I'll keep you all in the loop.
It's warm today (in WI), so my dad will probably work on this again after he gets done watching The Price is Right this morning
(he's retired, so that's what you do when you have lots of time I guess!!).
He's going to check to insure the throttle hasn't been messed up (which might be affecting carb operation) and then will probably try tackling the timing issue that has been bet on by dhoward and outlined well by Kurt (thank you).
If this is a timing issue, I will be curious to find out when something could have jumped a tooth in all this gear driven timing stuff...since the tractor ran well in November.
Thanks again all!
Jay