This may take a little time so bear with me. For the past two years or so, I have felt compelled to leave state employment, either by finding a police chief position or plain ol' retirement. I applied for several police chief positions around the state. The cities ranged in population size from 1,500 to 8,000. None of them hired me. The conditions of my job continued to get more stressful - from 6 investigators down to two, more units and inmates to cover, more travel, more on-call, etc. Linda and I began to explore retiring and finding another job outside law enforcement. We had decided to set the date of July 1 as a decision date. Early in May I discovered that my organization had opened an investigation concerning an allegation that I had not completely complied with an Open Records request last MARCH. Then the very next day I was told that none of the 40 applicants for a vacant position (that has been vacant since May 30, 2006) were not considered adequately qualified for the position. That means several months before another pool of applicants could be identified. That all happened on May 2, 2007. Linda and I discussed the situation and decided that I should retire as soon as possible. On Thursday, May 3rd, I talked to an old friend and was offered a security job in Silsbee, When I arrived at my office I telephoned my Lt. and told her that that day (Thursday the 3rd) was my last day to work and that I would be on vacation until the end of May. Everything than fell into place like a miracle. We met with Social Security and was told that I would receive my first Social Security check on July 11th. I received my state retirement system packet in only 11 days (estimated 2 to 3 weeks). We will receive more Social Security and state retirement than we expected. My security job will start June 1st. BUT, it gets better! When Linda was just a little girl (long ago) her Grandparents lived on Lufkin Avenue. She visited them often and remembered sitting on their front porch, looking at a beautiful old brick home across the street, and wishing that she could live there some day. She has always remembered that house and her dream of living in it. We were in Lufkin today and Linda asked me to drive by that old home. We did. It is for sell. We got the key and explored the house for a few hours. We both are in love with that place. It was built in 1949, has three bedrooms, two baths, two fireplaces, hardwood floors, large concrete front porch, tall ceilings with beautiful wood trim at the ceiling, a side porch that is screened, a yard that once was home to numerous flower beds, many large trees, aluminum siding, etc, etc. Oh, and an antique office desk and matching credenza, and the old timey built-into-the-wall telephone nook or whatever it's called. The interior walls are made of thick wooden boards with wall paper or other covers on them. The house is very well built and solid as a rock. We are going to talk to the seller tomorrow and really are interested in buying the place. It does need some renovating and new roof shingles, but we look forward to that. We will let you know how things go. Hah! Moving back to Lufkin???