Good Morning All. Clear skies and 48° out there at 0600. High today is expected to be in the low 70's, and then our roller coaster February weather revs up. Mid-70's tomorrow, into the 80's Sunday with possibly 90° on Monday, Wednesday a cold front and only in the upper 50's; followed by a gradual return to the 70's. No snow in our forecast!
Yesterday's grocery trek was uneventful, prices are still inching up. It's most noticeable in fresh produce, soft drinks and condiments. Sugar-Free A&W Root Beer has gone from $3/12 pack up to $5/12 pack in just 2 years. And that's the sale price! Gasoline has stabilized here at just a few pennies below $3/gal. It seems that no station wants to be first to break that barrier right now.
About the only gardening that I did yesterday, was to plant a few Squash seeds, both Yellow and Zucchini in some pots for indoor starting. They, like the Tomatoes, should be ready for transplanting about two weeks after the last average frost for this area.
It was a "train running" day yesterday out in the train shed. I spent almost two hours just running them back and forth between the staging yards, stopping on passing sidings while I ran another around, and switching cars around in those staging yards. All the while, I let a container train run the continuous loop on the upper level. I know that many like to do that, but I am just not fascinated with doing it. Maybe it's just because I can only concentrate on one train at a time.
Here are a few random pictures of trains running through the layout. Apologies if I have posted any of these before.
Troy - That's tough about the printer, but it's not the only thing sold now that one cannot self-repair! Remember that I had to purchase a new printer recently as well. Not only does the ink cost more than the old Epson, but it is more complex to operate; meaning more things that I can screw up.
Tom O - Update on AT&T potential issue. It turns out that we weren't affected at home since our phones piggybacked on our wifi network and not directly with their system that went down. In an emergency, I still have a landline!
Damn! I wish that I had a readily available friend who could solder for me. Despite 40 years in the hobby, that is still my weakest area.
I noticed that 3 of the 4 states that you're potentially considering moving to, have no state income tax, therefore no state tax on SS. However the feds might still get you. In Texas, property taxes can be higher than other states, but are mostly frozen at age 65, an advantage more so if one owned the property prior to reaching that age.
Possum - Loose wheelsets in trucks do not always require new trucks. Measure the loose axle lengths and see what they are, and maybe get some longer ones. I don't have my chart handy right now, but standard axle lengths range from 1.000" to 1.015", depending on who manufactures them. I do remember that Intermountain is 1.000" and Kadee is 1.010". Jaybee makes a wide variety of widths.
In my opinion, I am not too sure that snugness really matters that much. If you think about it, only a very small portion of the axle actually makes contact with the sideframe. What's more important to me is to make sure that you use a truck tuner to ream out any flash that might exist in the sideframes.
Patrick - The Medicare premiums are only mandatory if you sign up for it. But it is a better bet than no insurance at all, or paying full premiums to an insurance company. We use Medicare and have a supplemental plan with Blue Cross; not an advantage plan which in our case was too restrictive. My total cost for using both is not too much more than my share of the company insurance that I had for years. I also have no copay now. An example is that my wife had total knee replacement in both knees at $0 cost to us. However I do have a separate prescription service that I use that used to be covered by my company provided insurance. We determined that Medicare Part "D" for drugs was not for us.
Curt - Yes I am replicating the neighbor's Longhorns, except his (and all others), tend to lay on the ground (chewing their cud) much more than they graze. I got them from MiniPrints and Bernard doesn't offer them on the ground.
Gotta go now. At 0830, it's now 57° and gardening time, maybe just looking at stuff.
Everybody have a wonderful day and a fantastic weekend.