This week has been a difficult one. Early starts, late ending days, then there is the driving. It goes without saying, my butt is dragging.

Add to this the fact that I have not felt good. I think this is tied directly to my sleep pattern.

Pepa had his procedure in Lubbock. Wednesday morning they inserted the needles and gave him his first radiation treatment. They put him in a hospital room until they could do the second treatment which had to follow by at least eight hours. Then they had to wait again until they could do the third and final treatment Thursday afternoon. This particular treatment is not available in Abilene. When they chose to go this route their two choices of locations were Houston or Lubbock with the deciding factor being who could get him in first.

It was my understanding that they would insert beads or pellets through these long strategically placed needles, and then they would do the radiation. I was wrong. The needles were left in for all three treatments. Memama said that made for a difficult night for Pepa. They required him to remain flat on his back, he could raise his head no more than thirty degrees and he had to keep his feet spread apart. If anything disturbed the location of the needles it would require them to begin anew. They were so precise in their placement that after they had inserted them, they did a cat scan to double check their positioning. Luckily, they remained positioned correctly. When they finished the third treatment, they removed the needles and dismissed him.

Pat said the doctor was very pleased with how things went. Pepa has to return April 25 for the second and final round of treatment. Memama said it may be a miracle if Pepa returns.

I visited briefly with Pepa yesterday and he said he was hurting all the way to the top of his stomach.

I am hopeful for a new solution to the tax issue I have been dealing with for several years. It seems that one lawyer has been looking into the bank's possible liability in this matter because their instructions to us were to conduct business as usual and they would decide what checks would be paid. They chose not to pay the payroll tax deposits, even though our comptroller wrote the checks and sent the deposits to the bank. Right now we are trying to gather e-mails and other correspondence that support this fact! If you are familiar with the situation, the bank was also funding our receivables and they had taken control of the company bank accounts prior to the family business failing! My position has always been that they are the one that drove the nail in the business's coffin, they guaranteed us to fail when they didn't accept the payroll tax deposits.

I heard through the grapevine that the old company office building sold Wednesday. Of course it had been pledged as security on a line of credit and forfeited to the bank mentioned above. Speculation is that the purchaser is either the company putting in the wind generator farm or their general contractor. They also got the shop across the street. They got it for about half what it cost the company to build, not counting all the telephone and computer networking that was left in the building. I think at our max we had thirty-six employees housed in that facility. From my desk to my brothers desk was fifty-seven yards! I always joked that by the time I got there either I was really mad and knew what I wanted to say or I had forgotten or cooled off during the walk.

Lots of violent weather yesterday! But oh the rain was delightful. I read in the newspaper that twenty-three streets or underpasses were closed due to high water. Four of the six ways into our neighborhood had barricades positioned where water went over the road. We went from being behind for the month of March to being ahead. Some areas had as much as seven inches of rain. Surprisingly with all the tornado and hail possibilities, the newspaper reported no injuries. That is a miracle in itself.

Krl and I have been on a disastrous course psychologically and emotionally. I hate it when we both reach the same point at the same time, because usually it can be quite volatile.

If my schedule remains unchanged, I am off Monday. I will probably mow then because with all of the rain I can almost see the grass grow.

Have a weekend! Go Hoyas! Go Bruins!

FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR blessing of precious rain, I lift up Pepa for YOUR miracle of healing, that the treatments will be effective. FATHER, temper me. Bless-ed be YOUR name!