Went out and checked the trees today. Looks like i got a nice bunch of hazelnut coming on. Now just to keep the squirrels out...

Those little clusters under the leaves are the nuts. 

Maybe you need a couple large cats. Maine Coons usually don't have any trouble with small prey like squirrels. When our Mainecoon still lived in the barn it used to bring us rabbits to show it was on the job. 

Please note everybody, I am NOT picking up the straight line Billy is tempting me with by ignoring  finding nuts under the leaf, bait hang!

Nice try Billy, better luck next time. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Oh... we got cats, boy howdy do we have cats. The local TNR group was out this weekend and got 6 or 8 adult cats and 12 kittens. The wife though keeps them well fed so the lazy things just eat with the squirrels right out of the bowl. 

I did put my foot down on the amount of food she would put out for the cats last summer. A bit in the barn, a bowl in my shop, ok that is fine. But the night i was sitting on my porch and a skunk came up to eat cat food like i was not even there was the last straw. Feeding the cats is one thing but so much there is left overs for the local wildlife is another. 

Ayup, free feeding your cats is an issue outdoors. We had to start feeding at regular times, we were getting over run with ferals.  Our Great Pyrenes Mountain dog,  Buran wouldn't kill a fly. He was a livestock guardian dog after all and if it lived in or visited the barn it was to be protected. I returned to the barn with something I'd forgotten after putting food out for the critters to find Buran laying forlornly, with his forepaws on each side of his supper dish while field mice ate his dinner.

Food wasn't the real reason we had so many feral cats, it was the hay stacked on the hay shelves. I'd built shelves about 4' off the ground on two walls in the main part of the barn and one wall in the buck pen. This served two functions, the main being a small space the goats could huddle up in to sleep and keep warm. Storing hay on them kept it off the ground, dry and well ventilated. We never had a moldy bale in the 15 years we kept pygmy goats in that barn.

We picked bales off the field behind the baler so we had to stack it carefully so it'd dry. Meaning air gaps between all the bales which made perfect maternity wards for feral cats. Buran protected them of course, REALLY gave me the stink eye when I'd live trap one and take it away.

That was nothing to the way he'd mope when we adopted a goat kid out, a day or so unless it was one of his special kids then it might last a couple 3 days.

I miss the pygmies but that was then.

Frosty The Lucky.

Hey guys how’s it going? 
I had a quick question, that’s the correct term for one of those old style coke machines that have a freezer blowing on the bottles but it also has the case half full of water? If that makes any sense lol 

I think this thing I just bought is supposed to have water in it. It’s got a drain that runs out the bottom and I thing the box in the middle is like a circulation impeller 

I know on just the third setting out of 9 with nothing in it, it got down to -10 Fahrenheit on a thermometer. 

I’ve turned it down to one to see what it does

when I bought it I assumed it was just a regular machine but I don’t think they are supposed to get that cold 

an I remember there where ones before my time that had water in them and they circulated the water

Wow, if that was part of a soda fountain there would be taps above and behind it but separate. The bottle opener could be a later addition, a person would scoop a cup of ice, open a bottle of soda and be all quenched.

It looks like it has circulation holes on the inside so it could be one of the old water bath type soda coolers with refrigeration that is out of adjustment or maybe replaced by someone who just wanted it to get cold so s/he could sell it. 

Can you find the specification plaque, it should have model and patent numbers. The maker will have owner, service and repair manuals for it. If not it's time to check the patent servers for drawings, description, etc.

We used to stop at the Safeway walking home from school and the fellow in the liquor dept would let us choose a bottle of pop from the chest cooler on the left inside the door to the back room. If you took one of the 4-5 bottles against the right end they'd form ice crystals when you opened them.

NOTHING like an icy cold RC Cola on a HOT S. California afternoon. The 3 of us lived on the same street and walked fast so we beat everybody else to the COLD pop. Ahhh, high school memories.

Frosty The Lucky.

Jerry.

The brand is beverage air and the model is SF94 but when i googled that it came up as a modern machine, there’s two metal plates with numbers riveted on the inside as well but i got nothing from googling them 

the model number is really faded so i didn’t post a picture of it because it’s so hard to read and it’s on a sticker

 It here it is

 

Beverage air seems to make all sorts of food service machinery, mostly refrigerated stuff. I see links to manuals, parts and the home company. I'm thinking you should be able to contact the company and find your cooler's history, manuals and details.

I can't say for sure but yours looks like a "bottle cooler," it might just be an issue with the thermostat if you can't keep it from freezing. Or maybe I misread you.

I have fond memories of a bottle cooler at the Safeway we walked past on the way home from school. We'd stop in and buy a cold soda almost every day. My favorite was RC Cola and the cold spot in the cooler was against one end. The soda would ice up when you opened it. Good times.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

I absolutely have to point out that is not a Coke machine. Sorry. 

I remember those old coolers. I did not know they a circulation system though. I thought they were just filled with ice and water. That one is also bigger than i remember. The ones i remember usually only had 2 doors.  

Never was much of a fan of an RC, i liked Coke. Now a days, i had a Pepsi on Easter. I rarely drink pop any more and even when i was younger it was 1 a day.  But i agree, nothing in the world like an ice cold pop with that bit of slush that forms when you open it. 

So Frosty, i got to ask, did you get a Moon Pie with that RC. I do like me a Moon Pie. 

I went down to a local smiths for "The Gathering" the end of April and he had Moxy there. I did not even know they still made those. 

Gee THANKS Billy, you caused me to reread something I posted first thing in the morning! After rereading my previous posts twice I notice first I repeated myself. <sigh> I haven't called a soda cooler a "Coke" machine since the early 70s when almost everybody called a soda a Coke. Moving to Alaska exposed me to lots of Texicans who called a soda "Soda" and a Coke a "CokeCola." I drank RC because I never liked whatever the bitter additive Coke puts in it and Pepsi was too sweet. I don't think RC has ever been sold in general in Alaska, you'd see them once in a great while but as a special request product. If you get away from a city here you can usually get a store owner to order a case of almost anything.

The last soda I drank with any regularity was diet Pepsi then the quicky marts started carrying unsweetened iced tea in their fountain. A few years ago a friend bought one of those home, beverage carbonatation gizmos and we tried carbonating most everything. Fizzy iced tea isn't an improvement and carbonated milk is just plain weird. I don't know if they tried carbonating a milk shake but we mentioned it while brainstorming. I still wonder about carbonated condiments though, how do you think carbonated ketchup or mayonnaise would go over? Fizzy french fries anyone?

I don't think I've ever seen Moxie let alone had one. Interesting search results, I especially avoid bitter sodas so I'll take a hard pass.

Frosty The Lucky.

Lipton used to make unsweetened ice tea with lemon. That was my go to when i was in the Army. 

When i was in Louisiana we went out to eat one night and i ordered a beer. The kid waiting on us asked if i could order a soft drink when he found out we were all midwesterners. He said he just wanted to hear it, so i said ok give me a Coke. He got this disappointed look and said he was expecting me to say pop. I had to explain that pop was just a generic term and if ordering i ask for specific kind.

I watched a guy on youtube, his channel is tylertube, that used one of those machines to carbonate condiments. He is fun to watch and i have not figured out yet whether he is really stupid or just and act, my money is on act. He does different product reviews mostly and i have to thank him for letting me know that you can get a stuffed waffle maker. 

Moxy is definately an acquired taste. Provably the reason you do not find them around much anymore. 

I didn't see a Tylertube list of shows(?) but watched about 25 minutes of a 30 minute "as seen on TV" episode. I'll have to drop in occasionally and see what he's up to.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 6/16/2025 at 11:47 PM, Frosty said:

I can't say for sure but yours looks like a "bottle cooler

I sent pictures and talked with an ol dude who worked for coke back in the day he told me it was a water bath bottle cooler 

he told me to get glass bottled coke/pop/sodas, whatever you wanna call it. Or glass bottled beer. 

and stock it, then fill it with water just to the base of the necks. Not to much water that they float 

he said the water circulation system keeps them from freezing. 

he estimated that it was a last generation water bath bottle cooler before they all switched over to modern forced air coolers

On 6/17/2025 at 2:08 AM, BillyBones said:

The ones i remember usually only had 2 doors

The 1940s model coke machine I got is a smaller two door one. It’s also a water bath bottle cooler 

the compressor still kicks on but the body is in such bad shape that I gave up on it 

Cool. Where are you going to put it once you have it restored, the shop in town or throw big BBQ parties, or . . . ?

It just occurred to me, you could leave 2 compartments empty to dip annoying people. Hmmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

It was too muggy outside to light the forge, so I got back into a project I started a few months ago, before I decided to build the DKE12 hydraulic forge press and the DKE66 power hammer.  I'm painting over the stained wood of our outdoor kitchen with Sherwin-Williams Smoky Blue, a very popular cabinet color.  Trying to do it all at once is daunting, so I decided to do a little section every weekend until it's done.

Counters are staying.  Those are almost 2" thick concrete tops.  Husband-wife project from years ago.  Not fun.  Concrete started to set up before I got it vibrated and screeded.  Frustration and panic set in.  But it it worked out fine.  Got it polished, stained, and sealed.

Willow, cans can also go inside, but you need less water. They float quicker.

But bottles are perfect, fill it up with duvel, perfect icecold. Only need a lot af glasses because you will be the popular kid on the block

Gotter dun!  At least this section.

 

How is it I've never noticed this thread?  Anyway here's my gardens that I've been working on this summer.   5 new beds,  50 some odd plants.   13 rose bushes 11 different colors,  6 hibiscus, all different color, who knows how many iris and daylillies, and a couple hundred starts in the veggie garden and 10 yards of mulch.   I'll post some of the individual plants later

Very lush backyard.  Looks like a great place to escape the world.

Word of caution.  Be aware of this persistent herbicide, brand name Grazon.  I believe the active chemical is called aminopyralid.  It can end up in store bought composted cow manure and horse manure, as well as the compost your local utilities authority might make out of recycled yard waste.  Anecdotal stories are all over youtube.  It won't hurt your flowers, but it definitely damage vegetables, particularly nightshades.

My soil is ruined because I amended it with this cheap stuff called "bloom compost."  It's made from biosolids and yard waste.  I'm going to have to abandon my existing 12 raised beds, move them to where my traditional row garden is now, then fill them with fresh topsoil.  My chickens will take over that raised bed area.

I bought soil for my raised beds, but I'll watch for it.  I also have an endless supply of chicken manure,  in pellet or crumble form, that gives everything b it goes on just the extra little umph.  

So my gf was at a botanical garden for many years, is an expert on so many plants.  She asked if she could plant some flowers in a small bed for her to put her cat's ashes in.  I did and let her pick the plants she wanted in there,  at first.   After that I started joking that I was going to create "Backyard Botanical Gardens".  1 plant behind a small Blacksmithed fence.   Not sure what happened this year but I seem to have given in to it just so I don't have to mow my lawn. 

My original vision was everything needed to be edible.   That failed the moment she put monks hood in one of the beds. 

Chad, I'm curious about the galvanized containers you're using for some of the raised beds. They look like a stock watering tank but I'm wondering if that's what it is and are you either cutting drainage holes or removing the bottom?

--Larry

Larry, I ordered these from the online river store 2 at a time in a flat pack.   Didn't have a bottom.   

Thanks Chad. I tend to avoid Amazon unless they're the only source, but WOW quite an array of those planters there, good to know.

--Larry

They really were quick to set up,  they are a very light gauge though.  Not sure how many years they'll  last.