Dear Readers

My Charlie is gone.

He was killed a short time ago protecting the girls when a hawk or a falcon flew right into the pen.


I'm stopping the blog for the time being. There is just way too much heartache in my life right now.

I just want all of  you to know that I appreciate each and every one of you that have followed us here in Coopville for the past six years. You kindness, wonderful comments and encouragement have been a blessing to us and there will never be enough words to express our gratitude.

 

Love to all, 

Hubby &

Chickenmom

At the Hop!

Danny and the Juniors!

Fun! Fun! Fun!

:o)

Friday Night Steam

Found this charming old video:

The description of the video:

PeriscopeFilm

Published on Jul 1, 2015

"The Story of Trains" presents the story of America's railroads as they appeared in the 1940s. This patriotic movie shows steam and diesel locomotives, as well as electric railroads and mining trains, to present the history of American railroading. It's full of fantastic images of railroad depots including Union Station in Los Angeles (at the 6:34 mark), turntables carrying massive freight locomotives, one of Southern Pacific's G-4 Locomotives 4443 pulling the Pacific Daylight, harbor activities (18 minute mark) and much more. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

 

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We would take to train to visit my Grandparents in New Hampshire

 and my

 Aunt & Uncle in Florida.

Such wonderful times and wonderful memories!

 

These are the trains I remember - how about you? 

:o)

Today's funny :o)

A fifteen year-old boy came home with a Porsche and his parents began to
scream, "Where did you get that car???!!!"  He calmly told them, "I bought
it today."

"With what money?" demanded his parents. "We know what a Porsche costs."

"Well," said the boy, "this one cost me fifteen dollars."

So the parents began to yell even louder. "Who would sell a car like that for fifteen dollars?" they said.

"It was the lady up the street," said the boy."  I don't know her name--they just moved in. She saw me ride past on my bike and asked me if I wanted  to buy a Porsche for fifteen dollars."

"Oh No," moaned the mother, "she must be a child abuser. Who knows what she will do next? John, you go right up there and see what's going on."

So the boy's father walked up the street to the house where the lady lived and found her out in the yard calmly planting petunias! He introduced himself as the father of the boy to whom she had sold a Porsche for fifteen dollars and demanded to know why she did it.

"Well," she said, "this morning I got a phone call from my husband. I​
thought he was on a business trip, but it seems he has run off to Hawaii with his secretary and doesn't intend to come back. He asked me to sell his new Porsche and send him the money.  So I did."

:o)

Lets go for a ride!

Join us on our travels yesterday!

The moon was still shinning when I let the gang out:

Frost on the garage roof - Yup - it's been cold!

Sheep:

Piles of wood:

A winding brook:

A big draft horse:

An old barn:

Pretty silos:

I would love to renovate this place:

Our local airport:

Coming in!

The runway:

Still waiting for this one to fall over:

Good fishing here:

Round bales:

Heading home:

Local geese:

More silos:

Yay - Coopville!

The gang scratching in the leaves:

'Hope you enjoyed the scenery!

:o)

Q

How 'bout some "Uptown Funk"???

Enjoy!

:o)

Today's funny :o)

:o)

Signs of Spring!

Gina and India taking a snooze in the sunshine:

A Blue bird!!!

Rocky stealing the last of the birdseed:

A robin:

And another one:

Oldest son stopped by with his hot rod:

Our neighbor had a bear rip out her bird feeder yesterday - time to put them away until next Winter!

:o)

Betty update

She's gone -


 -  found her in the nest box this morning - she was barely breathing, so I held her and kept her warm until she went. Hubby and I buried her behind the stone wall with the others.

 

 

I'll miss her......

:o(

Today's funny :o)

Ahhhh! Now under my chin.......

:o)

Betty....

..... is still here, but getting weaker.

When I let them out Sunday morning, the others just pushed her out and she just stayed where she fell. Charlie did his stupid little dance around her and tried  to get her up. It was too cold out yesterday morning so I let her come in the house to warm up a bit:




She took some water through and eyedropper and ate a little bit of feed. Then she took a nice, long nap.

When it got warmer out, I put her back in the pen and let the others out. She got up and followed them, but slowly:

She scratched around for a bit and then made a nest in the leaves and took another nap:

Later on, I picked her up and carried her back to the pen and the others followed.  She slept most of the afternoon and walked into the coop by herself with the rest of the gang at dusk.

She sleeps in one of the nesting boxes. She's not in any pain or having trouble breathing, so I really don't want to put her down. I'll just let Nature take her course and hope for the best.

She's just a sweet little thing - loves to be held and petted. 

:o)

Good morning!

Hubby and I both really need a little down time.......

...... will be back next week!

:o)

What I find when.....

                                            ..... I can't sleep:

Christmas tree worms(Spirobranchus giganteus): Beautiful tube-building polychaete worms Spirobranchus giganteus, commonly known as Christmas tree worms, are tube-building polychaete worms belonging to the family Serpulidae. Spirobranchus giganteus is commonly found embedded in entire heads of massive corals, such as stony corals like Porites and brain corals. As sedentary inhabitants of coral reefs, Christmas tree worms feed primarily by filter feeding. They use their brightly colored radioles to filter microorganisms from the water, which are then deposited straight into the worm's digestive tract.

:o)

Today's funny :o)

:o)

Is Spring just around the corner?

For the past few days the geese have been returning North:

(They fly so high - you can just barely see them at the bottom of the pick  in the middle)

It is always a welcoming sign of the changing seasons!

Coopville still has some snow left, though:

Betty is still alive,eating and drinking, but weak:

Charlie hasn't been his old self either....

.... so I made him his special treat - chicken, tomatoes and grapes:

He didn't eat any of it.  :o(

He's going to be eight in may - I guess that's pretty old for a cranky rooster!

:o)

Easing Listening for a Sunday Afternoon

The Irish Tenors

Come over the hills, my bonnie Irish lass

 Come over the hills to your darling 

You choose the rose, love, and I'll make the vow 

And I'll be your true love forever

 Red is the rose that in your garden grows 

Fair is the lily of the valley

 Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

 But my love is fairer than any

 'Twas down by Killarney's green woods that we strayed 

The moon and the stars they were shining 

The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair

 And she swore she'd be my love forever

 Red is the rose that in your garden grows

 Fair is the lily of the valley 

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

 But my love is fairer than any

 It's not for the parting that my sister pains

 It's not for the grief of my mother

 'Tis all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass

 That my heart is breaking forever

 Red is the rose that in your garden grows

 Fair is the lily of the valley 

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

 But my love is fairer than any 

 My love is fairer than any

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy!

:o)

At the Hop!

Elvis!

:o)

Friday Night Steam

Want to see the innards of a steam shovel?

Video by:

cyrex686


1922 Erie Model "B" Steam Shovel at HCEA Canada's 2014 "Last Blast" event at the Simcoe County Museum near Barrie, Ontario. The Canopy was off, so you cold see a lot more then usual when you see a steam shovel operating. I tried to get both sides and zoom in on the controls and mechanics to give a better idea of how it works. HCEA Canada has regular events if you'd like to see this and other machines in action: Two at The Simcoe County Museum are on their site, and, while they have a presence at many steam shows, I believe they have a larger presence at the Blyth Steam Show. HCEA Canada: http://www.hceacanada.org Simcoe County Museum: http://museum.simcoe.ca/

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Source: https://www.revolvy.com/page/Steam-shovel

100-ton steam shovel mounted on railroad tracks, cc. 1919

 

 

A derelict steam shovel in Alaska; major components visible include the steam boiler, water tank, winch, main engine, boom, dipper stick, crowd engine, wheels, and excavator bucket.

A steam shovel consists of:

• a bucket, usually with a toothed edge, to dig into the earth
• a "dipper" or "dipper stick" connecting the bucket to the boom
• a "boom" mounted on the rotating platform, supporting the dipper and its control wires
• a boiler
• a water tank and coal bunker
• steam engines and winches
• operator's controls
• a rotating platform on a truck, on which everything is mounted
• wheels (or sometimes caterpillar tracks or railroad wheels)
• a house (on the platform) to contain and protect 'the works'

The shovel has several individual operations: it can raise or luff the boom, rotate the house, or extend the dipper stick with the boom or crowd engine, and raise or lower the dipper stick.
When digging at a rock face, the operator simultaneously raises and extends the dipper stick to fill the bucket with material. When the bucket is full, the shovel is rotated to load a railway car or motor truck. The locking pin on the bucket flap is released and the load drops away. The operator lowers the dipper stick, the bucket mouth self-closes, the pin relocks automatically and the process repeats.
Steam shovels usually had a three-man crew: engineer, fireman and ground man. There was much jockeying to do to move shovels: rails and timber blocks to move; cables and block purchases to attach; chains and slings to rig; and so on. On soft ground, shovels used timber mats to help steady and level the ground. The early models were not self-propelled, rather they would use the boom to manoeuvre themselves.

:o)