Elliot's Trackside Diner V, at the diamonds

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeff: Are you playing with the heat gun again?

No. This is a P2K kit car that I left in a window too long on a hot day. The centerbeam is warped.

[pcarrell]

PC, you missed the TOPS honors today! Too much AAADDD I guess....

I know!  I was busy with the........oh, there's my coke I was drinking earlier!  It's getting warm, so I'll get some ice......that reminds me, I need to clean out the fridge!  Oh shoot, I can't clean out the fridge til I take out the trash......now where's the trash bags?  There they are, over by my........hey wait!  There's my glasses!  Ummmmm, what were you saying?

[SilverSpike]

...No way Jose, the new paints are rated for over 30 years....I won't be on this ladder at 99!! LOL

Good deal Dick ...then that means you can come on over to my house and start work on my exterior wood replacement and painting project that's been put off for two years now!

PC, you missed the TOPS honors today! Too much AAADDD I guess....

Garry, Ike sure did have a wide and long path of distructions in his wake. Glad you are up and running again!

Model Railroading Update: We went to the Great Train Expo on Sunday here in Raleigh and they had a good many booths this time around, but one thing that really got me was the number of venders who seem to price their items at twice the amount most people can afford to pay. Now my LTS Train Buddy had a section too, and I spent $140.00 on stuff from him because he is always 20% to 25% below MSRP for most items. This is a photo of Kim Parker at TB explaining something of importance to Monique, but I cannot remember what he was talking about.

And yes, that's my better half holding two items that SHE picked out! One of the two items is the Clayton County Lumber kit since her dads name is Clayton and the other is the Proto 2000 PS2-CD Cargill Covered Hoppers, because she wanted me to put some grain in my coal hoppers and I told her there are special cars for grain. Kim P said that would be great if everyone bought their kits because they were named after family members....

I also did a tasting demo on Saturday at the NC Specialty Shops to promote my new line of spice mixes to come out soon and served over 100 portions during the 4 hour event. Here is a photo of me hard at work! I served up some Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and some of my Black and Bleu Chicken. Just click the links to view and print the recipes.

Remember Duke, I'll be bringing some Chicken and Sausage Gumbo to Apex Live Steam Meet in just a couple weeks, but who is counting right!

I have also been working on my 3rd PlanIt article for the online magazine that Joe Fugate organized and is due out in January.

 

[Flashwave]

Heylo all. School's out til Thursday, It's ISTEP. and any Junior/Senior who passed in their Sophomore year can go find wsomething else to do. (Job Shadow Community Service Campus Shadow)

Flip of it, doc thinks that what mom and I  had written off as me having allergies is a minor case of Pink Eye. Yippee. Oh well, time to assemble the parts on my Genesis SD70, then screw down trucks and couplers on Lee's cars, and an LBF gon.

Jeff: Are you playing with the heat gun again?

[Cox 47]

Jeff well said when you are disabled and retired fighting boredome is tuff I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for Model Railroading...Jerry

[jeffrey-wimberly]

A 50' covered hopper that suffered a twisted frame in a derailment is on it's way to the scrap line.

[LSWrr]

Tom, What flavor Gerber's are you feeding Lowell? Nice bear shot and I'm glad your knee is improving.

 

Lee

[twhite]

Morning all from SunnyCOOLCal (at least here in the Valley).  High today is expected to be about 81 or so, with clouds and possible showers in the mountains.  Fall may actually be FALLING around here.  Sure hope so. 

Just got Lowell back from his daily injections, he's very happily scarfing up some Gerber's and 'goopy tuna', courtesy of his favorite cat food company (EXPENSIVE!).  He's actually got his tummy back, and he doesn't feel quite as bony.  Found another bug to hunt last night, so his reflexes are still in good order.  The vet re-filled his antibiotics, which are liquid, pink and according to the vet, tastes like salmon.  Little guy really looks forward to his daily antibiotics, soon as he sees the pink eyedropper, he's all excited.  Hm.  Wish MY antibiotics were pink and tasted like salmon, LOL! 

Get the stitches removed tomorrow, so my knee won't look quite so Bionic.  Or shall we say Frankensteinish.  My white count is still up, so I don't know HOW long I'll be on these intravenous antibiotics.  I am SO glad I've got full Senior Kaiser coverage--othewise I'd have to morgtage the house to pay for all of this stuff.   Lesson learned the hard way--do NOT stack train boxes partially under a glass coffee table.  Or eat bananas while you're walking toward the couch. 

Haven't done as much out on the MR as I'd like to--knee starts giving me fits after about twenty minutes of standing.  I DID pop some 'wildlife' in the forest, though.  Here's my bears, in case you missed WPF this weekend:

 

I was inspired by Grampy's terrific wildlife shots on his layout, obviously.

Still wish someone would come up with cougars, though. 

Jeff:  Really like your gravel crossing, and thanks for sharing on how you built it. 

Hoople:  Sorry Mom wouldn't let you get the GS-4.   Sure a sweet looking loco, though.  My LHS has a couple of them, and Bruce said he'd NEVER deal with MTH.  However, I've heard from some people that some of the locos seem to have a QC problem (like that's 'news' these days?).   

Oh, and DON'T get me started on Walthers' caboose kits and those #$&!! teeny grab-irons!  It's the reason I've got two-half-built Rio Grande wooden caboose kits still in their box and they're likely to STAY that way.  GRRR!  Of course, I can always get their "Platinum" line and spend more bucks than I need to.  Besides, Roundhouse came out with some Rio Grande cabeese that are almost as nice and the %&@#!! grab-irons are already installed.  Not only that, you can actually SEE them on the models.  And they're a LOT less expensive.  End of

Well, that's it from SunnyCal today.  Going to finish my tanks today (yah, SURE!) so that when I'm on my feet again (mostly) I can put my military train together. 

Best to all, prayers to those in need.

Tom

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeff, as productive as you are most all the time, if you had a backup generator, I could picture you bunkered down through a hurricane, finishing up a half dozen cars or adding more scenery to a whole section of your layout. Now, to figure how to get myself motivate that well...

Believe me, the biggest part of being disabled and retired is boredom, and anything that can relieve the boredom (in my case, model railroading) is most welcome. Most of my layout work is done on a budget of less than $30 a month. That doesn't include decoders, locomotives, cars, structures or parts thereto. That's for scenery supplies. Things like WS ground foam, WS ballast, alcohol (not the drinking kind, though I do sometimes get so wound up I could use a good muscle relaxant), glue (white, super (gel) and model), modeling clay (useful for many things) and paint (I buy it by the quart).

BTW, during Rita, Gustav and Ike I was down at my parents house working on locomotives, cars and structures using a light and soldering gun powered by their generator.

[JimRCGMO]

Morning, Diners - Zoe, a breakfast special please, with an OJ and a cup of JR regular. Thank you!

Gav, sounds like next week should be... interesting, - , that's it - next week. Good that you don't get hurricanes up your way, though.

TrainsRMe, great news - as others asked, what'll the new train area be like? Got a plan drawn up yet? Good idea to paint the walls.

PC, hope you can get back to catching up on your this week. Rest easy. Yeah, that AAADD was about right - and some of us are even more distractable than that!

Rob, hope your wife's as good of a patient as she is a nurse. Remind/nudge her to get that shoulder taken care of, pronto. Remind her to be a good patient.

Jeff, as productive as you are most all the time, if you had a backup generator, I could picture you bunkered down through a hurricane, finishing up a half dozen cars or adding more scenery to a whole section of your layout. Now, to figure how to get myself motivate that well...

Dick, good to hear Ike missed your area. Much less to have to tend to that way. Heck, you're busy enough with your house painting, looks like. Now, you're retired, right?

Around here, we have some people who are hoping to get their power back by tomorrow evening (and have been out of power since Sunday). Problem was, the electric folks from other areas (say, Texas and Louisiana, and...) were a bit occupied themselves, so couldn't come up here and help the local crews, and even in other parts of Missouri the utility companies there had damage, so our local crews are handling things pretty much by themselves. Usually, crews from other areas come and help out so the power gets back up quicker. I hate to think how long it could take in Texas and Louisiana (and parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma). I heard yesterday that the Mississippi River may be flooding some from all the rain that hit north of us. We're supposed to have good weatherfor a few more days this week (cool in the evenings, mid 70's F today) , so that'll be good.

At MRR club last night, we were laying track on the roadbed, sanding the backdrop masonite joints, sanding to taper some parts where the roadbed lowers to the plywood (in the intermodal yard, which'll be styrene sheet between and beside the rails). Our design guru Kevin checked and we have all the turnouts we need now, so next tasks will be finishing up prepping the backdrop masonite and starting the basic painting for that, plus wiring. We want to get to running trains before even all the scenry is in place.

Also got the new Walthers catalogs in last night - our LHS owner/club member picked some up at the train show in St. Louis on Saturday. Sheesh! - $13.00 with our discount...(Okay, no more ranting...) It have some interesting new things in there (that I can afford, that is).

Jerry, did your chair repair guy show up and get you running good again Great to hear about your chair getting fixed/swapped out that quickly. Now, you can get back to other things (and sleep better, I'm sure). Good idea on the circus wagon there.

DerJohn, nice work there on the 'concrete' (and pretty quick, from the looks of it). Will you be making it 'concrete' later, or keeping it that colour? The siding looks pretty long in the pics, nice length.

Lee, I'd bet those beaver ('squirrel'?) figures are from Preiser - I've kept up with WS's figures, and don't recall them putting out much in the way of (wild) animals (not counting their 'Bare Hunter' kit). Almost caught myself wondering if I could justify a rationale for beavers, but nah...

JR, hope they get everything cleared out (especially the mold) from inside your house - one minister's house here turned out to have black mold growing in the walls, and they wound up having to tear his entire house down and rebuild it from the foundation up (turned into a multi-church, community project, bit of a 'God thing' the way it came together). So make sure the workers are aware that you want ALL of that mold out, out, out!

Wolfgang, back - always like it when you post pics on a topic. Way south here in Missouri, we're probably a week or two away from autumn. Usually the trees start changing color in early/mid-October for us. Heck, by then Dick may have a foot fo snow up his way...

Uh, Sawyer, - my bad; sorry 'bout that! Switching back and forth between usernames and actual first names can get a person confused sometimes (especially when you get past 40, or 50, or...). On your game this week, just focus on doing your best, and don't worry about having to prove anything. You do your part, and if the others do theirs, you'll likely whomp 'em.

Packer, are the caboose grab irons worse than when a Kadee coupler spring goes flying?

Fergie probably is putting those kits together out on the briney blue (unless he's out chasing polar bears, of course...).

Hoping to hear something soon on the whereabouts of Terry and Teffy (in TX) and Ed. Maybe Ed's out on a railfanning trip again?  

I'll just settle in here in the window booth and get to my brunch now. Everybody doing okay  on your health and MRR'ing? 

 

Blessings and prayers for ya,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Lee: Check your email.

[Cox 47]

Good Morning All...Its cloudy and cool here this morning...I feel much better after a good nites sleep last night...I'll have a slice of Garry's Ky Ham, couple of eggs over easy, and Cathead Biscuits with coffee please...Thank You....

Jeff...Nice modeling on Highway crossing...

Dick....Be carefull up on that ladder...Looks like construction on test bench is going great..keep us updated...

Here is photo of my circus flat...the wagon is an idea I am playing around with I found a photo of a circus wagon and cut it out and glued it to a block of balsa then carved out wheels this one is a little ruff but I think I can do a little better on the next one..

 

 

You all have a good one...Jerry

 

[pcarrell]

Good morning all!

And a fine morning it is around these parts. Rode my scooter into work today and it was quite a nice sunrise. Supposed to get to the mid 70's or so today, and nothing but sun all week.

Hey, I came across this and thought I'd share this important health announcement. Please pay close attention and see if you are exhibiting any of these dangerous symptoms.


AAADD
KNOW THE SYMPTOMS!

Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.
Somehow I feel better,even though I have it !

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mailbox earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back
on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think,
since I'm going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks,
but first I need to push the Coke aside
so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coke is getting warm,
and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke,
a vase of flowerst on the counter
catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Coke on the counter and
discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,
but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed

the bills aren't paid

there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter

the flowers don't have enough water,

there is still only 1 check in my check book,

I can't find the remote,

I can't find my glasses,

and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day,
and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem,
and I'll try to get some help for it,
but first I'll check my e-mail....

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I do need to cut grass.  Thanks to Ike for letting it rain, and letting the grass grow.  I thought I was done for the year. 

It could be worse. You could be down here in Louisiana where the grass almost never stops growing. Many times we're still cutting grass in December!

[Robby P.]

Its been awhile since I have been here.  Well I see your painting the house.  I am debating to paint the garage or not.  Its not suppose to rain for atleast 7 days.  I guess I could think on it for 7 days.  I haven't touched the layout in awhile either.  I focus on more of the "weathering side" of the hobby.  But as of lately..... I have gotten the inner bug inside me wanting to work on it again.  Might try to work on it some this week. 

I do need to cut grass.  Thanks to Ike for letting it rain, and letting the grass grow.  I thought I was done for the year. 

[grayfox1119]

LEE: Yes, that was HO scale. Now I understand a little better about Sandy and the difference between a Beaver and a Squirrel. LOL LOL...I am still in stitches over your Foxes and what Sandy brought out to you...LOL. Hey, she meant "foxy" ladies ..LOL

Want to see why some of us don't get too much  done in Summer or early Fall on MRR stuff even though we are retired? Check out last week's project. I have only the north side to paint now, and this much easier side because it has a deck, no high ladder work. Why am "I" painting the house instead of hiring someone? Because the buying power of retired people had dropped 51% since 2001!!! And, more importantly, if you CAN do the work yourself, DO IT and save yourself a bundle of $$. Next question I can see coming at me, " Dick, why don't you get your house resided with vynal"? Quotes 5 years ago were over $10,000!!! No way Jose, the new paints are rated for over 30 years....I won't be on this ladder at 99!! LOL

 This is the South side of the house, the side that takes a beating on every house in the northern hemisphere.

The wife just checking on me, and wondering why I am not hanging on to something. Sorry hon, only two hands, one has a brush, the other has the paint. Luckily, no hornets this year.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I now have a nice gravel road going to the north engine house.

[rtraincollector]

Well todays the day and I'm like the kid on christmas morning that must wait for everyone to get up as I'm waiting for my Chessie freight set and my NS sd-90 engine both engines have TMCC so I finally have crew talk tower coms, elctrocouplers, smoke, rail sounds, ect. this is a big step up for me.

[rtraincollector]

RT I hope that the mold doesn't get into the place bad. After everything else you don't need that.

??? I'm confussed is there another rt here or are you getting mold confused with someone else I don't know of any mold

[grayfox1119]

Good morning, a beauty of a Fall day here today, and the long range weather forecast gives us the same great weather right through next Monday.....NICE!  And, it looks like the entire country is under the influence of a HUGE HIGH pressure system bringing the same great weather to evenyone else also.

Just got back home from voting, Primary Day here, we have a Senator up for re-election, Mr. Kerry ( you know, the guy who ran for President against Bush? ) I voted for a NEW guy, it is time we voters took control and give Washington a CLEAR message, they work for US, "WE" are "THEIR" employers. Sorry for the rant guys, but as you can tell, I have had enough of most of our politicians in Washington.

On a better note, I have finished the MRR work and test bench. I decided to add a small lip (1") all around the edge and I am real glad that I did, as it has already saved a few items from hitting the floor. Now parts big and small stay on the workbench. Here are two photos of the new area and projects started already. Sorry if they are a little dark, I need to use a larger flash unit of turn on more lights. The last phot is a shot of the nearly finished front of the former garage. I used cement blocks at ground level to attach to existing concrete basement wall. Formerly, wood went right to the driveway level, this is bad news for rot of siding and sheathing.

FERGIE LOCATION: Fergie's research ship, the HUDSON, is at N68-54', W57-18' in the southern part of Baffin Bay off the west coast of Greenland. I wonder how many kits he has built?

ROB: Glad to hear you got the cats back in control. Up here, cats don't last too long in the wild, we have too many Fisher Cats around here now. They are NOT native to New England, they were imported in the late '30's to control the exploding wild Turkey population around the newly constructed Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts. Now they are everywhere, and they can climb trees like a squirrel but are bigger and meaner than a Weasel.

JEFF: NICE job!!!!! Thanks for the tips on the road crossing, that will come in handy soon.

PC: Philip, we are now enetering the favorite time of year for you and I....FALL

Later guys,

[LSWrr]

Good morning all.

Dick, Ok so you talked with Sandy, her husband is the knowledge data base on everything he has in the store.  Sandy is a great person, but...  I went in to find a fox we looked over the rack and found nothing then she ran in the back and said here are some foxes for you...  Well it was girls flashing a passing train figures, LOL.  Close but no cigar.  I'll stop in this week and see if I can find them.  That was HO scale right?

Rob, they still look good for a model RR. 

Jeff, that's a good sized load for the gondola.

I wonder where ED has been hiding, haven't seen any fresh OJ in a while.

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 61 and clear. The high is expected to be around 80 and it'll be partly cloudy.

Since I had no internet service for most of yesterday I put some time in on the layout. I made two railroad crossings and two parts of roads. There's still more to do, as always. I also worked on two freight cars I received in the mail yesterday. Nothing major, just changing the trucks out. They had sprung trucks on them and I've always had bad problems with sprung trucks. They're real nice on really smooth track but on a somewhat rougher track like mine they tend to not do well.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      9/16/2008

Wind Chill:  60°F
Humidity:  75%
Dew Point:  52°F

So Far Today
High:  63°F
Low:  60°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  7mph NNE

Today  High: 80    Partly cloudy. Highs around 80. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight  Low: 58    Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 50s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN ! 

[Cederstrand]

Chamomile tea, please.

***Lee, they are oversized for HO, now that I've had a chance to really look at them. The ferris wheel is very close though. They should still all work fine by placing them forward from the rest of the rides. As long as the wife is happy, that is truly all I care about anyway.

***Dick, I'm happy to report that I managed to get Jambo back into the enclosed porch. Even sprayed his dreadfull looking paw with AluSpray, although I expect he will have it licked off by morning. Also re-sprayed Smitty's neck wound. At least these two cats are buddies. Sure wish they would stop getting themselves injured.

Night All. Rob

[Hoople]

YES! YES! YES!

HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS?!?!

Cowboys won against the Eagles, 41-37, in one of the best games of football I've seen in some time... Close game all the way, it could have gone either way...

On that MTH GS4, my mom wouldn't let me get it. After all that saving, nothing... Maybe next time.

Mark

[grayfox1119]

Good evening genst, just got in from Men's Monday night Candlepin bowling league, started last Monday...had a good night 99, 93 and 78 in last string, got tired.

No MRR work today doggone it, the grass needed cutting, but has really slowed down now that it is mid September. Snow, that's right, SNOW is forecasted for northernmost New England on Thursday as a cold front sneaks over the border from Canada..eh?

LEE: I called your LHS today, they know you well of course, but they could not find the beaver figures. What they did find was a "squirrel"?? The lady I talked with said it looked just like a Beaver though. Man, I am in serious doubt here as to their knowledge of animals. Beavers in no way look like squirrels!! She said it even had a flat tail. Now as you and I know, Beavers DO have flat tails, but not squirrels, and the size difference is quite considerable. So I guess it is going to take a trip by you to identify this strange animal..LOL

J.R.: Yes, we were VERY fortunate with IKE. Our water levels are high enough and we certainly did not want what happened to Chicago with record breaking rains.

ROB: Sorry to hear about your wife, lets hope that it is not too serious. As for the cats, open a can of tuna fish, when they get a whiff of that they will come running, maybe a few other cats as well..LOL.

DER JOHN: Have you used Sculptamold at all on your layout?

Those loking for Fergie, he is on the Hudson in Baffin Bay...no internet unless it is strapped to the back of a Polar Bear.

Time for bed, need to get at 6am tomorrow, wife is working the Polls checking in voters for MA Primaries and needs to be there at 6:30 and I need the car, so that means I get my butt up early.

Later guys,

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good evening. The broadband internet was down in my area for over 12 hours today so naturally I haven't been online. On the other hand, I did get a bit done on the layout today.

I got several items in the mail today. An envelope with several Athearn caboose chimney pipes in it and a box containing two freight cars. A unmarked gondola and an unmarked covered hopper.

Here's the gondola

And here's the covered hopper

Here's how I make the center of a railroad crossing. I set pieces of waxed dress shoestring against the inside edges of the rails then use bits of modeling clay to close the ends and to hold the string in place.

I then use a 2 inch plastic putty knife to apply some wallboard joint compound in the space between the strings.

After the compound has set I pull the strings out and instant flangeways. They'll look better once they're trimmed and painted.

I also did a straight one.

And I put in a couple of road sections.

The new gondola is already being put to use. It has a load of some very heavy concrete wall sections.

[Railfan Alex]

Hey!

Finally finished my crapload of Monday homework. It never ends!!

Too bad, school almost got canceled, because there was no power, but then I found out MY SCHOOL'S STREET had to be the one hooked up the the emergency hospital line...

[LSWrr]

Evening all,

JR, that is good news sorta, I hope you don't get too much weather in thru the windows.

Der, how do you keep all that plaster from cracking?

Jerry that is good news about your chair, how did the nap work out for you?  (hum, I think he's still sleeping).

PC, last job was tracking vessel movements and I had a work cell phone.  The boss decided the cell phone cost too much and they could do the same job by having an officer answer the phone instead of me.  In less than 24 hours I had my work cell phone back, the officer couldn't believe how many calls I got each day on an active track.

The only damage here was all my tomato plants were blown down.  The wind at 60 mph out of the south bent over the hoop things then the wind switched out of the north at 60 mph and bent the hoop things the other way.

Rob, those look like a sweet deal, how big are they?

Gav, A hurricane is like a 193 khm wind hitting your house from the north for 4 hours then shifting to the south for 4 hours with 304 mm of rain every hour and possible hail/lightining mixed in.  If you live close to sea level you may expect water up to your chest in your living room because the sea is forced inland (tide and wind combination).  Not to mention the flying deprie of cows, horses, cars and parts from your neighbor's property.  I lived through 2 while I was stationed in Texas. 

Garry, glad you made it unscathed (for the most part) by Ike.  We had a little taste here in Ohio last night, only about 4,000 people are still without power I can only imagine the mess you have around your house.

Rob, sorry about the Mrs. Shoulder.

Lee

[Paul W. Beverung]

Evening Gang: John got the big field across the track bailed. We only made a total of 42 bales out of the 17 acres. The lack of rain really hurt. We don't use fertilizer since it runs about $450 per ton here. If the rains had come when needed we would be looking at a thrid cutting now but I guess two is going to be it. John is going to cut the neighbors field tomorrow and it looks like it is better, I hope. After that we'll head out to Johns place and bail it. The problem is that it is 35 miles west and hauling the hay back here is getting to be very expensive.

Ike was an unusual storm. It was only a cat 2 when it made landfall but it was huge in area. The surge was very high and it really wiped out Galveston. In traveling inland it should have lost power fast but it held on. Strange things are happening. We really didn't get any wind or rain.

Jerry I'm happy to hear that your chair got fixed. Have a very pleasent nape.

RT I hope that the mold doesn't get into the place bad. After everything else you don't need that.

Well today as far as I'm concerned was a dud. I spent most of it over at the daughter's house waiting for the Direct TV guy to come and install the system. He showed at about 3pm and the kids got back around 4:30 to relieve me.

It's time for this fellow to head for bed.

Good Night All