One Sunday in January I was serving as a Church Parking Lot Attendant. My friend, The Turkey Meister, leads this effort at our Church. He calls that role The First Impressions Team. Which probably sounds a bit classier than the title I used. It was brisk that day, and the wind was probably blowing at 20+ mph with a pretty good “bite” to it. One of our older ladies walked up, kind of “leaning into” the wind and commented she sure hopes it warms up soon. This lady is small in height/ build and that NE wind was pushing her around pretty good. Upon the conclusion of the Morning Worship Service, the wind had picked up even more and after descending the stairs and rounding the building’s corner, it came close to knocking her off her feet! I won’t repeat her comment that time. Let me just say it did not reflect any improvement of her opinion of the weather conditions! Less that 48 hours later one of my good friends from Church texted me to say that the 80-degree mid -day temperature was just WAY too hot for this time of the year. Now this fellow is the physical opposite of the previous person mentioned above. A former Defensive Lineman in college who became a Football Coach, one of his legs probably weighs more than that lady. I commented I was going to write a story about weather and dedicate it to him. Those two extreme opposite perspectives reminded me of a Tale from back when I was spending a good bit of time out at the Home Place as a kid working with my Grand Dad. You could find me starting at a pretty young age glued to his side whether in the fields, pastures, or cattle pens. Of course, none of those places are much fun to be in come July and August or December and January. I was often either cold as an ice cycle or burning up and drenched in sweat. Not surprisingly, sometimes I would whine about the weather. After a complaint or two, Charlie Rosenauer would stop whatever we were doing, take off his hat, and look me sternly in the eye. “Boy”, he would say. “Do you really think the Good Lord needs your help with the weather”? Of course, such an admonition would put me back in the right frame of mind plenty fast and I would mumble “No Sir”. “Okay. Then get back to what you are supposed to be doing and let GOD be GOD.” That was the end of that conversation, and it was best NOT to bring up the topic again for a while! Far be it from me to speak in such a way to the fine lady or my good coaching friend. But the reminder for me is that any of us can spend a bunch of time focusing on stuff we simply CANNOT control. One of my finest Mentors in a long line of some excellent ones, had a saying that comes to my mind while writing this Tale. Long ago gone from this Earth, I still remember he would often tell me : “Don’t fret on trying to fix things you can’t fix. Just try your best to do the right thing as often as you can with those things you can do something about”. I reckon that is good advice even today. And last time I looked, one of those things we don’t have much say about is trying to fix the weather!
What happened in Lytle last week? I’m glad you asked: Lytle PD officers handled 59 calls for service for the week ending on Sunday January 22. Your officers conducted 88 traffic stops, those stops resulted in 74 citatIons and 14 warnings. Property Crimes: We only had one possible property crime reported. A Main St. resident reported his .380 handgun was missing. Arrests: Officers made three arrests last week: #1 – A 16 year old male juvenile was detained for assault causing bodily injury (family violence). He was transported to the Atascosa Co. Juvenile Detention Center.
2 – Officers responded to a report of a driver that was asleep behind the wheel of a moving vehicle! Ofc. A. Lopez made contact with person and he woke up and sped off towards La Coste. After a short pursuit he was taken into custody. The suspect had four active felony warrants and was in possession of a loaded firearm (which is a no-no since he is a convicted felon). He was booked into the Medina Co. Jail.
3 – A traffic stop by Sgt. Hanson on S. Somerset St. resulted in the driver being arrested for DWI. The driver was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail.
In other news: On Monday, January 16, officers responded to a single vehicle accident on IH-35. Sadly, the driver did not survive. He was the sole the occupant. On Thursday, January 19, officers assisted Medina Co. S.O. with a pursuit that resulted in a “bailout”. Of the 10 that fled, 4 were apprehended. The incident occurred at IH-35 and FM 3175. On the personal side…… I took the three oldest kids over to Beaumont last weekend for a youth conference. In true Southeast Texas fashion it was cold and rainy, it took me a few minutes to remember what rain was.
This past week slowed down a bit by the time the weekend rolled around. My sister and I did a couple of things together, including having supper on Friday, with my niece and her husband. They had to leave early Saturday to return to their home in north Texas and we had a great visit. They had also invited my sister’s daughter and her husband; pizza was the order of the day and it was very good. My sister took fruit salad, her daughter brought a delicious chopped salad, and I took dessert. (Real simple, cake taken out of my freezer!). Saturday was noodle making time at the Family Center of our church. Our ladies’ group, Catholic Daughters of the Americas is having their annual chicken fried steak fundraiser this coming weekend and we always have a “Country Store”, where we have baked goods, canned goods and homemade noodles. All the bags of noodles always sell quickly, if you are working there and want some, we all know to have them on hold until we can pick them up. My sister and I with some help this year from others will be making the cole slaw, just as we have done for several years. It’s still hard for her to do some things, as she had neck surgery in November and has to wear her brace for another couple of weeks. My personal biggest news is that I have a brand-new great-grandson! He was born early Saturday morning in Colorado, and when I spoke with my granddaughter, they had not yet named him! This week will see me back on the road to Devine for bunco, I didn’t realize how much I missed bunco and seeing my friends until the pandemic hit us and now I think I enjoy it more than ever! We have talked about baking cakes in the past but hopefully there are a few new readers who will enjoy this weeks column. When is the last time, or have you ever baked a cake from scratch? When I was growing up, cake mixes didn’t exist. All cakes were baked from scratch. Cake mixes came out after WWII, with Betty Crocker bringing out a Chocolate Cake mix for the first time in 1947. The lady I talked with didn’t have any information as to whether they were the first to come out with a cake mix or not, but, I’d bet a nickel they were. Since I couldn’t find an 800 number for either Duncan Hines or Pillsbury, I couldn’t check any further. A cake from scratch is not hard to make. It just takes a little longer than a box mix. My two favorite recipes were in my Betty Crocker Cook Book. There were two which Mother had also used and I learned to make them while I was still in school. The recipes in this book give you a choice of two ways to mix the cake, one by creaming the sugar and shortening until light and fluffy, and adding eggs, one at a time and mixing well, then adding the dry ingredients alternately with the milk; and the other by sifting the dry ingredients and then adding the shortening and eggs. Each page also has several variations of each cake, using the main recipe and then adding nuts or fruit to the batter. The following two recipes are both from the Betty Crocker Cook Book, (ninth printing, first edition), which I received as a shower present before I married. The one is called Light Golden Cake and the other is called Rich Golden Cake, the main difference between them is the amount of eggs used.
Light Golden Cake 2¼ cups sifted Softasilk (cake flour) 1½ cups sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup soft shortening 1 cup milk 1½ teaspoons flavoring 2 eggs Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 9-inch round or square cake pans or a 9×13 pan; set aside. Sift together dry ingredients. Add shortening and a little over half of the milk and flavoring. Beat 2 minutes. Add remaining milk and eggs. Beat 2 minutes. Pour into greased and floured pans. Bake until cake tests done. Cool. Frost as desired. Rich Golden Cake 2¼ cups sifted Softasilk (cake flour or 2 1/8 cups Gold Medal flour) 1½ cups sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup soft shortening 1 cup milk 1½ teaspoon vanilla 3 eggs Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 9-inch round or square pans or one 13×9 pan. Sift together the dry ingredients, add shortening and a little over half of the milk and vanilla; beat 2 minutes. Add remaining milk and the eggs; beat 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pans; bake until cake tests done. Frost as desired. Easy German Chocolate Cake 1 box German chocolate cake mix 3 eggs 1 cup water (scant) 1 carton sour cream (8-oz) 1 can coconut pecan frosting Mix together cake mix, eggs and water, stir in sour cream. Pour into microwave safe tube pan. Drop frosting by spoons full into the batter. Microwave on High for 15 minutes rotating pan after first 9 minutes (unless you have a turntable). Cool about 3 to 5 minutes and then turn out onto serving plate. German Chocolate Upside-Down Cake 1 box German Chocolate Cake mix Eggs, oil, water to make cake 1 cup coconut 1 cup chopped pecans 1 lb. powdered sugar 8-oz package cream cheese 1 stick butter Lightly grease a 9×13 pan. Cut waxed paper to fit pan and grease paper also. Sprinkle pecans and coconut into pan. Mix cake according to directions on package; pour over coconut and pecans. With mixer, mix together powdered sugar, cream cheese and butter. Drop by spoonfuls over cake mix. Bake at 350ºF until cake is done. Cool in pan about 5 minutes, turn onto serving platter. Peel off the waxed paper. Serve either warm or cold. The following recipe was displayed as part of our hospital décor for fall. I have made it several times, and everyone always enjoys it. Delicious Apple Pie Cheesecake 2 medium to large Granny Smith apples, peeled cored and sliced (you may take steps to prevent the apples from darkening, but I do not feel it’s necessary) * 1/3 cup granulated sugar ½ to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 package (8-oz) cream cheese at room temperature ¼ cup granulated sugar 1 large egg (lightly beaten) ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1 prepared graham cracker crust (10-inch) ** 1/3 cup quick cooking oatmeal (not instant) Preheat oven to 375ºF. Whisk 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese ¼ cup sugar together in a bowl until smooth, add egg and vanilla and mix until evenly combined. Place apples in the graham cracker crust, sprinkle sugar/cinnamon mixture over apples, sprinkle oatmeal over sugar/cinnamon mixture. Pour and spread cream cheese mixture overall. Bake in preheated oven until top is just beginning to brown, about 40 minutes. (If it seems to be browning too quickly, turn the heat down to 350ºF). Cool on wire rack for 1 to 2 hours, refrigerate until completely set, 3 to 4 hours. Also, if you rinse the apple slices with lemon juice/water or lemon-lime soda, be sure to drain them well before using. **I haven’t tried it, but I feel that a 9-inch crust would work just fine, because the apples settle a bit as they bake.
We got some new chickens so it’s been kind of egg-citing around our house to say the least. These hens have a mind of their own, that’s for sure. We have our fake ceramic eggs and plans, making little nesting boxes for them to lay eggs, but they have other ideas. They are flying up to roost in our trees at night, and then getting all sorts of creative when it comes to finding a spot to lay their eggs. So far we’ve found 6 eggs, out of what I estimate to be 18 eggs hidden in our field, based on each hen laying 1 egg a day. So I guess that makes the score about 6 to 12, hens winning. I’m a little exhausted of this non-stop Easter egg hunt, but Tucker is loving every minute of it. He even insisted that we make a “treasure map” of our property, showing where all the eggs we found were hidden. It’s a pretty confusing map so far!
South Texas weather has recently again shown its “diversity” by going from below 20 to near 80+ in the span of under a week. We went from worrying about frozen pipes to thinking about heat stroke. Go figure! I was doing a late morning to noon hunt for turkeys with no success. After a quick lunch my guest and I settled into our spots again and proceeded to begin the afternoon “deer blind sauna” experience one more time. While I had carefully sprayed down with scent killer before leaving the truck, by the time the deer started moving out of the thick brush, it was near sundown and the NW wind had not done much good in cooling the interior temp. of the metal enclosure I had been sitting in. Several does and yearlings plus a fine 4.5-year-old 8 pointer were feeding along the food plot edge, with the buck pestering the girls. They seemed uninterested in his attention and preferred the corn spread out by the game feeder. Another buck, younger by a year, but with an impressive 10-point typical rack sneaked out and began feeding in a pattern that was going to take him directly down wind from where I sat. This was opposite the direction of the rest of the deer before me. At the exact moment his movement brought him to the very edge of where my scent was blowing, his head popped up like a jack in the box clown, and he started looking in my direction. Knowing the buck was off limits in my management practice of letting them grow to at least 5 years of age before even considering them as “shooters”, I was sitting very still and focused on his reaction. He instinctively knew something “stinky” was somewhere around and while not in a panic, quickly reversed his course and in less than 30 seconds was lost again in the thick brush of La Brasada. I guess my scent removal approach had worn off courtesy of the warm temperature in the blind. While that deer was in absolutely no danger of me that day, I was reminded how well The Good Lord has provided for their safety by giving them such a keen sense of smell. He did not know WHO I was, or exactly WHERE I was, but quickly had connected WHAT I was, and high tailed it to someplace far safer than being exposed out in the open.
Last week your Lytle PD officers handled 57 calls for service and conducted 86 traffic stops. Officers issued 75 citations with 11 warnings. Arrests: Officers only had one arrest last week. Ofc. J. Cortez stopped a vehicle on Main St. for speeding and determined the driver to be intoxicated. He was arrested for DWI. He was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. Property Crimes (5 reported): #1 – A mini-storage unit on S. Somerset St. was burglarized. The victim reported that 5 inflatable Halloween decorations were taken, valued at $500. #2 – The construction company doing site work on the Rosewood Subdivision (on FM 2790) reported a $50,000 Caterpillar wheel loader was taken. They were tracking it on GPS, which was found abandoned on Smith Road in Bexar Co. before we could even finish the report. #3 – A person staying at the hotel reported that a window to their vehicle was broken out, and nothing was missing from inside. #4 – A business owner in the 15000 blk. of Main St. reported that a security light was “shot” out. #5 – Officers observed a vehicle with two open doors on Houston St. Contact was made with the owner, who stated a “junk box” was taken and they didn’t want to file any report. I love it when criminals steal worthless items. In other news …. It looks like the Adoption event at the Lytle Animal Care and Control center was a success. It appears that 7 dogs and 1 cat found new homes! One dog also found a foster home as well. I stopped by the event for a few minutes and saw that our city animal control staff as well as volunteers from Lytle Animal Allies were really busy answering questions and showcasing the animals. They had a bake sale going on too. I was able to resist, but Sgt. David Lopez opted for a brownie. Hit and run! On Friday night, Ofc. Luis Diaz was patrolling Live Oak St. when out of nowhere a deer tried to jump over the hood of our police Dodge Charger. Luis was surprised, to say the least, the dashcam didn’t record what he said, that’s probably a good thing. His windshield was busted out but other than that there was no damage! The deer just slid across the hood and kept on going. We feel that was just a random incident, we have no credible information to lead us to believe that this was a planned attack on a police vehicle by members of DAPA (Deer Anti-Police Association). Last Wednesday I celebrated my 23rd wedding anniversary! My wife has been on this police chief journey with me for a long time. That journey has included; lots of missed plans because of work emergencies, tons of phone calls that roll in 24/7, and of course the general stress of this type of work. My kids have been along for a lot of the ride as well and they too have stories to tell. I am blessed to be married to a strong Christian woman who has done more than her share to take care of my family while I am trying to take care of Lytle. I worked this weekend and it sure was nice to see a lot of people outside, the weather was really nice. During the heat of the summer, people stayed inside. You could drive down street after street and the only people you would see, if you were lucky, was somebody going from their vehicle to the house at a brisk pace. It was like we enacted a daytime, severe heat curfew and included a provision prohibiting rain.
Aint rained out in the Black Creek vicinity since December 18th. Some you folks are leaving rain outta your prayers. Almost time to pay your annual rent for the privilege of living in Medina County. Mine comes to $9.17 a day…every day. Thanks to last year’s vote, County taxes are now frozen for those of us over 65. Still high due to the Appraisal but, what are you gonna do? Pay them or give it to the County and let them sell it for less than it’s worth or defer your taxes and let them have it when you die? Last week’s Agenda for Commissioners Court was not very interesting with vacating and replatting taking center stage. Don’t think I’ll go watch unless there is something interesting on tap. Lost a good man last week that was a positive influence on your kids…mine don’t go to school here anymore. Jacob Sanchez touched those he taught and will definitely be missed. Those who were the recipient of his efforts will never forget his influence on their lives. Need a lot more like him. Retirement is good so far. I try to get at least one task completed every day. If not, I am free to put it off until tomorrow. After trimming trees for a couple of days, I woke up at 6 but, knowing I didn’t have to get up, I went back to sleep and slept till 9..felt good but, wasted most of the day. And no, Sandy don’t have a list of things to do…I got a list of things that I’d like to do but, sometimes I change priorities. Don’t know what your City has on its long range plans but, it would be good to resurrect some old ideas like…sidewalks on the other side of SH 173 or changing the name of that road to something more Devine like. But, that’s not my problem. I’m kinda like Bob Bendele and seeing the word “Hondo” on the front of our High School is kinda tough to look at. I would be in favor of the idea. KK has decided to let me continue to write for the paper and I’ll try to do the same bi-monthly entry and keep an eye on County (maybe some City) happenings. Danny Lawler has taken over as your Commissioner and I do believe that he is going to do good things for us in that Office. Says he’s gonna keep some of the services like tire disposal and assisting the Cities of Devine and Natalia.
To say this past week was hectic would be a bit of an understatement! For a couple of days, I felt as if I were a dog chasing his tail. The funeral for my brother-in-law was on Thursday, with the rosary service the evening before. Everything was beautiful and very well organized, as my sister and her daughters did a wonderful job, even with a few obstacles being encountered. There was not a whole lot I could other than be there for some moral support. Friday was our Hospital Auxiliary annual awards banquet, I had plenty of help, and luckily a lot of things were already finished beforehand. Several of us went to the meeting room we were using at a local church and started covering tables and working on centerpieces, and as the old saying goes “many hands make light work”, we had it finished in plenty of time. And, of course, as with anything of this type, we had a couple of glitches that worked out just fine. The food was catered by a nearby restaurant, and as always it was very good. When is the last time you ate beets? Have you ever eaten beets; did you like them? Most of us never think of whether we like beets or not, right? We just look at them in their cans on the shelf and think, “they’re sure a pretty color, but what would I do with them?” Or, if we see them on a salad bar, we just ignore them because we have never tried them and probably don’t want too! They seem to be either increasing in popularity, or either they’re just being advertised more, as they are one of the featured items in my current issue of Cooks, Illustrated®. Their recipe is for borscht, a soup very common in the Ukraine. It looks interesting; however, it also looks as if it is quite a bit of work! Since I was raised during the WWII years, with grandparents who had gardens and a Dad who worked in a grocery store, I learned to eat beets. They do taste good if they are fixed correctly, even if they come out of a can. Just straight from the can, they don’t taste very good and when you look at them in the produce aisle at the grocery store or a farmers’ market, you thought is “how on earth would you cook something like that?” So, today, to clear up a little of the mystery about beets, I will tell you a little bit about them. My information is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. There are many varieties of beets that include the leafy varieties called chard and spinach beet, the beetroot or garden beet and also the sugar beet that is used to make table sugar. All of the cultivated varieties are in the subspecies Beta vulgaris subp. vulgaris, while Beta vulgaris subp. martima, the common name for the sea beet, is the wild ancestor of these. The history of the beet goes back to the second millennium BC. It was probably domesticated along the Mediterranean, and later spread to Babylonia by the 8th century BC and from there as far toward the east as China by 850 AD. Evidence shows that the leafy varieties were most widely cultivated for much of its history. However, much later they lost some of their popularity with the introduction of spinach. Beets became very important commercially in the 19th century in Europe, after the development of the sugar beet in Germany, when it was discovered that sucrose could be extracted from them. This discovery provided an alternative to the tropical sugar cane and to this day, beets remain a widely cultivated commercial crop for producing table sugar. To cook beets at home after purchasing them from the store or from a farmers’ market, you scrub them well, place them in a pot, cover them with water and cook them until they are done. The peels will slip off just as the peels from peaches and tomatoes come off when they are dipped into boiling water. After they are cooked, they can be eaten as a hot dish with butter, they can be pickled and chilled and eaten cold as a condiment, (and this is the most common way they are eaten in our areas), or they can be shredded raw and eaten as a salad. The pickled beets are a traditional food of the American South and believe it or not, according to the information I have, in Australia and New Zealand, it is common for sliced, pickled beets to be served on a hamburger. A traditional dish of the Pennsylvania Dutch is to use the left-over pickling liquid and place hard cooked eggs in it and store in the fridge until the eggs turn a deep pink/red color. While I was in this site, I also looked up “beet recipes” and many were for salads with the addition of feta, blue or goat cheese. Many of them also had lime, orange or lemon juice as an addition, along with arugula, water cress, shallots, apples and the list goes on and on. In checking through cookbooks, I found recipes using beets in cakes and cookies, which seems a really sneaky way to get you family to eat a dish they might tell you they don’t like. As for myself, I have eaten them prepared with a thickened sauce, (Harvard beets), as well as just plain with butter, salt and pepper, but my favorite, if I am going to eat beets, is pickled. When I lived in Devine, especially when the children were small, my grandma and aunt from La Coste and I would can beets. We cooked the beets, peeled them and cut them into chunks or slices, made up a hot mixture of vinegar, sugar and the liquid from cooking the beets and placed them in quart jars, sealed them shut and I truly don’t remember if we processed them or not, as too many years have gone by. Also, in later years, a friend, who had a big garden, would pick the leaves of the plants when they were small and cook them just as you would cook spinach. They were good served this way. Pickled Beets 2 or 3 cans sliced beets (can use the cut pieces or quarters if desired) Equal parts, sugar, vinegar, liquid Open the cans and drain the liquid from the beets and set aside. Place the beets in a bowl and set aside. Measure out 1 cup sugar, 1 cup of the beet liquid or water, and ¾ to 1 cup vinegar, place in a pot and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and then pour over the beets in the bowl. Chill thoroughly before serving. This is how my grandma made her pickled beets. Many cooks do not heat the mixture, they just stir until the sugar is dissolved and pour it over the beets, and still others add pickling spices to the mixture; it truly is a matter of personal preference. Harvard Beets 2 cans sliced beets, drained and liquid set aside ½ cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons corn starch ¼ cup vinegar ¼ cup beet liquid 2 tablespoons cooking oil Combine sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, beet liquid and oil and bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the beets and cook at simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Now, I know I mentioned a cake made with beets, and, I found recipes for sauerkraut cake, poppy seed cake, carrot cake, potato cake, wacky cake, pork cake, watermelon cake and all sorts of other cakes using vegetables and/or fruits but could not find the one using beets. It was called, of all things, “Beatnick Cake”, but without spending several hours going through cookbooks, I can’t find it this morning! Believe it or not, here it is ten or twelve years down the line, and I decided to use this column about beets again, and in the cookbook made by the women of the Moore Library Committee, I found the “Beatnik Cake”! The ladies on the committee were Octavia Jones, Chairman; Alice Terry, Betty Gentry, Wanda Salzman and Ann Wofford. Beatnik Cake Laura Petri 1½ cups ground beets ½ teaspoon baking soda 1½ cups sugar 1¼ cups cooking oil 1 7/8 cups flour ¾ teaspoon salt 3 eggs ½ teaspoon vanilla 6 tablespoons cocoa 1 teaspoon lard Cream sugar, egg, and oil. Add beets, cocoa, lard, flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Bake in a loaf pan. Ice with favorite icing. (It does not say whether the beets should be cooked or not. However, since I’ve been seeing recipes using beets recently and they are shredding them raw for salads, that could be the way you would use them. I can’t quite see grinding a cooked beet, the texture is similar to cooked carrots).
Okay, this just might be a record; our officers only handled 33 calls for service last week! In their spare time officers conducted 100 traffic stops, those stops resulted in 81 citations and 19 warnings. Property Crimes: It looks like we only had one report last week; it was a shoplifter at H.E.B. Plus. A female made off with approx. $30 worth of cosmetics. It looks like our criminal element is off to a slow start for 2023. Arrests: Only one arrest last week too! A concerned citizen reported a reckless driver on Main St. and officers located the vehicle and observed him travel in the wrong lane of traffic on Benton City Rd. The driver was arrested for DWI and booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail. I have lots of information to share this week, so here we go: Our friends over at Lytle Animal Care and Control have a big adoption event planned for Saturday, January 14th. The event will be held at their facility (17971 W. FM 2790 South) from 10 AM-2 PM. Special pricing too! $25 includes spay/neuter, rabies vaccine, and a microchip. In a world where prices have skyrocketed, this is a really good deal. If you are looking to provide a dog or cat with a forever home, this is a great opportunity. Be sure and tell your friends and family about this event, as far as I know, the special pricing is valid for this Saturday only. Our friends at City Hall are firing back up the Quarterly Senior Citizen meeting and luncheon. The first one of this year will be on Thursday, January 19th at noon. This is a great opportunity for our senior citizens to meet, fellowship, and eat. Come see some old friends or make some new ones. The event is held at the Horace Fincher Center on Priest Blvd. Please RSVP by 3 PM on Monday, January 16, to Paola Rios at city hall by email (paola.rios@lytletx.org) or call 830-709-3692 Ext. 109. It’s open to Lytle Residents; I’m not even going to ask what age makes you a senior citizen. You can contact city hall for that info. I will wait to see what’s on the menu, if it looks good, I may “con” my mom into picking up a plate for me. It wouldn’t be a complete weekly report if I didn’t include some sort of traffic/construction update. So, here it is (this is “big” so pay attention): Starting on Wednesday, January 11th, the southbound access/frontage road from FM 2790 to FM 3175 will convert to one-way. It will be southbound only. To put it like a guy like me understands “The road in front of Bill Millers BBQ will be one-way, going south only…like towards Natalia”. This isn’t permanent; it’s just during the construction which will take several months. We have been dealing with this on the opposite side of the interstate but the traffic flow over there is much less. I am sure it will be interesting. On the bright side, the access roads will be much nicer once all this work is done, I hope I’m still alive to see it completed. I was out sick most of last week. I spent a few days in bed and then slowly began to recover. Mostly a sore throat, congestion, and tired. I got worried for a little bit; I thought I was like old Bill Murray in that Groundhog Day movie from the early 90s. (He is caught in a time loop and relives the same day over and over.) That’s because every time I woke up and checked the news for several days it was the same thing…. they were taking a vote on the Speaker of the House. Until next week
My son insisted on a rather odd snack last week. “I want some pickles and syrup,” he said with big eyes, shaking his head up and down like he was preparing for the most awesome thing. “Are you sure?” I asked, thinking he wouldn’t take more than one bite. Boy was I wrong. Yesterday he asked for the same thing, only he added blueberries to his request. Blueberries, pickles and syrup. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. “Mmmmm!” he exclaimed, “That’s good!” Well if you are feeling adventurous, you have a new recipe to add to your menu. I am confident not many of you have tried it!
