Elliots Trackside Diner IV, Under New Management!

[inch53]

Mornin, coffee n a chocolate milk please Zoe

TODAY: Sunshine with Some Clouds.  Bit Less Humid.  High 85.  Calm Wind Becoming South 7 mph.

 TONIGHT: Mostly Clear, Warmer & Increasingly Muggy.  Low 65.  South Wind 6 mph.

 TOMORROW: Sunshine with a Few Clouds, Hotter & More Humid.  High 90.  South Wind 9 mph.  Heat Index to 95

ROB,

 The storm ya'll got yesterday may have part of the front that came through here and cause a lot of wind damage round us.

JEFF,

Me n my x-BIL had a possum that wouldn't die one time. We got'em while coon hunting one night.

GARRY,

I got some pics of the 2-8-2, when we were in Paducah Fri, to post. I've still got to upload them yet. Also there's some from the museum there.

Best gets moving J birds hollerin to go outside and I've got some things that need doing. Thoughts for all in need n hope ya'll has agooden

[pcarrell]

Mornin' all!

Hey!  Look at that!  I made two posts in a row and still managed to not hit the top of the page!  Thats gotta be some sort of record for me!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 74 and partly cloudy. The high today will be in the lower 90's and there's a fair chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.

As exciting as yesterdays possum chase was I could have easily done without it. I'm not used to moving that quickly, therefore my back feels as though it's going to snap in two at any instant this morning. I think I'll just take it easy today.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      7/10/2008

Heat Index:  79°F
Humidity:  92%
Dew Point:  72°F

So Far Today
High:  78°F
Low:  74°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  0mph NNE

Today  High: 92    Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Light and variable winds.
 
Tonight  Low: 75    Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. Light and variable winds.

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[LSWrr]

Evening all,

Rob, you were hoping for rain, sounds like you got it.  We had 2 storms pass through here and in 12 hours we got 2.75 inches.

Jeff, that possum story is pretty good sounds like you had one heck of a day.  HAPPY Belated BIRTHDAY!

I made the mistake of not using the bucket as you did one day; the dog was in a fight with a big possum and I used a baseball bat to break up the fight.  I hit that possum as hard as I could and poof it was "dead".  I grabbed the tail of the possum to carry the body to the trash can, well guess what about half way to the trash can the end of the tail wrapped around my finger.  I was a bit scared at that point and promptly dropped the possum and the dog and I headed into the house.  The possum got up and wandered off into the tall grass about 5 minutes later.

Didn't have time for MMRing yesterday or today, but I ordered 40 pairs of LL knuckle couplers for $25.20 and 20 sprung operating ground throws for $47.92.  That should take care of the yard and the locomotive shops on the layout.  Due to my highly efficient storage system I lost a box of ground throws some place.  My girlfriend figures as soon as these throws come in I'll find my other ones.

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

No, I wasn't.

[pcarrell]

Jeff, were you playin' possum?

[Cederstrand]

Wife's guardian was with her today, driving home through a bang-up thunderstorm that came through here a bit ago. Huge tree fell right behind her car. She pulled into the Fire Dept to let them know, before someone came along and hit it. Fell in a very bad spot and covered the entire roadway. Many positive strikes with this cell. YeeHaw!

***Jeffrey, glad to hear you were able to transplant the possum with no harm done.

Rob

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Garry: Yes, I have. They're quite nice but they pale in comparison when you've seen the real thing up close as I have.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Wow, Jeff, that's some adventure with the possum.

Also, Jeff, have you seen the Atearn F7's in Southern Belle colors?

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH80204

Inch ... Great photos! .... That one barge photo looking from Paducah towards Metropolis shows the BNSF truss bridge over the Ohio River. The bridge was originally a CB&Q bridge. Now, any railroad in the area can use it, and it's common to see UP coal trains headed toward the P&L RR in Paducah. KY power plants blend western low surpher coal with KY coal to meet emissions standards. Did you see the IC RR 2-8-2 at the Paducah riverfront? I've been over that old US 45 bridge, too.

Rob .... Thanks for sharing photos of the pets. Anybody let the cat out of the bag?

Jerry ... Nice progress on the layout.

Everbody else ..........Any layout progress to report?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I had a little mis-adventure while mowing my parents yard this morning. More later.

Now on with the mis-adventure. I was just wrapping up the south-west quadrant of the front yard (a half acre by itself) when I saw my mother standing at one of the three front doors of the house frantically waving her arms over her head in  an effort to get my attention. Well, it worked. I stopped the tractor and went down to see what was the matter. That's when she told me there was a critter in the house. I asked her what type of critter and she said it was a possum. At that point I knew I had a fight on my hands. Those things are NASTY with a capitol 'N'! First item of business was to get something to trap it in. An old four gallon galvanized bucket that we use to catch rain water from the roof immediately sprang to mind. I got it then had her show me where the possum was. It was in the library. Great! That gave it a thirty foot long section of wall that was nothing but shelves and pigeon holes, a couple hundred places to hide. There are countless odds and ends along the wall and a heavy flat-screen TV right in the middle. Guess what the possum was behind. That's right, the TV. The one thing in the room that couldn't be moved by myself or my mother. While she locked the dogs (three of them) in a bedroom I set about reducing the number of possible hiding places for the possum. After a little while I had it trapped in a ten foot long space in which it could only move along the wall behind the TV, and there was nothing for it to climb. I set the bucket on it's side at the south end then started poking at the possum with my walking stick. It immediately turned and went the wrong way, north, toward the end that my mother was at. She used an old bamboo umbrella (don't ask me how old it is, I just know it's older than I am) to whack it gently on the nose and turn it in the other direction. I then poked at it several more times with my walking stick. Eventually it was desperately seeking a way out and I provided it. I moved aside a heavy stamp album that was blocking the south end. The possum ran through the hole and ran smack into the bucket. I quickly tipped it upright and slammed a square of tin down over it. I quickly tied the tin down and carried the bucket out to the tractor and took it a quarter mile down the road to an abandoned boat launch. There I released the possum. It ran out of the bucket, turned and glared at me, hissed, then ran off into the woods. I went back, returned the bucket to it's original location then finished mowing the yard. My mother decided that possum catching was above and beyond the call of duty and took me to lunch at the restaurant of my choice after I finished the yard and got cleaned up. That thing bit my walking stick at one point and left some pretty deep teeth marks in it. And just to keep this model railroad related, the library in my parent's home used to be a two car garage in 1970, in which the HO/OO layout that I got in Germany as a Christmas present in 1966 was set up.

[Paul W. Beverung]

Afternoon Gang: Mary Ann and I went to the hospital to get my pre op done for my catarac surgey Friday. The left eye is going to get taken care of then I can get glasses. My vision is really 1000% better since the right eye was done.

Not much going on here. I've been out in the machinery shed doing some cleaning up and strating up. I hauled 2 loads of trash and recyclable stuff off yesterday. Boy the stuff really piles up if you don't stay on top of it.

I'm going to head back out to the shed now.

See you all later.

[Cederstrand]

 in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please & thank you.

***Flashwave, CUTE puppy!

***Lee, thanks for the website tip. Will certainly take advantage of it.

***Terry, hang in there. Sending healing thoughts your way!

***Garry, that bison story is hilarious. Their breath alone is almost enough to knock me off my feet.

***Inch, interesting trip pics. I wonder what was in that barge?

On the topic of cats & dogs, this is a regular occurrence here on the ol' farm:

And then there is our only indoor cat. She has a plastic fetish:

Chance of severe thunderstorms here today. Drove through a brief shower after picking up a couple round bales. Hope it pours later. We REALLY need the water again. Rob

[inch53]

Chow time, a grilled ham n cheese, onion rings, and a iced tea please Zoe

Rains over for a couple days maybe. I dumped another .9 out of the rain gage awhile ago and noticed the hill side has slid some more. If it keeps going it'll be on the edge of the road.

GARRY,

Liked the bull story, I can just imagine the look on everyone's face after it happened.

FERGIE,

I'll be honest, the only reason I remembered is I seen someone else's post.

JERRY, I think the mirror works great.

Since we were camped at FT Massac state park, I guess some the fort is a good place to start.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation147.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation145.jpg

Here's some views from the towers

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation150.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation152.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation155.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation157.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation158.jpg

Of course when your in Metropolis, you have to go n see if Supermans around.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation172.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation176.jpg

They've got a nice little Suoerman museum there and for $3, it's well worth it. Left there n went to the Hollywood museum and found these outside.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation185.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation186.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation187.jpg

We went over to Paducah n got some barge shots

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation160.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation194.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation057.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation062.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation063.jpg

Headed back to IL across the US-45 bridge, which Mother didn't really care much for driving on. It has a steel mesh deck, and most cars like to wonder abit on it.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation066.jpg

If you kook down, you can watch the river pass thru it.

Best gets back ta chores, later all

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I had a little mis-adventure while mowing my parents yard this morning. More later.

[JimRCGMO]

Good Morning, Diners! How's everyone doing today? Zoe, I'll have one of these rolls,

and a cup of coffee, please.

Thank y', Ma'am!

It's like Animal Planet in here today - Mark, congrats on the new pup (and we will look forward to seeing pics)!  

Cute puppy, Flash - she looks like she has plenty of energy (just like a puppy!).

Garry, I don't think I'd want to try to sneak into your place, with that cat in the house. But I'm sure she's better on medication, huh? Not quite as laid back as Tom's Lowell, though.

Tom, maybe Spooky thinks styrene is crunchy? Dunno why they'd like it, 'cause I'd figure wood would appeal more to a cat. 

Sheesh, that Prius driver sure appears to be lacking in the brains department... His wife needs one of these:

but sure, I might be wrong...

Rob, I think your wife finding your cat's hairball is sort of a Murphy's Law thing. You're lucky you weren't planning company, or that would've guaranteed that one of your guests would've found it!  

Slight rain and some clouds today. It cleared up a few minutes ago, but then clouded back over. But not having the fog like Fergie is out on the ocean.

Gav, have fun today with giving your lads their recompense...

Almost forgot to mention - Jerry, that mirror trick looks great! You could hide the top by having some over-arching trees hiding just the top of the mirror, since someone would have to be down fairly low to even see under the trees. We've had some streets/roads in this area where the trees from either side make a kind of natural arch over the road. Something like that would maybe work for you. I may have something you could try. I'll email you more on that.

Apparently we had some rain yesterday afternoon/last night, but at the time I was heading west about 40 miles (to assess a client who was quite delusional, claiming the nursing home was his property, and that the nurse there was his mother, etc.) Definitely ready for the hospital, so I contacted the judge and obliged the client. Just wasn't wild about the drive out there and back - they're re-blacktopping the roads, so there is no center stripe and no lines to give you a clue where the side of the road is. Even less fun if it's after dark! It's out in the definitely rural territory, with hills and some dropoffs in places. I was glad that I got done and it was still daylight on the way back.

Hoping to do a little MRR'ing stuff tonight. It seems like forever since I've done anything on the layout or putting kits together (or...). Have a bunch of car kits to assemble, Kadees to put on some engines and cars, etc. But I'm sure nobody else has that kind of problem, right?

Zoe, could I have another cinnamon roll, please? Thanks again.

 

Blessings on your day,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

 

[Cox 47]

Good morning....Its cloudy and 72 here this morning...We got more rain last nite a couple of short power outages and a tree down...but could of been a lot worse..I'll have a Ky ham sandwitch and coffee please...Did some more clean up of layout and went thru a bunch of magizines looking for stuff for backdrop....Got the idea to use a mirror to add some miles to road...set the mirror in and I think it will work

 

 

I think I can hide the sides of the mirror but not  sure about the top....

You all have a good one...Jerry

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeff: Sorry I missed your Birthday so HAPPY Belated BIRTHDAY. Chances are you wouldn't have had all those firest to go to if you hadn't of lit up your B-Day cake!  ... It's a Joke son, a joke I say!

Is that what the six-alarm fire on the table was?

[Fergmiester]

Fergie:  After I wrote that about your loco, I realized that you were out to sea.  Hey, it's called 'short-term memory loss' and it's EXCUSABLE at my age, LOL! 

Jeff:  Sorry your B'day turned out to be a series of fire calls.  But as I said, you guys are my heroes!

Tom  

 

That's OK Tom memory is a passing thing all to hard to catch at the best of times! Though Inch seemed to remeber my whereabouts. A coffee and Apple pie for the man!!

Jeff: Sorry I missed your Birthday so HAPPY Belated BIRTHDAY. Chances are you wouldn't have had all those firest to go to if you hadn't of lit up your B-Day cake!  ... It's a Joke son, a joke I say!

Anyway we're still bobbing around here by the Oil Rigs off of Newfoundland doing sampling of water. If it wasn'tfor the fog life would be so much nicer.

Later All

Fergie

 

PS Lee... Have Fun!!! ha ha ha    ~ Decalling, a modellers bain if there ever was.

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good Morning....

Flash.......That looks like a very nice dog....

Inch.... I see you got a photo of the nearby ranger tower. I know precisely where you were with that picture.............The Land Between the Lakes..(LBL).....(National Park)..

(It's story time)

Inch's photo reminds me of an experience we had very close to there. The park has a buffalo & elk range only about 3 or 4 minutes away from the tower. (15 minutes from our house) Visitors may drive through the range and watch buffalo and elk. When we do that, we do it early evening just before sunset because the herd of buffalo stays out of site in the woods during hot summer days.

Anyhow, Shelley's sister from MI was here with her husband, and we decided to drive through the LBL and see the buffalo. At the time, Shelley had not yet retired from her CFO job and she had borrowed her boss's (CEO) company car, a then-new Lincoln LS. The men were in front with me driving. Shelley was in the back behind the brother-in-law. Her sister was behind me. Visitors are not allowed to get out of their cars for obvious safety reasons, and therefore the road has several parking areas to stop and look at the wildlife.

We stopped in a parking area next to the herd grazing in a nearby field. We had all windows down to get a better view and to take photos. The herd then decided to cross the road, and therefore we were blocked from driving while they crossed. Many of the buffalo walked within inches of the car. The women talked to them, but they did not answer.

Next thing we knew, the Bull entered the parking area. He was huge. Maybe 2000 lbs. He found a rock to scratch himself on. He was scratching a private area for a considerable length of time. The ranger pulled next to us in the LBL truck and talked about the bull. He said he once had a female visitor ask if he could stop a bull from scratching himself becasue it was not "decent" for the public to see such behavior. He said he told her there was no way to stop a bull from doing that.

Soon the ranger drove off, but we stayed to watch the herd. Then, the bull walked up to our car. He was on the passenger side. Brother in law in front; Shelley in back. Remember, our windows are down. His massive head was within inches of the car and he looked right at us.

Ar that momnet, he sneezed. Huge globs of buffalo snot were flung right at us.

I'll stop now. Needless to say. It was messy. We never did wash the car, and Shelley did not tell the boss what the dirt on the car consisted of.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 73 and sunny here. Sadly, it won't remain sunny as thunderstorms are predicted for this afternoon. The high is expected to be in the mid 90's.

Looks like today may be a grass cutting day, if the grass is high enough that is. If not, it'll probably be Friday or Saturday.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      7/9/2008

Heat Index:  79°F
Humidity:  92%
Dew Point:  72°F

So Far Today
High:  76°F
Low:  73°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  3mph NNE

Today  High: 95    Partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning...then mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 90s. Light and variable winds. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.    
 
Tonight  Low: 72    Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the lower 70s. Light and variable winds.

[C&O Fan]

Morning all

just a cup of tea please

on my way in for another treatment

4 more to go.

Friday is my last day then maybe I can begin to heal

Hope all is well with everyone and remember to have a little fun today

[NS Luc]

Good morning

[inch53]

Mornin, coffee n a short stack with sausage please Zoe

Like Jerry said we got rained on again, not that much here, but we had some high wind gust. Played h with the garden n took down a couple trees [one in the road], also knocked the electric out again here and over in Marshall for 2 hours. It's rainin now, but the forecast does look better.

 

TODAY:

Rain Tapering From Northwest to Southeast.  Partial Clearing Developing Northwest to Southeast.  High 82.  North Wind 8 mph.

 TONIGHT:

Becoming Clear with Patchy Fog Developing.  Low 60.  North Wind Becoming Calm. 

 

JIM,

We finished last year about 4" above normal rainfall. So far this we've gotten our yearly average already. Some areas are 2 to 3" above yearly.

TOM,

Sorry to hear of the smoke being back. I got to see 4 layouts while we were gone, Garry's, Gus and Dan's. Plus we seen the one at the Paducah RR museum [pics coming later]. I thought of you on our way to Garry's

GARRY,

From the looks of photo, I'm almost glad I didn't see him. He doesn't look too friendly.

JR,

The flat Rock station is in purrty good shape, but still needs a lot of work to restore it to like new. I haven't been in to Jerry's for a spell, but he's been giving regular reports on here.

FLASH,

That be a good looking little dog, we had one that looked about her one time. Good with kids but hated coyotes. Seen her fight 2 one time and she won.

Best gets on to some chores. No kids today and plenty of inside work needing done. Working on another string of pics to post later today maybe. Thoughts for all in need and hope ya'll has a gooden.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

Flash, congrats on the new puppy

Rob; "From Friday, July 11 at 5:00 p.m. Central Time, through Sunday, July 13, take a free tour of all the great online content that's usually available only to Trains.com registered users or subscribers to Trains magazine. That's right, free access to Trains News Wire this weekend!

I ordered 40 new knuckle couplers yesterday from LHS (pg 15 of the Walther's sale catalog) and I'll be calling today to order some sprung ground throws (page 22).

I finished decaling 1 hopper car, only 49 more to go, LOL!

Lee

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[sleeper33]

Morning all

 Just a tea for now please

 All the little cherubs are going home in droves and as I'm on days now get to do the room checks( oh sweeet revenge) absolutely lashing it down at mo. typical English summer lol.

 oh well better do some work and break the habit of a lifetime.

 will check in later

 

[twhite]

Gee, maybe I should n't put these up, but I gots a puppy too. Had her for a while, just photoed her yeterday. It's kinda funny, shes more of a cat person than a dog person.

At her old home, the cats slept with her and they shared warmth. Now, we can't walk down a street without dogs jumping on her. (already fixed)

 

Flash--

One thing we do here at the diner frequently is brag on our pets.  And from the looks of that sweet little lady, you've got BIG bragging rights!   That's one loverly puppy!

Tom

[Packers#1]

Hello everybody ...

Mark ........ congratualtions on the new puppy.....

Everybody ..... Something to watch.......

http://photobucket.com/video/Prius%20vs.%20Train/pbhomepage/video2/TrainvsPrius.flv?ref=homepagequadv2

Saw that last night on the homepage. WHat an idjit

 

LOL, that person has a death wish. 

[Flashwave]

Hello everybody ...

Mark ........ congratualtions on the new puppy.....

Everybody ..... Something to watch.......

http://photobucket.com/video/Prius%20vs.%20Train/pbhomepage/video2/TrainvsPrius.flv?ref=homepagequadv2

Saw that last night on the homepage. WHat an idjit