WNYTCC Web Site                                                                           

• Club Merchandise
  It’s never too early to shop for Easter presents. Jeanne Zielinski will have many items of merchandise that our club has to offer.  If you have any questions about the club’s merchandise, phone Jeanne Zielinski at (585) 322-9957 evenings.

• When you inform Clem Demmin about a "Coming Event" please include the complete address, including the zip code. This way we can link the map feature in the clubs website calendar to the "Coming Event".

• Please notify one of the officers or directors in the event that a member has a special need.  Club contacts are listed in each month’s newsletter.  Along the same line if you have an e-mail address and you have not given it to Clem yet, please send him an e-mail so he can add your e-mail address to this listing. This listing currently consists of just over 100 of our members and is a convenient way to notify lots of members easily.

• John Deere Stock Price

  As of February 22, 2012, the price of a single share of John Deere stock was $84.37
  

• Don’t forget to return the form included with the October newsletter to renew your membership for 2012.  To participate in our events for the upcoming year you must be a member.  Check the year printed after your name on the mailing label to see if you need to renew your membership.  If your mailing label says 2012 or later you are good through the end of that year.  An e-mail will go out to our members who have elected to receive the newsletter from the web site. 

What's Is a Farmer's Wife?

 A farmer’s wife can be found driving a team of horses, cooking up a favorite dish, turning down salesmen, setting our plants, looking for lost items, and waiting on her husband.
Beauty inspires her, children interrupt her, mud perturbs her, machinery puzzles her, the baby delays her, but it takes her husband to stop her.
When he calls, “Come help me….” put the cows in, get the diesel started, bale the hay, or fetch a part, a farmer’s wife knows it’s her duty to leave the dishes in the sink, wash on the line, and the kitchen floor half-scrubbed and go to his aid.
But is also her privilege to work side-by-side with her man, to share in his labor and love, dreams, and disappointments, problems and plane, and satisfaction in a job well done.  She usually knows where he is and what he is doing, and tries to guess when he’ll be in for dinner.
A farmer’s wife has a variety of occupations.  She is at one time or another a seamstress, bookkeeper, hired man, teacher, nutritionist, errand girl, interior decorator, nursemaid (occasionally to kittens and baby pigs, as well as her family), housekeeper, baby-sitter, cook, dishwasher, and always a wife and mother.
A farmer’s wife needs to take time for herself, to watch a sunset, walk in the woods, read a good book, laugh with her children, whisper a prayer.
And in spite of the trial that comes to a farm family …. sickness and injury, severe storms and crop failures, debt and discouragement …. she is thankful, to for the many blessings on life on the farm …. the variety of changing seasons, the closeness of her family, the sight of a wobbly newborn calf, the helplessness of a neighbor, the dazzling whiteness of acres of snow, the smell of new-mown hay.
A farmer’s wife loves growing things …. a growing garden that means beauty at her doorstep, growing crops that mean a continuation of her way of life and growing children that means a continuation of life itself.
And when it’s been “one of those days” and she has run all over the back forty helping her husband get the cattle out of the corn, the farmer’s wife feels it’s worth it all when he says, “Thanks, dear, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Submitted by your Chaplain: Roger Thurber

Brockport Toy Show Report

 Our annual Western New York Two Cylinder Club Toy Show will be held on April 29th, at Spurr Dealership at Brockport Spencerport Rd. Brockport, NY.  The raffle item this year will be a John Deere 720 pedal tractor.  In this newsletter, you will find a book of raffle tickets.  If you could sell one book and return stubs and money to Alan Hain, it would be greatly appreciated.  I will have Toy Show flyers and raffle tickets at the March and April meetings for anyone that wants to help promote out Toy Show.  So far we have been to the Alexander and Geneseo Toy Show to sell raffle tickets and hand out flyers advertising our toy show and tractor display.  In February we attended the WNY Farm Show as a new event to promote our toy show.  On March 10th we will be setup at the Benton Toy Show to hand out flyers and sell raffle tickets.  You can either bring ticket stubs and money back to Al at a meeting or mail them to Alan Hain, 352 South Drive Rochester, NY 14612.  Any questions please call Al at (585) 227-1864.  Also we are looking for tractor and farm related items for display at the toy show.  Contact Donald Grentzinger at (585) 637-4013.

Submitted by: Alan Hain

Our Last Meeting

  Z&M Oakfield service manager, Roger Fisher Jr. had the service area arranged with tables and chairs for the meeting and also a number of new “hi-tech” tractors that we could check out.  The parts counter was open for business and many took advantage to pick up parts and toys.
Roger had arranged for Bob Read, John Deere Territory Manager, to provide us with an excellent power point show, with several videos, detailing how John Deere has engineered their latest engines to comply with the Interim Tier 4 (IT4) emission standards and also the features in the 6R, 7R, and 8R tractors.
John Deere has elected to meet the IT4 standard through the use of an exhaust diesel particulate filter (DPF) rather than inject diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) into the exhaust stream.  This method does not require the addition of an additional fluid to consume the particulate material from the engine exhaust.  The diesel particulate filter cleans itself during normal engine operation.
The new 6R, 7R, and 8R tractors incorporate many new and enhanced features that have been incorporated into them, adding to the features in previous models.  Foremost is the use of the new IT4 compliant engines.  These tractors are loaded with technology.  All of the critical functions are monitored and stored in the many onboard computers.  These tractors can communicate with the dealer and if maintenance is required the tractor will alert the dealer’s parts department to assure the owner that any parts required are in stock.
Global positioning technology is included to provide hands free tilling, planting, cultivating, and harvesting.  For instance, while harvesting, the combine operator can take over the tractor hauling the grain buggy so that it will maintain its position under the grain unloading auger at night or in dusty conditions, even moving it forward and back so that the buggy fills to capacity.

Western New York Farm Show

 
  Our Western New York Two Cylinder Club was in attendance at the Western New York Farm Show.  The show was held at the Showplex facility at the Erie County Fairgrounds at 5600 McKinley Parkway just outside of Hamburg, New York.  We had two tables setup in an area 20 feet wide by 10 feet deep.  On Wednesday afternoon, Peter Morris, assisted by Jim Stalker, brought his John Deere Model “H” and his John Deere “322” Lawn and Garden tractor, setup for winter, with an attached front mounted snowplow and placed them on display.  We then arranged the pipe supports and hung the drapes for the backdrop.  This got everything ready to arrange our display the following morning.
Incidentally, we were not in the main Showplex building but in the recently completed, unheated show building just to the north of the Showplex.  I arrived back at the Fairgrounds the next morning at 9:00am and brought our WNYTCC table display items into the building and got most of the tables arranged.  In a few minutes, Joe Wegrzyn, Bob Williams, and Paul Trowbridge all arrived and we finished the table arrangement.  It wasn’t until about 10:30am that Admar got a couple of diesel-fueled 400,000BTU space heaters operating.  For the first couple of hours these heaters didn’t seem to make much difference in the temperature since the overhead doors were open a good part of the time to allow the big displays to enter the building.  By the time the show opened at noon on the first day the temperature started to rise.
The show building that we were in had about 30 some vendors displaying their products.  Teitsworth’s Auction (about 15 full sized farm tractors) was in the northeast and we were towards the east end along with the International Harvester Chapter 35 club, the Oliver club and the WNYG&SEA group.
On Friday we opened the show display at 9:00am and I was joined by Bob Williams, Paul Trowbridge, and Don Schuler.  Shortly we were joined by Dave and Jeanne Zielinski.  The previous day our best seller was our yoyo’s.  There was only one left on Thursday evening so I called Jeanne and asked her to bring more.  By the end of the show on Friday we had sold all of them.
Our display tables featured our WNYTCC Farm Toy Show pedal tractor which we will raffle off on April 29, at the Brockport Show at the Spurr Dealership in Brockport.  We sold $141.00 in raffle tickets.  We also advertised our organization, the 2013 EXPO XI, the Gathering of the Green, and a number of tractor shows and pulls that will happen during the upcoming year.  I had a computer and monitor setup that displayed scenes from the past two EXPO’s in Canandaigua.  We talked to numerous show attendees about all the details of antique tractors in Western New York.  Friday morning several WNY schools bussed their FFA agriculture students to the show and we talked to many of them.  They were tasked by their instructors to talk with the vendors and write a report on the show for a classroom assignment.  We signed a number of their worksheets that they had that verified that they had contacted us.  Paul knew their program manager and arranged to have her as a speaker at one of our future meetings.  This program is a valuable one since it stresses the importance of agriculture’s role in our nation.  We all need to promote the program so it does not get cut from the school curriculum.
Thanks to Bob Williams and Paul Trowbridge who were there both days, to Joe Wegrzyn, Don Schuler, and Dave and Jeanne Zielinski who each worked the table one of the days and also to Don Bresien and John Phillips who were there to offer their assistance.  Thanks also to Peter Morris for bringing his "H" and "322". They drew many show attendees to our tables. I would guess that more than 45 of our members were at the show and stopped by to say hello.  Thanks to all who attended and supported the Second Western New York Farm Show.

Deere Day In Hall

 
 Saturday, February 18, was a nice day to travel to Jim Snyder’s place in Hall, New York.  A group of Lawn & Garden enthusiasts, most who participated, are plowers also.  It was a get together that allowed placing names to the faces that we have seen at the many plow days.  Lots of conversation took place and a few parts changed hands.
Jim has a nice heated shop where he has a JD #112 in the process of being restored.  He has a frame that allows him to mount the tractor’s frame at working height and rotate it 360 degrees to allow access to all the areas easily.  We all know how difficult it is to work on a Lawn & Garden tractor.
The gals prepared an excellent lunch consisting of chili, sandwiches, beverages, condiments, and everyone brought a dish to pass.  It was enjoyed by all.  Thanks to Jim and Darlene for hosting the event for the second time.
For more details of the event take a look at the www.weekendfreedommachines.com web site under coming events, Hall, NY, for some photos of the attendees.

WNYTCC Annual Banquet

 Our Western New York Two Cylinder Club’s Annual Banquet will be held at 5:30pm, Saturday, March 31, 2012, at the First United Methodist Church, Route 63, Batavia, New York.  A sit down Swiss Steak dinner will be served at 6:00pm.  Tom Rivers, local author of the book “Farm Hands” will be our speaker and he will relate tales of his farming experiences that led to his book.  Bring a door prize.  As we have done in the past, if you bring a door prize you can take one home.

Tickets for the banquet will be available at the Wednesday, March 7, 2012, regular meeting.

Gathering Of The Green

  By the time you read this, the seventh 2012 Gathering of the Green will be happening.  The RiverCenter, 136 East 3rd Street, Davenport, Iowa 52801 will be invaded by green and yellow from all over the country and also some parts of the world.  The dates are March 14, 15, 16, & 17, 2012.  Registration by mail is now closed but you could still register at www.gatheringofthegreen.com.  All the details are also explained on the web site.  There are about 60 seminars, each about 90 minutes long, to be presented during the three days of the conference, so it will be a busy time.

The John Deere Pavilion Reopens

 On February 15, the John Deere Pavilion reopened to the public.  The Pavilion opened 15 years ago and has been closed for the past two months for renovation.  Located in downtown Moline it has been visited by more than 2.7 million guests since it opened in 1997.  It is a free attraction that is open year-round.  The John Deere Store is located adjacent to it.  This is an attraction that you must see if you are in the area.
On display are previous concept machines that were used to test and evaluate new technologies and designs.  Visitors have a chance to operate machine simulators that look, sound, and feel very much like the actual machines.

National Ag Day

 
 National Ag Day is organized by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA).  ACA is a nonprofit organization composed of leaders in the agriculture, food and fiber community, dedicating its efforts to increasing the public’s awareness of agriculture’s role in modern society.  This year it will be celebrated on March 8, in Washington, D.C.  Ag Day recognizes and celebrates the contributions of agriculture to improving the everyday lives of people across the country and builds awareness for, and appreciation of, the role of agriculture in our everyday lives.  John Deere, Successful Farming, DTN/The Progressive Farmer, and Farm Progress are this year’s AG Day partners.

Information On The Internet

An interesting conversion is described on page 32 of the February issue of the Green Magazine.  The conversion, crafted by a clever mechanic from Michigan, converted a John Deere Model “A” to a diesel.  The original carburetor equipped gas tractor was converted to be a diesel by adding injectors, a fuel pump, and other things required.  It’s a very clever changeover.  If you don’t have a copy of the Green Magazine, you can pick one up at your local Tractor supply store.  The farmtractorrepair.com web site has a video of the tractor running.  It sounds just like the John Deere diesels.
Here’s a couple of internet sites to visit.  The first one is agriculture related and it is a commodity price site.  Have you ever wondered where to find the price of wheat, or corn, or gasoline, or any of 90 or so other commodities?  The internet site www.indexmundi.com/commodities has all these prices and one of the things that always puzzles me, what units are they based on.  For example, cereals are reported in dollars per metric ton, meats in cents per pound, silver in cents per troy ounce.
Included also are handy charts of month-to-month prices and percent change.  Some things make you wonder why, for instance, Ultra-Low sulfur diesel happens to be $3.20 per gallon, and yet at the local pumps it costs $4.25 per gallon to fill up.
These sites are not in the line of agriculture or antique tractors but interesting anyway.  Do you have a vehicle with a tire pressure monitor?  Look at www.moparmagazine.com/tech_tips for a description of how Chrysler’s tire pressure monitors work.  There are also lots of other tech tips that may be of interest to you.
Along the same line at www.mopar.com there is lots of 75th Anniversary (1937 – 2012) information on about a dozen old Chryslers and Dodges with a 30 minute video of the 75th anniversary press event.  One of the interviewees is Big Daddy Don Garlits who talks about starting racing in 1954 with Dodge.

We Have A New Member

We have a new member.  On January 13, 2012 Simon Daniel Gross was born to proud parents Dan and Alyssa Gross of Tonawanda, NY.  I’m sure that past President and Secretary, Dave and Trudy Gross are excited too!