Bird Feeding

Keith Gorzell sent me a chain email that I just had to pass along. After some clean up of the formatting.

Maxine

I bought a bird feeder.  I hung it

on my back porch and filled it

with seed. What a beauty of
a bird feeder it was, as I filled it

lovingly with seed.

……………..

Within a week we had hundreds of birds
taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and
easily accessible food.
But then the birds started
building nests in the boards
of the patio, above the table,
and next to the barbecue.
Then came the poop. It was
everywhere: on the patio tile,
the chairs, the table .
everywhere!
Then some of the birds
turned mean. They would
dive bomb me and try to
peck me even though I had
fed them out of my own
pocket.
And others birds were
boisterous and loud. They
sat on the feeder and
squawked and screamed at
all hours of the day and night
and demanded that I fill it
when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn’t even
sit on my own back porch
anymore. So I took down the
bird feeder and in three days
the birds were gone. I cleaned
up their mess and took down
the many nests they had built
all over the patio.
Soon, the back yard was like
it used to be ….. quiet, serene….
and no one demanding their
rights to a free meal.

…………………………..

Now let’s see……
Our government gives out
free food, subsidized housing,
free medical care and free
education, and allows anyone
born here to be an automatic
citizen.
Then the illegal’s came by the
tens of thousands. Suddenly
our taxes went up to pay for
free services; small apartments
are housing 5 families; you
have to wait 6 hours to be seen
by an emergency room doctor;
Your child’s second grade class is
behind other schools because
over half the class doesn’t speak
English.
Corn Flakes now come in a
bilingual box; I have to
‘press one ‘ to hear my bank
talk to me in English, and
people waving flags other
than ”ours” are
squawking and screaming
in the streets, demanding
more rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe
it’s time for the government
to take down the bird feeder.

If you agree, pass it on; if not,
just continue cleaning up the poop!

I’m not sure who created the above, The internet is like that. pg

……………………………………………

“Maxine” is the creation of John Wagner for “Hallmark, Shoebox Cards”.   pg

Smoke Test!

Circuit Smoke Test!

I could no longer stand it. Time to apply power and test the circuits.

Things were put away well enough and the floor cleaned. Other work caught up, So I hooked up the power supply and turned on the switch. The spark gap hissed nicely and there were no loud noises. I took out an old florescent tub, turned off the lights and  examined the fields. Emm……….. kind of weak. Turned things off after 10 minutes and had a late lunch.

Later in the evening, turned the lights off. Now dark and tested again. Discovered illumination inside the disk. After some crawling around found an arc, a short between the back of the pin cushion and the shell coil ground wire. Almost the center of everything, Damn! now I must take things apart and reroute a wire and seal the old route.

At least this design can be taken apart and changed.  pg

Singer 31-20

The return of an old friend

Singer 31-20

This Singer 31-20 tailors treadle sewing machine was manufactured at Singers Elizabethport factory in 1900.  It will sew heavy fabric and light leather up to 3/16 inch or 4mm thickness.

I don’t know about this machines early history but I bought it from a saddle maker in Palo Cedro, Ca. in 1970 and added an after market 1/6 hp ac/dc sewing machine motor/w controller.  For the next 20 years it was used on our ranch to repair and create seat covers for pickups and farm equipment. After that it was forgotten in one or another old shed until this fall.  The laminated deck was falling apart and the head was caked in dirt and grime.

Decision! junk or reclaim? Emmmm…………………………………………………… That damn old machine used to be real handy.

I soaked the head with penetrating oil and gathered up the pieces of wood and parts falling out of the failed drawer, and moved them to the new shop.

Last week tried the machine head and it rolled over! so I spent part of the week  cleaning off dirt and rust. Also made up a new deck for the treadle and repaired the drawer. Then threaded her up and tried to sew some old denim, and tried, and tried. Poor results for several days, although things did get somewhat better. What the !!!! that thing used to never mis-a-lick.

Went on that blessing/ curse of the New Age, The Internet! Spent most of 3 days looking for information, Manuals etc. Found out my old Singer was OLD!  BUT!  Singer made tough, bullet Proof, machines that would work for several life times. Maybe the best line of American machinery ever made.  If you ever bought one, you would never need to buy another as you could not wear it out, even under commercial use. They made them by the millions for over 50 years. In every corner of the world there are old, cheap Singers that are still being used to sew foot wear and clothing. So even though Singer went bankrupt and no longer supports their old machines there are people out there that love them. Hoard and share parts, or sell parts, even make new parts, print manuals and provide free pdf downloads. There are also chat rooms with years of chatter to read up on to increase your knowledge on the care and maintenance of your sticher.  After 5 hours of reading comments on line I was able to correct my machines’ timing and she sews very well again. Hurrah!