May 11, 2016 Issue

Mason County Habitat for Humanity’s 2016 event is only days away & we have one of the best line-ups of live & silent auction items ever! Pictured here is “Well . . . is the grass any greener on this side?” It is a Limited Edition Bronze on a walnut base created by artist Gene Zesch and is donated by Gene & his wife Patsy.

Mason's American Legion Post #285, located at 237 Post Hill Road, Mason, TX, will be meeting on Thursday, 12 May 2016 at 6:00 p.m. All members and interested veterans are encouraged to attend. Please note the time change from the usual time of 6:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thirty minutes early as we are hosting a Thank You, BBQ!

While strolling through the pasture one day In the very merry month of May We were taken by surprise By a loud rattle noise While strolling in the pasture one day. Yep. They’re heeeeeeeeere. Rattlesnakes. On the move. In the shade. On a rock. Under a tree. In the grass. By the deck. Over yonder. Under foot. Watch your step. Keep your eyes and ears open. Scientifically known as Crotalus. From the Greek, meaning “castanet.” And Sistrurus. From the ancient Egyptian musical instrument sistrum ...

I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day Weekend. My family and I had a great weekend. There are lots of activities in May. Between graduations, end of school activities, and summer sports activities, we are all busy. Take time to enjoy the beautiful weather and the flowers, even though the flowers are starting to fade.

It seems as though summer has already come to the Hill Country with temperatures in the 90’s but then by July these will feel like the “cool days of spring”. The City crews are working to get the swimming pool ready for the summer heat and the enjoyment of the kids.

Taco Spuds These baked potatoes are a different way to satisfy both meat lovers and potato lovers. They can be served with assorted toppings, such as shredded cheese, chopped green onions, jalapeños, salsa or sour cream. Not everyone knows that potatoes are very good source for potassium. Ingredients: 6 medium baking potatoes, scrubbed and pricked all over with a fork ½ cup chopped onion 1 pound lean ground beef (or turkey) 1 package taco seasoning mix (mild) ½ can Rotel ¾ ...

GRAND Parents; Fair Grandparents... Riney and Karen Jordan opted to “go retro” in retirement, and they’ve been moderately successful. They first chose small-town life in Hamilton, TX, before embarking on true rural living a while back on property miles from town off a dirt road. Few people pass their house going to town.

From a very young age, my Mother told me, “Children should be seen and not heard.” Which meant, sit still and don’t talk.” Thus, with self analyzing myself, I never voiced my opinion! No, it didn’t hurt feelings nor did it damage my self-esteem. I would just talk inwardly to myself and voice my opinions.

Redneck Boot Scandals You know the way Uncle Si says ‘no’ on Duck Dynasty? He doesn’t just say ‘no.’ He sort of spits it out, makes it sound like he’s answering the most ridiculous question anyone ever asked him. He flings it like it’s something disgusting. That’s exactly what my son said, in exactly that way, when I showed him what I was writing about this week.

We love living in Mason. People here are friendly, helpful, civic-minded, talented, and just fun to be around. But, like all places big or small, some folks aren’t. Someone has done damage again, knocking big chunks out of the cement ramp that goes up to the stage in the park and vandalizing another lamp post.

The Mason Lions Club met Tuesday, May 3rd, for it’s monthly business meeting. There were 33 visitors and one guest in attendance. Lion Bruce Lehmberg introduced his guest, Justice of the Peace Treg Hudson. “Boss” Lion Joel Kuykendall was responsible for the program and named the club’s prospective new officers for 2016/2017.

Learning more about COLOR is the focus of this summer’s Youth ART CAMP. This will be the 4th year of Ms Bridget’s Youth Art Camp. Young artists range from 5 through about 12; although we do have adults and even families from 7 to 75 that sign up for the evening class.

Students from high schools across Texas will gather over four days to launch 80 rockets up to 13,000 feet and past the sound barrier, as part of Rockets 2016, May 12-15, at the Willow City Fire Station and Stewart’s Hillview Ranch, located north of Fredericksburg off the Willow City Loop. The four-day event is the culmination of the SystemsGo program, now offered in 42 high schools across the state.

Fredericksburg, TX - May. 2, 2016 - Freddyburg Youth Theater, the youth theater division of FTC (Fredericksburg Theater Company), is please to announce application requests for their 2016 Freddyburg Scholarship Award. This is the second year of the award, which is given to qualified graduating high school seniors majoring in Fine Arts in the fall of 2016.

As another successful year of FFA is drawing to a close, the Mason Chapter Officers will be holding the annual FFA banquet on Thursday, May 12, in the school cafeteria. Admission is free and Fajitas will be served starting at 5:30 P.M. and the banquet will begin at 6:00. Everyone is welcome to attend and recognize the hard work and numerous achievements FFA students have accomplished throughout the year.

The regular meeting of the Mason Garden Club will be on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE! This is our annual salad luncheon and members are asked to bring their favorite salad or dessert. Dawn Turner of Brownwood will be giving a program on “Raising Monarch Butterflies.” Dawn has raised Monarch butterflies for over 25 years in her kindergarden classrooms.

With a Wave of the Wand... Magical Science! In "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," one of the short films in Disney's masterpiece film, "Fantasia," Mickey Mouse gets into trouble when he dons the wizard's hat and tries his hand at some magic. His one attempt? Enchanting the broom and the bucket to fill the cistern while he rests. Audiences watching the film bought into the magical aspect of the film.

KERRVILLE, TX - SCIMITAR-HORNED ORYX in Texas will be the topic of the Monday, May 23rd Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country Chapter monthly meeting. Colleen Gardner, Executive Director at Selah Bamberger Ranch Preserve will be the speaker. She has worked closely with David Bamberger since 1999. David Bamberger sought to buy the worst piece of ranchland he could find in the Hill Country in 1969, with the specific intention of restoring it back to functional health.

Today is game day for 42 at the Mason Co. M. Beven Eckert Memorial Library. Come join the fun at 1:30 P.M. in the Stribling Room. The library is located at 410 Post Hill St. Everyone is welcome!

Please join the Library Book Club on Tuesday, May 31, to review Jon Krakhauer’s Into Thin Air. The club meets at 5:00 P.M. in the Stribling Room of the Mason Co. M. Beven Eckert Memorial Library, located at 410 Post Hill Street. Everyone is welcome!

Registration has begun for free classes at the Mason Co. M. Beven Eckert Memorial Library. Carol Tucker will offer a Microsoft Online and One Drive Class this summer. Carmen Griffith will begin classes in Beginning Spanish and Intermediate Spanish this month. Please call 325-347-5446 to register.

The Llano Country Opry will be held on Saturday, May 14 at the Lantex Theater in downtown Llano, Texas. The show will featured singer/songwriter Becky Hobbs at 7:30 PM. Admission is $15 and available at the Llano Chamber of Commerce, online at www.heartoftexascountry.com or by calling (325) 247-5354. Becky Hobbs has performed in over 40 countries, including nine in Africa.

Saturday, May 14th at 1:00, Mason High School Auditorium is the location of the 3rd Spring Recital of Ms Rhonda’s School of Dance. Rhonda, an award winning choreographer and dance instructor comes to Mason from Fredericksburg every Monday and Tuesday to inspire and teach dance to several eager students. In addition there are Ms Rhonda’s Tapping DIVAS who range in age from 52 to 76.

At Region competition on April 21 in Corpus Christi, with ranks of 1,1,1 from the judges, the Mason One Act company earned the right to compete at the 90th UIL ONE ACT PLAY STATE CONTEST in Austin. Jackson Taylor was presented BEST ACTOR, Sara Powell and Pete Rochat earned All Star Cast and Steeley Smith and Kade Willimack were awarded Honorable Mention.

On Thursday, May 19th, at 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., members and the general public who may be interested in prescribed burns are invited to the annual meeting of the Central Basin Chapter of the Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burn Association. It will be held at the Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area at 6318 Old Mason Road, Mason, Texas. The meeting will include a business meeting followed by information by Wesley Evans who will speak about how Texas Parks and Wildlife is helping land owners carry ou ...

On Saturday May the 21st The Mason Puncher Club is having their 14th annual Puncher Club Golf tournament. It will be an 18 hole 4 person scramble you will be allowed one mulligan per nine and a length of string for additional help. Come sign up early and tee off will be at 1:30.

The Republican Women of Mason County will hold their bi-monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 18th at noon in the Stribling Room of the Mason County Library. At this month’s meeting we will honor our scholarship recipients and their parents as well as the homeowners from the recent Mason Home Tour, that made the scholarships possible. The luncheon will start promptly at noon with a meet and greet at 11:30.

WOW! What a beautiful day it was. And what a turnout we had for our weekly Scramble! We had the largest group of golfers so far this year, with 32 players showing up to get in on the fun. With so many players, we divided them up into 6 teams, and turned them loose around 5:30.

Mason VFW Post 8554 will hold its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday the 17th of May at 6:30 p.m.. The meeting will take place at the Legion Hall on Post Hill street. A reminder that the veterans peer group rep. will be at the Legion Hall on the 16th at 10 a.m.

I have been so blessed to serve as the pastor of Hilda United Methodist Church and as a pastor in Mason County. I have seen God move in this community in so many ways. I’ve seen the food bank grow into a ministry that serves well beyond supplying groceries. I’ve enjoyed great friendships across denominational lines with my clergy colleagues.

We had 18 youth baseball players participate in a baseball clinic on Saturday, April 23rd. It was a fun event with a focused effort on batting technique. The boys also spent some time on fielding drills and a few were able to get on the mound and display their pitching skills. A special thank you to our baseball instructors, Danny Jordan and Mike Brown.

At Region competition on April 21 in Corpus Christi, with ranks of 1,1,1 from the judges, the Mason One Act company earned the right to compete at the 90th UIL ONE ACT PLAY STATE CONTEST in Austin. Jackson Taylor was presented BEST ACTOR, Sara Powell and Pete Rochat earned All Star Cast and Steeley Smith and Kade Willimack were awarded Honorable Mention.

As another successful year of FFA is drawing to a close, the Mason Chapter Officers will be holding the annual FFA banquet on Thursday, May 12, in the school cafeteria. Admission is free and Fajitas will be served starting at 5:30 P.M. and the banquet will begin at 6:00. Everyone is welcome to attend and recognize the hard work and numerous achievements FFA students have accomplished throughout the year.

Fredericksburg, TX - May. 2, 2016 - Freddyburg Youth Theater, the youth theater division of FTC (Fredericksburg Theater Company), is please to announce application requests for their 2016 Freddyburg Scholarship Award. This is the second year of the award, which is given to qualified graduating high school seniors majoring in Fine Arts in the fall of 2016.

The Republican Women of Mason County will hold their bi-monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 18th at noon in the Stribling Room of the Mason County Library. At this month’s meeting we will honor our scholarship recipients and their parents as well as the homeowners from the recent Mason Home Tour, that made the scholarships possible. The luncheon will start promptly at noon with a meet and greet at 11:30.

On Saturday May the 21st The Mason Puncher Club is having their 14th annual Puncher Club Golf tournament. It will be an 18 hole 4 person scramble you will be allowed one mulligan per nine and a length of string for additional help. Come sign up early and tee off will be at 1:30.

On Thursday, May 19th, at 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., members and the general public who may be interested in prescribed burns are invited to the annual meeting of the Central Basin Chapter of the Edwards Plateau Prescribed Burn Association. It will be held at the Mason Mountain Wildlife Management Area at 6318 Old Mason Road, Mason, Texas. The meeting will include a business meeting followed by information by Wesley Evans who will speak about how Texas Parks and Wildlife is helping land owners carry ou ...

Saturday, May 14th at 1:00, Mason High School Auditorium is the location of the 3rd Spring Recital of Ms Rhonda’s School of Dance. Rhonda, an award winning choreographer and dance instructor comes to Mason from Fredericksburg every Monday and Tuesday to inspire and teach dance to several eager students. In addition there are Ms Rhonda’s Tapping DIVAS who range in age from 52 to 76.

The Llano Country Opry will be held on Saturday, May 14 at the Lantex Theater in downtown Llano, Texas. The show will featured singer/songwriter Becky Hobbs at 7:30 PM. Admission is $15 and available at the Llano Chamber of Commerce, online at www.heartoftexascountry.com or by calling (325) 247-5354. Becky Hobbs has performed in over 40 countries, including nine in Africa.

Registration has begun for free classes at the Mason Co. M. Beven Eckert Memorial Library. Carol Tucker will offer a Microsoft Online and One Drive Class this summer. Carmen Griffith will begin classes in Beginning Spanish and Intermediate Spanish this month. Please call 325-347-5446 to register.

Please join the Library Book Club on Tuesday, May 31, to review Jon Krakhauer’s Into Thin Air. The club meets at 5:00 P.M. in the Stribling Room of the Mason Co. M. Beven Eckert Memorial Library, located at 410 Post Hill Street. Everyone is welcome!

Today is game day for 42 at the Mason Co. M. Beven Eckert Memorial Library. Come join the fun at 1:30 P.M. in the Stribling Room. The library is located at 410 Post Hill St. Everyone is welcome!

KERRVILLE, TX - SCIMITAR-HORNED ORYX in Texas will be the topic of the Monday, May 23rd Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country Chapter monthly meeting. Colleen Gardner, Executive Director at Selah Bamberger Ranch Preserve will be the speaker. She has worked closely with David Bamberger since 1999. David Bamberger sought to buy the worst piece of ranchland he could find in the Hill Country in 1969, with the specific intention of restoring it back to functional health.

Mason County Habitat for Humanity’s 2016 event is only days away & we have one of the best line-ups of live & silent auction items ever! Pictured here is “Well . . . is the grass any greener on this side?” It is a Limited Edition Bronze on a walnut base created by artist Gene Zesch and is donated by Gene & his wife Patsy.

The regular meeting of the Mason Garden Club will be on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE! This is our annual salad luncheon and members are asked to bring their favorite salad or dessert. Dawn Turner of Brownwood will be giving a program on “Raising Monarch Butterflies.” Dawn has raised Monarch butterflies for over 25 years in her kindergarden classrooms.

Students from high schools across Texas will gather over four days to launch 80 rockets up to 13,000 feet and past the sound barrier, as part of Rockets 2016, May 12-15, at the Willow City Fire Station and Stewart’s Hillview Ranch, located north of Fredericksburg off the Willow City Loop. The four-day event is the culmination of the SystemsGo program, now offered in 42 high schools across the state.

Learning more about COLOR is the focus of this summer’s Youth ART CAMP. This will be the 4th year of Ms Bridget’s Youth Art Camp. Young artists range from 5 through about 12; although we do have adults and even families from 7 to 75 that sign up for the evening class.

Individuals interested in learning about the role colonoscopy screenings play in detecting and preventing colorectal cancer are invited to a free “Scope it Out” presentation and discussion at Nacho’s Café on Thurs., May 19. A complimentary dinner will be provided at 6 p.m. with a presentation to follow. General surgeon Jay Stauffer, MD, will lead the presentation.

Mason will be privileged beginning, Friday, May 13, with an exhibition of oil paintings by renowned artist Maxine Price. A quote from David Genovesi, the director of Antrom Gallery in Rome, describes her work as “an instinctive sense of color and harmonic composition. Her choices, placements and handling of deep saturated color are inspired and cannot be taught.

Mason's American Legion Post #285, located at 237 Post Hill Road, Mason, TX, will be meeting on Thursday, 12 May 2016 at 6:00 p.m. All members and interested veterans are encouraged to attend. Please note the time change from the usual time of 6:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thirty minutes early as we are hosting a Thank You, BBQ!

With a Wave of the Wand... Magical Science! In "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," one of the short films in Disney's masterpiece film, "Fantasia," Mickey Mouse gets into trouble when he dons the wizard's hat and tries his hand at some magic. His one attempt? Enchanting the broom and the bucket to fill the cistern while he rests. Audiences watching the film bought into the magical aspect of the film.

We love living in Mason. People here are friendly, helpful, civic-minded, talented, and just fun to be around. But, like all places big or small, some folks aren’t. Someone has done damage again, knocking big chunks out of the cement ramp that goes up to the stage in the park and vandalizing another lamp post.

Redneck Boot Scandals You know the way Uncle Si says ‘no’ on Duck Dynasty? He doesn’t just say ‘no.’ He sort of spits it out, makes it sound like he’s answering the most ridiculous question anyone ever asked him. He flings it like it’s something disgusting. That’s exactly what my son said, in exactly that way, when I showed him what I was writing about this week.

From a very young age, my Mother told me, “Children should be seen and not heard.” Which meant, sit still and don’t talk.” Thus, with self analyzing myself, I never voiced my opinion! No, it didn’t hurt feelings nor did it damage my self-esteem. I would just talk inwardly to myself and voice my opinions.

GRAND Parents; Fair Grandparents... Riney and Karen Jordan opted to “go retro” in retirement, and they’ve been moderately successful. They first chose small-town life in Hamilton, TX, before embarking on true rural living a while back on property miles from town off a dirt road. Few people pass their house going to town.

Taco Spuds These baked potatoes are a different way to satisfy both meat lovers and potato lovers. They can be served with assorted toppings, such as shredded cheese, chopped green onions, jalapeños, salsa or sour cream. Not everyone knows that potatoes are very good source for potassium. Ingredients: 6 medium baking potatoes, scrubbed and pricked all over with a fork ½ cup chopped onion 1 pound lean ground beef (or turkey) 1 package taco seasoning mix (mild) ½ can Rotel ¾ ...

I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day Weekend. My family and I had a great weekend. There are lots of activities in May. Between graduations, end of school activities, and summer sports activities, we are all busy. Take time to enjoy the beautiful weather and the flowers, even though the flowers are starting to fade.

While strolling through the pasture one day In the very merry month of May We were taken by surprise By a loud rattle noise While strolling in the pasture one day. Yep. They’re heeeeeeeeere. Rattlesnakes. On the move. In the shade. On a rock. Under a tree. In the grass. By the deck. Over yonder. Under foot. Watch your step. Keep your eyes and ears open. Scientifically known as Crotalus. From the Greek, meaning “castanet.” And Sistrurus. From the ancient Egyptian musical instrument sistrum ...