"We should rename it HPAV Gulchenf*ckinbroken."

Gulchendiggensmoothen has not yet agreed to end its digging sabbatical. Lemme 'splain.

No, is too much. Lemme sum up. The injector pump mysteriously went south. M and I unmounted the pump and he took it to the city. Two weeks and much money later he got it back rebuilt. He could get no more information than "something inside was broke." Remounted the pump, and while attempting to bleed the fuel system the (always been a problem) starter solenoid welded.

Dismounted the starter. M took it to the city. Two weeks later he came back with a new solenoid. Put new solenoid on starter, remounted starter. He'd forgotten a couple of little parts that broke off while we were messing with the pump and the starter.

This weekend he brought all the missing little parts. We connected the return lines for the injectors and finished wiring up the starter. Spent an hour chasing diesel leaks. Attempted to bleed the fuel system. "Now I'm not getting anything at all! What the hell? Check the tank." "You must be kidding, it can't be out of fuel." "Check the tank." "Okay. (checks tank) Tank's empty!"

It went on like this for quite some time. The key cylinder (always been a problem) gave M no end of trouble, trying to get the starter to crank. Time to replace that, fer shur. At last, though - success! When the tractor decided to start, it ran smooth and sweet. But... "Give it some revs!" "I can't! How come the throttle doesn't work?" Because for no apparent reason a clip on the throttle linkage had broken off and the link wouldn't stay on. Wire that into place. Running great now.

"Okay, let's put the battery tray back on." While M was doing that I walked around the tractor - "What's this laying on the floor?" I reached over and picked up the unfamiliar part. It was the end of the shut-off cable, which had broken clean in two for no apparent reason other than it was time for that to break now.

So! Good news: Gulchendiggensmoothen runs. Bad news: Gulchendiggensmoothen needs a new shut-off cable and a key switch before it will run.

In our next exciting episode, the hydraulic system will probably crap out.

All this work and expense is to permit us to backfill the dirt around M's Dome, a job that is no closer to even starting than it was this time last year. When you're up to your ass in alligators, it can be difficult to remember your original objective was to drain the swamp.