Opinion

The month of October brings to mind that famous old Peanuts cartoon of Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy is holding the football, and she tells Charlie Brown to kick it. As Charlie Brown goes running up to kick the football, Lucy pulls it out of the way at the last minute.

GARDENER’S MAILBAG Dear Neil: This oak tree is located on our church property. Is the old bark falling off due to its age, or is there a disease? Good question.

Gov. Greg Abbott, just hours after the Senate initially approved a school voucher measure, said he would add teacher raises and increased public school funding to the ongoing special session agenda if the Texas Legislature passes his voucher plan, the Texas Tribune reported.

It turns out that some of our smartest college kids aren’t just stupid about things like microaggressions and gender pronouns.

These were my grandmother’s words every time I went to a school function or a special event with the youth at the Church. She would meet me at the door when I came home and ask, “Did you behave?”. She knew by the look on my face if I did or not.

Last week I mentioned that the holidays can be wonderful despite the fact that they might be messy. This prompted a reflection on how our lives can be really messy at certain times in our lives or even every day. We have crazy schedules to manage.

Dear Neil: Is it possible to sterilize cedar elm trees so we won’t have all the seedlings come spring? We have put down corn gluten meal in September to stop the germination, but millions have come up in the spring.

Tyrades! by Danny Tyree “Where’s your Bayer?” I vividly remember that question from my high school job working in a convenience market in my Tennessee hometown.

Texas employment at historic high, but jobless rate is up For the 30th consecutive month Texas showed job growth, reaching just under 14 million jobs and outpacing the nation in its annual rate of employment growth, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

We often scurry around like the critters that are stocking up on their food supplies for the winter at this time of year. The holidays are coming up. We have Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and Kwanza, and New Year’s in our sights. Many folks also treat Halloween as if it were a national holiday!