A new day, another broken temporary crown

This is the 3rd, and lasted longer (9 days) than the first two (24 hrs, 36 hrs)

Good news is it doesn't hurt, bad news I still don't have an appt for the permanent one.

Not sure I should bother with another.

Thoughts?

Restoration of P&SR Caboose #1

Baltimore work time pt 2

Baltimore work time pt 1

It wasn't all fun and games, two of us had to video all the hard work!

Sightseeing in Baltimore

Baltimore Trolley

Parts is parts in "Balmo"

     So last Wednesday myself and 3 cohorts flew to Baltimore (Balmo) to strip metal components and trucks from an 1868 railroad coach made by the same manufacturer as our 1869 coach. We had help from three east coast member/volunteers who were invaluable.

This (B&O car 20) coach was crushed by the 2003 collapse (due to snow) of the roof of the B&O railroad museum leaving almost exactly the parts we need. It had a sister, so the need to repair it was very low priority compared to all the other damage.
     We got a miraculous break in the weather. Rain was predicted Thurs, our first work day... no rain. Heavy rain/thundershowers predicted for Friday. Shortly after we went for breakfast all hell broke loose. "Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening" and we drove to the work site through torrential downpours, but as we arrived it stopped and that was the end of it. It was however very cold all three of the works days, and the two days we spent sight seeing afterwards.

The "floor" assembly (upside down)

 Cutting in half to get it on the truck

 Two trucks, one badly damaged

 Almost ready to go.

Happy New Years from the left coast

I've been playing with imovie

So I redid the Gran Fondo video. More pictures!, Music! Sound effects! Titles! SPANDEX!

There were 7500 people signed up, not all of them went through here. Sadly, this years (2012) course will not include going by here.

Title page picture

After this was taken there was a MAJOR wind storm that blew over the light pole and ripped the plywood and canvas covering off the top of the caboose.

Well, speaking of things train restoration related...The good news is we "found" this, and it's been donated to our group for "free". Its all the stuff that goes underneath the car in the next picture, built by the same manufacturer in 1868. (It's upside down) and includes the trucks (wheel assemblies)

The bad news is, it's in Baltimore and has to be removed by mid February (or it gets scrapped) and the trucking estimate alone is $10,000

There is a lot of scrambling going on, and I'm sure it will get saved, but it's providing LOTS of excitement in our little group.

Post Thanksgiving update

Had a nice Thanksgiving, went to a wine club that has excellent food who had a pot luck dinner where they provided the Turkey, Ham and mashed potatoes. The guy next to me was a close match to Keith Richards, mannerisms, appearance. Just lacking the accent. Great wine of course. (Lost on me, I don't drink)

Today was very productive, a trip to town, Yoga class, paid ATT bills, signed up for Comcast phone service. (Which, combined with the internet and TV we already have, SHOULD result in a savings) I'll believe it when it happens. Then shopping, then a call(via cell phone) that the phone tech was enroute. It took 4 hours and many trips to other places (for the tech) but about 6pm we got our dial tone back. There was a break somewhere else. When I asked earlier on about just using a different pair of wires, I was told they were all full. So more good news, next week there will be a pair available! Tech was very nice.

Comcast person confirmed my deceased mom was STILL listed as primary and showed me that he had changed it on the computer. I was shown the same thing years ago the last time this issue came up. Color me dubious.

But for now all is good (other than the 49rs loss, which they deserved)

Thanksgiving Telecommunications Hell level 1a

We're spending some time out at the coast over Thanksgiving. When we got here late Monday, the phone was not working.

Went to a neighbor's house to report the problem. There was never any option to talk to a real person, and they wanted a contact # to confirm we would be home between 8am and 8pm. HELLO! OUR PHONE IS OUT!!!! And there is no cell phone coverage in this area.

Tuesday no repairman. So Tues night I went online and went around and around trying to report it but was unable to get a confirmed report. This morning I was able to get another 12 hour window, so we wait.

Meanwhile I got to thinking, why not go with Comcast who provides out TV and Internet out here? We can get a discount on top of it! So after much gnashing of teeth and fingers I get to an online chat person to confirm everything, "What's the name on your account?" Myname. Uh oh suddenly I recall the hell that is Comcast. When my mom died in 2006 I transferred the account to myname. Since then, every time I want to do something they say I don't have the authorization because I'm not MyMom. I eventually get it straightened out and they assure me that her name has been totally and permanently removed from the account, WE PROMISE! Lying sacks of turkey dung!

Where's that cop with the pepper spray when I need him?

Time to take a break from reading obituaries

If there's anyone not already at "that age", at some point many/most people start reading the obituary section, "To see if I'm in there!"

Age, natural selection, bad luck all take a toll.

There are a number of people I knew in high school that I have lost track of, and have been curious about. Last week I saw an obituary for an older woman with the same last name as a "missing" friend. Indeed it was his mother, and, sadly, he was listed as having predeceased her.

His parents had been missionaries. He was in the journalism clique, although I knew him from band. He had convinced a local church to let him set up a weekend coffee house in the basement. I spent a lot of time there helping with this and that. It was there,after closing one night, that we got robbed at gunpoint. I had 4 quarters, which got dropped by the gunman, and I retrieved. But it went into the report and I got repaid a year or so later. The gunman was an AWOL airman from the local base. The gun, BTW, was a .22 pistol that looked like a shotgun to me! I met a lot of interesting people and had some very interesting experiences there.

We had hung around together a few years in high school, but by senior year he had lost interest in our friendship it seemed. The last time I saw him was immediately after our graduation ceremony when I called out to him. He waved and said "catch you later". I never saw or heard from or about him again.

I posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone had any info, and one classmate responded that he had killed himself in the early or mid 70's.

So sad

New pastimes and retirement advice, not in that order

First bit of retirement advice is if you are asked to be on a Board of Directors, this is NOT a Sally Fields Moment (They like me! They REALLY LIKE ME!) They have you pegged for a sucker. Do it if you really want to, but have your eyes open.

So after I retired, and after some consideration, I got involved in a railroad historical society that was doing restoration of an old caboose near where I live. (BOD #1) My skill sets lean more towards deconstruction than fine woodworking. This came in handy when two additional cars were acquired.

I have an interest in historical preservation/documentation, so it has evolved that I have done much of the still photography documenting of the reconstruction. We also have a videographer. And it happens that my digital camera has a video function. In the last year, freight service has been re established in our area after an absence of many years and trials (literal trials in some cases) and tribulations in the interim. So I began documenting some of the return with the video function, and how better to share that Utube?

It turns out that there are quite a few people who are REALLY into trains. This has encouraged me to video the local trains. I've branched out a bit into our  local waterway (Also very historic, basically the reason for our towns founding) I came across a site that tracks maritime traffic, (http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/) and has pictures of many of the vessels. You can upload pictures of the ships. A local company has a number of ships, so I have been taking pictures of them and uploading them. If I can ever catch them moving/unloading a barge, I will video that and post it on Utube. I also did a utube video of the Sonoma County Gran Fondo bike ride as it passed a spot on the coast.

All this is leading up to my posting of two of the most viewed videos I've done. I don't guess there are train buffs here, but you might enjoy them anyway (they're short). The first is popular because of the audio I think. The second has some historical significance. And despite what you see here, I think these are the only times the two locomotives have run together. Enjoy!

For dog lovers (from a cat owner)

Walk on the beach, revenge is a ball

My back is finally feeling well enough to walk on the beach and pick up garbage, so I did just that Monday afternoon as we fled once again from the heat inland.

I had been reading about the red tide, an abundance of plankton and algae that is harmful to  many creatures, and indeed, the shore was littered with muscle shells and a few abalone type mollusks. Starfish are also dying but I did not see any of those.

Having reached the end of the beach, I turned to make another pass at a different level looking for garbage. I came upon a couple with two unleashed dogs, a no no, but I don't really have a problem with that, except that as I was talking with the "gentleman" about the dead sea life, one of the dogs took a crap in the sand, and the "lady" was using a plastic ball thrower to toss it into the surf. He saw the look on my face and said "Oh we forgot our plastic bags"

I continued my walk in the opposite direction they were going, and I came across a tennis ball. I put it in my garbage bag and as I walked away I could hear him saying "Hey boy, where's your ball?"

Check out my COOL new bandage!

Just for donating a pint I got this cool bandage I get to wear for 4 hours!

Oh, and I got this too.

AND the Giants won (despite giving up 5 runs in the 9th)

Van back, Back Gone

Got the van back late Monday, about 4 hours earlier, for no apparent reason, my back started tightening up. By the time we picked up the van I was taking Muscle relaxannzzzzzzz.... what was I talking about?

So Tues was spent in bed except for the occasional hobble to the bathroom. Had to double up on the Muscle relaxannzzzzzzz.... what was I talking about?  Some details will NOT be discussed. Glad to have an Ipad and glad a bunch of folks I follow had posts. Bought a book on line, (Turn Right At Macchu Picchu)

Wed I could occasionally shuffle places (bathroom again) briefly. All the muscles that had been compensating were complaining about having apparently run a marathon.

Today I CAN WALK! Briefly. Wash dishes, lay down rest, take out garbage cans, lay down rest, get the mail, lay down rest. Previously compensating muscles are in the "Whoa" stage. Guilty party muscles are in the "Who gave YOU permission to run a marathon?"stage. Back to recommended dosage of Muscle relaxannzzzzzzz.... what was I talking about?

So as proof that previous to this I was not a total slug, I provide video. I had pictures, but just realized I already used them in a previous post!

Shot this 8 days ago. May not be interesting, but it is PROOF I used to have a life outside my bed

Time to get back in bed. BACK in bed!! Hah Hah Get IT? I crack myself up. And say, it's time for another  Muscle relaxannzzzzzzz.... what was I talking about?

Karmic flashback

Last Saturday was a workday at the train restoration yard. I had started painting, but got pulled off because the paint needed to be thinned and we didn't have any thinner. So I started work on the Baggage car (NWP 605). A couple of us pulled some non original wood off one end, and then started removing much of the roofing materials. Much of this was done after lunch when it had gotten warmer. Not a lot of fun and I was sore the next day. So I got to thinking that Monday was predicted to be cooler and I had nothing better to do, so 8 a.m. Monday I'm on the roof.

As I'm tearing off stuff, a motorcycle cop drives by and glances at me. I immediately flash back to when I was a kid. When I was very young, a troublemaking friend had this brilliant idea to climb on top of this decrepit single car garage on a dead end street, which became the bridge of a warship and we were fighting off attacking planes with the only weapons at our disposal, pieces of composition roof. They sail very nicely BTW. Later that evening my dad gets a phone call from the LOL who kept her car in that garage.

So my friend and I had to go down immediately and clean up our mess. The roofing, being old and brittle broke into zillions of pieces which had to be swept up of course. Our dad's spent the weekend reroofing her garage. I don't specifically remember the punishment, but I'm guessing I wasn't comfortable sitting for awhile.

In the top shot, the heaviest layers ( about an inch of tar and paper) have already been taken off.

 The green in the foreground is the original canvas based roofing. I left it on for now for documentation, and it looks kind of cool.

So far, I have gotten only compliments, but I don't think I will be playing war games on garage roofs again.

It's 3 am, do you know where your car is?

Ours is still out front, but has had a rowdy visitor shortly after 2am (when the bars close)

Amazingly we slept through this, but neighbors who heard it and saw a fleeing white vehicle woke us up and called the police. No perp so far. GOOD MORNING!

Another" Heads Up" life lesson

Although it seems obvious in hindsight, 20/20 vision and all, it did not occur to me that allergy swollen eyes would be contraindicated regarding Downward Facing Dog in yoga. Now into self diagnosed Conjunctivitis, I look back in wonder.

Just as well, the instructor had indicated that the class would be doing Handstands, so I was already wondering "well what shall I be doing during that period?" Instead an early exit. Now I'm wandering around in a Benedryl induced haze.

Update: After phone consult, MOST likely allergies (vs Conjunctivitis)