December 31, 2018...A Strange Late Afternoon

It was wet when I went to Foodtown for a few last minute groceries...outside

and inside.

When I went back to my van there was a strange vehicle parked next to it.

An inflated alien was sitting in the front seat.  There were two more aliens in the backseat.  Guess they were going to a party in town.

Locomotive 765, A Trip to Fort Wayne,Indiana

Steve thought we were going to the New York Central Museum in Fort Wayne.  I don't know where he got the idea.    But as we drove into the entrance of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society site at New Haven, Indiana he forgot everything except ..." The 765!  The 765!"

Eventually he calmed down and Tom took his photo in front of the locomotive.

The 765, a Berkshire-type locomotive, was built in Lima, Ohio.  The Nickel Plate Road became an effective, high-speed freight line with the addition of 80 Berkshires to its system.  These locomotives were used in the 1940s and 1950s.

The 765 on the left, the Jedda Coal Company Locomotive on the right.  The 765 backed up, then moved forward at regular intervals.  To experience a train ride, visitors rode in the cabooses attached to the Jedda.

The Jedda locomotive was a small one.  It pulled two cabooses, one of the original style with a cupola above the center section and one of the later style which had extended side sections so the train employees riding in it could check out the track on both sides of the track and alert the engineer of any problems.

Here Steve is boarding the original style caboose.  My arm is barely visible as I lead the way.

The ladder in front of Steve's face goes up to the cupola.  It was already full of passengers.  But that was OK.  Steve was sitting directly across from our guide for the trip.  Behind the guide was a window.  Every time Steve saw something interesting, he asked about it.  I remember that he saw some passenger cars acquired by the group.

The guide told Steve that when the Locomotive went to other venues, it pulled extra tenders filled with coal for running it.  It also pulled cars filled with water.

Tom couldn't ride the train because he was in his power chair but there was plenty to see so he was happy.  It was fascinating just to watch the Berkshire 765 and see the steam rolling out as it traveled its length backing down the track and then moving forward.  There were train enthusiasts to talk to...visitors and volunteers.  There was the next locomotive the group is planning to restore.

There was an HO model railroad layout.

The 765 Berkshire's schedule was posted inside the building.

It was going to Joliet, Illinois soon.

Toward the end of September, the locomotive is pulling four Zephyr railcars to Cleveland and will deliver them to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  The 765 will take people on excursions weekends of September 21 and September 28.   They will be riding through the park.

Amtrak is pulling the cars from California to the midwest where the 765 will take over.  Two of the cars are sleek stainless-steel passenger railcars that offer scenic 360-degree views from a dome.  One is the Silver Lariat and the other is the Silver Solarium.  The other cars are a sleeper car and a baggage car.  The volunteers at the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society are excited that their locomotive is part of this historical event.

Steve wearing his 765 cap.

Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 2017

Henry came again to visit because Sonja was in the process of moving from one house to another.  I know Henry had more attention from us than Sonja had time to give him.

Steve came to visit, too.  

One Saturday, Steve and I went to the Fort Rowdy Gathering in Covington.  This was the twenty-fifth year for the event.  Years ago I took Steve's brother to the gathering.  The gathering is a little larger now but still uncrowded and easy-going.

The gathering is on two open grassy areas surrounded by trees, one area on either end of a bridge across the Stillwater River.  The bridge is rebuilt every year for the weekend and then taken down.

Close to the shore, Steve spotted a school of several hundred tiny fish swimming fast and away from us.

Life in the encampment is old style camping.  There is a native American encampment as well.

Arts and crafts are demonstrated and sold on both sides of the bridge but they are somewhat different.  On the near side there are painted gourds and fine needlework and other crafts that a person finds at a typical craft show.  On the far side are the craftmen and women who make the kind of crafts Daniel Boone would have found useful.  One craftsman we talked to was making a water jug from leather.  The crafts are laid out on blankets or tables or hung on racks.

There was music on the tents on both ends of the bridge as well.  The old, old songs the settlers brought from Europe were sung on the far end encampment.  The listeners sat on straw bales.

As Steve and I headed back to the bridge because we were hungry and the food booths were on the other side, we saw a boy fishing.  He caught a little blue gill and threw it back in to grow larger.

View from halfway across the bridge.

 On the near end, the music was more modern country music.  There were amps set up as well as bleachers for the listeners to sit on.

This festival is a money making event for local non-profit organizations.  Steve and I bought lunch from the boy scouts...brats and kraut and mashed potatoes.  For dessert we had homemade apple dumplings and ice cream from the booth next door.

Hot Water Again, Thanks to Five Star Plumbing

July 7. Friday evening, I went down the basement to take clothes out of the dryer.

Oh, dear!  See that water on the floor?

I investigated, found the leak, reported to Tom, found the owner's manual in our box of manuals, noted that the water heater was past its expected lifetime, decided to get a new one.

On Saturday, we went to a local Hardware Big Box Store, found the hotwater heater we wanted and were promised delivery within 72 hours.

Tuesday...more than 72 hours later.  Glad the water heater was in the basement.  Tom called the installer.  Someone would be out on Friday!  Tom called the Big Box Store.  The salesperson told Tom he would contact another installer.  

Good news!  The installer promised to be out on Wednesday.

Happy dance!  

Another happy dance when Five Star Plumbing sent Brandon out on Wednesday.  

Joy reigns!  Brandon is a pleasant, friendly young man and and a good plumber.  

We have a new hot water heater.  We will certainly recommend Five Star Plumbing to our friends and neighbors.

Change Number Two--A New Door for the Computer Room

This project was more involved than the vanity project.

We went to Menards for the supplies that we needed...a prehung door and lumber for the door frame.

Our friend, Mark, brought the materials home for us in his truck.

We were already in the process of making changes when I took this photo.  Mark had removed the old woodwork and the door and cut the doorway six inches wider.  

Looking into the computer room.

Looking out from the computer room.

I was standing in the doorway to the computer room when I took this photo.  As you can imagine, the three doorways being so close and yet not exactly opposite one another made it difficult to manuveur with a scooter or power chair.

Back to work.

The width of the readymade door jamb was too narrow so Tom cut a piece fill the space. That piece is leaning against the wall.  At the moment he and Mark are checking to be sure the jamb is in plumb (straight up and down).

Tom holds the jamb in place as Mark hammers.

Most hinges hold a door in such a way that the door extends into the opening as this door does.

The hinges which Mark put on the computer room door enable the door to move out of the doorway.  Tom calls these off-set hinges.  The additional width they give the doorway makes life a lot easier for him.

An ordinary door hinge.

An Offset door hinge.

Completed new entrance to the computer room...thirty-six inches wide and much easier to enter from either direction.  We are happy.

Change Number One, Remodeling the Bathroom Vanity

Periodically, Tom makes changes to our house to make it more friendly for his scooter and power chair.

The first change he made this summmer was to his bathroom.

This is the vanity that was in his bathroom at the beginning of the summer.  It is now in our basement just in case we want it again.

He used the same washbasin surface but made a new vanity cabinet.  Now he can clean up facing the vanity.  Before he had to work from a sideways position.

He bought the wood at Menards, the big box hardware a couple blocks away after he had designed what he wanted.  A friend brought the materials to our house in his pickup truck.

Here is Tom cutting boards at the saw set up in our garage.

Here he is blowing off the sawdust after he was finished for the day.

Here is one of the finished boards, sanded and varnished.

His friend helped him install the new vanity.

And I sewed up a pair of curtains.

One Piece Left Over, Putting a Flag on a Mailbox

Our mailbox is directly across the street from the end of our driveway.  That can be a bad place for a mailbox when someone backs out.  Periodically, the box and its post gets nudged.  On Thursday, it was nudged enough that the mailbox had to be replaced.

When it comes to mailboxes, the standard  and cheap style is fine with us. We found one at Menard's , our local version of the big box hardware and lumber store.

Cheap is more cheaply made than it was the last time we replaced a mailbox...Tom had to put on the red flag himself.  There was a time not long ago when flags came already attached.

The directions were easy to follow.

But...when Tom was finished, there was a piece left over.

I laid the pliers beside the piece to give you an idea of the size.

Finally, Tom looked more closely at the digram of the pieces...

There was a message in fine print in the lower right hand corner.