Good Morning All. Clear and a cool 71°. The cold front indeed came through yesterday, about 12 hours earlier than forecast. High yesterday was only 87°, today might be 93°. The predicted thunderstorms ahead of the front didn't materialize here, but did south and east of us. Dallas got them but Ft Worth did not. The rain in the forecast for today disappeared, but a second cold front Sunday may bring some. Winds are still out of the north and today is forecast to be the warmest of the next ten days. Interesting weather times ahead. Sadly, the garden is in shambles and it cannot benefit from this.
After dealing with a few household duties yesterday morning, I did remove one of the dead trees from the back yard. It took a while since I had to do some selective trimming of upper branches before felling the main trunk. It was located sort of between the house and the pool, and had to land between three other 5 year old saplings without crushing them. Couldn't drop it in the other direction because it would have landed on top of several stacks of curing firewood and another tree that was downed in the tornado. I was mostly successful, just barely grazing one of the saplings. I now need to find a new location for one of the Hummingbird feeders. Still have some of the trunk to cut up, but I reached my "one tankful of chain oil" limit. I did stop in the midst of the project to jump into the pool around 11:00.
Today must be the weekly grocery trek into the big city. The fridge is more empty than I have seen in a while. I have no other stops on my list, so we'll see what my wife wants/needs. The sales circular is depressing this week, there's nothing that I need in it. Same with the digital coupons.
OK, I always have admitted that I am somewhat challenged with cell phones. I cleared most apps off my new Samsung S-24 (Amazon, Tik-Tok, etc.) when I first got it. One that I kept was Voicemail, but in 8 weeks, I have not gotten one at all. Then I got two on Monday that I didn't see until yesterday. Much to my surprise, was the fact that they weren't only just recorded messages, but the phone using AI or something, also had the text of the voicemails! This is quite handy to someone like me who normally just hears garbled voices when listening to voicemails; and who in the past had to get my wife to listen to them with me. I hear these same garbled voices on the speakers at drive-thru's as well; which is why I always go inside.
Due to the wonderful outdoor weather yesterday, I didn't spend much time out in the train shed. I only ran trains back and forth through the recently reworked switches to ensure that they worked with everything. I did briefly examine that third Blue Box tanker and discovered some possible rodent damage on one corner. More on that later.
Meanwhile from the archives, a few pictures from an automated and animated layout that I have seen a few times on the train show home layout tour.
David - Your British railcars just look so quaint to me as an American who did all of my railfanning with the large freight cars and engines in the West. I love seeing them along with your detailed scenery.
Chris - I'm not needing the erotic shop. I actually have one in the works, but I'm not ready to put it out to you guys yet. Not as detailed as the one that you posted though.
Patrick - Thanks for the drinks, I'll be back later for the adult ones.
Tom O - Is the circus in Milwaukee affecting you at all? Or are you too far away? I'm not too sure that the other side has a clue yet?
Everyone have a really great Thursday.