Geezer's Lounge (Rev 1) - Volume 5

[NEMMRRC]

Howdy.

Sounds like a fantastic trip, friscomike. My wife and I took my parents on an Alaska cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary. Hands down that's been the best trip of my life. Even when the weather did not cooperate, Alaska was stunning. I would go back given the chance.

No breakfast for me this morning. I am still full from last night's dinner. I might grab a donut later this morning at church before Sunday School.

Enjoy your day of rest out there.

[PRR Modeler]

Good Morning All,

Today for breakfast is coffee, cereal, bagels, yogurt, pastry, OJ, and soda.

Started out the day with a walk at a feel like temp of 87F and high humidity.

Yesterday I was able to remove the incorrectly placed planks with a single edged razor blade without much damage to the clapboard underneath so I didn't have to go to the LHS. I redid the first wall and did a second wall.

Today after chores I hope to finish the 3rd wall.

Not much else planned for today.

Mike welcome back. When we did that trip a couple of years ago as we were heading to SEATAC we got notice our return flight had been canceled. Not fun.

I hope everyone has a good day.

[Rick]

Good morning everyone.

40 in Twin Lakes, mix of sun and clouds with a high of 66 later.

Mike, welcome back and sounds like a nice trip.
Maybe we'll see some pictures from you.

Jamie, enjoy your doughnut and church.

Curt, thanks for the coffee and breakfast and glad you were able to fix the wall.

Ron, great job on the turntable.

Jerry, did you wipe off the dust from your modeling chair?

TomO, thanks for the comment on my photos.
My neighbor across the street watches the house and picks up my mail.
Her son has been mowing the lawn.

Karl, thank you.

Dave, how was the new scotch?

Larry, glad you're enjoying the weather.

How's everyone else?

After talking about it for three years I finally hiked Mount Elbert.
This hike, along with doing a rim to rim at the Grand Canyon, has been at the top of my bucket list hikes.
Mount Elbert is the tallest mountain in Colorado at 14,440' and is the third tallest mountain in the US.
Only McKinley in Alaska and Whitney in California are taller.
Started the hike with my friend Denise (my friend Whit's girlfriend) at 4 AM.
Got to the summit at around 8.
Made back to the van at noon.
13.76 miles and 4,706' of climbing.
4,706' of climbing and being at 14,440' are both new personal bests and I don't think I'll ever do better.

Supposed to do another 14er tomorrow which won't be nearly as challenging.

Here we are at the peak.



The sky was on fire yesterday at sunrise.



Have a great day everyone.

[Larry C]

Morning Gents,

Mike glad the trip went well and that one you'll probably remember years down the road.

Jaime sounds like a fun way to celebrate your parents 50th.

Curt thanks for the coffee and breakfast. Nice you were able to get your modeling mistake fixed with no damage. Years ago we went to Seattle and landed at SeaTac; that place is huge. Sadly we ran into thunderstorms on the way back near Chicago and were in a holding pattern for about an hour; talk about unnerving. Then we were in Chicago for hours waiting for a connecting flight back to Syracuse; not fun.

Rick congrats on making it the top and checking off another item on your "bucket list". Talk about being on top of the world.....what a view. Gorgeous photos; hope you get some rest today.

What's on your agenda?

It's a cool 54 with a high of 81 and maybe some rain. Started working on another tractor for the diorama so will continue with that today. Not much else going on here. Making a pork roast for dinner with mashed potatoes and a veggie....yum.

Have an enjoyable and safe day!! Be well.

[PRR Modeler]

Rick congrats on the completion of the bucket list item. Great photos.

Larry years ago flying seemed to be much easier. Now it's nothing more than cattle cars with ever changing schedules.

[Philip]

Good morning gang!

Not much to report. The weather has been wring it out humid for the entire last 2 weeks. I'm taking it easy for the most part.

Philip

[elwoodblues]

Good morning everyone,

Thanks for the coffee and breakfast Curt glad you got the incorrectly placed planks corrected.  I bet you have a better looking wall now with all the added weathering.

Mike, glad to hear you had a great trip.

Jamie, have  a great day.

Rick, I see you crossed another 14er off your list.

Larry, have fun working on the tractor.

Philip, enjoy your day.

Weather here is 17c (62f) and cloudy.  Ended up being a quiet day yesterday and last night we went out with friends.  Today's plan is to do the grocery run, take Gracie for her walk and maybe work on planting the turntable, or install the switch to the staging yard or .........  Choices, choices, choices.

Have a great day everyone.

[deemery]

Rick and Star, congrats on making it to the top of Colorado!  How does Star do in the higher altitudes? 

An Alaska cruise is on my bucket list, but a big part of that is finding the right ship.  I have no interest in those mammoth floating casinos!  But first wife has to get through her current treatments and then see if she'll be eligible for the back surgery.  I really miss traveling, particularly since 2 of the people at Scotch Club yesterday are back from trips across the pond.  One went to London, the other to Sicily and southern Italy.  The single malt from the Isle of Harris was good, but we still voted Isle of Raasay Chinkapin Oak the winner of the half dozen we sampled. 

Yesterday I did some rough scenery work along the back edge.  Based on my experience to date, I figured out I needed a small shelf to hold the tree trunks, so I worked that with Sculptamold.  That'll need at least another day to fully dry.  I'll do more 'tree flats' from the armatures I've been using for the dominant forest species. 

dave

[Jerry]

Morning everyone

Jaime just one donut??

Curt thanks for the breakfast & coffee.
Glad you got the planks off.

Rick great picture!
You don't even look tired!

Larry looking forward to the tractor build.

Philip if your taking it easy who's taking care of the garden???

Ron hope your choice is what you really want to do.

Dave have fun making those trees.

Weather in South Jersey sunny/77.  Later on 80.
Well another day and no bench time.
Will try to get there today!

Everyone have a great day!! 

Jerry

[TomO/Tloc]

Good morning Crew. After a rough night of sleep or actually very little sleep I got out of that bed at 8:10. Some where today there definitely will be a nap taken. Every bone in the body feels abused this morning from the tossing and turning. Unlike Terry who will sit up, turn on the light and read I try to battle through by keeping my head on the pillow tossing and turning. That didn't work last night

Mike that's still a trip I want to take, Terry not so much.

Rick, that's great you ticked off a bucket list item. A hike up a peak like that just sounds intimidating but then I see Star with you and think what a great companion you have to walk along. Congrats again

Curt, I'll respectfully disagree! I think air travel today even including the TSA crap is better. More services to places I'd not expect regular flights into. I think the smaller airlines like Breeze run circles around service over United and American. The planes IMO are cleaner and the cabin crews ( with ecceptions) seem nicer! I have no issue with LAX, I think O'Hara in Chicago should be leveled and started over. Denver could have done better with all that land but the trains are fine between concourses. When we fly now we prefer the smaller airports like Chicago Midway, Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, the Florida airports seem fine as we've not had issues and Austin's airport was super until a couple years ago when the big expansions began. YMMV!

The weather in my section of Wisconsin is warm and muggy! It's 74f degrees now, 83 later the dew point is at 72. The humidity is at 94%. Maybe bench day

The grandson was my engineer on the 1st train I had yesterday at the Ops Session. He handled the throttle after a couple minutes like a pro. It was on his smart phone using a WiThrottle app. I never had to tell him to watch his speeds as he did learn years ago to operate on my smaller layout. That was when he would operate with Terry and me when he was 6 and 7 years old. 6 years later he still had the knack. Next train out he was the conductor but not on my train. I'm not the best conductor so the guys put him on a train with the guy we are helping on Fridays build his layout. A retired professional railroader he and Brooks sat down, went through the cards, checked the train and they talked as the train a local made its set outs and pick ups. He did run a scheduled cleaning train by himself as his 3rd train of the day. He probably understands the signals now better than I do. The last train the 2 took my friend let Brooks explain what they were going to do with few suggestions as they worked he said. Brooks on the way home said he had fun.

The layout had some signal issues that would have stopped a normal session but this was a break in session. We kept running as 3 guys tackled the issue. It was a loose intermittent connection that was found. We reported where our trains were to dispatch and he reset the computer and everything matched I guess. There were 8 of us invited along with a guest. 2 grandsons, 1 granddaughter, a wife and 1 friend. Total was 13 people working/running trains and overall I'd say very good. There were the normal session issues. Not all the car cards matched, a couple switch point or machine issues but really not many notes on things needing repair. He did ask how many could come for a session this Thursday and 3 of us said yes. Last night he put out a group text for 7 more to join us. The layout looks like it can handle 20 but he doesn't have enough trains. We have 1 layout that operates every other month and asks a few guys to bring a complete train but he does not want to do that. Yesterday the 3 cleaning trains we ran there were added to the schedule as regular trains. He said he will continue that for a few sessions or until the 3 owners of the power need them back. The operating group telephone guru was there and it sounded like the phone system is being added next. This will be a great layout to add to the rotation. As is a local tradition the layout is not a complete plywood pacific as it did have 1 tree on the layout!

Enjoy the day

[KentuckySouthern]

Had a bit of rain overnight in MI and it sure was needed.  Slept well while it rained. 

Wandered about with the Doll and had dinner out, traveled on back roads all day and enjoyed the farm country.  Dry areas, most everywhere, had huge irrigators(spell check can't spell it either ) going on fields.

Had dinner at a small but busy diner in a small farm town.  Excellent fried chicken and took home rhubarb pie I ate later.  Oooh good.

Rick, I'd be whipped if I had a walking stick lick you have in that photo...

Layout time today?  We'll see, it looks like the rain is over and there is a hint of blue to the WNW.

Can't comment on current state of aviation, haven't flown in 25 years and probably never will as my wingperson is firmly grounded and irrational about any such ventures...

Be well all. 

[friscomike]

Good morning crew,

James, thanks for opening.  Indeed, it is a great cruise.

Curt, thank you for the coffee and breakfast. Bummer that your return was canceled.

Rick, what a hike.  Congratulations to Star for helping you get to the top. Fantastic photos.

Larry, the pork roast meal sounds wonderful.

Philip, hope the humidity drops up there.

Ron, good luck with the planting.  I'm looking forward to catching up on your tutorial.

Dave, good luck with the tree planting.

Jerry, hope you get some beach and bench time.

TomO, sounds like a lot of fun during the ops session.

Karl, the country trip and meal sound fantastic. Hope you make it to the layout.

How are the rest of the crew?

It's going to be hot today; no rain in the forecast.  We got home from the Seattle to Atlanta flight around 12:30 AM. The cruise was a good one.  It was our third cruise to Alaska.  The best part was having the whole family together. We spent three days at our Son's home in Kennewick after the cruise. This cruise was on Virgin; it was the best experience we've had. I am not a fan of cruising, but my wife is, so...  

Have fun,
mike