Good Morning All. Clear and 76° here in North Central Texas this morning. 99.5° was yesterdays high and that's expected again today. A less than 5% chance of rain due to Tropical Storm Edouard here, but maybe lots in the area SE of Dallas. Only upper-90's today until triple-digits return Sunday.
Yesterday's informal plan ended up in the waste basket! While I did get to the dishwasher, my wife's sister (from Tennessee) texted and was unexpectedly in Ft Worth; unexpected to us that is. So we made a 40ish mile drive to meet her and husband, along with wife's SIL (wife's late brother's wife) for lunch. A bit of a late lunch since my wife was at the dental hygienist, so we couldn't have been any earlier. Later than normal nap after we got home. Fixed homemade Salmon Patties for supper along with my very fine homemade Tarter Sauce.
I finally met our newest neighbors this morning, a family of cats. I've known for quite some time now that I had one or two cats living in the ruins of my barn. I even had one of the kittens ransack the train shed a few weeks ago. Well sometime over the weekend, she moved the entire litter to under the house...we started hearing noises Sunday night. Well, my wife heard the noises, I am blissfully deaf after removing the hearing aids in the evening. Last night, I left a container of cut-up Salmon skin out for mama. This morning just after dawn, I counted 6 kittens frolicking in the yard. A couple here.
They all appear to be healthy and mama was nowhere in sight...although I saw her Monday with a mid-sized rodent in her mouth coming from the overgrown corner of the wheat field next door. Wife saw her again this morning coming from the same meat market.
Out in the train shed, there has been minimal activity for the last few days. I did finish my very crude backdrop with mostly blue sky and a green horizon. Yesterday, I did get a chance to paint all of the targeted trackage and ties; with a light earth rattle-can paint. I use that because it's quick, effective and works well for me. I do about 14"-20" at a time and immediately wipe off the rail top surfaces.
Got a little overspray there on the right, easily fixed. But I will use a slightly different shade of green as is my usual procedure in a few spots anyway. Looking back, I realize that I forgot to add in the missing ties where I used sections of flex track, again easily fixed. I'll do that when I spot paint some of the ties different shades of brown and gray that simulates replacement. I model an era where they still replaced individual ties instead of ripping out miles of them for mechanical replacement.
Once again, slow progress is better than no progress.
Kusojiji -
I am surprised that the AUG thread is still open.
While I can find and open a new Coffee Shop, I can't shut the old one down.
I did as well, but started listening to them again in the 80-90s. I thought the album One came out in the mid 80's, but the interweb says 89. What surprised me the most is how many songs they wrote for other people. Islands in the Stream, Heart Breaker, Grease, Immortality to name a few. When I started listening to those songs more closely, I can hear them as supporting vocals.
Music trivia: "
Islands in the Stream" was originally written for Marvin Gaye; but I don't know how it ended up with Kenny & Dolly.
Shortwrench - Sorry about your loss, but Penny Park is a fitting tribute. Is the path called
Penny Lane?
David (Marlin) - Still sending positive vibes to Nikki. Sounds like a plan to me. Good luck.
Karl - I know that you have been itching to go back to work, due to boredom. Yet retirement looms. My advice for what it's worth is to develop some additional hobbies to fill your retirement time, now. My boss from 2007 until 2013, un-retired three times! He famously said many times, that "you can only go fishing so many days a week!". At 75, he got another job after he was fired from our place.
Today is the birthday of the late Billy Preston, singer/keyboard player. He was the only outside musician credited on any Beatles recording. Prior to his solo career, he was a studio musician playing on records from Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and the Everly Brothers.
Everyone have a fine Wednesday.
