Day 166

I couldn't get to sleep again last night.  I was up until at least 1, maybe later.  That meant that I didn't wake up until after 9.  We stayed in bed with the cats and the dog.  The cats were really glad that we had come back and were really friendly.

After breakfast I went out to work on the layout.  I used some of the cleaning fluid I bought at the train store in Houston on the engines.  It worked wonders.  They don't work perfectly, but they work a lot better.  Ellen did the wash (she's leaving tomorrow).

I decided to test out some of the track - the west loop and the loop transfer blocks.  At first things weren't working well.  I finally discovered that the track needed to be cleaned.  Kato track isn't supposed to need that, but I guess leaving it unused for years makes a difference.  I'm just about to "nail down" that part of the layout.  Once I do, I'll put the plateau above it.

I must say that seeing an engine pulling a car going around just that little bit of track was pretty gratifying.  It took a lot of work to get to that point.

After that we went to the post office and Costco (for water).  We also stopped at Cheddar's for a late lunch.  We didn't take the dog because it was sunny and hot, in the low 80's.  To make up for that I threw the bumper for her in the front yard when we got home.

We both spent the rest of the after noon surfing.  The weather was great, we just didn't feel like doing anything.

In the evening I started on the second season of Justified.  I watched 4 or 5 episodes.  It might not be quite as good as the first season, but I still can't stop watching it.