Walk Around The Cockshutt 40

How many people even recognize the name "Cockshutt" anymore? Its a real piece of Canadian history, one of the oldest and biggest manufacturers of farm equipment until they were swallowed up by a bigger (White) company in 1962. The tractors have been part of my life for the past fifty years or so. I can remember riding home from town with my dad on this 40 back about 1967. Over the years it has done a lot of work, and had a lot of work done to it. Not a lot of it is original anymore. Engine, sheet metal, fuel tank, rear wheels and axles, one fender, seat, probably a few other items I have forgotten. But as long as it stays on this farm it will always be known as "the old 40".

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 has come and gone. Enjoyable as always and I am now using a nice new cordless mouse which replaced the old one that had a slipping clutch. The cold temperatures have cut back on outdoor activities.
 -20F (or -30C) this morning.
Another old photo has surfaced in the piles of old paper I occasionally sift through. This one , slightly water stained and mouse chewed is an old family wedding photo from 1944 showing Leslie and Betty Nevard's wedding. I could have posted it over at Nevardblog but this blog needed a little more up to date activity so here it is.

The Sun At Last

Sometimes I complain about too much sun in the summer time. In a Sask.. winter the sun is a life saver though. Those dull cloudy, foggy days are pretty uninspiring. Today the sun broke through in all it's glory. There is nothing like sunshine on white snow and deep blue sky to make a nice photo backdrop. Not that I am particularly photogenic but I find a photo is usually more interesting if there is a subject in it, be they human or animal.
I shot a bunch of video too and got a good bit of exercise walking through the deep snow. I'd say a quarter mile walk in that is about equal to a mile of walking on a good road. Much more peaceful though.
The temperature was around -10F (about -23C for those that prefer metric) but that is not bad at all as long as the wind does not blow creating that dreaded "wind chill factor" that the weather men keep warning us about.
You can see how cloudy and dull it was yesterday in this cattle feeding video from yesterday. What a difference!

Walk In The Frosty Woods

Great scenery today so I had to shoot some video and photos around the yard. Tried out a new idea for the camera. It certainly gives a different point of view.

Out In The Woods

Hoar frost always makes a good picture better. Even an ordinary background of evergreen trees look so impressive with all that frost on them. The old saying is that we will get snow or some kind of precipitation 90 days following the hoar frost and fog. Its a sure thing we will get more snow before then.
This picture is from today while out doing a little branch trimming with the "environmentally friendly saw". It uses no non-renewable resources, won't damage your hearing and not likely to kick back causing injury or death like a chain saw. Plus its more trouble to start up a cold, stubborn chain saw that probably has an empty fuel tank.
Not a whole lot happening on the farm at this time. Just keeping the cattle feeders filled with hay bales.
So many days of cloud and fog but for some reason last night's sky was incredibly clear. Stars so sharp and bright they actually had those five points like the ones in cartoons do. Not a breath of wind or a sound at something after midnight when I was out to feed the cats.

Still Shoveling Snow

Well not much today but my point is that I do still occasionally shovel a little snow here using that same shovel that is in the above picture . And that picture was taken a good many years ago. The shovel has survived loading  countless bushels of grain over the years. It even rode part ways to town on top of a load of grain one time until it fell off. I was lucky to find it undamaged on the return trip.
Its a little rusty now as most of the grain is moved by grain vac.
That old barn in the background still stands although it only houses 4 lonely chickens now. The big old truck beside it was partially dismantled and given a new life as a bale wagon. Where the truck stands in the photo there is now a truck shed/work shop built in 1972.
The kid in the picture is a little older and hopefully wiser.
Although it is  not officially winter yet according to the calendar we have already had more snow than all last winter. These extremes in temperature change are not normal. Wind chill factors in the -25C range today but predictions of thawing and more rain tomorrow. More evidence of climate change maybe?