E-Postal Reminder

Click on the link on the left sidebar, or HERE, read the rules, print your targets, and go put some holes in paper. This is the last e-Postal match of the year, and the practice will do you good. EJ shot it while he was home, and I will have to re-shoot, because he stomped me with my pistol. The deadline to submit your target is midnight, Monday.

Weekend Recreation

There was a black oak tree failing in the back yard, and it was time to take it down before taking it down became dangerous to my health and well being. In this first photo I have just punched in to form the hinge on the heavy side of the tree, and am cutting toward the back of the tree with the top side of the bar. I then punched in on the other side of the tree to complete the hinge, and then cut back until my cuts matched up and the tree tipped.

EJ and I counted the rings, and this tree was about ninety years old. That is about the life span of a black oak, and is plenty old for one with people walking around under it. Click over to EngineeeringJohnson to watch it go down.

Weekend Steam

Bidone1967 is a YouTuber that we just met on the Internet, and I think that he lives in Germany. His videos are extra nice quality, and today's steam video, plucked form Bidone's channel, is a cute little English traction engine. I think this was filmed at a show in Germany, but since I can't read his notes, that's just an educated guess from clues in the video.

Crankin' It Up

"When My Baby Smiles" was recorded in January, 1920, and is an Irving Berlin song. It has always been one of my favorite records, and now that we have it on YouTube I can listen to it without changing a needle every play. We have company for the Thanksgiving weekend, so I am being lazy and re-posting this record rather than posting a new one. Next week we should have the True Blue Studio back in operation.

A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving To All Of Our Readers

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789." G. Washington

Titan Engine At Old Threshers

This nicely restored IHC Titan engine was at Mt. Pleasant last September. You will note that it is very similar to the Mogul throttle governed engine that I videoed at Pinckneyville. Old machines like this are a joy to watch, with all of the parts exposed; just stay back and don't get your clothes caught in the revolving machinery.

The Joy Of Gravel

We live on a gravel road, so we can count on picking up nails on a regular basis, especially after the road has been dragged by our road commisioner. When you discover a leaking tire, have a helper move the car until you have the hole exposed so you can work on it. Get your tire plugging kit out of your travel kit.

Pull the nail if it is still in the tire, then run your probe in the hole to make sure it is open for inserting a plug.

Thread a plug into the applicator tool.

Push the plug in with the applicator.

Leave a little bit of the tails sticking out.

Pull the applicator back out of the hole. The plug will stay behind, slipping out of the slit in the end of the applicator.

Air up your tire and you are ready to roll again. We usually go by a tire shop and have the tire dismounted and patched rather than run on plugs for very long. This set of tires will be replaced soon, so this plug will stay.

The Mother Lode!

A cluster of oyster mushrooms like this one will gladden the heart of any woods worker, and these delicacies can grace your table any month of the year after rains dampen the wood on wounded or dying trees. I keep a sharp knife in my pocket just in case I run onto a batch of these beauties when I am out. I also keep string in my vest so I can lash my knife to a stick and reach mushrooms up the trunk too far for my arms.

Unfortunately, this batch of fresh, ultra-prime oysters was not in the woods; it was in the front yard of a home in Albion, Illinois. I went around the block, stopped and took my photos, and bid a sad good-bye to the best bunch of mushrooms that I have ever seen.

Not My Victrola

Pax41 keeps posting great copies of his music collection. "The Sweetest Story Ever Told" was recorded in July, 1917, so we know this is an acoustic recording. The clarity is amazing. The singer is Sophie Braslau; the conductor is Josef Pasternack.

Monday's Coming; But It's A Short Week

Back To The Old Grind!

Be VERY Quiet!

Firearm season for deer is going on this weekend in Illinois. This nice eight pointer is hanging out behind our barn, so I am not doing any plinking until next week. Our deer are pretty smart and they know that chainsaws, hammers, and Skilsaws are not threats to them, so we are able to work on the barn so long as we stay on the front side, and we don't venture out back. We have at least one hunter lurking on a boundary line who would love to take this buck home in the back of his truck, so we are being careful not to flush him out of our woods.

Weekend Steam

This Aultman-Taylor traction engine is an unusual design that stands out in the crowd if you know your steam engines. Most traction engines have a clutch with wooden shoes which grip the inside surface of the flywheel. This century old beauty uses a sliding pinion gear on the crankshaft to drive a bevel gear which transmits motion via a drive shaft to another pinion, which turns the differential.

Click the photos to enlarge them for a better view of the system. This drive system uses fewer parts than the typical engine of its day, and I am sure that there was much less clanking going on when starting and stopping.

You can see the back side of the crankshaft drive pinion in this photo. Aultman-Taylor engines used the Woolf reverse gear that you will also see on Case steam engines.

Photos by True Blue Team Member Engineering Johnson

Crankin' It Up

Snappy dance number (Fox-Trot) by the Manhattan Dance Makers, recorded on March 17, 1926. This is the flip side of "When The Golden Rod Is Blooming," a song we posted last year. Our good microphone is still away, so this one was recorded with our old mike. This record is loud and boisterous, so I think we can get away with using our tinny microphone, and we hope we will have the good one back soon. Shake a leg.

Today In History

Go Here. It never grows old.

Econo Cases For Airline Travel

Here is a tip for travelers who cringe at the thought of paying big bucks for a TSA approved locking case for airline travel. All you need to convert a Ruger pistol case into a sturdy locking case is a drill, two long-shackled padlocks, and a stack of washers to take up the slack when the locks are snapped. The washers can be epoxied together so they don't scatter when you open the case for the TSA inspector. One or two of these can easily be packed in your suitcase for trips to far-flung shooting events. This is also a suitable solution for folks who need a locking case for land travel across state lines in vans or SUV's that don't have a trunk to lock up your guns. Hat tip to EJ!