Another "son" is born

For the past 3 and a half years I have been working on a new tractor model.  Finally, last week, the new models started flowing down the assembly line with equal parts apprehension and relief.  While just seeing the tractor going into production is satisfying enough, the was an added treat this week. Cat machine serial numbers all start with 3 letters, and it is a tradition that people that work on the new tractor models sometimes get their initials used as serial number prefixes.  Thursday, DTD175 (DDT was already taken) started down the line.  It's not fully assembled yet, but I have been over to the factory a couple times to check on it.  Something I wasn't expecting was that because it is a D6T XL, the full 17 digit PIN contains "D6TLDTD"; so a nice little "shout out" to little LDT and grandpa LDT made it's way in there as well.  They say when you are the project leader, bringing a new tractor to production is like having another kid.  Since I'm not the overall project leader, I don't quite have that "dad" feeling, but I definitely feel like an "uncle".

The monster truck business had it's ups and downs this week.  My ebay auctions turned out rather lackluster, although neither truck I was selling was the first one of that model I had sold.  Both trucks this coming week are first-timers, so I'm hoping for a little better results.  I did get a nice surprise on my Bandit semi, which I sold once before only to have the buyer not pay for it. It sold this time for twice what it went for last time, although now 5 days after the auction end this buyer hasn't paid for it either.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.  I did have my best monster truck customer come through on a big purchase of the new trucks from my last two batches, 17 trucks in all.  He didn't pay per truck quite what he had previously, but still made a very generous offer on them.  I also got the new monster truck track done for N and L this week.  We tried it out for the first time on Friday night, and the mud pit is a big hit.

Finally, I'll leave you with a strange little phenomena that has been occurring in our back yard.  You may recall me mentioning having to fix the vent to our furnace to keep the North wind from causing too much backpressure and shutting it off.  Well, it appears that the elaborate vent cover we fabricated causes the exhaust to condensate and drip down to the ground.  Over the last few weeks, this condensate has formed an almost 2 foot tall ice stalagmite to form.  It isn't hurting anything, but sure looks strange.  We're looking forward to a little warmer weather this weekend to hopefully thaw things out a little bit.