Well.  After completing the repairs on the 8310, the farm help had moved the tractor a short distance to clean under it.  When I went to drive the tractor out of the barn, the left front wheel rolled about twenty feet and locked down.  I reversed it and it rolled a short distance and locked down.  Dang the luck.

We jacked the left front off the ground and removed the wheel and planetary and found a broken piece wedged between the gears.  A roller bearing retainer had broken in half and fallen between the gears.  Luckily, from the old parts,  there was one roller retainer that was still good.  It took longer to clean all the metal out than it did to fix it.  Within an hour I was driving the big tractor and testing it out.  It did good.

Our next project involved getting the big stripper into the shop.  Jason has a pole vaulting pit stacked on one end and has the pro-mod pulling tractor torn down on the other end, so both big doors are not usable.  So we put a twenty-six foot header through a twenty foot door opening.  It took a while but we did it.  Also got the big stripper in the barn as well.

We are so ready for a rain.

The house levelers came Wednesday and Thursday.  They leveled Memama's house pier and beams the first day, then put six steel piers under the outside footing the following day and rechecked the pier and beams.

They completed all of the house except my bedroom and bathroom.  It turned out there was a leak under the bathroom and there was standing water.  When the farm hands came and we began to investigate, it appears they leak is from the sewer drain line.

Yuk.

It appears that the last time the plumber came and ran his line clearing machine, he perforated the drain line.

The guys have dug and digged, which ever you determine to be correct, and we put a pump under the house and pumped out about 350 gallons of water.  This morning there is no standing water but it is still very wet, in fact it is still too wet to dig.  So we sprinkled lime to dry the ground and it should also tone down any odor.

We will check it again Monday.

I spent all day yesterday in divorce mediation.  From 10 until 7.  We worked out a deal if Carol can produce clear titles.  She was missing one yesterday.  If that doesn't happen the deal is off.  If she does, by next Friday I should be divorced.

Neither of us is totally happy, but I feel she is in a workable position as am I.  It  is probably as good  a solution as we could hope for.

I guess it has been a week for women because I find myself totally detached.  After a long arduous day of negotiating, I went to dinner with a special friend and by the time I took her home I don't know if we remain friends or not, but certainly not special.

Oh well, the most important woman in my life is Memama and her well being, physically, and financially.  To be honest, all the other women in my life combined wouldn't make a wart on Memama's backside.

Ravens, by 11.  You heard it here.

Have a day!

Father, thank YOU for new beginnings.