Good morning all, today starts the Labor Day weekend. For some that means a holiday off work, others have no change at all, hospitals, fire, police, restaurant workers and even the newspaper delivery people are still hard at work, so give them a round of applause.

Temps drop a bit to 104 and we've gone from no rain to possible t'storms this afternoon. We're headed up to Prescott. They have a gun up there that I've been after for years and I have one that I'd like to trade it for, so my breakfast buddy is going to drive. I wouldn't be going otherwise.

Gas here hasn't changed, but I see a few Cheveron stations in Surprise that are 40-50 cents higher than most others. Yesterday, Circle K dropped their price by 40 cents for a few hours, and there were miles of lines. There was a time in my life that I'd go a few blocks to save 2 cents a gallon, but even then I wouldn't wait for hours just to save a few dollars. It is not free money if you value your time.

Jim and Charlie, thanks for the tips, I've got to build that jig so I can get consistent cuts, that should make attacking the splitting problem easier.

Take care everyone and those that celebrate Labor Day, enjoy the holiday weekend, and for everyone, stay safe...

Good morning folks

It is 64 heading up to 82.

Finally got the Internet working at the trailer again and so I am able to post between trips to the project site. Back is not doing well this morning. I don't think therapy helped last night. It has been a rough week with my back. This has limited what I can do in the evening. I get those daily chores done but nothing else.

I get to pick up my car from the auto body shop this afternoon. I will have to move the stuff I took out of it, such as the reusable shopping bags, back into it. Those bags are getting more important as Delaware, New Jersey, and Philadelphia all have plastic bag bans. Now one of the neighboring townships, the one I do the majority of my shopping in, is talking about banning the plastic bags.

I am not sure what we will be doing this weekend. My kids are headed off to places with their friends leaving the wife and I home. There is gardening including that pesky weeping cherry tree to trim. The wife wants to go around the house and paint all those nicks that happen over time in the walls. If we can think of someplace to go perhaps we will do that for a day trip. I need to do the biweekly restocking of the provisions.

In the modeling world I still have a bunch of rolling stock to tune up and a couple of new locos to test. I ordered parts so I can fix a few cars that have been laying around for some time. I began reorganizing my rolling stock storage. I am currently working on the reefers. I want to further categorize them into types and store them that way. I am hoping it will make it easier to keep track of them and find what I want without emptying out a bin.

Getting near the time I need to go run out and check on the contractor.

I hope everybody has a good day.

Hello-o-o-o Sounds kind of empty in here, where's everybody?  Regardless, good morning and welcome to Labor Day weekend for those who celebrate. Also today is the official start of the college football season even though they've been playing for a week now. Also, today, among about 100 other things, is:

• National bacon day
  
• World beard day (my favorite)
  
• World coconut day
  

And lest we forget, most important, today is VJ day, I still remember the headlines, "JAPAN SURRENDERS".... We cannot forget about those from the US and our allies that gave their all so that we can celebrate this weekend holiday in peace. And for those that did come home, we are loosing them daily since that was some 77 years ago. I stand in awe of their bravery and dedication.

We did go up to Prescott yesterday, had a nice breakfast there and I traded one gun for another (plus a few more dollars), it's like trading in your old car at a dealer, you never get what you want for your trade-in. The guy asked me what I expected for my gun and I told him. "No way" says he, "hey, you asked me what I expected, what I'll take is something else". Anyway, it was a long trip for me, and I wish I had waited a few more weeks before going, but I have all the time I need to rest since I will be watching football today and tomorrow.

I hope you all have a good weekend and that you do something that you enjoy.

I be here Blue.
Sun and 90 for today. 
No special holiday plans. If anything, the kids always call last minute.
We sat on the porch till dark which is now 8:30. In July it would have been close to 10.
Our new washing machine sure makes weird noises, certainly not the sound we are used to.
S.J.

Good morning everyone, as usual, the guessers missed the mark on rain once again, not a drop in the whole valley yesterday. Today they give it a 2% chance, and we could wind up with flooding. Temps yesterday were around 108, hot enough that the power company raised my thermostat to 86 for three hours during a high usage time. I can override that anytime I want, but they usually drive the temp down right before that so it's not really that bad.

Watched a bit of college football, noticed a few players emulating the pros with their mini-celebrations. One guy jumped on the quarterback who was already on the ground recovering a dropped ball, and the guy had to dance around like he won the game single-handedly. I switched channels, I really don't need to watch more of that. I doubt that today's pro games are going to be any better. Got plenty to watch without football, got around 10 hours of Josh Gates exploring the world for treasures, a few hours of Mythbusters, and lots of movies like, "Spaceballs" and "Galaxy Quest", or I can just take a nap. Lots to do other than watch multi-millionaires dancing around on the field like chickens.

Take care, stay safe and have a great weekend...

Greetings, gang.

Sunny and 71 headed for sunny and 76. Pretty much the same forecast for tomorrow. A very nice Labor Day weekend weatherwise.

Very quiet day yesterday. I did run to the grocery store but didn't realize until about 3 AM this morning that I forgot to get milk. Yeah, woke up about 3 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. Got up and read a book for a while. I was hungry and decided on a bowl of cereal. So plan B was to scramble a couple of eggs. Went back to bed about 4 and got up around 6:30. Watched the F1 race. Nothing else planned for today until this evening when I head to Walmart for some milk. Sunday afternoon around here is not a good time to go to Walmart.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good evening all
       We had rain all day, not really heavy but enough to keep it muggy. 
I got an email last week from the son of a dear friend that passed away several years ago. He said he wanted me to have his dad's train collection for a very reasonable price so I drove a hundred miles to pick it up today. Turned out to be about 10 times more than I expected. Now everytime I run a train I will think of the times when he was here running his trains. I really feel special and I had never met the boy before (that is what Bill always called him "My boy" He is a carbon copy of his dad except for the lack of a beard. 
       The motor home is ready for paint, now I need good weather. I don't have a shop to get it in so it will have to be painted in the great outdoors, like all the other rail equipment I have painted over the years. 
        Have a safe Labor day 
Charlie

Good morning all and yup, it's Labor Day today, don't know how that happened so quickly, but if I don't see Halloween stuff out at the big box stores by now, I'll be surprised.

I was all ready to watch some football yesterday and then realized the NFL season doesn't start until later this week. Did watch part of the Florida-LSU game though. Went to sleep before a surprising finish. Sorry I missed that but I need my rest more than anything right now.

Hit 109 yesterday and for the second day in a row I found my thermostat turned up to 86 for three hours. The power company calls it, "rush hour", it's that the demand is high because everyone's A/C is going and I guess it's better than a brown-out or selective black-out which they frequently bring up every time they ask for a rate increase. Today should get to 108 and I guess I should expect another rush-hour shutdown.

Charlie, so good that you can remember your friend that way.

Nothing on the agenda for today, I'm going to try to make that cutting jig for my logs, but I'd better do it early, the garage is like an oven even before the sun comes up.

Take care everyone and enjoy the day even if you don't celebrate the holiday.

Greeting, gang.

Cloudy ad 69 a the moment and maybe it will clear off and get to the upper 70s later. Very foggy earlier this morning.

I've been busy this morning already. Went to the cemetery and cleaned up the grave sites for my wife and son. Also got the bills paid so I can live in the house for another month. Later on I'll ride the bike out to pay the drive by bills.

Charlie - very nice thought for your friend's son to reach out to you.

Gas was down to $3.29 this morning.

All stay safe.

Tom

hi all. not much going on today still hot and muggy though the nights are cooling down a bit, not much in modeling department going on started a high-end wood caboose kit from American model builders from some place called mike porters crummies  laser cut wood first laser cut kit I've tried.
Jim

I have to drop by more often     I had to read 2 weeks worth of posts...

Hope everyone is doing well.  I've been takin' care of business staying above the water and below the radar 
Tompm is getting all our rain, it's moving just about 10 miles to our NW.  Grass is turning brown here because the rains keep missing us.

I was off today for Labor Day, but I didn't relax from my labors.  Slowly getting the layout looking somewhat organized for the Model Railroad Open House Tour beginning in November.  I'm scheduled to be open from 11:00 am to 5:00 PM on November 5th.

I took off tomorrow to get an extra day of vacation and that's the day our oil service decided to perform the annual service and cleaning of our heater    So I have to hang around between 11:00 & 12:00 Noon. Just for added fun, my tank is only 1/4 full, so I need about 120 gals. of oil at 4.55/Gal...  

Also, one LED fog light burned out on my van, it only lasted 7 months.  The other one that I bought with it, is working fine for now.  I hope to get a chance to replace it tomorrow.

I've been working with my 3D Printer to build practical things while I learn all the nuances.  I just bought silver color filament.  I'm going to try to print G scale wheels.  At about 1/2 the cost of metal wheels, but they won't weigh as much, so we'll see if it's truly worth it.  

Well....   Everyone be safe and healthy!!!  Prayers to all who need them!!!   I'm off to the Lower Berth to do this weeks Redneck Racin' points.   

Greetings, gang.

It's a cloudy 63 outside my window this morning but it's supposed to clear off and hit the low 80s later.

Went for a bike ride yesterday afternoon and on the way home I found some friends replacing a sign on their office building. Had a nice visit while I helped them. Later on I ran the hotshot freight on the Backyard & Southern for about an hour and a half. Put all that away and started the grill for supper. Cleaned the corn and started it on the stove. Went back outside and found out I was out of propane. Guess I'll be filling the tank today. Nothing else really planned.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning 

        It looks like more rain here today so I will work in the train room again. I spent the day yesterday inventorying my purchases from the previous day. I was glad to get my friends trains and I will cherish them until I die but right now I am just a little sad that he isn't here to run them with me. I know his spirit is with me so I will take that as a good thing. 

       They have flood warnings up for us all day but it appears the heaviest rain moved through overnight. 

        Tom, if you want to have the best sweet corn you ever ate leave it in the husk and put in in the microwave (silk and all) allow 2 minutes an ear. Whenit is done cut the ear just above the stalk end at its biggest point and  Use pot holders and hold the silk end and squeeze the ear out the bottom end. The silk stays with the husk and it is delicious. I have kept eared corn for 3 days before cooking and is still very good. https://www.dinner-mom.com/microwave-corn-in-cob-husk/

         Don. I hope this week shows you have a remarkable improvement with no more surgery needed. The same for Tom in PA with your back and shoulder. I imagine your project will be placed on hold with all the rain. I know what it's is like fighting a flooding river while building along it. When we built the hydro plant on the Beaver River 40 years ago we were flooded out several times, the worst was on May 4th of 83, my 25th Wedding anniversary. I missed he surprise party the gave us while I was working trying to save the coffer dam which was a wasted effort. This photo shows the power house floor and the generators are in the plastic covers. [attachment=39035]

          We have a whole week of rainy days ahead so I will have to work what I can under cover.  I need to make some long boxes so I can store all of my steam locos with sound connected. I don't like unplugging those wee connectors . That is one  more project. 

          Have a good day everyone. 
Charlie

Good morning everyone, saw TV video of the masses of vehicles coming down I-17, very typical for the last day of any holiday weekend, or most weekends in the summer.This is the only direct route to the high country and only two lanes each way. There is a plan to add two more lanes, just that they will be reversible. Heading north on Friday morning, south on Sunday or Monday when folks come home. Everyone thinks that's a crazy plan except for ADOT, who devised it. "Only" going to take three years to complete.

Temps still around 110 yesterday and for the third day in a row, the power company had my thermostat turned up to 86. I can override it, but I was at Pat's MIL for our weekly family dinner. Today should be around 108, but who knows... Suppose to be under 100 by the weekend and maybe some rain.

Still spent most of yesterday resting. Headed out to the garage twice to make my cutting jig and aborted both times. Just too hot and I'm just too tired right now. I see my surgeon tomorrow to find out if I need to go back for some touch-up work. I really would be happy not to.

So everybody, have a great day and stay safe.

Good morning folks

It is 70 going up to 75. We have had heavy rain most of the morning. Flash Flood warnings are posted until 11 AM. Some of the major expressway are flooded. Here at the job site we have some minor flooding on the roadways and the river is up but nothing to worry about yet. At the moment it is raining what I call normally. If the the heavy stuff comes back we could have issues.

Had a pretty productive three day weekend. I got the weeping cherry tree trimmed. We did some other gardening and got some weeding done. The wife returned a couple of items she ordered to the store. W made the grocery store and PetSmart runs. I picked up my car from the auto body shop. Everything seems okay but I want to give it a week or so before I decide. Today will test if there are any leaks.

I organized the reefers and put them in bins accordingly. I also checked over the Red Caboose and Athearn RTR Tropicana reefers I recently purchased. I purchase the Red Caboose reefers out a discount box at the LHS. They were rung up as used but on most of them I can see no signs of wear. I got them because the price was half of what I am seeing them go for on Ebay. That said I am not impressed with Red Caboose. I have not been impressed with them for awhile. I seven reefers. None of them were problem free. On all seven I had to adjust the coupler pins so they would pass the Kadee couple gauge. Two of them have loose weights. Four of them have parts that need to be glued back on. None of the parts are broken they just came off. The three Athearn RTR reefers I just recieved have no issues other than the McHenry couplers and I need to add a screw to the coupler box clips. I got to successfully test some new locos that were just delivered.

I have therapy this evening. I hope it goes well after some of the issues I had after the last session with pain the next day.

I hope I can work on tuning up some rolling stock tonight.

I hope everybody has a good day.