COFFEE POT #1 January 2011 for all to take a drink and chat. 5+ years and going. Plenty of coffee but also grits along with country ham, redeye gravy and sweet ice tea.

[dwiemer]

Good afternoon everyone.  Sorry to hear about Maj. Winters, he was a humble man who rose to the challenge of the day and did so in a most spectacular fashion.  I am glad we have his story on disk to remember such men of courage.

Doug-not a grump, Not sure when we will be heading out....I have a trip to Vegas we need to take and perhaps while we are out that way.

With regard to the snow cannon, sorry, ya missed me!  No snow here, just ice and cold temps.  Plenty of tree branches on the ground from the weight of the ice.

Time to head out for violin lessons with the kids.
God Bless,
Dennis

[Major]

I was foutunate to meet him a few years back at a WW2 re-enactment at Fort Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania. There are so few left of the "greatest generation".

[SPMan]

I spoke too soon about men from the greatest generation leaving us faster as time goes by.  It was reported in today's Los Angeles Times obituary section  that Maj. Richard (Dick) Winters of Band of Brothers fame has passed away he was 92 years old.  He was a real American hero.   He was the leader of the famous Company E of the 506th parachute regiment that jumped into Normandy on D Day and continued in Europe until the end of the war.  God Bless him and his men.

Ray

[wrmcclellan]

Afternoon all!

Well something like 20 hours below freezing here, snow on the ground in 49 states - what is this world coming too? Hmmm - for some reason I do not think this is impressing anyone above the M-D line?

Got the son's car back from the body shop last night. They did a good job - looks like new. We lucked out that it was in the shop already when last week's rain storms and Monday's ice hit here - all the shops are overloaded now from all the weather related fender benders. The interesting thing here is we get infrequent rain and when it does, the roads have so much dust on them that when the rain hits the mud film is like being on ice.

Don B - check further on the implants - when I considered getting one a few years back the dentist told me the average lifetime of a dental jaw implant was 5 years, then you start over ($$$$$) and that assumes your jaw where the previous implant was can support a new implant which is not always the case. He said the implants are used more for reconstructive surgery (like lossing several visible teeth in an accident) vs fixing a tooth or two (except for your very front teeth). I was lucky as the cracked molar was cracked in such a way that the crown has held.

Have a great day all!

[Anonymous]

Rich,

      Congrats on the job.

Dennis,

             Ouch.  Sorry to hear about your eye.

Fife,

      No thanks.  That wouldn't end well.

Ray,

          Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw9s1Hw1XlM

 

[Demay]

Good morning,

It is another wonderfully cold day today.  At 0815, it was still only seven degrees and well below zero with the wind chill.  And yes, I described it was wonderful.  Today, I have some meetings to suffer through on top of the usual workload but nothing too unbearable. 

Fife - We've been in Enid 20 months now and we will only be here about 16 more.  Then, the Air Force will tell us where we're going to live next. 

Good day,

Joe

[anjdevil2]

Happy Hump Day...

In the lower 30's now, sun is shining and 8" of Snohizo here at Exit 8.

Slept until 9 then had a fire call, but couldn't get out of the driveway.  Shoveling is done, now having some Tang and crackers...will have to make some lunch in a few.

Looks like I'll go out later and get the paper for Mom and some WaWa coffee...and explore the snow locally.  Tomorrow is work and I have to be there by 0800.  No sweat, it will be good.

Check back later.

[SPMan]

Good morning all,

Dennis, belated happy birthday to you and prayers and best wishes for a quick recovery on the eye problem.  When I started reading the post I was afraid there was some connection between the table saw and the eye.  Please be careful, we need your main talents.

D Baker, sorry to hear about the price on the implant.  I suppose it would be worth it, if it works.  I had one taken out and replanted once but that did not last.

Looking at medicine prices lately.  Can't believe the price jump on some of them.  One prescription went from about $500 per month to $630 just since the first of the year or there about.  Drug companies must be afraid of a government ceiling on prices.  If they keep this up, it will be a good reason to guarantee one.

Went to gathering of church friends last night.  Had homemade lemon merangue pie for desert.  They have a lemon tree and made a lot of lemon pies.  It was very good.  One friend in the group was a B29 pilot in WWII.  He told us about a recent trip to Washington  for WWII vets to honor them.  They flew the group he went with from Iowa to the capitol and when they arrived they got a special salute from firetrucks spraying big arches of water over the plane as it taxied up to the ramp.  The pilot said that was usally reserved for retiring pilots on their last trip or VIP's.  Nice to know a guy from the greatest generation.  Being a son of one, I knew a lot of them.  Sadly they are disappearing faster now as time goes by.

Good luck to all you guys in the East with all that snow.  Surprising how much they are getting down South this year.  I'd love to see it falling but don't miss having to clean it up.

Take care all,

Ray

[sir james I]

Good Morning

25 and 5 inches of snow. Roads were good to go this morning with a little care in driving. I read this AM that David Nelson died, another of the old performers gone. But the Turner network is running Laurel & Hardy flicks, still funny in todays world.  S.J.

[cnw1995]

 Aloha all. A mere 7 inches overnight. Means nothing here. Everything normal. Nice class last night and found a free 'old time radio' app to pass the time on the late night train ride home (esp. since Messenger doesn't seem to work lately). Glad your eye is healing, Dennis. Sounds like a nice b-day. Today should be a nice day at work too. Those implants sound impressive, Don. Get a second opinion.

[laz 57]

KEN,

  Sorta kinda looks like my backyarden.  Lift with your legs.

laz57

[krapug1]

 

Here is the storm we woke up to.

Shoveling (after warming up), some work, and trains, are the order of the day !

 

Ken

 

[cheapclassics]

Good morining all,

It is still Snohioing in SE Indiana, but I did not care as I was not driving today.  If intestines and rest of anatomy will let me, I will be playing soccer tonight.  The "saucy wench" says thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.  She is a little sore where they sliced and diced, but she is doing ok otherwise.  "Glee" was a repeat, but "V" was new.  Did some errands last night, but otherwise took it easy.  I had bran muffins on the dining car for breakfast.  TBIL after soccer.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Mornin' English.  Just 2" of SNOHIZO here in the Mid-Atlantic region.  If there is such a thing as "good" snow, we got it.  2 hour delay, looks pretty, streets are almost clear, and I get the house all to myself after 11.

dwiemer - How in the wide-wide-world-of-sports did you get a Christmas tree branch in your eye...?   Will you be phobic next December...?

Demay - 1) New Orleans. 2) Washington, DC. 3) Baltimore. 4) Enid, OK.   I'd say it's time to move...

dbaker - Soooooo, what size implants are you going with...? 

Probe - Whenever you are ready to play Hot Pursuit off-line, just give me a call...

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is 24 degrees. Going up to 32 today with more snow.

Today is a busy day. Chores, errands to run. I have a bunch of projects to do. Maybe a nap, later.

Snow cannon is zeroed in on the Sawth. Lots more snow is coming for them. They need to buy more snow plows from the North.

Dining car is here with the usual breakfast.

Y'all have a great Wednesday.

Chuck

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  20 here and about 5 inches on the ground.  Just got r down with shoveling the driveways.  Did my run and lifted a little in the basement.  LOVE these 2hr delays.  No trains but maybe after school?

Stay frosty,

laz57

[Buckeye Riveter]

Happy Birthday Dennis!   I hope you enjoyed that little gift of SnowOhio that we sent you.

Chuck....Your aim with the snow cannon has really improved this year.  Roseyville is getting pounded and his Honor is peeved.

[dwiemer]

Good morning guys.  Had a pretty good night's sleep.  Up early, though I don't need to be.  Wife is up doing her hair and soon the kids will be up.  Just taking a quiet moment before doing my morning reading.  I usually do that first thing, but I have to wait till the eye drop "blur" wears off so I can see well enough...Perhaps I should get a bible in large print!

8N, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, I saw him race years ago.  Have passed by the museum a few times, but never stopped.  At one point, didn't he have a "Jet Powered"  Kenworth truck?  I saw that go down the strip too, but not sure if it was his or not.

Cold and windy out right now.  Hear the  wind chimes ringing for some time now.  Will dress the kids well before heading out to School.  Schools are open here, but I understand Atlanta area is still out.

Brutus, yeah, those rules are rather silly.  Folks are willing to do some effort to save both Medicare and themselves money and trouble, but the powers that be have placed rules in there that work against any such thought.  We have that too with hearts.  In many cases, the rules are there to prevent fraud, but actually do little to fend that off.

Hope each of you has a blessed day.
Dennis

[dbaker48]

Morning All

Dennis, Glad to hear the eye injury isn't permanent and healing quickly.  You need to come up with a better way of getting a day off, though!  (Glad you were not in a "blinding" snow storm.)

Here I was complaining about the weather here.  Hope you guys all get through the storm OK.  (Doug, Never hear of a snow snake before, that's a new one.)  Not to be discouraging, or bragging, just feeling elated... The weather forecast here for Fri., Sat., Sun. is mid 70's to low 80's !  Someone must have heard my complaints.  I know its tough, but someone has to put up with it.  So this weekend while I am trying to keep the beer cool on the patio, I will be thinking of you guys.  On the positive side, it just means warmer weather will be headed your way as soon as we're done with it.

Got through the dental appointment today, he thinks I need an implant.  To the tune of $4600, this will not go down that easy.  How do you say, "Shop the dentist, and 2nd opinions?"  What was really noticeable was all the NEW implant credentials and certificates recently hung up in the exam room.  Hmmmm

Had a presentation tonight, it was a PC user group in LA.  Was really impressed with the detail and depth of questions that were asked.  It was actually challenging for awhile, which made the presentation more enjoyable.  I was even listening to what I was talking about and learned a little.

Going to be working with a couple of the new TIU units from MTH in the next few days, looking forward to that.  Want to see what improvements and enhancements have been made.

Hope everyone has a great day, going to call it a day.  (And make sure I get this posted while I'm awake.)

EDIT

Doug, The low flying aircraft video is great!  When I was in USAF, maintained the Auto Pilot systems on fighters.  When we were in tech school, studied the B-52 system.  It had the capability of TFR (Terrain Following Radar), which could be set as low as 50'.  And had a moderate or abrupt sensitivity adjustment, the feature was de-activated because of high risk of collision potential.  Some of the features that were available on the fighters were REALLY staggering!  (Maybe that is why I enjoy using the DCS system so much.)

[8ntruck]

First post this year.  Busy lately.

Made a trip to the Orlando to help our youngest son move back here - was also doing some advance spotting for the snow cannon.  Managed to miss the storms while we were traveling.

Also took the opportunity to stop at the Don Garlets drag racing museum.  Interesting collection of stuff there. 

My wife has scheduled knee replacement for early March.

Got about 6" of snow yesterday.  The bottom is dropping out of the temperature tonight to keep things interesting.  Speaking of interesting, my Cobalt SS is that in the snow.  Front wheel drive with a posi-track differential gets really interesting - directionally challanging at times.  Got to be really easy on the throttle to keep it out of boost.

All for now.

[dougdagrump]

Here's an oldie but a goodie. One never loses their love of planes!

http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=19448*

[submmbob]

Last shift for the week. A fairly quiet night and the system is working well. Looking forward to going home and running the new  NW-2. Also want to paint the track so I can give the train to my friend's son. Hope to get some work done on the van engine as well. Have a few doctor's appointments to keep me busy.

RIJack - the Marx clockwork does run really fast. Just the engine alone won't stay on the track. I was thinking about banking the turns, but w/ the three cars it seems to do ok. Malcolm is used to accidents from watching Thomas anyway, so the occasional derailment will be ok.

I was wondering if I could find a DCC decoder small enough to go in the tender of the N-scale 0-6-0. Train Control Systems sells one that is pretty small for N and Z locomotives. I'll need to get a magnifier to install it though.

Bob

 

Happy Birthday Dennis!!

[Demay]

Good evening all,

We had a nice, quiet evening at home.  My wife made potato soup and spinach salad for dinner.  After dinner I had to go check on my troop's house.  He is out of town and turned off his heat.  I wanted to make sure the pipes were not frozen since it only hit about 18 today and with the wind chill it was probably closer to 10.  The temp in his house was 34 and the pipes were okay.  I turned on his heat and ran his water as well. 

Enid, OK, has been a little crazy the past two days: yesterday there was an attempted bank robbery and tonight there was a bomb threat at the Wal-Mart.  The bomb threat is probably a hoax, but I don't think the bomb dogs have finished their sweep yet.

As for the playoffs, I'm kind of with Ray.  My team, the Dolphins, was not very good this year.  Therefore I tend to root for my home state (PA) teams.  I also agree about cheering for any team playing the J-E-T-S due to Ryan's loud mouth. 

Pat – Send as much as you can, I'm more than ready to take it off of everyone's hands.

Dennis – I’m glad your eye is okay and healing. 

Good night,

Joe

[Brutus]

Dennis - Happy Birthday and prayers for your eye!  Take a few days off and just enjoy some family time!  I had a Craftsman Contractor Tablesaw and it was good for some projects I built.  Be sure to weight it down if you are going to push some plywood through it, so the saw doesn't slide away from you.  You can use some bags of sand or something like that.

JimGP - you got it, buddy!  I saw you tonight when I first got on, but then you were gone.  I just was installing it and getting it all set up, but I did race my son for a while and had some fun.  I've done a total of 4 races now, so you will kick my rear end I'm sure

Jack, she's doing pretty well.  PT is really helping already.  Mom wants to take Dad out of the rehab center, but then medicare won't pay for the IV meds at home or something?  I'm not really up on that.  Jeff tried to work yesterday, but was barely able to walk.  I told him to take off for a few weeks and heal up, but he thinks he is superman or something.  I  hope he doesn't screw up his surgery.   I had a doc appt yesterday and did get my BP down a little bit.  Need to lose weight and keep working on sodium etc, but so far I'm okay.

Tardis time!

[MichRR714]

Happy Birthday Dennis

[AF53]

Well its 10:46 and no snow yet, 39 and just rain at exit 77 (GSP)

Dennis - Happy Birthday!

Jim- Thanks, no rush!

As far as the games are concerned....since my jints are out of it, and have been, I just root for anyone against the Eagles and Rex Ryan (noone deserves to be that brash). So since I have no dog in the fight I really don't care right now but I'm sure once it gets down to a few teams I be pulling for someone.

Ray

 

[dougdagrump]

Dennis, enjoy some .

Any word on a westward excursion?

Beautiful day with blue skies and 70*, a few more days like this and the yard should dry up enuff to do some needed clean-up. Still getting some run-off from the hills above us though.

Watch out for them nasty ol'snowsnakes guys, ya never know when one will just reach out and grab your tires causing a spin-out.  

[Anonymous]

Dennis,

                

Brutus,

                If you want to play Hot Pursuit online, just let me know. 

Ray,

          I haven't had a chance to get the video done yet due to work, but I'll get the SIT 312 off the shelf tomorrow and get it done.

 

[dwiemer]

Good evening everyone.  Thanks so much for the wishes.  It was a good day in that I went in and did a big case, came home and had lunch with bride.  Picked kids up and wife took daughter to ballet, son and I went to Sears.  They had a Pennsy Flyer set for $199 and I have been waiting for it to go on clearance.  Well, trains were nowhere to be found, but I did come across a 10" "jobber" Craftsman table saw for $139 ($60 off regular price), so I bought it.  Then, they had a full size table saw that sells for $800.00 in the clearance section.  It has a broken blade guide (can be bought for $50 for the guide).  Anyway, they didn't have the current price on it, but the guy told me the last price was $259.00.  Plan is to go back tomorrow and see if the manager is there.  If so, I should be able to pick it up for just over $200.  Can't beat the price, so I may return the smaller one.

As some of you know, I damaged my eye on Saturday.  Took a Christmas tree branch to it and according to my opthamologist, "took a chunk out of your cornea".  Fortunately, eyes repair themselves pretty quickly (most times).  Mine is getting there quickly, but the drops still cause some blurred vision.  I was lucky/blessed that more damage was not done.  As it is, I had to stay home yesterday because I couldn't see.  We had a ice storm Sunday night, which left the local schools closed, so I had the kids to keep me company.

Gotta run to get some sleep.  Again, thanks for the kind words and it is a good to come to such a friendly place.

God Bless,
Dennis

[fifedog]

Just shovelled one inch off cars and driveway, and in that time one inch fell.  Weather radar looks like we might be done by 0100.  Hope Lawson's deflector works.

Actually want to see RAVENS-FALCONS.  Wouldnt mind Packers-Steelers. Mr Matthews, meet Ben...

Have a nice day.