175 years...175 Tractors

My hometown of Washington, Iowa is celebrating 175 years, and this week they have many activities going on.  One of the best in my book was a drive-in of 175 tractors that toured the town and then parked on the square.  175 is too many to put in one video.  I only shot half of it, and I clipped over half of that out when I assembled this video.  My picks are the M Farmall with the Jimmy Diesel, and the farm fresh tractors at the end that would benefit from being polished with a sand rock.

...And, While We Are On The Subject Of Heroism...

...take the time to watch this video.  There were giants in the world back then.

And Even More Heroes

Susan's father never told much, just a little, of his time in the Pacific. When I asked about this photo, he would say, "We had Indians in our outfit."...Nothing More. Well, O.T. laid phone wire. Those men talked through wires he put on the battlefield, and he came home alive. God Bless Them. The last one of the Code Talkers has passed on, so this photo came to mind today. The men he spoke of only briefly are on the lower right of the photo. O.T is fifth from the end of the back row. They fought together on Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo.

Weekend Steam: Eleven Channel Crossings During The Invasion!

This video is several years old, and I hope that the volunteers interviewed are still with us.

Crankin' It Up, Even More Victrola

A dear friend has donated this Victrola, music cabinet, and a very nice collection of records to our music room, and we continue this week with a couple of Red Label Victors that are more than 100 years old.  Never fear, Brat will be back with his Brunswick.

My Eyeglasses? I Wear Faceplant 500's!*

I've been juggling various reading glasses for several years as I transitioned from mild middle-age-eyes to cataracts in both eyes.  My vision has gone from 20-15 at age 45, to 20-60, and I finally broke down and bought prescription tri-focals.  There's a whole lot that the doctor doesn't tell you when he sets you up with these.

I've been using low power readers for driving and walking; stronger ones for reading and working on the computer.  The upper part of the tri-focals take the place of my low power readers, and give clear vision in both eyes.  The lower part of the lenses do the closeup work.  It took just a few days to train my head how to bob and weave for the right effect, or so I thought.

While trekking through a woods, seeing clear as a bell on my compass target, I was suddenly on my face in the leaves.  I had tripped over fence wire that was about 3" above the leaf litter.  I hadn't seen it at all.  I hit hard enough that blood spurted out of several places in my recently healed hand.  A week later, I walked off a culvert and did another nose dive into a ditch.

The lower peripheral vision in these glasses is a blur, and you don't notice that when you are looking ahead.   The doctor didn't warn me about this, but he did tell me to put them on and not to be switching back to reading glasses.  That advice is out the window, and I've gone back to readers for hiking.  The other thing the doctor didn't talk about is the way these glasses can induce motion sickness.  As I work from one side of my computer, to the screen, and then to the other side for my printer-scanner, the various focal lengths in these lenses provide an out-of-focus, swimming effect that will make you nauseous. 

I have noticed, but never thought about older folks walking with their heads turned down.  When you see that in the future you will know that that person has busted their face into the sidewalk because he/she was looking ahead through tri-focals as they walked.  Why don't these glasses come with a warning label, and why aren't the doctors prescribing them warning their patients? 

* Faceplant, what they do to you.  *500, what they cost.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit The Light Foundation

Ruger's auction this week is a 1988 Blackhawk Convertible in .357 Magnum/9mm.  It was sent out for photography, returned, and stored away in Ruger's vault.  It sells mid-day, Wednesday, June 4, 2014, and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Light Foundation.  Click Over to read the entire description, and to place your best bid.

$1325.07!

May e-Postal Scores Are Up At Smallest Conservative

Click over to The Smallest Conservative to check all the scores.  I blew my last shot and it cost 100 points.  Well, that's the way it goes. 

The June contest is up at Engineering Johnson.  Click over for your target and the rules.

Tuesday Turbo Boost

Are You Ready...

...to make little ones out of big ones?



Back To The Old Grind!


PS:  Someone find this guy and give him a tripod!