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Chatterbox Summer 2016

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, August 25, 2016 1:18 AM

JoeKoh
We saw a tornado drop and head east for napoleon after the storm had passed.

I was checking the radar last night to see what might be in store for us and noticed several areas of tornado watchs and warnings.  

Power company is supposed to be doing a major project here today - moving a pole.  Might sound easy, but there's a lot involved.  We'll see what the system looks like when it gets here after crossing the lake.

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

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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, August 25, 2016 3:52 PM

Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.

(1) It was announced yesterday that Amtrak is starting Ski-Train service between DUS and Winter Park on the weekends this winter. Nobody has yet explained why this is Amtrak and not Iowa Pacific (Ed Ellis' bunch) - what evolved?

(2) Got pulled into a project in HoustonEd's backyard and will probably be chugging Excedrin like candy. It is amazing how certain industry engineers will buck the system to avoid dealing with the railroad design criteria and practices learned the hard way. 

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 Paul of Covington on Thursday, August 25, 2016 4:36 PM

mudchicken
Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.

   Take some of ours, please.   All the flooding in the news is just west of here, but we're still getting rain every day.   I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks; the mower sinks into the soft mud down to the axles.

_____________ 

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Posted by Norm48327 on Thursday, August 25, 2016 4:50 PM

Paul of Covington

 

 
mudchicken
Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.

 

   Take some of ours, please.   All the flooding in the news is just west of here, but we're still getting rain every day.   I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks; the mower sinks into the soft mud down to the axles.

 

Sheep and goats. Wink

Norm


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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, August 25, 2016 5:35 PM

Paul of Covington
I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks;

I didn't have to mow my back yard for a month, and did so the other day more to even out what has grown than because it needed it.  Even the weeds are dying off...

We keep getting teased - promising weather systems come across from the west, but are killed off by Lake Ontario (kills the lift necessary for rain, etc).  Areas north and south of us get rain - we get sprinkles, if that.  Got .03" of wet stuff this morning...

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 Thursday, August 25, 2016 6:22 PM

evening

Ns stack train was gone today.Power companies and people are still cleaning up the mess from yesterday.Met with Matt's teachers at his open house.Better tune in the football game.Tomorrow is Friday.

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 Deggesty on Thursday, August 25, 2016 8:30 PM

Norm48327

 

 
Paul of Covington

 

 
mudchicken
Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.

 

   Take some of ours, please.   All the flooding in the news is just west of here, but we're still getting rain every day.   I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks; the mower sinks into the soft mud down to the axles.

 

 

 

Sheep and goats. Wink

 

Or a cow, and train her not to leave the yard. A friend of ours, who lived on a rural highway, had his front yard kept neat by his cow, who never went onto the highway. Thus, you get milk from your grass.Smile

Johnny

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Posted by mudchicken on Friday, August 26, 2016 12:34 PM

So much for painting the kitchen department:

First it was the scottie pup with white spots that had to be under the ladder. Now it's the cat stepping in a paint spot on the dropcloth and then taking off with the painted paw all across the hardwood floors. (two hours of "cleanup on aisle 3" ... not gonna even try to clean up the fur between the paw pads on the Somali cat. Not into getting fang-ed,)

And in the news today was word of a TIGER grant for one of my old nightmares, the crossing at Rosecrans & Marquardt in Santa Fe Springs, CA. One of the dumbest intersection designs EVER that never should have happened, but California PUC allowed it. To be replaced by a bridge with a HUGE $15M price tag. Spent way too many nights at that place after some local did something really dumb there (City Traffic Engineers even got stupid there, TWICE) , often assisted by alcohol. Good riddance!

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 Murphy Siding on Friday, August 26, 2016 12:54 PM

 

We have an electronic gizmo and a suitcase full of paint chips at work. You use the gizmo to match some existing color to a paint chip sample in the suitcase. My son borrowed the set-up when he did some painting at home.  He was intrigued by the gizmo and used it  to determine what color his dog is.  That information might come in handy if he needs to touch up the dog.

 

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, August 26, 2016 7:09 PM

evening

went into town tonight.Csx sent an eastbound autorack train.Mowed the swamp here too.Moron that drug a tree  up from the creek said he would cut it up for firewood this weekend.It is along the woods edge now so i didn't have to mow around it.Going to go check to see how the local teams are doing in football.Work newsletter also annouced that next week that NS will be putting up crossing gates uptown.Will need a slight detour at work.

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 zugmann on Friday, August 26, 2016 7:25 PM

Murphy Siding
That information might come in handy if he needs to touch up the dog.

That's usually frowned upon in polite society.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 7:45 AM

Woo Hoo!  Two thirds of an inch of rain (and it's till coming down)!  That's the most we've had in one rainfall all summer - previous (rare) rainfall has been at a tenth of an inch or less.  All summer, it's gone north of us, it's gone south of us, but it's finally raining here!

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 Paul of Covington on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:18 AM

   Woo Hoo!   Two consecutive days without rain, and they're forecasting relatively dry days the rest of the week.   By the week-end the ground might be firm enough to knock down some crawfish chimneys and mow the back yard.

_____________ 

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Posted by Mookie on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:34 AM

Paul of Covington
crawfish chimneys

Paul - we do have crawfish here in Nebraska, but you must enlighten me on the chimney part.  

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:48 AM

Up to better than eight tenths of an inch.  

County highway did a project on my neighbor's property and "hydroseeded" the area afterwards.  With no rain, it just turned as brown as the surrounding grass.

I can almost see it turning green...

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 Paul of Covington on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 11:02 AM

Mookie
 
Paul of Covington
crawfish chimneys

 

Paul - we do have crawfish here in Nebraska, but you must enlighten me on the chimney part.  

 

  

   When the ground gets saturated, they start piling mud into a hollow mound so they can get above the water.   I've seen them almost a foot tall, but this one is about three or four inches.

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 11:29 AM

Ambulance currently being dispatched for an individual struck by lightning about 20 miles from here...

It's a tiny cell, all things considered, but Blitzortung (lightning monitor) shows a lot of recent activity there.

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 CShaveRR on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 2:21 PM

Yesterday we had a scoot struck by lightning on the UP North line.  It took a while for the line to get back to normal, but I don't have any details of what happened or what the consequences of the strike were.

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 Wednesday, August 31, 2016 2:52 PM

Paul of Covington
When the ground gets saturated, they start piling mud into a hollow mound so they can get above the water.   I've seen them almost a foot tall, but this one is about three or four inches.

Very cool!  Thank you!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, September 1, 2016 7:07 AM

CShaveRR

Yesterday we had a scoot struck by lightning on the UP North line.  It took a while for the line to get back to normal, but I don't have any details of what happened or what the consequences of the strike were.

 
I was still trying to figure that one out.  I have heard of lightning strikes on the South Shore and Illinois Central that caused major problems, but nothing like the one at Rogers Park the other day.
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 mudchicken on Thursday, September 1, 2016 1:26 PM

Hoping PDN's rubber duck survives the next few days. TD-9 (TS9 now) is doing it's thing to Florida. Just got out of there before the airport came to a halt. I assume the Trains Tribe escaped before me.

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 zugmann on Thursday, September 1, 2016 8:33 PM

mudchicken
Hoping PDN's rubber duck survives the next few days. TD-9 (TS9 now) is doing it's thing to Florida. Just got out of there before the airport came to a halt. I assume the Trains Tribe escaped before me.

Only benefit is that if it does hit, it's a holiday weekend, so a lot of operations will already be curtailed.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Thursday, September 1, 2016 11:18 PM

CShaveRR

Yesterday we had a scoot struck by lightning on the UP North line.  It took a while for the line to get back to normal, but I don't have any details of what happened or what the consequences of the strike were.

Chicago and lightning, a familiar topic.  Riding an AA F100 climbing out of O'Hare when said plane received a strike to the starboard wing.  Blinked the cabin lights and left a dandy blackish spot on the wing that I saw deplaning in Dayton.

I wonder what mischief the scoot strike did to signal circuity.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, September 2, 2016 6:30 AM

Lightning does very strange things.  Did you hear about Norway that  just lost over 300 endangered raindeer to a lightning strike ?. 

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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, September 2, 2016 3:38 PM

afternoon

Computer had a bug.Now de bugged.Gave hugs in town.Classmate hasn't seen me since high school.He's amazed at what has changed while he's California dreamin.Work done until next Tuesday.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 JoeKoh on Saturday, September 3, 2016 10:44 PM

Another beautiful day.Went to Deshler.Coal loads and empties going east and west.Had a surprise switcher riding along q 393.Tomorrow it's off to G+G 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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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 7:41 AM

I was able to get out to exercise the camera yesterday and had a pretty good outing.  Unfortunately, summer had one last blast yesterday (upper 80's with high humidity) and I went through a lot of fluids even after I got home just to recover.  Definitely worth the discomfort, though.

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 CShaveRR on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 10:59 AM

I think the "last blast" is continuing today and tomorrow.  I get to go out in it today--walking to and from my physical therapist's appointment (a train ride will break up the walk in both directions), with the heat index near 100.  


Cancer report:  despite removal of my prostate, it ain't over yet--it also spread to lymph nodes, and might still be lurking in spite of the fact that they took out some bad nodes in the surgery.  That has the unfortunate effect of classifying it as "Stage IV", at least preliminarily.  In a couple of weeks we'll know whether or not they did get all of it, and, if not, the method of treatment to be used (chemo, radiation, or hormone therapy).  I have a little recovery to do from the surgery yet, the PT will help with some of the issues, and the rest is just a matter of time.  Walks and train-watching are the best therapy (no bike-riding or lawn-mowing allowed just yet).

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 Deggesty on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 11:07 AM

Carl, I am sorry to hear of the possible complications of your difficulty. I hope that radiation will not be necessary, for that may lead to other difficulties (I write from experience). Chemotherapy was, towards the end, botherssome, but I know of no aferects.

Johnny

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 11:31 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH
I went through a lot of fluids even after I got home just to recover. 

It's amazing how dry you can get, and how quickly.  Been there.

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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