Elliot's Trackside Diner V, at the diamonds

[jeffrey-wimberly]

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

[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.

 

[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. 

[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!

[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....

[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

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Lee: Check your email.

[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]

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.

[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

[LSWrr]

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

 

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

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

[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

[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?

[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.

 

[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?

[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.

[JimRCGMO]

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.

Aha! I knew it! Actually, that spending lots of time on your layout is likely why your skills are so good - you've had more practice at painting, weathering, etc. You da man, Jeff!

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[Geared Steam]

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.

aaaaaaeeeeeeeeee boy dat sum nice luziana cookin you got going dere son. Make us proud Geaux Tigers....  

[sleeper33]

evening gang

  just a tea to go please

 hows everyone tonight? h

hope all are ok and well, the little cherubs are out at a place called VODKA REVOLUTION SO IN FOR A FUN NIGHT.LOL

  ill just be at the counter if anybody needs me

[Railfan Alex]

'Afternoon!

Back from school, still lots of homework...

[Packer]

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

I think so since at least kadee includes extras of small parts. I really haven't had a problem with the kadee springs, and the springs from the imitators acually will work for Kadees.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I learned through trial and error (mostly error) that installing grabirons is not my forte either. I got so aggravated I gave the kit away to the first person who wanted it.

[Packers#1]

Jim, no worries about that, lol.

I'm gonna be ready for our game thursday (our only thursday game). We sucked at practice today (as a team). Hopefully we'll do better in practice tommorow!

[sleeper33]

two posts in one day Gav's getting adventuerous

 well here a pic of the latest building enjoy

 

 

[Packers#1]

two posts in one day Gav's getting adventuerous

 well here a pic of the latest building enjoy

 

 

DPM Crestone Credit Union kit, right?

[sleeper33]

spot on mate

 just starting to model properly so working my way up

 

[twhite]

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

 

Lee

Lee: 

Lowell's a big fan of Gerber's lamb and beef.  Tried to interest him in chicken and turkey.  Uh-uh.  Little fellow is like his owner, a REAL red meat carnivore, LOL! 

Thanks on the photo.  As I said, the 'bear' shot was kind of inspired by Grampys on WPF.  He had a whole HERD of them.  Guess they're pretty sociable in Pennsylvania, LOL!  Out here in California, they're more isolationists, I guess.  Of course, out here in California, you have to remember that we're the only state in the Union where our State Flower (Poppy) is illegal, the state animal (Sierra grizzly bear) is extinct and our State Song is not available in print (THANK GOD, IT'S JUST TERRIBLE!!).   Other than that, we're just as normal as anyone else (YEAH, SURE, LOL!). 

Still want a mountain lion, though.  You wouldn't believe how MANY deer I've got in a little plastic box ready to populate the Tahoe National Forest. 

Just heard a funny thing on the local news--the weatherman was giving the temperatures for the rest of the week--clear skies, low 80's and chilly mornings, and the head newscaster yelled, "DON'T LET THAT FORECAST GET OUT, MORE PEOPLE WILL MOVE HERE!" 

He must be one of us who has the bumper-sticker:  "WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA--NOW GO HOME!" 

Jeff:  Hey, thanks, now I know how to build a wreck under one of my bridges--leave the car in the window for a couple of days, LOL!   That grain hopper looks Very Cool! 

Best to all, prayers to those in need.

Tom

[Packers#1]

spot on mate

 just starting to model properly so working my way up

 

I knew what that was because I have one, lol. I have 3 other DPM downtown buildings and two industries from them, lol.

[super cheif n]

What is up guys? My local train show has been called off because victims of Ike are using it. Oh well I'll just have to wait tell Marshall has one.