Goldfish
Are on Strike!
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We ran out of
food for the goldfish out in the pond in the back yard, so Jim
went to the pet store and got them a bag of something that is "DIFFERENT."
The price was
also different...considerably less than their favorite variety
sticks that they have had for a few years. Jim figgered
that, any animal with a 3 cent brain would eat anything, so why
spend $30.00 to feed 2 dollars worth of goldfish for a
month? I agree, cuz that's a lot of money.
And, anyway, they
should be grateful, cuz they was originally sold to us as
"Feeder Fish," which means they was made to be fish
food fer bigger fishes that somebuddy might have in a big fish
tank in their house, so we saved their lives.
Well, as soon as
the fish feeding machine dumped out some of the new food, which
is also shaped a little different than what they were used to,
they quit eating. There is a big white one that seems to
be the big boss, and it looked like he was the instigator of the
strike.
We waited fer a
couple of days, but out of fear that our 2 bucks worth of
goldfish might starve to death, Jim finally broke down and went
to the pet store and bought them the variety sticks they all
seem to like, and
now they're happy again.
What a drag!! Held hostage by 2 bucks worth of
goldfish!!! Maybe if we still had the receipt we could
jest take them back to the store, attitudes and all !!!!!!
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Sparky's
Back Yard
Page 6
by Sparky |
The
Split Rock City Railroad |
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Featuring
Construction and Operational Information About the
Railroad |
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Maņana
Tunnel Completed! The
Maņana Tunnel
was completed and installed on August 4, 2003. The name
comes from the way the tunnel was built. The large stone was
drilled several dozen times approximately 5 years ago, in preparation for punching out the center. This approach
proved to be much more work than Jim originally estimated.
Not to mention about a dozen carbide drill bits that were quickly
dulled in the process. It has been lying around unfinished
for all this time, and then, jest the other day, Gloria told Jim
that it would look reel good if it got finished and put in front
of something where the train could pass through it, so here it is. When
Jim first started on it, he drilled a bunch of holes through it,
thinking that he could drill about 500 holes and the middle piece
would jest fall out, and then it would look jest like when they
drill holes in a mountain and put in dynamite and blow it up to
make the hole. After he found out that he got about 2 or 3
holes before the carbide drill bit got dull, and it took about 5
minutes for each hole, and the lecktrik drill got reel hot after
drilling only 2 holes, he decided to jest wait until "Maņana"
to finish it. The
other day, Jim got out his circular saw and a diamond saw blade
and cut through the middle of a lot of the holes he had drilled
into the rock, and after about an hour and lots of sparks
squirting out behind the smoke that was also squirting out of that
circular saw, he finally got a slot cut through from both sides,
kind of like a rectangle shape where he wanted the tunnel hole to
end up. Then
he got a little jackhammer that runs off of some special air that
he makes with his air compressor, and he chiseled away at that tunnel
hole for a couple of more hours and finally got the hole to look
jest like in the picture, so the trains can get through it.
Then he lugged it with Gloria's two-wheel hand truck to where he
installed it. Gloria
got that hand truck for Mother's Day one year, to make her work a
little easier. On another Mother's Day she got her own
wheelbarrow, and the year before she got her own heavy duty
wagon. (When Jim went to buy that wagon, a wasp stung him on
the elbow as he was entering the wagon store, and he wasn't even
doing anything. That's why he don't like wasps, either).
That way, when she helps with the yard construction, it jest makes
her work a little easier. Jim is still looking fer a special
recliner that he ken use outside, and also, maybe a waterproof TV
and VCR to make his job a little easier.
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Sparky Builds
Retaining Wall
Jim got busy doing
something so he let me finish the retaining wall he had started
the other day. I got out my Powerful Steam Shovel
and easy chair and got to work. It was reely jest a piece of
cake. I jest scooped up them rocks one-by-one and put them
on top of the part of the wall that Jim had started, and in no
time at all I had it almost finished, as shown in the top picture
at right, but I ran out of more rocks
to finish it up.
Jest as I was
walking around to make sure everything was okay up to that point, a big
flying bug landed
on top of the highest rock, and the whole thing came crashing down
as shown in the other picture at right. To say I got
disgusted would jest be an understatement. In fact, I jest
went in the house and took a nap. You ken see what the wall
looked like, after Jim finished it, in picture #1 in the album
below.
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Sparky's
Backyard Photo Album |
1. South Wall That Jim Finished
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2. Installing 4th Big Bridge
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3. Steam Shovel Crossing Bridge
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4. Four Bridges & Maņana
Tunnel
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Big Bridges
Installed By Powerful Steam Shovel
As you ken see by some of the
pictures in the picture album above, my Powerful Steam Shovel was
indispensable in the installation of the 4 big bridges over
Fearsome Gorge.
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Trubble
at the City Dump
This time, the
incident I'm about to reveal really wasn't my fault! It
started out innocently enough.
Gloria bought a bottle of knee
pills to keep her knee from getting sore. The little box
the pills came in had a little blinking light blinking out
through the front in the middle of a picture of some guy's knee
that musta been sore, but to make it look even more sore, they
put in this little blinking light that was on a lecktronical
thingy with some batteries and some other lecktronical things.
Since I am always the curious
type, I tore the old box apart and got the blinking light thingy
so I could put it on the back of my wagon that we are going to
go to the ice cream store with, as soon as I can figger out how
to safely tow it behind my Powerful Steam Shovel, as shown on
the previous page. That way I'll have a sort of tail light
to warn drivers not to run over us.
Well, we also got to thinking
that it would also be nice to have some water in case any of us
would get thirsty, so I got a bicycle water bottle and taped a
long hose to it so we can drink without having to stop in
traffic. Then I got the idea that we could put the little
blinking light thingy on the bottle with some lecktric tape
(since it's a lecktriconical device), and put both it and the
bottle on back, behind the back seat, and we would have a reel
simple invention.
Well, it fit on the back of the
wagon reel good, as shown in the picture. (I had to
simulate the blinking light, where the red dot is, cuz I
couldn't take a picture of it blinking). Since we was
working on the Powerful Steam Shovel, and needed to do some more
construction work in the back yard, the wagon project was put
aside for now, and the water bottle with the blinking light must
have fell on the floor. Gloria
must have been cleaning up and threw it in the trash, and it
would have looked like the simulated picture below, that I made
to show what it might have looked like in the trash after she
threw it away.
Well, several days
later, we saw it (the water bottle with the blinking light) on
the news, out at the City Dump, surrounded by fire trucks, cop
cars, and a big black truck. They brought in some
experts that know all about suspicious things, and in the end
they ran over it with one of those City Dump Bulldozers that
smooshes down all the trash. They could
have jest brought it back to me to use on the back of my wagon
and saved themselves a lot of trubble!!!
Well, that's it for me, the next
time I find something that blinks with a little red light, I'm
just gonna leave it alone, unless I can think of something else
to use it for.
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That's
about it fer now. I'll have
some more pitchers when I get some more work done, probably in a couple of days and then I'll add them to
the album on the next page. --Sparky |
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Weather
Report
August 4,
2003
7:00 a.m. 65°
F. Warm, dry and not even a breeze.
12 Noon, 83° F.,
Hot & sunny.
2:00 p.m., 88°
F., 4 minutes of light rain.
6:00 p.m. 91°
F., Sunny & dry, ozone alert in effect.
What is
Ozone? Ozone is a form of oxygen that smells like
lecktricity. It comes from the "0" zone, which
means that the number "Zero" is somehow
involved. Besides smelling funny and being bad for tires,
paint and all life forms, it's jest nothing to worry about!
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Question of the
Day:
"Why won't AAA come and help
a feller out when the batteries in his Powerful Steam Shovel go
dead?"
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Bye,
Bye, Wasps |
Gloria
got tired of a lot of wasps that was wearing out their welcome
by threatening everybuddy that went out into the back yard, so
she bought a couple of wasp traps and Jim hung them out in the
yard. In jest a couple of minutes there was already some
wasps lost inside.
I almost felt sorry for them, but
if they're too dumb to go back the way they got in, then I guess
they jest need to go. Or better yet, quit stinging people
and they'll leave you alone!
To find out more about them wasp
traps, you may click on their website at:
Wasp Traps
Quote of the Day:
"Maybe I should also look
more closely at the Wasp Trap website, jest in case they have some traps
fer some bigger animals that I don't like very much. Oops,
I already said too much, so I better jest get reel quiet right
here!!" --Sparky
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