Yippee!

I am one cool dude! For the first time since late last summer I have air conditioning in my little pickup!

On my regular day off I spent most of my day on the phone talking with potential customers and returning calls to a few people who were looking for equipment and or services. Initially I had planned on being out of the house before noon, as it turned out it was mid-afternoon. My first stop was the local tax assessor collector to get some license tags for big trucks still out on the wheat harvest. I don't really know why I bother going to the Abilene location because I have had only one positive interaction there in almost twenty years. Now, I will admit what I usually need to do is not as simple as re-newing tags on your personal car, but, with one exception the clerks in the local office can't listen long enough to hear what you are needing to do.

I was picking up another month of seasonal tags for two trucks that are leased out and working in counties outside of the county I reside in. The bimbo I was dealing with told me she couldn't register the trucks because I am not a resident of Taylor County. I assured her I was. She asked me where the physical location of the trucks were and I told her one was in Nolan County and the other in Jones County. Once again she told me she could not register the two trucks because I was not a resident of Taylor County. I assured her I was and gave her my address and the number of years I have lived there. The way these clerks look at it and their pea brain interpretation of their ever changing rules, you wouldn't be allowed to drive or operate a vehicle out of the county in which you registered it! Finally I decided I wasn't going to get all upset and ruin the rest of my day, so I told the idiot to give me my paperwork (copies of the previous tag receipts and proof of insurances) and I would go to either Jones County or Nolan County (where I am not a resident) to conduct my business.

I ended up doing both. I went to Jones and registered one, with no hassle I might add. I would have registered the other one too but the hussie in Abilene failed to return my proof of insurance. I think she did it on purpose, but that was O.K., I was very near an office where I could pick a copy up. However, I wasn't able to get back in time to register the last truck before the office closed so I when I went to work in Roscoe Friday, I stopped on my way and registered the truck in Nolan County!

On a scale of one to ten I would rate the Abilene, Taylor County office a 10, in negative numbers. If I were to give you a visual sign of that rating it wouldn't look like a -10, it would look like a vertical stick accompanied by a body orifice.

Back to my Thursday. I had made arrangements for a hydraulic guru to come out to look over the piece of equipment that K.O. and I have been working on for three months. We are wanting to make a few changes, but neither of us have the expertise to know what is available. It turned out that K.O. picked the expert up just after five from the hydraulic shop. While they were in route I arrived at K.O.'s shop and decided to change the air conditioner compressor on my little pickup while I was waiting. By the time they arrived I had swapped the compressors and only lacked tightening the bolts, putting the belt on and pulling a vacuum and charging the system with freon. I took a break from the repair to take advantage of the late evening sun-light as our expert had arrived.

The three of us began a visual inspection of what the equipment has, an explanation of what we are needing it to do, and a demonstration of how the current configuration works. Then the game was on, bouncing different scenarios between us. The expert was at a dis-advantage for a brief time period because he was not familiar with the terminology K.O. and I use, but once that hurdle was overcome, he began to throw out options and opinion. In the past I had enlisted the help of an expert who turned out to be only a smooth salesman. The gentleman we met with Thursday was intrigued by the task at hand and the possible ways to meet our goals. He is also very knowledgeable.

Shortly before dark we walked back to K.O.'s shop and completed the repair on my pickup in short order. By the time we finished our discussion and I dropped the expert off at his shop (he is going to put together some firm possibilities in the next few days), when I arrived home, it was almost eleven at night.

Krl was already asleep.

Friday saw me return to work at the parts store. I took Krl's SUV to work so I could pick up the company travel trailer that Krl and I are taking to the family reunion this coming weekend. I thought that was par for the course. I finally get air conditioning in my pickup and I leave it parked at the house. I really don't like taking another vehicle to work because it makes me VERY aware of how gutless and uncomfortable my little thirteen year old truck is on the hundred mile round trip to and from work.

So I did my Friday, and learned that I was going to open the store Saturday. (Chris was gone for a wedding). I did get to leave a little early since I was coming in on Saturday and I drove South of Sweetwater to pickup the company travel trailer. This company trailer was purchased in January but had never been picked up. Of course it is used, but I knew it's history when I made my recommendation to acquire it. With the seasonal jobsite and new possibilities, I am always looking for affordable mobile housing for the crews.

I hooked on to the trailer and secured everything before I made my way to Abilene. I was taking the trailer to our house for Krl and Lrn to clean and ready for next weekend. After arriving home about eight and running several errands, I returned home to unhook the trailer from Krl's SUV, connect the electricity to the trailer, and do a couple of choruses of musical chair vehicle as I shuffled everything around. Krl began removing curtains and doing a hard inspection. By the time we went into the house it was another late night.

I knew the trailer needed a deep cleaning. I guess I didn't convey that adequately to Krl. She has been on my butt about how filthy it is. However, after she got a good day put in on it I can see very marked improvement. In fact she has a carpet cleaner coming Monday to give us a quote on cleaning the carpet and upholstery in the trailer.

Once thing about Krl is she is very good at deep cleaning! And she is in it deep!

The parts store doesn't open until eight on Saturday, which is usually a reprieve for Chris but made no difference to me because of the hour drive to work. (I usually arrive at eight). Saturday the store is open eight to noon. Yesterday would have been crazy on a regular business day. There was a constant flow of traffic in and out of the store and when we closed I had to re-open twice before I got out of town!

By the time I returned to Abilene, it was after two-thirty! Krl was busy cleaning on you know what and I had Saturday errands to run. After four stops, I arrived home at six something. Krl decided we would do something simple for supper, we did hot dogs! Hot diggity!

Until I sat down (and later lay on the couch) I had not realized how badly my feet and legs were hurting. I call it concrete feet. To much time spent on that unforgiving surface! I couldn't even get into NASCAR!

Upside is I am looking at a four day weekend next week! Three of which will be spent at the lake! Yeehaw!

I had a former co-worker come into the parts store on Friday. When he left our previous common job stop, he had thought I was a villain. Obviously, either he has thought it through or come to some more realistic realization. It wasn't a good situation and tough decisions had to be made that affected all of us.

I had noticed this man had a sailboat and that became an ice breaker. I told him that Pat (my sister) and I learned a couple of years ago that we are both fascinated by the prospect of sailing. For some reason the thought of cutting through the water, carried by a breeze with no noise except the ripple of the sail, is extremely appealing. At one point in time we had pursued our dream by bidding on several small sailboats on eBay. We were never successful though. This man in the store told me that there is an ideal "starter" sailboat in the Abilene area. It is a twenty-two foot Catalina sailboat with trailer! It is a little over twice what we had budgeted, so we will have to discuss it further.

I couldn't wait to call Pat (she is in Lubbock for a "girls" weekend with her daughter Steph).

I told Memama about it and she said if we buy it Pat and I would be the most popular people at the family reunion! I told her, "At least as long as we were going with the wind!" It might be a different story once we tried to return to our departure point. Hhhmmmm. I wonder if my cell phone is waterproof? "Hello, yeah, bring the sailboat trailer. No, just follow the direction of the wind until you run out of water!"

Krl told me she thought the sailboat might be very therapeutic for Pat and I.

I am sooo exhausted. I can't believe I am up! Leg cramps! That will do it every time.

Maybe I can find some mindless television channel that will put me back to sleep!

FATHER, surround us with YOUR angels. Heal our hearts.