Hobo Jungle

[healey36]

Yikes...if I'd seen that in my shed I would have burned it down...lawn tractor, patio furniture, grill, tools, the whole thing. I have a scorched-earth policy when it comes to potentially lethal critters...

Healey

[rogruth]

I'm more of a live and let live type unless being threatened.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Yikes...if I'd seen that in my shed I would have burned it down...lawn tractor, patio furniture, grill, tools, the whole thing. I have a scorched-earth policy when it comes to potentially lethal critters...

Healey

Now, there's a sensible fella.
Murph

[webenda]

Roger,

I tricked the spider. I noticed this one came running over to the camera when I accidently touched a web strand (usually they run away, ruining a photo opportunity.) I replaced the camera with an empty peanut butter jar, touched one strand with the jar, Mrs. Widow came running over (surprisingly fast) and I put the lid over her.

Murph,

Unlike the Turkestan Cockroaches we have here, which keep right on running after being stepped on, black widow spiders make a big juicy spot if you step on them. However, I have been fascinated with the shiny black spiders with a red hour glass on the underside of their abdomen ever since I saw the first one at age six (my age, not the spider's age.) I just don't feel like destroying such a beautiful creature. Nor do I feel like living with them inside or worrying about them in the storage shed--so they get evicted.

Might it get into the house? No, too big to fit under the door or screen door. Back into the storage shed? Yes, but they don't show up in the shed very often. I can remember evicting five in the 40 years I have lived here.

The cholla cactus was probably not a good place for Mrs. Widow because Mrs. Cactus Wren, who has her nest in the cactus, eats black widow spiders. Oh well, I didn't make the rules on who eats whom.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I'll pray for you and Mrs. Cactus Wren; 'bless ya' both.
Murph

P.S. What service do the Black Widows perform in the Great Balance of Nature? Is there some fouler creature they helpk keep in-check, or do they just kill hubbys and make horrible children? One wonders.

[rogruth]

I've always wondered about the purpose of gnats and fleas and cockroaches.

[webenda]

The only thing I have seen eat a cockroach is a toad, and the toad looked real distressed afterward.

[Tramp]

[webenda]

Tramp, votre image a l'aura d'un paysage français.
What a peaceful scene, old transit cars just sitting at the maintenance terminal.

I looked at Paris Metro and London Tube images and found nothing like the cars in this image.
I am stumped. Can anyone place the scene before Tramp tells us?

[Tramp]

Wayne, it is in Europe. It is abandoned.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

....Europe. .....abandoned.

That's as far as I've gotten....still a bit of territory to narrow down the exact location. It looks very familiar, yet totally unknown.

I like it a lot!

[tonyh]

Reminds me of Russia.

[Mitch]

Just as aside, Tony, didja ever get that tractor runnin? The one ya said it was too cold to work on in the shed?

[tonyh]

Naw Mitch. That SOB is locked up so tight that a logging chain wrapped around that 2+ foot dia. flywheel and jacked up with a hydraulic floor jack hasn't budged it. I have been constantly keeping the cylinders full of penetrating oil, ATF and acetone. Nos 1 and 4 drain out but 2 and 3 are plugged.

Tomorrow I plan to weld a piece of angle iron onto the flywheel and jack against it. The chain has a propensity to slip. I figure 1/2 the weight of the tractor on that rim will, 1. Wrench off the flywheel. 2. break the shaft. 3. Break either the rods or pistons. After all this time something WILL give!

I need the garage for some Model A steering work and installing rear disc brakes on the 22 Touring.

Of course the arthritis in both arms and hands isn't expediting things much.

Tony

[rogruth]

Tony,

I have mild arthritis in shoulders and hands and I have some difficulty doing stuff with my layout.

You got a lot of guts doing that kind of stuff with arthritis.More power to you.

I suspect that some way you will get that engine to break loose.