The pot of coffee is always on [even after 2 years have passed]. Come on in. Sweet ice tea too.

[ChiefEagles]

Off to a train meet at the Fairgrounds. Funny time 10 to 12 and that is it. Lexington Bar-be-que is second to eastern NC. Buckeye, the boat is in the mail. [:D][:D][:D] Got to run. Beautiful day in NC. We need rain. God bless.

[dougdagrump]

Pulled pork with slaw and a touch of tobasco on a bun is HEAVENLY [dinner][dinner][dinner]

[lander31]

HI all;[8D]
Another warm day in North FL. I got some work on the layout done this weekend. Here are some pictures of what we are working on. The layout is 6' x8'. I would like to thank Tom for helping me out with posting pictures.




Take care all.
Terry

[ChiefEagles]

Great pictures Terry. Morning all. Fair and warm and no rain. Ran soaker hoses yesterday PM to push garden along. Moisture in the ground but I wanted to pu***he garden plants along and give them a boost. Everyone have a great day and God bless all.

[daan]

Warm, nice and sunny here too.. Finished the table of my layout last week and have been to a trainshow/ swap last weekend. found a lot of nice stuff. Yesterday to an overcrowded Dordrecht for a steam day.. A steamtrain traveled from the railwaystation to a powerplant, where there was a modelshow with h0 and N gauge layouts. From there an old English doubledeck bus travelled to a pier, where we boarded a steamer (with a captain not used to steer such a ship). After an hour we arrived at the citycentre where a lot of old steamboats, hoppers, steamtractors and steamcars where lined up.
The only problem was that it was so crowded that you barely could walk. I didn't see much because I wanted to keep the family in one piece, so looking after everyone in such a crowd, left little space for watching the steam-things.
Nevertheless, it was a nice day and we all enjoyed it despite the crowds. I would have liked to see a bit more, but it will be steamday again sometime.
As for now, I enjoy a few day's off and the beautifull weather outside..
take care.

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

We have the start to another great day in NE Ohio with Blue Clear Skys, temp is 60 deg going up to 80’s today and lots of sun.

We planted our garden yesterday, so this will be a good day for it.

Terry, I am glad we could help. You learned well as they look great. Maybe we will see you next week on Sunday Photo Fun Theard.

Daan, I sent you an e-mail, if you return it with your e-mail address, I can send you instructions on how to post you pictures.

Until later,

tom

[Buckeye Riveter]

I can hardly wait for the mail to arrive with my new boat from the Chief. The excitement is building and all of my friends will be in the driveway as the mail truck pulls up.

Hoping to start the garden railroad this week.

[ChiefEagles]

Funny you mention garden railroad. After wife went to train meet yesterday, she is suggesting a garden railroad. Another project for me. [:0]

[FJ and G]

Chief,

Nice to hear trackwork is progressing. Garden RR is definitely in my future; just not my immediate future.

Terry,

Progressing on your layout as well, I see. I like the Blue Comet; I think that's one?

Reg. BBQ:

I like beef barbeque, East Texas or Arkansas Style (spent a total of about 10 years in those 2 states and was even a BBQ judge once in Wynne, Arkansas. If you haven't been to a Southern BBQ contest, you are really missing out on something. The BBQ contestants usually arrive in humongous pickuptrucks, hauling what amounts to a gaudy float; some even have stairways leading to a 2nd deck eating platform. The contestants arrive at least a day before so they can start the slow cooking process and put dabs of their secret homemade BBQ sauce on.

As a judge, you have to stay focused on the BBQ itself, and don't get swayed by all of the delectible "fixings" that come with it, or the wine or champaign.

Also, don't overeat at one station because by the time you reach station 18, you will have BBQ sauce coming out of your nose and ears.

Dave Vergun

[Dr. John]

All this talk about barbecue is making me hungry! [:p]

Going to be a busy day today! (And they say preachers only work on Sundays [;)] ). Already on my third cup of coffee. Have a memorial service at 11 am, then hospital visits, finance committee, and then deacons meeting this evening. We kiddingly call it "Marathon Monday."

On Friday I plan on moving the track and putting down some cork roadbed and adding some 3-R ties to my tubular track. I'm going to put off ballasting the track until all of the wiring is done (If it's ever done!). I'm looking forward to getting the trains running - maybe Saturday I can get a couple going.

Have any of you fisherman tried barbecued Red Snapper? Awesome! [:D]

Good day to all!

[lander31]

Dave;
It is a Blue Comet from the 70's. It was given to me son this past christmas, (The engine and tender) it still new in the box. We went to a train show and he found one of the cars for 3.00 in a junk box. That kid was happy. I picked up the cars here and there.The other engine is a 681 and a 2055 that I have restored. Nicholas my son who turned 11 will not let any anyone touch or run the Comet but himself.
In the future I would like to run the trains with TMCC or DCS. Any ideas here?
Thanks
Take care all
Terry

[FJ and G]

Dr. John,

I may have tried redsnapper but can't recall the names of al lthe fish I ate except for ONE Arkansas delicacy: catfish with claw and hushpuppies. I believe that is the state meal for Arkansas. And, it's the small mom and pop establishments that make it best.

Terry,

Some of that older and less expensive stuff can be converted to run TMCC or DCS, but it may not be worth the expense of conversion; much easier to purchase something already equipped for TMCC or DCS, unless you have a special reason to want to do it.

Maybe someone else can weigh in here as well.

I use DCS and have one throttle set for "variable power" and use that to power my conventional Williams and the other throttle or loop of track I devote exclusively to DCS-equipped locomotives.

DCS can also run TMCC, if you buy some TMCC components, giving you complete command control options. Currently I don't use TMCC; but if I had lots of locomotives--something that will never happen--I'm sure I'd have both TMCC and DCS on my layout.

As it is, conventional and DCS give me plenty of options for my dozen locomotives; and BTW, I never thought I'd own that many!

dav

[spankybird]

HI Terry,

I would recommend the DCS control, because it also will run the TMCC with the TMCC command base added to the DCS unit. DCS also allows you to run convention engines with the remote also or you can set it up to run DCS engines with the remote and convention engines via the transformer controls, both on the same track. What a blast that is.

As you can tell, I have DCS and love it.

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Dr. John, never bar-be-qued. I have eaten and caught red snapper when I was stationed on Homestead, FL. Caught yellow tails, grouper, hog snapper, mutton snapper and others.

[Dr. John]

Chief, my next door neighbor is an artist at the grill. I've enjoyed grilled salmon and grouper that he has prepared and it was always outstanding.

At one cookout, he asked me to try something different. He had grilled some snapper that he marinated (in a secret sauce, of course) and then added his home-made barbecue sauce. I've always enjoyed grilled or blackened snapper, but this was the best I ever ate! There are a few restaurants down here on the gulf coast that offer barbecued snapper, grouper, etc. but none have matched what my neighbor prepares.

[spankybird]

Hi all,

Very heavy T-Storms tonight. I thought they were over, but I here more thunder coming, so we have to pull the plug.

tom

[Jim Duda]

Dang it! Looks like 10 days of bikinis and lawnmowers in Austin...!

http://www.weather.com/weather/local/78759?lswe=78759&lwsa=WeatherLocalUndeclared

Scroll down to see the 10 day forecast. Anybody wanna trade?

JD

[spankybird]

We are between storms.

http://www.wkyc.com/weather/radar
we may have this for the next two days
tom

[daan]

Let's see if I can post some pictures. Tom explained the way to do so (thanx Tom!!) and I don't wanna bother you with our warm and sunny weather down the coast of Holland. Went to the beach yesterday with our 2 0-4-0's and they loved it!





These are pictures from the past weekend. The first 3 pictures are from the steam loco's which traveled from the railway station to the industrial siding. They are 2 german engines, now in posession of a dutch railway-club.
The 4th picture is how our "army" was organized in the 2nd ww. Only pushbikes.. And the last one is me with a scale steamtractor. There where a few hundred of these small steamengines with little cars behind it to drive along..
Have a nice day!

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

Great pics Daan, I am glad we could help. I also liked the Sunday Photo Pics. I also have the spot light car from when I was young (1960 or so).

IT 74 deg going up into the 80 today with more T-storms. We had a lot of rain last night, sorry Jim that we couldn’t share it with you and Chief.

Train traffic is still running slow thru where the plane crash was. They must still be working on the rails.

tom

[FJ and G]

I had a mystery cigar yesterday that just wouldn't light.

BTW, Daan, really great, colorful pictures; esp. like the little steam tractor; even though it's not a train.

The only thing missing is one of those 7ft 8in tall Dutch women. Or, at least a woman in a bikini mowing the lawn along the ROW.

It took me quite a while to figure out why the cigar wouldn't light.

Oh, regarding Southern BBQ, I have a short story to tell while living in Arkansas. There's this BBQ stand out in the country called The MEan Pig. People drive there from miles around to pig out on the BBQ. It is much higher quality stuff than the other BBQ pits. Interestingly, the couple who own it are Yankees from Pennsylvania.

One day, Billy Bob Thornton and Andy Griffin were in town, making a movie. As editor of the local paper, I wanted a picture of them; but as you probably are aware, sets are closed off to all but the actors and supporting people. But, I managed to get inside by bribing everyone with a BBQ sandwich, including Billy Bob and Andy, and I got their photos on the front page of my paper; beating out my competitor paper.

Back to the cigar. I have a box of Swisher Sweets. I only smoke one cigar a month, when I have dinner with a retired Marine buddy who also smokes cigars. Well, he was in Vietnam doing an article for Leatherneck Magazine so I didn't have anyone to smoke with. So I skipped a month.

But the other day, I decided to join the smoking crowd on the balcony and fire up the Swisher, since I didn't have my buddy around to smoke with. You would be amazed at how many cigarrette smokers hate the smell of cigar smoke.

Well, I asked this lady for a light and we spent about 2 minutes trying to light it. I was fast running out of breath from sucking air, and my drool was starting to unravel the cigar and shreds were falling out.

After 2 minutes I examined the cigar and found a crack in the back of it; because it had dried out, because I hadn't smoked it for over a month. Being an innovative person, I went back inside and wrapped it with masking tape and came back out on the smoking platform. Although it looked rather peculiar, this time it lighted and boy oh boy, you should have seen the smokers scatter, caughing and cussing.

You'd think that cigarrette smokers could handle some cigar smoke; but they don't have the spine to do it.

I may fire up another big Swisher a few weeks from now, just to watch them all scatter again. And, I'll keep the masking tape handing in case I have any more cracked cigars.

Dave Vergun

[Jim Duda]

Dave - ...so was the lady impressed with your ingenuity...?

[ChiefEagles]

Thanks Garrison Keeler [Dave]. I listen to Prairie Home Companion on NPR. Same old Same old here. Pretty, warm and no rain. Also no neighbor in bikinis mowing grass. Where is Buckeye? Think he got lost [lion ate him?]? Got email from Brain and he said the "Jesus and Trains" topic got pulled. Did not think they did stuff like that on this forum. Have a good one and God bless.

[ChiefEagles]

Dr. John, email me please. [e-mail] Thanks

[Buckeye Riveter]

Hey Chief,
Do you realize that this topic format (The pot of coffee is always on ) has been started over on the other forums? Take a look at the MR forum. Big Boy started it there. The Garden Railroad forum could use it to liven up the postings.

[FJ and G]

Buckeye.

Garden Railroaders do not wi***o be livened up. They are usually to be found outside playing with slugs, the kind that are slippery as well as the 2-rail type.

dav

[dougdagrump]

dav, you want to see a slug, go to northern california and check out the "Banana Slug".
Almost as big as a G engine and bright YELLOW !
Got a recipe for cookin em but never been THAT hungry.[swg]

[Dr. John]

Barbecued slug, anyone? [;)]

[daan]

Bbq-ed yellow slug and jellyfish with wormy potato salad and beetle sauce.. I guess there is some culture somwhere on earth where they eat it for breakfast..
Good morning everyone by the way.. Temperature is rizing up to 20 degrees celcius over here, sun is shining and I still have one last day off. Tomorrow, when the forecast is a bit less than today's weather I'll be off to work again..
Today I'll get a bit of work done on a bagage-rack for the car and try to figure out a way how the doggies can stay inside our garden.. One of our 0-4-0's jumps over a fence which isn't quite finished yet, and starts to wander in the city alone.. Neighbours come asking if it's our dog.. and I've to fetch him again..
Normally it's a quite behaving dog, but since spring is in the air he has had a little mind-makeover..

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

It’s a raining cool morning in NE Ohio. High will only be 74 today. We had heavy T-storms again last night. We need to share this rain with Chief and Jim.

T minus 4 Days and Counting

to DSL at home. We are having our home system upgraded to DSL. They (SBC) said they will be out this Saturday to install it. Yah, I most probably could have don’t it myself, but we have a home security system, so they have to do the install. But LIGHT SPEED will soon be here.

Sounds like you guy are cooking up a great breakfast????

tom