The Devil Wears LaCrosse

Walking old Jack Dog yesterday morning I observed a track in the driveway that didn't belong. It was narrow, not a car, tractor or utility vehicle. I turned around and looked behind me; the log splitter was gone. It happened sometime after 10 PM and morning, and one of the neighbors told us that he had something setting off an alarm around 2 AM.

I found footprints. The thief walked in on the old section of road, and in the dark walked through mud.  The tracks are plainly LaCrosse rubber boots, but the mud did not print the size rectangle. They should put serial numbers on them and register all buyers, I guess. The County Sheriff came out, took photos and notes, and we sent him documentation for our splitter, on the long chance that they encounter it somewhere.  I have long held that thieves don't steal anything they have to work with, so the thief probably had a buyer lined up.  We had lots of storm damage locally, so our machine is probably helping some receiver of stolen goods work up a tree.

 

It was a good machine.  We have been using it since the fall of '09, and it has helped send many trees up the flue. It was full of gas and had clean oil; ready to work.

Fluorescent Light Socket Aggravation, # Gnashing Of Teeth

We recently converted all of our fluorescent fixtures to LED tubes, so I have had a bunch of practice dealing with this little problem.  One of the little guide pins breaks off and blocks you from removing the old tube, which would be no problem if you were standing flatfooted; but you are always up on a ladder when you are doing this. We changed out 45 bulbs, so now I am practiced enough that I get the old bulb out pretty quickly.  The LEDs are supposed to have a long life, so I have a pipe dream that I may never have to wrestle bulbs again.