Terri Jo Freeman Teltschik June 15, 1964-June 25, 2007

Four years into your eternity.

Dear Sister,

My heart is extremely heavy this year as we mark the date you left us. Freddy's death date was extremely hard as well. I told him I don't know exactly why. Maybe it is because we are still in shock from the loss of Pepa, I don't know. Instead of it getting easier, it is getting more difficult.

This is an extremely tough stretch from Freddy's birthday to your death, May 16 to June 25, as it encases both of your birthdays and both of your deaths.

My mind is filled with questions about what might have been? What would be different? If you had not been taken at such an early age of 43.

Your Mother has exhibited the strength and toughness that she instilled in all of us. She has days that are better than others, she struggles at times, but she is a survivor. The biggest problem with her is that she doesn't want to make any decisions. That means I find myself in the position of doing this more than I am comfortable with and I do not like the role of solely being responsible for making decisions that affect our Mother's well being.

Your little family misses you terribly, but they seem to be doing well. Shelby is still on the High Plains working in the chemical, fertilizer applicator business. He seems to be enjoying it and has a girlfriend, Larissa, that everyone really likes. Robyn is in Austin, working and going to school. She has a boyfriend, Curtis who has recently graduated from Texas Tech with an engineering degree. Wesley is working for Haliburton. If I understand it correctly, they haven't found a piece of equipment he can't operate. He is engaged to the sweetest little girl, Kayla. They are very cute together, but she wants to finish her schooling before they tie the knot. Recently they were at the river jumping of cliffs and Kayla failed to jump far enough out and landed in the rocks, breaking her pelvis, tail bone, and four vertebrae. I had messaged Wee on Facebook asking how she is doing but have not heard back. Last I knew she had spent a week in the hospital. Riley is growing up. Lordy, he is going to be a big boy! We don't get to see enough of him.

I don't know where your kids got their looks, it must be recessive genes because they didn't get them from you and ET! (Just kidding). A pretty good looking bunch!

Fred's family is well. Linda and Joni are in Sweetwater. Linda working as nutritionist at a nursing facility and Joni is working for the state of Texas. Bub, Christy, the boys and 'Kota are in Roscoe. Devon will be a senior. He is getting big. Dillon will be a sophomore and is becoming quite the athlete. 'Kota is going to day care at what use to be United Methodist in Roscoe and if you can believe it Crystal Aljoe is the administrator of the day care. Jake and Lindsay are living in Roscoe and both teach in Sweetwater. Jake is also coaching the Mustangs. Jalen and Brody are growing up. They are so red headed and so busy all the time. I kid that Jalen may be the football player and Brody the twirler or cheerleader. This past week Jalen had a boo boo and looked like she almost had black eyes from hitting the bridge of her nose on the box springs of the bed! They joked that she was proud of her boo boo.

Pat's family is doing well. Kyle still lives with her and Hag, Chris is still on Main Street. Steph, JR and Chloe are in Huntsville. JR is working for an accounting firm, Steph is working as a school counselor. Chloe is busy running the show! Oh she is such a bossy biddy! Her world may get rocked in January as she is going to become the big sister! Of course she may just say to heck with this and move to Roscoe with Gumpy! (Grumpy).

Coaches crew is good. He is still a Buckaroo. He and Jani bounce from Breckenridge to the Lake. Colby, Courtney and their four girls are still in Lantana. He continues to do well in the prosthetic sales. Kelsi has recently gone to work at Ratliff Steel, so she is in Brownwood too. Kirby is doing prosthetic sales in Wichita Falls.

My family is so, so. Carol is having lots of health issues, primarily bone (from osteoporosis) and heart rate issues. She falls on a regular basis. Tracy and her family seem to have estranged themselves from us.. We don't approve of some things going on there and they don't approve of us, so it is better if we don't interact. They follow the money and there isn't an excess around here. Rian, Erica and their three boys are in Shallowater. They moved May 1 from Lubbock after waiting a year for their house. Rian is the assistant principal and Erica is administrator for Bright Horizons. Hard to believe the boys are 7,5,3. Makai came to Pepa's funeral. That is the first time I have seen her in about three years. We still remain estranged. We did get to see Addison for the first time in that same time period though. She is now a young lady! Ollie got into some trouble and did some time in a state jail facility. 180 days to be exact. This may have been an eye opener. She just returned to college at Angelo State, and was just exiting a relationship with Brad her boyfriend of the last few years. She probably dropped the biggest bombshell my family has had in some time when she announced that she is pregnant and due in January. If she can pull it off, she expects to have the baby during Christmas break and be back in school by start of the spring semester. She is hell bent on graduating in May 2012.

I still struggle with what I want to be when I grow up.

I wish I could talk with you. Today we had an extended conversation, Memama, Pat and I, about Pepa wanting to bring you back to Roscoe. I think if he had known how quickly ET would re-marry he would have insisted at the time of your death. If I could I would ask you your thoughts on the subject. It just seems as though Roscoe is more of a "home" hub especially for your older kids. Of course Memama is very unchanged and would like to have all her chicks nearby. While I am not going to visit with ET about this possibility at this point, some preliminary research may be in the works. Of course if we were to get the go ahead from ET, we would want input from all of your kids before doing anything.

The farming is very bleak. I cannot remember it ever being this dry. 100+ degree weather and a wind that doesn't seem to end. You get out of the tractor and are greeted with a hot blast from a furnace! Wild fires are popping up all over. 70,000 acres have burned South of Maryneal in what they call the White Hat fire. A dozen homes were burned to the ground.

I hope to get up and mow at least the front yard this morning, then I am going to the Freeman Stevens reunion in Sweetwater. I'm doing the auction again. Mom and I were talking the other day and realized that I will be the oldest Freeman male in attendance. That is scary, and not a title I am comfortable holding.

Know that you are loved and missed more than you could ever know.

Love,

Your Brother, Don

The good news today is that our string of 100 degree plus days could come to an end.

We will hope.

Fires rage around our area. Maryneal has been besieged. Then yesterday on my way home there was another fire south of the interstate between Merkel and Trent. On the way home, a quick glance would make you think it was cloudy. Closer scrutiny would reveal a plume of smoke overhead.

Shortly after midnight in Abilene, our night was shattered with the crack of thunder and the brilliant flash of lightning. While our area was the recipient of a rain shower, other areas received far more moisture accompanied by hail.

This morning it became apparent that the areas experiencing the fires received no relief from the rains.

But we can hope. 50% chance of scattered thuunderstorms this afternoon.

Jason and I met at the FSA office this morning to certify his and Memama's planting acres. Once we completed this, I took Memama's acreage report along with Jason's to the insurance office for processing and to begin a claim.

Sometime today or tomorrow they will call with a date and time to meet the adjuster. Probably between the 6th and the 10th of July.

I am happy to report that my lawn is responding very well to my repair to the lawn sprinkler system. Just goes to show that a good rain would do this area much good.

Lots of farming practices are coming into question. I can remember with my Grandad, we would plow when it got dry to fill the cracks in the earth and prevent further drying out. More modern thinkers say that when the earth cracks, it is opening itself to receive moisture. Many new implements promote minimum tillage and only scarring the hard pan.

I have driven around the farms twice in recent days, looking and wondering. After yesterday's pilgrimage I have even more questions. On one farm that Friday showed some sprouting seed, Monday's inspection revealed dying plants. On one of my brother-in-laws farms north of town I saw small plants , scarce as they may be, emerging from the dry baked ground. I wonder why this little fellow made it when the one next to him never even broke the surface. I can only imagine the shock of emerging to be hit with the heat and wind.

Of course it has always been a quandary, how weeds can thrive in drought while planted crops can't.

That is another dilemma we face. You can't plow or you will erode what little clods are holding the sand from blowing. You can't spray because the weeds are so stressed they don't respond to the chemicals.

There has been lots of discussion about what we need to do when we are blessed with a bountiful rain. Of course first matter of business will be what to do with a crop of roundup ready cotton that has no hope of producing unless that rain comes very soon. Then we become stewards of the land. What must we do to control wind and water erosion.

These are not simple decisions. I have advocated planting a cheap haygrazer, possibly with a fertilizer spreader followed by a harrow or some other light implement, allowing the crop to grow to a height of a couple of feet and spraying it with roundup. This would give us ground cover to prevent blowing sand and water run-off.

It seems comical that we are even talking about run-off because it is going to take a big drink to satiate this ol' earth.

Other suggestions still have more optimistic producers hoping if we fail a cotton crop we can come back with milo or some other cash crop.

Time will tell.

Have a day.

FATHER, we pray for relief, from the heat and the wind. YOU are in control.

I went to Roscoe yesterday. I wanted to check on Mom, and on a few other things. I decided to drive around and look at a couple of the farms.

Wednesday a week ago, or the eighth, I was planting near Wastella when just around sundown a "heat" rain shower ventured near. I actually quit planting to make sure the seed on the pickup did not become wet.

I'm not sure how much it rained, but the following morning, I didn't even pick up mud when I drove on the turn row. After servicing the planter, dust went to flying as I resumed planting.

While I was curious, I didn't expect to find any cotton emerging. Wrong. I could actually row cotton in spots. Granted it doesn't look healthy.

I was informed yesterday that insurance adjusters will begin looking at cotton July 6. (Or in most cases they will begin looking for cotton July 6).

I went by the barn, fed the dogs and cats and locked the barn up. I'm going to put knots on Devon and Dillon's heads. Enough stuff if going missing out there without leaving the barn unchained and inviting people to take stuff.

The little wildman's truck ran all day Friday without an issue, then the shop decided to take it to get a trailer that needed a repair and the truck died once while running that errand. When I last checked there they had not hooked the diagnostic computer up to download codes.

Have a day. Put two together and we will call it a weekend.

FATHER, YOU know.

Yesterday I replaced the sprinkler valve housing and solenoid, then began the process of re-programming the lawn computer.

This morning it appeared that three of five stations had watered. I went out before seven and manually turned on one of the valves that did not water. Then I returned inside to look on line for an operators manual.

Thirty minutes later I went out, I turned that valve off and turned the other one on. Immediately, I had a problem. A sprinkler head was blowing water straight up. Apparently someone had tried to remove it, so it was easily replaced. Problem then was that it had debris that restricted water flow.

I removed the tip and cleaned it. So I have had my early morning cold shower of the day!

I did find one issue with the controller, so I hopefully have fixed it.

We will know tonight. Abilene is on water restriction, limiting residents to watering two days a week. Residents are also limited to watering between 6 pm. and 10 am.. With our controller we water at 12:02 am for a cycle of 22 minutes, then we back up from midnight enough to complete the cycle again. So, we get two waterings per day for four waterings for the week.

Hey it is in program parameters. Very little run-off too.

Well, I've got a busy day planned. I'd better get out of these wet clothes.

Have a day!

FATHER, YOU know!

My friend K.O.'s office called yesterday afternoon. Krl and I were on our way to Chili's to indulge in a presidente margarita. We had a handful of errands to do, and if the call had been five minutes later my whole schedule would have changed. But, a scheduling bind caused him to need some help. Coca-Cola has closed their warehouse facilities in Lubbock, San Angelo, Amarillo and Odessa. That means the loads are built in Abilene and shipped to these locations where they are split and transferred to city delivery trucks. These loads are called cross docks. Coca-Cola has company trucks dedicated to this in addition to my friends company having dedicated units. However, most nights through the summer Coke throws on additional loads. If I understood correctly, last night they threw on four extra cross docks.

My cross dock was supposed to be ready at 7 pm. That would convert to getting home at 1 or two in the morning. My load was ready at 9 pm. instead. I had to wait for a delivery window at Lubbock and had a small issue dropping and hooking. Long story short, I got home after 4 this morning.

So, somewhere Chili's still has a margarita with my name on it.

Krl and I did do a celebratory end of cotton planting night out Monday night. We went to Abuello's and had an excellent meal. As per usual I had the Los Mejores Especialle (The best in the house.) Grilled bacon wrapped beef medallions, bacon wrapped stuffed jumbo shrimp, papas, and espinache,topped with a pitcher of Grandeza margaritas! For a change, Krl did the grilled chicken and squash. Oh and we had the seven layer dip for an appetizer!

It was a pretty good outing until they sat sixteen or eighteen gaggling women at the table adjacent to us. Then they wanted to borrow our unused chairs and you could see them coveting our table. You have never heard racket like these women were making!

I had a phone call yesterday from Ollie. She told me that she was pregnant. If circumstances were different I would be happier. She is type 1 diabetic, just went back to college and is just exiting a relationship. I can't help but think about the movie Steel Magnolias.

I think Ollie will be a good mother. Lord knows she has wanted a child. I suppose if there is a silver lining anywhere, it is that she says this is one and done. Hopefully her fragile health can withstand the strain of pregnancy.

Today Terri would be 47. Happy Birthday TJ!

Well, that sprinkler system valve didn't fix itself.

Have a day!

FATHER, I am confused and concerned. I ask YOUR blessing on Ollie and her baby, praying for both of their health. Tell Terri hello.

I'm playing catchup.

The last week got me behind on lots of things, and to be honest I have put some things off. So, now I am needing to pay the piper!

Yesterday I went to Roscoe to return seed we had taken out on Friday, just in case we needed it for the weekend. We had one bag from Jason's pickup that I placed on top of a partial pallet of seed in the barn. The partial pallet still had the plastic wrapping around the bottom. I went to the coop and did the paperwork and then the warehouseman and I went to unload it. As he drove up he stopped, motioning at the plastic that was blocking his seeing the forklift slots in the pallet. I reached down and removed the plastic and he began to drive forward when he stopped.

"There's a hole in that bag", he said, "I can't take that bag back". I looked and sure enough when the plastic was removed seed had begun to run out of the bag. I looked and sure enough there was a hole. "That's O.K., I said, "I will eat that bag".

We moved the bag off to the side, trying to stop the flow of seed from it.

The warehouseman got on the forklift and began to pull forward when he stopped again. "There is another bag leaking seed", he said.

Sure enough, when we had removed the first bag from the pallet, it had been keeping seed from leaking out of the second bag. Thing is, where the second bag hole was at I do not believe we punctured the bag.

The warehouseman said, "I'm not taking that bag either!"

I told him, "I will eat one of them, but I will not eat two of them."

At $279 per bag, you can understand my position.

The warehouseman just stood there and told me I would have to take it up with either the manager or the Helena representative. I was busy stopping seed from flowing and was extremely frustrated with this coop employee's inability to function. I finally told him he had better get whoever he needed to get out there, out there now.

I honestly do not believe we were responsible for either bag puncture. Especially the second bag because of where the puncture was located. I also felt my offering to eat the cost of one bag was fair to all concerned.

In a strange happening, not usual with my luck, the Helena representative was there in the office. He came out, looked over the bags and told me he would take one and apply for a re-plant. This meant that Memama would pay for the bag, then they would credit it back. The guy asked me what I was going to do with the bag I was going to pay for and I told him if we were paying for I was taking the bag. He sat there for a minute and told me, "Tell you what, I will do the re-plant on both bags".

We visited for a few minutes. The warehouseman unloaded the seed. The Helena representative told me he was surprised that the warehouseman wouldn't "man up" and offer to eat the other bag after I made my offer on the first one. I told the Helena representative I was not trying to be difficult, and that I thought my offer was fair, and I thanked him for his help in rectifying the problem.

When this seed is loaded out, it is shrink wrapped on the pallets. I feel that is why no one was aware of the seed punture on the outside bag. Episodes like this are what will make it necessary for the bags to be individually loaded in the future. Asking us to take the bags on faith may be a thing of the past.

Most of my day has been consumed with correspondence. Now choices must be made!

What to do, what to do.

I need to replace a sprinkler system valve. I need to swap out the ECM on the little wild man's truck. I need to mow. I need to weed eat. I need to trim hedges and trees.

Yuk!

And I messed around and let it get hot already!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank you for seeing us through planting. We give it up to you as to where it goes from here. FATHER we ask for relief from the hot and windy conditions.

Yippeekiyea! We finished planting last night!

Thank you JESUS!

Good fortune has not smiled on us. Lots and lots of bearings have failed. Opening disks, planter gauge wheel, covering wheels, tool bar gauge wheel bearings.

As of last night I think we lacked 421 acres. Jason was only able to run about an hour because smoke from the area grass fires was interfering with the guidance system.

This morning I got back on the tractor and the smoothness of the guidance I had come to love was gone! I don't know what went wrong, but a guy could get sea sick the way that thing yaws back and forth. I finally backed up a couple of gears to give the guidance time to think about what it was doing. It did some better, but still is not on its game.

You can bet if I was selling these things I would be wanting them to do the straight and narrow.

Last year I was impressed. This year if I was buying one I would probably try other brands.

I think we are at 200 acres remaining, and Jason is on the tractor as I type.

And Don is tired.

Rian and family are coming to see Memama tomorrow. That should be a busy day for everyone.

Have a day!

FATHER, help us to complete this task.

We began planting cotton Monday evening about 7. I am hopeful that by midnight or shortly thereafter tonight, we will be at 783 acres in the ground. Three farms to go. If good fortune smiles on us, we would be on our last farm by this time tomorrow night.

It is so depressing. Dry. Hot. Windy.

I am not a max emerge planter man. They came along after my foray into farming. Vertical plates, vacuum. each planter unit has two gauge wheels and two openers followed by two covering or press wheels. Way too many moving parts compared to the shoe openers, spoon covering plows and air planters.

You can't know how many bearings we have lost. I will walk across and count wheels and disks and turn them by hand. Granted, some are rougher than others. Try as I might I cannot see the disks rotating from the tractor seat. If I am driving when a bearing goes out, it has left the implement.

Jason probably gets frustrated.

We are running the tractor and planter around the clock (last night being the exception). We had a little freak thunderstorm come through, but it didn't do anything but hurt our feelings.

Pray for good results from our planting efforts, that we will cover many acres trouble free.

I have quit asking for GOD's rain blessing. It is all in his hands now.

I have stayed with Memama this week, trying to maximuze my time on the farm. I think my longest day has been 15 hours so far.

Hey, but I'm a city slicker!

More when I can!

Have a day!

FATHER, bless our efforts!

June 6, 2011

Dear Freddy,

Four years into your eternity. It is hard to believe you have been gone four years.

You would think it would become easier, but that isn’t the case. I don’t know if it is that our feelings are still open and tender from losing Pepa and that magnifies your loss as we recognize the anniversary of your death. Ironically, I can probably relate better to your kids now, since losing Pepa.

Our precious Mother has done remarkably well, although not as well as she would like everyone to believe. Most days I have lunch with her and often I begin my day with an early visit. I can usually tell when she is having a “blue” day. Pat does a good job of going with and taking her. Earlier this year the duo kept the road hot checking on Betsy throughout her ordeal. She has good days and bad. She still loves to cook. I had a health care professional tell me the best thing in the world is for me to eat lunch with her. It gives her purpose and also ensures she will eat a full meal on a daily basis. Don’t ya’ll get any ideas; we aren’t anywhere near ready for her to join you.

I hope Pepa is behaving. He did not have much quality of life the last year or so of his life. He was a real handful for Memama to take care of. Be sure that he keeps that crooked finger in his pocket. I am sure as grand as heaven might be that Pepa feels like he is roughing it without Memama there to take care of and spoil him. As much as I questioned his thought process the last year, it would be a blessing to have a little general direction from time to time from him pertaining to his business.

Robs has been very good coming and spending time (as much as a week) with Mom. Wade and Judy will stop for the night sometimes when enroute to Midland.

Last Robs visit, Memama, Robs, and Pat did a tour of the Trent and Merkel cemeteries, went by the old McLeod home place and then Byrom homestead. Pat said it was so funny to watch Robs and Memama get so excited as they walked around holding hands and reminiscing. Pat’s highlight of the day was Memama climbing fences to get where she wanted to go!

Your family is doing well. Linda and Joni have moved back to Sweetwater. Joni took a job with the state and works at the courthouse. Linda continues her same job, but in a new facility. Jeri is still in the metroplex and seems to be doing well. I think she may have found her soul mate. They seem good together. Jason and his family are good. He has been back in Florida. They have been taking out some citrus groves and replacing them with castor beans and cotton. Later in the year they are to do a test in Canada. The boys are getting big. Devon will be a senior and is getting really big. Dillon is turning into a very good athlete. I don’t know how Bub can afford to feed them! Ha! Dakota is growing up, enjoying daycare. Once in a while the boys will bring her to Memama’s to visit and Mom says those are the best ones because ‘Kota isn’t distracted with her Mom or Dad! Jake and his family are good. The twins are growing and so cute! I grin every time thinking about Gonnie and Uncle J and the recessive red hair gene! Jalin seems to be the go-getter while Brody is more laid back. She may be the football player and he may be the twirler! (Just kidding!). Both of your boys are very good Dads and crazy about the kids.

I talk to Jeanetta at least once a month. She and her family seem to be good. She had called me recently after receiving a disbursement from Pepa’s estate. She was very emotional, saying it was unexpected and a total surprise. She said it was also unnecessary as all she wanted was to know her Dad and be validated by him.

Pat and Hag are good. Chris is still living on Main Street and doing the NAPA thing. Kyle is still living at home, working at Walmart and going to WTC and learning welding. KP has a girlfriend name Ariel, and that has been a hoot. Steph, JR and Chloe are still in the Huntsville area. They have just announced that Chloe will become a big sister in January.

Coach is still a Buckaroo. The boys are still selling prosthetic joints and Kelsi just went to work at Ratliff Steel. Pat showed me some pictures the other day of Colby’s girls. They are gorgeous. Jani is still doing the insurance thing.

I talk to Edwin about once every four to six weeks. I don’t know, but it seems as if he is distancing himself from our family. His and Terri’s kiddos are getting on with their lives. Shelb is still in the Hereford Dalhart area doing the custom applicator deal. He has a girlfriend that we all really like. Robyn is in Austin, going to school and working. Her boy friend just graduated from TT with a degree in engineering and hopes to relocate to the Austin area. Wee is working at Halliburton in the Edna area. They say so far they haven’t found a piece of equipment he can’t run. He is engaged to a precious girl, but the wedding bells are probably at least a year off as she is going to school. Riley is getting big. Working on the farm, and is very good to keep tabs on his Memama.

My family is O.K. Krl is having lots of health issues. In fact just this past week we went in for a disability assessment for her. Her osteoporosis is getting out of hand. Rian and his family recently moved to Shallowater. They waited for their house to vacate almost a year. I went up and helped him tile the master bath, as they were painting and readying the house for the move. Kali is in Angelo. I saw her for the first time in about three years at Pepa’s funeral. Ollie got out of state jail in January. I am hopeful she has a better understanding of choices and rewards and repercussions. She and her long time boy friend have recently split, which may be a good thing. She has recently gone back to school at Angelo State. Trc and her family seem to have estranged themselves, chasing more lucrative and promising targets.

I find that I am not enjoying the tremendous responsibilities that I have inherited. I am not comfortable making decisions that affect Memama’s well-being. It would be much easier if we had a better year going on the farm. I can’t remember it being so dry, so windy or so hot! It is horrible. If you could put in a word for relief from the heat and wind and a rain blessing would be a tremendous blessing. (Although many farmers are hoping it won’t rain until the crops are disastered).

I know we have some hard decisions to make come December as to Memama’s farming operations, whether to keep operating or to try to liquidate the equipment and rent out the farm land. The trucks will need a similar revue.

I can only hope that when the time comes GOD will reveal a very clear and definite direction to go.

We have delayed planting in hopes of a rain blessing, but tomorrow morning we are scheduled to begin. Bub just got in and we have talked about extended hours of operation, trying to maximize the acres of the one planter. If things go well we could be planted in six days.

Since losing Pepa, I have found a great deal of comfort in the song Find us Faithful. Two segments in particular:

“And those who’ve gone before us line the way. Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary.”

The second being, “Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”.

I can visualize you and Terri lining the way, and Pepa taking his place with you. Memaw, Gon Gon, Grandpa, Gonnie, Uncle J, Uncle Jessie, Aunt Joe, Mary Lois Williams, and Jack Meares, just to mention a few from my visualization.

Crazy huh? But it helps me through it, knowing we are not alone and confident our guardian angels are on duty.

You can’t imagine, but I still reach for the phone to call you. This goes for Pepa and Tj as well. What I would give for another conversation with each of you.

Know that I love you and miss you tremendously!

Love,
Your brother Don

I am sure glad last week is last week!

It seems as though anything that can go wrong, went wrong.

The brightest point of the week was learning that a truck repair came in two hundred dollars below the estimate.

The funniest thing of the week was the electronic control module that my friend K.O. let me borrow for the little wildman's truck needed some programing changes we didn't think of. The driver called me saying he wasn't going to drive a truck that would only run 56 miles an hour. I followed him thirty miles and he was running 73 to 75 miles per hour. Even though I told him his speedometer was wrong he never totally believed me.

Preparations are complete. We start planting tomorrow. I am thinking I may stay with Memama while we are planting. Bub and I talked yesterday about running the planter some serious hours. We could cut planting down to about six days.

I find myself really having difficulty going through this exercise.

I had Devon on a shredder earlier in the week, knocking down some volunteer wheat that had headed out. He had a hydraulic line break Wednesday afternoon and he had to shut down until I returned to the farm Thursday morning. When I drove up the tractor was standing in the middle of a pool of antifreeze. When I went to get the new line, I carried the radiator to the shop.

Friday night I got the radiator back. Bub, Devon and I got it all back together yesterday morning.

I even had Dillon on a tractor Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Wednesday I carried Krl to the doctor for a SSI disability assessment. About December or January this appointment was made. Krl said lots of x-rays, flexibility and mobility tests. The doctor wanted to see how many jumping jacks Krl could do. Can you imagine someone coming in to a doctor's office on a cane and the doctor asking them to do jumping jacks. Krl said the doctor all but accused her of being anorexic bulimic. By the way, she weighed in at a whopping 91 pounds.

Taking today off. The calm before the storm.

Have a day!

FATHER, rest me well, rest me quickly. Bless our efforts. To YOU be the glory!