Finally got the qualification running here at work.  Had to wait a few extra
days for production to get around to running their tests.  Oh well, by the
weekend I should have this project mostly wrapped up.  

Speaking of weekends, spent the past one out on the farm.  Sat. morning I show
up and Dad is ready and rarin' to go out and castrate the 4 holstein bull
calves he bought on Tues.  So, out we go and create 4 steers in short order. 
After that, we head out to play with the log splitter.  My brother replaced
the old engine with one from an old snow blower.  It takes us an hour to get
the fuel screw settings to get the engine to run well under load.  By the
early afternoon, I am back out splitting firewood when I heard a screeching
noise around the engine area and had a sudden drop in hydraulic pressure. 
Fortunately it was not the replacement engine going bad.  However, there is a
coupling between the engine shaft and the pump shaft made out of hard rubber
that had finally stripped out.  So, I had to put the rig away and have Dad
track down a replacement.  Shesh!  Well, things runs in threes, so we'll see
what the last item to go wrong will be.

Sunday I was running the chainsaw instead of splitting.  I got several more
logs blocked up for splitting.  By 2pm, I wrapped up and headed inside for a
nice afternoon nap on the couch.  Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rings,
and my grandmother and great-aunt are at the front door for a visit.  No nap
for Roger. 8(  After the ladies left, parents and I went out for a walk in the
first real spring feeling weather we've had this year.  A bit breezy, sunny,
with temps in the low 50's.  I'm definitely ready for spring.  Now we just
need to get the rain that the meteorologists are predicting this week.  Still
very short on the subsoil moisture from a dry winter.

Still no closer on ships today.  Still mongering that cloth.  Back to the
grind tomorrow.  Tonight's blog brought to you by "Thunderstruck" AC-DC