Most may not know that I am a railroad enthusiast.

I’m not interested in HO trains or model trains. I like the Real Deal.

Perhaps more specifically, I’m not so much interested in trains per se, as I am interested in locomotives. I’m in it mostly for the power.

Because, as I’ve said for years, there’s nothing like 15,000+ horsepower passing by you at 25 or 30 mph in Run 8 — where you can literally feel the power rattling your lungs.

In that vein, I should care to refer you to my Milepost 154 Train Blog.

Because I live less than a quarter mile from the original Transcontinental Railroad lines laid down in 1864 through the Sierra Nevada Mountains by the Central Pacific, I am interested in railroad history, the CP, the Southern Pacific and now, the Union Pacific.

I have, literally, thousands of photographs illustrating this line, and many hours of video from my Sony DCR-VX2000 MiniDV prosumer cam. And most recently, a Flip Slide. My blog documents the past and current Donner Pass over Union Pacific’s Roseville Subdivision

Thanks for checking out my hobby blog!

BZ

Sen. Murkowski’s defeat marks major tea party win

I’ll leave the title to speak for itself.

From YahooNews:

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer Dan Joling, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 1, 1:12 pm ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Backed by the Tea Party Express and Sarah Palin, a little-known conservative lawyer from Alaska became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010.

In arguably the biggest political upset of the year, Joe Miller claimed the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate when incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded Tuesday evening. Murkowski gave up after failing to gain much ground in an count of outstanding absentee ballots.

Miller will be the favorite in November in strongly Republican Alaska against Democrat Scott McAdams, the mayor of Sitka.

Get ready for November, America.

Note to Conservatives:

Do NOT flag; do not fail; do not let down.

Now is the time to re-double our efforts in order to defeat Leftists, Demorats and Socialists.

NOW is the time to volunteer your ability to walk districts. NOW is the time to cut checks to your specific Conservative candidates — and not necessarily those of the GOP.

NOW is the time to send cash to Marco Rubio, Sharron Angle.

NOW is the time to defeat Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein.

NOW is the time to take back the House and then, possibly, the Senate.

Are the tides possibly turning . . . . ?

BZ

It’s in my confuser.

My desktop confuser at the cabin died. I received the complete Black Screen of Death, which read:

HARD DRIVE FAIL. HIT — CONTROL — ALT — DELETE — TO RESTART.

Which, of course, would bring you right back to the same screen.

Sadly, all of my photographs with my father are on that hard drive.

I’ve taken it in to a computer builder in Auburn today, and asked that as many of the photo files be extracted as possible. I gave them my Western Digital terabyte external drive to work with.

At this point I’m working with a small HP netbook my wife gave me. I am on dial-up. It’s only by the skin of my teeth that I figured out how to hook it up to my stupid dial-up.

Back soon. Once I figure a few more things out.

BZ

P.S.
Something tells me I’m going to lose a ton of family photos, and I’m going to have to have an entirely new computer built. What price can you put on irreplaceable family photographs?