Mostly about my backyard chickens. (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....
As I was putting the gang in for the night on Sunday I spied a RAT scurrying from under the coop to the Rubber Maid bin where I store the hay in bags! We have been up here for nine years and that was the first one I have ever seen!!! We see mice once in a while, but NEVER rats. We went to Tractor Supply on Monday. Hubby put one under the coop, one in the hay bin and one in the pen after Charlie and the girls were locked in the coop for the night.
Yesterday morning, none of the traps were sprung.
So Hubby took all the cinder blocks away from the coop, cleaned underneath it and put up
deer netting all around the bottom
We cleaned up the back and got rid of all the leaves back there. It's all nice and clean now!
(Just in case it was hiding under there!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news: The girls sure do love the poopie bin!
Charlie wasn't interest in joining them this time!
The gang enjoying the sunny weather -they better enjoy it - snow is forecast for Friday!!!!!
Born in Corning, New York, he began playing the guitar at the age of five. In 1951, his family moved to Tucson, and then to Coolidge, Arizona. At the age of 16 he obtained a Chet Atkins model Gretsch guitar and formed a duo, Jimmy and Duane, with his friend Jimmy Delbridge (who later recorded as Jimmy Dell). While performing at local radio station KCKY, they met disc jockey Lee Hazlewood, who produced the duo's single, "Soda Fountain Girl", recorded and released in 1955 in Phoenix. Hazlewood then produced Sanford Clark's 1956 hit, "The Fool", featuring guitarist Al Casey,
while Eddy and Delbridge performed and appeared on radio stations in
Phoenix before joining Buddy Long's Western Melody Boys, playing country music in and around the city.
Eddy devised a technique of playing lead on his guitar's bass strings to produce a low, reverberant "twangy"
sound. In November 1957, Eddy recorded an instrumental, "Movin' n'
Groovin'", co-written by Eddy and Hazlewood. As the Phoenix studio had
no echo chamber, Hazlewood bought a 2,000-gallon water storage tank
which he used as an echo chamber to accentuate the "twangy" guitar sound. In 1958, Eddy signed a recording contract
with Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood to record in Phoenix at the Audio
Recorders studio. Sill and Hazlewood leased the tapes of all the singles
and albums to the Philadelphia-based Jamie Records.
"Movin' n' Groovin'" reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1958; the opening riff, borrowed from Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," was itself copied a few years later by the Beach Boys on "Surfin' U.S.A.". The follow-up, "Rebel 'Rouser", featured overdubbed saxophone by Los Angeles session musician Gil Bernal, and yells and handclaps by doo-wop group the Rivingtons. The tune became Eddy's breakthrough hit, reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100chart. It sold over one million copies, earning Eddy his first gold disc.
Eddy had a succession of hit records over the next few years, and his band members, including Steve Douglas, saxophonist Jim Horn and keyboard player Larry Knechtel would go on to work as part of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. According to writer Richie Unterberger, "The singles – 'Peter Gunn', 'Cannonball', 'Shazam', and 'Forty Miles of Bad Road'
were probably the best – also did their part to help keep the raunchy
spirit of rock & roll alive, during a time in which it was in danger
of being watered down."On January 9, 1959, Eddy's debut album, Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel,
was released, reaching number 5, and remaining on the album charts for
82 weeks. On his fourth album, 'Songs of Our Heritage' (1960), each
track featured him playing acoustic guitar or banjo. Eddy's biggest hit came with the theme to the movie Because They're Young in 1960, which featured a string arrangement, and reached a chart peak of number 4 in America and number 2 in the UK in September 1960. It became his second million selling disc. Eddy's records were equally successful in the UK and in 1960, readers of the UK's NME voted him World's Number One Musical Personality, ousting Elvis Presley.
In 1960, Eddy signed a contract directly with Jamie Records,
bypassing Sill and Hazlewood. This caused a temporary rift between Eddy
and Hazlewood. The result was that for the duration of his contract with
Jamie, Eddy produced his own singles and albums.
Duane Eddy and the Rebels became a frequent act on The Dick Clark Show.
The gang was let out of the pen an wandered all over the place!
This is Louise - she ALWAYS looks startled!
'
First time this year without a blanket!
Just some pine cones - 4 of 'em on a branch:
Those silos belong to the riding academy down the road - when the
leaves come on the trees, I won't be able to see them:
Still patches of snow left:
Charlie & Betty looking for goodies:
Was good to finally get to stay outside for a while - don't know how long this break in the weather is going to last, but I'm sure going to take advantage of it!
It is easy to walk down a pretty sand beach, with waves sloshing back
and forth, and imagine that there is little life along the edge of the
sea. There is no vegetation growing – there is just sand.
Actually, the margin of the sea is alive with a host of organisms who
have figured out how to exploit the unique environment and its
seemingly invisible wealth of organic foods.
One of the masters is the mole crab, Emerita portoricensis. Not the
large edible variety to which we are accustomed, this inch or so long
critter looks more like a shiny bullet, being smooth shelled and tapered
at both ends. They do not bite or pinch humans, and they cannot walk.
Their limbs are adapted for burrowing and swimming.
Mole
crabs make their living in what is called the surf zone where waves die
as they move up the beach face, then slide back into the sea. When
there is no water, the sand seems impenitrable. A person can walk across
it and not sink. When the water washes across the sand, any slight
aggitation easily separates sand particles and the sand becomes a thick
fluid. This is called thixotropy, and allows access to the sand as a
place to hide as well as a place to dine.
This is where the mole crab excells. As the water momentarily covers
the sand, mole crabs appear in the water, swim about frantically looking
for a new dining room, and disappear beneath the surface, leaving only
their antennae exposed on the surface to funnel food particles into
their mouths. If one squats and looks down the beach face, the antennae
appear as little Vs along the sandy surface.
Mole
crabs normally feed on plankton and other small organisms in the water,
but they are also known to eat the toxically armed tentacles of
Portuguese man o’ war, a jellyfish whose stings are very painful to
humans..
Mole crabs are an excellent example of an animal that has perfectly
adapted to living in a specialized environment. Be sure to look for them
on your next visit to the beach.
As I got on a city bus and found a vacant seat
I thought I saw my future bride walking up the street
I shouted to the driver, "Hey conductor, you must slow down
I think I see her, please, let me off this bus"
Nadine, honey is that you?
Oh, Nadine, honey is that you?
Seems like every time I see you darling
You got something else to do
I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back
And started walkin' toward a coffee colored Cadillac
I was pushin' through the crowd tryin' to get to where she's at
And I was campaign shouting like a southern diplomat
Nadine, honey is that you?
Oh, Nadine, honey where are you?
Seems like every time I catch up with you
You're up to something new
Downtown searching for her looking all around
Saw her getting in a yellow cab, heading up town
I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybody's tab
Flipped a twenty dollar bill told him, ‽Catch that yellow cabâ€
Nadine, honey is that you?
Oh, Nadine, honey is that you?
Seems like every time I catch up with you
You're up to something new
She moves around like a wave of summer breeze
Go, driver, go, go, catch her for me please
Moving through the traffic like a mounted Cavalier
Leanin' out the taxi window tryin' to make her hear
Nadine, honey is that you?
Oh, Nadine, honey is that you?
Seems like every time I see you darling
You're up to something new
C&O 614 has the opportunity to show her stuff during the Fall
spectaculars in 1996-98, running on track speed on the former Erie
mainline between Hoboken NJ and Port Jervis NY, typically 22-24 cars
with NO diesel assist!.
Chesapeake & Ohio 614 is a 4-8-4steam locomotive built by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, in June 1948 for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
(C&O) as a member of the J3a class. As one of the last commercially
built steam locomotives in the United States, the locomotive was built
with the primary purpose of hauling long, heavy, high speed express passenger trains for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway such as the George Washington and the Fast Flying Virginian. Retired from active service in the late 1950s, the 614 was preserved and placed on display at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1979, the locomotive was restored to operating condition and was
used for extensive mainline excursion service from the 1970s until the
late 1990s. Today the locomotive is on temporary display at the C&O
Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia awaiting a potential return to steam.
Background
Most railroads called their 4-8-4s "Northerns," which is short for the railroad first using the 4-8-4 type, Northern Pacific Railroad.
The workers of the C&O could not see naming these locomotives
"Northerns" as the railroad was based in the southeast. The famous Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a major resort on the C&O main line, was the inspiration for the name "Greenbrier" applied to these 4-8-4s.
C&O 614 on display in Clifton Forge, VA.
The C&O had a total of 12 4-8-4s, with the first five numbered
600-604 built in 1935, with the designation J-3. In 1942, two more were
ordered from Lima numbered 605-606. In 1948, the design changed slightly
and the 610-614 were produced, with the J-3-A designation. In 1952, 614
was retired from service and sent to a storage track in a Kentucky
roundhouse where she sat for more than two decades. During the time she
sat, 614 was renumbered to 611 when there was a power shortage on the
C&O as to alleviate any confusion with a leased 4-8-4 that was also
numbered 614.
Excursion service
In 1976, 614 was sent to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland and was cosmetically restored.
During 1979, the 614 was sold to Ross E. Rowland Jr. She was restored
over the next 18 months with a cost of $1.5 million. During the
restoration, 614 was given an auxiliary tender, doubling her water
capacity to 50,000 gallons. This allowed the 614 to run for longer times
without having to refuel as much. The Chessie Safety Express was 614's
first major run, bringing her a bit of spotlight in the process. After
the successful system tour, 614 was kept in Hagerstown, Maryland
until 1985. American Coal Enterprise was developing a modern steam
locomotive to be used as an alternative to rising oil costs by burning
coal, known as the ACE 3000 Project. The 614 was modified for better
performance under the guidance of David Wardale, and fitted with testing
equipment to measure the performance of the engine. For several weeks
in January and February 1985, 614 (now 614T, symbolizing it as testing)
hauled coal trains between Huntington and Hinton, West Virginia.
The 614's fuel consumption costs were actually lower than most diesel
locomotives operating at that time. Throughout 1996 to 1998, 614 pulled
many successful excursions between Hoboken, NJ and Port Jervis, NY
C&O 614 engine cab.
In 1992, Rowland's vision of the 21st Century Limited was
taking shape. To give the public an idea of the train, one side of 614
was decorated in a futuristic way with a blue streamlined shrouding and
centered headlight. In 1995, 614 was moved to the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad in Pennsylvania for a complete overhaul. It was then used for a series of popular excursions between Hoboken, New Jersey and Port Jervis, New York in conjunction with New Jersey Transit (NJT) between 1996 and 1998.
Current status
614 was required to pull 26 cars
at 79 mph on some sections, and maintain speed up several hills. During
this time, 614 was equipped with cab signals, 26L brakes, speed control
and an MU stand. The 614 was moved to storage on the Reading and Northern Railroad in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania.
In 2000. Rowland put 614 up for auction at the NJT maintenance
facility, but no buyers were interested. The locomotive is still
maintained by Iron Horse Enterprises, the most recent servicing of the
locomotive being in 2006.
In 2010, discussions began between Rowland and Jim Justice, owner of
the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. The resort
owner had been interested in running steam-powered excursion trains
from Greenbrier to Washington DC. To be known as the "Greenbrier
Express", Justice planned to use steam and diesel power in the project,
but would have needed cooperation from CSX Transportation, the Buckingham Branch Railroad and Amtrak. In January 2011, 614 was moved to the Virginia Museum of Transportation for its Thoroughbreds of Steam
exhibit. In May 2011, 614 was again moved to the C&O Railway
Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Virginia. From there it went to
Clifton Forge, Virginia where it was repainted in preparation for
display for the Greenbrier Presidential Express.
Unfortunately, the Greenbrier Express project was cancelled in May 2012
due to lack of funding and capacity problems on the CSX portion of the
route, where a lack of passing sidings makes it difficult for Eastbound
trains to gain headway against the flow of Westbound empty coal trains.
The diesels and passenger cars were auctioned off, and 614 continues to
sit on display at Clifton Forge. The website for 614 states that once an
opportunity to run the engine is finalized, Iron Horse Enterprises will
invest the necessary funds to overhaul the locomotive for operation.
She even has her own web site: (and be sure to watch the video)!
http://www.co614.com/
:o)
UPDATE: -
Terry has a great video of this beauty posted on his blog: http://jterryt.blogspot.com/ And while you are there, take a wander around his blog - lots and lots of good stuff there!!! :o)