Running Bear’s April 2026 Coffee Shop

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Good morning. 70°F out there at 0830, heading for the low 80°s like they said was supposed to happen yesterday when it made it to 78°F. Today, it might actually make it with a starting temp this high.

I have chicken thawing for the grill later and that is all for today.

No dogs last night, no Polizei, just sleep until the turbo-Diesel alarm clock sounded at 0400 this morning.

troyphoto said:
Got the top removed yesterday. I won't say which idiot, glued, brad-nailed, and screwed the top plywood to the under-structure, but it was more painful to remove than I expected. NO GLUE on the rebuilt ones.
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I wish I was going to be around after I'm gone to watch them try and get my railroad out of the room it is built into. It is all screwed and glued and anchored to the walls. It is essentially another ceiling (or floor) structure at the 48" mark. Probably the strongest room in the house and where I would go if a tornado warning was issued with no-notice and couldn't make it to the basement.

After having so many rickety layouts as a kid and younger adult, I swore if I ever built another layout it was going to be rock solid and not move a millimeter if I was leaning, standing on, or pounding nails into it. I succeeded.
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 69°, mid-80's today after just 75° yesterday. The "storm of the year" kinda fizzled out on us yesterday; I got 0.45" of rain in the gauge between midnight Saturday and daybreak yesterday. Gentle rain and we didn't have to close any windows in the house. Typical Spring weather for the next 10 days with today being the warmest.

Nothing notable about yesterday or today, another ho-hum day. I do have to dust off the weedeater today or tomorrow and hit a few places, as well as doing some more mowing. Probably wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to be cooler.
Wife finally did the taxes yesterday! Ex-tax preparer who generally waits until the last minute to do ours! We owe which was expected due to the RMD's that I am forced to take...that we don't really need. I'm in a higher tax bracket now than I ever was while working! Who knew?

Back to the dishwasher cleaning. I do clean out the trap every so often, but it generally doesn't trap anything since we really pre-rinse everything thoroughly to begin with. Our well water is extremely soft with no visible minerals and no other grease or crud goes into it to begin with. I looked this morning and there is no clean cycle on our machine. So I'll stick with it cleaning itself with every use.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I did some more painting and ground cover, and didn't do some stuff because of a minor screw up.
Here's the almost completed picket fence in place on the left. I need to add that gate.
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I intended to finish painting the horizon on the RH part of the backdrop where I removed the cityscape backdrop scene, but inconveniently painted some driveways near the fascia and couldn't lean in without getting paint on my shirt.
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The church parking lot was started with an asphalt (Gray) color until I ran out of paint.
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I have another unopened bottle but I was out of time so it will come next.
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Meanwhile, here are a couple of pictures of the other side of the tracks that are 90% completed. First, the general store
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And the house across the road from it.
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Next up for that area are a couple of trees, some fencing, and extending the asphalt road into the backdrop.

Louis -
Bruette said:
You don't need to worry; your neighbors would not have a cord long enough. Nobody would have a cord long enough!
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About 1500' to the nearest one! He's a retired policeman so I don't worry about him.
Michael - That whole dogs in the restaurant in Europe opened up a whole new world to me. I was in Austria on a business trip and our host took us to a local place where the owner made wine and smoked sausage in the cellar. Restaurant was low light and tablecloths on the tables; and I felt something moving around my feet. Looked down and there was a large German Shepard laying sprawled out under the table! Host said that it belonged to the Gästehaus owner. Side note: Later in the evening, everyone at the place started standing up and heading for a small unmarked door. We went as well and went down some narrow steps to the winery in the massive cellar for a "first tasting" of some of their latest wines. Sausages were hanging between the vats all over the place. I ended up seeing dogs at several other places during the trip after that.
David (Marlin) - Wish that you hadn't tempted me with the BBQ truck. I'm still thinking about it!
Tom O - Too late now, but cutting the cord would have at least inconvenienced that neighbor. Good that the rumor mill is working, it can be a powerful thing.
Swal - It looks like you have prepared a very welcoming home for Murphy. I hope that it all works out.

Everybody have a great Monday.
 


Patrick said:
The bidet works fine. Couldn't tell you what style, simply an attachment that mounts under the toilet seat (uses the seat bolts). I don't use it, never have as something about cold water on my tushy seems wrong.
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Sound a lot like a separate unit from the seat. Take a look at the Japanese (style) toilet seats that have that piece built into them. Many of them will heat the water as well as the toilet seat. Very nice. Especially in the winter.

Even going to Japan every other year I thought they were stupid. Especially on male butts that tend to have more hair. I thought it’d just make a mess. So going to Japan for 17 years and I never really used them. Then once at my SisIL house I’m sitting on the toilet and looking at the control panel on the wall for it. I notice something that looks like it might be a pressure adjustment. (It was written only in Japanese, which I don’t speak, but also had an icon to help you know). I decided to try it. Yep. Pressure control. Push the pressure on high and let it clean and it got wicked clean. Really nice. I became a convert that day and when we built I made sure every bathroom had nice Toto ones. The best part of the house 😉.
 
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Good morning folks, 75 here and cloudy AND breezy. Emptied out an Army Transport bag that I was given last year, it was loaded with miniatures to a game I rarely play and have started loading it up with mechs for Battletech which I play all the time. Making progress in steps for the game this Thursday Night. Some more mechs arriving today and will receive their primer coats upon arrival. Hope you guys have a great day.
 
Murphy has only been here an hour, and he's already taken over the house, and he will not move off my bed. He likes my bed better than the bed I made him. I'm not sure what's going to happen at 11pm when I to try sleep. Playing ball, tires him out and he will not give up his spot. Swal

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Things can change again but at today's market close, my 401k and HSA combined trading accounts reached. value higher than they were at before the Iran War started (they're at the same brokerage in the same main account as sub-tabs so the totals etc are both combined even tough they're two separate sub-account entities). The new value does include the new money put in since then so the two accounts total together is still less than that value from and of Feb would have been today with the new money. But we're close.
 
chadbag said:
Sound a lot like a separate unit from the seat. Take a look at the Japanese (style) toilet seats that have that piece built into them. Many of them will heat the water as well as the toilet seat. Very nice. Especially in the winter.

Even going to Japan every other year I thought they were stupid. Especially on male butts that tend to have more hair. I thought it’d just make a mess. So going to Japan for 17 years and I never really used them. Then once at my SisIL house I’m sitting on the toilet and looking at the control panel on the wall for it. I notice something that looks like it might be a pressure adjustment. (It was written only in Japanese, which I don’t speak, but also had an icon to help you know). I decided to try it. Yep. Pressure control. Push the pressure on high and let it clean and it got wicked clean. Really nice. I became a convert that day and when we built I made sure every bathroom had nice Toto ones. The best part of the house 😉.
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It is a separate unit from the seat. I think it was about $70 when the daughters bought it for her a few years ago.

I'm with Willie on the dishwasher. I rinse quite a lot off before putting stuff in the dishwasher and haven't cleaned the screen in ours. I did have to show the boy how to clean his as he sees the add to scrape and the stuff disappears. Even when I worked as a dishwasher when I was a lot younger, we rinsed the heck outta the dishes before the went into the commercial machine.
 


NYC_George said:
Murphy has only been here an hour, and he's already taken over the house, and he will not move off my bed. He likes my bed better than the bed I made him. I'm not sure what's going to happen at 11pm when I to try sleep. Playing ball, tires him out and he will not give up his spot. Swal

View attachment 262826View attachment 262827
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BIG Congratulations!👍 Your both going to sleep well tonight.

He's bonding with your smell. Put a sweaty t-shirt on his bed and see what happens.
 
NYC_George said:
He likes my bed better than the bed I made him. I'm not sure what's going to happen at 11pm when I to try sleep. Playing ball, tires him out and he will not give up his spot. Swal
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Welcome to having a dog around. Nothing is yours anymore! its now on loan to you with conditions.

That's exactly how our Lab sleeps at night between the wife and I.
 
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chadbag said:
Things can change again but at today's market close, my 401k and HSA combined trading accounts reached. value higher than they were at before the Iran War started (they're at the same brokerage in the same main account as sub-tabs so the totals etc are both combined even tough they're two separate sub-account entities). The new value does include the new money put in since then so the two accounts total together is still less than that value from and of Feb would have been today with the new money. But we're close.
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Agree. A couple of stocks I bought last April at the low are up 300%-500% one year later.
 
My Rapido SW9 just arrived. I'm real happy with it, but it needs some dull coat after I add the decals. I'm just going to give it a light Pan Pastel weathering. The bell, horn, and engine sounds were all set at the maximum level.....deafening.😱 After adjusting those it's great. Craaaawls just like their 44 tonner.
 
westtexjohn said:
The thought of having a "bidet" makes my A$$ laugh.

I had always thought a bidet was something normally found on toilets used for feminine hygiene . I'm not expanding on why females would need this feature more than a male.

Stay clean..........John
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The Japanese toilet seats are called "bidet seats" but they're not a bidet in the normal French sense, though they do have a separate "feminine" mode. And it will make your A$$ nice and clean and feeling great. So your A$$ would probably laugh, but in delight.

Seriously, it's life changing. Paper just gets the bulk off and leaves a thin layer of smelly gunk on your A$$ and environs. And when you wipe it just smears it around, even if it also removes the bulk of it. This actually washes it and makes it much more clean. Light pat with paper afterwards -- no need to be aggressive with the paper and irritate the vital and sensitive tissues there -- and you're much better off: cleaner, less likely to give off odors -- especially when you miss a little with the paper, and you feel better. And better ones make the water warm, warm the seats for those in cold environs, and some even blow warm air on to get rid of moisture afterwards (you want to pat it dry and just let the air blow a minute to dry off the remaining moisture). Your A$$ will thank you. And your fingers as well as you never know if you'll get some on you during the "wiping deed" or there is a finger penetration through the paper.

Even a good one is not that expensive unless you get there really top end ones. (I splurged when building on a top end one with wall mounted toilet and tank, and high end seat, with tank and seat supporting auto-flush -- but my mom has a nice Korean made add-on for her normal toilet and it was a few hundred dollars. Only the master bedroom has auto flush in our house -- rest of the bathrooms don't)

I thought like most of you for the 17 years I went to Japan and never tried it. Until I tried it once.
 
I have mine set for auto flush.

After dinner with the folks last night, I had to walk from the restaurant to the hotel since the car was full. First time in about 20 years that I've walked through the area called the "honch". Bars, restaurants, memorabilia type places. Everything has changed and I got confused at one point.

When I passed the bank area, I saw an exchange rate display at it was showing 162 yen/dollar. Wow! That's awesome for me since I get paid in USD. I think that's the highest since the 80's when it was 260 in '85. It had lowered to 130 by '89.
 


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