I found it in, of all places, the WACO Air Museum and Aviation Learning Center in Troy, Ohio. While that museum is dedicated mostly to the WACO airplanes made in town a century ago, they also have a few pieces related to general local history.
Note: I dug a little deeper after I wrote that line and the internet tells me the man who patented the design was a fella named Clayton Brukner who was once the head of the WACO Air Company. This rings a bell for me – I think I read it on a museum sign and then promptly forgot.
Anyway….
This is a log splitter that was produced by the Piqua Engineering Company. The sign says they started making these things in 1958 and it was basically the Cadillac of log splitters back in the day.
The Piqua Engineering Company opened in 1942 as a manufacturer of airplanes and producer of parts for the US government during the war. Postwar years led them in different directions to make neon signs, dumbwaiters, paper bailers and log splitters, among other things.
Oddly enough, there’s one for sale in an online auction. Click here if you wish to place your bid but do it soon as the auction ends on March 22, 2023. It’s in Brooklyn, Mississippi. I found one that sold a while back for $1,100.
By the way, I never thought that I would be writing about a log splitter but I found the picture from my day at the WACO museum and couldn’t resist asking the question that so often travels through my mind. What the heck is that?
The concept of tiny house living is intriguing to me. The idea of keeping a small footprint and being mobile is appealing. I also like the idea of having less stuff. It all sounds great.
After all, the more house you have, the more there is to pay for, insure, heat, clean, pay taxes on and furnish. That means more money and more time spent on the house instead of on other things that may be important to you.
There’s a show called Tiny HouseNation that follows homeowners as they design and downsize into tiny homes of under 500 square feet. Sometimes they’re very small and mobile. Sometimes they’re a little bigger and the owners have no plan to move.
I’m always amazed at the people who want to do this and how unrealistic they tend to be. A family of seven moving into 350 square feet in Montana from an enormous home with an attic, basement and garage? That one was painful to watch, partly because the wife was clearly struggling to let go of the family dining table. Plus, where do you store food for seven people and how do you handle the laundry?
The average 3 star hotel in the US offers rooms of about 300 square feet. I wouldn’t want to spend a night much less a lifetime with six other people in a space like that.
It seems like it’s always the clothes horse or the shoe collector, the entertainer, or the person with a room full of scrapbooking supplies. These folks seem genuinely surprised that they can’t keep all 96 pairs of shoes and that there won’t be space for a dozen friends to sleepover after a party. Really? What party? Where will everyone stand?
I always feel bad for the kids who have to leave behind favorite toys, teenagers with no privacy and the pets who will be cramped.
It makes so much sense for many people but I can’t help but wonder what some are thinking. At the end of the show they do a big reveal and it always looks so nice. But they come back for a follow-up interview in a couple of months and it’s always cluttered or the homeowners have had to retrofit something to make it livable.
I have some friends who downsized to tiny homes and they seem quite happy. All of them seem to have done it to save money to travel and were realistic about letting go of the extras.
I am not a materialistic person. I could walk away from most of my possessions. At the same time, I like to be surrounded by things that I associate with happy memories like family heirlooms and travel souvenirs. Decorating for the holidays is something I enjoy but there would be no room to store seasonal decor.
Houses have gotten too big and mass produced goods have created too much clutter. Prewar homes were about a thousand square feet. Closets were tiny, bedrooms were small and kitchens weren’t equipped with elaborate cabinetry. People did quite well in these homes for many years.
There has to be a happy medium for some of us wishing to occupy less space and to consume less stuff. Meanwhile, I guess I’ll stick with the bigger house – after all, it provides plenty of room for Scout to run around!
Spotting old vehicles in the wild is one of the world’s great gifts. This old Ford was parked outside a business in Millersburg, Ohio last fall. There was some stuff in the bed that made me think that it’s someone’s daily driver and the very idea made me even happier.
I can’t help but wonder how many generations of people have sat behind the wheel and what all it has seen. It’s nice to see old vehicles restored to be showpieces but there’s something to be said for using them as they were intended. I’m glad to see this one still out puttering around town.
I have been unnaturally tired for the last couple of weeks and I endured a headache yesterday. It made for a long day.
As my workday ended, I decided that Wellness Wednesday would be the theme of the evening. So I stopped for a walk on the way home and savored the fresh air, stopping occasionally to touch the bark on a tree or to examine the light hitting a shallow stream.
My house needs a good cleaning, my closet is in shambles, the trash needs to go out and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, these things can wait a while so I fed Scout and went to bed.
Warm pjs, soft pillows and a purring kitty cat are my idea of self care. Here’s hoping today is better.
Sometimes self care is candles and a bubble bath. Sometimes it’s doing the work you have been putting off. Sometimes self care is drinking the water and eating the vegetables. Sometimes it is surrendering to the demands of your body and just going to bed.
Learn to listen to your body and learn to know the difference. Understanding what you need is a true skill and one we all should master.
If you have ever traveled First Street in Gallipolis, Ohio, you likely have driven past this sign. It’s outside the Riverside Motel which, as the name promises, is just across the street from the river.
I think it’s darling and always look for it when traveling by. Modern advertising and signs err on the side of boring so cool pieces like this stand out from the pack and are just fun to see.
That is all, friends. I just wanted you to see this creative sign and hope you enjoy it as I do. Have a great day!
We are gatherers, the ones who pick up sticks and stones and old wasp’s nests fallen by the door of the barn, walnuts with holes that look like eyes of owls, bits of shells not whole but lovely in their brokeness, we are the ones who bring home empty eggs of birds and place them on a small glass shelf to keep for what? How long? It matters not. What matters Is the gathering, the pockets filled with remnants of a day evaporated, the traces of certain memory, a lingering smell, a smile that came with the shell.
