No news?

It seems that life is slipping away. Or running off at full speed, however you want to look at it. And I have had blogger friends emailing me asking if I'm still here. Thank you for that and yes, still here and kicking, much to my children's dismay.

We are still dealing with the county regarding Preston's adoption subsidy. What with the cutbacks and economic woes, the state is talking of lowering their portion across the board. Right now, my mind is somewhat fried on the whole issue and I just wish it would go away, but alas, it will not. So we write letters back and forth and a fair hearing will be filed for soon. The county just will not negotiate anymore and that's against the law. It's amazing how many cities and counties around here just decide what they are going to do without taking into consideration the legality of their actions.

The summer has been a constant source of material for blogging but has not allowed the time for it. We still have all the kids that we had a month ago (haven't figured out where to bury any bodies yet so they get a reprieve). We were trying to get Nijal into a day camp at the Y but the funding has not been approved. Maybe sometime in November they'll get back to us.

Work has picked up, and word is that we have landed a new account that could potentially produce 4000 bays and bows a year. That's 80 windows a week. Right now 80 windows is sometimes our whole week's production. This could be the boost we have been waiting for. But it's like the boss says. I'll believe it when the orders start coming in.

I had an extra run this week which is good cause the run at the beginning of the week was lousy short. I left Monday morning and went to Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Lafayette (Indiana, not Louisiana). I could have been home Monday night but it would have been a really long day. So I work in the plant on Wednesday. Come home from that and about 5 I get a call from one of the bosses. "Are you available to make a run for us tomorrow?" "Heck, yeah!" Anything to get me out of the factory. Then he tells me. Seems a truck backed into our dock on Tuesday from company A at a time when the truck from company B usually shows up. The truck was subsequently loaded with the wrong company's product and sent on their way. How nobody caught this before company A's truck got all the way home, I do not know. Company B showed up and hour or so later and were told that their truck had already come and gone. Needless to say, the boss was not a happy camper.

But I got to drive from Mansfield to Paducah, KY, to Youngstown, OH and then back to Mansfield. 1189 miles. Very nice run. Quiet, pretty, good weather, all that stuff. And no deer in my trailer. On here I will not discuss the logging of such a run. Just know that it was all done strictly above board and in accordance with DOT regulations. heh heh. The great thing is that Ohio raised the speed limit fro trucks from 55 to 65 on July 1st. And since my truck won't run faster than 66, I'm fine on the interstate. Lots less stress.

On a more personal note, my grandfather in Texas is not doing well at all. In fact I have given notice to my company that I may be needing to go to Texas for his funeral soon. This is my mothers' father, and he is 96 years old. From what I understand, his body is just shutting down. I could have that wrong but that's what I understand.

Grandad is a great guy and we were always excited about going to Texas to visit him and the rest of the family that was down there. He was a letter carrier for the postal service for 30 some years and has been retired more years than he worked for them. His first wife died when I was about 9 and then maybe six years later he got remarried to a sweet and wonderful lady named Jo. They have been together since then and she has really been a blessing to him. We are so grateful he found her. Without her, I doubt he would have lasted this long.

So I'm online the other night looking at bereavement prices to fly to Texas and I realize that with a good car I could drive for half the money. Down and back. 1200 miles, about 20 hours, one good loooong day or a day and a quarter. However you look at it. Plus, the family in Texas has never met Preston, who by the way turned 9 on July 3rd. So I am thinking I might ought to take him with me.

So I call him to the bedroom Tuesday night and we talk. You need to know, Preston's own grandfather died about 3 years ago and he seemed to take it pretty hard. So there are some concerns. Can he handle a funeral? Can he handle being in the car for that long, coming and going? Will he freeze up when all these people down there want to lavish love on him? So we talk.

"Preston, I got to tell you something."

"K"

"My grandfather is dying and it looks like I'm going to need to go to Texas soon. I'm going to be driving down and it's a very long time in the car. Do you think you would like to go with me?"

"Sure."

"You sure, you'd really like to go?"

"Yeah."

"We will be in the car all day when we go down and then another day when we come back. Can you handle that?"

"I'll listen to your Ipod. It'll go fast. And we'll have fun."

"Yes, we'll have fun, but this will not be a pleasure trip. We will be going down to attend my grandfathers' funeral. We will visit with other family as well, but the main purpose is to honor Grandad and Jo. You okay with that?" I know that he will never really understand this whole thing but I'm trying to lay it out there for him.

And back comes his quick answer. "Sure."

So I try again. "I know that when your granddaddy died it was really hard on you. This might make you remember things and it might be a little hard again for you."

"Yeah, but when your grandaddy dies," he says, "it'll be hard on you. And I want to go with you."As if he wants to hold my hand to make sure that I'm okay.

It was then that he had to leave the room. I have a hard time with my little ones seeing me cry.

So that's where we stand right now. Waiting for a call and enjoying one another while we can.