So long, farewell, auf Wiedershen, good night, adieu, au revoir, goodbye, to you and you and you!

I now know how Julie Andrews felt in The Sound of Music !

1965 is the answer for all you trivia buffs! (What year did the movie debut?)

Well, this is it from civilization. We are loading, we are leaving. It may be a day or two before I make contact with the blog world. I don't know. Everything is supposed to be hot and ready to hook up at the jobsite, but telephone, internet, and propane are not yet wired or plumbed in.

I drove out and spent the day yesterday. The pace is really beginning to pick up. We are working today, but I had made plans to catch rides in and to drive Krl back to the compound this morning. My guys there said they could handle it, for me to take care of Krl and getting her there.

Those are such nice guys, they don't want anyone to miss out on the fun.

In a quick turn of events, I hired two more on the ground people yesterday. They are "green" having never worked for me or at a similar operation. But if smiles, and exuberance are an important part of the equation, they should do fine. Raul and Carlos are their names!

I missed the first ride of my journey home last night. So I improvised. When I had unloaded and stashed the last of the items I had taken with me, I fueled my pickup, and recruited Delfino to ride with me towards Abilene. I also enlisted the help of Pat. (Actually she had volunteered.) When Delfino and I were on the entrance ramp of I-20, I called Pat and told her to meet us at that famous boot place in Colorado City. We were pulling in just as she was turning from under the bridge. What timing! I actually think that that location is just about the halfway point from our house to our travel trailer in the compound. Since we got a jump on Pat (from St. Lawrence to Big Spring), the adjusted call worked well. Delfino took my pickup and returned to the compound (a three hour windfall for him) While Pat and I motored for Abilene.

It was good to spend some time with Pat. It is very difficult to find concentrated time that is not interrupted with cell phones. (Just as I typed this my cell phone rang.) We had a good visit. We talked about Chloe (Pat just lights up.), and we talked about Memama and Pepa (primarily health concerns and age related things), about Grand Pa Freeman and Grandmother Freeman (She was actually Great Grandmother), about Coach and the Lions, Robyn, Shelby, E, and a whole lot of other subjects!

Just as we were getting on the Winters Freeway, Krl called and told me she had ordered chicken tenders and all the trimmings and she got enough for Pat to eat with us. So that extended and included Krl in our visit.

I know we aren't that far away from Roscoe when we are at the jobsite, but it is a whole different world.

Pat had tried to discourage Memama and Pepa from going to Graham last night to watch Brownwood play. Neither of them felt well, but Memama said she didn't know how she would get the coaches peanut brittle to them if they didn't attend the game. I am sure that the drive home was much longer after Brownwood lost.

It seems the Lions lost some key players to transfers and injuries and most of what they are doing is with Sophomores. The record for the year will not reflect those facts. Give them two years and we will see how the Lions roar.

Well, I must get. I need to finish loading clothes and pots and pans. I know we are forgetting some very important things, but oh well! We know Krl or I will have to drive in next month to meet the guys who are putting our new windows, so if it isn't an emergency we can probably live without it until then.

I seem to be having a hard hard time getting off the keyboard and closing. I guess my brain thinks if I can keep typing my body can't leave for the jobsite.

But as Memama always says, "A man's got to do what a man's got to do!"

And with that, have a day!

FATHER, I need a lot of help today. I am sad, I am blue. I know we need to go and do this work. Give me the resolve, the dedication, the wisdom, I need to make this move and do this job!