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Good morning. It's 29 and a little cloudy. The weather guesser is saying it will be 60 and sunny today.

Had a good day yesterday and enjoyed being with the rest of the family. I've been going over the two MR related items I got. The boxcar will be losing it's roofwalk and the brake wheel will have to be moved down. The diner will require some minor repair work. The Home Health nurse will be coming out this afternoon to check my foot and change the vacuum dressing. That's all that is going on in my world today.

Here's a shot of the boxcar:
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/Running-Bear/PC260310.jpg

And some additional shots of the diner:
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/Running-Bear/PC260312.jpg

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/Running-Bear/PC260313.jpg

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/Running-Bear/PC260314.jpg
 
OK todays goal, pack up the christmas stuff, clean house, and mow my yard! If time allows Pressure wash the back patio! Ready.........Set...........................Gooooooooooo!
 
Good Morning--

We got a coating of heavy wet snow that is now all slippery and icy ---yay:rolleyes:

Audrey going with my sister boxing sales hunting---good thing I saved up the $$$$ for this'un!!:rolleyes:

Me? Going to fix a turnout that 'Spring' found had a point that was not seated properly---and he just had to pick the point.

Have a good one people--;):):)
 


Temp here is still below freezing. Postal tracking shows that my new Bachmann flatcars arrived at the Leesville post office this morning. Maybe they'll make it to my mail box today.
 
Morning, everyone.

Matt, I used to go sea kayaking off the northern California coast. The water temperature is never above 50 or so. I wore a 7mm wetsuit, booties, and hood. If you take a flip, your survival time in 50 degree water is about 20 minutes without protection. :eek: I'd hate to think about how long you'd last in near freezing water. Nice looking kayak, especially since you finally got the paddle. :)

William, glad to see you and hear you had a good Christmas with the family.

Sandy, those pictures out on the plains are about as bleak and cold as I can stand. Between the cold, the snow, and the wind, it has to be a pretty miserable existence in the winter. But, there's always Spring, and the coming of tornado season. :D.

Willis, I don't know why, but cats won't play with things that squeak or do anything for very long. They get bored with it in about five minutes and then go back to hiding in boxes and tearing up paper. Cats are easily amused.

Barry, none of our cats has a special toy, although they all drag around a beat up cloth mouse occasionally. I even got them one of those battery operated balls with a cat attached that rolls around. They just sit there and look at it and occasionally take a swipe at it. Then they go off and find the boxes and things. :) I guess the days of the banana belt must be over for you . :(

Mikey, good thing your mind actually operates at 5 am. My heart doesn't start beating until about 9 or so. I do remember the days of the kids awake at 6:30 wanting to open presents, and none too fondly. At least they wait until a little more decent hour now.

Chris, that all sounds like too much work for the day after Christmas. Our grass is done for the season - had a good frost last night.

Jeffrey, glad you had a good day with the family.

It's partly cloudy and starting to warm up after a low of 30. We had so much frost it looked like snow. Had a real exciting Christmas. Was out in the garage about 6:30 pm and noticed two guys with a ladder at my neighbor's house, two doors down. I knew they were gone for the holidays. My first instinct was to reach for my weapon and flashlight until I remembered I don't do that any longer. Called 911 and the dispatcher couldn't get anything straight. I was listening to the scanner as I was giving her information and it was like the same words weren't coming out of both our mouths. By this time, one suspect had gotten into the house through an upstairs window and let the other one in the front door. I tried to convey all this to her and she broadcast that the suspects were both outside the house. :mad: I finally told her to have the responding officers meet me at the end of our street. I advised them what was happening and let them know they had two suspects in the house. After getting about four more units on scene when they finally understood what was happening, they did a good job clearing the house, taking both suspects into custody. One was on probation for burglary and the other had a slew of warrants. Neither was armed, but this is the kind of call that gets your adrenaline pumping.

Dianna is subject to anxiety attacks and got all worked up about this, convinced that some gang of thugs was coming to our house next. I told everyone to stay in the house until the officers had the suspects in custody but they kept coming out to look and I had to keep shooing them back in. Being in the line of fire is a foreign concept to them. After it was over, she then developed a migraine. I gave her Maxalt and told her to take 120 mgs of codeine to short circuit the pain. Oh, my, that was way too much too take, she said. Well, two hours later, she was in excruciating pain so it was off to the ER. After about a three hour wait, she finally saw the doctor and got a 2mg shot of dilaudid. That stopped the pain. I asked the doctor about giving her the codeine along with Maxalt and he said, of course, why wouldn't use a pain reliever you already have instead of waiting three hours for the pain to get unbearable? The 2mg of dilaudid is equal to about 750 mgs of codeine. If she had taken the 120 mgs of codeine initially, she wouldn't gone onto such pain. But, what would I know, having been a paramedic for 20 years and treated lots of people in extreme pain? Finally got back at midnight with her high as a kite and piled her into bed. She's still passed out. Maybe next time she'll listen...ya think? :rolleyes:
 
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I hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays and rebembered the " Reason for the Season".

Got a couple of "train" things, guess I'll have to stay in the hobby for a bit longer now. One gift was an MTH K-4. Peice of junk, IMO, for my layout, since MTH decided to make their product proprietary. Got the OK to take it back and get a similar engine that will work on my "new" layout. Looking at the Paragon version as a replacement. Also received (2) boxes of Flex Track, a box full of Athearn Blue Box, about 20, grain box cars. Seems I was bidding against the better half on a few of those on eBay. Go figure.

I also picked up a few luaun doors from a neighbor that is remodeling his house. Should make nice shelf displays or dioramas, don'tcha think? Still, the rebuilding of the layout looms as a large venture. The modules that were hardest "hit", naturally, were the ones that I use most of the time for the transition era. And the regional grain shipping terminal took a BIG WHACK!! Luckily, all of the silos were made of PVC, though not badly damaged, still in need of repair as the detail work, the elevators, walkways, railings, and such, took the brunt of the ""Storm".

The town, such as it was(remember the word "was"), looks as if a Kansas twister went right down Main Street. The street lights and traffic lights are all in the can, as are all of the buildings. It will have to be completely rebuilt. The yard, thankfully,fared pretty well. The roundhouse, as well as all but one of the buildings, escaped damage. And the turntable and transfer table are unscathed. Sum total, about (5)modules will have to be completely rebuilt and (10)modules will need some TLC.

I guess I could change eras as the modern modules were only tipped over, still in their "shelves". I do have a few modern engines, though I do like watching the head end power of the early diesels and steam engines riding my rails. Only one of the old steam engines is bound for the scrap yard, an old, and I mean OLD, Mantua 4-6-4 kit engine that was "modernized" to conform to RP25 specs and remotored. The other damaged engines need things like horns, bells, couplers, and such replaced.

Don't worry, the layout IS back up and running. I replaced the damaged modules with the "modern" layout modules for now. And, luckily, the majority of the rolling stock and engines escaped without too much, if any, harm. That's good news. Still, it is going to take a bit of time and effort, to get the scene back to its prior glory. I guess, I'll just run my AC4400's and SD70's for a while. I can run exursions with some of the "older" eqipment.

Odd how tis hobby grows on a person. The better half just let me ramble about leaving the hobby. I guess you folks did too, eh? Fifty years is a long time to devote to ANYTHING!!!!

Other news on the homefront...... I picked up a used Dell computer tower. Not like the one I have been using, older, but seems to serve the purpose for now. Hopefuly, I'll get my old one back here soon. It chucked the motherboard and the power supply. Still under warrany, thank goodness. I can't figure out how that all happened. It is on a high quality surge protector and line conditioner/battery backup. My guess is a harmonic came through and toasted everything.

Well, enough tongue flappin' for now. Do enjoy the rest of the Holiday Season.

Bob
 
Jim- Sounds like you had a very exciting Holiday season. Seems alittle ridiculous that the dispatcher couldnt relay the message though, good thing you were on the scanner.

I can relate to your wife about the migraines, i get cluster migraines occasionally, and maxalt is one of my prescriptions, i hate taking it though, its a pain to open the little sleeve and i almost always drop the pill once i get it out :mad:. Hope shes feeling better.

Ive only used kayaks in rivers and lakes, id be alittle nervous about taking it into the sea, a 3-4ft chop is nothing, but the sea has alittle bit bigger waves. One of the things i want to do before football camp in August is to paddle the length of Lake George, which is 32.2 miles :rolleyes: , i dont expect to complete that, but im certainly going to go all out, and i'll have the 21ft motor boat there for support. :D

Chris- good luck with that list, sounds alot like my list, with the exception of mowing the lawn, (not sure she'll run to good in 6 inches of snow :p)

Well it looks like mom and dad have set up a card night, which means theyll be 21 people at my house tonight :rolleyes: amazing how they call it a card night but they usually dont play cards :confused::)
 
Matt, down here in florida Kayaking in the Gulf is very common and nothing like the ocean. A while back we were thinking of getting a couple of Kayaks, at the same time got a few questions we had on the best places! I was told the Keys and the swamps in south florida a #1 mecas followed by Crystal river, silver springs, swanee and any where along the west coast! Bayport in my neck of the woods always has tons of kayakers in the inner water ways. Only thing that would worry me is Large NESTING Female Gators! something about gators a kayaks worry me, but hell if'n yer will'n to freeze to death )8 waters getting ate might not bother you either!LOL's
 
I'm almost done with my chores, we are having a very mild winter our temps have been in the 60-70* range and the grass slowed it growth rate but it still very green! I over seed my lawn with a winter rye grass, so my lawn will require 2 mowings a week to look good! Let me get a pick of my lawn and post it...Give me a second.........
 
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Hi everyone! Wonderful to read that everyone had a joyous Christmas. Our day turned out well with the Mothers and the Niece's family over, even had the Daughter and family on webcam for a couple of hours (Neat thing...technology!) I test rode my bicycle without a spill (didn't even have to use the training wheels:D). The wife is still searching for the courage to ride hers :rolleyes::D. The Bama Boys got their favorite toys, stuffed mallard ducks that have a quacker inside...all day and night and today:quack, quack, quack... Nope, no train stuff for me this Christmas. I had too much of that during this past year;).

A fun/exciting thing happened when everyone was leaving: my nieces husband (State Trooper) had stopped by while on duty. Two young fellows were zipping up and down the street on a 4-wheeler, raising hell. He jumped in his trooper car and floored it to go after them. After awhile he came back, with one of those possum-eating-..... grins. He said he pulled them over and gave them a good lecture on where they were allowed to ride that thing. All they had to say was, "Yes sir, Yes sir, Yes sir..." with their eyes about to bulge out of their heads. Didn't hear or see any more 4-wheelers. LOL :D

My order from 1st Place came in the mail today that has the green turf in it. Now I can finish up my trees on that new hillside and move on with more plastering. I also received my larry car and quencher car kits for my old coke plant.

Carey: that is a beautiful photo; a real treasure;):).

Larry: Super proud of you rethinking the hobby. Go fer it!
 
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Afternoon Gang!!
Hope Santa gotcha all cool stuff. We didn't do too bad here with a new compressor, some clothing, a gallon of jelly beans, and checks! (Oh boy, shopping!) It warm, 50 degrees and raining, but that 24 inches of snow from last week is just about gone! Just don't walk in the grass! (eeewwwww!)

boB, Glad to hear your getting back in the swing of the hobby. See, ya cant keep a good man down!:D But bidding against the wife?? LOL! Now thats a losing proposition!!!:rolleyes:

Carey, Wow, thats a present! I showed Jan,,,,,all she said was awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Jim, Wow, we don't get that kinda excitement around here! Glad everything worked out ok, but wow!

Well, gotta run, be back later, Janice just returned from Home Despot with parts for the upstairs john, decided to start running last night. I shut the water to it off around 11. Hey we got two others, whats the rush???
 
Chris- lol i saw a few gators in belize when we took a cruise and stopped there. those things can be pretty big! and not anything like what i see here in NY, ill take coydogs, black bear and a supposed wolf and cougar population anyday over that big lizard.
 
Matt, what you saw in Belize is saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. No alligators down there. They are pretty tame compared to some of the Florida gators, who have gotten used to people and have no fear about swimming over for a visit. I canoed the Okefenokee Swamp and there was a bunch of those critters there. I carried one of the miniature baseball bats truckers use for tire checkers. If one got a little too close, a little thump on the nose sent them on their way. I don't know about the ones down by Chris though - he probably has them all riled up. :) Ocean kayaking and inland kayaking are two different skill sets, that for sure. At least with the ocean, you can use the tide and wave action to your advantage and reduce your workload. The downside is that it's almost impossible not to do a 360 at least one, hence the need for wetsuits. Inland waterways like Lake George can just be a long, hard slog, especially if the wind's against you and the skeeters are biting. :eek: BTW, the dispatchers down here get paid like $8 an hour and we're getting what we pay for. :mad:

Bob, glad to see your outlook is a little more upbeat now. I'll be waiting for some pictures of your reconstructed modules.

Chris, my grass is now completely brown after this morning's frost, although I still have some green stuff growing up near the woods and around the fire ant mounds. In California, it was called Poa Anna, annual blue grass that sprouted during the winter and then died back in the summer. Don't know if we have the same stuff down here. Your lawn looks nice and green though.

Rex, I can imagine the Boys chasing those ducks all over the house. That's like buying a little kid a drum. :) Amazing what some blue lights and a stern talking to can accomplish for the peace and tranquility of the neighborhood, huh?

Karl, that's the first problem we've had since I moved here over three years ago. It's very quiet and we live at the end of a cul DE sac, so anyone unknown gets noticed by someone pretty fast. It felt kind of weird to just stay out of the way and not be involved after doing the job for so many years...but I'm getting used to it. :D No, it don't matter how many toilets you've got, they all must be in proper working order at all times. This an official Wife rule, and I think it may even be a Federal law. If it's busted, it has to get fixed, and that means now, mister, so hop to it. :rolleyes:

Dianna's up trying to negotiate a cheaper price with Charter Cable so I think she's better. :) If I can just get her to manage her anxiety attacks better, she's have a lot less trouble with migraines. One always leads to another. :( It's been downright cold here today. Well, cold for us, with a high of 53, but if felt a lot colder...it really did. All the rest of you Alabama guys, pay attention. Here's my my forecast for New Year's Eve and Day. Snow starting late Thursday and continuing for part of the day on Friday. Could be a pretty big snow event from about Birmingham north, with a few inches down here, and maybe even some flakes in Mobile. Stock up on the bread and milk now so you can beat the crowd. :D
 
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Littlefoot14 said:
Chris- lol i saw a few gators in belize when we took a cruise and stopped there. those things can be pretty big! and not anything like what i see here in NY, ill take coydogs, black bear and a supposed wolf and cougar population anyday over that big lizard.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is I have never heard of a gator ever taking out a kayaker!:confused: Atleast of any that lived to talk about it!:rolleyes:
Really serious, never heard of any kayak/Gator Attacks:confused: shocks the crap out of me knowing the nature of our local super lizards!

This lil guy below is a ten footer at Bush Gardens, the turtles are a foot long!:eek: I believe BG feeds this guy small unattended childern just for S&G's
 
Jim Mr. Plumber has done his required duty for today, in under 5 minutes. I had kinda forgotten that my son was spending the weekend at that time so I guess the proper equation is as follows.
3 folks in house x 3 functioning toilets = happy wife.

And of couse, if she aint happy, noooooobodys happy! :rolleyes:

And I'm not looking forward to the weekend forcast myself, as next Sunday is teardown day for the Christmas module display. I hate trailering in snow.:(
 
You said a mouth full when you stated, 'Any That Lived'!

There is your reason for not hearing about or talking to any!!
 
OBTW Matt, Jims right..........I do rile up the gators! I put chicken in old tennis shoes and what not to further get gators to under stand and remember they are on top of the food chain! Hey Gators(Super Lizards) are COOL, so I guess I'm for the gator 100% of the time!
 
Jim....All the rest of you Alabama guys, pay attention. Here's my my forecast for New Year's Eve and Day. Snow starting late Thursday and continuing for part of the day on Friday. Could be a pretty big snow event from about Birmingham north, with a few inches down here, and maybe even some flakes in Mobile. Stock up on the bread and milk now so you can beat the crowd.
Click to expand...
Ok Jim, I will be sure and remind Carolyn to take her toothbrush to work with her Friday. BUT: If you will, call the big snow from T-town north instead of B'ham...they are a bit north of us and we always welcome it...for 24 hours:o. LOL:D.

Chris: You are a Baaaad boy!
 
RexHea said:
Ok Jim, I will be sure and remind Carolyn to take her toothbrush to work with her Friday. BUT: If you will, call the big snow from T-town north instead of B'ham...they are a bit north of us and we always welcome it...for 24 hours:o. LOL:D.

Chris: You are a Baaaad boy!
Click to expand...

Jim: It might be nice to see summat up here on occasion!!:rolleyes::D:D All I've got up here was a 1" hiccup of snow---:eek::rolleyes:

Rex: Does Chris always argue with those 'gators?:eek::confused::p:p
 


Rex all I can say is, If you ever come to Florida......Stay away from the waters edge!! Repeat...Stay away from the waters edge! My last feeding of the local Gator I ran out of things to put chicken in....all I had left was your Picture!:eek: Needless to say they think you taste like chicken:p!

Barry, I don't fight with the hired help! I'm tell'in ya when you need to get rid of evidence the belly of a gator is a safe place!;)
 
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