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61

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: May 04, 2015, 06:24:53 AM »

Dean, you are sure making a big difference in the place. I need to get there and see first hand what you have accomplished. Sure is a nice property. Seems what few flowers on my place are giving up due to neglect.

Been taking advantage of the nice weather. Neighbor has about 140 acre farm he has enrolled in the wetlands and conservation easement program. Have needed to work some of the ground to prepare for shrubbery planting and grass planting. Started Wednesday with the Case 700 and disc and got the ground opened up. Area that was in cropland worked good with the disc, but the established grass, the disc only sliced through the sod and not turn it under. Still had his tiller on the Case 430, so took that over and did a great job working that all down and now ready to plant. Next I took the 970 and 18 foot harrogator and worked around the wetland ponds and worked areas. Finished all that up Friday afternoon.

Brought all the equipment home on Friday and started my soybean ground. Worked Saturday and Sunday and have that well under way to likely get planted by week's end.

Took a peek last evening under the black plastic sheet at the sweet corn. Dug a couple grains that were sprouting very nicely. Will remove the plastic today as temperatures are forecast to be in high 70's to low 80's for rest of the week.

Gene

62

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 29, 2015, 01:25:32 PM »

Has been typical March weather in Ohio. Cold mornings with freeze and frost and warming to 50's and 60's like it should have been last month. Pretty strong winds last week, but finally settled down last Friday. Had rain at Portland for work day on Saturday. Got a few trees down and cleaned up , but was cold and wet. Will have to schedule more time this fall to finish them.

P[ATTACH=CONFIG]867[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]868[/ATTACH]lanted some sweet corn on Monday. Ground was still a little wet and cold, so covered some of it with black plastic to help warm the soil and get a good start so it is ready for the family reunion at end of July.

Gene

63

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 21, 2015, 03:31:21 PM »

The W-4 is a cute little tractor. Not many W series in this part of the country. Probably more w-9"s and WD-9's. See an occasional 4 or 6 at tractor shows. Mostly trucked in from out west.

Winds here have been pretty brutal since Sunday. Only light rain but constant strong winds. Steady winds today of 30 MPH with gusts to 45 to 50 MPH. Really have to hold on to your hat and be especially careful when opening any doors.

Made a trip to south of Washington Court House, Ohio on Saturday morning. About 85 miles each way. Picked up a lawn roller. Some field work was being done with applications of NH3 and dry spreaders. Saw a few corn planters working around the Urbana/West Liberty area. Dark sandy soil there dries quicker and warms quicker and this area is always the first ground to be planted in this area. Lots of big tractors working the fields. Seems a 24 row planter is the norm here now. Rained on Sunday and Monday, so field work is on hold.

Got the lawn spread with insecticide to try to rid the lawn of grubs and ants. Got that spread then got the pull behind sprayer to spray the lawn weeds. Filled it with water and it would not prime. Worked with that a while and finally started pumping, so added the herbicide  and thought I was ready to spray. Started across the lawn and noticed the right tire on the sprayer was flat. Wouldn't take air so pulled the wheel off and took it into the shop. After cleaning out all the stop leak leak goop and wire brushing the wheel, I was finally able to remount the wheel. While I was fixing these problems, The wind started blowing too strong to spray, so had to call it a day.

Gene

64

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 18, 2015, 06:11:35 AM »

Looks like clear skies and warmer temps seem to common for all of us. Temps here in Ohio yesterday was mid 70's. Been doing some lawn rolling to try to smooth out some of the damage done by the moles and skunks. Really getting behind on maintaining. Started mowing grass yesterday. Always dread starting that first time.

Was able to get the tiller through my sweet corn ground. It is drying out nicely. Getting about time to start planting that for the family reunion.

Gene

65

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 11, 2015, 10:25:21 AM »

Took a few pictures this morning in case you guys have forgotten what GREEN looks like. Looks like I will have to be mowing grass soon.

Been windy here last couple of days. Was really howling when I went to bed at 10:00pm last night. Have more tree limbs to pick up in the yard again.

Gene[ATTACH=CONFIG]858[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]859[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]860[/ATTACH]

66

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 07, 2015, 06:20:32 PM »

Ralph, that is a nice classic barn. Does it have the pigeon tail on the other end? So many of those barns around here Have been neglected and roofing has blown away and rafters rotted away. Not many farmers here have a use for this type of barn now. Amish I hauled metal for, did a lot of work on these old barns to give them some some more life.

Yes, I have had the 2 wheeler for 7 years. Has a total of 241 miles. Haven't ridden it much. The seat was uncomfortable and back end of it sat too low and felt like I could slip off the back. I pulled the seat off yesterday and made a wedge to tip it up some. Think it will be better now.

Rain started here yesterday evening with thunder showers early am. Just sporadic light showers all day. Probably had less than 1/2 inch of rain. Did a few small jobs between showers, finally just did some shop jobs. Just when it was starting to dry up some.

Gene

67

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 06, 2015, 12:49:30 PM »

Had a pretty nice early spring week end. A little windy, but ample sunshine to make a good day for some outside work.

Friday, I moved some tractors and machinery around to their permanent homes. Pushed the airplane outside to be able to park the baler. Airplane needed washed and as the rain started, I put on my rain coat and got my long handled window brush and with a bucket of water, I was able to get it pretty well cleaned and the heavier rain rinsed it off really nice. Just had to spot clean a few areas. Looks nice now. Planning to offer it for sale soon.

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Sunday's weather was really nice after a cool morning, Got to low 60's with sunshine all day. Cleaned up some limbs and tree trimmings and hauled them back to the woods. Then got the 430 out and have the tiller on it now. Hydraulic oil was low and transmission was over full, sure sign it has a leaking 3-point cylinder seal. Drained 3.5 gallons out of the transmission and added 2 gallons of that to the hydraulic. All set to go again. Got the little motorcycle out this morning and after draining and replacing the gas, it started right up.

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Gene

68

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: April 02, 2015, 11:24:41 AM »

Dean, sounds like you have taken advantage of the nice weather. Wednesday was another great day here. Sometimes interesting what you find in old trash piles. Cleaning my woods, I found many old wringer washing machine wringers, I think 27 in all, along with metal tubs and old fence wire. Old rusty wire is hard to handle, but with the intense heat of a brush fire the wire was annealed so it was easy to push it into balls with the dozer and load on the trailer with the loader. Woods had been used as a dump for generations and hauled out 3 16 foot trailer loads to scrap yard. When I bought the place, it was impossible to walk through the woods. Now I can go anywhere with tractor and even mow it with lawnmower.

I imagine that with the warm weather and thawing that Ralph has an ample number of places to get stuck if not careful.

Had big plans for today. Started out replacing burned out bulb in truck turn signal. Didn't have the right bulb so went to town to get one and a roll of plastic sheet. Building site was getting dry enough to finally get on it with tractor. I tilled it up again yesterday and planned to level if down some and cover it with the plastic sheet to try to keep it dry. Just as I came out of Lowe's it started sprinkling. Had heavy rain on the way home, so ended the plans for leveling the ground. Did get the truck lights replaced though. When I left for town, had bright sunshine and clear skies. That all changed before I got home. Had a pretty red sunrise though.

Amish neighbors started working ground yesterday to plant oats. Don't know if and got planted. Surely too wet to plant today. Time is getting short to plant them here now. Later planting runs the risk of being overtaken by weeds.

Gene

69

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: March 29, 2015, 08:46:43 PM »

Charlie You are likely right about the migrating robins. Never seesomo many at one time. Only about 12 or 15 today. Maybe didn't' likey the cold weather and went back south.

Gene

70

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: March 29, 2015, 08:57:01 AM »

Charlie, I sure missed the temperature there. Need to reread my posts.

Ralph, glad you are getting some warmer temps. We never made it above freezing Saturday and 26 this morning with promise of warmer temperatures this week. Spent yesterday morning blocking some more of the starlings nesting areas. Couple areas on the house they were nesting, so closed them off. Probably have a lot of upset birds. Been seeing more robins the last couple days than I have ever seen. Probably 40 to 50 all around the yard and hay field. Was a sight to see for sure. Wonder if the night crawlers are coming up through the frozen ground?

Gene

71

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: March 28, 2015, 07:35:38 AM »

Pretty new arrival you have there Ralph. Proud mama keeping her eye on you. Always liked the new arrivals, well maybe not the sheep.

Looks like you are finally getting some better temperatures. Maybe finally get some dry bare ground. You are at 30 degrees this morning, Charlie is 32 and snow and here in Ohio we have 13 degrees. Keeps the mud at bay. forecast for warmer by mid week.  March came in like a lion and the lion has not left us yet. Lamb needs to get here by Tuesday.

Worked in the barn yesterday trying to block some of the sparrow nesting spots. Hope I can discourage them from building their nests. Was a place to work out of the cold wind.

Gene

72

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: March 27, 2015, 12:13:08 PM »

Took some pictures of the 3 point tiller. Some call them roto-tiller and Howard company built a larger machine called a rotovator. Have to run them slow to do a good. 1st gear on the 700 was just barely slow enough to run it and had to do some clutching in heavy load.

Farmer knows the building site. When he saw it, it was covered with Cub tractors.[ATTACH=CONFIG]847[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]848[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]849[/ATTACH]

Ralph, the site has about 1 foot fall, high to south. Will pull the dirt to north and east from the high part. Need to have that lower for water drainoff. Will lower the west side out from the building so water runs away away from building

73

'round the pot-bellied stove / Western Ohio Update

« on: March 26, 2015, 01:32:01 PM »

Ohio had a brief winter on Monday evening with 3 inches of snow, but Tuesday's bright sunshine and warmer temps melted most of it and Wednesday with 55 degrees finished the melting.

Got my neighbor's 6 foot tiller on Sunday and on Monday adapted the 3 point hitch to fit my 700. Finished putting that together outside in heavy snow, but got it finished. Tuesday evening I gave the tiller a try and worked up the building site so I can level it off. Won't need any extra dirt to level it off. Have a slight rise on the south end that I will knock down to fill the lower north end. The hill would block drainage and by lowering that, the water will have good drainage as the ground slopes to the south across the lawn. Tractor and tiller worked well together, though the ground was a little wet and got good penetration.

Have a picture of the site.[ATTACH=CONFIG]845[/ATTACH]

74

'round the pot-bellied stove / My Videos

« on: March 21, 2015, 06:04:21 AM »

Ralph, you will be fine with Dexron, I think they are up to Dexron 4 now? Original type f had a little higher friction rating. Some of the early racers used type f in their GM and Mopar transmissions to get that tiny edge of performance. A moderately operated  Ford transmission will get along just fine with modern transmission fluids. Don't think I would consider synthetic fluid in older transmissions.

Gene

75

'round the pot-bellied stove / My Videos

« on: March 20, 2015, 09:00:51 PM »

I remember the old Fordomatic transmissions, or as yours is called a Mercomatic. Heavy cast iron beasts. Have rebuilt a few when I worked in my brother's garage. They were pretty common in the 1960's. Easy to work on though.

The trucker that hauled my stone has a Mack tandem with 2 cheater axles and hauls between 22.5 and 23 tons. Really settles the ground when he is loaded. Stone price was $10.50 per ton and hauling was $3.50 per ton So my total bill for 45.23 tons was $664.74. Thought that was a really good price. Even got a $4.42 discount.