Life in Bakersfield

Jen has dutifully posted pictures on comments every day for the last little bit and I thought some of you might be interested in the occurrences here in Bakersfield.

I finished my first week and it went great. I had a good time and remembered how much I enjoy teaching. The students are a little less prepared for college than I am accustomed, or than I expected, but it is still a lot of fun.

This morning I got up to go run errands, shop for a couch and whatever else, but found that the front tire was flat on my grandmothers car (which I've been borrowing for the past two weeks). I called some local church members who I hardly knew and with good fortune my first call was to a man that is more service oriented than everyone I ever met. Dave came by my house with Jacob, his "indentured servant," Jacob (a 17-year old young man of no family relation who follows him around and helps with his projects). Jacob grabbed my tires on and tossed them on the truck and then Dave drove us to a warehouse of parts and toys on the other side of town. Among the tools was a hydrologic tire machine that stripped the tire from the rim. Dave determined the hole in my tire was too severe to patch, so he tossed on a tire that was sitting around the warehouse and said I could pay the owner later.

Dave inquired about my plans for the backyard, and I told him I hoped to get somebody to pour concrete on the side and then described my other plans. He offered to pour the concrete for no fee, other than the cost of the cement. I explained that I first needed to dig drainage and sprinkler systems that would (in part) be under the cement. Dave and Jacob figured they could help with that task too, and then offered another machine Dave owns that digs trenches. Dave then offered to bring his bobcat into my backyard to dig up the coy pond and whatever else was needed back there. When I questioned the likelihood of fitting the bobcat through the side gate he replied that it was no problem because he also owned a crane and could just lift the bobcat up and over my back wall.

Wow.

To top it off, later in the day I drove to Dave's house where he used some high pressure hoses to add an ounce of oil into my granny's struggling AC system, in an effort to raise the pressure and improve the operation of the failing device. It did not work, but he did it for free as well. He was just happy to try to help. Dave gave me some tasty fruit and they even sent me off with a bag of grapes that Jacob picked up someplace. Jacob said, "I'm Mexican, so I know people who pick produce."

So I am almost in shock. I can't believe how generous Dave and Jacob were with their time today, and that they would offer to do so much more. They are wonderful guys and we are so very fortunate to land here in Bakersfield among so many great people. I'm quite happy that we'll be living here and are already making such wonderful friends.