Running Bear’s May 2021 Coffee Shop


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Morning from Coo-Coo Land where it is 56 to start and looking for 74 later on with supposedly mostly sunny - after the morning low overcast "burns"off.
Hi there FLO - Were you off for a few days - missed seeing you - and a very happy Mom's Day to you.
A light breakfast for me this morning - I have to beat it to the store for the "fixins" for an afternoon get together. The local daughter and hubby will be over with the newest add - as well as the daughter and family from Newport.

GUY - I must compliment you on your modeling talent! Little boat is coming along as well as your plans for the ramp and such; also looks to be a fair representation of a motor sitting there. Impressed that you still have that 'Jet Ace" car after all the years - I presume that is your G-son in the car?

TERRY - God's speed with your plans today - you have quite a dilemma with any kind of a ramp.
Sort of hate to say this, but maybe - because it is a rental - that the landlord might have a doorway made wider? I imaging that is out of his league? Best wishes going forward!

Well - better head for the store and try and keep up with all the goings on today ... I know that a visit to the MIL will be in order - she will be 100 in less than 6 weeks!
Later folks.
 
Good Mother's Day Morning to All. Mostly cloudy and 73° to start this muggy morning. While it cooled off a little last night, 73° is a bit high for a starter! I managed to get the tractor stuck in some mud yesterday while mowing the wilderness alongside my hayfield. My neighbor Bubba had to help get it out. I need to fill the ruts in now while they're not overgrown.

I'll take a pair of Mel's giant breakfast burritos this morning Flo. Spicy salsa to go with it.

Thanks for the likes yesterday; Rick, Guy, Garry, Sherrel, Karl, Hughie, Justin, Phil, Tom.

My time in the train shed wasn't much different than the last two days when I mainly cleaned, sorted and moved stuff around. Still no treasures, but I kinda know what I have already. I did remove a metal lawn chair that's been stashed under the layout since I finished the lower level. It was used on rest breaks while construction was still going on and just got shoved underneath, out of the way and was soon blocked in and forgotten. With the chair gone, I was able to tidy up some hanging wiring. I am still negotiating with the townspeople in all eleven of my layout towns for my next project. No front-runners yet.
So once again, back to the archives
One day back in 2011, right around the corner from where I worked, I noticed a splash of color that didn't belong. I went to investigate and was surprised by this.
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Santa Fe M-160 Doodlebug along with a passenger coach were en route from their old home at the State Fair grounds in Dallas, to it's new home at the American Rail Museum, 35 miles north in Frisco TX.

Terry - Best wishes and prayers of support for you.

Not a lot of visitors here yesterday, nothing to post about!

Outta here. Everybody have a great day. Stay healthy.
 
Good Morning al! A very Happy Mother's Day to each mom out there. Mine passed 10 years ago, I think of her often but especially today.
Flo, I'll have what ever today's special is.
No train time yesterday and today is not looking good. No progress on Shaw's Ridge.

STAY SAFE

LATER
 
Greetings all, and a happy mothers day to those as appropriate.

Weather moved in last night. We had rain since about 10p. Still raining. A few thunderboomers, but mostly a steady midwest rain.

Here's the raingauge from about 15 minutes ago. Still got another 5 hours of the drizzle to go.

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Looks like 2.3 inches in less than 15 hours.

Unfortunately, last night's rain caused something new and weird in my my physical world. Woke up about 3 am with severe cramps in the back of my thighs to the top of my calves. Ugh... took an Alieve, and rubbed some Voltaren Gel (doc said to use that when my Plantar Fasciitis flairs up). An hour later I added the heating pad on low, under my knees in the recliner.

Normally I don't suffer from much in the way of muscle aches. I usually feel weather changes either in the bursitis in my right knee, or via my sinuses making two teeth with root canals hurt (which they can't - it's the nerve in the jaw above/below the teeth). I've never had both legs -especially on the back - cramp like that with a weather change.

I looked on the weather map, and we're stuck in the section between LOW pressure to the south, and to the North.

In better news, took the spousal unit out for a burrito and tamale at the local Mexican place. They're going all out for Mothers day. Wife got a weak mimosa and a rose.

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I got a free dish of queso dip for the chips, so I didn't feel left out. Left a nice tip.
 
havent seen my folks in 6 months. only 2 sisters allowed to visit as *essential*. all eateries shut down cept for takeout.
had 25 mm of rain over the last 30 hrs. we needed it !
came into this diner last night just before closing, plugged a quarter into the *slot machine* & listened to this. my go to album download.jpg
 
Good afternoon. My wife is safely home, though I am extremely concerned about her heading off on the Senior Bus for her dialysis tomorrow. She barely made it up the one step into the house with my assistance. I don't know how she's going to make it tomorrow, with me at work.

In other news, the dog that thinks she's mine has disappeared. She was there yesterday morning, now this morning she and her dog house are gone, and the access gate is broken and hanging by one hinge. The neighbors aren't home, either, so currently I can't even ask them.
 
Good afternoon Shop Dwellers! We've got 58*F under sunny skies, and breezy (SSE 10mph) - definitely not shirtsleeves weather. I think we're on the boundary of a stalled frontal system, since this past week has been mostly cooler-than-average temps. Warm moist air tries to come in from the south, we get rain - then a strong wind from the Northwest pushes all the cold air back in. This cycle has repeated itself every 3 days since the start of the month.

Much obliged for the "likes" etc. on my Friday evening post - Tom in NY state, Phil, Hughie, Karl, Sherrell, Patrick, Rick, Willie, Guy, Tom in Wisc., Garry

. . .
Ken - I can see what you were trying to achieve placing the laptop under the counter; but, I'm wondering if using it in that position will lead to a rude backache. The PC doesn't look much higher than the chair seat.
No worries about that, Guy - I can see the laptop screen clearly just by glancing down at it when I'm seated, no need for hunching over.
. . .
KeN in Maryland! Great use of space!
Thanks Tom, sure wish I'd have thought about doing this a few years earlier. BTW I totally agree with you about Amazon - they may be good for many things, but model trains is NOT one of them!

Ironbeltken:
Saw your post regarding laptop on roll around table with programming track.
You should try to find a short siding near the laptop and use a DPDT switch to enable programming on the layout.
You can drive the loco into the siding, switch DPDT to PROGRAM, switch back to MAIN, and drive the loco back out.
I use a DPDT with center OFF.
No fumbling lining the wheels up on the rails, or risking dropping loco to the floor.
Thanks for the tip Dennis, I thought about doing that years ago; but, having an aversion to risk and knowing how absent-minded I can be at times [where I'd forget to flip the DPDT switch], I feel safer keeping the programming track totally off the layout.

* * *
I put in my 30 minutes toward the trainroom beautification effort Saturday morning, but not hauling stuff out ; instead, I chiseled away some unsightly expanding foam insulation from an aerosol can that my son had applied around the window-mounted heat pump 15 years ago with the best of intentions. It did help to keep out the cold air in winter and heat in summer, but I was too embarrassed to let it appear in layout photos - one of the reasons I rarely posted pics of the loco terminal since the hardened foam glop always loomed large in the background. But that's gone now, finally!

Today I'll be focusing on removing two unneeded #4 turnouts from the steel mill yard and replacing them with straight track. I'm trying to get them out without destroying them, since a local friend who's adding an extension to his layout has a need for them and is unable to buy any from the usual sources - turnouts are out-of-stock/back-ordered everywhere! Then later on, I'll be taking MOH to her favorite local Chinese restaurant for Mothers Day.
 
So far, I think the project is coming along ok. In the photo, Ed the boat builder is contemplating the next moves.
McLeod- I think your boat looks much better than mine.

I have been following the lake flooding on the Alabama Power website. The water crested about 10 PM last night and this is a picture my brother sent me about 1 Pm today. It is raining again and we are supposed to get 4 inches of rain over the next couple days. Maybe it will float off the dock and I can replace the broken tie-off rope.
 

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Morning all. Just stopping by on my 54th Birthday. Yeah! Also on Wed. the 12th.I go to get an ultrasound of my old ticker. I hope they find no abnormalities on my heart. Wish me luck. Good luck all, William.
:cool:


William ..... Happy birthday and best wishes for the ultrasound.

Tom (Cambria). ....... Beautiful picture....... Rosy at night

Terry .... I hope your wife does okay.

Willie .... I really like the Santa Fe M-160.

...

For Mothers Day, I took my wife to her favorite Asian restaurant in Murray after church. While in Murray, we went to the JC Penny store having a going-out-of-business sale. We bought a few items with at least a 75% discount. Sad they are closing permanently.
 
Thank You to everyone here for your thoughts and prayers. The only railroading I did today was to install a pair of decoders in two of my locos. A TCS WOW Sound in an Atlas U-23B,and a Tsunami 2 21 pin job in an Athearn R-T-R loco. A GP 35 L&N/Family Lines Loco. I maybe 54 in Body,but in my mind ,I'm 45. 😁😜. Y'all have goodnight,and a better day tomorrow. And I'm clear. 10/4.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 62° out there right now. We're under a high wind advisory today, with south winds in excess of 25 mph, gusts up to 40 mph. I've already been out on the road this morning, getting gas for the tractor/mower. Ran out while mowing the foot tall stuff back in the "back 40" on the west side next to my hay field. I need to complete that as the NWS is predicting rain from Monday through Wednesday. I also spent about 45 minutes with the weedeater yesterday. Once I get the west side finished today, I'm good for another week.
I received a jury notice yesterday for May 17, the first one in over 15 years. Probably the last one, as any one over 70 can get an automatic exemption if requested. I'm just not quite there yet! It's OK though, I believe in doing my civic duty.

Make it just a bacon and cheese sandwich for me this morning Flo. Double OJ to go with it.

Thanks as always for the likes and comments regarding the additional zoo pictures; Karl, Sherrel, Guy, Chad, Garry, Hughie, Rick, Chet, Phil, Patrick, Ken, Tom O.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued to straighten things up under the benchwork. Haven't come across any forgotten hidden treasures yet, but I was able to consolidate some stuff and mark the box well. Then I ran a few switching runs to keep my engineers (and me) in form .
Since I'm not doing any projects right now, I will post some pictures from the archives today.
Back in 2018, I made what I called downtown Maultown, a medium sized city. In it I made a small park, which is visible if you look for it, nestled among buildings in town.
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Bordering on one side is the Sidetrack Tap Tavern.
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Quite the hangout.

Steve - Welcome to the Coffee Shop. Nice to see a new face join us regulars (they're nice too).

That sums up the difference between North Central Texas and Minnesota. A few other forum members are from Minnesota as well.
Tom O - As a side note, the Texas School Book Depository was actually slated for demolition in the early 70's when then Dallas mayor Wes Wise, intervened and I think that the city bought it.
The EOT rack looks very good.
Karl -

OLD GUYS! Speak for yourself.
Guy - Boat looks really good. Good luck with the repair, I know how you feel.
The real giraffes weren't smiling either!
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Hughie - That looks like another interesting Bar Mills kit. Funny that you posted it, but I also don't find Amazon prices to be too competitive.
Chet - Congratulations on the bowling victory. Good luck today.

Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend. Stay Safe.
I recognise that couple with the teddy bear,I too photograph them preferably from the back I did try improving the faces,but not easy,
they also inspired the funfair because the teddy bear looks like a sideshow prize
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Ebay is worst. It seems IMOO that folks selling there think they are selling gold.

I usually do ok on ebay as long as I stick to auctions , make offers and I stay away from buying single items as much as possible. Where trains are concerned , Buy it NOW ,usually means get screwed right away.

If I get a good deal from a seller , I usually save them , and check their inventory once a week .

If its newer in production stuff , you'll probably get screwed on ebay, your better off ordering from online retail stores like Midwest , Yankee ,ect.


Amazon keeps wanting to shove Prime down your throat. Delivery can be fairly quick here , we have an Amazon warehouse with about 30 miles.

AliExpress ....so far has been ok , just long delivery times , poor search engine, and limited selection.
 
Morning all,

Well, still no rain over the weekend. So much for the strong storms and rain we were supposed to get in our area. I can do without the storms, but getting the cooler weather (20-25° below normal) without the rain just isn't fun. We may get about 0.1" over the next day or so, basically drizzle.

I think the leak in the pool sealed itself as this morning the tarp under it is dry and the water level is still about normal. Hopefully it will stay that way through the summer. Got the first of the chlorine tabs in place, but it's just been too cool to go out and do everything else. We have a floating flamingo that I put the tabs in and it seems able to keep the chlorine levels where they need to be, I haven't had a algae issue yet.

Nothing new on the trains yet.
 
Good Morning!
A cloudless, blue-sky morning with frost to kick things off. 33°F off the start. I have a feeling it's going to be a beautiful day!

It's going to be a day to finish up yard projects that were put on hold, as it was raining and cold over the weekend. I need to get the yard and garden out of the way, so I can do what I want to do. Plus, I still have to put some paint on the new door and install the new storm door. Lots to do!

Willie - I really liked the M-160 'Doodlebug" photos. An odd looking engine that I've never heard of; sorta ugly actually.
Mikey - Hard luck with the flood drydocking the boat like that. Hope you can get that taken care of without damage.
Tom - 'Red sky at night, sailors delight'. That's a very nice photo.
William - At 54, you're still a kid. I own a 'Jet Ace' car that's older than you. Happy Birthday!
Ken - That expanding foam insulation is hard to put in cleanly. You have to move the can steady at the exact right speed. I need to put some of that crap in today to finish my door project; but, I know what to expect having experience with it.
Sherrel - Thankyou for the compliment with regards to my mediocre modeling skills. I certainly appreciate it.
Jaz avalley - I enjoy all the photos you post; they are very well received.

I finished the little boat yesterday; except for ships wheel, life-preserver, ropes, and other trinkets. Still working on the skid, but, it's not very interesting.
Oddly, I can never seem to install the blister-pack glass properly. In this case, I slipped in the porthole clear disks, secured them in with 'Future', and now the future looks like it's crystalized, ruining the nice effect of the clear disks. Oh well!
Here's a whole series of photo's:
The finished boat, less ships wheel:
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The skid:
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The 1/72nd boat scales out to about a 22-23 footer in 1/87th scale. If the little 1/87th tractor can't pull it up the ramp, I have a tacked vehicle that will do the job.
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That's all I have for today, folks. Thanks for the likes on my posts!
Have a good one!
 
Good morning modelers from around the globe. Glad the rocket parts coming back to earth didn’t affect any of us. Another big to do about nothing!

Weather in So. Central Wisconsin is so confusing. High today might be 42 per the TV guy, but my Weather Channel weather app says it is already 45 going to a high of 47. I think the guy on tv needs to walk outside. But, frost the last 2 nights and the next two to come says both the app and the person who has the degrees. Oh well, it will be what it will be!

The grandson is here and the granddaughter will be here at 11:30. Monday is a day off from school so the teachers can prepare the next 4 days of lesson plans for in school learning and prepare the videos for those who are still staying home. The 7 year old g/son told grandma that our schedule is he will read to me from 10-10:30 and again at at 3:30 to 4:00, he will write a 5 sentence story after the 11:30 lunch. Terry made the mistake of trying to change the times, lesson learned by her. It was funny as he was respectful but so serious at the same time. He told her, she has been in Hawaii and she can work with Harper his sister when she gets here and change her schedule.

Our City of Verona and the Town of Verona are having a No Mow May to help the pollinators. The neighborhoods look unkept and ugly. My SIL and his crews are out mowing my property now. They also have to do from the gravel shoulder of the roadways to the fence line which is 44’ wide in most places. He tried to tell me a couple weeks ago about the pollinators and No Mow May. They did and will continue to cut. He has an agreement with a local beekeeper. Those little white boxes are all over the property. Some are near Terry’s 3 greenhouses and her outdoor gardens, our big swamp area and his vineyards. He has a bunch of boxes (hives) on our property within the fence line but across the street from what becomes about 300+ acres of corn. The bee have free range but the bee keeper says when there is enough things to pollinate the bees stay within a mile or so. I told the SIL we are doing enough for the pollinators.

Hopefully after of full day of the grandkids I will get something done in the trainroom. Enjoy your day.

TomO
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