Weekend Update 10/18/20

[Dave V]

Yeah, especially given the extreme gas-sucking nature of RVs...

It's a travel trailer at least...GVWR well below the tow capacity of our vehicle.  But yeah, it certainly increases fuel consumption!

[wcfn100]

Yeah, especially given the extreme gas-sucking nature of RVs...

Storage will be the big suck.  It used to be reasonable around here before the two fires, then the gouging began.

Jason

[chuck geiger]

While armchair modeling, I've been learning the track weather techniques that enhance the main and sidings. This is my
practice square.

[wm3798]

The new pride of the fleet.  From the DKS collection.



Lee

[Mike Madonna]

Testing out the Lark diner on the track before painting:

(Attachment Link) (Attachment Link) (Attachment Link)

Nate,
VERY nice work, sir!

[mrhedley]

We belonged to a Dalmatian rescue group for several years, since disbanded. Here's our Dal, Moe-Ray (standing), with one of our fosters, April. April was in love with Moe and vice versa, so obvious in this picture. To watch them tussle and wear each other out was amazing. To this day we regret not failing the foster process on her, where "failing" means you become their humans for life.

We were fortunate to have adopted a sweet and gentle Dalmatian.  She's been gone nine years now, and I still miss her.  She was such a terrific dog that I was reluctant to adopt another because I feared I would have too high expectations.  So we took a break and did some traveling that we had put off and now my wife has the travel bug (on hold due to Covid, of course...) and doesn't want another dog just yet.  I get to dog sit my neighbor's Yellow Lab when they go away.  Dals are seldom seen in my area these days.  The only litters the breeders seem to be producing are usually show quality and most are spoken for before the dogs are even bred. 

Here's a picture of her on our sailboat.  She was quite the Sea Dog. 

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[C855B]

We were fortunate to have adopted a sweet and gentle Dalmatian.  She's been gone nine years now, and I still miss her.  She was such a terrific dog that I was reluctant to adopt another because I feared I would have too high expectations.  So we took a break and did some traveling that we had put off and now my wife has the travel bug (on hold due to Covid, of course...) and doesn't want another dog just yet.  I get to dog sit my neighbor's Yellow Lab when they go away.  Dals are seldom seen in my area these days.  The only litters the breeders seem to be producing are usually show quality and most are spoken for before the dogs are even bred. 

Here's a picture of her on our sailboat.  She was quite the Sea Dog. 

She's beautiful.

Moe-Ray is our third Dal in our 35 years together. All have been wonderful - smart, with personality that oozes. Each different, and each a joy. Moe is arguably the smartest and most communicative, but I suspect that's because by now we have finally learned to speak Dal. All were rescues or lifetime fosters.

Dalmatian rescue was necessary because of the Disney movies. Each and every time one or another of the 101 series is released, the cute factor has the kids clamoring for a Dalmatian puppy, and Mom and Dad eventually discover that they are very active dogs, too active for small children. Our middle dog, Pixel, was rescued from the county pound "just in time". He was absolutely gorgeous - show quality, obvious personality - but was a handful in the "meet and greet" room which I suspect was why he was about to over-stay his welcome at the animal shelter. His paperwork said "no children in household". I discovered why - full body tackles.    He grew out of it once he figured out that Daddy knew how to play his game.

Moe's in his autumn years as are we, so we're debating over whether there will be a fourth. I say "Yes! How could there not be?", she's not so sure.

[nkalanaga]

What would you rather step on at 3AM?  Try a live mouse in the kitchen, when getting home from work.  It wasn't live after I stepped on it - kind of squished.

We had a small cat and a large dog at the time.  Neither chased mice.  They'd both ignore one as it walked across the floor, got a piece of cat, or dog, food, and carried it off.  We finally solved the mouse problem by buying a double wide, and having the house declared a storage building for tax purposes.  It didn't help that it was poorly built, and the floors were collapsing.  Plus the new trailer is bigger!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dalmatians are such beautiful dogs.

Our Shep Squad started when we went to the SPCA to "just look" 10 years ago. We were looking for a medium sized pup that would fit well with our townhouse.

And then we met Damian.



He sat on Terri's lap and we immediately knew he chose us.

10 years on, we're still glad he did. He's such a fantastic dog. Likes to bark at visitors, but otherwise is nearly perfect.

A few years later, after I started working from home, Terri and I decided to get another pooch. We started looking around and she found a listing for a 20lb "German Shepherd" with a wild story: she had been adopted, slipped her leash and then lived in the woods for 4 years before she was caught. Her old family had moved on and so she needed a new family. That was how Darcy came to live with us from the Mid Atlantic German Shepherd Rescue (https://magsr.org/).



After adopting Darcy I found out that MAGSR's web team needed some help doing it's regular updates. I signed up since I know a thing or two about the internet. Somehow I have gotten away with just being a helper there, and every Monday night it's my duty to post updates to dog pages, add sponsorships, and do whatever else is in the inbox.

Last year the group brought in a huge group of dogs from down south that were part of a hoarding/breeding situation. During all that they asked for people to volunteer to foster and since we had just bought a five bedroom house for the two of us we realized it was time to step up.

Niner was our first foster. She was a 1-2 year old girl who could hear colors with those big ears. She was a real goof and a great pup and our Shep Squad did great with her. I know they were happy to get some peace when she moved on to her forever home though, which happened the last week we could still meet with people prior to the Covid Lockdown.



Next up was Khaleesi. Khaleesi was an owner surrender when her human got deployed somewhere he couldn't take her with him. He was heart broken but did the right thing. While we were picking her up we discovered some weirdness with her hips so her stay with us continued quite a bit longer than we had initially inspected while we waited for her to get checked out by an Orthopedist. Luckily, even though she does have some hip dysplasia, she didn't need surgery. We dropped her off with a temporary foster while we headed off for vacation and much to our great joy we found out she met her future family while we were out of town.



Our last foster, Princess, wasn't as successful. She was an 8 year old girl who was a real sweetheart but was a bit too aggressive when defending her personal space and nipped Darcy. As I said, that crosses the line so she was only with us for a few days.

Fostering is incredibly rewarding, especially during such a weird year. It adds a bit of missing adventure to our lives and gives us a chance to do something good for some creatures that need it. After all, we humans do not deserve dogs, but we've been lucky enough to have them.

It is tiring at times and can be emotionally challenging, but overall I highly recommend it to anyone who's in a position to do it.

[wm3798]

Since this thread has become a pointless display of puppy love, I give you a pointless arrow...  The latest addition to the Retro Fleet.


Talk about a dog rescue!!

This was listed as a "Buy it Now" for $22, not in working order.  It had a bent wiper and and the wiper pads were filthy.  It took about 15 minutes to pull it apart, clean it, and get it fired up.  I celebrated my victory by ordering a set of those ugly Trix/Model Power Amtrak cars to complete the set.

Now, onto the dog story...


We were selected by Rigby when we took my daughter to a winery around Christmas time ostensibly for a craft fair that was supposed to be going on that weekend.  Well, the tables were there, but the crafters weren't, turns out the show was the next day.  So Julie twisted our arms to enjoy another bottle of wine... (not much effort there) then slyly suggested that we could stop by the animal shelter to ... you know... just visit.  An hour later we had this bouncing baby boy in the truck.  The shelter was waiving all fees thanks to a grant that had come in, we scheduled the necessary shots and rearrangement of his various bits and pieces at 8 weeks, they gave us a collar, a bag of food, and basically hustled us out the door.

He lacks charm and discretion when in the company of other pups, but otherwise he's the best dog ever.  And you can't convince me otherwise.

Lee

[sd45elect2000]

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Autobots ATTACK !

[sd45elect2000]

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Autobots RETREAT !!!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

He lacks charm and discretion when in the company of other pups, but otherwise he's the best dog ever.  And you can't convince me otherwise.

You know, this is one of the biggest mysteries of dog ownership: how everyone is capable of having the best dog.

It doesn't seem like it would be possible, but yet, somehow it is.

[chuck geiger]

So Jason Jensen really helped me nail it, or close on one of his track weathering videos. Kudos to Joey Ricard and NSModeler for their videos as well. UPRR Geneva Sub HO was super helpful.

[CBQ Fan]

You know, this is one of the biggest mysteries of dog ownership: how everyone is capable of having the best dog.

It doesn't seem like it would be possible, but yet, somehow it is.

For me the best dog is always someone else’s dog!  I like other people’s dogs but don’t want the maintenance of owning one.