Good Morning All on this Second Sunday of Advent. Partly cloudy and 43°. NWS has added rain to this morning's forecast, probably because there seems to be a line of showers heading this way; although the bulk is north of the Red River in Oklahoma. Mid-50's today, upper 70's tomorrow and Tuesday. I have a chimney sweep coming out Tuesday since my regular guy cannot make it this season. It's gonna cost more.
Still doing the same old outdoor chores right now, splitting wood, finally finished the cleanup of the garden and applied some more compost to the surface, mowed and shredded leaves to add to the newer compost pile and picked up fallen twigs and branches from the tree line along the road to the east side of the yard. I got a new electric space heater from Amazon to supplement the one in the train shed. It sometimes gets too chilly to do any modeling work out there, although I can run trains. I just cannot do modeling with long sleeves on, they snag on track/scenery or drag stuff off the workbench.
Day two of home alone today. No furniture rearrangement this time, but I did exchange out a couple of pictures on the walls. Let's see if she notices. I took down one picture that my Dad painted and put up one that my wife painted. They both painted a large number of oil paintings. In another place I took down one of hers and put up one of his. I also rearranged some of those tacky copper kitchen wall hangings, and subbed in two different ones. I get tired of looking at the same old stuff every day. I'll see what other mischief I can get into today.
Thanks as always for the reactions and comments from yesterday.
Out in the train shed, I painted another 2'x8' portion of the Plywood Pacific. I also painted at least 35' of track, ties and roadbed. No pictures yet as they might be boring. I have gone as far as I intended on the ground paint for the time being, as any further will not only entail removing stuff, but also firming up what I am going to do with that corner. I am not there yet, although an additional grain elevator could be part of it. Meanwhile I can proceed with some ground cover and ballast. I usually ballast first and then bring the ground cover up to meet it. I may try the opposite approach in parts of this section to see if I like it.
Since I don't have any current progress pictures, I have to go to the archive. Maybe some flatcar and gondola loads.
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Troy - NOLA hasn't been the same since Hurricane Katrina. Given it's proximity, we have had the opportunity to visit a few times on our annual trip over to Gulf Shores AL. I also lived there for a year and a half in the late 50's-early 60's. The overall smell in the tourist areas, the lack of law enforcement against what is considered "petty crimes", and the exodus of reputable businesses has really hurt the city's image. While the French Quarter was always considered "party town" even back when I was living there, it has gotten more lawless over the years. I understand that many of the issues have been exacerbated by a combination of police corruption, police leaving the force after the hurricane, and the prevailing "de-fund the police" mood that has been prevalent there for over ten years; but I cannot definitively state that because I don't live there. But I can say that the city has gone downhill since Katrina.
That said, the cemeteries are interesting there as no one is actually buried.
Tom O - You are so right about hearing loss. I truly believe that 80% of my loss is due to rock concerts and the use of headphones when I was younger. I should have had hearing aids at least ten years before I got them in 2014, but I was too vain to check them out. The first day was amazing.
Todd - Yep! Another early riser here. After 43 years of getting up at 4:00 am mostly without an alarm clock, I still get up at that time despite some effort at changing. I don't mind, I like that time. Due to my hearing impairment, I totally sleep through the time that my wife comes to bed, lights on and reading her book for 30 minutes or so.
Curt - All of my main line curve radii are at least 30", with many at 32" and a couple at 34". As to which one that I used there, I would have to get out the template and measure since I don't have a written layout plan. Thanks for the possible ID on the signals. I'll go forward with my research now.
Hughie - No I haven't run out of blue paint yet. I won't paint the backdrop until I get the other piece of plywood sheathing for the near end. Somehow I ended up with an extra piece at 14 1/2" tall and I am one piece short at 16" tall. I use the shorter stuff on the lower level.
David - Yes, I prefer angled track, and set back so I can scenic on both sides and run trains "through" the layout.
Steve J - Impressive club layout.
Everyone have a great Sunday.
