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With Some Lace &
With Some Lace &

With Some Lace & Paper Flowers

Last night, I was tidying up my kitchen. The glass storage containers go in the dishwasher. The BVA free lids must be hand washed. I dislike seeing holes in my fancy K-pod holder, so that gets refilled or, at least, repositioned so that the empty spaces are in the back. I prep the celery used to make my disgusting celery juice at night, so that there is one less excuse I can use the next morning. That way, I just pop it into my fancy juicer and, unfortunately for my taste buds, drink it all up. The counter gets a wipe down. The cats get treats. I have found that this helps my infernal insomnia, this kitchen routine. It’s one less thing to worry about while I’m worrying about whether I will sleep. As my pillow supported head ticks off all the things I failed at today, I can end each mental sentence with “but the kitchen looks great.” Anyway, mid-routine, my phone rang. I looked at the screen with glee, seeing my daughter-in-law’s name and that odd iPhone configuration that lets you know it’s a FaceTime call. I was about to enter into an amazing conversation with my grandchildren. But, those calls generally start out the same way. I say hello. My daughter-in-law says, “What are you doing?” My son, off in the background, yells out, “Probably watching some YouTube video about people living in buses.” He knows me well.

Forney City Manager Hires Director of Information Technology

Forney City Manager Hires Director of Information Technology

FORNEY, TX – After a diligent interview process, the City of Forney is excited to announce the hiring of Joseph Yazdanpanahi as Director of Information Technology. Mr. Yazdanpanahi will be leaving his position as Director of Information Technology at the Town of Sunnyvale, Texas and is expected to join the City of Forney on June 6, 2022.

Safe & Sound
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Safe & Sound

As a columnist for a newspaper that chooses to concentrate on only uplifting news, I try and keep my offerings motivating, inspirational, or at least contemplative with a sprinkle of happy ending. You can get all the tragic news you want by the push of a television remote button or the tap of a finger on a phone or tablet. So, yeah, concentrating on the positive is sort of a modern-day Bing Crosby thing to do. Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative, et al. But, here I sit unable to think of anything except what everyone is talking about, those 19 babies and those 2 precious adults who didn’t get to see the sunrise this morning having seen the sun set on their very lives. And, I don’t know what to do about it. Here’s the only thing I do know. I have a quizzical, quirky, weird perspective on the entire thing. A morbid perspective, one could say. One that only someone whose child died, thankfully not from violence but from a bad heart, could have. I look at things differently. The same could be said of the other 50% of my personality, the one controlled by the experience from a serious fight with cancer. Things ring oddly with me. I don’t want to say that I’m not scared of death because who’s not scared of death? But, it definitely makes you feel like there’s no room in your life for all the frivolity, all of the hang ups, all of the predispositions toward things like fashion or fancy homes or certain types of trips, though all of those things are lovely. Once you’ve walked closer to a dark abyss, it’s hard to ever see a meadow or a field or a prairie with quite as much joy. What is the answer? I only know that some people think guns should be harder to get. Some people think that guns should be impossible to get. Some people think that’s all hogwash. Some would point out the Canadian mass murder tragedy that won’t show up on any gun violence Richter scale, the one where the man rented the moving truck in 2018 and plowed through a busy Canadian neighborhood one day, killing 11 and injuring 15. All the different opinions, the ones who think guns are the issue and the ones who think mental illness is the issue and the ones who think this is just the way it was supposed to be, prophesied in fact. They all think they’re right. Everyone else is wrong. I suppose therein lies the tragedy. It’s so very American of us, patronizing another’s opinion and elevating only our own to the top. I’m just here to say this. Do whatever it takes to keep the babies safe. We are creating a world, whether we feel we are playing a role in that creation process or not, where we aren’t safe anywhere. And, we’re turning inward. And, we’re turning inward. And, we’re turning inward. Shall we not greet each other in public anymore? Shall we not go to church, since that’s a dangerous place, too? Shall we also not grocery shop any longer? It’s like playing a Sims game inside of our own homes. Here, I’ll set this room up to be the restaurant. Look over here! I can convert this room into a library (#library – we still need one of those). You know I couldn’t resist that jab. Oh, look! Back here is the bedroom. We can pretend it’s the boutique hotel we wanted to stay at this summer. And, now, I’m tucked in nice and safe. But, am I really? When will the evil permeate the walls of our homes? These maybe/maybe not mentally ill people with their maybe/maybe not ok weapons, when do they go door to door? I don’t even want to think about that. I’m a gun owner. I don’t know if it was the Malibu State Park shootings a few years back, or all of the serial killers from the 70s & 80s who frequented our national park system, or just my obsession with true crime podcasts overall, but there’s no way my husband and I would have camped through the backwoods of Idaho without some sort of weapon. I read too much. I listen too much. I’m the person who remembers the details, the joyous ones and the horrific ones. But, I am 100% down for making a weapon the tiniest bit harder to obtain. I don’t mind the extra steps. If I suddenly wake up and decide to commit felonious deeds, I probably should not be allowed to obtain a weapon again. Don’t worry. I’m a scaredy cat. You’re safe from the likes of me. Perhaps we all must give the tiniest bit. You know, it’s for the children. If the latchkey kids became the helicopter parents, just imagine the generation we are currently creating. God bless us, everyone.

THE OLD WOOD SMOKER

Luke purchased this old smoker about a quarter century ago and recently felt the need to put it back into action.

THE OLD WOOD SMOKER

Penning a weekly outdoors column is an endeavor I have enjoyed for the past 36 years but, at times, I find it a challenge to come up with a topic that I hope to be interesting and maybe even informative. Oh, those weeks when I am busy catching fish or hunting new places the words seem to just appear on my computer screen. But in real life, I’m not always catching big stripers or hunting; there are those weeks when I stick close to home and that’s when I have to ‘wait’ for a topic to hit me!

Thank You to All Who Served

Thank You to All Who Served

Last week we at FEF were proud to celebrate the hard work that our graduates have done for the last 13 years. But this week--the week between Memorial Day and D-Day- -it’s worth considering all those that came before us that made all of this possible. We at the Foundation remember those brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice against fascism. We hope to never be, as FDR said, “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy [who] forget in time that men have died to win them.”

Boaters Urged to “Clean, Drain, and Dry” to Stop the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species
Boaters Urged to “Clean, Drain, and Dry” to Stop the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species

Boaters Urged to “Clean, Drain, and Dry” to Stop the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species

With Memorial Day and summertime quickly approaching, and Texans will be getting out on the water. Now more than ever, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) urges boaters and paddlers who enjoy water recreation this summer to do their part to fight back against aquatic invasive species that threaten Texas lakes.

Don’t Get Caught Up with the Crowd

Don’t Get Caught Up with the Crowd

Many problems we have could be avoided or minimized if more people refused to follow the crowd. Group behavior often instills fear and panic as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Regardless of reality, the crowd is led with false premises. They then behave as if what they are being told is true. As a result, their actions transform the alleged circumstances into reality.

Water Saving Tips for Lawn Care

Water Saving Tips for Lawn Care

Even though we have been very blessed over the last few weeks with intermittent showers, we are still behind our normal rain fall. Despite that, we should all be good stewards of our most precious natural resource - WATER! Use these water saving tips for lawn care during extended periods of heat and drought.

North Texas Municipal Water District Receives EPA Acceptance of the Bois d’Arc Lake Watershed Protection Plan

North Texas Municipal Water District Receives EPA Acceptance of the Bois d’Arc Lake Watershed Protection Plan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently accepted the North Texas Municipal Water District’s (NTMWD) Bois d’Arc Lake Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) as meeting the agency’s guidelines for watershed-based plans. The Bois d’Arc Lake WPP outlines a strategy to implement management measures that will help improve and protect water quality in the watershed.

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Forney Messenger

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 936, Forney, TX 75126
Physical Address: 201 W. Broad St., Forney, TX 75126
Phone: 972-564-3121
Fax: 972-552-3599