Billy Ragusin holds up a photo of his jewfish.

Billy Ragusin just celebrated his 80th birthday on February 24th and his 60th wedding anniversary with the biggest catch of his life, wife Margaret, on January 1st. The second biggest catch of his life is this jewfish.

Billy caught this monster off the dock at Clarks. It was filleted right there on the dock. Henry Anderson recalls several women from town coming with pots to take pieces of the fillet home. The exact date of the catch is not known, but has been narrowed down to 1959-1961. Kenneth Clark recalls that this picture was taken at the “old fish house”, which was destroyed by Hurricane Carla on September 11, 1961. Billy has been an avid fisherman his entire life and still enjoys it today.
-Dawn Ragusin

Left to right: Demetrio Rodriguez; Clay Brumfield, Pryncess Few

On February 28, CCSID Child Nutrition sponsored a Future Chef Competition at HJM Elementary. The contestants were winners in a competition at their respective schools.

Winners of the Future Chef Competition were: Champion Clay Brumfield of Seadrift School; Second Place, Pryncess Few of Port O’Connor School; and Third Place, Demetrio Rodriguez of HJM School. Madden Guevara of Port O’Connor School received Honorable Mention.

Warrior’s Weekend will not be held in 2020. The military bases do not want their troops partaking in unnecessary travel and many of our heroes have depleted immune systems.  This event cannot be just postponed as the planning takes a year. We are already planning for 2021 and plan to make it better than ever.

As disappointed as we are, we are mostly disappointed for the heroes. They are very upset as they love coming here-it means a lot to them.  Depending on how this plays out, we may do something on a smaller scale this year. Thanks to all who support us, especially our sponsors and boat captains
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We’ll be back!

Ron Kocian, President, Warrior’s Weekend

Due to the current situation, the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce will not be holding their annual Crawfish Fest this year. Please check their web site for ongoing information: www.portoconnorchamber.com.

Signs of Spring on The Island

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope that all of you are doing well and getting used to this time change. I enjoy having the extra daylight in the evenings, but still feel like the morning sunlight takes forever to rise. The rising of the morning sun is my natural alarm signal to get out of bed, so that seems to be just a tad later now. But that dang rooster just keeps on crowing at the same time, regardless of what any clock says.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I need rain! Other than a few occasions of receiving trace amounts, the island has not had any true measurable rain in several months. I’m within a week or so of putting my tomato plants started from seed into their raised beds and 25-gallon tubs, and a good soaking of rain would certainly help. Not to mention my rain tanks, water that provides all of my fresh water inside the cabin, are starting to get pretty dang low, around 500 gallons total. In a pinch, I can run a hose and add well water into the rain tanks, so that is always an option if absolutely needed.

The warmer weather lately has motivated the chickens to start laying. I’m getting 8-12 eggs a day now, and 1-2 guinea eggs. But the real star of the egg laying bunch is my lone female Indian Runner duck. As of this morning, that pretty girl has laid an egg for 35 consecutive days! 35 days straight!! These are my first ducks to ever own, so I simply did not know they were such good layers. In researching this breed, the Indian Runner is by far the best laying breed of ducks, and I certainly believe it now. And even though they are higher in cholesterol, they really are a great tasting egg, having a rich and creamy taste, and I’m sure they would be wonderful when used in baking.

It would appear that the cold winter days are behind us now. Other than a rogue norther blowing in occasionally, I think that Spring is pretty much here. I’m beginning to see the greenery of the wild pea bushes around the island, and newly born baby calves following their mothers around. My apple trees are starting to put on new growth and I’ve spotted my first hummingbirds around the house. These are all signs that Spring is making an appearance, and I welcome it very much. It’s time for everyone to get your hands dirty and start digging in that soil and plant things. Of course it’s also time to dust off those mowers and start cutting that grass.

In closing, I want to say thank you to Preston and Terry, a couple of old Seadrifter friends, for coming out to the island for a great visit a few weeks ago. It’s nice seeing small town friends and being able to catch up and share memories. And thank you, Terry, for the package of San Antonio Bay shrimp!

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone please take care and have a wonderful day.