Final Weekend For The March 2014 Mr. Completely e-Postal Contest

March is nearly over, it's still a weekend, and that means you need to head to the range today to shoot the March Mr. Completely e-Postal target with as many guns as you can carry.  It's a challenging target, but you can shoot a respectable score without too much difficulty.  The big question is, can you score the big points on those little 25 point bullseyes?  Click the target for the link, print a stack of targets and head to the range!  JimmyB, the Conservative UAW Guy will be hosting the April contest, so check his blog for the next target.

Weekend Steam: Inner Workings Of A Triple Expansion Launch Engine

The first video shows the engine not-quite-done, so you can see the pistons and valves mechanisms up close. The second one shows the engine in operation for the first time.  There are six power strokes per revolution in a triple expansion engine.  Note that it takes a while to warm up the engine so all the petcocks can be closed.  The steam has to work its way through three cylinders and power strokes before it's exhausted.

Not My Victrola: The Fire Next Time

I saw plenty of TV during my stay in Good Sam, and there was a whole lotta of time spent promoting the new Noah movie.  Bible movies hardly ever make everyone happy, and the bad reviews are piling on, but all that aside, the publicity dredged up an old song in the back of my head, and the only way to get relief is to listen to it a few times.  Don't kick me; it will subside from your mind in a few days and probably won't resurface for thirty or forty years.

Crankin' It Up

I'm down, but not totally out with the hand problem.  I didn't want to deal with changing phonograph needles, and herding cats to do a new recording, so I pulled a good old Vaughn DeLeath record out of a hard drive.  You will know it's a good song by the sound quality.  I wish the first owner had been able to afford a new needle now and then.



I've Got The Blues, But I'm Just Too Mean To Cry by TrueBlueSam

It's Been An Interesting Week...

...and I apologize for not posting.  I was away from my 'puter, and trying to do e-mail with the wrong hand on a Kindle just doesn't work for me.   I couldn't blog, but I did get pictures while I was in Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon for a cat bite on my right hand.  I have been on IV antibiotics for a week, and will be for another week, but will recover.  Day 5 the Doctor started squeezing pus and corruption out of the hand, and he took me into surgery on day 7 to clean it out.  The next day he unwrapped the hand and reached for the gauze packing that he had ram-rodded into my hand.  He said, "This is going to feel funny."  It was more like hilarious, and everyone had a good laugh out of it.  Here are some of my best pics in a slide show.

Mr. Completely's 2014 e-Postal Season Begins!

March is here and Mr. C's 2014 e-Postal season is here.  Mr. Completely has the first contest up on his blog, so click over, study the target and rules to figure out your tactics, and print a stack of targets.  There are seven classes listed for various types of pistols, but if you have something different you would like to shoot, go ahead and submit your target and Mike will fit you in.  After this long, hard winter we all need the practice,  so oil your guns, pack your bag, and head to the range!

Crankin' It Up

We gave Brat the evening off today and recycled a fine old Brunswick record from 1923.  The artist is Arnold Johnson and His Orchestra.

'bout Time

That New Lone Ranger Movie....

...that the critics hated, and it lost at the box office.  It caught my interest, and I waited patiently until the price at the big box store dropped below full retail.  Johny Depp is an off-the-wall Tonto, and didn't play any of the traditionl "Me Go Town" lines of the old Lone Range TV show.  Armie Hammer played a very unlikely Lone Ranger, and the movie worked for our little family.  One thing that remained true to the old values of the Lone Ranger was that he didn't kill any bad guys himself; he shot the guns out of their hands even better that he did in the old shows from my  childhood.  Get a load of the trains used to film this movie in the video below.  Ignore the critics, and get this movie for a good time.

Ruger's Auction To Benefit Homes 4 Wounded Heroes

Ruger's auction this week is a revolver that was manufactured during the 1980's, and hasn't been in the Ruger catalog for quite some time.  This Bisley Single-Six is chambered in .32 H & R Magnum, and offers serious centerfire power for varmints and small game in the compact Single-Six package.  100% of the proceeds will go to benefit Homes 4 Wounded Heroes, and this fine, rare firearm will sell midday, Wednesday, March 19, 2014.

$1027!

Tuesday Turbo Boost

Hid Behind A Leafy Screen

I stumbled across this backwoods Nissan, and in another couple weeks it will be invisible when everything leafs out.  I have walked by it a couple times in recent years and never saw it before.  I will make a point out of not walking near it again.

It seems that this old hatchback has been resurrected as a hothouse for starting someone's backcountry garden.  I have run into gardeners out in the woods in years past, and they are generally an unfriendly lot.  It's about time to  move plants from the grow-lights to hothouses, so this is one spot I will be sure to avoid.