Weekend Steam: Durango And Silverton Snow Special

Summer is nearly over, and wouldn't it be great to take a Fall trip on the Silverton? This trip is pretty neat, as snow is pushed back from the rails on a Wintertime run. 

Get Off Our Shingles!

Chinese Chestnut, about twenty years old and growing like a weed.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The Light Foundation

Ruger is offering a P89 Double Action Only pistol that was made in 1994 and returned to the factory in 1995 for unknown reasons.  It is being sold as a used pistol, but the photos on Ruger's website show no wear.

This fine pistol will sell mid-day, Wednesday, August 28. Click Here to read the full description and to place your bid. $555

Tuesday Torque: Really Big Engines

Leading Up To Labor Day...

...let's listen to some working songs!








Back To The Old Grind!

Forty Years? Holy Cow!

Kentucky let us go on USFS fire detail in 1979, but we had to take of vacation time to do it.  It was well worth the vacation time for the experiences we had.

We almost burnt up, we did not get smashed by boulders rolling down a mountain or by Douglas-firs that were tipping over after their roots burned. Sleeping out under the stars in Montana and working in Douglas-fir and subalpine fir made some great memories.

Helicopters sure beat hiking for miles. We were on the Continental Divide near Anaconda in this photo.

Susan and I moved to Illinois in 1980, and I got on with the Illinois Division of Forestry several years later.  Springfield finally allowed us to go on USFS fire details beginning in 2005, and I got to make a trip to Minnesota in '06.  It was a good trip, and I was running  a chainsaw instead of a Pulaski, but the Montana trip still beats it.

Midwest Old Threshers Number 70!

The first Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers show was in 1950.  The eight founders showed fifteen steam engines and eight threshers at McMillan Park in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and they attracted 10,000 attendees.  Old Threshers has always offered good family entertainment with no alcohol served on the grounds and no carnival attractions.  They are still going strong at 70, and this year's show will start the Thursday before Labor Day as it has for years.

In 1979 when Old Threshers was turning thirty, Dana Close Jennings published a great paperback book about the show, full of photos he had taken there.  I'm glad I got a copy forty years ago, because it must be pretty scarce today.  Here are a few pictures from Mr. Jenning's book.

This Aultman-Taylor engine belonged to Milo Mathews.  He restored it in 1946, and again in 1977.

Threshing with the Jumbo engine.  Threshing with steam and with horse power is still demonstrated every day at Old Threshers.

Here is Stan Mathews, the driving force behind the establishment of the Midwest Central Railroad, grinding on a locomotive frame.  Stan brought engines 2 and 6 in the early Sixties, and Number 9 in 1966.  Number 9 has been on loan for several years to the Georgetown Loop, but it has returned to Mt. Pleasant this year.

Here is Engine Number 2, which was retired many years ago for boiler problems, but it will be up and running again one of these days.  If you are able, get yourself over to Mt. Pleasant for Labor Day Weekend.  They always have some new old stuff to see, plus a bunch of the same old same old, which we never tire of watching.

Weekend Steam: How To Wake Up A Steam Locomotive

Merle's Pick this week; Thank You, Merle! Nickel Plate Road 765.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering a good one again this week.  It is a P85 Decocker in 9mm, made in 1990.  This is a New-Old-Stock pistol that has been stored in Ruger's vault since being built and tested.  It will sell mid-day, Wednesday, August 21, 2019. CLICK HERE to read the description and to place your bid. $685; a good deal!

Tuesday Torque: Hoe That Corn!

Here's a rare machine that I am guessing did not sell well, or create satisfied customers.  I bet if you put me on it, I could destroy 20 acres of corn per day trying to keep it between the rows.  I never was good at driving a tractor with a cultivator, and it gave me the nervous jim-jams trying not to disturb the corn roots. The young farmers of today have never used a cultivator, what with the use of herbicides.  Farmers today take off in mid-summer and go on vacation. Old-time farmers might have slipped into town on a Saturday night and had a cheeseburger and an ice cream cone.  Times sure have changed.

Never Going Back To Work

                                     We've been surrounded by it! Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam 2: Maine Two-Footers!

Merle's pick is a good one.  Thank You, Merle!


Click this over to YouTube to read the description.  Number 7 was freshly restored in 2018.

Weekend Steam: Threshing At Pinckneyville

We shot this video a few years ago. This Advance steam engine was pulling a thresher with a Garden City feeder, so it can be fed from two bundle wagons.  The belt was set up a bit loose, it slipped, and the thresher choked up.  Panels were pulled off the thresher to clear it, and it blew chunks when they started up again.

Pinckneyville Weekend

This video was shot in 2015 and is a good example of the sort of things you get to see at a big engine show.  The show goes on all weekend at the fairgrounds on the west side of Pinckneyville.

EAB; We Got 'em!

The Emerald Ash Borer arrived in Southern Illinois several years ago and we are experiencing the die-off that other areas north and east of us  have had.  This year it is really going!  I see dead ash trees wherever I drive and we have trees dying in our yard and woods.  The tree in this picture is one I planted about thirty years ago, and the bucket has been kicked out from under it.  Oh Well, or words to that effect. We will have nice firewood during the upcoming winter.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering an M77 Rifle in .300 WSM this week, and it is special!  It has extra nice wood in the stock, was built in December 2005, and it is a New Old Stock rifle, in its original packaging. The price is not bad as I post this, and it is a good one to drop a bid on.  CLICK HERE to read the full description and to place that winning bid. This rifle will sell mid-day, Wednesday, August 14, 2019.  $750; Someone got a great bargain!

Tuesday Torque: Support Your Local Engine Shows!

 There probably is an engine show within easy driving distance for you nearly every weekend through the summer and fall.  Pinckneyville, Illinois is having their annual summer show beginning Thursday of this week.  Engine shows change every year because exhibitors bring different parts of their collections.  This Massey at Pinckneyville in 2018 is a work of art.

Model #2!

Operator platform.

Maintenance reminder!

Transverse engine...

 ...built by Buda.

CLICK HERE to go to the Farm Collector Show Directory.  There is plenty of good, family oriented entertainment out there if you look for it.

Sharpen That Shovel!

I am a cheater, and I do not go to the pains of perfectionists like Wranglerstar.  I look for shiny spots on the edge and knock them out with an angle grinder. Annual applications of of linseed oil keep the wood in good shape and I hardly ever need to change a handle.  This is a great shovel that Wrangler is fixing.  Firefighing shovels have more angle so you can grab a little dirt and give it a fling. You can also scratch fire line through pine needles and leaves.  I mostly used Council rakes, which are great for raking leaves and cutting brush.  You have to keep them sharp, too.  Back To The Old Grind!

Love Island It Ain't!

We saw a few minutes of what they call a reality show the other night.  The premise of the show was young adults hooking up, and somebody "winning" through votes from viewers.  Susan and I decided we have our own reality show.  We call it "Get Up And Go To Work!"  This week's episode was a thrilling exercise we call "Find The Pipe," where we are searching for perimeter and downspout drains that have become plugged over the years.  It is much better than Find The Pipe, 2018, where we were replacing sewer lines.  We won last year, and it looks like we will win again in a few days.  The yard looks like rabid gophers have been digging, but that will be remedied with the next game, "Rejuvenate The Lawn."

Weekend Steam: Lombard Log Hauler!

Off to the North Woods to see how they pulled out white and red pine logs to build a nation.  You must have nerves of steel to steer this beast with a train of logs behind you and point it downhill.  Thank You, Merle!

Can't Quite Figure This One Out

Our electric co-op has a good arborist that is in charge of line clearance.  He must have been on vacation when the crew did this tree.  It's a dead red maple, and the entire tree should have been taken down and chipped. 

Maybe the chip truck was full; maybe it was close to quitting time...  I do have to say that our power is extremely reliable since Jim Gifford became the line clearance guy at Wayne-White Electric Co-Op.

Pinckneyville, One Week Away...

...Be There!

Always a large time!

Oh Boy, New Boots!

My work boots are getting old, so I ordered a new pair, and they are nice.  They feel like pulling on a set of kid gloves.  They just need a good treatment of Pecard's and they will be ready to go to work.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The USA Shooting Team

Ruger is offering a P85 this week, and these guns have a great reputation for being built like a tank.  This one was built in 1988, and it comes with a 15 round magazine.  These pistols don't fit the current mold for concealed carry, but they make a great house or car gun.  This one comes with ambidextrous mag release and safety catch.  It is a new gun that has been stored in Ruger's vault for more than thirty years.  The hammer will fall mid-day, Wednesday, August 7, 2019.  CLICK HERE to read the full description and to place that winning bid.  These do not draw the big collector money, so be sure to study this one and how it might fit into your life!  $660

Tuesday Torque: Buckley Michigan Engine Show

Here is a pleasant video showing some of the machinery at the Buckley show a couple years ago.  There are lots of engine shows going on, and they will be going on until winter weather threatens.  Get out and enjoy them!  Note, at 6:24 the Farmall on stilts.  No Way would I ever be tempted to get on this thing! Tippy!

Plenty More Where This One Came From

I could be cutting problem trees every day, and there are three more on the other side of the barn from this walnut that I will be doing soon. It's all very satisfying, but we don't have as much play time as we thought we would have when I retired. Gotta hit it again this week, so it's Back To The Old Grind!

Grasshopper 727 Lawnmower Review

Our Grasshopper mower is in its fourteenth year of mowing grass at two homes, and we just did some repairs to keep it going. Here is the rundown on the repairs and maintenance we have had to do on this machine.



The gearbox in the mower deck is the only part of this machine that is cause for dissatisfaction.  Grasshopper could punch a hole in the skidplate assembly to provide access to the oil plug.  Maybe they don't do it because they don't want their customers working under the deck.  There is probably a liability risk if they tell people to do that, and then a deck flops down on the person checking the oil.  It looks like a good modification, though, if you want to make your maintenance chores easier.

Weekend Steam: Steam Legends Reunited

Another great video pick by Merle!  Thank You, Merle!

Joys Of Country Life

Lisa loves to go for rides in the country with me, and you can hear her grumbling at this crop duster.  I love the free air shows we get out here.

Extreme Wedging

This is definitely not fun.  This walnut was past my lean limits by at least a foot, but this takedown was not optional; it was threatening a barn.  We used a rope to counter some of the back weight and pounded wedges 'til it went over.  The problem with extreme wedging is when you pass four inches of lift on the back of the butt log.  Wedges won't hold if you need to add more, and they kick out rather than lift.  After sleeping on this problem, I think I see a solution by adding an angled seat to the stump with a chainsaw, plus a hefty wooden block.  That is something that I will try if I have to do this again.