COFFEE POT Sept 2018. 14 years old. Coffee and lots of breakfast. The more of us that retire, the less of us that know what day or month it is.

[lion88roar]

Mornin' Fellas

Busy taking care of business. Looks like the repairs to the Pittsburgh house may be done by the end of the weekend, maybe early next week. Then on the market it goes!

We are all electric here, only time it has gone over $500 was when a family member left a dinning room window cracked and the temp dropped below freezing for over a month... when I got the bill I checked all the windows and found the cracked one. From then on I check all the windows after everyone leaves.

The new house we are hoping will be all electric as well, and we will most likely have solar panels. Will also have a whole house generator and that will most likely be propane so I can run a line to the grill as well. Buying propane in bulk is much cheaper than toting a tank or two to the filling station.

Had to take a nickel to the school to pay-off Christina's over charge for a snack at school. It cost more to print the paperwork! The secretary was flaborgasted that the cafeteria was raising a ruckous over 5 cents! I paid it because I'm tired of the weekly emails they send (and that probably costs more than 5 cents as well). Oh well... that is a minor inconvenience and I got to spend an extra 15 minutes with the kids this morning.

[8ntruck]

Glad to hear that folks here have survived Florance without too much trouble.

Been busy this week with a with a trip across the state Tuesday to visit a lawer to do more work on our estate planning, a trip to Lansing yesterday for my wife's hair appointment (with our niece), shopping, and a visit with our nephew and his family.  Picked up a rock chip in the windshield Tuesday and got that patched while my wife was getting her hair done.  Met our nephew and his They went to a ready care clinic who re-directed them to the hospital emergency room. Not sure what is going on with her yet, though some sort of infection is suspected. They got home abut 2am last night.  My wife stayed overnight with their son while I went back north to take care of our dog.  Just got back from Lansing to retreive my wife today.

A lot of two lane road driving at 55 to 60 mph.  Still impressed with the milage the truck is getting - was about 24mpg on these trips.  At times it was logging just over 26mpg.

Working on a cart to make it easier to move the canoe down to the lake.  It weighs about 80 pounds.  I can move it around for short distances, but can't carry it the 150 yards to the lake.

About all for now.

[Banks]

Hello there,

tooth problems seem to be everywhere this week. Dentist determined that my no. 31 is cracked. A high point was relieved to reduce the pressure on the cracked area. I was surprised by the recommendation to remove it if it continues to bother me. I also got fitted for a tooth protector to relieve  grinding them while sleeping.

Spent today doing some cleanup in the yard. Still pretty soggy but I'm going mow tomorrow, heavy thunderstorms predicted Friday night into Saturday.

Time for bed.

 

Prayers for those in need

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Niece living near Wilmington, NC made it back home.  Home appears to have suffered little damage.  Food in freezer was ok as well.   Weather hot here.  High school girls lost 8-1.  Work quiet.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Headed east to farms.  Pre-deer season chores to do.  Behind due to storm.  

Niece and Nephew made it back to Wilmington/Carolina Beach.  Fences down at both houses.  One tree down.  They think no houses were damaged.  Lucky.

Have a good one. 

[MartyE]

V8 good luck with the pup.  Dogs offer so much and ask for so little in return.

Hot and humid today but tomorrow the temps drop and the AC looks to be off for the forseeable future.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Massive rain storms - at one point the radar showed the rain area as being the size of Oklahoma...flooding has trapped a bunch of folks on the main N-S highway just north of here. We may get 4-6 in of rain by tomorrow night.

Brent - great news about getting the Pitt house ready to sell!

Dennis - glad you found another dog!

Chief and  MikeC - wonderful your families found their Wilmington homes unscathed!

 

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Semi busy day at work.  Practice was cancelled tonight for some reason.  Weather to cool off a lot.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[sir james I]

Wow it really is footall Saturday around here. 65 today down from 85 yesterday.

[ChiefEagles]

Busy day.  Passing through.  Out the door again.

Roy, somone on my rifle forum posted big T'storm passing over DFI and long line.  Guess you got thundered on.

Later.

[wrmcclellan]

Afternoon all!

Pool is full to the top. Means we likely got around 4-5" of rain last night. Lotsa flooding in some areas that have never flooded, inc some neighborhoods south of here.

Son is on a carnivore diet as he calls it. Chicken livers are part of it. So he bought some and brought them over to learn how to fry them. Pretty funny. He had never had them before. He ate 1 1/2. That was it. The wife and I enjoyed them! He was a good sport about it. Lead to some fun conversation how our parents and grandparents ate most everything that came out of an animal. 

[Banks]

Hello there,

yesterday was mow grass and some other yard work ahead of last nights rain, heavy at times, that didn't happen.  Not that I'm complaining. We've already more than doubled our average September rainfall.

Today slept late then went to the drags. Been over a month. The gearing change we made lost 1 MPH on top but also lowered ET by 0.2 seconds. Need another 0.1 to beat the kid who's winning. Ended up with a 2nd and due to a scoring error I didn't catch in time 3rd in the bump up class.

Roy............we used to eat lots of animal organs. Not so much since we've quit doing our own butchering.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring. Time to sleep.

 

Prayers for those in need 

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Boys and girls both lost, but both teams played one of their better games of the season.  Weather was cool for both the games and 5K early in the morning.  Did the 5K in under 45 minutes, which was good for the course.  Did a house tour and went to Mass.  Watched first Lord of the Rings again.  Long busy day.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Buckeye Riveter]

V8...Sorry about the loss of your dog. I agree, this is the only place where spell checker does not work. I see better forum technology just about everywhere I spend time. 

[KRM]

Morning guys,

50 heading to 75, no chance of rain. Combines running wild all over the place. Corn and beans flying out of the fields. Watching them do corn yesterday with a 14 row head. Takes everything the huge wagons and semi trucks can do to keep up with the combine and some guys have bigger heads than 14 rows. Each wagon holds a whole semi load of corn.

The bean heads look like they are over 50' wide on these things!!!

Buckeye, not only does this place not have spell check,,,it is still un-secure to!

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Cloudy and cooler.

Livers and gizzards are the best.

Software is not good.

Hope all have a great week ahead.

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

67 this am, cloudy, maybe some light rain/drizzle, may only make it to mid-70's today.

Spent yesterday cleaning up office, files/checking reconciliation. Watched some college FB and NASCAR. More tidying up today in the office, workroom, and garage.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Mowed the yard.  Tried to do some bicycling.  Did not go so well.  Wife has no sense of balance and it was hard for me as well.   Weather cooler.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[dbaker48]

Evening All,

Things good out here, had a nice weekend.  Friday nite we went to a play at the local community playhouse.  A Sherlock Holmes play was on tap, "Suicide Club".  It was cool.

Spent time in the train room doing maintenance.  I bought one of the Norfolk Southern engines that the Chief had for sale, it sure has blended into my layout great.  The sounds of this engine is really strong and sound very authentic.  Now I can put together a consist of SP, NS, & Cotton Belt.  (These roadnames are in the Harbor all the time.)

Then had a major surprise while I was in the train room!  Kay, came in and said, "Not now, but will you teach me how to operate the layout, and do operating sessions?"  OH MY!! NOW WHAT DO I DO?  I sense a major wiring issue may be on the horizon.  When she needs help on the computer, we end up in a "less than friendly discussion", what will it be like in the train room?   

I guess that's about it for me today, 

So take care all and stay healthy.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Out the door to the farms for more work before deer season.

Have a good one.

[MartyE]

Morning all

 

Looks like everyone had a decent weekend.  Cool weather has come to the Pittsburgh area.  My favorite weather, mid 70s during the day and 50s at night.

Picked up my tinplate set on Saturday...

[cnw1995]

Aloha. It is a pretty, cool fall day for a Monday in the city. Spent the weekend on outdoor stuff before winter - painting trim, cutting back branches, bringing in plants. Figure we'll get a frost soon - last Friday was 90. Now it's 70 with 40s at night. Feels good. What a sharp looking train, Marty! Dennis, I am sorry for the loss of your pup. Hope the new collie works out. 8n, that is good mileage you are getting on the truck. Brent, that brouhaha over 5 cents is ridiculous. My son's schools allows us to pay online and I get an email when his balance is low - I also got an email when he was spending $10 a day on lunch when he first went to high school. lol. Kev, did ComEd get to you yet with a smart meter? There's no way to opt out. My electric bill went immediately from $60 to $80 / month. And that's through the aggregator company the town contracts with... Our town water comes from giant wells - there's concern they are really draining the acquifier - it varies from $50-60 seemingly depending on how long certain teens are taking in the shower. 

[KRM]

60 heading to 75 with clouds. Nothing planned today.

Nice set Marty!!!

DougM, We don’t have Com-Ed out here, we have Ameren IL. Still an Exelon company so not much better. They installed those meters last year but my bills did not change. My last summer bill came out to $.11 per kwh with all the BS charges they add and the rate is highest in the summer. In Plainfield they were way higher than here and I use more elect out here than there. I have AC in the house and shop. Plainfield had to go to Lake Michigan water because of Radon in their deep wells. That was about 15 years ago. Here our well is set at 220’ deep in a 300’ hole and they said it is the Lake Superior aquifer. The water is very hard and has to be softened.  The Nuke plant is about 9.5 miles south of us and that helps keep the school taxes down for the local schools but they are still plenty high but a fraction of Plainfield's rate.

Best get going.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening gang!

82 right now, cloudy. Should clear out tonight, 89 tomorrow. Rain chances start again Wed and continue into next week. 70's for the weekend and the start of the State Fair of Texas!

Marty, that set looks great! I have the freight set in the MTH RR club O-Gauge tinplate, so the color scheme is creme with blue/orange accents. I have the entire train. After the annoucement of the end of the tinplate agreement with Lionel, now I understand why MTH did not have an option for a tinplate club car on the 2018-2019 membership this past spring.

DougM - man I would love to deal with sub-$100 elec and water bills!

Kev - similarly we had no monthly changes when they went smart meters here about 8 years ago.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Quiet day at work.  Coach insisted on having practice in drizzling rain tonight.  Kids will all be sick by Thursday.  I kept partially dry in a poncho, but still miserable.  Marty, nice set.  Nothing like tinplate.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good evening from wet 69°F Southern Ohio, 

As always a busy weekend.  I won some plasticville fence on ebay to go with the fence I salvaged from the old layout as I will need more for this layout.  There is a guy selling a dense foam roadbed on ebay.  I got some free samples and I’m going to go with it.  It will be about $55.  I worked on a Marx switch tower that was not retracting fully and got it working.  It is not lighted but I think I’m going to add some interior lighting at some point. 

Maybe this coming weekend I’ll get the foam board down and really get started on the layout. 

Dennis – Hope the new dog works out. 

South easterners prayers answered that you’ve not gotten to badly hit from Florance.  I guess a lot of the rivers are to crest tonight. 

Roy – My grandma said after hog butchering, use everything but the squeal. 

Kev – The size of the equipment is incredible, and expensive! 

Don – Maybe Kay will get bit by the train bug 

Marty – Looks great.  Gotta love tinplate 

Good night and may God bless 

Jim 

[Banks]

Hello there,

not much going on the last couple of days.

Marty........NICE SET!!!!!!!

Picked up a couple of MANTUA  cars and a the tender from a GILBERT 0 6 0 at the flea market yesterday for cheap. I'll probably list the tender on the bay one of these years as the roadname is 3 out of 5 for rarity.

Talked to cousin in Beaufort NC last night. He was in the hospital for the storm..Sepsis caused by kidney stones. He just got home Friday. His home fared well but his rental house lost enough shingles to cause water damage and mold already.

Best try to sleep.

 

Prayers for those in need

[anjdevil2]

Good Morning from a rainy damp and miserable South Jersey......

Marty - That is a great looking set!

Got home later last night, so the update is that there is, in my estimation, significant damage to the parents NC house, seems that water got into the house and the floors are warping, will need all the shingles replaced and the under house vapor barrier and insulation.  A couple of new doors and a redo of the garage walls, insulation and possibly the cabinetry. Mom measured 22" of water.  Dad is going back down tomorrow after his chemo appointment.  Mom can't go because of church commitments.

Sat up long enough to see my Devils lose in preseason to the Rags (rangers) and the Yankees were winning.

Tomorrow I move into MY house for a week......excited!!!  More time in the attic, I'm looking for more stuff I've forgotten about.

Check back when I can. 

[robmcc]

Morning All!

It's a rainy day here. I took the week off from work thinking I would enjoy the one week of "Fall" before winter hits........ So far, I'm 0-2 for days. Hope the rest of the week is decent.

Not much on the go since the weather is crap. I watched Ken Burns Vietnam War on Netflix. It was a great, thought provoking series.

Still consoling the Mrs. after her Patriots took a beat down from the Lions!! I'm glad I didn't end up taking her to the game. I don't think her mouth would have fared too well at Ford Field......

Roy - I'm with you. I'll take those electric bills over mine any day!

Marty - Nice set! I've really given tinplate much of a look, but I've seen a lot lately and maybe some day......

Don - Oh Boy! That could work to your advantage though when you want to make that next big purchase!

Rich - Hope your folks are able to make out okay with their house.

Have a good one and prayers.

Rob

 

[Banks]

Hello there,

'nother rainy day. 25th odf September and we've had 4 days with no rain.......

Wanted to share this

 

Found it going through stuff. Pap told me his 1st job was working on the track pans east of Huntington PA in an area known as Mile Level. The mainline there is next to the Juniata River.

Best grt on with house husband duties.

 

 

Prayers for those in need