Yesterday was a long one.
But two very good things happened at the end of the day.
The first started with Printer Problems...
Friday, a work day. Saturday would be eight more hours, so there was no end of the week buzz.
We are short handed. That's just how it is. We used to have three or four people back here. Yesterday, two.
Our printer was on it's second day of not working. "No connection to the network."
I spent two hours with two different Techs on the phone. My boss spent two hours as well. Promises to "escalate" the call to a higher level Tech, and get a call back, went unfulfilled. Our software is licensed, and our computers and printers are largely blocked from us doing anything to try to fix them.
About 1PM, I called them back. This was my second call. A nice lady named Sara, in India, tried to help me. I wondered silently is Sara a popular name there? My cynical self imagined Sara to be a made up name, one that us Westerners can say. I googled it later. Sara is in fact a top twenty name in India. I stand corrected.
In the meantime, our work flow was disrupted. With only two of us here, and me on the phone with Sara, my team mate was doing all the work. Customers were waiting and aggravated. It wasn't pretty.
At three PM, frustrated, and tired of the process, I gave up. Sara was asking me, with her heavy accent, to go farther into the printer functions and do this and do that. We checked and reattached the cables for the tenth time. My concentration trying to understand what she said, and then trying to do what she said, wore me down. I finally said, "Sara. I'm done. I can't do this." She said, "OK, when you are ready to try something else, call back." And that was it.
I walked around with a cold sundrop, to breathe some different air. I was glad to be off the phone. The printer still didn't know it was a printer.
Being a stubborn man, I got back on Google AI, trying to trouble shoot, and fix it myself. I'd figured out the IP address for the printer. The tiny screen on the printer was maybe ten characters. I got lost in the printer functions. I saw a blank IP address. What would be the harm of putting in the IP address? So I hit the up and down arrows, and the OK button at least a hundred times, to enter and save the IP address.
Then, I slowly backed out of that function, like Daniel Boone on TV, carefully stepping backwards out of a creek, using his same footprints. He was one hard to track dude.
That's when I saw a Network Reset option.
I'm reminded of some things Tommy Griffin said, while patiently working on computers, printers, and the router at Dr. Lee's office. During my ten years there, when I got in over my head, I called Tommy. I recall one day he said, "The machine can only do, what it's TOLD to do." Tommy's words kept me moving forward, stubbornly trying to fix the unreachable printer, and not let it win the day.
A few minutes after manualy entering the IP address, and doing a Network Reset, the printer woke up. Lights flashed, rollers spun, tiny electric motors whirred, and it came to life. In the next few minutes, at least a hundred pages printed, starting with the oldest orders from yesterday, right up to the one I loaded five minutes ago.
5:00 in the afternoon. I celebrated. I'm still not sure which step fixed it.
Same day, and A Second Very Good Thing...
Baby Rabbits
Hour and a half later. Right before dark. I was mowing a yard. Part of the back yard is inside a privacy fence, and the grass was thick and tall. I was mowing it tall, at 4" to keep it nice and not scatter cut grass up on the inside of the nice new fence and house. All of a sudden, my eyes saw something running away from the deck and spinning blades. Three small rabbits.
I shut the mower off quickly and sat still. My eyes closed tight as I processed, fearing the worst. Three got away. Are they ok? Are there more? Then I got off the mower, and walked through the grass till I was sure there were no more little rabbits burrowed down close to the ground. One of the three little ones got under a gate. The other two ran the wrong way, and were trapped with me. I picked each one up, and gently loved on them and told them how glad I was that they are ok. When I put them down by to the gate, under they went.
That should have been the end of it. I slowly finished mowing. Then put the mower on the trailer, and started trimming with the weedeater.
I kept moving and counted my blessings, and the rabbit's blessings.
Trimming the front sidewalk, I saw one of the three in the corner by the front door. It ran the wrong way after getting under the gate. I picked this little one up a second time, and walked to the field behind the house. I shook my head and talked to him like he and I were both pushing our luck. The momma rabbit was sitting still in the tall grass. I saw her, and she saw me. I held him up high and talked to her, "Here he is! I'm bringing him that way!" I gently put him on the ground. He hopped straight up and then forward towards her. I went back to the front yard, smiling and thankful the baby rabbits were ok, and that their momma was watching for them and had them back together.
Glad I didn't give up on the day. The first ten or so hours, were not that great.
The long day ended very well.
How often are we in the wrong place, or with the wrong attitude, and the Lord gently picks us up and moves us? We fuss about change, and, like that one little rabbit, we go the wrong way again. Sometimes without us even knowing, God's hand of protection was always there.
I'm thankful for these long days. For friends like Tommy that can do things I can't do. For strangers like Sara who are willing to help, even when I've given up. For good luck, and realizing I don't always have the answer.
Mostly, I'm thankful for the loving protection the Lord provides for baby rabbits, and stubborn men.
** Rabbit photos above were lifted off the internet. I was too tore up to take any pictures. ( : > ! )