As per usual, if I take a day off from posting it means something has gone wrong somewhere.

AND.............. that was the case Monday, and yesterday.

Our truck numbers have been down since last Friday when one driver abruptly quit, then Monday afternoon the driver who has been an ongoing problem had an accident and jackknifed his rig. I would predict insurance will total it out. Worst part is it appears we lost a trailer too, and trailers are a precious commodity.

The truck driver was running out of route when a vehicle stopped abruptly in front of him before turning their left signal light on and proceeding to the intersection. The truck driver locked up his brakes and moved to the right to avoid a rear end collision. The truck left the asphalt, rotated completely around into the side of the trailer and hit a culvert. According to the DPS, the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident fled the scene. This was the driver's story and was corroborated by a witness. The truck driver was transported by ambulance to the ER at Big Spring and was complaining of pain in his side. After x-rays and examination, the doctor determined the injuries to be minor consisting of bruised ribs. The driver was released.

The DPS officer was complimenting the driver for his actions in avoiding what could have been much worse. That praise ended when the officer was going through the truck and found an un-opened can of beer in the bunk. This is a no, no according to the DOT. The driver argued that this was not his but the officer made him take a breathalyzer test. The driver blew a 0.0. Which was good. Rick and Jake drove over from Sweetwater and Rick did a post accident drug screen on the driver, results should be back today.

That put us two trucks down Monday.

Yesterday morning the driver of truck 15 came to me and asked if we could talk. He told me he had received a call from his ex-wife and she had driven from El Paso to Eagle pass and dropped their kids off. He told her he wasn't in Eagle Pass, she said that wasn't her problem and she was enroute back to El Paso. The kids are either 10 and 12 or 12 and 14. The driver told me he had to go tend to his kids. He said he might be gone a day or two or he might be gone for good.

I told the driver from the wreck he could run truck 15 until the driver determined what his plans were. Obviously he chose not to because he left with the other man returning to Eagle Pass.

Make that three trucks down.

Rick found me one new driver but he can't be here until Thursday. K.O. is sending me a truck for a day or two, but he can't be here until this morning. I contacted another contractor who has worked with me before and he can have me two trucks sometime between Sunday and Wednesday.

It seems that we are on the extreme edges this year. Either extremely good or extremely bad.

Crazy thing is when things are extremely good on my end I am not calling. I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It seems when things are going extremely bad I call in telling Pepa, Jake, Rick or whoever, what is going on and what needs to happen, but after the initial call, there is very little flow of information. Usually this means they are having difficulty putting together a package to diffuse the situation. I realize too that they have complications due to help and contractor problems. But, lack of information or mis-information makes it difficult to develop a realistic plan at my location.

This is where Fred was so good. He always saw the entire field with all the possibilities, and when pressed to do it, he could pull a rabbit out of his hat.

We had a bit of relief yesterday when we ran a large seed block. That meant an influx of five outside trucks. To be honest, we hardly noticed the influx we were getting so behind. The GM had told me to put some seed into the house for us to continue to haul during seed blocks. I put ten loads in there and by yesterdays end, we had only taken one load out. Of course there were several things that happened that complicated things.

The GM purchased a belt conveyor. It is not designed for what he is trying to do with it. I had told him and the board that it was not necessary, we just needed a loader that could reach over the trailer sides, and eliminate the conveyor step. I have no idea what the GM paid for this albatross, but it was under powered from the get go. Last Friday he knew our plan to try to move some seed form the seed house. Monday he called the electricians and had them bring a larger motor for the conveyor. Turns out they had to re-wire the conveyor, replace the breaker box and build a new extension cord (150 feet of #10 multi-wire cable). The old cord, which was nearly two weeks old cost about eight hundred dollars, and now it is a castoff. The electricians however did not install the new motor because it was going to require some fabrication. This duty was relegated to Frank the Plant Superintendent. This scenario has always been the GM's mode of operation. He won't buy what he needs to. He will under buy and then throw money at it trying to make it right. As our luck would have it, we had four seed trucks arrive all together. Santos was loading trucks from overhead bin 1 and Julio was loading trucks from overhead bin 2. They obviously thought they had more seed than they did because the third truck was short eight thousand pounds and the fourth truck (which was loading at the same time) got only eight or nine thousand pounds. Greg the burr contractor had brought in a large loader earlier in the week and he told me if we needed it, the keys were in it. In my mind, being short on trucks, I needed to get these guys loaded and gone so they could return. I went into the shop where Frank had the conveyor to check on the progress because I knew the GM wanted to test the new configuration. No one was there, so I took Julio and we got the large loader Greg made available to me. In short time we were through loading both trucks. Just about the time we were cleaning up, the GM arrived and he was livid. "Who told us we could use that loader", "Did we know how to operate it", and "I knew he wanted to test his conveyor", I answered all of his accusations, "Greg told me if we needed his loader to get it". "So far we haven't run over anything". And, "Excuse me, but if you look over my shoulder there are still nine loads to be loaded from the seed house and if you look behind you there is a truck I have no driver for! You don't know how I wanted to ask him, "where is your conveyor". I went to find Greg and when I did, he had gotten a butt chewing too. As it turns out, the conveyor was not finished yesterday because the GM had not requisitioned drive belts.

The real reason the GM didn't want us to load without the conveyor is he didn't want anyone to know we could. If he looks stupid that is his problem. He did tell Greg that he wanted to be damn sure Greg and I knew who was running this operation! (For about five more months and then he is gone, they are forcing him to retire.).

Baby cry!

I have always enjoyed the messages on the sign at the Baptist Church in Garden City. They always are cute and or thought provoking. This week it asks, "Are you living or existing".

I think at this moment I am struggling to exist.

How 'bout you?

Have a day!

FATHER, I know, patience. YOUR love is lifting me higher.