Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36 mm — 1/320 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
day two
Monday started off busy, with a visit to a bounce house, “Monster Play”, some baseball, and walks by the lake, but it ended with even more activity.
I wrote the other day about clearing a tree that had fallen in my folks' backyard. I'd written in the other posts that it was a sumac, but Ron's comment that it seemed to be the similar-looking Tree of Heaven prompted my mom to look into it further, and she's decided he's right. It does seem to match better than sumac... Wikipedia says it can reach a height of 27 meters, and I guessed this one was 21 meters, and it says that it rarely lives more than 50 years, and this one was small when we moved here 44 years ago. Mom says “Thanks!”, Ron.
Anyway, my dad waited to clear the rest because we thought Anthony's cousins Josh and Jena might want to watch, so now that they're here he started phase two of the clearing.
The first thing was to try to roll the bulk of the tree away from the small redbud tree that was half crushed but still alive under it. (I didn't know what a “redbud” was, but apparently they're in Kyoto as well: I'd posted some pretty photos of one that was just outside my place, in a post earlier this year about the Sigma's new 50-500mm “Bigma”.)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 52 mm — 1/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
And with that heavy load, the backhoe suddenly quit, so Dad had to investigate...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
to the bowels of a 1959 Ford Series 713 Backhoe
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
in a manner of speaking
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 65 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
With the newly-cleaned spark plugs, it started right up and gave no further troubles.
After flipping the tree over, it was time to lop off some big branches...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.3, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony had been running around and playing basketball
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
through the trunk and a branch that had been 30 or 40 feet up
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 19 mm — 1/1500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
into the front loader
Photo By Marci Kreta
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
( Hey, I'm almost 44½ )
(My dad is 79½, but is strong as an ox, so he doesn't count)
Photo By Marci Kreta
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
...became
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dad didn't need my help for anything, and didn't really want it for much either, but humored me anyway
Then I humored the kids to let them help (which was really them tricking me into more tractor rides)...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
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