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.