Hay

Riding high atop a trailer-load of hay sometime in the early to mid 1960's. That's me with "Poochay" (our dog) on the right and my baby bro, Melvin, on the left. He kinda looks like Andrew, doesn't he? I loved the hay-days, and I'm glad that Sarah is out there right now, in her own days-of-hay.

Happy Anniversary

I think I understand now what the LEAN MANUFACTURING is all about. The Japanese, who sold us the concept, are slowly making us all insane. Why they want to do this, only time will tell. Today, as I worked in The Cell (which is closely akin to working on The Line), I came to a point where I wanted to scream...everytime I turned around, there were two backs waiting for me to tape. I would pick one up and do my part, then pass it over to Valerie, then turn around and--AAKKK!!!--another back had been added to my pile. The number never changed; it was as though I was going nowhere! Was I even alive and working, or was it all a dream??!! You see, the way we used to do things (in the old days, BEFORE L.M.), we did work-orders in batches. You brought an order to your table, you started it alone and you finished it alone, and then you got another. There was a sense of accomplishment as you went through your day; you could actually SEE the finished product there at hand. Not so anymore, sadly. Oh, I suppose I could look over from time to time and see the rack of finished seat backs getting fuller, but who has time?! Sigh. By the way, I missed my anniversary; it was last Sunday, July 17th--5 years at The Wonderful World of Weber. (I wonder if I could be fired for this kind of talk--just kidding you guys!! Love you all!!!!) Heh, heh.

WooWoo!

That's my dad doing a flying leap in his underwear for the camera, and that's me sitting to the left. It was late 1977/early 1978, so I was probably 19, and Dad would have been 49. Ummm, I'M 46 now! We're in the livingroom at home. The gunrack is on the east wall, and that empty spot above dad's right arm is where the A/C sits in a hole in the south wall today. So, Doug & Lynda drove Dad to the specialist in Dallas this morning, and the news is all good. No surgery, stop taking any thyroid medication, and come back in 3 months. Now THAT'S something to jump up & down about--YEAH! P.S. Bob and I both may have spider bites--his is on his head and mine is on my foot. Hummmm

July 13-17

Last Wednesday through Friday I was needed off and on in the cell, so my time in the workshop became sporadic (tee hee!). But on Wednesday we finished building the tape table, Thursday I painted the work stations of Donnie, JoAnn & Doug, and on Friday I managed to paint the new tape table, Jeff's auxiliary table, and also painted the side table for Steve in metal deburr, before going to the final report-out meeting at 10:00 a.m. It was a stressful week but all-in-all not too terrible. Still, I sincerely hope this was my first and last AIW! I left work at 12:30 Friday and still got 41.5 hours for the week. Lynn arrived around 5:40 p.m. that night. She and Sarah and I went to the farm to visit the horses and say "Hey" to my dad, then drove on down the road to the hay fields, spoke briefly to Bill Tom, then ate supper at the Dairy Queen in Saint Jo. The girls went to Michelle's after that (I went to bed-HA!) Saturday I mowed at dad's, washed horses and borrowed Ross & Janet's trailer. Lynn went out to the hay field with Sarah for the day. In the evening, Sarah (on Lucky) and Lynn (on Apache) rode in the Grand Entry at the Gainesville Rodeo, while I took pictures. It was Lynn's first-ever rodeo--yee haw!! Rene was there riding her "Sassy", along with Melissa and Melissa's sister. Today the 4 of us went to the 8:00 a.m. Mass, then out to the farm, where we celebrated my dad's birthday with the cousins from Ft. Worth--Suzy & Jacky and Teddy & Lani. It was their party for their beloved uncle, as they can't come in 2 weeks when we have our party for him. They brought dad a cake and gave him money and food and an A/C for the west room. They are so good to us all! Later, Uncle Spike arrived and joined them in playing Sheephead. Sarah had to go to work after lunch, and Lynn headed back to Stephenville. It was a nice weekend but being full it went too fast!

"Sparklies!" (from The Secret of N.I.M.H.)

Our goal in the workshop is to intergrate the building of video brackets and headrest slides into our Back Cell, instead of doing those operations as sub-work, in batches, as we do now. I guess you could say their motto is, "Build one, move one". We didn't accomplish too much today in that regard, but I did have fun cutting pipe with a chop saw and making sparks fly everywhere; James and I built a table in the Moonshine Shop to use in the Back Cell. I would like to have a shop like that at home--it is full of all kinds of materials, for building whatever we may need out on the floor. The worst part was gathering at the end of the day with the other teams and reporting our days' accomplishments. James thought we had a good day, but really, I just don't "get it". They are paying me good money to follow this man around all day and pretty much do nothing. Oh well--2 down, 3 to go.

$75!!

AIW stands for "Accelerated Improvement Workshop", which is what I will be attending all this week. Why is it that I have so much trouble staying awake in a classroom setting? Perhaps it's because for 46 years I have done my sleeping by the drone of a fan, and today the droning of the central A/C was lulling me big time. Just before the last break, we were on the floor, set to do some time trials, when quite abruptly we were sent home for the day--something about the Line having no parts to run, and them (the management) not wanting us to get too far ahead. Whatever the reason, I was totally happy! I went to the bank, came home, and balanced 3 months worth of statements, then paid bills. While I was out mailing the bills, I went to the Fina to gas up the '78--whew! Cost me $75.00!!! Babe said the price jumped because of Hurricane Dennis, and that the prices would probably come back down soon. Sure wish I had looked before I leaped!!

Sarah Hess-age 11, on "Jalita", Saturday, April 3, 1993 in Rosston, Texas, at the 2nd Annual "Saddle-Up for St. Jude's" trail ride. The sorrel mare belonged to Mona and Paul Ray Baird.

Brett Ray Baird at age 6, on "Bill", at Rosston, Texas, at our 2nd annual Saddle-Up for St. Jude's Trail Ride, Saturday, April 3, 1993. This annual ride was sponsored by our 4-H horse club called The Emerald Riders, of which Sarah was a member. Brett is all grown up now and recently graduated from High School, and he's one good-lookin' cowboy! His parents are Paul Ray & Mona.

A Blessing In Disguise

My transfer at work last Friday was definitely a blessing! :) No grievance will be filed; I decided on that last Monday when we were off for the 4th. I was thinking that day, "If they don't WANT me there, then I don't want to BE there". But, I really don't feel that way anymore; I really don't care. I'm liking my new job(s). And I never wanted to be on The Line, anyway! Who would?! But I AM still sad to be away from the friends downstairs. Today I was informed that next week I will be attending the workshops, which includes some 6S stuff. BLAH! James said he was looking for someone who had been there long enough to know the system, but not long enough to have become "Weber-ized" (i.e. jaded, skeptical, hateful of it all, etc.). HA! Too late! WAY too late. However, I will persevere, and this too shall pass.

This picture is just for you, Amy Doodle, who was Grandma's Little Strudel! This picture was taken on Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993. My Mom & Dad were both 65 years old, and you were 23.

Here's a couple of old pictures from 1993. The first one is of Sarah's very first 4-H Livestock Project, named "Mr. Sheep". She raised him in our garden in town. He's standing on our little flat-bottomed boat. There's my 1978 GMC in the background, which I still drive today.

This picture was taken on Monday, April 12, 1993. The Momma Cat was adopted as a kitten the year before from Steve & Jane Kohler. Kittens left to right: Mouse, Tigger and Bubba...see how big Bubba is compared to the other two! Tigger and Bubba are both gone now, but we still have Momma Cat and Mouse with us. Mouse is 12 years old and Momma Cat would be about 13. The kittens were 2 weeks old in this picture.

Here's Buddy's left side. He is such a pretty thing! He is playing with the knot on the lead rope. His momma is in the background, though she blends in so much with the house that I didn't notice her until Bobby (from work) pointed her out to me. He said he once had a horse like her. That's Ann's son Cory holding his Buddy.

CELEBRATE FREEDOM 2005

"On Thursday, July 4, 1991 the first ever Celebrate Freedom took place at Williams Square in Las Colinas, Texas. 3,000 people attended the event that day and enjoyed the vocal and instrumental styling of Phil Driscoll. This is the first of what would become the largest single day concert event in America, perhaps the world. As the years passed, the event continued to grow, attracting crowds in excess of 30,000. In 1996, the event was moved to South Fork Ranch (remember the hit T.V. series "DALLAS"?--Janette) in Parker, Texas to accommodate the ever growing and enthusiastic crowds". --Keith T. Nagengast, in the 2005 PROGRAM GUIDE. Yesterday's event marked the 14th annual CELEBRATE FREEDOM, and by one estimate (heard live on 94.9 KLTY while we waited TWO HOURS to exit the parking lot last night) there were between 150,000 to 200,000 people there! Sarah and I were 2 of them. It was our second CELEBRATE FREEDOM, the first one being last year, when Bob, Sarah, Courtney and I went together. The fact that this remains a FREE concert just blows my mind, especially considering the unbelievable line-up of talented Christian Artists!!!! Starting at 9:00 a.m., there were EIGHTEEN Christian artists/bands playing throughout the day. Our day went like this: I slept 'till 9, due to a late night Friday, then bath, haircut at 11:00, lunch at CITY LIMITS in Sherman, arriving at Southfork around 2:00 p.m. I'm not sure who was playing when we got there, but I think it was SHANE & SHANE. Then came SELAH, REBECCA ST.. JAMES, CAEDMON'S CALL, PHILLIPS, CRAIG AND DEAN, NATALIE GRANT, TAIT, TOBY MAC, NICHOLE NORDEMAN, ANA LAURA, AVALON, CASTING CROWNS, and, last but not least, NEWSBOYS. I think it was about 11:00 p.m. when they started. The fireworks display afterwards was the best one I've ever seen, and so close I could almost reach up and touch them...In fact, some of the sparks showered down amongst the crowds around us...Looked like falling stars...BEAUTIFUL!!! Of course, Casting Crowns was the highlight for me, though the young folks really seemed to enjoy the NEWSBOYS' harder, rock style. All-in-all, it was an AWESOME time, and I'm already looking forward to next year's happenin'! Our new 10'x10' First-Up Gazebo was great--easy to set up, and the shade was sooo welcome, as it was hot, hot, hot! We even napped in its' shade part of the afternoon. At 6:00 p.m. all tents & sunshades were taken down, and the partying got serious! It is hard to describe how it feels: To look around you and see that many people, all Christians, all there to worship God...To be a part of that is such a rush! To feel you can leave your camp, and all your STUFF, throughout the day while you wander around, and not worry about it getting stolen...Well, that is pretty nice. To see all the FAMILIES: the very young and the not-so-young, all coming together and enjoying the same music, the same God. Amen, Alleluia! We got home this morning around 4:00--WHEW! Slept 'till 9:00 (again!), bath, Mass at 10:30, then laziness all day--PRAISE GOD FOR SUNDAYS!

Here's Buddy when he was only 3 days old and all legs. That's Ann, his owner, on the right, and she's holding onto the colt's mother, Babe, with her right hand. Picture taken on March 24, 2005.

This is Ann's colt named "Buddy", at 3 months of age, and Ann's son, Cory.

Like Sands Through An Hourglass, So Are The Days Of Our Lives

You know how sometimes things happen beyond your control, and at first it's kinda traumatic, but then, later, it turns out to be a blessing? Well, time will tell if that's what happened to me today, but meanwhile I feel a little sad, somehow. With no real warning at all, Glenn transferred Brenda Skipworth & I to BACK CELL in the old building (a.k.a. "upstairs"), taking me away from my "home" for the past 17 months, and making me leave all my friends behind. Apparently, all of a sudden, our Line's business has dried up, or at least, will slow dramatically, and so, there will be about 10 of us who have to go; the cuts are not yet all done with. I've never worked in BACKS before, but I don't think the work will be too hard, and I was happy to see many familiar faces. And my old friends in KITS (Louise, Joe and Lucille) will be nearby; I've missed them terribly ever since they moved up there, sometime before last Christmas. Still, I should have Seniority Rights, so I talked to a Union Steward first thing. Terry gave me the paperwork to fill out over the weekend, but I may or may not go ahead with filing a grievance. On the one hand, where I ended up is not so bad; I've actually worked under this supervisor (Lucian) AND this Lead (Kathy) before, and I like them both. But I feel like I've been shipped off to Siberia. I feel...betrayed, somehow. And it's not right, to take someone who's been there 5 years (on July 17), when there are 300 "new hires" under me, many who are still on probation. Someone did tell me that they couldn't move only new hires; that they needed experienced hands to help smooth the transitions and all. Whatever. I'll miss Janie and Bobby the most, boss-wise. The FRIENDS I'll miss I can't even BEGIN to talk about. Sadness.