Coffee Shop XXIX

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It was 74 F when I headed out this morning. You can feel the humidity building back after a few nice days without it. High will be 87 F with the possibility of heavy rain.

The weather guessers are all over the place with the track of Irene. A few days ago they had it going further to the east and pretty much missing us. This morning they have the track more to the west which could give us a glancing blow.

We are still a little on edge after the quake the other day. They are finding some damage in places. It seems that church steeples and bell towers suffered the most. I think I saw reports of about a half a dozen in the area suffered some damage. Also several chimneys collapsed along with broken windows in some of the high rises in Philadelphia.

I was out of the office and on the road most of yesterday. I had a project status meeting and then a field view. It was a nice day to be out and driving in rural southern Chester County.

My Daughter is going through some frustrations with her volleyball team. It seems that the coach is insisting on starting two players that have a history of being inconsistent and have not had good practices. Apparently several other players have the same feeling and the mood of the team has gone from excited and optimistic to demoralized and pessimistic. It is not a good way to start a season. I guess we will see how goes tomorrow with their first scrimmage. Last year’s scrimmage against this team was a disaster. Now I am beginning to understand why colleges recruit from clubs not high schools and why most college coaches have a lot of club experience and many never coach high school.

I hope everybody has a good day.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 73° and very cloudy and wet. The high will be 100° (feel like 113°) and there's an average 40% chance of thunderstorms all day.

Well, two of my friends, David Parks and Mr Raintree are off the net until this heavy cloud cover moves out. They both have satellite setups and this kind of weather blocks them out.

The trip my mother and I made to Deridder for lunch yesterday went without incident.We both enjoyed the buffet at Ryan's. On the way back to Leesville we heard a weather alert over the radio that a large storm was moving down from Arkansas. The report stated 'Minor damage could occur'. Boy, was that the understatement of the year! The storm hit while we were at Wal-Mart in Leesville. I'm glad we were there and not on the road. Trees blown down, power lines down all over, rain coming down so hard you couldn't see thirty feet and high winds blowing that rain almost horizontal. Over half the parish was without power and emergency services. Many of the volunteer fire depts were out helping clear the roads and getting trees off lines in addition to their normal duties. My power was out until 11 pm and cable didn't come back until earlier this morning and is still going going on and off. So far it's gone offline twice since I've been typing this. How hard was the wind blowing? My nephew's boat which is parked in my yard usually points at a 45° angle relative to my trailer. Now it's pointing at 75° relative to my trailer and it's no lightweight. It's a big heavy Glasstream. You lake fishermen out there would probably be familiar with that. The area out here looks like a war zone. Trees down, branches, limbs, pine cones all over the place. I found a piece of someones rain gutter in my parents yard yesterday. It's not theirs. I checked.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

My internet service is running in fits and spurts today. Up for a few minutes, down for ten or fifteen minutes. Guess they're having trouble getting the equipment calibrated after all that storm damage.

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

Good afternoon folks.

I've decided to be a nice person today. No matter what anyone says to me I WILL BE NICE! Now, we'll see if I can stick to that for the whole day.

It's 78 and beautiful today so I feel especially bad for the folks about to be hit by that hurricane. I guess this is the time of year that I remind myself that blizzards in the winter aren't that bad. At least we don't have hurricanes!

My wife is still out of town for work so I've been doing whatever I want for three days now. I'm sure I'll start missing her tomorrow.

Back to work for me.
Have a great day everyone.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Picked up three 1/2 pint cans of mis-tinted paint recently. A couple are pretty bright!

Anything with that reddish color on it is going to need a volume control. That's loud!

 

[tompm]

Things are starting to look bad around here. The 8 PM update from NWS has Irene tracking about 35 miles east of me on Saturday night/Sunday morning and at Category 1 strength with 85 mph winds. The storm is supposed to cross over central New Jersey after crossing the Delaware Bay. The barrier islands in Atlantic and Cape May Counties in New Jersey are being evacuated. Delaware will begin or has begun evacuating the shore towns and telling all non-residents to get out of Sussex County. They are expecting that the bridges across the C&D Canal will be closed at some point on Saturday due to high winds. We are doing what we can at home. We are bringing in lawn furniture, and securing things outside. The local utility is saying that we will most likely lose power and it could be for as long as 5 days. We are checking flashlights and changing batteries. We will be getting everything off the basement floor in anticipation of 5 to 10 inches of rain. If anyone wants my cell phone number PM me and depending on cell phone service interruptions I will try to stay in contact.

I should have time to drop in tomorrow and give an update. I hope our friends in North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia fare well over the next few days.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning...

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It was 69 F and foggy as I hit the highways this morning. Our high will be 84 F with the possibility of more scattered thunderstorms. Just what we need.

During this month so far we have 13.1 inches of rain which makes it the wettest month ever recorded in the Philadelphia area. The last time we had a month with 13 inches of rain was the month Floyd hit us. They are calling for 6 to 12 inches of rain with 7 the most likely around Philadelphia. The ground is saturated and the creeks and rivers are already running high. We are going to have some major issues. As of 6:30 AM my county in southeastern Pennsylvania was placed under a Hurricane Warning. The latest track has Irene going up the coast and not making landfall in New Jersey. They are saying that due to the size of the storm it won’t matter.

I decided to hit the stores yesterday on the way home and grabbed some supplies like water and batteries before the rush. The one Wal-mart I stopped out was already out of Coleman bottled gas. We have a Coleman lantern and a camp stove that uses them. We seem to be OK with food. We are expecting to lose power so we threw bags of ice in the freezer last night. They are saying that power could be out for 1 to 5 days. Looks like we will be grilling whatever meats we have in the freezer over the gas grille and camp stove. It looks like that a lot of the camping gear and supplies my son and I have for Boy scouts will be coming in handy.

We are going to spend the day getting stuff off the basement floor and bringing in the lawn furniture. We will have to secure what we can’t bring in.

My daughter has a volleyball scrimmage today. So, I have to take a half-day at work in order to get her to school to make the team bus. Given how confused and erratic their practices have been this week it is going to be an interesting match.

Saturday morning she and my wife are supposed to volunteer to help a local animal shelter with an adoption event at a local pet supply store. I guess we will see if the event goes off. On Sunday during the height of the storm my wife is supposed to do a birthday party for the museum. It is at a person’s house and my wife is thinking it is not going to happen. Of course her work is trying to get a hold of the person to reschedule.

I will try to check in over the weekend a couple of times depending on the power situation.

I hope all our members in North Carolina, Virginia Tidewater Area, and the Delmarva stay safe today.

I hope everybody has a good day.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 76°. It's cooled down a little. The high should be 97°. That will only feel like 109°. The chance for rain is virtually non-existent. Maybe 1-2%.

Got a lot of wind and rain in town Wednesday when the storm blew through. Out here we got a lot of wind but very little rain. Only enough to get the bottom of the rain gauge wet, probably less than a tenth of an inch. We did get a thick layer of pine cones. The trees are going to have to grow a new batch to shower us with the next time. Speaking of trees, there are five between here and the Texas highway that are no longer standing. Eleven if you add the six blown down along Ford Stewart road going to highway 171.

Well, yesterday I was cleaning some green onions and nicked the outer edge of the pinky finger on my left hand. Of course having virtually no feeling in my hands I didn't notice it until I saw the rather large trickle of blood dripping in the sink and looked to see where it was coming from. I washed it out with some alcohol and hydrogen peroxide , put a band-aid on it and went back to cleaning onions. Never felt a thing. This is the reason I stopped working with flex track and the sharp tools associated with it. That and the fact that I once had a knife blade go clean through my left hand back in the early 90's. I never felt a bit of pain. Just a little pressure as the blade punched through. I had been cutting a sheet of styrene when the blade slipped. I cleaned it out, did the stitching myself, wrapped it up and went back to what I was doing, only I used my Dremel to finish the cutting of the styrene. These days the sharpest tools I use on the layout are a small pair of scissors, wire cutters and a small pocket knife (rarely used). I've had more than my fair share of gory accidents with Xacto blades, razor saws and other ultra sharp tools and therefore don't even own such tools anymore. Besides, the lack of feeling makes using such tools somewhat difficult. That's why I chose to abandon N-Scale. The stuff is so small I have trouble handling it. You should see me installing Kadee couplers. That's worth buying a ticket to see. And the ends of flex track can make a wicked cut if you're not careful. Those who have wondered why I use Bachmann EZ-Track, now you know. Few if any cut rails sticking out where I can get cut on them, no cork or foam to cut for roadbed as I have been known to nick my fingers with scissors larger than the very small ones I use for cutting decals. For most cutting jobs I use my two Dremels. One is equipped with a small saw blade similar to a micro sized table saw. I'm VERY careful using that thing and have only used it a few times a year. The blade is only about an inch across but it could make a very nasty cut. It has a guard that has to be pushed down to expose the blade but one hand is needed to hold the Dremel (no vise) and the other has to hold whatever is being cut.

Plans for today. I don't have any. This is the last Friday of the month and my mother will probably want to go to the once a month free lunch at the physical therapy clinic and that happens to fall on the last Friday of each month. My father is at work today (how convenient) so guess who it falls on to take her.

 

[Cjcrescent]

I started to write about what to do before a Hurricane strikes, having been thru 2 of them, but I decided than you didn't need it, as I'm sure all the TV and radio stations were doing their best to give it.

The only thing I would change though, is instead of bagged ice for the freezer, get some dry ice. It will keep the freezer colder, longer. It can be had from any ice distributor in the area.

Good luck!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The weather forecast I saw this morning said the high would be 97 today. Well that's shot to hell! The thermometer here says it's 106 out there, and that's WITHOUT the heat index. I got first degree burns on my hands driving my van back here from my parents place! I need to get one of those slip-on cloth and foam steering wheel covers.

​

 

[kbkchooch]

We're still about 24 hours out before the storm. Planning on lowering the basketball hoop in the am, taking in the deck lanterns, and securing the grill. Got lotsa food & drink, and batteries.
Going to the LHS in the am also to pick up another Tsunami, so I'll have 2 to install this weekend. Also maybe stop for a haircut and stop at the local Verizon store, to see if they can fix my cell phone without costing me an arm and a leg. Its an LG Cosmos, and the screen is scratched and chemically spotted badly. Gosh I miss my old Razr!!!!
Hopefully we'll keep power throughout the storm. It's mostly underground here, and so far we've been very lucky to not loose power. I'll have to also keep tabs on my Sister in Wilmington NC. She's ridden out quite a few storms, too stubborn to leave.

 

[tompm]

Carey

Thanks! We had dry ice after Floyd. The local electric company gave it out.

We looked around but could not find any available locally.

 

[posse]

Why? Don't you like the scotch and sodas and rum smoothies?

I do, but I think I'm going to have to pass on those. With a zero tolerance work place, you don't want to be caught with any alchol in your blood stream. If your blood alchol level is .01..............................you're TERMINATED
Oh well, there are better things in life than to get wasted.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning...

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[Littlefoot14]

Hi Guys,

Looks like well be getting some of Irene too. This is really pretty odd for my part of the country. Looking at local weather maps it looks like the eye will pass about 60mi from my house. 70-80 mph winds and 4-8 inches of rain will be a first for me.

The storm is a first for me, with bad timing too. On Monday I turn 16 and have my permit test scheduled for 8:30. I fully expect to lose power. We have few big generators but I'm not sure how much theyll do. I'm not really treating the storm with any sort of fear, actually kinda excited for it.

Today I play in my first Varsity football scrimmage. I have to go to work for alittle bit after that and then I'll be going to the mall with some friends.

Have a good one folks,
Matt

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I do, but I think I'm going to have to pass on those. With a zero tolerance work place, you don't want to be caught with any alchol in your blood stream. If your blood alchol level is .01..............................you're TERMINATED
Oh well, there are better things in life than to get wasted.

I almost got a ticket once because of Vick's Formula 44 cough medicine. That stuff can really send your blood/alcohol level up. The limit in this state is .08. I scored a .09 on a roadside test at one of those safety checkpoints where they look for drunk drivers, expired safety stickers, expired insurance, etc. I got out of it because I had the bottle tucked in amongst the papers and stuff from work. I worked in an insurance office back then.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 77° and partly cloudy. Today's high should be 98° Yeah right! It should be partly cloudy.

Hopefully the temp won't pull the dirty trick it pulled yesterday. The high was forecast to be 97. A nice day here. The temp shot up to 106° and that was without the heat index. I ended up with first degree burns on my hands from the steering wheel in the van. It was so hot I could feel it and that's saying something because it has to be blazing hot for that. So after it cooled down a bit later in the day I went to Wal-Mart and got one of those $12 slip-on steering wheel covers. It's plastic and foam with a velvet-like gray cloth covering. I had to really work to get it on. It's made to fit fourteen and a half to fifteen and a half inch steering wheels and mine is sixteen and a half inches. It was the biggest one I could find so it had to work. It fought me tooth and nail every step of the way and popped off a couple of times and hit me in the face once but it's on there. That should keep me from getting burned hands again. While I was there I picked up a new pillow for my bed. The old one was in pretty rough shape. The $8 to $10 micro-fiber pillows are OK but they tend to go flat within an hour and have to be fluffed up again. So I spent an extra $10 and got a high quality Beauty Rest standard size pillow. I had a really good rest last night. I think I'll go back to bed after I finish this so I can enjoy it a bit more. No plans for today except to stay cool. That being out in the heat yesterday running my mother all over creation was for the birds. It was nice and cool in the car but open the door and it was like getting hit by a heavy wall of heat and humidity that would slam you back in the seat. Speaking of the car, I discovered something about it yesterday. It has two (2) speedometers. One analog and the other is digital. So I can see the needle pointing to the speed on the dial and a little to the right just under the odometer (digital) the speed is displayed in bold green numerals. And I found the trip odometer. Press the INFO button on the dash and the odometer will flash the trip mileage for a few seconds along with X number of miles left on that tank of gas, est miles per gallon and est fuel economy. If I kept pressing the button it might have been able to work out any personality problems to eighteen decimal points. I wasn't that curious.

 

[Espeefan]

Speaking of the car, I discovered something about it yesterday. It has two (2) speedometers. One analog and the other is digital. So I can see the needle pointing to the speed on the dial and a little to the right just under the odometer (digital) the speed is displayed in bold green numerals. And I found the trip odometer. Press the INFO button on the dash and the odometer will flash the trip mileage for a few seconds along with X number of miles left on that tank of gas, est miles per gallon and est fuel economy. If I kept pressing the button it might have been able to work out any personality problems to eighteen decimal points. I wasn't that curious.

Your KPH speedometer is also probably in there somewhere. These new vehicles have so many gadgets in them the big challenge is not to drive it up a lamp post while fiddling with things. My van is the same way. More buttons and gadgets than a high end 1970's stereo receiver!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Your KPH speedometer is also probably in there somewhere. These new vehicles have so many gadgets in them the big challenge is not to drive it up a lamp post while fiddling with things. My van is the same way. More buttons and gadgets than a high end 1970's stereo receiver!

Or the remote for my mother's old Sony Trinitron TV. God, that thing was a thumb trap! 97 buttons!