That was definitely a Monday.

Murphy was without a doubt an optimist.

The day began with a truck that came into the compound Sunday night (two and a half hours late, I might add) with a burned up wheel bearing. The oiler cap was ruined and it was probably luck that kept the wheels from leaving the trailer and causing some possibly serious damage. Of course, thanks to our location, we had no parts. When I talked to Fred, he told me if I could identify the parts he would gather them up and send the service truck to make the repair. It took most of the morning to get everything torn down. One of the lock nuts was almost welded to the axle. Finally we had the dual wheel and tire assembly off and we took it to one of the shops in the compound that had air tools to complete the tear down. Turns out, the hub itself had been cracked, both bearings were history and the oil seal was a faint memory! Remarkably the threads were saved on the axle. Fred began gathering the parts and Roy and I went to the other end of the compound to work on the heater on the new forklift. About one o'clock a call came telling me that parts were on their way and "No, the service truck was not coming" to do the repairs. "Ya'll tore it down, I figured you can put it back together". That wasn't the problem. The problem was that we would not have chosen to work on it where we did if we were not going to have a mobile truck equipped with an air compressor and air impacts. Already, just to do the work I had bought a twenty ton bottle jack. Roy and I pulled the blower assembly from the forklift heater core. The squirrel cage had vibrated and broken in to. I took a torch and brazed it back together, hopefully with more metal than the factory had sent it out with. I also replaced the mounting nuts with lock nuts and tightened it as tight as I dared, hoping it would eliminate some of the vibration from the forklift. When repairs were completed I headed to the trailer for a late lunch. It was almost three in the afternoon. Before I could devour a sandwich there came a knock on the door and Roy told me one of the mounting bolts had just fallen out, broken. It seemed that as tight as I dared was just beyond what the bolt could take and the very brief run and the vibration from the forklift combined with traveling over the rough terrain did it in for the bolt. As my luck would have it the farm store didn't have a replacement. I took the old bolt along with a new, shorter bolt, sheared both of them to get the desired length, and brazed them together. Walla! Custom bolt. Once again we removed the blower assembly to install the new mounting bolt (of course it goes on a naked motor before anything else) and we re-assembled it one more time. Surprisingly it worked and did survive the remainder of the day shift plus the night shift! Just as the second forklift repairs were completed, the trailer parts arrived. We did a thrash and just as night was falling I sent the truck and trailer out of the compound. We actually had more parts than we required. Almost all of them were right. The ones that weren't, were not needed. We did it all by the book. Installed a new wear ring, new seal, new bearings and races, tightened the axle nuts until we couldn't rotate the hub, backed it off one notch until it could be turned relatively easily, put the new oiler cap on and filled it with oil. Then the work began. We had to install and tighten the wheels and tires by hand. By then it was time for the shift change. When I walked in the trailer, I was a filthy, tired man.

This morning I awakened with a body that is on strike. All of my joints are sore and creaking! Knees, hips, shoulders! Wow, I feel like it is Saturday morning after a Friday football game.

I made my morning rounds and when I got to the seed storage hoppers I saw the truck we had repaired had returned from its first post repair trip. I drove behind it and using my headlights surveyed it for any tell tell sign of something awry. I saw no leaking oil, the tires were tracking and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I looked at the oil level and found both of them were on the low side so I instructed Roy to give some oil to the driver to fill them. Later in the morning this driver came in and told me his new seal was leaking. I told him I saw no evidence of this and told him I figured the need for oil was just because it was a whole new assembly. He insisted that it was leaking so I told him fine, there was no more warranty. Find another mechanic. Maybe you get what you pay for! Beggars can't be choosers, don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all those other words of wisdom. Beyond the call of duty.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Hopefully today is going to be productive in the office. Already I have printed summaries for the W-2's. A little more data entry and they should be hot off the printer.

Thursday is Roy's birthday. I believe he will be twenty-three. His birthday celebration has been going on for a week already. His Aunts and Grandmother came in over the weekend, there has been a cookout at the old plant compound (where many workers are housed), he has been taken to lunch by several co-workers today and I know Julio and his wife and daughter have plans to feed him Thursday night. If the boy eats cake everywhere he goes he will be huge!

Be the real deal.

Oh FATHER, I need relief from this physical body. I pray for Krl's healing and renewal. I ask safety for Adam and his men. I lift up Addie, Memama, Pepa, Hag, Bets, Jess, Lillie, Aimee, Ashlyn Kate, Dr. Mackie, Jeanine, K.C., Hope, Tyler and Kat for YOUR gifts of healing and care. I ask comfort for those hurting from grief. I pray for those of us who stumble while following YOU. I pray for our spiritual family and our leaders. I pray for the efforts being made to expand YOUR kingdom. I pray for Richard, Anastacia, James, and Terah. That they would set their sights on things eternal, not on things that are fleeting. I pray for our prayer partners Jenavene and Susan, knowing that nothing is impossible with YOU. How majestic is YOUR name!