Good Morning All. Warm and muggy with mostly cloudy skies and 77° this morning. Forecast calls for four days of thundershowers beginning around mid-afternoon today. That will make for an interesting trip back home for all of the Okies who converged on North Texas yesterday for the annual Texas-OU football game later this morning. For a while yesterday evening, southbound traffic on nearby IH 35 was backed up for over 30 miles from a construction zone in Denton to the OK border. We know better than to venture into that drunken mess. According to a neighbor a few miles up the road who is a Highway Patrolman, that stretch was scheduled to have 14 Highway patrolmen and 8+ Sheriffs deputies from two counties patrolling it. OKC is about 2.5 hours north and one can consume a lot of beverages after getting out of class before getting this far. I heard on the news recently that college kids like to drink beer!
Fired up the mower for an hour or so yesterday ahead of the rain. Making initial preparations for our annual trip to Gulf Shores AL coming up. Doing something a bit different this time and we will be renting a four story, six bedroom house/condo directly on the beach with four other couples and a single gal. It has a heated pool and an elevator.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I made some major progress (for me) on the scenery in the latest project area. To recap, the area is a gradually widening strip of plywood about 50" long between the main line and the layout edge; that I am scenicking to be the back end of six or seven backyards. I have completed all of the fenceposts for the chain-link fence as well as most of the top rail and diagonal bracing for the cross-fencing. Along with continuing to add the fence mesh, yesterday I was able to landscape the first two yards with bushes, trees, additional ground foam and dogs. I also added rough vegetation and field grass between the fence and track. Too soon for any additional pictures yet, but they will be coming. Ran some trains to keep the rails clean.
Johnny - Exactly the reason that I paid someone to paint my ceilings! Walls are OK, and my wife does them. Rather typical workbench. Here's a couple of pictures that I took of a two-sided bench while on a home layout tour in 2014, makes yours look really clean.
This same fellow had used his entire second floor for his layout (including lines through the bathroom) and had a return loop that extended beyond a wall 14' above his high cathedral ceiling entryway. His wife actually allowed him to keep a 16' extension ladder against the wall behind the front door for access. I regret not getting that picture!
Chet - Interesting pictures of the airport. Looks like the VP was beating the snow. I like the box cabs as well as we didn't see anything like that here in TX.
Sherrel - Continue to have a safe trip, even though you're not leaving CA...at least not quickly!
Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend.