Coffee Shoppe XXIV

[Cjcrescent]

Evening, everyone.

Whew, as the other Southerners have been saying, it's dang hot! The high today was "only" 103 with a high heat index of 113.

Jim, I'm surprised at you! Yall'd think that yall (hows that for "talking" southern?) know by now that the correct expression here in God's country is, "Itsa might bit warm!"

Jeffrey, I have no idea how you can drive around in a car without air conditioning. I'd be dead in minutes. It's bad enough just waiting for the A/C to finally cool down the car enough to bear.

Its really not hard to do Jim, just roll the windows down, and floor it! Been doing that since the AC in my truck died going over to Rex's one day. That's been at least 3 years.

Rex, can you imagine when people lived in this heat all the time with no A/C? They must have been way tougher than me.

Wasn't hard at all Jim. We didn't have air conditioning at my house until I was almost 17. What we did have up till then was alot of window fans. There was one in each bedroom, the kitchen and living room, plus the "portables" that never got moved. Those and a lot of ice water & Kool-Aid, got us thru the summers.

As far as those booming car stereos, there's a firm working on an electromagnetic pulse generator with a focused beam and can be mounted on the front of a patrol car. If it works as expected, it will fry anything electronic in the car you're chasing, including the ignition and computers, which means the end of the pursuit real quick. I often fantasized about having one of those when I'm behind one of those thug cars with the 26" rims and foul language rap music booming out of all four windows down. Just one little push of the button is all it would take to end that problem.

Having a device like that has been a dream of mine, ever since those "boom boxes" on wheels started showing up. I think that I've mentioned this before, but the little town of Gordo, NW of Rex's place, has a law that if the radio can be heard outside of the car, the police can cite you for disturbing the peace. Its been upheld by the State Supreme Court, and the police up there really like it. I understand that they write more citations for this, than for speeding.

Personally I've been avoiding going out in the heat as much as possible, and only for the minimal amount of time that I can. Since I don't have AC in my truck right now, I try to do all my trips ASAP in the morning before it gets too hot. Trouble is, if I need to go to the LHS (they don't open until 10), I have to wait until my wife gets home and take her car, or don't go until I can have the car at anytime, which means her days off.

 

[bnsf971]

Jim, you did check the obvious, like everything is getting power and ground, and it's not a blown fuse or broken switch, before tearing into it, didn't you? I've noticed many of the RV electrical problems are power supply and ground issues rather than a bad part.

It's a cool 75 here this morning, and expected to go into the mid 90's later. This from a high of 79 Monday.
While that's not so awful, our a/c in our apartment took a crap last night. Night before last, the air handler fan was making a racket like the bearings were falling out of it. I went to the office and told them about it. The maintenance guy came by and didn't hear anything. Today he really won't, because the whole thing went up in smoke.
I'm not sure if three major electrical problems along with the harassment over our dog are grounds for breaking our lease. We'd been here a week when an outlet caught fire, then a month later the junction box for the a/c unit melted. The wiring is aluminum, and I'm becoming very concerned about not only our safety, but that of our pet as well. If there's a fire and she's here during the day by herself, she'll be killed.

 

[Littlefoot14]

Jim- Im sure you remember two-a-days? Maybe they were called double sessions. We do those during the dog days of august. 8-10, 1130-1. They suck. 90 degrees is cool for a two a day practice and you pray for rain. Not to mention an our and a half in between isnt good for much. You dont need to warn me twice about injuries. I messed up both knees pretty good a few seasons ago and still feel the pain every now and again. I think it was ACL/MCL or something like that. Crutches for 6 weeks, PT for 8 and told i was never able to play football again. At least i get to play ball again though. Tackling really is my strong suit, thats why coach has me playing as defensive backs and OLB.

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

I have to say, the two a days in that kind of heat never made sense to me. They'd work us like dogs and maybe give us a drink every half hour. I'll tell you what, after Korey Stringer died here at Vikings training camp they let up on the hot days.

 

[Littlefoot14]

I have to say, the two a days in that kind of heat never made sense to me. They'd work us like dogs and maybe give us a drink every half hour. I'll tell you what, after Korey Stringer died here at Vikings training camp they let up on the hot days.

Had a kid have a diabetic attack or heat stroke last year. I dont remember which. We were doing an indian run and he went down in front of me. I tripped over him and tried to get him up so we didnt have to do up-downs while my coach is screaming "leave him there!" He was done, they took him away with the Gator, made us all get a drink, and coach talked for about 10 minutes to cool us down. That day is one of the only days i can remember it being over 100.

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

Some of those coaches need to lighten up a little. If you're not in shape by the time the season starts you won't be after two weeks. Running in the heat will not make you a better football player.

I wish you luck in your upcoming season. I know I use to get all pumped up for this time of year. I was practically wishing the summer away so we could get to 'football weather'.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good afternoon. Right now it's what the weather guesser is calling 'cool'. If 93 is cool then I guess it is. The high is supposed to be 102 and the heat index 110. There's a rumor about a small chance of thunderstorms tomorrow.

I got overheated yesterday so I'm not feeling all that great today but still a lot better than I felt last night. Had to go to town today to pick up some electrical supplies and for some reason grabbed my camera on the way out. I went by the KCS yard in Leesville and got this shot of KCS 1918 (GP38-2). I had wanted to catch KCS 3137 (SD40-3) which was there this morning but was conspicuously absent at noon.

Last night I was feeling a little dizzy and somewhat disoriented. At least I don't have that to contend with today. I just feel tired.

 

[UP2CSX]

Afternoon, everyone.

CJ, I grew up in Ohio and my bedroom was in the attic. Talk about hot! We used to have all the fans too, plus lots of ice water, but I remember many a night hanging out the window trying to catch a breeze. The main difference is heat waves usually lasted for five to seven days. We're now on day 19 of highs over 100. Two more days and we break the record in Montgomery. The overnight low at my house was only 80. For people without A/C, this is starting to be a dangerous situation, since their houses never cool off before the heat of the next day. I haven't heard of any plans to open up things like school gyms for cooling centers but it seems like it would be a good idea.

California has the same kind of law regarding loud radios. It's Vehicle Code section 27007, which prohibits any vehicle from having a sound system that can be heard from 50 feet or more away when operated on a street or highway. I used to write many a citation for VC 27007. Some of the people I cited were so dumb they left it blasting even after I pulled them over, and I had to ask them to turn it off so I could tell them why they were getting a ticket. No red lights and siren for me now, so that EMP generator sounds like a good alternative.

Terry, I've been through all the obvious things. Power to the switch and power to the cables that feed the motor. The fuse was buried in the outlet box for the switch, but it also tested good. I wish there was any easy way to get to the motor without tearing off the carpet, but other Trek folks have told me it's the only way. Since the bed will still go down, I'm hoping the motor torqued and tore off the up wire. If the wire is still there, it will be an easy repair. If it ripped the wire out of the motor, I'm sunk, since it's sealed, with no way to get to the guts without wrecking the motor. I'm still waiting to get the new motor delivered. I've got most of the carpet off (did they have to glue every square inch?) and my next job is to drill out the pop rivets on the aluminum cover so I can see the motor and gear train. As far as I can tell, you have to bend the entire aluminum cover back, since there's no way get it off the end of the bed. They glued every square inch of that thing too. I'll PM you some pics when I get the cover off and see if you can come up with a better way to put it back together and not go through all the tearing and bending again. I will say the Safari people used darn good glue. Given what you've said so far about your apartment, I'd sure be considering a move. Aluminum wiring and outlets starting on fire would sure be enough for me. Let 'em take you court if they think they can enforce the lease.

Matt, I played football in the early 60's, when the common wisdom was that you shouldn't drink anything while you were practicing. We had doubles with a half-hour's rest, and it was the only time we were allowed to drink water. We had people dropping like flies all the time. It was just part of the game, and, in retrospect, I'm really surprised no one died. We had one kid that I'm sure had heat stroke. We put him under a tepid shower for a half hour before he regained consciousness. Coaches back then pretty much did what they want, including punching you out if you didn't execute a play right. My last game was when I was a senior. It was the last game of the season and we were out of the playoffs, so the game really didn't mean anything. I was an offensive end, and we had a blown play, where my route didn't match the diagram, so I didn't catch the pass. I went to sidelines and the offensive coach slugged me right in the face. That was it. I gave him a knee to the stomach, an elbow to the head, and was about to do more damage when the other guys dragged me off him. Needless to say, that cost me a few days suspension, but it was worth it.

Jeffrey, like I said, the effects of heat exhaustion are cumulative, so you don't need to do anything today except keep cool and rest. I don't see any relief for us for the next week, so remember you're not Matt's age any more. Nice shot of the 1918. I always thought the KCS was a pretty classy railroad to have the guts to paint their engines white.

We actually got a thunderstorm about noon. We got .71 inches of rain in a half-hour. The temperature dropped from 104 to 77 in a little over an hour. Man, that felt good while it lasted. The temperature is starting climb again, so our only hope is more thunderstorms. Unfortunately, since we've now been rain cooled, we probably won't get any more storms today. Still, I'll take what we can get, since this is our first rain since July 14.

 

[Littlefoot14]

Corey- As much as youll hear me piss and moan about practices, our coaches are pretty reasonable. The only complaint i have is that one of our coaches doesnt always give us water when the head coach yells out to make sure we get drinks. Other than that, i can suck it up and be ok.

Jim- The smallest coachs we have are the coaches i have the most respect for. Next in line is about 6'5'' and easily 320lbs. The other coaches are shorter than me but built like a rock. A half an hour is about what we get for a break after we get back in the lockeroom, undressed, and go wherever where going for lunch. By he time were done eating its an hour gone and time to start heading back to the field. We probably get water twice during a 2 hour practice, ive never had any problems with it though. Our coaches cant really rough us up by law, but they have no problem grabbing a facemask and letting you know what the hell is going on. The field showers are some of the greatest inventions ever. Stick your head under that thing for a few seconds and then fill the helmet with water and you feel like you can go all day.

Jeff- Is that the KCS Ghost scheme? Ive always kind of respected KCS's decision to use less than glamorous schemes to keep costs down, but damn does the belle scheme look nice. KCS is one of the railroads id like to see run through here, but not likely. I saw a GE Dash 8-40C demonstrator in an NS consist on CP trackage though, go figure


Damn i love this sport. Seriously. It was tackle drills today. Nailed every single one, the head coach and indivdual coach pointed me out several times for doing it right. I cant wait for tommorow. Speaking of which, work in the morning and then probably still prowling the internet looking for that AC4400. Theres one on ebay right now ending in about 10 minutes. Something is telling me let it go, so i will, and hopefully find one here or at the train show.... in december

 

[RexHea]

We have some bad news going on here at the home front. My wife's mother is in critical condition with pneumonia. She is 78 and already has emphysema real bad and not able to absorb Oxygen very well. The way it stands right now, there is only a small chance of recovery. We are suppose to have a better idea in the next couple days.

Matt, I played football in the early 60's, when the common wisdom was that you shouldn't drink anything while you were practicing. We had doubles with a half-hour's rest, and it was the only time we were allowed to drink water. We had people dropping like flies all the time. It was just part of the game, and, in retrospect, I'm really surprised no one died.

Now that sounds like when I played! In fact, one of my buddies got caught sucking on a lemon rind that he had hidden in his helmet an had to do laps for about a half hour. One added thing that just rubbed the heat in, we had a dairy bottling plant across the street from the practice field. It had a giant automated neon sign showing milk pouring into a glass .

Matt -talking about coaches, we had some of U of Alabama football players coming over after their practice to help out with coaching. Man, they were rough on us, but I learned more from them than our regular coaches...not to mention the thrill of getting to meet them .

 

[Littlefoot14]

We have some bad news going on here at the home front. My wife's mother is in critical condition with pneumonia. She is 78 and already has emphysema real bad and not able to absorb Oxygen very well. The way it stands right now, there is only a small chance of recovery. We are suppose to have a better idea in the next couple days.

One added thing that just rubbed the heat in, we had a dairy bottling plant across the street from the practice field. It had a giant automated neon sign showing milk pouring into a glass .

Sorry to hear about your MIL Rex, hope everything makes out well.

To the right of our practice field is the community pool and across the road from the field is the fire dept. When they do drills and you watch the water come out of the house, its like come on, just spray us once. Oh yeah, and they cut down the shrubs around the outside of the pool, so now besides hearing the splashes, we can see it too

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeffrey, like I said, the effects of heat exhaustion are cumulative, so you don't need to do anything today except keep cool and rest. I don't see any relief for us for the next week, so remember you're not Matt's age any more. Nice shot of the 1918. I always thought the KCS was a pretty classy railroad to have the guts to paint their engines white.

Yeah, I haven't been Matt's age since 1974. Boy, was it a different world then. Hot then too!

 

[vato loco]

Hell, I'm still Matt's age! I decide along time ago to, "Grow old but to never Grow Up!" And by the looks and sounds of most of us here, We could fill an Adult Day care very easy!

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. The a/c got fixed yesterday afternoon, so we didn't have to spend the night in a motel. This apartment has only 2 windows that open, so a/c is a must here, especially with it being in the upper 90's daily. It got all the way down to 80 last night, I think I'll have to break out the parkas. I have an appointment with a leasing agent Saturday, we'll see if they can help us find a house somewhere other than here. It's not the projects, but you can see 'em from here... One of the hazards of moving cross-country and having to get a place to live immediately upon arrival. That, and everybody else's lease was up the month after we got here, and the replacement residents aren't the kind of people you'd invite to a picnic.

Jim, we have some solvent here that softens the glue Trek uses, but it doesn't seem to help much. They certainly don't want those motor homes falling apart...
The reason I stressed the electrical connections is the last time I pulled apart one of those reversing switches, it was because everything else checked good, and I ass/u/me-d it was a bad motor. Turned out the switch was applying power both ways, but was not grounding the motor in one direction. The switch was $30, and a whole lot easier to replace....

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 80 and partly cloudy. Gonna be a little cooler today with a high of 100 (heat index of 111) and a 30% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.

I really don't want to do it but I'll have to see if I can cut the parent's grass today. It's getting out of hand again. I paid my phone bill this morning. A whopping $19.95 for another year. That works out to about $1.66 a month. For that I can make and receive as many calls as I want in the US and Canada. Call waiting, conference calling, call forwarding, 411 information, 911 service and much more, all free. I wish all my bills were that low. Only catch to the phone service is that my computer has to on for it to work since it plugs into a USB port and works over my existing internet connection. The redneck repair job on the radiator fan relay circuit on the car seems to be holding up quite well. Went to town yesterday and the needle on the temp gauge tried as hard as it could but it just couldn't get up off the 'C' on the gauge even in traffic and with it being over 100 degrees.

Today's photo was taken with my ancient Olympus 3 megapixel D550Zoom camera from a moving vehicle with no stabilization.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/Running-Bear/P1011168.jpg

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Jeff: we have a 5 meg camera that I've used on my trips--does just fine from here heeheehee--- BTW---great shot of the KCS there--

Morning has broken over us'uns--another slightly less sticky day up here--last night we saw barrels and heaps of humidity--heat index of 110F--but as per usual no rain--it all dried up before it got here---

Gonna see about picking up a few things today from Tigerdirects new store here--have a computer I'm building for a dedicated Digital Audio Workstation for myself---get some music happening here--heeheehee

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Rex- I'm sorry to hear about your MIL.
When are you working on that RV? You can probably on spend about 10 minutes at a time in there, even if you have a fan blowing on you.
This morning at 6:45 AM, the temp was 81 at the back door thermometer, in the shade.
I survived the 65th anniversary of my birth yesterday and got three more offers for Medicare insurance in the mail.
I remember as a teenager thinking I would be lucky to live to see the year 2000. Guess I'm on borrowed time!
CJ- missed you at the WC lakeside picnic last Saturday. L&N Castle helped us demolish a pile of BBQ ribs.
I've worked up a sweat just typing these words. I'll catch y'all later!

 

[Littlefoot14]

Jeff- Is that the magic jack phone thing? Ive always wondered how that worked, now i know.

Well i supposed to work this morning. I forgot about an appt i have and ill be up in the afternoon. It looks like rain though. I dont have a problem working in the rain, the problem is that my work is mowing. Ill take chris' advice about cooking spray. Id put it off another day but im going to VT for the day tommorow. Hopefully ill swing into the hobby shop and find a new locomotive. Maybe buying locomotives without a layout seems silly, but i want something new, my GP38 isnt that special anymore. Hopefully ill find a decent 6 axle something or other that i like. Well see

Have a good one!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeff- Is that the magic jack phone thing? Ive always wondered how that worked, now i know.

That's it. This is my third year using it. I have to laugh when I see Vonage peddling their stripped down system for $20 a month. Let's see, that works out to $240 a year. Nope, it can't touch the MagicJack. And I get all the free stuff the Vonage thing has plus my choice of phone instead of whatever comes with their system. I can use ANY type of corded phone, even a cordless phone that has a corded base station and I don't need to have a 'special' internet connection either. The one I'm using right now works just fine. The MagicJack works with any internet connection with the exception of satellite and dial-up. It even works with Wi-Fi. Learn more HERE.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Finished the mowing despite a minor mishap. I was using the Peerless tractor to do the mowing as it's much more comfortable for me to use and doesn't require the use of feet. Got most of the yard cut when it suddenly felt like I was in the middle of a 4 point earthquake. The blade drive belt had broken but didn't come apart and it was setting up a horrendous vibration. I just got that thing replaced a month ago! Must have been defective. Not the first time that's happened. Still had 1/5th of the yard left so I finished up with the little Yardman. One nice thing is that there was cloud cover the whole time so it was a cool 85 degrees. Compared to 100 that's cool.