Good Morning All. Mostly clear and 64°, sure beats that 29° at this time on Monday. It will stay like this with highs in the mid-80's until Wednesday when they think that it will rain.
Yesterday went well to a point; grocery trek was uneventful, we stopped at Jersey Mike's for subs to go, I got a haircut and gassed up the car. Then a problem. We had noted road maintenance on IH35 northbound when we were headed south earlier. GPS showed a 7 mile backup for the trip home, so I took an alternate route through the small town of Krum TX; no biggie as we occasionally have to take this route. But yesterday was the day that the local guys decided to shut down one lane through town on the state highway. Can't bypass on the east side because of the BNSF railroad tracks that run roughly parallel, so I bypassed on the west by going through neighborhoods on local streets; none of which make a direct run. Did manage to get around, just was more trouble. GPS didn't show that or I could have taken a different alternate route over on the east side of the Interstate. There's actually 3 different alternate routes to take when the Interstate is backed up. Problem is that the maintenance that they were doing was at the one bridge where there are no frontage roads to relieve the traffic. The new construction started recently on the 50 mile stretch from Denton to the Oklahoma border will change that. They're also adding a third lane in each direction. Currently I have to drive through 4 separate projects to get to the grocery store. There's many more to the north.
Today starts with the incessant dishwasher and a load of laundry. Nothing needs mowing right now so I'll be doing firewood duty just to get ahead and get some exercise. Waiting in the wings are the Tomato and Pepper plants to be removed from the garden, after the frost earlier in the week. I've got to remove all of the cages and T-posts supporting them.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I weathered the sign that I so painstakingly painted on the side of the Hydrocal structure. It seems such a shame to do so, but reality isn't always pretty.
From this:
To this:
I used a piece of 400 grit sandpaper to get some of the brickwork to show through; and then a black AI wash to tone down the white lettering. Wife thinks that I should have left it alone...too late now! She doesn't understand that the original was painted 100 years ago, and my layout is set mostly in the 80's. I'll study it later today and I may add some weathering powders as well.
Patrick - Tough situation for your son, as the windows are best done when the siding is off the house. They can be done with the siding installed but it is much more difficult and labor-intensive.
David (Marlin) - I know what you mean about understanding investments. Back when I had a professional investment advisor, he had me invested in a REIT and an annuity, among other things. We didn't understand the fee structure of either. I finally escaped after 7 years of each without making any noticeable gain. That's one reason why he became my ex-financial advisor shortly after I retired. Self-management was the best financial move that I ever made.
Ken - There is nothing straightforward about the insurance business.
Troy - Looks like a nice dent in the package as well.
Louis - Amazon, on their website, claims to not deliver to back doors here, but the 3rd party delivery service here does. It also depends on the driver as I posted yesterday. Living where I do, we're at or near the end of the route most of the time, and deliveries after dark will end up on the porch with the light on.
Everyone have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend. I'll be grilling hunks of red meat for the next few days, so come on by.
for that!
