Good evening to all, just got back home from one of the sadest funerals that I have ever attended. Little Laurie, age 28 didn’t make it. Her defective heart just couldn’t make through this sickness. Her husband of only 18 months was so devastated, they were a beautiful match. To see him lying against the casket was more than we all could take.
I want to thank each of you who expressed your thoughts and prayers in the Coffee Shop, please believe me, it really helps to have the support of so many terrific guys, may God Bless each and every one of you!!!
To all the news guys in the Coffee Shop that I have missed over the last few days, a BIG Welcome guys, the OJ’s (Ed’s OJ of course) and Ropot Beer floats are on my tab.[#welcome][#welcome]
No progress on the layout guys, with sickness and death of Laurie, the garden now in full harvest, and two leaking solar water panels on the roof, there is no time remaining.
The roof is no place to be these days, I can feel the heat right through my workshoes, and the solar panels are so hot that I cannot handle them without gloves. It took two of us to remove the tempered glass 4’ X 10’ panel covers off two of leaking panels. Three lines (3/8" copper) had freeze splits about 1/4" long. Three compression fittings took care of that, now I have to make modifications to the systems because the old design is a 1970’s vintage, and the new closed loop drainback systems are different. I have to add an air release valve at the high point, and a few other checks and balances. See guys…we MRR’s have to do many things, we are multi talented people aren’t we?? We garden, do electrical work, boats, planes, carpentry, solar energy, auto mechanics, painters, computer gurus ( stretching that one a bit for some of us) etc., etc.
ED: Manny is now happy once again and staying with Red Sox. He says that Boston is such a great baseball fan town.
Almost time ( 9pm edst) to go watch Made In America on the Travel Channel wit
Well that was nice. Bob talked longer with Deb than with me. Thats o.k., Deb is a lot nicer . I have gotten to be a Grouchy Geezer. And the main reason for that is ,ITS TOO
*** HOT TO PLAY/RUN TRAINS IN MY GARAGE. No she wont let me have a layout in the house. Cannot afford to a/c the garage. Boo-Hoo.
Darn, time to shower and get some sleep. Goodnight all.
Flip
Sorry Old Man! This is one for the Myth Busters as “Busted”. According to DarwinAwards.com the guy that tried to fly was actually an Urban legend. Saying that I’m sure there are a few out there short of a brick load or a six-pack that would try it.
Phil: Has your ear gone dead yet?
Duke: I’d be lucky to fly on such new hardware. Had a chance to reminence last week as I flew on a 727. How old is that?
Jim: Had a wonderful day as the temps were in the low 80’s with a bit of humidity
Killed the friggin hornets nest, second go, wrapped it in a bag and let the @*&%6$ sweat to death. (Didn’t say I was a nice guy. did I)
I now have two fried decoders. One by my own hand. Good thing is they’re fool proof guaranteed.
Ryan: Canadian Gun Control is not my forte as I do not know the ins and outs. All I know is I can go out and buy a gun and bullets that aren’t restricted, I.E., no hand guns. I’ve taken the course, clean record, etc, In Canada if you have a clean police record your good to go. As I said there is a lot more to this than I know or wi***o comment on.
***: That must have been a tough funeral. Our thoughts and prayers are with Laurie’ s husband especially, and all your family.
Did you hear about the Air France Airbus crash at Toronto? A full passenger load, coming in for a landing in a thunderstorm. Was probably struck by lightning just after touchdown. May have hydoplaned too. Didn’t quite make it, and slid off the end of the runway (24L - the same as an Air Canada DC9 in 1976, same place) Ended up on fire in a ravine. Now get this…NO FATALITIES OR SERIOUS INJURIES [angel]
Everyone got out before the fire spread to the main body of the plane. About 11 minor injuries. An airport spokesperson was asked outright if he thought it was a miracle. All he could say was that they have good systems for response…
Hello! The first responders weren’t there when the folks got out, weren’t even there when the fire spread.
No mrr today, but I did get some new path cut along the road side of our lot. It’s roses and bramble scrub, and pretty slow going with the weed whacker. 26 paces done so far, about another 100 to go on this leg.
Early start tomorrow, so I’ll say Good night all, and God Bless.
I’ll have to do that, because no matter what I get for a vehicle, it is getting airhorns. If it is a small economy car, it’s getting airhorns, if it is a truck, it is definately getting airhorns.[:D]
Fergie: The “Hybrid Steam Engine” topic of yours, or at least the follow up to it, resurfaced again. Did you ever do any work on the 4-8-6 you were talking about?[:D]
Uh, just out of curiosity, how did you manage to get close enough to wrap it in a plastic bag???
***, sorry to hear about Laurie not making it. Sad to see someone so young pass on. My condolences.
Well he’s just stating the obvious. But I’ll tell you I was very relieved when Sunday’s trading deadline passed. I didn’t want to see any of the guys who’s names were being tossed about to be traded. I like the team just like it is (well it would be nice to have Keith back). And it was great to see Manny come off the bench and knock in the winning run Sunday afternoon. I understand he got a pretty big ovation when he got up to pinch hit.
btw, How 'bout them Red Sox!!. They won another one tonight. That’s 6 in a row and 8 of their last 10. Manny had a 3 run homer and another rbi. He knocked in 4 of their 6 runs. Curt got another save.
I spent some time today swapping out trucks and couplers to get a couple of cars working better. Plus continued some running in on the RS-3 that I took apart and put back together.
***: Please accept Kitty’s and My condolences, and pass them on to your family. That had to be a tough funeral. God be with her husband in his loss.
Duke: That’s right,[%-)] I didn’t reply to your last e-mail. Some day I’ll reach around, and pull my head out of my fourth point of contact. (Old Airborne Talk)
As soon as I’m out of the forum I’ll send it out.[#wstupid]
Hello everyone, I just wanted to share what I saw today. I was sitting at a crossing in No.Little Rock, AR and a UP freight came by with 3 SD70’s and on one of the locomotives this was spray painted on the side: “Pictures $5.00, If no pay expect lawsuit” I found that quite humerous I just wi***hat I would have had my camera.
Good evening gentlemen and other’s ( you know who you are LOL ) I have returned safe and sound from our camping trip. No moose bears or other unpleasantness.[tup] [blue[ *** Please pass Heather’s and my condolances on to the family as well. I’ve never been to a funeral for someone so young not sure I could handle it either.J611 John I’m sorry i’ve been a bit out of the loop lately. But thanks for the liking of the streetcar pix. Which one was it again? Something I had posted or something from the railimages album? Fergie [/blue] Good to have you back, loved the pictures BTW. Why the erie cliners though. I figured you would have done the CN or CP ones ? or are they going to get painted gasp in MESS colours? Well gentlefolks have a good evening. Rob
***- I hate to hear about the death of such a young person. I will keep you and all of Laurie’s loved ones in my thoughts.
I also feel awkward going from such a serious matter to talking about trains, but i guess that is what it’s all about, trying to get on with life when things like that happen.
Got my Trains mag today along with MR and RMC, I was thinking about letting my subscription to Trains expire, but it’s just too much fun reading about how all of the huge mega RRs of today can’t seem to run a railroad without so much grief. BNSF and UP are in a snit over de-railments on the Powder River line, due to (choose which ever RR you like best) bad maintenance by BNSF (UP’s version) or terrible and unusual weather conditions that turned coal dust into a track eating Coalzilla sludge (BNSF’s version).
Then you have the huge problems CSX is having trying to make their ConRail purchase pay off.
And of course, the annual Amtrak battle, which fills thousands of pages of books, government reports and Trains articles. It’s a never ending story.
I’m thinking that compared to their problems, my life isn’t too crazy after all!
Looks like the heat has returned to the midwest, mid 90’s until Thursday. Ah well, whatchagonnadoo?
Gonna go get me some OJ from Ed’s tank car, then add some ice from Fergie’s insulated hopper and some rum from Jamaica, (MonRail, mon!), and relax.
Chloe, how about two fried over easy with sausage…
Good morning clubbers,
After almost two days of job-related diversions, I returned to my tracklaying with a vengeance late yesterday afternoon. I connected the West quarter of the main line, including the southwest curve; here’s my progress as of last night: http://www.railimages.com/albums/kenlarsen/adf.gif
[#welcome] UnionPacific3985 – that’s funny about that graffiti on the UP loco, but the State of PA is already charging admission to Horseshoe Curve – glad I had a chance to see it in its “natural” state 30 years ago!
Steve – guess I just missed you yesterday afternoon [which probably was bedtime on your corner of the globe]. Looking forward to seeing some more layout pics!
Scott – good luck on that KayBee interview![tup][angel]
*** – that funeral for your daughter-in-law’s sister must have been exhausting[:O][:(], condolences to you and the family, prayers for the widowed husband.
John – [:O][wow][:O] That was a miracle, maybe not beyond the boundaries of physics but definitely from a statistical point of view! I’m sure the plane crew deserves a huge share of the credit for being able to herd all the passengers quickly to safety.[tup] Those safety/evac speeches at the beginning of every flight really do pay off!
Northern Phil – good to see ya. That’s depressing about all those proto RR problems, but hopefully they’ll continue to survive for another 50 years…[sigh]
UnionPacific3985: Judging from your screenname, I would think that you would be against the bashing of UP. That is really funny, hopefully someone will get a picture of it.[:D]
Oh boy! Sometime after Driver’s Ed I go to KB Toys for an interview! YAY! I may have a closer job soon! And that means more money for me! More money for the bank! And more money for trains![:p][:D][;)]
*** - our condolences as well. It is always harder when the young go. I especially feel for her husband who ended up having so little time with Laurie.
Scott - Instead of adding air horns, you need to develop the skills necessary to anticipate what’s going to happen. I take it for granted now, but frequently when driving i find myself changing lanes or slowing down before things start to hit the fan. It’s all about paying attention and being patient. One thing you should check out is a program developed by Bill Scott for training high school aged kids. The norm is that new graduates from traditional drivers training have a higher accident rate than the non-trained. The Bill Scott course reduces the rate by 80%. It is offered through school systems in Va, Wva, Md, etc. you can check through your school guidance dept or contact Summit Point Raceway 304 725 8444 for more info. This is not a racing driver training program, Bill also trains government employees in driving techniques and has developed the program in cooperation with the local schools specifically for young people. At any rate it’s worth a look.
Not much done on the layout last night - stayed late with the rest of the guys here to brainstorm a driveshaft problem that has developed on the Atlantic cars. They are a good bunch we have here, i’ve never worked with a better team, they really care about the shop. All for now - time to get to work. CUL, J.R.
I can do that, and still add airhorns.[}:)][;)] But, there is another program I will be doing once I have my own car. The insurance company offers a “Steer Clear” program for safer driving. Once I go through that, my insurance is lower as well! I know that driving is about paying attention and being patient, I’m an overcautious driver as it is, always checking my mirrors, looking everywhere, keeping my eyes moving. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t make my vehicle look cool.
Hey, it could be worse, I could be upgrading its performance instead of its appearance. But, I don’t care about that. I’ll take any car, despite its horsepower or max speed.[:D]
Almost a full week home and where does the time go?
*** I’m sorry for your loss, as always words can never do justice for what the heart feels. As fo your other dilemas these too shall pass. Just remember the complexity of the project is greatly deminished by the downward deflection of the tongue when held at right angles of the sun’s axis when at it’s zenith. Or something like that.
Ed: This was a two day project,
Day one: wait till after dark and after beer settles, Spray entrance of next with Wasp and Hornet foam and RUN!!!
Day two: observe nest from afar (after all. they are now seeking retribution). At this point it was evident the foam alone was useless and required a rethink (see notes on tongue/sun axis theory).
Take Lisa and kids to fog fireworks, I know this is an interesting concept but is interesting none the less to watch the Natal Day (civic holiday) Fireworks being obscured as a fog bank moves in to the harbour. Lighted fog…MMmmmmm.
Get home and foam the nest again, This time don’t run and watch and listen. At this point there was no activity so I placed a bag over the nest and tied a lasso to choke it off.
Day three: Let them sweat to death.
This was how I done it!! However to add to the story the nest was actually being built in a bird house on top of a post. The bird house is now a write off.
UP3985: Gorgeous Shot, definately a looker!
Rob: The C-Liners are in CN Green Livery. Quite in keeping with my time period. These were a Life Like Proto limited run and for $60 Cdn I wasn’t willing to pass them up.
Scott: to tell you the truth I never gave it much more thought as other priorities have taken front row. Though the thought of JATO’s on my Big Boy is worth considering.
Jess: I could tell you but with my recent luck with decoders that may not be a good thing. Go on line to Loys toys or Tony’s Train Exchange as t