Greetings, gang.
Just for a change it's raining. I think I'm starting to grow gills. There's a very low grade thunderstorm underway. 63 now headed for the low 80s and clearing skies.
Yesterday turned out somewhat different from the plan. Went to Menards and Walmart. Bought two new toilets. Rather than go to the gym etc, I decided to install the new toilets. After several trips from the basement to the second floor I got the first one installed. The one on the first floor was easier since I had already accumulated all the necessary tools, or so I thought. The tank on the second one was assembled incorrectly and I didn't have a big enough wrench to loosed the nut. Went to Menards (for at least the third trip) and talked to the woman at the service desk. She said to go see if I could find a wrench on the shelves. I did. Problem solved. The remainder of the installation went according to the manual.
Not sure what's going to be on the agenda for today. Probably a bike ride. Tomorrow I'm headed back to Des Moines to get the car fixed and pick up the new suits. Also gong to stop at the G scale dealer.
Frank - maybe you could be the project supervisor to protect your back and let the others do the heavy lifting.
Reinhard - yes, fitness can be enjoyable but after a certain point one suffers from diminishing returns. After I return from my trip I'm going to consult a trainer to see what changes I need to make.
All stay safe.
Tom
Good morning all, fires are popping up all over, had one in north Scottsdale yesterday, came within 10' of some very expensive houses. The other large fire to the east is still growing, close to 120,000 acres now. Winds and low humidity are not helping any.
All this talk about training and exercising is making me tired. I think I might just hop back into bed for a few more hours..
Actually ran an engine on my layout yesterday. Just a few hiccups, mostly rail nails sticking up too high, but the wiring seems good. Got some nice ballast from Charlie yesterday, just a few steps away from putting it down. Still just going with DC all the way, can't afford to make the switch, plus my main focus is on scenery anyway, not so much running trains. One might say that I'm building a very large working diorama....
(06-25-2019, 06:00 AM)ezdays Wrote: [ -> ]..... All this talk about training and exercising is making me tired.....
That was my personal motivation program :-)
I told here I can not do any sports longer than 3 minutes. She said you can do 45 minutes and she was right. She selected a very clever program for me to be guaranteed successful (running came later).
https://www.koenig-ludwig-hotel.de/files...ainer1.jpg
Out the door headed east again. Back did really good yesterday. Had good help. Spraying today.
Greetings, gang.
The morning started out sunny but clouds are moving in and it looks like a most of the day rain event. 62 now headed for the mid 80s. Strong storms are possible.
Went for a nice long bike ride yesterday. Off to Des Moines this morning for some car repairs and pick up the new suits. Also stop at G scale dealer. Last night as I was leaving a local eatery I tripped over a step and skinned my knee. Now I know why it's called a second childhood - I'm outgrowing my clothes and have a skinned knee.
All stay safe.
Tom
another great morning 75 here at 7:30 headed to shop .
Good morning all, yeah Jim, it's 8:00 here and still just a cool 83. Don't know but the Yuma area used to be the hot spot of the country. The record for today here, well, that's a scorching 122 back in 1990. I remember that day well, stepping out into the parking lot and have it kind of squishy under my feet. Not today though, barely just over 100.
Gas is now under $3.00, saw one station @ $2.899, Costco is $2.799, but too far away to save anything.
The Woodbury fire now the sixth largest in state history, full containment is not expected before mid July... evacuees are OK to return home, so that's a good thing.
Uhh, keep an eye out for yet another surprise coming up on the auction block, something than none of you expect but will be delighted....
Our lowest gas is 112.9/litre at Costco. There is a station where we can fit our RV that's 2 cents more. At the top of the 10 lowest stations is 119.2 (and it goes up from there).
Remember these are for a litre (a generous quart) and in Canadian dollars.
We're off to ride the new streetcar line tomorrow. It runs from one mall to another and the news tonight said that the malls aren't happy with people using their parking lots and rinding the trams. We're going to pay to park downtown.
Greetings, gang.
Sunny and 71 this morning with a predicted high near 90. Summer has arrived!
Nightmare car related trip yesterday. Initial repair took about an hour, including a free car wash. As expected. Picked up the new suits, did some other shopping, had a nice lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, and thought I'd try out the repairs. Yep, complete failure. Back to the dealer. The window failed for both the mechanic and the service advisor. They gave me a loaner. On the way home I was in a typical Iowa parade - a string of vehicles lined up behind a tractor on a two lane road. One jerk decided he was too important to participate and tried passing several cars. Decided he better get back over and tried to pull into the same spot that I was occupying. When he started to pull back into the lane his back wheel was even with my front wheel. I had to hit the brakes hard to avoid the accident.
The rest of the trip was uneventful Arrived home in time to get a bite to eat and then headed out the door again for t-ball games. Finally got home about 7:30. Only item on the agenda for today is to get the lawn mowed.
Gas prices jumped a dime overnight to $2.39.9 (I hate that stupid .9 on the end)
All stay safe.
Tom
Good morning all, a bit early, (5:00 AM here), just got up early today. Been using the MS weather app that came with Win10 on my computer, it has a lot of data, just that I'm not sure where that data comes from. I don't mind if it's off by a few degrees in its forecasts, no one is that accurate, but when it comes to historical data, you need to be right on. The other day it showed the record temp as 123, when in fact the record high for that day was only 118. Yesterday, it showed 120 as the record when it's a biggie here that it really got up to 122. (Want to buy a T-shirt?).... Yeah, I know, it's a dry heat, but hot is hot regardless, and you can't change history.
Wildfires still raging around the state, the Woodbury fire is now the fifth largest in state history. Looking for some of our monsoon rain, but it's not in the forecast. Many of our storms aren't, they just appear in the late afternoon, so there's still hope for those firefighters.
And no, good guess, but it's not an e-paw loco.
The new streetcar line ran very well. It was standing room only most of the trip, although we exercised senior privilege and took seats as they became available. Trips are free until next Monday and the line does pass right beside one of the universities (and is a short walk from the other one).
Part of the route runs along the CN branch and shares track with it. There is gauntlet track at the platforms -- for wide loads? -- on this section.
Hello Blue
It was sun and 89 today.
At least it stopped raining for a few days.
S.J.
Greetings, gang.
Sunny and 75 outside my window this morning. High for today is supposed to be about 90. It will be like this through the weeked according to the forecast. Only slight chances for rain.
Got the yard mowed and went for a bike ride and that's about all that was accomplished yesterday. This morning I plan to dig away some dirt that has accumulated around the base of the lawn shed. I think that's how the floor of the shed is still getting wet. Also going to start on track repairs and maybe make a trip to the gym. Woke up at 4:30 this morning so the motivation level is rapidly declining.
All stay safe.
Tom
Good morning everyone, it's Friday once again. Try to get out of town late this afternoon, typically, it's bumper-to-bumper heading north on I-17, people fleeing the desert heat to Prescott or Flagstaff. Our favorite is Oak Creek just outside of Sedona. We used to camp there on weekends, tall pines, stunning red rocks all around. Just a short walk from our camp site to Oak Creek where they'd stock it with fish. Nowadays though, you need to get your reservation in way ahead of time. You can no longer just drive up and pick a spot to camp. Times have changed. We stopped by one of the campgrounds a few years ago for sentimental reasons and they allowed us to drive through, no charge, but be back out in 30 minutes they said. Ahh, fond memories, just like in Pat's (Duffy, our webmaster),
Flatt Bear strip today.
Temps running about normal, around 105. They've taken the 110's out of the forecast, but hey, it's still hot regardless. Back to using caution on how you touch the car when getting in and letting the A/C run a while before you touch the steering wheel or put on your sun glasses that are scorching hot from sitting inside. For sure, you don't touch anything that's shiny...
