Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Happy New Year

I didn't go out New Year's Eve, but made it to a social New Year's day. A friend of mine used to have a New Year's day open house. But she died two years ago, so we decided to carry on her tradition. I went into Houston and socialized with old friends. I did meet a new guy that I have been emailing, but no sparks flew, so onward and upward. I got all my Christmas decorations put up on the 2nd. Usually it is almost February before that happens.

I made a New Year's resolution to get all my small projects completed. One of those projects was a new corn feeder for the squirrels. The old one had a wooden bottom and it was rotten. The new one I made has a old window screen for a bottom. This should make it last a while longer. The squirrels seem to like it, as all the corn disappeared the first day. The little critters need all the nourishment they can get, as Booger loves to chase them when he sees them on the ground. Another little project popped up over the holidays. The Big Red Beast spent so much time in the barn, she drug her starter while starting on the bitterly cold 2nd day of January. So I purchased a trickle battery charger and mounted the quick attach wiring harness. Since the battery is totally covered and bolted in, this is necessary to make unplugging it easy. So now I have the 6520 and my zero turn mower on chargers. One other project is ongoing. Dad uses a lot of kindling in his wood stove. I have a red oak log I cut in 8 inch sections and split them down to half inch or smaller sticks. I bought them a new bellows, as the old one wore a hole in the leather and was blowing out the side more then the nozzle.

My nights off are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday now. This wasn't intentional. I was off work and missed the annual crew bid. So I lost my weekends off. Now my head thinks it is Friday when it is actually Monday. It really is messed up. But I heard at work the other night that a temporary vacancy may open up on my old crew because a co-worker is off with an On The Job injury. With my seniority, I should be able to win the bid for it. Anyway, it is Tuesday and it feels like Saturday to me. I was going to work on the barn today, but it looked like rain and I didn't want to get sheet metal and tools out when a storm in near. So I took the Mahindra down to my gully and deployed the backhoe's thumb. I spent the day cleaning out the gully of wood and debris. Four years ago the loggers I let haul off pine and oak logs left a mess and the gully has been backing up ever since. I specifically bought a backhoe with my Mahindra for this mess in the gully. Needless to say, time flew and I had fun. The Bradco/Mahindra 511 backhoe exceeded my expectations. I am totally satisfied with it. Booger kept coming up and wanted attention and to play. I was lucky enough to take a photo of him with his ball in his mouth. I have uploaded a few photos of all this activity. Take a look at them when you get a chance.

Tomorrow I will be headed to Austin. Rebecca and I have tickets to the George Strait concert on the UT campus. We have a tradition of attending his concert every year. Last year was in Las Vegas. The year before was in Indianapolis. George has a one night concert every year in Austin, but this was the first year we snagged "cheap" tickets there. So we won't have to take the company plane to hear George sing this year! Check back later to see if we got to shake his hand and to hear more about Brandi, Booger, and the Big Red Beast.

hugs, Brandi

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