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It's been a crazy couple days at work. Yesterday we shot 21 flash butt welds and 2 thermite welds in 6 1/2 hours. Today we only got half that number, but we finished the derailment site and we're prepped to start heading north on the mainline. If I understood correctly, we need to get 16 welds...

Got up to the job site in Mason City, Iowa and found out the train jockeys put another one on the ground this weekend. The tracks were back in service by the time we got there, but there were 8 loaded grain cars lying on their sides with various train parts scattered about and mixed in with old...

A nice weekend has come to its end. Friday and Saturday morning were spent with my girlfriend. We went shopping, grilled butterfly chops and potatoes, and played with Ruby the dog. Yesterday afternoon my daughter returned from DC and I met her bus at the school. About half the kids were sick...

A zip line for Jake?

I didn't wake up until 8am. Yesterday was rough on me. After working ten hours to get the derailment fixed, I drove an hour and a half to see mom at the nursing home. She and pops and I had a rousing game of dominoes. I left there a bit after 9pm and drove an hour home, with a stop at the store...

Got to work this morning and found out that a train derailed last night, on the site where we were shooting welds yesterday. I'm reasonably certain that the work we did yesterday was good and we didn't cause it. However, since we were the last group to work in there, the bigwigs will try and...

Once again, I've slacked off on recording my exercise. Early this morning I hit the gym before work. 15 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I ran half of it and walked half of it.

@12icemaker my road always preaches safety first, but then the faster, less safe way gets a wink and a shrug from the bosses. But, God help you if you get hurt - then it's because you broke the rules and it's all on you...

Young eyes don't always see what is right in front of them, and explanations don't always help. Only life experience can open their eyes. She has a good foundation. She just needs more life experience.

My daughter had the solemn honor of laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier today. I'm not sure she understands exactly what a privilege it is to honor those fallen soldiers, or why the tomb sentinels behave with the utmost respect and discipline. But I am positive that it is...

All of my immediate family is within an hour and ten minutes from me. However, my siblings have adult children all over the globe. I look at it two ways - it sucks that they are on different continents if the S hits the fan. But, that distance could be a blessing - the consequences of a...

Axel and Rose? Nicely done! I had a neighbor once that had a pair of Rottweilers named Jake and Ellwood.

My last dog's name was Chance. We got him from a shelter. Nobody wanted him because he was a "big scary Doberman", but he was really a gentle baby. I named him Chance because we were giving him a chance for a new life - maybe his last chance...

Had to put in some overtime today. The Federal rail inspector was out and about, and he found a rail joint with both bars broken about 4 miles north of us. That's a defect that takes the track out of service. The local section gang was at the south end of the territory, near Kansas City, over...

Finished the curve rail project today. The weather was fantastic and everything went super smooth until the first spiker broke down. I had to do most of it with the second spiker. It's a beat up 25 year old machine, but it held up long enough to finish. Now we have a day of clean up and two days...

She really is something! She would fit in fairly well here - doesn't believe in debt, believes in individual freedom, works hard. Exercise fanatic, can run 7 miles in 1 hour and 1 minute and works out 7 days a week. Now, she's not a homesteading type - she likes her creature comforts. But I'm...

I've been on the go lately and haven't been spending much time here. I was going to try and get caught up on posts but I'm so far behind that I gave up. Last night my daughter, GF and I took GF's dog and went to mom's nursing home for a visit. We had a nice time with mom and the other residents...

4.8 mile hike with over 700 feet of elevation

Hit the gym with my GF after work... 20 minutes on the AMT 10 minutes on the bike 1 mile on the treadmill, 7 minutes jogging and 4 minutes walking

Headed out to change more rails today. The weather is finally nice, but the dispatcher doesn't want to let us have the track. We might be dragging out the old rail we took out the past few days, and cutting it up into 40 foot sections to be scrapped or re-used on industrial leads. Whatever...