Satisfying Saturday!

I just lay in my bed this morning. Not sleeping, not rushing to get up, just soaking it all in. The peaceful atmosphere, the gentle paced breathing of my sweetie along with the four hounds. What a jolly little group we are.

Maple Syrple was cuddled against my back, I would move away to roll over and immediately she would move with me. Got to have that contact! Finally I did an Olympic caliber flip and roll and gently draped my arm across her. She is such a licker. If I had been asleep it would have been irritating, but I let her get it out of her system and then she began to get settled again. Finally I slipped her to the middle of the bed and I got up, carefully picking my way through the remaining sleeping hounds as I made my exit from the bedroom.

Thankfully the work week is over. It seems that the short weeks are really tough. While I got my normal work load done, there are still two more stacks of work "to do" sitting on my desk. Normally I would have spazzed to get it all caught up so we can start next week "even up" but not yesterday. I have tried to exercise a little more discipline at work, do what I can do and do it well, prioritize, and leave work at the office.

I had a call from one of the contractors from St. Lawrence. They are already in South Texas with the grain harvest. We had talked earlier in the spring about a loader he was wanting to purchase, which happened to be the same loader that we have sitting at the shop. I had told him of several design issues that engineers were still working on. Now he is ready to make his purchase and wanted my final opinion as to model, cubic yard bucket size, counter weights, and many, many more options. They will probably be ginning down there in three weeks. It will not be at the new plant though, if it is ready at all this year it will be late August at the earliest. They have recently sent crews to the Robstown plant (which will be demolished once the new plant is on line) to ready it for a short season run. I actually hope the new plant doesn't come on line this year (not that it makes me a hoot or a holler), Tiller is pretty arrogant and it would be comical for him to have to sit on a new plant a full year. Basically this group thinks rules and guidelines are for others, not them.

My main man Delfino usually works summers at the Robstown plant. The last few years he has been wanting to make a work station change (and hopefully improve himself) but Tiller has repeatedly told him he was going to stay where he is at. Funny thing is I brokered the deal for him to work at Robstown when Milton was the seasonal manager down there. It had really worked well for Milton, myself and Delfino. The last couple of years the South Texas season has stretched into the fall, Milt has moved on to greener pasture, and Delfino and I have balanced his South Texas work with his work with me and we all thought we were optimizing the give and take between the two. Now Tiller is saying he isn't going to use Delfino this year because he has not stayed with him until ginning was complete the last two years. He did say he would give him a sweeper job or some other menial work. What a pompous jerk! The last two seasons Tiller has paid Delfino his full bonus and when he left last year, told him he wanted to move him to the big plant this year. When working for Tiller, he has more job duties to do, less pay and been relegated to working night shift the entire season. Now that appears to not be enough and Tiller is wanting to make him grovel. It doesn't take a lot for these seasonal workers to pass the word among them about certain managers. Currently I am trying to get hold of Delfino and tell him to go see Et at Chapman Ranch. I certainly don't want Delfino to feel that Tiller is his only option down South.

Another tidbit of good news concerning my fall work contract. When I attended their annual meeting, family fun day and barbecue recently, I walked in to a hornet's nest of controversy. The plant Superintendent, Frankie, was being lured away. I sat with Frankie and Nancy as we ate barbecue and we talked openly and honestly about the new opportunity and the counter offer at St. Lawrence. I had told him that one part of me wanted to tell him "don't go", but that would be the selfish part of me. I went on to tell him that he had to make the best decision for his family, that this would not be the last time he got asked to dance (because when you are as good as he is, the opportunities are always going to come), and that if he was going to chase the big bucks, this would be the first move of many. Conversely, I told him that at some point, the money would not be the determining factor in his decisions. His immediate concern was that he was being pressured to make a quick decision. I told him to take his time, he was in the driver's seat and if one group pressured him, it might make the decision easier to make. I am thrilled to say that Frankie has made his decision and he is staying! YES!

When I left the annual meeting it was almost comical because several board member and the manager intercepted me as I walked through the maize of tables. Obviously, every one had been watching throughout the evening and they were curious to know what had been said. The only thing I told them was that they were going to have to come up to industry pay scale if they ever expected to retain good help. Outside of that, I didn't tell them anything. I am not one to kiss and tell!

I am weighing some possibilities. KO wants me to stay steady although he realizes he can't compensate me enough to make me forget the fall work. At least he understands. We are currently looking at the possibility of him resigning his gin contract in order to pick up some slack at my work site. I think currently I am four trucks down from last season out there. These people that are gone are either in jail or on their way there. Of course this possibility is only one scenario and there are many. When I can say more I will, but right now "mum's the word".

When I got home from work last evening Krl had mowed the front lawn. (Don't ask me why she does it in the heat of the day). She was in the back yard but was having problems with the weed eater and the mower. I told her to park them and we would finish this morning. She persisted and I fixed the equipment when she finally decided to call it a day. She sure looked melted down and I offered to toss her in the pool. She responded that "I wasn't putting this dirty body in that clean pool!" I should have offered to wash her down with a water hose!

FATHER, thank YOU, for getting us through the week, for presenting us with opportunities, for loving us even when we don't deserve it. YOU are good, YOU are great! FATHER I continue to ask that YOU strike down the infidels. FATHER, thank YOU for Krl, I continue to ask YOUR healing and care for her. I pray for a peaceful, rested weekend. I lift up Memama, Pepa, Hag, B., Lillie, Jennifer, Aimee, Ashlyn Kate, Jess, Dr. Mackie, and Jeanine for YOUR miracle of healing. I pray for those of us who struggle to follow YOU and YOUR way. I pray for our spiritual family and our leaders. I ask YOUR blessing on the efforts being made to expand YOUR kingdom. YOU reign supreme.