Scattered Thoughts . . .

One night this past weekend, we had a marathon game night with the grandkids while watching a few movies. I'm not really one for board games (I typically avoid them like the plague) but I do enjoy playing Uno and that is what we started with on Saturday. First, Gee had to teach the kids how to play Uno... and, they did better than expected. Shuffling is out of the question, even dealing is out of the question, but they did so well in learning that the following morning Lukey and Kenzie played Uno alone and were actually remembering most of the rules on their own. They did very well! After we tired of about a million four-card-hands of Uno (four cards were far easier for them to handle than seven and the hands went fairly quickly), they switched gears and moved to the classic game of Trouble.  Apparently, they had played Trouble before but definitely needed a quick refresher from Gee. Truth be told, they remembered about as many of the rules as I did! I definitely needed a

Here is a quick video from this past weekend of Lukey running my New York Central passenger train... well, really, only half of the train.  He seems to be liking this newly upgraded locomotive as much as I do! I have other video clips of Lukey running that Alaska GP-38 diesel locomotive that is sitting alongside the tracks in this video above. It is funny... while he was running the big Hudson steam locomotive, he ran it at realistic speeds... while he was running the Alaska GP-38 diesel, he ran it at a lightning speed like it was a bullet train!   Shortly afterward, he turned the diesel over to Kenzie's control...  I'm not sure I have any video of that though...

As I wrote in a previous blog entry, the grandkids spent the weekend at our house. Lukey was content with running trains and watching some Florida Gator and Dayton Flyer basketball. Kenzie enjoyed some Florida Gator gymnastics, baking with Gee, playing with her doll collection and even running one of Uncle Adam's diesel locomotives.   First, some photos of Kenzie making some rice crispy treats with Gee... As always, there was quite a bit of time playing a server at a pizza place...  this particular day, she was making and serving pizzas for Jimmz Pizza... "Niiiice locomotive..."

It is always fun playing with trains with Lukey and, as much as I enjoy playing with trains myself, it is perhaps even more fun watching Lukey play with trains! On this particular day this past weekend, I was able to shoot some photos as well as some video of Lukey as he played. The grandkids were at our house through the weekend again so that allowed me to get some nice photos of them in action (some photos of Kenzie will be added in another blog entry). Lukey will be back this weekend to run some trains again. This weekend, however, we'll be running Lukey's HO scale trains and giving some of my narrow gauge trains a run (these narrow gauge trains can run on Lukey's HO scale layout).   This past weekend, Lukey and I played with my newly upgraded O scale Hudson steam locomotive. The track was sprawled out across the living room, around the coffee table and then under the coffee table.  He seemed impressed with all the upgrades which made playing a lot more interesting

I'm still trying to get the master bathroom put back together but other things keep getting in the way. My health has been an issue (surprise, surprise) so that delayed things a bit... The weather has been an issue on many days causing delays... snow and rain have kept all my tools under cover in the shed... We had the grandchildren staying with us all weekend... And, then we had a surprise electrical problem which demanded instant attention because we lost power to the furnace and we are currently in the middle of winter! I was in the bathroom, getting the room prepared to start working on the new flooring (new, but temporary, until we can completely renovate this bathroom).  The furnace had just kicked on and about 30 seconds later the room went dark and the furnace shut down. "Uh-oh..." I immediately looked toward the hallway to see if the entire house lost power...  no, the hallway was still illuminated. I went to the circuit breaker panel to see if a brea

Those who are following this blog fairly regularly, probably already know I've been struggling for about a year with the idea of whether or not it is time to purchase a wheelchair. Well, there now is no doubt that I am well beyond the need to purchase a wheelchair for those times when my legs and/or spine are not cooperating with my brain or for when walking is far too difficult... no doubt whatsoever.  What I am now struggling with is choosing a wheelchair suited to my needs. Some wheelchairs are designed for those with foot or leg issues. Some wheelchairs are designed for those permanently needing a wheelchair for mobility. Some wheelchairs are designed to be controlled by a caregiver while other wheelchairs are designed to be self-propelled. Some wheelchairs are adjustable one way but not other ways... some are adjustable in different ways... while some wheelchairs are not adjustable in any way other than folding for storage.  Of course, I've never really noticed sign

I started a rather small repair/renovation in our master bathroom about two weeks ago and my health is interfering enough to continue to put this small project on hold. As of today, this bathroom is still only partially usable... it sits in a vulnerable, unfinished state with bare wood exposed to a humid room (we are still using the shower daily) as I wait for my health to recover.  This time, the primary issue keeping me from this project is related to my extensive spinal injuries rather than my Systemic Mastocytosis. Although the past few days have been more about recovering from Systemic Mastocytosis problems, overall, my extensive spinal injuries have interfered with this project more than anything else. We've had to cancel a few other plans recently because of these issues as well. That is never fun. Everytime I need to cancel social plans because of my health, I worry that people will just stop inviting us to social events because we cancel our plans so often. This just a

From this angle, you can see the tender marker lights and the firebox glowing in the cab. As I wrote in a previous blog entry a couple of days ago, my O scale MTH Hudson steam locomotive arrived back from the shop. I had sent it in about a month ago to have some major upgrades installed so I was pretty excited to get it back... especially to have received it in the days right after our annual train show excursion! I had the ProtoSound electronics upgraded from version 1.0 to version 3.0. This upgrade is a significant sound upgrade as well as a very significant control upgrade. Slow speed control is outstanding now... slow and steady... chuffing smoke... the sound is great and it runs silky smooth.  This upgrade also included the ability to control the rear coupler with my controller. And, naturally, this useful feature includes an uncoupling sound as it uncouples.   While it was in the shop, I had marker lights added on the front of the locomotive and the rear of the tender.

After our breakfast at The Cracker Barrel and buying a few gifts in the gift shop, we headed across the river to the Big E for the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show.  This is an awesome annual event. Not only are there eight acres jam-packed with train stuff, train vendors, and more than 50 operating layouts but it is a very worthwhile benefit fundraiser. The proceeds of this show go toward a children's hospital, railroad museums, and historical railroads in the form of grants. This year, a little over 23,000 people wandered around the 350,000 square feet of show over the course of the weekend.  My weekend was cut very short due to spinal pain. Subsequently, Sheila and I only spent two hours at the show each day. My spinal pain was brutal and the only relief was to get back to the hotel and get off my feet. On the positive side, this allowed me to take in a college basketball game I would have otherwise missed! We really missed quite a bit at the show though.