Hobo Jungle

[gtfan]

Man, those steamers can flat-out PULL!!

That thing is pulling that 5-bottom, when it is past the camera, when it's barely faster than 'idle', without even so much as a HINT of a stumble.

I guess I wouldn't have expected otherwise, when I watch a steam-tractor pull a maxed-out sled the entire length of the run at R&T.

Steam engines (and DC electric motors) develop their maximum torque at zero RPM. That's why they are so great for trains (and tractors.)

[webenda]

Pete! The Wedding Test

That Case Tractor image you posted is absolutely beautiful.
I prefer a certain green tractor, but the promo image works
for me. I am ready to go visit the Case dealer. Think I can
find one with that red pin stripping on the radiator frame?

[The Dirt]

Wayne, that IS a beauty, ain't she? It's my current wallpaper.

What are these? Lithographs?

Here's another...
It's Hev's wife Patty bringing him his jug of Cap'n Morgan to wet his whistle since he's working so hard getting the hay in.

[Tramp]

Maybe this will be of interest. It’s about design and beer.

http://waldo.villagesoup.com/opinion/st ... yID=142825

[Water Man]

A man and a woman who had never met before,
but who were both married to other people,
found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a trans-continental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room,

They were both very tired and fell asleep quickly, he in the upper berth and she in the lower.

At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying,.......... 'Ma'am,
I'm sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I'm awfully cold.'

'I have a better idea,' she replied 'Just for tonight,...... let's pretend that we're married.'

'Wow!......... That's a great idea!' he exclaimed.

'Good,' she replied. .............'Get your own ****** blanket.'

After a moment of silence, ......................he farted.

Kurt

[webenda]

"I buy many products at the grocery store because I like the visual design of the package."

Guilty here too. This was one of my favorites...


Also guilty of adding an empty can to my floor layout as a kid. (The price was right.)

[webenda]

Dirt,

I can smell the hay when I look at that image.

I wonder what they are going to do with all that green hay? When I helped my grandfather
on the farm, we had to pick up the windrows and stack them like this to dry before bailing.

The ground was too damp to dry in a windrow, even if we turned it daily. If we had bailed
it green, it would have mildewed.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Ohhhh, I get it - that is what was meant by the ol' axiom: "Make hay while the sun shines." I used to tell my urban (and urbane... ) curious high school students...at the risk of being jus' a humble "city-slicker" m'self..... that a farmer had to collect (my word for it... ) all his hay, getting it off the ground, while it was still sunny; otherwise, a rain would tamp it all down causing it to go-to-seed or rot. Eh? How'd I do?
Murph
Aawwww, man, this is one deeeverseeefied forum, yes sirrreeee. Yup. We be talkin' 'bout everything, not jus' trains, and I'm all the happier and all the better for it. Yes sir. (I mean, after all, how many times can a grown man watch a train go in a circle, let alone count how many rivets it has shoved up its tender, and then talk about it until the cows come home. A numbing ennui has to set in at some point, eh?) This place is refreshing.

[webenda]

How'd I do?

Murph,

Sounds correct to me.

...and then talk about it until the cows come home.

My grandfather raised both animals and crops. His cows were totally turd brains. They would not come home for milking. I had to go out and find them to make them go into the barn for milking, otherwise, they would stand out in the field at night bellowing because their udders hurt from being so full.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I never knew such a thing happened.
When vacationing in Upstate NY, I have noticed large numbers of cows standing around hillsides as dusk fell, but I guess I assumed ( ) they had the sense to walk home alone, unescorted, inspired to do so simply by the approaching chill of the night.

By the way,since we are on the subject of livestock, last autumn I saw one cow standing alone in a whole field of cows. It was awfully emaciated - alarmingly so - which made me wonder that if it were so sick, why it was allowed among the others? I mean, the flesh just hung on its bones and it looked rickety, ready to topple over. I never saw anything like it, and I have been visiting the Cortland, NY area for forty years. There was something very sad about that cow.

[2railjon]

Wonderful writing, Tramp!!!

I've designed two labels myself, both for Brazilian beers.

I proudly own one of those beer labels autographed by the above author/artist!!! It's going to be absolutely unique on my layout brewery!!! Thanks, Bro!

[The Dirt]

Murph, absolutely right. As I understand it, farmers try to get lucky with the weather, as a rain on cut-hay not only washes out nutrient-value, but sets the whole process back a day or two. As I’ve seen it, it’s usually ‘cut’ one day, ‘turned’ over the next to let the bottom dry, and baled on the third, or late afternoon on the second day if it was turned in the morning. I believe there’s not only a risk from rot/mildew, but a chance for spontaneous combustion if too damp, which could lead to disaster. When I help my father-in-law stack bales in his loft, we pile it with some looseness, for the purpose of some air circulation.

Wayne, good spot on the green hay. I guess it makes for a prettier picture, if not quite historically accurate. However, when it was stacked on a wagon back in the day, it also got put in the barn in loose piles, and maybe there wasn’t so much the issue with rot/mildew when it wasn’t compressed. I’ll bet Hev would know- maybe he’ll chime in.
When I mentioned how I enjoyed helping my FIL, not only for the work but also the “history/BS”, both he and the hay-man remember the days when it was done like in the picture. It would be brought to the barn, and a long-fingered hay-hook would lift scoops of hay up to the loft via a set of pulleys and a rope pulled by a horse, generally with a kid too young for the hard/dangerous work tending to the horse. They were laughing about times the kid would go too fast or too far, upon which an angry bellowing from the loft would insure that the kid would be more diligent with his ‘marks’ the next time.
Once in the loft, the hook would travel via wheels on tracks to it’s designated spot, where a yank on a trip-rope would dump the hay where it was intended.
Labor-intensive, in those days. Before that rig in the picture was available, the hay had to forked onto the wagon by one guy, and moved around by a second. At that slow rate, timing had to be of the essence!
I wonder if Hev might know what that rig was called.
Nowadays, with those round bales, the hay is hardly touched by man at all. Time-saving and convenient, but something is lost, even if only the comraderie of the moment.

[The Dirt]

Tramp...

I created a label based on what I felt were a series of dazzlingly innovative concepts that I came up with in a bar one afternoon after quite a few pints.

LOL, reminds me of some of Jon's best ideas!
_______________________

After finally managing to hack through the impenetrable plastic cocoon, the shaver turned out to be cheaply made in China, only worked intermittently, grew noisier, then basically disintegrated in the second week.

I waited 37 minutes to speak with customer service, spent another 25 explaining the multiple issues when I was put on hold for 10 more. Then the phone connection went dead.

Last I heard from them until they e-mailed me a survey on customer satisfaction.

LMFAO!!!

[Mitch]

Man, I remember throwing hay on a neighbors' farm when I was a kid. Back then, the McCormick baler used wire, and we were not fortunate enough to own leather gloves. Wire was damned hard on the hands.
Then came the age of baling twine. Not much of an improvement. I worked at Meadow Gold Farms (dairy and beef) and we made hay from several different fields totaling about 300 acres. Old GMC milk trucks were converted to flatbeds, the frames stretched, the doors removed, and me and 2 other guys would work together. We'd get the truck pointed in the right direction between the rows, shove it into creeper, and we'd walk beside it gathering bales from 2 rows deep on each side. 1 guy on the truck doin' the stacking. Every now and again, I'd just jump up on the running board to make a steering correction, or if goin' uphill, pull the throttle out just a little. Some of the bales would be so heavy, the damned strings would break when you'd go to pick it up, making a mess on the picked clean field. Sometimes only 1 string would break, and create a half-round Chinese fan of hay, which after the field was clean, we'd go back and manually retie and gather them up.
Then, with a full truckload, it'd be back to 1 of 2 barns, or 1 of 3 three sided roofed sheds that we stored the hay in.
Every trip back to the barn was good 'cause after unloading, there was the outside water hose for a chaff washdown, (clover was especially dirty) and Mrs. Pischa always had an igloo full of ice cold Koolaid. Life was good when I was 16, and the best part was everyday was payday. 12 hours work, $12 pay.

[webenda]

I waited 37 minutes to speak with customer service, spent another 25 explaining the multiple issues when I was put on hold for 10 more. Then the phone connection went dead.

Positively hilarious when it happens to someone else.