Tractor Battery, Old Wood Cook Stove and Rattlesnakes

The old Ford tractor in the barn.

Update: My Guest Post is on Survival Blog right now. It is titled "How to  Decide on a Homestead Location AND Get There" and you can read it here.

I was able to arrange my work schedule yesterday to get the morning off. I worked from 3pm to 11pm and was able to start working on the Ford tractor. I've had mixed responses on what type of tractor everyone thinks this old Ford is: 9n, 850, or ? I'll post more pictures as I progress with the restoration.

I've pulled the battery and have it in the farm house charging right now. It took a charge pretty quick and still has plenty of distilled water in the three chambers. The expiration says 2005 so we'll see what happens with it. I'll post a picture of the battery charger display and you guys can tell me what you think. At the time of the picture, the batter had been on the charger for about 90 minutes.

Rating a 5 after about 90 minutes of charging.

I'll follow the advice of Solarman and check the fluids, drain the gas and refill with ethanol free gas, clean the carburetor, pull each spark plug and put Marvel Mystery oil in each cylinder, and replace the plugs. With the freshly recharged battery, maybe she'll cough to life. Oh, and the tires need air. Good thing I brought my trusty pancake air compressor.

Since I was in the barn, I poked around a little more. Found some more neat stuff. As a kid, I remember this big GIANT wood stove of a beast in the farm house. Grandma would keep feeding kindling in it while heating the house. You could cook with pots and pans on the top side or put pans inside little oven compartments. It was the neatest thing. I found it in the barn today in pieces. Looks to be all still there. It has a baby blue paint job mixed with the metal framing.

OOOOhhh, she's pretty! Old wood stove.

I also found the old clothes washer and wringer. I remember it sitting out front of the house. I bet it still works too. I'll need to try it pretty soon. My dirty laundry is piling up since I've been here almost a week now. Otherwise, I'll be trying out my portable Wonderwash. I caught it on sale on Amazon a few years ago and snatched up two of them. I figured it would be a great back up if the washer quit working at home until I could get a new one. Either that, or it would make a great punishment for an unappreciative teenager.

I work one more shift today and then I should have the weekend off. I might have a couple of uncles coming up to help with the Ford. If we can get it going, I'd like to brushhog around the barn and farm house this weekend. Then I won't have to worry quite so much about the rattlesnakes. However, I will heed the warning of fellow bloggers to start poking around with a stick in tall grass just in case. Thanks for all the wonderfully helpful comments folks!

~OJD

New Rules for the Farm

-don't blindly walk into tall grass without first stirring it up with a long stick. You don't want Mr. Rattlesnake to catch you by surprise!

-a hot catalytic converter on the bottom of your car can start a grass fire under the right conditions. Keep it moving or park it in the dirt (or keep the darn grass mowed.)

Back Home Report

Wifey was able to take the girls to see the new Monsters Inc movie and had a great time. We love going to the movies and getting the bucket-o-popcorn loaded with butter and shaker cheddar cheese. It exceeds our daily allowance of sodium by 5000x but we like it anyway.

Sis has her last day of summer school today. She overloaded herself a little this summer by enrolling in both online school AND regular summer school at her high school. I allowed it because she begged for it but we both realize now in hindsight that it made for a very dull summer break for her. Worth it, probably...fun, not a bit.

Everyone else is continuing to play with neighbor children and I wonder how they'll get along when their nearest neighbor is a mile away out here in the sticks? Will they go nuts and constantly complain or will they find fun, constructive things to do around the house.  Personally, I used to be a master at making mud pies and swimming in the horse trough but hey...that's just me.