In the short rows

As the old farmer's saying goes, I am "in the short rows".  Forty two work days remain in my career with my current employer.  I will have made twenty six years at this company near the end of May.  The work is beginning to take a toll on me.

My father offered me some loving fatherly advice once when I was a young lad.  He said his father had passed it on to him, his advice was simply to always work at something you enjoy.  My enjoyment of what I do ended some years ago, with the tough job market, my field changing dynamically and my inability to take time away to go to school for training, I decided to tough it out.  The time of toughing it out is now drawing to a close.

My future is all but in my own hands at this point, soon, if I am hungry, cold or in a jam I can rely on my own wits to resolve my situation.  It is where I want to be.  Working toward self sufficiency with food, shelter and entertainment.  In my not so humble opinion, entertainment can be watching the sunrise while listening to Coyote pups yipping in the distance or watching the clouds move across the sky.  I am a simple man and ask little from life.  My life now is far too complicated, I look forward to the shifting of gears.

As I like to say when I am happy,
Cheers!!

The pieces of the puzzle fall into place

I almost don't even care to update here now, so many things are falling into place here at the South Carolina homestead.  No, this does not mean we won't be coming to Texas, for that represents something, well something almost abstract.  Where my wife and I were raised in Florida, were two different towns, both tiny, both miss them if you blink your eye places.  Like miniature representations of the fictional Mayberry.

The area we are in now is about fifty times the population of the town I am from, however it is much smaller than Alpine's population by far.  We have had a great spike in violent crime here in the last 6 to 10 years, many murders, half of those unsolved.  This is a sad reflection of where this area is going.

When we were in Alpine we felt like it was home, so much like our places of youth.  People were friendly and polite, the only rude treatment we got came from tourists, out-of-towners.  Here rude treatment is a normal thing.  Southern charm and friendliness is all but forgotten here.  Old memories of old timers.

I for one will not miss the place.  I will carry my memories with me, I will leave friends behind, the love for this area as a place is not in my heart.  Our home where my wife and I have spent most of our marriage, raised two children, helped with our first grand child, well it is after all just a house.  It is filled with it's own memories, furniture and things.  All that is important here will come with us, or will be available to visit after a not too difficult trip.  Our new beginning will also give our friends here reason to come visit us.

While this blog was started mostly as a venue for me to pour out and arrange my own thoughts, let them sit undisturbed and then reread them as a test for the soul to see if I am leading in the right direction.  My loving spouse is always there to qualify my thoughts as capable or needing refinement.  This plan it turns out is good.  Our little pieces of Texas will be coming home, to be placed by the door of our new beginning home, all in good time....  Maybe some day they will mark the location where our ashes will be scattered together in the west Texas mountains.  Our final home!