Good Morning All. It's 35° and mostly cloudy here this morning. NNW winds at about 5 mph, down considerably from yesterday; with improving weather beginning Tuesday. At least no precipitation. No real news from the homestead right now, other than the part of the garden that I was able to plant before the deluge in February is doing well. Sadly, one of our male cats, Muffy, has not been seen in three weeks, and we fear the worst. That leaves only a single one, Fluffy, left to devour our rodent friends. Dating season is over and he should have returned home by now.
Thanks for the comments and likes for yesterday's pictures,
Joe,
Phil,
Dave,
Chet,
Tom, and all others. I also like the scene with Auntie Mae watering the windowbox, sometimes a sparse scene has more impact and realism than my usual crowded ones.
Let's look at a couple of barns today.
I don't remember who the manufacturer of the first one was, I built it over ten years ago, and the second is from Bar Mills.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I added more ground cover to the current project area, and began to make a few trees at the workbench. But I mostly ran trains all day long. Found an issue with the track on a spur in the area that I just ballasted, that I didn't realize I had. Seems to be a slight incline on that spur so a parked boxcar won't stay put. It rolls away about 4", but does not foul the switch. Two options here, rip everything up and re-level it, or install a piece of wire between the ties disguised with weeds to catch the axle and keep the car in place. I did this on a previous layout and it worked well.
Dave - Regarding haircuts, my wife has complained that she didn't marry a bearded person (I was too young to have a good one at the time), but she has had to live with one for over 45 years. Been married to her for nearly 47 years now. I have fleetingly thought of shaving it off to see her reaction, but have so far resisted.
Chet - Positive thoughts from me for your Monday doctor appointment. Hope that they can remove some staples and allow you to start some physical therapy including driving and grilling.
Tom - Excellent club pictures. I dream at night of finally getting my layout to that level of completion.
George - Get well soon, the links are waiting.
Regarding TV and the news. Other than 45 minutes each weekday morning to catch up on business news and the stock market opening, I stopped watching TV about 25 years ago. It's been the best way to fix pre-emption! We have only one TV in our house and my wife has complete control, I don't care. March Madness in an annual passion for her, she will actually make her work schedule around the non-primetime games. That game actually makes more sense to me than baseball, even though I think that some of the rules are stupid, double-dribble, three second violations, etc. Of course the time-out strategy near the end of a close game seems maddeningly disruptive.
As far as fake news is concerned, all networks and news organizations have it, from CNN to Fox, whether broadcast, print or Internet. For an unbiased look at North American news, I go to BBC, which has no axe to grind here...they are a bit biased on British affairs though. Fake news is also a product of the beholder. What's fake to me may not be fake to others with diverse views. Anything out of
any politicians mouth should be taken with a grain of salt.
Man, it took me a whole month to discover the April Fool's prank in Model Railroader. I was about to inquire here if anyone else was having as much trouble. It was a short piece that I constantly passed over. Initially thought it might have been the entire page of Tony Koester ramblings.
Today is a day for all of the bubba's out there. It is both National Tater Day and National Crayon Day.
Everyone have a great day.