Friday again

Well, they are just about done with the pool. The actually haven't done much the last two days, but still are ahead of the two week schedule that they laid out for us. They are forming up and pouring concrete tommorrow and will do the final cleanup on Monday. Angie had them go ahead and put the stairs in today, so we played in the pool this evening. It was nice, after a hot day, to come home and get in the pool. Brayden got in with Angie, and after the initial shock wore off, after about two minutes, he loved it too. Can't ask for more than that, can we. At least he won't be keeping one of us out of the pool all summer.

Well, we race tommorrow night, Saturday night that is, in Wichita Falls. I am not really nervous at all. I want to do it. I thought the fact that my brother and sister-in-laws would be there was what was bothering me about racing in Abilene, but I was wrong. I would have loved racing in front of them. They supported me even though I didn't race. Tommorrow, Bobby, Chanda, Bailey, Chloe, Delaynee, Dad and Granny will be there, and I can't wait. Billy and Carolyn wouldn't be a surprise either, but I haven't heard anything from them. I am much more nervous about Matthew. I don't think he will get hurt or anything, I just want him to do good. He rides very well, and is fearless. Those are both good things. But, I worry just the same. I'm sure everything will be fine. You can go to www.texomamotorspeedway.com to check the results. I don't know how often they update, but last weekends results were up by Monday. We will register our numbers so they will score us. Matthew has chosen the number 18, so I hope nobody else has it. You will also be able to find out how we do here on my site, of course. I will be B12 or 12 if they don't allow letters, and if nobody else has that number. I will go to 24 next, then 23 until I hit an open number. Matthew will be in the Peewee division, and I will be in the Open A division, or the Open Expert division, just depends. Hell, I might even wear a Depends, who knows! We are all going, so it is truly a family outing. I hope the noise doesn't bother Brayden.

I have to get up tommorrow and go get the trailer from Bobby's house, do minor maintenance on the 4-wheelers, and load them and we will be ready to go. The only maintenance is to tighten Matt's chain and change my oil. Maybe we can do good enough to get a fuel sponsorship, hint hint. My father-in-law is a distributor for VP race fuels. Only the best race fuels in the world, seriously. God, I hope Matt doesn't get bored, and go try to find things to jump in the parking lot, during the race. He understands racing, but he has never done any. He might cut corners, get lost, or run into someone or something. Who knows at this point. Whatever he does will be just fine with me.

Natalie is still doing just fine, no worries there. Anyone have a horse they might want to get rid of, that is very gentle and kid friendly? That is what she truly wants. She is not into racing at all. She can like anything she wants to as far as I am concerned. I will never push my children into doing something they don't want to do. I am thrilled that she can't wait till softball season though. We both love that.

Well I guess I should get to bed. Haven't heard anything from the investigator about our robbery, but maybe we will. I will update you guys as soon as possible about the races.

See ya then

Jim

Thursday

I don't have much for today. I didn't see my family much. George went back to Carthage today, and his truck broke down on the way home. I left to go get him at about 3:00 pm, and didn't make it home till about 8:50 pm. Now we have to go back and get his truck, but will probably wait till Tuesday. We have plent of stuff to do till then.

I got my ass chewed today. My boss, Shawn, said he had had enough of my attitude. REALLY? Yeah, I guess he was probably right. I have heard it enough in my lifetime to know that I have been pushing it lately. Oh well, it did kind of put me straight. I was down to start the week, but have recovered lately. I just kept the attitude, I guess. I have no reason to bitch, George was stranded starting at about 11:30 am. He had a bad day. If I was him, I would have stayed the night, and learned if they could have my truck fixed tommorrow. Now we have to go back and get it when it is done. Oh well, if I was stranded, and wanted to get home, I would hope someone would come get me. I can't leave him just to leave him, right. It was an inconvenience, but it was the right thing to do.

Crossing the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was another story. It sucked. Took me an hour to go fifteen miles. The rest of the drive was OK, just long. He did make it almost to Terrell, TX before his truck broke.

We just had a window alarm go off. I checked them all, but nothing. They are only supposed to go off if the magnetic field between the two sensors is broken, by moving the window, presumably. I guess a bug could have gone between them and done it. It didn't even wake Angie up, and I sleep much harder than she does, so I guess it really was a good idea to get them. The robbery has made us be much more aware of the security of the house. I would have thought it paranoid a few months ago, but not now. I feel we are safe, but you never know.

Our biggest problem of the moment is ants in the house. I have done the Ortho Max bug thing twiced around the outside of the house. Angie feels that this killed all the spiders that were keeping the ants out, by eating them. Do spiders eat ants? I have no idea, but it is the only guess that we have at this point. I think we are going to have someone come out and spray professionaly, but it has to be baby safe, ya know. Brayden is about to be mobile, and we don't want him in any of that crap. Of course, we don't want him bitten by ants either.

I guess that's it for today. See ya when I see ya.

Jim

Bill won a bet

Well, my cousin Bill has finally won one. This past weekend we bet the Tarver vs. Johnson fight. Bill had Antonio Tarver and I had Glen Johnson. Tarver won it, and now I am back to being up by only one. 2-1 is the record for now, but we have another one this weekend. I'm just waiting for him to chose Arturo Gatti and lose. I really like Floyd Mayweather Jr. in this one, but it is Bill's call. I'll let you know when he selects who he wants to lose with, I mean bet on.

The pool is all but done. They are supposed to come and do the cement around it tommorrow. After that, all we have to do is wait for it to cure. The kids did swim tonight though. I lifted them in and out of the pool, because the steps are not done yet, and there is nothing but dirt around it. But they had a great time, and can't wait for it to be finished. They expect everyone to come swim with them whenever they can. Everyone is invited, just show up. Funny to me though, it will be finished just in time for us to leave for vacation next weekend. Probably be green when we get back.

Nothing much else to report. I talked to the investigator today. He had someone coming in today to talk to him. The way I understood it, this person is trying to plea bargain out of another crime, and has information on several burglaries, including ours. This is promising, but I don't see how we can get our hopes up about getting any of our stuff back after two months. Still, I will keep you all informed as to what happens.

Everyone here is fine, and I hope all of you are too.

Jim

Never done this before

Today I had 3 hookups to do. I left the house at about 8:30 am, after meeting up with George to grab his pump, to facilitate filling the new bulk tanks. I actually didn't get to the first location till about 11:00 am. Finished the first hookup around noon. I strapped everything down on the trailer and left. Got a phone call from a customer on the way out. As I was talking, I looked in the mirror and noticed that one of the 2 remaining bulk tanks was about to come off the trailer. I stopped and resituated my load and continued on my way. Less than a mile later, I actually hit a roadrunner directly in the grill of my truck. I have never done that before. I got out and looked, yep, right through the grill, busted it up real nice, but the roadrunner was about half in and half out. So, I left it there. Kind of a badge of marksmanship, ya know. Hell, it was a first. I took him out at home, after Angie saw him. You always need a witness. My grill is broken, but it went back in place, no problem. I love my truck. Battleworthy if nothing else.

I feel better about everything today. I don't know what was bothering me yesterday, but thanks for listening. I guess getting out and actuall doing something fixed my mood. Talking to Bobby yesterday helped a bunch too. Hitting the roadrunner didn't hurt things either. I laughed my head off when I got out and saw a wing and a foot sticking out of my grill. Funnier than any words can describe.

The pool is almost finished. Should be completely done by Friday. The pump is running as we speak, or as I type. It is almost completely backfilled, I guess the only thing left is the cement around it and cleanup. Wow these guys are fast, not to mention good. I am very impressed.

I saw Chanda at Vacation Bible School. I did not realize that Bailey and Chloe were going also. We spoke for a brief minute as I was coming out and she was going in. I didn't realize that I would have to go in to get Nat and Matt. So, I was wearing my red fleece house shoes when I did. I looked like Bozo the Clown. How embarassing!! Funny to the kids, but, OK, funny to me too. Natalie and I had a great talk on the way home about my Grandpa Berryman. She made a prayer jar at VBS, and there is a prayer in there. I did not ask what it is, because I feel that is personal, but she still thinks about Papa almost as much as I do. She wants to make him Father's Day cards, and Christmas cards and such to be left at his grave, so he won't feel like he has been forgotten. Believe me, as I sit here in tears, he has not been forgotten. I think about him every day, as I do my best friend Bill Boice, and my cousin Coy Berryman. I miss them all greatly, and I will never forget them, ever. I learned things from each one of them, but I learned so many things from Papa. He is my inspiration in so many things that I do. I'm sure that Angie is tired of me crying about it by now. This October will be 4 years, but it seems like yesterday to me. One day I will share some of the memories that I have of Papa, but not now. I just get so damn emotional. I honestly can't talk about it without crying. I just can't go through life crying all the time.

Jeez, enough already. Maybe I should learn to let go, but I don't want to. There are some things in life that should not happen. Have I really been that sheltered all my life? People deal with this happening to them every day, and they don't break down at the mention of a name. I know that I am emotional, it makes me who I am, a sensitive asshole. People for the most part can't stand me, and I actually prefer it that way. I have to change myself to be able to do my job, until my customers get to know me, then I let it take it's own course. Wow, I really got on a roll there, didn't I? That's enough for now. Too introspective, I'll just be a big puddle of goo if I keep this up.

See ya then,

Jim

P.S. Angie, I LOVE YOU, and everything you do for me. Thank you for being there, even when you are asleep.

J

Matthew's Race

Matthew's race is this Saturday, in Witchita Falls, TX. It's at Texoma Speedway, just outside of Witchita on Hwy 82 (Seymour Highway). Races start at 7:00 pm, and they will probably start with the kids. I don't know that for sure, but I believe it to be a fair assumption, everyone always starts with the kids. I may end up taking my 4-wheeler and testing the waters also. What the hell, right? The address of the track is 7567 Seymour Highway.

Ok, on to bigger and better stuff. For some unknown reason, I have been freaked out all damn day. I can't sleep now. I have no idea what is bothering me, maybe I do, but I can't put a finger on it. Maybe it is my sales for this month, they suck. Maybe it's the fact that I spent so much time away from doing my job while I was in Carthage, waiting on our ex-distributor to show up. He still is missing, by the way. Maybe it's the fact that we are going on vacation in 2 weeks, and I really don't know where I stand in my job. I'm not afraid of being let go, it's just that I didn't like what I saw last Monday, then have been gone since then and nothing has been resolved. Maybe it's all of it combined. Today I was almost frozen. I didn't know where to start, or what to do when I got started. I don't think I have ever felt this way before. Hell, getting married didn't affect me this bad. Of course, I knew I had made the right decision there. So what's up with me. I have always felt so confident before. Nothing ever really bothers me much. I had fun this weekend. No problems with any of the kids. Natalie is doing great by the way. Just a funk, I guess. All I need is a swift kick in the ass, probably. Maybe it's all the job offers lately. There have been some good ones, but I truely am happy where I'm at. Not that I would have to move, but I like Dynochem. I like who I work with. I like the job that I do. I like everything about this company. I do believe that the Carthage fiasco was a load of crap, but so does everyone who was involved with it. That would be Shawn, my boss, me, and George, my protege', or whatever. I'm sure that David, the owner of the company, thinks it was a load of crap, too. He can't be happy tying up so many of his people for nothing.

Any thoughts?

Jim

P.S. Dad you need to call me, when you get the chance.

J

Coming Home

Well, this is a day late, but, ya get what ya get around here. Right? I was not in the mood to type last night when we got home. I just drank a few beers and enjoyed remembering the time we spent with family and friends this weekend. I didn't get to see Mom, but I thought she would be at Buffalo Gap with Granny and Pop, but nobody was there. Sorry about that, I must have misunderstood.

Sunday, on the way home, we did one of our most favorite things. We stopped to see Gary, Kim, Kelsey, and Brandon in Abilene. We have not been able to spend the kind of time with each other that we used to or that we want to. They are still very dear friends, and we miss them alot, but the distance and family involvement gets in the way. Both families have numerous things going on, and they are all important. It's not until we actually do get together that we realize all of the things that we are missing. I wish we were closer, but we will just have to manage. Maybe I can come up with a woodworking project that I need help with, shouldn't take us more than a month to complete. How much time off do you have built up, Gary? Kim could probably manage her job from here, right? Kelsey and Brandon could swim the days away with Matt and Nat. Wow, what a dream.

Ok, as I said, we stopped by to visit, and it turned into a long visit. It streched through dinner at Olive Garden, when Gary had to go home to get his wallet. As long as it was though, it is never long enough. Even when Gary and Angie worked together, and we all saw each other constantly, we never got on each others nerves. Probably never will.

We left about 8:00 pm and got home about 11:30 pm. Long weekend, but a fun one. Today I went to pick up my truck that I left in Bridgeport, only to have a flat tire, and I forgot my keys, so I had to break into it just to be able to get it to the tire store. My tires were in pretty bad shape, so I just got a new set. I love my new company, at Adkins I would have had to run the tread completely off of them before I was ALLOWED to get a new set. Here I just did it, and told them later, they are great. They understand that some things are actually a necessity. Did I spell that right? Oh well, gotta go, the kids are going to Vacation Bible School, and I get to keep Brayden, YEAH!!

Later]

Jim

Happy Father's Day

Hey, I forgot to say it last night, but, Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. Especially to James Berryman, my dad. I love you dad! Hope the trip was good, and all is well, and you are home safe. Did yall catch any fish in Colorado?

Well, I overslept and it is time to get going,

Jim

Race Night

Ok, we are at Angie's mom and dad's this weekend. Granny and Pop were supposed to be at Buffalo Gap selling popcorn. So, we went over this afternoon to see them, guess what, they were not there. They are having some kind of problems with their motorhome, so they did not come. Angie did get a pickle sno-cone though, oops, make that two. I got beef jerky and a carne guisada burrito, so all turned out well. Afterward, we went to Sam's and did a little shopping.

The races were next. Billy, Tina, Taylor and Tyler were there. Karen and Mark came a little later. We all helped sell fuel, and watched some racing. The 4-wheeler races were more eventful than I expected. They race better than I thought they would, definitely better than they look on video tape. They are pretty fast, I really don't know how I will do when I finally get to come race. I know my 4-wheeler can perform, just not sure about the driver.

Bill, grandpa racecar, did exceptionally well in his races. I can't remember if he got second or third in the heat race, but these are just for starting position in the feature. In the feature, he started third row outside. By lap three he was in first place and never looked back. He lead the remainder of the race. At one point, only one car was within a quarter of a lap of him. Yellow flags bunched things back up a couple of times, but he stayed in the lead, and won by half of a car length. The final straight away was the only time that anyone ever got close enough to be any kind of a threat. He got a little loose coming out of turn 4, but held on for the win. Way to go Bill. This is 2 wins in the last 2 weeks. AWESOME!! Also, was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Just couldn't wait for them to throw the white then checkered flag. Seemed to go on forever.

Came back to the house and drank a beer with my brother-in-law, Billy. Just kind of chilled out in the carport, and talked. Never enough time to talk anymore. We both used to live here in Longworth, now he is in San Antonio, and we are in Decatur. Oh well, we do take advantage of the time that we have, and that is what is important. I really don't think I could have asked for better in-laws. Everyone is fun, all the kids get along well together, and the adults too. How often does that happen anymore. Normally everyone is too concerned with themselves, or busy bitching at each other. Not here, everyone gets along, and that is just too nice.

Well, I guess I should go wash my dirty body, and get some sleep

Later

Jim