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North America » United States » Texas » Dalhart
June 18th 2012
Published: June 20th 2012
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Hi there. Yes, it's sure been a while since I last wrote on this site.

So where have I been?

What have I been up to?

Why the radio silence?

The answers to your questions are about to be answered.

I think the last time I blogged was when I was in LA last December.

Upon arriving home it felt as if I slept for about a month! Sleep seemed like such a luxury. It was great to be back in NZ with the family. The down side was I could feel myself slipping backwards, withdrawing, having feelings of overwhelming sadness, wanting to burst into tears and just an overall feeling of not feeling like I belonged anywhere. So after talking with Anne we bumped up the drugs and all became rosie. Thank goodness for good drugs!

Met with Mary-Anne in December and struggled to recognise the person sitting opposite me. Filed for divorce in February. The funny side of all that was that Mary-Anne signed her part on my birthday (7th Feb), quite by chance I signed on Valentines Day so to complete the trifecta I filed the documents on the 29th of Feb. Seemed like the right thing to do.

To this day I'm not sure why we ended up where we did but I guess none of that matters anymore. I do know however that I wouldn't be here doing what I'm doing had it turned out differently. I still miss my dear friend and I s'pose that feeling will continue on for a long time. I do have some great memories of being married to Mary-Anne and some wonderful photos of our time together.

Some strange things have happenned along the way. I'm not sure how or why, but Mary-Anne and Jane are apparently the best of friends! That's weird! Maybe as former wives of Nigel Harte they have lots to talk about! LOL. Maybe they just had a lot in common!

Mary-Anne has a dog. Hmmm, after the crap I took over getting Monty. That's ironical.

Enough of all that! Yes, after a dinner in Wellington on the eve of my departure to America with Gillian,Gerry, Finnie, Briar, Mickie, Jess & Jessie and my girls mum, Jane, I realised that it was a good time to be leaving NZ. I just needed to be somwhere else other than NZ.

I survived a 40 hour flight via Australia to Amarillo. Dan & I were then on the road within 24 hours of landing here towing two trailers to El Reno (a 6 hour drive) arriving at 3.30am in the morning This is a rig that is just over 100 feet long and does pose some excitement on the corners!!. I must admitt I really couldn't feel a thing after all that. We both got sick with the flu and had to visit the doctor to get on top of sinus. Three weeks there and back to Dalhart to start a 50 day run where we didn't stop once for a day off. The harvest team chopped about twice as many circles compared to a normal year and chopped about twice as much silage as normal.

That's why you haven't heard from me. Sleep became a top priority. The upside was that all this work was money in the bank.

Right now we are between wheat and the maze harvest which lasts twice as long as the wheat harvest but hopefully not quite as intense. Truck have been repaired, short trips away have been taken and a sleep-ins here and there have been the order of the day.

I now own a Macbook Pro computer and a Kindle. I use the Kindle to listen to audiobooks and music in the truck which attacks the boredom during those long days in the truck. I'm an enthusiast of audiobooks.

This year I have additional responsibilities. While in NZ I agreed to gather and co-ordinate field information for the company. Upon my arrival I discovered that I was in charge of all of the international H2A workers plus about 4 or 5 Mexican and American employees. So I'm basically responsible for all of the truck and people that operate out of the Dalhart Yard. More than I bargined for but I'm enjoying it and coping with the business load quite well. Getting time for myself is the biggest challenge but I now know that people management is one of my strengths which I enjoy.

That's enough for now. If you made it this far, then I love you and appreciate your support.

My next blog will be more interesting (I hope) with lots of photos.

May you be blessed in abundance and remember we really don't know what we don't know. If you don't believe me then ask your children to show you some stuff on the internet.

Kind Regards



Nigel

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20th June 2012

Glad you are back
Good to hear from you again Nigel. It sounds like you have landed on your feet and found your niche. I wish I could as well. I am going to get my Digger Drivers Licence in Christchurch, every School Boy's dream. Should be plenty of work in Christchurch in that area for a few years. Geoff.
20th June 2012

Soooo great to hear from you
Love your blog new adventure all good. I realised I have known you over 30 years and still think you very cool!! Please send more travel blogs when you can, they are so well written and a real breath of fresh air Sorry cant send any Marmite bye for now Dale xx
20th June 2012

Blog response
I am a South African, working with Nigel in Texas, USA. From the first day we met in late March 2012, Nigel was a very helpful guy, and i immediately took to this friendly New Zealander. He made me feel comfortable in a unfamiliar environment, and i settled soon after with the feeling that, ''i can do this''. The work ahead was tiring, and we were all ''bushed'' after our daily tasks of driving 18 wheeler trucks for 12 to 14 hours. We now work from Dalhart in Texas, and Nigel is in charge of a few of us, and everybody gets on very well with him. He is always ready with a joke, and in general a fun guy to be around. Looking forward to once again work together as the corn harvest approach, and do our best to make this one of the best seasons that PMS will ever have. Nice blog Nigel. See you around ...

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