Aubrey Lynn Ragusin, daughter of Brittania and Calvin Ragusin Jr. begins Kindergarten at Port O’Connor Elementary.

Dear God;

Our young children start to school this month. It will all be new and strange for them for awhile…please treat them tenderly. You see, up ‘til now they have been kings of the castle and boss of their own backyards. Parents and loving hands have always been there to soothe hurts and repair feelings…but now that will be different.

On the first school morning they will walk down the steps or out of the yard, wave their hands and begin a grand adventure. It will be an adventure that will take them across new boundaries where they may cross continents and oceans or social dividers and comfort zones. It will be an adventure that brings great joy and fantastic fun, large learning leaps and tremendous growth. It will be an adventure that will include drama, tragedy and sorrow. So, to live their lives will require faith, hope, courage and love. Now, as they face the world, would you sort of look after them, take them by the hand and teach them things they really need to know. Please though, do it gently if you can.

They will have to learn that all people are not good, are not just, are not fair, are not true and are not on their side. Teach them that for every scoundrel there is a hero, for every crooked politician there is a dedicated leader, and for every enemy there is a friend. Let them learn that many out there, even strangers will unconditionally love and encourage them, support them and help them even when they do not deserve it.

Steer them far from envy and greed if you can please and teach them the value of quiet laughter and solitary meditation.

In school Lord, teach them it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat! Let them learn to have faith in their own ideas and ideals, even if everyone says they are wrong.

Teach them to be gentle with people, but allow them to be tough with bullies and tyrants.

Try to give them the strength and character not to follow the crowd, jump on the bandwagon, or join the mob even when everyone else, even their best friend is doing so.

Teach them to listen to all persons, but help them to learn to value the ability to filter all they hear with a screen of truth and to siphon only the good and worthwhile from all the rest.

If you can God, teach them to laugh at themselves, to laugh when they’re sad, to smile through their tears. Allow them to learn there is no shame in tears and many glories and amazing life lessons are found only in failure and despair and seeds of success can grow there.

Let life and the world handle them softly if you can please. Still I ask that you do not coddle them. Steel is tested and proved only in fire, growth takes work and pruning makes better fruit.

Let them have the bravery to use patience when it is called for and still have the courage to be impatient when change demands it.

Guide them to be their own best person…let them be no man’s man and to have sublime faith in who you made them Lord. Let them realize different is not wrong, just different. Then they will have sublime faith in You and lasting faith in mankind.

I know this is quite a tall request Lord, but help me and the world around them remember they are a work in progress…we should stick around and see all that You do. Thank You for our children. They are such treasures and childhood is so short. Protect them as they go out into Your big, wide wonderful world! Amen

‘Twas the day after Labor Day

with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

‘Twas the day after Labor Day and all through the town
Not a creature was stirring, but there were a few hounds;
The Boggy was empty and Front Beach was bare,
It was hard to find evidence of the crowds who’d been there.
The boats were all hung in their stalls with great care,
In hopes that the first cold front soon would be there;
Town children were sitting in their school room;
Daydreaming of when they’d catch a big ‘poon;
The wife and I had just started our very first wade
With hopes of some spec’s or some redfish to trade,
When out in the ditch there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the boat to see what was the matter.
Away to the jetties I flew in a rush,
And saw three or four airboats filled full of brush.
It was only duck hunters getting ready for fall,
Building their blinds and having a ball.
I did hear some curses as palm stems took their toll,
But nothing could slow them as they continued to roll.
Dove season comes next and some other small birds,
Duck’s come soon thereafter, then deer in large herds.
But now in the present and for weeks yet not here,
Our sleepy little village is a good place to drink beer.
Enjoy the peace, the quiet, and the calm;
For soon other pursuits will wake us at dawn.

Oh my goodness, a new iPhone the 6 or the 6 plus or maybe the iWatch will be available for me to buy around September 19th. That is, of course, if I can stand in the long lines that will form at the iStore. It is convenient that I can definitely wait till way past the date, say about fifty years, then I can buy it as an antique. It might be cheaper then.

Don’t get me wrong, these fancy phones are absolutely amazing in what they can do. Phones are a part of life in these days. Just like smoke signals were lo these many years ago. We all have a need to communicate. Disclosure here, we own Samsung Galaxy3”s and Samsung is up to at least 5. They aren’t even paid for yet because of the two year deals.

By contrast the land line phone on my desk is at least twenty years old and it still works fine for phone stuff. No pictures though. No built in calculator or calendar. I use my old fashioned desk top computer for e-mail , Google, games and such stuff. Mainly because, I can’t type on those little keys on the cell phone screen.

When I get a picture from my daughter I just love expanding it. My wife is much better with her Galaxy. She plays scrabble with folks and gets lots of pictures from her children. She does e-mail and solitaire on her laptop. She also shops on line with it. Safe to say neither of us is really with the smart phone phenomenon. Especially, if we don’t buy the newest one every year.

That reminds me of when I was much younger and the big deal was what the increase in horsepower would be for this year’s new cars. Bigger horsepower was all the rage, till gas got so darn expensive. It is still important but not enough to buy a car just because of its horsepower rating.

It seems that listening to the ads and stuff of TV that either features or apps are the horse power rating of smart phones. I even notice that the new iThings are getting something to pay your bills with and it’s probably not money.. That could be exciting if the hackers of the world figure out how to hack it and get your money.

All of that power in your pocket or purse is awesome. When I first started working with those computers they took up great big rooms and needed lots of power and air conditioning. They got it down to little batteries now; those batteries do need frequent charging. When I am in a place where this 4GLTE stuff is the battery goes down lightning fast.

Well, I just don’t think one needs a new phone every so many months. I know they can last several years, cell or old fashioned. One needs a phone but does one need all those bells and whistles?

We recently held our 1st meeting of the 2014-2015 4-H year under our new officers President – Justin Munsch; 1st Vice President – Brooklyn Redmond; 2nd Vice President – Elizabeth Carey; Treasurer – John Rosenboom; Secretary – Carly Rosenboom; Reporter – Tarah Munsch; Parliamentarian – Sarah Doggett.

Over the summer, we had a few exciting events. Justin Munsch, who is also the Council Parliamentarian, went to a district leadership lab at the Frio River. We had our annual Achievement night in July and received awards for our service and hard work. In August our officers participated in an officer training camp hosted by the Victoria County 4-H. We had a great time learning about teamwork and how to be 4-H club officers. A few of our members also helped out at the 4-H fishing tournament over Labor Day weekend.

The Intercoastal 4-H Club meets the first Monday of each month at 7:00pm in the POC School library. If you are interested in becoming a 4-H member, we would like to invite you to come to a meeting.

Our club members have been hard at work raising our animals for the Calhoun County Fair coming up in October. Our livestock auction will be October 16th.

We hope you can make it out to support the Intercoastal 4-H Club!