December 24, 2010
Most folk in Cedar Park, Texas, a suburb of Austin, believe that there are no homeless people in Cedar Park. They think of homelessness as being down in Central Austin. Certainly, you will find it there; however, I've also found many signs of homelessness on my walks in the undeveloped tracts of Cedar Park, and I've met a few homeless people. I'll share a bit about one man. I only spoke with him once, well over a year ago, and I'm sorry to say I don't remember his name. I do, however, admire his craftsmanship. You see, one Christmas Eve, I stumbled upon his shack in the woods. He wasn't home. He had obviously built it out of some abandoned construction materials. You will find such materials in the woods, because the dump charges a fee. The construction supervisor rationalizes: "Well, whoever owns this property isn't using it anyway." I peeked inside. He had some clean shirts hanging on a hook. A broom to sweep the place out. Being as how it was Christmas Eve, I thought of Mary and Joseph, who found no room at the inn. Joseph was a carpenter. Had he found these materials, he quite likely could have put up such a shack, but not in time for the baby's arrival. At least, they had a manger.
 The man had decorated the outside of his shack a bit. Perhaps for Christmas. |  This calendar hung on the wall, still on the page for September. I didn't disturb anything. I didn't walk all the way in. Just peeked. |
Some months later, I found it again. The Christmas decoration was still up. He had put in a sturdy door, with a lock. Good idea! Bored teenagers come into the woods, too. (When you find a big pile of beer cans in the woods, but no signs of homelessness, the pile belonged to a group of teens.) I believe this was the day I met him. He had not been there in quite awhile, he said. He had been living with an older couple, helping with the husband, who had dementia. But, finally, the wife managed to get government services. Some in-home health care got approved. He wasn't licensed. So, he returned to his shack.
The last time I came by was November, 2012. He had spruced up a bit, with a UT Longhorns Flag and a rather unfortunate vintage beverage sign, which these days would probably be considered racist, certainly by the vast majority of black people. But, I will give him grace. Below, see his decorations, including the one still there from Christmas, and his sturdy ax. He had a fire ring. Very well kept; however, we had then and still have a burn ban due to drought conditions. I've found fire rings all over the place, but only once did I find one with still burning coals. That one, I extinguished with the two water bottles I brought.
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He strikes me as a very industrious, hard-working fellow, the kind of man who would have been a pioneer back in the day. The one time I spoke with him, I offered to walk over to the Farmer's Market with him to buy him some food. He politely turned me down. If I ever need someone to build an outbuilding, I know where to go looking. If he hasn't moved on.
Let's end with this quote by Dennis Rodman:
Let's end with this quote by Dennis Rodman:
I've been homeless. I've worked at 7-Eleven.
Think about it.
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