Lots has been happening, on all fronts!

It seems as though my truckers can't remember exactly how we were doing what we were doing, and of course the worst thing you can do is park one of these trucks because it brings out the gremlins in force!

The maintenance day Thursday went almost into the night shift. Not quite as brief as Frank had hoped, but maybe everything that needed attention got it!

My three close seed trucks were supposed to be here Thursday morning. One of them made it Thursday afternoon about four, one came out Friday night and the other hasn't made it yet. My South Texas trucks began showing up early Thursday. Two of them were picking up their second loads before the time I had actually expected them to pick up their first loads. The other two showed up just about as I expected.

Bale trucks are cycling, although some what erratically.

We'll hit our stride.

My crew went 50/50. Half of them stayed until their agreed time to depart for Christmas and they returned at their appointed time. That half was rewarded with eight hours pay for Christmas Day, straight time.

The half that didn't leave correctly or return correctly received no reward.

You have no idea how thrilled I was to drive out to the plant and see Julio's smiling face Thursday morning and then Delfino's on Friday morning.

Herberto had called to tell me he was going to be a half hour late Thursday night. That stretched to two and a half hours. Penalty!

Santos came to my trailer at twelve noon Thursday to tell me he was taking his mother to Sonora. I reminded him he was scheduled to go on shift at three in the afternoon. He told me, "No problema!"

He came on at six Thursday evening. Penalty!

You live by the sword, you die by the sword!

Most readers will know by now that Kirby asked for and received his release from his scholarship at the University of Miami. The situation had deteriorated to a point that is seemed all parties thought they needed a fresh start. Miami is looking a few years down the road, Kirby is looking at moving closer to home. Kirby has completed his undergraduate degree and can transfer to another school to use up his remaining year of eligibility. If he goes to a Division 1-
AA program he wouldn't have to sit out. If he goes to a BCS School he will have to have a waiver from the NCAA. He has been working with an NCAA compliance expert trying to make sure he dots all his "i's" and crosses his "T's". He will be eligible for the waiver if the Master's program he wants to pursue is not offered at Miami but is offered at the school of his choice. Currently it appears the school of choice is Baylor. Of course when Art Briles was hired at Stephenville, Coach Freeman was his first hire. I think Art and Coach may have roomed together in the weight room for a semester! So there is a tie there.

Hopefully, Art can build Kirby's confidence level back to pre-Miami. Maybe things will work and Kirby's final year will be a good one.

And last but not least. Today would mark Fred and Linda's thirty-fourth wedding anniversary. Jake and Lindsey are getting married later today in Sweetwater. Congratulations and best wishes!

My yesterday and today have been filled with road miles. I had decided to submit my resume for the GM position here and made a flying trip to Big Spring yesterday to pick up a presentation folder. As soon as I completed the ninety plus mile trip and was walking up the step to my trailer, my phone toned and the new driver on Pepa's #15 truck was between Stanton and Lamesa with a problem. I made the drive and we did a farmer fix on it. Pepa had called telling me he was on his way and I had called him back telling him I had enough bits and pieces to fix it. He kept coming even though we were back on the road and told us to wait for him at Stanton. Once we were there we adjusted to air governor to prevent the truck from building too much pressure!

When we left Stanton, I took the lead and was briskly putting the miles behind me when I heard a noise that sounded like a tire throwing the tread. Immediately I recalled that the tire shop had not put my tools back in my truck to lower the spare to the ground! I slowed, just hoping I could make it home! About seventeen miles out I heard the noise again and slowed even more. About seven miles from the plant I heard the all too familiar noise and slowed once more. By the time I arrived at the plant I was running about fifty miles an hour.

With a sigh of relief I pulled into my parking place and a quick inspection revealed my assumptions to be true. As above better luck would have it, the tire was about halfway inflated!

Yes!

This morning I was greeted with a truck driver waiting for a fuel card. The other driver had a brain fart and took the card out of the truck. I may have to begin a penalty system where if a driver takes the card out he has to pay for the other drivers fuel with a payroll deduction.

While talking with this driver he told me he had hit two deer last night and what had remained of the plastic bumper was gone. I wasn't too bent, since I have new bumpers already prepped and painted on the Sweetwater end. What troubled me was that the center section with the license plate is missing.

Once again I drove almost all the way to Big Spring before giving up. I found two sizeable pieces of bumper, but no license tag.

Oh well. Once again as better than average luck would have it, that tag runs out Monday night.

Heh! Heh! Once again, I would rather be lucky than good!

Have a day!

FATHER, keep me sane!

I've got jet lag. I wonder how Santa feels after his whirlwind tour?

Krl and I were talking Tuesday on our way to Memama and Pepa's and I told her that Christmas day marked thirty-six years since I caught my hand in a cotton stripper. It seems as though that is about the only time I think of it any more, the physical restrictions have long been a way of life. I am sometimes amused by the thumb and two finger typing action of my right hand I have perfected over the years. (All right, almost perfected).

The day was a good day. Krl and I both were almost overwhelmed by the crowd at Memama's. Having been twelve or fifteen years since we had last been there, the family has grown considerably. And some weren't there this year, Rian's family alone would add five.

I guess my group is the only one that would receive a failing grade. While Krl and I attended, none of the kids did. Fred's, Pat, Stevies, and TJ's family attended 100%.

There were thirty-five of us there, the group was rounded out by Hag's Dad and step-Mom. Hag's step-Mom was a tremendous help in the kitchen.

Probably the biggest surprise for Krl and I was E and T.J.'s family drove in Monday. It was good to be with them.

There was lots of visiting and a delicious meal was consumed.

In the afternoon everyone gave Memama and Pepa their gifts and then participated in the white elephant gift exchange. We had several hot items that changed hands several times before they finally were "in" possession for a third time. I would have to say that coach's family had the best game plan and executed it well.

Now there is no reason for them not to complete their house project!

There were some neat little presents this year. Pat had gotten a picture of TJ (I think it was her school nurse picture taken last year) and had 8 x 10's made for all of us. Pat also had taken the old 8mm home movies and had them put on video tape a few years ago. This year she had them transferred to DVD.

I watched old home movies for a long time yesterday.

In a few family news items, Jake's fiance Lindsey was there. They will be married in two days.
By the way, Rian is conducting the ceremony.

Kirby's fiancee Kira (I hope that is close to the spelling) was in attendance. She may have been in shock by the family.

Steph and JR were there and confirmed the fact that they are expecting.

Robyn's beau Jarad was with her. This could be getting serious.

Colby's and Courtney's new baby Kennedy Faith made her debut and is probably sore from all the holding and spoiled from all the rocking.

And last but not least, I visited with Christy and she confirmed that she and Jason are expecting. It has been a long process but she said so far the invitro has been successful. She told Krl and I that doctors implanted two embryo's and all the tests have looked good so far. In fact they had to be in Fort Worth yesterday morning at eight-thirty for a checkup.

There were the noticeable voids left by Fred's and TJ's absence but it was also evident that the healing is progressing, albeit slowly.

Krl and I had planned to go to Lubbock yesterday to take the boy's Christmas to them. That plan changed when Rian was asked to be a pall bearer at Mrs. Scott's funeral in Stamford.

We will try again at some later date.

Krl and I didn't do much yesterday, although Krl did a lot more than I did. She did laundry and dishes and some general cleaning. I cooked breakfast, laid around, watched the movies, and cat napped during the afternoon.

Late in the day I began getting depressed knowing this is our last reprieve until the end of the season. From here on out the most we can expect are the scheduled maintenance Sunday's.

I am beginning to wonder who of my crew won't show up when they are supposed to. I pretty much had Pepa's day filled with repairs he needed to do to his trucks and to BS 22. I even did a drive around to see what trailers are on "the other" end that need tires and or welding etc..... .

In the morning I will probably call and have the drivers take the trucks in for servicing before they return to the jobsite.

I have begun to put a plan in place for when we turn the cotton from Sweetwater to Lubbock for a few days after the first of the year. I am so glad we didn't do the Flower Mound destination. Everyone I talk with says it is a mess, and to me it still doesn't make a lot of sense.

I guess in my spare time I will begin sprucing up my resume. I have about decided to submit it for the GM position out here. I had decided not to, but had a couple of patrons talk with me last week telling me that it doesn't cost anything to enter and if the job were made available a guy wouldn't have to take it. By submitting my resume, I am just expanding the window of time and possibilities.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for a good day at Memama's and Pepa's. Thank YOU for memories old and new, and for possibilities. Bless-ed by YOUR name.

Merry Christmas!

FATHER, thank YOU for baby JESUS, for friends and family.

Christmas Eve gift!

Dad nabbit, I was so snoozing until I had a muscle cramp.

Krl and I went into town for a brief time yesterday. Just a few items to pickup, and of course we wanted to eat.

Kohl's, Academy, Target, the mall, Wal-Mart, and Chili's!

We ordered the new mattress for the RV. We are so excited. They had my contour memory foam pillow in stock and I slept on it last night. If that is any indication of what the mattress will do for sleep, I may never get out of bed! In fact I had slept so hard when I woke I looked in the mirror just to make sure Krl hadn't been holding the pillow over my face!

Just kidding.

We have Addie's Christmas loaded up in the SUV. Kat's is bagged or wrapped and sitting in the trailer. The grand boys things still wait for wrapping.

My sincerest sympathy goes out to Theo Scott's family. Mrs. Scott left this world yesterday at the age of 97. She was quite a woman.

Christmas is on us once again.

I think back to growing up in a church that worked so hard not to recognize or celebrate Christmas. It was almost like those efforts not to were almost better than if they had celebrated.

My thoughts are simple on this matter. If you believe in Christ's death and resurrection, you have to believe in his birth. For if there is no beginning there can be no end, meaning no hope for us.

I will say that Christmas has become distorted and way to commercial. I can't help but think the Wise Men's gift giving was much simpler.

Be safe. Have a day!

FATHER, Oh, Holy night!

We are down to four hands and Krl and myself. Two on the ground buys operating forklifts, two truck drivers, and two of us waiting in support.

I had one driver have a brain fart last night. It was shortly after midnight when I happened to check my phone and had two missed calls. One driver forgot to disconnect one of his air lines when he was changing trailers and drove away, pulling the line in to.

I slipped on my jeans, got my pickup keys and began making my way to the bale dock. I quickly surveyed the scene and opened the back door of my truck and removed a blue air service line from a package, made my way to the rear of the truck and picked up some tools and began removing the damaged line. About this time the driver came from inside the plant with a couple of wrenches and began telling me, "Boss, it was all my fault!".

This is the driver who is always trying to tell me what I am doing wrong.

I asked him, "Is this the first time you have ever done this?".

"No", he replied.

"What part of this exercise do you NOT understand?", I asked.

The driver went on to tell me he became distracted while disconnecting his trailer and forgot to unhook his red service line. That is reassuring. What if he got distracted and forgot to stop at an intersection!

I guess in this driver's book two out of three is acceptable! (Red, blue, and light pigtail.).

The funniest thing was when he saw I had brought a blue service line he told me, "I don't need a blue one, I need a red one." I told him he was getting a blue one because it was all I had, take it or leave it.

The service air line and emergency air lines are color coded to aid in knowing where to connect them. In no way will air brake operation be impeded, it will mean the driver is going to have to use his noggin' when hooking up.

I will report it was cold at one o'clock this morning when I made my way back to the trailer.

At the morning coffee table the GM reported his thermometer read 19 degrees!

Yikes!

Nine hours and a handful of minutes before the big plant coasts down!

The countdown for the jolly little fat man has begun!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for getting us to this point. I pray you will see us through!

The Exodus has begun.

I surprised my South Texas seed haulers and had checks and Christmas cards ready late yesterday. I told them "Anytime after midnight", meaning you are free to go!

All of them displayed the work ethic that has endeared them to me as they all took one more load to Lubbock before turning their rigs toward home!

We changed the valve shortly after shift change this morning and began putting seed into the large warehouse we had worked so hard to empty.

Yesterday was the day from H-E-L-L! The office manager had asked me if I would move my billing up from Monday to Friday at five in the evening, then she asked to move it to noon! All of my guys were wanting their checks prior to the holiday, so that meant a real thrash! We got it done but Krl and I may not be worth much today or tomorrow!

On the other hand, it feels good to be done with it. Right now we will just monitor bale trucks and shipments while we watch the calendar and clock waiting for seven Sunday evening!

Silent Night has a whole new meaning out here!

On our latest trek to town (Thursday) I wandered into the comfort sleep shop in the mall. I had seen advertisements before and was curious. I laid in their bed to get my sleep number and then tried all the other mattresses. I am very impressed with their product. Usually my shoulders are what wakes me as I toss and turn trying to get comfortable. I will report that I never had any pain while trying out their bed. I even called Krl to come down and try it out. Now when I wake up in the night from discomfort I have visions of sleep comfort dancing in my head!

Dear Santa, .................................

Krl and I have been laughing about the aging process! I summed it up the other day in three ways. You are getting old when you can remember mustard coming in wide mouthed glass jars. You are getting old when butter beans become "putter" beans. And, you are getting old when one of life's great pleasures is as simple as urinating.

Dang, I am getting old!

Hope you are ready for the holidays!

FATHER, keep us on task!

You have no idea how much we are looking forward to this big plant coasting to a halt Sunday night!

Our day was shot early on yesterday, so Krl and I didn't make our trek to town. This week the nightly bale haulers have had an ethnic week. Go figure. They talk a good show but can't seem to back it up. I brought in outside trucks to haul three loads just to catch up their slack. I think one driver has four and a half loads the last three nights.

On the other end, our resident Einstein truck driver dazzled us with his stupidity and laziness. He has hauled three loads of seed the last two days. For many of our drivers that would constitute a regular day. In addition, this driver messed up a bumper and lost considerable productivity time due to a brain fart. I warned him that we, (meaning he and I) are going to bump heads.

Our big seed storage house is EMPTY. It was clean yesterday and all that is there today is where a truck off loaded a little seed to get legal. In the next half hour that may change, as we have room for one more load in our overhead boxes. My plan continues to be to run in the seed house beginning Saturday morning, until we shut down Sunday night.

I spent a little time on the computer yesterday afternoon doing a little shopping. Krl had an item for one on her list and I added two for two more.

I still contend I could get into shopping on line from a margarita bar! A little Mexican lemonade, some chips, salsa, and my laptop! The only thing that would make it better is if I could do it barefoot and in my jogs and "T".

We are going to try to do the town deal again today. Krl lost or misplaced her list on Tuesday, so she has had to revamp it. I guess we will wait and see when Krl gets up.

We had a strange night here. Most nights I spend on the couch. Close to the phone and to the door if someone has a problem. Last night we all went to bed in the bedroom. Shortly after midnight I woke up and found Krl and Phoo Do on the couch, I woke them and we all went to bed again. About four I got up and found them on the couch again. I returned to bed and Maple Syrple cuddled up and began snoring. About six I got up for good and moved into the living room and began readying to make my shift change rounds. It was then I realized that Maple had accomplished exactly what she wanted. She had the bed all to herself! That was short lived because when I turn the light on over my desk Krl and Phoo got up and retreated to the bedroom.

Maybe my luck is changing. We were close to filling the over head seed boxes when I saw a truck come in.

Once again I would rather be lucky than good!

Have a day!

FATHER, get us to our break. Rest us. Renew us.

I figured I had better post something before someone puts out an APB.

Lots has been happening. Some good, some bad. We continue to operate at extremes. We're either real good, or really bad. Yesterday and the previous night, we were really bad. At both ends of the compound. The first thing that happened was just about midnight truck 77 hit a buck deer, the deer tumbled in front of the truck before it went under it. As luck would have it, the left front steer tire ran over an antler and was punctured. I called Jake, Jake called his tire man. Jake calls me back and tells me he is going to have to go over to the tire man's house to wake him and send him. Eight o'clock yesterday morning the tire man calls me and he is still in Sweetwater. That truck was sitting for twelve hours.

Needless to say, we had bales everywhere. On trailers and on the ground. They were sending help, but I went ahead and called my local man in. Turns out the help from the other end didn't show until last night for one load. My local had already hauled two.

In the mean time, the seed trucks let their guard down and we filled the overhead hoppers and began putting seed back in the house. We can't win for losing. Turns out one truck stopped to get a heater control cable installed and another had to have some bell housing bolts drilled out and replaced. I know these guys are looking at that Saturday bogey! I don't blame them but it is still frustrating.

Last night both bale trucks hauled only two loads each instead of their customary three. I think we have a problem in the making there. I have already begun measures to fix it.

Krl and I ventured into town yesterday and did some shopping. We made some head way but the best part was margarita's at On the Border. I think I could take my laptop and shop on-line from there! We are planning another trek today and will probably take a lunch break to Logan's.

Our plans are beginning to come together. We will take Addie's Christmas to Angelo on Monday, go to Roscoe to Memama and Pepa's on Christmas Day, and on the twenty-sixth we are planning to go to Lubbock to take the boys gifts and inspect the new brat! I told Rian I knew we were crowding it because I think there is a one week limit on returns!

Hope you are getting in the holiday spirit! Have a day!

FATHER, get us through this!

One of my many duties at the compound is coordinating the "live-floor" trailers and trucks which haul the seed block or breeding seed. These trucks are equipped with trailers that convey or walk the load off.

For several years I have used primarily one company out of Lubbock. This company has been pretty good to work with until lately. On several occasions I have caught the dispatcher not being totally honest with me. This past weekend the dispatcher was going deer hunting. In fact he left Wednesday or Thursday, but he told me he would have his phone with him if I needed to book trucks. Friday and over the weekend, I left him messages on his personal cell phone and on the company truck's Northstar system, but he never returned a call. Last evening Frank, the plant superintendent, called me wanting to talk. We had to either make alternate arrangements or cancel if our regular truck provider was not available. I called the dispatcher one last time and he didn't answer. Then just as I was returning to the office to talk with Frank, my phone rang. It was him and he told me he had received no messages, no indication of my having called any of his numbers. I went ahead and told him what we were wanting to schedule and he told me he couldn't do it until mid-week. What he didn't know and doesn't to this time, is that I had been talking around him when I couldn't get hold of him, and I learned from this source that the dispatcher is at odds with this particular seed breeding company over pay issues and is no longer hauling for them until these issues are properly addressed. I can understand his dilemma, but I am a third party contact that has no agenda other than needing a truck. If he isn't going to work for that particular vendor, more power to him, but don't lie to me!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Krl and I tried to leave the compound to go buy milk and pickup a pizza in Stanton. We have one idiot truck driver who has a problem any time we leave the compound. Yesterday was no exception. When I returned I did a farmer fix to his rig even though I had already made arrangements for a new part to come on a bale truck. After investing over an hour, this jackass told me he would just wait for the new part.

Hey if I had known that I would have stayed in my trailer and enjoyed my pizza while it was hot!

Well, Krl is waiting. Got to go to the bank.

Have a day!

Oh FATHER, help!

I'd much prefer being lucky than good, but If possible I'd rather be both.

As regular readers are aware, due to developments we lost two of our workers in the past four or five days. One the result of reckless behavior and alcohol, the other to take his Dad to his grandmother's because of a family medical emergency.

The remaining "on the ground guys", as I refer to them, have stepped up to meet the challenge and I really appreciate that. I have told them I see no reason to expect to fill the two vacancies before Christmas break and everyone seemed to agree.

Last evening I was approached about a man who would be interested in coming. He has forklift experience and could be available after Christmas.

This morning I was approached again about a man to fill the other position. He is coming from Tennessee and is already in Fort Worth. He could be here possibly tomorrow.

Wow!

When I began to report on these developments to the crew, one of them stepped up and told me, "If I knew you were seriously looking I had a cousin wanting to work, but I thought you weren't going to fill the positions until after the holiday".

So, It would appear that very soon we will be maxed out with employees once again.

I think we have suffered all the casualties we would expect with the holiday. Frank is holding his breath about his crews inside the plant. Customarily, he will lose a couple on each shift when they go home for Christmas. I figure if we have warm bodies interested in coming we had better take advantage of them. Between the other contractors, the plant and myself, someone will be able to use them.

I finished brokering the deal for Herberto that will allow him to ride home with relatives. He was scheduled to work Sunday the 23rd, getting off at 7pm. His ride is leaving at 7am. Julio accepted my offer to change shifts and then pick up Herberto's Sunday shift.

I just love it when a plan come together!

The big seed storage warehouse is almost empty, maybe two loads remain. The high winds prohibited loading from there most of the day yesterday. The GM has gotten off my case about the excess inventory now that he has seen how quickly it can disappear. I think it was a shock to him that there weren't as many loads in there as he thought.

Twenty-two degrees out here this morning. All the puddles are frozen, ice on the cars. Most of the residents of the trailer park left faucets dripping so water lines wouldn't freeze. It's cold enough that everyone is scurrying about trying to get back to protected areas.

Even the houndgirls are acting spry with the cold, crisp, weather.

Yesterday I visited with Memama and she asked me if we might come to her house for Christmas dinner. I shocked her when I told her that was our plan. Krl and I had discussed it quite a while ago and made the decision to go. We just hadn't told anyone until yesterday. Krl talked with Memama last night and told me she sounded excited.

Right now, our Christmas plans look like this. Christmas Eve Day we will probably deliver Addison's gifts to San Angelo. Christmas Eve, we will return to the trailer and have a quiet evening together. Christmas we will go to Memama's and Pepa's. We have some things to discuss about the 26th so I won't divulge them until later.

The GM was quizzing me as to what my holiday plans were. I am sure he is looking for someone to act as watchman for the yards, just in case we had a fire. Two years ago I did it, but this year we aren't going to be around!

We are almost through with settlements and billing. I think If I have just a few minutes I can get it done. O.K., make it a half hour.

Krl and I are getting stir crazy for civilization. We know we are going to have to go to town this coming week. I did pop off and tell Krl that I was thinking of making the drive to Stanton to get a pizza today. She readily agreed that was a good thought!

We are ready for some warmer temperatures. We have about depleted our cold weather menu and and supplies! We get tickled at our menu, we have eaten a pot of taco soup, beans, stew, and Krl cooked a pot of butter beans all day yesterday! I think she got all the good out of her hambone. I even started the fire under them again this morning. I think some things are better the second day!

I'll be honest, our biggest dilemma is we are out of corn bread mix!

Drew Deagan is supposed to go home today. Rian spent the day with Reid and Holt yesterday allowing them some time at home. Rian said he rotated all the car seats to make room for Drew. He said Reid is thrilled, while Holt keeps telling him that Drew's car seat is "mine". I told Rian again that he needed to make Holt an appointment with a counselor. He is already suffering from the middle child syndrome.

Have a day. Keep those home fires burning!

FATHER, forgive me when I am impatient with YOUR plan for me. LORD lead me on.

Yesterday seemed to be a muddle of a day. Nothing horrific, nothing outstanding. As for me, I wasn't much in the mood to do anything, which was bad because I had lots that needed done.

Pay cycle began, work on settlements, forklift hydraulic hose, fill in for Roy on the loader, work on billing.

In the middle of all this I had a visit from a former employee. This man had been a Jekyll and Hyde in past years. Feast or famine. He kept telling me he was an insomniac and would be a running dervish. His Dad just quit trucking and gave this man his truck. But, and there always is one, this man has a serious blemish on his driving record which makes insurance a problem.

This man told me how sorry he was about Fred and how Fred had been like a second Daddy to him and when he learned of Fred's passing, he cried like a baby. I couldn't help but think of all the chances Fred gave this man.

I caught myself wondering if this man might have gotten past some of the problems of the past. He told me he was working in the oil field and was not happy doing it but it was a job. He is newly married and relocated to Monahans.

Then any hope I had for him evaporated as he told me his new wife and his brother were in the car with him. His brother is the scourge of the earth.

I keep thinking of that old saying: You can't wrestle with a pig without getting dirty.

The brother reeks of abuses. Alcohol, drugs, you name it.

I think I'll pass for now. Thankfully, we are at capacity with drivers.

I think we will empty the seed house today. It was a slow process for a while but when it began to avalanche down, it has decreased rapidly. The GM had been asking me when we were going to empty it and I told him it would be empty before Christmas. He and a few patrons had made comments about it being full. Full, the seed house would hold between a hundred and a hundred twenty-five loads. As of last evening we were approaching sixty, with maybe four additional loads remaining.

When I saw the GM last evening he asked me when we were going to begin filling it up again.

Sometimes you can't win for losing.

I told him December 22.

Why is it you can't lose for winning?

The problem employee's brother came out yesterday and retrieved all the personal belongings from the trailer. Mark, the constable, handled all the arrangements and interactions. The former employee didn't come in person because he sobered up and realized his good fortune at not being jailed and he didn't want to risk that again.

That was probably a good thing, because Keith, a deputy told Mark if he saw the man, he would be going to jail. I think the biggest problem is no drivers license or ID, and the stolen license plates on his car.

Thankfully, we close that chapter and begin a new one.

Herberto requested permission to move into the vacant trailer and will begin moving today.

I have rambled enough. I think my brain has downloaded enough useless spam that I can move on to seed truck and driver settlements.

Have a day!

FATHER, bless-ed be YOUR name!

I am entering today knowing it is going to be a better day. I do this with great confidence because they don't get any worse than yesterday.

The plant has been on a horrible run. Fire after fire, choke-up after choke-up.

And then there are employees.

The last two nights the plant has processed three hundred bales one night and a whopping one hundred sixty-five the next. Late yesterday, the GM, the burr contractor and myself were all in the office at the scale counter when the yard man came in asking, "Is that smoke or dust billowing from the plant?" The GM assured him is was dust. I was not so sure because it behaved like smoke. The burr contractor wasn't sure either so he went around back to check on his charges.

Turns out it was smoke. I walked across the road and met the burr contractor and when we opened the door to the plant we were greeted with a wall of smoke. We ventured in to the the next door and couldn't see anything so we turned back and exited. Without a doubt, that was the worst fire I have seen in all the years I have been here. I don't know how Frank and his boys did it but they stayed in there fighting it until they had it out, some three hours later. The fires did recur later in the night.

Right in the middle of this, shift change was suppose to occur. I had seen Jose C. arrive at the compound traveling at a high rate of speed. He went to his trailer before coming to his station. When he began to drive to his station he began burning rubber and doing donuts in the parking area. I started for where he was located when he barreled out and went to the other end. I arrived back there and he did the same thing spinning wildly around before driving through the ditch and on to the county road, going back to the other end.

About this time the burr contractor came to me telling me Jose had almost hit some of the burr men who were working on a truck and that I needed to get that man situated. I went to the other end of the compound and caught up with Jose. He was sitting in his car, when I approached him and asked if we have a problem. "No", he responded, "I gotte tamales" and he began to laugh. I then asked him if he was drinking and he told me yes, he had been drinking in the afternoon but not in the night. I told him had obviously consumed enough in the afternoon because he was very drunk and it wasn't far into the night. I told him he was not going to work in that condition and that he needed to go to his trailer, get something to eat and sleep it off. We would try it again tomorrow night. He got out of the car and began cursing and threatening me, telling me he was going to work because he wanted the hours and the pay. When I told him again that wasn't going to happen, he became even more belligerent. I finally told him he could go sleep it off and report Thursday night and still have a job or he could continue and lose his job. He told me, give him his check, he didn't want to work for me any more.

Of course by now, I didn't want him as an employee. I began to make my way to my trailer to figure his time and prepare his pay information for Krl. On the bottom of the sheet I put that he was dismissed for reporting to work drunk and endangering other workers. Krl wrote his check slipped it and his settlement into an envelope and I exited my trailer. About this time Mark, the constable and a good friend of mine drove up. The GM had summoned him. I filled Mark in on what was going on this time and that earlier in the year this employee and pulled a gun on another employee during an altercation. I didn't want Mark walking into a situation thinking it was just a mean drunk and ending up getting hurt. Jose responded to the lawman very well, especially after backup arrived, but before long he began getting irate again. Before it was all over, they impounded Jose's car, he had stolen tags, no insurance and the title hadn't been transferred from his buying it in 2005. They gave him a choice of laying it out in one of the empty bunkhouses or spending the night at the Glasscock Hilton as a guest of the county. He chose the bunkhouse as was told if he left a limited area he would be arrested. At two-thirty this morning they checked on him and he was there sleeping, but at four thirty he was gone. No one is quite sure of where or how he left but he is gone and he left all his belonging in the company travel trailer.

I was told this morning Jose was wanting to go home early for Christmas and thought if I fired him he could draw unemployment benefits. Of course with his daredevil car driving and verbal threats that is out the window.

I was really surprised how when Jose got really threatening a number of people appeared. Later they told me they were there just in case Jose got physical. On two occasions I had people tell me to be really careful dealing with him, and I appreciated their concern as well.

Jose is a pretty good sized man and everyone knows he has a crazy streak that when fuel by alcohol, never ends on a good note.

Oh well, that just saved the company another incentive bonus. That's two this week.

I had a call, actually two calls, telling me that Drew made his debut about 8:22 this morning. Reports are that he is a little cherub, weighing in at 7 lbs. thirteen ounces, measuring twenty and a half inches in length. Has a full head of black hair and large eyes. Let the record also show, he was born naked!

Well, I have extra duties today. The GM, the plant "super", and Roy the yardman have all gone to Del Rio for Ricardo's funeral. Greg, the burr contractor is leaving this afternoon to go home to eat birthday cake with his son who turns two today. So I have lots to look out for.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for new days with new beginnings. Thank YOU that no one was hurt in last nights fire or altercations. Thank YOU for for grandson Drew and grand niece Kennedy Faith, bless them and keep them.

It is cold this morning. Make that a capital "C".

I don't know that it is the temperature so much as it is the wind chill.

The plant has had a horrible twenty-four hours. Fires inside some of the machinery to choking various other pieces of equipment have been the problems, but the battery condenser has been the primary culprit.

We have been deluged with seed blocks, but that is playing right into my plans for drawing down the seed inventory on hand. In the last week we have taken out 1,950,000 pounds. Since Monday we have take three quarters of a million pounds out. My estimates are that there still are a million and a quarter pounds remaining.

It has been interesting to watch my drivers attack this project. Of course their bogey is to get to go home for Christmas a day early!

I read a headline on the internet yesterday and could not resist reading the article. Many of you may have done the same. It was about a mathlete who had determined the square root of a computer generated two hundred digit number in seventy seconds, using only his mind.

I couldn't do that in seventy seconds with a calculator or a computer. Fred's old roommate, Gary could probably do it. He is a math whiz.

I am becoming frustrated with my Christmas lights. Initially they worked fine, then I suspected a faulty extension cord, then I focused on my timer. So far I have weed-ed out two strands of lights and re-sectioned my lights to get two smaller but closer to equal circuits.

If this doesn't work I'm plugging them into 220 volts. (There are 440 volts across the street.).

I am having a difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit. Oh, I enjoy the music when I'm in the office and I appreciate the light displays. But I am having a hard time getting into the gift buying. So far we have purchased only one gift. Luckily our list has been trimmed substantially by those who disqualified themselves by not participating in our Thanksgiving meal for the masses.

Bah Humbug!

I am still an advocate for a Christmas gift exchange where you had to make the gifts you give. I think that would make it more gifts from the heart. It is too easy to lay down the cash or as some people do it, the plastic, and buy someone something that they probably don't really want or need.

Earlier I was reading the comments on preachermike's blog and someone was trying to find where you could buy goat. One person reported a group of co-workers had purchased a goat and two chickens in their bosses name and the livestock would be given to residents in need who reside in third world countries.

I like that too.

Well, we finished off the pot of taco soup. Today is stew! Ummm! It is going to be pure torture to smell that aroma all day long. I hope it will be ready by supper!

Have a good day! Make it happen.

FATHER, I find myself struggling. Right me.

I don't know where you are located, but it has been nasty at our location.

Luckily, we have not received any freezing precipitation at this end of our shipping lanes. Crazy thing is, you would expect the Northern extremes to be the worst driving conditions but that hasn't been the case. The Eastern route has been the most treacherous, as was the case Thanksgiving weekend.

We have had fog, we have had drizzle, we have had light rain showers. Not enough to amount to anything, just enough to make it messy and miserable. I think I have ranged in height from six foot to six foot six inches, depending on how much mud had accumulated on my boots. You get in your vehicle and the windows are covered with a thick wet slurry of mud, lint and moisture. I don't need windshield wiper blades, I need rakes!

The trucking report card for last week looked impressive once again. Leading the way on seed shipments was Carlos in unit 23 and Cowboy in GMT 1 with 18 loads. Adan and Sammy followed with 16, Israel had 15. For the week we shipped 105 loads from that end of the plant. Not a record, but a good number just the same.

On the other dock, LM led the charge with 21 loads of bales. I believe 16 was the next closest.

Last week DOT was holding up bale trucks with inspections and weighing. Luckily we only had minor infractions, most of them driver related. Since Saturday DOT at Tahoka and Lubbock have been stopping our seed trucks with regularity. I am hoping we wear them down and they will get tired of stoppping us and not finding any violations. They stopped Carlos twice in three days and weighed and inspected him and all he got was a warning for one of the triple "I.D." lights on the trailer. Israel had the same type encounter receiving only a verbal warning for being two hundred pounds over-weight. Adan is the only one to have equipment violations and it was probably weather related.

We have been ginning seed block and will have more of it over the next two days. This is letting us have a real impact on drawing down the seed house. I think yesterday we took out nine loads. Our biggest problem yesterday was the Caterpillar loader they use to load us went down with some sort of computer control glitch. That meant Roy had to switch to his backup loader which is much smaller and slower. He was one mad camper by days end! The big loader holds three thousand pounds in it's bucket. The little one about nine hundred pounds. As a rule of thumb, sixteen big buckets to load most trucks, compared to fifty-three of the small ones.

Hey, time is money. At least for Roy. He was on the clock until nine last evening.

I will have to admit that while the weather has been horrendous here, it has forced us into cold weather foods, which I love. Last evening Krl made a pot of taco soup along with a big pan of corn bread. Ummm! Delicious! Best part is we had enough left over for today, which as all soup, chili, stew experts know, the second day is better than the first!

Actually by looking at our groceries we bought Sunday you would think we run a soup kitchen. Most of what we bought was soup or stew stock, cornbread fixings, crackers, dried beans.

Texas staples!

The new bale driver (who is an old driver that returned) that started last week may be short lived. He whines a lot, complains that he is working harder than his counter part, refuses to answer his phone, and yesterday told me I had too many trucks running.

I guess that would explain why I had bales on the ground and loaded an outside truck.

After coordinating this operation for fifteen years, I think I have a pretty good grasp on what needs to take place, so in no uncertain terms I told this driver I would run this operation and what I say is final and not debatable, if he has a problem he can go to the next stop in his illustrious work history.

I have one employee who is leaving at weeks end. One of my backup forklift operators is going to his ailing grandmother. He was my last hire and has only worked here for three weeks. He had asked off December 29th to go to New Mexico to have his daughter christened but came to me with the change of plans late last week. Actually I don't think there is a sick grandmother, I think he just wants to get a head start on the holiday. I don't think he realizes his kin folks boss and I are friends so often times we compare notes.

This is usually a problem all of us have this time of year. Hopefully, he will be the only casualty. I explained that he would be forfeiting his incentive pay, but of course that isn't too much considering his brief employment. He did tell me thanks for the job and he hoped I would not have filled it by the time he returns.

I am hopeful that Baldemar will be interested in coming after the holiday. If that would happen four of my six on the ground people would be previous employees. I figure toward the end of January my guys are going to want to take some time off so we begin a rotation allowing them this. Of course if it is scheduled, they do not jeopardize their incentive package.

Keep the home fires burning! Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR love and care!

Ricardo's family made the decision to donate all of his organs for transplant purposes. They kept him on life support until early Sunday morning when arrangements were completed for harvesting the organs, then they took him off life support. For a brief period he continued normal function before succumbing to his injuries. They will transport his body to Del Rio later today where funeral arrangements are pending.

GOD rest his soul.

I have not heard if they are planning any type of memorial service here at the compound. I was in Frank's office earlier today and he was still having to supply answers for death certificates and such. He made the comment that he believes it will be a long time before the end of this matter.

As I said before, it was an unfortunate accident.

I caught part of NBC's Sunday night football and a quick segment about Coach McKissick from Summerville, South Carolina. He has complied over 500 wins and 10 state titles, making him the winningest football coach in the U.S.. He is in his 53rd year of coaching and has no plans of retiring to his beach home. They had a clip of him exhorting his players, telling them there are three kinds of people. Those that make things happen, those that wait for things to happen, and those that can't believe what happened.

Make something happen today!

FATHER, be with Ricardo's family and friends as we mourn his passing. Keep them and comfort them. Comfort the elderly couple that was involved in the accident. We ask for YOUR watch and care over us all. Oh GOD, YOU are our GOD!

It is a quiet peaceful morning here at the compound. I have not even been out of my trailer, and that is a first. I guess that is the result of my night lead forklift operator having a telephone. He called me shortly after six-thirty and gave me a report.

It is a maintenance Sunday.

Thank GOD.

We have had a really productive weekend. I have found that there are all sorts of little tricks I can do with my daily data entry that makes my weekends flow much better. Yesterday I handed Krl the settlement print outs for proofing so she could write the checks. Actually, I have three individuals yet to print, but some part of their essential information is not available.

My Saturday had begun with me on the computer very, very, early. The rhythmic click of the keyboard was interrupted by a phone call from "Cowboy", one of my lease operators on the seed haul. He told me, "Boss, your blue KW is parked in the pickle park at Lamesa and there is an ambulance sitting beside it with the emergency lights on!" I asked him to turn around and find out what was going on. I knew Friday night when I had last seen Sam, who just got on that truck, he was coughing and gagging and having a hard time breathing. Sam has many health issues, but probably the most serious is that he suffers from emphysema, which makes any other respiratory problem become magnified.

After a brief wait, Cowboy called me back and reported, "No one was in the truck so I banged on the ambulance and they opened the doors and there sat Sam. One of the paramedics said Sam had called them asking them to transport him to the hospital. Sam was having problems breathing. Cowboy reported that when he asked Sam if he was going to make it, Sam told him he was still here wasn't he!"

Later in the day I was informed that Sam was admitted to the hospital in Lubbock and is suffering from pneumonia.

Pepa and Memama went to pick up his truck. So once again, Pepa is one truck driver short.

When I had finally finished my part of the settlements, I had to get out of the trailer and do something. Anything!

I ended up getting the Christmas lights from storage under the trailer and I began sorting and testing them. Finally I began stringing them up.

Eventually, Krl came out to check on me and I told her I was having a hard time getting into putting them up because while I was doing that, I know Ricardo's family is planning a funeral.

Everything pales by that comparison.

We received no updates on Ricardo yesterday. The only contact we had was between his family and the plant Superintendent and they told Frank they were waiting for the last two siblings to come to the hospital before they turned off the life support. One of Ricardo's boys had not made it due to his being incarcerated, but the family was working with law enforcement trying to pull some strings.

I had not visited with Frank in couple of days until late yesterday. He has been very involved in everything that has been going on since the accident. He was one of the first responders and was the official liaison between the accident site and the family in Del Rio. He went with the GM to the hospital Friday, and Saturday to the elderly couples home to tell them of Ricardo's condition.

Needless to say, these are times that it is very lonely at the top.

It has come to light that the elderly couple was headed to Church when the accident occurred.

I have summoned my seed trucks and my seed loader back to the compound at 1pm.. Hopefully we will make a dent in the seed surplus we have. This past week we moved twenty-one loads from storage along with eighty-four from the over head boxes. And those numbers don't even reflect the seed blocks! Not the biggest week ever, but not bad! I find myself withholding information from my drivers so they won't sluff off. We have seed blocks coming up the next three days, and then sporadically for the next week. The big benefit for us is when we put the seed blocks on specialized trucks, it allows the regulars to make noticeable progress in downsizing the mountain of surplus! Otherwise, when we are running, some trucks are maintaining current production while only one or two per day will be working on the surplus.

My estimate is that the storage still holds about 2 million pounds. That sounds like a lot but in a normal week we move five and a quarter million pounds of seed.

If things go well, and if people show up, Krl and I will go to town after lunch for groceries and to eat out.

Hope your weekend is going well.

FATHER, we continue to lift up Ricardo and his family to YOU for YOUR care and comfort. We ask YOUR blessing on them. We lift up the elderly couple to YOU as well. We pray for all the workers safety. Reign on.

The prognosis for Ricardo is very bleak.

Investigators have determined that when the utility tractor he was driving down the farm to market road was struck from behind by the elderly couples vehicle, Ricardo whip-lashed and struck his head on the roll over protective structure on the tractor. When the tractor veered sharply, he was thrown over the fender and tire into the ditch. According to the Department of Public Safety officer, Ricardo was thrown eighty-three feet.

He has not regained consciousness and tests indicate no brain activity. His family has come in, and sometime today it is expected that they will take him off life support and let nature take it's course.

There has been a steady stream of people into the office. EMT's, insurance people. Some people assume OSHA will be in shortly. Krl and I talked and I told her I didn't know if OSHA would come in or not because I can only imagine how many workers lose their lives in job related traffic accidents each year.

Rumor had it that the GM and the Plant Superintendent had gone to the elderly couples home this morning to tell them about Ricardo's condition.

It is a somber compound.

There are a few people beating themselves up over the accident. One of them, a former employee of mine who was Ricardo's supervisor is having a difficult time. I told him we make the best calls we can with the information we have available at the time. We aren't allowed the luxury of do-overs. All of this was an unfortunate accident. We aren't the one's in charge.

FATHER, we pray for Ricardo, we lift him and his family up to YOU. We pray for the couple that was involved. We ask YOUR comfort for all.

Tragedy struck our extended family here at the compound last evening.

I had reported yesterday that the plant had it's first lost time accident of the year on Tuesday.(Actually in a couple of years.). Another injury occurred yesterday. Late yesterday evening one of the workers who's primary job is to prepare and clean the module pads where the cotton is stored while awaiting processing was seriously injured.

Ricardo had been on yard three about a mile from the compound raking the cotton that the module trucks had left behind. He was using a small utility tractor with a special mechanized rake that is run from the power take off. Shortly before dark he began making his way back to the compound driving this tractor. An older couple in one of their vehicles came up on him from behind and struck the tractor. Ricardo was thrown from the tractor into the ditch and the tractor veered off the road and hit a tree by the farm store manager's house.

As luck would have it, the Volunteer EMT station was located just down the road, however the ambulance that usually is garaged there had been taken on an emergency run already. They had to summon another ambulance from Garden City, seventeen miles away. While awaiting the ambulance's arrival some of the EMT's from the area were already arriving.

Finally the ambulance arrived, and they began attempting to stabilize Ricardo for transport. He was unresponsive so a care flight helicopter was summoned. About forty minutes after the chopper arrived they finally got the injured man stable enough to put on board and transport.

Ricardo had gone to work at the compound only recently, and he calls Del Rio home.

Now the dilemma is that no one from the compound can get an update because no one is a relative.

The GM is going to the hospital this morning, but last report from the EMT's was that Ricardo was not doing well.

Fortunately, the elderly couple was not injured in the accident. I think any injuries they received were from air bag deployment.

On a brighter note, Big George's surgery went quite well and he returned to the compound yesterday afternoon.

On a personal note, things are going the best they have all week. I just cringe every time the phone rings!

Have a day!

FATHER, we lift up Ricardo to YOU for YOUR gifts of healing and care. Comfort him and his family as well as the couple involved in the accident. We ask YOUR continued healing for George. We petition YOU for all our co-workers safety. To YOU is the glory!

I hate it when truck drivers begin to think.

That is virtually a guarantee that something is fixing to go wrong. I had one bale hauler yesterday who thought he had a pretty good day going so he went by his house. Jake rousted him out at 2 which meant the driver could have been there as much as three and a half hours. Then this driver decided he needed to go pick up medicines for his mother before he could get back on track.

My other driver picked up three loads before the first one came back for his second.

Of course this threw off the night guys as well. One driver had been pulling three loads, he got only two. The other driver was the man who had worked for me a couple of years ago and came asking for a job. He hauled only one.

Morons.

The driver I moved to backup status had been begging to haul motes to Lubbock. This morning he can't seem to answer his phone. This driver has developed a habit of needing or wanting advances, even on pay days. I find it increasingly difficult to give them to him as he is not taking full advantage of his job. He could do and has done much more than he is doing. In the beginning his pay check would be $1300 a week before taxes. Top performers are in the $1800 range. Now he is doing well to gross $600 and by the time you take taxes and advances, there isn't a whole lot left.

I can't see any reason to help him out when he continues to fail to perform his job and take advantage of opportunity.

On the other side of the plant, things are excellent. The final piece of my seed truck puzzle fell into place yesterday. Seed hoppers are empty and we are pulling down the excess in the seed house.

While we have had two employees outside of the plant injured on the job this year, inside the plant they had had none. Until yesterday. There is a man out here who I have always considered a good friend. His name is Jorge, but we call him "Big George". He was stepping into one of the many trenches under the floor of the plant, slipped and caught himself, but not before he banged his arm. The GM took him to the ER last evening and x-rays revealed it was broken. They have scheduled Big George for surgery this morning. Jorge is like a fixture out here. He has been here as long or longer than I have.

I am concerned about Krl. She continues to not feel well.

Yesterday was a horrendous day out here. Blowing dust, lint and cotton, enveloped the entire compound. Yuk! It was a welcome relief this morning when I opened the trailer door about four and the wind had changed direction. It was a gorgeous night. Clear dark night accented with sharp stars and a "filling" crescent moon. It is hard to believe how ugly this place can be one day and how gorgeous it can be the next.

If we were to stop tagging modules in to be processed, we would be one-hundred twenty-six days from finishing (without holidays or maintenance Sunday's). As close as I can tell it, I think it would be around the twenty-third of April before we get through.

And there are farmers still harvesting.

Unbelievable.

I had one farmer visit with me yesterday. He had completed his harvest and been painting his last numbers on his modules. He told me when he finished painting the last module number he painted the sign of the cross and thanked El Senor!

These people have been so blessed with their crops this year.

It is interesting to see many who finished a few weeks ago, getting their machines back out and helping neighbors and or friends.

What comes around goes around. Who knows when the shoe will be on the other foot.

Have a day!

Thank YOU FATHER!

I am so tired. For the life of me I cannot sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. Usually my shoulders wake me, but I have learned that if I take a different medication every night I can get some relief. Advil, Excedrin PM, Aleeve, Night time cold and flu, and Percogesic. If I will rotate between those listed above, I get much better results than taking the same thing repeatedly.

One of my co-workers asked me yesterday if I thought it was possible that my sub-consciousness won't allow me to go into a deep sleep because of what happened with Fred and Tj.

That's interesting.

Just had a call from Rian. He and Erica had been to the doctor this morning. They had scheduled taking the baby December 20, or two weeks from tomorrow. This morning the doctor moved it up a week to the thirteenth. So, Drew Degan knows when his debut will be.

I'll bet he's born naked.

Rian said he thought Colby and Courtney were having their baby on the thirteenth as well.

I couldn't resist kidding Rian about what is their deal with the thirteenth. Reid's birthday is August 13, Drew will be December 13. Of course Holt's is January 12 as is his mother. Rian is probably pretty lonely at August 23.

I'll make it double or nothing that Colby and Courtney's baby is born naked too!

Things are looking up here at the jobsite. If things go well, we will finally be at our max with seed trucks. Before the season began this year, the GM and board told me they wanted me to cut the number of trucks delivering to the oil mill. I did. Then the board and the GM discovered that all of the seed they were selling had to be delivered to the oil mill for pickup. Duh! I wonder if they read these contracts or if they hear the dollar amount and nothing else. So all the sudden they wanted more trucks. I had tried to notify all of my sub-contractors that the number of trucks would be down in order for them to try to find other work. By the time I knew I needed them back many had commitments they needed to fulfill. But, by the end of day. I think we will be on top of things once again.

On the bale dock, things were not so rosy. One of the night drivers didn't go home and rest yesterday, he went to Abilene instead. I had a call telling me he was only going to do one load last night because he had an upset stomach (which is his usual excuse when his performance has been sub-standard).

Lucky for me, a former driver walked in wanting a job.

That man now has a job and the other driver has been relegated to backup role.

The sword is two sided.

The craziest thing happened yesterday. I sent a trailer in with a possible wheel bearing problem. It is one of the newer trailers that does not use tapered bearing which run in gear oil. It uses sealed bearing that are pressed on. We discovered a broken hub cap day before yesterday and engineered an emergency fix, notified Mr. Harris of the trailer coming in and our need for a replacement trailer. He told me bring it on because we had an extra on the yard. LM dropped the problem trailers, picked up the replacement and returned to the compound. This morning the problem trailer was back on the yard. One of the night drivers brought it back.

I get the feeling one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

In the beginning it really aggravated me, then I could almost hear Fred laughing about it.

So I guess we will temp fate once again. It went a hundred eight miles in without incident and then returned those same one hundred eight miles empty without incident. Now we will look at trying to do it once again. At least a half dose.

What are the odds................... of it making it without problems?

What are the odds................... it will come back again?

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for laughter. Sometimes it is all that keeps me from crying!

Yesterday was kind of a blue day for me out here. I needed a Fred fix. Almost six months later and I still find myself needing to call him, or when my phone rings I expect to hear him on the other end.

I sometimes catch myself thinking how unfair it is for Fred's kids to have lost their Dad at their respective ages, and even more harsh, Tj's kids to lose their mother at theirs. I find myself comparing what age my parents were when they lost their parents, they were considerably older. On extremes I look at Riley losing his Mom at twelve, and then I think about how Fred lived his entire life without losing a parent (as did Tj, although she was fourteen years younger than Fred). The closest he came was losing his father-in-law, while Tj was limited to losing grandparents.

I think of Linda and "E" and how it must feel to lose a spouse in mid-life when you think that you will have time to do everything you haven't done.

I also catch myself thinking of how unfair it is that my Mom and Dad buried not just one child, but two in a nineteen day span. I think back to my Mom telling me "It isn't supposed to be like this."

I think back to what I told my Mom, "We don't make the rules".

And I find myself needing to hear that myself.

Be advised, GOD's got some 'splainin' to do in the hereafter!

I think of my Mom telling Rian after Tj had died, "I trust GOD with all my heart and that he knows what he is doing, but I think it is only fair that he knows I am beginning to get pissed off!"

I guess part of what triggered my blue day was learning of a problem yesterday that Fred's kids inherited and they were trying to deal with it. On the one hand it made me think once again how Fred had to feel that he was treading water that was infested with sharks circling and alligators waiting on the shore. On the other hand, I think about how Fred doesn't have to deal with any of that any more. I can't help but wonder if Fred had tossed in the towel if he would still be with us.

Krl has not been feeling well and last evening when I came in she had supper fixings laid out but hadn't begun preparation. I looked over everything and began lighting burners and pre-heating pans. We were having shrimp scampi, with a Mediterranean blend of veggies on a bed of rice, accented with egg rolls.

For those of you that know me, you know that cooking is therapeutic for me.

Krl and I have joked about it that in a prior life we were oriental, but when I made a trek to the freezer to get egg rolls, even I was shocked to see how much oriental food was there!

Actually, I don't know if it is the oriental fare or the rice.

Just don't ask me to eat with chopsticks!

Of course that would be one way to lose weight.

At the jobsite we are sneaking up on fifty thousand bales. Frank and I were talking about it seems as though the numbers are barely moving, but we both know better than watching them daily. We have to hit a happy medium about not looking at the minute but not trying to see the end either. Right now we are concentrating on one thousand bales a day and hopefully being between seventy thousand and seventy five thousand bales processed come the new year.

I am cautiously optimistic that today I will have another truck in. I had summoned it over a week ago and the driver became ill, so they did some shuffling and got me another one here. The truck coming today was supposed to be an extra to pull down the excess seed inventory but with the developments with Luther on truck 15, the new truck will fall into the daily regiment.

I can't win for losing.

Speaking of Luther, he called me yesterday. That was no surprise seeing as it was pay day and his check was out here. Of course he had taken his truck to the yard in Sweetwater on Sunday and left it. He didn't have the guts or the courtesy to talk to me or Pepa but called Rick and told him he was through. When Luther called me yesterday he told me he hadn't checked to see if they had him a truck. I told him it was my understanding that he had quit. His response was that he hadn't if they put him in a different unit. As long as he was running behind Carlos he had no problem, but every time he would run alone he ALWAYS had some kind of problem and there was never anyone who could verify it actually occurred. I talked with Carlos and he told me he was glad Luther was gone because he felt like he was having to drag him everywhere they went and that Luther was always wanting to stop for this or that. I got the idea that Sunday morning Carlos and Luther may have had words and that may have been what tripped Luther's trigger. Carlos and I both are of the opinion that Luther wasn't very work brittle.

I am in hopes we have our "hump day" out of the week already with the seed trucks. It seemed all of them except Carlos had some sort of problem yesterday. Adan was stopped and had a roadside inspection by DOT and had a couple of things to fix. Sammy had to go get tires put on his trailer. Israel had a flat. Cowboy went to the dentist. Jon got a late start which made for a late finish.

On the bale end, it went more smoothly although we did have a couple of glitches. At least we have no bales on the ground, and Jake took a load of motes!

The biggest thing I have to deal with at the moment is checking on an alleged over billing error of $37.50 the GM asked me about. Actually it would surprise me, but I would be more surprised if I didn't find more errors on the under billed side. We just make the best call we can and hope that we are as close as humanly possible. If it is true, $37.50 over thousands of dollars isn't bad.

Outside of that it is stuff like trying to locate some permits that were sent last weekend and trying to find time to schedule service for the forklifts. They had been so coated in mud and gunk that we missed our last scheduled service.

Have a day!

FATHER, abide in me.

I need to recognize a few birthdays in the last week. Jake, Jason and Jeri all have had birthdays. I guess Joni feels like a cast off but she will have to wait until April to celebrate hers.

Happy Birthday guys and gal!

The office began a new schedule out here of opening at eight in the morning and closing at five in the afternoon. This compares to seven and six in the past. Also they are closing at noon on Saturday and not opening at all on Sundays. Of course this pertains to being open to conduct business. The office actually unlocks about six-thirty in the morning and the coffee pot is not turned off until near seven in the evening.

The weekend is where I noticed a change in my style. I really didn't realize how much I am in and out of the office until it is locked. That should make for less caffeine intake though.

We actually had a busy but uneventful weekend. The settlements were done and Krl wrote the checks, by mid-afternoon they were in envelopes and Krl was working on supper's menu. She even got in a brief nap before turning the stove on.

I have to brag though. She fixed my favorite, baked barbecue chicken with ALL the sides! Yum!

We did lose one driver over the weekend. He was on unit 15. He never seemed to find his groove. He had some light trouble that no one ever found, borrowed some money Saturday afternoon, didn't show Saturday night or Sunday morning with unit 23 and finally called saying his batteries were deal at Rip Griffin's in Lubbock Sunday afternoon. He asked Pepa what he wanted to do. I am sure he was surprised when Pepa told him, "No problem, I'll have Rian drive over there and boost you off!"

Rian arrived shortly. I am sure the driver had no idea Pepa had contacts on Lubbock that could handle this problem. When Rian arrived, he introduced himself and asked the driver what the truck was doing. They turned the key on and pushed the starter button and the big engine came to life! Rian said the driver acted flustered and was doing a lot of talking. Rian told me he felt like this driver was wanting to quit.

Sure enough that driver didn't return here he took the truck to the yard.

Oh well. It seems like you have to go through two or three drivers before you find a good one!

Needless to say, we are running borderline on seed, while on the bale dock things look excellent.

We are still having little hiccups. The CW bale trailers that we started with have just about cycled out and we have several that were not prepped for out here. DOT nailed two of them for expired inspections. On an even stranger note, Herberto and I were looking and one of my trailers, #972 has not been on premises in four days. Go figure.

Well, I've things to do before I sleep. That means I have lots to do because it's a long while 'til I will be able to go to sleep!

I caught just a few minutes yesterday of a televangelist's program. I liked what his message was though. GOD is able!

FATHER forgive us for ever doubting YOU.

Part of my Saturday was spent brokering a peace accord between two truck drivers. They have been slip seating (sharing the same truck on different shifts) and this week neither one of them have done close to the number of loads they have done in the past. Of course both of them blame the other.

"I can't make more loads to make more money because he doesn't get the truck back to me!"

As it turns out, the driver who was really irate was the slackard. It is always interesting to do truck and driver settlements and see who is producing, who is steady and who is a flash in the pan.

We finally separated the two drivers on two different rigs.

Krl and I went to Midland Friday afternoon to get a few parts and some supplies. Another stop was the local office of the IRS to pay the heavy highway use tax for two trucks we are using out here. One of them is needing license tags and the tax has to be paid prior to registration. As per usual, that was a miserable stop. The office was not anything like the one at home. You could not just walk in and make a payment, you had to take a number and sit and wait to see a revenue agent. I spent two hours there and learned a lot of Spanish as I was the only non-Hispanic in the office. When I was finally summoned the agent began to speak to me in Spanish. Hold on there. I must have gotten in the wrong line. I didn't take offense as she was the only agent and had no idea who would walk around the corner from the waiting room.

Worst part of the long visit was it knocked us out of getting to go somewhere and eat. We had seven stops to make while we were in town. The restaurant would have been eight! As it turns out, on our way out of town we went through the drive thru at Fazolli's and took it back to the compound. I would have loved to sit down and relax.

Probably our most productive stop was at Staples. Out here we have found that is the only place to go. The have a large inventory and their people are very helpful. Being faithful Office Depot customers at home, we tried that route only to be disappointed every time, so we just by-pass that stop and go on down the road to Staples.

For convenience I have always saved all my records to disc. Out of habit developed over several years, I used floppy discs. They had always served me well and were very mobile but when the were full, they were full. Often times they would not even re-open and I would be rebuilding settlements. On rare occasions, my computer would blink and I would lose whatever I was working on. Totally. I was visiting with another contractor and he told me I need to get a USB flashdrive, that they were just as mobile, had greater capacity and were much more stable. As it turns out, Staples had a 4Gig on sale for thirty-six or seven dollars and I now own one. So far so good. In the beginning for some reason, anytime I would insert the flashdrive, I would have to reboot my computer. Just as weird, after the first few times, it quit making me do that.

I was NOT in the mood to do settlements yesterday, but I persevered. I think, and I say that gingerly that I have them done, waiting on Krl's final proofing. Numbers were down across the board, the result of three days of icy roads and a maintenance Sunday.

One of the other contractors came to me and wanted to know if they could move some seed for me. I told them sure, we would move two loads per day from the seed storage house with their one rig. This contractor's nephew is the truck driver and I had heard stories about how lazy he is, but yesterday I got a full dose first hand. Just before eight in the morning the contractor called asking me if we were on and if so to get things set up. He assured me the truck would be in place in minutes. Two and a half hours later the truck rolled under the conveyor. And it was in the compound the previous night. The truck was loaded and left, took seven hours to make the round trip and then the driver parked it at the compound for the night late yesterday. I looked for the contractor but apparently he had gone home for the weekend.

That might explain why his driver was fired at his last job. 300 miles for the day.

Christmas plans are being put into place. It would appear we are going to get the most days off we ever have. Three and a half. I think if we can pull the seed inventory down I can probably let my seed trucks go earlier than that, and that would be good because the majority of them are from South Texas. The bale trucks won't be so lucky, but then most of them reside in the general area.

I can't believe it is already December and '08 is right around the corner.

Time marches on.

I had better make my rounds. I wasted part of my morning trying to see how the Plowboys did against the Moguls. I was glad to see the Eagles soared.

Have a day!

FATHER, I ask YOUR peace for me.