I must add my 2 cents here, too.

There are two items that I wish to address. As some of you may had been aware, my D7 3T was taken away in January this year. I have no idea if it went to scrap or some lucky SOB got it and will restore it. All I know is that it is gone. (I'm still PISSED! and always will be.). My fear is that it went to scrap and suffered the same fate as this CAT.

I usually do not have night mares but this could make me have one or more.

The other item I am wanting to share is the totally upsetting images I have seen when guns have been destroyed. From this you can probably determine that I like guns as well as CATS, (I love kitty cats too).

Not only is the distruction of Guns or Cats upsetting but I always have the thought in my mind of the total insult to all the machinists that created the CATS and Guns because their work had been ruined, so to speak. I know that if I were to make something that I was proud of and then some SOB come along and destroy it, I'd be insulted and really PISSED!

Like others have stated, WHY DO THEY not sell the parts to others that can use them?????? Sometimes the focus on money is just too hard to understand. BAS%$#%S!

I had better get off my soap box now.......

Al (and others as well),

First off, I have not been able to determine where my D7 went. It was on land that an Aunt sold and the new "land developer" (another damned snake as far as I am concerned) cleared the trees and old house next to where the D7 was sitting. The D7 went away too. I was not given the opportunity to do anything about it or anything. If I had not "happened to see the work being done" I would have never known anything about what was happening. It would have been gone and I'd have never known what happened other than "figuring it out later".

Now to the "Damned Snakes" story (for anyone that has not heard the story).

My snake story starts with the fact that I DO NOT LIKE SNAKES at all.

Back when I was a teenager I finally was "old enough" to drive the tractors on my family's ranch. I finally "graduated" to the Cats. We had two at that time. Both D7's. One had the manual clutch (it became my D7 later in life) and the other one had the oil clutch. That one is the one I was driving when the snake story unfolded.

I was pulling the 4-bottom Atlas plow at the time. It was hydraulic and that D7 had a BEGE pump on the rear rather than a cable control. It was a big plow that cut around 12" or more deep, as I remember.

One day, as I was plowing along I spotted a snake go slithering away to the side as I approached where it was. Now, since I don't like snakes, I decided to go after it with the Cat. At first I was planning to run over it with one of the tracks. It decided that I was not going to do that because it would slither away in another direction every time I approached it. Incidentally, there was NO WAY I was going to get off the D7 and go after it on foot, NO, NOT ME! (Remember, I hate snakes).

Well, after a few attempts to run over it with the tracks and was unsuccessful, I decided to try to get it with the plow. Note; I had raised the plow during all this time. I found that it (the snake) would coil up and sit and wait "to defend itself" as I approached with the D7. So, I tried to straddle it with the tracks with the idea of dropping the plow on it as I "passed by".

The first few attempts were no good because the snake would slither away to the side through the tracks as I passed over it. Now, you need to picture this; I would "go after" the snake then turn tight to make another pass over and over again. Left, right, left, right, spin around and so on.... All this happened in a space within, probably, a 75' diameter.

It must have looked like I was going crazy, from an outside observer’s perspective.

Anyway, one pass I finally was "Lucky" that the snake stayed put and I tried dropping the plow on it. I dropped the plow too soon and "he", got away again. DAMN! Try again.

Finally, on the last pass I was able to drop the plow right in the middle of it and cut it in half and buried it all in one swoop. SUCCESS at last!

After that, I returned to the spot where I had been plowing and continued on my day peacefully plowing. I felt satisfied that I had accomplished my wish. WHEW! What a day!

To this very day I can almost point to the spot this all happened. However, there will soon be a Safeway store on that spot. BOO! HISS!

I wonder if they will ever be interested in the historical significance of that spot???? Nah....