Use The RIGHT AMMO, Hickok45; Always An Important Topic

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, Brenda Lee

Not My Victrola: More 1920's Christmas Music From Pax41!

Resurrection Of A Cooked Chainsaw

Bad fuel cooked the cylinder, piston, and ring on our 2002 model 346 XP. Paying for an overhaul was going to be $450, so we brought it home in pieces from the shop. I looked online and found aftermarket parts. The jug and piston set cost $128. The new jug is drilled and tapped for a compression release, so that's ten more dollars. That sure beats $450!

Carol Of The Bells, George Winston

Weekend Steam: Cumbres and Toltec Christmas Train

Here We Come A Wassailling: Choir In A Can

At Least They Aren't From Mars

We knew that armadillos are on the march. We see carcasses on I-64 starting at about Okawville, and from Okawville to Nashville, IL it's normal to see several on a trip. Last year we saw one in Carmi at the Little Wabash bridge. This piece of armadillo hide is from a roadkill that was at the Little Wabash bridge in Edwards County, between Mt. Erie and West Salem. Since then I have learned of one that was killed in Wayne City, and also of numerous roadkills on I-57, almost to Effingham.

Supposedly these critters couldn't make it in Illinois because of the cold winters, but they appear to be well established. They mostly eat insects, but they grub around on the ground and I think they will have an impact on quail and turkey populations. We already have an overabundance of coons, possums and skunks that feed on eggs and young birds, so we sure did not need armadillos.

Slippery Johnson!...Gun Cleaner/Lube

Make your own Slippery Johnson gun cleaner/lube and start saving money when you clean and lube your guns. I've tried many of the gun oils on the market, and when you study them you will figure out that there is no magical spout in the refinery that spits out gun oil. Gun cleaners and gun oils are basically solvents and oils in varying combinations, and if you know what you want, you can come up with a good combo yourself.  Ballistol, one of the favorite old-time gun cleaner/oils will mix with water for cleaning black powder residue, and will clean your action while leaving a coat of oil. That's easy to figure out. It will clean black powder fouling and mix with water because of alcohol in the mix, and it has hydrocarbon solvents, too, to clean and to thin the oil. Here's all you need to make your own version of that gun cleaner/oil.

Sea Foam is a mix of alcohol (smells like isopropyl), naphtha, (Coleman fuel) and kerosene. Marvel Mystery Oil is a light oil with oil-of-wintergreen added, which eats corrosion and is a degreaser. It has paraffin, which provides a protective coating to metal, and it smells good, too. Mix these together and you have a darn good gun cleaner/oil. I add about half an ounce of chainsaw bar lube to the mix, because it clings to metal really well. I keep a pump oil can in my cleaning kit for shooting this mix down the barrel, and it makes the bore shine. You can also put it on your barrel cleaning snake for a quick pull-through.  Instead of paying $16 a pint for a name brand cleaner, you will have about $6 or $8 in a quart. You can use any oil you prefer; some folks like 5W-30 synthetic, some like ATF.  Rather than buying Seafoam, you can substitute mineral spirits and isopropyl alcohol. You can get pure isopropyl in Iso-Heet gas line antifreeze from the car care section of popular stores or at an auto parts store.

Keep your mix in an airtight bottle, because the solvents will evaporate if given the chance. Don't use any gun cleaning product or solvent around an ignition source; and don't smoke while cleaning your guns. Beware of oily cloths from cleaning.

Away In A Manger: Mormon Tabernacle Choir