York1We're leaving town again for a while. It's great to get on the road again after so long staying home.
I am also leaving soon... only about four weeks away. We are so excited to get going.
Track fiddlerBeen looking at Low to No state tax states and thinking of moving to a milder climate one day in the near future. Not too hot and not too cold in one of those states is a tough act to follow but it's somewhat doable.
I knew I would retire in Florida from the time I was in Middle School. It is just a fortunate circumstance that I am already here!
Heartland Division CB&QWe moved to Kentucky about 20 years ago, and we found the real estate taxes to be much more reasonable than in Michigan where we lived for many years. Overall cost of living here is lower than in MI and other states.
If I could not retire in Florida, Northern Kentucky or Southern Ohio would be the next choice. It is the most beautiful area I have ever seen.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Heartland Division CB&Q Good morning to David (UK), Sheldon, John York 1, TF, and anybody else who visits the Diner this morning. Taxes, etc. .... We moved to Kentucky about 20 years ago, and we found the real estate taxes to be much more reasonable than in Michigan where we lived for many years. Overall cost of living here is lower than in MI and other states. Model railroad. ..... Yesterday, I worked on decoders. After that, I ran trains. Everybody: ...... Have a nice day.
Good morning to David (UK), Sheldon, John York 1, TF, and anybody else who visits the Diner this morning.
Taxes, etc. .... We moved to Kentucky about 20 years ago, and we found the real estate taxes to be much more reasonable than in Michigan where we lived for many years. Overall cost of living here is lower than in MI and other states.
Model railroad. ..... Yesterday, I worked on decoders. After that, I ran trains.
Everybody: ...... Have a nice day.
Here in Maryland property tax rates are different in every county and city.
Near DC, very high values and very high rates, in the rural areas, much lower. And even Baltimore is much lower than DC metro.
Kind of interesting for such a relatively small state.
We live in the rural space between Baltimore and Phily/Wilmington and the cost of living is reasonable.
And if we need something the cities provide, Baltimore is 35 mind south, Wilmington 45 mins north, and even Phily is only a bit more than an hour away.
The best thing is being only 50 min from the Strasburg Rail Road.
Sheldon
Good morning everyone. I was typing up my evening post for the diner last night when the internet went out. I started working again some time overnight.
hon30critterThese days, if we want to get rid of something we will ask our son once and if he doesn't want it, it will get donated or it goes to the curb or the dump.
We are doing something similar. All kinds of things we thought the kids would fight over, none of them want. They all wanted eveything when they moved out. Now that they are taking care of thmeselves, they want nothing.
The items they want the most when we are gone are the ornaments from the Christmas Tree! They all still remember their favorites.
NorthBritTF has sent us his cold weather from last week. The heating has been switched back on.
He can send some of it down here. It is so hot outside. I can only stay out there about six hours a day now.
ATLANTIC CENTRALLike Kevin was saying we have that same kind of system, increases for your primary residence are limited to 3% a year, no matter what the market increases are. Maintenance, minor upgrades, repairs have no affect on assessments, which are well below actual market anyway.
It is a great system, and it provides a lot of security in retirement. I know my property taxes will be more-or-less stable as I grow older.
It has turned out to actually be a blessing that I owned this house in the crash of 2008. The assessed value of the house fell below $50,000.00, and now it can only creep upward in the future. That event turned out to be a financial positive for us.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Good morning
NorthBrit TF has sent us his cold weather from last week. The heating has been switched back on.
TF has sent us his cold weather from last week. The heating has been switched back on.
Good morning, everyone. Brunhilda, brings lots of coffee.
Our state's property taxes are terrible. Our assessors are required to assess the houses at 100% of the true value, with ag land assessed at 75%. Each year the legislature argues about property tax relief, but nothing ever happens.
One good thing is that after age 65, there is an sliding scale exemption for property taxes based on income and house value.
We're leaving town again for a while. It's great to get on the road again after so long staying home.
I hope everyone has a good Wednesday (or Thursday for Bear).
York1 John
SeeYou190 Track fiddler Around here Kevin, if someone removes their roof and adds on a second story or ads on extending into the backyard, the property value of that house is assessed and every ones taxes in the immediate area go up. I hope it's not like that down there. No, it is not. Florida has the "Save Our Homes" act, or the "Homestead Exemption" as it is popularly called. The taxable value of your house can only be increased by 3% per year maximum as long as it is the owner's primary residence. Rental properties and seasonal residences do not recieve this benefit. Right now, the assessed taxable value of my house is only $65,000.00, and I pay no taxes on the first $50,000.00 of that. I pay less than $2,000.00 per year total in property taxes. If I move to a new house, increase the footprint, or add a second story, different rules apply. That is why the idea of a train room over the garage and master bedroom was abandoned. Upgrades for hurricane protection cannot be taxed no matter how much they raise the value of the house. Lot of improvements sneak in with this rule. The Overhead Door Company just called. My new garage door will be installed on Thursday 13/MAY/2021. New door is rated for Category 5 storms, it cannot be taxed! -Kevin
Track fiddler Around here Kevin, if someone removes their roof and adds on a second story or ads on extending into the backyard, the property value of that house is assessed and every ones taxes in the immediate area go up. I hope it's not like that down there.
No, it is not.
Florida has the "Save Our Homes" act, or the "Homestead Exemption" as it is popularly called.
The taxable value of your house can only be increased by 3% per year maximum as long as it is the owner's primary residence. Rental properties and seasonal residences do not recieve this benefit.
Right now, the assessed taxable value of my house is only $65,000.00, and I pay no taxes on the first $50,000.00 of that. I pay less than $2,000.00 per year total in property taxes.
If I move to a new house, increase the footprint, or add a second story, different rules apply. That is why the idea of a train room over the garage and master bedroom was abandoned.
Upgrades for hurricane protection cannot be taxed no matter how much they raise the value of the house. Lot of improvements sneak in with this rule.
The Overhead Door Company just called. My new garage door will be installed on Thursday 13/MAY/2021. New door is rated for Category 5 storms, it cannot be taxed!
Even here in Maryland it is similar to what Kevin is saying about Florida.
Our 2,500 sq ft rancher (that does not count the 1,500 sq ft of basement, we have three rooms added later that do no have basement, one is a grade level sunroom) and the 2.3 acres we own has a tax bill of $3000.
When we build a detached garage soon, our taxes will increase just a very small amount, and like Kevin was saying we have that same kind of system, increases for your primary residence are limited to 3% a year, no matter what the market increases are.
Maintenance, minor upgrades, repairs have no affect on assessments, which are well below actual market anyway.
When you buy a house, you do get a new assessment based on the sale price, but again those increases are still the same proportion below the real market value. But they only do those reassessments once every three years, so even that takes time to kick in. Then you are right back on the locked in 3% max increases.
Years ago when we completely restored the big Victorian house, built a big garage, and a pool, the tax increase was small, and future increases limited. The new owners are now paying more.
But because these rules do not apply to investment property, the rental townhouses we are now selling off have taxes as high as our home but their values are about half.
Good morning Diners. My regular toast and tea, Flo. please.
Today we are in Edinburgh.
A Day Out In Edinburgh
8mm Home Movie film of the Last Train on the Innocent Railway, Edinburgh.
Around the suburbs of Edinburgh.
More trains around the suburbs
More of Edinburgh.
Finally 50 Facts About Edinburgh
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
York1All four of my parents/in-law parents died within two years of each other. We spent those two years going through belongings. It was at that point I decided I did not want to make my kids go through what I was forced to do.
That is how Dianne and I feel as well. My parents' house took months to clear out. We took 17 trailer loads to the dump. We tried to get some value for what remained but that was a futile exercise. We spent more money on gas travelling back and forth than we got from the sale.
These days, if we want to get rid of something we will ask our son once and if he doesn't want it, it will get donated or it goes to the curb or the dump. I can't be bothered dealing with Kijiji. We need to make another dump run soon.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Track fiddlerAround here Kevin, if someone removes their roof and adds on a second story or ads on extending into the backyard, the property value of that house is assessed and every ones taxes in the immediate area go up. I hope it's not like that down there.
SeeYou190 These will be the 6th and 7th houses Express Homes has built on my street in the last year. They are all different designs, and except for the one right across the road from me, they look really nice.
These will be the 6th and 7th houses Express Homes has built on my street in the last year. They are all different designs, and except for the one right across the road from me, they look really nice.
Build it and they will come
Around here Kevin, if someone removes their roof and adds on a second story or ads on extending into the backyard, the property value of that house is assessed and every ones taxes in the immediate area go up. I hope it's not like that down there.
I was running one of my newer steam engines and it's really slow, even when the transformer is cranked all the way up. Sure wish my power pack went up to 11.
Duuude!
TF
Good morning from big tree country. It is a beautiful sunny day. We get Sun showers too sometimes, must be a living by the ocean thing I have no idea.
Just burned 1000 calories off on the bike as my body fat is creeping up. My workout schedule was really messed up with all these renovations going on. Of course, rum does not help either. I keep the body fat in the 17% to 18% range these days. That shows just shades of a six-pack showing through and means girls I mean the wife still will chase after me. A reward in itself.
Ray, loved the story about your FIL. As a kid, my dreams at night were all about flying and I often hoped I would pick up the dream I had the night before when going to bed. For the life of me, I do not know how I did not end up in aviation as a career. Too many beautiful blondes may have had something to do with it.
Lots to do in the job jar today.
Pushers waiting at Rogers for the ten-mile push.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
NorthBritThe weather doesn't know what to do, so it is raining with the sun shining?
It rains in the sunshine frequently in Florida Summers. Sometimes it rains when there are no clouds. We call these events "Sun-Showers".
Transplants from up North are so funny during their first Summer in Florida. They don't know what to make of it all.
Construction on a new house has just begun on the corener. I have been listening to poorly maintained dump trucks dump loads of fill dirt all morning.
I walked down and looked at the permit. This was an oversized three-lot homesite. The city allowed Express Homes to divide it into two 1 1/2 lot homesites.
My neighborhood has a zoned minimum homesite size of two lots. I do not like this trend of allowing lots to be subdivided, but fortunately my neighborhood is over 90% built now, so this is not a big problem for me.
Good Morning,
Supposed to be sunny and 65F today but tomorrow we will get TF's weather.
Well Robbie is at the vet today again. Yesterday he spent the day there on anti biotics for a bacterial infection. He had a strange swelling and discharge on his back Sunday. We suspect a Bot fly. They burrow under the skin. It is the wrong time of year and he only goes out on a leash in our back yard so who knows how he got that. Anyway he isn't feeling very well on top of his other health issues. We were worried his kidneys had started to go which has a bad outcome. Hopefully this can be cured.
I plan on doing some yard cleanup in the beds around the rocks by the pond. Hopefully that will make it rain.
Nice to see Lion about. The wildebeest will be doing a lot of snorting. That's what they do to signal danger. Once we were in the Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania and came across a male lion sleeping on his back, on the track, completely in the open. The male wildebeest nearby were watching him and snorting a lot. The lion didn't care as no other animal would dare disturbe or attack him. It was strange when the bump in the road turned out to be a sleeping lion.
Now we just need Ken. Sure wish I could find out what happened to Johnboy.
Coffee time.
CN Charlie
Good morning.
TF, you mentioned the electrical fire. Now I don't want to work today. I am rewiring some more outside lights. Hope your friend has a good insurance company.
David, once again, thanks for the great videos.
Have a good day, everyone.
Been cloudy and cool up here for the last several days. Not freezing like a while ago but crappy enough to make me wanna stay indoors and do some modeling.
Putting the done stamp on my Viaduct bridge this morning. Finally one bridge completely finished and only two left to build. The light at the end of the tunnel. Haven't decided whether to start a new one or start finishing the five that aren't painted yet.
The greyhounds have nothing over on Benji the track dog. That dog was fast.
Talk about a pet having personality.
I hope Ken is on the mend and stops by soon. He is missed as well as his nightly evening posts. I wish him the best while I'm hopefull he's getting better.
My friend Pete's house burned down. I'm sure am glad no one was home when it happened. It's an old house and was probably an electrical fire. They usually are. I feel bad for Pete's sake in the months ahead of him dealing with the insurance company. All the heaps of paperwork and Hoops I had to jump through on my tool trailer was something else. I can't imagine dealing with a totaled house claim and the contents of belongings.
Well time to take Judy to work. She wants to start earlier today.
Have a great day train fans
Good morning Diners.
Regular toast and tea please, Flo.
The weather doesn't know what to do, so it is raining with the sun shining?
This week I shall post films of around my favorite places.
Today = Dunkeld & Birnam. Dawn & I had our honeymoon there.
A surprise. Just happened to be passing Dunkeld station and the "Lancashire Fusilier" was waiting for signals to change. Great to see this train with two locomotives stopped at the platform then heading off again. Don't know any more about why it was there or where it was going. The video doesn't reall record how loud this was!
37175 & 37099
Tour Scotland travel video of the famous Flying Scotsman steam train arriving at the railway station on visit to Birnam and Dunkeld in Highland Perthshire. The train was travelling from Edinburgh and Perth to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The Perth and Dunkeld Railway was first built from Stanley Junction on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway to Birnam, on the opposite bank of the River Tay to Dunkeld. With the Act of Parliament was passed on 10 July 1854, with the line being opened on 7 April 1856. Initially operated by the Scottish Midland Junction Railway, and latterly the Scottish North Eastern Railway, the Perth and Dunkeld did not become part of the Caledonian Railway, rather was absorbed by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway on 28 February 1864, and subsequently became part of the Highland Railway on 1 February 1865. The line became part of the LMS in 1923.
Dunkeld & the Hermitage
THIS dog says, "Get outta' my way. I'll show you guys how to do this!"
Yep!
Cheers, Ed
Heartland Division CB&QKevin ...... You said : "The baby is due on Christmas Day! This is going to be a long ten months." ....... Ten months ? .... That would be a very long amount of time to carry a baby !
Yeah, 12-4 has always been way too difficult of a mathematic quagmire for me to deduce.
After using my calculator, I have confirmed the due date is 8 months away!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Jimmy Fallon featured this song on The Tonight Show tonight. It is from 1967, and it is HILARIOUS! I laughed the whole way through it. Maybe it is just the mood I am in tonight, but this was great.
I worked on my first lengths of underground piping for the irrigation system.
I got one sprinkler head installed, and this is all I am doing until the end of rainy season. Hopefully the price of PVC will come back down before then.
After I finished with all this, I buried it underground. It looks like I did nothing.
The World Is A Beautiful Place.
BATMANI wonder how many plane guys are train guys or how many train guys are plane guys?
Wheealll...... My FIL was a plane guy and an HO Train Guy. Somewhere down cellar I have a couple boxes of some of his peices and parts from his trains.
He was major big time into building, recovering, and flying his own Scratch Built Pietenpol:
He converted another old Model A FORD Motor for an "Aircamper" and put a hand carved propellor on it for an exhibet at the Curtise Air Museum as well:
(That is my son the Battery Technology guy who writes technical stuff and is writing the k-12 electrical/battery curiculum for the UK at the moment among other things. He still thinks Grandpas stuff was pretty neat!)
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Lion! glad you are still here to feast on the wildebeasts.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Howdy ...
Frank ..... It is great to see you in the Diner. Feel free to visit here more often!
Kevin ...... You said : "The baby is due on Christmas Day! This is going to be a long ten months." ....... Ten months ? .... That would be a very long amount of time to carry a baby !
Ken ..... Where are you ?
Just a thought, Brent, but do you chaps not have “Book Fairs” in your neck of the woods?
I did have a few second thoughts on some and put them in the redistribute box. The old regulations IFR textbooks and some others are just wrong information and should be destroyed. A lot of people often just don't realize what their reading is outdated and wrong. Kind of like those old medical books that suggest a good bleeding is the solution.
I wonder how many plane guys are train guys or how many train guys are plane guys? I see a next question for "Stupid Study Saturday"
Dawn patrol.
JaBear,
Check Your PM's. Finally got Your's......My notifications are iffy at best also.
Take Care!
Frank
BATMAN This is an 80lb lap dog. Every morning he climbs in my lap while I drink my coffee and goes to sleep. A dog always makes your day start off well.
This is an 80lb lap dog. Every morning he climbs in my lap while I drink my coffee and goes to sleep. A dog always makes your day start off well.
Look at that face
Some of my friends have cats that I like but I have always been a dog man. To each their own pet preference as they're all good.
This guy works in the steel industry making big scissor lifts. His gnarly pet can be somewhat affectionate too.
Isn't she cute
BroadwayLionBroadwayLion wrote the following post yesterday: Eh? Frank wrote to the Abbot asking where I was, and the Abbot sent it on to me. I wrote him a nice letter and assumed that he would post it here.
Sorry Lion...In My post to You, I asked for Your permission to post Your letter but I didn't see it in your next letter. Anyway, glad You made it.
Take Care All!
Just a thought, Brent, but do you chaps not have “Book Fairs” in your neck of the woods? I say this because I’ve ended up with a collection of “obsolete” aviation technical books, and manuals, and I find that the basics are still very relevant. In fact, the book I used as my main study material for my “Fabric, Wood and Tube” rating exams, was printed in 1940.
Same thoughts here.... I am currently little by little taking over 40 years of National Geographic I have had sitting on a shelf to the local library. They have a table where people can take old magazines and give a donation to the library. Two boxes (5 years worth) gone and only 13 more to go. They only want me to bring over a couple boxes at a time... Many boxes of books have now gone to the Center of Concern here in Geneva as well.
I think that photo of the cat and mouse is going to end badly for one of them......
73
gmpullmanEd, I can only presume that you undertook to add Randy to the RIP Track, thanks. Kevin gets the credit for being on top of that honorific. Randy has definitely earned his place on the RIP track.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Mouse negotiations:
Whoopie by Edmund, on Flickr
ricktrains4824May Diner - I agree, Reading Rail (and area) would be good next month.
Hmmm.... Yeah, I'd like to do some reading about the Reading!