Running Bear's December 2022 Coffee Shop

[santafewillie]

Willie, I forget but is that where the ethanol plant is being placed?

Yes it is where I intend to put the Ethanol plant. I'll use about 16'-18' of that space. From the pictures that I posted this morning, the first track in from the aisle is the main line, the 2nd is the passing siding, 3rd is a double-ended loading spur and the 4th one is a stub-ended spur. Both of the spurs will actually hold 12 tankers, but the plan is to just use 8 spots with 4 left for maneuvering. Push 8 cars in with 4 lined up with the loading racks and the other 4 on the tail track to be pulled forward once the first 4 on each track are loaded. It can work in reverse with the loaded cars being pushed onto the tail track to align the empties with the loading racks.
The other track that is there in the picture is loose flex track being used to imagine the grain unloading, propane unloading and miscellaneous other tracks needed. I have switches already in the passing siding at the other end for potential industries on the far end and corner.

 

[ctclibby]

Good Afternoon All!
28F in snowing

Here we go again - been doing this for about an hour:

That ain't fog in the background --- snow.

Later

 

[chadbag]

Good Afternoon All!
28F in snowing

Here we go again - been doing this for about an hour:

View attachment 156997
That ain't fog in the background --- snow.

Later

Glad that is not me. A couple days ago we had a couple inches. Is low 40s right now but tonight should snow after midnight a little...

Trying to get the suspended garage slabs ready to pour concrete but the day job and being sick have not allowed me to finish what needs to be done. The rebar was placed last saturday and a good deal of the foam walls above the slab (the first layer to trap the concrete) was placed last saturday but it needs to be braced and some more foam needs to be placed and rebar "chairs" need to support the sagging rebar...

Crossing fingers for good weather.

 

[BigGRacing]

"just throwing down a photo"

And a brilliant one at that !

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Today I put down weed killer outside for about 90 minutes. When I came inside I cleaned the TT area including pit. After Lunch I sat on my backside and watched an episode of Foyle's War. Tonight the extended family is meeting for a Chinese buffet. The Christmas tree did get decorated today and the Nativity was set up. It usually gets done later in December. Tomorrow I'm heading up to Jon's with my Sharks.

Dave- I use a makeup brush and a regular vacuum depending what I'm cleaning up. I really need a hobby vacuum. I tried the WS one, but it s^^^s and not in a good way.

Ken D&J- I had to look up that berry having never heard of it before.

James- I hope your Mom & Dad get well soon. Sounds like good news about your sister.

Hughie- Great photo.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[santafewillie]

I don't remember, but didn't you get snow ...um... last year or the year before when all the power problems happened?

Todd - We did get some snow in 2021 along with the power problems, but if I remember correctly, it was only about 6". We generally get snow every year between 3" and 6", although one winter we got four 12" events spread out over the season. I can tramp down a path to get 120' to the train shed.
The real issue with us during the power shutdowns of 2021, was not the snow or the rolling blackouts. The problem was the rural water coop company. They had failed (along with many others) to register with the power regulator as an essential customer. Their pumps froze up all over the area when the rolling blackouts hit. Had they registered, their part of the grid would not have been shut down. That resulted in a shutdown of water of course. Homes in this part of the world are generally built with somewhat open plumbing, and with sustained temperatures below freezing, one must keep faucets dripping. Otherwise and in our case, pipes froze and burst in many homes. My oldest daughter lives four doors from a fire station in Dallas, which was registered, and she was not affected by the rolling blackouts because she was on the same portion of the grid as they were. My other daughter lives a mile away and had the blackouts, but was able to keep water dripping since the water was always flowing.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Some progress made. The windows have notches which makes it pretty easy to set them in place.

STAY SAFE
LATER

 

[mara plutoni]

Morning all, a chilly -4° F here this morning, truck started fine but had a little frost on the windows.

Flo - two pancakes, two eggs over medium, a big pile of hash browns, 4 bacon, and coffee. Thanks!!!

back later, Dave LASM

Dave with that temperature you deserve a nice hot breakfast. When you skip the bacon it sounds perfect to me. I enjoyed the cooked food in the real dinners in the American trains (Canadian 1 and 2 and some long distance trains in the states. Not the microwave stuff but the real treat with china and a glass of wine or water. Been on the train from Chicago to Seattle, that was fantastic and the trip on the Canadian from Toronto both ways and the trip to Churchill was the best I even did. But that was 20(?) years ago? The roaring sound of the F-units (Churchill), I love them.

 

[mara plutoni]

Good morning Crew from the rolling hills of So. Central Wisconsin. It’s a very nice calm and bright morning. 14f
degrees feeling like 14 heading to a comfortable 36 as winds should remain calm during the daylight hours. Yes, one can acclimate to the temperature.

Doctor appointment at 2:30 to go over my labs from a couple weeks ago. The house is being shown this afternoon and our realtor asked for 2 AtV’s to tour the property with. Our realtor yesterday was quite happy when she notified us. Said if this happens she will buy our coach friend airline tickets to anywhere in the USA as he told the lookers about our place. That gIves me a clue who it might be.

Louis, the pill sorter also tells me the day of the week. You are not alone for that. The date, rarely can I tell you without looking at the cell phone

Our regular Amazon driver I was told yesterday took a different route. The current deliveries have been left at the gate instead of the house entrance way. There is a spot there facing away from the County Highway but until recently Amazon had delivered to the entranceway. The rest of the delivery services still do. Amazon has the key pad code. Seems the majority of the packages since T-Giving have been Amazon. Not complaining but the lady who I caught delivering while I was walking the driveway said she is working many more hours then she wants but needs the job. I never thought to ask if she had the code. The conversation didn’t last a minute, she was on the move…

My rehab stuff was done on my own this morning. The therapist/trainer is coming every other day now. It’s one thing to swim in the pool but to walk for rehab in it is different. I guess I never realized the amount of effort it takes to walk in 4’ of water. 15 minutes and I am exhausted.

I have to straighten the work bench area for the realtor tour this afternoon. Basically I put my sharp objects back in the drawers same thing I do when the grandkids are here. The timers for the outdoor display lights have been installed by the electrician. Digital and yesterday they all popped on at once at 3:50pm and off at 11. I am happy never to have to set those dial timers ever again. Read spoiled!

Because of my knee I am behind my schedule for the paper mill. Spoke quite a bit with the client last night and I can proceed again as his new ideas I can do of course but basically would have needed to start the bench work over. We had been discussing this project every few weeks since I gave him drawings in August. To commission the job and then 1 week in decide on major changes just makes no sense to me. I have been working on structures but now can assemble the bridges that will be on the connecting drop downs over the 5’ river aisle. I have the shipping warehouse and the separate maintenance warehouse sitting near the paint booth. I completed as I watched you tube videos of Fleetwood Mac concerts, 15 trees. 110 more to go. The trees I am working on are not for the neighborhood to the left of the tracks but for the pulp yard are and alone the road to the left of the shipping warehouse. He is building the neighborhood trees as he didn’t want to pay what I wanted for them.
View attachment 156987
have a great day

health is more important than showing us the efforts on your layout. No hurry.

Good Afternoon All!
28F in snowing

Here we go again - been doing this for about an hour:

View attachment 156997
That ain't fog in the background --- snow.

Later

You live anywhere close to a RR line? Man this fantastic.

 

[Patrick]

Afternoon all,

One more night and then we're headed home tomorrow. Be glad to be in my own bed.

Not much, except that the wife jinxed me. Said the office didn't call me since Monday. 20 minutes later I got a call that had me dialing in to resolve a minor issue. Seems people are still wanting stuff 15 minutes before they knew they had to have it.

 

[ctclibby]

health is more important than showing us the efforts on your layout. No hurry.

You live anywhere close to a RR line? Man this fantastic.

Ya, BNSF is about a mile away. Was thinking this morning about a pix jaunt, then it started snowing ... again. Even in Libby, some folks are not very good at missing stuff, so I leave the roads to them until they at least get plowed in town. SR2 ( both East and West ) is one of the 1st things the County plows so ima not really worried about that. Getting there is.
Maybe tomorra.

Later

 

[mara plutoni]

Ya, BNSF is about a mile away. Was thinking this morning about a pix jaunt, then it started snowing ... again. Even in Libby, some folks are not very good at missing stuff, so I leave the roads to them until they at least get plowed in town. SR2 ( both East and West ) is one of the 1st things the County plows so ima not really worried about that. Getting there is.
Maybe tomorra.

Later

Take care driving.

 

[mara plutoni]

Good Morning All. Clear and 31°. Wasn't supposed to get this cold, but I have observed over the years that Mother Nature doesn't pay any attention the the weather geeks. Settled weather for the next week or so.

Weekly grocery trek today. It's been two weeks and the fridge and freezer look bare. Although in reality, I could eat from the freezer for close to a month before it's really bare. Hell! I still have two turkeys, two prime ribs, assorted bags full of chicken parts, two pork shoulders and a chuck roast in there. Frozen veggies are not plentiful this year and I haven't started on the wintertime bread making ritual yet. Wife went Christmas shopping the other day and came home with a rack of baby-back ribs as well. But it looks bare compared to the mass that's usually in there.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the scenes that I posted yesterday.

Out in the train shed, I started a bit early on my initial major project for 2023. You may recall that I posted that I was going to start development on a 2' x 24' section of the upper level that currently just has track running over it. Well I started with some preliminary stuff like clearing everything off, well most everything. Since I still have 16' of backdrop to put up, that's where I started the clearing. First I had to remove a temporary storage shelf that I put up five or six years ago.
View attachment 156984
View attachment 156985
Shelf is now gone. The upper one is still there but will not be in the way. Then I made an unpleasant discovery. Only one of my two remaining sheets of sheathing that I use for backdrops measured 16" tall. What to do? Put up a piece that's only 14.5" or wait until I can buy another larger piece. I decided that I will go to Home Depot and get a proper sized piece, but I can't do it while I have a passenger in the car. Maybe this weekend. I'll get the one that I have installed today and then brush paint the plywood an earth brown color; and also spray paint the track, roadbed and ties. Only the first four rows of track here are spiked down, as I haven't determined the final configuration yet. At least I can start ballasting by early next week.

Curt - Thank you. I am a believer that signs along with figures can really add a lot to a layout. Late forum member Garry also was a sign fanatic.
Dave B - Regarding dusting: To me it depends on what it is. Running stock and structures I remove from the layout and do my dusting with one of several soft paintbrushes, 3/4" and 1.5". I do it over in the corner over a shallow box in case I knock a part off. The layout itself I use a hand-held vacuum with a piece of stocking over the inlet to catch loose scenery or parts. The dust mostly goes through the material. I have to wipe away cobwebs as they accumulate.
Todd - Worst case scenario here is that I have to get an umbrella to get to the train shed. I have a spare out there as well in case I need one for a return trip.

Bette Midler is 77 today. She had some stuff that I liked.
Everybody have a great day.

Willie, this looks like great. Don't forget to invite us all in for the opening (with all our trains running). Keep us informed.

 

[TLOC]

Yes it is where I intend to put the Ethanol plant. I'll use about 16'-18' of that space. From the pictures that I posted this morning, the first track in from the aisle is the main line, the 2nd is the passing siding, 3rd is a double-ended loading spur and the 4th one is a stub-ended spur. Both of the spurs will actually hold 12 tankers, but the plan is to just use 8 spots with 4 left for maneuvering. Push 8 cars in with 4 lined up with the loading racks and the other 4 on the tail track to be pulled forward once the first 4 on each track are loaded. It can work in reverse with the loaded cars being pushed onto the tail track to align the empties with the loading racks.
The other track that is there in the picture is loose flex track being used to imagine the grain unloading, propane unloading and miscellaneous other tracks needed. I have switches already in the passing siding at the other end for potential industries on the far end and corner.

Best to you on this project. I have 4 extra fermentation tanks and a unopened detail kit for those tanks. A few other things if you need something just ask. Have fun. I loved building the one I had. It was too big for the space and I had a friend buy it and some but not all the extras.

 

[TLOC]

Just found out. Daughter has a new refrigerator coming Friday. 2 year old LG purchased from Home Depot has given up the ghost! She called LG yesterday as for the 4th time the refrigerator has died. LG refused the technician request and report to replace it on his 3rd visit 2 months after purchase. Customer service said we cannot help you your warranty has expired. Then gave her the same repair technician’s phone number to come out for a minimum of $250 trip fee.

Ordered a Meile that I never heard of the brand but the US Sales Manager is a neighbor so they are going that way. 5 year warranty.

I now agree with you who in the past said LG sucks…

 

[chadbag]

Just found out. Daughter has a new refrigerator coming Friday. 2 year old LG purchased from Home Depot has given up the ghost! She called LG yesterday as for the 4th time the refrigerator has died. LG refused the technician request and report to replace it on his 3rd visit 2 months after purchase. Customer service said we cannot help you your warranty has expired. Then gave her the same repair technician’s phone number to come out for a minimum of $250 trip fee.

Ordered a Meile that I never heard of the brand but the US Sales Manager is a neighbor so they are going that way. 5 year warranty.

I now agree with you who in the past said LG sucks…

Miele is a German brand that is well regarded and has been around forever. They are a "luxury" brand that competes in the Sub-Zero / Wolf / Thermador / Viking market

Miele - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

With regard to the LG one. I'd be tempted to file a small claims court action. There is a history of it failing in warranty and the technician had, in warranty, recommended it being replaced. They probably won't show up or will ask to settle anyway. The point is that companies will behave like this -- trying to outlast the warranties -- if we allow it and never hold them to it. The small claims court action is a way to hold them accountable.

 

[JeffH]

Phew... What a day... I feel like the alley cat that just dismounted a skunk and said:

I didn't get all I wanted, but I got all I could stand!

 

[TLOC]

Miele is a German brand that is well regarded and has been around forever. They are a "luxury" brand that competes in the Sub-Zero / Wolf / Thermador / Viking market

Miele - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

With regard to the LG one. I'd be tempted to file a small claims court action. There is a history of it failing in warranty and the technician had, in warranty, recommended it being replaced. They probably won't show up or will ask to settle anyway. The point is that companies will behave like this -- trying to outlast the warranties -- if we allow it and never hold them to it. The small claims court action is a way to hold them accountable.

I just talked to the daughter as tomorrow she needed me to help pull some cabinets around the new frig. Actually I will sit and supervise as the daughter “forgot” dad had knee surgery last week.

SubZero and Wolf are headquartered in Madison, Wi. When I asked why not one of those she said the neighbor recommended the Miele brand because he could get her a terrific discount and he was a former VP for many years at SubZero.

I almost choked when she told me how much, the 42% discount though made it a better value buy!

While I agree about holding LG accountable. I am not even going to bring up the small claims. I suggested legal on the 4th service call and was ignored. If it comes up I will suggest she talk to our family attorney. Small claims since Covid in Wisconsin is an absolute joke. Almost as bad as class action suits have become.

 

[santafewillie]

Best to you on this project. I have 4 extra fermentation tanks and a unopened detail kit for those tanks. A few other things if you need something just ask. Have fun. I loved building the one I had. It was too big for the space and I had a friend buy it and some but not all the extras.

Thanks. Give me some time to think about it. Most of the facility is going to be backdrop stuff as the space beyond the loading tracks is limited.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Cloudy and 50°, light wind from the south. Rather muggy at 95% humidity, however it will turn into a nice day once the sun breaks through the clouds.

Yesterday we did the grocery trek and spent too much. What we bought cost about $60 more than the same basket a year ago. My Social Security increase does not cover that. However I noted that gasoline is now down to $2.64/gal locally.
This morning I have an early phone appointment with our new financial advisor. While I self-manage our investments, we have now reached the stage where RMD's (Required Minimum Distributions) are required for some of our IRA accounts. From my preliminary calculations, I will definitely have to start paying income tax again, since the distributions will at least triple what Social Security is paying us. This is a drawback of the Tax Reduction Act of 2017 which accelerated the RMD cycle so the government doesn't have to wait as long to get their money from the taxes. Too complicated to explain here, but if you have IRA's and are approaching retirement age, get information now, especially if any are Inherited IRA's.. Since I have no tax liability for 2022, I am going to make some strategic withdrawals now and reduce the remaining principle.

No train shed yesterday, as the shopping trip went into overtime and we went out to eat last night. That part is a 30 minute commute each way.
Here are a few random shots from Maultown.

Todd - The umbrella in the train shed is there to protect my hearing aids from getting wet in the rain on the way back to the house. That's a big no-no. I could always take them out, but keeping them in a pocket could potentially damage the smallish wire. Besides I own a half dozen umbrellas, all promotional items, so I might as well use them. Three of them are "Old Grand Dad" that my father the liquor distributor gave me. The slogan is "Make it With an Older Man". I also don't have to run!
James - Well wishes to your parents. At least the ex-governor can't treat them.
Hughie - After a lengthy hiatus, I will resume mowing in another week or so. The 2" of rain last week has really kick-started the annual ryegrass and wild winter oats that naturally self-sow in the country. Not always a bad thing since they keep the mud down. Some years, although not this one, I will have the neighbor sow "floor sweepings" from the local grain elevator/seed dealer over part of my hay field in the fall. They bag that stuff up and sell cheaply for $2.50/50 lb bag. Its a mix of oats, wheat, rye and other winter grasses. It's normally just used in pastures where it grows to supplement hay being fed to range cattle, but we'll use it to control erosion and to suppress weeds. We sow it first and then use a brush hog to mow and cover it with grass/weed residue that allows germination after a rain.

Everyone have a great Friday and an awesome weekend.