Real Life, Real Estate Deals, and the Railroad

Real life, including a family gathering in Maine and my involvement in my wife's gardening plans, along with some upcoming renovations on our home have led to a bit of a slow down in progress on my railroad. Perhaps a modeling slow down is to be expected in the summer season!

At the end of May and first week of June, we had a lovely visit to Mid-Coast Maine, where my wife's family rents a house for a week most summers. Our bedroom faced the east and as seen in the opening photo, we had some beautiful sunrises. No railroad visits this time, but on our last trip to Maine in 2018 we visited the WW&F which is a great little railroad (part tourist railroad and part railroad museum). This trip we had some good food, visits to the Maine Botanical Gardens, and stops in some historical sites in Massachusetts on the way home. 

When we moved into our home last fall, we had a lawn service do the mowing, and besides planting some perennials in a fenced area we didn't do much in the way of gardening. My wife and I are planning on transitioning the lawn into more of a mixture of other gardens: pollinator, native, and vegetable. This summer, we cancelled the lawn service and bought a battery powered mower to keep things civilized during the transition. Mowing, planning, and planting all take time and energy that otherwise might be spent on the railroad. 

We have planned from the beginning of our move to do some sort of kitchen remodel. The first step is to move the washer and dryer, now in an alcove of the kitchen, to the basement. To accomplish this, the space that I have taken over for my modeling workbench and storage was traded to become part of the laundry. Contractors are coming next week to plumb and wire the new set up, and my workbench is still in place. I think I know where the workbench will go, but the new location is not prepared. Time to repack my work area! 

While work directly on the railroad is on hiatus, planning and replacing the workshop in a new space, layout room prep, and operations planning will continue.