Category: Commentary

School Time

The long, hot “dog days” of August are with us! It’s still hot and dry and almost no rain, other than the occasional shower. Most gardens in my area have either been plowed under or the wilted plants have been tossed to a compost heap, with the exception of a few okra plants left standing. Fresh tomatoes, squash and beans are just a pleasant memory, and we begin a new season. (Yes, it’s still officially summer, but…)

School is about to begin after what seems a really short summer break, so you need to remember the rules of driving in school zones. If you come up on a school bus and the lights are flashing, STOP! Do not pass a school bus that is loading or unloading students. Those flashing lights and that stop sign are a sure indicator that the bus is doing something important; it is either picking up children before school or delivering them home after school. Always remember, children don’t always look where they are going or what they are doing, so we, as adults, have to be more aware of what is going on, even if it is something unexpected.

Please, do not forget that 20-MPH is the speed limit in and around schools. The school speed limit on Windy Knoll exists from Park St. to just past Fay Ave. It is very well marked. On Hwy. 173, the speed limit is 30 MPH when the lights are flashing.

If you see children riding bicycles, slow down, they don’t always look before crossing streets or coming out from behind parked cars. And, last, but by no means least, always make sure everyone in the car is wearing their seat belt and small children are restrained according to their weight or height.

Here are a couple of light summer-time salads for you to try!

Light Chicken Salad

3 or 4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced

1 large Granny Smith apple, chopped

2/3 cup finely diced celery

1/3 cup sweet pickle relish

1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

2 to 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Enough light mayonnaise to moisten

Cook chicken breasts in water seasoned with salt and a small amount of onion and celery, cool until you can handle the meat, remove skin and bones and cut into small pieces.

Wash the apple, and cut it up, and add to the chicken, add remaining ingredients along with enough light mayonnaise to moisten. Serve with crackers, Melba toast or bread rounds.

Cinco de Mayo Chicken Salad

3 cups cooked, diced chicken,

4 sliced green onions, including tops, ( 2 sliced green onions or 1½ Tbs. chopped sweet onion)

½ cup diced green bell pepper, (¼ C.)

1 avocado diced and tossed with lemon juice to prevent discoloration, (1/2 avocado)

½ cup bottled chili sauce (Hunt’s, DelMonte)*, (¼ C.)

4 tablespoons mild picante sauce, (2 Tbs.)

½ teaspoon dry mustard, (¼ tsp.)

½ teaspoon black pepper, (¼ tsp.)

1 teaspoon chili powder, (½ tsp.)

Combine chicken, onions, bell pepper and avocado in mixing bowl. Combine chili sauce, picante sauce, dry mustard, black pepper and chili powder in a bowl and mix well. Pour over chicken mixture until coated thoroughly. Serve with tortilla chips. Garnish with additional avocados if desired. *This is found in the aisle with the ketchup and the store brand (if they have one) is OK also. (Measurements in ( ) are for ½ recipe).

Tortilla Bites

1 package (8-oz) cream cheese at room temperature

½ cup sour cream

½ cup chopped or sliced black olives (drained well)

1 can diced green chilies, (drained)

1 to 1½ teaspoons grated onion

1 tablespoon Gebhardt® Chili Powder

2 cups shredded cheese (can use a mixture of cheddar, Colby Jack, Mexican blend and pepper Jack, depending on how much heat you like). Most people just use cheddar or half cheddar and half pepper Jack.

6 to 8 flour tortillas*

Beat cream cheese until smooth, and blend in sour cream until combined, beat in the olives, chilies, onion and chili powder and mix well. Beat in the cheese until well mixed. Spread the mixture on flour tortillas, to the edge at the top and sides and about ¾ of the way to the bottom. Roll up, place on a plate, seam side town and finish rolling remaining tortillas. Cover and chill thoroughly, then cut crosswise into slices about ½ to ¾-inches thick. (Taste the mixture and if you feel you need a little more ‘bite’ add a couple splashes of Tabasco® or a finely diced fresh jalapeno pepper, before spreading on the tortillas). *How many you use depends on how thickly you spread the mixture!

For a slightly different version, leave out the green chilies, olives and onion and substitute ½ to ¾ cup French onion dip for the sour cream.

We got through last week with only 39 calls for service! Officers conducted 69 traffic stops. Of those stops, 63 were citations and 6 were warnings.
There was only one person arrested last week. Ofc. L. Diaz conducted a traffic stop on Main St. and determined the driver had an active warrant out of Bexar Co. for Driving While License Invalid. The suspect was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail.
There were two property crimes reported. #1 – A complainant called the PD to report that they lost a money clip with $134 while at the H.E.B. Plus. With current prices, you could almost fill up one of those red, handheld baskets with $134. #2 – A hotel customer reported that someone tried to break into his pickup, they were unsuccessful but did damage the door handle. That means it was a rookie car burglar, perhaps in the initial stages of training.
Also in the news……Officers recovered a 2004 Kenworth truck that was stolen in Carrizo Springs. It was dumped in a field near Lytle State Bank. In another incident officers recovered a set of stolen license plates; they had been reported stolen to Bexar Co.
In the early morning hours (2:22 AM) of Monday, August 8, officers S. Pena and J. Cortez responded to a report of shots fired at a residence in the 14700 blk of Railroad St. Officers arrived and determined that none of the occupants were injured. It is believed that at least 6 rounds were fired from a handgun. This does not appear to be a random incident and the case is under investigation.
I, along with Ofc. D. Lopez and Cpl. D. Robison, attended Lytle ISD’s annual convocation. We set up a booth and gave out freebies to the staff of Lytle ISD. There was a huge turnout of booths from local organizations and businesses. I made myself available for photos so they could remember the special occasion. I must admit, I didn’t even know the definition of convocation until this guy named Clouser from the Lytle VFW told me, and I think his wife told him. I will tell you there was an abundance of positive energy among all those staff members. They will need all that energy once the kids start back this week. I would think we have a solid school system, if not I can’t imagine why all these subdivisions are being developed here. Having a cool Chief of Police can only go so far.
On a personal note…. I took off last Tuesday and headed down to Rockport with the family for a quick beach outing. We had a great lunch in Sinton at the Back Street Café. I had hoped it would be a Back Street Boys-themed restaurant, but they didn’t have a single poster up. What they did have was complimentary beans and cornbread, a staple for me as a young child growing up in the Free State of Van Zandt.
The kids will be back in school starting this Thursday! So, more traffic and more congestion. I ask everyone to be patient, the first few days are rough, but it gets “less rough” as the year goes on. You might see an increased police presence around the schools, don’t be alarmed. Officers are just trying to keep our school community safe. When the weather cools off, we might even get out of our patrol cars and walk around.

Location

A few years ago, we moved to New Braunfels “Up The Hill”, as the locals call it, from Landa Park. For a while I mourned the “loss” of the acres we had in Spring Branch with the wide variety of wildlife that came around most every morning and evening.
But gradually I have come to appreciate the benefits of our decision and agree now it was a wise choice. That realization was further cemented today when I drove through the 122 acres of pretty close to heaven, where the Comal Springs, Comal Lake, and the Comal River all come together.
It is such a beautiful piece of land with HUGE oaks and green grass. The “resident deer herd” are much gentler than some of the cow dogs I have known down in La Brasada. And while it can get sure enough crowded on weekends and holidays, the place is a real sanctuary in the early morning hours with more wildlife than people around.
That reminder got me to thinking that it is pretty easy to be at peace in such a location. But I have known some very contented individuals in spots far less wonderful than that. When I was upset about something as a child, My Granny, Della Fischer Rosenauer, would tell me “You have two choices in life. Either change your outlook or your stomping grounds”.
I did not much understand or enjoy that admonition in those days, but sure see the wisdom now. During my years in Higher Education at the different institutions where I worked, many former military people came my way as an Advisor and Professor. Some lived in a number of places that were FAR less wonderful than Landa Park. Yet they still could talk about the great people they met, and the fine things they were exposed to during their tours of duty.
It got me to remembering about another saying that was often used in my “circle” of friends and family when growing up. “It is the strong and wise person that can learn how to bloom wherever they find themselves planted”.
I reckon in my backwoods way of looking at life, even in today’s time of severe drought, I am fortunate to have a little piece of La Brasada that I can wander around over and find some joy, if only I look for it in the proper way. And also get to be around Landa Park when desired.
Not too sure if that is wisdom sneaking into this old brain, or just an admission of the obvious. But whatever the source, it seems to be the correct way to look at life from the location I am standing.

The Family Dinner

I was watching a late night old TV show, and as it ended, there was a pretty shot of a family sitting around the dinner table laughing and eating together. The camera had zoomed out and it was showing the sweet scene from outside the window panes, looking in. It got me to thinking about how long it had been since we rounded up our kids and had a family dinner around the dinner table.
Somehow, that notion just kind of slipped through the cracks lately. We have definitely been eating around the TV more than the table lately. That’s got to change. Without looking up any statistics, I think we can all confidently admit that we don’t gather around the dinner table often enough.
I heard something the other day that really struck me. If you have a 12 year old daughter or son, did you realize that there are only about 300 weekends left before they turn 18? Isn’t that crazy? That’s about 2,000 family dinners. Doesn’t sound like so long at all when you look at it that way.
So this past week, I enlisted the support of my prince and asked him if we could start turning off the TV and sitting around the table for dinner, and he quickly agreed.
It’s hard enough to get the house cleaned and dinner cooked, let alone get everyone together at the same time, focused on having a family meal together. But I am determined, now more than ever.
I won’t say that my teenager loves the idea. I’ll be honest; the kids were so frustrated about the TV being turned off, etc. that there was more bickering than talking the first night. But we had a pretty nice and funny conversation during last night’s supper, over a lot of smiles. I think family dinner time is growing on them too, though they still don’t want to admit it.
I know it will never be as peaceful and picturesque as that scene of the family through the window pane of that movie, but it will be in my memories, I’m sure.
With our phones containing the whole world at our fingertips, and endless entertainment, and TVs with streaming services containing every movie and TV show ever made, there are plenty of distractions in our home….pulling us away from the good stuff. I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to the magnetic field seemingly surrounding my phone. But when I purposely set down my phone and don’t touch it, nor the TV all day, I feel so much better.
An electronic-free day is almost as good as a day at the beach. Can we just knock down all the cell phone towers? I’m so over it. Every now and then we go on a vacation where there is little to no cell service, and it is truly SO NICE.
What if there was a 2 hour time slot that was electronic-free every day? I bet we’d find ourselves having more family dinners.

Lets have some sugar-free desserts

OK, folks, we’re back to the “same-old, same old”, there isn’t a measurable amount of rain, just a couple of quick showers today. I was working at our church picnic and realized some folks were coming in with their shirts wet….yep, it rained a little. When I came to Devine a couple of weeks ago, all you could see was dry land and still more dry land, the only green things around were several cotton fields that are irrigated, and not too many of those. The prickly pear cactus have red tunas (pear apples?), on them, but the cactus themselves are as flat as they can be and obviously need water.
The picnic was great, I worked in the “country store”, which is really more of a jumble sale than anything else, we had all sorts of stuff, as well as our 100 bags of the noodles we made a couple of weeks ago, they all sold before 1:00 p.m. The food was good, I just still have a problem with picnic stew, sausage, sauerkraut, seasoned green beans and potatoes, rather than BBQ, pinto beans and potato salad! (Please italicize: Prunus persica and also P. Persica. My computer won’t let me do that!)/
Have you been noticing nectarines in the produce section of the grocery store? What do they look like to you? Do you know what they are? Since I had been noticing them in the store and purchased them a couple of times, I decided to find out what they really were. Someone had told me they were a peach/plum combination, but I never knew for sure. They taste pretty much like a peach as far as I am concerned! The following is what I was able to find on the Internet. After checking out several sites that all gave me pretty much the same information, I sort of combined several articles to get this article.
Basically, according to what I was able to find, a nectarine is a peach without fuzz! They are not a combination of a peach and a plum as some folks think. Nectarines have juicy, peach colored flesh and the seed is very similar to that of a peach but without the “fuzzy” complexion. You can tell peaches and nectarines are similar because peaches are of the genus Prunus persica and nectarines are P. persica. They most probably originated in China over 2,000 years ago and were cultivated in ancient Persia, Greece and Rome. The word “nectarine” means sweet, as nectar, and this is probably the obvious origin of the name.
Nectarines can be eaten out of hand just as you would a peach, they can be cut up and used in fruit salad, cooked, dried or however you want to serve them. According to one of the sources, they are delicious in ice cream and sorbet, as well as cakes and pies. There are about ten varieties that are widely grown for market. If you purchase nectarines, look for fruit that is firm but not hard, with a bright deep coloring. Avoid fruit with wrinkled skin or spots that could show evidence of decay. Hard nectarines will ripen at room temperature, to speed the process, place them in a bag with an unripe banana.
To peel them, cut an X in the bottom end and dip the fruit in boiling water, just as you would a peach or a tomato. Their smooth skin is edible, but most folks would probably prefer to peel them.
I know the following desserts have absolutely nothing to do with nectarines, but since I don’t have any nectarine recipes in my files, I decided to give you something else instead and just hope you will enjoy all of them.
This recipe was in my files and since someone just asked about diabetic recipes and said she was craving sweets, hopefully it will help her a little bit.
Diabetics Delight
1 box yellow cake mix (now that sugar-free cake mixes are available, you might consider trying one in this recipe)
12 oz. diet soda (Sprite Zero® or your choice)
1 can crushed pineapple (16-oz size) (divided use)
1 large tub Cool Whip®, sugar free
1 large box of sugar-free vanilla instant pudding
Empty cake mix into large bowl, add diet soda and mix well. Then add ½ can of crushed pineapple and stir well. Pour into 9×12 pan that you have lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake as directed on package. While the cake is baking, mix the Cool Whip®, the remaining crushed pineapple and the pudding together and stir well. Chill thoroughly. When the cake has finished baking and has cooled, spread the Cool Whip® mixture over the top. Cut into squares to serve. Makes 12 to 15 servings.
Recently, for a get-together here in Yoakum, I served my version of a cake that was served at our bunco in Devine a sometime ago. It was a beautiful and colorful cake of three layers, each one with a different flavor of gelatin in the batter and was really delicious. The original recipe called for three boxes of white cake mix, but since I wanted a smaller cake, I used only two boxes, and rather than white cake mix, I used yellow because I felt the color would be more intense, and, since there are several diabetics in my group, I wanted to make it as sugar free as possible so they could enjoy it also
The rest of the story is that this week, when we went to the venue where we have our meeting, the clerk asked me who had made the dessert a couple of weeks before, since I had shared with the staff. After admitting I had made the dessert, she told me it was absolutely wonderful, which of course made me feel pretty good! When I told her it was almost totally sugar free, she didn’t want to believe me at all and kept telling me “He is not going to believe this at all”, meaning the owner of the venue. So, here is the recipe for y’all to try.
Joyce’s Fruity Jell-o® Cake
(Read all instructions before beginning to make cakes)
2 boxes Pillsbury®, sugar free yellow cake mix (16-oz boxes) (I think 15.25 is now standard and that is fine.
Ingredients as required for making both cakes
1 small box, sugar free lime-flavored gelatin
1 small box, sugar free lemon-flavored gelatin
1 small box, sugar free orange flavored gelatin
food coloring (if desired)
flavoring (if desired)
1 carton (8-oz) sugar free whipped topping, thawed
1 small box, sugar free instant vanilla pudding
¾ cup shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
If you have three 9×13 pans, prepare them by greasing and flouring each one. If not, you will have to bake each layer separately. (Leave the unused dough in the bowls in the fridge as the previous one bakes).
Prepare cakes according to package directions, one at a time. Mix dough together in the mixer bowl and then divide into three equal portions, placing two in medium sized bowls and the last one back in your mixing bowl. Add a box of gelatin to each portion and stir well to mix it in. If you want a more intense yellow or green, add a little food coloring, also, if you have orange and lemon extract, it is fine to stir it in also. Pour one batch of batter into the prepared pan and bake according to directions on the box. Since it is a smaller portion of dough, it will bake in about 20 to 25 minutes, rather than the 30 to 35 listed on the box. Remove cake from pan and allow each layer to cool completely.
Filling/frosting:
Mix together the whipped topping and the vanilla pudding, and stir in the coconut.
Use a cookie sheet (covered with foil if desired), and place one cooled layer on it, top with 1/3 of the frosting mix, add another cake layer, top with 1/3 of the frosting, add the third layer and top with the remaining frosting. It does not matter in which order you layer the cakes. Trim off the edges so you can see the beautiful layers and it is ready to serve. Store in the fridge. It will keep for several days in the fridge and the addition of the pudding to the whipped topping seems to stabilize it and keep it from disappearing.

Full Brain Power

Our call volume headed back up a little this week. Officers handled 57 calls for service and conducted 68 traffic stops. Those 68 stops resulted in 59 citations and 9 warnings.
There is a lot of stuff to steal around here, but we only had one property crime reported. A man walked out of H.E.B. Plus with about $30 worth of alcohol. He took off into the woods behind the store. Ofc. Luis Diaz tracked him a good bit until he lost him. As hot as it is I would have probably given up and jumped in the back of the air-conditioned patrol car.
Officers arrested two people last week, well we actually arrested one person once and another fellow we arrested twice. The first arrest occurred on Wisdom Road @ Norvell St. Officers stopped a bicyclist for not having lights on his bike. The peddler had an active felony warrant out of Bexar Co. for credit/debit card abuse. The second arrest occurred at a domestic disturbance on Bruce St. The suspect was booked on a charge of assault causing bodily injury to a family member, this occurred on July 31. The same suspect participated in another incident that occurred on July 27 and officers were working to get warrants (4) on that situation. The warrants were obtained, and the suspect was served while he was still in jail. Those charges include a felony of endangering a child.
Overall, it wasn’t that busy of a week. It was nice because we could spend some time catching up on other cases.
We had about 3 pursuits from the south that either came into town or terminated just south of us. On one occasion, the vehicle came to a stop behind TXN Bank, and the occupants fled on foot. Another one ended just short of the city and 20 unauthorized immigrants fled on foot. Another pursuit from Frio Co. fizzled out before they got here. There is a genuine problem with human smuggling no doubt.
My primary focus is keeping Lytle safe, and my mind is always looking for ideas. Our Mayor, Ruben Gonzalez, beat me to it last week. He came up with the idea of using signs to deter the pursuits. We could have a “flipper” on them that would change the signs to make it appear you are headed south. When officers are notified of a pursuit, they open an app on their phone and remotely “flip” the signs. Those being pursued think they are headed in the wrong direction and turn around, thereby avoiding our city. I am sure that TXDOT would have issues with it, but I thought it was a clever idea. In conclusion, citizens should rest easy knowing that they have the full brain power of the Mayor and me working 24/7 365 days a year on their behalf.

Leftovers…. made over!

This past week was a busy one…aren’t they usually? Monday evening, I was invited to a bunco club my sister belongs to, as they needed a substitute. It was a lot of fun as I knew almost everyone there, however, even though I didn’t win, the lady had gifts for all of us and I got a really awesome wallet! I need a new one but haven’t been able to find the type I wanted, so this is great for me. Tuesday was my afternoon for duty in the hospital gift shop. It wasn’t very busy, but I did have a few sales, (at least half of them were things I bought), but sales are sales. Wednesday morning, I headed to Devine and had an awesome time with my little great-grandsons and their new baby sister who now live in that area. We visited, had lunch and read Pete the Cat books. They loved it and I enjoyed myself immensely. That afternoon, I went to the next town, where my daughter was with two of her granddaughters and had some more fun interacting with them, and that evening, we went to bunco. Yep, got lucky, all three of us family members won prizes. Thursday my daughter and I went back to visit a little more with the two great-granddaughters and then on to lunch with my son in Hondo. I came home on Friday, and sort of relaxed that afternoon and evening; and then on Saturday, helped make noodles at church that will be sold at our picnic that is coming up soon. There were about 18 to 20 of us working at various stations, as there are several steps, and we used a case of eggs as well as another ten or twelve dozen, and about 90 to 100 pounds of flour. Now, it’s Saturday evening and quiet time for me. The ‘busy’ week was wonderful, and I enjoyed every minute of it, especially the time I got to spend with the great-grandchildren.
One night when my company was with me, we had hamburgers. I had a package of the pre-made patties in the freezer and we cooked them, then, the leftovers went into the fridge and the next meal we made something else, as we are prone to do. A couple of days later at lunch, I decided to do something a little different with the patties; they had been seasoned lightly as we have several members of the family who go very easy on the salt, and these patties don’t always taste great reheated, so, I cut them into pieces and following the directions for a pepper steak that is served with noodles instead of rice, used them to make the dish. Everyone said it was good and that I had a winner. If desired, you can use the pre-cooked frozen patties and prepare everything the same way. This is delicious also.
Another way to use the patties is make them into Salisbury Steak. Leave them whole, put a little oil into a skillet and slice a medium sized onion into the oil. Cook until the onion is transparent and then using a package of Pioneer® Brown Gravy mix, follow the directions on the package and make the gravy in the pan with the onions. When it has thickened, add the patties, turning them to coat with the gravy. Heat them over medium heat and when they are heated through, stir in a well-drained can of sliced mushrooms. This is served over either cooked rice or mashed potatoes and is delicious as well as being quick and easy to do.
Following is the recipe for the pepper steak that is served with noodles.
Pepper Steak with Cheesey Noodles
2 to 3 Tbs. cooking oil
6 pre-cooked hamburger patties cut into 6-pieces each
1/2 cup sliced onion
2 medium green bell peppers cut into julienne strips
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 can tomatoes (16-oz) whole tomatoes, broken or mashed up
1 beef bouillon cube
1 Tbs. cornstarch
2 Tbs. water
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups cooked, wide egg noodles
1 cup shredded cheese (your choice, American, Cheddar or Colby Jack)
Cut each patty into 6 pieces; set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet and add peppers, onion and garlic; cook and stir for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the meat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes; add the tomatoes and bouillon cube; simmer, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Mix together cornstarch, water, soy sauce and sugar; add to meat mixture, stirring constantly until thickened. Cook an additional 5 to 6 minutes. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain well and stir in the cheese until melted. Serve the meat mixture over the hot noodles.
The following cookies are fun to make with children or grandchildren, or, in my case, great-grandchildren, they really enjoy helping roll these. The first time we made them, we used chocolate fudge cake mix and stirred in about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mini-chocolate chips.
Cookies
1 box cake mix (any flavor you like)
1/2 of an 8-ounce carton whipped topping (thawed)
1 egg
Powdered sugar to roll the cookies in.
(No amount was given, but you can start with a 1 cup or 1½ cups).
Break egg into a bowl and beat with a fork to mix it up. Using a knife or a rubber spatula, divide the carton of whipped topping in half and dump into the bowl with the egg. Add the box of dry cake mix and stir to combine, this will be a very stiff dough; roll into balls the size of (unshelled) walnuts. Then roll the balls in the powdered sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 350ºF until done, about 12 to 15 minutes. Since I made these the first time, I’ve learned to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil and when the cookies are done, I just pull the liner off the cookie sheets onto cooling racks. As I mentioned, about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of mini-chocolate chips works well with chocolate cake mix. If you use lemon cake mix, add about 1 teaspoon of lemon extract to the eggs and follow the directions. Chopped nuts can be added if desired, as you’re mixing the dough.

Miss the snow yet?

Just another day closer to rain. Seems to have been that way for quite a while. Miss the snow yet?
Got a report this past week from our Veterans Service Officer indicating that their efforts to better serve our Veterans has been extremely successful. Even though we have lost in our Veteran population (down 24 from our previous number of 4,268) they have had an increase in benefits to the tune of $7.65 million.
Medina County’s participation in the Declaration of Local State of Disaster has been tabled until the Judge can address the language in the proposed Declaration as it had some untruths in it.
I had asked a month or so ago if we, as a County, could freeze taxes for the over 65 group like the School Districts currently do across the state. When I found out that we could, (the Legislation was passed in 2005 by 80% of the voters in Texas) I asked to put it on the Agenda.
I even drafted my Motion the day before the meeting so that there would be no mistake in the meaning. It read “..that Medina County freeze or limit the County taxes paid by homeowners age 65 and over to the tax rate and appraisal value in effect on October 1, 2022. Should the tax rate and/or appraisal cause the tax to be paid by homeowners 65 and over to decrease, then the County taxes owed will be the lesser of the two and frozen at that amount.” Never got to read the Motion…
There was standing room only in the Courtroom and it seemed that the only ones NOT in favor of the proposed Agenda item were sitting at the front of the room in the decision-making chairs. The law allows the County to freeze the taxes by a vote of Commissioners Court but, listening to the discussion it was clear that it would not pass by a vote of Commissioners Court.
Some addressed the issue that they would be voting on an item that would directly benefit them due to their age being 65 or over. I am over 65 and would have no problem voting on something like this that would benefit a large cross section of the residents of Medina County. To me, this argument don’t carry no water..
Anyhow, after some discussion it was decided that we would put this on the ballot in November and let the populace decide instead of taking care of it now. According to Judge Schuchart, we will meet and discuss this and the language to be on the ballot at a future meeting. Had I known this 10 years ago, I would have brought it up then.
I was flooded with calls in favor of this before and after the meeting. I can’t print some of the calls from after the meeting..
I believe that this will pass because if you aint 65 yet…you will be and nowadays, we need all the help we can get. So get ready for November…
The good news is that it is only 125 days until Christmas and 150 days until you have a new Commissioner. I am looking forward to both….

Campout with cousins

My dad and brother invited a gazillion boy cousins over for a campout, fishing, and cattle-working day at the ranch this past weekend, and they had a great time.
My brother caught a big garter snake and proceeded to walk in the house with it to scare me so that was the highlight of the evening for them all I’m sure. They also caught lots of crawdads, frogs and only God knows what else trekking around the tank bank with Uncle Sherm. I doubt I want to know exactly what all they caught. My brother’s sort of like that crocodile hunter guy. Thankfully, we don’t have any of those. Tucker is the youngest of the bunch, and he had so much fun tagging along with his older cousins, who no doubt taught him the ways of the world and just one or two cuss words along the way (accidentally).
When you get a bunch of kids together, they sure ask some funny questions, that’s for sure. It’s a lot of fun to eaves drop.
Some of the teenage girl cousins were there too, and when they all came running up to each other when the third one arrived they shrieked with joy to the high heavens. It was so funny. Cousins are fun.
On the morning after the wild campout, I took a couple of the boys for a horse ride, and they sure loved it. I got my exercise leading the horse around the ranch in the full sun, but their conversations and observations kept me entertained. I love to share the love and joy of a horse with children every time I get the chance. My rides around the ranch meant so much to me.

Some notes about ice!

Well, I could use last week’s column for this week, because not much has changed! The weather is still stiflingly hot, the highs for the day are usually 103ºF to 104º and this is at 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. It’s Saturday, and twice today the sky has clouded over, the wind has picked up and it looked as if we could get some rain…not a drop so far.
My week was quiet, compared to what it has been lately. I only worked the one day in the gift shop and wasn’t too busy, but I did have a pretty good day. My little four-legged friend is visiting for a few days, he always wants either in or out! I am getting plenty of exercise walking back and forth to the doors.
This week, I’ve found out I’m going to be great grandma for the 18th time, and that was just one of the high points of the week. The other on is that I’m going to get to go on a vacation with part of my family and go to NM! I haven’t been in that area in many years and am really looking forward to the trip.
This morning, a group of us that attend the country church, got together and cleaned the pavilion as we will be having breakfast there tomorrow morning after church. We do this on a monthly basis, but this month is special as it is in honor of the saint the church is named after; “St. Ann”, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Prior to the pandemic, we usually had Mass in the afternoon and then served chili dogs or some such thing. Now, we will be doing breakfast, and serving various and sundry casseroles, kolaches, fruit, cake, and other brunch foods. I made a ‘Southern Pecan Praline Cake’ for our meeting last week, and it went over well enough that the president of our group requested that I bring it! Luckily, it’s a pretty simple cake to make. Also, I’ll be making a casserole using shredded hash browns as a base with a really delicious sausage sauce over it, as well as some mini-cinnamon rolls. If it turns out as usual, we’ll have enough food for a small army, hope lots of folks decide to come to early Mass!
According to World Book Encyclopedia, the tiniest snowflake or particle of frost imaginable weighs less than a tiny bird’s feather.
The weight of a glacier is in the billions of pounds.
Glaciers, snowflakes, frost and hail stones are all ice and are formed the same way when the temperature of water and moisture in the air falls below 32ºF, or 0ºC.
Salt, sugar, and alcohol added to water lower the temperature needed to freeze it. This is why alcohol is used in anti-freeze to keep car radiators from freezing.
When frozen, the volume of the water increases by 1/11. This is why ice floats in water and also why jars of liquid in the freezer or water pipes burst when frozen.
Five to ten million dollars of ice is sold in the United States annually.
Most of this ice is made in ice plants where pure water is frozen in vats in blocks weighing 300 to 500 pounds.
In some areas of Canada and the northern parts of the United States, ‘natural ice’ is cut from rivers and lakes and stored in ice houses which are made especially for this purpose.
In or around 1800, ice was first shipped from New York City to Charleston, S.C., and during this time clipper ships carried it to many parts of the world including the West Indies.
The first commercially successful ice making machine was used in Florida in 1851.
An ‘artificial ice’ plant was first set up in New Orleans in 1868, and during this same year, refrigerated railroad cars were built; which meant that more areas of the country could have fresh produce and fresh meat.
I’ve given you various ice cream recipes over time, so I’m not including them today, (other than the one for Big Red Ice Cream) but wanted to remind you how wonderful an old-fashioned Root Beer Float would taste on these hot days, also, we’ve also used Big Red to make the same type of float…have fun, stay cool.
Root Beer Float
1½ cups vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
1½ cups cold root beer
Put two scoops of ice cream in a tall fountain glass and pour in enough cold root beer to cover. Add two more scoops and top again with root beer. Serve with a spoon and straw.
Do you remember the days of going to A&W drive in on Nogalitos St. in San Antonio, and having root beer floats served in frosted mugs? How about the Black Cow on Broadway near Pearl Brewery? Their root beer float was called “Black Cow”, and was also served in a frosted mug. Weren’t those days fun? You can make a Big Read Float this same way, using red soda in place of the root beer! It is delicious.
In case you want to try something different, here is a recipe for Big Red Ice Cream.
Big Red Ice Cream
4 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can (large) evaporated milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 small box (cook type) vanilla pudding mix
1 bottle (2-liter) Big Red soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Mix together eggs, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Stir in sugar and pudding mix and mix well. Add Big Red soda and stir just until mixed. Pour into freezer container and churn until frozen.
This is a fun and slightly different cake to make, my friends and family have always enjoyed it.
Earthquake Cake (aka-German Chocolate Up-side Down Cake)
(Read all instructions before beginning).
1 box German Chocolate cake mix, (along with ingredients to make according to directions)
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
4 cups powdered sugar
1 block cream cheese (8-oz)
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Lightly grease the bottom only of a 9×13 baking pan. Sprinkle pecans and coconut over pan. Mix German chocolate cake according to package directions and pour over coconut and pecans. With mixer, mix together powdered sugar, cream cheese and butter and vanilla. Drop by spoonsful over cake mix. Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes.