Category: Tractor Work

Wax Melter and Tractor Chores

So far the test on the wax melter has gone really good. It has melted the wax at a temperature close to what it says on the digital screen. I should put the thermometer in and see how it measures at the bottom, and see if that is accurate. It was off a bit when I measured at the top, which could be expected as there is likely more heat just down by the heating element. I adjusted the temp down and will see tomorrow or the next day how it does, but first, I have it shut off right now to see how it does at reheating a full pot. That is a lot of wax. It has cooled to the point it has solidified, but it is still warm tonight. I can see why one person I either watched or read or met said to put a large pot of wax on a stove in order to keep a room warm after the fire is out. It has been warmer up in that room since I heated the wax up to begin with.

I traded rear implements on the tractor today and scraped the driveway up the side of the house smooth with the box blade. It is not great, but the outcome is better than it was before when I would drive across that area and wobble left to right and front to back over all the bumps in the mud and ice. I also sorted out a pile of mud out by the mailbox and made that area smooth again.

The shop is a bit messy by the door, so I cleaned up in there a bit so I can get to the workbench and do some work there. It is cold, but I think I have a couple of decent days in the forecast to get out and do a few little things.

The animals got fed, the firewood brought in, and the only thing oreally out of sorts was a little extra chore today when I drove over to where I check on the llamas across the street and also looked for the source of some gunfire there. We don’t allow hunting on our property, but sometimes around here, people don’t really respect that, so I have put up signs which have fallen down and I have to go out and see what is up when I hear gunfire. Whomever it was turned out to be off our place, and from the sounds of it, shooting a .22 caliber. While I was sat at the roadside I scared a couple of pheasants up, which I suspect was what they were after. In the end, I never saw the hunter.

It’s 8:30, the kids are having more fun than any kid should be while doing dishes, and the cats are going nuts tearing through the house after each other. My goal will be to go upstairs soon to do some learning time, then go to sleep. With the end of the year coming on, I would like to do some resolutions this year for my own good. Those will include more shop time, and more time milling and making candles. Let’s see what kind of a business I can make out of those, shall we? On a down side, it feels like another cold is coming on. And I am not the only one in this house to feel it. What a season it has been!

Firewood and Car Trouble

I was feeling wonderful today, so I got out and worked on the firewood that needed cutting and splitting. I was nervous about the chain on the saw because I know I did not sharpen it evenly. Still, it cut fantastically, and I was able to get through the logs with great speed.

Once the logs were to length, I picked them up with the tractor bucket in threes, then use that to table them next to the log splitter. The splitter is right next to the bunk, so every piece was put right into it when it was done. It took a lot longer than I would like to have for the amount I split, which is due to the speed of the log splitter. I could do with a faster one.

After the splitting, I went in and Missus and I washed the dishes and dried and put them away. I helped her out with some of her artwork after that. She finally went for an afternoon nap, and I rested before picking the girls up at the bus stop.

I had a nap after getting the kids home, and just woke up. I am looking forward to what I an get at tomorrow if things persist. I had a nasty bout of me rheumatism on Saturday, but today was one of those, “So this is what it feels like to feel normal,” kinds of days!

We are down a car thanks to the design of the engine block on our Ford. It started off by overheating. Then it continued and did it more frequently. I am all done with that because I have turned it in to the salvage yard rather than pay the $9,000 they wanted to repair it. So, because of this, my 15 year old daughter and I are meant to go to the city on Friday for a doctor’s appointment then go car shopping.

Moving Wood Processing to the Service Yard

What can I complain about muscle sore. It is so much easier than the pain in the bones due to the arthritis. But I am chronicling days without it, so today I was muscle sore. To make it a bit easier, the heavy work I did today was all in the tractor. So it was pretty easy. Don’t get me wrong. A person gets tired from driving a tractor. The go pedal is quite a bit stiffer to push down than a car is, and there is a lot of steering in a tight space like I was working in. It does wear a body out.

Today I started moving the firewood from the back by the mill to the Service Yard. Most if it looks like it is cut, though there are some smaller rounds that do need to be cut to length, and some slabs from the mill. There is a decent pile out back still, but it is going to have to be put into the bucket and carried up as I am not intending to do a land transfer. The bucket picks up too much dirt, and the pallet fork drops all the long slabs and little rounds left out back. It is to be manual labor then.

I’ll have help again tomorrow. I can either ask him to help with the loading of the wood out back or have him run the splitter and I go get the wood out back. But the strategy is meant to include me lifting the logs to the splitter table with the tractor. Save backs. I could also use some help with the table saw and/or the planer to get that wood finished for the rabbit run. Tough choice with a rainy week coming up, and I want to have the wood piled and covered as soon as possible. I also want the rabbits covered in their new home as soon as possible, too.

I will be finishing this blog post up in a moment, and it will be 6:30PM, then it is off to work outside some more. I can get an hour or two in before evening rest. I am eager to get this sorted out so I can get to work on other things, such as setting up blanks for the lathe, or milling some wood to build a fuel shed and a woodshed, and even a new chicken coop or an open front shed for the tractor implements.

I look forward to milling the wood in the back for more than just making lumber. I am eager to get the practice in so I can open up a small milling service and hire to the public. Might as well make a little money!

Well, off to work!

A Lovely October Day Working

It has been a day of work and family down on the farm today. Our second son came by and helped out with the wood again, and it was very welcome help, for sure! There was a distraction from getting started, and I should have seen to it before we walked out to the log pile and started the splitter.

First things first, I sent the kids off to school. After coming back from meeting the bus I back dragged the driveway where there is a bit of mud in a couple of places. Always good to have a flat drive, and the weather promises to be in the 60’s and 70’s this week.

The distraction was the cardboard in the trailer. I suggested we could either throw it out on the ground temporarily, or we could go up to his place and get all his cardboard, take it all to the recycling bin, then come back with an empty trailer and get started on the wood. He took that option. When we got to the bin with all the cardboard a whole heap of wasps started circling one of the big boxes from his house and confused us because he has kept is cardboard inside, and it has not been there that long. Made no sense that wasps would build a house so quickly this late in the year. I grabbed the box and tossed it in the bin, nonetheless. It was only then that I realized we would be stopping into the salvage yard next door to drop off the broken microwave that I had dumped in the trailer at the very beginning of loading it a week or so ago.

At the salvage yard the guys there were friendly and helpful as always. When asked if we wanted it weighed, I passed as it was not going to net enough to walk in and collect on. There is only so much worth actually dealing with.

We came back to the house, and I took the trailer with the tractor to the back and set it down next to the end of the log splitter. Then I began the job of picking up the wood with the tractor to set it on the log splitter, rather than lifting it all by hand and back. Most importantly by back! I lift it all in the bucket and then use the bottom of the bucket as a table even to the table height of the splitter.

Son kept his self busy splitting as fast as he could, and tossing the readied logs into the trailer to carry around to the log bunk all in one go.

When it got close to time for him to want to leave to get ready to pick his son up from school I suggested we stop a little early so he could go visit with his mom a bit first, rather than run in, run out, and go. He wanted to do that rather than get in trouble with her.

After it all, I rested a spell as I was still tired from all the work. Happily, I was muscle tired, and the bones are well today. I Am thrilled about that! I got the girls from the bus stop, ate supper, then took a nap.

The evening found me putting water out for some animals that had run low, and getting a couple of huge logs from the front of the service yard, as I might was well get them processed and burned so I can clear up the service yard. It is getting to be a mess in there, and it really doesn’t need to be. Far from!

It’s 8:00PM now, and about time to start looking forward to bed. I need to get ready to do more wood processing tomorrow, and hopefully even get some boards sorted out for the long ends of the rabbit hutches. I have the water carrier ready out front so I can go fill up some more animal troughs. I suspect there are a couple who could use a top up. I am also informed that we are down to one gallon of milk in the house, and that the whole corn in the feed bin is about gone. There are two more jobs to get at as soon as I can.

So that’s it for today. Time for this old man to go wind up his day before bed.

The Mud is Gone!

The mud has gone from all parts of the yard. Some patches had to be buried to vanish them, but after I did that with the tractor, I let things sit a couple of days and then gave it a go in the garden with the tiller. I was able to till without striking mud or sinking down too mauch anywhere. This morning I tilled the whole garden space again with the back flap on the tiller dropped all the way down, and it levelled the garden pretty good!

We had a gopher digging back in the orchard next to an apple tree. Yesterday I dug down and found the opening to his den and stuffed a pipe into that. Then I closed everything off again around the pipe and stuck the other end of it into the tractor exhaust pipe. I let that run till it was too hot to hold anymore, and then shut it off, pulled the pipe, and sealed the den. No more fresh tailings in front of the den this morning. I suppose that instead of eating the tree’s roots, the tree is going to be fertilized off the gopher.

I worked in the shop a bit today. The workbench by the south wall is finished for the time being. I only need to get a couple of fixtures and some bulbs to put some lights above it. I am happy with how it came out. I am happy that I got it pretty much the same height of the main workbench across from it, so i can span larger items from one to the other. I do need to get some electric power to it. I’ll be setting up my beeswax melters over there, and an oven to reseason my cast iron, too. That will get the stench of that chore out of the house, and make it easier if I find myself stripping old seasoning off the iron first.

I just have a lot of stuff that could use a home out of the workspace.

Missus is setting up to run an at home business with quite a few possible products. We have got a 60 inch loom set up now, and there are a lot of thigns she wants to make on that. We also have a potter’s wheel and a kiln set up, ready to start throwing. We both have lathes, and plenty of other tools for making all manner of things. I still need to get the sawmill set up. But that will come soon. It is getting time to get firewood going, and some wood to saw. It is also getting time to get the llamas shorn. We have busy days ahead of us!

The kids are finished up with their homeschooling. They will both be going to public school in the autumn. One is accepted to the school we wanted, and we are still waiting for a reply for the other.

This summer brings a whole change of pace for us here on the farm. It ought to be an advanture! With us both trying to earn here at home, nothing will be the same again.

Hydraulic Toplink

Well, that’s one hydraulic toplink installed on the tractor. I did not make a video of it as I wanted it done. Besides, there are loads of videos on the internet already that show how to do it on the same or similar tractors. Any of those is sufficient. I watched quite a few and anticipated troubles before I started mine, so I had a goodd idea of what to expect, and it went on quite easily.

As you can see, I put the check valve on the bottom, and have not yet done anything about the wire to hang it from when not in use. That is not a huge concerne as I have so far never had the tractor without an impliment on the three point. It doesn’t make sense to if constantly or even unexpectedly using the loader is benefited by the extra weight on the rear of the machine.

When fully lifted, the hoses will bump into the fuel tank, which is not satisfying. The curve of th hoses bumps into the angled arm of the box blade, too, which is also not satisfying. So there may be a change when I work out how it needs to be directed for that not to happen.

The ability to just flip a lever in the cab to lengthen and shorten the toplink sure is a lot easier than getting out and turning a huge turnbuckle to do the same. That’s better in the weather, and it is much quicker and easier when an angle would highly benefit the drag of the box blade.

I founf that tilting the blade fully back is relatively non-destructive for the grass, and cutting down mole hills. Tilting it fully forward digs right in! That is very destructive. Perhaps I will fine the tile back much better for snow removal next winter, since there is obviously not going to be any more measurable snowfall this year. Obviously. Which, by the way, today’s snow did not amoung to much, so that is a relief. I think tilting back is good for simple smoothing. That ought to come in very handy while doing further driveway repairs after this hellish mud season! Tilting back should hopefully be less destructive while clearing snow off any of our grass driveways, so they hopefully won’t turn into mud in the first place!

Finally, I can think of the scarifiers digging in deeper when the box blade is tilted forward during use. Handy or not, now the angle is up to me, and easily achieved.

The Mud Situation

The weather relaxed this evening, though we are meant to wake up to snow again tomorrow morning. I got out a bit this afternoon and hada go at the start of the driveway towards the backyard with the tractor. I was able to smooth some of it down and make it almost passable. But the quicksand bed is still there, lingering half way back towards the backyard.

The middle of this photo is a bed of quicksand. As soon as I drive the tractor past where my footprints lead up to, in it goes. I suspect that it is deep enough to bury even my back wheels if I get into it.

So the drive is much smoother and more stable now leading up to the patch where I get that sinking feeling. I was able to scrape some of the earth that had been pushed out to the side of the drive back into it with the box blade. I then smoothed with a backdrag. I was even able to get back to another pit at the entry of the Service Yard, but that is only a place where I have to drive past, and quite close to the pit, I might add. I don’t think I will be going into the Service Yard for some time yet, as there are a couple of quicksand pits in it.

The water here is the first place I lost my tractor into the mud.

The water inbetween the gates is the spot that brushes so close to the main driveway, and also threatens to swallow my tractor whole.

Here is the water from the previous picture and the driveway area that I was able to smooth out. It is a close call as some of the drive had been collapsing into the water, but a bit of fresh, relatively dry dirt was able to shore it up some.

Finally, once I can get the tractor to the back of the property, this is what awaits me where the animal feed has been kept. There is no good way into it till the water recedes from the farm behind our house. Every approach to the hay has been waterlogged and the tractor has sunken into it. All I can do is get close enough, then hand carry the bales to the loader on the tractor and carry it from there.

This is all a mental note to self not to put the hay back on the garden spot again. I need to gravel the drives, and the spots I intend to park and move about with the tractor, and I need to gravel a spot to rest the hay on. This place has clearly not worked!

A Passing Snow Squall in the Night

I woke up nearly at 2:00 AM last night. After tending to my personal reason for waking, I went back to bed, and checked the weather on my tablet. There were four weather alerts but two were about actual precipitation. The first was a typical winter weather advisory, and the second warned of a snow squall about to hit our place. Well, I have heard of blizzards and the like before, and seen them on occasion. But a squall? I may have been through them before, but the only way to know for certain was to stay up the fifteen minutes necessary to let this squall set in over us. Once the allotted time had passed, I checked out the glass of the balcony door. Looked pretty much like a blizzard to me! There was little visible but sheets of snow hammering down from the sky. I could see the neighbor’s house, and the people next to them while their light was on. But beyond that, nothing could be seen but the snowfall. It came down pretty steadily at about a 45-degree angle. It would have certainly laid down a lot of snow if it stayed around for longer, but it only lasted about an hour. Then we were back to a clear night with high cloud cover. Nothing to worry about.

By morning about three inches of snow topped what we already had on the ground from previous days. I cleared that from the dog walk and the mailbox approach with the tractor. It was light and fluffy. Would have been great for skiing in! As we are only about two weeks till the start of Spring, I sure welcome it! Go ahead and do your will, old sky. It’s not like we don’t need the snow to help us long!

My next task is to get the dehydrator going and put in some meat I got to make jerky with. It has marinated long enough by now, and I need to do this before it goes bad. I thought I had reports due for the school, but they are not due till next week. I won’t want to keep it till then, as it is my birthday then. It is a happy Sunday here on the farm!

Snow Handling with a Tractor

It’s two degrees above freezing outside right now, gone after 5:30 PM. This winter has been pretty warm. The snow on the ground seems wet, and we keep getting puddles then ice skating rinks all around. I plow the dog walking path, and the top has a new finish on it by morning when the flat snow has melted during the day, then iced over during the night. It’s not the safest environment to walk in. Then again, we have had worse. But as winter seasons go, this is not a cold one, for sure.

So far this year we keep getting little bits of snow. We put in the footprints, then within a few days they are gone. It snowed maybe an inch and a half last night! It was just enough to want to clear it, but not enough to change the world or end the drought. But who knows what the cumulative effect of all this snow will be? We just need it to keep coming!

I am not entirely sure that the tractor would handle a single heavy snowfall. If I had a proper snow pusher or plow blade, then yeah, I think it would do amazing things. But with a loader bucket and a box blade, it has limits to what it can move in each pass.

All the snow clearing burns fuel. The cost of fuel is not very low this year, as you know. And as it keeps falling in these little bits at a time, I get to burn plenty of fuel to keep the place clear.

Between all this, I am trying to establish a snow strategy. Where are the best places to pile it up? How much should hit the ground before I clear it up? What areas should I clear off, and what should I leave? It’s great to have a cab and be able to work any time of day or night and stay warm.

One of the things that has really paid off with the tractor though is the ability to walk around outside without being forced into little foot-made paths that weave around almost randomly. I have full walkways and plenty of room to drive vehicles around without getting stuck.

Feeding has been so much easier this year! I put a bale in the bucket and take it around to where the llamas and horse is and deliver a couple of flakes per animal. By the time I am done with the paddocks with one or two animals in each, I have a final one with three that I can just dump the rest of the hay into. It is dead easy. It means I only end up out of the tractor three times after I have loaded the hay into the bucket. And those three times are very short, and don’t really require a coat. Makes a lovely winter chore list! There are other times I am out of the tractor for longer, but for feeding the goats, and for loading firewood into the bucket to take to the house. The bucket can carry a full load for a 24-hour burn. That never takes too long, so I have hardly been cold this winter compared to previous years!

There is a lot to get doing soon. When my workbench shows up in the next week or two, and I get it set up, I expect it to increase my opportunities to work in the shop. All I need to depend on is being able to warm it in there and being able to find some wood to work with! I can sure imagine a few things to build on it! I can also image being able to clear up and do some more candles.

That’s what is on my mind right now. All that and a bag of popcorn. I think I’ll go get that popping!

Going to Get Colder!

After our previous report about the cold, today was playing out to be a mellow day when a friend of mine texted and asked if we thought we were going to be in the range of the negative temperature storm heading into the US. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I saw two of the kids were messaging and I looked at the video one posted, and there was my answer. I think you will look back upon this as the Christmas Freeze of 2022. Whatever it gets called, it’s going to get very, very cold. We are anticipating windchills as low as -25F, and we are only going to get brushed by the arctic air as it barrels into the US from Canada in the next 48 hours or so. Wind gusts here are expected to reach 50 mph, but I will be the first to admit that the wind never reaches up to what is anticipated. I suspect based on normal weather predictions compared to reality, we will see wind gusting to 35 mph. That at about 2F is enough to still make it a hellish cold.

I spent three and a half hours today working with our animals that live outside, and prepared them with food, bedding, water, and whatever I could to keep them out of direct wind and show. We are meant to get snow starting tonight, then going on till the day after tomorrow. Again, all we can do is wait and see. But this is going to goof with a lot of people’s travel plans over Christmas, including the kid who posted the video in Messenger who has to travel back home from where he works in another state. He’s excited. He already has the record among people I know for longest commute to work, four days, when we went to work this last week. All of that was due to weather, too.

Well, it is tired time, and I am going to go to sleep. Will probably be clearing snow tomorrow afternoon, or the next morning. It’s going to be interesting!