School is starting soon


All in all, this past week wasn’t too bad. Of course, after traveling from Yoakum to Devine, then to Austin and then on to Ft. Worth and then reversing the direction until I got home, was quite a bit of riding. We left Great Oaks a little after 2:00 p.m. to go to Austin, and had an uneventful trip, as the traffic wasn’t just too bad. We started working on things being used to decorate for the shower and some of the group worked until really late, but got a lot done. The next morning, we made our way to Ft. Worth, with stops along the way to get a few more things we needed, and then on to my grandson’s home where the shower was going to be. Everything went smoothly, with everyone pitching in and doing the decorating, putting food together, visiting, setting the gifts out and exclaiming over our beautiful mother-to-be when she arrived. It was a beautiful shower and of course all the baby stuff was cuter than cute. After everyone left, my grandson, his wife and family and I went out to eat, to celebrate her birthday. We met up with another couple as was planned and had a great time with really delicious food. Sunday after lunch time, it was time to head back to Austin and Devine, this trip was grueling as the traffic was horrendous and I felt sorry for both the drivers. Between Austin and San Antonio, we drove through a couple of rain showers and that only made matters worse as the drivers didn’t slow down to allow for the weather. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and I truly appreciate everything the family did for me to get me there and back. Thanks to all of you.
As we all know, school will soon be starting. Mr. Sostarich had a very informative and interesting letter to parents in The Devine News last week. It seems as if DISD is truly taking the safety of children into account and changes are being made to implement new rules. Please try to learn the new rules and follow them for times have become so different than when today’s parents were in school, that it is almost unbelievable. I know from the times that I picked up children that sometimes it becomes very frustrating with new rules and new locations to use. According to his letter, visitors will have to go through the office. When my daughter was teaching and I visited her school, this was standard procedure, I recently picked up a tablet that I used to carry with me for notes and there was a visitor pass, from her school, with my name on it still stuck to the back of the tablet! It truly isn’t that much trouble, possibly more for the folks who work in the office than for anyone else. At the time, I think my driver’s license was scanned, and the pass was issued. The next time I visited the school, my name was all that was needed as I was in the records, much simpler.
School Days, School Days, Dear old golden rule days! Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, taught to the tune of a hickory stick. So goes an old song. (We used part of this old song on the front and inside of the tray favors the Auxiliary has made for our hospital patients for September, hopefully they will bring back pleasant memories! We left out the part about the hickory stick!)
School will start soon, and aren’t we glad the years of the ‘hickory stick’ are gone? Some moms are glad school is starting, the ones who have their six-year-old going to school into first grade are probably a little sad, even though the children have probably done PreK and Kinder. First grade marks the fact of a new part of their and the parents life. In other words, the fun times are over and it’s time to get to work. The students starting their senior year are mostly ecstatic and the rest of the students range from “I am so not ready for this”, to “Yea, we’re back in school and I can see all my friends from last year”.
Here in Yoakum, school started the 13th, and my friend who teaches in Cuero said that they would start on the 15th. Teacher workdays began last week and in some places, the week before that and are ongoing. The school year seems so much longer now than it did when I was going to school. We started the Monday after Labor Day and ended the last week of May. Now…well if you have children or grandchildren in school, you know what I mean.
Now that we know school is starting, let’s please, please remember that the speed limit in school zones is 20-MPH unless otherwise indicated. On Windy Knoll, the speed limit is 20-MPH from just past Park St. down to just past Fay St., and on Warhorse Dr., it is also 20-MPH from right after you get on it off of Hwy 173 until past the stadium. On Hwy 173, the speed limit is posted as 30-MPH with blinking lights.
If you are following behind or coming upon a school bus, it is very important to remember to come to a complete stop when the bus lights begin flashing and the stop sign comes on. You can be ticketed if you do not stop and the fine can be up to $1,000 with a loss of your driver’s license for a second violation. Our children are precious; let’s take care of them.
Parents, this is the time to watch out for children walking and riding their bikes to school, especially the elementary and intermediate students. (One of the busiest walkways for students is down Coker across Windy Knoll and then on down Mesquite to the school.) They do not always watch where they are going or what they are doing, so as adults we need to be more careful and watch out for them. Children will either cut in front of you with a bicycle without looking or they will dash out from between parked cars. So, please remember to drive safely and take care of our students. If you injure a student, he/she will not be the only one injured, you will also injure yourself for a good long period of time and the child’s parents will also be injured. And, last but not least, in today’s litigious society, you could face a lawsuit whether it was your fault or that of the child.
Sharon brought this cake recipe to the paper and gave it to me when I was still working full time. It is really delicious and simple to make.
Sharon’s Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Grease and flour a 10” tube pan or Bundt pan, set aside.
3 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 (8-oz) package cream cheese
2 sticks margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
Blend cream cheese and butter, and then add sugar. Fold in flour a little at a time, then one egg at a time beating well after each. Add vanilla; stir well and bake, starting with a cold oven set to 325ºF. Bake for 1¼ hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool in pan a few minutes and then turn onto serving plate.
For a super easy cake that the kids can help you with, try the following Dump Cake. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like this cake. In fact, a club my sister belongs to has all the members bake this cake when they have a fund raiser so that all the desserts are the same. And, yes, even with the same recipe, you get several different looking and tasting cakes! (They even specify which pie filling to use for some conformity, but, it still doesn’t necessarily work as well as they wished it did).
Dump Cake
1 can apple or cherry pie filling
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 box yellow cake mix
½ cup, (1 stick) butter or margarine
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts)
Spread pie filling in bottom of 9 X 12 pan, add pineapple, and sprinkle dry cake mix over pineapple. Dot with butter or margarine and top with nuts. Bake at 350ºF for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool. Cut into squares and serve, topped with ice cream if desired.
Just recently, I made this dessert, and I used peach pie filling, as that was what was in the pantry, but my recipe calls for using the pie filling first, then the pineapple. What I did differently was as follows. This version was served by one of our hostesses at out Pokeno Club and is delicious.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Place the pie filling in the pan, top with the pineapple and set aside. Place the cake mix in a large mixing bowl, add a stick of softened butter to the cake mix, and using your pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the cake mix, (just as you would cut in shortening for pie crust), it should resemble coarse crumbs. Spread this on top of the pineapple, top with some chopped pecans and coconut if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold with whipped topping or ice cream.