Shooting Old U.S. Military Guns With Clint Smith

Be Careful At Work!

You never know what will happen next... I was reminded of a minor event when I was working in Eastern Kentucky for the Kentucky Division Of Forestry. There were a few radar huts at the office where government surplus items were stored. Things such as M65 Field Jackets and fatigue shirts. One of the things that had occurred before my time was construction to build roads to tops of mountains for fire towers.  Looking around in a radar hut, we found a couple cases of Dynamite. Old Dynamite. The kind of old Dynamite with drops of nitroglycerin all over the surface of the sticks. I did not have to be told what those drops were. We told the boss about it, and he didn't know it was there either, but he knew a guy who made his living with explosives, and he came right away. The nice man carried out the boxes very carefully and placed them in his truck.  I spoke up, already knowing the answer to my question, "Do you want these blasting caps now, too?"  "No," came the reply, "I will get those another time." Be prudent out there. Back To The Old Grind!

Weekend Steam II: 611 Emerges From Tunnel

 It's a beautiful hunk of machine. Thank You, Merle! I will re-play the vid with wheel slip, too, just because it is really good.

Denver and Rio Grande 464, Surprising Travels

 The narrator on this short is a bit annoying, but the travels and travails of this old locomotive are amazing. I hope it gets back to Durango someday. Thank You, Merle!

Whitetail Boulevard

 The deer hunting challenge at the farm is going in the 20 acre woods without driving the deer out before you. Hunting from the barn is a pretty good bet, but the shooting opportunities are quick and narrow. The deer like to slip around the back yard through the trees we planted years ago, so our hunting friend set a ground blind there. The deer tend to ignore vehicles in the driveway and foot traffic around the house. This looks like a promising setup. 

Please Tell Me You Don't Do This!

 I spotted this stump photo on a logging site over on Fbook. No attribution was provided. Every so often someone will tell me that they cut stumps on an angle so it can push the tree over. We have discussed this before, and shown videos of bad results. The short report is that no matter how you make your cuts, the stump is not going to reach up and push for you.

We have posted many times about chainsaws, but this video covers the basics of proper falling technique pretty well. Watch it, and then click on Chainsaws in the Label section of the left sidebar. One of our neighbors was recently injured severely in a tree cutting accident. There have been several tree cutting accidents in our neighborhood over the years, so we are serious about wanting people to get training before they crank up a chainsaw.

A Little Forest Products Utilization...

 One of the best excuses for being a timber grower is wine and whiskey barrels. You gotta love it, even if you don't imbibe. The smell of white oak is delicious, and addicting even without the alcohol.

Kent Rollins Makes Corn Dodgers!

 Baking powder is a good idea. If you want it sweetened a bit, my favorite is adding a little sorghum molasses. 

Tuesday Torque: Portland Tri-State Antique Engine And Tractor Show

 Merle spotted a video of this year's Portland show. Thank You, Sir! It's a good one!

Harvest Is Moving Fast

 The big machinery of today harvests fields at an amazing rate, and our landscape has changed markedly in a week. Bigger machinery makes for bigger spills where trucks are loaded. I see piles of corn of three or four bushels near field edges. You can't scoop up corn and toss it up into a semi-bed, or big grain tank. They are too tall, so we see waste that would not have happened fifty years ago. Odd, that. I am keeping my eyes peeled for a pile on the road right of way, for homemade corn meal....

Back To The Old Grind!