High Adventure and Rabbits

6/24/07 - Lord's Day - After Breakfast. I've been a bit busy, so it is good to get back to blogging this morning. On Thursday Chris W. and I drove up to our old homestead to pick up a bunch of wood and other materials out of my old house so the painters could paint it this weekend. This is in preparation of us hopefully selling it this fall or winter. We had a good 4 hour trip up there, stopped and saw an old friend in Lubbock, then went to the house and loaded up. We spent the evening with my parents, who took us to supper, and then we watched a movie on Dad's big plasma screen called "The Ranger, The Cook, and a Hole in the Sky", which turned out to be a good movie. We hooked up Dad's trailer in the morning and, fully loaded down, we headed south. Well, gas is already expensive, and I had no idea how our gas mileage would go, what with the truck and the trailer loaded down and driving into a headwind. I was kicking myself for not filling up in Lubbock where it was as low as $2.82 a gallon, so we got some gas in Ropesville and paid $3.09. I didn't want to fill it up at that price, so I only put $20 in on top of whatever was left in the tank (my gas gauge doesn't work), hoping to find gas cheaper in Post or Snyder. Knowing I had to be close to "E", I pulled into a gas station in Snyder and saw that it was still $3.09 a gallon, so I put in another $15 which I expected would get me the 30 miles or so to the interstate where gas might be cheaper. Well, lo and behold, at 24.5 miles from Snyder we ran plum out of gas. Roscoe was in the distance, but looked to be a pretty long walk. So we got the truck and trailer well off the road and started our journey. God was gracious and about 15 steps from the truck a lady in a big van pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride to the gas station. She said she could tell by lookin' at us that she could pick us up - "some folks, you just have to drive on by", she said. Anyway, so she takes us in to Roscoe to get gas. As we drive into town, she says "Those are my kids" pointing to a bunch of children running down a street about a mile away. She said, "I'll cut them off before they get home". So she takes us to the gas station, which, though it is right on the interstate, does not have a gas can for sale. Across the road is a NAPA auto store, so she takes us there where we buy a gas can ($12.99!) and then she takes us to another gas station where we fill it up. When we get back in the van, she guns it like Starsky and Hutch shouting "I have to pick up my kids, then I'll take you back to your truck". She is speeding through town, taking turns at full speed. She sees a mess of children, who see us and take off running. She takes another corner and catches up with the slowest one. She tells us, "this one ain't mine, but I'll pick her up anyway" and the little urchin jumps in the van. She peals out and catches the next one, who, though not hers, jumps in. Three of her children see her stop for the other child and take off running. She guns the motor and, like a retrieval team snatching a suspect, cuts off the last three before they can get much further. She yells at one of them "Amanda! I told you to stop runnin'!". So now there are 7 of us in this van, and Chris and I aren't sure if maybe this lady isn't just gathering folks for either a midnight sacrifice, or a tent revival. We were relieved when she says, "I know a back way back to your truck", which she finds in record time. She got us back to the truck, we thanked her, and she was off to the races again, having done her good deed for the day. Don't know if she found anyone else that needed pickin' up on the way home.

So we figured we were getting about 5 miles to the gallon, which is the equivalent of rolling down the window every mile and throwing 60 cents or so out the window. We made it back to the gas station in Roscoe where we filled up. After lunch in Abilene, we found a man about 30 miles from there who was selling rabbits, so I bought 3 Californian rabbits (they are a meat breed) for Tracy to replace the ones she lost last year to a rattlesnake. We had to get gas again in Cross Plains, but we finally made it home in time to unload, clean up, go to supper, and get back before the sabbath started.

We had a great sabbath, with cool temps and plenty of peace and quiet. Thank the Lord for that. We are planning (DV) to head back to the old homestead on Monday to pick up another load, so y'all be in prayer for us.

We picked green beans, okra, tomatoes, squash and pickling cucumbers this morning. Singing starts in 30 minutes.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker