The New Hare Krishnas and Mooneys...

...are the SJW, Democrat, Socialists. Some of them will figure out about age 35 or 40 how screwed up they are.  The puppet masters are making the most of them, so they are actually dangerous now instead of just being a doggone shame.

Look Up, Down, All Around

Looking up will make you do pratfalls, but you just have to accept a few of those.  Don't wait to learn the hard way, because these things do fall, and sometimes the timing is perfect.

(Click photo for a closer look.)

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering a P95 DAO (Double Action Only) pistol this week.  This pistol was built in 2001 and it has a stainless steel slide, and is 9mm x 19 caliber.  Ruger has another one just like this one that will be auctioned next week.  This fine firearm will sell mid-day, Wednesday, April 24, 2019.  CLICK HERE to read the entire description and place your bid.  $963.58

Tuesday Torque: Ruston Hornsby 9XHRC Diesel

There isn't much info in the description for this video, but I was able to look up a bit.  This Diesel engine is a two cylinder with 12 1/2" x 22" bore and stroke, it is rated at 132 Horsepower at 265 RPM. This baby weighs 9.2 tons! It ran a crushing and screening plant in a quarry on the Isle of Wight from 1951 to 1990.  Thank You Merle!

Inventorying!

We have work to do this week.  I need to inventory all the damage done by CountryMark and their contractor C.A.S. Contracting.  Once I get that done, I need to do plots all over our timber for a plan update.

                                                           Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam: Engine Order Telegraphs

If you have seen any old movies with a ship, you have probably seen an Engine Order Telegraph.  This video provides a good look at a couple and you can see how it is used to give orders and then confirm that it was understood.  Pretty Neat!  Once again, Thank You, Merle, for spotting good ones. Just in case any of our visitors do not know; you can view the video on YouTube by clicking the YouTube logo in the bottom bar of the video. You can then see who made the upload and read the description.

Patriots' Day

Change Your Flints! from Concord Museum on Vimeo.

Wearing Out Their Welcome

We have a petroleum pipeline that traverses our timber, and during the past winter, CountryMark widened the right-of-way. I spent a lot of time with their supervisors and clearance crew to see that they did neat work, and did not leave butchered trees for me to deal with. Any tree that was going to need "side-trimming" was removed at my direction, just so this beast would not come in and wreck trees. They brought it in anyway, and did not even have the decency to call first. They do not just "side-trim." They leave long stubs that will die and cause rot in the stems, they rip bark, they remove so many branches that the stems they leave will not survive. They also cut tops off the trees on both sides of the ROW for 3/4 of a mile.  That ain't "Side-Trimming"! What a mess. I have to get out there now and inventory every tree they wrecked and see what needs to be done next.

They did this while the ground is saturated, and now the ROW will have to be disked, graded, and re-seeded.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering a good one again this week.  It is a 1982 production Mark I Target pistol that has been stored in the Ruger vault since it was built.  I looked at the closeups on Ruger's website, and it appears as new, with no shopwear that I can see.  This fine collector/shooter pistol will sell mid-day, Wednesday, April 17, 2019.  CLICK HERE to read all about it and to place that winning bid.  $706

Tuesday Torque: Canandaigua, New York Engine Show, 2014

Engine shows will be popping up all over the landscape soon, so here's one from New York in 2014 to help you get in the mood.  Thank You, Merle!

Put Your Back Into It!

Also, lose your skirt and wear trousers for working around machinery.  Sheesh!  One of the saddest things I have read was from a boy who was on the operator's platform of a steam engine when the boiler let go.  He survived briefly and said, "I was above the trees."  Be careful out there; machinery will bite you.


Back To The Old Grind!  Many Thanks to Merle for spotting!

High Stakes White Oak

This white oak was struck by lightning and it had a lot of dead wood in the top. Chunks were falling regularly and the tree was a hazard. As trees die they lose their grip on the soil, so they are a hazard to houses. This one would have needed a wind out of the southeast to push it onto the cabin, but we get storms like that occasionally, so you can't count it out. We evaluated the weight and lean, and this tree wanted to fall away from the cabin, plus we chose a day with a north wind to help us. All we had to do was not make any bad mistakes. We shot this with two cameras, the GoPro, plus the video camera on tripod. It was great having Susan run the camera for me so we are zoomed in for closeups. Susan stayed tucked behind a tree when I cut the white oak loose, so she was out of harm's way.

Weekend Steam: Grab Your Shovel

Merle found a good video showing the basics on being a fireman on a coal-fired loco.  Good Stuff.  You can see why the switch to oil burners was popular.

Went Mushroom Hunting; Mostly Looked Up

Susan and I went out, hoping to find morels, but I kept seeing recent storm damage.  Beyond Susan you can see a treetop and a broken walnut tree. We found similar damage to walnuts and a few other species scattered about over 40 acres.

Here's a closer look at the first one, and then several more.

The good news is that this timber is due for a thinning.  The downside of that is we like to pick our crop trees and the ones to cut.  Wind storms don't make the same decisions that we would make.  A thinning about 20 years ago left us with mostly good stock, so we will still have a good stand of mature walnuts about the time I am 105.

We have a bunch of trees down along the pipeline from the widening of the right of way, and now a bunch of storm damaged trees to drop, so we will have heat if I can spend time out there with a saw.

The Daffodils Have Peaked

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering a rare one this week!  It is a Mini-14 in .223 with a wooden handguard and metal buttplate.  This rare beauty was made in December, 1976, and it is marked Used. The photos you can see from Ruger's website show some bright edges on the receiver and a few bright spots on the buttplate.  It could be shop wear, or perhaps it was used at a promotion event.  The wood appears as new in the photos. This neat little rifle will sell mid-day, Wednesday, April 10, 2019.  CLICK HERE to read all about it and to place your bid. $1283.58

Tuesday Torque: Breaking One In

Wendell Kelch just posted a brief video, and it looks like he has just overhauled an IHC Titan 10-20, and is breaking in by belt.  At least it looks like a Titan to me; if anyone knows better, please comment and set me straight.  I wish he gave us a good look at the power source.  At 23 seconds there is a glimpse, and I think that is a Willys Jeep with a belt pulley on the back end. [Update: Wendell had updated his video and it is a 10-20 Titan.]


Here is a 10-20, by Alltibstibbe in Sweden, that is running for comparison.

Let's Go Mushroom Hunting!

                                               No mushrooms, but we are pulling ticks!

A Gun Shop Owner's Thoughts About Hi-Point

I must say that I love my Hi-Point Carbine.  It works, and it does it with minimal maintenance. Any blowback gun (Including the very best .22 LRs) need a clean chamber, clean breachface, and clean boltface, a bit of lube, and good ammo. Cheap ammo may not be hot enough to cycle some blowback models. A bit of brass or lead debris under the extractor will make any semi-auto choke and jam. My Hi-Point .45 Carbine has never failed to cycle for me. My Ruger .22 pistols run great for me, but when we do classes at the Carmi Rifle Club, novices find creative ways to make them choke. I have a GSG 1911-22 that never jams for me, but if I hand it to a newbie they will make it jam. Some hang onto the slide and lower it slowly. One guy banged the magazine in so hard that cartridges flew out the top of the action. Once you learn a gun and what it wants, you will make it perform with very little trouble.

Got An Axe To Grind?

Back To The Old Grind!

Daffodils, Daffodils

We are getting a good show this year from Susan's daffodils.  The extended cold weather made the flowers look weak when they first popped, but they look much better now.  Susan looked on YouTube and found a good video about the Spring flowers.

Nearly Six Months

We lit the upstairs stove on October 12 last year, and it has been going continuously since; nearly six months!  The  basement stove has put in many days, too.  We are probably going to let the fire go out tomorrow, but we expect to light up again on Thursday if the forecast remains the same.

Weekend Steam: British Engine Shed Tips

Evidently, engine men in 1938 were slobs! Did the stars of this instructional film get extra pay for looking like slackers?


Don't forget that Great Britain is where steam engines originated, and they still know how to make them go.  Great Spotting, Merle!

Oh My Leg!

Lisa Marie had ACL surgery two months ago and her shaved leg is a daily reminder.  She went back to Veterinary Specialty Services at Manchester, Missouri for an evaluation today.  Her surgeon checked her over from end to end, watched her get up and down, and walk.  Lisa was given a clean bill of health and just needs to keep exercising to rebuild muscle.  No more romping with Big Jack, though.

Our friend Michele was there with a couple of her dogs, and that was a treat.  This little guy is Vinnie; one of her pups.  Vinnie has the softest puppy fuzz coat I have ever touched.  He looks like he will be a champion in the show ring.

Plowing, Picking, Threshing, Sawmilling, and More!

Boonville, Indiana has a great show every summer and fall.  This video was shot at the fall show in 2018.  It's a bit like going back home again.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering a deal for the collectors this week.  It is a consecutively numbered pair of MkII Target Pistols made 35 years ago in February, 1984.  These pistols will sell midday, Wednesday, April 3, 2019.  CLICK HERE to read all about them and to place that winning bid.  $1324.99

Tuesday Torque: 1914 Victrola Motor

A new Victrola moved in today; a 1914 model with a mahogany cabinet!  It is sitting next to our 1920 Victrola in the walnut cabinet.  It runs and sounds great, but we will be popping the motor out to oil all the bearings and we will send off the reproducers from both machines so they will sound like new.  Here is a pretty good video that shows the power behind these vintage music makers.

How Are You Fixed For Blades?

Back To The Old Grind!

Winter Just Won't Quit!

Our woodpile was critically low, so we cut one more snag to finish out this winter.

Weekend Steam: The Skookum Engine Is Restored And Running!

This video shows Skookum, a 2-4-4-2 locomotive running on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railway. After Skookum is properly broken in, it will be moving to California to run on the Niles Canyon Railway.


Many Thanks to Merle, our Engine Spotter. Thanks to John In Philly for mentioning this video:

Going Up

You can write your own sermon on this one.  Trees don't give up, even when everything appears to be hopeless.  A human parallel could be "It only hurts if I breathe." Breathing is still a good thing to do.

Are You Tough Enough To Be A Tie Hack?

One slip-up and you will be a three-toed-Ole.  This is a great video if you have some time and a cup of coffee.

Three Weeks

Maggie has one more vaccination coming in three weeks and then she can go to a new home.  She is enjoying having the run of the house with the other Schips, and especially likes her belly rubs.  Maggie has learned that we will get up in the morning when she starts talking.  She wakes up about 5:30 every morning for her first walk. 

Coincidence...

When our son was born many years ago we named him Ezekiel, and after Susan and he were settled in their room, I went home to take care of things and came back to the hospital in the evening. As I walked by the waiting area on the maternity floor, this scene from The Wizard of Oz was on the TV.  Dorothy yells, "Zeke, Zeke!" What a surprise! I had seen that movie who knows how many times, and I didn't remember that name. Susan saw it on the TV in her room, too. Pretty neat.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering another 50th Anniversary Engraved Blackhawk this week.  These are Flattops, like the first Ruger Blackhawk revolvers, and the supply in Ruger's vault is surely about at its end.  CLICK HERE to read all about it and to place your bid.  $1000.09