My beloved sister in law Carole is being tested for breast cancer. She is the same person who's husband was murdered in Columbia 1 1/2 years ago. She doesn't deserve this (not that anyone does). I am heartbroken and scared. I love her dearly. The forums won't let me say what I think about the big corporations who profit at the expense of peoples' lives.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
maxmanMy wife is recovering well from her broken wrists, enough to sew. She made up a bunch of those masks that fearless leader now says we should wear.
Glad to hear your wife is recovering. My wife has been sewing masks for almost two weeks now. Ran out of 1/4" elastic twice. I think her count is up to 200.
Reminds me of The Great War when housewives were making bandages for the Red Cross. We've come a long way in a hundred years
Unlike the same fearless leader, if I have to go out I'll wear a mask. So far, I haven't had to leave the property since Feb. 29, thanks to Amazon, eBay, USPS, UPS and FedEX.
I hope everyone is well. One of the fellows on the PRR discussion forum is suffering from the virus. Probably no hope for recovery. Family can not visit him.
Things sure change in a hurry!
Off to the basement I go — For some reason I'm in the mood to watch Hunt For Red October ?
Regards, Ed
MisterBeasleyWe had another happy hour today, after the last one on Friday got cancelled for low temperature and high wind. The community used to have happy hour every Friday, but that's a casualty. We held it today because the weather is beautiful and it's Amy's birthday. She is isolated from her family by geography, and we thought she deserved a bit of a party. Outside on the driveway, fewer than 10 people, seated six feet apart.
I have seen several examples of people who are still following traditions like birthday parties and street parties but they have adapted them to reflect the current reality. In the last few weeks in our area there have been several 'drive by' birthday celebrations. I also saw a street party in a seniors' complex where everyone stayed in front of their own homes. Lots of fun but no close contact.
maxmanMy wife is recovering well from her broken wrists,
maxman,
I guess I missed you mentioning that your wife had broken her wrists. I'm very sorry to hear that, but I am glad to hear that she is recovering. Wish her well for us!
We had another happy hour today, after the last one on Friday got cancelled for low temperature and high wind. The community used to have happy hour every Friday, but that's a casualty. We held it today because the weather is beautiful and it's Amy's birthday. She is isolated from her family by geography, and we thought she deserved a bit of a party.
Outside on the driveway, fewer than 10 people, seated six feet apart.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
BigDaddyI'm amused that someone in the OT Coronavirus thread is upset because it has gone even more OT strayed into a discussion of cell phones. An OT thread can't stay on topic
I'm happy that your day was made. I should point out that the OT coronavirus thread is the designated/approved OT thread and should therefore not be considered OT. Besides, all the OT posts to the non-OT thread were the same old, same old blather that has already been posted to this thread, the original OT thread.
And I happen to know that the "upset" individual was not necessarily upset. The virus has made him a little more cranky(er) than usual and it made him feel a little better to get it off his chest rather than just stew.
On the virus front, we now have 5 confirmed cases in the township. Countywide there have been 266 confirmed cases out of about 2350 tests. There have also been 2 deaths. I think both of the dead individuals were male in their 80's with "underlying nedical conditions".
My wife is recovering well from her broken wrists, enough to sew. She made up a bunch of those masks that fearless leader now says we should wear. Today we gave them to the three neighbors who brought food over immediately after her accident. Also made them for us.
Went to the pizza place yesterday late afternoon. They don't have drive thru, but they opened a window and put up a little awning so they could provide take out. Folks were lined up along the curb in an orderly fashion, everyone the requisite distance apart. Looked like a string of boxcars on a siding. Of course I was the only one with a mask. Anything to make the boss happy.
Completed the installation of the last tub grab bar. As I was cleaning up I saw a couple unused items from the installation that appear to be good candidates for flat car or gon loads.
I don't think the virus is going away soon. To quote Admiral Painter:
"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it".
I'm amused that someone in the OT Coronavirus thread is upset because it has gone even more OT strayed into a discussion of cell phones. An OT thread can't stay on topic
Someone I know, who would not make this up, told me that the traffic jam to pick up ones family remains at the crematoriums in China is 6 miles long.
Did a lot of dog walking today, the weather was very nice. 3.7 miles according to the iphone
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
We just had some isolation fun.
My three daughters, their husbands, all the grandkids, and us, used ZOOM to meet at once.
It was a little like the opening screen of "The Brady Bunch".
Fun.
Those on their phone said it wasn't as good -- again, the screen only displayed a few pictures, while on my computer screen, I could see everyone at the same time.
York1 John
Afternoon Diners!
Flo, give the gang and I a Ed a Crown Royal and Dirk half a dog treat.
Quite day here at the home. While we did go for a drive to the local park to walk Dirk the closest I came to a human was 20 feet plus. Went to the local Walmart Market just to see what kind on maddes might be taken places with them only letting a limted number of people. Nothing really looked diffrent and we left with out getting out of the car.
Best New's I have gotten today? I checked my E-Mail and the Mighty PRR I1sa has shipped from BLI! Hum, how long does it take for a virus to die on a steam engine anyway?
Later Ken and Dirk say's "Can we sit on the pouch Daddy, Woof, Woof!
Edit I see I am the top of the page. Drinks are on my tab Flo.
I hate Rust
Still too many of those calls and almost always one at dinner time. Got one from Ewell MD which is a town in Smith Island in Cheaspeake Bay, only accessible by boat. Less than 300 people live there.
Verizon lets us use Nomorobo on our land line. The Iphone lets you silence the ring for numbers not in you address book, but that's not helpful if you are dealing with businesses or customers who aren't in the book.
maxmanHas anyone else noticed a drop in the daily volume of spam phone calls or is it just me?
I use Robonomo. It's free, and it only took a few seconds to sign up. This is on my home phone line. I don't know if it works on cell phones.
When a spam call arrives, the phone rings just once.
If it rings more than once, it may be spam, but it's more likely legitimate.
Since getting it, my spam calls have gone down to almost none.
maxman Has anyone else noticed a drop in the daily volume of spam phone calls or is it just me?
Has anyone else noticed a drop in the daily volume of spam phone calls or is it just me?
I have noticed that some of the callers are labeled Telemarketer or Spam Alert. I still get unknown calls from people who don't leave a message, so I assume they're trash, too. Still a few from NYC in Chinese, so I guess those have a virus.
Good morning everyone! I stayed up until 6:00 AM last night, so I just rolled out of bed. I will take a cup of plain yogurt and a coffee please.
Staying inside has made my wife a better chess player. She is over 60% in the win column since this isolation started. I am going to read some chess stuff today.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
GMTRacingI walked away from the whole layout for about 5 years between being too busy really to even descend the stairs and just getting discouraged at the sheer amount of work needed to do what I thought I had to do. Good enough lets me enjoy the layout again
Speaking of flames, Kevin, thanks for sharing about the car fire. That is incredible! What a waste though.
Watched church online today, walked the dogs, and now for some stuff around the house (trains included ). Positive thoughts everyone!
Mike
Good morning, everyone.
Sunday morning and we stayed home. We watched the livestream of the church service, but we didn't get donuts after church.
It's in the 30s right now, so I will be heading out for the trail walk. After the long winter, it's nice to be able to get outside again.
My TV in the layout room is set to explode and burn if I ever tune it to a news channel. My wife watches the news 24/7 on her TV, and I can't stand it. I've buried my head in the sand, especially since I cannot do anything about anything anyway.
Have a good day, everyone.
My wife's niece's family has been diagnosed with Covid. They are recovering, having caught it on a trip to Puerto Rico the end of February. They are the only people I personally know with it. They only live 2 miles from us, so they could have infected cashiers at the same stores we shop at.
Only the husband was tested, the rest of the family was presumed to have it, as they were sick too. So he counts as an officially confirmed case, the the rest of the family is off the books, so to speak.
RideOnRoadI suppose that is one way to mitigate your losses with the drop in rental income.
I thought the same thing when I first saw this.
Mike.
My You Tube
Good morning
Fell asleep at about 10:30 last night watching the movie Captain Ron and slept all the way through to 6:30. I love when that happens. Sometimes putting in a familiar movie makes one forget about every thing else for a while and helps to relax.
The nice thing is after we're already asleep and the movie ends the screen goes black not to wake us up again like leaving the TV on all night as Judy likes to do.
The high is going to be 58 today and sunny I think I'm going to take the Stang out for a romp. It's one of the things that takes my mind off of things for a while, to enjoy a better frame of mind is nice.
I think later I'll get back to working on my wooden bridge bents. They're coming along pretty well with the jig I made.
Have a great day everyone
TF
GMTRacingWow, 3500 cars lost? Holy oneway rental
Right now, if you Google "Fort Myers Florida", the 3,500 car fire is the first result.
GMTRacing Kevin - Thanks. i will look into that putty. I have something comparable I use for repairs at the track but it is in a much larger format and won't scale down for HO. Does it come in colors or only green- ok blue yellow ? The car stuff is gray.
Polymeric Systems (PSI) has a great website, and they even have a few pages on the hobby uses of the blue-yellow putty.
Yes, they have many products in other colors. "Green Stuff" is the best.
Heartland Division CB&QKevin ..... That is quite some fire.
Garry, it was incredible. The pictures of the aftermath are spooky. Burned out bare steel shells of automobiles as far as you can see.
Supposedly it was a 100 acre fire of cars. We have not had rain in over a month, and the cause is believed to be dry grass and hot exhaust as JR suspected.
As bad as this sounds... it was nice to have some local news other than virus updates. The evening news was mostly about the fire today, and a man in Lehigh Acres arrested for a horrific case of animal cruelty. Somehow that made things seem a bit more normal for a while even though it was bad news.
I know that is terrible, but a day without non-stop virus coverage was actually an improvement.
SeeYou190The news today reported that 3,500 cars were a total loss worth an estimated $80,000,000.00!
I suppose that is one way to mitigate your losses with the drop in rental income.
Richard
Good evening .
Ja Bear ...... It is good to see you. I was hoping we would have at least one Bear Toon this weekend.
Kevin ..... That is quite some fire.
...
This was Day 24 of Social Distancing for us. We walked across the lake on the big new bridge. It is over a mile from shore to shore.
I am continuing work on the layout.
Everybody.....Have a nice night.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Wow, 3500 cars lost? Holy oneway rental. With any luck the posessed Dodge mom van they rented me last trip to Fla went with them. It was truely awful.
Started doing the cables in the substation and now I have to figure out how to secure the high tension towers to the foam so I can string the rest of the high voltage lines which also means I have to figure out exactly where to route the cables and towers. Sort of painted myself into a corner there.
Mike - John and I welcome you to the "good enough dark side". I walked away from the whole layout for about 5 years between being too busy really to even descend the stairs and just getting discouraged at the sheer amount of work needed to do what I thought I had to do. Good enough lets me enjoy the layout again and concentrate on the actual trackwork so it functions correctly. The prime directive at work is "Time for Fun" (GMT - Greenwich mean time - get it?) and it's even more important that my leisure activity be enjoyable. Ok. off the soapbox JR.
Kevin - Thanks. i will look into that putty. I have something comparable I use for repairs at the track but it is in a much larger format and won't scale down for HO. Does it come in colors or only green- ok blue yellow ? The car stuff is gray.
Back to the basement. Ciao, J.R.
It was the gas tanks that were the lowest that were the really loud explosions I'm sure.
Movie time, tonights feature, As good as it gets. Nicholson is great in this one. Another movie I can watch more than once.
We had a fire in a used car lot, where a car hit a light pole and the tranformer fell and ignited the cars in the car lot, but that looks like arson.
Matches by Bear, on Flickr
Indeed! The news today reported that 3,500 cars were a total loss worth an estimated $80,000,000.00!
That is going to an overtime day for an adjuster.
I've really been wanting Mexican or Chinese food. Went to the website of my favorite Mexican place, an upscale restaurant. Clicked on the menu and the site was hacked and it was a list of pills that "supposedly" you buy online. I didn't even take time to see what drugs they were selling and shut that window down. I took it as a bad omen and we are still eating home cooked meals.
Zinc is sold out at CVS.
Bears back! Good morning Bear, for about 5 more minutes there I suppose. I'm glad you could stop by. Missed the Beartoons.
Flo, give the gang and I a please Ed a Crwon Royal and Dirk half a dog treat.
Little put off my my wifes favorite Mexicn Restaurant today! They where advertising crub side pick up. Wife called in the order and ask how to pay? She was told too come into the store to pay? Does not sound crub side to me! Of course I had to go in, so the wife won't get sick? Cashier was not waring a faces mask or rubber gloves. Plus I had to get closer than 6 foot to pay for the food.
Train Front Speed matched the A&B Sharks today and they seem to be working well with each other.
PRR GG1 haunted? Strange thing happened while I was adding some rolling stock to the PPR Shark's train. Power was on and I was using Decoder Pro to control the engines. Then for some reason the PRR GG1 took off by it self? Luckly it was at the other side of the layout! Got to the computer and the GG1 throttle was still sat to 0? Killed the power and shut down the layout.
After that when I repowered the layout GG1 is acting right.
Later Ken and Dirk say's Daddy I got to pee, Woof, Woof.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."