Hello Campers.

I'm happy to reveal that I am feeling much improved.  Marcie the PA called me in some meds Friday and I went in yesterday for a full blood work up. Luckily we have kept the grunge out of my chest.

Addison remains in community hospital, where they did surgery on her leg late Friday.  They cleaned the pocket and scraped the bone.  Much to everyone's dismay the preliminary reports are that it is a strep infection.  They are trying to figure out what strain.  Actually the infectious disease people are saying this is potentially worse than a staff infection.  Wound care is addressing it daily but last word was probably another week in the hospital.

I have begun mental planning on a project here at Memama's house.  In fact I have contacted Allen, who owns Homer's repairs to come and look with me.

The bedroom is on the far west end of the house and is the only one on the north side.  It has a bathroom that drains across the house which has always been marginal at best.  When the bedroom and bath wereused regularly, it did o.k., but as it became more of a guest room (until I moved into it) it became more problematic.

Shortly before Pepa died he asked me and Hag to look at it.  We decided to pour muriatic acid down the vent pipe and hopefully open the drains.  We positioned a ladder and Hag went up and began pouring.  I followed him up carrying more gallon jugs of the acid.  After about three gallons I went down and started in the bathroom.  It turns out after a 1974 remodel this bathroom has a false ceiling, BUT acid was dripping out of the light fixtures, the exhaust fan, the air conditioner vent and anywhere else it could escape.

I ran outside, telling Hag to cease and desist.  He went into the attic to see why it would be leaking out of the pipe and discovered that the roofers had pushed the pipe over and the joint was not glued or sweated in and that was the reason for the leak.

By now, the house was filled with the horrific odor of muriatic acid.

As soon as the dripping stopped we began a cleanup that did nothing short of burn your lungs.  Initially the damage didn't appear too bad.  The acid burned through the thin chrome drain pipe in the tub, and there was some discoloration in the tub and on some tile and there was a small hole burned in the carpet.

As time has gone on, the damage is more apparent.  Some discoloration on the ceiling and more and more tile issues, AND the slow drain problem persists.

So I have come up with a plan.  We are going to do a complete remake on the bathroom.  We will probably relocate several fixtures to change the configuration and then install a handicapped shower in place of the tub.  I have seen one of these Allen put in at his cousin's house in the guest bath and I love it.  Biggest project is going to be putting in this bathrooms own septic tank and drain field.  But I have found a small trac hoe that can get inside the tile fence without taking the fence down.

You know it is odd, but that was probably the last time Pepa asked me and Hag to do a project.

Just sayin'.

Well, I had better get busy.  Bill didn't work yesterday.  No call, no nothing.  He is exhibiting the same pattern of a year ago.  If we are not going to strip our own cotton I may let him go.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the many blessings YOU give us.  I continue to lift up Addie and Brian for YOUR gifts of healing and care.  Be with the many students, teachers, and administrators as they begin another school year.  Thank YOU for YOUR rain blessing and we ask for more if it is YOUR will.

Hello readers.  Long time no write!  Sorry.

Last weekend I went to Lubbock.  I had received a phone call from Rian saying he could use some Dad time.

This provided a unique opportunity because Addison was flying in to Lubbock from her summer stay with Birdie and Harvey.

We had decided to cook out, so I gathered a variety of items to choose from.  Rian chose rib eyes, chicken, and Earl Campbell sausage.  Erica had a tray of squash to which we added bell pepper strips, and she had bakes in the oven.

Reid and Shala took a four wheeler ride while Holt and Moses were playing with the cute little potato head girls (they are neighbors across the street and their Dad owns Barrett produce). 

When Reid and Shala did not return at the appointed time, Rian left looking for them.  Erica had gone to the airport to retrieve Addison, so that left Dandy to salvage the supper.

Long story short, the four wheeler broke down, Reid and Shala were grounded for exceeding their riding boundaries,, the mid size and small boys came home and Erica returned with Addie who was nursing a very sore and badly swollen leg.

On Saturday morning Reid was complaining of a sore throat so Erica loaded him and Addie up and went to the clinic.  Reid had strep and the doctors sent Addie to the ER at University where she was admitted.  They did sonograms and measured and watched her leg until Tuesday morning when they dismissed her with instructions to follow up with her pedi in Angelo.

When the Angelo pedi looked at her leg and the records from University he decided to lance the leg.  Everyone was in agreement that there was a pocket of fluid, but no one knew if it was blood or infection.

The procedure revealed a pocket of puss and initially the doctor said it was a MRSA or medically resistant staff infection.  Lab results have revealed it wasn't.  It is a form of strep.  So they are scheduling her for surgery today to go in and flush the wound and scrap the bone, so later today she will be in Community Hospital in Angelo.

Probably the funniest thing I did Monday when I was leaving Lubbock was go through Panda Express and pick up supper.  I wasn't sure how this would go over with Memama. but I decided to expand her horizons.  Chow mien and Beijing Beef for her and fried rice with Beijing Beef and Orange fire chicken for me.

Memama ate it all. but she was most excited with her fortune cookie!  She had never had one before.  So I had to explain that they had little people who crawled inside and put these message inside the cooked cookies.

I have been under the weather since my weekend on the high plains.  I may see if I can get in and see Marcie or Dr. Eaker before lunch.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for a good weekend.  I ask for your healing for me and lift up Addie to you for YOUR  gifts of healing.and care.

I received a phone call Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.  It was wee hours, just after midnight from Robert.  "Yasir!   I'm picking up a load of bottles and I had a little accident". 

"What's your problem?", I asked.

"I was driving down the trailer line looking for my load and I ran over a cement pylon.  It knocked a hole in the oil pan and I lost all the engine oil," he replied.

I instructed him not to run the truck and to get comfortable for the night, there was nothing we could do until morning..  He wasn't happy.

Oh well, neither was I. 

I talked with my bud Kevin about eight in the morning.  We were trying to coordinate schedules to go and pickup the truck with his toter and bring it to either the farm shop or the repair shop in Abilene. 

The plant the truck was making the pickup at is one of the core products in the mix.  They are very picky with what is discharged on the ground.  In fact at their plants, when they wash trailers or trucks, they trap and recover the wash water.


So, I sent Bill with oil dry and brooms, scoops and drums.  They dusted the oil dry down and swept it in and picked it up and if necessary repeated the process.  Luckily only a small portion was on cement, the rest was on asphalt, which is an oil bi-product.  So we did a modified enviormental clean up.

They finished up and Bill brought Robert to Abilene.

By then Kevin and I had realized our schedules were too far apart for a Thursday retrieval so an early Friday trip was planned.

When we arrived at the accident location I was flabbergasted.  It wasn't a cement pylon Robert had driven over, it was a cement curb, about a foot tall, painted florescent yellow with silver and red reflective tape on it.

How the driver didn't see it I will never understand.

I had already started the wheels in motion on checking on price and availability on the repair parts.

$800 seemed to be the number split evenly between parts and labor.  I felt I could probably live with this number..  As we made our way toward Abilene, this number became a moving target.  Parts went up and labor went down, but finally set in at $1300.

We were getting out of my comfort zone with the in creased $$$$$$ so I decided to make a call to a friend who buys wrecked trucks with good engines and good trucks with bad engines and swaps pieces out to have a good truck AND engine. 

What we were working on was a VN Volvo with Detroit power, so the position of the oil sump is a little different than the majority of the big trucks using this power.  (Axle placement is critical.  Usually set back axle means front sump, forward axle placement means rear sump.  The Volvo is a radical set back axle, and therein lies the problem).

"Come on down", was his reply.  "No guarantees, but we can look through my junk and make a few calls".

The standard pricing for used parts is half of new.  With this man I would have been surprised if he had charged me anything.

So eastbound I went.  I had a short window of opportunity to find the part used and get it back to the shop.

After one stop in Gordon, I headed to Lancaster.

No luck Friday evening, but we would try again Saturday.

About noon I got a call from the shop manager.  We had decided to look at the road and main bearings farthermost from the oil pump, or, the ones that would starve for oil first.

The mains were a little rough, while the rods seemed fine.

This is the truck that had $14000 spent on the engine just months ago, so I pulled the trigger and told him to roll in new main bearings.  He told me it would take about two hours, to pull the mains and roll new ones in and re-torque the bottom end. 

When asked how my scavenger hunt was going, I realized if I had the used part in hand and hit the road right then, they would be waiting on me when I got back.

The quest was over.  Defeated, I instructed them to go with the new part.

Throughout this entire ordeal, the driver maintained the accident was not his fault, and it was just a little one.

When I went by today after spending the weekend in the metroplex, I stopped by and paid the truck out of the shop.

$1848.

Crudola!  I guess I should be thankful this was a "small" accident.

The best thing I did find over the weekend was a place called Casa Rita's.  Their specialty is?

You got it, margartas, and they have a grill as well.  Excellent beverages and excellent food.  Margaritas begin about $6 and go to $11, but oh is that Grand Patron grand!

I nearly stayed in the metroplex forever.  Did a little shopping, ate some good food.  Did something most folks never do, I drove around and through the old stockyard district in the daylight Sunday. 

It is like a city within a city.  I would love to go back and spend an entire day walking through it.  As it was, it was a late start and lots of people.

The old wooden pens are impressive on their own.  A wide variety of restaurants and "saloons" linen the streets.

I may schedule another trip down there in a few weeks.  Hank Junior and all his rowdy friends are going to be a Billy Bob's in September, or so the marquee said.

But all good things must come to an end.

After an early start to my day I rolled up, just in time to change clothes, a quick shave and put on my boots before taking Memama to Christy's Dad's funeral.

Whew.  I needed to come back to work to rest up!

Hope you had a weekend and a day!

FATHER, thank you for small blessings.  Help us to realize that no matter how bad things are, they could be worse.  I lift up Christy and her family for YOUR gifts of comfort and care as they deal with their loss.  Great are YOU GOD!