Scattered Thoughts . . .

Around lunchtime today, FedEx pulled into our driveway... the moment I saw the box in the driver's hands, I knew what it was... my upgraded O scale Hudson steam locomotive! It was packaged exactly how I had packaged it to send it in to the facility to be upgraded. I actually made a box to perfectly fit the manufacturer's box. Apparently, this worked out well since it appears to have arrived safely and securely.  I haven't had a chance to put it on the tracks yet, but it is looking very nice!  I had the electronics swapped out completely with the newest available today. The electronics that I had originally were two generations old and quite lame by today's standards. This upgrade also provides better control, far better sound quality, better chuffing smoke, and more sounds than was previously available. Mostly, however, I'm excited about the better control. Additionally, I had an engineer and fireman added to the locomotive... a firebox glow effect with LED

Every year, the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show starts with a rather high-pitched steam whistle blowing in the distance when the doors open. This year, the steam whistle was from a real, life-sized narrow gauge steam locomotive! We parked in a sea of cars and then started our trek toward the four huge buildings housing this immense train show. Typically, this can be a brutal, bone-chilling walk but, c ompared to our weather in Vermont, the weather in Springfield this year was quite mild in the upper 30's which allowed us to dress relatively lightly. This makes a tremendous difference while walking around indoors all day long.   Between the four buildings showcasing this train show, Boothbay Railway of Maine, set up some temporary narrow gauge tracks and one of their steam locomotives. Throughout the show, we would hear this locomotive's steam whistle blowing... we could even hear this whistle blowing while at our hotel a couple of miles away... boy, that

While in Springfield every year for the train show, until recently, we always attempted to find edible food at the hotel each morning. This proved to be a very bad idea every year!  Even putting aside my health issues when eating anything less than fresh food, it was always difficult finding anything satisfying to eat at this free breakfast buffet (a 'buffet' is enough to turn me off... food sitting out where every stranger in the hotel can touch it as it gets cold = very bad idea) so Sheila and I decided to start a new tradition... breakfast at The Cracker Barrel. We started going to The Cracker Barrel last year because I simply could not stomach another bite of the garbage they call breakfast at the hotel. Once I brought Sheila to The Cracker Barrel, there was no turning back! This year, two other couples joined us for breakfast. Everything... and I mean everything... was delicious! The biscuits were warm, soft and buttery... the bacon was smoked, thick and crisp..

The first time we ventured down to the Amherst Railway Society's train show eight years ago, we simply drove the three hours down there, visited the show, and drove back home that night... completely exhausted.  Once we arrived at this show that year, we immediately realized that there was no possible way to see all of the show in just one eight hour day so we decided it would be wiser to stay overnight the following year so we could attend the show both days. This would also allow us to avoid six hours of driving in one day. The following year (our third year), we decided to start heading down to Springfield on Friday and stay an extra night. This allowed us to settle in and relax a bit before heading to the hectic, crowded show on Saturday. We would use the pool, hot tub, have a few drinks and have food delivered to the hotel on that first night. This plan seemed to work out much better for a train show that is spread out over eight acres! Over the years, more and more

Sheila, talking with one of our newest train show fanatics... He went home with a new train set and a few other toys. Sheila and I had a great time at our annual train show extended weekend. It sounds as though everyone who joined us had a great time as well!  My spinal injuries were putting a painful crimp in our time at the show but, overall, we had a great time and are glad we ventured to the show regardless of my spinal injuries. I couldn't walk at all in the days before we left for the show so it was a bit iffy whether I would make it to the show at all. We still probably would have traveled down to see everyone but being able to walk around the show didn't look promising in the preceding days. After having problems getting around the show on my own this year... as well as some problems last year which weren't as bad as this year... and even some problems the year before that were milder (I see the pattern and it isn't a pretty pattern)... I have de

The pain from my spinal injuries is pretty damn close to the worst it has ever been in the past 20 years.  Back a few months ago, I was shopping around for wheelchairs because I had a feeling I'd need one for our upcoming extended weekend in Springfield as well as any other event that requires a lot of standing and walking. I quickly came to the conclusion that I might be jumping the gun on this purchase. After all, at this point, the train show was months away and I've always managed until now by taking a lot of breaks... why would I think I would be having more or worsening spinal problems in the coming months?  I was wrong... Getting around is difficult, slow and extremely painful..  sleeping is damn near impossible... my hips feel as though I have a nail driven into each hip... my torso, front and back, feels like it is on fire, inside and out... my spine is red hot inflamed... and the nerves throughout my entire back are tingling... I also get shooting pains down thr

My spine was feeling "fair" this morning... which, honestly, is about as good as it gets... so I decided I should attempt to finish up this bathroom toilet project.   I took a day or two off from this project because I needed some galvanized deck screws for me to screw down the subflooring as well as for screwing down the flange. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any among all my tools. Also, my spinal injuries were screaming at me for a break. When I placed the new toilet over the flange to see how it fits (between the wall and the flange) I realized that I forgot to pick up a new longer braided stainless steel supply hose. This new toilet is an ADA toilet so it sits a bit higher than the old toilet...  that means a slightly longer run to the tank from our toilet supply shutoff... so I needed to purchase a 16" or 20" supply hose. On Monday night, we first went to a local hardware store to pick up these rather standard building materials... that was a complete

I awoke feeling much less energetic than on an average day. Shortly after getting out of bed I realized that I probably would not get much done on the toilet project today since I was already feeling rather lousy and I wasn't thinking clearly. My spine was still hurting enough to make sleeping difficult which also made it difficult getting up out of bed. These weren't good signs for having a productive day with a home repair project. When I made my way out of the bedroom, I had looked out the window to see how this forecasted "storm" is progressing because I knew that if it was as bad as the forecast insisted, then I would need to spend my time and energy outside clearing off the roof of heavy snow. When I looked out the window I saw only two or three inches... for us, this is pretty much an every-morning dusting. I shook my head at this lame "storm" and continued on my way.  While I was taking my morning slew of medications, I decided it would be wiser

I took a much needed break from our plumbing project today for two reasons... actually, we defaulted to a short break involuntarily... 1. I needed some additional parts so the project was on hold until I could get out to pick up what is needed (which we did tonight)... and...  2. My spinal injuries needed a much needed break. My spinal pain from the little bit of work I've already done has made sleeping and getting around difficult and painful to say the least.  As you can probably imagine, it was a good time for a short break from these frustrating (and stinky) plumbing issues so, as our train show extended weekend fast approaches, I turned my attention to a set of passenger cars I found under our Christmas tree last month. This classic passenger set is a set of four New York Central 20th Century Limited passenger cars... a baggage car, a coach car, a vista dome car, and an observation car.  These are all in O scale (Lionel size) and I have to say I am quite impre

Rotten wood cut out and framing in place... I had a productive day today. Our toilet issue in our master bathroom is just about fixed. I have a few more parts and supplies to buy before I can get anything else accomplished but today was a productive day. Boy, oh boy... this is messy, stinky work that I do not enjoy in the least! That being said, it will be nice to know that this toilet is secure and not leaking when I'm done. A couple of days ago, I removed the old toilet... I removed all the wet, nasty finished flooring (it had been ruined by the leaking toilet so it needs to be replaced)... and cut out all the rotten wood. Yesterday, for the most part, I let my spinal injuries recover a bit before tackling some more work today.  Our new ADA dual flush toilet waiting to be installed... Today, I framed the big hole in our bathroom floor with additional supports and nailers for the new subflooring. Not only did I need nailers for the new solid wood subflooring but I a