A dusting of snow.

We have snow on the ground this morning. Not much, just a light dusting of a half inch or so. Just a few miles up north in Andrews the weatherman said they got five inches. It is to go up to thirty eight by late afternoon and the rest of the week is showing highs in the forties. That will be a break.







What do you see? I see the garden, our first garden, with raised beds that will make it easier to tend the plants with this bad back.

Today Cherie will go to get her Texas drivers license because Tuesday is the one day during the week that the drivers license office is open. Evidently the state official that does the license stuff travels to these small towns on specific days so Tuesday is Stanton’s day. I’ll go with her to se if they have the form my doctor needs to get the handicap placard. I also need to turn in the stuff regarding the trucks my brother stole. Been meaning to do that for a while but like all things I never seem to get around to it. I’ll finish writing it up this morning. Doing well this morning. Sharpened up since I woke and am running at a good 8 or maybe 9 on the bob scale as evidenced by how my fingers are dancing on this keyboard. Love these moments of clarity.
A grand imagination is always good for a dreamer. "To dream the impossible dream" has always been a favorite song of mine because it exemplifies my creative nature. When I look out over these 80 acres I see orchards of different kinds of fruits and nuts. I see a large building halfway buried into the sand with a rustic wood construction and a large parking lot where people come from miles around to enjoy the organically grown produce. I see festivals for each harvest where we make apple butter and other products using the herbs and spices that will be grown in the greenhouses. They will use aquaponics where we will also raise fish. Off to the left, out of sight will be the pond strategically placed to catch the rainwater during the massive gully washer rains that occasionally come here in Texas. It may not happen and I will be happy with just the garden but will still reach for the stars.

Went into the license bureau but they were closed. We walked into the BMV first to learn that drivers licenses were issued from another office in the building. The lady did have the form I need for my handicap placard. She also ran off a copy of where I need to go regarding Larry’s theft. It’s in Odessa so I need to look up how to get there. The drivers license office won’t open back up till after lunch at 2:00.

“What do you want to do now?” I asked Cherie or maybe she asked me. We decided to go get something to eat. It’s nice to have a couple of bucks where you can get a hamburger or something. After considering the three places we knew of we decided to go check out a small roadside place we had noticed a day or three ago. It’s called “The Oasis”. We didn’t even know if they served food or what but figured it would be good to explore this big town a bit.

Yeah they serve food. Nice little Mexican place with that homey atmosphere we both like. A ma and pa kind of operation where he cooked the tortillas fresh when you order. The menu was handwritten on one of those white dry erase boards. We talked with the proprietor as we tried to figure out what to get. Much of the stuff like asado we are totally unfamiliar with. I chose brisket cause that I’m familiar with. Wasn’t sure how it was served but it came wrapped in a nice fat tortilla. Man was that good. We will definitely go back. We both ate for $6.50 and that included two pops that were in the refrigerator that was standing right there. No soda fountain pop here, the real stuff in a can. Better quality in my mind. Yeah we’ll do that again.

We just got back from Midland. When we went to see about the Texas driver’s licenses we had a nice chat with the lady. She told us that we needed to have both cars registered in Texas so that will throw a wrench into things. It will cost about $200 to get Cherie’s car registered. My truck is already registered in Texas but we can’t just use it. This means we need to wait for the end of the month when I get my check.

On that note we went to Midland. I wanted to drop by Lowe’s and Home Depot to check out stuff for the wood burner Amy is going to bring us. The fire safe floor was on sale for half price. There were two chimney outfits that include the insulated thing to pass through a wall or ceiling and another to go through the roof. That sucker cost $150 bucks. We already have the insulated thing installed in the wall so that’s covered. Almost everything else had been sold out. I got an extension cord after looking to see if there was any woodworking equipment on clearance but there wasn’t.

Going to the check out we saw one where the girl was not busy and had walked to the front of her counter looking for some one to come through. “You look bored” I said and told her I’d give her thirty seconds of excitement. (Now before you guys jump to conclusions, Cherie was right there with me) As she checked us out, happy to have something to do, I said “How about we tell you our life story”. She was glad to just have conversation so eagerly said yeah, obviously unsure of what I was going to get into.

So I started “I just woke up from a coma five years ago”. She looked at Cherie and asked “Is he serious?”. Cherie assured her I was. Then I told her about losing my memory and being featured on ABC as Toledo’s John Doe Doe when they learned I was wandering homeless, searching for who I was and the friends I knew I had but couldn’t remember. “He’s kidding isn’t he?” she asked Cherie again and again. Then I got to the part where Cherie saw me on that television show and that it was the first time she had seen me in seventeen years. “Get out, that didn’t really happen, did it?” she exclaimed. “Oh yeah it did” Cherie assured her. Now she got involved, telling of how we had gotten divorced after I fell out of a tree, breaking my neck, back, and getting a concussion. “That resulted in him having a drastic personality change” Cherie told the cashier. She explained that we ended up getting a divorce because I had become an asshole. It was so slow at Lowe’s that no one came to the register during this whole conversation. The girl said she was so happy we came to her register and that this is the kind of story you only see on TV or in the movies. I told her that we were writing a book. I had finally remembered to put the business cards we had printed up a month ago with the blog address on it in my wallet. I got one out and gave it to her in response to her enthusiasm about our story.

As Cherie and I walked out to the truck we talked about it. “You know, it’s so great to have a story that makes people feel good” I told Cherie. “So much of my life was a sad story that just wouldn’t inspire anyone. In fact it would depress them” I said. She replied “I know. I get to live this one”. We are so blessed and every day we are amazed at how things turned out. Still boggles my mind, when I look at Cherie’s beautiful face, I can’t believe she is there, she is here with me.

To the girl we talked to at Lowe’s, I know you’ll read this so leave a comment and let us know your name. First name will be fine. You just got included in our story. Pleasure talking to you.

Back to our day. I have been sharp all day long with no slowdowns at all. Love it and hope it stays that way. Always appreciate these periods of cognizance and clarity. Used to be this way all day, every day. That’s when I created two companies and thrived. You watch, brain damage or no I’ll do something again. My life is a gift and it’s a gift I’m gonna give. It is so nice to be past that period of depression I went through.

Click on this to enlarge it. It is the philosophy I now live my life by. Many of you know I carved this as I recovered from the wreck