I am happy to report, from home.

Yes campers, Krl and I arrived in Abilene Wednesday afternoon, late.

We were just in time to try to set up the big trailer in front of the house, in the midst of a West Texas thunderstorm! I got soaked!

Thursday saw me drive to Roscoe to meet Julio and Benigno, who drove in from St. Lawrence.
We spent the entire day working on trailers, getting them ready for inspections or to return to leasing companies. I lost count at 26 truck and trailer tires we had worked on. I actually think it was a few more than that. When we needed breaks from that work, we rigged on Pepa's listing toolbar. By the end of the day we were whipped puppies. I got home at nine fifteen in the evening!

This morning (Friday) I left and went to Roscoe, met up with Pepa and we drove two pickups to St. Lawrence to retrieve the final two travel trailers.

I was back in Abilene in time to go to Kat's softball game!

But my tail is dragging. I am so ready for a weekend!

I need to recap my week. We endured the season ending party at the compound Monday night. Tuesday was Lady Rachel (Blackdog) and Prissy's birthday!. Wednesday was Ollie's birthday. Thursday was K.O.'s birthday.

Happy birthday, honorees!

I have to brag on Krl. She even got into the move home. She pulled the service trailer from St. Lawrence to Roscoe Wednesday and did so like an old pro! Actually we had six vehicles scattered between point "A" and point "B", all of them doing an important task in getting us away from the jobsite and HOME! Two travel trailers, the supply trailer, the service trailer, and a seed trailer!

The move has gone so well it is almost scary. The first lease trailer was returned to Fort Worth today. The second one will probably go Monday, hopefully with what is left of the trailer that had the fire load. That would get everything in the locale it needs to be in!

Ollie and piglet are coming tomorrow. I told Krl to tell Ollie to bring Addie.

The only optional activities on our horizon are a three fifteen softball game tomorrow and I have jury duty (can you believe it) Monday morning!

Have a weekend! We are!

FATHER, thank YOU for homecomings!

180,317. (+- 1)

It is done.

I don't know whether to shout for joy or cry. One thing for sure, any tears would be of joy.

The record setting final bale is sitting outside the scale office. The Cooperative is supposed to be buying it and it will be displayed inside a glass case in the office.

To be honest I hope this record stands for a long time. If it is broken I don't know if I would be a party to it. It has been hard. It has been frustrating. It has been difficult. It has been fun at times. It has been rewarding. It has given purpose. But it has worn us out.

We have experienced the entire spectrum of emotion since October 8 of last year. 194 days at the compound.

I want to go home. Oh LORD, I want to go home.

I will, just not today or tomorrow. I expect Krl to go home tomorrow. The end of season party is tomorrow evening and takes place about 75 feet from the travel trailer park. I am keeping three employees until all the travel trailers are either gone or road ready, the forklifts are cleaned, bale clamps loaded, forks and side shifts installed, and forklifts loaded on a flat bed trailer. I am even contemplating letting Benigno and Julio drive to Roscoe for one day of trailer work.

But that is later in the week. I just need to take one day at a time.

Have a day.

FATHER, thank YOU for the tremendous opportunity with this years work. We could not have done it without YOU and YOUR guidance. We are so blessed. FATHER we confess to YOU that we are weak, that we are needy. We thank YOU for YOUR mercy and grace! Rest and renew us.

62 modules.

Thank YOU GOD!

The Eagle Sys computer says 18 hours thirty-six minutes.

Frank says by mid morning tomorrow, this year will be "in the books!"

Another one for the record books, that much is for sure. The outgoing GM finally agreed this morning, we will eclipse 180,000 bales.

Two years ago we thought we had lived through a once in a life time harvest, and ginning season. 155,889. At that time it was a record. My estimates are that we will end up in the 180,400+ range. An all time new record!

I am beginning to think this is a lot like those once in a life time floods. I think when we lived on Bandera Drive I survived two or three of those. Now we have worked through two "once in a life time ginning seasons".

I can't get excited about moving all the equipment home. I would like to go home and not worry about it for a couple of weeks. But I won't. Experience tells me it won't get any easier. I do have one volunteer to pull one of my trailers home.

Yesterday one of my on the ground people was injured. It seems another employee let the bale squeeze (a forklift attachment for handling bales) down on top of Fernando's foot. We spent four hours in the emergency room but luckily found out the foot was just bruised, not broken. We lost the entire afternoon, but did get some prescriptions for pain and for swelling/inflammation. The employee did show up today to watch the seed house valves, although he was an hour late.

Continue to think and pray for us as our countdown continues.

FATHER, deliver us!

And the computer says 2 days zero hours.

And I say, "finally".

We are almost to the end. Thank goodness. I am not going to win the betting board. Frank and the GM's saw to that by not having the last scheduled maintenance Sunday.

I'm not taking anything away from the plants though, she has run like a warrior!

I am putting together my exit strategy.

If we get through Sunday morning, I may take Krl and the houndgirls home. I could take either the service trailer or one of the travel trailers too. I would return early Monday, probably try to take another travel trailer in and return for the season ending party.

I will begin to have trucks leave trailers on the other end, probably Saturday night. There are two lease trailers that have to be returned to Fort Worth and Garland respectively, but not before we do a little repair to them. Three trailers have to go in and be inspected and green slipped. The supply trailer has to be towed in by a big truck, and finally our big travel trailer has to be hauled in as well. I have three bumper pull travel trailers and the service trailer that I will pull with my pickup.

On a high note, I took my pickup and got an inspection sticker yesterday! It was about time. The old sticker expired in January 2007. My pickup has been to town only one time this entire season. I even put my new tags on (they have only been on my dash since January). Now I am legal.

On a low note, we got our mail forwarded from home yesterday. In the mail I had a letter from "the revenue agent" in Abilene. It seems he is not wanting to honor the offer in compromise that his superiors agreed to last year. We called the company that did our negotiations and they told me the revenue agent couldn't do what he is saying he is going to do. This agent is hispanic, someone gave him a badge and he thinks he is hot stuff. He has such an ego that his signature takes up four inches on the signature page of his letter.

I may let him stew and see what happens. I would love to let him hang himself and me file a harassment suit. I would settle if they would terminate him.

I am not too concerned. He is trying to tie me to the defunct family business after 2003. I guess he has forgotten I have a notarized bill of sale.

I was told a couple of weeks ago he turned up at CW's office demanding to see an officer. He was told there were none. Then he wanted to seize assets. Man, he should have gotten there in front of the finance companies.

I think he is mad because Fred died.

I am too. Just not for the reasons the agent is. I am glad that Fred is through with all this mess, I just wish every one else was as well.

Think and pray for us. It is going to be a long two days!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank you for the productive days we have had. For the progress we have seen toward completion of our task. Reign in us.

Yesterday was the best day EVER for the big gin plant.

1249 bales in twenty-three hours of ginning. (They clean up thirty minutes for each shift). I think the individual record for a shift was 632, but never before had both shifts exceeded six hundred bales in the same day!

Needless to say, we have bales, bales and more bales sitting on the dock. Five loaded trailers, one load on the ground, and another load started on the ground at shift change. Add to this a load of motes tarped and ready, while motes are being put on the ground as well.

And the computer says three days, and I say "Thank YOU GOD!"

One of the patrons told me this morning he was going to miss me when I am gone. He is one of the early morning coffee club members, and we usually have a little conversation each morning before the serious coffee drinkers arrive.

I couldn't resist an opportunity, so I told him if I could coordinate my schedule with the outgoing GM, and Greg (the burr contractor), we would go to town and have a portrait made so they could at least continue to see us on a daily basis.

Even the out going GM thought that was funny.

On a not so funny note, I heard a rumor this morning that the board is rethinking their decision to end the season with the seed warehouse full. While it only holds a maximum of one hundred twenty-five loads, the way they have chosen to fill it, it only holds maybe one hundred loads (or will at the end of the season). I know all my South Texas boys are planning on leaving beginning Friday. So that would mean there would probably be maybe five or six trucks hauling, daylight hours only, meaning twelve loads maximum per day or nine days to completion with clean up.

I hope it is just a rumor!

Frank is campaigning for a Sunday evening end of season party. I will concede this if he will concede the "om pah" heavy bass in the polka/hispanic music. The last few years the loud music has rocked our trailer into the wee hours!

Frank had asked me to pick up some margarita supplies Tuesday when I was in town. It seems that Greg, the burr man, gave himself a Margarator for Christmas. Yesterday we set it up and did a test batch. Today we may do a different recipe.

I hate it when we have so little time to experiment!

Rian did another half day plus an hour and a half yesterday back at his job. Maybe he is getting on top of his surgery.

The Coop hired a replacement office manager Tuesday morning. Her name is Cathy and she is the wife of one of the patrons. She is a TT graduate and seems very capable of the job. She has a lot to learn before Kristy goes into labor!

I think one of the girls who worked part time during the busy time of the season is looking at taking Becky's place.

One thing about it, it someone wants to work it is a good opportunity. On the other side the crops have been so good that many of the wives no longer feel compelled to find work outside their home.

The office manager's position has only been open twice in thirty-six years. The GM position once in thirty six years.

We have begun an exit strategy. I left yesterday and went to Stanton to get some tires and an inspection sticker. I came back with everything except the inspection. They want me to adjust my parking brake.

Last summer K.O. and I replaced the brake shoes and adjusted them. While they will hold, they don't hold if you give the engine a lot of gas.

Duh, it is called a parking brake!

Continue to think and pray for us. We need all the help we can get to see this season to the end!

May you be blessed in this day!

FATHER, this has been such a trying year. We are just about empty. We thank YOU for blessing our many friends with such a bountiful harvest, we thank YOU for the tremendous work opportunity for us and our people. Now we ask YOU to see us to the end. FATHER we lift up Hank's family today four YOUR comfort and care as they lay his ashes to rest. We thank YOU for Rian's recovery and continue to ask YOUR gifts of healing for him. We thank YOU for all life's blessings, and we praise YOUR name!

April 15 came and went, but not without a few startled moments.

Tom, a good friend who has also been my accountant for as long as I can remember, had received my tax info towards the end of March. I prepared it in an excel spreadsheet. We hadn't talked since he received it, which I took as a positive. No questions, no problems!

Yesterday morning I called his office and talked with his wife.

I identified myself and inquired as to when and where we needed to be to pickup our tax return. I was told they were going to extend us until August. I told them I couldn't be extended. They said, "Oh sure, it isn't a big deal".

I refreshed their memory that I had completed an offer in compromise a year ago and one of the stipulations is that for five years I have to be timely in filing (meaning no extensions), another being no tax refund (so long economic stimulus).

"Oh!" The other end of the conversation exclaimed.

I told them to do what ever they had to do to make me on time. The last thing I need is a $1.3M tax lien reinstated! I told them they could let me file individually and do an EZ file and they could extend Krl and the S-corp.

Tom called and told me they would try to get the tax returns finished!

Later in the day he called asking me what king of program he needed to open the disc I had given him. Turns out the computer they had which had a floppy drive didn't have excel. In a mad thrash I e-mailed them with the spreadsheets off my thumb-drive. They got them, although they were read only. This was going to work!

About five in the evening I went to the trailer, picked up two pieces of information I thought he might ask for, and I told Krl let's go to Big Spring and we would be one hour closer. It worked pretty well. We arrived at Tom's office just before seven, spent about an hour there, signed and dated the tax returns (by the way we over paid your uncle $2200, I promise we won't do that next year).

Tom pulled another rabbit out of his bag of tricks! Thanks Tom!

On our two hour trip back to the compound we made a stop at Long John Silvers before we turned South at Big Spring.

My day had not been a good one but maybe it was turning the corner.

I had one driver who quit. Unannounced. (I'll bet he wished he had kept that DPS ticket he got so HE could pay it). I had brought in my buddy to help catch us up and he brought a trailer back with a tire problem. I don't think he caused the problem but he confessed he had run over a curb. Out of all the tires I have on hand, I had none, zero, in this particular size. Dang the luck. And finally, just before I reached Big Spring I received a call from Cowboy who I had flipped from seed to bales and told me he was in Garden City with no lights! Yuk!

I figured the safe thing for me to do was take my time driving from Big Spring back to the compound. With a full moon approaching, the deer have been "on the move". Sure enough we saw between six or eight deer grazing in the roadside.

Thankfully we did not make contact with any foreign object not our vehicle.

In another good note, Pepa put another driver on his truck that lost the driver earlier in the day.
So we survived another day.

356 modules to go. 176,002 bales process as of 7am. this morning!

On a funny note. Cowboys pulled out of the way, behind the old gin plant and went to sleep. This morning I was a little concerned that he had not stirred. He had some oral surgery last week and has forty-five stitches in the roof of his mouth. While he has bounced back, he hasn't been as resilient as he had hoped.

I walked to his truck and patted the side of the sleeper. Immediately the truck shook, and Cowboy came out of the bunk. "Are you O.K.?", I asked.

"Yeah, I fell out last night.", he said.

"Cowboy, it is Friday morning and they are ginning the last module", I told him.

"Dang, I was tired, wasn't I?", he said.

I told him I was just kidding, much to his relief, but he was embarrassed he had slept all night anyway!

Other news,

Rian did a half day back at work yesterday.

Have a day!

FATHER, click it up another notch.

The Eagle Sys says 7 days!

Yesterday morning Frank told me this last eight thousand bales was going to be the longest eight thousand bales we have ever ginned. So far we have processed 172,500+ bales. I probably wouldn't believe it had I not been present for this exercise! I will testify as to authenticity for every single one of the white rectangular shaped bales that has exited the plant and been loaded onto trailers for shipping!

Frank and the GM's decided to forgo the scheduled maintenance Sunday today, so we have seen two days of happenings that seem to be out of sync. Friday night my on the ground people changed shifts, and yesterday the saw people came and changed the saws in the gin stands.

What that meant was that the gin spent most of the day working at three quarter capacity. They would take one gin stand down, replace the saws and get it back on line before moving to the next stand.

For those of you who aren't familiar with what I am talking about. The gin stands are what separates the seed from the lint, and if it is stripped cotton the gin stand will take any burrs or sticks that have made it through the overhead stick machines and pre-cleaners. The gin stands here are Continental 161's. This means each gin stand has 161 saw discs. The discs are 16 inches in diameter and have about 8 points or teeth per inch. The discs are mounted on a shaft or drum with spacers in between and when positioned in the gin stand, each saw operates between two "ribs". The saws actually pull the cotton through, separating the seed from the lint. The seed drops into an auger conveyor and the lint is routed out the back of the gin stand into the lint cleaners behind the stand that will clean the lint prior to it going to the press to be baled.

In the time it took me to type the above paragraph, the gin would have processed two 500 pound bales of lint and three-quarters of a ton of seed. Each gin stand would have to process one fourth of this as there are four gin stands. It is a rapid process!

The reason the gin replaces the gin saws is because they become dull, which slows down the ginning process and adversely affects the producer's turnout. Out here the saws are replaced about every twenty-thousand bales.

The process of changing the gin saws gave my truckers a false sense of security and this morning we have bales on the ground.

On a good note, Rian went home from the hospital yesterday. His new doctors found an effective pain relief regiment and decided to let him go home. Some of the diagnostic procedures they had scheduled have been postponed a week or two. If things continue to go well, Rian will go in Monday and they will remove his catheter. It is hard to believe this minor procedure has stretched into nine days.

When I last talked with Rian yesterday, he was enjoying being home with Erica and the boys. He did make a wise decision and stayed home instead of going to Reid's T-ball game.

Maple Syrple and I are going to have to have a talk. She loves to sleep with me. I have decided it is as bad as sleeping with a small infant though, you sleep with one eye open to keep from rolling over on or hurting the baby. The problem with Miss Maple is that she is a cuddler. I move away, she cuddles up against me and before I know it I have to go to the other side and the process begins all over.

Last night I had Maple behind me and Black dog was on the floor right next to me.

I am a popular person, at least in some circles.

Krl and I were trying to work our pantry inventory down prior to the move home. I think we may have cut it too close on some items though because we discovered last evening we were out of one of our staples (like Bush's baked beans). I have also calculated that we will be about three gallons short on our R.O. water.

This week I will begin to put together an exit strategy. I will determine what trailers will go home in what order and where their destinations will be. I will let one of the big trucks take our big travel trailer to our house to be unpacked and cleaned before it is stripped and repainted and re-carpeted. Then it may go to Lake Brownwood for the summer. I have talked with a gentleman about renting a spot there. This might be a good year to do it because it is going to be a short time frame. (Usually it goes into a storage facility from January to September.). It would be only four months of rent to have a lake place. I'm just not too sure if we would use it that much.

I have begun to think about life after cotton ginning. Pat and I need to talk about my schedule at the NAPA store. I would love to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Of course there would be other times I would probably have to work when someone else is off. This schedule would allow me to do my weekend traveling.

It appears my summer will be full of activity with truck and tractor pulls. I already have seven shows tentatively booked for announcing and sled with a couple more just for announcing. The first show will take place on May 17th either in Trent or Sweetwater. The Trent FFA is doing it as a fund raiser for the second year in a row.

I did turn down a weekend booking Friday. I received a call from the President of the association wanting to schedule me for Vernon doing both the sled and the announcing the weekend of June 14th. I had already told them I would be gone from June 8th to June 17th. That is when Krl has scheduled her trip to Cozumel.

I wish we could get on the plane right now!

I did visit with Pat yesterday. They have been busy meeting with Hank's attorney and developing a plan for Hank's children. It seems that Hank's wife's estate wasn't totally settled and Hank was the executor, so the family members had to select a temporary executor to deal with that along with Hank's estate as well as appoint a temporary guardian for the kids. Pat said while Hank was in the process of doing a will and making his wishes known, his attorney said they did not have a finished product. About the only thing Hank had made provisions for was to be cremated. There is a visitation today at the funeral home. A memorial service Monday at the Baptist Church, and hopefully the body will be released by Thursday. Memorials to his church in lieu of flowers.

The FAA has come in and is doing an investigation, resulting in Hank's body having to be sent for autopsy. Pat said that should be nothing more than a formality. Preliminary findings are a valve that had backed off, they presume it just happened over time. So far nothing that Hank had done or any co-workers had done, have been tied to the accident.

I just got off the phone with Rian. He said he was hurting some but it has been since two-thirty this morning since he had any pain medication. I told him he may not want to go so long between taking it. Catching up might be a woolly bear!

I have been re-reading parts of the book The Secret. I find that I really enjoy the "Powerful Processes". Especially the "Process of Gratitude". This is something I have been trying to work on.

Hope you are having a great weekend! Have a blessed day!

FATHER, we continue to lift up Hanks family for YOUR comfort and care. We continue to lift Rian for YOUR gifts of healing. Help us to persevere, to be anxious in nothing. Instill in us that each day, each moment, is a gift. Bless-ed be YOUR name.

I had an early call from Rian this morning. He is much much better. It seems that his pain management doctor found an effective oral pain medication very quickly. I don't know why the surgeon couldn't have done the same thing a week ago.

Rian says that he and the surgeon have had words and basically agreed to disagree. It's a good thing because I was about ready to drive Krl up there to put a deluxe dose of whoopazz on the surgeon.

They brought in a couple more doctors to consult and Rian said he finally feels like they are moving in a positive direction. If all the doctors concur, he will be going home again today.

In a move to expedite our season, Frank and both the GM's (the old and the new) agreed to work straight through to the end. No maintenance Sunday. My on the ground people didn't care for this (or at least the ones working on nights) so they brokered a deal between them to flip shifts across last night and today. I have no problem with their plan.

I have thrashed through pay roll and settlements so I can go to Lubbock if need be. Yesterday I had planned to go but was waiting to see what Rian's situation was going to be. By the time he called telling me they were keeping him it was one thirty-nine. that's pretty late to be beginning a Lubbock trek.

It looks as though today may be the same thing.

I had one missing ticket that had prohibited completion of my settlements. As luck would have it, it was a load Cowboy had hauled. I called and he told me he was thirty minutes away from the plant. Four hours later he arrived. I'm not complaining, if I had had twelve teeth extracted and new dentures put in place on top of forty-five stitches, I probably wouldn't even be trying to work. I would be looking for a hole to crawl in and die!

When the missing ticket was produced and I finished loading the information, I discovered a ten cent discrepancy. Dang the luck! After looking and looking, I decided it had to be a rounding problem. Finally I put everything to four digits and it all worked out!

Once again, I would rather be lucky than good!

I was not able to talk with Pat yesterday so I don't know what is going on in Austin.

This morning the computer said we lacked 715 modules or eight days! Yes!

I also believe it is a forgone conclusion that we will break 180,000! The old GM has said no, but everyone else disagrees. Give us a week and we'll tell you for sure.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, we continue to struggle.

FATHER, we continue to lift Hank's family for your comfort and care. We thank you for the improvement Rian has seen and continue to lift him up for your gifts of healing. Be with us!

I received a call from Pat yesterday, telling me she, Memama and Chris were headed home at a high rate of speed. They had been to Doctor Bowman's for cornea checkups. They got got reports by the way.

Pat went on to tell me that Hag's youngest brother Hank had been involved in an accident at work. Hank works at an aviation facility in Austin. It seems that he approached a King Air and unlatched the door to go inside. It seems that someone had pressured up the cabin and left it pressured with no warning. If my information is correct. the door blew open hitting Hank in the face, knocking him from the ladder he was on. He was rushed to the hospital where he was put on a respirator, scans were done and he was taken into surgery.

As Pat and her passengers were headed West, Hag and Pepa were headed East. When they met, Hag and Pat would go South towards Austin and Pepa would bring Pat's passengers on home.

Pat and Hag made the drive to Austin as did other family members. Upon their arrival they learned that Hanks chances of surviving were less than 1%, and if he did survive permanent damage was expected.

I am sure all of this was painfully reminiscent of last summer when these same family member were summoned to Austin after Hank and his family had dodged a vehicle that had run a red light, resulting in a crash that took the life of Hanks wife and the mother of his kids.

After I had received the phone call yesterday, I returned to the travel trailer and told Krl what was going on. Of course Hank's accident led the conversation but I had also learned that after Rian was sent home from the hospital Wednesday, he was being admitted again Thursday morning.

Immediately Krl wanted to pray and we held hands and lifted Hank and his family along with Rian for healing and care. It was special as we took turns petitioning GOD.

This morning I received a voice mail from Pat informing me that Hank died about four fifteen this morning. He is survived by his two children ages 14 and 10, his father, and his brothers and sisters.

Needless to say this is tragic. Hank was a good guy.

Funeral arrangements are pending as Hank had made arrangements to donate all his organs for transplant. Even after death Hank is blessing others.

Our problems pale in comparison.

FATHER, we lift up Hanks family for YOUR comfort. Surround them with YOUR angels. Thank YOU for blessing our lives by knowing Hank. We continue to lift up Rian for YOUR miracle of healing. FATHER, it is difficult to understand why bad things happen to good people, strengthen our faith in knowing YOU are in control and YOU are looking at a much larger picture.

I am really having a difficult time. There is no way we can get through quick enough.

And, and it is a big and, the plant is really having problems. Yesterday instead of the customary 1000 bales in twenty-four hours we did 600. But the computer says 12 days 18 hours and 22 minutes.

We had a fire yesterday, not much cotton had fire so that meant it had to be somewhere else. It was, so it took an extended period to make sure it was out. Then just as the plant was coming back on line they had an odd occurrence which resulted in sparks igniting cotton in the press pit! They finally came back on line and were running "hell bent" until after the shift change when they broke a piece on the gin glow that ties the bales out. Frank spent four hours fabricating and welding. Today they are back up and going strong.

I was sitting at the scale counter visiting with the outgoing GM, the incoming GM, and Frank. We seem to have started a morning ritual. In the course of the conversation Frank told the two GM's that if we had a spare gin glow the repair would have taken thirty minutes. The outgoing GM said the problem was finding one because they are no longer manufactured. Frank pulled his phone out and read a number off and told the GM these people had one. In fact, they had tried to sell it to Frank earlier in the year but wouldn't put a price on it. The outgoing GM went in to his office and made a phone call. Minutes later the GM's, the old and the new were on their way to pick up the new acquisition. They ended up giving two thousand dollars for it and Frank told me the Continental Eagle man told him it cost seventy-thousand dollars new! What a deal!

Yesterday when the plant had a problem, it seems that Herberto my forklift man began calling and telling drivers. When I learned of this I almost went ballistic. I had motes and cotton seed that I needed to move. I finally told Herberto if he ever calls a driver and tells him the plant is down, he will be terminated!

I have one driver I talked with at twelve-fifty-seven and he told me he was on his way. Five hours later he showed up. It is only two hours from his turn a round point. He has made my _hit list. This is the same driver who bails at mention of a maintenance Sunday, soooo..... he won't be told any more. He is getting where he does what he wants to do when he wants to do it. What he doesn't know is I have a new driver waiting in the wings.

It does appear he has an accomplice in his evil deeds. Pepa always makes excuses for him.

If I can put the rest of a deal together they can probably make their own plans.

The truck I finally sent with motes left before ten in the morning. At noon I talked with him and he told me he was getting some lunch in Lamesa. At three-thirty he called me wanting to know how late he could deliver. I told him four-thirty and asked where he was. He told me Stanton. I couldn't believe it, I told him he talked with me and said he was in Lamesa at noon what did he do, drive back to Stanton? He told me yes, that he threw the belts off his fan and he went back to Stanton to get new ones. As if they don't have parts stores in Lamesa.

I think he forgot what he told me about eating lunch in Lamesa and got caught in a lie.

I talked with Jason Sunday and he told me that Jake and Joni closed Cottonwood on Friday. I have no problem with that. I have said all along that it needed to be their dream and not them wanting to live out Fred's dream.

Hopefully we will finish out our season and then we will begin putting together a long range plan.
Initially they were going to supply the majority of the trucks out here but it never happened and eventually none of their company trucks were running for us. About the biggest thing they did for us was let us draw from their list of potential drivers.

Rian continues to be hospitalized. They have finally found a pain killer regiment that works pretty well. They said he did sleep last night. They were supposed to have the cultures back and were going to begin the appropriate antibiotic! It sounded like he and his floor nurses kept going round and round yesterday until he told them he would go down to the ER to get relief. That seemed to get their attention and late yesterday the floor charge nurse was in his room apologizing and visiting.

Think and pray for us. We are so ready to be through.

Have a day!

FATHER, we are struggling. Give us resolve to get to the end.

The computer said 14 days, and the congregation said AMEN!

All eyes are focused on the bogey. Module # 14,921.

Actually I have to preface this estimated completion date. That is patron cotton. We have gin cotton which has been picked up throughout the year on the module yards, sitting in modules waiting to be ginned last. Probably between one hundred and two hundred bales, but if history repeats itself it could take as long to do that as it takes to do eleven or twelve hundred bales of patron cotton.

You want to talk about filthy! This cotton is coated with dust because Roy uses a modified cotton stripper to pick it up after it has been raked by a hay rake into wind rows. It is usually filled with rocks and is very hard on the gin machinery. That is why it is always saved for last. Afterwards, the big plant will be disassembled and overhauled one end to the other.

By this time of year Krl and I are able to do settlements and pay, almost in our sleep. By yesterday noon, I had given Krl the finished copies after corrections and she had completed writing checks. It seems so odd, earlier in the year we had a bevy of drivers on leased equipment we were paying. Now we are down to only two drivers on leased equipment, three with the new man on Pepa's truck. All the other trucks are leased with drivers on them. Sweet! That takes several steps out of my process!

Krl told me we were down to two gallons of RO water yesterday, so we planned on making a trip to the city. We decided to treat ourselves so we got to Midland just after one in the evening and made Ajuua's our first stop. We decided to do something a little different than their regular fajita staple and almost on cue we divulged to each other our meal selection. Hueves Rancheros! It was so strange that we both zeroed in on the same thing. They weren't bad but we've had better. We ended up ordering fajitas to take home for supper!

While it seemed as though we had a light list of things to do, by the time we got through we had made five stops for different items! One man who was helping us to our vehicle with our purchases made a comment about us being loaded down. I told him this was our weekly trip in! Krl's poor little SUV has to be tired of lugging that load of supplies around!

When we returned to the compound, we began unloading and putting away our supplies. Shortly after we were through I asked Krl to turn CBS so I could watch the NCAA tournament. It was barely started. I had picked Memphis to win it all in my fantasy tournament pick 'em, so I was very pleased that they prevailed over UCLA. The second game was a different story. I had picked NC to make it to the championship game but Kansas disposed of them very quickly. I watched Kansas win but I fell asleep before the clock expired! Needless to say that game busted my bracket.

I still like Memphis.

The plant went down yesterday afternoon at precisely 5:20. A broken shaft on one of the module feeder spike drums. Initial estimates were that the repairs would take five to six hours. The crews busted butt and had the plant back up in three. Luckily, this drum was in a position that didn't require removing additional drum to R & R it.

With the plant going down and with the addition of the new truck and driver, my truckers finally caught up. So much so I even flipped Cowboy back to seed. That is good for me and good for them. Hopefully everyone got a little rest last night.

This morning Prissy woke me wanting to go outside. Thank goodness, it was seven and I was still snoozing!

I talked a few times with Rian yesterday. He was really hurting. He had made a Friday night trip back to the ER and was treated and sent home. Saturday he told me he was hurting so bad that he couldn't tell his pain pills were fazing it, even if he doubled them up (he had the doctor's permission). Finally he went back to the hospital and they admitted him. Hopefully they can manage his pain and he can get some rest! I know he is frustrated because this has been an ongoing process for several months.

Hope your day is a good one!

Go Memphis!

FATHER, we are in a better place mentally today, thank YOU. We continue to lift up Rian to YOU for YOUR gifts of healing and care. Rain down YOUR blessings! Glory to YOU in the highest!

Things are just about the norm out here, or I should say just about what has become normal.

Bale trucks are behind, seed trucks are struggling to stay up, and everyone is observing a constant vigil trying to pace themselves to the end.

And the computer says 15 days! Amen.

The plant had a few bad days which kind of lulled the drivers into a relaxed mind set. Now Bertha has been running with the same dogged determination of a mad woman and before the drivers realized it, Bertha was running away from them with loads waiting for shipment! Everyone in the plant is doing their utmost best to keep the big plant on track.

The crew put together a new game to gamble on. They made paper slips with dates and specific three hour periods, folded them and put them into a canister. The players would step up, pay their money and draw a slip. Frank said that it was so frantic and frenzied, they had to put the lid on and stop play just to make sure everyone paid. They sold out in about ten minutes.

I swear these guys would bet on a dung beetle race!

It was good to see Santos leave. Not that we couldn't use him, it was good to see someone who had been here since October end their season. He wasn't too happy having to leave to renew his visa, but then that wasn't his fault or mine. Who would have though last fall we would still be here in April? We visited before he left and he is wanting me to help them,meaning he and his brother, (with letters and promise of employment) to eventually get their permanent residents card which is a big step toward citizenship. The brother has a daughter, born last year who is a U.S. citizen, which should make his paperwork a little easier.

I finally developed a bonus formula for dealing with these employees who have taken considerable time off by their choice. I also used it to discount Santos's bonus because my other employees were complaining that he shouldn't get the same bonus they do if he leaves early! I can see their point. My formula discounted Santos's bonus 4 cents an hour and he had roughly two thousand hours! It didn't hurt him a whole lot but it did put a precedent in place.

Before he left Santos came to the trailer wanting to me to meet his mother. She was nice enough, but I have no idea what she was telling me! I told Krl what was going on and she came outside to meet her as well.

Krl has been telling me she was going to order the Rosetta Stone Spanish program. It would have come in handy yesterday!

I have a new bale hauler this morning. Pepa got a driver for his truck. This will allow me a little more flexibility. More than likely when I get the bales caught up, Cowboy will go back to the seed haul.

It had been so long since I have given the rookie speech that I almost didn't remember it!

If things will work right, Krl and I hope to run into Midland later today. Buy a few groceries, pick up a few supplies, and probably most importantly eat out!

We have had some sort of stomach bug, even the hound girls. We aren't throwing up or having diarrhea, but our stomachs just churn and it seems like everyone is bloated and uncomfortable. I am almost to the point of breaking out the jalapenos! As I type this, my stomach is rumbling like a thunder storm!

Rian's procedure went well. He got to go home, even though the doctor didn't want to let him. Rian had a hard time getting his system to function normally after he was sedated last surgery so we kind of expected it again. As it turned out he ended up back in the emergency room last night. When we talked this morning he said he was sure hurting. Worst thing was he was going to miss Reid's first "T" ball game.

I have finished John Grisham's latest book, The Appeal. It was a difficult read for me toward the end because of the litigation that the family business had been in and lost. Pat had read the book prior to me and the only thing she said was she would always wonder about our trial. No doubt, the system is corrupt!

I did learn I had missed one Grisham book, Playing for Pizza. I'm going to have to get it and catch up.

I am beginning to think about books to take on our trip and books to read while taking long soaking baths with endless hot water when we get home.

I have a dream. That one day we will once again live in a house that does not have wheels, that doesn't rock in the wind, and has more than ten gallons of hot water capacity!

I am beginning to get really hopped up about going home but I can sure bring myself back to reality quickly when I think that in four months we will be moving camp back out here.

Oh I wish I could win lotto!

I have rambled much to long. Hope your day and weekend are good! Be blessed!

FATHER, it is hard not to be anxious. Keep us on course. I lift up Rian for YOUR healing and comfort. I ask for healing for Krl, for me, and for all the houndgirls.

I ain't as young as I once was,
but I was as young once as I ever was!

I make no claim to being as good once as I ever was.

I ache all over! Back. Knees. Hips.

Julio and I went to Roscoe yesterday to do a little tire project that ended up being a big tire project. Initially we were going to move four tires from one trailer to another. It ended up being six dismounts, eight mounts, and moving eight other mounted tires and wheels. I knew better, I just didn't want to pay someone to do. (Actually I would have, I couldn't find a service truck to go to the trailers to do it!).

I knew better.

I think back to when I was growing up and "Big John" from General Tire in Abilene would drive over on a Saturday and break down and mount tires from early to late, only taking time to eat lunch with us and a few water breaks where he would drink half and pour the rest over his head! He had to be one heck of a man!

Thing is, with the introduction of the one piece wheels, it probably became a much easier job and we know it became much safer than the split wheels with lock rings.

I am so far behind in entering seed load data! The oil mill doesn't print tickets at night, then they try to print all the tickets the following day and it is a mess. I have one driver who is behind about sixteen loads and combined all drivers were behind thirty-two loads! Then I have one ticket for a truck that has no record of the load. Yuk!!!!!

Rian had another procedure this morning. Erica called and said it went well, that he was still in and out. She made him apologize to the nurses before they put him under because he gets quite testy and demanding when he is coming out from under sedation. We'll hope they got him fixed up this time!

Holt has been puny! Rian said he had run a low grade fever but doctors think he is just running fever with his allergies! I had never heard of that!

Kat has had a good week. She scored a perfect score on her TAKS tests and in softball she had three triples and a single, played behind the plate and caught a couple of fouls! Way to go Kat.

I have received no report from Addie's softball.

The morning has been filled with hourly settlements. My first employee is leaving today. His Visa expires Monday. I had been wrestling with how I should deal with him not completing the season. I told Krl it wasn't really his fault but it wasn't fair to the other employees for him to get the same incentive. He had almost two thousand hours for the year. Wow!

Continue to pray for us. We need all the help we can get!

Have a day!

FATHER. Heal me, please. I pray for healing for Rian, for a quick recovery. I ask for patience!

I've had a couple of different days. Yesterday mid-morning I drove to Roscoe to do the few odd and end things that the state inspection station thought it needed. That means I drove three and a half hours to spend an hour working on the truck. Then I made a stop by the accountant's, by Chris's NAPA store, back to Memama and Pepa's with my final stop being to look at Pepa's forklift at his barn.

I arrived at the compound right at shift change.

I ended up running the loader this morning. The plant has had a mind of it's own the last few days. It has had two sub-1000 bales days in a row. Very odd for this plant. What that means is that we have had a surplus of trucks in all venues. We were down five hours last night and about three and a half today.

The high note for the weeks is Krl had asked me to pick up Ma Allen's in Sweetwater. Memama helped me out and called it in and picked it up for me! Krl and I have felt almost civilized dining of their fine cuisine!

The computer says 18 days. I'm going to hold it to that!

Have a day!

Oh FATHER, we are grasping and gasping! Bless us with YOU calm and peace!

Oh what a tangled web we weave.

My forklift operator who did not show yesterday, called.

"Boss. We had a problem when we came to San Antonio for Sunday. My Father and I met my Mother, she had driven from Mercedes (In deep South Texas). We left to go back to the compound and she left, but thirty minutes later she called and told us she had pain and no air. We turned around and went to her, took her to the hospital where they gave her some medication and I drove her home," said Heberto.

"How is your Mom?", I asked.

"She is all right now," he said. "What I am asking now is what do I do, do I still have my job?" he asked.

"If I were you I wouldn't worry about the job, I would worry about my mother," I said. "You need to stay there to be sure she doesn't have another spell, because you will be 600 miles away if you get here and she falls ill again," I said.

"Can I come back to work when?", he asked.

"Plan on being here Friday morning at 7," I told him.

He thinks I am an idiot. Heh! I knew he had borrowed a vehicle from another employee. I had heard through the grapevine that he and his father had told co-workers they would not return until Monday. So, I pushed some buttons. My employee had called the co-worker and told him
he could not return to work until Friday. The co-worker told him he wanted his vehicle back ASAP!

Late yesterday, I was talking on my cell phone sitting on the porch of my trailer when this employee walked by. I waved to him to come over.

"Do we need to begin again?", I asked.

"What do you mean?", he asked.

"I mean you weren't where you said you were because you can't go from Mercedes to here in the time since we talked," I told him. "If you lied about that, I doubt your mother was ill," I continued.

"No, I was in Three Rivers," he said.

Confession is good for the soul.

So, he took a hit on his season ending bonus with that escapade.

The plant has not run well since the maintenance Sunday. The machinery is physically giving it up. Shafts breaking, drums failing, belts, flashings, brushes, saws are becoming dull. We have had multiple rib fires in the last week and they are attributing them to wear on the ribs in the gin stands.

Nineteen days says the Eagle Sys this morning.

I am considering making a run to Roscoe to do a few odd and end things to unit 222. the inspection sticker ran out last night and even though we have a five day grace period we need to get it inspected. Yesterday the driver took it in and let them do a preliminary inspection. It has a cracked mirror and needs wiper blades. It shouldn't take long.

We had a norther blow in during the night. It is cooler than in recent days and the wind is rocking the trailer.

Have a day!

FATHER, I confess I am tired. I am spent. I throw myself on your mercies!