The weeks news. Trying to dry out, one more year, and model railroading.
It’s been a quiet week up here on the mountain. My little slice of heaven in the great northwest.
It’s May, and normally we would be having warm weather and some rain. Instead, we’re getting cold and snow, though, the road is now clear enough to drive all the way into the yard once again thanks to the rains a couple of days ago.
We have decided to stay here one more year so we might put as much money in our savings account as we can for our move. The lovely wife just got a great raise in her pay, now getting paid her full driver pay for the entire activity trip, no matter if she’s driving or waiting for the team; previously, she had received a significantly smaller amount for non-driving hours. This has meant a sizable jump in her paycheck, and a boon for us to be able to put money aside. Meanwhile, I am waiting for the VA to make their determination on raising my disability rating from 90% to 100%. That will also mean more money every month, so more money to put into savings. We intend to put this cabin on the market this fall, possibly in October, that way, we can leave when the road is clear next spring, around this time of the month, and the real estate agent can start showing it without us being here.
The lovely wife has been busy with teams competing for districts, and then maybe on to state. She has been getting home late at night, then going in the next day to clean her bus for the next run. Later this month, she will be gone for at least three days down in the southern part of the state for the state track competitions. I won’t see much of her until sports ends for the summer.
I have been finding things to keep myself busy while I wait for the weather to warm up. Many years ago, when I was 14, I had a model railroad. It wasn’t much, back then I didn’t know how to do a lot of detailing and other things. When I joined the Navy, I got rid of everything. Then after I got out and started driving a rig, I had no time for the hobby. After all these years, I decided to start one again. I don’t have any track laid down yet, or room to even start a layout, but I have been building a lot of buildings. I love the wooden kits I see, but they are way beyond my price range. So, I find the old plastic kits from the 70’s. I can usually buy them cheap online, and am learning how to make them look real, and also how to take a few kits and combine them into one. It’s a lot of fun, and I am keeping my small motor skills working. I figure, by the time we move, I will have almost all of the buildings I need for a decent layout. Packing them up will be a chore, but worth it.
I have also discovered paper kit buildings, where you print off the building on card stock and cut it out, fold them, and you have a very detailed building. They look really good, and there are people online who make them look even better, so I am learning how to do that. My first attempt was less than stellar, but that’s what it’s all about, learning something new. I am having fun with it. Hopefully, when we get settled into our new home back east, I can get started on a real layout, and start placing all of these buildings I am having so much fun constructing.
Well, that’s all the news for the week. Bye for now.
