ELLIOT'S TRACKSIDE DINER, JULY 2013!

[Anonymous]

Hi - the prodigal son´s back, if only for a moment!

Jeff - a belated and all the best wishes for health and happiness from Petra and me!

All the hurdles to get registered as a party and participate in the upcoming general election have been overcome - hooray!  Official campaign will commence on July 22nd, that´s two week from today, but a lot of miles to walk in prep work. Not easy, given the small amount of cash we have...

Have a good one!

[galaxy]

Morning coffee in the diner..

GOOD MONDAY MORNING!!!

Today is Monday, July 8th, 2013!!!

I will light the prayer candles at 9 AM for those in need...

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!!!

Is everything 'O.K.'?

MEANING:

Satisfactory - all correct

Origin:

The short, cute story:

When all know it means that everything is fine. The phrase originated with President Martin Van Buren, while he was running for his second term as president.  He was born in Kinderhook, NY.  And his nickname was "Old Kinderhook." So, his fans formed a campaign committee called the "Democratic O.K. (old kinderhood) Club."The campaign slogan spread from then on.

The bigger better indepth origin{s}:

Such a short word and the source of so much dispute. It is possibly the phrase with more alternative suggested derivations than any other. The contenders include:

1. Terms from various languages that sound similar to 'okay' in English; for example:
   from the Scots - 'och aye' (yes, indeed) from Choctaw-Chickasaw, 'okah' (it is indeed) from Greek, 'ola kala' ( everything is well) from Finnish, 'oikea' (correct, exact) from Mandingo, 'O ke', (certainly)
2. A shortened version of 'Oll Korrect', used by President Andrew Jackson when initialing papers
3. 'Old Kinderhook' - nickname of President Martin van Buren.
4. 'Aux quais' - the mark put on bales of cotton in Mississippi river ports.
5. '0 killed' - the report of the night's death toll during the First World War.
6. 'Orl Korrect' - military reporting indicating troops were in good order.

etc, etc.

Despite there being many rival suggested origins there is actually a well-researched and reliable source for the phrase. In 1963, in American Speech, the celebrated etymologist Professor Allen Walker Read published his extensive research into this phrase. To put his findings into context he explains the craze for the use of abbreviations that flourished in Boston, beginning in summer 1838. He found the earliest recorded use of OK (as opposed to okay, which came slightly later) in the Boston Morning Post, 23rd March 1839, in a story about an odd group known as the Anti-Bell Ringing Society (ABRS). Their reason to be was to have the law relating to the ringing of dinner bells changed. In that article it appears that OK was used as a shortened form of "oll korrect", a comic version of "all correct".

We don't really have to look further for the origin, but people still do.

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much hope of Read's work being accepted as definitive. Even as early as 1840, which by Read's account is but a few months after the term was coined, there was a dispute about its origin and meaning. In the Lexington Intelligencer, 9th October 1840, we have:

"Perhaps no two letters have ever been made the initials of as many words as O.K... When first used they were said to mean Out of Kash, (cash;) more recently they have been made to stand for Oll Korrect, Oll Koming, Oll Konfirmed, &c. &c."

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!!

[kbkchooch]

Hey Gang!

Got both the cars washed, dried, tires dress, vacuumed, then had lunch. Then after lunch, did some more stuff in the basement. It was hot but there wasn't a lot of humidity, so I put my car out in the driveway, opened the windows and the sunroof while SWMBO took hers and went shopping. About 3 I was ready to do some painting in the garage. Got the 1st color coat on 3 engines for my friend "2 dollar Bill" today , then I masked off an engine of mine and proceeded to apply its 2nd color. Just as I was finishing, I felt a cool breeze coming in the shop, turned around to see it was now very dark outside. Got my hands wiped off and found my keys with just enough time to get my car backed into the garage as a deluge hit us! SWMBO had also just gotten home at the same time so nobody got wet!!

Now it's more humid outside, but 15-20 degrees cooler than it was, so I guess its a good thing! More on tap for tomorrow late in the afternoon. Oh well, its better than a drought!

Gotta roll out of here at 7 tomorrow

Cya all later!

[Lehigh Valley 2089]

Evening guys, will be heading up to bed soon. 

Got the dark gray on the B-17G today. Other than that, not much to report. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Jeff ... I like the oil well. 

The oil well pump jack is a motorized model (AC) from Faller. I bought it some years ago from a member on another forum.

[kbkchooch]

jeffrey-wimberly

Here's another good laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgHRJU7pmY

Funny Jeffrey!

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a cup of decaf please...

I got a lot done today, most of it outside in the hot and muggy.  Unlike Barry, no liquid sunshine fell here today.  Did have a few clouds hiding the sun from time to time though.

I completed the basic part of the 3rd. raised garden.  Had to add the hardware cloth on the bottom, then position and level the bottom half where I want it in the garden.  I then went to the lumber store up the road and got 3 more 2x6x8' to use for the upper half.  They fit nicely inside the PiP and brought them home.  Finished the top half, added the bracing on the inside, and then after dinner tonight moved a couple wheelbarrows of topsoil over to start filling it.  Only moved a bit and then raked it around to let it sift down through the hardware cloth.  There are a few places where the hardware cloth sits a couple inches up off the ground, and I want to get some soil down in there before I get to filling the whole thing.  I also printed the latest issue of the local Division of the NMRA newsletter for those that still live in the last century and require snail mail.

Tomorrow morning I have to open up the R&GV RR Museum for a tour.  Will need to be up early and get on the road by 8:30 at the latest, so I probably won't make it in until I get back home.

Best call it a night I think!

73

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening DIners! 

Curt .... I like the photos .

Karl, Ray, Jeff .....  LOL at the goofy drivers in the videos. 

Jeff ... I like the oil well. 

Grandkids are here still. It's fun but they wear us out. 

Here is an older photo of a Northern Pacific GP9 with a local freight train on my layout.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I was out of the house for a short time today enjoying some watermelon with the family. When I came back I found a mysterious box waiting for me. Mysterious in that there was no mailing label, no information of any kind on it and I had never seen it before. No trip wires, springs or switches of any kind were evident. Inside I found two Apple II compatible 5.25" Quentin disk drives and an Apple II drive controller with a note. It said simply 'I hope you can use these'. No idea whatsoever who left them. The drives required only minimal servicing and work perfectly. It took me about two minutes to install the controller in my mothers old IIe. Most of that time was spent getting it out of the closet and putting it back. So that's three more items scratched off the list of things to get. Now I just need a CP/M card for it. Nothing done on the layout today.

Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Evening..

Well, we had rain rain and more rain here, it would dry a bit, get more muggy and down it would come again...it still  is doing it though not as much now..sigh...

I did get to the mall this afternoon..even if a little on the wet side...thought I could have used a wetsuit though...

Then, got home a ran some trains around...and watched a few videos as well...a good evening to be had...

Have a good'un!!

Karl:  We see that coming north out of TO on the 400 a lot!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

kbkchooch

Hey, I think I passed that guy!! LOL!!  

and this guy too !! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZFCHk1XCDY

its a bit long,,the real hilarity starts around 4 minutes in 

Here's another good laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgHRJU7pmY

[JeremyB]

Evening guys,

Nice pics Kurt

I have had a uneventful day, watch the F1 and Indycar race ( which I'm going to next week ) and built a couple more freight cars. The shelf is now down to three cars to be built from the twelve a few days ago. Have you guys ever built a car or car(s) I should say that were a royal pain in the you know what. For me it was two bowser hopper cars, I cant remember the last time I had such a hard and frustrating time building freight cars.

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Had the extended family over for supper, so I BBQ'd. Everyone has gone home so I am watching Drag Racing.

Today I moved  all my train stuff into the new drawer units. I also painted the coal trestle and coal mine tracks/ties black. I figure it makes more sense than brown.

This week I w**k Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday night is the youngest grandsons Birthday (6th). Yes both of their birthdays are 4 days apart calendar wise.

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a good night and prayers for those in need.

 

[kbkchooch]

Hey, I think I passed that guy!! LOL!!  

and this guy too !! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZFCHk1XCDY

its a bit long,,the real hilarity starts around 4 minutes in 

[howmus]

Hey Karl...

You mean like this?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXgMal3C1U

73

[kbkchooch]

Ohhh, much better now. 

Took a nap, a shower, then washed yesterdays trip off the car. Got the soda that was spilled all across the rear seat cleaned up, the brake dust off the wheels, and the bugs smeared on all the forward facing surfaces. I think we killed more bugs yesterday than a full size can of Raid!  

Ray, yeah your right, brain size has a lot to do with it.   But most of the trip the posted speed was 70 and quite a few cars had trouble doing that.  A lot of cars were overloaded. Roof racks bristling with luggage of all sorts, bike racks hanging off the back, and the interior filled to brim with people, luggage or both. Now I realize people want to go places, but hey, use your head! When I was traveling with my modules, I used my 6 cyl truck and an enclosed trailer, I kept to the right, and I didn't stand on the gas and make my engine scream just to run in the left lane. Maybe I was just raised wrong, but I just hated pushing my equipment!

Reminds me of my favorite highway to drive. Rt 40, between Rt 95 and Wilmington NC. Simple highway, 2 lanes in each direction separated by a median strip. Every so often there is a sign that simply says "slower traffic keep right" .  Simply put, and the thought process behind it is simple. If you cant drive the posted, move right , or NC's finest will kindly remind you to move right. Exceed the posted, and they will visit with you too.  That particular road is not very scenic, without much attraction, but it is a pleasure to drive!

Think I'm gonna paint some body shells now!

Edit: Eat up gang, eats are on me! (I wonder if my Card can withstand a Barry attack?)

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a cup of dark roast coffee and a couple of those sour cream glazed donuts you have over there this morning.  thank You Ma'am!

Currently 81°F outside the door with a high of 84°F predicted about the time the thunderstorms show up this afternoon...

(Galaxy, I remember the names of the Jr. High Music teachers, but not much else...  At least they sound familiar.)

Karl, I don't think it is the size of the car that is the problem...  More the size of the intellect of those driving them blocking the way for others.  I try to drive a steady speed on the NYS Thruway, and what gets to me are the cars that roar up behind you in the passing lane while I am waiting behind the semi to move over into the passing lane then slow down to match my speed when passing the truck.  Of course this necessitates me hitting the brake and slowing down to the trucks speed and then waiting for them to creep by the semi...  I think the problem is a general lack of courtesy with many drivers.  You know my little itty bitty Yaris could do 120mph without any problem  (don't ask how I know....  Actually about 105 is the fastest I ever drove it and that was just because I wasn't paying attention to the speedometer....) hopefully you weren't going that fast!

I better get moving if I am going to finish and install the last of the raised beds today!

Later!

73

[EMD.Don]

Morning all! Cuppa joe with a side of toast and apple butter please if you have any.

Well, I have returned from my Northern adventures up into Canada. Saw lots of trains all along the north-south corridor of central Ontario between Fort Erie and North Bay. I caught a BC Rail red/white/blue heavily weathered locomotive leading two fairly fresh CN locomotives running north towards Hamilton last Sunday, which was cool as I had never seen one before. Tons of CP, Via, and CN...various locomotives in various settings. Had a blast shopping in different hobby shops...bought a few things...just a few ...

But I am tired. Too many miles in just in under two weeks and too much packing and un-packing. Plan on cutting the grass and then assuming the position in a comfy chair with a new book that I picked up on my travels...The People's Railway: A History of the Canadian National by Donald MacKay. 

Happy modeling and good day all!

Don.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Sunday Breakfast buffet please oh yes and coffee. thanks.

Karl- Great to hear about the job.

Let’s try this again---  Jeff for real.    (I thought his B-day was the 7^th. I just went along with the crowd)

OK, I just been skimming the posts for the last couple days (hence the confusion with Jeff) what with things here and trying to get the apartment redone with it’s little 40 different people having done stuff over the years and trying to fix all that. I say  “Really? Really?  You’ve GOT to be kidding me! Why would anybody do that?!” a lot. (or various forms of that, some in admittedly less that social wording if you catch my drift.) Anyway, runninglate again I have to relocate a hole and a box so the bathroom vanity light will wo*k because well they run the wire in an inch off the corner so …..  and pull up some tile. Brenda has a grocery list for today and she will want to go out for dinner I know, and if we don't it'll be a crime. She was aware my weekends would be tight on this project (as with others) prior to me starting and that was ok. But that was then and tis is now. Now that I’ve started, as per tradition she… well, let’s just leave it at that.

Anyway, hope I didn’t miss anything important, if I did I apologize.

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[galaxy]

Karl, you just need to relax on the road. Getting worked up doesn't help.

Some in the passing lane use it as a "through lane" to get to the far distances the road goes, regardless of the car's power. SO they HAVE "picked a lane appropriate to the situation", just not to your speed liking!

I always add on an hour or two to get through areas heavy with traffic, or with construction, which you didn't even mention!

Thsoe "slow ones' in the 'fast lane' probably ARE going faster than those in the other lanes, so the pass! Again at a aspeed slower than you'd like.

It takes what ti takes to get there, adn add time on to get to your destination.

The teens don't help, but the "if I have to pull this car over" speach sometimes works magic!

SO keep all that in mind next ime...if there IS a next time...

[pascaff*]

  Morning All,

   Currently it is 62 with an expected high of 95, and back down to low humidity with little chance of rain.

   Another w**k day. Boy I am getting real tired of retail sales. I like most of the folks I work with, and I do like selling firearms, ammo, reloading components, and related hunting items, but the hours and some customers are getting to me. Only 1279 days until I retire again, this time for good.

   I am sure I will not feel like w**king on the layout when I get home, just have something to eat and watch some TV.

   Prayers to all in need.

    Paul

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Curt Webb

Jeff- Happy birthday. I like the logo on the truck!

Thanks. I figured MacGyver fans would get it real quick.

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

Sitting here perusing the forum while drinking my coffee.

Yesterday was tough on the back. My son and I unloaded 3 pallets of wood flooring in prep for the flooring project. Then we went and picked up 2 large Viper tool chests and moved them upstairs. That was around 350 lbs between them (empty). MOH decided that was what I needed for the train room. When that was done we had the grandsons birthday party at a bowling alley. Between all of that my back was really talking to me. It's feeling better but is still stiff.

I hope to do some stuff in the train room but not sure if it is going to happen today.

Jeff- Happy birthday. I like the logo on the truck!

Hope everyone has a good day and prayers for those in need.

[Lehigh Valley 2089]

Hey guys. Been busy so I haven't been able to check let alone post for the past few days. 

Well, the B-17G is officialy a "Flying Fortress". Only missing the tail guns, but will probably be easier to add them when the paint has been added. 

Also picked up a B-25J Mitchell medium bomber and a B-29 "Superfortress". Each of them are of 1/48 scale, so the Superfortess will be MASSIVE!

Sympathies for those who need them. 

Jeff, 

[kbkchooch]

Mornin gang!

Flo, IV coffee please  Keep pumping it in my arm til I say when~

Sunday is a day of rest, and after yesterdays escapades, that is exactly what I'm doing today. Unless I get my second wind, there will be no decoder installs or paint work done. It wasn't the drive, or the 2 teenagers in the back seat who were amped up on Mountain Dew.

It was the mental midgets I was stuck on Rt 95 with.  RV's belching black smoke running under the posted in the fast lane. Rubberneckers bringing the whole highway to a crawl to check out every disabled car. Little tiny cars with little bitty motors trying to scale steep hills in the fast lane. Truckers in the slow lane laughing at the little bitty cars as we stack up behind them and they go by. I really thought my head would explode at one point. Why can't we all just pick a lane appropriate to our situation, look straight ahead and drive??

So today I'll rest and decompress, tomorrow starts the new job, then life can return to normal

Flo, can I get a bagel to go with my IV coffee??

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

A/C on full today...supposed to get to 85F feeling like 100F later on in those ol' t'underinboomers as well....

Get to go to the mall this afternoon and see the gang there...maybe pick up a few things as well...

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 76° with 96% humidity. The high will be 92°.


Looks like it could be a wet one. I don't think I'll be getting much done today. I may draw up some plans for the new park. It has to be bigger to have room for the track running across the lower part of it.

[galaxy]

morning coffee in the  diner...

GOOD SUNDAY MORNING!!!

Today is Sunday, July 7th, 2013!!!

I will light the prayer candles at 9 am after Morning services for those in need...

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!!!

Do you lead the life of Riley?:

Meaning:

An easy and pleasant life

Origin:

the short sweet version:

Not just an old television show from the 1950's, but back in the 1880's an Irish comic/singer named Patrick Rooney created a song about Mr. Reilly, who imagined what his life would be like if he hit it rich in the Californ-i-a gold fields. The song describes his wonderful life of leisure. Soon, many who heard it identified with how nice it would be and would repeat the song, making the phrase represent 'having a real easy life'

The longer, better origin:

The phrase originated in the Irish/American community of the USA, in the early part of the 20th century. The first printed citation of it that can be found is from the Connecticut newspaper The Hartford Courant, December 1911 - in a piece headed 'Bullet Ends Life of Famous Wild Cow':

The famous wild cow of Cromwell is no more. After "living the life of Riley" for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons.

The quote marks that the writer added around the phrase are often an indication that the phrase in question isn't familiar to the readership, also an indication of it being newly coined.

The phrase was much used in the military, especially amongst the Irish soldiery in WWI. The first known citation in that context is in a letter from a Private Walter J. Kennedy (who surely had parents or grandparents who hailed from the old country), stationed at Camp Dix, New Jersey, which was published in The Syracuse Herald on 29th June 1918. The piece was headed "Great Life, Writes Soldier at Camp":

"This is surely one great life." writes Kennedy. "We call it the life of Riley. We are having fine eats, are in a great detachment and the experience one gets is fine."

Later that year, on 22nd October, The Bridgeport Telegram published a letter from Private Samuel S. Polley, 102 Regiment, stationed in France.

"They [German officers] must have led the life of Reilly as we caught them all asleep in beds..."

Who Riley, or Reilly, or Reiley,  was isn't all that clear. If he had been a known individual then it surely would have been recorded. The lack of any such records points to the name being chosen as that of a generic Irishman, much as Paddy is used now.

The phrase may have been brought to America by Irish immigrants, although there's no known use of it in Ireland prior to 1918, or, more likely, it originated in the Irish community in the USA.

There were various Victorian music hall songs that referred to a 'Reilly' who had a comfortable and prosperous life; for example, there's the 1883 song, popularized by the Irish/American singer Pat Rooney - Is That Mr. Reilly? It included in the chorus "Is that Mr. Reilly, of whom they speak so highly?". Like most other Irish songs of the era, it played to the Irish audience - this one with a dash of anti-Chinese racism thrown in for luck (the Chinese were 'Reilly's' principal competitors for manual work in the USA at the time):

I'll have nothing but Irishman on the police Patrick's Day will be the fourth of July; I'll get me a thousand infernal machines, To teach the Chinese how to die, I'll defend working men's cause, Manufacture the laws, New York would be swimming in wine, A hundred a day will be very small pay, When the White House and Capital are mine.

Another Irish/American singer, George Gaskin, was popular in New York around the same time. He was called 'The Silver-Voiced Irish Tenor", although audiences must have been rather forgiving in those days, as surviving recordings of him sound like a knife being drawn across a plate or the proverbial "nails on a blackboard". 1897 song, The Best in the House is None Too Good for Reilly, elaborated on the whimsical idea of a wealthy Irishman being treated lavishly:

He's money for to pay, So they let him have his way, The best in the house is none too good for Reilly.

So, while the idea of a notional Irishman living the high life was current in late 19th century America, the phrase 'the life of Riley' isn't found until the early 20th century. It was clearly circulating in the language, by 1911, but it was probably the lyric of Howard Pease's popular song, My Name is Kelly, 1919, that brought it to the wider public:

Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly,   but I'm living the life of Reiley just the same.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

["JaBear"]

Evening All,    Jeffery, 

Oz Jim,  nothing like a  steady hand and a dab of good adhesive.

Karl , hope the new job goes well.

Just been watching the derailment at Lac-Megantic on the evening news, not sure if any forum members are in that area, but........

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All those that need them.

Cheers, the Bear.

[fec153]

Karl-

Thankyou !  

Flip