Opinion

For almost an hour tonight, I labored in the kitchen convincing myself that I had not lost the touch. I could still create a gourmet delight. It’s been over four months since I had bariatric surgery and since that time, I haven’t been very interested in eating much. My meals are small and concentrated on consuming a lot of protein. Don’t worry, I manage to get my nutritional requirements, but volume is not a big part of my “eating plan.”

Had his life been a song, it would have been Big John. If a folk tale, Paul Bunyan. If a military hero, pick your favorite, and he’d have a lot of Joaquin Jackson in him.

And this veteran lawman charged with peace-keeping over a vast West Texas expanse bigger than some states was perhaps as colorful as Judge Roy Bean. (Bean, a Justice of the Peace with a courtroom in his saloon, is remembered for law “west of the Pecos.”)

As recently as the 1970s, reporters covering the Legislature used to jokingly refer to the senior citizens employed by the state to keep the public from parking in spaces reserved for representatives, senators and key staff as “the Civil War veterans.”

A small rain has just fallen on my yard this evening. We were needing a bit of moisture again. This summer we have become used to getting rain often. But we like having the moisture when the heat is scorching everything. Army worms have destroyed the grass in my yard and it just looks like hot summer weather dried it up. 

Thursday the quilters met to work on a quilt for Gena Phillips. It is a beautiful friendship quilt that members of the Busy Bee pieced for Gena when she was ill in the early part of the year. She is improved now and able to meet with us again.

Attention Men: Guinness Record in Reach…

Samsung scientists who packed too much charge into the latest smartphones may be graduates of the “Duracell School of Battery-Making.” Who knows what happened, but my Uncle Mort--reaching into the deepest crevice of his unbounded wisdom--believes some of ‘em want to both “burn something as well as start something.”

The 104-year-old denizen of the thicket in East Texas continues to be amazed about the far-reaching news topic making big splashes in public and social media.

Attention Men: Guinness Record in Reach…

Samsung scientists who packed too much charge into the latest smartphones may be graduates of the “Duracell School of Battery-Making.” Who knows what happened, but my Uncle Mort--reaching into the deepest crevice of his unbounded wisdom--believes some of ‘em want to both “burn something as well as start something.”

The 104-year-old denizen of the thicket in East Texas continues to be amazed about the far-reaching news topic making big splashes in public and social media.

This will be the final reminder: The 2016 Busy Bee Quilt Show in Post Oak has been canceled due to building repairs. We are sad to think of the old Methodist Church building not having quilts hanging on the walls for people to view and enjoy the beauty and talent of quilts and quilters.

This is the first year since 1978 we haven’t had a quilt show. Hopefully in September 2017 we can have another quilt show. I will keep you posted so this will give everyone plenty of time to make quilts to once again display at Post Oak.

Roping tornadoes posed no challenge for legendary West Texas cowpoke Pecos Bill. Of course, as a boy he’d started out modestly by practicing on dust devils until he got the hang of it.

Pecos Bill existed only in the imagination of an early 20th century newspaperman turned pulp magazine writer named Edward S. “Tex” O’Reilly, but real cowboys did pride themselves on their lassoing skills. Any waddy worth his grub and wages could slip a loop around a cedar fence post, an energetic calf, a recalcitrant cow or a charging bull, but who would want a hand content to settle for that?

It’s been five years since our church put out a pictorial directory of its members. I guess in the forty-five years I’ve been a member of that congregation, I’ve had my picture taken at least six times. This year, it will be easier than most of those other times. The only thing I have to worry about is wrinkles, and it seems for another few dollars, they can wipe those out, making a person look many years younger. I’d do that, but the whole purpose of having a church directory is to find out who somebody is, and I’m afraid without my wrinkles, no one would recognize me. 

Jack County residents have become fed up with crime in their communities. They aren’t alone. Substance abuse, namely methamphetamine addiction, has been an epidemic for many years. For the last several years, even small insular, rural communities have not been immune.

Following a rash of burglaries in both Jacksboro and Perrin, two new organizations sprouted up to combat the issue.

Perrin immediately began citizens watch patrols.

Members of the community are out nightly, cruising the streets and some back roads keeping an eye on things.