I know I am in a foul mood. I try not to be. I even warn people when they enter "my zone". BUT, some people are stupid.

I have had two drivers this season who act so much alike that I am beginning to wonder if it is biologically possible that they are twins, even though one is caucasian and the other is hispanic.

Regardless, GOD gave them both a double dose of dumb and dumber.

Actually I can't fault GOD on this one. These guys have to try to be that way.

Truck drivers are like kids in grown up bodies. If one of them has a problem or an ouchie, you can bet the next will too and so on and so forth. If one gets a new brake chamber, the other one is wanting something for his truck.

My day yesterday was miserable. I received an early call from a driver who had a problem.

"I can't keep my air pressure up. When I charge my system, the gauge just starts falling. I am ten miles from the plant", he said. He continued on telling me the compressor had gone out. The air solenoid (??) had gone bad, but that he had no air leaks!

When Julio and I arrived I had the driver build his pressure and charge the system, then kill the engine. We could hear air escaping, so it was a matter of finding exactly where. Turns out it was coming from the bottom (exhaust) port of the brake dispersal valve. Two other drivers who have worked as mechanics before stopped to offer help and both of them told me the valve had gone bad. I asked them if it would be an brake chamber leaking through and back to the valve. Both assured me it wasn't.

Going against my gut feeling, I drove like the wind to Midland and got a new valve, returned and we installed it. Same result. I took a pair of vice grips and clamped a line and the leaking stopped. The brake chamber WAS leaking through. I had a spare chamber in my pickup so we began the R & R process. It looked like a quick fix until we began to remove the clevis from the adjustment rod. Rogelio, a gin employee had borrowed my steelson pipe wrench and we weren't able to hold the rod while using a wrench to spin the clevis off. I knew a friend just down the road six or seven miles so we headed for his farm shop. When we arrived there we secured two huge pipe wrenches and STILL were unable to break the clevis loose. Finally I told Julio, put it in the pickup and we hit the highway back to Midland.

My memory had been jogged. The last time I had replaced a chamber on this particular truck I had wrestled most of the day with a stubborn clevis and finally took it to a brake shop and they got it off but it gaulded and stripped all the threads, so that was a wasted day. We were an hour to and an from the parts store and I picked up an extra chamber and two clevises.

I was never a Boy Scout but I believe in being prepared.

When were returned to the truck we made quick work of it, built air pressure, charged the system and sent the rig on it's way. When I got in my truck to return to the plant it was two-forty in the afternoon. Just over six and a half hours. Drat!

I have found that being out in the elements does tremendous harm to my getting well. By the time I got to my trailer late yesterday my sinuses were raw from the tip of my nose to the back base of my skull. Every breath is painful!

I had one driver call me telling me something had broken out his passenger side window. He said he was going down the road and it just shattered.

This morning I had another driver call me wanting to know where I was. (Duh, what is this hide and seek?). I told him I had made my rounds and returned to my trailer. He kept insisting that I come and see what he found on his truck. (I think he wanted to show me the positive battery cable! Yep that driver!). He told me he had found where his rig is leaking oil and wanted me to come see it. I told him I had no parts to repair it and I would catch him on his next load. He was very insistent and began telling me it wasn't leaking at the front seal (where he says I had told him it was leaking). I have never thought it was leaking at the front seal, I have always thought it was on the adapter plate behind the oil filter mount.

Anyway, he was wanting to argue about anything and I feel just lousy enough to be in a pissy mood. I finally told him I wasn't in the mood. I finally got him off the phone. I feel sure if I had gone out there, this Einstein would show me where his truck was leaking oil. On the ground!

The fact of the matter is, this particular driver has yelled wolf so many times when he does have a problem I may not believe him.

O.K., I have vented. I will apologize to him next time I see him. It's just that with sixteen trucks running out here, 99% of the calls I receive are not good news!

I am ready for it to be over. O.K., someone put me in a time out!

Seven and a half weeks more according to my figures.

The module trucks will have all of the modules out of the fields and on the yards sometime today.

Krl and I have to go to Midland today. I need to print and mail the government copies of the W-2's and 1099's along with the W-3 and 1096 transmittal, and guess what I am running low on ink! The new printer we secured is fast and does a good job, but either it uses lots of ink or I print more than I think I do. I had thought yesterday during one of my breakneck runs to Midland about going on to the other side and getting ink. I just felt at that juncture it was more important to get the truck with a problem back up and going.

Also, we got a call last evening about nine-forty something and Ollie was telling us she was going to be in Odessa today and wondered if we wanted to have lunch. I don't know if we will be able to swing that or not.

The new GM is supposed to be on site Monday. He is going to observe the remainder of the season until the current GM gives up his keys. So far I have reserved judgement on the new man as I have barely visited with him, but it would appear that he may be fighting an uphill battle with the plant employees. I don't know how but he has alienated most of them already, and he has only been in the plant a couple of days since he was hired. He may fit in with the board members because I understand that he is very opinionated and stands his ground. The board was going to buy a brand new travel trailer for the new GM and his wife to live in until the GM's house is ready, but the new man told them his wife wanted a house and she was getting a house. So the board found a rent house sixteen miles away. My sources are telling me this man can spend money!

I think I had better get to feeling better and in a better mood before I interact with this new GM. The mood I have been in I would welcome someone sending me on my way!

Yesterday I received a belated birthday card from Pat and a box of cookies from all the boys. (Reid, Holt and Drew). Pat's card even had a bonus poster about donkey birthdays and can be used as a game to pin the ass on the human.

The little boys sent me two boxes of thin mint Girl Scout cookies! One of my all time favorites. Put them in the fridge and let 'em chill.

Funny thing is, I never knew Reid, Holt, or Drew were in the Girls Scouts!

It is interesting how the size of the boxes has diminished over the years.

Well, I must report that my positive thinking book didn't fix the truck yesterday. But that is another blog.

Have a day!

FATHER, I feel rotten. Heal me physically, mentally, emotionally. Help me to the end of this season. For YOUR love!