The Whistle Blows No More

The whistle blowing the bells clanging the side-to-side rocking motion are some of the memories I have of the Newfoundland Railway. Many of my fondest childhood memories involve the railway. My family has a cabin that once was on a branch of the railway now it sits on what’s left of the rail bed, a gravel road that has become a highway of sorts for ATVs. It was a common thing for me to board the train at the St. Johns station for the long but enjoyable winding ride to the cabin. I remember sitting next to my grandmother playing games, talking to the other passengers and drawing pictures with my crayons for some of the women on the train. I can still hear the sounds of the train rumbling down the track and the scent in the air as I watched the scenery go by standing on the caboose. It was not just the train I enjoyed but also the people. There were others heading off to their cabins those heading home and those leaving home but the workers on the train were the most interesting to me. It was amazing to watch as the conductor using nothing but a walkie-talkie guide the engineer (who could be 50 or more train cars away) to stop the train placing a specific car perfectly in place just with the phrases one car, half a car. As we rode through each community the train was always greeted by people waving as if you were best friends just passing by. And I to upon hearing the rumble and the whistle blow in the distance would come running to wave as the train rode by and with out missing a beat the people would wave back and the whistle would blow as if the train itself was saying high. Occasionally it would stop with a parcel from home for me as I spent my summers at the cabin and always a bag of ice. There was more to the railway than just the train there was also the trolley or Speeder and the Section Men who maintained the tracks. It was just as exciting to see that little orange box zoom by it was even more exciting when they would stop for a break and give me the opportunity to take a look inside the trolley. One of the biggest moments of my childhood was being able to ride along with the Section Men for a day and watch them as they worked. Opportunities like this are long gone now and are just distant memories. The last train run by our cabin was in 1984. The last train to run in Newfoundland ran on September 20, 1988 and by the end of 1990 all the track was taken up. Taking with it a way of life that I dearly miss and leaving behind the treasured memories that I can share with my daughter and son. They will never experience the rush as the train rumbles past for them there will be no childhood memories of the railway just memories of waving at those zooming by on ATVs leaving a cloud of dust on the remaining rail bead of the Newfoundland Railway.

Me and my Grandmother on the train

Dentistry update

Well it's almost all over. I had the tooth taken out today so just a few more days of discomfort and it's a thing of the past. Something to forget about. Thank god! In the end it after the insurance did there part it cost me a mere $15 which is a lot better that the $2500 they quoted me. Now I just need a new topic to talk about.

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

News from the world of dentistry

On Saturday they started me on pain killers and antibiotics on Monday they gave me more pain killers by Tuesday night all the pain killers were gone but the pain is still intensifying. I have not been sleeping as the pain keeps me awake. You think of some really stupid things when you don’t sleep! Anyway Newfie Dragon Fly called my dentist yesterday and told them that I was in excruciating pain and asked what they recommended. The told her the antibiotics should have kicked in by no re-leaving the infection and therefore re-leaving the pain. She informed them the pain is actually getting worse. The asked her what I was on she got the pill bottles and read it to them they told here I should have been taking double the amount that the original dentist prescribed to me. So now my meds have doubled and I almost slept through the night yaa hoo!!! I actually slept from midnight to 4am. Hopefully today will be better.

Another financial kick in the nuts! -vs- Oh the Pain!!!

Pick which ever title works for you.

For the past week my lower right jaw has been bothering me then the pain isolated itself and intensified in the bottom very last jaw tooth on the right. The pain got so bad that on Friday afternoon I called my dentists office to discover that he was already gone for the day and would not be back until Monday. I thought ok I can put up with this until Monday boy was I wrong! Friday night I awoke in the middle of the night in such pain I wanted to scream. It felt like someone was kicking me in the jaw with a steel tow boot. I took some Advil and waited almost two hours for it to kick in before I could get to sleep again. Saturday started off the same way I awoke to the pain and took more Advil but now I also have the addition of being tired as well due to the lack of sleep. About an hour latter I took “little miss” to ball hockey I took more Advil before we left one an hour and a half later when we got back home I called Newfie Dragon Fly’s dentist spoke to the receptionist she told me to come right in.

I have to explain that for me to do this I am really suffering. I am also worried because the tooth that is bothering me is one that I had a root canal done in 12 years ago. There is no nerve in that tooth so why is it hurting???

Anyway I get to the dentist and two x-rays later I am told that the root canal has in the dentists words “failed and the tooth has become infected” I am also told that the root canal has to be redone and that because there is not much of the original tooth remaining I have to have a crown put over it at a total estimated cost of $2500. Holy Shit!!!
Right now I have having trouble finding enough gas money to keep the car going until pay day where am I going to come up with $2500. The second kick in the nuts is she also said that it will be almost a month before I can get it done! She gave me penicillin to deal with the infection and Atasol 30’s for the pain.

Let me just say I AM NOT GOING TO LAST A MONTH and neither will the prescription!!!!

Last night the pain was so intense I too two Advil and two Atasol 30”s and all it did was take the edge off. The prescription was for 12 pills I already have half gone and it’s only been one day how am I supposed to last a full month??? I am going to call my dentist on Monday so I have to wait one more day and worst of all one more night before I can find anything else out.