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Good evening friends,

happy Monday this last week of August. I am doing okay, and I hope you are as well. I had another mishap this week, but it pales in comparision with the tragedy that the Gulf Coast folks are experiancing as I write you. Hit hard is the state of Texas, especially Houston and the surrounding cites and towns. Hurricane Harvey moved in this weekend and continues to wreak havoc along a wide area of the Gulf. My heart goes out to all those poor people in their time of need.

 As for me, I continue to struggle with the distractions that keep popping up every week it seems. Getting in a place where I can focus soley on my book writing has definately been a challenge for me as of late. I'm still reeling from the loss of my beloved Gigs mobile from last month, which has put a big dent in my ability to preform my contracting work on a consistant basis. I just got over a lung infection that wore me out earlier this month, and now my old 67' Ford truck is costing me more money once again, this time in the most unexpected way.

  I had mentioned before, the loss of my main truck forced me to bring that old beast out of retirement, to fill the void. It is not meant to be an everyday vehicle, and after catching on fire back in June, I decided to put it on the shelf indefinitely. After my accident and Geico's decision to total the G.M. I had to spend lots of money to get it road worthy once again, until I am able to purchase another truck.To make matters worse, it still needs lots more work, and every day I leave home, I pray that it will make it through the day.

 Last Tuesday I was getting ready to leave for day, when things went from bad to terrible. We live on a hillside here in the west side of town, on a corner lot, facing a east-west row of houses. Now this old boy has trouble starting each morning, due to a faulty choke. I have been simply throwing it in neutral, and popping the clutch as it rolls down hill in order to start it. Nothing that unusual for a manual tranny from yesteryear.

 The day before I decided to place a big rock in front of the rear tire as I sometimes do, since I have to park it in front of the house, in order to to able to get it rolling down hill each day. The problem was that the rock I used was smaller than normal and I couldn't remove it, despite using my pike and prybar to lodge it free. I was stuck. My sister was leaving for work as well, and I called her over for some help. I had what I thought was a good idea, and put the truck in neutral, hoping to push the beast up hill a few inches, until Angela could remove the lodged rock. That was the dumbest idea I had all year! As soon as big sis pulled out the boulder, I felt the entire weight of the beast coming at me as I tried to hold back the 6,000 lb. tank from the hood of the truck. I quickly yelled; "Put it back, hurry, hurry!"

 Big sis tried her best to reset the rock as it rolled forward, but it proved to be a dangerous proposition for her, the wheels are huge and the risk of getting seriouly hurt was present. We had to do something, once it becme apparent that wasn't going to work. The beast was gaining speed and I had seconds to react quickly. I quit trying to hold it back with my meager 194 lbs and decided to swing around the drivers side and hop inside hoping to slam on the brakes and put it back in gear, in order to avoid disaster.

 Unfortunately for me, my 55 year old body reacted like, well; like a 55 year old body. As soon as I grabbed the door handle from the moving truck, I slipped and fell, losing any oppurtunity to avert a bad ending. I jumped right up as fast as I could, but with no one to slow it down, the beast just barreled forward towards the neighbors front driveway. Angela and I just haplessly chased the runaway beast until it smashed into the carport directly in it's path.

The good news is no one was hurt, and the truck distributed the impact on both sides, one side at the parked vehichle and the other at the left entrance of the structure. I was expecting the owners to come out and demand an obvious explaination, but no one did, despite seeing the lady of the house outside only minutes before. I told big sis to head to work, no need for her to be late also, and that I would take it from there. I walked over to the front door and knocked a few times, but no one came out. I had to remove the beast out of these people's driveway, so I asked a couple of landscapers who were working two houses down for some assistance. By the time we put the truck back on the street, the lady came out to see the mess I had created.

 Luckly for me, these folks are really cool, and totally understood that it was just a freak, or dumb accident. We exchanged insurance information and both agreed that it was not worth getting all worked up about. The main thing they said was that no one was injured, except for a nasty bit of road rash on my left knee from the fall and a serverely bruised and embarrassed ego on my part. I don't know what the out of pocket cost for me will be once all dust settles, but I surely didnt need another setback or distraction. I truly dodged a bullet, realizing that there could have been alot worse damage and I could have smashed into folks home who were not as understanding as these good neighbors are.

 I don't believe in luck, as I have said before, but after these past few weeks, I'm beginning to wonder. What I do believe, is that 's*** happens to everyone, at one one time or another. I will get this book written, no matter what; that you can believe friends.

 Have a good week, thanks for checking in, and continuing to support me all the way to publication!

Juanjohn