So, this was my Sunday morning:
It all melted shortly thereafter, but it was still a cold day. By 4PM, however, it was all history, with nothing left but some random stalks of straw scattered here and there.
Everyone seemed to have a good time.
The red building in the background was the tool house, to go together with the section house that was behind me. After the NYC quit using it, it was rented by an employee ($60 a year...) who eventually bought it from the railroad shortly before NYC went under. Just to the left of the Punkin Patch was a passing siding that came up in the late 1930's.
We were the guests of the current owner (third generation), and they were kind enough to give me a "tour" of the section house and some of the history of the site.
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...
Joe - forgot to tell you we saw a DE heading west. So at least they are still in business and preparing for winter?
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
afternoon
some sprinkles here in Nw ohio.They are working on the road to our front door at work so we have to go in the back way.I think the local was working uptown.Saw a westbound stack train as I left too.Chores to do and homework to check.
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").
Murphy Siding mudchicken Can't see the jackelopes because of the snipes migrating south. They saw that ski season started Friday morning up in the high country. A snipe story: I went to college in Springfield, SD, along the Missouri River. One fall evening, during a conversation at Ye Olde Tap Club, a group of us college students convinced a student named Donovan that he would be a good candidate for a snipe hunt. Being typical college students, we packed up about 2 carloads of snipe hunt enthusiasts, Donovan and a pillow case, and headed down on the bottoms by the river, where the trees and undergrowth were thick. Someone showed Donovan the finer techniques of snipe calling and how to catch them with the pillowcase. So off he heads into the darkness, calling the snipe, while the rest of us casually discuss his snipe hunting techniques. Then we lost Donovan. We fanned out in groups and covered a lot of brushy forest in the dark trying to find him. No luck. We all made it back to the cars and panicked. While discussing who was going to go find the town cop- who was usually pretty intoxicated this late at night- and who was going to have to call the sheriff, Donovan showed up out of the dark. He was all scratched up and dirty, and he was covered with bird poop and pine needles. In the pillowcase he had a bird. As he explained it, he had to climb up and pine tree, and pretty much ambush a group of birds on a branch. When he jumped at the birds to get one in the pillowcase, he fell down into some juniper bushes, but he got his snipe to show the crowd. In front of car headlights, he slowly opened the bag to show us a very disgruntled grackle. Then we all went back to Ye Olde Tap Club for refreshments.
mudchicken Can't see the jackelopes because of the snipes migrating south. They saw that ski season started Friday morning up in the high country.
Can't see the jackelopes because of the snipes migrating south. They saw that ski season started Friday morning up in the high country.
A snipe story: I went to college in Springfield, SD, along the Missouri River. One fall evening, during a conversation at Ye Olde Tap Club, a group of us college students convinced a student named Donovan that he would be a good candidate for a snipe hunt. Being typical college students, we packed up about 2 carloads of snipe hunt enthusiasts, Donovan and a pillow case, and headed down on the bottoms by the river, where the trees and undergrowth were thick. Someone showed Donovan the finer techniques of snipe calling and how to catch them with the pillowcase. So off he heads into the darkness, calling the snipe, while the rest of us casually discuss his snipe hunting techniques. Then we lost Donovan. We fanned out in groups and covered a lot of brushy forest in the dark trying to find him. No luck. We all made it back to the cars and panicked. While discussing who was going to go find the town cop- who was usually pretty intoxicated this late at night- and who was going to have to call the sheriff, Donovan showed up out of the dark. He was all scratched up and dirty, and he was covered with bird poop and pine needles. In the pillowcase he had a bird. As he explained it, he had to climb up and pine tree, and pretty much ambush a group of birds on a branch. When he jumped at the birds to get one in the pillowcase, he fell down into some juniper bushes, but he got his snipe to show the crowd. In front of car headlights, he slowly opened the bag to show us a very disgruntled grackle. Then we all went back to Ye Olde Tap Club for refreshments.
No, I never had the pleasure of being taken snipe hunting.
Johnny
Murphy Siding Murray edblysard The thing with Jackalopes is ya can’t barbeque them or chicken fry them, ya have to stew them… Ed, there are two BIG critters that like to relax in the shade between the building that I work in, and the parking lot. As I am walking to my car in the afternoon, he sees me...he says "howdy" and I say "howdy" I go on my way. They don't even run away.... Are they woozles, or hephalumps?
Murray edblysard The thing with Jackalopes is ya can’t barbeque them or chicken fry them, ya have to stew them… Ed, there are two BIG critters that like to relax in the shade between the building that I work in, and the parking lot. As I am walking to my car in the afternoon, he sees me...he says "howdy" and I say "howdy" I go on my way. They don't even run away....
edblysard The thing with Jackalopes is ya can’t barbeque them or chicken fry them, ya have to stew them…
Ed, there are two BIG critters that like to relax in the shade between the building that I work in, and the parking lot.
As I am walking to my car in the afternoon, he sees me...he says "howdy" and I say "howdy" I go on my way. They don't even run away....
Are they woozles, or hephalumps?
Remember, if you build a heffalump trap and bait it with honey, do not sample the bait before leaving it in the trap, for you may like it so much you get your head stuck in the jar and you will frighten your friends who come by to see if a heffalump has been trapped.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
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Well Charlie Brown. Don't step on Linus while he is sitting in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin!
What fun! Except for the weather!
Gee Spend the day in the pumpking patch and see all I missed!
It was a wet, miserable day. At least it let up when the train arrived, for the most part, so the passengers didn't get soaked.
Very glad for my enclosed canopy and propane heater It was a balmy +70F inside as I listened to the raindrops fall. It was when I had to go outside to greet the passengers and then restock the patch to replace the pumpkins they took that wasn't so much fun...
Got to meet the owner of the site the former MOW buildings there which have been in his family for three generations. Pretty cool.
I'll be back in the patch tomorrow and even more glad of my heater, as temps are supposed to drop here overnight.
evening
was able to get out a bit today.Saw a rainbow in the west this morning.(we usually see them in the east after an afternoon thunderstorm). Ma nature might freeze us tonight. Heard csx dispatcher trying to get things moving again.Going to see if the Irish have any luck in Florida.Tomorrow it's church and Sunday school.
From that information, it seems we have plains bison. We'll just call them buffalo, so no one gets them confused with their eastern cousins. Until now, I never knew there was a wood bison.
Murphy Siding[snipped - PDN] Is there a difference between an American woods type bison and a plains buffalo? . . .
For more info - apaprently better than mine or my memory - see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_bison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bison
http://www.hww.ca/en/species/mammals/north-american-bison.html
http://www.canadianbison.ca/consumer/Nature/conservation_success.htm
http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/bison/bison.htm
http://www.fws.gov/alaska/fisheries/endangered/pdf/wood_bison/faq.pdf
- Paul North.
Mookie Someone will need to tell Murphy what a tourist is... Moo....
Someone will need to tell Murphy what a tourist is...
Moo....
Murphy Siding Deggesty Do you have any jackalopes there? I have never seen a live one, but I have seen several mounted for sale in Evanston, Wyoming. Several years ago, as I was on my way to Chicago, a coach attendant said that we should be on the lookout for herds of jackalopes (none showed; perhaps the train frightened them). The man sitting beside me had never heard of them, so I felt obliged to describe them--body like that of a jackrabbit with antlers like those of a pronghorn. The Jackalopes all seem to live out near Wall Drug.
Deggesty Do you have any jackalopes there? I have never seen a live one, but I have seen several mounted for sale in Evanston, Wyoming. Several years ago, as I was on my way to Chicago, a coach attendant said that we should be on the lookout for herds of jackalopes (none showed; perhaps the train frightened them). The man sitting beside me had never heard of them, so I felt obliged to describe them--body like that of a jackrabbit with antlers like those of a pronghorn.
Do you have any jackalopes there? I have never seen a live one, but I have seen several mounted for sale in Evanston, Wyoming. Several years ago, as I was on my way to Chicago, a coach attendant said that we should be on the lookout for herds of jackalopes (none showed; perhaps the train frightened them). The man sitting beside me had never heard of them, so I felt obliged to describe them--body like that of a jackrabbit with antlers like those of a pronghorn.
The Jackalopes all seem to live out near Wall Drug.
And I'd bet some of the tourists believe they are real.
Norm
We had one wander into town many, many years ago. It ended up mounted on the wall of a popular steak house. Guess it scared all the rest into not wandering into our town!
Murphy Siding I don't know that I can recall just exactly how my college professors wore their hair, but there were a few that had buffalo breath. I suppose next you're going to tell me that we really don't have antelope either. Oh give me a home where the bison roam and the deer and the pronghorn play Nah......I don't think so.....
I don't know that I can recall just exactly how my college professors wore their hair, but there were a few that had buffalo breath. I suppose next you're going to tell me that we really don't have antelope either. Oh give me a home where the bison roam and the deer and the pronghorn play Nah......I don't think so.....
Paul - They used to have a Jack and a Jennie. They got rid of them many years ago and that park has never been the same for me. But I did enjoy the elk - which have disappeared. I think getting this close to cold weather, they have moved the animals around and now the bison that were way out on the horizon are now in pens closer to the "ranch" and the Elk, I hope, are just over the hill in another set of pens we can't see. Maybe a privacy issue for the females? Or not....
My understanding is there are no buffalo in the USA. They are all bison. Africa and Asia have the buffalo that part their hair in the middle. Ours look like they should carry a shotgun and sing for ZZTop and the true buffalo looks like he should be wearing a bowtie and teach @ university. (you didn't see my college professors!)
Paul_D_North_Jr Funny coincidence - one of our Lehigh County parks just a few miles west of us - the Trexler Game Preserve (1,100+ acres, almost 2 square miles) - is well-known for its herd of bison (American woods type) - Paul North.
Funny coincidence - one of our Lehigh County parks just a few miles west of us - the Trexler Game Preserve (1,100+ acres, almost 2 square miles) - is well-known for its herd of bison (American woods type)
Murphy Siding Mookie Another successful 2.5 hours trackside. 21 locomotives - 2 of them CSX. Moving a lot of them around since DE came in with 6 on the headend, headed west. And a lot of grain moving back and forth. I heard they are just about done with harvesting in some areas, so this didn't surprise me. Went to look at the bison/geese/ducks at a local park. Couldn't find the Elk but did see a red-tailed hawk sitting on a fence post right in front of Millie's nose. He didn't seem too concerned about us. And while I was watching an eastern bluebird on a fence with binoculars, he was watching me thru the other end. No, Murphy - I had the binoculars, not him! Score one for Mookie! Life is good! Chilly, but good! Yes, yes. Tell me more about the bison and the elk in the park. Are they usually there, floating along with the geese and ducks?
Another successful 2.5 hours trackside. 21 locomotives - 2 of them CSX. Moving a lot of them around since DE came in with 6 on the headend, headed west. And a lot of grain moving back and forth. I heard they are just about done with harvesting in some areas, so this didn't surprise me. Went to look at the bison/geese/ducks at a local park. Couldn't find the Elk but did see a red-tailed hawk sitting on a fence post right in front of Millie's nose. He didn't seem too concerned about us. And while I was watching an eastern bluebird on a fence with binoculars, he was watching me thru the other end. No, Murphy - I had the binoculars, not him! Score one for Mookie! Life is good! Chilly, but good!
Another successful 2.5 hours trackside.
21 locomotives - 2 of them CSX. Moving a lot of them around since DE came in with 6 on the headend, headed west. And a lot of grain moving back and forth. I heard they are just about done with harvesting in some areas, so this didn't surprise me.
Went to look at the bison/geese/ducks at a local park. Couldn't find the Elk but did see a red-tailed hawk sitting on a fence post right in front of Millie's nose. He didn't seem too concerned about us. And while I was watching an eastern bluebird on a fence with binoculars, he was watching me thru the other end. No, Murphy - I had the binoculars, not him!
Score one for Mookie!
Life is good! Chilly, but good!
Yes, yes. Tell me more about the bison and the elk in the park. Are they usually there, floating along with the geese and ducks?
http://www.lehighcounty.org/trexlernaturepreserve
http://www.lehighcounty.org/Community/TrexlerNaturePreserve/PhotoGallery/tabid/1508/Default.aspx - image 8 of 17
http://www.lehighcounty.org/Departments/ParksAndRecreation/OurParks/TrexlerPreserve/tabid/462/Default.aspx
http://www.lvzoo.org/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/trexler-lehigh-county-game-preserve-schnecksville
A running joke in our family is how (quite) a few years ago we took a camping trip to Michigan (northern part of the lower peninsula) to see elk - of course, we saw none while there (Petoskey area and easterly). Not only are there elk at the Trexler Game Preserve, but there's a pretty good-sized herd in north-central Pennsylvania, near the town of Benezette (not far from the Buffalo Line and Keating Summit on the ex-PRR/ PC/ ConRail, now NS).
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
I still don't know what went wrong, but I think it might have had something to do with either Java or drivers. Or fat fingers somewhere. Only Driver I want to mess with sits downstairs and is connected to a tv a lot of the time.
Even our iPad went haywire today. It must be an electronic virus that is airborne! iPad was something to do with the battery and was corrected with plugging it in for a couple of minutes.
Norm - my usual fix-it-place-we-do-house calls said it would be 3 weeks before he could get to my problem and I would have to bring the whole studio puter to him. (When pigs and BNSF fly!) So I called a little known place that looked pretty competent on paper and they were here in about 2 hours. Took that 12 year old looking young man about 20 min and it was all fixed!
My now new fix-it-and-make-house calls-place.....
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