Cat Nappin'

What a way to spend a gray rainy afternoon...

Let The Games Begin

This is a picture of the Union Pacific conference room that I was able to spend 45 minutes in today. I had an investigation by the company to assess discipline because I am accused of not being available for work enough.

I was given a 6 month probation... Here is the interesting part to it all... I work at least 60 hours a week and am in a hotel for at least 20 hours a week which equates to 80+ hours a week dedicated to the railroad. I have called in to take non compensated personal days an average of 3 times a month for the past 3 months... which means that I took 3 non compensated 24 hour periods off each month... Since I am on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year that seems reasonable... Not to the railroad.

What a crazy job...

Smooth as glass

Here is a shot of the Columbia River between The Dalles and Arlington. The water is as smooth as glass. The windmills on the hillside were actually all still as well. First time I have ever seen the water so calm.

For what it is worth... we were traveling about 70mph when I snapped this shot!

Now I am getting creative!

This picture looks kinda cool if you click on it and it is bigger... Just messing around with my camera phone settings.

Not one falls to the ground apart from the Father...

Saw this bird next to my truck at work and it made me think about the scripture in Matthew about the two sparrows sold for a cent... (see below.)

It is always encouraging to know that we are known by God and when we look like this pigeon we will be in a far better place.

Mat 10:28 "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Mat 10:30 "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 "So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

weapher

Spring is here

Time for baseball!

A self portrait

Get out of the gutter!

WOW... look at how clean those gutters are! Here is a shot of my bro cleaning out the gutters. He needed something to do so I hired him to clean out my gutters. What a great job he did. Notice that there is nothing in them. Thanks for doing such a great job!!! You will be recommended to all of my friends. :)

The comforts of home.

Oh what a feeling!

Simply Stunning

In case you missed the lunar eclipse I was able to capture it on film... As you can see from the photo it was a sight to behold! Of course I was at work at the time. The moon is the one white blip on the top of the photo not the white blip on the right side...

Despair

Sometimes I think life is tough. Then I look at the guys that live out of a grocery cart. You know... things really aren't as bad as they could be. Thank you Lord for blessing me!

Envy

Happy Birthday

Another birthday come and gone... You are getting older every day!

Rollin by!

Out rolling by an oncoming train on my way back home. Now you know what it looks like to be standing 10 feet away from a 60 mile per hour train at 1 in the morning. Fun huh!

Bedtime

Time for bed. This is am not pm. Long nite. Went to work at 2 yesterday afternoon.

Another long day!

Another long day on the job. This is my engineer at hour number 13. We are waiting on our crew hauler to arrive to take us to Hermiston. We will probably end up with a 19 hour day. Living the dream... And we only traveled 4 miles on our train!

(edited 08:30 we ended up with an 18 1/2 hour day... whew!)

One more

Another nature shot. Sunset in the tacoma area. Amazing how many times a week i see a sunset and sunrise sitting on the same train.

Happy Birthday Lauren

Sweet 16... Hope you have an awesome day!

Just for kicks

My engineer was all excited his new Sports Illustrated came in the mail today. He is a race car fan so he was looking forward to an article about Danica Patrick. I guess she is very fast and a great racer. When I looked down at his grip (for you non-railroad types...that would be his suitcase) I noticed the new magazine.

After looking a bit closer I was appalled. Can you believe a guy would wear a tie that looks like that on the back of a newspaper? The things people will wear in public... geez.

weapher

Puget Sound

Here is a shot of my train looking back towards the Puget Sound. We are about 6100 feet long so you can see the rear of the train around the bend.

We are traveling about 50 mph when I took the photo.

The signs of spring!

Sunrise in Tacoma

Caught this picture of the sun coming up in Tacoma, WA. The signals in front of us are all red and we had been sitting there for 1 1/2 hours. When I looked up I saw the sun coming through the clouds and decided to snap this shot. We sat another 30 minutes and finally made it through Tacoma.

Thought this was cool

Too bad they didn't have this stuff when I was a kid. Grayson spent some of his b-day cash on a new lego kit and I thought this guy he built riding this motorcycle was kinda cool. The benefits of being 10.

Hey, it was free!

Grayson and I were riding bikes today and we ran across a free snowboard. Of course he wanted it so I decided to strap it to my bike. Looks like the emergency pack, complete with two bungee cords came in handy. Now we have one more broken, used, what are we going to do with it, collectible...

Birthday boys!

Number One's Number One

The number one grandchild's number one child.

MP and Stephanie, job well done...

Birthday boy bowling

Gray's tenth birthday with his friends.

Happy birthday!

The joy of being 10 again. Do you remember when getting a sweatshirt for your birthday actually was exciting...
Happy Birthday G-Dog!

Actual speed may vary!

The typical speed of a UP freight train.

Walking out the door

Here is the view walking out the front door of my locomotive. About to roll by an oncoming train.

So I cheated... Big Deal

Here is such a great shot I had to add it to the blog. No I did not shoot it with my phone so I guess it is cheating... but hey, it is my blog so I can make the rules...

Lori took this one earlier in the week and I just discovered it today.

Great shot Lori!

What Sign?

Went on my run today along a new found path. It was a nice loop around some farm land and agricultural buildings... imagine that. It was a balmy 45 degrees out and quite nice actually.

On the run...still!

Still running... only went 4.64 miles today... gotta save some energy for work!

The unlucky commuter

some days you just aren't going to get there on time.

Blast from the past.

Was having breakfast with my dad and brother today and this car rolled into the parking lot. We got to talking with the owner and he had recently drove it down from Alaska. Pretty brave dude!

Thought this was interesting

Found these along the tracks waiting for an oncoming train. Kinda strange what you can find along the way.

It's Snowing

Climbing the hill in the snow with a train on the other main line...

Probably not a very good place to build a snowman.

On the road again!

well, back at it. 50 hours away from home and 10 hours later they call me back for more. Gonna need lotsa this...

Nothin but blue skies!

This is proof that the pacific northwest does get blue skies once in awhile!

What rain?