High anxiety! The move is on! Sunday afternoon was busy, but frustrating. I am locked and loaded and pointed at the road. I am fueled and hooked up, ready to begin my trek west and hopefully pick up a couple more participants on this first day of the seasonal move.

I suppose what I am doing is getting all the wagons to one locale and later in the week I will circle them! I go out today knowing that I can't fully complete this cycle because of summer contractors that have not vacated the premises. Due to the large pre-contract project supplies coming in Tuesday, I am trying to allocate the middle three days of the work week to deal with this, and making it absolute that I return to St. Lawrence on Friday and probably over the weekend. In a perfect world I would deal with the big project the first part of the week and then begin the move in the latter part. It's not a perfect world but it's the best we have!

Things became really real yesterday afternoon. Once I started carrying things and loading them in my trailer it kind of got teary. Krl is not happy about my leaving at all. I am not thrilled about being away from her either, but we do what we have to do. Of course the problems she is encountering at her work could alter the "being away" part. As the day dragged on and I began to do a quick inventory, there were a few items that seemed to have just vanished. Probably the most important of these were the fuel cards. There is one fuel stop in St. Lawrence and they have their own cards, I have eighteen of these. Many of my sub-contractors want me to supply their fuel and deduct it from their settlements. (Some of the numbers of this contract boggle my mind, we will go through ten thousand dollars of fuel every five to six days). O.K., back to the missing cards. Krl and I started a thrash, me going through things already loaded and Krl going through things remaining in the house. I maintain an active portable file at the jobsite and usually this is where the fuel cards are kept. Krl keeps the permanent files here at the house. When we had exhausted all other possibilities I went back to Krl's files (we had both looked through it earlier) and behold, fuel cards. I don't recall moving them there, Krl doesn't recall it either. She was miffed with me, I was miffed with her. I know this is just because of the anxiety about the move. I sometime think this is a mind game we play on ourselves, getting crossways possibly making it easier to spend time apart and both of us reclaiming our space. I don't know. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, ten years worth of fall contracts has proven this to me. I already find myself anxious to come home!

My nocturnal adventures have already begun. My sleep habits are erratic at best. Krl has told me that she can tell what kind of night I have by when I post my blog. This morning I awoke about one. It would appear I am in mid season form! I could almost make the first circle and be back to Abilene in time to go to the men's breakfast this morning! When you endure ten years of contracts that run around the clock you get where you sleep in patches. An hour here, an hour there. If the sound of the plant changes it wakes you up. You hear every vehicle that enters and leaves the compound. There is no telling how many times each night I walk to the other end of my trailer and look out and do a visual inventory. I had better go on or else I might do that Jonah deal and go the other direction!

I lay in bed for a while just reflecting. We take a lot for granted. Some of the most endearing things about Krl's and my relationship are just expected and not always fully appreciated. I think one of the things I will miss most is her rhythmic, raspy, hint or whisper of a snore when I know that GOD is resting her well. I find I sleep better if we are in contact, maybe she has an arm draped over me or maybe I just lay my foot against hers. Subtle yet essential to us being us. I'm going to do better in this appreciation department!

FATHER, take over! I surrender this day, this week, this contract to YOU. Work through me. FATHER, I ask YOUR blessings on Krl and I as we make this transition, help us to not take each other for granted. Help us to not be short or irritable. Give us the understanding that although we are apart we are together. FATHER I pray for a safe contract for all involved. I ask for a successful contract for all as well. Please bless our efforts. FATHER this is the beginning of what could be a stressful week. Keep me on track, confident in YOUR ability to work YOUR plan. I continue to ask YOUR healing for Rene', Carol, Michelle, and Aimee. Bless and keep them. I pray for the needs of our spiritual family. Bless those who are ill or hurting. Bless this day!