Elliot´s Trackside Diner July 2011

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Todd ... WOW ...Cherry Gooseberry Pie .... Feel free to bring some of it to the diner.

TSF ... Looks like you are close to Joliet. I recall Joliet Union Station was once a good place to watch trains beofre Amtrak.

Ulrich .. I hope things work out there with your parents. We are talking to Shelley's Mom about assisted living now. Her health is going downhill, and she should not be by herslef in a house anymore.

[TMarsh]

It is a sad day for me. I feel my manhood has been ripped from me and am feeling impotent. I have actually ran out of Roundup.

jeffrey-wimberly

 

  My sister will be having a BBQ either today or tomorrow. Haven't gotten exact word on that yet. I will most definitely be there.

Jeffrey- If it’s today, I won’t be able to make it. If it’s tomorrow I might. Depends on whether I can get out of the picnic at a friends house or not.

TSF- Sounds like if we were to listen to music, there would be no arguments as to what to listen to. My very favorite being ole Waylon, but I am a big Jerry Reed fan too. 

Tom- Great to have you back in again. I missed the music “lessons”, the stories of the Viking (his cat for you new guys. Can‘t recall the other one, but she is a pampered queen in her own mind. In reality too.), school, the layout and of course those articulateds.

Well (filling up if I stand over it), I’m inside drying off and it appears it is in fact going to be the Cracker Barrel. No qualms from me. I have never had a bad meal from there regardless of where it is. Then Walmart for Groceries, unless she wants to go to the Kroger, which I doubt, and  I believe after we get back, I will make a Gooseberry pie. Brenda has located a Cherry Gooseberry pie recipe she wants me to try, but I’m not sure. Nvere had Gooseberries mixed with anything else. I may tell her to pick her own and have at it, but that would only lead to her whining about the thorns. We'll see how that turns out.

 

 

[twhite]

Good morning all from the sunny, gonna-be-HOT Sacramento Valley.  Supposed to hit 103 here today, which means the pollen count will be in the Stratosphere.  Already set the fan out in the garage so I can get some work done on the layout, today.  I've just GOTTA  start filling in that big, bare Pink space south of Deer Creek yards, LOL!   Now that I"m skinny again, I can actually FIT into the access holes, so it's gonna be Sculptamold Fun for a week or so. 

I love this conversation about German Rock--being a classical musician of German ancestry, my take is that it's about the best 'spoof' of the genre I can think of.  And I mean that kindly.  Not 'Rock', but some of the best Dixieland I've ever heard is from a little band from Munich--they make the trip here to Sacramento every year for our Jazz Festival, and those guys play like absolute MANIACS!  Just great!  They do complain about our American beer, but what the Heck--so do I, LOL! 

I've got to tell you guys that commented on my two new GN brass lokies that together, they cost me about as much as a new BLI Cab-forward.  THAT'S how inexpensively I got them.  I think probably because hardly anyone out here in Northern California 'does' GN--at least to my knowledge.  But I figured since I'm modeling the WWII era, that my Rio Grande just contracted with GN for a couple of 'loaners' to aid with the increase in traffic.  See, I always have an explanation of SOME kind or other, LOL!   Add the ex;pense of two new NWSL can motors (if I decide to do a replacement), and I'm still pretty ahead of the game. 

Spent a couple of hours on-line last night playing "Bejeweled 3" with my ex-student Chad.  He almost bombed me completely again, but I'm getting a lot better.  We do "Diamond Mine", and it's addictive as all get-out.   Loud, too--all those explosions.  I turn my speakers up to "Mother-In-Law" just for the fun of it.   The game has kind of 'swept' Jesuit High this past semester, EVERYBODY'S doing it, including the Faculty, so ;it's not that I've decided to re-live my teenage years, BTW.  If I start getting good enough at it, I'm going to challenge my Department Chair--he's almost as good as Chad.  Ah, the benefits of a good Secondary Education, LOL! 

Well, that's about it from SunnyCal--time to finish my coffee and head out to the garage before it gets too hot to move. 

Have a great day, everyone. 

Tom

 

 

 

[teen steam fan]

Sir Madog

TSF - Status Quo is foreign music???

To me they are. I was raised on country music like Alabama, Oak Ridge Boys, Waylon Jennings Johnny Cash (Seanmonster can agree with me on him) and of course my favorite one artist ,Jerry Reed. Rock and roll along the lines of  Poison, Skynard (if you met me in person you'd see it) Queen, Guns and Roses, Molly Hatchet, Rush, and the Eagles. 

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon!

Today´s VP day - that´s Victory over my Parents Day! Both finally agree that a move into an assisted living facility is the only way to enjoy the few days they have left. Now we only have to find a suitable place nearby and make the move...

Folks, this is a big relief for me!

Jeff - I am in total agreement to Chris - that loco is a good one! And your German is far better than my Spanish or Italian. My Russian does not exist.

TSF - Status Quo is foreign music???

Lee - Falco is Austrian, and we do not have the best experience with folks being imported from Austria

Garry - it´ll be a long way until we have settled everything for my parents, but at least we can start to go down that route now. It took a lot of arguments to convince my mother that the price for having the liberty to do her own household chores will be a little to high. I am lucky - I must have caught one of the rare good moments.

TTFN -CUL!

[Seamonster]

I have to agree with those of you who feel that today's pop and rock music is just so much noise.  I'll probably get an argument from the younger set, but to me it's just loud raucous noise and if I gave my opinion of rap I'd be banned from the forum.  Okay, I'm an old fogy but pop and rock music ceased being music some time in the 70s or 80s.  The stuff that our children listened to as teens just turned me right off.  However, I have to admit that there seems to be a lot more softer music coming out now than there used to be.  I guess that what goes around comes around, but there will never again be artists like there were in the 50s and 60s--the Beatles, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, and hundreds of others, not to mention all the folk artists like Peter, Paul and Mary, Donovan, the Limeliters, and many others.  Our adult daughter vacationed in Germany a couple of years ago and the highlight of her trip was attending a concert by Rammstein.  I've never listened to their music, but she really loved it, and has developed a liking for other German music.  My own tastes in music, besides 50s and 60s pop, rock and folk are for organ music, especially pipe organ and acoustic guitar.

Jeffery:  I hope you are successful in getting your father into an assisted living facility.  One of my wife's brothers-in-law went through the same thing, and is still going through it.  He was finally able to get his father to move into a care home after years of going over there almost every day to fix thing or take his father to appointments.  Since his father is a vet, he's in a veteran's home and well taken care of.  The son feels its his duty to take his father to medical appointments even though the care home provides transportation.  And his father is very demanding, do this for me, do that for me, not understanding that his son is taking large pieces out of his life to cater to his father's whims.  Having said that, there's a part of me which says that our parents spent many years of their lives caring for us and sacrificing for us, so we should care for them when they no longer can care for themselves, at least in some way, as much as we are able to.  I just hope that our children won't abandon us when we get too old and decrepit to take care of ourselves.

 

[Cox 47]

Good Morning All...Its sunny and muggy here after t-storms last nite....I'll have coffee and toast please...Thank You...Not much going on here..my brother is coming this afternoon...You all have a good one...Jerry

[jeffrey-wimberly]

AmanaMedic

JEFF: I know you added a bunch of stuff to THAT locomotive, but you know what? Everything looks like it "should" be there... I know it'd drive a Rivet Counter nuts since you've obviously blended GE and EMD parts...but it really looks good! I think it's my favorite in your fleet.

Thanks. That's my idea of a GE rebuilt by EMD with a Caterpillar prime mover shoehorned in. I relocated the air tanks to the top ala SD24 style simply because I think they look better there. The same reasoning applies for the location of the radiators and the dynamic brake housing. It seemed a better way of keeping the heat of the DB farther away from the prime mover. As for the EMD blower housing a friend of mine thought that would be a nice touch. All of the EMD parts came from an old Athearn blue box SD40-2. The air tanks were scratched from wooden dowel with the ends turned with a Dremel, a pair of tweezers and a Black and Decker drill used as a poor mans lathe.

[AmanaMedic]

Goooooooooooooooooooooooood Mornin', I'll take the Cardiologists' Special, AKA: "The Heart Association Diet" this morning: bacon, eggs (scrambled and cooked in the bacon grease), sausage patties, bucket of the strongest coffee on the planet, pancakes with real butter (and a jug of maple-flavored Iowa high fructose corn syrup) please and thank-YOU.

German music? I forgot. One of my all-time favorite bands, the Scorpions, is (I think...pretty sure, I mean, KLAUS MEINE is the front man for crimeny sakes! ) German. I w**ked a couple of their concerts (Love at First Sting tour and Crazy World tour) in the late 80s/early 90s in Cedar Rapids at the former "Five Seasons Center," now the "US Cellular Center." I remember one of their roadies particularly well; he had an eye patch, talked like a pirate, and told the dirtiest dirty jokes I'd ever heard! Naturally, I only remember parts of those jokes today...not quite as funny THAT way when I try to tell them.

I'll just grab a corner booth for a bit before I have to take this week's content down to Adam, the Boring Proofreader Dude. Hey, he got hired as a reporter now so we'll have someone new coming in next week (I hope) to be the proofreader.

JEFF: I know you added a bunch of stuff to THAT locomotive, but you know what? Everything looks like it "should" be there... I know it'd drive a Rivet Counter nuts since you've obviously blended GE and EMD parts...but it really looks good! I think it's my favorite in your fleet.

Have a good, SAFE day everybody...

Chris

 

[teen steam fan]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Good morning ...

TSF ... What part of IL are you in? There are several diners from IL here.

 

I live near Chicagoland Speedway. I actually ride my quad by there all the time

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 80° and partly cloudy. The high will be 95° and it will be mostly cloudy. The chance for rain today is practically nil but it shoots up 50% around midnight.

Nothing much going on here today. I'll be going into town to get the second half of the groceries as my FS allotment has come in. Only $57 but it's better than $0.

My sister will be having a BBQ either today or tomorrow. Haven't gotten exact word on that yet. I will most definitely be there.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and the Sunday Breakfast Buffet please. Thank you.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 87.

Got Mom’s yard mowed and some dirt put back in the trench and the rock replaced around the foundation yesterday. Yes I broke a sweat.

Ulrich- I’m sorry. You and your parents are still in my prayers.

Jerry- Nice lamp post!

Fireworks.(shakes head) Never did thrill me. I like the professional fireworks displays….once. When I’ve seen one, I don’t need to see another so pick which one you reeeeally want to see cause I won’t be too aweful interested in that one, but the next one, I’d rather just stay home without a crowd. At least they are pretty, but the bottle rocket/firecracker stuff…might as well just shoot a gun. Well, except for the bullet coming down somewhere part. But you know what I mean. Loud noises are just that to me, loud noises. I do not, and never have, seen the great joy people get from lighting firecrackers that are not affixed to a junk model car. I’ve adopted a rule. If someone shoots a bottle rocket at my house, I get to shoot one at their house. The difference? My bottle was made by Winchester of steel and is conveniently chambered, drilled and spiral grooved to accept a rocket size of .30-.30. Happy 4^th of July.

Today will be cooler than the last couple so naturally I have all the outside things that require effort….done in the last two days. I still have to run the weedeater at Mom’s and here so I probably will do that today. No scratch the probably.  I still have some brush to clean out at Mom’s and some day (soon) burn, but not today. Then we will do our Sunday ritual it seems. Groceries and eat out. This time we are going to the Walmart in Lincoln so instead of the Chinese buffet, we will be eating at either the Cracker barrel or the Bonanza. Right now, sounds like Cracker Barrel. Haven't been there in a long while.

 Best get movin. Have to get the trimming done before 1:00 when the Realtor is going have another Open House.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good morning ...

JimCG ... Glad you stopped in,  Have you had any model railroad time lately?

TSF ... What part of IL are you in? There are several diners from IL here.

Jeff ... Sorry to hear about your Dad's lack of understanding. Best wishes with that situation.

Ulrich ... Best wishes with your parents situation. My sisters and I had quite a struggle nudging our elderly mother into assisted living this past winter. That's why I spent so much time in Alabama. I'm glad to say she has adjusted, and she has a lot of elderly friends there. She still is very good at the piano, and she plays for other people there. Also, she has a large sized apartment so she could have her piano in her new home. I talk with her on the phone once or more each day. Next task is selling her house and her car. Getting her to give up driving was one of our adventures.

Regarding fireworks, each year there is a Fourth of July celebration at the local state park here which is really quite good. People can get there via boat or car. We'll be going with neighbors by boat. Tonight is the night for that.

On the layout, I have been "making sawdust". I am installing wood sub-roadbed that will be for my trolley tracks in my city that is under construction.

 

 

 

 

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

Not much planned here. Will probably end up at Wally World for groceries at some point. We do 2 weeks worth at a time. Getting ready to head up to install some Tortoises. Other than that nothing is planned that I am aware of.

Talk to you later.

[teen steam fan]

Morning folks. Coffee in an LNER mug and a couple doughnuts. Thanks. 

Fireworks- In Illinois we can't get the good fireworks like bottle rockets or the ones that fly up into the air. But we can get the ones that shoot balls of flames up. I bought a family variety pack the other day and it had smoke bombs, a roman candle and a few others that I have no clue what they do. One thing they do have that are sweet are these little things that look like M80 firecrackers. But when they go off the spin and look like a flower. really kinda cool 

Foreign music- I like listening to a band from the UK called Status Quo. Some of their songs sound like the Eagles or Skynard style but still good. The one song I heard that got me started was Hold You Back. I have heard and like some Japanese stuff although I don't understand a word they are saying like Ready Steady Go from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. Music knows no boundaries 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

galaxy

 

Packers#1:

 

G, worst I've done was hold the end of a firecracker in my fingertips and it exploded; left my ears ringing but that was it

 

 

Yah...first its the firecracker in the fingertips, and the ringing in the ears, then its a bottle rocket AND a lost finger, then its a cherry bomb and 2 more fingers... then who knows and a whole hand is gone. I know a guy who lost a hand due to playing with firecrackers that went awry..*poof* no more right hand!

Set off a firecracker on your open hand and you get small first degree burn, blood blister at the worst. Set off a firecracker in your closed fist and your wife will be opening your ketchup bottles for the rest of your life.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Sir Madog

Jeff - I am amazed - your translation of Nena´s "99 Balloons" is right on the spot. The "original" English version bears only little resemblance to the German lyrics.

Thanks, but to be truthful, I had some help with that. My German was never 100% fluent. The person hearing it would often have to do some translation of their own. My mother however, in her younger days could pick up a language in an incredibly short amount of time and be able to speak it fluently in about a month tops. For this reason she worked directly with German Nationals when we were overseas. I showed her the German text and my translation of it and even after being out of practice for 30 some years and suffering brain damage in a fall she nailed it in 10 minutes. Turns out my errors were few considering but still amounted to two or three in each verse. Not bad considering that I hadn't spoken the language in over 30  years myself but I had to put an incredible amount of thought to it. If my German is that bad my Russian must be atrocious.

[blownout cylinder]

I have two of Rammstein's CD's here...and I have seen their show...great stuff there....

Good Morning

It is going to be a sticky week here....highs into the low 80's and heat index's nearing 100F each day this week...

Today, I am going back to the office to get some paperw**k done and then it will be 5 days off from w**k...

Flo, I will have just a coffee for now please, I'll be at the RC for a bit...

A matter of scale! Cover photo of the Smithsonian 
magazine, February 1973, showing the GEM at work.

[galaxy]

jeffrey-wimberly

 The German version and English version are somewhat different. The verse I put in on the left is the best I could on the translation from German to English. The translation program is hit and miss at best and my German is a bit rusty considering I last used it in 1978.

Yeah, I know the two are two different interpretations rather than a direct translation. I think they didn't want to scare anyone! who knows. Even looking at the german version side by side with the english version and even if not knowing any or much german one can see it's not a direct translation.

The point behind both, though, was that even the german versions were played here and scored the charts. Even for those who didn't/don't understand them or meaning...

And it started with David Bowie's Major TOm running through my head leading to Peter Schilling's version and then on the "german invasion" warpath around 1980, so to speak.lol.

[galaxy]

Packers#1

G, worst I've done was hold the end of a firecracker in my fingertips and it exploded; left my ears ringing but that was it

Yah...first its the firecracker in the fingertips, and the ringing in the ears, then its a bottle rocket AND a lost finger, then its a cherry bomb and 2 more fingers... then who knows and a whole hand is gone. I know a guy who lost a hand due to playing with firecrackers that went awry..*poof* no more right hand!

[galaxy]

LSWrr

Good Morning,

What?  No mention of the Austrian Rock Star Falco?? 

Rock me, Rock me Amadeus...Alles klar, Der Kommissar... he died at 40 in a  car accident in 1998 in Domincan Republic.

There, we mentioned, remembered, and revered him.

[galaxy]

GOOD MORNING!!!

Tooth, with second round of antibiotics and resealing the cotton stuffing with anticeptic helped reduce the amount of THAT going down my throat.

But..still .... "I'm floating in a most peculiar way..."

Must be the percoset...

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

What?  No mention of the Austrian Rock Star Falco??  Yesterday we had two lines of thunderstorms roll through; on in the am and one in the pm.  I think everything is well watered now (better to have the yards wet before the JR rocket scientists start launching their fireworks.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning,

a miserably wet day today - no sign of summer anymore. Proof of my tag line!

Janie, dear, this is Sunday, so I´ll go for a big breakfast this morning, crisp fried bacon, scrambled eggs, buttered toas & preserves, a tall glass of OJ and a gallon of strong coffee, please.

The morning call to the hospital revealed that my Mom is doing fine - under the given circumstances. Petra and I had a lengthy and not so nice discussion with my dadlast night. Unless he changes his opinion again, he now seems to agree, that a move into an assisted living facility has become necessary. We will start to look for a place now. This will not be an easy undertaking...

Jeff - I am amazed - your translation of Nena´s "99 Balloons" is right on the spot. The "original" English version bears only little resemblance to the German lyrics.

Chris - pal, we must have had the same art teacher. Mine was a leftover of the Woodstock festival, gone into arts.Actually, she was kind of cute and a brave one - teaching 16 year olds in an all boys school. Luckily (for her) we were all in love with her, so we did not give her a hard time.

Rob - agrred - Chris´  posts make me chuckle as well!

Jim - good to hear from you - we missed you lately!

Curt - "Silent Night" was written by Joseph Mohr in 1816, and the music composed by Franz Xaver Gruber. It was first sung Christmas 1818 in the church of St. Nicolai in Oberndorf, near Salzburg/Austria. Whether the organ of that church was broken or not has never been approved. Faller, IIRC has a model of that church available.

Alvie - Rammstein and Kraftwerk are two of the very few bands that made it to international fame. The majority of German pop music is, well, just painful.

I guess y´ all are getting ready for tomorrow´s birthday party ( except those living NOB). Play it safe!

Have a good one!

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

[AmanaMedic]

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood Evening, shot of "night medicine" please 'n thank you.

ROB: Hey, glad you got a giggle or two out of my ramblings. I've got (as you may have noticed) a bit of a skewed view of the world. I'd like to think near-death experiences and a serious knock in the head are why. I don't know...so many things about the world today tick me off, I guess my warped sense of humor is...maybe a defense mechanism? Either way, glad I brightened up your day a little bit.

More on art professors. At Kirkwood Community College, I suffered under a full-blown hippie. He was in his 60s and as strung-out as if it were still 1969 (this was in '89). One fine sunny day, he takes us down to the horse range (equestrian program). He tells us to "draw the horses" then leaves (goes over the hill, presumably to burn down a J or two...). He comes back, goes up and down the line berating each and everyone of us. "You drew a picture of the horse! I want you to draw the horse!"

HUH?

Before he got to me, and after hearing all of this, I naturally put a top hat on my horse, gave him a cane, and put a spotlight shining on him...

Yeah. THAT went over well.....

Another one. The stoned hippie Kit and I endured taught drawing and painting courses as well as these "installation" things and "found object art." In drawing one fine day, she said something THAT I just didn't quite know how to process. You see, I am LOUSY at drawing. I can do decent mechanical drawings, but you have me draw anything organic, and a truly abstract piece of crap will be the result. Not from lack of trying, I just can't draw or paint worth a crap. So, we were doing some still life or something. My drawing...sucked. Hippie looks at it, and in between "sniffs" (I think she *sniff* burned out her nose *sniff) on something...and it wasn't art chemicals...) tells me it's fantastic. I'm shocked. I'm stunned. I blurt out...It sucks! She says "your artwork has a wonderful child-like quality to it."

HUH???

"So, you're telling me THAT I draw like a child?"

"YES! *sniff*"

"And, this is a GOOD thing?"

"YES! It's *sniff* magnificant!"

Thank GOD I learned how to use a camera and let light and Kodak's finest draw for me...

G'night, and best wishes to all in need...

Chris

[Cederstrand]

Chicken noodle & veggie soup, please.

***Garry, cool engine pics. Had a (N) model of that Monon, but sold it off long ago. I wish my Berk ran, but it doesn't and I'm not going to pay half it's original new cost to have someone look at it. Gurrr!

***Chris, sometimes your posts crack me up. Thanks for the chuckles. As for art professors, my experiences with them were always the same, they put my work up for others to study. Also got asked to stop working on the girls artwork when they left the room.  Those were fun times.

***Barry, wish I could use that shovel for about an hour. That's probably all it would take to completely remove every stump left on our property. Cool old pic!

***Tom, those two GN's are mighty fine looking. Also like that bridge and scenery.

Made a hay run, then set 4 posts along the road today. It is going to take me forever to get all the fence done. A lack of health and having to take meds really sucks. OK, done whining.

Healing thoughts to those in need.

Rob

[jeffrey-wimberly]

cudaken

 Jeffery Hope you are getting around better!

I'm trying but lately I'm wondering if there's any point to it. I try to keep within my limitations and not push too much but with someone like my father that's pretty hard. He wants me to do things for him that are outside my capabilities and when I tell him I can't do that he acts like I should be able to throw a truck across a parking lot. Sometimes I just have to leave to get away from his harping on it. He doesn't seem to understand that I can't do things that require heavy lifting, pulling or being on my feet for extended periods.

[JimRCGMO]

Evenin', Flo, I'll have a RBF please - not enough time to stay longer. Thanks!

Ulrich and Galaxy, have your Mothers in my . And Galaxy, your finishing the root canal ASAP (and well, without you floating off from the dentist's chair, red balloons or not...).

Good to see BridgeTom stop by, and while I like the 2-6-8-0, I'm cleaning up my drool over your 2-8-0. (Hey, just in case you ever get tired of that 2-8-0, lemme send you my mailing address - just in case, y'know...) By the way, how have your furry roomies been? Oh, Uff-Dah ....

And Paul B., hope your area gets some rain soon (just not before you've harvested some more hay for your critters!). Good to hear that you and Mary Ann are doing okay in spite of the heat and such.

Ray, my hearty congratulations on finishing out your mortgage! (I only hope to clear away my student loans in the next few years, and I'll be happy)

Chris, yeah, I'm sure (if the Missouri state line isn't too far away) that you might be hearing some fireworks from my state. I've been hearing various firecrackers and other 'boomer-things in the evenings. Probably neighborhood kids hiding from our local gendarmes (we don't have any Firecracker Patrol helicopters in this area ) Lots of time for them between now and July 5th or 6th (You thought we Missourians stopped shooting them off just because Independence Day is over? Hah!)

And my apologies for missing out on the Canada Day party here in the Diner. Hope it was a fun one!

I got a surprise (not what I wanted, either) today - my primary on-call phones me and says she has a migraine (yeah, maybe she does...) and that one of our county jails has someone needing to be assessed. Main good side of it all (despite about three hours when I was going to get lunch, and using up some gas I needed to stretch until payday on Thursday) is that - I think - as backup, when I get called out for my primary, I get paid time and a half of my 'hourly' rate (I'm salaried) for the time from when I left my door, through until I got done and came back in my door (plus the mileage). But I won't see that until about three weeks from now. I just hope she doesn't have that migraine tonight or tomorrow also, since I'm supposed to be back on-call for Tuesday through Friday night. Off for Independence Day, thankfully!

I'll have to get back to the rest of the pages of posts - hopefully tomorrow. You all stay safe out there - and watch out for those bottle rocket-carrying kids!

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape G.

[howmus]

BOOM!  BAM!  pop,pop,pop,pop,pop, BAM!  KaBLAM, BOOM!

One of the several groups having professional fireworks displays is got theirs going on outside at the moment.......

Flo. just a decaf for me right now.

Curt like so many stories, the Romantic Period managed to embellish and come up with some wonderful myths about Silent Night.....  About all they have that can be considered correct in most of the movies about the song is that Fr. Joseph Mohr wrote the text, and his Choir Director/Organist (local School Teacher)  wrote the tune and set simple I, IV, V chords to it so the Fr. Mohr could accompany it in his guitar.....   the song (and the story) was spread by an organ tuner/repair guy that picked it up when he visited the church to work on their organ a few years later.  Without him we would probably not have the song today!  I have told the story many times at holiday concerts for kids in school over the Years.  One of the best historical renditions of it based on the facts that can be confirmed can be found here: http://silentnight.web.za/history/index.htm

I have been making HO scale conical fire buckets tonight for the engine house.........  Figuring this out as I go.........

Galaxy, I read today where NYS is considering allowing some kinds of "fireworks" like sparklers again.  That way little kids still won't be able to blow their fingers off, but just get 3rd. degree burns on them again.....  I have had a couple close calls with firecrackers myself.  If they get damp the fuse burns very, very quickly!  Don't ask how I know that, but it involves some contraband I removed from a Scout at camp many years ago when I was a Provisional Scoutmaster for a week...  No sense letting them go to waste after all.  Also had a neighbor when I lived in Waverly that had brought in several cases of bottle rockets one year.  We went out in a farmers field and had a lot of fun setting them off while our wives and my youngs sons watched from a "safe" distance.  That is until one of the rockets decided not to go up, but rather straight at my oldest boy.  Missed him by a few inches and exploded a few feet past him.......  THAT is when our wives decided the fun was over and they were going home!  We could stop now and ride back to town with them or we could continue to play and walk a few miles home........... (but the second choice would find them not around when we got there!)

I will be a docent tomorrow out at the R&GV RR Museum and will have to get there early.  Best get myself off the computer and to bed!

Later!

73

[edit] Looks like evening snack is on me tonight....  order up folks!