Coffee Shop XXXIII 06/21/12


SoCal wants to be the midwest! Yesterday it was in the 90s most of the day and then we got rain for most of the evening. Reminded me of my days in Chicago.
 
By Rybcon:

SoCal wants to be the midwest! Yesterday it was in the 90s most of the day and then we got rain for most of the evening. Reminded me of my days in Chicago.
Not this year! Here in Central Illinois, there are some corn fields that will not produce anything, not even weeds. It's extremely dry and we've had very high temps with too many days over 100 degrees. The highest I've seen on our "weather station" has been 107 in the shade and humidity levels in the mid thirty to mid forty percent range.

There is no moisture in the ground so that has kept the humidity very low. I lived in Mesa, AZ for six years and this is very close to how it felt there. When the wind does blow it's a hot dry breeze. Only consolation is if you are wet (sweaty) you do cool off somewhat quickly. Then you start the baking process all over again.:eek:
 
Jeffrey, your new york central paint jobs on the F-units looks awesome!

Mike
I didn't paint those. They came to me like that. I don't think Bachmann carries them anymore. Since the photos were taken I've put a black line through the 'New York Central' logos on both units in preparation for patching.
 
Well I'm back online for now. We've been having storms and power outages all day with some storms being particularly nasty. I called the pharmacy a little while ago to see if my prescriptions have been updated. They haven't. I called the docs office again and again nobody ever picks up the phone. Maybe they've been closed the last few days? I have no idea what's going on there. I need those meds, especially the insulin which I'm totally out of. The effects from not having it aren't pleasant to say the least. There are other effects which I'll not go into here suffice it to say my nerve function isn't good enough to allow me to work on models or anything else that requires a steady hand. I can't even handle a camera right now so I'm not even going to attempt working with decals. Running Bear sitting on the side watching TV and hoping I don't spill my drink.

Here;s a couple of old photos to look at.

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Time for me to call it a night. I didn't do any layout work today. My hands are too unsteady and I'm in quite a bit of pain. I did run a train for a while. Well actually I just let it run while I watched it go around the layout again and again. The GP35/SD27J/8-40B got the honors today. I didn't really feel like doing much in the way of moving cars around. Just the sound of the wheels on the rails was relaxing. Hopefully I'll be able to get at least a few hours of sleep. Rain is still falling off and on and more is expected tomorrow to the tune of at least 50%. It's so wet now that just thinking of going outside I can hear squishy footsteps. See y'all tomorrow.

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We got some rain this afternoon!!!:rolleyes: Got enough to make the sidewalks wet if they weren't under a tree! Supposed to have another chance tomorrow afternoon. Seems to be like playing the lottery.............you keep waiting for them to draw your number, but you just never win. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
Morning all!!
:D:D:D:D

Was going to paint the deck and/or cut the grass, but its raining . Should be done soon, but then its gotta dry.:(
Oh well
Free tip of the day!! Now some of us "serious" types may admit to it, but I'll be a good many of us have either owned or still do own a Tyco Chattanooga steam engine. Yeah, tender drive piece o junk.:eek: Nice huh?:rolleyes: Don't chuck it, rework it!:D
Remove the smoke unit and chuff guts, put a constant lighting kit if DC, or just a 16 volt bulb if you run DCC, add a regular non powered tender, and repaint for your favorite road. Now you have a dummy steamer that works great double heading, or as a mid train or end of train helper!!
See!! Gems from the junk box!!
 

Free tip of the day!! Now some of us "serious" types may admit to it, but I'll be a good many of us have either owned or still do own a Tyco Chattanooga steam engine.
Never had one of those but I did at one point have a Tyco 2-8-0 Royal Blue. It was tender drive. It had a horrible little pancake motor that screamed like a banshee. I took the body off the tender and chucked the drive. The drive was replaced with the drive from a small switcher. I got rid of that one many years ago. Last year I came into possession of another tender drive steamer, a Pemco 2-6-0 Southern Mogul. It has the original pancake drive (much bigger and robust than the Tyco trash) and runs very well.

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Good morning. It's 73° and a bit damp here. The high will be 85° and there's a fair chance of showers and thunderstorms.
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Today will be a do-nothing day for me as I've already broken two freight cars while putting them away. You don't even want to know what my blood sugar reading was this morning. Let's just say it was high enough to get me depressed and there's no danger of a crash. Right now I'm watching a train travel around the layout, same motive power as last night. Later I'll switch them off and and put on the two FT's.

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Good morning folks.

It's another hot, humid day in Southern Minnesota. Every summer I'm reminded why I prefer fall! I know fall means winter is just around the corner, but this heat makes me feel loopy! We're going to the Twins game tonight so I'm hoping the temps are in the low 80's by the time the game starts.

My new old Mantua chassis is on it's way. I just hope it's in decent condition. When it gets here I'll combine my current one with the new one and hopefully get a well running steamer out of it. If not, this baby will become a shelf queen!

Have a good weekend everyone.
 
Jeffrey

Call 911 for help!!
They and the sheriff's dept called me. They agree with the steps I'm taking and said to call if I need help. I've located an emergency supply of Lantus insulin and I'm going to check it out now. If it's not too old I'll be able to use it.

Thanks for your concern. It's appreciated.
 
Your welcome Jeffrey,
I didn't know how else to get in touch or just how bad off you might be so I call 911 and they put me through to the Vernon Parish Sheriff's dept and then I was trying to recall the directions to your location and the darn map of your area took about 30 minutes to finally come up.

The Sheriff's dept there was very understanding and helpful. I'm glad I had a cell phone as I had to call them about six times trying to help them to find you but all I could remember, or at least I think I did, was that you lived on a loop near Lake Vernon and when the deputy mentioned Ford Stewart Rd. that rang a bell as I told them it was not too far North of Leesville.

Any way they found you and your Ok!
 
Time for me to call it a night. I thought I had found an emergency supply of insulin. Upon check the date on it I found it had expired in 2010. No way am I using that. The lack of insulin doesn't bother me greatly. I can control the levels through diet though it makes for a fairly bland diet. The ting that bugs me most is not having the meds to control my nerve reactions. I have a hard time holding onto little things and keeping my hands steady, well as steady as I can. I don't dare work on anything electronic. One twitch and there could be an inch long line of solder across the work:(. Same thing for working on something with sharp edges. I don't use things like X-acto knives and razor saws unless I absolutely don't have a choice. I usually find a way around using them. Those worn down Dremel disks come in quite handy. I have pillows placed along the wall side of my bed so I don't kick the fire out of the wall when one of my legs twitch while I'm asleep. I kicked it so hard one time the DVD rack pulled loose of the wall and I woke up covered in DVD cases:eek:. That's when I started placing pillows along that side of the bed.

See y'all tomorrow.

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Good Mornin'

We are supposed to get some showers and those ol' t'underin'boomers today...I know one thing...it will be dull dull dull...:confused::rolleyes:

huh...right now it is saying we ar getting showers but I see nothing around here..maybe it is evaporating before it hits the ground...:eek:
 
Morning gang!

Weather hot, humid, rain predicted,,so far its just cloudy. Gonna cut the grass before it rains, then take the Mrs. out for some train store visitations then dinner. Who cares if it rains then!!
4 different stores in a 100 mile loop,, oughta burn up the afternoon!!:D
 



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