Good morning from the sunny and hot ( for a Canadian ) West Coast. Nice and clear at the moment, however, Environment Canada says heavy smoke will be returning today from all the fires as the wind shifts. The Province posted another big surplus again this year, but I am thinking a lot of that will disappear into firefighting cost. So much for a "chicken in every pot" this year.
Put in ( finally ) the new hood over the stove, what a pain that was. Every hood I have ever installed had the knock out for the wire on the right side, not this one, it was on the left. So instead of a simple switcharoo, I had to do a little rewiring and wall work. We had one of those microwave/fan deals in there that had packed it in. When I took it to the recycle place there were two other identical ones on carts already. The old microwave would turn on when you opened the door of it, not exactly safe as you got the full blast of it.
Ray, If you mean "droopy eyelids", I need to get mine done as well. I just will be very careful picking my plastic surgeon as I don't want to look like the Hollywood stretch and tuck victims. After working for 38 years out in the elements, there are a few things I wouldn't mind getting smoothed out.
I had to break down and join Facebook. With the kid's big move to Ottawa, I was being totally left out of what was going on. No photo's or anything coming my way. I have talked to him on the phone and he is loving it so far, but I could tell he missed me, which made me feel better in some respects. I really miss him. Mom and he went to Costco in Ottawa and spent $800.00 fitting him out for the year. Printer, Keurig coffee maker, bedding, pillows and all the other stuff one needs.
His (very longed lived) last remaining fish in his 30-gallon Aquarium died two days after he left, from heartbreak I guess. The service was beautiful and was attended by me. My Daughter had clean the toilet for the service.
I sent out a death in the family notice to all and said "in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Brent's Royal Hudson engine fund". The money hasn't exactly been rolling in, however, it is still early and a long weekend to boot with no mail service.
It was a big job emptying and cleaning that thing with all the bits and bob's involved. I am going to give it to my buddy as he is really into the fish thing along with his two kids. Thirty gallons is bigger than any of his other aquariums and with two young kids, he wouldn't spend the money for one at this time so it will go to good use. He is excited to get it.
The kid just called and told me to accept his friend request so we can have a family video call, so talk at you all later.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Evenin' folks!
So Janie, what's with the empty diner here tonight? Oh, holiday crowd went somewhere else....
Brent, so sad to hear of the demise of the last fish at your house... One of my other hobbies through the years was raising tropical fish. I still have two aquariums here at the house containing various species at the moment. I'm glad you gave the poor old fish one last swim around in circles as it went on to the Underworld! Also good to hear you are giving the aquarium to someone who put it to use!
Yes, last year the eye doc mentioned I was a candidate for an eyelid lift as I have Eyelid Droop. It has progressed during the last year, but is still not a major problem. I can see it soon will be though, so when I see him this fall I will get the name of the eye surgeon almost across the road from where his office is to see about the "tuck". If my insurance doesn't cover it, it will get put off until it is bad enough that the insurance will cover it... LOL
Got a start on staining and sealing the fence today. It will take several days to get my side done I am afraid. Got the hardest to paint sections done today, and will probably feel it tomorrow. May get some more done tomorrow, but the days following for the rest of the week are forecast to be rainy.
Quote for the day:
"Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense." - Robert Frost
Have a great one!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Eveing Diners
Flo, Ed, Gary, Brent, Inch, Bear and I will have a and if Jan makes it in give him a High Octane please and no smoking around him!
All I can say is I am glad this Holiday Weekend is Over! Yep, today was a total Ash Pit Day!
Gary Happy Belated and hope you got a you wanted!
Train Front Question. Anyone in the dinner have the BLI Thunder and Lighting set? Here is a link.
I like thunderstorms and kind of like one.
Later, Ken
I hate Rust
Good evening.
Ray.. your before and after photos are remarkable . We will be home in a few days, and I hope to finally see your article in MR when I see my copy of it.
Bear and Ken. Thanks for the birthday wishes.
We're enjoying family visits in MI. Tomorrow we celebrate our anniversary.
i thought about Duke because we were close to where he lives. I sure wish I had time to visit with him.
Happy Model Railroading.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
BATMAN I had to break down and join Facebook.
I had to break down and join Facebook.
I ended up joining it a number of years ago so that I could get pictures of my nieces. (Of course, at the time, it was only niece.) I have also found that it is very handy for keeping up with many of my other interests. (Both railroad and non-railroad.)
Hobby Front: As I mentioned previously, I went out to ranch today as today being Labor Day gave me the opportunity to get a little more done. I come bearing pictures. New Cork Locations. Area 1 is where the fueling tracks were placed in their 2nd location. Areas 2 and 3 is the new shelf that filled the notch. Areas 4 and 5 are the original location of the fueling tracks. (New sanding tower location and area 4 also covers a hole in the brenchwork. From what I don't remember.) Area 6 is new for going under the snad bunker and drying house. The fueling track deck and the tanks are cut into the cork. The closer fueling track was the original section that was removed and reused but was a little short for the new location. I added two short track sections on the turntable that extended the piece beyond the end of the deck. The rail will be cut to add the 2 1/2" section on the other end the next time I work on the layout. The third track from the left will also be flexed into position once I get the sand tower built. (Hoping to do it today but too many other things came up.) Also at some point, I will need to get some sand for the bunker. Close up shot of the drying house. The "mortar" is a mix of Humbrol 34 (matt white) and 103 (matt cream). Painted on and then rubbed off in such a way that it only stays in the grooves. The hopper is an old Roundhouse car custom painted for sand service. (One-off scheme: Roof and middle panel are PS Sand and the rest of the car is FRRY-Standard PS MEC Pine Tree Green.) I noticed when I got this picture back to my computer that I need to turn the section of track around as one of the tie ends is missing. (The area shoud end up in the right place for the pit for the sand dump.)
BATMANHis (very longed lived) last remaining fish in his 30-gallon Aquarium died two days after he left,
My dear father got our eldest son Glenn into fish by giving him a well used aquarium, a few bits of equipment, and a couple of swordfish. What he failed to include in the package was the $2000 - $3000 that we spent over the next couple of years on the hobby. This led to that and before we knew it we had three aquariums including one rather large one which of course the fish store sold for peanuts because they knew we would have to equip the thing. Then we were buying $200.00 air pumps and $100 filters etc. etc. Oh, did I mention that we spent a ton on fish too? The mortality rate was not too bad when Glenn was actively maintaining the tanks, but when he lost interest and the maintenance became my responsibility, as far as I was concerned they couldn't die fast enough!
However, we did have one aquatic family pet that I really loved. It was a turtle that Glenn and I bought on the spur of the moment (i.e. without consulting mom). It grew from about two inches long to over six inches. The thing I loved about it was that when it was bigger and we let it out for a walk, it would regularly crawl up my legs (I was reclining so the slope was managable), then up my chest and finally perch itself on my shoulder and breath in my ear! It did this without any encouragement, although it was used to my handling it. I was a bit concerned about the welfare of my earlobe but nothing ever happened.
We gave the turtle up when it got too big for it's tank and the constant cleaning became a chore. I wasn't too happy to see it go, nor were the kids, but Dianne was thrilled!
There you have it! The tale of the cuddling turtle!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
That lightning and thunder kit was neat, except for one thing. in reality there is some what of a delay between the lightning and the thunder( unless it strikes right by you). Like in the movies they have the light and sound at the same time. which in this case mad it look and sound like a bomb going off rather than lightning and thunder.
Morning diners,
Ken- No I don't have the BLI thunderstorm. Later on I was thinking of getting one but they were sold out. I nice idea to swap backdrops and trains at night before it rains.
Ray- You look better without the beard.
Garry- Happy belated birthday.
I don't have Facebook, the only communication I have is this forum from the outside world. Sometimes i get overwhelmed by it. One step at a time. I guess.
I had a small silver fish that I won at the school fair in 3rd grade. We used my sister's fish bowl. Her goldfish lasted a several months before dying a year before I got mine. My fish lasted two weeks. I guess he was old when I got him because he had clean water and food regularity.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
YUK! YUK! YUK! from the West Coast. Stinky, stinky smoke, it smells like we are living next to a pulp mill. Went to bed at midnight and it was 30C/86F and stinky. Saw the Sun ever so briefly before it was covered by the smoke again. I should not complain too much as at least we aren't losing our house to flames or flood. Bear, please send more firefighters or.
The Sun.
Wife gets home tonight from the Capital. I hope the plane can find its way through the smoke. I am supposed to take #1 Daughter to ride this afternoon, however, if neither the horse or rider can breath that may be canceled.
Ken, if I remember correctly those Battlestar Vipers were made out of plywood. They sure looked good though. I am sure they had much nicer ones on the soundstage though.
Happy belated to Garry. I hope you got lots of train stuff. I just get gift certificates to PWRS down the road, which is fine with me.
Dave, how long did it take the turtle to make that climb up to your shoulder?
I had three aquariums when I was a kid and really enjoyed it, however, I must have lost my enthusiasm since then and I was tired of cleaning the tank. The kid was just too busy all the time so I took it over.
howmusAlso good to hear you are giving the aquarium to someone who put it to use!
Ray, I went to refill my Aquariums from when I was a kid, after about ten years of sitting empty. Bad idea as the sealant had dried out. It would have required a lot of work removing the old goo and resealing them, so they went at our garage sale to a lady that seemed to know a lot about rebuilding aquariums and fish in general. I don't want the same thing to happen with this 30 gallon one, so I am more than happy for my friend to get it.
I see there is another hurricane coming towards the East Coast. Stay safe, to all those affected. Load up your prize engines and get out of Dodge.
Well I need to fix a leaky gutter before it rains again, it has been four months since it rained more than a trace, so I better not wait much longer or I'll be kicking myself.
Beverages on me today for all.
Good evening Diners,
Brunhilda, I'll have an Earl Grey tea with cream and honey, please.
The Labor Day weekend is ovr and if you live in Chicago or Wisconsin or in the North, summer is over, too. The actual Autumnal Equinox really doesn't have much to do with anything. Where I grew up, I never liked Autumn, but up here it's really pretty. I can understand why people like it.
Last night, the moon in our area was orange. In almost 60+ years of casual observing including at least one full lunar eclipse, I had never seen anything like it before. Someone said it was due to smoke and ash from the fires in the west. Uhhh, perhaps. Doesn't seem logical, though.
I apologize, I forgot who commented about the turtle near their ear lob. Most turtles sold for pets are a variety known as Elegant Sliders or "Red Ears" for the red spots on the side of their heads. Fortunately, they are reasonably docile. Probably why they are sold for pets for kids to enjoy. They can grow to be about a foot across. We had a pet turtle for about 12 years (a different species). We were faced with letting her go or keeping her and get a bigger tank, which she'd grow into. We had fed her live feeder fish since we first got her, so I wasn't too concerned about her ability to survive. I found a creek nearby that looked promising so we decided to let her go. When we got to the creek, a bunch of tadpoles scurried away, Bingo! I chose well. I think of her every time I drive by that creek.
Ray: My opinion, the beard does nothing for you. Keep it off.
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK and safe.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
up831 Last night, the moon in our area was orange. In almost 60+ years of casual observing including at least one full lunar eclipse, I had never seen anything like it before. Someone said it was due to smoke and ash from the fires in the west. Uhhh, perhaps. Doesn't seem logical, though.
Yup, it will do that to both the sun and the moon. That happened here as well with all the smoke. At one point this past weekend, the entire state of Montana was under an Air Quality Alert due to all the fires in the Northwest and in Montana. I had seen a red sun before but until this weekend, I had never seen a red moon either.
Evenin' Folks!
Janie, a cup of decaf would be great for the moment!
Duh! Blood sugar was just slightly high last night and right where it should be this morning, but I was feeling a bit strange this afternoon. Nothing terrible but just tired and off kilter, sort of. While I was getting my supper this evening I realized that I never took my "Right before bed" pills last night, and didn't take my morning diabetes med nor my blood presure meds..... That would explain the feeling funny. Made sure I took my after supper pills and feel much better now. Will be interesting what my sugar is before bedtime.
To all of you that have commented on the Beard issue. Thanks! It appears to be unanimous that I am better off without the beard now. I guarantee you would have said the opposite 25 years ago when I weighed in over 320lbs.! At the grocery store today the lady working my check out lane (older lady and quite attractive, BTW) actually called me by name and smiled nicely. Never did that before.... Hmmmmm....???? Not my type though. Appears to be married. LOL
Hey, Hey, Hey..... I made today's sidebar right here at the forum. By name even!
Been very dark, sprinkly, and gloomy today here in the Finger Lakes Region. The solar panels produced all of 2 kWh today.... Yesterday they produced 20kWh. Last month was actually the second best August I have had. Saturday I will one of the exhibitors at the National Drive Electric Week at RIT in Rochester. For those who might be curious: https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=910 Hope to get a ride in (maybe even drive) the Tesla S that will be there... Yeah!
"I always entertain great hopes" - Robert Frost
Keeping an eye on Irma at the weather Channel. I have family in Central Florida incliuding my sister (The Rev.) who is dealing with stage 4 cancer. Hope they will be able to have enough warning to all get out of harms way should Irma hit there!
Have a great night and stay safe!
Flo, Ed, Gary, Inch, Brent, Jan and I will have a please.
Down in the dumps with a lot of $ worries. This coming big check, well it will be just a tad bigger than the normal checks. Had Zero Cutomers today so things are looking bleak.
Only good thing I have to report is the Trains are being nices to me.
Howdy.
Briefly Posting with the iPhone with low battery.
Brent and Angel thanks for the birthday wishes. Much appreciated.
we celebrated our anniversary today. Nice!
Have a nice evening , everybody.
Brent,as I understand it, the NZ contingent of firefighters were deployed to Canada for five weeks. I haven’t seen or read anywhere if that will be extended.
up831Last night, the moon in our area was orange. In almost 60+ years of casual observing including at least one full lunar eclipse, I had never seen anything like it before. Someone said it was due to smoke and ash from the fires in the west. Uhhh, perhaps. Doesn't seem logical, though.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I recently bought an Conrail 8-40CW patched for Norfolk Southern. Unfortunately she doesn't want to run. The track was clean with little to no grime on it. The only thing that did work were the lights.
I can't return it because they're all sold out, so I hope Atlas will replace the part. Now I need access to a printer and a copier. Don't know when I will be going to the library.
To bad I don't know how to fix it.
Not much new around here so far today. Didn't feel like doing any of the chores that need to be addressed, so I offered to take the wife to the mall this morning for a mini shopping spree. She said she needed some new sweaters. That girl is cold all the time. When temps go into the 70's, out comes her sweaters. So off we went.
Halfway there, I decided to stop at the Doctor's office as we would be passing right by it anyway. I wanted to see when they would start with this years flu shots. Good idea as the vacines came in yesterday, so we were able to get ours today. That's out of the way now for another year. We are careful to make sure we get the shots before the flu season starts.
Naturally by the time we were done shopping, it was lunch time. So we stopped at Friday's for a sandwich. After which we stopped & ran the car through the car wash. Got lucky there as they are knocking $4.00 off the price during September. Now I think I will schedule a little nap. That should wrap up things for the day.
Hope everyone else is having a good day too.
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
Afternoon Diners
Flo, Bear, Ed, Gary, Inch, Brent, Jan and I will have a please.
Still some what down in the dumps today.
The House Special, please and thank you.
I seem to have become "side-tracked" for some time again.
***Garry, a belated Happy Birthday to you. Hope it was a wonderful day.
Healing thoughts for those in need.
Cheers! Rob
Good evening ..
Rob ... good to see you, and thanks for the birthday greeting.
Angel... if you contact Atlas customer service, they might tell you what they can do to solve the problem with the locomotive. They might have you send it to them to repair it .
Tom ... sounds like you and your wife had a good day together shopping.
Happy Model Railroading
Hi everyone,
I have been in regular contact with Ulrich. We exchange e-mails every few days. He seems to be pretty calm so perhaps the hiatus from the forums is helping. He did manage to mess his back up rather badly by lifting his washing machine. He is suffering a fair bit from that. His biggest problem is that once he squeezes himself into his compact car he can't get out again. Remember that he is 6' 5"! Sounds funny but I'm sure it's not.
He is still trying to figure a way to get out of Germany. I don't think he necessarily needs to get out of Germany but he does need to get out of his neighbourhood.
On the modelling front, he has painted a backdrop for his little layout. He sent me a picture and it is superb! He is a talented artist. The snow covered mountains suit the layout perfectly.
I'll keep you posted on how he is doing.
Cheers everybody!
Thank You for that update, Dave
The pages of these forums have certainly lost a bit of panaché in his absence
Good Day to ALL!
to those in need AND to those affected by the recent (and on-going) weather turmoil!
Ed
hon30critterI have been in regular contact with Ulrich....... I'll keep you posted on how he is doing.
Cheers, the Bear.
Dave- Thanks for the update.
Garry- Dont worry, I'm mailing it in for repairs. I hope it doesn't take to long.
Bear- I'm always happy to see a steam locomotive.
I worked on my layout yesterday drawing lines for the roads and only two structures on it. Since I already drew the tracks on it already, I had to figure out what's going to look like.
I'll come back with a picture.
Sadly I can't post a photo. My picture is in the phone that I can't upload on this forum. Because I'm using a Kindle Fire writing and internet searching on. These are two different "servers" can't interchange with each other without a real computer.
Good morning diners.
Zoe - I will take a nice hot cinnamon roll, and a glass of milk. Thanks.
Angelo - For the picture, your kindle can't access something like Flickr? If the phone can upload to a hosting site, and the kindle can access said website....
Tom - Speaking of photo issues, curiousity is getting to me. You mentioned Flickr photos would not show up. What browser/device are you using? I had issues with photos in threads not showing until I switched browsers, now it only happens when I'm having internet connectivity issues. (In that it occurs when my Internet connection is slow/weak.) Most times a simple refresh of the page cures it. (Unless the signal/speed is too weak.)
Weather - Cool, damp.
W*^k - Interesting incident last night, on a slow sales day.
Because it was slow, I assembled a tool chest last night, and had the key taped inside one of the drawers. (Per our standard protocol.) I had it on it's side to put the caster wheels on it. When I flipped it up onto the wheels, I heard an audible "click"....
I thought "oh-no, it didn't..... It couldn't....." I yanked on a drawer, and it wouldn't budge....
Yep, it did.... It locked itself, sans keys, when I rolled it upright.
And yes, the drawer with the key inside was shut.... Of course.
So, I yanked on said drawer, and it was indeed stuck shut, but only enough to keep my hands out. I slid a thin, long screwdriver inside, and hooked the key ring, and pulled it (and the keys) free of the tape.
And in so doing, flung them to the back of the drawer... Of course. Again...
I didn't want to roll the chest anymore, for fear that drawer would get closed all the way, so I grabbed a magnetic retriever stick (extends to 36" long) and hooked the key ring with the magnet.
Once the keys were to the end of the drawer, I hit another problem... The keys, with ring, were too fat to pull through the slim opening...... Of course. Again!
So, I grabbed a second screwdriver, this one shorter, but more stout, and used it as leverage against the drawer. I then tugged the keys, forcibly, through the slightly bigger opening.
Then, when I tried to unlock the chest (again), the keys wouldn't turn.... Of course! Why should they? It's already unlocked. (Supposedly....)
Then, with nothing else to try, I tried locking the chest.
The keys spun!
I yanked on the drawers, and nothing would budge.
(I figured on that by now. This chest just doesn't like me....)
So, I tried to pull the keys out of the lock, and couldn't. (They hadn't quite gone all the way to full lock.)
With no other choice, I again, tried to unlock the chest. This time, the keys spun back that direction!
And, even better, I heard the same audible "click"!
I could now, open the drawers, and pull the keys out of the lock!
So, the chest is in it's display location, and the keys?
Well, they are taped to the chest, but on it's back! This one, the keys will remain outside of the drawers....
Unless some jerk who is rude buys it. (Like the guy who threw a lithium battery from a cordless drill at me the other day.... But that is another story.)
Then?
I will dutifully follow protocol, and place them, with the manual, inside the top right drawer.
This brings us too our:
Lesson of the day - Be nice to your salespeople... Otherwise they may just make your day, just as "pleasant" as theirs is.
Hope all are well, and all enjoy the day!
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Ricky - The problem we are talking about occurs on my old laptop, It runs on Windows 7 & Internet Explorer 11. It's possible that it's my browser, but it has some other unknown problems as well. For instance, there are certain websites that will constantly freeze up. These are well known sites, not some off the wall. I use a newer laptop for all my banking, buying, personal files, etc. The old one is used for just surfing, and mainly for my railfan photos. I really like the photo editor that came with Windows 7.
I had to laugh about your tool box story. I had a friend that had a 10 drawer chest. He lost the key somehow, & everything he tried to get into it didn't work. So he cut out the back of the box to gain entry. He blew his stack when another friend asked him why didn't he just drill out the lock rather than ruin his tool chest. Sometimes the you just can't see the easiest solution. But you did well with yours.
ricktrains4824 Angelo - For the picture, your kindle can't access something like Flickr? If the phone can upload to a hosting site, and the kindle can access said website....
My photo host site is with Imgur. I can post publicity so everybody can see and comment on. I could do that.
angelob6660Sadly I can't post a photo. My picture is in the phone that I can't upload on this forum. Because I'm using a Kindle Fire writing and internet searching on. These are two different "servers" can't interchange with each other without a real computer.
Get a free Dropbox account and you can easily share pictures and files between multiple devices.
Richard
Afternoon folks!
angelob6660My photo host site is with Imgur. I can post publicity so everybody can see and comment on. I could do that.
Angelo, In case you don't already know this.... In the album at Imgur, put the curser over the photo you want to place here. You will see at the top of the photo the word "copy". To the right of that, there is a pull down arrow. Click on that and you see a menu. Click on share links and then on "BBcode forums" Copy. Then just paste that in the text where you want the photo to appear here in the forum. Done! Kind of like this (altered so the photo doesn't show in the first example).
[ img]https://i.imgur.com/uZdA1nH.jpg[/img ]
Without the extra space here is the photo:
Hope this is helpful to you.