We usually see this bunch on the far side of the pond, going up and down the pipeline. There are a dozen Jakes and gobblers that hang out together, and we see them going to the treetops at sunset. Hoot like a barred owl at first light and they will gobble for you. They made a trip through the yard the other day, and I had to hurry to get a photo.
Trans Siberian Orchestra
Jennifer Thomas, Orchestra and Piano
The Piano Guys
Well, Merle, you found a brand that I have never heard of. We probably all have seen images on TV of this brand, but they were unidentified. The videos say they are Czech made, and they have been around for 75 years. It is time we become familiar! Thank You, Merle!
We lived in Eastern Kentucky for a few years (Where the sun comes up about 10 in the morning, and the sun goes down about 3 in the day.) and we still marvel at the sky shows we get in flat old Southern Illinois. Nearly every day has a show. The full moon was setting the other day when I had the dogs out for an early walk. We admire the moon through all its phases, and sometimes it is planted adjacent to a bright evening or morning planet. Occasionally we get a rainbow around the moon. Rain usually follows that.
The fun never ends around here! We dragged out trees that had to go adjacent to the three-phase line, and then the co-op sent their hydro mulcher to finish the job. Good Times!
Wayne-White Electric Co-Op had their Fecon Bull Hog hydro mulcher cleaning up along our tree planting project Friday. You are supposed to stay back 300 feet from this amazing machine while it works, but I put on my hard hat and moved in close for our loyal viewers. I could almost un-retire if I could get a job running one of these!
Back To The Old Grind!
Rumely 36-120s are big engines, meant for heavy work, and they are big enough to be in the prairie tractor class of traction engines and early tractors. This is a double-simple engine, so the steam is used once before being exhausted, and there are four power impulses per revolution of the engine. Many Thanks, Merle, for the pick!
Chainsaw novices do not know this, and the realization may take a while with a few hard knocks, unless someone explains it to you. Move away from the stump quickly at a 135 degree angle from the line of fall. Limbs that spring back from the crown will be aimed right back at the stump. The stump is a bullseye. Get away from it quickly and stay out of that circle until debris is done falling.
I dropped a line of trees today that had been trimmed and topped down below the power line. Tomorrow I drag! Shot some vid, and we will put that up later.
Here is a really big deer, skinned and de-antlered for a taxidermist. You have to wonder how many, if any, of these deer were legally hunted and killed. Hunter ethics and sportsmanship are sorely lacking in our neighborhood.
Just one of many laws addressing this:
(720 ILCS 5/47-5) Sec. 47-5. Public nuisance. It is a public nuisance: (1) To cause or allow the carcass of an animal or offal, filth, or a noisome substance to be collected, deposited, or to remain in any place to the prejudice of others. (2) To throw or deposit offal or other offensive matter or the carcass of a dead animal in a water course, lake, pond, spring, well, or common sewer, street, or public highway. (3) To corrupt or render unwholesome or impure the water of a spring, river, stream, pond, or lake to the injury or prejudice of others.This big critter was fun to watch! Line clearance keeps evolving, and power companies are relying less on bucket truck crews now that contractors are available with circular saws on a pole. They can't handle every situation, but they can cover a lot of ground quickly and efficiently. The pruning may not be up to arboricultural standards, but they will do total takedowns rather than do big V-cuts that an arborist crew would do. This is one of life's big adjustments. The operator of this machine has been running it for twelve years, and he really knows how to handle it.
Pour a cup of coffee, this is a long video! We've had wind and cold, plus company for a few days, but today was a great day to be outdoors with a chainsaw. Punch cuts were made for chain attachment points, sections were cut off, and that black oak came out of the pond with ease. It will be bucked up, split, and stacked in the barn to dry. It has a lot of drying to do! Many thanks for visiting!
The top was snapped off a few years ago, and we will be dropping this tree for firewood. Sycamore makes good firewood, and this tree is straight and clean. It should split nice.
Back To The Old Grind!
Many Thanks, Merle! There was a time when steam, internal combustion, and electric were all seen as possible winners in the race to sell automobiles.
Buster is a permanent foster with us. He has old age infirmities that would make life difficult for him if he moved to a new home, so he stays with us. We help him out, and then guide him back. He can't see, and can't hear, but he still enjoys his outings.
Sophie and Atlas are nearly ready to adopt out. Sophie was losing weight and we discovered that she has histoplasmosis in her gut. She is taking meds for a month and seems to be improving. We are having Atlas tested, too, just in case he came with that problem. We sent off his specimen yesterday and should hear back this week. If he is clear, we will be talking to possible new owners.
That is a beautiful cross-compound traction engine, but I am a bit taken by the Worshipful Company of Paviors. What is a Pavior? Paver savior maybe? Their logo seems to show paver or cobblestone pattern, so that is a maybe. Many Thanks, Merle, for our travelogue video tours!
Recommended by our champion spotter! Thank You, Merle! This one is a real thrill. I wish we could still see the real thing. (Click The Photo.)
Here's some good info to file away in your memory! A cover for your skillet would be a great improvement to finish those biscuits evenly, but poor people have poor ways.
This live version should start at the right place if I did this right. It is a little after 32 minutes on the video if I got it wrong. It isn't so much about prison, as it was meant to be about being in a situation or place you don't really want to be. Like blizzards coming at Thanksgiving comes to mind. I hope you all are prudent and safe this week! We traveled in a blizzard for Thanksgiving one year, and we don't plan on doing that again! Anyway, it's a good song!
I think the Galloway is the only hit and miss in this short. Throttlers were also common, and I think all of the two strokes were throttlers. Many Thanks, Merle!
One of the Shellabarger brothers (I think it was Ralph.), of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa had an Eli Engine (Two stroke, reversible) that he showed at Old Threshers. It was for sale for $50 back in the mid-1960s, and of course I did not have that kind of money. I found one on YouTube, so you can get a little thrill. It is a throttler of course, being a two stroker.
The noise, the 2-stroke exhaust, the smell of freshly cut wood does not spook deer. It brings them to you. Have a friend run a saw while you slip out to your hunting location and you will see deer. These photos are from yesterday, with time stamps. I have more chainsaw tasks today, before the cold air drops on us.
Back To The Old Grind!
We are just one month away from Christmas already, and here is the full 2 1/2 hours of Handel's Messiah, from Sydney, Australia to get things started. Open it on YouTube in a new tab and leave it up so you can come back to it easily.
...is falling apart. There is some ancient storm damage where the top spreads, so those big limbs are not anchored to the center. There is a hollow that squirrels will chew into for denning, then bees move in and run the squirrels out, then it grows shut again. Sort of amusing, and you have to observe for years to see it happen. It is a swamp white oak and is perfect for this upper glacial lakebed site.
I don't know how you do it Merle. You keep finding new old things that I have never even heard of! Thank You!
Thanks, Merle! Surprise Burrell is always a good channel to look at.
I wandered over to a hollow hickory that is used as a den tree. Don't reach in and feel around in hollow trees. You might shake hands with a wampus cat. It looks like a young raccoon, and it did not wish to be bothered.
We always examine our tree stumps and evaluate them for any mistakes, and to improve our tree cutting skills. This is the stump of the sweetgum we cut at the Carmi Rifle Club recently. I was asked a question about cutting trees and that stump is a good one for labeling and instruction. We do a five step plan for every tree. 1: Assess hazards 2: Assess forward/backward weight and lean, and side lean 3: Design front cut and hinge 4: Design your back cuts 5: Escape from the stump, preferably at 135 degrees to direction of fall.
The stump shows how steps 2, 3, and 4 go together. Click the photo to enlarge it.
These were rare from the beginning, now there are only about five, and not all of them are running. Thank You, Merle, for spotting!
Performed by Country Joe McDonald.
Plus, a bonus Robert W. Service poem for you to read.
Me and Ed and a stretcher Out on the nootral ground. (If there's one dead corpse, I'll betcher There's a 'undred smellin' around.) Me and Eddie O'Brian, Both of the R. A. M. C. "It's a 'ell of a night For a soul to take flight," As Eddie remarks to me. Me and Ed crawlin' 'omeward, Thinkin' our job is done, When sudden and clear, Wot do we 'ear: 'Owl of a wounded 'Un. "Got to take 'im," snaps Eddy; "Got to take all we can. 'E may be a Germ Wiv the 'eart of a worm, But, blarst 'im! ain't 'e a man?" So 'e sloshes out fixin' a dressin' ('E'd always a medical knack), When that wounded 'Un 'E rolls to 'is gun, And 'e plugs me pal in the back. Now what would you do? I arst you. There was me slaughtered mate. There was that 'Un (I'd collered 'is gun), A-snarlin' 'is 'ymn of 'ate. Wot did I do? 'Ere, whisper . . . 'E'd a shiny bald top to 'is 'ead, But when I got through, Between me and you, It was 'orrid and jaggy and red. "'Ang on like a limpet, Eddy. Thank Gord! you ain't dead after all." It's slow and it's sure and it's steady (Which is 'ard, for 'e's big and I'm small). The rockets are shootin' and shinin', It's rainin' a perishin' flood, The bullets are buzzin' and whinin', And I'm up to me stern in the mud. There's all kinds of 'owlin' and 'ootin'; It's black as a bucket of tar; Oh, I'm doin' my bit, But I'm 'avin' a fit, And I wish I was 'ome wiv Mar. "Stick on like a plaster, Eddy. Old sport, you're a-slackin' your grip." Gord! But I'm crocky already; My feet, 'ow they slither and slip! There goes the biff of a bullet. The Boches have got us for fair. Another one—WHUT! The son of a slut! 'E managed to miss by a 'air. 'Ow! Wot was it jabbed at me shoulder? Gave it a dooce of a wrench. Is it Eddy or me Wot's a-bleedin' so free? Crust! but it's long to the trench. I ain't just as strong as a Sandow, And Ed ain't a flapper by far; I'm blamed if I understand 'ow We've managed to get where we are. But 'ere's for a bit of a breather. "Steady there, Ed, 'arf a mo'. Old pal, it's all right; It's a 'ell of a fight, But are we down-'earted? No-o-o." Now war is a funny thing, ain't it? It's the rummiest sort of a go. For when it's most real, It's then that you feel You're a-watchin' a cinema show. 'Ere's me wot's a barber's assistant. Hey, presto! It's somewheres in France, And I'm 'ere in a pit Where a coal-box 'as 'it, And it's all like a giddy romance. The ruddy quick-firers are spittin', The 'eavies are bellowin' 'ate, And 'ere I am cashooly sittin', And 'oldin' the 'ead of me mate. Them gharstly green star-shells is beamin', 'Ot shrapnel is poppin' like rain, And I'm sayin': "Bert 'Iggins, you're dreamin', And you'll wake up in 'Ampstead again. You'll wake up and 'ear yourself sayin': 'Would you like, sir, to 'ave a shampoo?' 'Stead of sheddin' yer blood In the rain and the mud, Which is some'ow the right thing to do; Which is some'ow yer 'oary-eyed dooty, Wot you're doin' the best wot you can, For 'Ampstead and 'ome and beauty, And you've been and you've slaughtered a man. A feller wot punctured your partner; Oh, you 'ammered 'im 'ard on the 'ead, And you still see 'is eyes Starin' bang at the skies, And you ain't even sorry 'e's dead. But you wish you was back in your diggin's Asleep on your mouldy old stror. Oh, you're doin' yer bit, 'Erbert 'Iggins, But you ain't just enjoyin' the war." "'Ang on like a hoctopus, Eddy. It's us for the bomb-belt again. Except for the shrap Which 'as 'it me a tap, I'm feelin' as right as the rain. It's my silly old feet wot are slippin', It's as dark as a 'ogs'ead o' sin, But don't be oneasy, my pippin, I'm goin' to pilot you in. It's my silly old 'ead wot is reelin'. The bullets is buzzin' like bees. Me shoulder's red-'ot, And I'm bleedin' a lot, And me legs is on'inged at the knees. But we're staggerin' nearer and nearer. Just stick it, old sport, play the game. I make 'em out clearer and clearer, Our trenches a-snappin' with flame. Oh, we're stumblin' closer and closer. 'Ang on there, lad! Just one more try. Did you say: Put you down? Damn it, no, sir! I'll carry you in if I die. By cracky! old feller, they've seen us. They're sendin' out stretchers for two. Let's give 'em the hoorah between us ('Anged lucky we aren't booked through). My flipper is mashed to a jelly. A bullet 'as tickled your spleen. We've shed lots of gore And we're leakin' some more, But—wot a hoccasion it's been! Ho! 'Ere comes the rescuin' party. They're crawlin' out cautious and slow. Come! Buck up and greet 'em, my 'earty, Shoulder to shoulder—so. They mustn't think we was down-'earted. Old pal, we was never down-'earted. If they arsts us if we was down-'earted We'll 'owl in their fyces: 'No-o-o!'"
Merle spotted this photo on Rural Historia, on Facebook. It appears to be in the UK. Thank You, Merle!
Great topic, Merle! I think we have never shown a video of a Westinghouse. Thank You!
Merle sent the link for the Lanz Bulldog exhaust video. I always pause to listen to Bulldogs, but there are other two-strokes out there. Let's compare a few. Many Thanks, Merle!
I did a little chainsaw work today for our deer hunters, including a cull black cherry that endangered them in a prime location for hunting. I had a peaceful walk to spot trees that ought to be blocked up for firewood. One was a nice 10" diameter walnut that had the entire top knocked out by weather. Another is a recently fallen ash sawlog that will be prime firewood. This is prime time to make wood right now. The weather is moderate and the ground is not muddy. Maybe we can get a few cords in the barn before we have snow. Back To The Old Grind!
Susan's weekend was a series of fine surprises. Her cousin Ann called Friday night to see if she was up for a trip into western Kentucky on Saturday for an event planned to honor a common ancestor. I can handle the dogs by myself, so of course she went. The event was for a ceremony to honor Mandley Winstead, who was a Revolutionary War soldier, buried near Nebo, Kentucky in 1846. Susan and Ann's connection to Mandley is through his third wife, Amy, and that was close enough for the invitation.
The church was nearly full, with descendants from the area, and a small band of re-enactors for a little ceremony.
