My desk is a wreck. Actually it isn't my desk (yes it is) but my area. I have stack upon stack of papers to be filed. Oh well, maybe tomorrow they will be my priorities.

Nothing major in my world. Just minor subject matter today.

Author Sidney Sheldon has died at 89. I was reading his biography earlier in the night and he was a pretty remarkable man. He began writing novels as a sideline, never labored over a typewriter, but dictated fifty pages a day to a secretary. He wrote for television shows and eventually became a producer. He claimed his success writing was because he used the television show mentality. At the end of each chapter you had to make the reader want to continue, very similar to making the watcher want to join in next episode. I've read some of his work and would never have imagined he was in his late eighties.

During the night I was channel surfing and as sometimes happens I arrived at the Encore Westerns channel. I have decided I grew up in an "excellent" era. I think back to our childhood games and compare them to a child now sitting with a gameboy. Hhmm. We may not have been politically correct because we played cowboys and Indians. But the way we played it was a great tribute to the ferocious warrior!

My Mom tells me I was a weird child. For Christmas I always wanted something that she would never fathom. Usually this included camping gear. I loved a tent and would often put one up until the seasonal winds demolished it. I don't know what happened to all my accessories. I had the full camp out cooking set, backpack, (yeah, I was a trend setter before my time) and canteens. I had it all. Last remembrance I have, it was all in the top of my closet. More than likely it has gone through numerous nieces and nephews and slowly disappeared. Who knows, it may never have returned after the fire at Mom and Dad's house in 1974. That would also explain where my four finger baseball glove went along with all the baseball cards Uncle Wade had given Fred and I.

Out at the farm we had a fort. This was the result of Uncle Wade's vision and labor. It was buried deep in the heavy mesquite trees about a hundred yards from the house. It was a secured perimeter complete with a sliding gate, a prominent cross located in the right back of the area and the center featured a cooking pit. I can remember several escapades camping, finding just the right limb and cooking a chicken "rotisierre style" over the open camp fire. I can even remember one particular night when Uncle Wade enlisted the help of a friend who came to scare us. Later on the small pasture that held the fort was used when first time mother cows (or heifers) were giving birth. The small area made it possible to easily find an active birthing and spot potential problems. It was very common for my Grand Dad and Grandmother to make late night trips to check on the small pasture's residents and sometimes spend countless hours sitting and waiting, ready to help deliver if the mother became distressed. It was a very cold night when need of fire and heat led to the dismantling and burning of many of the pickets of the fort's perimeter fence. Several years ago I went in the pasture and I could still visualize several of the familiar landmarks. Best part of camping here was when Mema and Gan Gan still lived on the farm if was only a short walk for breakfast!

Aren't memories wonderful?

Probably the most puzzling thing in the news for me revolves around pennies. I heard and then read an article saying they are considering making a penny worth five cents. I'm trying to decide how this would impact us. First of all, I am sure there are banks and jars sitting around filled with pennies. All the sudden these would be worth five times their face amount. How does the government handle this? To me it would appear to be an accounting nightmare. Would a five cent penny remain our smallest money denomination? These people are fixing to confuse a life long habit of mine!

Actually, they are saying that the possible change is because of metal shortages. Seems to me it might make more sense to change to a more abundant cheaper metal. I couldn't stand it if my pennies increased five fold, it might put me in a tax bracket.

Cute cute story in the Reporter News Sports yesterday. It said that a Snow storm was headed to Miami for Sunday's Super Bowl. Huh? A closer read revealed an article about Justin Snow, an Abilene native who is playing in the game and the large family contingent of "Snows" attending the game from Abilene. Justin graduated with Rian from Cooper in 1995.

Today's ARN's article was about Dominic Rhodes another cooper standout playing for the Colts. Tomorrow's article is going to be on Daniel Manning, an ACU alumni playing for the Bears.

I wonder if there are other cities and towns that can boast of multiple participants.

Well, I'm hopeful just a short day at the desk and then maybe a quick trip to the West, if K.O. can get loose and the weather is good.

Winter is coming back! Stay warm. Have a day!

FATHER thank YOU for precious memories!

Last night went much better, thank you.

With only a couple of exceptions, I slept like a rock. But, short nights sometimes lead to that. The couple of exceptions were the two houndpups. Phooey decided she had a little to much energy and looked up her buddy Maple Syrple to see if she wanted to play. She didn't and we had a snapping, snarling display, right in the middle of our night. Krl called Phooey and I simply said Maple's name and held the bed covers up and Maple hit the opening and burrowed to the foot of the bed. End of altercation.

Bless-ed are the peacemakers, for their feet shall be warm.

Yesterday was a frustrating day. I still am short one employee's information, so I have made two sets of reports and only need to know which one to put on the reporting form.

After noon I got ready to do a few errands. The most important was taking Maple Syrple to the veterinary. She had not bounced back from her bout with the flu and just didn't act like herself. The doctor did a basic exam and found her feverish and also having an ear infection. Often times after the dogs are clipped this happens. Anyhow, we got some antibiotic to put in her ear, the flu will have to wait. When we got home she was feeling much better.

Funny how when $$$ leave my pocket, it makes others feel better. Good news for others, you should feel really good because I am really broke!

The end of the Barbaro saga is sad. Everytime you thought the horse was going to be fine, complications set in. It is unbelievable how many cards and letters were sent to the facility Barbaro was at. I read one account that said in excess of one and a half million dollars had been sent to help with bills. It said the proceeds had purchased the sling and hoist that were used to put Barbaro in and out of the rehab pool. You could tell how genuine the doctor's feelings were at the interview explaining the turn of events that led to the colt being euthanized. Eight months and numerous procedures and yet the big bay was lost.

The owners of the colt can know that they did everything humanly possible to save him. I think about what an injury like that would mean "in the wild", and it more than likely would mean death by starvation or as the result of a predator, but then what are the odds an injury like that would be incurred "in the wild". Probably the result of an encounter and trying to escape from a predator.

You can't second guess. We just have to make the best decisions we can with the information we have available at the time.

One of Barbaro's owners made this statement: "Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love".

Krl and I decided to do homemade Mexican food last evening. It was a recreational exercise. Krl had been wanting chicken enchiladas, and that sounded good to me. Actually I guess you could say she wanted green sour cream chicken enchiladas. I wanted to make a small batch of beef enchiladas. I began browning the beef in a medium skillet while I sliced and diced enough onion for both recipes. I like to use LOTS of seasoning. Garlic salt, course ground black pepper and garlic. When I'm cooking Mexican food I like to use ground cumin. Krl had told me she didn't need a skillet to fix hers, just a pyrex. I was working without a net, no recipe. She was working around a recipe. She soon learned she did need a skillet. She began to saute onions as I added mine to my skillet. I opened and drained a can of diced green chilies, satisfied with the direction mine was taking, I felt comfortable enough to open and drain a can of rotelle and pour it in. By now, Krl was finding her groove, she had added diced chicken, and cream cheese to her skillet, seasoned it with ground cumin and was opening a can of green chilies as well. When the moisture had cooked off my beef concoction, I added a can of green enchilada sauce and turned it down to simmer. I grabbed a small pyrex, the package of corn tortillas, and a package of Mexican four cheese blend. I chose not to flash fry my tortillas. I micro-ed instead. I began to fill, cover with cheese and roll my enchiladas, laying them with the exposed rolled edge on the bottom. When my small pyrex was filled with rolled enchiladas I poured the remaining filling over the top and sprinkled the remaining cheese over it. I was done, ready for the oven. If this had been a timed event I was a definite winner. Krl had just added a can of cream of chicken soup to her mix, and it was giving off a heavenly aroma. Being the good sport I am, I pitched in and we did an assembly line. I gave Krl a couple of tips I have learned from some of my hispanic co-workers and she would use the backside of a spoon, smear some sour cream on the tortilla, throw some cheese on it, put a spoon of filling in it and I would roll and insert into the larger pyrex. I'm a heck of a roller. In fact I might should have been a holy roller, or a rockin' roller, or a rock and roller but I became a recreational tortilla enchilada roller. Now for those of you extracting recipe data, Krl chose to use Monterey Jack cheese. When, the pyrex was filled, Krl topped the rolled enchiladas with the remaining mixture and cheese. Into the oven, the two pyrexes went. 350 degrees. (We did get the temperature from Krl's recipe.) Krl went to get a bath, I sat down to watch television. After a few minutes I was up checking on our masterpieces and began cutting tomatoes. My plan called for topping my dish with chopped lettuce, sliced tomatoes and sliced avocado. (I was using vine ripened tomatoes, our regular grocery store had them on sale ten for ten. Ten pounds for ten dollars. I prefer the vine ripened over the hot house tomatoes). When Krl rejoined me she thought the topping would be a good touch. We removed the two dishes from the oven, satisfied that it was ready, retrieved a spatula and fixed two plates, complete with the topping. Delicious!

Funny thing. That little tastebud of ours that has been standing up screaming from the depths of our mouth has been quieted. At least temporarily.

It was fun to cook in the kitchen with Krl and we were both winners as we sampled each other's recipe. Our big problem is that we probably couldn't exactly reproduce our recipes. We need to do better than "just a touch" or a "dash" of this or that.

Krl had me pick up fixin's for another apple pie. Me, I think I want to learn how to cook Memama's peanut brittle. (If you have ever seen it, it is in a can and the label reads "Whoop Azz Peanut Brittle". In fact it drives the game plans that the Brownwood Lions put together.) In addition she has a couple more "candy recipes" I would like to learn. One of them is "Honey's" candy recipe. Honey is a nickname for a family friend that always had a pocket full of I guess what would be called pecan pralines. Interesting thing is that he was and is diabetic and can't eat it, but he sure enjoyed making it and sharing it. Honey is 90+ and just a few years ago did the unspeakable. He passed on his recipe to Memama.

Come to think of it, I would love to have Honey's clear barbecue sauce recipe. (Darndest thing you ever saw, looks like water but tastes like barbecue sauce).

More office work on the horizon for me. Hope your day is a good one.

FATHER, we bask in YOUR love, secure in the hope and promise we have in JESUS. Thank YOU for YOUR faithfulness to us.

Wow, that sure seemed real!

My eyes didn't just open, they sprung. I haven't lost my hair, that's just my eyelids after they snapped up and over my head.

It isn't often I have a realistic dream. Last night was very real. For whatever reason, I dreamed I had taken a job in Fort Worth. It was with a financial business and I had been contacted and hired over the internet. I had been given a branch and a date, but no time to report. When I woke it was seven forty-two (in my dream). We were in Southeast Fort Worth, on the opposite side of town. Not only was I dealing with the normal anxiety of beginning a new job, I was going to be late and had no idea what sort of dress code the office had!

When I woke up, I immediately grabbed the clock for a good look. Whew, it was not even midnight, but I did give the window a quick glance to be sure it was not morning. Then slowly everything began to look familiar. The room, the furniture, the layout. And I realized that it had all been a dream.

A premonition. I don't know. But I do know I was awake and still am.

Outside of an extremely sore throat, chest, stomach and abdomen, my bout with the stomach bug seemed to be brief. I hope it was a farewell appearance.

Krl has been poorly too. She tells me her mouth feels worse now than before she went to the dentist. I wouldn't doubt it.

We had a laid back day. Tried to stay warm, she did a little info gathering for a project in the office, but mainly we just sat and relaxed, read the newspaper and watched a little television. We had opportunity to watch a movie, The Prize Winner from Defiance, Ohio. We enjoyed it thoroughly. I may have to get the book now. The screen play was written from a true story book by one of the daughters. The mother of the family basically had eight kids, her husband only had seven. That should give you some idea of the underlying theme. The story line was about a lady who entered contests for ad slogans, and a family that was presented with one major problem after another. It was a very touching story about the struggles most family's go through concerning money and trying to "hold on". I was very moved when she was counting change for the milk man, other exchanges between the two saw her promising to pay "next pay day". It was evident the children knew who held their family together and their loyalty was to her. That's all I'm going to say. I would encourage you to rent the movie (it was a 2005 release). I don't know what channel we viewed this on or if it is scheduled to be on again. I guess that we were supposed to watch it because neither Krl or I picked it, it just came on.

The next three days should be interesting. All of the preliminary work I have been doing will come to fruitation. This has been an interesting year. One of the things that has contributed is the fact that the previous season extended a full quarter into the last calendar year. Now there are ripples that have appeared that will make it necessary to deal with them for the next twelve months. Most of it revolves around the reporting aspect, the extended season boosted the little fledgling company I work with to the next level. At least as far as reports are concerned. New worksheets, new rates, new due dates. Crud.

An interesting fact is that the bleed over from the previous season into '06 was actually longer than the '06 season. I have played with some numbers and I think if we can live with this the one year, when it is re-evaluated it will go back the way it was.

We can hope. It sure does make it hard for a guy to find his groove.

I just saw a story line on ESPN. In the Venezuela World Series, the winning team scored eight runs in the bottom of the ninth, winning eleven to ten. Talk about drama. Now they have qualified for the Caribbean World Series.

I guess they play in worlds of their own. I thought the Cardinals won the World Series.

One week to Super Bowl. It was interesting reading the newspaper, talking about the ties to Abilene. Both teams, three players, and others several who played in Abilene at some point in their high school or collegiate careers, along with a television producer. While I am cheering for the Colts, I have enjoyed the stories about Lovie and his Texas ties. Most interesting one was that a few years back he was home for a visit with his Mom and siblings and dropped by to meet the new high school coach. The new coach was not at home and his wife asked if he (Lovie) was applying for an assistant coach position. He simply said no when he could have told her he had a job coaching in the NFL. Several years later she had opportunity to apologize. She was told it was no big deal. Lovie's brothers and sisters are convening at his Mamma's house and driving to Miami for the game. Their Mama is blind as a result of diabetes and doesn't fly. But she'll be at the game.

Me, I'll be at the game in my recliner in our living room. We'll probably make some snack foods. Maybe make homemade pizza or colossal cheeseburger. I'll have Maple Syrple on one side, and on the other side will be Phooey, if I'm lucky. (Lots of time she plays dog pile on Maple). We'll have the game on and odds are before it is over we will all doze off and read about it in the newspaper and on the computer the next day.

Hey, I'm in training for the Daytona 500.

So what should you have learned from today's entry. Call in sick with the stomach bug. Rent the aforementioned movie. Read the Super Bowl hype and all the side stories. Make some finger foods for testing purposes.

Sounds like a recipe for success! Have a day!

FATHER, give us focus.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick!

We had not gone to Holt's party yesterday out of health concerns for the other attendees. I think possibly a few people thought we were milking this stomach flu thing. After all it has gone on for just over a month.

Trc told us that Kat has had this bug three times since Christmas. It is supposedly all over the schools. I for one would believe it. We had totally disinfected our home. Every inch had been cleaned with a bleach/cleaning agent. I'm thinking this bug must be getting passed around and around.

Trc told her mother that Kat came home and had the bug again, for the fourth time.

I wakened from my sleep feeling a little heartburn very early this morning. I retrieved some antacid and lay back down. But not for long. Next thing I knew, I could see my toe nails down my throat! This is a pretty violent little bug. It's almost like the bile ducts forget and get stuck "full open". Yuk!

Only thing I can figure is I must be getting exposed at the grocery store. Either the cart is a carrier or the stockers are carriers, but I think I'm going to start using those bacterial wipes they have available at the shopping cart area. Other possibilities would be the magazines at the dentist office. Hhmm.

Krl didn't let me pay the dentist office a Saturday visit. That would have made my day!

This is short, but I'll meet you here again tomorrow if I am strong enough to make my way to my computer.

Have a day!

FATHER, renew and heal me.

I sometimes fill the urge to get out, to interact. But usually I come back disappointed. Yesterday was one of those days. As Grover, a former co-worker of Krl's use to say, "People just ain't no damned good".

Don't take that personally. You may be the exception to the rule, I hope I am, as I hope you are.

The morning was back in the office. It's coming together. I just get impatient. I keep telling myself that there is no reason to rush. Shortly after lunch, Krl and I left the house. I had finally convinced her to make an appointment with a dentist. We made a brief stop at the post office on the way to the dentist. We had no particular reason to select this dentist. I had attended college with a cousin and a sibling of the main dentist, there was some name recognition and they could get Krl in quickly. We arrived early expecting to have to fill out paperwork since Krl was a new patient. The girl at the window acknowledged Krl's arrival and we sat down and began reading the newspaper we had brought. I kept hearing conversation from the other side of the desk, and I whispered to Krl and asked, "Do you think there is a problem?" She nodded in affirmation. The next time the girl was at the window Krl asked if there was paperwork she needed to fill out as a new patient. "Sure", the girl replied and disappeared to reappear with a clipboard. Krl finished the paperwork and turned it in. In a few minutes the girl reappeared and asked "Which dentist did you have an appointment with?" Krl told her she didn't know, they didn't say. After a few more minutes the girl and a nurse appeared and told us that we were at the wrong place. Right building, wrong entrance. Turns out we were at the dentist office we had made the appointment with, but we walked in through the "Medicaid/Medicare" entrance. We were told to exit and walk around the side of the building to the other entrance. Similar signeage, and I even saw some of the same nurses and technicians from the other end. I guess they just didn't want us to inter-mingle.

About the only difference I could readily see is that we now had a television and DVD player in the waiting room. Krl was busy filling out duplicate paperwork, and I was trying to finish the newspaper. Already they had gone past the appointment time, but shortly they called Krl's name and she went back. There were only two of us in the waiting room, me and a young woman with a doo-rag who was counseling co-workers and off-spring via her cell phone. That was entertaining in itself. It was one of those "they don't pay us enough money for that!" Seems she or one of her callers was short in her cash box after a recent day of work. She had counted and signed off, her supervisor had counted and signed off but the book-keeper cried foul. "If they want us to be exact, they are going to have to give me another dollar an hour!" was the mantra of the conversation. "We handle $340,000 a week, $18 short is acceptable to me, it should be to them. Hell, that's a half million dollars a week, two mill a month, that is $72 short for two mill! What's the problem?"

Surprisingly, I didn't enter the fray. I'm sure I just smiled and continued what I was doing. By this time I was through with the paper and had an old issue of "Highlights" from the magazine table. I had already read Goofus and Gallant (it was about recycling. I don't recall ever reading about recycling in Goofus and Gallant when I was growing up.) and had moved on to the "hidden picture page". I was disappointed to find some earlier reader had circled all but one of the hidden items. A candle with a flame on the tip was what I was looking for. And I looked and I looked. I became so engrossed that some time later I looked up to find I was alone in the waiting room. I was very disappointed that I didn't find the candle, I can't believe that a children's publication would fib to kids! I know there wasn't a candle or I would have found it. I use to be good at this! My next waiting room activity was a Su do Ku puzzle. At the seasonal jobsite Frank, the plant Superintendent, got into these puzzles, and occasionally I would find one that had been abandoned. My biggest problem is getting the puzzle started, but once past that I find them entertaining. I looked and looked before finally beginning. Next thing I knew I was proofing the completed puzzle. I only had to make a couple of adjustments.

Just about this time Krl walked through the door. I could tell she was fuming. I surrendered her purse and walked to the window with her. All through my time in the waiting room there had been constant office chatter, very little of that had to do with office business. We spent ten minutes trying to let the dentists and the office staff figure out their new work schedule and most of this time the little girl at the window was still on the phone. When she got off, they had to educate her and she gave Krl a card with her next appointment on it. Krl asked, what do I owe today? "Oh, let me see", the girl exclaimed. "$130" she exclaimed. Harrumph, I didn't see anyone in that other office doling out cash. We were probably the only cash customers they had all day long.

When we walked out I glanced at my phone and found it had been three hours since we left the house. You can be anywhere in Abilene in fifteen minutes, so we had an extended stay at the dentist. Krl told me that she waited and waited and waited and finally got up and started for the waiting room when they noticed she was leaving. This was probably about the time I was engrossed in the hidden picture. They immediately began trying to coax her back, another dentist finished with a patient and acted as though she was Krl's dentist. She wasn't, she was just doing damage control. Krl said they clinked and dinged on her teeth, cut the inside of her mouth with inserts for x-rays, they even wanted to do an ice cube test to see which tooth was tender! Finally told her that she had been the victim of shoddy dental work. Duh! Now they were telling her that for immediate relief they would have to do another root canal on a tooth that supposedly has already given at another office.

Krl told me that she had never been to an office as unprofessional as that one. When we were at the window, the attending dentist and the owner of the practice were very apologetic, and told Krl they would call in an anti-biotic and pain pill. Krl repeatedly told them which pharmacy and what location. One last time she asked them, "You will call the medication in?" She was assured, they would. I decided since we were across town I would check on a truck project and when we left there Krl asked if I wanted to get something to eat. Since both of us had been wanting Mexican food and since we knew it would take the pharmacy a while to fill the medications we decided it would be a good diversion. Actually, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't exceptional. Good salsa, the guacamole was generic, the margaritas were "perfumey", but there were plenty of frioles and molten cheese. My plate included a taco and I will never understand why they lay the taco down and then pour beans and rice around it.

One last stop on the way to the house. The grocery store and the pharmacy! We were flying by the seat of our pants because we left our short list at home. Krl would think of what was on it and I would direct her through the store to where it was. We ended up one aisle from the pharmacy. Of course with our luck, there was someone at the counter and they wanted to get extra cash and all sorts of baloney. I was surprised they didn't check to see if all their pills were facing the same direction. This person was really anal! I entertained myself by checking my blood pressure and looking through the reading glass display. Luckily it was one of those rotating cases. Hhhmmm. I wonder how fast it would have to be spinning before it's contents would begin to succumb to centrifugal force. The person at the counter must have felt the impending doom because they completed their business and vacated the premises. Krl stepped to the counter and told them she was there to pick up her meds. "We have no meds", the girl said. I reached for my phone because I had witnessed the dental practice owner giving Krl a card, and even though it was after hours we were hoping for an answering service. No luck. The attending dentist had given a card to Krl and had written her cell phone number on the back. No answer there either. Krl left the dentist a message. We checked out and went home. Shortly before the pharmacy was to close Krl gave them a call, still no meds.

I'm going to the dentist's office this morning. They are open until noon. I am going to pick up Krl's records and x-rays. I hope they have their heads up their butts like yesterday, because I will probably tell them to call 9-1-1 now because this is probably going to be quite painful for them when I extract their heads from their brains!

Yep, Grover was an optimist.

I asked Krl why she would subject herself to such an ordeal. She simply told me that she was hopeful that it would get better.

And who said slaving at your desk is bad. I did. But it's safe! I'm going to stay close and stay low.

Today they are having Holt's birthday party. I called Rian and told him we weren't coming. He said they understood. Besides he continued, "We have tickets to the Lady Raiders game Saturday afternoon."

I've got anything I need for entertainment either on my remote or on my 'puter.

And with that I'll say, "have a day!"

FATHER, ' need some help here!

Friday. I can remember a time I lived for Friday, but for so long it has just seemed like one more day in a progression of endless days. I guess the jobsite does that to you. Out there it doesn't matter, day or night, Tuesday or Saturday. The only benchmarks of note are maintenance Sunday's and two hours off on Thanksgiving and two days at Christmas (if we are still on site).

I am about to go stir crazy. I have sat at my desk so much this week that my butt hurts. (It is really bad when your butt suffers from ADD.) Yesterday was back to reconciling reports and it was a weird day. I have had calculators spin some ridiculous numbers when they were on their last equations but I am wondering if mine at the jobsite was having early alzheimers. I am on my third and final report. It is an annual one. I ran across a sixteen cent error yesterday. It took a couple of hours to find it but I did. Then I found another sixteen cent error. This one didn't take too long because I had a good idea where to look. Things sped along until I ran across a $300 shortage and I have to admit that was my mistake. I believe I just had a mis-step with my fat sausage fingers and hit a one instead of a four. Then I ran across a three cent error followed by an $80 overage (This resulted from Krl making the payroll tax deposit on numbers that counted on a worker finishing the season. He didn't and was disqualified for his seasonal bonus. So the deposit was more than it should have been). The final error was another three cents. Once again since it was a familiar number I knew where to look. Sure enough, it was easily found.

This week would make a strong argument for software Krl and I have been wanting. It would eliminate the need for me spending endless hours looking at this screen and pecking on these keys. As I had said earlier, what we are using are a series of excel spreadsheets that are "tied" together. Problem is, I have only tied them "by quarter", so the annual reports are still a pain in the year end.

Krl and I had discussed the possibility of contacting the software company and visiting with them. The software isn't too terribly expensive but they get you on the nethasp licensing. We are wondering about a pier to pier network or even getting one of the big memory keys and having the program on it. Actually this makes a lot of sense because regardless of where we were and what computer was available, we would have the program and be able to work with it. Draw back would be only one of us could work on it at a time. (Heh, guaranteed downtime!)

I have one W-2 remaining that I need information for. After that I need to get my information together for the company's 1099's. Then we will go through the wait to see if any of the recipients have a problem before printing the summary.

I am so close, I can almost see the finish of my job. Oh joy! Right, it's these kinds of projects that make me want to be jobless.

This has been a really good week with Krl. Sometimes we just seem to be so in synch. I will start to say something, she will finish it or vice versa. It is almost spooky!

We were reading the newspaper yesterday and ran across an insert. It is kind of a summary of local news that is directed more at the rural areas. However, on one page we found a listing of honor role students for the Abilene Middle Schools and High Schools. Lrn was on it at Abilene High. Ln was on it at Lincoln Middle School, and Jordan was on it at Cooper. Of course Kat is in the gifted and talented program at Austin Elementary and doing very well! (Neither of her sisters were in it.)

Trc came by briefly yesterday. It was the first time we have seen her since Christmas. She dropped off our big crock pot, our big dutch oven, and a basket that we had taken treats in. In exchange we gave her a gift that we had ordered but it didn't come in before Christmas. I had wrapped it several weeks ago and while she was unwrapping it I was telling her this item is not available in stores! She got tickled and told us that Kat is really into those info-mercials and the fact that their merchandise is not available in stores.

Krl and I need to make a decision about Holt's birthday party. They have rescheduled it for tomorrow morning at 10:30. That's pretty early for a Saturday when you are a three hour drive away. Our biggest concern is whether or not this "bug" we have been battling is still with us. Trc told us that just when it seems as though their family has beaten it (after a month), one of Brently's co-workers is just now getting it. (Three of them were scheduled to leave either late yesterday or early today. Trc told him he should refuse to let the "carrier" go. Knowing their luck they will start the vicious cycle over again.)

Miss Ollie has called the last two days. I know I am not very sympathetic. It just seems like she makes bad decision after bad decision, and puts too much faith in people who aren't trustworthy. My sentiments are and will be "you can't wrestle a pig without getting dirty". I find myself thinking the absolute worst when Ollie is telling her latest tale of woe. And that is really sad from a parents stand point.

I am finding that I enjoy night television more than day television. My latest laughing spell was triggered by a classic Gilda Radner, Gene Wilder movie. The best part of having a simple mind is that it is easily stimulated.

Well, lots of words to have not said much.

Have a Friday!

FATHER, fill this day. Expand us, keep us from evil, and help us to do good.

Well, into each life a little rain must fall. Yesterday it rained on my parade. I was on the verge of finishing the reconciling of all the different reports. Hey, you never know how much cross checking they are capable of doing. Since I have been doing this task, the numbers have always "matched". 941's, FUTA, TWC, and W-3. But the streak ran out yesterday.

The W-2's have been out for a week or more, so it is not really feasible to re-issue a corrected version. Knowing most of my co-workers they have already filed, especially if they are expecting money back! So, with that in mind, everything else has to match the W-3 transmittal (which isn't due out until the end of February, but it must match the W-2's.) I was looking for a $24 discrepancy out of a rather large six figures to the left of the decimal. In other words, I was looking for the needle in the haystack. I began just before three yesterday morning, and I am glad to report that I found that blasted needle just about mid-morning yesterday. (Normal mid-morning.) After six or seven hours I found the error. Since the employee files are alphabetical, that is the way I worked it. The mistake was on a company employee who's name begins with "V". In fact there was only one other employee after him. A "W". But the riddle has been solved.

If they aren't satisfied I will send them my reports!

Hey all we can do is give it our best shot. It works for me.

I ran some errands yesterday, grocery store, and office supplies. While I was out I stopped by Super Suppers and picked up a couple of casseroles. Krl has been wanting chicken enchiladas, and I have been wanting authentic Mexican food. Hot and spicy! They didn't have what she wanted but she told them over the phone what I was to pick up. While it was quick and easy it still didn't hit that taste bud that is standing up and screaming! I hate it when I'm hungry for something and can't figure out exactly what it is. Of course we couldn't just have casserole, we fixed guacamole and then Krl fixed Mexican rice, refried beans and a little lettuce and tomato. It looked like that big order at Abuello's.

The most important errand was the office supply store. I had run out of adding machine tape and that really handicaps you when you are looking for something like the $24 I spoke about before. I'm loaded for bear now!

The rest of my day was pretty well spent requisitioning some truck parts, and trying to put together some driver files to forward to K.O.. Everything was good until I went to print a file and had a printer malfunction. This is the same printer that I blogged about being so hard to load the software on the laptops last week. Of course most of those problems were computer related, or so I thought, but this was a third computer that the printer was originally loaded on several months ago. It kept on giving an error message and asking for the software to be re-installed. One minute it was printing, the next it was ADD.

I finally shut the computer down for the night. I'll punish it by depriving it of power.

About one this morning, the casserole paid a return visit. Heartburn. Wow. I did get to watch a cute movie though. I don't even know what network it was on, but it featured Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence and was called Life. They were sentenced to life sentences for a crime they didn't commit. I don't know, I just sometimes need mindless programming and laughter.

Currently I have tbs on in the background with the movie Stuck on you. I've never seen it, but so far it has been cute so far. Co-joined Siamese twins. I can only imagine what it would be like to live like that, it would definitely be a practice of patience and compromise. While this movie has had its funny moments there are some serious undertones. I would bet it would be quite an adjustment to find yourself separated and alone.

FYI, the printer responded well to my punishment. This morning the error message is only a bad memory.

I had better get. Have a day!

FATHER, make us all we should be.

I only watched the beginning of the State of the Union speech. I just wanted to see the historic portion with announcing the guests to Madam Speaker. After that I figured it was downhill so I turned the television off before "Jorge Busch" was on.

I did think it was interesting that in the preface to the speech, Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer were talking about the history of the annual State of the Union. From Thomas Jefferson until Woodrow Wilson in 1913, the annual report on the State of the Union was done in letter form. Since President Wilson every President has made the trip to Capitol Hill to personally speak of the State of the Union. I particularly liked the commentators reference to the fact that in this media savvy world we live in, no politician is going to not take full advantage of the opportunity to appear on television. I also thought it was interesting that the Congressmen and Congresswoman send their pages to hold "prime" seats along the isle to increase the chance of getting the politician on national television.

They just weren't counting on me hitting the power button. Heh, heh.

I caught a night news segment talking about children's birthday parties. It seems that it is becoming very competitive. Not between the kids, but between the parents. The old drive to "one up" the neighbor. It talked about party budgets. (Hello, I didn't ever really budget, I just figured plates, napkins, party favors and cake were part of it.) They were talking about how common it was to see parents spend as much as ten thousand dollars just on theme. (What gift! I gave you a heck of a party!) They had footage showing a makeup artist doing makeup on a group of pre-adolescents, and the kids dressing up as rock stars and getting in a limo to go "paartteey".

I guess if my kids have anything to be thankful for it is that they don't have to do much to out do their childhood.

I keep wondering what today's generation is learning. That it is all about "show". Whatever the costs, it's all about image. Krl was talking recently with Trc and knowing winter formal was coming up told Trc of a shop that was having a sale. Trc told her that she couldn't buy Lrn a dress there, her friends would never let her live it down. $85.oo shoes for a one night wear. (And they weren't even glass slippers.)

Sounds like Lrn needs a new group of friends. Talk about champagne taste and a beer budget. Maybe the availability of dollars and "sense" are equal. They are limited. But what the hey! I wonder how many of this circle can really afford the lifestyle.

It has to be a very unhappy childhood to compete on every front. HHhhmm. That could explain a lot.

I guess as I get older I get wiser. I know how hard it was to do what I did for my kids, and that makes me realize how much sacrifice my parents made.

It makes me sad that society is making "living" so competitive.

It only reinforces Earl's philosophy of Christian living. Moderation.

So with that. Have a good day. Not a bad day, not an excellent day, just a good day.

FATHER, keep us grounded, keep us centered in YOU, keep us anchored and steady, in a world of excesses. May YOUR ways become our ways and may what is important to YOU be important to us.

Bittersweet.

After 35 days in the shop the last company truck finally came out yesterday. What the truck went in for was minor, and after several times of arriving to pick it up only to find more wrong than there was when the truck arrived at the shop. Thursday I went to pick up this truck twice. The first time the dash was still pulled out, pieces laying in the floor, wires exposed and dangling. That was when the GM and I talked, and he assured me that it would be ready that day. Later in the day we returned to find accessories that were not functional. No radio, no power windows, no power mirrors! I found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep my cool.

But I did. Much to my surprise.

As it turned out, the technicians had removed several fuses during the repair time in the shop and failed to put them back in their proper location. Simple problem, simple fix.

My problem is why didn't they take the time to do it right the first time.

$$$$$$. This shop is a flat rate shop. When you take a vehicle in for a particular repair, they can look in the book and see how many hours that repair requires. This is what you will be billed for. If it takes less time, you pay the book time. If it takes more times, you pay the book time. Theoretically, it puts more possible hours in a day and or week.

The service manager told me they lost their backsides working on BS 222. After looking at the ticket, I don't see how they lost. Maybe they just didn't maximize.

I'd bet there were a bunch of high fives when they saw me leave with the truck.

While I was there yesterday, the service writer was showing me a truck they were doing extensive repairs on. Engine overhaul, remanufactured transmission, rearends, frame rails. He told me that the bill on this particular truck would easily reach sixty-five thousand dollars. He was telling me the pump mounted on the back was worth one hundred fifty thousand dollars. This truck is thirty years old. I told him I think I might have wanted to update the truck and just move the pumping unit.

The service writer just laughed and said he didn't understand spending that kind of money on a two thousand dollar truck either. He went on to say that this particular truck was the business owners first truck and the owner personally drives it. I guess it is a sentimental favorite. He went on to say once this truck arrives on location it would "sit" and work for twenty hours out of every twenty-four.

I guess I'm going to have to remind myself, customers don't pay for pretty!

Krl went with me to pick up the BS 222. We had more musical chair truck moves than you can imagine, but we got it done. We even paid some utility bills while we were out. We did learn one odd thing.

Since Krl and I try to operate on a cash basis, we usually pay the utilities at the local United grocery store. The only utility you can't pay there is the cable bill and as luck would have it one of the bills we were paying was the cable. We decided that rather than make two stops, at United and the cable company, we would go to a check cashing store and make a single stop. Right? Wrong! They took the electric bill payment but couldn't take the cable payment because we recently changed our phone service to the cable service. They can accept cable television payments and cable internet payments but not cable phone payments. Makes no sense to me.

We had to make a second stop at the cable company anyhow!

Hopefully all of us here at the house are feeling some better. The older houndgirls are getting a little spring in their step again. The smaller houndgirls are filled with spit and vinegar, running and chasing. In fact yesterday Krl got so fed up with them she brought them into the office where I was and told me she was tired of their fussing and rough play, and she shut the door. The houndgirls laid down and took a nap. Last night when I was sitting in my chair, Maple was on one side and Phooey was on the other, I told them I couldn't believe their mother would make up stories like that about them!

I know that it was just the calm before the storm.

Just when all the coaching vacancies are filled in the NFL, the Big Tuna bolts for the door. I'm really not surprised, but I doubt you or I will ever know the happenings that led to it. Now that the prospective coaches have been picked over, what will Jerry do? I've seen a short list but don't really like any of them. One name not on it that I would like to see considered is Steve Mariuchi. (sp?) I' don't even know where he is since leaving the Lions. So there it is Jerry, don't bother with calling me.

I've got to get on track to finish all the remaining quarterly and years end reports. I stopped in yesterday to pick up some 1099 miscellaneous income forms. I don't need many but the supply store we went to was out of kilter. Twenty-five multiple part forms were priced at $11.99. I didn't think the company would use near that many so I continued looking and found a package of ten multiple part forms kit, for $15.99. Thing is I didn't need the kit. I already have envelopes.

In a one size fits all world, nothing fits.

On the downside of finishing the reports, when they are done and all the supporting paperwork is filed away, I will have worked my way out of a job, again.

FATHER, I find myself struggling. I need YOU to carry me through.

As bad as the NFC Championship game was (if you were a Saints fan), the AFC Championship game made up for it. Excellent!

I cheered for the Saints. Their luck ran out. But you have to believe that there were a lot of teams sitting at home that were watching the Saints with envy. The Saints had an excellent year and their affect on their home city and fans is phenomenal.

You couldn't help but wonder about the weather factor. What was that statistic, teams that play indoor at home are 0-9 in the NFC Championship game? (I guess that is 0-10 now.) I don't think Mother Nature is a Saints fan.

As far as the Colts go, they sure tried to give it away. The biggest comeback in conference championship history. Drama to the end.

So we are set, Chicago and Indianapolis. Bears and Colts.

If special teams determine the outcome, the Bears are gonna' drill 'em! Keep Grossman off the field and make the Colts punt to Hester.

Yet I will be in Peyton's camp. Go Colts.

Much is being made about the historic fact that this Super Bowl is the first ever with an African-American Head Coach. And both coaches are African-Americans! I hope this doesn't become the story line and the game become a side story.

I have long been a Tony Dungy fan and a Herman Edwards fan. I threw some quick numbers together. These are off the cuff so don't expect them to be exact. Of the active head coaches in the NFL in 2006, 7 were African-American, 25 were Caucasian. All 32 were coaches. 22% of the Caucasians have taken a team to the Super Bowl. 28% of the African-American coaches have taken or will take a team to play in the Super Bowl.

Let's don't get bogged down in racial politics. Let's enjoy the accomplishments of two excellent teams led by two excellent coaches!

Play ball!

I got in trouble yesterday for talking on my company cell phone. That is one of the down falls of living with your supervisor. They see you when you're sleeping, they know when you're awake, they know if you've been bad or good, so maybe you need to hide. Once the lectures began, I was in deep doo! I wasn't aware how inept I was, it's not like I made intentional bad choices, they just come naturally.

Actually, I can't argue with her. I am guilty as charged. I had two calls, back to back. One out going, the other incoming. One for just under an hour, the second just over an hour. Both were personal calls. Hey I'm a personable guy. Neither of these calls were numbers in "My Circle" (I haven't activated or updated my circle since we returned from the jobsite. Actually I was hoping that if I mentioned "My Circle", maybe Alltel would help me out.)

I had a call from Pat, she was asking me about a legal issue I knew nothing about. She says I will probably get something about it. Once again it is residual fallout from the family business. Nothing major, I feel sure. (I hope.)

Before we got off the phone we discussed a lot of things, the wonderful rain, snow, sleet and how promising the coming year looks on the farm. She updated me on a change in Pepa's schedule. His appointment has been changed to February 1 with Dr. Marx (sp). Pat said that she had told the Cancer Center that they wanted in quickly with the best Doctor they had. This is supposed to be their "Ace". Our conversation went on to some recent developments that involved some property and a strange chain of events that could turn out to be quite profitable for Pat and Hag. She also told me that it appeared one of Chris's farms was going to get four of the big wind turbines, which would be a guaranteed income for 29 years. There is also an opportunity to sell off a limestone knoll. All of this is excellent news! I am glad for them. She told me how Chris is excelling in his little business. It seems he is becoming quite the little salesman. We even talked some about me possibly coming over and working and talking with Chris a couple of days a week. I sure don't mind doing anything I can possibly do to help him and or Pat. I think often times Pat sells herself short. I think she is a very smart woman but maybe she has too many irons in the fire. I worry about her keeping her sanity while everything about her is spinning wildly about. She has a lot on her plate.

She told me that Kyle Patrick Henry is getting a packet for the TSTC truck driving school. For him that would be a dream come true.

Pat was telling me how proud she is of Chris and how well he has done with his vision impairment, especially at the business. She told me that when he wakes in the morning, he is developing his day.

In a final note, Pat shared with me a little of Chris's philosophy. As a preface to this story, I would remind you that Chris has been legally blind since he was 5 months old and was never able to participate in sports due to this impairment. Chris told his Mom that every day when he awakens, he realizes that GOD has given him four fresh downs. It is up to him to make the most of them. Sometimes he fumbles, sometimes he loses ground, sometimes he moves forward, and occasionally he makes a touchdown. The reassuring thing is regardless of his success or the setbacks, as sure as the next day dawns, his new set of downs awaits him.

All I can say is "hut, hut!"

FATHER, thank YOU for the chances YOU afford us. Thank YOU for do-overs, thank YOU for our successes and help us to learn from our failures. Thank YOU for being faithful in YOUR promises to us.

Happy Birthday Dad! #78.

Our entire house had a fitful night. I had awakened as per usual, already read the on-line newspapers, checked the on-line auctions, and had the television on in the background when I heard doors opening and closing. A quick investigation revealed that everyone was up! How strange. Krl said that Prissy had been crying, something she does in her sleep from time to time, but Maple Syrple began crying too, wanting Krl's attention. Somehow or other, Prissy had wedged herself under the bed frame. By the time Krl had completed her rescue operation, everyone was awake. Phooey had done a quick charge and was wild with energy, running and playing, trying to get Maple Syrple to join in. We watched a little television before Krl got the two older hounds back to bed, about six I laid down and the two pups laid down with me. I could hear Krl cleaning the kitchen and about seven she came to bed as I was getting up again.

Short nights make for long days.

Krl and I seem to be battling the stomach bug again. We haven't had upset stomachs, but we seem to be distressed some. I don't know, but I am getting tired of it.

I have even wondered if there is something in the house that is causing it because it seems we have been jinxed every since we moved from the jobsite home.

I had been invited to go on an excursion today with K.O.. I declined to attend today. I don't want to be an unwanted guest. If the group as a whole asks me, I would be glad too. There is a meeting taking place among interested parties in putting together a new pulling sanctioning body. There are a few old pullers and there are a few new people wanting to have this dialogue. From what I hear it will never work. They have grand plans but their vision is blurred by their innocence. None of these have ever promoted a show or a circuit. They need promoter input. One of the reasons the old TTPA group went out was because the promoters (the Chambers of Commerce, the Young Farmers, the Jaycees, the Livestock Association, etc....) could not make money. Almost all the way across the board the promoters either lost money on the events or could not justify the amount of work for the limited return. The TTPA class load grew to 14 or 15 sanctioned classes with a structured purse, so these events were looking up from a deep hole from the time the contracts were signed.

On the competitor side, there were a few that "money was no object". It wasn't about horsepower or combination of skill and expertise, it was the square root of money! For others, they were trying to finance their equipment from their winnings. If a person is getting into this activity for the money he is going to be sorely disappointed.

It is a family oriented activity with good people. You'd see sons and daughters getting involved as their parents took supervisory roles. With only a few exceptions, these people wanted to go out there and beat the competition but would do anything to help their competition beat them. For those sad few winning became the "only thing".

Actually, I only know of only one instance where a person was caught cheating. And that covers over twenty-five years I have been around the sport as a competitor, announcer, official, and promoter.

K.O. asked me what I would tell the group. Here goes;
1. Limit the classes, keep the promoter in mind, they write the checks.
I personally prefer the lighter classes where driving skill and reading
the track are as important as engine or horsepower. I would say three classes per night. Got to make admission affordable.
2. Limit the equipment. It has to be something someone can afford to
to get into if the base is going to expand. I personally think claimer
motors are an option. If someone knows they risk losing a high dollar
engine, they will probably want to go more economical.
3. Make sure everyone knows it is supposed to be fun. If someone
becomes "too consumed by it" they might need a time out.
4. Keep the family atmosphere.

This activity is never going to be something these people do for a living. They need to accept this. They are also going to need to understand that most people without a rural background are not going to understand or enjoy this activity.

For the record, I'm pulling for the Saints and the Colts to win today!

Have a day!

FATHER, bless Dad on this day and with many more happy birthdays!

I suppose we are living on the edge, the best of both worlds. Currently we are hovering just above the freezing point, and it has rained ALL night. Twenty miles to the North and less than forty miles West the weather computer shows the freeze line.

We are bunkered down. Krl is sickly. Sore throat, ear ache and her tooth is probably in the mix somewhere. The big hounds are sick as well. I think whatever stomach flu we have battled has finally turned on them. You can hear their tummies flipping. Black dog is lethargic. Just standing and staring. Prissy is content to lay under her blanket. Krl has taken their food and water up in order to limit their intake. She has been hand dispensing gingerale to them with a syringe and that seems to be making them feel some better, but they are drawn and gaunt.

I'd bet Krl could write a book on nursing her hounds with home remedies. I know of one instance that a vet told her to put one dog to sleep and she nursed him back to a good and healthy life of several more years. I have seen her hand feed cottage cheese, I have seen her sustain one dog on sweet and tart "smarties" when he wouldn't eat anything else. I really don't think it would matter what she feeds them. I think more than anything she "wills" them to live and get better.

Krl gave me a grocery list each of the last two days. When Krl feels poorly she cooks. And not any of her normal staples. I suppose it sounds good to her (I know it does to me), but these lists have taken me through parts of the grocery stores that I usually don't frequent. Her latest request included pie crusts. I read her list wrong and was looking for sixteen inch pie crusts. I made two stores and came home with six pie crusts of three different varieties, none of which is sixteen inches. Turns out her recipe called for nine inch, sixteen ounce pie crusts. Turned out those were the deep crusts I picked up at my first stop. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good but personally I try to be right.

Krl had her pot of red beans gently rolling all day, when I returned from the store we gave them additional time before I started pan fried taters and some ground beef with just a touch of barbecue sauce. We had left over cornbread, so that was supper! A country boy's dream! Beef, beans, taters and cornbread!

I'm going to have to put jalapeno relish on my grocery list as some of it even found its way into the red bean pot! Krl's as taken with it as I am!

I would direct your attention to the West Texas Rehab's on-line auction at www.rehabauction.org . They have some interesting items. At the present there are some items definitely worth the money and it is for a good cause. I've been watching the Indianapolis Colt items, a Peyton Manning autographed football along with the Abilene connections stuff, jerseys of Justin Snow and Dominic Rhodes along with a football they both autographed. They have a broad range of items ranging from boats to travel to a picnic pack for fifty to a splurge at a meat packing facility. They even have some hunting trips and a live bull elk! Auction ends at midnight! Have a little fun and help the cause.

We recently had a tragedy at our house. We have had one of those blue roaster pans with the lid for as long as we can remember. In fact we aren't sure if one of us had it before we were married or not, but it has been with us twenty years. This pan has cooked tons of beef, a roast at a time and more potatoes than Idaho can produce along with a volume of carrots that only Bugs Bunny could appreciate! Recently I had gotten the pan out to fix a large batch of Chex mix trash. I happened to notice a small chip on the bottom edge and closer scrutiny revealed a pin hole. A guy couldn't have asked for a better pan.

Yesterday I looked for a replacement but couldn't bring myself to buy one. I just can't imagine training another pan to cook.

I visited with Pat briefly. She was telling me that Pepa has an appointment at the Cancer Center in Lubbock February 5th. This facility has ties to M.D. Anderson in Houston and the doctor he is seeing is Dr. Anderson. Turns out their search criteria was who could get him in the quickest. Pat said that the oncologist they saw in Abilene seemed to try to talk them out of the treatment they had chosen and he painted a picture that wasn't near as attractive as the urologist's. The oncologist even mentioned the time lapse since the biopsies. I think the time frame has been dictated by the time required to get in and see the doctors. Anyhow, a plan is coming together.

FYI, Pepa turns 78 tomorrow. Happy Birthday! (Just in case technology is down tomorrow!)

Whatever side of the freeze line you're on, stay warm.

FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR blessing of rain.

My Thursday was a day of extremes. But over all, it was a good day.

I spent the majority of my day with my friend K.O.. He had been needing to take a truck to shop but had no one to pick him up, I was needing to pick a truck up from the shop and had no one to pick me up. When we talked Wednesday, we decided to help each other out. We also had a lot to catch up on as it had been four months since we had seen each other to visit.

Just when we made plans, things changed. K.O.'s wife needed to go into town to the chiropractor, so that enabled K.O. to bring his truck in, but he agreed to meet me and help me out anyway. We spent the entire afternoon together. We began with lunch at Sharon's. It was so, so, but I think Ideal Barbecue in Tye is much better. After we left there we looked over a truck that K.O. had recently traded for. We continued on to move one truck from a tire shop, back to the yard, this was kind of an add on. The truck had a tire with a slow leak, and when I began my day I had dropped it off (it is only a short distance from the yard) to be fixed. The original plan was to play musical trucks and rotate from truck to truck and location to location until everything was where it needed to be.

The plan had taken a hit early in the day. I had gone to the repair shop to pick up the one remaining truck before meeting K.O. on the other side of town. Yesterday marked a month since it was dropped off. When I had checked on it the day before, I was told the truck was ready but the ticket was not, if I would come back Thursday everything would be ready to go. I walked in and checked with the service office, no-one was there. I went into the business office and the office manager located the tickets for both truck repairs. I had been carrying a check since shortly after Christmas to use for this repair. In fact, everytime Krl was working and had our employer's checkbook out she would ask if I still had that check. She had filled it out, everything except the amount. I was disappointed with both tickets to be truthful, but usually that happens. I think what really aggravates me is that neither truck had major problems, but it seemed like everything they repaired on one truck caused another problem. I won't put down numbers but the repairs cost 188% of the estimate. Thankfully, the shop took the last truck off the clock on some of the repairs they couldn't do. I realize some thing just happen, but when a truck is in the shop for a month and the ticket reflects only fifteen hours of book time, something is out of whack. Back to the story. After I had tallied out, they couldn't find the keys, finally we ran into the service writer and he told me they keys were in it, if it would start. I know last week they had the ignition on almost the entire week while they were running diagnostics. I went outside to the truck and opened the door and was greeted by parts lying in the floor and wiring hanging down and exposed. I stepped up to find the entire dash was still "out" of the truck. I could feel a rush over me, and I had to "get hold" before I went back into the shop. By then the service writer was gone again, the office manager asked me if I still hadn't located my keys and I told her yes I had, but the truck was not back together. She took me to see the dealership GM. I had met and visited with this man last week, so we took the short walk to the truck and I opened the door and told him to get in. As he began to enter the truck he backed off. "Did you do this or was the truck this way when you got in it", he asked. I told him that was the way I found it after I had handed over the company check. He wasn't a happy camper, but then neither was I. He assured me the truck would be ready before the day was out. I left in the pickup to meet K.O..

About four o'clock, K.O. and I headed back to check on it and when we arrived, it was red carpet. Apologies from the service writer, the service manager, and again from the GM. They told me the truck was ready. I started it up, built air to release the brakes, and eased it out of their shop. Immediately they closed the door. I stopped and began checking to be sure everything worked. No radio, no power windows, no power mirrors, no auxiliary power for the CB radio. I was upset again. I walked back into the shop and told the service manager and he asked me to pull the truck back in. He apologized again and told me that they had thrown it back together because the GM gave them one hour to finish the truck after he and I had initially looked at it. They had not checked to see if everything was operational. I told him I would leave the truck with them again because I wanted it to be right. He was cautiously optimistic that a cab relay had been bumped or possibly unplugged. I was proud of myself because I kept my cool. K.O. even told me he couldn't believe how I stayed calm and collected. (To be honest, I was too.) I know the dealership shop will be glad when I leave there and even more glad when that truck leaves there. Funny thing is, I could tell the technicians just want the truck gone. I do too, but don't ask me to accept a truck that leaves with more problems than it came in with. If that is the way they want to make repairs they just need to get a mask and a gun and rob you when you walk in and avoid the hassle.

K.O. and I had a pretty good visit. We picked up some parts he had ordered, stopped by another repair shop where he had a truck repaired and that truck was having related problems. Must be an epidemic.

We didn't complete any subject it seemed, but we got lots of them out there. Surprisingly, we didn't get our visit out. We'll try again another day.

Once I had dropped K.O. off I ran by the house to pick up a grocery list and some money from Krl. At the store it was a madhouse! Nearly all the carts were gone, lines at the meat market, lines at the pharmacy, and long lines at multiple checkouts! They had some "sales" going on and many of them "sold out". I suppose I wasn't the only one taking precautions for if the weather gets bad.

When I was by the house, Krl was getting all the pieces together for supper. She had company, and I told her to leave supper alone, I would fix it when I got home, to concentrate on getting her visit out before I got home.

When I exited the grocery store it was already dark. My day had slipped by me. Krl and I did a relay with the groceries so I wouldn't track in. I would hand off at the door and she'd take over from there.

After a quick change of clothes, I manned the wok. Chicken Schezuan with broccoli served on a bed of rice with egg rolls. (Hey, I may not be able to spell it but I can cook it!)

Have I ever mentioned being Oriental in a prior life?

But that is another blog.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Winter is making a return visit. Stay safe and stay warm.

FATHER, thank YOU for a good day. Thank YOU for keeping me reined in and YOU reigning in me. I pray for safety, I pray for shelter, for all of us in the path of this winter storm. I ask for YOUR guidance. Bless-ed be YOUR name.

Woo hoo! I slept in this morning! At least compared to other mornings this week. I woke, had to reclaim my area of the bed and some bed covers from you know who (and I don't mean Krl), then I just lay there taking an audio inventory of our little family unit. The big hounds have not felt good. I think Prissy in particular has a tummy ache. She will get up and walk around the bedroom before going back to her bed. Over and over.

I fully expect to look under the covers and find Maple Syrple hidden at the foot of the bed with her flashlight out and her notebook, trying to salvage her coup of the bed. I can imagine how dejected she is when she has worked all night to position everyone and then we backslide! She got up with me, wanted to make a quick trip outside and then a brief stop by the water bowl.

Yesterday was a welcome reprieve. Oh, you could be surprised every once in a while. You'd be pretty comfortable driving and then hit a little slick spot. Thankfully these were few and far between. Later today that could all change. Wintry mix, thru Sunday.

I took full advantage of the break in weather and got out and ran errands. Pharmacy, post office, shop, checking on equipment. I was like a kid that had been penned up for a few days.

When I returned to the house, mid-afternoon, I was barely in the door when the phone rang. A former co-worker was on the line. "What are you sending me a W-2 for?", he asked. "I didn't", I replied. "Well, I got one from the job you were coordinating", he spewed out. To be honest, I wasn't sure. I had helped Krl proof the print outs, but it is comparison of the print outs, not comprehension of content. This man continued on, "I didn't work after December 23, 2005!" I realized about this time how quickly this person can irritate me. Actually it was a relief when he quit, and I was almost positive it was in mid-January 2006. I told him I would have Krl look into it. He decided he would try a little harder to aggravate me as he asked me to have her send him copies of the canceled checks front and back. I told him I would let them work out the details if we were correct. He then told me he wanted the copies to prove we had made a mistake but he doubted he would report the income. I told him that was his choice, that the company was fulfilling their obligation to the social security administration and to him. I assured him if his W-2 was correct, the wages would be reported on the company W-3.

When I got off the phone, Krl was livid! Little did that man know it but he had pissed off the wrong person. She immediately was going through copies of pay sheets, then looking for check copies. Needless to say, I got out of the house one more time, went to Kinkos, made copies of three pay checks for seventeen days work (O.K., with this guy figure about twenty-five percent of that), over $2500.00. Front, back, and folded to show the check numbers and the endorsement. I even wrote him a note, telling him he had cashed the first two and where and the third one was deposited into a credit union in Abilene. Even his account number is on the check. Of course by then I had to go to the post office to mail the copies.

Heh, heh. I'm not right often, but when I am I enjoy it!

Let the record show, this man did work in 2006, he did earn wages, he was and still is a pain in the ass, and I would never recommend the company hire him again! More importantly, he was wrong.

I can imagine what is going on, this man probably filed within the first week of 2007, wanting to get his tax refund quickly. Problem was his mind played a trick on him, he thought he had accounted for all his income!

Be advised, Krl and I don't get out the phone book and look for someone to mess with. Contrary to popular belief, our plates are pretty full with other things to do.

Congratulations Marty! Thankfully, the Charger's brass got their head out of the fruit of the looms and didn't fire him. You can tell there is no love lost though, they insulted him by the firing threat and then by offering a one year extension for 2008, he insulted them back by declining the extension. If he wins the Super Bowl next year, they aren't going to be able to afford him.

Not much on the tube this morning as I listen and type. I ended up on ESPN, listening to a delayed telecast of the Spurs and Lakers. I just can't get into it. When I do glance at the screen I see these over paid athletes sand bagging it. They should only play the last three minutes, because it seems they only "play" during that time. I don't see the professionalism when the Spurs get a technical for only having four players on the floor after a time out. Obviously that fifth guy didn't complete his college degree. Most of these guys look as bad as I do shooting free throws. Brick!

And I'd do it for a lot less money.

I can tell Krl's preparing for the coming cold spell. We finished off the left over stew, so now we have an empty pot. I heard mumblings about soaking beans. Red beans or butter beans is my only question.

When Krl warmed up the left over stew, she had to add some liquid as most of the surplus had been absorbed. Usually she will add some water and tomato sauce or one or the other. I walked through and she asked me to stir the stew, I did and couldn't resist getting me a spoon and giving it the taste test. It was delicious with a little residual zing. I told Krl it was good and it had kick! She laughed and said I had sang the praises of the jalapeno relish so much she added some of it to the stew. I couldn't help but look in the fridge to see how much. 'bout a quarter of a jar. Excellent.

I find as I get older, I don't handle cold weather as well as I use to. Now it seems to penetrate quickly. I think back to the days of farming prior to the equipment having the cabs with heat and air conditioning. Used to be we would install what they called a hover. It was a tarp like device that went along both sides of the engine and around the driver compartment. All of the heat theoretically exited around the operator. You could even get a wind shield although they were usually low grade plastic and visiblity was distorted and the plastic usually broke in the extreme elements. Most operators would place a scrap of material or carpet across the area behind the seat to create a better seal. You couldn't bring the back up too high or you couldn't turn to check on whatever equipment you were pulling. One occurrence that could make me cry was when after running a stalk cutter for an extended period, one of the small pieces of shredded cotton stalk would ricochet and hit me on the back of the ear. Ouch! It was quite common to see the warm gear box on a shredder being covered in snow and ice appearing to smoke a little, just from the temperature difference. A hover, a good pair of long johns, a heavy coat, an extra pair of socks with maybe a bread bag slipped on in between, a toboggan, and a good pair of gloves and we thought we were good to go. Later on the introduction of insulated coveralls and insulated gloves, removed some of the layering. After the cabs became common place, we would just run from the pickup to the tractor!

I suppose Krl and I will try to beat the aforementioned cold and go to the store today. If she gets up early enough and is hungry I might even spring for breakfast at IHOP. I would love to see her do those flips over endless pancakes!

I figure we need a case of cornbread mix.

Have a day!

FATHER, please bless this day. May we prepare not only for today and the weather that comes, but for eternity. Glorify YOUR name in all the land.

I see a horrible pattern forming concerning my sleep habits. I'm up already. Again. I told myself I was not getting up. I would lay in bed until the early morning light or until my eye lids got heavy. I lied. It is so funny how the pups are about their sleep time, Maple Syrple in particular. She rules the roost and no one, I mean NO ONE disrupts her sleep. She quickly became tired of my tossing and turning and just like she expands her part of the bed, I knew she was working me toward the door. She is such a work. For the life of me I will never understand how she can gather all the bed covers.

Maybe I can get a nap just before morning.

Pepa had his doctors appointment. They have chosen a treatment that I personally favored but it is not available in Abilene. The closest town to them that offers it is Lubbock. I believe they prefer either Lubbock or Houston. The treatment is to have radiated pellets implanted. This is probably the least invasive of all the possibilities. I think right now Pepa's local doctor is trying to see where he can get in, when.

Krl and I had a call last evening from Rian and Reidman. Holt's packages had just made it. What Meme and Dandy had tried to do is give him toys that would hopefully be incentives to get off his little fat butt and walk. They are pull toys, of course one has musical inclinations. Reidman has latched on to that one. We did send Reid some crayolas and a few coloring books. He told me it's "really, really cold" at his house.

The local television station we watch has a new meteorologist. He made mention last evening that Lubbock was probably going to see the most snow they have had in five or six years. I did notice that we are supposed to have a wintry mix this week end.

My day was spent on the computers. As I had mentioned earlier the new company laptop had been spazzing and kept telling me that none of the portable devices existed. No floppy, no CD, no CDRW, no Dvd. Anytime I would insert a program disk, I would get an error message either that the drive was not available or that I didn't have permission of the computer administrator (which I am). Finally I became so frustrated Monday that I got out the old laptop and installed the software with the 2006 upgrade. Then all the data had to be entered. Krl and I had talked and I had told her I had received several calls asking when the W-2's would be going out. Believing that there is no time like the present, the decision was made to begin to print them. Wrong. The old laptop did not have the printer software (the printer was bought in early October. After we had moved to the seasonal jobsite, we got to come home for one weekend. We had moved the printer, but I had three more stored in the closet. Yep, I'm one of those that never throws anything away. I couldn't get any of the three to work so I took them outside one at a time, raised them over my head and smashed them on the driveway, then deposited them in the dumpster. When I finished destroying the three, I got in the pickup, drove to Office Depot and bought a new printer, on sale. O.K., that's the side story, back to my day). I located the new printer CD and began the download. When it was completed, it would begin again, and again, and again. I struggled with it for an extended period of time, and finally asked Krl to try. Same thing. For the life of me I don't know what is going on.

Krl and I were sitting shoulder to shoulder, her working on the old laptop trying to load the printer software and me working on the new laptop trying to figure out why the program wouldn't download yesterday. She was having the same luck as I had and finally took the computer down the hard way. Surprisingly, I did something right and all the sudden the new laptop could see and recognize the portable drive devices. I downloaded the 2006 program with no problem. Then I realized that this computer didn't have the new printer on it either. I retrieved the disc and began the down load. I thought it was going to do the same thing as it had on the old laptop, but finally it settled in and installed. I have never seen any program take so much time. I would say between thirty and fifty minutes before it asked me to reboot the computer. About the only thing I have ever seen take this long is a re-index and re-pack on the data base at the old job. By this time it was after lunch. Now I had to deal with extracting the data from the old laptop (again). I did a backup of the data on the old laptop, saved it to disc, then restored the new software program data on the new laptop from the disc. Another hour investment, but I thought we were getting close. After sorting the forms into the different copies, we were ready to make an attempt. I did a test page, Krl approved it and we began. After the first copy we did a hands on proofing, made some minor adjustments and printed out the remaining two copies to be sent to the employees. While these were printing, I decided to make one final attempt to install the new printer on the old lap top. Call me hard headed, but I hate to give up. Three and a half hours later, the installation was complete.

I don't even want to think about any more programs or upgrades. I am de-programmed and graded out.

But I did prevail. I may have lost my mind, but I won.

Krl and I sat at the table and played "go fish" as she matched the copies and inserted them in envelopes. I helped out and put stamps on them and took them to the mail box. She isn't through. There are just a few "problem employees", but why should the majority have to wait because someone else didn't complete their paperwork. (I'm also thankful that she didn't remind me I should have caught this because as job coordinator the paperwork is handed out and retrieved by me.)

I had the television on in the background during the day. I wasn't really watching, just kind of listening. That is until Oprah came on. One of her guests was Carly Simon. Carly and her two grown children, Sally and Ben, sang before they sat down to be interviewed. I have always been a Carly fan. I particularly enjoyed the tremendous harmony that it seems only blood relatives have. Ben resembles his father (James Taylor) in looks, mannerisms, and that smooth mellow voice. I went to Carly's official website and read her life's time line. It was a very open honest read. I continue to be impressed with the lady.

I am hopeful that my today does not include computers, printers or software. I need a break. I have been thankful that there were inside jobs to do during the worst of the cold weather, but I need to get out.

I do know I need to figure out what I'm going to do during the off season. I am hopeful that I can do enough on the side to remain on the medical insurance but I am hopeful that I can do something to supplement my income. Krl has volunteered some input about my situation. I just need to get busy and figure it all out.

I was distressed to learn of Benny Parson's passing. Anyone who follows NASCAR knows he is a past Champion and television announcer. He had battled lung cancer and was declared cancer free in October but the treatments had damaged his lungs. He was knowledgeable and likeable and will be missed.

Along the same line, when I was preparing my portion of the reporting for Krl to do the W-2's I was presented with a situation I had never had in twelve years. Two co-workers had died since last season. It makes you re-calibrate as to what is truly important. They may not have achieved national acclaim but they were friends, they had families and they too will be missed.

I am having serious doubts about society. When the University of Miami fired Larry Coker as head coach, it was for a dismal 6 and 6 season. Forget the fact that he won 81% of the games he coached. Then there is Marty Shottenheimer with the San Diego Chargers. He is the winningest coach never to have made it to the super bowl. His team had the best regular season record in professional football, but the last two years his teams have been ousted in their first game of the playoffs. Speculation is he will be fired. Go figure.

And with that I'll call it a blog. Have a day.

FATHER, I need refuge in that place near to you.

26 degrees was the high here yesterday. Wind chill put it down into single digits over night. At the Australian Open Tennis tournament yesterday they suspended play on the outdoor courts. Its was 102.

I think I need to be half way between here and there.

I rolled over and looked at the clock and couldn't hardly believe it was just after midnight. Knowing myself as well as I do, I knew I wasn't going back to sleep, at least not very quickly, so I grabbed my glasses, my cup of diet coke and headed for the office. I've already read my regular on-line newspapers, checked mail, read the news worthy headlines on my internet browser, and I'm still not sleepy, yet.

I think I had another of those episodes. When I woke, I could feel my heart beating in my chest and was breathing rather quickly. My throat and nose are extremely dry (that's a change for my nose). I keep hoping that I can wait for a sleep study until they can do multiple tasks, but I may have to give in.

Today is the day that Pepa is supposed to meet with his doctors. I hope the roads are good enough to travel without incident. Several weeks back Pepa's doctor sent him in for a biopsy after his psa level continued to be high. (I'm trying to recall some of the terms that Pat has relayed to me, so if it isn't exact, blame it on my brain). Preliminary evaluation by the specialist didn't reveal anything to be concerned about, but they did the biopsy anyway. Turns out the biopsy didn't support the preliminary findings. The biopsy was malignant. Pepa has prostate cancer. He went in for all the follow ups, bone scan and additional testing and those tests came back with good reports. The cancer appears to be limited to the prostate. Pepa's doctor cleared his schedule one afternoon in December just to meet with Memama and Pepa to discuss treatment options. If I am not mistaken, not only did Pat attend (remember, she is the family medical review officer) but I believe Fred went also. I admire the way the doctor laid things out. He told Pepa, at his age he was not going to die from prostate cancer. He laid the treatment options out from the most radical treatments to the least invasive. He was available to answer any questions they might have.

Today's appointment is to inform the doctor of which option Pepa has selected.

I have not discussed any of this with Pepa or Memama. I think I am enough like Pepa to know he has to adjust in order to deal with this. He has been doing sort of a self therapy. He has been trying to get all of his farming to a point that the treatment won't make his farming suffer, or vice versa. He has sowed wheat on every acre of farmland he owns and on the farmland he rents, he has sowed about as much wheat as his landlords will allow. This will limit the amount of row cropping he has to do.

I think he knows the rest of us are not going to let his farming suffer, but I know he is dealing with this and he has developed a plan of his own.

I am thrilled with the winter moisture we have received because it is what Pepa's wheat needs.

I talked yesterday with one of my men on the ground at the seasonal jobsite. This man had worked with me for two years but this year the plant Superintendent needed an above par employee so we made a deal. Actually it worked out well because the crew I work with was loaded too heavy. At the conclusion of the seasonal work the Superintendent offered this man year round employment.

I had been looking through the jobsite work crew W-4's, checking on addresses and comparing other information. (I know, it probably would have been easier to do this at the jobsite just in case there were questions.) The reason I called this man was I knew the address he had given was prior to him taking the year round job at the jobsite. It was a good thing I called, he had an address change and he also gave me two more changes for other workers. At the jobsite this man is jokingly referred to as "the lawyer" because he is always acting as a liaison.

We had a good visit. He said they have received substantial moisture in the month since we left. He said the wheat crop is looking good and the underground moisture for the cotton crop is better than last years. No other major news. Everyone is doing good. Brent and Carol had their baby. She's a girl! Life as Brent knows it is now over.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking about GOD, but with lots of my personal limitations and that's not right. You know he has a big job. I don't know how he does it. Imagine getting up in the morning knowing you have to be all things to all people. Wow.

I think a lot about prayer. That has to be quite a communication system. I know we are supposed to be prayerful in all things, but sometimes I wonder if I'm imposing. I wonder if sometimes GOD would like to say "O.K., is that really important". Or does GOD use what we pray about as "a heart check". A reflection of the inner person. It is hard to compare some trivial thing I might pray about when he is dealing with life and death constantly.

But then I'm just a mere mortal.

Keep the home fires burning. If you are out and about, be safe!

FATHER, please bless this day. I ask for safety as Memama and Pepa travel to his doctor appointment. I pray for their decision that it would be the right one, and for the treatment that it would be effective. I continue to lift up Krl's brother for YOUR miracle of healing and care. Thank YOU for all that YOU do and all that YOU are. Forgive me when I think of YOU with human limitations. How great YOU are.

O.K., enough is enough. I've had enough cold wintry weather.

I don't handle boundaries very well. It's not that I have any where I need to go or want to go. It's just knowing that common sense dictates that I remain inside. I do know even with the playoffs to watch I have become cranky and irritable. We have cooked this and that. Dips, and other finger foods, and Krl did make a replacement stew. It has probably been more difficult for Krl. I am not a neat cook. I am extremely messy, so she kind of follows me around. The two little houndgirls love it. They know that chances are pretty good that at some point during preparation, I'm probably going to slice and dice and something will hit the floor!

The local newspaper reports over 120 weather related accidents. That is probably one of the reasons I don't venture out. It's not like the small rural community I grew up in. Increased numbers of vehicles means increased odds something will happen. Of course necessity wins out over common sense every time. Use to it was required to get out and break ice on water troughs and feed cattle. It sounds weird that livestock have to have water to stay warm. The volunteer fire department in my former home community use to answer the call in prolonged cold weather and haul water for water troughs when prolonged bad spells froze water pipes and windmills. Those old army surplus six by sixes sure came in handy. Probably the worst winter storm I can remember was in 1982, and I was running cattle on a place thirty miles away. I could break ice to let the cows drink and it would freeze back over before all the cows had opportunity. It would take a couple of hours to complete the cycle. I finally penned all the cattle, for warmth and shelter. Thankfully, I didn't lose any.

When the kids were little, these excursions often combined the work need with the recreational opportunity. I can remember numerous occasions the kids would sled behind the pickup. They would get so cold they would cry when they would get in the cab and begin to warm up!

The neighborhood Krl and I live in has no overhead utilities. They are all buried. In the eighteen years we have lived here we have never lost power from snow or ice (rain and lightning are another category). Yesterday I called to check on Memama and Pepa. They had been without power, but it was restored about three Sunday afternoon. I can remember growing up, Mom opening the gas oven to warm the kitchen area. Now that isn't an option because the ignitors are electric. Pepa told me they just spread their comforters and sat in their chairs. They used to have a kerosene space heater but I haven't seen it in years. Hhmmm.

As bad as we have it, it sounds as though north and east have it much worse.

I'm watching the runner on the bottom of the television as the list of closings and postponements grow. One thing I have never understood is day care. I can understand the desire to close but I also realize the necessity of them being open. If all businesses and schools were closed and there were no emergencies, it wouldn't pose a problem. But, what if some of the emergency weather response crews were depending on having day care to enable them to report for duty.

I guess I look like a genius having the trees trimmed before the ice storm. I'd rather be lucky than good.

I spent part of yesterday working on year end reports. Good thing is part of what I was doing will make it easier when Krl asks if W-2's are ready to print. The only problem I had were two short term employees who didn't turn their w-4's in. Now I will have to request their info from their driver qualification forms.

I have just about given up on the new company laptop. For the last ten months I have encountered problems when I would attempt certain tasks, but I was usually able to circumvent the problem. I had been trying to transfer a program from the old laptop and encountered difficulties but finally made it work. I was going to do an annual update to the software and now the laptop isn't recognizing any of it's portable storage drives. Go figure. Why I oughta!

Oh well, get out old faithful.

While going through things and setting Krl's office up again, I ran across a couple of things that were flashbacks. Two small quotes I had cut out and taped by my name plate at the old office.

"Character is much easier kept than recovered" -Thomas Paine

*Working out problems is a matter of adding love, subtracting hate, multiplying good and dividing between truth and error.*

Thanks, I needed that.

Wherever you are, stay warm and be safe. Have a Monday.

FATHER, abide in me.

Old man winter is visiting. Mighty chilly. I only wish we would receive a substantial amount of snow. From an agriculture viewpoint, a deep freeze and substantial snow fall just does something to mellow the ground. I can't explain it, but it invigorates it! Another mystery of nature.

Reidman called me yesterday. He was bedded down in their game room. Had his tent up and his bed roll out. He was ready for cold weather!

Rian and I were talking and he mentioned how expensive health insurance is for his family. I told him he didn't know expensive, YET. We continued the conversation talking about the age-ing process and related expenses. He told me the age-ing process is becoming more and more real. I can't help but be tickled to hear him say this, he will be thirty this year.

I think this year is going to be an eye opener for Lrn. She will turn 18, and she will graduate high school. And she doesn't have a clue. She doesn't associate reward with work. She simply associates reward with "want". She along with Ln don't understand that reward can be more the monetary. When they are talking about what they want to be, their main questions is how much money can I make as ...........?

While money is an important part of the happiness equation, it is not a guarantee. And don't you forget it.

In continuing my rant about corporate America and it's waste, probably the biggest violation I have heard of was Howard Stern's bonus. 83M. And for what? There doesn't appear to be an end to "stupid" when it comes to businesses in America. It would appear that too many companies have too much $$$$$.

I recently read an article talking about the PGA players championship. They are wanting to bring in the top money winners from the tour and let them play at years end, the winner taking a ten million dollar share.

Today there is a story about Michael Strahan being ordered by the courts to pay his ex-wife 15M+. I don't have a problem with him being ordered to pay it, I have a problem with the amount being a portion of his net worth.

I think back to the early athletes playing a season and then working normal jobs until the next season. Today's athletes only play a sport. There is no way you can convince me today's athletes "earn" these inflated purses and wages. We must be nuts to support them. Saddest part is that many of the professionals will be broke when their brief moment in the spotlight is gone.

From where I'm looking, this world is really tilted in a bad way.

FATHER, keep me centered and anchored in YOUR ways.