The little Inn by the wayside

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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Railwaymodeler »

CWF seemed to be offline for a while earlier. Maintenance?

Couple days ago Maria, Skoda, and I went to dad's house. Dad and I pulled out of a display case in the basement, an electric locomotive my great-grandfather owned when he emigrated here from Germany about a hundred years ago.

We set it on the tracks and ran it for a while, with a few cars that still survive from my great-grandfather's collection. Plus we had my grandpa's old trains running too, and dad's childhood stuff.

So the old engine that my great-grandfather owned. We let Skoda at the controls, with both Maria and I assisting her at the throttle. Now that one engine has been run by five generations of family. Very amazing, powerful feeling. Railroading runs very deep in the family.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by eMTe »

Maybe one of your grand grand fathers was the true inventor of steam engine, before James Watt and other fellows, but fell into oblivion? :D

The idea was actually used by one of Polish directors in 1998. He made a movie, set up in imaginary XIX-century village, about his imaginary ancestor who created first cinematograph, before Lumiere brothers.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

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Just never know, eMTe. I do know my great-grandfather was a clockmaker back in Germany, he came over with two of his brothers, who, from what I know, were both skilled woodworkers. German craftsmanship also runs in the family.

Oddly, though, my great-grandfather and my grandfather were both skilled at building and fixing things. Didn't matter what. Grandfather and I would spend afternoons in his workshop in his basement when I was a kid. He was a skilled machinist and woodworker, even being a gunsmith for the mob in the 1940s. My dad is half German, half Polish (Grandma was a traditional old-world style Polish lady, though I never knew her personally as she died a month before I was born). As dad even jokes, being Polish and German means he can mess it up and break it, but also fix it better than before too. Then I was adopted, and as grandpa once told me, he thought it was the end of the traiditon of craftsmen. Nope. Seems my dad's brother - my uncle - has three boys, all biologically in the family, but none of them expressed interest in trains and none of them any good at building or fixing things. Then my dad adopts me, and sure enough, I develop a strong interest in trains, and am as good as any "Blood" family at building and fixing things. So the only adopted boy is the one who carries it all forward.

The train thing is even odder when you realize that when I was a small baby, in my carseat, when we were going places, if I was crying or upset, soon as we stopped at a railroad crossing for a train to pass, I was giggling happy, until the train passed. Then back to crying. It was then dad brought the old trains to his house. The rest, as they say, is history.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

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Railwaymodeler wrote:Grandma was a traditional old-world style Polish lady
This we have in common. My Grandma from paternal side comes from the the old aristocratic Lithuanian/Polish house named Załuski. She was some kind of oddity in a village where we lived, since she wasn't the typical old rural woman, as I recall her now. She spoke fluently that breed of Polish which you would counterpart in your sides with "Oxford English". My grandma from maternal side comes from another old aristocratic house named Walewski (check Marie Walewska Wikipedia entry). Actually, my possible link with Marie Walewska (and Napoleon) was studied in the past not only by me, but also by my uncle, but the attempts failed. Parish registers end sometime in 1870. But the theory remains. ^^
Railwaymodeler wrote:As dad even jokes, being Polish and German means he can mess it up and break it, but also fix it better than before too.
Accidentally you reminded me of the old joke (coming in many versions) which usually involve The Devil, German, Russian and Pole.

The Devil caught German, Russian and Pole and faced them with the task to prove who is most clever. There's a closed empty room where each of them is isolated for one hour, together with two small steel balls.

The German enters first. After an hour he is released and he explains to Devil how he invented the game of Petanque and explains him the rules and how fun the game is. Devil nods with understanding and puts Russian in the room.

After an hour The Russian is released. When asked by The Devil what he did with the balls he answers that he just sat in the corner and began staring at balls, but couldnt come up with anything fruitful or interesting.

The Pole enters as the last one. After an hour Devil opens the door and sees The Pole standing smiling at him. While he explores the room he finds out that The Pole lost one of the balls and the second one is broken. The Devil nods to himself and self-destructs.

---

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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Railwaymodeler »

We had heavy rain for a while here. The kind that if my dad is driving, he calls it a "Polish car wash".

I still think it an odd twist of fate that the one adopted boy among those my age, is the only one who carries forward tradition. Doesn't bother me, just means I don't have to share trains with cousins who live 1,500 miles away.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

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eMTe wrote:The Pole lost one of the balls and the second one is broken
I read that joke to my wife, afterwards she asked if I was Polish. Not sure where she was going with this I said, "I don't think so, why?" Her response: "Because that sounds like something you'd do." :lol:
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by eMTe »

If she thinks that it's so easy to lose a ball in isolated empty room if you're not Polish then tell her that she doesn't know what she's talking about. :D

I run another 20 kms today. The weather was perfect, as it was rather cold and earlier this day we had rainfalls. The funny thing is when I begun to run longer distances I learned from online article that running is no longer popular (I guess since it isn't here now, it isn't popular in the so-called West for a little bit longer), now triathlon is popular. Come to think, before I even thought of running marathon it already ceased to be popular form of activity. How sad. I'm two stages behind the mass society.

Anyway, BRR time.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Tormuse »

*Comes out of lurking*

Happy Birthday, Chroelle! :D Hope you had a good time! :)

And while I'm here, Happy Birthday, Registrator-test! :P (Well, that's the name that shows up on the front page) ;)

*Resumes lurking*
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by jayenkai »

Aw, I missed a cake day :(

Happy Birthday!!!!

*eats fictional cake*nom nom nom*
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Pager »

I'm sure the cake is stale today, but...

Happy Birthday Chroelle!!

:Clap: :Clap: :Clap: :Clap:
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Pater Alf »

Damned, I missed Chroelle's birthday by a whole week.... :shock:

But it seems he wasn't around and so I will say it too and pretend that I wasn't too late:

Happy Birthday, Chroelle!!!

Have to say that the cake tastes a little strange after a week though...
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Pager »

I really hope it wasn't cheese cake.

I've had week old cheese cake before...it was definitely better the first day. :lol:
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Chroelle »

Thanks for the congrats people. :) Seems I missed my birthday by 11 days.

I have a hectic day ahead of me so I deided to drop by... How else should I be spending the day... Oh...yeah...being busy.
I just felt like dropping by as I renewed the webhotel for another year just now.

I hope everyone enjoyed the time while I was away (mostly because - if you didn't then it would be a long time to be miserable...). Currently things are looking up a bit. I have a longhauled case with a company that repaired my phone, which is stressing me out. They have so far made my phone useless for months, but they are having their last go at repairing it, before I can sue them for a new one.
At work I am neckdeep in 3 different projects, which means work when I come home at night.

On the plusside Molly is starting to get past her whole "age of independence and WANT-TO-DO-IT-MYSELF-period" which is making things alot easier. Anna is starting to catch on to the whole reading thing, which is quite cool to watch as a parent. She comes running out of her room screaming for us, to tell us that she just spotted the words MOM and AND in a book she was looking at. The extra cool thing was that the book was about a girl named ANNA, SO all of a sudden she was reading a more words in a row. MOM AND ANNA ... I hope you all get to experience that feeling some day! PURE PRIDE!

Oh and I am starting to read myself again, which always means ALOT to me. I just read "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. Those should be read one after the other in that order! Amazing to begin reading again. Now I started something different by reading Jasper Fforde again "The big over-easy".

Running is starting to be a part of my life again as well, but I am no way near as fit as I have been this time 2-3 years ago.

eMTe - I wonder how you always seem to end up where crazy people are already (present company incl). And not surprisingly, you might be related to Napoleon. :lol:
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by eMTe »

It's called karass.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

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Seems I missed Chroelle's birthday here. Been very busy with little time to post. Happy very late birthday, C!

We've set a firm date to be out of Illinois, and that is to be out no later than the end of this month. The house we are buying in northern Wisconsin, now has to be subject to more groundwater testing. Seems an old logging outfit about 30 miles away upstream (There's a small stream that goes though the property), had dumped hazardous chemicals into the water, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - DNR - won't allow the property to change hands until they know for sure what is in the ground.

So we plan to rent for a month or two, whatever it takes for them to get everything figured out.

Getting everything finally packed up. The train collection has been quite time consuming. Filled many, many boxes and there is still trains to pack.

Skoda has become rather active. She's gotten to where she has boundless energy and mom and dad can't keep up anymore. Maria and I are taking turns trying to quiet her down tonight.

She's figured out a few words so far, amazing for a child that isn't even two yet. She sits down on the floor in front of the parts of the model railroad that are still up and screams "PLAY TRAIN". In a way, I am very proud of her. I think that there will indeed be a fifth generation to pass the trains onto someday.

Despite being as energy-draining as it is, Maria is talking about maybe having another baby. I like the idea myself, but know that it might not happen. Skoda took years to conceive, even though the doctors could find nothing wrong with either of us to make it so difficult, so who knows how long it might take for another one...

C, I think I know what that sense of pride is like. It is a wonderful feeling. I started reading at two years old, Skoda is a year and a half now, so perhaps in the next year she will read too. She is already very advanced for her age as it is. That girl is going to be the smartest in her class when she is older, which frankly worries me.

I was at the top of my class for a couple years, it isn't easy socially. Thankfully in Junior High and High School, I wasn't much concerned with what other people thought or did, instead focusing on my education. I hope Maria and I can instill this in Skoda too. I've already decided that when he hits 10-11 years old I will start fortifying the house so that by the time she is 13, no boy could possibly make it to our door in one piece. If he can get through the minefield, past the line of snipers, through the moat filled with large alligators, through the second moat with electric eels, past the hungry lion's den, and evade the air to ground missile planes, then he still has to answer to me, who will not hesitate to wring his neck if I don't like him.

My turn with Skoda now.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

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Railwaymodeler wrote:I started reading at two years old,
You too?

Since my coathanger is still here *cough* that reminds me my short childhood experience with academic psychology. After I read Three Musketeers (fully understood it) and only a bit later I wrote a short (16-20 pages, I bet the exercise book is still somewhere in the attic at my old house) novel (inspired by Highway to Heaven tv series, very popular in Poland then) at the age of 6 the kindergarten women, together with my parents decided that I should be examined. So I had to face standard kid psychology tests involving drawing my house and family, staring at various shapes etc. The funny thing is that it was decided that I should be immediately moved to school, together with 11-year olds. Thankfully, since my parents were suspicious, another psychologist decided that it will bring me more harm than good, on psychosocial dev. level, so I stayed with kids who only learn to read.

Of course obligatory kindergarten and school killed my potential skills, together with my drawing skills, but I feel that they sort of return now, when I don't have to face the system. My interest in philosophy and psychology, tendency to give away large sums of money to people who I deem worthy, fascination with language, pursuit for fun and truth regardless of what mass society currently understands as fun and truth. Sometimes I feel like 'something' is hidden deep in me and begs me to reveal it. The point is, I still don't know what it is.

One thing that haunts me to this day is a conversation between my mother and the psychology woman which I overheard. They were alarmed that I use only black colour when writing and drawing. I don't know why I remember it.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Railwaymodeler »

I used to read and write quite a lot. In Junior High I wrote a story almost 70 typewritten pages long. Typed on a computer, 10 point font (My standard at the time). Single spaced.

Then wrote one over 350 pages (Same deal, 10pt font single space) a few years later.

Plus I would read quite a lot when younger. An hour before I wanted to go to bed, I would lay down, turn on my reading light (Our family cats would all curl up with me at this point too) and read for an hour. In High School I would eat lunch in under five minutes then retreat to the library. I knew all the librarians by first name, had the key to the copier machine, so that I did not have to pay ten cents per copy, and didn't even have to formally check out books - just had to bring it back whenever I was done with it. Then as I got into my young adult years I found I had little time for it anymore.

Don't even get me started about standardized testing and child psychologists....
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

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Railwaymodeler wrote:had the key to the copier machine,
You had it, I am it.
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by eMTe »

Time for the BRR.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC THE VIKING!!! :D

And even if you don't lurk, maybe somebody who remembers you lurks. And it counts. 8)
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Re: The little Inn by the wayside

Post by Railwaymodeler »

I remember him!


We've been thinking around here, after we move to Wisconsin, I should find a replacement for Pace. I suggest Darius McCollum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_McCollum

Has the same disability as I do, same fascination with transport. But my New York doppleganger has one major difference: He's spent a good portion of his life behind bars for impersonating transit employees, while on the other hand... (You all can probably guess the rest here!)

I think he should be our parting present to Pace!
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