ELLIOT's Trackside Diner VI: The Full Meal Deal!

[Hoople]

 Good morning all.

How about some pancakes?

It's still pretty cold over here in Seattle. I'm enjoying the weekend now, had loads of homework this week and many nights staying up until 11PM-12AM to finish it all on time...

In model railroading land, cleaned off the layout a bit, well half of it at least. I got some trains going, and supposedly I'll be going to the LHS today for a long-awaited raid. Hoping I'll find some good stuff when I go. 

Looks like the cakes are here.

Mark

BREAKFAST & LUNCH (and maybe dinner) ARE ON ME!

[gear-jammer]

Hi, Mark.  I wondered what you were up to.  Everyone else should be heading  in for lunch by now.  Is the sun shining up your way.  We should reach 60 this afternoon.  Larry and I are heading to town for a motorcycle part, groceries, and a adapter for the badger 350 sprayer.  Our LHS survived the flood, but is a smaller scale.  Are you playing football?

Sue

[der5997]

Kile:  Where's your photo stored? The code you need to post pics on the forum is [ IMG ] then the address of the file for the photo, then [ /IMG ]  Note that there is NO SPACE between the [ and the I, the G and the ] ; the [ and the / ,and the G and the final ]  I had to put those in there to post this, otherwise the program would think what I wrote between the two sets of [ ]s was an address and would have hurt itself trying to find it!

I store my photos on Photobucket (www.photobucket.com)  It's free, and generates all the codes for you. In fact, when you click on an [IMG ] address in Photobucket, it even automatically copies it for you, so all you have to do is hit Paste (I use Control+V for that) and it's in your post!

 

Does this help?

[C&O 2-6-6-6]

Thanks for that.  Ill give it another try with the IMG link.  I also use photobucket

Here is what I did this morning.  Its not MR related but were in the trackside dinner.

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[C&O 2-6-6-6]

Now I got doubles.  What am I doing wrong

[der5997]

Dunno, not had that happen before. Tell us what exactly (step by step) are you doing, and we'll see if any Diners can figure it out. Are you seeing two full photos for each one you posted?  I'm getting the dreaded red X for the first one then two of each of the follow two photos.

 If those are Canada Geese they must be awful tame to let you do that. When I was in High School in England there was a long walk from the campus to the river where we had the rowing club. It was across a flood plain called Port Meadow.  One day I was returning to school and heard a whoof whoof  whoof sound behind me, getting louder. A pair of swans flying at about 5 feet passed by me about 10 feet away to my right.  They looked HUGE! That was awesome!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

C&O 2-6-6-6

Now I got doubles.  What am I doing wrong

It looks like you're still trying to use the HTML line. You need to use the very bottom line and no other. here's an example:

[ IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/proudIndian/P1010142-1.jpg[ /IMG]

I put a space into each of the IMG statements so you can see how the line should look. If I take the spaces out I get this:

 

[CSX_road_slug]

Evenin' all,

It's been raining buckets here today in Md. As a result of that, my 10yr-old daughter's soccer game got canceled,  so I found myself with a little bit of extra time to devote to train-related activities.  Part of it was spent putting some more details in my engine terminal. But I also found $45 in my PayPal account that I totally forgot about.  So I put it to good use: went to MB Klein's and got a Walthers' Merchants Row #1 kit and a White Tower Hamburger stand.  I needed those two items to complete my Business District scene.

But more importantly, I discovered that one of the guys at Kleins lives close to my neighborhood - now I'll have another potential operator for my layout!  So I guess this means, time to clean up the trainroom [again!] and get things as close to 'ready' as possible.  I've never hosted an op session in my entire life, so this should be interesting...

CapeJim, that sounds like a world-class laundromat - surfin' the Net while waiting for your clothes to get cleaned.  Sorry to hear your previous on-call night turned out the way it did.

derJohn, I finally got around to perusing your layout pix on Photobucket. You've come quite a long way with that thing these past couple years, can't wait to see your intermodal crane once you've finished it.

 

[JimRCGMO]

Evenin', Flo - I'll have a hot fudge brownie ala mode, please
              

and a cup of coffee. Thanks!

Tom, good to hear about how well folks there have been treating you due to Lowell. for them. You're lucky that the loco didn't derail (if it was a bug your Yellowstone squashed)... Sent you the 'portrait'.

Ken, great job on the Snyder cranes - that'll be useful, since I have a couple of those to assemble, and now I know what they're supposed to look like when I get them done. (Doesn't guarantee that mine will look like that, but y'know...) On my laundromat, I find that when I take the laptop, I have to watch closer, or the wash cycle's done before I notice it. Usually for the dryers, I'm sitting close enough that I can hear the sound difference when one of the dryers stops. Kind of handy.

DerJohn, you are an excellent researcher, from all the stuff you've turned up to build your crane! Maybe I can get you to track down info when I need it for my 1950's RR details...

Duke, looks like you are doing a great job on the coaling tower. Main problem I ran into when planning my layout (and future expansions) is that I don't have room for three tracks side-by-side, so I will be going for my 'big' coaling facility with the Bors Coaling Tower that Model Power makes (with a lot of weathering, detailing, etc.). That, and my smaller facility will be the Durango Press one with the coal bucket lift. Really basic stuff, that one!

Attaboy, back to you, also! Sounds like great fun, trying to figure how to violate a few of those physics laws we were taught in school (like it being impossible for more than one object to occupy the same space at the same time...). At least with all the installations and reworking around the house, you won't need to do that for a long while (hope not, anyway).

Inch, loved your story! It's actually written by someone else, though I'm not sure even Snopes.com knows who:  http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/howtaxes.asp Pretty accurate, though!

Jeff, great work on the roof of your coaling tower! How'd you get the shape deformed? Blowtorch, a second or two in the blender? Inquiring minds want to know. You reminded me that I want to vacuum my apartment's (hot water?/electric and hot water?) baseboard heating units. Turned my heat on Thursday evening, and got that 'fun' smell you were mentioning.

Lee, if it's any consolation for you and our Great Lakes neighbors, I think Monday night we're supposed to hit a low of 29 (F). First frost of the season, should be. Of course, by then you folks may be getting lake effect sn*w.

Mark, I think you need to have the holes in those socks darned pretty quick (after you extract the cat)! Funny pic. 

Kile, those should be some good eating for a bit, huh? Do you get to 'de-feather' and clean them, or do you get any help?

Today I got some more of the spade terminals for wiring the layout, but couldn't find a barrier terminal strip with wide enough spacing (well, at the R-Shack in the mall). I'll need to check the other 'Shack' in our adjacent town (Jackson), which is more like a 'hobbyist' RS. That, or swing by a local electrical supply place. I think my soldering iron is on the way out. Very old one, maybe a Weller, but I have another newer iron/pencil I may try before betting another one. Both are about 25 watt, and I was looking at a bigger wattage model at our Lowe's today. While there, I picked up a 6 gallon shop vac they have (for $40), some smaller attachments (should be good for cleaning dust off the layout - has some really small attachment openings), and some spade terminals. Where's a good place to get those 'suitcase' connectors, anybody? Need to do some more figuring on how to manage the details of wiring connections (to the feeder wires, for DC initially, and also for the power pack to the buss wires). Probably will be doing some sketching of how to attach a bracket for the power pack to the benchwork, too.

Well, need to get home for the evening and vaccuum the baseboards with my new shop vac. Got this strange urge for power tools.... (Grunt, grunt, More Power!...) Hope everyone continues to have a great and productive weekend.

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JimRCGMO

Jeff, great work on the roof of your coaling tower! How'd you get the shape deformed? Blowtorch, a second or two in the blender? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

All is revealed in a thread I just posted 'Disused coaling station - photo intense'.

[Cary]

Well Thanks for all the welcome backs. I was not sure if anyone was going to remember me or not.

 Well I dont know if you guys remember that I moved to California after my son was born so he can be raised around his family. I got a job as a conductor/engineer with the BNSF. I was working with them for almost 2 years. I was cutoff and had no work so I had no choice but to look for another job. So now I am getting ready to go to the U.S. Boarder Patrol Academy.

 I am still upset about the rail road job but things happen. I am glad in the fact that I am not there because while I was working I took the fun out of the hobby. I did alot of Remote Control Operator so it was like having a life size train set with an unlimited amount of cars in the yard.

 I worked in L.A. at hobart yard, San Bernardino yard, Barstow yard was fun, My favorite was working the road from L.A. to Barsow. Going up the Cajon Pass was great and never gets old.

My son is growing like a weed. He's now just about 2 1/2. The wife is doing good. No more surgery, and spending weeks at a time in the hospital. I remember talking with some of you guys from hospital rooms. Well those times are over. Everything is going good for me.

 I am happy to see some the fellas. I kinda missed you guys. I dont know why. lol

I'll head out for now check back in soon.

 

[Paul W. Beverung]

Evening Gang: The gas well is back on line. That means that I may have some MRR funds to look forward to.

Not much MRRing today. About the only thing I did was to disasemble another pair of truks for painting. I need to woek out the springs for the rider cars. The show cars ( those are the ones no one is going to ride on) need softer springs then the rider cars. The problem is getting springs that will give when the car is empty but support a person when someone is riding. A real challange for sure.

I mowed the well sight weeds today. Right now I need to hit the showers. The dust and pollen was not too bad but was still there and I can feel it on me.

I did find 18 golf balls in the field. There is a banker that has a house on the hill across the road that hits parctice balls into the field. We've picked up 15 gallons of balls so far. No cows or calfs hae been hirt yet. I don't know what would happed if a cow or calf would happen to swollow one of them but I don't want to find out.

Well I'm going to head for the showers.

Good Night All

[twhite]

Evening all:

Jim: Got the e-mail.  Thanks so much for re-sending it. 

Sue: You asked in WPF if there were any other pictures of my yard at Deer Creek--there are several if you click onto the Photobucket link below my signature.  Thanks for saying it looked 'functional'--I kind of layed it out with a Wing and a Prayer, LOL!  But it kinda/sorta works for me. 

Well, had a VERY interesting day today.  Buddy of mine was taking his mother back to Reno, wanted to know if I wanted to come along.  Sure.  Didn't have anything else to do.  He has a 2005 Audi sedan, very smooth riding German car.  We went up I-80 which roughly parallels the old Donner Pass line of the SP, now UP.  Fall.  Everything up at the higher elevations was turning just BEAUTIFULLY, especially the Aspen and Poplar that line the South Yuba canyon.  Gorgeous drive.  Got to Reno, did a little gambling, I won $100 and quit.  BTW, didn't see a train all the way up.  If you know me very well, you know how much I grouse about UP throwing all of their freight up the Feather River Canyon and fairly well ignoring Donner Pass, which is about 80 miles faster over the Sierra.  UP says it's because they need to 'bottom out' the tunnels for double-stackers.  Hm. 

So, anyway, on the way back from Reno--lurch, lurch, ka-WHACK!  Car went berserk in the Truckee River Canyon, my buddy just kind of blinked and said, "Why do I think the transmission just went out?"  Here we were, midway between Reno and Truckee.  Well, seems that Audi has a double transmission that you can change from Automatic to Manual, so he tried that.  It was okay at 45mph, but by the time we hit Truckee, we knew that we had a very wounded German car on our hands.  Pulled into Truckee, called Triple A to see if anyone up in that area worked on Audi's.  Nope.  However, there was a Triple A towing company in town.  Found out that towing the car back here to Carmichael would cost $800.  My buddy and I just kind of looked at each other.  Then he called his Farmers Insurance, found out that if we paid the $800 up front, they would reimburse him.  Which was very cool, since he had no credit cards with him and I had to call my company to find out my balance.  Ah, fun! 

Towing company pulls up, this young Rumanian driver gets out, looks at the car and says that he has another car to pull out of Prosser Lake, it will take him about thirty minutes.  Can we wait, and he'll tow the Audi back to Carmichael.  So we take this strange drive out to Prosser Lake to get this other guy's car out of the drink.  Pass the other guy on the highway, seems he got his own car out of the drink. 

So we load the Audi up, head over Donner Pass to home, to the tune of $800 dollars, which the Rumanian towing guy cuts to $600  because while heading over Donner Pass, he gets a call from his boss telling him to pick up a car in Roseville that someone in Truckee needs hauled back home so it doesn't have to be full price. 

BUT, since we were stuck in Truckee for about two hours, what did I see?  SIX--yes, count' em, SIX UP freights roll through town both east and west.  In two hours!  I'm standing by the old station (where the public parking lot is) and mention it to another guy watching trains as intently as I am.  He grins and says, "Oh, UP throws them all through here in the afternoon.  Three or four in the morning, plus the Zephyr if UP lets it run on time, and then it's just a big parade from mid-afternoon to after dark." 

I was amazed.  "I didn't think UP was throwing much of ANYTHING over Donner Pass,"  I blinked. 

"Yah, everthing that isn't a double-stack," he shrugged.  Then he laughed.  "Hell, if UP wasn't such Pansies about running over the Hill, they could probably fit the double-stackers in here, as well."

Kind of made me feel good, LOL!  And coming down the Hill in the tow-truck, in late afternoon, I saw about four more UP's in either direction between Soda Springs and Emigrant Gap.  All I can say is that UP had better hurry up and replace that 10 mile section of removed double track between Emigrant Gap and Cisco Grove, or they're going to have one WOWSER of a traffic jam! 

And that young Rumanian fellow was just a hoot and a half.  We had a GREAT conversation while my buddy sat in the back seat and mumbled about the disasterous day.  I told him it could have happened between Truckee and Colfax, and there's NOTHING there for about 60-odd miles except forest. 

All in all, quite a day.  But I sure saw a lot of trains.  Of course, I left my camera at home, natch!

Best to all, prayers to those in need.

Tom

 

 

[Hoople]

 Evening all!

Still pretty chilly. Sue, it is sunny, but not for long. High today was 54*. Low is 38*.

How about some onion rings and a coke?

 

Yum.

Sue: I haven't been in because of homework and the like. Yes I am playing football, but our season just ended. I played 1st strength tight end on our team, and got 6 touchdowns this season. Good enough for me.

 Jim: Yeah, everytime I look at that pic I laugh. If you want more funny pictures, I've got plenty more. And even some videos, too.

Twhite: Looked through your photobucket album. Amazing work, your layout is easily my favorite. Gotta love the Rio Grande and Espee... Superb bridges and tunnels... I really liked the construction of the town album. It was neat to see how it formed.

Well I'll catch you guys later.

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[LSWrr]

Good morning,

Jim, BTW there is a “recall” on the larger RIDGED shop vacs.  Before cleaning the base boards you should visit the company’s web site.  They want you to add a blow by valve to protect the engine (it’s a free part).

I went to LHS yesterday, I kinda know the people that own the place and I can tell tensions were a little high.  I guess everyone is feeling the economic pinch around here.

Hoople, loved the dune cat (I added it to my collection) I read the Dune trilogy and DUNE messiah when I was in JR High – High school.  When I was in Kuwait living in a tent city in the dessert the USO had the books and I read them again.  Sitting on a dune reading a book, and the locals are using the words from the book makes it that much more meaningful and you can appreciate the indirect story the author wrote.

I went to KMART; all they had in 1:87 scale was 4 KW modern semi-tractors and a Caterpillar bull dozer for $4/ea.  The same vehicles in the LHS were $12/ea.  How do they justify the mark up?  Oh, I did find pipette size glass eye droppers.  2 in a pack and one has a bent tip.

Not much Model Railroading this weekend, I did clean up the train room a little for the operating/working session on Thursday.

Ok, well I need to get my things together I’m going to the Median fairgrounds for the train show today to pick up some ballast.

Lee

[Robby P.]

Bring on the susage biscuits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, and some sweet tea.

Not much going on my way today.  Right now its sunny,  but calling for light snow tomorrow night and Tuesday.  I think its to early for that stuff, but maybe thats still the N.C. in me. 

I probably won't do much on the layout today.  Its Sunday, and that means football.  Gotta watch the Steelers take on the Giants.  Thats going to be a goodone.  Alot of hard hitting.

Well I guess I should make a list for Tuesday incase I does do something, and I can work on the layout.  I was thinking about putting a small farm in a corner of my layout.  I guess I could do that.  Never had a farm.  I guess I could look in some old mag's and get some ideas.

Well everybody have  a good one!!!

 

[Cox 47]

B-----U-------M-----P !!......Good Morning all...Its sunny and 53 here this morning ....I'll have biscuits and gravey and plenty of coffee please..Thank You...You all have a good Sunday.....Jerry

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Sorry folks, no photo today. My internet is acting like the Polish air force today. It's down more than up.

[CNCharlie]

Good Morning Diners!

First of all I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words on the loss of our little Jamie last week. It really meant a lot to me. He was a popular fellow as evidenced by the cards and flower arrangements that arrived last week. We are slowly adjusting to his not being here but I think Pippa, our other Westie, is having a harder time as she keeps looking in all the rooms for him.

The weather here has been unusual to say the least. I think we've only had one night with a light frost. We even have a few impatience plants still going and it doesn't take much frost to turn them to mush. That will change this week as it is supposed to go down to 18F on Tuesday night. Right now it is about 40 and the wind is 30 mph gusting to 45!

I'm about to go downstairs to tackle a decoder install in my Mehano 2-10-2 that didn't go to well. I put in a TCS decoder but it just didn't work. I bought a Digitrax decoder yesterday and so I'll soon find out if it was the decoder. At first I thought that the solder point on the can motor was too close to the frame and that was causing a short but I'm not sure. Just hope no magic smoke appears.

We had a train show here last week and I picked up a few things. Got a Blueprint kit for $5 and finally found a '55 Chev. I can't believe how few mid-'50s cars there are considering how popular the transition era is. I even had a look at a few N scale layouts and must admit they did look nice. I'm actually thinking of getting a few pieces to see if I like or can even work with something that small. I blame my wife as she went with me and said  they looked really nice and why didn't I get some so who am I to contradict the CEO.

CN Charlie

[Cary]

Morning fellas,

 Thought I would pop in and say hi.

[Packer]

Just stopping in again. Seems like you guys have been busy.

Earlier this week I got 2 used athearn BB SW15s in the mail (my first athearn BBs btw). Suprisingly the powered one runs really nice and quiet. I painted the walkways and step edges the right colors. I haven't painted the handrails yet. I plan to add the cal scale detail kit, LEDs and DCC/sound (dummy gets sound only decoder) to the units. My concern with the pair is the dummy is rather light, so IDK if it'll pull the amount of cars I hope it will (I'm hoping for at least 12)

My C424 project is on hold because the SW15s should be pretty easy and my GP35 project is almost done. Another reason why I'm putting the C424s on hold is because the apint won't come off. (it's been in pinesol since wendsday)

[egmurphy]

Good afternoon sports fans,

Found my way to the new site and, based on the questions regarding orange juice shipments to the diner, I figured it was way past time for me to drop in.  Not much new down this way.  I haven't done anything on the layout in so long that I can't remember the last time I touched it.  I still try to get in a bit of railfanning now and then.

The orange grove is coming along nicely.  We're just starting to pick the new crop.  The mandarin oranges are the first of our varieties to ripen, and they are just now starting to be ready to pick.  Traditionally down here the end of October is the start of the mandarin orange harvest, so we're right about on time.  Looks like it will be a pretty decent year for the grove, so we should be able to supply the diner with juice and fersh fruit for several months.  I need to upload some photos of the grove to some online photo host so that you can see what it really looks like.

We were back up in Newfoundland again this summer. Unfortunately it was a quicker trip than we wanted and I only had a couple of opportunities to see anything, not that there is that much left of the old 3'-6" narrow gauge Newfoundland Railway.

There were a couple of old diesels in parks in St John's that were badly in need of care and new homes. I believe, but I'm not sure, that one was in Bowring Park and one in Pippy Park. In any case, the folks up in Clarenville (an old division point) raised enough money to get one moved there. Here's number 900, an NF110, built in 1952 (delivered in 1953) by General Motors Ltd of Canada, and the first road diesel in Newfoundland. She's been cleaned up and given a coat of paint in the original as delivered CN paint scheme. Could still use some body work, but at least they've stopped the major deterioration and she sure looks good.




Here's a head on view, showing the narrow track gauge.





The other unit was moved to the Railway Coastal Museum in St John's. It's also an NF110, but until they finish the repainting (or until I get busy and check info on the Yahoo Group for the Nfld railway) I don't know what number she is. Also repainted in the original CN paint scheme.

She has a mail car and (what I think is) a diner behind her. That is the old station/museum in the background.  I seem to recall that Fergie posted some photos of this locomotive a while back after one of his visits to St John's.





Blank number boards. Has to be between 901 and 908. I'll find out sometime.




Here are a couple of shots of those two cars behind the diesel in St John's. First is what I believe to be a diner. (Corrections and additional info welcomed). Looks like they have just done exterior cosmetic restoration. I have no info at this time if they have any ideas of restoring the cars inside.





And here's the mail car.





Here's a better shot of the museum building. This was built as the headquarters of the Reid Newfoundland Company, and new St John's station, in 1903. The Reid Newfoundland Company was the firm that built (most of) the railway and operated it up until government takeover (by mutual agreement) in 1923. It was refurbished a couple of years ago and now houses the archives of the City of St John's on the second floor, and the Railway Coastal Museum on the main floor.





At the back of the museum these two old railway cars have been built into the museum. Inside they have been opened up and reworked, and now present a diorama showing sections of different railway cars, including a sleeper, coach, diner, kitchen and mail car. The museum in general is very well done, even if it doesn't have a lot of rolling stock.





That's about it for this year. Maybe I'll have more time next year. But in reality, I've already been to the two main railroad museums in the province (St John's and Corner Brook), and seen several of the displays of rolling stock (Clarenville, Bonavista, Avondale, and Whitbourne), so new pickings are getting slim.

Last weekend we went on another railfanning trip with our usual group down here.  While I've loaded the photos from my camera to the computer, I still have a lot of editing to do before I can do a writeup of the trip.  But I'll leave you with this link to YouTube.  It's a video that one of the guys in the group put together with short clips of what we saw during the 2 day trip.  Fran and I show up quickly at the 2:00 minute point.

http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=FxJkr0kO3Fc

 

 

That's about it for now.

 

Best regards

 

Ed

[LSWrr]

Afternoon all,

Howdy Cary, I see we have another BM in the group, even though you appear to be a flying variety.

Welcome back ED, the whole diner has been just short of the scurvies waiting to hear from you and get some of your oranges!

Oh I finished watching the RFD-TV show I had on the DVR, PRR steam in Ohio and there were more Oscar Myer Hotdog box cars in the 1952 footage.

Lee

[Hoople]

 Lee:(and everyone who likes funny pictures) speaking of Kmart...

 

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon to all, just stopped by to see if everyone is having a great Sunday. Clear skies here today after a wild evening with heavy rains and winds gusting to over 40. Most of the leaves are off the trees now, except for those Oak tree leaves.

ED: Great Museum up there in NF, that RR station is a real beauty, I wonder if that will ever arrive as a Laser Kit to build?? What a project that would be.

Lasagna for supper I hear, a new recipe from RYAN, that means Cajon sauce, ALRIGHT!!!

I off to the dinner table ! Wake up Duke, time to eat...

[Flashwave]

Well, I think I;m back in play. Didn't take as long as mom and I feared it would to get reset. We'll see if it worked.

Did I win something? No game that I know of.  

Garry: I just realized what that steamer was. :ast I saw he, she was shoved in the back of the shops with no track to support her weight. I;m glad to see her under a roof.

[gear-jammer]

Good afternoon.  Did I hear that Ryan is cooking?  Set me a place, please.  Larry should be in shortly, too.  Sunny & windy here and about 65.

Hi, Ed.  Haven't  heard from you in a while.  Thanks for the railfanning photos.

Well, no painting on the coaling tower this weekend.  We opened the badger, and discovered that we needed an adapter.  After two days, and many stores, all we discovered was that we lost another LHS.  I guess we will order the part.

I think that I will study my 3-in-1 kit that I plan to kitbash into a background building.

We did clean the garage enough that my painting table will be free when we are ready.

Later, Sue

[JimRCGMO]

Afternoon, Janie - nice sunny day, so long as you don't have to go out into the wind, anyway. I'll have a cup of coffee and wait for Ryan's lasagna to get done in the oven, please. Oh, what the heck - and a root beer float in the meantime, too, please. Thanks!

Jeff, thanks for posting the link to your coaling tower topic (and for all the pics) - great work. Sure makes that Plasticville built-up look totally unlike its former self (way better!).  

Cary

I am happy to see some the fellas. I kinda missed you guys. I dont know why. lol

 

Dunno, Duce - must've been the coffee and the occasional wild parties in the Diner, I guess... Of course, now that you have a kid at home, you don't need our parties to keep you up, eh?

Tom, glad you got it. Sounds like you had a lot of fun, in spite of all the monkey wrenches that were thrown into your and your buddy's afternoon. Yeah, it's only Murphy's Law on not having the camera along. Had you remembered to take your camera, your buddy would've gone at a time when there wasn't as much traffic, and the railfan guy wouldn't have been there to fill you in, either. Now you know if you want to get some railfanning in at Donner Pass, though.

Paul, good to hear your pump's going - kind of funny that they'd start it back up, with gas prices down, unless they're figuring that OPEC's threat to cut back production will make it more profitable for U.S. production. Can you sell off the golf balls to a local driving range, or back to the neighbor across the road, for a little more MRR money?

Lee, I'll check the company's website on the shopvac, but I already put it together and vaccuumed the tops (and what I could get to of the sides) or the heaters. Mine is a smaller model (6 gal., 3 HP), and the next-to-smallest one they had in the store. Don't recall it having ridges on the outside, though, as I said, I'll check when I get home. Thanks for the info.

And I think I was prepping my taste buds for Ryan's dinner, as earlier this afternoon I went by a reception (for the co-worker who got married a week or two ago on the beach in 'Bama). Another co-worker cooked crablegs, shrimp and the boiled veggie fixin's (the cook used to live in Louisiana for about five years, and threatens to move back there to retire). I think the crablegs were Alaskan but not totally for sure (box said 'Caught wild' - does that mean that they could see a Russian trawler in their part of the ocean? ). Plus, they had fried chicken (white meat) and lasagna as well. I'm pretty stuffed already. I'll probably be waddling off into the sunset after Ryan's dinnerfest...

Sue, sorry to hear you weren't able to get your painting done (and that you lost a LHS, also). I haven't looked at my spray paint setup, but I have another Badger kit still sealed in plastic wrap. I need to get one of those MicroMark battery-powered paint stirrers and a filter for the intake tube (need to order, actually). But by the time I get to painting stuff, it may be too cool out on my deck (my painting 'booth'). We'll see.

Ed, nice photos from your trip, and thanks for ensuring that we don't all come down with scurvy. It'd be neat to see your photos of what an orange grove looks like.

Mark, that's a fun one with that letter - looks even better with the 'logo' at the top.

I'll settle in the booth until the lasagna's ready. Yum!!

 

Blessings and a warm spot for you tonight,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[twhite]

Mark--

That is one of the funniest things I've read in years!  I guess I live a sheltered life, I've only been to a K-Mart twice that I can recall, but I can just SEE something like that happening.  The last time I was there, I was looking at a DVD I was considering purchasing, and some very fat lady with six kids came up, grabbed it out of the bin right in front of me and yelled, "THAT'S MINE!!!"   I couldn't argue, her BO just about slammed me to the floor. 

Needless to say, I haven't been back, LOL! 

Now here is a Subliminal Message to you from me:  YOU MUST KEEP DUNECAT!   Repeat it like a Mantra about ten times a day.  Always sign your posts with the photo.  IT MUST BE DONE!   Lowell would have loved him.  Spooky already does, I think.  At least she was pawing at the screen last night when I read your post.  Dunecat Controls The Spices, Spooky Controls The Cabeese.  Together, they control the Universe.

Jim: I'm still recuperating from that episode in Truckee--I haven't seen so many trains go through there in such a short time since I was a kid and it was Espee Cab-Forwards, LOL!   It's nice to know that the Original Transcontinental main line over the Sierra is still viable--and quicker, despite the 2.2% grades.  Think I'll plan some railfan excursions up to my favorite places along the line, now that traffic has surged.  Kudos to UP--frankly, I was beginning to think they had their brains firmly implanted in their pants for a while about Donner Pass.  Now that they're finally shoving traffic over there, I've got about six favorite spots I used to hang out at when I was younger, and I'm planning on trying them out again.  See what I get.  Not that the Feather River Canyon isn't a great spot for train-watching, but there are spots on the Donner Pass line that are just SPECTACULAR!  It's a ridge-route, not a canyon one, and it's rugged as all get-out.  Who knows, I might even learn to LIKE Armour Yellow and Gray, LOL!   However, of course, my MR will still be FIRMLY Rio Grande and Espee Big Steam, by golly!  I mean, hey, I'm still a kid at heart, LOL! 

Sue:  I popped another photo of my yard on WPF, but if you missed it, here it is again.  Like I said, it's laid out on a kind of Wing and a Prayer, but it really works well for me.

Best to all, prayers for those in need. 

Tom