Coffee Shop Number 16

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Good morning.

It's 64, extremely cloudy and very wet with rain still falling. The high should be around the mid 70's and there's a really good chance (guarantee actually) of major thunderstorm activity.

I rode out the storms yesterday with minimal damage. The trailer was struck by lightning at least once leaving me with a pair of severely rattled eardrums. The flash was so bright it lit the windows. Quite a feat since they're covered with 2 inches of expanding foam on top of black paint. I did that back in my days as a newspaper carrier and later a security guard, both of which required that I sleep by day and work by night. I worked graveyard for 15 years. There's no damage to the trailer or any of my electronic equipment though I would swear that I literally hit the ceiling. It's 3/8" plywood so it can take quite a smack. The only after effect (besides my ears ringing like gongs) was the metal window frames glowing a blueish white, a usually harmless display called St Elmo's Fire. I'll have to wait til sunrise to see what the damage outside is. My mother and my older sister were in Alexandria last night when the main part of the storm blew through. As far as I know they're alright. I'll find out for sure in a few hours. Hopefully today I will be uninterrupted and can get some layout work done other than a bit here and a bit there.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 4/18/2009


Wind Chill: 63°F
Humidity: 94%
Dew Point: 63°F

So Far Today
High: 65°F
Low: 64°F
Rain: 0.03"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 22mph NNE

Flash flood watch in effect through this evening.

Now through 06:30 AM CDT April 18, 2009

Scattered showers and possibly a thunderstorm will continue across the west central Louisiana through 6 AM. Across southeast Texas...the rainfall activity is forecast to end by 6 AM. Rainfall amounts are forecast to be less than one tenth of an inch.

Today High: 75 Showers and thunderstorms likely in the morning...then showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some thunderstorms may be severe with damaging winds. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Highs in the mid 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80 percent.

Tonight Low: 65 Showers and thunderstorms in the evening...then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Some thunderstorms may be severe in the evening. Locally heavy rainfall possible in the evening. Lows in the mid 60s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80 percent.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm18/forum-2/P4150090.jpg
 
wow, Jeff!

My tv antenna was hit by lightning quite a fewyears ago. ALL the lights in the house flashed blue,and the noise was unbelievable.

another day, two years ago, I was out bringing horses in when the hairs on my neck, arms.. literally stood up, there was a SNAP sound, and right after that EVERYTHING turned blue for a second, followed by the loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard.
scary stuff.


I opened the gate and let them all RUN for cover in the barn on their own.

which they did. we were all happy to be safe inside.

quick general question.

do they let you take pictures when you go to a model train show? I have fresh batteries in the camera.
 


Good Morning From FLORIDA!

Hey, it's Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the park is 30 miles away:D! Yes, the base capper is still a mystery:confused: Who? What? or just Why??:confused: It's kinda funny though. Jim the rubber base has metal spike which are molded in to the base then you make a form the size of the base and put a concrete base to the base:confused::o:) sounds confusing. But any who who, ripping the base off the ancor is easier than tring to dig the whole thing up and running a way with a 50# base. I know it was a prank cause a Home plate in good condition is only worth $20 http://www.sportsfanoutlet.com/cat.cgi?s=BBHPXXXXY new.........Ain't no reason to steal one......Now on the other hand 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base in new condition can fetch up to $100 for the set and new they are up to $300 per set http://www.sportsfanoutlet.com/cat.cgi?s=12905090 ! worth stealing and putting on flea bay:eek: those thank God are pulled up after the game and put away:):o Either way these goings on in all parks is common.....I just never heard of it being done in broad day light:confused: and a first for any one really stealing home!:mad::)
 
Good morning folks.

Though I don't agree with stealing, stealing home is pretty funny. I just think they should bring it back after the prank is done.

My sculptamold is drying nicely. I definitely like the texture that it leaves. Someones description of cottage cheese is fairly accurate as you apply it. I only wish I had time to finish it today. Maybe after I get home from work but before we go out. I could see where this stuff wold be expensive to use for a large area. I will end up using a 4lb. box for one area. What am I talking about? That cost me six dollars! :D Sometimes I think I lose perspective on what is expensive and what is cheap!

Good luck with the weather down south. We are praying for rain up here right now. There is a ban on burning because of dry conditions.

I hope you all have a great day!
 
Philip Teach the young man cars (no matter what the topic of discussion) and it may save you a late night "hey Dad, the car ................" phone call! Heck, even daughters should be taught the basics.

Yeah, those calls are never good!

He is being taught. He's got his focus more on basketball then cars though right now ( http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/12-07.jpg ). that'll probably change though as his abilities deteriorate (he has muscular dysrophy, hence the ankle braces in the pic.....the smallest braces he owns). We're rebuilding an '85 Camaro together now ( http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/IMG_0424.jpg ). She's a LONG way from done. We're building it for my wife, but he has high hopes of one day owning it. Who knows........

As for my daughter, she's pretty ( http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/dcp_3380.jpg )and she can change her own oil! Blew her last boyfriends mind when she changed the head gasket on his car because he didn't know how! Her and I built this '68 Camaro SS a few years ago: http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/C4.jpg That thing was a RUNNER too! http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/C.jpg
 
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We got more storms coming in! It's moving east and it's fast.

radar03.jpg
 
Dang, Phillip, how come I never met a girl like your daughter when I was her age? I'm lucky to have any of the women in my house notice if their tires almost completely flat let alone change any head gaskets. :) I'm sure that '85 will look good when it's done but that '68 Camaro is the all-time classic. Nothing but tons of horsepower to the rear wheels and the heck with everything else. Brings back lots of memories.

Whew, Jeffrey, I'm sure glad your trailer is well grounded. :eek: That would have scared the pants off me. I hope the rest of the family is OK. It looks like round two is about an hour away from your place as write this so don't go leaning against any walls.

LTF, sounds like you've had a few close calls with Mother Nature too. Just as an FYI, if your hair stands on end like that again, you have about a 75% chance of being hit by lightning in the next five seconds. Drop to the ground and spread out, so your body is in as much contact with the ground as possible. If you are struck, this gives the lightning multiple exit paths and makes it less likely that the strike will be fatal.

Bob, thanks and sorry about your FIL. That's one of the reasons I want Dianna's mom to get out of there ASAP. If you go into the hospital with a weakened immune system, you are open to attack from all these noscomial infections. Most of the staph lives only in health care facilities so the less time spent in them, the better. Unfortunately, open heart surgery isn't an outpatient procedure.

It's partly cloudy, warm, and the humidity is strangely low. The wind is from the south but the humidity is only 38%, not what one would expect with the south wind pumping up moisture from the Gulf. The barometer is starting to fall and the wind is picking up as the storms over Louisiana make their way east but they aren't doing much as they fall apart running into the dry air. We'll either have to really moisten up the atmosphere tonight or I don't think these storms are going to give us anything but a few rain showers. We'll see, since things can change really fast here.
 
Whew, Jeffrey, I'm sure glad your trailer is well grounded. :eek: That would have scared the pants off me. I hope the rest of the family is OK. It looks like round two is about an hour away from your place as write this so don't go leaning against any walls.
Interior walls are all wood, therefore non-conducting. Yes, all the family members got back home safe. We're all going out to the local steak house tonight. Round two of the storms is about to hit here.
 
Hey all...

I am getting ready to set up a HUGE fan and point it South. We have had non-stop rain for the past 3 days. Some areas just west of town have gotten over 30" of snow. I have to drive to Boulder around 5:00 tomorrow AM and am SO not looking forward to it!

This is the kind of afternoon where a nap is mandatory...sooooo I'm off to snooze! :rolleyes:

Sandy
 


A mug of the Colombian, Flo.

Gorgeous day today. But, it looks like rain to the southwest as I type. Rain is just crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois now and there looks like rain to the north and east.

Well, our little building spree went very well. The crew was fortunate to get 8 of the 11 modules ready for detailing, ballasting, and wiring. The air compressor kept up wit hall of the staple guns "tack-tack-tacking" waway. I will work on the yard this week on my own. EVERYONE steered claer of that part of the project.

All will be back next Saturday bright and early. A couple of them volunteered to bring some donuts. Another couple of guys are bringing their buddies along. We made excellent progress today and next week should be even better. I will get some more cardboard strips cut and will have to make a trip for plaster cloth. I have some HydroCal but will need some more I'm sure.

We will have a couple of guys installing decoders too. My soldering skills pale to some of these guys. Others will be soldering the leads to the rails and Radio Shack should have the plugs i ordered by next weekend also. Once I get the yard done, one of the guys will install the switch motors and tortoises. He has a plan that will allow us to use fewer drives.

The workshop, though small by some comparisons, proved more than adequate. I did have to move the table saw and a couple of other pieces of equipment. Plenty of room. The brats for lunch went over well too. Even though I did run out of horseradish.

Jeffrey, another round of blow and wet? You may wish you had more of it come the "dog dayz".

Jim, there were girls like that when we were young. We were too busy chasing the others.

Sandy, point the fans North and blow the cold stuff to Canada and bring some of the southern warm stuff up. Seems a better idea.

Well all the moose is done and the BOSS is a-ringin' the dinner bell. Time to feed the tapeworm.

Bob
 
point the fans North and blow the cold stuff to Canada
Bob, bite your tongue we had enough of cold and snow for this year :D
Besides I have to have the motorhome ready (big modifications being done) to go by the end of May.

Cheers
Willis
 
WHAT!!! SNO.......

PLEEEEEZE tell me it isn't coming this way. I can't face my winter boots or my winter coat, hat, scarfmittssnopants even one more time this season.

besides, I just got new tires for the truck. and they're NOT S*** tires.
 
The storms here aren't as bad as they were last night but they're just as wet and windy. The wind is really whipping the trees around. The white caps out on the lake are running high. Anybody out there is a pure D certified nut! We have gusts running from 20 to 40 mph.
 
DAR Luncheon and some work around the house. I am just getting a chance to check in.

I'll have more to say tomorrow about the day.
 
Evening, everyone.

Jeffrey, it looks like those storms are just hanging over your neck of the woods as they aren't making hardly any progress eastward. The radar is a little wonky but it looks like you have a secondary squall line developing just over the Texas border that should follow about the same path as the other storms. Might be a long night. :(

Bob, sounds like you guys really have it together. Maybe you should for a joint venture and build layouts for a business with the speed you're able to do all this work. I'm sure the donuts will help even more. :) You're probably right about the kinds of girls we chased in high school. Very few were under the hood of a car.

Sandy, that's going to be a tough drive to Boulder, assuming you can make it. Last I heard, the Boulder Expressway was closed by drifts and the CU weather station reported 27" of snow on the ground with more still coming down. You should check with CDOT before heading out. They've got the National Guard out trying to bring aid to stranded motorists and you don't want to join that crowd.

LTF, no worries for snow up your way. This is really a localized phenomena on the Front Range of the Rockies. April is actually the snowiest month in the Denver area. If anything gets to you, it will be all rain by the time it gets there.

Willis, I need to seal the cap seams on my motorhome with Eternabond tape. It's not difficult, just tedious to get everything cleaned up so the tape will stick. It's supposed to be pretty good stuff and I need it, since the seam are in bad shape and starting to leak.

Things are starting to moisten up a bit with a dewpoint of 52 but still far below where we need to be to get any real storms going. The wind has died down to calm and the barometer is up a few points. I have no idea what's going on although some of that energy will get here. How much remains to be seen.

For anyone who hasn't seen this, you have to see this video of a lady named Susan Boyle singing on a British talent show. I won't spoil it for you but you
WILL be flabbergasted. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. Click on it now and prepare to be amazed!
 
Wow!!! Up early this AM. Glad i filled the coffee maker last night. Just hit the button and it's brewing.

Just took one of the dogs out for a "nature call". Seems we have "pickle showers". You know the ones. Gentle rain, coming straight down..... Nice. So much for wetting line today. Gonna have to throw rocks at the rooster to wake him up in a bit.

Jim, I had the parts for the module frames already cut. I didn't want the guys standing around waiting for me to cut my fingers off. It was just a matter of cutting plywood for the track, structures and such. We use sabre saws for that. We did "borrow"
the better half's staple/nail gun. That gave us three to work with.

I had jigs for the legs and the supports. The radial arm saw made things a cinch. Slide and cut, slide and cut. I do have to get some more hinges for the legs. A trip to the hardware store to pick up some odds and ends.

I cut holes in the legs for the height adjustments using the router. All went really smoothly after we got started. We divided up into pairs and went at it. I was the odd man out and did the miscellaneous stuff. Cutting, drilling, routing, making sure we all had coffee......

I think the help enjoyed themselves. I know one that loved the better half's cooking. His wife passed away about three years ago. He's a HORRIBLE cook. She made homemade cookies and donuts for all. There were as many crumbs on the floor as there was sawdust. But all in all I was very pleased with the progress. There was some track laid so, I was very pleased with that. I'm thinking four Saturdays and we could be done. I've just got to get busy on the yard so that we can place switches and structures.

Angela's sisters have even volunteered to paint the backgrounds. These girls can paint!!! Quite the artists. The only thing I can draw is flies.

Well, too early to think too much. I'll be back after bit.

Bob
 


Good morning.

It's 65, cloudy and wet. It looks as though the high will be in the upper 70's and it will be partly cloudy.

Between power outages and tending to family needs I didn't get anything accomplished on the layout yesterday. The storm, while bad, wasn't quite as bad as the one of the previous day. Went out to dinner last night with my mother, sister and niece at the local steak house. At one point we thought we would have to leave there and get something to eat at home as the power all over that end of town went out. The outage lasted only a couple of minutes however and we continued our evening out. I had an 8 ounce sirloin and a 1/2 rack of BBQ ribs with small side salad which I enjoyed tremendously. The trip back home was relatively uneventful with the exception of the wind whipping through the trees and strewing limbs and leaves all over. I can just imagine the mess I'll be seeing upon the break of day.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 4/19/2009


Wind Chill: 65°F
Humidity: 95%
Dew Point: 64°F

So Far Today
High: 65°F
Low: 64°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 11mph NNE

Today High: 78 Partly cloudy until late afternoon then clearing. Highs in the upper 70s. South winds around 5 mph becoming west 10 to 15 mph by late morning.

Tonight Low: 52 Mostly clear. Cooler. Lows in the lower 50s. Northwest winds around 10 mph.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm18/forum-2/DSCN0853.jpg
 
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