Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking meat and various other foods, with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal, cooking gas, or even electricity; and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or basting sauce to the meat or vegetables. Barbecue is usually cooked in an outdoor environment heated by the smoke of wood or charcoal. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose. A true barbecue is only cooked slowly and at low temperature by wood smoke.
This Fresh Hot BBQ sign would look great in any kitchen or any mancave. Makes a great gift idea.
I thought it would be nice to give my blog readers a little facts about Niagara Falls. This license plate tag would make a great picture for a wall or to place on your car.
NIAGARA FALLS FACTS
American Falls
•Height 180 ft (56 m)
•Width 1060 ft (320 m)
•Volume of flow 10% of total
Horseshoe Falls
•Height 170 ft (54m) Width 2200 ft (675m)
•Volume of flow 90% of total
•Total Flow Over Niagara Falls
•April 1 - Sept 15:
◦100,000 cu ft/sec (2830 cu m/sec) (8am-10pm)
•Sept. 16 - Oct. 31:
◦100,000 cu ft/sec (2830 cu m/sec) (8am-8pm)
•All other times:
◦50,000 cu ft/sec (1415 cu m/sec)
Total Average Flow of Niagara River:
•202,000 cu ft/sec (5720 cu m/sec)
(before diversion for electricity)
The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects a right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. The American Bar Association has observed that there is more disagreement and less understanding about this right than of any other current issue regarding the Constitution.
For almost a century after the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the intended meaning and application of the Second Amendment drew less interest than in modern times. Several significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Second Amendment were written between 1870 and 1940. The Court recently revisited the issue in 2008, as well as in 2010.
I was raised in the country, where most kids are taught to shoot and respect a firearm. I have passed this on to my children too. This reproduction tin sign makes a great gift for any gun lover.
Here is some history of what gas stations are called in other countries. So next time your gas gage is near empty think how far the next station is before going by the last one or you might end up walking.
A petrol station, filling station, gas station, fueling station, service station, garage, gasbar, petrol pump or petrol bunk (India) is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are petrol (known as gasoline in Canada and the U.S.) or diesel fuel.
Fuel dispensers are used to pump petrol (gasoline in Canada and U.S.), diesel, CNG, CGH2, HCNG, LPG, LH2, ethanol fuel, biofuels like biodiesel, kerosene, or other types of fuel into vehicles. Fuel dispensers are also known as bowsers (in Australia), petrol pumps (in Commonwealth countries), or gas pumps (in North America).
Many filling stations also have small “convenience stores,” and some also sell propane or butane and have added shops to their primary business. Conversely, some chain stores—supermarkets, discount superstores, warehouse clubs, and traditional convenience stores—offer filling stations on premises.
The term “gas station” is mostly used in the Canada and the United States, where the fuel is known as “gasoline” or “gas”. In some regions of Canada, the term “gas bar” is used. Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, where the fuel is usually known as “petrol”, the form “petrol station” or “petrol pump” is used. In the United Kingdom and South Africa “garage” is still commonly used, even though the petrol station may have no service/maintenance facilities which would justify this description. Similarly, in Australia, the term service station (”servo”) describes any petrol station. In Japanese English, it is called a “gasoline stand”. In Indian English, it is called a petrol pump or a petrol bunk. In some regions of America and Australia, filling stations have a mechanic on duty, but this is uncommon in other parts of the world.
Next time you need to pick up a few things from the store like bread, milk and need gas to remember you can stop at a local convenience store and get what you need all in one stop. This authentic reproduction sign makes a great gift for any dad.
He began designing and building a flintlock rifle for himself. In the fall of that year, he entered a shooting match; though he only finished second, his well-made gun impressed other shooters. Before Eliphalet left the field that day, he had received so many orders from other competitors that he was now officially in the gunsmithing business. By 1828, the operation moved to nearby Ilion, New York, at the same site which is used by the modern Remington firearms plant.
In 1865, Remington incorporated into a stock company, and in 1873 began a new venture, producing Remington brand typewriters. Remington sold the typewriter business in 1886. The typewriter company eventually became Remington Rand, and the firearms business became Remington Arms Company. In 1888, Remington was purchased by Marcus Hartley and Partners, a major sporting goods chain who also owned the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Bridgeport site became the home of Remington’s ammunition plant.
In 1912, Remington and Union Metallic Cartridge were combined into a single entity, called Remington UMC. Even today, Remington produces U.M.C. brand ammunition. In 1915, the plant at Ilion was expanded, and with this expansion became basically the same plant as today.
During World War I, Remington produced arms under contract for several Allied powers. Remington produced M1916 Berthier rifles for France, Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles for Britain, and Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant rifles for Imperial Russia. As the war intensified, Remington production grew ever greater.
When the U.S. entered the war, Remington became deeply involved in the war effort. Notable contributions by Remington included development and production of the U.S. M1917 Enfield rifle, a simplified version of the British Pattern 1914, and development of the Pedersen device.
Late in the war, the collapse of the Imperial Russian government had a severe impact on Remington finances. Russia had ordered enormous quantities of arms and ammunition, but ran short of money to pay for the orders. They delayed payment, pointing to alleged defects in Remington products. When the Bolsheviks took power in the Russian Revolution, they repudiated the contract entirely. Remington was left with huge stocks of guns and ammunition, and no prospects for payment. U.S. government intervention was required to save the company from bankruptcy. Noting the explosive growth of business at the beginning of the war, and the precipitous decline at the end of the war, Remington made the conscious decision to promote and emphasize their line of sporting products. They viewed hunting products as a more stable business which might help them to survive future ups and downs.
During the Great Depression, Remington was purchased by the DuPont Corporation, which had made its fortune with improvements to gunpowder. A year later, Remington purchased the Peters Cartridge Company; today, many of the Remington headstamps still have R-P on them for Remington-Peters.
In 1940 the U.S. Army became worried about its ammunition capacity, and asked Remington to collaborate in a plan for national expansion. With the aid of DuPont, Remington built the Lake City Arsenal and Denver Ordnance ammunition plants, and three more plants later on. Though the plants belonged to the U.S. government, Remington was asked to oversee their operation. Among the weapons Remington manufactured for the government during World War II was the famous M1903A3 Springfield bolt-action rifle.
In 1986, Remington closed its ammunition plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, creating a brand-new facility in Lonoke, Arkansas. This site was chosen as the geographic center of the sporting ammunition market. A year later, Remington built a new clay targets plant in Athens, Georgia.
In 1993, Remington was sold by DuPont to the investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R’).
In June 2007, a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, acquired Remington Arms for $370 million, including $252 million in assumed debt. This happened because Remington was millions of dollars in debt and did not report a profit during the years 2003-2005.
In December 2007, Remington Arms acquired rifle-maker Marlin Firearms.
As of 2009, ammunition sales continued to remain high during the ongoing United States Ammunition Shortage. Chief Executive Officer Ted Torbeck was quoted in the Chambersburg Public Opinion newspaper on 2009-11-30 from Remington’s most recent quarterly earnings conference call as saying “Since the U.S. presidential election, demand for (ammunition) has risen amidst concerns that the new administration will further restrict the use or purchase of firearms and ammunition and levy additional taxes on these products. Since that time we have responded by ramping up production, providing for additional employee overtime, establishing additional production shifts, and expanding our supply chain, none of which has required significant capital.”
This sports tin sign makes a great gift.
Mel’s Drive-In (not to be confused with Mel’s Diner) is the name of a restaurant chain founded in 1947 by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs in San Francisco, California.
In October 1963, the Mel’s Drive in chain was picketed and subjected to a sit-in by the Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination over the fact that while the restaurant would serve food to African Americans and hired them as cooks, Blacks were not allowed to work “up front” where they could be seen by White customers. More than 100 protesters were arrested. The picketing ended when Harold Dobbs, a San Francisco City Supervisor who had run for Mayor and lost, settled with the protestors and began to allow 
Black workers “up front.”
Mel’s was used as a location in the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn are out for a drive and Tracy pulls into Mel’s and orders Oregon Boysenberry ice cream, then has a minor traffic altercation with an African-American man. The Mel’s was located in the Excelsior district of San Francisco. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy never actually visited the location.
In 1972, the restaurant was selected as a feature location by George Lucas for his 1973 film American Graffiti. The prominent play given to the location has been credited with saving the company from possibly going out of business. The Mel’s used was located at 140 South Van Ness in San Francisco.
Mel’s restaurants have since been featured in other media such as Melrose Place (1996, Season 5, episode 1), Doonesbury comics (December 18, 1989), and the book The American Drive-in by Mike Witzel.
Some Mel’s Drive-In locations are not actually drive-ins, but rather diners, although the sign still says “drive-in”; none of the San Francisco locations serve food to patrons’ cars.
Universal Studios built a replica of “Mel’s Drive-In” on its lot, pursuant to the restaurant being used in American Graffiti — this must-see amusement attraction also served as a gift shop for years. There are also a number of “Mel’s” located in Northern California that share the same general American Graffiti/nostalgia theme and the similarly styled Mel’s logo. These restaurants are called “Mel’s Original.” Their locations are not listed on the official Mel’s Drive-In website, although an article from the Sacramento Business Journal shows that they are related. A family rift caused the Weisses to part ways and form two chains. The elder Weiss in 1994 sold his company to Larry Spergel, who formed a group of about 50 stockholders that now owns the chain. The Walnut Creek, California location features a history of the original San Francisco Mel’s.
This car hop tin sign makes a great gift. Like I have said before it’s blast from the past.
Steven Weiss and partner Donald Wagstaff opened the first of the “Next Generation” Mel’s Drive-ins in September of 1985. The restaurant, located at 2165 Lombard Street in San Francisco, appealed to families wanting to share the tastes, sights, and sounds of the 1950s drive-in era with their children. A little over two years later, a second location was established on Geary Boulevard, also in San Francisco. The next two restaurants opened in Los Angeles, one in Sherman Oaks and the other in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. Van Ness Avenue is home to the third San Francisco location, and the fourth opened its doors in November of 2000 next to the Sony Metreon Center in the Yerba Buena area. In the heart of Hollywood on the famous Hollywood Boulevard our fifth location was opened with a full-service Celebrity Bar. The most recent addition to the Mel’s family is the Rancho Cucamonga location located near Ontario Mills on the border of Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario.
This authenic reproduction tin sign makes a great gift. It’s like a blast from the past.
Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) (formerly International Harvester Company) is a U.S. manufacturer of International brand commercial trucks, MaxxForce brand diesel engines, IC Bus school and commercial buses, Workhorse brand chassis for motor homes and step vans, and is a private label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van and SUV markets. The company is also a provider of truck and diesel engine parts and service.
The company’s products, parts, and services are sold through a network of nearly 1,000 dealer outlets in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico and more than 60 dealers in 90 countries throughout the world. The company also provides financing for its customers and distributors principally through its wholly owned subsidiary, Navistar Financial Corporation.
This International truck logo tin sign makes a great gift.
The Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos), probably the best-known and most recognizable of all 
ducks, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand (where it is currently the most common duck species), and Australia. It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. For example, in North America it winters south to Mexico, but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May.
The male birds have bright green head, while the female is light brown. The Mallard lives in wetlands, eats water plants, and is gregarious. The Mallard is the ancestor of all domestic ducks, and can interbreed with other species of genus Anas. This interbreeding is causing rarer species of ducks to become genetically diluted.
This welcome to our refuge tin sign makes a great gift for anyone.
Well, there just ain’t no talkin’ about the Old West, without mentioning the dozens, no hundreds – er, thousands of saloons of the American West. The very term “saloon” itself, conjures up a picture within our minds of an Old West icon, complete with a wooden false front, a wide boardwalk flanking the dusty street, a couple of hitchin’ posts, and the always present swinging doors brushing against the cowboy as he made his way to the long polished bar in search of a whiskey to wet his parched throat.
When America began its movement into the vast West, the saloon was right behind, or more likely, ever present. Though places like Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico already held a few Mexican cantinas, they were far and few between until the many saloons of the West began to sprout up wherever the pioneers established a settlement or where trails crossed.
The first place that was actually called a “saloon” was at Brown’s Hole near the Wyoming -Colorado- Utah border. Established in 1822, Brown’s Saloon catered to the many trappers during the heavy fur trading days.
Saloons were ever popular in a place filled with soldiers, which included one of the West’s first saloons at Bent’s Fort, Colorado in the late 1820s; or with cowboys, such as Dodge City, Kansas; and wherever miners scrabbled along rocks or canyons in search of their fortunes. When gold was discovered near Santa Barbara, California in 1848, the settlement had but one cantina. However, just a few short years later, the town boasted more than thirty saloons. In 1883, Livingston, Montana, though it had only 3,000 residents had 33 saloons.
The first western saloons really didn’t fit our classic idea of what a saloon looks like, but rather, were hastily thrown together tents or lean-to’s where a lonesome traveler might strike up a conversation, where a cowman might make a deal, or a miner or a soldier might while away their off hours. However, as the settlement became more populated, the saloon would inevitably prosper, taking on the traditional trimmings of the Old West.
In those hard scrabble days, the whiskey served in many of the saloons was some pretty wicked stuff made with raw alcohol, burnt sugar and a little chewing tobacco. No wonder it took on such names as Tanglefoot, Forty-Rod, Tarantula Juice, Taos Lightning, Red Eye, and Coffin Varnish.
Also popular was Cactus Wine, made from a mix of tequila and peyote tea, and Mule Skinner, made with whiskey and blackberry liquor. The house rotgot was often 100 proof, though it was sometimes cut by the barkeep with turpentine, ammonia, gun powder or cayenne.
The most popular term for the libation served in saloons was Firewater, which originated when early traders were selling whiskey to the Indians. To convince the Indians of the high alcohol content, the peddlers would pour some of the liquor on the fire, as the Indians watched the fire begin to blaze.
But the majority of western saloon regulars drank straight liquor — rye or bourbon. If a man ordered a “fancy” cocktail or “sipped” at his drink, he was often ridiculed unless he was “known” or already had a proven reputation as a “tough guy.” Unknowns, especially foreigners who often nursed their drinks, were sometimes forced to swallow a fifth of 100 proof at gunpoint “for his own good.”
This saloon tin sign would great over any bar or in any man cave.