The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LilRob1974


Good news guys. I believe I've finally found myself. Luct, should we continue to look for you?[:D][;)] Not much hap'nin with me.

Robert

Congratulations and Yippee![:D] No, you stay here, Rob! We've sent the dogs out to find Luct.[;)]

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

Morning/Afternoon everyone

Just checking in and getting breakfast.

Zoe - some OJ, a Mt. Dew, Sausage and a tall stack please.

I got an Idea done yesterday for a staging yard and now I just have to get it on myh web page.... it will be a couple inches below my layout with a spur track running down to it.

I'll see you all a little later.

[Anonymous]

Evening all

Quiet day today, no seminars/lectures (they're every other week on Tuesday, which is good!). Have been researching Nikita Kruschev today for tomorrow's seminar - I'm supposed to be arguing in favour of the man but can't really find much evidence in his favour - most of his efforts made the mess the USSR was in worse!

Have been watching the snow - we got a decent dusting this morning and more recently, problem is just as it starts sticking it stops coming down, then melts. Annoying as I have a set of skis (eBay bargain) sitting in my room awaiting some decent weather, still need poles though!

Wardrobe construction is currently "on hold" awaiting the clearing of the train room/guest room. We need to get rid of some existing furniture in there, move dad's existing wardrobes into there, then build his new ones - I'm wondering how long it'd take for my parents to notice that I filled the "guest room" wardrobes with train stuff...

I also recieved an email saying the order I placed 2 weeks ago is now on the way - replacement parts for a Fleischmann diesel I picked up on eBay with damaged end steps and the wrong type of couplers, and a Piko DB coach that looked interesting - checking out their "Hobby" range of cheaper models with a view to maybe buying a loco or two from them in the future - they have some very nice-looking locos at good prices so hopefully the coach will give an idea of what quality to expect.

Robert, regulations seem to be the bane of steamers the world over. Was woken up at 2am a couple of years back by an appalling noise coming from the railway line, turned out they were removing undergrowth to allow steam locos to run without the risk of fires, but rather than making a neat job by trimming the foliage they were using a flail to smash it - looked truly awful for the following few months. I notice back in the days of steam they kept foliage under control without needing such drastic measures, then again they spent money on railways over here back then!

Brian, meant to mention it yesterday but forgot, those Disney narrow-gauge models you mentioned were probably LGB - they've been offering a fair bit of Disney equipment for a few years now, some of which is probably quite accurate (not seen the real thing but the models look convincing). www.lgb.de has details of what they do - there is an English-language version there too. Hope this might be of interest!

Bye for now

[Anonymous]

HUFF, HUFF, PUFF, PUFF, Sorry, HUFF, Cloe, but HUFF, HUFF, someone has sent the dogs after me.........

Ohhh! noooooo! heree they coooooommmmeeeee!!!!!!!

must ruuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Anonymous]

I just posted my Pictures from the train show on the sunday photo fun section.

Here are a couple I took yesterday of my train.

[Anonymous]

Hey again.

Does anyone know where I might get a tender for a rivarossi 2-8-8-2. Or does anyone have one you don't need.

Luct, runnnnnnnnn.....they're catching up......runnnnnnnnn![:D][;)][swg]

Robert

[JPowell]

Afternoon all -
Forgot to tell everyone of my adventure on Sunday... Discovered there was a Train Show/Sale at one of the local Am. Legion Posts by my place. CFO gave me a allotment of $50. After browsing the sales and layouts (4, of which one was up for raffle (N scale built by a club, approx 4'x8') 3 chances for a buck... ) Ok...now we all know I'm into Horribly Oversized and not Normal.....but hey, I chipped in a buck for 3 chances. No, I did not win it. Although, I did get 8 cars and a Book (Jeff Wilson's Basic Trackwork for Model Railroaders ( get this... one dealer was selling it for cost, one for a dollar less and a 3rd for a whopping $12 even. Of course I went with the bargain) all for less than $40! Yeah... I feel as though I made out ok. A few of the cars, I'll have to change the wheelsets as they are rusted... I'll stick though off on the ground by the 'car' shop to show signs for work..... Well all, got a little over a hour to go for the day.
Anyone recommend any hobby shops in San Antonio to visit? Ill stop in tomorrow for my mid-morning cup o' joe
TTFN
JP

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: JP: Anyone recommend any hobby shops in San Antonio to visit?

Try this link from over on TrainBoard. The thread mentions at least one shop, although it doesn't sound like anything special. Also has a couple of places to railfan, and a club layout recommendation.
http://www.trainboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/9/t/005206.html?


btw, one of the posters is a guy named Flash Blackman. He lives in San Antonio. I think he may be a pilot for Continental, but not sure. He has quite a layout. Here's a link to his Rail Images album:
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/robertblackman

You might try getting in touch with him before your trip. Maybe you could arrange a visit. I know he has visited with other TrainBoard members, so the idea wouldn't be totally new to him.

Enjoy the trip.

Ed

[bjdukert]

Hi all,nothing for me Zoe I don’t want to spoil my supper.

Jpowell-The book by Jeff Wilson is a good one,I have it as well as both by Lynn Westcott.

LilRob-I think I still have an extra tender for your 2-8-8-2.I will have to go through some boxes to find it,it is part of a deal I got way back when.I bought 2 of them for $5 and made one good one.

Paul & Greg-Seems that most of the farms around here have gone to the big round bales as well,must be easier and no mow.JimCG-Haying was a lot of work when you took it from the baler and stacked on the wagon,wasn't it??

Talk to you later (Y’all) Just thought I would throw that in to see how it sounded.[:D][:-^]

Duke

[Anonymous]

Duke, thanks. If you find it, send me an e-mail.

Robert

[bjdukert]

Ed-Wasn't a lot of dedication,just better than tossing and turning all night,knowing what had to be done when I got there.

Duke

[Anonymous]

Hi, all

I think I've managed to loose the dogs.

Flip - I hope you won't mind, I going to post that wonderful bit you sent me on aging. It is too nice to keep under wrap.

So here it is:

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half.
You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . .

YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! . He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40.

Whoa! Put on! the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 2 1, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.

And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST
92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle! . " An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. And if you don't send this to at least 8 people - who cares? But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each day

I hope you'll all enjoy this and I got it from Flip.

OH!!! NOOOOO!!! The dogs are back!!!!!! Please call them offffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!!!!!

[trolleyboy]

Good afternoon guys.Lil Rob all I can say is "Who let the dogs out" sorry bad joke but aren't I a cunning linguist[:O][:O][swg][swg] Der glasd the weather missed you of coarse the worst thing I've seen in regards to the snowplows is on my way into work on the 403 4 of them and a sander spread out accross the entire[censored] highway.Also John I've used paint pens from tamiya to paint the road lines their yellow and white are both good and not to glossy don't know if your local HS carry them if you want to try one or two let me know and I'll pick one(them) up for you and send it poney express.I just got in from the museum we had to pick up some product for a couple of train shows were doing in early march we thought we would have to shovel our way in so my F-I-L and I packed shovels but the GM had been there ahead of us and plowed the parking lots probley with our old D-8 cat bulldozer. We thought of taking one of the cars for a run but when we saw how much snoah was in the flange ways and switches we decided to wait untill spring/[:D]Well I'll try to pop in later gotta get [dinner] ready for Heather see you soon. Rob

[Noah Hofrichter]

Howdy folks, Can't stay long, had to stay after school to work on project, had two gazillion e-mails to look through, 8 pages of several different forums to look through, and I got homework yet. Got to go, see ya!

Noah

[SilverSpike]

Good Afternoon All! I will have a tall glass of that fresh squeezed OJ please!

Been busy the past few days both at work and at home. I am getting more and more projects at work now and the help desk cases have been pouring in today! Whew, I need a break now.

Had a Cub Scout parent meeting last night to hammer out the future of the Pack, finally got five parents to take over the outgoing committee positions. Now the pack can move forward for another year at least.

I finished up the threshold project for the back door to the train room last night, another one of those mini-projects that comes up in the course of the major project, and makes the major project much larger than you originally thought. But it had to be done, the old threshold was rotten, no point in putting down new floor tiles on top of rotten wood!

I will have to make this post short today, sorry for not using quotes today!

Ed,
Nice pink passenger train, I suppose that would entice a few female’s to join the club! And thanks for the update on the 10,000-post contest. Thanks for the accolades on the article, I still need to call that guy back!

Fergie,
Nice photos of the structures, and great work too! Thanks for sharing.

John (Nova Scotia)
Sorry you have to wait to read the article, thanks!

TEFFY,
Thanks for the congratulations!

Tom,
Yea, the train room floor is finally finished, now on to the pantry and kitchen. I hope to finish both by this weekend.
Yea, and on the plants and gardening, I am sure Mother Nature has at least one or two more cold snaps in store for us before the spring planting season kicks in. Our planting zone here has it that the last threat of a freeze is in late Feb., but I have seen some low temps the first week or two of March.

Duke,
I am shooting for mid April to begin some benchwork building on the layout in the train newly tiled train room. I have so many other projects going on now, like having to get around to doing the taxes soon (refund predicted for future layout expansions).

Noah,
Great photo of the Week! I love that snow-covered rail, awesome photo!
Brian,
Disney huh! We visited the California Adventure back in 2002 and it was definitely a different place than Disneyland! Too bad about the Western Pacific Zephyr Locomotives, what were they thinking? Speaking of Disney, I heard apiece on the radio NPR Morning Edition this morning on my way to work about Michael Eisner, seems he was a bit of a tyrant. He would fight tooth and nail and step on people’s toes, he apparently took the “Magic Kingdom” literally as if he were royalty, as in the King of Disney. Very interesting report!

Scott,
Sorry to hear of the possibility of moving, that can be a drag. But you never know, the place you move to could be better. Keep you chin up and hope for the best, it will all work out I’m sure!


Robert,
Congratulations, the search dogs are completed now?

Matt,
Too bad about the snow, a trip to the Swiss Alps maybe?



Well, times up, gotta go for now!

Ryan

[JimRCGMO]

Good evening, Coffee Clubbers! Chloe, an OJ smoothie, please.

Noah, stop in when you can stay longer (with your homework, that might be the weekend, however). Got to get that homework done, though. [:)] Nice photo on your site![tup]

Luct, you should be safe for a while - I tossed about six slabs of meat out on the roads coming in here. That’ll keep the dogs distracted from you for a while, and they may forget about you and go looking for some more meat at the butcher’s down the block after that. Just circle the other way out when you head home from here... [;)] Gotta lose those loose dogs, y’know.[;)]

Ryan, I understand some of the difficulty getting enough people to ‘volunteer’ to help with clubs and organizations. Glad you got some willing (sort of?) workers. It really works much better once there are enough people involved to help out. Lightens the load for everyone. My [2c]. And yeah, you’d better fix that threshhold on the door - otherwise the outside mice/rats would come in and maybe chew on your benchwork, wiring, scenery, etc. Keep the varmits out - just ask Teffy!

Teffy, how are your furry pets coming along? Have they left any requests for better feed? [swg]

Scott, hopefully (as Ryan said), maybe the new place will have even more space for your layout building. In the meantime, work on what you can in the meantime (mini-scenes, structure and/or rolling stock kits, detailing and weathering the same, and such). In one of Iain Rice’s books, he talks about having little interchangeable mini-modules of structures/scenery for places in a layout. If you want to read some about it, it’s in “Small, Smart & Practical Track Plans” (Kalmbach), pgs. 28-29. Let me know if you can’t locate it locally (I have a copy of it that I bought at my LHS).

Well, NCIS is on, so I'll be back later.

Blessings on your evening,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[fec153]

Ed- At the Texas State RR did you meet a husky,bearded guy named Ben? Or was too far back to remember?

MaryAnn-[bday].

TrolleyBob- Located MT.Dora trolley. Will try to get photos this weekend.

Luc- sent it to a number of clubbers but your way gets all. Good going.

Time to shower. Another 12hour plus on the clock day.

Night all,
Flip
[|)][|)].

[JimRCGMO]

Whoops, Chloe, my turn again - smoothies, coffees and such are on me, it appears! Another new page on my watch.

Flip, if I keep this up, I may end up with your nickname (but hopefully not just yet)! [;)]

I'll see everyone later this evening.

Blessings, and enjoy your beverages,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

bumpity back to page one

[der5997]

Goodevening Coffee Shopers: Bob was in when I came in but mysteriously disappeared.[:)] I'll have a Chinese Green tea please Chloe, no, wait..make that a hot chocolate - the sugar free should still be in the cupboard near Greg's cookies.

CapeJim:

QUOTE: We've sent the dogs out to find Luct

TrolleyRob beat me to the song, but my observation is Now it can be answered!

QUOTE: Who let the dogs out? Who? Who?

[(-D]

Brian:

QUOTE: I got an Idea done yesterday for a staging yard and now I just have to get it on myh web page.... it will be a couple inches below my layout with a spur track running down to it.

Is the yard a visible part of the layout? If so, even in Normal you will need to think about lighting. And also, the “few inches” need to be sufficient to get your hand in to reach the inevitable mishap.[sigh] Check out the railimages link in my signature. There are some shots of my attempt at such a shelf yard.
Nice shots of your train BTW, thanks for putting them up, or is that UP[:D]

Matt:

QUOTE: Have been researching Nikita Kruschev today for tomorrow's seminar - I'm supposed to be arguing in favour of the man but can't really find much evidence in his favour - most of his efforts made the mess the USSR was in worse!

He did however demonstrate the essential oriental nature of Russian society with his shoe banging incident (at the UN?). For a more ancient example of much the same thing from an oriental source, try Psalms 60:8 “…upon Edom I toss my sandal….”
As a possibly more helpful observation, in regards to the use of nuclear weapons in a MAD exchange at the hieght of the cold war, wasn't he the one who remarked "God would never forgive us"? Quite something for a top official of an atheist regime to say!

QUOTE: but rather than making a neat job by trimming the foliage they were using a flail to smash it - looked truly awful for the following few months.

A universal blight ,I fear. Not restricted to railways, but used over here by the Highways Department too. Makes one wish for “The Revenge of the Ents!”

TrolleyRob:

QUOTE: Der glad the weather missed you of coarse the worst thing I've seen in regards to the snowplows is on my way into work on the 403 4 of them and a sander spread out across the entire highway.

Maybe they were driven by combine harvester crews from the prairies! [:O][(-D]

QUOTE: Also John I've used paint pens from tamiya to paint the road lines their yellow and white are both good and not to glossy don't know if your local HS carry them if you want to try one or two let me know and I'll pick one(them) up for you and send it pony express.

Thanks very much for this idea, and the offer. It’s too late to try for this road, as the lines crew were on the case this afternoon. One was a trainee, so don’t look too closely when I eventually get a pic.[:I][:D]

Well, that's it for this evening, Goodnight all, and God Bless.

[egmurphy]

Good Evening Coffee Clubbers,

Hate to keep mentioning it, but the weather was pretty good down here again today. [^] Partly cloudy, warm, and breezy. Cooling off now. Getting closer and closer to a/c time.

Worked a bit with my ground throw switch stand problem. Needs more work. [;)]


Brian, sounds like you had an interesting few years at Disney. I’m probably one of the few people left who have never been to Disneyland, Disneyworld, EPCOT, or any of the other Disney parks. But one of my fraternity brothers from college wound up being Construction Manager for at least part of the EuroDisney project.

Your trackplan seems to be coming along nicely. I’m assuming you’re going with the third one on the railimages site?


Scotty, good to see you in here, even if briefly. Are you talking about a local move or long distance? At least if it was local (just a new house) you’d be able to keep your hobby shop job.

QUOTE: LilRob: Ed, did you see my thread "Steam still lives". It was about the Texas State Railway.

Missed it first time around. That was one of the days we were traveling. But I went back and read it now. I’ll assume that was the engine we rode behind, but I’d have to find some old photos to be sure.

QUOTE: Flip: At the Texas State RR did you meet a husky,bearded guy named Ben? Or was too far back to remember?

Not that I recall. Nah, wasn’t too far back to remember, was it? When did I go? Remember someone I met?? I can’t even remember what engine we were behind!!! Halfsheimers in full swing here. [(-D]



Noah, I agree with the others. Nice photo of the snow train.



Quiet day today here in the Coffee Shop. Definitely seems like a conspiracy to me.


Hasta mañana

Ed

[Anonymous]

Ed: No nice temps up here, I've had the heater on high in the tractor for the last couple of days, but by the time this project is done it'll probably be A/C time in the cab.

Noah: Doesn't homework get really monotonous sometimes? I'm like you, usually have high grades and get the work in on time, but as busy as I've been out of school, I'm starting to get Senioritis, which is bad since I'm just a Junior.

LilRob: Glad you found yourself, now all you gotta do is find that tender, seems like something is always lost doesn't it? Now where did I put that remote....

Woke up this morning to cold 40 degree weather, with a bad case of fog, you could see nearly 100 feet, but only if whatever you were looking at had headlights. By the time I got out of school it was letting up a little, and I saw the AT&L sitting on the track warming up, the same place it was early in the morning, with all of its lights shining through the fog, I only wish I'd had the camera with me for that, it was one of those rare shots. Speaking of shots, I got me a skunk earlier, he didn't stand a chance at the end of a 20 gauge full choke.

See y'all later,
Greg

[trolleyboy]

Bump. Hey folks how are you this fine evening.Chloe I think I will sample some of John's hot choc as long as it has marshmellows.Don't worry about the lines John I swear that sometimes the real roadpainters tend to weave a bit some parts of the 403 have extremly wide or narrow lanes.I'm going to finally get into the trainroom tomorrow so hopefully the foam will fly andsome track will become permenantly attached.Going to fly for now. Rob

[Paul W. Beverung]

Hi All; Well had a good day today. Work went fairly well even if I managed to find more that I need to do. I got the chisel plowing done in that field. Now I have to disk, hit it with the fertilizer and disk again and it will be ready for the sprigs.

Bob; It was good talking to you this afternoon. By the way if anyone asks you had emailed me to ask about taking a group to Six Flags and getting a behind the scene tour. Got that? Speaking of Biggie Smalls. I must have missed his post that you mentioned. I went back looking for it and could not find it. I agree that he had some good ideas and seemed like a good modeler. He just needs to get rid of that 2x4 on his shoulder.

Flip; Mary Ann says thank you.

Jim; Loading hay in short sleeves, OUCH. We gave up square bales when it got so hard to find people to haul it. That and when we could find someone it cost us a lot and the stacking was not always good. With the big bales you just back the tractor up to the bale pick it up with the forks and take off. No fuss or muss.

Duke; Yes they are easer to handle and you can store them outside. There’s an idea for you more modern modelers. Have a hay lot with round bales.

Cry Havoc and let loose the dogs of war. Whooops, wrong dogs. I’m in it now.

I don’t remember who it was that put me on to doing my replies on Word, but thanks again. It is really great. A bit wordy at times but nice.

Noah; I like the pictures of the snow train. It’s been over 30 years since I’ve been up to North Freedom. I like those lamp posts on the platform.

Well that is enough for me. Probably for you guys too.

Good Night All

Paul

The Duluth, Superior, & Southeastern

“ The Superior Route “

[trolleyboy]

Hey it's just me again found us on page two.Ed maybe your right this is a conspiricy to pu***he 10000 to the summer.For what it's worth the museum is a better place in the summer.We have more cars operational and the weather is at it's most pleasant.Anyone heard from *** hope he made it back from his snowmobiling trip alright.Anyway since I've bumped us up again I'm off to bed.[zzz][zzz][zzz]Talk to you al tomorrow. Rob

[TurboOne]

Hey clubbers, came in from the trenches. We had so much rain this weekend that the water almost come over the patio. Quite a few neighbors had there addons flood. I had a five foot waterfall coming off the patio roof. The backyard was 5 inches deep, I was waiting for the fi***o start showing up. Spent most of the weekend digging a trench, and making sure it stayed clear. Backyard is down to mushy, instead of pond. We also had a dam crest in North San Diego, it is spectacular.

Haven't had much time to catch up here, but I will when the rain slows down. More rain coming.

Take care all

Tim

[lupo]

Morning Yall !
just enjoying my 4th pint of innerbodycoating posing as coffee, inside temp around 80, outside around freezing but sunny today here in the netherworlds !

Noticed some topics got really heated and deleted the last days, maybe some people has been forced to stay inside for a wee bit too long this winter and need to take in some fresh air ! and maybe those that water against the wind must not complain their pants get wet !

Turbo Tim talking about wet stuff: sounds like serious weather issues you have in SWCAL ! seen it on the news this morning !
I noticed you are from San Diego, when I visited a few years back there was a very nice trainstore somewhere in Horton Plaza, is that still there? it had quite a large collection of trains all scale, including Thomas, my son then liked a lot !

Flip and Der: thanks for the non MRR mails that occasional find their way to my side, a nice distraction from the usual business stuff and other "things" surfacing in my mailbox ! keep 'm coming!
[:D][(-D][(-D]

Ed: [8D] about the 10,000 post: contest: is the bet still open? can you put me up for July 4th ?
i saw that was not taken, and it is an easy date to remember.
[:p]

[red p]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TurboOne

Hey clubbers, came in from the trenches. We had so much rain this weekend that the water almost come over the patio. Quite a few neighbors had there addons flood. I had a five foot waterfall coming off the patio roof. The backyard was 5 inches deep, I was waiting for the fi***o start showing up. Spent most of the weekend digging a trench, and making sure it stayed clear. Backyard is down to mushy, instead of pond. We also had a dam crest in North San Diego, it is spectacular.

Haven't had much time to catch up here, but I will when the rain slows down. More rain coming.

Take care all

Tim

Sounds like you need to build an ark!Its kinda soggy here in the mid west too.

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's a beautiful morning in the mountains today. Tuesday turned out to be a wild day weatherwise. severe thunderstorms and very high winds off and on all day. Not too far to the south of us they had severe hail, up to tennis ball size in a few places. That we skated, and I'm glad. It finally cleared off yesterday morning.

I got started on the taxes earlier in the week. Got all the information pulled together and organized and got the tax program loaded on the computer. Then I went to download the updates and couldn't do it. It would get so far in the process and lock the computer up. I've been trying to contact their "help desk" for about a day now, unsuccessfully. I'll keep trying until I do. This isn't much fun.

I'll get in touch with Phil and Amy sometime today to see what their schedule is looking like for the rest of the week. Hopefully they'll have time to swing by here for a cup of coffee. Bill M. is going to try to get up here too. It should be a lot of fun.

Ed, the mirror at the end of the river is already installed. It's set into a curve so it looks like the river continues to curve around out of sight. The bridge will help disguise the area above and behind the mirror. I like the John Wayne quote. It's very true.

Der, I've used cardboard strips and plaster cloth before. I think I like foam better because it's easy to change and rework as you go along.

Scott, Hi and welcome back. Too bad about putting the layout on hold temporarily. Where might the possible move be to?

Paul, I hope MaryAnn had a wonderful birthday. What have you found out about the truck overheating?

Teffy, I couldn't agree more with your comments about people's attitudes. Makes all the difference in the world. Especially about something like this. It's a hobby and it's for fun. It seems to me that an attitude like that would take a lot of the fun out of it.

JP, good luck on the townhouse. I'm glad you found one with room for a railroad.

Flip/ Luc, I really enjoyed the piece on how to stay young by G. Carlin. There's a lot of truth there.

I'd better go for now. It's going to be a busy day.
Have a great day, everybody,
Tom

[TurboOne]

The sun is out. Repeat, the sun is out. The trenches held, and the backyard is not a pond. Woo Hoo. Part of the fence blew over, but that is it for us. And the fact the dog won't go outside as it is too wet. We are already up to 56, come on sunshine.

Sink holes all over town, and cliff homes are the wrong thing to own right now. But thanks to all who wrote to check on us. Tornados never came down, just funnel clouds so far.

Let the sun shine in, let the sun shine in.....Fifth Dimension [8D] [8D] [8D] [8D]

Tim