ELLIOT'S TRACKSIDE DINER, JULY 2013!

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Hot Hazy and very humid out...82 out right now feeling like 100...posta get to 93 feeling like 111 later this afternoon

Going to be another indoor activity kinda day for me..no grass, or even weed,cutting. We did not even hear anything resembling a grumble here, rain wise...nada

Have a good day!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 72° with 94% humidity. The high will be 94° but will feel like 109°.



Looks like it might get a bit wet today. Yesterday we got only enough rain to make me mad. It was hardly worthwhile to turn the wipers on. Yesterday was a busy and painful day for me. I'm still hurting today so I think I'll just stay inside and likely keep to the bed for much of the day.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and a Denver Omelet please. Thanks.

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Sunny and hot, with a high near 95. Heat index values as high as 105.

Inch- Sorry about the …I mean congrats on the Sergeants of Arms.

Liba-

Jeffrey- I guess what I meant was I don’t see how they could take some medicare/medicaide, and not others. That is a question I guess we cannot answer and those that can, probably won’t.

Jeremy- Actually MRRing was going to be a winter hobby for me. Something to do when I couldn’t/didn’t want to get out. Not much do I try to get involved with in the winter. Except wait around and dream of it being blazingly hot so I can get out and mow the yard just like you.

Dennis- Illinoyz has those “environmental charges” and “disposal fees” too

Welp, Vinyl floor gets laid this morning and then things, hopefully will speed up towards the completein=on of these apartments. I just have a bi-fold door and a threshold to do at the one and it is done. Unless they get something else I haven’t been informed of. But the apartment above the restaurant now that’s another story. It’ll be cutting it close but it should get done in time.

Gonna be awful hot to be outside doin whatever, but I guess I just oughta bite the bullet and getter done. 

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[MisterBeasley]

Godd morning, once again from hot, hot, HOT Massachusetts.  They're saying Boston could hit a hundred degrees today, but it will be a bit cooler (mid-90s is cool?) out in the burbs where we live.

Ah, in-laws.  My wife was just down there a few weeks ago, trying to get them to consider an assisted living faciltiy.  At 92, Nana can barely walk, uses a walker, and has not left the condo for 8 months because she can't deal with the single flight of stairs.  Papa, 96, does all the shopping, but he's getting a bit unstable now and needs a cane.  A couple of days ago, he injured his elbow and has been told to just rest it, so they've got no way to go out and get food, etc.  They are very stubborn, and won't even have "visiting" support.  So, my wife will be on a plane early tomorrow morning.  She's got one brother who is too busy just working to survive, and another that's too busy figuring out how to survive without working, so it's once again up to her.  In this case, I can't call my wife SWMBO, because Nana is She Who Really Must Be Obeyed.

So, it looks like I'll be getting things done on the layout for a week or two.

 

Hmmm, what goes around, comes around, so eat hearty, ladies and gents.

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee in the diner..

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING!!!

Today is Friday, July 19th, 2013!!!

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

MAKE  IT A GREAT DAY!!!

 We often say we wil have to "bite the bullet", So:

Meaning:

Accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude

Origin:

The short cute version:

The phrase today means to just accept whatever situation you are in and push through it the best you can. Kids today say to just "suck it up." This phrase originates from the days of the Civil War in which battlefield doctors had little pain killers or alcohol. Sometimes, all they could do was to offer a solder a bullet to bit on while they did what they had to do (often painful) to deal with his injuries.

The better version:

People always seemed to believe under the guise of "I always believed" that before the days of effective anaesthetics, soldiers were given bullets to bite on to help them endure pain. 'I've always believed' has to be as poor an opening gambit as 'it is widely accepted' or 'a man in a pub told me' on a piece discussing the origins of a phrase.

Is it true or is it just 'believed'? The theory goes that patients undergoing surgery would be given a stick of wood or a pad of leather to bite on in order to concentrate their attention away from the pain and also to protect against biting their own tongues. A bullet, being somewhat malleable and not likely to break the patient's teeth, is said to have been an impromptu battlefield alternative. Lead poisoning would probably have been a secondary concern in those circumstances.

An correspondent has suggested that, as wooden sticks are known as billets, the stick-biting practice might have first been called 'biting the billet' which then modified to 'biting the bullet'. Worth investigating certainly, but initial enthusiasm was dampened rather by finding that no records of the phrase 'bite the billet' can be found in historical newspapers and other records. That would have been a neat solution but, lacking any supporting evidence, it seems best to discount it.

Many artists, notably Rembrandt Van Rijn and Hieronymus Bosch, painted scenes of early surgery and none of those paintings shows patients biting into anything. Whether or not they might have been offered anything to nibble on, there's little doubt that they would have been fortified with strong drink.

The most frequently cited origin of the alleged 'biting the bullet' practice is the American Civil War. This seems rather improbable, as effective anaesthesia using ether and chloroform was introduced in 1846/47 and ether was issued to U.S. military surgeons as early as 1849 - well before the US Civil War began in 1861. The photograph above shows, albeit not too clearly, a patient undergoing amputation in a US Civil War field hospital, with a cloth, presumably soaked in ether/chloroform, held near his mouth. It doesn't look like much fun but, given the choice, and apparently they were, surely patients would prefer unconsciousness to bullet chewing.

'Biting the bullet' does in fact date from before that war, as this definition of 'nightingale' in Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796 makes clear:

Nightingale. A soldier who, as the term is, sings out at     the halberts. It is a point of honour in some regiments,     among the grenadiers, never to cry out, or become nightingales, whilst under the discipline of the cat of nine tails;     to avoid which, they chew a bullet.

That example also puts to bed the often repeated theory that the expression derived from incidents in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The Sepoys were native Indian fighters who were recruited to fight with the British Army. When a new design of rifle was issued, which  used greased paper cartridges that needed to be bitten to release their powder, the Sepoys objected on religious grounds. Hindus feared that the grease was made from cow fat and Muslims that it was made from what was equally repugnant to them, pig fat. The requirement that the Sepoys ignore their religious qualms and 'bite the bullet' is suggested as the source of the phrase. Whilst the incidents were certainly accurately recorded and were a catalyst for the Indian Rebellion, the earlier citation shows that they weren't the source of the phrase.

The figurative usage of 'bite the bullet', simply meaning 'show courage; display a stiff upper lip', is appropriately Victorian. Rudyard Kipling wrote a dialogue in the 1891 novel The Light That Failed, which uses the expression where  no actual bullet was involved but which  alludes to the idea that fortitude can be gained by biting a bullet:

'Steady, Dickie, steady!' said the deep voice in his ear, and the grip tightened. 'Bite on the bullet, old man, and don't let them think you're afraid.'

By 1926, the phrase had left the gory battlefields of the Boer War far behind and moved into the drawing rooms of the English upper classes, in the voice of Bertie Wooster, speaking to Jeeves in The Inimitable Jeeves, 1923:

Brace up and bite the bullet. I'm afraid I've bad news for you.

The 'always believed that', for this instance at least, looks to have been justified.

 

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie a tall glass of lemonade would be great.  Thank you Ma'am...

Yep what Barry said!  Not quite as bad here in the Finger Lakes, but the high did reach 90°F this afternoon.  Out at the Museum, I told some of the folks that it was nice they finally got the stove working in the old Erie Caboose again...  It sure felt that way!  Must have been 120° when she was opened up tonight.  We had a small group for the meeting, only about 20 people.  Most of them rode on the PC Caboose or in the cab,. so I only had a few people that choose to ride in the Erie caboose where I was car host.  We made a couple trips all the way up to the other end with the two cabooses and the 80 tonner.  We stopped short of the museum as we ended up in a tight turn that stopped the train and when she wouldn't move forward after the engineer brought it up a couple of notches, they decided we had gone far enough.  I was riding on the front porch of the Erie, and I seconded the motion...  I would hate to see us spread their rail up there just to see how far we could go!  The cabooses can go through just fine and our 45 tonner can make all the tight curves, but the 80 tonner is just that much bigger...

Jeffrey, glad you finally have somebody willing to help you with the foot.  Take good care of the other one!  Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers during this time.

Guess what I did in the heat of the day?  Yep found the model railroad!  Still there...  Did a touch of scenery today.  Only spent a half hour at it.  Don't want to get back to it too fast you know.

A microburst hit Greece, a town near Rochester, NY, this afternoon taking down trees and doing considerable damage.  Luckily no human injuries have been reported so far.

Have a great night everyone!

73

[blownout cylinder]

Good Evening

Bake and parbroiling is the phrase today...it got up to 93 feeling like 112.

Didst do the home desperate thing and picked up the blue foam..and a few extra things

Checking out some other things tonight...have a good one!

Ken:    for Sue.

[JeremyB]

Hi Guys,

Ken: Sorry to hear about Sue

Jeff: Glad to hear things went good with the doctors visit.

Well today has been warm. I was out on my mountain bike at 5:30-7:00am. Haven't hit the trails this year but will hopefully soon. Might start looking at a new bike for next year some time. I want to take a good amount of time ( over winter ) before deciding on one. There are a couple I have my eye on but will narrow it down over the next 10 months or so, problem is they cost around $2500-3500 depending on which one I go with.

Tell me if this is a dumb move or not. Guess who decides this afternoon at around 12:30pm to go out and cut the grass and do the gardening in the 110F heat. I got it all done in a couple hours a three gatorade water bottle refills later.

Haven't done much layout work lately. Just taking a break from the 10 freight car build last week. Might even take the rest of the summer off from railroading and come back to it in the fall. I was going at it pretty good for a few months and am just burned out at the moment. In fact Im storing some plastic totes in the layout room at the moment. The wife knows thats the "sign" that Im not doing any layout work. Maybe I will make a list of all the things I want to do so when the winter ( hard to believe at the moment ) comes along I will have projects lined up. I remember last year I was on my bike on all free days and on the last day out it actually started snowing so I knew it was time to go back to railroading. I wish I live somewhere where I could bike all year round. I have seen guys hit the trails here in snow tires on there bikes but that doesn't look fun to me.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

Jeffrey- I still don’t understand this “they won’t do it for Medicaid..” I thought ….you know, I best just stay quiet. It’s taking me down the daaaangerouse political avenue and Vinnie’s already standing up and reaching for his stick. Good luck today.

As I understand it they can choose to accept Medicaid and they have to do the work for what it pays or they can choose not to accept it then they can't do any Medicaid work. Quandary answered?

*

Had a good day on the doctors appointments today. Long waits in both cases. First doctor just wanted to examine my left foot as I have a couple of small ulcers on it due to a worn out shoe. If you're thinking just buy a new shoe it's not that easy. I have to have my shoes made and that takes a long while. Visit with the second doctor was more productive. He studied my right foot from all angles and wondered how it wasn't making my life difficult yet. I told him it was making my life extremely difficult and it was only a matter of time before it gets really bad. He agrees that the only thing for it is to get rid of it. He asked how soon I want it removed and I asked him how soon he can do it. He'll have to get my medical records from my doctor and see what prep work has to be done. I may have to go through another nuclear stress test to see how strong my heart is first. I told him I had one a year or two ago. Things are starting to move and maybe within a month I'll be rid of this thing. We wrapped things up there and headed back home. Stopped at KFC for dinner. It was late afternoon by then. Went to Wal-Mart from there to get a few things. Couldn't find a good cart at one end of the store so had to go to the other end. By then I was hurting pretty bad. Found a good cart and got my bit of shopping done. Got home and was just glad to be able to relax.

Well time for me to call it quits for now. My neck, back and hips are giving me quite a bit of pain. We also have thunderstorms moving in so I think I'll just call it a day.

[howmus]

Mornin'!

Zoe, I'll have a couple sour cream glazed donuts and a pot of dark roast fair traded coffee to start the day.

Sun is out....  Nope gone again...   Have yet to have a day in July where the solar panels kicked out over 25 kWh for me.  Been hanging about 22 kWh.  Not terrible, but I sure hope they make more than I use this month.  gonna be close.  Current temp. here in the Finger Lakes is 88*F.  Nice and cool inside the house and I don't have a lot to get done outside, so I think today will be stay inside until I head out to the museum tonight.  Gonna be hot in the caboose I bet.

The Geneva Neighborhood Resource Center sent me an email about a sale over at the local college of barrels to collect rain water.  May get one to have rainwater for the garden.

Karl, I been w@rking one load at a time...  Then head back into the freezer house to cool off.  Topsoils is pretty much moved now.  Need to rototil the area and have my son bring his tractor and the roller over to compact it a bit.  Then it will be ready to have the fence put up.

I'm off to take a shower then see what I can do in the train room... 

73

[pascaff*]

Morning All,

    Currently it is 64 with an expected high of 98, should reach double digits by Sat.

   Went and saw "The Lone Ranger" yesterday, one of my daughters treat. Movie was fun, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Stopped at Hobby Town for some styrene and glue, much to my surprise they no longer make Tenax 7 R, I had 3 bottles which I bought several years ago, so I did not realize it was no longer made. I got some Plastruct glue, and we will see how that works.

    W**k day today, then Skype with my son tonight, so no railroad w**k today.

    Robert  - Welcome to the diner. My son lives in Australia, and when he was home last year he brought some Vegemite with him, it was different, to say the least.

    Jeff  - Good luck with the dr. appointments.

    Ken  - Special prayers for Sue.

    Prayers to all else in need.

    Paul

[galaxy]

Well, erm

KEN- I had the trouble Sue is having for about 5 years...FINALLY they decided my gallbaldder better come out! It got to to a point where I could not keep anything down for a week, then every other month or so I'd be in the Emergency Room, finally I said "I want you to find what is wrong and fix it!!!" After a CT scan they decided to call in an expert on gallbladders..they said "you have no stones, but it's probably full of SLUDGE"... I don't know... That Sounds healthy doesn't it?

 

GARRY- I go for and delve into the history of a word/phrase, not its many "used for/as" meanings.

JEFFREY- I don't get it,,around these here parts, if a place takes MEDICAID as a form of payment, they HAVE TO do the work as though the patient had any other insurance. SOme will try to claim they "won't do Medicaid work" but if they accept Medicaid, they have to...or in trouble with the state. OF course, we also have two "teaching"hospitals" that will also handle medicaid work.

MR. B- You just tell SWMBO that she is entitled to ONE vactation a YEAR...and that it is NOT for negotiation. She gets one place to go as though on vacation as when working and not retired. Put your foot down, or tell her SHE has to go to work to pay for her travel ideas. Tell her there are those who cannot do much in retirement and are lucky to even be retired. Travel is the desire of many retirees, but most cannot afford to what they want like they'd like to. MOH and I will be lucky to afford to live in retirement..I am already declared "retired" early and my income is actually shrinking not growing, and MOH is planning to work at least until 70 if remaining employed anywhere at any type of wage. We'd like to retire to Hawaii, but that may not happen. MOH would LOVE to travel everywhere, and wants desparately to go on a cruise..but I have declared that IF MOH wants to really retire to Hawaii..we have to pick and choose our financial battles..and a cruise we can ill afford is OUT. AT 50 and 54 we are running out of planning time, let alone have the money for it. With only afew dollars to our name, it ain't likely to happen. And saving penny after penny is the order o f the day, now if only we get some bills paid down nad off, we might be better off... I digress...

WEll, MOh will be home shortly for lunch then off to a client meeting, finally at the new job. Next week Is a series of meetings for MOh so there will be some hours there. Good finally.

The inlaws are giving us a hassle, but not like Ulrich's..speaking oF him..I hope he is doing well on the campaign trail!

Well I'd best be ready to meet MOH at the door!

Later

 

[inch53]

Mornin,, an irish coffee please Zoe. Same weather forecast today, hot n sticky. Worked outside in this heat most my life without it bothering me then, can’t handle it now.

Now maybe I can finish this, Roary woke up way to early n been a grouch. She decide to take a nap abit ago, in the middle the kitchen floor and no I’m not movin her.

TODD,,,  those cups were kinda small, but it was good coffee and they kepted them full. I got a ta-go cup in the Hilton that cost $4, that was worth .50.  We used to like stayin there but it has gotten too expensive in the last several years. Still it’s better than the fancy hotel we stayed in last April in Bloomington, which cost more and had termites. Mother has an overnight meeting there next month me, think me stayin home for it

GARY,,, unless you get here round Moonshine of a morning, ya won’t get a moonburger, they quit takin orders at 12:30 sharp and they’re closed on Sun n Mon. I’ll try n send an e-main laters

The girls are 2 n 4, they’re not too bad, but they can be a handful for me some days [n today started off as one of them].

Forgot ta say anything earlier, I came home voted in as Dist, Sargent-at-arms. The guy that was going to do it has some health issues and I happened to be there. So I was nominated, and voted on with all yea and 1 nay [mine]. That’s the 2’nd time they’ve done that to me.

Best get round ta some chores. Thoughts for in need [special  your wife Ken] n hope ya’ll has a gooden.

[liba]

Sorry fellas,Vegemite on toast for who Evers game. Yep I heard some one mention bipolar , it can be unpleasant . O my name is Robert , I'll  look for a seat in the corner somewhere and mind my own business . Top or bottom this ones on me.   Just kidding about the vegemite. Although my Mother dipped my dummy ( pacifier) in it. If you have ever tasted it you know it's  certainly an acquired taste. Thanks  for the wonderful hospitality& eat drink model train & be merry.

[EMD.Don]

Morning all!

Coffee and a couple of Tylenol if you please.

Sore today big time. I hustled in the heat yesterday and got 3 yards of mulch spread in the gardens, trimmed/prunned some of the fruit trees that we're long overdue, and sprayed some weed killer on the crushed rock driveway (I HATE weeds...). Too hot for that I know, but it's got to get done and the work won't do itself. Probably take it a bit easier today. Still very hot.

Got nothing done on the layout or with my passenger cars yesterday...suffering from train withdrawal this morning. 

Well, gotta shove off fellas. I have a lawn mower that needs servicing...in the garage...in the shade...in the cool. 

Have a GREAT day all and take care...stay cool .

Don.

[MisterBeasley]

Charlie, I feel the same way about retirement.  I'm planning to call it quits about this time next year.  I am, indeed, tired of getting up to an alarm clock and commuting, and the work has grown less interesting and more bureaucratic over the years.  At the same time, though, I have to deal with SWMBO.  She's not always realistic, and I'm afraid she thinks that retirement will be one long vacation, traveling all the time and spending money a lot faster than it's coming in.

Relocating is something that I expect we'll do twice - first to escape the taxes of Massachusetts, and then then again to escape the cold when we get older and skiing is no longer part of our retirement lifestyle.  I have dreams of a large train room, where I can paint the walls, put up backdrops and have real staging.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Another hot and humid day here...88 feeling like 108....le sigh

Get to go and do a few things at the mall then try to pick up some more blue foam at home desperate....

Well....off to do dis....

Have a good'un!!

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and a couple glazed donuts please, thanks.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Heat index values as high as 102.

Ken- Prayers for Sue.

Chris- Charlie oopsy-typed my name instead of yours. Check it out if you haven't already. Good to hear your still kickin and the sky looks good!

Charlie- I know what you mean about the pre-retirement jitters. Trust me though….DON’T TELL ANYONE YOU’RE RETIRED!!!! NO ONE!!!!

Jeffrey- I still don’t understand this “they won’t do it for Medicaid..” I thought ….you know, I best just stay quiet. It’s taking me down the daaaangerouse political avenue and Vinnie’s already standing up and reaching for his stick. Good luck today.

(clap clap clap) Ah the best phrase I’ve heard in a loooong time and I agree 100%.....”It is (worth it) to me and that's all that counts.”

Welp, off to do the same thing today as yesterday….and the day before…and the day…before. My buddy/boss has realized what I've been saying, the first of august is coming faster each day..

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

 

Eat up fellers! Zoe, no time to stick around for the bill. You have my card on file and add 20% for you.

[MisterBeasley]

Good morning again.  81 on the way in to work at 7.  It will be another hot one.  I've got to start the bedroom air conditioners about dinner time to give them time to cool the place down.  Three more days of this, with the break hopefully on Sunday.

galaxy, we've got no belfry, but we've got bats.  They like the sloped boards over the attic vent.  After we got a few into the house, I had to beef up the screening that keeps intruders out of the attic itself.  Bats, however, are prolific mosquito-eaters, so I an happy to have them around.  If you do get a bat into your house, incidentally, turn off the lights and open doors and windows to the outside.  He'll find his own way out.

No more little white spots!  No, I have not found a treatment for some skin disease.  Our TV (a Samsung DLP model, about 5 years old) started developing little white spots on the screen.  At first it was just 1 or 2, but then they began to spread like, well, like some skin disease.  I looked online and found various remedies, but the simplest was "call Samsung."  So I did, and to my great delight they offered to send out a tecnician to my house and repair it for free.  The whole process took less than a half-hour, and even that was mostly disassembly and reassembly to get to the guts of the TV.

The young lady who did the repair liked the trains.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 72° with 98% humidity. The high will be 96° but will feel like 110°.


I'm almost ready for my trip to Oakdale so I have some time to play with. Today's gonna be a hot one. Glad I won't be out working in it. We'll stop at McD's for breakfast then head out for Oakdale. First appointment is at the clinic at 11am. Second is at the hospital with the surgeon at 12:30pm. I have a list of every med I use, when, how much, how many times a day, etc. Hopefully that answers all their questions on the meds. Now if they tell me they can't do anything on what Medicaid pays, there might be some trouble at that hospital. We've gone to a lot of trouble to find this guy because many say he can do what needs to be done for what Medicaid pays. The next closest place I know of is LSU in Shreveport and that's over 120 miles one way. With my transportation issues and no ride there it might as well be on the moon. So hopefully today we'll get all the positive answers we need.

[galaxy]

Morning coffee  in the diner...

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING!!!

Today is Thursday, July 18th, 2013!!!

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

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!!

Bats In the Belfry:

Meaning:

Crazy; eccentric

Origin:

The short version:

A person who is a bit bewildered, confused, or even considered nuts or crazy, is said to have "bats in their belfry." The term goes back to the days when the tallest building in town was the church due to its tall bell tower and steeple.  Because this wasn't enclosed, bats loved these towers; and, at night they'd fly all around swirling as if in confusion.  Whenever someone was confused, the symbolism too shape of the bats flying all which way around the belfry

The longer more accurate version:

Bats are, of course, the erratically flying mammals and 'belfries' are bell towers, sometimes found at the top of churches. 'Bats in the belfry' refers to someone who acts as though he has bats careering around his topmost part, i.e. his head.

It has the sound of a phrase from Olde Englande and it certainly has the imagery to fit into any number of Gothic novels based in English parsonages or turreted castles. In fact, it comes from the USA and is not especially old. All the early citations are from American authors and date from the start of the 20th century; for example, this piece from the Ohio newspaper The Newark Daily Advocate, October 1900:

To his hundreds of friends and acquaintances in Newark, these purile [sic] and senseless attacks on Hon. John W. Cassingham are akin to the vaporings of the fellow with a large flock of bats in his belfry."

Ambrose Bierce, also American, used the term in a piece for Cosmopolitan Magazine, in July 1907, describing it as a new curiosity:

"He was especially charmed with the phrase 'bats in the belfry', and would indubitably substitute it for 'possessed of a devil', the Scriptural diagnosis of insanity."

The use of 'bats' and 'batty' to denote odd behaviour originated around the same time as 'bats in the belfry' and the terms  are clearly related. Again, the first authors to use the words are American:

1903 A. L. Kleberg - Slang Fables from Afar: "She ... acted so *** ... that he decided she was Batty."

1919 Fannie Hurst - Humoresque: "'Are you bats?' she said."

There have been several attempts over the years to associate the term 'batty' with various people called Batty or Battie, notably the 18th century physician William Battie. He was a governor of the Bethlem Hospital, a.k.a. Bedlam, and physician to St Luke's Hospital for Lunaticks, where he wrote A Treatise on Madness. Despite those illustrious credentials, it was bats rather than Battie that caused scatterbrained people to be called 'batty'.

It should be noted some people who read this page think this is  all wrong and that 'bats in the belfry' derives from a Victorian inventor called Batson, who patented a safety coffin which was topped with a tubular device containing a bell. The aim of the invention was to guard against premature burial and came to be known as the 'Batson Belfry'. They suggest that this is the source of the phrase.

If the story is in any way correct, it concerns the name Bateson rather than the usually cited Batson. In his novel The Great Train Robbery Michael Crichton includes this:

In 1852, George Bateson received a patent for the Bateson Life Revival Device, described as "a most economical, ingenious and trustworthy mechanism, superior to any other method, and promoting peace of mind amongst the bereaved at all stations of life". In 1859, Queen Victoria awarded him an O.B.E.

Novels are of course works of fiction, but it is this novel that appears to be the source of the belief in the 'Bateson Belfry'. Just in case the story has any factual basishere is the research into it. Did Bateson even exist? The comprehensive Oxford Dictionary of National Biography makes no mention of any George Bateson - surprising for a prominent inventor who is supposed to have been awarded an Order of the British Empire. Did he record a patent? There is no record of the supposed patent at the UK Patents Office. Was he awarded the OBE? No, he wasn't. Queen Victoria didn't award Bateson, or anyone else, the OBE, she died 16 years before the OBE was inaugurated.

Leaving aside whether Bateson (not Batson) patented a safety coffin, or even existed at all, what about the claimed link between him, his device and the phrase? Here we can be sure - there is no evidence to support such a link. The 'Bat(e)son Belfry' origin is a fanciful imagining.

This does, however, make an interesting folk etymological link between the phrases 'bats in the belfry', 'saved by the bell', 'dead ringer'' and 'stinking rich', which have all been falsely suggested to have originated from practices to safeguard against premature burial.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good evening all!

Flo, just a glass of milk and a pack of Oreos,,just a snack before bed. Got a lot done today. Masked and shot the 2nd color on 3 engines I'm doing for a friend,,then disassembled and decaled and cleared 2 Rivarossi coaches for the LHS, then fiddled a bit with the C415 rebuild. I oughta have that done by the weekend.

Tomorrow I have an early meeting then the LHS to,,get this,,GET money instead of spending it!  Mark this day on the calendar, bet on the ponies, buy a lotto ticket, tug on Superman's cape or spit into the wind! Me GETTING money at the LHS is liable to cause a rip in the space/time continuum!  

Ray.. I'm sweating just reading about you shoveling. How do you do it? In a long sleeve flannel shirt at that??

Ken, Prayers for the wife, and for the Doctors to have the wisdom to figure it out.

Jeffrey. Patience , Doc probably just wants to make sure they set the surgery for the correct foot! 

Chris,, nice progress,,keep it comin!

Nytol...cya 2Morrow

[Lehigh Valley 2089]

Good evening everyone. 

Got more work done on the B-17G today. In fact, it is officially now "Chow Hound", a B-17G that had a perfect record with the original crew completing it's tour of combat without incident. No turning back for maintenance, getting lost or anything of the like. However, on August 8th, 1944, "Chow Hound" was shot down over Caen, France. Four of the nine man crew were killed. 

The decals are looking great on it now, and can't wait to see it when it is done. 

Night everyone. 

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

Best of luck Jeff, with those consultations and examinations.

May it all work for a healthier you.

Prayers and best wishes,

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

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I got couple of things done today at least. I got some laundry done. I updated the virus protection on the computer I keep at my fathers place and I did a little work on Apple IIe #1. Yes, it's all refurbished electronically and mechanically but the case still looks thirty years old. I was able to clean it up a little and get a start on filling in some ding marks. I also super-glued closed a crack in one side of the case. Now the crack can't even be seen. And I used the expensive professional stuff, not the cheap crap that comes in those itty-bitty use 'em once and they're done tubes that Wally-World sells. Once I get the case scrubbed down I can recoat it so it'll look like new. It's the least the old machine deserves for holding together through all the punishment I've put it through over the years. It's got scratches, dings, tobacco smoke stains, some writing, old tape adhesive. All that is going to go away and it'll look like the same computer I pulled out of the box in 1982. Is it worth it? I asked an old collector of antique Ford's that question about an Edsel Ranger he was restoring to original condition. I'll give you the exact answer he gave me. It is to me and that's all that counts.

Well that's all for today. I don't know exactly when I'll be back. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I have not one but two doctors appointments to go to. I have to be ready to go at 8am so that means getting up at 5am.

Have a good night everyone and a better day tomorrow.

[blownout cylinder]

Good evening

A long sticky day here is now, somewhat, over...the low tonight will be 77 Feeling like 90....yay.

Got a few things done around the house, laundry, closet cleaning, vacuuming...that sort of thing

Going to call it a night...have a good one!!

[howmus]

Evenin' folks.....

Janie just a cold glass of lemonade please.

Got the rest of the topsoil moved today. Actually the neighbors took the last 3 wheelbarrow fulls over to do a project in back of their house.  Took another 3 boxes of doodads and stuff over to the Salvation Army, went and picked up some Rxs at the pharmacy, and then got the last three 1" x 4" x 10' cedar boards to finish the trim on the 3rd. raised bed garden.  Guess what I didn't find time in the schedule for???

Maybe tomorrow.....   Tomorrow Late afternoon I will head out to the R&GV RR Museum for the monthly meeting.  I will be a car host for our trips up and down the railroad.  I will be out there on Sunday to be a Museum Guide. 

Time to do my evening blood work and take some pills...

Later!

73

[CNCharlie]

Good Evening,

A nice day here in the fairly far north. Sunny and about 80F, not too humid either. 

Ken, sorry to hear of your wife's health issues. Hope the docs can find out what is wrong. Wow, tearing down the layout! That is major but I can relate in a way. At one time the idea of being without a sailboat seemed ridiculous to me but it has now been 4 years and I don't really miss it which sometimes does surprise me. I guess after 35 years of being blown about a lake was enough. 

Todd, nice to see your layout progress. Robbie wants to know if Rerun is still eating cheeseburgers and if so he sends a couple his way. As this is a virtual diner such long distance meals are easily done. 

Not much new on the RR front. I am taking in my BMan GP9 to sell along with about 6 freight cars. Mostly blue box stuff but one PK2 stock car. No real use for them and as they rarely make it onto the layout, I want to just get rid of them. I will buy some new rolling stock but only if it is highly detailed and fits the layout's era and place. In fact I just ordered a Red Caboose Wabash box car. 

Well today I cut the sidewall on my car's tire. The same one that was replace on June 27th. I hit the step that is on the path going into the garage. It is a very tight fit and I was only going about 2 mph so I was rather surprised that the sidewall split.  The tire is ruined so back to the dealer tomorrow for another new tire. 

The planning is now in full gear at work for the handover of my duties when I retire at the end of Oct. It does seem real now and frankly I'm looking forward to it but with some trepidation.  

Well time for Upstairs Downstairs re-runs.

CN Charlie

[Packer]

Evening guys

Well that Kato/Kobo F40PH showed up. It's nice and sounds great, but I though it'd be heavier that it is. It's weight is 14.5 ounces... I hope that's enough to pull my 7 Amtrak cars up the club helix. The Rapido cars roll pretty well, but the Walther's Amfleet is pretty much a sled. I'll find out on Saturday. I'll try to remember to bring my camera and get a vid. I don't want to try my cars on the ez-track loop.

As for those Rapido cars, I got them to work reliably around the club layout. I put a Long-shank Kadee on the vestibule end and left the #5 on the other end. Worked fine. As for that Amfleet, it has a droppy coupler and the box design doesn't really allow a shim. I'm gonna try tomorrow to make a shim that will work with the swing coupler.

Garry, your tip worked on those rapido cars. Thanks.

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon! ... It is great to see a full diner!

jeffrey-wimberly

pascaff*

   Jeff - Good luck on the dr. visit, I hate those consultation visits.

I just found out this morning. It will be a consultation visit! Another waste of time.

Jeff..... Fear not. you can make the best of thungs with a stop at KFC!

Galaxy .... Thanks for the Pie in the Sky explanation. In contexts I have heard it meant something was far fetched. ... No Cats & Dogs rain here.

Chris ...... Good to see you and the layout progress photos!

Ken ...... Thanks for the update of your busy times. In particular, sorry to learn your wife has serious health issues. Prayers for her. .... What? The layout is coming down! Ouch! .... Glad you have your Road Runner though. Please keep posting in the DIner. ... Will you still do mrr'ing at the club?

Ulrich ...... I forgot. When is the election?

Todd ....... A small cup of coffee, eh. Sounds useless to me.

Inch ..... Our trip north through IL should be Tuesday next week. Plans are still not firmed up. Drives me crazy. We'll be going south through IL to Wisconsin on following Sunday I think. ....You said you had a full week coming up with great grand kids. How old are they?  .... I see the hamburger place town on the map.

Ray ..... I have wondered about Tom White too. Not sure when I saw him post last.

Smile and be happy, everybody!