riogrande5761My comments were more in the context of those saying they were home due Cornoa having extra hobby time;
Well, you get back your commute time, lunch time, break time, and that worthless 15 minutes between conference calls.
Look on the sunny side.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A reminder: No medical advice or statistics on this Forum, please. Stick to personal accounts. Thank you.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
SeeYou190 riogrande5761 My comments were more in the context of those saying they were home due Cornoa having extra hobby time; Well, you get back your commute time, lunch time, break time, and that worthless 15 minutes between conference calls. Look on the sunny side. -Kevin
riogrande5761 My comments were more in the context of those saying they were home due Cornoa having extra hobby time;
Commute time yes, which isn't chump change in the DC area. Anyway, in reality, my wife is home from work so guarantee'd she is going to used up most of that so called extra time while I am teleworking at home - honey come help me with this or that.
My point, which is lost on a few, is that working from home isn't necessarily a boon to the hobby.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761So all this staying at home seems to really affect those who are not working or retired? Or am I wrong
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Outside of visiting friends, etc, it has curtailed my 7 operating sessions a month....
Ron
I have been teleworking for two weeks. At my house I have three desks, two workbenches, a dining room table, and a kitchen table. But there was stuff on all of those, so I had to improvise a Davenport workstation desk out of a coupla apple boxes and the large box my laser cutter was shipped in. It is pretty efficient and even more comfortable than my workstation at my (I don't know the current phrase) work work office.
The new routine is not bad at all, but there is a small little unexpected bonus . . . My usual habit is (was) to stop at a little kiosk coffee hut and get a large coffee and donut; total cost $3.00 per day. That's $15.00 per week, or $60.00 per month. Now my coffee costs about $0.10 per day, and it is not worth the mental activity to extrapolate the weekly or monthly costs.
And there's also a secondary bonus . . . Instead of eating a very large lump of sugar (deep-fried in lard), I now eat a bowl of oatmeal or a coupla scrambled eggs and a piece of multi-grain toast.
I won't even get into the tonsorial or sartorial benefits.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
I used to be a gas passer too. Everyone else, don't look at what I am about to write.
In the old days we did not wear gloves except for sterile procedures. Our specialty did not embrace germ theory. One of my attendings died of Hep B. Before my time, one of my partners used one IV bottle and tubing for multiple patients.
I've seen CRNA's and anesthesiologists draw up 1 syringe of fentanyl, atropine, robinul or whatever for all the cases they had that day.
I'm pretty sure no one does that these days.
Hasn't your all your elective surgery been canceled?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy I used to be a gas passer too. Everyone else, don't look at what I am about to write. In the old days we did not wear gloves except for sterile procedures. Our specialty did not embrace germ theory. One of my attendings died of Hep B. Before my time, one of my partners used one IV bottle and tubing for multiple patients. I've seen CRNA's and anesthesiologists draw up 1 syringe of fentanyl, atropine, robinul or whatever for all the cases they had that day. I'm pretty sure no one does that these days. Hasn't your all your elective surgery been canceled?
I live in a small town on the South Dakota prairie, so after a first spike of panic buying, food and toilet paper are not in short supply.Other than that, I get to stay in my house, nobody is trying to interact with me, and I have 500 freight car kits in my basement.I've been training for this all my life.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
ATLANTIC CENTRAL rrebell Now as an update. I live in the SF bay area and public transit is starting to shut down compleatly, slowly but some systems have stopped all. I don't drive but I have lots of kin nearby, this will be very hard for those without such support. I know people live that way, but I could not imagine a life without driving and owning a car...... But then again, I live in the rural countryside, with the dairy cows, corn fields, and little towns where three stories is a tall building......... Sheldon
rrebell Now as an update. I live in the SF bay area and public transit is starting to shut down compleatly, slowly but some systems have stopped all. I don't drive but I have lots of kin nearby, this will be very hard for those without such support.
Now as an update. I live in the SF bay area and public transit is starting to shut down compleatly, slowly but some systems have stopped all. I don't drive but I have lots of kin nearby, this will be very hard for those without such support.
I know people live that way, but I could not imagine a life without driving and owning a car......
But then again, I live in the rural countryside, with the dairy cows, corn fields, and little towns where three stories is a tall building.........
Sheldon
rrebell andrechapelon Sure you want to know? Cancer diagnosis after 5 days of some heavy diagnostics in the hospital. Treatable, but that's not not the big deal. I REALLY have to stay the hell away from people. The pandemic is more likely to kill me than the cancer. I realize I rarely post, and I apologize for that. The irony is (and it's actually funny as far as I'm concerned), the whole thing has the air of a gigantic cosmic practical joke. On a lighter note, my wife finally got her wish. I had my first MRI. As I told one of the people involved, "She got her wish, I'm finally getting my head examined". Wow someone who thinks the way I do. I always tell the truth when someone say "and how is your day", sometime they wish they hadn't. Sorry about what happened to you but at least it is treatable. I worry about that as my sister has had a very rare, ussually untreatable typeand others, luckily so far so good .
andrechapelon Sure you want to know? Cancer diagnosis after 5 days of some heavy diagnostics in the hospital. Treatable, but that's not not the big deal. I REALLY have to stay the hell away from people. The pandemic is more likely to kill me than the cancer. I realize I rarely post, and I apologize for that. The irony is (and it's actually funny as far as I'm concerned), the whole thing has the air of a gigantic cosmic practical joke. On a lighter note, my wife finally got her wish. I had my first MRI. As I told one of the people involved, "She got her wish, I'm finally getting my head examined".
Sure you want to know? Cancer diagnosis after 5 days of some heavy diagnostics in the hospital. Treatable, but that's not not the big deal. I REALLY have to stay the hell away from people. The pandemic is more likely to kill me than the cancer. I realize I rarely post, and I apologize for that.
The irony is (and it's actually funny as far as I'm concerned), the whole thing has the air of a gigantic cosmic practical joke. On a lighter note, my wife finally got her wish. I had my first MRI. As I told one of the people involved, "She got her wish, I'm finally getting my head examined".
Wow someone who thinks the way I do. I always tell the truth when someone say "and how is your day", sometime they wish they hadn't. Sorry about what happened to you but at least it is treatable. I worry about that as my sister has had a very rare, ussually untreatable typeand others, luckily so far so good .
rrbell, I'm sorry to hear about your sister. One thing that does seem to happen when something like this happens to you is that you became much more empathetic to others as all the other emotional baggage seems to disappear and you can see more clearly the connections people have with each other. Please let your sister know that there is someone out here on the West Coast wishing her all all the best.
Mike
My GF is a retired doctor and a still-at-it over the top germophobe. So, when I go out for takeout we have to wait while I wash like crazy and the containers get rubbed down with disinfectant.
We actually had takeout lobster tonight. Nice local restaurant trying hard despite the circumstances. It was the kitten's first lobster. She stayed out on the porch for hours, looking for more.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Wel, we now have the second confirmed case of the virus in our township of approximately 12 thousand people, a 51 year old female. The first case was on 3/22, a 49 year old female. Area is about 11.7 square miles.
Countywide there was 1 case on March 13; 2 cases on the 15th; 8 cases on the 17th; 18 cases on the 19th; 22 cases on the 21st; 39 cases on the 23rd; and 84 cases on the 25th. These are cumulative numbers.
It appears that there were 957 people tested, so 84 would be about 9% testing positive.
I'm trying to behave myself, but every time I open the front door I hear:
Bad boys, bad boys,
What'ca gonna do,
What'ca gonna do when the virus comes for you?
maxmanI'm trying to behave myself, but every time I open the front door I hear: Bad boys, bad boys, What'ca gonna do, What'ca gonna do when the virus comes for you?
I am using pliers to get the mail out of the box. That virus is a bad boy.
After my time in the military and the two years in Vietnam being shot three times and living thru that, staying in the house for awhile is no problem.
I work on my layout, watch some shows I have Never seen and enjoying the peace and quiet.
Stay safe everybody.
Dave
rrebellYes I am odd in never having a drivers licence but I have thrived.
Must be unique circumstance - unimanginable to most of us having drivin all our lives and had that kind of freedom of mobilty. For those of us having that ability, it would be difficult to revert to non-driving. I remember changing from type writers to word processors and later computers with printers. People did thrive with type writers back in the day, but how much more now with computers.
Of course its not so odd not having drivers licenses in the UK or Europe. Many more people have access to mass transit and Europe has a much higher population density than in the US. Add to that the standards and cost of getting a drivers license are higher than in the US, and gas is much more expensive (taxes). And of course here, there are so many places without mass transit or other means of transportation that cars are a necessity. Jobs typically require you to have a license and a car or won't hire you.
My wife was born and raised in northern England and managed to get around using the Metro, busses or taxi's until she immigrated to the US in her early 40's. Of course where we live, not having a license or car would be a non-starter as in most of the US. She was here nearly 2 years and it severely limited our housing options because we lived where she could walk to her nanny job. I taught her how to drive starting in April 2013 and by August she had passed her test and she leveled up very fast.
Now that she has a car and has driven, the freedom to go places, especially for shopping or getting good deals, has been a major boon to her. It helps us to save money cause she can fit all kinds of things in the back of the RAV4. It also allows us to move out in the country where houses are more affordable and it's quieter. Not everyone has the affluence to retire at 29 either but gratz.
Nice local restaurant trying hard despite the circumstances. It was the kitten's first lobster. She stayed out on the porch for hours, looking for more.
I got a good laugh out of that one, so did my wife. We got a 6 month old Kitten in January, part Maine Coon, tail is a bit like a racoon. Here she is lounging on a cat tower we built a few weekends ago from raw materials (took me away from the layout that weekend - ) but worth it. The kitten runs right up the pole sometimes.
riogrande5761Kitten in January, part Maine Coon, tail is a bit like a racoon. Here she is lounging on a cat tower we built a few weekends ago from raw materials
Russell
rrebell ATLANTIC CENTRAL rrebell Now as an update. I live in the SF bay area and public transit is starting to shut down compleatly, slowly but some systems have stopped all. I don't drive but I have lots of kin nearby, this will be very hard for those without such support. I know people live that way, but I could not imagine a life without driving and owning a car...... But then again, I live in the rural countryside, with the dairy cows, corn fields, and little towns where three stories is a tall building......... Sheldon Yes I am odd in never having a drivers licence but I have thrived. Retired the first time at 29 so I guess no big impact. When I lived on a farm I didn't need a licence, even drove 3/4 ton grain trucks into town.
Yes I am odd in never having a drivers licence but I have thrived. Retired the first time at 29 so I guess no big impact. When I lived on a farm I didn't need a licence, even drove 3/4 ton grain trucks into town.
Where, and when, I was growing up, in the mid 70's, driving was considered so essential that the public schools taught drivers education. Within just a few days after my 16th birthday, my mother took me to the DMV for my driving test. I passed easily, and she was now happy she had help driving my two younger sisters where they needed to go, and that she no longer needed to drive me anywhere.
Before long, my father showed up with an extra car, which needed some repairs. I was told "if you can fix it, you can have it". I had been helping work on cars for years, it was no problem, I fixed it up, and I paid my own car insurance as well.
Two years later I bought an older car, a 1963 Nova SS convertible, restored and hot rodded it from the ground up, took about 8 months, and drove it for 8 years.
Public transportation? It was a mile just to get out of our rural waterfront neighborhood to a state highway, and then 5 miles to any kind of "civilization" beyond the little general store.
The general store was great, they sold everything from steaks to Levi's, gas, diesel and kerosene out front.
Next door the same family ran another store, half hardware, half liquor store.........
Even today, we are not really far from the city in time or miles, but we are light years away in life style.....
After reading about the hardships being endured by members of the group including non-virus major medical issues, I am reluctant to share my comfortable circumstances. Being retired makes hunkering down much easier. My wife is working from home now which is a plus for me because we get to see more of each other. (As an aside, I heard yesterday that husbands and wives being forced to spend more time together is actually causing divorce filings to escalate rapidly.) Now that the store supplies have recovered from panic buying, the only pitifully decadent problem I have to report is that the Rolling Stones concert we have tickets for has been postponed. On the model railroad side of things, I am making good progress on wrapping up remodeling projects around the house and will soon be able to devote full time to designing and building my first layout!
My heart goes out to those of you facing real issues during these difficult times and I wish you all the best.
Tim
Late to the model railroad party but playing catch-up.....
rrebellYes I am odd
Ah. At last it comes out. I understand that self-confession is good for the soul
CapnCrunchI am reluctant to share my comfortable circumstances. Being retired makes hunkering down much easier. My wife is working from home
I agree. I'm also retired and have been for some time. Unfortunately, I have enough model railroad stuff in the basement to last me two more lifetimes, so I don't have an urgent need to buy anything else.
With the virus stuff, I do miss the weekly get togethers and monthly operating sessions with my railroad friends. I also miss the train shows, which are basically a day to get out rather than a necessity.
I normally don't have a compulsion to share any medical misfortunes with the public, primarily because I feel it is not anyone else's business. Also, I find it to be a downer reading that stuff.
Now to the question as to whether or not the virus has really affected me, the answer is no, because I would not have been able to do any of that stuff for the past 6 weeks.
This applies to you. Tell your wife to be careful on the steps if you have any. On 2/11 the wife fell face first down a partial flight of steps. She broke both wrists and had surgery on 2/13. It could have been much worse (death or paralysis). Things are getting closer to normal, but for several weeks I was the chief cook and bottom bottle washer (it's amazing how many things you can't do with broken wrists).
csxns Nice looking kitten and that cat tower never thought one could build one they do cost a lot at the pet stores but you did great on that one.
Nice looking kitten and that cat tower never thought one could build one they do cost a lot at the pet stores but you did great on that one.
She is a rescue cat, now about 8 months. Wife wanted another half Maine Coon - very very thick tail. She has a quirk tho. She sits with one hind leg sticking way out - very funny.
I think the bigger/taller towers can be a bit pricey, so my wife figured we could make one. This one is 6 1/2 feet tall, and one day my wife roughly sketch out what she wanted. We went to Lowes and got a sheet of 3/4" MDF, some RV carpet (I think she called it) and a cheap wooly blanket, a 4" PVC pipe and some cheap 2x2's. The box on the bottom screwed together. She hot glued the dark gray RV carpet where it went, wrapped the 2x2's and PVC pipe with same. etc. Then cut a round piece for the top for the "crows nest". I think she figured around $80 or in materials.
Where, and when, I was growing up, in the mid 70's, driving was considered so essential that the public schools taught drivers education.
Where I grew up in the mid-1970's in Davis California it was the same. AFAIK, it was standard almost everywhere - in High School you took Drivers Ed (classroom) and Drivers Training (out in the car with an instructor). They took out out in a VW once to show us how to stall the engine with a clutch! Which everyone did. I even learned later I could drive a car if the clutch cable broke, and that actually happened to me many years later. I was able to drive home and could still shift gears no clutch. Then had it repaired. I was probably 45 minutes out of town.
Apparently at some point many/most/all schools abandoned the school provided Dr Ed and Dr Training - probably as a way to cut costs, and shift it to the parents. In Virginia, kids pay local trainers to train them and then when they think they are ready, they just pass them and they get a license. No drivers test! What the heck.
I replied earlier, but yesterday the governor closed all school buildings for the rest of the year, online learning only. That means I wont be driving my big yellow bus. Boss still trying to figure out the ramifications of that on our pay.
It does give me more impetus to get moving on finishing the train room before the weather gets nice and I have to get out and check fences so the critters can go eat green grass.
So far grandson's job is considered essential, but his hours are shorter. May get some work out of him yet.
Stay safe.
Richard
My club has to suspend its meetings now.
I got cut back to Pt at work for at least a month, can collect partial unemployment.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
riogrande5761 Nice local restaurant trying hard despite the circumstances. It was the kitten's first lobster. She stayed out on the porch for hours, looking for more. We got a 6 month old Kitten in January, part Maine Coon, tail is a bit like a racoon. Here she is lounging on a cat tower we built a few weekends ago from raw materials (took me away from the layout that weekend - ) but worth it. The kitten runs right up the pole sometimes.
We got a 6 month old Kitten in January, part Maine Coon, tail is a bit like a racoon. Here she is lounging on a cat tower we built a few weekends ago from raw materials (took me away from the layout that weekend - ) but worth it. The kitten runs right up the pole sometimes.
Kitten? So you have your own Catzilla kit then!
We have a pair of cats, and one is best described as a Barn Cat. Very fond of him but heaven help me if he ever gets at my N scale!
Well, I WAS just working from home. As of today, they added my county to the list of those required to shelter in place. Not much warning, but I managed to make a Lowes run and came back with a truckload of supplies so I am set for layout building for the long haul (should order more turnouts if I get to the tracklaying phase - and roadbed. What with waiting for paint to dry and stuff, it will be a couple of weeks before any track goes down at best though. Hopefully the plywood place is open and can deliver if I need more - but I have enough to finish the supporting benchwork for the entire room area that has the yard and main town in it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
It was commented on my first retirement as being affluent, I assure you I started with $0. I worked two jobs from the get go, work and my own project and by work I don't mean just 40 hours, try 7 days a week at times and a few 20 hour days back to back only to spend off hours on my own project. Got to shower every few weeks at a freinds untill I did the plumbing work that far (toilet was far more important). I guess I have little tolerance for people who whine about not being able to get ahead, if I can, then anyone can for the most part. Also sister is good but they are forever checking her. Hey good to hear from you all. Wonder how the world will change when this is all over, I mean this is like a movie that I have seen many versions of. Though this virus dose not scare me, maybe because I got sick at least twice a year since 16 till my 50's, I mean I should have been in the hospital acording to the docs, but never went, just went into a type self imposed coma (same as when I got poison oak all over) and woke up a week plus later. See, I told you I was odd.
On Friday the 13th, I saw the initial wave of panic as I went to my local Giant Eagle after work to get groceries. I went to the customer service counter to get a lottery ticket, and I overheard on the security radio that a scuffle had broken out in the checkout line between customers when somebody apparently tried cutting in line. Here in Ohio, I've seen the store busy with shelves picked over, but nothing like that night. Several sections of shelves were completely bare (carrots, potatoes, bananas, bread, eggs, etc.) or seriously picked over (flour, sugar, cereals, canned goods, etc.). They had ten regular checkout stands open with three carts in each and then a line of about 60 more carts (many overflowing) lined up through the store. Fortunately, I went through one of the self-checkout lines, which was shorter.
On Monday the 16th as we were getting late into the afternoon at work (I work in the internal tech support call center for a large bank), we were told to not return to the office until further notice and to work from home, remoting into our virtual desktops starting the next day.
The first three days working from home went well. I didn't miss the drive to work, which was typically about 25 minutes in the morning and 35 in the afternoon. Not having to drive 270 on the north side of Columbus twice a day, I found myself more relaxed than normal.
Then on Friday the 20th, things took a turn for the worse. That morning when I got up, we had a heavy storm come through with heavy rains. After showering and getting dressed, I heard the sump pump in the basement running about every 30 seconds. I went down to check and found that my basement had three inches of water. Water (and nasty stuff I won't mention here) was bubbling out of the sewer drain in the middle of the basement. Fortunately, the sump pump was keeping the water from going higher. Turns out that the sewers in my area had backed up from the rain and many basements in the area got water in them.
I called off work and spent the day getting what I could up on top of the layout and my washer/dryer and then took larger items upstairs out of the way. The water went down, and I began going through the stuff that had gotten wet. I fortunately didn't lose anything trainwise, but I did lose one of my A-Line/Proto Power West storage boxes and three of the gray carrying bags.
That evening, sore from the lifting and moving, I went to take a shower and found that I had no hot water. The pilot light on my water heater was out and wouldn't relight. I called my landlord the next morning, and she got her plumber out. Because the PSI in the gas line to the thermostat on the water heater is so low, water basically got sucked up into the line. He got it blown out, but even then, the pilot wouldn't stay lit. With it being the weekend and most places closed due to the virus, it wouldn't be fixed for a couple days.
I spent Saturday and Sunday underneath the layout, cutting the large 12x18-foot carpet into strips to make it easier to work the carpet out from under all 44 legs of the layout that sat on the carpet since 2003. The carpet, which was outdoor patio carpet, had gotten wet before and got dried out with no issues, but since this had been sewer water that had soaked into it, I decided to scrap it.
Monday morning, the plumber called to get a number off the water heater. He still hadn't found the part he needed to fix the water heater. By noon, I called him and was told that the part needed was getting overnighted and would be in the next afternoon. He again said that the delay was because everyplace was closed or working with minimum staff due to the virus. I logged into work to save half my day off to use the next afternoon to get the water heater fixed.
After working four hours, I then decided to go out and take the garbage bags that I'd put the wet carpet into off the porch and take them to the dumpster. Things were going as planned until I got to the last bag, and while moving it, I slipped and went knee-first into the pavement, also banging my hand and elbow. After taking the bag to the dumpster, I limped back inside. My hand and elbow had a couple light scrapes but were otherwise okay. While my pants had no mark on them, my knee had a couple gashes on it (I'd heard it "click" when I hit the pavement) and was covered in blood. I washed it off and bandaged it up.
On Tuesday, I worked in the morning, and then the plumber came back. He got the pilot on the water heater to stay lit, but when turning up the thermostat, the burner would go out after a few seconds. As it turned out, water had also soaked up into the insulation and the air filters on the water heater, blocking air flow and causing the burner to burn itself out. As a result, a new water heater got ordered and was installed on Wednesday, ending the five days of no hot water.
Then on Thursday, the issue with the virus hit close to home for me. I got a call from HR and was told that one of my coworkers has tested positive for the virus. I wasn't told who, and I didn't ask since they were concerned about privacy. We'd all been working remotely from home since the 17th, and my coworker was only recently diagnosed. Fortunately, I'm in good health and not showing any signs of the virus. But since I could possibly now be a carrier, I'm basically under self quarantine, only going out to get groceries or go down to the corner to check my mailbox.
In the meantime, my basement has dried out, and I'm now in the process of washing the floor before moving anything back down. Anything that is going on the floor from now on will be getting put in storage bins since the bins that the three sections of my Christmas tree are in were completely dry. Also, I'm going to get long rugs to put down in the aisles of the layout rather than one huge section of carpet.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html