Final Steam O Rama Post Including Antique Trucks

Holly actually started to look at some of the things that were for sale like TRUCKS and TRACTORS and she is not a good influence on me. One thing stopped me from buying something though...no money!

This truck wasnt even part of the show. We were ooohing and aaahing over it and when we asked about it the old guy that owned it looked at us like we were daft and told us it was just his truck and he had towed his trailer to the show with it...gotta love the Ozarks!

I am not really sure what this is actually, its self propelled and takes in hay like a baler but I couldnt figure out how it would bale.

If you remember from a post last year we have an old grader like this out behind the barn, just smaller, and this makes me want to start preserving it.

These old tractors with the loaders of the time sure make me appreciate our Kubotas loader.

The massive amount of tractors and machinery at this event is hard to project.

Look at the skinny steel rear wheels on this old Hart Parr Oliver and then look at the front wheels. They are steel disks and must have been a bear to operate.

Antique Mack trucks were there...

Old GMC Cab overs

And this immaculate GMC Dump Truck from 1942

This truck is still being used commercially by the owner.

And another beautiful MACK along with a beautiful woman.

And this GMC dually was for sale, and Holly and I wanted it....any family looking for Christmas ideas...ehem.

Steam-O-Rama Tractors and Implements

We spent a very enjoyable day at the 50th Anniversary holding of Steam-O-Rama in Republic, Missouri today. We found out about it from a local Public Television show called "Ozarks Today" and I have to give big Kudos to both that show and the excellent Steam-O-Rama that had Steam tractors and implements, antique tractors, antique trucks and other equipment, demonstrations, good food, and a swap meet. It literally was the best show I have ever been to and we will be back next year. On to the pictures.

We paid $5.00 each to get in and each got a commemorative pin and we literally walked in the gate and saw this 1910 Peerless wood fired steam tractor and I was in awe. The noises, hissing, steam whistle, the smell of wood smoke......I must have been dumbstrauck because the guy who owned this pulled up to us and asked us if we wanted to drive it. I mean this is literally right at the gate entrance and we hadnt been in the park for more than a minute.

Well I'm not going to turn that one down so away we went. It was relatively straight forward to drive but the steering was through a worm drive chain operation and took about five 360 degree turns to get the front wheels to move much.

25 hp and you could hear the water dripping out of some of the fittings onto the boiler and sizzling and while I was operating it a huge wicked looking fly wheel is spinning right next to your right arm. Holly sat to one side on a fender and took pictures....while I still have cracks in my face from grinning ear to ear.

The steamers were well represented

There were literally hundreds if not over a thousand different steam powered pieces of machinery

We saw a lot of Rumley Oil Pull tractors that have a vertical boiler and make a very peculiar sound when they are fired up...and they pop and spit a lot

Wouldnt you like to find something like this in an old barn?

These guys were grinding grain and a lot of the old steam equipment was really self propelled engines to power things like this.

While others were larger and had the huge belts to drive the threshers, winnowers, saw mills etc.

They have a permanent setup on 15 acres and put on a top notch show each year.

On site they also have an old wood fire steam generating plant donated from an old dairy.

And of course we had to get the whole low down and the enthusiasts running the equipment were happy to oblige

These little guys arent toys or miniatures, they were actually just small units to power equipment.

Everything old was represented and we were in heaven.

The thing about this place is that everything still works, much of the equipment is a hundred years old or close to it and they run from the late 1800s up to the mid 50s.

There were thousands of hir or miss engines powering grinders, water pumps, and just about anything else now powered by gas, diesel, or electric.

A classic restored Cub Cadet

I believe this is a Farm-All F-12 and it was, like many of the tractors completely restored and in full working order.

This collection of Farmalls represented most of the models and was all owned by the same guy. They were all in concourse restored condition and I'm thinking he let his hobby get away from him.

I have always had a penchant for Farmall Cubbs and someday will have one; these were show room pristine even though they were 50 something years old.

Not the kind of Jaguar some may lust for but I would take it. Sickle bar mower looked brand new too and it all worked.

Tons of tracted tractors like this old Oliver and Catepillar and CLETRAC were well represented as well.

This is a Toro tractor from 1942, I doubt the Toro in your garage will still be around in 70 some years.

This is an Allis Chalmers WC like we have except this one has what I think is a sugar cane picker. It was fitted with hydraulics to lift the arm and it was a maze of tubing and hoses but it must have worked at some point. We have NO plans on modifying our 1948 WC standard in this way!

This old Case steam tractor was powering a saw mill

Looks like a good way to lose a few fingers or an arm but it worked fine.

Look at the length of the belt from the side PTO pully.

And finally for this installment, these guys were prepping Sorghum cane for pressing. We have the side PTO pully on our AC-WC and the belts and are looking for a cane press ourselves.

It was just a great and fun day and I even found this original manual for our 1948 Allis Chalmers WC at the swap meet - karma

Maybelle Update

Our two Angus Heifers, Thelma and Louise, are beautiful animals and at about 850 lbs now they cut a picturesque vista up in the pasture but they are not really tame and since we are eventually going to eat them we like it that way. But Maybelle was fed from a bottle when she was 2 days old and as our first, she is not destined for freezer camp. She has long since weaned and we are just about to turn her loose into the pasture.

She and the barn cats get on well in her stall and when she is laying in the hay the two barn cats (Eve and Jerome) are either laying with her or on her and its amazing that such a large animal can bond and be so gentle with a scrawny cat...but she does. So here are a couple of pictures of Maybelle and one of Jerome along with some random pics showing its getting towards fall..

 Maybelle has turned out to be a very good looking young lady with good lines. She has the white face spot desired on a Simental.

 She is very inquisitive and likes to play. Rose the Farm Dog and Maybelle will play together and run after each other all over her little pasture and Maybelle buts her head against anything that will move, like gates, the bench, a chopping block.....and frustratingly her water trough.

 Bandit doesnt have any issues with Maybelle but he respects her size and doesnt play with her; he saves his energies for chasing Jerome for some reason. You can see how big Maybelle has gotten though.

 And she loves a handout of range cubes. She is very intelligent and when we are out in the barn yard she will follow us along her fence everywhere and if we dont pay her any attention she will start making some noise. A couple days ago we had some heavy rain but it was warm and she was jumping and running and stuck her tongue out for the rain drops...just having fun.

 This place is like having your own petting zoo in some ways, whenever you are down its hard to stay in a funk when you can go out and feed the animals and if you dont laugh when Maybelle's tongue seeks you out and wraps around your hand you probably need to seek professional help. 

 And this is Jerome. He is obviously a drop off by some city person that didnt want him any more as he is extremely friendly and rubs up against you and follows us around out in the barn yard and wants to come in the house. He gets along well with Eve the other barn cat and with Maybelle and we just couldnt kill him. He was almost dead when we found him one day in the barn, all skinny and skinned up and the saddest looking thing you ever saw but we doctored him and now feed him and he rewards us by keeping the varmints down. Animal drop offs are a problem in most rural areas and we are no exception; well meaning but lazy people figure they can drop off an unwanted pet out in the country where they will live happy lives on a farm but the reality is that most get hit by a car, killed by coyotes, guard dogs or other wild life or shot by farmers who dont need a 30th cat or dog. Jerome beat the odds because we felt sorry for him and dont like to kill animals like that but it gets expensive getting them all fixed and shots and there will come a time when we will have to reject a drop off or dispatch it...its just part of country life.

 We harvested our eating corn awhile ago and left the stalks and some corn to dry for silage, to feed the deer, and so Holly can use them to decorate for Halloween and Thanksgiving. Fall is starting to show itself.

 This is Holly's garden shed...seems to me she needs to keep it picked up a bit more although she will tell you I need to move my Golf Cart project, my late 50s generator project, and my fencing supplies to my shop. She is a good sport though and I know she doesnt really mean it!!

 We planted this tree when we first moved in and its gotten quite large in a year and a half and provides shade for the picnic table and a perch for a couple bird feeders. Note the coat, 59 degrees for a high today but Tuesday is supposed to be over 80...ahhhh fall in the Ozarks.

 Even after all these years I find myself wondering how I got so lucky to find a partner like I did. Its one thing to have a dream of what life can be but when you have someone who shares that dream and is your partner in every way it profoundly affects your lifes outlook. Some may find the daily routines that develop when trying to manage land or a small farm to be boring or tedious but when its shared with someone you love, its the finest kind of true peace.

What to do While Recovering from Surgery

I am well on the mend now and back to work but during this long, long, long, recovery from back surgery I turned to reading and cooking. I read the entire Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter except the last one where he dies, 2 Dalgliesh novels by PD James, the Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, the Golden Journey by Agnus Turnbull, and the Kings Physician by Edgar Maas along with a few lessor tomes. Quite an eclectic grouping but still basically following my Anglophile phase. I have also found that I enjoy the writing and turn of phrase prevalent in early 20th Century English and French novels and I am entering that phase with my new reading program.

But cooking is where both Holly and I like to be adventurous and we enjoy cooking together, creating together, eating together, and having her with me at a meal would make an MRE seem like a feast.

                                                          Fresh Beef Tongue from a local farmer...

                                                    Chop up some fresh veggies and herbs...

                                                 And throw it in the crock pot with some spices and let er cook. For the squeamish, you peel the skin after its cooked and the resulting meat is the most beefy roast beef you can have. Its great sliced for sandwiches or as a main course.

                                         Some salmon patties one day with homemade tartar sauce

                       Or a stew, dont buy the cast offs from the grocer packaged as stew meat....seriously.

                                 Fresh beef cut from a GOOD cut of meat and to the size you like is much more             palatable and you can really tell the difference.

 And we harvested and cleaned Chinese 5 color peppers and more Cayenne for drying.

 We like spicy food and use a lot of peppers and these little colorful guys are HOT.

 Holly's famous fried chicken, cornbread and our farm grown black eyed peas. Not only does Holly make a killer fried chicken, her corn bread is the best I've ever had. Its cooked in a cast iron skillet and always has goodies inside like crackins, peppers, or fresh corn nibblets.

  And finally, we just shucked a bunch more black eyed peas in our first harvest of them this year (much more to go still on the vine. We dry them then put them in freezer bags and store them there so they dont mold. I can eat these babies almost every day.

So thats a sampling of how we eat around here. Fresh, differing, and made together as a family. If you come to our house to eat, you will be put to work as everyone gets in the act. This weekend, we tack fresh chicken livers, cook them up and add hard boiled eggs and onions for some chopped liver (to be spread on bagels).....makes me want to start right now!

9/11

I have been recovering from the back surgery that has proved a little more vexing than expected which has been why the posts have stopped over the past couple weeks but I wanted to acknowledge this day.

So many people have made sacrifices and some the ultimate and it would be impossible to acknowledge them all but for me on this tenth anniversary of what I have always considered the most infamous and cowardly act imaginable, there are two four letter organizational acronyms that I have the highest regard for. Their gallantry and loss that day, not through accidental circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but through deliberate disregard for personal safety and dedication in the face of hell raised the spirits of this Nation and shamed the cowards who seek to define their cause through the murder of inocents.

NYPD
NYFD

We will never forget