Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 53° around here, clouds will keep it from warming up much more than 60° today. And with the wind slightly out of the NE, it will be back to jeans today. Real winter returns next Tuesday night.
Starting yesterday or today depending on where you live, the sun sets later in the evening despite the days still getting shorter. Sunrise still gets later in the morning until about January 4th. I don't remember off-hand what this phenomenon is called, but it exists.
Grocery/beer trek went without a hitch yesterday, but I spent too much. Wife went along and purchased items that weren't on the list! Since she went along, I didn't stop for her Christmas gift or stop by HD for wood. Gasoline dropped again to $2.69/gallon in many places.
Busy day today. I have a 9:15 appointment with a new to me doctor, a Pulmonologist to check out my recent chest X-ray and the wheezing in my lungs. the shortness of breath has led to a reduction in energy levels. Then this evening we drive to North Dallas for my granddaughter's birthday party at a restaurant there that we have eaten at a number of times. It's one of her favorite places and coincidentally was also the favorite of a late friend.
Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday regarding my progress.
I did a lot more ballasting out in the train shed yesterday, No boring pictures yet.
In between, I started painting detail parts over on the workbench. None will bee in this scene, but they were all in some stages of completion on the shelf that I removed at the start of this project.
I painted a bicycle and rider to use elsewhere.
Then I touched up an armored car with dabs of metallic paint.
I am still searching for the origin of freight car parts found on the periodic layout clean up projects.
And a stack of other stuff.
David - The 1500 watt ceramic heater is the best you can get without going to 240v. Energy efficiency among all makes is about the same. A lot depends on wind direction and velocity, and where the garage door is facing; but a room that size will stay about 20° warmer than outside temperatures. However, you have to have the heater on prior to cold weather. It will maintain temperatures, but it will not heat it up very rapidly from a cold start. That's where the thermostat comes in handy.
Troy - You do look like you're enjoying yourself, but if it was me, I would be by the pool looking at the eye candy instead of looking at the ocean.
Tom O - What an unfortunate turn of events at the doctor's office! I would dangle the threat of a lawsuit even though I would probably not follow through, just in the hope that the parents start to maintain some degree of discipline over their wayward offspring.
Dave B - The 350 parishioners is a best case scenario. The dioceses closed down two nearby Catholic churches because there aren't enough priests any more. Our parish is without a pastor right now, and has been since the previous one retired. So we have visiting priests for every service. They usually come up from Ft Worth on Saturday for Saturday evening Mass and stay overnight in the rectory for two Masses on Sunday morning. Capacity of the church is ~125, but is generally not always full except Christmas and Easter. I would guess that over a third of the active parishioners are older than me.
While it looks like a brick building, it is actually carved and painted wood. It was built in 1903 and it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
Todd - I like the smell of real evergreens as well, but as my wife got older she started having issues with the smell.
I am also curious about the warning sign to hi-rail vehicles in the BNSF photo.
Patrick - I haven't forgotten the ballast pictures, just been really busy.
Everyone have a great day.
www.stnicholascenter.org
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