Scattered Thoughts . . .

I've had a few hours of productivity spread out over the past few days  (this stuff does take its toll on my spine so I only do things like this in short spurts)  and it reminded me of how much I truly enjoy accomplishing artistic and creative things like this project. It has been fun! I really should do this more often.  It is time for lunch... past time, actually... so that is all I will accomplish on this project until tonight perhaps. Next up is some lunch, a shower and a long nap! When I head back to this project tonight or over the weekend, it will be time to add some smaller details and some additional vegetation. It's looking good at this point though and I'm enjoying building it!  It makes me wonder why I don't do stuff like this more often... Oh yeah... we don't have the room just yet!  It really has been an outstanding day!

I often write about and harp upon the need for understanding when it comes to people struggling with chronic illness and/or life threatening illnesses. Tonight it is time for me to harp on this yet again because Sheila is hurt and I am subsequently angry and rapidly losing my patience with far too many people who don't seem to "understand". As a result of this lack of understanding, I am truly at my wits' end and we are exceptionally close to again shrinking our circle of family and friends if this very tiring behavior does not change. I, myself, have a long list of health issues and struggle with significant disabilities every day. The major difference today, however, is that I am referring to and coming to the defense of Sheila since she is very upset right now and has been very upset at the last two family events because of this rather callous behavior. It has gotten to the point where Sheila actually dreads attending any family events because so many people na

I just finished carving the entire model railroad for Lukey's Christmas present. I suspect I'll find a few little things to cut off or shape here and there but, for the most part, I am finished carving this little model railroad. Next is to add some thinned plaster to a few select areas... then paint...  then some roads... then some grass and bushes... then some touch up here and there... This little train set is coming along very nicely!

I truly wish that I could say I am "carving a new world" in the real world but I am really referring to Lukey's Christmas present... a model railroad. I have begun the next phase of creating this little railroad world... I am transforming a flat terrain into a three dimensional world by carving the flat, blocky foam into rolling terrain, rocks, hills and ditches.  This is an exciting time because I begin to see the world I have locked inside my head as I carve, scrape and shape this new world. It is also incredibly messy with chunks of foam flying (not quite like Edward Scissorhands but messy enough) and clinging to everything. Then, when you move and cause a disturbance of air, these foam chunks blow around the room. What a mess! (Bending over on the floor isn't helping my spinal injuries either!)   Anyway, I just wanted to add some more photos showing this process... I hope to have this entire little railroad world carved before bedtime. Now I need to go sh

Last year, our trek to cut Christmas trees involved ice covered dirt roads, deep snow and downed power lines. This year, our trek to cut Christmas trees involved grass covered hills and wet, muddy, rutty roads where the car bottomed out and was thrown violently from rut to rut all over the road. It was quite a contrast between the years. The sap is running in the trees... flowers are blooming in our gardens... so the trees are unaware that they are supposed to be dormant this time of year. If the trees are not dormant when cut, this is not good for the Christmas season. These trees will die very quickly after being cut so the big question this year is whether or not we will have a "tree" on Christmas morning or a dried out twig. (I'm betting on a dried out twig.) (Have I mentioned lately how much I despise spring-like weather for Christmas?) We all had a good time though and it was easy to stay warm!  As we do every year, immediately following our tree cutting, we he

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

It is supposed to be sunny and warm outside again today so I've switched gears and pushed Lukey's little railroad Christmas present aside so I can get outside to get some much needed winterizing work done on the house. I hope to get this accomplished relatively quickly and easily. Then I will come back indoors and get some work accomplished indoors, as long as my health allows. We are cutting Christmas trees tomorrow morning so I need to ensure I am well rested for that. This means I will accomplish absolutely nothing after noon today so I can sleep and rest for the remainder of the day. Cutting Christmas trees is usually a fun morning in the snow for everyone and then a nice leisurely lunch in a restaurant. Tomorrow morning promises to be muddy this year though. Hopefully, all will go smoothly and not wear me down!

I ran out of supplies yesterday while building Lukey's Christmas present... his little railroad. This slowed down progress but I needed a serious rest and some recovery time for my health anyway. Before running out of supplies, I cut a 1/4" plywood base to be glued to the bottom of the foam I had cut and shaped previously. I laid down some heavy duty plastic in the living room to protect our carpet and then applied an adhesive to the plywood... then carefully placed the foam in place on top of the plywood... I placed books on top of the foam to apply pressure while the adhesive dried and cured. This morning I was able to move the books back to the shelves in our bedroom. Unfortunately, I was out of supplies at this point and needed a run to Lowes and Home Depot before getting any more accomplished on this railroad. So, here are a few more photos (in addition to my previous blog posts with photos) showing the process of building Lukey's little railroad... Marking

Other than picking up a Christmas card or two at a local store and maybe some last minute wrapping paper and some tape, I do believe we finished up our Christmas shopping tonight. We headed up to Burlington and Williston tonight to pick up some more supplies for Lukey's train set that I am building for Christmas. We had a few stores to visit and then we walked through the Christmas decorations at Maple Tree Place in Williston. After shooting some photos of the Christmas decorations, we had a really nice dinner at The Longhorn.  It was a really nice night... although far too warm for this time of year... and it was really nice to get all of the Christmas present shopping out of the way.   Here are some photos from this evening... I shot all of these images using manual focus lenses only... I seem to be turning to my manual focus lenses more and more lately and I am enjoying the results... At the big Christmas tree...

I've been too busy and not resting enough lately. Just as significant is the fact that I'm eating things which are known to add to my Systemic Mastocytosis problems. Avoiding these "bad" foods can be tough sometimes. There is little choice when we eat out... there is little choice when we have dinner at someone else's home... and leftovers are always bad for me.  Cooking fresh food for every single meal is difficult... and extremely expensive for those of us living in this neck of the woods. Needless to say, we always resort to eating leftovers because of financial concerns. Another problem I routinely struggle with is staying well rested and avoiding overdoing it! This time of year is tough for this one. Not taxing my body at all is tough to do through the holidays. Finding time for my everyday naps is difficult... even when I do lay down to try to nap. Something always keeps me up or awakens me far too early. This may be my biggest struggle through the hol

I've been wanting to upgrade our collection of television/media remotes. Sheila doesn't even have a clue how to access anything on the television at all so I have been on a hunt for a good universal remote. The deciding factor was that I like technology which truly makes life easier...  not just technology because, "I can"... but technology which makes my life easier. A good and effective universal remote could indeed make our lives easier! We went from this mess... Logitech has a good selection of advanced remotes and I have had my eye on one of them but the price was crazy. I've been in no hurry (as in almost all of our purchases) so I would periodically check the price. I've been doing this for about eight or ten months. I finally found a good bargain just after the Thanksgiving weekend so I immediately put the remote in my cart and pressed the "Place Order" button. I bought a Logitech Harmony Ultimate One remote. It arrived today and I

(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

(If any of Lukey's or Kenzie's older cousins are reading this blog... please don't tell them what they are getting for Christmas!) Now that Kenzie's dollhouse is finished...  "finished" meaning finished enough for Christmas...  I'll add more details and more things to play with for future presents... now I am focused on Lukey's Christmas present.  Lukey's present will be a set of trains with some basic scenery. I came up with a plan which would make it large enough for any kids in the 3-5 year old range (actually, it would seem very big to kids this age) yet small enough to easily store in our storage shed or a spare room.   A bit over a year ago, I picked up a "metal train" series of cars and a diesel locomotive which is made specifically for children. The metal cars and locomotive make them a bit more sturdy for young, fumbling hands. The company that manufactured this "metal train" series was going out of business and

The dollhouse is finished and ready for Christmas morning! As I've mentioned in previous blog posts about this dollhouse, I designed this dollhouse to be a Georgetown-style townhouse with a brick sidewalk and small patio. I wanted to build a townhouse-style dollhouse so that the dollhouse could sprawl vertically, rather than horizontally, saving precious floor space in our small home. This was the right idea for our small home. I'm quite happy with the design but actually wish I had more time to add more details. If I were to add more details today, I would add curtains, lighting, pictures to hang on walls, window boxes with flowers, and more kitchen details.  As it is, however, it is definitely ready for Christmas morning and an excited grandchild. I'm sure Kenzie will be glued to this dollhouse the moment she sees it! Kenzie will also be receiving a doll family to use with this 1:12 scale dollhouse... a mom, a dad, a young girl, and a baby...