Help Them If You Can

The Advent candles are lit, the collie indoor plumbing unit .. er.. christmas tree is lit, the stockings are hung, snow is coming and we collies are bouncing around gleefully for we know it is the season of giving and we know we are receiving!!!! hehehehehe……

However, we are too aware that there are many animals out there who do not receive and we ask you our friends to bring your animals in from the cold or at least build them a warm shelter.  Keep them fed and watered and perhaps remind your friends to do so also.

IF you see a cold lonely animal perhaps you can slip them some warm food……  feed the birds…… the $%%@#$%@#$% squirrels even… snicker….

It is the season of giving….. please we ask  that you give to all animals and people in some way.  It doesnt have to be much…. or it is the love and thought behind it that will make their lives happier……

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Together we can make a difference for others for when we give personally it means more….

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Um…. if you aint giving me the whole steak I am not interested cheapskate…. and I wont forget when I reach world domination!!! Muwahahahahaha

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Bring in your animals during the cold nights please! 🙂

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We love you all,

The Collies 🙂

 

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Meanwhile…..

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Will Winter ever end dad?  It is snowing again….

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DaD, WE WANT SUNSHINE AGAIN….

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Its snowing again…. time for the flame thrower….

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Meanwhile in Georgie…  “HA Ha Ha! Glad we live in Georgie!!!” (Ginger’s parents!)

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19-0….

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He is plowing again!!!!  Look at that old tractor go…. look at all that snow moving.  I almost feel bad for the snow… Old Allis has won 19 straight confrontations this year!  The snow really threw its best this time and yet that old tractor and the old guy win again!  Wow!  Go get ’em dad and Old Allis!!!

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Hmmmmmmm… perhaps I need to steal that old tractor and use it in my quest for world conquest!  Could mount a couple of missiles on it.. a flame thrower… its got possibilities.  I could also use it in squirrel hunting.  I could pull the trees down with the squirrel in them! Muwahahahahaahahh

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Drift Onto It!

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No, not more snow!!! Sigh…

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Today I woke up to 5 foot drifts across most of the driveway.  We got some snow and then 30mph winds last night and it came from the west which means we drift shut.  So, I started old Allis up and instead of pushing through the snow I chipped away at it blowing a path through the snow with the blade up pushing it until I lose traction and stop. Usually this is when I hit the old melted old banks behind the new banks we made today.  Now I plow the snow into a 5 foot gully and the banks are bigger than they appear for they go into the gully! 🙂  After the first swipe I lower the blade all the way and do the same, pushing until I come to a stop.  Now this is helpful since under the snow is still the ice from the tons of ice we got earlier this winter.  So, traction is less than normal!  Now, notice the bank to the right is headlight level.

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Here is another picture of old Allis.  Dreaming of Spring! 🙂  Today we plowed for over 3 hours and she ran like a champ and snorted and purred and growled getting the work done nicely.  More snow expected tomorrow… hoping it misses us for I am sick of it….

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-Stop you stinkin snow!!!  We are sick of it!!!!

 

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But, its only 10 degrees!!!

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Holy Cow!  Its only 9 degrees out here….. hurry up everyone and go so we can go back in.

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Hurry up!!!! its cold…. Ginger is getting out her napalm and that is bad news with all our long fur!!!

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Um…. I think I am frozen to the ground….

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What? What do you mean we have only been out for 30 seconds and you are not buying the “act”….  okay Walter get the napalm the old guy is going to feel some heat over this comment!  Muwahahahahahahha

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Now I Am Impressed

I pulled into the drifted driveway and grumbled to myself.  Its -6 fahrenheit with a -25 wind chill and the driveway is a mess.  Old Allis is 70 years old now and I hate starting her up in this cold of weather.  But, I turned on the gas and checked the fluids and winced as I thought about starting up the old tractor.

I hit the started and she slowly turned over.. I mean she sounded like a 6 volt system.  I stopped tried again and she turned slower…. Now at this temperature the oil is like tar and the transmission and rear end grease is like slogging through red Georgia clay that is soaked… Ginger can tell you about it  and it aint pretty! I grew up in a clay ground area and its horrible… but anyways…..

I grabbed the hand crank.  I put it in and went to the transmission and tried all the gears several times and it was hard to put into gear… after all she has 90 weight axle grease in her and for those who do not know at 100 degrees the stuff is like tar…. at this temp heck it wouldn’t hardly pour out if I took out the drain plug.

So, I turned her with the hand crank and it was one heck of a hard pull… I turned her over and on the third try she fired right up and ran and then quit.  Now she has a hand choke so it was my fault not hers. I turned the crank and she pulled the old famous trick of kicking the crank back and while Allis Chalmers did build a safety feature that it would release in such an event it does spin once backwards hard and if it hits you it can hurt!  At least it wont break your hand or wrist like a Model T. Of course someone taught me how to safely use a crank, pulling it towards myself with my fingertips and if it does rebound it will slip loose and my hands pulling the opposite way will keep my hands back.

I patted the old girl on the radiator and pulled again and she started up and I adjusted the choke and she ran like a champ!  I let her warm up for 10 minutes…. she wasn’t quite 100 degrees but I wasnt sure she would get there just idling so off we went to go to work and I didn’t kick her in till 100 degrees. Now that -25 wind chill hurt…. but this job had to be done….

So, we plowed and she ran like a champ all the way… her normal operating temp is 170 degrees but she could only muster 135… its just too darn cold.  Old Allis got it done and I put her back and let her idle for 10 more minutes.  Wiped her down and put the battery charger on her.  IT was in great shape considering how cold it is.

So, Old Allis went out a -6 and got the job done.   While she could’ve started with the battery I just dont like pushing her when I can do it by hand…. If you ever want an appreciation for your car starter try starting a tractor engine by hand…

So, this was the coldest Old Allis has run for me….I am amazed.. I can only hope I am that good when I am 70!  GREAT JOB OLD ALLIS!

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My hero…. my old 1944 Allis Chalmers Model B… Old Allis amazes me….  I hated to start her up in this cold of weather…. but work had to be done.. somehow I dont think the old tractor minded all that much….

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You didnt freeze to death?  sigh… well… I Ginger have to say I am impressed with Old Allis and with your durability old guy…..  I figured you would be an old stiff by now…..  If you would only pay for me to have thumbs I could do this…

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Better enjoy it… thats as good as compliment as you get from the Schnapp… the Ginger Schnapp that is….

 

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Super Cold and More Snow

We got 8 more inches last night… more coming…. wind chills below -25… what a perfect day to have to drive into a new job!

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Hi Dad!  Glad you are home! 🙂  I Smoke hope it stops snowing soon!

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Dad, we need a water softener, this water is hard!!! (The pools right now are buried under snow and the collies dig down to them and find the water is still hard!!!!

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Ball, ball, ball, ball, ball…..

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Um… time to go in old guy…. hmmmm….. I guess napalm on the hard water in the pools was not such a good idea… those pools melt pretty fast… oh well I am cute and you will forgive me when I turn on my Gingerly charm… um…. guess that tree was cold it is on fire now…. oh well we wanted a winter bonfire anyways look at all the trouble I saved you! 🙂

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WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

I can’t help it… sometimes I get to thinkin’ and well then I gets to wonderin’.  Last night we hit -10 fahrenheit……  talk about cold!  Brrrrrr……

As I woke up this morning and let the collies out I began my thinkin’ and wonderin’ and thought about my ancestors living in this God forsaken ice bowl.  Then I began to wonderin’ what the heck they were thinkin’ moving here!

Think about it.  No central heating….. some wood stove or fireplace which back then were very inefficient! No insulation in the house… no running water, if you went somewhere there was no car with a heater.  Watering the animals had to be fun with a frozen hand pump….. ah yes, shoveling the barn would keep ya warm till the sweat froze….

Of course ice boxes were invented yet so everything was either smoked, hanging in the basement or frozen solid outside someplace.  To heat the house you had to go out and gather wood in the -10 weather.  Washing up in the morning was with cold water…. oh how fun that must have been….

Everyone gathered in the kitchen around the stove trying to keep warm in the lantern or candle lit night must’ve been exciting when the sun set at 5pm….. I can see why they went to bed early what the heck else was there to do? Well, yes the married adults could find fun in the dark but at -10 who wanted to shed any clothing?  Don’t sound much like fun to me!

The worst thing however….. well at 3 in the morning at -10 having to get up and stumble through the ice and snow after you spend how long lighting a candle or lantern to go out to this…. WHAT WERE THEY THINKIN’ MOVING HERE?

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Sweet Lord!!!  By the time one threw on warm clothes, lit the light, stumbled out here in the dark only to have to remove half the clothing to do what one had to do (Imagine how cold that wooden hole seat was? Imagine how cold the Sear Catalogue pages were…… Brrrrrrrr….. would one still have to go?  Would one just hold it?  I know, some ppl had those little buckets for at night.. but who wants to smell that all night? Who wants it in the house?  *shivers*  Were these ppl insane?  After going through all that who would want to sleep?  SWEET LORD WHAT WERE THEY THINKIN’ ?   I can’t stand -10 with modern conveniences let alone with what they had to live with?  Sorry ancestors… you were insane?  Or.. at least a half bubble off…. who would willingly move to this ice bowl….

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Jeesh! What a whiny human.  Just do what us superior intelligent collies do… just go and don’t worry about it.  If you grew some fur you baldy humans you wouldn’t need all those clothes and if you had any brains you would go on the run and come right back in…. sigh…  sigh… humans…. what will we do with them?  Enslave them I say! Muwahahahahah…. oh… wait we already have achieved that…. yeah what are you humans thinkin”?

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Those Collies are at It Again!!! A Tigger Post!

Here we go again!  This is Tigger and I am in a roaring bad mood now…..  One of the collies looked at me and thought.. hey you know Tigger looks like those black and white cows so we should have her play the part and then herd her… for that is what collies do best ya know….

Ahem… needless to say this is what happened,

As you can see I have a bell around my neck and the strap on my head is supposed to have horns but they slid back so you cannot see them.  Needless to say I am not happy…..  the worst part was when they all tried to herd me across the house…. sigh….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, despite their antics I have to admit the collies are fun and they do let me snuggle up in their warm fur during the winter and I keep very warm.  Now, I want to mention something that even I, a cat, gets a broken heart over.  Last night we hit 10 degrees fahrenheit here where we live.  While we live in a lower and colder area most places still hit 14 or 15 degrees.  That is cold and when the old guy let the collies out before the sun came out this morning you could hear dogs who were obviously outside for the night howling, barking and not sounding very happy!

Dogs are not wolves, coyotes or what have you that live in the wild.  Also, those wolves and coyotes on nights like this go out only if hungry and then get back in as fast as they can for its even cold for them.  Dogs do freeze to death, especially if on a chain so they cannot go find a warm place to hunker down.  So, please bring your dogs in on these cold nights.  If it is not possible please get them a enclosed area with lots of straw or some sort of warm bedding they can get into and keep warm.  Frostbitten ears, toes and tails are not good or pleasant to deal with.  So, please find some way to keep your dog warm…. bring them inside is the best option.

 

Okay, that is the things that got my day off to a grumpy start, although I have to admit being herded wasn’t so bad for those collies had a heck of a time catching up to me for I move better than a cow.   🙂

 

Thank you for reading,

 

Tigger!!!

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