Not My Victrola: Valentine's Day Coming Right Up!

YouTube upload by Ragtime Dorian Gray.

Weekend Steam: George Kester's Engines

 My nephew Josh just had his tenth birthday, and his Kester's Collectables engine this year is a beautiful green Huber.  Josh has been getting one per year for several years now; George Kester has his address in his Rolodex.

The Russel was his first one, then the Oil Pull, the Minneapolis, the Avery Yellow Fellow Separator, then the Avery Undermounted, and this year the Huber. 

These engines are made in Illinois by George Kester, and you would be hard pressed to find a nicer American-made toy for a kid.  You can Click Here, or the link on the left side to visit George's website.

Crankin' It Up: Paul Whiteman

Recorded by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, September 1, 1922; from "Daffy Dill."

Barn

What Barn?

Nothing to see here, folks; just move along.

This New Ruger Is Guaranteed To Aggravate Your Gun-Itch!

Jeff Quinn of Gunblast has posted a YouTube review of an exciting new model from Ruger. This Shopkeeper version of the Bearcat has a bird-head grip, and it really improves the Bearcat for ease of packing around on your hip.  Twenty-twos have been getting quite a bit of attention lately as a viable option for self defense, and they are fun and economical to shoot.  Single action revolvers are very user friendly for folks who have trouble racking the slide and manipulating controls on semi-autos, and you can get off your first shot just as fast with a single action revolver as you can with other pistols.  The Shopkeeper is available from Lipsey's, and you will need to go to their website to locate a Lipsey's dealer near you.  You can Click Here to go to the Gunblast website to read Jeff's review, and it is time well spent, with chronograph information for a variety of .22 ammo out the three inch barrel of this little gun.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit Honored American Veterans Afield

 Ruger's HAVA auction this week is for an M77 Police Rifle in .308 Win.  This fine rifle appeared in a trade show twenty years ago and has been locked away since.  Ruger sold another just like this rifle recently for Project Valour-IT, and it went for the bargain price of $965.  Folks are paying attention better this time, but the price is still within reason.  This auction is sceduled to end at 12:30 PM Eastern, Wednesday, February 6.  This rifle is too good to pass up, so go to GunBroker and place your bid.  

The next vintage Ruger on the block for HAVA is this 1975 vintage Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum.  Click over to GunBroker to read the full description for this fine gun. 

Sometimes You Get Lucky

Walking an old road into a creek bottom to look at land on the other side of the creek, after a night of heavy rain, you wonder if you can find a way to the other side.  Sometimes you can find a logjam to cross, sometimes you have a long drive and walk in from the other side.  Last week I got lucky!

Dry Fork, northern Wayne County.  A bit deep for wading after a night of thunderstorms.

Dust Yourself Off and...

...Back To The Old Grind!

Not My Victrola: Step Lively!

Stumbling is a song we have loved for years, and EdmundusRex has posted a 1922 recording of it by Bennie Krueger's Orchestra.  This version is perfect for showing off your best Fox-Trot and Charleston moves.





If you want to hear the lyrics to this fun little song, CLICK HERE to go to the Frank Crumit recording we posted in November.

Weekend Steam: A Question and the Answer!

When you go through the drive-thru at the Dahlgren, Illinois People's National Bank, you will see this painting by a local artist of a 4-4-0 locomotive in front of the Dahlgren depot.  One day I sent a camera in to the teller and asked her to take a photo for me so I could see it better.  Wonder of wonders; it looked like the engine is the General, of Civil War fame.  The General was hijacked by the Andrews raiders on April 12, 1862 at Big Shanty, (Kennesaw) Georgia.  The plan was to burn bridges between there and Chattanooga, but it didn't work out too well, and most of the Andrews raiders were hung as spies.  I read the book by William Pittenger a couple times when I was in junior high, and saw Disney's movie about the Great Locomotive Chase when it was shown on TV in the early 1960's.   Susan and I saw the General when we did our Marching Through Georgia vacation several years ago.

The burning question after I looked at the painting up close was, did the General actually come through Dahlgren?  The General was put in top notch condition, and toured the country during the Civil War Centennial.  Click Here to go to a couple of websites about the General.  The black and white photographs from the restoration and tour are especially fascinating.

 So, the General was restored, and did a nationwide tour, but did it actually come to Dahlgren??  Recently we were visiting with one of the neighbors and these snapshots were produced.  These are snapshots taken when our friend was a youngster, and she witnessed the General steaming through northwest Hamilton County.

Our friend's parents took these photos as they followed the General down IL Hwy 142.  What a memory!

Search the Internet, and you can probably buy a copy of the Great Locomotive Chase by Disney, and watch a pretty good dramatization of the events around the General in 1862.  Many Thanks to our friend for letting me scan and post these photos.  Photo Credit: V Stull.