Evening
Mother nature has decided to send winter early so…
Matt was on time today even as some schools were closed due to cold weather.Someone took a whack at one of our signs for our buildings uptown.Ns was clear when I left work.People enjoyed the cookies that Stacey sent with me to work.Time to do some chores.
stay safe
Joe
Joe - can we move spring up a couple of months?
We could just call this the “longing for spring” edition of the Chatterbox. If there are “climate deniers” out there, why can’t we have “winter deniers” in here?
Sad to hear of the passing of Ron Ziel. I bought his first book, The Twilight of Steam Locomotives, the year it was published (1963). Somehow, my dad procured an autograph on his second book, Steam in the Sixties, which is also in my collection (he was the neighbor of an acquaintance of my parents). The inscription had my name spelled with a very crooked “C”, so I could add a line to it in case my name was spelled with a “K”. Nice touch!
Maybe a tiny bit warmer - if the sun ever comes out of hiding. Not too optimistic right now.
I see we are still making kindling out of our living quarters. Another fire last nite - always around 1a - really testing the ability and stamina of the firefighters & police. Obviously a lot of “turkeys” running around who either don’t care or don’t think. They make real turkeys look brilliant…
Looking at the national low temperature maps this week suggests that “Chatterbox” is very descriptive for a lot of the country, more so in a couple of days.
Survived my last “Polar” obligation for the season last night. Funny things happen with kids and parents at zero and below.
Talk of the museum volunteers last night was about an Australian family on the Polar train last night. Must have been quite some planning involved on that trip. They handled the cold better than many of the locals as well.
DRGW 491’s crew has been running in circles so often they’ve got to be getting dizzy by now.
We’re supposed to be coming out of the deep freeze today–but it’s so windy that we didn’t notice it (we’re all the way up to the 20s now; maybe a temperature above freezing for tomorrow).
I was cast in cardboard this morning (or at least my legs were). This is now a mold which will be placed on the table every time I get a radiation treatment, so they have me in the right place. Radiation treatments start on January 4 and end on February 23…in that time I go in 37 times (only the weekends are off days). It will probably make me progressively more tired.
I hope to get enough done around the house (and on my files) today to allow me to go out and see a train or two tomorrow. My notepad for December has only three pages occupied…definitely not the good old days, when I could do that much in a day or less.
evening
Ns had a westbound stack train pass one in the siding when I got off work tonight.Sent out a bunch of we need it right now packages today.Guessers say maybe 60 and rain by Monday??? Better find the boat.Matt is finishing up his project for school.Need to put stuff in the dryer.
stay safe
joe
Cold here warm there. Did anyone notice the Russian diplomat return to Moscow was to no snow and apparetly fairly warm ? Lets send the Polar vortex back to " Russia with Love "
Time for this lurker’s Ceasonal Chatterbox Check-in. It was below zero here (including wind chill) two days ago, last night we got 1/2" of freezing rain that made for a fun drive to work this morning. I saw no cases of vehicular hockey-slide, which is good. Then the wind came up and brought the mercury with it, topping off around 50 degrees. Supposed to cool off again though, and we still have snow on the ground.
In case you don’t want the information out in public, I was wondering where “here” is - did some research and figure you are out “there”. I am working on improving my geography - ergo, the interest.
With all that going on I have to wonder if your wetherman hates you.
We’ve already had our annual find the Texans and Californians in the ditch season.
All the newly minted drivers will be trouble all season until they turn JoeKoh’s 'ditchfinders" off…One of those in a Subaru did a hockey shot off the boards and under a J R England semi trailer this morning on I-25 in the Evans Avenue trench. Nothing moved for hours.
Heck, cold is no big deal for the passengers (unless the cars are cold). Locomotives and the water systems on our mid-50’s vintage cars are less tolerant. Ended up borrowing a locomotive as one of our had a coolant pipe freeze and leak.
The trips themselves went very well for the last few days. We’d added two nights, Monday and Tuesday. Last Friday the weather was exceptionally bad (I’m told - I was home) and about half the passengers couldn’t make it. They made up 1/4 of those riding on the last two days. The other 3/4 were folks who hadn’t been able to get in due to numerous ticket sell outs.
This morning, we tore down the “North Pole.” Farewell until next year… Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.
I’m pooped. Still need to clean/sort the truck - it’s full of railroad stuff, Polar Express stuff, and Christmas presents.
afternoon
snowmelt here in Nw Ohio.Ns had the local and a westbound oil train waiting as a stack train went west as I left work.Went into Defiance for an errand and saw the ND&W shortline going into town as well.Have chores to do here at home.Tomorrow another niece joins the 30 club(or the 29 again club).These dang kids just keep getting older.Matt brought home his class ring from school.Graduation will be around the corner.Better get at the chores.
stay safe
joe
afternoon
more snowmelt here in Nw Ohio.Matt is on Christmas break.We have 1 more day of work.Matt is going to G+G house and decorate cookies with cousins.Chores to do here at home.
stay safe
Joe
‘Here’ for me is the Columbia Basin region of Washington State. Thankfully the weather here has moderated to normal. Off work until Tuesday.
They can’t drive in rain, much less snow and ice!
I recall the I-25 median areas between Trinidad and Pueblo being quite wide, which served two purposes: (1) catch the errant morons who get themselves into trouble before they make it to the opposite direction lanes and (2) catch the snow cascading off the blades of the Colorado roads trucks traveling 65 MPH in the fast lane during the snowstorm. (That is unlike our Caltrans policy of sitting in the yard until the snow stops and then getting out to clear the roads. Priorities, I guess.)
With respect to (2) the arc of snow coming off the blade is impressive to witness.
Can we send our DOT plow drivers out there to learn how to do that? Around here, they prefer to plow the Interstates at 35 MPH, and have now adopted tow plows and echelon plowing, which really ties traffic up.
Our folks (at all levels - villages, towns, counties, cities, state) plow while it’s snowing. If you’ve got a two or three day snow event going on, you can’t wait till it’s over…
However, you can always tell when school is cancelled or delayed. No early morning wake-up call of a plow rumbling by. They deny that, but the facts speak for themselves…