Uh huh.

It has been a week, once again, that I am glad is over and I am proud to have survived. I think I am going to have to go back to the fall jobsite in order to rest. Don't ask me why but 24/7 seems to afford me more rest that I have been getting, or maybe it is my mind that rests more easily.

I do know it is sometimes frustrating here having very little or no control over what goes on. At least in the office I had some influence about what was happening, now it seems that I am along for the ride.

My buddy keeps asking me what they need to do to make things better. He wants to be more organized, in fact, he tells me that the new prospective customer is going to require them to be more organized.

Many people are born with organizational minds, it is almost second nature to them. For others of us, organization is a learned discipline. My nickname at the family business used to be "king of sticky notes". (3M loved me!) I also had a stack of legal pads, dated with info from meetings, conversations, research, whatever! My definition of organization would probably be simple, Attention to detail.

Earlier in the week I was working on a narrow time line. I had been to the Permian Basin and was coming back to Abilene before making a mad dash for Lubbock. I needed to pick up some parts that needed to be returned to a business in Lubbock and all throughout the day I had been subtly hinting, to make sure the parts would be at their designated pickup point. I called from twelve miles out of town and asked directly and was told they would make a call to be sure and would call me back if the parts were not there for me to pick up. No call and when I arrived, no parts. Needless to say I did not go to Lubbock that day. In fact if I could have arranged for someone to pick me up I would have turned in the company equipment I had. This is one of the reasons I have doubts about whether or not my friends business can go to the next level. He keeps talking about where he fits and how his wife wants to back away from it some and just be a mother. While this is admirable, I don't believe that their business is where it needs to be for less of their attention, also I know that they are not, and the business is not, ready to part with the kind of money that a GM or COO would demand.

While my week was spent on the road with the exception of Tuesday (I was doing a websearch for truck parts for 222, it was successful by the way. Parts will be here tomorrow at substantial savings!), I spent yesterday working on 222's air conditioning. It had sheared a shaft internally or something and that had been reason for it to be in the shop which lead to the discovery of more serious problems. I am hopeful that by Wednesday at the latest, 222 will be road worthy once again.

It would appear that we may have a preamble to the fall work. Our final destination from the fall work has inventory stashed all over the country, any where that had a facility that would meet government regulations and insurance requirements. Now with a projected short harvest they are talking about moving it all back to the Rolling Plains plant. And that is fine with me.

On Thursday I happened by my friends office (where I worked last year) and he asked me to look over some papers. He has been trying to acquire newer, better, trailers than what he currently has in his fleet. He had told me he had pulled the preliminary trigger on ten or twelve brand new trailers, zero down and that the payments were only minimally higher than his current payments. I nearly choked when I saw the paperwork, it was a Trac lease and with every sentence I read I became more repulsed. He had told me it was a lease purchase and at the end of the lease he could buy the trailers for about fifteen percent of the new cost. When I looked things over I found he was mistaken and the buy agreement would cost him forty percent of the new costs and then we got into other things like "trac support %", and "trac support amount". If I have figured correctly, this would have inflated the buy at the end to in excess of fifty percent of orginal capitalized cost. Further investigation revealed it to be a variable rate trac lease tied to the T-bill market. Wow! The table was tilted and all the money ran towards the leasing company on that one! I figure my brief stop in saved my friend a minimum one-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars!

When I left Lubbock Friday I had pricing and such for a conventional purchase of a group of trailers for my friend.

Some quick detales:
Krl and I had an e-mail this week from a former classmate in the now defunct Sunday School class we attended. Neither one of us wants to answer it because we will be tempted to "tell it like it is".

I had received a jury summons for Monday. I was primed to tell the judge and the lawyers "to heck with the law, to heck with the evidence. In this courtroom I am the law!" I received notice that my summons has been cancelled. Darn!

No word from my fall employee about his trial. I had talked with him Wednesday night and he was going to call me back and never did. They were expecting to complete his trial Thursday or Friday. Now his cell phone just goes to voice mail. Hmmmm.

Talked to the burr contractor Friday. His health is doing well. They were loading up to go to South Texas for the abbreviated ginning season down there. I am so thankful I am not going this year. Actually if the opportunity presented itself I would probably have taken it just to get my foot in the door! The gin the burr contractor is working with is a new double gin (O. K., half of it is new, added to the half they already had) that is supposed to gin one hundred bales and hour twenty-two hundred bales in twenty-four hours. They are only going to gin about eighteen-thousand bales this year so I jokingly told the burr man they would be home in two weeks. He laughed but we both know that short crops usually are long and drawn out harvests!

FATHER, I don't even know where to begin. Heal me, make me whole, give me YOUR perfect peace!

I don't know if it is me, my computer, my isp or blogger but one of us is sure not making full contact! I lost a post the other day only to have it resurface (after I had been searching for it and trying to recover it) and I posted it only for it to vanish once again!

Yesterday was definitely a Monday. Long and frustrating. I went to the metroplex to off load, across town to reload and by the time I got back it was after midnight, then I waited for an hour for the dock foreman where I left the load to resurface from his hiding place to sign paperwork. When I finally walked in our bedroom it was 2:26 in the morning! Yuk! I think Dallas has recruited employees from Fossil Creek because they are the ones that started everything falling apart.

This morning I was asleep when Maple Syrple decided to crawl alongside and cuddle. She is so funny because either she thinks she can lick my whisker stubble away or it tickles her tongue to try. Anyhow I was awakened by a face cleaning followed closely by my cell phone toning. One of my employees at the fall jobsite was calling to bring me up to speed. A few years ago he was a passenger in a vehicle carrying him, two buddies, and two girls. They had an accident and one of the girls was killed. When police filed vehicular homicide charges, the two buddies told the cops that they guy who works for me was driving. Actually he was in the backseat with the other girl. For the past two years he has taken his paychecks, kept a very small portion and forwarded the majority to his attorney. Through some technology advancements, mainly the use of cameras at some intersections, they have visual proof just prior to the accident that my employee was NOT driving. However the DA has insisted on carrying it to trial. The trial began this morning. When the employee called me early this morning I could tell he is scared and very concerned. I would like to tell him don't worry because the truth will come out, but fact is I don't have any faith in our justice system. Lawyers have screwed that up.

Next Monday I have to report for jury duty and I intend to tell the lawyers exactly that. That they are scuzz bucket bottom feeders. It won't matter about the law, it will be about which lawyer pisses me off the least. Judges are not much better, they have just developed a conscience and would rather observe. Wonder how long it will take them to excuse me from duty? Heh, heh!

I am off today, trying to locate truck parts. I have located them, now it is just a matter of getting them shipped as quickly as possible.

Have a day.

FATHER, you know!

Krl and I are fighting summer colds. I think the "bug" saw us a little run down and decided to launch and assault.

We continue to be just off. A little weak, not a whole lot of energy, a half step slow. By the time I get home at night I am looking for that bed, sometimes I don't even make it. I awoke the other morning after one-thirty in the morning, sitting in my chair. Just as bad, when I went into the bedroom Krl and the houndgirls were asleep upside down in our bed. Nothing wrong with this house a good exorcist couldn't fix!

My week. Ab-Fw, Fw-Ab, Ab-Od, Od-Ab, Ab-Tylr, Tylr-Lvw, Lvw-Ab, Ab-Lubk, Lubk-Ab-Ab-Lbk, Lubk-Ab. Things went pretty well until the first Lubk-Ab when a shaft broke inside the air conditioner compressor when I was about an hour and half out of Abilene. I think it was 106. I felt steamed when I finally got on the ground! I may never eat steamed vegetables or seafood again!

I took Blacksheep 222 to KO's shop while I gathered parts to make the a/c repair. Turned out no one locally had the parts. It required another Ab-Lubk-Ab to gather all the parts and then they were wrong. Some days a guy just needs to throw his hat out from under the covers before he slips out from between the sheets. While I had this unit in Ko's shop I wanted to seek out a couple other tell tale signs of possible trouble. One involved an air bag that doesn't seat and seal all the time, the other was some tracking of oil or grease. The oil and grease led to a bigger problem which will require the unit to be out of service for the next several days, which doesn't mean I get time off, it just means I get to work full days plus whenever I can slip away for brief periods to work on 222.

Actually, this all goes back to the salesman. I have known him for several years, always liked him, always trusted him until this particular acquisition for the company. For the first time I feel that he mis-represented and tried to hide possible problems. One of which surfaced after only four trips, resulting in a major repair in excess of $1600 (at dealer cost), no thanks to the salesman for splitting the bill, here the thanks go to the owner of the dealership. Interesting thing was the draft for this particular piece of equipment hadn't even cleared the company's bank. In fact I mentioned to the office manager the possiblity of stopping payment on the draft. Now the parts needed for the repairs are two at $2000 each. I can do the labor. Needless to say, the company has not budgeted funds for this type of repair. KO and KW came to the shop Saturday afternoon and the three of us pulled the first of the suspects from the truck just to be sure our assessment was correct. They were.

It seems that the number two granddaughter came by withe her Mom the other day and was very disrespectful to her Meme. It would appear that she is on track to becoming the helion that her older sister is. Whatever the case, she will be banned from her Meme and Dandy's house until she can behave and treat Meme with the respect that is required. If I ever witness her being diesrespectful to Meme, I will slap the girl so hard she will be standing in a pool of bodily fluids. Not a threat, that is a promise! It is going to be very comical for us to watch these two find out how real the real world is!

Addy and Kali came up Saturday afternoon late. We cooked burgers and hotdogs outside while Addy and Meme swam in the pool. They spent the night and then Dandy fixed a big breakfast and we ate on the patio. It was nice. Trc brought Kat over late Saturday and I told Meme it is worth the trouble just to hear them gasp and exclaim "Kafferine" while the other says "Addison". it is amazing how no matter how long they are apart they just pick up where they left off.

Have a day!

FATHER, let's have some help here!

Three lefts don't make a right.

I seem to remember why it had been several years since we had attended the family reunion at Lake Brownwood. We still suffer from jetlag. If we ever do this again I may have to insist on staying in a room (wherever it might be located) instead of bringing the RV. Add to this the requirements for bringing the four houndgirls and you have the equivalent of traveling with quadruplets! Yikes.

We returned early enough to make ready for Monday and the work week but that hasn't been easy. So far it has been a very generic work week. If it weren't for activity around the fringes I might become lethargic.

I believe that this Friday is very possibly the last day in the current ritual. I would think at the present time it is very, very possible that I might move on to doing something else. I do know that I am not going to continue to wear myself out along with the company's equipment while hoping to break even.

The past few days have been filled with metroplexes, and West Texas'. Today finds me going East for a change. Ab-Tyler-Longview-Abilene. And I am not looking forward to it. I had requested directions for the different locations and received half of them so I may do a half ass job today.

As you can tell I am struggling mightily.

Be the real deal.

FATHER, I need a lot of help here today.

And the "eyes" have it! (But they wish they didn't!)

That sure seemed like a short night. I don't know what possesses my eyes to be spring loaded. "Bong!" Try as I might, toss and turn, twist and shout, I can't go back to sleep. I know it isn't fun for the other "bedmates". I sometimes think Maple Syrple is trying to coax me into being still and going back to sleep.

It is almost comical when night comes, our little family rituals. The pups usually "play themselves out" while the two older houndgirls quietly begin to migrate towards their ergonomically correct beds. Once the pups think you are making your way to the bedroom it becomes a contest for them. Who can get there first and stake their claim to prime mattress location. Not that it is going to matter because seniority has it's privileges.

While Maple Syrple didn't like Baby Phooey (the new pup) in the beginning, they have become great playmates. They have an arsenal of toys which are becoming "well worn". Maple will parade directly in front of Phooey with the "bait" dangling and then the game is on. They will wrestle, flip, chase, and nip at each other until they are exhausted or Krl or I call them down. But every relationship has it's limits. Maple has drawn her lines with me and her sleep time. You don't mess with me and you don't interrupt her sleep. Maple thinks she has to be between Krl and I and most of the times she is adamant about it. On rare occasions she will relent and it looks like a cartoon where something is burrowing underground. (This is also her mode if Krl or I are snoring). You will see the covers moving and to the bottom of the bed she goes. The one thing you can bet on is that sometime during her sleep, she is going to cuddle. She gets so close, practically under you, that you sometimes fear you will hurt her. But oh that must be a fine sleep! While I am usually miffed that I awaken at all hours, I sense that Maple takes great joy in "expanding her boundaries". What a little Jabezell! (O.K. that's a play on Jabez and Jezabell.)
Bless me oh Lord with greater mattress area!

Krl tells me that Maple now lingers in bed a good half hour after all the other houndgirls have started their day. Finally she will drag herself out of bed, make her trek outside, get a drink, a little Purina One, then maybe grab some "rays" while laying on the back porch. All this is a ruse giving Krl enough time to make the bed at which time Maple will burrow through the throw pillows until she is hidden on the backside where she can catch a little snoozer!

Hey, a girl has gotta have her beauty rest!

My Monday wasn't too bad. I returned one leased trailer which needed some major maintenance to Fort Worth and picked another one up in Dallas, loaded it and returned to Abilene. Today is plastic shells to Dallas and then to Minute Maid in Waco before returning to Abilene. Not a bad schedule but usually a Waco day is a long one.

Another note to the recent family reunion. As I had stated, the auction revenue was down. There were several reasons. It's kind of like dominos. One affects another. Tj and her family's absence had an affect. Tj has a spastic hand that will "just spring up" anytime something mildly resembles a bargain. Frances (in Tempe) has had another bout with treatment after her cancer recurred. Her situation was compounded by having to have "by-pass" surgery on the heels of her other treatment. As a result of her absence we didn't have a single "Diamondback" article in the auction and the family is probably not as healthy because we didn't get the fruits of her backyard! Frances' sister Linda went to Tempe and also missed the reunion which meant her daughter and her kids were no shows as well. Linda is kind of like a conscience for all the other bidders. She may not really want what is being bid on but she's going to make you pay what it is worth. Her grandkids are also good for the kids items. We missed all of these and hope things will be where they can make up for it next year!

This weekend, Justin Snow of the Indianapolis Colts is having his youth football camp in Abilene. He is a 1995 graduate of Abilene Cooper. I like seeing someone who has enjoyed success return to their roots to give back. I honestly feel that if he hangs on, he and Dominic (another Cooper grad on the Colt roster) along with Peyton will get that ring! Eat yer heart out Edgerin!

Well, let's git 'er done!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the good Monday. I pray for a safe and productive day today. I lift up Frances to YOU for YOUR gift of healing. I lay it all YOUR feet. LORD reign in me!

I'm not getting on to well with being more diligent in posting. But, that's the nature of my fickle brain of late.

While my brain hasn't been where other's have claimed their brain has been lately, my brain has not been in a good place mentally (thankfully it is still located in my skull although a lobotomy might be a big, big, relief!)

Work has been just that. Time off has not been time off. I had figured the short week following the holiday would be a breeze. WRONG! It really sucked. Wednesday and Friday to the metroplex and Thursday stuffed in between, a Lubbock. All of them singles.

Krl received the company's settlement check for the week of two weeks ago and she was not happy. When she discussed it with me I wasn't either. When I discussed it with KO he was shocked and surprised. (Join the club.) KO blames it on the shortage of trailers. I think that is one factor that combined with the problem of loads not being pre-loaded on time and the inability of Fossil Creek to get equipment in and out, yields a disastrous result. KO picked up the first of ten new lease trailers Thursday (He was supposed to do this Wednesday) and Friday Marolen and I went to Dallas and picked up two more. We ended up going across town and loading back to Abilene.

Why is it the larger the town the smaller brain drivers are equipped with?

I prefer to drive in Abilene over Fort Worth, Fort Worth over Dallas, Dallas over Houston, and Houston over Chicago. I know there are a lot of idiots in Dallas!

A large part of the driving mis-behavior in the larger cities is simply the lack of courtesy! They are all competitive for that same small piece of asphalt.

I got in at a so so hour Friday afternoon. Not as early as if I worked in Abilene, but not nearly as late as many of my nights have been of late. Krl had called asking if we could entertain friends. They have been childless for the last two weeks and wanted to get together before the crew returned. I told Krl I had no problem as long as we had some way to yell calf rope when I got ready to go to sleep. It was 11:41 when I went to the bedroom. That's a long way from three in the morning!

I had visited with Pat while I was on the road Friday. Last week she had gone in to see her dermatologist (she is very good about seeing him about all sorts of small maladies that could escalate). A week prior to, he had taken some biopsies of some small, bruise like spots from her shins. I was very interested in this as we both have the same splotches! When the doctor walked in with her folder she said it was very evident he had not looked at it because when he opened it up, he became quiet, closed it and repeated the process several times. Being a health care professional, Pat asked the doctor if there was a problem. He opened the folder again and told her, "I never expected this." He went on to tell her that the biopsies had come back from the lab as (bear with my spelling) basil cell carcinoma. The doctor couldn't hardly believe these results and told Pat he wanted to do a couple more biopsies to double check. Thursday Pat had returned and got good news. None of the most current biopsies came back with the earlier result. The doctor said that possibly he removed one that had gotten a little sun. It is a situation he will monitor but for now they have thrown it into Pat's worry box! "Just don't have enough time to worry about that now!"

While Pat and I talked she informed me that Hag, her husband, and her had been up a large portion of the night Thursday and early Friday. Hag's mother had been having increasingly difficult medical problems. Just a few weeks ago they had gone in to remove a section of perforated intestine and when they had done several procedures, all they had left was eighteen inches. She would be relegated to feeding during the night through a tube. Her doctor told her she could go into a grocery store and eat the entire store but she would still starve to death. After the initial shock wore off it became apparent that she could continue to function with the feeding tube. I am not sure what problem required Hag's mom to return to the hospital Thursday night but during that visit she suffered cardiac arrest and they couldn't bring her back. She was sixty-nine, survived by four daughters, four sons, about a dozen and a half grandchildren and several great grandchildren. Pat's comment to me was that she had never (even in all her nursing) met anyone as anxious and ready to leave this world.

Condolences to Hag and his brothers and sisters and all the family.

The family reunions a week ago were bitter sweet. Three cousins (or cousin in-laws) were missing. One slightly older, one exactly my age, and another several years younger. Of the three, one was already gone at last years reunion.

I don't handle death very well. Probably the one time I handle it correctly will be upon my own death. I feel very inadequate in knowing what to say although I do stay away from the "GOD's will" line of thinking. In fact often times I get bent out of shape with GOD when bad things happen.

I didn't get to visit with Rene's parents this reunion. They seem to still be struggling after a year. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to lose a child. Rene was 44, a single mother of two children who were on the verge of being grown up. Late adolescence or early adult hood is a perilous time to lose your mom but the kids seem to have done quite well. At least while compared to a year ago.

I appreciate the fact that they attend the reunion even though they know it is going to be difficult. I miss Rene', and I think about her more often than they might think. I think back to reunions where she helped with the auction, to reunions where she was quick to interject with her quick wit and humor. I think back to 2004 when following the family church service she stood alongside her mom and dad as they told the family the cancer had came back for a third time. I think back to her dad leading the family in a prayer petitioning for her healing at that time. I think back to getting reports, some good some not so good, to finally realizing that she was slowly slipping away. I think back to the phone call telling me she was gone. I think back to going to the funeral home South East of Dallas, where friends, relatives and colleagues paid homage to her brief life. I can see her dressed in her uniform as though simply asleep. I think back to the precious tiny black ringlets of hair, the result of her chemo. I think back to the tremendous show of love and support by friends of the family (our family is huge and possess huge appetites, and there was an abundance of food). I think of the huge gathering for the funeral service. I remember feeling honored and inadequate at serving as a pall bearer. I think back to the lifting of her coffin to the top of a Fire truck and then the hour long procession to her final resting place. Finally, I remember the tolling of the bell by the chaplain from Dallas.

And I wonder why my focus is on the end of her life instead of what came before?

Often times we hear of people who are upset that GOD didn't answer their prayers. I don't believe in unanswered prayers. I think GOD answers them all. I think sometimes we are upset with how GOD answers them.

I continue to tell myself that we are small frame viewers of the large picture GOD sees. Being the merciful GOD we believe him to be, we can only imagine that by ending the suffering it might be some indication of worse things to come on this plane. I often make the assessment that GOD took them home to heal them. No more suffering, no more pain.

Simply said, "Incentive!"

Be all you can be.

FATHER, I need some help here. I am mired in the muck. FATHER I pray for healing of these hearts that hurt with loss. Surround them with YOUR angels and comfort them. Work YOUR plan for us, in us, and through us.

Hope your Fourth is in order! (Meaning it is after the third and before the fifth).

It was a pretty packed weekend. Two family reunions will do that. The first took place in the gymnasium at SHCoC. The reunion had reverted to a single day format much like it was when I was growing up. It had "morphed" to the point where it was a Friday, Saturday, Sunday event and attendance had dwindled and dwindled. Notice was very short due to the death of a cousin who was stepping in to help with the reunion but her Mom and brother got the word out and there was a surprisingly good turn out. In fact it probably was more people than the organizers had hoped for. I got to see several relatives I had not seen in years. It was a good half day.

I had to be at the other reunion by two. The auction, which finances a large portion of the reunion was scheduled for then and for some reason this has become the activity I am in charge of. Try as I might I can't remember how or why I got involved, anyhow it doesn't matter which family is the host family each year, it is assumed I am going to run the auction. The auction was attended by 53 bidders, each spending an average of just over $26. Add to this the "Nickel Ringo" proceeds along with the quilt raffle (which Memama won this year) reunion revenues were down (about $1200) although remaining in the black after expenses. Participants in the reunion golf scramble numbered 23, also down from the previous year. That even included a "ringer" who for the second year in a row played on the winning team. The Sunday family Church service saw several guests, one of which was Sam Nichols, who spoke. It took me a few minutes to recognize Sam, he has aged some since he served as fill in weather man on the weekends for a local television station. He now serves as head women's basketball coach at one of the local universities.

Sunday was also Krl's and my anniversary and when the hotel caterer missed getting set up on time for the lunch meal, Krl and I waited a short while before we left and went to Chili's!

For our "Fourth" we plan on firing up the grill. We don't anticipate guests and we have invited none. Krl has requested -BQ (bar becue). Her tummy has been really mad lately so I will honor her request in hopes she can and will eat. I bought one of those trimmed briskets that have been on sale the past week and I did pick up a suitable number of Jalapeno peppers to stuff, wrap, and grill! I will also probably throw some burgers and hotdogs on the grill for lunches for the remainder of the week. (I don't know about you but I have to go back to work tomorrow). I am in hopes that I have to wear my rain parka when I cook.

Speaking of work, the more I think of it the more miffed I become. I had a call from the fill in dispatcher (because DO is still at the lake) and I was told I was needed to do a Wednesday metroplex run, noon appointment. Later it was changed to metroplex with a 5 pm. appointment. That is horrible for someone that wakes up as early as I do. I had one of these screwed up days last week and when I saw it on paper I had been up twenty-two hours. This makes me really eager for the fall job!

I am still bothered by the "disbanding" of our Sunday School class during the time Krl and I were gone on the annual job. As some of you are aware, the name of this class was "Living Jesus". It was a melting pot gathering of a very diverse group. Life long dedicated bachelors, divorced people, couples, individuals who had lost their spouses, counselors, professionals, students, disabled, retired. We were a hodgepodge. Of course the intent of the class was to pattern our lives after Jesus. This is where I think I am having my problem. If someone feels the need to move on for whatever reason to another class, that is fine. I can understand this. But I don't think Jesus would disband or quit. Jesus might move or merge, but quit? I don't think so. I am wondering now if the class members have moved on to "living hyprocrits"?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Happy Fourth!

Bah humbug!

Some days a guy just can't win for losing. Yesterday was one of those.

Due to the upcoming holiday I had been told to plan on a double Ab-Lubb for Friday. I told dispatch that was fine, "just make the first one an early one!" I received word that the first one would be ready by five Friday morning. I had a fitful sleep and finally when I rolled out of bed about two-thirty I began to get ready for my day. I was on the road by a quarter to five and in Lubbock prior to seven in then morning. I backed to the dock and was number two in line to be unloaded. Here the plan went haywire because inbound product had to go somewhere which means lots of outbound trucks. When the dock crew began splitting time between inbound and outbound it became evident I was in for a long wait. By the time I cleared the dock, it was ten o'clock. The plan had come unraveled and dispatch informed me my day was a single, not a double. I glanced at my watch and smiled knowing I would be home shortly after noon. When I returned to Abilene I went to the plant to drop my empty trailer and remembered my insurance card was at the dock office, so I decided to retrieve it. When I grasped the door release lever, I heard a noise in the door and it didn't open. Hhhmmm. I rolled down the window and reached out to pull the outside door handle ..... with no positive result. I looked at the other side of the cab which was obscured by two toolboxes, my cooler, a case of four inch load straps, a storage box filled with specialty items and I realized I was fixing to have to do spring cleaning just to get out of the truck. Finally I was out, grabbed my insurance card and headed to the lock up yard to drop off the truck. When I arrived there I was presented with a dilemma because by the time I put the security code in, went to the opposite side of the truck and climbed in, released the brakes and began moving forward, the gate would time out and close. I kept on looking around to see if candid camera was trailing me. Finally I placed my hat over an electronic eye (which told the gate it was blocked) and I made my way in. On the drive over I decided a linkage had just come off inside the door. Wrong. After spending two hours getting into the workings of the door, I found a control cable had broken. After a quick run to the dealer, forty dollars and another two hours to reassemble the door latch and inside panels, I did a quick check to see if the power windows, the power mirrors and the radio speakers , you know all the necessary items, were still working. I got home after five.

Rats!

It coulda been a sweet day.

I'm off Monday even though I didn't want to be. It's going to be a short week anyhow with the holiday and all.

Sources tell me that Hunter is a big brother. He has a new little sister.

Have a day!