Smoke on the Water

Ummmm hello train!

I love this, it tickles me to death!

Trains are awesome.

There's Chuck! Hey honey!

I would love to create another blog and devote it entirely to trains and their awesomeness-ocity.

That's right.

It would tell you things like the engine above is considered "small" and it's a 70's model.

And the average coal train, whole thing, weighs like 14,000 TONS!!

And there is a conductor and engineer in the engine and not nobody can make them get off the train..

Not nobody...not nohow.

And when they lay new rail they do it in QUARTER MILE SEGMENTS...yeah not like a few feet at a time...That's for amateurs....

There he is again..hello cutie!

I'll stop now.

Some trains are 2 miles long!

I mean it, I'll stop.

They used to call the thing on the front of the engine a "cow pusher" or something like that...

This makes me sad:(.

But trains are the bomb-diggidy.

A single engine costs over A MILLION dollars!

That was the last one...promise...

So anyway I wanted to tell you about these here fireworks..

Pretty cool and loud.

The "largest fireworks show in the nation" just happens to be in Knoxville and I don't normally go.

I always say it's because I'm not that "into" fireworks but really, I'm not that into crowds..

The sweaty people, carnival atmosphere, someone accidentally touching me...

Yuck. No thanks.

HOWEVER this year was different.

This year Norfolk Southern, you know the "thoroughbred of transportation", offered to let the pyromaniacs launch the works of fire from their railroad bridge.

Cool. I know a guy.

Suddenly I was all about these things they call fireworks...and the front row seat wasn't bad either;).

The show was to start at 9:30 pm and Chuck had to be there at 8AM...long day...
So I finished working, got cleaned up, picked us up something to eat and went to see him!
By the time I got there it was about 7pm and he thought it was Thursday..I kid..but he was tired.

He was with a bunch of "big wigs"(I don't know why they call them this) and I maybe might have walked over and blurted out something like...
"Trains?I wanna see a TRAIN!ChuckWon'tTakeMe..." and the frowny-face won them over.
Honestly I wanted to walk down where all the action was and ask 246,000 questions.
But I didn't.
I have self control you know.

Instead Chuck took me to the engine and I blew the horn 16 times and cried when he said it was time to go.
Not really.
I kept my eyes from the so called "cow pusher" because I didn't want anything to ruin this experience.
And silently vowed to never let my cows near the railroad tracks.

We left the engine and passed a few "buffer" cars, which keep the explosives at a distance..duh..
And got to the action...

The metal building on the right is the "control room" for the fireworks.

Cool, eh?



The fireworks and bridge are behind the pyro-carnie in yellow.
That's what I called them anyway.
I accidentally said "carno-pyrie" once but no one was listening.Whew!

Before the show started it rained a bit so we sat in Chucks Durango because I melt in rain.
He had the flashing lights on so I felt all cozy like I was inside a Christmas tree...

Then the show started!!!!

It was loud.

For some reason I kept saying things to Chuck during it and he kept nodding.

Then I realized we both had earplugs in and he couldn't hear me.

He will never know what he agreed to..

About 2 minutes before the show as over I left to beat the crowds.

It was pretty neat to be able to see everything that close.

The grand finale was on the last car and some finale it was!

The fiberglass packing that housed the fireworks caught on fire...

...and the radio played "Smoke on the water"..

But it all was put out and no harm was done.

Now I will return to my unexciting, less pryomaniac-ish life and check on the two new calves in the field.

We are getting a good, soaking rain and that's a good thing:).

OH! Also a big "Happy 7 Months!!!" to my nephew Jackson:).

I love him.