Loather … What a nice surprise to see you back in the Forum! [#welcome] BACK … However, I am sad to hear about your surgeries. Prayers for you. [angel] … You’ll always have friends in the Diner, and I hope to see you here often… Sounds like you had a rough time, but I’m glad your work is sup[portive.
Regarding distracted driving. … Several years ago I was in the cab of a locomotive in Michigan. We saw a small pickup truck on a cross road approaching the track. It was a country road with only crossbucks for protection. The locomotive horn was sounding. It was a clear day but the little pickup truck drove into the path of the train. A young man and a young women were in the pickup truck. The lady was screaming loudly until the Fire Department arrived about ten minutes later. Both the man and the women had badly mangled legs, and it took a while to get them into ambulances. … Must have been distracted driving. There is no other explanation for the accident.
My friend, Gus, was operating a train that hit a loaded concrete truck. Again, distracted driving was the cause. On a clear day, the truck crossed the track in front of the locomotive. Five units and 75 cars went off the rails. Fortunately, there were no injuries to locomotive crew.
Janie, just a cup of hot chocolate to warm me up for the moment.
I see all yall Southerners done gots some chillyness goin’ on down there… We done got a bit up here in the North as well. Temps here aren’t much worse though. Right now it is 26°F with a low around 23°F on towards morning. Even got a little bit of white stuff on the ground to make everthin look purdy! I have the wood stove cranking to keep the house toasty warm and am about to go snuggle down on the carpet right next to it and get warm before bed.
Had to go visit the vampire lady over at the very big doctors corporation here in town. I do have a bad feeling about my blood sugar. Think it is creeping up where I don’t like it to be… I did go celebrate by having the #2 at Water Street Cafe as soon as I lost the blood… Came home and kept over eating all day. Just took my evening read for the sugar and it is 144… Go figure?
Loathar, good to see you back, but sorry to hear of your health issues. Hope everything is now good and will stay that way for you!
Tomorrow evening I have a meeting with the president of the the model train club at RIT and a couple club advisers. MY MNRA Treasurer will be along as well. We will be discussing the 2015 NMRA Region Convention that my Division is hosting to see what might work out the best. Tomorrow the driving weather is supposed to be much better in these parts, so I’m glad it wasn’t tonight…
Time to call it a day I think. Prayers for all in need especially remembering the tragedy unfolding in the Philippines!
Although I have yet to have an ampendage removed, I was “blessed” have bad health issues all around and have had some things “ectomy-ed” and should probably have a few more things “ectomy-ed”. Could use a whole new lung transplant, but not yet. Maybe a few years from now.These ones are giving me trouble thats becoming more severe as time passes.When you get winded walking 2/10thof a mile on a flat paved surface to the mailbox, or get winded simply putting your clothes on, maybe it is getting serious.
Jeffrey can commiserate directly with you on the loss of a leg. He has already hooked up wiht you I see.
We here in the diner, often share our infirmeries and commiserate with each other! Power of prayer, whether you believe or not, CAN make a difference! We have a tight knit group that seems to work to our advantage.
So, LOTHAR, {And other LURKERS} DON’T be a stranger here!!!
{Yesterday, here in the USA, it was “11/12/13”. Try THAT with your european backwards denotion of dating things!!!}
MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!!!
Today’s Fun limmerick:
Rosetta Cody, a well schooled cryptologist Wed Stanley Stone, a prominant archaeologist. After she wed, her name She changed, and it became Rosetta Stone, as known to cryptologists, archeologists and Egyptologists!
Today’s fun words:
passepartout:: (n.)something, such as a master key for a saf
I guess,you could call me a ‘‘lurker’’, Just turned,71 this month and I surely can attest,to having,Medical,problem’s, fortunately, I have all my limbs, aside from some disability problem’s,I got from Vietnam,which are acting up more and more,the older I get, I just try to take one day at a time and thank the power to be for that. People helping other’s,is a great way,to share compassion, I was a volunteer worker at the VA Hospital at Hines IL. for a few year’s and the Vets there,who had no one,really appreciated any friendship…I try not to complain,but sometimes,it is good to know,that we are not alone.
Woke up to a bit of snow today and was quite cold putting thr trash out to the curb. Made that first cup of coffee of the day that much better ( off work for the rest of week, guys can PM if they want more ) have a few errands to run at some point today and want to work on some stuff in the workshop.
Have to say I haven’t done much railroading at all, at this point I have no idea when I will. With 99% of the layout done there are very few projects to do, and none that really interest me.
Good morning, everyone! Yesterday’s snow in New England amounted to exactly nothing on the ground here, but the air is distinctly colder this morning.
Tuesday night is hockey night, which make Wednesday morning a struggle just to get out of bed. Somehow, I’ve managed to get through the workday all these years. I had a “Tuesday Night Shutout” last night, which we define as giving up anything less than 10 goals. Yeah, it’s that kind of hockey, and my 11-8 victory was a rather low-scoring game by our standards. Sometimes, I think they let an old guy like me play because I give up enough goals to make everyone happy. Win or lose, it’s good exercise and fun, and we all get together, drink beer and laugh afterwards.
Loathar, welcome back. Good to see you in the Diner.
Good morning. It’s 31° with 84% humidity which makes it feel like 25°. The high will be 52°. Freeze warning in effect from 2 AM to 8 AM cst Thursday.
I actually had to turn on the heater out here in the office this morning. It was 78° in the house but only 45° in here. I may get to do some more work on Oliver’s train adventure. That is if nothing else gets in the way. No plans set in stone today.
(tosses a tube of Ben-Gay on the counter) Here, this is for Mr B when he shows up.
Coffee and order of biscuits and gravy with a couple scrambled eggs thrown on top please. Thanks you.
Cold……It’s gonna be cold. Shoot, it’s cold right now.
Loathar- Wow! What a year! But by golly you are taking it well. Attitude is 90% or better in life. I’m glad to hear you are doing well and that accident, what can I say that you haven’t. Also glad to hear from you again too.
I’ve always claimed from the day they started blaming the cell phone, and I’m in no way saying it doesn’t play a big part, it’s the distraction that plays the part in the accident, whether it be a conversation or patty cake, NOT the act of putting the phone to your ear. Most places/states, have gone to this no cell phone use while driving unless using a hands free device. Well, a handsfree device does nothing to get rid of the distraction of the conversation. Laws to stop holding the phone to your ear only serve two purposes. 1. To sell more stuff for the phones. (they are however fine if you like them and want them for your convenience) and 2. The only thing the hands free devices do is allow you to keep your hands on the wheel. If that is the case then there will be no eating, drinking, smoking, talking with your hands ([(-D] [(-D]), or changing radio stations or volume or any of the million other reasons people take at least one hand off the wheel. Shoot, many people, myself included, drive with only one hand on the wheel more than half the time in the first place. Sooooo, it’s just an empty attempt at looking like they are trying to do something.
Frank’s right. Sometimes we aren’t complaining, it’s just good to….”get it off the chest” I suppose. Don’t know how to describe it, but it does feel good to know not everyone is non-compassionate and that
Currently it is 34 with an expected high of 66 under sunny skies. That is all supposed to change starting tomorrow. We should be getting back to our seasonal temps of 40 and 50 degree days, and 20 overall nights before it gets real cold.
Day off, so have 1 load of laundry going, may do a little grocery shopping, do not need much. May also get together with brother-in-law and sister-in-law who are here to help support us at the one year anniversary of my wife’s passing this Friday. Could be a few really tough days for all of us. But with lots of family around we will make it through.
Zoe, I’ll have a nice bowl of organic oatmeal w/ brown sugar and lots of dark roast Marrakesh Express Fair Traded coffee in my R&GV RR Mug please. I’ll be sitting at the table by the stove in the back to keep warm…
Welcome aboard Z! Nice to see you in here.
It’s a Winter Wonderland outside the door here in the Finger Lakes this morning. Got an inch or so of light and fluffy overnight. Won’t last long as something called “The Sun” is coming out from behind the clouds every now and then to melt away all the nice snow and make the little wheel turn on the electric board down cellar… [swg] It’s one of those mornings where you can easily see where the air leaks are into the attics of all the houses in the neighborhood.
Jeffrey, it would have to be a whole lot colder than 31°F to have a problem with your tongue on the pipe… [:-^] Now if it was -31°F I wouldn’t want to try it. [(-D] Ah you Po Southern Folks… You probably never been camping in a tent with a wind chill of -75°F have you? I have! Now THAT’s COLD!!! (I brag now, but don’t think I want to do it again…)
Best get myself moving. Lots of things that should get done (and probably won’t) today…
We have been a little busy since I last posted. Nothing major, just a lot of time consuming running around. Last Saturday we went to a Greenberg Train Show on the other side of town. It seemed to be busier than the past couple of shows. Although I didn’t get anything, it looked like a lot of buying was going on. You really do have to be careful at these shows as I saw some freight car kits (HO) priced at $5.00 to $7.00 over retail. But they were selling.
Sunday we did our railfanning bit. We only saw 5 trains in a couple of hours. 2 intermodal, 2 mixed freights and 1 crude oil unit train. On the way, we went to a drive thru of a fast food chain to get a sandwich, french fries and a soft drink to take with us. I have real concerns about some of our youth these days. Must have spent 5 or 6 minutes trying to place a simple order, and the kid could not get it right. Before I lost it completely, I cancelled everything and went inside to order. I also asked to speak to the manager so I could complain. That didn’t work out to well as she was the one taking orders in the drive thru. I recall being asked one time if I wanted cheese on my cheesburger. How do they get through the day?
Anyway, spent a little time talking to another fellow railfanning and he had a radio scanner. My wife has suggested a couple of times that I get one, but I was reluctant because when I listen to railroad channels on the internet, I can’t tell who (what railroad) is talking. But this fellow showed me how you can tag, or assign labels, to the different channels on most new scanners. So for an early Christmas present from the wife, we went out on Monday and bought a Uniden BC125AT with 500 channels. Then reality set in once we were home. These things are very complicated and I didn’t have an 8 year old here to show me how to program this thing. The instruction book is absolutely useless. Finally, last night I figured out how to get the railroad frequencies plugged in and tagged. I’
Went to do some railfanning this morning and caught two mixed freights in about 10 minutes. After that we got a hot dog and some french fries from the fry stand, they were delicious. I love hot sizzling fries with vinegar and lots of salt. Just having a coffee right now as its still pretty cool out there ( 27f )
Camping in -75? No. In -50, that’s a different kettle of fish. Don’t forget that I’ve been to many parts of the world, most of them before I was twenty and some of them were pretty darn cold. On the other hand there were some that were pretty darn hot!
