Whew! I have just arrived in my trailer. What a Monday. I cannot wait for Tuesd..... ... . ... Ooh crap! My Tuesday caught what my Monday had!

Murphy was an optimist!

The day began with a frenzy of activity. Trucks were running slightly behind but no major problem. Then Chapo came to the office looking for the Plant Super. After several exchanges of texmex or spantex I had picked up enough to know that we had a fan go out in the gin. This is one of the mammoth fans that moves the cotton through the plant and it had grenaded! There were holes in pipe, holes in the housing, the shaft was bent and when the crew tore it down, they found that a fan vane had detached and every remaining blade was cracked. We are so lucky no one was walking through the fan room when this fan turned loose.

While the gin was replacing the fan Krl and I decided to go to town, make the bank, the post office and drop the company SUV at the dealership for repairs. After all these errands we made several stops attempting to purchase W-2's and 1099's but couldn't find enough of or everything we need. Finally we decided to head back to the compound and try tomorrow in Midland. We picked up just a few items and began the drive to our home away from home. Just south of Big Spring I met one of the bale trucks and he called me on the phone and told me his truck was overheating and he was afraid it had thrown the fan belts. I told him to stop and check and I reversed directions to follow up. The driver was right, the belts were gone. We engineered a fix to get us the four or five miles to a shop and slowly we made our way there. Just a few days ago this shop had put fanbelts on this same truck. Long story short, they got it going about three hours and $120 later. Krl and I made our way back to the gin and she went in the trailer and I finished delivering pay settlements for equipment and drivers. I glanced down and saw my truck was low on fuel and decided to go to the fuel pumps and fill up, just in case someone called me out during the night. When I completed fueling I got in and turned the ignition and heard click, click, pfzzzzt. Close inspection revealed that the battery post had broken off the battery. Luckily one of the gin patrons happened by and he towed me back to the yard. I had called ahead and the farm store had set me a battery out. Turns out, the patron and store manager drank beer and watched as I swapped out the battery. I then had some catching up to do because shift change had already occurred. I made my rounds and headed for my trailer. Krl and I both were feeling nauseous after eating in town and we finally decided on showers and soup. Finally I headed for bed only to be awakened with a barrage of phone calls. The truck with the belt problem was having the same problem again just miles from the compound. The driver circled back and while the belts were still there they had been damaged. Sometime after midnight Juan and I headed for Big Spring to pick up belts. We made the almost two hour round trip and then got busy removing the fan and installing and adjusting the belts. Of course this would be a Cummins engine which is a pain to put fan belts on. It now appears to me that the shop that had done the work on this truck had used a narrow belt. When Juan left shortly before four I could not see any reason for these belts to not work. I made my rounds and came back to the trailer for sleep attempt number 2.
I am ready!

FATHER, bless this day, already it needs a lot of help! For YOUR love I am thankful!