Parts of a whole

Kris just came in after spending seven hours outside. (It was about 20 degrees, not counting wind chill.) First he fed the cattle, as usual, then he and our employee fixed the skid steer. Remember the hydraulic leak? The steel hydraulic line finally came last night via UPS.

(Always an exciting delivery! The kids and I were playing outside and saw the package. I immediately called Kris to tell him the good news. He drove from the barn to get it and the kids announced to him - loudly, as they say most things - "DAD! YOUR PACKAGE IS HERE!!!!" Being a UPS delivery guy must be an enjoyable job from that standpoint. People are often so happy to see you.)

When they were taking out the steel line, it was nearly impossible to reach. It was way in the bottom of the machine, and they had to pull off two other hydraulic lines to even get to it. (Have you ever watched someone work on something that’s hard to reach? They’re always halfway in the machine, there’s a lot of banging, and there’s no way they’re having a conversation with you.)

So putting a steel line back in was going to impossible, because it had about five 90 degree bends in it, there’d be no way to tighten it ... so instead they had a hydraulic hose made in town. That way, the hose can bend wherever you want. (Also, the reason the steel line leaked in the first place is because it rusted through. The hose won’t rust.) They put it all back together and it’s working.

So, Kris has to take the part back. We could send it UPS, but then we’d have to pay shipping. And that wouldn’t make us happy to see our UPS man.