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

[spankybird]

Laz -  our back yard borders Eastlake. Is that close enough.

 

Even when we did have power on, the rains was so strong the sub-pump could not keep up with the water coming into the drain tiles. The the drain in the basesment started to back up. I have never see rains like this before.

[trainmasterz]

Good morning all,

Tom, congrats on making the weather channel, good luck with that water, hope you can stay dry.  Its amazing that we only live 2 hours away, and here we havnt had a drop all week, weve been watering the garden everynight here in Butler.  Usually its the opposite, if you dont water it dosent rain, and if you do water it, it pours.

[cnw1995]

Getting ready to head north tomorrow - I always enjoy eyeballing the old depots in the small towns along the way and WC yard in Escanaba - lots of old MILW stuff stored there. Have to do lots of work today. This sure is a rainy summer here - another thunderstorm yesterday afternoon - certainly beats last year's drought.  My heart goes out to your mom (and dad), Dr. John. My dad has the big A: he got it young and it went fast; he's in a nursing home now at 68. 

[Blueberryhill RR]

    Chuck, Buckeye, et al. 

    Speaking of Cambridge, OH,  it looks like my family will be relocating there (Some job details left to be resolved for my wife)  from West Lafayette, IN.  Will I be eligible for Ohio meetings and field trips with my fellow model railroaders?  I'd love to have some fellowship and socializing about trains.

Dan

Hi Dan,

Welcome , soon, to Ohio. Yes, you will be eligible for all trips, meetings and company cars ( see Buckeye on that one ). Send me an e-mail and tell me the details..  Cambridge is only 15 miles north of me.

Chuck

[ChiefEagles]

Morning all.  Tom, sorry for the flooding.  Sounds like you had a tropical event up Nawth.  I had the same thing during Fran and Floyd.  Fran, no power so I had to pump it out with a big gasoline pump.  Floyd, I had installed two 1000 gal per hour bilge pumps and had them on a deep cycle battery with battery maintainer.  It worked!!!  Now I power up with generator and use the sump pump.  I got water yesterday afternoon that ran in the back outside steps of the basement.  Not as much as Tom did.  Makes a mess cleaning up.  Good luck.

Now for my strange happening:  Wife came home and walked in the door.  She says, I smell natural gas.  I could not smell it.  I went out and came in and could very faintly.  Went into the basement from the inside door and was some smell.  Coming back up the steps I could really smell it.  She went down and suddenly stopped.  She could hear a faint hiss.  Sure enough, gas was leaking from the main truck line coming intop the house.  Went and got my pipe wrench and cut off the gas.  Called the heating and AC guy [as on my side of the meter].  We found a tiny hole in the gas line [flexable with yellow plastic coating].  It was touching a section of BX cable [BX cable was used when the house was built. It is a flexable conduit type cable with two wires in it. The flexable metal outside was used as the thrid wire or ground back then.  They are all bonded in the pannel box which is bonded to ground].  The guy is saying he thinks stray electicty from lighning came in on the gasline and went to ground on that BX cable.  Kind of hard to believe.  No other electrical damage and any signs of lighning strikes near the house.  Glad it was not propane.  If it had been propane, I would not be typing this as the hot water heater would have ignited the leaking gas and blown the house.  Natural gas rises and dispates.  Propane settles and forms a cloud and explodes with the slightest spark.  Calling gas company and asking how this could happen.  Meter is set in the ground and etc.  Strange.

Got to get ready for a luncheon meeting about the Town.  Got to check pond as water was going out about 6 inches over spillway.  Tha means it came up about 9 to 10 inches in an hour from the storm.  Lots of big pine limbs in neighbors' yards.  Several trees down around town. 

Tom, good luck.  Boxes will dry out.   Hope you did not have carpet on the floor.  That is a mess if you do.

Later.

[Anonymous]

Tom,

           I know how scary water in the basement can be.  About six years ago, we had heavy rain, and the drain outside of the basement door couldn't handle all the water.  We had 12 inches of water throughout the entire basement.  Layout is only 13 inches off the floor, so if we had another inch of water, I would have lost everything.

 

                                                                                    Jim

[spankybird]

Thanks guys.

 

Keith just called me. His power and phone is out. For those of you who don't know, Keith lives at the end of my street, about 1/4 mile from me. He said the street was flood in front of his house, so I walked down there to see. Here is a pic of Keiths House

And some other of his street

tom

[jefelectric]

Good morning,

My sympathy is with you guys in Ohio.  Spanky, I assume the keith has water in his basement as well, any word on damages.

Doug, Sorry to hear about your Dad, he is only a year older than I am, Scarry.

Chief, Glad you found that leak.  I won't tell this story to my wife as she is scared to death of gas.  We have propane for fireplace, range, EM generator and greenhouse heater.

We had about .3" last night from three separate showers.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Dr. John, very sorry to hear about your Dad. 

Tom and Keith, I know where you live and it is hard to imagine that amount of water flooding anything  in your area. 

Our field work came to a resounding halt today due to rain in Southern Ohio, specifically at Waverly.  I sure wish I had bought stock in NS about ten years ago.

Dan, you are moving from the flatlands to the hills of Ohio.  Cambridge is about 1 1/4 hours east of Columbus on I-70.   There used to be a major league model railroad club in Cambridge.  I remember seeing the HO layout about 15 years ago.   Just north of you is Warther's Carvings.  Go visit it.  If you don't like it, Chuck and I will pay your admission.  http://www.warthers.com/carvings.htm

[dbaker48]

All I can say is WOW

Certainly hopes it all works out for you guys !  Flooding, Gas Leaks, bad bad diseases !  Hoping for a simple and low key remainder of summer and fall for all of you!.

[danrunner]

 Ohio Railroaders who welcomed me aboard:

Thanks for the welcome and the info.  Chuck, a personal e-mail will follow. 

First off,  my thoughts and prayers to all with flooded basements.  I had a busted sump pump and water issues earlier this year.  The scary thing to me is the threat of electrocution.  I hate walking in standing water.

As for the info on the hills around cambridge--thanks.   I love it and as much as I liked our short stay in Indiana, I missed the hills.  I grew up in western PA surrounded by 'em.  So the topography will be a plus for me.  BUT low-lying areas and flooding are a concern.  We have to keep it in mind while we house hunt.

Here's to meeting my new Ohio friends in a few months...cheers!

Dan V

[laz 57]

TOM,

WOW looks like YUZ GIZ have your hands full.   Hope YUZ GIZ swim out of it ok.

laz57

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,
Keeping my fingers crossed and everyone in my prayers that things start drying and looking up! The first line of those Ohio storms heading east went through here last night with about an inch of rain.  Second line is on the way from you guys.  I am so sorry to hear about all of the problems!  I am lucky as I have a dry basement.  Very lucku in the fact that I have no floor drain in my basement!  I hope all fairs well with everyone and that y'all dry out with little difficulty.

Mike

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike

 

Time for lunch here on this wet Friday afternoon.

 

How the heck do you past a pic on here ?

[ChiefEagles]

I see the striped [black and white] Yankee with the funny hat "signed in".   Jim Apitz just called.  Said relay his concerns for Tom and Keith and hopes all will work out OK.  He will be home tomorrow PM with the little brown berries.   Stayed up in NH at the lake all week.  Can't believe he didn't come home to check the house.   Building for some more storms.  Got to get yard cleaned up.  Just got back from the meeting with future County Commissioner.  Later 

[csxt30]

Afternoon Everyone ! Tom & Keith : sorry to hear about you guys getting flooded like that. I was wondering about you guys last night when they mentioned your area on the news. I wanted to get up to Charlies tonight to pick up my Budd cars, but he is fighting water in his back yard, so I'll see him Sunday at the museum. If you guys need anything or help tomorrow, let me know.  

Now I live only about 40 miles east of Tom & Keith & did not get, but a few little puddles in my basement.  

Chief : glad you didn't have some sort of accident with that gas leak.

Dan : welcome to Ohio !! You're going to be down near 2 great guys !! Chuck & Buckeye !!

Well, just got home from work & taking a little break, as I have to try to figure out how to change an electric motor for the power window on our car. It would have to be the drivers side ! Boy, I never did one of those before. I did get one already for it, so guess I'll go start having some fun !!

All have a nice night !!

Thanks, John      

[Dr. John]

WOW! Is it hot today. Bank thermometer read 100 when I drove past a while ago. I'm going to grill some hamburgers this evening but will wait until it turns a little cooler.

Thanks for the kind words regarding my mom. She went to the doctor today and was put on a new medicine to help folks with moderate to severe alzheimers.

Already thinking ahead to the Christmas layout. I'm debating whether to stick with Fastrack, which worked great last year, or to cram more track in the same space with O-27 and Marx O-34 curves.

[cnw1995]

John, tell us how you did it - or rather post it next Friday when I can read it ;)

I have one that I just know is dying on our minivan.

Dr. John, while I am an 027 fanatic, your Williams cars will love you for your Fastrak - ah, Christmas!

[dwiemer]

Good Afternoon guys,

     Tom, Keith, and anyone else affected by the floods, sorry for your troubles.  We get a notice not to water the lawn with city water (drought), and you guys get more water than you know what to do with.  Strange how that happens, but I hope you get through it with as little damage as possible.

     Chief, sometimes it pays to listen to the wife.  I have found that out many times.  Hope the gas problem is done and that you and Pam will be safe.

     Jim, I went to Michaels yesterday and bought several items, none of the halloween stuff, but I did get the paper crimper that y'all spoke of awhile back.  All the items were on sale, and I also handed the girl the coupon for  40% off, she ended up giving me the sale price plus the 40% and I walked away with more than I expected left in my pocket.

Dennis

[Anonymous]

Evening all,
Michelle and I just got back from home depot after picking up the condensor for our new central air conditioning.  Had some pretty powerful storms hit when we first got to HD. FInished our business and made our way home. Unloaded all of the junk and went to let the dogs out only to see most of our tomato / pepper plants pushed down and knocked over.  THese storms really rocked things around up here in Yankee land.  Well grabbed the garden velcro (GOtta love that stuff) Tied the tomato cages to the fence and staked everything else out so they stood up.  A lot of tomatoes starting right now with A TON of peppers ready for picking this weekend.  Keeping the fingers crossed everything survives.  Well grab a cold one and enjoy the AC we will hit High 90's this weekend.

Till then, this Yankee Stinker (Yep smelling like a ROSE  )  is heading for the fridge

Mike

[jefelectric]

John, I am surprized that you can buy just a motor, is it an aftermarket part?  Whenever I have had this problem they tell me you have to buy the whole assembly which is usually a couple of hundred dollars.

Mike,  Hope your garden recovers.  We had a lot of wind and a little rain but no damages.  Just a few twigs blown off the trees.  We are west of you, near Hershey.

Did you guys notice that a YORK thread was started.

[FJ and G]

hope Keith is drying out. This global warming stuff sucks! (if that is what it is)

[csxt30]

Well, would you believe, I actually fixed the electric window on the car !! Boy Oh Boy, I was able to change the motor & all in less than an hour ! Then ate supper & even mowed the grass !! The hardest part is getting to it, & working with that door panel, wondering if it will look like it did when I started !! Went ok !!

John : Yes, I was able to get a good used one at the junk yard for only 25 dollars. Our car is a little older though than the bran new ones, maybe that's why !!  

Doug M : wish I could come help you when you do your window motor !! Just take your time, & you'll get it !!  

Dennis : glad to hear you got that crimper tool !! I use pop cans, but its more fun to use about 0003 thousandths brass, cause then you can solder it on the inside, if you like ! But I still use mostly epoxy & Walthers Goo will work too !!     

Mike : sure hope your garden survives everything !!

Thanks, John

 

[1688torpedo]

Hello All!  What a Flood!  This is the type of thing you see on TV or read about in a Newspaper. As bad as our front yard looked Luckily no water got into the House as it has no Basement & is built on Concrete Slab. As of now it has receded & the situation is better(As long as we get no more heavy deluges of rain) If I had known a Flood was going to happen I would have invited Jim Duda to Willoughby for the first annual Boat Race on Stevens Blvd with his "Grey Ghost Boat" to challenge the best Rubber Band operated Boat Sold at Wal-Mart(No Expenses Spared) & I would even let him win! Hopefully this does not happen again. I've lived in this area my whole life & we've never had flooding like this at all. It's almost like a sign of the apocalypse!   Thanks for your well wishes all. We'll make it through this situation fine. Chief - Glad your house did not explode. Good thing you found the Gas leak & turned it off. Dan- Glad to have you moving to Ohio. Just buy a House on top of a Hill & away from any River's or Stream's. Hope to see you at the OTTS Museum sometime after you move here. Mike C.- Sorry Luke isn't feeling good today. I think it would be a nice idea for his friend to go with him to the hospital if he so desires as that would be good for moral support.Have a nice day all. Take Care.

[dougdagrump]

If we had a gas leak around here I would be blamed before my better half even gave half a thought to the water heater.

Sounds like you guys made it thru so far without to much water damage. Hopefully it will start drying up a bit fairly soon. The photo they were showing of the Wally World parking lot was something else.

 

[John Bakeer]

And here in the UK we're experiencing the hottest/ driest July on record after the wettest/coldest June on record.
Wonder what the global warming theorists will make of that?
Any one on this planet besides me studied Geology?
John B.

[tschmidt]

Good morning everybody,

I have a few minutes before I go off to breakfast so I thought I would drop a quick note. I am at WVWC down here in West Virginia. We have a small youth gathering here with kids from all over the northeat US. This is my last day as one of the co-cordinators of ministry for the Northeastern part of the US. It's been 8 years and time to step back a little. I will stay involved but just not quite as active. The kids are great and they are a great way to stay young. Although at my age, the muscle aches hang around a little longer after I get home!!

WHen I get home I will have to go back over the last few pages and see what everyone is up to. There just isn't time to get all the reading done while I'm here.

Have a great day!
TomS

[mitchelr]

Good morning from Gettysburg.  The storms that flooded Tom, Keith and the rest of the Ohio gang,  rumbled through Gettysburg and lightning struck nearby. Ruined the TV (everything on the bottom third of the screen has this strange lime green color to it) and knocked out the cable internet service.  Turned out the cable modem was fried and the Ethernet port on my computer are dead.  Right now we are getting spotty service.  Service person will be out on Wednesday to check it out.

Glad that Chief, Tom and Keith had no major losses. It could have been disastrous.  It sure is a pain though dealing with the insurance company.  With deductibles being what they are, we will probably have to eat the cost of the TV and computer repairs.   I can't imagine the grief the victims of the hurricanes and other major disasters have to go through. 

Took me a good while to catch up on posts and we were only out of service for about 24 hours.

MikeC - hope Lucas is feeling better.  Having a friend go along might help him pass the time a little easier/

Just north of you is Warther's Carvings.  Go visit it.  If you don't like it, Chuck and I will pay your admission.  http://www.warthers.com/carvings.htm

  Buckeye - we visited the Warther's museum a few years back.  It was incredible.  I'd like to visit there again (without the Mrs and son who were anxious to get on the road).

Painting project on the pre-War 655 is going slower than I thought.  I had painted and baked it and then when I brought it in to reassemble, I realized that the paint had not covered completely so I had to repaint a couple more coats to get the yellow paint to cover. Not sure it will be done for Sunday Photo fun. 

Take care,

Mitch

[Buckeye Riveter]

Live from Roger's Corners,  It's Saturday Morning.

 

40 PUNS. very clever

1.Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.

2. A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.

3. Practice safe eating - always use condiments.

4. A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

5. Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.

6. I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.

7.A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

8.Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?

9.Sea captains don't like crew cuts.

10.A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

11.Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

12.A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.

13.Without geometry, life is pointless.

14.When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.

15.Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.

16.A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking

17.When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.

18.A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.

19.What's the definition of a will? (Come on, it's a dead giveaway!)

20.A backwards poet writes inverse.

21.In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism, your count votes.

22.A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

23.With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

24.When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.

25.The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.

26.A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

27.You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

28.He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

29.Every calendar's days are numbered.

30.A lot of money is tainted. It t'aint yours and it t'aint mine.

31.A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

32.He had a photographic memory that was never developed.

33.The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

34.Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

35.Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.

36.When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

37.Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.

38.Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

39.Acupuncture is a jab well done.

40. A GOOD PUN IS ITS OWN RE-WORD

The word for the day is water.    Boy did the guys up north see the rains this week.  Flooding in that part of the state is very rare.   Usually the bad floods in Ohio are in the south closer to where Chuck resides.  In fact, about two years ago a flash flood sent the Ohio River over its banks and flooded the City of Marietta in less than twelve hours.  No warning from NWS!

I've been working on the railroad this week.  I'll post some more photos tomorrow. 

Chuck, we will need to get Dan an OTTS Certificate after he moves to Ohio. 

The Chief is mighty lucky to have a lady like Pam keeping him safe.  Obviously, the Chief's sense of smell is diminished due to eating all the grits.  

TomS,  where are you exactly in West Virginia? 

See ya down the tracks.

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill......

It's 72 degrees and looks like rain. Going up to 87 today. Rain.

Buckeye....Good to see you posting on Saturday morning.  I enjoyed your list of  PUNS.  Yes, we will need a OTTS certificate for Dan when he moves to Ohio. I remember the flood in Marietta. Some businesses never did reopen.

Yes, Chief  is lucky that Pam saved his life. All he smells is GRIT'S gas.

Today, I will be doing a few things around the house. This afternoon, I will probably run trains for awhile. I feel the need for that. Can't do much outside. Madison cars should be here next week.

Well, off to the Dining car for breakfast.  Be back later.

Y'all have a great day.

Chuck