Monday, February 25, 2008

It's a small world, after all!

Well, lots of interesting doings here in Temple this weekend. It started routine enough, with a few projects, a bit of hiking and some sports on the radio and TV. (Those Aggies seem determined to sink a promising season!)

Then, at about 9:00pm Saturday night, there was a knock on my door. Despite the fact that I've been staying here off and on for about 10 years, this is the first time I've had anyone knock on my door. The place is pretty remote and well hidden in the middle of my 200 acres.

I opened the door to two policemen, who were staring at the still glowing remains of my camp fire. They introduced themselves and asked if I owned that car parked in the field( I park in the field nearby, since the terrain at the cabin is too rough for parking a sedan). "Yes, why?". Their reply, "Why does it have no tags on it?". "Well, I just bought it and it has dealer tags in the window..."

"Oh. Can they see proof that I own it?" After I produced the keys and some paperwork and pointed out the dealers tags, I think they were starting to question why they were asking these questions. Turns out, someone had been riding a 4 wheeler and reported a suspicious "Cadillac" parked in the field. "Uh, its a Ford, but I guess it is different from the Chevrolet I normally park there." At first I was a bit miffed that someone, who obviously was trespassing by 4-wheeling on my property, had called the police. But, after a while, I decided it was good to have neighbors who were interested enough to report suspicious activity.

Then, on Sunday morning, I visited Canyon Creek Church of Christ. A young lady named Gloria came forward to be baptized into Christ. As I'm watching, I felt a tap on my shoulders and looked around to see old friends, Tom and Noni Matthews, from Houston. Turns out, Gloria was their granddaughter.

Afterward, I was invited to lunch at the home of the Huddlestons, the third time someone from the congregation has invited me for a meal. They have a beautiful home on a limestone bluff overlooking Belton Lake. Then, one of the guests, 80+ year old Mr Vaughan, who owns property adjoining mine and knows both the former owner and the current farmer who works the place, allowed as how he remembers the first time I visited the congregation with my son, Jon, who was looking for a friend from work camp that he knew attended there. What, that must have been 6-7 years ago???!!!. Sure enough, when I checked with Jon, the friend was Emily Matthews, presumably the sister of Gloria.

Ok, now you can join me in singing, "It's a small world, after all..."

No pictures, this time. I've got to start carrying my camera absolutely everywhere.

2 comments:

nemattox said...

Wow, I've never heard of a trespasser calling the police on a suspicious vehicle before. That is interesting! (The rest is too, but I have seen evidence many times of the Church of Christ small world, and people's long memories!)

The Visioneer said...

Now that's what you get for purchasing a "cop car" in the first place! :) I have a feeling that you'll be sharing some more funny stories with us in the near future...on the bright side, if you ever need to impersonate a police officer you have the most convincing prop! Sorry, I just had to give you a hard time about this...it was too fine a target. Love ya mate!