Well, we got our killing freeze.  I would have much preferred a frost, but we take what we get.  Problem now is it appears the foliage is frozen to the plants which could mean grades could suffer because of pin trash.


We had several days of subfreezing weather last week, so Saturday was a welcome reprieve.  We were in the fifties.


As we had planned, Georgina and I went to Midland to pick up her furniture.  I borrowed Jason's cargo trailer to haul it back.  My intention had been to take my personal truck, but it didn't work out.  On Thursday Slats called me and said it was broken down.  I went to him and decided the fuel pump was out.  Friday afternoon we pushed it to the barn and  lifted the bed.  In about thirty minutes we had replaced the fuel pump.  I ran to town to get some stuff and when I returned the guys had bolted the bed down after the wired a new plug in to the harness for the new pump.  I asked them if they started the pickup prior to putting the bed down.  The said no.  I asked don't you think we should have checked it?  "It will start", they assured me.


It didn't.


So I ended up taking Pepa's brown truck, which is same year model, same engine, transmission as mine, but it does not have any of the light plugs.


Georgiana and I were picking up furniture at 11, went to Sam's and bought 1000 thread count sheets on sale for $69, and then we went to Ajuaa's to eat Mexican food.


We arrived at her house in Abilene about 4pm.  Then the fun began.  Luckily her son and grandson came over because that was some heavy stuff.  The furniture is beautiful and the granite tops are stunning, but it was a load to get out of the trailer and into the house.


By the time we got it into the house we all agreed that was enough for the day.


It was getting dark, so I went to Tractor supply to purchase two of the magnetic battery operated lights.  As my luck would have it, they had none.  I bought a roll of electrical tape, dug through the truck to find a light pigtail I had bought for it, then I laid on my back in the parking lot and scabbed in the wiring for taillights, then plugged the trailer plug in.  It got me home.


When I got home I texted Georgiana and she asked if I was coming to Abilene for church and then going to a movie.  I told her if she agreed, I would be there shortly after lunch and we would work on putting her bedroom together.  Her son came over and finally we had it all situated, the lone exception being the dresser mirror and the bolts for it were not with it.


By the time I left, just before 5 it was icing over.  It took me an hour and thirty-five minutes to make the drive home.


This morning we had a light covering of snow/sleet/ice.  It was twenty three when I got up and now it is 30.


Thursday, Memama's brother and his wife, and Memama's sister from Brownwood  are coming,  Wade and Judy are dropping Robbie off before they go on to Midland to visits grands.  Robbie will stay with us until Sunday, when they will come back through and pick her up.


Pat, Memama and I sat down and worked on our Thanksgiving menu.  I am going to Lubbock to buy turkeys and hams and Rian has agreed to smoke them.  When they arrive at Roscoe, they will be boned and in baggies.


I have already determined that if we are in the fields harvesting, we will not work Thanksgiving day.


Keep the home fires burning.


FATHER, thank YOU for a safe weekend.  Thank YOU for the beauty of YOUR work.  Help us to be good time managers, and good stewards.  Bless Memama.

Winter has arrived.  I'm loving it.


This past Saturday I drove Georgiana to Midland to look at furniture.  She had looked once before, but was ready to make her selections.  As we walked through the store, she kept looking at price.  Finally I told her, "As often as you buy bedroom furniture (29 years), you need to get what you want, regardless of price!"


She bought a gorgeous bedroom suit, king size bed, dresser, chest, and night stand.  The headboard has leather padding (much like the JW Marriott Resort near San Antonio), the dresser, chest and night stand have granite tops.  I promise, this is some of the most gorgeous bedroom furniture I have seen.


She also bought a sleeper love seat to go in her home office.


We are planning to drive to Midland Saturday and pick it up.  The store would deliver it for $560.  I just told Georgiana that was highway robbery.  So I stepped up.


The hook for getting me to go was the promise of SaltGrass.  I love me some SaltGrass Steakhouse.  However, by the time we got there I felt so sorry for my friend after spending all that money, that I paid for lunch.  Mexican lemonade, beef enbrochette, potato soup, rib eye steak and a dry baked sweet potato (actually they messed up and put butter on it.  (It is the thought that counts).


We returned to Roscoe about 7:30, I doctored Memama's eyes, Georgiana headed to Abilene and I headed to bed.  I had to be at Southern Hills for Praise Team rehearsal at 8 am. which meant I needed to be on the road by 7 which meant I needed to wake about 6 or 6:15, which meant I needed to get to bed early.


I made it to church on time, and as I walked out I was formulating my plans for the day.  I had not seen Georgiana during the service.  When I arrived at my car she was sitting across the street.  In conversation she revealed she had not gone to church and I told her she was going to hell.


She asked my plans, and I told her I was getting the SRX washed, getting some breakfast and then going to a movie.  We talked and decided I would get my car washed, pick up breakfast burritos and take them to her house and we would look at movies on Fandango.


We made two selections.  St. Vincent, starring Bill Murray at Premier Cinema in the Mall, and The Best in Me at the Century 12.  It would be a close schedule as we had 8 minutes between the projected end of the first show and the beginning of the second one.


St. Vincent was good, although there was some language in the beginning.  When the credits rolled we were out the door and in the car headed for theatre number two.


The Best in Me was a very good movie too.  I would recommend both.


After a quick stop at Nikki's Swirl Shoppe I took Georgiana home and I headed west.  My early day was catching up with me.


A few weeks ago Merrit's car had the right side front and rear door windows broken out.  Initially she said something flew up from her tire, hit her mirror and the mirror broke the windows.  During this same time she had a flat and lost a tail light, all on the right side.  She went and had the tire fixed and her wheel was bent.  I asked her why and she said her Mother had backed into and down the side of her car.  (It wouldn't be the first time).  I had bought and given the tail light to her earlier.


Through all that rainy weather, Merrit had no windows on the right side.  Bees moved into her car.  One day she called me from a used car lot and said she was buying a car.  She was going to scrap out the rodeo.  I asked her how she was buying a car, that if she had that kind of money she needed to be paying me and her two grandmothers back money she had borrowed.  Plus, I had put $500 dollars worth of tires on the Rodeo and me and the farm guys worked on the engine, putting a water pump and a timing belt on it ($1200 worth), then Daniels Automotive did about $600 work putting spark plug boots on it. (It has hemi type head and plugs.)  I know, we have spent more than the car is worth but when she rubs something or drives through a fence it doesn't bother me.  It is pretty sound mechanically now, and all of those scraps give it character.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


I went on ebay and bought windows for her car.  I told her, "This isn't for you, this is for Noble!"  Yesterday she called and I took the windows and met her in Bronte. 


She called this morning on top of the world.  She said she felt like a Princess, windows in and a heater that worked and while they had her car they had it inspected and it passed!  An added bonus was the gas company came and turned the gas on at her house and her heater was working!


In another development, she had a call from Head Start and Noble has reached the top of the list.  She meets with them tomorrow.


In other news, hopefully Makai and Scott have a buyer for their travel trailer.


And, for the time being Rian is out of wood.  He sold two semi truck loads and all he has left  is the big stuff which he is splitting and seventeen pallets still at the barn that has over length and big wood in it.  Everyone says it burns really good!


Jason called the other day and his heater was out at his house so Wayne picked up two partial pallets for the wood stove there.


Keep those home fires burning!


FATHER, thank YOU for the different seasons of the year.  Thank YOU for the frost and freeze that defoliated our crops.  Thank YOU for our warm homes.  We lift up those who have suffered loss and ask for YOUR comfort and care.  Thank YOU for my healing.  Bless-ed be YOUR name!

Where did last week end . . . . .

. . . . and this week begin.  They just seem to run together.


I ran weekend errands  Friday afternoon, then I did not step outside the house until Monday morning.
I felt better Saturday than I did Sunday.  Getting out Monday seemed to set me back again.


For a long, long, time, I have supported a former friend who is incarcerated.  He was in TDCJ until about three years ago, then the Feds got him. 


About two weeks ago I received an e-mail from him that was extremely sharp, basically telling me how blind and stupid I am to what is going on in the world.  He tabs himself as a conservative, led by his religious beliefs.


I responded, somewhat surprised by his biting the hand that has been feeding him.  He sent his reply, even more sharp and extremely radical.


I will admit, at that point it was on.  I sent a very sharp response.  Where he attacked, I defended and I attacked back.


We were kind of at a stalemate, having reverted to a prior agreement to agree to disagree.  But he just couldn't let it alone.  Telling me "Open my eyes".


This man had requested to be released to my address upon his release from a halfway house in May of 2015.  It was his intention to work with me until he was released to travel where he could go back to driving a truck.


He has lofty goals with champagne taste.  To be honest, his champagne taste and "short cuts" are the reason for his incarceration.


I sent him an e-mail, telling him I wasn't sure we could get along for the long run, and I told him I have opened my eyes and here is what I saw:
1) He needs me more than I need him


2) $900 cash sitting on a FBOP inmate trust form, awaiting possible transfer.


I told him I have a real problem with conservatives hiding behind "Christian values" and biblical teaching.


Finally, I told him I think Jesus was probably the greatest liberal of all times.  What he brought, he brought to everyone, with no regard for status or position.  At a time where Jews considered themselves to be God's people, Jesus became the common denominator for Jews and Gentiles.


I just really hate to see anyone try to pull religion into politics.  I think that is one reason I abhor the "700 Club".  Just this morning they were championing "Christians vote Republican".


I don't know where our country is going.  I know the Democrats have always been more social services minded, but I also realize there has been an across the board shift by both parties in the last 50 years.


I believe my incarcerated friend is a racist homophobe that has remorse for getting caught,  not for doing the crime, and for some strange reason he feels he entitled and owed.


I have very little faith that this is my friends last brush with the law.


It pains me to have devoted nearly eleven years to this project, only to be deceived so near the end.


Other news.  Yesterday afternoon, Rian resigned his position with the Shallowater ISD.  This had been in the works for almost a month, and finally terms were worked out.


I had told Rian that whatever he decided would not change my position with him.  I love and support him for him, not for the job he held.


Surprisingly, Rian said it is such a relief.  It is kind of like getting that elephant off your chest. 


To be honest, I have not felt Rian's heart was in his job for quite some time.  In many ways he had put himself in a position similar to what all of us were in with the trucking company.  The job was consuming him.


I don't know what Rian will do.  I don't know if he will make more money or less.  I really don't care as long as he comes home with a smile on his face and a full heart.


Tomorrow is mediation for Merrit's CPS case.  She is a real work.  She and her mother are so much alike it is alarming.


Merrit started my day this morning texting me saying her psychiatrist was changing her anti-depressant medication and she was  scrambling for her portion.  I told her, I was not paying for it.  She told me "I'm not asking you to".


By the time I walked into the office, my phone dinged and there was her text. "Can you send me money for my prescription." 


I told her to get a partial fill.  She told me she still needed money.  I told her I was not sending cash to her.  I called Walgreens to check options.  They said no credit card over the phone.


In October I paid $1225 of Merrits', rent, electricity, fines, probation, whatever.


She is 32 years old.  It has to stop somewhere.


The other day she called me from a car lot.  She side swiped something and knocked the mirror off and broke the two passenger side windows.  When she went to get an inspection sticker, they denied it saying she had a headlight out,  a hole in the muffler and her parking brakes were not holding.  I told her if he had the money to buy a car, she needed to pay her attorney.  (He is threatening to withdraw Thursday unless she clears up her account leading to arbitration).


FYI, I ordered windows for her car.  Not for her but for Noble.


Everybody go vote.


OH FATHER, I ask for wisdom to work through everything that is swirling in my world.  I continue to ask for healing.