Down By the Old Mill Stream: 4 (aka "I'm baaaccckkk baby!")

Rather than a long detailed explanation as to why I haven't done much posting for the last month and a half, I'll simply say the entirely necessary but seemingly never-ending work project is at last finished. 
I feel a little like one of the late 20th century's most brilliant philosophers....

My oldest son Jeff came up to visit for about a week. We (Jeff, myself, my youngest son Matthew, and Bernie Kempinski) took in all the sights (sounds...and smells...) of the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium on Saturday. We also headed over to M B Klein's where I added a new Broadway Limited 2-8-0 to the roster - a planned phased replacement of the fleet of Bachmann Spectrum Connies that are starting to show their age. I drove, and we couldn't simply drop Bernie off without peering in his basement to monitor his progress. So we spent a pleasant couple of hours seeing what he was up to - as fascinating as always. Jeff even managed to leave with a steering wheel...long story. 

I rewarded myself with a day off yesterday - so Jeff and I occupied ourselves in the basement for most of the afternoon - we got the background hills behind the mill stream finished and replanted. I also got a first coat of riverbed material in place - the whole scene needs a few minor details tweaked here and there but it was great fun to spend time working on the layout - having Jeff around only made it more fun!