Elliot's Trackside Diner November 2011

[Paul W. Beverung]

Hi Gang:

Just passing through. I have got the layout running. No sceanery but it's fun seeing trains run again. It's been a few years.

I have been running a couple of my DCC locos that I have never run before. they have sound and really sound good even on DC. I may get DCC some day just don't know when. I have other issues with the layout to handle first.

I have also been installing some lighting. Four ft. shop lights. They are very low cost and are easy and fast to get in. Also if they go bad no biggy. It's cheaper to replace then to buy a ballast for them.

I have also been running my Fox Valley 1935 Hiawatha. The cars all need coupler trips addjusted but the loco is really good. I cheated after the cars needed work and hooked up some of the Walthers 1955 Hi cars. Still looks good.

Well I'm going to see if this posts. I have been having trouble with the Kalmbach sites for some time.

Take care all.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Cederstrand

***Jeffrey, you sure make quick work of weathering those box cars.

I did some of them a couple of years ago.

 

Happy birthday Ray.

[CNCharlie]

Good Afternoon or Evening depending on your time zone,

Happy Birthday Ray!!!  So how is it being 65? I need to know as I hit that mark next year and I want to get prepared.

Barry, I assume from your post that you got your Audi fixed as I thought that it was totaled in an accident last summer or maybe I'm imagining things. Anyway nice car. We looked at an A4 before we bought our first Volvo but found it a little too small especially the trunk.

Well just about time to pick up my wife as she had to work today. She works in a library at the uni so they have to take turns minding the students on Saturdays.

CN Charlie

[Cederstrand]

Steamed veggie plate, please.

***Ray, Happy Birthday and may you have many more to come. Hope it has been a good one for you.

***Barry, another very cool steamer photo there.

***Garry, yes, sometimes my mind wonders back to AZ where I grew up. Well, sorta grew up. Do any of us ever completely grow up? Take a deep breath of desert air and let out a howl once for me.

***Jeffrey, you sure make quick work of weathering those box cars.

Finished patching the tin roof on the hay shed. Nice to have that job completed. Now to let my hand recover from squeezing the black goo from the caulking gun. Sorta went partially numb again.

Rob

[jeffrey-wimberly]

GMTRacing

 

   Jeff - package heading your way today - let me know. (Nov 17)

 

 

Haven't received it yet. The suspense is building.

[galaxy]

Ring tummy tummy tummy, Ring tummy tummy tummy, Ring tummy tummy tummy, gotta get a Garmin, gotta get a Garmin, ding dong, ding dong 

Oh, sorry, Christmas commercial music dancing through MY head...

Huh, say wha? lookin' in the mirror? who. wha?  Say RAY has a B-Day??? He's Older now??? As in today? He a senior? or having a senior moment? MAy he have many more senior moments to come

Hope he has his AARP card at the ready, We are a few years younger, but we do...saves us some money when dining at Denny's, cheap coffee and % off entrees between 4-10 pm. Can save a little elsewhere...just don;t show it til they give you the price,,,then whip it out and ask how much off the bill AARP will be...

Well nice and warm and 65* {on the porch where the sensors are} a little cooler outside in the 50's here. The cooler temps we believe when the sun goes down, but the warmer ones have to klnock off a few degrees due to the fact that the porch is now as sealed up as it can be so it gets a little solar warmth to add to the temp sensors out there. THey don't read well if at all below 20* so we have to bring them in and rely on The TV to tell us the temps. That's a commin', I am affraid...right now global warming feels nice!

Have agreat afternoon everybody!

[blownout cylinder]

RAY!!!!

Good Afternoon...

Well, already had my first call at 4am..so here I be trying to catch up with what was happening here today...

Chris:  I'm only 5-7 and I have issues with entering/exiting the dang thing. My Audi Quattro on the other hand....

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

[GMTRacing]

Afternoon All,

   I now need to be here tomorrow as we are still waiting on the race seat delivery for the new car and tomorrow is the soonest we'll see it .  Consequently I'll take off now and start my chores at home so I don't miss them tomorrow.

     Happy Birthday Ray. 65 eh - not bad. Hope you get some cake with the leftover turkey.,

     CUL, J.R.

[AmanaMedic]

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood Afternoon everybody.

What's this? ULRICH wants me to take a test drive of the new Beetle-thingy?? I'll have the Wife take a look at it. The 2002 version I had was a POS... might've just been a bad day at the factory in Mexico, but the fine Mexican craftsmanship just didn't quite align with the fine German engineering! Now the Wife LOVES her 2000. I find it hard to get in and out of the darned thing...and I'm only 5'10-ish...(think I've started to shrink, my height is settling in my gut apparently). Me? I'll stick with my '97 Ford Ranger XLT as long as possible. The "new" new Beetle looks a lot sharper than the previous new Beetle, I'll give 'em THAT.

By the way ULRICH, I've neglected to mention how glad I am for you THAT things have apparently turned around for you! 

RAY: Happy birthday Sir. 

 

I'll take a bucket of coffee to go, gotta finish some w**k stuff up before heading to The Demokratik Peoples' Socialist Republik of Iowa City to cover West High girls varsity basketball against North Scott. Why in the wide, wide world of high school sports they're playing on a Saturday evening...I don't know. But, it gets THAT Editor her first pumpkin pushing pics of the 2011-2012 season; and gets me some more hours on the payroll. Of course, rain, rain and more rain with falling temperatures and a chance of THAT frozen precipitation later. Probably either on the way to, or the way from...

Best wishes and prayers to all in need, hope everybody has a good rest of the weekend,

Chris

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 72° and cloudy. The high will be 76°. Wind is SSE at 9 mph with gusts to 21. There's a 70% chance of rain at the moment going up to 80% this afternoon.

No real plans for today as it's quite possible I won't have power later. That depends on the severity of the storms. There's a big band ranging from light to heavy coming across east Texas and it's coming right at us.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

gear-jammer

Jeffrey,  You were hard core.  The only aid that I have done on El Cap is the bottom couple of pitches of Salathe Wall, and the South Face of Washington Column.  Those routes have gone free now.  We went to the base of the Northwest Face  of Half Dome, and found 3 parties on the rock above us and decided that the rock fall could be problematic.  When were you down in the Valley.  Oh yeah,  I missed the gondola.

Autumn in 1981. I had gotten out of the army in the spring, got in trouble with the law shortly thereafter for which I served ninety days then took off on a cross country drive to California to get it all out of my system, found some friends (one on leave, several ex-military like myself and lived in the area) and we all decided a climb would be a great thing to do. It wasn't my first climb but it was the longest and highest. My first BIG climb. I was still considered a novice. My partners were more experienced and had climbed higher walls so it was a lark to them. For me it was my last. After that I was too busy with work to even think about going anywhere not work related.

[tcwright973]

Happy Birthday Ray...

May the years ahead be filled with joy and happiness in all your endeavors.

Tom

[Seamonster]

howmus

Yep today is #65...  Got all the proper cards now an' everthin'....  Medicare, Medicare part F, Rx suppliment program, etc., etc., etc.!  We will be celebrating it over at my son's house tomorrow for the Sunday Family Gathering.....

Later!

73

Happy birthday, Ray!    And don't forget the seniors' discounts at stores and restaurants, seniors' day at stores, reduced fare on transit, seniors' meals at restaurants (our stomachs can't hold as much food as they used to!).  And having some young person giving up their seat on the bus for you.  I haven't ridden the bus for decades now, but I had that happen to me once.  A pretty young thing offered me her seat--and I was only in my late 40s!  And now you can tell the young'uns "Back when I was your age we ..................."  Enjoy.

 

[Anonymous]

Happy Birthday, Ray!

Garry - I was a 22 year old kid then. The hotel I stayed in was, well, I would not stay in the place nowadays, the food I ate was cheap, just to say the best of it, but I didn´t care. None of my fa,ily ever made it that far away from Germany. I never had the chance again to go there.

Stan - I´ve been missing your wonderful paintings. Good to see you´re back!

This one is for Chris:

 

[gear-jammer]

Happy Birthday, Ray.

I will have coffee with my cake, Chloe.

Jeffrey,  You were hard core.  The only aid that I have done on El Cap is the bottom couple of pitches of Salathe Wall, and the South Face of Washington Column.  Those routes have gone free now.  We went to the base of the Northwest Face  of Half Dome, and found 3 parties on the rock above us and decided that the rock fall could be problematic.  When were you down in the Valley.  Oh yeah,  I missed the gondola.

Rob,  My neighbor used the coyote call, too.  He got so good, that sometimes we weren't sure if it was him or the coyote.

Later,  Sue

[howmus]

.....  Huh?  What?  Oh, I must have dozed off again....

Heartland Division CB&Q

Ray ... Based on your post, it must be your b'day. Happy B'day.

Thank you Garry!  Yep today is #65...  Got all the proper cards now an' everthin'....  Medicare, Medicare part F, Rx suppliment program, etc., etc., etc.!  We will be celebrating it over at my son's house tomorrow for the Sunday Family Gathering.....

Later!

73

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

Not much planned for the day. I am still having issues getting my passenger cars around my reworked curve. It is better than it was but I still am getting derailments on some of the cars. I have Kadee 148's on them now and I think the problem is that  the derailing cars are being pulled off by the coupler, so in a attempt to fix the problem I am going to put Kadee long shank couplers on them.

Todd- Have a safe trip and I really like your scene in WPF.

Ulrich- I moved to Oahu with the family in 1981 when I was still boating with the Navy. 

Ray- Happy Birthday

Have a good day.

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

    47F and cloudy this morning. Back in the shop as I was TG morning and all day yesterday. Did spend about an hour fitting a coved corner to the layout and securing the remainder of raised roadway out to the river. I need to finish a hatch over the basement window should have just walled over before proceeding further with track or roadbed.

    Hope you all had a good turkey day - for ourselves the CFO and I went to oldest sons house where DIL is an excellent cook. Had dinner with some of our and some of her family and all 5 doggies. It was a nice day out.

    Jeff and Galaxy and Tom and others not up to snuff, you're in our prayers and hope you at least feel comfortable. Cheers to the rest of us. Todd - Texas - really? Say hi to Paul as you pass through. Perhaps you'll bring some rain with you as a present.

   Finishing up some electric mods on the Audi plus corner weights on the Chevron and whatever else is needed on the Pescarolo then off home if nothing else has jumped up by then.   CUL, J.R.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Howdy, Diners.

Ray ... Based on your post, it must be your b'day. Happy B'day.

Todd .... Have a safe trip. I think other retirees here can relate to the situation. Too many people say to retirees "You are retired. You are doing nothing. So, do my stuff." ..... Have a safe trip to TX.

Ulrich .... Regarding Hawaii memories. We had a very expensive 16 day vacation there one time. I doubt we do that again.

Stan ... Good to see you, again. I'll did through my old saved emails. I Think I still have the last one.

Rob .... An Apache Railway mug? You must be thinking of AZ today. We're planning to go to AZ to see our daughter this winter. 

Our family is still visiting so this is short. The migrating white pelicans are currently in our lake. Remarkable birds.

We also are having leftover Thanksgiving dinner.  

 

 

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

Trust me Ray,

We all look like old Pharts...................Does not matter what we see in the mirror. 

But a Very Happy Birthday anyway. I"ve ordered some of Petra's German Double Chocolate Cake for you,  now if she can just get it into the Fed Ex box before Ulrich takes his share (half the cake)... Don't try it Big U, you might just get a .

Johnboy out...........................and back at work for the week-end

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Funny, I don't feel any older......  Don't seem to look any older either (I peeked in the mirror first thing to see if I now look like an old phart)!

Zoe, I'll have a bowl of Organic, All Natural, High Fiber cereal, a cup of dark roast coffee, and a seat near the little room in the back.....  When you get to my age, I hear you have to do those things....  What,  just a second, got to turn up the hearing aids....  Oh, yep, this one is the big one.  Full senior discounts and all.

Catch you all later.

73

[Cederstrand]

Colombian coffee in a Apache Railway mug, please.

My latest power bill is down to $62, a new record low for me. Granted, some mornings (like right now) it is pretty dang cold in the house. Looking forward to adding that wood stove at some point, providing it is possible with all these porches. At least this is a mild winter here thus far.

I'll be in the corner booth awhile, trying to warm up a bit. Rob

[Anonymous]

Lunchtime!

Janie, make that a Barry-sized hot dog and fries for me, please. A little coffee to go with it would be sweet as well, if you please.

Just woke up from a little snooze. The last weak had put a lot of wear and tear on me, so I needed a little rest.

Diamond Head - got fond memories of a week on Oahu Island, which I had in 1978 - paid by my dad´s credit card. Actually, he never received the bill for that trip. This was during my second stay in the US. We had bad weather in Washington State during that summer, so I went to Waikiki Beach to get a bit of sunshine. Got almost to much of it, which resulted in a bad sunburn.

I will be entitled to a company car next year, so I went looking at various cars this morning. Took a look at the new VW Beetle. It is a nice looking little beast with an excellent quality feel to it - much improved over the last model. With 6´5" I may be a little to tall to feel comfortable in it, though. It is a little tight and feels more like a remake of the Porsche 356 of the 1950´s.

The more sensible thing would be to go for something similar to what I am driving now, but that´s boring.

Well, have a good one & CUL!

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and a sweet roll to go please. Thanks.

Just popped in to say toodle loo, headin for Texas for the weekend. I know it sounds strange, but then again so am I.

I never felt any more tired with turkey than with anything else. I think it has more to do with the amount you eat at Thanksgiving than what you eat. I get the same effect after a good feed at the Golden Corral.

Garry- Yessirree. Retirement to those who are not, is full of spare time. Myself, I do see that spare time between about 0600 and 0930-1000.

Stan! Just beginning to wonder about you. Glad you stopped in.

Well, best get a move on.

“On the road again….just can’t wait to get on th road again. The life I love…..” Oh great.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

(two blasts on the whistle)

[galaxy]

Curt Webb

Galaxy- I have climbed Diamond Head several times with the Boy Scouts  and the Girl Scouts. That set of stairs is a killer, but the view at the top is spectacular.

Oh, yes it is! I took lots of pictures with our disposable camera all the way around, even athe mountians dotted with houses so as to have a 360* view. They came out surprisingly well!

As I said, the hilarious part that caused my Ohter Half and to stop because I was laughing so hard I almost wet myself, was the man behind us: When we reached a certain point at the top of a 101 very step steep open staircase, I paused and said jokingly to MOH "next time, I am going to take the elevator". A very tall man with a baby strapped to his back behind us paused, and while panting, looked around and croaked " there's an elevator?" It was the WAY he croaked out the phrase that had me about to wet myself!!!

[galaxy]

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Saturday, November 26th, 2011!!!

Our history of the day names is now over. I have covered the Greek, Roman, and the Scandanavian, Germanic, and historical English names for the days of the week, I hope you have enjoyed our tour of the day names!!!

Have a great Day!!!

[galaxy]

jeffrey-wimberly

galaxy:

Did NOT go "black friday shopping" today. We don't have any money and we don't need anything worth busting down a door  and fighting crowds  at 10 pm, at midnite or even at 5 AM. Did not even get teh sales ads to even look so I wouldn't be tempted!

 

Really? I got bombarded with Black Friday ads in my email all week.

I mean the ones in the newspaper.

All I got in Email was: Amazon, Overstock, Harbor Freight Tools, and three other smaller companies in EMail..I don't generally give out my email addy to retailers, and order from very select few.THey DID however send several during the past few days.

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

 

 

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

ROB:

If that log barn was HO, I would make you an offer.

Johnboy out.............................and off to the land of the never ending pillow.

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

[quote user="galaxy"]

 

So I bid yo'all g'nite.

G'inte Ray!

G'nite jeffrey!

G'nite Johnboy!

Oh. sorry this isn't the tv show...

No it's not Galaxy, but it still works well here.

Good night Elizabeth,

Good night Galaxy.

Johnboy out,.........................Good Night All.