I decided to put up the Christmas Tree just a little early this year. We had an early cold snap (The weather got into the 60s in November!), and I guess that put me into the Christmas mood.
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I put on my Eatha Kitt Christmas CD and got to work.
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I still have quite a way to go.
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-Kevin
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Not likely to grow much without watering it…[:-^][;)]
Basements. We got lots of basements here. Most of out buildings (on our campus) have basements. My office is in the basement of the monastery building.
Our basements have basements.
Under the passageway outside of my dor there is a SECRET TUNNEL, dark and dusky, and there are SECRET ROOMS branching off of it.
At one point the secret tunnel is so low that only the CAT can get through it, but it turns a corner and it becomes a tall arched brick tunnel that passes under the parking lot. From there it goes to the BOILER ROOM where there is a SECRET CHAMBER under the boiler. Before entering the Power House however, there is an
Lion - monasteries always have secret passageways, after all, the abbot needs to be able to sneak up on you, don´t he?
Gary - good to see you!
Good Evening, Folks!
It´s been an uneventful day for me, but not for my country. Without digging deeper into politics, Merkel has failed to form a new governement, which does not leave me unhappy, but wants to go for another round at the polls. She´ll be doing this until the result is what she wants to have, which I think is a strange understanding of democracy. Guess I have to buy two one-way tickets to the States soon, providing I am wanted and allowed to stay.
No, Vinnie, not the soap box, please!
Out again!
Good Afternoon,
We are having a heat wave here right now. It is about 35F!! No suntanning as it is cloudy. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
Ulrich, I sent you a PM. Let me know if you get it.
Well I finished the PGE wood reefer kit. It looks good and was fun to build. I really don’t need more rolling stock. I have 2 Branchline passenger car kits to build and may do one this winter.
I’m disappointed that the Poldark series is over for this year and sure hope it is continued next year.
Well we are going out to do a few errands so I will sign off for now.
CN Charlie
Answer sent!
Eveing Diners.
Flo, Inch, Tom, Brent, The Great Ed, Gary, Angleob, Ulrich, Inch, Jan, Galaxy and I will have a cold [B] please. Also give Lion a side of beef.
Anyday with out Nancy is a good day! Today was a great day for me!
Work Front. Besides the fact that Nancy was not there I had some good sales. I only had 5 customer’s for the day but 4 of the 5 bought. While I tried to push the Mattress that Nancy wants me to sale no one liked them? [(-D] But they did like Memory Foam for some reason and bought?[:-^] Hard to sale something you don’t believe in.
Later, Ken
I finished the tree set up:
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Of coarse, it is not Christmas until the “Leg Lamp” nightlight is in the kitchen!
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The temperature is back in the mid 80s again. Does not feel like the holidays any longer.
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-Kevin
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Hi all,
Prayers and good thoughts for all who need them. This is a tough time of year for many, not just in terms of coordinating family get-togethers and then dealing with the holidays, but also for those who have no one and trying to have a good holiday. I work in human services and see people for whom this time of year is difficult.
I recently got turned down for a promotion at work in favor of someone who I understand is not experienced in the field, and is a fresh college grad. I have two degrees, and six years in the field, so not getting this promotion hurt amongst other reasons. It promised a 9-5 schedule, and I had the good word of the person who originally held the position. I’ve been rejected for jobs many times over the years and never got to phased by it, but not getting this promotion hurt. I’m dealing it with a combination of exercise, seeing a therapist again, and job hunting. And yes, working on my trains and other creative hobbies at times.
I’m thinning down the collection a bit. I have a couple locomotives, and some rolling stock to sell off. Plus Classic Metal Works vehicles and some Preiser figures. I wish not to use a particular online auction site and would rather sell direct to folks without using the particular auction site as a middleman. Not an easy decision but I can use some extra money for this upcoming holiday season.
-Alvie
Nice Tree. We never put ours up before the 24th unless thats a sunday or something. Either Friday or Saturday this year.
After all it is a CHRISTMAS Tree not a St. Walmart Tree. Christmas begins on December 24th at first vespers. and ends in mid-January with the feast of the Baptism. (We used to extend it to Candlemas on Feb 2nd.)
Anywhere, here is MY christmas tree.
ROAR
Afternoon Diners,
I normally set the Christmas tree and lights the day or two after Thanksgiving. The neighbor two houses down decorated their house with colored lights.
Hobby front has be real slow. I’m waiting for some pre-orders like the Bachmann HOn3 Skarloey and Then was that hopefully well come out in December.
I get a little bit consumed over the Star Wars diorama scene and I bought a lego set on sale during the clone wars.
Afternoon folks!
Chloe, I need a hot cup of decaf and a couple of the Toll House Cookies over there to keep my energy up.
I’ve been out mowing the lawn for the last time this year! I don’t think I have ever mowed a lawn here in the Finger Lakes Region of NYS on November 21st. before! Ran out of battery (and personal energy) after getting about half of the lawn done. Lots of leaves, some fairly tall grass (hasn’t been mowed since mid October), and very wet. There is standing water in the gully behind the house on my neighbors lawn and mine. Other nieghbors are out raking leaves to put out for the city to pick up. Then next spring they will go and buy mulch from the city to put back on flower beds and such and then pay for fertilizer for the lawn. I just grind them all up and leave them right on the lawn. Then I let nature (and the earthworms that inhabit my property since I don’t use pesticides either) do her thing. Nobody can figure out why I have the best lawn in the area… 
Sun has been trying to poke through the heavy clouds now and again. I like that as it makes the wheels spin on the Electric Meter in the way I like to see…
Oh, [color=red]Brother Lion[/color], I like that tree full of cats you have there. I will not put up any decorations until at least Advent comes around… I also take them down (or at least shut them off) on Twelveth Night.
Hope everyone has a great day!
73
We went to the hospital very early this morning to the 2nd area of skin cancer removed from my left cheek. This was a much smaller area than the one they did last week. The good news was the lab reported that the surgeon got it all on the 1st cut, so there wasn’t anything more to do except stitch it up & send me home. They also removed the stitches from last week, but the ones they used today will disolve on their own, so I don’t even have to go back for that.
I don’t have our Christmas tree up, but I did finish wrapping all the gifts last night. We usually do our shopping early, and I try to get everything wrapped before December rolls around. I will probably start to put up the Dickens Village display next week. That will take about 3 days.
In case I don’t get back in, I would like to wish all a very Happy Thanksgivbing.
This is not a live cam, it is a video; you can stop it and replay it as much as you want. While the uploader might be from Montenegro, the first half of the video actually shows a train on the Bergen line in Norway. When the first part ends (around 1:31), you can see the name “Al” on the station building (with this little “o” above the A). Al (with the little “o” above the A) is a station on the Bergen line, and, if you come from Bergen (as the train shown does) you just have climbed down from higher elevations (more snow) to lower altitudes. A further giveaway are the loco and the train cars visible at the Al station. This is clearly Norwegian livery.
True story, while waiting for my wife in surgery, I heard someone say he gets lots of exercise, he takes the stairs everytime he needs a smoke.
I could say something about Lion’s secret tunnel to the Convent, but Vinnie would kick me off the forum, and the major networks would fire me. The creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams, just admited that he was in a grocery store last night, in an aisle, with a woman, alone, no witnesses. He did his best to avoid even eye contact less there be a “situation”. The times they are a changing.
I am not minimizing the real transgressions against women and children. I am just a guy on a model railroad forum. I personally don’t know any of these people or their accusers. Odds are some are guilty and some our innocent.
Howdy.
Just checking in. Busy. We had guests from Illinois from Friday to yesterday . We went to Nashville TN today and just now returned home. We will have family members visiting next 4 days from Michigan and Ohio.
Henry … funny about the guy you posted about who got “exercise” climbing stairs to get a smoke. … Reminds me of several years ago when a group of us at work decided to take a break from a long meeting . One of my co-workers said “Let’s go outside for fresh air and a cigarette.”. I could not stop myself from laughing. I have never been a smoker.
Have a nice evening , everybody.
MRVP has Kathy Millat showing how she makes trees. She is working on the newspaper real estate section. One very non impressive house is 795,000 pounds another 995,000 and 1.2 million pounds.
A million pounds is $1.3 mil or 1.13 Euros.
At my 20th high school reunion, I gravitated outside to be with people i went to school with for 12 years. They were all smoking. The class clown Fred, swore that he didn’t know anyone who was hurt by smoking. He died at age 50. I have never smoked.
I never have smoked either. (And as many of you know, I don’t imbibe either.) I’m too much of a science nerd. I know too much about what those things can do to you. (Additionally, when it comes to the alcohol, I have seen it in the antics people display when they have had too much to drink.)
Mentioning Christmas, I finally took one of the fans that my parents have up to storage. (Same building that I have my layout in.) When I was putting the fan away, I found that their Christmas tree was up there. (Of course, their tree which I purchased for them a few years ago is a pallet tree. What is a pallet tree you might ask? It is a tree that was built from a shipping pallet.) Where Mom & Dad put the tree doesn’t have a lot of room either in height or depth, it works perfectly. I was thinking about bringing it out next week. They weren’t exactly sure about that idea, but I might press the idea again next week.
Hobby Front: Will finally finish the last GP20 as soon as I get done here. A little bit of paint to cover some body filler and then attach the plow. Next project will finally be the long-sitting SD45. The pieces should be here by the time I am ready for them. (I need to replace the antenna. Somewhere along the line the antenna was broken. The replacement has been ordered. I will need one for the 1200 anyway so kill 2 birds with one stone. I also put a couple sheets of decals on there as well: for a boxcar and the 1200.) The SD45 project has been sitting for over a year due to the handrails. But the trip to Duluth earlier this fall solved that problem.
Henry… that’s sad about your class mate dying when he was 50. Good to hear from a non-smoker.
FRRY … good to hear you too are a nonsmoker. I don’t like drunks either .
i explained to our kids when they were young children: … “It is not just that smoking kills you. It is how they kill you. “ then I explained what it is like to suffer from a fatal lung disease . None of our kid are smokers. Now I say the same thing to grandkids .
[:-^]
Gary & Frrykid,
FYI, I have never smoked in my life, but I still had 4th level tongue and throat cancer… Not sure but I believe it possibly came from 2nd hand smoke as our coaches (Greyhound), from when I started in 1964 until 1988 were not non smoking. My uniform used to smell so bad that I built a special closet in the basement to store it in between trips as no one in the family wanted it anywhere close to them.
Was sure glad in the summer of 88 they went completly NON smoking
Johnboy out…Think I will pour a jug of something down my tube before bed. Night all.[dinner][tdn]