May 13, 2020 Issue

This week is National Hospital Week. Hospital week is a week dedicated to celebrating hospitals and healthcare systems. Primarily it is a week to celebrate the people who serve in them - the teams of Doctors, Nurses, Technicians and support services whose passion it is to care for our communities. A normal Hospital Week for the Hill Country Memorial (HCM) staff, is a week of celebration and hallways full of smiles.

It’s graduation time, and we are looking forward to a new kind of celebration! The faculty and administration of Mason High School is well aware that the numbers of persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 continue to grow in our county. We take this situation very seriously, and it has been in the forefront of our minds as we made plans to hold a graduation parade.

It’s graduation time, and we are looking forward to a new kind of celebration! The faculty and administration of Mason High School is well aware that the numbers of persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 continue to grow in our county. We take this situation very seriously, and it has been in the forefront of our minds as we made plans to hold a graduation parade.

The Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Youth Leadership Conference will be held virtually this year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “We are keeping safety of our youth in mind as we navigate this unprecedented situation with COVID-19,” Will Frey, Mason County Farm Bureau president, said. “Although this will be an adjustment, we are excited to offer our youth a meaningful online experience.” The Virtual Leadership Conference will still focus on the free enterprise system, patriot ...

As I write this on Sunday evening, I am so grateful for all the love in our family that we shared on Mother’s Day. Although we were not all together, we communicate better these days. I hope all mothers had a great day. Grandson John is a senior this year and his end of year plans are so disrupted.

So, Where Do We Go From Here??? I've been released from quarantine and identified as "Recovered" since last Thursday afternoon. I still took a couple of days to get everything picked up at home after two weeks of isolation, and spent my first full day back in the office on Monday.

My Community (Published online, published with permission of author) Will Watson to Mason County, TX Online Community May 4 at 1:44 PM · I’m a proud Mason resident and a member of the MHS class of 2000. Almost all of my family lives here, to include many friends I count as family. I am also a police officer for a large department.

Masks Heads up! After two staff members tested positive for COVID-19, President Trump directed everyone working or entering the West Wing of the White House to wear a mask. Good idea for them. Good idea for Mason. Kim Paxson

Adding Culture to Agriculture For those of you in farming and ranching who would like to broaden your vocabulary and add a slightly different tone to your normal conversation, you might want to consider these old words with a new agricultural definition. They come from the book GROANERZ: "The Dictionary Webster Hopes To Suppress,"

No Knead Cheese Bread courtesy: Side Dish In my on-going quest for baked products that require no kneading, I came across this beauty. The only possible drawback is that it really comes out better if you let the dough sit and percolate over night. One of the really great things about it is that you can use any kind of cheese you have on hand and still get a great tasting bread. Ingredients: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 ½ teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon instant yeast 1 ¼ cups room tem ...

This week, we will still be closed but beginning on May 18, our curbside service will return! In other good news, our shipping drought has ended and we now have a lot of new books and DVDs. We might experience shipping delays again, but for now we have a great new assortment of items.

I’m ‘Tooting’ Their Horns… I’ve always been a sucker for the sappy, plot-easily-followed kind of “flick” that ends happily. Take Mr. Holland’s Opus--and others like it--where movie-goers had best take multiple hankies. Richard Dreyfuss starred in this tear-jerker a full quarter-century ago. Opus is a great story to watch--or re-watch--while we’re marooned in our homes, sometimes with “virtually” nothing to do.

Crock Pot Corona Chicken Enchiladas I thought we needed a little diversion, from Virus talk, social distancing. news shows, home schooling, too much togetherness or anything else that might be going on in your life or bringing you down. I don’t know about you, but food always makes me feel better.

As I write this on Sunday evening, I am so grateful for all the love in our family that we shared on Mother’s Day. Although we were not all together, we communicate better these days. I hope all mothers had a great day. Grandson John is a senior this year and his end of year plans are so disrupted.