Hello Blue
Gray skies and a little wet this morning. 35 is it for this day.
Well every football team I followed yesterday lost. I'm not sure I want to jinx Michigan at the Rose Bowl tomorrow or not.
We will spend the last evening of the year with the kids but I'm hoping we will be home before the new year arrives.
S.J.
Hokie, Dokie, the last day of 2023 and I'm still just now getting ready for Valentine Day. For sure, I was in Walmart and they already have shelves full of candy, but then I realized that was for 2024 and my heart sunk. Where the hell did 2023 go? I was just getting started and here it is at the very end. Oh well, maybe this new year will go slower, I doubt it, remember, it's an election year. Endless campaign promises, forever TV political ads, bad-mouthing all the other candidates, it will be irritating, but part of the American process, like it or not.
Gas up, Costco/Sam's just up a nickle, but others I see $3.49 and $3.59 as being popular. Someone up on I-17 thinks they have their market cornered (they do), selling at $4.59. They are isolated and right in the area of freeway construction, so there must be lots of folks running low on gas as the crawl through construction.
From me, and the rest of the Big Blue Trains crew, we wish you all a very Happy New Year. Stay safe and may 2024 be a good year for you all.
Good Afternoon Everyone, Hope everyone is having a good day since today is the last day of the year. Made a trip to the next town over from us and picked up two big boxes of HO track, transformers and a few buildings all for $65. I would say it was a good score for the amount of track that we got. It sure is nice having a girlfriend who is in the hobby as much as I am. Now to sit and sort through all of it and see if any of it is bad. Just from briefly looking through it, it all looks to be in excellent shape. The lady we bought all the track off of said her son is going through all of his stuff because he is downsizing and that when more stuff is available she will be reaching out to us and will just give it to us at no charge.
While driving home we passed the gas station and they are the highest in the area now at $3.45 a gallon. The cheapest is still at $3.25 a gallon. We are getting some snow today but right now it's not laying on the ground which is a plus. The girlfriend is doing much better today after her surgery Friday. The first night was the roughest which was to be expected. Right now she is putting one of those diamond art puzzles together while I'm sitting here typing and sorting through all the track lol.
Hope everyone has a wonderful last day of 2023. May this new year coming will bring better health for all. Take care my friends.
Happy New Year, gang.
23 and cloudy at the moment. Supposed to clear off late this afternoon and get to a blistering 33. Similar temperatures are expected for the next several days.
Not much happened around here yesterday. Vacuum, dust and other mundane household tasks were accomplished. Today will be much the same. For the first time in years I was actually up when the new year arrived. I went to a dance and actually had a good time. Ran in to a few people I used to work with and had some nice conversations. Actually danced for the first time in years. I either need to quit or spend more time at it. I was really terrible last night.
Gas was $2.77 except for one station that was still selling at $2.59.
All stay safe.
Tom
Good morning, and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all. I did what I usually do on New Year Eve, went to bed early. My neighbors did what they usually do and started shooting fireworks off around 7:00. Not sure how long they did that, I put in an ear plug when I was ready to go to sleep and that worked just fine. I guess there's a parade in California today and a few football games. Not sure how much of that I'll watch, like Tom, got some chores that need to be done and today is a good day to start doing them. Think of it as my first New Years resolution.
Costco & Sam's both dropped down the $2.99 for regular gas, many others are also down a nickle, $3.29 to $3.35 is good, but it goes up from there.
Have a relaxing and safe day today. The first one of a new year and time to reflect on how the rest of them are going to go. Keep a positive attitude that they will go well, and do your best to make it so...
Good Evening Everyone, First off HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
Second, I hope everyone had a great day today. Today we just sat at home and the girlfriend started her second semester for school as I sat here and messed around with the model trains. I just placed an order earlier today for Micro Set Decal Remover so I can removed the decals off the SW9 & SW7. I have another SW7 shell ( PRR ) that has the incorrect number and the size of the numbers are too big. I did find paint pens at walmart that work very well with painting the handrails and steps of the engines. Sure beats using a paint brush to try to get the correct amount of paint on them.
Yesterday we got some more snow for the new year. The kids go back to school tomorrow after being off for almost two weeks for christmas vacation. I can't say that we aren't sad that they are going back lol. I also started to separate all the track we had picked up yesterday. Needless to say there is a few different kinds. I did find a few HOn3 tracks and a bunch of flex track also. I am already planning a new layout for under the tree for this year using the flex track.
Todaywe have to go to walmart to get the kids a new tv for their room as it decided to stop working. So when the kiddos get home tomorrow they will have a brand new tv in their room. Well hope eveyone has a great day today. Take Care My Friends
Happy New Year to all at Blue.
We spent New Years eve with the kids but was home heading to bed at 12:30. Well I took a risk and watched the Michigan game, a good one with an OT win. Lots of cloudy days here with today's hi @ 35. Above the norm and above freezing. No special train news.
S.J.
Good afternoon folks and Happy New Year!
It is 38 on its way to 41.
Things did not get off to a good start Friday. Work was supposed to be an early day but due the flood cleanup of the project site I got a couple of hours overtime. The rest of the weekend pretty much went as planned. Made trips to the grocery stores, pharmacy, dry cleaners, and gas station. New Years Eve it was just my wife, daughter, and myself. We made it to midnight and were in bed by 12:30. New Years Day I made dinner, and we watched the Philadelphia Mummers Day Parade. The only part of the parade we are interested in is the string bands and the fancy brigades.
I worked on the Ashmore Hotel. I got all the window frames in place. I added the glass pieces to the front wall. Hopefully tonight I get another wall of two done.
My son’s non-profit signed a lease on an office the end of last week to be their community center to provide resources and assistant to the LGBTQA+ and BIPOC community. This is the first such center in our county and dearly needed. Yesterday they were able to officially get in the building and spent the day cleaning. Today with my wife driving the U-Haul truck they went to hotel that is under renovations to pick up some donated furniture. They also are stopping back at our house to begin the process of moving stuff from our house to the new center. My son obtained the grant from the county to pay for the center for this year and some of next year. If you want to find out about the group and what they have done and are doing search for UDTJ on Facebook, Instagram, or the Internet.
I hope everybody has a good day.
Greetings, gang.
24 going to the mid 30s and continued cloudy. Maybe some snow next week.
Had a decent day yesterday. Shopping was successful and a trip to the gym was uneventful. Only activity on today's agenda is the ever popular bill paying. No word yet on the recall on my car. Hence only minimal travel as the engine could simply shut down and not restart. Not a good plan for travel in Iowa in January.
Gas was down to $2.74 yesterday.
All stay safe.
Tom
Good morning everyone, just not sure which morning this is. The holidays have my mind all screwed up as to where we are in the week. I keep thinking that it's Monday. Just glad I have a calendar with my appointments on it or I'd have missed seeing my cardiologist yesterday. Got a new Medicare Advantage plan, still with BCBS, but for some reason, they've lowered my visits to specialists from $35 to $20, and I no longer need a referral which has been a hassle at times. My primary care doctor of 20 years retired, they tell me that two doctors will be taking his place. I'll bet it'll be tough to get to see either one though. The practice was taken over by a multinational group, so before, I could call and a real person that I knew would answer. Now I call and a robot tells me that I'm #10 in line, and that my call is important to them. Not at all happy with this, got to look for a new doctor.
Gas prices are kind of stable, higher than two weeks ago, but still mostly under $3.50.
The good news is that we're suppose to get some rain starting this evening on into tomorrow, then another storm coming in this weekend.
I hope you all have a great day, stay safe, stay warm, stay dry....
Good evening folks
It is currently 32. The high was 37.
It was another long cold day at the project site poring concrete. We only had one truck today, but it was a little bit of a complicated pour. Yesterday was a big muck up. We had only two trucks scheduled but had to reject the first truck due to arriving at the site “out of time”. They have 90 minutes to pour after they leave the plant. This guy arrived at the site after 94 minutes. Normal travel time to the site is 20 to 30 minutes. We almost rejected the replacement truck because he did not have his paperwork. After bunch of phone calls we got the paperwork electronically.
If the weather turns out as predicated, we will be doing things inside. We may begin takin down the Christmas decorations. We do have some running do such as the grocery store and possibly Target. There is always the never-ending laundry.
I plan on working more on the Ashmore Hotel kit. I am currently adding the glass to the windows. I have three walls done. Next I will be adding the interior decorations to the windows and then assembling the walls. I need to continue removing accumulated equipment that is on the layout and then I can run some trains.
I hope everybody has a good evening.
Good morning all, 'tis Saturday, a sleep-in day and yes, I did, 9 1/2 hours to be sure.... Well, it's been cold, no reason to get up early. Temps are staying under 60 though next week, some freezing days too. They say we haven't had a day 32° or under in over five years and there's a few of them coming up. That really means that there's some good snow up north which is fine, we'll have a decent snow melt in the spring. Rain on the schedule for tomorrow and Thursday.
Filled up at Costco yesterday for $2.99, some stations are sliding back down, so I guess the demand isn't what they figured it would be.
That's it, got all my house chores finished, just have to get the Christmas tree and a few other things packed and put away for a while. Got one bedroom that keeps on getting smaller and pretty soon will look like a hoarder's den, but that's what spare bedrooms are for.
Y'all have a great weekend, say warm and stay safe. It's depressing when you turn on the local news and see how many shootings and accidents there were the day before. Yesterday there was one guy that had a shootout with the police. The police won, but you have to ask, why did he even try unless he wanted it to end the way it did. They say he was among the worse of the worse.
Good morning Blue.
Cloudy skies with a temp of 31/35 for the day. That four letter word is in our forecast, but the daytime highs will be above freezing.
No breaking news here, just checking in.
S.J.
Good morning good people of Big Blue, somehow that sounds like the start of a fairy tale book for kids.
Could get rain any minute, depends on whose forecast you're looking at. But every one says there's a very good chance of rain sometime this morning. I'll probably come down just about the time I'm leaving for church.
Not much else going on today, maybe watch some football, just don't have a plan for today.
Have a great day and enjoy whatever it is you windup doing.
Greetings, gang.
26 now going to 33 which could cause some problems. Snow is expected to start about lunch time and if it's that warm there could be a layer of ice under the snow. The snow will turn heavy tomorrow with as much as 8 inches predicted along with 30+ mph wind. Right now it's listed as a winter storm warning but I fully expect that to be changed to a blizzard warning by tomorrow.
Tomorrow evening I will be going to visitation for the daughter of a long time friend. She passed away over the weekend from ALS. Funeral is Wednesday and I have been asked to be a pall bearer. I'm honored and humbled that they would think that much of me.
All stay safe.
Tom