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

[FJ and G]

Poor. By golly, yes! I'm still searching for the dumpster Mr. Carp wrote about in the May CTT. I'm trying to train my beagle to sniff out toy trains in the trash. Trouble is, after tearing holes in innumerable trash bags lining the street (not to mention fertilizing my neighbor's front lawns) she keeps coming up with leftover bones instead.

[jkerklo]

Don't we all "work for trains?"

John Kerklo
TCA 94-38455
www.Three-Rail.com

[Big_Boy_4005]

John, ultimately yes, but I meant directly in lieu of cash.[swg]

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

It’s a warm cloudy day in NE Ohio. Temp is 64 and going up to 75 with rain. That gives me time to play with the trains. WoRah. And you can see that Spanky is OK with that.
.
This is the Texas & Pacific leaving the station.

tom

[Buckeye Riveter]

Back from fishing trip to Southern Indiana. Cold and rainy and the bass hid all weekend.

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

Welcome back Chief. I glad you had a safe trip. It’s been cool here in NE Ohio also. This morning was only 43 deg and going up to 50 and down to 38 tonight. It is spring, isn’t it???

tom

[Jim Duda]

http://www.weather.com/weather/detail/78759

I miss the snow...!!! ...and those cold, rainy days...

JD

[FJ and G]

Good morning,

Got a little bit of work done on my helix but nowhere's near what I thought. Instead, I was preoccupied with moving my garden. Previously, the garden was on the side of the house that gets searing heat from the afternoon sun. My tomatoes didn't like all that heat and sun and never really took off. The neighbor across from me had his on the shady side. His tomatoes grew 3 times taller & had bigger & more tomatoes. So I moved my entire garden in the shade of a 6 ft tall solid wood fence. It was backbreaking work with the shovel and moving the wood dividers.

Also erected a fence there because the beagle enjoys burying bones in the garden and digging up the plants.

So, work on the helix will now continue and I'm looking forward to nice big tomatoes. Built a couple of pieces of the supporting structure of the helix. At the top of the helix, I'm planning to enclose it and install a lake and waterfalls with real water. Access at the bottom of the helix will still allow me to get inside the helix. Also, the water pump will be inside the helix.

By the way, in yesterday's newspaper, there's a fellow advocating a high-speed maglev monorail between Dulles Airport and Union Station, D.C. He claims it would be half the price of conventional metro subway.

The maglev in Shanghai, China travels at up to 270 mph and covers 21 miles from airport to city center in about 8 minutes. Another advantage the transportation consultant cites is that in built up areas, the monorail can easily be built above ground with a very tiny footprint; virtually quiet operation, and operates unhampered by weather, unlike conventional light rail.

But talk of hi-speed monorails has been around since at least the 1960s, and if the future is monorail/maglev, it sure has been slow in taking off. You'd have to rebuilt the entire network and it would cost billions.

But then again, I sometimes wonder how they found enough money to build the entire Interstate system in the U.S., and today, they don't have enough money to even have a simple light rail extention.

Dave Vergun

[Big_Boy_4005]

The answer is priorities Dave. The problem is that this country's have been out of whack and based on roads for way too long. Some people may be waking up, with these high gas prices. Only time will tell.

[Anonymous]

i'm busy sanding the walls in the bathrooms for a repaint and dont know when i'll ever see the basement again.

part of me hopes the gas prices go to $5+ a gallon and we all start driving 50mpg hybrids or hydrogyn or some other such fuel. let the truck drivers and busses have an arrengement for $2 or $3 gas and the rest of us can get on a bike or bus or train or walk. heaven forbid we might need to take a walk.[:-^]

(local reference for dave v.)
when i lived in NOVA (northern VA) and walked a mile to the Vienna Metro Station and then walked half a mile to my offices from Farragut West i sure didn't have the 15+pound spare tire i carry now! i think it's safe to say we could all use a walk... and a train ride[:)][;)]

i gotta go start another pot of coffee ("scottskies" as my kids call it) i think i'm falling back asleep and it's only 9:30am

[ChiefEagles]

Morning guys. Great trip to St. Louis [BPS store really across the river in St. Charles]. Had thundestorms and when I left it had turned cold. Guy driving shuttle from rental car to airport said it was suppose to be 38 there last night. Glad I left. Rained here all weekend per wife. She asys the garden plants have doubled in size since I left. Can't see it as her shrubs have filled out since I left. Got up late as got in at midnight. Going to drink coffee and rest. Have a good week and God bless all.

[ChiefEagles]

Where is all my sassy buds? Guess the cold snap froze all my Yankee friends up [even the migrant worker that moved from up north to Texas [;)]]. Hey, lets have some conversation here.

[ChiefEagles]

[:D][:D] Rise and shine. The conductor is gving the high ball [I think I might go back to snooze, late Town Board meeting]. Hope all have a great day. Hey, where is the old man [Jim Duda]? Bet he is out watching the grass grow [and his neighbor mow [;)]] Spanky and Buckeye, hope you do not have snow. 42 here this AM but warming and high 80's to 90 by last of the week. Those tomato plants will have to have their baskets put over them. They have grown [so has the weeds that are trying to pop up]. Chinese cabbage need to be cooked. Lots of lettuce, spinich and now lots of squash and zuchinni blooms. Can not hardly wait to eat this stuff. God bless you all.

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

It a clear morning in NE Ohio which means it is all so cold out, 31 deg with frost. [B)] Some areas went down to 25. Its hard to get a full head of steam when the temp is like this.


But is does beat snow. I sure am glad its Spring, isn’t it[?]

tom

[Buckeye Riveter]

Spanky,
What are you using in that loco to make it smoke that much. I have never seen a model put out so much smoke. The smoke makers need to have you demonstrate their products. [8D][8D][8D]

[spankybird]

Hi Buckeye,

Got to give some credit to MTH smoke units AND I also started using JT Mage-Steam smoke fluid. They have it in a lot of different scents at a fare price. I also have the K-line dinner with smoke unit and I bought the bacon scented fluid for it, its great.



Here is their web site

www.jttrains.net

tom

[FJ and G]

Tom,

Nice picture. I like the 4 chuggs per revolution and lots of smoke that MTH has but bacon scented smoke fluid? Incidentally, I have a cook book that describes how to prepare meals aboard coal-fired steamboats. I'll betchya that years ago, before the crew was taken in a van to a hotel, that enterprising firemen cooked bacon, eggs, beans, and other victuals right inside the firebox. Probably took less than a minute when the coals were red hot.

BTW, I inspected my fruit trees that I'd planted just a couple weeks ago and discovered that the tree (only about 8 or so feet tall) is sprouting fuzzy little peaches. I had thought that it would take upwards of 10 years for the tree to mature so imagine my surprise. Looking forward to some fruit later this year.

dave vergun

[ChiefEagles]

Dave, they might not be very big [mostly pits] this year. Next year will really be a change. Wife has a dwarft one planted 4 years ago. Have to brace up the limbs due to the heavy big fruit. Has some already size of quarter. That is what I love about summer. Frsh fruit and veggies. Hey, Buckeye says there is a lion on the lose around his place. [:0] Wonder if he escaped from Spanky's circus train? [;)]

[Jim Duda]

I use the "Fresh cut grass" smoke fluid and tape a picture of my neighbor and her lawn mower up on the wall...not the real thing but a nice substitute on a cold, rainy day...(wink)

[Buckeye Riveter]

Paradise
I've been looking for this TRAINS cover for a couple of weeks. Now you know I have been to paradise.[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]




The magazine descriptions are very acurate. It was like stepping back to 1955 when they ran the F Units. Hailing the train at the flag stop was also a new experience.

[ChiefEagles]

BUT, where are the fish??? I know that was fun. Best of both worlds. Trains like they should be and then fishing like it should be. [8D]

[FJ and G]

I just wanted to say that I've been enjoying the photos of your layouts. It's kinda like taking a train trip on a toy train and seeing a different scene or angle of view as we take a journey.

My beagle has quit eating her dog food for the last week. I know that they stick a lot of stuff in dog food that ain't meat, and that it's never as tasty to them as the food us humans eat, but she seemed just as spunky as usual, and hasn't gotten any thinner.

This was becoming a mystery.

She shares the basement with my trains but the trains have not been delivering meat in the reefers or tasty cows in the cattle car to her, so the mystery deepened.

What is she eating all day when I'm at work?

Besides the basement, I built a dog door for her that fits up in the window. It's several feet off the ground so I also built steps so she can climb in and out through the window into the backyard.

Yesterday, I was thinking about my mysterious dog, wondering why she seems so happy and snappy.

She followed me around as I was working in the garden, transplanting some onions, parsley and sesame plants--yes, sesame plants, the leaves of which are delicious when eaten raw, esp with parsley and onions. But it makes your breath really strong.

Anyway, now where was I, oh yes, my pooch. I was reading the Washington Post yesterday and there was a picture of LBJ, remember him? No? Too young? Well, he too had beagles, a male and a female. And, can you guess what he named them?

The male he named "him" and the female he named, "her."

Anyway, I was transplanting these yummy vegies and digging them up. Whenever I dig in the garden, the beagle gets right beside me and tries to imitate what I'm doing. She too was digging.

As I was digging, I noticed these ugly white grubs. BB (that's the name of my beagle), was happily popping these in her mouth, licking her chops.

Mystery solved.

Dave Vergun

[Jim Duda]

I wonder if the Chief does the same thing while working in his garden...might explain a lot of things about him...(wink)

Jim (One day the doctors will discover Junk Food is healthy!) Duda

[Dr. John]

Dave,

I have two dachshunds that love to dig and eat bugs. Misty has been known to eat a frog or two. Rocky draws the line on frogs but has scarfed down a lizard once.

So why do I still buy the expensive dog food?

[ChiefEagles]

Wish you guys would lay off the whistle. I was trying to sleep late. [:D] Good morning. My two dogs [Peek and Lab] eat the leaves from the sunflowers that are growing in the garden. As for Jim's question. I thought only transplanted Yankees ate stuff like that. [:p] Off to the attic to add that insulation [with mask on]. God bless you all.

[Jim Duda]

The BEST city to find a date?...(Yawn), so what's new? I'm tellin' ya, I wi***he damn grass would stop growin'...or you guys would move down here to date some of these babes...
(yawn, Zz z z z z z z z z z z z ...)

www.bestplaces.net/articles/DatingCities.html

[FJ and G]

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase: "eating grub."

OK, so chief doesn't admit to eating grubs, but what about goober peas?

BTW, I've eaten some really strange things when stationed overseas: meal worms are a delicacy in Korea. They pop in your mouth like raisons and are sweet.

Balut is a Filipino delicacy. It's simply an egg about to hatch. The bones make a crunching sound when you eat it.

Then in Japan, there's "Fugu." If not cooked thoroughly, you die in a few seconds.

In the U.S., I noticed that people down South eat more fried food; and basically a lot more food than people in any other region of the U.S. where I lived.

[ChiefEagles]

Bet some of these guys do not know that goober peas [peanuts] grow in the ground. [;)]

[Roger Bielen]

We have a deer legged chihaua (sp?) that likes to hunt and eat lizards. She loves the green and brown ones, doesn't care too much for the blue tailed skinks. She can tuely be called lizard breath.

[FJ and G]

Lizard breath isn't as bad as BB's breath after eating certain scatological matter.

I find it amazing how appalled some folks are that I feed my BB milk or vanilla ice cream for a treat, or pieces of meat. They say you MUST use scientific dog food. What the heck did these mutts eat before scientific dog food existed?

When I was a kid, I read a few stories about "railroad dogs." One such dog, owned by a train crew member, waiting trackside for 10 or so years at the same spot where his master left one day. His master was killed in a train wreck. People would feel sorry for the dog and feed it but it still kept on returning. A statue of the dog was erected there.

dav