1936
1959
Click on photos to enlarge.
2008: The major differences are high efficiency furnaces, insulation, heated car seats, Gore-Tex.....Wait, where is Al Gore? I think he must be cozied up by a fire to keep warm. If the current trend continues we may have a white Ground Hog Day!
One year old bottomland hardwood planting project.
A similar project; ten years later.
Learn How:
I got out a box of old slides over the weekend and had a good time looking at some photos I took with my first (cheap) 35 mm camera. The first picture was in a cave in southern Missouri on the first cave trip with my not yet steady girlfriend. We were coming out of the cave at sunset, and as we came to the entrance we witnessed this beautiful spectacle. Luckily, I still had film in my camera and was able to set up quickly for several exposures. This probably happens on just a few days per year in this cave, and you have to be there at the right time. Dumb Luck.
My roommates and I went on a canoe trip during spring break in 1973 on a river in east Tennessee which was beyond my skill level, but I did not know that when we put in. I figured it out pretty quickly, though. I was in the front end of a canoe going down the rapids which ends at the big rock pictured above. We capsized, and I floated down the rapids hanging onto my paddle. The river pushed me straight into the rock and pulled me down with astounding authority. My final mental picture of the upstream side of this rock is my hands going under, still holding my paddle. It was dark under that rock, but I could tell that I was moving, and I never panicked, although I was a bit concerned about my situation. I popped up on the downstream side, still holding my paddle. One of the other guys paddled up close to me and said, "Just hand me your paddle." He was afraid I would dump him if I touched his canoe. He towed me to shore, where I got my camera out of the ammo box and shot this fogged up picture. Dumb and Lucky.
This is the girl mentioned in the first paragraph. She sat down in front of me at a cave club meeting in late 1972. After the meeting she turned around and asked me if I could take her caving. I took this picture in the spring of 1973 while we were rappelling at Rocheport, Missouri. Her mother saw this photo for the first time yesterday when I was copying it from the slide. Now my mother-in law has a new reason to disapprove of me. Dumb Luck or Dumb and Lucky? I had a sweet great aunt who told me that I wasn't lucky; I was blessed. I think that is the right answer. 
Midwest Central Engine Number 6; Labor Day weekend, 2006.
An advertisement in an old American Thresherman magazine illustrates the advantages of return flue boilers. In addition to better efficiency than locomotive style boilers, the operator had the advantage of easier maintenance; and less skill and care was needed to stoke the fire in a return flue boiler. In locomotive style boilers the fire had to be maintained evenly over the grates to avoid cold spots. A dead spot in the fire would allow cold air to cool the flue sheet at the front of the firebox, resulting in leaks around the end of the flues. Someone would then have to crawl into the firebox to roll the flues, which is not easy when working in the confined space of the firebox. The engine had to be pretty well cooled before anyone could go into the firebox, so this meant downtime.
Stories written by the men who ran traction engines often break into discussions of the ease or difficulty of maintaining steam while working an engine. I have read many stories in old steam magazines and have never seen any negative comments on firing a return flue engine.
Towser Shall Be Tied Tonight
Slow the Kansas sun was setting o'er the wheat fields far away,
Streaking all the air with cobwebs, at the close of one hot day;
And its last rays kissed the foreheads of a man and maiden fair,
He with whiskers short and frowzy, she with red and glistening hair;
He with jaws shut stern and silent, she with lips all cold and white,
Struggled to keep back the murmur, “Towser must be tied tonight.”
“Papa,”slowly spoke the maiden, “I am almost seventeen,
And I've got a real lover, though he's rather young and green;
But he has a horse and buggy, and a cow and thirty hens,
Boys that start out poor, dear Papa, make the best of honest men;
But if Towser sees and bites him, fills his heart with sudden fright,
He will never come again, Pa: Towser must be tied tonight.”
“Daughter,” firmly spoke the farmer (every word pierced her young heart
Like a carving knife through chicken, as it hunts a tender part),
“I've a patch of early melons, two of them are ripe today,
Towser must be loose to watch them, or they'll all be stole away.
I have hoed them late and early, (in dim morn and evening light)
Now they're grown I must not lose them. Towser won't be tied tonight.”
Then the old man ambled forward, opened wide the kennel door;
Towser bounded forth to meet him, as he oft had done before.
And the farmer stooped and loosed him from the dog chain short and stout;
To himself be softly chuckled: "Bessie's fellow must look out.
"But the maiden at the window saw the cruel teeth show white;
In an undertone she murmured, “Towser must be tied tonight.”
Then the maiden's brow grew thoughtful, and her breath came short and thick,
Till she spied the family clothesline, and she whispered, “That's the trick.”
From the kitchen door she glided with a plate of meat and bread;
Towser wagged his tail in greeting, knowing well he would be fed.
In his well-worn leather collar tied she then held the clothesline tight,
All the time her white lips saying: “Towser must be tied tonight.”
“There, old doggie,” spoke the maiden. “You can watch the melon patch,
But the front gate's free and open when John Henry lifts the latch,
For the clothesline tight is fastened to the harvest-apple tree.
You can run and watch the melons, but the front gate you can't see.”
Then her glad ears heard a buggy, and her eyes grew big and bright,
While her young heart said in gladness: “Towser, dog, is tied tonight.”
Up the patch the young man saunters, with his eye and cheek aglow,
For he loves the red-haired maiden, and he aims to tell her so.
Bessie's roguish little brothers, in a fit of boyish glee,
Had untied the slender clothesline from the harvest-apple tree;
Then old Towser heard the footsteps, raised his bristle, fixed for fight.
“ Bark away,” the maiden whispers. “Towser, you are tied tonight.”
Then old Towser bounded forward, past the open kitchen door;
Bessie screamed and quickly followed, but John Henry's gone before.
Down the path he speeds most quickly, for old Towser sets the pace,
And the maiden, close behind them, shows them she is in the race.
Then the clothesline-can she get it? And her eyes grow big and bright,
As she springs and grasps it firmly. “Towser shall be tied tonight.”
Oftentimes a little minute forms the destiny of men.
You can change the fate of nations by the stroke of one small pen.
Towser made one last long effort, caught John Henry by his pants,
But John Henry kept on running, for he thought that his last chance;
But the maiden held on firmly, and the rope was drawn up tight;
But old Towser kept the garments, for he was not tied tonight.
Then the old man hears the racket, with long stride he soon is there,
While John Henry and the maiden, crouching, for the worst prepare.
At his feet John tells his story, shows his clothing soiled and torn;
And his face, so sad and pleading, yet so white and scared and worn,
Touched the old man's heart with pity, filled his eyes with misty light,
“ Take her, boy, and make her happy. Towser shall be tied tonight.”
-Unknown: A parody on Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight
