KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:

He was from Leicester, NC (pronounced LIE-ster).  link

Well that triggered a memory of The Pogues' "The Old Main Drag:"

Shane MacGowan sings "One evening as I was lying down by Leicester Square
I was pulled in by the coppers and kicked in the balls..." and he pronounces Leicester as "Lester."

The song's narrative somehow reminds me of Titus.

Storied Visions

Overheard at Lem's:

The dictionary of Etymology tells me that the history of the word 'story' holds meanings of 'wise-man' and the verb 'to see'. link

Sufficiently piqued, I looked into that assertion. My Oxford Dictionary Of The English Language (dead tree edition), teaches that the word "story" comes to us from the word history* which in turn roots back in the Latin word historia meaning a "recital of events" and a "narrative designed for entertainment."  There is more detail under the word history -- "knowing, learned, wise man, judge' -- but nothing about the verb "to see." That verb -- meaning "to perceive with the eyes" -- is very old, but there's no link to the word "story" that I can see. Interestingly, I learned that the word "to see" is linked to the Latin word sequi meaning "to follow" (cf. sequel) in the sense of "to follow with the eyes."  Cool.

Some time ago, I wrote on the kinship between the words "face" and the verb "to view" (cf. visage) both in German and in English. Perhaps there is a missing link in German. The German word for "history," die Geschichte, looks like the German word for "face," das Gesicht. Alas, I find no connection between "story" and "to see."  There is the notion of a "seer of visions" which nicely convolutes "to see" and "face" (visage), but the tense is wrong: an historian looks backwards while a visionary looks forwards.

One last thing that I learned is that the two words "story" and "storey" (British spelling) are closely related. "Story" as in "second or third story" essentially means "any of the parts one above another of which a building consists." That meaning came from tiered "stories" presented in the Middle Ages:

Link to original

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*The shortening of "history" to "story" reminds me of Hispania morphing into Spain.

KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:

edutcher said...
Mama, what made the Good Old Days for women is that they were worshipped by men.
Since then, they've never been happy. 

October 23, 2018 at 10:53 AM 

Amartel said...
These ARE the good old days! We're living alongside some weirdos but don't let that ruin it for you.
October 23, 2018 at 1:20 PM

KLEM AM

Overheard at Lem's:

Trooper York said...Actually women come up to me all the time in the Supermarket to ask about picking out stuff. I am usually teaching the wife about it and it always seems to gather a crowd.
May 29, 2018 at 3:45 PM

link

Sorry about the trippy visuals.  Prima did many versions of this song, and this one (from "Louis Prima Digs Keeley Smith") is my fave.

Overheard at Lem's

Deborah wrote...

"Allen, did you give up on corn? I love wood heat. I love the smell of oak piled up by the wood stove."

Funny you should ask - I happen to have photographs of just how organized and efficient AllenS is when it comes to using wood heat: The first shows AllenS' wood burning stove and the chimney that carries the smoke out of his basement.

The next one show how neatly he stacks the firewood against the wall.

This one shows more firewood, also neatly stacked, in another portion of his basement.

He has a walk-in basement so the wood comes in at ground level, gets stacked and burned, and the heat warms his whole house. But for as awesome as all of that is, and from my perspective just stacking wood that neatly is an accomplishment, you have to understand that AllenS hand dug that basement and poured all of that concrete himself, using a cement mixer, not just dialing 1-800-Deliver-a-Truckload-of-Cement.

Hand dug - let that sink in for a while. I know how to operate a shovel pretty well, but that is a mighty undertaking. When one contemplates the amount of labor involved in that job it makes all of the things I have done pale in comparison - that stuff is real right there.  Well done, AllenS - once again you have proved to be the king of gittin' 'er done.

Lines are gone!

Overheard at Lem's, or Tales From the Wisconsin Woods

AllenS said...

"...Hauling cut pieces of wood back to some cement so I can split it. I'll send you some pics, 60 of The Contraption. My latest invention."

And so he did. Behold:

Notice the fabrication details - the orientation of the parts is labeled. Blocks made from dimensional lumber are used for support, as are jack stands. The beverage container is right at hand.

The trailing wheels are from a Minnesota hay mower. They have built-in caster and are individually sprung. Minimal tire scrub with that setup.

Here is the finished machine in action. It is connected to the Farmall (FTW!) hydraulic system and lift levers. 

Here is a side view - note that all the axles and spindles are cross drilled with pins held in place with spring safeties. The lever arm has about a 3:1 ratio from the hydraulic cylinder to the piece being lifted. The round is held in place by tongs - pointy!

That, my friends, is true American ingenuity in action - using machines to reduce the amount of heavy lifting a fellow does. Top notch fabrication, also. 

Tongs for the memories.