i've been working on the raaaaaailroad, aaaaall the live-long daaaaaaaay

too many things to do and no time to sit down and blog. but i did want to say that the husband and i particularly enjoyed our lunch last thursday! he picked me up from work and said, 'do you want to go watch them lay railroad ties?' and i said, 'yes' and he said, 'really??' and i thought 'silly boy'.

so we drove over behind the caboose (a noon-time eatery) and watched while the railroad gang laid the ties. pretty interesting. and nothing like you'd imagine if you were thinking 1850s chain gangs. there were quite a few strange-looking machines on the tracks, a number of them ahead of our view, and we got in at the point where one machine was going along laying ties beside and perpendicular to the tracks. then two other machines came along (one behind the other) and they seemed to sort of play leap-frog with the ties as they each picked up a tie and stuffed it into the empty space where one had been jerked out earlier (but not all the way in). that whole stuffing sequence was bizarre.

then the next couple of machines came along and fitted the tie the rest of the way in the designated space. in the meantime a worker person came along and laid down a small metal rectangle on the end of the tie.  then another machine came along and sort of made sure the tie was lined up right, or something.  then another three machines came along (in tandem), raised their section of the rail, scooted the metal plate under the rail, and hammered in the spikes. and yes, these machines all worked independently on their own task.

about that time an hour had gone by and we had to leave. it was fun to watch. but there was a LOT of downtime. that was not fun. still ... i always think you should stop and watch any kind of construction that is happening.