"A guy knows he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a couple of days." - Tim Allen

What a day.

I got the new ignition wiring installed on the truck, in the form of a 10 ga. wire that runs from the alternator to the hot side of the starter. That took about two hours because I worked very slowly and carefully. Get one of the connections wrong and the whole truck goes up in flames.
I think this will take care of the problem of a dead battery after 20 miles of driving. I'll spare you the details, but I now know late 50's Chevy trucks had very primitive electrical systems, which means, for example, that there's NO fuse block. The headlight switch functions as the distribution point for all electrical except ignition. The aftermarket wiring harness I installed had no instructions and a really bad diagram that didn't even show the alternator or starter, which is why I didn't run a wire from one to the other.

I didn't fire it up; couldn't muster the emotional strength to do that. Tomorrow I'll start it, check amps at the battery, and hope I get a reading of 14 or better. If not...I don't know.

I also worked on the goat fencing. I couldn't install the fence along the west side - 75' - because it ran right next to the burn pile and it would have melted. But now, a week after lighting that pile I could put in the T posts and run the field fence. And here's where things went south.

In order to get the necessary tension on the field fence I attach a fence stretcher that runs via a chain and a Come-Along to the trailer hitch on the Kia. Which I backed down so that hitch was in line with the run of fencing. Hooked it all up, put tension on the field fence, drove in the staples to secure it, and then...discovered that the car was stuck in the MUD. Yeah, I tried for an hour to get it unstuck and only made it worse.
Did I (do I) feel like a total idiot? Yes!

The end of the story: I called Todd who came over about an hour ago, and with flashlights, tow straps, and his 4-wheel drive truck we got it out. But the whole experience was one of those dope-slap moments when I'm reminded I'm not near so clever as I sometimes think myself.

But I am blessed with a wife who passes on the opportunities I give her to remind me of that. All I got was a very gracious silence and a tasty dinner.

It rained today, which should have been a warning to the aforementioned idiot. We got another inch, taking us over 6" for the last week. The creek is running high and fast. But here we are, a full seven days after I lit the burn pile and all that rain, and it still smoked and steamed all day. Until tonight when, just before Todd showed up, an open flame burst forth. Pretty big, too. In the dark I could also see several other glowing areas within the much smaller pile. Crazy.

Tomorrow I'll wash the mud off the Kia, fire up the truck and check the charging system with my meter, and sit in my chair for the rest of the day lest I make a mess of something else.