I am so ready for the weekend, and it isn't even in sight!

Work has been work. Don't ask me why?

Days this week have sure seemed long!

My prediction on Kirby was right on. It has been fun seeing all the headlines on the internet and ESPN.

I knew Kirby when he was just a wannabe! Heh!

I bought a forklift yesterday. Yikes, I am so gun shy. It's one thing when you are spending someone else's money or the responsibility is spread. When it is just you, it is much more difficult. At least for me. I don't think this is too different from most people. Lots of people work within a comfort zone, taking direction and completing tasks. I've always heard tales about how the majority of the workforce will never know the thrill or satisfaction of excelling as a business owner. On the other hand, they will never know the headache or heartbreak of seeing a business struggle or fail.

I've experienced both.

Goals have changed. In the past I would probably have told you I wanted to get rich. I guess I have matured. Excesses only create problems. I would probably phrase it differently now. I would like to be comfortable without it being a constant struggle. I do find that there is a great deal of reward in doing the job and doing it well, and developing relationships with customers, co-workers, and vendors.

Yesterday I was preparing to do a little banking for the remnant of my seasonal employer when I noticed that one of the two checks did not have the required second signature. I didn't know if all checks were required to have the second signature or if it depended on the dollar amount. I made a call and learned it had been an oversight and the signature was required. I told them I would stop by later in the day and let them sign the check.

The check was given on the company that has risen from the remains of the old family business. This is where Fred worked until his death. It is difficult for me to go in their office, even though they have relocated and downsized since I worked there. I left the business in August of 2003, yet yesterday when I walked in I saw three former co-workers that now work together at the new business. I got the needed signature, but it was like a trip down memory lane and I did take a few minutes to visit.

On my way home I thought about the wild ride with the family business, the growth, the people, the challenge. I suppose the memories will only get better as we distance ourselves, yet there are a few bad memories that linger. Some of these will probably never go away. These involve only a handful of customers and their numerous lies and misdeeds. I will admit that there are three brands of big trucks, one American car and light truck manufacturer, and one foreign luxury car maker, that I cannot even bring myself to look at or consider for purchase! I would rather do without!

As you can tell I still harbor some ill feelings toward the companies and individuals that caused the family business harm!

I had opportunity to visit with one man after all the others had left. He had been an owner operator for a time, then became a company driver for Fred. This man and I stood beside my pickup and talked. The subject was nothing in particular, his health, mine, the up coming seasonal work, and changes that have occurred.

As we were completing our conversation this man told me, "There are lots of things I miss, but what I miss most is your brother!"

Neither of us had much to say after that statement, probably because we both found it difficult to talk. As he turned to walk away I noticed that both of us were teary eyed.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for life experiences. Help us to learn from them. I continue to lift up Hag for YOUR gift of healing. I ask YOUR blessing on this day.

Congratulations to Kirby Freeman!

Kirb will be named the starting quarterback of the University of Miami Hurricanes later today!

Git 'er done Kirb!

How do I know you ask? ESP? Naw, ESPN! (That's one better!). Nope, I have my sources though.

Hide and watch!

By the way, lotto numbers are available for sale!

I get to start my day late today. Chris is needing some small engine parts and the vendor doesn't open until eight. Of course my eyes didn't care, they sprung open as per usual!

We had a misleading Monday at the parts store. DJ and Sylvia had worked Saturday and neither of them knew how to run end of day, so everything rolled over into one huge mega day! Looked good on paper though!

I am anticipating sales this month to be down. Of course a lot of my barometer depends on how much paper volume I handle, not the size of the number on that paper!

The biopsy results for Hag came back yesterday. They weren't good, but could have been worse. Actually they were probably about what all of us expected. He has an appointment next week in Lubbock to discuss options. Of course with Pepa's positive treatment results we can hope for more good results! One of Hag's primary concerns is his planned elk hunt later this year!

I guess I had been retired for a number of years, at least from public address announcing. For some reason all that has changed recently. I was going to do one show for some friends in late September, then I got a call asking if I would do a show this weekend. Not near the money I use to make, but it will be interesting to see if the fire still burns within! I always enjoyed doing it!

K.O. called me Sunday and asked if he could use BlackSheep. On the return trip from Fairfield they were running in a convoy when one of the others had a flat. K.O. and R.H. the driver of K's second hauler stopped to render aid. When the tire change was completed R.H. found that the Peterbilt he was driving had died. Efforts to restart it were only briefly successful. K.O. suspects computer problems. They ended up leaving the hauler on the side of the road while they came home and retrieved the "toter" and another truck. When I talked with K.O. last evening R.H. was cruising along in Blacksheep pulling the trailer with K.O. following with the disabled truck on the "toter" hook! K.O. asked if Blacksheep could spend the remainder of the week at a friends dairy in Dublin. I have no problem with that. It might be a good experience.

We'll retrieve Blacksheep this coming weekend. Actually it will save three hundred miles of fuel and travel.

Maybe this is an idea for a book or something, "Blacksheep goes to cow camp!"

I guess my mindset is getting where it needs to be. I woke up this morning and had been dreaming of a problem at the seasonal jobsite. I am hopeful this year will be a little more flexible.

Dove season is just days away. That is one of those pleasant memories for me. My grand-dad use to take Stevie and I hunting. Hindsight reflects that his heart wasn't in the hunt, but in giving us the experience. I can still see him sitting in the shade on a five gallon bucket smoking his pipe and when birds would fly in to the pasture stock tank he would shoot just enough to circle the birds back to Stevie and I!

Singleton's Hardware was the hunter's stop in Roscoe. I guess you could buy anything from a gun to a toaster there. Maybe even a toaster that would shoot!

Man, some of these memories seem like a lifetime ago!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for pleasant memories. I continue to ask that you heal our hearts. I pray for physical healing for Hag. Bless this day!

Why is it you do everything by the book yet the results don't change?

For as long as I can remember I have suffered from muscle cramps. Of course in high school the trainers were always suspecting I wasn't taking my salt tablets. Next on their list was my water intake. I've seen more water than most fish. Then came advice to each bananas, and oh, did I eat bananas. I've eaten so many bananas that my natural tendency was to swing in the trees! The next home remedy was to drink pickle juice. Luckily I have friends in fast food and they use to drain juice off five gallons of pickles quite regularly. They would have cup after cup of pickle juice sitting in Styrofoam cups with lids on a shelf in their cooler, just waiting for me. Next fix was prescription potassium (which Dr. Mackie prescribed and I take to this day). The last area to be addressed was electrolytes. "Drink some of the sports drinks that replenish your body", I was told. I have drank Gatorade, Powerade, and colored vitamin and mineral waters. I have tried it all at some point, and I am extremely conscientious about maintaining my regiment.

Guess what woke me up in the middle of the night?

Muscle cramps!

After a quick trip to the fridge for a little pickle juice I am waiting for it to loosen the grip my muscles have on my body!

I really enjoyed watching the Little League World Series. Rian had told me how excited their town was to have the Lubbock team to be playing in Saturday's U.S. finals. Although they lost to the team from Georgia, they did bounce back to win third place by defeating Curacao. The Georgia team went on to defeat Japan for the championship.

Now that was baseball.

Can you believe August is almost gone!

School starts today. Football season begins this coming Friday. Christmas is just around the corner!

Krl and I had a pretty good weekend. She hasn't been feeling well so I tried to help out. I grilled out on Saturday, and was well on my way to making omelets for Sunday lunch when I found we didn't have all the necessary ingredients so Krl opted out for a breakfast toaster from Sonic instead. Late yesterday we teamed up to make a colossal cheeseburger which we will make several meals out of.

I find cooking is therapeutic. I haven't cooked as much recently as I did at one time. Krl and I are a pretty good team in the kitchen. We have talked a little about the Thanksgiving meal at the seasonal jobsite. As many of you are aware we have cooked a Thanksgiving meal for our crew for a number of years. Usually we fed somewhere between twenty and thirty of our workers. Two years ago the GM asked if he and his family could join in to feed their crew too. In a joint effort we fed a hundred twelve co-workers. This last year the GM's family opted out but Krl and I (along with the burr contractor and his wife) prepared a meal for one hundred twenty people.

Krl and I are thinking about using the Thanksgiving meal as a qualifier for Christmas. If any of our family wants to participate in our Christmas (whenever we have it, we have had Christmas in February one year and another year we had it in June), they must participate in preparing or serving the Thanksgiving meal at the jobsite. We would give exceptions to the smaller grand babies, but if the kids or older grand kids expect to reap the bounty they had better be prepared to invest a little time in November.

Call us crazy, but we think it would be a good experience.

I continue to heal from my basil cell procedure. To have been such a minute spot on my nose, this has been one of the more painful things I have endured. Even to this day! I can accidentally bump my nose and be brought almost to tears. Ouch! I have a couple more weeks before we go in to see if they are going to do a skin graft or not!

If memory serves me correct, tomorrow is the day Coach Shannon is supposed to announce the starting quarterback for the hurricanes! Eleven more days and we'll go to Norman to watch the Sooners and the Hurricanes!

Hope you had a good weekend!

FATHER, fill this day and the coming week with YOU!

I don't know exactly where to start. That's why I haven't posted the last couple of days.

Yesterday marked two months since Tj died. In some ways it seems like yesterday, in other ways it seems much longer. I didn't talk with "E" yesterday. I hope he was busy, although I know it would still be difficult for him.

I was off Thursday. Although I spent it with the equipment project, it was pretty much a wasted day. I think K.O. and I need to get our heads together and develop a plan. The previous week we worked well in tandem, this week was a bust. It seemed anything I planned on doing interfered with what he planned and at the end of the day we had accomplished very little.

K.O. left Friday and went to Fairfield for a two day show. My Saturday was spent in his shop working on the equipment project. I changed directions and tore lots of stuff up. I worked on some sprockets that K.O. had been working on, but I got to a point that I needed a good two or three arm puller and wasn't able to find one in K.O.'s shop. Every puller I found would not work, either it was stripped or was to large for the location. If I had been in the shop in Roscoe I would have built me one. So, I changed projects and began studying hydraulics.

The equipment hydraulics have always been questionable. It has two closed systems. A big high volume system and a much smaller dedicated system. Originally the larger system had been tapped into for the steering system. Problem is, these hydraulics have to work so hard that the relief valves have been shimmed and tightened until they really aren't able to relieve pressure. Ie., the system deadheads. It doesn't matter what you do, from working the landing gear to turning the steering wheel, you can almost kill the engine with hydraulic system back pressure. I had spent time with our hydraulic specialist Thursday, diagramming and discussing. Saturday I decided I was going to remove the steering from the pressure side which will allow me to remove a flow regulator. My goal is to increase pressures, hopefully enough to remove the spring shims and loosen the relief valve. The downside will be either plumbing the steering into the return oil circuit or into the smaller hydraulic system. I am flying by the seat of my britches here because I made the call without consent or approval of anyone else!

I am very good a tearing things up. I have hydraulic hoses loose, I have a three spool hydraulic valve dropped down, and bolts and other pieces scattered all around. Hopefully when we reassemble it all we will have improved our systems.

Friday I had worked back at Chris's parts store. Chris went with his Mom, Dad and Kyle to his Aunt's funeral in Plugerville. DJ and I ran the store. My biggest dilemma of the day was a parts return that had been paid for with a credit card. I had never had to credit back on a card. I still haven't done it either. We tried. I called the number on the side of the terminal and found that the card company is a third party and could not help at all. I finally wrote the lady a check because my effort to credit the amount ended up duplicating the charge. I asked Pat to call the bank and alert them as I am not on the signature card.

At lunch I went to Memama's and Pepa's. Memama had prepared one of my favorites. Red beans, cornbread, german sausage, pan fried 'taters and onions, ice tea and cantaloupe! Yum.

During the course of lunch conversation, Memama told me that Freddy's family was on the outs with Pepa. For me this news was very distressing.

It seemed that it began with a conversation between Jake and Pepa. Expanded to include Joni, and culminated with Linda, Joni, and Pepa having a confrontation.

Pepa has been very quiet since losing Fred and Terri. I have wondered (and worried) about how he was really dealing with the loss. Pepa is not very tactful, and often times when he makes a statement what comes out doesn't necessarily correlate with what he wanted to say or the way he wanted to say it. I will never forget when Krl and I had returned from burying her Mother, Pepa gave Krl a hug and told her that now she was an orphan just like him (meaning neither of them had a living parent).

I don't profess the following to be exact, rather just a general account of the altercation. Pepa told Jake that he wondered if someone had been with Freddy the night he died, might help have been summoned in time to save him. I am quite sure this is no where close to the way this statement came out.

I think all of us have wondered this question. When I talked with Joni late Friday I told her "I" had wondered if Linda, Jake, or Joni had been there would the result have been different. This isn't a "blame" question, it is simply an "if" question. I think it is very possible that the way things played out was the best possible scenario for a bad situation. I hate that the kids had to go and find Freddy, yet when he didn't show up at the office and they went to his house to check on him, they had a little warning of something not being "right".

If GOD would allow a do over, I am sure all of us would volunteer to be there. Thing is, it isn't going to happen and we can't bring Freddy back.

Odd thing is, we have this question about Freddy yet with Terri, "E" is dealing with having been right there and not even knowing she was gone. There are no correct answers where one size fits all.

Of course if you are a Freeman, or if you have ever verbally sparred with a Freeman, you realize that they don't fight fair, they don't hear precisely what you say and the goal of this exercise is to say something more hateful than what was said to you. I am sure if we gathered all the participants together, each account of what transpired would be just a little different from the next.

So I go back to what I do know. I am sorry all this has happened. We are all still much to raw and sensitive to deal with something like this. I rely on faith that GOD's plan is unfolding as he intends. I don't agree with what has happened. I have lots of questions, but this is GOD's show, HIS rules. HE knows what HE is doing.

It isn't easy. Each day is a struggle. But we'll get through it. I told Joni I can only imagine what she, Jeri, Jason, Jake and Linda have gone through losing a father or spouse. The same is true for "E", Shelby, Robyn, Wes, and Riley losing a spouse or mother. I can only imagine what Memama and Pepa have gone through and are going through mourning the loss of two children.

I DO know what it is like to lose a brother and a sister.

Right now, with what has transpired last week, it is like losing Freddy all over again.

FATHER, heal our hearts. Fill our void. Surround us with YOUR angels. Help us to be sensitive to the feelings and needs of others.

Wow. My scheduled day off and I've been awake for a couple of hours. Just my luck.

Yesterday at the parts store was a good day sales wise, but wild and wooly. Luckily DJ had stopped in to get started on the hardware order. I don't know how many people we had in and out of the store, but ..... at one point I even heard Chris comment that we needed and additional computer terminal. We seemed to be jockeying for position.

Chris left for a dentist appointment just prior to noon and didn't return until just prior to two. Pat and Hag had left for Lubbock early to make a few stops prior to Hag's scheduled biopsy procedure today. Luckily Pepa happened by the parts store and Chris asked for a ride. Pepa thought Memama needed to go with them so the trip turned into a group activity.

Chris had been complaining about a wisdom tooth bothering him. Turns out three of the four wisdom teeth have come in without problem. The fourth is trying but it turned out the problem tooth is a neighbor of the prospective wisdom tooth. The dentist put Chris on some antibiotics and told him to call an oral surgeon and go and get all of his wisdom teeth out!

While I was at lunch we received a call from Pat. Hag's youngest brother and his family were heading to San Antonio for a family outing and had an accident. Another driver ran a red light and Hank swerved to avoid them, hit a curb, then a post and flipped the small SUV. My understanding is that the post impact was on his wife's door header. Hank got her out of the car and breathing before the EMT's arrived. However, she expired before they could get her to the ER. My last report had Hank locating the hospital their two children were taken to, but no details were available on their conditions. Hank's wife was 40.

This is too close to June, too many raw feelings are still exposed. I have an idea what Hank and his kids are going through. My heart hurts for them too.

I think I may be changing direction on the big opportunity that had presented itself. I have been frustrated that some people I had included in the opportunity can't return phone calls or share information I have requested. It is alarming to me because if they can't pick up a phone during the set up stages, what kind of help are they going to be when the work begins. There are options that would make it less work on me.

Sometimes you get tired of trying to push a rope.

Today in history. Thirty years ago Rian made his debut into this world. Can it really be thirty years? Happy Birthday Rian!

Have a day!

FATHER, I need YOUR peace, YOUR calm. I ask for YOUR blessings on this day!

I guess my mind has gone into overdrive.

I have begun to think about what has to happen over the next several weeks in preparation for our departure to the seasonal jobsite. First and foremost is the orientation and training for our new employee at the parts store. The employee is female and she is bi-lingual. She is very eager to learn and is a cleaning dervish!

I spent yesterday making some signs promoting upcoming events for the store. We have our annual tool sale coming up next month, and of course we are coming into season for many of our special harvest items the store carries!

We can't sell them if our customers don't know we have 'em!

In addition we are running some specials on a few items in the store. This is kind of the fun part of the store. Trying to determine what items will move as impulse items.

We set it up yesterday with K.O. to bring over his two-wheel drive competition pulling vehicle and display it. It is a neat vehicle, a chopped top five window delivery Chevrolet from the '30's powered by a blown and injected 540 inch big block Chevy! It should attract some attention from the passing roadways!

We are in the early stages for planning for eats as well. We want something easy to serve, not a sit down meal. I'm thinking chopped barbecue sandwiches and individual bags of chips, maybe some peppers, pickles and onions and throw a few sodas in the cooler! Maybe breakfast burritos for early in the day and a tray of cookies to graze on in the afternoon!

This will be my first rodeo with the tool sale. I have attended before but I have never worked one. I know we will have several chain employees who travel with their "rolling circus" from store to store.

I am scheduled off tomorrow. It will be back to K.O.'s and more work on the equipment project. It is scheduled to be out September 21 or 22. I guess I had better find out for sure. We have several brainstorm ideas we need to explore further. Mechanically, we have the equipment functional again!

I talked with Coach this morning on my way in to work. I hadn't visited with him in a while. It sure did make me want to talk with Fred.

Pat and talked some about the interactions we had with Terri and Fred and how it has made Pat have more difficulty dealing with losing Terri while I have had more trouble dealing with losing Fred. Of course some of this is to be expected when you share a room and interact on a regular basis.

Regardless, it still hasn't been easy losing either one!

It is only a week until football starts. We are beginning to make our plans for the OU/ Miami game in Norman on September 8. Coach said the tickets came in yesterday. Rian and I are meeting in Wichita Falls Friday night and driving up Saturday morning. Coach said if we aren't in the parking lot by nine we are too late. It is an eleven in the morning kick off!

Have a day!

FATHER, help me through!

August is a busy month of milestones for our family. Steph, Reid, Avery, Kyle, Pat, Linda, and Rian celebrate birthdays (I may be missing someone). Pat and Hag celebrate an anniversary. Happy day to all!

Recently Pat had called me asking if I wanted any tickets to the OU/UM football game September 8 in Norman, Oklahoma. I thought briefly and told her to put me down for two. I knew Krl probably wouldn't want to go. She is still not very mobile. But, I thought it might be a birthday treat for Rian. When I ran the idea by Krl she was in agreement so I called Rian and told him I had an extra ticket to the football game. He was so excited!

I cannot believe how much tickets were. Using Coach's Hurricane family discount, they were still $80+ each. I still have to pay for them (or else I will have to add Pat's name to the card).

Kirby had a good day, last practice. He threw three 60 yard+ touchdowns in their 11 on 11 practice and one more in their 7 on 7 practice. I would say that he didn't have to split time with Kyle Wright. Kyle is nursing an injured left knee. It is only another week until Coach Shannon names the Hurricane starter.

We have been going through some transitions at the parts store. We have been using high school boys as part time help. It has been interesting to watch. Usually we can get just as much production from these boys in a couple of hours as we can in a whole day. We even had one who would clock in and then tell Chris he was going across the street to get something to eat, return to the store and spend the next half hour sitting in the office eating. Of course he (along with the other two) didn't take direction or constructive criticism very well.

Many places have a hall of fame. We may start a wall of shame! Hhhmm. Maybe in the bathroom. We could have an award ceremony, maybe give a miniature toilet seat inscribed with their name and the date.

I know, I am being hard on them. But I am so dis-illusioned

Actually, we are looking at trying to make the part time job a full time position. We are looking at two individuals, one male, one female. Both grown, mature. Either would be capable.

Probably the biggest plus in our recruiting effort is that we are getting insurance! This doesn't mean a whole lot to young workers, but it is very important to older more mature ones. Pat and I have even talked some about retirement possibilities.

I think either one of our candidates would be capable of expanding their duties to include a least a portion of what I do. Of course this is a plus knowing I am fixing to be leaving for several months. I am hopeful I can return one or two days a week, at least briefly.

Historically, I have worked myself out of a job the last few years. It seems that where I have been I kind of streamline the process, hopefully put some order in place, do a little training, and then hand my job over to someone else.

But I'm not going to worry about that.

My Saturday was spent at K.O.'s working on the equipment project. Actually we are not that far from being ready to go out again. It is not perfect. It is not what I want (or K.O. for that matter), but I think it is going to be as good as it gets right now. BUT, if money were no object. Katey bar the door! MLK may have had a dream, for the equipment K.O. and I have a vision. Of course our vision is low budget, over the course of the winter and early spring. I have done a lot of computer research, made lots of phone calls, and done just a lot of fact finding for parts.

K.O. and I are looking to make a silk purse out of a sows ear! I had a conversation with the operator of one of the premier pieces of equipment like ours, and he told me I could have one for $200,000. I figure if they were smart enough to figure it out, I am too!

One of the best things about K.O. is that he is very mechanical in his thinking. He can weld, he can run a machine lathe, and he can dis-assemble and re-assemble nearly anything. It is almost comical because when one of us has an idea we will call the other to share it. Between the two of us we may be lethal! Not only are we covering all the bases, we are looking under them too!

It is still amazing that technology we put on our project fifteen or sixteen years ago is now the norm for top machinery. Some ideas we had that were not allowed by the licensing authority then, are now accepted.

I've got a couple more tricks up my sleeve. Heh, heh!

I am enjoying the Little League World Series. Of course I am pulling for the Lubbock team. Rian says Lubbock is wild about their team! They have two outstanding left handed pitchers. Currently I am watching the international bracket, Saudi Arabia or Curacao has a pretty good lefty as well. I am having a bit of trouble figuring out who is representing what region.

I get tickled watching all the superstitious routines. Lots of spitting too!

My biggest fear for these kids is that it isn't a game any more.

I did go to the grocery store yesterday, I hadn't bought big groceries in two or three weeks. I went down lots of aisles I normally don't go down. I was actually trying to find some little something to send Holt when we send Reid's birthday gifts. I ended up buying a bubble kit and there are enough bubble makers for brother and most of the neighborhood kids! An added plus was I found a new "pickle" (harmonica. I don't know why!) for Meme to give Reid. He told us he had lost his other one (and it wasn't cheap).

I bought Reid's birthday gift a long time ago but we haven't seen him to give it to him. I ran across a junior tool kit. Hard hat, protective eye wear, tool belt, ruler, measuring tape, gloves, hammer, chalk box (they'd better confiscate the chalk) and the finishing touch ...... suspenders!
I went to Lowe's and bought him a box of 4 penny nails and an assortment of short lumber pieces for him to nail together!

I guess Reid will be able to play his pickle while he works!

Rian is coming by today. He bought a pickup in San Marcos and is flying down to pick it up today. I think he arrives in Austin shortly after eight this morning. It is a good thing he will be in his new truck, we will test it's worthy-ness by letting him haul Reid's gifts home.

Krl and I were talking. Just when I get to thinking I am doing pretty well dealing with Freddy and Terri's death I find something else that shatters me. The card section at the store yesterday almost did me in.

I brought home chinese Saturday night for supper. Krl and I both think we were oriental in a prior life. We find we love rice more as we grow older. (Is rice considered fiber?). I may have to do this more often. I sure liked my fortune cookie! Whether it comes true or not, it has lifted my spirits.

Have a day!

FATHER, take over. I find myself trying to backseat drive again. Forgive me.

Wet weather! After the extreme hot and humid conditions I was ready for a reprieve.

Talk about weird though, I talked with E late yesterday and he was telling me they got less than a half inch of rain in the Corpus Christi area.

Of course all that could change, Hurricane Dean seems to be bearing down on the Gulf. Cat 4 and growing!

E had called me with some trucking problems. They have just begun ginning and his trucker who had been on board threw a shoe. E asked me to look at his rates to be sure that the trucker wasn't "under" compensated. Everything I have seen points to better rates than any in our area. Right now I am looking to see if I can find some truckers who might want to go down there.

The biggest thing E is concerned about is that his trucker didn't come to him. He went around him and to the mill. Bad mistake!

We are supposed to talk again this morning.

I boiled out my incision yesterday. I was shocked to see what the surgeon had left me with. Throughout all the conversations they had kept telling me this doctor was a minimalistic surgeon. As usual, I am the exception to the rule! I guess I should take solace in the fact that he got all the cancer.

My biggest problem continues to be my eye although my nasal passages are very raw and sensitive.

I have been thinking about everything that has transpired this year. I have been finding myself really struggling, wondering why so much has happened. I am finding it difficult to not be upset with GOD. Of course it began with Pepa's diagnoses, followed by his treatment. Krl's broken leg. Losing Fred, followed by losing TJ. Then my minor diagnosis followed by the hack job and most recently the decision to do some biopsies on Hag.

I suppose in fairness I should also make note of Pepa's successful treatment. Krl has her cast off (after five months and three days) although she does still hobble around with a cane. It is much more difficult to justify any good concerning losing Fred and Terri. My heart still hurts. I know that their families have to feel they are looking at an insurmountable adjustment. Pat and I talk often about our struggling with their deaths. I do however find myself thinking about what Fred would say or do in a particular situation.

I have been working on a tremendous opportunity that has presented itself. It could involve and include the majority of the family as it would be a major undertaking. Much too large for any one of us to tackle alone. I keep hearing Fred tell me not to let any of it get away. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday will see more of these pieces fall in place.

With Terri's family I know they have to feel lost. I liken this to going through a divorce. Biggest difference is E had no choice and there is no hope of reconciliation. What E is going to have to realize is that he has been presented with a very unique opportunity. What he builds with his children, especially Wes and Riley, can be something very very special. I haven't said it will be easy because it won't. But as long as he is making the effort and making the best decisions he can, he is going to be successful. He can't second guess himself. He is faced with a big, big job being both Mom and Dad. A big plus is that E is going to learn things about himself that he never knew, and he is going to learn to do things he would never fathom. Of course the remarkable thing about these revelations is that Terri knew them all along, that's why she married him.

FATHER, thank YOU for understanding my struggles, my hurt, my pain. Bless our family as we continue to deal with everything.

It is back to the old grindstone today.

I suppose my recovery is progressing suitably. I really don't know. My nose still seems to be sedated. It just kind of tingles. Of course it is sensitive to touch. I did follow instructions and removed the dressing, however I have yet to look at what the surgeon did. My biggest problem is my left eye. It feels extremely dry and funky, and just isn't performing normal. At some point today I will boil the wound with peroxide and dote a little neosporin on it.

I felt well enough to run out to K.O.'s shop yesterday morning. We were doing some measurements and trying to figure out some mechanical changes. We did make a trek to inspect some equipment we are considering acquiring. He showed me one machine, I asked him to locate another brand for me to show him my preference. Once I showed him the differences he agreed that we needed the one I preferred.

We have five weeks to make some necessary changes to the equipment project and then we are back on the road with it. I told K.O. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money for a one time out before a major remodeling like we have planned for this winter.

I did learn yesterday that we are not returning to last week ends show site in late September. That doesn't really bother me. That is a really hard show to do and many of the people are mean drunks! But I'm not saying all of them are. I would have honored my commitment to do the show, but welcomed the reprieve.

After I had left K.O.'s shop I spent a little time with our hydraulics guru. We are trying to analyze a lot of possibilities.

I had a call from Rian yesterday. He and Erica had gone to the doctor to have a sonogram done. Rian kept telling me they were going to have a girl this time but I would tell him it was going to be another ornery little boy. I was right.

Colby and Courtney were supposed to find out what they are having as well. I haven't heard though.

It sounds as though Kirb is doing very well at the U. I hope he can stay healthy.

Let's get today out of the way and have a weekend!

Oh FATHER, for YOUR love....

I'm alive!

Of course I expected to be.

I didn't really know what to expect at the dermatologist's. My initial visit and biopsy had not been very enjoyable, and I hate surprises.

While I was dreading yesterday, it was a better experience. The one thing I really hated was the lack of information about the procedure. They told me to take my blood pressure med but said nothing of the two meds that usually accompany it. They didn't say NBO after midnight. No dress code. Just a time and a place! Of course they told me I would be first if I would come in prior to seven-thirty. I did and I was still second.

The nurse I had was good. She had skill and personality. I did think it was odd that they never took any vital signs though. She was talking with me when the doctor came in and introduced himself. I introduced myself back and told him I would be participating in today's exercise. By then the nurse had inserted the needle in the side of my nose. Very slowly she released the medication and continued to deaden the area they were going to work on. Once again, I wanted to cry but didn't. The medication did make my eyes water though. The doctor grabbed a utensil and whacked off a portion of my nose. (Actually he took a scalpel and probably two minutes later had removed the suspect portion of skin.). Afterwards, he cauterized the area and had the nurse bandage it up before sending me to the waiting room to wait for lab results to make sure they had gotten all the cancer! We looked like a group of walking wounded. A cheek, a nose, a collar bone, a chin. There was no consistency! We were told it would take about thirty minutes to get the lab results and at that point either they would repeat the procedure and remove more tissue or stitch us up and send us on our way!

Regular readers know my luck at picking lines. Guess what? I got to go back three times to remove more tissue and finally on a fourth trip the doctor told me he couldn't stitch me up. The place was to broad. In fact he was considering doing a skin graft.

I told the doctor he had better get me out of there pretty quick or I was going to have to charge him for being the acting hostess in the waiting room. Even though I was second going in I think I was last or next to last leaving!

I did some quick math. There were eight of us patients (that we saw). If all the patient procedures cost the same as mine ($1200), the doctor took in $9600 for the morning. He does this four days a week and all day on Monday. If he operates (no pun intended) at maximum he should take in $57,600 per week. Not bad for part time!

I was O.K. until the local started wearing off. They gave me no antibiotic, no pain pill. It seems that my "pain area" had expanded to include my eyes! Wow!

I did find that if I alternate aspirin and Tylenol I feel better.

I took a nap and then decided to make a post office run. Actually I wanted to run across the street to a Sonic for a Sonic Blast too. I am not usually an ice cream person but yesterday I was. I asked Krl if she wanted to drive me, but she didn't feel up to it. In fact she was preparing a list of things I needed to do while I was out!

And I thought I was the one that got worked on.

By the time I returned, it had dawned on me that Krl will always be more sick than me.

One thing though, I'm through enabling! Only the strong survive!

K.O. is wanting me to drive out to his shop this morning while I feel pretty good. He wants to discuss the equipment project. We have two more opportunities to do some shows next month, if we want to make the repairs on the equipment. There are two lists. A necessary list and a want to list. He is talking to one promoter, I intend to talk with the other.

If I feel up to it later in the day, I hope to talk with one of the other players in the seasonal work program I have been putting together!

I think I will go and soak in the tub. That usually makes me feel better. I just don't know how to soak my nose without affecting my ability to breath!

Have a day! We'll do one more after this one and call it a week!

FATHER, rescue me.

Anticipation.

Notice I did not say EAGER anticipation.

For the last three nights I have slept in small patches. Maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour, but never an extended period. I hate looking at the clock! I also know I have been a disruptive force to our bedroom. Occasionally one of the black dogs will bark and I will tell them to hush, now I think they are barking at me!

I can tell I am dreading my visit to the doctor's clinic.

I have about an hour before I need to begin preparing to go in for my out-patient procedure. I tell you what, if I see that little nurse who gave me those two injections in my nose last trip in, it will be an "out-patient" procedure! They'll have to catch me first!

I have spent a portion of the last few days working on a project for the seasonal job. It went well Friday, it went well Monday, but yesterday the gentleman I have been trying to work with in Memphis decided to be difficult. I told him I have no problem maintaining the status quo. I have two years remaining on my contract. It seems he wants to come on scene in a big crop year and deserve a deep discount. What he fails to realize is the many years we worked below estimates. Thirteen years ago I was told to budget on seventy thousand bales production. In thirteen years we have met or exceeded that target two times. 2004 and 2005. Where was this gentleman when we were doing less than half of the projection. Monday he told me he was very pleased and that we were just dollars apart. Of course at that point we were working with approximate miles. Yesterday I told him I needed specific addresses to load into the computer for exact mileages Turned out the Monday mileages were about ten percent short. My base rate is lower than his, but I have a variable rate fuel surcharge in place. He tells me he is not planning on any fuel surcharge. I told him it was not only to protect me and my people but to protect him as well. The project completion date is close to eight months away and lots can happen in that time frame. A hurricane in just the right (or wrong spot), problems in the Middle East, a hard winter with above average heating oil demand, any of the previous can make fuel prices sky rocket. Of course this gentleman is only a broker traffic coordinator. He and his company own no trucks. He wants to run this project from a thousand miles away and stuff money into the company and his bank accounts. I am so frustrated because he wants to dicker on every front. I finally told him I was happy just to complete my contracts, with their delivery points.

They say this is the way the industry is going. I don't really believe this. What we are seeing is the result of management and their advisory boards failing to respond to new and improved crop varieties, increased yield trends and technology, and better than normal growing seasons.

I can't see where doling the bread and butter of their industry (meaning warehousing) out to "turn key" henchmen is a sound business decision.

Most times, an ultra-conservative approach is worse than no approach at all. Hey, we've heard it before, if you aren't moving forward, you are moving backwards. There is no such thing as "just maintaining".

Oh well, I have a couple of days to recuperate and figure out what I want to do.

I have enjoyed watching the show America's Got Talent. My personal favorite is Cas. He just seems to enjoy what he is doing so much! I also like the fact that he practices by singing and playing his guitar to his small baby! I'm not into the rapper "Butterscotch", although she has been impressive. Where DO all those sounds come from. Julienne is good but I don't think she is quite good enough to take the top prize. That leaves the ventriloquist. Unbelievable. Dean Martin, Sinatra, Garth Brooks, and his finally Roy Orbison. He does them all and very very well. Is it possible that the "dummy" is a crutch?

Go Cas!

Well, I had better get. The doctor and his scalpel await!

Have a day!

FATHER, I ask for a successful procedure, for a good prognosis. I ask that YOU bless this day!

I haven't posted the last few days, it hasn't been because the spirit wasn't willing. It was because the body wasn't able!

Last weeks thrash 0n the equipment project finally caught up to me. It was a humbling thing to realize that I can't do what I once could and even more humbling to learn that many things I still do aren't done as well.

K.O. and his entourage left his shop Thursday afternoon. Being there by myself, it sure got lonely in a hurry. Of course I still had much work to do. In fact I didn't finish Thursday or Friday, but finally Saturday.

I had hooked the equipment to BlackSheep to be transported to the show. Enroute I consumed enough liquid to float the Titanic, yet when I arrived at the site, I was immediately drenched in sweat. I was traveling by myself but I had two coolers with numerous beverages which included two twenty-four count cases of water. Initially the cooler was iced down with twenty-eight pounds of ice. By noon it needed more!

The equipment project as scheduled to perform about ten in the evening and for about four hours it performed flawlessly! I was so pleased. Then over the next hour or so, we lost our rabbit's foot. Power take-off problems. Finally we broke a gear in the power take-off and they stopped the show.

We got to bed at six-thirty in the morning!

After two hours sleep we began readying things for the return trip!

By the time I got home Sunday about four-thirty, I was ready for a cold shower, lots of liquids, a quick something to eat and then a soft bed!

Krl said I snored horribly!

Two days after the fact I am still thirsty and feeling the effects of the hard and hot weekend! I am sore and stiff all over!

I should blog the next couple of days. Tomorrow I am going in for the basil cell removal, so keep me in mind. I am hoping they don't have to go so deep as to have to remove brain cells!

More later!

Have a day!

Oh FATHER, I hurt all over!

I am struggling on every front!

Mentally, emotionally, physically. I am soo spent!

I really appreciate K.O. lately and his willingness to work on the equipment project. Last night we bounced from my project to his, ate chicken and dumplings at his Mother's house about eleven, and did another couple of hours work. I got home and in bed sometime after two!

This day we worked on our respective projects except when the other needed help. For K.O. we swapped three sets of tires, for me we did more and more minute projects.

About four, K.O. told me they had to hit the road and I was left alone. I went really really flat! I needed a pick me up. I needed to spend time with Krl and I also needed to talk with Fred.

Needless to say, the rest of my day was like a spinning toilet!

I haven't spent much time with Krl lately and I miss her and the pups, but I miss Fred too!

Will my heart ever heal?

E told Pat that all the test results are back for T.J.'s autopsy. We are all anxious and apprehensive about them. I told E that regardless, nothing is going to bring T.J. back!

Hope your day was a good one.

Pray for me!

FATHER, rescue me!

This will be short and sweet. I haven't taken the time to blog lately because I have been so busy!

The equipment project and it's deadline is consuming us!

Of course, it would be a thrash, but when you have things like belts that have been interchanged wrong and snot nosed wanna-be parts boys just drawing a check, it complicates things. (And yes, David Browne, if Friday wasn't your last day, it would be. You have my word on that!). As it turned out, the wanna-be parts boys didn't use the entire number which included an XL and extra service designation. What we ended up with was a belt that was to NARROW and it slipped too deeply into the V pulleys, making them too long!

Thanks guys, we called a real parts store!

I have several issues to begin today. Most of them are with equipment pieces. The new hydraulic pump has way too much side play. Some new power take off gears, refuse to setup correctly making the gearbox either too loose or so tight it won't turn. So I am beginning today by going to shops who either built or sold us the parts.

Then it is a little plumbing, air, cooling and hydraulics, filling some fluid levels and hopefully driving the equipment out of the shop, test it and then break it down for transport.

Tomorrow it is, hopefully, on the road to the show.

Pat told me to take the rest of the week off from the parts store. I just may do it! I did drive to meet her yesterday with a serpentine belt for a customer.

It looks like summer is here this week. Man, it has been hot working outside.

Of note:
Monday marked two months since Fred left us.

I visited with E yesterday morning, just touching base with him and what is going on with his little family. Milo harvest is almost complete and E expects cotton to begin arriving any time.

Have a good day.

Oh FATHER, heal us, lead us. Please bless this day!

I DON'T even want to talk about it!

But I will.

I was optimistic Friday when my assistant on the equipment project came by the parts store and told me the equipment project was ready for paint! No doubt, he was sincere.

Saturday morning I was gathering the last of the items needed to paint. Air pressure regulator, water filter, paint gun. I was excited!

When I arrived at K.O.'s shop I just wanted to throw up! Obviously what my assistant and I have are two very different ideas of where this project is going! My first reaction was anger! How could he even think he was done? Thankfully, I had several hours to mull things over before he and Chris arrived. Their arrival made me furious again. Chris had whined, wanting to ride over with Isaac. I told them I feared it would not fit because the parts store doesn't close until noon. Chris continued, "Isaac can work with me Saturday morning and then we will close the store and be there by one in the afternoon". The boy speaks with forked tongue! They arrived just after three. By then I had already put in seven hours. Most of my time was spent re-doing what was supposed to have been done Friday. By five-thirty they were ready to go home!

They did promise to be back by one Sunday afternoon. Yeah, right.

Biggest problem was they didn't bring everything with them they were supposed to. They assured me they would do so Sunday but I think I will go by Lowe's and hedge my bet.

You know how you can sense when kids have been up to something they knew they shouldn't have? That is the feeling I am getting with Chris. He is just acting too sneaky! At work and at K.O.'s place. I also don't feel near as comfortable about Isaac as I did earlier in the week. I fear that he may be an enabler for Chris.

Now I will pose this question. Is it lack of knowledge, lack of focus, or lack of work ethic that make the new generation of young adults sell out short?

Maybe I have been put here to train them. (LORD what did I ever do to deserve this!).

I was working on some mechanical issues with the equipment project and thinking back to one of the first shows the equipment ever did. Someone unlocked a hub prior to the start of the show and the outcome wasn't good. After an extended recovery time, things returned near normal. However, my zeal concerning the equipment waned. I continued to do six or eight more shows, but when I parked it I didn't even want to look at it, so it sat for eleven years, until K.O. encouraged me to get it back out and upgrade it this year.

We didn't have the funds to do this, but we have nickel-ed and dime-ed it over several months and we are very close now to getting there. No it won't be state of the arts like it once was. That will have to remain for a winter project, and we do have plans!.

Krl says she hasn't complained about the project because she knows I needed a distraction like this after losing Freddy and Terri. I've thought about that a lot. It amazes me that something that began in late March was put in place for therapeutic purposes a few months later.

I have also thought a lot about our family going to these shows years ago, in particular Freddy and Terri. For Fred it was fun competition, for Terri is was a social happening, especially if there was a carnival in sight! I have also thought about the support safety net that Fred provided when we had the problem with the equipment at the show several years ago. To be honest, I will feel very vulnerable going to the show this coming weekend without him either competing or sitting on the sidelines.

I guess I will have to have faith that he is helping me tend to business and cover all the bases from his new location. He's got to have a quite the view.

The most positive thing that occurred yesterday was I worked on my tan! My neck is telling me I almost over did it, and I was wearing a hat!

My plan is that later today I will return to the equipment project.

Shoot, I'd hate to go if it wasn't hot!

I guess after twenty years of marriage I should be acclimated to certain things. On good days I am, on others I struggle with it. My pet peeve is having to make stops on my way home. Luckily yesterday was a good day because Krl called with three stops, scattered over about three or four miles. The pups were sure glad because one of them was Petsmart! Krl said she doesn't know how the hounds know when we need dog food but when she gets low on it they eat like there will never be another full food bowl. I think it is either more fine or possibly airs out, making it more desirable.

Upon my arrival home I unloaded the things Krl needed and made my way through the house. I found Krl sitting on the back porch with her leg elevated. I don't know if it is the weather or not but her leg has really given her fits lately. I have been encouraging her to return to her orthopedic doctor for a follow up. I guess when it gets bad enough she will.

I have to check on my scheduling. Initially I had been scheduled for another surgical procedure (the basil cell skin cancer removal) August 16 at 8:00 am., I thought they called and changed my appointment to 7:30 on the same date. Krl is telling me I am mistaken because she use to remember it by 8,8,8. (August eighth at eight in the morning.). I had purposely scheduled it after next weekend. I sure hope the doctor's office didn't decide they know best because they have no idea of my scheduling.

It seems my scheduling continues to pile up. I need to be at the parts store, need to be completing the equipment project, need to be in St. Lawrence, need to be in meetings at Sweetwater, and in the metroplex doing some preliminary info gathering! Somewhere there needs to be another doctor visit (or possibly several) for other "in office" procedures.

It is going to be a load off just to get through the eleventh!

Hag got his "C-pak" breathing machine Friday. His doctors tell him he is going to feel like a new man!

I want one! I want to feel like a new man!

Have a good day!

Oh FATHER, what a trying day yesterday was. But YOU got me through it. Thank YOU. I ask for a productive day today. Bless-ed be YOUR name.

Crapola!

I was really wanting, no, I was needing, to sleep. But, I woke up shortly after midnight and I was already working on the equipment project in my mind!

I guess I would say I suffered an anxiety attack.

I am becoming frustrated, beginning to wish I had never started it, wishing I had never committed it for the show this next weekend.

WHAT WAS I THINKING!

I guess I was thinking unfinished business. For a number of years I have needed to "prove" this piece of equipment and some of the innovations it brought with it. In fact, some technology that we were considering removing, is now common place on similar equipment. I guess we were ahead of our time!

WHY DIDN'T I Patent THEM?

K.O. had approached me in March, asking me if I might consider getting the equipment out and bringing it to his shop which is closer to Abilene. He told me he would like to learn about how it operates and would help "making some changes" and getting it operational.

K.O. is very gifted in being able to tear a piece of equipment down, analyze it, and either re-assemble it or make it better!

After we retrieved the equipment and arrived at K.O.'s, it took us just a half hour to have it running. Not running well, but running. After my next day in the parts store I arrived carrying boxes of remedies! Lubricants, plugs, wires, carburetor kit, and other sundry items. K.O. and Marolen kitted the carburetor, I took on the plugs and wiring projects. Then we began lubricating and freeing up chains and linkages.

Before long we could operate and test the equipment and we began showing it and talking with prospective customers.

Probably the biggest problems with the equipment project has been budget and time. Nothing different there. We have slowly acquired the pieces and technology we wanted to install. Everything is now on site. The time side of the equation has been even harder.

After surgery in early June, I lost the entire month of June and a portion of July. In fact even now I will find myself sometimes doing a little more than my body is ready for.

K.O. has had some other projects going on and has been in Oklahoma participating in a couple of shows. This weekend he has gone to the lake for an outing with his extended family and will be returning Monday. This has been no problem so far but I am beginning to spazz. I am in need of K.O.'s welding expertise in modifying the mount for one of the hydraulic pumps. I can turn the wrenches, I can tear down and rebuild most items, but I have never fooled myself by proclaiming to be a welder. The one final project piece is changing a couple of gear sets in the power take-off and installing the assembled unit.

I am finding K.O. and my personal traits to be very conflicting. I am early to bed, early to rise. He is late to bed, late to rise. I would rather be done early than just in the nick of time. I find I fret over approaching deadlines, he needs them to perform.

Isaac and I, probably along with Chris, are spraying primer paint today. Isaac has been busying himself cleaning, sanding and prep-ing for the primer. He worked on the equipment yesterday. I worked in the parts store. About four he arrived at the parts store and proclaimed the equipment "ready" for paint.

Once again I am finding my little work truck loaded down with steel, tools and paint supplies.

If I get there early I may install the exhaust system, install a drive line and tackle the gear sets. Shoot if it goes well I may see if I can find the welders hood.

Hey, I didn't say I can't weld, I just don't do it as well as some people!

The parts store has been somewhat slow due to weather yet at the end of nearly every day I am amazed at how many parts walk out the door.

Chris has been difficult to work with. It's odd how a relationship sometimes complicates things. He has also seemed to be extremely attention deficit and generally uninterested in the business. Yesterday saw him and D.B. go to lunch and return an hour and fifty minutes later. If I were taking my lunch and eating at the store it wouldn't really matter, but for the last month or so I have been eating lunch with Memama and Pepa. I don't know how many times Pepa called yesterday wanting to know when I was coming. I told them to go ahead and eat. I arrived about two fifteen!

I don't think it is a big issue if Chris fudges on his lunch hour but I think he should be considerate of his co-workers. I suppose the alarming thing is that I have begun to see a few tell tale signs that make me wonder if Chris is in this business for the long haul.

I talked with my "buds" at the seasonal jobsite yesterday. Krispy told me that when Krl and I move there in another six weeks, we need to pack our Easter clothes! They have been blessed with good rains and estimates are that we will eclipse the records we set in 2005.

Wow!

When I visited with the GM he told me of several developments. Of course one is the new large seed warehouse on site that will make my life much easier. The second is a proposal to transport the cotton bales over three times the distance we normally do. Instead of Sweetwater the destination would be the metroplex! Our contract calls for Sweetwater and has two years remaining. I am afraid this development could negate any improvement the seed warehouse makes. It would increase equipment and driver requirements by about 600%.

Preliminary numbers estimate 1600 loads to be shipped to the metroplex and about 3000 loads of seed to be shipped to Lubbock!

Krl didn't think the Easter clothes joke was funny as she knows we were on site for six months and two days in 2005. She also realizes that the change in destination would mean roughly an additional three quarters of a million miles over about five months or so!

Double wow!

Happy anniversary to Pat and Hag! I'm not sure how many, but it is close to thirty!

On a funny note concerning them, one of Hag's friends who works for a farm equipment dealer was in the parts store yesterday. He told me he had sold Hag a boll buggy for the cotton harvest. I knew Pat had told Hag she was getting new flooring before he could buy a boll buggy! I asked the equipment salesman if he knows how to lay flooring. He told me he thinks he is going to have to learn how!

Pat runs a hard bargain!

Quentin is lots of fun but seeing him made me sad again about his brother Casey! It is hard to believe he has been gone thirteen years next month, I think.

Have a good weekend.

As for me, what's a weekend?

FATHER, keep me centered and focused. Give me patience and purpose. Thank YOU for YOUR blessing of rain for my friends and family. I ask that YOU bless them with a bountiful harvest. Thank YOU for opportunities! YOU are good.

I am worn out!

At least mentally, but that was no big feat!

I enlisted some help with the equipment program. If you know me you have some idea of how my brain works. Rather than me taking time off, I hired a young man to help me. My justification is that rather than having "no" income, I'll just have less.

Spread the wealth!

Actually, this young man is a friend of Chris's and is splitting time between the store and my project with hope of further employment hanging in the balance. This young man worked at a convenience store across the street from the parts store. Recently he was told to throw the left over deli items in the dumpster. In the course of doing this, he had given his brother three corn dogs. This is something that all of the employees sometimes do, but for some reason the manager took exception this particular time. The manager told the employee that he was going to jail and that he would be fired. The employee offered to pay for the corn dogs. The manager refused. The corn dogs never left the store. Law enforcement was contacted, the employee taken into custody and jailed. The employee bonded out and returned to work to learn he had been fired.

All for three corn dogs.

The latest news is that the store manager was afraid the young man was a threat to her job!

Someone should beat the woman with a soggy corn dog! (Or even worse, one of those crispy hard ones that has been under the lights too long!).

Seems like the "expired" food should be used somewhere rather than trashed.

The new project employee and prospective store employee was very impressive in his first day at the store. He likes to stay busy. I even began showing him some things that I do to make the office flow better. It was an opportune time, end of month. Lots of paperwork to shuffle. We will hopefully begin getting statements out today! I am hopeful that when I am at the seasonal jobsite I can come in a day or two a week for a few hours and help with or deflect some work away from Pat, especially if the new employee can lend a hand.

Of course if history repeats itself, I will probably put things in place where I work myself out of a job!

After my Monday I might not complain. Monday when we closed the store Chris asked me to take him South of town to the farm his Dad was working on. I didn't begin the hour drive home until between seven fifteen and seven thirty, which put me home after eight in the evening.

Chris had been summoned to the farm for one of those Father Son talks.

Monday when I arrived at work there was a young lady sitting in the side chair in the office, Chris was sitting behind the desk, both were drinking a large cup of Chris's coffee. Chris introduced her. "Uncle Don, this is my girl friend", he said.

I don't know how I did it, but I didn't faint. I acknowledged her, and had enough of my senses to remember her name. Later in the day, after she had left, I told Chris they looked like an old married couple drinking coffee in the morning.

Mid-afternoon, "girlfriend" returned. I called Pat, thinking she might like to meet the young woman. Actually Pat thought I had been kidding about the girlfriend.

Myself, I think it made Chris throw his chest out and stand a little taller. Chris is not a seasoned veteran of dating. I would bet I could count the number of dates he has had on one hand and not even threaten to use my thumb.

Pat thought this is part of the growing up process. She was excited for Chris that someone could look past the scars and vision disability the car fire left on him as a five month old infant.

But! Pat and I seem to be in the minority. Shoot, we aren't marrying him off! We're just letting him be normal!

Chris's Dad, Hag, came unglued! Aunt Krl did the same.

I did tell Chris that no girl would ever be good enough in Hag's eyes.

Chris's Mom told him that it took JR twelve years to finally win over Hag enough to marry Chris's sister. (Chirs's Dad may be a push-over compared to Chris's sister!).

I told Chris that I did the math and in twelve years the current girlfriend would be mid thirties. We might want to go with a younger model! (There was a sister of one of his friends who came in the parts store. Gorgeous red hair, fair fair skin, cute as a button. We were helping her acquire a set of flip flop car mats. She had left her phone number with us and I told Chris he should file it away. His response was, "Uncle Don, she ain't eighteen!").

Nope she ain't, but in twelve years she will be twenty-seven or twenty-eight!

Of course, we are apprehensive that Chris's heart will be broken. The current girlfriend came on the scene last Friday. A friend of one of Chris's roommates came by Chris's house and the girlfriend was with him. Turns out she dumped the friend of a friend and hooked up with Chris. I haven't given Chris that speech yet, but I'm perfecting it. (You know, "If she did it to him she will do it to you!"

For the time being, "puppy love" is howling at the parts store!

Gotta get!

Have a great day!

FATHER, work YOUR plan.