Track Gang

 

The track gang came by this morning about 7:00. I'm still curious about the long term plans for the track. I think the only thing it services east of me is the power plant and it was scheduled to shut down a couple of years ago. There are solar fields now in place that took heaven only knows how much productive cropland out of production that was supposed to replace the electricity from the coal fired power plant. Apparently, someone's calculations were a bit off. With all the track work they're doing, they must plan on keeping the line running for at least a few more years. Since I like trains, I'm glad to see the line staying in operation, but more importantly, I'm a big fan of dependable electricity. 

I just read in the paper "Slow Joe" and company are using wartime powers to manufacture heat pumps and four other alternative energy technologies. This goes along with the war on gas stoves, water heaters and other appliances that will create increased costs in new construction and who knows what costs for existing homes and businesses. I've got no idea how this is all going to shake out but I really wish the government would back down a couple of notches on the green energy/climate change front and come up with way to balance the budget and erase some of the debt. This country is in big, big trouble on all fronts. Heat pumps aren't going to be the solution.

It's been unseasonably cold the last few days - night time temps in the teens. Between my cold and Mother Nature's cold, I haven't ventured out to the shop for a few days. I did feel well enough to go to the health club yesterday. I needed to go out anyway in search of a heated chicken waterer. Two different farm stores and all I could come up with was the bottom half of one. Fortunately, it matched the one I was replacing so I could use the old top with the new bottom. They cut me a good deal on it, so I came away satisfied.

The Missus has come down with the cold now. She's hacking, coughing and feeling like death warmed over. The grandson has it, so we had to cancel our welding lesson and the sister-in-law has got covid. I hope the cold weather has killed some of these nasty germs so the rest of the winter will be better from a health standpoint. 

In the meantime, here's a couple more shots from the AMA Museum:

Moto Guzzi cut-away and an Indian service vehicle. I enjoyed the museum visit, and now there's two others on the list to go see: Wheels Through Time in North Carolina and the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama. I need to get the map out and see what kind of a trip I can put together for North Carolina that would include motorcycles, steam trains, an open wheel race or two and the Buc-Ees  Travel Center in Richmond, KY.