Greetings, gang.

There was almost 2 inches or rain in my rain gauge this morning. Thunder did wake me up briefly at some point overnight. 64 now and maybe the low 70s later with more chances for rain.

With the high humidity yesterday I had a very soggy bike ride. After that I got a couple of issues sorted out with local vendors. After supper I got an invite from the neighbor celebrating the birthday of their twin girls. Made for a pleasant evening and most importantly there was cake! This morning there may or may not be soccer depending on weather and this evening I'll be hosting my grandson and his family for burgers, hot dogs, and an ice cream bar. 3 different kinds of ice cream, 4 toppings and nuts and sprinkle to top it all off. Down side is I'll have to clean the house!

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning good people, temps very close to 100, suppose to be there by Monday. Slight chance of rain all next week, by "slight", I mean as low as 1%. Still releasing water from the Painted Rock Dam into the Gila River, they stopped all other releases, lots of water everywhere but along the Colorado River, that's Lake Powell and Lake Mead. They think it'll take ten years before they get back to normal.

Noticed yesterday that some stations have dropped gas by as much as ten cents, not too many got the memo though.

Tom, that's some nice neighbors you have, the only invite I ever get from mine is from an older couple walking their dog, and she wasn't sure what their address was, "somewhere down the block", as she points to the west... Oh, sounds like fun hosting your hot dog party, just that I don't do that anymore, I just hate cooking and cleaning up after myself, never mind for a bunch of family members. The last time I did it, I brought in a bunch of BBQ from Famous Dave's. Went to Famous Dave's a few days ago for dinner, it wasn't as crowded as it used to be. You kinda feel sorry for a lot of these restaurant folks hit first by the pandemic then inflation. That is until you see that you're paying almost $4.00 for a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee... . I notice a lot of people just drinking water with their meals anymore. Net profit on a cup of coffee can be as high as $2.50 to $3.50.

Well, it's Saturday, got some house chores to do, gotta reassemble a gun I took apart and that's about all I have scheduled. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Good morning
       According to local weather radar it is raining hard here. My sidewalk isn't even wet. It must be one of those events where it is raining but isn't hitting the ground. 

      Don, I loved the family picnics we had years ago but when my grandfather died the family just fell apart. He was the glue that held us close.  No one is upset with anyone, we just don't have the ties we had.  It goes the same way with my decedents. I have a son that lives 15 miles away. We talk weekly but he has not been here for over 2 years. I stop by his place when I go in that direction but that isn't often.  With the covid disaster and the following pandemic I stayed away from the little ones that possibly could pass something and I missed the little ones. I see most of them now about once a month. It isn't the same as when I was young. I think technology has pushed us all apart.  I actually blame social media for the decline in participation here. I make an effort to post when I can if only to say hello.  

     If you look at the stats aat times you will see as many as a hundred browsing yet there are no new posts. I know many of those "hits" may be spiders but I would love to see ore members just say hello.   How about we start a "Just say hello" thread so folks can just pop in to let us know they have been here.  

      As for the restaurants (I always have to have spell check fo that word) they have to go a long way to get people back. The fast food joints are still doing fine but the sit down places are having a had time of it.  The fast food joints do OK because the younger folks think nothing of paying 5 bucks for a coffee and 4 bucks for a small order of fries. My daughter shows here some mornings with a cup of coffee from dunkins that she just drove 10 miles to get and refills the cup here. She does not have exactly what I would call an outrageous income.  I only do McDs when I am traveling and that is because even though the food is not the greatest it has never made me sick.  Then of course at the sitdown place that has charged 3 bucks for a coffee and another 25 for the meal (per person) you are now expected to tip a percentage regardless of service quality because the waiter (ess)  isn't paid minimum wage because she gets tips.  I have noticed a lot of places now have "tip jars" and I frankly do not tip when I get a carry out.  I have at times left very generous tips in restaurants where the waitress fass friendly and kept our coffee cups full. 

       I managed to get all of the grass mowed yesterday too so I am in weekend relaxing mode. If I had an adult beverage (PC for an Iron City Beer) I would even drink one. 
       
       I am following the progress of the NKP 190 PA1 moving east. It may come through East Palestine and if so I hope I can get a photo. It is currently in Elkhart, Indiana. 

       Cheers and good weekend. Have fun and play with trains  
Charlie

(05-13-2023, 08:41 AM)Charlie B Wrote: [ -> ]... If you look at the stats aat times you will see as many as a hundred browsing yet there are no new posts. I know many of those "hits" may be spiders but I would love to see ore members just say hello.   How about we start a "Just say hello" thread so folks can just pop in to let us know they have been here.  

Charlie, great idea, I opened a forum, Stop here and say "hello", where anyone that is registered can do just that. It's designed that no one can reply to a post there, otherwise we'd have just another Hobo's Camp. Let's see if it attracts a few folks that have been missing for a while now. You're right, we do have a lot of lurkers, some are indeed bots, but like right now, of 62 visitors, only three are bots. Our best is over 1,100 in January of this year. That's a crowd....

EDIT: After getting some feedback, "reply" has been activated for this new sub-forum rather than have everyone open a new thread to post. Makes more sense this way, no one said I had a lot to begin with...

Happy Mother's Day, gang.

Cool , cloudy, and windy in the remote reaches of northern Iowa this morning. 60 going to 55 later. Yeah, not a very encouraging forecast. After I posted yesterday morning I had another storm move through. Final total from Friday night through Saturday morning was 2 and a half inches. That was on top of the 3/4 inch from Thursday night. Grass is growing like crazy.

Had a really good day yesterday. Watched the boys play soccer. Then we all adjourned back here for picnic food and lots of ice cream.. The neighbor still had the bouncy house set up so I took the boys over for a while. The boys bounced and I supervised. I know how quickly siblings can go from having fun to becoming deadly enemies, particularly in a rough and tumble atmosphere. After they left I got the yard mowed and cleaned up the kitchen. Paper plates are very easy to take care of.

This morning I need to head to the nearby cemetery to clean up around the stones for my wife and son.

All stay safe.

Tom

Happy Mother's Day Blue
We have sun with a Hi of 66 for the day. 
I will just say my hello's here like I always have.
Our daughter and SIL gave us a surprise visit yesterday. Brought plants and helped prep the garden.
SIL pulled out the edging and reset it. I put it in about ten years ago and it needed a redo.
The temp was in the 70s and being out in the sun felt good soaking up that vitamin C.
S.J.

Forgot to mention that also on my very good day yesterday I got an hour long call from my grandson stationed in Hawaii. Icing on the cake!

Tom

Good morning.
      
        It is currently 65° heading for 73° with sun all day. Our rain Friday and Saturday missed us for the most part. We are far from a drought situation so that is OK. 

        NS is still sucking up to East Palestine trying to be a good neighbor. The are now going to pay to dredge our city lake and install docks for kayaks  The city has never allowed any form of watercraft on the lake because of liability and the lake was dredged in 1978 (killing all of the fish). I am sure the village fathers forgot why no watercraft is allowed and will return to that policy. The lake is almost 2 miles west of the derailment site and the creek that supplies it comes in from the opposite direction.  There are still folks that won't come back to town because they are afraid of the "contamination" and I believe as long as NS is paying their expenses they will continue to fear the "contamination. The EPA has said all along there has been ho contaminants in the air or the soil however 2 small streams still show some traces but the fish have returned and the EPA director is on site 24/7 at this time. 

        I managed to get the PRR Q2 back on the layout but it has an intermittent loss of power that I was blaming on the tender pick ups. I think the problem may be the locomotive pickups instead so I think I will make brass pickups to install in the brake shoes on the non insulated side to see if that fixes it.

        I was running the sweeper this morning (normally my wife does not allow me to do housework because I don't do things her way   ) but she is still not up to snuff after her surgery on Tuesday so I have been stepping in. The problem is we have a border collie and he likes everything just as it is with no changes and he was appalled that I was using one of the appliances. It was really funny. 

       Hoping everyone has a good week 
Charlie

Good afternoon, no hurry to do anything today. I've got a few things to do that I didn't do yesterday, maybe I'll get to them by tomorrow. Did not feel like making breakfast, bought some donuts, and now my glucose level is still out of wack. Bad decision...

Temps the same, hot and dry, gas showing a slight decline in a few stations, maybe it'll be contagious... I have a friend that just moved to Texas, gas there is running as low as $2.69. The problem is that instead of the temps being 100, that's what the humidity there is. She says that it rained 12 out of the past 14 days, something she's not use to coming from Arizona...I know that the humidity and rain were some of the driving forces for us to leave Houston years ago.

That's it for now, I have a trick to make me put my laundry away. I dump it on my bed and so I have to get put away before nightfall ... Might just as well go do it now as later, take care and enjoy what's left of the weekend.

We went for a walk in the arboretum this morning. There was a large field of trilliums (trillia?) in full bloom. These come out very quickly and disappear very soon.

Good morning all, we did get to 101 yesterday, a bit above normal. Still no change in the forecast, slight chance of rain though the weekend. No change in gas prices either, I'll know more when I go to breakfast.

Did get a few things done yesterday, laundry all  put away, gun put together and locked up. Today I need to stop by imaging for an x-ray and to pick up some CT scan results, nothing else until Friday so lots of free time there for procrastination...

Take care, have a good week and by all means, stay safe.

Good Morning

      It is 43° here this morning with a high of 73° predicted. Lots of sun today also.

      I rototilled the garden area yesterday and plan to plant the rest of my seed potatoes. It is still a little early to set out tomato and pepper plants.  I am hoping the garden will produce better this year. Last year it did nothing.  

      I have to replace the starter rope on the tiller today. The rope broke when the tiller started so there is no way to make it go until I do that. 

      I was up very late doing housework. I am helping my wife because she had surgery a week ago and if I don't do things exactly her way she will do it so I did the laundry after she went to sleep.  Other things I have learned to do her way. She is a great gal but her way is the only way. At least I was the boss when she was my brakeman. 

      No plans other than the rope
      
      Stay safe and happy
       Charlie

Hello Blue
Sun and 70s today.
Wife had a nice Mother's Day, visits/calls from the kids. Ham dinner at home.
S.J.

hi all. well Monday is here again everything is the same life roles on like a cow plop still at logger heads with the urologist they won't do a thing till I'm off the blood thinner if I go off it there's a good chance ide end up with a pneumothorax and a cheap coffin, so it looks like I'm stuck with self cath and a swollen scrotum isn't old age fun.
Jim

Good morning folks, nothing changes here. The TV lady said we had sprinkles and the NWS said a trace of rain at the airport, but not enough to measure. Maybe today, but I doubt it. Both temps and gas prices are high, hit 103 yesterday, little change in gas, still $5.00 and the streets are still crowded.

Jim, I think they call that between a rock and a hard place. I can understand why your urologist wants you off blood thinner before he does anything, then on the other hand, they have ways of doing surgery even if you're still on it, but I think it has to be life-saving before the do.

I'm all caught up with things I have to do except an x-ray that I didn't get yesterday. I need to get off my duff and do some real work.

That's it, everyone have the best day possible today.