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Hi Lads
Epsom NH was Zero*, 32* below freezing at about 6am this morning.
But I was still in my shorts cleaning off & warming up my daughters car.
There are are a few of us around here in NH who view the wearing of shorts throughout the chillies of winter as a badge of honour, or perhaps honourably stupidity .I have not personaly worn a pair of long pants in at least two years.
That could say alot about a fellow, eh,
cheers
franc

Well, we've warmed up to minus 24C for daytime, but back to minus 37 tonight, .......about normal for this time of year.
Today is the start up of the Ice Road Trucking to the diamond mines north of Yellowknife, we have a King Air missing for the past 24 hours and search parties turned back due to a blizzard, ......and to top it off, the streets are again full of Japanese wanting to see the Northern Lights! we get about 20,000 of them each year, ..all bundled up in Canada Goose parkas and face masks.
For most of us old timers here, it's just another winter day, vehicles are plugged in and ready to go!

Nick;
How many BTUs do you get from a "Peasant"? I don't have a good enough supply of peasants to keep me warm for very long, used to use oak or hickory logs, now heat with Gas.

Stan;
The old B was a 1951 model & this occurred around 1958 so it did have a bit of seasoning. One thing which also helped was the alphabetical series of JDs all had thermosiphon cooling so no exposed water pump to freeze. All my outside faucets are the type with internal shut-offs so I never leave them dripping.

Foxy;
All the JDs came with electric starting as standard equipment beginning in 1947, prior to that it was optional. In the past, I had a 1936 model D with flywheel start & also a little H with it. I loved that old hand clutch & still love to here an old "Poppin Johnny" run. A lot of folks do not realize it but their distinctive sound is Not because they only had two cylinders, but is the result of their timing arrangement, IE 180-540 rather than 360-360.

That's cool (pun intended).

Meanwhile a 90 degree day with decent humidity is almost immobilizing for me, and probably for you too. But cold can be dealt with. Everyone has their own zone of tolerance.

Well in that case I guess a lot of us will be praying for a lot of humid, 90 degree days.

Agree- but didn't know about the timing cycle on the "Poppin Johnies"-- my friend's B- 1943- he has the wartime paperwork his father filled out to get on, due to gov't regs. $534.65 delivered. His has the compression release value set-up to make cranking over compression easier. The JD's of that era weren't high on the RPM, but they had torque 'till Hell wouldn't have it.

I had a bid in on a "restored" 520 with hydraulics and a front blade mount plow, and a Woods bush hog-- ran like a Swiss watch, but I was out-bid in a heartbeat by two local gents who wanted for more $ than I could swing-- So, I guess my JD 18 hp. lawn and garden tractor (Kohler engine) will have to do--

I put the front blade on it in Dec.- and tire chains- that and a 2 stage 10 HP 28" width Ariens snow-blower gets me, and some of my neighbors, through the winter snowstorms.Foxy

It was just about one of the neatest thing to be sitting in the swamp, thin layer of fog over the water and hear a JD fire up out in the distance, kind of sounded like a grouse drumming but kept going.

Just returned from today�s walk. A balmy -10, but, the wind is the devil himself at that temp, and it was blowing out of the Southwest (a portent of things to come, but, not arrived just yet) at about 15 mph sustained, with gusts to perhaps 25.

My southern brothern, THAT is cold. A stiff wind at sub-zero temps is like being hit with cold hammers and kicked with cold boots. You feel it in your soul.

No pictures today, it was an ugly, partly cloudy day that featured shifting sun dogs, and a raw wind. The robins were eating some sort of weed seed, and seemed tired, or low on energy. I always feel better after a walk, but, after my shift at work, I just put my head down and got it over with.

Best,
Ted

Fox;
In the early days of tractors, there were three basic configurations used for two cylinder engines. One had opposed cylinders with opposed cranks. this one had an even beat & was easy to balance.
One had the cylinders in line but with both throws of the crank in the same direction. This one also had an even beat but was a Pill to balance.
The JD, as well as some others, had the cylinders in line but with opposed crank throws. Thes were also relatively easy to balance but ran with that uneven beat. They had two power strokes on one crank revolution, then the flywheel had to carry it for the next revolution. These were all 4-cycle engines.

The old Harley motorcycles had a two-cylinder V engine so it ran with a slightly out of time beat, but not as extreme as the JD. In the late 2-cylinder era, JD had a small utility model (435) which used a 2-cylinder, 2-cycle engine which sounded like a 4-cyl running.

90 degrees with 90% humidity is just a warm afternoon for me. I never stop. I figure it's starting to warm up when it exceeds 94-95. I work outside all afternoon in those temps.



Sun dogs are evident here from about October through, maybe, early April. They are always associated with a certain cloud type. I think they're cirrus. Sun dogs are a 100% predictor of precipitation in the next two days. It never misses. One of the most certain weather signs we have in the South.

SRH