To my friends and family up north...

Don't play with this storm, leave if you can, hunker down if you can't.  Get that water and ready to eat canned foods, it looks like it's going to be a rough one.

A Psalm of David. Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever. The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. ---(Psalm 29:1-11)

Enough of questioning...

Noah came into the ark and his wife, and his sons and their wives. Their obedience was unquestioning. We do not find them asking anything at all, about the reason for the command; but they came as they were bidden. They passed through the doorway, and they were all in the ark. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and their wives,daughters and their husbands, and all of you, oh that the blessed Spirit would put you now into such a frame of mind that you should at once yield to the divine precept which says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

Have you not asked questions enough? You have had some of them answered, but every answer has only helped you to invent another dozen questions. Oh, those questions! these quibbles! those debates! those doubts! those cavillings! They are ruining thousands.  

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Family Sermon." 

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 

And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 

And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. ---(Genisis 19:15-26)

(HO)bbyline HO scale Fairbanks Morse H-10-44 and T.Y.C.O./Mantua 4-6-2 pacific...

...the Pacific is a classic from 1953, the (HO)bbyline diesel from a bit later.  Both have just been thru thorough clean and lubes and were caught taking laps before the Pacific was sent back to its owner, yet another opportunity to run classic, hard to find models on my layout.  I'll be looking for wheelsets to get rid of the traction tire equipped ones on the H-10-44...this will improve electrical pickup with the addition of wipers to those wheelsets...

Numbers 24:5-9

How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!

As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up?

Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.

At their house...against their ace?

Why not?


UPDATE: Maybe not...thanks for the thrilling season guys...

My thoughts on the upcoming election...

In all honesty, I have given up hope for my nation. In every quarter, rich, poor or middle class, among every ethnicity, in every city and town, across every age group, conservative or liberal, business owner or employee...every strata of our nation is grossly dependent upon the federal teat for money. There will be no economic solvency until this truth is faced and dealt with in the strictest of terms.

I don't blame the people for this but those who name the name of Christ as their own, who not only bought into the lie that charity can come from the government through taxation--and the coercion necessary to collect them, but continually perpetuate that notion in their voting.

What comes upon this nation in the coming months and years is simply the necessary consequences of a people who believe themselves free of any transcending authority and a people who believe that they are rightly submitted to a transcending authority. Both do that which is right in their own eyes and thus create the paradoxes that vex their souls every day.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.--Thomas Jefferson

Psalm 80

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 

O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 

Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. 

Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. 

Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, 

O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Mehano/RSO 2-8-2 Mikado #9353 "The George Washington"... Part II...

...or..."Why I don't care for smoke in my model steam."..The particular model comes with a Seuthe smoke generator--a respected and long time maker of them--but, the generators create heat when not filled and, as in this one, tend to soften the plastic, causing it to warp...

Mehano/RSO 2-8-2 Mikado #9353 "The George Washington"...

A growing air of normalcy is slowly settling in as I pull out a remotoring project purchased before the move.  The motor was toast, giving me the perfect opportunity to shoehorn this massive German coreless motor that's been sitting around, waiting for a job to do.  It outweighs the original motor by at least twice the original's weight.  The torque of the motor is high enough that it will likely blow apart the gear box before it even heats up under load...sweet.

Room lighting for the layout...

...for far too many modelers, it is an afterthought that will always come back to haunt.  So many pictures that folks post from their layouts are marred by lack of light or overwhelming flash.  When my beloved put this room together, she added can lighting around the perimeter.  I installed a small ceiling fan with adjustable spotlights.  While my photography has a little ways to go for better pictures, the potential for those pictures is now unlimited...








My future plans call for installing a dimmer control to take out the soap opera like glare, maybe find some more natural light type bulbs...