Mowed the lawn tonight - it was so tall despite the heat we’ve had! When it’s really hot, I get this thin weedy grass that tries to take over. It took me about 3 hours to mow and that was mostly the back yard with the push mower. I did the front and sides in about 1/2 hour. I did get in a spot next to the patio where the mower would not turn uphill. I got out, fiddled with the brakes, and was able to turn it around by hand after a little bit. I need to fiddle with it a bit - I have noticed that one side has about 10 percent more power than the other side? I’m not sure that is correct. I’ll call and see if there is a service guy around here that I can question about it. I’ve got about 5 hours total mow time on it so far, so I don’t think it’s anything I’ve done. Oh well, we shall see.
TARDIS is ready and SJ took the keys. I’ll be in the lounge area watching some Thomas episodes over a few root beers [:)]
Some more rain may be on the way in SE Indiana with a cool down to follow. Got a good rain shower last night. Work will be busy today. One nice thing about going to the tracks other than Indy is that the drivers are much more accessible to the fans. You have to be respectful of course, but most are willing to accommodate a brief conversation or signing opportunity. I hope everyone has a good day.
Jack - Our rain was not to little to late but close.
I am sure you know term limits is just a dream, since it is the very ones we want to replace that has to vote on it. They do some dumb things but they no better than vote themselves out of a job, free health insurance and lucrative retirement plan.
Mornin’ all! Kinda tired this morning - Linda headed up to NJ with her mom and the kids last night. Stopped by my work about 7’ish, then continued up. Unfortunately, they didn’t get up there until 3:25 in the morning, and I couldn’t really get to sleep until I knew they were up there safe. I have no idea why it took them in excess of 8 hours, especially when I can make it in 5.25 hours from work. Ah, well, hopefully the day goes fast. Have a good one guys!
66 degrees and the air is completely still, the flags not moving at all. We got a good rain overnight, glad I cut the grass yesterday. I will be taking granny to the knee doctor this AM and I do not expect to hear any good news. She has put off surgery for way too long. We are losing daylight faster now so enjoy what we have left of August…S.J.
Aloha from a beauty of a day in Chicago. Success yesterday! Got the special doll with only a 40 block walk and lugged it to the train and home without getting it wet in all the rain. Sent the rain on to Sir J.
Dennis, Kelly and i looked into special needs as well, since she’s a nurse. We’re a bit … old for them now though. This particular girl was not trained because she was so profoundly deaf though tentatively, there may be some medical possibilities here. She also turns out to be very near-sighted - never had glasses.
Brent, been there on the adoption paperwork.
Rich, your home reminds me of a few Cubs-Sox relationships I know of… [:D]
Missed out on a Percy last eve. Was looking at a burro crane - I think Sodor could use one.
The 1y/o and I went for a walk this morning and then I did some pushups and sit-ups while he helped. I am going to work late this morning; the wife and two older kids are at the dentist for check-ups and cleanings. I stayed home with the 1y/o and family. I will work for a few hours and then we all might have some fun at the bowling alley. Last night, my father and I watched the Sox - Twins game on ESPN. The Sox pulled it out at the end, and my father actually hates to see the Sox win more than I do. [:(!]
Brent - I hope the paperwork gets completed soon.
Doug - I’m looking to buy some Thomas items for the kids. I need to do it quickly since the moving company comes next week.
It’s Tuesday and I usually am up at the Pioneer Tunnel running the LOKIE. Today went to fire it up and before we fire it up I blow it down. When I did that this morning just water came out and very little steam, odd. We opened up the firebox to start a new fire and discovered 4-5 tubes have leaks in them. NOT GOOD. These tubes got to be replaced. Thursday is when the boiler maker is coming up to pull tubes, put new ones in then reweld them,and then it has to be brought back up slowly so maybe by Saturday it will be running again? We were going to do track work but rain is falling and no use getting soaked, so I went home. Good thing this happened during the night and not out on the tracks. We would of had to flood the crown plate and then drown the fire then tow it back to the barn. Hopefully it will be a running next week?
Got all my rocks on the wall so this afternoon I will start pointing.
Laz, wow! that sounds like a pretty serious problem with the lokie. A boiler is a boiler, no mater what the size so it sounds like you might have had a boiler explosion if you ran out of water. If you put cold water on a hot crown sheet wouldn’t that create too much steam expansion too fast for the safety valve to take off? Reminds me of a boiler explosion on the Gettysburg Railroad which fortunately was designed to blow out of the bottom and the boiler did not separate from the chasis. However the crew was seriously injured. Does the FRA have to sign off on boiler inspections for an engine the size of yours? How often do they require tube replacement? Anyway, glad you are safe. I went on the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge in 1996 and the same thing happened while we were running on the way to Silverton. They were losing water through the tubes and had to stop at every water tank enroute but couldn’t keep up. They finally gave up and sent out a relief engine to pull us in. The water was dousing the fire in the firebox.
Brent don’t understand the thing with the states Is there more than one state involved? if so how many? I hope if its more than one its just FL. and MD. not every state your driving thru. Still best wishes.
Not much going on tonight so just relaxing.
checking out some auctions but not really buying if I bid i want to be sure I want it so asking lots of questions lol.
Trying to figure where to and how I want to put up a display shelf for the PA-1’s & PB-1’s and what cars I put behind them.
RT - we have to do an ICPC adoption since we live in MD and Christina was born in FL. So we have to wait for FL’s ICPC to approve the adoption, then we have to wait for MD’s ICPC to approve it. It can take up to 10 days per state. So we are now on day 3 for FL. With any kind of luck we’ll get FL tomorrow and MD won’t drag their feet and we could still be home this weekend, but we aren’t counting on it. I really think if this goes past Friday then we’ll be flying home, even if we have so ship stuff UPS.
I didn’t think this would be this bad, but I’m starting to feel like I have cabin fever. I have never had it before, but this is simply nuts. We do go out every now and again, but we can’t go many places because Christina hasn’t had her first immunization shot.
Spent the day at the RR Museum of PA. Started out in the yard, but got rained out as it rained from about 10:30 on with short breaks. I then opened up the E-44 and was busy with visitors the rest of the day. Quite often had a line of 10-15 people waiting to come on board. Very unusual for a week day. Guess the rain drove them inside to the Museum instead of other activities.
Tomorrow is Toy Train Museum day for me so I will be working in the Library cataloging photographs. On Monday evening they had the Picnic for volunteers and employees. Nice event with great food and Jean even won a door prize.
73 now. An unexpected quickie storm dump a lot of rain and some small hail this afternoon. No damage that I know of. Granny’s scheduled for right knee replacement Sept. 12. The doctor looked at her x-rays and just shook his head. We both knew it was coming. Banilla is waiting…S.J.
Been away from the pot for a few days. As usual lots going on. I’m coaching the line on Gabriel’s football team of 3rd and 4th graders. It is so much fun, but really eats away at time.
My daughter Anna bought me a late 40’s early 50’s Marx Tin plate set. It is really cool. I’ll get some pictures to post. The loco took right off after a little oil, and the cars are really neat. Greg (Northwods Flyer) lured me to tinplate for some time now and I have fallen!
Brent - Prayers that all goes well.
Need to do some reading and work on this weekend’s homily
Good evening everyone. Work was good, but it was good to get out of there. I have been working on the layout a little at a time lately and hope to have some serious work done this weekend. We had a bunch of errands to tackle this afternoon. When we were shopping for some friends who are on mission to West Africa, the bottom fell out and you could hear the heavy rains on the roof of the store. We were able to dodge most of the heavy rain as we loaded up the van and headed out to dinner.
Brent, I hear you about the adoption paper work. It can be daunting. We are getting the initial stuff together for another round. We are doing “special needs” this time and the agency will try to help and make it as smooth as possible. Still, it is more work than buying a house…guess that is the way it is supposed to be.
Doug, my wife was reading a blog from a friend of hers. They had adopted a 9yo girl from China and when they got her home, she continually cried. They were finally able to get a interpreter to ask what the problem was. Turns out she has a twin sister in the orphanage who is blind and the other kids take her food and clothes. This girl was taking care of her sister and when she was adopted, she had to leave her behind…the family is trying to get the other sister. On another note, have you read “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan? I am in the middle of it…some powerful stuff.
Well, it is bed time. We are working on getting the kids to bed earlier as school starts Friday.
God Bless,
Dennis
The heat wave seems to have broken. Back to ‘normal’ summer temperatures - for now.
Went another round with the string trimmer tonight. Back to where I started. It starts, runs, but does not shut off. gotta be a bad switch or a broken wire.
LAZ - good thing you found the leaking tubes in the stare up procedure. Otherwise, it could have been an exciting day with the Lokie.
Prayers for Pat’s knee, healing for Ray and Doug, adoptions, loved ones and intentions. Brent, hang in there. That cabin fever is normal and will be with you even when you get home for a while yet. After a few months, as you are both able to get out more with your baby, it will become a lot better. That was our experience. It’s got to be worse, though; since you are isolated and away from your home and all your stuff, which makes you more comfy.
Today I went to work to EARN for Chief (et al) and had a nice lunch with my sister and our friend Fran. Picked up PAUL on bluray, hope it’s a good one. That Pegg guy makes some really funny movies. My new niece Sophie is staying with my Mom and Dad (Nana and Papaw) for a week. My sister is helping out and we’ll go over and visit on the weekend. I imagine Mom and Dad will be feeling a little of that “baby lockdown” that Brent and Suzie are into right now!
TARDIS is ready and we have chocolate chip cookie dough icecream as well as Famous Banilla!