Weekend Steam: What Could Have Been?

Crankin' It Up: I'm Tired Of February Edition

Boy oh boy, is winter getting tiresome or what!?  I am anxious to get out of winter, so we are going to encourage the seasons to move with a little mood music for St. Paddy's Day.  Brat gets up and marches, and Rambler waits for rubs. 

Walk Around

I've seen people walk under things like this.  It's an all natural deadfall trap, very useful for smashing dumb animals.  Don't be one of them.

Are You Part Of The March?

Don't Let The Cat Out!

From sundown to sunup this barred owl has become our buddy, I think.  He hoots all night, and talks to me at three in the morning when I take Skip out.  I don't know if he would dive on a dog or not, so right now the dogs are going on a leash every time they need to go out.  And then, there are skunks.  Little Skipper met up with Mr. Skunk at 3:30 AM a couple weeks ago, and we sure don't want that to happen again.  We haven't seen the skunk again, but we are ready for him.  Today a couple dozen geese flew in, and we are hoping they move on rather than hanging around to poop all over the yard.

Blue Monday

Zeke and Brigid have lost Barkley.  What can you say?  We've buried more four-legged friends than I can stand, but we always make room for more.  We couldn't live without them.

 Merky and Cracker,

 Snaggle,

Teddy,

Toopie.  Brat stayed with him while he recovered from a stroke, and stuck by his side while he died.

Hank.

Marvin.  Jack sat inside his pen and mourned while I buried him,

and he did the same thing while I buried his companion, HeyJoe.  Learned people will tell you that animals have no soul, but if a pet can call me across hundreds of miles, and if a pet mourns when his friend is dying, are they not as real as we are?

Does Your Job Feel Like The Salt Mines?

Back To The Old Grind!

Not My Victrola

Toledorecordman uploaded these two Belle Baker sides.  Good songs, and from a record sharer that we hadn't run across before.  I'm subscribed to him now, and we will probably hear more from Toledo in the future.  Here's 'Sweet Little You,' and 'Hard-Hearted Hannah.'






Wow, what a contrast; Sweet Little You, to "pouring water on a drowning man." What fun!

Illinois Carry Classes; Something I Never Expected To See

Carry classes for the new Illlinois concealed carry law are popping up all around Southern Illinois.  I took the first half of the required course of instruction two weeks ago and will complete it this weekend.  The first part is basically the NRA Basic Pistol Course, and the second half is a day to learn the intricacies of Illinois' law.  Part of the first day was a two part range exercise to cover the NRA requirements, then we all shot the required thirty shots from 5, 7, and 10 yards on the target specified by the Illinois law.  The law is available online, so I have been reading ahead and getting familiar with it.  It's not a perfect law, but it's a lot better than what we had, and I expect positive changes in Illinois because of it.

Weekend Steam: Visiting Scotland

"Footage from the last week of the 2012 season of 'The Jacobite' operated by West Coast Railways and featuring LNER class K1, no.62005. Photographers who travelled to Scotland for the final week were rewarded with some stunning lighting and cold, still conditions for most of the week which enhanced the beautiful autumnal colours."  Click on the "Watch on YouTube" icon to go to YT and read the entire writeup.  Video by acw71000.

Crankin' It Up: The End Of A Musical Era?

February 21, 2014 is the 98th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle Of Verdun, which had something like 700,000 to 1,000,000 casualties.  War was no fun after August, 1914.  Here is a recording of Prince's Band which gives a glimpse of the world view of war before the Great War changed everything.




Prince's Band recorded this lively march on January 11, 1916. War was much more fun before the Great War, which began in August 1914. America was catching the fever for Europe's war in January of 1916, after the Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915, but hadn't yet jumped in. The battle of Verdun began in February 1916, and there were over 700,000 casualties. The battle of the Somme began in July 1916, and it bled England white. The century of modern war that began with WWI pretty much ended the celebratory mood of war music, so you might look at records like this one as the end of a musical era. Tin Pan Alley continued to celebrate to whip up war fever in the U.S. in 1917 and 1918, but that was before the reality of the horrors of war were visited on America.

Big 'un Update

It's been a long day, what with the squall line that blew through this evening, and I didn't have a chance to spend time with Brat on the Brunswick.  I did spend some quality time with Big 'un, and he seems to be recovering well.

You have to remember that this cat was not a tame cat we could handle, and while his eye was hurting he was ready to fight anyone who got near him.  He lets me pick him up now, and he hugs up close to me, but welding gloves help me relax until we get to know each other better.