Morning all. Pretty day here. BTW: after a few bowls of grits, the pups will fill got nicely. Forecast is for cold rain for Christmas. Hope you Yanks get lots of snohio [especially a certain grits hater in MI]. Town business all morning and now to get things going for me. Hope all have a good one.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Hmmm I wonder if the Chief means me. But then I don't know anyone in Mich. that actually eats grits. Good pothole filler though.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Aloha all from a snowy Chicago. Made it out east for my dad's services and then back after many adventures I have to try to untangle today. I think I gave a decent eulogy. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Welcome home Mr. M., based on news accounts it sure looked as though it was "interesting" for travelers over the past several days.
And an extra "Hail & Hardy" Welcome Home to Chuck, a.k.a. "Blueberry Hill".
Trying to get on the mend, took a slight tumble (grace & elegance ain't me) and goobered up a few ribs. Don't think anything broke, maybe just some separation/muscle strain. No biggy, since it will be a small group for Christmas I will be cooking a small bird and a small ham.
Pretty soggy here today, and now it's headed east as the sun is starting to peak thru the clouds.
Later all !
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Good Afternoon from Blueberryhill....
It is a cloudy 32 degrees. About 3 inches of snow on the ground. Looks like a winter day.
Today is a resting day. I slept good last night. Water pills have me usuing the bathroom a lot. Lost 8 pounds of water in my legs in 4 days. Boy, do they feel good now. I am eating good and have to avoid the salt. At least I am home and happy.
Dining car was here and is well stocked. Love those omlets.
Y'all have a great Tuesday.
Thanks to all of you for the e-mails and cards.
Chuck
Glad to see everyone getting home safely and doing well!
Almost ready for Christmas here, just need a few stocking stuffers, then wrap the stuff. I only need to wrap the wife's as she has taken care of all the others.
Last Saturday was a bit of an ordeal, especially for one who doesn't care to be at the malls and such. I finished the show I was working about 11am, then came home. The show was about 50 miles east of where we live. Then decide I will go and the shopping I need to do. Pick up 1 item for the wife at Sears, then was headed to Costco, she calls and says they have a pair of earrings she really likes. Great! pick them up while I am there. Of course, they were out. So go to a different Costco, they don't have them either. They found out that the store within a mile of where I was in the a.m., had them. So way back out their I go. Traffic was a bear! Took over 3 hours getting there and back. But that is what it is all about.
Got our PE running around the Christmas tree, then on a smaller oval the Santa hand car. Our village is not really to scale, but there are 5 plaster buildings that Chris and I painted when he was in pre-school and the first grade. So they are definetly colorful, and somewhat unique.
Things REALLY slow at the office today!! Trying to figure out something to do. Yesterday printed out a copy of the book from Barry. Today, looking and other referance documents and organizing. Think I'm going to have to bake some Christmas goodies, nobody at home has mentioned it, and it is getting kinda late. So... think I will do some Molasses Bars, Spritz Cookies, and Sugar Cookies on Thursday. (Last time I did that my brother was here helping me, after the flour fight, and egg shells in the cookies, I think I will do this solo.)
The wind has really picked up here, were having gusts up to 50/60mph. Interstate 5 is closed heading north, chains and warnings out for folks heading to the mtns. Going to mess up a lot of holiday plans, I'm sure. Hoping our Christmas decorations don't go flying off our roof.
So stay warm, and have a great day ALL
Don
Good evening all,
It is cloudy and cold in SE Indiana with temps in the 30s. I had a dental appointment this morning (no cavities). Lucas and I went out to the YMCA for weights and soccer scrimmage. He still beats me, but "old age and treachery" will win out eventually. I had the regular fare on the dining car this morning before sending it on to "Points East". Doug M., glad to see you made it back ok. Chief, nice pictures of the "furballs". Pets do make good companions at times. TBIL, and I can drive again. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Per Don"Hoping our Christmas decorations don't go flying off our roof"
As soon as I read that visions of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" just popped into my mind.
Hi GYZ,
DOUG M, glad you are safe and home, Prayers for your family.
CHUCK, glad to see you are feeling better, keep up the good work.
Yesterday blew a power steering hose so took it down to the garage then ran a 2. 5 miler home felt good. They said it would be done today so figured I'd run down literally to the garage and pick it up. I went the longer way 3.5 miler and when I got there, they couldn't get hose til tomorrow. Oh well had a longer run then planned, another 2.5 miles home but felt good. Got a little gassed coming up the big hill at end of run but I made it. Then had to take dog for another 1.5 mile walk.
Tomorrow half day with kidos then off till the 4th of January.
Stay frosty,
laz57
Hey all
Doug Sorry to hear of another lost man that must be real hard especially to your mom, Prays continue to be lifted for your family.
Not much going on today just taking it easy as off today and tomorrow. Was drilling a hole threw brick earlier but battery on cordless gave out will be glad come Christmas as have new sets as Christmas presents. Will go try again in a little my craftsmans has been rough on me I have gone thru 4 batteries in like 3 years and I don't use them that often. 2 I can get a full charge but will only hold it for about 5 minutes of use the other maybe 50% charge
Trying skil this time
Hope all have a good christmas I must work but thats okay. I'm with my fellow vets and want to make sure there taken care of.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Well we got 18 inches of the white stuff here and I ended up working a double saturday night to help keep the terminal open.My neighbor came over and cleared the rest of my driveway while I slept sunday.Nice to have good people around.Doug, prayers for you and yours.You are a stronger man than me because when my parents passed there would have been no way I could have given their eulogies.
Chief - How in the Wide-Wide-World-of-Sports did you get my baby pictures...
Good Evening everyone. Another long day. Went in early, but case got delayed. It was a long case on top of that, so I didn't get home till late. Wife wanted to go out to Red Lobster for dinner. Came home and packed for our trip to NJ tomorrow. I am sure it will be a long drive. Kids are loving their Nintendo DS (es) that they got for Christmas. That should keep them entertained for a good part of the trip.
Only train related items today were that one of the guys I work with got me a train book called "The Steam Locomotive, A History", by David Ross. It is a British book and obviously has mostly British related photos and history. Looks like a good read....I'll report my findings.
Doug, glad you are back safely. Hope that things go smooth with regard to dealing with airlines. One key phrase "I was denied Passage". Not sure why, but that seems to be one of those things that makes their ears perk up....from a corporate level anyway. Will continue prayers for your family and Mom.
This is a photo of a Mule Deer buck on my friend's ranch in Colorado. He made it through the season, so hope to get out there and have a shot at him next year. Sorry if this blows the margins :-)
God Bless,Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Good Evening
Temp stayed around 30 all day, a little sun.
After my haircut this morning I kind of did nothing useful. dabbled with the trains and finished OGR. Banilla is ready, but where is the Tardis?
S.J.
It has been a long day.
Years ago, I hired a lady for a position as an engineer. Over the years we saw each other maybe twice to three times per year. Today I learned she had been in a very serious auto wreck and was ejected from the car after it hit a large rock in the road. We believe she was thrown out the back window of the car. She was life flighted to one of our major hospitals where she is currently ICU and unconcious. She is in very bad shape. I fear she is not going to make it.
Chuck....I'm so glad you are feeling better. Please follow the doctor's orders and instructions completely. Take note and ask questions.
We had a scare tonight with grandson. Today he received his H1N1 vacination. Tonight my daughter thought he was having a reaction and called the squad. Fortunately, it seems he just has a little cold.
If anybody has a Lionel Docksider, does your locomotive start up smoothly or jerky?
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Three docksiders all start and run smooth. Make sure you oil the axles. and then let it run awhile.
Also check the siderods for bends & binding.
As an afterthought also check your traction tires, one of mine lost a piece of it's t/t but remained on for heaven knows how long.
Doug - glad you made it home man, so sorry for your losses.
DougDG - hope the rib is better?
Chuck - great to see you here man, glad they are getting that water off you.
No trains today - did see an Amtrak with an odd-colored observation car on the back, that was cool! Off work until next Monday now. Shopped tonight and got another present for my daughter, then did the grocery shopping - stuff for a big roast on Christmas day, plus stuff to make a nice chicken dinner tomorrow I guess? Also ground chuck and pork to make homemade meatballs. Should be yummy!
Chief - love those dogs, look like realy big sweeties!
Laz - read your post and got tired!
Mike - I need to see that Avatar movie, sounds good!
8NT - That Aerotrain is very very cool, love it :)
All you guys, love the posts, sorry I didn't get here last night. Tardis is ready and glad someone took control last night and brought her home in pretty good shape, except for someone painted NO GRITS on the side? Ready to go, so let's hit it!
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
Buckeye Riveter If anybody has a Lionel Docksider, does your locomotive start up smoothly or jerky?
Oh it's Smoooooth.
Have room for one more on the Tardis? I'm off in a north-westernly direction, this time...I'll keep the light on. Just look for the Christmas cookies.
Kurt
Started sunny today, then faded to overcast with temps in the 40's.
Today was it as far as working goes for this year - almost. Just got a call from the shop imforming me that they blew up another die and did I know if we had the spare parts. Yup, I told them, we have spares. Only problem is that they are in a shop in Michigan being reworked. I'll have to run an e-mail or phone call finagle tomorrow morning to see where things are at and get them headed in the right direction.
Funny part was that the die tech made the line tech make the phone call, afraid I'd be upset. I told the line tech to put the chicken $#%^ die tech on the phone to face the concequences. I roasted him a bit just for fun, making sure to remind him that I am on vacation.
I've noticed an interesting variety of posts in the last week or so as people bring the Christmas trains out and try to get them running. A couple have gererated interesting discussions.
We will start traveling to Michigan tomorrow evening. Anybody out there have weather forcasts for central Illinois, and I-94 from Chicago to Grand Rapids?
Later all.
Good night all. Did some Town Hall stuff. "Sucked" up all the leaves inside the backyard fence [finally got dry enough]. Now garden is full of leaves except where turnips are. We finally put up a tree. Wifey found more decoration for inside so I have to unplug lots of things before bed. She surely knows how to plug them in but not to turn them off. A few things to get tomorrow and then it is BAH HUMBUG. BTW: no beaver activity in days. Think they got the message when I posted a sign saying they were in violation. They had not acquired a building permit for their work. Off to bed I go. Sleep tight all.
Been an interesting few days at the scope. Had a couple of mechanical issues we had to work thru. Now we are closed due to the front moving thru. We have probably 5" of Snarizona(?), Arizsnona(?) on the ground. I did get a nice sunset shot over the Vatican Observatory a few days back.
One of the things we were working on was the installation of the auxiliary windbird. This involved climbing up the mast to about 10,500' total altitude. Given the schedule, John and I were working on it at 8PM in the dark at -2 degrees C. Here's me up in the crows nest pulling the instrument cable. New bird can be seen above and to the right. Note the presence of 2 boots!
Is this some part of the instrumentation of the telescope? Submillimeter astronomy at it's finest? No it's me trying to align the FM section of a 1959 Zenith. From left to right are 1) Tripplett 666R Volt/Ohm meter, 2) Heath SM-2410 frequency counter, 3) Eico 324 Signal Generator, 4) the Zenith standing on edge, 4) BK IM-110 isolation transformer, 5) Heathkit V-7A Vacuum Tube voltmeter, and 6) Tektronix 453 O-scope
Been a while since I've worked on this stuff and I forgot how much fun it is and how challenging. Going to have to re-read some instrument manuals on the train. I'm listening to my favorite station out of Phoenix as I type this and it doesn't sound to bad. It's normally hard to test it out here w/ all the interference from the building drives.
Mad Science! And yes, those are tubes glowing on the right side of the radio chassis. Real Radios Glow in the Dark!
Well off to finish the internal installation of the auxiliary windbird. Then grab a couple hours and get down the mountain. Got to catch a bus/train to Colorado tomorrow night.
Doug M - glad to hear you are back and prayers for the family
Chuck - hang in there and take care of yourself. Nice to see you back on the forum.
Doug - watch out for those ribs!
Prob wont be back on line 'til Christmas Day at my mom's. Merry Christmas all and best wishes for the new year!
Bob
Tucson, AZ (aka the Ol' Pueblo)
Home of the Mt. Graham & Arizona Eastern Boiler Shops
Hi folks, the day is almost over so I thought I might as well check in. Missed it this morning but went shopping after a nice breakfast. I had fried eggs and thick sliced Farmer John bacon along with cream of rice (which is about the same as grits to me) with toast and coffee. Yum yum. Picked up some N gauge stuff for the grandson among other things. He started with O gauge and worked his way down to N. Now he will probably spend the rest of his life getting back to O gauge. Went for a walk this morning first and like Don says it was windy and cool. Nice views of snow on Mount Baldy though. While I was out shopping I picked up a new sport jacket for myself since I have outgrown my old ones if you know what I mean. Glad Doug made it back to Chicago safely. Sorry for more death in the family though. Glad to hear Chuck is home now too. I know about those water pills. They do keep you busy. I take some twice a week now. Went to one funeral yesterday for friend of my wife and now we have another one set for Monday after Christmas for a guy in our church social group. Took my old 87 Buick for a spin today to do my shopping. I like driving that car because people get out of your way. They figure you have nothing to lose if you hit them with that thing. If they totaled it out, I would probably get about $150 for it. Let wife use the newer car today. Christmas is almost here. Hard to beleive it came so fast.
Good night all,
Ray
SPMan
Ray, cream of rice!!!!
Bob, WOW!!!!
RT. forgot to tell you this. If you are using Diehard 19.2 volt batteries, run them all the way down or they build "memory". One way is to put drill in vice and easily close the jaws on the trigger and let it run until it will not turn anymore. Another is to put a wire tie around trigger. The best [the one I use] is to plug it into one of the Craftsman lights that uses a 19.2 v battery. Let it stay on until it is completley dead. Got battery packs that are 4 or 5 years old and still going strong. When you plug the battery in, charger will indicate "deeply discharged or bad battery". In a few, it will indicate "charging". I have so many, I have numbered them with an engraving on the bottom. That way I can rotate the use of them.
Quick good morning everyone. Hope all are doing well. I am getting ready to do a emergent heart case and then, when I am done, we are heading to NJ. Please keep the snow to parts west of the east coast till we get there! Bob, be careful up there. Looks like a lot of fun, but too cold for me. I may be out of touch for the next week or so. God Bless,Dennis
HI GYZ,
Happy Christmas EVE EVE! Or 2 days til Christmas. Its 13 and cold waiting for storm on Christmas.
BUCKEYE, my docksiders run smooth as silk.
Happy hump day, although this week in a little different.
DENNIS - Blow the margins? I don't see how.
SJ - "dabbled with the trains and finished OGR" sounds useful to me!
BRUTUS - that was supposed to be "MO GRITS" on the side of the Tardis.
KURT - back to the Tardis.
CHIEF - you better check the beavers tomorrow. They will read your post and think you won the battle and went home.
RAY - '87 Buick is a tank. I would get out of your way to!
Pat
RFD-TV --- Rural America's most important network!
Mornin' Fellas.Been mega busy trying to get stuff done prior to the Holidays and missing my targets on everything! Chuck good to see you will be with us for a much longer spell! Take care of yourself sir!Buckeye - You want some? Come and get it! There is 28 inches of this crap surrounding my driveway and we have 14 people coming to the house for Christmas dinner and no where to park their cars now!Found out that the John Deere is worthless after a 28 inch snow fall. Now the next purchase is a snow thrower. I wanted to get the 44 inch snow thrower attachment for the John Deere, but at $1,500 The Q put the kabosh on that one! We were out on Sunday after the snow abated and we saw one of those full lane throwers that the Highway Authority uses to clear deep snow through the MTs... The Q looks at me and says 'DON'T get ANY ideas!' Really bummed that there won't be any trains out for Christmas again this year. I did open the Christmas train bins and took the engines out of their boxes and cleaned and lubbed them (they needed it bad). I may setup a small loop in the basement for the kids to play with Christmas day.
Aloha all. Nice Tardis ride last night - good to see Kurt aboard. Wish I could've borrowed this last week to head east. Glad to not be traveling this am. snowing here. I've been dragooned by my bride into helping our church's Christmas services for the next two days - I have a fancy mike and have to proclaim verses like a prophet - LOL.
Prayers for Buckeye's friend who was in the accident - and of thanksgiving for his g'son and for Chuck being back! Great chatting if briefly with Sir J, RT and Brutus. Love to see two boots, Bob, in your photo. Love the glow of radio tubes!Ray, a 80s Buick just drove down our street in the snow as I was typing this and glanced up - was it you? ;)James just threw a traction tire. I've never had fix one on our 2-6-0. How do you get a new one on? I can't see how to take off the side rods. I'm running my dad's 248 with black crepe paper like a funeral train - is that silly? Just feels good.
jonadelThanks Pat, that recipe is a keeper and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm going to have to find some new recipes to try and recommend I believe cooking is just as much fun as toy trains, everyone wins
Thanks Pat, that recipe is a keeper and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm going to have to find some new recipes to try and recommend I believe cooking is just as much fun as toy trains, everyone wins
I hear tell of recipes for Ham Balls, Chili, Oyster Stew of yours. Add the Smoked Turkey and Special Baked Bean recipes and you have the beginnings of a great recipe book!
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