Changing Everything!

Click The Pic for fascinating history. Back To The Old Grind!

 

Christmas Music Festival: Carol Of The Bells

Christmas Music Festival: Deck The Halls!

 

Move, Split, Stack

 We are processing the trees we dropped around the pond recently. I pick them up, split them into small pieces, and Susan stacks them. That makes her an official pile-it! This is birch. We will be doing more cherrybark oak when the birch is all done. The cypresses will be going into a brush pile. After that, we have a large dead hickory and a three stemmed black oak to work on.

Christmas Music Festival! Sleigh Ride!

Weekend Steam: Railroading Bi-Centennial!

 Truly Historic, Merle! We are really glad you spotted this one!

Bucking Up Cherrybark Oak

 We are making firewood from the trees cleared along the power line right of way. The old 272 still runs like new at 30 years old. 

Thanksgiving Weather, Stay Informed

 

Schipperke People

Susan and I foster dogs for Midwest Schipperke Rescue, a small non-profit organization based in Illinois. We are constantly amazed at the responses we get from those who want a Schipperke. We have had people drive here from the east coast, southern Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, the Texas gulf coast, Denver, and some from Illinois, of course. Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, a couple from southern California is flying to St. Louis where they will rent a car, then come to adopt a dog, and then drive all the way back to California. Ain't life grand?! People are good!
 

Wednesday Windage: Tim Sundles Videos Are Worth A Look

 I couldn't get out and shoot today, so I am cheating and sharing a video from Tim Sundles of Buffalo Bore Ammunition. Tim and his wife have been busily posting regularly, and they share a lot of good knowledge. Check out his YouTube channel and enjoy. Here is one from his series on .38 Special and .357 Magnum with a good black bear story.

Tuesday Torque

 Here are a couple of nice videos that Merle spotted for us. One embeds, the other I have to link. I love quirky engine stuff, the older the better. Thank You, Merle!

London To Brighton Veteran   Note the glass carburetor bowl!

Tractors, old cars, guns...Who has not been here? 

Four Schipperke Pups...

 ...One has gone to Kentucky, one has left for Wisconsin, leaving Cole and Colby needing homes, plus the adults, Bella, Stella, Lyra, Sophie, and Atlas. We are making progress, it just is slow. Back To The Old Grind!

Dusty Bucked Out!

 Dusty bagged his second buck for this Fall. It's a nice, mature boy with an eleven point rack.

Weekend Steam: Westinghouse Engine At Pontiac

 Westinghouse engines are fascinating because of their age, and they were made before builders settled on designs that worked for traction engines. Henry Ford went to work as a technician for Westinghouse in 1882 while he was a teenager. That experience had to have been a large influence as he entered the automobile manufacturing world. Many Thanks, Merle, for spotting!

L. Wolfe Gilbert, C- In Geography?

 Waiting For The Robert E. Lee is a great song, written in 1912 (Lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert, Music by Lewis F. Muir), and recorded by numerous musical stars. Al Jolson recorded it in 1912, and then again in the 40s. There is a problem, though. The Robert E. Lee was a steamboat that worked on the Mississippi. The song places you in Alabama. Steamboats did work in Alabama, but the Mississippi does not go there!  Oh Well, it is still a good song, and folks will probably be singing it for another 100 years.

Wednesday Windage: 22 Long Rifle Trajectory, Ruger Mk IV Competition

 I re-installed the scope on the new Ruger after a class, and after checking the trajectory out to 50 yards I have decided to crank it down a bit so it is slightly low at 50 feet to have a longer point blank range for yard varmints. Trajectory is fascinating stuff.

I apologize for missing last week. We have been extra busy lately. Today we had contractors in the basement doing cement work, but I was able to head out behind the barn to finish this little project. I have one in the hopper for next week already!

Tuesday Torque: Mighty Avery Prairie Tractor

Merle, I have loved these Averys since 1965 when I saw one in my Iron Men Album Magazine!  Many Thanks!

 

Here's the photo I remember from 1965.

Watch And Share This Tractor Video!

We use our tractor nearly every day. It mows, it bush-hogs, it tills, carries brush, pushes trees, and carries wood. I remind myself every time I climb on that tractors are always trying to kill you. The wide front end models aren't as bad as tricycles, but they can all smash you in a heartbeat.

I have seen small-time loggers use tractors as skidders, and it is not pretty. They would hook over the rear axle so it lifts the front end of a log when they pull, and the front wheels typically will come off the ground so the driver steers with his brakes. It's dangerous as can be, and I don't know how any of them survived doing that. If you are going to pull logs with a tractor, hook it from the drawbar. Get a logging arch or a sled for the front of the log.  Stay alive. 

Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: Baby Case

 Another great pick by Merle. Thank You!

Weekend Steam: A Couple From Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

 Number 9 Shay came to Mt. Pleasant from California in 1966. Stan Mathews was a real hero in establishing the Midwest Central, and accumulating rolling stock.  Back then, you could buy a share in the railroad for $10, and that got you a lifetime pass. It was a good fundraising scheme, and I still have my pass in case I go to the show again someday.  Merle sent a link to a new-to-me channel with some videos at Mt. Pleasant.  Thank You, Merle!

My first ride after buying the pass was in the cab of Number 9.

Backyard Buck

 Susan and I were out in the back yard with three dogs,  (Yappy Dogs!)plus a friend who had come by to visit, and he has an outdoor voice. We were out there visiting and watching the dogs when two bucks showed up and postured around each other for several minutes. I was able to get this one videoed with my phone before he turned around and went across the dam.  I am guessing those two had already had a good tussle and didn't really want to do it again.  I hope they can stay hidden, because we have crossbow hunters all around us again this Fall.

Tuesday Torque, A Day Late...

 ...but worth the wait! Many Thanks, Merle! We had company four of the last five days, plus dog things going on.

Northern Lights!

 

Vincent Speranza, Gone Two Years...

 

Dogs Coming And Going

We had a busy weekend with the foster Schips. Two adopters came and each took a dog home. This one is Tevin, who has moved to Kentucky. Queenie left Sunday for Indiana. We are sad to have dogs leave, but also happy that they now have good homes. Monday we pick up another Schipperke. She needs to learn the social skills a pet needs, so we will have her for several months at least.

Back To The Old Grind!

 

Edmund Fitzgerald, November 10, 1975

 

Weekend Steam II: Steam Action Shorts

 

Many Thanks, Merle, for these picks!

Weekend Steam: Winter Is Coming Soon To A Neighborhood Near You!

 Many Thanks, Merle!

United States Marine Corps' 250th Anniversary

 Monday, November 10, 2025, the Marine Corp will be 250 years old. Fifty years ago in 1975 the Marines planted trees with school kids around the country to commemorate their bi-centennial. I was involved with their project at Pikeville, Kentucky.  You can see that tree project on Google Earth today!  There are white pines on the point behind Pikeville Elementary School visible in the aerial photo and the drive-by on Google Earth.  I would love to go up there and see how those trees are doing.  (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Heinous Poaching Perpetrators

I hear them. In the early morning, and at dusk, I hear the rifle shots in the surrounding countryside.  It is bow season, and bow kills are checked in by your phone or computer. No game warden will see your deer, so there are poachers roaming the backroads with rifles, killing deer, and checking them in as being taken by bow and arrow.  We also have poachers who have no tag at all who are antler-mad. They commit atrocities like the one pictured. They remove the head for the antlers and throw the rest of the carcass off a bridge, into a creek. They are hard to catch, they know it, and they do it year after year. 

 

Wednesday Windage: Sight-Seeing

 

I nearly gave up on iron sights for a while. Cataracts made using irons nearly impossible, and driving was difficult, and dangerous at night with bright lights causing trouble. I tried several red dot sights, and traditional scopes on pistols, and found that Bill Llewellyn's Bullseye ghost ring sight blades worked well on my Ruger pistols.  I had my lens implants done in 2016 and can shoot with irons again, but I had a minor panic attack lately when I realized that Billll's Idle Mind blog no longer listed Billll's Bullseye sights. I got in touch with him and he still had some, so I bought four. They are pretty darn useful in pistol shooting, but you do need to change your technique a bit to get the most benefit.

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These are some of the pistols I provided for a recent carry class at the Carmi Rifle Club. L to R, Single-Ten (.137 rear sight notch), Mk III Target (Bushnell Red Dot), Mk IV Target (.118 rear sight notch), Mk III Hunter (Billll's Bullseye Sight .205 aperture), Mk III Target (Billll's Bullseye Sight .205 aperture, with top half of ring removed).

Stock Ruger target sight, Billll's Bullseye, and Billll's Bullseye abbreviated.

I was hesitant about putting a peep/ghost ring out for a carry class, but I am glad I did. The fellow I was coaching did OK at the beginning of live shooting with a red dot sight, but when I switched him to irons, he began putting all his shots above his target. I stopped him to point out how he was missing, and he told me, "I don't like revolvers."  I responded that "The revolver isn't the problem, I don't think you can see your sights." He then said, "Well, I have cataracts." So, I switched him to the pistol with the ghost ring. I told him to look at the target through the window of the rear sight, move the front sight onto the target, and shoot. The important thing with these sights is to focus on the target and not fuss about the sights. He immediately was putting his shots into the black on his target. He was amazed, and I was, too. It is such a simple solution to use a rear sight that lets you see the target instead of covering it up and using a tiny notch. We had him go back to the red dot when we shot qualification targets, and he was a happy camper.

Rearranging guns for the class for qualifications, I had to take a red dot gun away from the lady on the left for my man with cataracts.  I handed her the Mk III Target with the cut-down ghost ring. She had not shot that gun at all during class, and I gave her the quick rundown on focusing on the target through the window of the rear sight. Illinois law has us shoot ten rounds from 15, 21, and 30 feet, standing, for a total of 30 shots. 

Here's an even bigger surprise.  Shooting that cut down ghost ring, she put all thirty rounds into the ten ring, with only four falling outside the X-ring. She was rightfully pleased.

The lady on the right also shot a 300, with only three out of the X-ring. She was shooting a Mk III Target with a red dot sight. 

I have tried the ghost ring on steel while practicing at the rifle club, and it lets me shoot faster than I can with the traditional narrow notch rear sight. The more I use it the better I like it. I must contact Bill and see if he has any more of his sights on hand. They work a trick!

 

Tuesday Torque: Well Worth A Look!

 

Many Thanks, Merle!

Rattle-Gravel!

 We saw this neat little golf course tractor over at Boonville, Indiana recently. Adding rubber tires might be a sacrilege, but then it wouldn't wake the neighbors when you go for a midnight jaunt.

Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam: Let's Go To North Freedom!

 To the Mid-Continent Railway Museum!