Seems more like a month since last Monday other than just 1 week. Somewhat short of amazing at how time seems to fly with advancing age & then a lot of stuff happens all at the same time & the ol’ clock surely does drag along. Thanksgiving weekends are known for being rather extended, but I think this one will be more memorable for quite a number of reasons. I’m not real sure whether it might be only my poor ol’ memory or the fact of our taking a more observant note of surroundings & activities as we get older, but it appears to me that folks take more care to be reflective of the Thanksgiving season than we did in earlier years. Some of that might be the result of our awareness of being thankful for all our blessings following the 911 tragedy. Whatever the reason for the season, this humble scribe is truly thankful.

It is also a good time for realizing just how important it is to have such gracious friends, family, and neighbors around us. We can get so busy at times with every day happenings in our lives that we become a bit complacent as to the importance of having good friends and neighbors. It seems sort of sad that it might take an illness, tragedy, or loss of a loved one to remind us of the kind of folks that can show us just how important they can be in our lives. Some of the background for all this might be in part to our living in a small town where we’ve been around all those kind of folks most of our lives. Not ever having lived in a big city, it’s hard to say what those folks can be like, but I’d bet they can hardly be as kind & caring as the “Saints” of San Saba.

Following the frost that we had in our Valley of the Pecan this past week, it seems that we’re seeing more Pecans on the ground under the trees. This will probably be the last reminder you see here of the up-coming San Saba County Pecan Show, that is scheduled for next Tues., the 4th. Neal indicates that several of the local growers have been bringing their show entries into the office down at the Courthouse. Big Daddy Gilger brought his prize native, the “Grandma Nee” to me for processing and John Byrd dropped his good Native by for Lady Z to take into the office. I still have some selection to take care of on some of Daddy’s entries, but should be able to get that taken care of right away. I visited with Elsie & Kay in the grocery store this past week as they were looking for some Cranberry sauce and Kay said that she would do her best to try & rake up some entries. Hopefully, all the producers and folks with yard trees will answer the call as we need to preserve the tradition of our Pecan Show, what with it being the oldest County Pecan show in Texas.

This is also a good time to get out your favorite recipe for cakes, candy, cookies, breads , and pies for that special treat the Pecan adds to any of the afore mentioned. Not only do we fix more of these during the Holiday season, but our Pecan Food Show is right around the corner in conjunction with the Pecan Show. If you have any questions as to the details of either or both, you can give them a call down at the County Extension Office and they’ll be glad to help.

We’ve been seeing some really nice bucks being brought in by hunters the past three weeks. Heavy body weights and large antlered racks seem to be of the norm this season. It’s somewhat short of amazing to me as to how such a wet weather year can have so much effect on the condition of our deer herd, not to mention how much corn and protein pellets are fed through game feeders now-days. I think it’s about time for Richard Barker and I to see that our rifles are on target and try our hand at harvesting some venison for the larder this next week. Son Will has brought our company smoker back home following the fall football games down in Austin, so Jarvis & yrs. Truly will be getting the jerky racks oiled up for a few batches of those tasty treats. I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid that doesn’t like jerky. Anyhow, I’d guess that we’ll be trying to take care of all that pretty soon out around————————Harkeyville!!!!