Back to work he goes……

My son William has been helping us paint and fix up our rent house for the last couple of months. He had been working on an oil rig up in Wyoming and had come home for various and a sundry reasons. Last week a friend of his told him about a job up in Tolar, Texas which is just west and south of Ft. Worth. Since he doesn’t have a car at the moment, I drove him up there. He washed his clothes and got his gear bag ready and we left around 6:00am. for the drive. I had looked on Yahoo maps, the night before, for driving directions and I highlighted my big road map with a yellow highlighter. I threw a couple of bottle of water and a can of nuts in the car and off we went.

When we left it was still dark. Houston morning traffic was already in gear and I was glad that we were going in the opposite direction. By the time we had reached Hempstead, the sun was coming up. We turned off on Hwy. 6 and settled in for a long drive. The more north you drive, the more hills you start to see. You have got to remember that Houston is completely flat. The only hills you will see in Houston are the freeway overpasses. I can’t even remember what town we had breakfast in, but I needed the stop so I could stretch and wake up better. A caffeinated soda along with breakfast did the trick.

Hwy 6 is a small freeway with only two lanes going each direction. We drove thru many a small town. I started realizing just how beautiful Texas is. With the hills, green grass, cows, farm equipment and the amazingly clear sky, I started thinking what it would be like to live in a small area. There weren’t grocery stores on every other corner, no string of stop lights, no fire trucks blaring there horns, no children waiting for school busses. I thought to myself, “I could live in a small town”. I suppose I am getting older and a small town appeals to me now. Who knows, I could go stark raving crazy out there.

Ok, back to the story. We drove thru Bryan/College Station, Waco and other towns along the way. We finally reached Tolar around 11:00am. We found the main office along the highway and the “yard” as William called it. He went inside and talked to the management. While he was inside a friend of his from Wyoming walked in and they had a friendly hello. The man interviewing William asked him how he knew Jeffery Dan. William told him that he had broken him in when he was new up in Wyoming. Evidentially they like Jeffery Dan so William got the job. Boy was he happy. He was told to come back in two hours to fill out the paperwork. We drove into Grandbury, TX. to have lunch and do some shopping at Wal-Mart. We went back to the job site and William went in and filled out the appropriate paper work and was told to report for work the next morning. Jeffery Dan had already offered to let William stay with him. It couldn’t have worked out better. We said our good buy’s and I headed home.

It was already 5:00pm and I had a four and a half hour drive ahead of me. I turned on the radio and started my trek. I made it back, with one small short cut, coming in the back way. I was so tired I was ready to crash…. I’m so glad that William is back out doing what he loves. My grocery bill should go down dramatically now. It’s amazing just how much one young man can eat. Ahhh…… We have the house to ourselves once again.

This has got to be the cutiest thing you ever saw.....

Tip of the day….Gift sized cookie mix in a jar...right here.

Update: The Astros lost their first game to the Cardinals last night. They left the bases loaded in the third inning and just couldn't get their offense working. I found out this morning that Andy Pettitte had hurt his knee during batting practice and had pitched the game with a swollen knee. No wonder his game was off. Hope we do better tonight.

Update: The Astros just won game 2. Roy Oswalt was amazing. They come home all tied up. Roger Clements on the mound on Saturday. ...Go Rocket and go team.

Update: The Astros won game 3. Roger the Rocket held his own and kept us in the game. Qualles and Lidge did their job and we had just enough offense to win the game. We kept Pulhols from hurting us. On to game 4 today with Backe. Keep your fingers crossed.

Update: The Astros won game 4! Brandon Backe and the relief staff were awesome. This was a real nail biter, right down to the last out. Tomorrow it's Andy Pettitte vs. Carpenter. This should be a low scoring game. I hope we win it tomorrow in front of the home crowd. I have to go wash my lucky Astro shirt for tomorrow's game....

Update: The Astros just lost game 5! We were ahead 4 to 2 with two outs. All we needed was one more out and the series was ours. Brad Lidge got a little too excited and allow the little pest Eckstein to get a little hit on two strikes, then Edmonds was very patient and got walked. Then the worse person in the world came up to bat, Albert Puhols. Lidge left one out over the plate and Puhols got all of it. He hit a towering home run into, actually over, the Crawford boxes. It was devestating. We were so close. Well, the good thing about this is that we still have two more chances to take the series. The Astro's will have to go back to St. Louis now and get the job done. Unbelievable!!!!! I'm still in disbelief!!!!!

Update: The Astros win game 6.......We are going to the World Series. I am really excited. Roy Oswalt was awesome!!! YAHOOOOO!