The World Is A Beautiful Place
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
hon30critterKevin, you have such a great relationship with your kids! It's heartwarming to hear about your adventures.
Thanks Dave. I have not had a day alone with one of the babies in ages. It was so nice. We talked about everything and nothing just like we used to. She talked about people in her classes like I knew them. I loved that.
She also has a new puppy. I haven't downloaded the pictures from my camera yet. Maybe tomorrow. It is as cute as a button. She is so happy with it.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190Daddy-Daughter day was great. We went to Ikea and bought some more shelving for her room. I mounted everything on the walls for her. Her room in the house is super cute. We went out to eat at Outback, and we both had chicken. It was a lot of fun.
Kevin, you have such a great relationship with your kids! It's heartwarming to hear about your adventures.
I am happy to say that we have a great relationship with our son, Cole, and DIL Kaitlin. Well almost - Cole and I tend to bang heads a bit when we are working on a project together. I blame that on my inability to keep my mouth shut!
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Sad news about the Queen. Her dignity will be missed.
Daddy-Daughter day was great. We went to Ikea and bought some more shelving for her room. I mounted everything on the walls for her. Her room in the house is super cute.
We went out to eat at Outback, and we both had chicken. It was a lot of fun.
I found out she lives on the same lake as one of our former forum posters, the Camaro Guy. His 15 year old son has taken the boat over to her house a couple of times. The kid has grand dreams.
Her classes at UCF are going well. She is the oldest kid in her classes, being 26, but she looks 14, so everything is confusing.
up831 This is a picture of a grain elevator in Hutchinson, KS. This elevator is a half mile long and is one of if not the largest elevator in the world. There are several large elevators in Hutchinson, most are serviced by BNSF.
I lived in Hutchinson KS for several years, lovely place, met my wife there, bought a house (with a huge basement!) on 7 acres and had two kids.
As a former "big city boy", I was always amused that one of Hutchinson's "claims-to-fame" was the "worlds largest grain elevator!" "Yee-haw!"
Another Kansas staple is the obligatory inclusion of a tractor exhibit at any public gathering. At first I thought this was "kind-of-corny", but being mechanically inclined, this quickly became the first thing I'd look for!
Fond memories!
Jim
It was a time to remember —
https://www.themetrains.com/royal-train-main.htm
https://www.fdrlibrary.org/royal-visit#:~:text=June%207%20%2D%2012%2C%201939,not%20even%20in%20colonial%20times.
Regards, Ed
Queen Elizabeth was grace, strength, and the most dignified person I think we will ever know. Being a bit of a history buff, the more I read the more I admired her, she will be missed.
She did love her Scotch including Glenfiddich, I found some on the bar and will raise a toast of thanks for a life well lead and a job well done.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
The Queen has such good taste in hats. Always perfectly decked out.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Thanks John. Feeling very sad here at the loss of our Queen. I was 5 when she became Queen and her image has been on our currency most of my life. I grew up singing God Save the Queen every day at school and in some way she has always reminded me of my own mother, even looked like her. I feel sorry for Charles. He is just a year younger than me and having to assume that burden anhd work load now I can't imagine.
CN Charlie
EDIT. Top of page, the tucker's on me.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Elizabeth II has passed. The world has lost a great exemplar of grace and dignity. My condolences to all readers who treasure her memory, but especially our forum friends who grew up under her reign. May she rest in true peace.
John
Good morning. No breakfast for me -- headed to another funeral. The good news is that it's not mine -- yet.
Kevin, have fun with your daughter. These times are priceless. Nice that she now lives closer.
Ed, that smoker food looks great. I wish I lived closer, I would have just dropped in unannounced and asked to stay for supper.
Mike, I'm also looking forward to the football season. For the time being, though, I have some baseball games I'll watch that will probably win out over watching the NFL games.
Bear, those Kansas ads make the place look like Garden of Eden. Not quite realistic. One of my daughters attended Kansas State University, and driving her there and back meant driving through some desolate countryside.
Lion, even out here in our nearly crime-free area, we've had some catalytic converter thefts. Almost all are by people looking to get drug money.
Wichita, Kansas, is an interesting city. It is the headquarters or major office city for a lot of airline manufacturers.
Today Airbus, Textron (Beechcraft & Cessna), Spirit Aerosystems (major subcontractor to Boeing), Bombardier, Learjet, GE Aviation, and Raytheon are just some of the aerospace companies that have plants in Wichita. It's pretty impressive for a town out in flyover country.
The B-29 aircraft were just one of the many types of planes built there:
Union Station in Wichita:
Have a good day, everyone. I'll check back when I get home from the funeral.
York1 John
DADDY-DAUGHTER DAY!
I am off to Orlando to spend the day with my youngest. Just me and her. These days are the best.
See you all tomorrow.
There was a time when more people turned out for a good boiler explosion than any football game.
Locomotive Explosion by Ashtabula Archive, on Flickr
This would have been thirty years, to the day, before I was born.
This was in Ashtabula, Ohio, not too far from where I live, on the New York Central main line from Chicago to Buffalo and New York City.
Well, the throat sheet staybolts held pretty good, at least.
Many of us keep the impression that at least by the twenties the railroads were maintenance and safety conscience but that isn't always the case. This summary notes the problems reported on the particular locomotive involved in the explosion:
Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Locomotives by Ashtabula Archive, on Flickr
About a third of the way down at the NYC Lines-West heading.
That live steam can be powerful stuff!
Sorry, not related to corn but it's what I came across. I did have some delicious corn on the cob last night, though
Smoker_pork by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
Good Morning Diners. Chloe, I'll take a Bavarian Cream Long John with my coffee today please. Thanks.
The NFL regular season is set to begin tonight. While I'm ready for it, I still don't get the whole Thursday night game thing (except for holidays of course). Usually the games scheduled for Thursday aren't anything special unless you are a fan of one of the teams playing, but today's should be a really good game. Not sure how much of it I'll be able to stay awake for though. Big part of why I don't understand the concept. Oh I get the whole bit about the NFL trying to keep football in front of you all the time, but the only time I watch a Thursday game (unless its Thanksgiving or Christmas), is opening night. Maybe if I were retired so I didn't have to get up before dawn the next day I would watch it more often?
Have a good Thursday everyone.
Mike
York1Those are expensive bricks. Nearly a half million dollars each? Someone check the math.
That is why they are stealing catalytic converters!
John / York1: Thanks for the picture of the SWC; it is rare to catch this train in daylight in Dodge City as it is scheduled through at 5:45 am westbound and 11:45 pm westbound.
I am going to try and get some local pictures posted as I now live in Kansas. Opened an imgur account (so i could post an avatar but that didn't work). Lots of grain elevators here. There is a grain elevator in Wright, KS (about 5 miles east) that has a couple of GP7(9)s. Saw them working last week, but was not able to take a picture. One of them is an ex BN B unit (no cab).
The Cimarron Valley RR is a short line that runs SW of Dodge City; it has at least a pair of rebuilt GE C40-8's that are painted in a Santa Fe-esque blue pinstripe scheme. Very nice, but I have only seen three trains on this line in a year and a half (although there may be many more; I live / work on the other side of town.)
Sometimes we think our model scenes are too cramped —
There's a prototype for everything:
The Squeeze by Northern Ohio Railfanning Productions, on Flickr
Not sure why, but my right leg is sore this morning. Maybe standing on a ladder for a couple of hours last night was more demanding than it felt.
Other than that, everything is great right now.
Bananas and coffee for breakfast again... then off to face the day.
BroadwayLion
Rhodium -- $460 per gram.
Those are expensive bricks. Nearly a half million dollars each? Someone check the math.
Hi Everyone,
John: Thanks for pointing out the geographic center of the 48 states. I saw it when I was a young lad back in the 50's. If memory serves, it is lonely there. I don't think there's even a picnic table there, just the marker. It's still kinda neat.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, Flo.
I'm getting spoiled by these cool mornings. We usually don't get weather like this until late September.
I haven't seen the blue heron on my morning walks lately. Even though there is water in the creek, it's been dry enough that I wonder if the heron moved on to a wetter area. I have seen a large number of vultures lately. As they circle in the sky above me, I start to wonder if they know something I don't.
Nothing planned for today, so I will be putting in a new road in the layout town. I should be building another bridge, but for some reason I can't get started on it.
In northern Kansas near a very small town named Lebanon, a marker sits at the geographic center of the 48 states. You have to drive on a country road for quite a ways to get to it. The town made a nice little wayside area for the marker.
As it was explained to me, if you took a map of the 48 states mounted on a surface, you could put a point under the place signified by the marker and the entire map would balance on that spot.
Several years ago I was traveling near there, and decided to take the time to see it. It is a lonely spot, but kind of neat to see.
Have a good day, everyone.
Water Level Route Guess I'm making crust from scratch again!
Good Morning Diners. Zoe, coffee and an English Muffin please.
Got a few freight car kits put together this weekend and ran a couple trains around. Did me good to do that. It had been too long.
My wife's birthday is this weekend and she wants pies instead of a cake. I usually cheat and just buy the premade pie crust, but was shocked when I went to grab them at a store last night and saw a $6 price tag for a box of two crusts. Guess I'm making crust from scratch again!
Good morning Diners. A full English and a pot of tea please, Janie. That should 'set me up for the day'.
A few things to do before we head to Southampton and a fortnight in the Baltic Sea.
Stay Safe Everyone.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGqZn5s_q_Y
Here is a grain elevator documentary
Hi Again,
POST HOG!!
Bear: Thank you for the Kansas Pacific poster. I hint th second one that you posted said 9 months of summer, 3 months of spring and fall. Weeeeell, yeah, the winters are milder than say the northeast, Great Lakes, or North Dakota, but they still have winter and they do get snow. It just doesn't get as cold for as long. In Kansas, the cold comes, it snows, then the sun comes out, the wind comes back out of the Southwest, the snow melts, and you're talking 40's temps. So, yes winters are mild by comparison. Where I live now in the Chicago area, the cold comes, it snows, the sun comes out, and the temps drop below zeroF every time. I never have liked winter here.
John: I've never been to monument rocks, but you're right about the scene, flat and these rocks sticking up in nowhere. There's another formation like that called Castle Rock, which is in the same general area, maybe a county or two away.