Ryan Seniors celebrate by tossing their hats in the air after graduation Saturday evening at the Ryan Football Field.
More pictures and profiles in the Special Graduation Edition to be published July 9th. The edition had to be pushed to next week due to circumstances beyond our control. Thank you for your patience.
It’s very hot and dry around here. I am thankful that I have an indoor job. I don’t think I could stand to be outside in this heat.
I attended the city council meeting last Tuesday evening. There were several younger folks that attended that had been placed on the agenda for the evening. Sherry and Eddy Pewitt were there to discuss some points of interest with the council. Dylan Sheffield and Johnny Kimbro also discussed some points of interest to benefit our town’s appearance. They got together some folks to do some cleaning up of our local business district. They were working hard this Saturday afternoon. They cleaned the debris from around the pipes under the ramps out here on Washington Street. They did a lot of work on the flower garden located under to mural on the highway. They cleaned the area around the drain at the corner in front of the mural. They filled in some pot holes located in our alley behind the north side of Washington business area. They all worked so hard and during the hottest part of the day. Thanks to all of the folks that participated during this cleaning event. It was so good to see that there are young people that are taking pride in our community. Things can get done when there are groups of people that can all work together to better our communities. The city council also approved Macy Wright setting up a firework stand within the city limits. The council also discussed the need to hire a part time employee during the summer months. They said this job would pay $10.00 per hour and would allow up to 20 hours per week. Anyone interested in part time employment, go in to Ryan City Hall and fill out an application.
This Sunday is Father’s Day and also the day set for the Ryan Cemetery dinner fund raiser. There are tickets being sold at City Hall for a Yeti cooler and cap, and 2 rifles. The tickets for the raffle are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00. Go into City Hall if you would like to purchase some tickets.
There will be another sidewalk sale in downtown Ryan on July 6th. If you missed the first one, then folks will have another chance to check out our local merchants sale items.
Our Methodist Church members got to meet our new pastor, Christy Clark and her husband Mark, and son Conrad this past Sunday. This was Christy’s first Sunday as pastor in our church. She also preaches at Temple Methodist Church. We look forward to having her as our pastor.
I took Brionna back to the Ranch Sunday after church. She had a little longer stay this time. I picked her up Saturday evening a week ago so that she could go to church and see Sandy for the last time serving as our church pastor. She was also wanting to get to meet our new pastor, so, I just let her stay all week so she would be home for both occasions. She got to go to lunch with Terri and Chuck this past Thursday at Circle Dee’s.
Kim’s news for this week:
Foxy and I have been riding Ruffy Tuffy every day. They both got their baths on Sunday. Every morning I’m still able to drink coffee at the Cowboy College Table. Everyone have a blessed week.
Have a Happy Father’s Day and hope a lot of folks will come out to the school for lunch on that day to help support our Ryan cemetery. Have a blessed week. Pray for rain and for each other.
A new week is upon us, and I am prayerful that a good rain is behind us before this paper is released. Sunday morning, we had a very thick fog, which provided a drop to our much needed moisture situation. Our trees are looking like spring is fast approaching. I just hope that our fruit trees won’t start blooming too soon.
We are still seeing some cases of flu around our community. There have been some that have been hospitalized from it. Some have had a case of pneumonia along with the flu. Prayers to all of our folks that we can stay healthy and well.
The national news for this morning and also yesterday, was the stock market plunging downward. It fell worse on Monday this week, after a pretty bad fall on Friday. Gasoline prices around town are up to nearly $2.49 per gallon. We get spoiled to lower prices at the pump. Things will get better though.
Last week we received an order from our wholesaler that contained a bottle of Citroma. This is a liquid laxative preparation that is packaged in a glass container. It is always wrapped in plastic bubbles, to keep the container from being broken during transit. When we received it, the lid wasn’t on the bottle very tight, and some of the bottle had leaked into the bubble wrap. Lanette called the wholesaler to report the product so we could obtain credit, and the person on the other end of the phone told her they would issue a return invoice for the product. We return products quite often, but, in cases like this, they don’t usually ask for the product back. We received the papers to return the product yesterday morning and they had written the reason for the return was “seal was broken item is lickin”. Maybe that was why they wanted the product back. This would be an amazement to me, too.
I didn’t even get a glimpse of the Super Bowl Game. I usually will watch it to see the commercials. They are usually more interesting than just what we see every day.
Brionna and I went to watch the Ryan Cowboys and Cowgirls basketball games last Tuesday evening. Our girls and boys put forth a lot of effort, but, they didn’t get ahead of their opponents. They still played well and did their best.
There have been a good number of local folks that have been hired to work at the new casino in Terral. That is great news. They are still in the hiring phase, so, if anyone is looking for a job, this might be a good place to start applying.
Kim’s news for this week:
I don’t want to forget to thank Doyle for Ruffy Tuffy’s ride to the vet. Ruffy Tuffy wasn’t very nice, he had to be sedated twice.
So that Rex could hear, Ronnye brought him a funnel for his ear.
Everyone have a blessed week. Remember to pray for rain and for each other.
I made it to our city council meeting Tuesday evening and there weren’t very many Ryan residents that showed up besides myself. Tina and Larry Morrison had been placed on the agenda to ask the council if there might be any incentives offered on behalf of a new business. Larry asked the council why the business were charged $30.00 per month for the garbage service. Clifford replied that he thought the business canisters were larger than the residential canisters. This was discussed a little further to conclude that the canisters of the businesses are the same size as the residents, but, our businesses pay $30.00 per month and residents pay $19.50. In years past, our garbage collection was every week day for the businesses. You could justify the difference in the price of the business service in comparison to the residences. But, at least since we have had our garbage collection contracted out, the trash collection is one day each week regardless of whether business or residential. This item is to be discussed at the next council meeting. The first item on the agenda was to be some discussion from an individual from the Terral casino, but, due to the weather, they didn’t make it to the meeting.
I haven’t made it out west of town to see the progress of our Comanche Entertainment Casino and smoke shop. I have heard through the grapevine that they are planning on opening up February 28. The River Star Casino in Terral is expecting to open on March 1. These casinos hopefully may add some revenue to our communities of Ryan and Terral. The only hope for that happening will be from tourists patronizing the local businesses.
We are still seeing more cases of folks with the flu. It is affecting children as well as adults.
We did get a rain Tuesday evening shortly after the council meeting was dismissed. The rain lasted about 5 minutes, which is better than none at all. Enjoy the day Thursday, because Friday it is supposed to be cold again. The high for Friday is expected to be around 40 degrees. The high Saturday is expected to hit 50 and 60 on Sunday. This will give us something to look forward to. It was really cold this past weekend. I made it over to Amarillo Saturday morning, to see snowflakes falling in Amarillo. When I left Ryan at 4:30, it was misting and the temperature was 28 degrees and falling. I made it there and back safely. Randy and I had a good day together.
I don’t have any news from Kim this week. She has been sick this past week. I pray that she is feeling better.
Everyone have a blessed week. Pray for rain and each other.
Here are pictures from the Ryan Homecoming Parade:
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Photo by Sheree Hanson
Last Saturday at the Regional Cross Country meet in Waurika, the Ryan Cowgirls made history by winning their first Regional Team Championship. The team is comprised of Katelyn Dabbs, Grace Stamper, Alicen Williams, Lily York, Juliet Spangler, Whittany Spangler and Lilybet Harmon. These young ladies have achieved so many first time accomplishments that I could probably fill the entire page of the paper, so I will just hit the highlights. Besides the team championship, Lilybet Harmon had the best individual finish in school history with a 5th place finish and a time of 13:13. It is also the first time that Ryan has had two girls on the medal stand in the same regional. The Cowgirls have won 6 meets this year. From here the young ladies go on to State. It is worth mentioning that Ryan had only one Cowboy running at Regional and although he did not qualify for State, he did run his best time of the year. Mason Adsit is young and it will be interesting to see how far he and the Cowgirls go in the future. Congratulations to you all.
Ryan Future Farmers of America will be walking on to the stage in Indianapolis, Indiana to receive the National Three star Chapter Award. The three things that it takes to win this award are community work, agricultural work and building leaders.
So far I have written about students accomplishments in sports and FFA, but I have to think that the qualities they are learning will make them the leaders of the future, be it at the local level or beyond. It is a pleasure to see young people do big things.
The ag boosters will be selling “Boo Bags” this week, if you are interested, contact any of them.(I had to ask what a boo bag is.)
The Baptist Church is going to be working this coming Sunday doing clean up work around town as mission work. They will be working all day and if anyone wants to help you can contact any of the Baptists or I am sure it would be okay to just show up.
Books have played an important roll in my life. From Dr. Seuss as a small child to the books I started checking out of the school library here at Ryan in the 7th grade. I read whatever was available and I must have seemed like an odd kid to Clifford Peacocks parents, he would be playing with toys and I would be reading. The first book that I remember checking out was a book about the racehorse, Man of War. The horse was sold as a yearling for $5000 and became one of the biggest sports figures of the time. At home I would read World Book Encyclopedias, novels or The Readers Digest. As an adult, I discovered bookstores. There was one in the mall in Duncan that was owned by an older gentleman and it was there that I discovered Robert Service, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Then when Hastings came to town, I thought that I had hit the mother lode. I made many discoveries among the shelves and if you could not find it there then they would order it for you. Waurika has a pretty good library and has always proven to be helpful in finding what you might want.
When the subject of the conversation turns to the good old days, the younger crowd tends to go into automatic eye rolling mode. I am sure that I did my fair share of eye rolling when I was young but people my age had to be careful because the nearest adult was likely to give you a dope slap to the back of the head if they perceived rude behavior in your eye movements. So back to the good old days. My friend, Jon Harris and I have had an ongoing conversation about the businesses that once occupied the various buildings around Ryan. In an effort to gain insight, I repaired to “The Parlor” to do some research. The best that I could do was a book of maps prepared by the Sanborn Map Company of Chicago, Illinois dated May, 1914 with an update in April, 1923. What this collection of maps tells us is that with the exception of a few businesses, one bakery and a few boarding houses, the business district of Ryan went from 1st Street to 7th Street between Taylor Street and Lincoln Street. The thickest congregation of businesses was on Washington Street between 5th Street and 6th Street. In that one block there were multiple drug stores, general stores and hardware stores. There were also three banks, two were in their present locations and one was across the street in the middle of the block. Ryan also had an opera house and something called an electric theater. I am assuming that this was an early version of a moving picture show. A great many of the buildings on this block were two stories tall. Living quarters and offices occupied most but a few did house businesses. In the middle of the intersection at 5th Street and Washington Street, there was a grandstand. I am told that this would have been used for outdoor concerts and public meetings. On the west corner at 5th and Washington (where the American Legion building now stands) was a two story hotel. Going north from there were two garages. That was a surprise to me. I would not have thought that there would have been that much need for garages in 1914. On the alley next to the garages was a meeting lodge. The maps did not explain who owned the businesses in any of the buildings, nor did it show what lodge was meeting on 5th Street. The only building occupants that are shown are the local churches. The Baptists, Methodists and Nazarenes were in the places that we still associate with them. The Church of God stood where the Church of Christ is now and I could not find the Assembly of God or Catholic Church.
Let the eye rolling begin and y’all be kind to one another.
Praise the Lord! We received some measurable rain Sunday afternoon. The pavement is still wet and conditions are cloudy. I haven’t mowed in 3 weeks now. There is nothing to mow. Our grass is laying dormant on the ground. Plants have had to be watered from the water hoses. God’s blessings of rain far surpass any garden hoses. He just hasn’t seen fit to send much our way yet. Our temperature was 94 degrees around 3:00 pm yesterday and when the front blew in, it was 74 degrees. The temperature stayed there all night. I got out and watered the plants this morning, anyway. We desperately need rain around Ryan. The grasshoppers have really begun to move into town again.
I went over to see Mom Saturday afternoon after going to Wichita Falls. I spent some time with her and was on my way back to Ryan on Highway 81 just north of Ringgold and I could see an animal beginning to cross the highway. It’s body was slim and low to the ground, and I assumed it was a coyote. I was getting closer to the animal and it was slowing down and so was I when we met, face to face, on the highway. It was a tiny baby deer, and I saw no sign of its’ mother. It just stood there looking at me. My car was dead still, and I honked at the baby deer, it didn’t even move at first, then I honked again, and it began running back from the direction it had originally started crossing. Its’ little feet were slipping on the pavement of the highway as it was trying to move quickly to get away from this foreign object that it was facing. I know there are an abundance of deer around our area, but, my heart went out for this little guy or gal. I hope it found a safe place and still has its’ mother to care for it somewhere out there.
Kim’s news for this week:
Yes, it is true Ruffy Tuffy got a straw hat, too.
Every morning I go ride with Foxy by my side.
Then Foxy and I go to the ball park, where she can play ball and bark.
Everyone have a blessed week, a safe 4th of July and please remember to keep praying for rain and for each other.
We have gotten some much needed rain this past weekend. Our rain started out as a fine mist at about 5:00am Saturday morning. It went into thundering and heavier rain that morning. The sun stayed behind the clouds most of the day and we wound up with nearly 2 inches of rain by the end of the day. Sunday was a beautiful day. We will be looking forward to receiving more rain this week, it looks like starting Wednesday.
I drove to Waurika today, and glory be, we no longer have to go across the by-passes that we have been going across for several months now on Hwy 81 between Ryan and Sugden. We still have a 35mph speed limit at the first section of road construction.
This Sunday, there will be the wedding shower for Morgan Good and her fiancé, at the Ryan Church of Christ. The couple is registered at Dillards, Target, and Walmart. There is also a hostess box at Ryan Drug Store.
Dana Major has the solution to stepping on the scales and being greatly disappointed–she told us to just roll the dial back on the scales before you step on them. We got a good laugh out of her suggestion. I asked what you do if you have digital scales, but I don›t think she heard me.
I attended a meeting concerning the Ryan Cemetery this evening. Plans are underway for the yearly Ryan Cemetery Dinner, scheduled again this coming Father›s Day. More news later on this event as it gets closer to the date.
This Saturday is the day for the Ryan Food Bank food distribution, beginning at 10:00am. This next Tuesday will be the Ryan City Council Meeting at 6:00. It›s hard to believe that it will be May 1st already, this coming Tuesday.
Brionna will be coming home for a few days this week. She looks forward to coming home so she can attend some of our local events and she can visit with folks around town. I am looking forward to her coming, too.
Kim’s news for this week:
Do you know what›s weird?–Dustan tagging his beard.
Foxy loves going to the store, because my co-workers spoil her more and more.
I visited Joe Turner, it was nice, he gave me good horse-training advice.
We have quite a few folks from Ryan that are in need of prayer. Without mentioning names, please lift up folks from our community and ask God to watch over them.
Everyone have a blessed week. Pray for rain and each other.
It’s been a great week, but, this is the first week that we’ve not been blessed with a bit of rain. Maybe this week, we will have a better opportunity for some, if the Lord is willing. The days are now nearly constant for highs in the 90s. I try to get any outdoor work that needs to be taken care of done early in the mornings. It doesn’t take long for our seasons to pass, anymore.
This past week has been a busy week for most folks around Ryan. Brionna and I went up to Waurika to Doc’s Place to eat dinner Thursday evening. Brionna had fried shrimp and I had a grilled pork chop with peach chutney. It was a very good meal.
Saturday evening, we attended the Ryan graduation ceremony/ I was surprised that they didn’t have a guest speaker, but, they don’t always have 2 Valedictorians and 2 Salutatorians either. Take Kimbro and McKenzie Lewis shared the spots for the Valedictorian of the class, and Dawson Tomberlin and Cara Williams, shared the spots for the Salutatorian. Each one of them gave a speech. Cara Williams, along with her speech, played her guitar and sang a song. She is very talented young lady. Congratulations to all of the Ryan graduates. Good luck to all of you and God be with you all.
Sunday was Mother’s Day and Brionna and I made it to church. Edna had commented in Sunday School, that she hoped someone from her family would be there at church with her. She did indeed have both Natalie and Leslie with her husband, David. After church, I decided not to go home to cook for use, but, instead, headed to eat out at Bill’s. It seemed like we had to park about a half mile away from the restaurant, but, they were packed. We stood outside for a while, then went inside the entryway and stood for another while. I saw Ramona Bryant and got to talk to her for a little while. She is living in Duncan at an independent living facility that is only about a year old. She really does like it where she is. We also ran into Joyce and Lynn Plant while we were standing outside. They had their kids and some of their families there, too. We finally got to sit on the benches and visit for a little bit. I told Joyce that you have to be really hungry for Bill’s fish to have to wait for as long as we did. Our final wait was about an hour and a half. It was all worth it, though. The fish and hush puppies and the cole slaw, were all delicious. Then, to top off our meal, they brought all the mothers out a chocolate covered strawberry for dessert. I imagine most restaurants were pretty crowded with families, trying to get Moms out of the kitchens.
We didn’t get over to see Mom as I had originally planned. I had a cold and didn’t want to get around Mom or the other residents in the home. I called her and wished her a Happy Mother’s Day, though. My brother, Mel, took her out to eat there in Nocona at Del Rios. He said she really enjoyed her outing.
Our kids will be having their last day of school this Friday. Ya’ll have a great summer!
Kim’s news for this week:
This week I was not alone, my friend, Brionna, was home. She went with Foxy and me to see Ruffy Tuffy. That wasn’t all–me, Foxy, and her played ball.
Ruffy Tuffy got hurt in his stall, but, he’ll be okay after all.
Everyone have a blessed week. Pray for rain and for each other.
