The Valley - May 30, 2011

I (Bob) must be a fool. Why would I decide to but a 3-foot deep valley right beside a hundred-year-old tree? In the beginning the reason seemed simple. I have two 2-foot high bridges and no place for them to go on my flat layout. The only place they could fit was in the west-side of the layout beside the old walnut tree. So I began to dig and dig hoping that I won't find any roots that crossed my path. This was naive. The roots that were less than an inch I was able to remove with my snipers, but the further down I dug the bigger the roots became.   I soon had the trusty electric chainsaw out. I feared I was playing a strange game of Jenga not to remove the root that caused the towering tree to fall.    I decided that I would have to leave the big roots and work around them.  The valley grew as I shovelled over my head into my ever-tipsy wheel-barrow. As I worked my way back to the location of the pond I wondered how I was going to connect the two together. I then got an idea;  a damn good idea -- or simply an idea to build a dam.   I dropped the pond liner into the ground and discovered it was tiny comparison to the massive canyon I created. It would have to do for now…. until I get my next foolish idea.

Train track - May 26 2011

About a month ago we decided to get the trees around the yard trimmed. There were large branches in the walnut tree that were both over the train layout and scraping the side of the house. We called the tree service in because the branches were too big and too high up for me (Bob) to safely remove with my electric chainsaw (more like a big brother to a turkey carving knife).

 Worried that a $150 brass track switching point was no match for a falling 1000lbs branch, I decided to pull up all the train track that we successfully left out all winter.   Upon completion of the branch removal I soon reallized that I never clearly documented how I had the track hooked together. So I decided to take the opportunity improve on the previous design.

But the more I moved track from one side of the layout to the other the more I realized I was missing two wide radius pieces. At first,  I thought I brought them inside over the winter to design my curved train tresle. I then remembered one curve of the layout that previously had four sharp radiuses that now only contained one.  I shuffled the track and solved the radius problem only to discover I was now short  three 6" pieces.   Another shuffle solved that problem but made me short two "one foot" pieces.  After searching the layout I finally was able to freed up the pieces I needed and got my improved design completed.

I now needed to secure all the track and to not touch it for the rest of the season. The advantages to the new layout is an improved north and south yard with my fluent curves and transistions. I still need to rebuild the retaining walls and complete the rail bedding to open the upper loop.

First Building Is Up - Haunted Mansion - 05-05-2011

So, I wasn't feeling too hot this afternoon and took a little nap.   While asleep, Bob sneaked out of the house and work on his Train Set.

He decided to plant the Corkscrew Hazel plants and placed the Haunted House he had built from a kit we had purchased last year.   He carefully placed the graveyard tomb stones on the side of the hill, along with other goodies.  See if you can see them all.  

I had first fell in love with the Corkscrew Hazel when we saw them in NOTL, they were $99.00 each and really big.  We knew we had to find smaller ones.  We then went to a Nursery close to Grimsby and they were $50.00 each.  I held out and we went to one last Nursery closer to Beamsville - BINGO, $29.00 each!     They fit in so perfectly with the theme of the Haunted House!

I LOVE the fact when he took the photos he used the Black & White mode along with the Sepia setting.   I'm sooooooo excited!!   Only one building outside and I can hardly wait to get home.     We're hoping to set up the track soon!!!  The Ghosts want to get the party started!

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip - 04-27-11

April was a VERY wet month.   A lot of rain has fallen.

With all that rain and the location of our house, our sump pump has been working overtime and has been dumping into the back yard, which lands directly into our train layout.   

The plan is in the future to install a pond liner and make a pond with a run-off.    Bob has been digging an area for the water to sit and then drain into the ground. 

With all the rain we have received, it hasn't had time to go back into the ground so we had a pond form just with all the water.

Bob decided it would be a great excuse to take some photos of a boat we found at Value Village.






At first, he had a 2.5 pound anchor to hold the boat down but decided he only needed a 1 pound anchor to hold the boat in place.  It worked fine!


He then decided to add some minature "Christmas Lights" we found at Canadian Tire at Christmas.











The very next day (April 28, 2011) we had a horendous wind storm.   It started around 8am and we had wind gusts up to 124 km per hour.   It caused trees to uproot and snap off - which of course caused major power outages all over the place.     With the power outage, we had a battery-back up for the sump-pump.  Unfortunately due to all the rain, it was running non-stop and drained the battery, so all the water you see in the pond ended up coming back into the house and flooded our basement.   By the time Bob left work at 12pm to come and check on the house, the pond was completely empty and the boat was on the bottom of the pond.   With all the damage in our neighbourhood (trees down close by, water in the basement, shingles lifted up on the garage) the last thing he thought of was taking a photo.  I forgive him. (GIGGLE)