Learning To Fly The Autel

My first attempt at editing some of the Autel drone video I have been shooting. It is a lot more work than it should be. The video files won't open in my normal windows movie maker program so I have to download a converter program to make the videos work. Maybe there are better editing programs out there but I've always used windows movie maker and know it well. Best of all it was free.

Oil Change In The Merc

47 years on an oil filter must be record of some kind. Not many miles on it but almost a lifetime of years. The old Varcon filter looked as good as new but I dropped in a new Fleetguard filter along with the new engine oil to keep the old flathead V8 healthy. Road test coming up when the weather is nicer.

New Rear Shocks On The Merc

I finally got the new rear shocks installed on the Merc in November/December. Some days were just too cold to work out on the cement floor at 0F degrees. I recorded some of the highlights as it would have been a several hour movie to watch if I'd recorded the whole thing. It is uploaded in HD. I don't know if that makes a noticeable difference to the video quality but it was a much bigger file than normal and took over an hour to upload to youtube.
Had it out for a short test drive yesterday and can't say I noticed much difference. But I know the rear axle will be more securely attached to the rest of the car with two new shocks.
In other news I've got the auxiliary wall unit gas heater working in the house again. The first guys still haven't returned my call but the one I called this morning was here and had it fixed within 4 hours of the call. I'll know who to call next time. And who not to.

Learning To Fly

But I ain't got wings. The title of the old  Tom Petty Tune came to mind today while literally learning to fly the drone. Or U.A.V. as they call it . (un-manned air vehicle). I call it a steep learning curve as I went from knowing almost nothing about it last week to being at least capable of taking off, flying and most important, landing, without incident. (Yet). Its a great new angle for photos and videos. I'll never need to pay for an aerial photo again.
Cold weather was not conducive to flying up til yesterday when we saw a major improvement in temperature. Up in the +20s.  Prior to that my fingers would freeze up and battery temp would drop so low as to cause a warning. Plus getting dizzy from walking in circles trying to calibrate the compass. Lucky that only has to be done once and I got a little help with it finally.  I'm sticking with beginners mode for the time being. It allows a ceiling of 90 feet which is pretty good height for most of the photos I want anyway.
It sounds like a swarm of angry bees and scared the cattle away from their feeders.
No doubt I will find some practical uses for it but so far it is just for fun.
In other news my gas heater had to be shut down as Sask Energy's detector found slight gas leaks on all the threaded fittings. Not enough that I could smell it but enough that the auxiliary wall heater has to be shut down and the fittings repaired. Guess I'm losing my sense of smell?

Cool Clear Morning On The Farm

Took the Gopro camera along while I did the chores this morning on a cold and clear day. Down to -30F overnight but it had warmed up to -25F by the time I got out there.
Warming up by Monday (they say).

Inside The Mercury Speedometer

Thaks to the extreme cold we have here I've had time to edit and upload a "how not to" video to youtube. I got the speedometer apart and gave it a good cleanup but was unable to repair it.
Did get the rear shocks installed in spite of the cold weather.

Yes, Its Cold Now

We are finally down to normal and below temps for December. Daytime highs just about 0 farenheit are not bad if the wind stays down. Many layers of clothes help but if I have to work with bare hands, like changing a battery yesterday, it  gets pretty hard to work when I lose the feeling in my fingers. Have to smile a bit at the irony of a space heater that won't start up when it gets really cold. It worked fine a couple of weeks ago when the temp was around the freezing mark.
Cattle seem fine as long as the feeders are full of hay although they start to complain if the water trough is empty, or full of ice.

When I was a little kid out "helping" my dad and whining about the cold he would say just beat your hands together and stomp your feet to get the blood circulating and warm. It never seemed to work for me. 

I have to say its a little less stressful and more satisfying sometimes working out in the cold with animals or machinery compared to fighting this computer trying to install a download I need for another project. Instructions sound so easy but they don't work. Its for a new project (toy). More to come on that.

Hauling Flax Bales

I took the opportunity to shoot a little video while hauling flax straw bales last weekend. One of these days I need to get a camera mount to wear while I'm out actually working throwing bales. This one makes it look like I spent all my time just driving the tractor while my helpers did all the work.

Got my "r"s Back

The letter "r" on the old asus laptop gave up completely a week or so ago so I've been improvising by copying and pasting the letter "r" from wherever I might find one handy. But it really slows down my normally fast typing speed plus the annoyance of trying to think  of words I can use to express myself that don't contain the letter r.
But I'm back and typing on a new logitech wireless keyboard that seems to work  well. It came with a spare wireless mouse too so I guess I have a spare.
We are gradually acclimatizing to the onset of normal (cold) weather. Daytime highs of 5F and a strong Northwest wind pushed the wind chill factor up into the uncomfortable zone even with the multiple layers of clothes I normally wear.
In my usual manner of getting things done just in time, I got the harvest machinery mostly cleaned up and parked in their winter shed locations before it got too cold to run them. We got the flax bales hauled off the field and stacked near the greenhouse ready for the stove when required. Before the snow got too deep in the fields.

I got a start on installing the new rear shocks on the 52 Merc but don't spend too much time laying on the floor in these temperatures as it takes the fun out when the hands start to freeze up.

Merc rear axle and  shock

Nearly froze them on Monday while chain sawing beaver logs off the fence line. Once I'd got working hard enough to get the blood circulating I was ok but for a while I was feeling that special intense pain I get when (almost ) frozen fingers start to thaw. Gloves just don't do it for me. Should have been wearing mitts.
Just about wore my back out handling some of those logs. Now I need to go back and fix the fence that got wrecked.

In the news, another blow to the Canadian cattle industry  with over 20,000 cattle quarantined and at least half going to be destroyed.