Elliot's Trackside Diner...OCTOBER 2013!!

[Curt Webb]

Galaxy- My deepest condolences and sympathy to your family on the passing of your MIL. You and your family will be in my prayers.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I'll have the same as Todd but drop the coffee and bring me a Tabasco Lemonade.

Good morning. It's 72° with 94% humidity. The high will be 85° and will feel like 88°.
with a

Yesterday I got some work done on the game with getting the airport module tied in starting at line 3000. Today I'll be going back to line 2000 to start tying in the rest of the trek through the forest and it's perils. After that will come an abandoned motel, a series of dunes, a lakeside park. That'll finish off the first file of the game and thus completing the first flowchart. There will be two more files, thus two more flowcharts and a lot more trouble for the games character (I haven't picked a name for him yet) to get through or die trying. The goal of the game is to find an as yet unnamed Native American artifact.

I have no other plans today.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and a stack of flapjacks with some of that NYS maple syrup please. Thanks

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 1pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1pm and 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 71.    Wouldn’t that pretty much be “chance of showers and thunderstorms today until 4pm”??

Richard- It sounds like your Model Railroading experience is on par with the rest of us so…..you’re off to a good start.

Got the yard mowed yesterday and about half the rose of Sharon bush trimmed back before Brenda who has been on me to hack that bush back and says that she doesn’t care if the thing dies but didn’t want it dead, came out and said (ahem) “just don’t cut up my Rose of Sharons.   “woulda been nice to know that you changed your mind before I started”, She went on to say she meant bleeding hearts which were buried under the branches of the RoS. I asked what were they and she said they have flowers that look like hearts. Nothings blooming now. I asked if she’s setting me up. She said nothing.

It’s raining now and a light in the kitchen at the restaurant needs replacing so that’ll be a project for today along with the groceries then wo*k at 5.

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[kbkchooch]

Morning all! 

Flo, Can I get another fried egg, bacon & scrapple sammich this morning. Yesterdays we deeeeeelicious!

Wazzup everyone? This place was a ghost town last night. Is Monday night football that powerful??

Not much planned for today, a couple of phone calls, gotta send money to MR for another year, gotta renew my web space contract too.

Heartland Division CB&Q

Karl ..... I hate it when stuff like that happens. Sometimes its is hard to keep from losing religion. A suppose you can be philosophical and say it could have been worse such as a fall all of the way to the floor. 

Hahaha,,, losing religion, thats funny.  When we were kids, when one of us got in trouble my Mother would go on a tirade, yelling and griping for hours. The rest of us would giggle that someone was being read the "Book of Hebrews".  

But it was my fault for putting on the same jig that I use with plastic models, knowing it wasn't a good fit.. Once the Floquil smell dissipates (a few days) I'll take another look at it. I know already I can save the bracket, and maybe, just maybe I can straighten the visor on the headlight. 

Well see!

[JeremyB]

well back to work for me today fellas, after 3 months off I am not wanting to go there at all. I have started to put resumes out again in hope you finding something better. I go in at 6, about 45 minutes from now so I will try to catch up again with you guys later this afternoon or tonight.

Also forgot to mention, I'm going to be looking at new phones tonight. well, seeing how I feel after a ten hour day,lol

[galaxy]

morning coffee in the diner..

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING!!!

Today is Tuesday, October 14th, 2013!

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!!

Today's fun limmerick:

Amazingly, antelope stew
Is supposedly better for you

Than a goulash of rat
Or Hungarian cat;

But I guess that you probably gnu.

There was an old shark named Gramps,
Whose Jaws had once been like clamps;
But these days he hums
'Cause his jaws are just gums,
And can only be used to lick stamps.

Weird words:

syncretism: a combination of different religious beliefs

Etymology-ish: the Oxford English Dictionary first attests the word syncretism in English in 1618. It derives from modern Latin syncretismus, drawing on Greek συγκρητισμός (synkretismos), meaning "Cretan federation".

Blandiose - Adjective describing something that wants to be grand (or has pretentious grandeur) but is only bland

chumbolone: Italian-American slang "a stupid idiot"

[of uncertain origin, perhaps a comflation of chump and It. strombolone?]

Have a GREAT DAY!

[galaxy]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Good evening, everybody .

Galaxy .... I know those decisions are the kind nobody wants to make. Prayers for your family.

Speaking of mishaps, I had to take apart some of my new benchwork this evening, and put it back together as I corrected a measurement error.  Sometimes I make extra work for myself when I am a doofus. Galaxy knows about that word. To coin a word, I 'dooficated" my measurement. .. Galaxy, do you like the new word, "dooficated"? 

Thank you Garry.

I don't know about "dooficated"..it sounds too much like "deficated" - } but then again, you might have expressed words meaning just THAT when you caught your error!!!

deficated: {bowel movement;Slang:pinch a loaf; poop; crap; turd; dump;dump a load, take a dump,etc.etc, etc}

You are free, of course to use any words here that you would not mind any young MRRer to read. They might "dooficated'...though probably for the reason i mention!

I DID look into something and Found "Doofusistic"-[fr. doofus, a stupid, incompetent person]

done by a doofus, or with a doofus, or to a doofus, or in the name of a doofus, or in llieu of a doofus, or just with a doofus-like flair

So, don't despair!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening, everybody .

Galaxy .... I know those decisions are the kind nobody wants to make. Prayers for your family.

Jeff ... Your creativity is remarkable.  

Karl ..... I hate it when stuff like that happens. Sometimes its is hard to keep from losing religion. A suppose you can be philosophical and say it could have been worse such as a fall all of the way to the floor. 

Speaking of mishaps, I had to take apart some of my new benchwork this evening, and put it back together as I corrected a measurement error.  Sometimes I make extra work for myself when I am a doofus. Galaxy knows about that word. To coin a word, I 'dooficated" my measurement. .. Galaxy, do you like the new word, "dooficated"? 

Have a nice evening everybody. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well despite not feeling well today I did some more work on the game. Native Fury is growing slowly. Today I added in the subchart for the rural airport. That only has six blocks which cover three parts of the runway (center, north end, south end), the airport office and pilot's lounge. It's advisable to look around on the runway for a certain object BEFORE entering the pilot's lounge, otherwise bad things could happen to the character. I added a bit of mystery by throwing in an unearthly shimmer at one end of the runway. However the character can't enter this shimmer - yet. The programs size is up to thirty-one diskette sectors.

Well it's time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[kbkchooch]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Karl .... I like your Mikado so far. Can we look look forward to photos after it is painted?

I hope so Garry. See,I decided today would be the day. I Shot a light primer coat, then after it dried I started with the engine black. Got the tender done, turned my attention to the boiler and that heavy cast metal boiler slid off its stand  and fell to the tabletop. Scratch 1 headlight assembly and bracket!!!  had it been a brass or plastic boiler it might have been ok, but the headlamp appears totalled.  I did get the rest of it painted, it's hanging from a heavy wire in the shop right now. And yes, it will get fixed, just not as fast as I intended. At least none of the plumbing got messed up.

[galaxy]

Well, erm

MOH greatly appreciates the outpouring of sympathy! Thank you guys very much.

So many condolences from so many of you, MOH really enjoyed all the thoughtfulness.

I made a "card" of copied condolences to go in a "rememberance book" for MOH when we get around to making one. Thank You.

Went to the funeral home to do some planning. FIL wants to be buried in the Veteran's Cemetary, which is 3 hours away in Bath, NY. Can't make all the arrangements today as it is closed for the holiday! We picked out a casket that MOH and I both automatically gravitated to in the room. It was left up to MOH {and me} by my FIL to pick which one. SInce we both gravitated to it, we picked it, though it was straight across from the door at the far end of the room, so I am not sure whether it's location was the draw, but to me it had a glowing positive aura around it. FIL liked it and agreed to it. Silvery gray with chrome "jewelry" and pall bearers bars. No hassles on any front today. It will be a private funeral, just the 3 of us.

We went and informed the one job and then to FILs to pick out her outfit. Both MOH and I thought of the same thing, and FIL Smiled when we answered as to when he asked what we thought, as it was his choice too. SHe was always very fond of her embroidered German shirts, and we picked one with roses on the collar and  rings of roses on the placket {the button row}, and her favorite "going out' light weight Embroidered jacket.

MOH asked one more time to do a calligraphy "name plate" for her in the fancy wirting I do. It will go with her.

Now just a waiting game for us, and FIL has his hands full with what to do Estate-wise as Executor. He doesn't know what to do, and asked us, I said "well, you are supposed to know what to do, the executor is supposed to know what to do"... It brought some levity to the moment. {you had to be there}. I have a feeling we will need to help him out with all that. and prepare for his estate. IF he will let us, and they don't fight over it.

So now tomorrow I will buy the paper and Wednesday, it will be in one of them, or both. A simple 3 lined obit was all the FIL wanted. she has no family alive in Germany of her family of origin,and extended family is thinned out too,  and FIL doesn't have relatives here any more either, so a simple funeral is planned. MOH is an only child.

Well, that part is done. We are exhausted, though.

 Thanks again for the condolences! I will pass on any more that come to MOH. Most appreciative.

Have a good day

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon, everybody.

Galaxy ..... Sincere condolences for you regarding the passing of your MIL. The Chapel Car is now coupled to the Diner with prayer candles lighted. Please tell Mrs. Galaxy, we Diners care about her, and we are sorry she lost her mother. I read the posts here expressing condolences, and each one may be comforting to you, Mrs. Galaxy, and other family memebrs.. 

YGW ..... Sorry to hear about your ordeal with the car license tags. Your feelings about government and its petty little rules are understandable. 

Richard ..... Thanks for telling us about your model railroad. I recall visiting the model railroads in the San Diego museum, and they certainly impressed me. If you have questions about how to do things, this forum is a good place to ask.

JohnBoy ..... I continue being very concerned about you. I Pray for you, and hope you get the medical treatment you should have already had. 

Karl .... I like your Mikado so far. Can we look look forward to photos after it is painted?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good afternoon. It's 79° with 80% humidity. The high will be 85° and will feel like 90°.


Had a rough night and didn't get to sleep until after 2am. So I slept in this morning and really didn't bother getting up until I heard my nurse knocking on the door. No progress on the game thus far today. I really don't feel like messing with it right now.

[JeremyB]

Galaxy: Sorry to hear the news on your MIL.

Well tomorrow is the day,

The day I go back to work that is. I have been off since June. I am not looking forward to it to tell you guys the truth, kind of anxious and un easy today to say the least. I spent the morning in the garden so that relaxed me. Might play some video games also as that relaxes me and all the household chores are done.

Anybody would like to talk more feel free to PM

Also going tomorrow to look at a new phone ( havent had one in about 8 years ) mine is starting to go as it wont hold a charge for more then about 4 hours,lol. Im going to be looking at a iphone like the wifes. I just have to make sure I have a pretty hardy case that can withstand impact and static electricity. The otterbox armor looks like it would do.

Just probably looking tomorrow anyways. I will go after work ( 6am-4pm ) It would be nice to be able to check in here at lunch breaks. The diner is a place where there are great people here and would be nice to be able to chat with you guys when Im there.

Well off for now, NHL 14 is calling,lol

Might check back in tonight.

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

Lunch time Fellas & Gals,

Chloe, I'll have my regular Double Denver and a plate of home fries with a RBF to chase.

I'm feeling really shi--y today. Lots of annoying feelings, not real pain, in my neck, jaw, ear and sinuses but still no MRI. Hope to hear about that tomorrow, after the holiday. Gotta get this happening.

Galaxy, our sincere condolences on the passing of your MIL. Please convey our thoughts to all your Family members as well.

Today is a very nice fall day here. Temp is around 50 F. and little wind. I have to take advantage of that and get some final fall things done outside.  Will drop back in later if I am up to it.

Prayers and blessing to all in need.

Johnboy out...................................../ / / / / / /running---not,,,  in the leaves

[pascaff*]

  Morning All,

    Currently it is 33 with an expected high of 63 under sunny Skies.

     Galaxy -  Special prayers to you and  the family for the passing of your mil.

    It has been a few very busy days at w**k. There was a gun show this weekend, and that always brings lots of people into the store, looking for deals. They expect to get them at the show, but rarely do. Plus the Great Italian Festival was this weekend. Being a FBI (full blooded Italian) my kids and I usually go, but I had to work, so missed it this year. My daughters and I will have our own next weekend at my house, and make our own food.

  Jim, [ Paul, thanks for the photos of your "Summer Theater" barn. What'd you use for building the stage? IIRC, I think that kit comes with the benches for the audience, but I didn't recall about the stage. ] The stage came with the kit, as well as the benches for the audience.

 Prayers to all in need.

  Paul

 

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

I'll have a short stack of buttermilk pancakes with real NYS Maple Syrup and a cup of dark roast Seneca Lake Blend Fair Traded Organic coffee to start the day.

I sure didn't want to get up this morning, and would still be if it weren't for having to give Blackie his meds.  I have had too many busy days in a row that finally caught up to me I think.  Dark and gloomy day outside this morning.  No shadows under the trees at all...  Currently 55°F under cloudy skies with a high of 61°F this afternoon.  Good day to get some things accomplished on the blacksmiths shop.  I showed the guy who is writing an article about it the color and texture that will be on the walls, and he grinned from ear to ear.  Said it was "Spot On!"  So I will be starting to do the wall painting soon.

Galaxy, very sorry to hear about your MIL.  Do know that you, your OH and FIL will be in my prayers during this sad time.

RideOn, Good to have you in the diner!

Garry, thanks!  The train has one less car these days as one of the coaches kept derailing and I couldn't figure out why...  It is now the one blue flagged on the RIP siding at Hopewell.

Best get moving if I am to accomplish anything today...

Later!

73

PS, Zoe, just put everyone's lunch on my tab.  I pay when I come in this afternoon.

[chochowillie]

jeffrey-wimberly

This stuff is child's play now but at one time it was considered to be serious program code.

Jeffrey  Boy does that bring back memories 

Dennis

[BroadwayLion]

galaxy

It is with heavy heart I now say: My Mother In Law passed away

We will send the Bushy Lion to sit with you.

ROAR

[RideOnRoad]

First, my condolences to Galaxy and your family.

Second, thank you to all for the welcomes to the diner.  I have been away for the weekend on a trip that included spending 12 hours on a bicycle on Saturday.  Needless to say, today's order includes at least one large stack of hotcakes.

By way of a little more introduction, like I said, I am relatively new to the neighborhood.  I brought my first locomotive, an N-scale Kato F3A in Union Pacific colors, with last year's Christmas money.  My wife and I  visited the San Diego Railroad Museum last year and decided model railroading would be a great shared interest.  We then proceeded to make all sorts of mistakes that included buying a 4x8 sheet of beaded foam and tucking the 4x8 into a corner of the room.  Luckily it has been a temporary learning experience and we have great plans for a "proper" layout.  Unfortunately, in order to get started we need to rearrange the office to make space, which means moving a few things into the garage, which means, clearing space in the garage, which means relocating stuff to a storage unit, which means get my adult, moved-out daughter, who is preparing for a wedding, to go through her stuff.  You get the idea.  For the time being we will have to be content to live with our mistakes.

And now I am going to started on that stack of hotcakes.  I am starved!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Galaxy: Sorry to hear of your mother-in-laws passing. The passing of any family member can be hard to take. You can take solace in the fact that her suffering is over and she's in a much better place now.

[yougottawanta]

Good morning all. Been really busy the last few days. Had to deliver a house on Friday, schedule inspections, etc.. This weekend had to get tags renewed for my car (got a ticket ) did you know that in Va when your mate passes they will not allow you to renew your tags until you remove their name from the title ? ! Boy that was a tough one. I was not ready to do that. It was difficult to maintain composure at the counter while going through that process. What do they care if I leave her name on there ? That's why I hate government (plus a few other crooked immoral governmental run ins I have had. Anyway got through it paid the money and now legal again.

Because of that and other errands and chores no trains this weekend , all well maybe next weekend.

Prayers to all those in need, and best wishes until later.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving to our Friends North of the border eh!!!

Coffee and one of them egg sandwiches please, pretty please. Thanks.

Sunny, with a high near 69. Frost on the car winders this morning. Winter’s a comin!

Jeff- Actually, I am interested in your game creating. I don’t know why, because I don’t have an Apple (Macintosh, Red delicious or any other variety for that matter), and I don’t play computer games. But I am however interested in your creating this game for some reason so keep letting us know.

Galaxy- I’m very sorry about your MIL’s passing, but it sounds as if it were for the best. I certainly hope the issues with your FIL do not increase. Please extend my condolences to your OH.

After the bookwork at the Church, though no deposit can be made due to the banks being closed today, I suppose I’ll do some outside shhhtuff….or not.

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon Gang!

Galaxy- with great sadness I take notice of your MIL´s passing. Please accept Petra´s and my sincere condolences and prayers.

Spent some time this morning on the `puter to finish the construction drawings for the row of houses in the back of my layout. Now I have to find a cheap source for .8" plywood, as this will be the main construction material. The plywood walls will be covered with DAS clay, an air-drying modelling clay, in which I will engrave any brick or rock structure required for the buildings. I have seen that on a British railway modelling forum and it works nicely, though it is a tedious job. Can´t really recommend it for scales below O scale.

Biggest upcoming issue is the fishing boat. There are hardly any around in O scale, the ones I have found are a bit too pricey for me. Going to be a scratchbuilding job, I fear...

Well, have a good one!

[kbkchooch]

Good Morning all! 

Galaxy, Sorry to hear of your MIL's passing,  please pass along our condolences to the rest of the family.

Flo, Can I get a fried egg sammich on a Kaiser roll, with bacon & scrapple on it? Better make it 2, and a large Java, Java, Java with that too!

Yes, it be Columbus Day here, Banks are closed, no Mail delivery (no bills either!) Federal offices closed, (oh wait, that was last week too), so basically, a nothing day! Gonna try to get some painting done today on the Mikado. I've also got some decaling to do on 2 other units. 

Oh, on the home front, started this weekend trying to talk SWMBO into an addition to the family. NO, not a baby , but a dog .  Of course I got the "what kind" question.  Having had dogs in the past, from Beagles to a Great Pyranees, I've opted for a Border Collie. Not too big, not too small, and very smart.  And to appeal to her even more, I'm looking at getting a rescue dog. Not an immature little pup, but a 2-5 year old who needs a forever home.  Wish me luck, already the cats are giving me the hairy eyeball!!!!!

Well, (or do I say welp?) I'll be over at the rivet counter for a bit,,,wow this smells great Flo!  

[BroadwayLion]

Enforcing the Home Ball...

[galaxy]

Well, it IS morning..but not exactly a "good" one.

At about 2:45 Am we got the call here today, now  Monday, October 14th, 2013.

It is with heavy heart I now say: My Mother In Law passed away then. 

My Other Half is holding well, as is my Father In Law, at least for now. Tears were shed, goodbyes were said to her at the hospital, but then there is getting about some business. 

Hopefully later today we will be able to make the final arrangements.

For those who celebrate, it is Columbus Day, time for parades here in the USA, and it is also Thanksgiving Day in our neighbors to the north, Canada. I wish those who celebrate a safe and "happy" day.

have a good day.

[Packer]

Evening guys

I tried going to sleep around 9ish, but no luck on shut-eye. No work on trains today, watched football today instead. My Packers were on TV for once.

I figure tomorrow I'll start on the last few kit cars I have. 3 Accurail rib side boxes in Railbox, an intermountain MILW and DRGW covered hopper, and a Mckean BN centerbeam. On the hoppers I'm gonna try to do the ends as sub-assemblies so I can weather them inside the end cages.

 

Garry, I figure a few SMDs could be used to light up those lights, but I don't know what their function is. I have 3.5 P2K SD7/9s and 2.5 Atlas SD24s. I have 2 ex-Q SD9s, and one ex-GN SD7. The SD7 is a custom job I got off E-bay, the 2 SD9s are mostly stock P2K models (which I may change the numbers on because the numbers are really later phase SD9s). I have a 4th one that is undecorated I got at the Tallahassee train show, but the parts bag wound up being for a GP7; so I count it as a half. I may end up fixing it up into a BN unit at some point, but for now it's a parts source for my other ones. I have 2 Atlas BN SD24s. and a CB&Q SD24 that I had patched to BN by a friend. However the engine has been with said friend for over 2 years and he hasn't answered my calls/texts. So it's a tentative half until I hear back from him.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Jeff..... Glad you are having fun with the old computer. 

Fun? I'm having a ball with it! My father thought I was a nut when I told him I was going to rebuild several of them. Now he's not so sure about that and is trying to convince me to go into business refurbishing them on a professional level. I don't think he realizes what the scarcity of parts is for an operation like that. Nobody makes them anymore so where would I get a stockpile of parts from?

*

Got a lot done on the game today. I drug out some of the old tech books from my old 'SoftWare Designs' company (shut down in 1990) as my programming jargon is quite rusty. There's a lot of the old commands and such that I can't remember the precise use of. Basic isn't that hard once you know your way around it. Problem is I've forgotten a lot of it and have to relearn it without the benefit of the manuals I used to have. I've been looking at some of my older programs to see what I used, how I used it and where. Kind of like relearning a language you haven't used in many years. I did the same when I had to relearn VisiCalc before I could teach someone how to use it on their old Apple II system. For those who might not know, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet computer program. It was originally released for the Apple II. It's often considered the application that turned the Apple computer from a hobby into a serious tool for business two years before IBM introduced their pc. Well now I'm having to relearn Applesoft Basic. For me it's rather like going back to school and I never really enjoyed school all that much. I'll be posting updates on how the game is coming along not that anybody is seriously interested.

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

L&A officials out inspecting the track.


A little sandlot baseball anyone?

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

galaxy

Heartland Division CB&Q

Galaxy ..... You defined "doofus" and other words. What is the plural of doofus? Doofi? Do you encounter many doofi? 

Doofuses or doofi works.  ANd Yes, I have encountered my fair share of doofuses/doofi, and I am surely positive I have been one a time or two in my life. How about you?

Uh oh! Galaxy is trying to embarrass me. It may be more than just a time or two here. 

Jeff..... Glad you are having fun with the old computer. 

PA Tom .... Nice rail fan photos! 

Ray .... I liked the short train in the "Show Me" thread. 

I made more sawdust this afternoon as I continue building my layout extension. 

Happy Model Railroading