Chad’s Flag Pole

The Muleshoe and surrounding Bailey County community gathered Sunday afternoon,  February 7th, to pay homage to the  service of LCpl Chad E. Bales with the dedication of a flag pole in his honor and memory. The son of Kem and Lori Bales, and a former junior English...

Small Town Nurses and COVID-19

I have written four other stories about how COVID-19 has changed the American way of life, most likely forever. I am aware of the toll the virus is taking on health care workers, doctors, and nurses all over America, but the focus has been on how hospitals and nurses...

A Snow Pictorial

We finally had snow! Since we have had precious little rain or snow all through 2020, this two and a half inches of snow at our house were more than welcome. There was no pretty sky for a backdrop, nor unusual formations of snow caused by wind, but I did dutifully...

St. Mary’s and the POWs

In 1910 St. Mary’s Parish was founded in the tiny town of Umbarger, Texas. The first church building St. Mary’s had was a wooden structure  on the south side of the railroad. In 1929 the present structure was built on the other side of the railroad in town and...

Pecan Cake is Our Answer to Fruitcake

You may like fruitcake; we don’t, particularly. So a Christmas tradition at our house is Sito’s pecan cake instead. Sito was my aunt, Mother’s sister, whose real name was Gladys Tate Drum Gearheart. Have no idea where we nieces and nephews came up with Sito, and those...

Pride is Their Only Pay

In 1985 Muleshoe dedicated the Earl M. Ladd Fire Station No. 1, the new home of the Muleshoe Volunteer Fire Department. It’s an unassuming building; quiet, simple, utilitarian. But it houses a fleet of special vehicles and a group of people who serve our community...

Thank You, Mystery Litter Cleaner-Upper!

I had just about had it with the litter piling up on Ithaca Street from the the railroad track to where the street curves on the way to my house. I have picked up after litterbugs before and was prepared to take care of this mess myself. Earlier this year I had...

Nelda Hunt: Repurposer Extraordinaire

Nelda Hunt likes to prowl in alleys. Well, of course she does! That’s where she finds all that sadly discarded stuff and gives it new life. Alleys, dumpsters, flea markets, estate sales, junk stores, thrift shops, friends on a cleaning binge, herself on a...

Turkey Vultures are not Buzzards

Really. What we all probably grew up calling a buzzard is actually a turkey vulture, Cathartes aura. It just so happens a bird found across the ocean, Buteo buteo, is the real buzzard, found in Europe, Asia, eastern Russia, northwestern China, and northwestern...