Surfing The Heat Wave, Keep Your Pups Cool!

 

Hop In, Hop Out, Repeat. Back To The Old Grind!

Out Behind The Barn: Doe Deer And Baby

 This little scene was a real treat for me yesterday when I was checking on the farm.

Weekend Steam II: Why Are Mallets So Special?

 They pulled heavy coal trains out of the Appalachians...Thank You, Merle! I showed up too late in E. KY to see any of these in action. 

Summer Song!

 

Weekend Steam: Shays Are Beasts Of The Woods!

 Thank You, Merle. We always love watching Shays!

                                                                   Click Pic For Video

Last Chance To Visit The McLeansboro Viaduct!

 Look up Marx Brothers Viaduct if you don't understand the cultural reference. Groucho aside, if you try to drive through there during a heavy rain, you will know Why A Duck!  You'll never make it on a chicken!

Harvesting Wheat Between The Storms

It seems like it is raining every day lately, but now the forecast is for four or five days with sun and no rain. Nobody wants to rut up a field, but every rain on ripe wheat degrades it, so folks get nervous.

Punch And Crunch That Cabbage!

 Susan is growing some beautiful cabbages this year in the garden. She cut up twenty pounds for the crock, I added salt and punched and crunched. It is down in the basement now for six to eight weeks with our kraut rock pressing it down. 

Tuesday Torque: 1915 Mogul 8-16

Click Pic For Video

Thank You, Merle!

 

It's Always Something!

 We were gifted a nice little mini-tiller with a Honda engine, but it hasn't been used in many years. Rather than try forcing it to run with a clogged up carburetor, we just ordered a new carb along with new fuel lines, because the old ones are hard and shrunken. It should be up and running this week if I can get an hour or two to swap in the new parts. Back To The Old Grind!

Plumbing, A Difficult Blessing

 Changing the kitchen sink's faucet means replacing the shutoffs first. A one hour job takes all day!

Anon: 

Weekend Steam: Southern Indiana Antique Machinery Show, This Weekend!

 SIAM got rained out Friday, with 2.8 inches in 1/2 hour, but tomorrow is bound to be better. There are lots of gas engines, tractors, old cars, a few steam engines working, and much more. North side of Evansville. Be There!  Here's Andy Glines' Huber pulling the sawmill a few years ago.

Day Lily Success!

Susan's day lilies have been hammered by deer every spring, but this year they are being left alone. I don't know why, because deer are in our yard on a daily basis. It is great seeing these old friends. 

 

 

Stop And Smell The Basswood Flowers!

Tuesday Torque: Rumely Oil Pull Details

 Have you ever noticed this on Oil Pulls? The big 30-60s are started from above by the operator pushing the flywheel clockwise with a leg. That always looked risky to me, but I guess it is OK. The smaller Oil Pulls are started from the ground by spinning the flywheel counter-clockwise, as in the following video. (Please don't grind the gears. Pull the clutch out, wait for the parts to stop spinning, and then engage the gears.)

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BONUS VID! Rumely Oil Pull Winch Tractor!

Stay Sharp!

 

                                    Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: Engine Rides

Scale model traction engine ride!  Thanks, Merle!

Going up the Animas River on Engine Number 476.

 

Driving A Cornish Bull Pumping Engine

 A short film showing the driver's platform of the Bull engine at Kew Bridge Steam Museum, as the engine is started, run and stopped. This engine is the only working example of a Bull type Cornish pumping engine in the World, and one of only four known examples surviving. The engine was manufactured and installed by the celebrated engine makers Harveys of Hayle, and has a seventy inch diameter bore and a stroke of about ten feet, with the cylinder positioned directly over the pump.

And here's another video of the same Bull Cornish Engine. Click the pic for the link to YouTube.

Keep Your Powder Dry!

 I dumped 150 .38 Special cases in the ultrasonic cleaner and ran it for two eight minute cycles.  After rinsing and shaking out water I dumped them on a cookie sheet to dry and found an unfired cartridge. Well, there is nothing you can do but knock it down. The surprise is that the powder was still dry!  It's good to know that a cartridge is fairly water resistant, but I won't be tempted to fire a cartridge that has taken a bath. Hangfires, squibs, and stuck bullets can wreck your day. 

Danger From Above

Another Nighttime Hunt Is Coming Up!

 

We have another nighttime hunt coming up. A second armadillo has invaded the compound, and it will be ejected!

Tipsy Mulberry

 This mulberry tree was a challenge. It was falling slowly, but was definitely going to block the driveway to the rifle range, and an event is coming up in a few days. This tree was situated on a creek bank, and to make the felling cuts I had to climb down and stand on exposed roots. You will see me clear the work area, then disappear to make the face and bore cuts. I released it from the back, and then we cleared the wood out of the road. This was a quick job, and with some difficulties because of the tree's placement. We got'er done, and made it home before dark. Many thanks to the club member who came to shoot and helped us clear the road!

Tuesday Torque: I Will Keep My Huskies!

 Thanks, Merle! I really like this one!

Rock Garden Fun!

 Our priorities have changed over the years. Susan had a great time building her rock garden, but it takes a lot of time and we have more important things to do. Gardening, wood cutting, grass mowing, and caring for Schipperkes keep us occupied and entertained. How on Earth did Susan move those big 'uns?

It's always something. Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: Shay Loco On Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad

 Many Thanks, Merle! You know we love a Shay!

Click Photo For Link

Weekend Steam: 0-6-0 On The Turntable

 Thanks, Merle!

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Gray, Drippy Morning

 

Model A, Not Even Stuck! Will It Fire Up?

 

Long Days = Let's Go To Pistol League!

 Now that days are longer we can go shoot a few rounds and be home before the light fails. One deer collision was enough for us. We try not to be driving at night.

Thinking About Going Into The Tree Trimming Business?

 Here's your ticket. You can get up in the tops of trees without a bucket truck now! You can pull this man-lift behind a one-ton-dually with a trailer, and the lift can go in places a two-ton bucket truck cannot go. You still would need a truck for collecting chips, plus a chipper. I was beyond impressed with this rig. I think you will be, too.

Tuesday Torque: Variety Engines Today!

 Nice ones, Merle. Thank You!

3 HP Australian Sunshine

Click for vid

Click for vid

The Trouble With Silver Maples....

 ....and also red maples to a lesser degree. 

Rot! Wounds send decay right into the tree where the light, soft wood rots away, leaving just a shell. There were three of these fresh stumps at the cemetery in Dahlgren when we visited today. These trees were on my radar because they were an obvious danger to tombstones, but there was no way I could handle them. The cemetery board had to hire a crew with a bucket truck and a chipper, so this job would have been north of two grand easily, unless the business owner was willing to make a large donation. These maples are also prone to running roots out of the ground, where they are wounded by lawnmowers. They are then infected with verticillium wilt, and you will see soft maples with large dead branches because of that. They die by degrees.  Don't plant soft maples where removal will be costly. Think of those folks fifty years from now. 

We Saw The Camel!

 We had company for five days and had a great time. Saturday we went south to the Shawnee National Forest and looked around at Garden of the Gods.  The weather was good and there was a crowd there, but they were all pleasant, and we did not fall off of any of the rocks. We stop way back from edges nowadays, and the sandstone rocks there are all rounded, and ready to deceive you into slipping over the cliff. We not only saw the camel, we met a very nice Belgian Shepherd named Mattox. Belgians are cousins to Schipperkes, with both originating from the Belgian Leauvenaar, a breed that is now extinct. Belgians have even more energy than a Schip and must work to be happy. 

Weekend Steam: First Passenger Train To Russell Springs, Kansas

First passenger train to Russell Springs, Kansas, July 4, 1911. Regular passenger service began August 1. The population of Russell Springs is now down to about 24 souls. Here is a website that makes this a worthwhile side trip if we ever go out through northwest Kansas.  Lots of little boom towns all over the country are disappearing. Look quick if you have some in your neighborhood.  CLICK

 

Struttin' For The Ladies!

 He survived five turkey seasons, with hunters on all sides of us!

Plant A Stark Brothers Apple Tree!

Get down at ground level and dig a good hole. Bust up clods. Plant the tree to the same depth it sat in the nursery. Trim circling roots. Gently pack your soil. Water in when you are finished. A little extra on top is good because the soil will settle.

Tuesday Torque II: Rumely 60 HP Oil Pull

 

Click For The Video Link! Thank You, Merle!

A bit more Rumely Oil Pull action!

Tuesday Torque: Big, But AI Fiction

 Thanks, Merle! This one boggles the mind, then you see the tracks doing odd things and a man appearing from the track. It is a robot manipulated image.

Maybe I Should Have Been A Railroad Man...

 

Back To The Old Grind!

Model A To Model A

 

Catalpa, Underloved Landscape Tree

 

Catalpa performs this show every year without fail, is able to grow on nearly any site, is long lived (100 plus years), and generally remains sound enough to stand up to ice and storms. It does all those things, plus it has a talent for developing cavities which make excellent dens for wildlife. Our catalpa grove is a haven for migrating songbirds on wintry evenings. It is thrilling to watch the travelers wing in at dusk as they seek shelter for the night. Catalpa seed pods open in winter and drop seed on snow cover, providing valuable food to birds. I am baffled by the lack of respect for this wonderful tree. Oh, the wood is beautiful, too.

(Repost from 2008) 

Weekend Steam: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Merle is taking us to the other side of the World this week. 88 degrees east, and here in Southern Illinois we are 88 degrees west. It's rough country, up in the Himalayas. Thank You for the pick, Merle!

Model T Sat For 75 Years. Will It Run?

 This fellow has some serious shade tree skills!

Long Term Lyme Disease Damage, Listen Up!

 Susan is on Doxycycline right now for a fresh Lyme disease bullseye. We have had many over the years and are not bashful asking for timely treatment. It destroyed the joints in our little Schipperke Lisa, and it can do much more. After listening to this video I have to rethink my Grandmother Orpha's end. She had Bell's palsy when I was in high school, and she developed dementia when I was in college. It killed her slowly over a ten year period. We called it Alzheimers then, but I wonder if it was Lyme.

There are many tick-borne diseases. Become familiar with them, and keep a few Tick Twisters on hand to pull ticks immediately. 

Tuesday Torque: Antique Steam and Tractor Show, Manhattan, Illinois

 Thanks, Merle. I would love to have that Atlas tractor!

Vicarious Vacationing!

You have to go to Hawaii to see this vintage coffee grinder!

 Back To The Old Grind!  Many Thanks to Gary Bahre!

Proud Mothers!

 

Our first nesting pair of geese that showed off their goslings had five, then a few days later they were down to one, and then none. Coyotes, raccoons, bobcats, and snapping turtles are all suspects to that tragedy, but yesterday we had three sets of parents showing off their babies in our back yard.

Hallmark Holiday Have-To-Hear

 

Weekend Steam II: Ford's Hybrid Gas/Steam Engine

Weekend Steam: Barking Locomotives!

 

Bird Behavior

I have seen turkey vultures spread their wings to soak up sun, but this is the first time I have watched one take a shower bath. He enjoyed the light rain this morning for several rotations.

 

It Burns The Eyes

 We had an unpleasant surprise while we unloaded the car after a trip to St. Louis today. A crop duster made application on the wheat field just to our south, and drifting pesticide rolled over us. I have to chase down the contractor and find out what was applied. It is usually a cocktail of products, all with their own cautions. Our trees are already looking screwy from other herbicide applications around us. 

UPDATE: It was a fungicide (probably with an insecticide) plus Serpent, a pyrethroid insecticide, with Danger label, which is the highest caution level on pesticides.   Don't stand around downwind of aerial applications on wheat!

"Exposure to Lambda-cyhalothrin poses both acute and chronic risks. Acute effects include skin and eye irritation, non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, cardiovascular toxicity, coma, convulsions, and severe muscle fasciculation. There is no antidote for pyrethrin or pyrethroid poisoning."

It Isn't Safe

 Coyotes, bobcats, and raccoons stalk through the nights. Two days ago we had five goslings with our yard geese. Yesterday there was one. Today, none.

Tuesday Torque: World's Largest Dozer

 Courtesy of Merle. Thank You, Sir!

Women On Target, May 3 2025

 

Saturday, May 3 was our annual Women On Target event at the Carmi Rifle Club, with 18 participants. The first part of the day is a safety and basic instruction meeting, and then the rest of the day is spent shooting a variety of guns and indoor and outdoor ranges.  Every shooter has a Range Safety Officer to supervise and to help.

The above target was a thrill. The lady who shot it was nervous when we switched to a scoring target, so I spent extra time with her on stances and trigger pull. She shot with the Taco Grip, at 30 feet and put all ten shots in the ten ring. Pretty remarkable for a new shooter. 

Things normally start breaking up between 2 and 3 o'clock, but we had heavy rain with no wind, and the roof over the firing line kept us dry. Nobody wanted to go out in the rain to get in their car, so we kept shooting 'till 4.  I was running one of the .22 rifle stations and had a good time coaching ladies to hit clay pigeons on the 100 yard berm. One lady hit four in row, her first time shooting a .22 rifle. Another challenging target is a rack of 3/4" suckers at 50 feet.  Most new shooters have trouble hitting them, but some could break one after another.