Happy Easter.

Thank YOU JESUS!

I find if ironic that the symbolic day CHRIST was crucified is labeled "good Friday".

My question for today is "Why does Easter move around on the calendar?"

Another difficult week behind me. Trucks. Drivers.

One driver has repeatedly screwed up. You can tell him something and he will tell you you never told him that. He has done damage to equipment, delivered loads to the wrong destination, gone to the wrong town for load pickups, and blatantly lied repeatedly when asked if completed an assigned task. This driver left in January, headed for greener pastures. I wish he had kept going. However he found the job market extremely challenging and came back, tail between his legs.

This past week, the above stated driver had some shop work to do, then some short excursions in a big truck. On Wednesday, Krl called me and had a load for him. We worked it in and he was going to go to Lubbock early Thursday morning to load, returning to the farm shop to meet a truck that off loaded in Midland. The truck driver he was meeting is the newest hire and has limited shop time so I wanted the Lubbock driver to be there to help show him where stuff was at and to assist him for a while.

I had issued instructions Wednesday afternoon to everyone, even including Krl in the loop. Thursday morning I talked with the Lubbock driver, re-enforcing Wednesday's instructions. About ten I began calling this driver, figuring he was close to returning to the farm shop. For two and a half hours Krl and I called. Finally Krl made contact and this driver told her he was already passed Abilene, headed to Houston. (Actually, he was at home south of Abilene).

This driver called me, telling me I had never given him instructions to return to the shop. I was instantly furious. This man continued, telling me I was full of what is commonly used for fertilizer! I told Krl I was through with this man. Enough is enough. If she wants to run him that is her business, but I will not have any interaction with him regardless of what is going on.

Turns out on Wednesday night the newer driver had talked with the Lubbock driver on the phone and they discussed the Thursday plans.

Thursday when I left the parts store, I went to the farm shop and helped the new driver. I got home at nine thirty.

Friday back to the farm shop to work on the air conditioner in this truck and look a the exhaust system. The last few times the a/c work had been a nightmare so I decided to do it first. That went like a piece of cake. I replaced a line and a high pressure switch. I was so thankful that no threads were pulled on the condensor or the compressor (this had been a common occurrence last year).

The exhaust was a different story. I needed two pieces. A turbo flange, and an inside outside elbow. We removed the pieces and I called Peterbilt. The parts manager told me, "Come on, we should have it!" When I arrived, he told me that no Peterbilt dealer in the world, and no warehouse in the world had the turbo flange. Production had been suspended. This piece was eight inches long with a fifty-seven degree bend, the pipe being five inches in diameter with a three eights flange on one end. The parts manager told me I would not want the part even if they had it. Price? $401! Yikes. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

I began gathering pieces, making five more stops. Finally I went to a friends shop who has a wire welder. We put together some of the pieces. Then a return trip to the farm shop.

About this time the driver had to leave to return a trailer to a yard in Abilene, and I began trying to figure out exhaust. Finally I decided I was going to have to take the entire system from under the big truck. I got to one point, and I loosened and hammered and banged, but could not get one joint to "slip" loose. I began thinking torch, but location was extremely "iffy". At seven in the evening I closed the shop and headed for home.

Saturday morning I headed back to the farm shop at Roscoe. When I arrived I crawled under the truck with a small grinder and began cutting flanges. In short order I had the exhaust on the floor. I was able to do away with one pipe joint and replaced two flex pipe pieces with one longer one. My biggest challenge was doing it by myself. The driver was a no show. His roommate and him had an argument and she broke the windows out of his house (he says). So I improvised. I used jacks and stands to hold the exhaust in place as I assembled it from one end to the other. Finally I crawled under the big truck and started on one end and began tightening band clamps. It was with a great sense of relief I crawled from under the truck one last time.

I had one other small project on the truck, and then needed to evacuate and then charge the a/c system. I used Jason's gauges and he has what they call a "can tap". Instead of screwing the freon can on the valve on the hose you slip the can in the tap and squeeze the handles together and it pierces the can and the handles interlock. As luck would have it, I had an oil charge in it and I picked the can up to move it and the oil charge "oiled" me down!

It was nasty! Oh well. I got another oil charge, charged the system and tested it and it was working like it was designed. Excellent!

It was a long drive home. I was a whipped puppy!

I got home, took a shower and shortly after eight made a quick trip to the grocery store to fulfill a promise I made to Krl.

It wasn't long until I was looking for the bed.

Have a weekend!

FATHER, thank YOU for giving me the skills and the patience to do tedious work. Thank YOU for JESUS. For His sacrifice and YOUR sacrifice. For the hope and promise we have in Him.