Saturday, February 28, 2009

Out and About

The creek feeding the marsh allowed for an area of open water, giving some Canadian Geese a place to rest. Wednesday turned out to be a positively delightful respite weather wise. Even the morning temperatures were warm enough only to need a sweatshirt on an outing to check out all the noise from Hendrickson Marsh three quarters of a mile away. 1996 Ford F-250 Timber Life gained a different set of 4x4 wheels on January 24th, to help traverse the terrain . Sure do appreciate what a machine can do. ;) This year proved to be a challenge, even with a tractor to maintain our travel route. The diesel fuel, for the first time in 6 1/2 years of tractor ownership, had a problem providing sure performance, even with winter additives. We were not the only ones to fall victim to the evil malady of "gelling". It is just hard to tolerate when things are so awful cold and the tractor quits working a quarter of a mile from the nearest stationary plug-in. You would think with the piece of iron coming out of Russia it would start in all kinds of cold, but it isn't to be. It sat until a day got up to 25 and the portable generator turned over to get the block heated up so the oil would move. Encouragement comes now that we can see the end of the drifts that had us driving through the field to gain access to home from forays to the outside world. Things are looking a bit rutty still, but there are signs this week of warmer temperatures. Maybe some wind to give us some drying. Then the Belarus 572 can once again "Spring" into action to create a smoother ride...;)

14 comments:

  1. It's starting to look like spring is just around the corner, huh? I guess it would be a nice change!

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  2. wandering owl - We aren't out of the woods yet for a Spring snow storm to show up, but we are inching closer and closer to warmer days. ;)

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  3. I just saw a bunch of robins the other day and we had weather in the 50's.

    But you are right, we aren't out of the woods either ... we had a huge snow storm at the end of March a few years ago.

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  4. The Hunter's Wife - Robins always give us hope for better weather.

    However, we have been seeing Robins some where in Iowa all winter. February 7th, there was a flock sitting in our front yard. Since then we have had populations staying around here.

    It is a topic I might do a short blog post on.

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  5. We had a decent thaw last week, and it looks like we are going to be near 50 this week as well. I'm not holding my breath, though. I know Mother Nature will rear her ugly head at least one more time in the next month or so.

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  6. Simply Outdoors - I must agree with you on the potential for some additional measurable precipitation. However, this year is feeling a little bit different. It seems to be trending towards weather I remember when I was around 10 or 11...A long time ago. Cycles that repeat themselves.

    I believe we are going to have an actual Spring. Gradual changes, not cold one day and summer the next. ;)

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  7. Nice new wheels! Here's hoping Winter is over soon, but in this neck of the woods we can have snow until May.

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  8. Kristine - Thanks! The new set of wheels will be busy this year. It has work to do for gathering gardening and building supplies this Spring...

    Last year we had some pretty measureable snows in March. Hopefully, not this year. ;)

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  9. It was zero degrees here this AM!

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  10. Windyridge - That is shiver weather. We are presently at 30 degrees, a couple degrees warmer than yesterday.. I'm not sure we will make it up to 48 tomorrow like they forecast. Time will tell. ;)

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  11. You all really have a nice looking truck...I don't want to make you jealous but it got to 81 today and breezy here in MS. Wish you were here to enjoy it with me! :)

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  12. Marian Love Phillips - We have had some great weather the last few days. Thunderstorms arrived this morning after 1:30 A.M.

    To bad we are headed back down into the upper 30's.

    Goodness 81 that does sound heavenly! ;)

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  13. Blessed - Won't be to much longer and we can claim the benefits of the Spring Equinox. I too am looking forward to doing that. ;)

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