29F Above Average So What To Do?

[Gale Hawkins]

I had to take the son into town to help another scout with his Eagle Project so I head back to the house and start exercising some equipment in this mid Jan heat wave. Our average temp for today is 43F but we hit 72F.

Not having used the block heater (which on testing is 550 watts) on the 1976 265 MF tractor in years I plugged it in to shorten the warm up time for a couple hours. Every thing was very wet from sweating due to all the warm moist air moving in for the last couple days. The 1983 JD 310B BH ether start system is so missing so I just never start it if below 40F because it hurts me to hear it trying to wind up and keep running in colder temps. Today it fired up fast so I lifted the rear tires off the ground about 8" and started them spinning and reversing them to help warm up the fluids and I moved all 12 cylinders a couple times then let it run for about 30 minutes.

While it was warming up I decided to fire up the F700 Ford and the battery was deader than dead. I had left the key in the acessrory position after driving it last month to fill its fuel tank. I used the 6 amp manual charger for a while so I could put the auto charger on it. After that I moved all BH cylinders 10 times full stroke in and out with the oil hot. After shutting it down I turned to the 265 MF and started it and worked the lift and PTO a bit then left a charger on it to top off the battery.

Recovering the flat starting battery on the F700 with the 429 engine was a pain since the B&D wanted to error out but at 2:30 I left it charging to go back into town. Did also drive and repark the 1986.5 Nissan PU in case I need it when the ground is muddy.

Unless I have a need for the tractors they may set until March. Working the hydraulics on both of them may not help them but it makes me feel better.

 

[dmccarty]

I was hoping to work outside on projects yesterday afternoon and today. Around noon a thick fog rolled in. One of the strangest things I have seen at our house. HEAVY fog that lasted until this afternoon. The fog made everything wet so I could not work outside. When the fog disappeared it was very sudden. It was like someone turned on a light switch and we had sunlight. I went outside to take a look around and it was HOT! Checked the hydrometer and it was 98%! YUCK. A few hours later it was overcast and raining!

We had strange weather like this in January of 2000 and then we got two feet of snow! :shocked:

I hope we can skip snow. Snow is for people up Nawth. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Ice is our big concern here near MS River because the Jet Steam plays between the TN/KY and KY/IL borders. It is above us at the moment but we are looking for a 30F drop in temps tonight which will be the high for Sunday. Then we go back to our 40's/20's daily winter temps with the day time temps 38-52F for next four weeks forecast. Freezing rain is to be followed by above temps the next day. It being at near or above 70 for a few days deceases the odds of bad travel, etc has warmed the roads, etc.

When we got back home tonight the F700 fired off and we dumped one time just to cycle the hydraulics and dry out the engine that had water dripping off of it from the warm air/cold steel combo.

Looks like we are going to miss a bad Jan then if we get past Feb we should have had a light winter but there are a lot of sick folks.

 

[murphy1244]

Flood time.

 

[Bob77064]

Not too long ago we had lows down in the low twenties now seventies. Makes me wonder what's coming.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Supposed to go back down to normal soon, but it was nice and warm today and more for tomorrow.

 

[k0ua]

You guys further east just wait a day or so.. We were in the 60's Friday.. now we are below freezing and looking for ice and snow later. And way colder Sunday and Monday.. just wait a day or two and you will be cool too. Looks like LA California area is expecting below freezing temps. Look out orange crop. Get out the smudge pots.

James K0UA

 

[MIKE R]

I got lots done in the sugar bush running lines and such. I remember always having a January thaw. It drops back off to normal for a few weeks. Maybe enough to get the ground to freeze.

 

[MossRoad]

I went ice fishing last weekend. This weekend its in the 50s. Might get ice again in a week or two,

 

[creekbend]

I was hoping to work outside on projects yesterday afternoon and today. Around noon a thick fog rolled in. One of the strangest things I have seen at our house. HEAVY fog that lasted until this afternoon. The fog made everything wet so I could not work outside. When the fog disappeared it was very sudden. It was like someone turned on a light switch and we had sunlight. I went outside to take a look around and it was HOT! Checked the hydrometer and it was 98%! YUCK. A few hours later it was overcast and raining!

We had strange weather like this in January of 2000 and then we got two feet of snow! :shocked:

I hope we can skip snow. Snow is for people up Nawth. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

We had the exact weather conditions in our area that you just described. I think we had a tad more rain than you did though. It was quite a gloomy day with the fog lasting as long as it did.