Have A Happy, and Safe New Year

Kevin over at Smallest Minority posted this powerful video from Australia earlier this month. It carries a strong message, and has many graphic images, but the message is important with New Year's Eve coming up. If you are going to be driving, don't drink; if you have been drinking, don't drive.

Frosty Fog

Fog, and below freezing temps mean that you should get up early and take in some whiteness and brightness.  The macro setting captures details that middle age eyes can't see.

November 2010 e-Postal Scores

Manfred has posted the scores from the final Mr. Completely e-Postal Contest of 2010.  Click Here to go across the pond and see the final tally of the year.  There were only five competitors in November, which is disappointing, but I am willing to blame it on the weather and the holiday season.  I encourage all of our blog visitors to participate in Mr. Completely's contest next year.  It is good practice, fellowship with other shooters, and it is fun!  It is also a great opportunity to take new shooters out to the range, so let's all work together to make 2011 a really big e-Postal year.

Ruger's Tactical Carbine Tips; Part IV

You will become a better shooter if you watch all of these videos from Ruger, and then put in some time on the range. Thanks again, Ruger!

Back To Work Already!?

Back To The Old Grind!

Not My Victrola: Warm Up With The Red Hot Mama

With the record cold and snow all over the place, it seems like a good time to warm things up with a Sophie Tucker song. EdmundusRex uploaded this record, and I have copied his notes below:

"Sophie Tucker (Jan.13,1884 - Feb.9,1966) was a singer and comedian, one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first two-thirds of the 20th century.


She was born Sonia Kalish to a Jewish family in Tsarist Russia. Her family emigrated to the United States when she was an infant, and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. The family changed its name to Abuza, and her parents opened a restaurant.
She started singing for tips in her family's restaurant. In 1903, at the age of 19, she was briefly married to Louis Tuck, from which she decided to change her name to "Tucker."

Tucker played piano and sang burlesque and vaudeville tunes, at first in blackface. She later said that this was at the insistence of theatre managers, who said she was "too fat and ugly" to be accepted by an audience in any other context.
She made a name for herself in a style that was known at the time as a "Coon Shouter", performing African American influenced songs. Not content with performing in the simple minstrel traditions, Tucker hired some of the best African American singers of the time to give her lessons, and hired African American composers to write songs for her act.
Tucker made her first appearance in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1909, but didn't last long there because Florenz Ziegfeld's other female stars soon refused to share the spotlight with the popular Tucker.
Tucker made several popular recordings. They included "Some of These Days," which came out in 1911 on Edison Records. The tune, written by Shelton Brooks, was a hit, and became Tucker's theme song. Later, it was the title of her 1945 autobiography.
In 1921, Tucker hired pianist and songwriter Ted Shapiro as her accompanist and musical director, a position he would keep throughout her career. Besides writing a number of songs for Tucker, Shapiro became part of her stage act, playing piano on stage while she sang, and exchanging banter and wisecracks with her in between numbers.
In the 1930s, Tucker brought elements of nostalgia for the early years of 20th century into her show. She was billed as The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, as her hearty sexual appetite was a frequent subject of her songs, unusual for female performers of the era. She made numerous popular film appearances, including Broadway Melody of 1938. In that film, Tucker sings a song during the big finale; even though she is playing a character and not herself, several neon lights displaying her real name light up in the background of the stage in tribute.
She continued performing in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, until shortly before dying of lung cancer in 1966 at the age of 82 and was interred at Emanuel Cemetery in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

-----------------------
Miff Mole (March 11,1898 - April 29,1961) was a jazz trombonist and band leader. He is generally considered as one of the greatest jazz trombonists and credited with creating "the first distinctive and influential solo jazz trombone style."
Sophie Tucker, Miff Mole Orchestra - I've Got a Cross-Eyed Papa (1924)"

One More Christmas Carol!!

This excellent recording is shared with us by EMGColonel, over in the UK. This is an American Victor recording of the Trinity Choir, circa 1910, and uploaded yesterday, just in time for Christmas.

Christmas Day

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing with Organ and Orchestra: the closing Procession at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City. Trinity Choir (John Schaefer, Director), John Fowler, organist. Christmas 2007

Video by anglicanorganistjohn

Before EJ went off to college to become an engineer, he played in the Christmas Orchestra several years at the Methodist Church in Carbondale, Illinois.  They always closed out the Christmas concert with this song.  A live performance of Hark the Herald Angels by an orchestra and a pipe organ will make you thrill and vibrate with the music; Unforgettable!

Weekend Steam: More Santa Train

The Santa Train at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, NV.

A Merry Christmas From Life's Other Side

Christmas Eve

The Harmony Double Mixed Quartet performs another Christmas song for the Puritone label of the Straus & Schram mail order company. Merry Christmas!

The True Blue Sam Family wishes all of our visitors a Merry and Blessed Christmas! Thanks for visiting, and now get back to your own family!

Christmas Song Festival Continues!

The Harmony Double Mixed Quartet performs a wonderful old Christmas carol on the Puritone Label for the Straus & Schram Company.

Sing Like Brenda Lee!

from Jim02026

Derek, The Good Deed Doer

Go visit The Packing Rat, then go do likewise.  Derek takes lots of new shooters to the range and starts them in the right direction to be safe and skillful shooters.  There are people all over this country who want to learn how to shoot; we should all follow Derek's example and take someone to the range.

The Christmas Festival Continues! More Reason For The Season!

The Trinity Choir recorded this lovely Christmas song in August, 1923.

True Blue Sam's Christmas Festival!

True Blue Sam is really busy with work this week, so I am "Blogging Light" and re-posting Christmas records we recorded last year.  They are just as good as ever, and you can play them as many times as you wish without having to change the needle or wind up the phongraph.  The paper fold-out nativity scene resides in Bea's house, and we are pretty sure it is at least 100 years old.

In Need Of Sunny Days

We're at the shortest day of the year, and the sky has been dismal and depressing. Warm sunny days are a treasure, and this bit of video was shot last October while I was out looking at tree planting projects for next spring. Warm, sunny day, and a 208 popping away; pretty sweet.

Monday Already

Back To The Old Grind!

Video by farmboy00000.

Not My Victrola: Another Christmas Special!

Here's another great piano roll from Jim02026.

Weekend Steam: Wisconsin Santa Train

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad brings in the holiday season as Soo Line locomotive 1003 slowly treks south from Plymouth,WI on a snowy December day.

Courtesy of flightsimman

Crankin' It Up: Are We Having Fun Yet?

If you are having trouble getting in the holiday spirt, The Hoosier Hot Shots are just the boost you need. The aluminum Christmas tree now resides in Chez EJ, up in Chicagoland, and he has it in a front window with the rotating color wheel, for all passersby to admire and enjoy.

Gunblast's Gum Blast

Jeff Quinn did some early Christmas shopping for himself, and he demonstrates his new toy for us with the help of his grandson.

Do They Still Have Five And Tens?

Poets' Corner

I grew up in an old Iowa farm house, so I know a little bit about being cold; enough that I don't plan on going to Alaska during the winter. A good cold snap like we are having right now always brings to mind the winters when I was a kid, with numbing cold, and lots of blowing snow. My favorite poet, Robert Service conveys powerful impressions of the frozen north, and he has a way of entertaining you with his stories so that you can see the action in your mind. 'Blasphemous Bill' is one that always comes to mind when winter weather get serious.  Better put another log on.

The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill

I took a contract to bury the body of blasphemous Bill MacKie,
Whenever, wherever or whatsoever the manner of death he die --
Whether he die in the light o' day or under the peak-faced moon;
In cabin or dance-hall, camp or dive, mucklucks or patent shoon;
On velvet tundra or virgin peak, by glacier, drift or draw;
In muskeg hollow or canyon gloom, by avalanche, fang or claw;
By battle, murder or sudden wealth, by pestilence, hooch or lead --
I swore on the Book I would follow and look till I found my tombless dead.

For Bill was a dainty kind of cuss, and his mind was mighty sot
On a dinky patch with flowers and grass in a civilized bone-yard lot.
And where he died or how he died, it didn't matter a damn
So long as he had a grave with frills and a tombstone "epigram".
So I promised him, and he paid the price in good cheechako coin
(Which the same I blowed in that very night down in the Tenderloin).
Then I painted a three-foot slab of pine: "Here lies poor Bill MacKie",
And I hung it up on my cabin wall and I waited for Bill to die.

Years passed away, and at last one day came a squaw with a story strange,
Of a long-deserted line of traps 'way back of the Bighorn range;
Of a little hut by the great divide, and a white man stiff and still,
Lying there by his lonesome self, and I figured it must be Bill.
So I thought of the contract I'd made with him, and I took down from the shelf
The swell black box with the silver plate he'd picked out for hisself;
And I packed it full of grub and "hooch", and I slung it on the sleigh;
Then I harnessed up my team of dogs and was off at dawn of day.

You know what it's like in the Yukon wild when it's sixty-nine below;
When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads through the crust of the pale blue snow;
When the pine-trees crack like little guns in the silence of the wood,
And the icicles hang down like tusks under the parka hood;
When the stove-pipe smoke breaks sudden off, and the sky is weirdly lit,
And the careless feel of a bit of steel burns like a red-hot spit;
When the mercury is a frozen ball, and the frost-fiend stalks to kill --
Well, it was just like that that day when I set out to look for Bill.

Oh, the awful hush that seemed to crush me down on every hand,
As I blundered blind with a trail to find through that blank and bitter land;
Half dazed, half crazed in the winter wild, with its grim heart-breaking woes,
And the ruthless strife for a grip on life that only the sourdough knows!
North by the compass, North I pressed; river and peak and plain
Passed like a dream I slept to lose and I waked to dream again.

River and plain and mighty peak -- and who could stand unawed?
As their summits blazed, he could stand undazed at the foot of the throne of God.
North, aye, North, through a land accurst, shunned by the scouring brutes,
And all I heard was my own harsh word and the whine of the malamutes,
Till at last I came to a cabin squat, built in the side of a hill,
And I burst in the door, and there on the floor, frozen to death, lay Bill.

Ice, white ice, like a winding-sheet, sheathing each smoke-grimed wall;
Ice on the stove-pipe, ice on the bed, ice gleaming over all;
Sparkling ice on the dead man's chest, glittering ice in his hair,
Ice on his fingers, ice in his heart, ice in his glassy stare;
Hard as a log and trussed like a frog, with his arms and legs outspread.
I gazed at the coffin I'd brought for him, and I gazed at the gruesome dead,
And at last I spoke: "Bill liked his joke; but still, goldarn his eyes,
A man had ought to consider his mates in the way he goes and dies."

Have you ever stood in an Arctic hut in the shadow of the Pole,
With a little coffin six by three and a grief you can't control?
Have you ever sat by a frozen corpse that looks at you with a grin,
And that seems to say: "You may try all day, but you'll never jam me in"?
I'm not a man of the quitting kind, but I never felt so blue
As I sat there gazing at that stiff and studying what I'd do.
Then I rose and I kicked off the husky dogs that were nosing round about,
And I lit a roaring fire in the stove, and I started to thaw Bill out.

Well, I thawed and thawed for thirteen days, but it didn't seem no good;
His arms and legs stuck out like pegs, as if they was made of wood.
Till at last I said: "It ain't no use -- he's froze too hard to thaw;
He's obstinate, and he won't lie straight, so I guess I got to -- saw."
So I sawed off poor Bill's arms and legs, and I laid him snug and straight
In the little coffin he picked hisself, with the dinky silver plate;
And I came nigh near to shedding a tear as I nailed him safely down;
Then I stowed him away in my Yukon sleigh, and I started back to town.

So I buried him as the contract was in a narrow grave and deep,
And there he's waiting the Great Clean-up, when the Judgment sluice-heads sweep;
And I smoke my pipe and I meditate in the light of the Midnight Sun,
And sometimes I wonder if they was, the awful things I done.
And as I sit and the parson talks, expounding of the Law,
I often think of poor old Bill -- and how hard he was to saw.

from BALLADS OF A CHEECHAKO by Robert Service

Looks Like A Finger-Chopper-Offer To Me

This Keystone Common Sense Feed Cutter from 1872 is a great demonstration of the dangers of agriculture past, and a good reminder for all involved with machinery today.  One of my great-grandfathers (the father of Charles, the dashing lad with the Model T seen at the top of the page)was maimed by a corn knife accident, and that was a tough problem for someone making their living on the farm.  This nifty fodder processor offered, not maiming, but amputation to farmers, their spouses and offspring, if they were careless in their judgement while working up a corn shock, and you have to wonder if this machine has any tragedies attached to its history.  Making a living can be tough at times, so be careful out there.

Sing Along!

Ruger's "History Of The Gun" Video Series; Parts Six and Seven

The next two "History Of The Gun" videos from Ruger cover the steps in cartridge development, and the evolution of rifling.

Nick Of Time

 The wife and I managed to get in a good load of wood just before dark on Friday night, and it's a good thing.  The weather really took a bad turn Saturday, and then it pulled out all the stops on Sunday.  Our roads were drifting shut on Sunday night, and the wind isn't letting up. 

Snow And Ice Covered?

Southern Illinois is colder than Chicago right now! If you can't take off a day of SLICK LEAVE, it's Back To The Old Grind!

Not My Victrola

Pax41 uploaded this excellent Christmas record by the Venetian Trio. Pax's notes:Recorded 4/22/1915

Howard Rattay (instrumentalist: violin)
Rosario Bourdon (instrumentalist: cello)
Francis J. Lapitino (instrumentalist: harp)

Regardless Of Your Opinions About Snow...

...this is still a great song. Thanks again to Jim02026!

Weekend Steam

Pull the slider ahead to 1:55 so you don't become impatient, and watch the Huckleberry Railroad Christmas Train pass through Genesee, Michigan. Courtesy of TrueWolverine87, on YouTube.



And from cplerrguy, a couple more of this beautiful little railroad.





And another, for jrahrig:

Crankin' It Up

Gene Rodemich's Orchestra recorded this dance number in December, 1922. True Blue Sam played it on his Brunswick in December, 2010.

Appeal From Soldiers' Angels

This came in from Soldiers' Angels today.  Any contribution is welcome, and needed to give comfort to our soldiers in faraway places.

Dear Soldiers’ Angel,


We have 24-hours to raise the final funds for shipping our Christmas Gift Stockings to our troops overseas and recovering from serious wounds in our military hospitals.

Shipping alone will be at least $350,000.
I urgently need to hear back from you right now –- and it has to be in the next 24 hours.
Please click here to make your tax-deductible donation.

As you can imagine, shipping into desert areas in Iraq and Afghanistan - - some of them decimated - - is very costly.

As of today, I don’t have the funds I need to continue. That’s why I’m writing and asking you please, once again, can you help a lonely soldier overseas during the holidays?

Please click here to make your tax-deductible donation.

I know you care about our troops. You’ve proven it already. But please don’t think someone else will do your part for this Christmas Stockings campaign.
This Christmas, thousands of man and women will need your help, prayers, and encouragement. And believe me, they’ll be so grateful.

They’ve been there for us.

Will you be there for them?
Sincerely,

Patti Patton Bader
Founder, Soldiers’ Angels

P.S. I’m sure you agree: There’s almost nothing harder for our troops than being away from home during the Christmas holidays.

Please, now while you are thinking about it, make your tax-deductible contribution.

If we don’t have the funds we need in the next 24 hours, we’ll have to drastically slash the Christmas Stockings program. Please help in the next 24 hours.

Please click here to make your tax-deductible donation.

More Merry Christmas Mood Music!

Jim02026 has a great sounding player piano, and he films his rolls so you can sing along.  TBS will keep posting Jim's player videos to help spread some joy this Christmas, and because True Blue Sam likes player pianos.  I hope these lift your spirits this holiday season.

Grass Versus Trees Again

 I am covered up right now putting together plans for tree planting next spring, and part of every plan is a section telling landowners to kill fescue before they plant their trees.  Some listen, and some don't.  The ones that have fescue in their projects make good examples to show other landowners why killing grass before they plant is important.  The top photo is a tree planting project that was installed in crop stubble, with no weed control.  It has nearly 100% survival, and good form in the trees because of competition with weeds, and the natural concealment from deer.

This sad looking planting project is right across the road from the first planting, and it was actually planted before the other, in Hamilton County, Illinois.  This project was a fescue field, and the owner never got around to controlling the fescue grass.  White pine is one of the few trees that seems to be able to fight it out with fescue and survive, but they would have performed better if instructions had been followed.  The hardwoods were essentially a 100% failure.  Very few of these failed cases ever call to rectify the problem, so I assume that these folks weren't terribly interested in the first place.

Your Mileage May Vary With This Gizmo

 We are making more barn timbers out of one of the trees we had to drop, and I used a Beam Machine from Bailey's Logging Supply, just to see how it would do on a big job.  The Beam Machine uses a straight 2" X 4" as a guide, and you pull the saw through the log.  A 2" x 4" is not a very big base, and the challenge you face is keeping you saw squarely oriented throughout the cut.  You will have some roughness in the faces with this gadget, because you pull the saw back, rotate down, and repeat.  It did pretty well, though, and the inexpensive price makes it a fair investment.  In this photo the 2" x 4" rail and the Beam Machine have been removed to finish the cuts.

 Finishing the cuts.  You can see the Beam Machine on the left side of the photo.  It attaches to the bar of the saw with two set screws, and is easy to install and remove.

I cut firewood sections out of the slabs while the top log was still attached, then cut the half finished cant from the butt log.  We will finish this into a timber for use in our old barn, and have a few boards to boot.  I plan to use our Alaskan Mill to finish this job.

The Alaskan Mill will do a better job of making smooth cuts, but of course it costs more.  These milling attachments are more versatile than the inexpensive Beam Machine, but they also require more muscle as you have to push the saw through the cuts.  Read up on the various attachments that are available for your saw so you buy the right tool for the type of work you need to do.

You need to have a fair understanding of filing your teeth if you plan to use a chainsaw milling attachment.  The teeth are filed differently for ripping, but you won't have any trouble if you already know how to file a chainsaw blade.  Take a look at Chainsaw Sharpening Tips for hints on filing.  Ripping chains will have two teeth filed at about 25 degrees, and then two teeth filed at 0 to 10 degrees.  Chains filed for cross-cutting will have all the teeth filed at 25 to 35 degrees.  You can buy a chain already made for ripping, or file a crosscut chain to do the job.

Before Fuel Injection; Before Floats and Needle Valves...

Engineers and other inventors have been coming up with new and more efficient ways to deliver fuel to the combustion chamber ever since the first internal combustion engine.  This little video offers a good look at one of the early systems for regulating the amount of fuel in the carburetor bowl; an overflow and return to the fuel tank.  This method worked well and was used on many of the early gas engines and tractors.  Follow this link to have a look inside a Secor-Higgins carburetor, and to read of all its virtues.  The Secor-Higgins system was used in Falk gas engines and Rumely Oil Pulls, and it was a  major advance from more primitive mixing valves.  If you look closely at the diagram you will see that it, too, used the overflow system to regulate the fuel level in the carburetor. 



In the last segment of this video you will see the interaction between the magneto and ignitor on this engine. Ignitors have a stationary and a movable point inside the combustion chamber. The points are closed, completing a circuit, and then released. The spark occurs when the circuit is broken.

Time To Start Getting In The Mood

More Videos From Ruger Firearms

We will get back to Ruger's 'History Of The Gun," but we need to post the latest in Ruger's new carbine series, and one from Ruger's new Competition Series. In the first video, Dave Spaulding takes a look at some of the many accessories you can add to your tactical carbine, and he offers some darn good advice.



The next video introduces us to Steel Challenge shooting, a wonderful sport that is great fun for all participants. Mike Briggs does a great job explaining the basics of Steel Challenge, and the quote you should remember is "When you do it, you're smiling a lot." Having sampled steel shooting at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, I have to agree. Everyone has a good time, whether they are shooting or watching. One of the bloggers at Reno was shooting a Walther P22, and hitting an 18" x 24" target at 100 feet during one of the stages; color me impressed! It is a sport that you can enjoy with off-the-shelf equipment, and at your level of skill, even if you are a novice.

The Mondays Won't Let Up

What do you do when your corn cracker jams up? Poking with your fingers could be painful, and who wants fingers in their cornmeal? Keep a cob handy, and Safety First! Back To The Old Grind!

Not My Victrola: What's Old Is New Again

This video of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was over on Roberta X, and it is fascinating to watch the histogram pass by as the music plays.



Fascinating, but having spent many happy hours pedaling a player piano, it was very familiar, even if the orientation is wrong for a player roll. Here is the same piece played on an 1895 Aeolian player reed organ. When a hole is uncovered in the tracker bar, air goes through a tube, opens a valve, and a vacuum operated pneumatic opens the valve for a corresponding reed.



If you sat through all of the reed organ, you deserve a bonus!

Bonus e-Postal Time!

Manfred is extending the deadline for the November Mr. Completely e-Postal contest until December 12, and Cheaper Than Dirt is extending the season long Zombie Shoot until December 6.  If you haven't entered these contests already, or have another gun you would like to enter, print out the targets and head to the range.  Both of these contests give you a chance to win a $50 gift certificate, generously donated by Cheaper Than Dirt, so you may win more than bragging rights.  Everyone who enters is a winner in these contests, because you will have the satisfaction of shooting with other enthusiasts, and getting in some much needed practice. 

Weekend Steam: Winter In Southeast Iowa

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa draws steam enthusiasts even in December, when the Midwest Central Railroad hosts the "North Pole Express."  I just checked the North Pole Express page, and all the scheduled rides are sold out for this Christmas season.  Click here to have a look at photos from 2008, and watch for info about 2011.  Evidently, you must sign up well in advance to have a seat.  Steam and railfans are welcome to come and watch Number 9 pull the train around, and if you get lucky, you may get some video of the train running in snow.
The above video was posted courtesy of steamairman, one of the many volunteers who make this railroad run.

Crankin' It Up

This week and next we have a couple of lively dance numbers. Lovin'Sam is by Bennie Krueger's Orchestra, and was recorded sometime in 1923. This rendition has a great saxophone part, so be sure and listen for it.