BR60103

We went to the local Basilica and Museum for 11:00. There was a fly by from the Warbirds museum. One was a Harvard which was going over the cemetaries; the other 3 were going over the cenotaphs. The basilica started tolling its bell at 11 and (by our neighbour's watch) went on for 6 minutes. My father said that when he was first at an airbase in England there was a huge noise overhead. The man with them said "It's either a Harvard or 16 Spitfires." We could hear it from a couple of miles away.

My experience is that it isn't a sticky glue but needs something to grip or a hole to grab in. (My dentist uses its cousin in fillings.). Or to fill a slightly oversized hole. It does have the feature that it doesn't go off with time so you can fiddle away getting the parts set right. It would help to have a third hand to shine the light.

We always had electric until we moved to this house. I don't think I've cooked anything on the gas. We also have a microwave and an electric oven (I think). We've had gas in the motorhomes plus microwaves. We never used the gas as we didn't trust the cats to stay away from it. Woke up one night to the gas detector alarm. Looked like one of the cats had stood on a knob on the stove and turned it on without the ignition. I took the knobs off it the next day.

On reporting: A few years ago, there was a presentation about possibly reducing the sales tax a few percent (or was it raising?) The assembled reporters apparenty couldn't figure out how much difference it would make on a several hundred dollar appliance. (and without having to reduce to Lsd). No telling what they'd understand about statistics. It's like stories on the railways -- given what I know about them, I often can't figure out what happened. And why was the conductor driving the train?

isn't it part of the colonoscopy?

We have a bank of 6 switches just outside the kitchen. I've found out what 3 of them do. Today's major projects were disposing of some outside plants that had succumed (sp?) to frost. And replacing the kitty litter complete with scrub of the box.

Do you still vote for dogcatcher?

If you know how a DC motor works: the armature is electrified to magnetize it one direction. This is pulled to the opposite pole in the field. When it gets there the electricity is reversed and it is pulled to the other pole. Under AC the same happens except that the field magnetism and the armature magnetism reverse 60* times every second. * 60 over here. It was 25 at my grandparents place in the 40s and 50s.

I use Woodland Scenics cement which I believe is diluted acrylic matt medium. (It's easily available here). I don't use a big sprayer of it on ballast because it makes craters. I have a mister (from wife's haurdresser) and I use that to distribute alcohol (about 50%, but more dilute also works) then use an eyedropper to add the glue to the ballast. For other scenery work, e.g. grass or foliage, I paint the glue on the surface then shake the material on. When the first layer is set I add the next layer, mist it then spray with glue. I find that not all sprayers are alike. Some will cover an area while others dig a ditch through the scenery.

A couple of (factual) comments on North American elections. There are 5 1/2 time zones.* That creates all sorts of confusions. In Canada it used to be illegal to reveal results to locations where the polls hadn't closed, in case it influenced voting. This seems to have be kiboshed by the interwebby. People out west hated turning on the TV at 8:00 (local time) and hearing "The new government will be ..." before the ballot boxes had even been opened. In the USA the elections are run by the individual states, each of which has its own set of regulations. The times of counting advanced/mailed in ballots varies. They are voting for more than a president -- congress and 1/3 of the senators. I'm not sure if more levels of government are on the ballot or not. * in Canada. I'm not sure where Alaska and Hawaii come in.

Are old Hornby O gauge controllers available? Probably out of safety certificate. Lionel used variable transformers. The couple that rented my grandparents' upstairs had an O gauge set of that vintage. Their transformer had a lever that contacted different studs (or whatever) as it moved around.

I was off this morning to have the new snow tires installed. A little disappointment from SWMBO as the new wheels are black rather than the silver on the other tires. The job was completed in about 45 minutes, including paying. We had overnight snow on the weekend but it's all gone now. The mulberry dropped all its leaves in a pile; the other tree had its all blown away.

I just looked at a Lionel O gauge car from 1953. The wheels are loose on the axles and can slide in and out a bit. I measured 1 5/64" back-to-back for a nominal 1 1/4" gauge. (remembering that Lionel's manuals showed that as the distance to the middle of the rail!). I wonder if the rods were removed or never replaced because of the quartering problem.

I was down fixing the curtain on my wife's layout when Marco came over. At least I was done by this point. This is Marco about 6 years ago when we got him.

I just received the August issue. I received October earlier this week and September some time ago.

The motor home was not rehomed today. When I got in it would not start. I had done the battery reconnect and all sorts of dash lights came on, but no starter. There is an emergency start switch (to a second battery) but no help. The lady that owns the property came by with her truck and jumper cables but no go. I could hear a relay click. So we decided to leave it there til spring. SWMBO was not overly enthused about the new site anyway. She felt we don't need to pay for a major repair just now. I don't know enough to diagnose but -- cable off the starter? cable gnawed by rodents? motor kaput? Any post ratings given must not be taken as referring to any political situation. or beer.

We went for out flu shots today. They have set up a separate entrance to a dedicated room. The nurse asked i we wanted the regular or super shot -- we didn't know the super was available but we said yes. Total inside time about 5 minutes. We may be moving the motor home again. There's a place nearer us that has paved/gravelled spaces and is accessible in winter (not that we need it this year!) Also has a much easier drive in; not so much like a single lane road through Arden forest.

I opened the small (1 1/4") layout square I bought last week. There is a warning that it may expose you to wood dust (!) which is known to cause cancer in the inhabitants of California. We bought a plastic "armoire" (about 3' by 4') to keep the bird feeder in at night. It's on the front concrete bit, under the roof. There are now 4 holes in the lid, where the top folds down, that look as if they were done with a dull countersink bit. No new ones for a few days. They only go into a bit that folds around so the think is still watertight.

An engineer, an accountant and an actuary were on a road trip and they passed a field with a cow in it. The engineer said "The cows are brown in this country." The accountant said "There's one brown cow, at least." The actuary said "Well, it's brown on this side."

There were gimmick records. I think there was a horse race one where the outcome depended on which groove you put the needle in. And I have one with about 5 short tracks each side which each terminate so that it doesn't run on. A special programming aid for radio stations. "And the right time is..."

Today while doing the house cleaning I noticed 4 black spots on the kitchen ceiling. Largest is over 1" x 1/2". SWMBO pointed out that it was right where we had the yougurt incident last week. So these are lumps of several-days-old blueberry yogurt. I tried scraping it off and got a little scrap. Dye may have gone into the plaster. More work tomorrow, maybe.

And did those teeth In ancient times ...

We have interesting news today. The steam locomotive (6167) at the Guelph railway station is going to be moved on Nov. 14. They have a new spot down by the river. The space it is in now is to be used to expand the number of tracks or something by the commuter authority. The obvious solution would be to connect it to the mainline and make a grand tour down to the new site (beside the city-owned railway) but iy has probably been sitting there too many dceades to run on its own wheels. https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/john-galt-park-gets-ready-for-big-move-of-historic-steam-engine-2814083

Learned someting interesting today. I was standing by SWMBO when she dropped a tub of yogurt (the creamy style). Some of it must have gone up 6 feet as it was in my hair. On my glasses. Down my sweater. Along my pants. On my slippers. And there was a pile on the floor. I called the car dealer today and ordered winter tires. We will not be travelling south of the snow line this winter, so they'll be vital. I completed the last of the SQ row houses today and now need to find a justification for them. Weel, they still need chimney pots. I have refrained from commenting on posts that were mainly British issues or about food that I have no experience of.

I forgot to mention: Most of the Kadees (HO series) have a standard size head. They will all work together. The difference is all in the mounting. There are a few with different (smaller) sizes. These will be labelled things like "scale" or "old-timey". Scale sometimes work with normal. I have one old-timey that is a bit touchy. There are also "shelf" couplers. These have a bit above or below that sticks out. This keeps the knuckle from rising up in an accident -- to keep it from going through the end of a tank car. They will definitely need a magnet to uncouple; no pointed sticks. I usually put the magnets in with spikes at the ends. They are then movable to a more useful location. Try not to put them an integer number of wagon lengths from the buffer stops. (This has become more difficult with the proliferation of wagon lengths.) (I installed my first Kadees about 1960. The magnetic ones came out a year or two later.)