Yesterday was a lost day

1/13/10 Wednesday
Yesterday was a lost day. It wasn’t seizures, slowdowns, or pain that caused me to lose the day, it was this new Stelera internet connection. When we got it Monday things were fantastic with information downloading and uploading at speeds we have never seen before out here. When I tried to go online yesterday morning I was able to look at one of the nine emails I had before it stopped working all together. So I called Lance, the rep, to tell him about it. He put me in touch with a tech guy who instructed me to take the router back and trade it in for another one. I did so but it still didn’t work. So Lance said he would come to the house and work on it. It was two hours before he could get here and when he arrived it was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Tuesday is one of the days I go to Midland and this one had a lot of items on the schedule. It’s a poop scoop day and the day I visit with the little old lady I help out. When 4:00 rolled by I called her to let her know I was running late and might not make it. She gave me an update on how things are proceeding with her financial debacle with Met Life and Wells Fargo. They are still trying to figure out who messed up and who’s to blame for it. Meantime Lance was still trying to figure out what was wrong with their system. The last word on it was that they will send someone to look at the tower to see if that’s where the problem lays. Lance was here till after 5:00 and I had no choice but to stay here and babysit. The timing is real bad as I have much to do to prepare for our meeting with the State Friday and part of that requires I go online. I still can’t go online this morning and yesterday Cherie returned the Verizon equipment so even that slow option is not available. She will download and print the email sent by the consultants, that spells out what they needed, from her work. It seems like there are forces out there making this as hard as possible, putting out roadblocks and obstacles to keep us from our goal of building a business out of this farm.

Here’s an update on another situation we’re involved with. Last week I got a call from Suzie in Toledo. A boy they know, who had dated their daughter for a while, was stranded in Socorro New Mexico. He had driven to Arizona to pick up some relatives and others and bring them back to Toledo. The motor had blown on the truck and they needed money for food, lodging, and hopefully to fix the truck so they could continue back to Toledo. Cherie and I decided to send him $200 we had been saving for something else after I talked to the boy myself to wade through all the confusion I was hearing. I was considering taking the truck and trailer there and towing it here, where they could work on it, but that fell through. Seems that someone from Tucson, Arizona, came and got the whole group (there were six of them including a nine year old girl) and took them back to Arizona.

I learned more details from Suzie later and it’s not a good situation at all. When Devon, the kid who’d driven all that way to get this crew, bought food for the nine year old, who’d not eaten in two or three days, the father got angry and started a fight. Now I know that the father is addicted to pain killers and part of the group is a lesbian couple who probably have drug issues as well. Seems that they robbed Devon of the money I sent along with his clothes and phone charger. The lesbians found a ride to Toledo with someone through Craig’s list and the man with the daughter also found a way back to Toledo leaving Devon stranded in Arizona.

So now Calvin (Suzie’s other half) is driving to Arizona to rescue Devon despite not having the funds to do so. I let them know that if they come by here I will pay them to do some work around the farm and thus enable them to make it home. What bothers me the most is the thought of that little nine year old girl. What kind of abuse is she going through with a drug addicted father who got upset when someone bought her a hamburger. Devon is 18 and this is all an education for him about life so he will survive but that little girl is another issue. I just want to reach out and smack the dad upside the head to wake him up but even if I could odds are it wouldn’t change things. There are thousands of children growing up in similar situations on the East side of Toledo, and all across America for that matter. And the poor economy just makes things worse.

It is our desire to at least make a way out for Suzie, Calvin, and their children. To perhaps find them work here in the Permian basin where they can escape the sin and degradation that surrounds them in Toledo. A man, who says he is a prophet, told me I will become a patriarch to some and the farm will be a place of refuge. When I was told this it sounded comfortable and I can see nothing wrong about it. Actually I already knew it.
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Finally, they got it fixed. There was something messed up at the tower so now that it’s repaired we have internet access. Praise the Lord.

Calvin called. They just made it to Texas so should arrive here in five or six hours. That's a guess cause I can't remember how long it takes to get here. We'll find some work for them to do and make sure they have a good meal before sending them on to Arizona.