Overheating In Winter

Someone commented many years ago that if you can keep a Ford cool in summer and warm in winter you are doing good. The old 52 Merc did ok on the  hot summer days I drove it recently but today it boiled the radiator with the temp in the teens and snow on the ground. Of course I had covered the radiator to help bring it up to normal operating temp. The heat gauge was starting to show a bit above normal but when I felt the hoses on the engine it did not seem too hot so I continued driving. It did ok until I got a bit stuck in snow and was doing some forward/reverse rocking to get moving again. Steam from under the hood told me it was time to shut down. Anti freeze was spraying like a fountain from a previously undetected hole in the radiator top tank. This soaked the distributor and coil, further complicating re-starting. I had to "macgyver" up a replacement coil wire after I damaged the original trying pull it out of the coil.
So I got a little exercise walking home for the Massey to pull the Merc out of the slightly stuck situation. Then walk back to bring the tractor home after getting the Merc safely back in it's shed. The sun was down but not fully dark by the time I closed the doors for the day. Overall a pretty good day.
Oh yes, I also became a great uncle for the second time as of early this morning.