August Coffee Pot. (Year 16) Double meat breakfast, eggs over easy. That's it. No starchies.

[wrmcclellan]

Morning folks!

Well after nearly 2 hours, 2 AT&T techs finally got the internet working again. In the end they had to run a new fiber to the house. They did not offer any explanation, but I am guessing the idiot on Friday damaged our cable...

Not much to report. We also had a great evening to sit out. First with our neighbors, torched off the burn pile I created. Grilled some thick bone-in pork chops. And then sat out on our rear deck til dark.

Fife - prayers for your mom 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Evening from a beautiful clear 82°F Southern Ohio, 

 The replacement DPFE sensor arrived and I installed it and reset the recurring trouble code P0401 on the 98 Ranger I determined the DPFE Sensor went bad.  Even dropping the screw in the gravel it was a 5-minute replacement. 

Fife – I forgot about the ties! 

May God bless you and you families 

Jim 

[fifedog]

anjdevil - Jersey corn-on-the-cob; describe please.

[anjdevil2]

Good Afternoon!

Cloudy now, was sunny this first thing and now......Rain tonight and tomorrow

RE: LAURA: We go 1 1/8th inches of rain on Saturday.  Wind in the morning and nothing after that on Sunday - Humidity went down and it was 80 and cool most of the day.  

Saturday was a washout, dropped my phone off with the repair guy, hope it's cheaper than a new phone.  Dinner with Jenni at Cracker Barrell and 2 episodes of Man in the High Castle.

Sunday slept a little later, made sure Mom was ok, then headed off to my house.  After 2 weeks on trickle charge (2 A), the battery for the Magnum fired off and we drove the car in limp in mode to the gas station for gas.  Did a test burn out in the driveway - gotta love that Hemi....pulled the the folder for the records of the vehicle (I have a binder with all the services done since new AND the window sticker) to make sure I get the correct trans part so I can attempt to repair it.  I put the charge maintainer on it.  Replaced a bent pole on the temp garage and fixed one of the outer "doors".  Did some maintenance work on Jenni's Vespa, her battery is on trickle charge and we filled the combustion chamber with Liquid Wrench, we've had the spark plug out of the cylinder for 8 months --- don't ask, it was my fault.  She still needs a carb for it and we'll be getting it to the Vespa guy soon so she can ride it.  Fixed my shed doors so they don't fall in the shed.

Visited Mom for a bit then Jenni made baked chicken and Jersey corn on the cob.  We took care of the guinea pig cage and the frog  terrarium and they are now cleaned and sanitary again.  I also scrubbed Jenni's tub, since I made a mess cleaning everything else.

1 episode of Man in the High Castle and I was off to home

Had Doc appointment for annual physical, more BP meds and a colonoscopy to be set up.  EKG was normal.

Sorry guys, not into college sports, maybe college hockey and Army v Navy, maybe Saturday will have more movies.......
No NASCAR with no Mopars (and I can't stand that guy in the 48 car.....), so that's out.  I gave up on NHRA especially since they banned "political advertisements"  plus they keep trying to factor out the Dodges and the Fords.  And you wonder why street racing is gaining popularity again???

Thanks, Brent!!  Yes, she's a keeper, we are still waiting for our first arument....My condolences on the loss of your Aunt.

Fife - Hmm -- almost sound like boot camp-almost, lol!!! Praying for your Mom.

Work is calling - so I'll get back to it....

[wrmcclellan]

Morning/afternoon folks!

Sunny and very warm!

Dennis - I have a different internet problem. ATT ran a new high speed fiber around our block about a year ago (I opined about this at the time). I was the first to hook up. The new service is great - buuuuutttttt - every time they hook up a new customer, they disconnect the fiber to my house...lately, the neighbors on each side of me...spent 3 hrs on phone Sat and ths am with them. Techs showed up this morning...will be interesting what story they concoct to cover their butts. They finished my neighbor at 5 pm Friday, our internet went out at 5 pm Fri - did not catch it in time to stop them from leaving. Called and they do not work weekends - so Mon appt. Got the appt notice via text and reply to an ATT web link to confirm and of course the link does not work. So back on the phone for an hour to make sure they are coming...idiots! 

[dbaker48]

Good Morning,

88, Condolences for you and your family.

Chief, Great NEWS on your FIL's house!

Roy, I agree the Daytona race was really exciting!

Not much news here, the weather is cooling off for a few days, then suppose to get hot again.

Glad that Laura did NOT cause any additional damage, hopefully the rest of the season will not have any significant storms.

Might be an interesting week, all the counties around LA have relaxed the Covid restrictions except LA county.  Malls, restaurant dinning (indoors), theatres, barbers, nail salons, etc..  As we live on the LA county/Orange county border we have plenty of choices.

That's about it have a great day, and be safe.

[ChiefEagles]

Busy.  Cloudy.  Rain??  Just finished Zoom meeting on food security.

Did get to switch some very nice Atlas cars from 2 rail to 3 rail.

New Pot tonight. 

Out the door.

 

PS: Brent, thanks.  Growing fast.

[lion88roar]

Morning Fellas

First Day of School... yeah... ugh... omg... this is going to be a rollercoaster.

Not much else going on... as nice as yesterday was, today is over cast with showers in the forecast.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Overcast and 60, with rains coming, in WV.  Waiting on my lovely wife to arise, and give me "directions."  Youngest Princess back at school.

Hung out on the deck all day yesterday.  It was that nice outside.  Spent some time painting scenery materials, but did it on the deck.  

[ChiefEagles]

Sunny Sunday morning. 90 degrees and not as humid. Off to FIL's after TV Church. Really have some Train Box things to do.

Prayers for hurricane victims. Our doom and gloom weather lady was preaching we were going to get some of Laura. Thunder storms and possible tornados. We got around a tenth of an inch and no thunder or lightning. She should get out of the profession.

Sorry Brent.  Post photos of the kids [about grown now].

Have a great week ahead.

[Flintlock76]

My sincere sympathies to you and your family 88!

[fifedog]

Phish - Thanks.  I am still waiting for you to get back into the RR tie business. 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Morning from a beautiful clear 64°F Southern Ohio, 

 After doing some more diagnostics on the recurring trouble code P0401 on the 98 Ranger I determined the DPFE Sensor went bad.  It is the sensor that monitors the deferential between the intake and exhaust and sends the information to the on-board computer (ECM) to adjust the exhaust returned through the EGR into the throttle body.  The voltage output was messed up.   The part had a one-year warranty and I bought it off Amazon 6 months ago.  Amazon is going to send me a replacement so I don’t spend another $75 for a new one.  The part is 5-minute replacement. 

Our oldest daughter is 40 years old today and we’re going to have a little party.  It is her kids we’ve had living with us since they were 5.  They youngest is making her a cake and it is really nice. 

I’m going to get shutterfly.  I went briefly to their site but it looked like I’ll need to study up on it , or get one of the kids to help me. 

Yesterday when inspecting the bee hive we started this spring and I discovered we’ve got a verona beetle problem.  Not too surprised but will need to be taken care of. 

88 – May God have mercy on her soul 

Spank – Looks great!  Now just to remember what you put where up there. 

Fife – Your layout looks fantastic. 

May God bless you and you families 

Jim 

 

[wrmcclellan]

Morning gang!

Cloudy, pretty warm 

88 - so sorry for your family's loss 

Fife - I think your home school training far exceeds what many are getting right now!

NASCAR Daytona was a good one and very interesting at the end!

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  65 and beautiful day in the Potomac Highlands.  The bathroom is all ready for the final color, which at the moment will be Rhythmic Blue.  Unless she changes her mind.  Again.

88 - I've been prepping myself for several years for this.  Sorry for your loss.  However, Professor Fife can visit your home as a guest tutor on Wednesday.  The children will enjoy morning PT at 0630 hours, collecting slugs for dissecting in biology class,  theories on the grassy knoll in history class (with practicals), pavlovian responses for using "like" in english class, basic ukulele chords in music, and for recess they'll enjoy a brisk march around the cul-de-sac.  My schedule is clear, so lemme know.

[lion88roar]

Evening Fellas

A bit late in the day for me, but can't sleep.

My aunt passed yesterday morning, found out today the service is Wednesday morning and it is not looking like I will be able to attend. They are coming to do the drywall fixes and staircase repairs on Wednesday and with TheQ needing to be on calls and the kids needing to do online learning, just don't see how I can swing it. My Dad is taking the news better than I expected. She is in a better, more peaceful place now.

Fife - sorry to hear about your Mom. I simply cannot imagine losing a parent right now.

DJ - attic is looking good

Laura weakened quickly once she hit land, LA took a massive amount of damage... images don't look good. We got a few inches here in MD, but not as much as they said we could have gotten.

KRM - I thought you bought the Gator to drive... not haul around! LOL! All kidding aside, nice trailer!

[Flintlock76]

DJSpanky

Got all of a quarter inch of rain, actually a little less, from the storms preceding Laura and then when Laura passed through to the south of us. All hype.

Same here in my part of Virginia, for all the hype all we got was some drizzle this morning.  Whoop-de-do.  Oh well, beats a catastrophe.

[dbaker48]

Good Morning,

Sure hope everyone is doing well with what's left of Laura.

Not much going on here, I think we have a trip to WallyWorld this morning.

Later

[ChiefEagles]

Slept late for a change.  Off to FIL's house to finish work to sell it.  Finally.

Enjoy your day.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Soggy and 71 along the Patterson Creek cut-off.  Youngest Princess is home for the weekend.  She's enjoying college life, thus far.  She says that everybody is observing protocols, and on their campus, they even wear masks outside.

Still working on the bathroom.  Wifey wants perfection.  She still hasn't decided which shade of blue she wants.  In the meantime,  I'll sand a little, paint a little...

Mom's condition is slowly deteriorating.  During my visit yesterday, she kept repeating herself.  For a change, we watched the horse racing from Saratoga.  Her father was a huge fan, and I could tell she was connecting with it.  My grandfather tried to get me interested in horses when I was young, but I just didn't have the attention span, or love, for the equines.  And once my pony rolled over on me, I was done.

88 - Thanks for checking in.  Hang tough.  There's so much I could say about the woo-han, but I digress.

Banks - So which ear do you want me to whisper sweet nothings into...?

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Morning from a cloudy humid 74°F Southern Ohio, 

We did not see the rain until evening so my routine outside weekend work is done.  I’m going to do some more diagnostics on the recurring trouble code P0401 on the 98 Ranger.  I received some interesting info from a Ranger forum to use.   

The sun is trying to break up the clouds as I sit on the front porch drink my coffee and watch the squirrels and deer browse and the cicadae's sing back and forth.  

Kev – I read somewhere that it is common to have a hearing loss in the left ear if you often drive with your car window open.  I wonder if across the pond the hearing loss would be in the right ear? 

May God bless you and you families 

Jim 

 

[Banks]

Hello there,

Finaly got the Tahoe back on the road. Scattered thunderstorms yesterday and today brought much needed rain. 1.5 inches so far. Predicted to get the fringe of Laura's remains tomorrow.

Scored a hard to find Gilbert HO caboose on the bay for cheap

The coal I orderd a couple of weeks ago came today during one of the rain storms, it quit raining as they finished unloading. 9 ton should be more than enough for the winter.

We made 15 quart of tomato soup this week total of 48, next tomatoes we get will be canned whole. 

 

Hearing test said I do have hearing loss. Left ear way worse than right. Going to see ear doc on the 15th to make sure nothing wrong with ear.

 

Endo appointment went better than expected, no major change.

 

Kev.....nice trailer

 

Best try to sleep.

 

Prayers fot those in need and the end of this pandemic.

 

B

 

[ChiefEagles]

Tired. Home from delivering produce boxes. Then ran and got matching new tire for front of truck. Put one of the used tires on spare rim as had 97 Unibounce [Uniroyal] still on it [never been on ground]. When we removed it from rim, big dry rot lines around sidewall and tread. Ready to roll.

Thought this was last Friday to be delivering produce boxes. Extended two more weeks [notified late today]. Think partly because new "hub delivery" places not ready and also, one hub is to do door to door for my locations. A staff member forgot to tell them to follow me today. I have to "train" them. Getting tired of most of Fridays being work. 

Now R & R.

PS: Pro Mariner sent me two new on board battery chargers free.  Only wanted one. 

[KRM]

Killer heat today, 98 and dew points in the upper 70s,,killer weather.

 As life would have it the heat-off-cool switch went bad in the shed thermostat so the smart guy I am,,,I sprayed some contact cleaner on it yesterday and bingo it worked. BUTTTT this morning I find the cleaned fussed all the plastic parts and destroyed the 29-year-old thermostat from our second house in Plainfield.  So today was replace with new and re-wire the freeze protection by-pass that Roy helped me make for it years ago.  What a PITA. But with all that still a better day than I had 30 years ago today.

You know, many people talk of all they have gone through in this life and that is good. 30 years ago today my wife and daughter went through something in less than five minutes that far exceeds what many will see in a lifetime. The Plainfield tornado of 1990. They survived, many did not. So it can always be worse. 

Spank, you could save some time in the heat of the attic if you just throw that junk out before you put it up there. I would bet once something gets put up there it will never be touched again!  Least that is the way it has been for us. Nothing in this attic and never will be. Why we have a dumptser. 

 

 

[wrmcclellan]

Afternoon folks!

Time got away from me and forgot to post after reading the forum.

Been busy with more home cleanup projects. Have dealt with the pile of scrap wood from various projects. 

Kev - nice trailer - of course your son is eying it. If I lived close - "Hey Kev - Is your trailer free this weekend! "

Dennis - I have a nice collection of wood canes that belonged to my grandmother and grandfather - when the day comes I am ready!

MikeC - the sports section writeup the next day about the yellow flag finish said they needed hours to repair some required device at the entrance to pit road that got run over (or something) and the wait would be too long to have just 3 or 4 laps left.

[lion88roar]

Afternoon Fellas

Life gets ahead of you and you feel like you'll never catch up! That's been me for the past 3 months.

Got some very sobering news last night that I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around. My Dad told me my eldest aunt is no longer eating or drinking and is no longer able to communicate. She and my uncle celebrated their 70th wedding anniversay a couple months ago and she has pretty much let go of life since. We lost my eldest uncle a few years ago (cook on a destroyer during WWII in the Pacific Theater)... I need to get back to visit the rest of my aunts and uncles, but can't due to COVID... simply unreal all this virus has and will take from us.

Fife - HUGE Congrats on the new Fife-grandpup! You and the Fife-Mom are awesome people. Miss you guys immensely. Hoping the situation changes and we can make it out for a visit sooner rather than later.

Rich - the story about Jenny's home is both thrilling and frightening. Glad you found someone who brings a ray of sunshine and hope into your life.

DonB - any word on the El'Camino restoration? Slow down there bud... you're not a Spring Chick any longer (and neither am I).

V8 - I've been thinking of getting a cane... I don't need one, but I always though men who walked with one looked more refined, they always gave me the impression of 'class'.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Morning from a cloudy humid 79°F Southern Ohio, 

Bride and one of the kids started back to school.  With the abnormal end to the previous school year and far from a normal summer, all the regular cues of transition didn’t occur.  The song “Sunrise sunset” comes to mind. 

I’m off today, TGIF, and the forecast looks like rain, so my to-dos except some weeding are in the garage or house.  Towels already in the washer, work in progress.   Weeds are a callin', 

May God bless you and you families 

Jim 

 

[Flintlock76]

I'll tell you 'Devil, I've had very good luck with the MTH engines I've got, ten of them, and the only thing I've done to any of them is replace the battery with a BCR battery replacement capacitor, so I've no more battery worries, 45 seconds to a minute of track power and it's ready to go.  And you don't have to go full power either, 60 to 75% is good enough.  Mind you, I also run strictly conventional, I don't mess around with LionChief or DCS, just not interested.

I DO love that Lionel CNJ Camel, great runner!  The only thing I don't like is it's got red classification lights.  Not really a big deal, I just haven't gotten around to ordering green ones from Lionel yet.  The NYO&W's a great runner too!

 

[anjdevil2]

Flint - Not crazy about ANYTHING MTH but it is a nice piece.  IF I get it, that means I have to buy the rolling stock to match and that will be another significant purchase.  Probably going to repaint my repurposed 2046 to match the cars and let it go at that.  The LionChief BC I have is nice, but the engine front doesn't scream Blue Comet without the water tank and "billboard".  The Lionel Blue Comet is pricey and hard to find as well.

I am VERY pleased with the CNJ CamelBack in LionChief trim. It is one of the few that don't get taken off my layout.....