I can’t believe it has been two months since my last post. I’ve had best intentions, but life continues to get in the way. I take two of the kids to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. That knocks a good two hours out of each weekday right off the bat. Adding in various appointments for Carolyn, myself and the kids and the weeks become so hectic that Carolyn and I have to schedule time to go out together on dates.
The Scouting America (fka BSA) Girls Troop 15 has been meeting regularly and we had our first campout last weekend. It was perfect camping weather. Our youngest girl worked on her rank advancement and her older sister sat in on a merit badge class. The latter girl also sat down on a bench that was oozing pine tar, covering the seat of her pants. Carolyn consigned the pants to the circular file and I let the girl know that I had come back from a camping trip early with nothing but the clothes I was wearing…My pack, all my scout gear in the pack, my sleeping bag and the tent all went down with the ship. (I still have flashbacks when I hear the Gilligan’s Island theme song.) That particular campout hit number two of my five wettest campouts. Losing one pair of pants because of a campout is minor in comparison.
I’m well beyond ready for today’s election to be over. The commercials this year have set new record lows for nasty campaigning and I’ve been bombarded with junk mail, emails and text messages from both parties asking for my support and my money…
My car recently got a software update that makes the navigation system suggest places to go to. That makes some sense when it suggests the post office as I get in the car in the mid to late morning. Less helpful are its suggestions every evening that I should head to Dairy Queen. Between my spring doctor visit and the one this past week, I was successful in dropping 12 pounds. My car suggesting I go to DQ for a Blizzard has NOT been helpful. Halloween candy all over the house has not been helpful either, but I’ve been successful in avoiding most of it.
My grandson and I continue to make progress on the train layouts in the workshop. The MTH track I bought in the 90’s did not hold up well to the continuous connecting and disconnecting as we’ve played with various layout designs. I’m back to running my O Gauge trains on the Lionel tubular track I had when I was his age. One exception has been this past week: I purchased a pair of Menards tubular turnouts so I could set up a passing siding. They actually seen to work well. We’ll see how they hold up. My old Lionel turnouts, dating back to the 50’s and 60’s were pretty well shot.
A longer term project has been to get various locomotives and cars in working condition. I’ve got quite the collection of new wheels, coupler parts, etc. gathered to work on them. My grandson recently was able to get the Pennsy Turbine (6-8-6) running properly, including the smoke unit!
Our son flew in from Japan and will be with us through Thanksgiving. Our kids’ sister will be flying in for Thanksgiving, so we are going to have a very full house.
Our son and our grandson Koltin fixed breakfast for us the other day. Koltin is getting to be quite the cook.
All in all, we’ve been staying quite busy.
If I don’t post again before then, I hope each and every one of you has a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV again this year.
Rob
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