"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good morning, diners. Just coffee this morning.
It looks like we will get wet going to church today. Everyone is in a good mood on the plains when it rains.
JaBearI note that the rubber band appears to be unravelling!!!
I noticed it too. The diner's door was locked much of yesterday.
I drove into the city yesterday (about 55 miles) to the hobby store. I stocked up on some styrene parts I need for some buildings. It was a nice drive in spite of some construction.
The construction will not be finished before I'm in the ground, but eventually the highway will be three lanes each way all the way from our town to the city.
It will be great -- I wish back in the 1960s it had been originally built that wide. I guess back then no one could see the number of semi trucks that would be going coast to coast on our highway. It's unbelievable how much stuff heads to the east from California on our highway.
I can't find the numbers right now but a while back, the state police published the numbers of speeders they had stopped going over 100 mph on the highway. Many of those were carrying drugs from the west to the east. Unbelievable.
It's a busy week ahead. I hope I can fit some layout time into the schedule.
I hope everyone has a healthy great day.
The east hump at Bailey Yard in North Platte:
Respite at sunset by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
The retarders at the east hump:
Hump yard retarders by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Track maintenance on one of the hump tracks while the other track stays in service:
Track work on the hump by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
North Platte is one of the best places in the U.S. to watch trains at work. The Golden Spike tower gives you a great elevated view of the yards. I have a good friend who is a diesel mechanic for UP in North Platte.
York1 John
Hi Bear,
Thanks for the warning about having the pudding overflow.
Did you make the Beef Wellington and the cake? They look perfect. Beef Wellington is one of my favourite meals! I tried to make it once but it didn't turn out anything like what's in your photo.
Thanks for your permission to attack the burger with a knife and fork. My jaw was beginning to hurt just looking at it!
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Charlie, that is awful news about your sister. Any idea how it happened?
Rich
Alton Junction
Good Morning,
Forest fire smoke here so not pleasant outside. Supposed to clear off later today but sure is early for it. Lake Winnipeg is at a record low level for this time of year. Sure hope it rains soon.
Rich, don't have any facts yet. My sister is just in shock and my BIL is useless. I think it might be a case of stolen identity but the thief knew about the bank account and would need ID and the account number. My sister thought one of her sons was responsible but if so the CU has worse security than the library where my wife used to work. Hopefully more will be known tomorrow. She needs to involve the police too.
No plans for today other than visit the MIL. I won't be doing anything outside as long as the smoke is around.
CN Charlie
Thanks for the reply, Charlie. This is really troubling and something that we should all be concerned about. Once more information comes out, anything that you can share with us would be helpful.
Good Morning Diners. Happy (?) Monday.
richhotrainThis is really troubling and something that we should all be concerned about.
Well, break time is over. Back to the chaos at work.
Cheers guys!
Mike
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
Charlie, I hope your sister finds out this morning it's all a computer error that is easily cleaned up.
My daughter had her identity stolen 20 years ago, and it still shows up every-so-often. Several years ago she filed her taxes and the IRS reported she had already filed and gotten a large refund. Someone got a nice refund.
Not a lot going on out here today. It rained last night, so most work will wait until tomorrow and the ground dries out a little.
It's a good day to work on the layout. A new building should begin to take shape (I hope).
Have a great day, everyone.
Minnesota:
BNSF Hump Yard by Paul VanDerWerf, on Flickr
Good Morning Diners. Chloe, coffee to go please.
Bear, I made your self saucing pudding recipe Sunday night. It was good. I used a 2 quart dish and it was just big enough. Fresh out of the oven, we thought it was okay, but got much better after we allowed it to cool off so the sauce would thicken up. Last night we took what was left, dished it into small bowls, reheated it, and put some vanilla ice cream on top. It shined in that use!
Off to the rat race. Have a good day everyone!
Thanks for the pictures of the Windsor and Detroit ferry yards.
My great uncle Day Warnica lived in Windsor. He had an interesting career. One of his first 'jobs' was running booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition. He ended up as a Colonel in command of a tank regiment in WWII.
Well, I guess i should be celebrating today. It is my 70th birthday. I have mixed feelings about it. I don't feel '70', whatever that is supposed to feel like.
Good morning, everyone. Just coffee today, Chloe. I have a busy day and not much time.
Dave, Happy 70th Birthday! You're just a youngster. It sounds like you are really making some headway in your garage to make room for the layout. Good news.
I'm out the door in a minute. I hope everyone has a great day.
Hobson Yard in Lincoln, NE. The state capitol is on the right side of the photo:
BNSF 1697, 662 by Dylan Widger, on Flickr
Happy Birthday Dave!!
Good Afternoon,
Happy Birthday Dave! Only 70, still a youngster.
A rainy day here which is what we need. Glad I raked the front lawn yesterday with the thatch rake. A great garden tool. Mine is 45 years old . Haven't seen another like it for years.
My wife hurt her back yesterday and is in a lot of pain. Has an appointment with a physio tomorrow morning so hopefully will get sorted. She has had problems for years. In 2015 a physio saved a trip to Africa less than a week before departure. We paid to upgrade to Buss Class on the flights as 17 hours cramped in Economy was a trip breaker with her back.
No update on my sister's bank issue. She didn't go to the bank yesterday and I am getting suspicious there is more to the story. She is to go today but if not then there are non bank problems.
Ran the J4e yesterday. Sure is a nice little loco.
Tea time I think. Join me in a cuppa.
Happy Birthday Dave from the West Coast.
Wow! it has been a heck of a month. We had my son's wedding which was a huge success. The wedding was at 1600hrs and it was 0100hrs when the last guest left. We got home and were up by 0530hrs preparing a post-wedding brunch for 28. My wife prepared food for 173 people over six different functions over 16 days. She was in heaven with her custom kitchen being put to maximum use.
We had one day to clean up the house and we were off to Vancouver Island for a week of dog shows where the wife cleaned up. Coming home on the ferry they had to cut the engines as we were surrounded by multiple pods of Orca, boy did they put on a show for twenty minutes. We were late getting to the mainland because of the whale of a show we had, but no one minded as every passenger was smiling ear to ear.
Took this while sitting in my truck waiting to unload.
We stayed with some friends in their guest house for the week, this was our view as the front of the house opened up and I could sit and watch hockey on a huge TV and look at this view at the same time. Three of the days we had Orca right off the dock.
The lawn is up to my knees and there is over an acre of it, so that will take care of day 1 tomorrow.
Charlie, sorry to hear of both your sister's and better half's misfortunes, hope things take a turn for the better.
Canucks are on tonight in three hours, I think a Rum and Pepsi on the patio is in order to calm my nerves. No ocean view just big trees.
Winnipeg-Symington-Train-Yard-1966
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."
Dave, Happy Birthday you youngin'. Hope you celebrate big time. Also hope my Bruins celebrate tonight or else they're off to make tee times.
Regards, Chris
Thanks for all the birthday greetings everyone. You put a smile on my face.
'Morning Diners. Zoe, large black coffee to go, please.
I guess we’ll have to share a birthday cake
We're in the middle of a big maintenance turnaround at work. It's been an absolute whirlwind for a week and a half. Today marks the midpoint, and I have to say, time is flying by through this. So busy.
Hope everyone is happy and healthy. Has anyone heard from David across the pond?
Cloudy here and expecting showers to start at noon and last rest of the day.
My wife has cancelled her physio this morning as she is much better and is too afraid of contracting covid unless absolutely necessary. Rest is the order of the day. I plan on getting the potting bench out of the garage but a lot of stuff needs to be moved first.
My sister didn't go to the bank yesterday as the son she thought had taken the money came by and now she acts as if nothing happened. She hasn't even looked at her bank statements so I suspect she isn't telling me the whole story. I wouldn't be surprised if she has taken the funds to help out her eldest deadbeat son. Anyway I won't get involved further.
Just saw 2 Orioles outside my window. They are heading for the grape jelly. We have a lot of Pine Siskins that can empty a bird feeder in a day, actually 4 feeders. For a small bird they sure eat a lot.
Good morning, diners. I'll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, Brunhilda.
I'm happy to see that Steven Otte has posted several comments this morning on the purchase of the company and some things related to it. The Kalmbach magazines and the people who write them seem more personal to me than any other publications I know. I think that's why I'm so interested and want to hear about what is happening.
Water Level RouteHas anyone heard from David across the pond?
I hope it's just a case that David got tired of trying to log in during the forum outage.
The farmers in our area are working night and day to get the planting finished. We are supposed to have rain again, and that slows them down. I love driving the county roads at night and seeing the machinery all lit up out in the fields.
Many of the farmers had issues last week. The planters used GPS and some related systems to plant the fields, and the signals were disrupted last week.
Brent, happy to hear the wedding and celebrations went so well.
The Grand Island, NE, Union Pacific yards were on both sides of the Burlington tracks that crossed there. BNSF has since built an elevated crossing here. If you're ever traveling I-80 though Nebraska, stop at Grand Island. This is a great spot to catch both UP and BNSF trains at the same spot. If you're lucky, you can catch the BNSF locomotives over the UP locos.
UP eastbound approaching BN diamond at Grand Island, NE by Tom Taylor, on Flickr
Hi Everyone,
Brunhilda, coffee with cream, please.
Dave: belated congratulations or condolences on your 70th. No, you won't feel any different than yesterday, it's just now,...you're 70! Dum, dum, dum (dramatic music interlude)
The only thing I've noticed is I start to ache a little more and I've noticeably slowed down some. It's hard to get up an down from my knees, but that's kinda about it.
Last year my wife and I spent a day in Oconomowoc (O-KAN'-o-mo-wak), WI and we spent the day going from place to place and sat on benches at each stop. We had never done that before, but we were happy with it. Go figure.
I really like all the yard pictures you guys are posting.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
up831 It's hard to get up and down from my knees,
Well, if you paid attention and always did what the boss asked you wouldn't have to beg forgiveness so often.
Evening
The site's working now??? Lovely
Happy belated Dave!
Who Loves You Baby!!!
TF
It's raining pretty steady here Kids. I'm just hoping the Canadian wild fire area is getting a good dose of this as well.
I'm hitting the rack, and hoping the site still works tomorrow.
Nighty Night
Good evening all.
I tackled the grass today and before I started I turned on the GPS in my Garmin to see how far I go when cutting the lawn. I traveled 7.95km in 1:34 and burned 552 calories doing it. It was really long so it was slow going in some parts.
There are currently 150 wildfires burning in British Columbia alone, looks like another bad year. Snow packs are at 64% of normal. Bear better get those Kiwi firefighters heading our way.
Bombers at our local airport.
We have friends heading down from Fort Nelson which has been evacuated, they may stay with us.
I sure wish Lion would pop in to say hi.
Those BLI UP Kenefick business cars sure look nice. I wonder if any of them ever had an excursion to Canada. I wouldn't mind sticking one on the rear of one of my CP trains. Ed should know.
Time for a bit of the idiot box and then bed.
View-of-freight-yards-taken-from-the-roof-of-the-Winnipeg-Union-Station-at-Broadway-and-Main-Probabl
It's raining here like a sieve, and Minnesota ain't too far away ya know
Post Hog!!!
Whale, him only come round when feeling, ewe know, like da Lion
Perhaps him after some extra rare prime rib wildebeest, on a brand new pallet
Ewe know? When it's done Purr-fect
Good Morning Diners. Chloe, I'll have the special with coffee. Throw an extra egg on there too please.
After a week's worth of not enough sleep (started Saturday night), went to bed last night, fell asleep for about 20 minutes, and then someone texted my wife. At 11:00. She articulated her displeasure audibly and silenced her phone. Too late for me. I was wide awake at that point. Going to be a rough day.
JaBearvery preceptive
Gotta run. Cheers gents!