Running Bear’s June 2021 Coffee Shop


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Good afternoon. Been busy as usual with outdoor chores. Got up to 97 yesterday but today we are in the mid 70's.

Hughie - Outstanding job on the hardware store. Thumb up.gif

Garry - Outstanding photo. Like the power at the front end.

Willie - Like the Chinese restaurant. You keep coming up with some interesting businesses. The only guy in our area that works on LG appliances agrees that LG appliances are garbage, along with Samsung. Wish I know what I know now about them. Would have saved a lot of money. Some of the older appliances were built with quality in mine. Besides our Kenmore washer and dryer which are well over 30 years, I have a couple of freezer chests in the basement that I picked up used. Both are over 40 years old and still working like a champ.

McLeod- Good photos as usual. That 53 foot trailer looks like it had a few feet added on.

Terry - Golf is a game I played years ago when we were still in Florida. My friend and I would play at a different golf course almost every weekend. Got to play with the great one. My friend and I were on the putting green waiting to tee off when the timekeeper asked us if we minded someone else joining us being that there was only 2 of us. We told him that we were just duffers, but no problem. When tee of time came, so did Jackie Gleason. We were at Inverary, which he owned but he didn't want to bump someone off of their tee time. Was the most fun I ever had playing golf. He was just an every day gut not like the assholes that are in Hollywood now. We enjoyed talking with him and he said that he was really so happy to have been given the chance to do what he did. Quite a humble man.

Have to go down to the train room and load up the locomotives and rolling stock for the club tomorrow. I will bore some of you with the cab ride video at the club as there are some new people here that may not have seen it before. The guy wearing the Navy T shirt and hat is yours truly.


Later
 
Morning all,

Supposed to be 100°-104° depending on which weather guesser you believe. Not a lot going on except heat...
Too hot for coffee, give me a large iced tea and a bacon burrito with extra bacon this morning...Thanks.

MikeInHubCity said:
Here in Marshfield, we have an older DQ on the south end of town & a newer “Grill & Chill” on the north end. Across the road from the one on the south end, a local ice cream parlor opened up & does what appears to be at least double the volume as DQ. Not sure if DQ is locally owned or big franchisee, but rarely see much traffic there. Most of their business appears to be drive-thru, because they have a very small footprint. Maybe a 1/2 dozen banquettes, The local parlor appears to be family owned/operated, is very involved in the community & uses WI dairy ice cream(Chocolate Shoppe, which is out of Madison). They’re on the site of the old Dog & Suds drive in.
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I haven't heard of Dog & Suds since I left Michigan. Had one across the highway from our house (the back 2 acres went to the highway fence and were wooded).
 
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Good morning gang!

Another gorgeous day here. 54° right now, heading to 78°, clear and sunny!

I did get the final blue and orange Midland GP38-3 finished last night. (pics maybe tonight) My recent auction win included a beer flat of Kadee boxcars, almost all have some "Issues". Mostly loose cut bars or grab irons, 1 will need a ladder replaced,, another a roof walk. I may try to get them off of the bench before returning to the WM GPs or the 2-8-0 project. Trying sooo hard to stay focused on 1 thing at a time is tough!!!

Flo, can I get a coffee to go for now, gotta trot!
 
Good morning. It’s clear and 56. The decoder in my GS4 failed spectacularly a couple of weeks ago. I sent it back to the guy that had installed it, along with the custom lighting, for replacement. Long story short, he made me an offer on it, and he is now the proud owner of a broken Kato GS4. I picked up a BLI heavy pacific in SP to power my Lark for about what he paid for the GS4. It’s a much smaller engine, and more suited to powering a 4 car passenger train. I’ll try to remember to post a couple of pictures of it when it arrives.
 
Greetngs RR Fans ... It was a welcome drastic change yesterday only reaching 94 after that killer 108 on Tuesday.
Starting today at 66F and The guessers are saying 95F/35C for today with NOT a cloud showing for the next three days.

The Marine SIL showed up yesterday afternoon with the two pups - one is a miniature smooth hair Doxie and the other is a bounceful 3-4 yo black German Shepard. The Doxie is 9 YO and has a hurt back... going to the VET this morning ... we are hoping that he just sprained it anf is not going down in the back as happens to Dashounds when they are older.
Now with 6 humans and 5 pups the house has shrunk a bit - I was surprised that the commotion level seemed lower than before; mayve I am just getting used to it, or the father was a more calming influence.

I see that I cannot spell this morning -- FLO - hold the coffee - imma go sit in the corner and nap a moment.
 
Patrick said:
I haven't heard of Dog & Suds since I left Michigan. Had one across the highway from our house, the back 2 acres went to the highway fence and were wooded).
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We had a Dog and Suds near us in West Chicago, went there a lot until it closed and they put a KFC there in its place. just was not the same. We also had a Tastee Freezee think that is still open.

Mike
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 73°. Pool has warmed up to 84°, while that felt good after walking this morning, it's edging upward too soon in the season. I'm still mowing the yard, but it seems that the rate of growth has slowed down since it hasn't rained since Saturday. Not chopping up too many grasshoppers since they are larger and their flight trajectory is longer and they get out of the way. The latest weather forecast, has the two rain days for next week consolidated and moved up to Monday instead! I'm not sure whether these guys have a clue right now.
Working on a list for the weekly grocery/beer trek this morning. Extra stops this morning, and my wife has an eye doctor appointment while I shop. I need to pick up a prescription at Walgreens, return a part at Home Depot and have the pool water tested again at the pool place. Maybe even a haircut while I am in town..

That bacon burrito that Patrick is having looks really yummy to me this morning Flo. I'll take two.

Thanks for the comments and likes yesterday regarding the "Golden Dragon" restaurant; Karl, Tom O, Sherrel, Hughie, Chad, Chet, Justin, Garry, Rick, Tom, Gary, Patrick.

During a phone conversation with my son in San Antonio last weekend, he mentioned that he saw a copy of Model Railroader at one of his buddy's home. He mentioned that his father (me) had a layout and now his buddy has requested pictures if possible, since he doesn't yet have a layout. I have been obliging by sending a half dozen every two days by E-Mail. Hopefully he will be a younger person to join this wonderful hobby.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I began working on the area where I intend to "plant" Woody's Country Mart. I laid out and nailed down the track to service the cannery, and added three sets of feeder wires. Didn't bother to take a picture yet.
One thing that many have asked, and my son's friend has also, is for an overall shot of the layout. I really haven't been able to do that because of the footprint that it occupies. But I was on a ladder replacing a bulb yesterday, and determined that I might get you guys a shot.
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Under that shelf on top of the backdrop on the left is another "U". Looking from the other end down that aisle in the center is this.
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Here are a pair of shots of the lower and upper peninsula ends. No fascia on upper level yet.
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Tom O - The extended delivery times are a real pain here in Texas. There is a severe lack of drivers. Part of it is being blamed on the extra $300/week federal booster to unemployment, which is going to end soon here. Part too is because many drivers returned to Mexico when laid off due to Covid, since they are not eligible for unemployment to begin with. Now they are having trouble coming back, even if eligible.
Chad - We also have an LG dryer that has lasted over 25 years with only one repair. The washer which was bought much later didn't last ten years.

While we're looking for missing visitors like Curt, Phil and Burlington Bob, how about Joe? I haven't seen him in a while.
That's it for today. Everybody have a good day and stay cool.
 
Good Morning!

Success! I wired up the turntable and made it go roundy-roundy! Of course, one hiccup. I bought from Amazon an transformer rated for 16 VAC output. Instructions for the turntable say no more than 18 VAC or else could damage. So my multimeter read 18.9 VAC as the output. Sigh. But I really wanted it tested so hooked up a DC power supply that was in range for voltage. It just puts out a max of 3.33 amps, way more than the 250mA needed. But it works. Tonight I hope to layout the roundhouse and its three tracks which will be my first official tracklaying of the layout.

I suppose I should do one of those "My layout thus far" threads, but I'll leave that to the guys who know what they are doing!

Wife treated us to pan-seared filets last night with a tequila pan sauce as a way to re-inaugurate the gas range. Was mighty tasty, especially with the 2016 Bordeaux St. Emillion I paired with it. This time of year, it raised the temperature in the house 5 degrees, but was a nice re-launch of the kitchen. She and I both love to cook and eat - amazing that I am not more overweight!

Must get some paying-work done. Cheers to all! -----Steve
 
Willie: Man, that is some prime real estate! A few questions, if I may:

Is your train shed climate controlled? Remember, I lived in Texas (North Dallas and Kilgore) many years. You must have an AC unit for it?

Do I see that your track is directly over plywood? No foam or homasote?

Looks great and a true labor of love! Well done! -----Steve
 
Good morning from the FRONT deck in So. Central Wisconsin. I am out front as it is 64f degrees but the 13mph breeze is steady, the front north facing deck is sheltered from the wind.

drive ins, Terry worked at A&W in Kenosha and Racine during high school. We had a A&W in Oak Forest, Illinois when I was a kid but not sure if it is still there now. Dog and Suds, there were a few around the Chicago south suburbs back in the day. Always after baseball both Little League and Pony League, the teams hit up the A&W for a mug of root beer. Now in Wisconsin they hit up Culver’s.

deliveries, that makes sense Willie about lack of drivers. I also think the way they push those folks, especially Amazon, with no Union protections make folks reluctant to be a delivery driver. UPS was just here as I was finish up reading your comments. He was kind of shocked I was out here as he started to toss my package on the deck, stopped in mid swing because he saw me. I did ask him how many hours he works. Said getting 50 in weekly but could tell them in advance he’d do 60 hours a week which is the Union allowable max. Said UPS is great but if I want the horror stories to talk to my Fed Ex guy. Said he couldn’t handle working for them.

Mikeinhubcity, I used to have breakfast at the Hardee’s drive through by the Ice Cream parlor, HubCity Ice Cream, lunch once a week at the DQ drive through by the Hardee’s and lunch, usually Friday’s at Nutz Deep or El Mezcal by Menards, Crabby Dave’s if I had a client with and occasionally lunch at the Kitchen Table which was cash only. Lots of good lunch places but never too impressed with the evening options. I do miss Marshfield a bit but not so much Central Wisconsin. Terry and and I if we had dinner out was usually done in Stevens Point. Ah, memories.

In a text last night I asked the son in Austin how the heat was at 100+, in typical Texas fashion, “it’s been worst”. He loves the LG washer after 6 uses, he said the water used is 1/2 of his old whirlpool. He said the 12 day delivery was because HD has a contractor deliver instead of there crews when they have pick up of the old appliance. He said the guy who delivered told him he will fix the son’s machine and sell it for $125 guaranteed a year or he will replace but not fix it. The price he was quoted to fix the machine because he was unable to locate the parts online was $300. The contractor guy said to expect 5-6 years of greatness out of the current LG offerings and then, good luck!

The Chamber of Commerce in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. I will be checking but I believe this was a CN&W station back in the day. Terry figured this was the end of the line because of that “yellow thing“ on the rail. Told her the big red sign in the middle of the rails about 100’ out of the picture indicates that. I showed her last night how the “yellow thingy” works on the layout. Derails!

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Enjoy your day
TomO
 
MilwRoader_Steve said:
Willie: Man, that is some prime real estate! A few questions, if I may:

Is your train shed climate controlled? Remember, I lived in Texas (North Dallas and Kilgore) many years. You must have an AC unit for it?

Do I see that your track is directly over plywood? No foam or homasote?

Looks great and a true labor of love! Well done! -----Steve
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Thank you Steve.
Yes it is prime real estate. What I posted this morning is about 50% of what's actually there. It's a 640 sq ft purpose-built insulated building that I built just for the layout. No interior columns or walls.
Yes it is climate controlled. It's not perfect, the 12,000 BTU window unit in mid-summer can keep it below 83°, and the two electric heaters keep it at least 25° above the outside temperature, so generally above 55°. Year round it is in the 65° - 75° range about 85% of the time.
Correct about the plywood, almost. Since I am basically modeling flatland prairies, there is no need for elevation. All main lines are on HO scale cork roadbed; passing sidings are on N scale cork roadbed. The industry sidings and spurs are mounted on cardboard (cereal box thickness) for slight elevation and sound absorption. I went for simplicity in benchwork and design, which has sped up construction. I am basically "old-school"; code 100 on 1/2" plywood using track nails and being a solo operator, I use DC. It is actually my fourth and last layout, the first three were in a varmint-ridden, non-climate controlled lean-to attached to the west wall of my barn. Ugggh! I am pleased that you like it.
 
Patrick said:
Morning all,

Supposed to be 100°-104° depending on which weather guesser you believe. Not a lot going on except heat...
Too hot for coffee, give me a large iced tea and a bacon burrito with extra bacon this morning...Thanks.


I haven't heard of Dog & Suds since I left Michigan. Had one across the highway from our house (the back 2 acres went to the highway fence and were wooded).
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Only one left in our area is in Tomahawk- about 1-1/2 -2 hours away, Up North.
 
Good evening gang!

As promised last night,

Midland fleet.jpg


Here is the complete orange and blue Midland fleet. 2 F7s, 3 GP9s, 7 GP38-3s, 1 65 ton center cab Whitcomb and an SW7 "fantasy" unit done by Jerome (Wheeler1963).
Eventually I will have the entire roster from 1980-2000. So far I've got the former BN SD24s still in green, the former Milwaukee Road 97C and 97A in Western Maryland Speedlettering, 1 of the 3 N&W high hood GP9s in WM lettering, and the 1 RS3 that came from the Gettysburg RR. The RS3 I have undec already, the 2 remaining GPs are also waiting to be built from a pile of parts I have.

I'm really sick, does it show??
 
Happy Friday Eve, Shop Dwellers! It's 67*F and calm under mostly clear skies in my central MD community.

As always, I do appreciate the "likes" and comments on my simple Monday post. Don't have time to screen-scrape for names tonight, but y'all know who you are!

GarryCBQ said:
IB Ken ..... I hope the storm last night was not too bad.
. . .
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Garry, it wasn't "bad" as in dangerous; I just wanted to avoid being on the 'puter and typing up a post if the power went out. Seems like it's been doing that more frequently as of late; and usually when it does, it's not in high wind conditions but after we've had a large amount of rain. Our house is on high ground so flooding isn't a concern for us.

montanan said:
. . . The only guy in our area that works on LG appliances agrees that LG appliances are garbage, along with Samsung. Wish I know what I know now about them. Would have saved a lot of money. Some of the older appliances were built with quality in mine. Besides our Kenmore washer and dryer which are well over 30 years, I have a couple of freezer chests in the basement that I picked up used. Both are over 40 years old and still working like a champ.
. . .
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Chet - my memory of your horror stories [about the LG kitchen appliances] made me avoid that brand like the plague when we had to replace our dead 20yr-old Kenmore refrigerator. We needed a fridge that we could fit thru a 29-inch wide doorway into the kitchen, and that limited our options a lot. Of course, when we went to Home Depot and saw the floor models that we could use, they were all on backorder. Naturally they still had plenty of LG's available. Eventually we found an available Whirlpool unit on Lowe's website, but they had to have it shipped to us from a store in Virginia.

Lee - great to see you back!

Nothing else really worthwhile for me to report, other than that a set of 10 Bbounder (yes, two B's!) linkable LED light fixtures that I ordered thru Amazon arrived - and I've been out in the trainroom figuring out the optimal way to install them. Hopefully once I get all 10 of them up, it will eliminate the problem of too many dark areas.

Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!
 
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Good evening .

Thanks everybody for "likes" and comments on my photo.

Chet .... When I run NP locos I think of you. Thanks for the video.

Lee ..... It's good to see you here, and I like your truck and car models.

WIllie .... You have a lot of space for your layout and you are filling it up very well.

Karl .... your Midland fleet is impressive.

Everybody ..... Have a good night.
 
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