AMERICANIA one of it's BEST

UNION PACIFIC STEAM

LOCOMOTIVE THE 844

FORMERLY THE 8444

THE 844 UNION PACIFIC STEAM ENGINE IS A PIECE OF AMERICANA THAT MY HUSBAND AND MYSELF ARE TOTALLY ENAMORED WITH.  WE FIRST CHASED THIS TRAIN AS A PAIR OF YOUNG NEWLYWEDS.  WHY CHASE THE TRAIN?   IT IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE TO RIDE IT.  YOU HAVE TO BE VERY LUCKY TO DO THAT, BECAUSE IT ONLY RUNS FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS.   THE TRAIN WAS ON IT'S WAY BACK FROM DISPLAY AT THE NEW ORLEANS WORLDS FAIR

ON A SNOWY JANUARY  29TH  1985  in this photo.  

 

It was called the 8444 back then because there was a diesel at that time with the 800 series number, when it retired they took the original 844 number back.


WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO THE IN-LAWS April 9th TO VISIT IN ARKANSAS AND AS WE WERE PASSING THROUGH VINITA, OKLAHOMA the HUSBAND LOOKED BACK AND SAW PEOPLE BY THE TRACKS WITH TRIPODS....HE SAID TO ME "HEY THEY HAVE TRIPODS SET UP ON THE TRACKS, AND I KNOW THEY ARE NOT PHOTOGRAPHING THE COAL TRAIN!"  HE WENT ON DOWN THE ROAD AND I SAID "TURN AROUND, LETS GO BACK AND WAIT"  COULD IT BE....A STEAM ENGINE IS PASSING THROUGH TOWN?  YES, IT WAS AND IT WAS OUR FAVORITE THE 844!  
WHAT LUCK IS THAT!!! 

I stepped onto the tracks to cross over to the other side and took this shot on the tracks.  The train was going fairly slow since they were entering town.  The crew love to hang out the windows and wave at all the Paparazzi!  

We got home and I checked out the 844 Web Site and saw it was on it's way to Harlingen , Texas for the Southern Texas Heritage Tour and would be back through Oklahoma on the 24th on it's way back home in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  
We would start following it in Nowata, Oklahoma and go north on highway 169 into Coffeyville, Kansas where it was to overnight.

 I decided I would video it while my husband shot stills.....this is how it went

The Video and explination on what happened in Nowata here. 


We jumped back in the truck and arrived in Coffeyville.

The on train Gift Shop was open

naturally husband had to have the T Shirt

THE UNION PACIFIC 844 

and here we are 25 years ago at the same location with the same train. 

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE WAY THE STEAM OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SURROUNDED MY HUSBAND IN THIS SHOT I TOOK OF HIM.  HE IS STANDING SQUARE IN FRONT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE AS IT STOPPED ON THE TRACKS AT COFFEYVILLE, KANSAS.

THE SOUND OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SIGHING AND COUGHING AND TALKING IS THE MOST AMAZING THING!  IT GIVES YOU GOOSE BUMPS, IT IS LIKE IT HAS A LIFE OF IT'S OWN. 

WE JUST LOVE THE ROMANCE OF THE TIME PAST WITH THESE OLD GIANTS.  

I know, I know, a lot has happened in the last 25 years and unfortunately you have to call it 
LIFE experience...  
notice I did not put my NOW photo there
LOL!!!!!
It's my blog and I can do what I want to!!!

ALMOST WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

I almost fell down when I decided I was too close to the tracks for the speed of the engine, usually this train slows down to wave at the people waiting to see it.

not this time....

LIFE IS A SERIES OF UPS AND DOWNS, THANK GOD FOR GOOD FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Well, I have been absent a lot lately and it has been just crazy around here!  We are still working on our house AND yard trying to get caught up after all the illnesses we have encountered over the last year. 

My mom had surgery for stenosis of the spine at Christmas and she is doing much better now also.  She had gotten where she could not stand to walk or even sit because it hurt so badly.  She is buzzing around now almost as good as new.

My brother had a heart attack in March.........scary had 4 stints put in and is doing well now, just tired from inactivity he says.  He is working on that and he will be here to visit in about 2 weeks.  Yeah!

The latest thing is my oldest cousin had a bad stroke and I have spent a fair amount of time with her at the hospital.  She and her husband had gone for a short walk and she fell in the street and it messed her face up really badly, it was the stroke that caused the fall.  It will be 3 weeks this Tuesday and she is doing so much better.  She has paralysis on her right side and still isn't able to speak, but I have high hopes that will remedy itself with physical and speech therapy. .

So it has been almost scary to answer the telephone around here wondering what is going to happen next.....then I read the struggles the rest of you are having and I know we are not alone.  

We all have struggles in life and we have to buckle up and deal with them, but we do have each other to keep us spirited on. I am grateful for my friends and family and my blog family.  Thanks so much for all the support you have offered over the past year.  I will be back posting with my guns blazing soon!   

DO YOU WORRY ABOUT OUR OIL RESERVES?

About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil and one of the Forbes Bros. was the guest..  The host said to Forbes, "I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer; how much oil does the U.S. have in the ground?"  Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, "more than all the  Middle East put together."  Please read below.

The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big.  It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana......check THIS out:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since  Alaska's  Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5..3 trillion..

"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.." says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.  It's a formation known as the  Williston   Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.'  It stretches from Northern Montana, through  North Dakota and into  Canada .  For years,  U.S.  oil exploration has been considered a dead end.  Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves..... and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels.  And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight.  And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from 2006!

U.S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World

Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world.  It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels.  On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction.  In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted.  With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?


They reported this stunning news:  We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth... Here are the official estimates:

- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia

-  18-times as much oil as Iraq

- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
-  22-times as much oil as  Iran

- 500-times as much oil as  Yemen

- and it's all right here in the Western United States.


HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy.....WHY?

James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped.  That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post.
Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find?  Think again!  It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to. Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?

Got your attention yet?  Now, while you're thinking about it, do this:

By the way...this is all true. 
GOOGLE it, or follow this link.  It will blow your mind.

 CHECK IT OUT HERE AT THE USGS GOVERMENT NEWSROOM 

ANYBODY SCARED OF NEEDLES?

Well I am and I have always been!  I used to have to be held down screaming my little head off as a child if I had to get a shot.......just the kind of kid a nurse hates to see coming!   I mean it, I was the worst!


I get a squeegie feeling in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it. I honestly thought I would never get married because you had to take a blood test to do it.  

 I did almost pass out when they took my blood when we were going to get married, seriously!  I just can not stand the sight of needles!


When the twin girls were born their mother, my cousin, was in a life threatening situation and she needed blood and plasma, and a lot of it.  My husband and I decided we needed to go donate blood to the Red Cross to help the blood bank in their honor.  

So off we go and we both gave blood.....

I got up to go get my juice and 

cookies before my husband and he

heard them yelling 

"we got one down".........  two guesses who 

it was.....

me, with my dress over my head...

So imagine the suprise when I decided last week to do this..

Yes, I decided I would go for an acupuncture treatment!

I have scoliosis and I have had back pain all my life.  

My acupuncturist had so much to do to me that I looked like a porcupine!

She did my back ,my shoulders, my knees, and my ankles. 

It was heavenly and I am so sorry I let the fear of needles keep me from doing it years sooner.   

It relaxed me so much and made me feel so much better.  
My back is not hurting like crazy and my knees feel better.
I am even more tranquil in my spirit.
Sleep has been good since also.
I went for my second treatment today.
Oh my goodness who would have thought!




Try it you will like it!!!!

Oh How Wonderful, first sights of spring

I always love to see the daffodils blooming.  They are some of the very first signs of spring.
It is my Mothers favorite as well as mine.  I used to love to have the tulips come up but the deer would just eat them and I would be mad at them.  So now it is just daffodils, the deer don't like them. So this way I get to enjoy
the flowers and not get my blood pressure up over silly little tulips.
The Oklahoma Redbuds are showing off their fancy color.  It is just bursting out in the back yard!

Enjoy the beauty of the spring where you live!

Easter

Warmest Easter Greetings!