The air this evening in Burlington Ontario has finally cooled. Extreme humidity the last few days.
No doubt Ohio also felt the same heavy heat. The tree and the Ford tractor. Tell your Dad I deal
with a 1955 Massey Ferguson on a friend’s farm which is supplemented by a McCormick Cub,
before it became an International Harvester Cub. Both engines though have been rebuilt, the Cub
some ten years ago and then we added hydraulics to make the tines on the row cultivator move up and down more easily rather than manually. The Massey was rebuilt seven years ago, and it has been temperamental ever since.
The plugs on that Ford have much oil on them, given the age of the device not surprising. Farm and general
use older tractors are amazingly durable given their age. A small block of steel of steel is bolted
beside the engine on both tractors. I drilled and tapped on both to hold spare spark plugs for each tractor. So if the plugs fouled when working a field, the plug wrench came out and I could change the plugs. Had to remember to remove the spent plugs when I returned to the drive shed. The project saved me a lot of problems when out in the fields. And both tractors now have radiator overflow tanks fitted (clear two litre soft drink containers) so they can work in hot weather without overheating. The Massey will be a winter works project I think.
Strip the thing down to the basic block and start looking. One of my thoughts is the carbs, it was a problem before the rebore and it has remained a problem. We use the Massey for ploughing snow (when we get it) and snow happens when my friend has his four months in Hawaii. This coming year the 30 inch wide snowblower will have to suffice account the tractor will be in pieces in the shop. It was an outside firm that rebuilt the Massey, we’ll
do it on our own after the last fields are tilled and the winter rye is planted. The Cub can push the snow with a blade but the blower will kick the snow well back from the half mile long drive. Thankfully there are
usually snow fences out in the fields well back from the drive to cut down on the drifts. The trees lining the drive died all too many years ago and now it’s just perennial plantings which are presently in full bloom.

At 44 and a half, you really should help your Dad but I can well understand his reluctance. He has done this all his life and he’s not going to let some young whippersnapper from a foreign country help him!

Interesting to see the child growing. Your son is going to be tall and lithe like his Dad. Children grow and mature all too fast. Watching the children of others over the years often makes me wish I had married and had fostered offspring. But that was not to be the case. Life and other happenings took precedence.

Good to see you’re enjoying yourself.

Bryce Lee