Geezer's Lounge (Rev 1) - Volume 4

[deemery]

Good morning all. The NH seacoast is overcast with occasional peeps at the sun. It's about 50F.  We're going to the real Clam Box in Ipswich for lunch, then probably more layout time afternoon and evening. In between, emails and bill paying.

A trip to The Clam Box is definitely on my 'list of things to do'.  (Wife isn't a fan and can't eat breaded anything, so it's a solo trip.)  Usually I satisfy my cravings for fried clams at Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery, so I'd be interested in your comparison if you've tried both.

Down to the train room in a bit.  The pigpen is in its spot on the layout, but I need to find a trough for water.  It's in a position that makes sense, but won't be seen from the layout aisle.  That's OK, I'll know it's there, and I can always remove the house in front of it if someone demands to inspect the swine facility.  Then I need to do a major pick-up of all the boxes of scenery stuff I pulled out to work on that location.  I'm not done, but I need to be able to get to the electrical closet, currently blocked with storage containers full of tree armatures, static grass packages, foam clumps, etc, etc, etc.

dave

[TomO/Tloc]

Wife was taken to the hospital late yesterday afternoon (intestinal blockage).  So I'll be heading back to the hospital in a couple minutes to see how she's doing.  The hope is once the pressure is relieved, it'll clear itself without surgery....   

A neighbor came in and fed the dogs last night while I was away.  Of course, when I got home last night they told me "Where have you been?  We're starving!"

dave

Hope your wife is going to be fine after the hospital visit

TomO

[Jerry]

Good evening

TomO good to see you posting!  Can we expect to see more you??

Jerry

[TomO/Tloc]

Good evening from So. Central Wisconsin. A message from Rick on my FB page prompted me to visit the old neighborhood so I'm stopping in to say hi, so HI GUYS.

Went back to the page that started about Dave's wife and read forward from there. Glad she is home Dave.

Since I've been gone not too much has changed. Though the big thing is I now spend maybe 30 to 45 minutes total online per day and believe me when I say I don't miss being online. I miss being here but life moves on and it was a healthy choice to reduce the online time.

I'm working with a couple friends on their layouts a couple mornings a week. I am working on designing and now building a friend's paper mill. I have also started designing a new paper mill for me. My shelf layout paper mill L shaped 24" x 140" and 24" x 123" is coming down being replaced by a 30" x 198" peninsula. I sold all the buildings but 1.

Weathering commissions are way down with much of it by choice after my health issues in 8/2024 that I'm still doing rehab on. It has affected my skills that even after almost 2 years are not returning to my satisfaction. I've been doing mainly medium weathering but no custom graffiti. Custom graffiti was my big money maker and I no longer can handle decals too well. So that part of the business is done. Many of my regulars have also cut back as their disposal income seems to be drying up! I'm not looking for new but it gives me time to work on the layouts and paper mills.

Gas today was $4.69 per gallon so that's not helping disposal income 

The 12 year old grandson is still paying hockey and soccer but now is also my yard boy. No more cutting grass for me per the doctor and he asked to do it. He's getting paid but saving me $40 over the professional cutting companies. I also believe he does a nicer job. 

I'm watching as I type this the crazy Colorado/Minnesota Stanley Cup playoff game. 6-5 with 14 minutes left in the 3rd period. Goofy crazy game. 7-5 Colorado 10 minutes left. Wow! 2 minutes left and it's 9-6 Colorado!

It's was good to go back and read that really not too much has changed here either. Everyone be well.

I won't stop every day but occasionally to say hi

Edit. Jerry saw ur post. Most likely

TomO

[Larry C]

Good Morning,

Tom O nice to hear from you; I was wondering why you weren't around any more. Stop in when you can.

Breakfast is Belgium waffles, maple syrup, butter, fresh fruit with crispy bacon and /or pan sausages on the side.

What's going om in your world?

It's a cloudy 46 with a high of 63 and some wind. Spent the majority of the day yesterday between switching the computer desks, getting everything set back up, and cleaning out 2 filing cabinets; a lot of stuff went either in the trash or shredded. Maybe today I can get in some bench time at some point.

Have a great day!! Be well and stay safe.

[ACL1504]

Morning all,

Thanks for breakfast Larry.

Good to see TomO this morning. His post reminds me that as we all get older, things we did in the past with no effort or thought are now tasks we now often struggle to do. Slowing down is a natural process of aging. However, it doesn't mean I have to like it.

We are going to the bank to dispute a fraud charge. It's only $34.55 and the bank will refund the amount but I need to file out a landfill of paperwork.

Have a safe and happy day everyone.

Tom

[deemery]

Morning, all...  I'm up a bit early.  Happy Star Wars Day to everyone!  

I did accomplish some pick-up/put-away yesterday in the Train Room, still more work to do there.  Wife and I are supposed to go to a lunch meeting today, she's feeling much better so we'll probably attend.  But she'll have to be careful what she eats.  I'm finding planning a low fiber diet to be a bit of a challenge, a lot of my normal ingredients (particularly beans) are now off limits.

dave

[Rick]

Good morning everyone.

It's 32 in Crowheart, WY, 50 later with a mix of sun and clouds.
I'm at almost 9,000 elevation, and that's one reason for the cold temps.
Lots of the white stuff still around.

Larry, thanks for the coffee and breakfast and decluttering is a good thing.

ACLTom, glad to hear Bill is doing better and good luck at the bank.

Dave, all the talk about high fiber diets is nonsense.
Your body doesn't need it.

TomO, very nice to see you here again.
Sorry about the loss of weathering abilities.
Totally agree about less time on the inter webs.

Jerry and Ron, looks like the yo-yo passing in F1 has been solved, but hasn't changed the final race results much.

Curt, hope you are having a great time on your trip.

Mike, any paint on the boxcar?

Karl, hope you're staying warm and spending time in the basement.

James, how was the Clam Box?

Philip, it was nice seeing you update your thread.

Hope everyone else is doing very well.

Star and I did a nice easy 5 miles with 469' of EG on the Game Creek Trail.
Afterward started driving east again.
Jerry, only going as far as SD.
Very doubtful I'll ever be in NJ again.

Just more driving today.

This is from yesterday.



Have a great day everyone.

[friscomike]

Good morning folks,

Larry, thanks for the coffee and breakfast. Congrats on the desk completion and cabinet cleanout.

TomACL, good luck at the bank.

Dave, congrats on the cleanup.

How is the rest of the crew?

Not much planned today.  I painted the boxcar yesterday and built the trucks.  Today will probably be spent continuing to add grabs, etc.

Have fun,
mike

[deemery]

Dave, all the talk about high fiber diets is nonsense.
Your body doesn't need it.

It's that wife and I both like beans, chile, etc 

dave

[Rick]

Dave, all the talk about high fiber diets is nonsense.
Your body doesn't need it.

It's that wife and I both like beans, chile, etc 

dave

My comment wasn't directed towards any one food, but to high fiber diets in general.
Your body doesn't need a lot of fiber to function properly.

[elwoodblues]

Good morning everyone.

Thanks for the coffee and breakfast Larry, hope you make it to the bench today.

TomO, real happy to hear from you, sounds like you have been keeping yourself busy.  Sorry to hear that your weathering skills aren't back to your standards, but they can still come back with time.

Tom, hope the pile or forms needed to get your money refunded isn't too high.

Rick, while the yo-yoing in F1 seems to be solved the results are still the same.

Mike, maybe you will get the boxcar completed today.

Current temperature is 11c (51f) and overcast with rain back in the forecast.  After spending yesterday morning doing chores and making a grocery run, I remembered that this weekend was also the yearly stamp show in town so guess where I spent the afternoon.  Made some purchases that helps fill out my collection.  I think I spent more on stamps in one afternoon that I spent on trains in the past 6 months.  I spent the evening cataloguing my purchases and watching the hockey game.  After a hard fought 7 game series, we are off the the second round.

Have a great day everyone.

[TomO/Tloc]

Good morning Crew.

Beautiful picture Rick.

My biggest issue with the weathering is remembering things. I can't seem to retain the sequence of the process. I have written it down but it's no longer intuitive. I lost the most fun part, the creativity. My motor skills of course were impaired and while building them back up on the left side I no longer can manipulate decals when I use them. Custom designed graffiti is completely gone because I have trouble concentrating and holding a brush. I am still a good gofer helping on others layouts. I can use a drill, still safety use a chop and table saw. I cannot lift a 4x8 sheet of ply but if someone puts it on the table I can guide it.

I'm definitely not complaining and I want no sympathy from anyone. That's a crude statement I know but you should have seen the looks I was getting during my recovery in 2025 when I was trying so hard to regain my health. Let's just say some people are very nasty and classless.

Anyway. I am building a HO scale paper mill from scratch. I have been using Ai for design help, dimensions and giving me a build sequence. I use voice command for the 2 Ai products I am using. I have 6 of the 1-2-3 blocks and a bunch of right angle steel blocks. I use magnetic boards and have 2 straight edges I use that a local metal artist made for me. They have a small lip on the cutting edge side to hopefully stop a wandering #11 blade. It's not always successful. Gluing sometimes gets messy but I can still manipulate an airbrush for broad stroke painting. Walls are as broad stroke as it gets. Paint and styrene sheet hide the minor mistakes.

While away from the forum I did have a few milestones. I tried to play the golf events that my brother's group holds 16 times a year across the country. I played 3 events and decided I had met my goal of being able to play golf again in a competitive environment. My left arm strength is rated at 65% after being told I probably wouldn't swing a club again. My single handicap at age 69 at age 73 is double digits at 17 but I proved to myself I can play again. So now I am teaching the grandson, 2 of his buddies and the buddette how to play. We hit into my simulator at home and Monica the buddette and ice hockey goalie so far is much better than the 3 guys

We have visited Arizona for the 3 golf events in January and February. A week in Orlando and we were at the Kennedy Space Center the day after Artemis2 launched. I have a picture of the launch between the clouds from Orlando from the hotel parking lot. Hit up Austin after flying for the 1st time on Spirit (and now last time) from Fort Lauderdale to Austin. It was very pleasant. We missed going to Minneapolis this year for Badger Women's hockey. Terry is very liberal and we didn't want to chance her getting arrested. The Badgers did win their 9th NCAA Women's hockey championship and 2 in a row.

So I stay busy and you are caught up
TomO

[KentuckySouthern]

Sunny and headed to 70^o today then back all week to highs of 50^-o55^o  / 

I'm the only guy in the neighborhood that didn't mow yesterday, we had the Geek Squad in for the afternoon.  Son In Law presented me with a early Father's Day/Birthday/Christmas gift, a new composite stock Ruger 10-22 rifle with a scope.    Whistle Pigs are on notice.  The old SHERIFF is back in town....(never been far, tho)

TomO welcome.  Lots of decline in the crowd.  Sticking with my PT program at home has eased mine. 

Be well all.  Bench time today between stints on the mower.   

[Jerry]

Morning everyone

Larry thanks for the coffee & breakfast.
Glad you got the cleaning done now it's time for the dirt pile!! 

Tom good luck at the bank.

Morning Dave.

Rick that's a great picture.  So no NJ. 
Well at least we can still talk! 

Mike great job on the boxcar looking forward to the update.

Ron you didn't watch the F1 race??

TomO just great to have you back.  Stop in any time you want.

Weather in South Jersey is sunny/43.  Later the "WEENIES" are calling for 74. 
My second wall is almost done and hopefully without any problems.

Everyone have a great day!! 

Jerry