Just A Update

Well, Annie got to go out and bake in the sun yesterday… that makes that enamel paint hard and it does take a while to dry properly.  I was also able to get old Allis out and get her scratches from carrying and using that plow fixed. She looks pretty good again for a 70 year old work horse.  For those interested Annie, my Case SC was produced in 1949.  Old Allis is a war baby Allis Chalmers B made in 1944.  Believe it or not she still has her original main wire harness in her. What makes this special is being a war baby they didn’t use copper wiring in her.  She has a zinc wiring in her. Now, everything off the main harness is copper now… and someday I plan on putting a new harness in her but leaving the original harnness under it.  That is a piece of history that does not exist in most tractors from the second world war yet….

-Annie sun worshipping….

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-Some of her decals on….. love that old Abe decal ….

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-Old Allis looking ready to do a job as her paint dries…

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-Annie and Allis sun bathing…. 🙂

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-reminiscing about when they worked on their farms before their semi-retirement…. ah the good ol’ days…..

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-ah yes… old tractors and old dogs…….

 

 

 

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The Collies Are Stunned…..

-It can’t be…..  really…. sometimes I hate to admit it but he does get things right.. but rarely…

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-wow!!!  Stunning….

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=There is a long ways to go but the light is at the end of the tunnel… for here is .. TAAA.. DAAA

– ANNIE!!!!!

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coming along…..

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-So, what do you think……let me remind you what she looked like…

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How far we have come….

-Yes, it looks like it has come a long way…. when do I get to crash it into the nieghbor’s car?

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-today before I got back to work on the old Case SC I put Annie’s hood and gas tank on for a shot… then I took them off and she is now ready for priming and painting from the back of the engine to the rear axles….. it took 4.5 hours today and 2 hours last night to get this part ready….. then I put some new connectors on for the headlights, pulled them from the switch, taped over the gauges and steering wheel so they dont get painted and did lots of other little items that will never show up on the pictures….

-So, don’t mind the mess under Annie, but here is a quick shot of her with her hood and gas tank on….. 🙂

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A Trip Back In Time To See Collies and the Farm in Action!!!

We thought we would post something a little different this post…   As you all know I grew up in farm country and own old tractors and plows and do our own acre garden.  My ancestors were all farmers… probably yours were too.  We have collies who are definitely a herding, working farm dog and I thought today we would post a blast from the past of the world my father lived in, and I saw some of… the old family horse farm or farm from that era.  I find it fascinating to see these old animals, machines and such working and while I like seeing horses working on the farm I am a tractor guy myself.  While my grandfather had the largest horse farm in our state when I was a kid I find tractors eat less and I don’t have to go around scooping up after old Allis, Molly or Annie. 🙂   So, let go back in time and see how farming used to be done on the family farm….

We will start out with a collie herding and then end with a collie herding sheep… hope you find it interesting…

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The reaper was a huge step forward on the farm….. all you had to do was go behind it and tie up the shocks!  No hand cutting…… whew!

But, then came the binder/reaper… now it bound the shocks for you!!! woo hoo!!! Also could drop the shocks all in a pile!

The same thing was happening with corn….. first you cut it by hand and made shocks… then this baby came along! 🙂

Of course once harvested from the fields how did one separate the grain from the stalks?  In the old days it was done by hand but then old J.I. Case came along with this wonderful invention!  Now, this is my favorite machine to watch.. it fascinates me how it cuts, shakes, blows and separates the grain from the stems…. amazing!  I go to the tractor shows and watch these Threshers and love it….

You can see them feeding the thresher, at the far end out comes the stalks to feed to the cattle and the grain goes through a chute to a bag!   Now, I couldn’t find a film of it, but horses ran these also on what they called a sweep. They would go around in a circle turning the drive… 🙂

What about the corn? Well they used to pick corn then cut it… but when this baby came along… it cut it up and sorted the ears from the stalks!  woo hoo!!!

Here is a sweep running a corn shredder…… see how it works? pretty cool..

Horses also had another way of powering machinery and it was by a treadmill……… this one sort of scares ppl, but it worked well and was pretty darn safe… despite its looks…

If you needed more power you could do this….

So, that is a trip back to the farming world a hundred and more years ago…..  hope you found it interesting.

Oh… and what would a trip back then be without seeing a collie herd sheep…. 🙂

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Collies and Tractors

We collies love it here at the Meadow.  But, sometimes we have to admit we do get a bit jealous over the Old Guy’s other love… his old Allis Chalmers Tractors!  BUt, in reality it is not too bad for when he drives them around we bark and run and have a lot of fun chasing them.  These old work horses are his other babies and the amount of work he has put into them is equaled only by the amount of work he puts into us! 🙂

 

This is Dad’s 1944 Allis Chalmers Model B he bought from his high school shop class teacher last year for his birthday.  The tractor originally was owned by his history teacher’s family just down the road from where he grew up.  As you can see it needed a lot of work.

 

 

 

 

 

Dad spent a lot of time getting this tractor ready for the winter and he plowed snow out of our driveway and the neighbor’s driveway also for we get a lot of snow.  Then, during the spring and summer he not only mechanically fixed up the old tractor he also repainted it.  Here is what she looks like now!

 

 

 

 

 

Then this year for his birthday the Old Guy bought this 1941 Allis Chalmers Model WC a much bigger tractor!  He drove it home after buying it… a nice 25 mile ride!  While the Model B now plows snow this one will take over that job and will also pull a two bottom plow for the huge garden we have.  The WC will also pull a collie wagon in which the old guy will load us into and take us for rides as well as hay rides for the family.  The B will then cultivate, do the fall plowing for the winter wheat and will mow grass. He is restoring this one as well and here is what she looks like now…

 

 

 

 

As you can see he has painted the front wheels, axle, the grill is now black, the caps on top are all silver and the hood and gas tank are now repainted!  He is spending the winter in the dark at night cleaning up and stripping the old paint so when spring comes she will be repainted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old guy took me for a ride on his tractor and it was fun!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad even threw my ball while on the tractor!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even watered the tire of his tractor!!!!!  hehehehe

 

 

 

 

 

 

Um, I am not going on any tractor!  I like my couch too much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hahahaha!!!!   I don’t think the old guy liked us collies watering all four of his wheels on  both his tractor… hahahahahaha!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that is the story of the Old Guy’s other hobby!  While he is washing off the wheels we watered we are going to go inside and go and look as cute as possible for it always melts his heart and he can never get mad at us.. hehehehe   shhhh.. don’t tell him for he thinks we are innocents who just do things that are wrong.. he never suspects we plot these things! 🙂

 

God Bless You All!!!!

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