Best of the West

 

The Missus and I went to Shipshewana Wednesday for the Best of the West show featuring the Sons of the Pioneers and Riders in the Sky. When I bought the tickets, I wondered what the deal was with the Sons of the Pioneers, since I've seen them in old cowboy movies from the forties. It turns out they've been performing for 93 years with the performers changing as they leave the group and are replaced as necessary. The current group we saw put on a great show of classic tunes as sung by the original group back in the day. 

They were followed by Riders in the Sky who likewise had a couple of new members. We had seen them once before many years ago and the years have taken a toll on them as well. Ranger Doug and 2 Slim were the original members still with the group. Ranger Doug's yodeling isn't as crisp as it used to be, but he said they've been performing for 49 years. The replacement for Woody Paul is a world class fiddler, and they've added an accordion player. Their music is still good as is their comedy.

The show closed with both bands on stage singing a couple of tunes and then wrapping it up with, what else, Happy Trails. 

The show was at the Blue Gate Theater, and we stayed next door at the Blue Gate Inn. With the package deal you get an all you can eat Amish style dinner and breakfast. The theater is a great place to see a show and Shipshewana is a nice place to visit if shopping is your thing.  

Lack of Fruit

 

The before photo of the big chunk of the elm tree that blew down a while back. You can't really see the extent of the damage on the trunk from this photo, but I need to consider having the tree taken down along with one of the big oak trees.

I finally got around to cutting up most everything I could reach from the ground or the stepladder yesterday. I'll have to get the extension ladder out to complete the job. 

The maple tree has changed color, but the lilac behind the house is still blooming, as is the neighbor's. The persimmon trees have dropped all their leaves, and it looks like the 'possums and 'coons have left me enough fruit to make a couple of loaves of persimmon bread. I usually like to wait until there's a frost before picking the persimmons, but it might be better if I pick them in the next few days, looking at the long-range forecast.

It's been a strange year for the trees. I had almost no fruit on the apple, peach and crabapple trees. The deer come in the winter and eat the apples that have fallen on the ground. I mowed underneath the trees Sunday and I did hit a single piece of fruit. Usually, it's kind of a slimy mess. While I don't miss that, I wasn't able to make an apple or a peach pie this year. If I was counting on the fruit trees to help carry me through the winter, I'd be in real trouble. Likewise, no raspberries or gooseberries either. Definitely something to consider from a "prepper's" standpoint.

I got the last hydraulic hose made up for the dump trailer yesterday. That project is nearing completion. The pins I made for the hydraulic cylinder have rusted quite a bit. Not surprising since they're made from plain jane carbon steel. My "eyeball" measurement says they're 1" OD. I think I've got a piece of stainless on the rack. Probably should make a pair and be done with it. 

Busy, Beautiful Day

 

Some illegal immigrant decided to show his appreciation of living in this country by taking a sledge hammer to the monument of the flag raising at Iwo Jima. It wasn't the bronze one but an important one just the same. He managed to break one of the heads of the Marines off and do other damage as well. The last few years statues of famous people of this country's history have been defaced and torn down, as well as names removed from buildings and military installations. Did they think removing the statue of Christopher Columbus in Chicago or Robert E. Lee in New Orleans was going to make everyone sleep better by erasing the history of America?  History ain't always pretty, but whether you like it or not, have some respect and try to think of these historical events in the time period in which they occurred.

Busy day yesterday. I started off with a kidney stone, fortunately it passed without too much pain. Trip to the massage parlor after that, followed by lunch with TVI. I delivered his oil tank for his HD and we shot the bull for quite a while sitting on the bar stools. After lunch, Cuzzin Rick and I picked up another load of scrap.

After that, I "installed" my new garage lights. Not much to the installation - unscrew the regular bulbs, screw in the new lights. It did answer the age-old question of how many welders does it take to screw in a light bulb, however. 

I should have taken a photo of the lights when they're turned off. They look like a ceiling fan with six blades, each blade being a LED light. The pair of them was $25.00 with the shipping and they are brighter than the sun. Nice white light and the individual "blades" are adjustable from the horizontal to the vertical position, which makes it easy to point them to light up the corners.

The light on the far left is just a regular 60-watt bulb. I've got a LED bulb that's an incandescent replacement I'm going to install. Things are bright enough in there now that installing another of the fan type might be overkill. 

Boxing Recap

 

This was the first bout of the afternoon at the event I went to last Saturday. I'm a little late on the review, but that'll happen. It was a nice venue, the fairgrounds in Lafayette, In. The show was put on by a local church, that also has a boxing team as part of their mission. 

The fights were all pretty good for the most part. Several of the bouts were split decisions and a couple bouts were questionable decisions. The scoring went to the professional "10 point must" system several years ago. I'm not a fan. It seems to lend itself to different interpretations among the judges. The judging crew Saturday was made up of officials that work together all the time, but with all the split decisions, it's obvious they aren't all in synch. I've completed all the required paperwork to satisfy my license requirements for next year, but I need to decide if I want to send in my check for next year. I imagine I will. Even if I no longer coach, I can just consider it a donation. 

Should be the last fittings I need for the dump trailer. The 1/2" to 3/8" bushing is very nicely made. It's made from bar stock here in the USA - really nice-looking threads. It's a small thing, but it's one of those items where you can see the quality with just a glance.

The grommet is for the hole in the back of the toolbox for the hydraulic hose to pass through. I already installed it in the plate. However, I was busy yesterday, and I'll be busy today, so I'll probably have to wait until the weekend to get everything buttoned up.

Mose & Me

 

I'm a big fan of Mose. Surly and I saw him at a club in Chicago a few years back - great show, we both got autographs. I had this CD but it got away along with several others of my favorites in a carrier I had in my car. I think it somehow got traded in when I got my Veloster. I bought a new MP3 player last week. I'm hoping I've got this one on the old computer. I'm going to start loading up the player in the next few days. I'm tired of having to stop what I'm doing to buzz through the ads on my phone when I'm listening to You Tube when I'm working.

Work progress has been slow, but I had an appointment with the money guy yesterday and a heart scan today, both of which were in the middle of the day, so not much time left for working and getting dirty. The money guy said I don't have to reserve a spot under the bridge for my cardboard box, so that's good news. Hopefully I get equally good results on the scan when I see the heart doc next week.

I was looking at the screen while the tech was administering the test but I have no idea what I was looking at. I just know it's cool how they can see inside your body and watch your heart beat and see the valves opening and closing.

I did manage to get the hoses connected to the pump and valve on the trailer job. I need to cut a pass-through hole in the back of the toolbox for the hose to the cylinder, then I can get the last hose I need. After that, get a battery and a switch for the solenoid and things should be operational. 

Lots of things still on the list, but it'll all fit on one sheet of paper now. I just wish the weather would stay like it has been for a while longer - maybe until April and then warm up a bit. I love autumn weather, just don't care for what follows. 

Lathe Progress

 I went out for breakfast with a former student yesterday - one from way in the past when I was at the Career Center. We had a really nice visit talking about the old days as well as what we're up to these days.

After I came home I made the piece for the basement lathe. There can't be more than a couple of thousands slack in it now, versus a 1/16" when I started. Next up will be the screw on the cross slide. It's a left-hand Acme thread which will be a real stretch of my machinist skills if I try to make one. However, Surly found a source for a piece of it and matching brass nuts. The end where the knob and dial fasten on would have to be modified, though. I'm going to take it all apart and come up with a plan. I've got a couple ideas already.

I'm going to a boxing match today, so no shop work. Pretty happy with the progress as of late, however. Definitely need to get the tractor running again - frost warnings last night. 

Happy birthday to Surly today!

Cheap Shot @ USPS

 

The boss from my old gig shot me a text about some more scrap he had, so I went over yesterday morning and picked it up. Cuzzin Ricky bought me lunch the other day for the last loads I brought him. I might be able to talk a breakfast out of him with this load. 

I worked on the trailer a bit yesterday. The floor of the toolbox is made from 1/8" sheet, so I made some backing plates to stiffen the pump and valve area. I got the holes drilled in the floor, but I want to paint the plates before I bolt everything down. I'll get that done today. After that, I need to crawl under the trailer and decide what I need to do to be able to hook up the hose to the cylinder. My neighbor said he'd come over and lift the bed up for me if I needed. In fact, while I was out, I stopped there to take a look at a welding job he needs done. A new aluminum radiator has a leak around the filler neck where it joins the tank. Should be easy enough.

I'm planning on unboxing the radiator for the Allis today and decide my plan of attack on that job. I definitely need to get that done before the snow flies. I got a nasty-gram from the mailman last winter when I didn't have the snow plowed in front of the mailboxes. Normally I'm all over that but it happened when the Allis was down for repairs and I had the heart attack. I figured the mailman could've just driven right by. After all, that's what he did Monday and Tuesday when the sun was shining and it was 88 degrees. After all: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" My ass.