Winter 2015/2016 - Strathcona Vintage Tractor Association

STRATHCONA VINTAGE TRACTOR ASSOCIATION
Newsletter - Winter 2015/2016
Our tractor club's season is winding down and we have had a busy year. This
one was our 11th since our inception in the spring of 2005. Those that have
been with us since that first meeting at the Robin Hood School can stand back
and see the progress that has been made over the years. Now that we have an
established home base at the Bremner site, perhaps we can look forward to new
and even better things down the road. But to accomplish these kinds of projects,
we need to have the continued support of our members. Read ahead to see
what's been happening and make a note of any important dates on your calendar
at home.
Year End Harvest Supper and Silent Auction (Saturday, September 26) - Our club's
official windup event was the annual Harvest Supper and Silent Auction on Saturday, September 26. Sid
Lyle organizing the event for us again with the help of her mom Kirsten Nielsen and others who helped
with the set up, bartending, silent auction and cleanup. A great roast beef and fried chicken meal with all
the trimmings was provided by the caterers, Gail and Ed Hryniw who have provided this service for us the
last few years. The silent auction in itself is a form of entertainment with some of the 65 individuals in
attendance getting a bit carried away with some of the bidding that happens. Meal costs were partially
subsidized by the club and we raised over $800 from the silent auction with most of us leaving with at
least one (and in some cases "several" more) treasures. Thanks to Sid, Kirsten, and all the rest of the
individuals who made this event successful, it was a great windup to another fun season for our club.
General Meetings - We have our monthly general meetings on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at
the Ardrossan Memorial Hall, just east of the Ardrossan Rec Center alongside Range Road 222. Things
always kick off at 7:00 PM and it's always great to get out and touch base with other members, catch up
on all the tractor club news, pick up a ticket on our monthly 50/50 draw, and then sit in on our member
presentations when we are able to line one up.
At our September 16 general meeting, club member Jeff Richards from JDR Insurance Agency gave a
presentation on the ins and outs of insurance as it applies to the old tractor hobby. Jeff covered the
basics of the two kinds of insurance that club members are concerned with, namely property coverage for
your own tractors and liability insurance should some unfortunate incident occur.
Thanks for volunteering for that Jeff, and a reminder goes out to all members that after-meeting
presentations on almost any topic are welcome. Simply contact one of our directors and let them know
you are interested in doing that and we will make the arrangements. Our last general meeting of this
calendar year will be on Wednesday, October 21 and then we'll head into our winter break with
general meetings resuming on the 3rd Wednesday of March. That is one month before our 2016
annual general meeting in April when we will be electing a new slate of officers and directors for next
year.
** At our October general meeting on the 21st, Wayne Sloat will give a video presentation highlighting
events on the pull weekend where he took over 2000 photos over the two days. Man, that's a lot of
camera film, thank goodness for digital cameras!!!
Membership - After our tractor pull on the weekend of August 29 & 30, our membership count sits at a
total of 114. This would include 87 regular adult members, one junior member, 23 lifetime members, and
3 honorary members. Lifetimers are those individuals who are 75 years of age or older and have been
registered as a regular member for at least one year immediately before becoming a lifetime member.
Once they are on this list, lifetimers are not required to renew their memberships every year by paying the
yearly membership fee.
We have a number of new members who have joined our club since the last newsletter including John
Brown (Ft. Saskatchewan), Taylor Burpee (Ft. McMurray), Don Lund (Innisfail), Erick and Deina Vokes
and their daughter Riley (all from Innisfail) along with Robert Luck (Ohaton). Riley is a junior member
while Robert is back with the club after taking a couple of years off the roster. Welcome to the club
everyone, it's always nice to see members from outside the area coming on board.
On a sad note, one of our members passed away in August. Ben Rompre of Sherwood Park was 89
years of age. A number of years back, Ben was a regular at our monthly meetings at the Ardrossan Hall.
Ben graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in geological engineering in 1949 and
later from the University of Alberta with a bachelor of education in 1963. He finished his working days as
a teacher with the Edmonton Separate School Board. Ben was an active participant in church activities
in the local community. He also was an avid motorcyclist, an MG car collector and restorer along with
other vintage automobiles and motorcycles, a pilot and aircraft builder, an amateur machinist and
woodworker as well as a gentleman farmer. He also enjoyed writing poems, prayers and prose. Ben was
predeceased by his wife Therese, two sisters and one brother.
2015 SVTA Fun Pulls - We organized three fun pulls this year for our members out at our pulling
track at the Bremner site. One was in May, one in July, and the last one was on Sunday, August 16.
We had a good turnout of pullers as well as workers and visitors at all three fun pulls with usually about
15-20 tractors showing up for a day of non-competitive pulling. Members take advantage of these fun
pulls because it not only gives them several pulls in one afternoon (as compared to a single pull per day
during a regular tractor pull), but it allows them to do a bit of fine-tuning of their machinery so that when
the real pulling events happen, they are ready to go. It also provides our club with the opportunity to
make sure our sled is in good working order and any adjustments or repairs can be completed before our
main pull weekend at the end of August, along with an evaluation of the track itself and what we can do to
make it better. A thank-you goes out to the members who run the fun pulls and especially to Roman
Sadauskas who prepares and provides a great barbeque lunch for everyone in the early afternoon. We
look forward to more of these next season.
Annual Road Tour (Saturday, August 15) - Club member Rae MacMillan stepped up to the
plate again this year and organized the 2015 edition of our annual road tour to Fort Saskatchewan. Our
numbers were a bit down this year what with a cool and cloudy day but those that did participate enjoyed
the comradery of other members for the tour itself and a great lunch at the Boston Pizza in Fort
Saskatchewan during the noon hour break. We had a couple of mechanical issues that popped up along
the way, one being a "Case of Trouble" as the saying goes and one other one for a Canadian-built tractor
whose brand starts with the third letter of the alphabet. Both issues were fuel/carburetor/governor
related. Most of the members who participated kept their tractor at Bremner after the tour and then
showed up the next day for the fun pull on Sunday. Participating this year were Tom Speedie (Ferguson
20 diesel), Bob Beveridge (Cockshutt 20), Roman Sadauskas (Cockshutt 40), Dallas Huybregts (Case D),
Ray McMillan (Ford Jubilee), Ellis Kumpula (JD 530) and Ray Schmidt (JD 730). Rae MacMillan was
pulling the Northrup Express wagon on the tour which had large pull banners attached to the sides.
Ernie Shumansky provided backup on the tour with his pickup truck with Gord McLaren and Mike Ballash
riding shotgun with Ernie. Meeting club members for lunch were Ken Bodell and his wife Evelyn, Lou
Normandeau, Paul Smith, Paul Stacey, and Yvette Kumpula. Thanks to everyone for showing up and
especially to Rae for once again organizing this enjoyable event.
South Cooking Lake Trail Days (Saturday, August 15) - While some of us were
participating in the Road Tour on this day, Val Shillinglaw represented our club at the annual South
Cooking Lake Trail Days event. Val brought along his Massey Harris 44 (nicknamed "Cecil") as well as
his trailer with grandkids aboard and a banner advertising our annual tractor pull that was happening in
two weeks. Thanks for doing that Val, it's always nice to have our club represented at other local
activities, plus the pull advertising is always helpful as well.
2015 Farm Crop Report - We started the year with preparation and seeding of about 25 acres of
oats on our new lease on the west side of the property. In addition, we kept about 10 acres of this lease
in summer fallow which gave members the opportunity of dropping by the farm and cultivating or disking
the soil in that area. Our first cut of hay on our original lease was a bit less than in past summers
because of the lack of rainfall, all hay farmers province-wide experienced this it seems. The second cut
was done during the week before our tractor pull and the hay yield was somewhat better. Most of the
first and second cuts of hay were taken off in large round bales.
Back to the west grain field (which was an addition to our farm operations this year) and the oats that
were sowed this spring, most of this was taken off as green feed in large, round bales earlier with about 5
acres left standing for the pull weekend field demonstrations. On Sunday, September 27 the weather
finally cleared up enough and we were able to combine the remaining oats which had been previously
swathed (with some bundled) on pull weekend. We also stacked this years oat bundles onto our new
hay rack and put them away for storage so we can thresh them at next year's pull event. Finally, we
finished up a small amount of hay that we had left for our JD square baler which we also put to use
square-baling the straw left over from the oat crop.
The crew (some of them with tractors) who showed up on for the last harvest work bee on the 27th
included the crew chief Leo Bilodeau and his helpers Stan Podulski, Lou Normandeau, Gord McLaren,
Don Hood, Bob Swizinski, Bob Beveridge, Mike Ballash, Myrell Keller, Al Rice, George Schmidt, Merv
Schmidt, and Val Shillinglaw. Thanks to all of these members along with everyone else who helped out
earlier with the spring field preparation and seeding, as well as the activities on pull weekend. Still to
finish up is some field work on the west field so we go into next spring ready to go.
Annual SVTA Tractor Pull and Show (August 29 & 30) - This year we had 93 tractors
registered for our annual pull and show which is about the same that we have had out for the past few
years. We categorize tractors into one of ten classes when weighing starts on Friday. We have more
classes than most clubs since we organize the lighter tractors into more specific groups in order for them
to be competitive and to have a better chance of winning trophies. In addition to the regular pulling
events over the two days, we extended our lunch break over two hours this year to give those in
attendance a better chance of watching and participating in the extra things that make the weekend so
enjoyable. The noon hour featured a parade of power on both days, plus on Sunday we had members
from the Edmonton Antique Car Club and the Edmonton Classic Sports Car Club show up to put their
vehicles on display which was then followed by a special parade down the pulling track for the two clubs
for the enjoyment of spectators.
Add to that a number of noon hour on-track activities for the kids like blindfold tractor races, miniature
pedal tractor pulling and motorized lawn tractor maneuvering. Kids also enjoyed the day-long sand pile
and the inflated slide castle. Visitors enjoyed the vintage farm field work including Elmer Prochnau's
threshing rig harvesting last year's oat bundles, grain swathing, binding, and baling demonstrations along
with a band saw lumber mill demonstration by Leo Bilodeau. Leo and his brother-in-law Lawrence
Charron and friend Cory Kerekes built a new hay rack wagon for our club over the two days using lumber
that Leo cut during the weekend from spruce logs. The silent auction in the big tent was a success along
with our annual "heritage grain elevator birdhouse raffle" and the smaller vendor tent which provided
patrons with a number of interesting items they could purchase. Face painting for the kids is always a
big hit with the youngsters and an upgraded version of our "garage sale" which generated commission
money for our fundraising efforts. Club member George Frieser donated over 200 souvenir tin badges
for this year's event, the first time we have ever had those. They were given out to pullers, volunteers,
and children who participated in noon hour activities.
One of the most popular activities over the weekend is the Bremner Mansion tours which the county
sponsors for people at the event. We supply the rides to and from the mansion with our tractors pulling
the Northrup Express wagon. Thanks to all of the members of the 2015 pulling committee and also to all
of the members and other volunteers who helped out to make this year's pull bigger and better than ever.
Remember that we cannot get this annual event done without your help.
2015 SVTA Tractor Pull Results - Here are the results from our 2015 tractor pull at the Bremner
Farm.
Ultra Flyweight - 1st Elmer Prochnau (Oliver 60); 2nd Bernie Briggs (Farmall A).
Flyweight - 1st Bob Beveridge (Cockshutt 20); 2nd Brad Alexander (Ford NAA); 3rd Bernie
Briggs (JD M).
Antique Featherweight - 1st Terry Dietrich (Cockshutt 30); 2nd Elmer Prochnau (Oliver 70); 3rd
Helmuth Ritter (JD B).
Classic Featherweight - 1st Magnus Hansen (Cockshutt 30); 2nd Bernie Briggs (Cockshutt 30);
3rd Hal Lougheed (Oliver 550).
Class I - 1st Val Shillinglaw (MH 44); 2nd Don Lund (Oliver 80); 3rd Al Gregoire (MH 44).
Class II - 1st David Lougheed (Oliver 88); 2nd George Frieser (Fordson Major); 3rd Ken Wood
(Farmall M).
Class III - 1st Magnus Hansen (Farmall M); 2nd Ken Wood (Farmall M); 3rd Ellis Kumpula (JD
630).
Class IV - 1st Bob Beveridge (CCIL 570); 2nd Ken Wood (Farmall 560); 3rd Ken Bodell (JD R).
Class V - 1st Dave Peters (JD 730); 2nd Jeff Richards (JD 820); 3rd Ray Schmidt (JD 830).
Class VI - 1st Rick Northrup (JD 830); 2nd Bernie Briggs (Oliver 995); 3rd Brad Schmidt
(JD830).
Tractor Pull Sponsors and Donors - The following companies or individuals were sponsors for
services/equipment or donors of silent auction items for our 2015 tractor pull. Thanks to all for
supporting us with this year's event.
Deerland Fort Saskatchewan, Willy's Water Service, All-Star Sound, J& N Trees, Sherwood Park
News, R and R Stress Relieving Services, Bee Clean Edmonton, Integra Tire Fort Saskatchewan,
Gallason Industrial Cleaning Service, Home Hardware Fort Saskatchewan, Tru-West Fabricating,
City of Fort Saskatchewan, Fort Saskatchewan Fire Department, Strathcona County Transportation
and Agricultural Services, Galloway Seeds, John Goller, Raylin Manufacturing, Travel Alberta,
Frontier Fence, Edmonton Oilers, Wells Construction, Lafarge, Roadway Traffic Products, Park
Paving, Provincial Striping, PCV Holdings, Asphalt Reclaiming Company, the Horton Family, GC Custom
Metal, George Schmidt, Praxair, Interstate Batteries, Motion Canada, Albert Engman, Red Barn
Houses, UFA Fort Saskatchewan, Morton Nielsen, ATB Financial, Briggs Trucking and Equipment,
Strathcona County Administration, Call of the Land Radio (CKUA), Grand Dimond, Strathcona
County mayor Roxanne Carr, and last but not least Strathcona County councillors Paul Smith, Linton
Delainey, Fiona Beland-Quest, Vic Bidzinski, Carla Howat, Bonnie Riddell, Brian Botterill, and Dave
Anderson.
Lock, Stock, and Barrel - Ever wonder where the expression "Lock, Stock, and Barrel" comes
from? Today we might say "the whole works" and mean the same thing. The expression is of American
origin and though the earliest literary record appears in T. C. Haliburton's Sam Slick stories, the
expression probably goes back to the American Revolution. The three items of which the expression is
comprised are the three essential components of an early firearm, namely the barrel, the stock, and the
lock or firing mechanism. In other words, the entire gun, the whole thing.
Project Help Needed - We have accumulated several items over the years that we use on the
Bremner site for our farming and other activities. As expected, some of these items are not always in
perfect working condition so we need individuals to help us out with taking on a project and getting it back
into shape. For example, Ken Bodell took on a project this year to refurbish our John Deere square baler
which was in dire need of repair and adjustments. Bob Beveridge and Val Shillinglaw worked on a
vintage IHC grain seeder this summer and we used it to plant a small area of oats near our west field
farming operations. We also have a John Deere seeder which was donated to our club earlier this
summer and it can use some set up and adjustment to get it working properly.
Current ongoing projects include working on a Versatile 103 swather and a 1953 International grain truck
as well as re-decking of a sixteen foot tandem trailer. We still have other things that need some TLC and
if you can help out, let us know. You can do the work at home if you want to move the equipment there,
or you can work on it out at Bremner. For example, we have two Massey Harris side delivery hay rakes,
one of which we have used already but is in need of a gearbox being robbed and installed from an
identical parts rake that we have. The club covers the cost of parts and whatever else is necessary for
the repairs. Just recently we have purchased a 25-horsepower Japanese-made 1975 Satoh 650G Bison
tractor that came with a 5-foot rear-mounted mower which we will be using on site next year. It will come
in handy for light work around Bremner next year. Some club members are already working on this little
project.
Some Country Humour - Two clothing merchants in a country town were bragging to each other
about the salesmen who worked in their stores. Joe said, "One of my salesmen is so good at his job that
just the other day, a fellow came into the store for a pair of shoelaces and before he left, my man had sold
him a suit of clothing and an overcoat". George replied, "That's nothing, last week a woman came into
my store to buy a suit of black clothing to bury her husband in. Before she left my store, my salesman
had sold her a suit with an extra pair of trousers".
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So that's the tractor club news for the fall season of this year. We hope to see
you at the two remaining general meetings and don't forget to get your tickets
purchased for the September 26 year-end Harvest Supper and Silent Auction.
Until then, HAPPY TRACTORING and remember ..... "Mother nature is wonderful.
A million years ago she didn't know we were going to wear eye glasses, yet look
at where she placed our ears".