The Sun Was Bright, The Water Was Cold

Our hunter friend was on the other side of the pond today and saw more than twenty deer go by, including one he would have liked to bag, but no good shots were presented. Every time I looked across the pond I saw deer moving.

 

Another Halloween Musical Treat: Spike Jones And His Orchestra!

 Ghost Riders In The Sky. Cowbells!

Tuesday Torque: Two Stroking

 Big one (Lanz Bulldog), and a little one (Fairmont section car engine) Thanks to Merle for the Lanz link!

Dance Macabre: One More, Recorded By Horowitz, About 1928, On Duo Art Reproducing Piano

 Read the words as the song plays. Guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye. 

Electric Cider Press!

 No hand cranking for this bunch. The folks who run Greenfield Grocery have a modern cider press with a hydraulic ram that gets every bit of juice from the apples.

Back To The Old Grind!

Dance Macabre

De-Hull Your Walnuts For Cracking This Winter

 Ozzie's Oddities has some pretty neat stuff on YouTube.

Back To The Old Grind!

Dance Macabre

Putting The Garden To Bed

 Susan and I both worked in the garden most of the day to make it ready for next Spring. Susan pulled plants and vines, I pulled fence posts and stakes. We pulled and stacked the cardboard that we used to control weeds, burned it, and then tilled. After we finished videoing we spread mushroom compost and tilled it in.

Gears In The Woods, Shay Locomotives At Cass

 Thank You, Merle!

Daylight Buck

 This beautiful guy was out in late afternoon, and he was being a bit too visible for a critter with nice antlers. We had the dogs out in the yard and conversed while he poked along the edge of the pond. The bucks with bigger antlers coveted by trophy hunters don't make themselves so available. Know your hunting places, and understand the animals you hunt. This deer knew we were there, at 200 yards, and was not alarmed. At 100 yards deer become alerted, and a wrong move will alarm them. Bowhunters are out now, but they don't alarm the deer herd to any great degree. Nighttime road hunters educate the deer to react and run. Illinois' first firearm season begins in three weeks, and deer behavior will change markedly when that happens. 

Next-Door Soybean Harvest

 The neighbor across the road harvested this soybean field this evening and was finishing up at dusk. Ranger and I went out to watch and boy was it dusty. You could feel the grit on your eyeballs. It takes a lot of acres to pay for machines like this big, tracked, John Deere.

Morning Show

 

Dance Macabre

Illinois' Gun, Magazine, Parts, And Accessory Ban Update

 Valinda Rowe of Illinois Carry provides some information on the status of heinous legislation that was dropped on Illinois residents in January. When she talks about vagueness, you must read and understand the law to see just what that means. Semi-autos with a barrel shroud are outlawed. The definition the law uses is any covering of the barrel that would protect your hand from being burned if the barrel is hot, so any stock that covers part of the barrel forward of the receiver makes the gun illegal, and the stock would then be an illegal assault weapon attachment. Any attachment you can grasp with your support hand is an illegal assault weapon attachment, so a bipod or rifle sling are both outlawed if the IL State Police take the law at its word. It is a mighty big can of worms. Here's Valinda:

Tuesday Torque: First Start In Forty Years

 And it appears to be running a bit rich. I am sure they have it sorted out by now. Thank You, Merle!

Missouri Meerschaum Pipes

 The famous corncob pipe company celebrated their 150th year four years ago and opened up the factory for tours. I used to see these pipes in stores, and in use while I was growing up. Not so much anymore, but seeing this reminded me of a little excerpt from a poem: 

There's nothing like Nickyteen, me boys,

Be it pipes or snipes or cigars;
So be sure that a bloke
Has plenty to smoke,
If you wants him to fight your wars.

Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam III: Largest Curved Wooden Structure In The World!

 And you cannot go there. Oh Well. You would have to visit California to see it.

Weekend Steam II: Claymill Victorian Pumping Station

 British steam engines in their natural habitat.

Dance Macabre

Weekend Steam: Saving A Big Old Steam Engine

 There are still some machines out in the wild that need to be saved. That is remarkable because collectors have been working for many decades to get engines. You would think that the ones stuck away in buildings would all have come out by now, but surprises keep popping up. Many Thanks to Merle for spotting this one for us!

Bungee Rain And A Dramatic Sunset

We love watching the sky every day. I think living in the mountains out east enhanced our desire to watch the sky, because we seldom saw a sunrise or sunset while we lived in Eastern Kentucky. Today we had a couple of nice treats. There was a layer of stratus all day that you can see moving off to the east, then a clear band, then a second layer of stratus with the cold front pushing through. The sunset at the end was spectacular.

Little Hercules At Boonville

Gas engines are more fun if they are running something. Water pumps are popular for that at engine shows. This one has a water meter with the little spinner going round and round. 

 

Dance Macabre

You Think You Have Problems?

 The show grounds at Boonville was a large sapling and pole stand when we first attended in 1982. The trees are bigger now, and many of them are falling into cull tree status. Many of them are ash, and most of those are now dead. The good folks that run the Boonville show have a major tree removal project that must be done. Many can be dropped from the ground, but many also will have to be handled by a bucket truck or crane. Trees change fast and time flies.

Tuesday Torque III: 100 Year Old Fairbanks Morse Light Plant, Granbury, Texas

Thank You, Merle! Old plants like this one were scattered all over the country, and have mostly disappeared. The EPA charges big fees to electric providers that fire up old equipment for emergency use.

Tuesday Torque II: Rayner 4HP Side Shaft Engine

 Thank You, Merle for spotting this one. Rob Gill posted this video, and Rob is the go-to-guy for reproduction engine tags. He has been producing tags for several years and recently made major upgrades in his equipment. You can find Rob Gill on Facebook if you need his service.

Tuesday Torque: Domtoren Clock Tower

 Here's something that is different from our usual fare. A weight provides the torque, so this video qualifies!

Another Week, Get Ready

 

Back To The Old Grind!

Lehto's Law: Criticize Your Elected Officials, Go To Jail

 Steve Lehto has a great YouTube channel where he covers a multitude of legal issues. We subscribe to his channel and listen to him regularly. This video tells us about real hero, who was not afraid to stand up to hold the city fathers accountable for grievances, and was arrested twice. The back story behind the man being arrested during a city council meeting is in this video (CLICK).

Dance Macabre

 This video has embedding blocked, so CLICK HERE to go to YouTube and enjoy.

Weekend Steam II: Boonville Fall Show Weekend

 Someplace or Another posted this video on YouTube of the 2022 Fall Show, and it gives you a good idea of what you are missing this weekend. An engine that I wish I had gone to see is at 10:54 to 11:07. It is an upright, 2 stroke Bessemer engine, I am thinking it is a 6 horse model. It looks just like our 8 horse mailbox engine, just a bit smaller. Anyway, it is a thrill to see another one of these rare engines, even if it is not in person. Susan and I had a great time on our quick trip over and back. We visited with friends, had ice cream, and bought freshly made sorghum molasses to replenish our supply. We walked through the flea market on the way out and made some good purchases.

Weekend Steam: Cold Starting The Marshall Uncle George Steam Traction Engine, 1912

 These British engines have a lot of class, don't they, Merle? Many Thanks for spotting!

Friday Is A Worldwide Day Of Muslim Rage...

 Keep that in mind when you venture out. It could be nothing, or not.  How many sleeper cells do we have in the U.S.? It is not a good day to be a Hamas terrorist in Gaza.

Tucker Carlson Talks About The Immigration Crisis

 300,000 plus per month now..."That's your country being invaded. It will never be the same."

1920 Oldsmobile Truck

 This is just neat as can be. It fires up like a new one!

Dance Macabre: Virgil Boutellis-Taft, violin Irène Duval, violin

Around The Homestead

 This mother has lived on the edges of our yard for a few years. She had twins a couple years, then one baby last year, and another this year. She is nervous about us when we go out, but she generally won't run. The youngsters learn that bad habit from her, too. There are many deer in our woods, but Mama is the one who keeps us entertained.

Here is Susan picking some of the last tomatoes from our garden. It has been a good year, and she has used all of her pints and most of her quart jars. It pains us to see so many peppers go to waste, but we just can't use them all.

Tuesday Torque: Starting An Austral Oil Engine

 Thank You, Merle!

Aylen Has Moved To Her New Home

 We have had Aylen for a little more than four months. She came here with her brother Enzo, who was three times her weight. At 30 pounds, he was a large Schipperke, and we found a home for him quickly. Aylen is a petite 10 pounder, which is small for a Schip. We found the perfect place for her in St. Louis, in a home with a very nice Lab. They hit it off right away when they met, and she has had a good first night and day in her new home. Mina was constantly by Aylen's side at our home, and she has been looking for Aylen all day. We miss her a bit, too, but it sure is good to see this fine little girl in a permanent home.

Dance Macabre: Sefe Emreh Iliki

 It is October!

Shooting Old U.S. Military Guns With Clint Smith

Be Careful At Work!

You never know what will happen next... I was reminded of a minor event when I was working in Eastern Kentucky for the Kentucky Division Of Forestry. There were a few radar huts at the office where government surplus items were stored. Things such as M65 Field Jackets and fatigue shirts. One of the things that had occurred before my time was construction to build roads to tops of mountains for fire towers.  Looking around in a radar hut, we found a couple cases of Dynamite. Old Dynamite. The kind of old Dynamite with drops of nitroglycerin all over the surface of the sticks. I did not have to be told what those drops were. We told the boss about it, and he didn't know it was there either, but he knew a guy who made his living with explosives, and he came right away. The nice man carried out the boxes very carefully and placed them in his truck.  I spoke up, already knowing the answer to my question, "Do you want these blasting caps now, too?"  "No," came the reply, "I will get those another time." Be prudent out there. Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: 611 Emerges From Tunnel

 It's a beautiful hunk of machine. Thank You, Merle! I will re-play the vid with wheel slip, too, just because it is really good.

Denver and Rio Grande 464, Surprising Travels

 The narrator on this short is a bit annoying, but the travels and travails of this old locomotive are amazing. I hope it gets back to Durango someday. Thank You, Merle!

Whitetail Boulevard

 The deer hunting challenge at the farm is going in the 20 acre woods without driving the deer out before you. Hunting from the barn is a pretty good bet, but the shooting opportunities are quick and narrow. The deer like to slip around the back yard through the trees we planted years ago, so our hunting friend set a ground blind there. The deer tend to ignore vehicles in the driveway and foot traffic around the house. This looks like a promising setup. 

Please Tell Me You Don't Do This!

 I spotted this stump photo on a logging site over on Fbook. No attribution was provided. Every so often someone will tell me that they cut stumps on an angle so it can push the tree over. We have discussed this before, and shown videos of bad results. The short report is that no matter how you make your cuts, the stump is not going to reach up and push for you.

We have posted many times about chainsaws, but this video covers the basics of proper falling technique pretty well. Watch it, and then click on Chainsaws in the Label section of the left sidebar. One of our neighbors was recently injured severely in a tree cutting accident. There have been several tree cutting accidents in our neighborhood over the years, so we are serious about wanting people to get training before they crank up a chainsaw.

A Little Forest Products Utilization...

 One of the best excuses for being a timber grower is wine and whiskey barrels. You gotta love it, even if you don't imbibe. The smell of white oak is delicious, and addicting even without the alcohol.

Kent Rollins Makes Corn Dodgers!

 Baking powder is a good idea. If you want it sweetened a bit, my favorite is adding a little sorghum molasses. 

Tuesday Torque: Portland Tri-State Antique Engine And Tractor Show

 Merle spotted a video of this year's Portland show. Thank You, Sir! It's a good one!

Harvest Is Moving Fast

 The big machinery of today harvests fields at an amazing rate, and our landscape has changed markedly in a week. Bigger machinery makes for bigger spills where trucks are loaded. I see piles of corn of three or four bushels near field edges. You can't scoop up corn and toss it up into a semi-bed, or big grain tank. They are too tall, so we see waste that would not have happened fifty years ago. Odd, that. I am keeping my eyes peeled for a pile on the road right of way, for homemade corn meal....

Back To The Old Grind!