Good Morning All. Clear and 75° with a slight haze. Despite the best intents of the NWS, it did not reach 100° yesterday, topping out at only 96°. That's still under our average for this time of year. Mother Nature will try again today.
Got up yesterday morning and we discovered that the toilets wouldn't flush well. I spent a couple of hours with a bladder getting things to flow again. My problem is an extra long sewer line to the septic tank that is nearly but not quite horizontal with only 8" of drop over 100'. Added to that is that we remodeled our bathrooms in the last few years and the toilets that my wife selected are low-volume flush, and I no longer get the "wooosh" through the line. The old ones provided enough water flow each time to clear the line all the way, mostly. For those not familiar with a bladder, see
here. In the process I discovered that my 100' garden hose was actually 115'. I was at the end of the line and didn't know it and ended up adding an extra 200 gallons of water to the tank!
I wish to thank all fellow Coffee Shop patrons for the prayers and well wishes for my brother. The trip to see him yesterday went well. He is physically able to move around well, except for his right arm and he is unable to speak more than a whisper. He is in good spirits and feels that he can beat back this stage four esophageal cancer, but the tumor has not responded to two months of treatment yet. He takes care of himself except for the feeding which a lot of other family members help him with. Two hands are needed, otherwise he could do it himself. A nephew and five nieces and their spouses all live with two blocks and assist with house and yard tasks, while our immediate siblings rotate the feeding schedule. He still lives in our family home that Dad purchased in 1961, and it is the only home that he has ever lived in! I pointed out to my wife that I moved out 51 years ago to go to college, and the exact same furniture is still there in the exact same places as when I left. She pointed out that my parents actually replaced the TV sometime in the late 70's, but he still uses it. She agreed though as she has been going there for nearly 50 years herself.
We went to my daughter's home to pick up the other daughter's dog afterward and ended up going out to eat at my granddaughter's favorite Mexican diner before heading home ourselves. It was a long day for me.
Thanks to all who liked or commented on my layout photos yesterday;
Tom, Troy, Sherrel, Steve J, Guy, Tom O, Christian, Karl, Garry, Hughie, Chet, Ken, Rick, Gary, Patrick.
Just a large apple fritter and an OJ this morning Flo. I overate at supper last night.
One of the rare days yesterday that I didn't visit the train shed, so no progress update today.
I did snap a picture of one of the local hummingbirds while it visited the feeder. Not as good as
Guy's picture, but these critters are not easily posed. It's just off to the lower right of the feeder.
Steve J - Yes that is a rather impressive trestle. I think that
Steve (dakota) posted a picture of it a few yeas ago. I'd love to visit that club which is just up the highway (IH35) from me, but is 950 miles away!
Tom O - I have been really lucky with the pool temperature this year. Partly cloudy days and clear nights have kept the temperature between 80° and 84° on all but two days since opening it up around Memorial Day. That will change soon, but despite the air temperature increase, it is supposed to still be somewhat cloudy for a few more days. Contrary to what a lot of people think, air does very little to heat pool water, the sun does it! Air plays a bigger role in allowing cool down though. This applies to outdoor pools only.
Sherrel - That's interesting about the Convair 880.
Christian - Maybe you should have given the chocolates to your wife during negotiations! I never met a woman who could resist them.
Chet - Don't you still have that '59 Chevy? By the way, you're no slouch when it comes to details on your layout. Great club pictures once again. I don't remember you ever posting that they had an N scale layout as well.
Karl - Move the laundry room and combine the rest for a bigger area.
Ken - I get the upper endoscopy every time I get a colonoscopy as well. Two for the price of one! Actually Medicare and my insurance supplement pays for it all so I only pay premiums.
Everybody have a great day.
