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Jeffreys Track Side Diner January 2022

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  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Sunday, January 16, 2022 11:56 PM

Hi Brent,

I am committed to building the snow plow. I'm just waiting for some parts.

BATMAN
Dave, did you ever get the trailer built?

Alas that is yet another project sitting on the back of the workbench. My passion for building things has declined significantly.

Dave

Edit:

Top of the page! We broke down and ordered pizza and wings for supper last night. There is lots left over. Help yourself. I also have eight or nine different beers on hand to go with it.

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
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  • From: A Comfy Cave, New Zealand
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Posted by "JaBear" on Monday, January 17, 2022 2:49 AM

hon30critter
I am committed...

Committed by Bear, on Flickr

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Monday, January 17, 2022 2:59 AM

"JaBear" wrote the following post 4 minutes ago: hon30critter I am committed... Committed by Bear, on Flickr

LaughLaughLaughLaugh

Hi Bear!

Over my lifetime I'm sure that there were many people who thought that I should have been committed! Did I ever tell you how to get out of a straight jacket?.....

Cheers!!

Dave

P.S. Could you please send us a little bit of your summer weather? Apparently we are in for the worst snow storm in years, and it has already started!CryingLaugh

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • From: A Comfy Cave, New Zealand
  • 6,253 posts
Posted by "JaBear" on Monday, January 17, 2022 3:27 AM
Gidday Chloe, a tall glass of something cold, please.

JR, the Glenbrook Vintage Railway is about a 5-hour round trip for me. Well worth it when I do make the effort.

Steaming up 644 by Bear, on Flickr

hon30critter
P.S. Could you please send us a little bit of your summer weather?

We could actually with some rain, Dave, things are getting too dry, though on the bright side, I’ve just started to pick my cherry tomatoes. Yum!
 
Last week was going to be fairly full on from the get go, but I ended up running round like a headless chook!!
 
Saturday was supposed to be a day for catching up on the paperwork, but got an early morning call, one of the aeroplanes had overnighted at Whakatane Airport, and wouldn’t start! 
 
So, I put my tool box and some spares, including a battery, on the back of the ute, and with Her-in-Doors as company, drove the hour and a ¼ to Whakatane Airport. It didn’t take long to get the aeroplane up and running and on its way home.
 
Whakatane Airport is on the east coast, but in the 20+ years I’ve been going there on occasion for w**k, I’ve never driven down to the beach!! So, I decided to rectify that!
 
On the way to the beach, we stopped and had a leisurely burger and chips, under the shady trees at a roadside farmyard café, good food and great service, then headed to the Thornton Beach. What a great spot, if I’d known, we’d have taken our togs and gone for a swim.
 
In the light of the Tongan Volcanic eruption later in the day. these photos though in “The worlds a beautiful place” category, doesn’t mean we should take it for granted. Still, it was a most enjoyable day!
 
Thornton Beach by Bear, on Flickr
White Island by Bear, on Flickr
Mt Edgecumbe by Bear, on Flickr
 
Thoughts and Best Wishes to all that need them. Kia Kaha.
Cheers, the Bear.Smile

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

  • Member since
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Posted by NorthBrit on Monday, January 17, 2022 5:16 AM

Good morning Diners.   A full English with hash browns please,  Chloe.

Bear.  It has rained every day here for ages.   I'll exchange for some of your sunshine. 

 

We should be having family over this week, but they are in isolation with Covid. Angry

 

Will be back later.

 

David 

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Monday, January 17, 2022 6:15 AM

Good Morning!

Looks like I'll be trying out the Deere Snowblower today. Got a foot of fluffy. The way the wind is blowing I'm glad I got the cab option, too!

 

 Bear_Beer by Edmund, on Flickr

Best wishes to a speedy "back to normal" for you and your family, David...

Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
    April 2002
  • From: Paducah KY
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Posted by moelarrycurly4 on Monday, January 17, 2022 7:10 AM

So The roads cleared themselves before my drive home, so we had no issues. the temp got up above freezing and all was good. 

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Posted by Track fiddler on Monday, January 17, 2022 8:53 AM

York1

TF, I got sick after you -- that means you must have given it to me.  Hope you feel better soon.

I guess there won't be anything happening here the next couple of days.  I'll just sit in my rocker, drinking coffee and watching TV.

Thanks for saying John.  I've been doing about the same thing next to nothing for a while.  I hope you're better soon as well.

I lost my sense of taste and smell Saturday night and I am hopeful its a symptom of the virus close to being done, I hope. 

Judy just had cold symptoms because she had got the vaccine, so her case was much milder.  I never got the shot because of my many allergies made me afraid to do it so now I'm paying for it.  I'm just thankful I can breathe okay, although that gets a little sketchy sometimes at night.

This has been the first time in over 10 years I don't drive her to work and pick her up as the cold hurts my skin in a way it never has.

I never knew Daisy the Dachshund was deaf,  I must have missed that somewhere along the way all these years.  I would think she makes it up with her other senses.  I sure miss two of my favorite ones lately.

 

I hope Brent, David and their family members are better soon as well.

 

 

TF

  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: New Milford, Ct
  • 3,232 posts
Posted by GMTRacing on Monday, January 17, 2022 8:57 AM

Good Morning All,

    NTR here. Got a late start to tthe day as we cleared the drive and walkways of a bit of snow and a lot of slush. Used the s**wblower as it was fairly heavy. Roads were clear by the time we set out though there were puddles as it had all become rain. Still some road warriror had managed to stuff it through the cables and made it to the stream bed in one spot and the folks I let by found some black ice on the back road (which was why I was going slowly enough to hold them up).

   Bear - I've been to Glenbrook twice now as we usually stay in Pukekohe when we race at Hampton  Downs. I was impressed by the equipment in the shops and I guess Rail NZ is too as they are occasionally let out on the main tracks for an excursion.   Off to the shop for me.    Ciao, J.R.

 079 by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr

  • Member since
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  • From: Flyover Country
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Posted by York1 on Monday, January 17, 2022 9:47 AM

TF,

I hope you feel a little better.  I feel terrible, and I will probably have to get the covid test.  Like many on here, I got the double vaccine last February, and I got the booster in November.  I really don't think this is covid.  I think I just have a very bad cold.  It seems like it's the worst one I've had, but then everytime I get sick, I think it is the worst.

Speaking of Daisy the Dachshund, last July the vet told us she had cancer and would only live days, or at the most weeks.  I went into mourning for my best friend.

Now, here we are 7 months later, and she is running around like a little puppy, happy as a lark.  I think she is on limited time, but she sure seems to be doing better than we hoped.

Track fiddler
I never knew Daisy the Dachshund was deaf,  I must have missed that somewhere along the way all these years.  I would think she makes it up with her other senses.

One nice thing about a deaf dog -- she doesn't mind thunderstorms or vacuum cleaners.  You can also call her any name you want, and she just wags her tale and looks at you lovlingly.  She's sitting beside me right now in my rocker-recliner trying to get me to put my laptop away.

TF, I really hope you continue to get better.  Take of yourself!

York1 John       

  • Member since
    October 2020
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Posted by NorthBrit on Monday, January 17, 2022 9:52 AM

Good afternoon Diners.  A coffee and blueberry muffin please, Janie.

I hope both John and TF  are feeling much better.

Here in the U.K.  Dawn and I see pictures of the heavy snow in Wyoming.  Too much for my liking.

Tornados.   I have pictures of a Tornado.

 

 IMG_2285 by David Harrison, on Flickr

 

In 2019 prior to knowing anything of Covid  we visited Beamish Museum,  County Durham.

A Replica of a 19th Century locomotive.

Note the concrete post for the wire fencing.  Then we see what we see and not what we thought we saw.  Nature 'fighting back'  with grass and weeds.   Things are not always 'spick and span'.

 

 IMG_1258 by David Harrison, on Flickr

 

Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,557 posts
Posted by York1 on Monday, January 17, 2022 9:52 AM

Brent and all others on here with health issues, I'm thinking of you and hoping everything gets back to normal.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
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Posted by York1 on Monday, January 17, 2022 9:55 AM

NorthBrit
Dawn and I see pictures of the heavy snow in Wyoming.  Too much for my liking.

David, in Nebraska we like the Wyoming snows.  We're downstream from Wyoming, and the more snow they get in the winter, the more water we get for our reservoirs and canals in the spring!

York1 John       

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    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
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Posted by York1 on Monday, January 17, 2022 9:57 AM

OK, my post hog time is over this morning.  The laptop is closing, and Daisy and I are going to take a nap.

York1 John       

  • Member since
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  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
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Posted by BATMAN on Monday, January 17, 2022 11:28 AM

Good morning from the quiet West.

Feeling a little worse than yesterday, really run down, and breathing patterns have changed somewhat. My Garmin monitors all my vital functions and my breaths per minute are up, but my pulse ox is still 98% so all is good. Blood Pressure is still up 15pts which is about right for this virus. It is 125/79 which is still better than most of the population but up for me.

Our guest from Singapore so far seems fine as does my wife. We took our guest for a 4km walk through the forest with the dogs and he thought he was in heaven. He has never lived in a house and finds it so quiet and restful and to be able to go out the door and walk for a couple of hours in dead quiet and not see another person is an out-of-body experience. Laugh He lived in a small apartment all his life and said you could always hear the neighbours.

My Garmin also has GPS and tells me exactly how far we walk. It gets confused when I am on the bike as my bike is too old and cannot sync with the Garmin, I tell it that it is a stationary bike but it likes to tell me that for all my effort we did not get very far.Laugh

As we get to know our guest it is apparent he is quite gifted, he speaks 7 languages, 5 fluently. He had been headhunted in Singapore to one of the big tech companies in California to attend University and work there however in 2017 with the changes in immigration policies and at the same time that Hollywood made the mass exodus North so did the Tech industry and they brought him here instead. He said it is funny how his life has unfolded. He saw snow for the first time and he said it is every kid's dream in Singapore to see snow, ya, just wait until he has lived here for a while.Laugh

TF, my son, and my wife have allergy problems with "some" of the vaccinations and have to get the nasal vaccine which is a spray. They can suffer neurological issues. I believe it is the carrier that causes the issues in the injectable. That being said the covid injection was not an issue and they both had it as did my friend and his sons who have to be very careful. When they go for vaccinations it comes up on the computer where ever they get it if it is safe for them as does drug interactions history. Check with your Doctor.

Ed, how about a video of the new Deere in action? I'm jealous.Laugh My neighbour way up the street offered me up his John Deere to move a lot of dirt, it was really new at the time and I had a lot of fun. I had it for several days and gave him a $1000.00 for letting me use it. He had offered it up, I would never have asked him to borrow it. The $1000.00 was way cheaper than renting or hiring someone and he was blown away when I gave it to him. A win-win in my books.

My daughter just messaged and said she is ordering in a big load of groceries after being here for a month her cupboards in Victoria are bare. She tells me because she puts it on the credit card I gave her when she was 12 years old. She use to travel to places like Toronto for school competitions starting when she was twelve. I gave her a credit card then and told her if something happened and she ever had to get home to just go to the airport and get on a plane. She was also allowed to buy things for school or any other things she might need. She has had it for nine years and has never ever used it for something she was not supposed to.

I gave my son a credit card at the same time as he was travelling for hockey tournaments. He is 23 and making six figures now and still has it.HmmLaugh. I told him to keep it as he uses it when I ask him to buy things for me when he is coming this way, like rum. It is easier than having to pay him back.

Thanks for thinking of me, I think I'll wander in and continue work on the coaling tower that is taking forever to complete. There sure are a lot of pieces.

All the best to all.

Vancouver 1898

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    February 2015
  • From: Ludington, MI
  • 1,864 posts
Posted by Water Level Route on Monday, January 17, 2022 1:44 PM

Hello everyone!  Just checking in for a second.  I see we have a number of diners feeling under the weather.  Hope everyone gets well soon.  Regardless what it is, being ill is no fun.

My daughter is doing fairly well in her recovery.  Removed her bandages Saturday evening and there was virutally no bleeding from the surgery site.  A night and day difference from the previous surgery.  Hope that's a good sign.

York1
One nice thing about a deaf dog -- she doesn't mind thunderstorms or vacuum cleaners.

How true that is!  I was building a raised planter bed for my wife's garden last summer on my patio and was using my pneumatic nail guns to assemble it.  First one I touched off, two of our dogs went by me at rocket speed headed for the house.  The other one (mostly deaf) just layed there about 6 feet away, totally oblivious.  On the other hand, every so often he goes out in the yard to do his duty, and ends up barking wildly at nothing.  We're pretty sure at this point that he feels the wind blow, can't hear it, but knows something touched him and it scares him into barking to scare away what ever it was that scared him! Laugh  It's kind of ridiculous.

Mike

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • From: A Comfy Cave, New Zealand
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Posted by "JaBear" on Monday, January 17, 2022 2:30 PM

Tender care by Bear, on Flickr

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

  • Member since
    January 2013
  • 1,034 posts
Posted by PM Railfan on Monday, January 17, 2022 8:18 PM

Evening Railfans!

Howdy yall, hows everybody a'doin? Were about fair ta middlin over here. Been  snow gazing last couple days. Man, it sure is purty.

Bought a snow blower bout 3 years ago. Taint snowed narry a bit since then. Hah! Finally! Bleeping FINALLY! It snowed. Yeah i ran the blades off that thang!

But my backside shes still a sqwaukin though. Why ya say? Glad ya asked. Cuz i found out, for all the good intent of making it easier to do that snow removal thing by buying a snow blower.... its just as much work to push a 4" blower through 8" of snow as it is using a 12" shovel in 4" of snow. And no, in case yer wondering, i didnt gradgiate at the top of my class. Sew what?

Now i been a'readin bout all the griping an carryin on bout the fluffy stuff, but see, i havent seen hardly any of it since i was knee high to a grasshopper. And i remember it was a good thing.

It got you out of that stupid school thing, which inturn, allowed you to stay home. that means, you and your neighborhood buddys can collect n commence ta having ya a whopper of a snow ball fight. Now who doesnt like that?

Then theres always a hill somewheres round the ole stompin grounds to which you know you gotta ride down it. Doesnt matter on what, as long as it has no brakes, goes fast, flys reasonably well if a'lofted so, and lands shiny side up atleast 50% of the time. This is the whole reason Cambells soups were invented.

Ya know, i kinda remember my backside hurt alot in those days too. Hmmmmm.

Let it snow, let it snow, it better bleeping snow!

 

 

Ahead Slow, prepare to stop.

Douglas

 

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Flyover Country
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Posted by York1 on Monday, January 17, 2022 9:30 PM

PM Railfan
Bought a snow blower bout 3 years ago. Taint snowed narry a bit since then. Hah! Finally! Bleeping FINALLY! It snowed. Yeah i ran the blades off that thang!

 

My wife gave me a snow blower for my birthday about five years ago.  On my cul-de-sac, there are two houses owned by widows, and two houses with couples in poor health.  Therefore, it fell to me and another neighbor to do our own two driveways plus the other four.  I don't mind when the weather man says lots of snow and there isn't any.

York1 John       

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    October 2020
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Posted by NorthBrit on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 4:31 AM

Good morning Diners.  A bowl of porridge  to keep Jack Frost away please,  Brunhilda.  

Douglas   I hate the snow.   You can have ours with pleasure. Smile

 

A busy day ahead.  Out and about  and a zoom meeting later.

 

We could be anywhere scene.  Yes we are on a train and there are reflections from the carriage window.  (Sorry)    See what you see  and not what you thought you saw.  It brings a scene to life.

The sky is fifty shades of blue.  The hills in the distance.   Water can be seen.Coming forward  there are bushes in various colors of green.  The railroad boundary fence is not tall.   A lone tree.  Grass, path, grass and taller grass.

We could be anywhere.

On a Panama Canal Railroad train.  The water is the Panama Canal.

 

 IMG_0873 by David Harrison, on Flickr

 

Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,557 posts
Posted by York1 on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 8:13 AM

Good morning, everyone.  No breakfast this morning -- just coffee.  I'm feeling worse this morning.

I had started taking apart the layout, but I didn't get very far.  Time is mostly spent in the chair watching TV.

Daisy the unusual Dachshund enjoying the sun last summer.  She is a long-hair dapple, which I had never heard of before we got her.  The police got her when they raided a drug house, and she had all kinds of health issues.

About the third or fourth day we had her, I told my wife I thought something was wrong -- she didn't react the way she should.  That's when I walked behind her and yelled.  She didn't move.  We found out she's completely deaf.  Since retirement, she and I are constant companions.

She has some kind of liver cancer, and the vet said she may go slowly or all at once.  Since the diagnosis, she is eating like a queen, getting all kinds of foods that we normally wouldn't buy for her!

 

Hopefully I'm on the downhill slope of whatever I've got, and I can get back to railroad work.

Have a good day.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
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Posted by York1 on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 10:41 AM

Wrong post in wrong thread.  At least I have an excuse -- my brain is not working anymore.  My wife thinks it never did.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    February 2015
  • From: Ludington, MI
  • 1,864 posts
Posted by Water Level Route on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 11:48 AM

Cute dog John. Yes  The dog we have that is deaf is also suffering from heart congestion and a collapsing trachea.  The vet said there is no way to know how much time he has left, but we are at the point of maintaining quality of life for him as opposed to "fixing" him.  He is now more spoiled than ever.

Lunch break is over.  Gotta run.

Mike

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    August 2007
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Posted by CNCharlie on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 11:50 AM

Good Morning,

John, my wife says my brain is no longer functioning too. We must have the same ailment.

Hope everyone not feeling well gets better soon. My wife and I have avoided virtually all human contact for a month, since we got the booster shot Dec.15.  We don't have family to help us if we got sick so we do everything we can to avoid it. We wear masks even in the back yard. My wife feels safer doing so and it doesn't bother me . We have a large supply of N95 and KN95 masks that are quite comfortable. 

Snowed last night, about 8 inches of the fluffy stuff. I only have to shovel the paths to the feeders. We have a service do the driveway. $100 a month well spent in my opinion.

I think I will do the other truck on that passenger car kit today, at least start it. The first one rolls nicely, but 27 parts, really? 

Say that Sunbeam Tiger add just popped up again. Someone is being mean. 

Started snowing again and the wind has increased. Supposed to be gusts at 30 mph this afternoon. 

I've rambled on enough,

CN Charlie

 

 

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    January 2010
  • From: Currently in Chicago area
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Posted by up831 on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 12:35 PM

Hi Everyone,

Brunhilda, coffee with cream, please.

Mike:  You've just invented hospice care for dogs.  Sounds like you're on to something.

Seeing the Schlitz poster tha Ed posted made me reminice.  Back in the 50s and 60s, Schlitz had a big presence in the country.  It has been speculated that their undoing was their "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer" ad campaign.  The rationale was, " Yeah, all the other beers were drank first!"  I don't know if there was any truth to that, but the demise of Schlitz came not long after.  Maybe they were in trouble before that and couldn't revive the brand.  Back in those days, the major on tap beers in my neck of the woods were Coors, Bud, and Schlitz.  you could tell what beer was on tap by the smell of the room.  Bud had a grainy smell, Schlitz had a yeasty smell, and Coors smelled like stale barf.  At least that's how it seemed to me.

Less is more,...more or less!

Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,483 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 3:32 PM

Here in southern Delaware, we have a number of excellent craft breweries, and the number seems to be rising all the time.  We visit them frequently.

What is weird to me is the number of people who will walk into a craft beer place with a large variety of beers and order a bottle of Bud Lite.  Why?

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 7:01 PM

Checking in as one of the hospital car patients.  Supposedly I can damage things, by moving my shoulder too much, but way before getting to that point, it hurts alot.   I'm not sure what is left to cause pain, other than a much abused deltoid muscle.

The nerve block has been phenomenal, but once the lights go out, there are all sorts of weird feelings, hot cold, pins and needles, plus i just can't sleep in a recliner longer than 3 hours.  After breakfast, i sneak into the bedroom and grab 2-3 hours of real sleep.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
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Posted by mbinsewi on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 7:56 PM

BigDaddy
Checking in as one of the hospital car patients.

I'm in the physical therapy car, right ahead of you, Henry.

I had a lot of great expectations after hip surgery.  I thought range of motion would just come back, nope...I got to work for it.

The anesthesiologist thought the nerve block thing could be risky, as I was off of blood thinners only for 5 days prior. 

Anyway, I'm still around, lurking. Laugh

Hello to all, enjoying the post and pictures, and DAVE, that snow plow looks interesting.

Mike.

 

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,557 posts
Posted by York1 on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 8:45 PM

It's good to hear from both Henry and Mike, who are dealing with surgery recoveries.

Forgive me for complaining about having a cold, when you guys are truly in pain.  I hope you both recover faster than expected.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 10:12 PM

Winter has finally arrived. We are expecting lows in the 50s for the next few days.

Down comes the ceiling in the living room, and A/C duct work will be going on for a while.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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