Good Morning All. Cloudy and 35° to get the new year started. That's been the same temperature for the last 36 hours and isn't likely to change for another four more. But the rain finally stopped after it changed into a thunderstorm around 8:30 last night. Really put a damper on the fireworks around here. I imagine that the storm has moved north to Doo-Dah and is pelting
Patrick with snow and ice. Clouds here won't go away until tomorrow, but it will warm up slightly today. I ended up with 2.45" in the rain gauge. That ends the concerns around here about grassfires. Since the county didn't mow the road easements since July, there has been 2'-4' tall dry dead grass lining the rural roads out here. Now we just need an ice storm or snow pack to flatten it all out so the cycle can begin anew in the spring.
The prime rib roast is on the table almost completely thawed, and almost ready for the oven...later though. I use the traditional cooking method. I tried the "closed oven" method once a few years ago and wasn't satisfied. My SIL has also not had good luck with that method either.
New Years Day Flo. Time for Eggs Benedict and a glass of champagne. Pour yourself one on my tab.
Thanks for all of the likes on the various posts yesterday everybody. Far too many to count and list this morning (over 75). Wife thinks that y'all are all crazy for liking me! Yes, she sometimes reads the happenings in the forum.
Didn't spend a lot of time in the train shed yesterday. Too many other things going on in life. I did a little work on figures but it was a bit too cool to do any real painting. About the best my two little heaters can do is keep it at 55° and I do not work on modeling with long sleeves. I did run a couple of trains just to keep the engines operating.
Here's an example of some cosmetic surgery that I often do on the figures to avoid having too many with the same look. About 15% of the recent figure stash has luggage. I don't do passenger trains so I don't need that many. Here's one modified and one original to show the difference.
On the original on the left, I am actually going to paint the luggage to resemble shopping bags and use her at some shop entrance.
Here's another where I painted the same figure two different ways. Picture is not as good as in person.
Young lady on the right is not fastened there and will be used elsewhere after some more minor touch up.
I posted a couple of in progress pictures of a January 2020 project, Majestic Hardware & Feed yesterday. Here are three more showing it in place on the layout with additional detailing like vehicles.
Moving on in the year in review, my first major February project was to upgrade and finish off a small town grain elevator and it's accompanying seed/feed store.
This is what I ended up with.
I intend to revisit this scene soon now that I obtained several more pickup trucks at Christmas.
Jesse - I just don't remember from your long ago posts whether you decided on HO or N scale. What did you decide?
Guy - I don't have any problem with the fishing stories and pictures. This
is a Coffee Shop after all. I'm like you though, I prefer beef, pork and chicken over fish but still eat seafood at least once a week. I do prefer it filleted though, not chopped in half!
My favorite edible preparation story goes back a way. While visiting my parents home for Christmas in 1984, my Dad asked my then six year old daughter what she had been up to. She responded in that six year old way, and said the "I helped daddy take chickens apart".
Dave - Best wishes and prayers for your SIL and husband.
Garry - Yes,
Jeffery was quite a character. We had been discussing plans to visit him while my wife and I were driving to our vacation retreat in Gulf Shores AL. He lived about 30 miles west of IH49 which is the road we always use. His E-Mail correspondence stopped in early November that year and I never got the exact address. Sadly it was because his health had taken a turn for the worse and he passed away about a month later. While his location was listed as "Sundown LA", it was actually Leesville LA, just west of Alexandria. He had also just started his own railroad forum of which I was a member,
Railroads of the World.
I have a brother whose birthday is New Years Eve also. The story is that Dad coaxed the doctor with a bottle of bourbon to ensure that he was born before midnight so he could get the tax deduction for the whole year. He was delivered at 11:45 pm. He could have been the first baby of the new year instead.
Mikey - I made the drink cups in the pizzeria scene from short lengths of styrene rod from Evergreen. I think that I used .020".
Hughie - Pizza boxes and contents are flat. They look great from 3' away though. I just couldn't take the time needed to actually make them three dimensional.
I am not too sure that I could add a decoder to an N scale engine.
Ken - You're so right about buying a replacement for something that you misplaced to begin with. Always causes the original to reappear.
Once again, Happy New Year to all of my friends here on the forum.
Everybody have a great day and an awesome long holiday weekend.