I can hardly thank God enough for the warm weather we are finally having! The cold was beginning to wear me out so the above zero temperatures are very welcome.
Most of my vehicles will not run at 20 or 30 below zero but the Mercedes always seems to start and run fine no matter how cold it is, that is, it did until this last cold spell. I was to meet Jon Stover and together we would head out to spend some time ice fishing with Kyle and the Hendersons. I was a little late because the battery was dead, then after setting out on the lake in the nasty cold it wouldn't start when it was time to leave. Paul had left their Excursion running so he was able to tow my car off the lake and once we were on a road where I could get traction enough we tow started the car. I am glad for the Mercedes automatic transmission that allows tow starting! After that I decided I was crazy for living in a place that was much colder than a deep freeze when I could just as easily live somewhere nearer the equator that's much warmer! Now that it's a little warmer I remember why I like North Dakota so much.
Last time I posted I was getting ready for the caucus so I guess I should mention that it went very well, huge crowds of people (huge crowds for a town the size of Rugby) and I saw a lot of support for Ron Paul, which was encouraging. I visited with a lot of people throughout the day and during the evening, which is something I am not usually found doing (visiting with people) walking up to someone and shaking their hand while introducing myself is just not my thing but sometimes we just have to do things that need to be done!
On the news from home; with the grain prices as high as they are I have decided to finally sell wheat, which means I have a lot of work to do just so I can get a truck near the bins in order to haul the grain out, snow to move (mountains of it) auger to fix, screens to manage, shoveling to do and all of that fun stuff. I guess it will be worth it since the price is so high, every shovel full is like shoveling money, real money, at least it's real until I sell it to the elevator and they give me a check, then it's just a piece of paper with a number that has several zeros behind it that buys less and less each day that I hang onto it. I got several hundred bushels of corn for free (feed grade, dusty and has rocks in it) so I am feeding the pigs as much as they like, I may have to get more pigs just so I can get rid of all the feed! It's a good deal I figure because I can feed the pigs free stuff and sell the pigs for 100% profit, I just can't consider the 2 minutes a day I spend dumping 3 buckets of feed into the tub as work since I would visit the pigs anyway, so it's all profit. I haven't been working with the horses much, mostly because I don't seem to have much time at home when I am not doing something else more pressing! It's kind of annoying that living the so called "simple life" means that life is more complicated than ever and there's little time left over for doing odds and ends. I am trying (unsuccessfully) to cut twice as much firewood as I need so that I have a large reserve supply on hand. So far the idea is when I am using the chainsaw I cut one tank of gas worth (several weeks supply of wood during the coldest weather) and then cut another tank of gas worth and leave that in a pile so I can collect it next summer when I have spare time (Wonder if I'll have any of that?) and stack it in one of the store rooms off the barn. If I can have several years supply stacked up indoors I will feel comfortable, even if the gasoline supply is cut off. As it is the chainsaw is an extremely cheap way to heat the house, two gallons of gasoline and the needed oil is all I will use to cut enough wood for the entire winter. I am pleased with that. I used to use a lot more gas and time but I decided that the secret is to keep the chain absolutely razor sharp at all times so the saw cuts wood like it's hardly there. I use a lot less gas and a lot less time and effort so it works out good every way you look at it. I had a very disappointing thing happen last week, a stupid and forgetful mistake on my part. I had just finished putting the Volkswagen engine back together after fixing it up, got it started and I just needed to adjust a few things. The next day I was checking the timing because I was wondering if the injector timing was on perfectly (it was starting kind of hard). To check the timing on those you have to line up a slot in the camshaft with the edge of the head, putting a tool (I use an appropriate sized file) in the slot to hold it in place, then align a mark on the flywheel and put a pin through a hole in the injector pump pulley into a hole in the mounting plate. It sounds complicated but is actually ridiculously easy. Anyway, after assuring myself that everything was in precise alignment I put things back together and tried starting it, it ground in the starter ( I thought) but I had Kyle (he was helping me) look things over just in case, well, I had forgotten the pin in the injector pump. He took it out and I tried starting it again, which was absolutely insane because I know what could happen, the battery was shot so we decided to tow start it, which we proceeded to do, in the process, bending all of the exhaust valves because the timing belt had slipped because of the pin holding the pulley solid but allowing the crankshaft to turn with the starter. Oh well, now I get to start all over at the beginning! Re do the head rebuild job and put it all back together again. I am glad it's a ridiculously easy engine to work on and super cheap for parts. God willing I'll have it back together early next week.
Got to go, lots to do in town yet before Bible study tonight!