New person new world

1/24/08 Thursday
It’s been an interesting day. I been running a little slow all day, kind of wavering between a four and six on the bob scale. Real disconcerting. Constantly get that thick headed feeling that is a precursor to a slow down but it doesn’t quite happen. It’s like leaning over the edge of a cliff but never falling. Drives me nuts.

We went into Midland today. First we went to the small engine place we went to yesterday or the day before. Right now I’m too lazy to read the journal and see. After taking the pull starter to the tiller apart I decided to just get the pulley instead of the whole assembly. That way I’ll save about eighteen bucks, as long as I can put it all back together again. I left my pocket notebook there the previous visit and was able to recover it. She had been using to make notes not knowing where it came from. We laughed about that and I told her I was glad to help.

While there someone we knew from the first church of Stanton came in. We had sat with him and his wife at the churches Wednesday dinner thing a few times but I don’t think he recognized me. I asked how things were going at the church and he said that pastor Dave had back surgery not so long ago. In the course of conversation he learned that Daryl B. was my cousin. “I’m sorry to hear that” he said. When Cherie said several others told us the same thing he said he was just joking. I told him that we had reached out to Daryl several times with only a cold response for our efforts. “Kind of like we were lepers” was my thought but I didn’t say it. I think that some who wear the Christian label believe that the “love of Jesus” is something you just show to people you like, not for any others. I told him to tell pastor Dave Hi for us and that our invitation for him to visit still stands and that I was sorry to hear of his bad back.

After that we went to Walfart to pick up some food and drywall patch stuff. The dogs got into it yesterday, destroying a whole roll of that paper tape you use on corners. It was spread all over the living room. I got pretty mad and they knew it. I always feel bad after I blow up like that. I’m much better than I used to be but emotional control is still an issue and probably always will be. Hell, it’s been a problem all my life. Part of the Asberger’s syndrome and multiple brain injuries going back to infancy. I was held back in the sixth grade not because of my grades but because I was deemed to not be emotionally advanced enough to move on.

On the way home we checked out the large pile of wood we’ve been driving by for months. There are at least three different types of wood there, one of them being mulberry. I picked up several pieces to see how well they burned. Don’t know how dry they are. Most of them are cut too long for the wood stove but short enough for me to handle. This appears to be on city or county property alongside the loop near a trailer park and it obviously came from trees they cleared on the land so I figured it didn’t belong to anyone and was OK to take. At least I hope so cause there is a lot of potential firewood there.

Here’s a picture of something one of the trees was growing around. There was other stuff around that made me think it had been a junk yard or something in the past. I carefully split this part of the wood off with the intention of digging it out. Unfortunately my cognizance level was such that I put it in the woodstove minutes later without being aware of it. It turned into a puddle of aluminum.

We’ve been seeing little signs put up along 80 for several days now advertizing taco, menudo, tamales, and other things at what had once been a carry out. We decided to give it a try figuring it would be a small family run place with good food at a good price. It was. Other than being a little salty it was great food. All of it was made from scratch. They cooked the taco shells on the spot for my order. She made the sapodillas after I ordered them as well. Great food and we’ll go back.

After we got home I cut some dead wood out of our mulberry tree and was splitting it along with some of what I just picked up when I saw a white pick up truck pulling in the drive. Out of it stepped a young man with a badge. “Oh Oh” I thought as paranoia rose up in me. With my past and the experiences I had with Toledo’s criminal injustice system I fear the worst despite knowing I am a law abiding citizen. In Toledo I was charged and convicted of a crime I never committed. That’s a story you can find somewhere in this journal. It’s good reading.

This is an instance where my being unable to remember or recognize a face came into play. I walked up to him and he smiled, reached out to shake my hand, and said “I’m John Woodward”. Now while I can’t remember the face I do remember him. John was the guy who had an adobe brick maker for sale that we looked at a while back. Great guy and we really enjoyed talking with him. He has some “beefalo”, a cross between a buffalo and cow. John is a deputy sheriff and is running for sheriff in Martin county.

Here’s where we see just how much I’ve changed. I’m definitely a new person in a new world. Once I figured out I wasn’t going to be charged with a crime I didn’t commit or hassled because of my background I relaxed. Things are so different in Toledo and we are so glad to be here. Cherie came out after putting the dogs in the house and we all visited for a bit. John’s wife was there as well. John asked how things were going and we told him about the fire. When he learned we heated with wood he said that anytime I wanted I could come out to his place and cut what we need. He also wrote down his cell phone number in case I needed anything. Now he’s not doing this because he’s running for Sheriff because he did the same thing when we talked to him last year. He’s being a good West Texas neighbor, the kind we hoped to find when we went to the church in Stanton.

He had some election signs so I told him I would be happy to put one in our yard. Now this is a good illustration of how much I’ve changed. In Toledo I was always disgusted with the proliferation of signs at every election. There would be fifteen plus signs in a yard and so many along the road it was sometimes hard to see what was coming at a corner. I joked with John, telling him that I could pull competitors signs down for a price like they do in Toledo, and explained how nasty Toledo politics could get. John said things weren’t like that here and in fact he liked the other two who were running for sheriff.

So here you go folks. Look, I have an election sign in my yard and for a sheriff at that!!! Yep, I’ve changed a lot since I woke up from the coma. In fact I will be registering to vote for the first time in my life ever. That’s another sign of change. Before I always wanted to stay under the radar and by not being registered I could avoid jury duty. Besides that my lifestyle in the early days wasn’t conducive to being a good citizen. Later on with my companies I just never took the time. There is nothing more constant than change you know. I'm gonna vote for a sheriff.



I’m tired now so that’s all I’ll write. See ya next time.