On September 14, the Mason Lions Club met at Nacho’s for their weekly meeting.
There was no scheduled guest speaker so Lion Will McCann filled-in with some stories about people who appeared before him while he was an Administrative Law Judge for the Worker's Compensation Commission.
There was the Duke of Hazzard, a frisky young man whom Lion Will observed roaring into the parking lot, leaping out of his convertible without opening the door, grabbing a walking cane, and twirling it like ...
This article will not attempt to convince anyone that global climate change is happening. If you haven’t noticed climate change for yourself by now, then no amount of new information is likely to change your mind. Suffice it to say that the fact of global climate change is clear and extraordinarily well-documented.
I’m also not going to place blame on anyone or any group for the climate-change crisis.
I have always been amazed that tiny hummingbirds are capable of migrating across the Gulf of Mexico down to South America and back every year. They are so small (the average ruby-throat only weighs three grams, a little over a tenth of an ounce), and they have to beat their wings so fast to travel such a long distance.
But there is one animal that has an even more amazing life story: the Monarch butterfly.
Our hot, dry fall has dried many of the seasonal wetlands around my central Texas ranch. Each year, temporary ponds and pools fill with winter and spring rains, and then dry during the long hot months of summer. Such seasonal wetlands are known as vernal pools, and they are critical for life cycles of many species of plants and animals.
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.
