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A day at the track
Tomorrow is Teri's birthday, so today her mother took her to Foxwoods. I'm tempted to say she won 1.2 million dollars, and none of you will ever hear of me again, but the truth is she lost the small stake she had. But she had a lot of fun with her mother, and I'm glad of that.
Anyway, Sebastian and I were on our own for most of the day. I took him out to breakfast, and he was exceptionally good. Three times he hopped out of his seat and came over to give me a giant hug, and then went back to his seat - wonderful! And hardly normal behavior for him.
Then it was over to Wright's Dairy to get some milk; the door to the baby cow area was open, so we went in. Sebastian found a couple of baby cows, both of whom seemed glad to see him. One of them licked him repeatedly on his hand and jacket. He giggled like mad.
I only hope those calfs aren't destined to become veal...better not to think about it, I suppose.
Anyway, after we dropped the milk off at home I took Sebastian for a spin down to Providence, to see the open house of the Providence Northern Model Railroad Club. We got a little lost on the way down; the directions were bad, and we ended up on a wrong highway headed god knows where. I got off and tried to get back on in the opposite direction to retrace my steps, but a set of one-way roads, dead ends, and misleading bridges sent me ever further astray.
I hate being lost.
Eventually the whole wrong trail reached a dead end in an industrial area. I turned around and just tried to reach I-95. In two minutes I'd found not only a sign directing me to I-95, but another sign directing me to the avenue I'd been looking for. One minute later I saw a paper sign for the train show tacked to a telephone post...and we were there.
So we were lost for about 12 minutes total.
It was in an old mill building, on the third floor; as we went in, a huge, ominous pounding and screeching greeted our ears. Turns out a really bad band was using one of the spaces as a rehersal area.
It cost $3 for me to get in (Sebastian was free). The boy went crazy! Unfortunately almost all of the display was too high for him to see, so "Daddy, pick me up!" was the order of the day. I spared my arms once in a while by putting him up on my shoulders, but I think I lost about an inch of height from that.
After about an hour and a half my arms were overcooked broccolli, and my spine was a column of pain.
One thing that Sebastian didn't see was a replica lumber camp at the far end of the tracks. As one woman noticed (and loudly pointed out), one of the tiny lumberjacks, half-hidden and squatting in the woods, was actually relieving himself!
Somebody obviously had too much time on his hands.
The boy was actually very good about leaving, possibly because I had him say goodbye to all his favorite trains: a working Thomas the Tank Engine (with Annie and Clarabel), a tiny commuter rail (complete with "T"), and an Accella train that zipped around the tracks quite handily - unlike the real thing.
I'd brought the camera, but hadn't realized that the batteries were on their last gasp. I managed to get six photos by shutting down, waiting a minute, and then snapping like mad as I started up again; here are the results. There are three photos behind this cut.
Not a bad illusion of reality, is it? Until you see the top. Incidentally, the second train from the right is the replica of the commuter rail - it's the light one with a purple stripe. Sebastian was quite disappointed that there was no engine.
A closeup of that commuter train. You can even see the "T".
I rather liked this wilderness scene. The one thing I would have added to the display would have been real running water, as the painted simulations never quite make it for me - and for some reason I really love running water. But I imagine that water and electricity don't mix, do they?
There was a door prize, by the way: a large electrified HO scale train set. Our name is in for the prize; we'll be called if we win. The odds are probably low, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Attendence was good for an event of this sort; I'd guess that there were about 15 paying visitors in the 90 minutes that we spent there.
Sebastian charmed the requisite share of people at the show, by the way. The red hair never fails.
After that we headed over to Market Basket and got a lot of groceries, and then quickly over to Barnes & Nobles to pick up the latest Laurel K. Hamilton book for Teri's birthday. Sebastian picked out the card, purely because it had "kitties!". He's really doting on cute kitties lately. If anyone ever makes a book or show about cats who are also train engineers, they've got a guaranteed customer in the boy.
And that was our day!
Anyway, Sebastian and I were on our own for most of the day. I took him out to breakfast, and he was exceptionally good. Three times he hopped out of his seat and came over to give me a giant hug, and then went back to his seat - wonderful! And hardly normal behavior for him.
Then it was over to Wright's Dairy to get some milk; the door to the baby cow area was open, so we went in. Sebastian found a couple of baby cows, both of whom seemed glad to see him. One of them licked him repeatedly on his hand and jacket. He giggled like mad.
I only hope those calfs aren't destined to become veal...better not to think about it, I suppose.
Anyway, after we dropped the milk off at home I took Sebastian for a spin down to Providence, to see the open house of the Providence Northern Model Railroad Club. We got a little lost on the way down; the directions were bad, and we ended up on a wrong highway headed god knows where. I got off and tried to get back on in the opposite direction to retrace my steps, but a set of one-way roads, dead ends, and misleading bridges sent me ever further astray.
I hate being lost.
Eventually the whole wrong trail reached a dead end in an industrial area. I turned around and just tried to reach I-95. In two minutes I'd found not only a sign directing me to I-95, but another sign directing me to the avenue I'd been looking for. One minute later I saw a paper sign for the train show tacked to a telephone post...and we were there.
So we were lost for about 12 minutes total.
It was in an old mill building, on the third floor; as we went in, a huge, ominous pounding and screeching greeted our ears. Turns out a really bad band was using one of the spaces as a rehersal area.
It cost $3 for me to get in (Sebastian was free). The boy went crazy! Unfortunately almost all of the display was too high for him to see, so "Daddy, pick me up!" was the order of the day. I spared my arms once in a while by putting him up on my shoulders, but I think I lost about an inch of height from that.
After about an hour and a half my arms were overcooked broccolli, and my spine was a column of pain. One thing that Sebastian didn't see was a replica lumber camp at the far end of the tracks. As one woman noticed (and loudly pointed out), one of the tiny lumberjacks, half-hidden and squatting in the woods, was actually relieving himself!
Somebody obviously had too much time on his hands.
The boy was actually very good about leaving, possibly because I had him say goodbye to all his favorite trains: a working Thomas the Tank Engine (with Annie and Clarabel), a tiny commuter rail (complete with "T"), and an Accella train that zipped around the tracks quite handily - unlike the real thing.
I'd brought the camera, but hadn't realized that the batteries were on their last gasp. I managed to get six photos by shutting down, waiting a minute, and then snapping like mad as I started up again; here are the results. There are three photos behind this cut.
Not a bad illusion of reality, is it? Until you see the top. Incidentally, the second train from the right is the replica of the commuter rail - it's the light one with a purple stripe. Sebastian was quite disappointed that there was no engine.
A closeup of that commuter train. You can even see the "T".
I rather liked this wilderness scene. The one thing I would have added to the display would have been real running water, as the painted simulations never quite make it for me - and for some reason I really love running water. But I imagine that water and electricity don't mix, do they?
There was a door prize, by the way: a large electrified HO scale train set. Our name is in for the prize; we'll be called if we win. The odds are probably low, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Attendence was good for an event of this sort; I'd guess that there were about 15 paying visitors in the 90 minutes that we spent there.
Sebastian charmed the requisite share of people at the show, by the way. The red hair never fails.
After that we headed over to Market Basket and got a lot of groceries, and then quickly over to Barnes & Nobles to pick up the latest Laurel K. Hamilton book for Teri's birthday. Sebastian picked out the card, purely because it had "kitties!". He's really doting on cute kitties lately. If anyone ever makes a book or show about cats who are also train engineers, they've got a guaranteed customer in the boy.
And that was our day!
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Thanks!
I should have thought to check the battery, but by that point I was already two or three nights short on sleep and not thinking very well. It's only some strong coffee this morning that gives me the semblance of coherence now.