Scattered Thoughts . . .

T he weather was generally lousy while Lukey and Kenzie were staying with us for a few weeks.  We didn't have many rainy days of solid rain but we had a lot of dark days with intermittent rain.  One particular day was indeed a solid rainy morning so we set up Lukey's trains in the kitchen while Gee worked from her home office.   Due to the pandemic, we converted our "train room" into Sheila's home office so we had to find another place to run Lukey's trains since Gee was working from home while Lukey and Kenzie stayed with us.   We cleared off the kitchen table and set his HO scale layout on the table.  That actually worked far better than I thought it would!  The layout hung off the end of the kitchen table but the layout itself was solid enough to handle the weight of the trains without the support of the table under the last foot of one end of the layout.  Having the train set on a table was far more comfortable than running them while the layout is placed

Back around Labor Day, Lukey came over and we brought his trains outside to the backyard.  Gee's new office is in what was the train room so we currently lack the space in the house for running trains.  Besides, bringing these trains outdoors also provides nicer backgrounds and lighting for photos. This particular day was overcast and dark clouds were moving in very quickly but we figured we had an hour or two before the rain would start.  I was not feeling all that great on this day...  I was feeling lousy enough that I vividly remember feeling lousy on this day.  I had significant breathing problems, I was nauseated and holding back vomit, and I generally felt lousy.  I also had significant spinal pain that was probably adding to the breathing problems and nausea.  We still managed to get the trains up and running in the backyard for a little while though... One of the great things about bringing the trains outdoors is that I can capture some nice photos.  The lighting is realist

Liza and Kenzie dropped Lukey off at the house while they went for a wedding dress fitting.  The kids had brought some pizza with them for lunch so Lukey ate lunch with Gee while Liza and Kenzie went on their way.  Lukey and Kenzie had made and brought cards for Gee so that was a nice surprise! It was a nice day so we thought it would be best to find some activities to do outdoors. Besides, our house is a construction zone mess and there is no room indoors for toys at the moment. The deck would have to work. Gee is moving slowly and she cannot lift anything so there wouldn't be any of the usual playing. My condition, physically, is only a bit better than Gee's so Papa wouldn't be running around the backyard either. I decided to pulled the trains and the dollhouse out of the playroom and set them up on the deck instead... I had even built a little tunnel of pavers and rock for the trains... Lukey was exceptionally happy to be run

For the most part, this has been another rough week with some lousy health. I had health issues over the weekend starting with being borderline anaphylaxic... then numerous other symptoms and problems in the following days... then, last night, the nausea hit levels which are difficult to keep in check without puking.  Through all of this, I am left exhausted. This little cellular war being waged inside my body wears me out more than I could effectively express so I'm not even going to try right now. Whenever the symptoms have subsided a bit and I can think fairly clearly, I've been scribbling plans for a few things I intend to build.  First, I came up with a plan to build two small wood step stools for the kids to reach the sinks in each bathroom. This little project is long overdue. We've wasted years searching stores for a little stool which does not exist in Vermont. I'll build it instead.  Next up... now that we have room in a spare bedroom, I have moved Luke

Replacing a coupler... If you've been following this blog lately, you know that I built a small HO scale model railroad for our grandson for Christmas. When he opened up his wrapped trains, I quickly realized that the flatcar did not come with the couplers installed. The couplers were included in the box but they were not installed. Before Lukey came to the house again to play with his trains, I installed these couplers. It was a quick and easy project. Easy peasy. Unfortunately, at some point during his next train session, a tiny spring popped out of one of the couplers on this flatcar and it no longer held a mating coupler and his train kept coming apart. I ordered some cheap generic replacement couplers... they arrived the other day... and, today, I decided it was a good day to install these new couplers. (I'm having a rather lousy health day so it is a good day for tiny, quick tasks rather than any projects.)   After removing the broken coupler, I quickly realize

While my health is recovering today, I'm taking it easy. I get easily bored whenever I am in recovery mode so I pulled out my camera in an attempt to shoot a few more photos of Lukey's model railroad.  I suspect this little model railroad will take a beating once Lukey starts playing with it... the same holds true for Kenzie's dollhouse. Needless to say, I'd like to have as many photos of these two gifts in their 'new - never been used' state.   Yesterday, I added a bit more shrubbery and weeds to the model railroad. I do believe it is detailed enough to hand over to Lukey now.  In the meantime, here are a few more photos... Train station on one side of the layout right in front of the jacks to connect power. I added some weeds and shrubbery to the foreground here.  Uphill, to the right above the concrete retaining wall, we will eventually build a small country town... The small combination freight depot/train station located on the opposite side o

When I am certain that all the paint and glue is as dry as possible, then I will remove the plastic dropcloth protecting our carpet. It really is amazing how someone can turn a hunk of pink foam insulation into a miniature world within just a matter of hours.   Other than adding a few more little details and making all the permanent electrical connections, this Christmas present is finished and ready for playing.  Right now I just have some electrical leads temporarily twisted on so I could test the track and trains. All worked just fine so, tonight, I started work on more permanent electrical connections to include a couple of jacks mounted on the edge of the layout and then using banana jacks on each type of power source (depending upon which locomotive is used). This last bit of work should only require another hour or so of easy work.  I played around with various locomotives last night using the appropriate power sources for each locomotive... it worked flawlessly. And,

Before I went any further on building Lukey's railroad Christmas present, I needed to add a couple of power feeds from the track to a jack panel to connect a transformer to this basic layout. I started drilling... then cutting with a kitchen knife... this was a relatively easy task... This may look like a culvert but it is really where my power panel will be located... I will be able to plug-in the appropriate transformer here using banana jacks.   Once I had the power feeds in place, I was able to glue down the track. This track that I'm using is an HO sectional track by Atlas called True Track. It comes with a plastic roadbed already in place. This saved me some work but the trade off is that is doesn't look as realistic. That being said, for this project, this track is just fine. After setting the track/roadbed down in the wet glue, I placed a newly bought 30 pack of beer on the track (believe it or not, I bought this 30 pack with this project in mind) ... this

(As mentioned previously, please do not let Lukey or Kenzie know what they are getting for Christmas... I'm only posting it here because they cannot yet read.) In my previous blog post, I wrote that I had started working on Lukey's Christmas present... an HO scale train set in a dog-bone shape with a donut hole.  Well, for those who could not envision what I was talking about, here it is after cutting the rigid foam to shape... It is looking good!  I wanted a free-form, flowing type of thing rather than just a rigid rectangle or even a perfect oval...  I want the landscape to roll and flow with a nice train running through it. That area adjacent to the train station on the right is for a future town... maybe a couple of small houses, a firehouse, a gas station...  then a road coming toward the front of the photo and leading around to that little freight station on the left side... and, I left some room over there for some other building or detail. With a little town a