@philrmcknight's Journal, 17 July 2023

LOL I went and looked in Google maps, you are kinda west between Lufkin and Nach, yup that's our neck of the woods. My Aunt lives about a mile off the Sabine river right off of 87 between Jasper and Orange, little wide spot in the road named Call, Tx. That's where I buried my Mom in 2021, Daddy is there too in the little cemetery. When we go, we run up and down those roads in that area, visiting this relative here, that relative there. We can't get them all together in one place so all we do is drive. Fantastic deer hunting in that area, do you ever get any venison?? 

Seems like my sister in law and her hubby lived in Wells once upon a time, they owned a body shop in Nach and finally moved there to be closer to the shop. We never visited them when they lived there because it was only a year or two. I knew it sounded familiar. I sent a few Christmas cards there 😁  

r u related to tony the mayor, lol. 

@DL Tony's dad and my grandpa were first cousins. @Deb have you even been out to Lake Nacogdoches? One of my favorite spots. I've been through Jasper, Orange and Call more than a few times! I've traveled all over East Texas, which is like most people traveling all over their own state. Most folks think of West Texas when they think of Texas, and don't realize how much like Louisiana it is here. Bless up your parents, my are both in their seventies. I'm sure your sister-in-law and her hubby remember the awful water in Wells. The city is currently rehabilitating the ground water storage tank and put the system on an alternate well and it's even worse than usual!  

We were living the fast life in South Florida back then Phil, other than brief visits and birthday phone calls and exchanging Christmas cards, there was not a lot of sharing of daily life so I never got an opinion of Wells from them, which is likely why it was ringing a bell, but I could not place it till I saw it on the map. LOL, my BIL's name is Anthony and we called him Tony, but as far as I know he was never Mayor of anything, so I was taken aback by DL's question, then realized it was directed at you. 

@Deb lol that had to be confusing. I've lived here my whole life, hunting in the National Forests, running the river bottoms and floating the lakes. There's a lot more opportunity in Dallas & Houston, and I've got friends and family that moved to both, but they all miss the pace of life here. The economy has dried up and gentrified, opportunity are less and less, but I'll still take it here over the rush and chaos of a better economy. At least for now. With inflation being what it is, it's pricing these older communities out of existence.  

Same here, that is why we moved to Stillmore, got tired of the rat race wanted to grow our own food, get closer to nature. Spend time hunting and fishing (hubby) I don't hunt anymore but I love cooking what he brings home. I hate Houston, it's so big, noisy and dirty. A gal can't hear herself think in that town. I like listening to night birds, frogs and crickets while I sit in my front porch rocker. Nothing wrong with living a quiet life. Hubby started his own little handyman business, he stays quite busy because he charges reasonable rates that common folks can afford and he does quality work so ppl always call him back for the next little thing that needs fixed. He picks and chooses his jobs, tells folks when they need to bring in a real professional for a problem. Who knew that just installing ceiling fans and replacing old toilets would be a lucrative business. The elderly folks here can't do these things for themselves anymore and all their kids have moved away to the big cities where there is more opportunity. We stay busy, but not so busy we can't enjoy our quiet life.  

John Mellencamp is my Spirit Animal. lol