The Colors of Fall

A quick walk around the neighborhood with my camera and I was able to find some spectacular autumn colors. I love it when the leaves change over to gold, orange, red, and yellow.

It lets you know that God loves variety and that is a great thing!

Autumn Time

It is Autumn here at the mansion, so it is our tradition to have the help (mainly me) put out the bales of straw and the scare crows. It is nice to dress the place up a little bit with the yellow flowers. Yes, a lovely addition. Here is a close up of the arrangement for your enjoyment.

The trip aboard Amtrak's Southwest Chief is past the planning stage and into the all paid for stage. My reservation is complete and I will head out the first week in December. I am kind of looking forward to getting away and enjoying Los Angeles.

Improving the Mansion

What was desperately necessary at the mansion this year was a replacement for the old stair way out the back door. It was rotting and falling apart. So with the help of a quite a few dollars , I hired a construction crew to build me a nice new cedar deck. To tell the truth, it was a bit of an over kill because it has half the square footage of the house, but the design ties the back of the house together nicely.

After adding the stain it really catches the eye or as they say in design class "It pops". I always laugh at that term. What ever happened to the words "groovy" or "far out"? Yeah, I am so old!

Anyway, my neighbor dropped by yesterday to enjoy the deck and we spend about an hour laying about it. Now let me tell you, my neighbor is one cool cat!

Getting Restless...Time to Plan Some Train Travel

It's late September and only my second post of the year. Honestly, I haven't been playing chess or doing much of anything except my homework from the management courses and household chores. What a boring life! However, I am planning a small train trip from Kansas City, Missouri, to Los Angeles, California, to add some excitement to my daily routine. What a pity I didn't get a chance to ride the original ATSF Super Chief. Now that was a train to remember. It had all private rooms, meaning it was first class travel only. All meals were made to order from fresh ingredients and served on china plates in the diner car. As for me, I get a substitute from The National Rail Corporation, AKA Amtrak, that carries the name Southwest Chief. There will be no china plates and the meals will have a different method of preparation. This train isn't all first class travel either, it has both private rooms and coach seating. I went with a small private roomette that is a sitting room by day and a bedroom at night. All the meals are included in the price of the fare, which is good because I will be riding for over 37 hours and one must eat. Train travel is relaxing to me. You spend your time in lounge car sight seeing or enjoying an adult beverage. Also there is the aforementioned meals where you meet new people and enjoy a nice conversation. Of course, you can retreat to your room and read a book or have a quick shower. So I must get busy with my plans and book early to get the best fare.

2010's First Post

The trouble with keeping a blog is you must have something interesting to write about. Unfortunately my life is pretty much the same day after day. I have good intentions of doing things (like this blog) that never seem to get done for some reason or another. For example, this photo of the Christmas tree was supposed to be a post around the time of that holiday. Oops! See what I mean. I have other ideas and photos for posts as well. I have have made two train trips in the last 6 months and those would make excellent posts, if only I would stop being lazy. Anyway, enjoy the photo of the tree!