Hello everyone! Sorry to have been absent for a few days, but this has been a week full of unexpected interruptions and confusion. The biggest is my Mother's insistance on living alone at 90 yrs. old and experiencing dizzy spells. We had her in the hospital for tests that didn't find anything, but I did get it out of her that even though she gives herself insulin shots, she doesn't check her sugar levels. She said that she can tell. Hmmm! Well, anyhow the wife and I managed to talk her into at least having "Home Health Care" which means a nurse and therapist will be coming by each week to help her learn to do things easier and of course we always keep close tabs and visits with her. She refuses to live with us and insist that a retirement home is for old and sick people and in her mind it would be the end of it all. Guess this is something we all have to face one day.
The wife had a very traumatic experience Friday when coming back from my Mother's place. As she was getting ready to pull out of the Neighborhood, several fire trucks and ambulance entered. They were immediately followed by two Sheriff's cars that blocked the entrance. Each deputy jumped out of their cars and drew there pistols at a guy in a side grassy area. She heard a shot, but didn't see what happened. When she was allowed to move forward, there was a man lying dead in the grass. No, he hadn't been shot by the Deputies, but when he saw the deputies coming he pulled a gun and shot himself. He had been running after shooting and wounding his girlfriend. Wow!
So, you see that just these couple of things have had my life upside down for this week. Needless to say, I didn't get any train work done. Guess I need to get CJ back over here to get me fired back up.
Fergie: Sorry that I just now saw your post about tweaking the sounds of your Tsunami's. Do you still need help with this or have you managed to figure it out? I am far from an expert with this, but I have been down this road with mine. The best advice I can give you right now is to download and print-out the "Steam Sound Users Guide" from the Soundtraxx site. If you can't do this then open it up on your computer and study the "Step 8: Advanced Programming ", page 50, for a starter. This will make remarkable differences in your steam sounds. Don't forget that the Tsunami has an equalizer that wil make huge differences in
all sounds by better matching your speaker installation with the decoder.This info is on page 37.
I would highly recommend that you read this manual from "A" to "Z" because there are so many options to choose from. Then we can get together if you want and see about clearing up any questions about it.
CJ: Don't leave any wires dangling loose. If you do, the electrons will fall out of the wire and get all over the floor. They are very slippery. At least put a bucket under the wires.
Steve: That is a heck of an allergy to have, but at least they discovered it. Yeah, 52 cars is a lot and very impractical, but it was fun. This was all on the flats of the layout and I doubt that just two engines would have pulled it up to the next level. I was expecting a coupler to pop, but they all held well.
RT: Glad that you are back ok and on the mend. Yes, we all would be in bad trouble without insurance, but I do object to the rediculous charges that hospitals and Doctors have. (I know, we don't have much of a choice.)
