LIBRARY NOTES

DONNICE CARRUTH | SPECIAL TO THE TEXAS SPUR

The excitement of Homecoming 2022 is winding down. Seeing old faces and a few new around a bustling downtown Spur is always a wonderful feeling.

This may be a small community, but fierce in its traditions and feeling of unity. That feeling is what draws so many exes back to Spur year after year. Tommy and I were sitting in Old Town Café when a classmate from out of town stopped by our table and chatted for a while. After she left he said that we looked like we took up where we left off so many years ago. I have lived in many places since graduating in 1975, but I have never seen or felt anything quite like a Spur Homecoming anywhere else.

We have a couple of people that have ties to the library who are planning on moving away soon. Raynetta Newman came by and told me she will be moving closer to her son in Iowa. Jackie Rumbaugh will soon move to Lubbock to be closer to family. Our regular patrons become like family to us here, and we get used to seeing them. They will both be missed.

We have some new books on our shelves. Released just last month is the newest addition to the Hank the Cowdog series, “The Incredible Ice Event.” Author John R. Erickson, a former cowboy and ranch manager, is gifted with a storyteller’s knack for spinning a yarn. Through the eyes of Hank the Cowdog, a smelly, smart-aleck Head of Ranch Security, Erickson gives readers a glimpse of daily life on a ranch in the West Texas Panhandle. The series is written for children ages 8 through 11, but is loved by all aged readers.

We also have for our readers of western fiction a collection of stories from some of your favorite authors in “Ghost Towns.” From the searing sun to snow-steeped winters, towns called Sentinel, Iron Mountain and St. Elmo stood strong and fierce—before they finally died. Now, these ghost towns return to life under the spell of such great Western tale-tellers as Louis L’Amour, Elmer Kelton, William W. Johnstone, Bill Brooks, Loren D. Estleman, Johnny D. Boggs and New York Times bestseller Margaret Coel.

Check it all out at the library.

Donnice Carruth is director of the Dickens County-Spur Library, in Spur.