Walkie pics!

I liked the light here, in hindsight I wish I had shot a little bit more to the left.

62 miles of track are being rehabbed in preparation for the return of freight service in October.

The crews are moving thru our area at the moment replacing ties.

I think Bernie Madoff got a raw deal!

I think 150 years was entirely too much, I think 125 would be about right.

Lenora portrait

Poor Lenora, she's got such a dark face that it's hard to get a really good picture of her.

Caboose progress report

The ladders are being remounted.


Boards for the roof walkway are being painted...

More nails countersunk, holes filled, sanded and primed

While I'm inside stripping copious layers of old paint off the roof beams. At least there was a nice breeze.

Pictures of lots of little things

The closest thing our little coastal community has to a historic structure. This was the first house/sales office built in the early 1950's.

A nice action shot I thought



And Finally... (almost)

So I heard a fire engine siren stop on the next block so I trotted around and saw this, then remembered they were doing a practice burn of an old bldg.


Went to the annual awards dinner for the NWPRRHS Saturday. How cute is a train made from brownies? Later someone added some model RR trees with snow and added powered sugar to the "trains"
This could not be saved "On" the caboose, but it's nice that it was able to be saved otherwise.

It's getting a little claustrophobic

Besides the connection I mentioned before made at my nephew's wedding, we were seated next to another guest, whose sister lives a block from our house.

Moonrabbit does some part time work for a small non profit group that uses child labor to restore wetlands. That is under the umbrella of a larger non profit nature restoration/protection group, which just announced yesterday that they had purchased the SF Bay Aquarium. At the press conference/reception she met a man who works at the aquarium, who looked a bit familiar. Eventually they realized he lives across the street!

I Hear Puns!

It's an affliction not generally recognized, but tortuous in any case.

Today on the news, (with a straight face) "Violaters of the ban on plastic bags will face Hefty fines"

An uncomfortable moment

When a former high school classmate who "friended" you (on Facebook) joins the Sarah Palin fan group...fortunately you can unfriend someone without making a big fuss.

Busy Saturday and a small world story

10 to 3 on Saturday (with an hour for lunch) I spent (with help) pulling the last of the floorboards in the caboose. Some of the boards of the subfloor were replaced due to dry rot or the apparently requisite burned wood beneath where the wood stove had been. Cabinets and seats were being fabricated as we labored, and the skeletal beginnings brought in after I left to go to my nephews wedding.

The wedding was lovely, it was a beautiful day by the bay. A good time was had by all. But during the dancing later in the reception, Moon rabbit had an "AHA" moment.

In 2000, she had taken a month long painting class in a small village (Sorese) in France. The 10 or so students stayed in a very old building (christened Art Heaven) where each room was painted in the style of a famous painter. (two to a room) Watching my nephews' new In Laws dance, she suddenly realized that the MIL had been one of the other students! So they had a mini reunion. They had kept in contact for a few years after, but it was well after that that the "kids" met and fell in love.




Anyway, I give you the adorable couple


As a footnote, this is very close to where Otis Redding wrote "Sittin' On a Dock By The Bay"

Holy Cactus!

Two weeks ago at 58" (measured at base of stalk)

Last week 78"
5 days later  89"

updated caboose photos

We had to tarp the caboose because of the weather forecast. (Rain in June?) So I got a more current picture of the caboose with the windows in and painted.

Here are both the trucks in a better light and lens setting.

I understand one coupler has been located,but not yet acquired.

More Caboose pictures

So this is how I spent most of last Saturday, prying up these floorboards (under supervision of course) We got about half up, then the subfloor has to come up. There is a work party every other Saturday. I got a break to take pictures of the arrival of the trucks, since I was the only one who had a camera. The regular camera guy was MIA. If you notice the flat prybar  in the third picture, this was before I broke it. The good news was that the boards were a full 1" thick. The bad news was, they were toe nailed with 2.5" nails.



There was some consideration given to running all this dust thru a gold pan.
In the last post I mentioned the story of the trucks. The caboose was sans trucks when it was rescued from it's previous life as an office addition at a used car lot in the south bay. Finding the proper trucks seemed like a tall order. They are primarily made of oak. A pair was located in a rail yard of the Mt Ranier Railway. They apparently had a similar caboose which was accidentally destroyed by a swinging boom of a crane. Fortunately they kept the trucks all these years. The wood was falling off them, but specifications were located and they were reconstructed. They were purchased for the  scrap value of the iron which was a heck of a deal. (However, they weigh about 3 tons apiece) The caboose still needs couplers. 

As much work as still needs to be done, other projects are already being eyed. A passenger car from the 1860's that ran on the NorthWestern Pacific (NWP) has been located, presently being used as a house, that has been donated. It uses similar (but bigger) trucks, and of course, does not have any. I think I've found a hobby.

I've been working on a railroad

I've just recently started working with a great group of gentlemen restoring an old caboose, built I believe in 1898, from the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad. They have done an amazing job, and I am mostly just trying to stay out of their way.

BEFORE ( a long time ago)

A more recent before.(2 years ago, shortly after arrival)

And now.

You may note the lack of trucks (wheels) and the cupola. The cupola is off getting a separate facelift. The trucks, which have their own amazing stories, arrived this weekend.  Again, BEFORE

And now
Several photos by Gus, Thanks!

Cat Yodeling 1A

They say they want it spread, and I'm desperate for content. (I have a picture of the beginning of a century plant bloom coming!)

I guess we should have spent more time in Madrid!

Spanish study shows cocaine in the air in 2 cities

By CIARAN GILES, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, May 14, 2009

(05-14) 08:52 PDT MADRID, Spain (AP) --Air pollution has long been a fact of life in Spanish cities, but scientists now say it is not just smog that chokes people as they walk to work or stroll through the park. A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine.

The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a government scientific institute, said on its Web site Thursday that in addition to cocaine, they found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid _a relative of LSD — in two air-quality control stations, one in each city.

The group said the findings would be published in the U.S. journal Analytical Chemistry.

Despite the findings, the council said there was no reason for alarm.

"Not even if we lived for a thousand years would we consume the equivalent of a dose of cocaine by breathing this air," scientist Miren Lopez de Alda said in a statement.

The scientific group stressed that "in no case should these levels be considered representative of the air in the two cities." It said the tests were done in areas where drugs were likely to be consumed.

In Madrid, the test site was close to a ruined building believed to be frequented by drug dealers. And in both Madrid and Barcelona, the studies were carried out close to universities.

The group said the study showed higher concentrations of the components on weekends, suggesting that drug consumption was up in these periods.

The research found cocaine in concentrations ranging between 29 and 850 picograms per cubic meter of air. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.

Mar Viana, another researcher who worked on the project, said the levels were far higher than those found in similar studies in Europe.

A similar study in Italy found traces of cocaine and cannabis in the air in Rome and Taranto in the south. Italy's National Research Council reported in May 2007 that the maximum concentration of cocaine in Rome was 100 picograms per cubic meter of air — it said that was a fifth the legal limit for toxic substances in air — but that even this small amount was reason for concern.

According to the U.S. State Department, Spain is Europe's largest consumer of cocaine and hashish. It is also a major transit point for narcotics shipments from South and Central America as well as Africa.

I guess it could explain the unusual architecture and painted buildings!

Plaza Mayor

This is the Plaza Mayor, about a 100' from our hotel room. Apparently it was the site of lots of executions and torture during the Inquisition and various other times. The day after this shot was taken they roped off most of the center and started constructing a stage for an opera performance the following Sunday. The staging was at least 3 stories tall the last we saw it.



This is a view out one of the arches in the direction of our hotel

More trip pics

This is the Atocha train station in Madrid. There was a terrorist bombing very near here of several trains, killings lots of people. There is a memorial sculpture.

Inside they have a rain forest which makes it very humid. They have misters running all the time.

At the bottom of the picture above there is a turtle pond with an unbelievable number of turtles. 

Jet Lagged musings

I took pictures of our first high speed train from Cordoba to Madrid. I wasn't THAT impressed with the trip. There were no speed indicators, but it just didn't seem THAT fast. Plus there were three stops. The ride was incredibly smooth. The only sound was from junctions where there would be a slight click. There was a bit of centrifugal force around curves but it was not like a train ride or anything else.

The train from Madrid to Barcelona was something entirely different. Even before I looked at the speed indicator, which this train DID have, I knew we were hauling. Anything within 20 yards was a blur, and you could not focus on things out to about 60 yards. The top speed was 301 Kmph (about 187 mph I believe) but mostly we cruised about 285. It rocked and clicked like a train should. Non stop Madrid to Barcelona.

The flight back was not as bad as I feared. It was 8.5 hrs Barcelona to JFK a 2.5 layover in a very warm and humid airport, then 6.5 hrs to SFO. All in all we were up for over 24 hours. I did ok until about the last 3 hours when I started to get antsy and counting the minutes. I was greatly helped by watching two movies "Doubt" and "The Wrestler" and by numerous games of 20 question trivia available on the back of the seat in front of me. I had the sixth highest overall score on the first leg, and the highest on the second. There were only 3 questions that I saw again on the 2nd leg and I knew two of them anyway.

Despite being unable to keep my eyes open and doing some head bobbing on the bus home from the airport, once home, I couldn't fall asleep, so I stayed up until about 1:30 am. I've been low energy all day, I'll do something, (shop, mow the lawn etc) then have a laydown.

Our casa en la Fuente Tojar

Casa en Madrid, Hotel Plaza de Mayor. (2nd floor from top)

R.I.P. Michaela

Got back from Spain late last night and came home to a two cat household and a note from the housesitter that Michaela had passed quietly several days ago. We had left instructions for that eventuality. She was 21 or 22 years old and will be missed.

I feel bad that I wasn't here with her, but she really liked the housesitter and apparently was purring when she passed.

Hola from Madrid!

Took the AVE high speed train from Cordoba to Madrid. Friday we take it to Barcelona.

Last Monday we did the Alhambra in Grenanda, a 2 hour drive from Fuente Tojar. Spectacular, might be one of those "must sees" ala ¨Bucket list¨

Tuesday we sampled Anise at a factory/museum

News flash from Fuente Tojar

Wed. morning it was reported that the power pole to the water treatment plant was broken and in danger of collapse. The Mayor, Maria (also our host for this segment of our trip) spent the morning dealing with it before picking us up and giving us a tour. The pole can be stabilized until permanent repairs can be made. Maria was quoted as saying, "It´s always something"

So we´re out of Barcelona and into the countryside of Andalucia. Olive trees EVERYWHERE! Millions! This is the Napa Valley of Olives, and that is important to olive us.

Posting this from Ubeda, road trip!