In the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, St. James Episcopal Church and Preschool held their annual Blessing of the Animals service last Tuesday, Oct. 4, in the church’s memorial garden. Church members and preschool parents brought dogs, a goat, a llama, and a mini horse to be blessed with holy water by R Chris Heying, St. James’Church Rector. The preschool children from both St. James and First Light campuses brought stuffed animals and photos of pets for a blessing. Even Francis, the school fish (named after St. Francis), made an appearance.

Africanized honey bees are a hybrid of our normal honey bee and an African honey bee. They have a mixture of genetics from both types of bee and the amount of mixing varies. It is possible for a honey bee colony to have only a small amount of Africanized genes and not be aggressive. But a different colony may have a lot and be very aggressive and dangerous. Our normal honey bees are referred to as European honey bees because they were brought here from Europe, beginning in the 1600s. Genes can be mixed when a European honey bee queen mates with an male “drone” honey bee that is Africanized, or vice versa.

Kreische Brewery & Monument Hill State Historic Sites will host their second annual Archeology Day on Saturday, Oct. 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year, staff and volunteers are excited to share even more family activities and behind the scenes information to community members curious about the field of Texas archeology. During Archeology Day, a special $1 admission fee will apply to local students. Regular admission fees apply to parents, guardians, and other visitors. This year’s activities will include mock excavations, pottery making and mending, lessons on the archeology of trash, and more. Archeological tours and partner-led bioprospecting walks (guided expeditions to collect yeast samples from the brewery grounds) will also be offered for curious visitors, young and old alike. “We are excited to host these hands-on activities and tours not only to share the history of our sites, but also to highlight the science involved in investigating the past,” sites educator Jenny Townzen says. “Archeology starts with a research question and involves field methods to lead to a better understanding of the people before us, from 50 years to thousands of years ago. It follows the scientific process and concludes with informed guesses based on the data you collect.” To mimic the methods of an archeologist, young community members will receive a special Field Notebook to guide them through the various activity stations. Each station will encourage visitors to think outside of the box about how the material culture of the past, as well as the present, define them. Once visitors complete these stations, they’ll receive a “Junior Archeologist” badge as a reward for their investigatory and critical thinking skills. In addition to these activities, visitors will have a chance to speak with THC Archeological Stewards who can provide more information about the archeology of Fayette County and beyond. If community members have an unknown artifact at home, they are welcome to bring it to archeology day where stewards can attempt to identify it and provide information about the object’s history. “Kreische Brewery is one of the premier archeological sites of the Texas Historical Commission,” says Townzen. “The material culture found from the excavations by Texas Parks and Wildlife in the 1970s and 1980s provides a voice to the Kreische family that would have been lost without the careful recording of the information. Now that we have these reports, it’s our job to continue to share the Kreische story and teach others about the importance of preserving the past too.”