On Broken Wings

My little girl learned how to fly a week ago. At the tender age of ten years old Carly took flight right off the side of this hill. Our chip and tar driveway leads down to a concrete drive coming up the hill. Well, I am told that Carly, her brothers and her friends from Minor Hill were riding in circles on that concrete drive where it opens up on top of the hill. She says that at some point she lost the ability to steer. This sent her careening off the hill with enough speed to take flight. All it took was a nice sized boulder off the side of the driveway to provide the lift needed to make her nightmares come true. Upon liftoff she was flung over the front of the bike and into a small tree. She says she landed on her left arm with it extended and hand down. That very position, with enough force, can cause a chip fracture of the ulna right at the elbow.

They all said she laughed for a few seconds and then began to cry for a short time. She did some complaining but did not appear to be in agony so we kept checking her elbow out for a day. I told her to let me know if the pain doesn't subside or if she feels that she needs to go to the hospital. The next evening she timidly said she was ready to go to the doc. I thought it was probably sprained or maybe a torn muscle. After the x-rays it was obvious that there was a piece of bone that had mostly separated from the elbow joint. She is a tough girl. Of course she has to be growing up with what will be six brothers by September.

She is taking it well. I remember breaking my arm when I was 12. This may be some right of passage in my family. I hope not. It was a compound fracture breaking both radius and ulna and then they broke through the skin. It was nasty and I passed out at first! I did not take it well. My oldest son Michael broke his arm when he was 11 very much the same way I did. A compound fracture breaking both bones in his left forearm. I guess what makes me so jealous of Carly is that SHE gets the "goretex" cast that allows her to GO SWIMMING! Those did not exist 25 years ago. That just ain't right.

I plan on getting a pic or two of her when she isn't expecting it. It may be the only way I will get away with a picture of her in a cast. I love that girl.

Just checking in again

Hey Folks,

It has been a while since I have posted. It has a lot to do with being busy with work even though we can't actually DO any work. I have had a series of break downs that have killed finances and clouded my mind. The last few weeks have been spent searching for parts and making repairs to the Caterpillar. I fixed the trans charge pump for the second time and that didn't help. I fixed the valve stack in the transmission and that worked great. A day and a half later the transfer case tore up. AHHHHHHH! I give up! I sold the old thing and took the money to find a nice engine to go in my OTHER skidder which has been down for 11 months as I waited to find a good affordable engine that will swap with mine directly. That never happened.

So, I found an engine out of a Ford Coca-Cola semi. Ford can't leave well enough alone. They made ridiculous changes to the very simple design which makes life hell for anyone who wants to save money by buying a used engine out of one of their trucks. As a result I had to have a friend cut a billet into an intake plenum for the air to air swap with my intercooler. I also had to order custom injector lines to make up for the big difference in the intakes ($400). I had to bend the lines to move around the various components. Those injector lines hold some 2500 to 4500 pounds of pressure each. It may have been the toughest part of the engine swap. Other outrageously tough things to get done include swapping exhaust manifolds, turbos oil and water lines, charge pumps and compressors, and making the different style of pump work with the old set up.....geez. It's almost done. I think by this time tomorrow we will be ready to crank the thing up assuming the Cummins diesel specialists have any idea what they are doing when clocking the turbo. I may do that myself even though I don't have the right tools.

I am grateful that this is the bulk of what I have to complain about in my personal life. Just don't get me started on politics. Y'all have a nice rest of the day and God Bless. I am about to go out and roast marshmallows with the kids and their guests.