Horse Barn

With help from the granddaughters -- third and seventh grade, give or take -- the cotton field has been planted and is about ready to be picked!  However, since one of the wagons used to get the cotton to the gin is drawn by horses, they thought we HAD to have a shelter for the horses.  The best I could do on short notice was the wooden shed that's part of Clever Brothers furniture factory file -- cardstock.  Frankly, I'm pleased with how it turned out.  A little more detail plus dirt and fence for the "pasture" and we should be in business!

I also got a display case that "Crazy Cousin Larry" gave me varnished and mounted to store odd pieces of rolling stock or cars not needed for the time being.

Another Granddaughter(s) Visit

I may have to give up on grandsons helping, but my granddaughters (visiting for the weekend while parents go to concert) jumped right in there today!  They helped mix up the "ground goop" (we used previously) for a cotton field.  Then we spread it out, plowed it with a comb missing four of every five teeth, and planted some cotton plants.  The plants may not be quite green enough, but they seemed to work pretty well to give the effect of individual plants in a row.  They are about 1/2" high, or around 4 scale feet.  We used moss from Michael's cut to the specified dimension.  Then the young ladies dabble some wicker white paint on the moss to give a full blown cotton plant look.  I think it will do.  They want a few weeds around the cotton field, so maybe some broomstraw is in order.

While they were planting cotton, I took the opportunity to reapply and glue down (with heavy hold hair spray) some forest debris.  It had been rubbed off in the move.  Also planted the seven Southern Yellow Pines I had made some time ago.

Finally, while they took the afternoon for a visit to Discovery Place with their grandma, I cut out the blacktop road.  Used a suggestion I saw earlier to use the underside of asphalt roofing shingles (that is, regular shingles turned upside down).  Looks like it might work with some trimming and weathering -- well, and some lines down the middle.

Nice to have some progress again!