A Letter From Tom

Dear Friends,

I just this minute received a letter from Tom dated July 4. I'll share it with you here:

Well after two long weeks I've arrived--I'm at the Huntsville Unit AKA The Walls--the oldest institution in the state located in downtown Huntsville, population 65,000. I guess they call it The Walls because of the 40' wall that surrounds it. It is also the place where they execute the death row inmates and bury them (I'll get to that later). The place looks like an old college campus complete with red brick buildings and a courtyard with trees and flowering plants. The courtyard is actually one big recreation yard. I finally feel like I am where I am. There are no dorms, just rows with 2-man cells like in the movies. I feel a lot of history here. We are about an hour from Houston.

I was also reclassified--I received my S2 - Trusty status. This means I am allowed to work outside of the unit, and you know what...my boss at Lopez was right--what did they give me for a job? Groundskeeper. We go all over Huntsville mowing grass! I am a gardener. I thought I was going to die on Friday--it was 103 degrees. I am going to try to find something else but they tell me they give the Trustys those jobs where they can go outside. Groundskeeping also maintains the cemetery. I hear that there are two executions this month. Wow! A gravedigger, too. I'll keep you posted.

I'm guessing that they will put me back in school but school is on summer break for three weeks.

My new address is:

Huntsville Unit
815 12th St.
Huntsville TX 77348

I haven't received any mail here yet, so I don't know what's going on. Hopefully I'll catch up this week.

If you have the time maybe you can put most of this letter in the Blog. (Editor's note: done!)

Tom's Address

Dear Friends,
I posted a mailing address for Tom recently, but when I tried to send him books via Amazon today the address came back invalid. I did a search on the TDC website, and they have this address for him:

815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas 77342(936) 437-1975

That's where I sent the book order, so I hope it's accurate for a few days.

If anyone has different information, please let me know.

Tom's New Address - For 45 Days Or So

Tom Treu
1443944
21FM 247
Byrd Unit
Huntsville Tx 77320

Moving Day Has Come and Gone

Dear Friends of Tom,

I just received a letter from Tom dated June 21 with the following news:

"From what I understand I will leave here tomorrow (6/22) and go to Garza West, the following day I will leave for a place called Darrington and then on Wednesday I will leave for Byrd which I understand is in Huntsville."

Tom indicated that the Byrd Unit is where he will be "reclassified" and could stay for 45 days before he is assigned to another unit.

I will let you know if I have any more news, but I suspect this will be unresolved throughout the rest of the summer.

Traci

A Visit With Tom - June 6

I visited with Tom on Saturday, June 6, and he asked me to share some information with you to help keep the blog fresh. He has just learned that he will be attending a "Cognitive Intervention Program" beginning this week. The course is three hours per week, five days per week, and Tom is looking forward to the change in routine.

I googled the term and found lots of reading about the Cognitive Intervention Program. It sounds like it could be an interesting course, and I look forward to hearing Tom's perspective on the new experience and reporting it to you here. The puzzling thing is the timing--since Tom was expecting to be transfered this month, it's odd that he's being enrolled in a program which he would be unable to complete if that happened.

The "hall monitors" in the visiting room continue to marvel at Tom's appetite during visits. The menu for this visit included four Diet Cokes, nacho cheese, two packages of potato chips, M&M cookies, a sandwich, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. I'm probably missing an item or two, but you get the picture. It was a junk food orgy.

Tom mentioned how much he enjoyed the special visits with his parents and his Mother's Day visit with Maggie and her mom. Eric visited recently, as well.

Please feel free to post comments here. I will print them and mail them to Tom with my regular letter. Tom said to not worry about the lack of comments, because people tell him they're reading the blog, so I'm trying to follow his advice. However, if the spirit moves you to let me know you were here it would be terrific. Have a great week.

May 24

A happy Memorial Day to all! I haven't posted in a few weeks for a number of reasons. First...I knew Traci was going to be a little busy this month, but more accurately, the cost of stamps went up and the commissary ran out of the $.02 stamps! They now have the new stamped envelopes so I'm back in business. Although I am thinking of writing just a couple of times a week as I really don't have that much news to report on a weekly basis.

It was reported that Matthew and Maddie had a nice birthday party. My parents came from El Paso and spent the remainder of time with the kids. I'm certain all had a good time. I certainly enjoyed our two weekends of visits.

The weather has been a pleasant surprise this past week. Nice days and very pleasant nights. Unseasonably cool! Too bad that won't last.

Well, I think my time here is coming to an end! Last week I saw several guys who arrived a month or so before I did leave. I'm predicting that I will move on from here in the next month or so. So if any of you are planning a visit, now is your chance. Who knows where I will end up. Stay posted to this page and you will find out.

I'm back to working full time. The guy they hired to replace me was moved to another position so I'm back to working in the same job that I got when I arrived here in 2007. It sure will make the remainder of my time here go more quickly. I also completed another six months at my job, so I received another certificate to add to my collection. I think I'm now done with my certificates!

I saw a recipe in the May issue of Bon Appetit that someone should try and tell me how good it tastes. It is the cover recipe, which is Beef Shank & Sausage Ragu with whole grain spaghetti. I think regular spaghetti will be just as good. As well, short ribs instead of beef shank! Recipe is on page 92.

The recent issue of Saveur magazine had a recipe for Caramel Tart with Chocolate Ganache which sounded great. You sprinkle Grey Sea Salt on top of the chocolate ganache before serving. I wrote down the recipes for both so I can try them someday.

I just finished reading Angels and Demons last night. It was very good--a lot of action. All that was missing was eating a piece of pizza in the Piazza NAVONA. Buon appetito!

Until next time--

Tom

Don't Give Up

Dear Friends,
I haven't had a letter from Tom recently, so there have been no blog updates. As soon as I have something new I'll update the blog. In the meantime, you might try sending him a regular letter. -the ghostwriter-