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Last day at Camp Haiti -
Christmas Day........Merry Christmas everyone!!!! The
noblest of donations that we have received has been, without
question, from the little people. When little kids give you
their allowance money, money made from a lemonade stand,
babysitting money, dish washing money it warms me to my
very, innermost core. Then on Christmas Eve I got perhaps
the most noble of all gifts so far. I received an envelope
that a bunch of orphans had given to us that had money in it
and I just sat there stunned and in quiet thought
thinking.......WOW I have just witnessed the most selfless
giving that there is. From kids who do not have parents, who
do not know what "home" is. Who do not have a Mom or a Dad.
Who do not know if they have a brother or a sister. They are
young and they are all alone. And it makes me realize even
more profoundly than ever before why I am doing what I do.
It makes big old crocodile tears show up in my eyes because
if young orphans believe in what we are doing then we need
to honor that trust by setting the bar so high that no human
can jump over it....and so we will.....to be
continued...love to all, David
Day 287...........Wow what a ride....During the past 287
days I have learned so much about myself and the human
spirit it has been so very enlightening and has humbled me
to my core. I have experienced the pure almost magical
innocence of kids who have given me their allowance money or
money from a lemonade stand to help out other kids with an
irrigation system so they can begin living a life of ...
Day 281........Pretty cool out last night but not nearly as
windy as Friday night. Friday would have been very dangerous
to have a fire. We will try for this week. I have heard that
there is snow coming to OK and TX and it would be soooo
awesome if it would come here. On Christmas Eve we are
heading out of town up to see relatives around 9PM after
Candlelight service and are going to drive up to Nashville
spend the night and then head on Christmas Day to
Chicago/Rockford to see family until after New Years Day.
Then we come back to GA for 4 days and head out again for
2-1/2 weeks to Costa Rica......
Day 279........What a night we had. We had a great turnout
with a lot of kids who had a hayride (including going down
Towne Lake Pkwy) that I am sure the kids will never forget.
Little 4 year old Carter showed up with his Dad Tom and gave
his dishwashing money that he had been saving to Camp
H.A.I.T.I....Talk about bringing tears to a grown man and
making one feel really good inside WOW..... Things like that
really get to me. thanks again to Kristin and Dan Ribley as
they have been excellent hosts and a real joy to be around.
Thanks again to the Greggs for the "unforgettable "
hayride.....We had big plans for a huge bonfire......
Day 278...........Man oh man have i ever been busy with
work. I barely have time to eat these days. It is much
better being busy than not that is for sure. I have just
finished my deadline and thus now it should be busy but at
least not chaos. Sometimes in construction the workflow is
such that you can coast on a job for a long while but when
it is time to perform man you had better be ready. We had a
Cistern system we were building and had to deal with a lot
of 10" and 6" pipe which made things pretty challenging
because of the small area that we had to work in. If the
area would of only been two inches smaller we would of had
to have done some things pretty dramatically different.
Day 273.....Been a while since i posted. i have gotten
really busy at work and i am literally going as soon as i
get up in the AM until late at night. I barely see the wife
at all and it is weird feeling like we are roommates. We
talk on the phone but it is not the same. For those of you
who don't know we are heading up to Chicago/Rockford to see
my family for around a week (still not sure how long we will
be there) the night that we stop the Camp Haiti campaign.
The fundraising will continue but after 287 days I will be
calling it a day. It is going to be weird being at home
again.
Day 268.......Warm out tonight....and the rain is coming
again. It is supposed to rain tonight, all day tomorrow and
all day Wednesday. Have not talked to BKY very much since he
got back from North Carolina. Time will tell what that
means. Our youngest son Trent will be turning 21 on
Wednesday. Boy does that make me feel old. Man oh man it
seems like just yesterday he was playing Pee Wee football
and now he is 6'7 going on 260. He is talking about perhaps
walking on the football team where he is going to college.
We will see. It is really weird to try to give him a hug
goodbye. I feel like such a small human next to him.
Day 266.........Sooooo today is the day that I have been
waiting on all year. Oklahoma State University plays
Oklahoma University. All the time I went to OSU I have never
seen the Cowboys beat OU. I heard about it but never saw
it....I so hope they win. I will be out at Camp tonight when
the game begins and will be following it via a play by play
on my phone. The weather out at Camp is definitely getting
colder with the humidity going up. When the humidity is up
the cold permeates right through you. I believe we have
enough wood now to last thru Christmas Day. I have been
extremely busy with work this week and it has been
challenging trying to balance everything.
Day 264........Got a nice article in the Woodstock Patch
that came out today. Man it has been cold out at Camp
lately. i have not checked but I think that the humidity
must be high. Seems like the cold goes right through to your
bones and bypasses your skin. If you have never camped out
in the late Fall/Early Winter like we are doing you should
try it just once.....The cold makes you shiver.
Day 262........BKY complete with Phase I now moving onto
Phase 2,,,,,,someday i hope to be able to tell the world
what BKY has been doing and why but he has yet to give me
permission so until then let's just say that it is extremely
important for his future....Man was it cold in the sack last
night.....Several of the down comforters that we use got wet
from all the rain we have had both yesterday and today. And
last night I was trying to wrap myself up in wet down
comforters and it was NOT working. I was so cold last night
I think i shivered more last night than I have in years.
Day 257.....BKY Day 27......Thanksgiving was a great day
with lots of food, football and fun. And man was it cold
last night. I got to Camp and felt like a big slug from all
the food I had eaten. I definitely ate to much but really
enjoyed the football. In the morning I went to Hot yoga
which I started doing about 3 weeks ago and had an intense
workout. I have decided to not keep my gym membership and
instead do yoga for cross training instead of weight lifting
for the next venture. The next venture for Irrigation
without Borders is something that I can't talk about yet and
won't be able to talk about for quite some time.
Day 254.......BKY Day 24.....last night was a rather warm
night and I actually slept better last night than i have in
quite some time out in the tent. But there was one rather
disconcerting dream that I had and it all surrounded around
a certain black bear that was trying to eat us for dinner.
And it certainly did not help that when I woke up from that
dream i heard some rather odd noises outside like their was
an animal sniffing around on the outside of the tent. I'm
sure it was probably just a deer or something like that. At
least that is what I am telling my son when I see him
tonight........
Day 245......BKY Day 15......Half way home for BKY.....Nice
article written by Candi Hannigan in the AJC. It was a
comprehensive synopsis of what we are doing and what we will
be doing in the next couple of months. One thing that needs
to be mentioned as well is that we at Irrigation without
Borders will not be putting in these irrigation systems
ourselves. The local community stewards and local labor will
be following a design that we come up with and they will be
actually installing the system under our guidance. That way
when it breaks they know how to fix it. We will only be
going to help out those who are willing to help themselves
out....
Day 243.....BKY Day 13........has been a while since I
posted.....my laptop has been a little nuts lately. Today it
was going form working fine to going to a black screen about
every 20 seconds.......I must have a virus and it must be
purged because it is really annoying......Have been working
with a reporter for the AJC about a story that they are
working on for Irrigation without Borders....It is supposed
to be coming out in the Living section of the paper this
Saturday and should be interesting.....They asked a bunch of
questions and came out for a photo shoot last night in the
rain.....
Day 238........BKY Day 8......Busy day and night at the Camp
today. We picked up a bunch of wood as we were getting low
and stocked up on some green wood as well as some that is
ready to burn right away. It helps having green wood once
the fire is going well because it increases both the heat
and the longevity of it. Time changes early this AM and it
is nice to get up and have it be light out. Because of the
time change we will be switching the time that we show up to
camp from 7PM to 6 PM as we need to be there once it gets
dark out.......
Day 237......It is obviously difficult to do an entry on my
android phone as witnessed by last nights 3 different out of
order posts.....We had hoped to be at the Woodstock Live
night out tonight but it did not work out that way. We had
planned on helping IWB spread the word about what we are
doing and handing out information as well but found out we
needed a Business License (even though we are a non-profit)
which I was stunned by. and further stunned that once you
did have the proper paperwork submitted it took 10 days to
process it. 10 days to process paperwork and you wonder why
the government gets a bad name...
Day 236.........BKY was 5 mins late tonight and I told him I
would give him 1 time pass provided he did 25 pushups in the
mud (which he gladly did). It was pouring out when we got to
Camp tonight and the entire site was one big mudpit......I
went in mud half way up to my knee tonight to tell you how
bad it was. And I supposedly know where to walk around here
to avoid the holes. So much for that........I fell into
I fell into the mudhole and it almost sucked my boot
off. My left foot is a frozen, muddy mass of something that
looks like Sasquatch's foot (or what I think his foot ought
to look like. Trust me it is NOT pretty. Yesterday I started
back running.......1st day back since my surgery and I did a
20 min run. I will be running every other day and will be
adding a minute of time for each day I run.
Day 231......Back to Day 1 for BKY......he was 15 minutes
late....and like I told him late is late......I am starting
to figure out that my son does not appreciate my "direct and
candid" approach.....I think he would rather live in a world
where only softballs were thrown to him.......that needs to
change. It was cold out tonight very cold actually I believe
it got down to 31 or so. The coldest night since Camp
H.A.I.T.I. started. I remember sometime back when my Dad
came to visit wand we were going to the Falcons football
game (we had season tickets at the time) and he was sitting
up in the stands with us........
Day 230.........Day 4 for BKY....Gave a testimony tonight
and it went well I think. It was supposed to be only 25
minutes long but mine was about 45 minutes. apparently i
have been through a lot of crap in my life. But it is the
crap in our life that defines who we become once we get
through to the other side of it. The darkness always call
out but by living our lives in the light we are able to keep
the darkness at bay. Sometimes that is way easier said than
done. My wife Jenifer got homw tonight. Man have I ever
missed her. In the past 4 weeks she has been gone all but
about 1 week.
Day 229.......Day 3 for BKY....Had both of my boys out to
camp last night for a cookout. It is pretty hard to cook in
the dark without a flashlight though......so some of the
chicken was pretty darn done. Better done than raw though I
say. Nothing worse than bloody cooked chicken. We are
supposed to get a pretty good rain today. it will be
interesting to see how much water gets in the tent. This
could be the first big test as the tent has a few spots
where water comes in. Warm out right now but is definitely
going to get cold tonight. Low around 37 I believe uneless
that is tomorrow night.......
Day 228.........Day 2 for BKY.......boy was he tired last
night. Went to bed about 8:30 PM. Then he wakes up at aobut
1:30 AM and tells me "I don't know how much longer I can do
this" and i looked and him , smiled and said "Try doing it
for 228 days"............The look on his face was as they
say "priceless"...Admittedly it is VERY difficult getting
used to the traffic noises and I still wake up probably 6 or
7 times per night. Which quite frankly is not real good
sleep. But it is what it is.....If it was easy someone would
have done this before I tell myself...........I wonder if
God counts it against you if you tell little white lies to
yourself........
Day 227.......Back to Day 1 for BKY......he was late for
Camp and if he is late or pulls a no show he goes back to
Day 1.......Told you he is hard headed. He and I stayed up
late well past midnight hoping to see Aurora Borealis but
did not see anything. It was a clear night out so would have
been a great night to see it. Apparently an anomaly has
occurred in the atmosphere which enabled one to see it this
far South.
But we were not that lucky. I have seen it several times
when i was in the Northwoods and it truly is spectacular. We
watched the Band Soulded out for Real practice at the church
tonight and then Matt ( band leader) came out to talk with
me......
Day 224..........My oldest son Branden came to spend the
night tonight. More about him in the weeks ahead....It is
definitely cold up here tonight. He went immediately into
the tent around 10PM and I have not heard a word from him
since....Of course he had not slept for two days but that
again is another really long story....I would like to tell
his story. However every time I would like to tell something
about someone that is sensitive I need to get his/her
permission for the whole world to know about it....Right now
i think he would definitely NOT give me permission but
perhaps that might change in the weeks ahead..........
Day 223..........Apparently I have been counting my days
wrong.....so I re-did the math and came up with 223. my bug
bite is going down but now the cold weather has arrived and
tonight will be the coldest night yet that I have been out
here. We will post tomorrow how cold it got down to. Had a
big night tonight. We started a partnership with a local
Chiropractic Clinic called Ribley Chiropractic and they
(husband and wife team) are a phenomenal couple. I am really
looking forward to getting to know them personally as they
have 4 kids and are passionate aobut what they do and are
passionate aobut what we are doing as well.......
Day 218.......Boy was last night ever a trip........I got
bit by some kind of a bug and it left a massive bump on my
neck and about 6" from where the bug bite was I felt what
seemed like a bunch of needles sticking me in the back. I
thought it was the bug biting me but could not find the bug
anywhere. I am thinking it was probably a spider but it had
to be one that was very venomous because I have never had a
reaction in my entire life like I had last night. The weird
thing was I did not even feel the bug sting me at all but
man oh man did I ever feel those needles in my back......
Day 216......Had an awesome pig roast this afternoon/evening
and listened to some good music as well at the church right
by camp. and then i went to camp and saw something very,
very odd that i have never in my life seen before. I was
sitting face up lying flat on my back doing my daily
exercises that I need to do for my rotator cuff surgery and
am just kind of counting to myself (I have to do 3 sets of
10 for 4 different exercises) and all of a sudden I see this
thing that is at first I thought is a little bitty tiny
cloud and then I thought it might have been smoke.
Day 214.........Had quite a few people out at camp tonight.
Sometimes it seems like we should make appointments but that
is WAY to formal for us so we will continue to go forward
with trepidation as we are. As more and more people find out
about what we are doing additional stories get added to the
collection. some of the things that have happened since I
have been out here are absolutely mind-boggling. From the
meteorites to the International scam (which very few people
know about) to the Robert saga to the tornado to me messing
up my shoulder it has been rather adventurous.......
Day 213......Rainy night out tonight but still had a few
visitors. The full moon/cloud combo was very nice. Parts of
Atlanta (minus the traffic) really are pretty sweet....Had a
certain son of mine come up to me tonight asking me for gas
money so he can go look for a job. I told him to look for
two part time jobs rather than a full time job. He is
heading back to college in January for the spring semester.
If you have kids that are in school I think the longer they
can stay probably the better with the economy being in such
the crapper that it is............
Day 212.......Had another family come up tonight with some
interesting ideas. We will see what happens. Also had little
Elliot come up and hang out for a while he is about 1-1/2 I
think........His Dad says he weighs 30 lbs. And he can't
talk a whole lot yet but man is he trying. Found out
yesterday that we will be giving a presentation to the Urban
Ag Council in another two weeks. This should be interesting
as there are many like minded companies that I am acutely
aware of who are either in the same business as I am or an
allied industry. Perhaps we will get some traction........
Day 211...........Have had one of those nights when all is
good and righteous with the world. Had a little girl (about
7 years old) who came up tonight with her family and gave me
her allowance money for Camp H.A.I.T.I. When those kind of
things happen it is absolutely priceless. Sometimes i have
been out here late at night all by myself and I sit there
and wonder if I am doing as I have been lead to do or is
this my own selfish interest at work. and then things like
this happen that give me guidance and a confidence deep
inside of me........
Day 210.....Have not written for a couple of days as the
wife got home and we had not seen each other for 2-1/2 weeks
and had a lot of catching up to do. She will be around for
another week and then out of town for another two weeks.
Sometimes we are like two distant planets that eclipse each
other every so often. I am sure some of you can relate. I
have been working out now for 6 days. Every day that I work
out I add 1 minute to my time. I train using a heart rate
monitor and do cardio...
Day 207.......Started physical therapy for my shoulder and
man it is sore tonight. It wasn't sore until tonight and I
think I should of maybe iced it. From now on I am definitely
going to do that. she also told me that she thought I would
be here for a good 6 weeks which is considerably shorter
that what I imagined. Apparently my range of motion is
pretty good which made her give a positive assessment. It
still hurts to do these exercises though that is for sure.
Day 206.........Had the same visitor last night again
tonight only tonight he did not stay near as long. he was
talking about a lady who was 70 years old who lived in a
house with no water and no heat who was a hoarder. She was
bipolar and schizophrenic as well so she was challenged in
many ways. Apparently several individuals were trying to
help her from a local church and she threatened to have them
arrested if they didn't quit throwing her trash away....
Day 205....Man am I ever tired.......had a visitor that
stayed until midnight tonight and had some personal stuff
that he was going through that was very difficult. Will
definitely be sending prayers his way. I had a pretty good
day at the Doctor today and i was given the green light to
start physical therapy. I was also told that i could workout
on the elliptical machines but no running until Halloween.
Soo with that advise in hand I went to the gym for the first
time since July. Boy did it........
Day 203.......We now have lights back on the tent and the
sign toward the road as well. Saw a wild looking meteorite
or something tonight. I was checking out the moon and saw
this bright light by the moon and thought it was a plane but
then as I kept watching it got smaller and smaller until it
disappeared. Kind of freaked me out a bit as it was REALLY
slow moving. I have never seen a shooting star, meteorite or
whatever move that slow. Very, very odd. Almost made a major
faux pas tonight
Day 202........Today is resurrection day. Resurrection of
another big tent that is. tonight (thanks to Aaron Hudson)
and Don Carey provided labor and intelligence figuring out
how to set up the tent. It only took us 1 hour and 15
minutes. It is Aarons tent and he had apparently set it up
many times before. I was personally thankful for that as it
kind of gets old trying to put up a tent with no directions.
The last tent (Thanks to the Booz's) had no directions and
the model had long since been discontinued..........
Day 200...........Wow is it hard to believe it has been 200
days that we have been doing this. Seems like it has been 30
days but then there have been times when it felt like it had
been 30 years. Like when it was a gazillion degrees out here
this Summer. Or when earlier this Spring all of the
lightning was coming down. I think the fear factor during
some of those storms definitely decreased my life expectancy
because of the high degree of stress. And now the cold is
coming back. Quite unexpected...
Day 199...........Another wonderful night out. Time to
update folks on what happened when I was out of town.
Several of the Excursioners will be helping me out with
various aspects of either Fundraising or Public Relations.
Some of them are in unique positions where they could
potentially benefit Irrigation without Borders a great deal.
We will be anxiously awaiting in the weeks and months ahead
to see how this all pans out. Once the Camp H.A.I.T.I. fund
raising aspect is complete on December 25th in many ways our
work just begins.....
Day 197...........Back in town. Had a successful trip both
from a pledge standpoint as well as have several friends of
mine actively engaged in helping me get the word out. I was
way up in northern MN about 15 miles from the Canada border
where i met my fellow Excursioners (group of 9 guys who I
have known since college and some of them since i was 19
years old). One of the Excursioners is on Irrigation without
Borders Board and is going to be immensely helpful from a
fund raising standpoint
Day 193..... Rainy night here at Camp H.A.I.T.I....The
garden is enjoying it. I must say.. This is the perfect
night to be sleeping outdoors listening to the rain. It was
very nice to have the tepee to sit in out of the rain and
enjoy the fire. That is until the rain put it out. We hear
all is well and seems to be going good for David.
Day 188...........FINALLY Success!!!!! Robert got into Must
Ministries last night. He will be there for 6 weeks and
during that time he will not have to worry about food,
clothing or shelter. He will have two hot meals and a sack
lunch per day. During his time there he is required to have
a job within 10 days and 75% of the money that he makes he
must save. Upon release from the program they help him find
affordable housing...
Day 183......The day of the 10 year anniversary of
9-11......Was watching some video this AM and it was very
sobering, even painful to watch. You would think after 10
years one might get a little used to seeing the carnage and
the sights and sounds of that day. But in many ways it
seemed just as raw and surreal as ever. None of us could
forget that day even if we wanted to. Our thoughts both
individually and collectively
Day 182......Wow what an awesome night weather
wise...........perfect temps with a fire going, not to hot,
not to cold just right....On Tuesday of this next week we
will have been out here for 6 months......hard to believe
with all of the various things that have gone on......I knew
that there would be some things that i had not anticipated
and that has definitely occurred but the important thing is
to enjoy the journey. Life is weird sometimes. Sometimes you
think that you can predict how..
Day 180.....OK so we have now borrowed someones tent until
we find out from several different sources what we will be
able to get from them. Again, the tent we pick needs to be
extremely durable as it will be exposed to the elements for
quite some time. and as we found out with the "tornado tent"
the tents do break down from the elements after a while. Our
last tent needed a big time band-aid that we had just
installed (over the fly) when the tornado hit. the tent that
is installed right.
Nights 169 and 170 went GREAT! Thank you for allowing us to
support your cause. Friday night was warm, so the idea was
to sit back from the fire. Saturdays wind got up so much to
where when arriving back that evening part of the tent had
to be put back up. The weather was the perfect for camping
Saturday night. My 2 boys had a blast and enjoyed smores on
the fire. Keeping David in thought and prayer while he is
recovering. If anymore volunteering is needed, we would LOVE
to do it again!
Days 169 - 175 (Thanks to everyone who
joined us in the Tent at Camp H.A.I.T.I. on the hill)...
we appreciate your support and contributions to the cause.
We hope everyone will stop by every night. Our
visiting hours are 7pm to 11pm then we need to sleep people
:) ...... We are (6 Months and still going strong)!
Day
168 almost......last post until after my surgery
tomorrow......WOW what a day we had......We were splitting
wood all day long today in the absolutely oppressive heat
and right now I am about to fall over I am so exhausted. Got
sunburned big time and drank probably 5 gallons of water
today. HUGE thanks to the GREGGS for their assistance and
even Robert showed up this AM to help us. It was bitter
sweet
Day
166........2 more days until surgery and still have a bunch
of wood to split. Going to get the splitter tonight and get
cooking on it. We have gotten a lot of progress on the
Garden and we now are waiting for the seeds, baby veggies to
show up. It should be planted next week I hope. The plan is
to teach the community to learn to live sustain-ably by
growing gardens etc, perfecting the model
Day
163..........5 days until surgery. Yikes. I have a lot of
crap to get done before this happens like cutting firewood,
cleaning the tent big time, re-staking some of the exterior
supports, spraying for bugs, bugs and more bugs........all
stuff that I will not be able to do 1 handed (except the
bugs). I will not be able to lift more than 5 lbs (in my
good shoulder) for 6 weeks. Wonder how long it will take
before I break that rule.......
Day
160.....Robert is gone........We have gotten him to a
Federal agency who said that they could provide various
forms of assistance and he has an appointment with this
particular agency on Aug 30th. We will be following up with
him to make sure that he gets to the appointment on time. In
the meantime we have told him to stay in touch with us and
he has assured us that he will.
Day 159........Lot's to talk about tonight.
Yesterday we were invited to a businessman's expo so that
the local seniors in high school could decide who and what
they wanted to do there senior project with or about. We
hopefully garnered a lot of interest in what we are doing.
Interesting , very interesting. We also have some news about
Robert. He is going to get assessed tomorrow at a local
facility
Day
156........Well so much for yesterdays dribble. I have
concluded that I was WAY off base regarding Robert. After
doing some research it appears that he fits the profile for
schizophrenia almost to a T..........Sure there are some
things that are different but predominately I am full of
crap regarding yesterdays post. We are working and doing
investigative work right now to keep Robert going forward.
Will Robert ever lead a normal
life where he does not need to be monitored?? That is one
question that is definitely above my pay grade. I think that
anything is possible but most likely not probable. I have
come to really like Robert as he has been through a lot. And
he definitely had some lessons that had to be learned and I
remain hopeful that he now has learned what he needs to go
forward....
Day
155.......Last night I had a candid conversation with Robert
who confessed to me that he had not taken his medicine for
schizophrenia for 1-1/2 months. He told me that it made him
feel weird. And he told me that the voices that he sometimes
hears could be a religious battle going on in his head. And
I told him that I am not convinced that he is schizophrenic.
He has remarkable clarity, and ability to communicate
which to me does not add up to a mental health issue.
However I am NOT an expert but do have some experience with
Dr's improperly diagnosing mental health issues in my own
family. Some of these doctors (definitely not all) seem to
think that medication is the answer to life's problems. You
need to take a pill to make you feel better and then that
pill causes unintended consequences so
another pill needs to be taken to counter effect the
results of that medicine. And then before long you end up
forgetting why in the world you started taking pills to
begin with and you end up being so screwed up on med's that
you end up being a basket case. And so you throw all the
med's away. And you start to feel better about life. And you
realize that there is no such thing as a perfect life.
Day
152......We now have several individuals engaged in an exit
strategy for Robert. It is time to conclude this chapter in
the book....We are pushing hard for a happy ending. Somehow
even though he will move on I have a feeling he will be in
our world for quite some time. Such a contradiction this
whole homeless issue. A seemingly, bright, well spoken man
can get so out of sorts with the world that he
ends up spending his nights in the back of a pick up
truck or in a McDonald's parking lot. Sometimes I look back
on this and wonder if it really happened. And then I go to
the tent and see Robert sleeping. Reality bites
sometimes.....And so I anticipate that we will be reaching a
conclusion within short order.......I hope and pray that
whatever we end up doing that it is good for all.....
Day
150......Got our new sign installed today but the grass is
to high so now we need to mow the hill. Sooo looks like my
men have a job to do in the AM as it is imperative that the
sign be seen. It is red and white and according to my
brother the most visible color combination that there is. He
should know he is a developer and he uses a lot of signage.
So learned a few more interesting
things about Robert tonight. He is
very intelligent and perhaps a little eccentric. He was
telling me tonight about all the ways that he knows how to
kill someone. antifreeze, nicotine poisoning, horse radish
leaves (which are toxic)...........Who knew.....Not I said
Sprinkler Dave.....He does make a good fire though. and I
also learned that Robert is part Indian and i saw his card.
Both of my boys are part Indian as well
.....so I know a little bit about that. I am getting
sleepy so am going to sign off for now......Ciao all!!
Day
149.....Busy night tonight.....We are putting up a new sign
so folks can see it more readily and not wonder anymore what
in the world I am doing in a tent. Had to go to Home Depot
to get the stakes, bungie cords etc...and then had to go get
a blueprint from a client as I did not have time to bid the
job today. I now have my nephew engaged trying to find an
option for Robert and should have some ideas in
a couple more days I hope. I think that i am going to
get down to a degree of granularity with Robert regarding
what he has told me. I am going to challenge him with some
bidding exercises to see how he does and then make an
assessment as to his degree of mental clarity. He seems
pretty intelligent to me and I should be able to see in a
couple of hours if he in fact does have issues.
what I have in mind for him is really not a big deal
as long as you know math intimately. I will also be able to
see if he is capable of working alone. I am thinking that he
might be better working alone rather than with a group of
folks. Time will tell..............
Day 148 - Nice mellow night
tonight. When i got to camp I had a mother and son waiting
on me patiently. They had a donation to give and she told me
about the fact that she was supposed to bring me water. She
had a very interesting story and also told me that she was
told the exact amount to bring me. Now that is divine
inspiration at it's finest. Did not see Robert tonight. I
keep waiting for him to get pulled
over for his tag and then they find out he has no insurance
so they take him to the gray-bar motel. I hope not but it is
a realistic possibility unfortunately. I am hoping to get
closure this week regarding Robert one way or another. I
hope that he is led to a place that will give him upward
mobility. Surely he would prosper in such an
environment....time will tell......am tired tonight so am
going to hit the sack...
Day
147.....Trying to figure out what to do about Robert still.
Have got a couple of ideas but can't act on them until
Monday. In order for me to feel good about the exit strategy
i need to feel like Robert is going forward and not stagnant
or going backwards. I need to find a program or spot for him
with folks that know a whole lot more than me about what to
do because i am just guessing. I asked Robert
why he told his boss that the handicap sticker on his
vehicle was his when I knew that it wasn't (it was his
deceased mothers) and he told me that he did not know why he
told her that. When she looked at him warily saying that he
did not look or act handicapped Robert told her that he had
mental health issues. The next day he was fired. I am not
sure that you can do that legally but that is not
my fight. I am hoping that Robert see's the errors of
his ways and makes adjustments accordingly. I told him that
you should not tell people information like that that
because some things in life are VERY
confidential.......especially things like this. I have not
filled out a job application for 30 years so I do not know
if you are required to tell people things like this or
not....
Day
145........Lot's happened in the past couple of days. We
have had to reschedule our concert due to some unforeseen
circumstances. It is now going to be sometime in October.
and I also had some not so great news that Robert the
homeless guy is back. He called me two times today and I was
to busy to answer his calls and when i got to camp tonight
he was there. I asked what happened...
and he told me that he got fired when they found out
he had some mental health issues. And because he got fired
and does not have a job he also lost his place to stay. So
we are now back to square 1....Not a night that I was
anticipating that is for sure.......I absolutely must find
an answer for Robert as he can't stay with me in the tent
forever. I simply must find an exit strategy for him....
Day
143..........Today is all about the heat. Man is it hot in
that tent. Sometimes when i go in it it feels like I am
getting a steam bath, or in a sauna, or in a sweat lodge.
Speaking of sweat lodges I have actually been in a real
Indian sweat lodge before when we were doing some self help
improvement things. It was incredibly hot in this sweat
lodge and it was way up in British Columbia. After we had
been in it for a while ( at least an hour) we finally
got out absolutely covered in sweat and definitely light
headed, We then had to totally immerse ourselves in glacier
water from this river that was going right by the sweat
lodge. Talk about refreshing...it was awesome....but got
cold really fast......if you have never seen glacier water
it is kind of a milky color and you would think that it
would be colored differently that that but it was not
so. This was the same trip where we walked on fire and
walked over hot coals. Not many people would believe that a
guy from the Chicago area would do such a thing.......then
again I have always danced to the beat of a different
drummer........Ciao....
Day
141......Was so tired last night that I fell asleep at the
computer and so I thought I would just say a few words
tonight. Was out at Camp talking on the phone when i saw
another meteorite I would say about 8:45PM. It was totally
white and very, very cool. I am really quite astonished that
I have seen 3 of these so far. Every time I see one I just
sit there and stare in awe at what I have seen.
Looks like we may have finally got the whole debt
thing handled. At least we all hope that we have. I have
never in my life seen Congress so fragmented. It is
astounding how this process has unraveled.....I am really
tired tonight and am going to sign off early as tomorrow is
going to be a stressful day. Lot's of work related issues to
deal with.....Wish me luck!!
Day
139....The Pastor of our church came and visited me last
night. His name is Bill and I sometimes internally refer to
him as "PB" or Pastor Bill. We sat around the fire and
talked for about 3 hours. We tried to solve the US default
but could not reach a conclusion....Imagine that gridlock at
the campfire!! We actually did not try that hard because it
is quite frankly way above my pay grade. But we did spend
talking about family. We realized that we both have
family stuff/relationships that we are working on which led
me to realize that I have been seriously misled about
something. You see, because I went to a Catholic Grade
School for 8 years I put Priests, Pastors, Bishops,
Ministers, etc....on a really high level. I basically
thought that they never sinned, worried, were tempted,
fraught with angst, doubt, questions because they
were doing God's work so i figured they had all the answers.
But I have concluded that they are just like you and me.
They have all kinds of issues and stuff that they deal with
that takes a really special person to be able to deal with.
I think they have without a doubt the single hardest job on
this planet. And I think that all of us should
....be so very grateful that they do what they do for
all of us. And so "PB" I would like to thank you for being
in my world.............
Day
138.....Really nice comprehensive article about Camp
H.A.I.T.I. in the Cherokee Ledger yesterday. Jessica Wagner
did a great job articulating what we are doing. Did not see
any deer tonight so we are stuck at the number 4. 4 means
the number of days in a row that I have seen deer out at
Camp.....Had quite a few visitors tonight including my
youngest son Trent....I made him dinner which think he
immediately headed over to McDonalds as he did not
get enough to eat. Trent is 6'7" and weighs about 245 so it
takes a lot to feed him. I fed him Chicken Hotdogs with
tomato and pesto or some other green thing in them. I should
of known better than to feed him hotdogs. When I turn 80
years old and i am over at Trents house for the record Trent
don't feed me hotdogs especially chicken dogs......
Day
137.....Today is the 4th day in a row that I have seen deer
out at Camp. All doe's and no bucks. At least not yet...If
you get a chance stop out and see me and say hi. I can show
you what type of irrigation technology that we are going to
be putting in Haiti and other 3rd and 4th world countries. I
can show you how we make a fire so that it is safe. And I
can maybe talk you into cutting some wood
for me as my shoulder is messed up and I can't split
wood right now. It is very peaceful out here at night.
Sometimes it is hard to believe that it is in Woodstock. I
have had both incredibly inspiring things that i have seen
while i have been here and incredibly sad things that I have
experienced while I have been here as well. Without the lows
in the valleys we would never experience the highs
in the heavens. It takes suffering to truly know the
joy of happiness. Seems like life is lived more freely and
abundantly when the trials and tribulations are dealt with
and the polar opposite appears out of nowhere.......
Day
136.......Had another busy night out at Camp tonight. Last
folks did not leave until after midnight. We like it when it
is busy though. We will finish up Robert's story tonight and
give periodic updates as needed. Tomorrow I have been told
he is starting his first day of work. I hope he is
successful. If things go South we are going to have to get
some advocate/liason of the Marines involved to help out...
We will certainly be pulling and praying for Robert
as it is really sad to see a veteran in the predicament he
has found himself in. No one should be homeless but this
experience has taught me how easily it can happen. If you
have a few bad breaks and you don"t have family that is both
concerned and willing to take action any of us could be
living under a bridge. I used to think it was only lazy,
drug addicts or drunks who were homeless. Boy have I
ever been educated!! Robert has a huge heart but that in and
of itself won't buy him a hamburger or a gallon of gas.
Relying on other people when times are tough is both
sobering, sad and leaves you with a feeling of no hope. Just
like those folks in Haiti who we are trying to
help............
Day
122.......Been a while since I posted and need to give an
update. So here goes... It has now been 4 months since Camp
H.A.I.T.I. started and I now feel like we are legit. I have
been telling everyone who wouldst listen that I felt like we
needed to get to the 4 month mark before I would feel
comfortable trying to get our PR team in full swing. So now
the ball is totally in my court to see what can be done to
get things damped up and anode up in a big way........
ramped
up and amped up in a big way. We have known all along about
some things that would hopefully start falling into place
once folks realized that our level of commitment and
determination was for real........So now it is time to
collectively pull in all of our
resources together to get our PR team rolling. Get
ready world tomorrow we begin.......It may take us a month
or so to get rolling but it is time.......Wish us
luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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