THE FLAT WHEEL CAFE

[nanaimo73]

Good day, everyone.

I also just received one of those email alerts about people stealing license plates to use in drive-offs at gas stations.

Our Province (British Columbia) brought in a law February 1st that all fuel must be paid for before you can start pumping. I would have thought this would have already been in place throughout the United States. I'm sure it will be within a couple of years.

Thanks for supper.

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

There will always be people who will try to steal someone else's gasoline by siphoning it from the tank of a car or truck. What none of these people seem to realize is that siphoning gasoline can cause severe neurological brain damage. I have a friend who teaches biology and human anatomy at the University of Sioux Falls, and he told me this several years ago.

Ray

[tree68]

Good day, everyone.

I also just received one of those email alerts about people stealing license plates to use in drive-offs at gas stations.

Our Province (British Columbia) brought in a law February 1st that all fuel must be paid for before you can start pumping. I would have thought this would have already been in place throughout the United States. I'm sure it will be within a couple of years.

Thanks for supper.

If I knew how much I was going to put in, that would be easy, but I generally fill the tank and that can vary by several gallons from fill-up to fill-up. 

I generally use my debit card anyhow.  The only hassle is when they cut you off at a certain dollar amount and you aren't quite full yet. 

That's a real pain for a local supermarket incentive program.  You get cents off from your fuel based on your purchases at the store.  The problem is that it doesn't carry over - once you invoke the price reduction at the pump it's gone, whether you pump all 20 gallons (the max) or one.  With a price cutoff of $75 on card transactions, I can never get the full value of the discount....

[Modelcar]

.....Cannonball:

In the cold season when ice is a threat for your locking gas caps.....How about spraying in some windshield deicer or a shot of antifreeze to prevent the lock from freezing....

[blhanel]

We're back home fine, but not without getting nervous in a couple of places on the way- lots of water everywhere in northern Iowa.  As luck would have it, our route home took us away from the normal through Mason City, going via Rochester/New Hampton instead.  And Cedar Rapids got hit with a pretty bad storm tonight just a couple of hours before we got here- one of our neighbors across the street lost a couple of trees.  My weather station has a new high wind gust, but interestingly enough it wasn't from tonight, but yesterday morning at 7:36 AM it recorded a 46.3 MPH gust out of the SE.

[cherokee woman]

Good Monday morning, folks!  Very muggy this morning, w/a temp of 79, 80 degrees.  Sun shining brightly.  Brian, very glad to know you and Joanie made it home safely!  

Coffee, fresh juices (apple/pear, orange, orange/tanerine, pineapple and grape), hot water for tea are all ready.

On the breakfast bar this morning:  cinnamon rolls, cereals, turkey bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns,  homemade buttermilk biscuits w/sausage gravy, bagels and bear claws.  

Think I'll get some coffee, and head out to the garden for a few, watch the trains go by, and wait for some company to come into the Cafe/Diner.

[Modelcar]

....Yes, this will be another warm one.  77 now to start at a bit past 7:30....so if rain doesn't cool it off, that probably means a bit into the 90's again.

[JoeKoh]

good morning

brian glad you made it home safely.you must of had a low pressure center just go to the south of you.they spin counter-clockwise.another warm one with maybe some thunderboomers this afternoon.will keep our eyes peeled.

stay safe

joe

[tree68]

The mess that hammered Michigan dissapated before it got to us, to it was a peaceful night.  T-Storms in the forecast this afternoon.

Bearclaw and tea.  I'll be in the corner finally reading my July Trains.

[blhanel]

good morning

brian glad you made it home safely.you must of had a low pressure center just go to the south of you.they spin counter-clockwise.another warm one with maybe some thunderboomers this afternoon.will keep our eyes peeled.

stay safe

joe

Yep Joe, the direction I understand- what I don't understand is how a wind gust out of the SW last night that uprooted a tree in the front yard of a house four down the street from us and two trees in the backyard of our neighbor across the street didn't even register on my wind gauge!  That is just WEIRD.

Looks like it might be awhile before I post any pictures from this past weekend- I can't get my desktop PC to turn on, so I'm limited to my new laptop and here at work.  Since there's other issues that have a higher priority on the laptop (like getting our checkbook monitoring software loaded on it), picture processing will have to take a back seat for now.

[Modelcar]

...Brian....It appears to us here, wind can do weird things.  Many times I see the limbs and leaves whipping around on the former tree line {of still some remaining large trees}, on the fairway right behind our home and we seem not to be getting much wind at all just several hundred feet away for that moment.....

[grampaw pettibone]

Morning. 86 degrees and clear in Carolina this morning, headed for the high 90s again. CW, thanks for breakfast. I shall have one of each and some pineapple juice. Everyone stay safe

[cherokee woman]

Been outside a couple of times this morning, and it is really warm, already bordering on HOT!!  So, with that in mind, I'm making today a Monday Mexican Fiesta Day the following on the menu:

1.  Tacos

2.  Beef burritos enchilada style

3.  Beef, bean, onion burritos

4.  Spanish rice

5.  Quasadillas

There's also some lettuce chopped up, with diced tomatoes mixed in with it, just in case you'd like to add that to your tacos or burritos, quasadillas, etc.

And, along with plenty of iced tea and lemonade, I've made some non-alcoholic strawberry margaritas.

 

[JoeKoh]

Cw

thanks for supper.put another hash mark on the viaduct.sky is getting dark and we are hearing rumbles.

stay safe

Joe

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

Considering all the talk we've been hearing of trees being uprooted here and there in violent wind storms, this morning I was almost wishing that a storm would come through here and uproot a couple trees in my yard. Last night while I was doing a load of laundry in my basement, my sewer line backed up over the floor drain. I called Drain Master this morning and they had a man out here at 9:00 this morning. He pulled a huge mass of tree roots out of my sewer line. My brother-in-law is a plumbing contractor and I think I can get him to flush some kind of a chemical down my sewer line to inhibit the growth of tree roots. I will talk to him about it tonight. I cost me more than a hundred bucks to get my main sewer line re-opened, and right now that kind of hurts! And oh!, the joys of home ownership!!

My day is not a total loss though, and it has been very nice here today, with the temperature in the mid 70's. We could be seing more rain by Wednesday, but I know that much of this region is already waterlogged from so much rain in the last few weeks.

Ray

[cherokee woman]

Been outside a couple of times this morning, and it is really warm, already bordering on HOT!!  So, with that in mind, I'm making today a Monday Mexican Fiesta Day the following on the menu:

1.  Tacos

2.  Beef burritos enchilada style

3.  Beef, bean, onion burritos

4.  Spanish rice

5.  Quasadillas

There's also some lettuce chopped up, with diced tomatoes mixed in with it, just in case you'd like to add that to your tacos or burritos, quasadillas, etc.

And, along with plenty of iced tea and lemonade, I've made some non-alcoholic strawberry margaritas.

 

I've got some more of the above menu ready and on the warmer bar for tonight's supper.  Even made some more iced tea and lemonade.    

[Mookie]

Tomatoes in the real world have been recalled due to salmonella.  So glad we can have them in here without worry. 

Going to eat out on the pah-tio.  Been a busy day. 

[spokyone]

Tomatoes in the real world have been recalled due to salmonella.   

I never liked salmon anyway.

[Mookie]

Tomatoes in the real world have been recalled due to salmonella.   

I never liked salmon anyway.

 

[grampaw pettibone]

About trees and storms: On July 3, 1977, a tornado came through our yard. I didn't see it but a friend was visiting and saw it while we were trying to close the door. Along with lightning strikes which burned up some appliances, 7 big trees in the front yard went down, along with a 56' radio tower which landed in a neighbors driveway. I had that week off for vacation and had to clean that mess up in 104 degree weather and what seemed to be 100% humidity. I don't cotton too much to the idea of ever having to do that again. Currently 93 degrees and thunderstorms in the area. There are a lot of static crashes on the wireless, but the storms are over 50 miles away.

[enr2099]

Just my take on things.  When I'm working on the railroad, I am expected to wave, and get my picture taken a lot. 

 This is all I'm going to say on the matter. On a tourist railroad I would think you would be expected to wave. As a freight conductor, it is my discretion whether I want to wave or not. If I feel like it, I'll wave. If I don't feel like waving, I won't; too bad so sad, I really don't care.

 

I've worked passenger trains as well, and I do wave to the passengers, as I would expect any tourist/passenger train conductor or crew to wave and display some good customer service. 

 I am so sick of the bickering over something as trivial as waving. Some will wave, some won't. GET OVER IT! To attack someone because they don't feel like waving is utterly rediculous. I'm glad the topic was locked. That's all I'm going to say. 

 

[RRKen]

Well gee.   Switchman killed because his attention was comprimised by a cell phone.    But waving is not an at-risk behavior taking your attention away from your work.   Right.

[Modelcar]

....Tom, that sounds a bit too close for comfort.

Here in the midwest....we, being in Indiana.....had another shot of it at 5 pm today.....I was just about into a nap here in the office {home}, and heard noise and looked out and our eastern neighbors large trees were whipping around like I've not seen them do before....

Another front was passing thru again.....and I had my little hand held on hearing of the trees down, some electric lines and some into houses...{That report was the weather watchers locally on 2 meter ham}.

Then word came that Muncie had just experienced 74 mph straight winds...{I'm assuming}.  Neighbor's one tree across the street was broken off and throwed across his driveway....But he doesn't know it as they are in N H for the summer.  Small limbs and leaves all over the place as we just drove out of the addition about 2 hrs. ago.  Still, I think we've been lucky...compared to much that has happened in this state this past weekend, etc.....

[Willy2]

There are a lot of unhappy people in Omaha because the tornado sirens didn't sound until the tornado had already occurred and lifted on Sunday morning. This was because the storm was not a supercell, but actually part of a line. In a supercell, the rotation develops aloft and works it's way down slowly enough that the NWS has enough time to issue a timely warning. However, this tornado developed down closer to the surface, thus the rotation was not evident on radar until the tornado was ongoing. All of the true weather lovers understand this, but many people (both who did and did not have their homes damaged by the tornado) are angry. Since I do wish to work for the NWS in the future, and since this was a rather rare situation, I have to side with the meteorologists. However, I'm sure that I might feel differently if I had been startled awake at 2:30 in the morning due to my roof getting ripped off.

More storms this evening, but nothing significant. The next big severe weather outbreak for us could be on Wednesday. It will be interesting.

[tree68]

Tomatoes in the real world have been recalled due to salmonella.  So glad we can have them in here without worry.  

I went through the drive-thru at McD's Sunday and saw notice posted that they weren't serving tomatos in those sandwiches that normally had them.

Here's a list of sources of safe tomatoes.

[switch7frg]

  Quentin;  really good thought.  But it was too hard to stick a rag in the deicer  tank under the hood LOL .  Much easier to use  Wonder Dog 4-0 .  An older hide than myself showed me that in Indynoplace @ Blue & White during a black ice event in 19 some yr. Jan.

                                     Respectfully, Cannonball

[cherokee woman]

Good Tuesday morning, one and all!  We just got through having a very nice rain shower.  Guess it was the cold front coming through, as it seems to be a little bit cooler now.  Our high for today is predicted to be 84, 85 degrees.  That's much better than the 94 days we've been having!

Coffee, juices, teas (iced & hot) and lemonade are ready.  And on the breakfast/warmer bar this morning:  turkey  bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, buttermilk biscuits w/sausage gravy, buttermilk pancakes, bagels and bear claws.  

You all have a great morning, and I'll see you when Tuesday Produce is over.

 

[JoeKoh]

morning

rain this morning and better by this afternoon.Modelcar I was watching the radar very closely as that storm was crossing into ohio.I helped my neighbor this morning.I noticed water was running over the top of his downspout.Found the plug and released the floodgates.Those whirly gigs make a mess sometimes.time for nap.Mokkie here is your coffee.

 

stay safe

joe

[Modelcar]

....Cannonball:

I'm sure there was a solution of some kind from someone being out on the road and going thru it many times....I've even had pretty good luck using {small spray can}, of WD-40.  It somehow dries out the moisture.

Years ago with an almost new 1949 Fleetline Chevy, and I had gone to a basketball game with a campanion with me....way over {for then}, near Salisbury, Md.  When we came out I couldn't get in the door lock as it was frozen.....Finally using a Zippo, we heated the key and...bingo it opened.  Not the formula to use around a fuel tank though.

[tree68]

Nice sunny morning here.  Looks like the T-Storms they've promised for the past few days might actually arrive - things are firing up to the west of us already.  No complaints, actually.  The grass hasn't been out of hand, and we're neither too wet nor too dry.

Bearclaw and tea.  I'll be over in the corner.