Running Bear’s May 2021 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning!
The sky is smoke colored this morning, with no blue and no rain; so it dosen't look like it knows what to do. It's 35°F out there; I suppose that's cool enough to pepper spray me with little ice-balls again. Yippee!

I'll be going out soon to get the big Covid test; I guess I have to let someone stick a cotton wadded stick up my beak. So, I'm just in for one coffee and will be on my way.
But, I have to leave a photo behind. Here's a Pine Martin that passed me when I was hunting from a tree stand a couple of years back. Pine Martins are cute little furry creatures, but, if you are a squirrel, you wouldn't want to meet up with one:
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I'll probably drop in again after I get that test done. Have a good one!
 
Good Morning Model Railroading People! I hope all is safe & well!
French Toast please Flo, a couple eggs over easy on the side with extra bacon, keep the coffee com'n....thanks!

They can't be called hail;
Graupel......pretty much what you described.

Troy, nice work on the donuts! The maple bar crunchy things are good!

Terry, good score on the 'puter!
Personally, I hate this thing! I am neither good nor fast on it!o_O

Justin, that 5746 is looking good! First gen. stuff, nice! I have three in the early GN scheme. Nice runners!

Sherrel, you and Garry had pics of an MKT PA in last month's coffee shop, didn't get a chance to respond there. I went thru the vintage railroad paper work I've got, but to no avail, not one piece of MKT paper! (I'll have to work on remedying that!) 😁 But, I did have this, from my railroad paper cup collection, (a guy's got too have something to collect, huh?) o_Oo_O OK, so it's a collection of 4! 😆
And Sherrel, check out the back side!
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Guy, no Pine Martins here, but there is a couple versions of a weasel (no,no, not the political kind!.) that live here. These little guys are 10-11 inches over-all in length. Fun watching them hunt the gofer/mole holes.

EVERYBODY HAVE A SAFE DAY!
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 64°, rain has finally moved east, although it didn't rain here yesterday, but it did all around here. 81° for a high today, 88° tomorrow and then the cold front Tuesday with a high of 68° and a low in the upper 40's. I thought that we might be done with this cold stuff until November. Guess not! Still waiting for the yard to dry out so I can mow without leaving ruts in the soft saturated ground. Around midday tomorrow at the earliest, and then only some of the higher areas around the train shed and maybe the north end of the front yard. Meanwhile today I will shred some of the still present brush piles and run the weedeater around the south side of the house and porch.

How about a good helping of Mel's "everything but the sink" omelet this morning Flo. Add a side of French Toast and OJ.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the pictures of veggies and layout progress; Tom O, Gary, Garry, Sherrel, Karl, Phil, Hughie, George, Guy, Rick, Justin, Tom, Jerry, Ken, Moermusic, Patrick.

A somewhat more active day in the train shed yesterday; kinda finished some stuff up and had a cold brew and ran trains for a while. First up I added a parking area to the side of the motorcycle repair shop, essentially completing the designated part of this project.
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While I plan to add a drainage ditch to the right, it wasn't included in the scope of the current project. I will however, be adding more weeds behind this structure and along the tracks the next time that I get those supplies out.
Over at Tommy's house (as opposed to his tree house), I finished out the ground cover, completed the last two fence sections, added the mailbox, added bushes and put in some decorative plants alongside the house.
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Almost done! There's still a few rough spots in the ground cover, that plastic base needs better blending, and trees need to be added. I started on them yesterday. I'm looking in the detail box for some things to add like lawn chairs etc. An adult or two will complete the scene.

Sherrel -
Believe me, You want folks such as these!
Actually I thought so being as they were friends of yours.
how about some okra and black eyed peas?
I'm a born Yankee and I just don't grow these. I've grown both before but okra is touchy. Plant one plant and it will die. Plant two and you will have to pick as much as five or six dozen okras a day. Much more than my wife alone can eat.
Chet - Thanks for the photos yesterday. There were a couple of views that I hadn't seen before.
Hughie - Yes I already found that in Win10 settings, but the key here is "when I am ready"!
Tom O - All throughout the last year of pandemic restrictions, most counties in Texas were very relaxed with enforcement of gatherings. The larger cities like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio had to be more restrictive due to their population concentrations. matter of fact most places outside the large metro areas pretty much ignored all but the mask mandate which only applied to indoor public places to begin with. Even now that the mask mandate has been lifted, most everybody still wears them in public indoor places.
Guy - Very serene picture of the owl. I used to always carry the camera with me when I walked after work, since it was mostly dusk and there were more critters out. I only got an owl once, perched on a rotten bale of hay with a rodent at its feet. Needless to say, it was just as surprised to see me come around the corner as I was to come across it.
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Everyone have a great Sunday, I see the sun peeking out. Stay safe.
 
Morning all,

Got my little bit of garden in finally. 4 celebrity tomato plants and 4 cal wonder peppers and if it lives a bush cucumber. My space is only 9' x 9'. We just don't garden like we used to with just the 2 of us.

Willie: you can keep extending updates, but when windows 10 starts doing oddball things, you will need to do the updates.
 
Good morning. Not much going on here. After a day in the 80's we had some rain, which is always welcome, come through and now the high is only expected to be in the 60's today.

Willie
- Good photos as usual. The problem with people moving out of California is that they tend to bring their politics with them. Bozeman used to be a very conservative city but over the years in influx of Californians got bad. The entire city commission is made up entirely of Californians. One of the reasons I want out of here. Thankfully the rest of the state is still red with the exception of Missoula.

Justin
- Like the geep.

Terry
- Sounds like you got the tablet situation taken care of. Hope your wife is doing well.

Have a few small things to do before watching the NASCAR race this afternoon.

Here are a few more photos.

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Later
 
TomO- The Mrs & I had looked at getting tickets for today, but since she deals with so many anti-maskers & mask nazis at work, she decided that she’s not ready to people with that big of a crowd yet. We’re thinking maybe taking Amtrak for a long weekend in Cincy in September. Maybe by then, I’ll be able to get to go to a ballgame w/o a mask, or at least with a neck gaiter(reg 😷 don’t stay in place with the beard).
 
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Happy Sunday, Shop Dwellers! It's 80*F under sunny skies with a 11mph WSW breeze in my central MD community.

Thanks everybody for the "like" and other affirmations on my previous posts.

Wife just told me about a headline in the Baltimore Sun that the expansion of the CSX [formerly B&O] Howard Street Tunnel has finally been approved. This is something that I and many of my local railfan buddies had thought was never going to happen because of all the funding challenges, NIMBY opposition and other red tape; apparently the last hurdle has now been cleared. Hopefully Maryland will NOT become the next state in the union to be without any Class 1 freight rail service!

IBKEN - sorry to hear of your troubles - I was plagued with bad acid reflux all through my 20's and half of 30's = I couldn't go anywhere without a pocket full of Rolaids and Alka-Seltzer. Then it simply went away. After my "C" surgery the Dr;s had me on Omeprazole daily until finally my Primary told me to stop - that it was not good for the bones, like you? Seems as if there is dividend within the ranks sometimes?
Good luck with yours. My best to you... did you get that generator "up and running"?
Sherrell - I think that's become a known problem with ALL acid inhibitors, regardless of who the manufacture is. There needs to be sufficient stomach acid for calcium to be adequately dissolved in order for it to be absorbed into the bones, which isn't possible if it's always being neutralized. It forces guys like us to make a "pick-yer-poison" type of decision between stomach cancer risk and osteoporosis. I did a google search on gastric metaplasia and the two main takeaways are (1) 25% of all people who get endoscopies have it, and (2) those of us who do have it are 6X more likely to develop cancer in the upper GI track at some point - hence the need for an endoscopy every 2 years.
BTW - The generator is ready for action, thanks for asking! I did a power outage drill in late March to load-test it, and confirmed it can handle every critical function that requires electricity - the furnace, well pump, water heater, 2 refrigerators, plus lights and outlets. Of course it can NOT support my central AC system since that has a startup power demand of 17K watts, that would've required a commercial-grade generator. We'll just hang out on the [cooler] lower level if we lose power during the summer months.

* * *
I spent most of yesterday doing yard work, except for a 2-hour visit with my local RR friend Keith. Today I hope to get started on decluttering the trainroom so I can get it ready for the "official" MER 2021 op session I agreed to host. I've been getting cold feet about this event recently, not just because of the clutter but the infrastructure. My layout is NOT in a magazine-presentable space with cozy paneled walls, carpeted floor and drop ceiling w/valance lighting, which seems to be the norm on many of the forums these days. It's in a temporarily-repurposed 2-car garage - semifinished, with full climate control and the ceiling and walls insulated. Acceptable for running trains, but still a number of eyesores that can never be hidden.

Every time I've gone in there recently intending to start the decluttering process, I am confronted with this ugliness and think to myself "Whats the use, I can never make this space look decent" without dismantling the layout and doing a complete renovation from scratch. It would be easier to just bow-out of this commitment, but that would disappoint my friends who have been planning to help me with it. And the layout is already listed as an option on the MER 2021 registration website, so no reason other than death or serious illness would be acceptable for cancelling at this point. I'm just gonna have to make the space as comfortable and presentable as possible, make sure all the trains and trackwork function as intended...and hope for the best.

I'm gonna head out there now and hopefully make some incremental progress - BBL.
 
Good happy Sunday to all my fellow shop dwellers!

Had to work yesterday, so lawn duties fell on today. Than dome my eldest son is occupying the workbench as we speak, trying to unsolder they joysticks from a game controller. he has my soldering iron, and a solder sucker, and more patience than I.

Happy Sunday, Shop Dwellers! It's 80*F under sunny skies with a 11mph WSW breeze in my central MD community.


I spent most of yesterday doing yard work, except for a 2-hour visit with my local RR friend Keith. Today I hope to get started on decluttering the trainroom so I can get it ready for the "official" MER 2021 op session I agreed to host. I've been getting cold feet about this event recently, not just because of the clutter but the infrastructure. My layout is NOT in a magazine-presentable space with cozy paneled walls, carpeted floor and drop ceiling w/valance lighting, which seems to be the norm on many of the forums these days. It's in a temporarily-repurposed 2-car garage - semifinished, with full climate control and the ceiling and walls insulated. Acceptable for running trains, but still a number of eyesores that can never be hidden.

Every time I've gone in there recently intending to start the decluttering process, I am confronted with this ugliness and think to myself "Whats the use, I can never make this space look decent" without dismantling the layout and doing a complete renovation from scratch. It would be easier to just bow-out of this commitment, but that would disappoint my friends who have been planning to help me with it. And the layout is already listed as an option on the MER 2021 registration website, so no reason other than death or serious illness would be acceptable for cancelling at this point. I'm just gonna have to make the space as comfortable and presentable as possible, make sure all the trains and trackwork function as intended...and hope for the best.

I'm gonna head out there now and hopefully make some incremental progress - BBL.

KenL Remember I volunteered as a engineer !! If need be, with advance notice, I can be of service for clean up/beautification duty. I also have to get in contact with Keith. SWMBO is making noise about redoing the kitchen. He used to do that as a side business, I could use his council on this project.
 
Well good early Wisconsin evening. Got to the ballpark at 11:15am wondering where all the traffic going east of Madison on I94 was coming from. A nice beautiful sunny day for a ball game. Then the Dodgers came to bat in the 1st inning. Grand slam in the 1st inning, another grand slam by the Dodgers and later a 3 run dinger. A ballgame really goes slowwwww when your team is being crushed. It was an over flow crowd of 12,100+ ticket buyers. 25% of full and that is the cap. I guess it increases this week to 50%. I need a shower, a 15 minute nap and some iced water. Then I will come back and read. We weren’t in the top row but we were close!
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Happy Sunday, Shop Dwellers! It's 80*F under sunny skies with a 11mph WSW breeze in my central MD community.

Thanks everybody for the "like" and other affirmations on my previous posts.

Wife just told me about a headline in the Baltimore Sun that the expansion of the CSX [formerly B&O] Howard Street Tunnel has finally been approved. This is something that I and many of my local railfan buddies had thought was never going to happen because of all the funding challenges, NIMBY opposition and other red tape; apparently the last hurdle has now been cleared. Hopefully Maryland will NOT become the next state in the union to be without any Class 1 freight rail service!


Sherrell - I think that's become a known problem with ALL acid inhibitors, regardless of who the manufacture is. There needs to be sufficient stomach acid for calcium to be adequately dissolved in order for it to be absorbed into the bones, which isn't possible if it's always being neutralized. It forces guys like us to make a "pick-yer-poison" type of decision between stomach cancer risk and osteoporosis. I did a google search on gastric metaplasia and the two main takeaways are (1) 25% of all people who get endoscopies have it, and (2) those of us who do have it are 6X more likely to develop cancer in the upper GI track at some point - hence the need for an endoscopy every 2 years.
BTW - The generator is ready for action, thanks for asking! I did a power outage drill in late March to load-test it, and confirmed it can handle every critical function that requires electricity - the furnace, well pump, water heater, 2 refrigerators, plus lights and outlets. Of course it can NOT support my central AC system since that has a startup power demand of 17K watts, that would've required a commercial-grade generator. We'll just hang out on the [cooler] lower level if we lose power during the summer months.

* * *
I spent most of yesterday doing yard work, except for a 2-hour visit with my local RR friend Keith. Today I hope to get started on decluttering the trainroom so I can get it ready for the "official" MER 2021 op session I agreed to host. I've been getting cold feet about this event recently, not just because of the clutter but the infrastructure. My layout is NOT in a magazine-presentable space with cozy paneled walls, carpeted floor and drop ceiling w/valance lighting, which seems to be the norm on many of the forums these days. It's in a temporarily-repurposed 2-car garage - semifinished, with full climate control and the ceiling and walls insulated. Acceptable for running trains, but still a number of eyesores that can never be hidden.

Every time I've gone in there recently intending to start the decluttering process, I am confronted with this ugliness and think to myself "Whats the use, I can never make this space look decent" without dismantling the layout and doing a complete renovation from scratch. It would be easier to just bow-out of this commitment, but that would disappoint my friends who have been planning to help me with it. And the layout is already listed as an option on the MER 2021 registration website, so no reason other than death or serious illness would be acceptable for cancelling at this point. I'm just gonna have to make the space as comfortable and presentable as possible, make sure all the trains and trackwork function as intended...and hope for the best.

I'm gonna head out there now and hopefully make some incremental progress - BBL.
One question- Did you build your layout for your enjoyment, or for others ???
Phil
 
Vaccination thoughts:
"Help me understand - you've eaten hot dogs and bologna all your life, but you refuse a vaccine because you don't know what is in it?"

3 things ,
1. they don't know whats in it and are afraid of the side effects.
2.They do know whats in it and don't want to take it because its counter intuitive , In order to prevent you from getting the virus , they give you the virus. That makes some people nervous.
3. They think if they wait long enough the disease will pass and they won't need to take it.
 
One question- Did you build your layout for your enjoyment, or for others ???
Phil
Both, Phil. Originally just for me, but after hosting my first op session, I realized that my enjoyment is multiplied 10X when I share it with other hobbyists. That's why I rebuilt it in 2010 with wider aisles, so guest operators who were less mobile/flexible than myself could enjoy every part of the layout as much as I did.
 
Both, Phil. Originally just for me, but after hosting my first op session, I realized that my enjoyment is multiplied 10X when I share it with other hobbyists. That's why I rebuilt it in 2010 with wider aisles, so guest operators who were less mobile/flexible than myself could enjoy every part of the layout as much as I did.
I'll bet you will get many thanks for opening your layout to others. And there will be NITWIT NITPiCKERS who will tell you how it should have been better. ---- 'em. Get it cleaned up and enjoy. Dont let the ba---rds wear you down.

Phil
 
Evening all,

At work as the internet service is acting goofy. Both buildings, so I'm waiting on the ISP to call me back. I'm using data on my phone as everything is basically down to the outside world. Kind of like Christmas getting paid to watch lights change from red to green and back to red.
 
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