Elliot´s Trackside Diner - September 2012

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee in the Diner

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Wednesday, September 5th, 2012!!!

Often times, we may find ourselves with a

 PERSNICKETY locomotive on our hands, SO:

pernickety/persnickety/pernickerty/persnickerty - fussy, picky, fastidious - pernickety seems now to be the most common modern form of this strange word. The variations occur probably because no clear derivation exists, giving no obvious reference points to anchor a spelling or pronunciation. The word seems (Chambers) first to have been recorded between 1808-18 in Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language, in the form of pernickitie, as an extension of a Scottish word pernicky, which is perhaps a better clue to its origins. Traditional etymology opinion suggests that childlike adaptation of the word 'particular' is a possible root, with association also to the slang knickknack (or knick-knack), being another phonetically pleasing 'made-up' word, in this case meaning any unspecific thing, and earlier (1600s) a pleasing trifle - in other words an indulgence, and originally (early 1600s), a petty trick, derived from knack, meaning a trick or special technique (of a person), all of which have a vague connection to the arbitrary sense of the pernickety meaning. This is all speculation in the absence of reliable recorded origins. On which point a combination of the words particular and picky (or at least an association with the word picky) might have been a factor, especially when you consider the earlier pernicky form. Purists would no doubt point out that although pick meaning choose or select dates back to the 1200s, picky was first recorded with its 'choosy' meaning some time after (1867) the Jamieson dictionary's listings (1808-18) of pernickitie and the even older pernicky. Nevertheless the custom of adding the letter Y to turn any verb or noun into an adjective dates back to the 11th century, and we must remember that the first recorded use of any word can be a very long time after the word has actually been in use in conversation, especially common slang, which by its nature was even less likely to be recorded in the days before modern printing and media. The earliest recorded use of the word particular meaning fastidious is found in the Duke of Wellington's dispatches dated 1814, however, and maybe significantly, particular, earlier particuler, entered English around the 14th century from French and Latin, originally meaning distinct, partial, later private and personal, which would arguably more likely have prompted the need for the pernickety hybrid, whether combined with picky and/or knickknack, or something else entirely

The Prayer candle and Prayers will be said

promptly at 8 AM for all those in need!!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. Went with my father to a union meeting where he works. Bored me to sleep. afterward we went to KFC for dinner then to the nursing home to see my mother. She looks good but isn't able to do much more than get out of bed to her wheelchair. getting from the chair to the bed is a bit more difficult. I'll be taking her some things in the morning. Some cans of soup, some Sprite Zero, bananas and grapes. After we left there we went to Wal-Mart to do some grocery shopping. Tomorrow I have to go to O'Reilly's to pick up the brake line for my van. Hopefully I'll have it back on the road soon. See y'all tomorrow sometime.

[santafe262]

Hey Jim,

The shop closed bout 2 1/2 yrs ago and so I moved to Iowa. Indianola, Ia as my daughter says. She just had her first cross country meet and MAN am I proud! Her sportmanship was AWESOME! I'll upload some pics of my new family and my in-progress new layout. It is 12' wide by 23' long. half a basement lol. I'm back in school getting my criminal justice degree and working full time. Hope you are well and I hope the rest of the gang here in the diner are as well. Gotta go as the rooster crows early!

Trent

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a decaf for me right now...

YouGottaWanna...  So very sorry to hear of your loss!  Been there, done that!  I too lost my wife to cancer, though it was 25 years ago, it still occupies my mind at times.  I can tell you the pain and sorrow does ease with time.  My very best wishes for you during your grieving and yes, the hobby can fill a bit of the emptiness...

I was just sitting down to dinner tonight when the phone rang.  My son calling...  It seems that tomorrow is the start of school and granddaughter #1 will be starting Kindergarten.  On the first day they send the buses out to pick up all the other primary school kids, then come back around an hour later to pick up just the kindergarteners and the parents.  Each kindergartener has to have one or both parents ride the bus (Or some other trusted family member).  DIL has to be at her teaching job at that time, Dad has the day off, Grandmother (live in) has to work at the hospital (she is a semi retired nurse).  So the plan was to have Dad take Livy to school (He wanted to anyway)...  They forgot one thing!  Granddaughter #2, the 3 year old, can't ride the bus with older sister and Dad....  Remember I said DIL has to work and Grandmother has to work....  They all of a sudden figured out there is nobody to watch #2!  So I get the call.  I love to watch the girls, but the installer cancelled out today and will be arriving sometime mid morning tomorrow and I need to be here to meet him!  So, son and I talked for about 10 minutes and figured out the best solution is for him to bring granddaughter #2 over to Grampa's house at 8AM so he can be back home and get the bus at 9AM...  He says the day will be short, probably less than an hour, and then they take the School Bus home, get in his car and drive back over here to pick up #2....  I'm betting they won't get here until about noon...  Could be a long morning!

I poured the first wall for the Octagon Blacksmith Shop tonight....  Had just enough Hydrocal left to make one batch.  I'm letting it dry overnight before removing it from the mold.  Got a couple rocks out of the batch as well.  I also spent an hour placing railbars/joints on the rails in the yard...  Have a lot more to do, but at least I have a start.  I also solved the problem of the derailing baggage car when being backed up.  I cleaned all the wheels and reamed out the trucks with a truck tuner on each of the 3 passenger cars.  They each now roll much free-er.  Amazing how much crud was on the steel wheels!  Then I elevated the track at the curved turnout a bit.  No derailments, but still lifting an axle on the baggage car.  Watched it several times as it went into the curve, and finally decided that a longer shank coupler might help.  I took one off an 85' heavyweight that can't negotiate some the the 22" curves on the layout going forward, let alone backwards.  That did the trick it now runs nice and steady through the turnout both forward and backwards (pushed). 

I'll be turning in very soon (remember the early morning I have planned...), so my prayers going out to all of you in need!  Do hope Ulrich is OK!

73

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

GALAXY,   I hope you have enough candles for all the needs here. The list just seems to get longer by the day.

If these are indeed the "Golden Years" ---well-- I for one was hoping for a bit more GOLDEN, than just that racing stripe in my shorts.

Get those candles lit, I have notified the Fire Dept, to keep an eye on your place as that flame will get mighty bright for the next couple of weeks.

Prayers and best wishes to all who stand in need at this time.  Rest assured we are keeping you in our prayers.

We will close up our trailer this coming week-end and have it winterized by the time we leave there.

Then I have a shed roof that I would like to replace before winter and then it should be back to the train room more often. I think that the workers on the LM&E think that the "Brass Hat" has died with the lack of operation that there has been.

My next post will be #1200,  that works out to be about 200 a year for me. Not a lot, but consistent..

Night all, I'm going to hit the sack early as I have to work the next two days.

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

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

YGW .... I recall your posts a few months ago, and you said your wife was very ill, and I have been wondering how things were. I am sad to hear about the loss. Although not easy, we must accept it when God chooses to take one of his children home. Of course, we are your friends here in the Diner, and please feel free to let us know how you are doing.  Prayers for you and your family.

Tom in PA ... Praying your wife's foot and ankle problems can be corrected as well as the vision problem.

Paul ... Praying your wife will be okay.

Ulrich ... Preying you are okay.

Ken ... Think of you and your house situation. Hope everything works out for you.

Stan ... It's still busy here, but I intend to look for yoru eamil address soon.

 

Big thanks from me for all the b'day wishes. Yes, it was good everybdoy dressed up to travel back in the 1950's. Now, some of the travelers look terrible or indecent.

Tomorrow is our anniversary, and so we're celebrating.

 

[blownout cylinder]

Ulrich:  I think it be better to get to emerg now......

YGW:  Good to get back into things you enjoy. It really helps one deal with losses like that..

Good Evening...

Well, after getting bogged down in my own issues...dang chemo...I am now getting a bit more of my energy back...took a bit of a walk down to Springbank Park and around Byron today....of course, AFTER it got all rainy and miserable in the humidity department...

Oh...this morning?

Miserable humidity..almost 98% humidity with temperatures at 84F...felt like 108F here...yuck.

[tcwright973]

YOUGOTTAWANTTA:  I'm so very sorry to hear about your loss. That is sad news indeed.

BEES, WASPS & OTHER LIITLE FLYING CREATURES:  My contribution to this topic is that I have never seen so many of these drowned in our birdbath as I have this year. I usually change out the water every 2 or 3 days, and there is always a dozen or more floating around. Lots of them sitting on the rim as well. I never even knew they drank water.

MORE GOOD NEWS:  First. let me thank all who commented on wifes vision. It's appreciated. Today we saw the surgeon about her foot/ankle situation. We expected to be told she would need a bone fusion or an ankle replacement. Instead, he recommended doing nothing more at this time, but to continue with the compression stocking and the brace. He said that might get her a couple of months to a couple of years. He also said if she experienced any pain or other problems, to call and they would try a steroid injection. So the good news if there isn't any additional surgery in the immediate future and we can live a somewhat normal lifestyle. Can you spell "Timonium" in late October?

We did go railfanning again this past Sunday. Caught 9 trains on Norfolk Southern's main line here in a little under 2 hours. Only one train did not give a little toot of the whistle, and the conductor waved out the window on that one. All others gave a toot, and two turned on the bell and flashed the ditch lights as well. Seems like a pretty friendly bunch to my way of thinking. I did mention to the wife that I wonder if some of the crews may be getting use to seeing us there at the same times on most Sundays. Who knows.

Got to wrap this up as I have a couple loads of laundry to get done and some other chores as well. Told the wife I would take her to Wheeling Island Casino tomorrow to let her celebrate all her good luck this week.  See you later, Tom

[jeffrey-wimberly]

yougottawanta

Been gone a while. I have a legit reason. MOH took a turn for the worse and in April the cancer took her home to her heavenly mansions.

Sorry to hear about that. I hope you're doing OK. The passing of a loved one is a traumatic event.

[yougottawanta]

Hello all

Been gone a while. I have a legit reason. MOH took a turn for the worse and in April the cancer took her home to her heavenly mansions. We have been putting our life back together piece by piece and I have finally gotten to the point where I can move forward and start thinking about trains amd model railroading agiain. You will be seeing more of me here in the future.

[Seamonster]

Galaxy:  Don't stop the morning tid-bits. I enjoy them and they're educational.

Todd:  Yup, this is the season for wasps to come out and bother us as their natural food supply is dwindling.  They can be a real nuisance when you're trying to have a BBQ or a picnic.  Yesterday, we were at our favourite beach for the day and in the afternoon we got a couple of sundaes at the concession stand and sat at a picnic table to eat them.  We had quite a wasps--actually they would have been yellowjackets as those are the ones who like sweet stuff--very interested in our ice cream.  Some of the time I had one eating on one side of the dish while I ate from the other side.  It just perched on the rim of the dish and leaned in and didn't mind me digging my spoon in on the other side.  I was kicking myself that I had left my camera in the car.

[pascaff*]

 Morning Folks,

   Current temp is 58 with an expected high of 94 and sunny as usual.

Ulrich, keep an eye on that pain and get to a dr ASAP. Hope it is nothing, but you can't be too careful.

Tuesday is a closing shift for me, plus a product knowledge meeting after close, which means I get home around 11:00 Long day since I am usually up at 5:00 or 6:00.  Will stop at the hospital before going in to work.

  A/C repair guy will be here tomorrow between 1:00 and 3:00.

Everyone have a good day.

Paul

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon!

What I thought to be a nice day turned into a little nightmare.

the 4 remaining job applications were all turned down. I am feeling bad, there is a strong pain in my chest and i have a hard time to breathe. Petra is on the alert should things turn to the worse.

[MisterBeasley]

howmus

I'll have a short stack of blueberry pancakes (while their still in season),

We have raspberries in our yard.  My wife has developed a bad habit of picking a bunch, putting them on top of a cookie sheet and putting the sheet into the freezer prior to bagging them up.  The trouble is, the cookie sheet is too big, and it interferes with the ice maker.  So, yesterday I opened the freezer and the cookie sheet, shifted out of balance by the ice maker's action, crashed to the floor.  The frozen raspberries mostly broke apart into individual drupelets, scattering all over the floor.  So there, Ray, is your useless fact from my post - the individual sections of raspberries are called drupelets.  And yes, they made a real mess.

Raining lightly here in Massachusetts.  It's been very dry all summer.  I'm wondering if the unusual weather is contributing to odd distributions of insects.  We have far fewer mosquitos, a good thing considering the EEE and West Nile they're carrying.

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a short stack of blueberry pancakes (while their still in season), real NYS Maple Syrup, n order of bacon, and lots of Marrakesh Express Dark roast coffee in my FGLK Mug, please and thank you Ma'am.

I'm sitting here at the computer waiting for the installer to arrive for the Solar Panel Installation.  I was told mid to late morning....  The Code Officer should be showing up to let him know he is doing his job as well.  Of course the forecast for today is thunderboomers and such this afternoon and evening, so who knows how much will get accomplished today.  There is some in door stuff they will need to do in the basement so they should be able to continue on the project even if the weather doesn't co-operate.

Todd, actually the wasps have not been bad here at home either.  You are very right about spiders...  Never ever seen so many of them inside, outside, down cellar, in the shed,  making webs in every nook and corner, and cranny possible.  We have had a major bloom of the "Ant Mimic" hunting spiders again this year.  Never saw them before last year.

Galaxy, I too am a wealth of "Little know and useless information" so keep 'em coming.  Always like to learn more...

Best get moving...  Lots of stuff to do today!

73

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and….I’ll have what Ray had yesterday please. Man that sounds good. Thank you.

Count down begins for the big weekend in Williamsville like we haven’t seen in yeeeeeears. All years class reunion uptown Friday evening with a band, and then on Saturday it’s the Fall Festival. Brenda’s pride and joy. This week is gonna be hectic for her as some of you may remember, it's her baby and she’s in charge of the thing so now the last minute phone calls and problems happen and yes….., this is the week I get drug into it. I grumble, but I really don’t mind.

Bugs and bees. Nope..., now that you mention it, haven’t seen too many. Very few Mud Daubers which Brenda is grateful for, but me, Mud Daubers don't bother me they pretty much leave you alone. They just fly around and actually make pretty good pets (nods head). They aren’t however, fond of touching, but they are good listeners. Now spiders….whoa! We’ve had more wolfies crawl through the house than ever.

Shower update, good news, sorta, the shower floor showed up at the store on the first according to the e-mail they sent but I didn't read until this morning. Wasn’t supposed to get here until the 6^th. Hence my casual, er, should I say, more casual than usual, attack on the project. But, I doubt I will speed up much, the project will actually speed up simply because I can now have the actual product to measure off of rather than the dimensions off the website. There are always issues when you fit something based solely on measurements. I prefer to have something to test fit. Old man Murphy you know. Between the class reunion and the Fall Festival, I didn’t plan on getting much done past Thursday anyway.

Morning trivia? I'm all about worthless information. In fact, as Ray would probably say, I'm full of it. I enjoy it G.

Ya’ll have a good day!!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's partly cloudy and 76° with 97% humidity. The high today will be 95° with a heat index of 106°.


Nothing much going on today. I got some cleanup done on the layout yesterday. May continue that today. No new projects planned. Got the Car Talk MP3's backed up last night then downloaded and listened to the newest show before closing down last night.

[gear-jammer]

Good morning, Diners.  Chloe, I will have a large black coffee before heading to the pool to swim.  I will be hard to work today.  Too many days without a schedule.

I didn't finish the pressure washer job on the deck.  Looks like the weather will hold long enough for me to finish Thursday.

Sue

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon Gang!

It´s a quiet, but nice Autumn day here in the land of limited chances. I had to work down a long HD list this morning, which I did not finish completely. I just don´t feel like cleaning the car ...

Zoe, some coffee and a donut, please. Do I like this virtual food - not fattening at all and low on cholesterol!

Time for my favourite TV show - Romancing the Railroads!

CUL!

["JaBear"]

galaxy

If you Enjoy these morning tid-bits of info

let me know, If Not, I may discontinue them!

Gidday Galaxy, Yes I do enjoy your morning tit bits of info, even though its the opposite time of day for me, and I do appreciate the effort.

It rather reminds me of some 25 years ago when my chief engineer at the time instigated "the word of the day" to try to improve our general vocabulary. We all took turns to come up with a "new"word and its meaning and then the rest of the day everyone was encouraged to use it during general conversation, some of the results were quite hilarious. Those guys were the best crew I ever worked with.

Thoughts and Best Wishes to all Those who need them.

Cheers,the Bear.

[james saunders]

I thought I better stick my head in to say hello in the september diner... I'll be back tonight to post a longer update...

P.S - Galaxy, I enjoy reading them, don't stop.

Cheers 

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee in the Diner

GOOD MORNING!!!

Bill has provided the date

There are only 112 days left till Christmas!!!

Hopefully we don't have to describe our modeling

efforts as "having gone south", but if we do

here is how the expression came about:

gone south, went south:

- failed (plan, business or financial venture) - almost certainly derived from the South Sea Scheme, also called the South Sea Bubble, stock scheme devised by Sir John Blunt from 1710-1720, which was based on buying out the British National Debt via investors paying £100 for a stake in exclusive South Seas trading rights. The shares soon increased in value by ten times, but 'the bubble burst' in 1720 and ruined thousands of people. The expression would have been further reinforced by the similar French scheme 1717-1720, based on paying the French national Debt, then totalling £208m, started by John Law, a Scot, which promised investors exclusive trading rights to Louisiana, on the banks of the Mississippi, central to USA southern states cotton trade, and the global textiles industry. 1870 Brewer confirms the South Sea Bubble term was used to describe any scheme which shows promise and then turns to ruin. South also has the meaning of moving or travelling down, which helps the appropriate 'feel' of the expression, which is often a factor in an expression becoming well established.

If you Enjoy these morning tid-bits of info,

let me know, If Not, I may discontinue them!

[pascaff*]

Evening folks.

Jim - Yes my girls are great. In fact one of them convinced me to get one of those smarty phones in July. It was a great distraction when my wife first went into the hospital. I call my daughter whenever I have a ? about my phone, she has the same one. Thanks for the well wishes and prayers.

 Garry - great photo. We were talking the other day about how we used to dress up for any occasion, going to church, a plane or train ride, even a cousin's birthday party. Not so much anymore.

Jeff - I can talk Geekinese with most folks, except the real geeky ones.

Mr. Murphy came by this afternoon and parked himself in my A/C unit again. This time everything is working, but no cold air. I have to call the repair guys again in the morning.

Since I think it is tomorrow in parts of Indiana, I will say good night.

to all in need.

Paul

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's TUESDAY September 4, 2012

FISHERS DEPOT on the old NKP IMC line from Indy to Tipton.

TIPTON

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. I'm currently involved in the process of burning the DVD for the NPR Car Talk files backup. There are enough Car Talk programs on the disk that I can listen to one a week for two years and not hear the same one twice. The FLV backup DVD is already done. Ran a train today. The three GP9F's were run for a while then I parked them and ran the GP7's and GP35. Had the clickity-clack of metal wheels on rails going for over an hour. See y'all tomorrow.

[cudaken]

 Evening Dinners

 Flo Beer Pleases.

 Garry Happy Birthday and the same to your little sister!

 Berry, reason I am so glum?  Looks like I am going to lose the house to Bank Of Stupid! Thank to there miss-information I am now 4 months behind and will go into forecloser when they open Tuesday.

 I will call them Tuesday and see what is going on, but I m sure what ever they tell me will be a LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why would they start giving me correct information at this point?

Did find a rental on line for $625.00 with a 1 car garage and a fenced yard. I could do a lot in a 1 car garage. Now if they will take a Wolfhound I might have a places to live.  I think they will fill there pants when I say "But She A Small One At 140 Pounds". 

 See you all later.

            Ken

 

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Janie - I'll just have a RBF please.

Thank you, ma'am!

Yep, Flip, when people are depending on you to get them there, it's necessary. Good that you didn't have all the buses to contend with today. With your schedule, do you (on school days) have them both in the morning, and then also get stuck behind them on the return trips, or is the afternoon trip at a different enough time that you miss the buses then? Just curious me, no biggee..

"Birthday Boy" Garry, I'd agree with Curt (both on that being a nice photo, and about how we used to dress up to go places (and especially for a train trip, which was a special treat when I was that age!). Thanks for posting it.

Paul (not that you'd be doing a lot there, I would guess), at the hospital, they often have a public WiFi that you could use with that new laptop. But hopefully, your wife won't have to be making extended visits there. Sounds like your daughters know how to treat their Daddy right. Hope you figure out a suitable RR brown color.

Curt, it sounds like you had one of the most productive days for the Diners in here today. (Of course, the ones who aren't in here, may not be, because they're busy doing even more!)

Jeff, I'm okay with your slightly geek-talk.[/geek on] I'll keep your 'review' of the PNY vs. SanDisk USB drives in mind. My local source (usually Staples' reduced price rack) ran through their 8GB ones for about $6-7. Now they are carrying (in the regular aisles) bigger USB drives - 16GB, 32GB and bigger. I snatched up a couple/three of the 8GB ones on sale, because the newer OS X installers can't fit on a 4GB thumb drive, but fit fine on an 8GB one. [/geek off]

Now, if we got Barry and Ray talking about music mixers, synthesizers and various audio stuff, then we'd have a real geekfest in here.. Of course, there are times when the guys who really know about cars get going and my eyes about glaze over - that's why I ensure that I have a well-recommended mechanic for tending to my car (in the words of Sgt. Schultz - "I know nuttin!!").

I took a short nap earlier this afternoon. Except it ended up that my brother (who I'd tried to call last night to wish him a ) decided to call me back (apparently one of the two numbers I tried to reach him with, was one with his answering machine). But I still (after we got done talking a while) got back to sleep for another hour, so I'm good with that. (Did I mention he's my older brother? ) He does artsy kind of weaving - big pieces, like hallway runners that he sold to one guy in Maine (think he had almost a castle...the guy in Maine, not brudder dear...). He's been doing some shorter-term (couple weeks or more) weaving teaching. If anybody is interested, PM or 'e' me and I'll send you a link to his website. I was surprised to see that a fair number of the weavings/tapestries/rugs he has on his homepage are not that big (about 18" X 30" to 4'+ X 6'). Haven't seen his looms in a while (he w**ked in biochemistry in the Houston area years ago, last time I saw him at that home), but his looms take up much of a spare room, I recall.

Won one more auction this afternoon; two more to go and then I'll have the one seller (all but 1 item) combine his to save on shipping. The other one I may or may not win - we'll see.

That's about all my news today (Lake Woebegon, it's not... ). See you all in the morning - I'm going to head home, and maybe put together some freight car kits (just so I'll have something MRR-related to report tomorrow).

Will continue for Diners, wives/OH's and others in need of healing, good night's rests, comfort, and several other things (mentioned or not). Speaking of which, anybody heard from Rob C. lately? Wondering if his farm has him bogged down, or what he's been up to.

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape G.

[JeremyB]

A warm summer night here and the kids go back to school tomorrow. I cant believe its a new school year as it just seems like summer started.

Chance of some rain tonight ( hopefully) and thunderstorms tomorrow. I did a little work on the layout today after I got back from a three hour bike ride, a lot of people on the trails early today as its usually quiet when I head to them. Just sitting here now flipping through the 2012 version of the "Canadian Trackside Guide " and might go watch some TV in a little bit. Im also putting together a list of some things I want to do on the layout this week if I get time.

[blownout cylinder]

jeffrey-wimberly

Curt Webb

Jeff- Were you speaking in English in the last post?

I guess not. I thought I had done a good job of translating geek to something everybody could understand.

Oh, I understood it perfectly well.... You should hear me when I get going about mixer interfaces and computers sometimes...

Good Evening...

We actually got to 88F feeling like 106F today...in the baking sun...tomorrow? More of the same with a slight risk of those ol' t'underin'boomers...

Today was a slow day...got a few things done in the trainroom...but mostly got a fair lot of Honey Do stuff done...as per usual...

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Curt Webb

Jeff- Were you speaking in English in the last post?

I guess not. I thought I had done a good job of translating geek to something everybody could understand.