Today I go to AA to take Jonas, Dante, and the two wildest cats to the
Swiss vet, Dr Rea. She'll give Jonas his Lupron shot, check Dante's
heart, and givethe cats so their deworming pills.

Interesting, dismaying, and should not be surprising -- yesterday some
things happened that are a continuation of much of the old bad stuff.
I'd just been telling someone that I was happy these days, and that
things have been running smoothly and securely for a couple of months,
though I knew it could disintegrate again. And, yes, indeed. Not so
much an actual disintegration -- things are really as they have
been -- it's just my illusory peace that has disintegrated.

So, again, if you can help me get my animals out of here ....
http://www.gofundme.com/1l8da0

A thief phoned me last week, claiming to be someone he was not. He's
probably associated with one of the previous thieves. He said he wanted
to come to see what I had to sell. But now I am quite sure he wanted to
come to see how my security is here and to get Dante and the other dogs
familiar with him so they, as part of the security, would not work.

At the time, though, I cheerily made an appointment with him to come
over. It was to have been yesterday at lunch time. I happened to
mention it to Abrahame as he was leaving for his lunch break, and he
was horrified, saying I should never let anyone unknown in. Of course
he was right. So I asked Abrahame to call him.

The guy'd told me his name was Girmachu, but Abrahame recognized his
voice and confronted him -- his real name is Mesfin, and he is not a
good guy. Mesfin then said he was not coming for the appointment but
would reschedule later, and they hung up. After Abrahame and I talked,
I asked him to call M back, tell him to not come at all, and to say I
was not selling anything, and was not leaving. But M had switched his
phone off.

My donkey vet has foreseen some of the thefts and betrayals I've gone
though over the years, and each time I thought he was wrong and overly
suspicious. Now he says that I should also be careful about my own
safety and should not tell any one that I am leaving.

The second thing yesterday was that Balcha showed incontrovertibly that
is not to be trusted. Usually he works here an hour in the evening,
preparing and giving food to the animals. When I was in AA, he was
using my bathroom -- in other words, not asking if it was ok, and
deliberately deceiving instead. Since some more thefts had happened,
I began to keep that door locked as well as all the others in the
place -- except the kitchen, where B must go to do his work.

Yesterday he was here when I was going out to get my hair washed (no
water has come into my place for 3? months, so we have to bring water
in ourselves, and I conserve it a well as I can). B asked where I was
going, and I told him. But abt 10 min after I left, I had to come back
for something, and I found Balcha stark naked, crouching in my wash
tub bathing. I know the reason, but having this deceit in my own place
is horrid. Abrahame doesn't want me to fire Balcha, considering him a
known quantity. Already A has too much work and can't keep up since I
fired Balcha's wife (endangering he animals, and almost certainly
stealing) a couple of months ago, but he doesn't want me to hire a
newcomer because of the risk of introducing another thief to the
household.

The third thing was seeing yet another sad sad and shocking instance
of animal abuse. Not that that affects me directly, but you know what
I mean.

Some of you can see attached photos of this poor horse ridden by a
drunk man, his mouth full of blood, tongue cut (I think it must be an
old chronic wound) by the bit and bleeding. And here are the keys. Each
day I have to unlock, lock, relock and unlock again, all day long, all
my doors and the cupboards that contain important things. People are
worried and surprised that I do not have working locks on my kitchen,
fabric, and animal-supply cabinets. Again -- another matter-of-fact
indication that it is NORMAL for people to steal anything that is not
secured, and the fault is the OWNER's. And, again, those people are
right.

So I have to ramp up my preparatory activities. I had slowed down a
little over the past 10 days -- usually, I work hard at it for a week,
get worn out in AA, and then take a week's break. I don't know if I can
do much better than that, but keeping the resting to 7 vs 10 will work.

Oh damn. I just realized Balcha seriously stinted the dogs on their
meat this morning. Abrahame is at driver's-ed school.

I'm going to pickup a lactated ringer for Jonas' Lupron. I hate to
leave the house -- what a way to live. When I go to the vet te house
will really be untended since I am taking Dante, but Balcha is going
with me (!).

Here's a good thing -- Abrahame has cut a deal with Berhanu (the
crazy man who spat in my left eye and nostril), and B no longer
bothers me -- in fact, he disappears if he sees me or my car coming.


The gov't aspect as well is acting up -- the woman who was/is going to
buy my sewing equipment just called: a potential government barricade
against her new business -- which she finally -- just! -- got
established. It means she might have to start all the paperwork again,
putting her Ethiopian boyfriend legally in charge, rather than their
being partners in the business.

The good news is that that would satisfy the gv't -- they don't have
the same restrictions on their own citizens as against foreigners. Also
things usually move faster for Ethiopians -- though I'm not sure they
do if foreign capital's involved -- still, hopefully there wont be many
more months of bureaucracy.

About the horse again -- one of the saddest things of all is that noone
nearby seemed to think it was unusual -- neither the other people on
the street nor his friends. In fact one of the friends got up on the
horse himself a few minutes later. He did not damage the horse's mouth
further, though.

Well, I'm awfully tired. Not thinking too clearly either. I woke up at
dawn, realizing the seriousness of all that had happened yesterday. At
the time I just let it go by. Got to take a rest before setting off for
the lactated ringer.

[Posted in FML 7680]