more trains at gibbon

the cat cranes arrived on a big truck. it didn't take them long to be on the ground crunching over piles of coal and debris in preparation to lift cars out of the way. i wasn't able to stay and watch as i have a job. as i was talking pictures all sorts of vehicles and equipment arrived including a semi loaded with concret ties. in a couple of days i will go and take some pictures of the repair.

even though the train crashed, hundreds go by every day without incident and so i am thinking of traveling west to reno during spring break to visit my family. i think i was on a train when i was about three or four, but at sixty-four i cannot remember the experience. i think the prices are a little less than air and it takes longer, but i think i would like to experience a train ride before too much more of my life goes by.

emily and nina

i met two nice, well one nice cat and one wild cat during my stay in illinois. emily decided that my suitcase was a good place to sleep, rest, and check out the world. she is a nice gray and orange tabby who has been trained to stay off counters, but likes to be in the bathroom when someone is taking a shower, sort of like dennis. she had a little kid's canvas chair bought for her, but didn't seem to like it. it has since been taken over by the little squirt--nina. nina's pupils are never tiny.... it is like she is on a permanent adrenaline rush. once when she was chasing emily she jumped staight up in the air from the floor onto the couch. her feet are pretty big so she might turn out to be bigger than emily. her tail is in a constant fluff. i am not sure it can lay down. neither are real snugglers to strangers. i think only sam, who is has his own issues is that friendly to strangers.

big crunch

it didn't happen close to campus or i am sure we would have heard and felt it. twenty seven cars crushed into each other destroying cars, dumping coal, closing a side road, and attracting sightseers. by the time i arrived they were busy fixing things. you can see the cat picking up wheels and moving them off the track. while i was taking pictures two cranes on cat treads arrived to pick up cars at either end and move them around. by the time i got back from a visit to my son and daughter-in-law in illinois--5 days later--only 6 cars, empty, were left. new track had been laid and most of the coal hauled away.

what people think we are

it is interesting to here what people think about you. most of it is based on bits and pieces of what they think they know. once i was deemed unfit to teach in the church school because the people of the church did not see my children with me in church not understanding that they were always with their dad on that day because he always worked on sundays. i had a cousin who was a minister's wife who people thought spent all their money on clothes,but she had excellent taste and was a great seamtress. currently my peers think i know a lot more about computers than they do only because i helped them find lost files a few times---they couldn't find their draft mail, or had changed the home view of their grade program ---and i just called someone to find out how to print report cards from our networked data base, something last years registrar couldn't figure out. it doesn't take computer know how to pick up a phone and ask for directions. i just wrote them down. and it worked. in another environment i would certainly not be considered expert in any fashion whatsoever. i miss the college town. hopefully when i move to belle there will be enough intellectual stimulation in rapid where the school of mines resides. it actually has a world wide reputation, so i would expect the town to be more interesting than being in the middle of the cornfield. maybe i need to look deeper.