Grandpa Nevard's Saw

While working on one of my projects recently I pulled out one of the antique hand saws that I seem to have accumulated here over the years. I know there are power saws that will do the job better, faster and with less effort but in the spirit of making do with what I have I went with this one.
Although after a  few minutes I found it did not work well at all it was still interesting to read the fine print on the saw.

It has "H.W. Nevard" stamped on the handle so I'm guessing it was one that my grandfather brought from England when he first came to Canada in 1905. Probably one that he acquired while working as Carpenter's Apprentice in Lexden, Essex, U.K.  It shows signs of hard use with a break in the handle.
W. Tyzack and Turner & Sons stamped on the frame as well as the name "Non Pareil" over the little elephant image. No doubt a brand name from long ago.

I was thinking of a fellow blogger, Gorges Smythe when I took the saw photos since he appreciates a good wood working tool and writes an interesting blog you might like to check out some time.

Losing Our Snow

Not that we had a lot to begin with but these 40 degree days are slowly taking the snow away. Its nice working conditions but not normal for this time of year and makes you wonder if it is going to stay this "hot and dry" for the rest of the year. That could be trouble for growing crops but on the positive side, it will dry up some of the many flooded acres that have been growing nothing but bulrushes for the past 7 years or so.
We have had practically no hoar frost and fog this winter. The old saying was that you expect precipitation 90 days from when you see the frost and fog. If its true we can't expect much for the next 90 days or so.
Too wet and muddy to take the Merc out for a spin now but last weekend I took a drive and did a fly-along video  with the drone which worked pretty well. I only forgot to hit the record switch once.
My latest complaint is "Chinese Junk". Not the old sailing ships but the machine parts that used to be quality American built parts but are now made in China and sometimes of questionable quality. One of the made in China gearboxes on the big grain auger was leaking oil so bad after only 2 and a half harvests that I removed it only to find bad news. It appears that whoever assembled it at the factory did not have a snap ring properly in place and that allowed a bearing to slip out of alignment and the shaft to flop around so much it damaged the seal and the gear. Pretty disgusting on a $300 gear box. I can patch it up with a new seal but don't like the idea of having it fail in the middle of unloading an expensive load of granular fertilizer here this spring.
Income tax figures all tallied up and calculated this week. The only thing more amazing than how much money I made is how much I spent!. As farmers we sure do contribute to the economy.
Not that I'm complaining.

See Me On Google Earth

Of course everybody is on google earth. Some visible, some not. Some on street view and some in their vehicles. I am in a "vehicle", actually tractor. I noticed an unusual pattern on one of the fields of Winstanley Grove from 2000 feet up. The field was obviously in the process of being worked so I only had to look a little closer to see my tractor and cultivator at work. That would put it at about 2:00 pm in the afternoon of August 21 of 2012.

Of course hardly anybody works summerfallow anymore as it is considered an inefficient and outdated practice these days. Wasting fuel, eroding  the soil and  releasing  the dreaded carbon to the atmosphere that  will  eventually destroy the world.  I  figure I'm pretty well  balanced  though when you zoom out and  see the huge "carbon  sink" on the rest of the 800 acre patch. Those poplar bushes,  according to what  I have read, absorb  a  lot  of carbon.  So I would  hope I am at least  carbon neutral and can continue my summerfallowing  if  I choose to.  

If you zoom out a bit  on google earth you can see the rest of the hundred acre woods that starts just to the left of this photo. 

Readers of the other blog, Nevardblog, will recognize the name Winstanley Grove as the homestead of great uncle Arthur Nevard.  That little clearing in the trees at lower left of the photo was his yard where  only the remains of the cellar  hole containing the collapsed walls of his log house remain. 

What would the great uncles and grandfathers say seeing a picture like this? Just shake their heads in amazement I'd say. 

Sunrise Sunset

No, I was not thinking of the tune from "Fiddler on the Roof". It just occurred to me that I watched both the sunrise and the sun setting from the seat of the tractor for the first time in quite a while.

It was grain hauling day and I was clearing snow in the yard well before the sun came up. Not a lot of snow compared to a normal winter but it still takes time to do a decent job and make room enough for the big trucks to get around without getting stuck.
Then off to the hundred acre woods with the blade and grain vac to spend an hour or so clearing a path and turn around area for the trucks there.
Although it started out cold at -5F it turned out to be one of the nicer days of the week. Sunshine and no wind. That grain vac sucked up a couple thousand bushels of wheat in short order and with a whole lot less exertion than an auger and shovel used to take. Even so it was a good workout for my aching back but have to say it feels better tonight than it has all week. I think I overdid it lifting that heavy cast pto off the tractor last week. I should have known.
By the time I'd done a little more snow clearing in the yard after the trucks left, it was past sundown. Cats and cattle were looking for their feed and water.