Friday 4-12 Night at the Museum

Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum

This morning the weather was very mild with a little breeze. When our irrigation system was installed some of the sprinkler heads were mistakenly put on our neighbors lots. Years ago Larry relocated the front ones but he never relocated the ones in the backyard. Since the lots were empty it was never too important. Now that they have cleared the lots and are planning to sell them Larry decided it was time to move them. Today was perfect to do so. First he located the two heads that needed to be moved. Then we strung a string to mark our property line. Next he started digging a trench at the first head to locate the pipe. Once he found the pipe he dug the trench back about four feet, which was about a foot or so on our property. Then he cut the pipe and glued a connector on. While the first pipe was drying he moved on to the next one. He did the same procedure. Once the glue was dry he put the sod back into the trenches. While he was digging the trench he accidentally cut the Invisible Fence wire so he also repaired that. The last step was to flatten the grass in the trenches. 

Digging the trenches

Cutting the irrigation pipe

Fixing the Invisible Fence wire

The connector to hold the two pieces of the wire together

Looks like new

The next project was the trimming back the board at the Minnie parking area on the side of the house.  

Trimming the board back

  

We did something new and exciting this evening. Larry read in the newspaper that the Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum was having a special train ride called Night at the Museum. He bought the tickets in advance to make sure we could go, good thing he did because it sold out. We arrived at the museum at 3:30 to check in. Once we checked in we walked around the museum and looked at the displays. They had children areas so they can learn about trains. They setup a table where you can make a Hobo dinner pack. A volunteer helped you. They gave you a square cloth, a stick and rope. You could choose what to wrap in it from potato chips, Cheetos, Swish Fish, Ritz crackers and cheese pack and Cracker Jacks. Once I choose what I wanted I held the cloth while the volunteer tied the rope around the cloth and put the stick in it. It was very cute. Afterwards we went outside to wait for the Amtrak Train. It was delayed so we walked around the area. The train was suppose to be at the train station at 4:40 but he didn't get there until 5:50. While we were waiting for the train to arrive another volunteer kept the kids busy by playing Simon Says. Once the train came we loaded on. The train ride was to Taylor. The ride was very nice. When we were about five minutes outside of Taylor we had another delay. The tracks are owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak has go by what the dispatcher says. We had to pull on the side track to wait for a 9,000 foot freight train to pass. By the time we got to Taylor we were two and a half hours late. At Taylor we loaded on a school bus to go back to Temple. We were surprised that we didn't take a tour bus back to Temple. We had 69 people on the train and buses. Our bus driver was very friendly and good. We got back to Temple at 9:00. We had a super time.

 

The model railroad in the Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum

I'm ready to load the train with my Hobo dinner

People loading the Amtrak Train

Me and a train worker

Being helped into the train

The Hobo dinner Larry and I shared

Wearing the conductor's hat and the conductor