From Mike: Entitled: What?
That's a nice old Currier and Ives print, and there were darn few American homes in the 19th Century that didn't have one or two hanging on the walls.
It sure makes a nice Thanksgiving card from Mike, doesn't it?
Thanks Mike (Wanswheel), and thanks Vince for passing it on!
And Happy Thanksgiving all!
PS: We'll be heading up to Pennsylvania tomorrow for Thanksgiving at Lady Firestorm's sisters place. Ah yes, turkey, some wine anilhilation with my drinkin' buddies Stephanie and Janine (we'll see if they can keep up with Uncle Wayne) and a raid on Hennings Trains in Lansdale! Perfect weekend! The computer's staying home, although if the hotel guest computer is amenable I might check in from time to time.
Big storms at both ends of this holiday's travel suggest that the Canadians may have had a reason to celebrate the holiday in October.
The earliest it can be is Oct 8th, the latest Oct. 14th. Trees are at peak colour, Fall Fairs everywhere celebrating the harvest, yeah it's a nice time of the year.
When the aliens from space invade they will eat those 'tasty Canadians' first.
The painting looks great, I believe I have seen it before, but I don't know quite where.
Turkey and stuffing, anyone?
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -Lin Yutang
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MiningmanWhen the aliens from space invade they will eat those 'tasty Canadians' first.
Yeah, maybe. But American bacon has more fat!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Penny Trains Miningman When the aliens from space invade they will eat those 'tasty Canadians' first. Yeah, maybe. But American bacon has more fat!
Miningman When the aliens from space invade they will eat those 'tasty Canadians' first.
Yeah, keeps you goin'. General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia lost when the ran out of that good Southern bacon!
Flintlock76 Penny Trains Miningman When the aliens from space invade they will eat those 'tasty Canadians' first. Yeah, maybe. But American bacon has more fat! Yeah, keeps you goin'. General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia lost when the ran out of that good Southern bacon!
Johnny
Quite true Johnny. Custer's cavalry captured the supply train at Apomattox Station before Lee's men could get to it. Grant released the train and it's cargo of rations after the surrender.
Wayne
I bet they didn't get any coffee, either. To me, that's even worse than going without bacon. As a gun enthusiast, you've probably seen the Sharps rifle with the coffee grinder in the stock.
From Mike
Weapons on Parade
Fr.Al I bet they didn't get any coffee, either. To me, that's even worse than going without bacon. As a gun enthusiast, you've probably seen the Sharps rifle with the coffee grinder in the stock.
Oh, I've seen those coffee-grinder Sharps carbines alright, but only in museums. Those in private hands very rarely surface on the collector market. Actually, they were a scarce item even during the Civil War.
Soldiers on both sides were absolutely crazy about coffee, one writing home "The amount of coffee consumed by the army would astound you!" When both Union and Confederate armies were camped in close proximity to each other frequently a "black market" woud spring up, Yankees trading coffee to the Rebs for tobacco, and vice versa.
There was even an "instant" coffee developed for issue to the Union troops. It was a paste that came in a can, and had sugar and powdered milk mixed in. Just add hot water and presto! Hot coffee, light n' sweet!
Flintlock76 There was even an "instant" coffee developed for issue to the Union troops. It was a paste that came in a can, and had sugar and powdered milk mixed in. Just add hot water and presto! Hot coffee, light n' sweet!
Add some hard tack and you've got a pretty original MRE!
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
MRE's, otherwise known as "Meals Rejected by Everybody!"
Actually they're a bit after my time. When I was in the Corps we still had C-Rations. There was a bit of a throw-back to the hardtack days in the C-Rat packs, a can of large, thick crackers that resembled round oversized Saltines. We called them "John Wayne Crackers." I used to crumble them up in the leftover juices in the meat ration cans and eat them that way.
Interestingly, Civil War soldiers did the same thing with hardtack. They'd crumble it into the bacon or pork fat in their mess kits and re-heat it before eating it. They called it "skilligalee."
Yeah, Civil War rations could be pretty lousy (depending on what you're used to) but at least on the Union side there was usually plenty to go around.
At the end of the war a surrendered Confederate soldier looked up at a Union cavalryman and said...
"My Lord, your uniform looks so new, your boots look first-rate, your guns are so good, your horse looks so healthy, and you look like your bowels is so regular!"
Obviously the worms didn't just live in the hardtack back then....
Well, coffee is great for keeping a person regular .Had the Johnny Rebs been able to add Cuba to their country, they might have been able to get their hands on coffee. I'm not sure about Cuba, but I've sampled decent coffee from nearby Haiti.
As far as Sharps firearms, I believe only twelve of the Coffee Grinder carbines exist. My late father claimed to have owned some later type of Sharps rifle.
Coffee from Cuba might have had that chickpea addition to go with 'traditional' chicory in Southern "coffee". Bah!
I have to wonder if the Arbuckle 'innovation' of using sugar and egg as an antiburning coating came out of Civil War (and perhaps Southern, considering the sugar) practice... it's certainly something that could be related to the Starbuck's people; they evidently need it.
Every report of people attempting to actually grind coffee in one of these things is negative. Apparently the feed slot is not sized to accept an as-roasted bean, and the mill doesn't grind freshly-roasted beans well. That argues strongly that this was (as indicated) for grinding parched corn or other meal. I see armchair Civil War enthusiasts making much of the idea that where there's corn, there will be grist mills to commandeer ... that does not jibe well with units in the field carrying dried whole kernels or other grain...
Oh, and apparently there were a bunch of these things 'modified' starting in the early '60s from a stash of 'found parts'. I am not sure how easily one of these could be distinguished from an original.
Meanwhile, there is the weapon Lincoln called the "Coffee Mill Gun" -- a decidedly different thing from a burr grinder in a stock!
The Agar "Coffee Mill Gun," also know as the Union Repeating Gun.
Here's a replica (built by the shooter) in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcsviX3clZU
A contemporary of the more famous Gatling gun. Not bad, but not as good as the Gatling.
Here's the whole story for those interested...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar_gun
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