Editorial Report

 

Not exactly seasonal, since summer's somewhere roughly five months distant, but since it was 3 degrees this morning with a windchill of -27, I figured this one was better than North to Alaska.

A couple of interesting editorials in the current issue of The Epoch Times. First up was an article by Jeffrey Tucker addressing childhood vaccines.

In 1980, American children following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization schedule received 23 vaccine doses in seven shots against seven different diseases, plus four polio vaccine drops.

1n 2024, the recommended number had risen to at least 84 vaccine doses in at least 57 shots for 17 diseases, plus the RSV monoclonal antibody immunization for a total of 18 diseases.

And all the drug manufactures have been indemnified, so no way anyone can file a claim against them if something goes haywire.

Article number two was by Mollie Engelhart entitled "If 77 Percent of Young Men Are Unfit to Serve, Who will Work the Land?" She relates several reasons why young men are unfit to serve - the usual suspects of drug use, obesity, poor physical and mental health - which also keeps them from doing the demanding work a farm requires. However. what really hit home with me was this: "So if we no longer have men who can farm or fight, a final question must be asked, one we've been avoiding: Who protects the women and children?"

There's something to think about. And since things aren't looking all that rosie in the future, you might want to check out Auguson Farms and stock up on some shelf stable emergency food. They've got a good sale going on but you'll need to hurry. Now would also be a good time to take a look around you to see who's going to take care of your women and children.

Couple O' Tunes

This ain't me. I'm doing fine in spite of the recent cardiac event. The new hardware I ordered for the trials bike should be here tomorrow, meaning I'll be able to drop the motor in it as soon as I get an extra set of hands. Currently working as a domestic, so I'm not sitting on my keister the whole time. No way I'm working outside in single digit weather anyway unless it's an absolute emergency.

I ran across this tune recently while looking for something else. In light of the recent mayoral election, things sure as hell ain't what they use to be in the Big Apple. 

Working on the basement shop a little and trying to decide what to do with some of my books. I rarely read a book twice and I've run out of shelf space, so time to thin the herd - same goes for a lot of my other stuff as well.

Just Milling About

 

Milwaukee horizontal milling machine by Kearney & Trecker. Once upon a time long, time ago, I had a similar machine. It was way too large for my operation in my two-car garage, so I sent it down the road and got myself a Bridgeport. However, I kept the milling attachment that mounts on one of the large round bars thinking I could use it somehow at a later date. 

Some 40 years later, Surly asked what I was planning on doing with it, so it became his just seconds later. Anyway, I think he's going to send it on a little trip and it needs to be crated up for shipment. He came down yesterday to see if the thing actually worked and to see what it would take to prepare a shipping crate. Since the temperature was only about 20 and the wind was blowing about the same, we didn't spend much time out there. We did discuss a few things I'm going to need some help with in the future. As much as I dislike asking for help, I'm going to have to face the fact I just can't do everything by myself like I use to. 

Coach Jen filled in for a friend of hers yesterday at the rec center teaching a ladies fitness class. I met up with her after the class was over and we walked for a bit, then did breakfast. We talked a bit of boxing stuff, but right now there's nothing lined up for the two of us together, nor anything in the foreseeable future. Not a problem - lots of other things to do and I don't care to travel too much when you never know what the weather's going to be around here.

Speaking of which, forecast is calling for single digits tomorrow.

Indiana Winter

 Snow day yesterday. I got a weather warning on the phone about the time I was ready to head out to the rec center. I bailed out and I'm glad I did. Even though it's just a short hop to the rec center, they weren't kidding about the snow and white-out conditions. I had to go uptown to the family doctor later. The roads were kind of hit or miss - some clear spots, some icy spots and some next to the open fields that were drifting. Nothing unusual for winter in northwest Indiana. Lots of pileups on the interstates in the morning according to the radio reports and I received a notice that the college would be operating virtually after 2:00. 

Now that the old Allis is operational again, I'm pretty well set for the winter weather. It was warm on Tuesday, so I fired up the log splitter to add to the firewood pile. The propane supply is good for both the house and the shop. The pantry and the freezer are loaded up. However, it's not possible to foresee everything that could go wrong. We had a huge rainstorm last week. Lots of rain, 50 mph gusts and some lightning. Don't know exactly what happened but one of the garage door openers quit working after the storm went through. Still need to troubleshoot that one.

I was going to put the motor in the trials bike but decided it was a little too heavy for me to tackle on my own. I need to arrange a workday with the grandsons to tackle that, getting the hydraulic cylinder under the dump trailer and a few other items I need some extra muscle for. Plenty of other things to work on in the meantime. 

Carl Perkins

I've always been a fan of Rock-a-Billy music, which means I have to include "The King of Rockabilly", Carl Perkins. However, I didn't know until recently that when he first started it was Carl and his two brothers who performed together. I knew he was a very accomplished songwriter, but from what I understand, he was also very generous supporting causes dealing with young people. The Wikipedia entry will tell you most everything you'd want to know about the man. However, if you'd like to know more, he wrote an autobiography.

 

This one was written by Perkins and was sung by him in the movie Little Faus and Big Halsey. I didn't remember that until reading the Wikipedia article even though I've seen the movie a few times. It has been a while, though.  Not even a hint of Rockabilly in it, especially in the Arlene Harden version here.

I always liked this one. Never as popular as Matchbox or Blue Suede Shoes, but a solid toe-tapper.

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Things pretty quiet on the home front the last couple of days still. I went to the boxing gym Saturday morning - shot the breeze with Jimmy for a bit and then did a light bag workout. I've been missing the boxing workouts. Once it it's in your blood and all that. I renewed my coaching license for the year - might start going back to the boxing club on Saturday mornings and work the bags and hold the mitts every once in a while. That'll be a good supplement to my walkies at the rec center, at least until the weather warms up and I can get out on my bicycle. 

 I made up a list of jobs to do the other evening - it's a long list and I'm sure it's not complete, but I just put down the first things that came to mind. The trials bike is the first thing on the list, mostly because it's almost done and I need to move it in order to work on the mill. 

I think the grandson is going to adopt one of the SR500 Yamahas in the storage space. I've got parts from two bikes, and he picked up parts from another the other day. He should be able to build something real nice from what we have. After all, his dad's a Cracker Jack machinist and his grandfather's a pretty fair welder. I don't know how far his bank account will carry him, but I'd like to see him build a bike and get all the Yamaha parts out of the storage space.

Hello Dolly

 

I made the majority of this while my welding student was doing his thing Thursday and finished it up yesterday. I couldn't complete it while he was here due to my only being able to plug one welder in at a time. I still need to polish up the near end. And what is it you say? A small dolly for sheet metal work. 

I started with a hollow bar 1-1/2" OD with a 1/2" ID. I welded a piece of leaf spring on one end and welded a 5/16 nut sunk into the other end. The piece on the far end is a soft hammer tip that has a 5/16 stud on it. This is a spare for my old Williams soft face hammer. The hammer came with two tips, the one pictured and a softer one as well. With the threaded end on the dolly, I can swap out the tips, or if needed, I can make a lead tip or a steel piece to work with a shape my other dollies don't match. 

I still need to polish up the solid end, maybe today on that.

Architecture

I saw this at The Daily Timewaster. My Google-foo is weak, so I don't know where this is for sure or the architect, but if I was to hazard a guess, I'd say it was in France and the architect was Hector Guimard. I'm a big fan of the Art Nouveau style in all its forms - it beats the hell out of Brutalism, that's for sure. Just imagine trying to get something like this built in this day and age. Beautiful design and execution. Probably couldn't get it approved by the building commission, though.
 

Not much happening on the home front. Getting caught up on some chores, paperwork and getting a good start on the exercise program. Also trying to limit my exposure to world and national news - too much of that's not good for a cardiac patient. 

Since it's warm this week, my welding student is coming this afternoon to finish his MIG section on his paddle wheel. I've got a little lathe job I can work on while he's welding. He's a big strappin' young guy. Maybe have him give me a hand putting the motor in the trials bike while he's here.

Got to Give it Up

 

I don't have any idea what in the hell is going to happen this year but it's starting off with some pretty serious fireworks. Shooting some drug boats out of the water is one thing, but "kidnapping" the top dog of a foreign country and his wife is something on a whole other level. But our president says we'll run the country for a while until we can figure out what to do with it. I'm assuming that means until we can take control of the oil - but what do I know. I'm just a welder.

And a welder with a cardiac condition at that. However, I haven't completely lost my sense of humor yet. I thought the above was humorous and rather timely. Actually, I can think of several scenarios worse than a game of charades, but not too many places to have one better than I've done.

I'm going to the rec center this morning to do some walking and a few light exercises. It's time to get back on a regular program of exercise and diet. Also, it's supposed to be unseasonably warm this week, so I'll be getting back in the shop. Maybe fire up the log splitter as well. I've got some catching up to do but I need to use a little common sense. I haven't done anything in a month, so even if I hadn't had the grabber, I still would need to ease back into things.

During my month of riding the recliner, it would have been a good time to put together the plan for the year but the best I could come up with was do something productive every day and don't start any new projects. Actually, for a guy with some sort of attention deficit, probably as good a plan as any.  

Felice Anno Nuovo

 

Happy New Year!

We all need to keep on punchin' in '26. I'm thinking it's going to be a tough year for all of us.