How a Texan operates his tractor in the cold....

[JakeBrake]

I like the cold weather in Texas better than the hot weather here in summer. To me what the shade tree in August offers is survival, not "cooling". But 30 degrees here feels alot colder than 30 degrees in New Mexico or Colorado when we go skiing. Its the humidity and wind that does it.

I unloaded my new smoker on about 12/1/10 and my tractor has not been used since that day.

Alan,

I agree. My ancestors were awarded land grants in what is now Mississippi for their service in the Revolutionary War. My family has been here since then. I was an adult before I enjoyed air conditioning.

I like the cold weather in Mississippi much better than the hot weather. My fields don't have any shade and they are awfully hot and dusty in August.

MY Kubota started easily this morning even though all surface water was frozen. I rode around for awhile, surveying the estate.

My winter project is thinning a stand of southern pines with a chain saw. There is no way I could do that in a Mississippi summer.

In summer we take an annual Escape The Heat trip to Colorado (above 10,000 ft) or to rural Canada far from the big cities and tourist traps. The distance to Colorado or Canada is about the same for us.

 

[dcyrilc]

The dozer looks like fun, but on a nice day it will beat you up something fierce. On a freezing cold day, it will punish you down to yoru bones and then some. The cold starts at your feet. 40,000 pounds of steel will never warm up no matter how lond you run it at full throttle. It just gets colder and more painful. I really don't know of anything like it, and have done it enough times to realize that I'm not very smart, and it doesn't get any better.

I'm a fair weather, warm day, type of tractor guy!!!!!

Eddie

I have to agree with you on that Eddie. I spent a lot of winters running an open station Backhoe, and there's nothing quite like running it down the road at 15-20 MPH when it's 34 degrees and raining.

I had the use of a dozer on the farm for a month about twelve years ago. It's amazing what that machine can do. Now I have the tractor with the rear blade and although it can get the job done it seems like it takes about two days to do what the dozer was able to do in ten minutes.

10-12 years back you used to be able to rent one for $450 a week. Now they want $750 a day. The sad part is that I only make about $3 and hour more than I did back then.:confused2: 'Course rocks gone from $100 a load to $400 a load in the same period.

 

[jenkinsph]

Alan,

I agree. My ancestors were awarded land grants in what is now Mississippi for their service in the Revolutionary War. My family has been here since then. I was an adult before I enjoyed air conditioning.

I like the cold weather in Mississippi much better than the hot weather. My fields don't have any shade and they are awfully hot and dusty in August.

MY Kubota started easily this morning even though all surface water was frozen. I rode around for awhile, surveying the estate.

My winter project is thinning a stand of southern pines with a chain saw. There is no way I could do that in a Mississippi summer.

In summer we take an annual Escape The Heat trip to Colorado (above 10,000 ft) or to rural Canada far from the big cities and tourist traps. The distance to Colorado or Canada is about the same for us.

I moved from Louisiana and Mississippi to New Mexico in 1989... permanently. The cold weather here is usually a dry cold which is easier to deal with. I haven't seen a fire ant since I left which is another plus.
Grew up in New Orleans and had a family farm in Pike county MS. I do miss the farm in alot of ways but the heat in the pine trees on a summer day was stifleing.

 

[AKfish]

We've had a long stretch of below zero days this winter up here! Not the real extreme below zero - 30,40,50 stuff - where I live at least, but the minus 10,15,20 stuff.

And it's the "dry" cold.. we're below average for snowfall this winter, so far.

Been puttin' off cleaning the horse corral thinking it was gonna get warmer... weather forecast is for another week or so of below zero.

So, I was out digging up frozen turds for 3 hours in minus 8F this afternoon! :mur:

(I really hate those long icicles that form on your mustache! Almost as much as the horses hate the hoar frost that forms all over their nostrils and eyelids! They're always trying to rub it off on my pants and coat! Buggars!)

AKfish

 

[dcyrilc]

We've had a long stretch of below zero days this winter up here! Not the real extreme below zero - 30,40,50 stuff - where I live at least, but the minus 10,15,20 stuff.

And it's the "dry" cold.. we're below average for snowfall this winter, so far.

Been puttin' off cleaning the horse corral thinking it was gonna get warmer... weather forecast is for another week or so of below zero.

So, I was out digging up frozen turds for 3 hours in minus 8F this afternoon! :mur:

(I really hate those long icicles that form on your mustache! Almost as much as the horses hate the hoar frost that forms all over their nostrils and eyelids! They're always trying to rub it off on my pants and coat! Buggars!)

AKfish

How did your hay come out? Did the rain ever let up so you could get it baled?

 

[mjncad]

I'm Colorado born and raised, and I like our low humidity and minimal bugs; but I'd be a happy camper if I could have the 4 - 8 weeks of perfect weather we get in September and October year round. Winters are too cold and snowy for my tastes, and summers are too hot. The possible extremes in the Denver area range from -20 to 100.

My first trip north was to Toronto in early December and although the outdoor thermometers were reading 0, I was running around with my coat open, sweater unbuttoned and flapping my collar to cool off. I know it was not because I was acclimated to it since I had only been in Toronto for under 12 hours.

Sounds like you had a hot flash. :laughing:

Here in East Texas, I barely even look at my tractors.

Eddie

May I ask what the round feed-bag looking gizmo is on the front of the tractor in the first picture?

 

[AKfish]

How did your hay come out? Did the rain ever let up so you could get it baled?

Thanks. We got 'er done! :thumbsup:

It was real late (Aug. 20-21) and everything all headed out; so, the protein and nutrients were lower but I'll never tell the horses that.. (We supplement with some oats and pellets.)

Only missed one bale when my knot on the next roll of twine slipped. I don't hold that against the baler!

AKfish

 

[johnrex62]

Quote:
Originally Posted by johnrex62 View Post
My first trip north was to Toronto in early December and although the outdoor thermometers were reading 0, I was running around with my coat open, sweater unbuttoned and flapping my collar to cool off. I know it was not because I was acclimated to it since I had only been in Toronto for under 12 hours.


Sounds like you had a hot flash. :laughing:

Hmmm:cool2: you could be right. It was my honeymoon.

 

[terry.dinerman]

I really REALLY hate the cold...

I moved south to escape the slashing cold of the winters on Long Island...stuck between the Sound and the Atlantic, winter was one long gray misery of rain and slush one year or snow and ice depending on El Nino / El Nina.

Either way it was one big PITA....

I spent a couple of winters on the Sound as a dredge operator and tug engineer, and I wound up investing more money in insulated cloths than I did in my first car.

Standing on an icy steel deck in the wind all day drove me to extremes.

I had 6 sets of felt liners for my pac boots and kept them continuously rotating between my feet and a drying line I strung up over one of the generators down in the engine room of the tugboat.

It was still miserable.

I can stand the heat a lot better... and the dryer it is, the more I can stand.

Here is a shot taken in Basra....it was late afternoon and about 120 degrees...no shade but the bill of my cap...full "battle-rattle"....no problem...just rolled up my sleeves a little...

I took this shot of the thermometer at the weather station my group was responsible for maintaining at our base in An Nasiriya one balmy July afternoon...

That really is 127 degrees in the shade....the black surface of my helmet or the hood of our ambulance would have reached about 155 and with AC we could probably get the vehicle interior down to a chilly 90 or so...

I must have stored a lot of that heat, because these days when it gets a little chilly up at The Old Goat Ranch, I put on a light jacket, cover my gourd with a nice wool beret and just keep moving...

After work, a wee dram of Jamesons helps a LOT....

Stay WARM everybody!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I spent some time (about 5 years) in Northern Alberta Canada and can tell you that -30 F is playful weather up there but if we got -30 in Arkansas I doubt that we could put on enough cloths. Once when living up in Canada, the wife and I came to Houston Texas for Christmas. It was -40 when we left and we wore appropriate clothing to be warm. We had on the same clothing when we got to Houston where it was raining and windy and about +40 F and we were freezing to death. It does make a difference in the dry cold vs wet humid conditions.