This is "Buddy" when his name was still "Liberty", at only 3 days old. He was born March 21, 2005. Here, he was walking up to investigate my camera.

This is Buddy at 3 months of age, held by Cory. The colt has filled-out beautifully!

"United we stand, divided we beg"

That's what it says on a poster in the bathroom informing us about today's Union meeting. The meeting was at the Civic Center in Gainesville after work and I stood in line in the sun a long time just to get in the door. They fed us grilled hamburgers and gave us T-shirts, and listened to some valid concerns voiced by the brothers & sisters. It was a strong turnout, and looks encouraging. Afterwards, I went to Home Depot and to Wal-Mart. Last night I went to Gainesville on the spur-of-the-moment and watched Sarah and Kinzie play softball in a 9 p.m. game. So it was 11:00 when I got to bed AGAIN. Kinzie started working for John a few days ago, and she came up to me and said, "That tractor KICKED MY BUTT today". She's been raking while Sarah cuts.

Happy Hump Day

Happy Wednesday. Today was busy; stressful at times, but OK. I started out working in Sub for Cathy, where I finished my last 2 diaphrams from yesterday's stack, but was soon put on The Line, where we were running HNA 373. Brenda Skipworth and I worked together, putting on tie straps, sticky ties and criss-cross ties. Brenda is a "New Hire"; she just started on May 31. According to a Union letter that I got last week, Weber has hired over 300 employees in the last year. We finished up the HNA just before lunch, and stared running AIR ALGERIE (ALG 737). After lunch, Brenda and I wrapped cables (Sub work) for the next shipset, which will be Delta #7, while The Line continued to run the ALG. We were working for Janie, who I consider to be my actual Lead Lady, but I work wherever they put me (there are 5 Leads in my area--Dolly, Cathy, Janie, Bobby & Clay). My friend Nedra walked by then and said, "You've moved again?!" Story of my life. I'd like to think that I'm that valuable as a roamer, but the truth is, they haven't yet discovered what I'm good at. (JK). Still...Shortly before 2 p.m. break, Glen sent me to articulate bottoms with Nedra and Margit. We were running the ALG, and The Line was grabbing them as fast as we could get them out. These are fabric seat bottoms, and there's a LOT of steps to building them. It is one of my favorite things to do, though, and Nedra & Margit are 2 of my favorite people out there (along with Ann, Cheryl, Linda, Rene, Mary, Judy, Marci, Janice, John, Larry, Louise, Joe, etc., etc.!!!). Best of all, we got to go home at 3:30 again today. We've been working 10 hour-days for so long now, I hardly know how to act anymore when we don't. Bought groceries, made spaghetts, washed dishes; hope to "crash" soon; tired!

I'm back

Today was good. I worked in sub-assembly for Cathy all day. Trying to keep The Line supplied meant working on 3 different things at one time, but that made the day go by that much faster. I mostly built up diaphrams (a.k.a. seat pans). Each Pac takes 3 diaphrams. (A Pac is 1 seat-unit, that is actually 3 seats in one). First, I washed each diaphram with alcohol. Then I wrote a 6-digit I.D. number on each. Then I put on my rubber gloves and glued 2 rubber gromments on each one. The glue, and the accelerator used to make the glue dry super-fast, made my eyes burn & water, like they do when I cut onions, and gave me a headache, too, but not a very bad one. (The gromments are there to protect the wiring that will go through those two places later). After that, I put clear tape on the two sides (this is to protect the people on The Line from getting cut). Next, I cut two different lengths of two different width-sizes of hook tape and applied them; one near the top and one near the bottom. This is what the seat cushions will fasten to later. Lastly, I put clipnuts in the notches at the top; these are what the screws go through to fasten the diaphrams to the rear trim. Everything has to be just so...For instance, the hook tape must be in the right place, or the loop tape on the cushions won't match up. I like working on diaphrams (except for the gluing!), and it's a nice job where I can sit or stand as I please. I also got some life vest pouches ready for The Line, by putting loop tape on them, and a piece of hook tape onto the loop. On The Line, the hook tape is removed and then applied to the front tube of the seat frame. Then the life vest pouch is stuck on the piece of hook tape, and secured with tie straps. That was an easy job, too, but the punching of the hole in the loop tape is primitive at best and is hard on the arm & shoulder. At 3:25 Glen told us we were going home at 3:30, and I was happy! I LIKE those 8-hour days! He didn't give us much time to clean up (and get labored-out on the time clock), so I shoved my trash box underneath the table so I wouldn't have to empty it--HA! After work I drove straight to the farm and caught Gabby. Gates came soon after and measured the horse's feet for me, so I can order him some new EasyBoots. I messed around at the farm for a couple more hours, weed-eating and hauling water to the trees in the horse pasture. When I got home, Bob had bought supper--1/2 price burger night at the Sonic. I ate supper and watched The Wheel with Bob. Then he went out to water the flowers and I took the Yukon to the car wash. My bath tonight felt totally DELICIOUS, as I got so dusty and itchy at the farm--it is dry, dry dry! PRAY FOR RAIN!

Lyle Gordon is still remembered.