Friday 'til now

3:05 a.m. friday morning, I woke up to my legs being taken out from under me, by my wife, while still in bed. My alarm woke up the baby, not me. Before I woke up, I had dreams of playing short stop, and a runner taking me out at second base, and doing a good job of it. Wow, what a jolt, I actually laughed about it most of the way to Carthage. Not waking up the baby, but how well the girl I married can kick.

George and I left the shop at 3:55 am, headed to Carthage, to pickup our stuff from our ex-distributor. We arrived in Carthage at 7:40 am, and sat at his shop. We ate lunch, and left at 2:30 pm. He still hasn't shown up. Probably a good thing that he didn't after about 10:00 am or so. That kept at least one of the three of us from going to jail for assault.

I tried to make it home in time for Natalie's end of year softball ceremany at 7:00 pm, but I made it to the house at 6:50 pm, showered and arrived at the field at 7:20 pm and it was over. Oh well, I wanted to be there, but no a terrible loss. We talked to a few of the other coaches, and moms for a while then went to eat and head out to Longworth. I was just happy to be back around my family, I was tired and grumpy, but happy even if it didn't show.

We arrived in Longworth at midnight, Angie's mom fed Brayden while Angie showered. I unloaded the truck, and we went to bed. I slept with my buddy Matthew, and never knew he was there, except when I would wake up and cover him back up. I steal covers, but Angie can fend for herself, see the first paragraph, but little Matt isn't strong enough, yet. So, he just rolls into me foro warmth, and I wake up and relinquish some of my coveted covers.

So here we are, looks to be a great day. Maybe we can go see Kelsey play softball, maybe go see Pop and Granny in Buffalo Gap. I know I am going to the races tonight, but I am not racing. I changed my mind about this probably three times yesterday. But, in the end, I just got home too late to load the trailer and bring it. Next weekend, I am taking Matthew to Witchita Falls to race, and check out the competition there for myself. Should be a blast.

Well, gotta go, see ya later

Jim

Catching up!

Hey! Guess what. I ended up last night in Marshall Texas, went to eat at Golden Corral, then to the hotel to watch the Rangers and go to sleep. PARTY!!! We showed up in Carthage this morning at 7:30 am, and the son of a bitch no-showed us. We called, went to his house, went to the Sheriff's Office, to the JP, nobody could help us because all of our chemical was locked inside his warehouse. So we looked some more, still didn't find him. We needed chemical, because Shawn, my boss, made a damn sale last night at the hotel. But, we couldn't get any. So we had to go meet George in Terrell at 1:00 pm. Shawn went back to deliver, and George and I came home. Then, at 6:30, Shawn called me and said I have to be back in Carthage at 7:30 am, tommorrow, and bring George. The guy we were looking for finally showed up, and talked to Shawn, because he didn't know him, and had never seen Shawn's truck, which has no Company Signs on it. Slick huh? So, now I have to leave at 3:30 am to be back in Carthage by 7:30. Then home, and to a softball ceremony at 7:00 pm, then on to Longworth. So, I will not even be taking my quad with me on this trip. Too much crap, no rest. It will be about 21 hours from when I start tommorrow till we get to Longworth, and about 700 miles for me.

They guys started digging the hole for the pool today, and almost got done, using nothing but a Bobcat. The kids loved it when he was done for the day, because they had all kinds of fossils to go pick up, not to mention the bobcat that he left without the key, damn. Oh well, we do get a pool out of the deal, I guess I can live without getting to play on a Bobcat. There are a couple of pictures, one of the kids and the rock pile, and the other that should be titled "Hey, can I play too?"

All for now, I gotta get to bed, I'm beat

Jim

pool 

pool 

A Very Berry Tuesday

Well, I went to dinner with a group of 10. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the Berryman clan heading out to share a meal. Never thought we'd be 10 strong though. Bobby, Chanda, Bailey, Chloe, Delaynee, Jim, Angie, Natalie, Matthew, and Brayden headed out to Casa Torres for supper. Angie and I were picking up Nat and Matt, who had gone to the water park with B, C, B, C & D. Everyone thought they had 5 kids. They look right, with Natalie, Matthew, Bailey, Chloe, and Delaynee lined up, they are a perfect stair step. Bailey is older, but Matthew is taller. They had a blast. Natalie feels like a grownup now, because she couldn't go on the children's rides with the rest of the group, she is too tall. Matthew is very close. We measured them last night, and Natalie is 4' 6 1/4" and Matthew is 4' 4 3/4" tall. Brayden is 6'2" by the way, he is ahead of schedule.

I am headed to Carthage, Texas tommorrow and the next day, so there may not be a post tommorrow, unless I can borrow my boss's laptop. Mine was stolen, and I haven't replaced it just yet. We are going to close down a distributor, and bring all of our stuff back to here and Midland. So, unfortunatly, Angie and the kids are on their own tommorrow night. Brayden is to the point that he is not too much of a handfull anymore. I can handle him by myself for hours at a time, so Angie probably won't notice that I'm gone. Plus, Natalie and Matthew are huge helps, when they want to be. I'm sure that the alarm will be set long before sundown, and I will call our neighbor Mike and have him keep an eye on things also. He has a great vantage point. I believe Bobby will be back in Vernon, or I would ask him.

By the way, I have figured out what number I am going to put on my quad. B-12. Is that brilliant or what? Berryman's B-12. "Hey, what number is Berryman" "Uh, Berryman's B-12, I think" I can just hear it now. "Oh, you mean the guy they carted off in the ambulance?" "Yeah, that was him, nice quad though." That is all taking place this Saturday night, by the way. You may have to get on a list if you want a video, they will be $10.00, plus shipping. Hey, I'm not here to suffer and entertain you for free, am I? Gotta pay the doctor bills somehow!

That's about it for now,

Jim

P.S. Beth if we come to Shreveport for supper tonight (wednessday), I will call you.

Jim

Monday

Well, today was a fun day. I rode around in my truck all day, and did not have to talk to customers non-stop for the first time in a while. I sure didn't like everything that I found in the field, but we will get that resolved. I have high standards when it comes to the quality of service that I want my company to provide, maybe too high. Today, I didn't see any quality at all. My standards may be hard to reach for some, but they are not unattainable, nor unreasonable in my opinion. I just want to be held in high regard by my customers. I hate to leave anyone a reason to be able to justify getting rid of our service, but I saw plenty today. Puts knots in my stomach, but now that I know about it, I will get it fixed.

When I came home today, Angie said that she would like to go work out, so I said "Go for it". Natalie, Matthew, Brayden, and I took a walk down to the pond for a little exercise. Brayden was very cute in his denim "gilligans" hat. We walked around the pond, in the mud, on the dam, then to their crawdad fishing spot. They didn't catch any before Brayden and I left, but we did pet the horses. They came to see what we were up to, didn't scare Brayden at all. Not really sure he knew they were there. I had him in the baby backpack, on my front, facing away from me, so I couldn't see his face. Did I mention the mud? The kids are great, they always take their shoes off before they come in the house, but not Dad. Don't worry though, I got it cleaned up before Ang got home, as a matter of fact, she will learn of it when she reads this. See I do actually clean up some things around here, honey.

Natalie and Matthew came home about an hour after Brayden and I did. They said there were snakes in the pond. I told them that there weren't any snakes when I was there, maybe they were turtles. No, they were snakes, they didn't have shells. I explained that when turtles come up for air, they do not get their shells out of the water. Oh, good, they really didn't think they were snakes anyway. WHEW!!! Glad we got that straightened out.

No big news to report, everyone is doing fine. Natalie and Matthew are going to a water park with Bobby, Chanda, and the girls tommorrow. It is in North Richland Hills, called NRH2O. Pretty cool huh? Bobby says it is fantastic. I wish we could go, but unfortunately, I have a couple of scheduled jobs tommorrow, and I can't get out of them. That's OK though, there is always next time, I think they have been an average of twice a week so far this summer.

Thanks for reading this,

Jim

Sunday Stuff

Today was a slow day, usually is after poker night. Brayden even slept till 8 something. I believe we went to bed after 2 a.m. Thank God he slept, Angie might have kicked me out for not waking up to help last night, she was a sleepy girl. She rarely goes to bed later than 10 p.m., so 2 - 2:15 a.m. was really pushing it, but we had a great time. Our friends are all really down to earth, no big egos to worry about, unless you count me, and I have toned it down considerably.

Lanae, what weekend are you planning to go to San Antonio, because we can schedule the next poker night around you guys. We won't be able to play till late next month anyway, because of vacation and other stuff, so let me know. It would be great to see you guys. I'll keep my fingers crossed, and yes you guys can stay here anytime, that offer is good forever, we have plenty of room.

O.K., I told you that Angie was going to get her hair cut saturday, and she did. It looks awesome, by the way. While she was gone, Brayden and I took a nap, while Natalie and Matthew went to the pond to fish for crawdads. They caught 3, and I mean real Louisanna mudbug crawdads. I had no idea there were any of those here. These things were huge, one was 6" long I bet. I was amazed. I mowed them a path to the pond, so they can walk straight to it instead of skirting the tall grass and weeds. I'm sure they will keep that trail beat down in the days to come. They even took some of the children who came out last night down to the pond and caught 6 more, but they threw them back in. Also, had a giant rat encounter, but nothing a few well thrown rocks couldn't take care of. I love the fact that my kids are becoming country kids. I am very happy that they are going to be able to do some of the same things that I enjoyed growing up. You know, like hoeing cotton, digging ditch and building fence, Haha. No, I mean fishing in a pond till dark or later, just having the freedom to do what they want to do, and we don't have to worry about them getting hit by a car, or bothered by mean kids or people. Not being cooped up in our old back yard in Justin. Both of our neighbors out here are nice, one has kids and one thinks he still is. We all get along just fine, and nobody has or causes any problems, so the kids are free to do as they please, and we don't have to worry about pissing anyone off. That's how it should be. Before we moved out here, I desperately wished we could go back and raise our kids in a better, and safer time, like the 50's. But, out here I have forgotten all about that. So, if anyone is ever close enough to stop by, please do. Believe me, your children will thank you.

Two more things

1: Our friends, Kim and Gary Halfmann, in Abilene spent the weekend at their daughter's softball tournament in Midland. Kelsey's team placed fourth in the tournament against some what they call "Traveling" teams out West, but we call "Select" teams here. We ran into a few in our tournament last weekend, and let me tell you, it's no damn fun at all. So for them to place 4th in that tournament is incredible. You can read all about it on Kim's blog, which is linked on the right hand side of this site. Kim, I'm sure we will be able to come see at least one game, Saturday, before I go kill myself. CONGRATULATIONS Kelsey, and mom and dad, sounds like you have a good team there. Good luck this coming weekend.

2: Grandpa racecar won his feature race this past Saturday. This marks the first time that a damn FORD has ever won an IMCA event at Abilene Motor Speedway. Also, Bill is the oldest driver competing at the track. Grandma said he had a hard time getting his helmet off after the race, due to swelling of the head. I can just imagine. Tell me, Grandpa, when you crossed the finish line, did you let out a big old "YES", or were you laughing? I would bet it was the "YES", then the laughing. This is the first year Bill has raced in this division, because the track did away with his old class of cars. So he has had to overcome quite a few things to be able to win this year. New car, new division. Working all night at the track, selling fuel right up till the time he goes out to race in either the heat or the feature. Being old and probably the biggest thing, driving a damn FORD. Now, I only call him old because he calls himself "the old man" (It's a joke, don't hate me!), but the ford thing is straight from the heart. CONGRATULATIONS on the win, long time coming in this division. Maybe next weekend we can double up. Or you can win again, and I'll throw up on myself. Anything is fine. How's the weather, by the way, any chance of a rainout? Seriously though, I am very impressed with the win. I have seen your competetion, and they are very good. WAY TO GO BILL!! Maybe Bill can tell us about the race from his perspective, the driver's seat, on his blog, also linked on the right side of my page. That is a view that many of us never get the chance to enjoy. I have once, in a mechanic's race, a few years ago. What a rush, I won, and was glad that they didn't ask me any mechanic's questions, couldn't have answered any of them.

That's all folks, I gotta run a route tommorrow, something that I don't do much anymore, so sleep would be good. No sales or lunches, just work, how pitiful? Come on, somebody cry for me! Not really, this is actually the part of the job that I feel that I am good at, but everyone else depends on me for sales, so that's what I do. Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday, call me if you get bored, I will be in the truck. 940-389-3149

Later,

Jim

P.S.

I guess Mike Tyson wasn't all that everyone cracked him up to be. I have never taken Tyson in a bet with Bill, and have still never lost. I think Tyson sucks. Oh well, I won again, one more and Bill can take my whole family out to eat, I guess. For the record, it is now 2-0 Jimbo. That's right Skidmore, you lost again. Mike Tyson my ass. Gargabe. Refuse. Trash. He is all those things and more. Throwing in the towel, are you kidding me? You should have to pay double if your fight is scared to come out of his corner. What a joke.

All for now

Jim

Yeah, I won again.

No big deal, right. I can't seem to lose at poker lately. We had a larger group of friends out tonight. Richard and Kristi came and brought their children, Graham and Natalie. Then J.J. and Kari came and brought Ty. Kelly came by himself. Gene and Shelli brought Gaitland and Greeley. Ty played with us the first go round, and got second, he is 9! Wow!! Not bad, and he actually does know what he is doing. The second time around, yeah I won again. Good to know things are back in line. I thought I was losing it, especially losing to a 9 year old. But, that is all him and his dad do.

Now, my friends. I have been waiting for this for a long time. I know all my friends, of course, but they don't all know each other. I met Richard through Junior Berryman, they are neighbors. I met J.J. throught Angie, because when she had her own aerobics classes in Justin, Kari was one of the first to sign up. Kelly followed me out here from Carlsbad, NM. I have played a lot of poker with him. We have known Gene and Shelli the longest. I went to high school with both of them. They have just moved to Bridgeport from Sweetwater. This is great, they are really fun to be around. All of my friends are fun, but Gene and Shelli are from home. We have a great connection and we all really like each other. Also, their youngest is a couple of months younger than Brayden, awesome!

We are still waiting for Gary Wayne and Lindsey to be able to come out, but there is always something going on that seems to hamper that. I know that they will make it someday, no doubt.

Thats about all for tonight, I need a shower and some sleep. Maybe Brayden will make it through the night, I hope so.

Jim