[Gene, that rain sounds depressing. Lucky you can keep busy though. It has been unusually warm here the past week and we are gradually losing our snow. Not normal at all but its nice to be able to work in the unheated shed without freezing my fingers.[/QUOTE]
 
Yes, it is depressig, but have all my important outdoor farm work done. Did a couple hauling jobs today for the Amish and did some more drywall work. Only have 2 more sheets to fit and install.

The rain has finally stopped here. Turned to snow about 4:00pm and when I checked 2 hours ago, we had about 2 inches of very wet snow on the ground and still coming down. Makes working inside more enjoyable.

Gene

Forgot to report in the previous post that many roads are under water and creeks and streams are running at near flood stage. Fields everywhere look like lakes. Seeing a lot of gulls in the fields. Probably easy pickings of all the grain and earthworms floating in the water. These are inland gulls and are so many that when they land in a field it looks like a covering of snow. They visit for part of a day and may see them miles away a few days later.

Gene

Quote:
"I think I have found the Lincoln V12 powered Ford tractor. Probably not the best tractor engine."

That Lincoln engine in the N ford is a beauty, Ralph.  Truly awesome. Great that some of those motors have survived the years.  I rode in a Zephyr owned by one of my uncles when I was a kid.  It was pretty funny at the time, because the motor had a bad rear crankshaft seal.  That caused the clutch to slip since it was constantly soaked with the leaked oil.  Getting the old Lincoln to make it over a hill required a lot of hope and a prayer.

I have located a couple of the Ford conversion pictures I have taken, so will post them here.



This next one is a beauty.







Charlie V.

Forgot to report in the previous post that many roads are under water and creeks and streams are running at near flood stage. Fields everywhere look like lakes. Seeing a lot of gulls in the fields. Probably easy pickings of all the grain and earthworms floating in the water. These are inland gulls and are so many that when they land in a field it looks like a covering of snow. They visit for part of a day and may see them miles away a few days later.

Gene

It looks like you will be dry from now until Sunday, Gene.  Hopefully that will give some of the flooding a chance to run off.  Our warm days have left us now.  Today was in the lower 30's with an unfriendly wind.  As you pointed out, it is good weather to hide in the house.  Although we are pretty saturated here, I really cannot complain much about our conditions, with tomorrow being December 1 st.  My SIL out your way took the week off to persue four legged critters.  It looks like the next three days may be better for him than the last three were.  I guess I know how he must feel.  Every time we get a cold, wet, rainy day during fall my favorite comment is "reminds me of deer season".  Been there, done that.

Charlie V.

Thanks for those old Ford pictures Charlie. I have a weakness for the flathead V8 as my formative years were spent riding in either my Dad's 39 Ford sedan or later on the 52 Merc.
Still a mild fall here in Sask. with day time temps up near the thawing point most days. Although winter is coming as I saw a dog wearing it's winter coat the other day
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My dog Bandy doesn't need a winter coat. He grows his own. He enjoys the cold weather. Would likely be at home in Sask right now. During the snow on Wednesday evening, he was laying in the snow and using a pile of leaves for a pillow. Looked pretty comfortable and had to coax him into the house for the night.

It is 47 degrees here in Ohio at 7:30pm. Had 3 dry days with moderate temperatures. Still lots of standing water and roads flooded. No field work, except for the Amish plowing, and even some of them say it is too muddy.

Reports estimate that 25 percent of the corn is still standing from northeast Indiana to northwestern Pennsylvania. More rain forecast for tomorrow and Monday and then snow for Wednesday. Will be lucky if we get a good freeze before Christmas.

Gene

It sounds like Bandy is his own man, Gene.  Folks who do not spend a lot of time with their pets do not understand the reasoning ability animals have.  As an example, I will relate an experience we had with our two English setters, Lady and Scamp.  Being litter mates and sisters, those two were a little more competitive than the breed normally is.  Perhaps it was also partly due to their field trial bred blood lines.  At any rate, Doris and I were sitting at the kitchen table one evening after dinner.  For some reason I do not remember their seemed to be mild competition between the two dogs over one dog bed at the time.  We may have put the second bed up during the day for space requirements.  Lady began agitating at the side door to be let outside.  Doris began to get up to accommodate the dog.  I stated that they had been outside about fifteen minutes ago, so I suspected that Lady was up to something else.  Scamp had custody of the dog bed at the moment.  When Doris got to the door to open it, Scamp got off the bed and ran over to go out also.  As soon as Scamp got to the door, Lady did a 180 , went to tne dog bed and laid down on it.  Going outside was the last thing Lady wanted.  I looked at Doris and calmly said "I told you there was an ulterior motive."  Doris said, " I don't believe it! "  Often having those two was like having kids in the house again.  



Charlie V.

Very nice picture of your "kids". Good story and proof of their intelligence.. Is lady on the right with the concentrated stare, or on the left with the pensive look?

Don't know if you read about our friend and fellow tractor collector, Frank Rostorfer? Frank was killed in an auto accident last Wednesday morning. Bandy was extremely fond of Frank, ever since he gave him his first golf cart ride. I told Bandy about Frank's death and he got very sad and remorseful. He has been by my side almost constantly since I told him about it. When I got home from the viewing he smelled all over me and when he smelled my hand where I had touched Frank in the coffin, he dwelled on that for some time. I really think he understands what has happened.

Still more rain here in Ohio. Has rained all day and flood warnings out for the area. Have a river running through my yard and hayfield of water finding its way to the road ditch and county ditch south of me. No where else for the water to go but seek lower ground. More rain forecast most of the week.

This weather pattern all fall has been a conveyor belt from the gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi River and Ohio River, along the west side of the Appalachions and soaking most of Indiana, all of Ohio and western Pennsylvania and New York. Hope the moisture runs out before it gets cold enough to turn to snow.

First, Gene, I wish to express my condolences re: the loss of your friend, Frank.   Bandy may understands the situation, but at the very least I am sure he is picking up on your emotions and sharing them with you.

Scamp is the one with the stare.  Lady was quite statuesque and poised.  She always sat straight arrow like the statues of sitting lions that some folks have at the end of their driveways.  Lady was normal size for her breed with an adult weight of 55-60 Lbs.  Scamp on the other hand may have been the runt of the litter of about six pups. Her adult weight maintained at 45 lbs. and she was a firecracker waiting to go off.  Their names fit them quite well.  If you looked at scamp and said "boo", she would charge.  She was a living coil spring waiting to be sprung.  It took a while for me to break her of the habit of rushing you and crashing head first into your legs.  Eventually she learned to stop or go around, but it didn't come easy.  With her extra size and weight, Lady was pretty much the "boss dog".  One day at maybe four years old Scamp decided she had had enough and stood her ground.  It cost her a small scar on her face, but I think she gained some respect.

It seems you have caught the Autumn weather that Ralph had last year.  We had a run of no rain the last part of last week and on the weekend.  Sunday was a bonus day for December in the mid 50's and mostly sunny.  I had to get out and get a few more winter ready chores taken care of.  This will make Ralph chuckle when he reads it.  I tried to loop out on the lawn with my three wheeled handicap scooter and promptly buried the back wheels. I had to get off the thing, switch it out of drive gear and pull it to higher ground by hand.  Ralph thought it was pretty bad last spring when I nearly got the lawn mower stuck.  With saturated clay about everywhere, I can get anything stuck now.  Today we have had rain off and on all day, heavier tonight. About the same is promised for the week except Wednesday.
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Charlie V.

It is quite something all the wet weather hitting Gene's part of the country. And Charlie, its hard to imagine getting stuck "in" the ground now. Here that can not happen anymore since the ground is frozen solid. We loaded semis of oats yesterday with close to 1700 bushels per trip and they never made a mark in the ground, just tracks in the snow. Wish I"d taken a picture but after standing in the cold wind for an hour or more I think my fingers were too stiff to work the camera. It had warmed up to +9 or so by the time we finished at noon. Just typical Sask. winter weather. The dogs were the lucky ones, laying by the wood stove in the house with the sun shining in through the windows.

Not much new with our weather today.  Just about like it was yesterday except a few degrees colder.  The evening news mentioned falling snow to our SE, but we have no more than an occasional flurry so far.  

Just for conversation, I am posting pictures from my collection of a two way plow.  This is a handsome old piece of equipment and just what is needed to keep the team of work horses in shape.  







I like the fancy reinforcement cast on the back of the RH moldboard.

Charlie V.

Charlie;

Couple nice looking pieces of machinery. I see the name "Chattanooga" on the moldboard. Is this the manufactures of the plow? Or is it a replacement moldboard? Is the planter a John Deere? Enquiring minds and all that!!!

Had a rain free day yesterday. Took a little drive to the south side of Indian Lake yesterday. All the farm land on the south side of the lake is flooded. Roads there and several others along the Miami River and Muchinippi Creek are flooded and closed. Farm report Tuesday morning said northwest Ohio had close to 18 inches of rain during the month of November. Low area of my airstrip is flooded. Temps a little lower with 28 degrees this morning and snow forecast for Friday.

Bedroom construction coming along nicely. New bed with memory foam mattress is really an improvement for sleeping. Really comfortable and wake up with no pains from the mattress. They really do work!!.

Gene

Good Morning,

Gene, it is my guess the moldboard on the plow has been changed as the two of them do not match.  I was unable to find a manufacturers name on that piece of equipment.  These implements were located at The Bradford County Manor in West Burlington, Pa. along the famous Route 6. Some residents at The Manor are well along in years and may have used  equipment similar to this during their lifetimes.  Knowing this, a kind and considerate person restored the items and placed them at the Manor for the enjoyment the residents.  I was impressed by the thoughtfullness of that kind gesture as well as by the impliments.  Naturally it was necessary to crank up my camers for a few shots.

Now for the planter.  I was saving that as fodder for another day, but since your sharp eye spotted it and today is another day, here it is.  It is clear to see the planter is a David Bradley.  I am not positive, but that makes me think of Sears Roebuck.

 



Charlie V.

The pictures of the planter are very defining that it is not John Deere. The wheels though are very similar, but the seed and fertilizer boxes are very different. JD fert boxes were placed lower and forward of the wheels.

I spent many hours riding the seat of our converted JD horse drawn planter as a young farm boy. Still remember the effort to raise the planter exactly as we reached the end rows. We pulled it with a F-12 Farmall with one brother driving and another brother working ground with the Farmll H. We would trade off from time to time so wouldn't get so boring. Seems like it took forever to plant 40 acres of corn and 20 acres of soybeans. Even wide open in 3rd gear we would often get off and walk behind the planter to work out the kinks and break the boredom. Sometimes when three of were planting, one would wait at each end of the field and get on the planter to raise it at the end and lower it again to start the new row and get off and wait for the next round.

Nice how a few pictures can bring back so many memories that have not crossed our minds for so many years.

Gene

Thats a unique plow Charlie. I didn't know the reversible plows were available for horse power.
It was -12 here this morning, thats farenheit degrees too so its a little cool to be working outside. I took the opportunity to convert a little more old video tape to digital and got it on display at youtube. This how we break up grassland here back in 1989. [video=youtube;R16aT43_j84]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R16aT43_j84&feature=youtu.be[/video]