Running Bear's May 2022 Coffee Shop

[PNKFLOYD]

I found a rare sight for my area, a BNSF engine on the Norfolk Southern track siding near my home. I see BNSF engines on through trains about once a month, this is only the second BNSF train on the siding in the 5 years I have been here.
It was nice to be able to get a couple close up pictures.

 

[logandsawman]

Good morning,

52 and sunny in Central Minnesota. Far enough from Minneapolis to exhibit some sanity.

Flo - I will have some biscuits and gravy as well, and a couple over medium eggs on the side. Thanks

Chooch- great hobo scene last night

Guy - interesting CN 3930 paint, thanks for sharing

Willie - nice townhouse rehabs, bank building lookin good, too. Hope for no more health scares

Allergies - mine have pretty much disappeared. And my eyesight is improving. Funny these health improvements with advancing years!!

Back later with more

Dave LASM

 

[TLOC]

SO WHAT IS WRONG AMERICANS OUT THERE???
I had the opportunity to watch a TV in the Emergency Room this morning, I had it tuned to C-Span watching a Congressional hearing. Amidst the backdrop of no baby formula for mothers to use, inflation that is rampant, gas and food prices escalating daily, runaway violent crime in some cities, vehicles that are unobtainable and super expensive, a Southern border that's so open that the Russians could drive a whole army through and a stalled supply chain; I watched a congressional House Committee investigating UFO's?!?!?!?!
Is this what we have come to???

Well actually yes.

But in response I put this back up

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!

36F and it's supposed to start raining soon. I'll still need to go work on the fence project, as it needs to get done! It's in the way right now. I'm in modelling mode.

Guy - Coming at you later regarding the windshield for the truck.

Willie - I'm curious. Hope you can come back before the weekend, as that's probably when action begins based on my own thoughts toward the procedure.

An extension ladder slipped out from under me once. I ripped off a piece of overhead door trim on my way down. The boss was very concerned that the trim be replaced before the owner saw what happened. Personally, I thought my injuries were a-bit more important; but, that's just me.

I'm in a hurry here. Need to get to that fence while it's not raining. So I'm typing fast.
Still got time for a photo, though.

The Edson CN yard was very quiet yesterday:

I was actually sad it was so quiet in there. Didn't have time to wait around for some action, which started to come soon after I was leaving to go pick-up the wife. Usually, it's a busy place.

Gotta go! Work before play and all that! Have a good one!

 

[TLOC]

Vehicle prices are ridiculous. I was on a web page and an ad on the side was for a local Ford dealer. They have a used (14750 miles) Ford F-350 diesel 4wd 4 door crew cab truck. $97950. Used. That is ridiculous. For something that will depreciate and be worth next to nothing in 10 years or less.

I got my Dodge 2500 Mega Cab with Cummins diesel, brand new, in 2006 for around $38k. That is around $55.4K today according to an inflation calculator. I traded it in 2013 for $28.5k and got a brand new VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI and had about $1k in credit left over that the wife wanted to put towards the VW extended warranty (which we later cancelled after the TDI scandal came out). VW later paid me about $25k plus $1k in incentives (visa cash card and vw dealer cash card each of $500) to buy the car back with their diesel scandal.

Almost $100k for a used truck ("2022 pre-owned")????

Anyway

What is really sad, someone Will pay that

TomO

 

[TLOC]

My bedtime levels have been pretty decent generally. Most of the time it goes up really high overnight but for some reason those two nights it went really low. My lowest ever was 23 and I feel lucky I woke up at all. That was several years ago. I can remember waking up in a pool of sweat and getting up. Took me forever to get the presence of mind to even realize I needed to eat something. Thankfully I've never had that kind of low ever again and hope I never do.

Wow, that would be scary. My doctor strongly recommends I go to bed between 100 and 120. I wake up generally between 130-150. I still don’t really understand the “dawn effect” as the Continous Glucose Monitor indicated I get down to 90 around 3-4am. Then it goes up.

Take care of yourself

 

[TLOC]

Done with this morning's walk. My daughter's house is all sick with the COVID. Not a sever condition, just the fever, coughing and lethargic. Fortunately, no other symptoms. Now they all have the natural immunity and won't need the shots. On the other hand, the World Health Organization will be handed control of the health matters in this country next week sometime. The shots may become international law, regardless of natural immunity of physical tolerance.

Where were you told that?

 

[chadbag]

What is really sad, someone Will pay that

TomO

I went and looked at the same dealer website and they have a bunch of new F-150 starting at $70k and going up. Broncos for $69k and up. (To be fair I found a bunch of low end F-150 new "starting" at $51k.

Also used F-250 and F-350 Lariat for $98k and used Brocno at $85k. Used 2020 Jeep Gladiator rubicon with 28k miles for $58k

Insane

 

[TLOC]

Good morning modelers, health nuts, health impaired and those who watch TV in the ER. I do think willie
you could have found a cheaper place to watch from. Glad you feel better.

Pre-owned truck and car prices are crazy but what is really nuts is someone is paying the prices. I am the wrong guy though to talk to about the absurdity of $100,000 + car prices. While I personally have never owned one, the wife has 2.

I have been spending time at the bench in the train room. I am back to my fiber optic light project started maybe 5 years ago. Adding lights to the Paper Mill.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Where were you told that?

Well, first off, I don't sit here waiting for someone to tell me what to think.
I've been reading about this through several sources over the past month.
You can google WHO and read it for yourself, then you can embrace it, deny it's happening or start thinking of how to get around it.

 

[chadbag]

With Covid (current variants): It seems t=you can get Covid many times. In the end you probably do end up with some form of natural immunity, similar to how society has built up an "immunity" against influenza, andwhen you get it it is not as deadly as it would be raw without any prior exposure.

It also seems that those vaccinated against the (original) Covid-19 don't get much if any benefit against the current variants and even are more likely to get it (the most heavily hit parts of the world are those that are most vaccinated. I also saw a headline today that said children vaccinated have higher active covid cases. I did not read the details).

Covid has evolved, become a lot less deadly, but more contagious, and less affected by the vaccine (if at all). Despite the protestations of the politicians and the bleating voices on TV and Radio and social media telling everyone to get boosted. This is based on studies and new data coming out. Actual scientific data. Covid is now endemic and like influenza -- will be with us and changing from now on.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

WELP - The last "new" P/U that I purchased cost me $2,834 in 1967 - It was a 1967 Dodge. Had a dually FORD back in the 90's when the daughters were all into riding horses and going to various jumping competitions and such; the Spousal Unit wanted it and I hated it very much so! Parking was a nightmare and it took up half of the driveway!
I also remember taking delivery of a "spanking new" B-727 in SEA and ferrying it to Dayton for it's first revenue flight (tax break involved) - it still had the plastic covers on the carpet and seats. Cost to the Company at that time was $2 Million 600 Thousand!

 

[JeffH]

Good morning!

We are 2 weeks away from a road trip to Savannah, GA for our oldest daughter's wedding.

One of my tasks, is figuring out how to build legs or a stand for a "rock candy wall." The rock candy wall, is just a place where guests will find their seating arrangement at the reception. Each guest's name is attached to a small bag with rock candy and their table number.

It's basically, a 1/4" piece of luan that is 3' wide and 6' tall with rows of hooks to hang the rock candy from. There are something like 200 hooks. There is a 2x4 frame on the back.

I have decided to use galvanized pipe to make legs... a floor flanges will attach to the vertical 2x4... near the bottom. Then an 8" piece of horizonal pipe, a 90 degree elbow, a short nipple with a cap as the foot. Then we will place a sandbag on the pipe to keep it from tipping forward.

I was going to build something from wood, but this will be pretty simple, and I can check this task off the list later today.

 

[JeffH]

Covid has evolved, become a lot less deadly, but more contagious, and less affected by the vaccine (if at all). Despite the protestations of the politicians and the bleating voices on TV and Radio and social media telling everyone to get boosted. This is based on studies and new data coming out. Actual scientific data. Covid is now endemic and like influenza -- will be with us and changing from now on.

A virus wants to survive. If a virus kills its host, it may not survive. So... in order to survive, it's mutations become less potent (so it doesn't kill its host), but more communicable (so it can proliferate).

 

[MikeInHubCity]

Good morning.
Just popping in before work. 50° & cloudy but supposed to hit 67 today. BBL.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning again. Unconfirmed ETA for my expected delivery is "Noon-ish".
I'm expecting a call to verify I'm home, so I answered a call a few minutes ago. Imagine my surprise when it was "Geek Squad" calling about "my device".
*Click*

And while I was typing this, my delivery arrived, sans confirmation phone call.
It's sad to consider the sum of a person's physical existence can be reduced to a 12" square box weighing about 5 pounds.

 

[JeffH]

Sorry for your loss, Terry. A lot of people think our bodies are just a vessel to house your spirit while on Earth. It's kind of a comforting concept... I'm not a person who is spiritual... I'm a spirt having a human experience. When the body is no longer suitable, the spirit moves on to another experience. I often contemplate such things, and like the idea that, perhaps, the human experience on Earth is part of a Spirit's growth (for the lack of a better term). Lessons learned while having the human experience prepare us for the next plane.

 

[santafewillie]

Good news from the cardiologist visit this morning. After reviewing all of the facts, symptoms and test results; he decided that the symptoms yesterday were actually a result of my blood pressure spiking, not a heart attack. Whew! Why did it spike? It actually started going up on Sunday. He explained that after a prolonged period of usage, certain blood pressure medications lose their effectiveness. Reviewing my history confirmed that to him, so he replaced one of them with another one and will monitor the results. Certain ones are more prone to do that and he picked the most obvious one (to him) and started there. I will continue to check it at home as I have done for many years.
Angioplasty has been scheduled for June 1.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Early posting today since I need to leave in 30 minutes to meet with oldest grandson at a local community college for a presentation and walking tour, I went there and graduated with an AS 20 years ago. I wonder if the campus has changed? On the train front the road is weathered and areas of dirt have been added. I should finish the ground cover tomorrow.

Sherrel- Thank you. I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. Our animals become part of the family and it's heartbreaking when they pass on. Did the plane have the new plane smell?

IB Ken- That's funny.

Willie- Not surprising. Neither party has shown any leadership in years. Great news from the Cardiologist. Nice looking garden and building photos.

Karl- Great scene.

Guy- Nice 1:1 shots. Is the grey paint scheme a standard or an oddball scheme?

Terry- My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Mikey- Nice catch with photos.

TomO- Looking forward to seeing the lighted paper mill.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[logandsawman]

Good afternoon,

Willie - my blood pressure is slightly elevated much of the time. I can get it down by checking it in the morning, before coffee, news, sugar, and salt. Also calming down a bunch.

Not very practical, though, for the rest of the day. A little "back talk" from one of the admin assistants here and I can FEEL it climb.

Hope yours levels off!!

Sherrel, over the years I have had several "low end" new car/pickup purchases. Those days are done, however, with this new price reality.

Curt - you are early today. No problem on the feeder wiring comment. I am glad you are looking at my project!

THE lumber for my layout river bridge came yesterday, they had a wooden truss bridge which I will copy for the one stream crossing on the layout.


Here is a shot from the old layout:

hobo camp to the left, behind sunflowers


more later, Dave