Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 70° out there this fine morning. It's a little warmer than predicted, but the highs in the next ten days will remain in the mid to low 80's, like the past few days. Continued light breeze from the north has made sleeping next to the open window rather nice right now. Unlike
Tom, no heat for at least another six weeks, and we've only run the A/C for about two hours in the late afternoon.
Doctor visit went well yesterday, it was the annual physical along with everything else. He scheduled a return visit in December, so he expects me to live that much longer. I made the nurse practitioner fill out those stupid
depression/anxiety and
slips/trips/falls paperwork for Medicare, I just did that in May or June! And how many times do I have to tell them that I quit smoking tobacco in 1970? Mandatory eye photographs as well. The nurse doing them had obviously not had a lot of experience doing them, and after a couple of minutes of trying, the nurse practitioner showed her, again I think from the tone of their hushed voices. EKG was good, weight while not ideal is good, 40 pounds lighter than last September. Blood test results from last visit were nearly perfect. Calcium is slightly high. A1C was 5.6, so beer consumption does not need to be curtailed. I have to be careful as a borderline diabetic. I take enough medications already!
Enough of my health, Flo. How about a healthy portion of bacon with a pair of over easy eggs and raisin toast this morning. Of course that large OJ to wash it all down with.
Thanks a whole lot for the likes and comments on yesterday's progress report;
Karl, Chad, Lee, Jerome, Sherrel, Guy, Chet, Patrick, GT, Justin, Phil, Tom O, Hughie, Curt, Tom, Garry, Jerry.
Among other things yesterday, I made a trip to my LHS, 65 miles away, Discount Model Railroad. I was in need of a few supplies and I was late in getting myself a Labor Day present.
The Labor Day present is the Accurail Frisco covered hopper in the upper right hand corner. I quit buying freight cars in 2014 because I didn't need any more, but like a puppy at the pound, this on just jumped out to me.
Got four structures, three of which will end up in the town scene that's on hold from last summer. The fourth is a laser-cut feed store from Blair Line. That's going into a not yet built hamlet along with a number of other laser-cut structures that I have posted here before. Also picked up a few packs DPM modular walls that I will be using for some future background structures, although I might not be able to start soon because they were sold out of four others that were on my list. Managed to purchase four more vehicles, all from Oxford. I really need a lot more. Strange for me to say since I already have over 400 scattered about on the layout. I also resupplied my stash of metal wheels, Insta Fence and ground throws plus some Evergreen styrene and dull coat.
Time in the train shed was limited yesterday, but I did finish off Flo and Francine. I'll have to take a few close up pictures to determine if I want to "doll them up" some more.
I did assemble the vehicle that came with the kit without painting the trim yet.
I am also debating whether or not to attempt white wall tires. I will also look into the figures stash box to see if I have any appropriately dressed (and aged) companions to add.
Some details remain to be done. There are four bicycles, a fire hydrant and a messy trash pile. I already have some additional family figures that are going into the scene. This kit also has interior lighting kit to put in place. It's not WS's plug in system so I don't have to deal with that, just yet.
Tom - Grain spillage on top of covered hoppers seems to be quite common in trains that I see, especially when I watch from a nearby bluff in a friends back yard. It is more prevalent during harvest times, when elevators are rushing to load as much as possible in the shortest time. What is more interesting is when it sprouts after a light rain and there is wheat or oats growing on top of the cars. Lots of unit grain trains from the Midwest, pass my friend's yard on BNSF on their way to the export port in Houston.
Amusing story about the water line.
Troy - Sorry that I set off your paranoia of serpents. You're not alone. I should have posted a disclaimer. As I posted, my wife nearly has a heart attack when she sees one. I recognize the particular scream when she finds one in the house and she locks herself in the bathroom until I remove it. She also hates that I just release them unharmed instead of killing them, but they do an admirable job of rodent control here in the country. Note that they don't get into the house too often, especially now since I replaced the semi-rotted floor in the bathroom from when my daughter let the toilet overflow.
Your layout progress is looking good. Those railcars need some more friends.
Jerry - Love reminiscing on the old Lionel ads. I am too young to remember them prior to 1958 or so, but my dad kept all of his old catalogs and I did see them a lot during the 60's when "imagineering"
Lee - My dad had probably 10 Lionel engines and 120 freight or passenger cars. His mode of operation was running trains only. He only had temporary layouts set up around the tree in the emptied living room/dining room, every other year at Christmas. We spent about 10 days setting up right after Thanksgiving (on green velvet ground cloths), and began dismantling after New Years Day. He had two ZW transformers on different house circuits (blew fuses when on the same one), and delighted in running eight different trains at once. We always set it up so the trains could run independently on their own loops, some of which could also split into two different loops. Some were also interconnected and he used some old KW transformers to power those interconnecting tracks. He never shot for accuracy but he never bought "gimmick" cars like the submarine flatcar. Some of my brothers and I would all share duties when we were allowed.
Sherrel - Interesting factoid about the wildfire season. Here we just ended our grassfire season without any major incidents.
Among other things being commemorated today, it's National IT Professionals Day. A day to commemorate folks like
Patrick who work in their caves in the back of all of our offices.
Wow! I feel like I just wrote a novel!
Everybody have a great day.