Running Bear's May 2022 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning! 73F and mostly cloudy here in Columbus, Ohio.

T-minus 12 days to oldest daughter's wedding in Savannah, Georgia.

Other than a dog and a cat, I'm the only male in our household.

Stress levels are high. Estrogen levels even higher. Send help.

Edit to add: Has anyone seen my man card? I seem to have misplaced it.
 
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Good Morning! 73F and mostly cloudy here in Columbus, Ohio.

T-minus 12 days to oldest daughter's wedding in Savannah, Georgia.

Other than a dog and a cat, I'm the only male in our household.

Stress levels are high. Estrogen levels even higher. Send help.
There is no help for this problem. You gots to wing it. Uber delivers beer and wine ya know? One of the things that I love being the only one with testosterone is that I get to try ( and use ) multiple different shampoos and conditioners. Never have to worry about running out. On top of that, my Old Spice stuff is never touched and new bottles show up every once in awhile as they like the stuff. As long as you keep the stubble from shaving outa the sink, you will survive!
 
Rainy morning in Virginia. Think I'll limit my activity to indoors today.
Going over to a friend's house in a few minutes to help clear some more stuff out of the way to install an elevator in his basement. He has such limited mobility now. Can barely walk let alone climb the stairs.
Got a little more done in the storage room to put unused lumber up off the floor. I have some more stock I'll build another rack for on the wall off to the right of this picture. I guess I could post pictures from several directions and close ups of each screw and saw cut, but I won't.

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Good morning from a chilled ready to serve So. Central Wisconsin. 42 at 4am per the weather app, 49 now heading to 67, seems gloomy.

Stopped at the local Culver’s for a quick bite to eat last night at 8pm. They locked the doors right in front of the folks in front of us. Dining room was full. 2 of our local brew pubs will not be open for the upcoming full Memorial Day weekend. Neither has enough staff. That will hurt the profit line big time. There is an annual MD weekend Soccer/European football at the local complex and both these pubs are walking distance away. It is Hamburger Week in our area from the 20th to the 30th. Buy the featured burger at participating restaurants and they donate the cost to a designated Food Pantry. Well, I ordered the burger last night as where we ended up was part of Hamburger Week. A nice 1/2# burger with lettuce and tomato, plus Canadian bacon, smoked bacon, cheese and a fried fricking egg. I should have looked at the menu. The bun, egg and bacons along with Terry’s French Fries came home with us.

Terry is awake and heading out the door. Every Tuesday is a fund raising ride for horse rescues that rotate through a series of ranches and properties around the state of Wisconsin. The 4th Tuesday though is always here, anywhere from 100 to 345 riders have shown up in the past. 100 bucks includes food at 2pm, which this week is Mexican. The ride starts at 10am. On my ATV ride around the property yesterday I had forgotten about the ride until I saw the tent was up.

I did ride along to pickup the wife,daughter and grandson at the Milwaukee airport. The grandson fell to sleep within 5 minutes of leaving the airport. A nice empty I94 westbound drive home last night. Everyone had a good time.

The hope is I have some time this afternoon to get into the train room. I have mentioned how quiet it has been without Terry home. Well, it’s not Terry it’s her fricking TV which she turned on as soon as she woke up. It is quiet again, I shut it off.

Enjoy your day
 
All Quiet On The Western Front!
Looking for a comfortable 82 degrees later on with scattered clouds.
(Finally some warmer temperatures for the week)

I've had two lousy nights - then last night was a keeper on the sleep ... feel much better. I even made it to the top of the stairs with some energy left!
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 64°, light rain off and on for the last few hours, although not currently raining. Rain gauge has a measly 0.2 in it, but a bigger storm is poised about 90 miles west and should be here around noonish. The weather geeks are still predicting 2.5" for today which should end around dawn tomorrow. Patrick is most likely getting a lot of rain right now. Oh! He just posted that.

Not a lot happening on the SFW estate yet this week. After several years of languishing, I am clearing out years of accumulated junk from the "workshop" adjacent to the train room in the train shed. It has been a catch all for obsolete yard equipment, lumber, flooring and other assorted crap for 12 years now. To start, I installed a couple of shelves to get some stuff off the floor, using some 8'- 2"x 12"'s that have been stashed in my barn. Eventually there will be six or more of them. They sure seemed heavier than they seemed to be when I stored them there 25 years ago. When I put them there, I could carry one under each arm at the same time. Yesterday, it was just one at a time. Maybe I was just being more careful this time. I'll return to that project today since I won't be mowing.

Thanks for the always appreciated comments and reactions to yesterday's pictures; Mikey, Guy, Tom O, Karl, Steve J, Dave B, Joe, Chad, James, Hughie, Louis, Troy, Curt, Patrick, Smudge, Gary, Rick, Sherrel, OB Ken.

I will be back later with yesterday's train shed adventures as I have some business to attend to right now.
Here is a teaser.
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Tom O - Despite the overcast skies all day yesterday that will continue today, at least our temperature has been staying above 65°, meaning that I can still use shorts and tee shirts here. Rain/puddles don't play well with tennis shoes though. Hobby retail therapy, whether online or at the LHS is always good.
Mikey -
Willie- I like the "long range" shots that allow me to see some of my favorite buildings in relation to each other.
I like them on other folks layouts as well. I also like to see how they make some of their structures that are the same ones that I build, different from mine.
Guy - At least around my neighborhood, some national holidays are truly celebrated for what they are. While Christmas is obvious, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Thanksgiving Day are special days for what they are meant to observe. Others such as Presidents Day, Labor Day and MLK Day are just days off work.
Greg - The diamond in DuPlainville seems like a good spot to watch trains. I have a spot nearby on the BNSF main line from Ft Worth to Oklahoma City, where there is a wye with the KCS. While I haven't been in about three years, from noon til four, I could catch two interchanges with KCS on one of the sidings, while there was 2-3 trains in both directions every hour which also included the SB Heartland Flyer (Amtrak) around 1300. NB Flyer came back around 1730. There is besides the wye, a passing siding and an interchange siding. The passing siding is about 3 miles long while the interchange siding looks to be just over a mile. Lots of action. The main line is barely 50' off to the side of the highway and I have a favorite shade tree to park under.

I am cutting out early this morning as I have a 9:15 call from a financial advisor to assist me in setting up some "Inherited IRA" accounts. I used to be able to do that online, but my old company, Prudential, has been bought out by Empower and they have different procedures. So far, more complicated.

Today is Bob Dylan's 81st birthday.
Everyone have a great day.
 
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Good morning, 64° and cloudy with an East wind. Predicted high is also 64° and temperature spread since midnight is 58° to 64°. Looks like one of those Jersey Shore Days that drive BENNYs insane.

Just received a copy of a petition to the STB, from an outfit called the Delaware & Raritan River, to take over operation of Conrail's Freehold Secondary and Southern Secondary, including rights to portions currently inactive. Supposed to take effect June 24, 2022. Good by SA-31.
It will be interesting to see how this goes down.

Bob Dylan 81? Out on Highway 61...
 
Howdy to all those receiving unwanted mail. As the Spousal Unit and I handle most all "stuff" online ==
If it were not for the medicines we receive, I would lock up the mailbox!
The waste of trees and paper used in making all the ads received from the PO is crazy.

We are still in the cool weather mess and I had to put on a jacket this morning to take goodies from the car.

It looks as some greed has started over the MIL's "stuff". I went out yesterday to get the dogs
a haircut from the brother's wife who grooms. Her husband and the youngest sister were inside the house and placing name stickers with their name on anything of value. Irene, the oldest, and Kate, the wife - second-oldest, were both out of town. I called her and said that if she wanted anything - she better get here quick before they start hauling it out the door- lol.
She in turn called Irene who said - no=no that is not what is going to happen!
Irene is the executor of the estate.

Being as I was an only child - I never experienced any of this?

When mom died, one brother bought a 40' shipping container and started loading it up with stuff from their house of 58 years.

Wife and I deliberately stayed out of the fray. We had a couple of entitled siblings, so already accepted the futility of reason.

Dave
 
Howdy to all those receiving unwanted mail. As the Spousal Unit and I handle most all "stuff" online ==
If it were not for the medicines we receive, I would lock up the mailbox!
The waste of trees and paper used in making all the ads received from the PO is crazy.

We are still in the cool weather mess and I had to put on a jacket this morning to take goodies from the car.

It looks as some greed has started over the MIL's "stuff". I went out yesterday to get the dogs
a haircut from the brother's wife who grooms. Her husband and the youngest sister were inside the house and placing name stickers with their name on anything of value. Irene, the oldest, and Kate, the wife - second-oldest, were both out of town. I called her and said that if she wanted anything - she better get here quick before they start hauling it out the door- lol.
She in turn called Irene who said - no=no that is not what is going to happen!
Irene is the executor of the estate.

Being as I was an only child - I never experienced any of this?

Family greed is a nasty thing Sherrel. Terry’s dad passed 18 years ago. 3 months prior he handed out at the brother in laws second wedding their inheritance. Because he knew how petty and manipulating some of his kids could be. A huge amount of money that Terry was unaware her parents were even worth 5% of that. The signed stipulation was do not ask their mother for any money after he is gone as the remainder is for her and church. They all happily signed that paperwork.

Boy, did he know what was going to happen. He made Terry executor of the estate, gave her POA over her mom and her mom’s money. He passes and 3 months later Terry is sued by her sister and 2 of her 3 brothers. The youngest sided with Terry. He gave Terry more then the others because and it was in writing she had never asked for a penny from the parents. The brothers and sister decided it was unfair and sued. Then they sued because mom had too much money and couldn’t spend it and it should not all go to the church. Then the sister sued saying because mom lived with her she needed more monthly rent money from mom. It was a frigging mess. But who sold mom’s house and cleaned it out before selling. The daughter 200+ miles away and her loving hubby (me). They wanted the money split for the house and not sent to charity. They lost all those arguements in court and even asked the court to have Terry pay court fees for them in another suit after they lost 3 prior attempts. They lost that and were ordered to pay mid 6 figures Terry’s attorney fees.

Then Terry’s mom passes and Terry loses 15# and gets fully grey hair waiting for the lawsuits. Part of Terry’s agreement seperatedly from what dad handed out at the BIL wedding was what to do with the money after his wife passes. Terry invested the principal per her dad’s advice and gave her discretion on who gets the money earned after the principal amount went to the church and a couple other charities. It was to be split to the grandkids equally. 16 grandkids 30 days after their grandmother passed gotta check and a stipulation to sign at the attorneys office. Those 7 that attended the Wake and the Funeral got more then those that didn’t per dad’s instructions.

2 weeks later, a suit from 9 grandkids contesting the split. A few weeks after that the sister sued contesting her kids gifts. Then she sued again contesting not giving Terry’s brothers and sister any of the interest earned from the principal. All thrown out 18 months later as nuisance suits and again the sister was ordered to pay Terry’s court fee.

Last summer when the sister lost her house in a bankruptcy case to the bank Terry and the youngest brpother purchased it in bankruptcy, fixed and cleaned it up and sold it to the youngest brother. He then gave it back to the sister for $1.00 a month mortgage payment. The brother insisted though the sister sign an agreement that she could not place a mortgage on the house and property and she signed it. Guess what the sister did in February this year? The brother won that one in court and now the sister is living with their daughter near us.

So even in writing, some families are greedy and want more then was given
 
TomO: Your story sounds so very true to our life and Cathy went through the same situation with her mother's estate. When her mother passed away Cathy was the person to clean out the house, arrange for repairs, find a realtor and prior to her mother's passing, handle her brother's passing and find the fiances for his funeral. She also find him a home for homeless persons while he lived on the streets for several years. This all the while her sister was in Arizona and didn't offer any help at all.

Cathy's payment was her half of the sale of the house and 5% of the estate as the administrator her sister received the other half of the sale of the house.. She visited her mother in a nursing home for three years on almost a daily event and her mother was normally unaware of her visits and Cathy maintained her mother's house during this time. The cost for her gas and wear and tear on her vehicle was Cathy's sole expense. No offers from the sister. Cathy was left alone to make all the funeral arrangements for her mother as well as he brother.

Other than Cathy I have no close relatives so my estate goes to charities and Cathy's estate is giving small portions to her family and the rest also to charities. No hassles for us once we're gone.

On another note.....I talked to Chet (Montanan) yesterday and he's doing fine and adjusted to his new home town and condo. Other than a sore shoulder he's doing well and wanted me to say hello to everyone in the Forum. He misses model railroading more than most hobbyists would since he had 35 years of effort set forth in building his HO empire that is now gone.

Willie: I have another "secret" location to rail fan. It's on the lead into the Union Pacific Butler, Wisconsin yard and I can legally park within feet of the mainline and watch the trains slowly enter or leave the yard. Few people know about this location and I keep it a secret.

Ken: A job well done with the lumber rack and organizing the basement storage area. That outside door must come in handy!

Speaking of hamburgers...last year at the cabin I was in search of the perfect bar burger. A nice patty on a not too large grilled or toasted plain bun. I finally found one at a dive bar of all dive bars. Even the mice wore shoes it was so dirty in the place. But, great hamburgers and fries. 1970 prices and cheap beer, soda and drinks. I want to go back this summer.

I hope the weather guess have Memorial Day correct with temps in the low 80's and no rain. I really hope.

That's all for now.

Greg

######################


Cabin Snow March 12.jpg
For those who miss winter....our cabin's rear deck in mid-March several years ago.-Greg
 
It looks as some greed has started over the MIL's "stuff". I went out yesterday to get the dogs
a haircut from the brother's wife who grooms. Her husband and the youngest sister were inside the house and placing name stickers with their name on anything of value. Irene, the oldest, and Kate, the wife - second-oldest, were both out of town. I called her and said that if she wanted anything - she better get here quick before they start hauling it out the door- lol.
She in turn called Irene who said - no=no that is not what is going to happen!
Irene is the executor of the estate.
Time to sneak in and move stickers around!;)
 
Saw this when the wife's grandmother passed, and again, when my father passed. My brother had the audacity to call me and tell me I was cut out of the will, and in the next breath, ask me to bring my truck to move his stuff out of the Assisted Living Facility. He never probated the will, and I chose not to contest him. (The attorney fees would have eaten up the proceeds). Ironically, several years later, I received communication from Prudential Life, to the effect that I was sole beneficiary of several life policies. I jumped through the hoops and received a nice chunk of change, which helped out, because finances were a little rough back then. The brother, actually called, with a sob story, trying to get me to send the proceeds to him...wife told him I was retired, never heard from him again...

At least the wife is an only child...
 
Good afternoon all,

Greg - lets put a moratorium on any pics with snow in them ... at least until it gets REALLY hot.

Currently 64° and sunny in east central Minnesota. I saw a couple Bald eagles on the drive in this morning, one sitting precariously on top of a "No Trespassing" sign. I drive rural roads 62.5 miles each morning and afternoon, usually see some interesting things. Have to remember to watch the roadway, as the Whitetail deer sometimes like to stand in the road or run into cars. Smart for us, our paid for 2013 Chevy Sonic averages 37 miles per gallon city and rural driving, also exhibits NO rust in spite of Minnesota roads usually covered in salt for 3 months of the year.

The old Suburban is another story, however. I am down to driving her one day per week. Only have to fill her up once or twice a month, since the gas tank holds 35 gallons.

Hughie - peel and stick? I usually add a small drop of Gorilla glue on a couple edges making that claim.

One brother attempted to sue me over our families estate. The estate lawyer actually "fanned the discontent" and taunted him to sue me. My whole image of lawyers really dropped in the estate dealings. The Judge that settled the suit turns out to be golfing buddies with the brother's attorney. No one won that case, except, of course, the lawyers. Slimy is far too nice a characterization.

Sherrel - good to hear you got a good nights sleep in. My wife ended up with a serious muscle condition because they administered her flue shot in the wrong location. Now, the pain has been keeping her up half the nights. When she has a good night, it is a lot nicer around home. There is a name for the condition. The pharmacy that administered the shot has put her in touch with their law firm. The only positive outcome would be we get a million dollars and I can retire and build a bigger train room (AKA Willie)

more later, Dave

PS nice pic of Middletown Mills on my old layout. Always liked this building. The kit was poorly sized, however, and took lots of trimming:

freight shed.jpg.JPG


Dave LASM
 
Death - I guess that I should consider myself lucky. No contention in either family. Wife's parents died within a few years of one another and were basically penniless. They lived on decent sized SS payments and lived in a minimum token rent place owned by my wife's sister. Estate consisted of household goods which mostly went into a dumpster. MIL had previously given away china, silverware and jewelry which settled anything of value. My mom died in 1994 and left everything to dad. Dad died in 2005 and had the entire estate mapped out in his will. Youngest brother who still lived at home and assisted him got the house free and clear, and everything else was split evenly six ways. That brother who unfortunately was the first of the siblings to pass away, followed suit and left everything to be split evenly between the five remaining ones; with a codicil to split $150K off the top to pay out to the 12 caregivers in his last eight months of life. None of us contested anything. All furniture went to charity or the dumpster by agreement among the five of us. Most anything else was still left over from mom 28 years ago and was split among three of the five since the remaining two really didn't need anything else. Most also went to charity. Still to be distributed are the proceeds from the house which has been sold but not yet closed on.
Sorry to read of others difficulties dealing with greed.
 
Good Morning to Everyone out there in Model Railroad Land. Sunny but cool in this part of Wisconsin. Rain is in the forecast, but we'll see about that. One of the local weather women couldn't even get the right Monday for Memorial Day!!! This weekend promises to be nice even maybe hot weather. I remember when we did our group Memorial Day Gold Wing trips the weather was cold and a miserable trip for the most part.

This past weekend I spend both Saturday and Sunday at the diamond in DuPlainville, Wisconsin. For those who are not familiar with DuPlainville, it's where the CN mainline crosses the CP Mainline. At one time a Milwaukee signal tower was standing guard at the crossing. I saw nine trains in total on Saturday and 12 trains on Sunday. Mostly covered hoppers carrying Potash, oil tankers and car carriers. Motive power included NS, BNSF, CP, CN and several that I missed.

View attachment 146360

The diamond crossing tower is long gone once the Milwaukee ended operation on the west bound mainline.

Once in awhile you may see the Wisconsin Southern run a train down on the CN mainline. It has trackage rights to I believe DuPlainville and then has its own line traveling east into Milwaukee.

At times there was 10 or so vehicles parked along the CP main and many had radio and listen to the progress of trains and changed viewing locations several times during the day. I was going to get a railroad scanner, but I realized all I need to do is follow these guys when they move to different locations.

Both days it's was fun to catch a nap while waiting for a train to pass-by. There a great Bar & Grill at the diamond that has good burgers. I've seen single locomotives stop on one of the two CP mains and catch a lunch at the Bar & Grill. But, I passed on stopping since I had Riley with me.

View attachment 146361

The tin ceiling is a give-a-way to the build being well over 100 years ago. We have had our informal model railroad club meet for lunch at this landmark.

I been watching Boomer's videos on weathering cars and his methods to fade a piece of rolling stock.

Nothing to report on the modeling side of this hobby other that I ordered some Gouache paints for weathering. They are pigments of different colors that are applied. White used for fading or a color close to the base color is applied, allowed to dry and then removed.

That's all for now........................

Greg

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View attachment 146362
The MNS car was a bargain that I purchased at a Swap Meet for seven cars for $35.00 . All had Kadee couplers, weathering and metal wheel-sets.-Greg
This is the crossing Greg was writing about. I was told years ago that Wisconsin Central considered this one of their busiest crossings in Wisconsin. It is a good place to watch trains and it reads like there are still plenty of them. Last seen by me in person before retirement in 2014.

Where did You park Greg?
14C5B4F5-B3B8-471B-B73E-76668EA2767A.png
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 64°, light rain off and on for the last few hours, although not currently raining. Rain gauge has a measly 0.2 in it, but a bigger storm is poised about 90 miles west and should be here around noonish. The weather geeks are still predicting 2.5" for today which should end around dawn tomorrow. Patrick is most likely getting a lot of rain right now. Oh! He just posted that.

Not a lot happening on the SFW estate yet this week. After several years of languishing, I am clearing out years of accumulated junk from the "workshop" adjacent to the train room in the train shed. It has been a catch all for obsolete yard equipment, lumber, flooring and other assorted crap for 12 years now. To start, I installed a couple of shelves to get some stuff off the floor, using some 8'- 2"x 12"'s that have been stashed in my barn. Eventually there will be six or more of them. They sure seemed heavier than they seemed to be when I stored them there 25 years ago. When I put them there, I could carry one under each arm at the same time. Yesterday, it was just one at a time. Maybe I was just being more careful this time. I'll return to that project today since I won't be mowing.

Thanks for the always appreciated comments and reactions to yesterday's pictures; Mikey, Guy, Tom O, Karl, Steve J, Dave B, Joe, Chad, James, Hughie, Louis, Troy, Curt, Patrick, Smudge, Gary, Rick, Sherrel, OB Ken.

I will be back later with yesterday's train shed adventures as I have some business to attend to right now.
Here is a teaser.
View attachment 146403

Tom O - Despite the overcast skies all day yesterday that will continue today, at least our temperature has been staying above 65°, meaning that I can still use shorts and tee shirts here. Rain/puddles don't play well with tennis shoes though. Hobby retail therapy, whether online or at the LHS is always good.
Mikey -

I like them on other folks layouts as well. I also like to see how they make some of their structures that are the same ones that I build, different from mine.
Guy - At least around my neighborhood, some national holidays are truly celebrated for what they are. While Christmas is obvious, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Thanksgiving Day are special days for what they are meant to observe. Others such as Presidents Day, Labor Day and MLK Day are just days off work.
Greg - The diamond in DuPlainville seems like a good spot to watch trains. I have a spot nearby on the BNSF main line from Ft Worth to Oklahoma City, where there is a wye with the KCS. While I haven't been in about three years, from noon til four, I could catch two interchanges with KCS on one of the sidings, while there was 2-3 trains in both directions every hour which also included the SB Heartland Flyer (Amtrak) around 1300. NB Flyer came back around 1730. There is besides the wye, a passing siding and an interchange siding. The passing siding is about 3 miles long while the interchange siding looks to be just over a mile. Lots of action. The main line is barely 50' off to the side of the highway and I have a favorite shade tree to park under.

I am cutting out early this morning as I have a 9:15 call from a financial advisor to assist me in setting up some "Inherited IRA" accounts. I used to be able to do that online, but my old company, Prudential, has been bought out by Empower and they have different procedures. So far, more complicated.

Today is Bob Dylan's 81st birthday.
Everyone have a great day.

Willie-

I will be in Texas June 9th thru the 12th. Flying in at the Dallas Love Field airport. What hobby shops do you recommend in the area? I can get around Thursday and Friday but Saturday I am gonna be on Lake Fork with Billy Lawson a professional guide and fisherman going after double digit bucket mouths.......
 
Well, in sad news...

Looks like we've got an abandoned nest, missing parent birds, and two dead hatchlings.

Mamma bird made quite the racket yesterday when they were hatching. I was out, but wife was home and heard the cooing.

I peeked through the fence once. No big birds in the vicinity. I held the phone up in selfie mode, and got this:

Screenshot 2022-05-24 at 3.25.33 PM.png



Pic from this morning shows the birds in the same position, and we're not seeing the big birds coming back. No noise or motion from the little ones.

We do have a LOT of hawks in the area. I wonder if mama bird became hawk nibbles?

I'll give it until tomorrow, then remove the nest and put up something to make sure another set of birds doesn't nest there again.
 
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