How is everyone doing?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It's also quite beguiling to stand next to a real-life steam locomotive as it huffs and puffs and groans and roars its way thru anywhere, or just stands still looking mighty and important.

[rogruth]

I think there is a charm and wonder emanating from model trains that is conveyed in-person, hands-on, eyes-on, and/or heart upon , which is nearly absent on-line or via a paper catalogue delivered to one's door.

And I can get that in my own basement any time I want. Who - what train manufacturer - delivers catalogs in print anymore? Thought they were all on line now.

Lionel catalogs at least twice a year. Bacchman in 3 R. I don't know about 2 R.

[rogruth]

Our local train show has had some ups and downs that IMO have been caused by changes in venue with another coming next year.
The number of dealers has stayed about the same. I have seen an increase in attendance of young er people, children,young adults
and middle aged. There have been a dwindling of those like me. OLD.
One dealer sets up several LionChief sets and the younger kids line up to run them. I think that is a good sign.
The modelers younger than Murph and me will be the most affected by the trends of today.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It's also quite beguiling to stand next to a real-life steam locomotive as it huffs and puffs and groans and roars its way thru anywhere, or just stands still looking mighty and important.

Of course. But just doing either is difficult now.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I think there is a charm and wonder emanating from model trains that is conveyed in-person, hands-on, eyes-on, and/or heart upon , which is nearly absent on-line or via a paper catalogue delivered to one's door.

And I can get that in my own basement any time I want. Who - what train manufacturer - delivers catalogs in print anymore? Thought they were all on line now.

Lionel catalogs at least twice a year. Bacchman in 3 R. I don't know about 2 R.

Never seen any from any of those. Even the Walthers flyer/pamphlet that I used to get has disappeared. MicroMark pamphlet has stopped showing up, too.

[rogruth]

You don't do 3 R. Mth also had 2 a year.

[chuck]

I just got a MicroMark catalog in the snail mail a couple of days ago. Some of the stuff that used to go through USPS is now being handled by some other entity? We seem to get a bi-weekly drop of some publications/catalogs in plastic wrap that winds up in the newspaper holder? Since we only get print edition on Thursday/Friday/Sunday it's not a big deal. Also, the "bulk" third class mail fliers that used to show up on Monday are now arriving on Wednesday? Would be less of an issue except some of the sales were on Tuesday!

A really good website can surpass a printed catalog and provide more up to date information. Too bad there are so few of them!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

You don't do 3 R.

Not for a few decades,

Mth also had 2 a year.

Yes, the traditional waste of time and money as exemplified by the foaming at the mouth behavior over on OGR

[up148]

Yeah, catalogs seem to be a real waste of paper/trees and the most egregious user/sender of catalogs is U-Line. Buy something from them and you get a 1" thick catalogs in the mail every quarter for the next year, plus one in the package with the item you ordered. Even if you ask to be deleted from mailings they continue to come. We seem to get more catalogs in the mail today than ever before and none have been requested. Another project for government to stop. With the cost of lumber at a all time high and forest all around the world being depleted, catalogs ought to be banned....I thought the internet was supposed to stop paper catalogs

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Yeah, catalogs seem to be a real waste of paper/trees and the most egregious user/sender of catalogs is U-Line. Buy something from them and you get a 1" thick catalogs in the mail every quarter for the next year, plus one in the package with the item you ordered. Even if you ask to be deleted from mailings they continue to come.

The only one that I get once a year is from ULine - have not ordered from them in many years, and it's an easy inch or more -- everyone else just sends me email.

We seem to get more catalogs in the mail today than ever before and none have been requested.

Seems ours have really dropped off........which keeps the recycling bin from getting filled too fast,

Another project for government to stop. With the cost of lumber at a all time high and forest all around the world being depleted, catalogs ought to be banned....I thought the internet was supposed to stop paper catalogs

Not the Gov't job to interfere in how companies waste their money advertising. Funny, we export our quality lumber and then we import rubbish from Sweden and elsewhere to sell to the retail consumer. Go figure. If I could get 2-3 of my big poplar to a mill, I'd have nice lumber for the rest of my life! Yeah, paperless......we used to laugh ourselves silly about that before I retired. I still run through a few cases of printer paper every year. Reading off a screen only works for so long before my eyes demand break time

[robert.]

Yeah. The price of a 2x4 will make you sick.

[rogruth]

I have always been confused when I get a piece of paper that says the company is cutting down on paper use and it is delivered with every thing.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I have always been confused when I get a piece of paper that says the company is cutting down on paper use and it is delivered with every thing.

I just figure that they want to contribute stuff to start fires in my fireplace.

[robert.]

Summer is over and on to a new school year. On to third grade. Last year we were able to get my daughter through 1st and 2nd grades. Online schooling has worked well for her. For finances not so great. One income in the household is still rough. Our local school district and surrounding districts have gone crazy. Several schools have mask mandates and several do not. Pa's governor has issued one for all schools. He also allowed mask exemptions. No doctor's signature needed. Each side of this mask debate has filed a law suit. Some schools are forcing kids without masks to sit in the gym all day. Some parents refuse to send their kids to a school that has kids without masks. In many cases teacher will sit down and not teach if they have a kid in their class without a mask on. Several parents have mentioned teachers only take roll call then sit quite all class. Protest after protest. I'm glad i protested with an online academy .
The summer of day trips. Lots of places to go in Pa for the day. Caves, Zoos hiking and Amusement parks. Let me start out by saying " Don't bother with an amusement park. Most of them only have half their rides open at a time. Halfway through the day the move operators to the closed rides. This gives you a small chance to tryout all the rides for a limited time. Problem is it's not worth the price of admission. Dorney park was closed for 2-3 days a week. They were closed every time we tried to go. Several zoos had all their indoor exhibits closed along with their petting zoo. Trexler zoo was the worst. I don't recommend anybody goes there. I do recommend if you're in the area to drive through. They are located in a nature preserve. While driving through lehigh valley preserve you will see wild buffalo. I put the wife and kid in the back of our Dodge. This may have been the highlight of our kids summer. ridding in a pickup be seeing buffalo. Turtle Back Zoo in north Jersey is great. They even have a lake with swan paddle boats and a train ride. Pa has some great caves. We still have one on the list of must see. I believe it is in Center Hall PA. You view it from a boat ride. It is a little tricky to get reservations.
Almost forgot the summer of swimming lessons. I bought a family membership for the local pool (fanny Chapman). What better summer fun than to swim in a large vat of hand sanitizer? The day before lessons start my kid trips and gets 4 stitches under her knee cap. That ended lessons right there. Doc "said 3 weeks no swimming". And guess what? lessons only ran for 3 weeks. They had a lack of teachers and lifeguards. On several trips to the pool they had a few swim areas closed. All in all we made it out in one piece. On to fall!

[gregj410]

In many cases teacher will sit down and not teach if they have a kid in their class without a mask on.

Are the teachers vaccinated? If so why do they do this?