Elliots Trackside Diner IV, Under New Management!

[twhite]

Austrian, German, Czech and Cornish, here.  And no, Cornish is NOT English.  Just ask any 'Cousin Jack,', LOL!

Bad joke, but I can get away with it:  Know why the Soviet Empire finally crumbled?  Their "Czech's" kept bouncing. 

Okay, I'll go back to work on the Buttes, now. 

Tom

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

 

  Shawn Thew / AFP / Getty Images file Fourth of July fireworks explode in the sky behind the Washington Monument in the nation's capital.  View related photos

A very HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY ( from the Great White North)  to all our American friends,  (no matter what ancestry you have)  mine is Scottish and English.  My wife is English and Swedish.

I won't make it for your holiday but will be in Spokane next week.  But tomorrow I will tip up a long cold Root Beer and wish each of you guys and gals a Happy Day and a healthy and prosperous year to follow.      That kind of sounds like New Years,  but I mean it anyway.

TOM:    Remember to plant a flag (preferably USA )  on top of those Buttes.

Off to bed now, one more day of work and then that's it until the 25th.

Remember, no drinking and driving, we want you all back safe and sound after the holiday. Would find it hard to get along without your chit-chat and "DUMB" jokes. Lol...

Johnboy out........................

The "wobbly" wobbles on.

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 71 and clear. The high will be around 90 and it's expected to be mostly cloudy.

I may be going to De Ridder today to see the Moving Wall. It'll be there briefly as it makes it's way around the country.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      7/3/2008

Heat Index:  76°F
Humidity:  92%
Dew Point:  69°F

So Far Today
High:  75°F
Low:  71°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  3mph SSE

Today  High: 92    Partly sunny. A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s. Light and variable winds becoming south around 10 mph in the afternoon.    

Tonight  Low: 72    Mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds around 10 mph in the evening becoming light and variable.

[railroadnut675]

JohnBoy Close, but July 4th is tomorrow. Thanks.

Whoever brought up the heritage discussion English, Irish, French, Italian, German, and 2% Native American.

   My cousin is coming over from Sarasota today. He, my sisters, my mom, and I (dads plane left for Memphis 45 minutes ago) will buy fireworks, and he will stay with us for the 4th.

 

[Cederstrand]

in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please & thank you.

***Jeffrey, is that you sitting on the bench, checking over your park plans?

Have a great day, all.

Rob

[JimRCGMO]

Good Morning, Diners, Zoe! I'll have one of Ed's OJ's, cup of coffee and some of Bill T.'s buffet spread, please. Thanks! 

***Jeffrey, my wife has some Cherokee blood mixed in. Lets see, I have Russian, German, Austrian, Polish and a smidge of English. Now I'm curious what everyone else around here has!

Meeting with the builder tomorrow evening. Wife put me in charge of the money dept, so there will be no sneaky cost increases. He already got plenty for the second drawing I could have done myself. The wallet has now been tightened up.

Rob, as far as I know on my heritage, I have German on my Dad's side (one great-great-great-somebody fought under Wellington at Waterloo, I found out), Welsh, and possibly some Irish on my maternal grandmother's side (her maiden name was Shaw, and that's generally Irish, I guess). I think I get my sense of humor from Mom's side of the family, since we Germans don't seem to be known for that (Dad's side tended to be electrical and civil engineers, dentist - nice  boring intellectual jobs). 

Rob, do what you like, but I'd have probably nudged the drafter of the plans if it was his mistake, to at least give me a price break for that. YMMV...

Was looking at the unpainted Preiser figure set last night, and trying to figure how I could modify some and get some use on them (even in my Southwestern locale). They look more European than American in the clothing and general style. Ah, well...

We're maybe going to get some rain today - weatherguessers pretty much said north and south of us are likely to have some - guess that means we are less likely, huh?

Paul, hope your dealer gets the baler adjusted back to specs for you. It does sounds like a long summer, with all the fields you're baling. Rob, have you placed your order for hay with Paul yet?

I'll get to my breakfast for now. Hope everyone's feeling okey-dokey today.

 

Blessings on your day before Independence Day (nice shot you found there, Johnboy!), 

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Packers#1]

Nothin' for me. Just droppin in to tell ya'll I'll be at the beach all of today.

[Cox 47]

Good morning....Its cloudy and 72 here this morning and we got some more rain overnite...I'll have Biscuits and gravey with coffee please..Thank You..I almost fell out of my power chair yesterday they had in a load of Watermelons and priced them at 9.95!! I talked to the owner He said that they have started putting a additional charge on each truck load He gets....

I finnished up rehabing a Pennsy flat car yesterday couldn't get a rea; good photo of it

You all have a good one...Jerry

[twhite]

Well, since it looks like I'm buying again, I'll have a bacon and cheese omelette (heavy on the Cheddar, thanks) and some Vienna Roast. 

Delta Breezes again today, supposed to hit the high '80's around the Valley.  We're fairly smoke-free, but the foothills have gotten whacked with poor visibility and bad air.  If it keeps up, I may have to bring both Mom AND my sister back down here from Nevada City until it clears up.  Not that I mind, but I have no idea what I'll do with their two cats--I don't think Spooky and Lowell would like THAT kind of feline invasion, LOL!  Especially Mom's cat--that's the nastiest little 7-pound critter I EVER met. 

Bad news from the firelines--Big Sur has been COMPLETELY evacuated, the fire jumped the lines yesterday evening.  Another one started to the south near Santa Barbara.  Right now, Northern California has close to half a million acres burned.  Firefighters are close to exhaustion, they're rotating on and off on a three-week basis now--no end in sight. 

AND to top it off, we had 3 fires here in Sacramento yesterday caused by kids setting off 'safe and sane' fireworks!  Hoo boy!  I'm spending the Fourth right here with a garden hose, thank you. 

Johnboy:  There WILL be an American flag on the Buttes, fear not.  48 stars, since that's the era I'm modeling.  It'll be on a tall pole right with the Forest Service lookout tower. 

Cox:  Looks like a nice job on that Pennsy flat-car.  One of these days I'll get REALLY brave and attempt some weathering on my freight cars.  I really admire people like you and Jeff who do weathering--my attempts always look like the car spent six decades in the Sahara. 

Jeff:  How goes the park?  You know, the more I think of it, I've decided that your A/C actually looks like a couple of buildings I've seen in San Jose in the Silicon Valley area, LOL!  I still like that new KCS paint-scheme.  Is that going to be official for that railroad now?  Sure is striking.

Didn't get much done on the Buttes yesterday--it got kind of hot and still during the afternoon, so I'll see if I can do some more, today.  Let me tell you, putting scenery OVER scenery is NOT a Fun Project.  But thank God for the Creeper, otherwise I WOULD be doing what that character in the MR cartoon is

Best to all, prayers for those in need. 

Tom

[Paul W. Beverung]

Morning Gang: I'm just stopping for a late cup of coffee.

Not alot going on today. I may take a ride out to Clark Gardens and see about that field that they want us to bale. Hay is getting pricy down south of us. They haven't had alot of rain. From what a friend of John's said they haven't even done there first bailing. The price of Bailing up here has gone up to $28 to $30 per bail. That's what hay was bringing a year ago.

Rob I hope that the dealer can get things working better. Another problem we have with it is it leaves a long piece of twine sticking out after wrapping the bail. Sometimes 10 to 20 feet of it. When we haul that will drag on the ground and get caught under a tire or on a fence post and unwrap half the bail.

Flash I used to do French and Indian War and Fur trade rondevious. I've got a Brown Bess that is really a good shooting piece. It's a Pedersoli kit that I got a real good deal on from Tandys. Thay had it on there shelves for a long time. The barrell was really bad the bore was very very rough. I swamped it out with a drill motor and emery cloth and WD-40. At 50 yds I can put 10 shots in the middle of a paper plate. Do you guys use paper cartidges?

I'm going to head out and see what the family wants to do this afternoon.

See you all later.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

***Jeffrey, is that you sitting on the bench, checking over your park plans?

Are there any black walking braces on the feet? No? Guess it's not me then.

Jeff:  How goes the park?  You know, the more I think of it, I've decided that your A/C actually looks like a couple of buildings I've seen in San Jose in the Silicon Valley area, LOL!  I still like that new KCS paint-scheme.  Is that going to be official for that railroad now?  Sure is striking.

The park goes well. I still have to add some touches to it. Things like signs. I'm thinking about making one that says 'CHILDREN, PLEASE KEEP YOUR PARENTS OFF THE LOCOMOTIVE!'. Another one will say 'NO MOTOR VEHICLES ALLOWED. NO EXCEPTIONS!'.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I've been out helping my father with some outdoor projects today and I'm wiped out! I think I'll rest now.

[rtraincollector]

Inch its a steam engine set in O gauge I'm giving my n scale set away to a Vet thats stuck in either a wheel chair or his bed. I'm trying to get something go as a model railroad club for the vets. Trying to get the hospital to give us a room for that but need to first try and see what I can dig up as intrest in the vets that are here.

[rtraincollector]

Evening all not much happening here. Just a quick stop in to mark favorite

[LSWrr]

Afternoon all,

Been a busy week for me with the new job and all.  My first assignment will be to publish the Local notice to mariners each week.

 Congratulations Attaboy, I wish you good luck in the years to come.  Do both of model the same scale?

Rob, how's the DDS stuff coming along?

Fergi, nice locomotive!

RT, how is the new job?

 

Lee

[rtraincollector]

Hey packer Fan check out this site its overstock.com

http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/MTH-Green-Bay-Packers-Train-Set/3218811/product.html?

LSWrr new job is going great been working Ot and all. Love working around all these vets. Love mingling with them taking there meals to them and talking witht hem.

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Chloe - I'll have a coney dog and a root beer float, please!

 

 

Thanks!

Jerry, I like your flat car - I'm like Tom, in that I need to learn how to weather better so my cars don't look so brand new. Good job on that one!

Packers#1, hope you remembered to take (and use) your sunblock, so you aren't a 'crispy critter' when it's time to head home.

Tom, that wouldn't sound like a pleasant situation if you have to bring your Mom's cats over to stay a while. Could you temporarily put yours (or your Mom's) up with a friend for the stay, if it doesn't run too long? And where do you find those 48-star flags? I will be needing a few of those myself.

Paul, is that price for baling what people pay the folks who bale the hay, or what people pay for the hay once it has been baled? I know nothing about the price of hay (or baling).

Jeff, I guess you could paint some braces on that figure if you wanted to put yourself "in the park." With your usual humidity and temps in the summer there, I'm sure working outside sucks the energy out of you - it does for me when it gets humid and hot around here. Those signs sound like a good touch for the park.

RT, good to hear the job's going well - and hope you get enough interest among the vets so they can have a room for a layout there. Keep it up - I'm sure the vets appreciate you!

Longish day - had one call to county jail this a.m. that ended up finally getting (I think) resolved by 4 p.m. this afternoon. Had problems with the person's charges not being 'severe' enough for the state's prison psych. facility to take him (they'll only consider sending someone there who has class A felony charges), another state facility didn't have the staff for the person's situation (needed closer supervision than usual), and a third one was sort of trying to claim the person's charges were too 'severe' for the person to be sent to them. (Mutter, mutter... ) And, we were running out of time to get the judge to sign off on the court order, since (naturally enough) he wanted to head out for the holiday weekend. I'm just hoping I don't get a follow-up call from the on-call tonight. (Whew!)

Looking forward to this longer weekend and enjoying it. [Ahhhh.....]

 

 

Blessings and prayers for those in need of healing, comfort and peace,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

 

 

[twhite]

Jim--

OHMYGAW, how did you get hold of one of Spooky's kitten pictures, LOL?  That's so funny--she used to lie like that all the time.  Of course, since she's become a Lady, she wouldn't be caught dead in a pose like that--she has PAPERS, you know, as she's constantly remind me, LOL!

Well gang--spent the WHOLE day out on the Buttes--got a lot done, so I thought I'd bore you with the photos.  The first batch is of the molds--looks a lot like Ice Cream, the second batch is after I went in and sprayed (yes, SPRAYED) the initial coats on.  Of course, there's a lot of work to do yet on them, but the initial work went faster than I thought, simply because the Sculptamold set up VERY fast in our dry 85+ temperatures, today. 

Anyway, here the are.  The original Ice Cream Sculptamold:

 

And a closeup of Cat Butte:

Then shots after I got the initial coats on--still have to work in the weathered rock with Bragdon.  I used gray, grimy black, tan and rust for the initial colors. 

BTW--Cat Butte was NOT planned, it's just the way it turned out after I removed the mould.  Decided to keep it that way, rock ears and all.  Lotsa work to do on them, but I'm ALMOST finished. 

Tom

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The fire dept meeting ran late tonight. We issued out gear to a new fire fighter and started getting him ready for training on the trucks. I finally got out of there close to nine pm. From there I had to go to Wal-Mart to get some oil for the car (if you had nearly 300,000 miles on you you'd burn a little oil too). It generally goes through a quart every two to three months. Stopped at Buger King on the way back and picked up two Whopper Jr's and a small order of onion rings.

[Cederstrand]

Tall glass of water, thanks.

Met with the builder today and his bid is reasonable. As long as there are no "cost overruns". The folks we have talked to who have used him all seems pleased with the work.

Those fires in CA sure are taking out a lot of acreage.  

"HAPPY 4th OF JULY" And a BIG THANK YOU to all who serve or have served our country.

Time to hit the hay here. Rob

 

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[TrainsRMe1]

Good Morning and a Happy 4th Of July from all of your MRXR Family here in Portland Oregon !!!!!

          AMERICA!!!

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

       A happy Fourth of July to all of you. Hope you have some enjoyment this weekend and good weather to go with it. As for us here in Ct, we have rain forecast all weekend.

Rob - Good to hear you're making progress on your rebuild. In some ways it may be easier than ours as we are now tangled up with building code issues (any repairs must be done to the existing codes and they are substantially different than those the house was built to in 1929).

   I'm in the shop still trying to catch up today but at least i should get Sunday off.  Catch y'all later,   J.R.

[LSWrr]

HAPPY 4^th of JULY!

White, those mountains are a butte!  Looks really good.

Spent a few hours working in the yard (train yard that is) painted the yard tracks and started to lay ballast.  Today I'll be down in the train room working on ballast and installing ground throws if I can find them.

I have several pieces of rolling stock that just don't fit my era so I've started a box for the bay.

We took a moment the otherday and played "Oh Canada" in the office to celebrate Canada Day.

Rob, keep us up to date on the building progress, hopefully you have a roof over your train room in the next couple of months.

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

The best that I can say for the weather is that it's clear at the moment. It's a pleasant 71 degrees. Later it's gonna start getting ugly. The high will be in the low 90's and there's a fair chance of rain this afternoon.

I may be able to get some layout work done today. In fact I hope I have an uneventful weekend. Here's hoping some darn fool doesn't set off a fireworks generated fire and tries to burn the world down. Just because I'm a fire fighter doesn't mean I like putting out fires that are started out of stupidity.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      7/4/2008

Heat Index:  76°F
Humidity:  95%
Dew Point:  69°F

So Far Today
High:  75°F
Low:  71°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  0mph NNE

Today  High: 92    Partly sunny with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Light and variable winds becoming south around 10 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.    
 
Tonight  Low: 72    Mostly cloudy. Isolated showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds around 10 mph in the evening becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation 20 percent.

[Cederstrand]

in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please & thank you.

***Tom, great work. Keep the progress photos coming. And remember, when I'm ready to do some mountains down the road, you did say you would come over and work on them, right?(was worth a try)

***JR, hope it all works out for you in a timely manner. What a pain. Probably helps that we live out in the sticks and have neighbors who cover pretty much all aspects of building. Has much been done yet on yours? A rebuilt roof perhaps?

Rob

[sleeper33]

The british are here

 May I wish all our American cousins a happy 4th of July

I'll join you in a celabration cup of tea

hope your all having a great day

 

[JimRCGMO]

Happy Independence Day, Janie! Did the twins take off for the beach today? Oh, yeah - I'll have some of Bill T.'s buffet, glass of Ed's OJ, another of milk, and a cup of coffee, please.

So Bill, how did you get them to make some of those string hash browns red and blue? Dunno how, but that was one nice touch for today. Thanks!

Tom, glad you got a chuckle out of that kitty photo. The buttes are (s'cuse me for saying it...) butte-iful!

Rob, hope your builder makes great progress and does an excellent job on your house.

And JR, hope they get all the code stuff figured out so they can get going on rebuilding yours. Building codes can be such fun (NOT!)...

Found this photo online that kinda sums it up for today:

It's by National Geographic photographer David Black, by the way.  

Jeff, hope you get/got a chance to see the Moving Wall. Even at the reduced scale, it definitely makes an impression. It was here at our mall a number of years ago. Say, is that a new boxcar for your RR? Hadn't see that Santa Fe one before, or maybe I was just 'ing...

Gav, a tip of the cup - whether tea or coffee - to you. No hard feelings. How are your lads behaving themselves there, or are they all still laid out today from last night's parties?

Everbody remembering to put on the sunblock today, right? Don't want to be red, white and blue in the painful way today. (Ouch, ouch! Don't touch me!...)

Last night, I got some more MRR stuff into one of the plastic tubs I'd bought. One nice thing will be, I can see pretty much what's in them before I take the lid off. Oh, I did find my painters' masking tape, so I'll be masking off my Roberts building today before leaving for the BBQ and fireworks tonight.

And here's some fireworks for the Diner to start things going!

 

I'll be eating my (red, 'white' and blue) hash browns and the rest of my breakfast at the window booth.

July Fourth Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[C&O Fan]

Happy 4th eveeryone

hope you all are enjoying the holiday

I dreamed of eating a big fat greasey cheeseburger last night

maybe when my treatments are over

Till then i'll make do with sweet tea