Friday, January 10, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Mr. Completely e-Postal Hosts, 2014
August: Merle, the most prolific e-Postal contestant
(Hosting at Sand Castle Scrolls and True Blue Sam
Susan and I will be spending many pleasant afternoons out behind the barn to test target concepts before September and October.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Milk And Bread Alerts
Sometimes we refer to the winter weather forecasts as "Milk and Bread Alerts" because you see unprepared folks rushing out to the stores to load up on groceries. We live way out in the sticks, so we load up whenever we go to town, and rarely are caught short on supplies, and that goes double for firewood. We work up firewood on the weekends except during hot summer weather.
We really don't like making wood in the snow, but it sure beats doing it in rain or mud. You don't have to worry about ticks this time of year. This snag was dried "on the hoof" and went right into the stack to burn.
We have lots of tree top wood from the harvest last year, and the small to medium size pieces are dry enough to use straight out of the woods.
Snow in Southern Illinois usually doesn't hang around for long, and one snowfall is usually gone before the next one rolls in. The county roads are difficult to negotiate after a big snow event, because they are only bladed, and not salted. I grew up driving on ice in Iowa, but I never have learned to enjoy it. Most of my driving on back roads today was at 30 mph or less, especially on icy roads with a high crown.
Skip is thinking, "Must we do this again?"
Monday, January 6, 2014
It Blows Leaves, and More
The Red Max took a couple extra pulls to start, but if fired off and warmed up to run just fine in the below zero temps. Temps are forecast to go above freezing Wednesday, so I wanted the snow off the wood right away.
It Ain't Turnin' Today!
The road is drifted shut, and I'm phoning it in. I hope you can, too.
Photo Credit: Gary Bahre
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Not My Victrola: Helen Kane Favorite
That's My Weakness Now, by Helen Kane has been one of my top picks from the 1920's for years. EdmundusRex posted this one, and if you click the video to see it on YouTube, you can read the writeup he provided with this record.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Weekend Steam: Photography Lesson
I am always taking pictures, and I have learned that you have to get out ahead of the subjects you are photographing, or all you get is butt-shots. Scrolling through the archives I just had a revelation; the same goes for steam engines. If you take a shot of the back end of steam engines, you also get the back end of the folks hanging around those steam engines.
My photography should improve this year...
My photography should improve this year...
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Jack's Cadillac Doghouse
Jack must be part Malamute. He pulls the bedding out on the porch and sleeps outside rather than go in his DogLoo. He would go in the hut with HeyJoe when precip was falling, but after Joe died, we had a problem. Jack refused to go in his DogLoo no matter how bad the weather turned. We have been bringing him into the utility room for bad weather, but that is hard to manage, especially when we get snow on a regular basis. 'Long about Christmas I woke up from a dream, and had just built a doghouse for Jack. Here is what I built in my sleep.
It's built out of rough lumber we bought for barn repairs, and it is all put together with screws. The roofing is old tin from the stash in the barn, and it has a heat lamp inside to keep Jack warm on cold winter nights. I cheated and used plywood for the floor.
The roof was harder to move than the rest of the house, but it's all up on Jack's porch, and I'm hernia-free. I spent half an hour introducing Jack to his new home. He's a sucker for peanut butter biscuits. The forecast is for snow tonight, so we will know in the morning if he accepts the new accommodations.
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