Coffee Pot #1 January 2012 5+ years and going strong and its for all to chat. Plenty of coffee and sweet ice tea for all. Come and join us and chat. GRITS for the Yankees.

[Anonymous]

Rich,

           Congrats on the job.  I was ready to come to NJ for a clean and rot free Ebony on Saddle leather 95 PGT that was on ebay.  Then, I remembered that it takes $$ to play.  +1 on what you said about the media.   My feelings are very similar, but messy.

I spent my day off yesterday waiting for Safelite.  Gave me an 8-5 window, and it was close to five by the time they got here.  Tech was great and professional, although my wallet is lighter now.  He lost one of the cowl trim caps, but that isn't a big deal.  Gives me a chance to hit the local yard.  Actually he did me a favor since he said that it went down in the engine bay, and I saw that the rear valve cover leaked at some point.  Oil is still full, so I'll wait until warmer weather to pull the IM to gain access to the valve cover.  GIves me an excuse to upgrade to the KLG4 IM from the 98+ 626 and Millenia.

Here is the damage from the ice this past weekend  Excuse the mess:

I am glad that it is fixed now, and I hope I don't get any suprises with the rain that is on the way.

[Banks]

Hello all,

Quick sip tonight. To much will keep me awake

Jack, great news about Frank

Hudson. Keep us posted on Kyle.

Don    for your friend.

Jeffry, how about a picture of the Peerless. I like old tractors too. (along with a couple of others here)

Fife,  still haven't gotten around to getting it in the mail.

best move on to other things

 

Prayers for those in need

[MichRR714]

Don,

Sorry to hear about your friend.  Lost my cousin to pancreatic cancer 2 years ago.  I'll think of your friend the next time I walk in the Purple Stride for the cure.

[dwiemer]

A quick hello from a sunny Georgia!  At least it is sunny for the moment.  Finally got to pick up some limbs and trees, but have one big one to get to.  Upon getting the pine straw up from around the house, it is quite evident that we did get some damage to the roof.  A lot of the roof granules are all over the place, so we may be getting a new roof.  

Joe, I am usually very diplomatic and handle most situations well, but I have had moments when I only opened my mouth to switch feet...mostly with my wife.  Fortunately that doesn't happen too often.

Well, gotta run as I have a meeting tonight.

God bless,

Dennis

[anjdevil2]

Good Afternoon ladies and Germs....

A mild 47 and light wind right now

....after fighting with financial aid and the assorted paid county uninformed for the county college), I have to wait another 2 weeks for added assistance.  No one knows how anything works....go figure.

I am formally working for enterprise now, I have yet to hear back from Hallmark about working nights.  Hallmark has inconsistent hours, at best.  The little "e" has steady hours and the opportunity to get back full time with the company I left, with time served and vacations restored.  Opportunity is the key.

On JoePa, I have no dog in this fight, however, I must agree with Brent, the media hypes all to sell news and everyone is hurt (or worse) in the process.  My only thought was, geez, you coulda let him finish the season and let him retire.  Throw the baby out with the bathwater?  Normal day in media news.  In my mind, they should all burn in heck....

DonB & Jack - Prayers for your friends

HudsonJohn - could you message me Kyle's address - I can find it anywhere

Colin - Nice to see you

Jeffery - Stay safe and keep your head down.

That's all from Jersey ...

Rich

 

 

[laz 57]

TMCCMAN,

  Yep thats the one I have.

http://www.springfield-armory.com/armory.php?model=22

Shoots great!

laz57

[RockIsland52]

I want to thank youse guyz once again for your continued prayers  and healing thoughts  for my buddy, Frank.  As I stated from the outset of this saga, my buddy is a loner and has no immediate family or other friends nearby who could step in and help him. 

He was released (in my charge) from inpatient physical therapy for the trip home last Friday.  Timing wise, this was just 6 days into PT and 16 days after his close brush with the other side (Doc’s assessment, not mine). 

At the end of our Doc visit Monday, his Doc gave him the OK to return to work!!!!  I have spoken to his nurse dietician, his visiting nurse, and his nurse care manager to fill in the blanks for them while they try to read, catch up, and make some sense about his medical charts versus his vastly improved condition. He's a solid 80% + overall and will close the remaining gap, provided he does exactly what he is told, which I doubt.  He's got a thick stubborn head and some denial going on.  I will have to chip away at some of that veneer going forward.

The short of it is, since Friday’s release I've been getting him out and about to help him regain his sea legs   , catch up on a bunch of mundane things (grocery shopping, meals, dry cleaners, laundary, meds organization, forms to fill out, bills, etc.), inserted some sense of normalcy and belonging into his schedule with dinner and football at my daughter and SIL’s Sunday, and helped set him up for self sufficiency going forward. 

Last night I told him I have his back, that he has a phone, that he had better use it, and that he had better ask for help this time around......the direct opposite of his lame,proud, and ego-driven approach leading up to this whole unnecessary medical debacle.  "So how did that work out for you, Frank?"  

Again, you guys are the best, somthing I can't overstate.  I have never met any of you.  Yet I am convinced She/He listened to your prayers kept Frank going, despite his very poor medical condition and prognosis at the outset.  And your encouragement kept me going so I could help Frank in the best way I could.  You kept me in the  "just do it" or “violent execution of the tasks at hand” mode, when I was sagging and needed a lift. 

My hat is off to each and to all of you, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  

Jack

[KRM]

Jeffery, get out of there. Take it from me I know what mother nature can do. Our house is the second one on the left. 8-28-1990

Kev.

[SPMan]

Good morning all,

Chief, I had trouble with my heat pump thermostat too before the controller stopped working all together.  Like you, my room seemed cooler than what I had it set at.  Must be the nature of the beast.

Dbaker, real sorry to hear about your fellow club member's passing at AGHR.

#2 son is off tomorrow on another trip.  This time to Florida for car race at Daytona, I think.

Temp warming up to 80 today.  I'll vote for that.

later,

Ray

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to get out of here. Radar shows the advancing line of ugly weather to be about sixty miles away and coming fast. The color band shows moderate to heavy with some pockets of severe weather mixed in. See y'all later.

[RockIsland52]

Good Afternoon Y'all From Sunny Taxachusetts,

Went out yesterday into the back yard to pick up all of the "care packages" that Maximus the dog has graciously donated to my to-do list cause since the weekend.  Ya gotta keep up with this stuff while you can see it, before it gets permanently affixed to the ground until Spring, covered in the interim by snow and ice.    The ground yesterday was as spongy wet as I can ever recall, the combo/accumulation of rain and then melting snow that sat on top of the frozen ground,  couldn't get absorbed because of the recent single digit cold snap we had. 

Maximus was conflicted while I cleaned up after him.  On the one hand he wanted to come off the deck and play, but he found the wet spongy consistency of the lawn not to his liking.  So he stood on the deck and barked at me in lieu of play or patrolling his yard.  

Needless to say, the wifey let him out for last call at 11 last night and, without thinking, let him back in, whereupon he raced around the house in his customary fashion and prompty deposited mud all over the carpeting and floors.    More work. 

High temps reached 58 yesterday, 40s the next few days, with rain forecast Thursday, Friday, and Sunday..........but NO SNOW!!!!

Later, gang!!!!

Jack

[tmcc man]

laz 57

TMCCMAN,

  Colin,  if you are looking into the .308s deffinitly check out the Springfield Armory SOCOM.  Either the one or two.  I have the first one without all the rails on it.  It is the best gun I own.  200 yards I can hit with open sites.  Its fashioned after the Garande and has a nice synthetic stock.  Great gun but a little pricy.

laz57

Iaz57,

Just looked on the Springfield website and this caught my eye immediately. 

http://www.springfield-armory.com/armory.php?version=42

That is exactly how I would get one. I do like this one too, and I think this is the one you're talking about:

http://www.springfield-armory.com/armory.php?model=22

They are both really nice looking guns!

OT from rifles, but wow, this is really nice: 

http://www.springfield-armory.com/armory.php?version=10

[laz 57]

TMCCMAN,

  Colin,  if you are looking into the .308s deffinitly check out the Springfield Armory SOCOM.  Either the one or two.  I have the first one without all the rails on it.  It is the best gun I own.  200 yards I can hit with open sites.  Its fashioned after the Garande and has a nice synthetic stock.  Great gun but a little pricy.

laz57

[tmcc man]

Morning guys,

Demay: thanks for the compliments! I had a really hard semester in Spring 2011 because I had a lot of challenges that were not related to school. I bounced back, however, and I'm much happier now!

Chief: My friend has a Stag Arms (well, what started out as a Stag Arms) AR15. Now he has a new lower, a new upper, new trigger, adjustable stock, a Magpul grip (not pistol style, more relaxed), a new barrel, a quad rail/hand guard, Eotech sight and a side mounted laser and flashlight combination. It is my favorite AR15 of the 3 I've shot. I also shot his Remington 700 7mm Remington Mag, which I absolutely love. He just bought it off of his dad a few weeks ago. All the money he makes goes to bills first and the rest is spent on one of the finest small weapons collections I have ever seen. He recently added an incredible Kimber Pro CDP II, which I have not had to the chance to shoot yet, but hopefully soon. He has so many other firearms, 2 Remington 870 12 gauges, a Benelli Super Sport, a S&W J frame .38 special, a S&W M&P 9c and a few others. I wish I had the money for it! 

[Stourbridge Lion]

Good Morning CTTFans!

It's 28F and a clear sunny day here in the Mile High.  Back to w**k for me...

[RockIsland52]

Demay

Konbanwa,

.........Dennis and Jack - Yes, biting my tongue turned out to be the right decision.  And you're both right about the mom.  I believe she is setting her kid up for disappointment down the road when he finds out that in real life not everyone gets a trophy.

Colin - Great job on the schoolwork, it will definitely be worth it in the end.

Brutus - I'm glad to hear the good news.

Traindood - It's good to see you checking in and that you are healing.

Sayonara,

Joe

JoeyD......as I get older I learn that keeping my mouth shut saves me time and again.  I can always sleep on something and address it later if it is that important, concocting a plan that does not put the other party in defense mode.  They are more willing to listen and consider both sides of the coin if they don't flip into defense mode.  When it comes to kids, most parents don't want to hear one's opinions anyway.  Silence here is golden.  

I was coaching my son's little league team, volunteering after one of the other coaches had to bow out due to work responsibilities.  This was a time in Chicago when they took the wraps off and let girls participate with the boys on the same teams.  And there were two little girls on my son's team.

One of them clearly had the best "arm" (accuracy and velocity) and was arguable the best "defensive player" (in position and making plays).  Most days her Mom would fuss and fret on the sidelines. worried that her daughter would get hurt.  She kept commenting that she should have made her little one take ballet instead of signing up for baseball.  I remained silent on the matter. 

You have to understand that this was 1986.  Girls playing "boy's " sports was not widely accepted or supported.  However, through her hard work, her quiet demeanor, and her support of her team members, this girl quickly earned the respect down to the last child and coach.   I complimented her Mom on raising such a bright, accomplished, well-rounded, and socially accepted child.  That seemed to quiet Mom  down until.......

One game while running to first base on an infield ground ball she turned back over her left shoulder to see where the ball was, something the kids were told to never do.  "Don't look back. Run straight through the bag.  Then look."  You guessed it.  She got smacked right in the face from the throw, around the left cheek but below the eye socket. 

Down she went.  Tears.  Hysterical mother running onto the field, right on the heels of the coaching staffs and umpire.

Mom had clearly had her fill of her daughter's baseball career and wanted to take her right off the field to get her checked out.  Meanwhile, the girl was right back on her feet and had composed herself, bruised and worse for the wear but not beaten. 

I figured that was the end of her career.  But when the little girl heard her Mom's firm instructions "We have to leave right now and get you checked out.  Let's go!" the little girl responded without hesitation and  matter-of- factly "The game's not over, Mom."   She turned and ran right back to the bench with her teammates.  She finished the game and wore a shiner for the next week or two, a badge of courage so to speak.  I commented to the Mom : "May I compliment you on teaching your little girl perserverence as well."  Mom never said another word about baseball versus ballet after that.  And the boys on the team "manned up" after that.

Guess who was voted the team MVP at the end of the season?  Yup.  It was her, even though she had just an average "bat."

You did well to remain silent on this one.  Mom's are protective, sometimes overly so,  and they are not inclined to listen to a man's point of view when it comes to the safety of their little ones.  My wife fretted over our son in little league.  He had the attention span of a fruit fly, and with any fly balls he was fair game for a bruise on his topnot, as Laz would say.

Jack

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 65° and cloudy. The high will be 73°. There's a 90% chance of showers and thunderstorms throughout the day.

Hello from wet Louisiana. We're under a tornado watch until 3 pm so there's a chance the weather may get 'interesting'. Needless to say I won't be working outside today if I can help it. Winds are currently SE at 10 to 15 mph and I hope they stay low. The weather guesser however is proclaiming gloom and doom, damaging winds and heavy to severe storms. The radar data seems to agree with him. It's relatively clear here at the moment but I can see a bunch of nasty looking stuff coming across Texas and heading right for us. I may be able to get a few projects out of the way today. I also have some movies that need watching.

[KRM]

Good morning,

Cold and frosty, 26 with clouds.

Time for my morning Pepsi and Cheerios.

Nice chat last night with some of the guys and troublemakers. 

Not much going on today other than I am going to see if those old Marx switches I found in the shed will work. 

RIJack, Not too worried about the rebels sneaking over the MD to get my Gator because it is way too cold for them.   Maybe when it warms up I will need to increase security. 

DonB sorry to hear about friend’s passing .Be thankful it was quick.

DougM nice picture of your son. Would like to see some pictures of your layout after the repairs from the latest pile up are finished.

Have a good day everyone.

Kev.

 

[cnw1995]

Aloha.  Dang, but it is hot in this office! Whew!  Took some ideas SJ gave me about fastening track to add to my rubber-banding. Almost done checking all the track connections. Also dismantled and reassembled Eagles Ridge Tunnel for a full cleaning. Fixed the runway at Baker Field.  Have to make some more signs because everything is named on this railway.

[sir james I]

30 degrees and cloudy for the day.

No news that I dare speak of..

Some one might take offense if I tell you I had Spam on my egg sandwich, so I won't mention it....S.J.

[Demay]

Konbanwa,

The weather has been cold so we still have some remnants of snow on the ground.  The two older kids have spent the past two days building an igloo.  They are about 25% complete and I hope it stays cold long enough for them to finish; however, they are going to need some more snow as well.  The wife created some sort of tamale casserole for dinner tonight.  It was very tasty and tasted like the sweet corn tamale cakes you can get at The Cheesecake Factory.  We watched The Lion King, played catch, shot marbles, and ran trains before the kids had to get ready for bed.  I need to take care of some schoolwork now.

Dennis and Jack - Yes, biting my tongue turned out to be the right decision.  And you're both right about the mom.  I believe she is setting her kid up for disappointment down the road when he finds out that in real life not everyone gets a trophy.

Colin - Great job on the schoolwork, it will definitely be worth it in the end.

Brutus - I'm glad to hear the good news.

Traindood - It's good to see you checking in and that you are healing.

Sayonara,

Joe

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is a cold 32 degrees. Going up to 38 today with cloudy skies.

Today is a busy day. I have an errand to run and a few chores. I want to work on my latest project. So, I will be busy until I can take a short nap.

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Wednesday.

Chuck

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Warm and sunny.  Heat pump cut off during night set on 76 degrees.  Was not 76 inside.  Ran it up to 86 and it came back on.  Think temp is off.  Running good.

Got junk to haul to SIL's and etc.

Later. 

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

   SNO HI O almost gone here, to get rain and some frozen stuff tonite?  Not much else today.

RIP, JOE PATERNO.

Stay frosty,

laz57

[ChiefEagles]

Reclinerized again.  Dogs and cats out.  Dogs back in.  So warm the cats wanted to stay out.

Heat pump going strong [sure is quite].  Have to walk over to the outside unit to hear it.  It is warming the box but slowly.  Temp inside was 58 so it has to warm the whole place.  Air coming out feels cool but line temp at unit is 120.  Should have added a space heater to help it get up to normal.  Been running solid since 4:30 PM.  They said give it time.  Not pulling a lot of "juice" as on a 240V 15 Amp breaker.  Checked it about 30 minutes ago.  Room is warming slowly.  

KRM

ChiefEagles:

 

Kev. simular word but starts with a "S".   BTW: your package is in route. 

 

 Please tell me Chief that you did not package it all up with GRITS as popcorn. 

Kev

I'd check that box real carefully.  Shipped the traveling train cars to all the guys who partcipated.  Everyone had a tiny amount of grits hidden in them.

I'd keep an eye on my JD as I've been known to show up in the Nawth without a warning.  Then slip back across the MD.

Buckeye Riveter

Colin was here???? Where??? I didn't see him.

Tomorrow is the start of the GREAT RAID. I even bought a nice gift for the Chief's train layout. I know Mrs. Chief will love her gift. Chuck, make sure you check on my welfare and if I come up missing unload the snow gun on Roseyville, NC.

Tar pot is heating.  Killed 6 geese to make sure we had enough feathers. [remember the Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer thing about the Carpetbaggers].

Collin, not an AR fan.  I've been buying rifles but mainly bolt actions and mainly Remington 700's in centerfire.  Did buy some .22 Mag bolts.  Did get one semi.  A Springfiled Arms M1A [M14 .308] with synthetic stock, national match barrel and mounted a Leupold scope.  All my funds now going to a 14X40 mobile home I have moved into my very backyard.  Stripping out the walls and making it a train layout.  We call it the "Box".  Outside looks good but inside is in bad condition.  Was a "steal".

Sleep tight all. 

[dbaker48]

Evening All, (Brought my own coffee.)

Finally, think I have a handle on the sprinkler plumbing problem.  What started as a small leak ended up as a complete redo coming from the water main to the anti-siphon valves.  Can't believe how everything was originally done, no shut off valve to isolate sprinklers from house supply, and sprinklers installed with copper pipe.  (House built in late 70's, PVC was definitely available).  So installed a gate valve, and redid the distribution with PVC.  Had a few minor difficulties along the way, forgot to glue one fitting, which ended up having to removing an elbow.  Then after that was done found a leaking copper fitting I didn't get enough solder in.  So FINALLY got it right. 

Got a light from Miller Engineering, (Sleigh and Reindeer), unfortunately its not going to work the way I had hoped, so will have to devise an alternative.  I had planned on installing it on a house, and having it removable.  But the card-edge connector isn't long enough to reach through the roof and into the socket.  I would end up making a permanent modification in the roof line to install it.  So, I either need to get another house and swap them out on the layout for the season, or find a totally different location for the light.  I'm leaning toward the 2nd house.

Had some disturbing news this afternoon, one of the guys from AGHR passed over the weekend.  He was a Charter member, and the kindest person I've ever met.  He had pancreatic cancer, fortunately it was rather quick, but the family had lost their DIL earlier this year.  He will surely be missed!

Chris kinda surprised me today as well.  He came in with an armful of books, and his backpack.  Sat the books down, and asked me to hold the backpack, talk about heavy, must have weighed 25/30 lbs.  I asked him what was in it and of course it was rocks.  Now, I thought he was a smart kid, but when I asked him why, he told me when they were hiking this past week-end, he had his backpack and his shoulder was sore as a result.  And he decided that by carrying rocks in the backpack, it help him get in better shape for future trips.  DUH.  

Spent some time in the train room, developed a list of tasks that need to be done.  (Have a marker light out on my scale Cab Forward.  Not looking forward to taking the boiler off.)  Just with the few items I identified probably will be 3 or 4 weeks before I get them all done.

Enough for today, stay Healthy and God Bless !

[8ntruck]

Partly sunny and in the 40's today.

Most of my projects at work that I set up to run on remote control before I left last week did what they were supposed to, so the amount of catch up at work today was minimal.

Got home and found that the March issue of CTT had arrived today.  Interesting, large layouts in this one.

All for now.

[RockIsland52]

AF53

........Jack - NONONONO! You've got it all wrong! You have one of the all-time greats throwing that ball! We get the points.........

Ray 

AF Ray,

Traindood says otherwise.  You aren't saying Traindood is wrong, are you? 

Jack

[tmcc man]

Evening everyone, 

Another late night here, and not because of law classes. Being 21 and returning from a month long college break has enabled me to stay up until all hours of the night. I didn't mind it over break or during the weekends but it's pretty annoying during the week! 

Chief: All is well here. My parents and I are all sick right now, but we're getting better everyday. Hopefully it'll be over soon because I'm headed to the mountains for a weekend, followed by a week in Key West for spring break with a few friends. 

Demay: I wish I had the time I used to. But, and education is priceless! I love what I'm studying, so it isn't too bad. I do, luckily, have the time to go out and railfan occasionally which is definitely good for relaxation. 

RockIsland52: Been busy with seeing as many friends as I could before they all left for school again as well as a ton of school work from last semester! Finished with a 3.5 GPA, so it was well worth it! I'm aiming for a 4.0 this semester, so I definitely have to keep up with the work!

I stopped into my local gun store the other day for a look around. I was reading 'Special Weapons' earlier in the day and saw the Sig Sauer 716, so I wanted to see if they had any that I could take a look at. It's a 7.62x51 (.308) and it's nice, but it's around $1700 and they have none available. I'm not immediately ready to buy, but I have my eye on one of those, or a Stag Arms AR15. 

I was supposed to catch the last Conrail painted SD60I (6718) on the NS roster tonight, but my contact backed out at the last minute so I don't know of its whereabouts. I'm gonna try and glass it on one of the Westbounds tomorrow, and I'm hoping it'll leave in the daylight. 

I'm gonna try and get some sleep, night all!

[Anonymous]

The last I'm saying about the subject is I really think I have a bit deeper knowledge of the intricicies of this topic.

The information that has been posted is ONLY what the major media outlets have fed you. There is a LOT more to this case than you obviously have researched/read. I urge you to do so, educate yourselves. I can gaurantee you had Joe known his superiors would drop the ball so utterly misserably he WOULD have done more. There was no love lost between Paterno and Sandusky after Paterno told Sandusky he would NEVER be head coach at PSU because of the time he was devoting to The Second Mile... Paterno has said on numerous occasions that he RARELY spoke to Sandusky after he resigned.

I need to cool off about this... so it will be a long time before I return.