American Backpacks At Kabul Airport?

 

Tuesday Torque: Baby Cat

 I have a thing for homemade buggies for getting around engine shows. This little Cat is a winner!

Making Sweet Sorghum Syrup

 If you want to know how to make sorghum molasses, all you have to do is search for it on YouTube. There are a bunch of videos that will teach you the basics. I'm hoping we can get over to Boonville for the fall show and pick up a couple quarts. 

Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam Bonus: Cab Ride In The Big Boy 4014, Wagoner to Muskogee, OK, August 12

Love Pears?

 We picked our pears yesterday. Susan is canning today.

Weekend Steam Bonus: Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy Crosses Into Illinois At Thebes

Weekend Steam Bonus! Union Pacific Big Boy 4014, Chester IL To St. Louis

Weekend Steam II: NKP 765 Running Into Chicago, June 2017

 That's a thrill, even on your computer screen! Thanks, Merle!

Weekend Steam: Lartigue Steam Monorail

 Merle, this is a new one for me. I have never heard of this contraption.  It looks like an interesting concept, but not suited for the motive force at the time. Thanks Merle, for spotting this one!

Union Pacific Big Boy Schedule, Saturday August 28, SW Illinois!

 Saturday is the day if you live in eastern Missouri or Southern Illinois to see the Big Boy steaming up the river to St. Louis. Here's the schedule and the link (Click The Schedule.) to the UP site. Note that times are Central Time. No mention of Standard or Daylight Saving. Assume you should be there early if you go, so you don't miss it.

I studied Google Earth and I think I have spotted a good vantage point for photos and video out in the country, and maybe away from crowds. Here are screen shots to help you find it, not far northwest of Praire DuRocher. Just northwest of the town turn off of Bluff Road onto Goose Lake Road and go until you are on the other side of the tracks. You will have the sun slightly at your back and the river bluffs for a backdrop. Good Luck and be sure to share your videos!

Now That's A Go-Buggy!

This is really riding in style. I always enjoy seeing homemade vehicles at engine shows. Golf carts mess up photos and videos. Creative buggies are a bonus.

 

Pickled Okra, An Easy Food Preservation Project!

Susan's Homemade Vanilla Extract! An Easy, Fun Project!

Remember to shake your bottle every day for the first month, and occasionally after that. Buy good ingredients.

Kevin McCarthy Holds Press Briefing On Afghanistan Withdrawal

The Baby Buzzards Have Fledged!

 Last week they were flying up onto the barn roof, and when I checked the camera today they were nowhere to be seen. The video shows the confused mother looking for her young'uns. Makes me feel a bit sad, but kids have to go out into the world. I hope Mama comes back next year to raise kids again.

Tomato Powder From The Garden!

 Tomato powder is another product that you can get from your garden. Susan saved the skins when she was dicing tomatoes last week, dried them, and today she chopped them into powder. It's an easy process.

Ted Lewis, June 6, 1890-August 25, 1971

Fifty years ago a musical legend passed away. We have several of Ted Lewis's recordings in our collection, and we always are thrilled by his music from the 1920's. Ted was born in Circleville, Ohio and is buried there. The Ted Lewis Museum is an attraction in Circleville (South of Columbus) that is open from 10A to 4P on Saturdays. Click Here to visit the museum website and learn more about Ted Lewis.

Tuesday Torque: Associated Twelve Mule Team Engine

 Waterloo built engines were featured at the Pinckneyville show over the weekend.  This was one of the larger ones.

Engine Nuts Must Have A Million Of Them...

 ...but how many actually feed chickens?  I'd like to know.  Back To The Old Grind!

American Thresherman Show In Pinckneyville! BE THERE!

 The show winds up today, and it's a good one!

Weekend Steam: Case 110 Times Two At Pinckneyville, Illinois

 We missed having the American Thresherman show last year. I drove in this morning, and before I got out of the car I could smell coal smoke. Mighty Nice! I made a quick tour today so I could get back to the house. Susan is working hard on the tomato crop, and we might shoot another canning video tomorrow.

Brassman Bart: Excelsior Gallop by Karl King

Warsaw (1939)

 Warsaw

I was in Warsaw when the first bomb fell;

I was in Warsaw when the Terror came -

Havoc and horror, famine, fear and flame,

Blasting from loveliness a living hell.

Barring the station towered a sentinel;

Trainward I battled, blind escape my aim.

ENGLAND! I cried. He kindled at the name:

With lion-leap he haled me. . . . All was well.

ENGLAND! they cried for aid, and cried in vain.

Vain was their valour, emptily they cried.

Bleeding, they saw their Cry crucified. . . .

O splendid soldier, by the last lone train,

To-day would you flame forth to fray me place?

Or - would you curse and spit into my face?

September, 1939 Robert W. Service

What's It Like To Have A Schipperke Come Into Your Life?

Betty Boop, one of the pups we fostered last year, on August 19, 2020, meeting her new Mama, who drove about 750 miles to adopt her baby. We met wonderful people last year who drove great distances to adopt a Schipperke. People Are Good! There's no other feeling quite like putting a dog into the arms of the right family. The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba comes close to expressing it, and really fits little Betty Boop!

Up On The Rooftop!

 

Arlo Guthrie: Patriot's Dream

 Arlo published Patriot's Dream in 1976. This recording was made with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra in 2007. It's well worth listening and studying.

Words and music by Arlo Guthrie

Living now here but for fortune
Placed by fate's mysterious schemes
Who'd believe that we're the ones asked
To try to rekindle the patriot's dreams

Arise sweet destiny, time runs short
All of your patience has heard their retort
Hear us now for alone we can't seem
To try to rekindle the patriot's dreams

Can you hear the words being whispered
All along the American stream
Tyrants freed the just are imprisoned
Try to rekindle the patriot's dreams

Ah but perhaps too much is being asked of too few
You and your children with nothing to do
Hear us now for alone we can't seem
To try to rekindle the patriot's dreams

What Lies Beneath The Rock In The Crock?

 Today we carried the kraut crock out of the basement and opened it up. Great Fun!

Flavor Worth The Burn!

 Susan planted some habaneros for me this year, and this is the second picking. There is another batch that is still green, making three batches like this one. I am cutting them up and drying them, then I will grind them up into powder. I used a lot of this powder when I was working to flavor the beans and noodles I cooked for my lunches in the field. Susan would make Chex Mix for me to carry for snacks, and flavored that up with a bit of habanero. One day a USDA official asked me to take him out to look at some projects, and without asking he opened up my bag of Chex Mix and grabbed a generous bite. He thought he was gonna die! He should have asked.

Tuesday Torque: First Run Of An Eagle 16-30 After Restoration

Nearly all shows took a year off, and you should get up and go to any shows in your neighborhood this summer. There will be engines and tractors that have been refreshed or restored during the lockdown. This Eagle video is from a few years back, but expect to see exciting things!

 

Here's another one! A 1929 Hart-Parr, freshly restored in 2017. Thanks, Merle!

Got Peppers?

 Susan has been making jalapeno jelly, and now she is going to do a batch of this!

   

Back To The Old Grind!

Work Hard, Fly The Flag

Weekend Steam III: Union Pacific Big Boy Is On Tour!

Click these over to YouTube to read Nick Valdez's description. Thanks Merle, for spotting!

Weekend Steam II: Steam Shows Back In Business!

 Rollag, Minnesota will be busy Labor Day weekend with the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion  up and running! It's big, and one of the best places in the country to see big prairie engines, both steam and gas. You might get lucky and find a room in Fargo because covid may be keeping some away. Get online and start looking!

 

The American Thresherman show at Pinckneyville, Illinois is coming up next weekend, August 18-22.

Walking With Tristan: The Most Beautiful Place In Nevada!

 You should watch this from a stable, very safe chair!

Weekend Steam: Jim van der Kolk's Extinct Locomotive Collection

 Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy. Or shed a tear.  Thanks, Merle, for doing these picks!

Coming Soon To Carrion Near You!

 The baby buzzard videos will end soon, as these young birds are getting ready to fledge. It's been too hot to work up firewood the last couple weeks, so the buzzards have been undisturbed except for my trips in to get the SD card out of the camera. They don't like me, but I'm going to miss them. So far we have not been flogged by Mama. Approach barn quietly, carefully, and be watchful!

Squirrel Overhead!

 

The squirrels are really cutting the hickory nuts right now, and there is a constant rain of their hull nibblings when we are out in the dog yard. These trees aren't all that tall, but a straight up shot with a .22 on top of your shoulder would still be tough. Step out of the way if you make that shot. If that squirrel lands on you it could be exciting.

Brassman Bart: Stars And Stripes Forever!

Tuesday Torque: Big Four 30 Putting Along

 I love the sounds of a big four cylinder prairie tractor. I am amazed that we are seeing century-old machines in good running condition and on display.  Many Thanks, Merle, for the pick.

Heavy Duty History!

 It's a shame to see machinery in the middle of nowhere being stolen bit by bit by thieves. Click the YouTube logo in the corner of the video to read about this mill and mine. It even has the Lat and Lon. Gotta go look that up on Google Earth! Oops, he has the Lat twice, and no Lon.

Back To The Old Grind

Mina Is Fascinated...

 

...by all the produce coming in from the garden. We are going to pick a batch of habaneros Sunday.

Weekend Steam II: 40 HP Avery Undermounted Engine Plowing...

 ...at New Rockford, ND, 2015.  Midwest Old Threshers had a 40 HP Avery many years ago, and it was going to need boiler work done. Rather than buckling down and spending the money to do the necessary upkeep, the association sold that engine. I don't reckon they will ever find another one.

Thanks for another great pick, Merle!

Weekend Steam: Top Ten Fastest American Steam Locomotives

 Good One, Merle! Thank You for the pick!

Tucker Lays Out The Why

Susan's Cabbages Are In The Crock!

Susan raised some mighty fine cabbages in the garden this year and today we made sauerkraut. It's a fun project that we haven't done in many years, and I had to hunt for a suitable kraut rock. It's a 16 pounder, and a beauty! The kraut is tucked away in its crock down in the basement. Susan says she will check it in three days. 

Baby Buzzards Feathered Up!

 The baby fuzz is disappearing fast! Not long now 'til they fledge. We are going to miss them. 

Feathering Up!

 It's hard to get a still shot on the two baby buzzards because they are alert and extremely shy. They hiss, and that is spooky/scary.

Brassman Bart: Black Horse Troop, by J.P. Sousa

 Brother Ben tells me he is still in summer reruns, and is making plans for new ones this Fall.

Peter Piper Picked!

 

Tuesday Torque II: 1939 Farmall Drive-By

 Because you all deserve more than a shade tree mechanic project.

We Said Goodbye To Sunka Today

Sunka came to live with Susan and me last year as a Midwest Schipperke Rescue Lifer after Peg Gross passed away. He was past his fifteenth birthday and had health problems, but he fit in well at our home and enjoyed being part of a Schipperke pack. He has been declining slowly and began slipping more quickly the last few days, but still eating, drinking, and napping between outings in the dog yard. He was unresponsive this morning and we said goodbye to Sunka today.

Sunka had fun living with us, and liked to paddle in the water bowls. He played with chew toys and loved Charley Bear treats. You had to watch your fingers when giving one to him. Jack knew Sunka was slipping away and he spent yesterday and this morning lying next to him.

Tuesday Torque: Torque Goes Both Ways!

 It takes torque to stop or go, and you gotta pay attention to those brakes. Drum brakes are not much fun to work on, but it is necessary now and then, unless you trade for a new car regularly. It looks like twenty-seven years is about the life of a wheel cylinder, judging from the old Chevy and other cars I've worked on. A common failure in years past was to have a piston blow out of a brake cylinder, and that was back when all four wheels were on a single hydraulic circuit from the master cylinder. As brake shoes wore out, cars needed to have the adjustment taken up on the brake shoes, but people would neglect that, letting the brake pedal get closer and closer to the floor. Wait a little too long and a piston would pop out of the cylinder. Self adjusting brakes have made that problem a distant memory.

Susan Is Working Overtime!

 The tomatoes are coming on heavy now. Back To The Old Grind!