Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Coffee At Steve’s Country #49. More Vintage Games.
Good morning to all of you! I hope you are all feeling well today. Grab yourself a coffee, or tea, and relax for a few minutes with Muffin and I. Muffin had a good run and playtime this morning so she’s a bit tired out and waiting to curl up on someone’s lap. Right now she’s curled up with me. It’s much nicer this morning with a temperature of -6F (-21C) and the sun is beginning to shine on the tops of the trees. The male hairy woodpecker was here first again, he seems to have taken over as the ‘early bird’ of the day. Plus there is one lonely chickadee out there. No other birds have shown up, oops, wrong, a downy woodpecker has just arrived. I thought with the return of nicer weather it would also mean the return of the birds. Not so far anyway. Baxter and Betty have just shown up now as well. I had 14 blue jays in November, now just 2. Where did they all go? They might come back yet.
Now for games: The Game of Touring. The top pic shows two of the many different boxes used for this game over the years. It came out in the early 1900’s once cars started becoming more popular. The rules of the game remained the same though pictures on the cards changed over the years to keep them up to date. The box on the left is from 1937 and the one on the right is from 1958. It’s a card game and both are complete. The idea is to be the first to get 110 miles. There are cards to help you get miles and others that will take miles away from you, such as when your car breaks down. You can also miss turns, such as stopping for gas. So it’s not that easy to get to 110 miles in a hurry.
The Game of Blow Football. This game had different boxes over the years, this one is from about 1940. Although a simple game where you try to score goals on your opponent, I can see where it could get quite wild! The blow straws are a very hard pressed paper, unfortunately I am missing one in my game. Basically the teams try to blow the football across the table, or floor, or wherever it’s set up, and score a goal. I can see where that ball would go flying all over the place, it’s quite light weight. Like I say, it would be a wild game for kids to play, but I think adults could have a wild time with it as well. That’s it for our games today, but more will be coming. Have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve’s Bird Of The Day #15.
Hello everyone! I had to give two pics of this bird, neither is very good, but together they give a better idea of what the bird looks like. This is the ‘black-backed three-toed woodpecker’. A long name for a bird the same size as the hairy woodpecker. The males have a yellow spot on the head, just visible in the top picture. They are birds of the northern forest and generally avoid human contact, so it’s very difficult to get close enough for good pics of them. They are always a treat to see though. Like all woodpeckers, their beak is made of a special elastic like material, they have a spongy type bone behind the beak and a special hyoid (muscles and tendons that support the tongue and throat, and reinforce the head), and a special skull bone which contains spinal fluid. All these help to cushion impact when these birds pound against the trees. All for today’s bird, have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
