Time Machine

One of the joys of looking at patches of timber is looking into the past of the farm connected to the timber. This woods is the pot at the end of the rainbow for old iron afficianados.

There are lots of items from way back in Before-Tractors. Some people use little horse drawn discs like this one behind an ATV to work up food plots.

HAY! I remember using these...they can't be antiques!

Bonus Range Time!

The Winter Gun Blogger Rifle Match has been extended until the end of the month to bring in a few more entries. Don't waste this opportunity! Click on the link on the left sidebar, read the rules and print out your targets. You can enter with only ten shots from a .22 on one target, or shoot three targets with an SKS or Kalashnikov rifle. Check out my offhand target and you will see that you will suffer no embarrassment.

This is also the last weekend to shoot Mr. Completely's March e-Postal Match. Both links are under the heading: Get Out and Shoot! Gather your gear, load the family in the van, and go to the range!

Weekend Steam: Through A Glass, Barely

Passing through a small town in Wabash County, Illinois, I spotted this two-cylinder home-built labor of love in the window of an out-of-business machine shop. The light was all wrong, but I took some pictures anyway. This looks like it is not a scale model of any particular brand, but it is very representative of the style of engines that were built toward the end of the steam traction era. The little twin engine at the left of the photo appears to be made from two Stuart Number 5 engine kits.

Crankin' It Up; Support Your Local Organ Grinder!

With spring weather creeping in on us, the organ grinders should soon be out on the streets. Just in case your neighborhood does not have an organ grinder, you can listen to this to hear what you are missing. This record has three songs on each side, and I included both sides on the upload. It starts with 'Daisy' and ends with 'On the Banks of the Wabash.' Don't forget to tip the monkey.

Prairie Grass Maintenance

I checked out this smoke the other day and it was just one of my neighbors burning off a patch of prairie grass. He was burning it in from three sides, leaving one side cold so the rabbits could escape.

The flames were pretty impressive for a flanking fire. I did see lots of rabbits, and none of them were smoking.

Sign Up and Saw!

The Dixon Springs Ag Center is hosting another chainsaw class specifically for people in the ice storm damaged area of Southern Illinois. Game of Logging instructor Joe Glenn will be coming over from Missouri to teach the course. The first two days are April 2 and 3. Cost for attendees is $25.00 to cover the cost of lunches for all four days of the course. Contact Stephanie Brown: SBrown63 (at) Shawneelink (dot) net to sign up for the course.

True Blue Sam will be there with his Husky 346XP and 385XP to help out, and some lucky students will get to cut with these beauties. Don't Delay; available slots are limited!

Chomp, Chomp

Who knew that sassafras was an omnivore? I will have to be careful about taking long naps under trees.

Virtual Tripping; Old Car Goodness

Danno, over at Sand Castle Scrolls, took a weekend trip to the Grand Canyon, and has graciously shared photos he took at the Grand Canyon Valle airstrip. This 1906 REO shows off the technology of the early years of automobiles. This car has a one cylinder engine, it is water cooled, has right hand drive, and the final drive is by chain.

This 1922 Maxwell is a real beauty. I think it is a newer model than Mr. Benny's.

The 1908 Buick has a four cylinder, overhead valve engine. Note that this car still has right hand drive, gas headlights, and kerosene marker lights.

The 1912 Model T Ford Depot Hack shows Henry's switch to left hand drive. Left hand drive allowed motorists to stop and visit face to face along the road. Were there surfers to drive woodies in 1912?

1917 Model T Speedster

1925 Model T Delivery Truck

1926 TT One Ton Ford Truck

Model T Depot Hack

This depot hack bears an uncanny resemblance to the beater hack in my last Model T post, but it is a bit more polished.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, Danno! Visitors to this page can click over to Danno's site by clicking on SandCastleScrolls in the blog list on the left side of the screen.

That Whooshing Sound....

is my cholesterol shooting up. Greenfield Discount Grocery at Wayne City, Illinois has a dozen cases of WHEELS OF BRIE! I am being bad, and loving every luscious bite.

Click on the Discount Groceries label to see previous posts about our favorite grocery store.

Cull.....Short For Culvert?

This shingle oak was an interesting problem. I was asked if I could take it down because the landowner was unsure about dropping it without having it fall down around his ears. A standard front cut of about 1/3 of the tree's diameter would have left about a three inch hinge on both sides, and releasing the tree by cutting in from the back probably would have caused the tree to split and do bad things. I was able to put an open face in it with almost a foot of hinge on one side, and four inches on the other. I made the hinge three inches thick when I bored in from either side, which was an inch thicker than I normally would have made it, but fiber pull was not an issue, and I was concerned about the integrity of the hinge wood.

Click on the picture to enlarge it. On the right side of the picture you can see where I punched in behind the hinge, and then cut back about one foot. Next, I punched in on the other side, and cut quickly around the circumference to release the tree from the stump. I then made a quick getaway.

I cut the bottom end of the tree off for the owner, who plans to put it in his pond for fish habitat.

I often have kids ask why we can't just cut the trees that die, rather than cut live ones to use. This tree is a good example of why we can't depend on dead trees for our supply of wood. That method makes as much sense as butchering animals for meat only after they die a natural death.