Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your friend. He sounds like an amazing individual. People like that are too few.
Mike
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Dave,
Sorry to hear that. I don't have anyone in my life that I have considered a friend for a very long period of time.
He sounds like an interesting person.
California Is A Beautiful Place
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
I am sure I have more than enough pictures from California to keep this going for the rest of the month.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A close friend of mine was buried today. I had know him for 55 years. His name was Ted (Gil) Gilbank and he was the Commanding Officer of the 151 Lloyd Chadburn Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets which I joined at the tender age of 13 in 1967.
Gil spent 70 years working with the RCAC, starting out as an Leading Air Cadet (LAC) in 1952 and rising to the rank of Lt. Col. around the year 2000. He had an incredible influence on many, many young people including me. He was generous to a fault with his time, and he even spent many hours with cadets outside of the official Air Cadet program. He took me and others camping several times and we toured all over northern Ontario. He taught me how to speak confidently in public. He also set me straight on a few occassions, like when he reined in my overly aggressive yelling of commands on the parade square sounding like I was angry with everything in the world! I could go on and on and on.
The world has lost a great person!
Thanks for listening.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
IMO, better than wallpapering!!!
I haven't wallpapered in decades but I actually liked doing it! I got a huge sense of accomplishment when the job was done and looked good. In our first house in Chatham, Ontario we wallpapered the whole house. It was the thing to do back then! We used grass paper that was 4' wide for the front hall and the stairway. Hanging that was a challenge! Some of the pieces were 18' long! To add to the challenge, it wasn't pre-pasted. We had a heck of a time trying to figure out where we had applied the glue and where we hadn't. Finally I smartened up and added some yellow food colouring to the paste. That made things much easier!
Like most of you, these days I would never even consider using wallpaper, even if I could still hang it myself. Some things come and go. IMHO, wallpaper has went!
Cheers!!
York1I've never put up wallpaper, but I'm confident that if I did, it would look horrible.
Same here. I would not even know where to start with wallpaper. Putting up printed paper backdrops is barely in my skill set.
When I say "living room", that is a bit misleading.
The living room section of this project includes three small closets, two alcoves, the garage entrance nook, and a nook for the desk. All that, and the living room too. This is a lot of painting.
MisterBeasleyI walpapered a small bathroom once. Never again
I've never put up wallpaper, but I'm confident that if I did, it would look horrible.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
I walpapered a small bathroom once. Never again.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
SeeYou190I am so sick of painting this living room.
I am so sick of painting this living room.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
moelarrycurly4The Japanese beatles have showed up.
"Japanese Beatles" you say...
The Japanese beatles have showed up. Its been a few years.
Had to buy a trap for them.
Good morning, everyone. How about bacon, eggs, and coffee this morning? It never gets old having my favorite meal.
It's raining again. It's unusual for us to have several days in a row of rain. I'm not complaining. A side benefit is that the lawn mowing can't be done until it dries out a little.
If you've ever traveled in California, you notice the large variety of landscapes in a single state. Deserts, ocean, forests, farmland plains, mountains, -- it seems California has it all. No wonder so many people moved there during the last century.
I visited the mission at San Juan Capistrano years ago. The story of the swallows was pretty neat. The San Juan Capistrano train station:
Have a good day, gentlemen.
Good Morning Diners. Chloe, loaded scrambled eggs and some whole wheat toast please.
Thanks John & Ricky. Praying this surgery works.
We don't seem to have a problem with Racoons (yet) at our birdfeeder, but my wife isn't always on top of keeping it filled either. We do have a good number of suicidal rabbits at the house though. We have three small dogs, all bred for hunting small game. They also have dog doors to go out of at any time. Usually the rabbits get away, but not always. We do have opossums in the neighborhood too. One of our neighbors has a variety of fruit trees in their yard, and the opossums are especially fond of taking a few bites out of the pears and then chucking them over the fence into our yard. This time of year we find pears with itty bitty bites taken out of them along the fence between our yards every couple of days. There are a line of spruce trees along the fence they must climb with them and then drop them on our side. We were actually getting a bit upset with our neighbors until we figured out it wasn't them!
Shouldn't Track Fiddler be back from his little getaway soon? Hope they are having fun. Seems like NorthBrit Dave is on holiday as well, if memory serves. Still, it seems a little slow in the diner lately. Must be everyone is sleeping off the effects of the wine train York1 John brought us to!
Have a good day everyone.
Raccoons at bird feeders.... I know the pain.
We have one that is taking the oranges off of the Oriole feeder, eating everything but the rind, then going over to the seed feder and tipping it so as to munch on seeds.
Mike - Glad to hear the surgery went well. Hoping this one solves the issue.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
gmpullmanWe have to keep the critter population down in order to protect the chickens.
Top of page?
All you can eat:
(they taste like pickled chicken)
Re: the chickens, you need one of these:
up831John: You are right about the surf liner being beautifully scenic.
Coast_cal by Edmund, on Flickr
On a private car excursion.
York1My wife is again on the warpath fighting raccoons at the bird feeders.
This summer seems to be rife with raccoons. I've "dispatched" over two dozen in the last two weeks. As the raccoon population declines then I begin trapping opossums then the skunks follow. The skunks can be a real pain to deal with.
We have to keep the critter population down in order to protect the chickens.
NYC_Lines_California by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
Hi Everyone,
Brunhilda, coffee with cream, please.
John: You are right about the surf liner being beautifully scenic. In several places along the route the trains are actually between PCH and the ocean. I mean you're practically on the water. Some gorgeous ocean views especially at sunset.
In San Diego county, there's also the South Coaster which goes from SD to Oceanside, or right near there. It's a commuter type train, but a fun afternoon ride. My wife and I rode it to Solana Beach and back for fun a few years ago. Sorry I don't have any pictures.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Good morning, everyone. Bacon, eggs, and coffee.
Good news, Mike!
Our small town has a law that fireworks have to end at midnight on the 4th. Of course, you still hear them for an hour or two after that, but we don't hear any on the 5th.
There's not much going on here. My wife is again on the warpath fighting raccoons at the bird feeders. She spends her entire days working on it. She says it's her hobby. Of course, I can't be critical since I spend entire days playing with trains. I've quit offering to solve the problem with my gun.
One of Amtrak's best scenery trains is California's Surfliner.
Have a great summer day, everyone. (Except for Bear -- have a great winter day.)
Good Morning Diners! Flo, coffee and keep it coming.
Thanks to all for the well wishes for my daughter. The surgery went relatively well, although it was delayed so we got home much later than we originally expected. She is in pain, but not more than really expected, so that's good. New to this surgery is a drain tube with a little suction device that needs to be emptied periodically. That's kind of gross and a bit of a PITA to have to deal with the device, but if this approach fixes all this for her, it will be worth it. It's been over a year on this issue that doctors originally figured would take about 6 weeks to resolve, but one complication after another and here we are. I feel so bad for her.
We had no fireworks going off in our neighborhood last night either. Not sure why as we usually do for about a week after the 4th, but we'll take it!
The World Is A Beautiful Place
I did not hear any fireworks tonight for the fifth of July. Usually there are lots of fireworks on the 5th because they go on sale. Maybe not this year?
The whole neighborhood has been eerily quiet tonight. Not at all normal for the 5th.
Quiet diner day.
More storms heading our way tonight. That means the grass will be too wet tomorrow for me to mow. Too bad!
Wine train!
Happy 5th of July, Last night sounded like a war zone,
I did not go to our city fireworks as it was still over 100 F heat index at 9pm
Neighbors made up for that, i never have to buy any fireworks
York1 I'm kind of at a roadblock in something I want on the layout, but I'm not sure how to go about it.
If there ever was a universal dilemma for Model Railroader, that might be it.
Mike: Hope everything goes well for your daughter.
Fireworks are legal in the city limits in Dodge City from 10:00 am til 11:00 pm July 2nd through July 5th. We have neighbors that put on elaborate shows starting at dark; night after night. They must spend thousands of dollars on aerials (sp?). Fireworks were still going off at 2:00 am this morning. The smell of gunpowder is everywhere. I get the allure of fireworks, but I would rather spend my money on a fun trip or another home improvement project or model trains!
Speaking of trains. I did have some time in the layout room this past weekend. Made some major progress on sorting and placing like things together. The short term goal is to have space to actually begin construction of a 2' x 20' section on one of the branch lines that will be featured on the layout.
Good morning, everyone. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, Chloe.
I woke up this morning to thunder, so I will have to delay the morning walk.
I don't mind, because I can't cut grass in the rain. Isn't that too bad.
Since college, I have never been much of a music person. My car radio is set to talk stations, and I watch TV instead of having a music system playing.
That said, my all-time favorite music from my high school years was California beach music. The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and all the others:
My brother was in the Navy stationed in San Diego in 1966. Visiting him, we rode motorcycles and stayed at his house a block from the beach. Great memories!
With the rain, it's another day to work on the layout. I'm kind of at a roadblock in something I want on the layout, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I may start another thread for some answers.
Ed's photo of the Oakland train station -- here's an updated view of the station today:
Have a great day today. Hope Mike's daughter's surgery goes well this morning.
Long ago —
Shasta by Edmund, on Flickr
and far, far away.
Shasta_0001 by Edmund, on Flickr
SP_16th_Oakland by Edmund, on Flickr
How about a buttery, shortbread biscuit or cookie, if you prefer, to go with your tea or coffee?
Shortbread by Edmund, on Flickr
Water Level RouteMy oldest goes in for surgery number three tomorrow. New doctor, new hospital, hopefully new (better) result.
Thoughts and prayers for your daughter and you.