Opinions

Well, last week we discussed the history of dairies and milk production in Northeast Parker, Northwest Tarrant and Southern Wise counties. I went to Harold Ray Wright for knowledge and wisdom, he’s an eightyfive year resident of the Silver Creek area where he spent well over half of those years helping to produce milk and other dairy products for the citizenry. If anyone should know the dairy business, more especially in our corner of the world it would be Harold Ray along with his wife Dot, life partner and working dairy business partner. If you were with us last week you’ll remember his quote was “if you’re going to be in the dairy business, you’ll have to learn a lot about a lot of different things, work 365 days a year and not plan on vacations.”

Warmer temperatures over the weekend and continuing this week melted most of the snow from the state’s roadways and roofs. But Texans are still dealing with broken pipes that flooded homes and businesses, damaged municipal water systems, and continued power outages in scattered areas, mainly in East and Central Texas.

We’re going to visit for the next two or three weeks about milk, its byproducts, dairying and dairy families. This topic has always held a warm spot in my heart and because of this, if I’m not careful, this could creep into a four or five week series. In the Bible’s book of Exodus, God speaks to Moses from a burning bush about the Promised Land, and refers to it as “a land flowing with milk and honey”. That was a huge hint to Moses that the Promised Land would be good. So, milk for a very, very long time has been recognized as something good.

Texans from Lubbock to Longview shivered under single-digit temperatures as their week began, with snow and ice creating dangerous road conditions throughout the state. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for all 254 Texas counties and urged residents to stay alert to changing weather conditions. The Texas Division of Emergency Management deployed resources from various state agencies to prepare roadways, assist motorists, remove downed trees and perform search-and-rescue operations if necessary.