A quiet week

It has been a quiet week, but busy for all of that. Pam is working on Christmas cards (“mine” are finished and sent). Some are custom cards, built from card stock and modified with the addition of photos, inserts, and other artwork. Some are purchased cards that need inserts and newsletters. Here is a photo of Pam working on cards at our dining room table:

Pam working on Christmas cards

I help by printing photo, inserts, and trimming the photos to fit the cards. Pam does most of the work, including addressing all the envelopes.  She comes up with the designs and other artwork, a creative talent I lack. Other than that, and some snow earler this week, it’s been pretty much life as usual with work and the pets. We did break out the Christmas songs and it is nice to listen to them once again. Some cards have arrived and we enjoy opening and reading them. While not of much general interest, I did some work on the tractor: changing the oil. Should be simple, right? It was not.

First, I had to use a pipe wrench to remove the oil drain plug. The last time it was installed no gasket was used and it was stuck in place pretty tight. The plug is about 2.5 inches in diameter and has a recess in it. The recess was full of sludge and gunk. I cleaned everything, installed a new gasket, and re-installed the plug after the oil was fully drained.

I took the time to examine all the bolts around the front of the tractor. One, which helps hold the front axle in place, was missing, and several others were loose. I re-tightened the loose bolts and found a replacment for the missing one. Then it was time to replace the oil filter itself.

Old machinery and cars from the ’40s and ’50s used a filter cartridge that fits inside a metal “can” mounted to the engine somwhere. (Modern equipment uses a “spin-on” filter which is self-contained. This approach is both faster and cleaner than using a cartridge.) The can has a drain plug on it so one can drain the oil sitting around the cartridge. I removed the plug and nothing came out. Hmm…. Sparing you the details, what happened was the bottom of the can was so filled with sludge that it covered the drain hole. I had to disconnect the oil lines and take the filter can off the engine to clean it. Man, whas it dirty! Below is a photo of the stuff I was able to remove with a wide screwdriver. The rest came out with cleaning solvent.

Sludge from 8N oil filter can

After a thorough cleaning I remounted the can, re-attached the oil lines, and installed the new filter cartridge. After filling the crankcase with fresh oil I started the tractor, let it run for a few minutes, then re-checked the oil level. It was fine and there were no leaks. The tractor finally has fresh oil and a new filter. I wonder when that happened last?

What should have been a 20 minute job turned into a 90 minute job, and a dirty one at that. Seems like that is always the case when tackling repairs on this poor old 8N. I am suspending any more repair projects until spring or warmer weather. The cold weather and un-heated garage makes for poor working conditions. Still, Pam laughs: I drive the tractor over to the recently-installed recycling center carrying a large garbage bag of recycleables on the drawbar. I empty the bag and drive back. Gives me an excuse for taking the tractor out for a spin. (Prior to having this recycling center we took our recycleables into Glenwood Springs.)

Otherwise not much else is new. Felicity’s singing group has been performing many concerts in the Portland area and she had tickets to see The Nutcracker, so she is really enjoying the holidays. Toby is still (supposedly) looking for work and appears to be a little “lost” this Christmas. We will be sending gifts to both kids and that will be the extent of our Christmas shopping.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!