I can hardly believe it has been a week since I last posted. In fact, I really think one post was lost somewhere.

The farming finally got busy this week.

It is kind of like do or die. We HAVE to plant, so we had better get to it! I needed to run the harrow over the ground that was ripped, I figured this would be a relatively quick and simple process. The harrow is 53 feet wide, I planned on running 7 miles per hour or so, so the 1000+ acres should have been a quick job.

Wrong.

I decided to run at a forty-five degree angle to the direction the ground was ripped. I began hitting the shifter, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th. Talk about bounce! I was hold ing onto the wheel for dear life! I finally set in on about 4.3 miles per hour, and I was still getting tossed about.

By the end of the first day I felt like I had been in a prize fight and I was the prize! I hurt all over.

The second field was no better. In fact there were times I would gear down to cross terraces that had been mouldboarded up. Of course part of the problem was the ride, but other issues included the tractor and the plow.

I began experiencing some guidance issues and they told me I was trying to run too fast!

On Tuesday, just about 4pm. I made a turn and saw something out of the corner of my eye. A wiing gauge wheel was off aand flipping through the air. My firat iniclination was a wheel bearing, but closer scrutiny revealed a busted hub and wheel.

Brent, who owns the plow had gone to a funeral in Oklahoma, so I began doing research for parts. As it turns out the manufacturer sold out last October. To further complicate things, they had done an up grade to a heavier hub and wheel. If it was mine, I would want the biggest baddest upgrade. But I needed to clear it with Brent.

On Thursday morning Brent called me and told me not to buy any parts, he had them in his shop. Later in the day he cut the smaller spindle off and replaced it with a heavier, new and improved model.

By 4p.m. I was back in the field, running until 10:42. That made for a short night in Abilene, then back on the tractor Friday, moving to Memama's last place and only Jason remaining farm left on the horizon by Saturday night.

Today I am taking off.

Today is the holy grail of racing. The Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.

I can remember growing up and riding the bus on boys club trips listening to the Indy 500 radio broadcast on a transistor radio. Back then there was no television broadcast.

To add order to my day I went to eight o'clock church to clear my day!

They are rolling onto the track. I had better get!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for a productive week. I continue to ask for YOUR rain blessing. To YOU be the glory!

It rained! 1.2 inches seemed to be the average on Memama's farms Friday morning. That is only a small amount of what we need, but best news is there is a chance of rain for the next five days. If we could do 1.2 inches per day we could be a lot closer to catching up.

I talked at the fuel pumps with another farmer who lamented that if that was all the rain we got he would have just as soon it never have rained.

I couldn't help but think of joke about GOD and the farmer's final judgment. It must be frustrating for GOD. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. Nothing ever pleased the farmer.

My farm plan is to cross all the v-ripped ground with the harrow (probably three or four days) and then put the planter on. It seems so futile to spend $279 per bag of seed and plant it when conditions are not good. Credit the politicians with that thinking. The seed companies still make their money, the oil companies make theirs, and the implement companies will sell parts. Business as usual for everyone but the farmer.

Go figure.

I was on standby as my friend K.O. calls it, Thursday, then Thursday night, then Friday night. Abilene to Lubbock cross-docks. But, it never happened. He did text me Saturday morning. It seems one load was sill sitting at the dock Saturday morning, but Coke covered it.

Later in the day I was talking with K.O. and in the course of the conversation I asked if my driving check for the week of May 9th was at the drive-in. He asked D.O. and she replied "No. I forgot."

It is not the first time this has happened. I told K.O. I was giving him my two week notice.

That is a safe bet with all the farming I have to do.

The hose replacement on the little wildman's truck is still working! I am so thankful. Even Ginger, the service writer at the shop I use, commented that I am not usually that lucky.

My Friday was spent running Memama errands in Sweetwater. Courthouse and Banking. I had taken Pepa's pickup to Shallowater when Rian moved and I noticed the registration was expired. Memama registered it, but when I put the new sticker on I noticed the license plate number didn't match it. I had to take the tags off, carry the new paperwork and surrender them to the County Tax Collector before they could issue new tags and a new sticker. Turned out three years ago they gave Pepa new tags and he never put them on.

I finally made it to the barn to feed animals about 5p.m.

I would like to mention that Mike Cope's book Megan's Secrets is out. For those of you that don't know, Mike was the pulpit minister at Highland in Abilene, serves as Editor of Wineskin magazine, teaches at Abilene Christian University, speaks at Zoe conferences around the country, and currently works for the Heartbeat Ministry. The book is about what his mentally disabled daughter taught him during her brief ten years of life.

I am betting it is a must read!

This book has been in the works for some time. Recently Mike had blogged that a friend had given him a Montblanc pen to write the book with. As Mike was doing the final edit on the book on a flight to Atlanta to deliver the book to the publishers his pen dropped beside his seat. A search rendered no pen, and after landing and everyone departed the plane Mike and the flight attendants searched thoroughly and still no pen was found. Mike finally decided the pen had been raptured with the completion of the project.

I suppose you have figured it out that I was not raptured last evening. I'm still here.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR rain blessing. If it be YOUR will we ask for more. Bless our efforts. Help us to make good decisions. We're pilgrims on a journey......Find us faithful.

I am having a difficult time dealing with the hot, dry, windy conditions. It is odd, dealing with them when I was personally responsible for my own farm was one thing, helping Pepa was another, and now working with Memama is another.

The "workhorse" farm tractor is an John Deere 8310. We kind of do a mix and match hodgepodge. Sometimes Memama's tractor will pull a planter that Jason and Brent own, or a piece of equipment JBK owns. Pepa paid for the installation kit for the guidance system that Brent and Jason own.

For a year, I had been telling the AutoFarm People there were some issues with the GPS guidance system and they would look at me like I had grown a third eye!

Brent took the tractor to plant a circle of irrigated cotton, and he had an issue. The guidance would show it being off six or eight inches, but still tracking. Brent took it to the AutoFarm people and they began testing and replacing parts. They finally determined it was a profile problem and blanked and re-installed the profile.

They called and said the tractor was ready, BUT, it had a small water leak.

The small water leak turned into an all day sucker! It involved, removing all the side shields and hood, revealing a six inch line about three-eights of an inch in diameter.

Lots of work for a small problem.

From the looks of things I think this hose may have been leaking when Brent was planting!

After spending all day working on the tractor, I finally hooked it up to a harrow just before I left the farm.

I had been on the hook for a couple of days with K.O., his business is picking up and he has lost two drivers in the last week. I thought I was going to do a 4 and 11 p.m. cross dock, then it changed to an 8, and then nothing!

I am off tonight. Then he told me tomorrow he might need me again! I can't sit and get yanked around like this!

The little wildman truck driver has been griping at me about a performance issue with his truck. It sounded like an air charge circuit issue, but he had looked and looked and found nothing. I had made an appointment at my favorite shop for in the morning. About then the driver called me and said another driver for my friend K.O. had parked beside him and they talked, then this other driver grabbed a can of ether and began spraying it around hoses and unions on the charge system. When he hit a small hose between the compressor and the intake manifold, the engine raced.

Hopefully we have found our issue of losing boost.

I'm crossing my fingers!

Forecasters say that conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms. It this occurs activity will be tornadic with large hail.

I am afraid we may have to bite the bullet to get some relief!

I am planning on going to a visitation for one of our group members mother. She had been ill recently.

Hope you had a day!

FATHER, bless our efforts! We continue to pray for YOUR rain blessing! We lift up the Wills family for YOUR gifts of comfort and care! Surround them with your angels!

Happy Birthday Freddy! He would have been 60 today.

Today begins a period of time that I could do without, but I don't want too. May 16 until June 25 contains both Freddy's birthday, Freddy's death, Terri's birthday and Terri's death.

I am not sure exactly why, but this year, being year four, seems to be the most difficult for me yet.

But today, we celebrate Fred's entry into this ol' world.

As difficult as it may be, have a day!

FATHER, thank you and bless us all as we celebrate Freddy's Birthday!

Now that was a very different week!

My Buddy K.O. had a driver fall while getting in his truck and injured his back. K.O. told me they were slammed (meaning they were maxed out in equipment dispatch) and he wanted to know if I could help out. He asked if I would run the injured drivers truck for three days.

So, I ran Abilene to Lubbock hauling cross-docks.

This could be a really cushy run, IF the vendor could meet scheduling. The first night I had a nine pm. pickup for my second load. It was ready at 1 am.

I had an 8am. appointment with an insurance adjuster. I made it back with almost an hour to spare.

I got two brief naps totalling 52 minutes before I met Memama and Pat to look at head-stones.

When we were through I went to get my 3pm load, which was ready at 4.

I told K.O. this wouldn't be a bad run if that was all I had to do. A single is a piece of cake, while a double will wear you out pretty good.

For me the worst part is the waiting. I am not a good waiter.

I got to go to the farm Thursday and Friday.

On my way home Friday I picked up a weekend guest who is staying at our house. Her name is Oreo and she is a Chweenie. She belongs to my friend who went out of town so we are puppy sitting. We are so lucky to have our three pups to help!

Oreo thinks she is as big as our dogs and struts her stuff, eats from their bowls and is almost always ready to play.

We all slept remarkably well once everyone found their spot. Oreo slept until 5:46 when I let her and the redhead out to do business, then it was back to bed.

Oreo is sleeping now, laying on my forearm with her head in my hand. She is ROTTEN!

Today I am blogging doing a one hand three finger tap dance on the keys.

I've got lots to do here at the house and want to do none of it!

Have a weekend!

FATHER, we ask for YOUR rain blessing.

My brain has been in a bad place lately, so that accounts for no posts from my computer.

Sorry.

Lots going on, of everything except money.

Memama's truck driver continues to test me, almost on a daily basis. I swear, if he touches something it is going to mess up.

His latest quest was the dimmer switch in his Kenworth truck. He had an issue last Sunday, saying his lights were very dim and he had to park and sleep until daylight. Then he couldn't find one in Laredo, San Antonio or Dallas. By then he said he only had low beams or dim lights. Then the dealership got him a dimmer switch and he said it wouldn't work his lights, low to high.

As my luck would have it, he just plugged it in, he didn't ground it. He told me his old switch had low beams but wouldn't go to highs. I decided to go ahead and replace the switch, which required torx head screw drivers. When I rolled the carpet back I found he had slit the carpet to "Unplug" and try the new switch (ungrounded). Closer inspection revealed he had turned the plug over and plugged the old dimmer switch in, but only had two of the three terminals plugged in. I plugged it in correctly and everything worked.

I changed the dimmer switch anyway!

I don't need help like that,

I had a repair estimate two weeks ago on a truck hood that had hit a deer. This week I took a hood in for an estimate, figuring I had learned something from the previous estimate. I took them a bare hood, no lights, no signal lights, no grill, no name plate, no wiring harnesses. According to their previous estimate this should have saved me ten or so hours or approximately $800. When the shop owner gave me his estimate, he had knocked $100 from the previous estimate.

I am trying my hand at fiberglass repair.

Hey if they can do it, I can! You would think with all their bays empty they would want the work.

It is kind of getting depressing at the farm. We need a rain in the worst way!

Made a driver safety meeting this morning for my friend K.O.'s trucking company. He had asked me to go by and pick up A.M. donuts. Five dozen for 19 people. Needless to say we had donuts left over!

Krl tripped over one of the dogs and sprained or broke her ankle. When I returned from the 8 am. meeting she was rolling around the house in her office chair! Yuk!

Have a day!

FATHER, we need some relief.