Good Morning All. Clear and 46°, headed up to 71° later on after 74° yesterday. Then tonight another severe norther blows in and the high tomorrow is only expected to be 39° with a low of 23° Sunday morning. Severe wind advisory tonight with 30+ mph north winds. Cold snap will be short-lived as it will go back up to the mid-50's Sunday. 70° by Tuesday before the next front on Thursday. Typical up and down winter so far this season.
There seemed to be a lot more empty shelves in the grocery store yesterday than usual. Not out of anything, just fewer brands available to choose from. Some things like Cheddar Cheese were only available in the 2 pound packages, but no one or half pound choices. I guess that due to our proximity to Mexico and South Texas, the produce department was fully stocked as was the fresh meats. Packaged lunch meats are not quite as plentiful (think Oscar Mayer), but I don't usually get a lot of that to begin with. Bacon though was plentiful and on sale - still higher in price than six months ago. Mask usage was pretty low except on employees. I suspect that everyone has resigned themselves to the fact that they're going to get Covid regardless of mask usage.
Wife's visit to the orthopedic surgeon was especially encouraging. At six weeks, her range of motion and other measurements are already at normal three month levels. I am helping her rehab by surreptitiously moving the cane to another room so she has to make some short treks without it. Don't think that I am being cruel, I didn't start doing that until I noticed that she was sometimes leaving it behind herself.
Thought that I was getting better, but late yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit rough again after bringing in firewood and cleaning ashes out of the heater. Shortness of breath all day, but not too bad until evening, and this morning that's still with me. Covid tests are completely unavailable around here and there is a minimum ten hour wait at all three local emergency rooms.
Thanks for the comments and likes regarding yesterday's loads and the progress on the detail parts;
Patrick, Smudge, James, Louis, OB Ken, Steve J, Hughie, Gary, Justin, Joe, Curt, Tom, Rick.
BLT and OJ this morning Francine.
Yesterday out in the train shed was a visual bust. While I did get a little more detail painting done, it really doesn't deserve a picture yet. Most of my time was spent inspecting and testing the recently laid spur trackage to the two industries to the north of the brewery. I assembled, painted and installed two Walther's track bumpers. I still need to install one more ground throw, but everything worked well with a variety of locos and rolling stock. I have only connected one of the four sets of feeders that I installed; the rest are ready just need connecting. I use terminal strips because I am not good at soldering. It was comforting to know that all worked so well without all of those other feeders being connected yet. I always consider multiple sets of feeders as cheap insurance against power losses.The next step there is to paint the rails and ties. I use a rattle-can of Model Master's Light Earth and just cover it all. Then immediately I wipe off the tops of the rails. Then ballasting and more ground cover. While I have to get on to the floor to connect the feeders, two sets are easily accessible without going under the layout. The last one will have to wait until I feel better.
Since I took no pictures yesterday, I will go to the archives and hopefully find something that is not a repeat.
How about Uncle Tony's Wholesale Meats? Sometimes referenced as four-fingered Tony's.
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The laser-cut wood kit came from Bar Mills along with the boxes. All figures all except the lady shopping outside and the dog are hand-painted by me.
Tom O - Tie bundles are looking good. I admire how neat and organized your workbench is. I wish that I could discipline myself to be that orderly.
Patrick - Good to read that your wife is doing OK.
Ken (D&J) - Yep! Thomas is the most popular attraction at train shows around here as well. Most of the participating clubs don't even bother with switching any more as Thomas and continuous running are the top attractions. While I don't disdain Thomas, I don't own any of that equipment and have no intention of obtaining any.
Smudge -
You may have already read your answer, but many companies include "handling" which is a different term that they use that means that they are screwing you.
Louis - It's about time that they caught up with that stupid crooked b***h. She sure cost the taxpayers dearly with the Freddie Gray case.
Gary - Good choice for layout weights.
Looks like you guys in the northern and eastern regions of the country are in for some nasty weather coming up. Only cold here for a day.
Everybody stay safe and have a great weekend, three days for some.
Sitting here drinking my coffee and wishing I didn't have to go back to work today. I miss being retired, but thanks to the cost of health care I'm still working.
