Good morning all, and Frank, enjoy your retirement, you many not have as much free time on your hands once you do, but there'll be a lot less stress, that's for sure. We're proud of you for your long reign as mayor and were hoping we could throw you a retirement party here. We'll get back to you on that once we've cleaned up the rec room from the last party we had.  

Temps still a bit below normal, some say rain starting Tuesday, others say just Wednesday and Saturday, I like the old adage, stick you hand out the window, if it comes back wet, it's raining.... There used to be a weather reporter on a Phoenix channel that if he came out carrying an umbrella you knew that he had rain in his forecast. Some weather guessers take themselves too serious sometimes, he didn't.

Thanks guys.  Been out with Wifey putting up fall décor.  Handing it up to Wifey over garage.  A storage area she keeps full of seasonal décor.   She was passing down more Christmas outside things.  It never ends.  

53 degrees and sunny.  Another front to come through fast this afternoon.  Turn cooler.  Stay fair for the rest of the week.  Was looking around at the chores I can now get time to do.  First is leaves.  All the pecan leaves are down.  Willow oak dumped 80% over night on Saturday.  Even covered the street out front.  Lots of blowing and sucking up with mower.  Could pile at street and Town pick them up.  I put them on the gardens and they make great soil.  Been doing that for 33 years.  Makes great soil.

All you snow bound folks, hope you have power and heat.

Have a good one.

Cloudy and wet 33 degrees.
I spent a couple hours running trains with a few of the club guys yesterday. One had a new Lionel scale Hudson and another had a new Alco so they got some run time. Both worked as they should. Yes Da Chief has done us proud as Mayor but now he will have to add Former to all his Mayor shirts.
S.J.

Well, first Monday in a long time. Hot water tank was getting too hot and couldn't adjust it down any. I figured the best out would be a new tank...I have a limited space and needed the same size 30 gallon electric which has served well for 10 years. 10 days to get it. I found a tune up kit which was new elements and thermostats and for 30 bucks I figured I would try it. If I get another year that would be fine. It took me 2 hours from start to finish and no leaks. Hoping for hot water too, that would be a big plus. 
      I could have done this job easy in an hour 20 years ago. Darned age and replaced knees really slow a guy down especially when it comes to kneeling. 
      It was cold and breezy with a few flakes but otherwise not bad. Hoping for some kind of fun time tomorrow. We shall see. 
Stay safe .
Charlie

Good afternoon all. Charlie, I think most of us here are in tune with your circumstances. It takes five times as long to do a job and it hurts five times as much as you remember. The thing is, the job still gets done and that's the point. We sometimes tackle things that somebody half our age with all their original body parts, wouldn't attempt. It kind of makes you feel good even though you're sore all over.

Had a break in the rain and went out to the desert to do a bit of target shooting. A bit chilly, but no wind and few others there. We needed to find a different route to get to the shooting area, lots of deep puddles and lots of mud made us turn around several times until we found a way in.

Errands and finish up stuff at Town Hall.  Christmas Tree lighting and Town Board.  Will only preside for about 15 minutes.  Then through.  

Good morning everyone, a chilly morning here, temps still in the mid-40's. Anything below 60 is considered freezing as far as we're concerned. Still, hard to find a snow shovel here, either every store in the Phoenix area is sold out, or they forgot to order any.....   Really glad we're not battling the results of those recent storms. Good luck to those that have to be traveling right now.

Greetings, gang.

43 and sunny but a far cry from the 80 I experienced last week in Houston.

Back home after a wonderful trip. Spent lots of time with family and had a super Thanksgiving day. On the way home I stopped in Des Moines at the car dealer. Car is making a funny noise. I'll go back tomorrow to have a mechanic look at it.

Frank - the city is losing a very good mayor. Thank you for all you have done.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning all, rain chances today dropped from 100% to 70%, yet it's raining right now so I'd call that at 100%. This storm lasts through tomorrow with another one due on Saturday. We'll see, sorry if I sound skeptical about this forecasting thing. Still much better off than a lot of folks with all that white stuff.

Glad you had a good time Tom, I remember a very long time ago when we drove from California to Upstate New York, and had a wheel bearing go out just as we pulled into our driveway coming home.. Talk about luck...  

Just about got one scene finished on my layout. Sometimes I can sneak in and do a few minutes of work on it, but haven't been able to just sit down and spend enough time all at once. Kinda screws you up doing things that way, what was I last doing, where did I put that tool, hmm, forgot to cap the paint, need to mix up a new batch. Not a very efficient way to work.

I'm a fee man.  Thanks for all the good comments in the past few days.  Off to the farms to work on camper shelter.

34 and sunny.

Have a great day.

Greetings, gang.

Clear and 32 headed for the low 40s.

Slept well last night in my own bed. Nice treat after a week. Off to Des Moines shortly for possible car repairs.

All stay safe.

Tom

We just returned from 3 weeks in Jersey City. (The nearest campground to NYC). My iPad doesn't accept the password for BigBlue.
The weather turned cold and the water was shut off. Propane is on the other side of the city.
We managed a number of items on the bucket list -- Radio City and the Macy's parade and the Botanical Gardens train show. Dayle wanted to see the Rockefeller tree lighting, but that wasn't until tonight and the TV program was still going on at 10:00 with entertainment that we couldn't watch.
Due to campground closures, we drove back in one day -- appox 11 hours with no major stops. Customs was very brief in both directions.
We seem to have everything sorted -- RV stored by 1:00 today and the laundry is done.

Good morning all, got early morning rain yesterday that was not in the forecast, didn't get the rain last night that was. Suppose to start raining again, some say 70%, other just 1%. Dunno... Temps still in the 60's, should stay that was according to some sources, get into the 70's according to others. So much for the weather report from here....

Did get a bit more done on my layout scene yesterday, got more time today, maybe even take a few pics....

Greetings, gang.

Another sunny day underway in the remote reaches of northern Iowa. 28 now headed for a high near 50.

Busy day yesterday. Got the car looked at. Just needs new tires. In the afternoon I got the laundry caught up and cleaned up a pile of leaves that the city had deposited at the end of my sidewalk. This morning I'll head to the gym and this afternoon I'll start bringing Christmas decorations down from the attic. This evening is a Christmas concert for one of my great-grandkids.

Don and Jim - did you guys lose your lottery ticket? $14 million could buy a lot of trains.

All stay safe.

Tom

Beautiful day.  Yesterday was in low 40's and wind was horrible down east.  COLD.  Today already ion the 50's.  Now wind and so warm for this time of the year.


Blow and suck up leaves.  Put out Wifey's Christmas Carolers.  Later, attend elementary school program.  

Enjoy.