Boy is it quiet tonight.
I'll have a "Bowmore" scotch. Make it neat.
Had a most relaxing day. Spent most of it here and there. Lots of new posts. Some interesting, others not so. I did manage to get one more coat of mud on the fireplace wall. Well ... that's not exactly true. At least half of the joints. I have two 135 degree joints. I am having problems mudding them. I have a 90 degree trowel but not a 135 degree one. So I decided that I would do half, let it dry, sand and then do the other half. Hopefully this will work. BTW, this is the final coat and then I can start the woodwork. Yeah!
Well... it look's like I am the only one here tonight. So ... let's see ... I'll have a Cheesburger Delux with some of those fabulous fries and maybe a side of beans. That shoud do. Maybe I'll put on a movie. Something old perhaps, The Maltese Falcon perhaps?
GUB
Harpoon IPA for me, Joe. Thanks.
Hey, GUB, did you ever use something called "sanding screen" for smoothing drywall compound? I got turned on to it by some Brits who did some walls in our house. Most mudding in this part of the country is done by French Canadians, and their technique is to do several coats, each one finer and cleaner. The Brits, on the other hand, weren't as particular, and after the last coat they cleaned it all up with sanding screen. Much more applicable to my own skill level, because no matter how many coats I put on, it's still not going to be smooth.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Mr. B,
I do use a sanding screen for the sanding part. My problem is getting a good looking joint on a 135 degree junction where the two walls meet. It's at a corner fireplace. The problem is when I mud both sides one after the other, I can't seem to get it just right. I have mud oozing out creating a mess at the very centre of the joint. What I did today seems to be working. I mudded one sideonly. Tomorrow I will use the sanding screen to soften the outer edges and will probably use a combination of tools to perfect the joint - putty knife, sanding block and the sanding screen to remove any of the excess. I will then put the final coat on the other side, let it dry and then repaet the sanding etc. In theory, this should work. I may need to do additional touchups and then it should be done. When I stand back at the entrance door the joint looks pretty good. Actually it looks plumb. We'll see if that holds up once I put up the wood.
Thanks for the suggestion. What can I buy you tonight? Another Harpoon IPA? Maybe a Sam Adams? I haven't had one of those since I was last in Lake Placid, at least five years ago.
Just got home...
I'll have a cold one too Joe. And that burger, beans a fries sounds good too!
I hate doing drywall. That is the reason I only have one small wall and two small ceilings that are rocked! Everything else is paneled with wood...That I can work with!
I had a busy day at work and with running Raeanne around (she had / has dance rehearsal for the Reif Company show both today and tomorrow) and so I'm looking forward to a slower day tomorrow, only having to teach skiing for a couple of hours, with Mom running to and from dance.
So with a busy day, once again a slow order was issued on construction of the CCRY. Although, now with the cork down at Cascade Junction, I hope to be able to get a significant amount of track down in between skiing and cooking tomorrow. Then, unfortunately, that will pretty much be it again until next Sat., as the work week gets started with 40+ hours of demands teaching and operating.
OH...And, a rehearsal or two for an encore Showboat thing where a number of cast will be performing some "fill" at the West Range Country / Talent Show too. Of course I can't say NO and so as "Captain of Showboat" I will be the MC for show. As far as I know Rae will be singing in it too, but I'm not sure how she will work those rehearsals into her dance rehearsal schedule!! Some people's planning calendars are "Week at a Glance" or "Month at a Glance"....Sometimes I have so much going on I feel like my planning calendar is "Life at a Glance"!
With that...I'll have another cold one and I'll buy this round too. If I can get a goodly amount of track down...I'll snap a pic.
Good Evening Everyone,
Well it seems that everyone is busy today. Must be getting a lot done on their Railroad empires. Me on the otherhand, managed to fall on the icy sidewalk while walking to the car. I'm okay but will be bruised by tomorrow. Spent most of the afternoon laying down.
Now what kind of wine goes with Corn Beef & Cabbage. A nice Hillebrand Harvest Select or perhaps a Trius Red. I know, ... why not both.
Well, I think I'll do a little more research for our San Fransisco trip.
I'll check back later and see if anyone else shows up.
Evening all. Joe, I'll have a cold one down here, and Gub, slide the beer nuts this way, Thanks. I cannot think of a thing any worse than cabbage!!! I guess anything that will wash the taste away very fast will go good with it. LOL
Happy BD to you Mister B. Many more on the way! I have been in the trainroom most of the day, It has been rainy here all day and we really are needing the rain, NO ICE!!!! so I figured what better way to spend the day. Been doing mostly cleaning but I am going back out there in a few minutes and see if I can put a few well needed miles on the train. I am wanting to get some more depressed flatcars to haul more Cats.
I was out side all day yesterday doing some yard work and mostly enjoying a beautiful Saturday off work! I have got quite a bit of green bermuda grass already, will be mowing befor to long. I guess I neen to take a little time and get the John Deere rider out and service it. Oh well, the days are getting longer seems every day and I am so ready.
Joe bring me another beer will ya? I think this one has a hole in the bottom because it is already MT You all have a good week and keep the trains pulling! Mike
GUB wrote: Now what kind of wine goes with Corn Beef & Cabbage.
Uh, What is "Guinness?" (audience applause) Leprechauns for a hundred, Alex...
My little girl is a true leprechaun. Her mom has mostly Irish blood, and Annie was conceived on St. Patrick's Day, after a corned beef 'n' cabbage dinner with the usual trimmings. With college expenses coming up in a few years, we know what happens to that pot of gold.
I'm getting a bit done. I've removed and re-mounted a couple of Atlas turnout machines to get them away from the tracks so I can hide them better. While casually poking through boxes beneath the layout, I found some very old "extension mounting" plates from my childhood layout. These were provided on old Atlas turnouts to allow you to mount the switch machine a bit further from the track. The new switch machines don't have the mounting screws any more, but I'm using ancient machines, and the new turnouts still have the old screw mounts, plus the extended throw bar, that allow these to work.
WOW!!! Page four,
Joe I'll take a cold one here and for anyone that needs a refil.
I Was heading to the sack and thought I would check in, looks kind of slow. Got to see a heart Dr. in the morning, I hope everything is alright, wish me luck. See ya later. Mike
Good evening gang: I'll have a hot toddy Joe. And set the place up for anybody still here.
Good luck with the Doc tomorrow Mike....Sure hope everything checks out OK with you!
We're still in melt down mode with a temp. of 46 at midnight...So the hot toddy is for health reasons tonight. Yesterday after skiing and cooking dinner, I had a "chest cold bug" or something, hit me like a speeding truck! I have been miserable all day, from the ears down! This is really a bad one! I had to go to work today, as I couldn't cover everything but I've now taken care of that and I don't plan on leaving the house again (OK...I'll go to the Trainroom) until I feel better.
GUB you mentioned your SF trip. When is that taking place? I still haven't found my CA maps, but I did talk to my cuz and she is going to send me one. I did however remember the name of the fish market (fresh fish & chips) in Morro Bay, it's Giovanni's.
I did get some track down yesterday! Not as much as I had hoped for, but at least some. I wired it up this morning and did a test run, pulling and pushing a string of cars with a GP-9 through all of it, and then running the engine through the double cross-over, with out any incident.
I did discover a problem though. Seems I have my helix wired with an opposite polarity, at least that's what I figure and hope is the problem!. Every time I hit the "gap" from the upper level to the helix, the system shorts out. Trouble shooting that with be the first project tomorrow.
I'll check in with you all again tomorrow...Time to hit the hay now!
Howdy Joe. I'll take a hot toddy please!
Sick as a dog since Sun. night. Don't even feel good enough to spend much time in the Trainroom....So you know it's bad!
I hate going to doctors, but broke down yesterday afternoon thinking this isn't your run of the mill type of chest cold. And, it isn't...I have a bad case of bronchitis and am now on some heavy duty antibiotics. Hope I'm a lot better by Sunday...I'm supposed to MC a talent show and do little singing and dancing myself too! That certainly wouldn't be happening, if it were happening today!
I did go out to the Trainroom for a bit yesterday morning and finished up the first of two passing sidings on the Forest Center Sub. at Cascade Jct. but so far today all I've done is check on the track I had glued down and removed the pins and weights. Oh...I also sorted out some boxes of "stuff" consolidating my old brass track and turnouts, as I have a fellow in Duluth that is interested. Maybe I can bring a buck or two into the Gen. Construction Fund...That would be a change.
I had a nasty cough last week, too. Funny, it started right off as a cough, not a head cold like most of mine do. I even took a sick day. (Our "sick" time is the same as vacation days, so I don't like to do that.) But, nobody was home, and my sick time was spent in the workroom (nice and warm down by the furnace so I wouldn't get chilled) putting the finishing touches on those townhouses. I wasn't drinking beer, so that helped steady my painting hand, too.
Along with the birthday came a bit of cash from my mother-in-law, with the instructions to "buy yourself a box car or something." So, I'll have to head to the LHS right after work to make sure I don't disappoint her. I hope he still has some of those nice Intermountain Pfauldler milk cars.
colvinbackshop wrote:this isn't your run of the mill type of chest cold. I have a bad case of bronchitis and am now on some heavy duty antibiotics.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Mike,
I'm surprised I never thought you'd be a cabbage hater. Corn Beef and Cabbage is a great meal. Add onions, carrots, parsnip and potatoes and you have a one pot meal that will satisfy the soul. You can use regular green cabbage, savoy cabbage or even red caqbbage. But beware if using red your potatoes will not look so appealing. But they will taste very, very, very good.
Mr. B
Of course Guiness is the perfect accompaniment with Corn Beef and Cabbage. Unfortunately and I don't know why, but I wasn't thinking of beer. I had my mind on wine for some strange reason, perhaps a Funky Lama or the previously mentioned products. But Guiness or McCaffee or Bodingtons would do nicely. Actually a nice Sierra Nevada Stout would be perfect. I'll have to remember that for the next time I do a Corn Beef Brisket.
mikesmowers wrote: WOW!!! Page four,Joe I'll take a cold one here and for anyone that needs a refil.I Was heading to the sack and thought I would check in, looks kind of slow. Got to see a heart Dr. in the morning, I hope everything is alright, wish me luck. See ya later. Mike
Mike;
I hope everything works out for you at the Doctors. I'm pulling for you.
jeffrey-wimberly wrote:Corned beef and cabbage is pretty good. Bring on more mustard for the corned beef!
Now that you have opened this "Can of Worms" ... what type of mustard? Hot? With Horseradish? Or perhaps a simple yellow? or Maybe Dijon?
GUB wrote: jeffrey-wimberly wrote:Corned beef and cabbage is pretty good. Bring on more mustard for the corned beef!Now that you have opened this "Can of Worms" ... what type of mustard? Hot? With Horseradish? Or perhaps a simple yellow? or Maybe Dijon?GUB
You're not the only ones and BTW Hickory Farms is great. I usually pick up a bottle or two at Christmas Time. Jeffrey you got taste!!!!
GUB wrote: You're not the only ones and BTW Hickory Farms is great. I usually pick up a bottle or two at Christmas Time. Jeffrey you got taste!!!!GUB
Evening all... Joe, I think I'll stick with the "HOT" medicines (still feeling pretty bad) for this evening, but I'll buy a round for the rest...what ever they may need!
I love boiled dinners, either corned beef or a good sausage (I make a great venison and pork sausage...if I get a deer during the season), with all of the above mentioned additions....Cabbage is a MUST! As for a mustard: I prefer the stronger, stone ground types. A few brands that come to mind are; Plochman's Premium, Inglehoffer and Boetje's. Geee...Seems I listed these as my least favorite to most favorite. The Plochman's isn't bad, I just like Boetje's the best, and unfortunately it is seemingly harder and harder to find around these parts.
Another great taste was a horseradish / beet relish that we would get at the local grocery in Tolstoi Manitoba. I have no idea what the brand name was, but it was some really GOOD stuff!
As mentioned earlier, I haven't done much in the Trainroom today, but I did wander back over there a snapped a picture of the "trackage" progress at Cascade Jct.
This is looking North from the helix.
And...As I was going through my old boxes (looking for all the brass track) I found the type of street lights that I invasioned for Sawbill Jct.
I had forgotten that I had these, but remembered this style of light...Hey, it was 1959 when I bought them and they were packed away in 1963 or 64. I found six, with only two in good condition. It is evident that a few got VERY HOT, as I have melted plastic on a few of the cross-arms and only wires on another!
Anyway, this is the type of light that I'm looking for, thinking that it would be very period at any number of rural locations on the pike (Sawyer Lumber Shops, Sawbill Jct. and Cascade Jct. too). Has anybody seem these on the market?
Enough for tonight...I didn't sleep well last night! Gotta' get to bed and try again.
JB - those look like the lighting that tstage has been scratch-building. He's put together a tutorial, I think.
My local supermarket (LSM?) had something called "Beer-n-Brat" mustard for a while. It had horseradish in it. Great stuff. I haven't seen it for a while, so I guess it wasn't a big seller up here in the almost spice-free Northeast.
Does anyone remember the Superbowl ad for McIlheney's Tabasco Sauce? It showed this portly gent sitting out in the porch in the middle of a swamp on a hot night, eating pizza. On each slice he'd sprinkle a few drops of sauce. Then a mosquito lands on his arm. He watches with a big grin on his face as the mosquito punctures his arm and fattens up on blood. The mosquito finishes her meal (it's the females that suck blood, you know) and takes off. About 10 feet away she explodes in a ball of flame. I've bought nothing but McIlheney's ever since.
Duke
Bob if your there, i just found out about your dad, i'm so sorry to hear that, my prayers are with you.
Colvin,
I am sitting here just drooling over the picture of your layout, and I must say, I am turning GREEN.
I see you have a piece of that sheet cork you talked about.
After two rounds of not getting it right, especially at the transisitons- I am not going to do cork, or any other roadbed for that matter. I've got so much ballast supporting my mistakes, that I am just going to rock everything the next go-round, if there is a next time.
I wonder how Mike is doing? Hope everything came out alright with his Heart Dr.
And, I hope all the rest of you are doing well, too.
Would you look at that .... Looks like it is my turn to buy.... and it's Friday night. This could get expensive. But it doesn't look like anybody is here besides Joe and me. Maybe it won't be too to bad. Lets see ... I'll have a bottle of "Ted the Mule" if you plaese. And since I am buying just give everybody what they would like. Remember guys you all on the honor system here, so go easy on my credit card. I would still like to go to SF in July.
BBFN, gotta go, will check back later.
Well thanks, GUB, don't mind if I do...Harpoon...no, make that a Killians Red, in honor of the season. Thanks.
Good news, bad news. The good news is that we made it up to Sunday River almost ahead of the big storm this weekend, but it still took us 5 hours instead of the usual 3. More accidents on the way up than I think I've ever seen, most involving SUV's. Gee, and I thought 4-wheel-drive made you invincible...
The bad news is that I've got no trains up here. Fortunately, we're in a place with free wireless access, so at least I can stay in touch with the world. I did get my "Perma-Comb" piece of artificial beehive, and it looks like it will be perfect for making a mold for the hexagonal cobblestones. I'm going to roll out a slab of modelling clay and then press the honeycomb pattern into it. Then I'll pull off the beehive and start layering on the latex to make the mold. The whole process will take a week or so. I'll try to take a sequence of photos while I do it. If I get a good enough casting, I think I'll use it for the business district on the other side of the layout, with some old trolley tracks embedded in it.
Howdy guys....Thanks GUB! And in honor of St. Pat, I'll have a Finnegans Irish Amber...(put on your Irish brogue) "A rich Ale brewed with potatoes, none the less" .
Thanks for the "pat on the back" Squeaky! I feel a great sense of accomplishment with getting that portion of the pike together! The trackage at Cascade Jct. came together real well (once I worked out the details and knew how large everything had to be...And what would fit) and as of today, I can say....All the trackage there is down!
Yes, I have a sheet of cork (about 2' x 4') down in the area for the pusher service, station, tower and service facility. I got my roll of cork a few weeks ago and cut and put this area down first. This afternoon, however, I also set up the "roadbed shop" and started cutting strips. I'm using a yard stick and a rotary cutter on a cutting mat. So far so good.
This "roll of cork" thing was prompted by a thread here on the forum, as I had run out of cork roadbed and read that some guys were cutting their own! I have to say it's a lot cheaper than the chunk of cork I bought at the auto parts store that I put down at the Sawyer Lumber shops or buying the ready made / cut roadbed. If my calculations are correct (I did them real quick) this $110 roll will produce 800 ft. of roadbed.
So anyway, along with the cutting of roadbed, I also got busy with actually putting cork down around the N.E. corner today and even have the CCRY Mount Weber Sub. in place across the North wall benchwork.
Mike.....How you doing?
Mr. B, have fun on the snow!!
Another Finnegans Amber Joe...And I'll buy this round GUB.
Good Morning Everybody,
I'll have a coffee and an English Muffin.