Evening
Judy's making late night BLT's, with that thick cut Farm Bacon from Eden Prairie
We've had the high in the sky haze in Minnesota for weeks Brent. Condolences for forest fires too abundant in your beautiful Country. Canada is Loved by me, as it was by my Grandfather, born and raised there.
Breaks my heart just to hear about it.
TF
Good Evening,
It really makes me sad to see all of destruction from fires in B.C. and of course Jasper. I have never been there unless you count passing through on the train in 1960 but I have travelled in B.C. quite a bit when I was working as Macleods( later True Value) had stores in many rural towns.
We have escaped the smoke here so far. Manitoba has not had a bad fire season this year. We have had more precip so far this year than all of last year with most of it since May 1. There was very little snow this past winter.
David, hope your hospital 'visit' goes well. Glad to hear Dawn is feeling better.
Dave, how are you doing?
I too would like to hear from Lion. I have never tasted Wildebeest but lions are very partial to it. They also like Springbok which I have tried but don't share their taste for it. Give me a nice slice of Prime Rib.
TF, I was ready to jump in the car when I read about those BLTs but not sure I could wait the 8 or 9 hours it would take me to bang on your door.
Well, getting late so time to turn out the light.
CN Charlie
Hi CN Charlie,
Thanks for asking how I am doing.
I'm not quite feeling 100% but pretty close. Cirrhosis causes fatigue so I'm suffering from that a bit.
My diet has become somewhat restricted. In addition to having to avoid salt and sugar, I can't have any raw vegetables or anything else that is hard because they may cause the distended blood vessels in my stomach to bleed, possibly severely. I'm also limited in how much red meat I can consume because digesting it puts a strain on my liver.
The good news is that the diet is very healthy. I need to lose some more weight so hopefully that will happen.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Good morning Diners. A sunny day.
Tea and toast please, Janie.
Breakfast for everyone is on Dawn and I.
In 1998 our son had cancer. The battle was long and hard, but victory succeeded. Recently we thought it had returned. Last night we received new information our son had the 'All Clear'.
Dave & Dianne Remain positive. We send thoughts and prayers for a 'normal' life.
Our thoughts and prayers to those with challenges in Canada.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Hi David,
That is fantastic news for your son, and for you and Dawn too! I hope he lives a long and happy life.
I'm also rooting for you and Dawn. Your positive attitude certainly shines through.
Thanks for the encouragement. Dianne and I both have very positive outlooks on life. We have been through a lot together including the death of our eldest son at age 18. We have been together for 48 years.
Howdy Diners. Brunhilda load me up with the breakfast from David and Dawn please. Thanks David! By the way, great news about your son. Praying you get the all clear soon as well and that Dawn has continued good days.
Dave, good luck with the new diet. Hopefully there are plenty of new favorite dishes to enjoy.
For our friends north of the border, I pray the fires are brought under control soon. Such a beautiful country full of such wonderful people.
TF, if I were closer, I might have been following Charlie to your door. Sounds tasty!
TGIF! Hopefully the day at work flies by. My oldest turns 20 tomorrow, so Saturday will be a family lunch as my youngest has another obligation in the evening, then a fun dinner of some sort and extended family coming over for cake & ice cream in the evening. A whole day extravaganza. Hopefully I can get some train time in between events.
Everyone try to have a good day.
Mike
Good morning
CNCharlie TF, I was ready to jump in the car when I read about those BLTs but not sure I could wait the 8 or 9 hours it would take me to bang on your door.
You would always be more then Welcome Charlie. Those things were mighty tasty last night, slept like a rock.
No one in the 60s ever thought we would have the communication devices from Star Trek one day. Now someone just needs to come out with the transporter, so you can beam over...
Well, we started coffee at 5:30 this morning and getting ready to hit the road
Have a great weekend gentlemen
PS
Water Level Route TF, if I were closer, I might have been following Charlie to your door. Sounds tasty!
Come on over! You are just as Welcome here for a BLT as well Mike. One of those things would even be good for breakfast
Good morning, diners. Brunhilda, I'll have bacon, eggs, and coffee please.
Sad day today -- an arborist will be here to cut down a large red oak tree right to the south of our house. It was damaged in a storm, and while it is not an immediate problem, eventually it will be a danger to our house. It provides so much great shade for our house on these hot days -- we are sad to see it go. I'm considering planting a sugar maple there.
The forest fires -- as a kid in the late 1950s, my family drove through Colorado after a huge fire on the mountainsides. Three years ago, we came through that area and those same mountainsides are covered with a vibrant forest again. Hopefully the Canadian fires can be put out soon.
TGIF everyone! Hope everyone has a healthy day.
James E. Pepper & Co. by Joseph Schneid, on Flickr
York1 John
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good morning diners! Flo, just a coffee to go, lots to do today.
Brent, can't stay long but you mentioned my trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. It was great. I'll come back over the weekend and expand. No fires spotted, but haze all week. And hot as hell. Kamloops 101 at 7:00 pm and Banff in 90's. Got home to Boston last Saturday evening, but with one suitcase missing. Another story to tell later. Got to run, I'll catch up with everyone.
Regards, Chris
Good Afternoon,
Sure has been quiet in the Diner.
Chris, glad you had a good trip and missed the fires. Yes, Kamloops can get very hot in the summer.
Dave, glad you are feeling better. Basically cutting out sugar in all foods can certainly result in weight loss, at least that is our experience. We did it a couple of years ago and dropped a quite a few pounds. Our doc was pleased.
John, sorry you lost a major tree in your yard.
Hi John,
Sorry about the loss of your red oak. Have you thought about selling the wood to a lumber mill? If the trunk was a fair size, a local mill might be interested. Same thing with the firewood business.
We are in the same boat. We have beautiful huge Bosnian pine in our front yard which has become badly diseased. We live opposite 'T' intersection and the pine blocks the headlights from shining straight into our living room. We are going to miss it.
We are replacing it with a Blue Spruce 'fagiagatia' (sp?) which is a fast growing tree but is only supposed to grow to 20 ft. tall. We shall see.
Dave,
We have a blue spruce in our front yard that is more green than blue. Anyway it is about 40' tall and still growing. We planted a spruce that was about 8' to start but has taken 25 years to hit 25'. I expect trees grow faster where you are as your climate is a lot milder.
Anyone else watch the Olympics opening ceremony? It was unusual but entertaining even with the rain. My wife is very partial to Paris. She spent a summer studying Frech Lit. at the Sorbonne just before we met.
CNCharlie We planted a spruce that was about 8' to start but has taken 25 years to hit 25'.
Alton Junction
Brent, any updates on the fires around Jasper? Our news reporting is pretty useless. I had to Google Jasper to get anything. It looked like old news.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Mr. B., check CTV.ca news on line. They just posted an update. About a third of the town is gone and the fires are still burning although recent rain has helped.
Planted a bunch of 3 foot tall blue spruce trees when when moved here 40 years ago. Got pretty tall, but every one of them died. Started drying out from the bottom, and whatever was killing them went up from there.
Hi maxman,
I'm sure you were very disappointed to lose those blue spruces. They are beautiful trees.
We have lost several trees over the 36 years that we have been in the house. We had a pair of deciduous trees (can't remember exactly what they were) get torn off right at the ground in a wind storm. We were watching the storm from our patio door when the tree in the backyard did a 360+ degree spin and flopped over. We decided to see how the other tree that was in the front yard was doing. We got to the living room window just in time to see it do exactly the same thing.
Actually not a fan of the blue spruce. They make terrible Xmas trees. The needles seem to start dropping off before you can get the trees into the stand.
The tree death that really bothered us was a crimson king maple that we had to have cut down. It went to sleep in the fall and never woke up in the spring.
We had a big tree out by the street when I lived in Massachusetts. It was slowly dying, and since it had big branches over where we parked cars, we decided it had to go. It was north of the house so it provided no shade. I called somebody to look at taking it down.
When he came, he asked if we had seen the big stripe painted on it. The town was already planning to take it down. One day, it disappeared while I was at work. They ground the stump down to nothing, too. This tree was a good 4 feet in diameter. No cost to me.
Good afternoon. It's a warm sunny Sunday afternoon -- a perfect time for a nap.
Sunday afternoons remind me of the Andy Griffith show when the rich man's car broke down in Mayberry and he had to relax because Wally wouldn't open his gas station repair shop.
Of course, in retirement, every afternoon is a perfect time for a nap.
Have a great afternoon diners.
Swift Refrigerator Line Cars 19?? by straubted, on Flickr
John, any afternoon is a good time for a nap. I just had one in a lawn chair on our patio. The chairs have a high back so no danger when your head flops back. It is a beautiful day here, warm but not hot or humid. Burgers on the grill later.
Good Morning Diners. Flo, just a water this morning. Something I ate yesterday didn't settle well.
Weekend was a blur, but aren't they all? My oldest had a nice birthday Saturday. My wife had her open her presents throughout the day. (Not really that many of them, just spaced them out) That was fun for her. She worked last night (waiting tables) and should have had a record night of tips, but had a table of three or four couples who were all foreigners. Sounded like they were wonderful people that had no concept of how tipping works in the U.S. As they were leaving, one of them pulled my daughter aside, made kind of a big deal about how good of a job she did and how they don't normally tip this much, and slipped her some cash. A $5 bill. Combined with the rest of what they left her, what should have been a $40-$50 tip came out to $11. She fell short of her personal record by about $20. While a bit frustrated, she still enjoyed the experience of interacting with them.
Short but busy week at work ahead. Only work today and tomorrow of this week due to some family obligations the rest of the week.
Have a good day everyone.
Good morning, diners. I'll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, please. And I'm tipping, so Flo, keep the snide comments to yourself.
I'm headed out to mow the lawn before it gets too hot. We're in those summer days of high heat and high humidity.
The humidity is high because we live in the middle of thousands of square miles of irrigated land. Day after day thousands of pivot systems are showering the land with water.
The upper air currents must have shifted. We aren't getting as much smoke from the Canadian fires.
Hope everyone has a good day.
All in one service. We deliver your refrigerated foods and then cook them for you:
A Refrigerator No More by Joe McMillan, on Flickr
Good evening Diners. A Pusser's Rum and a dash of cola, no ice please, Chloe.
Not good news I'm afraid.
The shadow on the lung means another battle. It is not stopping me doing things; it just hurts when I do. As for my heart missing a beat more than it ever has; at least it is still beating. I'll keep it going. I still have things to achieve (and I will).
The good news. Dawn is having a good run of good days.
I will pop into the Diner and keep in touch when I can.
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get the news that you were hoping for. I know that you are quite capable of coping and that you will keep your chin up.
I'm glad to hear that Dawn is having better days. Hopefully that will continue.
Enjoy the rum!
Reuben with extra krout and a strawberry shake pls.
Ive got a few refrig cars on the layout. They are perfect for the early 1980s. Can have them passing through on the layout.
David, hoping for the best for you. Sorry to hear your news.
Being retired I have major projects to complete. My current one is cleaning out the spaces between the paving stones on the driveway. My wife got me a special tool for the task so I can do it standing up. We estimate there are 5000 paving stones in the drive. Each one is about 4" square. They haven't built driveways with these bricks for years, looks great but labour intensive. Drive has been down for 35 years. I am about half done.
The C Liner is really hustling those express reefers as it has the 100 mph gearing. Sure hope it stays on the rails through the curves.