Trains and Cranes . . .

First off, we want to wish our daughter-in-law Linda a very Happy Birthday, Looking forward to seeing ya’ll in a couple of months.

About 1pm I drove over to the park office and extended our stay until Monday, the 6th so we won’t be traveling on the 4th of July weekend. And by the time we leave here Monday morning, the high is supposed to only be in the double digits, the very high double digits, but double digits, nevertheless,


One thing we learned to do here, or at least Jan has learned, is to unlock the rig door before the sun starts hitting it in the early afternoon. Otherwise the door expands, and it’s very, very hard to get it unlocked and open.

About 3pm I called the Wyoming Division Model Railroad over in Cornville, AZ to schedule a visit for tomorrow afternoon.

Wyoming Division RR 1

Modeling the entire Union Pacific route from Cheyenne, WY to Ogden, UT, it has over 45,000 feet of HO gauge track. That’s almost 9 miles.

Wyoming Division RR 2

You can read a newspaper article about it here.

http://srr.stparchive.com/Archive/SRR/SRR08152012p05.php

Afterwards we may drive on over to Sedona for a look around. We visited here several years ago with Nick and Terry, but it’ll be nice to see it again.

About 4pm we drove into to have dinner at Hog Wild BBQ, a great favorite local place of ours, with really good ribs and pulled pork.

As usual I got the big Sampler Platter, of which I only end up eating about a third.

Hog Wild Sampler

Then the rest of it comes home as a later meal for both of us.

And all you have to do is park in the lot,

Hog Wild Smoker

and the great smells from the smoker just overwhelm you.

I’m kind of tempted to just hitch it up to the truck and take it home.

* * * *

Ever try to win a prize for a child or grandchild on one of those crane or claw machines and wondered why it’s so dang hard to win something.

Crane Machine

That’s because it’s programmed that way, and and in more ways than you think.

Claw Machines Are Rigged

BlackTie Crane Manual

Ever grab a prize and start moving it to the opening,and then have the claw open slightly and drop the prize? That’s because it’s set to do that.

Actually the machine can be programmed directly for a wanted profit level. For example if it’s set for 50% profit level, the machine will only operate at full strength and work correctly 1 out of every 23 times

AVG Antivirus Professional 2015

Or you can just let your grandchild climb inside and get his own prize like this.

Kid in Crane Machine

I’m sure Landon would give it a try.

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Thought for the Day:

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. — Mark Twain

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