Practice Makes It Better

I went out behind the barn, checked my sights from the bench, and shot several targets to improve my score of "6" on my first attempt. I think this one scores "10," which is a pretty good improvement for me. You have until midnight Monday to submit your target to Sebastian. Click on the June e-Postal match on the left sidebar to read the rules and download your target. I hope Sebastian counts my propellor touch; it's a real "edger."

Not My Player Piano

Here Comes Monday!

Back To The Old Grind!

Clowning For The Camera?

My Great Aunt Bessye Garrison (granddaughter of Wm Tweed. Search his name in the upper left corner of this blog.) married a photographer, Carl Hornung, and they took quite a few photos of their activities when they were a young couple. I visited another of her nephews several years ago and he showed me a box of negatives that had belonged to her. He was about to throw them out, so I latched onto them. I bought darkroom equipment and made prints of some of them, but darkrooms take time, and I haven't fooled with it for several years. Now, through the magic of computers, we can scan a negative, and a picture pops right up on the screen from ninety years ago. You don't even have to turn out the lights or watch your water temperature.

I have no idea if the fellows with the Burlington Bread Company truck were friends of Carl and Bessye; and I wish I knew why the guy on the running board has his pant legs pulled up for the photographer. The bridge across the Mississippi has been replaced by a new 'artsy' suspension bridge, and I have been across both the old and new bridges many times. The Model T truck is a good looking rig. Ford sold these as a bare chassis, and the customers installed their own body to suit their own needs. You will see a variety of homemade cabs and beds in car shows and museums. This truck has solid tires on the back end, so it is a safe assumption that its delivery routes were confined mostly to city streets in Burlington, Iowa.

Weekend Steam

From the pages of an old Engineers and Engines Magazine come some fascinating California machines. The first engine is Steam Traction Engine #1, made by Holt, and the one below is the second crawler made by Holt in 1904. Holt was building big traction engines for farm, forests, and industry, and began experimenting with tracks in order to reduce the size of his machines. Holt crawlers were used extensively in Europe during WWI. Holt and Best merged in the 1920's to form the Caterpillar company. Click Here, and Here to read articles about Benjamin Holt.

Crankin' It Up

Here is a little change of pace for our Friday selection. Minuet in G, by Beethoven is what we used to call 'Long Hair' music when I was a kid. I wonder if people still use that term. This record has been in the cabinet for many years, and this is the first time we have played it. The artist, Kathleen Parlow, is pictured below. Click Here to read about her.

Southern Illinois Wheat Harvest

Wet weather has delayed the wheat harvest in Southern Illinois this year, and has hurt the quality. The ground has finally dried out enough to allow the combines to work, and farmers are busily harvesting, and then planting second crop beans. Bottomland fields along the Little Wabash have not all been planted yet, due to flooding. The John Deere combine in this video is working across the road from our home.

It's Always Something

We always have a project to work on. The old barn has had plenty of patching done over the years, and this summer it will get some more. The rocks holding it up have settled in over the last 100 plus years, and when the timbers get down to the ground the termites move in. We have been jacking up wood for several summers and patching in cross-ties to stop the meltdown. The current timber we are looking at is eaten and rotten for nearly all of its twenty feet. The siding boards here have also been hit hard by termites, so we will be buying a bunch of 1 x 12's from our favorite sawmill.

Dramamine?

Monday turned ito a very long day, so this is just a quick video of an engine we saw at the SIAM show. It is a Fairbanks-Morse, and I know that I would set jacks under the back corners of the truck if I had to watch this baby. I nearly get seasick just watching the video.

Summer Weather

We watched thunderstorm activity all weekend, and checked radar regularly to see if anything was coming our way. We were lucky, and didn't get hit by any bad ones. This storm marched by north and west of us, and had a tornado on the ground near Iuka, IL.

A storm that followed the first one had some pretty formations. I see a face in this one.... we do enjoy watching the clouds in flat country.