I am having motivational issues. I find myself not wanting to go to Loop today.

But I need to be there tomorrow!

I was back at Roscoe yesterday doing odd and end projects. Mainly gathering parts for Pepa's truck driver. I swear that driver thinks I am Santa Claus!

I have several deliveries in the Loop/Lubbock area. Rian and Holt are wanting additional firearms!

Late yesterday I ran by the house and picked Krl up and we went to Books a Million and voted (again for me). (Send Pretty boy Rick packing!). While we were there I happened upon a nearly new display for John Grisham's latest book out, The Confession. Of course we couldn't leave there without owning a copy. It was a little strange, the checker asked if we were members of their book club, to which I replied yes. Upon researching our membership he told me it had expired and asked if we wanted to re-new. $18.00 annual fee for an additional 10% discount. I don't think I spend in excess of $180 a year with them.

I will say that them having the voting opportunity at their location has to pay off. I think every time we have gone there to vote we have purchased a book!

After that we went to Wally World to pick up a few things. Then home to eat a supper of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and chicken and rice soup.

I think my sinus infection has moved from my sinuses to my ears. Drat! I have blown enough snot to float a cruise liner. Luckily it is clear, thanks to the antibiotics I have been taking, but I am now out! I may have to make a detour on my way to Loop and get a refill!

Well, this isn't getting it done!

Have a day!

FATHER, I pray for YOUR healing.

A little nippy out and about this morning! Some areas may have toyed with a little frost on the ol' pumpkin!

I spent yesterday at Roscoe at the farm. I drove around each farm doing an assessment, then I went back to the farm shop and began unloading chemical and surfactant from the spray pickup.


A little later we may have to reassess the wheat fallow ground, but at present I think we are in pretty good shape.

The cotton is really popping. In fact one farm probably needs to be defoliated everywhere but the lake bottom. This is the farm that the cotton is very thin and sparse, but it ended up being so beautiful. Big plants with huge bolls the size of your fist. I only hope the added fruit can make up for the sparse plant population.

Now down in that lake bottom, the cotton is think and lush and as tall as my pickup truck! Bolls top to bottom and 99% of them un-opened.

Jason had a friend strip his home place yesterday. I drove by late and was a little disappointed in what it appeared it was going to yield. I guess there is lots of fluff!

I've got to take a minute to vent. Most of our pharmacies have stopped using cotton in their pill bottles as a cost elimination. Excuse me, but I visualize a single bale of cotton and the tech pulling off a small dab between thumb and fore-finger to put in each bottle. That bale would last a long time! I'm sure the cotton in the pill bottles was a minute expense.

And along that expense line, Krl has checked with other pharmacies and found there is a W-I-D-E disparity in pricing. Since we lost our medical insurance this has become a major expense! As much as I despise some of the large chain pharmacies, they may be a life saver!

My weekend looks like this. Roscoe today @ the farm shop and on the farm. Tomorrow I will go to Loop returning Sunday (hopefully).

Have a day and a weekend!

FATHER, bless this day! I pray for relief from this cold I am fighting! YOU are good!

Thursday. Wow. October is almost gone, the ghosts and goblins are waiting in the wings!

For the first time in several weeks, my schedule shows signs of easing. Thankfully!

BUT, yesterday was a test. Thank you Robert.

My morning began in Roscoe, picking up parts to finish the forklift service, then to the barn to install the pieces, then I unloaded a cotton stripper header, then loaded the forklift on a step deck trailer, then the truck and trailer, with forklift, left!

In the midst of all this I arranged for Pepa's driver, Robert, to go to a shop to have his brakes checked out. One of my frustrations with this driver is his inability to accurately describe an issue or problem. That was the case yesterday. He had been telling me he was having an issue with the brakes on his truck. When he arrived at the shop and they did an assessment, it wasn't even the truck, it was the trailer.

To further enhance my mood, when he arrived at the shop, he told the service manager, this is what my boss wants checked out, this is what I want checked out in addition. If I had been closer I would have invested a drive and kicked him in the shins! I finally brought him to Abilene to a shop I work with and from 2 to 5 they performed their repairs. K.O. and I had arranged a load from Anson back to Lubbock, and a handful of minutes prior to 5, I walked to the truck and slapped the side of the sleeper berth. No response. I called the driver's company cell phone and when he answered he told me he was at his Uncle's. "Yes sir, he is married to my Auntee", he explained. (Duh).

I told him his trailer was ready and to come back and get ready to hook back up.
When he arrived he wanted to visit. The purpose of his visit was to preface asking me if he could load and go back to Sweetwater for the night. This driver has not quite learned the program. While we do shift work, we double up two hours at the beginning and end of each shift. BUT, if a driver begins to get in trouble he can call in the driver behind him at any time help is needed. It is hard to be helpful if you are three hours away. That is one of the reasons we provide motel rooms less than a half hour away from the jobsite. I am afraid this driver is going to have to screw up really bad before he believes what I have told him. Then I may do more than kick him in the shins!

Robert had to get my blood pumping before he left by leaving his cell phone in his Uncle's car, then he had an issue starting his truck which added an hour to my day, then it took him an hour and a half to get twenty miles from Abilene to Anson to load, which meant K.O.'s day went until eight.

The one thing that kept bouncing through my brain was a statement he had made, "Yes sir, I was 'bout ready to quit over these brakes".

That might have been a blessing. I really don't mind helping someone who is helping themselves, but I have a real problem with someone who causes issues then wants me or someone else to fix them.

I need to devote some time back to the farm and I need to take my travel trailer to Loop. Man, that is a lot shorter list than I have had the last month.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for relief. I pray for patience. I continue to lift Diane and Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing. I pray for good reports for Chris and Memama in Dallas.

I didn't go to Loop yesterday. Worst part was it was mid morning when K.O. called and told me the trip was off.

Best part was, I got to do some things in the office.

I ran a few truck parts, ordered some others, and made the trek to Roscoe.

I had lunch with Memama and Pepa, then went to NAPA and got a few items my drivers had requested for the seasonal jobsite. My third truck was leaving out to go to Loop via Anson, Lubbock. I loaded all the parts into his truck, while he was in school.

Then I went to the farm shop and began servicing the last forklift. It is due out today for Coyonosa. All I need to do is top the antifreeze and swap out the air filter and it should be good to go.

Then the Loop factor comes back into my world. Are we going, or are we not?
I would love to get my big travel trailer out there before I return to the jobsite this weekend. (I hate driving 63 miles in to Lubbock and 63 miles back).

I am so ready to get things set up at Loop, get the final forklift gone, and find a groove.

Besides, I have some farming to do!

But, I may get a haircut to begin my day!

Have a day!

Oh FATHER, I am a slow fizz! Hold me still.

Rain Blessing Saturday. Excellent.

After receiving the phone call from my driver at the seasonal jobsite, I quickly grabbed my bag and hit the door.

I wasn't traveling to the jobsite to sit with my employee, I was traveling there to allow him the latitude to do what he felt he needed to do. As I approached Lamesa, I talked with my employee again.

"Where is your truck?" I asked.

"At my house", he replied.

"Where are the keys?", I asked.

"In my house", he replied.

"How do I get them", I asked.

"You can't, the house is locked", he said.

In his haste to get to the hospital, he locked the truck and pitched the keys inside the house before locking it.

With two other trucks, there was always an option of me joining the other two drivers and keeping the two trucks running. As it turned out, two of my men swapped shifts and my man who's wife was in the hospital came in at ten in the evening. I stayed at Rian and Erica's Saturday night. (They were gone for the weekend).

The prognosis is good for Diane's recovery, 20% blockage. No surgery, no stint procedure. Medications. She does have some muscle damage to her heart.

My forklift is back together and has loaded its first load of bales. Performing flawlessly. I even replaced a ground cable while we were working on it. The only issue right now is that it is losing some water. I think that is from a water hose. It is not losing much water, but I would feel better if it was not losing any. Some of the drivers might not be diligent in checking fluid levels prior to operating the machine.

K.O. and I may go to the seasonal jobsite today. It all depends on how he is feeling. He took a spill yesterday and was having some issues with his knee. If we go, we are planning on taking my big travel trailer to Seagraves. That would sure simplify my life and cut down on my fuel. (Yikes, the trips I have made out have cost $100 per each per round trip with incidental errands).

Got to get!

Have a day!

FATHER, I could sure use a pick me up!

My forklift parts arrived about seven last evening. In Anson. In a relay effort I had them last night, and this morning I was at the hydraulic shop shortly after 8.

In the midst of pouring rain!

My forklift hydraulic cylinder is repaired and in my pickup. I think I will wait for the monsoon to end before I try to re-install it.

My little redhead went south under the covers close to morning and she is under my feet under my desk as I type. Must have some memory of being outside in a bad storm.

I had a call from one of my truckers at the seasonal work. It seems his wife suffered a heart attack yesterday afternoon. She is now in Covenant in Lubbock and is stable but tests show 20% blockage! We are scrambling, swapping shifts and I am headed out the door for points west!

It could be a really long day!

Have one!

Life's not the breaths you breathe, but the moments that take your breath away!

FATHER, I lift up Diane for YOUR gifts of healing. I pray for safe passage. To YOU be the glory!

Well, Hhell! Best laid plans.

Last night was the first night for around the clock 24/7 at the seasonal work at Loop. I was scheduled to be in that area, just to insure everything went smoothly. Just as I was readying to leave, I got a call from my bud K.O.. He is leasing one of my forklifts at his seasonal work at Anson. He told me he thought we had blown a cylinder packing in one of the "twin" main cylinders.

When I arrived, I confirmed his diagnosis. AND, began tearing down the machine to get the cylinder out! When I came back into town last evening, I had the blown cylinder in my pickup.

My Friday began early as I was sitting at the Abilene Hydraulic service door prior to eight this morning. Sure enough, we had blown the piston packing. Dang the luck. As my luck would have it, my friends there didn't have a metric kit that would fit. I located a packing kit at T3 in Brownfield and have been trying to get a truck by to pick it up.

The suspense is killing me.

I met Rian and Erica this morning as they were going through Abilene. We spent about an hour visiting and Rian fed me McDonald's breakfast! I am not free to divulge their destination at this point in time. They had spent the night in Roscoe last night and I think they saw most of the cousins, along with Memama and Pepa and Aunt Pat.

I saw pictures of hail drifted up in Lubbock yesterday. In fact Rian and Eric'a house had a "hail man" Erica sent me a picture of.

I know it rained three inches at the seasonal work and they had hail as well.

Not what the doctor ordered. And not what the farmers in that area would want either!

I am hopeful we can avoid any inclimate weather around Roscoe!

Gotta git!

Have a day!

FATHER, YOU know!

I feel terrible! Achey. My head is full of fluid

I feel like a big water headed boy with my head bobbin' back and forth! (thanx Marion Rice Zetzman).

This is the third of fourth day. I think what may have started as alergies escalated to sinus issues and a sinus infection. I have been taking antibiotics and using nyquil at night, ibuprofin, tylenol etc for fever.

It has made it difficult to do what I need to do.

The third truck is in the farm shop. Preventative maintenance. And nothing we have done has gone right. We were putting a couple of tires on the trailer and found a stripped wheel stud. When putting the new tires back on, we stripped three more studs. Guess what, no one had the studs. I had bought two and those were the last in Sweetwater in captivity.

Then we were chasing an air leak and found that the gauge was actually leaking out the face of the gauge.

I had never seen that before.

The seasonal work is going 24/7 tonight. That means the truck in the shop has to go and it means I will be on the job tonight.

I haven't decided where I will stay. Rian said I was welcome to base out of their house, but if I am still sick I don't want to expose them or leave a germ trail.

Have a day!

FATHER, I pray for safe travel and for a smooth start to the seasonal work.

Well, I worked another weekend. This is three in a row! By far, this was the most productive of the three. Or at least it appeared so from the surface.

My Buddy K.O. had gone out of town so I was keeping tabs on the hauling at the seasonal work.

I sent Jeff, a man who had worked for me before, to the seasonal work last week. I spent parts of two days orientating him and as expected, he took hold and did a good job. Currently he is in for two days for school and R & R.

Today I sent Robert, another former employee to learn the ropes. Actually I had a third former employee who has worked at the seasonal work site to meet Robert and show him the program. When I called them at 8:20, they were already loaded and on their way to Lubbock.

Out of the three, Robert may be the weak link, but if hard work can make up for it he will do fine!

I am waiting on paperwork for the truck Robert is driving and then I will probably go and take the third truck to E.T..

That is, provided I can find a ride back to my pickup in Roscoe.

Lots of stuff to do to get the program flowing, but I feel good about it so far!

Since I have started this post, I have learned that either tomorrow or the next day we will be going 24 x 7.

Let the games begin!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the productive work. I pray for our workers. I continue to lift up Rebecca for YOUR gifts of healing. Thank YOU for the hope and promise we have in JESUS.

Busy times. I have driven almost 700 miles the last two days and never been more than 175 miles from home!

I have been orientating truck drivers for the seasonal work.

When I realized I was going to need to be out over night, I decided to call Rian to see what his family had going and to see if he had an extra pillow! He giggled and assured me he did have a pillow. Then he said, "I think I need to inform you that my Mother is staying here tonight as well."

I told him I had no problem with that as long as they didn't expect me to sleep with her!

Crazy!

We have been divorced 23 or 24 years. I would have to look at the paperwork.

I told Rian he had a really neat opportunity to post on Facebook. For people who are aware of the history would catch any inuendo. I would think he would simply start it by saying, "My parents are visiting!"

Long story short, I slept in the motorhome at the curb!

I had an early appointment, but for some reason I woke at 3:58. It was a chilly morning on the plains of Texas! By seven o'clock I had my two trucks loaded, unloaded and on with their day!

From there the day spiraled slowly out of control!

I arrived home tonight shortly after 9, only to walk in to a confrontational spouse. Oh well. If it isn't important to her, it isn't important to me! Let the chips fall where they may!

I probably needed to stay another day or two at the jobsite, just to rest up!

I am a whipped puppy, looking for the cool side of my pillow! Hope you had a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the safe travel, and for the work. Thank YOU for new opportunities! Glory and honor and dominion!

After promising glimpses early in the day, my Monday went the other way and lived it up to it's name.

I am so frustrated!

After several more hours working on the equipment for the seasonal work, we went to Sweetwater for a truck wash and to present the truck and trailer for DOT inspections. I didn't know about the truck because we really hadn't concentrated on it and the annual inspection was not out. The trailer was the priority and had received lots of attention. Jeff, the truck driver, and myself were confident about the trailer.

I had to go to Hawley on my way home last evening to pick up permit notebooks and fuel cards, so I left the truck and driver at the truck wash, having made arrangements at a local oil change facility that does DOT inspections. I must admit I was very disappointed to learn which manager was on duty.

This inspector has a reputation for making his own rules, which are also a lot more intense than DOT.

Having applied for, tested, and passed the DOT inspectors school, I feel I have a good grasp of DOT rules and regulations. One of my biggest frustrations is that our station has not been certified and it has been six months.

Long story short, the inspector failed the truck and the trailer. Now I have to implement a plan C (meaning for the day of the week this plan was concocted). By this time it was after 8 and I was probably 65 or 70 miles from the truck.

Well, I begin today with a new slate. I could sure use a Fred fix right now!

Jersie Hope made her debut yesterday. Mom and Baby are doing fine! Congratulations Colby and family!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for new beginnings, for new days, for clean slates. Thank YOU for Jersie's safe arrival and we ask YOUR blessings for her. I pray YOU will keep me on task and that YOU will help me to make good decisions. I continue to lift up Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing, that YOU would make her strong for more surgeries. I continue to ask YOUR blessings on the seasonal work. That it would be safe and that it would be profitable. I ask for safe travel! To YOU be the glory, great things YOU have done!

I should write a book, "Don't get out of that bed, work could kill you!"

That would be like four books I wrote in my brain last week!

Extremely frustrating week, which makes me look forward to better days, and knowing that they are just around the corner.

The crowning activity for my week was a trip to Eastland to retrieve a truck. The driver had quit. When I drove up it had red paint on the fenders and the bumper was pushed back on both sides. The driver left the radio on and the batteries were dead, he had lost the oil filler cap and stuffed an old glove in there, the truck was low on oil and the trailer had a flat. I am not through counting but instead of the ten chains and binders each truck was equipped with, I only counted seven!

And the driver seemed like such a good kid! I want to hear his side of the story. Of course it is a possibility that the truck was backed into where he parked it!

I know that stuff happens, but disclosure is a big part of forgiveness.

Ollie signed her paperwork and should be transferring to a state jail in the next thirty-six days. She is projecting her release date as January 20, 2011. Before the holidays are over I am sure she will be screaming cruel and unusual punishment! Best part is, when she is released she is a free woman with a fresh start! Crazy part is, her boy friend Brad is being released November 20, 2010. They should qualify for a discount! I am hopeful he is more serious this time about his release and his alcohol rehab!

Monday, Colby's family adds another member! Jersey Hope Freeman is scheduled to arrive. I am not sure about the spelling. It could be Jerzee. The story is that when they learned they were expecting, Colby said this is the last hope they had for a boy to wear a football jersey (or something along those lines). I expect this new addition to be just as striking and pretty as the other three girls!

I will say that Memama is having a hard time with the name and their naming process!

For those of you who aren't on Facebook with me, Pepa's doctors gave him the go ahead for double knee replacement!

Go figure! 82 years old. A big, big man! Low pain threshold, reluctance to do rehab, and just a little on the lazy side! (I can see him having Memama do his exercises).

I was derelict in my writing last weekend, and it doesn't look any better this weekend time wise, but I will make time!

I am hopeful I can get a nap in before morning!

Have a day!

FATHER, I could sure use some relief! I pray that we will make good decisions. I lift up Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing. I lift up Colby's family as they welcome a new baby, for a safe delivery for all! I pray that my day will be productive! YOU the GOD!

I should write a book titled "If you have to work for a living you are so screwed!"

My week has been filled with lessons of patience. And GOD knows I am not a patient man.

But he is going to make me complete this exercise!

'Nuff said!

Oh Father, you have your plate full! Sorry!

I should write a book, "Bad things happen if you work on Monday!"

Now that was the mother of all Mondays. I say we should sterilize her!

A very busy day, but not very productive.

Pepa called me and told me he was coming to the farm shop to pick me up and we were going to Colorado City and get the equipment I have been working on. I got the feeling he thought I had been messing around.

Long story short, the equipment is still there! We got both of them running, but couldn't keep them running!

Last night I went to Hawley to meet with a friend and business associate and he told me to check one little valve. I am anxious to do that!

Pepa is going in today for a doctor's appointment to see if they will clear him for knee replacement. Everyone in the family is against it, citing his low pain tolerance and reluctance to do rehab.

I kid him that he has taken up bowling. His newest malady is his right wrist and he is wearing a brace. I keep asking him if it helped his game!

I am going to get. I would like to get a nap in before daylight!

Have a day!

FATHER, I can use all YOUR help! Reign in me!

Crazy day yesterday. I should write a book entitled "Bad things happen when you work on Sunday"!

I felt confident that my prep work on Saturday would make Sunday as simple as a delivery and a pickup. I couldn't have been more wrong, even though the truck was loaded, the forklift secure and the big rig pointed toward the road when I returned home Saturday night.

I grabbed nothing but a pair of gloves from my pickup as I got into the big eighteen wheeler. The big diesel started like a champ and after a quick stop to put some fuel in it, I was on my way.

When I arrived an hour later at the delivery site, I began placing ramps and removing chains and load straps from the forklift. Finally I crawled on the forklift, turned the key and . . . . . . . . rrr uh. . . . . . . .rrrr auh uh. . . . . . . click, click, click. It would not start. Weak battery. This machine had started yesterday without fail but I guess with the coolest night of the year we found a battery issue. Seventy miles from the shop with no booster cables. The man renting the forklift arrived and we boosted the forklift and unloaded it, then we were going to back the truck up to load the ramps. When I crawled in the truck and hit the key the big truck went click, click, click, click, click! However this was not a battery issue it was a loose cable issue. As my luck (and working on Sunday) would have it, neither the customer or me had a wrench.

Long story short, I got home last night at 9pm.

I am still trying to put together an alternate plan for the seasonal work. I could have hugged the above mentioned friend and customer because he offered to pre-pay two months of forklift rental.

Today I need to get the equipment into the farm shop. I just need to get a couple hundred dollars worth of road diesel (that I haven't budgeted for).

The seasonal work is supposed to begin "mid-week". Lots to do between now and then!

Have a day!

Oh FATHER, we have much to do. Bless my efforts. I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR gifts of healing, and I lift the Bagby and High families for YOUR gifts of comfort and care in their losses.

Joe Bagby died Saturday, succumbing to a vicious cancer.

Joe was the minister at Fourth and Elm Church of Christ in Sweetwater, having served in Round Rock, Texas in a similar capacity and had worked in the foreign mission field as well.

I know it isn't our job to question GOD, but this will join birth defects and childhood illnesses on my list of questions for GOD.

I have never heard of one person who didn't like Joe, while he was small in stature, he was a great man of GOD.

He now joins all who've gone before us, lining the way.

Friday my seasonal plans took a hit. I had called to check on a part of my plan to not get an answer, then on my way home I learned I had a letter at the house. I don't know why people can't be up front.

Long story short, the old family business debacle has reared its head again.

Oh well, on to plan . . . . . ... I may have to take my shoes off and use toes to count that high!

My Saturday was spent prep-ing a forklift for delivery today, putting batteries on a truck, picking up Jason's step deck trailer, and loading the forklift. I couldn't believe it took so long, but the forklift should be in good shape and ready to work.

I got home about eight.

Have a day.

FATHER, I pray for the seasonal work, that it would be safe and profitable. I continue to lift Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing. I lift Joe Bagby's family for YOUR gifts of comfort and care. May all who come behind us find us faithful.

I am ashamed of my last post. If you couldn't tell, I was fizzing. Big time! GOD has to get so frustrated with me. Oh me of little faith!

Since my post, two of the projects have come together. A third is underway and a decision on a fourth is expected today.

Once again, it is GOD's plan in GOD's time.

I read a magazine article last night, and hope to share it in part or in whole at a later date. Currently I have given it to Krl to read. The article has to do with transforming your life. One paragraph that really hit home said;

Take Action. Are you waiting on GOD to improve your situation?
What if GOD is waiting on you?

I know I am guilty of asking to much of GOD at times and expecting too little of him at others.

I am a work in progress.

For a change. I slept six hours in one stretch last night. Crazy thing is, I was out of all my nighttime meds. It was so wonderful that I lay there another hour just hoping I could doze back off.

One of my biggest dilemmas with the seasonal work is finding part time truck drivers. This had been eating on me lately along with the fact that the number fluctuates. So I decided I needed two drivers and I would pull the slack when necessary. I had an employee in 2008 and was wondering where he was and what he was doing and just a few hours after thinking about him my cell phone toned and it was him. "Are you going to need any drivers?" he asked.

Excellent.

Then I received a call from a subcontractor that worked with me at the old seasonal work for fifteen years. "Do you need any trucks?", he asked. Then he had to tattle about the GM at the old job. I told him I have nothing to do with the old work any more. He wanted to know how to deal with the GM. My first response was "distance yourself from me". The subcontractor told me the GM is skimming 25% of the oil mill freight allowance off the top. Finally I told the man, if you don't like it, stop doing business with him! Until he gets no takers the GM will continue to play the numbers. The GM convinced the Board of Directors to buy several trucks and trailers to haul an increasing portion of their product. I can't wait until they have a DOT audit or have an accident. The GM could be putting the entire Cooperative at risk.

Well, I had better get my day going. I am going to the farm, then to Colorado City and then back to Roscoe. I guess I will take Memama to the graveside services of her classmate and long time friend. It must be sad when all your friends are dying.

Have a day!

FATHER, forgive me when I have too little faith. Forgive me when I expect too much. I lift up Rebecca and Joe for YOUR miracle of healing. I lift up Harold's family for YOUR gifts of comfort and care. Thank YOU for working YOUR plan for me.