The Hobo Camp Fire Is going well #X.. Stop In!!!

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang

Clear and cool at 48 degrees this morning. Headed to the mid 60s with similar forecasts for the next week. A nice change from the second wettest September on record.

Yesterday was sports day. A cross country track meet in the morning and a soccer match in the afternoon. The soccer player has had an incredible growth spurt in the last few weeks. He's now about as tall as me. His mom says he is eating everything in sight and complaining there's nothing to eat.

This morning I'll be heading to the cemetery for monthly maintenance. This afternoon will probably find me on the pollution solution vehicle for 17 miles.

Gas was down to $3.83 yesterday afternoon.

All stay safe.

Tom

[sir james]

Sunday 10/4/26
Hello Blue. We have sun this morning. 54 now might tap out at 70. Maybe. My wife came down, got a cup of coffee and went back to bed. She has a sore throat and headache, kinda early in the season for such sickness.  Sports day was watching the Buckeyes win. Both of the big Michigan teams lost Again. Did get some Michigan wins from the smaller collages. 
S.J.

[TMo]

My daughter-in-law's water broke at 1 am this morning in Texas. Fortunately, my wife had gone down this weekend to cover the potential for an early arrival while my son Aaron's unit is at the National Training Center down near Death Valley. I'm on my way to TX tomorrow morning to lend a hand with grandchild #2 and the original princess, grandchild #1. Aaron didn't get there in time, but I think his plane has landed.

Mass, housecleaning, cutting grass, walking the dog before an early evening and a 4:15 alarm to start the day tomorrow. Might get to some more weathering tonight, but that'll be all I can devote to railroading until I return. The father-in-law is arriving here tomorrow to watch the dog until we get back. At least I won't be going to work.

Steady mist all day. I had to resort to cutting wet grass in the mist which is not ideal. Didn't get it all done, but I don't think the neighbors will care much.

[tompm]

Good evening folks

The weekend turned out to be a mixed bag for me. Friday night I could sleep. To do something, I worked on converting some Athearn hoppers from McHenry couplers to Kadee #148 couplers until I lost a screw.

Saturday, my wife and I ran errands. We stopped at Kohl’s so she could pick up an order and return some things. Then a trip to Staples to recycle some ink cartridges and get some paper. Then a trip to the LHS to get replacement screws.

Sunday, I was not feeling well for most of the day. My son, my daughter and her boyfriend put out the outdoor Halloween decorations. I had to provide some direction. The photo shows the results. Things will be added right until Halloween night.



Once I had replacement screws, I could finish the coupler conversions. At the LHS I found a PRR calendar and a Bachman Waddle Coal hopper which meant another couple r conversion. I also renumbered the car along with another Waddell Coal hopper. I renumbered a couple of Accurail Lehigh Valley wood reefers. I finally got the train made up and ran it.

Todd congratulations on the grandchild! Hope all goes well.

I hope everybody has a good night.

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

55 degrees under clear skies this morning in the remote reaches of northern Iowa. Maybe 80 for the high.

Yesterday was yard work day. I cleaned up my first official batch of leaves for the season and hauled them off to the yard waste disposal site. After that the yard was mowed and some resting occurred. Today's activities will include a bike ride of as yet undetermined length and a trip to the grocery store to restock on Powerade. They had a sale for $1 a bottle and ran out. I'm hoping they've restocked by now. Then late this afternoon I'll be heading about 40 minutes west of here for a cross country track meet.

Tom - well done on the decorations.

All stay safe.

Tom

[sir james]

Tuesday 10/6/26
Hello blue. We have sun with a hi of 70 for the day. The Halloween decorations look great. 
A family friend likes to do Halloween. One year not so long ago she had one great display. A crashed car against a tree with bodies on the ground. It looked so real people were calling 911. The cops had a good laugh and even took pictures.
S.J.

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

Cloudy and 57 degrees in the remote reaches of northern Iowa. High for today is supposed to be in the low 80s. Similar temperatures through the weekend and then cooler temperatures will prevail.

Not much going on around here. I did visit a friend who's in long term memory care. Always sad because he thinks his wife is going to spring him soon. Unfortunately that's not going to happen. This evening a couple of the great-grandkids perform in the marching band so I'll be attending the football game through half time at least. Nothing major planned for the weekend.

All stay safe.

Tom

[sir james]

Tom Glad to see your post, I thought you guys might have snuck away. Sun this morning at 42 degrees, 70 for the day.
S.J.

[tompm]

Good evening folks

Another up and down day. My wife and I tried to go to brunch in Media. The traffic was horrendous. Three of the four main roads into the borough were under construction. We abandoned the idea of brunch there and went to another area and had a good meal just 90 minutes later than we had planned.

The caboose project I was working on went sideways real fast, and now my parts box has new caboose parts in it. I got to run some trains during the week and did more coupler conversions. I surprised myself when I found several cars that still had plastic wheels. The current train I am running includes reefers that I have not yet inspected to confirm they have been upgraded to metal wheels and couplers at the very least.

My wife and I are trying to decide what we want to do for the weekend. The last two weekends, our plans changed at the last minute for various reasons. We could try a museum or park, but we also want to do a dinner train. We need to make a trip to the grocery store and to PetSmart. And then there is the never-ending laundry.

I will run the reefer train and continue searching for cars that have not undergone inspection. I will record videos and take photos. I would like to do more renumbering of a bunch of Accurail cars and perhaps assemble a few more. I may begin another building structure.

I hope everybody has a good evening.

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

63 degrees with 74% humidity and a little breezy in the remote reaches of northern Iowa. That will change as the day progresses. The high is predicted to be in the upper 80s, the humidity will be in the low 30s, and the wind will be in the mid to upper 30s. Along with the dry crops in the fields the weather will create a rather high fire danger today. Similar conditions are predicted to exist tomorrow. Some cooling and much lower winds speeds will prevail on Monday.

Fairly quiet yesterday. I did take a 10 mile bike ride to verify the location of the 2 speed enforcement vehicles and I was right - they weren't where the police web site said they were. I sent an email and a check this morning shows thew web site is updated. That makes email number 11 I've sent this year requesting updated info on the location of the robocops.

Next project this morning is to go set up the fan in the lawn shed. The shed has developed a leak and the osb floor is every wet in one area. I need to dry that out and then find where the leak is coming from. Also on tap are the usual laundry and miscellaneous other Saturday chores. If I get ambitious I may clean up another batch of leaves.

All stay safe.

Tom