As some of you know, Carol and I are no longer together.  Last Friday I took a few of my things and moved to Roscoe.

This is not uncommon this time of year as it shaves two hours off my day at the farm, however things have been very strained for some time.

We are currently looking at options and possibilities.

Hopeful when all is said and done we can at least be friends.

Your thoughtfulness and consideration at this time are appreciated.

Wow.  My toes are curling.  Enjoying a tall glass of witches brew.  When you get over the initial wretch it isn't half bad.

This recipe was given me by my friend and masseuse, Janet.  I will spare you her description.  It consists of fresh parsley, celery, lemon, and yesterday I added lime, boiled slowly in a large sauce pan.  You steep it, then cool it down.  Drain the liquid off  and store it in jars or jugs.  Pour it over a glass of ice with a couple packs of Nuvia sweetner and walla.

Actually, this in conjunction with my furisomide does wonders with my ankle and feet.  Basically pulls excess water from all over.  Helps with respiration and cardio vascular.  According to Janet, it should be bottled.

Went to the Firehouse last night.  It was a band I had never heard.  Exit 277.  Six members.  Drummer, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, keyboard, base guitar, and singer/tambourine.  Not a bad group.  They don't over power you, that's for sure.

I believe this was the first Saturday I every went to FH.  Band didn't begin until 9.  Crowd was smaller than the Wednesday night crown, but for the m ost part the dance floor was still crowded.

My jitterbug partner was there but we didn't ever practice.  We did two step and waltz.  I swear if you get more than a few couple out there and too many get to jitterbugging it would look like a pinball machine or bowling alley. People going down right and left!  (Just kidding).

Did the eight o'clock church service.

Phil was gone so they did a tribute to Mothers and every Mother, Grandmother, female guardian was given a carnation!

Let me add Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for all Mothers.  Bless them and keep them.

Rain blessing!  3.6-3.8 inches Monday through Thursday.

My farm helper and I had worked in the shop Monday, changing row spaces.  This is a planter that is new to us, although it is a couple of years old.  It is a MaximergeXP 1700, 8 row model.  It has the oversized seed hoppers (which hold about three bags of seed).  Quentin, a family friend who dabbles in farm equipment helped us find and make the deal last summer.  Working in the shop is always more enjoyable when it is raining.

I was very glad I had Bill in the shop to help me,  While I am two weeks out on my eye surgery, when I strain to lift, tighten, loosen, push, pull, I can still feel it in my eyes, sometimes getting a mild headache.

I had a brain storm and decided to use a porta power unit I purchased earlier in the year for a project at home to move the row units out. 

Initially it was not big deal.  The center row units had to be moved two inches out.  The next pair out six inches, the next pair ten inches and the last pair fourteen inches.  Of course gauge wheels had to be moved as well, drive sprockets had to move on drive shafts accordingly, and the vacuum manifold needed to slip and slide to achieve the new spacing.

The first four rows on one side went really well.  We selected a "key" row and worked from it, all the way to the end, then working from the same key row we began working on the other side.  It was a little more temperamental and took more brain along with the brawn.  Everything went really well until we got to the very last row.  Just as it reached the desired spacing we heard a pop and the vacuum manifold had failed to slip and we sheared off the fitting the row unit hose hooked to.

Oh well.  Luckily, Hurst at Snyder has the piece.  In fact, Monday I am going up there with a Christmas list of parts to put into our inventory.  What pieces Pepa and Memama had bought the last two or three years that were inventory or spare items went to Florida with Brent and Jason's planter.  In fact, I remember seeing an invoice where some parts were charged to Memama's account a month after the completion of planting last year.

Put that on the ever growing list.  That's why we have our own planter this year.

Hag and I went to Slaton Thursday to  pickup a sandfighter we bought a few weeks ago.  Rian had actually located it on Craigslist, got some pictures, did the dickering and we sent a check.  This sandfighter is a seventeen row double fold three point, bed planted configuration.  A good looking piece of equipment.  Hag even commented that we did good.

We took Hag's pickup and gooseneck and ran in rain all the way up, during the loading and chaining down, and all the way back to Roscoe.  I fed him barbecue at Klemke's in Slaton.  We had a good day and a good visit.

All of the scholarships have been delivered.  In the next few days I will print one to share here.  It was fun and I think everyone has had a lot of laughs.   Just over a month until Shelby gets married.  In fact I saw that Larissa was making a quick jaunt to Washington to attend to some wedding details.

I went to Dallas and surrounding area yesterday.  Follow up eye care.  The opthamologist did not put the permanent tear drain plugs.  She wants to wait another month.  She did give me some ointment for my allergies, took me off the steroids  and gave me the go ahead to use the bottles of sterile moisturizer instead of the disposable viles.

Still kind of looking for a new farm pickup.  Also looking for a trailer, but I have something specific in mind.  I found something close, but not exact yesterday.

Got back to town late and decided to stop by the Western Heritage Activities.  Zac Harmon Band was playing at the outdoor pavilion.  Kevin and Brenda from the group had offered to pick up tickets ($5 ea) so I took the chance and told them to get me one.

I had never heard Zac's band.  Pretty talented, but just seems like the band keeps playing faster and faster.

After sitting on my butt most of the day it took some convincing to get my legs and feet motivated!

Got to work some with my jitterbug partner.  Everytime we dance it, I think we do better.  But good golly.  Watching some of those younger kids, we have a long long way to go.  I will say though that the music has little to do with their dancing.  Most couldn't tell a waltz from a two step.

Oh, and by the way, my jitterbug partner is working with me on my mental block and aversion to waltzing.

I think a waltz is a very pretty dance and would love to be able to dance it well.

Probably the most fun the ones of the group had last night was watching our friend and resident jitterbug expert dance with a young man she asked.  It is very seldom she has an issue keeping up, but this guy had her hopping and spinning and twisting and turning.  If there had been any shouting it might have been calf rope!  BUT, after she figured out some of his moves she was good.  (I had to kid her that when she left she was carrying her tail after he danced it off and beat her with it and made her like it!).

Of course I don't think she liked my analogy.

I am spending time catching up on correspondences today.  Currently steeping some parsley, celery, lemon, lime and water.  Witches brew.  I haven't drank it since back in January and I feel like I need it again.  Got to keep Janet off my case. 

Fixing to do errands.

Trying to figure out what I want to do tonight.  The group is going to Firehouse.  May soak my feet and see if they are up to it!  Wouldn't hurt to work more on the jitterbug while it is fresh on my mind.

Oh, and by the way, congratulations to Devon for his graduation from WTC yesterday/

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the rain blessing.  For the safe travel.  For good friends and family.

My Friday was spent working on the computer, printing the scholarships that Memama awarded,  This was a fun thing and when everyone who is receiving one in the mail, I may post a copy here.

In the afternoon I went to the farm shop and worked on forklifts.  For almost two years I have battled a cylinder that seemed to eat seal kits.  My hydraulic shop told me not to expect their fix to hold.  I finally looked through the book, took pictures of the cylinder ram and piston with seal kit, and then the illustration in the owners part manual.  My man in Dallas told me he had been sending me the wrong parts so I told him to send me the right ones.  Also, I stopped by the Komatsu dealer in Abilene and bought a seal kit for the primary cylinder for the old farm Komatsu.

The Tailift forklift went together very quickly and easily.  No leaks either.  Bill removed the bale clamp and installed the forks with side shift attachment.

The Komatsu was not as quick or as easy.  Also it didn't help we had re-assembled the cylinder when I asked Bill about an e-clip snap ring.  It should have gone on the bottom of the piston on the cylinder ram.  Take it apart again!

When I left Bill was going to re-install the cylinder on the machine, hook everything up and also see what we needed to put the side shift back together.

This will give us three 5000 lb. machines to use around the barn.

My plan is to farm this week, finish some pre-plant preparations, make the changes on our planter, hook it up and get it ready and a week from today, come rain or shine, Begin planting cotton.

I'm not going to be in any hurry.  We will probably plant eight hours a day and hope to finish in five days or so.

I went to Sweetwater last night with the Phenix group and one of their members farms in Haskell.  This last week the television reported severe storms in their area.  He told me they received nothing.  No rain.  No hail.  Nothing.  He told me they may wait until later, but if they don't get the rain they will dust it in as well.

My June 20th insurance planting deadline has moved from the twentieth to the fourteenth, to the thirteenth, to the ninth, to the eighth of June.

I kind of celebrated Friday night with then end of the scholarship process, and went to Oplin.  (The Grand Ol'  Oplin).  Muddy Creek was playing.  231 paying customers.  You cannot believe how many ACU students were there.  I signed in behind a group of ACU girls, one of which was a very tall, very long, slim redhead.  Fashionable top, short skirt, and ballet flats.  After a brief while watching her dance it was very evident she has had ballet training.  Extremely impressive.  Tight turns, precise steps, and hands and arms placed perfectly.

My friends Andi and Debbie were cajoling me that I needed to go get my jitterbug partner and practice our Texas torpedo and the whirl pool moves.  I finally went and got Georgiana and we danced a jitterbug.  We were really impressing ourselves with what we had retained while our instructor was watching and chuckling. 

When I finally returned to my seat I asked my friend Andi if I looked as impressive as the red headed ballerina.  She assured me I was.

Whew.  I was worried for a moment.

Oplin is a family oriented facility which shuts down at 10:30.  No alcohol., no smoking.  Patrons bring refreshments which are sole in the concession area.

My biggest gripe is that it is a long way from my house to there.

The VFW featured an excellent dance floor and a band called Last Call.

It was a pretty good outing.  My jitterbug partner was there too.

It sure was hard to drag out of bed for church this morning.  I made second service.

Currently watching Talledega NASCAR right now.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for allowing us to make plans.  Help us to think things through, to cover the bases.  Bless our efforts!  Make me a servant!

My left eye had been scratchy and bothering me.  It was very irritated and had a small blood spot or hematoma (SP?).  I finally called the eye center in Irving.  They wanted me in in an hour.  I had to tell them I was in Abilene.  Turns out there is an ophthalmologist in Abilene who my surgeon fixed his eyes, so they made me an appointment with him.

Long story short, I have allergies causing small bumps to form on the inside of my upper and lower eye lids.  They gave me some allergy eye drops for this, but they also determined my eyes are extremely dry.  The doctor suggested they plug my tear duct drains.  I told him he was the doctor.  He used a piece of collagen just smaller than a grain of rice and plugged the ducts that drain your eyes into the nasal passage.  He told me if I like the result I need to ask the doctor in Irving to insert the permanent plastic plugs.

So far I am thrilled with the results.  I am using less moisturizer but my eyes are more comfortable.

I was really impressed with this local doctor.

While I had thought I had finished with the Washington trip yesterday, last night I ran across an error and that required me to be at the travel agent this morning.  Hopefully it is all done now.  We have rooms, we have flights, we have vehicles, we have reservations at Holiday Inn DFW the night before departure.

I have taken great pains to make this trip as easy as possible on Memama.  I am very glad that her sister Robbie has agreed to be her travel buddy.  Crazy part is they will be my suite mates in Washington.  Yep, an 81 year old and a 76 year old.

I was messaging back and forth yesterday with Larissa, getting details on this event.  It is going to be a lot of fun!

Today is Carol's 63rd birthday.  I don't know how she got so much older than me.

Well, other things call. 

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU.  Bless our efforts!  Great things YOU do every day!

So long old friend, you have served me well.

My eye glasses are retired, thanks to the lasik procedure.  I am very pleased with my right eye (distance eye) but not quite as happy with my reading eye (left eye).  My right eye is extremely sharp, while my left eye is having problems focusing and is also giving me a great deal of discomfort.  I have been on a regiment of moisturizing drops, antibiotics, and steroids, but my left eye continually feels as though I need to take out a contact lens.

I am on the verge of calling Irving and voicing my concerns.

Lots of West Texas winds today.  When I began my day at the farm I made a wide circle being sure nothing was blowing.  Thankfully, none  of Memama's farms were blowing.  There were lots of  neighbors who weren't enjoying the same situation.

I caught Pepa's sister at home and I was needing to drop off some monies derived from the sale of the side boards from their cotton trailers at the scrap yard.  As I was almost to their entry gate, I saw a rattlesnake crossing the road.  Not a monster, only a couple of feet long and very small in diameter.  Not a very healthy specimen, probably the result of the weather and environment.  Any way you put it, it is now a dead snake.

I am very curious if the snakes are moving or if they are in search of food and water.

Recently I had the county install a new culvert or can at the new boundary on the home place and when they removed the old can they discovered a rattler inside it.  They fished it out with a spade and killed it.  When they attempted to pick up the old can to load it, because it was half full of dirt it was too heavy and they dropped it.  When this happened they said it became alive with the sound of rattlers inside.  They decided to let it lay for a few weeks and hopefully when they returned,  the residents would have re-located.

The old can had been in position since Gon Gon, my grandad was alive.  He has been gone since 1969.    Very recently, when I was measuring off the new boundary to include additional acreage provided for in Memama and Pepa's homestead, I had been all around, up and down and everything but through that drainage can.  I guess I am a living testament that GOD looks out for fools.

I had told Bill, my farm help of the snakes hole up in the old drainage can, and he asked if he and his girl friends Dad could come out and gas it sometimes.  I told him sure.  About three weeks passed before they decided to do it.  As luck would have it when they began to gas it, the county boys showed up to pick up the can.  The county boys were more than glad to let someone else make sure the snakes were gone. 

When Bill and John began gassing it from the end the wind was blowing though, snakes came slithering out, interrupted briefly by a very upset raccoon.  They caught seventeen snakes, the largest being just over six feet long and wielding a head as large as a grown man's fist.  The county guys lifted one end of the can high in the air, dumping the dirt and insuring all the residents were expelled.

Snakes may be GOD"S creatures, but I sure don't like them.

I signed up  for a jitterbug dance class last night.  Four weeks, of learning to spin and twirl, hopefully in time with music.  The class is an hour and a half and even though I was very late, I thought I was going to melt down.

I don't think I am going to be valedictorian.

I put the Washington trip to bed today.  I compiled the list, complete with exact names and date of births and punched the button.  Twenty-eight was the final number.  You cannot imagine the relief I feel.  Now the only remaining things are the ground transportation and Sunday night accomodations in Seattle before our return flight. 

I've got a feeling this is really going to be a fun trip.  The wedding is at five with dinner and dancing to follow! 

Right now, Memama and I are discussing another trip for me just prior to the Washington trip, probably two or three days.  I just have to figure out how to get all the farming done and fitted around the two trips.

Lots of severe weather the last two nights.  Slaton Sunday night and Fluvanna last night.  Hail as large as softballs and in some areas a lot of rain, up to four inches.  But a greater area received no rainfall.

Luckily Rian said they received no hail in Shallowater and one to two inches of rain.

Makes me jealous.

I am very afraid if we are to break this dry spell, we are going to have to endure a storm.

At the farm right now, we are doing little things.  Cleaning.  Power washing.  Repairs.  By the end of the week we will probably begin our final seed bed preparation on our last farm.  Next up we will take the dual tires off the big tractor and hook it to the planter.  We need to make row spacing changes on the new planter and finish prep work for it.

Last week I booked seed.  Against the odds, I booked roundup flex/boll guard seed.  There were cheaper options, but the whole time I could hear Pepa in my ear saying, "You'd better plant what you want because if we get a shower you could be stuck with it for the entire year".

Of course if we have a total failure, we will get a refund on the seed and about half the tech fee back from the seed breeder.

Well, "enuff" said for now.

Have a day.

FATHER, thank YOU for completed projects, for the anticipation of things to come.  Help us to make good decisions.  Bless our efforts.  To YOU be the GLORY!