Here She Comes

-Growl, snort, bellow, rumble…… growl….. Here she comes snow…. Old Allis is coming to kick your butt!!!!  With  dad with her you are in trouble for they will push you around and humiliate you once again…..   everyone bark their approval.. Go Allis!!!!!

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A Thank You, A honor and RIP

-for 35 years he owned Old Allis and it was almost 4 years ago I bought her from him.  This man was my high school teacher who taught me some really cool things.  He was a kind man with a lot of patience and very wise mechanically.  I wouldn’t say I was close to him but he was one of the teachers I enjoyed having classes with.  He was well liked in the small town I went to school in and was well liked.

When I bought Old Allis I didn’t know he was the one selling her until I showed up to look at her.   Old Allis was owned by the family of a teacher who was my High School Government and history teacher and it was about 8 miles from where I grew up where old Allis toiled.  Old Allis went back to her original farm and then to a show just around the block from where my teacher who last owned her lived. He saw her and was happy to see what she looked like.  The last thing he ever told me was “I am glad you ended up with her, I wanted her to go to someone who would take care of her.”  That made me feel good.  Well, last month at the age of 89 he died and I felt bad of course but I thought a lot about him before I wrote this.

They don;t make men much better than this man was.  He taught me some neat things and he was a smart guy.  He grew too old to keep Old Allis where she needed to be and so she got old and needed a lot of work done to her.  It happens to every tractor because we get old and can;t take care of them like we should.  So, for the second time she was restored and this restoration was easy in many ways for mechanically Old Allis was very sound except for leaky seals and gaskets.  That he approved of my job made me feel good.  I know it made him feel better that she has a good home and he did his job in preserving her future.

Old Allis now has outlasted her original owners and her second generation of owners.  The oldest known survivor is a neighbor who is well over 90 who was there the day she arrived to her original farm sold by the company I later worked for in high school.   So, old Allis has outlasted  them all and is still working.  It is amazing.  But, this post is a tribute to the last man who owned her and kept her working and well maintained mechanically.  To the original owner a hats off to him for he loved old Allis too.  She replaced the horses and today as I listened to my father and another old man talk about the horse farming days it was fascinating.  They loved those horses, but they loved the tractors that replaced them too.

So, goodbye to a man who impacted so many lives…….  RIP……..   and THANK YOU!

A big Collie salute and a pic of Old Allis who still exists because of him….

 

 

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12 degrees…. 5 inches of snow….

We will pick up on our winners posts tomorrow… we thought we would take a day off to help build the drama! 🙂  Plus we collies love to watch things…. and today it was plenty interesting!

After 5 inches of snow here last night (we were lucky dad says others got up to 7-8!) we woke up to 12 degrees.  We watched in interest as the old guy ambled out to the garage and checked Old Allis’ oil, anti-freeze, tire pressure and hydraulic level.  He then turned on the gas spiggot on the gas line and covered up Old Allis’ hood.  Now he covers up the hood for several reasons. One as she runs the heat is sucked up through the opening in the hood faster warming the air and making the engine warm up faster, unfrosting the carb and allowing the choke to be shut off faster.  Also, with the original leather seal and seat old Allis sometimes blows droplets of oil out her exhaust until the engine warms up and the seats expand from the oil.  It isn’t much, but dad likes to keep the oil off the paint.

Finally, he is ready and he walks over and pulls the choke lever. Its amazing how well he can guess where she should be set by the temperature.  He hists the starter lever and old Allis roars to life…. and sputters and quits.  Dad smiles and grumbles at her and adjusts the choke and hits the starter again and she roars to life.. sputters then smoothes out and sits there running as dad checks the oil pressure, and electric charge going through her to make sure everything is running smooth.  He then climbs up on her and edges her out to the edge of the door….. and lets her warm up till the anti-freeze hits 120 degrees F……

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Here is old Allis with her blanket over her…..warming up….

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still warming up……

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at the top of the carb you can see the white frost….for those not familar with it that is just below the orange tube with two bolts going straight up…  Now this is normal.. and with the new additives in gasoline old Allis has been known to get frost on her carb on humid 80 degree days….. warming up gets rid of this frost.. 🙂

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You can see the amp gauge and it is center which is good at this stage….  the temperature is almost 120 degrees and she is almopst ready to go to work….

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Old Allis is ready to go to work…. a view from where dad sits.  5 inches of snow doesnt even make her break a sweat… 🙂

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We watch as dad puts her in gear and lets out the clutch and old Allis snorts and growls forward going to work. That old tractor is 70 years old now and the more she works the better she likes it. We watch and cheer old Allis on as she growls across the driveway and yard kicking the snow’s butt once again.  She pushes the snow into a pile, pushes it into the gulley with a snort and then backs up and shoves more over.

Finally she is done and dad gets ready to go to the neighbor to plow her driveway.  HE puts her in third gears raises the throttle and lets out the cluthc and old Allis snorts… the lets out a throaty roars and heads down the road and we listen as she comes up to the driveway and snorts and growls and pushes the snow around. Then we hear her snort and that throaty roar and she is coming back! YAY!!!!!  She pulls in with headlights and backlights on so people can see her on the road (we think it is silly… after all she is bright ORANGE!!) and dad swings her around and backs her into the garage as she snorts again going up the incline into the garage.  We hear him let her idle and for a few minutes and watch him hook up the battery charger. HE shuts her off turns on the battery charger and wipes her down whistling and smiling.

When he is done the battery is fully charged… the generator does a great job but it is no alternator and that hydraulic unit uses a lot of energy. But, in less that five minutes she is done charging. Dad puts the funnel under the carb and a bowl just in case she leaks any gas and he pats her on the hood and comes out to play with us! YAY!!!!

YAY!!! Glad you made it dad! lets have some fun!!!!

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So that is dad plowing with old Allis…. we hope you enjoyed…… our next round of winners tomorrow!!!!

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