Wednesday was a really good day. At Chris's store and for the store. Business is really beginning to build. It seemed like there was a steady stream of people coming in all day. I am finding that I need to do a mental adjustment before I get on the computer every day. It seems the software programmers don't necessarily call things what most people call them. Sometimes that can be really frustrating. It doesn't work when I type in a search that says, "I call it this but I don't know what you would call it!"

I am getting comfortable enough with the system and store that Chris has left me alone with it for a brief while Monday and again yesterday, although Pat was in and out. In fact, Chris was there on a limited basis yesterday afternoon. Kyle drove him to Sweetwater to check on some things and then by the eye doctor to have his glasses adjusted. Add to this a quick trip to get a signature on an invoice by the general contractor and he didn't spend a whole lot of time in the store between lunch and four thirty. It seems that the general contractor has moved their office from downtown to their lay down yard four miles from town. It looks like a small community out there. Probably four or five double wide offices and a multitude of porta-potties!

I was kidding Kyle when he and Chris were leaving to go to the general contractors. I told Kyle to tell them that he didn't have to have a "new" company pickup when they hire him. I went on to tell him to be sure they hadn't lost his application and to tell them he wants to be a supervisor! He argued with me that on his application he wrote down "labor" as the position applied for.

Working in the store I am seeing lots of people I haven't seen in years. For the most part they are very cordial and patient as I try to fill their requests. I am finding that working there is a link to the pulse of the community. If you keep quiet and listen you can learn a lot about what is happening and who is doing what. Sometimes the funniest scenario is when one of the contractors are in at the same time locals are in and neither realizes who the other is. Sometimes that is extremely funny.

For quite some time a saga has been going on concerning a gentleman a few years my junior who I grew up going to church with. This man has run cattle and farmed in the area and a few years ago ran for and was elected to public office as the precinct's county commissioner. The last year or so he has developed and mined a pit for road material which he has been marketing to the different entities in the area who are developing the wind generator farms. In fact I have been told that the new business is developing so rapidly he is not going to run for office again. I think that might be a pretty good idea because the possibility of impropriety involving conflict of interest could hinge on a very thin line. As a commissioner he hails that everything he does is with the county's and it's residents best interest at heart. One of the most important influences in a company's decision to develop a certain area is tax abatement. One of the recent developments saw the general contractor award the materials contract to someone other than the commissioner, and it now seems that said commissioner is becoming a thorn in the developer's side. Divisive boundaries between private business and public business may be beginning to blur.

Initially, talk was that the development of this latest wind farm would take three and a half years to complete, being staged in five or six stages. Store traffic tells me that the only two stages the developer has committed to so far are stages one and two. So far nothing beyond that. My biggest fear for the residents and land owners in the path of this fortunate development is that the developer will become so disenchanted with the commissioners court that they will pull out and go to other areas where they have potential developments scheduled. This would leave many who saw a silver lining holding broken dreams.

I for one will hope that the commissioner mentioned above will gain his senses and act in the best interest of his constituents or if not, that residents of his precinct will insist he do so and take whatever steps are necessary to correct the problem.

My today is filled with gathering of items I need to put the equipment together that I worked on last day off. I may have been granted a brief reprieve because the friend picking up the equipment can't come Saturday because of safety meeting.

I've seen Hag in the store both Monday and Wednesday and both times he has told me he wished I would consider helping out there permanently. I'm not sure if he means this or if he knows that it isn't do-able full time until 2009. I can see some benefit to the store having me there short term, but when prior obligations require me to leave for three or four months, would it leave the store in a lurch? I'm going to have to cipher on this.

I watched a segment with Harry Smith concerning the Don Imus situation. I think it goes without saying that it was stupid and heartless on Imus's part. It seems that it continues to snowball. Harry was interviewing an African American female about Imus's on air statement. This woman said remarks were offensive because they came from a white male, to which Harry asked if the remarks would be any less offensive coming from a black male. That wasn't a question the woman was receptive of, but she admitted it wouldn't have been as big a deal. I think regardless of who or what nationality the remarks came from, that they are offensive particularly to females first and African Americans as well.

It is a shame that when you reach the pinnacle and become front and center to the American Public you become a readily accessible target for talk show hosts or hostesses.

Well, I had better get my day going!

Hope yours is a good one!

FATHER, I pray for inner peace. I ask that YOU would make me all I should be. For YOUR love, I am thankful.