More of Carl's Stuff...

In addition to the tools, we picked up a few other things while we were cleaning out Carl's house. 

When we first got there, Andy's brother Pete took us on a tour of the house. This match holder was in the basement on a shelf, with the original box. It had never been installed anywhere. We couldn't figure out what it was doing there, but since Pete didn't want it, we brought it home and mounted it on the wall next to the wood stove. At one time, Carl had two Allis-Chalmers tractors, so I guess he meant to put it somewhere.

 Carl had lots of art work, this owl was a woodcut print done by his niece.

Carl was fascinated by ravens. The top print was one Andy had gotten for him years ago.

More bird prints, while he had other stuff, Carl mainly liked his birds!

Firsts

 We got our first snow (4 in) last week and our second (6 in) today.

The old sauna, now used as a storage shed, after the latest snow. 

Got the doggies out for their first run. They did  great, a big change from last year's first run when we had trouble getting around the loop. Everybody seems to know their job and does it, almost inconceivable!

Had some aspen trees dropped that were leaning over the old workshop/tool shed. Cy, the young fella who dropped the ninety footer spruce for us a few years ago, dropped this one and another leaner. Didn't want a replay of the aspen that fell on the garage earlier this summer. The fog in the photo didn't lift all day, that's unusual in hills where we live.

Carl's Stuff...

As noted in the previous post, we headed down to the midwest to help clear out Andy's brother's stuff after he died. He had sold the farm to his neighbor's, Bill and Vicki, who took care of him during his time of extremis, so we had to remove as much as we could while we were there. He was a collector! Her middle brother Pete, had cleaned up a lot of stuff before we got there, so we just had to help with the rest: books, music CDs, and DVDs, many unopened. Then there were the tools, Carl was a wood worker, so there were lots of tools. Pete had picked through what he wanted, but set some aside for us. Besides a few CD's and DVD's. here's what we wound up bringing home...

From left to right, there's an in-shave, a spoke shave, an adjusting driver, an old screw driver, end cut pliers, large hole drills, and a drum rasp, probably used with the large hole drill. There was so much else, but since we had to ship it home and thought others might want some, well we tried not to take too much.

The most interesting thing was the odd looking screw driver. After I cleaned off the rust, the logo on it said W.H. Clay Ltd. Sheffield, England. So Googled that up and found it’s a “plane adjusting driver” likely made sometime in the 1920’s or 30’s. It might have been one of his grandfathers tools or maybe it was just something Carl picked up at a yard sale. Anyway, I'll keep it with my grandfathers tools, in a place of honor!

Out and About...

 As noted in a previous post, we took a trip to the lower 48 to visit relatives. Andy's oldest brother Carl passed this summer and the family planned a reunion and memorial for late Sept. Here's some photos...

Andy got a nice sunset shot of Denali on the flight down to Anchorage.

We spent the first few days with Andy's middle brother Pete, helping him sort through Carl's stuff at the farm; he sure was a collector! We had lunch in town at a local pub that turned out to be owned by a fellow Ukrainian.

Carl's tractor. When his old A-C needed a lot of work, he bought this almost new IH-Case. It apparently was love at first sight, as he bought it from the dealer as soon as he saw it, and never looked back.

Andy, her brother Pete, and three cousins, Basil, Cornelia, and Clare. I'd never met them before, so it was good to get to know them. While a little sad thinking about how much Carl would have enjoyed having almost all his relatives together at the farm, it was still great to get together with all these good people.