Silence is golden.

The sound of silence.

Silent morning.

What a gorgeous sound this morning. Actually it hasn't been that way since I woke, but I was laying in bed when Barco took the plant down for a maintenance Sunday. First the seed blower quieted, then you could hear the multiple fans which power the air system as they began coasting to a stop. The last thing you could hear was the low rumbling hum of the lint cleaners as they began coasting down without power. Some of these big machines take over two minutes just to coast to a stop so it is a slow gentle progression from noisy to silent.

And boy do I need a maintenance Sunday.

Yesterday was the worst day I have had out here. I'm not talking about the trucks or the drivers or the plant. I'm talking about me. I bit off more than I should have and it had me fizzing and spurtin' before my day was out.

When Krl and I came to the jobsite we thought we would have one more weekend home in Abilene. That is how it usually happens. But not this year. We have been making a list of everything we left at home. Most importantly are some records in my desk that I need to do the quarterly reporting due by the thirty-first. So that means we (or more specifically me) will have to use the maintenance Sunday to make a mad dash to Abilene.

My heavy office work begins Friday morning with the support staff payroll. It escalates Saturday and Sunday to driver and truck settlements. What I was trying to do was finish all of my weekend duties by Saturday night. And that had me wound tighter than a mainspring! Try as I might, it always seems I have inadvertent mistakes. A missed minus sign, a number is transposed, and the list goes on and on. It is a rare occurrence when I have no mistakes. Krl's primary job is to proof the settlements and write the checks. This is only week two so I have not hit mid-season form. I finished my work and handed them over to Krl. Then I began running errands, things I am required to do on site. Copies of fuel bills, giving out transition notices of maintenance Sunday and the flip of the crews from days to nights and vice versa. It seemed like everytime I walked back in our trailer Krl had one more correction for me to make. I finally snapped at her and told her not to present them to me one at a time, give me the whole dose at once. The final problem was a missing one load of bales. I should have caught it earlier. I have a system to check between the sign outs and the settlements. Crazy thing was I had actually made two mistakes one on each side of my checks and balances and that gave the appearance of my being correct. it took me forever to figure it out! But I did. Problem was it affected several pay sheets and Krl was already out on the couch. Oh well.

I actually think I have one more settlement to do this morning. There was one driver who just signed his name. "Sam".

I started to title his settlement "Sam I Am". Or "Sam Sung". Or "Son of Sam".

I still have a few corrections from last weeks settlements, but they will be minor compared to my day yesterday.

Some of my drivers are excelling. Others are stumbling and failing badly. I'm probably in that last group too. When I hire a driver I like to tell them what is expected and then just leave them alone. If I am not having conversations with a driver, he is doing good. If he is seeing me on a regular basis, he might have a problem. Friday night saw one driver do two-thirds of what he was expected, another did none, and the last was a fill in making up for the no show who did one third of the goal. It wouldn't be too bad if the jerks would just call, but they don't. By the time we are aware of a problem with them we are stacking shipments.

I am thinking of holding paychecks until they call me or come to see me. None of these have authorized release of the pay to any one else, so usually that means they will pick them up at the plant.

Hhhhhmmmm. That might be an idea.

Well, I guess I had better get started on my maintenance Sunday. I have to lay out filters and fluids for Delfino to service forklifts. I sent parts in with Jason yesterday for the Volvo trucks that will rest on their end. Nothing major, pretty much routine or near to it.

Have a day!

FATHER, I am in need of YOUR maintenance. I give myself up to YOU to do YOUR thing!