Dear Readers: Lots of things have conspired against my getting a column in the paper regularly in the last few weeks; suffice to say, I am back (for a while, at least). Congratulations are in order to Mr. Phil Evett, who celebrated his 90th +birthday with a fabulous surprise party at the Blue Star Gallery in San Antonio on Saturday, given by his wife Joanne.

On Saturday, April 13, young people and adults swarmed all over Blanco picking up litter carelessly left along the road side. The week prior to the trash-off event saw many Blanco City residents haul unwanted items to the city yard for disposal. Members of the City Council, friends and family along with city employees gave up their Saturday morning to cruising the streets for piles to junk left for collection.

In 1838, my great-great grandfather, Tarlton Lewis, along with several thousand other converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gathered in Missouri. They were unwelcome, not so much because of their religion, but because they were not sympathetic to slavery. The locals perceived, and with good reason, that the “Mormon” influx could decide whether or not Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state.

Dear Readers: First of all, this piece of news should have been in last week's column, but due to computer issues beyond our control, I didn't get it in here until now. Cheyanne Cox (Mrs. Kyle) participated in a program called Crossfit, and what a program it was! She went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee (which is really mountain country) and ran/walked 26 miles with a backpack filled with 35 pounds of sand.

So you want to add a Man Cave, no problem. There are many ways to do this. If you have a garage or extra room in your home will be a great start. If not, you can add a metal building, small shed, or remodel that large attic. So many options are available. What is a Man Cave?

If you don’t want a concrete slab foundation, you might be considering a Pier and Beam foundation. What is a Pier and Beam Foundation? Pier and beam foundations incorporate a crawl space (usually at least 18 inches) beneath the home and footings filled with concrete or cinder blocks to support the slab.

Left to Right: BHS Homecoming Queen candidates for 1982 are Nickey Maly, Becky Neuman, Vicky Coffee, Rhonda Handberry, Sandra Jones, and Perry Kuebel.

Closing is the final step of a real estate transaction, where ownership of the property is officially transferred and money changes hands. The days leading up to closing can stressful for everyone – buyers may be a bit nervous about making such a commitment and both parties, particularly sellers, hope that some unforeseen last-minute glitch doesn’t prevent the transaction from happening. Although few closings are completely derailed by major setbacks, it can happen.