What did you do today

[Staryder61]

Thank you Harry.. turned out pretty good..
Send your birds this way, always room for more...

 

[Tom&Shelly]

I've been looking for some sort of metal bin to hang on the wall and store oils in the metal working section of my shop. Found one at a thrift store while we were down in Texas a few weeks ago, and finally hung it

Since we've been back, there was an S-K gigantic socket set for sale at our local thrift store for $80. Too rich for my blood, but it hadn't sold, so yesterday Shelly asked the manager if she'd take $40 for it

That's not the ratchet that came with the set, but it looks more authentic than what was in there. Like me, the previous owner mixed and matched to get what he needed. The largest socket is 1 1/4 inches, although I suspect that might be a replacement as the chrome on all the other sockets ended before the brand and size markings

Here's a neat thing, that I think is original: this set has 19/32 and 25/32 inch sockets. Finally! I'll be able to remove 19/32 and 25/32 inch nuts without resorting to my large metric adjustable wrench!

Now I have to look for something big to take apart.

Tom

Edit--I looked at a really geeky web site (when I say that, it's a compliment), and it appears, from various details in the markings, etc., that this set was made sometime after World War II but before 1957. The 1 1/4 inch socket is a replacement and was made sometime after 1969 (but still made in USA). The ratchet handle is from Walden tools and was in another set donated to the thrift store at the same time, so probably from the same donor.

 

[MickinOz]

Yesterday (Sunday in Oz) I went to Floods Creek Station in Far West NSW.
The homestead is about 15 miles from the nearest highway, and 75 miles from the nearest town. The station is 100,000 acres and that last 15 miles is awful rough.
This morning, we mustered the kid's horses from the "horse paddock".
Finding those 7 horses took a while. The owner said if we couldn't find them in an hour or so, he'd have to get the light plane out to look for them.
More Pictures to follow, but here is an overhead from Google Maps.
Note the size of the dam that supplies the water for the homestead and the shearers' quarters.
I guess if you only get 7 inches of rain in an average year, you need to be collecting as much runoff as you can.
Don't be fooled by "Mount Westwood Road".
It's a single lane dirt track access track, leading to Mount Westwood, that passes through the station.
4 gates to open and close to get to the homestead.
The door on my side of the Freightliner refused to open from the inside, so the driver got out and opened the gates himself. (That's usually the offsider's job.)
After bringing in the horses and doing a quick photo session from a hill overlooking the homestead, I drove my mate's Landcruiser back to his South Australian farm for him, while he followed in the Freightliner laden with cattle yards and loading ramp. The Barrier Highway is in terrible condition, and we stopped several times to re-tension the ratchet tiedowns on the Freightliner, even needing replace a couple of broken ones. About 7 hours to do 330 miles.

 

[Tony Latham]

I went to Floods Creek Station in Far West NSW.

This is a crazy-good story. Thanks,

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

A few photos

 

[Tony Latham]

A few photos

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

A few more

 

[MickinOz]

Closer pic of homestead.

The emus were abundant

 

[Tony Latham]

The emus were abundant

That's crazy. I'm scratching my head about why you guys call it a station. Any background on that? We'd call it a ranch in the western U.S.

Tony

 

[Westy-TNT]

Ranches are considered small landholdings in Australia. Stations are much bigger.
Anna Creek Station in South Australia is 23,677 sq kilometres (9,142 sq miles) or 5,851,00 acres. That is 7 times larger than King Ranch, USA's biggest.

 

[Tony Latham]

or 5,851,00 acres.

Holy smokes!

T

 

[MickinOz]

Ranches are considered small landholdings in Australia. Stations are much bigger.
Anna Creek Station in South Australia is 23,677 sq kilometres (9,142 sq miles) or 5,851,00 acres. That is 7 times larger than King Ranch, USA's biggest.

Except of course King Ranch, which is actually 4 tracts of land, can carry 35000 head. Anna Creek carries less than 20,000.
Sometimes I look at our outback stations and wonder how anything can get enough to eat.
The horses on Floods Creek looked in really good condition, so there is grass there somewhere.

I'm scratching my head about why you guys call it a station. Any background on that? We'd call it a ranch in the western U.S.
Tony

According to the State Library of New South Wales, the word station originally applied to the homestead but has come to mean the entire landholding.
I can sort of see that a cocky taking up a run might have "stationed" himself at a particular spot on the run.

It is fascinating that the words ranch and station could actually be related:

"Spanish word rancho
The word ranch comes from the Spanish word rancho, which originally meant "group of people who eat together". The Spanish word rancho was borrowed from American Spanish, where it meant "small farm, group of farm huts". The word rancho in turn comes from the Spanish verb ranchear, which means "to lodge or station". Ranchear was borrowed from the Old French verb ranger, which means "install in position".
Wiktionary"
+3

 

[Tony Latham]

"Spanish word rancho
The word ranch comes from the Spanish word rancho, which originally meant "group of people who eat together". The Spanish word rancho was borrowed from American Spanish, where it meant "small farm, group of farm huts". The word rancho in turn comes from the Spanish verb ranchear, which means "to lodge or station". Ranchear was borrowed from the Old French verb ranger, which means "install in position".
Wiktionary"

:thumbs-up:

Tony

 

[MickinOz]

Saw this in the local supermarket car park yesterday.
Looked like it may have been PMF.
Not my cuppa tea, as we say when something doesn't particularly appeal.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Saw this in the local supermarket car park yesterday.
Looked like it may have been PMF.
Not my cuppa tea, as we say when something doesn't particularly appeal.

Man, I would have approached the person to ask for details... Y'all are friendly like that down under, no?

 

[MickinOz]

Man, I would have approached the person to ask for details... Y'all are friendly like that down under, no?

Normally yes, but I had the heavily pregnant soon-to-be mother of my second grandchild in the truck, with her groceries in the back.
The ice cream was melting and, well, priorities...
So, I settled on a quick photo and get her home before she went into labour.

 

[MickinOz]

Took a little late afternoon fishing trip. Fished into the evening.
I thought moonrise over the bay, with the smelter and town on the right, looked very nice.

Followed the moon home.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Today I fixed a light, by taking out a bad switch that was integrated into the socket, soldering the wire around it, and adding a new switch to the base from junk I already have.

And, yes, I also made the base (years ago), out of an exercise weight. At least that's what I'm told it was--I personally haven't been to a gym since high school.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. Instead, I want to mention this can of solder flux that I found last Summer when we cleaned out my Dad's workbench.

Unfortunately, he seems to have mixed some epoxy on the lid at one time or another. I'm not sure how old this can is. He and his brother used to visit the dump of one of the radio manufacturers in Philadelphia back in the 1930's and I suspect he found it there. It still has a quarter of a can of flux in there (probably close to what it had when he acquired it), and it worked great when I soldered the wire to the switch terminal this morning. The top label mentions the image was designed and registered in 1903.

Around the can:

Love the last picture, suggesting the product's use by dynamo builders. It seems just possible this can is a hundred years old. Slightly possible the guy who wrote the sentences on the side might have remembered the Civil War!

BTW, I was surprised to see Nokorode is still sold today, and still uses the crossed soldering irons in its logo. Lot more warnings and such on the modern can. Remember: Apply a very little only, and you can hand it down to your grandchildren!

Tom

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

I was scrounging an adjustable wrench from the tool pile at the cabin and was surprised to see it had my grandfathers name etched on it. I love these little links to our past we stumble upon every now and then.
Bruce

 

[MickinOz]

It's already Good Friday here. So naturally it was time to gather the family for a feast.
We spent the afternoon making pizzas in the wood oven.
My dessert pizza was popular.
Ordinary pizza dough, with a layer of Nutella, topped with marshmallows, blueberries, strawberries, crumbled Cherry Ripe, and sprinkled with raw sugar.
I'm not too sure where these products are sold, so for those who don't recognise them:
Nutella is a spread originating in Italy made from hazelnuts and cocoa.
Cherry Ripe is an Australian candy bar consisting of minced cherry and coconut covered in chocolate.