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.