Coffee Pot #12 December 2011 5+ years and going strong and its for all to chat. Plenty of coffee and ice tea for all. Come and join us and chat.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys. And we thought all the really hot wind came from the south...

Phish!  - Was wondering where you were.  We know you have a full plate, but howzabout a shout out once a week...?

88 - I'll give you a call this evening.

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  Saw another 9 deer yesterday taking dog for walk.  Thats 25 deer in 3 days. 

BUCKEYE and CHUCK, TGIF!!!

KEV, thats alot o wood.  Looks like the reminance of when my kids get done here in shop class.

JEFF, nice steamer.  Love to see the Niagara.

Stay frosty,

laz57

[rtraincollector]

Morning all feeling a lot better today. we'll see how it goes. Sold some track last night on ebay wondering if I' going to get paid as this guy has been a member for 10 years but hasn't done a sale one yet. Makes you wonder as a seller. hes been a member since 01/02 0 feedback. oh well will see.

Not a lot planned for today told wife yesterday we have till next wed to get the leaves up so will probably just do a little each day. don't have a big yard but do have a lot of leaves and pine needles normally we rake it up and put it in the truck ( the back yard) and I drive it down to the road and dump it at end of drive way ( county comes on Thursdays to pick it up) for a small back yard we sure got a lot out last year I pack the back of the truck and seems like we got 6 or so loads out and the back yard is only about 25 x 50 so its a small back yard actually.

Well just relaxing this am talked to Brutus last night he'll be back this weekend I believe. Need to call and talk to choochoo later today and see what the status is on the shipping of my train set as in an email they said they would get it shipped out today or tomorrow and that was back on Monday. Want to get it in and check it out. 

Dennis yes I have A-fib and they keep up on it here. I'm not on insulin I just take pills 2 different ones in the morning and then one at night. 

Not much else going on here (yet) today talk to you all later. 

[submmbob]

Hello all

Well, we are getting some snohio tonight. As Doug and Ray have commented, this may be a pretty good one. We will probably be closed up until Sunday.

During my time off over TG weekend I went up to the town of Wickenburg, AZ and went for a hike to the top of Vulture Peak. The peak is near the Vulture Mine which was the richest gold mine in Arizona. Discovered during the Civil War and mining ended by 1942.

This is the peak looking east. Looks like the top half of a buzzard's head.

This is the view from the top looking NW. You can see some of the trail in the photo.

Very nice hike and amazingly quiet on top. Only about 3 miles or so, but a lot of vertical. My legs are still sore.

Buckeye - hope the stones have gone. I've had a couple myself. It's like trying to$1****$2out a baby sea urchin.

Kev - nice work on the layout!

Put the mini-lathe up for sale again on Craigs list. Even w/ the smoking deal it's at there's not a lot of interest. Got one guy looking at it that 1) really needed a bigger lathe and 2) was trying to get out as cheap as possible. No thanks.

Brought the 2026 back up w/ me to see if I could figure out it's reversing unit issue. Tried cleaning it before but still have the same issue. Not sure if it is grounding out on something or if the unit itself is bad.  Hoping to get it running by Christmas and maybe replace the heater in the smoke unit of the 2025. Anyone had luck w/ the liquid smoke replacement kits?

Bob

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

wrmcclellan

Jeffrey - finally some Steam in your roster!

That ones not the only one. Besides the little Pemco 2-6-0 there's also two Bachmann 0-6-0's from two different eras. One came with a pancake motor and the other has a can motor. There's a Bachmann British 4-6-0 Hall type, a Bachmann Spectrum 4-6-2 and a Bachmann 4-8-4 Niagara.

[dwiemer]

Good evening everyone.  Just got home from being called back to the hospital for an emergency.  We have had several this week and so I have spent more time in the OR than here at the house.  I am currently waiting for the banana bread to finish cooking in the oven, then it has to cool before putting it in the fridge.  Wife has been feeling bad, though she is recovering from the flu, it takes a little bit to get back to full strength.

RT, most recent studies regarding diabetes is that it is better to NOT have very tight control of your glucose levels, ie: adding insulin once it gets over 150, but it is better to have generally lower levels.  In other words, don't worry if it gets a little high, try adjusting the diet a little better and be less inclined to use insulin, BUT be sure to not let it get much higher than normal for any length of time.  What I would be a little concerned about is if you have that fast heart rate again.  When it happens, does your pulse feel "thready", or a little weaker, but fast?  If you have more such episodes, you should probably get it checked out.  If you have atrial fibrilation "A-Fib", it could lead to more problems.  A lot of people may have this condition on a rare occasion, but if you have more episodes, or extended episodes, it needs to be addressed.

Joe, glad things are working out for you in Japan.  We have some missionaries going there.  With so few Christians, I am suprised you were able to find a Christmas tree.  Was it a difficult task? Or, perhaps with the bases there, they may have enough business to make it worth it.  With Fastrack, I have found that a square works best for around my tree.  I use cardboard boxes with wrapping paper on them and tunnels cut through to allow for presents to be stacked on top and let the trains run.

DougM., one of our anesthesiologists is heading up near you next week for a conference.  While there have been similar meetings closer to us, this is the only time he was able to get away.  Sounds like it may be a bit more chilly than he is used to.  The biggest drawback to this trip is that he has to fly up and stay there through the weekend, and will not be able to take in any of the sites.  I am hoping to take in a meeting up there when the weather is better and do some site-seeing.

Well, banana bread is done.  Time for bed.  Hope each of you has a blessed evening.
Dennis

[wrmcclellan]

Kev - that is a lot of wood! We use about 1 to 1 & 1/4 cord (short cords I call them as logs are cut only 16-18" long instead of 24") in a cold winter here.. But that is the way firewood is in an urban area like Dallas. Plus many firplaces here cannot easily handle a 24" log.

Jeffrey - finally some Steam in your roster!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. It's been a busy day for me. Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow. See y'all tomorrow.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

KRM

6 trucks was not too much because it was a 1976 Chevy LUV if you remember those.

Yeah, a cigar box and a cigarette pack with a sewing machine in it. Me and some friends shoe horned a 500 and a five speed into one just to see if it could be done. That was the baddest little truck in the area. The truck my father and I used to haul the cross ties was a 1972 Ford F250 3/4 ton with an extended frame and a ten foot bed. We sold it back in the late 80's. I still see it out on the road once in a while. I know it's been re-engined because when we sold it it burned so much oil it looked like it was on fire. Those old 390's could go through some oil!

[KRM]

Jeffrey,

Yeah it could hold more if I did not keep the spliter under the same roof. We don't use that much, but I use more now that I am retired and can burn all day.

 I think it is about 3.25 full cord in there. If my math is correct.

 I once got 6 truck loads of ties from the BNSF and used them to line the drive at the old place in Plainfield we had before the 1990 tornado. Got a bee sting from them. and 6 trucks was not too much because it was a 1976 Chevy LUV if you remember those.

Have a good night,

 Kev.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

KRM

Finally finished filling the wood shed on next years wood side.

That's a LOT of wood! That wood pile would last a few years down here. Some years back when the KCS would change out their railroad ties they'd leave the old ties in the ditch for whoever wanted them. On more than one occasion my father and I would haul home a dozen or more truckloads of them and break them up to use in the fireplace. We'd cut them in two then split them.

[sir james I]

Good Evening

36 degrees, it didn't change much today, even with the sun. My friend stopped by with his fresh from the store Atlas GP DT&I. So we ran it for awhile, decided it was A-OK and home he went. Brutus called today while I was napping so him and granny talked for awhile. Didn't get into the CTT . Banilla will be ready...S.J.

[KRM]

Good day here today!

Finally finished filling the wood shed on next years wood side.

Put up wifey’s bird bath hot tub. An electric bird bath.

Won an auction for a K-Line Wisconsin Central Plymouth Switcher Train set, engine with ore cars for $76.00.

Rt: Glad your doing better and thanks for the tips. I ordered the brushplates from Jeff today. 

Laz: Talked to the neighbor today and he sat in the stand at sun up and only saw a coyote. I told him they are bringing $35.00 a head so now he is going to hunt them. I said I would supply him dead squirrels as bait. 

Time for me to take a whirlpool. 

Have a good night.

 Kev.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

wrmcclellan

The concrete guys did not show up today and if it rains tomorrow we will be dealing with a mud pit out front Not sure what happened and tried to call them. They are reliable as they did our entire pool deck in Sept. Hopefully tomorrow?

Oh yeah! Wet concrete and rain don't play well together. I have a lot of experience with concrete, cement and mortar as I've worked with it off and on since 1972. My father and I mixed, poured and smoothed all the concrete that is now the front patio (8x50), the front walk and steps in front of the old half of the house (8x110), walk and steps in front of the new half of the house (6x20 below the steps, 5x8 above the steps), a 200 foot concrete drainage canal with homemade concrete covers), the floor of what is now my parents bedroom (25x32), a screened in back porch (10x25) and that doesn't even start to estimate the amount of mortar used. All that and more was mixed in a 1/8th yard portable concrete mixer. The concrete for the slab extensions on the old half of the house we mixed by hand in a homemade mixing box. I moved most of all that concrete myself in a wheelbarrow. We started in on all that when I was just twelve. Talk about having muscles on muscles.

[rtraincollector]

 

and this my friends is the coffee cake and yes it is delicious.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Nice here today (65) but tunring cooler tomrrow and rain starting for the weekend.

The concrete guys did not show up today and if it rains tomorrow we will be dealing with a mud pit out front Not sure what happened and tried to call them. They are reliable as they did our entire pool deck in Sept. Hopefully tomorrow?

Got a deal cut for a new furnace and A/C unit. Half the price of the first proposal. High efficiency but not the highest. The part I do not understand is the cost of the ultra high efficiency units like the one I boght a few years back are now so high in price there is no reasonable payback from energy usage savings (over 15 years required). And this is here in Texas where we have ludicrous utility rates.

RT - take care of yourself!

Ray - the national news here said you guys are getting those winds again tonight!

Have a great evening all!

[SPMan]

Good afternoon all,  Kind of got the yard and pool picked up from wind but it is still blowing all day today.  Walked up to see tree that fell near here.  It was about two feet thick at the base.  It did not uproot, it just snapped off like a wooden match stick.  Another one near it is all bent and leaning.  Probably have to be cut down.  It doesn't look safe.  Picked up a few avacados from the school yard where wind blew them down.  Not many left though as someone has cleaned out these trees before the wind came.

Been waiting for a plumber all day and he's not here yet.  Not an emergency though.  I just need my kitchen faucet fixed so it doesn't leak all the time.

RT, take care of yourself.  Hope everything gets settled for you.

Gardener due today and need him to pick up all the pinestraw blown into our yard by the wind.  Their mowers will pick up the stuff and leaf blower will finish off the driveway and such.

later,

Ray

[Demay]

Ohayō,

We bought our Christmas tree last night.  It is a Noble Fir and it smells great.  Due to room limitations we could only buy a 5-6' tree; this one actually tops out a little over 6'.  I will not have room to use the platform I built last Christmas, but I will still have enough room to run a simple oval of FasTrack and set up the lighted ceramic buildings.  We will be doing that today and I am very excited. 

RT - I'm glad you are feeling better.  I guess you were hungry yesterday.  How did the coffee cake turn out?

Jim SP - It's good to hear from you.  I've been on the lookout for some Prewar Lionel myself, but the Marx tinplate is nice too. 

Doug M. - Our kids have felt the sting of a fine as well.

 SJ - I have not received my December CTT yet. 

Sayonara,

Joe

[jonadel]

Pat --

Put down the Bourbon and slow smoked Turkey Leg and step away from the computer, HA

Even though it's been a fantastic fall with our weather I'm already looking at spring road trips.  I've had great fun this week setting up the standard gauge Christmas train in the sun room, we have the grand kids here this weekend sans parents and I KNOW we are going to have a good time  

Big day of travel tomorrow to put Christmas wreaths on cemetery plots in northern Iowa, it's been a real tough year for Sharyl and I'm hoping tomorrow will be a healing day.  Picking up the grand kids on the way home will simply be delightful, hope we can keep up with them.

Stay warm and go hug a loved one! or two or three .................

[rtraincollector]

Well feeling better now about 9 am my pulse dropped back to normal about 73 so ate a big breakfast I had 4 biscuits 3 eggs scrambled with sauté peppers and onions and 4 pieces of sausage ( yes i can hear you all the way up here Dennis) anyway about 20 minutes later feeling lightheaded again so took Blood sugar it was 86 ( it probably should of been over 200) about hour later it was only 106 about 1:30 - 1:45 ate a medium pizza well 6 of 8 slices took Blood Sugar at 4:45 about 3 hours later it was only about 174 still think it should of been higher with what I ate so have a message into my doc telling all going on at least I'm off the next 6 days so maybe can get this all straightened out by then.

well am feeling a little better tonight so I just put a sour cream coffee cake in the oven. to bake that I just made ( Note to Doug the grump) the whole coffee cake only has 1/2 teaspoon of salt in it. And its a 10" bundt pan and it will be about 3" - 4" tall when baked. Haven done this in about 10 years so will let you know how it turns out. But it does have a Fair amount of sugar.

Not much else going on. Talk to you all later

[LawsonFarmsRR]

SPMan

V9 Dennis, I will look for you at TTOS on Sunday.

Good morning all,  High winds blew all night here.  Noise from things blowing around kept me awake most of the night.  We had a power failure due to down lines around 2:00 A.M  and stayed off until about 8:00 AM this morning.  Neighbor next door let me plug my refrigerator into his gas powered generator.  Swimming pool looked like a swamp with debris floating on the surface.  My son cleaned most of it out before he went to work.  Neighbor came back with his kids after going to school and said they had cancelled school because of power failure.  He said there is also a huge pine tree down about a block from us but haven't seen it yet.  My oxygen concentrator was down with the power failure so I used my portable until the battery went dead about 2 and a half hours later.  Lucky for me that my oxygen needs are not critical and I can live without it.  Might not be good long term though.  I do have an oxygen cylinder I can use if I need it.  Another surprise was when a window right over my head in bed blew open during the night but the drapes held it in place.  What a night!  Hope it is better tonight.  I need some sleep.

later,

Ray

Ray - Think Spring, Think setting on the deck in a warm breeze with your favorite drink, Think slow smoking a turkey marinaded in your famous sauce, Think short sleeves, Think...........

Pat

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Afternoon all,

I have been MIA for some time being very busy at work as well as at home.  Life is good, the grandkids we’re raising are doing great but keeping me busy with transporting to sports and the like.  A big consumer of time has been the bedroom addition we started in September.  It is in the dry and going to start the plumbing and drywall soon.

 

As a train note, I have expanded my train horizons to include Marx pre-war tinplate.  They are so neat.  I’ve got a simple loop running around the tree and they are very “toy-like” in appearance and look very appropriate under the Christmas Tree on yes I’ll say it, three rail, tube track.  Something I have discovered about Marx trains, they are just about bullet proof.  Very simple and basic but they run flawlessly.

 

It is cold but sunny out. We had a very heavy frost.  The deer are really moving and I saw about a dozen on the way home from work yesterday.  A lot of folks are off work hunting.  I’d like to, but alas, no time.

 

I hope to stay in better contact than I have been in the recent past.

 

May God bless you all,

Jim

[SPMan]

V8 Dennis, I will look for you at TTOS on Sunday.

Good morning all,  High winds blew all night here.  Noise from things blowing around kept me awake most of the night.  We had a power failure due to down lines around 2:00 A.M  and stayed off until about 8:00 AM this morning.  Neighbor next door let me plug my refrigerator into his gas powered generator.  Swimming pool looked like a swamp with debris floating on the surface.  My son cleaned most of it out before he went to work.  Neighbor came back with his kids after going to school and said they had cancelled school because of power failure.  He said there is also a huge pine tree down about a block from us but haven't seen it yet.  My oxygen concentrator was down with the power failure so I used my portable until the battery went dead about 2 and a half hours later.  Lucky for me that my oxygen needs are not critical and I can live without it.  Might not be good long term though.  I do have an oxygen cylinder I can use if I need it.  Another surprise was when a window right over my head in bed blew open during the night but the drapes held it in place.  What a night!  Hope it is better tonight.  I need some sleep.

later,

Ray

[sir james I]

Good Morning

December 1st so Merry Christmas

30 now with sun. Granny's out on her own this AM but I told her to come back if she hurt too much. Yes I did offer to take her. Read a little CTT yesterday but still have a lot of pages to go. She left me a bacon and egg sandwich..S.J.

[KRM]

Good morning guys,

I am in the same boat as Jeffery. December 1^st Pension payday so bills to pay!

Frosty and cloudy here same as with Chuck.

Hey Chief, Thanks for the new pot!  Better make sure they show up to cut the stress cracks. I had a guy wait two days and by the time he got here it already had a crack of it’s own. You know the three things they guarantee with concrete. Won’t burn, no one will steel it, and it will crack. 

Laz, We can hunt the woods here. Lucky for us but the farmers still get the best ones. The wife won’t let anyone hunt our little part of the woods. We just feed them so everyone else can have fat ones. 

Rt, just take it slow and easy today…….work is sooooo overrated.

DougM, I decided to not use any full 027 curves for that same reason. my tightest is a 034 Marx 180 section between the two sections of table

Well I better get with the bills, don’t plan on any extra for the trains this month. 

Later,

Kev.

[cnw1995]

Aloha from a balmy Crystal Lake where it is 27 - might get to 40 today. Brrrr. Been waiting on the teen to cut up some leaves. Might just do it myself today or tomorrow and fine him. Tried to puzzle out how to remove James the Red Engine's rod at the wheel so I could slip on a new traction tire. He's been running without them for a while now, but I know he'd do better pulling with them. I can find a socket to fix the head but don't know how to get it off because the wheel of course wants to move too.

Then I decided to see how many cars certain engines can pull on my 'hilly' layout. 520 is the winner pulling 16. It had the power to pull more but the cars stringlined on my 027 curves.  Have a good day.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 38 and sunny. The high will be 64 and mostly sunny.

Today is December 1st and as such is the beginning of a new month. It's also bill paying day. I've already paid quite a few online. The others must be paid in person as the places the money is owed to haven't come out of the stone age yet. I also have to take one of parents cars to a garage in town. After yesterdays weathering marathon there's nothing else scheduled for today.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Only 23 more shopping days...unless Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc. decide to open up Christmas day  Wifey home today so I'll try to keep out of her way.  Quick, gimme some busy lookin' work...

Brutus - I wanna go to Disney...

RockIsland - Been a good 4 years.

Roy - Always something.

rt - Relax. Don't over do it.

laz - Try deer tipping.

[rtraincollector]

Well he seemed to get it done Pat even from the out house at the lake.

Morning all well get up was very jiggery and heart was racing a little PB was fine but pulse was up in the 115 range instead of being around 80 and felt very tired and weak so tells me pulse was up most of the night ( along with soreness in chest comes from heart racing) so instead of going into work today decided to stay home didn't feel it was best for me to be driving either with the way I was feeling so laid down on the couch for about 2 hours. still feel a little jumpy but not as bad as earlier BP is still where it was a little high but not bad 130 over 86 and pulse is still up there at 118 ( just checked again.) I have courses that have to be done for work by the end of Feb as they now use your birth month. well luckily I can access from the house here so I can do that some today to get some of them out of the way.

Well you all take it easy think I will have a little light breakfast this am.

Talk to you all later.

[RockIsland52]

Good Mornin Y'all From Chilly But Clear Taxachusetts,

About 32 now and going uo to a balmy 50 later.  I had a brief issue with my outdoor lights last night.....quickly rectified when I discovered the problem was with a timer malfunctiono, not the lights.  Swapped out the timer, problem solved.  Daughter & SIL called later, said their lights kept tripping a breaker.  Short or overload?  I guessed overload because they have a zillion lights and lawn figures outside and the larger nativity figures use conventional light bulbs inside them.  We split the load to two separate outlets not on the same circuit......joy, happiness, and sanity restored.  Language cleaned up somewhat too.   

Chief........their are a number of credible theories why dogs roll around on the ground (and sometimes in *** and on dead animals)..  But the most popular ones are:  to cover their secent from predators;  to communicate to other members of the animal community where they have been;  to mark their territory, similar to urine marking.  I am convinced that conventional wisdom is off the mark.  I think the NACB (National Association of the Canine Brotherhood) has entered into a secret and evil agreement with the pet grooming, pet shampoo, and pet products industries.  We need to follow the money trail.  Your dogs probably have a ton of dough stashed in untraceable offshore accounts. 

Jack