I can't believe it's another Monday. Time sure flies when you're not!

We had a pretty productive weekend. We are well on the way to opening Krl's pool. I would imagine if it weren't for a hole in the weather tarp it would have already been open. I had placed a sump pump on top of the tarp and pumped the accumulated water from it and decided to let it dry a day before I removed the tarp. The following day I returned and found the sump pump under water again. Yuk. Anyhow, at least it was more like a seep than a full fledged hole. When we removed the tarp the water clarity was good even though it had a green tinge. Hello chemicals. Krl collected a water sample and I took it to our pool service and they did a computer analysis. Three cups of acid and a pound and a half of chlorine and getting it circulating should do the trick, or so the pool guru says. Of course if you have any pool experience, the absolute worst thing that can happen to a pool is rain. That will upset the ph and all sorts of bad things will happen. Guess what happened Friday. Rain. Yesterday the pool was much improved but not where I had hoped it would be. I may pull another water sample.

We cleaned our storage building out along with the garage. During Trc's house project things that were stored in the garage were moved to the storage building out back and things no longer needed in the house were moved into the garage. The domino effect. To further complicate things, I made six trips to the rented storage facility. If we can make it toward the end of this week without adding anything else to the garage, we should be to the bare essentials. We have a pretty good pile of things Krl has put together for the AHS cheerleaders garage sale. There is a refrigerator that I need to get to Memama but after that it is just arranging things where we want them.

Krl called to check on Ed (the burr contractor at STL). Pearl took him home from the hospital Tuesday so he stayed ahead of or in the time frame the doctor had told him. He had not had a good day but that is to be expected. Pearl was telling Krl of some developments at the job compound since we had all left.

During the past season a man and his son from Midland had come to the compound and visited with the GM. This man was interested in burning burrs to generate electricity. This has been tried in other areas but with little success. This man had a little different perspective, burn the burrs to heat water and turn the generators with steam. This man and his son met repeatedly with the Co-op's Board of Directors. Nine miles from the current plant is the old plant #2 which has been gutted and abandoned for eleven years. There is considerable acreage there which would allow for stock piling of burrs for future use. Finally the two groups met and a formal verbal proposal was made by the man from Midland. In general terms, the Co-op would allow this man to use the plant #2 site and would commit to supply the burrs to be burned. There would be no cash outlay by the Co-op. The big benefit would be that the electric generating plant would pay for the transportation of the burrs from the current plant to the generating site. (This past year that would have saved the Co-op about $600,000). When the generating plant reached profitability the Co-op would share in the profits. For several months the Board of Directors waited for the written contract. When I left STL at the end of March the Co-op lawyer had just received the contract from the other side and had begun to dissect it and re-write it. The last report I had received was that the only people benefiting from the pending agreement were both sides attorney's wallets! (And the congregation shouted AMEN).

I had nicknamed the older man from Midland "Redy Kilowatt" (after a TV ad icon used by Taylor Electric when I was a child). The Board had nicknamed this man's son "Echo" (because he always repeated what his Dad had said). "Redy" had told the Board he needed all the burrs that were already piled at the old plant along with twenty-thousand bales worth more. The Board acted in "good faith" and began delivery of the requested material. "Redy" had told them if they could get the burrs there, he would push them up into huge piles. In fact, "Redy" made the bold statement that he was bringing a "big" loader out there with a sixteen yard bucket. (Ed and I would have liked to see that loader because it was going to be bigger than any we had ever seen!).

It was about this point that it seemed as though "Redy" was a lot of talk. If the Board satisfied him on one issue he wanted more in another area. "Redy" became more and more demanding. He called the GM telling him to have Ed's employees push the burrs up (no talk of reimbursement). "Redy" then called the GM and Board President wanting more burrs for fuel. "Redy" ended up receiving thirty-two thousand bales worth of burrs plus what was already there prior to their agreement. When Board Members would ask questions "Redy" and "Echo" would be very vague if they answered at all. "Redy" and "Echo" were asked why they would come to STL, the very outer edge of "cotton country", to try to put together their program. Why not locate their plant in the center of vast numbers of acres of cotton with an almost endless supply of fuel for their plant? "Redy" responded that the people from STL are known to be more progressive minded than people from other areas of the industry. One Board Member asked about their education and expertise in the field they were trying to enter ("Echo" carried a briefcase from College of the Mines and his answer was "No, I didn't attend school there, my sister is a librarian there"), but nothing further was offered. They were asked very pointedly if this venture was contingent on government grants, the Board was told "No". They were asked if they were putting up their own money in this project and they responded "that it was none of your business". Apparently the contract has been a problem and the relationship is deteriorating. My last information was that "Redy" was willing to reimburse the Co-op less than 2% of the hauling cost for coming years, nothing for hauling of the burrs already hauled (this past year it would have amounted to about ten-thousand dollars of the six-hundred thousand dollar burr transportation cost). "Redy" may be adamant about not being subsidized by the government but has no problem with the Co-op subsidizing them. This may get interesting. Obviously "good faith" may have been exercised by only one side of the two parties.

FYI, blogger is having some issues today. I tried to post this about three or four this morning and blogger ate about half my blog. When I went to recover post it only recovered a small portion of what I had written.

I had better get. I need to figure out what I am going to do today. I am going to have to get a job when I grow up!

Do the dew.

Be the real deal.

FATHER, let YOUR glory fill this day.