November 08, 2006

Jeez, I can't believe I forgot it

In talking about my week off, I completely forgot to mention one of the coolest things, but catching up on the Instaguy jogged the synapses.

You will remember, I hope, my post about Auntie's funeral. I mentioned the tape of the old home movies, including Christmases past. One was when I was five, and received an electric train set. Turns out, and I didn't know this until we were watching that video, that both my Mom and Auntie had always wanted a train set as kids but never got one, and that's why I got one that year. That train set got put away after Christmas, with Uncle Jack planning to mount it on plywood for me. Well, unfortunately, the train set was forgotten and life went on for lo these many years.

Until...

...while going through Auntie's house, my cousins FOUND THE FREAKIN' TRAIN SET. Yep, stored safely away and in pristine condition.

Sucker still works, too. I put it together and the kids had fun with it. Way cool.

Posted by Ken S at November 8, 2006 12:52 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Comments

That is so neat. I hope your family enjoys it this Christmas!!!

Posted by: Army of Mom at November 8, 2006 02:05 PM

How freaking awesome is that? I love it.

Merry Christmas!

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 8, 2006 02:19 PM

You let the kids play with it? I'm sure you had to thoroughly test all of the levers and switches for a few hours, didn't you?

Posted by: Rob at November 8, 2006 02:22 PM

Well, I only played with it for a few minutes before getting mugged for it...

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at November 8, 2006 03:42 PM

That's beautiful.

Posted by: Nightfly at November 8, 2006 05:02 PM

I can't believe you don't have it set up in the garage, Ken.

Posted by: Cullen at November 9, 2006 07:04 AM

It may yet happen.

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at November 9, 2006 07:58 AM

I'm all for the train sets. It's time not spent opening the gates of hell with your banjo.

Posted by: Cullen at November 9, 2006 11:02 AM

See? Even the Gates of Hell cannot stand before the mighty righteousness of the banjo. If only Dante had had a banjo, he might have saved all those poor souls...

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at November 9, 2006 11:50 AM

He will come as a wolf in sheep's clothing.

I will not fall victim to your blatant lies. We guitarists have to work so hard to overcome your banjo terror.

Posted by: Cullen at November 9, 2006 12:08 PM

This time don't forget mounting it on the plywood! We used to have a little N-guage (really little) set that ran around our Christmas tree. It was cute but really small trains are a huge pain in the Christmas maintenance ass so we ditched it.

Posted by: DirtCrashr at November 9, 2006 03:53 PM

HO gauge is probably too big for a Christmas tree but it's the best size for hobbyists, IMHO. Small enough to get a lot of track in a small area, large enough to work on details.

Not that I'm a hobbyist, but I can appreciate a good layout. There's a club with a huge layout at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Even for a non-hobbyist, it's really impressive.

[sends subliminal banjo-appreciation messages to Cullen's brain]

Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at November 9, 2006 04:41 PM