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!

Little pieces of Texas

Well, after a visit out west and nearly two weeks spent wandering the cold, dusty roads of the west Texas mountains we came away with the renewal that the area brings to our souls.  We were able to get more of a feel for the area we never had before, actively looking at real estate as first priority and being tourists as secondary.  We met several of our potential future neighbors, visited with some old friends, met some friends we had made over the internet and drove 950+ miles in 10 days in Jeff Davis and Brewster counties.  Our whole round trip was 4065 miles, 79 hours behind the windshield of the truck.

While out this trip, we learned that one of our favorite places to rock hunt has closed.  The Woodward Ranch and Trey Woodward were unique in their own way.  When I heard Trey had passed away a year or so back, I knew how things would likely go.  I had last visited in 2010 and had as always enjoyed a casual conversation with Trey.  We will miss both.  As the ranch is now closed, my wife and I decided to go roadside rock hunting instead.  We found some varied rocks, agates and other evidence of the long extinct west Texas volcano.  I came home with two medium sized pieces of rock from this trip that neatly stack one atop the other.  They now reside by the coat rack at our South Carolina front door, I nudge them with my foot on the way by each day.  I look forward to the day they reside at our front door in West Texas.

We have had so many unexpected things fall into place in the last couple of months regarding this move.  We have had doors open that we did not expect, many prayers answered.  This new beginning for us has been in planning for 30 years, and we can finally see the goal we have worked so very hard to reach.

Cheers, the finish line is in sight!  Soon, we will be savoring the beauty of west Texas sunrises and sunsets on a daily basis.  As the days to retirement are now two digits, the excitement is building.  I look forward to closing this door behind me...

200 days

Well, here is the next milestone reached.  Took the day off sans compensation and don't really care.  It is not like working for free.  We have needed to finish a few things before I start my on call week at 00:01 on 18 December.  This means of course that it does not end until 24:00 on 24 December.  No time for last minute anything so we will do *almost* last minute things.

As I sit here with our 9 month old bull dog puppy shoving herself tightly against my side as if she thinks she is cold, I have a moment to think on our 20 years here at this home.  Many pets have been raised and buried here, a few wandered up and were adopted.  For the ones now, I wonder how they will react to our move.  How for that matter will my wife react to our move?  How will I?  In any case, we have built a comfortable home and life here, it will be a new adventure to move on and begin again.  A third beginning for my wife and I.  Fifth beginning if you add the two kids in the equation.  Comfort comes with familiarity, how quickly will we get comfortable in the new environment?

So, from another perspective a milestone is a new beginning to itself, like waking each morning is a tiny but important beginning.  As the last planned year here is whittled slowly away, the next big beginning weighs heavily on my soul.  Questions abound, decisions loom, some answers don't come as quick as I'd like.  I have been and will continue to lead strongly as always, following my logical decisions to the next milestone.

Well, coffee is ready, bull dog needs a walk, wife is up, time to face one of the last semi leisure days-off I will have here.

Cheers and Merry Christmas to all.

I've seen the Elephant

Every now and then something just stands out like a loud shriek waking us from sleep.  This phrase "I've seen the Elephant" and the complimentary story is one of those things for me.  One day soon, I will use this phrase when I serve my obligatory two weeks notice.  I can imagine the puzzled looks it will draw.

From my FB newsfeed this morning, this came up:  http://tinyurl.com/nok7tve

After a 26 year career with the compny and watching things change from Customer oriented to Sales oriented, feeling my age *and* being compared to the Gen X/Y younglings who manage me now...  Well, it fits!  Without realizing it I have been walking head on into my own meeting with "the Elephant".

Now, I really do have something to smile about...  Meeting the Elephant is a good thing.

Thanksgiving

This day as many families get together for the traditional American Thanksgiving day feast, I ask you all to take a moment to think of our military who are far from home, our fallen heroes who gave all for us to stay free, the less fortunate who work hard to bring home food just to eat.  We have a great privilege to live in the United States, don't take a minute of it for granted.

I am so very thankful for my family, friends, freedom and my faith.  I will eat today as a result of the labor of my own hands, my family's loving help and from God's generous bounty.

As this blog was started to chronicle the transition from my life long career to my new career as retired and working for my family's best interest, I should also give thanks for my father's drive and determination to provide for us as kids, his instruction and kindness paid off for me in multiples.  While far from wealthy, we are comfortable, we know how to feed ourselves and keep sheltered.  I pray only that my children and grandchildren will take my lessons and keep our family tradition alive...

250 Days and counting down

Things are slowly coming together, this milestone is one more step in the right direction.  We come closer to realizing our dream with each passing moment.  I have forced myself to stop looking at real estate for sale online and I will wait until we are about to go physically walk the area to start looking again.  I would like nothing more than to go out there *today* and put my feet on the west Texas soil...