I check this site ever so often and Today I wanted to post something so we will be sure to have a March posting. Weather is nice here in Eastern North Carolina and the high forecast today 60's -  Sunday 70's. Feels like spring is near. Merton

Finally a new post.  I also check regularly, Merton.  I have been trying to think of something interesting to post, but have been coming up dry.  Good to see that you broke the ice.  Mostly blaah weather here in New York.  Three times in the last month it has warmed enough to melt away the snow (except the banks).  Then it goes cold again and we get another six inches or a foot. It gets pretty tiring at this time of year.  I hobbled to the garage today and put a charge on seven batteries that I have in winter storage there and tweaked the carburetor adjustment on a Homelite wind blower.  It did not want to come up to full RPM and needed just a bit more fuel.  It may have just been a compensation for 40 degree air, compared to summer air, but it revs good now.  Other than an occasional ride about on a JD H, that is about as exciting as it gets around here this time of year.  With the gasoline habit my SUV has it is pretty costly to go very far from home with today's gas $$$$.  Here is a sample of this winter.

Charlie V.

Charlie V I hope you don't get any more snow! We had a great weekend here - 70+ weather Sunday. Monday and Tuesday 50's. So warmer weather will be here and there soon! Merton

Hi Merton and Charlie;

Glad to see there is still life here on the list. I too hope we have seen the last of the snow and ice in western, Ohio. Went for 5 weeks from first of January to second week on February without seeing the sidewalk or the driveway under 2 inches of solid ice. The bulldozer at the open end of the barn was frozen in 4 inches of solid ice. That all finally melted and the snow piles and bigger drifts have melted. Last 1 1/2 weeks has been heavy rains and flooding. Washed out my driveway next to the road, first time that has happened.

Plenty cold seat time on the Case 222 with snowblower, case 446 loader tractor, Case 700 with the back blade and Mustang skid steer loader. Only 6 more weeks till spring field work.

Dried out enough this past weekend to get the lawn roller and the JD 240 tractor out and roll the airstrip and drier parts of the lawn. So now it is raining again this morning, but only light rain. Warm and dry forecast for next couple of days.

Gene

Gentlemen,

52 degrees today.  Great.  After replacing a leaking pressure relief valve on the hot water tank this AM, I put in some fine outside time.  At the start the air temp was around 40,(up from 20 something) but with warmth from the sun it was great. I managed to get under the hoods on the road vehicles to check out and fluids, check tire pressure, etc.  The snowplow bank in the picture above is down to about knee high now as are some others.  I am sure there is still some frost in the ground but with a forecast for mild all week, it will not last long. Promise for some rain in the overnight and tomorrow.  Almost time to start thinking about the lawnmower!!

I took a picture of the first Robin seen this year yesterday.  That has to be a good sign.  Will post a shot of the robin later.  My camera is downstairs now.

Charlie V.

As promised.  First Robin of 2011.

Charlie V.

Saw the first robins here about a month ago, just before the 8 inch snow. After the snow melted, I found 1 dead robin at the edge of a snow pile. Guess it rushed the season a little. Last year the same fate happened to another. Turned cold over night and found it near dead in the drive. Took it in the shop in a box, but was too late to save it. Chickadees and mockingbirds have been around for about a week.

Still 39 degrees here with misting rain. Gonna have to hurry up to get to the forecast high of 54 today. Predicting 65 for tomorrow. Got to finish my income taxes so I can enjoy the warmer weather. Frost has been gone from the ground since first of the month.

Gene

I have noticed Birds singing in the morning when I leave the house. Next week I will set out some early plants in the garden. Spring is just around the corner here in Eastern North Carolina.
Merton

I see I will have to check in here more often. There is finally some activity! Gene, chickadees are year round residents here and I put out sunflower seeds in their feeder all winter. We are normally six weeks away from field work here too but I think this year it will be longer with the excessive amount of snow we got on top of already saturated soils. You can see the snow conditions here in this video I shot on St. Patrick's day. I took the old IH Loadstar out and hauled a  load of flax seed to be  cleaned that day but not sure if I will get to plant it this year or wait til next spring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdZ9gWy3_A

Thanks for the video Ralph. Must have been a relief when you got to the clear roadway. What mode Loadstar? Worked for a neighbor farmer with a 1600. We punished that foor truck by hauling 400 bushesl or a little plus to his son's elevator 21 miles each way.

No snow left here and had 23 nice spring days in the 60's. Have been able to roll my airstrip and most of my lawn. Trimmed some trees yesterday and hauled the limbs to the woods today. Was able to fly off my airstrip for the first time this morning. Went to breakfast at Mount Victory and their grass strip was in good shape also. Hooray for spring.

Amish across the road were actually working ground to plant oats today. They only drag the top 2 or 3 inches of dirt and then plant.

Gene

The Loadstar purrs like a kitten, Ralph.  Sure looks like flat land along those roads.  It appears there is not a lot of traffic either.  

I am glad you have spring in Oh., Gene.  That means it may get here sometime later this year.  Actually Thursday and Friday took away about all of our snow but we are back to the 30's today and 29 now.  I went out with the old Cushman cart yesterday and picked up the windfall branches around the yard but had to be VERY careful where I ran the wheels.  Mostly too wet to drive on.

I will share my lesson of today.  At Walmart the other day I picked up a pack of blueberry muffins.. Very good but the berries are tiny like currents..  As I eat, I am reading the labels and learn I have gourmet blueberry muffins with wild blueberries.  That started an entire thought process of wonder about who goes into the woods and picks thousands of pounds of wild berries to supply a bakery??   Once again it is becoming more obvious how much I do not know so as usual I hit good old Google.  Well now, I learned about an entire new (actually very old) to me farming niche that I never would have dreamed of.  Very interesting.  Here is the link if you are not familiar in this specialized crop.  I am totally bonded to this danged internet.  Learn at least something every day.

http://www.wildblueberries.com/about_wild_blueberries/

Charlie V.

Gene, mines a 1600 Loadstar as well and I thought I was really overdoing it when I used to haul up to 360 bushels 12 miles to town. You have me beat. I was only running about 11,000 pounds over the manufacturer's GVW rating.
Charlie, we share an addiction to the net I guess. Blueberries are available here but we have our own home grown "poor relation" to them known as "Saskatoons". I always have some in my freezer as they grow wild here on many parts of my farm. Its kind of a nice break to get out in July and pick a pail of saskatoons. According to this http://www.prairieberries.com/  they are also rich in anti-oxidants.
Its something to look forward to on this dreary foggy morning with another 6 inches of snow forecast.

[video=youtube;Z-pRePrX8kw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-pRePrX8kw[/video]

Just testing. This seems to be the most active part of the forum so I thought I would try a different way of putting a youtube link in.

Still on the berries!!  It is interesting to see the many variations of a plant that have evolved to suit different soil, light, and temperature conditions.  I have not seen blueberries growing in wooded areas around here, but some growers do grow them comercially.  Blackcaps on the other hand do grow wild here frequently.  At home as a boy we had a low lying area where some elderberry bushes volunteered.  I used to try to pick a basket annually so my mom would make me a pie.  

Ten or so years ago we had reason to trip to Pennsylvania quite frequently.  We often stopped at a breakfast resturant in Athens Pa. .  When blueberries were in season, the pancakes served at that resturant were almost too good to describe.  The plate consisted of four or five six to seven inch pancakes with a good population of blueberries in the batter.  As if that wasn't good enough, between each pancake on the plate was another scoop of fresh blueberries.  Having that topped with butter and maple syrup was reason enough to go back there often.  If it was blueberry season I would want to be hitting the road right about now.  Talking about this makes me want a second breakfast.

Charlie V.

Just checked in to see if there had been any activity.
At first I thought there was nothing posted this month until I got down to this one.

Not looking good, but good to see that a few of the diehards are still around.

Kind of like having a private forum for the half dozen or so of us that post to this forum.

Not much news from me.
Still getting my Empire tractor ready for the Tulare show next month.
My forklift died last month (starter problems) and I haven't fixed it yet although I really miss not being able to use it.
Fortunately, my Bobcat with pallet forks fills in for the forklift in most situations.