Weekend Steam: Southern Pacific Daylight

 

Thank You, Merle! Great Suggestion!

Dangerous Red Maple Photos!

 Our neighbor lady took some great photos of the drop and shared them with us today.  Here are my picks!

IT'S GOING! Dangerous Red Maple!

 Our neighbor's red maple was getting more dangerous by the day, with a dead, rotten top, plus many dead limbs. The wind was from the southeast to help us, so today was the day. It was a 44 segment tree, and it tipped with two 1" wedges, minus the saw kerf. So about 1 1/2" times 44 segments equals moving the top over 66" to the tipping point. Susan heard it pop while I was bringing up another wedge, and warned me. Glad she did that! I did not hear it!

Wednesday Windage II: Failure To Fire

 Tim Sundles offers some good thoughts about failures to fire. We shoot bulk 22s of various brands, so we get a few. We have had the firing pin rebound springs wear out on a few guns, Mk III Rugers, and 10/22s, and that will cause failures to fire, and slow burns resulting in stuck bullets. Those tiny springs are good to keep on hand if you can keep track of them!

Wednesday Windage: Dusty Bagged A Turkey!

 Dusty was out early Monday morning and he texted us at 9A to let us know he got what he came for!  We are thrilled of course.  He was out Sunday evening to listen for gobblers as they settled in for the night, and they had all moved half a mile north. A little time the day before pays off when turkey hunting.

Tuesday Torque: The First Motorcycle, 1/2 HP, Hot Tube Ignition!

 Many Thanks to Merle for spotting this gem!

Spring Turkey Season

One of our friends is coming to hunt this week for a gobbler, so of course this evening, NO turkeys were talking around the homestead. Well, they have to be somewhere around here....

Back To The Old Grind!  Photos if he gets one!

 

Weekend Steam: 1770 French Cugnot

 I remember reading about this leap in technology when I was still in grade school. It is amazing that it worked with that heavy pot boiler hanging on the front end!

Like Old Times

 I got a call for a shade tree case. I haven't had one of those since I retired nine years ago! It's a white pine that I stuck in the ground when this property belonged to a friend, who was growing Christmas trees.  I rode the planter and my friend was driving the tractor. That's long ago, and the Christmas tree operation is no more, and now this tree is next to the house of the current owner. He called me because recent winds made this tree tip over. Just out of sight in the pictures is the septic tank, which knocked out a large part of the root system.

This fork is too far gone to correct by taking off one side, and it has a large area of included bark. Not Good,...

...because that fork leans straight on to the porch on the east side of the house. There is no imminent danger, but eventually it will want to split off with a strong south wind. 

The coup de grace. That tip it got from the wind pushed the top over ten feet and brought up a big hump of root on the west side.  It's too much to pull back and heal over, especially with the septic tank on the west side.  It will be an easy takedown.  

The North Barn...

 ...appears to be groundhog free! Kind of a good thing, but also a sad thing. The possum is occupying the inside den.