September 8, 2021 Issue

Dogs and horses are not allowed on the city’s nature trail. It will remain that way for the foreseeable future, an official said on Tuesday. The rule came up for discussion at the City of Mason Commissioners’ meeting on Aug. 16, but commissioners did not act on the agenda item because the regulation is made at the discretion of the city administrator.

Just as the surprise raid on December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor became a pivotal moment in American history, September 11, 2001, became a day when all eyes turned away from our individual needs to become a community united in grief and shock. Twenty years later, a day of collective reflection and empathy marks the aftermath of the day which still affects the lives and health of survivors.

Another Friday, another game where Mason High School varsity football avenged a 2020 non-district loss as the Punchers dominated Comfort High School 39-6 on Sept. 3 at the Puncherdome. Last season, the Punchers lost an injury-riddled 30-6 game at Comfort. But, they certainly made up for it Friday night with an outstanding performance. After both Comfort and Mason opened the game by turning the ball over on downs, it was the Punchers’ defense that had the first big play of the night.

The Mason High School girls’ and boys’ varsity cross country teams competed on Wednesday, Sept. 1 in the second meet of the 2021 season at the Fredericksburg Invitational, held at Oak Crest Park. The Cowgirls varsity squad did very well in their two-mile race as Mason placed first as a team with 35 points in the small school 1A/2A division.

Sidney Louise Dickson, 83, of Austin, TX, passed away peacefully on August 14, 2021, and will be laid to rest in Sanderson, TX. She immediately brought joy and laughter into the world when she was born in Austin, TX, on September 29, 1937, to Sid and Mary Frances Harkins of Sanderson, TX. She graduated from San Marcos Baptist Academy and the friends she made there were among those she cherished through her entire life.

Lena Jane Bankston, age 93, went home to be with her Lord and Savior on August 31, 2021. Lena Jane was the only child of Daniel John and Lizzie Starks. She was born on March 2, 1928, in the house she lived in the last forty years of her life in the Ranch Branch community.

Many people consider ants, when they think about them at all, as irritants in their lives. We may only think about ants in negative circumstances, as when ants get into our food or electrical circuits, or when we get stung by fire ants while working or playing outside. But there are about 300 species of ants in Texas, and about 12,000 species worldwide.

Previously, I wrote about the interesting and important legume or pea family of plants. Plants in this family produce seeds in “pods” like beans or peas, most are capable of “fixing” nitrogen from the air to use by the plant, and most have compound leaves (leaves made up of numerous smaller leaflets frequently arranged in pairs on opposite sides along a stem). Here are a number of the more common Hill Country native trees and shrubs that belong to that family. There are many speci ...

Sadly, we have had to change our usual Old Yeller Day activities. We will be hosting a drive-through rabies clinic September 25th at the Mason Community Building from 5:30 until supplies run out, courtesy of Ole Yellow Animal Rescue. At 7:30, we will have a drive-in showing of Old Yeller at the community building.

There are a whole lot of “thumbprint” cookie recipes out there for you to try. Basically, with all of them, you just make the cookie dough, place spoons full of it on cookies sheets, and use your thumb to make a depression in the top of each one. What you fill the depression with is strictly up to you.

We continue our word play with towns listed in THE TEXAS ALMANAC and how certain occupations, hobbies, and other interests would seem especially appropriate for people who live therein. Wouldn't it be fun to be – a fisherman in Hooks? a hunter in Hunt? a Shakespearean actor in Iago? a judge in Justiceburg? a locksmith in Key? a doctor in Kildare? a calf roper in Lariat? a long-distance runner in Marathon? a merchant in Mart? a woodcutter in Mesquite? a baseball pitch ...

These are the days of preparation, gardeners. Prepare for the fall "roots and shoots" garden and the change of season. I am tired of the extreme heat and dearth of rain. The soil repels the water and slides off like mercury in these conditions. Without deep soaking, seeds and tiny starts are lost.

It is Sunday afternoon and the weatherman said scattered showers. We had thunder but no rain yet. Hopefully those that really need rain will be blessed soon. My brother, Mike, would have been 80 years old on September 7. He was the family jokester. My favorite childhood picture of the two of us was me sitting in a washtub swimming while he squirted me with the garden hose.

Whether you’ve had a home inspection done before or this is your first time, there are a few basics buyers should know. Here are five common questions and answers to help clarify the process. WHO PAYS FOR IT? The buyer chooses the inspector, pays the inspector directly for the inspection, and the inspection report generated belongs to the buyer.

Some things you don’t forget. Some events make a lasting impression, etching themselves on our lives and changing the way we view the world from that point on. They cause us to alter our responses to future events and force us to reevaluate our values and mores, and sometimes they change our priorities.

On August 31, the Mason Lions Club met at Nacho’s for their weekly meeting. Our guests included Connie Stockbridge, Todd Cox, a pending new Lion, General Don Daniels, and his son, Captain Bob Daniels. Our guest speaker was Doug Moorehead of Broad Reach Power. Doug told us about the Bat Cave Energy Storage Project, that large mysterious site just south of the hill at Fort Mason. Doug has a fascinating background.