Good Morning All. Foggy again and 49°, another gloomy day in store with no sunshine until midday Tuesday. On the bright side (no pun intended), it's been 8 days since I had to start a fire in the wood-burning heater. Won't need one until Tuesday night, which most likely will burn continuously until mid-February. Although it is not unheard of here to have temperatures in the upper 70's on Christmas Day. Supposedly no rain today, then another day and a half before the wind shift Tuesday.
I only got as far as getting the new Christmas tree assembled and up yesterday. Every one of the 60 branches had three sub-branches and 35-45 branchlets to unfurl. It took both of us working on opposite sides of the tree over 90 minutes to do this. This should be the only time that it has to be done this way, as I don't expect to wrap everything back up when the season is over; just fold up the unfurled branches and hope that it can go back into the box. We switched to household chores after that ordeal, since those were mostly skipped on Friday. Decorating will commence today, and I expect to be told to stay out of the way when she starts wrapping gifts. Darn!

I will take a little time today to stash some of the wet firewood on the covered porch out front to start drying. Usually I can dry it next to the heater, but it's not going right now. It doesn't take long as it's only wet on the outside.
I do wish to thank all for the concerns and the well wishes regarding our deer incident Friday night. I am still mystified about the no where to be seen body. I do hope that he is recovering somewhere in the nearby woods.
I continued ballasting out in the train shed yesterday, I can see the finish line for the main line and the passing siding. One of the two loading tracks is about half complete, I haven't started on the other one yet. I have chosen to leave the track arrangement at the north end as is, partly due to the fact that I can't readily get a LH switch to convert the second track into a double-ended spur. Another factor is the tail track would have to move to a less advantageous location. That played into the equation more so than the switch, as I could have always left that end unfinished until I got it. No mundane pictures of ballasting today, so no wasted electrons.
Since I have no project pictures, I'll post from the archives today. As many of you know, I like laser-cut wood structures, Bar Mills in particular. One that I built back in 2019 was Oakleaf Shipping & Storage.
Gary - That's a nice layout that Brian has. I like seeing how differently he treated and detailed many of the same structures that I have.
Jaz - Depending on the time of year here, the vultures and buzzards also have to share carrion with the flies. When it's really fresh, within 2-3 hours, the coyotes have to be chased off. The coyotes leave on their own after the blood is no longer warm. Mother Nature can be gruesome at times.
Louis - I am not really bothered by the deer incident, but was just shaken for a little bit. I am actually fortunate to have lived here 42 years before it actually happened. Wild boars are worse, but I have avoided them as well.
James - I have an overnight dehumidifier which works well, but the hearing aids themselves are not waterproof.
I am not sure why picking up roadkill became illegal. It's part of a law that makes it illegal to hunt along public roads or right of ways.
Everybody have a great day.