I believe my biggest personal character flaw is patience, or lack thereof. But I am better than I once was.

Today I have the yard on my horizon. After all the rains of a week ago, our grass is doing very well, thank you. I think it is trying to grow because it is fearful that the water will continue to rise and it just wants to keep its head above water! My deal is, I have been awake for a long, long time. I have been trying to wait for Krl to get her nap out. I could weed eat and mow the front and probably not wake her, but those three houndgirls aren't going to take it lying down and sleeping. So I have been waiting. Hold on! I hear movement from that side of the house. Maybe I can get it in before the temp gets too high!

My other area of eager anticipation is with my potassium level. Due to the med changes made mid week, my potassium is off kilter and I am back to battling muscle cramps, even though I have made a conscious effort to manage liquid intake and trying to re-hydrate. Oh well, may have to buy some "on sale"dill pickles for the pickle juice!

I made the trek yesterday to meet with the equipment banker. I am really frustrated here. Their program has changed, and changed again, and changed again, until finally I got an e-mail making it sound like I am dragging my feet. Baloney. While I was there yesterday I asked some questions they still could not answer. I also asked for some changes in the terms, since this has drawn out so long, and the loan officer could not answer any of them, saying it would require her meeting with the President of the bank. To be honest, I would prefer to meet with him myself and limit the opportunity for message meaning loss through repeating through multiple people. Kind of like that old game where you whisper something to someone and they repeat it to the person next to them and on and on until it makes the entire room and then you compare the original message with the final message. But, I know yesterday the loan officer assigned to this equipment dispersal handled 7 customers while the President still had 1 in his office.

I know this isn't the biggest deal in the bank, but it is my deal!

Oh well, if it happens it happens. If it doesn't, there is a better deal somewhere.

Well, they are alive! Phootie just paid me a visit so that means the four females in my house have emerged from dreamland.

Gotta go, the yard awaits!

Have a weekend!

FATHER, please bless this day and weekend. Rest me well, rest me quickly. Help me to make good decisions. Bless Donald's family with YOUR gifts of comfort and I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR gifts of healing. YOU are good.

We finished at the doctor Wednesday just about four. I have been poked, prodded, and drained of fluids. Needless to say, it was a very long day to be fasting for the blood work.

When I had deposited Krl at the house, I embarked to the pharmacy with scripts in hand. Fourteen. Huh? We've become my parents!

Four additions this year, and one mistake. Some are on a need to basis and at least one is questionable. The mistake was the doctor's office entirely. We had carried all of our script bottles we had on hand. Problem was one of mine had been thrown away when I ran out (not by me). I told the nurse and doctor what it was and she told me she couldn't find it and he told me I was mistaken. When I got home and saw the new med, Krl and I both knew it was not right. A Thursday call to the pharmacist and a request for the previous med list revealed we were right. Then a call to the doctor office and they looked at the medical records and confirmed we were right. So a new script was called in. Now I have 29 days worth of the other one! Of course the pharmacy wants no part of the mistaken meds, since it was not their fault. I bet Blue Cross is going to love this.

The doctor had told Krl that her new addition would cost about $3 per month at WalMart, so they warned us to price it at our pharmacy. When I did that, even with our co-pay, the cost was three times Wally world.

When I stopped at our pharmacy to pick up the corrected script, it cost $15. For the first time I believe that the pharmacy is going to collect their full co-pay, even if the cost of the med might be $3 per month. I think I am going to ask. I know Toni, our pharmacist was not in a very good mood the other day, and neither was I.

While convenience is nice. Pricing is more important. Especially with insurance changes looming.

Well, I had an e-mail from the bank I had been working with on the equipment I had won the bidding battle on. As most regular readers will know, when I asked them to reconcile the equipment on their possession against what the titles they held, they only hit 75%. One trailer they repossessed is not correct. In other words they repossessed one piece of equipment they didn't have a lien on.

I have told the bankers where their missing piece of equipment is, but they don't want to go retrieve it. I think they want me to right their mistake for them.

If they got the money honey!

We're going to have a talk today. I would think they have to be embarrassed. I sure would be.

I will have to tell blog world about a trek Krl and I made to Cadillac Jacks the other night to meet a friend, but that is another blog.

Have a day!

FATHER, help me to keep my cool and to think before I speak today. I continue to lift up Donald's family and friends for YOUR gifts of comfort, and I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing.

The whole day today is budgeted for the doctor. I'm about a month late this year, but that is Dr. Mackie's fault. He change affiliations with his practice and we had to find him. The old office he worked in would not give us his new practice address. Apparently he and one of the other doctors began their own practice.

I have been out of several of my night time meds for about six weeks.

Due to our pending insurance change at the parts store, I am going to try to get another sleep study done. It has been three years since my last one.

I talked with Pat yesterday and apparently she and Hag will be on point for seeing that Donald Johnson's final wishes are carried out. When they located his sister to tell her of his passing, she told them that they knew Donald better than anyone. Pat and Steve returned to Donald's house where they located his lock box. She said everything was in order. Inside they found his pre-paid funeral plan with his directions to be carried out, his last will and testament, and his insurance policies.

Donald lived near Pat and Steve's lake place and kept watch over everything. For a long time Hag and Donald had been friends, even prior to Donald moving to the lake. Donald was a regular visitor in their home and loved Pat's fresh veggies! Donald was a hunting buddy of hags, from the seasonal birds to the elk hunts in Montana and Wyoming. This year Hag is going to New Mexico but Donald didn't think his back was up to it.

Donald lived alone, was divorced, and had no children. He is survived by his sisters and their families and his Dad (I believe).

New plans being formulated for me as I type.

Ollie called me twice yesterday. She was turning herself in for violating her probation. She had borrowed some money from her maternal grandmother for an attorney and her short plans were twenty days incarceration, while the long of it could be a year. She was having a hard time and her step Dad was not helping matters. I listened to her as she cried and sobbed that no one understands how hard this is. I told her she should have thought about this when she did what she did to get in trouble. The only advice I had was to put on those big girl panties and put this behind her.

I hope she caries through.

If you haven't seen the latest pix of the twins, go on facebook and check them out. Jake was in the parts store and he was telling us they had gone to day care to check it out! He said they were taking it all in. I laughed and told him one would be a little socialite and the other probably a bully! You figure out which is which. (Crazy thing is their teacher was Jake's kindergarten teacher!).

Hump day! I will admit my working at the parts store Monday has me one day off for the week! Today sure seems like Thursday! My bad!

Have a day!

Oh, a while back my friend Becky Lynn Lucas Russell had sent me a message and in that message she said, "The question is not DOES GOD love us, but WHY GOD loves us."

How true.

FATHER thank YOU for loving us when we give YOU no reason to. FATHER, bless Donald's family and friends in this difficult time. I lift up Ollie as she goes through a difficult growing experience, bless her and her efforts. I lift up Rebecca for YOUR continued gifts of healing.

Rain blessing again!

I was back in the parts store yesterday and today. Originally Sylvia had wanted off a couple of days as her daughter from North Carolina was coming in. The she decided to only take one day off. Needless to say, with the wet weather it was a relatively slow day at the parts store.

We learned that Donald Johnson, a man who had helped Chris set up the hardware section of the store, was found dead this morning at his home. This is a difficult thing to accept and realize. He was usually in and out of the store some time during the week. He had been ill for four or five days and a friend took him some food yesterday afternoon and spent three hours with him. This morning the friend called to check on him and there was no answer. After the drive to Donald's lake place, they discovered him on his couch, as if he was sleeping. But he was gone.

Donald Johnson, RHS class of 1972, rest in peace.

The Abilene area is now over nine inches above its normal rainfall.

Tomorrow, Dr. Mackie. New 'scripts, hopefully a sleep study, and onward and upward.

Have a day.

FATHER thank YOU for Donald, for his friendship. Bless his family and friends. Surround them with YOUR angels. We lift them up for YOUR gifts of comfort and care. We continue to lift Rebecca for your miracle of healing. Bless us Oh LORD, and expand our boundaries!

I can't wait for the weekend to be over.

I need somewhere to go and something to do that is away from here.

Lots of stuff going on, very little that is good.

A continuation of the last week. And I am not allowed a weekend.

I think a co-worker used the term "my brain doesn't work well any more".

Then it is time to get out of the game.

Have a Monday.

FATHER, sorry, but its all on YOU.

Today is the Brickyard 400. Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Argh, argh. argh!

I love Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The tradition, the pomp and ceremony. I have not ever gone there, although I would like to. Yet people tell me go before the race and then be home and watch it on television. (I have a standing invitation from Jeanetta to come to Indianapolis).

I suppose my biggest problem is grasping the size of the raceway. Two and a half miles around it, hosting in excess of 400,000 spectators. Home to an eighteen hole golf course. The covered grandstands. Four corners, short chutes and long straight aways. The pagoda.

I can remember when I was younger and on Boys Club trips, listening to the radio broadcast of the Indy 500.

I was thrilled when NASCAR got the opportunity to go to Indy.

Yep, I will be sitting in front of the tele when noon CDST rolls around.

Rian and family left yesterday, destination Camp Following. This year is the first time for it to be held at Pines Springs Summer Camp in New Mexico. This is the second and final camp of the year for Greenlawn. The big difference between the previous camp this year and this one is that the high school kiddos are the teachers and counselors to the younger kids.

I put the boys first letter in the mail yesterday.

Well, like any good racer, I have preparations t complete before the start.

Have a day!

FATHER, rest me well, renew me. I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing. I lift up the kids and adults at Camp, that they will have a safe and productive week.

Difficult week.

I spent two and a half days working around the farm shop, mowing, shredding and spraying.

Sounds simple doesn't it?

It wasn't. There were six pickups, four trucks, and three tractors that needed to be moved in order for me to access everything. Three trucks and three pickups wouldn't start. Battery issues. So we either pulled them out or used the forklift to move them. We mowed, went home, came back and finished shredding, mowing, and spraying. Then we had to re-park everything in its appropriate place.

Yesterday Jason and his boys were trying to get away to go pulling. Jason had taken the fuel tank off the Econo Rod to have a new larger fitting put in it. After he and Rian made some off season changes, bigger heads, carburetor and intake manifold, performance seemed to go the other way. Some people said it was a fuel issue caused by too small fuel line to supply the engine. While I am not in agreement with this, I didn't argue.

Twice Jason went to pick up the tank. Both times it leaked. Finally we had to go to another fuel tank Jason had in storage. This meant fabrication for mounting the tank and routing fuel lines. True to Freeman luck, nothing went easy. The tank sat too low which meant the fuel lines would have to be routed under the mounting plate, or the tank would have to be spaced up for the fuel line routing. We elected to raise the tank.

By the time we got them on the road the odds of them getting there to pull last night were not good. They didn't.

Oh well, a wise man (me) says they didn't hurt any parts last night.

The trucks are still a pain. Money has been tight, still trying to collect old bills. Collected one and felt good until the bank called and their check didn't clear. Talk about a book keeping nightmare. One domino hits another and it another and on and on and on.

After jumping through some hoops and pulling every rabbit I had hidden up my sleeve, and with the help of some people who know who they are, the money melt down was quashed.

And I was still in trouble when I got home. If it doesn't matter, why should I try?

Have a day.

FATHER, rescue me.

Horrible night last night. Muscle cramps. I even got up and drank a pint of pickle juice, which usually relieves the cramps, but it had not effect last night. I think I slept mostly standing or leaning against the door facing!

I didn't realize how tired and dehydrated I had become. The heat sure saps me! I think I lack about forty acres completing the cotton spraying. I would have finished it but we decided to cover the wheat fallow ground as well. There isn't that much wheat ground, but it is pretty rough terrain.

I think when I get through there Monday we will probably spray all the remaining wheat ground. That shouldn't take past Tuesday, especially if I can get some help hauling water.

That has been my biggest problem. Spray, then jump in the pickup and haul water, spray, get in the pickup and haul water. The process repeats itself over and over again. At one point yesterday I was sitting third in line to fill the nurse tank.

Probably my biggest complaint of the Spray Coupe is I would love to have more water capacity. I would like to fill in a thousand gallons and then run three and a half hours and do it again. Instead I am filling 400 gallons and running an hour and twenty minutes, or sometimes less. But, I will admit that the smaller load has allowed me to run across some wet ground that probably wouldn't have held up an additional four or five thousand pounds. A combination of trade offs and compromises.

The more I run the spray coupe the more I learn. Sometimes a little restraint and slowing down, actually speeds you up.

I think I prefer the Auto Farm GPS guidance to the Outback, even though I have about learned them both. I think I would like to design my own. It would look like Pac Man, eating up those acres!

The most difficult thing about the guidance system is making your turns and having the system lock on line. I look at some of my turns from the first applications and I have to laugh.

Practice makes perfect!

I do have about thirty acres at Wastella to go back and spray, it was just too wet and the wind wasn't cooperative. Our neighbor has milo planted next to us and it wouldn't tolerate Roundup very well.

Next up should be dragging through the cotton with a cultivator. But, no rush right now!

I met Pat at her garden yesterday to try to pick some black eyed peas for our friend Becky Lucas Russell. Pat picked over it and I went back over it, but it just needs a few more days. Pat finally put together a "sampler" a little of this and a little of that, but not much of any one item.

This week Pat is going to have garden running out her ears!

I dropped the garden harvest off at Becky's brother's home and got to see Becky, Jim, Laquita, and Guy and his wife. I wish I had had more time. It was good to visit, but I realized how long it would take to "catch up"!

Truck billing and payroll today.

I so need to recharge.

Hope your weekend is a good one!

FATHER, rest and renew me. Bless our efforts. I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR gifts of healing and care. To YOU be the glory!

I had to laugh at myself yesterday morning. So today, I will admit it. I am an eternal optimist.

While I was slipping my boots on, I had to check my lotto numbers, just to be sure I had to go to work! Ha!

Yesterday was a frustrating day. Lots of waiting, and I'm not a good waiter.

The last couple of days I have gone by my Mom and Dad's on my way to the farm. I start the coffee pot and bring in their paper. The first day no one was up, yesterday Pepa was sitting in his chair. I think my Mom almost takes offense that she wasn't up to fix coffee.

I think I start the coffee so they can't say they could get a dog to retrieve their newspaper and replace me!

When I left there yesterday morning I made a circle through town and talked with Jason. He informed me the spray rig was at this house and it was waiting on me. Our plan was to run by the section to hit a couple of streaks I didn't spray last time I sprayed there. Not that I didn't try to spray them then, there was a miscommunication between my brain and technology on board the sprayer.

We had decided to begin spraying this application at Wastella and work our way back across to Roscoe. I went by the barn to top the fuel tank and my chemical brew. I was very surprised to learn that we had chemical on hand to mix only one batch. For weeks we had discussed the need, and shopping had been taking place and a value buy located, but the chemical had never materialized in Roscoe. I was also surprised to learn that due to a fuel pump issue I couldn't fuel.

In less than two hours, I was dead in the water, waiting. I went back to the barn. Took the nurse tank to town and got a load of water, took the back up fuel tank to town and got some diesel, went to Wastella, fueled the sprayer, back to the barn, parked fuel tank, unhitched water tank pickup, unloaded surfactant empties, unloaded chemical tote.

Oh, and I fed and watered the barn cats!

It was already after five, and when I called to check on our chemical it was still two hours away.

I went home. Of course I can't do anything simple. I had a parts store customer who called me (he calls on my cell phone) wanting me to bring him some items from the parts store. Crazy thing was he had to go to a truck with a problem yesterday and went within two hundred yards of the parts store. But I had the items in my pickup at Wastella.

Best laid plans.

I sat in my chair last night and went to sleep. Sometime after midnight I stumbled to bed. I woke this morning with my pulse racing and short of breath. Another sleep episode. It had been a while since the last one!

So, today I have chemical, I have water, I have fuel. But there is no way I can spray everything that needs spraying today. That means I will probably get to spray Saturday.

I have been needing a Saturday off when it isn't raining.

Oh well.

Have a day!

FATHER, YOU are in control. Work in me and through me, YOUR plan.
I continue to lift Rebecca for your gifts of healing. Peace. Perfect peace.

Krl went to bed before me last evening, she took our little care giver hound to bed with her (which is a violation because the care giver adopted me!). About an hour after their defection, I quietly slipped into the bedroom and slithered into a contorted shape between the four females that share my bed. What bed hogs!

I was doing a mental accounting of the day and when I got through I sighed and vocalized saying, "LORD, this is a fine mess I've got us in". So I am hoping GOD had his sense of humor last evening. Hopefully he is flattered that I know he is there with me.

I have been traded to the farm again. I had hoped to spray roundup on 700 or 800 acres, but ended up trying to quiet little sand flurries on a farm that has had a hard time taking hold. Maybe tomorrow. I think we have right at 1000 acres to spray. If we didn't have to fill up and move from farm to farm it would only take 7 or 8 hours. Maybe two days total.

Two crazy days in a row for Krl and Trc in the office. I talked with krl twice during the day and could tell she was fizzing.

Hope your day was better!

FATHER, thank YOU for being there with me. Forgive me when I forget. Bless Rebecca with YOUR gifts of healing and care. YOU are good.

Yikes. First time I woke this morning was 12:42. Thankfully, I was able to go back to sleep for a while. About 3:30 this morning I woke, did the mandatory bathroom run, and came back to bed. I was lieing to myself. Flip. Flop. Thrash. I knew, as did the hounds, that I was awake for the day.

I woke thinking about the vital part of the master plan that Krl was working on yesterday that tanked. It is a lot like trying to tie a string that has snapped while you were trying to tie it and now it is too short. So, now we have to make our string longer (someway) or figure out how to shrink the size of what we are trying to encircle.

So we need to get a new heading.

Have a day.

FATHER, we could use a hint here. Thank YOU for all YOU do. Bless Rebecca and her family and the medical team that is ministering to her needs. And when I'm lost and alone, YOU strengthen and comfort me.

I drove down to the reunion for family church yesterday. Rian was speaking. Rian says Monday through Friday he brings the wood and on Sunday he brings the word!

Interesting day today.

But first, a little catching up.

After getting an encouraging e-mail Friday from the seasonal work, we have heard nothing. Typical for this GM. He appears to be ADDHD and Obsessive Compulsive, all rolled into one. Everyone I talk with says that you can get one item to catch his attention until the next one sails by. On and on. Frustrating. However, our bid proposal expires this Friday. It may be extremely difficult to "tweak" our numbers (as the GM said). Come Friday, all bets are off. (-)

Then on a better note, I heard from the banker I had been working on the equipment acquisition. They are going to do the deal, but they are wanting different terms than what I have agreed to. This may be something that we have to discuss and work out. (+)

On a different deal Krl had been working on, she received word today that it had tanked. That really bothers me, and I can tell it bothers her. We needed this deal to make the whole enchilada come together. (-)

Rian called me from Las Vegas to tell me the lady who had signed the purchase contract on their house had backed out. Just inside the ten day window. Rian's realtor told Rian he had called the former purchaser's realtor to inquire as to the reason behind it, was it something on the inspection or what? The other realtor assured Rian's man that the inspection was as good as he had ever seen. He said this has been ongoing for five years with this lady. Wow! (-)

Rian's realtor told him he would get back on the job and Rian told him, well, wait to show the house until Friday because we came in from the lake yesterday and left this morning so everything is a mess.

I would say that patience is a real issue. Waiting for everything to come together in GOD'S way and GOD'S time. Forgive us FATHER.

It seems that the reason Krl's project tanked is that she and I had been sucked into the bankruptcy deal with the family business. Ah yes, the gift that keeps on giving. Crazy thing is her business was not affiliated in any way shape or form.

I just told her and Trc that we have to keep turning over stones until we find the one we are looking for.

Hope you had a day!

FATHER, lead us to the place and the situation you want us to find. Bless our efforts. Thank YOU for our victories, help us to learn from our difficulties. We continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR gifts and miracle of healing. Bless-ed be YOUR name.

Rain days. All week long. What a blessing!

I ended up doing the whole week at the parts store. I did have an interesting day yesterday. I was just going around Sweetwater when my cell phone rang. It was Rian. Where ya at? Are you working today?

I assured him I was in route and that I planned on working. He told me, drive through the Town& Country parking lot and pick up Drew Larue. He then explained that they had driven down from Lubbock Wednesday night and parked their RV on the parking lot across from the parts store. I zipped in and picked up Drew, and we headed across the street. He was dressed in his "baseball uniform" pj's.

Thursdays are imported doughnuts at the parts store. They are imported fresh from Abilene, but this week with Chris gone, we cut it down to a half dozen.

I stacked several parts catalogues on the counter, sat Drew up there and handed him a doughnut. He was a happy camper! He visited with Max and Sylvia, and I worked with him when a customer would walk in. Before it was all said and done, he would say, "Kin ah hep you?"

Quite the little salesman.

The older two mutts dragged in later. It was good to see them. They left there and were headed to Santo, Texas to ride tubes in the river. Luckily they had only one flood gate open at Possum Kingdom and they were able to float down river. The people who own this land (or their family does) attend the Greenlawn camp session at Pine Springs and had been wanting Rian's family to come by.

By last night, Rian and family were at the lake.

This morning Rian called reporting that it was raining at the lake.

Rain is predicted in here until Sunday, clearing Monday and then rain again Tuesday before clearing for several days. I am going to have to rent a Brush hog to do my yard! Oh well.

We had an encouraging e-mail from the seasonal work. They are having a meeting this morning. It is going to be really busy getting stuff ready if we get the whole enchilada.

I have not heard from the equipment banker. Which is good, but it is bad. Of course that is some of the equipment I would be sending South.

I am just not going to spazz.

Have a grrrr8 weekend!

FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR continued blessing of rain. I pray that you will bless the efforts of my family and friends with bountiful harvests. I pray for safety for all those traveling to the reunion. I continue to lift Rebecca and her family for your miracles of healing and care. Love lifted me.

Yesterday I was back at the parts store. It seemed as though it was feast or famine. If you had one customer, you had a store full, but when one left they all left.

My schedule is up in the air, depending on where I am needed. It could be parts store or helping Pepa. Yesterday Sylvania had a doctors appointment again and with Chris gone, I went in to help out.

We have been trying to finish up some of the required stuff for the state inspection station. Right now it is down to a little paint and running some CAT 5 cable for the TAVIS unit. Yesterday we completed the purchase of the required gas cap tester (with adaptors) and the required window tint meter.

So we are just a phone call away from getting our district supervisor to come by to complete the station certification.

I am kind of excited to get this up and running, even though everyone doesn't share that excitement. I think we are about a month too late to catch the annual rush for the wheat harvest equipment. Oh well.

Lots of tentatives took place yesterday. Rian and Erica tentatively sold their house, tentatively bought another one, and tentatively leased another. That is a lot of tentatives.

Rian had called me, kind of fizzing. Then by days end all of the pieces had fallen into place and the fizz was gone.

Rian and Erica have had a home purchased in Shallowater, contingent upon selling their home in Lubbock. With Rian's job change, they allowed him 1-year to either move or have a plan in the works. They had found a home they really like, and that fit their budget. The people that owned this home are going to build a new home as soon as Rian and Erica sign a contract to purchase their existing home. Rian and Erica had advertised their home "for sale by owner", and showed it a few times. Last week they got serious and listed it with a realtor. Monday they showed it twice and sold it, although there is a ten day grace period for the purchaser to opt out of the contract.

Rian called me yesterday and he had looked at another house near Shallowater. He said it was a beautiful home, but it was a little more than he was comfortable with. I was impressed with this maturity.

Rian and I have had conversations in the past about instant gratification, wanting what you want when you want it. I look at the progressions that Rian and Erica have gone through and they have done very well. From their initial house in Idalou to their 16th Place home, and now their move to Shallowater.

I know my son and he is not patient! Good job Rian!

Things have been a struggle lately. With Krl's fall, and then her heart problem, and with some driver turn over, at one point we had all of the trucking equipment parked. I sure did sleep good, but on the other hand, income suffered. We do have four customers who owe a considerable sum but it is apparent we may have to enlist the help of professionals to collect this.

I had been hoping, but not really expecting a small windfall. Everyday I would quickly open the mail box, only to be disappointed. Until yesterday.

Thank YOU LORD!

I needed one of those kind of things!

We did not hear from the seasonal work nor did I hear from the banker working on the recent equipment acquisition.

I may need to borrow some of Rian's patience!

I am getting to the point where I don't really care. I figure things are unfolding the way they are intended.

One interesting development yesterday, for the first time in about 20 years there will be a truck and tractor pull at the West Texas Fair. It will be a TTTPA sanctioned show using the X-factor sled out of Missouri. I will be announcing, provided I am not out of the country. It will take place Saturday night September 11th. This is a one day show this year, as Fair officials are wanting to gauge the draw. So if you are a pulling fan and if you attend the fair, make plans on attending the 11th of September. (It will be a night session).

Well, my bud DMS is in New Mexico this week. She and her husband took six grandkids for their annual July 4th trip. They are at the dreamhome her mother built to retire to. While her Mom only enjoyed four years living there, her dream now is part of not only her daughters life, but also extending to what would be great grandchildren of the dreamer! Pretty neat! And it came with a bear!

We usually exchange several text messages a day, but this week it has been very quiet on incoming messages, so I am hoping they are having a great time!

I am constantly in awe of the little redhead that lives with us. I don't know how she knows, but she knows when I get up to make a bathroom run during the night, and she knows when I am getting up for the night. She can tell the difference!

In fact she may know me better than I know me.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the windfall blessing yesterday. You continue to meet our every need! I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR gifts, bless her and those taking care of her. I pray for patience and for YOUR perfect peace. Amazing grace!

Happy Fourth on the fifth!

Another rainy day is forecast. Texans don't say NO to rain!

I had purchased about a dozen jalapeno peppers at the grocery store along with the remaining items to make bacon wrapped stuffed peppers. (One of my favorites). When it came time to do, I lacked motivation. However, I finally went into the kitchen and began de-seeding and de-veining the peppers. I took a break and in a few Minutes, Krl came in and told me she had filled the peppers with cream cheese. I returned to the kitchen and soaked some toothpicks while I retrieved a package of bacon from the refrigerator. By the time the peppers were ready for the grill Krl reported, "It is raining again".

Dang it all! I had shish kabobs on my mental menu. Beef cubes, bell peppers, onion, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms off the grill served on rice pilaf.

Regroup.

Beef tips with onion, pepper and zucchini cooked on the stove top, served on rice pilaf. Good and good for you!

Every once in a while I do something stupid. I picked up a bottle by the cap and dropped it on the tile floor in the kitchen. What a wreck. Glass and liquid all over. Of course I would be in the middle, barefoot. I had the drowning threat tamed by the time Krl arrived, and after we picked up all the larger glass pieces, she took over the effort.

The end of my fourth was when I went to boot up my computer late Sunday. I had used it earlier, but had shut it down because it gets paranoid when it is alone. I tell you, it is a piece of junk. This is a computer I had traded the office for. In fact it was actually Krl's computer. It had a lot of extra bells and whistles. it is ten years old and has had more little girl programs downloaded that should be allowed. I think at one time Kathryn had a Barbie homepage on it.

For whatever reason, when I went to boot up, my computer went through the regular prompts until the screen went black and a small message declared analog input, monitor cannot read. I fear that one of the cards is going bad in the computer, however, I ditched the flat screen and went and got a conventional monitor from storage. Walla.

Well, I don't know what my day holds. They are predicting more rain. I probably need to go check on Pepa's farming. We will see. I just don't need to drive a hundred miles to do nothing.

Was it me, or is the Fourth of July Celebration taking on more of a Memorial Day theme?

Have a day.

FATHER, thank YOU for R & R. I pray for a blessed week. I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR gifts of healing and care. FATHER, YOU are good.

Rain blessing continues. Wonderful.

Well, no news yesterday, on any front. From the South Texas work or the banker working with me on the equipment deal.

I discussed with my partner on the South Texas work, the possibility that we withdraw our bid proposal. I have had serious concerns about the integrity of the process, but after two weeks have elapsed since the deadline they presented us and with no word, I begin to feel exploited.

On the equipment, I am tempted to tell the banker to draft for the original equipment and the pieces I had bid on contingent upon his financing he can keep.

I don't know what it is about people not carrying through.

As many of you know, I usually watch Extreme Home Makeover on Saturday mornings (on TVLand). The past few months I have heard more and more about recipients of these homes losing them, filing for bankruptcy, and other horror stories. Many of these people encounter utility bills that are astronomical. Something they cannot and are not prepared to deal with.

This morning I watched an episode featuring a family of eight. Parents and six children. Wow. I kind of have a problem with a family that large, especially if there is an issue providing for it. Five of the six children are autistic. Wow. Footage of the family in their old home was unbelievable.

I kind of have a problem with continuing to reproduce if there is a genetic abnormality repeating itself.

The following episode was about a family who took in their nieces after they became orphans. I believe this situation is fully justifiable and worthy of assistance.

O.K., end of bitch session.

I didn't get out of the house until late yesterday. I ran several errands before returning home. Bah, humbug!

I continue to struggle with Krl's business, and its lack of direction and leadership. I have preached this for several weeks, yet with no positive result. In fact, yesterday they knocked off early because there was nothing to do. If I've got $7k out there to collect there is a lot to do.

Line it up and sell it out!

Addie is in Sweetwater to participate in the Soap Box Derby races. She is supposed to compete in an extra car that her uncle and cousins have. Good luck Addie, be safe!

I read an internet article this morning about California Governor Arnold Smartzeneger reducing all state worker's pay to the Federal minimum wage of $7.25. Wow! They have a $19B budget short fall. I can't imagine having a job, having a mortgage, having bills, and all the sudden my pay is reduced to minimum wage! The court has upheld his order and now the comptroller is asking for clarification from the courts.

On a serious note, Rebecca, the eight year old niece of my old friend BLLR is in the hospital in Houston. She has been there for a month and is in need of your prayers. Please add her to your prayer lists.

Have a happy and safe Fourth!

FATHER, I continue to struggle. Help me as I make hard decisions. FATHER, I lift up Rebecca for YOUR gifts of healing and care. Please bless her, her family and her doctors and nurses. FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR blessing of rain. Victory in JESUS!

Today is the lady that shares this address and my anniversary. I did some figuring. 73 years total. Now, you go figure!

I worked yesterday at the parts store. The project of the day was the "required by law" billboard for the state inspection station. Use to be they required you to have an eight foot by four foot billboard for special items, manuals and certificates. Now they have "downsized" it. Four by four. Our problem was we have no wall space. So, we built a free standing bulletin board. We could actually make it a two sided one if we wanted to, but so far we haven't.

Yesterday morning I began getting tools and supplies out of my pickup. Then I began looking at materials I had purchased about four weeks ago. When I began measuring and marking, Max came into the shop. We had discussed the structure, so we both had an idea of what needed to be done. In a short time all the cuts had been made and assembly began. We used screws. Not one single nail. The final stanza was installing the stabilizer feet to keep the board from tipping. For two left handed parts men we did a respectable job. I even made to "slip" receptacles for some of the required equipment that is stored on the board. I may go by the office supple and get a couple of things, but we are very close to being ready for certification. The only big project left is running the CAT cable for the TAVIS unit used for inspections. I already have the cable, we just have to drop it down the wall, fish it out and run it to the computer location.

Max went upstairs and found a "service writers desk" that we can use for securing and storing the inspection stickers, and for doing paperwork. I think all of us had forgotten about this desk sitting up there. It is tall enough to stand and srite on the slanted desk top. Perfect!

Rain today, here and at Pepa's farms. That is a blessing, but it could be a double blessing. No lawn mowing. Heh.

Well, I am thinking more and more that the GM at the summer seasonal work is not honorable. We were told bids had to be in the 18th and a decision would be rendered and bids awarded on the 25th. Then we were told the bids would be awarded by end of day the 30th. Now it is the 2nd, and still no decision. I really feel that this man is trying to wave the bids in front of different people to try to bargain further.

I think he is that stupid.

K.O. and I were talking and we both are at the point that if we are rewarded the bids we may not accept the work. We explained to this man that we needed to know far enough in advance to begin preparing equipment. Two years ago this man told us the work would begin on August 5th. On July 25th he called wanting trucks. It just doesn't work like that.

And, I think today we will have a decision rendered on the equipment we bid on almost a month ago. For the life of me I can't understand why with me acting as an agent only, the bank needs financial information on me for the company.

Once again. Go figure.

Have a day!

FATHER, I could sure use a pick me up.

July already.

Wow.

I have been watching hurricane Alex with more interest than most folks. The summer seasonal work takes place in that general area. One quick way to not have work would be for the hurricane to put the crops on the ground. With the storm center making land in Mexico the main contention will be the rain from the whip side of the storm.

I find myself feeling guilty about relief that the storm made land below the Rio Grande. The Mexican government does not have the infrastructure to deal with such a storm.

A few years ago we were in Cozumel and took the ferry over to Playa Del Carmen for Krl and the grandkids to swim with the dolphins. Along the route we saw evidence of damage from a storm just prior to our visit a few months. One image I can't erase from my mind was a small house that was simply the frame after the storm relieved it of its roof and siding. The inhabitants had nailed trash bags on the wall studs and roof rafters. Ingenuity. Thing is, some people weren't this lucky.

I had been away from the NAPA store for almost three weeks. It seems I am piecing together a lot of what has transpired during my absence. Drama at its finest is alive and well in Roscoe, Texas.

One note, Saturday July 3rd, Roscoe has a big day planned. Parade, booths, mud bog, street dance (two live bands) and fireworks. The mud bog is at the baseball field at noon, the other activities take place downtown on the bricks.

I am needing to get my week at the parts store to an even stopping point where I will be ready for whatever direction I need to go this weekend and next week. I am still trying to figure out what we need to do about Pepa's one field of cotton that I am not satisfied with. I visited briefly with one of the neighboring farmers yesterday and we are both baffled at the dilemma.

Ollie called yesterday and was in transit. She and Witleigh stopped in to visit. Her ultimate destination is her maternal grandparents. It seems Addie is coming in to drive a Soap Box Derby car (testing Friday, racing Saturday) and Ollie can't pass up witnessing this.

Ollie says she is putting together a plan to straighten some things out in a couple of weeks.

I guess we'll see if she is really getting herself together or not.

Lake Brownwood Reunion is a week from this weekend. Krl and I gave our RV spot to Rian and his family. After thinking it through I just couldn't see Krl hobbling in and out of the travel trailer, and the door and interior would be difficult to maneuver in and around.

After being told that the seasonal contracts would be "let" yesterday, no word came from that direction. I wasn't really surprised. This GM flies by the seat of his pants and with all the wind down there yesterday he is probably MIA.

Have a day!

FATHER, I pray for a productive day. YOU are in control.