Ian Abel

Looking great dt...

and so it begins...

About an hour ago, we had some light drizzle turning to sleet, that has continued until now and it's rapidly turning to very large flakes of heavy wet snow. Wind hasn't picked up yet.

Local news outlets are suggesting the apocolypse as of this moment - typically afternoon snow here, even though we're equipped for snow and deal with it well, makes a complete cock-up of the homeward commute - so they're all doom-and-gloom right now. Likely rightfully so, as with the temperature right on zero it'll be icy under the snow cover - Arrghh!!!

More later - if you get too bored with my rambling, grab a glass of your favourite "beverage" as they call it over here in some locations...

I applaud the public-spirited nature also - there'd be little chance it'd happen here sadly, at least in MANY parts of town!

One question, I'm curious that the bank staff couldn't hear the perpetual beeping and didn't venture out to see/check!! Oh well...

Good Morning from a warm 0C Minnesota! Cloudy and still, VERY STILL outside - literally the calm before the storm...as Pete noted, there is another Polar Vortex approaching and we "welcome" it a day or so before he does - lucky old us 

We had a warm day yesterday and stable/warm today right now to max. at 2C later, BUT, it's 8:30ish here now and in about 2 hours the storm arrives.

We're supposed to expect 4-11 inches of snow depending on where in the metro area you are, and there is a blizzard warning for the southern part - winds will move from calm now to 14-22mph, and that with heavy snowfall means blizzard conditions! Not sure I'll be heading to choir practise tonight as the snow is supposed to be all day and past midnight.

Ailments - not exactly, but Mrs. has instructed me to make an eye-doctor appointment since my left eye has been watering on-and-off for weeks now. I can go days without anything, then it'll water profusely for maybe an hour or two, then stop - typically, I'd just brush it off, but has instructions from the C-in-C to get it looked at

Wins - YAY, my MIB (from a model shop in Ireland that had it on the shelf, reduced to move) Hornby loco "City of Wells" arrived yesterday - more later, with pictures  

...healthy and pretty good for a person of my age...

Tony

Always amazes me that no matter what part of the medical profession you deal with they always throw this phrase in now <sigh>.

Whilst I do acknowledge things will deteriorate as I get older, a constant reminder is IMHO TOTALLY UNNECESSARY, it's a given, so PUHLEASE refrain from reminding me already!!! Arrghhh...!@#$!@$!@ ... dang it all!

This is a BRILLIANT thread - and found it by accident as it came up in "New Content"!

I've been panicing about the choices/options/suggestions for ballasting and was about to commit myself   now I feel like there is a method I will try without ending up totally crazy!

'ello all, -4 heading for +4 again today...

Managed to lose most of the snow from the roof of the house yesterday, and starting to see driveway and paths, today should add substantially to that - YAY.

Bad news is we're getting between 6-11 inches of snow tomorrow - this is purported to be of the "heavy wet" variety, thank goodness I have a service that plows/shovels our driveway etc. now.

I'll be staying in for sure tomorrow as they predict the majority of the snow will arrive between about 10AM and 6PM, sure going to B!@$#gg!@$#er up the afternoon commuters 

Have a good day everyone...

Morning ER. -2 and sunny with high light overcast, clearing today by noon and heading for +7 (yes SEVEN) if you can believe it, as I said, a rollercoaster here this time of year.

Now we're looking for some minor flooding, nothing like UK of course. The theory and general practise is that as the days get warmer and the sun higher and out longer, our snow cover slowly evaporates, but if it warms too quickly even for a day or two, we end up with water in far too many places that it shouldn't be.

Problem is the depth of frost in the ground. Current estimates are the ground is frozen to as much as 7-8ft. in most places, more usually it's about 3-4ft. so as the snow melts there's nowhere for it to be absorbed and it runs off anywhere and everywhere it can - what fun the whole weather/climate situations are for everyone.

And I STILL don't envy Don the extreme (for me at least) heat he has to endure so regularly <sigh> hang in there sir!

Nice view from the office, Ian. But you don't seem to have your Christmas lights up on those trees yet. 

I believe mention of Christmas with 310 days to go invokes a severe penalty in these parts! 

Andy - once it stops snowing (still coming down) I'll take a photo towards the front of the house, then you won't be disappointed

Truly, around these parts, as I'm sure you can already judge from my daily weather reports, we don't even THINK about taking down the C-word lights outside until about JUNE!!! :)

For starters I'd not be able to find half of them or their cables now as they are buried under a couple of feet of snow at least

Silly thing, I also have those "landscape lights" to illuminate the path from the street to the front door - ahem, they're about 9-10 inches tall and solar powered - what are we THINKING, the stupid things have been totally covered for about 2 months now and are a complete waste of space - DUH!

Also, as a decorative effect we have them around the one large pine tree , those are low voltage powered, so give off a lovely GLOW from under the snow. Rather odd seeing these glowing circles of light below the surface - and again, a total waste of space

Morning, -6 snowing with "blowing snow". Started in the wee hours and expecting 4-6 inches time it's done. Definately slows the commute even here. Amazingly we're supposed to get to +6 tomorrow and remain above zero for the next few days, except for overnight (of course!!).

View from my "office" window - doesn't really do justice to the blowing nature but thought I'd include a picture as it seems like it might be "photo Monday"

Managed some modelling yesterday, but wasted a little too much time, literally a couple of hours trying to fit a poor (Bachmann) decoder that I had spare into my K's Pannier tank. Net result. runs like crap and wasn't worth the time wasted, PLUS the romford wheels included in the kit by some kind soul make it foul almost every point I tried it on <sigh> gve up and laid some track, but would be MUCH farther along had I ignored the Pannier, and I have no idea WHY I decided to mess with it, should have known better...

Morning from the mid-west - "sunny again" what a surprise, -12 but supposed to be heading for +2 tomorrow and +4 Tuesday and Wednesday, the beginning of the thaw, but only briefly apparently. Still, it IS mid-February so it can't go on too much longer.

According to the morning paper, the ice is so extensive now across the Great Lakes they could be using the ice-breakers to clear the shipping lanes well into May!!! There's food for thought for you folks that find a "bit of frost" a challenge.

Great dinner party last night with old friends - "old" being the operative term, we've know the four who were over for more than 30 years now, which, given I've barely been in this party of the US a little longer than that, it's nice to know we are still connected, albeit not quite as spry as when we first met.

Modelling FOR SURE today, after a quick fix of the toilet, seems to be leaking a little from the installation, a couple of the nuts (no NOT ME!!) need snugging up...

How's this for a nice late evening snack for you folks in the UK?

My contribution to our dinner party tonight, a classic Victoria Sponge - hopefully as tastes as good as it looks!

That, some household errands and prep (read, cleaning, ugh!!) for the dinner party, together with MORE snow shovelling is all I managed today, no modelling at all

Alo, 'noon all - at least here (see the way late relies to posts!!) all the same, -11 heading for -5 and a few inches of snow this afternoon. (Correction, it's just started now as I look out the window)

Have some friends coming for dinner tonight, so last evening started preparations - I'm making a Victoria Sponge, love them and seldom make them - make the sponges last evening after a nice Valentines dinner at one of the bests Indians in town.

May get some modelling in today, here's hoping - there's always tomorrow though, no plans at present other than modelling (watch that change if I'm not careful  )

Stay warm, dry and safe as you can all you waterlogged, windswept ERs - and try and stay cool, those down there at the bottom of the world...

... I'm going to a birthday party in Lebanon tonight................

 

Best, Pete.

I know you've had your fair share of snow Pete, but isn't that a bit far to go just to avoid it

beaten to it again - one day I'm gonna get up REAL early so I can get the timing right on these replies and not look like a -->

Where's the "No Comment" button when you need one?

 

[Edit] Or even the "schoolboy snigger" button?

 

Where's the "No Comment" button when you need one?

 

[Edit] Or even the "schoolboy snigger" button?

 

Sorry, as a late-comer there are too many posts to read, so I commented in spite of myself, and consideration of being "a day late and a dollar short"...

You'll all have to forgive my insessant desire to reply to posts before managing to slog my way to the latest ones, especially at the weekend, when I tend to be later starting in on the ER read...

I see that, according to the BBC, floodwaters have now reached knocker level.

Isn't that all relative though, doesn't it depend how tall she is??? <ducking> <apologies for any offence>

So do you all head for the nearest hostelry? Oops, you're in the States so make that the nearest bar!

 

I sing in our church choir and I know it's hard when confronted with new music (although I can sight sing the alto line) but I expect you'll enjoy more those pieces that are hardest to learn. A great hobby for lifting the spirits! (including the ones you might raise afterwards!!)

Actually, "all" would be a challenge - the choir is usually 60+ folks (variations for seasonal adjustments, blah, blah) depending on who all decides to show up for rehersal

Second - we're mostly all ready just to go home (too bloody old to stay up too late!) so in fact a group of us meet BEFORE rehersal at an excellent bar and pizzeria where they do a "pint and a slice" for $5. It's good beer too, variations all the time and on tap not bottled stuff. Helps the singing loads too, at least for me  

Joke: Those easily offended avoid reading...

What's the difference beteeen an alto and a soprano?

Altos can read music - <rimshot>

and now we return you to our regular programming.

Pedestrian weather here again, compared to Pete, and everyone on the right-side (as in directional NOT "correct" ) of the pond...

Awoke to -17, headed for -9, bright sun, clear sky, no wind.

Be safe all you weather warriors, and anyone in snow conditions, especially those not used to it remember NOT to spend too much time shovelling - in the US snow-belt it's the #1 cause of winter heart attacks - folks over exerting themselves shovelling outside in the cold - please be careful.

Last night had a rousing choir practise, we're an "occasional" choir (don't sing every Sunday - thank the lord!!) and have the luxury of a succession of local professions pianists as co-music directors/accompanyists (sp.??) currently Tommy Barbarella ("actually famous" - google to see why!!).

Anyways, we have a piece composed by another local musician (principally jazz) George Maurer we're doing for a concert with both of them, and it's diabolically convoluted to put it mildly!

Why is it that keyboard players, when composing choral pieces (meaning us poor sods have to SING what you're banging out on the keyboard), FORGET that even though it's easy to wander around the ENTIRE range on a keybaord with your fingers, it's BLOODY HARD for the four choir voices to follow what seem to them just a bunch of notes "a bit far apart"!!!

Don't get me wrong, not a rant, it SOUNDS great and is a beautiful piece, and I love doing it, but we ARE VOLUNTEERS (read not even CLOSE to being experts), and pretty much all old(er) farts and fartesses with no real musical background, so at the end of the evening we really REALLY need a drink or two - oh, my tired throat and ringing head

Is a Corvette very different to a Chevette?

We had a little red Chevette.

1 - YES, they were both made by Chevrolet.

2 - NO in too many ways.

   The Chevette was a small slow family/passenger car capable of about 60mph over a cliff with a trailing wind

The Corvette was Americas answer to a sports car, albeit the first 10 years was hardly as sophistocated as any european sports cars.

Mine, for example was ridiculously fast due to the relatively enormous engine/power-to-weight ratio, but handled like crap around corners and was basically a straight-line machine. The steering and suspension for most of the car thru the '67 or so models was little better than a Chevy truck. Compared to my '64 E-type it was a sad example of performance motoring!

'64 Corvette Stingray - mine was Red but essentially looked exactly the same as this one but the addition of huge factory side-pipe exhausts between the wheels...

The later/latest models are much more a true sports car with the performance matching the handling...

Here's the 2014 version

I use suitcase connectors, so I'm doomed too.

 

Was your Corvette equipped with the single or two-piece rear screen? I think the single-piece appeared for the '65 model year?

Single, the "split-window" was only the '63 Corvette...

Morning, -2 here and cloudy/overcast, hoped to see a post from pete and find out how they are "really" faring on the east coast (rather than rely on the so called "news" outlets, easier described here as hype-central!!)

Corvettes - unfortunate, but "covered by insurance". Saw this little item yesterday in the news here, quite a ripple to the automotive nuts...

I was a Corvette "nut" for years back in the 80's and owned a '64 327/365hp "rare" factory side-pipe eqipped beastie - supposedly they didn't ship a factory side-pipe version in '64, but at the largest 'Vette show in the mid-west Zora Duntov (father of the 'Vette) confirmed they built a few as precursors to '65 shipping them, and mine appeared to be one of the few... despite that, had to sell it to raise kids by the mid 90's <sigh>. Never was much of a fan of the newer ones beyond the mid 70s models, oh well.

New and different email scams - got a first myself yesterday, from a funeral home, "saddened by the lose of my close friend, click here for details/arrangements...". Odd that the email contained the date for the service, details of which were enclosed, stated as Saturday 9th. Feburary - pity they failed to send the "details" until 4 days later and got the day/date combination wrong! Can't give them better than a C- for that attempt I"m afraid...

Ran out of "suitcase" connectors (oh no, ducking for those that will admonish me for NOT soldering the droppers directly to the bus wires - to bad, my layout, blah blah) so stopped in yesterday evening to the local electronics (and other stuff) salvage store - stocked up with a sh!@#t load more, brilliant to pay 10cents a piece for them instead of almosts 5 times the price at the hardware/automotive retailers - all new stuff, just bulk from "somewhere" - I spend WAY too much time browsing in there, too much junk I wouldn't use but looks neat to have!!!

All you folks missing garden "parts", hope you recover your fences, roofs and anything else, but stay safe too... we count you as you leave and want the same number to return!

..............................Just need a new ink jet printer,................  how much.!!!

dt - they're actually quite inexpensive compared to the rolling stock you have to buy especially when you have sound decoders too!!!

I've a "rather older now" Dell v505 all-in-one and the printing on high quality presentation paper is nothing short of excellent IMHO - not recommending Dell per se, but there are plenty of good printers out there for the price of a sound decoder, at least in the US, I'm sure the prices are comparable there...

Do like the re-working of the station area too

Well, condolences to all suffering the extreme (for you folks for sure) weather again in Blighty, too much rain and sever winds are not to be toyed with <hugs all round the canteen>

Here, a mere inch of snow overnight (a "dusting" in local parlance), and we're at a heady -8C as I drove in, little slipery as a result of the dusting but just slows everything down a tad.

We're headed for +1 (yep, that's PLUS!!!!) tomorrow, and staying around freezing for a few days finally.

Pete - take care/shelter with that large storm heading your way, not sure where in NY you are but reports here are saying as much as 20+ inches western NY and PA, so hope you hunker down and have provisions and no real reason to venture out - will be thinking of you...

Tony - our recently departed canine companion "Mysti" was similarly oblivious to harsh weather, she'd be off and running be it rain, shine or snowstorm, she loved jumping around in a foot of new snow, and became quite silly looking out the window waiting for us to let her outside (we have a fenced back-yard, so she could run freely there). Have fun in the rain

Morning... -23 here with a wind chill of -30!

I'm still convinced I prefer this weather to all the flooding - and worry for my original home town Weybridge. The Thames weir at Shepperton (right across from Weybridge when you follow Thames Street out of town) has in the past been "level" and doesn't bode well for anyone close to the river. The estate Messrs. Drake and Cribbins lived on was pretty much surrounded by the river Wey and routinely flooded at low levels on average years, so heaven help them right now!

Going to be -1C (28F), apparently by Thursday, and could manage 0C OR HIGHER (woo hoo, yippee skipee) by Saturday and Sunday, expecting light snow tonight and later in the week as a result of the moisture that usually accompanies warmer air...

Took the plunge yesterday and started my layout thread - thought I better do more on here than just wobble on with you lot

My thoughts continue to be with all of you suffering from conditions needing an Ark - stay warm, dry and safe, please

Morning everyone - blistering -24 here today, and bright and sunny again (talk about tedious!!)

We're now confirmed as having a "typical hardy Minnesota winter" according the the boffins/numbers folks.

We've got 39 inches of snow since the snow season started, about 5 (I think) more than average already, and cracked the 32 year record for number of days below 0F (minus bloody cold C) so far this winter, with probably 2-3 more THIS WEEK YET, before it warms a little for a couple of days.

Retirement would be nice, but don't see it happening in my lifetime <sigh>, some bad hits during the couple of recessions here and getting a couple of kids through University, results in me expecting to work for some time yet - Mrs did start taking her Social Security this past year though, and works part-time.

We hope the house as an investment will pay off, and by downsizing in a couple of years should result in maybe semi-retirement possibilites at least and maybe better.

For now, so long as I have the flexibility to work from home most of the time, and can take time for a few days break frequently, and a vacation, I can enjoy what I'm doing, but there's always the unknown, and that's the hardest thing to brace for...

Look on the bright side, any day you wake up and can get out of bed, is a good day - happy Monday ER friends (do I qualify to call you that now/yet??).