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I was starting to get comfortable with the notion the house would not sell. It did. My neighbor, good o’l George, put his house on the market just when ours was coming off. This resulted in a lot of spill-over traffic. Turns out, what we lacked in upgrades we were able to make up for in “location”. We received and accepted a very reasonable offer. Good thing too. My neighbors would have killed me for accepting anything less. That’s not to say I am happy to have sold the house. Heck. Now I’m house-less. I miss it. Where once my “private” patio overlooked a serene canyon with birds and whispering palms, I now enjoy a great close up view of the apartment complex parking lot joined by the I15 Freeway only yards from the lots edge. This sucks. But hey, I picked the place out, smart guy that I am. Second to a yard, I miss my neighbors. Joe, John, Gras, and Sheri. And George, and Frank, and Tim . . . those two guys with the dogs, life was good.

I also miss the quiet, and the garage. There is something to be said about groceries and an attached garage with a full size fridge. Right now I have to walk a block to my assigned space. Sure, exercise is good. Right.

The adventure has begun.

Ok, this one’s not mine. I ran across this a while back and promptly lost it. Somehow, it ended up in my inbox, sent from a good friend with shared interests. While it begs to be verified, it is an interesting statement. I do not know the origin.

How Standards Are Created

The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used.

Why did “they” use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Continue Reading »