"All The Snow Has Turned To Water,

 

                                            Christmas Days Have Come And Gone." John Prine

Brassman Bart: Twentieth Century Rag

Tuesday Torque: A Radial Treat! Guiberson Diesel!

 Merle found some good ones for us this week, radial diesel engines! You can see a bit of information about these by clicking the YouTube logo and viewing on YouTube. Thank You Merle!

Good Weather The Next Couple Days...

 Time to make some firewood!  Here's one from two years ago. 

Back To The Old Grind!

Golden Morning Sun

 

                                                                   Click The Pic To Enlarge.

We enjoy that special time in the morning when the sun rises and the golden light hits the top of trees and works its way down. The geese often entertain, and this morning we had turkeys darting around amongst the trees. 

Weekend Steam: American Steam Locomotives When Steam Was King

Here's a great one for quiet time on Saturday morning. Merle spotted some 8mm films from the 1950s that have been digitized, and they are fun to watch while you plan your day and drink your morning coffee. Thank You Merle!

The Piano Guys: All I Want For Christmas Is You (Lego version)

 Here's a fun one; requires watching!

A Merry Christmas Treat

A good friend called today and had treasure for us. Her husband found three big clumps of oyster mushrooms and  they gave one to us! Susan separated them, cleaned them, and sauteed them in ghee. We had 1/2 of them with Christmas Eve dinner, with pork loin and a salad with the last of our garden tomatoes. The bedtime treat will be fruitcake bars made by Patti. There are just enough for one more Christmas.  Thank You Sally and George! Merry Christmas!

A Socialist Calls Hannity...

A John Prine Christmas, John Prine

Silent Night All Day Long, John Prine

O Come, All Ye Faithful at Westminster Abbey

Merry Christmas From The Family, Robert Earl Keene

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

I Saw Three Ships, The Piano Guys

Brassman Bart: A Christmas Bonus From Brother Ben!

Tuesday Torque: Let's Treat Ourselves To Some Winter Steam!

 Merle spotted this, and it's too good to wait for the weekend! Thank You, Merle! Merry Christmas!

Good Christian Men Rejoice, London Philharmonic Orchestra

A Work In Progress

 Sunka arrived underweight, and we are struggling just to hold even. He will like a food one day, and the next turn up his nose. At age 15, being skin and bones is bad. We don't want his organs to fail. Otherwise, he is a happy, and well adjusted house dog now. Susan made some new treats for him with graham crackers and sardines, and he likes those. They are high calorie, too.  It's not a Grind; it's a joy. 

Angels We Have Heard On High, Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella, Mannheim Steamroller

Weekend Steam: Kory Anderson Fires Up His Case 150!

 I had the good fortune to meet Kory last year at Rollag and got to visit with him a bit.  He's a genuine nice guy, and a real Iron Man.  Thanks for the great pick, Merle!

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, John Prine

Here's Something You Won't See Every Day!

 Lisa went to St. Louis today for her follow-up appointment at VSS. She checked out OK, but is going to stay on meds for a while in case of residual infection in her bones.  As we left St. Louis we were behind a load of walnut logs.  That was a nice treat. 

Away In A Manger, Emmy Lou Harris

Adeste Fideles, Luciano Pavarotti, Montreal 1978

Snow Zoomies

 Dogs get excited by the first snow. Sorta like kids.

Yuletide Songs by Brassman Bart

Carol Of The Bells, Rousseau

Tuesday Torque: Oilwell Supply Engine, by Small Engine Mechanic

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Christmas Day 1961

Some Children See Him, James Taylor

Fixin' To Pull Start A Hickory?

                                                             Back To The Old Grind!

O Holy Night / Ave Maria, Lexi Walker - The Piano Guys

Santa Baby, Eartha Kitt

Deadly Spring-Loaded Hickory!

 Susan and I put that hickory on the ground with a cut that will be new to most of our followers. It worked great, and we pulled it off the stump with a come-along rather than the tractor.  We have the video processed and we will start the upload at bedtime. It should be up in the morning and then we will post it here on the blog. 

And Here We Go!  It finished uploading about 4:30 this morning so you can watch it come down with your morning coffee! 

Weekend Steam: Winter On The Durango And Silverton

What Child Is This? Lindsey Stirling

Merry Christmas Darling, The Carpenters

Another Little Load

 This stack was a white oak log earlier today. Freshly split white oak smells delicious!

While out in the woods bringing the white oak rounds in, I spotted a hickory that had tipped over and lodged.  I shot a little video about it, and we will go back tomorrow to take it down and shoot a video showing the process.

Git Wood!

 Susan and I split a nice pile of wood tonight.  Good weather tomorrow, so maybe we will do it again!

Angel Eyes, Emmy Lou Harris

Brassman Bart: African Beauty, Composed By Arthur Pryor

I'll Be Home For Christmas, Anne Murray

It's A Marshmallow World, Dean Martin

Tuesday Torque On The Home Front: Fun With Diesels!

 Machines that set a while seem to turn into adventures.  We bought our 4WD Kubota tractor in 2014, and the old 2WD Kubota mostly sits, just getting started once in a while. I topped up the tank today, put a hot battery in it, gave it a little glow plug and cranked it up. Have you ever had a Diesel start up and run away? That little 3 cylinder fired up and roared, going faster and faster. I pulled the throttle back and it kept revving.  I pulled the fuel cutoff and it kept going. Finally, it slowed and sputtered to a stop. Somehow, fuel had accumulated in the intake, and luckily, the engine didn't blow. That will take a little detective work to find the problem. Anyhow, then I noticed that fuel was dripping at a fairly good clip under the fuel tank.  I shone a light and fuel was leaking at the fuel outlet pipe on the bottom of the tank.  I set up  a couple of five gallon cans to catch fuel, got a spout ready to stick the fuel line in when I pulled it off the filter, wiggled that fuel line loose, and the outlet pipe fell out of the tank. Joy. Diesel fuel was flowing fast, and I could barely get the spout under the tank to catch most of it.  I saved a little better than five gallons, and ran only a couple on the ground.

Tuesday Torque: Derek Gets His 1963 Buick Wildcat Ready For The Auction!

Feeling Nutty?

Back To The Old Grind!

Christmas Time's A Comin', Bill Monroe

Lisa Is Home!

I brought Lisa home on Thursday after a four day hospitilization. The good doctors at VSS in Manchester, MO saved our little girl's life. We still do not know what caused the infection in her right leg, but it is healing and the swelling is down. We will go back in a couple weeks for a follow up appointment. 

Lisa's left leg is shaved for her IV port, the right leg was swollen so tightly that it was breaking open. That happened after she had gone on oral antibiotics, which turned out to be less than was necessary. Below are the good doctors who saved Lisa, from the website of Veterinary Specialty Services, in Manchester, Missouri.

                                                        Click To Enlarge.

Lisa is feeling much better now!

Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms

Where Are You, Christmas, Faith Hill

Weekend Steam: How To Light A Battleship's Boilers

 Merle found another great one. This makes a traction engine look like a toy. Thank You Merle!

UPDATE: A personal note to us from John In Philly, who has a great deal of experience working down deep in ships.  Thank You John! 

John in Philly

6:49 AM (3 hours ago)

to David

There is a whole string of pretty good videos about the inner workings of the battleship  New Jersey. 

I spent eight years on active duty in the Navy, and with the exception of two years on shore duty, I worked in ship engineering spaces for all the rest of the time. 

This led to a career working as a civilian employed by the Department of the Navy at the Philadelphia Shipyard. 

I worked there as a Marine Machinist, not a machine shop machinist, I worked as a mechanic in the enginerooms and firerooms of the Navy's ships when they were in the yard. 

I was there from '81 until the yard closed in '95.

About halfway through that time I changed jobs and became a Systems Inspector, that meant that I criticised the work of others, and I had sign off rights for machinery testing. Both jobs were awesome. 

And both jobs included going to sea with the repaired ships and testing the repaired systems all the way up to full power. 

And going full power on a fossil fueled large aircraft carrier is complicated and requires a lot of complicated machinery to work as designed. 

During that time I was in the Active Naval Reserves, spending my drill weekend and two weeks a year being in the Navy.

The boilers on the Iowa class battleships were controlled superheat boilers. 

Let's talk some numbers. 

The operating pressure was 600 pounds per square inch. 

The temperature of 600 pound steam was 489 degree F, and if you want more energy you have to send the steam through the superheater side of the boiler, and use the burners you see on the boiler front to raise the temperature of the saturated steam up to a max of 850 degrees F. 

The temperature of the superheated steam is controlled by the fuel oil flow to the burners, and it is independent of the steam flow. 

Propulsion boiler technology changed post WWII and the boilers on modern steam driven ships don't have boilers with separate superheater burners. The modern boiler sends all the steam through one passage and the superheat temperature is a function of steam demand. 

Normal steam pressure also went up post war, the 600 PSI plants doubled their pressure to 1200 PSI. 

I spent a large part of my working career deep inside the machinery spaces of ships. 

The video sparked some great memories. 

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, Brenda Lee

We Missed Tuesday Torque, So Here's Some Makeup!

 I think you will like Derek. Pop some corn and pour a cup of coffee!

Blue Christmas, Elvis Presley

Brassman Bart: The Cubanola Glide, by Harry VonTilzer

 Here's another great one by Good Old Brother Ben, aka Brassman Bart!

The Way You Get Big Bucks...

 ...is to let the little ones alone. Let them get to know you, too, if you have the time to be in the woods.

Christmas Canon, Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Holly Jolly Christmas, Burl Ives

Hard Candy Christmas, Dolly Parton

I'm Back

 

I've been in St. Louis with Lisa at Veterinary Specialty Services. She has a bad infection in her right foreleg and is undergoing IV therapy.  It appears she is recovering now, and she will have a CT Scan tomorrow to see if there is something in her leg/foot. A holiday weekend during Covid restrictions is a bad time to have a sick dog, but they are taking care of her.