What's everybody doing today?

[Spikedriver]

Woke up at 0445 this morning. I guess my brain has gotten used to waking up at that time. I really wish it would relax, because I've got 8 days off and there's no reason to get up that early.

Got a message from my boss last night. My gang is being move from western Nebraska to central Iowa next week. That puts me in an ideal position - the job site is 53 miles from me. Under 50 miles from home, I don't get any per diem expense money from my employer. But over 50 miles, I get full travel pay. So, at 53 miles I can sleep at home and drive an hour to work every day, and still get paid expenses - and it's all above board, no questions asked. For 7 days of work, that adds up to $840 in my pocket.

 

[Pearl]

Woke up at 0445 this morning. I guess my brain has gotten used to waking up at that time. I really wish it would relax, because I've got 8 days off and there's no reason to get up that early.

Got a message from my boss last night. My gang is being move from western Nebraska to central Iowa next week. That puts me in an ideal position - the job site is 53 miles from me. Under 50 miles from home, I don't get any per diem expense money from my employer. But over 50 miles, I get full travel pay. So, at 53 miles I can sleep at home and drive an hour to work every day, and still get paid expenses - and it's all above board, no questions asked. For 7 days of work, that adds up to $840 in my pocket.

Enjoy those days off!! It's so nice when things work out!

 

[Pearl]

Working then Walmart!! Woohoo!

 

[The Lazy L]

Set out the trash for pickup.

City to ask some questions at the main bank office.

Visit my older sister.

While out that way mosey on over to the Big City to check on a Travor TS12 (the real reason for traveling today).

Stop for lunch (location TBD).

 

[jishinsjourney]

@Neb @jishinsjourney I thought it was a big train museum, bummer. I like small trains too lol. Long ago I worked for Pullman Std building train cars. Later I used to ride amtrak to New Orleans when I worked off shore. I’ve always wanted to take a train ride across country, maybe one day. I checked ticket prices to New Orleans recently. Round trip is about $100. Amtrak finally dropped the mask crap couple weeks ago.

Ben, got any cohosh on that ridge? Solomons seal? It looks a lot like the mtn did on my herb hunting trip. This is blue cohosh. Have some black cohosh photos somewhere. It's distinctively different than blue c.

View attachment 85660

Yeah, it’s a model train museum. But there is actually a caboose on exhibit that you can climb up into and investigate. That was pretty cool. I haven’t been in one of those before. You can’t see it in my picture, but it’s off to the right of where I took the photo.

There’s also a model shipyard in progress(? I think?) behind and below where I was standing. That was also very cool, and I wish we could have gotten in to examine it more closely.

 

[jishinsjourney]

Today’s list of to-dos is the boring kind. Vacuum, dust, clean the bathrooms, sweep and mop, clean the stainless. Woo, exciting. At least lunch and dinner are leftovers, so that should be relatively easy.

 

[snappy1]

Mine is mostly boring today.
Walk and walk dogs.
Dehydrate mangoes.
Update go bags.
Weed potato patch.
I like boring, usually!

 

[Peanut]

Hey @Neb this is black cohosh. Where you find one cohosh species you'll often find the other one. They like to grow on the northern slopes of hills. At this time of year black cohosh leaves have exaggerated toothed edges and the green color is very different than blue cohosh. If you want post some pics of the ridge, we'll see what else you have growing. (trillium, spurge(s) and solomon's seal are in this pic also)

Today I don't even know where to start. Dozens of things on the list of chores.

 

[Spikedriver]

Yeah, it’s a model train museum. But there is actually a caboose on exhibit that you can climb up into and investigate. That was pretty cool. I haven’t been in one of those before. You can’t see it in my picture, but it’s off to the right of where I took the photo.

There’s also a model shipyard in progress(? I think?) behind and below where I was standing. That was also very cool, and I wish we could have gotten in to examine it more closely.

There is a model train exhibit in Colfax, Iowa too. This one is the larger, O Guage trains like those Lionel sets from years ago. Some guy built his house around his model trains in the 1970s. The whole basement is the train exhibit, probably 60x40, and you walk through the middle of it. There's little buttons in the walls and when you push the buttons, there are things that move. Little kids get a huge kick out of that. It's called Trainland, USA...

 

[jishinsjourney]

There is a model train exhibit in Colfax, Iowa too. This one is the larger, O Guage trains like those Lionel sets from years ago. Some guy built his house around his model trains in the 1970s. The whole basement is the train exhibit, probably 60x40, and you walk through the middle of it. There's little buttons in the walls and when you push the buttons, there are things that move. Little kids get a huge kick out of that. It's called Trainland, USA...

Ooo, fun! Something to explore once we’ve seen a bit more of Colorado. Thank you!

 

[UrbanHunter]

If you are interested in old trains, then at some point a visit to Durango CO would be good. When we lived there we took a vacation, camped in the area and then visited Durango, wanted to ride the train but the tickets were outside our budget at the time. We were able to do a tour of the maintenance facility /roundhouse and we were lucky enough to be there when they moved a locomotive out of the shed onto the turntable. I gave up "N" scale modeling about 20 years ago because my eyes and the wife's health kept me too busy to waste time on it. Still have all my old stuff, just don't have the time or resources to do it anymore.

 

[Spikedriver]

@UrbanHunter when I was a kid my dad and I dabbled in HO trains for a while. We never got too far into it, but I had a 4x8 setup in my room for a couple years. I think it's still in the storage room at my dad's house, leaning up against the wall.

Since I work for a railroad, I would like to make a little N gauge display. The main line in my home seniority district was originally Rock Island, then taken over by the Chicago & Northwestern, and then by Union Pacific when they bought out C&NW. I'd like to get an N scale dummy locomotive from each of those railroads and display them on a little piece of N scale track. But N scale dummy locomotives are hard to find...

Oh, here's a link to the Trainland USA museum.
http://www.trainlandusa.com/menu.html

 

[UrbanHunter]

@UrbanHunter when I was a kid my dad and I dabbled in HO trains for a while. We never got too far into it, but I had a 4x8 setup in my room for a couple years. I think it's still in the storage room at my dad's house, leaning up against the wall.

Since I work for a railroad, I would like to make a little N gauge display. The main line in my home seniority district was originally Rock Island, then taken over by the Chicago & Northwestern, and then by Union Pacific when they bought out C&NW. I'd like to get an N scale dummy locomotive from each of those railroads and display them on a little piece of N scale track. But N scale dummy locomotives are hard to find...

Oh, here's a link to the Trainland USA museum.
http://www.trainlandusa.com/menu.html

I chose a specific period of time to model, specifically between 1890 and 1920 so I chased after nice steam locomotoves. I always wanted to get an articulated challenger or 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, but they take really big curves to run. My stable was mostly 2-6-0s, 2-6-2s, 4-6-0s, 4-6-2s, 2-8-0s, 2-8-2s and 40' flatbed and freight cars. I loved mountain screenery but everytime I got a layout almost complete it was time to move....

 

[LadyLocust]

Mine is mostly boring today.
Walk and walk dogs.
Dehydrate mangoes.
Update go bags.
Weed potato patch.
I like boring, usually!

Did you say dehydrate mangoes?!!! If you need a taste tester, let me know. I'll be right over - wouldn't want to subject anyone to subpar dried mangoes you know - heehee. I love dried mangoes - have to be careful or I can eat a whole bag.

 

[dademoss]

Morning cat care at OAR. Took apart a destroyed cat tree, my DW found one she likes, so I got site clear the old one.
On the topic of model trains, in my backyard is a G Scale layout, it was lovely in 1998, 23 years later it needs a spot of work. 9 years of chickens rampaging through town have taken their toll.

 

[Weedygarden]

@Neb @jishinsjourney I thought it was a big train museum, bummer. I like small trains too lol.

There is a train museum in Golden, Colorado, on the western side of the Denver metro area. I've never been myself, but I know many people who have.

 

[Spikedriver]

I'm perusing used cars. My daughter is getting her license this summer and she's going to need something to drive next school year, because she'll be taking classes every morning at the local junior college, 35 mile from her mom's house.

I am planning to let her use my old Chevy Equinox to drive back and forth, and hopefully she'll get a job too, so she'll need something to get back and forth for that. However, that just leaves me with my truck, to travel long distance for work. So I'm looking at buying a car that's good on gas for myself. The used car market is so insane right now that I can buy a new Toyota Camry SE for less than 2000 more than the price of a 3 year old used one with 12,000 miles on it...

 

[snappy1]

Husband is 92 on a decent day.

DH is about up there now that he is using the oxygen a couple of hours a day. Before that, he was 85-87.

Did you say dehydrate mangoes?!!!

I peeled and sliced a dozen mangoes. That was a job. Contemplating going and getting another dozen to make mango curd or butter or something. Today is the last day of the sale.

 

[ABR]

About to have my first eye exam in about 20 years... yikes!

 

[Neb]

Morning cat care at OAR. Took apart a destroyed cat tree, my DW found one she likes, so I got site clear the old one.
On the topic of model trains, in my backyard is a G Scale layout, it was lovely in 1998, 23 years later it needs a spot of work. 9 years of chickens rampaging through town have taken their toll.View attachment 85675View attachment 85676View attachment 85677View attachment 85678

That is beautiful!

I have the brass rail from my father's garden railroad. If I ever get to real retirement... I plan to install it in my yard. Add a live steam locomotive if dreams come true.

I am pleasantly pleased to find others
Interested in model railroads.

The n-scale layout at my place is technically my buddies. I helped with a lot of it but he paid for it all. It was built to be able to run a Big Boy over most of the layout. Here are a few pictures of his rolling stock.

Skip hoist lit up

Tunnel entrance

Ben

 

[Amish Heart]

That's pretty low oxygen, Snappy1. Husband uses oxygen at nighttime on continuous, and brings an Imogen when he's feeling down or when we travel to high elevation.
Left the house at 10:30 for 3 doc appts for him today and a half hour break for lunch (Freddies). So 5 hrs later, and I've had enough. It's still wet outside from yesterday's downpour, so no need to water.

 

[LadyLocust]

I'm perusing used cars. My daughter is getting her license this summer and she's going to need something to drive next school year, because she'll be taking classes every morning at the local junior college, 35 mile from her mom's house.

I am planning to let her use my old Chevy Equinox to drive back and forth, and hopefully she'll get a job too, so she'll need something to get back and forth for that. However, that just leaves me with my truck, to travel long distance for work. So I'm looking at buying a car that's good on gas for myself. The used car market is so insane right now that I can buy a new Toyota Camry SE for less than 2000 more than the price of a 3 year old used one with 12,000 miles on it...

Might look at Mitsubishi Mirage. My '02 I sold a couple years ago had over 300K miles and still got over 40 mpg. (manual) Had a 2015 I totaled, also manual but got 52 mpg (best). I now have an '18 but automatic and get about 45 mpg.

 

[Spikedriver]

Might look at Mitsubishi Mirage. My '02 I sold a couple years ago had over 300K miles and still got over 40 mpg. (manual) Had a 2015 I totaled, also manual but got 52 mpg (best). I now have an '18 but automatic and get about 45 mpg.

Way too small for me. I need a vehicle that will be comfortable for driving 15 hours straight. That means at least a mid size car or small SUV. There are no Mitsubishi dealers near me either, I would have to use Google just to find one.

I am really thinking that a Toyota Camry looks like the best combination of price, reliability, comfort, and MPG. I'd really like to have a Toyota Avalon but those things are stupid expensive. Trying to find one with low miles under 30k is almost impossible...

 

[Weedygarden]

Way too small for me. I need a vehicle that will be comfortable for driving 15 hours straight. That means at least a mid size car or small SUV. There are no Mitsubishi dealers near me either, I would have to use Google just to find one.

I am really thinking that a Toyota Camry looks like the best combination of price, reliability, comfort, and MPG. I'd really like to have a Toyota Avalon but those things are stupid expensive. Trying to find one with low miles under 30k is almost impossible...

I have a Camry LX. It has many miles on it, but I keep it maintained. It is a very reliable and comfortable car. I almost bought an Avalon many years ago, but it was white and had white leather seat covers. I carry too much lumber and stuff from the lumber yard. I knew I would just destroy the leather seats. And the dogs would ruin the leather seats in the back. At one time, there were more Camry's than any other car in America.

 

[INresponse]

I need to change the transmission filter and fluid on my 2007 Dodge Ram truck soon. I am on a forum for the dodge cummins diesel trucks and even there the information varies and offers little information. Soooo, over the past 4 or 5 days I have spent over 10 hours on the internet forums and RockAuto, and NAPA and others trying to figure out the correct filter for my truck Heck, I even tried going to the Chrysler/Dodge parts website and couldn't find parts that were supposedly for my truck.
A few days ago I sent my VIN to Dodge and yesterday they sent me a build sheet for what exactly is on my truck from the factory. Which was helpful and very informative but the parts vary based on 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive so it was still frustrating. On RockAuto I selected a filter kit that said it would work but in the item description it didn't list my truck even though I got there through their drop down menu based on make, model, etc..
Well, I eventually came across the actual, original Mopar part numbers and found it far easier to buy MOPAR Original Equipment through Amazon. 10 hours wasted because of far to many different parts on the thousands of car models on the planet.

The easy part, O'Reilly's had synthetic trans fluid at a reasonable price by the gallon. No one else came close even for their non-synthetic fluid. I wanted to just buy a 5 gallon bucket from Napa but no dice. Some Chrysler products use ATF+4 fluid and it is not used by anyone else. A few people claimed they used universal ATF but running the big diesel with the big 6.7 diesel engine I can't afford to ruin the transmission. I would have loved to use some fancy big brand fluid but it wasn;t available or it was way over priced.

So, now I relax a bit before heading to work tonight.

 

[Tirediron]

It is finally warm enough to put older stored gas in my pick up, worked on stuff, fed the shop cats, who are getting wise, now they come bug me when they still have about 1/3 food left, instead of waiting till the dishes are empty and having a meowing fit.

 

[Bacpacker]

Way too small for me. I need a vehicle that will be comfortable for driving 15 hours straight. That means at least a mid size car or small SUV. There are no Mitsubishi dealers near me either, I would have to use Google just to find one.

I am really thinking that a Toyota Camry looks like the best combination of price, reliability, comfort, and MPG. I'd really like to have a Toyota Avalon but those things are stupid expensive. Trying to find one with low miles under 30k is almost impossible...

I have a 2005 camry, actually our second one. 1st one had 140,000 when a deer ran into the front fender and totaled the car. The one I have now has around 85,000 and runs good. No real issues with it other than the paint looks rough. It gets about 29 mpg pretty consistantly for me driving back and forth to work which is a mix of highway and small city with a bunch of red lights. 35 miles one way. Wife has a 2018 with something over 33,000 on it.
They are great cars

 

[dademoss]

It is finally warm enough to put older stored gas in my pick up, worked on stuff, fed the shop cats, who are getting wise, now they come bug me when they still have about 1/3 food left, instead of waiting till the dishes are empty and having a meowing fit.

I have "community cats", some feral, some abandoned family pets. there are shelters under my carport, fresh water, dry food in the daytime (I got tired of feeding opossums) and one cat that shows up every day at 6 am and 6 pm for wet food.

Sometimes he misses, and another community cat gets a treat.

 

[Amish Heart]

We do wet and dry food and a little milk in the old basement. The barn cats know where to get it, because I was also tired of feeding possums and neighbor's dog. Am feeding barn cat: mama cat, stinky, and Jayrod. Mama is nursing five kittens. Haven't seen Kevin the cat in a long time.

 

[dademoss]

That is beautiful!

I have the brass rail from my father's garden railroad. If I ever get to real retirement... I plan to install it in my yard. Add a live steam locomotive if dreams come true.

Ben

Keep the track level for live steam . Always wanted go get one, but never had the spare change.