the directions on the box. This ensured my covering all the seasonings if I happened to leave some out of Momma’s regular recipe. Be sure to make lots of Giblet Gravy & a can of Cream of Chicken Soup will go a long way in extending that. The guys down at Hibler’s say the Hunters have been bringing in some very nice Bucks this past week, so one would imagine that we’ll be seeing a horde of Hunters around the County this weekend, along with a few Nimrods. Hunters and Pecans are extremely vital to our welfare in San Saba County. Guess it’s about time to get on with it and the Mayor & yrs. truly will be doing our best to keep up with it out around——————Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!!!!