Elliott's Trackside Diner XIII

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JimRCGMO

Jeff, good to hear that things with your Mom are (possibly) not as bad as we first thought. Prayers continue anyway.

Went to Alexandria today with my father and sister to see my mother. She's regained consciousness so they have her heavily sedated so she'll sleep. She could hear us and knew we were there but it was like being in a dream to her. She's regained full movement of her limbs but is still on the 'serious' list. She's expected to continue improving. She's got a beautiful black eye! Boy is she gonna be *** when she wakes up.

 

JimRCGMO

By the way, looking forward to seeing what you do with your covered hoppers.

It used to be that I'd be greiviosly threatened about making ANY changes to my locos and rolling stock. Now people can't wait to see how I change them. You wouldn't believe how much mail I get listing suggestions.

[der5997]

 

Good evening Diners. Haven't been following things too much lately, but am aware of some recent events.  Thought you might be amused by this email exchange yesterday and today as I try to hunt down small (well, tiny really) bi-colour LEDs for single target block signals.

My opening request, having found a likely candidate on a web site catalogue.  Their "In Stock" report said there were just 38 of these puppies left. Other brightnesses of the same thing were out of stock. The company ships FED EX as a default.

I'm a new user, and I want to take the 38 EPTB1615SRQGWPRV s you have in stock off your hands.  I'm not in a hurry for these, and it strikes me as wasteful to have such an easily mailed item couriered (FED EX) So, do you mail? I'll not place the order until I hear back.  Thanks, John Wood, Nova Scotia, Canada. (Post Code B0J 3B0)

Their Reply:

Hi John,

For FedEx alternative, you may use UPS Ground to Canada as another shipping option-- 5 to 7 Business Days starting at $18.98 for the First Pound + $1.49 Per Additional Pound **

Unfortunately, in order to protect the interests of both parties USPS is not provided as a shipment option as it does not provide adequate tracking information.

Best Regards,

My Response:

Thanks:  Look at it this way.  The risk is mine, not yours. I stand to loose, if the package gets lost and is untraceable because of the lack of information, the cost of the items plus postage. That's a little north of $10.US.  Using UPS Ground, for the sake of that tracking ability, is going to cost me $18.98 in addition to the $ 9 or so the items cost. For me it is a "no-brainer" - please mail me the LEDs, at my acknowledged risk of loss. It's a win-win. You clear 38 LEDs from your books, and I get the items I need for my project.The ball is in your court. Can we do business?

Best regards, John Wood.

And their rebuttal:

Hi John,

We know exactly where you're coming from, however, in simplifying our operations by keeping track of shipments we do not offer USPS shipping services. If multiple customers start asking for USPS shipment, you can see where issues may arise especially if they hold us accountable for lost shipments. To keep shipping simple, unfortunately we will not be able to offer other alternatives. Thanks.

I guess the answer is they aren't really open for business! You'd think that they would like to have a new customer in a time of recession.

I'm off to see if I'll win one or two decodered locos on evilBay. Goodnight all, a nd God Bless. Prayers continuing for all in need of Healing, Comfort and Peace, with special thoughts for Jeff's mother.

 

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Chloe - have any cinnamon rolls left from this morning? Great! I'll have one of those (nuke it a few seconds to warm it up) and a cup of coffee, in a  Espee mug, please. Thanks!

Jeff, good to hear that things with your Mom are (possibly) not as bad as we first thought. Prayers continue anyway. By the way, looking forward to seeing what you do with your covered hoppers.

Robby, you have a better attitude about the whole thing than I likely would (especially today, but that's another topic...). Your good attitude will definitely make a difference with getting another/better job fairly soon.

Ryan - thanks for explaining about P-de-G for me. I know the one I get doesn't have jalapenos in it, and may have used guacamole instead of cilantro (or maybe they're counting the lettuce as in place of it). On the version I usually get, the onions actually seem to have more 'bite' to them than anything else in the P-de-G. Go figure! Keep encouraging Ben, and hopefully, the a**.t coach will find himself somewhere else than on Ben's team soon (REALLY SOON)...

Uh, Bama, just one question - in your episode with the a**.t coach, were there any 'assault' charges that resulted? Or did no one else there 'remember' seeing anything? (Nah, nevermind) I can understand that kind of frustration, though.

Todd - to borrow a NOTB phrase from our neighbours: "Hear, hear!" (or a big 'Amen' to that!)

Lee, I think that's hilarious that the LHS made you some 'undecorated' locos that way! And they didn't even charge you extra for the black paint, eh?

PC - nope, it isn't yet! They been keeping you busy enough at w**k lately? (Me, too..) Repeat after me - "It's gonna get better soon, yep, it really is gonna get better!"

NS Joe - no problem; I won't notice the stuff under your layout, if you don't notice all the junk around mine. Deal? Deal! Your diesels look good, too.

Ray, nice photo of the layout. I was trying to recall, have you posted any pics of your layout (vs. locos, freight cars, etc.) in the Diner before, or has it just been a bit of a while (and I need to take my ginko...)?

My w**kday was kinda 'hectic'. Started out with a trip to our most outlying area we cover, and the judge for that county was gone today. Got that finished up, then I quickly stop by the apartment to grab some roast beef slices on a dollar roll (my version of a lunch bun) and get back to the office. There, I have one 'frequent flyer' client who might need to go into the hospital, but for a lot of reasons 'couldn't', another who did need to go in (and did), and then go assess a client at a local P.D. (argument w/ex-girlfriend and he impulsively makes certain statements - which pretty well guarantee that I wind up getting called). Didn't feel like I had much of a break today, so I'm glad that tomorrow I see outpatient clients and follow-up apptmts. Oh yeah, and I still am trying to find a local resource for a client (based on the mother's recollection of someone's talk to a club or place she was at, which tells me almost nothing). Phillip, can I join you there at the window in looking for Friday?

Hey, Chloe, I'll have another cinnamon roll, please. Thanks!

Ready to go home and chill out after I finish this cinnamon roll. Saturday (payday) can't come too quickly this week, IMHO... Prayers for those ailing, needing healing or comfort (or attitude adjustment, in my case).

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[BamaCSX83]

Philip, it sounds as if you've had "one of them days".  I tell ya sir, get whatever you wish off the diner menu and as much of it as you can stand and put it on my tab.

[pcarrell]

TMarsh

Ahem, rough day Philip?

Golf ball sized hail, 70mph straightline winds. nearly 5" of rain in 30 minutes......yeah, it makes the telephone business tough!

[blownout cylinder]

Ray-Audrey wants to know how busy Miller's B&B is nowadays---she'd like to visit----

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I got 16 more done--and found three that have coupler issues... I figured on as much. Two of the cars have none---they probs rocketed out the pocket when they got dropped. Oh well. With the number of cars this puppy has I'm not into the panic stage----yet.

Well---I's be heading back into the trainroom and see how many more get done before nightfall---

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe, I'll have a coffee to go please---thankyou

[howmus]

Afternoon!

Uh, no Philip it is not Friday yet.  Almost though, I can see it from here........

I helped my son for a bit, repaired a broken mic stand (got broken at school ... my own fault), and then headed down to the basement to do some laundry.  While I was waiting, I set out a couple new details on the layout, and caught a nice shot of the afternoon milk train as it passed by Miller's Bed and Breakfast.

 

[ns3010]

Afternoon all. Zoe, I'll take a bacon cheeseburger and fries, thanks.

OK, so here's a few pix. First is the shell with the patch applied. I like printing my own patches because the numbering and lettering is crisp and sticks to the shell using only some double sided tape and a glue stick (and they're removable, so they're easy to replace.) BTW, the first two pix are from my phone, so they suck. 


Next is the inside of the loco, with it's simple wiring (two wires from the right side pickup and two from the left side go into the headlight leads and the motor.


And one more of my three TSRy locos in a consist. Please excuse the crap under the table

Jeff: Glad to hear your mom is doing better. She is in our prayers.

 

Guess that's about it for now. I'll try and stop in again later. Peace Out for now.

[TMarsh]

Ahem, rough day Philip?

[BamaCSX83]

Well all, I figured that I'd pop in and say a final hey before heading for the house for the afternoon.  When I get there I've gotta load up the air compressor and my air lines and head up to my other house (the one we're remodelling) and start on getting the hallway back together (shouldn't take long, just gotta cut and nail the panelling up).  I may stop in this afternoon with an update on the possible start of stripping the paint off my GP40-2 (since I can't really do much else with it at this point).

I'll be sitting by the window watching the trains roll by if I'm needed.

[bjdukert]

Robby

Gotta go watch the Pens vs. Redwings

Only one thing to say. GO RED WINGS

Garry

They were almost as ugly as some of those steam locomotives. (Especially Berkshires......Trying to wake up Duke!)

Surely you jest.

Best to all on sick call and those recovering

Talk to you later

Duke

[pcarrell]

[Packers#1]

TMarsh

Sawyer- I'm not selling this thing short yet, especially since as of this writing it isn't even out of the box, but after listening to Lee, you might be better off and money ahead. Who knows, time will tell. I'm not disappointed, just thinking a 40% coupon at H-L would take a chunk out of the cost of another type that can take accessories, and I think a while back I did see the Badger there. Not real sure though.

 

Todd, some day I'll get a better airbrush,b ut for right now, if it can lay down a decent coat of paint, I'll take it.

Chris- I'm using what I think is a 6 HP compressor (at least, I'm hoping it will work) that my dad's friend left at our house (I have permission from the friend to use it). my neighbor next door may have a compressor that will work if the other doesn't.

[Cox 47]

Afternoon...Its partly cloudy and 85 here..Storms headed this way this evening..weater feller on TV says up to 2 inches of rain..Farmers are having a tuff time getting in the feilds..

I'll have a double RBF please...thank You...

 

Jeff..My thoughts and prayers for your Mother..

You all have a good afternoon...Jerry

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I've been so tied up today I haven't had a chance to get in here for more than a minute or two. My mother is off the critical list. She has been downgraded to serious. She's had short bouts of consciousness but no speech as of yet. It's reported that she has no feeling on one side of her body but that may only be temporary. I had a similar thing happen to me for a couple of days after a head injury in 1980. Very scary stuff. They'll let us know if there's any change in her condition.

I picked up two new covered hoppers in Alexandria yesterday. A Santa Fe Canadian type hopper and a New York Central hopper. It of course will be patched.

[howmus]

Afternoon everyone!

Didn't even get the 'puter turned on this morning as I had to get to school to set up equipment.  What should have been 20  minutes of work ended up taking about 2.5 hours.  Couldn't get the old (antique) mixer to work through the main outputs so I ended up using the headphone out and plugging into the stereo amplifier.  Then after blasting us out of the water....  that decided to click on and off at will.  Finally found a stray wire causing a short in the speaker cables going to the room speakers.  Nobody ever soldered the wires so that they could be hooked up without have some loose wires splaying out.......  Anyway she is finally connected and ready to boogie!

Jeffrey, very sorry to hear of your mom's accident.  Hope she makes a complete recovery.  You and your family (especially your mom) are in my prayers!

My son is on his way over to work on his boat trailer for a bit, so I best sign off for now.

Catch you all later! 

[LSWrr]

Cloudy with rain and thousands of Canadian Solders (aka muffelheads) swarming the area.

Jeff, I’m glad your Mom didn’t have a stroke, but it still sounds just as serious.  We will keep you and your family in our thoughts and prayers.


On stripping plastic models I found those nylon brushes you can find in a 3 pack to be very effective.  You know the ones that look like a tooth brush for a pit bull.  The pack I bought had 2 nylon and one brass bristle brush.  The brass one was really good on metal hand rails.  I did find something interesting when I stripped my Athearn GP7’s.  I bought them back in the early 80’s and the LHS only had them available in B&O.  So I asked for him to order me undecorated ones.  A week later I stopped in and picked up the undecorated GP7’s.  I stripped them last week to paint them in LS&W colors and found the LHS sprayed the B&O locomotives black and sold them to me.  I had to soak them twice to get the black and the original B&O paint off.


Lee

[TMarsh]

Ryan- You could explain it to Ben but I'm afraid that words don't help at a time like this he probably wouldn't understand that it's the coaches problem and not his. Except YOUR words of praise for the good job. Coaches like that should not be in there coaching kids. If they get wraped up in a game so bad that they forget who they are coaching then they have no business being there. They need to be in the older groups who know what is going on. Much older. At this age it's just " I can't do anything right and the coach doesn't like me" Your coach probably does have a favorite and the kids pick up on that too. The ***(t) Coach needs to go before you loose some good kids. Sounds like the coach is living out a fantasy that he can't fullfill in the upper classes so he's the big man in the juniors. Real good coach.

Sorry about the partial rant, but my boy when he was that age, (26 now, wow time flies!) Experienced a coach just like that. Except for the paying to do some "homework". Still aggravates to this day. The League said coaches are hard to come by and either play or quit. He played but needless to say it was not a good sumer.

EDIT: Well I guess you can't abbreviate assistant. At least the way I tried. It seemed accurate for his position. My appologies to the forum.

[BamaCSX83]

As someone who has actually gotten into a fight with an asst coach over their bad behavior, the best thing that can happen is either the head coach gets a hand on it, or parents start pulling kids off the team because of his behavoir.  My situation was much the same, best friend's kid was playing and while no, he wasn't all that great of a ball player (at least his first year), he gave his all and really tried.  No matter what he did, the asst would rag him, it seemed constant, even to the point of singling the boy out after a game for a missed pop-up.  His parents were the quiet type, but supportive of him, and they'd talked to the head coach about this particular asst's attitude and the head said he'd fix it.  Two games later, no fix and I was there.  The boy did great all game, but after the game, he got railed for one miscue on signals to steal 3rd (simple mistake, first year playing, can be forgiven), well when he started in I'd had enough.  As the team broke up and the kids started heading home, I confronted the assistant.  Lets just say that it ended up with him having a broken nose and a better understanding of "constructive criticism".

[SilverSpike]

pcarrell

SilverSpike

Dad is into his radiation treatments and is doing really well with them.

That really great news Ryan!  Been prayin' for you guys!

SilverSpike

Me thinks we need to just keep the switcher on the couplers with the engine running...

I think we have one thats perminately assigned to us now.

Hey, I was thinking of you last night.  I grilled some boneless, skinless chicken breasts last night.  While they were over the open flame I squeezed fresh lime juice over them, then just before they finished, I added a half slice of pepper jack cheese to melt a bit.  When I pulled them off I added a little peco de gallo over the top and served.  I couldn't help but think of you as I did it!

 

PC, thoughts and prayers are always appreciated and welcome!  Your grilled chicken sounds really good too! Used to sell a Southwest Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich similar to what you just described.

JimRCGMO

Ryan, welcome back - and sounds like you must've been w**king overtime and then some for some time. Hey, fill me in - I have got (at local Mexican-family restaurant (which is also a family restaurant) chicken chimichunga which comes with Pico de Gallo - but there're a lot of things on the plate, and I never could figure out which of it is the P-de-G. I do recall there being 'mashed beans'(?), guacamole, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, (brown?/fried?) rice (and maybe something more). So which is the Pico de Gallo of all that? I'm not very knowledgeable about Mexican food, though I do know that I like that particular dinner offering.

 

Hi Jim, and thanks for the warm welcome!  Pico de Gallo recipes differ depending on the region or restaurant but your typical pico is a combination of chopped onions, tomato, cilantro and jalapenos mixed together and served on the side with many Mexican dishes. It has the similar chunky ingredients as a salsa but without the tomato juice or tomato puree.

galaxy

WB Ryan! Good to see you back in here, great that you found the new place so well. Sounds delicious. My cooking has gone pretty flat and bland and boring lately. Trying to loose lots of weight{20-40 lbs}. So, plain piece of 4-6 oz meat, 2 tablespoons of plain starch, and about a cup and a half of veggies or salad. And the weight is not coming off. {Course I gotta watch out for snacking on potato chips and cheese, can't seem to give those up}.

 

Hi G! Thanks! Yeah, the snacks will add up quickly!  I find when I loose the most weight it in combination with an exercise plan too!

TMarsh

Hey Ryan, welcome back. Thanks for the recipe. I looooove shrimpies. Mmmm

Glad to hear some Fathers are doing better.

 

Hi T!  Glad you like the shrimps! and thanks!

Cox 47

Ryan....Great to see you back!!..we have missed you...Prayers for your Dad....

 

Hi Jerry! Thanks for the welcome and for the prayers also! 

My apologies if I left anyone out, thanks everyone!

Jeff glad to hear that your mom and dad are doing better! 

Anyone here coach or have coached junior or little league baseball? Ben's team lost again last night and he took it really hard since he had a few missed balls in left field and the assistant coach was yelling at him to get in front of the ball. One of the hits was a fast grounder that went between the 3rd baseman and short stop, it must have been going 100+ mph, anyone would have missed it I am sure. Then at one of Ben's at bat's he hits a grounder into center field and gets 2 RBI's for the team and a double for him and the assistant 1st base coach yells at him because he said Ben's head was not in the game for hesitating to get onto 2nd base, which he was still safe anyway.  Ben even stole 3rd base but was left stranded when the next batter up struck out.

The worst part of it was on Saturday they had a really good practice and the asst coach gave the players an assignment to watch at least 3 innings of MLB on TV and write down as many baseball "situations" as they could, the one with the most situations would get $10.00. Ben was the only one who did the assignment and found 15 different situations, he said it was fun and learned a lot and I was proud of him too. But it seemed like the assistant coach ho gave the assignmetn was surprised and also kind of brushed it off like it was no big deal that he was the only one to turn in the assignment. Did not give Ben much credit either, and asked him if he used the word "situation" in his answers, he was the only one to turn it in so it did not matter.  Coach still owes him $5.00. Then he rags on him all night long on mistakes but gave him no compliments when he did good things.

Monique talked to the head coach and found out that he has gotten 5 "damage control" calls on the assistant coach in the past few weeks. Hopefully the head coach can fix the team, right now they need all the support they can get and a very critical assistant coach is hurting more than helping now. 

You all have a great day! 

Brazilian Steak  for lunch today! 

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

  Morning all.

Chloe,  I'l have a double order of potatoe pancakes with pure maple please.  HC. to chase.

Jeff,  So sorry to hear all the unfortunate things that have come your way as of late.  But rest assured things do happen in threes and your three are up, so it should be clear sailing from here on..   Your family is on our prayer list.

Robby,   I wish you and all other who are suffering because of this darn recession, our sympathies and wish you all goood luck in re-establishing employment of your liking. And hope it is soon as well.

Rob  (Cedarstrand)   Also very sorry to hear about your leg,  I can feel for you as I am having alot of trouble with my hips this year.  After doing some raking a month ago I have been lots of pain that doesn't seem to want to go away.

Ryan, (Silverstreak),   My thoughts and prayers for your family as well, and everyone else who is on sick call or in need.

Jerry, Glad to hear you and Sallie are getting out more now.  You folks must have been getting "Cabin Fever" after that winter and lousy spring..  Great improvments there on the IS. always great watching what you are doing. 

BridgeTom,  Yes, I haven't forgotten you either. You are indeed on the prayer list. Hope all goes well for you there.

Beautiful Spring morning here even though it did get down to 0c last night.  That is about 8 degrees lower than average for this time of year for a low.  But right now it is bright sunshine, no wind, no clouds an absolutley great day for some railfanning, but here I sit at work and thinking "what am I doing here", I have retired from four jobs after 49 years of working and that darn work just keeps finding me.  Or am I just a sucker and have a hard time saying NO.  But I think "NO" is coming close as I need more time or I won't get the LM&E even close to being finished in this lifetime.

I see BlueHills showing up on the forums again.  It appeared that he must have been away for awhile or doing some seeding or something..   Glad to see you back Kevin.

CN CHARLIE,  I thought you sold that money pit, and now hear you are going back out to polish it's bottom again.  What's up there?

Anyone here planning on going to the convention in Edmonton this year???

Has anyone heard anything from Fergie lately?.  I know I don't get to read all the posts but I usually ran into some of his, but that was awhile back.

Lots of great work being done by alot of you. Really look forward to WPF to see whats shaking.

Well I had better make it look like I am earning my keep,  "SO THAT"S ALL FOLKS" as bugs would say.

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

[BamaCSX83]

Hey Robby, my prayers are also with you on your financial situation, I remember back in December when I lost my job at the local Chrysler dealer, it wasn't easy finding something, but like you said, you want to work, and that's what people are looking for in today's job market.  And I've learned, if you want to work, then something will come up, it may not be what you "want" to do, but it will be work, and you will be paid for it.

[Robby P.]

Good morning.  Its a warm morning, and storms will be coming in later.

Seems like some bad news has been coming in the diner lately.  Well I think its time for the bad news to leave .

Thanks for the comments on the hopper.   On a 1-10 scale, I give it a 7.  Not one of my best work.  Maybe I can do a few more.  I also sold a couple of cars from the layout.  So....I will have to replace them.  Just trying to get some cash in.

As far as the unemployment.........Well I can appeal it but no point.  Just for $700 a month, I just don't think its worth it.  Plus I'm wanting to work.  The wife called her dad, and he will loan us $3,000.  That will pay them back ($720), pay our taxes($800-$900), and get the car inspected (the car needs brakes, and two tires ($200+).   After all of that is paid, we will have about $1,000 left over.  That gives me a month or so to find a job.  I put in about four apps. yesterday.  It will all work out in the long run.

Jeff, sorry about the bad news.  I'm sure everything will be ok.   

Well everybody I gotta run.  I will pop in later today.

 

[BamaCSX83]

Jeff, prayers are with your mom while she's on the road to recovery.  Well guys, I think I'm going to start making "real" progress on my GP40-2.  I've decided that the very least I can do is get the shell off, and get the weight out from under the dynamic break housing, and get the whole shell into some alcohol, or maybe just some straight paint thinner and get the paint stripped off the bad boy, then I can toss a light coat of primer on her and at least be 1, or 2 steps closer to "modernizing" my engine.

 I'll have a tall glass of milk, and biscuits and gravy, please.

[ewl01]

Jeff - That does sound like better news.  Like you said, cautiously optomistic.  Still, shows promise.

I just stopped in for a coffee and a roll to go.  Been too busy with work and things... well, probably like everyone else.  Running into some snags with the parents estate issues for starts.......

Monthly meetings mean little home time for a few days.

I did catch a few pics of all the great detail and weathering that's being done.  

Got to go, Eric 

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning Everyone--

We are currently at 9C with a mix of sun/cloud. Had a non existing shower show up this morning togive us the 15 minute monsoon thing then it left. Going to a high of 19C then to a low of 5C tonight. We're going to be seeing highs this week in the upper 'teens low twenties pretty much until the middle of next week by the looks of things---with showers in there too.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeff- Good thing it wasn't a stroke but we'll keep praying for her health---

Robby -I can never figure these bureaucrats out. They seem to do strange things just for a lark sometimes. And they'll get people into situations where they're not supposed to just to get a job. Of course, the poor guy ends up piling on another job s/he can't do--and not because of not trying. BUT keep on plugging away, sum'tins bound to work out!   AND that car looking real good!!

Jim- At least if my wheels go south I can FIND most of those. I used to live in a place that had a brown 'Rocky Road' berber carpet----you could not find anything in that mess--

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to be doing a little bit of gardening today then into the trainroom to do up some more of those cars. I tested the ones I finished yesterday and found no coupler issues---PHEW!!

Tomorrow I'll be starting the 3 day work week then it'll be 4 off then work 4 and get 3 off---

Chloe, I'll have a coffee and a tea biscuit please---I'll be sittin' at the corner booth--

[TMarsh]

this letter address head indentation thing I got going is really annoying.

[TMarsh]

Good morning!

Jeff-Good news update on your Mom! I'm sorry now I didn't check in last night or I would have known sooner. I'm praying for a full recovery.

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy please. Coffee in a T&P mug thank you.

After thinking about what Lee said about the airbrush, I had almost talked myself into looking into one at H-L and waiting for another 40% coupon. But, I went to Harbor Freight anyway, you know just too look. I found this other brush and it was cheaper, but I said no, I guess this is a sign and I'll get a different one. Then I saw the right ones and they were on sale for $15 United States money so I said "this must be a sign to ignore the other sign" So I got the brush and hose for about $20 + taxation (and as I looked around, no representation was present). I figure I'll deal with the 1 bottle and the cup until I get so good I need a whole fleet of 'em.

Barry- I don't know if you have a Menards up yonder, (like Home Depot), they have this nifty little compressor with a pancake tank about 10 inches across, or whatever that is in cm, for like $45 U.S. If I didn't have my regular compressor I would have given the hobby cash an excessive hit.

Robby- Very nice job on the hopper. That bites about the unemployment. Maybe if you talk to someone else at the state and explain what happened, you can make payments. Even our greedy yet broke state isn't all mean and I know people who have owed for one reason or another and made payments. And not real big ones either. They'd rather get the money slow than not at all. After, of course, you try Jim's idea about seeing if you can keep it.

Lee- Of course I signed off to leave after my last post and didn't get home ‘til late. Then went almost straight to bed so I didn't see your response about the broken bottle ‘til this morn. Oh well. If it works for a while without mis-haps then I guess it'll still be worth the $15.

Tom- I just put a screen door up myself. The instructions weren't quite, how do I say, sufficient on mine. The box consisted of 4 circles I believe, and in these circles were drawings and under them the captions. After finding the particular line that was written in English, I read...., and I paraphrase 1(being first circle) Measure space. 2. Assemble door 3. Install door 4. Install closer. Now putting up a storm door is not rocket science and I know we just went through this instruction thing earlier, but it would have been nice to at least know how far apart the bracing had to be to mount said door. I had to rip a 2X4's into two 1X 1 ½'s for the door to mount to our older style door and without said distances I measured a new door set and installed. Too narrow . Moved them out a bit and now, OK but too close to one side. I will have to move the whole door about an 1/8 inch to get it right. All it had to say was door opening so many inches. Ah, instructions, one extreme or the other.

Sawyer- I'm not selling this thing short yet, especially since as of this writing it isn't even out of the box, but after listening to Lee, you might be better off and money ahead. Who knows, time will tell. I'm not disappointed, just thinking a 40% coupon at H-L would take a chunk out of the cost of another type that can take accessories, and I think a while back I did see the Badger there. Not real sure though.

Ya'll have a Great Day!

[pcarrell]

Jeff, my prayers for your mom! She sounded like a real nice lady the time I talked with her. I hope and pray she makes a full recovery.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I've got some good news! The neurologist says my mother didn't have a stroke. Apparently she had fallen and hit her head hard enough to cause a brain bleed. At this point we're cautiously optimistic. They say she should make a complete recovery but at her age there's always that chance things could go south. They'll be observing her for a while to see what happens. My sister and father are on their way home.