More Of The Same

Its been an easy winter so far. No snow to move but enough to keep everything white and looking "normal". Above normal temps are agreeable even if they are cause for concern of climate change.
Not a whole lot happening at present. While temps are above normal it is still cold working with bare hands on rusty old vehicles in an un heated shed.
I did get the front bumper of the Mercury removed finally. It had an uneven look to it all the time and I thought I might be able to improve on it. Not so sure now. That is one heavy piece of iron. They built bumpers like a bull dozer blade in 1952. I found one completely broken off bracket on the left side and it appears to have been that way for a long time.

Now do I attempt to weld it back on and probably damage the chrome surface? Or align and bolt the bumper back in place trusting that the remaining intact brackets will be sufficient? Re-chroming that bumper would likely more than double the value of the entire car at this point yet it would not do a thing towards improving drivability. (Spell check doesn't think that is a word?)
Meanwhile, back in the real world where serious news is happening, check out fellow blogger Budd E. Shepherd's latest blog post at the lazy farmer blog.

Will It Ever End?

No, not complaining about winter, but this endless debate about the safety of gmo crops and food. I get a little tired of reading and talking about it but this news item about a recent video caught my attention today. License to farm
It is an attempt to explain some of the facts and dispel the myths and misguided thinking some seem to have about "franken foods". Comments about roundup injected into the seeds! Good grief! Not a clue.
From this simple uneducated farmer's point of view, and gmo canola is all I am familiar with., the genetic modification to roundup ready canola is as simple as the name. It is resistant to the herbicide Roundup, or it's generic equivalent herbicides. No more or less.
Herbicide resistance is something that occurs naturally over time in crops and scientists have simply taken advantage of that trait and used it to our (the grower's) advantage to develop a strain of the canola plant that can be sprayed with roundup and thrive while all weeds around it die. That simple. It is a cheap and safe herbicide that allows us to grow a clean, and therefore more profitable , crop.
Conventional (non roundup ready) canola required herbicide to control weeds too. More expensive and no safer than roundup.
Meanwhile, on a more interesting and enjoyable topic, one of my favourite youtube channels has a new video about what else, rusty old cars. The latest from coldwarmotors.

 

Grandma's House

That is how we always referred to it as kids for obvious reasons. I've covered the construction of this house previously over in the Nevardblog a while back.
It was a little surprising to see it listed for sale today. Although it has been out of the family since 1972. Still looks much the same.

Looking for a good starter home? Take a look here. 

Grandma's house for sale

I will always remember it as seen in this photo from 1961. 

Lazy Blogging

Maybe its a little lazy blogging just to post a link to my latest youtube video. But some days I don't have much to say.
I posted this "how to" video yesterday for the flathead guys who might find it handy when needing to do a compression test on their engine and nobody handy to push the starter button. Not likely a lot of people will find that too interesting. Maybe I need to start a whole new blog devoted to the 52 Mercury.
I got a lot of hits on the "Cutting Bulrushes in January" vid from a few days before. No critical comments yet.
I did manage to upset the safety police on one forum when they watched my hammer mill video from November. In which I purposely stepped over the moving drive belt several times, just couldn't resist annoying people I guess. It looks dangerous but trust me, its safe. So safe you wouldn't believe it.

Starting The New Year Right

Beautiful , unseasonal winter weather. Getting together with family and friends for some outdoor fun and a great meal. Not bad.
Shooting and blowing up things out on the ice. Great scenery with just enough snow and ice to play in but not enough to shovel or start a tractor to move.

Sunshine and smoke out on the ice.

And even got in a few tours with the Merc. Looking good on Jan. 1 , 2016.