Running Bear's July 2023 Coffee Shop


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Good morning from WIsconsin. I am free, I tell you free. The granddaughter is home with her parents. Love my grandkids but 4 nights was enough. Her parents love Nashville and the daughter mentioned again last night if the public schools were better, that’s where they would be living. I reminded her though, she wouldn’t have the free grandparent service watching her kids.

I swam my laps for 30 minutes this morning. By the end of July I want to be back to 1 hour. Another dry mid-80’s temperature day coming, but it looks grayish in the skies. The air quality number this morning is only 31, so it’s not a smoke haze. It just looks strange. I have a couple of guys coming over and we are going to measure where the layout will be going. My framework as it has been in previous layouts will be 1/2” plywood cut down to 3”W x 4’L and 3” x 8’. From those lengths I can cut anything to fit the depth of the shelves that may range from 12” to 30”. That’s my project in the new train room this week. Figure out what I am building and order the plywood for the framing. The goal is a 250’ mainline run with no peninsulas.

Enjoy the day
 
Morning all,

Not much going on yet. The weekend move of a major system went smoothly <surprised> and so far just had to tell people to use their email address to login because they didn't read the instructions.

Here by myself until this afternoon, as I am the only IT person with the knowledge of the program we moved to the vendor's cloud. The rest are at a State of Kansas IT security conference. It's more convenient to sleep at my desk than to try to stay awake at a conference.

Turns out the museums were closed Saturday for a Citywide Independence day celebration that we didn't know about. Not well publicized outside the community.

Currently 69° going for a high of 89°.

BBL
 
Boris said:
Good morning y'all. Currently 72° with the sun breaking through the morning Haze. Yesterday, we had 0.62" of rain. It should be dry with a mix of sun and clouds today with a temperature in the mid 80s.

Today, I have a lot of phone work that I have been putting off. Tomorrow, I take the car to the DMV for the every two year "inspection". I have some set aside time for the train room later, if I don't run out of gas first.

That is an ex NH "American Flyer" coach behind the 4897. Non reclining bucket seats - Art Deco styling reflecting the late 1930s design. If you look closely, the 4897 is standing, and the Conductor is on the ground talking to the Engineer.

Union Interlocking, has numerous routes and routing possibilities. Six main line tracks, three tracks connecting to the Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Branch, plus industrial sidings. and three yards. Used to negotiate this plant daily on Locals WJLI-26, (Lane, Deans, Perth Amboy), WJLI-60, (Linden - Oak island), and WJME-70.(Metuchen - Oak Island).

View attachment 171469
9918 on the Rocky Hill Branch at Midway Interlocking, NJ. Rick Pennisi photo.
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Did you run any Penn Central and Conrail electrics?
 
Reading too many posts that take much time (I'm a Southerner and don'r read, or speak, very fast)!
But I enjoy reading all, so there you have it!
Temp crept up a notch or two yesterday to 87 and today is predicted to top at 88 with more clear, sunny, and breezy.
I have not heard any more about the brush fire south of me and have not been on the local websites to see all the drama which may have been said.
Seems that I have become a TV junkie - there is too much that I want to see - plus all the train, ship, and airplane stuff on Youtube.
I really need to get out and have some real exercise - that is I would like too; however. I am having a tough time even making it to the mail boxes a hundred yards and back without stopping half way back to "catch" my breath! Man, I hate getting older - I still haven't conquered the world!
I still want to travel some more with the Spousal Unit but I wonder about even getting from curb to plane.
Sorry to bend your ear with all my musings; I am just discouraged over it all!

TLOC - 250 main line - wow - I have belonged to clubs that did not have that! Kudos to you!

Talked to CHET yesterday - Still cannot get PHIL to answer the phone?
Received a novel from LOUIS - thank you my friend - enjoyed every word of it.
 
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Patrick said:
First movie I really remember was Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang. Written by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. From there many others followed over the years.
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I saw that movie as a kid. And a few others in a drive-in with the family and our old rambler station wagon (we'd lay on the roof). I don't remember the various other movies except one: The Island at the Top of the World. I don't remember the first movie in a theater (not drive in) but at around age 8 I saw the "documentary" called "Bigfoot, the Mysterious Monster" at the local theater with just me and my friends. I had won a pass through some sort of school contest or something. I was afraid of Bigfoot for a few years. That night I came home, in suburban Phoenix area, and went to the furthest corner of the backyard and waited in fear for my folks to come home. A couple years later we moved to the woods in Massachusetts and it was several years before I would go outside the house at night on my own there (the house was on the edge of the woods).
 
Good day gang!

Sunny and hot here, heading to a high of 86° today, the next 10 days, more of the same with daily averages around 90°. No rain except for next Saturday (of course).

Work on the Micro Engineering bridges is coming along slowly. They are super realistic bridges, but damn fragile! Just cutting them from the sprue, I've broken a few parts. :mad: Once they get assembled the completed structure has much more strength, it's just getting to that point is a P.I.A.

BBL
 
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I recently spent $6,500 on this registered Black Angus bull.

I put him out with the herd but he just ate grass and wouldn't even look at a cow.

I was beginning to think I had paid more for that bull than he was worth.

Anyway......I had the Vet come and take a look at him.

He said,, the bull was very healthy, but possibly just a little young, so he gave me some pills to feed him once per day.

The bull started to service the cows within two days……. all my cows!

He even broke through the fence and bred with all of my neighbor's cows!

He's like a machine!

I don't know what was in the pills the Vet gave him ... but they kind of taste like peppermint.
 
Well, howdy there internet RR people, and those who can still remember their first movie experience.

It's Troy again,

Welp... Mother-in-law has the Coof again. It's been going around her Senior Living Facility. Woman in the apartment across from her is a saliva sprinkler. She can't speak without someone getting wet.

this is MIL's third bout with it. She had long-covid two years ago, and it took over 6 months for her to get back to normal (for an 86 yo). So we're hoping this is another short-lived infection, and not a repeat of the dark times.

Wife and her sis were over visiting Mom on Saturday... so the exposure clock is ticking. We'll see if it spreads.

In other news, I've been painting little dudes and their angry badgers. But right now, I'm sitting outside and enjoying the nice summer day. Highs in the lower 80s (F-degrees), and low humididity.

I'm still dealing with some arthritis in my knees. I've been having issues with stairs as I get my morning walk in. I'm mostly good with the stairs at home, but something about the outdoor wooden stairs in our neighborhood seem to bother my knees.

I've been 3d printing up a storm to use up that last bit of the old resin that isn't working. I got a bottle of the preceding generation that other 3d printing peeps are still swearing by. Currently running my second set of text print matrixes to dial in the exposure settings for it.

Here's a bit of what I'll be printing in the next few weeks.

Screen Shot 2023-07-10 at 10.46.57 AM.png
 
Sirfoldalot said:
View attachment 171471
I recently spent $6,500 on this registered Black Angus bull.

I put him out with the herd but he just ate grass and wouldn't even look at a cow.

I was beginning to think I had paid more for that bull than he was worth.

Anyway......I had the Vet come and take a look at him.

He said,, the bull was very healthy, but possibly just a little young, so he gave me some pills to feed him once per day.

The bull started to service the cows within two days……. all my cows!

He even broke through the fence and bred with all of my neighbor's cows!

He's like a machine!

I don't know what was in the pills the Vet gave him ... but they kind of taste like peppermint.
Click to expand...
Let me know. If its cheaper than viagra I may be interested.

Mike CGW
 
Sirfoldalot said:
View attachment 171471
I recently spent $6,500 on this registered Black Angus bull.

I put him out with the herd but he just ate grass and wouldn't even look at a cow.

I was beginning to think I had paid more for that bull than he was worth.

Anyway......I had the Vet come and take a look at him.

He said,, the bull was very healthy, but possibly just a little young, so he gave me some pills to feed him once per day.

The bull started to service the cows within two days……. all my cows!

He even broke through the fence and bred with all of my neighbor's cows!

He's like a machine!

I don't know what was in the pills the Vet gave him ... but they kind of taste like peppermint.
Click to expand...
You didn't mention if you broke through the fence into your neighbor😉
 
chadbag said:
are these evacuated tube solar heaters or normal electric solar panels running electric heaters?
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We did solar panels and wind generators on the last house. The biggest user of the battery power were the pool heaters. This time it’s tubes that the water is pumped through and the sun will heat up.

They are attached to panels that run below the lap pool on a south facing hillside
 
TLOC said:
We did solar panels and wind generators on the last house. The biggest user of the battery power were the pool heaters. This time it’s tubes that the water is pumped through and the sun will heat up.

They are attached to panels that run below the lap pool on a south facing hillside
Click to expand...
So, "yes".

That technology usually uses "evacuated" tubes (vacuum based IIRC) and allows the sun to heat up the water even on a cold day. I don't quite understand how it works but I looked into it for our household water. But the plumber said that the tech didn't catch on. He was one of the main guys doing installs in this area and had it on his own house but said t never reached critical mass and was hard to find parts for and competent people to work on it -- few of his current crew could do it -- he said if he were to do it again he'd use extra PV solar panels (normal electric ones) to drive an electric hot water heater as that tech was getting cheaper and better year by year while the evacuated tube tech was stagnating.

Here is one vendor in Australia that explains in general how it works: https://apricus.com.au/evacuated-tube-solar-hot-water-systems/
 
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Afternoon All,

Started out with a walk at 78F and very humid but luckily there was a slight breeze. After breakfast we headed north to pick up the newest family member. We made it home around 2 pm. At least we made it home before the lightning and thunder going on now. Hopefully we will finally get some rain here. I'm not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow. Thursday, I have to take Dad to the VA and Friday and Saturday I'm visiting friends.

Mac- Nice catch. I hope you enjoyed the excursion.

Louis- I believe that Garry had a converted diner car to a chapel car.

Joe- Great photo. The RS1 is my favorite diesel loco.

Troy- It looks like you are a paragon of 3-D printing.

Bob- Poor Rocky.

TomO- If you are putting water tubes on the roof to heat water for the pool you really need to keep an eye on them. That kind of set up is what caused the 40K worth of water damage to the house and it required me to tear down the old layout.

Here is the newest addition to the household. This is Stormy, a classic B&W female skunk.

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20230710_110201.jpg

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
PRR Modeler said:
Afternoon All,

Started out with a walk at 78F and very humid but luckily there was a slight breeze. After breakfast we headed north to pick up the newest family member. We made it home around 2 pm. At least we made it home before the lightning and thunder going on now. Hopefully we will finally get some rain here. I'm not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow. Thursday, I have to take Dad to the VA and Friday and Saturday I'm visiting friends.

Mac- Nice catch. I hope you enjoyed the excursion.

Louis- I believe that Garry had a converted diner car to a chapel car.

Joe- Great photo. The RS1 is my favorite diesel loco.

Troy- It looks like you are a paragon of 3-D printing.

Bob- Poor Rocky.

TomO- If you are putting water tubes on the roof to heat water for the pool you really need to keep an eye on them. That kind of set up is what caused the 40K worth of water damage to the house and it required me to tear down the old layout.

Here is the newest addition to the household. This is Stormy, a classic B&W female skunk.

View attachment 171480

View attachment 171481

I hope everyone has a good night.
Click to expand...
Our local news just ran a story explaining that my state of Indiana is one of 17 in the US where we can legally own/adopt a skunk (de-scented)... and the story described the personality/behaviour as similar to a Dog/Cat/Ferret all rolled into one.

I'll stick with the cat. We're finally at the cool best friends hanging out to chill together stage. :cool:
 
Reminds me of the time my brother and I found baby skunks in my uncles hayloft. I was taking 9th grade biology at the time and figured if I could dissect a frog. I could descent a skunk. Luckily for the skunk my mother came home just as we were setting up the kitchen table for surgery.
Been to busy with yard work , boating and entertains summer visitors to get much layout work done.
 
I have a question for my fellow model railroad lovers "across the pond".
Has anyone in the UK heard of or has knowledge of something called "The Fifteen Minute City"? As I understand Oxford is trying and or is leaning towards this concept. The idea is to have all your resources within a 15 minute area.
The other question is about healthcare and issuing "QR codes" or digital medical IDs.
This is NOT about politics, just trying to find an answer ( getting it "straight from the horses mouth" as we say) from an average citizen of the UK concerning these topics
Thanks....John
 
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