Everything well out here, staying inside, getting cold here! Suppose to get to the 50’s tonight and maybe only get up to 65 tomorrow. [st] If it isn’t too bad will try to make it to therapy tomorrow morning.
Found out additional therapy has been authorized for both leg and shoulder. I SURE WILL BE GLAD WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER! SURE GETTING TIRED OF ALL THIS !
The guys at Knotts have an annual “Foam Fest Event”, they get together talk trains stuff, watch DVDs, and play with different scales. (Guys bring an oval of track, and it gets set up and run. So the event is Wednesday nite (today), so it should be fun. It is the second one I’ve attended, last one was at my place.
Spent the day trying to find the right balance between elevation, ice packs, and exercise, leg hasn’t been real cooperative today.
The wife and I both have a little crud right now, so I opted to work from home today to help her with the youngest and other house chores that needed to be finished. We’re feeling better now and I have a large pot of beef stew on the stove we’ll enjoy for dinner. My assistant coach will have to run flag football practice tonight; I’m glad I have a capable assistant coach. I’m hoping for some more Christmas train running after dinner.
Doug M. – I know there are people who do not like Windows 8, but I like it. It’s great on the tablet and I also use it on my home laptop. I don’t even miss the “start” button. That layout is neat.
Banks – I’m glad the wife has enough sick-leave to cover her recovery time.
Chief – I like your new avatar. Is that the most recent progress?
Mornin’ boys. Cloudy and 39 here in the Mid-Atlantic region. Finished construction of the North Pole set up, now I need to wire same today for all the houses and accessories. Should have taken pics, just get too involved that I forget.
Morning all. What a day!!! Started off with a bang. Cranked 4 Runner and loaded dogs for groomer. 4 Runner has new serpentine belt put on by my local service center. Heard a loud clicking noise yesterday evening and stopped by the center. Belt had a bad place on it. Well, it shredded going out of the driveway. Didn’t notice until steam was coming out behind vehicle. Stopped. Part of belt still on and part wrapped around fan shaft. Obviously hit a hose and knocked it off or cut it. Antifreeze all over engine. They sent wrecker and Wifey came and took dogs to groomer. Messed up our schedules. [banghead] Of course service center is all apologetic. They will loose money on this deal. Bet they only get reimbursed for belt and not all the towing. additional labor and etc.
Got several appointments and then reception this evening. Cloudy and warm. Suppose to have a low of 62 Friday AM and high of 72. Then that Yankee cold air hits and rain Sat. and Sun. and cold temps. There goes the Christmas Parade by the Chamber. [:-^] [(-D]
Aloha from a warm and foggy Chicago where it is supposed to get even warmer later today before the temps crash. I will take advantage by heading up to see the Field’s (um Macy’s) windows and the big tree and Kristkindel market near city hall around lunchtime. Then the temps crash tonight and through the weekend.
Banks, hope your wife’s recovery goes smoothly.
Rich, I know what you mean about having your daughter far away.
Mike C, I am excited to hear about the SG layout changes.
Don, that sounds like a fun gathering.
Joe, I hear you. My inlaws with a brand new computer love Win8. It’s tougher to play with on an older machine without a touchscreen.
All the way down to 50? Boo Hoo. You’ve been living in CA way to long.
Here at the Toy Train Museum today, but leaving at noon, My computer wont connect to the data files on the library master computer. Did all I can do without screwing something up.
Everyone try to stay warm when the cold wave hits, even the guys in Southern California. [:'(]
All repaired. Bypass hose had been “snatched a loose” by the part of the belt that came apart. Got free coolant system flush, new coolant, new belt [original Toyota this time] and complete wash job. [Y]
Per repair/service facility, CARQUEST is footing the full bill.
Went to hospital outpatient department with wife to get her blood test this morning. Ran into a lady whom we haven’t seen since she was a little girl. Took me a while but I finally recognized who she was. We had a nice chat.
Son wants to help me put up Christmas outdoor lights today.
Found a short in one of the few Gargraves switches still left on my layout. Thought I would have to replace but figured out that the movable part of the points were shorting out on the third rail above them. Fixed with a piece of electrical tape for insulation. I had some shims under the points but it was forcing the points to come in contact with the third rail. Put it all back like original. Don’t remember now why I shimmed it in the first place. Probably because points were riding too low. Seems OK now though.
D. Baker, the meeting with your friends at Knotts sounds like fun. Reminds me of years ago a group of guys I knew about who were live steam operators. They would take some track and set up around the operators house at Summit in Cajon Pass when there was a train order office there. Then they would run their steam engines all day while the real railroad passed by in front of them on the U.P. and Santa Fe. This was a long time before they built the palmdale culoff. Another group of railfans get together once a year at “Winter Rail” in Sacramento to swap stories and show slide shows of trains.
Good day at work. Upgrade went well. Lots of easy case reports to do as we prep for year end. Played for an hour and a half with “my” soccer kids. It was fun. I have now been involved in some sort of soccer event every month of this year. Supposed to get nasty weather wise tomorrow evening. May stay home Friday if roads are bad. Will only miss an all day meeting. Track is laid for standard gauge Christmas layout after cutting the one piece I needed. Will have to fine tune the buildings, scenery and accessories over the next few weeks. Thank you, Doug M. and Frank for the comments. I hope everyone has a good day.
We’re feeling a little better today, enough for me to head in to the office. I should be 100% tomorrow. We don’t have a lot going on this evening, so I’ll definitely have some more Christmas train time.
I need to find a masseuse! I slept wrong on my right side the other night and did something to my neck! OUCH! Real tight and sore. [:(]
Fife and MikeC - any chance we’ll get to see some pics of the train gardens?
I’ve been given the green light to redo the under-the-tree layout next year (as long as I get it done and it isn’t just wood and track). So as soon as the holidays are over I’ll be starting on that… over the next couple weeks I need to get my big garden wired so I can run trains on Christmas. Not much to do on that as I have almost all of the drops wired, just need to build the control panel and get the drops wired to the single throw and rotary switches. The hard part is going to be transferring the track plan to the plexiglass, painting the plexiglass and then back lighting the panel. Maybe have it done next weekend (hopefully).
Morning. FOGGY and misting rain. Real warm. Low tomorrow morning is 62 and high tomorrow is 77. Then it falls but stays above freezing. That will be the Yanks attempt to retaliate for the Reb snow and ice cannon blasting states around Ohizo with main aim on Ohizo.
Doing some chores and then leaving for a meeting down east and then on to deer camp. Hunting tomorrow with return tomorrow night.
Went to “Miss Edna’s” yesterday with a poinsettia. Got back a Legacy engine that had a bad motor [should have been under warranty] and a tracmobile [which was new and failed and should have been under warranty]. Paid for both as Lionel was denying her warranty work. Lionel has “gone to the dogs with service”.
Cold air had come from Alaska the TV says and its cold. Thur. 57 Fri.57 Sat.54 I missed night lows but its 33 or 34 I think.
My dogs have the run of the house but sleep outside. I let them sleep inside when its so cold like this but my Border Collie wants out as soon as I get up and stays out. He likes to keep a eye on things.
July 3rd and 4th I also let them sleep inside, those are bad nights for Cooper, I live amongst the Mexicans and its like a professional fireworks show all around my house.
I have Dual Cab Control with 13 blocks and am making a new control panel for my layout expansion. The current one is .055 sheet metal and was hard to make, this is 1/8 Masonite. I painted it silver, then drew my track plan with the block separations and am now using 1/8 masking tape to mask my track plan and then will paint it semi gloss black, and then drill the holes for the toggle switches for each block. I made my current one this way and like it. Turnouts are ground throws or Bullfrog.
Aloha. Here comes the cold air. Before grocery shopping, I browsed the holiday and clearance aisles at our local super-Walmart and picked up a few things I could use on the layout. I like looking for odds and ends I can turn into something.
Well, my sister in Florida got her evalution at the dentist yesterday and we all got sticker shock. The price is just about double what we thought it would be. It is one of those chain outfit dentist with offices in 20 states. They have had some bad press on the internet but there are always some bad apples in every business. Checked with my own private dentist and they thought the place in Florida was in the ballpark on prices. Just don’t know how ethical these places are. Put off decision until I see the paper work.
Sorry to say my sister in Virginia who is recovering from surgery has been found to have more cancer spread to the lymph nodes. She is too weak for anymore surgery or chemo. Don’t know how much time they give her yet. I just found about it today from another sister. In the meantime she is enjoying a better quality of life than she has had since this whole thing started several months ago.
On a brighter note, I got up the outdoor Christmas lights yesterday with my son’s help.
Went out to eat last night for a break. Restaurant was uncrowded the week after Thanksgiving.
Picking up grandson from school today for his mother who is busy.
