Dragonfly's For George

This one's for you my friend. After talking with you I went and looked at these again and WOW there are some others that are pretty cool as well. So here they all are and you or anyone are welcome to any or all of them. Remember that if you save these click on them twice and save the largest one not what you see in the post as those are very small files.

Seen Friday Thru Sunday

A ride taken this past weekend. I am not happy with what I'm seeing with my pictures but here are a few that are worth looking at. This first one is south of Westcliff I believe. Covered over 700 miles including another cruise on Saturday to La Veta and Cuchara.

The next three pictures are in La Veta's cemetery and the mountain is one of the Spanish Peaks.

We take pictures of anything and this photo probably represents just that.

It's hard to get pictures of these two and even the black one by it's self. I have neither. The gray cat is the mother of the other.

It can be so pretty around the ranch at times and my whole life for the most part I have lived close to railroad tracks. I love the sound of trains. They can put me to sleep just like that. I like this picture but must take time and get down to the tracks. That is a must do.

A tree close to the house and I just like the color.

An Abbey and winery located in of Canyon City.

The train that runs out to the Royal Gorge.

The Royal Gorge with the tracks at the bottom. It was 21 smacks to get in the door. That got you a ride in the car in the picture below this one.

Most of the mountains and they are along the way all the time had a dusting. It was real nice in Hueferno County back at home in Steamboat Spring I guess it wasn't so nice as the mountain had it's first dusting as well.

Stopped in Salida and got my favorite for years-a chicken burrito with green chili. I love this chili at the Back Roads Grille.

If it weren't for the wires this picture could almost be period. This is maybe 10 miles south of Buena Vista.

Count real close how many tunnels you see here. On the Arkansas River just north of Buena Vista.

Plain Old Tractors Except For

On the way to another place ran across these. I should have taken more time. I like the colors and attempted to capture certain aspects of these magnificent machines some of which I was actively involved with operating and working on them. Did I mention I'm a Deere guy?  Have a couple newer Deere's at work and sometimes just not that impressed. New or old manufacturers have got this down.

Never around crawlers that much but the one above sure is pretty.

This a Model 40 I believe one that was not common where I was living.

There's some thing about the green and Oliver has some impressive iron as well. Their in-line OHV six cylinder is one of the smoothest idling motors I've ever been around.

Then there's the red. The ones I worked on. I think this was an H that was in great shape. I did not see this run. Take a look at that bad boy in the back. He's coming up. Remember how you can click on the picture to make them bigger twice.

There are many things that are unique about each manufacturer's tractors. Here for instance the gear shift lever and the way it operated. If I remember right when you put it in reverse you had to be careful or you could get it in the --well you know where. The throttle at the top and the way it clicked.The operating panel that's not seen well here with an ammeter,light switch and on off switch. Down at the bottom middle is the choke and there's another some place you pulled that engaged the starter. And then there's the unique sounds from these machines each has.

This is a Massey Harris and they are around for sure and are very good tractors.

This is from a John Deere A with the choke at the left and if you had electric start you used your left foot for that. If you didn't you hand started it with the fly wheel having to do a couple of operations one of which was opening pet cocks to each of the two cylinders to relieve some of the compression of the huge pistons.

This is the tractor on the trailer from the picture above. I think it was a 730 as in the video below. No matter what this thing is huge and was maybe one of the biggest of the day late 50's.

The round thing houses the clutch pack which is operated with a long lever on the right side. In the front of the cylinder that rotates when the motor is running is a brake pad that stops the rotation when the clutch is disengaged so changing gears can be made easier. Most all tractor's had foot operated clutches and Deere changed that with a "New Generation" in '62.

 What you see here is a "pony motor" that is used in this case to start these things. This was unique in that this motor was a OHV V4. You can see two of the spark plugs on the right bank of the motor. It got the job done but is not what you may think it to be. These motors did not run very well and came apart plus were very expensive to repair. Some cried themselves to sleep when they saw the repair bill. These motors ran on gas.

This is what came after the H's and the M's from Farmall. Pretty interesting control panel and the gauge on the right is the only original. First tachometer that also included ground speed which is important to know at times. But more important are the three levers on the right. Hydraulic controls at your fingertips. This made life much easier.

Something else that was just huge in the industry was Farmall's "Torque Amplifier". No one else had anything close to this. Say you were plowing and there was an area that the soil was very tough to plow. If you needed to change gears you had to stop. With this pull back on the lever and reduce your gear ratio by 22% or something like that-get through the tough spot - release the lever and you're back to plowing without missing a beat. Pretty cool for its day.

This video below shows a man starting up one of these monster diesels using a pony motor. The whole thing is good and is six minutes long. He finally climbs into the seat about four minutes or so if you want to scroll over to that.



I mentioned above about hand starting these motors. If you've never seen this take 40 seconds and watch this. This tractor I believe was Deere's biggest of that time period. The smaller tractors that hand cranked of course turned over easier. As battery's and electric components became better that era came to an end. My guess in the very early 60's. This is a gas motor as well. These D Models were never made into diesels. The clicking noise you here is the magneto-the device that makes the spark.

A Pictorial Hike

Remember you can click on these picture twice to make them bigger each time.

Probably 17 years ago while traveling Phil and I came across a ruin located in this formation below directly in the center. Remember about clicking on the pictures twice to make make them huge as to be able to really look around.

In any case back then we climbed to the top and took some pictures. That was really something. In all those years we always wanted to revisit this ruin and we did so this last March in 010. Armed with a digital camera we documented our little journey and made a short film about it here. The second one of this hike is here.

This was another fun experience and another ruin was found. We figured the Indians entered from the back side and decided we wanted to come back and do that which we did and what these many pictures show or at least attempt to as just did not do so well in that respect. Except for the first the others were all taken the day we made this hike last Tuesday the 27th of Sept 010.

This place is located in the Valley of the Gods north west of Bluff,Utah. Getting to this is difficult at best no matter from which side you enter. There will be some type of film as well but not for a bit.

This is pretty much where we started from which is on the plateau above the valley. Balance Rock was a reference point but the fact of the matter is we missed this the first day and went past this outcrop the first day not by a bit but by over a mile and this was the second try. And yes we did not have a GPS. The distance is around 2.5 miles maybe a bit more. It's tough no matter which way you come in.

The were small fish hook cactus up here not seen by me anywhere else around Natural Bridges. This was the first place I noticed them It was very much like the desert in areas of Arizona up here. Liked it a lot.

Then came upon this array of ball cactus. It had rained about a week before and plants were healthy and there was a green tint many places. Not bad for almost October.

Then the Mickey Mouses! These things were huge up here compared to other places.

What it looked like walking out and down to the end.

Saw some small birds and a few lizards is all.

 

You see the standing water above. In the next formation to the left in the the first picture here take a look at the next picture and the pointer arrow. We don't think there were that many people living out here and that is why we also believe this ruin was used for observation and the second was a place to live. But if there was anyone out there on this one after a rain I bet there may have been a pool party. I did not see this until I looked at the pictures when I got home.

In addition the humps you see in the back round are Comb Ridge.

It was just plain pretty up there.

Not everywhere but many places you can find chips like these from making tools and arrowheads.

Pottery laying just like it was.

Good stuff and like the top piece the best.

Still a long way away.

A slick rock highway that narrows down as we approach the end.

Were not sure if we would be able to get up this narrow part as you were not going around the ends.

This is the slot one has to take and it's pretty easy. Had to turn sideways once. But still it's a long descent to the end. Compare the next several pictures to get a better idea. Just did not do well on these pictures. This is the only way to get out there from this side. Imagine all those who passed before us.

Real close to the end and stop at the second ruin for a couple better pictures than the first time.

On the right center is where the final climb down is made.

It's right in the middle but yet there is still a another level to go to and a traverse across a small bowl to get out there. No pictures as I handed the camera off to Phil for a video.

So we're here and this is what you see from there and what is cool is the wood in the construction of this.

The following seven pictures are from the trip in March. They are so much better. Want to say nothing was touched or removed from this site. Our footprint was very minimal but have to admit to losing a red rag out of my pocket and a pair of cheap reading glasses. Feel kinda bad about that. Someday someone will find this stuff and say some dumb shit was littering and they'll be partially right.

Here's Phil and I as we start our way up and back to the starting point. I see I still have that rag in my pocket.

Initially we were a bit secretive about where this is but now since it is so difficult to do there are just not that many who can or would even consider doing this if any blogger buddies would want more info I'd give it to them. I don't want much more than this in a day. It took 7+ hours to do this. The fiasco miss the day before included the fact we did not have enough water. Brought more this day and it still could have used more.

But the good part is going back again to the same general area and will use the camp ground at Natural Bridges as base. What is out there is the Grand Gulch with so many ruins accessible by backpacking or long day hikes only. Spring can not get here fast enough for me.