Content creation during a pandemic.

Devil's Tower... I was there in July 2012 with a storm-chasing tour run by Silver Lining Tours. After visiting the tower, we headed north to Great Falls. We traveled along the old MILW Pacific Extension from Foresythe, MT north and west. It was really sad seeing the empty ROW with bridges intact and even some telegraph poles intact. It was as if everything was left waiting for the track to be put back in to place. We rounded a curve at one point, and I could see what was once a classification yard and an old train order hoop. After our stay in Grand Island for a couple of days, since there were only a few storms so we remained stationary rather than switch hotels daily, we headed north to Glacier. I have some nice train pics taken out near Havre. I did go through Shelby and caught a bad pic of the Shelby yard due to angle and sunlight. We had lunch in Havre, but I didn't get any pictures there. I saw both Empire Builders meet as they passed on the mainline next to the yard while I was eating at the line side Mac Donalds.

The flood too was probably caused by an HP super cell. They can dump gallons of rain along with inches of hail.

I've been through Gillette a couple of times and have some pics of the coal operations there taken from I-90 during the same trip above.

That's the cool thing about storm chasing in the Midwest. I got to watch the long freights that are non-existent up where I live. On one trip, I saw some beautiful freight action along the Strafford Sub in TX. There was a constant parade of freight trains of every imaginable kind. Sadly I was sitting in a position in the van where pictures were impossible to take on that side. During another time, along the same route, we were traveling at night. The other travelers, who knew I was a rail enthusiast, asked me what all the colored lights were... I explained that they were the signals. As we traveled along, we could see the signal aspects change as the freights moved from one block to another. If I lived down there, I'd probably not get anything else done during the day because I'd spend a good part of my time train watching.
 
Hey John , you've got some great memories of that area. Devil's Tower is a special place. I was fortunate enough to do some rail viewing up there too....driving hwy 80 from Cheyenne through Laramie and on to Green River coming across long UP trains. You can see for miles. There's a great rail viewing spot in northern Colorado, just south of the Wyoming border where the BNSF and UP cross over a bridge. Back in the 80's, I had a friend, who was in his 70's at the time, who was an engineer for the UP, a runner for steam engines in his younger days. He had some great stories about running steam loco's during the winter in Wyoming. Dangerous work back then, as cold as it gets there. The Cheyenne yard is impressive !
Ah, heck, I wasn't going to post more pictures of the same house, but I'm having a weak moment. I'll tie it into the coravirus theme...here it goes. " Won't it be great when families can get together again after this virus disappears !
Humphrey-Estate%2C-Remsen%2C-NY.jpg
 
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Fear can cause more harm than the virus - as some recent events have shown. The ones that I will never erase from my memory are those disgusting scenes of individuals (and sometime groups) fighting in the supermarket aisles over toilet paper or abusing the checkout operator because there is no toilet paper.

"Be alert, not alarmed", "Stay calm and carry on" are two common official responses from past major crises. The latter one "Stay calm and carry on" would be better expressed as "Stay calm, take proper precautions and carry on".

There has been a certain level of "media hype", myth and misinformation not helped by confusing messages from politicians and even different experts thrown into the mix.

A recent visit to our doctor (on a matter not related to covid-19) has dispelled many of our fears. My partner and I are of an age that puts us in a higher risk group, she more so because of mild late onset asthma. We were reassured that going about many of our normal activities (shopping, going for walks, etc) does not put us at any higher risk as long as we follow the social distance and hygiene rules. Avoiding other activities that we have always enjoyed (theatre, cinema, exercise classes) will reduce the risk.

He also stated the obvious. The virus is not airborne. It can only exist in moisture (water droplets) so unless someone who is contaminated touches, coughs or sneezes onto your skin or clothes and you then touch your mouth, eyes or nose then you are very unlikely to get it. So hygiene and social distancing are the key means of fighting this disease. Of course, that is just his opinion based on over 40 years in general practice.

Vigilance, common sense, social distancing and personal hygiene will win. Fear will not.

My thoughts.
 
"Do not change your behaviour to avoid being infected. Assume you are infected and change your behaviour to avoid transmitting."

This was posted on our community website this morning and it seemed to be good advice to me.
 
"Do not change your behaviour to avoid being infected. Assume you are infected and change your behaviour to avoid transmitting."

This was posted on our community website this morning and it seemed to be good advice to me.

Very good advice. We have to remember their ain't much we can do about it other than be smart and don't put ourselves into a position where we can be compromised.

During the height of the cold and flu season back when I worked in IT, I would wash my hands diligently every time I touched someone else's computers. At that time I supported well over 650 users and never, ever even had the sniffles while everyone else was dropping like flies. This virus pretty much has the same cautions and just the same I have avoided contact with the general public, which is easy for me anyway because I'm a hermit.

If I'm not Trainzing, I'm playing the piano and practicing a lot. I do this on a nearly daily basis anyway so this stay confined and inside, it helps that we've had cold rainy weather most of the time anyway, is a no brainer to start with.

Here's a non Trainzing thing I did recently for my piano teacher.

Alexandre Goria (1823-1860) Caprice-Nocturne Op. 6 in A-flat, played on a C. Bechstein 283
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ddtm7lqs8f8hh1k/Goria - Caprice-Nocturne Op. 6 in A-flat.wav?dl=0

This was recorded from a digital piano and converted to audio.
 
Very good advice. We have to remember their ain't much we can do about it other than be smart and don't put ourselves into a position where we can be compromised.

During the height of the cold and flu season back when I worked in IT, I would wash my hands diligently every time I touched someone else's computers. At that time I supported well over 650 users and never, ever even had the sniffles while everyone else was dropping like flies. This virus pretty much has the same cautions and just the same I have avoided contact with the general public, which is easy for me anyway because I'm a hermit.

If I'm not Trainzing, I'm playing the piano and practicing a lot. I do this on a nearly daily basis anyway so this stay confined and inside, it helps that we've had cold rainy weather most of the time anyway, is a no brainer to start with.

Here's a non Trainzing thing I did recently for my piano teacher.

Alexandre Goria (1823-1860) Caprice-Nocturne Op. 6 in A-flat, played on a C. Bechstein 283

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ddtm7lqs8f8hh1k/Goria - Caprice-Nocturne Op. 6 in A-flat.wav?dl=0

This was recorded from a digital piano and converted to audio.

That was absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your recording and brightening up my morning.
 
Fear can cause more harm than the virus - as some recent events have shown. The ones that I will never erase from my memory are those disgusting scenes of individuals (and sometime groups) fighting in the supermarket aisles over toilet paper or abusing the checkout operator because there is no toilet paper.

"Be alert, not alarmed", "Stay calm and carry on" are two common official responses from past major crises. The latter one "Stay calm and carry on" would be better expressed as "Stay calm, take proper precautions and carry on".

There has been a certain level of "media hype", myth and misinformation not helped by confusing messages from politicians and even different experts thrown into the mix.

A recent visit to our doctor (on a matter not related to covid-19) has dispelled many of our fears. My partner and I are of an age that puts us in a higher risk group, she more so because of mild late onset asthma. We were reassured that going about many of our normal activities (shopping, going for walks, etc) does not put us at any higher risk as long as we follow the social distance and hygiene rules. Avoiding other activities that we have always enjoyed (theatre, cinema, exercise classes) will reduce the risk.

He also stated the obvious. The virus is not airborne. It can only exist in moisture (water droplets) so unless someone who is contaminated touches, coughs or sneezes onto your skin or clothes and you then touch your mouth, eyes or nose then you are very unlikely to get it. So hygiene and social distancing are the key means of fighting this disease. Of course, that is just his opinion based on over 40 years in general practice.

Vigilance, common sense, social distancing and personal hygiene will win. Fear will not.

My thoughts.

Nice post, and right on target. I suspect that life will be back to normal soon after it runs its course, God willing. Take all the common sense precautions and protect yourself. By protecting yourself, you're also protecting anyone who might be in contact with and vise-versa. I don't like the media hype either. It's all about ratings these days. Some of these so called news stations,including the MSM aren't even news. Although presented as "news", it's actually sick entertainment for sick people. I'm glad their ratings are lousy as that indicates a reduction of sick viewers. IMHO. : )

Hey John from Haverhill, that is beautiful ! What impresses me too that's it's in the key of Ab. Not the easiest key to play in. Love the choices of notes, scales and some chromatic runs thrown in .....great composition. You're dynamics are great, as what that piece calls for. Usually, digital pianos sound harsh, too staccato, trebley to my ears, but yours has a good tone. Very nice.

I talked to my friend, Norma Jean from Haverhill yesterday. She's excited about a new sea food place opening there soon......it starts with an L...but I can't remember the name. NJ was telling me that Market Basket was doing a 2 hour time slot for seniors only , but the hours are between 7 to 9 am. Seems like they're being compassionate, but on the other hand , that's giving them the coldest hours of the day to be out ! I dunno about that one.
 
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Must admit for all my life experience and even in public office as well as community youth work not getting on with things would find me bored very easily! Now here all shops outside of supermarkets are closed and tough if have stuff in a dry cleaner!

Just as well we have Trainz when stuck in. Even more so as have been to a supermarket to cover the week I am in.
 
Just as well we have Trainz when stuck in. Even more so as have been to a supermarket to cover the week I am in.

Almost makes a visit to a supermarket as something to look forward to, not just something to be endured.

Here we are not yet at the stage of closing all shops except supermarkets and pharmacies. Fashion shops, for example, can remain open but restaurants and cafes can sell take-way only. Clubs and pubs are shut but bottle shops (liquor stores) can remain open - I think the government here would be overthrown if there was no alcohol to be bought. Cinemas, theatres, gyms, all entertainment areas both indoor and outside, are closed. All retail and commercial premises must observe a 4 sq.m per person rule. Weddings are restricted to 5 guests only, funerals to 10 (don't know if that includes the corpse:)). These are "Stage 2" restrictions that will increase when (not "if") we go to the next stage.

Life goes on. We will all come through it and have a tale to tell our grand-kids who, of course, will not believe a word of it.
 
Life goes on. We will all come through it and have a tale to tell our grand-kids who, of course, will not believe a word of it.

I hope you're right, as that would indicate they are growing up in a saner world than what we are currently living in.
 

When triple ply strength is really important.


It's nice to hear most forum-dwellers are well and using their time wisely on Trainz.

In real life I am Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer working for one of Oz's big airlines, at the local major airport. I took a scheduled 8 weeks off work to welcome the arrival of a young daughter whom just turned a month old, and I still have a month to go before I am supposed to return to work. Talk about exceptional timing ! We are hunkered down at home tag-teaming baby duty between the wife and I, and I am hacking away at my next DLS route when I can get a few moments to do so.

I don't think my employer will layoff any engineering staff, as we are understaffed nationally (unlike Qantas) and they will need us all in a few months.

I am, however, expecting a call from work asking if I can take more time off, rather than return to work with the airport in it's current state of disuse.

To this request my answer will be a hearty " MOST CERTAINLY GOOD SIR, SEND ME THE PAPERWORK ! "
 
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When triple ply strength is really important.


It's nice to hear most forum-dwellers are well and using their time wisely on Trainz.

In real life I am Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer working for one of Oz's big airlines, at the local major airport. I took a scheduled 8 weeks off work to welcome the arrival of a young daughter whom just turned a month old, and I still have a month to go before I am supposed to return to work. Talk about exceptional timing ! We are hunkered down at home tag-teaming baby duty between the wife and I, and I am hacking away at my next DLS route when I can get a few moments to do so.

I don't think my employer will layoff any engineering staff, as we are understaffed nationally (unlike Qantas) and they will need us all in a few months.

I am, however, expecting a call from work asking if I can take more time off, rather than return to work with the airport in it's current state of disuse.

To this request my answer will be a hearty " MOST CERTAINLY GOOD SIR, SEND ME THE PAPERWORK ! "

Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. This will most certainly keep you busy!

I think all technical positions will be needed especially those in the high-tech industry due to the number of people working from home. People may no longer be needed in an office, but they are surely needed by the home-workers who have trouble connecting. I'm now retired, but in my tech days, I spent many hours walking through work-at-home users with their connection issues. In some cases it was a software-only issue and I did remote login to check their settings for their email or applications they were running. This worked out well during our snowstorms as well because I could work from my own desk at home rather than sit in traffic for 4 hours to go 50 km to work.
 
I think that is physically impossible, as He is 70 y/o, And you are 30 y/o, And you say YOU are his father
You must be a time traveler ? Unless you saying that you are your own grandpaw ?

A full moon, daylight saving time, friday the 13th, Stocks crash, and now coronavirus, all in the same week, Who the heck is playing Jumanji ?

I was referring to this moment in cinematic history (Ignore the ad at the beginning):
 
We went to the local supermarket this morning just after opening time - the first hour of shopping in all the major supermarkets Mon to Fri is dedicated to older shoppers, and those who have disabilities. We were checked by security on the way in - all we had to show was a Government issued "Seniors Card", pension card, etc. We encountered no crowds, no "nastiness" (everyone was polite and courteous). Standing positions 1.5 metres apart were marked on the floor at the checkout queues but there were no queues at the checkouts.

On the shelves were many items we had not seen in weeks (although hand sanitizer was still not available) and the best part was that we were able to get a 9 pack of toilet rolls - pure gold!
 
I'm in self-imposed lock-down/quarantine . At 91 years of age the risk of infection and death is too high to go wandering. I am lucky as my daughter is nursing my Mastercard and is shopping for me and I have the Internet to keep me sane.

We are definitely entering a different world.

Peter
 
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The other side of the world and we have the same guidelines, local grocery is open to seniors only from 8-9 AM. I'm staying in my house except for Dr.s appointments (COPD, bad heart, lung cancer) and the quick sortie for groceries, still no TP on the shelves but I've got a month's worth on hand. What concerns me is what kind of world will be left once 1 or 2% of the population has died, mostly elderly? Better or worse? Kinder or meaner?
 
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