COFFEE POT #9 [July], for all to take a drink and chat. Welcome all posters. 4 yrs old and still going.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Jon......Looking at your map, you are due for an Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky loop ride.  I was going to suggest a NC ride, but wild dangerous animals are on the loose.

TGIT - Day off tomorrow.

[blownout cylinder]

Another wet day for us---

We had another 30% t'underin' boomer show up and boom, rain, hail and wind all over us-----my lake is now trying to create its own river system-----

I'm going back into the basement-----I've got some layout ideas going in my little brain----heeheehee

[cnw1995]

Aloha all. Busy day here - drove the middle boy up to the DMV to get his learner's permit - as I drove in the lot, I realized I forgot all his paperwork (birth cert, application, check) so had to do it all again. Now he has Drivers Ed starting Monday and 9 month of practice. Then spent the rest of the day sprucing up the outside for the daughter's graduation party on Sunday. I think I fit a years worth of landscaping into 5 hours. Sheesh, I'm tired. Now to do some real work before I collapse. You know it was one of those days when I end up fixing a shingle on the roof, cutting down gigantic branches before they hit the neighbor's house, and using the hedge trimmer on everything. Maybe I'll get to work on re-setting up the layout later.

Kurt, sent the wonderful NJ Zinc tanker on an extra headed to Michigan today.

[strogey]

ChiefEagles

 

Hey Strogey, did I ask you earlier, are you near Spokane?  Was there and Post Falls, ID for Cabela's Grand Opening in Jan of 08.  SNOWED!!!! 

Chief...Spokane is north of us. That is up in northern Washington State. I live in Wilsonville Oregon which is about 20 south of Portland. Basically we are in North Western Oregon, just across the Columbia River from Washington. (Ummmmm..Columbia River Sturgeon! Yum Yum!. Better than Walleye and that is coming from a former North Eastern'r!)

[jonadel]

Buckeye -- you are correct about heading eastward. We have a God son in Raleigh, close friends in Alexandria, VA plus a nephew in Orlando if I go that far south. The girls are looking at the "shoulder season" for their trip to Norway so that might mean late spring for me to get on the road. When I was kid our family would always go west for vacations and that's where we went with our kids. The only time I've been east of Chicago in a car was two years ago when Sharyl and I went to York for you know what! We have flown numerous times to DC, NC and Florida -- I have been to every state west of the MO river in a car, hmmmmmmm. This open house on Sunday is about to do me in. I spent 4.5 hours this morning doing yard work and finally got to the train room at 2:00 - 6:30. Changed out two MTH batteries to BCR and that has worked out well, I think I'll try and find a supplier that I can get a better price, a bit expensive in Des Moines. I must admit that our layout and home have never looked better, perhaps we should do this annually .............

[dwiemer]

Well, so far, so good on the call thing.  Was a nice day with work.  Not much going on as folks have the weekend on their minds.  Do have some cases lined up for Monday, but if nothing gets added for tomorrow, I'll have the day to work on trains, and then another party for the son tomorrow evening.

I have not been in the buying mode lately, but have been seeing some very tempting pieces come up lately.  I guess I had better stay focused on completing the layout.  Just about to turn the corner and get things like I want them on the tracks. 

Watched a program tonight on the scrapping of two KCS locomotives built in 1966.  Was neat as they went through all the internal workings of the engine, etc. 

Hoping to take in "Freedom Fest" which is a 4th of July celebration that our church puts on.  They average a crowd of about 10,000.  I have not signed up to work it as being on call I'd hate to not be reliable, but will do some work where needed.  It is a real neat event with plenty of fireworks, horse and cowboy exhibition, several choirs, the Marine Corps band and some demonstrations from other services.  It gives our church a chance to give to the community while honoring the folks who keep us safe.

God Bless,
Dennis

[Buckeye Riveter]

Jon.....I have been in every state east of the Mississippi.  The best bang for the buck, is Upstate New York around Lake Placid.  Mountains and natural mountain lakes, a great combination with thousands of miles of paved roads paid for with the high state taxes. Great old lodges and resorts.  Sorry to hear you have God son in Raleigh.  That trip could get a little dicey due to the proximity of Roseyville and the Roseyville Wallaby.

[sir james I]

Good Evening

Well still 60s here, I think it reached 72 at some point today.

I redid a smoke unit on a 671 today, it had smoke but very little came out.  A local hobby shop had worked on it and used parts from two different units. So most of the air was lost around the piston instead of out the  chimney. Its a smokin now. Banilla is ready for the Tardis so I shall wait...S.J.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening all

Real nice today.  I did get soaked during a shower early this morning but it stayed cool which was great since I was in the garage putting the caper tiedowns and air bags on the truck.  I have one more side to install the air bag and I’ll be done.  The grandkids are with the other set of grandparents tonight and Friday so I will be less distracted.

Rich – I am going to try and mail out the CTT car Friday.  I’ll let you know.

Jon – If you are in Southern Ohio, swing by for supper and a stay over!

Buckeye – When we started planning our vacation this year we came down to upstate NY or Colorado.  Colorado won out.  We’ll be taking the new camper!

Have a nice night

May God bless

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Buckeye Riveter

That trip could get a little dicey due to the proximity of Roseyville and the Roseyville Wallaby.

Buckeye it's not nice to call your elders names...

[MichRR714]

 Well the truck is packed and the family will be heading north in the morning for the cabin.  I have to work tomorrow .. but I will join them tomorrow night.  Hope everyone has safe travels to wherever your spending the 4th..

[cnw1995]

Aloha all. Nice evening watching Twister on TBS with the fam. Got a quick drink-and-appetizer date with the bride too. Jon, you gotta go through our county on your way east. I've never been on the ground west of Rockford. Would love to drive that way some day.

[Brutus]

Aloha Doug

Wife went in for dental work and took two dentists to remove her wisdom tooth.  Had cavities, so they wanted to just pull it.  The first guy broke it off, so they went with a 2nd guy who was a dental surgeon to remove the rest - cost an extra $250!  All is well, except for some swelling - she's on some pain meds and antibiotics for a few days.  We did get good news as the insurance approved her treatment plan so far and they sent out a test kit to one sister and pulled the other's records (she registered for bone marrow).

Nice talk with RT, SJ and Charlie tonight.  Waiting for some gargraves track I ordered to show up.  I should have bought two boxes as I heard the prices are going up.

No work tomorrow - going to see Transformers 2 with the kids and some friends in the morning.  Need to get a new small screwdriver set to work on Thomas locomotive, too.

Beacons on the screen and ready to go, banilla sounds good!  TTFN!

[dwiemer]

Morning all.  Jon, I'd say head down this way, but with the heat, even a motorcycle would need AC to make it reasonable this time of year.  However, if you look up the "Cherokee Trail" which goes up through Tennessee and the Carolinas, it is a nice ride on paved roads in the mountains.  You can head up towards Asheville, NC and stop at the Biltmore.

Well, I'm up early because the trash had to get out to the street before 0700.  Can't be sure when they will pick up as usually on holiday weeks, they skip Friday and pick up on Saturday, but since the actual holiday is on Saturday, who knows. 

Planning on getting a bit of layout work done, but first have to do my morning quiet time and reading. 
God Bless,

Dennis

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Another 30% chance of a shower is dumping on our heads this morning. I looked at our local radar thingee and we's covered

We're getting things ready for the trip we make in the later part of July to Oxtongue Lake.

Audrey and I actually did a bike tour of the areas surrounding the Appalachian Trail several years back----that was fun!! Now, if I was to do that it would have to be with a motorcycle---or an RV

Have a good one---

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Morning all from pleasant Southern Ohio

Nice and cool outside. Hope to ginish the camper mods on the truck today. 

Jim F - Good news on the insurance front with your bride's treatment.  I get miffed with the insurance compaines determine the course of treatment instead of the doctors

Charlie  and all who will be travelling, be safe don't push it better to get where you are going late than not at all.

May God bless

Jim

[anjdevil2]

Morning and Happy Pre-Forth of July...

 

Admin is off today so it’s just car sales and rental today.  I had to open the gates, since no one else was here.  Took the bike to work today.  Yup, Jon, looks like she’s fixed and running well.  Just need a more comfortable seat for those long trips.  I have over $200 in Harley cash to spend.  I was going to trade up, but the Sporty (in the book) is so worthless, I might as well keep it.  If you are ever close by, let me know, I’ll 2 wheel up to where you are and we can ride a bit.  Sturgis, on a Sporty, is out of the question..

 

Chief, mailed a package to you via Ioway, something green and yellow....

 

I will get those pictures on SPF for sure Sunday, the lap top is working marginally.  I think I have something from Cali up next.

 

In the 90’s again, 40% chance of T-storms later...same for tomorrow, as we camp out downtown at the Jacksonville Landing for fireworks.  Due to family concerns, I’ll miss the Freedom Ride and Concert with Pat Benetar....

 

Well,  I do have some work to do, so I’ll get on with that.  I will check in later.

 

to all that need ‘em

 

[Brutus]

Well, got online, read here and there, and now gotta get cleaned up to take the kids to Transformers 2. Then, I'll stop and buy some small screwdrivers since I can't find my old set (which was a cheap set anyway) and see about doctoring my Thomas locomotive this afternoon. Hope everyone has a great day off today, or at least work is not too bad today!

[cnw1995]

Aloha everyone. Looks like more of a summer day here - good news about your bride and the insur. co., Brutus. Sorry for that teeth-work - ugh!  Dennis, I love absolutely love driving the Cherokee trail from Knoxville, skirting Asheville, then down into Columbia. Trying to talk the bride into going to the IL Railway Museum for their re-enactment of the CA&E shutdown - they take you down the track, drop you off, and you have to wait for another train to go back - just like the end of the Roarin' Elgin.  Look for the vintage L train in the background scenes of Public Enemy if you see that movie.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Sturgeon-Phish

Buckeye – When we started planning our vacation this year we came down to upstate NY or Colorado.  Colorado won out.  We’ll be taking the new camper!

Great choice.  Colorado has some great places to camp and the ones in the National and State Forrests were relatively inexpensive, albeit rustic.  If you have never camped at say 10,000 feet it is a learning experience for us flatlanders. 

Ran trains today.  Worked hard at getting the Docksider to start smoother.  Oiled rods and ran it up on blocks for an hour.  Seems to work better.

Have a good day everyone.

[SPMan]

Good morning all, another hot day here today.  I guess July has arrived.  Our city went on 10% water use reduction starting today.  Will fine people for non compliance if they have too many offenses.  I still see lots of run off water in the gutters when I'm out walking.  Kind of makes you mad when you're taking sea showers and counting toilet flushes.  I tackled a problem on the layout last night replacing a broken throw bar on a Ross Switch without removing the switch from the layout.  It was tricky but after several tries, I finally got it fixed.  The hard part was getting those little rivits that go through the throw bar to stay in place until you could solder them on to the switch point rails.  I held them in place temporarily with some putty like stuff for holding pictures on a wall.  I shimmed up underneath the throw bar to make the rivits come up far enough to solder to the points.  Ross switches have some wooden stringers underneath to tie everything together.  I had to cut through those to get some freedom to move the throw bar in place.  I usually take a switch out of the layout to do this kind of repair but this one would have required taking up a lot of adjacent track.  If anyone else has done this kind of repair I would like to hear how you did yours.

Ray

[rtraincollector]

Well today started out then went to and even went to but right now its as I had called AT&T about 10 days ago to switch over to them, well this past tuesday I called and cancled ant told it was cancled. Well today theuy came and switched my service. I've spent last 15 minutes talking to 3 different ones to get this done and on hold now to a 4th.

 

[SPMan]

RT, I went through the same thing with Verizon switching my phones and internet service.  I lost one of my two telephone lines for about a month before I got it fixed.  I spent hours calling people and talking to voice prompts from automated answering machines.  It was a nightmare.  Good luck,

Ray

[rtraincollector]

well when I talk to them today I'm going to tell them they will undo this today ( I'm still on hold) as its interfering with my system setup. Or there going to owe me for unauthorized interuption of my service. As this was there mistake not mine.

[SPMan]

They don't  care.  It was their mistake in my case too.

Ray

[fifedog]

Evenin' boys.  Breezy and 79 here in the Mid-Atlantic region.  I like corn-on-the-cob.

[sir james I]

Howdy All

Well a morning trip to the train store but I got away without buying anything. With todays unknown shipping schedule things don't come in on a regular bases anymore. And they don't know when somethings coming until they get a shipping notice from the trucking co. Got the grass cut, went out looking for building bricks and the places are closed for the holiday. So we had an early dinner out and now the news. Have a great 4th...S.J.

[rtraincollector]

well everything is back to the way it was and yes they did seem to care when I said I was going to check into legal action for unauthorized transfering of my phone service.

I acually got it all returned to normal in about 30 minutes after spending about 45 on the phone with them which I shouldn't of in the first place.

[submmbob]

 

Sorry I was incommuncado for a bit there. I think I really need to get a cell phone that can text. Yes, it's true, the guy who runs one of the world's highest frequency radio telescopes doesn't have a cell phone. I have recently had new thoughts on the subject, though.

I went back to the scope on Monday w/ permission from my docs on light duty. We were pulling the subreflector and was there to simply observe and be part of the decision making process. Well I was only there for about 5 hours.  Yup, quite literally went downhill again. This time no ambulance ride though. Was doing well enough that one of our cops who is an EMT felt I could make it back to Tucson using the med ox from the scope. We decided that since we would be getting back after midnight, the best thing to do was take me back to the Heart Hospital ER and let them make the decision as to whether I could deal w/ this in the morning or not. Well, they decided to keep me for observation. EKG's and bloodwork all coming back fine, as a matter of fact the only thing they have found beside the high BP is that my potassium is slightly low. The good thing this time was that a different cardiologist was assigned that week. Ironically mine was in Safford for the week near the scope. He's been very nice and even gave me his phone number, but I feel like I was talking at him, not to him. He was really downplaying these other symptoms. Well the other doc talked to me Tuesday w/ a real heart-to-heart (pun intended). She said the other tests could not completely rule out a partial blockage. So Wednesday was time for an angiogram, both sides. They really scoped out all the valves and cylinders, and found everything wonderfully clean. I think I confused the doc who did the procedure, as the first words I said after giving me the good news was something about a large object that holds back water. Was getting real tired of all this and was ready to hopefully find the real culprit.

Back in the room and eating now and a couple hours later I get set off again. Always after I eat every day this week. The nurse assigned to me (a borderline diabetic) thought about doing a blood sugar test and it was fairly high, not crazy like, but high enough. After that little 'bout they kept me another night and set me loose in the morning. Talked to my doc and she wants to do more tests, but thinks it can largely be controlled by diet. She also said that I had now had every cardiac test known to man and it was a heck of a way to diagnose diabetes. I think the heart hospital was starting to like to use me as a reference subject. However, given that I work at a place where the helicopter pilots turn chicken it's nice to know I'm not going to drop at any minute. It also seems that the altitude mattered not a whit, as the symptoms and problems were about the same even down here.  After dinner last night I had a little more fun, but with my doc on the phone was able to stay out of the hospital. She has pulled me completely off all carbs (fortunately not the ones that use gas) until we get this all figured out. Doing better today and starting to learn how to eat less more often. The legs feel much better today, especially the right where they had to use a star closure. So in addition to the SS holding the right elbow together, I now have a bit of nickel/titanium.  Needless to say, I'll be using a bit more of that vacation.

Jim - LOL when I read about driveways and creepers. That's way worse than slanted driveways and sockets.

8nTruck - condolences and prayers for your family

Brutus - continued thoughts and prayers for your wife

Pat - you and I could joust with both of our legs in the air

Well it looks like I am a carbon copy of my grandfather, except that I didn't become a Baptist minister and join the Air Force.  He had high BP, diabetes, and was nuts about trains. He lived a very active life and I figure if he can do it, so can I.

Hope everyone has a good fourth!

 Bob

[RRCharlie]

Up every morning before sunrise waiting for the roofers to arrive. Finaly came yesterday, worked until 5:00 P.M. Back at Oh dark thirty today and all done by about 10:00 A.M. By the middle of next week my check book will be done several Vison Line Locomotives!!! Not that I was going to buy any but it will curtail my other purchases as well. Thirteen more Tuesday-Thursday night classes in elementary Statistics. Week after next I fly to Pittsburgh, PA and rent a car to drive to Erie, PA area for my 50th High School Reunion. Don't have time to take the train, darn it. Haven't run any trains in quite a while. Need to get things cranked up again.

Prayers for all in need.