Tuesday, May 31, 2016

I'll take half....

Spanish Galleon:

A key and lock set

An apple:

A baseball:

Aircraft engine:

Toothpaste:

A nautilus shell:

An undersea cable:

A can of chicken noodle soup:

:o)

Laverne had been acting under the weather since Friday. She was not eating, not even her favorite treats. She would only sip some water throughout the day and would be the first one in the coop at night. When she was out in the yard the only spot she stayed was under the deck.

It was very hot for a few days last week and I thought the heat must have gotten to her. Maude and Charlie were fine.

On Saturday she hardly moved and just stood in one spot and kept swinging her head back and forth.
NOW I realized what was wrong with her! Duh... An impacted crop!

Source: The Chicken Chick @

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com

That's the little pouch where all the food goes until it's digested and comes out the other end as poop. Well, the old girl's sure was blocked - big time. Even though she is old, (and me, too) it was hard catching her. Bought her back to the pen, sat down and felt her crop. It was huge and squishy like a water filled balloon. Locked her in and went back to the house to get some water, a bit of olive oil and an eye dropper. In the meantime Charlie is going berserk in the yard because one of his girls is missing. Now Maude is squawking, too.

When I picked Laverne up again and squirted some olive oil and water down her throat, she threw up a most disgusting, smelly liquid all over me. She was fussing, so as I held her snugly and started to massage her crop. More gunk came up. I must have sat in the pen for at least an hour just doing that. I guess she felt better as she fell asleep for a while. When I put her back down, she had a long drink of water.

She seems fine now, was the first one out of the coop yesterday morning. She has a little bit of the runs (because of the olive oil) but is eating and drinking normally. I hope that was the end of her problem. Don't know what she picked up to eat, maybe one of those peeper frogs that are all over the place.

She's a nice old gal and I would hate to lose her - even though she doesn't lay eggs anymore.

Sometimes life around Coopville really isn't boring.....

Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

War or Conflict	Date	Total U.S. Deaths			Wounded	Total U.S. Casualties	Missing
War or Conflict	Date	Combat	Other	Total	Wounded	Total U.S. Casualties	Missing
American Revolutionary War	1775–1783	8,000	17,000	25,000	25,000	50,000
Northwest Indian War	1785–1796	1,056+		1,056+	825+	1,881+
Quasi-War	1798–1800	20	494	514	42	556
First Barbary War	1801–1805	35	39	74	64	138
Other actions against pirates	1800–1900	36	158+^:42	194+	100+	294+
Chesapeake–Leopard Affair	1807	3	0	3	18	21
War of 1812	1812–1815	2,260	12,740~	15,000~	4,505	20,000~
Nuka Hiva Campaign	1813–1814	5	0	5	11	16
Creek War	1813-1814			575
Second Barbary War	1815	4	134		10	148
First Seminole War	1817–1818	47	0	47	36	83
First Sumatran Expedition	1832	2		2	11	13
Black Hawk War	1832	47	258	305	85	390
Second Seminole War	1835–1842	328	1,207	1,535
Mexican–American War	1846–1848	1,733	11,550	13,283	4,152	17,435
Cayuse War	1847-1856	40	1	41	74	115
Rogue River Wars	1851-1856	190	6	196	293	489
Yakima War	1855-1856	32	2	34	92	126
Third Seminole War	1855–1858	26		26	27	53
Second Opium War	1856-1860	12		12	39	51
Coeur d'Alene War	1858	36		36	60	96
Civil War: total	1861–1865	214,938	400K-500K	750,000~
Union		140,414	224,097	364,511	281,881	646,392
Confederate		74,524-94,000	225,000~	299,524~
Dakota War of 1862 (Little Crow's War)	1862	70–113		70–113	150	220–263
Shimonoseki Straits	1863	4–5	0	4–5	6	10
Snake Indian War	1864–1868	30		30	128	158
Indian Wars	1865–1898	919			1,025
Red Cloud's War	1866–1868	126		126	100	226
Korea (Shinmiyangyo)	1871	3		3	9	12
Modoc War	1872–1873	56		56	88	144
Great Sioux War	1875–1877	314		314	211	525
Nez Perce War	1877	134		134	157	291
Bannock War	1878	12	0	12	22	34
Ute War	1879	15	0	15	52	67
Sheepeater Indian War	1879	1		1	10	11
Samoan crisis	1887-1889	0	62	62		62
Ghost Dance War	1890–1891	35		35	64	99
Sugar Point Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians	1898	7	0	7	16	23	0
Spanish–American War	1898	385	2,061	2,446	1,622	4,068
Philippine–American War	1898–1913	1,020	3,176	4,196	2,930	7,126
Boxer Rebellion	1900–1901	68	63	131	204	335	0
Santo Domingo Affair	1904	1	0	1	2	3
United States occupation of Nicaragua	1910, 1912-1925, 1927-1933	90	69	159	290	449
Mexican Revolution	1914–1919	120	61	181	319	500
Occupation of Haiti	1915–1934	10	138	148	26+	184+
World War I	1917–1918	53,402	63,114	116,516	204,002	320,518	3,350
North Russia Campaign	1918–1920			424
American Expeditionary Force Siberia	1918–1920	160	168	328	52+	380+
China	1918; 1921; 1926–1927; 1930; 1937	5			78	83
World War II	1941–1945	291,557	113,842	405,399	670,846	1,076,245	30,314
Greek Civil War	1944-1949	1	5	6		6
Chinese Civil War	1945–1950	14	150	164	51	215
Berlin Blockade	1948–1949		31
Korean War	1950–1953	33,686	2,830	36,516	92,134	128,650	4,759
U.S.S.R. Cold War	1947–1991	32			12	44
China Cold War	1950–1972	16				16
Vietnam War	1955–1975	47,424	10,785	58,209	153,303	211,454	2,489
1958 Lebanon crisis	1958	1	5	6	1+	7+
Bay of Pigs Invasion	1961	4		4		4
Cuban Missile Crisis	1962	1	19	20		20
Dominican Republic	1965–1966	27	20	47	283	330
USS Liberty incident	1967	34			171
Iran	1980	0	8	8	4	12	0
El Salvador Civil War	1980–1992	22	15	37	35
Beirut deployment	1982–1984	256		266	169
Persian Gulf escorts	1987–1988	39	0	39	31
Invasion of Grenada	1983	18	1	19	119
1986 Bombing of Libya	1986	2	0	2	0	2
Invasion of Panama	1989	23		40	324
Gulf War	1990–1991	149	145	294	849	1,143	0
Operation Provide Comfort	1991-1996	1	18	19	4	23
Somalia	1992–1993	29	14	43	153
Haiti	1994–1995	1		4	3
Colombia	1994–present	0	8	8
Bosnia-Herzegovina	1995–2004	1	11	12
Kosovo War	1999–Present	4	14	18	N/A	18+	2
Afghanistan War	2001–present	1,742	471	2,229	18,675	20,904	0
Iraq War	2003–2011	3,527	961	4,488	32,222	36,710	2
Operation Inherent Resolve	2014-	2	7	3	1	4	1
Total	1775–present	664,440+	673,929+	1,354,664+	1,498,237+	2,852,901+	40,917+

Honor and Remember

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Easy Listening for a Sunday Afternoon

The good stuff.....

Saturday, May 28, 2016

At the Hop

Johnny Horton

Battle of New Orleans

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

[Chorus:]
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.
And there must have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

[Chorus]

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye
We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well.
Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... well

[Chorus]

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.**

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

[Chorus]

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.**

Friday, May 27, 2016

Friday Night Steam

Climax locomotive

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fruit Growers Number 3 on display at Fairplex in Pomona, California.

A Climax locomotive is a type of geared steam locomotive in which the two steam cylinders are attached to a transmission located under the center of the boiler. This transmits power to driveshafts running to the front and rear trucks.

Rush S. Battles patented the basic design in 1891. Battles' design had horizontal cylinders connected to the drive shaft through a 2-speed transmission. The drive shaft passed just above the axle centers, requiring the use of hypoid bevel gears to transfer power to each axle. Unlike the later and somewhat similar Heisler design, there were no side rods on the trucks and all gearing was open, exposed to the elements. Battles' patent describes the core design that became the Class B Climax, and his patent illustrations show the name Climax emblazoned on the locomotive cab.

Charles D. Scott, an inventor who had previously proposed a less successful geared steam locomotive, patented improved versions of Battles' trucks in 1892 and 1893. Scott's 1892 patent was the basis of the Class A Climax. His 1892 patent included gear-case enclosures.

All Climax locomotives were built by the Climax Manufacturing Company (later renamed to the Climax Locomotive Works), of Corry, Pennsylvania. In addition, an agency and service facility was established in Seattle, Washington to sell and maintain locomotives for west coast buyers. Production began in 1888 and the last Climax locomotive was produced in 1928. Between 1000 and 1100 were built.
Many loggers considered the Climax superior to the Shay in hauling capability and stability, particularly in a smaller locomotive, although the ride was characteristically rough for the crew.

Climaxes were built in three distinct classes:

Class A

These featured a steam engine unit with two vertical cylinders mounted in the center of the locomotive. Class A Climaxes had a frame similar to a flatcar with wooden boxcar-like bodywork built up above it to protect the crew and fuel from the elements—this could be more or less covering between locomotive to locomotive. The front half of the locomotive, in front of the engine unit, contained the boiler. In smaller examples this may have been a vertical boiler, while in larger ones a tee boiler was employed. Class A Climaxes were small locomotives, generally under seventeen tons. Class A Climaxes, unlike Heisler and Shay locomotives, had two-speed gearboxes.

Class B

Looking more like a regular locomotive, the Class B Climax had the cylinders either side of the boiler, permitting it to be longer and larger than possible with the Class A arrangement. The two cylinders drove a transverse shaft that was geared to the longitudinal driveshaft in the middle; on early Class B climaxes, the cylinders were horizontal and pointing forwards, while later ones had the cylinders angled upwards at about 30 degrees from horizontal. Class B Climaxes weighed approximately 17 tons at minimum to a maximum of approximately 60 tons.

Class C

As in the Shay locomotive, a class C was a three-truck design, the additional powered truck being beneath a fuel-carrying tender articulated to the locomotive. All Class C locomotives had inclined cylinders. A fictional character from Thomas & Friends, named Ferdinand, is a Climax class C.

Survivors

Approximately 20 Climax locomotives survive in North America, of which about five are operational. Two survive in Australia: No. 1694, restored and operational since 8 September 2013, at the Puffing Billy Railway, in Belgrave, and No. 1653, on display at Hobart, Tasmania.

The New Zealand Climaxes are: No. 522, stored at Tokomaru, No. 1203, stored in Shantytown near Greymouth, No. 1317, under static restoration at Te Awamutu, and No. 1650, as of 2013 under restoration at Pukemiro. Hence four of the seven B-class Climax locos delivered to New Zealand have survived

The Climax locomotive at the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park in West Virginia is currently being restored by the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association.

The White Mountain Central Railroad runs a Climax as their primary locomotive.

The "Durbin Rocket", of the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad in Durbin, West Virginia, is hauled by a Climax on its regular excursions.

Hillcrest Lumber Co. No. 9, preserved at the BC Forest Discovery Centre, Duncan, British Columbia

The Corry Historical Museum in Corry, Pennsylvania has a Climax on display in its own exhibit room inside the museum, with the locomotive sitting on a section of track. The museum is open from 14:00 to 16:00 on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and admission is free.

Two Climax locomotives are preserved in Canada, both at the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan, British Columbia. Shawnigan Lake Lumber Co. No. 2 is a 25-ton Class B locomotive, and was built in 1910 as shop number 1057. Hillcrest Lumber Co. No. 9 was built to a larger, 50-ton Class B design in 1915, and is Climax shop number 1359.

A number of Climaxes, especially Class A, were later converted to diesel or gasoline power, and some still exist in this form, using the original frame and drive mechanism.

Today's funny :o)

This 'N That

Still too tired to do anything useful.... So just some pics:

Storm clouds:

One lone vulture:

More clouds:

This is a "peeper". The gang loves to find them! Yummy!

What's this? Another hen?

Hubby spray painting the glider. It took 3 cans of paint to finish it.

The first coat of paint:

Hopefully EVERYTHING will get done by the weekend....if it doesn't rain!

:o)

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Fun time!

O.K. - hints on these!

A summertime visitor!

Found in the woods

This one is for Barb!

Might find him in the woods, too!

We all need some more!

It is huge!

'Hope you had fun. I just KNOW you got 'em all!

:o)

Today's funny :o)

:o)

Busy, busy, busy!

Yesterday was HOT! Hubby got the filthy deck power washed.

It was so yucky and dirty!

It hasn't been painted in three years and oh, does it ever need it!

He was on a roll, so he did the whole house too!

Lucky me - I got to do the coop, pen and run!

Raked and swept out the coop....

...and the pen. There were mushrooms growing under all the hay!

Power washed the entire coop with disinfectant.

Power washed layers and layers of rock hard poop:

It took a couple of hours for everything to dry well enough to sprinkle this down everywhere.

Fresh shavings in the pen

and the coop:

(Even the coop windows and screens got washed)

Some precious straw was scattered about. The nest boxes and the coop got most of it.

Then lots and lots of nice, sweet smelling hay!

More hay:

A late afternoon meal in a clean pen!

Today we paint the deck. If I have any energy left I'll do the coop.

If not, I don't mind at all waiting to do it another day!

:o)

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Who was Walter E. Diemer?

dsf

Walter E. Diemer (January 8, 1904 – January 9, 1998) was an accountant and inventor of bubble gum.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Diemer was working as an accountant at Fleer in 1926 when the company president sought to cut costs by making their own gum base. The company's founder, Frank Henry Fleer, had previously made a batch of bubble gum in 1906 which he called "Blibber Blubber", but it was too sticky and easily broke.

Although an accountant by trade, Diemer liked to experiment with gum recipes in his spare time. In doing so, he accidentally stumbled upon a unique recipe. The gum was pink because it was the only food coloring in the factory, which is the reason most bubble gum today is pink.

Compared to standard chewing gum, the gum was less sticky, would not stick to the face, and yet stretched more easily. Diemer saw the possibilities, and using a salt water taffy wrapping machine, wrapped one hundred pieces of his creation to test market in a local mom-and-pop candy store. Priced at one penny a piece, the gum sold out in one day.

Fleer began marketing the new gum as "Dubble Bubble" and Diemer himself taught salesmen how to blow bubbles as a selling point for the gum, helping them to demonstrate how Dubble Bubble differed from all other chewing gums. Sold at the price a penny a piece, sales of Dubble Bubble surpassed US$1.5 million in the first year. However, Diemer did not patent his invention and competition soon arose as bubble gum became a popular and inexpensive treat during the Great Depression.

According to his second wife, Florence, Walter Diemer never received royalties for his invention but he did not mind. She also said he oversaw construction of bubble gum plants in Philadelphia and Barcelona, Spain, and traveled around the world marketing the gum. He stayed with Fleer for decades, eventually reaching the position of senior vice president as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Fleer Corporation. He retired in 1970, and remained on the board for 15 more years thereafter. Following the death of his first wife, Adelaide, in 1990, Diemer rode around his Pennsylvania retirement village in a big tricycle, distributing bubble gum to children.

Diemer died of congestive heart failure in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a day after his 94th birthday. Saturday Night Live joked that his body was found stuck under a movie theatre seat.