El Nino/Nina

[Halon451]

Doc, how are you doing? How's that retirement working out?

Well, as for this hurricane season, I hope the El Nina works out for us, we need at least one more year without insurance claims to make insurance companies feel at ease and lower the insurance burden for many of us, also keep building materials and roofers within reasonable price margins.

Amen to that.

 

[TLS Guy]

It started to snow very hard at Benedict Minnesota last night.

Here are the pictures.

http://mdcarter.smugmug.com/Weather

Since those pictures were taken this morning we have received almost twice that today. It is still snowing very hard and I can't see the lake, let alone across it.

I will take more pictures in the morning and add them to the gallery. It is also cold and I have kept the wood burning fireplace stoked.

I will start the 60 year old John Deere Model A up in the morning and see if she is up to the task. It has snow chains. If she can get a grip, it will move it. The two cylinders will really snap too, and I bet she will be heard over several miles. The governor will open wide a good deal of the time. The two pistons fire in 180 degrees rotation: fire fire, exhaust, exhaust. Max revs 900 rpm! That gives the John Deere Waterloo tractors a unique sound, that can be heard over a long distance when working hard. Tomorrow she will work hard!

They also had heavy snow in England. My father says there is 8 inches in the garden, the heaviest snow fall in that part of England in many years.

Now this global warming alleged to be due to CO2 is nonsense. Anybody who regards CO2 as a pollutant is gullible. Al Gore and his henchmen are fools of the first rank.

Professor Osbourne of UND center for aerospace and aviation and head of meteorology has been studying climate going back 2000 years, and he says the natural variation is huge. Saying that recent events are out of the norm in the context of a long period of time is nonsense. You just can't say with any certainty that there is a significant long term trend here. The debate is certainly not over!

This global warming bandwagon, will prove to be one of the great, if not the greatest Pollyanna in history. The worst of it all this nonsense about carbon footprints is costly and contributing to a sap on resources. Science it is not!

Here is a picture taken at Walberswick House Benedict Lake at Easter.

http://mdcarter.smugmug.com/gallery/4633745_WpaYQ#P-3-12

We have had a cold winter, and with this cold snap I will use over 15,000 KWH of electric ripple heat, all generated from coal. I will also have used 550 gallons of propane back up heat, and burned 6 to 7 cords of wood. Quite a nice carbon footprint. I won't be seeking credits!

Well it snowed for 36 hours. We received 27 inches, the largest snow fall since the winter of 1996/7 culminating in the great flood of the Red River of the North. It was a record for this time of year.

Here are the updated photographs.

These photographs are from yesterday morning, this morning and this evening at Walberswick House on Benedict Lake MN.

I was worried the clearance job would be beyond the capabilities of the 1948 John Deere Model A and Farmhand loader. So I phoned for professional help. However they were in a bad way with big rigs stuck. So I had my helper Josh over to help dig out, and me out when I got stuck. As usual the Model A started first piston up, and I spent all day clearing the two fore courts and the 1/2 mile entrance road. Josh only had to dig me out four times!

Anyhow the old girl got the job done, and the horizontal two cylinder engine never stalled once. On the big pushes you could count the cylinder firings. Quite a racket, but bags of torque.

That tractor was bought originally by bean farmers in Cavalier ND. In the early fifties it was bought by Gallagher Farms of Oakwood ND. I cared for three generations of the Gallaghers. I bought the tractor at Neil Gallagher's auction when he retired. The auction in November 1998 had to be postponed for a blizzard!

The tractor has had a hard working life, and has thousands and thousands of hours of service. Neil did a valve job and replaced the piston bearings just before the auction. Apparently you never have to replace mains on these Waterloo tractors unless you run them out of oil.

When I do repairs and service work, I'm always impressed by the quality of the workmanship. All the threads are perfect. Seldom do I have to fight anything. Quite unlike most modern manufacture. The fact this 60 year old tractor can still perform a massive task like today's is remarkable.

That is why I get so hot about a lot of the junk in trouble on these forums.

 

[stratman]

Well it snowed for 36 hours. We received 27 inches, the largest snow fall since the winter of 1996/7 culminating in the great flood of the Red River of the North. It was a record for this time of year.

Dang that Global Warming!

 

[TLS Guy]

Dang that Global Warming!

Many a true word said in jest my friend! The problem is that the global warming fanatics will tell you with a straight face, that global warming is the cause of our recent cold winter and that severe April storm.

 

[stratman]

Many a true word said in jest my friend! The problem is that the global warming fanatics will tell you with a straight face, that global warming is the cause of our recent cold winter and that severe April storm.

You know when this GW malarky is finally blown out of the water, the fanatics will get marketing jobs with BOSE and Monster.

 

[Tomorrow]

Just a little comment from the Northwest peanut gallery....

Our ski areas have seen in excess of 700" of snow this season. They've gotten over 60 FEET in some places. I keep hoping for a little global warming for my part of the coast....you know...like turning this icy burg into San Diego North.

Majorloser and Loserwife, come out here and warm this joint up...bring just a little of that F-L-A weather with you.

 

[haraldo]

Well it snowed for 36 hours. We received 27 inches, the largest snow fall since the winter of 1996/7 culminating in the great flood of the Red River of the North. It was a record for this time of year.

Darn!!!!!! that's really a lot, even the guys from northern Finland would say that's a lot of snowfall

 

[TLS Guy]

Darn!!!!!! that's really a lot, even the guys from northern Finland would say that's a lot of snowfall

I came to Minneapolis Tuesday to hear the King College Cambridge choir at the St. Paul Cathedral. There is a bigger system over Minnesota now and it is sleeting hard. Benedict Lake is in line for another foot of snow in the next 24 hours. I will try and get back Saturday. Problem is I didn't bring my snow shoes with me, so I may have tough time getting in.

 

[TLS Guy]

La Nina continues and it's still cold in lakes country

We have had the most extraordinary Spring in Minnesota. The roads were closed in greater Minnesota for three of the four weekends in April because of heavy snow.

I posted the snow fall from April 4-5. Two weeks later my wife could not make it to Minneapolis for a family function. I was there ahead of the storm.

April 25 was my son's wedding on Nicolet Island in the Mississippi River, Minneapolis. It was an outside wedding under a tent, but the reception was inside. It was around freezing with a wind and sleet. It was a great wedding and at the end of the festivities we went down to the river bank in a moderate snow with large snow flakes falling.

http://mdcarter.smugmug.com/gallery/4853055_B699c#289028452

I got back to Benedict two days later and had to move 18 inches of snow.

http://mdcarter.smugmug.com/gallery/4664219_yJtdJ#291135317_KkKy5

It has stayed unusually cold and freezing most nights. Tonight it will go to 29 F

Yesterday was the first hot day. It got to 72F, but it was very humid. The Lake was still frozen and as the warm rain hit the ice it made a huge steam.

http://mdcarter.smugmug.com/gallery/4664219_yJtdJ#291135231_orTJf

The warm rain cleared the lake about 50% of ice. I think the rest of the ice will be out tomorrow. It has turned colder again today and will for the next week or so

However the much bigger Leech Lake, into which the be Benedict river flows is still 99% frozen. The DNR have declared it closed for Fishing opener on Saturday May 10. This has never happened before.

I traveled back to Grand Forks ND. As I traveled across the 45 miles of the East side of the Red River Valley. Spring planting was in full swing. Enormous John Deere 360 HP four wheel drive tractors were pulling large pneumatic seeders over the black loam Red river soil. This land is probably as flat as any in the world. It drops to the river about a foot per mile. So the planting is late.

I have lived in this part of the world 38 years, but this Spring has been unique for the snow fall and temperatures.

Global Warming?

 

[haraldo]

Hey, happy to see that things are warming up somewhat there TLS, hang in there
Certainly no global warming though.......

 

[Halon451]

The pictures with everyone standing in the light snowfall make for some fairly spectacular shots with the light of the flash reflecting off the snowflakes.

I've heard reports that we're actually on the brink of another mini-Ice Age. I don't know how true it is, but apparently some very reputable climatologists are in agreement over it.

It seems like the louder these GW alarmists try to shout, Nature steps up her efforts to shut them up.

 

[Tomorrow]

Woot...it's warming up fast here in the NW, too. Not. For the first time in the 17 years we've been here, it snowed in MID-APRIL...on the Oregon coast. Wow.

We're well below average temperatures thus far for the year.

 

[haraldo]

There's a actually a thing about GW that means that some places may colder as a result of GW

No. it's not April fools day

Things may go out of whack which means that things may go unstable, just like Mikey?
I'm not an expert on this and I don't know what I'm talking about but if I did I'm sure that I'd be correct

 

[TLS Guy]

There's a actually a thing about GW that means that some places may colder as a result of GW

No. it's not April fools day

Things may go out of whack which means that things may go unstable, just like Mikey?
I'm not an expert on this and I don't know what I'm talking about but if I did I'm sure that I'd be correct

Don't fall for that Haraldo. This GW craze is the Anglo Saxon puritan streak reasserting itself. In other words, what ever happens is your fault. If you are enjoying what you are doing then it is 10 times worse a sin.

This is the worst outbreak since prohibition. Actually it is probably the worst outbreak since the seventeenth century.

 

[Mr.M-500t]

According to the geniuses at the UN, this year El Nino will be predominant, so hopefully the Eastern coast of the US and the Gulf will not be as vulnerable to 'Canes, but remember this came from the UN so take it with a 5 pound grain of salt. I hope it's true as I live in the middle of hurricane alley. Let's see.

I think it's true stratman. Spring is about 2 months late out here in Oregon.
Low 40's at night and low to mid 50's during the daytime and lots of clouds.
Should be in the 70's and low 80's by now. So much for Al Gores Global Warming.

 

[Mr.M-500t]

Well it snowed for 36 hours. We received 27 inches, the largest snow fall since the winter of 1996/7 culminating in the great flood of the Red River of the North. It was a record for this time of year.

Here are the updated photographs.

These photographs are from yesterday morning, this morning and this evening at Walberswick House on Benedict Lake MN.

I was worried the clearance job would be beyond the capabilities of the 1948 John Deere Model A and Farmhand loader. So I phoned for professional help. However they were in a bad way with big rigs stuck. So I had my helper Josh over to help dig out, and me out when I got stuck. As usual the Model A started first piston up, and I spent all day clearing the two fore courts and the 1/2 mile entrance road. Josh only had to dig me out four times!

Anyhow the old girl got the job done, and the horizontal two cylinder engine never stalled once. On the big pushes you could count the cylinder firings. Quite a racket, but bags of torque.

That tractor was bought originally by bean farmers in Cavalier ND. In the early fifties it was bought by Gallagher Farms of Oakwood ND. I cared for three generations of the Gallaghers. I bought the tractor at Neil Gallagher's auction when he retired. The auction in November 1998 had to be postponed for a blizzard!

The tractor has had a hard working life, and has thousands and thousands of hours of service. Neil did a valve job and replaced the piston bearings just before the auction. Apparently you never have to replace mains on these Waterloo tractors unless you run them out of oil.

When I do repairs and service work, I'm always impressed by the quality of the workmanship. All the threads are perfect. Seldom do I have to fight anything. Quite unlike most modern manufacture. The fact this 60 year old tractor can still perform a massive task like today's is remarkable.

That is why I get so hot about a lot of the junk in trouble on these forums.

I love reading Tractor stories TLS Guy.
I use to have a John Deer Model 40 MT I bought from a retired blueberrie farmer when I lived in Michigan. That tractor never let me down in any season. After 10 years of faithful service I sold it for more than I paid for it.

 

[TLS Guy]

I love reading Tractor stories TLS Guy.
I use to have a John Deer Model 40 MT I bought from a retired blueberrie farmer when I lived in Michigan. That tractor never let me down in any season. After 10 years of faithful service I sold it for more than I paid for it.

The M series had a separate design team and factory in Dubuque, with the Waterloo tractors continuing there. They are two cylinder, but vertical rather than horizontal.

I have a lovely 420. It has power steering and live PTO. Fifty years old this year. I plan to wake up from winter hibernation Tuesday and start moving boats about. In a week or two she will be mowing lawns!

I just bought the ignition parts for my three tractors, for $140. It's spring tune up time!