Good morning, folks

It is now 57 with a high of 63. I am not sure what is going on with the wet stuff. One guy says we will get showers, the gal on another station says no showers but storms later this evening. The computer says showers, no wait no showers, no wait showers maybe…

We need to put out the last decorations that go out only on Halloween. My daughter and wife will be handling it this year as I have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor to discuss the MRI. I am already aware that there are some issues with a couple of discs. I hope to find out how much of an issue and what the plan of treatment will be.

I did not get much done this weekend around the house. After the wife saw the preliminary MRI results, I was placed under restricted duty which meant no lifting or bending. I was able to do a little bit of laundry as along as the weight of the baskets met with spousal approval. We did some grocery shopping and went down to Delaware to get gas. The pump price was $3.79. I paid $3.39 with my grocery store rewards.

Trains also suffered. I did not get to doing any reorganizing. I did get to run my “new” used Rivarossi Blue Comet steam locomotive. I was pleased with how it performed. I need to clean the wheels some and look to see if it needs any lubrication or cleaning of old lubrication. Need to change the coupler to a Kadee. This will now force me to change couplers on the 8 car set of Rivarossi Blue Comet cars I got a while back.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everybody has a good day.

hi all. another Monday has appeared, and things are about the same here. o by the way gas was 3.59 in Tucson last week had to go to VA for a mri . working on layout a bit still gets hot in garage in afternoon. got to go now and help wife arrange things in guest house oldest boy and his wife are coming next week to help out the old Foulks.
stay safe and warm Jim.

Greetings, gang.

46 headed for a balmy but breezy 74 today.  Another nice day tomorrow then the rain moves in through the weekend.

Raked leaves yesterday afternoon but they were coming down as fast as I could clean them up.  I have to try to keep up with the leaves (or at least not fall too far behind) as I have limited transportation capabilities.  Wish we could still burn the leaves.  Made for a wonderful family day- raking the leaves and hauling them to the driveway.  Making a big pile of leaves for the kids to jump into.  Miss those days.  I'll clean up more leaves probably tomorrow before the rain gets here.  This morning I'll haul the latest batch off to join their predecessors.  Then it's time for grocery shopping.

At one time we had two of them in our small town (25,000).  The cops justified the second one by saying they were making over $150,00 a year and like your town the out of town company was collecting the bulk of the money.  The second one has since disappeared.  They are so unpopular around here that one was actually blown up.   When it was first placed on the street the police department said they would inform the community of its location through Facebook, the local paper, and the city's website.  I've had to write to them in each of the last three months to let them know they were not meeting their commitment to the community. 

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning all, no change in the weather so no sense in reporting on that, gas however, had dropped about ten cents overall. From what they say, we might be looking at a big jump in prices and long lines like back in the 70's. The government wants us all to buy electric vehicles so that we can drain the power grid.

Few towns around here have traffic cameras even though many are made right here in Scottsdale. I guess the citizen's complaints outweighed the meager profit for the city. One city tried to use old data to justify them that included accidents well beyond the city limits. Can't trust anyone with an agenda.

I didn't get home until around 7 last night and was surprised to see so many kids trick or treating in groups. That's a good thing, but as long as I've been here there have been very few roaming the streets on Halloween. Was at Pat's MIL's and all the time I was there, no one came to the door, and she had a bunch of candy to give out.

That's it, just going to take it easy, still have back issues, I might start a new project as long as I can sit down. Nothing comes to mind though.

Take care and enjoy the day.

Greetings, gang.

Clear and 53 headed for sunny and 76 - maybe. Yesterday's prediction of 74 was a little off the mark. Only made it to 61, but at least it was sunny.

I need to work on leaves again this morning before it gets too windy. Could have gusts over 35 mph. Also want to get in a trip to the gym. Hopefully by this afternoon I'll have most of the chores done so I can enjoy some time on the patio.

I did notice that after I wrote to our local constabulary that their website had been updated with the current location of the speeding ticket dispenser.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning good people of Big Blue, time to flex our winter weather. Today high 70's, tomorrow could even get down to the 50's as a high with a good chance of rain. Well, I say "good", one forecast shows 80%, another just 24%. By Sunday, we'll be back up into the high 70's again.

Not much else going on around here right now, roads are getting more crowded now that the snowbirds are moving in. That, plus they seem to be re-paving them as fast as they can get those barriers up. They plant about two miles of barriers and you find maybe three people working at one end. Go around the corner and they're digging up that street as well.

Heading out for breakfast, stop at Costco for gas and then an appointment to work on my back. That's my day for now. I hope your day is a good one....

Good Evening friends.
       I was awakened this morning with cramps in my calf muscles that were the worst I ever experienced. I started on a new drug last evening and I was warned of the possible side effect. We will not be taking that one full strength. I am going to try 1/4 of a pill.  

     I didn't get over them until noon and by then the pea soup fog we had started the day with was down to a chicken broth fog so I managed to finish installing the last 22 feet of leaf filters. 

      My next ladder project is a cell phone signal booster. If I had common sense I would sell the ladders after that.

     The fog is rolling in again so the morning will be interesting 
No train work today. I fixed my PRR HH1 malley last night. The drive shaft to the front drivers had slipped out of the jointand came un snapped from the universal. I put a little piece of rod inside the slip joint that should keep the joint tighter against the joint. It is running OK now. 
Charlie

Greetings, gang.

Partly cloudy here this morning. 55 now headed for the low 70s and somewhat breezy with wind gusts near 35 mph. Rain starts tonight and lasts through Saturday.

Another productive day yesterday. Got another batch of leaves cleaned up. Also got the bills paid and managed an 8 mile bike ride in spite of the 30+ mph winds although I will admit it was pretty slow going in some directions. I'll try to get another batch of leaves gathered before the rain starts today. Also need to get the storm windows cleaned and installed on the front porch. I always wait until after Halloween in case some trick or treater decides to trick instead of treat.

Gas price jumped again from $3.43 to $3.69 yesterday.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning all, gunna be a chilly day today. Temps may not get out of the 50's with rain this morning. I still don't understand these reports, one shows a 77% chance of rain, but then then say 80% further down in their text report. Now I know that's not a big difference, but it's the inconsistency that bothers me.

Charlie, try Theraworx, comes in a can that sprays foam. I used it every night for a while until the doctor got my dose of Lipitor right. If you do get a cramp, a hot pack works best. Theraworx runs about $20 at Walgreens, a bit less at Walmart. And yeah, those cramps are not fun....

No changes in the gas prices, I filled up at Costco yesterday for $4.09, others are up to $4.99 and everywhere in between. We are being warned by the oil companies that can change radically very soon and I guess our government is just going to wait.

Less than one week until the elections, I found this on Ziggy this morning:



Very indicative of how we all feel.....

Still trying to get my little outhouse to look more realistic, but at .2 square inches, I've not got a lot to work with. Got lots of time today, so maybe some improvement, maybe I just accept that you can barely see it at 4' and move on to another project...

Take care and have a great day...

Good morning Blue
        I cut the pill to 1/4 and had a good night sleep with no cramps even after the ladder day. 

        8 years ago I bought a used Craftsman mower that had a grass catcher attached for $200. I used it for 5 years mostly without the bagger and it has been the best money I ever spent on a mower including the 2 new ones I have bought in the last 12 years. I bought a new Airens in 2010 and I figured it would last 10 years or so but the transmission went bad in a year and was replaced with a new one that also crapped out about 6 months out of warranty. A $900 transmission to fix a $995 mower was the reason for buying the Craftsman. I bought a Troybilt in 2018 and I only use the Craftsman with the grass catcher to mow the fenced in area of the yard where our furkids have free rein. I rebuilt the mower deck on the Craftsman this spring and now the season is near the end I thought I would get a new lower chute for the bagger because it is getting shabby on the lower end. I can buy one for 49 bucks plus shipping so I decided for the fun of it to see what a grass catcher would cost for the Troybilt. It was almost $500. But wait........I found a complete grass catcher, brand new, and made in the USA for only $99 dollars, and I could get a 50% discount if I clicked right now.  You bet I looked and by golly they had a mailing address.  Now I assume they have a huge warehouse with all these wonderful products they have for sale so I thought a google earth street view would show it.  Would you believe the address went to a house in Kansas City in a housing complex and probably worth at least a million. [attachment=39397]
Actually the address doesn't exist but he sure has a nice phony web site. Anyhow. I reported it to google just for kicks. 

I will bag the leaves today if it dries out and that should finish them up for this year. I put them on the garden and till them in. 

Gas still bounces up and down and we still have one politician telling us how bad the other one is, never telling us what angels they are. I love how they say "i will bring jobs back to Ohio", it doesn't matter if they are running for the city street cleaner, that is the line. Heck we can't fill the job openings we have.  It will be over in a week 
Good day everyone.
Charlie

Morning fog is gone, Hi 60s for the day.
Gas is holding at $3.95. I heard a speech from Sleepy Joe saying he saw a gas price in DC at $3.29, I wonder what he has been smoking.
A series of misfortunes yesterday, seemed like one after another. I'm happy to say that by the end of the day all was well again.
S.J.

Greetings, gang.

Thunder and lightning are active outside my window this morning. Rain will continue through tomorrow according to our very good friends at the National Weather Service. 38 now supposedly heading for 43 for a high.

Got a few more things done yesterday. Raked up more leaves and hauled them off to their final resting place along with the leaves gathered the day before. Also got the storm windows cleaned and installed on the front porch. They could have used a fresh coat of paint but I wanted to get them up before the rain started. I've already set a reminder to take care of that next summer.

After the chores were done I foolishly decided to take a bike ride as it looked like the winds were dying down. Nope, they weren't. Riding north was pretty easy but coming back south the wind had picked up to around 30 mph. At one point it looked like a woman out walking here dog was gaining on me! Very tired when I got home from that.

Only thing on the agenda for today is to mail a dvd to my sister-in-law and maybe a trip to the gym.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning all, it was cold yesterday, got to 59 in our neighborhood, 68 at the airport which is the official temp reading. We did get some rain yesterday, here around a light misting, other areas up to 1/4". That was it and their 80% chances....

Gas prices are steady, about a dollar above the gouge level.

Got two appointments today, maybe stop by Walmart, I was looking for a present for my great-grandson and couldn't find what I was looking for. Checked the website and I was looking in the wrong aisles. That's one thing I like about the Walmart site, if they have it, they tell you what aisle it's on, same goes for Home Depot and Loews.

That's about it, I did rework my little outhouse, but the changes are hardly noticeable enough to post more photos, so I'm moving on to planting them all on my layout.

Got another weekend coming up and then election day, the end of all those horrible commercials. There should be a law with proof of what they're saying and when it happened, but these are the same folks we're electing to make those laws, so not a chance... Take care, have a great day...

Greetings, gang.

36 and damp this morning in the remote reaches of northern Iowa. Some light drizzle with potentially heavier train later on this morning. High of maybe 50.

Not much happened here yesterday and today looks to be more of the same. Laundry and then college football at 11.

Gas dropped a few pennies to $3.66 yesterday.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning good people, still a bit chilly, but heading back to normal, around 80 by Monday which is good since we're going shooting that day. It could rain on election day, I just hope that all those politicians are standing out getting soaked. Someone mentioned that they spent some 5 billion dollars on political ads for this election, most were negative and what we learned was that none of them are worth electing, all are scumbags in their opponent's eyes.

Gas is up five cents at Costco, that's not a good sign, but we are being warned.

Just going to take it easy today, maybe clean some guns and load them, maybe just wait until tomorrow. It's the weekend, most of us can do as we please. So, have a fun weekend, stay safe and stay warm. And yes, we're cold down here because it snowed up north, big accident on I-40 up there, slick roads.

Oh, BTW, Santa arrives at Cabela's and Bass Pro today, I guess he thought he'd start earlier this year since he's all caught up at the North Pole.   And they have just put up the tree at the Anthem outlet center north on I-17. I don't blame them for doing that since it will take them a couple of weeks to decorate, it's 40' tall and will have over a million lights and some ten thousand balls. Man, can you imagine putting the tinsel on that baby?