Landscaping

We're going camping tomorrow, up at Lassen Volcanic National Park, so this is a quick entry. Today, Ellen and I did a little landscaping work around the front platform. We have planter boxes lining the walkway up to the depot and the platform, and we've been replacing some of the plants in them. Using pickax and shovel, we'd loosen up the soil, work in some perlite, and bed the plants (dwarf ceanothus, lily grass, and something else lily-like; I'm not really a plant guy). Then the beds got a good soaking, along with a little fertilizer.

Meanwhile, Grant was running #4 "Laurel" with the passenger trains, as is typical for weekday operations. It was a pretty warm, and after we got the planting done, I went around with Grant on the footplate. I'm beginning to notice how one needs to fire the locomotive during the run. There's a slight downhill grade running from Army Camp into the tunnel, and then an uphill grade running from the tunnel out to the Back Loop.

Anyway, just a bit of work to keep things looking spiffy.