Abilene, Abilene. Prettiest town that I've ever seen. The people there don't treat you mean in Abilene, my Abilene.

Guess what!

Oh beautiful for spacious rooms, for neighbor's waves of greeting.
For purple hue from sunset across my window pane.
Our home! Our home!
God shed his grace on our home,
And crown the good with brotherhood,
God bless us everyone!

Some choose to move to the east, some move to the north. Some migrate down to the south and some out to the west, but I find I like my home town best!

As you can tell I am giddy! A little plagiarism there, and of course Tiny Tim (of the Scrooge movie, not the ukelele) got to put his emphasis in!

We are home! At least for a couple of days! Krl and the hound boys and girls are home for good, but I have miles to go before I am and miles to go before I am (home for good, that is). What a day our Wednesday was. I got up early, did the blog thing and then I got busy. Loading, boxing, disconnecting, packing. I called L.M. out with one of the big trucks and by the time he arrived I was hooked up to the first travel trailer and my pickup was loaded! I know I looked like a gypsy. If I could hold an item in place until I could secure it with a rope, it was going to make the trip!

L.M. hooked up to the last remaining flatbed trailer (which was loaded with forklifts and such) and he got away pretty quickly. He was making his way to Midland to drop off our primary forklift which bore the brunt of the load this year at the shop before returning his remaining cargo to the yard. The primary forklift had fallen through the cracks. It did one primary year at St. Lawrence in 1997 and then was relegated to a back up role and ended up working in a warehouse in Laredo. Actually we ran back across it last year as it had been returned from Laredo and through some manuevering we ended up with it. It was a low hour machine for the year model and when things fell through for a new primary machine this year I called on it to do the work. Long story short we put almost three thousand hours on this little machine during the season. It has been ridden hard and put up wet! It is tired. It needs some TLC and R&R. It deserves it!

Krl and I got away from the compound about two o'clock. Her SUV didn't look any better than my gypsymobile truck and travel trailer. She actually left a short time before I did. She had a couple of stops to make in town as we passed through. I let her know when I passed through so she would not be waiting around for me, then I set the cruise on about sixty-three and I just eased along with the trailer. Krl slowly made up the time differential and just before she caught up I began to feel the pickup was a little soft. It was moving around like it might possibly have a tire giving up. I was on my toes, and sure enough, the right rear tire came apart. I got off the road and on the shoulder of the service road and immediately called Krl's cell phone. She was a few miles behind which allowed me time to jack the truck up and pull the tire and wheel off. We then made a trek into Colorado City to find a tire. It turns out the only place in town that carried new tires was the dealer for the brand of tire I would have purchased by choice. We got it mounted and balanced and went back to the truck and put it on and we hit the road again! On the road again! The remainder of the trip to Roscoe was uneventful. Krl and the hounds stayed on the highway to get home before dark and I stopped to drop the travel trailer. I very quickly drained the water system, stopped in and said hello to my folks and then it was On the road again! The trip seemed to fly by. Krl called to let me know she was home and also to give me a very brief list of things we had to have at the house to make it through the evening. I got my first experience on the "totally completed" Winters freeway, made my exit and went by Albertsons. It was so nice to see familiar surroundings and people, I found myself wanting to hug the cashier! Forty dollars and a couple of miles later, I was HOME! Knowing my character flaws I did not stop until everything (that is not going into storage) was unloaded. Then I sat down in my chair, and it fit! One hundred eleven days since my butt had last met the fabric of the Lazy Boy recliner and it was a "match made in the furniture store!" We got on the phone and made a call and a place delivered food to our doorstep! There was a large receptacle in the bathroom which I filled with hot water and I slipped into until I had used every drop of hot water! Back to the recliner, eat on a tray, and then to bed. There is nothing that gives that secure feeling of home like the familiarity of "your" bed! It was a great evening from our homefront!

FATHER, thank YOU! It is so nice to return to our earthly home! Thank YOU for the safe travel, for the tremendous season we experienced and for safety of all the workers. YOU have had YOUR hand and watchful eye over our every move and for this I am thankful. Once again I find that I have worked myself out of a job. I am excited to see where YOU take me next and what opportunities YOU make available to me. I am thankful that YOU are faithful to meet my every need. Praise be to YOU! I pray for Hag, for B., for Lillie, for Rene', for Carol, for Michelle, for Aimee, for Rusty and Kim's baby, for Jennifer, for those injured in the Highland accident. I ask YOUR physical healing for them. I pray for those of us ailing spiritually. Surround us, fill us with YOUR spirit. I pray for our leaders, for our spiritual family. YOU are my rock!