Columns/Opinions

By D. Harkey

The cold spell that came into our County this past weekend might have come close to proving the old adage of "Thunder in February will frost in April." I didn't get to check the low temperature on Saturday, but the highest of the day on my ol' "Snapper" thermometer was 37°. Surely a good day to stay in the house and read a book or two. It turned nice on Sunday afternoon but Monday was a bit cool. The short sprinkles we had in the latter part of last week did little for the rain gauge but did settle the dust on the County roads. Maybe we're in for a better rain soon.

By Sue Ransom

This is setting up to be a busy week. The students have STAAR testing, income tax is due, my son’s birthday will take place overseas away from his family and Russ and I will have our 46th anniversary. That means a busy week. I wish this weekend had been better, but somehow the forecasters missed the mark by about 20 degrees. I had to go out and cover my apricot tree for Saturday night. I don’t know if that will save my tender apricots, but it was the best I could do. The pears will be fine, the tomatoes can be replaced, but the peaches are in danger. I am sitting in my sun room with a blanket to cover me so that I won’t freeze. I really don’t want to be breaking any records on the first year that my apricot tree finally put out blossoms. I have about eight tiny apricots that may or may not make it until the sun comes out. My goldfish are probably shivering in the murky water.

By Sue Ransom

Did any of you see the video of young Piper Shannon singing on Easter Sunday? She did an awesome job on a difficult song. I see a young lady who will be singing in many of our local events. A proud granny posted the video and an equally proud set of parents enjoyed the moment.

If Russ and Karla Steel are an example of this weekend, I would say a large number of people enjoyed the sun a little too much for their own good. They attended the Easter egg extravaganza in San Saba. We had our own little version of that after service on Sunday. We had hundreds of eggs and a small number of children to do the picking. I guarantee they all went home with full baskets. I love Easter Sunday. That is one of the days when many people drop their busy schedules and come to church. It looks so good to see God’s house full. We have several fine local churches. I invite you to try them out and see if you can find a good church home.

Hill Country Oaks - More than Just Live Oaks

Several years ago, I wrote a number of columns discussing common native trees, shrubs, vines, forbs and grasses. I doubt even the most avid reader of these columns remembers everything they read 7+ years ago, so I intend to publish a number of updated columns describing the most common Hill Country plants over the coming months.

How many different species of native Hill Country oaks do you think there are? Well, depending on how far you think the Hill Country extends, I think the answer is eight. Here they are:

The Natural Food Web - How All Things are Interconnected

Most of us learned about our nutritional food pyramid in school, where we were advised to eat lots of the bottom layer (grains, cereals), slightly less fruits and vegetables, much less meat and fish, and only a little of the top of the pyramid - sweets. The food pyramid has recently been replaced with something called the "food plate," which shows what we should be eating in a kind of a pie chart (no pun intended!) superimposed on a plate.

In biology, the idea of a food pyramid has long been taught as having at its base - plants - and above that the herbivores which eat the plants, followed by the carnivores, which eat the herbivores. This is now considered much too simplified and it has also been replaced by what is called the food web.

By Sue Ransom

I guess you can say we have spent another month. I am trying to wrap my head a round the fact next week is April. I think I can speak for most teachers and say that these last two months are the hardest. We have this giant push to complete all the work required in time to review for our wonderful STAAR tests. I waffle between telling my students that they don’t need to worry about the tests; I just ask that they do the best they can, and then flip to enforcing the importance of the tests for the state. When you add the large number of activities that happen during those two months, you have a recipe for turmoil.

Bro. Russ Steel piled about 12 of us into the church van and we went to San Saba to watch The Last Supper. The production was superb and I’m so glad we went. I wish their disciples were louder, but the message was clear. Bro. Sam and the congregation of the First Baptist Church San Saba hit a home run.

Submitted by Nancy Bannister

Reading Recommendations:

Florence Nightingale, The Making of an Icon, Mark Bostridge -

The common soldier's savior, the standard bearer of modern nursing, a pioneering social reformer: Florence Nightingale belongs to that select band of historical characters who are instantly recognizable. Homeschooled, bound for the life of an educated Victorian lady, Nightingale scandalized her family when she found her calling as a nurse, a thoroughly unsuitable profession for a woman of her class.

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By Sue Ransom

What a great spring break. I know the kids are all groaning because they have to get up tomorrow and go to school. I could be wrong, but I think I hear a few teachers groaning as well. I know I am, but it is because of this silly time saving. I’m back to getting up in the dark and going to school at first light. That just isn’t appealing to me. I am a daylight person. Perhaps if we send thousands of emails to the Texas legislature, they would do away with daylight savings? I suppose when I was younger having more daylight after I returned from work was good. Now that I am ancient; I don’t need extra hours to work. I want to wake up with the sun then go to work. Congratulations by the way, to Flora Appleton and her win at the Houston fair. She’s bringing home a hefty sum for her future college costs.

By Sue Ransom

Saturday, I emerged from my self-imposed retreat and set out to do some serious outside work. I kept telling myself I also needed to do some work on the old house. I have a quilt to finish.

Today I have returned to my self-imposed house arrest because I do not want to be blown away and shiver like the leaves that are left on the oak trees. Which means I am left to flights of fancy watching the leaves skitter and jump across the pasture. It’s amazing what you can do when you’ve been raised in the generation that went outside to keep from being bored. Too many of our modern kids wait for someone else to come up with creative ideas. It’s easier to push a button and watch a screen than to think of something, anything to do. I think parents need to take away the phones and get the kids back outside.

By Nancy Bannister

Reading Recommendations: Born Fighting, How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, James Webb -

More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England's Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the 18th century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, as well as a dislike of aristocracy and a strong military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of workingclass America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself.