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Issue #1018

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From Russ

The Ontarion

Hi All,

This is going to bore some of you big time, but hopefully the rest will find it of interest.

Central to my discussion in our newsletter a couple of weeks ago was ‘the tractor’. Face it, who doesn’t like tractors. Every kid I’ve ever known liked them. I have even owned a couple myself, an International diesel and an MF 210 4X4 diesel. Heck, if I could afford it, I’d go out and buy a big chunk of land somewhere just so I would have a reason to own another tractor. But thats not where I’m going with this, I’d like to talk a bit about those old tractors up on the farm way back when we were kids. And even way back then, they were in fact old machines.

My grandfather’s Ferguson was a small, 2 wheel drive unit. No warm cabs in those days, you sat out in the rain and the sun and the cold. The seat was a bum shaped metal tub mounted on a spring, very similar to the old seats on horse drawn equipment. The little engine was gas, with 4 cylinders. Not much power but geared so low that it had lots of grunt. 4 speed transmission with PTO and 3-point hitch rounded out the unit. You could steer using your feet by pushing on the steering arms that were located just in front of the foot board. It had a hand throttle, split rear brakes and thats about it. Our grandfather’s brother uncle Earl who lived 2 concessions over had a similar machine but the brakes on his didn’t work. More on that in a moment. The farm that backed onto my grandfather’s farm had an old John Deere, one of those 2 cylinder tractors that made that really cool chug chug chug sound. Those engine put out an incredible amount of torque and could be heard for miles around. Oh, split rear brakes meant that each rear wheel could be braked separately for making very tight turns while doing field work, and the 2 side-by-side peddles could be locked together for braking safely at higher speeds. The front wheels didn’t have brakes at all.

The electrical system on these units was about as basic as you could get, with just enough power to run the field lights once the machine was running. Those Ferguson’s had an electric starter but given the old 6-volt systems, it was not very dependable, especially in cold weather. Thats where the hand crank Russ mentioned came in. Hand cranking had to be done right. You didn’t just start turning the crank lever, which hung out through the grill from the front of the engine. You had to pull the engine over until you found a compression stroke and then you pulled UP on the crank. That way if it kicked back you could simply let the handle slip out of your hand. If you had tried to push down, a kick back would break your arm. Hand cranking was very similar to kick starting an old motorcycle except that with motorcycles you kicked downward which meant you could and often did get hurt if the engine kicked back.

Uncle Earl also had a very old Case tractor. I have no idea what model but it was old. It didn’t have a PTO or 3-point hitch. It had a platform for the operator to stand on, and a draw bar for pulling. Brakes and clutch were controlled by hand levers. It had about a quarter of a turn of free play in the steering wheel. It also didn’t have any electrical system except for a magneto which supplied the current for the spark plugs. So, no lights, no battery, nothing. It did have a hand crank and from what I understood, it was a beast to get running. None of us were aloud to even try cranking it over. Something it did have, that made it very useful during harvest, was a drive pulley mounted on the side of the transmission. This pulley would be hooked up to a very big, long drive belt in order to run the thrashing machine. Talk about dangers on the farm, here was a long, exposed drive belt running from and exposed drive pulley, turning all sorts of blades and choppers in the trashing machine. You had to be very careful in those days.

With the exception of that old Case, my brothers and I spent many enjoyable hours driving those tractors, be it for hauling hay wagons or mowing hay or plowing or spreading manure or hunting for lost cattle down in the swamp. But the best times were when we needed to move the haying or harvest operation from one farm to the other. That meant heading out onto the road and driving several miles as we re-located tractors and wagons and related equipment. There was almost no chance at all of meeting any other traffic on those back roads back in those days and even if we did, it wouldn’t matter as whoever else was on the road would have know exactly what was going on. The highest of the tractor’s gears was called ‘road gear’ and was only used for driving on the road as it was too fast for field work. I remember one time when Gary and I needed to take grandpa’s and Earl’s tractors over to Earl’s farm, each pulling an empty wagon. We headed out and were having the time of our lives. For some reason we needed to stop, possibly at a crossroad, and discovered that the brakes on Earl’s tractor didn’t work. We had slowed down for the intersection anyway so all that happened was one of us ran into the back of the wagon in front. That tractor had a bumper so there was no damage and no issues. Such was life, and you simply couldn’t beat the adventures of young boys on the farm.

I know that a couple of weeks ago I had promised to write about harvest time on the farm but I didn’t quite get there. So, perhaps next week or maybe sometime further into the future.

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We’ve got a double header for this week’s music. It’s a song by Dan Seals called ‘Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold’ and it is by far the saddest song I’ve ever heard or ever tried to play. Basically, its about a man and his young daughter who still work the rodeo circuit and are lamenting the fact that the mother has moved on, on her own, as a rodeo star, leaving them behind and forgotten.

Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold

Video

Audio

doug

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From Russ

Peeled onion/big ears Part Two.

No one noticed last week's story mentioned nothing about a "peeled onion/big ears" - figures. Brace yourself, because I'm about to complete the story I started last week. We are without a barber in Kincardine - hence our 'second choice' is 'First Choice' in Goderich. My driver/care-giver/ daughter-in-law books all my appointments to fit her timetable - figures. A trip always includes shopping at Walmart, and lunch at Tim Horton's. After my 'demolition derby' in Walmart, and 'innocently "jumping the queue" to the crowded check-outs where I paid for the things I came in for; filters, swipes, and diapers - Oops -forgot the Men's Depends - my bill came to over $200.00 because I picked up a few extra's.

What about the 'peeled onion/big ears'? Be patient, I'm coming to it. Have you ever noticed old boy's (like me) ears continue to grow as hair recedes? It's true. A couple decades ago while my wife was still my boss, she'd always warn before I went to a barber, "Don't get it cut so short! You look like a peeled onion". It's true - I do. And after being married for well over one-half a Century, I know what she meant when she spoke of 'marriage' as, "a knot you tie with your tongue - you can't untie with your teeth!"

Please - don't 'get-me-wrong', I loved my wife of 57 years. Her mother (part Irish) had lots of sayings and superstitions -

"Always marry above and never below your station". I did. Her father was a proud Scot, a highly-qualified machinist, and a strict, high school teacher. He never liked me. I never liked him. (I filed, him under fear/admiration)

Your old Uncle Russ.

PS Avoid buying Christmas gifts made in China - your boycott will do "a World of good!"

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone

Just want to comment tonight on things that go wrong. The things that go wrong around one’s house are the most annoying of all at times. I’m sure we’ve all experienced these happenings during our years of home ownership but no matter how often we’ve put up with such happenings, they are still very much irritating and annoying when they happen.

This time that I’m referring to happened just a few days ago to us. Let me start with the time when Carole and I were in Pensacola Florida. We had rented a condo about ten years ago right on the beach in that city. It was a beautiful place with two bedrooms, two and a half baths and a living and kitchen area. It also had a huge balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. It also had a fully equipped kitchen with of all things, a garbage disposal built into the kitchen sink. What a cool invention this item was to us. We had never seen or used one of these devices until this vacation time in Florida. So once we got home we decided to purchase and install one of these disposal devices in our kitchen sink. I called one of the fire inspectors from WFD whom I knew was also a licensed pluming inspector for the city of Kitchener at one time. I wanted to ask him if such devices were allowed for use in Kitchener. He assured me that they were legal for use in Kitchener. I immediately set about locating where we could purchase a disposal. I found out that they were sold at my local Home Depot store. So without hesitation I drove to HD on Ottawa St and purchased their top of the line in sink disposal unit. It took me about an hour to install it in one of our two kitchen sinks after I got home with my purchase.

Once it was installed we had fun disposing of our “Disposable” refuse for the first few days. Of course, after that first few days, the disposal became “Old Hat” as they say and we’ve been using it faithfully ever since that day. Without giving it any more thought over the years, it worked day in and day out without a problem. Until, three days ago when Adam looked under the sink to get some dish soap and noticed that there was a puddle of water on the floor of the cupboard beneath the garbage disposal. Upon inspection the next day, we found that there was a corroded fitting on the disposal. With further inspection after removing the unit from the sink, we found that the 10 year old device had several worn out parts and had been leaking water into the electric motor mounted on the bottom half of the device. There was nothing left to do at this point but purchase a new disposal unit to replace the original one. So, Adam ordered a new one from Costco this time. This was a good move because whenever we’ve purchased something from Costco and had a problem with it, there was absolutely no trouble when returning the item for replacement or refund. This is a real bonus when compared to say, “Canadian Tire”! We have had trouble returning even the smallest item to CTC before, so Costco was a much better choice than even Home Depot this time. HD can be a tad fussy when trying to return something to them as well. Our new disposal will be at our doorstep within 7 to 10 days according to the email reply to our order. With this kitchen appliance missing it’s a real nuisance to try not to put any food item or water down that particular side of the sink! Luckily we can still use the right side of the sink without any water backing out the open section of drain from disconnecting the disposal from the left side sink.

It’s a pain to have to do without an appliance that we are so used to using without even thinking most times we need to use it! Oh well, I’m sure that in their usual fashion Costco will deliver the new unit to us in less time than quoted after placing the order! Most times when we order something from Costco they have it at our door in less than three days. Hopefully this time will be no different than any other and we’ll have our disposal back in the sink and working as new very soon!

I hope my mentioning this happening won’t be a jinx on any of our other kitchen appliances!

That’s my story for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now and stay safe everyone! … Greg.

Something to Think About>

What do you consider to be unlucky?

I.e.: Walking under a ladder!

Let us know if you have any things or happenings that you consider unlucky!

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Take Care And Be Safe
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.