Wondering About Family Railroaders.

I come from a railroading family.  Both my grandfathers worked on the railroad.  My mother's dad worked as an engineer on the PRR, (or Pennsy) and my dad's dad worked as a conductor on the B&O (or Beefsteak and Onions).  I also had uncles that worked on the railroad, and my maternal grandma's sisters husband and some of their family.  My grandfather worked through the Great Depression because some of the trains still were running.  To see a picture of my grandpa and his steam engine on the day he retired, go back and see my old blog:
http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2013/08/wondering-about-living-through-history.html

What I want to talk about today is how dangerous the old railroad was to work on.  I had five relatives that were injured while working on the railroad.  My paternal grandpa lost some fingers in a coupler.  My uncle Jim had a tea cup of brains knocked out when he stepped out of the "dog house" stood up and turned around just in time to be hit by a bridge (he had to learn to talk all over again).  My maternal grandma's sister's husband had the same thing happen.  His name was Jack Mix, and yes, he was a full cousin of Tom Mix.  For you non railroaders out there, a doghouse was a small enclosure on the rear of the tender were the head brakeman used to get out of the wind and bad weather when he was not needed.  Needless to say, back in "the day", railroading was a dangerous profession.

I was not immune to being hurt on the railroad.  I never worked for any railroad, but I did work for a railroad manufacturer, Pullman Standard.  The first couple of years I worked various jobs in the labor gang and as a brakeman on their railroad system that serviced the plant and moved all the new cars around and which brought into the shop the cars off the main line that contained supplies to be unloaded.  I received a head injury and spend a couple of days in the hospital.  (Now, you see, I do have an excuse to act the way I do - grin).  After seventeen years at Pullman as a die, tool, jig and fixture design engineer (I did move up to the office from brakeman to engineer after the first two years - no not a RR engineer), I also worked a time at Whitehead and Kales in Detroit converting Pullman built flat cars into automotive car carriers by adding the structure above the RR car to hold the autos.  Then, I moved to Texas to work for Richmond Tank Car Company until they slowed way down and I was laid off.  Getting laid off was a new experience for me, but I managed to live through it.

I will pretend to be a brakeman again, and will give you a high ball signal to have a great day, you hear?

Wondering About the Old Ladies.

Back in March I posted a blog about some new babies that my wife got.  Here is the blog to that posting:
http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2014/03/wondering-about-some-babies.html

Well, I thought that maybe you would be wondering what happened to some of these "little people".  Well, a couple of them have made themselves at home at our place.  They just moved into our house, took over, and sat down, and put their feet up.  You say those sweet old ladies wouldn't do such a thing?  Well I got proof!!  I took a picture this morning to prove how well they are living:

I suppose that it wouldn't be so bad, but they brought all their pets in with them.  The one on the left of the picture has a bear and a cat and the other old lady has two black kittens.  They sat down on two chairs and then both of them put their feet up on a third chair.  You know, old ladies have to put their feet up, right?  Varicose veins?

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know that they are doing just fine and enjoying the golden years of their life, although they are less than three months old.  Actually, the cloth dolls are a lot older than that, but they were just plain white cloth dolls with no features at all.  Thanks to my lovely wife who fixed them up and gave them a new life, they are doing just great!!  Now, I hope all of you are doing just great and make sure you all have a great day, you hear?

Update, my wife is wondering if anyone has noticed that the lady on the left is also holding a hotdog?

Wondering How Fast Things Are?

The terms fast and slow are ways to try to explain the speed of something.  That something could be anything from a photon to a snail, from a tortoise to a hare, from an ordinary automobile to a top fuel race car.  OK, every one knows that a photon travels at the speed of light and nothing can move faster, right?  But then came the tachyon.  The supposed tachyon is a particle whose slowest speed matches the speed of light, but can go quite a bit faster!

They say that nothing can go faster than the speed of light.  Most everyone agrees with that, but then why do they set up elaborate and expensive experiments (CERN) to find an allusive particle that has broken the "speed of light barrier"?  What do they want to do, write it a speeding ticket?  If such a thing does exist, could we develop a telephone that could send your voice message faster than the speed of light?  That wouldn't work, your voice would get there before the phone could ring (grin).  OK, my brain is starting to hurt, trying to understand and explain the tachyon, so it is time to end this posting.  Now you all have a great day, you hear?

From the Old West to Walking in Space.

A couple of things happened on this day in the past that are as far apart as anything else I know, spacemen and old west cowboys.  OK, I suppose you are wondering how I figure these two things are related.  It is because, like I said above, they both happened on this day in history, but on different years.

Let us go back to this date in 1936.  That was the day Larry McMurtry was born.  You all know of McMurtry, don't you?  He was the author of many novels, one of the most popular was Lonesome Dove which he wrote while recuperating from open-heart surgery.  He also tried to turn Archer, Texas into a haven for book lovers.  He bought abandoned buildings and filled them thousands of used books for sell.  He wrote about the old west and its characters.  Now, let's move on to the space race.

On this date in 1965 the first American Astronaut took a walk in space.  Major Edward H. White II takes a walk at an altitude of 120 miles above Earth attached to a 25 foot tether.  That is a long way from Lonesome Dove.

Yes, he was the first American to walk in space but he wasn't the first.  The first man to walk in space was Alexey Leonov, a Russian Astronaut.  It took place during the Vostok 11 mission.

 I hope this day in the past was good to you and made some great memories, and that today you will have a great day, you hear?

Wondering About Vesta

This Vesta is not the virgin goddess of health, home, and family in the Roman religion.  The one I am talking about is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System.  No not hemorrhoids, asteroids.  The name does sound like they could be related.

I thought that I would post some pictures of Vesta, which has a 326 mile mean diameter.  It is not quite round, but looks rather egg shaped and it has some unusual surface features.  Thanks to the Dawn space craft, we have some close-up views of this interesting rock.  The most prominent feature is the snowman created by three creators side by side.  Can you make it out on the upper left of this picture:

 

Another unique feature is the grooves that run side by side.  You can see them at the right of the picture below:

 

And you can also see the grooves in this picture taken from a different angle.  There are some really rough and rugged terrain on this small planetesimal:

 

 

This last picture is taken looking directly at Vesta's south pole:

 



That last picture reminds me of a hornet's nest.

 

Although no space craft has returned samples from Vesta, never the less there are samples found here on Earth.  Meteors that originated when some of those craters on Vesta were formed, came into Earth's atmosphere and hit the ground, which at that point they became meteorites and have been studied by scientist to discover what Vesta is made of.  Now in case you are wondering how they know which ones are from Vesta (especially before we sent a probe there) I just don't have a clue.  I am wondering, too.

 

OK, now try not to get hit with a hunk of Vesta, but rather have yourselves a great day, you hear?

My Wife's Hand Made Rugs.

I talk about the Flea Market all the time.  Well, it has been good to us.  We have enjoyed it for years, meeting and talking to people, buying bargains and things we just can't live without, and selling some stuff.  Yes, we only set up for one weekend, but it was a huge, huge success.  We want to do it again some weekend.

My wife bought a lot of sheets (most in unopened packages) at the flea market and would sit out on our deck and cut them into strips.  She then wrapped up the strips into big balls.  After she had multiple balls of different colors, she would sit while watching TV and crochet them into rugs.  Some were heart shaped, some round, and some oval.  Today, she took them down to a gal that has a booth at the flea market and told her to sell them.  Now, she has room to make some more (grin).

I am going to end this blog posting with pictures of the ten rugs she left at the flea market:

The rugs are laying on the deck which is made out of 2x6 boards, so that will give you an idea of the sizes of the different rugs.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Flea Market, Nap, and Races.

Yep, it is the weekend already.  How time does fly when you get my age.  That meant that we went to the Flea Market.  We walked around to see what was on all the outside tables.  I talked to the vendors and my wife bought from the vendors.  She found a lot more supplies for her crafting.  Buying stuff there is quite a savings over retail prices in the stores.  I didn't find anything I couldn't live without today, but there is still tomorrow.

After lunch today, a got real sleepy.  I don't like to take naps during the day, but today was an exception.  I got so sleepy I couldn't keep awake so I went and took a nice nap.  Now I am trying to get woke up.

I got awake just in time to watch the NHRA Top Fuel Drag Racing Qualifying.  Elimination will be tomorrow.  I have told you before that it is my favorite professional sport and the only one that that I watch on TV and follow.  I used to go to all the Top Fuel Races when they came to my area.  Enjoyed the sound, the feel, the smell. . . it was awesome.

It has sprinkled here some, but we never really got a good rain and we need it.  Yes MsBelinda, we are getting some rain and I think Houston had more than we did the other day.  Now, every one have a great day, you hear?