All I gotta say is, it's great to be a Florida Gator.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Thanks for getting back to me Rick. What you had to say did not surprise me. We are all creatures of habit and get used to doing things a certain way. Do not feed the Bears may take some time to go away.
I just have to tell you I really like your last name. One of my best friends in high school was Joe Lukowski. My very best polish friend. Joe was great. Anytime the two of us got together the people around just laughed because of the things we had to say together.
Somehow time took Joe away from me. I will always remember him. Very much brings a tear to my eye when I do.
Good talking to you Rick. I hope to talk to you more in the future.
Track Fiddler
Track fiddler That's nothing to sneeze at either Rick. We only had the black bears at the resort up by the Canadian border. I kid you not, my mom got so used to them tipping over the garbage cans, she would come out of the cabin she was cleaning with a broom and shooed them away. My dad and I used to laugh at that hard-nosed woman. It's those brown bears you have to worry about. Grizzlies and Kodiaks. You DON'T shoo those away with a broom. They would much love to eat you as just to look at you. But those white bears you have up there..... Stocker's. I pretty much heard they are always hungry. Their life quest is just to full-time look for anything to eat that moves. Especially in the winter when food is scarce TF
That's nothing to sneeze at either Rick. We only had the black bears at the resort up by the Canadian border. I kid you not, my mom got so used to them tipping over the garbage cans, she would come out of the cabin she was cleaning with a broom and shooed them away. My dad and I used to laugh at that hard-nosed woman.
It's those brown bears you have to worry about. Grizzlies and Kodiaks. You DON'T shoo those away with a broom. They would much love to eat you as just to look at you.
But those white bears you have up there..... Stocker's. I pretty much heard they are always hungry. Their life quest is just to full-time look for anything to eat that moves. Especially in the winter when food is scarce
TF
I lived in the big city of Anchorage, and the news media loved talking about the grizzlies running though town. They followed a grizzly one night, and said they could climb a 10' Chain Link Fence like nothing was there. People here in Ohio wonder why I don't put out my garbage until just before the truck gets to the house, but when having bears go through your garbage you get into the habit.
None of the Polar Bears in our area they are north of the Artic Circle which is north of Fairbanks. We did have a project at the Red Dog Zinc Mine in NW Alaska where a number of Polar Bears took up residence, we were not allowed to get near them for any number of reasons. By the way the only way to that mine was by air, it had its own 5,000' runway.
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
mbinsewi By the way, I have told lately you how much I love winter? Mike.
By the way, I have told lately you how much I love winter?
Mike.
No you haven't. There seems to be a bit of a standstill here Mike. We are going to get another big snow storm here in Minnesota tomorrow.
Please do elaborate the reasons you love the winter Mike. I may need to hear them, might help me weather the storm
Spooky stuff Charlie. I'm glad I don't have to carry that one around in my memory belt. Sounds more terrifying than some of my most violent nightmares.
I'm not familiar with hippos. From your life experience description, I will scratch off Africa from my bucket list!
Respectfully "Wow" Track Fiddler
Good Afternoon,
TF, if you mean Polar Bears, when you mention white ones, you are correct about how dangerous they are. We don't have any down south ( all relative) but in northern Manitoba, they can be a problem. They are amoung the largest of all bears and can weigh up to 1500 lbs. They are also very fast in running and swimming. Basically if you are attacked, you are dead.
I've only seen a couple of alligators in Florida and they weren't very large. I have seen Crocodiles in Africa and a few were very large. Hippos don't seem to care much about them. Mind you if you've ever seen a Hippo open its mouth wide, you would understand. They can basically bite a croc in half and will if provoked. We were chased by a Hippo once going down a narrow channel in a power boat. They can 'swim' really fast for a short distance.
I'm still feeling unsettled. I don't feel comfortable explaining and will leave it at that for now.
CN Charlie
Greetings from the southern command,
we were able to make it to the South House for this weekend. Last weekend was a bust due to my catching the crud. I still have residual crudness, but I am better.
Not much planned for the weekend, sleep , rest , reading and relaxation, we may go hear a good blues guy tonight.
we went for about an hour walk at the picnic area by the lake. Got through right before the rain started.
we will have to watch the sky for severe storms tomorrow across the region.
Wow, from one extreme to the other! I'm staying right here in good'ole WI.
My You Tube
One nice thing about living in Alaska, no snakes and no rats, but grizzlies and black bears roamed the neighborhood.
Track fiddlerSnakes! I don't know if I could hang with that.
.
The first one we had was in a dresser drawer when we stumbled into it. It scared the living daylight out of me.
My wife saw it first, but she did not realize what it was. She said "what is this?", and I walked over, saw it, and about jumped out of my skin.
She the realized what it was, and she screamed like a banshee.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Frogs ain't so bad. I kind of like frogs. Snakes! I don't know if I could hang with that. That's pretty creepy Kevin.
I would be on a definite mission to find out where those things are getting in.
dti406My brother-in-law in Cape Coral had an unwelcome visitor one night
I have lived in Cape Coral since 1981. We never have had one in the house, but there was one underneath a car in the driveway once.
In the house I have had to deal with snakes and frogs.
Rick ..... Cat ?...... (Gulp) ... What cat ?
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
My brother-in-law in Cape Coral had an unwelcome visitor one night, his cat was not very happy!
The police called a Alligator wrangler to remove the fellow.
Heartland Division CB&Q I was a kid when I made my first trip to FL, and I recall a tourest attration where a guy wrestled alligators. I remember it was boring,
Yeah, but every once in a great while the alligator remembers it is an alligator, and then things go very bad for the human.
I don't care for those attractions, I think most are gone now. I am pretty sure Gatorland stopped wrestling 15-20 years ago.
Good morning, everybody .....
JR .... Nice work on your layout. I like the bridges and the yard you are building. I don't recall saying I let my turnouts float.
I'll tell how I lay track. I use flex track with turnouts. I install cork road bed with a staple gun, and use a hammer to drive the staples deeo enough so the don't touch the bottom of the track. I use push pins t ohold the track in place as I cut rail ends as needed. I solder all rail joiners except, of course, the insultated ones. I re-allign the track as needed. Finally, I use track nails to hold it in place. If needed, I drill extra nail holes in the ties.
Kevin .... I was a kid when I made my first trip to FL, and I recall a tourest attration where a guy wrestled alligators. I remember it was boring, and the gator did not resist at all. Neverthless, I think it is best to stay clear of them.
Ken C, not my bridges, JR's
Ken Bis I got your pm the other day. You must have done something right then.
I mentioned this in another thread to Mel, my photobucket (free) About 15% of pics are showing as a broken links. You can't see or download them. I don't put new pics on there and don't look at my own albums very often, but I think this is new in the last month or so.,
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
WeighmasterShouldn't Kevin have been back by now?
I am back. Petting attempt was unsuccessfull
cudaken Kevin Thanks for the Alligator Photo, I have to show that to my wife!
I took this picture a couple of years ago in the retention pond by my office in Tampa:
Alligators are neat, if you walk towards one, they just get up and walk the other way. They want nothing to do with us.
Good Morning All,
A roasty toasty 5F this morning - still waiting on the promised warming trend. I'll have a regular coffee and some scrambled eggs with bacon please Zoe.
Got the two planned turnouts into the yard throat last night. I'm trying Garrys method of letting the turnouts float between sections of rail that are secured. We'll see how that is. Once I have this bit done in the yards, I'll finish wiring and then go back to testing everything.
DSC_0093 by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr" alt="new yard entrance" />
Lion, I agree gators can be lazy - until they are hungry or protecting their young. Then watch out. Even on dry land they can move pretty quickly - just not long distances.
Time to move on into the shop. Chow, J.R.
Eveing Diners
Flo, give the gang and I a please and leave a Stein outside for Ulrich.
Kevin Thanks for the Alligator Photo, I have to show that to my wife! Most of this winter she been saying "I wish we could move to Florida, I hate winter!" She scared of a Garden Snake! That Alligator sure would stop that nag dead on the tracks!
Henry Good looking layout and love the bridges!
By my standards I have to be up early Friday. Have to be at the tax places at 9:00 AM sharp. Normal 9:00 AM I am parked in front of the computer drinking and see who started a food fight in the dinner.
Later, Ken
I hate Rust
Hey all
Since you're in the general vicinity, you should hop in a car and railfan the Southern Tier; the NS's line from Bimminton to Albany (the former Albany & Susquehanna division of the D&H; and NS's former Lackawanna line from Bimminton to Sunbury.
My wife and I went to the Perkins across the river last night and ran into the couple who used to operate the LHS in Vestal till they closed a few years ago. Galaxy, if he still comes by, might remember them.
Nothing new on the hobby front. Hopefully the weather will break sometime so I can go railfanning. I'm only half-kidding when I tell people we'll probably get snow in June.
Really, My Kaylee always comes over and sets things straight with my phone computer.
It will be alright Kids.
I hate computers
BisI look at my grand kids coming to visit as tech support .
I don't have grandkids yet but my son does try to help. The problem is that we don't always work well together. He gets upset when I ask dumb questions. It usually takes him about 3 seconds into the help session to get upset!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Nah I will go with the crocodile.
Gmpullman- thanks for the info, but I concied depeat. When I click on the avitar like you did, all I get is a black bar that says train.com and basic info on the avitar that I clicked, I checked my settings and all looks good, I did add my email address to my profile. I hate being computer illerate.
I look at my grand kids coming to visit as tech support .
Ken
BisDid I ever tell you I hate computers. Bis
Let's start a club!
I'm sure your right Lion, but when I use Fire Fox, there's a button for that in the FF tool bar. Just a lot easier.
Roar on!
Yes... I will stop by with Brent and expect my pair right away, just as long as you can get two pairs of boots out of a 5-foot alligator, I'm not asking for miracles here. If you must find another one, don't forget to smile. Alligators like that, its the crocodiles that don't
Aligators are rather begnine. I watched the zookeeper in Bismarck enter the enclosures with the aligators and they did not move, not even when he slapped them on the head with a lump of meat.
Corkodials on the other hand.... Oh, You had a hand on that arm? It doesn't seem to be there anymore...
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS