Good Morning All. Clear and 46° this morning. Yesterday was 73°, higher than predicted, today it's supposed to be 72° and the next few days as well. Rain maybe around midnight Friday will cool us to the lower 60's. Sure was great having two days in a row with bright sunshine...looking forward to the rest of the week.
I did too many household chores yesterday morning, but that means less today! After lunch I did tasks in the yard for a while, including organizing and consolidating the various remaining firewood piles for the season. Looks like I estimated correctly which is a good thing. Garden is still too wet to till, although it is fine if I want to do any cultivating with the hoe or pitchfork.
Yesterday I got a statement from the IRS showing that they paid me $23 in interest for being so late sending me a refund. I now have to pay tax on that interest! That is if all of the stuff considered taxable income adds up to the taxable level. We've been tweaking stuff with money out of savings and money market which is not taxable. The RMD that I was required to take should not put us into the taxable bracket and has already been put into money market. So far in January, the stock market returns on my retirement accounts has been 1.75%, equating to 21% annual return if it keeps up. The taxman will start getting a big chunk early in 2026 since I have to take major RMD's beginning next year. Unlike
Mike, my tax preparer wife has always waited until April to do our taxes!
Short day out in the train shed yesterday, but at least I got a little time. I did start to assemble the other half of the cemetery fence, I now have about 16" of the 21" needed for the final assembly. Then it's time to install it on the two sides that are going to get this version. The front along the road will have the split rails and stone pillars and I have decided that I will not put any along the backdrop. It will be disguised with vegetation instead. Inspecting and cleaning railcars is on temporary hold and I did finish up the layout cleaning project with the last few vehicles and structures yesterday. Besides the fence today, I have three more freight cars that will have the McHenry couplers exchanged, two tankers will get Kadee #119 shelf couplers, and the other will get the #148's.
Archives again today. Here are three more of the structures that I got from
Chet's Logan Valley layout. I have only added figures to two of them so far.
Chad - We used the "submerge & zip" method on the two previous occasions, but it wasn't necessary on this brisket. It just worked out without it.
Patrick - That AHM switcher looks like quite a project.
Mike - I think that the student loan fiasco really needs to be shut down. There are probably a few that should be forgiven because of fraud on the part of the lender, or those who follow he rules regarding public service, but pay your damn debts.
Grizzled - Neat pictures.
Curt - Thanks for the comment. I did that one all by myself.
Tom O - Sorry to read of your daughter's misfortune. I hope that it will be a lesson learned. Presumably all money will be restored, but the time and effort will be difficult in some cases. I keep no banking information on either my computer or phone, although my wife does have a banking app on her tablet.
Re: Passwords - I have a real problem understanding what the problem is. I have been on this forum for nearly 13 years now. I still use the same log-in and password that I set up the day I joined. While I use other log-ins and passwords for other non-model RR sites, Firefox remembers them all if I want it to.
Today's musical birthday is Phil Collins who is 73. I was actually never a big fan of his but I do like most of the music from Genesis.
Everybody have a great day.
I've got a DR appointment at 12:30! Hopefully it is not the Wuhan funk. Meanwhile the dogs are looking after me like hawks. They are not used to Daddy being home without Momma! 
