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Chatterbox spring

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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 6:52 PM

Big cracks filled up fast, then the really big crack that the ships use had a tide come in....no where for the bayous to empty into.

Flood stage on the bayous hit in 30 minutes...out of banks and into the homes of people dumb enough to live close to them.

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 6:07 PM

edblysard
Just check the photos….you would think people who lived here were smarter than this….

Carmax reports will be very valuable in the near future!

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Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 6:04 PM

edblysard

News cast just stated 5 1/2" of rain average over Harris county alone, which they worked out to equal 162 billion gallons of water fell, just in this county alone.

Told ya we had leftovers, Larry....

 

All those big cracks in the ground are long gone in Houston?

 

Water over road = stupid zone of the first order.l

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 5:25 PM

News cast just stated 5 1/2" of rain average over Harris county alone, which they worked out to equal 162 billion gallons of water fell, just in this county alone.

Told ya we had leftovers, Larry....

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 4:00 PM

And on a competely different note, for the first time I can recall in the 30+ years I've lived in this house, I'm not plagued by ants.  

Might be because I've pretty much eradicated the peonies around the house, or because I blocked off that bee's nest in my wall I discovered a couple of years ago (who knows how long it had been there - I only recently found it).  And it could be the cold spring.

Anyhow, I'm not complaining.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 3:37 PM
Just check the photos….you would think people who lived here were smarter than this….

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Posted by JoeKoh on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 3:24 PM

afternoon

Ns local was in town when I left work.Csx trains were waiting in Defiance due to trackwork.Got a couple showers already.Under a stormwatch.Chores to do.

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").

 

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 3:12 PM

edblysard

Uhh, how much do you need there Larry?

We got lots and lots to spare! 

Well, they say Lake Ontario is around a foot low.  That's 1,328,025,000 acre-feet,  432,738,274,275,000 gallons, or 3,202,263,229,635,000 cubic feet, more or less.  The St Lawrence River flows at 347, 849 cubic feet of water per second on average.

Just putting a foot of rain in the area of the lake would be too much, there'd be runnoff to deal with, too.  Eight inches of rain would probably fix the problem, as long as we didn't get too much flooding inland...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Norm48327 on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 2:41 PM

Ed,

On an aviation forum I made the comment that unless the folks living on Lake Conroe are living in Lake Conroe they don't have too much rain. Perhaps I should retract that. I've seen the news, and it doesn't look good down there. Embarrassed

Norm


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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 2:27 PM

Uhh, how much do you need there Larry?

We got lots and lots to spare!

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 10:11 AM

Usually people are asking us to send water to them - now it's us that can use the water.  Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River are both well below seasonal expectation - maybe even a foot.  This will have a serious effect on boating, as marinas can't dock some boats.

We've got showers and thunderbumpers as a possibility all week.  The last 24 hours have yielded about .17" of the wet stuff.  More would be welcome.  

At least we're not into serious vacation time.  Our kids are still in school, so family camping trips won't kick in for another few weeks.

Got a good shower overnight - that might help wash the "weed and feed" I spread last week into the ground.

Places to do, things to go...

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 9:50 AM

rvos1979
CSSHEGEWISCH

Sounds like you might do better with a DUKW than a Jeep, although Wisconsin Dells is a bit far off for you.

If not a DUKW, a good 6x6 should do the trick, there are plenty of them up for sale near Oshkosh.........

Neighbor up the street has a restored Duce & a Half!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by rvos1979 on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 9:32 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH

Sounds like you might do better with a DUKW than a Jeep, although Wisconsin Dells is a bit far off for you.

 

If not a DUKW, a good 6x6 should do the trick, there are plenty of them up for sale near Oshkosh.........

Randy Vos

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 7:11 AM

Sounds like you might do better with a DUKW than a Jeep, although Wisconsin Dells is a bit far off for you.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 5:59 AM
Rain gauge at White Oak Bayou, down the street from my house, showed 10” per hour, southwest Houston had 10 to 11 inches per hour, most of the bayous are way out of their banks….water came half way up my yard and stayed there all night.
Most of Downtown Houston is flooded, White Oak and Buffalo Bayous  meet at the north edge of downtown, and that is only a foot or two above sea level…all major freeways are closed, all school districts have closed.
Gonna be a fun commute, wish I had fixed the clutch in the Jeep last week, ah well, got my floaties and a thermos of coffee, guess I will head to work early.

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Posted by Mookie on Monday, May 25, 2015 10:14 PM

Driver always tells me that you must be very specific in what you wish for.....Right now I wish not to be in Texas!  Spit is just fine here!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by mudchicken on Monday, May 25, 2015 9:57 PM
Icebergs in the Ol' birdbath - Dead ahead! Stupid amounts of pea sized hail and heavy rain has track inspectors chasing raindrops and watching swollen creeks and rivers in all of Colorado. No more drought here.
Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by jeffhergert on Monday, May 25, 2015 1:31 PM

Although I don't doubt a deer or larger animal carcass could cause air hoses to part, I've never had it happen.  And I've hit many a deer.  (One young deer once crossed the tracks in front of us.  I blew the horn for it and instead of running off the ROW it turned and charged right at us.  We hit it.)

I usually do blow the horn for deer.  Many other crewmembers, especially those who ride motorcycles, would rather run them over.  While I don't like hitting them with my personal vehicle either (two run-ins with deer the last few years) I still think they deserve a chance.

I wouldn't big-hole the train for deer. 

If there was a train on the adjacent track, the deer might have been running and not thinking.  It seems most run in with deer I've had where they get hit, by train or auto, the deer are on the run, oblivious to their surroundings.  In my two auto accidents, both times the deer actually ran into us.  Totaled one car, caused repairable damage to the other.  When they are slowly walking they seem more aware of approaching danger.

Jeff

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Posted by JoeKoh on Monday, May 25, 2015 12:12 PM

afternoon

Mess in Fostoria today.Q 241 popped off then popped back on.They told q 200 to go to Toledo via the NW connection at Deshler.They have an R 324 and R 508 to use the connection too.R 324 took it's cars to the yard in Defiance and came back west of FC.The y101 also made moves at 3 stops west of FC as well.Going to see how Matt survied his camp out.Back to work tomorrow.

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").

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, May 25, 2015 9:40 AM

CShaveRR


Scariest moment of the trip to date:  our train went into emergency while we were passing a freight laden with crude-oil tanks.  That train kept moving, though, and we started up again after a few minutes.  I was told that an air hose had separated; Pat was told that we'd hit a deer.  I tend to think the former:  would a deer be just one track away from another moving train?  And would the engineer have big-holed it after the strike?

SEMO coming in a few hours.

 

Passenger trains striking large animals frequently cause air hose separations, as the animal gets dragged under the train and knocks one or more air hose couplings apart; this also happens to freight trains.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, May 25, 2015 9:36 AM

Hi Carl.  Glad to made it through Texas OK. 

This is the most rain that I have seen here in the 16 years I've lived in Texas.  We have more storms predicted for today. 

Have a safe trip! Cowboy

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Posted by CShaveRR on Monday, May 25, 2015 9:05 AM

Murray...you didn't happen to see the seven-hour-late Sunset/Eagle yesterday at Alamo City, did you?  We were aboard (and still are...we should be in Illinois by now, and we just arrived Little Rock).

Our delays have been weather-related, according to the crews, and I guess that's true if you stretch it a bit.  Our first 3.5-hour hit was because blowing sand had blocked the platform track at Palm Springs, and we had to accommodate those passengers via taxis and a clear patch of ground at Indio, about 20 miles away.  Shouldn't have taken that much time, but it did, and we never got any back.

I didn't personally see any rough weather, because we fell asleep soon after El Paso.  (Had we been on time, I would have missed that lovely descent into the Rio Grande valley from New Mexico.)  I woke up again after Del Rio, and things looked pretty well soaked, and so...so green!  (They don't call California the Golden State for nothing!)  

I think it also rained trains during the night...every siding between Del Rio and San Antonio had one, and we had to make three operational stops along that line for them to get out of our way, and in one case, for us to get out of their way (we were in one CTC siding face-to-face with a manifest).  A fourth stop was made to relieve our crew, which had understandably died on the law...shoud have seen that coming when I saw a vulture in a treetop near one of our other stops!

After San Antonio, we were warned to expect flood problems around San Marcos, but we only saw some trucks (of the automotive variety) in the area.  The river was high, but the railroad was much higher.  I managed to stay awake to see the Tower 55 area of Fort Worth when we arrived there...and again as we backed out, aand once more as we headed off to Dallas on a different route.  (Love the alternating canopies on the station platforms in Dallas...trees actually stand next to short steel platform covers.)

I woke up this morning in time to see a neat Texas & Pacific station at Marshall, Texas, then slept again until Malvern, Arkansas.  The timtable says we were supposed to pass entirely through Arkansas under cover of darkness, but (again thankfully) I got to see UP's North Little Rock facility as we passed right by.  The DDA40X is sitting forlornly in one corner of the shop grounds...will we ever see it run again?  

Arkansas looks about like I expected it to--worn out and overgrown.  One word:  kudzu.  Water's still running high, and there were evidently branch-snapping winds of some sort north of North Little Rock.

Scariest moment of the trip to date:  our train went into emergency while we were passing a freight laden with crude-oil tanks.  That train kept moving, though, and we started up again after a few minutes.  I was told that an air hose had separated; Pat was told that we'd hit a deer.  I tend to think the former:  would a deer be just one track away from another moving train?  And would the engineer have big-holed it after the strike?

SEMO coming in a few hours.

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)

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Posted by Mookie on Sunday, May 24, 2015 8:09 PM

Barefoot - and I haven't even been able to get out of sweatshirts yet!  

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by edblysard on Sunday, May 24, 2015 7:13 PM
Serious redneck day…EF-1 tornado this morning, tailgating in your own driveway that night…gotta love Texas weather.

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, May 24, 2015 6:14 PM

Meanwhile, up here in the north woods, Saturday and Sunday were clear - hardly a cloud in the sky.  It was cool on Saturday (60's), but that didn't stop people from riding the train (or buying ice cream later than night - the ice cream stand was packed when I went by after a trip to the store).

Sunday was fantastic - sunny, temps in the 70's.  And plenty more riders for the train.  Nothing to complain about, other than we really do need the rain.  The lakes and rivers are all lower than normal - as low as we've seen this time of year in a while.

We don't need the heavy-duty stuff...

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day.  We'll get an early start here.  The local Legion has a lot of cemetaries to visit (including one on an island), plus a parade.  This year, they're starting with us, hence the early start.  They'll pay a brief visit to the FD for some coffee, etc. before moving on to their next destination.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by edblysard on Sunday, May 24, 2015 5:49 PM
EF-1 Tornado took out apartment complex with 100 mph winds, rained here on the east side for about an hour hard, then dropped off to that rain for 10 minutes, stop for half an hour, then rain for ten minutes, stop for…you get the picture.
Weather geeks says to expect a repeat tomorrow….

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Posted by Mookie on Sunday, May 24, 2015 5:27 PM

Murray -  Heard they had a tornado somewhere around Houston.  I seem to remember not that many years ago and the whole state of Texas was bone dry and couldn't get enough moisture together to spit.  

We have had spit and 60 degrees.  Kind of a limbo - no rain and no sun, ergo no warmth.  Must go check on Houston Ed & family.

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, May 24, 2015 11:37 AM

Good Morning from Alamo City everyone! Cowboy

We had really bad storms down here with torential rains from about 8:30 PM last night to about 3:00 AM this morning. 

Here in the city here we easily received up to 5 inches of additional rain.  Outlying areas, especially to the north and north west of us have reported rainfal in excess of 12 inches!

A lot of roads and highways are closed.  I-35 is under water in San Marcos.  Traffic is being detoured to the SH-130 Toll Road.

On the plus side, you should see how green my lawn is!  Cool

Enjoy your Sunday...and please be safe in this weather!!!!

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, May 22, 2015 8:03 PM

Scattered showers - and with a freeze warning on, well....  I'm wondering if we're skipping summer this year.

We're also very dry.  Both Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River are well below where they should be right now.

Out for an auto accident late this afternoon.  Got rained on, but that was followed by a double rainbow...  Nice!

Headed for the railroad for Saturday and Sunday.

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, May 22, 2015 7:30 PM

evening

caught up with the 2 trains that went westbound when I got off work at Butler Indiana.One went west the other turned left to go to Ft.Wayne.Ns has a mow train in the siding with a crane too.Looks like they were picking up ties.Found some intersting items too.Tomorrow it's chore day.Sunday it's G+G's house.

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").

 

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