Heavy Hail

Not on me but a few miles South there are fields that are devastated with close to hundred percent hail damage from Tuesday night's storm. Even the grass in the ditches is too flat to even cut for hay now. Heavy rain, winds, and hail stones broke a few windows, damaged siding on buildings. We dodged the bullet this time but maybe not the next one. We are just entering what used to be considered the high risk time for hail storms. As my grandmother used to refer to the "fateful eighth" of August when they had a major hail storm pass through and wipe out crops.
I took a few poor photos yesterday while driving by some of the damaged fields.

Looking through my cracked windshield at that light coloured field behind the trees shows the damage. It should still be green but is now dyng off due to hail damage. Hail adjusters will be busy.

Haying Was Going Well

Until it wasn't . I did get off to a good start raking and doubling up all the swaths. The inch and a quarter of rain the other day did not seem to hurt it too bad and it still has fair colour. Today was an ideal drying day with 80 degree temps and wind blowing.
Finished raking and back home for the baler (and very late dinner). There was some ominous looking clouds but way off to the North which were far away.

Got maybe half the baling done when it got a little too quiet behind me. Figured a shear pin had broke as I was turning but it was way worse than that. For some reason the middle u joint had broken . By some miracle the spinning pto shaft did not self destruct before I shut it down. The broken joint appears well greased and no noticeable wear. 

Those are the worst kind of breakdowns. The ones that happen for no apparent reason. 

Will I find new parts for a 40 some year old baler? Will I get it together and finish baling before the next rain hits? To be continued...

Fields of Blue

Finally got over to the flax field early enough today to take some pictures of it flowering. Seems to shut down in afternoon but it was in fine form this morning. With the neighbour's canola field of yellow in the background.

Still have not moved the poor excuse for last year's flax crop but here I am looking at a new crop's possibilities already. It always looks good at this stage before the weeds show up. And they are there. The herbicide did a great job, as evidenced by the "check strips" but the high moisture conditions have given us a whole new crop of weeds. Flax is a poor competitor with it's spindly stems and leaves. The flax is well ahead of the weeds for now but it will not look so nice when they grow tall above it. Still should be a good crop.
The bloom is starting to fade a little on the canola now. Big pods forming.
The hay cut on Friday is pretty well dry enough to bale right now except for the heavy parts of the field. No sooner did I think of hitching on  to the hay rake and the clouds rolled in. Spitting rain now. You just can't win with hay it seems. No matter. The cows will eat it this winter even if the quality is down a bit.
Thunder rumbling so I better post this before the power cuts out and I lose it. The battery life on this backtop is measured in seconds now.

I Remember This

Or at least I think I do. Its a little piece of history retained on the driver's door post of the 52 Mercury. In those days when many owners did their own engine oil changes they would (usually) mark down the mileage and date on the sticker that came with the new oil filter. This one from Atlas filters is marked 1967, July something. That scrawled pencil hand writing is my own I think.

It looks like Dad was using BA (later Gulf oil) 10w-30 oil at that time. No mileage recorded so I'm guessing the speedometer had already quit working by that time.
Its been a week of threatening thunderstorms every day and yet not very much rain. So it keeps me on hold putting off hay cutting , etc. I did manage to get a couple of fields of chem fallow sprayed. They needed it. Flax hauling was scheduled but put off due to threat of rain. You really don't want rain when loading flax as it turns to glue and sticks to the inside of the truck box sides.
It was a very quiet evening with no wind and hardly a sound except the birds and the occasional distant whine of a plane or sprayer working on crops. They are going all out pouring on the fungicide or insecticide (or both) on canola and cereal crops now.

I did disturb the silence a bit with the rumble of the straight pipe on the Mercury flathead V8 for a short drive. Got to keep those valves exercised so they don't stick. 

Happy Canada Day

Although it was already two days ago, here is a photo of what has become sort of a Canada Day traditional gathering of friends and family. It was pretty cool, cloudy and windy so I passed on the actual trail ride.

Funny , with all the threatening weather we have had lately, in fact there has been hardly any measureable rain. Just light showers that keep everything going but make it very hard to make hay. I was lucky enough to get most of what I have cut baled up last week. So far holding off cutting any more as there are showers forecast almost every day this coming week. 

Crops progressing nicely with canola blooming and wheat heading pretty much on schedule. I took these recent photos of wheat. Of course it was a good opportunity to exercise the 52 Merc. Can't let it sit too long and have the valves get stuck from inactivity. 

Baling, raking, taking pictures

plus a few other things made for a busy day. I was reluctant to cut any more hay seeing as rain is forecast and I don't want it to get soaked. But some that I cut the other day looked almost dry enough to bale so I figured get it done before the weather changed.
The Cockshutt 40, usually so reliable, failed to start. The 15 (or so) year old battery seemed too weak.So the next best candidate was the Cockshutt 50 beside it. Weak governor action, armstrong steering and a weak pto clutch but it got the job done. Made a few more good quality square hay bales to re-stock the hay loft for next winter.

Had to do an inventory check on the spring harvested flax before making arrangements to sell it. Between it being low bushel weight and high (12%) dockage it is not going to be a big money crop.
I took this photo  while on top of the flax bin as the canola is starting to bloom pretty good right now.

Did a little hay raking with the Super 90 Massey late in the afternoon. Hoping by turning the swaths they might just be dry enough to bale tomorrow. Some of it had only been cut down for 24 hours so there is still some drying needed before it is safe to bale. Hopefully, weather permitting, I will get it done tomorrow before rain moves in. 

WWII Another Installment

Just adding another chapter or two of my dad's memoirs of WWII. This bit from July of 1944 gives a good impression of life under fire in the 18th anti tank battery. A few memorable days at Troteval Farm near the location of the battle of Verrieres Ridge

26. So again, it was for us to move up. I guess the
situation must have been pretty grim for we started out
late in the afternoon approximately the 20th of July,
maybe later. Our attempt at moving forward got
stalled on the road on account of heavy shell bursts on
the road directly ahead. We were a pretty worried
crew, seven in all. Jack Faibish, the Sergeant said the
ditches are supposed to be mined so keep out of them.
At the same time I’m thinking if the shelling gets
much closer I’m heading for the ditch. So we just sat
there and waited in open country. There we are hoping
it will hurry up and get dark. Our objective was a farm
yard about a mile ahead called Troteval Farm which
was located on Verrieres Ridge. By dusk there seemed
to be somewhat of a lull so we proceeded. We were to
put our gun in position on the west side of the farm
yard which seemed to be spread out over quite a large
area. Brick buildings and fence. We quickly unhitched
our gun , set it ready for action. However,
there was a knocked out Sherman close by . Thinking
it might give us a little more protection Jack decided
to move the gun over to the Sherman about a hundred
yards away. So we hooked the gun again and
proceeded toward the Sherman.. Harold Hammett, Bob
Hartley and myself walked ahead to the knocked out
Sherman where I noticed quite a large hole in the
ground alongside and partly under the track which
was broken. We stood there waiting for the gun to be
pulled up. Being almost dark Jack walked alongside
the truck and driver. When they were almost abreast
of us I saw a great flash. Next thing I knew the three
of us were on the ground. I guessed it must have been
the concussion, at first I thought it was a shell. It was
a mine, same thing that got the tank. Being
temporarily stunned it took a moment or two to take in
what had happened . I heard Hartley calling me to
help with Hammett who was temporarily blinded.
There didn’t seem to be anyone else around. I took a
quick look for Jack. He was laying beside a large hole
in the ground and partly under the front wheel which
was badly battered on the drivers side. I heard anti
freeze leaking out. Jack appears to be quite dead. The
rest of the crew are gone so Hartley and myself help
Hammett to the other side of the farm yard where our
officer was with a jeep. The three men who were all in
the tower at the time of hitting the mine all had
wounds so they were all evacuated. I can not
remember the details on how they went back or where
Hartley went. I never saw him again.
27. I sort of lost track as to what happened immediately
after except our officer said don’t go back to the gun
as that area is mined. I concluded there was not much
doubt about that. I met Bill Todd about this time . He
said join up with our crew which I gladly did. After
the shock of losing all the men off our gun I was at
loose ends. Bills trench which he was in the process of
digging was in between two buildings, all brick and
the dust was pretty thick. Kicked up by German
artillery and mortars. I guess what was drawing so
much fire was the presence of infantry who had set up
their three inch mortars and were really laying down a
barrage at times. One thing about them, they usually
drew fire. It didn’t take the Germans long to get their
range.
28. We had just acquired a new officer due to Jim
Armstrong being wounded . The new officer’s name
was Heaps. I believe he was from Montreal. He
became quite popular with the troop. He arrived the
next morning quite early and informed us that Buster
Gross had got a bullet through his heel so we lost
another man. He hinted to me about taking over our
gun to replace Faibish but I declined the offer saying I
would rather remain number 3 gunner. Jim Erwin, also
a gunner was persuaded to take the job and the crew
was made up of new recruits all except Jim and
myself. One of these I remember quite well was
Michael Oliver from out of McGill University from
Montreal , Rosemont, the son of an Anglican priest.
Mike was a big likable character. Mike was good
natured and was quite amused by us westerners and
our gophers. I spent a few days in the same trench
with Mike He seemed to think I should learn some
French so to break the monotony and Jerry with a
Spandau and the odd 88 I did learn a bit of French
before we left Troteval Farm.