Come and see Flo at Coffee Shop 18

[kbkchooch]

Evening guys!
Chris Flori-duh edjumication is the culprit? Then were did the genius thing come into play?
Tom 3 trips eh? I usually do it in 2. 1st trip, I buy anything i might might imagine that I would need for the job. For example, if it looks like a 1/2 inch pipe is needed, I get one a size larger and 1 a size smaller along with the one I think I might need. Then on the second trip I return everything I got on the 1st one but didn't need. The girls at the return counter at Lowes just love me for that!
Ken 40 & 41 ? wow, the club members have that many throttles? Awesome! BTW, I will be missing at the October show. I can't get out of work Friday or Saturday, and Saturday night is the 30th class reunion. The wife has a little black dress picked out for the occasion and has warned me that I will be in NO condition to run trains on Sunday. So I'm relying on you to be my backup in the "mess with Stuart department". If he commits his favorite cardinal sin, (leaving the layout with a train parked on the main), I'm looking to you to "steal" his train. Park it in a yard as fast as you can and look innocent! Disavow any knowlege as to how it got there, and for God's sake, do NOT tell him you were under "orders" or from who!
Well, I'm outta here, catch y''all later!

 

[UP2CSX]

Tom, I can sympathize. Next to electricity, plumbing is the world's biggest mystery to me. I did change my kitchen faucet washer in just under an hour with no flooding, a record for me.

Karl, I shop like you do, get two of everything, just in case, and they are always two of the wrong size or length. The girls at Lowes are so used to seeing me back in an hour after I start a project I don't even need receipts. They even know what aisle to direct me to to get the right stuff. It's a wonder I ever picked up enough knowlege to earn a living.

A little black dress, eh? I think I'd probably defer an ops session to another time too. Have fun at the reunion...and anything else that might happen. Ken has a very hard time looking innocent when he's up to something so I'll be surprised if he can pull off the same kind of scheming you can get away with.

I spent most of the doing and redoing the gravel road at my country church. You can see the gorey details in the Scenery section. I was trying to make it not look like a road made out of ballast but prototypical gravel. I should have stuck with ballast. If only we had a hobby shop within 80 miles that sold Z scale ballast.

The wife and number two daughter now have whatever this three day influenza is that's going around. Of course, everyone is running to the doctor's because they think they have swine flu. We get summer flu outbreaks almost yearly but this swine fly panic is starting to ramp up again. Time to buy more Glaxo and Roche stock. My head and neck are starting to hurt so I think that means I'm next on the list. I guess that means I will have to stay in bed and catch up on the last five months of MR I've been putting off reading. Other than feeling like crap, doesn't sound too bad to me.

We had three hours of rain today. Well, not rain, exactly, but heavy drizzle. Got a total of .28 inches. That puts us up .91 inches for the month and I don't think we're getting any more tomorrow.

Invest 94 is starting to look more like Danny than Bill. He keeps drifting more towards South America and the thunderstorm activity is getting further away for the presumed center. Unless something happens dramatic by tomorrow, I think it's another case of meteorological swine flu coming up.

 

[bnsf971]

Remember, all plumbing jobs require three trips to the hardware store, no matter how prepared you are.

There were three trips to the hardware store.

I hate being right...

 

[vato loco]

Good Morning from Flori-Daaaa!

Well to day starts the 12 day count down to my Career Meltdown Sept. 11, 2009 I will know with out a doubt if I will be employeed after October 9th or not So far every rumor has floated down the mill creek. If I were wagering on the death of my career, I would put $100 on my career ending... LOL's But due to the fact I need every cent.... The employee pool is growing at work I pretty sure I get an extra $20 LOL's


As for the lawn service, the growing season only has 8 weeks left before it gets quiet fast! By the end of this weekend I should be 1/2 way to my second mower for next season and next season should start around June 1st....

Terry, your rarely right though! you got lucky

Jim, Now your NOT following your wife and daughter around the house making pig sounds!?!?!?!? that would be just mean.........

Karl, Phil made the mist stake of calling me a jenious! Now he will pay fer it fer
EVER...EVEr...EVer..Ever...ever...ever...

 

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It was a crisp and delightful 62 F as I headed out this morning. High toady will be 75 F. we are supposed to have 4 or 5 days of this great weather.

This is recovery Monday. I am recovering from installing the new kitchen faucet yesterday. My back is killing me and the only reason I came to work today is I have to take a mandatory training class. Saturday was quiet. We finished setting up the aquarium and then after dinner we went investigating new cell phones. We have prepaid phones and have been having problems with our current carrier and want to switch. We found one that we like. Now I have to convert four phones. We use the prepaid phone because we do not use them much. I have not used by phone since Thursday so having a plan is not worth it for us.

No trains. Now that the faucet is out of the way there are no other big projects staring down at me I may get some train time in.

I hope everybody has a good day.

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Good Morning all

Got some people coming for the week--house is gonna be a little busy again. I have to be tourguide and map reader for them---may as well bring camera wit' me----their son is going to be at residence at the university up here so I also get to be "watch dog"----heeheehee

 

[pcarrell]

Mornin' all!

Man, it was a bit nippy on the ride in this morning! 48 degrees when I left the house. Should be a nice ride home though.....74 degrees.

 

[UP2CSX]

Afternoon, everyone.

Got to take the wife to the Doc's so he can tell her exactly what I've already told her - rest, drink lots of fluids, and take ibuprofen for fever. This type of influenza last 72 hours if you go to the doctor and 3 days if you don't. You ever get the feeling some people like being sick just so they can go to the doctor's? She's ill with me because I told her I would drop her off and pick her up but not I'm sitting for two hours in a waiting room full of other people hacking and sneezing. I still feel OK now but that would put me under for sure.

Chris, try not to listen to all those rumrs and just do your job as best you can. I've been through the layoff routine before and almost every rumor was wrong. The ones who were spreading the rumors and not getting their jobs done were the first ones to go. No, I'm not following the family around making pig noises. Their sense of humor is kind of at a low level tight now.

BOC, have fun as tour guide. When we used to live in LA, every relative in the world used to come and visit and I had to drag them to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. Man, I got sick of those two places, except for the trains, of course. Since we did get some rain yesterday, I've temporarily withdrawn the curse of the lake flooding your house.

Phillip, what's the wind chill at 48 degrees and 60 mph? Must have been more than a bit nippy. Hope you luck out and get a nice ride home.

Have to ready to make the medical visit. Geez, two weeks ago I was squirting out blood like a fire hose and in the worst pain of my life and I didn't whine as much as she has.

 

[pcarrell]

Phillip, what's the wind chill at 48 degrees and 60 mph? Must have been more than a bit nippy. Hope you luck out and get a nice ride home.

It's not bad at all if you're dressed for it. I was pretty cozy for the most part.

 

[vato loco]

95*'s with a heat index of 100* If it wern't fer the breeze off the gulf the suicide rate here would be high!LOL's first of November and it should be nice down here again! When the blue hairs start showing up that's a sure sign of winter up north!

Jim, I don't listen to all the rumors but, I did here some facts in a couple of them! Since my lose of 90#'s of fat, I can honestly say I haven't got sick yet! Remember Last christmas Santa tried to kill me with that lung infection! If I don't get sick again this christmas it will be nice!

 

[vato loco]

Mornin' all!

Man, it was a bit nippy on the ride in this morning! 48 degrees when I left the house. Should be a nice ride home though.....74 degrees.

Man, keep talking that way and I'll drag ya down here and Make you suffer the heat on one of our many fine bikini laden beaches down here! Wait......scratch that that ain't torture Never mind I'll just post a pic of me at the beach! Now that's torture!

 

[RexHea]

Evening all! My great news is the Depot's air conditioner went on the fritz last night. It is a 24k btu window unit mounted in the wall about 5 1/2 feet up. I think it is the fan motor or its starting capacitor. Regardless, it has to come out which means I have to take 16 feet of backdrop off the layout and move all the other goodies. Fortunately, that part of the layout still has only a temporary setup and won't mess things up too bad. Guess I should confess that I have two younger and very strong fellows coming over tomorrow afternoon to lift it out for me .

TOM: Dang man, I feel your pain. Last year the wife wanted new fixtures for the kitchen sink...one with the high curved spout. Ok, no problem except for the old, rusty fittings, a garbage disposal that was in the way, five hours of work and a lot of fussing/cussing and bleeding. I was sore for a week.

Jim: looks like some great weather this week with cooler temps and low humidity...all relatively speaking, of course.

 

[Alcomotive]

As some of you know I was laid off Aug 2nd and well my quest continues...I am about out of options here in Florida. I have this week and next week. If nothing pans out I will be leaving for NC on Sept 12th. A bold move but gonna take a gamble. I may be out of commission until the end Sept on this web computer wise until I get established up there.

And so it goes!

Alco out!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Evening everyone!

Jim, my day was similar to yours in that I had to drive my wife to get a highly-invasive cancer screening procedure done, where she had to be anesthetized for a few hours. I spent the entire morning sitting in a waiting room, glad I brought along some reading material

Tom, been there done that. My house is on well water, which [in my area] is highly acidic - so none of my fixtures ever last more than 3-4 years, tops! At least my most recent faucet replacement, a bathroom sink, was easier - I had already replaced the original copper pipes with the more flexible hose-like sections when I put in the previous faucet.

Rex - bummer about that heat pump, hope it isn't too pricey to fix I've had my 12,500-btu window unit for 4 years now - how long are these things suppose to last anyway?

Karl - have fun at that reunion. I'm going to see if Stuart has mended his ways before I go into "torment" mode.

On the mrr front, I finished staging my freight cars with their carcards. Next item on the pre-op agenda: vacuum all the bug carcasses off the floor and benchwork...

P.S. Alco best of luck in that job hunt situation! Hope you don't have to sell any property in FL before you go to NC [if you have to go there...]

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Good Evening

ALCO Good Luck with the job hunt---hopefully you don't need to sell property

Got the crowded situation here---back to the tour guide thing----Got a few for your perusal

 

[blownoutcylinder]

I'm gonna do another bunch----

First batch---"Sweetpea", Mill sites on highway 23 towards Mitchell ON.

Second batch--- The former CN station at Palmerston ON. More of some mills---

 

[UP2CSX]

Chris, just don't get caught up in rumors you believe to be facts. Sometimes things come out very differently in the end. That clear, warm water sure looks nice. We were down in Destin and it must be the location because we never got a seabreeze and it was hot all night long. I'm used to getting that seabreeze in the tropics and making the nights bearable but I guess Destin really doesn't qualify as the tropics.

Alco, I sure hope something turns up for you before you have to move. If not, maybe a much better opportunity awaits in NC. I've had doors slam shut on me only to open another door that had a lot better prize behind it so keep you chin up.

Ken, I can only guess what procedure she had. I hope the results come out favorable. Jean used to have to get bone marrow biopsies because of her leukemia and I had to raise hell to get conscious sedation for her. The idiot doctor first just gave her morphine and said "it doesn't hurt that much". I told him to let me give him some morphine and get my Black and Decker out and drill a hole in your hip and see if thought that hurt a little. That's another one of those days I was glad I wasn't armed.

Rex, I rememebr where that air conditoner sits. Seems like quite a job to get it out and a new one in. I'm glad you've got some young, strong backs to help. It does looks like some nice weather for the next week...assuming we had any rain in August. Maybe September will produce a nice little tropical storm.

Alco, nice picture of the cat. Is that Springor or is that BOC's cat I'm thinking of? We have an orange tabby named Milo that looks a lot like her (or him). Best mannered and behaved cat we've ever had. He was just a stray that took me about two months to tame but he'll just sit in your lap and purr away now. What a beautiful old station. I can remember the days when railroads took pride in stations as part of their public image. When the paint started to peel off NKP station, I knew we were in for bad days ahead.

Well, supposedly, Dianna has swine flu. They took an oropharyngeal swab, which is only right about 50% of the time. Her symptoms are not consistent with swine flu but with a normal summer influenza. This nurse practioner she sees gave her a prescription for Tamiflu, which is a waste of time, since she had been symptomatic for over two days. In addition, the CDC is telling doctors to not give Tamiflu unless the patient is really ill or in certain risk groups because we'll need it this fall for the next big panic. All I can say is that they'd better crank up production fast because there was only one pharmacy in Prattville that had it. In addition, this NP told her to stop taking ibuprofen and start taking acetaminophen because there was a link between swine flu, ibuprofen, and Reyes Syndrome. Utter rubbish. I've never heard of this, our pharmacist never heard of this, and the CDC web site recommends ibuprofen for fever reduction with swine flu. I subscribe to several medical newsletters and I'm pretty sure a link between ibuprofen and Reyes Syndrome in adults would have made pretty big news. OTOH, Dianna has a liver disease and acetaminophen is known to be toxic to the liver. In the face of all this information, guess what she's taking? Yep, acetaminophen, because of authority syndrome. Someone in authority told her to, so she'll do it. The fact I've had fifteen years of training and experience as a paramedic and as a respiratory therapist before that does not make me an authority figure. ARRGGHH! Oh well, between the acetaminophen and the Tamiflu, they'll make good placebos and she'll feel better and stop whining so much....I hope

 

[wheeler1963]

As some of you know I was laid off Aug 2nd and well my quest continues...I am about out of options here in Florida. I have this week and next week. If nothing pans out I will be leaving for NC on Sept 12th. A bold move but gonna take a gamble. I may be out of commission until the end Sept on this web computer wise until I get established up there.

And so it goes!

Alco out!

James, I'll leave the light on for you!!!

 

[vato loco]

Alco, your not alone, people are fleeing this state in droves! Last week I went out to flyer some neigbor hoods, 1 out 5 homes empty! It's depressing really, Alco as you can see very few jobs left in anything and it don't seem to be getting better. I'm kinda lucky though, I'm not as bad in debt as some and with $1100 unemployment, $200 a month in fuel I won't be burning, and what little I bring in from side jobs I should survive..... Worst case job I'll apply for the government cheese department if worst comes to worst I just hate inside jobs I got's to do what I got's to do. Hell I got my card board sign ready for the street corner, "Will work for Model TRAINS!"

I believe no matter where you move the economy is equily TRASHED, and life is going to be tough for the Blue collar/White collar working class no matter where you flee too!

 

[stationmaster]

Chris, having been without a job since early in the year, times are tough. I was fortunate to have my businesses to keep me going, but after selling them, I find it hard to just sit around. But being my age and in the condition, physically(I'm 56 and not 26), not many companies feel that they will get their money's worth out of me, I guess. I know that my limitations, bad back, diabetes, neuropathy in both arms, et al, will be a negative on the books, but I can supervise with the best and I am results oriented. It was always my goal to do better than the year before. I never posted a budget to hit, just make more money than the year before and do better doing it. Create a higher bottom line. Make more, spend less.

I see everyday in the paper that unemployment is down. I dare say that the numbers are disjointed to make us all believe that fact. I often chuckle when the report says, "new claims" are down. That's because the jobs are gone. Oh, well. I'll be the guy behind you in the cheese line. Maybe we could take shifts with that sign.

Been working on my friend's house painting, repairing, cleaning.... I hope to have it ready for the market by the end of the week. Carpet guys are supposed to be there today to replace the carpet. Interior painting is done and now to the outside trim. Hopefully, I can stay on the ladder.

Not much happening as far as trains. I had hoped to begin some on my low-dough project, but that has been put on the back burner for a few weeks. Maybe I can get started next week. I did pick up a couple of cheap decoders on eBay. No sound but one could turn up the stereo REAL LOUD of trains and imagine, I guess.

And I did win a set of Wabash F7's, an A and B unit. $15.50 plus shipping of $8. They look to be Proto 1000's, but I haven't really had the time to tear them apart to clean and lube them. I haven't even put any power to them to see if they run. I'll get around to it sometime. Life just keeps getting in the way.

I do need to get back up north. I need to winterize the boat and get it put away. It winters in a boat house suspended. Odd to see a 12,000#, 32-foot boat hanging in the air. It does need some maintenance for next year. I may just have the marina pull it, I have a trailer, and get that done for next season. With the temps we've had in Indiana, I do believe that the weather up north may be a tad cooler and an early winter seems to be on its way.

Bob