Trucks fixed

10/13/07 Saturday
Well the truck’s fixed. We took it to Auto Zone on the way to the farmer’s market. They could test the battery while it was still in the truck and found it was bad. I went to buy a new battery, which we can afford because of the work Cherie’s been doing for Janie, and they asked if I wanted them to install it. I presumed there was a cost for that so said no but asked what it cost anyway. Free!!! I can work with that. We left the truck there and ran to the farmer’s market.

There were only three small stalls open. We had expected a lot more than that but we’re used to Toledo, which is in the middle of the farm belt and is seven times bigger than Midland. Schuyler, the rancher I met at the Farm Bureau lunch, was there with his freezer full of beef. He had a grill and was cooking up some strips of steak he had marinaded in red wine. “The cheaper the better” he told me as we talked about it. Good stuff I tell you. There was a sweet little old lady who had the booth next to him. She’s the run who runs the show. She had tons of onions and maybe ten or fifteen different kinds of canned vegetables and relishes. She was tickled pink to hear we planned on getting involved next year and was a load of information about gardening. She’s part of the master gardener program that put on the composting seminar we went to and encouraged us to get involved. I think we’ll do that.

We picked up the truck after that and I followed Cherie over to Janie’s where she’s doing some laundry and stuff. Cherie had a list of what she needs for the dish she’s cooking for the care group dinner we are going to tonight. She gave it to me so I could pick it up on the way back home. There was a woman in the HEB parking lot wearing a dress that seemed out of place on her. She ran a well practiced “We’re out of gas and just need a couple bucks to get to Odessa” that is a familiar tune to me. Her pin prick sized pupils tell me she’s probably using Meth or some other drugs so I just said “That sucks” and went on in the store.

I got out the list and commenced to finding the items on it. I was fine at first but after a bit I started getting the peculiar dizziness that is a sign of a slow down. There is just too much commotion and activity for me to handle in the store today. I’m still slow despite being home for an hour and feeling pretty drained now. I want to tear the tiller back apart in an attempt to get the clutch working right. Think I’ll put that off a while and just lay down for now. The puppies were excited to see me as usual. I let them out for a short time so they could take care of their business but am keeping them in for now. I can’t watch them from in here and don’t want them in the cotton fields after they’ve been sprayed with the defoliant.

So that is the start of the day. Gonna grab a nap. First I want to write about the other guy who sat next to me at the Farm Bureau lunch. I mentioned being in the coma and brain injury and he told me he’d been knocked out and had suffered similar problems I had such as memory loss and severe depression. “It took ten years for me to get back to normal” he said. Another case of undiagnosed traumatic brain injury. I am amazed at how often I run into this now that I’m aware of it. He lives just down the road and told me about honking his horn at the puppies cause they were playing in the road as he drove by. “I just wanted to scare them” he said. They were real small he told me so that was a couple of months ago. Hopefully they aren’t doing that anymore.

That’s it. I’m tired so will break off now.