Afternoon, everyone.
Bob, I can sense a combination of the Holiday blues and being generally pissed off with the way things have gone this year. Can't say as I blame you, especially with what you've been through. I hope you'll just take some time and think about it. As others have said, we need people with your experience in the hobby and, I suspect, you need the hobby in some form. Maybe a small switching layout or something just to keep your hands in it without trying to rebuild an empire. Don't worry about the direction of the hobby. For guys our age, we'll be running that Big Railroad in the Sky. There's a younger generation coming behind us that will deal with things, just like we did when we were the young pups. Have a Merry Christmas and we'll hope for a better and more hopeful New Year.
Jeffrey, sounds like you should be giving design modifications to the wound sucker maker.
David, interesting post. Some of those are urban legends (like the graveyard shift), but a lot of them are a good exposition of how we arrived at terms we still use today. I like your waybill system. With e-mail, it could be done very easily.
Rex, don't plant winter rye but I have noticed that all the fire ant mounts are surrounded by green grass while the rest of the yard is brown. I wonder what the deal is with that? I have never, ever, started a model railroad project and had everything on hand I actually needed to complete it. I keep think that I'll figure all this out one day but, after 40 years, I guess I won't.
Matt, I can remember the days when 28 degrees felt warm. I just prefer not to experience any of those days now. You get to be a wimp when you get older.
Corey, three inches of snow in Minnesota in December is like a trace, isn't it?
I hope it doesn't start piling up. Nice to have people admire your modeling work, especially your dad.
Chris, are you like Johnny Appleseed, scattering rye grass from yard to yard.
Karl, you were lucky it only took your widdle finger to get the door open. Pretty impressive pile of snow after you were done plowing though.
Barry, I love that Superior Bakery/Weekly Herald kit. I think that kit has to be near 40 years old now and it still has some of the best molded brick detail of anything made today. I just couldn't resist digging up a Weekly Herald kit for my layout, even though it's way too big for the amount of space I have.
Terry, Quartzsite is the RV mecca of the world. Between cheap labor and that huge swap meet, you can get any RV part ever made and get it installed for almost nothing. I got my front sway bars replaced for less than $100 installed when I was there with my rig. I've still got a small leak in mine that I have to track down. It's right up at the front and I suspect it's probably a clearance light that has a deteriorated seal. I've taped every other seam so there's not really any other place for it to leak. I'll pull them all, replace the bulbs, and re-seat them with silicone.
Dan, my basement is the walk-out variety so one wall is exposed to the weather. It's a south wall, good for winter, not so good for summer. It's surprising how constant the temperature stays. It has two windows, with a window A/C unit in each one. I need the A/C in the summer to keep the humidity down. One of the units is a heat pump also, and it can heat the whole basement without a problem.
It was finally a sunny day all day today. The high was 54 with no wind so it felt more like Alabama again. It only got down to 34 last night but we had some fog that turned into ice fog for about an hour. It was a common site in Nevada, but it's the first time I've seen it here. It's pretty, sparkling off the street lights. Not so much fun to drive in though. One more day of nice weather and then we'll get a bout of rain and maybe some severe storms. There's going to be a good rush of cold air Christmas night and it will be a battle to see if the moisture leaves before the cold air gets here. If things come together right, Santa might be able to get his sleigh out of the mud and back on snow, so he can start working on next year's list.
