Whew! I needed the break. At precisely seven this morning, Barco shut the plant down. It is eerily quiet. But then again, silence is golden.

We have achieved that point in the season when I become antsy. I am so ready to return to civilization. Today will be a welcome visit to Midland. Initially Krl told me that she didn't want to go anywhere, but last evening she told me she wanted to go to Midland and to be specific, Chili's. We have eaten nothing but left overs since Thanksgiving. Last night I threw some left over ham in a skillet and flash fried it and did scrambled eggs and biscuits. I guess after eating leftovers it is no wonder that Krl has her taste buds set on the honey barbecue sirloin with fries and sauteed onions with mushrooms and peppers, complimented by garlic toast. As for me, I am reserving ordering until I get there. In fact I think I will mull over the menu while sipping on a Presidente Margarita on the rocks.

One difference today will be we are traveling alone. I plan to leave Kyle with the vacuum cleaner and anything else he needs to clean his trailer. It is a disciplinary action due to his fibbing. I discussed this with his mother last evening and she told me to handle the situation, but to be sure that Kyle was aware why he was being disciplined. Not only had Kyle fibbed to me about my company truck and the scrape down the side (or to be more precise fibbing by failing to tell me), but his Aunt Krl had been asking him if he had cleaned his refrigerator. She is so concerned that he is going to get food poisoning or botulism from eating something that is spoiled. We had actually been trying to back off the monitoring of his trailer but during the Thanksgiving crunch for refrigerator space Krl discovered he had a plate from the community Thanksgiving meal in his 'frige' that was over a week old. Add to this lunch meat that is out of date. He had assured her he had disposed of all of that, but hadn't. Actually, Aunt Krl is more bent than I am.

It has been interesting because several truck drivers have told me how upset Kyle is about my company truck. My question is, is he upset because he got caught or because he damaged it or is he upset because he damaged it and failed to tell me?

I just looked at a calendar and was surprised to discover that the date I put my money on in the office pool for a completion date is only twelve days away. The plant Super's guess is twenty days away and the GM's guess is twenty-one. Of course all this is contingent upon the producers getting their crop to us.

Thanksgiving had really thrown me behind on book work so I had a real thrash to get the information together for Krl to do equipment lease and driver settlements. After a late Friday night and and early and productive Saturday, This morning I find myself just having to make a few corrections. Usually this is a problem combining loads for trucks that haul different products. Today was no different. I did find that one correction Krl gave me is not my mistake but a driver's inability to write down numbers correctly. In this instance I refuse to change the sign out sheets that he initialed and will give him a reprimand and warning that if a pay discrepancy comes up it is his problem, not mine or Krl's.

I went into the office late yesterday and washed one more pot I had over looked. While I was there I bagged left over turkey and ham and placed it in the freezer. I cannot believe how the groceries have been walking off. I would venture to say that there were between fifty and seventy-five dollars of unused can goods, crock spread, and other supplies. I think now it would probably stretch it to have twenty dollars worth remaining. I know who the main culprit is and I have a good idea where other groceries have gone. I told the GM, just to keep my tail out of trouble.

Have a day.

FATHER, rest us quickly and rest us well. I pray for safety, I pray for healing, for all those near and dear.