I'm sitting in the dock in Waukesha, WI and it's a quiet night. I'm at the back of the building so there's no traffic whatsoever. Which is nice for a change. No worries about another truck bumping me, or someone knocking on my door wanting to sell me cookies. The sad thing s I've lost my regular Sports Illustrated load out of the Chicago area. It wasn't anything I did, but they changed the load times on it and found a guy who could do it every week, whereas I could only do it every other week. So now it's back to hunting loads out of Chicago again. Freight is still down and since I pull a 48 foot trailer instead of the normal 53 footer it's a bit more difficult for me to find something that can get me back home. I found a load out of Oconomowoc, WI which is 25 miles from me right now, going to Columbus and it only weighs 10,000 lbs. I called the broker about it and they're all gone for the day. So I have to call back at 7 am and hope it's still there. That would be a nice easy run.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have recently taken in two new foster boys, brothers, 9 and 7. They are actually pretty good kids, but they both have their challenges. As Jerry Clower might have said, the older would rather climb a tree to tell you a lie than stand on the ground and tell you the truth. He and I have had a couple of discussions about this already. He seems amazed at my ability to know when he's lying and he went so far as to ask me how I knew. "It's easy", I said. "I know you're lying when I see your lips moving." I quickly told him I was kidding and then explained that I could tell he was lying because I was so good at it myself. I'd lie all the time just to stay out of trouble. I got pretty good at recognizing lies. Maybe that could be my next career. Deception Analyst.

The younger boy is autistic. (Forgive me for seeming distant by using the term "boy" but there are legal considerations concerning privacy.) He is, I guess one would say, extremely autistic. Not sure if that's a proper way to say it, but he dos not speak, is not potty-trained and is very repetitive in his actions. One thing we have learned about him is that he needs his pacing room. He is constantly on the move. He paces, picks things up, chews on them, throws them down, claps his hands, and hollers quite loudly sometimes. My wife and I determined that if we had to mimic his actions for just one hour, we would both collapse in exhaustion. I do not know how he does it. He'll walk around the living room,then around the dining room and then go to the gate that blocks the kitchen door. We have a gate that we block the stairs with and sometimes Sheila will remove it and allow him to climb the stairs. It just gives him more room to roam and get his energy out. We were told he is operating on the level of an 18 month old, but I'm not sure that he's even that high. Maybe. And then there are the times when he will crawl up in your lap and just hug on you. It melts your heart. He's a busy guy and he takes a lot of watching. I asked my wife if it doesn't frustrate her sometimes. She said no. He's a baby in a 7 year old body. So you teach him like a baby, and hope that he'll learn some new things while he is with us. I know that I'm learning. My wife, she has the patience of a saint.

Either that or she's insane.

I'll bet on the former.