I regret I was not able to stay at home yesterday and watch the inauguration. I have only caught bits and pieces, but I have been told our new President stood and delivered. Today his work begins in earnest. What a huge task he must be looking at. I can only imagine how much there is to do, and such a short time to do them in. I am sure there are a lot of details that we, the general public, will never know exist in the day to day running of our government.

I would bet that our new administration feels like they just went out to dinner with a big group and have been handed the check.

Pray for them.

Happy birthday Pepa! 80 years old. Wow, if you are 80, I must be ............ . We may have to use new math.

Of course we did the big party Saturday, in fact yesterday at lunch I went there and ate and we had left over birthday 'burgers!

Saturday was a grand day, yet it was a hard day. It is on these special occasions that I seem to miss Freddy and Tj the most. I know with all the laughing and hooting and hollering, they would have been right in the middle. They would also have taken part in preparation and conducting the celebrating. I was very aware when I called for everyone to be quiet for the blessing, that it was Fred's job to do that. And I would give it back in a second if it would make him re-appear.

Probably the most difficult moment for me was taking pictures. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time we (meaning us kids) had been asked to take pictures with Memama and or Pepa since we had lost Freddy and Terri. It was extremely difficult to muster a smile.

Of course we had to know that it crossed Memama and Pepa's minds as well.

My yesterday was a good one. Very productive. We started the new engine in the little pickup. YES! My little S-10 is ready to go on the prowl! Stay out of the fast lane! Just kidding. That little four cylinder does good to ingest the occasional bug off the grill. I have made a call to my new insurance man, my old one retired the end of 2008, and he has yet to get me a quote on pricing. So, I made a mile or two down the country roads yesterday afternoon, found that everything worked except the temperature gauge, which helped Et and I zoom in on where one last wire might plug in. Sure enough, on the bottom of the thermostat housing was a sending unit. We plugged it in, the gauge began working and the "check" engine light went off.

I realize that most people wouldn't put much time and money into a truck that is fifteen years old, but I have really missed the economy of it. I could kick myself because last year when gas got so high I could probably have cut my fuel cost in half and almost paid for the new engine. But, time constraints prohibited getting to do the R & R. I am very pleased with the job Et did. He was the lead mechanic and Rick and I got to do a lot of the time consuming stuff. Et rolled around and under and climbed all over that little truck. He really looked like a grease monkey most days! The very last detail was replacing the heater core, and that was almost too much. The book calls for removing the entire dash! Everything. Surprisingly this took only five hours before it all looked normal again.

Over the course of the entire project, I think we had one bolt left over, and I had bought one bolt and one nut. I think more than likely a short bolt was inadvertently installed in a hole that would take the longer bolt and when the longer bolt was tightened it didn't pull down correctly, resulting in my going to get a shorter length bolt. But hey, how many bolts do you take back out until you get the right one that is in the wrong place?

Funny thing last night was all the way home I kept stomping on the clutch. (And the truck I drove home is an automatic!).

The best part of the day was a call from the seasonal jobsite yesterday. The GM asked if I was interested in moving the seed from the flat storage to the mill in Lubbock! 100+ loads. I told him we would have trucks there this morning. We did a thrash getting all the trailers and trucks back together and putting them through the shop one last quick time. By the time I left the shop last night it was a little before eight. The trucks had to be in place at seven this morning. I am hopeful we get four weeks of work from this although I would settle for three.

It was really a funny occurrence. As many of you know, we had hardly turned a tap since December 19. It is kind of the nature of the beast, holidays and year end. Lots of businesses try to pull down inventory while others close down for the final week of the year. Of course this year we also had Wall Street crumble and a new incoming President. After the work did not pick up after January 5th, I had begun to get concerned.

I found myself making calls searching for loads, while I became a cheerleader for my truck drivers. Actually I guess we were cheer leading for each other. Lots of $$$$$ were flowing the wrong way and while these guys are paid a commission or percentage of each load they haul, I know they have to make a check. We have worked on nearly every piece of equipment we use! And that is where the S-10 pickup came into the mix.

My most recent pep talk had told my guys that things would pick up after our new President was elected. Yesterday morning had yielded no loads on our daily contact, but the jobsite GM called just about the time the inaugural festivities began. I was enroute to the shop when we talked of the work and when I walked into the shop I announced to our men that our new President was hardly in office and we had work!

Yippee! There were smiles all around, and it made for a really good work environment, knowing that better checks were ahead.

And I am thankful!

I talked with Pat and with E yesterday, and they both are having some medical issues. I am concerned for them both.

Hope your yesterday was good and that today is better!

FATHER, thank YOU for continuing to bless us. Thank YOU for the work. I pray for safety for our workers, I pray that we won't have any issues. FATHER, I lift up Pepa for YOUR blessings on this his birthday, and ask that YOU bless him with many more. I lift up Pat and E for YOUR gifts of healing, that YOU would cleanse their bodies and restore their health. I pray for our country and its new leadership. Guide them, and us. FATHER, I need YOU every hour, every minute, every second, every day. Abide in me!