The Depot

The other day I was telling my faithful readers about my home town of Dansville, New York. I had mentioned the Lackawanna Railroad had a depot on the East Hill. Now some folks called it Lackawanna Hill because the railroad owned the wye that ran for miles along the hill. The depot was atop a road called...Depot Road of course. My Mother, Freda, was telling me all about the great trains of yesteryear. She says that the building was black, but it looks blue to me. Now I am not one to say much about the woman that gave me life, but..."Mother, you may be color blind and in need of glasses!" Actually, she sees fine. I understand these events took place over 50 years ago. So she tells me that the grade was steep up Dansville Hill (that is what the Railroad called the grade between Groveland Station and Perkinsville) and each East-bound train needed a helper Engine to pull the load up this 12.6 mile stretch. I wish I could have seen, heard, and remembered those behemoths chugging up the grade. Wow, what a sight to see. My Mother and my Aunt Colleen are a great source of information about things past. Enjoy the photo! If anyone is a rail buff let me know.

Today is bill paying day. The U.S. Government giveth and then taketh away. Since I get paid once a month I have to pay all the living expenses at the first of the month and have loads of fiscal discipline to make it to the next payday.

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours with my chess openings. My little data base of openings is improving and soon I will be training myself to be an expert at what I have prepared. This system is much better than the old school way I was doing it. Now I have the means of trimming those bad, inaccurate, and wasted moves from my repertoire. I was looking at adding the Stonewall Attack and with a few clicks of the mouse I now have it in my opening book and I am learning it. Next I will invest about $50 in a tactical trainer and I'll be on my way to a good showing in the club championship!