Saturday's Adventure Trip

This past Saturday, I loaded up 2 of the 3 kids, about 50 stuffed animals, and headed north in the pick-up to pick up another Craigslist purchase.  

I have been searching for quite awhile for a sickle bar mower as a project.  My list of demands were high - it had to be light-weight, mostly functional, and perhaps most important of all - super cheap.  I finally found all 3 attributes in one machine, but it was way up north 90 miles away.

No worries, though.  That's where the adventure trip comes in.  With 2 kids and 50 stuffed animals, we had a fun afternoon travelling through the countryside.  

Upon seeing the sickle bar mower at the seller's 

barn, #2 Kiddo exclaims, "Is that it?!"!"

Well, yes.  That is all it is.

Nothing too flashy, and it will need a bit of work, but that's expected.

This sickle bar is a 1950s vintage Farmall Cub C22 60 inch mower.  It was originally a belly-mounted mower that was powered off the rear PTO of the small similar-vintage tractor.  My plan is to convert it to a front mounted mower for my larger 1980s JD garden tractor.  By having a cantilevered mower, trimming my creek banks will be a piece of cake.  Inspiration for this project originated with my Canadian Cousin with this picture:

I have a bit of designing and engineering to do.  Now that I have the actual mower in hand, I can start drawing and designing a way to attach, power, and raise this unit.  It looks like a fun and challenging project.

Big Changes

Start with this "before" picture of the two older kids: 

Here is Kiddo #1 after yesterday's big haircut:

And here is Kiddo #2 after his very first tooth fell out tonight:

(And why is that moustache hovering beside him....)

We can't leave out #3 Kiddo.  He found a new place to nap.

Extraction

One of the float bearings on my 1938 JD A carburetor was very stuck.  After a month of soaking, and multiple attempts to loosen it with heat, I had to resort to drilling it out.

The float bearing is brass, so I drilled out 90% of the diameter, and then finished it up with a left handed drill bit.  It broke loose and backed right out.

This is always a good sight to see after an hour of work:

Tree Moving

We had our dead pine trees cut down at the roadside.  The electric company came out and chopped them down.  They died in the drought from a couple of summers ago.

My helpers helped tremendously.  My backdoor neighbor helped me drag them back to the bonfire.  My Boy #1 helped out by skiing and riding along on the top branches.  Here's a picture from last Saturday morning.  It was a warm morning of 25 degrees, and we worked quick enough to beat the high winds of the day.

With their generous help, we were able to get both dead pine trees all put away in about an hour.

Adios, Old Truck

Sold the 1999 Chevy Silverado truck today.  A nice, younger man, bought it this afternoon.

It served me well in the years I had it.  I bought it new off the lot with 18 miles on the odometer in October 1998.  I sold it with just under 92,000 miles.  I'm sad to see it go, but I'm happy it's going to a good home.  The new owner appears to be very mechanically savvy, and will fix up the rusted doors and make it look like new.

Here's the last picture from a few days ago.

Cold Days

A cold day here at the house.  We woke up to see the following sights...

Work was cancelled, so we made french toast for breakfast and worked on a puzzle today.  I'm sure we weren't the coldest around, but it was cold enough for all of us.  With a -40 degree wind chill, we're happy to be in a warm house today.

A New Ride

After 14 years of nearly-faithful service, my daily driver truck is soon to be sold.  We purchased this 2012 Silverado in southern Illinois just a few days after Christmas.  We made a little mini-vacation out of the trip, and went to a Children's Museum and a hotel with a swimming pool along the way.

The 4-door crew cab allows lots of space in the back for the 3 kids.  Being used, it's not perfect, but the price was right.  We're blessed to be able to afford such a vehicle.

Happy New Years!