What A Difference A Week Makes

Just in case the past few blog posts of family history and boring old letters is getting to be too much for some, here is a bit of an update on life on the farm.
When I shot this video last week it was in the -20F range with raging winds blowing the snow around. The wind chill factor was way up there  and I really appreciated my oasis of trees here that sheltered me, most of the time, from the worst of it while riding the open Massey tractor carrying a hay bale. The cattle were, as usual, appreciative :-)

This week the above normal temperatures are a real improvement. Time to get out and catch up on some of the jobs I had put off due to the extreme cold. Like putting 150 bushels of oats through the antique IH hammer mill. It gives me and the antique Cockshutt 50 tractor a good hour and a half of exercise, not including the preparation time. This is the only work that tractor does nowadays and considering how much oil goes through it I guess it is enough. I thought it had improved but after working a while I noticed the snow under the engine had a black spot where oil was dripping. I checked the bolts on the timing gear cover where the leak seems to originate and was able to tighten one a few turns. It improved but did not eliminate the leak.