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Guess who!

We got three inches of rain from Gustav and it's still coming down. I really don't like it. I LOVE IT!

There was no really bad damage here, that was north and south of us. The power here was out for around eight hours and the cable internet signal crapped out about four hours before that. Both came back on about an hour ago.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 9/2/2008

Heat Index: 82°F
Humidity: 87%
Dew Point: 73°F

So Far Today
High: 77°F
Low: 75°F
Rain: 1.01"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 30mph WSW

Important Message

Flash flood watch in effect until 7 PM cdt this evening.

Rest Of Today High: 82 Showers and isolated thunderstorms. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Highs in the lower 80s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain near 100 percent.

Tonight Low: 75 Showers likely and isolated thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent.

This is the extent of the damage at my parents place this morning. Told ya it can take a wallop!
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Jeffrey glad you and your family are safe and weathered the storm well! Hope their was no damage at your trailer.
 
Good Afternoon All ! Another nice day here on the Niagara Frontier just a little farther up the state from Ray. Philp that is one nice boat there look s like you and the family had a real nice time. Jeffrey has not posted today hope he made it through the storm . My daughter started classes today so I had to get up at 6:45 to get her up. Dad is the alarm clock . today I went to my Personal Doctor , Tomorrow it's off to my Transplant Doctor , friday it's my Enodcrinologist . One busy week . My transplant doctor is in Rochester ,New York which is an hour away so I have a bit of a ride coming up . That;s about all thats' going on here. Oh Carey Happy Belated Anniversary to you and your wife. Wishing you many more. hope everyone has a nice Day !!!!!Jeffrey glad hear you made ti through the storm
 


Jeffery- Wonderful that you weathered the storm so well!
I thought of you everytime the TV showed the projected hurricane path.

I had a tough weekend.
Some of my honeydews grew to watermelon sized projects.

We are getting the flooring of my mother's kitchen replaced today. Everything had to be moved, including the side-by-side refrigerator freezer yesterday. It is too big to go through any door except the back door, but only after taking the doors off the fridge AND the house.
Had to take the ice-maker water line loose and turned off the water at the street to do that.
My 60+ year old body crawled under the house in the damp dirt to find the water cut off valve for the icemaker line. No cut off valve! Lots of dirty clothes and spider webs. Had to get the wife to hose me off before I could take a shower and go to a hardware store for water line fittings.

Then the line plug leaked after I cut the street valve back on at 9 PM.

I had a bad attitude and a vocabilary limited to four-letter adjectives.:eek:

This morning, the bucket I put the leaking pipe in only had a cup of water in it!
My attitude improved greatly and I can think about trains again... until I have to put the refrigeration back.

Central to north Alabama got little rain from Gustav, so I suspect most of the wind was caused by the college football fans talking about their favorite teams over the long weekend!
Flo, after that tirade, please bring me something large and cold to cool me down.
Y'all have a nice day, y'hear!
Mikey
 
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Afternoon, everyone.

Jeffrey, glad to hear from you. Looks like most everyone dodged a big bullet with Gustav. North Louisiana and Arkansas will be the focus of flooding problems for the next few days but even these won't be as bad as feared.

Mikey, that would have been way too big a job for me. I've learned there are some things I just pay people to do. They can usually do it faster and better than me. Sounds like you did a good job though.

Paul, hope all the doctor's visits go well.

Corey, sounds like you at least have most of the track you need so spending some time getting perfect track alignment is time well spent. You're right about those leg levelers. A lot of guys assume the floor is level and then find it's not when they end up with spme unexpected grades.

Phillip, my wife died in 2004 from leukemia. She was diagnosed just three days after we had sold the house and put a down payment on the boat. Dang! She was the one that always lived right, never smoked, exercised, ate healthy food, and I'm the opposite. I have no idea what God's plan is but there's always a reason for things like this. Here is is four years later and I'm a member of the Alabama Rail Gang and have a new family. Things change.

Hanna is developing off the east coast of Florida but she's under a lot of wind shear and the chances of her developing into a major hurricane are slim. It looks like she will just skirt the northeast coast of Florida and then come ashore around Savannah. Hanna may not even be able to maintain Tropical Storm status before landfall and should bring some beneficial rainfall to areas of the southeast that are in severe drought.

Ike is another matter. Although he's a long way out, he's developing in an area of warm water in a low shear environment and should be able to scoot almost directly westward. He may present a threat to many of the same areas as Gustav in the next 10 days. We'll just have to watch and wait again. September and October are nervous times down here.
 
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UP2CSX said:
Looks like most everyone dodged a big bullet with Gustav. North Louisiana and Arkansas will be the focus of flooding problems for the next few days but even these won't be as bad as feared.
Click to expand...
As far as Gustav is concerned, it looks like the iron man turned out to be a wimp! Not that I'm complaining. It could have been much worse. Compared to Rita, Gustav was a cake walk.
 
UP2CSX said:
Mikey, that would have been way too big a job for me. I've learned there are some things I just pay people to do. They can usually do it faster and better than me. Sounds like you did a good job though.
.
Click to expand...

Jim- after years of observation, my wife has developed a theory about a "Floyd Project".
A Floyd project is an ordinary 10 minute project extended into a 3 hour ordeal accomplished by anguish and often Floyd blood and flesh.
My home layout is a prime example of the time element.

Jeffery- Please do not become complacent. It looks like someone has a hurricane shotgun aimed directly at the Southeast. :p
 
Mikey, apparently I have the same Floyd Project syndrome. I can't tell you how many times I've wasted countless hours and dollars doing projects I just wasn't qualified to do. I can handle most plumbing stuff but any electrical work that involves more than 12 volts, I'm not only lousy at, I'm downright dangerous. :)
 


Good morning.

It's 79 and very cloudy and wet. The high today is expected to be in the mid 80's and rain is very likely.

I spent much of yesterday getting my life back on track after Gustav passed through. There wasn't much damage hare, no big trees blown over. There were a lot of branches and small debris. The only damage to my home that I could find is a cracked window and that has already been tended to. My parents had a heavy patio table get blown over and the sliding screen door to the pool area got pulled out of it's frame and collapsed. Over than that it's just tree branches strewn about the yard.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 9/3/2008

Heat Index: 88°F
Humidity: 83%
Dew Point: 75°F

So Far Today
High: 81°F
Low: 79°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 21mph WSW

Important Message

Flash flood watch in effect until 1 PM cdt this afternoon.
Now through 06:00 AM CDT September 03, 2008

Through 6 AM...thunderstorms with very heavy rain will continue to affect portions of central Louisiana. Locations affected include Glenmora...Lecompte...Alexandria...Bunkie...Marksville and Bordelonville. Rainfall totals of 7 to 10 inches have been noted across this area over the past few hours and additional rainfall of up to 3 inches is possible. Elsewhere...bands of light to moderate rain will move east across south central and southwest Louisiana. These bands will extend over the coastal waters from pecan island to 40 nautical miles south of Cameron.

Today High: 88 Showers and thunderstorms in the morning...then scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall. Highs in the upper 80s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent.

Tonight Low: 68 Mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the evening...then partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the upper 60s. West winds around 5 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/proudIndian/P1010033.jpg
 
Mornin' everyone!

Another warm sunny day here in the Finger Lakes. Currently 78°F with a high of 83°F. Not a cloud in the sky, but that will change by Saturday if the projections for Hanna are correct. We may see some rain from her.

Just got a call from my son. Olivia is home from daycare with a cold and he needs a babysitter for a couple hours this afternoon when he has to leave for work until his wife gets home from work. So I get to play with my Granddaughter (Although she probably isn't going to feel like playing with Grandpa....).

On the hobby front, I installed two more Tortoise machines last night. Both easy installs. I also painted the wood under and below the fascia black. There will be a fabric screen all the way around the layout, but that way any spots not covered will be invisible. Wanted to get that done before I install the fascia and mount the torti toggles.

Have a great day all!
 
Good afternoon folks

It has been a wild morning. We had to meet with a Philadelphia County Maintenance crew so we could take measurements on a major highway. We needed them to provide traffic control while we measured the roadway width in various locations. We had to find out exactly what is on the ground because we are trying to design a safe traffic control scheme during constructions and literally inches matter. The crew had to use their trucks to block traffic while we ran across the road measuring things. We had to do it at about six locations. The roadway has about 70,000 vehicles a day on at most of them traveling well over the post 50 MPH limit. To do what we needed to do without traffic protection would have been taking our lives in our hands.

No modeling last night. I am hoping for some time tonight.

Jeffery, good to hear you made it through without too many problems.

I hope everybody has a good day.
 
Glad you made it ok, Jeffrey. I too, was watching the weather radar at your location. I thought you would have needed a snorkel:D . Kick'um up and take it easy. CU when recuperated.

Everything is moving slow today. That danged JIM gave me the scanner bug and mine arrived yesterday. At bedtime I made the mistake of turning it on for just a "few minutes". RIGHT! It was 2 a.m. before I forced myself to turn it off. While I still don't have the freq for the local railroads, I could listen to police, fire, and the airport control tower easily. Lots of crap going on in my little city...darn scary.

Guess I will venture out to the depot and continue ballasting. Its mindless work and that is about all I can do today:D .
 
Afternoon everyone

Jeffrey, sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. Sometimes all the stress of waiting for a big storm, even when it turns out not to be a big deal, can take its toll.

Ray sounds like your getting the whole Tortoise thing down. I have just two I need to install for crossing gates and I've got to get to them someday but they just look so intimidating. :) Hope Olivia's cold isn't too bad.

Tom, we used to provide patrol cars to slow down traffic when there was a lot of worker occupancy of traffic lanes. The red and blue lights work a lot better than the amber road crew lights to slow down traffic. You ought to talk to your department about getting the county or state police to give you a hand in situations like you were in.

Rex, sorry about the scanner bug thing. :) I actually wish more people had scanners so they could hear how things are really happening where they live. As you said, there are a lot of scary things that go on that you'll never read about in the paper. As for railroad frequencies, load the ones at http://www.alabamarailfan.com/railfanning.php?location=birmingham in your scanner. They aren't specific to Tuscaloosa but I think the frequencies are basically the same as the ones used in Birmingham. Since you have 200 channels available, you can also just add all 90 ARR railroad frequencies from http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Railroad and then figure out which ones have the most action in T-Town.

Hanna looks pretty sick today, with a lot wind shear tearing her up. I still don't think she will become a hurricane or, at most, a weak category one before coming ashore a little further north than the models predict, somewhere around Charleston, SC. She should bring 6-10 inches of rain to Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, all of which are in severe drought and can handle the rain without serious problems.

You guys in the northeast may have an interesting situation developing. A low pressure trough is moving east from the plains and should pick up the remnants of Gustav. As it get east to Ohio, the remnants of Hanna should also get caught up in the trough. This could lead to some major rain and flooding in the northeast, especially Pennsylvania, New York, and New England.

Josephine is way out in the Atlantic and it looks like she will turn to the north and become a fish storm before ever reaching land. Ike, on the other hand, is making me nervous. He's under low shear and in very warm water. He has all the earmarks of a major hurricane that could threaten the Bahamas, Florida, and possibly the Gulf Coast. He will be someone to keep an eye on for sure.
 
UP2CSX said:
Ray sounds like your getting the whole Tortoise thing down. I have just two I need to install for crossing gates and I've got to get to them someday but they just look so intimidating. :) Hope Olivia's cold isn't too bad.
Click to expand...

Hi Jim! Actually the most difficult part of a tortoise install is getting the little wire up through the tiny hole in the turnout throw bar..... I have already installed about 30 of them. What gets fun is hand building throw devices for areas where the machine can't fit. Quick story. A year and one-half ago Harold Russell, Master Model Railroader #14 stopped in to inspect my layout for the Golden Spike Award. I met him at the door, he looks at me and says, "Oh I've seen you around at the meets." I looked at him and said the same thing. We went down to the train room and the first thing he did was pick up one of my Tortoise assemblies. Looked at it and says, "Wow, you do these exactly like I do! I learned it from an article in the local Rochester Model Rails....." I told I do them that way because I wrote the article...... ;) We then figured out that he was the one who taught me how to do clouds. A friendship was born! If your interested in the article throw me an e-mail and I will send you a PDF of it.

Olivia spiked a 103° fever yesterday. She also went to the doctor as she has developed styes in both eyes. She is on eyedrops to help her get rid of them and some other meds for the fever and cough. She was tired and a bit grumpy when her Dad left for work, but Grandpa got her laughing for a while by bouncing her favorite ball for her. My DIL got home early so I only had to watch her for about 3/4 hour total.

Jeffrey hope you are just tired out from the last few days and are not having sugar problems again.
 
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Ray, I would indeed like a PDF of your mounting methods. Tortoise machines are one of the few things that scare me, especially since I've got to get the throw rods to operate crossing gates in a convincing manner. I've got a lot of clearance to work with but I need to get the mounting just right so I don't tear up the gates. Small kids seem to get sick so often. Sounds like she's not too bad off and a little TLC from grandpa probably didn't hurt either. :D
 


Afternoon ALL ! Well went to the Transplant doctors today and they let me know that I will have to go back on the Transplant list since my kidney is wearing out . The wait for cardaver kidneys nowadays is 5 years so mine is in such bad condition they anticipate 5 years or less is left on it. Well have to have a medical workup to get back on the list ! Jeffrey sure hope you are feeling better . You went through a trying weather experience so it is understandable you aren't feeling up to snuff, Tom I was no our thruway today and saw the construction crews as I went by and wondered how it feels with all the cars flying by . Must be some kind of feeling . Well have to get going with my little friend bugging me , hope you all have a nice night !!!
 
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