Brassman Bart: Old Kentucky Home March

Were The Tacos Delivered??

 The news hacks tend to ignore or totally miss important details. I kept seeing stryofoam takeout food containers in photos and videos from Del Rio, so I went looking on Google Earth. There is a taco shop just a block from the river, and I have a pretty good hunch that the "immigrants" were making regular trips back and forth. Is it not a problem when illegal aliens can hop back and forth across the border for takeout tacos?

Tuesday Torque: Disappearing Power Plants

 Towns all over the country had their own power plants in the not-too-distant past. The government, through the EPA has been pushing them out and beating them down, and there are not many left. Our little county seat in Hamilton County has a power plant with big Fairbanks engines, and they are used occasionally when the big transmission lines fail. The county board is talking about getting rid of it. Holy Cow. You can't pull electricity out of a hat. Thanks for a great pick, Merle!

Elderberry Potion Time

 Elderberries are loaded with flavanoids, which are good immune system builders, so Susan has been processing berries into juice and preserving it to use over the next year. We don't have an elderberry thresher. Susan freezes the berries in a paper grocery bag, then shakes it up real good to separate the berries from the stems. We will be planting Sambucus cuttings next spring and may have to improve our processing in a few years.  Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: Nevada State Railroad Museum

 Great one, Merle. Thank You. The old fashioned engines with a slide valve would look just right in your back yard. 

Dead Hickory, One For The Wood Pile!

 

Here's another dead hickory for the wood pile. Look your dead ones over carefully and make sure you have enough solid wood to make a successful drop. Also look overhead for branches that may break or dislodge and mitigate accordingly. 

Weekend Steam: The Last Steam Train On The Santa Fe

 This video was shot in 1955, and the uploader was a 15 year old who was on this ride!  Thanks for the great pick, Merle!

Norm MacDonald, The Ultimate Jokester

This Has Been A Big Bird Year

 We hoot with our barred owls nearly every night, we watched baby buzzards grow up, a couple friends bagged gobblers last Spring, and now the Turkey Boys' Club marches around the house every day. 

A flock of geese flew in on the first day of Autumn, and when reviewing the video I see a couple of turkeys slipping through the trees on the far side of the pond. We saw a heron poking around in the shallows today, and turkey vultures from up north are heading south over us every day.

Driving The Dogs Nuts!

 Jack nearly caught this little guy, and then the squirrel sat up there and teased the dogs.

Andersonville On The RioGrande

 Henry Wirz dithered. Supplies were practically non-existent. Crowding and filth did what they do. The prisons on both sides of that conflict were terrible, but we remember Andersonville because of a novel, and the photos and records compiled at the end of the war. 

                                         
Shebangs. The trademark shelters of Andersonville. There is food and water, and there are porta-pots, but the administration is dithering. The Rio Grande is not a good place to be bathing and washing clothes. Crowding and filth can still do their thing. Keep watching. This could come to a neighborhood near you. 
 

Tuesday Torque: Prairie Tractors At Rollag

 These beasts turned a lot of ground and threshed a lot of wheat. It's well worth the trip to see these machines in person.

So, What Happens To Those Soybeans?

The soybean crop is being harvested now, and Susan got to take a ride in the combine. 

 

What happens to those beans when they leave the farm? That is one of those things that most of us never see, even though the beans have always been part of our lives. We know there is oil, and meal, but mostly we don't see what happens.  Here's a little look at the way soybeans are processed. More of a press than a grind, but it's close enough. Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: Light Your Loco!

 Thanks, Merle! Fire, Water, Oil, and Grease! Don't forget to clean the flues.

Hiking With Tristan: Wind River Range

Weekend Steam: Railroad Oddities

 Boy is this a mixed bag, but every one of them is worth looking at! Thanks Merle!

Okra Strong

 The garden is coming to an end soon, but the okra is not ready to quit. The bit of rain we had the other day has turned it on again!

Brassman Bart: Twentieth Century Rag

Another Big Can Of Worms

 Milley answering to the Chinese?

Tuesday Torque: Swedish Krimo 35 HP Oil Engine

 Spinning this engine on a cold day is a workout. Thanks for spotting, Merle! Does it make you cringe, watching this engine run on for several minutes with no water in the jacket. I get downright twitchy about it. Two stroke engines fire every revolution and that iron can get hot in a hurry. Hit and Miss engines can run slow for quite a while with no water, what with air being pulled in and out of the exhaust as they coast. Four strokes can run a bit, but two strokes will get hot in a hurry. Anyway, it's an impressive engine, even if the guy made me nervous.  I hope his head gasket is OK. 

An Easy One For Friends

 A long-time friend asked us to look at a dead blue spruce. They were thinking about using a ladder and a battery powered chainsaw, and you know how we feel about mixing ladders and chainsaws. It was easy. It leaned a bit toward the house, but not enough to be a hazard. A front opening, a bore cut to make the hinge 3/4" thick, and out the back, then an easy push over. We also cut some big dead branches off their old trees and pruned up a Bradford pear that had interfering branches. We chunked it all up and they picked up the pieces. Saw is the Husky 550 XP.  The weather is cooling down and we will be lighting the upstairs stove in a month, so I see more wood cutting in the future. Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: Steam Turbine Loco Pulling A Timber Train!

 No Chugging, but neat as heck! Thank You, Merle, for your picks!

PS: Merle sent another link. Go to Sweden to see the only turbine locos in captivity.

Weekend Steam: A Cute Little Loco, From ...

 Hammond Durke. Thanks For The Pick, Merle!

Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning? Alan Jackson

Brassman Bart: National Emblem March by E.E. Bagley

Decimated By Squash Bugs

 We are going to move our squash patch next year, and we will be more aggressive in fighting the bugs.

The Psalmist Predicts A Bummer Decade...

 Make it to 70 and the next ten years will suck. Then you die. Not gonna highlight that one!

Psalm 90:10

New King James Version

10 The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Tuesday Torque: A Few Of The Gas Engines At Rollag This Year.

 Propforward1000 is a small YouTube channel with some very good views of engines at the Labor Day weekend show at Rollag. Click over and subscribe to help a small YouTuber!

SUV RVing, Tristan, Cassie, and Bowser Show Where You Should Go Right Now!

 September-early October is the prime time for a Yellowstone visit. When we visited many years ago, the vendor stores shut down around the first of October, so check that out when planning your trip, and supply yourself accordingly. Small crowds in September make the trip special. 

Weekend Steam III: Because It's A Three Day Weekend! Greenfield Village

 We haven't been to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village for more than thirty years, and it is good to see that it is still going strong. Visit Online Here. And take a gander at one of the locomotives in this little video. Thanks for the link, Merle!

Monday's Coming!

 

 If you work for a bank or for the giverment, you can leave the belt off. Otherwise, it's Back To The Old Grind!

Touring With Tristan, America's Best Drive?

Weekend Steam II: Strange And Extreme Trains And Locomotives, Part 3

 Some mighty strange ones here, Merle! Thank You!

Representative Mullins Blast Biden...

Weekend Steam Bonus: Union Pacific Big Boy Leaving St. Louis, August 30, 2021

Weekend Steam: Puffing Billy Railway, Australia

 Visit the website HERE, to read all about it, and then enjoy the video. Thank You, Merle for spotting!

....And The Little Gray Squirrel Says...

 He's a squacker, isn't he? I think there must have been a snake that he was seeing from on high.

Soot In The Flues

One of the steps in firing up your engine is cleaning the flues before you light the fire, fill the grease cups and refill the lubricator. Every engine at every show has its flues cleaned every day before firing up. Labor Day Weekend means two of the biggest shows in the country are back in business for our pleasure; Midwest Old Threshers at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and Western Minnesota Steam Threshers at Rollag, Minnesota. Both are well worth your time, and figure on spending at least two days at either one. Both of these shows have large numbers of steam traction engines, early gas engines, antique tractors, sawmilling, threshing, and a steam railroad. This brief video was shot at Rollag in 2019.

Brassman Bart: Cottontop

 Ben is still in Summer Re-Runs, but they are all good ones.