New stuff

The occasion of my last post was a trip to meet my new granddaughter. I must admit she is a looker. My only regret is that she lives about 270 miles away and I won;t get to see her as often as I would like.

Since that last post I have gotten a new hip. No picture to post here but if you want to see what the operation looks like there is one out there on the interweb. Three months since the operation and I feel great. Highly recommended.....if you need one. My thanks to Dr. Twito for a great job.

On a different topic, my friend Vince sent me a model kit when I was layed up. I have not built it yet, but it got me interested in model trains again. I had dabbled many years ago but after visiting him last summer I got the bug to build something. His gift kind of pushed the urge along. He introduced me to a group of guys who model N scale trains and make modules that link together to form a huge railroad. I decided that I would like to give it a try and have started to design a section of track that runs through LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Have not touched a model of anything in years. this could be a lot of fun. See above for a picture of the current stage of development. Some lines on paper and some loose pieces of track. More to follow.

Seeing Double

See I have this friend and he got this license plate and...............

Road Trip Revisited

In June I posted about a road trip to find an engine that I photographed in 1974. I found it, here is a before (from 1978) and after (owned by WATCO and residing in Wood River Illinois.)

Shovel the dock

Blessing-living on a lake
Curse-taking the dock out in fall
Blessing-living in Minnesota
Curse-Living in Minnesota

Today was the second day of snow this fall. We had a bunch, maybe 4 inches. Streets snow melted at once but the grass and sidewalks and decks were covered-and still are. Leaves are on the trees. Summer stuff is still outside. Lawn furniture and the like. And the temperature will be below freezing pretty much every night this week. This is the earliest measurable snowfall in about two decades but that is no consolation. Walking down to the lake in four inches of snow and seeing the dock covered could make you cry. Why didn't my parents move to Arizona.

At Last

Labor Day, a day of rest. Not much planned. Then a phone call. Your plates for the car are here. Really? The deal is done? "Yup," he says. Took the government a month to process this deal but I have the car. Drove it to work yesterday-and today. Very nice.

Something completely different-Part 2

So I go to make the deal on the car. Salesman fills out paperwork. Leaves to process a form and returns with bad news. there might be an issue with elegibility. Huh? Seems that theyear I bought the van Plymouth went away and Chrysler took over the models. So mine is a Chrysler Voyager. There is no such thing on the governments official list of cash for clunkers. So we submit the paperwork, do the deal take the Fit home. If Washington approves the deal I own the Fit. If not, I take the car back to the dealer and get my money back since I would be on the hook for an additional $4500. I am not a happy camper.

And now for something completely different.....

I am a cheapskate when it comes to cars. I drive them until there is nothing left. One of our two cars is an aging 2000 minivan. It is rusty. It is noisy. It doesn't start well. Worst, it has a fatal problem with a strut mount that will break potentially causing disaster. the car is worth $0. It only gets 18 miles per gallon. What to do? Can you guess? Yup, for the first time in almost 10 years I will pull into my garage tonight in a new car. My worthless piece of junk suddenly became worth $4500. I am delighted. I don't have the cash to buy a new car so this really helps and solves a big problem. The new car? a Honda Fit.