Brass Monkey Alert!!

Sparky-Watts

Sparky-Watts

Banned
Yup, that's right, it's gettin' a tad chilly here on the plains. Right now I'm looking at single digit temps with wind chills running from -15 to -5, and it's only gonna get worse in the morning when it starts snowing. They say up to 4", so with the accuracy of our local weather dork, that means we could have nothing or we could have a foot and a half. Supposed to be near zero in the morning with windchills possibly as low as -25!!!!

Boss man sent me home from work today since I'm all hobbled up and all the irrigation systems were frozen tight....told me to go ahead and take tomorrow off, too.:cry: Well, by golly, if we do get some snow, sprained ankle or not, I'm goin' wheelin'!!!!
 

amen to that!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!
 
I'm making the wife take the xterra tomorrow. We are supposed to to get the same storm here sometime after noon. I plan on changing my oil then Im going to go play as well. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
 
The guys at work were saying that the weatherman is calling for possible snow HERE towards the end of the week. If it does, it probably won't hang around long enough to accumulate but I can keep my fingers crossed.
 

Yeah, Sparky, and I'm assumin' that stuff's headed our way?!?!? Nice of you to take the first hit for us "easterners"!! I think I'm taking off work tomorrow to put up some firewood!!! BRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!
 
mmmmm brass monkey, I haven't had brass monkey in years. It will make a man invincible to most things, including blizzards.
 

First Definition within the context of Sparky's Thread:

It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey."

Second Deinition in context of an adult beverage

Brass Monkey


Ingredients:
1/2 oz Rum
1/2 oz Vodka
4 oz Orange juice



Mixing instructions:
Basically, toss the Rum & Vodka together and stir gently. Next, pour in the orange juice. Shake well. Pour over ice.
 
90Xjay said:
First Definition within the context of Sparky's Thread:

It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey."
Click to expand...

Very good, 90!! Not many people know that one.....:p
 
Brass Monkey or not Salt Lake took some of that storm yesterday. Got six inches of the white stuff to shovel off my drive and 9 degrees this morning with not a snowplow in sight...saw more side-ways driving this morning that I seen all last winter!
I powered up the rear ARB, threw it into 4 high and did a 40 mph dash down the freezeway.
Gotta love those idiots trying to keep up with a locked jeep...lol
 
I am soo jealous of you all. I used to live in Jersey where we at least got some snow. Now I'm in Daytona Beach for college. Stupid sunshine!
Mike
 

Utah_jeepster said:
I powered up the rear ARB, threw it into 4 high and did a 40 mph dash down the freezeway.
Gotta love those idiots trying to keep up with a locked jeep...lol
Click to expand...

Even without a rear locker, I'm still amazed at how well my Jeep HOOKS UP in 4wd... almost scary sometimes i think i'm gonna fly off the road/trail but she just GOES!

We're supposed to get 3-5" tomorrow night, and although its thirsty thursday here in shippensburg, this DINGUS may be taking a night off from drinkin so I can play in the snow.
 
I managed to hobble out to the Jeep this afternoon (with Sunshine's help, crutches suck on snow!). We took the pup for a drive in the snow. We'd only gotten about an inch at that point, and it wasn't covering the pavement completely, and combined with the pain everytime I'd try to mash the skinny pedal, I didn't do too much playing. I was more afraid of tearing up an axle or pinion by going from snow to pavement to snow again. After we got back home, it really started coming down and we got 2" in about an hour, totally covering the roads. Perfect for playing, but by then I was too sore from the first outing to do anything about it.:cry: Oh, well, at least I got to see the little boost I got from the TBS I installed Sunday....not a lot, but noticeable. Probably be better when the temps are above zero degrees. Oh, and the pooch loved the Jeep!8)

Poor visibility:

Blizzard1-3.jpg


My new Jeepin' dog:

JeepPup1-3.jpg


She was so unfazed by the sliding around that she eventually just laid down and took a nap:

JeepPup2-3.jpg


It's currently 6.3 degrees with a windchill of -19.5 degrees. Snow is still falling, up to about 3" now. Called the bossman earlier, and he told me to take the rest of the week off, since I can't do snow removal on crutches and there's no irrigation service work to do in these temps......I sure hope I get paid for this week!!
 

Hey Sparky we got 8" of the white stuff yesterday/this morning, its colder than a witch's mammory out there. I cant wait to get out and tear up the pretty snow drifts.
 
sicnik said:
Hey Sparky we got 8" of the white stuff yesterday/this morning, its colder than a witch's mammory out there. I cant wait to get out and tear up the pretty snow drifts.
Click to expand...

Ya lucky dog!! We only ended up with 2 1/2-3" of snow. Woke up this morning to -4 temps and windchill of -18. Thinkin' I'll stay inside for a while this morning and have me some strong coffee before going out for a "spin" later on!!:purple:
 
90Xjay said:
First Definition within the context of Sparky's Thread:

It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey."
Click to expand...


From Snopes

Claim: "Brass monkeys" were small brass plates used to hold cannonballs on the decks of sailing ships.

Status: False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001]


Every sailing ship had to have cannon for protection. Cannon of the times required round iron cannonballs. The master wanted to store the cannon-balls such that they could be of instant use when needed, yet not roll around the gun deck. The solution was to stack them up in a square based pyramid next to the cannon. The top level of the stack had one ball, the next level down had four, the next had nine, the next had sixteen, and so on. Four levels would provide a stack of 30 cannonballs. The only real problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out from under the weight of the higher levels. To do this, they devised a small brass plate ("brass monkey") with one rounded indentation for each cannonball in the bottom layer. Brass was used because the cannonballs wouldn't rust to the"brass monkey", but would rust to an iron one.

When temperature falls, brass contracts in size faster than iron. As it got cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller than the iron cannonballs they were holding. If the temperature got cold enough, the bottom layer would pop out of the indentations spilling the entire pyramid over the deck. Thus it was, quite literally, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a "brass monkey."

Origins: Somebody's fanciful imagination is at work cooking up spurious etymologies again. In short, this origin for the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is nonsense because:

* Not even the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, records a usage of "brass monkey" like the one presented here.

* When references to "brass monkeys" started appearing in print in the mid-19th century, they did not always mention balls or cold temperatures. It was sometimes cold enough to freeze the ears, tail, nose, or whiskers off a brass monkey. Likewise, it was sometimes hot enough to "scald the throat" or "singe the hair" of a brass monkey. These usages are inconsistent with the putative origins offered here.

* Warships didn't store cannonballs (or "round shot") on deck around the clock, day after day, on the slight chance that they might go into battle. Space was a precious commodity on sailing ships, and decks were kept as clear as possible in order to allow room for hundreds of men to perform all the tasks necessary for ordinary ship's functions. (Stacking round shot on deck would also create the danger of their breaking free and rolling around loose on deck whenever the ship encountered rough seas.) Cannonballs were stored elsewhere and only brought out when the decks had been cleared for action.
* Particularly diligent gunners (not "masters," who were in charge of navigation, sailing and pilotage, not ordnance) would have their crews chip away at imperfections on the surface of cannonballs to make them as smooth as possible, in the hopes that this would cause them fly truer. They did not leave shot on deck, exposed to the elements, where it would rust.

Nobody really knows where the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" came from, but the explanation offered here certainly isn't the answer.
 

Like I believe anything Snopes says.....they make up about as much stuff as they attempt to debunk, most of the time without so much as a whiff of research.
 
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