Running Bear's May 2023 Coffee Shop.


Status
Not open for further replies.
Afternoon all! A really nice day here in Houston. 79 and a light easterly breeze.
Not a lot to report on, I've mostly been lurking.
1685045173794.png

STAY SAFE
LATER
 
Another beautiful day, Spent a good portion of the day mowing the lawn. Even with a riding mower still takes 3 hours to get it done I also watched grackles feeding their chicks,An interesting sight. Also I saw 2 bunnies in a fight. Mostly what they do is hop around no real fighting. We had a racoon get in the motor of the car Wife yelled at it and it ran off. It was a big old male I hit ine about the same size once. It bent the axle.
Mike CGW
 
Bruette said:
Good night, Everybody!
Click to expand...
Louis: Nice photo of the "Montrealer" WB/SB at New Haven CT. Had the opportunity to ride the Inaugural DC to Philadelphia under the auspices of the Penn Central. Got to preview the entire refurbished train, before getting on the Motor. In 1977, my Bride and I rode it Philadelphia to Montreal on our Honeymoon. (Returned on the Adirondack, a Ruhr Turbotrain from CP's Central Station in Montreal to GCT, and a "Clocker", Penn Station to Trenton. The Montrealer, was very popular with Skiers. (Pretty much a "Party Train").

Curt: Google fit and HuaWise Fit installed on my phone. HuaFit relies on arm movement and the watch for steps and distance recording. Google relies on GPS movement. One works better out doors the other inside the Gym. Neither is perfect. My son had a FitBit, and liked it. Eventually he replaced it with an Apple watch... I don't like the watch, in particular, the band, but enjoy some of the features. A Samsung watch would better integrate with my phone, but I spent enough this year on phones.

Tomorrow, the Memorial Day weekend officially begins. The shore towns are gearing up for the arrival of the BENNYs, (and Guidos). [Wonder why these are not considered slur words?] Beach fees and Parking fees are up,as are the The annual summer cycle continues.
Here come the BENNYs 05_24_23 -Dave Erber photo Bayhead NJ.jpg
Here come the BENNYs - 2 - 05_24_23 -Dave Erber photo Bayhead NJ.jpg

Last night's train from Penn Station NY by Dave Erber (05/24/23) arriving at Bay Head - "Last Stop, all change" - Once empty, the train will turn on the loop and pull in a yard track to lay over until morning. Dig that cool NJT Heritage motor. #4519 is a dual mode unit
 
Well, nighty-nite there internet people.

Heading up to Novi Michigan tomorrow, right outside of Detroit for gaming event this weekend. Got to help run a tourney. I'm the "gumby" or the "ringer"

If there is an odd number of players either Friday night, or Saturday, then I jump in and play three rounds.

Staying at the Hyatt. Get to leave Sunday morning. Unfortunately won't have time to check out any train sights along the way. Wife wants me back in time for the Sunday pool party at the Condo Complex. We've got four pools, and the buildings near the pool right outside of our unit are having a meet the neighbors get together.

Since we're showing off models, I had to dig out both an Axis and an Allied force tor the tourneys, just in case. Realized I couldn't meet the three-colour minimum needed to field my AFV... so I spent some time painting the motor pool. Two half-tracks, an M-20 scout car, A Sherman and a Chaffee. All are now Vallejo "Brown Violet" - the predecessor to OD Green. Add in Black for wheels and tracks, and a filter/wash of green ink and I hit the three colors. I'll dry brush some metalic steel on the tracks and gun barrels tomorrow before I leave.

Weathering will have to wait until later. We'll be fresh off the supply ship until then.
Screen Shot 2023-05-25 at 9.51.35 PM.png
 
Boris said:
Louis: Nice photo of the "Montrealer" WB/SB at New Haven CT. Had the opportunity to ride the Inaugural DC to Philadelphia under the auspices of the Penn Central. Got to preview the entire refurbished train, before getting on the Motor. In 1977, my Bride and I rode it Philadelphia to Montreal on our Honeymoon. (Returned on the Adirondack, a Ruhr Turbotrain from CP's Central Station in Montreal to GCT, and a "Clocker", Penn Station to Trenton. The Montrealer, was very popular with Skiers. (Pretty much a "Party Train").
Click to expand...
That is one of my two most favorite locomotives. I have two Lionel versions of it. I have a conventional and a full-scale model.

Thank you, Boris, I appreciate your post. It brings the train to life beyond what a picture can do!

I saw one or more GG1s in those colors passing through Baltimore. At the time I did not take notice of the locomotive number.
 
Morning all,

Miss a day, miss a bunch. 63° and cloudy, high of 82° and sunny later.

Got to mow when I get home later this morning. Having a combined anniversary party and a birthday party for the youngest granddaughter tomorrow. Only time everyone can get together. Our anniversary is actually Sunday and the wife has plans to visit the cemeteries either then or on Monday. Hard to believe she's put up with me for 40 years. Granddaughter's birthday is the following Saturday, but since her sister will be at her dad's for that weekend, we're celebrating early. She's three going on 37.

Work beckons, BBL as I can.

Everyone have a safe weekend.
 
McLeod said:
Good Morning!

It's 45F this fine morning. The wildfire situation is coming under control and evacutees are returning home. Life back to normal.

I was very sad to hear about the passing of Tina Turner. She was a classy women and a great artist. Her struggles to conquer hardship and rise to fame with humility is admirable, indeed. RIP Tina.

At this time, I am feeling rather overrun with the wife's desire to renovate our entire property in anticipation of her retirement. She would like to see us travelling, fishing, and taking it easy in our retirement. I, on the other hand, do not want the travel. Fishing, hunting, and hobbies would suit me fine. - The main bathroom isn't even nearly completed yet, since I've moved onto outside projects in the warm weather.

Anyway, all those projects are keeping me away from hobby time. That's why I'm not posting so much lately. There's just not much to say with nothing being done in the hobby.

But, I do take some free time and go photograph things that interest me. Like railcars:
View attachment 169019
View attachment 169020
View attachment 169021
View attachment 169022
View attachment 169023

It seems to be entirely impossible to find boxcars without graffiti. I don't know where and how the defacing of a boxcar is happening, or if anyone is ever caught and whipped for doing it. Certainly, I have never seen anyone down at the staging area with a spray can.
Defacing a boxcar is a disgusting practice, in my opinion.

And there you have it - a post from the northlands. Have a great day, everyone!
Click to expand...
McLeod: Looks like your wife and mine think alike. She also wants everything done while we are able so we do not have to worry about stuff. Guess that I agree with that. Neither of us want to travel anymore as we did our million and a half miles seeing the UsofA and parts of Canada. She has goats, chickens and yard stuff to keep her busy down the road, whereas I am railroad and maybe a car or two to play with. We expect that there will be 2 more years ( Spring/Summer ) to make it all happen. This summer was supposed to be new garage but when I found the lack of insulation upstairs it all changed. We had thought that there was at least *some* insulation up there. Nope. We can do some other inside stuff during the winter so everything is gonna be continuously in up-roar for awhile. Progress, I guess.

Later
 
Good Morning All. Mostly clear and 64°, mid-80's for the high again today. Pleasantly mild for this time of year in North Central Texas. Pool temperature reached 77° yesterday, so I will remove the cover this weekend. It will cool off immediately, as the black cover is both heating the water and holding the heat in at night. But it has to be done sometime. This is about a week later than the average.

The weekly grocery trek yesterday was interesting. It was a bit more crowded than the usual Thursday morning. This Kroger store has 18-self checkout kiosks, 2-self checkout lines for those with a lot of stuff, and 7-manned checkout lanes. The 18 kiosks are arranged in three groups of 6, and there was 7-10 people waiting in the lines at each group. The two self-checkout lines each had a backup of 3 shoppers. Yet, the manned checkout that I always use had no line and there was even a bagger there! On the manager's specials shelf in the meat department, I found 3.5 lbs of thick cut pork chops for $8.98; couldn't turn that one down. They were 1.5" thick and the first three went on the grill last night. Had some home-grown English Peas and Broccoli with them. Gasoline in town is holding steady at $3.16/gal after briefly dropping below $3 about a month ago.

Otherwise, I emptied the dishwasher and stacked about 2.5 weeks worth of firewood after I got home. There were a few other "honey do's" on the list as well to occupy my time.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I started assembly of this rolling cabinet.
1685103213022.png

I am hoping to finally organize tools and accessories, rather than just leaving them on the layout where I last used them. Should work for some lesser used tools on the workbench as well. Organization is not my strong point. Now to decide what to put where!
Since I did no layout work, I again return to the archives for some photos.
01-08-20.2 001.001.JPG
IMG_7308.JPG

IMG_7309.JPG
07-05-11 015.JPG


Guy - It seems kinda backward to remodel the entire house and then travel and not enjoy it!;) Just kidding of course. A happy wife etc.
Patrick - Congratulations on 40 years.

Today is Stevie Nicks 75th birthday. Makes me feel old.

Everybody have a great and safe Memorial Day weekend. Remember why we celebrate the day.
 
Good Morning All!

56F @ 83% and raining.

Kitchen is put back together with new refer. Boy, what a PITA that was. 350Lbs made it kinda tough for the wife and I to get her in. Strapped it to the tractor to get it from the truck to the back door as it was too wide for the front door without taking 2 doors and 2 drawers off. Seemed easier to me to deal with the french doors in the back. Then we strapped it and hand carted it in, tip it for roof line, move, tip it again for the deck beam holding the roof up, then again for the door while negociating all of those 'S' curves going around all the crap that should not be there. Next time we are gonna go and find the piano dollies, put a piece of plywood on them and get it in on it's side. Not sure if that would be easier or not. Hook up water, power and see if it actually works and the ice maker water line does not leak. Yup, works, nope no drips, runs or errors, good. Now do the reverse with the old side by side - except this one was a bunch lighter. Took us about an hour to get all of the taped down bins, drawers and glass separated and installed, door handles were pretty easy except I could not see the drawer handle allen set screws to tighten them. Knee pads were who knows where. Oh well, it is in and she loves it. Stuff from the old refer did not even come close to filling up the new one.

Yesterday was our anniversary - 9 years married, 23 years together. Well, today is too. We were married twice. 1st time in our backyard, 2nd the next day in Spokane for all of the friends and relatives. Makes it easy to remember the when part as it gives me an extra day when she tells me 'today is our anniversary'.

Our deer are getting closer to dropping kids and we think we will have a bunch out in the back pasture. The bucks are also now hanging around waiting for access to the doe's. This one is probably 4YO or more as his horns are a pretty good size this early.
IMGP0690.JPG


Later
 
Good morning gang, and fellow lawn mowers!

Gotta do that myself this weekend. Gonna try to wait til Sunday. I might even get the nused deck on the 1967 Cub Cadet that I picked up last weekend.

Pollen has been really bad this week, yesterday I left work with my eyes burning and my head pounding. No MRing last night because of it. I medicated and was out for the count by 8. Much better today!

Willie, Nice roll cart. Careful with that organization. A clean workbench is a sign of a sick mind!

BBL
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps. It's Troy again...

Wife is heading out with her sis and mother to do the cemetery tour. Taking mom to see the graves and to put flowers on Dad's headstone. It's the farthest away.

Lunch will probably be at the West End cafe... Breaded Tenderloins as big as your head! And hand-dipped Onion Rings...

I'm missing out, by having to drive to Novi Mich today (west edge of Detroit) for the gaming convention.

Did get up and put some more paint on the AFVs... The two I need for the con are the Sherman and the M-20 AC. So they got the attention. Neither are done, but both are good enough to hit the game table. The Sherman still needs the rubber pads in the tracks picked out with black (they're the squarish blobs between the track chevrons).

The Armored car has a bunch of little details that should be picked out. Head and taillights on both, and some weathering.

I did get some Florey Wash on the models. This is a clay-based wash - so don't lick your brush between applications! Settles into the recesses well and wipes off the raised parts with a wet paper towel or cotton bud.
Screen Shot 2023-05-26 at 8.14.54 AM.png
 
PS: I got the 15 lb packer brisket out of the freezer Thur evening with the idea that thawing Friday, Sat, and most of Sunday would be enough for me to trim it up and get it on the Kamado on Monday.

3 days of thawing? Or do I need to plan on smoking on Tues?
 
Troy: That depends if you are thawing in the refer or just out on the counter. Actually, faster is on a holy rack over a sink with water in it. The outside will stay pretty cold until the last couple of hours thawing. You should be able to bend to a small radii about then too. I always let meat warm to room temperature before any kind of cooking. If you are gonna add spice ( salt, pepper, garlic for me ) do it while thawing as the salt will hurry stuff up also.

Later
 
troyphoto said:
PS: I got the 15 lb packer brisket out of the freezer Thur evening with the idea that thawing Friday, Sat, and most of Sunday would be enough for me to trim it up and get it on the Kamado on Monday.

3 days of thawing? Or do I need to plan on smoking on Tues?
Click to expand...
I generally trim before freezing. Obviously takes less time to thaw. 40-50% yield from a packer in my experience. At 225°, it will take 12-15 hours, Kamado or no Kamado! Kamado will help maintain constant temperature.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.



Back
Top