Come and see Flo at Coffee Shop 18

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I used to have a heater just like the one you describe. It worked great as loing as it was out in open but if it was under the edge of the layout (where it has to be to be out of the middle of the floor) it just kept clicking on and off and barely kept the front room warm. The main problem was it didn't have a fan to push the heat. I gave it to my sister and she loves it.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Good afternoon y’all, hope you’re having a good weekend.

Today was a major honey-dues day for me. My wife decided she was fed-up with seeing all the junk that had accumulated in the shed, including a handful of old computers and monitors. The toughest item was this defunct lawn tractor which we hadn’t used in over 5 years, it was parked in the shed without its rear wheels. I had to support the back of it with a handtruck to roll it onto the trailer. At least I was able to unload it at the County Reclamation Center [a.k.a. the dump]. Now the dead tractor begins its final journey to a steel mill where it will be reincarnated into some other metal-based item…

Jim, I'd be more than happy to give you some of this wet weather that's been hanging over our area for the past 3 days. Looks like it should be gone after midnight, and we'll have a few days of sun and pleasant temps.

Jeff – glad the surgery wound is healing. I agree with the others, that old heater’s got to go!

Picked up a new Walthers Gold Line 23K-gallon tank car from the LHS, WKW finally had them on sale and I’ve been wanting one of these for years. Also picked up a few sets of Athearn caboose ladders to finish my conversion of some old Athearn 62ft tank cars – getting rid of the peripheral walkways and adding piping, end handrails, and longer side ladders.

Have a good’un..!

 

[stationmaster]

Holey Smokes you guys!!!! I go to the boat for a few days and the place goes to H*ll in a hand basket.

Sorry to hear you lost gainful employment, Chris. Government cheese ain't all that bad......as long as you add enough mustard. I've been unemployed(the Skunk Werks doesn't count as a job, it's too much fun) for over two years. Job market is almost non-existent here. That is unless you want to deliver pizzas or sling 'burgers at McDonalds. But, I've got the money from selling the businesses to keep me goin'. But, there's a silver lining to every cloud they say.

Haven't been on lately because the satellite link was "a-messin'" up. Finally found the glitch and it's all better now. (I think) The system couldn't find a satellite. I ran a diagnostic with no success. I finally threatened it and replaced the USB cords. Works fine now.

The weather is a tad on the cool side in the mornings though. Mist on the water, and definitely "hoody weather". If teh dew were frost, it would be an inch thick every morning.

Well, I'm somewhere in the middle of Lake Huron. Fishing SUCKS!!!! Had four bites all day today and three of them broke off. But, the food is great, and the company better. So I really can't complain. The boat goes in for repair Monday so I thought I'd get some water time in before she comes out to the "dry". Hopefully the weather will hold out for another few weeks. Angela wants to take a trip down to Memphis(again) by way of water. Oh, how I hate going through Chicago though. Damn place reeks of raw sewage. And believe me, it's impossible for one to hold their breath that long to pass through. All in all it's a fun trip though, as long as you don't have to wait for lockage for a prolonged period. That all depends on barge traffic of course.

So, as you must be able to see, no train time for Ol' Bob. Trains are a winter thing for me anyway.

I'll be back after supper. I think we are having butterflied pork chops. YUM!!!!!

Bob

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Good Evening---

We went running around--got to Sarnia via several back roads--got lost a couple of times and did the usual

Jeff good thing you got a new heater--that other one was a firetrap!

I'll be doing some catching up on stuff----here's a few done today

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The old heater is going out tomorrow after I cut the cord off it, if the weather is agreeable that is. The new one is out in the car. It looks like this:

 

[Sandy]

Hey All...

When I try to upload a photo, I keep getting this

"021.JPG:
Upload of file failed."

What am I doing wrong?


Sandy

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Sandy There may not be anything you did wrong--it could be just the dang browser or the server or the----well you get the picture---I'd just try again. It usually works then---

What method do you use anyhooooo??

When I go to my "Manage Attachments" button I click that then I'll go to my files then to photographs then I'll click the ones I need---that usually works but on occasion it'll spit that at me too. I usually get it the second go 'round. That's why my

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 72 and cloudy. The high will be around 80 and there's a chance of rain.

Currently there's no rain falling here. That's a welcome change as we've had 30+ hours of more or less steady rain. At least it was light and slow. I'd hate to see heavy rain coming down for that long in one area (seen it in past years) because flood control systems are virtually non-existent here. The runoff ditches and drainage channels quickly become overwhelmed and roads are impassible, and it doesn't take long for that to happen. Just a few hours of heavy rain can put the roads under and overtop bridges in low lying areas. It's been more than once that I've seen the Sale Creek bridge at the main entrance/exit of the Wal-Mart parking lot under 6+ feet of water. The last big flood we had here was back in 2000 when 30% of the homes near the lake were flooded. A saving grace this year is that the lake is down but it wouldn't take long to come up if water is coming in faster than the flood gates can let it out. That's one of the reasons the lake is down now. One of the flood gates (the bigger one naturally) malfunctioned and couldn't be opened. No surprise there as the dam is like 50 years old. It's been undergoing extensive repair and renovation and the levee is being rerocked but at it's advanced age that's only a stop-gap measure. Some families downstream of the dam have already packed up and left. Why is anybodies guess. As for my activities today I'll be getting the old heater ready to heave out the door. It's a big heavy thing but I'll have gravity on my side. Even so I'll have to partially disassemble it. It's 2' 3" high by 3' wide by 1' 6" deep. I'm thinking that if I remove the actual heater part from the cabinet then I should be able to haul the cabinet out and tip it out the door and down the steps. The new heater is somewhat smaller {1' 8.5" wide by 2' 1" high by 1' 3.5" deep) and will easily fit in the space that will be cleared. I should sleep good tonight.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 9/13/2009

Heat Index: 78°F
Humidity: 95%
Dew Point: 72°F

So Far Today
High: 73°F
Low: 72°F
Rain: 0.01"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 8mph ESE

Through 8 AM...scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms will continue to spread northeast at 20 mph over southeast Texas...central and south central Louisiana. The strongest storms will continue to affect Sabine and Calcasieu Lakes...lacassine wildlife refuge to Crowley...and Alexandria. Within the stronger storms...expect gusty winds up to 25 mph...and heavy rainfall up to one inch per hour.

Today High: 78 Mostly cloudy with a 70 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Highs in the upper 70s. East winds around 5 mph.

Tonight Low: 72 Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s. Southeast winds around 5 mph.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm18/forum-2/P9040097.jpg

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Good Morning

Sunny this week and a little cool---highs in the upper 'teens to low 20'sC and lows in the upper single dgits. Nice weather for the Western Fair up here. Usually it is cool and pouring down rain for days on end ---

Today i'm going to see about doing some building of buildings---maybe do some weathering and such----

 

[Sandy]

Okay...I tried and tried, then I decided to resize it. Have no idea if this will work.

IF it does then this is a campground in WY that I visited yesterday.

Here goes.....

 

[Sandy]

BOC! Thanks!!! I kept trying and it did work! Woohoo!


Here are a couple more from yesterday. It was about 40 degrees so it was good to sit around the campfire and have hot chocolate.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Nice photos Sandy. I'm not sure but I think I've been there.

 

[Sandy]

Thanks Jeffrey. I'm just learning this camera and am having fun


The campground is in Medicine Bow National Park which is not too far from Cheyenne (or so I'm told) and about 1.5 hours from my house.

You can see alot of the pine beetle damage. It's not too bad here, but up by Grand Lake and even Estes Park, it is terrible.

 

[bnsf971]

Okay...I tried and tried, then I decided to resize it. Have no idea if this will work.

IF it does then this is a campground in WY that I visited yesterday.

Here goes.....

BOC! Thanks!!! I kept trying and it did work! Woohoo!


Here are a couple more from yesterday. It was about 40 degrees so it was good to sit around the campfire and have hot chocolate.

Thanks Jeffrey. I'm just learning this camera and am having fun


The campground is in Medicine Bow National Park which is not too far from Cheyenne (or so I'm told) and about 1.5 hours from my house.

You can see alot of the pine beetle damage. It's not too bad here, but up by Grand Lake and even Estes Park, it is terrible.

Do you have an RV or tent, or did you hitch a ride with somebody that does? Enquiring (read nosy) minds want to know...

 

[Sandy]

Actually, I just went up for the day. Others from my church stayed the weekend. I snagged my sister and a friend and we took a girl's trip up there.

Another friend got too cold so she abandoned (temporarily) her son and husband and hitched a ride with us when we left.

It was cold enough that your breath was visible. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! But the fire was great and the company awesome.

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Looks like a neat camping area----like the shots

 

[RexHea]

Hi everyone!
The strangest thing happened overnight. I woke up and was 1 year older...go figure! Yup, 64 years young!
Tomorrow is my big day (and week) doing my civic duty...jury duty that is. Just hope I stay clear of any lengthy trials.

Sandy: Love the campground! I could live permanently in an area like that.

BOC: What is that trackside red thing in one of the photos?

Ya'll have a good one!

 

[RexHea]

BIG BOB: Looks like Comcast may have blacklisted this site again.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Comcast has a weird list of ethics.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I had to disassemble the old heater (read as remove actual heater from huge and heavy wood cabinet and disassemble said cabinet) to get it out of here. While I had the actual heater out where I could get at it I decided to open it up and see what had gone wrong. Upon removing the back panel I could see that most of the space within was taken up by the stuff needed for the flickering flame light show and the rear projection screen. The ACTUAL heater was on top of all this hoo-ha and was smaller than an average shoe box. In fact, it's about the size of two Atlas loco boxes stacked on top of each other. All of it's parts are an integral unit with all the controls incorporated into the construction. I took this apart and located the thermostat. It was just as I figured. The thermostat had somehow shorted and welded itself closed. This was why the heater ran away. I had also correctly figured that replacement of said thermostat could only have been done by the replacement of the unit, so buying a new heater was actually the best course of action. I was however able to recover the two light bulbs that were required for the flickering flame effect and will keep them as spares for the bulbs in the new unit. I already looked and they're the same type bulbs it uses. One additional item is that the controls for the new unit are separate from the actual heater casing meaning that the thermostat and switches can be replaced without having to disassemble the entire unit. The new one looks a lot better too. Being that it takes up less space under the front of the layout that gives me some more space in which to tuck some tool cases (non-flammable) away for storage. I've already tested the new unit and it almost ran me out of here on low (700 watts, high is 1400 watts). It's rated for 400 square feet so it should have no trouble keeping my little trailer warm this winter.