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....
This R&B vocal group from Detroit, Michigan,
USA, helped define soul music in the early 60s. The great legacy of
music left by the Falcons has unfortunately been obscured by the group’s
reputation as the genesis of so many great talents. The group has at
one time claimed as members Eddie Floyd (25 June 1935, Montgomery,
Alabama, USA), Wilson Pickett (b. 18 March 1941, Prattville, Alabama,
USA, d. 19 January 2006, Reston, Virginia, USA), Joe Stubbs (b. Joseph
Stubbles, 1942, USA, d. 19 January 1998, USA), brother of the Four Tops’
Levi Stubbs and later a member of the Contours and then the Originals,
Bonny ‘Mack’ Rice, the original singer of ‘Mustang Sally’, and
guitarists Lance Finnie and Robert Ward successively, whose bluesy
guitar work helped immeasurably to raise the reputation of the group.
The Falcons’ chart success was surprisingly slim, with only five
releases making the chart, the best-known being ‘You’re So Fine’, a
proto-soul number led by Stubbs that went to number 2 R&B (number 17
pop) in 1959, and ‘I Found A Love’, the incredibly torrid secular
gospel number led by Wilson Pickett that went to number 6 R&B
(number 75 pop) in 1962.
The original Falcons was
formed in 1955 and comprised lead Eddie Floyd, Bob Manardo (b. Robert
Manardo, 1937, d. 6 March 2004, Warren, USA), Arnett Robinson, Tom
Shetler, and Willie Schofield. Manardo and Shetler were only present on
‘Baby That’s It’/‘This Day’ before being drafted and volunteering for
the army respectively. In 1956, the group met Detroit producer Robert
West and for the next three years issued releases by the Falcons on
several labels, including his own Flick label, but without achieving any
national success. The group now featured Joe Stubbs, Bonny ‘Mack’ Rice
and guitarist Lance Finnie, and this classic line-up blended gospel
fervour to rhythm and blues harmony, as reflected in their ‘You’re So
Fine’ hit of 1959. They managed two more hits with Stubbs as lead with
‘Just For Your Love’ (number 26 R&B 1959) and ‘The Teacher’ (number
18 R&B 1960), before Wilson Pickett replaced Stubbs in 1960.
The
memorable ‘I Found A Love’, and several other Falcons records, featured
backing from the Dayton group the Ohio Untouchables, centred on the
great guitar of Robert Ward. In the 70s the Ohio Untouchables emerged as
the premier funk group the Ohio Players (Ward himself re-emerged from
25 years’ retirement in 1991 to release a well-received blues album).
The Falcons disbanded in 1963, but the name continued with another
Detroit ensemble, consisting of Carlis ‘Sonny’ Monroe, James Gibson,
Johnny Alvin and Alton Hollowell. This group made the R&B chart in
1966 with ‘Standing On Guard’.
Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985 was designed by Union Pacific and
built in 1943 by the American Locomotive Company. It is one of 105
Challengers built for Union Pacific between 1936 and 1943 and is the
only operating engine of its class in the world today – the largest and
most powerful operating steam locomotive.
No. 3985 last operated in "regular" train service in 1957. It was
retired in 1962 and stored in the roundhouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, until
1975 when it was placed on display near the Cheyenne depot. A group of
Union Pacific employees volunteered their services to restore the
locomotive to running condition in 1981.
The name Challenger was given to steam locomotives with a 4-6-6-4
wheel arrangement. This means that they have four wheels in the leading
"pilot" truck, which helps guide the locomotive into curves; two sets of
six "driving" wheels, and finally, four "trailing" wheels, which
support the rear of the engine and its massive firebox. Each set of
driving wheels has its own steam cylinder. In essence, the result is two
engines under one boiler.
The frame of the locomotive is "articulated," or hinged, to allow it
to go through curves. When watching the approaching locomotive go
through a curve, you can see the boiler swing out left or right
independently of the lower half of the engine, as the rear half of the
locomotive remains in a straight direction until its wheels and frame
are halfway through the curve.
The Challengers were designed for fast freight service, but
occasionally pulled passenger trains. No. 3985 originally burned coal
and pulled a tender with a 32-ton capacity. In 1990, it was converted to
use No. 5 oil. The top speed of No. 3985 is about 70 miles an hour.
Prior to the Missouri River Eagle/Sedalia Sesquicentennial Special
in 2010, No. 3985 had been shop-bound for routine maintenance since
2008. These videos show her first test runs after that down-time.
It was pretty dark out when I finally put the gang in for the night - only a little bit of pink light was left in the sky.....
This is what I heard when they were all in:
Charlie likes to line his girls up on the roosting bar in a certain order. They were making so much racket that I opened the door and took pictures. They HATED the flash on the camera! And it really, really ticked Charlie off!
Laverne is next to the wall - That's HIS spot!
He bites their feet when he wants them to move - Lucy is the only one that bites him back.
Lucy doesn't want to be on the end and bites Laverne.
Lucy knocks Laverne off the roost bar.
Poor Laverne sleeps at the end tonight!
See how much fun chickens are? You should get a couple of 'em too! :o)
The Rainbow roses were created by
Dutch flower company owner Peter VanDe Werken,who produced them by
developing a technique for injecting natural pigments into their stems
while they are growing to create a striking multicolored petal
effects. During his studies he specialized in biology, physics and
chemistry. In 1993 Peter started in a private nursery in Nederhemert, a
picturesque village in the river- area.
The dye are produced from natural plant extracts and absorbed by the flowers as they grow. A special
process then controls how much color reaches each petal- with
spectacular results.Rainbow roses are made by inserting dye into the
stem of the roses. The dyes are produced from natural plant extracts.
The dye is absorbed by the petals of the flower as they grow.
There a special process then controls how much color reaches each
petal. This process takes 12 and 24 hours, but how the different petal
turn out different color is the secret of Peter Van Werken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And here is a commercial for them......
