Good Morning Everyone. Cloudy, wet and 73° here on the plains of North Central Texas. The rain finally came around 3:30 yesterday, with about 0.7" and another 0.25" overnight. Rain is still in the forecast for the next five days and 8 of the next 10. Today and tomorrow will be cool at under 90° and overnight lows in the lower 70's. I don't have to add water to the pool for another couple of days now. On a normal summer day around here, I lose about a 1/4" daily due to evaporation.
Tomato harvest is picking up with 3-4 a day right now. I see a couple of the plants are succumbing to
fusarium wilt. This will shorten this years season, and because it resides in the soil for several years, will most likely cause me to move the garden next year, at least the tomatoes. I have plenty of fallow land, but it isn't in the same workable shape that the current garden offers. I guess that after 40 years in this location, I have had very good luck.
Most of the yard has been mowed before the rain, maybe 2.25 out of 3 acres. My hayfield is doing well with Johnson Grass since we didn't get to plant the usual Sudan Grass this spring. Some of that self-sowed from last year as well. There's really not a lot of difference between the two.
I had a successful trip to the recycling center (scrap yard) yesterday, profit was far higher than the gas required to get there and back. Prices there are up from last time, aluminum cans went to 35¢/lb, up from 32¢; scrap steel doubled to 8¢/lb and copper was at $3.37. Net result was $33 take home for about a gallon of gas used. That's not really a good way for an individual to make a living though. Main point though is that I got rid of everything for now, but there is still more. The real profit next time will come from the structural aluminum from my old single-glaze windows that I replaced years ago, but have never fully disassembled. Steel screws and glass fragments contaminate it and the pay rate is less than 20% of clean stuff. The structural stuff (6063 aluminum) is usually worth over 80¢/lb. That's one reason that we had such tight security at our window plant regarding both raw and scrap aluminum.
Thanks to all patrons for the likes and comments regarding the layout section progress;
Steve, Guy, Justin, Karl, Rick, Tom O, Chad, Hughie, James, Garry, Sherrel, Joe.
Just an Apple Fritter and OJ today Flo, Not really in the mood for anything greater.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued to add ground cover. While I waited for glue/water to set up a bit, I did a bit of improvement to a structure that I made about two years ago. It is a Woodland Scenics Landmark Structure called Fresh Market. I had never installed the storefront window glazing until yesterday. It required using dry transfers on the acetate, and I guess that I just felt lazy at the time.
I see a problem in the interior with the untrimmed door acetate that will require a minor trim now that I see it.
Then I got bored and ran trains for a while. Felt good as I don't think that I had run them since Thursday or Friday. I ran four freights end to end on the lower level, two in each direction, interspersed with a couple of "out and back" covered hopper swaps at three grain elevators. One at my largest grain elevator, ADM, involved picking up 16 loads and dropping off 16 empties. The other two elevators located in the town that I am working in, got 4 swaps at one, and three swaps at the other.
I didn't take any photos of the ground cover out there yesterday, so nothing new.
Jaz - Nice collection of tractors. If I had that large Kubota, I would have moved every square inch of soil on my 15 acres over the years that I have lived here. Regarding your bum leg/hip: Around the time that I turned 60, my body told me to slow down just a little bit and be more cautious.
Justin - Cool story about your daughter.
Hughie -
Willie - Nice blue house, must have a lot of teens living there based on the number of cars in the driveway.
The cars belong to all of the family members visiting for the reunion. I model an era when not every teen had a car as well.
Sherrel - That
Wemyss Castle seems to have a rather storied and documented past. It would be a good place to start exploring.
Everybody have a great day. It's a lot later than usual for me to be posting, but the dogs have required extra maintenance today, wet paws!
Hopefully, they will recover their spunk, and win the next 4. Dougie Hamilton, must have struck a nerve, with his cap comment, because Gary B. and Daily went through great lengths to explain why it was appropriate under the CBA. Also signaled their interest in closing the loophole, should the players want to negotiate a change. 
