Train Photos 🚂

No outside walking today for me, it was 6 below zero this morning.

Took a couple of pictures of Ken's Ho Railroad 🚂 Layout down in the basement which I have walked many, many laps around. 

 

 

It was stitching morning at the library but I didn't go this week.

Have not been home much the last 3 days so just didn't feel like going out again.

Nice to have a whole day at home without having to go anywhere. :)

Did a couple of chores that needed doing and then read and knitted a while.

We started the next puzzle. 🧩

We've done this one a couple of times before.

A good time for puzzling because it is supposed to snow for the next 2 days starting this evening.

Supper is in the oven.

Trying a new recipe that I copied off of Mari's Blog.

It's called Meatloaf Surprise.

You can find the recipe here.

Hope you had a great Saturday.

Thanks for coming by.

HappyK 💕

Train pictures

Inside steps for me again.

VERY WINDY and cold and icy sidewalks in town.

I put chicken in the slow cooker and poured Italian Zesty salad dressing over it.

Having chicken burritos for supper.

We had the train open house again today.

In spite of the snowy, windy weather we had 17 people come by.

People sure seemed to enjoy themselves, kids and adults alike.

Here's a couple of pictures.

This scene of the tent revival meeting is a new addition.

 Here's a wider shot and you can also see a car show going on

in the background.

Over on the right is the firehouse.

Liz came over the house and we had a nice visit while knitting.

Liz has just learned to knit and I was showing her how to cast off.

The Fiesta pieces today and fruit bowls.

Hard to tell by the picture but they are two different sizes.

5 1/2" and 4 3/4"

Only one I don't have is the larger ivory.

Happy Saturday and thanks for stopping by.

happyone👩🏻‍🦳

Comment Replies:

Ginny - Yesterdays nappy bowls are much too large for cereal, unless you want to eat a half box of cereal. 🙂 They are a good size for serving mashed potatoes or vegetables at a dinner.

17225

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A Lazy Day

It was 7 degrees this morning but 'warmed' up to 17.

Thankfully the wind has died down.

Sunrise 7:36

Another basement walk.

I've been posting pictures of scenes in Ken's train layout. 

Today trying to show you how big the layout actually is and

why I can walk around it.

He built the layout in the middle of the basement.

Went to get the mail and never made it down the driveway.

The driveway is a curved hill and

it was a sheet of ice so turned around and went back inside.

Had a lazy day and sat around and read,

made squares and worked on a new puzzle.

🧩    📖    🧶

We enjoyed our Christmas.

Church was a great way to start the day.

David and Liz came by in the afternoon for dinner

and it was wonderful having them here!!

Thanks for visiting.

Hope you enjoyed your day.

👩🏻‍🦳happyone😊

 

If you can be kind and considerate for one day, 

then you can be for another. 

Begin today.

- Dale Carnegie -

Making a rock cliff

 We had a beautiful sunny day but cold and I ended up

doing all my walking inside.

Today I made some loops around the main floor in the house too 

instead of just the basement.

While I was walking in the basement Ken was there making some

rock cliffs for his train layout.

Thought you might like to see how he does it.

First he mixes up a solution of plaster.

Then puts the mixture into a rubber mold.

The one he's using above is store bought but he has made many molds.  

He makes them by painting rocks he finds outside with a rubber substance.  

Quite a few layers are painted on with drying time between each layer.

Next the mold gets turned over onto cardboard, pressed down, 

and after drying an hour or so 

the mold gets carefully pulled off the plaster.

The rock cliff cast will be painted after drying completely for a day or so.

The plaster cliff then gets added to the layout.

A section on the right is finished and the ones he made today

will get added after they are painted.

Then some greenery is added.

🛤    🚂    🛤

After lunch we went to the library and picked up the two

books that were ready for me.

They are books 1 and 2 of a new series.

Home to Harmony and Just Shy of Harmony

by Philip Gulley.

Started reading the first book and liked it right from the start.

It's just a little book and I read half of it this afternoon,

will probably finish it later this evening.

Learned about this series from 

blogger friend Deb.

If you liked the Mitford series by Jan Karon or the Miss Read books

you will like this series as well.

📕    📗    📘

It was nice to sit by the back glass door with the sun shining

in reading and knitting.

More snow is supposed to be coming tonight

so it may still be a while before I'll be walking in town again.

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit.

A happy Thursday to you. 😊

👩🏻‍🦳 happyone ❤️

Comment Replies:

MsBB - Our house is heated with propane gas.  It is a warm cozy heat and we are really pleased with it.  

Short Train Video

 37 degrees this morning when I got to town for my morning walk.

Very calm and after sunrise a mix of sun and clouds.

Had a nice walk around town, 

both cemeteries and the ball park.

It was garbage day and I saw lots of holiday packaging and boxes

out for pick up.

We have to bring our garbage to the dump because only the

town people get it picked up at the curb.

Saw one woman out walking her dog who I've never seen before.

A lot of days I see a woman park in the pond parking lot

and take her dog down to the pond, stays for a minute or two

and then gets back in the car and away they go.

Today I saw them.

Walked 6 miles

⛅️    🙂    ⛅️

Food shopping day.  

First stopped at the Dollar General.

Got what we could there, then on to the Shop and Save to get the rest.

The clouds took over the sky later in the day

and we got some rain too.

I'm just about done sewing the baby blanket squares together

 and should be done later this evening.

Ken got me the whole series of Downton Abby on DVD for Christmas

and we will start watching it this evening.

I watched a lot of it when we had TV but missed a lot of

the episodes so it is really great to have the whole series.

🚂    🚂

Had some comments yesterday asking about Ken's

Train Layout.

Yes, sometimes he is working on the layout when I'm walking 

but not usually.

Yes, he does just play with the trains at times.

He makes up a schedule and picks up different loads from one location

and delivers them to another location. 

He does have me walking on the layout. 😊

Click HERE to see a short video of The Layout.

🚂    🛤    🚂

Thanks for stopping by.

Hope your Tuesday was a happy one. 🙂

👩🏻‍🦳 happyone ❤️

This is a new year. A new beginning.

 And things will change.

- Taylor Swift -

Wednesday

Weather still not so great so it was another basement walk for me today.
2 miles before breakfast, 2 after breakfast, and never got around
to walking the other 2 miles so walked 4 miles today.
Today's layout photo.

 Ken went outside after breakfast to snow blow the driveway.

Took this picture from the living room window.

He is in orange in the middle of the picture.

I didn't go out at the same time because Ken finds me a bit annoying with
my snow shovel. I don't blame him because I do get in his way. 🙂
He just goes out to clear a way to get the car out.
I on the other hand have to get right to the edge of the driveway
and have it all nice and tidy right to the road and beyond.
So he was out and back inside in 20 minutes.
Then I went out and tidied things up with my shovel and was outside
almost 2 hours.  After I was done shoveling walked around in the 
snow for a little while. (that's why only the 4 miles walk inside)

Hard to tell how much snow we got because it was so windy
that some places have been swept clear and other places have drifts.

This is out in back of the house..

Ken made me my favorite lunch of nachos when I got back inside.

Worked on making weave-it squares and now have the 70 
I need for a baby blanket - just have to sew them together.

Made some chocolate pudding for our snack tonight.
Don't know exactly what these dishes are supposed to be used for,
but I like eating pudding out of them.
The dishes were my Gramma's.

Didn't get to read this afternoon so looking forward to doing that later.

Ken bought the DVD collection of Law and Order and it came in the
mail today and tonight we start with season one.

Thanks for stopping by.
A happy Wednesday to you.
👩🏻‍🦳 happyone ❤️

Life is like a blanket of snow.
Be careful how you step on it.
Every step will show.
- unknown -

Comment Replies:

Vee - You got it right about the bird cages.  Ken's mom used to

have parakeets at one time.

Anni - Yes, Ken's train layout is a hobby in progress and it will NEVER be done.  He just keeps adding more and more detail.  He started this current layout when we moved here 2 years ago.  He's made others when we lived in other houses.  One of his layouts was published in a model train magazine some years ago.

Layout picture

This morning when I got up it was snowing, windy, and 12 degrees F. 

so once again I walked in the basement.

Another scene from Ken's train layout.

Here's the inside of building he is working on today.

The inside is very detailed.

It will be on the edge of the layout and easy to look into when finished.

Will post a picture of the building when he finishes it.

Did my usual chores around the house in the morning.

Went out around lunch time to do a few errands and

had lunch while we were out.

Another trip to the library to return a book and I 

got 2 more out. 

Looking forward to starting one of them later.

Worked on the latest puzzle a little this afternoon.

Last night I did NOT have ice cream for my snack so looking

forward to having some this evening.

If you're wondering what my snack was - popcorn.  🍿

It's been quite a long time since I had popcorn 

and it was good!

Thanks for stopping by.

A happy day to you.

happyone  ❤️

Winter weather continues...

Temperature dropped, the rain turned to ice and it got

VERY WINDY overnight.  

Morning brought snow which is now on top of ice

and the wind continues.

Looked like a blizzard out there.

Another basement walk.

Passed by this scene quite a few times on my laps. 

A scene from Ken's HO Train Layout

Found things to do around the house on this winters day.

We did venture out to see what the roads were like.
Getting down to the main road 1 1/2 miles away is usually the
worst part and once you get to the main road it is much better.
Not so today, the main road was still snow covered.
With all the wind, it just kept blowing more snow around.

We decided to stay home this evening and not go to church.
Both of us not crazy about driving in the dark with the snow.
Church is a 22 mile drive and we can't see as well
driving in the dark like we used to!
Besides we can listen to the sermons live on line.

So we are home in our nice warm cozy house this evening.

Hope your day was a happy one.

happyone ❤️

Comment Replies:

Rose - Favorite ice cream is Turkey Hill Chocolate Chip Mint, then comes Hagan Chippitty Chocolately.  Yes, I am a big fan of just plain chocolate too.

Lisa - I agree with your husband, just can't handle a treadmill.  Nice to know there are other people obsessed with getting their steps for the day in too.  😃

More Train Pictures

This morning we had more winter weather.

Cold, ice, and a bit of snow.

No outside walk again.

Stayed cold all day but we did have sunshine which made us happy.

We went out this morning to do a few errands.

Stopped in at Lowe's and bought some corner molding

which will be used to make the frame for the cross stitch that I made.

Will post it again once it is framed.

I had a package waiting for me when I got home.

Ordered two sweaters from LL Bean.

A white one and navy blue which is so dark it looks black.

They are nice and warm and I like the nice big turtleneck.

 Worked on the puzzle for a while and also did some reading.

A little housework too.

A couple more pictures of Ken's train layout from a different angle 

from yesterday's photos.

That's it for today.

Life is Good

happyone 💜

Comment Replies:

Ken thanks you all for the kind words you left about his layout yesterday. 

 

ChipButter - Very often Ken is working on the layout when I walk.  There are enough of the tracks in to run the trains but he has a lot more work to do.  Just a small part of the scenery is finished.  It takes YEARS to complete.

When we lived in the house in town he worked on the layout there for 5 years and never finished it.  Here is a link to that layout.

Vee - Ken says thanks!! The layout Ken built when we lived in Savage was published in the magazine Model Railroader in July of 2007.

Fingerprints and Ken's Trains

That warmer weather sure didn't last long.

It rained most of the night and most of the snow melted 

but then today the temperature dropped during the day and

we had freezing rain and snow.

So back to the basement to get my steps in for the day.

It was Fingerprint Ministry day at church so we left

right after breakfast to go there to work.

Usually people can come and go and work when they have

time from 9:00 to 2:00 or 3:00 but this time the hours

were 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM.  

This gives people who work during the day the opportunity

to come in the evening to work.

Today Ken and I worked 9:00 to 4:30.

I snapped this picture today when no one noticed.

Here are a couple more pictures of Ken's HO Train Layout in the basement.

I have nice scenery to look at as I walk around. 😊

🚂     🚂

Still have a couple more miles to walk to get the rest of my steps in

so off I go to do that.

My reward - ice cream.  🍨

Hope your day was a happy one.

Life is Good

happyone  💜

The Layout

62 degrees this morning and a dark rainy one at 7:00.

I  didn't walk because I thought the rain might stop by 10:40

and I would just walk into town for the book club meeting

at the library.

But by then it was raining even harder so I just drove there.

Came home with the next book club selection

The Hideaway by Lauren K Denton

Early this morning I got a slow cooker of chili cooking for supper

and made us buttermilk pancakes for breakfast.

After lunch I got more house cleaning done

and baked some fudge brownies.

Thought you might like to see a picture of what Ken has

been doing in his spare time.

Many of you know that he had a huge HO model train layout

in the basement at the old house that he had to take apart because of the move.

Most of it was destroyed and he planned on building another layout

here in the basement.

He planned out the new layout and has started making it.

A lot of the bench work is done, he has put in some track and

even has a train running.

This one is different in that it will be in the middle of the room

so I will be able to walk around the loop for the days I can't walk

outside during the winter.

Walked a few miles around it today to try it out.

I can get in about 100 steps per loop.

 Rain should be gone by morning but even if it isn't
I'll still go walking.

Will have a couple of those brownies for my snack tonight,
or maybe one brownie with a bit of ice cream.

Hope your day was a happy one.

Life is Good

happyone  💕

"Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Train cars

Ken has been busy downstairs working on his train layout.  

He is in the middle of making some small cars like the two in the picture.

It is very time consuming with so many details to build and with them being so small.

Ken's layout is HO scale.

These here he is working on now.  

When he is done he will have made 24 of them.

🚂     🚂     🚂

Another warm morning at 43 degrees and today it was a rainy one.  Handy to have my umbrella along with me.  There was about 5 minutes when it wasn't raining.

Walked straight through town starting off and around both cemeteries and then down to the ball park loop.

Lisa was running around the cemeteries and over at the ball park loop the man who runs around there 5 times was there.  No Kathy today.

Then a loop around town and lastly up around the roads behind my house.  

Walked 6 miles

☔     ☔     ☔

Bowling day again this Tuesday.  

Sometimes we eat before we go and sometimes we eat there.

Today we ate lunch at the bowling alley.

There were 7 of us bowling.
No record breaking scores for any one.
My scores for today were 125, 163, and 134 in that order.

Stopped in the Shop and Save on the way home and got in a new supply
of ice cream while it was on sale.

Finished reading The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis.
About the Barbizon Hotel for woman in NY City.  Back in the 1950's
aspiring models and secretaries lived there.
Present times it is an apartment building and a journalist lives there 
and uncovers a secret buried in the past.
I thought it was pretty good.
It's the next book club selection for next months book club meeting.

That's it for today.
A happy day to you and a smile from me to you.

happyone  🎈 

"The world is moved along, 

not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,

but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes

of each honest worker."

~ Helen Keller

Kens Trains

☀     ☀     ☀     ☀

Went to bed late last night because I stayed up doing the jigsaw puzzle so got up late this morning at 8:00.

Did some laundry and some house cleaning.  Getting things spruced up for the Open House we will be having New Years Day.
After lunch I went for my walk.  Went to the post office first and then walked around the Farm Loop.  Not that there is a lot of traffic around here but there is definitely more during the afternoon.  Once in a while a car will go by on the farm road but today 6 cars passed and every one waved at me. : )

I saw another woman walking in the distance but never caught up with her.  It was a nice sunny day and the temperature was 40 degrees when I walked.  Just a slight breeze and it was very pleasant walking.  Didn't even have to wear all my usual layers and I was still a bit warm.  Ended up taking my hood down and it felt nice to have my hair blowing around.

I walked 6 miles.

Baked a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies for Thursday when I got back home.  Made a list of things we need to buy yet and will get them tomorrow. 

Ken will be showing people his train layout in the basement and he has been working on putting in some last minute details and cleaning things up.  Here are a few pictures of his layout.

Last year I posted some pictures of the start of his train layout which you can see HERE.

I'm going to relax the rest of the evening.  Do some knitting, reading and of course having a little ice cream while we watch a little television.  We are watching the series Upstairs, Downstairs.

Hope your day has been a good one and you smiled often.
Till next time.......
happyone : )

Who is rich?

He who rejoices in his portion.

~ The Talmud