Thursday June 1, 2006 5:40 am Lethbridge Alberta

A. Morning Musings

5:40 am The sky is clear with an early morning temperature of + 8 and a forecast high of + 28. This will be an excellent day for mortaring the back fence so long as I am finished before noon. I have a coffee scheduled for 7:30 so I should be on my knees by 9 and finished before it gets too hot.

Two novels arrived yesterday from Chapters online:

• JPod by Douglas Coupland
• A Dream of Eagles: The Skystone (Book I) by Jack Whyte

The first looks fantastic. I enjoy Coupland's novels. This looks like a continuation of an earlier novel of Coupland's called Microserfs which was a delight. The Whyte novel is a good one for immersing myself in the culture of England during the dark ages after the fall of the Roman Empire around 400 AD. I am eager to begin both, but first I want to finish reading "The Mrs Dalloway Reader".

We visited the Superstore yesterday and bought a few groceries. I had a look at electric woks and have decided that a regular frying pan will work just as well. I barbequed a salmon for dinner and view that as the beginning of getting back to some cooking.

I want to visit the Radio Shack store in Park Place mall to see about wire and plastic connectors for attaching the track feeder wires to the power bus.

At the moment my model train activities are taking center stage. I sense that I am very close to having a working and aesthetically pleasing layout, ready to be used for DCC.

B. Plan

Chores	Mortar cement blocks	2 hr
	Review Executor's material	2 hr
Health	Walk	1 hr
	Exercise	.5 hr
Model Trains	Shop for wiring & solder	1.5 hr
Literature	Continue reading "Mrs. Dalloway Reader"	1 hr
History	Continue reading "Citizens"	1 hr
Technology	Read manual for cell phone	1 hr
		10 hrs

C. Actual/Notes

6:00 am I have reviewed my Chronology Table for May. The trend is for less time on Learning but I am not concerned. May was a travel month and we spent much of the time getting our home back in order after having been away for 6 months. The big shift was my recent focus on my model train layout. I now have a fairly clear idea of my track layout and a general strategy for proceeding. I am about half way through sorting and organizing all of my stuff and will soon be able to focus on new activities.

I plan to lay the ground cover rolls next and then attach the lower level mainline track. I also need to have a close look at my undertable switch arrangements.

Previous	Model Trains 5	Next
Model Trains Chronology
6:10 am Here is a short list of some next steps: review all of my materials and tools and get them organized. lay down scenery roll of "summer grass" on the lower level. This should be done before I put down the road bed. Then once the mainline track is glued in place I can add the ballast. review lower level mainline turnouts to see if I should modify them to be operated under the table. buy wire for power bus. rewire mainline on lower level to incorporate track feeder connections to a power bus. begin work on building the loading platform for the oil refinery. buy 2 sheets of blue poster cardboard for a backdrop. Repair existing model structures. 5:30 PM I have completed the first item on the list. It is a beginning. I have begun repairing the stockyard adjoining the meat processing plant. There are a few broken parts and there may be a missing part or two as well.

D. Reflection

6:00 PM The first of the following three items is complete, and the second item is partially complete.

• complete mortaring cement blocks on back fence
• stain rear side fence
• review executors statement

I am hoping to complete the remaining items tomorrow.

9:50 PM The first box of books that I shipped from Australia has arrrived. I was not expecting it for another couple of months. The books remind me of a number of additional Learning activities that I want to engage in in the near future.

• Literature: read the two volumes of Stephen Donaldson "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever".
• Science: read Richard Dawkin's "The Ancestor's Tale".
• History: read Peter Watson's "Ideas".
• Technology: read books on digital photography.
• Literature: read the next volume of "The Story of the Stone" (I must remember to order volume 3)

There are times when I think I may have too much on my plate. Then again, what better use for a plate?