What?

I'm up at 9:59PM...I was just watching the noon news!

My ride home from work was uneventful...my night at work? Not so much...

When I got to work, two tractors were down with blown hydraulic hoses on their front blades. Tuesday and Wednesday are the Graveyard Wrench's nights off. Fortunately, one of the Park Groomers knows how to build hoses. He said give him a shout on the 2-way when we got the hoses off, and he's come in a build the new ones.

We started tearing down the hoses when the guys found one leak was just a loose fitting. I jumped into that cat and rumbled off into the night...the guys were still working on my tractor....it was 1AM.

An hour later the radio announced that my tractor was ready. I ran back to the shop, got in my ride, and handed the Bison off to another operator who was wallowing around in a winchcat.

An hour later, I was digging a lift terminal and bang! Another burst blade hose! By now the Boss was in the shop...I'd called him at midnight with the sad news of our situation, and to ask if there was anyone we could call in to help.

So, I checked my hydraulic fluid level, and roared back to the shop. The blown hose was the next in line from the one just replaced. We had it off the cat in three minutes. At the hose bench, we found a new hose, with the right fittings on both ends that was just an inch and a half longer than the original. On it went...I was back at 'em in under 10 minutes! I was feeling pretty smug...I finished the plow job, and started cleaning up my mess.

An hour later my eyelids were getting heavy...I set my iPod for 20 minutes, parked nose-up out of the way, reclined the seatback and closed my eyes. I got 20 winks despite my suddenly chattering crew...

My iPod woke me with it's "DEFCON 5" alarm, it was 5:30AM...I put the seat back up, turned on my lights and headed up, but there was a warning light going off, and my engine sounded rough...the flashing warning light was displaying a flash code...damn, back to the shop...swapped for the Bison, and low man on the totem pole got back in a winch...

We got everything done, no small miracle...

That was my night...no wonder I slept most of ten hours straight!