Good Morning Diners. Zoe, coffee and some cinnamon raisin toast please.
Happy Friday everyone! So glad we are at the end of the week. Keeping busy with holiday prep stuff this weekend, hopefully. The plan was for this to be our big holiday cookie baking weekend, but that is in jeopardy. My oldest has been sick the last couple days with something that is just knocking her out. Her symptoms match the same illness that is sweeping through my wife's school. I wonder where she got it from?
Finally got a little snow on the ground this morning. (Yay!) Supposedly more on the way. I sure hope so. I hate a brown Christmas. Even with all the lights up on the house, the Christmas trees up, and all the little decorations everywhere, I have trouble getting in the Christmas spirit without snow. I don't know how people in warmer climates do it. The way things are going though, I should probably find a way around this mental block as I don't think we are going to start getting winters like we used to again, at least not in my lifetime.
Cheers!
Top of the page! Help yourselves!
Mike
Good Morning All,
Thanks Mike - that's quite the spread. I'll have a couple of the apple spice cinnamon filled please to go with my coffee. With all the goodies being dropped off this time of year my diet has gone all to pieces even though I try. The two main doctors are happy though so.... the 22nd I go for my annual MRI to visit my pituitary. If that is good I'm set for another year.
It's in the mid thirties with rain so most of the snow is now gone. When it is first fallen it is a great ride into the shop with everything covered and pristine. Now that it is mostly melted I can await the next snowfall where it will start over.
All for now w**k awaits. Ciao, J.R.
Good morning
An English muffin with cherry preserves and a black coffee if you would please, Flo.
Not much going on over here the past few days. Judy hasn't recovered from her busted ribs yet and the Doc excused her from work another week. Nice having her home but don't get anything done on the layout though
Thanks for the smorgasbord of donuts Mike. John has a hankering for those things. If he wasn't in the Middle East, he would be in Donut Heaven
Enjoy the videos and like the ScotRail David.
Like the Snow Train ski girls Bear
How about The Western Maryland Ed?
Light at the start of the tunnel Andrew Dierks
Have a good weekend gentlemen
TF
Good Morning,
Windy and still snowing here but the snow is powder now and not much. It is supposed to be like this until Sunday, then the temp will plummet as it clears. Still no sign of snow removal crew for the driveway. The city cleared the street yesterday.
Thanks to the internet I found a video on how to replace the washer pump. It was easy to remove the front panel and the pump is at the front so easy access. Just need the part now. Supposed to be here on the 28th. It has to come from the US as I wanted a GE part not an aftermarket. There was very little difference in cost. Am feeling optimistic for a change.
In the past 5 months I have driven the car 1200 km or about 700 miles. At this rate I can see me driving a 20 year old car. Old guy in an old car.
CN Charlie
CNCharlie Old guy in an old car.
Old guy in an old car.
An excellent concept, Charlie. Worthy of a painting in the Louvre!
Or a greeting card with a snarky, age-related sentiment inside.
CNCharlieIn the past 5 months I have driven the car 1200 km or about 700 miles. At this rate I can see me driving a 20 year old car. Old guy in an old car.
Oh how I wish somehow my family had saved the 1934 4 ton axle Chevy Truck we had on the farm! I would love to have that fixed up to take to antique Auto shows. That was the first large vehicle I learned to drive. I was 7 at the time. (Learned to drive the Ford 8n tractor when I was 4.....) It even had working brakes! Only on three wheels though. The cable had rusted out on the fourth. But still better than the 1937 one that had "Hydraulic" brakes. The lines had rotted out so nothing happened when you stepped on the brake. The emergency cable brakes did work though (had to reach across the cab and yank them...). Had to remember which truck I was driving!!!! LOL
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good evening
Bummer. Our favorite Mexican restaurant El Loro, that occupied half of the first floor is no more.
They're stripping the outdated shell off the building and turning it into a condo complex.
It's kind of cool, they put a bobcat on one floor at a time to gut the office walls. Then push the sides off the building and all the demo rubbish out from the top down.
Thought it was funny, the dump truck disposal company is Demolicious
CNCharlieI wanted a GE part not an aftermarket. There was very little difference in cost.
It has been a long, long, very long time since GE has made all the parts that go into a product themselves. It wouldn't surprise me that both pumps come from the same birthplace.
More trains in the snow, this one compliments of Ulrich. It was filmed just a week ago in the Harz Mountains. Great sounds as well as great video:
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
CNCharlieAt this rate I can see me driving a 20 year old car. Old guy in an old car.
My truck is 15 years old. Only been driven 3,500 in the last three years.
I think it will make it to 20 years. It is less than a 3 mile commute to work now.
That is only about 1,500 miles per year in work driving.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Gotcha beat on a botched demolition job, TF. I worked in a two-story office building and the company moved us to another building some distance away. We had owned the old place so basically all knowledge of the structure went with us. Then, we got a call because they tried the same thing as those guys, running a bobcat down the halls to gut the interior.
Kids, don't try that in a modern office, particularly one with a fire extinguisher system, and particularly not IF THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER SYSTEM IS STILL LIVE. Yeah, it was a mess.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Don't know, as some of my guess work is speculatory Mister B. Get kind of bored as this time of year has never had a lot of work of its own. Like it that way sometimes. So I've been stopping by the site and checking things out. Kinda like watching crane guy last winter.
Couldn't see what they were doing on the floors when the crews went in the morning. I'm sure they were cutting and dismantling the pipes before the demo. The red fire marshal truck was there frequently in the beginning and stops by once in awhile now.
They've been moving right along rather well this winter. Ya see the bobcat pushing out all the metal studs and sheetrock among all kinds of who knows what
Have known Kevin the excavator for years. He grabs a little bit of everything putting it in the long dumpers with his claw
Good Evening,
Still snowing.
TF, interesting about that building demo. My wife's uncle owned the largest demolition company here for many years. He pulled down many large buildings here. A lot of skill and knowledge is needed to do it safely. He has been retired now for some years as he is 90.
On the car front my biggest worry is the availability of parts. My car wasn't a big seller but the model was made for 7 years or so. I really like it so hope it lasts. That in line 6 sure sounds great when it revs.
Maxman, yes the pump wasn't made by GE but the one I ordered is the one used by GE. Just like my car that has a transmission made by ZF.
Time to turn out the light,
Hi CNCharlie,
IMHO, there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping a car for a long time, that is assuming that it is maintained and is safe to drive, and it hasn't become a money pit. We plan on keeping our 2014 Odyssey for at least another five years and hopefully longer. It has almost 200,000 kms on it most of which occurred when Dianne was commuting to work. Now that we are both retired I'm guessing that it is barely getting 5,000 kms/year. It runs and drives beautifully and we still make regular use of the huge cargo capacity.
We do maintain it fastidiously. I don't believe in waiting until something totally breaks down before fixing it. For example, last summer one of the front springs broke due to corrosion. The dealer said that all I needed to do was replace both front springs, but I asked them to go over the whole suspension and replace any worn parts. They discovered that there were a few other problems which were not serious, but we had the whole suspension rebuilt anyhow. There was a noticable improvement in the ride quality and the tracking so it was worth it.
Mike D again —
Waiting for train 19 by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
Water Level RouteI have trouble getting in the Christmas spirit without snow. I don't know how people in warmer climates do it.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
This video has some interesting interior views of a rotary snow plow in operation:
Pinterest
JaBearI was half expecting Ed to come up with that great PRR Christmas Poster,
Thought I did, a page or two back
Well — let's have another:
PRR_Holiday by Edmund, on Flickr
Happy Holidays! Ed
A few of our facilities people went to our former building to help the wayward demo crew shut down the systems that were still spouting water and screaming alarms. They witnessed the demo guys being quizzed by the Fire Chief, investigating for the town. None of them would admit to knowing any English, so he told them, in English, "Look, guys. I just need to write a report, but I don't speak Spanish. So, someone learn English quickly, or I'll have to call in the police, who might ask different questions."
Somebody somehow remembered how to speak English.
As for cars, I like to keep them a long time, too. As the ex-wife's Dad was a high up engineer for Cadillac, we had a string of GM cars out of loyalty, but GM cars back then had a terrible reliability record, and keeping them on the road was expensive. Now I drive a VW, and the GF drives a Mini Cooper, now built by BMW.
Good afternoon from the West Coast where winter is sliding in for a week-long stay. Very unusual for the coast where some years it doesn't even hit freezing, however, lows of -16c are expected this week. I have my gators and mini snowshoes ready to go.
The first three brand-new vehicles I bought, I kept each of them for 14 years. My truck is 22 and there is nothing wrong with it. It has the 7.3ltr diesel that will still be running long after the truck surrounding it has disappeared. It looks pretty good for 22. I only fill it up about three times a year.
I bought this for myself as a grad present from high school. I ordered it from the factory special order. I just had the new wheels installed on this day, it went on to a whole lot of customizing after that. I kept it for 14 years.
In 1989 I bought this 1990 RX7 new and had it for 14 years. I have driven a wide variety of performance cars on and off the track and this was my favourite by far so I bought one. Best car I have ever owned.
Then I had kids and bought a Honda civic and had that for 14 years. 50MPG is the only good thing I can say about that car.
Last year I bought an AWD Toyota Highlander Hybrid with self-steering and all the other bells and whistles. I'll be 80 if I keep it 14 years. It is awesome, however, even with all its computerized traction control and other stuff, I think my old truck is better in the snow.
Wife has been sick as a dog for more than a week with the flu. Not covid, we have a stack of test kits in the cupboard. I got it four days after she did and was bad for a day, I am okay now. She is not in the same shape I am, she is not the slightest bit overweight, however, she freely admits after all her years as a vet that nutrition is #1 and fitness is #2 when it comes to being healthy and being able to fight off disease.
We have puppies due Dec. 23rd and 20 coming for Christmas dinner. It will be a busy week. It is just starting to snow and pregnant mama is just chillin. I better go play her a few tunes.
Ever since I was ten years old I have always played this tune when it snows.
The furnace is about to get a real workout for a week so I will go clean the filter system.
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."
This one's for Brent! I think he understands....
Good evening diners. Janie, a large hot chocolate in a Chesapeake and Ohio mug please.
Well, had yet another failure of the female plug on a string of the roof lights this year. That makes 4 failures so far. Each of the failures has been on a string of basically a different age and even powered off different circuits so no real rhyme or reason that I can tell. Never heard back from the manufacturer about replacement ends, but I'm trying again. This is ridiculous. Don't want to pony up for true commercial grade lights, but I just might. It's too much work putting them up only to have them repeatedly fail.
My last truck was 15 years old when I sold it (owned it for 11 of those years). It had become a bit of a money pit, but at times I still wish I had it. I like my current truck too, but you know.
Hope that daughter of yours comes right, poor girl seems to get a “rough ride”!
My youngest has a "friend" over right now, and they are hanging out in the hot tub at the moment. I hope he doesn't stay much longer. I want to go for a soak out there while it's still snowing. That is the best.
Have a good evening everyone.
Mama has not moved much since this afternoon, except it is now the Canaucks and Hockey Night In Canada. Once the game ends she will close her eyes, the ground will shake and the Polar Express will be waiting through that window.
Water Level RouteMy youngest has a "friend" over right now, and they are hanging out in the hot tub at the moment. I hope he doesn't stay much longer. I want to go for a soak out there while it's still snowing.
Make sure not to bite any of the bubbles.
Water Level RouteMy youngest has a "friend" over right now, and they are hanging out in the hot tub at the moment.
I really miss my girls having their "friends" over. Find a way to enjoy it. It ends way too fast.
15 years ago... where did all the time go?
Young nerds in love.
This is some serious snow!
Back to waking up a bit early again. Making it till at least 4:30 was much better.
403 Forbidens from morning till night, yesterday in the Diner here. Had to erase a quote and all the text, leaving just the snow train picture yesterday morning.
CNCharlie TF, interesting about that building demo. My wife's uncle owned the largest demolition company here for many years. He pulled down many large buildings here. A lot of skill and knowledge is needed to do it safely. He has been retired now for some years as he is 90.
Dang! 90 years old Charlie. I'm sure your wife's uncle has the stories to tell from his demolition career now retired. Been finding these high rises interesting to watch going up and coming down. Never a dull moment in our temporary surroundings of this big city suburb.
Going over to spend the day with my Daughters again. We're gonna cook, watch The Polar Express and whatever other Christmas movie they pick. Should be another fun day.
Happy Holidays gentlemen