Running Bear's July 2022 Coffee Shop


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Morning from the far left! Supposed to be 96f today (but it's a dry heat) NOT BAD unless you are standing out in the direct sunlight - then it's quite brutal!

FLO - An everything but the sink omelet this morning, please! An extra side of bacon would be nice as well.

All Is Quite On The Western Front! The house almost seems like a morgue this morning with the kids all gone. Of course, the Spousal Unit is suffering a slight downer - I picked up a dozen orange roses yesterday on my way back from the Lab Vampire and Echo Cardio people - It got a real nice smile from her as well as a Super-Hug for me!

TomO - I Have been feeling really good the past few days as well!
I keep waiting for the next shoe to drop?
 
Flo- tall cuppa of joe & a porkroll, egg n cheese on a Kaiser roll, please.
Patrick said:
Morning all,

Gas down another dime...after I filled yesterday morning...that's why I know I'll never win the lottery. I don't play always or often, but the wife won a gift to a local convenience store from work, so that's what we're paying with.
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Patrick- with fuel discount, we paid $4.19 this morning at KwikTrip. We’re still banking our “visits” to roll it for a deeper discount(visit points don’t expire- fuel discounts expire after 30 days).
Louis- we’ll be watching the Midsummer Classic tonight, too. The last one with a Dodger broadcaster calling the game was also in the LA area(1989 at the Big A, with the icon Vin Scully calling the game).
 
The MLB All Star game was always a must watch...it became better when they went to two all star games per season in the mid sixty's. That was because I could get to see all my favorite baseball players, the Mickey Mantles, Whitey Fords etc., that I only got to see on TV when the ASG or World Series was on...I was not a National League Fan at the time, but lived in a National League Market. Now, I look at the ASG as an interuption to the regular season, especially when the O's are close to a wild card slot. The other thing is that with streaming, I can pretty much watch whom ever I want, when I want, so there is no magic to the ASG.

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B&W photo of the last day of Norristown service on the PRR Schuylkill Valley Branch. 10/29/1960. Service was cut back to Manayunk. to Broad Street Suburban in Philadelphia.
 
troyphoto said:
Welp... after babying the foot yesterday, I broke out the Birkenstock sandals. They have just the right support in exactly the right places for my feet.

I'll be taking it easy this week, and skipping all walking except for minor shopping excursions

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Book is off to the editor (she takes about two weeks), so I'll be writing my exploratory short story set in the little Canadian town of Erie falls... Been watching Letterkenny clips on youtube to get a feel for the Canadian slang. Their accent and speech patterns (especially when you hear the main actor interviewed as himself) sounds very similar to what I think of as a Yupper into N-Wisconsin/Minn dialect. Not sure what any of the natives think??? I don't travel those regions enough to understand the nuances.

Paying the price for the good food yesterday with a morning of fasting, then a salad for lunch. Need to work on dropping some of the celebratory weight gain from three weeks of special days.

DAVE: to post a vid, get the link from youtube, then here on the forum, look two icons to the right of the ADD IMAGES icon. That's the media one. Put the link in the field, and your video will preview on the page.
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Troy -

I guess you didn't notice I got it on there. I have more than 30 videos on youtube, just haven't done one in a few years. Turned out easier than I remembered.

Dave
 
Back when I had Plantar Fasciitis, the only way I could get it resolved was to stretch the crap out of my Achilles I spent a LOT of time with all my weight on the ball of my foot on a stair, letting the weight stretch the Achilles tendon, which also stretches the plantar tendons, which ultimately gave me the relief I needed. It took a few months for it to get resolved.

It was painful enough, that even though this was many years ago, to this day, I stretch the Achilles whenever I think of it, like standing with the balls of my feet on the raised concrete surrounding fuel pumps while pumping gas... or I might pause while climbing stairs... Waiting for someone to answer the door, I'll perch myself on a step and stretch...
 
Another day working from home. Server is down from the epic crash yesterday. IT company is working on it now to bring it back up with all new hardware. It may be another day.

Anyways I posted a bunch of stuff that came in yesterday late last nite like 2am.....on the RPO thread. I plan to run a few things today in the train room later this afternoon.

Tad bit warm today. Staying cool in ac/fan today.

Time for me to make lunch and then go check the mail. I really enjoy seeing everyone's post on their layout updates. Makes me get to thinking about working on mine but I really like doing this stuff in cooler weather. My sister is still here from UK and she goes back at the end of the month. We are going out to dinner tonight. Staying busy as much as possible.

Ya'll have a good afternoon!
 
Afternoon All,

Spent most the day in the train room building the supervisors office and outhouse. It's painted the same as the mine and I put the same 3-tab shingles on it that the mine has instead of the provided (tar paper) roofing. I checked out the positioning and placed it back on the work bench for weathering. Probably no train room tomorrow. I have a Dr. appointment (phone) at 10 am then the wife wants to go to IKEA😢.

TomO- Great layout scenes. I wish you the best of luck with the financials. I truly understand about the bank of Mom and Dad.

Troy- That brisket looked good.

Louis- We make schnitzel here 5-6 times a year. Of course the pieces are much smaller than the pictured sandwich.

Dave- Great video. I saw a lot of really well done structures on your layout. Nice job on the shelving unit. I see you like straight back chairs to model also.

Joe- Great photo.

Steve- If you're interested you can pop the shack off the TT with an Exacto knife. That makes it easier to paint it and put a operator in it. I also got 1x10 strip wood and covered up the plastic wood walkways.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
MilwRoader_Steve said:
Good morning all,

Steve J here, and man, y'all write a bunch. Miss a couple of days and I feel like I am reading for a post-grad philosophy class!

Where to start? Sunday was nice. We had an outdoor worship service and "Blessing of the Animals." Not in the strictest of Lutheran traditions, but remember I was Episcopalian until well into my adult life. Wife and daugther spent the day together Saturday and then she stayed the night so as to go with us to church in the morning so that her guide dog could be blessed. was a nice service, if I do say so myself. Had planned to go for a bike ride that afternoon, but quite warm and humid here, so we worked on projects in the finished basement all afternoon. Meaning - - I got some layout time in while she worked on knitting!! Added some more unpowered Caboose ground throws. Finished the install of the one frog powered throw. And did some painting. I had almost forgotten how enjoyable painting is!

Not finished, but here is progress so far:
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Thinking white for the handrails. Touch up the aluminum roof of the operators cabin, some more grime for the tracks and then something for that tower thingy (not shown). Whatever was that for anyways?

Yesterday was a day off for the wife so we could get some bigger jobs done. First we tackled the yard and gardens for mowing and weeding. Then a cold barley-pop and lunch. Next was to get her office/spare bedroom decluttered. She is in line for a promotion which could have her working from home much more, so she wanted her space prepped. We took five boxes of mostly clothes the Wash DC kids left behind to the Post office for mailing (that was far too close to $300!). Then general cleaning and organizing. Trip to Home Despot for lights and sundries. Then I installed a new room overhead light (LED and adjustable) as well as a LED shop light we bought a year ago for over her sewing table. A true multi-purpose room.

Finished about 1730 so was perfect timing for a celebratory whisky! Then cooked burgers and watched TV. Was too pooped to pop and fell asleep reading (after only about ten minutes) about 2145. Burger and fries were too heavy on the tum-tum, so awoke about 0030 and read downstairs until 0300.

Still didn't sleep well and neither did wifey. Her alarm was set for 0530. She got up; I did not.

9-hole golf later with the VFW and then work. Evening meeting tonight and tomorrow, so little layout time in store until Thursday.

Cheers to all!
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Hi Steve,

I missed you a couple days. I was raised Episcopal vaguely remember an animal blessing service. Familiar with the "new" thing blessing the motorcycles (bikes), popular at a mega church near where I grew up. No comment.

Hope the meetings go well.

Dave LASM
 
TLOC said:
Do you think moving your garden this year is helping the harvest?
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Thanks for asking.
I do think that it has some bearing on my better than average results. I remembered reading many years ago that "virgin" soil is always the best for gardening. It seems that in my case, this is true this season. I also had plenty of compost to add. Other factors have worked in my favor this year, aside from the late frost. Weather has cooperated mostly, insects other than grasshoppers are down and I am trying several different varieties of tomatoes this year. The grasshoppers, while average, do not eat tomato or squash plants, just the ripest tomatoes; hence I pick them while just beginning to turn colors and let them ripen indoors. Squash skins are too tough for them. Onion crop was quite good despite being five weeks late in planting. I am watering a bit more than usual, but that's par for the game here. I have had just 1/2" of rain since June 1. After going through the fridge this morning, I realized that I had way more Yellow Squash than I thought I had. I froze six quart bags and still have some fresh left. This is my first time preserving summer squash. My broccoli did not do well however, I attribute that to the variety that I planted which was not my normal variety.
Overall, I am pleased.
 
MLB All Star game, I still enjoy seeing all the best players on one field.

Boris, don't worry too much. I have always believed momentum is over rated. Not to mention the baby birds did not finish the first half on a winning note. Although they did do us proud in those last two loses. The never give, despite the score.
 
TLOC said:
Good morning Crew from the south deck in So. Central Wisconsin. It was 71f degrees at the wake up call of 5AM. It is 75 now and heading up to 90. Thankfully there is a nice breeze and in the shade it feels great. I went riding with the wife and her friend this morning, a quick shower and a few laps in the pool. I am ready for this day! I have not felt this good in months.

Some work done a neglected part of the layout yesterday. The transload area was added in 2015 and became a gathering places for different things. Hopefully over the next few weeks it will be completed. Started off by removing everything from the area. The Transload spot sits at an area where the shelf expands from 10” wide to 24”. The transload’s facility track is 50” long.
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That blue flat building is just a stand in for the Biomass plant that serves the paper mill. Thanks to foam board still cheap at $1.50 from the dollar store every few months I seem to try something different.

The folk lift and its driver are creating this newly found energy to complete this area. Gabriel the driver, aka Gabby was laid of from the Paper Mill during Covid and his unemployment ends Monday 7/25. WILLIE, you may be seeing an influx of unclothed Wisconsinites to your train shed. Giving Gabby new clothes ended up being done under the magnifying lamp. That is a first for me. If I can find him he will get another coat of clothes today. I was on a zoom meeting before dinner at my paint bench and stupidity playing with the tweezer he was attached to. I will get on my hands and knees today to locate him. I have no idea what direction he flew off in.

Enjoy your day

Next
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GREAT layout scenes.

It looks like a windstorm with some salvage work accomplished in second photo.

Dave
 
logandsawman said:
GREAT layout scenes.

It looks like a windstorm with some salvage work accomplished in second photo.

Dave
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Thanks Dave
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The trees on the rising of the slight hill (my version of Rib Mountain in Marathon County, Wi.) are all custom wire armatures with WS poly fiber, Scenic Express 2mm grasses or WS flocking and SE’s leaves. Those on the right of the pulp pile are the beloved by everyone but me Scenic Express Super trees. Those were removed from the mountain on the left. I am not sure what to do with them

My Rib Mountain version (real life is the 2nd tallest land elevation in Wisconsin) actually rises 10” above track level but you can’t see that in this picture

I did extend that hill on the back drop. There was a building that used to hide the hill ending but I decided after a few years to finally fix it today
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It is fun again on the layout

enjoy the day
 
Took the kids around some of the highlights of the battle fields. Kinda disappointing though. They couldn't name a single thing about what they saw today. Didn't know which side the Union was on. Didn't recall the name of the river. Didn't recall why the Union was going through Fredericksburg. Nothin. How did their uncle get from NY to Virginia? don't know. What was your uncle's name? Don't know. What kind of sandwich did ya have at Chic-fil-a? Oh yeah, the Chicken nuggets.
I could post a few dozen meaningless pictures of the kids climbing around on stuff,,,,,,, but I won't.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Took the kids around some of the highlights of the battle fields. Kinda disappointing though. They couldn't name a single thing about what they saw today. Didn't know which side the Union was on. Didn't recall the name of the river. Didn't recall why the Union was going through Fredericksburg. Nothin. How did their uncle get from NY to Virginia? don't know. What was your uncle's name? Don't know. What kind of sandwich did ya have at Chic-fil-a? Oh yeah, the Chicken nuggets.
I could post a few dozen meaningless pictures of the kids climbing around on stuff,,,,,,, but I won't.
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Not really any different then a tour I was on about 25 years ago and those on the tour were adults. Sad though
 
Evening Folks.

Managed to get a little more done on the layout, have to admit, removing track is a damn sight easier then laying it, (helps using screws and not having any ballast) I've removed quite a few TO's (well, most of them on the main track, really) replaced with normal track and finally after two days got the outer curves either end to allow a six legger, to complete a circuit without derailing, falling off, or getting an axle derail, go me!
Now to try it with a train. :rolleyes:

The flex-track I ordered, was supposed to arrive today by courier, is now delayed, till whenever, also waiting on two Peco code 100 SL99 3 way points as well as two matching TO's, they should match up with the Hornby track, I have an idea I want to try, may or may not work.

I'll post a pic tomorrow as to how far I've got,

G'nite.
 
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