Toy train operating and collecting

Ole Timer,

                When I was shopping for my laptop, it seemed that Compaq and Toshiba were a better deal than comparable Dell laptops.  I got a Compaq CQ50-115NR for about $400. It has a 200GB HDD, AMD Turion 2.0GHz dual core processor, 3GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 15.4" display, NVIDIA GeForce 8200MG garaphics card, and it runs Vista Home Premium with no problems.  Don't believe all of the garbage out there about Vista.  It is far superior to all previous versions of Windows IMHO.  I would suggest getting a copy of Windows Vista The Missing Manual by David Pogue though.  It will give you a better understanding of Vista, and it is a great book for anyone considering Vista.

Brent,

         Fingers are crossed.  Hope you get good news.

I am stuck at home today waiting for a delivery.  I was going to buy another muffler strap for the Sunfire, but I have to wait now.  I hit a speed bump a little too hard yesterday, but the strap was rusted anyway.  I also went on an N64 spree yesterday and bought five games, another controller, and a Rumble Pak.  Almost bought a GameCube, but I decided against it.  I can't believe what the older games are worth.

 SJ- Prayers for your situation.

Good morning all, still in the June gloom weather but sun is out earlier today.  Went out to eat last night with the wife and tried a new place.  Actually an old place with new owners.  Big disappointment.  The old place was a Chinese restaurant with buffet service.  New place is about the same but slightly different food.  Thank the Lord I did'nt get sick last night.  That's about the best I can say about it.

Stayed up and watched the kick off of the New Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.  He had on Will Farrow who was not too funny unless I missed something.  Show has a new set and is coming from Universal Studios instead of the old place in Burbank.  Nice looking set but something is missing now.  I wish they would have stayed in Burbank.  Something about tradition I like.  Conan brought his regular band with him and the old band that Jay had is gone.  I wonder what they are doing now.  The best band they ever had was the Johnny Carson band with Doc Severenson.  It's been down hill since they left.

Later, Ray

Ray --

I heard Doc Severinsen two years ago on his final tour, INCREDIBLE and the band that was touring with him was awesome.  It was while I was still working at the Civic Center and I went in early, I was able to talk with Doc while he was warming up, great guy.  Way back in the '70's he would occasionally go out and play with high school bands, he played at my old high school and of course I was there to support my old high school.  In the '60's we had Rafael Mendez play with our band, he was a great inspiration to me, I still have his autographed albums 

I think the new tonight show band will be MUCH better than Leno's band (Kevin Eubank).  I remember when Leno and NBC dropped Doc's band, said they couldn't afford them, what a crock.  Of course I do remember Steve Allen before Johny, he was so funny.

Just talked to Jack [Rockisland].  As he posted, 3 more weeks and "C" section and Granddaughter.  Lets all pray she makes the 3 weeks and "comes out" healthy.   For a Yankee, Jack is an OK guy.

 Sunny and 80 here in central Virginia.

Busy day. Planted two 8' Magnolia trees, trimmed branches around the satellite dishes, cleaned maple seedlings from the house gutters, exchanged the front end loader for the spear ready to unload hay, moved the cows to a fresh pasture.

Sounds like the Chief? There is a difference! I finished at noon and spent the rest of the day seating on the deck. Chief would work another 5 hours.

Took 2 hours up and down the ladder doing the gutter cleaning. I don't have gutter guards, but is there a gutter guard guaranteed to not clog with the maple seed pods?

Brutus - Do you want to go deer hunting without guns. Can't say any more without getting political.

The smart Farmer knows: Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

Pat

Yeap.  Just picked a half of a 5 gallon bucket full of squash and filled the rest with cucumbers.  Got tomatoes turning orange.  Maybe ripe by weekend.   

Good Afternoon from wet Southern Ohio

Severe Thunder storms going on right now.  I will wait for them to pass before heading home from work.

Wes –

I used the composite for a deck of a friends, it works real easy and no splinters.  IT is several years old now and still looks nice.

Brent & SuzieQ – prayers!!!

SJ – Like Chief says we’re concerned, get checked out; prayers in the meantime.

Chuck – Round nails split their way through the wood and square spike crush their way through????

Jack (RockIsland) Prayers for your daughter and granddaughter!!!!

I have a prayer book that I use for blessings and prayers for the sick.  This evening in addition to my regular evening prayers intentions I will offer a special blessing for those on the pot with needs.

May God bless

Jim

Sturgeon-Phish:

 

Chuck – Round nails split their way through the wood and square spike crush their way through????

 

Jim

Jim........Right.  Years and years ago, all nails were square. They were like wedges. It was cheaper to stamp nails out of wire stock, so, they went to round. Railroads stayed with square to avoid splitting the ties.

Chuck

Evenin' Fellas.

Well we got some excellent news on one front (need continued prayers that the next step works).

But got bad news on the kitty cat. Had to take Tigger in this morning for a teeth cleaning, if she breathed on you we would have to get out the smelling salts. Well turns out 4 of her rear teeth were no longer 'rooted' and infection had set in. White Blood Cell count was WAY down. Well 4 extracted teeth, rest of the teeth cleaned, ears cleaned, and SusieQ wallet being $750.00 lighter Tigger is home and recovering.

Ole Timer - We are building the screen panels individually so the panels sit inside the porch posts, they will be made of 2x2 PT lumber, then secured to the posts using stainless steel screws. I am not clear on how they are doing the railings though. We also decided to make one of the panels a door. We have some large furniture and having a french door with the 48" panel door will make moving these pieces and the patio furniture in the screened porch, and the grill much easier when we move.

Like all my crazy projects I'll be posting before, during, and after shots on my website - speaking of which, there is another project that needs some work!

ChiefEagles:

For a Yankee, Jack is an OK guy.

WHAT!!!!!!  You have known me for years and all you say about me is that "idiot, stupid, good for nothing, lazy, overbearing, detestable, wimp, thieving, untrustworthy, heathen, Yankee Buckeye is getting to be a real pain."  How much do you owe Jack???? 

Jon, that's great that you got to meet Doc in person.  I taped the last Carson show and when Doc spoke on that tape, he seemed like a very sincere person.  Tommy Newsome who used to fill in for Doc when he was absent, was from my home town (almost).  I'm from Portsmouth, Va and I think he was from Norfolk just across the Elizabeth River.  Did'nt Jay have one of the Marsallis brothers on his show in the beginning before Kevin Eubanks?  I agree that the new band with Conan will be better than the last one that Jay had.  BTW I remember Steve Allen's show too.  He did some crazy stuff on the show like swimming in pudding or something like it.  He used to crack up at his own jokes sometimes and that made me laugh more.  He was a very talented man.  Those kinds of people are sorely missed in TV today.

Ray

 Green97probe/ Jim .... looked at about everything ... decided on a Toshiba .... great testimonials and reviews from actual owners . Oh ... I'm surely a Vista man ... have been using it since day one . Have you gotten the new huge update from MS for it ? It's supposed to bring it up close to Windows 7 ... installed it but I have'nt noticed any difference yet ... of course that was only about 2 days ago and have'nt ran any programs to test it .

 Brent will be looking for pics and heads up on the screened in porch .... wife's mom had one in Florida ... I can't live without one now .... man are they GREAT ! Wonderful idea on that large door ... her mom's had a standard size and it was a pain moving things in and out . Plus we won't have those tiny little lizards up here trying to sneak in ... LOL .

 To all .... felt the tonight show just was'nt the tonight show without Johnny .. NO ONE can ever replace him .... watched Jack Paar I think his name was first ... then Steve Allen ... then Johnny .... Jay was pretty good but .... as far as Conan O'Brian .... ... never liked him . Dave letterman will get any of my late night watching .... but I don't care for that Paul .... Dave's band leader ....

 RockIsland52 .... threw a prayer in for the mom to be a few times ... but forgot who it was ... now I know .... all the luck and God's blessings for a successful pregnancy and a healthy ... beautiful little baby ... I'll keep putting them in ... I know he hears and loves the little children . .... prayers for all the mothers to be and their dear sweet babies .

 The UPS guy came today while wife was asleep to deliver that last CF .... whew ! I have'nt had to sneak in the house in a long time .... with a darn huge box yet ... LOL . Yea she threatened me if I bought another one ... that shed out back is'nt where I want to spend the next few nights .... or maybe longer ....

Ole Timer,

                     I am not sure if I got the update yet.  I'll run Windows Update shortly.  I was leaning towards a Toshiba, but Iit was a little more than I had to spend at the time.  I have always heard good things about them though.