Spring arrives tomorrow.It's also Mamma's birthday.It's also Friday!!!
ns was clear when I left work.Went in town at home.CSX had an oil train waiting to go eats at FC.ND&W were switching cars in their yard.When we came back home saw a surprise on the ND&W tracks under clinton st.Looks like they came and put new ballast along the line.That hasn't happened since just before NS spun off the line.Chores to do.Need to watch my bracket break.
stay safe
joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
Happy B'd to Mamma!
They tell me Kentucky will win the whole shootin' match. I don't know - I barely know what a basketball is.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Spring? Spring? What Spring Willis?
2 or 3 inches of white stuff overnight.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
guessers are saying maybe some stuff in the morning.Back in 1984 it snowed on my sisters birthday which is May 15th.
Joe
JoeKoh my sisters birthday which is May 15th
Hey! Same as my daughter!
My Amateur Radio call sign has been posted on the FCC website, so now I'm an official "ham." Now all I need is a radio to talk on (which I'm working on).
Don't think it's going to snow here tonight, but what snow is still here is taking its sweet time melting...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Congratulations, Larry!
Are you building your own radio? That used to be the way many amateur operators got their equipment, particularly their transmitters. There used to be two magazines, CQ and QST, which had quite a bit about what the operators were doing. I do not remember which one had the amusing column by Hashafisti Scratchi (his older brother was Hashafistic Itchi) which presented a running account of his trials and tribulations.
More than sixty years ago, I was intrigued with the idea of becoming an operator, but I never applied myself to learning the International Code, which was a basic requirement for any license. I do have pleasant memories of my electronics working (I say that I still have vacuum tube technology).
Johnny
DeggestyAre you building your own radio?
Not for the moment. I'll get up and running on 2 meter and 70cm so I can learn the ropes. Later on I might get into more depth.
The technician class test was fairly easy for me. General is more of a challenge - less because of the technical (electronics) side, more because of the rules and regs and accepted practices. I can test up to general free within a year, even though the pittance the examiner charges was hardly enough to break the bank.
afternoon
waiting for Matt to get home.He is going to G+G's house.Taking Mamma out for her birthday.Then going to look for a new celing fan.Ns had some empties uptown when I left work.
Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz,
The leaves have come upon the triz.
I wonder where the flowers is?
Around here, they're still under a fair amount of snow. In fact, it snowed here in the early afternoon. Not enough to stick, but it snowed... We're at a balmy +38F right now.
JoeKoh afternoon waiting for Matt to get home.He is going to G+G's house.Taking Mamma out for her birthday.Then going to look for a new celing fan.Ns had some empties uptown when I left work. stay safe Joe
Mookie JoeKoh afternoon waiting for Matt to get home.He is going to G+G's house.Taking Mamma out for her birthday.Then going to look for a new celing fan.Ns had some empties uptown when I left work. stay safe Joe I got a blender from my ex for my birthday many years ago. I got rid of both. I like your idea much better.
I got a blender from my ex for my birthday many years ago. I got rid of both. I like your idea much better.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
My mother told me that if I ever gave my wife a pan for a gift, to expect a flat spot on my forehead. How do women know these things, and why do men need to be told these things anyway?
Murphy Siding My mother told me that if I ever gave my wife a pan for a gift, to expect a flat spot on my forehead. How do women know these things, and why do men need to be told these things anyway?
But the Driver gave me a plaque he had made that says "Jenny - Best friend and fishing companion" that I treasure.
I never thought of a plaque. When our first son was born, I did give Lisa an altered bowling trophy with an inscription that read "World's best Mom 89 & under".
Pat's birthday and mine are close enough together that we often go on a trip, or see a concert or something.Our wedding anniversaries are even closer together...This week we expect to get up into Kalmbach country or beyond. Pat's taking a class in curved paper-piecing (she loves curves, dislikes paper piecing...we'll see what comes of this!). This is quilting stuff, by the way. I will probably find a place to plant myself for a couple of hours.Meanwhile, I'm trying to cobble together a sightings/research report of the stuff I've sighted/researched over the past month. I didn't do too badly overall, but most of what I have was aided and abetted by my "contacts". I hope I can get it out someday soon!A beated (for this site) happy birthday, Stacey!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Had one of those off-the-wall, yet fascinating ideas pop into my head overnight. Something I'll never have the model layout to pull off, but just the concept is interesting.
The idea? Model the 1000 Islands on a layout. Not to scale, obviously - there are several islands that would take up a very large room by themselves.
No, the concept would be to model a meandering stream, but lay out the little "islands" within that stream on the 1000 Islands. The smaller islands would be little more than a rock sticking out of the water with a few weeds around it. Even the larger islands would be not much more than weedy stepping stones.
To pull this off in recognizable form would require a larger home or club layout - I could see it running several feet along the edge of a layout, or in the background. One often sees drawings of layouts with significant stretches of just "scenery," not buildings and the like. There's no room for it on my current layout.
I'm sure there are other such formations that could be duplicated as "hidden" features. This one is just close to home for me.
This would be better over on the MR forum, but I rarely go over there.
As trivia - there are actually 1,864 islands (N 44.31283 W 76.00769). An island is defined as being out of the water year-round, and having at least one tree. Otherwise, it's a shoal.
Will each island have a little tree?If I were good at scenicking stuff, I'd offer to help by supplying some Thousand Island dressing.(Took a boat tour out of Ganonoque about 52 years ago.)
________________________________In other news, it's getting close to the completion of the grade separation between the Canadian Pacific and Illinois Highway 19 in Bensenville. Roadbed appears to be in, with some ties and rail down. There are signals up there, too--from their placement there may be some crossovers at the south end of the new trackage (not present on the existing tracks).
I'm still not sure how this is going to work for them--the curve from the existing north-south line to the east-west orientation of the yard was sharp enough to cause at least one string-line derailment (for which I saw cleanup in progress), yet the new alignment is inside the existing curve...thus presumably even sharper. The Google satellite view of the area is evidently too old to show any signs of the new alignment yet.
"I'd offer to help by supplying some Thousand Island dressing."
Good one Carl.
Norm
Thousand Island Dressing, invented by (or for) George Boldt at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (which he owned). A major landmark in the Thousand Islands is his unfinished Rhineland castle - left unfinished due to the death of his wife (unless you believe the rumor that she ran off on him). I'm sure Carl paid it a visit during his tour boat ride.
Tongue-in-cheek aside, I'd use grass and weeds in place of trees, so yes, most of the "islands" would get "trees," even if it was one stalk of weeds.
Drove down along the lake (Ontario) this morning on the way to a meeting near Oswego. Would have been a nice drive, but Ma Nature decided some slush would be a nice way to celebrate the beginning of spring. Yukkk! At least most of it had melted off by the time I came home.
The meeting was at a fellow SPAAMFAA member's home, so we could inspect the 1936 American LaFrance pumper he is donating to the group. It needs a lot of work, but we accepted the gift. It'll keep us busy for several years.
At least with fire trucks, we can move them around pretty much at will (given a truck or trailer big enough to move them - the ALF weighs in at almost 10,000 lbs) - but we can store them in places you'd never get that caboose.
We actually are working on getting a building donated, built on property that we'll get for $1 a year. There will be other costs, but having a home (and a county fire museum) is within grasp.
Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day...
morning
church and Sunday school.We are going to meet up with Sis and cousin Bryce in Hicksville afterwards.Something about a magic /Juggling show at the Huber opera house.Maybe they can help CSX trains dissappear into Garrett faster.
Yes, Larry, we went to the Boldt Castle, and boated past the shortest international bridge in the world...that's all I remember about the trip, except that there was a larger bridge over the entire river nearby.Grandson Nico has lost his hair...but for a good cause. He had his head shaved for the St. Baldrick's drive for cancer. He raised nearly $500 in only a week, and his Cub Scout pack raised several thousand bucks.
CShaveRR...except that there was a larger bridge over the entire river nearby.
And that would have been one (or more) spans of the Thousand Islands Bridge. Been over it, and under it, numerous times.
Nice day today, if cold. Never got over +30F, and that 0400 EMS call was downright cold - a windy +15F.
What a lovely winter we're having this spring!Chicago appears to be in the bullseye, and it's snowing in Rochelle, suggesting that we're in for more than the four inches or so that has already fallen since last night.Tonight is a foray to Bolingbrook (in the Local Land of No Trains) for a birthday dinner with daughter and grandchildren (including the bald-headed grandson, who'd better be wearing a hat in this weather!).
Tomorrow (her actual birthday) Pat and I head north to the quilting class. Any suggestions for a place to while away a couple of hours finding trains or freight cars in the vicinity of Cedarburg? I don't think I want to go back toward Milwaukee. Right now I don't know how much time I'd have.
ma nature is making my yard white.work was work.Ns has a train in the siding.Saw the westbound capitol this morning when I got to work.Chores to do.
The only white stuff here right now is the remains of what fell all winter. In fact, it was nicely sunny all day. Too bad the temperature barely got above 20 in a lot of places, and the wind chill was daunting.
Another meeting on our visit from Thomas. Gonna be a busy couple of weekends, for sure.
Snow has been gone a couple weeks now. Everything is dry and dusty like a desert. TV weather dorks are in in arms-might get a half inch of rain tonight and tomorrow in THE BIGGEST RAINSTORM OF THE YEAR !!!!!! I'm surprised they haven't named this *major storm* yet. I'd suggest the name flatulence.
Its beautifully sunny here in Alamo City....79 degrees at the moment.....the front and back lawn are greening up nicely....
Murphy Siding Snow has been gone a couple weeks now. Everything is dry and dusty like a desert. TV weather dorks are in in arms-might get a half inch of rain tonight and tomorrow in THE BIGGEST RAINSTORM OF THE YEAR !!!!!! I'm surprised they haven't named this *major storm* yet. I'd suggest the name flatulence.
more snowmelt from yesterday.Calling for rain in the Am?? welcome to NW Ohio.Ns train is still in the siding.The westbound has Norfolk Southern's "NS" heritage unit as the 3rd unit.Time for chores.
Well, we did receive rain. Not the storm of the century by a long way, but definitely is wet and falling in the right places. It has hovered in the mid 30's all day so we are a whisker away from having snow.
Just a nice spring shower(s).
Was reading some of the replies on how people got to be railfans. Some of the "boys" got train sets for Xmas. I wanted one. I got dolls instead.
Now as an adult - I would like a full size engine. Like in one hand - want in the other....
It's ok - I can watch the Tonka Toys work in the Netherlands. Digging an underpass under the railroad tracks. So much better than tv! And a lot cheaper than a train set or locomotive!
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