Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and a cool 68°. Rain had been predicted for today, but it surprised the weather geeks by coming last night around 8:30. Much more bark than bite. Winds were a steady 27 mph with gusts at 36 mph. Only left 0.25" in the rain gauge. I'm surprised that the ground is still wet this morning. I had irrigated the garden Sunday night because I didn't trust their forecast, so it isn't lacking. High today and tomorrow just around 90°, then even cooler until Saturday. But given the NWS track record around here, anything can happen. They've been mostly off for the past 3-4 years
The primary care doctor appointment yesterday went OK. I'm still not consistent with the BP readings, but mostly they are in my acceptable range. Pulse is still a lot lower than it used to be, mostly in the 55-59 range. He made a medication adjustment so we'll see how that goes. At 7:00 this morning everything was lower than normal, at 126/69 and pulse at 50. Yesterday was the first time in probably 15 years that I didn't have a blood draw! But the hospital did 3 just 2 weeks ago. Other than that, nothing notable yesterday, I mostly rested and used the pool!
Today I have the semi-annual Ophthalmologist visit at 9:30. Just a follow up to the cataract surgery from 2 years ago. I still see 20/20 without glasses and the cloudiness in the corners of my eyes has not returned. They'll check everything and schedule another appointment for early January.
I did make it out to the train shed yesterday for a bit. I ran trains. I did do a random maintenance check on a unit grain train, something I do every so often. Checked couplers and trucks and look for missing or broken parts. Of the 18 cars that I looked at, I cleaned the metal wheels on 7 and replaced the Accumate couplers on another car. Both trip pins were missing. It was built before I wised up and started dipping each one in a drop of Super Glue when assembling. Since I had only one in the lost & found stash, I just replaced them both with Kadee #148's. Had to glue a part back on a P2K grain hopper that I inadvertently broke off while handling. They do tend to be fragile, especially this one which is 20 years old and gets a lot of use.
Next section of the layout gets started with the quarterly layout cleanup today. It's the next 40' or so of the lower level. Lots of track here, with a 16' passing siding and almost 70' of industry sidings and spurs. Starts with visual inspection of all track and roadbed for lost parts; usual suspects are KD knuckle springs, brake wheels and air reservoirs. Will I start today? I don't usually start immediately, but I started the previous section a few days early in March.
Tom O - I still remember back 50 or so years ago, when Fox Broadcasting first went on the air in Dallas. Their weatherman did the weather from a covered patio outside the station. Only time that I saw that until much later when Jim Cantore popularized the concept.
Marlin - Looks like the pros outnumber the cons, but those 3 cons are pretty weighty. In my case, politics and cost of living would trade places with close by beaches & mountains, and our weather can get pretty hot. Our taxes are different, with no state income tax but a higher than most property tax. Like you posted, "no place is going to be perfect".
Todd - You're correct that Idaho is one of the most heavily armed states in the country. I had just read an article regarding that last week. Montana though, leads the pack. Regarding Idaho, I just read last night that that Kohlberger character was going to plead guilty to stabbing those college students.
Louis - My next door neighbor, Bubba, will blow up your $1000 worth of fireworks for you. He'll spend well over that and some of his city friends will buy a bunch to add to the excitement. From my yard, I usually have a view of 2 other places on the horizon with pretty spectacular displays also.
At noon today, we will be exactly half done with 2025. Everybody have a terrific Tuesday.