This porch looks inviting to pull up a chair and sit a while, but this chair seems to be occupied already.
Have a Seat
Picture of the Day for July 26, 2014
My mom needed my help getting a wayward bull back in his pen the other week. I wonder if this critter would be as tough to herd as the bull was.
Tough Critter
Picture of the Day for July 24, 2014
Farmers are busy putting up hay during the dry days and even the flowers seem to be enjoying the sunny days instead of having their colors washed out. I wonder if there are any birds nesting in the rustic birdhouse.
Climbing Pink Clematis
Picture of the Day for November 18, 2013
Monday is the normal start to the work week, but for this barn, there is no weekend or rest. And what history this old barn has seen over the years since one end is even log construction during the horse and wagon days. I wonder what was parked outside the barn first, an automobile or a tractor. And if a tractor, the current tractors are huge compared to the first one which the barn would have seen. And I am sure there are some marks on the walls from where a piece of equipment hit it or where the horse chewed on the boards or even cattle rubbing on the walls. If only the barn could tell its story.
Part Log Barn
Picture of the Day for November 16, 2013
Sometimes little things have a very important job such as this concrete anchor which holds the wood wall to the cement footings. This one has been working for a lot of years and is standing tall yet but the wood seems to be withering away.
Ancient Anchor
Picture of the Day for August 29, 2013
This old building looks worn and weathered just like everything else that is withering in the long stretch of heat. With the doors and windows in front, this might have been some kind of store. I wonder how many people passed through its doors to make purchases.
Old Building
Picture of the Day for February 7, 2013
According to history events for today, the game Monopoly was invented on February 7, 1935 although a precursor can be traced back to 1903 when Lizzie Magie applied for a patent on a game called The Landlord’s Game with the object of showing that rents enriched property owners and impoverished tenants. Various changes were made over the years and she re-patented a revised version in 1924. She approached Parkers Brothers in 1910 and 1924 but George Parker declined.
Ruth Hoskins learned of the game and made a new board with Atlantic City street names which Charles Darrow saw and began to distribute the game himself as Monopoly. Darrow took the game to Milton Bradley and was rejected in 1934 and Parker Brothers rejected it later in 1934. By 1935, however, Parker Brother heard about the game’s excellent sales in Philadelphia and there they bought Darrow’s game. Parker Brothers subsequently decided to buy out Magie’s 1924 patent and the copyrights of other commercial variants of the game.
And so the game of Monopoly entered the households in the United States and also available in 111 countries, in 43 languages. And we picked our favorite token piece but some tokens have been retired and replaced in 1950 and now yesterday, the iron from the 1935 game has been replaced by a cat. (If the cat is like Tippy, no other tokens are safe.) The lantern was replaced in 1950 and one of the replacements was the dog.
The End of the Iron
Picture of the Day for February 5, 2013
With another morning of snow to shovel, I think my groundhog was correct that it won’t be an early spring so it may be time to pack the wagon up and head south for the remaining winter.
Load the Wagon
Picture of the Day for September 7, 2012
The sun has been peeking and out of the clouds today, with a few sprinkles thrown in. I wonder how many rain showers and storms this old barn has weathered over the years.
Weathered Barn
Picture of the Day for August 26, 2012
Since I started the “old” week on Monday with a windmill, it probably is fitting to end the 7th day of the “old” week with a windmill. And this windmill definitely has seen better days and it is too worn out for me to identify the brand, although the brace wires are a different configuration than the Aermotor that I posted on Monday so it probably one from the hundreds different manufacturers.
A Field Guide To American Windmills by T. Lindsay Baker has identified some 1500 manufacturers of windmills so it probably will be hard for me to identify which manufacturer when there are over 50 manufacturers in my state without seeing a name. And the models of the windmills had interesting names too; some just had manufacturer name but other incorporated their function in the name such as Althouse, Chief, Milo Giant, Steel Chief, Steel Giant, Waupan Vaneless, Monitor Steel Power, Horicon, King, Ozark, Reliance, Eclipse, Double Power, Sheboygan, Duplex Geared, Kilbourn Steel, The Dandy, Everlasting, Favorite, Boss Vaneless, Champion Power, Sandwich-Perkins, Fouk’s Accelerating Air Motor, Parson’s Colorado Wind Engine, The Iron Screw, and Aquarius the Water Bearer.
But whatever the brand or name, the windmill served its purpose in the past, providing needed water for farming. They say that barbed wire and windmills were the two inventions that made it possible to develop the American West.
I hope everyone enjoyed the “old” week theme and will have to see when the “old” stuff returns again.
Worn Out Windmill
