Good Morning All. Cloudy here and 72°; lower 80's again today. Current forecast has four days of rain beginning Monday, inevitable after so many days of south winds bringing in moisture from the Gulf. Current humidity is 82%, but that usually drops after the sun warms things up a bit. No real temperature changes for the next week and a half.
Under the cover, the pool temperature was 68° yesterday. I project removing the cover and getting things going next Friday or Saturday. It takes about ten days after that to completely warm up; chemicals and cleaning usually in 4-5 days. We are looking forward to the first dip. I'll go before my wife as I can tolerate 78° but she won't go in until 82°. Usually during the week before Memorial Day.
On the home front, we're going to resume the home remodeling that we started well before my wife's multiple knee replacement surgeries. Score so far is living room/front entry and two bathrooms done. And of course the outside of the house was done in 2013. So to start, we made an expensive trip to Home Depot yesterday and purchased two new ceiling fans for the upcoming guest bedroom project and another bedroom to be converted into her painting studio.
But while there, I also purchased a small lawn mower to replace the one I junked a few years ago, to mow those places that are very difficult to do with the 52" tractor mower. I'm getting tired of using the damn weedeater. In an effort to go "green", I purchased a Ryobi 20" battery-powered self-propelled electric gizmo.
It works pretty well, but it is going to take a lot of getting used to. It's mostly plastic, quieter, and has a lot more safety features than my old gas-powered one. During the test run, it kept stopping because I loosened my grip on one of the three operating controls! I also found it easier for me to operate in the "push" mode rather than self-propelled mode mainly due to what I am using it for. It will never come close to replacing the tractor on the expansive yard, Although the battery is supposed to be good for 3/4 acre; that is a lot of walking with the 20" width!
Meanwhile Sears no longer has an at home repair service for my tractor, so Monday a repairman is going to pick mine up and take it to his shop to fix an oil leak and see what's wrong with the hydro-static transmission. works fine in reverse but not forward! He chose that option rather than work on it in my gravel driveway. The shop is just 8 miles down the road. No charge for the pick up and subsequent return.
Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the neighborhood photos yesterday;
Chad, Moermusic, Smudge, Hughie, Troy, Sherrel, Guy, Karl, James, Patrick, Louis, Curt, Tom O, Tom, OB Ken, Jaz.
Another limited day in the train shed yesterday, but I did get out there to run trains and review my to do list. Haven't picked out the next project yet; the next four on the list involve crawling underneath the lower level. That's not the hard part, it's clearing the way! I did take a few pictures, but they're for some of the recent threads that
Lee has started like "Front End Friday" or "Western Wednesday".
I have been attempting to reorganize all of my digital photos and came across a folder full of pictures from a road trip made last May. I have probably posted some of these before but here they are again. We visited the "Roadside America" museum in Hillsboro TX.
I'll start with the automotive section.
This is a privately run museum which just displays the owners hobby. As he said, things may change next time because he often gets offers on some of his stuff. We were there on a Saturday morning and a sign on the locked door instructed us to call his cell number and he then came "from the back" to let us in. The admittance fee was $15 each, but on the way out, he gave us two $5 off coupons for the cafe down the street, which were promptly redeemed for lunch. Yes I had Chicken Fried Steak.
I'll continue with some more tomorrow.
I really didn't finish my comments yesterday morning since we had to go and have another blood draw related to my recent and upcoming cardiologist visit. So I start from there.
Todd - Very interesting switch tower find pictured yesterday. Wonder when it was last used as it doesn't appear to be vandalized in your picture.
Tom O - Regarding the random testing - we found out much later that certain employees SS numbers were removed from the rolls and would not be drawn. Mine and several more management staff included. Supervisors found with THC were offered rehab rather than termination. Hourly employees were terminated. At a nearby vinyl extruding facility that we purchased from, a new corporation purchased them and tested unannounced immediately and fired the founder/owner and the head engineer for THC. They had just paid the two of them several million for the company.
Guy - No rudeness intended. I just always found it interesting about the cooked fish with the heads after you posted the picture some time back. I have cooked fresh shrimp many times with the heads on. You break the heads off and suck the juice out of it.
James - Good luck with your Covid recovery.
The political can of worms need not be so messy. My parents were staunch conservatives. Our current first generation which includes me, numbers 11 including spouses, of which 8 are conservative and 3 are liberal. Sister #2 and her husband cancel each others votes. The next generation (our kids and spouses) numbers 30 and has 14 conservative and 16 liberal members. The conservative ones all tend to be business owners and their spouses, or associated with business in some way. Surprisingly one nephew who is an HR lawyer is conservative. My BIL who is also a lawyer is a liberal. We all get along just great now that my son has cooled off. Politics does come up occasionally at family gatherings but all discussions are friendly. Some are quite vocal on FB according to my wife who follows that dribble.
Everyone have a great day and a wonderful weekend.
