Coffee Pot #4 April 2012 8 years [April 1 is Anniv.] 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.

[ChiefEagles]

Good news Jeffrey.  Mine too. We put the "curse" on Buckeye's computers.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

ChiefEagles

You all have probably heard about this virus thingy.  My Time Warner Security buddy sent me this in an email.  Figured you all might want this:

The virus they’re referring to is a “DNS Changer” – when you type in a website, the name of that website talks to a DNS server and says “What IP address is hosting this website?” the DNS server gives the proper IP, and then your computer goes to that IP address to download/fetch whatever is there.

However, on computers that are infected - DNS Changer will “intercept” DNS requests, and direct customers to wrong places, could be phishing sites (trying to steal your info), wrong websites, or just go no place (the “404: page cannot be found” error).

Mine comes up clean and green!

[Demay]

Ohayō again,

Well I was able to enjoy a few hours of sleep after finishing some schoolwork.  I woke up at 0830 and the wife had made biscuits and gravy (scratch from the bacon grease) and bacon.  It was as delicious as always.  The weather is beautiful already: sunny and warm.  The two boys were playing in the backyard and the younger one sure enjoys digging in the dirt.  He was a mess.  After I had ate breakfast I cleaned him up and put him down for a nap.  We will leave for church in about an hour.  After church I will relax and tinker with the HO loco. 

Jeffrey – I’m looking forward to what you come up with to replace the Shell station.  That Shell station vignette looked great.

V8 – The green sure does work.  Hopefully you can work your lawn in small manageable segments so it’s not too taxing on your body.  Your layout expansion sounds great.  I hope you can post photos sometime.

John – I’ve never had duck that way, but I have had schnitzel in that style many times.  This duck was roasted and drizzled with a truffle sauce.  I’d be surprised to find good spetzle outside of Germany or maybe very strong German-American communities in the States. 

Sayonara,

Joe

[ChiefEagles]

Chilly evening here.  Had Mexican.  Garden Show was slow but being the first for Roseyville, a success.  Brought out new folks interested in starting a garden club.  Never made Mrs. Edna's.  Lady [unique one] has bought one of the older homes in Roseyville [built early 1800's] and wants to turn it into a museum.  Wanted me to go there with her and see her "vision".  Hour and a half later, I get to leave.  Hunters Haven "business" meeting was at 3.  Moving to a larger building with better exposure to Main Street this summer.

Now, plop plop fizz fizz.  Rest.

Report from Doug M????

You all have probably heard about this virus thingy.  My Time Warner Security buddy sent me this in an email.  Figured you all might want this:

The virus they’re referring to is a “DNS Changer” – when you type in a website, the name of that website talks to a DNS server and says “What IP address is hosting this website?” the DNS server gives the proper IP, and then your computer goes to that IP address to download/fetch whatever is there.

However, on computers that are infected - DNS Changer will “intercept” DNS requests, and direct customers to wrong places, could be phishing sites (trying to steal your info), wrong websites, or just go no place (the “404: page cannot be found” error).

The good news is that the FBI has put a website with information on how to check for the issue, and if you have it, how to repair it.

Here’s the boiled down version (feel free to pass this next part along to anyone you’d like!)

Go to http://www.dns-ok.us/

If it comes back Green, then you are not infected, and you’ll be find in July!

If it says you are infected – go here and follow the directions:

http://www.dcwg.org/detect/

Once the problem is cleaned off the computer – they’ll have no issues in July.

Later 

[SPMan]

Good morning all,

Jeffrey, thanks for the steak cooking tips.  On another subject, I like V8 juice too but never tried it in cooking. Sounds like it has possiblities. Last night we had pre cooked Tony Roma's ribs warmed up in the oven.  The rack broke in half when I picked them up to go on a plate and I wound up wearing it and picking up part of it off the floor.  Got more on me than I did on a plate.  So much for cooking.

Got some photos today from a group of retired engineers' breakfast whom I haven't seen in 12 years.  Had a hard time recognizing some of them since we have all changed with age.

Got one of those quiz games in an e mail about things you remember when.  I got 20 out of 20 so they said I was older than dirt.

Jeffrey, that stuck in the swamp problem reminds me of when my brother drove his ride on mower into the pond behind his house which is above it on a slope.  Sorry to hear you are getting rid of the gas station on the layout.  I thought it was a good looking building.

Prayers and best wishes for quick recovery to Doug Murphy.

later,

Ray

 

 

 

[Hudson#685]

Lunchtime,

We had a great morning here. No phone calls or interruptions. everything smooth.

Joe D, Roast Duck, a favorite of mine. German Hunterstyle with the gravy and spetzle

Kev, My spell check for GMC, says: Good Mechanic Coming, Get More Cash. Seriously, I can not complain about mine.

Jeffrey, Take care of that knee. Too bad you did not have a video of them removing the tractor. Too bad you are removing the Shell Station. It is a great looking model.

Laz, Retirement can't come soon enough for either of us. Turkey hunting sounds like a great way to spend your time.

Chief, I hope the neighbors don't expect you to cut their grass all of the time.

Brutus, SJ: after talking about burgers last night, I just had to go to a local place near the shop for one for lunch. I went to Sushine Hamburgers and grabed a Bacon Cheeseburger. Excellent!!

Prayers for all in need.

Enjoy the day!

John

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 75° and partly sunny. The high will be 85° and partly cloudy.

Well, as I reported yesterday my nieces husbands little brother got a very heavy tractor stuck in the marsh that is the lower east side of my parents back yard. When I left there last night it was still mired in the muck. Later they had several more folks show up to help and sometime last night got it out of the hole and made a fair mess of the yard doing it. Maybe later I can get a photo of the area in question. One thing for sure, I bet he won't be in a hurry to do that again. So goes life at redneck central. I've already been to my parents place this morning and prepared breakfast for my mother. It wasn't pleasant as my left knee is hurting pretty bad. All that activity yesterday I guess. Today if I get the time to do it I'll be removing the Shell Service Center from the layout. I don't have much space to store it without breaking it down but I don't want to just toss it out either.The vehicles aren't a problem as they can be packed in a box in the closet.

[Demay]

Ohayō,

It just passed midnight here so it is now Sunday morning.  The baseball game went well on Saturday morning; the kids played well and had fun.  I still have a couple of kids who are sometimes in their own world out there but they do okay.  After the game I spent most of the day working outside.  I replaced a couple of fence boards, cut and trimmed the grass, painted some support beams on the back porch, and created/installed a hinged table to one of the back porch walls.  My wife has some more tasks lined up for next Saturday.  The wife and I went out to a European style restaurant and bakery off base for dinner.  She had a chicken lasagna dish and I had roast duck.  The food was exceptional.  We bought some pastries for Sunday’s breakfast which were similar to ones we used to buy when we lived in Germany.  I need to finish some schoolwork and get some sleep.

Jeffrey – I didn’t have time to get back to the locomotive.  I will have time after church later today. 

I’ll pray for all of us in need.

Sayonara,

Joe

[KRM]

 

Good morning guys,

We had RAIN Last night.. Not too much but I will take what I can get. Rained for 20 minutes and the power was out for an hour and a half.

George got me up to let me know something was wrong. Smart cat that he is.. I was up anyway with advance heartburn from something I ate or drank at the Moose Lodge last night for dinner.

Got to go to Kroger’s today and then I may build my loading platform and crossing shanty later.

Brutus glad you heard from Doug and all went well.

Jeffery, my spell checker for GMC comes up as Garage Man’s Companion.

Chief, good luck on the "GREAT ROSEYVILLE GARDEN SHOW"

today.

I would be getting out of there to.

Like SJ said, no breaking news this morning.

Prayers to Doug and all others in need..

[sir james I]

42 and cloudy, looks like that's where it's going to stay all day. A good chat with some of the guys last night. Sorry i have no breaking news this morning..S.J.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Mostly cloudy and chilly [not too cool though].  Today is the GREAT ROSEYVILLE GARDEN SHOW.  Wifey has run me in the ground getting us ready to show off the gardens.  Glad it is about over.  Also, she is suppose to go back to work.  This time at local hospital.  I'll be glad to get her out of my hair in the morning.  Then I can watch my hunting shows.  Probably go to Mrs Edna's and then Hunters Haven.  Get out of sight.

Later. 

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is a cold and cloudy 42 degrees. Going up to 56 today with rain coming.

Today is an easy day. I have a few chores to do and a small project to finish. Then, I will relax and do some reading. Nap, later.

Prayers out for Doug M..... Does anyone know the details on him?

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Saturday.

Chuck

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

   36 here the first day o TURKEY SEASON in Pa.  I will start hunting them next season when I'm off.  TOO many hunters out on weekends, so next year I'll hunt Tuesday-Thursday and pretty much have the woods to myself.  Gotta spaghetti dinner tonite after church, gotta bring my own OL MILs.

JACK, my gal MINNIE and I had a beautiful 3miler yesterday at a lovely 53 degrees.

DON, WHAT NO PILE UPs at 80 MPHs?  YOU DA MAN!!!!!  I woulda launched it right nice.

DOUG M, Hope all went well with procedure.

KEV, nice logging scene.

JEFF in La., NOTHING beats home made chicken soup.  Bet it even tastes better cajun style.

Stya frosty,

laz57

[Hudson#685]

Good Morning,

Getting ready for a fun day at work today.

We had a good chat on the Tardis last night.

Jeffrey, That tractor scene sounds like a typical day her but they do it with line trucks.

Prayers for Doug and everyone else in need.

Time for the Safety Huddle,

John

[ChiefEagles]

Special prayer for Doug M.

Good night and sleep tight.

[Brutus]

Hey guys, sounds like everyone was busy today!  Doug Murphy sent me a text today and said the procedure went well.  I suspect he is resting up and reading some train magazines.  Nice buy on that workbench, Chief!  We had our family haircut night, which ran a little early due to a cancellation by another customer.  Son and I hit Steak and Shake for dinner.  Watching some Man from UNCLE on dvd with my daughter now   Nice chat tonight with the guys - you all take it easy.  Mike, let's hit it!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well as I guessed my father came up with things to do. Go to Wal-Mart with him to do some shopping. I had some trouble finding a good cart. First two I found seemed good but I had to limp them back to the front because they died after five minutes. Third time was the charm. Wasn't all bad. I got a big bag of BBQ chips, box of Ritz crackers, 24 pack box of extra butter popcorn , pack of cheese and a 16 pack of Duracell AA batteries for my soldering tool. about $22 before tax, and he paid for all of it. When we got back to their home he and I made tacos for us and I made my homemade chicken soup for my mother. She doesn't like the store bought stuff mach but boy she dive into this. She wanted it a bit spicy this time so instead of using regular low sodium V8 I used spicy low sodium V8 and a little Tabasco sauce. She loved it. My father put down four tacos, I put down ten. I hadn't had anything since early this morning. In the back yard a comedy was unfolding. My niece wanted the old burn pile back there relocated to the marsh at the bottom of the property. So her husband talked to his little brother who went and borrowed a Long tractor with a front loader bucket and a box blade from a friend. Everything was fine as he went down into the yard to the burn pile. He scooped up the first load from the burn pile and headed to the edge of the marsh. It went up to the frame faster than you could get halfway through saying 'Jack Robinson'! No surprise to me as that whole area had been underwater two weeks ago. I can't even drive the old Peerless tractor/mower through there without it sinking. Well first he tied off to a huge old yellow pine and tried pulling it out with a cumalong. He broke that. So he brought his 4x4 GMC (would you believe the spell checker didn't know what GMC was?) truck down there and tried yanking it out with that. No dice. Only one rear wheel and one front wheel was pulling and as soon as one lost traction the other one would stop. Seems if you want a good 4x4 you gotta get a Jeep or a Ford. It was fun to watch. Me, my niece and my sister had ringside seats! Yelling, cussing, engines roaring, mud flying all over. It was better than watching Monster Jam on the Speed channel. I left from down there around an hour and a half ago and the tractor was still buried. I haven't heard a tractor come up the road yet so I have to assume it's still there.

Well time for me to call it a night. I'm sore and hurting and am sure going to be glad to see the bed. See y'all tomorrow.

[sir james I]

51 degrees now.

Well let me see, after the noon news my friend came by with 2 tubs full of compost and he's bringing more tomorrow. Then we talked toy trains for awhile.. Then I had an online chat with Charlie, went out for supper at a deli, had Rocky Road instead of Banilla. That was my day...Some rain tomorrow, maybe...S.J.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Worked early this morning (6-8) and then after work and got the pool equipment fence almost finished. Completed hanging all the pickets, built a gate (so if the pool heater has to be accessed since the space is too narrow to access for major service from the open end), and finshed all the trim. All that is left os to install the cap board and stain. 6 feet high, red cedar - came out lookin' great - SWMBO is very pleased.

Went to Chili's for dinner

Looked back and could not find the Doug M post on procedure - hope it came out OK.

Just when you think it is safe - Buckeye reappears....

Hit low 90's today - but huge breeze all day so nice out.

Have a great evening all!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

SPMan

Jeffrey, what' your secret for fork tender steak?  I cooked what was billed as our markets best quality sirloin steak lately and it came out a lot tougher than I expected.  I probably overcooked it before getting the hang of my new gas grill.

Tenderize the steak then quickly sear it then slow cook it in a pan so it cooks all the way through without overcooking. turn it constantly so it diesn't have time to burn. The way they turn out for me one of my friends can chew the steak easily and he has only three teeth in his head (he's 87). This works on electric or gas. I've done it on a range and a grill. The secret of doing it on the gas grill is have the flame hot enough to cook the steak but not cook it quickly. Low heat is the key. My father's idea of cooking on a grill is to use volcano heat and he wonders why his meat comes out tough.

[dwiemer]

Pray that all has gone well with Doug.  I am exhausted!  Worked 30 hours in the last two days and as they say, it ain't over yet.  We have been excessively busy, but it's all good.  Everyone has been doing good work.

It the schedule holds, I will plant a few trees tomorrow.  Also hope the weather holds and is less than the 87 degrees they predict.

Will try to check back later.

God bless,

Dennis

[SPMan]

Just wanted to add a prayer for Doug Murphy  Hope it all went well Doug.

Jeffrey, what' your secret for fork tender steak?  I cooked what was billed as our markets best quality sirloin steak lately and it came out a lot tougher than I expected.  I probably overcooked it before getting the hang of my new gas grill.

My old Hamilton 992b railroad watch has been acting up lately.  It only wants to run about 12 hours before rewind.  They are suppose to go for 24 hours I think.  I spent $112 on it a while back and have not run it but kept it in a jewelry box.  They put in a new main spring and another part in the stem tower.  I doubt if it's worth over $200 and I've already got over $300 in it.  Maybe they get gunked up if you don't run them all the time.  It just has sentimental value now.

Picked up Grandson at High School today and he is spending afernoon with us.  He enjoy's spending time with his uncle who lives here too.

D.Baker, that must be a land speed record for that Big Boy.  Happy railroading at Knotts.

Ray

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Joe: The loco may be at the end of the line. As I said many of the Life-Like standard line steamers of that era were cheap junk. Since it seems to run in reverse see if you can get it up to speed then throw it into forward. The best it could do is clear whatever is fouling the drive and the worst is it could strip a gear, but those were usually soft plastic anyway. In looking at that loco this morning I remember that I did at one time have one like that. That's a European (Spanish I think) type 2-6-0. It was in a Christmas train set called the El Tren De Navidad or something like that. It translated to The Train of Christmas. Come to think of it it never ran well even when new. I'm thinking it was either Life-Like or Model Power. Must have been Life-Like since most of the Model Power stuff I had ran pretty descent.

[rtraincollector]

Jim just an idea but file a complaint with your better business burro in PA. it probably may not correct things but it lets others know the problem and they may even try and get there side on it but it does give them a bad mark unless you get satisfied by them or they feel the company tried to correct this problem but to me they haen't even came close from what you hae told us.

evening all not a lot going on now time to get ready to close eyes and all for the night as 5:30 comes early lol So you all have a good weekend

[Anonymous]

lionroar88

Be honest - when you go anywhere you have to try to remain focused... you get distracted by shiney objects, loud objects, and (I won't go there)... speaking of which... what's the update on Boysenberry?

Brent,

             You know it.  Haven't seen her around lately.  She was driving a Stratus after she totaled the Probe she had, but I haven't seen her for awhile now.

Jack,

           What you said about a short throw shifter making the car less fun to drive was perfect. 

Kev,

          Yes, I became irritated quickly during the conversation, but I remained calm since saying what was on my mind would've just made things worse. 

 

I wanted to get some layout work done today, but spent from 11AM to 6:30PM changing the leaking PS line on the 91 GL.  It wasn't difficult, but the a/c compressor had to be moved to get the line out.   That required moving the cruise control module out of the way to remove clamps hold a/c lines so that the upper bolt could be removed from the compressor. 

[Demay]

Ohayō,

It should be mostly sunny today and the high is 73˚.  The rain stopped so the baseball games for today will be played as scheduled.  After our game I have some chores to complete: fix one or two fence boards; pull some weeds; and edge the sidewalks.  The grass hasn’t grown enough for me to cut it yet, but the weeds have surely spouted up.  I think we may clean out rocks a previous tenant had in the flower beds.  We are not fans of the types of rocks they used.  The wife and I will have a dinner date tonight.

Doug – I hope your procedure went well.

Jeffrey – First, please don’t worry about insulting me or this set.  I know it is an inexpensive set (cheap, mostly plastic) and I can’t even remember how I acquired it.  I probably bought it with paper route money I earned as a kid.  I appreciate the information you provided.  The track and drivers are extremely clean.  I wiped it down again anyway.  From the looks of it, I would say this may have been run once; probably that 10 feet or 10 second warranty thing you mentioned.  The loco doesn’t have any traction tires and the tender is plastic.  The loco was heavier than I thought it would be but still much lighter than I’m used to in O.  If I set the loco on the track and push it with my hands the wheels will properly turn in the reverse direction; however, they will not turn in the forward direction.  I will tinker with it again this afternoon if I have time.  I am not going to spend too much time or effort on it since it is pretty cheap and I can get a decent replacement here in Japan. 

Sayonara,

Joe

[ChiefEagles]

Ray, did not give her a hug good bye as she was about to cry when I told good bye.  She begged me not to make her cry.  I had several times during the speaking part of the meal and afterward too.

KRM

Chief, ANOTHER FREE LUNCH??? 

PLOP PLOP FIZZ FIZZ

Banks, take a break already. 

NOT ALLOWED, MY SS NEEDS A RAISE.

 

[dbaker48]

Afternoon All,

Have enjoyed a couple of days off.  Friend was over last night and played trains for awhile.  Ran a UP excursion train in tribute to ol 844, had the Big Boy assisted by an AC4000 diesel pulling 8 UP coaches.  Looked really good on the track.  (Specifics: Scale Legacy Big Boy, AC4000 diesel dummy, UP scale Baggage, 2 Dome, 3 Coach, 1 Dinner, and Observation car.)  Then, put the Big Boy in the shed and brought out the powered AC4000, hooked that up and ran it for awhile, actually had the whole thing up to 80mph!  Don't think I've ever run any train that fast!  Did great, then nerves got to me and backed it down.  Probably could have gone up to 100, but couldn't see any reason to tempt fate.

Having to look at electrical distribution, since I've added some buildings and the Hobby shop, xfmr is really running hot.  According to the current meter it is only pulling about 6 amps, but to hot to hold hand on it.  (Old PW ZW).  So going to spread the load around a bit.

Going to a presentation tonight at CSUF, Chris is making a presentation on some research he is doing.  Presenting a "poster" for all the big wigs review.  Involves going to Alaska this summer for three weeks and collecting rock samples, then doing the analysis next semester.  Ends up in a "Undergraduate Thesis Requirement".  Title of project is "Applying Apatite Detrital Fission-Track Thermochronology to Evaluate Exhumation in Southern Alaska", don't even ask me what it is, I have NO idea.

Got to get going, need to go to lottery drawing for a space at a swap meet for Sunday.  Saturday doing a show in Torrance, then to Knotts from 2 to 10.  Sunday possible show Sun AM, Knotts from noon to 8, Monday Knotts from 8-5, then Tues Knotts 8-5.  (I'm tired already!)  Then off Wed thru Fri., next week.

Later,  (I just realized, I'm working to pay my own Social Security Check,

[SPMan]

Good afternoon all,

Got up late again today.  I think the extra rest is helping my G.I. problems some plus eating right.  We are going to a healing mass this weekend.  I think I need it.

Chief, best wishes to your town clerk.  Pity to lose someone like that.  Man, you are are a grass mowing son of a gun.  Never heard of anyone mowing the whole neighborhood for free.  Good buy on the work bench.

I saw a photo of the latest Norfolk and Southern heritage diesel unit just out of the paint shop.  It was the Original Norfolk and Southern Railway version of a GE44ESAC model.  It is a knock out.  You can see it on Railpictures.Net.  MTH has that paint job in their new cataglog but it is shown on an EMD SD70 something or other.  The NS had originally intended to do thier's on an EMD but changed it to GE.  I guess MTH jumped the gun. Wonder if they will change the MTH model since they make both types?  Otherwise, the one they show in their catalog is wrong.  I hope WBB does it.  It will be cheaper and I just want one for display mainly.  The paint scheme was used on the original NS on Baldwin AS614 diesels years ago.

Got to run,

Ray

 

[KRM]

Good afternoon,

Today’s layout project was to paint and place 14 cut stumps and prep and place 24 more trees.

The military boys are doing a lot of chopper fly overs today must be a big practice operation going on at the training site south of town.

Feeling down, it is the sinus thingy and something the wife brought home from work for me.

Darren, Prayers for those out there in Lamar CO.

Chief, ANOTHER FREE LUNCH??? 

Banks, take a break already. 

Later,