Bondo For The Merc

Beautiful warm weather for Easter weekend. Up to 73F on Friday which is well above normal. Still hardly any rain but somehow the grass is starting to grow. Cows are happy to get out and forage for what they can find but they always come back to fill up at the bale feeder.

Finally got a picture of the little new calf that is now two days old. Looks to be doing alright. First one for the year. I was planning to add a photo of it but it seems google or blogger has come up with some new way to confuse me and I can't figure it out. Maybe later. Ok, I got it.

Fields drying up early but I've only seen one tractor out harrowing so far. I'm  in no hurry as its not late. Been practicing my body repair skills (car body, not human) and its going well. Got the spare fender for the Mercury patched up and looking 100% better. Even sprayed a bit of red primer paint to cover it up. Amazing how good a match red primer is for the faded red of the car. Or else I'm that colour blind.

Bison In The Hundred Acre Woods

Nice sunny days lately inspire me to get out and get something done. That new ground where the cats cleared a bit of bush for the new bison fence last fall was left way too rough for my liking. So I spent a good part of the afternoon with the tractor and blade pushing and dragging dirt around to level it off. Of course the curious bison came along to see what I was up to. My own spooky cows would have taken off on the run in the opposite direction but not these.

The ground looks better now but needs the stumps and sticks gathered up and hauled away.
I got a little sand blasting done on the "new to me" fender skirts for the 52 Mercury that were mailed to me by a facebook friend. Some people rant on about the evils of facebook but I'd have to say its been all good for me. Met some good people there.
The sand blasting went well but I got side tracked (as usual) and attempted to weld the crack in the original hood from the 52 Merc. Yes, the one  that I cracked in the process of straightening and repairing the dent. I'm still a real amateur with wire welding but managed to get it welded up and looking half decent. In spite of burning a hole through it in the process. Nice thing about welding is you can usually repair the damage you create accidentally.
Not sure if I'm going to tackle actually cutting out the rusted portion of the replacement fender and welding in a new patch. It looks so easy on youtube but I might just fall back on my old standby (Bondo filler).
Got a little renovation done on the vintage barn in my yard replacing a big window with one half the size. I was able to find some almost matching vintage drop siding to fill in the hole. I'm no carpenter, more what my dad used to call a "wood butcher" but it looks good enough for me.
Kind of sad to watch great Uncle Jack's old barn being salvaged for barn boards for decorative purposes I guess. Its getting weaker as boards are removed and our strong winds will take it down flat one of these days. Its been a great background for a lot of my photos over the years. But its not my barn or my property so...

Post Harvest Work

Now that the big important job of harvesting is done I can try to catch up on other things needing to be done before winter. I finished the engine oil change on the IH combine but did not get the dust blown off it yet. I did get the pull type John Deere cleaned up and parked in the shed for winter. Also the air seeder tank and the swather. That little John Deere tractor with its super smooth power steering is sure the real thing for backing machinery into tight corners (without hitting anything).
I also got the last of the hay bales hauled home from Nevardland. Driving an open tractor I knew I needed to get that job done before the real cold weather set in. The ten mile round trip on a cold day is not something I want to do. Today was nice enough. I even took the time to check out this old 2 wheeled harrow cart that has emerged now that the high waters have receded in the creek.

At the end of the day, or at least sundown, the moon rose so clear and big that I had to get a picture of it as I was parking the Merc back in the shed for the night. Reminded me of a song from the "Doo-wap era"

Another Look At The Merc

I took this photo of the 52 Merc's interior this evening. Yes, those are rust holes in the floor but aside from that, and the trashed seat and headliner, it is not too bad. I was in there taking a few pics of things for another Mercury collector in the U.S. Its always interesting to compare the differences between U.S. and Canadian built vehicles.
I have not yet tried to start the engine but if this weather gets much milder I might just be inspired to try it. With a 6 volt tractor battery, most of the valves operating, and a temporary plastic fuel tank rigged up there is really no reason why it should not run but ...
Over the years I have had a repetitive dream of driving this car and I guess the only way to stop it is to make it happen. Not saying its going to become a valuable custom collector car or even a road worthy daily driver at this point. Just need to hear that old flathead run and move under it's own power. Old four door sedans are never going to be worth as much as the cost of restoring them.

Here is a photo showing how the dash looked when new on a typical 52 Merc. It had a real space age/aircraft type look to the controls.