Love it when a plan comes together.

Can't wait to get started bringing things back to life at the farm

4/30/06 Sunday
It’s a bright morning, not outside but in my brain. I am running a good 8 on the Bob scale. Yesterday wasn’t bad either. Things worked out for Fred so that’s an uplifting thing. I am working to make sure everyone is taken care of in preparation for our moving to Texas. We have to plan carefully how we handle the money when it comes. We will need to buy a pick up truck for sure. It will help in moving things down from Toledo but more importantly will be vital as we build, rebuild, and get furniture and supplies.

Beside that I am seriously thinking about doing some farming. We plan of having an extensive garden that will provide a large portion of our food needs and I want to have a little of everything in it. This could produce enough to supply a roadside or farmers market booth. Add to that is the fruit orchard we want to put in. There is much we need to learn. What will grow down there in that part of Texas? What won’t?

I have a great vision for how I can build the garden. For that matter the whole place I have been designing in my head. All the aspects I mull over daily. We had both been dreaming of what we could do but stopped when things looked a little shaky. Now that things appear to be settled we dare to dream again. I will be writing these plans and hopes all out in detail shortly. Writing is one of the ways I think things through. Some days what you read is me thinking out loud on paper. Besides that it will become a sort of business plan we will present to the banks and government agencies when it comes time to look for the money.

I just talked to Fred. He had given me the paperwork from the car to look at for him. He asked me to write the figures from the loan in big letters on the outside of the envelope containing this paperwork so he could see them. Fred thanked me again for helping him with the Cadillac dilemma. I explained again how Ed Schmidt had really taken care of him. “Fred, the asking price on the Buick was $15,000. You owed $8,000 on the Caddy. They gave you $4,000 off the Buick and a $4,000 credit on the Cadillac which adds up to $8,000. You paid the asking price for the Buick and your Cadillac is paid off. That’s a pretty good deal, they treated you right” I spelled out to him. He understands. I let Fred know that Cherie and I will be visiting today and would like to use his car. Actually he just said “If you want to go anywhere with the car just go, don’t worry, use it as much as you like”. I’ll worry about him when we go.

I called Eileen to let her know we would like to stop by. Her son, Bobby, got jumped in Eileen’s driveway yesterday and knocked out. Bobby said it was a friend and won’t press charges. “I can’t do that” he simply said when Eileen pressed him to file charges. There’s something up cause you don’t get beat up by your friend for nothing. Course it is a rough culture on the East Side and fists are commonly used to solve or start problems. I’m comfortable there but it’s not a world Cherie is familiar with. We will be leaving in a moment to go see her.
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Just got back from visiting Eileen. Fred’s car is nice and seems to be running well. Eileen was glad to see us but she is having an allergic reaction to the hair dye she used this morning. She was itching something fierce so I ran to the store and bought some Benadryl for her. She took two of them and we talked of old times with Eileen telling stories of the days she worked for me. There are lots of stories with a wide range of flavors. Happy times, anxious times, sad times, they are all there. We talked about how my ex Barb acted when she was running my companies while I was in prison, how she stole money to buy things for her boyfriend like the down payment for a boat. There were the many women that came through the doors who were promiscuous and stole and lots of other things. Eileen always helps me remember even though some of the stuff would be better off forgotten.

Eileen talked about Mick and showed Cherie all the things he has bought for her. She is however very protective and wouldn’t say the name of the restaurant she meets him at for breakfast telling me she didn’t know it. I asked again when I would get to meet him she was evasive, telling me Mick is different and didn’t like to meet people. He’s a Vietnam Vet who saw serious action so I understand this reticence. It’s part of the package.

The Benadryl was hitting Eileen and you could tell she was fighting to stay awake. We shared some more stories, some of which were quite a shock for Cherie, and excused ourselves. “Eileen, why don’t you get some sleep. We’ll see you later.