Spot o Railfanning

I went to check out the Minnesota Commercial yard by the Amtrak depot tonight. The access is a bridge over the east end of the yard, making it a morning/early afternoon spot.

Did catch two tank cars that were older than dirt though...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28307491@N02/sets/72157606819612610/


Kinda disappointing night out, but better than watching TV, and yes Bobi, I do know where the remote is!

Perseids!

I'm a little tired and sore today, having gotten up at 3:00 this morning to try and catch a glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower.

The shower normally peaks on the morning of the 12th, but the local weather mutants are forecasting clouds and rain for the 12th. Fortunately the shower is visible, but at lower meteor counts for a few nights either side of the peak.

I set my alarm for 2:45 this morning, and it scared me silly when it went off. I wiggled out from between Bobi and two schnauzers. I put my jeans and sweatshirt on, grabbed a blanket and headed our for the backyard. I went to the far southwest corner of the yard, to get as far away from the maple trees blocking the good view to the northeast. If I had been smart, I would have dragged out the lounge chair, but digging in the garage at that hour would probably have raised the dead.

As it was, I lasted about 1/2 and hour on the blanket on the ground, staring towards the northeast, where the meteors would be coming from. I only saw three, which was a spot disapointing. But considering that the trees blocked half the eastern sky, it was to be expected. At least I saw something. It was kind of neat sitting in one spot, you see the stars very slowly climbing higher in the sky by each passing minute.

After getting tired of sitting on the ground, I checked out my clear view of the east, along with all the neighbors lights. I saw Auriga and the Pleideas rising in the east, then realizing it was almost 4, went back in to get a few more hours sleep before having to get up for the work in the morning.

Articulated Steam

A few weekends ago, Bobi saw a segment on the channel 5 news about the Twin Cities Model Railroad museum at Bandanna Square in St Paul. We were going to make a trip over there on Saturday, but when I checked their website, it said that they were having Articulated Steam day! Woo Hoo!!!!!
It was well worth the $4 each to see DM&IR Yellowstones, NP Challengers, UP Bigboys, and other assorted articulateds rolling around a mockup of the Twin Cities, and Mississippi river in 1:48 scale. Being used to seeing HO scale trains, these things are frapping huge! The Bigboy appeared to be over two feet long, not including the tender. I had a feeling that it probably weighed as much as my Buick, well, maybe not the Buick but as much as a mini schnauzer would be a good guess. Quite a few of them had sound as well, so you got pretty much all the senses tickled save for smell.

Another plus is that the layout is very detailed, not plywood pacific action here. It's definetly gotten some ideas cooking in my head for later this winter when Model Railroading season kicks in!

Decaf Iced Coffee

Bobi Rocks! I was bemoaning the fact that McDonalds does not have decaf iced coffee. In moment of insipration, she went over to the kitchen and dug out a can of International Coffees Decaf French Vanilla, mixed it up with some cold water and milk, and viola, a Decaf Iced Coffee!

She poured it over some ice in a glass, and declared it to be pretty spot on as far as tasting like the stuff you get at the Golden Arches. She is so cool!

It was proably also a lot cheaper doing it this way than to get the real thing. The downside is that I can see this being very addictive, even without the caffeine. Just what I need, another surgar fix. Especially considering that I weigh as much now as I did at the beginning of the year when I planned to drop about 40-45 lbs! D'oh