Where to begin?

Well, the most important thing going on is that a neighbor and friend, who has suffered from emphysema for as long as we have known her, was given 1-2 years to live unless she gets a lung transplant. Lots of tears shed there.

There aren't any pictures from the caboose project because most everybody went on a 4 hour road trip to get some rare but vital parts. I stayed behind and vacuumed the caboose because there are going to be people touring in two weeks. This DOES mean however, that I get a month respite from paint grinding! (It was too hot to do it Saturday)

Due to the previously mentioned water leak in the garage, I have been on a cleaning binge, both here and out at the coast. I can see the floor again! Lots of stuff recycled, and thrown away. One of the nice things about getting older is that I no longer keep things "Because I might use it someday" and instead, when I find one of those previously saved items, I can toss, recycle or find a new home for it.

HOWEVER, in the process of cleaning out at the coast, I was making many trips to the garbage can when my eyes wandered to a 2X6 board that holds up some roofing over the cans. "Is that a bit of dry rot?" I guess it's best that I looked, however, this is what I found after poking around.

I was pondering whether to replace the boards myself, or call our favorite contractor for a short little job. My problem was that a 16' board was needed and I don't have a way to get it here unless I borrow a truck. Hassle, but as I left the house, who was parked next door? None other than favorite contractor! So we (he) did the job this afternoon.

Remember the century plant? Here is a picture from about July 4th.

And here is a shot just before I cut it down.

And here is a gratuitous shot of some of the landscaping Moonrabbit has been working on. I just hauled the rock, and made gopher baskets.

Caboose milestone

One of the last big pieces of the truck assembly. I was torn away from stripping, to take pictures for a bit.


Meanwhile, high on a ladder inside the caboose, paint stripping has moved from the "relatively" pleasant heat stripping to the distinctly unpleasant grinding removal. Despite goggles, respirator, cap and long sleeve shirt (in warm temps) I emerge every 10-20 minutes looking like a green tinged raccoon.

Other things birthers believe

My neck hurts from shaking my head.

Check THIS out.

What's next?

On the theory that things go in threes, yesterday the Odessey had a dead battery because an interior light in the back had been turned on, and we didn't drive it for a couple of days. This morning, Moonrabbit, at the last second before leaving for the morning, took something out to the garage and found a cracked water fitting spewing water and soaking a lot of stuff. It could have been MUCH worse, and the garage may get a bit of cleaning as a result , but WHAT'S GOING ON? I can't imagine any reason for this fitting to suddenly crack.

At least it was cheap and easy to fix.

Rub a Dub Tub caboose update

So last week it was determined that our ancient claw foot tub was WAY past due for refurbishment. Fortunately, the bathtub refurbishing guy is only about 2 blocks from our house and was open on Saturday and Sunday. So I spent Saturday afternoon uninstalling the tub, and with the help of my neighbor the artist, we got it out to the front porch. Sunday, about noon the refurbisher hauled it away. We got a call later in the week that he could deliver it on Friday, which he did along with some tips on reinstallation.

I call them "plumbing days" and I hate them. I have found plumbing days require a minimum of three trips to the hardware store and some kind of angst. This took four. Who would have guessed that you could not buy a replacement washer for the braided stainless steel water supply lines, but instead, you have to buy a whole new line? Or that two other washers that were worn and needed to be replaced, would have to be fashioned from new washers cut down from a larger size?

So all in all I was a little sore for my 4 hours of paint stripping on the caboose the next day. I did a few other things as a break and because I finished the "worst" of the paint stripping. This is actually not good news. I have finished the beams with their copious amounts of paint that could be easily taken off with a heat gun. What remains is the ceiling, with less paint, that needs to be sanded off. Oh won't THAT be fun?

These are bolsters, they sit on the springs of the trucks. One more iron piece goes where the lads are drilling, and that is where one end of the caboose sits.
This large heavy piece of iron is attached to the underside of the caboose and is where the missing piece of the bolster sits. I hope I don't have to put it back on. (Sorry I'm busy stripping paint!) I'm guessing they took it off to fabricate another one since the caboose only came with one and needs two.
Other guys are working on the cat walk. There is one more board than shown. The catwalk jogs around the cupola. Must have been fun in the show or rain!

Work on the new cabinets is progressing, delayed occasionally by visitors.

Aliens have abducted my wife!

1. Today, at lunch, she removed her sunglasses and asked me to look at her eyes. It was then that I noticed they were no longer brown, but they were hazel instead. This was confirmed by two waitresses. I might put this off to bad memory on my part, but we have a framed poem hanging in our bedroom, that I wrote to her when we were dating which is all about her brown eyes.

2. She requested that I cut off ALL water to our tomato plants, "to force greater productivity". The woman I married would have been concerned about their comfort and feelings ahead of productivity.

Who is this woman and what has she done with my wife???

Mish mash

For the record, I had a dream last night that the car # for the baggage car we looked at Saturday is #46.

Saturday night while showering I found a lump on my left forearm. I'm pretty sure it's just fat that couldn't find room anywhere else, but I made an appt. (Of course the first available appt was Wed at 10:20 the precise time I have a dentist appt., the second was within that hour)

The joys of paint stripping

This has been my career in the railroad (volunteer restoration) biz for the last several sessions. So far I'm just stripping the blue painted beams and the 4 or 5 coats of paint beneath that. At that, it's only about half the car since someone else did half. I took a stab at the alligatored ceiling. Merde! The heat gun didn't seem to faze it, sanding was not very successful either.

The morning was spent checking out an old baggage car that has been converted into a small house. We were trying to establish it's origins to particularly see if it was tied to the North Western Pacific RR.

After 3 hours of test sanding in likely ID locations, we finally found what appears to be the letters "E" in gold leaf. It's last years may have been as a Maintenance car.


The car appears to be made of redwood from what we're seen so far, but those could be repairs.

Caboose progress report .005

I didn't get any really interesting pictures this last Saturday working on the caboose. But early in the day day I got pulled off (kicking and screaming you can be sure) the paint stripping detail, and helped with a slight "adjustment" of the suspension on the trucks. I don't know all the proper terms (one reason I'm stripping paint).

Painting the board beneath the hydraulic jack was my very first job, so I'm a little protective of it. Basically, the leaf springs sit on this board, in the iron seats. The board SHOULD be able to rock side to side, but wouldn't, so first we tried gently spreading an iron strap apart. This worked on one truck, but not this one. We also exchanged the pinned strap just to the right since the first one didn't hold the board at the right height, but the replacement was thicker, thus necessitating further adjustments to the board width.

So then we had to call in one of the "Skil" players for final adjustments. He desecrated my paint job!

The last picture is with most of the pieces in place in happier times when the board was fully painted (even if you can't see it)

I believe another board goes on top of the springs, and the center pin is mounted on that, and one end of the caboose sits on that!

Lily at 100.8 F

Lenora came in and collapsed about 20 minutes ago. We gave her water. I'm guessing that Lily will take off if I approach her with water, (she's going thru her "I'm Feral dammit!" stage) but I should try just in case.

Lily, the Hit Cat

When out at the coast, Lily channels Bill Murray from "Caddyshack", "come on out Mister Gopher, it's just me, your friend Lily!"


Rare Gopher cam view

Lily's normal routine is to get up between 4:30 and 5:30 am and try to get us up also. Mornings after she has spent all day hunting, she lays in until after 8, seemingly lifeless.

Walkin' with the Mammoths

We are headed for the rock in the lower middle of the picture. The theory is that smooth areas on otherwise coarse rock were caused by mammoths rubbing to scratch an itch or leave scent or both. The green area to it's left is thought to have been a wallow.




The ocean was not this close I don't imagine, but a nice bonus for us. (especially since we are not suited to scratch OUR backs on these rocks.)

This is north of Bodega Bay, in Goat Rock Beach park. (California)

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.