AISD football teams, (and more from surrounding area), exit stage left!

The field is getting thinned out! Not a whole lot of teams play football in December!

And in collegiate ball, the grim reaper had a very sharp scythe. Boise State, Alabama (again! yes), Florida, LSU, Oklahoma State, Texas.

The reaper was stacking fire wood!

And, Randy Shannon. University of Miami cut him lose. While their intentions might have been admirable, I have always felt the man was somewhat over whelmed. I also feel that no player ever got a total commitment from him. At that elite level, confidence is a must and Coach Shannon never made his athletes feel he was confident of their ability.

Now the message boards are busy touting Mike Leach as the likely replacement. There have also been calls for a return of the bad boys of the nineties. One poster even went so far as to say forget graduation rates, win. If that is the mentality, Leach is their man!

The University of Miami is really unique. A private school with an enrollment of about 8500 students. The goals of the administration and alumni are quite lofty attempting to compete with schools much much larger! Their scholarship program is very different, they have a waiting list of alumni waiting to sponsor incoming recruits. If memory serves me correctly it cost 17 to 18K per semester to sponsor a scholarship for a student athlete. Per capita, Miami alumni donate more to their Alma mater than any other university.

Maybe they can buy them another National Championship!

Well, I have to get busy! I have one week to find a replacement driver for one of the Loop trucks! Actually I am thinking about swapping out one of the trucks when I finish the repairs to the little Peterbilt truck at the farm shop. It isn't pretty, it isn't fast, but it is probably the most fun truck we have to drive! I love to take an older truck with less horsepower and tote the load! I particularly like to compare weight tickets with some of the guys in those big pretty trucks. The ugly duckling usually totes 2 to 3 more tons per load!

Cha ching!

I have a guy wanting to drive from Corpus Christi. The problem is getting him qualified in this time frame. I would love to get on the truck and drive. That would sure simplify my world, but it sure makes it difficult to do all the extras (like work on forklifts).

I did spend a little time with my hydraulic guru Saturday morning. We are both baffled as to the forklift packing failures. Come Monday we are looking diligently for the one piece seal! I have now invested over $350 just in gas to and from Coyonosa. I don't even want to think about costs of seal kits and hydraulic oil.

Today I plan to bring Krl's Christmas tree into the house! Fa la la la La! Bah Humbug! Actually we are having talks about waiting to have Christmas after Ollie is released January 21, 2011. At present we are thinking about just having children's Christmas. I have always wanted to do Christmas where whatever gifts you gave, you had to make. No one else shared in my idea.

Have a day and a week!

FATHER, wow, I am spazzing! I pray that you will help me in the search for a new truck driver. I continue to lift up Ashlyn Kate and Rebecca for YOUR miracle of healing. I pray for Ashlyn's surgical team on Tuesday, that their efforts would be rewarded. FATHER we acknowledge that YOU are the great physician and pray for positive results for both of these children. Through YOU, all things are possible.