Hello to All:
From Maureen:
Fifth Sunday Singing was held at Immanuel Baptist Church in Talpa Sunday evening. The folks enjoyed the different men who led the singing. Also the meal afterwards was very good. The church provided a variety of casseroles and some I didn’t even get to try. I am guessing about 50 were present from all over the county including Harmony, Glen Cove, Leaday, Voss, Valera, Immanuel and others. Watch your paper for the next Fifth Sunday Singing and join the churches for a blessing of singing the old hymns (and some new ones)
It has been a quiet week out here. Everyone seems to be enjoying the mild weather. One evening my neighbor across the road, Esley, called and said that a bunch of goats had escaped their pen and were getting out on highway 67. This is at the dirt road behind Dye’s pasture going toward the railroad. There were two other vehicles stopped and were helping keep the goats off the highway and possibly causing a wreck. Did I know who the goats belonged to? Well, there were a couple of possibilities. I called Linda Dye and asked if her goats were out. She was in San Angelo at the time and Kenneth was out checking his cattle but that they would both be in quickly as possible. Esley said that one of the trucks belonging to guys working on the railroad turned off right there and it drove the goats back toward the railroad. Soon, Kenneth arrived and determined that the goats belonged in a pen just West of them. The goats were herded back in the pen and the gate, which appeared to have been purposely dropped, was put back up. Who would do such a thing? Anyway, the problem was solved. Linda thanked me because when she went in the house, she discovered that her fridge had just stopped working and she still had time to save the contents.
I had noticed that something had been raiding my cat’s food supply. It was knocking the big dry food bag over and eating it and making a mess. Judy was up late one evening and heard a noise and looked out. It was a large opossum making the raid. H.M. loaned me one of his live traps. I set it three nights running and the “raider” would go in and eat the can of cat food left for bait but the trap didn’t trip and close the cage. So, I asked H.M. if he had another trap. Yes sir, he did and I went over and retrieved it. With high expectations, I set the trap on a Friday evening. The next morning I was delighted to see that the trap had slammed shut. But it was not the possum that got trapped , it was a skunk! Using a technique that old Darr Huckaby gave to me, I threw an old discarded shower curtain over the cage and drug it away from the house. Then very carefully opened the trap door and the skunk didn’t spray, he was so happy to get out that he ran away fast as he could. Surely he had learned his lesson. Set the trap again on Saturday night and on Sunday morning there was that skunk again. Let him go again. I think that I will set the trap away from the house and if I can catch that skunk again, he will be deported…with extreme prejudice. However, set the trap Sunday night and on Monday morning, there was that grinning possum in the trap. Got ya now you beggar! You will be deported at least 15 miles away.
That Lake Stacy report from the Corp of Engineers is a hard read. There are some interesting things though. One is the concern over the possible danger to the Concho water snake. The report went on and on and the end result was that they, Corp of Engineers, should capture the Concho water snakes and take them to an away from the reservoir area to a habitat that they would construct for only a few million dollars and relocate the snakes there. You have to think about that for a minute. Don’t you think that the snakes would get up and move on their own if their present home were to be flooded and stop at a place of their liking? What would the Engineers do if the snakes didn’t like the new location they made for them? Further research on the results of this will be reported, if I can find anything. Just right off, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of snakes in this area. Rudy Jalomo, who is working next door, was up in the attic rewiring the kitchen.
He found a fresh shed rattle snake skin. It was still wet. That means that the snake was probably still up there with him. He said, “Yeah, that could be dangerous. I better send Oswald up there”. Oswald said that he was busy laying tile and couldn’t stop right then. Besides, it was a small snake judging from the size of the skin and he killed his share of snakes last week. Remember the one he whammed with a 2 x 4 ?
So it goes in our quiet little corner of Coleman County.
Talpa Bob
