Ooito line Kiha52 DMU final running March 2010

Took some pictures and movie clips of Kiha52 DMU at Minami-Otari station somewhen in this previous March 2010.


　When I checked an wep page to find which one came then, it said the red color one did. But the former JNR (Japan National Railways ) original 2 colors one did!!!
Box seats, rustic but steady handles in the control room and description that tells which factory built the car and when, its weight etc - everything tells this DMU was built in former JNR days.
　
　When I was young, there were many local lines which were not electified yet. The main railroad cars there to bring passengers were DMUs that had 1 or 2 DMH 17 series engines which this Kiha52 also had. I found this noise and step at the doorways of those DMUs wherever I went. Once when I got in the DMUs, the atomosphere there was pretty different from the 101 series electric cars I always got in at my hometown. I enjoyed the difference very much.

　As well as other railroad cars, this Kiha52 met the time to retire. I went to the station as I would have liked to take some pics and noise of this DMH17 series engine, Hopefully I would have made it to ride, but no luck because of my work.
I was just able to see the arrival and departure, I hope you also enjoyed the DMH17 noise!

Hayaokidori website

Pumpkin pudding

It seems that some pumpkins are now growing in our tiny farm, I thought it's just one or two, so I asked my mom to harvest them. But...actually it seems there are more... :o

I am not ready to eat only boiled pumpkins, so I cooked some pumpkin puddings. We have some mint as well, so many of the ingredients are from our own :)

Hayaokidori website

Making a layout #45 -- maintainance : lake

My HO gauge model train layout has a tiny lake in it. I used some "Realistic water" ( by Kato ) to represent water. It's anyway a kind of varnish, so it seems that it gets thinner and thinner by the time going.
So, I tried to fill some realistic water into the lake again to make it look fresh.

Tried to take kayaks in the lake, but it was as if they were glued to the lake! I was very careful to take them but see, the surface of the lake water was taken away :(





A vacuum cleaner was at work!






Painted some broken part to fill some realistic water. You have to fill the water slowly little by little.





Making it flat by a piece of wood.





Fresh water!!





Have to cover the lake all over not to get it dusty. It needs probably around 24 hours to make it dry. It's not like we need to wait for 3 minutes to get something to eat nowadays :o

I will take the cover away tomorrow.

Hayaokidori website

Things that are not sold in big cities

After moving into Hakuba, sometimes I find something that are not sold in big cities.
　A set of net that protects agricultural products from deers. If it's in big cities, maybe you can find some nets for bugs, birds. But I have never seen ones for deers in big cities maybe because deers are not there! I tried to find ones for monkeys , bears but not available.

Hayaokidori website

Twitter

Joined twitter.
　← This is our twitter.
Tried to put a twitter button in the template of this blog but I guess probably I did something incorrect. The button itslef showed up but when I clicked the button, another window showed up to say something like "a blank page".
I think I had better go to bed tonight, an old man should not invest some more hours to solve this kind of stuff by himself :)

(^^;;;

Hayaokidori website

Paraguay 0(PK5) vs 0(PK3) Japan : World cup soccer

Japan missed to go ahead to the quarter final, scoreless 120 minutes with Paraguay.

PK: Paraguay 5 - 3 Japan

Japan's 3rd kicker Komano kicked a ball slightly a bit higher to hit it at the bar, Komano held his head with both of his hands.
He cried and cried a lot after the last kicker of Paraguay successed the kick to throw Japan away.
I am sure Komano can never forget this event entire of his life in the future, but would like him to remember that we all got brave feelings to go ahead in our daily life.

Hayaokidori website

Delfinium 2010

Finally delfinium flowers are getting in bloom this year, too.
　Seldom find blue flowers for flowerbed. Our house is painted in red, so red flowers are not good combination with it. That's why delfinium flowers get our attention.

　As delfinium get tall, we have to have some pillars for support them. This is a little bit tough sometimes, but the flowers are very gorgeous in color and shape, no other flowers can not look like that.

When you grow delfinium, we don't recommend you to seed some if you were not patient enough because it needs around 3 weeks to germinate, not good germination(maybe around 50% or less ) and it takes more than 1 year to see the first flowers!

If it's in Hakuba, you need to seed some around the Golden week when cherry blossoms are in bloom here, then you will see the first flower at this time of the year ( rainy season ) next year. They survive under the snow.

Even when you get some pots, you need to put 4 pillars per one if it grows good. You tie the 4 pillars round and round by string to support the tall flowers. This is a bit hard work sometimes, so maybe you should not grow many pots for the first time.




Each and every pot shows slight different color. If you could have flower beds big enough to have many delfinium flowers, probably you can enjoy the difference.　



Hayaokidori website