Willie, Waylon and me

Well, really, it was Willie, Leon and Darrin.

Darrin is husband to my friend Penny, a Roby hometown girl. He plays with a band called Whiskey Hill and they've been playing out at Carl's Corner on the weekends. They figured they'd probably get the chance, and they did, on Friday, to open for Willie Nelson. Leon Russell was also there.

Sorry I had to leave that guy's head in the photo, but I wanted everyone to see Willie jamming on that cool guitar. By the way, the photo is courtesy of Penny.

I went to the Roby Cafe and got a breakfast burrito this week. I would have paid the same money I paid for the burrito just for the handmade tortilla. Man, it was good. We plan on checking out their Monday night Mexican food special. I'll let you know how it goes.

Camp Springs Wild Wings Ranch has qualified as a Quail Stewardship finalist in the Texas Wildlife Association Foundation Northern Region. Awards will be presented April 16 in Houston at the TWAF Quail Conservation Awards and Fundraising Gala. The Wild Wings Ranch is known by locals as the Charles Harrell place.

The Roby Star Record / Rotan Advance headlines are coming right up. Here is the rundown for March 26, 2009:

• Fisher County youths attend Abstinence on the Hill in D.C. (photos)
• Commissioners reinstate burn ban
• CheerStar Athletics mini level one to compete in Las Vegas(photo)
• Fourth Annual Child Abuse Awareness Banquet April 2, Sweetwater
• Buy-in Waiver Extension approved for Disaster Assistance programs
• You gotta get your own issue and read the Editor's Column this week
• Joy Walker's Fisher County Roundup: Vera Ellen McCombs recovers from surgery
• Roby City Council election to be held May 9, early voting begins April 27
• Obituaries for John G. Perales (photo) and Royce M. "Wop" Smith (photo)
• FCH Trauma: ATVs fun but dangerous
• Engagement announcement for Drew Shirley and Amanda Joseph (photo)
  
• Sheriff's report: total of six in jail
• Recipe Corner: Black-eyed Pea Salad
• Tumbleweed Smith: Some Banks are More Independent Than Others
• Hospital Board regular meeting: election cancelled, unopposed candidates approved; next meeting May 18
  
• Wheat Newsletter, TAMU
• Delta Kappa Gamma: Steve Estes presents rainwater harvesting program (photo)
  
• Subscription rates are changing (check newspaper link to right)
• Spring Sports (photos)
• Fisher County firefighters train for hazardous materials response (photo)
• Randy Neugebauer's weekly newsletter: Treasury Dept.'s plan; Small businesses are backbone of economy; American Diabetes Alert Day
  
• 50th Wedding Anniversary announcement for George & Beth Turner (photo)
• Dakota Whitefield wins Ninth place at Houston Livestock Show (photo)

I guess I'll go and shut the front door, since the wind keeps blowing it open. It sure makes you appreciate the few still moments we have, all five minutes worth. Have a good week and hope that April will bring us her showers, since March has done so well with it's wind.

One more and we're done

We've seen all the signs of spring to include lots of new calves (see photo!), ground squirrels, bluebonnets, mesquites budding and the big one, the return of the buzzards. Sighting a scissor-tail is the only sign left and it seems like they're really more of a symbol of summer. We haven't seen much rain, either, yet. Maybe it's on the way.

I've got a few websites I want to tell you about, the first being the one for the Big Country Audubon Society. This is a direct link listing sightings in northeast Fisher county on August 30, 2008. You can look at photos of Birds of the Big Country and figure out which ones are in your back yard. It's amazing there are so many. I think I can only name about five.

Here's a link to the Garmin Blog that has an article about the Astro GPS being used to track dogs on the Quail Ranch that's located on the corner of US 180 and FM 611. The results of the information collected by the Astro during the study can be downloaded and examined from this link. For more info on products by Garmin, check out the company website.

For agricultural information, you can go to the Western Farm Press site or check out Ag News from Texas A & M AgriLife.

Okay, here's the news you really want, the headlines from the latest issue of the Roby Star Record / Rotan Advance, March 19, 2009:

• City of Rotan Clean Up (photo)
• Rotan ISD renews all personnel contracts, accepts two resignations
• Rotan City Council meets with animal control officer, fields report from City Supervisor
• Rotan, the birthplace of six-man football (photo of Melvin Clements)
• The American Cancer Society Relay for Life, May 1
• Lower Rolling Plains ag conference
• Obituaries for Ava (Head) Leach, Rodolfo Gonzalez
• Birth announcement for Maximus Lee Day (photo)
• CleDon Coffman & Chick Carter file for re-election to hospital board
• Roby City Council election May 5
• Sheriff's report
• Fisher County RV news, next rally March 31
• News Briefs: Third Marine Division Association, Inc. Aug 24
• Fisher County Roundup by Joy Walker: family visits & Crossroads revival last week
• City of Rotan applied to renew waste water disposal permit
• Grain marketing workshop March 26 in Abilene
• The Newspaper Office is closed on Fridays; hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m Mon-Thurs
• What happened in Houston, extension agent report
• If you have pre-1969 Rotan & Roby newspapers, please contact the Newspaper Office about adding them to the archive
• Spring sports (photos)

The last word I received on Perry Thomson is that by Friday night the seizures had lessened and his temperature was lower, still high, though, at 102. He is in the Lubbock Cardiology Hospital.

Perry Thomson ailing

Pat Porter forwarded an email to me reporting Perry Thomson to be seriously ill.

Perry had multiple by-pass surgery Thursday. He did well through the surgery, but later in the day there were complications and he was returned to the operating room. He had to have blood and platelet transfusions.

By Friday morning he was having seizures, found to be caused by a brain tumor.

Please keep the Thomson family in your thoughts.

Coquettish Spring

I always think of spring as a temperamental and somewhat self-indulgent woman. This week she flicked her skirts with showy colors then covered up again in a cold gray coat of ice and dismal rain. Today she's feeling playful and the sun is shining in a bright blue sky. Soon, she'll feel stormy.

I sound like Snoopy, writing his story, "It was a dark and stormy night". It's been a very long week, folks, I swear it lasted a month. I'm ready to say "Calf rope!" and call it good.

The photo today is from the icy weather we had this week, which glazed the already blooming trees. We (ha! he) got the onions in, although some people have already had theirs in for a good month. We may have to buy them this year, or depend on our friends that planted in a more timely manner.

I'm going straight to the Roby Star Record / Rotan Advance headlines before I can lay anymore silliness on you all. Here goes for the March 12, 2009 issue:

• Roby Lady Lions State Champions (big color photo)
• Skywarn training March 16, Roby Community Center
• Savannah Cave of Rotan ISD named to Academic All District Team in Basketball; Krystle Price named second (color photo)
• Marine Antonio Zambrano promoted to Sergeant (color photo)
• Roby CISD, District 14-A All District girls (color photo)
• Hamburger benefit for Ron Acosta March 17, Fisher County Courthouse Square
• Subscription rate and advertising rate change: $30 for Fisher & surrounding counties; $33 in Texas; $35 out-of-state - effective April 1, 2009
  
• Obituaries for Jimmie J. (Fancher) Horton; Basilia "Betsy" Luna
• Pastor's Column: Charles C. Glidewell, Cross Roads Baptist Church
• News Briefs: 18th Annual Spring Swing Women's Gold Tournament May 2
  
• Roby corrected track schedule
• Baby shower selections for Holly Simmons & Adam Skees @ The Yellow Rose inside The Newspaper Office
• Roby school board rehires all teachers & personnel, accepts Mary Mahaffey's resignation
• Bridal registry for Holli Griggs @ The Yellow Rose
• Texas cattle trichomoniasis program adopted, interstate rules effective April 1, in-state rules effective Jan. 1, 2010
• Rotan High School weekly bulletin
• Fisher County Roundup by Joy Walker
• Editorial comment by Rosemary Donham, commending Roby Lady Lions and Roby Lions
• Carrion files for re-election; Pache Parks, Randy Sharp, Roy Rivas file for Roby City Council
• Coffman and Carter file for re-election to hospital board
• Neugebauer: How are these proposals fair to those who made responsible decisions?; We must freeze government spending during these uncertain economic times
• Spring Sports: baseball, track, tennis, power-lifting, softball (photos)
• Sheriff's report
• USDA celebrates National Ag Day, March 9
• Roby City Council votes to purchase meter reading system
• Color photos of Roby Mayor and fans welcoming Lady Lions home
• Fisher County Historical Commission to attend Sagerton Hee Haw Show
• Birth announcement for Grayci LeeAnn McBrayer & Camden Maverick Lummus (color photo)
• Roby One-Act Play to present "Booby Trap" March 23 (color photo)
• Fisher County Commissioners meet with TxDOT rep re: bridge & road repair
• Full color photo page of Roby Lady Lions

That's it for this week. Hope to be more articulate next time. Have a good one!

Roby Lady Lions win state

The final score against Neches was 44-34, the last team Roby had to beat to win the Class 1A Division II State Championship title. We're so proud of those girls! You can read all about it in the Abilene Reporter News. The photo collection that Thomas Metthe created is outstanding. The game took place last night at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.

Remember to Spring forward today, it's Daylight Savings time. I was upset that we got a call before eight this morning, but I now realize it was just before nine.

The photo today is of my favorite gravestone in the Hobbs Cemetery. While there are many that are more ornate and beautiful, this one is the most poignant in it's simplicity.

My favorite in the Sardis Cemetery is the grave of a child of a poor cotton picker. I can hardly read it without tears coming to my eyes. I'm amazed when a few words can tell a whole story and bring a rush of emotion. Whoever writes these things are literary geniuses.

The Grady Cemetery favorite is that of Johnnie McCombs. It has the famous epitaph that begins "Remember me as you pass by...". The thing about this grave is that no matter how many times we've seen it, it always takes some effort to find every time we visit the graveyard, giving us the eerie illusion that the grave moves around.

I used to think it was a little strange to have favorite gravestones, but through the years I've talked to other people and they tell me about their faves. I'll admit, though, that part of my fascination has to do with all the time I spent at the Hobbs Cemetery with my grandmother when I was little. I thought everyone went to visit the family grave several times a week. In later years, I realized we were there so often because my grandfather had only died the year before I was born, and the death was still new to the family.

This past January marked 45 years that he has been deceased.

Okay, on to the headlines. Here's the sketch from the Roby Star Record / Rotan Advance March 5, 2009 issue:

• Roby Lady Lions state bound (photo)
• Two-vehicle accident (photos)
• Carrion files for re-election, Pache Parks, Randy Sharp & Roy Rivas file for Roby City Council
• Sweetwater City Manager Eddie Brown addresses Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Project concerning water use (this is a real hot topic in Fisher & Nolan counties)
  
• Pastor's Column: Jerry Vincent
• Western Texas College Nursing Program Pinning & Graduation (photo) (woo-hoo, A'Lora!)
• Rotan Schools honor rolls
• Public meeting Mar. 6 @ Fisher County Hospital re: submission of application for financial assistance to be used for ambulance replacement
• Baby shower selection for Holly Simmons & Adam Skees at The Yellow Rose, inside the Newspaper Office
• Fisher County Roundup by Joy Walker
• What's Happened with 4-H by Riley Barnett, Fisher County Extension Agent
• Big Country Electric sponsors three to D.C., announces scholarship winners
• News Briefs: 2010 Census (hiring test info)
• State Rep. Joe Heflin named Vice-Chair of Rural Caucus
• Birth announcement for Brody Creed Evans (photo)
• Rotan High School weekly bulletin
• Roby CISD weekly announcements
• HuckPAC Party (photo), more info at huckpac.com
• Tumbleweed Smith: Adventures in the Sky and on the Ground
• Spring cleaning sale at The Yellow Rose inside the Newspaper Office
• Fisher County sports reports (photos)
• Texas Public Schools month, March (two photo collage pages)
• Randy's Roundup: President Obama's budget proposal; The Federal Government must stop supporting broken banks; Texas Independence Day
• Blood Drive in Rotan, Mar. 9, at The Country Store
• Roby Lady Lions support page (photo)

Once again, I would like to urge you to get your subscription to the Roby Star Record / Rotan Advance. You can contact the newspaper by email at radvance@rotanadvance.com or regular mail at Post Office Drawer A, Rotan, Texas 79546. Subscription rates are as follows per year: in Fisher County & surrounding counties - $30; within Texas - $33; outside Texas - $35.

I'm not affiliated with the newspaper, and anything printed here is merely my interpretation and in no way represents the views of the paper itself. But if you don't get it, then you don't get it! The whole story that is, so get your own subscription before the week's out and read all about the important issues in this community.

STTAR purchases Texas Theatre

The Sweetwater Texas Theatre Acquisition & Restoration committee made a grand victory today when closing papers were signed and Paul Hanneman handed over the keys to the building.

Texas 100 and STTAR raised over $30,000 in donations and pledges, and the Sweetwater Industrial Foundation provided a matching grant of $30,000, helping the foundation raise the neccessary $60,000 to purchase the theatre.

Now the real work can begin. Donations are being accepted for the second part of the STTAR goal: renovation. Contributions can be sent to:

Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce
c/o STTAR
P.O. Box 1148
Sweetwater, TX 79556
325-235-5488.

On hand for the occasion were: (front row) Weston Pyburn, Paul Hanneman (seller), Dr. Cody Wilkinson, Trey Aiken (Sweetwater Industrial Foundation); (back row) Carol Truitt, Mick Truitt, Mayor Greg Wortham, Tom Henderson, Scott Morgan (realtor) and Rachel Newberry (Beall Abstract). Those not otherwise noted are members of STTAR.

Read the full article in the Sweetwater Reporter.

Ethics, conscience and pride

It has come to my attention that some readers are coming to the Holler to read a bit of salaciousness that I wrote about in January. I was contacted by the party in question, but they never requested I remove the information. I have decided to do so on my own, and here's why.

First of all, I don't want to misrepresent my sources. Secondly, I want people to drop by to read homespun anecdotes and to give them contact to a wonderful part of the world that they have fond memories of but may not be able to visit physically.

So, I apologize if the information you seek is not here, but stay and read a bit. You might find that you enjoy it!

Snyder Saturday

On Saturday, we went on a Scurry County excursion that led us from the Sonic to a newly built bridge several miles south of Snyder. Walmart, Towle Park, an abandoned house serving as an owl nest, a collection of defunct pumpjacks, and an interesting guy and his dogs tooling back roads on a gator (John Deere) were all points of interest. My kids were actually having a good time with me. The sunshine was wonderful, despite the wind and cooler weather. Sometimes life is very good.

The photo today is of the new pavilion in Towle Park. There are many new additions and upgrades at the park. The removal of the fence around the pond was one of the best things that has happened there, and the addition of a nice fishing dock.

You can still go see the prairie dogs and feed the ducks and geese. Both are lifelong traditions for me and I'm not sure what I think about how long that is. I'm starting to realize that things I think of as new are at least 40 years old.

You can find out more about the area by reading The Handbook of Texas Online, the Scurry County Chamber of Commerce digital booklet on
Olive, or checking out the TxGenWeb Project for Scurry County.

Okay, pulling back into Fisher County, here are the headlines for The Roby Star Record / Rotan Advance, Feb. 26, 2009 newspaper issue:

• Roby Lady Lions basketball team capture Area Title (photo)
• Roby Lions basketball team earns Bi-District (photo)
  
• Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Project could be a reality in 2010 (photo)
• First Monday Missions benefit for girls softball, Mar. 2
• Shanna Spikes places ninth in San Antonio Stock Show (photo)
• County receives drug forfeiture money (photo)
• Veteran benefits seminar Mar. 14
• Carrion files for re-election; Pache Parks, Randy Sharp & Roy Rivas file for city council
  
• Obituaries for Betty Lou (Hull) McDaniel (photo), Wanda Warren (photo), Ida Kate (Kitty) Williams (photo), Jack Rister, Robert Walter Wright III
  
• Hospital board to hold meeting Mar. 6
• Hospital board meeting minutes for Feb. 23
• Pastor's Column: Charles C. Glidewell, Cross Roads Baptist Church
• Senior Citizens Valentine Banquet sweet success (photos)
• News Briefs: join Team Huck; hiring seminar
• Rotan High weekly bulletin
• Letter to the Editor from Cathy Posey, thanking 4-H members for Valentine Banquet involvement
• Fisher County Roundup by Joy Walker
• Tumbleweed Smith: Little Bitty Rugs
• Sheriff's report
• U.S. Senator John Cornyn: Wasteful spending dressed in Stimulus clothing
• Roby CISD weekly announcements
• Roby CISD honor rolls
• Mrs. Florence Wilburn's 96th Birthday Celebration today at Big Country Electric, everyone invited
• Roby schools track meet schedules
• Fisher County school sports reports, Yellowhammer tennis & track schedules (photos)
  
• National FFA Week photos - two-page spread
• Birth announcement for Gabriel Isaac Enriquez (photo)
• Randy's Roundup: Fiscal Irresponsibility; President Obama's Housing Plan; District Wrap-Up
• Bridal registries for Sunny Riggan & Lance Moore; Laney Marley & Trent Weesner at The Yellow Rose, located inside The Newspaper Office, Rotan
• Rotan FFA results at recent Ft. Worth Stock Show
  

I heard from Denny Cox that the Roby girls won against Strawn yesterday, so they will be heading to Austin on Thursday to compete for the State Championship title. Read about Saturday's game in the Abilene Reporter News.

The UIL website provides championship game schedules and other handy information.