Good Morning All. Cloudy and 53° this morning. Welcome to Earth Day 2021. Glad to see that cold snap came and went.
Doctor visit yesterday went OK, all seems to be normal and we'll know the blood work results this afternoon or tomorrow. They scheduled my next appointment for late August, so he expects me to live that much longer. Celebrated by getting some greasy fried chicken, okra and french fries on the way home. After a good nap, I uncovered the garden to survey the results of Tuesday nights frost. Looks like 3 of the 42 tomato plants suffered some minor tip damage, but all pepper, squash, onion, garlic, lettuce, radish and broccoli plants made it unscathed. Those three tomato plants will recover easily. Speaking of survival, 11 of the 12 tree seedlings that I planted last month are leafing out nicely. They will provide firewood 20 years from now, maybe!
Looking at the list for the weekly grocery/beer trek this morning. Beer is top on the list since we didn't go last week, although there's most likely a three week supply still in the pipeline. Already, the Vitamin Shop, wine store, post office and Sam's Club are on the list with Kroger. It will be a very busy morning.
How about a stack of blueberry waffles and a handful of bacon this morning Flo. Tell Mel not to overcook the bacon like he did the other day.
Thanks for all of those likes and comments regarding both the layout progress and the layout tour;
Patrick, Garry, Sherrel, Guy, Chad, Chet, Rick, Jaz, Ken, Gary, Justin, Hughie, Tom O, Joe.
With all of the other activity yesterday, time in the train shed was woefully short. And to top it off, I left the camera on and the battery was totally dead. So I just ran a few trains for about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile I still have a few pictures left going out of Vernon.
Across the road from the church and on the back side of the RR tracks is a small grocery store, that was quite common before the big box stores.
This is an old Walther's kit that I believe was just called Neighborhood Grocery Store.
As we round the "U", we pass by a semi-rural residential area on the aisle side.
And of course a fixture in the 50's through the early 80's, the drive in.
All of this area is on the extensive project list, as is much of the area between City Hall and here. Some is already almost complete, the neighborhood for example, but I recently got some jogging figures and yard junk to add to it. It won't really be a project, just a diversion or time-filler while I work on other stuff that is more involved.
Guy - Can't help with any explanation of the white painted rectangles on the boxcar. I have observed them before but never really asked about them. I have seen them on cars other than AOK cars before. Interesting seeing an AOK car that far north. FWIW, all AOK freight cars are leased, they only own engines.
Patrick - That's Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues doing the vocals on Jeff Wayne's cover of "Forever Autumn", in the 1978 War of the Worlds version. The original melody was written by Wayne in 1969 for a Lego commercial!
I wish they'd do more obscure songs than they do. Many very good rock songs that aren't the top 15 rock bands of the 70's, 80's and 90's.
One can only listen to "Freebird" and "Stairway to Heaven" so many times. That's why I have 40,000 mp3's on my iPod that I play on the docking station in the train shed.
Garry - I also read the news regarding the new KCS suitor. While I think that CP would be a better fit, CN's offer may be too much to refuse.
Mountain Man - While a herd of deer may be a rather serene view, they will destroy a garden in no time. I am not sure that any fence short of 6' could keep them out.
Sherrel - And I thought that I was the only one who still had my BSA manual from the 60's. I have to use it occasionally to recall certain types of knot tying.
Seems like a paradox to put picnic tables along side of a walking path! That would make it a stopping path!
I have an amusing story about dentures. A buddy of mine took his out while driving home and laid them in his lap. He had to stop to get out and check what he thought was a low tire, and heard a terrible "crunch" while getting out, as he stepped on and totally destroyed the dentures.
Joe - About the knees, they made my wife go through the X-Ray machine at the airport last month since the metal detector screamed at her! New experience for her.
Mikey/Jaz - Great to see modeling skills carry over to real life.
Karl -
Patrick beat me to the draw regarding Snoopy. Maybe you're too young to remember all of those Royal Guardsmen songs from the 60's.
Another exciting day in store on the SFW estate. I'll be on the tractor mowing later on. Everyone have a great day.