Where?
August 27
It's time to catch up and let readers know what's been going on this summer.
Over the last few years (since early 1995, actually) I've posted to
this web site narratives and over 35,000 images of railroading. This
summer I became so busy with other things that I've done very little photography
or train chasing. It's not that I haven't been doing anything railfan-related
though!
When Susan and I married in the summer of 2003, we decided to keep both of
our houses for a while. That plan changed through a fortunate coincidence
this year. My youngest son got a full time teaching job at Grandview
in Des Moines and they (a family of four now) started looking for a home
to buy in Indianola or Des Moines. I asked if they'd be interested
in my place in Indianola. One thing led to another and the deal closed
at the end of July.
Thus, one of the things keeping me occupied late summer was sorting through
38 years of accumulated possessions and deciding which were to be moved,
which stored and which sold or given away. That task is pretty much
complete and I've now moved to the house Susan built on an acreage northeast
of Pleasantville.
Susan and I did manage to chase the Challenger when it visited Iowa this
summer and we also hosted the July meeting of the Central Iowa Garden Railroad
Society. With lots of help from my brother-in-law Maurice Dyer, we
added the "Gazepot" (Gazebo-Depot) to our acreage
and also managed to erect an ex-Rock Island crossing
signal next to the lane. The new structure
, with a bay window designed to resemble a station agent's desk, contains
Susan's potting shed and some storage for the garden
railroad rolling stock. This construction, together with moving two
households, made July and August very, very busy months.
That's It!