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| Links to Notebook Pages: | Literature |
Model Trains |
Saturday August 12, 2006 6:05 am Lethbridge Alberta Sunrise 6:17 Sunset 8:56 Hours of daylight: 14:39
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From rear window |
South patio |
Both images taken at 11:45 am |
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A. Morning Musings
7:30 am It is + 10 C at the moment, with a forecast high of + 19 C. The sky is cloudy with showers forecast for this morning.
I have been working on the model train layout fairly heavily the last few days. The progress is noticeable and I now have an operational layout although there is still much work to be done. However all of my other activities have taken a hit. I will try to redress the balance. Literature is easy to incorporate. That leaves Mathematics, Technology and History as my main options.
B. Plan
Immediate Health Walk & exercise 1 hr Mathematics Read "The Computational Beauty of Nature" Chap 3 1 hr Model Trains Assemble wooden trestle kit 2 hr Maintenance 4 rolling stock 1 hr Build oil refinery diorama: add piping to connect oil tanks to refinery and to loading platform 2 hr Add future items Adepttracker project management file 1 hr Literature Continue reading "Ada Blackjack" 1 hr Begin reading "All the Men Are Sleeping" Later Chores Investigate water softeners for home 1 hr Technology Read manual for cell phone 1 hr add keywords to iPhoto records Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac" 2 hr Begin reading "iPhoto" 1 hr digital photography - learn about using the various manual settings Mathematics Larson "Calculus" Gardner "The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles" History Continue reading "Citizens" Watson "Ideas" Model Trains Add blue backdrop to layout Assemble second oil platform kit Redraw diagram for Lower Mainline control panel Wire Lower Mainline turnouts
C. Actual/Notes
8:55 am I have finished reading "Ada Blackjack". It was a well-written and documented story of an early Arctic expedition. Now to select a new novel to read. Reviewing the many unread books still on my shelves, I have opted for a Canadian book of short stories by D. R. MacDonald, published in 2002.
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Noon: This morning has been a relaxing time. I have conducted maintenance of 3 more cars. Each car was dusted off, the wheel sets checked for NRMA standard and the couplers checked for height and operation. I also took a photo of CN 7847, the diesel locomotive that is currently operating on the layout. These photos are also being included in the data base that I have for all my rolling stock.
I am continuing to work on assembling the wooden trestle bridge. I am avoiding doing any operational running today, focusing instead on the regular maintenance of a few cars as I remove them from storage. I am also updating the data base for these cars. The data base program (FileMaker Pro 7.0) now has the capability of handling photos as a data type. I am delighted with this feature as I now can easily see which car corresponds to each record. The first few cars were from the 1950's era, but I also have many cars from the 1970's with the CN 'noodle' logo (see hopper car, above). I plan my layout to have a combination of both eras existing simultaneously, with a few cars and locomotives from the 1990's also in appearance. This is another advantage of simulations: one can decide what to include and what to exclude. I like the early diesel units in the green and gold colors, the later units in the green, yellow and black colors and the modern units in the red, white and black colors. |
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D. Reflection