Some assembly required......

So today it is up early to finish the Barngoddess's new wagon. Have almost all the parts ready to go, so started assembly ... for those followers.. only need dewalt drill and screws to make it work. Notice Lee sign on wall (that's so I know what my name is after I finish working).
So after getting this far along....



it was time for me to honor my noble assistant's wish and get to work on her beach. To the benefit of my brothers in the birthplace of speed... Jeep and the oleragtop (aka longrooffan), we in Missouri do indeed have a beach (unlike the town the Bus frequents on Taneycomo Lake that doesn't have a beach, but is called a beach) and a place to swim at the beach...
here is a pic of this ole Horsefarmer hard at work making the beach smooth and soft


Of course the Barngoddess is walking around making sure I get it just right. That Super thing..
as you look closely you'll see the difference between Florida beaches and our simple beach here at the farm. We have good rich top soil mixed in with our sand..

Inthe middle of all that hot intense labor by this ole Horsefarmer, my noble assistant decided she needed a "tommylee sandwich", and took time off. Caught her inthe act here...



for those of you in the dark: a tommylee sandwich is slice of bologna, cheese mustard and two pieces of bread. Dates back to the sixty's when Dad and I would travel together. I still enjoy them on occasion.

so after toiling under the hot sunday sun to make the beach just right.. let me get this correct for you all.... tractor and tiller to mix everything sooo soft,, rack to level it out, take tiller off tractor and hookup field roller, roll area for water, unhook everything again.. put pool out in correct spot, fill upper ring with air.... 5 trips to air compressor with portable tank. What?? you thought I would use the manual labor pump to fill it... boy are you wrong! and walla, the pool is filling up with nice 48 degree well water. My noble assistant went for a wade, but I think I'll wait till the water gets around 90 degrees before I try.



So you all down inthe birthplace of speed, we take tractors to our beach, don't need no permit to do so, and don't care if we make a mess or not. LOL

Getting back to the original "some assembly required". Got the dewalt ready and found that I was out of the size screws I need to assembly the wagon. Steph and Jay are off to Sutherlands.. only place open in this hick town. Of course takes them an hour to go 12 miles, buy a box of screws and a 2X2, and return. Never will figure that out.

So as we progress throughout the day, I found that I had forgot to make a couple boards, hence stop everything, get the saws and sanders out again, cut the wood, sand it, stain it, put in hot sun to dry.... get the drift.. also forgot to paint a couple pieces......

Anyway we did take time to put a few burgers on the grill (in honor of Granny and Man and her weekend). See the hot tub in the background? It will come into play later in this blog.



and it was off to watch the Dover Nascar race. Got to watch laps 299 thru 307 while I ate, then off to the wagon again.

finally got the box assembled and put it on the chassis. Jeep that is like you lying on the driveway working on the old thing.. having fun??? damned right.
Here is pic of the wagon almost done...



still have to finish the seat and hook up the team pole assembly (Jeep that is the driveshaft to you) and test it out behind the golfcart (truckster wanna be) stole that from the oleragtop. Our golf cart is not a golf cart, but a farm truck, hence the truckster wanna be. the oleraptop has a car, rather had a car, that was a truckster wanna be too, but I'm too lazy at this point to find the post that he made when he came up here in that wanna be.

In the background you can see our stagecoach and the springfield wagon. Now you might have noticed that the new wagon (we'll get a name for it later) is sporting some new wheels (Jeep they are R 2.125X20 front; R 2.125x24 rear). Must say they look better on this wagon than on the training wagon. (New pic of training wagon sporting new wheels made of steel and a back seat that my noble assistant bolted to the body (Jeep I let you ride on this one) so she didn't have to stand, but could ride in comfort. I guess my little Bronc didn't need that back seat after all.



So today was a success here on the farm.

AS far as my trip to Chicago land in the future to look at that Estate Wagon... if you look at all the pics of that 52 Hillman Estate wagon, you will notice the real reason for my trip up there (HINT: it's white, it's a 66 or 67.......)

It is now 8:00 pm and I am heading for the hot tub. Seems the Barngoddess is already there and has a cool one waiting for me when I get there.
I do love working with wood, but as I get older, I find that my hands can't stand the abuse. So I share this with you all and hope you enjoyed reading what we did this weekend.

On this Farm we are proud that everyday we

CELEBRATE LIFE.

It's Saturday, Finally it's here...............

Hey it's that great day of the week that I get to sleep in and not be bothered with anything until after 10 am

Yeah, if you believe that, I got a bridge for sale.




So if today is Saturday, then yesterday was Friday, and it is even more fun on Fridays after 4:30 pm (as if there is a 4:30 am = no not in my world) because I get to play golf on Friday after work. So I call the Barngoddess up and ask her if she would like to hit the links with me (she could drive the cart).

So we meet at Honey Creek Golf Course and I play the front nine. Had one heck of a bunker shot again. Ended up a good day, reached greens on 5 holes in regulation, and got par on three of them. What with a couple double boggies and a few boggies I did fairly well. Pin placement was for a tourney they are hosting today, so the pins were in wicked places and hard to play to. But enjoyed it none the less.

Even got the Barngoddess to buy me supper afterwards at a local cafe. Not bad food.

I have always been intrigued by an automobile that was around in the 50s and early 60s = Hillman Minx. The Gentleman Farmer had one and it got creamed by a semi on Gravios Road in StL (mechanic parked it and forgot the emergency brake, rolled out in front of semi). Anyway, the car has an appeal similar to my craving for early Broncos.

Last night I bring up a blog I frequent daily www.bringatrailer.com
and find a post on a bunch of old cars in Waukesha, Wisconsin. A bunch of triumphs, but wait...... is that a Hillman Minx I just saw?????

Seems there are 5 or 6 of the 4 door sedans in this group. But what even got me more excited is the 52 Hillman Estate. Go to the web site, view the slide show and it is the rusty red one that looks like a MINI Expedition. Yeah, a MINI ... fit right in here on the farm.

Getting back to what I started, I ended up at 2:30 am this morning finally saying I quit, I had been looking for a 4-5 car hauler that I could rent and go bring 4 or 5 of those Minxs home. But no sweat, I can sleep in... yeah.......

So this morning at 7:15 AM (yes that hour does come on a Saturday morning), my eyeballs fail open and I can't sleep anymore. The barngoddess rolls over and after spooning for awhile (if you don't know what spooning is = go watch MASH and ask Col. Potter what it is) I tell her that we ought to get up and go rebuild her newest purchase. I just happen to have some new lumber that will do the job.

Now I am not a person who does well without a couple cups of coffee, but at 8:00 this morning, before I had finished my first cup of coffee, I was measuring and marking boards and getting ready to cut away.

Thanks to the Gentleman Farmer (table saw and belt sander) and Mom (band saw), by 9:15 I had all the lumber cut and sanded, and the Barngoddess stained it.
This afternoon she (along with Steph) put a coat of polyurethane on those boards and if you really want to see what her new purchase looks like = compare the two pics

before



and the new box - some assembly required.. Notice the Barngoddess is not doing the work, Steph (our daughter = Sharks Angel) is polyurethaning, with the Barngoddess being the tough super.... notice no smile!!!! Thats cause she ain't doing it herself and she wants to.... LOL She is playing the supervisors role to the tee...



somemore of the wood pieces



If you look closely, you'll see all the little pieces that are needed.

While the Barngoddess was finishing staining and using the polyurethane, I got my trusty sand blaster out and in no time had the metal framework ready for the paint.
So we now have painted parts on the big flatbed trailer in the haybarn, waiting for the paint to dry, all kinds of wood waiting for the urethane to dry......
and yep, tomorrow will be "some assembly required" day.

I do enjoy building these wagons, and in the past have been party to putting some really neat wagons on the road.

Here is one I really enjoyed driving, but the tornado wrecked it.



of course here is our Springfield wagon - 1/2 scale and harder to build than a full size wagon


that converts to a jail for worms at the Apple Fest Parade




and of course our training wagon:



Even made a couple that have been shipped Yellow Freight: one to Las Vegas, one to Texas.

Not bragging, just enjoy building wagons that we can use. Funny, the Gentleman Farmer and I used to get in some heated discussions when he had me build something. He could see what he wanted, but couldn't relay to me what he wanted. Then when I finally got the end product in my head, we used to argue about how to get to the end. I would build one way, he another. Today, I could see what I wanted, but couldn't explain to daughter what I wanted. Laughed a lot bringing back those memories of Dad.

Anyway, I would say I am off to Wisconsin land to:
1. look at a 1947 jeep cj2a good for parts in Rockford ILL to store on the farm incase the Jeep or his kid need parts,
2. check out a bunch of Hillman Minx 4 door sedans (and one Estate wagon),
but sure as I did, just like the pictures in Florida, someone would race up there and .......... oh I won't go down that steet again.....

I do think that 52 Hillman Estate wagon would look awful good here on the farm.
A MINI Estate Wagon to go with all our other MINI things.

So that is what we did on the last Saturday of May (Granny Bansbach's birthday) in the year 2009. and the whole time we sure did

CELEBRATE LIFE

US Navy Retired

I am extremely proud to state that I was in the US Navy for 21 years. I served as a Corpsman, HMCS (SS)(FMF), first running with the USMC = 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions and their Finance Center in KC MO, then on to Submarines, 3 of them nuc boats, and finally a Sub Tender that actually got underway (Diego Garcia = foot print of freedom, arm pit of liberty) was working on SW when got early transfer, ending up on staff duty at Pearl Harbor.

Here is a great statement about our Navy boys.



Just one little error in this picture, our boys only needed one shot apiece to solve the problem, not the ten or twelve rounds shown expended. We never wasted our ammo on little things.

Don't piss us off unless your ready for a med-evac. I have been there, done that, and was amazed at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly encountered (and I'm not talking about the Eastwood movie).

Golf and Horses!!! Nothing in common!!

I used to be quite a good golfer. In fact upon retiring, I came back to Springfield MO and the Gentleman Farmer (now a City folk) asked me if I would like to pair up with him at the 1st Anual KOTM Golf Classic (1991) to be held at Grandview Golf Course in Springfield. I jumped at the opportunity and soon we were playing golf. I hate to say this, but I never got invited back. This poor old military retiree beat the pants off all the others and took 1st place.
I still have that trophy



So what does this have to do with horse farming, etc.

I recently took up golf again. Nothing as dramatic as back in the 70s and 80s when I was playing two and three times a week, just casually going over to the local course once a month and playing 9 or 18. I don't have the strength I used to have, and where I once hit a 7 iron, I now settle with a 4 or 5 iron, but I am comfortable with the fact that age has something to do with it.

So back to the story: I recently got asked to play 9 holes after work. Of course my clubs were in the garage at the farm, but I reasoned I could make it. I called the Barngoddess1 and she gladly brought the clubs to work and put them in the front seat of the Bronc for me. Now if you are following this: couple things: gladly, and put them in front seat.......... something is cooking here and I did't see the fire nor smell the smoke.
I went off to play 9 holes of golf. Didn't do too bad, my swing is returning, hit the ball several times exceptionally well. Made couple greens in regulation, etc.
So after the game I head home.

Turning in the driveway I see the Barngoddess in the back of the Little Mule with something I couldn't quite make out.
Arriving at the garage I find a four wheel wagon in the back of the truck.

Barngoddess explains that she called this guy in Spgfld and went and bought this wagon for a price she couldn't pass up. Are you pleased with your golf game? Are you pleased with the looks of this wagon??

Now I get it.... golf clubs to work, off to buy another wagon that is pulled by two horses.



I love it. Now you should know the connection between golf and horses. When the wife wants you to play, even brings your clubs to work, and puts them where you can easily get them, look out for what is she buying for the horses??

LOL

Glad she got the wagon, it adds to the stable. A little work to replace some of the wood, and this wagon will easily be pulled by two of our four legged friends. So if I'm not blogging in the near future, I have an excuse, I am busy fixing up the newest addition to our humble little farm.

It will compliment the Stagecoach and Springfield Wagon, along with the two wheel single horse carts we have. Pretty soon, all the horses will be worked at the same time.

And that foks, is how us country folks

Celebrate Life

City Folks ...............

Well it finally came to pass.

A young couple moved from the city to the country. The bought 2 acres adjacent to an old farm stead.

One morning shortly after moving in, the young couple was eating breakfast and looking out their window, saw the old farm lady hanging the wash out on the clothes line. "That laundry is not very clean. She doesn't even know how to wash correctly, someone ought to tell her", the young wife says.
Her husband looks on, but remained silent.
Over the next couple months, everytime the old farm woman hung her laundry out to dry, the young wife would complain about how dirty the laundry was.
Finally, one day the young wife looks out and the old farm lady is hanging her laundry out to dry. The young wife spouts off "Look, she finally learned how to wash her clothes correctly, I wonder who taught her how?"
The husband quietly said "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows".

City folks.......... keep them in the city until they learn the country way of life.

Better yet, just keep them in the city and leave us farmers alone to

Celebrate Life

Trailers

Jeep and Longrooffan

Here is pic I forgot to put in last blog.

Stagecoach goes on black trailer.

Greenfield, MO Buffalo Days Parade

So on 5/23/09 we loaded up the team and stagecoach and headed for Greenfield, MO.
They have a Buffalo Days Parade every May on the town square.
Traveling a short 45 miles from home we found our parking spot and assembled the coach and team for a Saturday morning ride.
Unfortunately, forgot to take pictures of the team in the parade.
Will look to Greenfield's CC web site to see if we appeared.
Anyway here are a few pictures for the Longrooffan to visualize what I was talking about the other night.







Of course, the team behaved well enough that we won the "Judges' Award" trophy.



Getting home that afternoon spent good time doing lots on the farm and ended up at friends home tilling her garden. In return they stopped by today with a garden cake:


Notice the dark rich dirt, rolls of red tomatoes, yellow corn, green beans. Very original and cute.

So the rain continued today and I only got part of the garage straightened out, but enough that I can at least walk around in it. Then to watch the Coca Cola 600 Nascar race, despite several rain delays, there was some good racing. The winner? He's the one that stayed out when everyone else went to the pits, as soon as pit roll was clear, the rains started again and race cars were parked on pit roll. That's how the race ended "00" Aarons automotive car won.

I also got an email from the Jeep, pictures of Daytona Beach race track, which could be called Daytona Lake Boat track from all the water.

Off to Dover next week to see what happens.

Later all.

Tis the Season

The weather has been good, the horses better, and everyone around here working to the final goal.

Oh yes, it is the season to Celebrate Life and enjoy it to the fullest.

So while the Long Roof and the Jeep were beaching it, and the Bus was rocking it, our own Sharks angel was busy doing what she likes to do (yeah).




But weeding the onions is something I don't do. I figure if you don't eat onions, then you shouldn't have to weed the three rows that are planted.

Now the corn, pea and green bean rows, well I run the mini tiller between them.

Yes we have miniature horses, miniature cows, little chickens, miniature Broncos, and a miniature garden tiller. What else would you expect??

So while SA was weeding, my Noble Assistant and I fixed up a training wagon for the Barngoddess to use in getting the team ready for the season of parades, shows, events, etc.

Hooked up the team and away she went. Here are a couple to show how well she does.



Now Barngoddess is driving Sugar (mare) and Dandy (Sugar's son).

So in typical fashion, woman driver, woman in the wheel position on team, her son following what mom says, do you think they could keep the wagon on the mowed path around my prime hay field?????

Yes????

No way, and here's a pic to show how well those women kept to the path.........
And to #10, there ain't no blondes up here, so it has to be a woman thing....LOL...


LOL


I also got the chance to drive and enjoy it to no end.

In all fairness, Sharks angel drove the team yesterday evening before I got home and did a good job. So next to train on driving is my Noble Assistant the Little Princess.

Nah, she can do the halter and showmanship thing, I'll keep to the driving.

So that is how our week has been going.

Saturday morning is the Buffalo Chip Days parade in Greenfield, MO. and the stage coach and 4 up, along with the Little Princess and Fabio (her little white gelding) are going to be there.



and we will be Celebrating Life as we hope you do this weekend.

The T&V weather guys are calling for that rain in Florida, around the Tampa area, to head up this way and impact us on Saturday night and the rest of next week. Thanks to BBB for sharing the rain with us. So enjoy while you can.

Horsefarmer

The Things we see

Borrowing from Uncle Jon-Jon, What we saw today.

As Little Princess, Barngoddess and I were driving into the big city of Springfield the other day, we noticed this truck speeding by us on Hwy 60. Didn't think much about it until the truck passed us and then Princess yells out "Looky there Mom! He has our magnet on his truck."

So what we saw today was a strangers truck with 'our' Celebrate Life Magnet on it. Amazing how the word spreads even in our little town in Southern Missouri.

Enjoy your day and remember to Celebrate Life to its fullest.

Angel

This is outrageous

Stella Awards
It’s time again for the annual ‘Stella Awards’! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving.

Here are the Stella’s for the past year:

7TH PLACE :
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

6TH PLACE :
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbour ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn’t notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor’s hubcaps.

Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.

5TH PLACE :
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn’t re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count ‘em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner’s insurance company claiming undue mental anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.

Keep scratching. There are more…

4TH PLACE :
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the Stella’s when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbour’s beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner’s fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

Grrrrr. Scratch, scratch.

3RD PLACE :
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

Whatever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stella’s to go…

2ND PLACE :
Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000….oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

1ST PLACE : (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please!)
This year’s runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski,of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven
on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

Are we, as a society, getting more stupid…? Ya think??!!

Thanks Bob D

Thanks Bits and Pieces out of Saint Louie town

The Horse Show

My last post I was tired and didn't want to share the Horse Show with you because I knew that I would short change the blog on the show and not give the Little Princess full due.

So tonight is Wednesday, I have just spent the last 3 hours trying to get the lights hooked up on the stagecoach trailer to horse trailer connection. After countless pinched fingers, several words not repeatable here, we came to the conclusion that the reason the left stagecoach trailer light doesn't work is: the danged light is broke and needs replacing. That was enough to say I quit and come in and write about a horse show.

Last Saturday we spent roaming around St Louis, the Arch, Forest Park, The Hill, Our Lady of the Snows, and finally the arena where the show was being held.

We were accompanying some good friends of ours who also have kids, and the Little Princess was to show a couple of their horses. But I get ahead of myself.

One has a 4 year old girl, the other a teenager. Now the teenager has the distinction of being the 2009 American Miniature Horse Registry National Queen. Quite an honor considering how many teenagers are into showing minis.

So the show bill was something like this:
AMHR Youth Halter Gelding - 7 and under -over
AMHR Youth Halter Gelding - 8 to 12 - over
AMHR Youth Halter Gelding - 13 to 17 - over

Brit, the adorable 4 year old shows first, a blue and a red



JC shows immediately following, a red and yellow
better pic shows JC practicing



and coming out of the ring after judging was completed.




the Queen shows last. all blues forgot to get a picture of her,

Now Blue is 1st place, Red second, Yellow third.
Two judges were evaluating, so each gave a place, hence the two ribbons.
What amazes me is this is JC's first ever show.

So after lunch we got into the second round of classes, and this is the tough enough class - Showmanship

AMHR Youth Showmanship M/G - 7 and under
AMHR Youth Showmanship M/G - 8 to 12
AMHR Youth Showmanship M/G - 13 to 17

Now Showmanship is different than Halter in that the contestants must wear Hat and gloves, and instead of just walking in, trotting and setting their horse - they have to do lots more.
Walk in and position their horse. When called, walk halfway to Judges, stop, then turn your horse in a full circle, stop, then proceed to the Judge. Set your horse again, and the Judge walks around your horse. During this, you must ensure you don't block the Judges view of the horse and yet stay facing the Judge. When the judge is finished, you trot your horse to the starting point. Turn around in the opposite way you did at halfway point, and the position your horse.

Too much remembering for this old man. I'll just drive the team.

Anyway, all three classes, and with same people, but a different horse.

Brit came away with I don't remember:



JC came away with two reds - and her first time in Showmanship pretty danged good.
Here she is entering the show ring.



And the Queen took all blues.




Later, the girls did their thing in driving classes, but alas we wanted to check out a camper over in High Ridge MO, so we departed early.

Anyway, the Little Princess (aka JC, My Noble Assistant) did a superb job in her first show.

Now on to Luck J Arena, Carthage MO for a show the weekend of June 13-14

JC will be showing her horse (Fabio) and I will be driving the team in costume.

But more on that later.

I asked JC on the way home how she felt when showing - scared, happy, and nervous all rolled into one.

Anyway, she has her first show under her belt, and it is time to move onward showing her horse.

Now her mom has also expressed a desire to return to the show ring. Maybe I'll just sit on the sidelines and watch all the women perform? Nah. I love to drive the four up and can't wait till 5/23 when we put our hitch in the Greenfield MO annual parade.

Greenfield is north of Mt Vernon MO about 20 miles, parade line up is 1030 am, so I imagine parade will begin around 11 am. Come and watch, look us up and say howdy.

Again, congrats to the Little Princess for her wonderfull 1st ever miniature horse show. and guys, better watch out, this old grandpa is........ awh sucks, never mind.



hope you enjoy the time you spend with your grand children as much as I enjoy the time I spend with mine. Shawn and Travis had better watch out, the old man may appear at any time, at any swim meet.


And in doing all this, we

Celebrate Life to the fullest

Where are they???

Isn't it peaceful living in the country? No wild screaming radios, no blarring TVs, just the dogs barking at the cats, cows brawling for more feed, horses nickering at each other, coyotes howling, and the occasional train in the distance.

Yes it is great living in the country.

So what do we do for recreation? We head this way and that. And this past weekend was just one of those weekends that we headed that way.
Now the Bus was at the lake, the Jeep and Long Roof at the Taj Mahal, who knows where BBB was (poolside we imagine). So the Barngoddess and I, along with the Little Princess headed out to enjoy a weekend away from all that noise that farm life creates.
The Barngoddess had the truck packed ready to go, waiting for me to arrive home, so we could pedal to the metal and head out.
Alas a phone call came and went something like this:
Horsefarmer (HF): Hey honey, can you grab a couple wrenches and head up just past Honey Creek on K Hwy.
Barngoddess (BG): Why
HF: My little bronc threw a u-joint and drive shaft is hanging down.
BG: Do you want the trailer?
HF: Nope.
So the barngoddess arrives and I take the rear driveshaft off, Sorry no pictures.. and put the Bronc in 4 wheel drive (really 2 wheel front drive) and drive it home.
Needless to say while waiting for the Barngoddess to arrive, I got the Jeep on the phone and chewed him out for not being anywhere nearby so he could help me.
Anyway instead of heading out at 4:30 pm. we finally got away around 6 pm.
First stop was 110 milemarker of I44 where we found this:


There is a rest area that the State redid and used the Rte 66 theme. All the cabannas were themed after some building on the Mother Road. Really did a great job and as usual forgot the camera until we were heading back onto the highway when we got this shot.
So we continued on and spent the night in a good ole Catholic Hotel. We stayed at the "Our Lady of the Snows" just southeast of St Louis.
Saturday morning was here too soon and we found ourselves heading downtown.
Good photo here



and here



Inside was just as much fun as we traveled to the top, some 630 feet off the ground.



After the trip to the top we went thru the Museum, but that will be another blog.

We traveled over to a place I know rather well.... if you go to STL, you had better go here to eat.

Ever played Bocce? Pronounced Bow-che.
The Hill is the place to eat. Located southwest side of I44 and Kingshighway, it has some of the best places to eat and drink. Our favorite is Milo's.

A couple more shots of the trip include a place familiar to our family was youngsters. I talked to the Bus about it, and he said he probably couldn't find it. Well, we found it, only to dicover a problem. Take a look and decide if you can readily figure out what the problem might be.



Can't really tell, how about this one to help your decision making ability



That is the Big River way above flood stage. In fact the water was at the fence behind this cabin... the Original BEE's Nest.



So the real reason we were in STL area was a miniature horse show over on the Illinois side just around the corner from Our Lady of Snows Shrine.

I'll post more on it later, about ready to fall asleep here and want to finish the raod trip.

On the way home, we stopped here



I'll post more later on two of the adventures of this trip:

The interactive museum under the Arch; and

The Miniature Horse Show that the Little Princess performed in.

so anticipate more later.

a tired Horsefarmer.

ps: 610 miles
1 trooper (flashed his lights at me, then waved)
0 wrecks
too much fuel
12 pack Coors Light (had to hide cause we were in Bud country)
tons of fun..

Who Will Be Bidding on These?

Watch out for the US Government Representatives when the bidding starts on this:

NEW YORK – For sale soon: a variety of torture devices from the 16th century, including shame masks to enforce silence, a 14-foot table-like rack to stretch the victim's body, and a tongue tearer to punish blasphemers and heretics. Even an executioner's sword.

New York's Guernsey's auction house plans to auction the privately owned collection, with proceeds to go to Amnesty International and other organizations committed to preventing torture in today's world, said Guernsey's president, Arlan Ettinger. "That is clearly the seller's intent," he said.

Ettinger described the items Wednesday as possibly the world's most extensive collection of historical torture devices — some 252 items — plus rare books, documents and other related

And you thought waterboarding was bad, wait till our government gets ahold of these.

So when was it taken

If you drift over to my brothers blog, you notice a recent post wherein he describes the photos taken at our Great Grandpa's grave site over in Kentucky in a State Park.


.The blog site is here:

http://oleragtop.blogspot.com/2009/05/jd-lee-woodsman-of-world.html

sorry, you'll have to copy and paste to view it.

Anyway that picture of the Horsefarmer, the OleLongRooffan and the Jeepjunkie, had the date of July 1969 on the back of it.

Now I know that I have been getting older and older, and sometimes it seems that I might surpass the Bus on who is getting the oldest and wornoutmostest, but I think this photo has the wrong date on the back.

I joined the Navy on 3 March 1969 in St Louis and immediately took the train to Bootcamp at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, ILL.
I transferred from RTC to Naval School of Health Sciences, Naval Hospital San Diego, CA sometime in May 1969. I was at San Diego until the end of September 1969, when I had the pleasure of spending 4 weeks at the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, CA learning how to be a combat medic for the Marine Corps. I left CamPen and headed to Millington TN at the end of October 1969.

So no way could this photo have been taken in July 1969.

I am under the impression it would have been taken while I was a student at St. Vincent's College (the Vincentian high school seminary in Cape Girardeau, Missouri), sometime between 1964 and 1966. The Gentleman Farmer, Editor of The Mirror, would travel to Cape and visit his son. I would venture that younger OleLongRoofFan and the even younger Jeepjunkie traveled with the Gentleman Farmer to visit this poor soul.

A quick day trip from the Cape (the seminary was situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River at the junction of the now old highway bridge) down the ILL side and bingo we were there.

Looking at the length of my pants (true highwater affairs) and the stance of the Jeep, makes this in 1965 plausable. Also I would be a new Navy recruit, and in those days it was shaved head in bootcamp and Hospital Corps School, and Marine Corps haircut at CamPen; and in this pic I have hair (actually more than I have now)

I just wonder, as the Bus suggested, if we could recover that stone and take it to the homestead of the Ole Long Roof Fan in the birthplace of speed for him to take care of? After he is the namesake of our Great Grand Father. The Long Roof could store it in his ole long roof wagon when it wasn't on display in his front yard next to the hurrican tie down tree.

Sitting here I can't help but ponder

SO WHEN WAS IT TAKEN and in doing so

CELEBRATE LIFE

No big deal

Daughter is working on her college class project, ergo the previous blog entry.
No big deal.
Will do more later.

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