American Coots & A Train Out Of Time

Welcome back to ZAK Entertainment, at the CORRECT posting time! If you happened to of noticed on Wednesday… Wednesday’s blog did not go up on Wednesday. No it happened to of gone up at 11:00 PM on Tuesday night, which was the exact time I finished writing it. Apparently I got a little too eager to post and my finger slipped so instead of scheduling it to go up at the usual 5:00 AM CST it ended up being uploaded immediately, whoops. Anyway let’s get the camera rolling right into today’s articles!

They're Not Ducks, They're Coots!

The American Coot, commonly confused as a duck, these swimming birds (Who don’t actually have webbed feet unlike ducks.) typically live in big flocks around most of North America, living in pacific and southern American states year round. Another fun fact, a group of Coots can also be called a “Cover”, which is quite interesting but understandable given their nature and the fact they literally covered this lake The family and I took a trip out to, the same local lake I went to back on my End of a Knitting Beginning and Crossing a Lake of Birds blog. While I could easily describe the serene and tranquil scenery myself I’ve created something even better. I brought my Video Camera with me and recorded some amazing shots of the lake and the hungry and energetic Coots occupying it. So grab some popcorn, or whatever you enjoy eating while viewing videos and check out this compilation I put together!

Really enjoyed editing that together, I say these were some of my best shots I’ve ever taken, all thanks to my USA Flex Tripod. American Coots are pretty awesome birds, must have been a lot of fish in the waters with the amount of diving they were doing. I’m getting better with my editing and I’m quite proud of how this video came out.

A Train Out Of Time

On this very same trip I finally took some photos of this incredible vintage locomotive that’s been sitting here in this very park next to the lake for 60 years and counting. Excuse me while I geek out about trains…

This is a Dardanelle & Russellville (A Railroad Company based out of Russellville Arkansas, D&R) #10, though it wasn’t always a D&R. After doing some research on the train I discovered that it began its life as an Isthmian Canal Commission #278, built by Alco-Cooke in January 1907. This and many other ICC locomotives were utilized in the construction of the Panama Canal, a manmade waterway through the Panama which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific, during America’s involvement in the project. Apparently after the project was completed in 1914 and the ICC dissolved, the #278 was acquired and sold by the Equitable Equipment Company (Scrap dealer based in New Orleans, Louisiana.) to D&R in 1921, becoming the D&R 10. After 36 more years of service it was finally retired in 1957 and placed in this park.

Sadly it’s taken a bit of a beaten over the years but it still stands and I’m glad I finally got some photos of this amazing steam train to show all of you. More information on this locomotive can be found at http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr2216.htm and at http://www.rgusrail.com/ladr10.html. It’s crazy to imagine the vast amount of history behind this locomotive, questions such as “who were its conductors?” run through my head like, well, a speeding train. Perhaps I can somehow get more information and when I do I’ll be sure to report it.

I Am The Fastest Knitter Alive (Not Really.)

I think I might have gotten struck by lightning (Someone blew up a Particle Accelerator.) as I think I’ve been turned into a speedster as far as knitting goes. I had planned on showing off my current progress on my sock, which I still will of course but funny enough the photos I had taken for this blog today are actually OUT OF DATE, ALREADY…

I’ve already finished the body of this self striping sock, the first of the pair and I’ve added in some scrap yarn on one side for later. Why have I done this? Well I’m glad you asked! These pair of socks are going to be afterthought heel socks, which as the name might give away, are a pair of socks you knit and skip the heel until you finish the rest of the sock. I will then go back to the scrap yarn, remove it, and knit a heel. Kind of cool, it works out even better with the fact that these are self striping; it’ll allow me to add in another solid color without it looking out of place. Oh yeah as I mentioned on Wednesday, the ridge has cable in it, which is just a little crazy idea I came up with as I’ve been having a bit of a cable craze lately.

Now back to the part where I mentioned these photos are out of date… Yeah I’ve actually knitted way more of the foot then I originally planned. These socks are just so much fun to knit I had to. What a better way to link this all together but to actually admit I was knitting these in the car during our trip to the lake.

Anyway that’s a wrap folks! Check out ZAK Entertainment on Facebook to keep track of when I post as well as on on Instagram. Also check out my Youtube Channel where I post all sorts of videos from Short Films, Travel, Knitting, Vlogs and more! I recently started up a Tumblr as well so you can check it out at zakentertainment.tumblr.com it's a great place to keep track and interact with me. I'm also on Twitter, Snapchat as ZAKManK, and of course Ravelry! I post here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:00 AM CST (GMT - 6) with a wide range of awesome entertainment topics!

Keep your lives entertaining!

ZAK Entertainment