Category Archives: model railroads

Sign of the Week – heat wave

adventure, Family, history, Hobbies and Fun, model railroads, Weather, Writing, , , , ,

It’s been hot across the Midwest and to add to the heat, there have been successive days of air quality warnings.

This week’s sign offering is a tie.

a local sign spied on the main east-west road in Wheaton, IL July 16, 2026 at 3:11 PM CDT
I ran into this sign on the way home from an outing on Friday, Ottawa, IL July 17, 2026 at 3:57 PM CDT

I am tickled by both. But they don’t make it any cooler.

Thursday evening’s sunset looked like I was looking through those eclipse glasses from 2024.

photo at normal magnification… 1X
photo at zoomed magnification… 2X
photo at zoomed magnification… 5X

Yesterday, I drove to Dwight, Illinois – a town southwest of home to see the Big Boy locomotive stop as it traveled back to it’s base in Wyoming after touring the USA for America’s 250th Independence Celebration.

The Big Boy travelled through Wheaton in early June and I was at the lake. I’ll write more later on this… but the skies were clear and hardly any smoke south of here.

the Big Boy in Dwight
blue skies and puffy clouds south of home
blue skies and big thunder clouds close to home, haze had left

This morning (Saturday), it’s hazy and we still e an air quality warning until midnight but the temperatures are slowly dropping. My regular Saturday morning gig – the food pantry – is closed and was closed Thursday as well due to the air quality. Hopefully, we’ll be back Monday.

I’ll be happy to wave goodbye to the heat, too. 

I head back to the lake for the annual canoe race next weekend. It’s going to be a family weekend with the my son and his family (the grandies) coming to enjoy a long weekend at the lake. I am looking forward to it.

I’ve been working on this post for a bit too long – so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Today is going to be an amazing day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, even. when it takes a couple of days to finish a post.

Do you ever get distracted and lose ‘steam’ on a post?

 

A NO SNOW snow day

Family, history, Life in General, model railroads, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, Writing, , , , , , , , , , ,

stormwarningNormally, I would be driving to school right now, but instead I am home in the basement nestled in my cave. It’s a snow day. The weather guys predicted the storm several days ago and the media is in full hype. Right now, there is less than half an inch covering the sidewalks and roads, but it is predicted to get worse, probably much worse with the bulk of the snow arriving midday just in time to release kids to walk home from elementary schools with unplowed roads and snowy sidewalks.  It is just a bad idea.

The call came in at 5:23 from my kid’s school district announcing that “due to the expected heavy snow, all school and afternoon activities for Tuesday, March 5th are cancelled…” My district called a couple of minutes later with the same news. I’d already been waging a war with the alarm clock, and losing, I might add, when the phone rang. I turned the alarm off and W came in to make sure he could sleep until he wakes up, he was excited, but probably not enough to keep him from falling back to sleep. I tried going back to sleep, but I couldn’t so I got up and went downstairs. Continue reading A NO SNOW snow day →

Old toys

Family, growing up, Hobbies and Fun, jobs, Life in General, model railroads, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Writing, , , , , , , , ,

takeanumberI had been looking forward to last weekend for almost a month because I knew it would be a good opportunity to visit one of my favorite shopping haunts – a hobby shop. Unfortunately, circumstances foiled my scheme.

We have a railroad layout in the basement, not twenty feet from where I sit, dream, plan, write, grade, fume, and for the most part, avoid real work. I suppose I could be over at the table avoiding work instead of sitting here, but the layout has been gathering dust for the at least the past year, perhaps two, who knows, I’ve lost count. I have been lured away from my railroad by other activities – family, sports, scouts, school, and you can just about name it, whatever it was it had a higher number than railroading. Continue reading Old toys →

The List – Part 2

adventure, country, Family, history, Life in General, model railroads, pets, Reading, teaching, Writing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Over a year ago, I wrote ‘The List.’ It was blog post about winning the lottery, or more specifically, what I would do if I won the lottery. With tonight’s jackpot listed as $540 million or a half billion, it was hard not to think about it as I drove home, yesterday. I mentioned to grandpa and grandma that a lot of good could be done with that much money and it could. So, I decided to dust off last year’s post, revise it, and repost. Continue reading The List – Part 2 →

President’s Weekend – 2012

Family, history, Hobbies and Fun, Life in General, model railroads, pets, Scouting, teaching, Weather, Writing, , , , , , , , , , , ,

It is the second long weekend of the calendar year and I am home, Beth and the kids are skiing in Michigan and having fun. They took off Thursday evening because the kids had no school Friday or Monday, making escaping the city and running off to the north woods a three-day fun-escape and much more inviting than staying home and cleaning the basement or other chores. I won’t be cleaning the basement, either I have a stack of papers to grade and get back before next Tuesday and I have time to make it happen. Continue reading President’s Weekend – 2012 →

Ben and Jerry

Family, jobs, Life in General, model airplanes, model railroads, pets, Writing, , , , ,

There are so many excellent parts of summer, it is difficult to select, just one. So, in fairness to my taste buds, I am going to pick ice cream as one of my favorite parts of summer. I have had an ongoing love affair with ice cream since my youth. I can remember grabbing the carton and sitting down again against the bookcase and spooning it directly out of the carton. Whether it was Blue Bell (from Texas), Häagen-Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s or any other ice cream it comes right out of the carton and into my mouth. Continue reading Ben and Jerry →

Railroading…

Family, history, Hobbies and Fun, Life in General, model railroads, , , ,

I pulled into the driveway this evening after a long day at school to find no one at home. Ivy greeted me enthusiastically, as she always does, and I searched the counter for clues. I found none and called Beth’s cell, only to discover it lying on the kitchen counter beside me. No help, at all. Continue reading Railroading… →

New President Car and quiz

Family, history, model railroads, , , ,

It is the final day of February and the month’s answer was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States of America. I will need to call my model railroad dealer to make sure I get the car. The caboose and the Benjamin Harrison car arrived last Tuesday after I posted my last update. Here is this month’s question:

Question for March: Which President graduated from Yale ranking second in his class, taught his wife to speak again after she had a stroke during his presidency and is the only President to have also served as the Chief Justice of the United States?
*All answers must be submitted by email to mtl@micro-trains.com by the March 15th to be eligible.

Good luck and let me know what your answer is! Try entering your name with MicroTrains and see if you can be selected to win Presidential Oath of Office car. Making the Days Count, one day at a time and someday (soon), we will run our trains!

President’s Day Weekend Recap

Family, food, Life in General, model railroads, racing, Reading, , , ,

It is Tuesday morning, and normally, I would be wrapping up teaching my first section of Language Arts block and heading off to duties, meetings, and lunch. However, today’s schedule includes evening, leaving me a few moments to re-think and review the President’s weekend. Continue reading President’s Day Weekend Recap →

Day 53: Conclusion and my birthday, #49

adventure, Family, Hobbies and Fun, Life in General, model airplanes, model railroads, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Writing, , , , , ,
The plane is pulled from Lake Michigan, read the story for more information

Today is my birthday and I had a flashback to seventh grade yesterday. Well, I have flashbacks to seventh grade every day, but this one was different. The headline for the Daily Herald was World War II-era plane recovered from Lake Michigan and I remembered my birthday gift, a plastic model kit probably a P-47 Thunderbolt or some other World War II era fighter. I remember I reading everything I could get my hands on about the WWII, War in the Pacific and Europe, and I enjoyed building plastic models of aircraft from the time period. Continue reading Day 53: Conclusion and my birthday, #49 →