Come and see Flo at Coffee Shop 18

[blownoutcylinder]

Good morning

We got up to another 40% shower that was not in any forecast when I went to bed last night Woke up this morning and what do i see? More rain--check forecast--"There is a 40% chance of showers today---and dull" Now it is clear and sunny

Anyhoooo----get to do some small stuff today and I might get some MR things down at the LHS if'n I map out the ol' route right--

Have a good one ---

 

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It was a muggy, sticky 79 F as I headed into the office of no pay this morning. The high will be 84 F with heavy rains.

We had another lounging around evening last night. We did a few minor chores like cleaning the guinea pig and the bird’s cage. We did some laundry and then watched some TV together.

We found that there was a tornado on Wednesday that was close to where my son is at Boy Scout summer camp. The tornado was near Stroudsburg, PA and looks like it was about 4 or five miles from the camp. It was an EF-2 and destroyed a half a dozen buildings. There were no fatalities and at last report I saw 2 non-life threatening injuries.

We will be picking-up my son from camp tomorrow. On Sunday my daughter plays the flute in church. Over the weekend I have some chores to do like mowing the lawn, and cleaning the pond filter. I can’t do much else until I get a paycheck.

I may try to figure out a little bit more as to the problem I am having with the decals.

Chris I hope things work out. With our lack of pay situation we are rapidly approaching the point where things will hit critical mass. After paying the bills that have to be paid,(no one wants to hear about our situation and the letters they gave us from the Governor to give to our creditors that were supposed to solve everything aren’t worth the toilet paper they are printed on.) and few other essentials the money will run out next week and there will not be any money for gas to get to work. I guess at that point I will start burning vacation days.

I hope everybody has a good day.

 

[pcarrell]

Mornin' All!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Gee! What'cha reckon Jon's first clue was!

 

[vato loco]

Well our director of the parks payed Mario and me a visit to rub salt in the wounds and give us the grim details which will befall us.........

1) they are unstaffing my park along with several other parks.
2) all employees in closing positions will go through the Matrix to decide who gets the remaining new positions that opne up behind us.

Here's the numbers:

Current low level staff,
11 Park Operators I
14 crew leaders
40 Park attendent II
6 park attendent I

After it all:

5 Park Operator I
16 Crew Leaders
28 Park attendent II
12 Park attendent I

Not counting the 22 Recreation people and other 210 people in other departments that are layoff too

My department will only have 8 positions open up! and less in other departments This Bites

as far as for me I only have a 2% chance of staying employeed!

 

[vato loco]

Good morning folks


Chris I hope things work out. With our lack of pay situation we are rapidly approaching the point where things will hit critical mass. After paying the bills that have to be paid,(no one wants to hear about our situation and the letters they gave us from the Governor to give to our creditors that were supposed to solve everything aren’t worth the toilet paper they are printed on.) and few other essentials the money will run out next week and there will not be any money for gas to get to work. I guess at that point I will start burning vacation days.

I hope everybody has a good day.

It's the sign of the times man Bamanomics ain't working!

 

[RexHea]

Another weekend knocking at the door! Hope all will have a good one.

Chris: Please don't think I intended to damper the hopes for your future, on the contrary. Yes, you will overcome this and hopefully be in a better position in life, but for anyone to make a blanket statement inferring that someone is better off being without work rather than allowed to remain in the job they are content with, is absurd. The whole idea is to remain working.

Tankist: No need to apologize for voicing a difference in opinion. Chris's situation is not "if" anyone will be laid off, but how the selections will be made for those that will be laid off. The selection process has nothing to do with economics, other than selecting those with the higher pay or benefits that they have earned through years of hard work and loyalty to the company/city. The work still exists and it will be performed. As noted, a roving park crew will be assigned the tasks of maintaining those parks without permanent crews; the question is who will be allowed to stay and do this work.

Seniority is one of the only protections a worker has over company/shop politics, e.g. pets, nepotism, unmentionables. Competency is a requirement for having a position in the first place and a worker should not be there if problems exist with their performance on the job. The workers are there, on the job, and performing their duties and tasks as assigned, thus they are equal. Now, how do you go about selecting those for layoff without favoring anyone...Seniority. Without representation, legal or otherwise, an individual has no chance to go against a city's battery of lawyers when this and other employee rights are challenged.

 

[RexHea]

Karl:
The grab bag had:
two BLI Hudsons with tenders (minus decoders) with original boxes
one pair new A/B F7 shells for Western Maryland and one pair for F7 Santa Fe.
two steam engine frames with some parts (type unknown)

The two Paragon Hudson engines and tenders are complete (minus decoder) and are in new condition. I will have to hook up some power using a different tender and try to determine their problems...if any.

No matter what, well worth $30.

 

[kbkchooch]

Karl:
The grab bag had:
two BLI Hudsons with tenders (minus decoders) with original boxes
one pair new A/B F7 shells for Western Maryland and one pair for F7 Santa Fe.
two steam engine frames with some parts (type unknown)

The two Paragon Hudson engines and tenders are complete (minus decoder) and are in new condition. I will have to hook up some power using a different tender and try to determine there problems...if any.

No matter what, well worth $30.

Oh let us know what goes on with the Hudsons! Iffn ya want to get rid of them Western Maryland shells, lemme know too!!!!

Howdo we get in on some of this action>????

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Hello

We had a sunny start to the day followed by a dribbly/monsoony afternoon and now we are having a beautiful evening--

Tom How was a letter basically saying IOU going to stop others from wanting their money? oh--no polly ticks---oops

 

[RexHea]

Karl, I used the link for the grab bag sale and it was a blank page at BLI. Although this was supposed to last two weeks, they may have sold everything. Try over there Monday.

BTW: I knew the WM road name would raise an eyebrow on you. Unfortunately for you, one of my MR buddies models WM. He is from Hagerstown. If he doesn't want to make a trade, I will let you know.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 76 and cloudy. The high should be around 90 and there's a chance of rain.

Got a little more work done on the Schultz's garage kit last night. I painted the trim white and the window frames green. The doors received a second coat of buff white. I got time yesterday to go to the local scrap yard to get a starter for my car. The overrun clutch on the old starter is bad. This causes the starter to disengage after only a second or two. Sometimes it's enough time for the engine to start and sometimes not. Either way it's mostly irritating. Now I just need the time to change the starter out. I know that sounds simple but there's a skid plate that needs to come off first. I also found out yesterday that my floor jack has a bad seal so using it is out of the question. I do however have a solution. There's a terrace wall at the bottom of one of my parent's two driveways that has a 6 inch drop on the far side. I can park the car so the front wheels are on the wall (ground level on one side). The car is front wheel drive with the engine set forward of the axle center line and the starter is on the front side of the engine, so I should be able to get to it easily. The hard part will be removing the aforementioned skid plate not to mention putting it back on. The starter itself is a snap to replace. There are only 2 bolts that hold it in place and they both go in vertically. Can you tell I've done this before?

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 8/1/2009

Heat Index: 82°F
Humidity: 99%
Dew Point: 76°F

So Far Today
High: 77°F
Low: 76°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 3mph NNE

Today High: 92 Mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning...then a 50 percent chance in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight Low: 75 Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/proudIndian/P1010134.jpg

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Good Morning--

We be getting another sunny day with the high at 26C. Tonight will have increasing cloudiness with a 40% chance of rain after dark and a low at 16C. Tomorrow will have that ol' 40% chance of rain with the high at 22C. Tomorrow night's low will be 10C.

Went for a walk earlier this morning and came across a yard sale that had 2 4X8 HO scale layouts with all the pieces and engines/rolling stock going for $30---I got a friend of mine looking to get into MRing and so get on phone and told him about it----he got the dang things

So, how's it with you, mmmm?

 

[pcarrell]

Mornin' all!

Sorry I wasn't around much last evening. I was kinda busy. Ya see, the old clutch was starting to slip on my 2001 Drifter 1500. Mileage was dropping and when I'd gun it, it'd slip. I got the Meanstreak clutch spring (the Meanstreak is the high performance version of my engine, so it's basically a factory hop-up), the two part holders for it (vs. the single part it came with from the factory), and all the gaskets ( http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/clutchparts.html ). I lined up my tools, and dug in. I followed Gadgets instructions (Thanks Gadget! http://www.gadgetjq.com/clutch_spring_replacement.htm ) and in fairily short order I was looking at a pile of parts on the floor. Now, it is said that this job is much easier if you have an air wrench to remove "the nut" with. Fortunately, I do! Unfortunately, it chose that exact moment to break! Now I had 27mm of royal pain in the posterior to deal with! Thanks to the link on Gadgets page, I was able to muscle it off the old fashioned way.........and no, I didn't even use my "pursuader" (hammer). Once that was done, it all went back together pretty well, and in a few hours I was riding again. I took my time and used pretty much all of last evening to do it. It makes quite a difference in the positive engagement of the clutch. Think I'll go ride today!

 

[RexHea]

Are you guys still getting email notifications of posts from subscribed threads? I have all the boxes checked properly, but I haven't received any for quite some time. I even deleted the subscribed list and started over to see if there may have been too many.

 

[kbkchooch]

Are you guys still getting email notifications of posts from subscribed threads? I have all the boxes checked properly, but I haven't received any for quite some time. I even deleted the subscribed list and started over to see if there may have been too many.

All seems to be working on my end Rex. Mebbe your puter has a bug?

 

[stationmaster]

Check your SPAM settings on your 'puter, Rex. I had a problem on my end a few weeks ago. I couldn't figure out how it happened as I hadn't changed anything other than updating my browser. That's the only thing I can figure that could have caused the problem.

Bob

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well, I spent all day working on the car. As I had said it would be, getting the skid plate off was a bear. Getting the front bolt out of the starter was easy, as was disconnecting the wires. However, and here's where it got really fun, getting the back bolt (6 inches long) out was a bunch of work! Ordinarily this would be drop dead easy on a Century. However, mine has a slightly bent cross member under the front that can't be replaced without replacing the entire front clip and it goes right under the starter. All things being equal, the bolt would drop down and just clear the cross member. Old man Murphy was truly in fine form. I needed a long extension and a 15mm deep well socket. Guess what 2 items WERE NOT in my tool box! So I look in my father's shop and find 2 extensions, 1 medium and 1 short. These will work. I could not find the socket, so I had to go to town to get one. $10 later I have the socket and head back to continue work on the car. I get the bolt loose and it falls just as it should, until it hits the cross member. I have to get the bolt to move half an inch toward the front of the car so I can pull it out. This requires pulling the starter straight down (against the cross member of course) and twist it a 1/4 turn so the bolt can fall free. This being accomplished I'm now feeling pretty good with myself. However, old man Murphy wasn't finished tormenting me, not by a long shot. I now had to get the old starter clear of the cars frame. This required turning it so the rear of it pointed upward so it could slide out through a small gap in all the wiring, tubing and hoses that go to make up the maze under the hood of a 15 year old car. I eventually got it out. This meant however that the real battle was about to begin. Getting the new (good used) starter in. After a 20 minute battle I got it up through the aforementioned obstacle course so I can slide it into place. Slight problem! This starter is just a LITTLE longer, like an inch, than the old one and the oil filter has now become a problem and must be removed. Naturally I can't find my filter wrench so I do my best impersonation of Hercules and grab the filter with both hands and try to twist it free. Nothing doing. My greasy hands just slide on it's smooth surface. Now I'm getting irked! The car is now conspiring against me! My happened to all the on time oil changes, all the preventive maintenance, all the TLC I treated it with over the years? I rubbed my hands in the dirt and grabbed the filter again and this time imagined it was the cocky captain of the football team back when I was in high school. The filter lost the battle and came free. Now I slid the starter into place and carefully positioned the long bolt that had given me so much grief earlier. It slid right into place and I think "YES" "It's gonna be nice". I should have known better! When I went to tighten it it wouldn't line up with the hole in the block. So I started the front bolt in. It went in OK so I try the rear one again. Still no dice. No I grab the starter and yank it first forward then back and I hear something click. Now I try the rear bolt again and it goes in just as it should. I make sure both bolts are tight the connect the wires to the starter. Looked like all of them, there are a lot of them. I put the oil filter back on then connect the battery cables. Now I turn the key and all I hear is a loud CLICK! I try it again and again. CLICK, CLICK! I'm thinking "Oh no! I got a bad starter!" "AND AFTER ALL THAT WORK!!!". I decide to check all the wires again and found one I missed. It's so small and frail looking it can't possibly be important but I connect it anyway. I turn the key again and the car starts right up! I count my blessings and put the dust guards and the skid plate back in place. Mission accomplished and after only 6 hours of work. Next time I'm getting up off the $90 and have a repair shop do the work.

 

[leghome]

Well I started another project today. My good friend who owns a body shop has two sons. One of them needs me to replace the floor in a bathroom rental apartment. I replaced the under layment and tile in this bath about 12 to 15 yrs ago and it now has a soft spot right next to the bathtub. When his dad I and did the job the last time we knew the floor was not perfect but thought we had fixed it so as not to be a problem. Well the last renter had a leak on the toilet and did not tell him about it for over a week. She said it was not leaking very bad and there was no hurry. RIGHT!!! Wrong now we have to pull the toilet and the floor to fix the sub-floors soft spot. His brother is wanting to build a deck on the back of his house so today we laid out the plan on the ground and marked where the 14 4x4 post will go and tomorrow we will start digging holes for the post and putting the concrete in the bottom of said holes to start setting the post Monday evening. Oh the fun of being handy but at least I am making some pocket money cause I sure can use it.

 

[RexHea]

Check your SPAM settings on your 'puter, Rex. I had a problem on my end a few weeks ago. I couldn't figure out how it happened as I hadn't changed anything other than updating my browser. That's the only thing I can figure that could have caused the problem.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I will look into that. A few weeks back I did a lot of housekeeping that included running malware checks with several different programs. I now have AVG running for try-out and it may have something set to block them.