Greetings, gang.

Sunny and cool outside my window this morning. 62 right now headed for the low 80s. Looks to be a beautiful day. Supposed to be like this through maybe Wed. Had 3 nasty storms move through yesterday afternoon in quick succession. Ping pong ball sized hail and over a half inch of rain but it came down so fast the rain didn't have a chance to soak in.

Son-in-law and grandson arrived late yesterday afternoon. We'll be headed out the door soon for breakfast and then they'll leave around 8, just in time for me to watch the start of the F1 race.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning folks

It is 75 now, heading up to 86 with sun.

Fay drenched us good the other day. Spent some part of yesterday dumping trashcans and buckets that had quite a bit of water in them. Thought I was going to have to add water to the pond, now I don't have to.

Ran some trains. I have been trying to inventory my stuff. I decided to redo the layout so I have a lot of things to organize and put away in their right places.

I hope everybody has a good day.

Good morning everyone, temps getting up there, we made it to 115 yesterday, the low was a record 94, I do remember a few summer days that it never got below 100. A/C bill should be a whopper this month. Today's forecast is even higher, some say 117.

Still pecking away at wiring my control panel. Nowhere as neat as what my wife would have done, for one, I'm using solid wire rather than stranded, which tends to bend and not loop smoothly, Secondly, my hands don't work as well as they used to, and thirdly, time is not on my side, so I'm taking a few shortcuts to speed things up. Regardless, the panel will work as designed.

Morning.  Hot and humid already.  Staying in.

NC has highest jump in cases yesterday.  Hospitalizations jumping fast.  All officials are saying, "Wear your mask, social distance and wash your hands.  BS!!  Then they are pushing to reopen schools.  BS!!!  Glad I'm not in CA, AZ, TX and FL. 

Hope all have a safe and healthy week ahead.

Greetings, gang.

Sunny and 64 in the remote reaches of northern Iowa this morning. The high for today is supposed to be a breezy 80.

After a mostly entertaining F1 race (I did doze for a touch in the middle part) I didn't accomplish much else. About sunset I took the drone out for a while trying to get some pictures. Didn't work well. I did manage to get a halfway decent shot of the local aquatic center about 5 minutes before they shut off the lights.

This morning I need to clean up the leaves from Saturday's hail storm before I go to the gym. After lunch I need to mow and put down the next round of fertilizer. 80% chance of rain tomorrow so I need to get it done today.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning all, well, we did break another record yesterday, 116. One more day of the "excessive heat warning", and we're back to just under 110 for a while. Got the weeds pulled and everything else trimmed, the yard guy finally showed up. He says the speaker on his phone doesn't work, that's why he took so long to get to us.  Was reading, "Sherman's Lagoon" comics this morning, they were talking about plastic waste. Buy a bottle of water or soda for around 50 cents, use it once, but the bottle lasts for thousands of years. Buy a cell phone for around $1200, use it a lot, but it only lasts a few years. Both makes little sense. Our city no longer recycles, they want you to separate, garbage in the black container, recyclables in the blue one. However, they pick them both up at the same time and they wind up in the same truck going to the landfill. Too expensive to recycle they say, no market either. They do have a recycle bin at one of the fire stations though, all this still makes little sense.

Just a point to ponder. Why do we pay over $1000 for a "smart" phone with a tiny display when you can get a "smart" TV with a huge display for half that?

Hello Blue
Sun and 80's today. Back to 90's tomorrow. For us Yankees 90's are hot.
We spend money for large screen TV's and the networks send us half a screen. WHY?
Nothing going on, the China virus is keeping us at home except for necessities. 
S.J.

Morning.  91 and 64% humidity.  Today and Wed. thru the week will be over 100 in heat index.  Hope to go to the farm tomorrow as only day not that high.  Go early and come back early.  We'll see.

Tom, watched some of the race.  Was hoping the Chevy guy would win.  Didn't have the power and speed at the end.

Have a good one.

hi all . another Monday , been working in garage as leg permits got mill bench sorted and cleaned off worked on lath table last evening , lost live center some where .

Good afternoon folks

It is 82 right now going to 85. Humidity less than the past few days.

Nobody says anything about rain overnight. Went out front and found water ponding in the cover of the pergola which I had to drain. Of course none of the chairs were covered so the cushions are spread out in the yard drying out.

I put away all my steamers in preparation of working on the layout. I am going to continue with the other locos that I can place back in their boxes. If I can;'t I will put them in other containers.

We need to go to the post office and drop off paperwork concerning my father-in-law and transferring his pension to my wife. Need to go and get some bird seed. Not sure after that what is going to happen.

My wife and daughter are freaking out over the opening of schools. Both work as paraprofessionals. My daughter is also a high school volleyball coach. Right there is no clear directions or plans proposed. Both fear they will open and rules will not be followed and there will be a huge outbreak. Given how screwed up and diastorious the reopening of business has been they are terrified.

Sorry about the rant but I have never seen my wife who is high risk so frightened.

I hope everybody has a good day.

Greetings, gang.

Cloudy, humid (again) and 72 headed for and 80% chance of rain and 80 degrees.

I had a pretty decent day yesterday. Good workout at the gym in the morning after cleaning up and disposing of the leaves from the hailstorm. After lunch I mowed the yard and ran the string trimmer. Decided it was too windy to put down the fertilizer. Later in the afternoon the wind died down quite a bit so got that done too. A shower, a Corona (not the virus) and supper pretty much completed my day.

After all the productivity yesterday I have a pretty easy day today. Topping the list is to wait for the laundry repair person to call. My washer decided to eat the fabric softener on Saturday. I would pour it into the dispenser only to watch it drain out again. The other big project is to put gas in the car for the first time since early June.

After supper last night I sat on the patio and watched one of the trains run while I was reading. Made for a very pleasant evening.

All stay safe.

Tom

Good morning folks, another hot day, 114 tied the record for yesterday's date. We should be under 110 for a while now, this past week put us in fourth place for the most consecutive days of 90 or higher for the low. Today's forecast should bump us up to #3. Rain, well I checked four different sources and find that we could have rain as early as Thursday and on up to three weeks from now.... yeah, sure, their crystal balls can see that far ahead.

Almost finished wiring my control panel, that's just part of that project. Need to move all the layout wiring to terminal blocks, then create an interconnect so I can remove the panel without unscrewing a bunch of wires. Got a plan for that as well....

Morning.  Already 99 and extra humid.  Backed off on going to farms this week due to the heat.  Do veggie run to some friends.  Finished all the window blinds in Train Box.  Last two were easy.  Now I can install them fast but all done.  Isn't that the way it goes?  Vacuumed the layout with my little portable vac.  Then did the isles.  May go back and do some things in there as A/C works great in there. 

Enjoy the day.

Good afternoon folks

It 80 heading to 85.

Helped the wife put some plants in the pots in the gazebo. The squirrels aka tree rates dug up the pansies. The pansies were almost anyway but they still looked nice. These mutant squirrels eat pizza and french fries. They chew through plastic garbage can lids. I just wish when the hawks catch them they would not leave the blood all over the trash can lids.

I put away some more locos. I did the Bachmann, Proto 1000, and Athearn blue boxes. These have few detail parts so they could go back into their original boxes. Next up in the Atlas ones. I am not sure about them going back in their boxes due to some of the details.

The wife needs new sneakers so a run to Kohl's may be in the future. She does online ordering and pick up since she gets the same ones every time. She has foot issues and these shoes provide the support she needs and can handle her inserts. If we do that I have to drop off an Ebay return. Another undecorated steam loco that does not run or is damaged beyond repair. I love some sellers opinion of good or like new condition. This one was obviously dropped at some point and the wires between the tender and loco were broken. This the fourth steamer I have had to return. I am very satisfied with Ebay's return policy. You just click to start the return. Print the label and send. If the seller does not refund Ebay steps in. I had one seller whose listing stated no returns and since he described the loco as running and it did not run he had to refund. We will also hit Michaels. I need brushes and a couple of other odds and ends.

I hope everybody has a good day.

Greetings, gang.

Gloomy and 65 with a predicted sunny 78 for the high.

Quiet day yesterday. While mowing the other day I noticed a tree growing in the hedge. Went out yesterday and dug it out. Decided to look for others. found a total of 14 trees, all but one were in areas close to the foundation of the house. Their mortal remains are laying on the deck box waiting to be disposed of in the next yard waste run.

Today will be quiet. I'm hoping to hear from the washer repair person.

All stay safe.

Tom