I'm going to have to pass on pizza tonight. We went to Gatti Town in Lexington. It was all you can eat pizza and pasta. And I must admit, I ate a lot of pizza.
I will take an alka-seltzer though.Everyone have a great Sunday!!!
Brian (KY)
will take a sample of each tonight.great day at deshler again.with the new dispatch system for csx some dispatchers have a hard time commuinicating.a little something for everyone.hey willy just tell mookie to click her paws and say "theres no place like home"
stay safe
Joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
Tornado watch was just issued and is in effect until 11:00 PM. It looks like things are going to get very volatile soon. Hopefully I'll still have a house on Sunday morning.
I saw Mookie today in Louisville, Nebraska. I was waiting for trains and kept noticing a car with two people in it that looked very much like Mook and the Driver. Sure enough, it was. We discussed the weather and the forum summit scheduled for October 7th and then went our separate ways. I can't wait for the 7th of October!!
Willy
STILLMORE, Ga. (Sept. 15) - Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago.
This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants.
The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.
More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding without food.
At least one child, born a U.S. citizen, was left behind by his Mexican parents: 2-year-old Victor Perez-Lopez. The toddler's mother, Rosa Lopez, left her son with Julie Rodas when the raids began and fled the state. The boy's father was deported to Mexico.
"When his momma brought this baby here and left him, tears rolled down her face and mine too," Rodas said. "She said, `Julie, will you please take care of my son because I have no money, no way of paying rent?"'
For five years, Rodas has made a living watching the children of workers at the Crider Inc. poultry plant, where the vast majority of employees were Mexican immigrants. She learned Spanish, and considered many immigrants among her closest friends. She threw parties for their children's birthdays and baptisms.
The only child in Rodas' care now, besides her own son, is Victor. Her customers have disappeared.
Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American flag and posted it by the pond out front - upside down, in protest.
"These people might not have American rights, but they've damn sure got human rights," Robinson said. "There ain't no reason to treat them like animals."
The raids came during a fall election season in which immigration is a top issue.
Last month, the federal government reported that Georgia had the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the country. The number more than doubled from an estimated 220,000 in 2000 to 470,000 last year. This year, state lawmakers passed some of the nation's toughest measures targeting illegal immigrants, and Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue last week vowed a statewide crackdown on document fraud.
Other than the Crider plant, there isn't much in Stillmore. Four small stores, a coin laundry and a Baptist church share downtown with City Hall, the fire department and a post office. "We're poor but proud," Mayor Marilyn Slater said, as if that is the town motto.
The 2000 Census put Stillmore's population at 730, but Slater said uncounted immigrants probably made it more than 1,000. Not anymore, with so many homes abandoned and the streets practically empty.
"This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up," Slater said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Marc Raimondi would not discuss details of the raids. "We can't lose sight of the fact that these people were here illegally," Raimondi said.
At Sucursal Salina No. 2, a store stocked with Mexican fruit sodas and snacks, cashier Alberto Gonzalez said Wednesday that the owner may shutter the place. By midday, Gonzalez has had only six customers. Normally, he would see 100.
The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater, the mayor's son and grandson, has lost about 80 percent of its business.
"These people come over here to make a better way of life, not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican, but I think we missed the boat with this one."
Since the mid-1990s, Stillmore has grown dependent on the paychecks of Mexican workers who originally came for seasonal farm labor, picking the area's famous Vidalia onions. Many then took year-round jobs at the Crider plant, with a workforce of about 900.
Crider President David Purtle said the agents began inspecting the company's employment records in May. They found 700 suspected illegal immigrants, and supervisors handed out letters over the summer ordering them to prove they came to the U.S. legally or be fired. Only about 100 kept their jobs.
The arrests started at the plant Sept. 1. Over the Labor Day weekend, agents with guns and bulletproof vests converged on workers' homes after getting the addresses from Crider's files.
Antonio Lopez, who came here two years ago from Chiapas, Mexico, and worked at the Crider plant, said agents kicked in his front door. Lopez, 32, and his 15-year-old son were handcuffed and taken by bus to Atlanta with 30 others. Because of the boy, Lopez said, both were allowed to return. In his back pocket, he carries an order to return to Atlanta for a court hearing Feb. 2.
But now, "there's no people here and I don't have any work," he said.
The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce. Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new workers.
Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she felt bad about the raids.
"If they knew eventually that they were going to have to do that, they should have never let them come over here," she said.
Pizza does sound good, but I'm off for some serious Mexican tonight. Gotta get it before DHS and INS sweep my area and clean out all the good cooks!
Have you guys seen the article about the small Georgia town virtually shut down after an INS raid cleaned out over 25% of the population? Illegals working at the local poultry plant apparently. Wow.
LC
Another happy birthday to CP2816! Enjoy your chocolate cake!
All is well here today. The storm that was headed for Lincoln weakened and the tornado warnings were cancelled. We also didn't get much in Omaha last night. Our slight risk has been upgraded to a moderate risk for today and there seems to be a good chance that not only will there be large hail and strong winds, but also a few tornadoes. I'm not sure what time Mook was going to be fishing, but she better keep an eye to the sky by mid-afternoon.
I'll be back in later this afternoon with an update and for some pizza.
cherokee woman wrote:Good Saturday morning to all! Joe, thanks for putting the coffee on, and making the juice. As Joe said, hope Mookie and all our friends in that area are safe and soundthis morning. I've got the following for our Saturday Brunch: bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravy,fried taters, hash browns, scrambled eggs, blueberry muffins, oat bran muffins,bagels (especially for Larry, before he heads out for Train Duty).Worked all evening on Ray's birthday cake. It is a sheet cake for all to enjoy, cho-colate w/creamy white frosting, and just for him, a small locomotive shaped cake,also chocolate w/white frosting. Hopefully, he'll be in and we can all wish him a Happy Birthday before we start inon our SATURDAY NIGHT PIZZA FEST.Message From:The Cook
I can smell the bacon and sausage from where I am sitting, and I love blue berry muffins! I think I'll be dropping in for breakfast soon. And thank you for all your hard work in baking my birthday cake, Cherokee Woman! I appreciate it!! And to those of you who have already wished me a happy birthday in this forum.........many, many thanks!!
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
That is NICE!! Thanks for sharing this shot of the Alaska RR B unit with the rest of us, tree68. I had the pleasure of riding the Alaska Railroad while on a cruise tour of Alaska three years ago this month. I and other members of my family had ridden it from Anchorage to the south end of Denali National Park.
cherokee woman wrote:Hopefully, he'll be in and we can all wish him a Happy Birthday before we start inon our SATURDAY NIGHT PIZZA FEST.
Dibs on the Supreme topping pizza when it's ready.
Carl (and all).
Today we are going to stay on the shore, and at least get to a few of the cool spots on Cape Ann. Lobsters now are a little pricey, but we should be able have Lobster once and still have funds for the rest of our trip.
ttyl
Jay
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
morning
juice and coffee are ready to go.hope everyone near mookie is okay.like carl said that system is to come through here late sunday last i heard.temps next week in the 60s.
Keep that weather by you for another day. It's supposed to maybe hit here tomorrow (Sunday), and that's what the forecast is still showing. We have a cookout after work this afternoon, with great weather promised.
Got to run--time for work.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Well, couldn't find the "Today I saw" thread, so here's that Alaska RR B unit:
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
were back!!!
first may i explain. a calamity day is when school is closed due to bad weather.so instead of school he goes to his old pre-school.the state gives schools 5 days to miss a year. now they only have 3 left.we have yet to see snow fly here.matt and i had a good time watching trains in deshler.he also made some more new friends.
Jay, believe it or not you're in an area that I'm somewhat familiar with. We've vacationed more than once in Rockport and Pigeon Cove. Pat was thoroughly captivated by that area when she saw it for the first time. Ellen and I liked the rocks at Halibut Point (Pat was a little more cautious, being "great with child" at the time).
Dine on lobster while there--that's an order!
jeaton wrote: We went out to see the whales. A good deal of action for the three hours we were on the Stellwagen Bank. Near the end our stay, three Humpbacks were feeding close to the boat and suddenly all three breached at the same time. That's thirty to fourty tons each almost completly out of the water. Even better than working mainline steam.
We went out to see the whales. A good deal of action for the three hours we were on the Stellwagen Bank. Near the end our stay, three Humpbacks were feeding close to the boat and suddenly all three breached at the same time. That's thirty to fourty tons each almost completly out of the water. Even better than working mainline steam.
Amen to that. Did a watch off Plymouth, MA a few years ago. What an experience!
Reporting from Glocester, Mass. Sorry I got in so late otherwise I would have brought the fish for dinner tonight.
I'll be back to railroad stuff quite soon.
Being Crazy,keeps you from going "INSANE" !! "The light at the end of the tunnel,has been turned off due to budget cuts" NOT AFRAID A Vet., and PROUD OF IT!!
Willy2 wrote:Tree - You got me with the skew T!
The Skew T is basically the plot derived from the temperature and humidity information received from weather balloons as they rise. I never learned to plot that, although I did get pretty good at plotting and coding winds. Not that I could even read the TTY reports any more... But I still understand some of it, and might even be able to pick out inversions and tropopause.
I worked in upper air (weather balloons) for several years while I was in USAF.
tree68 wrote: Willy2 wrote:Now, now, Mookie - don't be too hard on meteorologists and future meteorologists (like me). Weather is a very difficult thing to predict. Everything is still looking good for Saturday. Instability will only be modest, but there will be sufficient moisture and very strong wind shear to support supercells capable of producing large hail, damaging winds and maybe an isolated tornado. Looks like things will probably initiate around mid afternoon across eastern Nebraska and then slide east into western Iowa. The one real limiting factor is the chance of some morning storms which could really cut into the moisture and instability levels. I guess only time will tell what happens. I'm glad I spent enough time in the weather business to know what you just said.... How's the skew T look?
Willy2 wrote:Now, now, Mookie - don't be too hard on meteorologists and future meteorologists (like me). Weather is a very difficult thing to predict. Everything is still looking good for Saturday. Instability will only be modest, but there will be sufficient moisture and very strong wind shear to support supercells capable of producing large hail, damaging winds and maybe an isolated tornado. Looks like things will probably initiate around mid afternoon across eastern Nebraska and then slide east into western Iowa. The one real limiting factor is the chance of some morning storms which could really cut into the moisture and instability levels. I guess only time will tell what happens.
I'm glad I spent enough time in the weather business to know what you just said....
How's the skew T look?
Mookie - You don't have to tell me. I know that the storms always miss Lincoln and Omaha and really get going once they reach Iowa. It always makes me so darn mad! Still, I'm holding out hope that tomorrow will be one of those few days that they actually do give Omaha a good beating. The Storm Prediction Center said that they may need to upgrade eastern Neb/western Iowa from a slight risk to a moderate risk in one of the severe weather outlooks on Saturday. That's always a good sign.
Tree - You got me with the skew T! I think of I've heard of them before, but I have no idea what they represent or do. Please fill me in. But if anyone thinks that I just copied that from a weather discussion, they are wrong. I am serious about being a metorologist and know what everything I said means.
The Odyssey is not my favorite thing to read, but it is actually turning out better than I thought it would be.
So, until tomorrow morning (when I'll have another update on the weather) I am out of here for today. Have a good evening! And happy birthday to CP2816. Have a super birthday!!
cherokee woman wrote:CP2816, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONE DAY EARLY!!What flavor cake and frosting would you like tomorrow? I'll bake it tonight, and have it ready for tomorrow!!To all who helped with the noontime FRIDAY FISH FRY, thank youvery, very much. We just got home about 45 minutes ago, so it'sbeen kind of a lonnngg day! And Randy, thank you for cleaning the grease out of the fryers. Knew there was something I forgotto do this morning, before I left.I'm just starting the fish fryer for tonight. On tonight's fish list is:1. cod2. perch3. hallibut4. catfish5. trout6. shrimpIn the other two fryers, one has fries and the other has hushpuppies.Also got plenty of slaw, and for dessert tonight: cherry cheese cake.Message From:The CookFor my birthday party, I would like chocolate cake with creamy, white frosting. I hope you can make a large sheet cake so that everyone out there can have a piece of it. CANADIANPACIFIC2816
chad thomas wrote:Happy birthday CP2816 !!!!!!
Hear, hear! Mines a bit down the road, but I have a couple years on you.
Now that Willy is gone on his Odyssey - I will share what I can't bring myself to tell him - the bad weather will miss Lincoln totally, move into maybe Omaha and definitely Iowa and beat the daylights out of Iowa. It always does.
And a chicken in the air? Over head? A fowl comes to mind - and it ain't chicken - more like DUCK!
Have a good weekend everyone. C U on Monday
Mook
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Mookie wrote: CP and Brian - (snort) young uns.... Randy - It is raining really hard here - and it wasn't even predicted. I can't tell if it is coming from Houston Ed or Denver Chicken. Either way - I will have to hunt them down and pat them nicely. (snicker) Having a meeting of catty people - so I will return later! Mook
CP and Brian - (snort) young uns....
Randy - It is raining really hard here - and it wasn't even predicted.
I can't tell if it is coming from Houston Ed or Denver Chicken. Either way - I will have to hunt them down and pat them nicely. (snicker)
Having a meeting of catty people - so I will return later!
Now, now, Mookie - don't be too hard on meteorologists and future meteorologists (like me). Weather is a very difficult thing to predict. Everything is still looking good for Saturday. Instability will only be modest, but there will be sufficient moisture and very strong wind shear to support supercells capable of producing large hail, damaging winds and maybe an isolated tornado. Looks like things will probably initiate around mid afternoon across eastern Nebraska and then slide east into western Iowa. The one real limiting factor is the chance of some morning storms which could really cut into the moisture and instability levels. I guess only time will tell what happens.
That's all for now. I'm off to read some of the Odyssey, or as my mom puts it, "The Oddity."
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