Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
Out-of-town company is gone, more coming next week. It's nice seeing people, but I'm tired.
We've put 90,000 miles on our Ford Expedition in the past six years. We've driven it from our place in the middle of the U.S. to a lot of places all over -- the farthest to Florida, to Washington state, and to Mexico. However, most of the miles are all the trips to visit grandchildren. I wish they lived closer.
Warning: If you don't like history, quit reading now while you can!
Fall in Nebraska is celebrated in the southeast part of the state's apple orchards.
During World War II, thousands of German soldier prisoners were sent to prison camps in Nebraska. They often worked on the farms in the state.
One of the prisoners, William Oberdieck, worked at the Kimmel Orchards near Nebraska City, NE. He became friends with the Kimmel family. At the end of the war, the POWs were all returned to Europe.
However, with Kimmel's help, after being returned to Germany, Oberdieck and his wife were allowed to come back to America. Oberdieck became an American citizen, and worked as the manager of the Kimmel Orchards. In 1967, he purchased the orchards from the Kimmels.
Today, the Kimmel Orchards are run by a foundation, and it is a favorite fall destination for tourists.
Edit: Top of the Page!
Join me in breakfast, the best meal of the day!
For those of you like David or Bear, I know it's not breakfast time for you, but bacon and eggs is good anytime of the day or night.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
Have a good trip, Kevin. Enjoy every minute!
Good evening Diners. Zoe, I'll have some of the bacon and eggs John has left. Add some hash browns, mushrooms and tomato as well. Dawn and I like an 'All Day Breakfast' in the evening.
Dawn is having a large number of 'bad days'. The 'Novichok Nerve Agent' she is suffering from is taking its toll. She is attending hospital two or three times a week.
Talking of German prisoners in WW2.
Dawn's family are a 'family of farmers'. In WW2 her grandparents had a farm in Cumbria. Labour was required to work the farms and German P.O.W.s were sent. One worked the farm in Cumbria; a young man, hardly 20 years of age.
Anyway by all accounts he was a good worker. On time off working he liked to draw pictures of the countryside. On his repatriation to Germany he handed (to Dawn's grandfather) a picture of the farm. The picture was handed down to Dawn and is now in a frame and on a wall in our house.
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
NorthBrit'Novichok Nerve Agent'
Ooo! Bad, Bad Stuff! You might have said before or may not be able to share, but how did she get exposed to that STUFF!!!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
howmus NorthBrit 'Novichok Nerve Agent' Ooo! Bad, Bad Stuff! You might have said before or may not be able to share, but how did she get exposed to that STUFF!!! 73
Wow! I somehow missed that. Do know that I am pulling for her! (both of you actually!)
Greetings from Casey,IL. We are trave to Indianapolis to pick up our son and his girlfriend tomorro; we are going to the Purdue/Nebraska football game Saturday night. Our first game since his last game in 2016; really looking forward to it.
Driving across rural Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois we have seen lots of fields in the middle of harvest, wheat and corn, primarily.
David, hope your Dawn continues to get better.
Kevin, our daughter turns 27 in two weeks, safe travels to Orlando.
We got to the BnB in time to watch the Astros game. We will also be able to watch the Stars season opener. Go Stars!!!
Sunday morning I drove to the Cleveland Amtrak station to pick up my son-in-law and his daughter when they arrived from New York City and the Comic Con convention. The Lake Shore Limited was on-time to the minute.
Later that day I read of a derailment in Sandusky, Ohio, that supposedly happened the day before and one photographer showed the Lake Shore (#49) annulled in Springfield, Mass. Confused?
Anyway there WAS a derailment in Sandusky that sent some tank cars full of parrifin wax tumbling off a bridge on to a highway below.
So the interesting thing was the fact that Amtrak combined the eastbound Capitol and Lake Shore, routed on a detour as far as Cleveland, where they split, #48 continuing on the old New York Central and #30 heading toward Pittsburgh on the Pennsy's C&P branch and then on the B&O to D.C.
Combined Amtrak by Todd Dillon, on Flickr
Combined Amtrak 2 by Todd Dillon, on Flickr
A while back there was some discussion on "Mid-train helpers" on a passenger train (!) well, here it is, photographic evidence.
Interesting stuff for modelers
Cheers, Ed
We just made it back home from Orlando, and another great day with our baby.
This is always a great way to spend any day.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Whoops, wrong thread.
Good morning Diners. A coffee on the go please, Flo.
No hospital appointment for Dawn, so a day at home. A close friend is visiting for morning coffee.
Later I should be able to 'get in to the train room'.
Good morning, everyone.
It's a cool, cloudy day on the Great Plains.
Yesterday, I was determined to start work on my layout's newest bridge. I didn't. Lately, it seems like the days are busy. Something always comes up and I don't get to spend time in the layout room.
Tin Can, I hope you enjoy the Purdue-Nebraska game. People around here hope that Nebraska will get beat by only two touchdowns. For us, that's a victory.
This time of year, farm trucks loaded with corn are heading from the fields to the elevators. The trucks are often driven by young, inexperienced farmhands.
Union Pacific had a message for these young truck drivers:
Have a great day, everyone.
York1This time of year, farm trucks loaded with corn are heading from the fields to the elevators. The trucks are often driven by young, inexperieced farmhands.
Orange harvesting season just started down here, Sugar Cane harvesting will begin very soon.
It is the same thing, lots of inexperienced drivers with heavy trucks on the roadways.
Splitting Time Zones by Jerry Jordak, on Flickr
I hope everyone is getting along well.
Regards, Ed
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Good afternoon from the drought-stricken West Coast. It has been sunny for five months with no change in sight, fortunately, we still have lots of water.
Heading up to Squamish tomorrow as there is a small MRR show at the Railway Museum of British Columbia. I will probably stay at Whistler after as the Brother-in-law has a magnificent home there. We can enjoy the view with some good Scotch.
https://www.wcra.org/
Just talking to my kid, he and his GF hopped on a plane last minute to Ottawa, yesterday for a few days to hang with his University Buds that decided to get together this weekend at the last minute. He has a really nice suite at the Marriot and has been sending pics of the fall colours.
My daughter is into all these Comicon/fan expo things and has two friends coming from Australia to attend one in February. They sent a long list of filming locations they want to visit and my daughter asked me to mark them all on a map which is easy enough to do. I find that when you take people to these places they are often disappointed as they don't look anything like they do in the show, especially if it involves structures. They take their selfies and move to the next location. Apparently, they are huge Supernatural and X-File fans. I thought they would be a little young for the X-Files.
Took the wife to Vancouver for a procedure on Wednesday, it's a good thing these ailing wives have hearty railroad men to take care of them.
The wife wants to breed a dog with semen from the Czech Republic, it is interesting logistics getting that sent at the appointed hour. I see myself going to the airport in the wee hours as it rarely arrives at a civilized time.
Ed, the farmer up the road was getting a diesel delivery to the farm and I asked the driver about the marked fuels and he said they are exactly the same quality as the non-marked stuff. I also noticed the farmers filling their pick-ups with it so maybe things are a little different with quality control here.
I don't feel like moving today, but I'll at least go for a walk to pay for dinner.
All the best to all
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMANI asked the driver about the marked fuels and he said they are exactly the same quality as the non-marked stuff.
I believe that to be true. My take on the bad stuff was what probably happened was the only place in town that sells off-road diesel is a small mom & pop oil dealer so I'll bet their volume of off road diesel is pretty low. I'm guessing, too, there aren't as many farmers buying the off road stuff for use in the field.
Diesel really gets gooey when it sits around too long so I might have bought it when the tank was low or the moisture level high.
Lately I've been buying my diesel from a high volume place that gets a lot of heavy truck traffic so the fuel is probably a little "fresher".
Welcome to Burnside by Jerry Jordak, on Flickr
BATMANEd, the farmer up the road was getting a diesel delivery to the farm and I asked the driver about the marked fuels and he said they are exactly the same quality as the non-marked stuff.
As of the early 2010s, if I recall correctly, 2012, when Tier IV Interum off road emission rules went into effect, that was the end of "Off Road Diesel" or "Farm Fuel" as an available alternative fuel.
The current "Dyed, Non-Taxed" diesel fuel is the same Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel as any other engine is allowed to run on. It is dyed to reflect its tax status, not the contents of the fuel blend. Previously, "Off Road Diesel" had a higher sulfur and wax content.
Many vehicles like School Buses, Fire Apparatus, Electrical Coop Service Trucks, Certain Farm Equipment, and Military vehicles are allowed to run on-highway with Non-Taxed dyed fuels.
Non-Commercial Pick-Up trucks are a gray area. They are eligible for a tax-refund on Federal Highway Taxes on non-dyed fuel purchases, so some people say it is OK to run No-Tax fuel in these. I am doubtful it is purely legal.
SeeYou190Non-Commercial Pick-Up trucks are a gray area.
Ya, I see a lot of brand-new shiny pick-ups filling at the marked fuel pumps when I am at the station. They are far too clean to have been running around the farm, a trip to Costco maybe.
BATMANYa, I see a lot of brand-new shiny pick-ups filling at the marked fuel pumps when I am at the station.
Ohio used to have farm vehicle licence plates. You would sure see a lot of shiny-clean pickups and cars with them. Why risk it is my opinion. Even the non-tax fuel. In my case I probably buy about 50 gallons a year. At 28¢ a gallon the $14/yr. isn't worth missing sleep over especially compared to other tax I pay.
Speaking of plates, I used to drive a 1964 Fleetwood with 1964 licence plates. One day a constable decided to question me over having "non-compliant" plates on my car. I carried with me a copy of the Ohio M.V. code explaining that "model-year" plates are legal on a historic vehicle as long as I had the original state issued plates somewhere in the car.
This guy insisted on making an issue over it. Thankfully, a State Highway Patrol car also pulled up and the trooper WAS familiar with the law and cleared me to leave and, perhaps, read the law to the other law man?
Fleetwood60_1964 by Edmund, on Flickr
gmpullmanSpeaking of plates, I used to drive a 1964 Fleetwood with 1964 licence plates.
In Florida, we do not have front license plates. It was customary that when someone retired to Florida, they would display the plate from their home state on the front of the car, and the Florida plate on the rear.
This stopped being a common site about twenty years ago.
I am not sure if it was legislated away, or if it just fell out of popularity. A much smaller percentage of our population is retirees now.
One of the unfortunate things that happens in bad Hurricanes is pets getting displaced from their owners.
Today, my neice had goats in her backyard.
She put a notification out on Facebook, and the thankful owner came and retrieved the animals.
First High School I've seen honoring the Rails.
And an Ol' Wooden CB&Q Caboose in front of the School.
TF
Found a neat yard by the highway.
Loving the big cats, Lion.
Meet Lenny the Lion.
IMG_2453 by David Harrison, on Flickr
We cannot have Bear jealous.
Here is 'Knightsbridge'.
IMG_2450 by David Harrison, on Flickr
My daughter's first recognizeable word was "Buh," her interpretation of Bear.
I remember being in college in 1967, when the World's Fair was held in Montreal. At the time, that province also had just a rear plate, and many citizens proudly displayed EXPO67 plates on the front. I noticed one Canadian car parked illegally. The officer had read the front plate and wrote EXPO67 on the ticket.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasleyMy daughter's first recognizeable word was "Buh," her interpretation of Bear.
Lots of Bears around I see..... Hmmmm. That reminds me of this old story!
A Russian scientist and a Czechoslovakian scientist had spent their whole lives studying the majestic grizzly bear. Each year they petitioned their respective governments to allow them to go to Yellowstone to study these wondrous beasts.
Finally, their request was granted and they immediately flew to New York and then on west to Yellowstone. They reported to the local ranger station and were told that it was the grizzly mating season and it was much too dangerous to go out and study the animals.
They pleaded that this was their only chance. Finally the ranger relented. The Russian and the Czech were given cell phones and told to report in each and every day.
For several days they called in, and then nothing was heard from the two scientists. The rangers mounted a search party and found the scientists' camp completely ravaged. No sign of the missing men.
They then followed the trail of a male and a female bear. They found the female and decided they must kill the animal to find out if she had eaten the scientists because they feared an international incident.
They killed the female and cut open the bear's stomach... only to find the remains of the Russian. One ranger turned to the other and said, "You know what this means, don't you?""Of course," the other ranger nodded. "The Czech is in the male."
howmus"The Czech is in the male."
Went to a Model train show today. They just get better and better every day.
Also booked a cruise! And I thought "kid's eat free" was a good deal. David, is this line any good?