Elliots Trackside Diner IV, Under New Management!

[railroadnut675]

That program at USF paid off!!!!!

I found a thing on the USf computer called omni-file. USF subscribes to omni file, and omnifile gets MRR and Trains!!!  With this file I can email my self articles from the magazines for free!*

* I don't get the pictures though, just the articles.

[pcarrell]

   How do I make the link to my photobucket Clickable? How can I let people see my pictures without logging in?

Cut and paste your link, then hit the space bar (or the enter key).  Thats it!  Now it's a hot link!

It turns this.........

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/What%20Scale/WSII72.jpg

into this...........

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/What%20Scale/WSII72.jpg 

[railroadnut675]

   How do I make the link to my photobucket Clickable? How can I let people see my pictures without logging in?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 75 here and partly cloudy. The high is expected to be in the low 90's and there's a fair chance of thunderstorms.

Today's Weather for:      
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      6/15/2008

Heat Index:  81°F
Humidity:  89%
Dew Point:  73°F

So Far Today
High:  77°F
Low:  75°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  5mph W

Today  High: 92    Mostly sunny. Slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning...then a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s. Light and variable winds. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.    
 
Tonight  Low: 72    Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 70s. Light and variable winds.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

Charter boat inspections are the business of the day for me.  I inspected 11 pleasure vessels yesterday under our voluntary inspection program where we offer a courtesy inspection before they leave the dock or the ramp, would have been an easy day, however everyone ran to the store after they failed the safety inspection and wanted checked again. All those collage girls running around the docks in their swimsuits wanting me to inspect their jet ski, gosh, I thought it would never end!

That pleasure vessel was moored at the dock when it was smashed.  So I have no doubt the freighter's insurance company will make things right.

My insurance company is State Farm.  I pay $500/year for $200,000 coverage on house and contents with a $1,000.00 deductable.   You can name a dollar amount for certain items.  Once every 5 years my agent and I re-evaluate the replacement cost of some items.  The longer you stay with them and the more policies you have with them the cheaper your premium becomes.   Unfortunately it doesn't cover my trains for damage incurred by running off the layout, cat attacks, shark bites, or children under 5.

I will say my agent has a sense of humor; every year on my birthday I get a card from his office to pick up my free gift.  One year it was a travel mug, one year I got a road atlas, but a couple years ago in my card I was awarded Volcano and lava flow coverage for my home absolutely free and in my yearly birthday card he renews it.

Lee

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[Cox 47]

Just stopped in for a diet coke before hitting the bed...you all have a good nite....Jerry

[twhite]

Jim--

Just a note.  A Third Order Franciscan isn't Monastic (or else I'd be in BIG trouble, LOL!).  It's below Religious and Deacon, one who is active in other aspects of the Church (I'm a Music Minister).  I don't have to take the "Big Three" Vows, I just have to show up for rehearsals and Mass and play my little heart out.  Of course my priest and I were discussing the 'Vows' some time ago, and he said he didn't have any trouble with Poverty and Chastity, but Obedience was one that occasionally gave him FITS!  Sounds pretty 'human' to me, by golly!

Tom

[gear-jammer]

I thought that I would stop by for one of Jim's RBF's.  They always sound good.

Rob,  Sorry to hear about your fire.  It is such a mess.  A friend had a fire in a 3 story house.  They lost everything but what they had on.  Their cars were in the driveway, but the keys were in the house.  His attitude after that was, " It is just stuff".  Glad you guys are ok.

Thanks for putting the tape measure in your twig photo for reference.  Good choices.  They will give you great variety.

Sue

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Chloe - you covering part of Janie's shift? I'll have the roast beef dinner special, please,  with a nice glass of wine.

 

Thanks - that looks great!

Hey, what was that roar and squeal of tires outside? Oh, just Duke on his bike, heading for Dick's place before all the strawberry-rhubarb pie is gone.  

Rob, I recall reading an article not long ago that said a lot of model trees aren't big enough (and that real trees often are much taller than the locos), so you probably could use some of those 'HO' trees as just bigger N scale ones. Another tip for you - find a piece of good ol' white foam (one or two inches thick would be good), and as you get the trees painted, stick 'em in the foam. That'll make it easier to keep them in one place until you get to adding the 'leaves' and such, and you can add that, moving more quickly from one tree to the next.

Just saw your post about your MIL - will be lifting the whole family up, Rob. It has to turn for the better the rest of this year, with all the things you've had so far. Keeping you in

Lee, that boat getting in the way of the freighter makes about the same sense as those folks who pull out in their car in front of an 18-wheeler (or more , try to cross the tracks in front of a locomotive with a load behind it). I always (as we were taught when I was very young...) "Stop, look (both ways, a long ways down the track), and listen".

BridgeTom, good to hear you survived the ordeal Mass okay. Bet it feels great to be back inside the A/C, too, huh? So, what's a Third Order - does that make you like a distant cousin to the Pope? Seriously, I never heard of degrees of orders for monastics before. But then again, I only grew up as a near-Catholic (Anglican/Episcopalian high church a couple of places). One place where I was an acolyte my last two years of high school, it was so 'high church' that I'm sure they ordered their prayer cards (which we used before coming into the sanctuary) from a Catholic supply house. Before I got into high school, I do recall doing some researching on Episcopal monastic orders with our church's priest. Yep, they do (or used to, many years ago) have monastic orders for some Protestants!

Okay, back on topic with MRR'ing stuff - I  got another idea on my work train track problem.  If I put a door in place of the windows on one of the enginehouse stalls, I don't have to give up the work train track. I've also been fiddlin' around with adding another entry/exit track from the mainline to the roundhouse. Here's the first version I posted earlier today:

and here it is with the changes: 

It might not be too hard to cut the opening on the enginehouse, and I have an old Revell enginehouse that I might be able to use the doors from.

Tom, with the way the weather's been, the Midwest (if they could find a stable track to load on) should send a few trains of tanker cars full of river water, to go out there and have 'em spray it all over those dry or burning areas! We Midwestern Diners will pray for you Californians to get that rain (and us to not get it). I know that they're predicting out crest around Cape to be the highest it's ever been, and some of the towns south of here are getting really nervous. The town of Dutchtown, MO (next exit south of Cape on I-55) was supposed to have a meeting the last part of this week, taking a survey of how many were in favor of a federal buyout of the town. It's not far from the Diversion Channel (which, when the Mississippi is too high, backs up and floods their area), and they've had two bad floods over the past dozen years (or less). Where I am in Cape isn't likely to get effects of the flooding (they've closed the floodgates by the river downtown), since I'm several ridges and a handful of miles from downtown. But there are other things, like the city's water purification plant, which could be messed up. May have to go to bottled water for drinking or cooking if that happens. But we'll survive here; it's the people south of here that I'd be worried more about. The news just now was saying that there was a tornado confirmed in Grandin (small town west-southwest of Poplar Bluff - about an hour and a half to two hours west of Cape) on Friday evening.

Johnboy, good to see you in, even for a little bit. Hope you get cooled off, but not soaked.

Easy, Shockwave, you don't have to have a scenic divider. Actually, a scenic divider is about anything that blocks the view from one side of the layout to another. Could be mountains, a backdrop down the middle (some of MR's fabled 4 X 8 layouts used this), or even having buildings that look like one town from one side and like a different city from the other side. If you have to put the layout away between running times, the 'two-cities' approach might be usable for you. Just an idea if you think it would work for you.

I'd best be finishing up my roast beef now. See everyone tomorrow (on Father's Day).

 

Blessings and a good night's sleep,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[grayfox1119]

DUKE:  Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it is in the secret hiding place for pie, you know, the one that Fergie can never find behind the you know what !!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Dick 

Strawberry-Rhubarb pie, both from the garden. AND.........French Vanilla ice cream on top, right from the local farm here.

   You are bringing in at least one piece and telling the girls where I can find it,RIGHT????

Duke

mmmm ... mmmm ...... Sounds great! ..... Did Dick have vaniila bean ice cream last year? ....Of course, Duke, you could supply Irma's vanilla. That would top them all.

We had baby back ribs this evening... Wow.

Happy Model Railroading!  

 

 

[bjdukert]

Dick 

Strawberry-Rhubarb pie, both from the garden. AND.........French Vanilla ice cream on top, right from the local farm here.

   You are bringing in at least one piece and telling the girls where I can find it,RIGHT????

Duke

[railroadnut675]

Nope. No divider.

[Flashwave]

Oh, (former Latin student here) I learned it as:

"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spritus Sancti. Amen."

And RRNut, you're getting to be a regular 'lunch date' for those ladies... The track plan looks good - will you have hills, scenic divider or such on the layout (later)? You might need a LHS run like Dick's to increase your rolling stock some (or how much of that do you have now?).

Jim: Come on, give me a break, I said I was just guessing. As for the layout, I will never have hills, because we have to put it away, and I'm not sure what a scenic divider is, so I probably don't have one. My rolling stock is as follows:

Boxcars 

1x Rio Grande Boxcar

1x CSX Track Cleaning Boxcar

Reefers

1x Pearl Brewing Company Reefer

1x  Old Heidelberg Beer Reefer

Covered Hoppers

1x C&O 3-Bay Covered Hopper

1x Pillsbury Covered Hopper

Fuel Cars

1x Dow Fuel Car

Gondola

1x Southern Gondola

Aggregate Cars

2x CSX Aggregate Cars

Cabeeses

1x Northern Pacific Cupola Caboose

1x NYC Cupola Caboose

 

 

 

Devider: vertical wall with backdrop (Usually) that stops one scene from spilling into another on a small layout allowing the owner to do multiople scenes. without sticking out like a sore thumb. (Big city industry to forest to town back to city for example)

[railroadnut675]

Oh, (former Latin student here) I learned it as:

"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spritus Sancti. Amen."

And RRNut, you're getting to be a regular 'lunch date' for those ladies... The track plan looks good - will you have hills, scenic divider or such on the layout (later)? You might need a LHS run like Dick's to increase your rolling stock some (or how much of that do you have now?).

Jim: Come on, give me a break, I said I was just guessing. As for the layout, I will never have hills, because we have to put it away, and I'm not sure what a scenic divider is, so I probably don't have one. My rolling stock is as follows:

Boxcars 

1x Rio Grande Boxcar

1x CSX Track Cleaning Boxcar

Reefers

1x Pearl Brewing Company Reefer

1x  Old Heidelberg Beer Reefer

Covered Hoppers

1x C&O 3-Bay Covered Hopper

1x Pillsbury Covered Hopper

Fuel Cars

1x Dow Fuel Car

Gondola

1x Southern Gondola

Aggregate Cars

2x CSX Aggregate Cars

Cabeeses

1x Northern Pacific Cupola Caboose

1x NYC Cupola Caboose

 

 

 

[twhite]

ANd beacuse I love giving you more ideas:  

Flashwave: 

HOO BOY, you build it, I'll BUY IT, LOL!

Tom

[Flashwave]

Tom: Between Mom and I? only about 1000. (Like I said, we're getting there) There's no flooding around me, just high water. Really didn't see anything coming back, either. The Ohio was up on the way down, but she was back in her banks around Cinncy as of today. We did drive past a small wildfire. I've got a Firetrain in design for HO, I have a feeling it would be in use out west and maybe everywhere in real life.

ANd beacuse I love giving you more ideas:  

[twhite]

Evening all--

Just got back from playing the Fiesta Mass at Christ the King Retreat Center.  WHEW!!  Outdoors, and a very Gerry-mandered electrical hookup that for some reason kept shorting out the electronic keyboard.  Luckily, we had several guitarists that were able to pick up the slack, and a couple of really GOOD Cantors.  But all in all, not my most memorable experience--the sky is pretty overcast from that fire to the north of us in Paradise, and since there's hardly a breeze, it was not really comforatable for me to breathe (darned COPD!)  As soon as the Mass was over, I piled in the car and came home--stopping at my local Safeway to grab a rib steak and an artichoke.  Just finished steaming the artichoke and will put the rib steak on the grill in a little while.  The Retreat Center was having a Mexican barbecue, but as I said, I'm not one for Mexican food--all that Cilantro, YUK!--

Jim: You're right about the In Nomine--never trust a Franciscan, LOL!  Of course I'M not going to say that after Father's Day Mass, tomorrow, they always gather we dads in the Narthex and have the community pray over us.  Let's face it, sometimes we Dad's NEED those prayers! I'm a Third Order Franciscan Catholic who just retired from a Jesuit high school and plays occasional masses for a Passionist Retreat Center.  Kind of the Grand Tour, don't you think?

Johnboy--as to the garage--if the door's down, there's three INCHES between the door and the front of the layout.  Needless to say, the Buttes and Sierra City get trains through when the door is UP!   When I had the door installed, the guy looked at me and said, "You really ought to move the train back."  I pointed to the rest of the layout, which extends to the back of the garage, he just blinked and said, "Oh, forget it."  I told him that I'd been bitten by the Collis P. Huntington Bug early in life, but I don't think he got the joke.  

Flashwave:  Sounds like you had a good trip.  Take any photos you want to share with the rest of us?  And BTW, I haven't bitten on the turntable yet, just got the Creeper and am planning out how to re-rock the Buttes.  One project at a time (yah, SUUUURRE!). 

I've heard that the flooding in the Midwest MIGHT start easing in the next five days, I certainly hope so for you guys back there.  This has been a terrible Spring for all of us, God hope it's over soon.  My prayers are with you.  There was a special prayer for you at the Mass today, and I'm sure there will be one at St. Francis tomorrow.  I've already sent an Intention to the parish.  As to the fires out here--the Paradise fire is now at 64,000 acres, and one fourth of the town has been evacuated, but that's of this morning--I'm going to check the news in a half hour to see how it's going.  The Bonnie Doone fire in Santa Cruz is under control at 600 acres, and there's still a new one blazing at nearby Monterey that's consumed about 18,000 acres.  Luckily the winds have stopped, and the weather report is for declining temperatures and increased humidity from Delta Breezes coming in off of the Pacific.  Let us hope. 

Best to all, prayers to those in need. 

Tom

[egmurphy]

Rob: Picked up some more twiggies (future trees) on the way back from the mailbox. ........ Plan on painting them with acrylics first to give them a some strength. ..... will set them aside after base-coating them.

Just a suggestion, but if you want to make them stronger (I'm assuming they are a bit brittle?) you might want to consider dipping them in a dilute mix of white glue and water (maybe 50-50) and hanging them on a line to dry.  You can paint them later.  But I think the dilute glue mix will do more to strengthen them than simply painting.

I'd also consider making the original paint coat a simple rattle can of medium gray paint.  You can highlight parts of the trunk with acrylics later if you want some color variation.  But since most of the armature will be covered with foliage there's not too much point in spending a lot of time painting.

Just one data point.

Regards

Ed

[egmurphy]

last mountain & eastern hogger:  Would someone please post JP's email address again.   I searched for it today but didn't long enough to come up with it.    Thanks in advance.

Here you go:

[e-mail]

 

Regards

Ed

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeffrey:    CN Charlie and I still don't see those trailer spaces for us in that park and you never told us how far the fishing hole is from there.  Glad to hear the report on the feet and eyes.

Give it time. I have to decide where the road access will be first. I also have to get some signs that are associated with parks. If I can't find any that are affordable I'll make some.

[Flashwave]

hello, Got back from South Carolina today after a twi day drive. Yes, I got some time to drive too. We saw the Hunley, and the nearby East Cooper and Berekeley GP something. I'll get pics up later. It was clean, but they looked like they had or were pulling the track up around it. Next was Patriot's Point, home of the Yorktown , (Aircraft carrier) and Clagamore, a sub. Not bad, but expect a lot of walking and don;t go in the summer. Everything is big on the aircraft carrier, except the air conditioner. Shockingly, the black boilertube of a sub nearby was actually cooler than the Yorktown. Didn;'t make it into the Coast Guard ship or Destroyer, due to time, and I made it as far as the entracne before hiting a wall of heat. Next day was magnmolia Plantation, (we skipped the house) and Drayton Hall. Fort Sumter was Tuesday and after that we went to Charleston for some walking through Slave's Market and the Aquarium, and a Ghost Tour.  Wednesday was Nathan Russell and Aiken Rhett House, and I got to see the Silver Meteor slip out of North Charleston. That day also gave me Port Utilities Railroad #2001. There is somee train at the Visitor's Center, part of an old railroad, the first in South Carolina, but for reasons I won't divulge, I was unable to find out more about the steam loco inside. Don't know what it was. Will send e-mail and ask. This would be the last train stuff for the day. We rode a carriage tour, then got ready to come home. And here I am!

Inch, neat shots, for all the pain it's caused. Missed us here, onl;y 4 inches. Heard some places in Indy got 11.5 inches. I was sweating during it.

Rob: Sorry to hear about the fire, I'm noticing a trend, I dun like it. Did your layout, and Barb's HO trains fair well? Glad to hear your alroght. Who says Superheroes can't save real life,   

Garry: Load the bridge? Neat trick

Tom: I hope your having fun? Did you adopt the Turntable yet?

Others: Sorry I missed the posts.

I got;s a BL2 in paint to get finito. I like the scheme, now I need decals.

   

[grayfox1119]

Good evening, long hot, humid day today, rains to south, rains to north, rumbles of thunder in the distance, nothing here in central MA .....yet! Of course tomorrow the whole family will be here for a cookout as well as my brother from CT, and it doesn't look like a nice day at all. So the awning is up over the deck and we will make the best of it for Father's Day.

CN CHARLIE: Many of the older Decoders do not have back EMF, so you get a lot of hum. The newer decoders have emf feature and this makes a big difference. I sent off to Tony's Trains in VT, a list of all my locomotives and asked them to list what decoder they recommend for QSI and Soundtraxx. I just received a complete list yesterday in email with decoder models and speakers recommended.

LEE: So the little boat tried to take on a freighter huh !!! Not too smart. That is a great idea to get MRR equipment insured. I think I will call "Snoopy" ( Metropolitan ) on Monday to get a rider for our  Home Insurance personal belongings for MRR addition. The rider shouldn't cost too much I would think.

MIKE: I think we saw the same pictures on the TV news here. They have had many TV news photos of the flooding in the Midwest. My wife thought that she read where the grain car idea didn't work and bridge let go, I hope not !

BOBK: The sun was out here in the central part until about 9am, then it clouded over with a thin hazy sky. No rain yet here though by 7pm.

DUKE: Guess what we had for desert tonight?? That's right !! Strawberry-Rhubarb pie, both from the garden. AND.........French Vanilla ice cream on top, right from the local farm here. Yes, we do still have one nice Dairy farm left here thank God, family run since 1934 with a big herd of Holsteins.

ROB: At least a few items survived, I hope you find more to salvage.

Later,

[Paul W. Beverung]

Evening Gang: I'm early because if I don't get in now I may not be able to later. The daughter and her husband are using the bedroom.

Rob I'm sorry to hear that your MIL is having more trouble. All this has to be rough on Barbara. Please give her my best and it wouldn't hirt if you gave her a hug. The tree armatures look good. Remember that trees arn't real dependent on scale like the man made stuff.

Supper is ready so I'll see you all later.

[Cederstrand]

refill, please & thanks!

Picked up some more twiggies (future trees) on the way back from the mailbox. Should be able to find a couple hundred of them. Still need to figure out what approach to use. Plan on painting them with acrylics first to give them a some strength. Would be great if I could produce a bunch of them on the cheap. But until I have an actual layout to put them on, will set them aside after base-coating them.

Spoke with the builder today and he has the house plan all drawn up. He will have them printed out Monday and ready to submit. That's pretty quick work.

***Johnboy, we do not know what the goats problem was. It went missing for a few days after we did the "bander" thing and when it returned, it was in a permanent seizure-like state.

Wife is still at the hospital waiting on a GI specialist to see her mom. Sounds like a lot of bleeding (and my wife never exagerates), so this could be something bad. She will be admitted and this will be an all nighter for sure. Dang!

Rob

 

 

[JimRCGMO]

Afternoon, Janie - I'll have a root beer float, please.

 

Thanks!

Lee, how's the vacation going so far? Did you get any rail or bus passes to go do some serious railfanning? Photos to come? Huh, huh, huh? That one boat does look the worse for the wear...

The weather here is not bad today; a little warm and humid, but the front's gone. (YAY!) I was at a 'Boys and Their Toys' rally/food thing Friday, that they put on at church each year (past couple of years, anyway). About 6:30 or so, we're getting things taken down and moved from the parking lot into the church (no, not the trucks and cars and bikes...) before the main part of the storm gets there from west of town, and one part of the front goes through with a dark, way too sharply-defined line a few thousand feet (maybe more) above, passing over us. Wasn't sure if my car would have hail dimples when we came back out or not, but fortunately it didn't. That was a dark line of something, all right. From the weather reports on the late news, the worst of the front passed to our south again this time. 

Rob, that's a tough call about the big trees near your home. I like them around for the shade, too, but as you say, if they came down, could be a mess (tm), all right. Sorry to hear about your FIL's trip to the ER again. Sorry to hear about the pigmy goat, too. One good thing for you on the house rebuild might be, the builders and contractors may have more reasonable prices, and you'll probably get better attention (due to fewer jobs competing for their time). One person's loss, another's gain, I suppose. On your Athearn Big Boy (Challenger?), given what you've been enduring lately, it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and get it (especially since you have the CFO's permission). Tell Barbara to give you an extra hug from all of us, okay? And don't be bashful about letting us know if there's something we can do.

Garry, that's a different way to try to safeguard those bridges in Iowa. But hey, if it works, sounds better than having to rebuild the bridge.

BridgeTom, how'd you survive the outdoor Mass (and the electronic mushboard)? Got that pizza ordered yet for dinner?

Oh, (former Latin student here) I learned it as:

"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spritus Sancti. Amen."

And RRNut, you're getting to be a regular 'lunch date' for those ladies... The track plan looks good - will you have hills, scenic divider or such on the layout (later)? You might need a LHS run like Dick's to increase your rolling stock some (or how much of that do you have now?).

Paul, it is good that you don't have scenery, trees, and stuff to try to get dust off of. Bet you're glad to have some of the corral stuff out now, too, even if you are tuckered out.

Alex, your Railcamp sounds like the real deal, with all those things you'll be getting to do!

Lee, I might want to know your insurance company's info (not sure that I have that much stuff, but heck, at replacement prices, that might be more than I think). Sounds much better to work with, than some companies I've worked with in the past.

Bob K. - best wishes on your audit, and don't get too distracted with Linda (though that sounds like it could be more interesting...).

Inch, hope you catch that pesky raccoon. They can be a chore to catch and/or get rid of, I've heard. They love to get into things, so make sure your doors are always locked at night or when you're gone.

Earlier today, I went by Hobby Lobby and the LHS. At HL, I got a flag frame (one you put the folded flag in after a funeral) for my Dad's flag. I need to vaccuum the flag good before I put it in the frame (my apartment tends to draw dust, it seems). I also got a couple of Woodland Scenics figures (Policemen and another - I think it was the people and pets one). At the LHS, I got an Accurail Santa Fe 50' single door boxcar kit, and some epoxy (for putting together a few WS white metal kits). I still need to go see about some lumber (probably at Lowe's; sorry, Dick, we don't have a Home Depot here...) for the next part of the layout.

Here's what I have planned for now - adding a 3' X 3' corner module, and the 2' X 4' that I already have the plywood for:

Have to give up my track next to the enginehouse (2-track, in the existing sections), where the work train is currently located, to get a second access track to the turntable and roundhouse. I'd debated about leaving that work train track unconnected to the turntable and run another track off the main, but then the turntable seems isolated from the other service area. Any suggestions on the addition?

Getting later in the afternoon, so I'd best get going for the rest of my errands. Thanks for the RBF, Janie!

Prayers for those in need of healing, protection and peace. Take care of yourselves and those you love.

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[Cox 47]

Rob those all kook like good starts to trees post some photos when you get them done...Johnboy the poor feller in the orange pick up has been waiting for the crossing gates to go up since back in November!!....Jerry

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

Hello Diner crew, Can only stay for a moment.  Cherry coke float, please Chloe.

Our prayers and sympathies to all who have been affected in any way with all the terrible disasters that have ranged at will from one coast to the other.  The Scouts who lost their lives in Iowa, really burdens my heart.  My wife and I worked in scouting for many years and have four boys as well. Cannot fathom the greif those families must have at this point.

Also in our prayers are Rob and JR. and their families with the loss of their homes.  So very glad to hear no one was injured, nor live stock either.  Rob, what happened to the little goat the other day??

Rob.That looks like fine armatures for some trees, keep us posted how that works out when you have time.  Also how soon are they going to be able to start the re-build??

Jerry:    Does that train crew block that crossing often to take a swim in that pond or get a coke from that stand there??

Inch:      Give  our best to your Deb in regard to her loss  and to Amy as well, I'm sure she will need much consolling.

Jeffery:    CN Charlie and I still don't see those trailer spaces for us in that park and you never told us how far the fishing hole is from there.  Glad to hear the report on the feet and eyes.

Would someone please post JP's email address again.   I searched for it today but didn't long enough to come up with it.    Thanks in advance.

I have an undecorated GP-40 here and today I bought off E-Bay, a set of Bi-centenial decals for a WP GP-40.  Have had pretty good luck in the past painting two GP-20s one orange and one pearlman green. But they were solid colors so this will be a challange getting the red and blue colored stripes on it properly.  Any pointers would be appreciated.  I hate decalling.

Well the wife thinks we should go out to the lake for the evening. Don't know what that will be like as it has rained here for the last three days.  Keep the rubber boots on CN Charlie.

Tom W:   Glad you are enjoying your creeper and sharing it as well.  I want to know, when your garage door is closed can you walk between it and your layout??  In the pics it seems real close together.

Well, that float was good and if I stayed longer I would have another and that wouldn't be any good for my girlish figure.

Have a great week-end all and keep smiling even though it is tough sometimes. It will help you through your problems.

Prayers and blessings to all in need.

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

The "Wobbly" just has to wobble more, all this yard work etc. is cutting into our operating schedule.

[railroadnut675]

I don't think I understand what 100% is.