Texas Spook

[spooky]

heres a compilation of my myspace bulletins about my trip to Texas:

Dec 18, 2006
i got tired of waiting on some business stuff to happen, so im off to Texas for a few days to the family compound. we have a big hunk of land, and a large portion of my family have houses on it, and they DONT all get along....

it should be fun, back in NYC on the 23rd with surprises an tings.

have a merry christmas, and if you dont celebrate christmas....well, you should, im an atheist, and i do.

dont drive drunk, and stay off the roads if you can on the night of christmas eve and christmas day, too many people get killed by drunks coming home from parties. every trip ive taken driving on those days, going to and from family on the interstate, ive always seen horrific accidents.

so be warned, if you dont heed my advice, and you get killed, im unfriending you.

Dec 19, 2006
I am now deep in the heart of Teggsas

the stars at night, are big and brite
-clap-clap-clap-clap-
deep in the heart of Texas

the praries bloom, is like perfume
-clap-clap-clap-clap-
deep in the heart of Texas

JetBlue is still awesome, but not so much late at night. my flight was supposed to leave JFK at 840pm, i didnt board until 915, then spent a good 40 mins parked on the tarmac, the captain informed us we were in line, with 22 planes ahead of us.

The flight was easy, i watched studio60 and some show on A&E about being trapped in an elevator on 9/11, which wasnt as good as it should have been. I learned, channel sufing on the planes neat little LCD TV imbedded on the back of the seat in front of me, about that canal in France, its designer died 8 months before its completion. Also, some show about prisoners in lock down, a fairly nice looking white guy, who i wouldnt have been afraid to walk up to on the street, was in for murder. I realized i was racist against whites, because i honestly thought he would have been a nice guy, but then he opened his mouth, reliving the murder of a cell mate, who he killed with a toilet seat, because he didnt like the guy talking so much.

So i landed, in Austin, at 1am, a full hour later than scheduled. You dont realize how much you notice things like how people stand and walk, until you realize you just spotted your dad from behind in a crowd, just because he has a certain gait thats recognizable to me, nothing unusual, just recognizable. like looking at you dads hands or your grandmothers bare feet, you recognize them, without ever consciously recognizing that youve stored up all these visual clues to recognizing the ones you love. Maybe i underestimate actors.../shrug.

I bought some coffee and we drove to 'the family compound'. chatted about crime and the sights in NYC, about family gossip, about my brothers new kid.

I need to do some shopping, I havent bought anything for christmas yet. Art is what i give the adults, but that doesnt fly with the new neices in the family, 18 months old only appreciate loud, colorful, shiny, and bright. 5 year olds are a little more sophisticated, wanting little idols, they have brand favorites already, Bratz, Barbie(who, i found out, has a last name, its Roberts).

anyway, tings to do.

Dec 20, 2006
Oh yeah, thats why I left. Spooky is still in Texas.(part1)
-sniffle-sniffle-
sneeze!

ugh.

I forgot, im allergic to cedar. Ive got the sniffles, and im sneezing alot, its been raining, thankfully, so the pollen is low, but i dont expect it to stay that way.Im not miserable or anything, but i have a feeling i might be before i leave. My family lives in the hill country of central texas, and the only reason anything looks green when you liook at it from space, is because of the cedar trees, and they are everywhere.

So i woke up this morning to the smell of sizzling sausages. My dad was cooking and my grandparents were over. I walkedinto the kitchen and got a warm greeting from everyone. My grandmother, i believe, has been irritated with my dad over something, and they havent been really speaking in the last year or so, its not the malicious i-hate-you not speaking, more of the you-irritated-me-and-we-dont-talk-feelings not speaking. so i guess me being here was the ice breaker that got them talking again.

Sausages, my dad can cook them. The trick, he tells me, is low heat, having them in the pan before the pan gets hot. after the pan is hot, the quality goes down. I took notes.

I was advised that my uncle wanted to see me, Steve, hes the short uncle. The black sheep. The one with the get rich quick schemes. I first heard his schemes when he was in the petty coat business, a petty coat is the under dress a square dancer wears to poof it out. He told my dad, apparenty, that hes retired, his ship had come in, and my dad just nods, "Okay Steve. Let me know how it turns out"

It never really turns out. It usually starts good, though.

Like his motorcycle. whats not cool about a motorcycle? it died at the bottom of the swimming pool somehow, he wont say what happened. Also cool, his first new car, a cherry black trans-am, somehow, he ended up replacing alot of barb wire fence, because when he totalled the car a few weeks after getting it, he took the fence out too, he wont say how his car ended up a good 200 yards from pavement when it broke the fence, but at least the cows werent hurt. And lets not forget his pig farm, theres money in livestock, to be sure. His edge was he was getting the left over food, the slop, from local schools, and feeding them with that instead of 18% protein pig food. "Low overhead, thats how you make money". The pigs looked sickley, and it smelled bad. Really bad. and there were plastic forks everywhere. That was maybe 12 or 13 years ago, and hes just now retired, so i guess that didnt work either. Now, just for something to do, hes a pecan harvestor. He bought a nice big tractor, and the tow behind machine that plucks them from the ground. I dont know if the handfull of trees in the back yard are enough to cover the tractors price, but maybe its just a dry run?

Steve shares my philosophy, you only have to make it once. My dad said he will be back at work by the new year.

Steves wife, my aunt renee, now works at HEB, the Wal-Mart of texas grocery stores. Steve told me I should see her, when my dad called and told me they were going to the store. Steve then asked if Dad was being made to go to the grocery store, and then giggled. Im sure there will be some 'friendly ribbing' over that somehow soon.....

Dec 20
I made someone scream in public. Spooky in Texas.(part2)
So i went to the grocery store. Its where this big field used to be, i always assumed zoning and pride kept anyone from building there, on the side of a gentle hill, where the water tower with the local football mascot, a bulldog, looked down on his kingdom.

See, football is king here, its unlike any other state, when it comes to football. Even the middle school has a full stadium, with 3 story tall bleachers on either side, a practice field beside it, and crappy portable buildings, where the budget wasnt big enough to build brick and mortar classrooms for the rapidly expanding small town kids to get their learning done.

In my hometown, a water tower is more of a large tank, its not on stilts like many places. Maybe its cheaper. Its always on a hill. But it definately has more real estate for murals, and this one was big, and mean looking too. Im sure it was the pride of copperas cove bulldog fans, but somehow, i suppose, money won out, and an HEB grocery store now obstructs its view. I wonder if a city official with now deeper pocjkets lost his re election, or maybe was thrown out of office over it.

So me, my dad, and my step mom walked into HEB, grabbing a Texas sized grocery cart, and my dad points over to the photo center, "See anyone you recognize?" It was my aunt, busy barking orders to a tall cute mexican girl with long hair pulled back into a pony tail. I walked over and waited at the counter, and she clipped some 35mm color negative into shorter strips and walked over to me, "Can I help you, sir?" "Hey, Renee," her nametag didnt have her first name. She took a minute, tilted her head at me, the erupted in screams"Chad!!!Oh my god, i didnt even recognize my own nephew!!!" She bounced around a bit and danced around the counter for a big hug, beaming. Over her shoulde I saw people staring, probably because of the screams more than the public display of affection. In produce, i caught my dad laughing.

After brief pleasantries, we agreed to catch up later, i was here all week, and i caught up with my dad, who was still smiling. My dad had a peciled list of supplies for the week. Im not sure of the importance of the list, maybe it was serious, maybe it was an inside joke i missed, but my step mom would tell him "Its not on the list" and give a look, then my dad would not take her serious and put the marshmallows in the basket. Then she remembered stuffing "thats not on the list" my dad fired back, and he gave her the look he got, either a warning shot across her bow, or a funny fat joke they share. I didnt ask, instead i gawked at the amount of groceries, and my skin tingled more with all the red meat that was placed into the basket. I come from a family of carnivores, and i do miss the cooking.

In NYC, we have a little cart, everyone does, it can hold a few bags of groceries, some sodas, maybe some cleaning supplies. It seems heavy when the elevator isnt working because of maintenence. In Texas, and probably anywhere else that doesnt have a widely used public transportation system, the only limit is what fits in your car, and my parents drove a big one. They argued over turkeys, reading and scoffing at the vegetarian diet, they were allegedly raised on. "They ate every bug in the barn, and plenty of poop", priceless wisdom from a skeptic of vegetarianism. Looking around, theres a hefty difference in the size and shape of the local population, probably alot of skeptics, here in my hometown. In the end, i think we got a 17 pound turkey, they all looked the same to me.

We waited while they had the butcher coarse cut some meat for chili that night, which we had with sweet cornbread, a delightful mix of flavor for the pallette that i had forgotten about. My sister's adoreable but allegidly hyperactive princess of a daughter was coming over to stay a few days, and she liked pominto cheese sandwiches, another delicacy I loved as a kid, but somehow had forgotten about. The butcher wrapped up the meat and we headed for home.

My sister called, she had to go to work soon, she explained on my dads cell phone. My dad, ever the prankster, told her we were having lunch in Austin, and wouldnt be home for 2 more hours, we were actually only maybe 2 miles from home at that point, and after a brief freak out from my sister, my dad let her in on the joke. I asked, when the call was done, if she had a key to get in the house. My dad laughed and told me they didnt lock the doors. I guess with family all around, and no real neighbors, there really isnt much point in locking the doors.

also, i found out, they found my cousin, no more missing persons report....more on that soon.

[spooky]

DEC 21 (or at least it should have been)

sooo...i posted last night, i wish i had cut and pasted it somewhere, because it never went up, a few hours later, myspace had bulletins down completely, so what i said is gone forever......guess i will have to recap. ggrrr

first let me say, thanks to my longer 26 hour days i have grown accustomed to, and the drugs im taking for my returning cedar allergies, i feel like im in a daze, and am constantly taking little 30 minute naps, and i have yet to sleep longer than about 3 hours at any given time. I feel all lethargic and mentally slow, as a result, its hard keeping up spirited conversation with so many people i need to get caught up with, and time is short....

the day before yesterday, i awoke at about 4am, i popped into the chatroom and ate a bannana and had a DrPepper, the coffee machine is still a mystery to me. Glowing buttons, blinking lights, beeping noises, i cant seem to find the right combination that will make it do something other than stare back at me. Damn the robots. I think, before they rebel, they will turn off all the automated coffee machines and turn our brains to goo through lack of caffene first, making their victory assured, as most of us cant function without caffene.

i recounted the day before's events, and messed around, looking at the daily woot, making a few people angry in the forums, the usual fare, until about 7am. Then i heard my dad get up, he had been called on by my uncle Gene to texture a house for him. The activity woke up Savannah, my sisters 5 year old daughter, who is staying the week here. she was asking if it was time to get up. It was still dark outside, the weather channel showed a line of green blobs rolling over us out of the west, so i wasnt sure if it was still dark because of the rain, or the time difference. In NYC, which, i suppose, is on the east edge of the eastern time zone, the sky is bright by 6am, the suns actually up before 7. She decided it wasnt too early to be up watching cartoons.

My dad asked the both of us if we wanted an omelette. i said yes, having made my mind up to tag along to the construction site with my dad to help out, and i thought i would need the fuel. Savannah, preoccupied with something on Nick, Jr. said she wasnt hungry. So my dad made omelettes, and even though i dont usually like ham, and there was chopped ham in it, it was still one of the best omelettes ive had. Im halfway done with mine when my dad starts on his, and Savannah looks up during a commercial break. "What are you eating, uncle chad?" My dad was already walking back to the stove when she said she wanted an omelette too.

After breakfast, we hooked up 'the machine' to his big red deisel truck. The machine is a big white tow behind machine, thats essentially a 100 gallon or so resevior with a motorized mixer inside, that mixes mud for doing drywall work. It then feeds the mud through a 100 foot cluster of reddish pink cables through an air pressurized nozzle, almost like a really massive airbrush for mud. This ones a replacement for the older model he had when i was growing up. its a tiny bit more streamlined, but as an industrial machine, it still looks built out of legos.

My dad is still a prison guard, another few years and he can retire if he chooses. hes already vowed to retire for the required 30 days, and return to work, at which time he receives his full retirement check every month, and gets paid his full wage on top of that. But he still does construction on the side, cherry picking jobs for my uncle. The machine costs about 25 thousand, and my uncle Gene, i think, isnt fiscally responsible enough to invest in a 25k machine when he can just pay my dad a couple hundered bucks at the end of each job to spray the house. My dads pretty fast, being an old pro, and does a three bedroom house, including prep and cleanup time, in about 2 hours. Pretty easy supplimental income, and he can cover up Gene's crews mistakes, if there are any, and keep Gene looking good.

So we show up on the job, a new subdivision going up on the side of a hill, across the highway from one of my grade school haunts, skateworld. My uncle is already there, waiting in his champagne colored full sized truck, he gets out as we pull up. He offers a warm hello and helps my dad back the machine over the muddy soon to be driveway up to the garage bay, for easiest access to the house.

My dad has Gene unroll and hook up dirty green water hose, and he does, and my dad starts dumping purple and cardboard brown boxes of Murco brand mud into the machine to be mixed with water. Genes crew starts to show up, and begin to prep the house, and Gene comments on one of his less responsible hands, i think his name might have been Cory? Cory doesnt show up on time ever. Cory is also absent alot, but can usually get an excuse note written by someone from county lockup, where he may have spent the previous night. Like clockwork, Cory shows up, his mid 90s white jeep belching white stinky oil smoke. One of the other guys comment that his jeep is burning oil, cory replies"i pour oil on the engine to get it to smoke like that, i like the smell". Cory is missing his jacket, and looks cold. My uncle, having the prerequisite number of employees on site to keep up with my dad, now looks happy.

"Mark, i gotta run to the house and take the garbage to the road, we'll be right back, c'mon Chad, you can come with me" My dad does a combination look of half disapointment, half amusement, and shakes his head a bit. I get the feeling Gene isnt on the job if he can help it, and my dads happy not to have him under foot.

Genes truck is messy, and we talk a little politics on the way across town. Though hes a democrat, we agree on alot of things, we are both porchoice, pro gay marriage, and we both think the media needs its ass handed to it for its twisted bias coverage of only the sensational news. He especially hates them for putting the locals through almost daily torture. FtHood is the big military base locally, and easily theres 10 thousand locals serving over in Iraq, many with wives and kids. Theres a graveyard, he says, with over 400 men and women buried who died in Iraq around here. And everyday thers the update on the death toll, "4 more dead in Iraq, news at 11" its 4pm now, and the kids just got home, was that daddy? guess we have to wait 7 hours to find out if hes dead. same thing tomorrow. they want you to tune in for advertisers, and they have a captive audience. Id hate to be a military kid right now.

He comments as we pull behind the Wal-Mart, that butts up against the land owned by FtHood, that AirForce 1 came swooping down right through here to land a few weeks back, shook his whole house, he says. I wonder where exactly we are going, he lives in a rural setting, i was told, and Copperas Cove is built pretty well up, right to where FtHood starts. But theres a road back there that i was unaware of that leads to some private property back a mile or so behind civilization.....

coming soon: Gene's menagerie and my missing cousin, Waylon's story

[spooky]

(reserved for a future posting)

[germuhknee]

Good job, Spooks. You have an eye for the interesting bits of everyday life, and a talent for describing them. I am enjoying reading your reports from Teggsas. You should do more of this kind of writing. FWIW, I think it's much better than your political rants!

[spooky]

Originally Posted by germuhknee

Good job, Spooks. You have an eye for the interesting bits of everyday life, and a talent for describing them. I am enjoying reading your reports from Teggsas. You should do more of this kind of writing. FWIW, I think it's much better than your political rants!

the word rant is being associated with me more and more. i wonder if i will be raving soon. how far past raving do i get the lunatic title associated with my name?

[Canuck]

Originally Posted by spooky

the word rant is being associated with me more and more. i wonder if i will be raving soon. how far past raving do i get the lunatic title associated with my name?

... and then onto stark, raving lunatic status? I'm supposing that's worse than just a casual raving lunatic.

[slicknutbastard]

I used to frequent the Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen on 190 in Cove many moons ago when I was a kid living on Fort Hood - glad you were able to visit the old home place. Sorry the cedar allergy is kicking your ass. Have a safe trip back to NYC. Remember to bring Keith some Everclear.

[smallnorth]

Jebus H Spook.

Can you keep your posts to a length that I can understand (I.E be bothered to read)

I recommend 10 words or less.

[spooky]

Originally Posted by smallnorth

Jebus H Spook.

Can you keep your posts to a length that I can understand (I.E be bothered to read)

I recommend 10 words or less.

umm...no? Im why DJQuad upped the limit from 10000 words to 20000, i kept hitting the ceiling every few days, annoyed the hell out of me.

[jeffdrafttech]

Originally Posted by spooky

So i went to the grocery store. Its where this big field used to be, i always assumed zoning and pride kept anyone from building there, on the side of a gentle hill, where the water tower with the local football mascot, a bulldog, looked down on his kingdom.

How long has it been since you were home? I spent some time in Cove about two years ago and that store was there back then.