Running Bear's Coffee Sbop LXIX

[bnsf971]

Good evening.
I got a call from the local headache clinic. After I let the person on the phone know in no uncertain terms I was disinterested in the extreme in visiting their facility for any reason, and the referral was 100% my doctor's bright idea, and 0% mine, they agreed to push back my initial visit to early January. They asked who I wanted to see, and I think I hurt somebody's feelings when I told them I wanted to see the janitor, as long as that would satisfy the letter of the referral. Unfortunately, it has to be a real doctor, so they set the appointment with their most experienced doctor. Somebody whose name I deliberately don't remember. Maybe I'll get lucky, and the world will end before then, so I won't have to again go through tests, scans, more tests, and different treatments that do more to turn me into a raging zombie than prevent headaches.

 

[Trussrod]

Good evening Rail Benders and Spike Drivers,

Hi Flo, Some coffee and a Apple fritter.

WW-eather:
60° Wells rd Station | Report
7:47 PM PST on November 15, 2017 (GMT -0800) | Updated a few seconds ago
--° | 55°
60° F - Feels like 60°, It's Cloudy with a chance of rain;
Winds are from the ESE at 1.5 with Gusts to 3 mph;
The Humidity is at 65%, possibly rain tonight for sure tomorrow;
Tomorrow is forecast to be Much Cooler than today.


Last night I worked on spiking the long curved rails leading out of the switch to the Horseshoe Meadow Station siding to secure them as they should have been for the last 35 years. How they stayed close enough in gauge all this time I don't know. When laying my rail, actually placing a rather long curved switch in this case I always pre-bend my rail to get as close a radius as I can to whatever is required. Also they were extending out from the frog area as well as being the the outside stock rail on the Left.

Today I stacked more oak but realized I needed to get the storm windows finished on the East side of my house and got busy making up two more storm windows to fit in where the screens go and got them fit in the aluminum window frame and then covered over all the edges with clear packing tape to seal everything tight to prevent blowing rain as well as air drafts from getting behind these. I just checked the window over my head board and no draft now, that's great.

I think I'm going to run some trains for awhile.

Everyone - I just discovered the online store called Dave's Decals. Have any of you bought from them? Recommend or no? Good products or no?
Thanks.

Johnny: That Dave is no connection to me.

Afternoon All,

Firefox changed their format and I have been trying to display a complete list of my favorites. I finally stumbled across them. Today I cleaned up a area of ground cover and worked on the IR sensors on a stand alone signal. It would only display PL proceed. I finally got it to change aspect about 50% of the time. I think it's a overhead light washing out the sensors. I adjusted the overhead lights as much as I could and that's how I get the 50%.

I hope everyone has a good night.

Curt: Seems like you need to build some kind of an open sided track shed to shade the IR sensors, or maybe a tree?


Hope all have a good night and day tomorrow.

 

[tootnkumin]

But Terry, you should feel honored. Look at the employment opportunities you would create, especially if you get worse, even more job creation. If it kills you, even more in order to find out why, could even create a research institute in your name. Wouldn't that be wonderful.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's mostly clear and 37.

 

[Raincoat2]

Good morning everyone. 32 and cloudy. Will get up to 60 and partly sunny this afternoon. Time for a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll!

Still waiting to hear if anyone out there is familiar with Dave's Decals online store and if they are a good product and reliable service.

Not much to report from the train room. Ballasted another three feet of mainline - boy, do I stink at ballasting. Can't get it to come out even all the way down a straightaway. Continued painting architectural features on MR-V.

Have a good day everyone.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 56° and cloudy. Expecting a high of 66° later. The predicted rain never materialized yesterday so I was able to spend more time gathering up leaves. That's the only thing raining right now! Continued to do some more garden preparation, spread the remaining compost and started a new compost pile. I'm postponing the grocery/beer buying trek until tomorrow since my wife is gone on an overnight babysitting trip to Dallas. I could go alone, but it is better to have her input ahead of time instead of afterward!
Trainwise, I did a little more on the business district. I resized the storefronts that I had previously made and reprinted them. Cut a few out and installed them. I still need more but I have to first decide what type of businesses I am needing. Dusted off a few freight cars and replaced a balky coupler on a boxcar.
Thanks for all of the comments on my latest postings, Chet, Curt, Garry and anyone that I may have missed.
Johnny - Good luck with the expansion. My wife hasn't been to the train shed in about two years, so anything goes. She knows how many $$$ are spent since retirement, but didn't have a clue when I was stocking up in the years prior to that! It actually doesn't matter to her anyway, she has friends with more expensive hobbies than me and knows it. Can you say "horses or boats or ATV's"? Can't comment on Daves since I never used them.
Justin - Congratulations on your impending family addition. Regarding trees, They can be made with pieces of bushes and a package of ground foam a lot cheaper than the store bought ones. Many of the ones on Chet's layout are made that way but I can't remember which weed/plant that he uses for armatures. Still waiting on our first frost here, came close a few weeks ago but it isn't normally here until November 22 or so.
Chet - I am reluctant to get rid of any of my old appliances since the newer ones tend to be junk as others have posted. I have become adept at self repairing but when I need a real technician, the small family owned place where we buy most of them has several. That includes one semi-retired one that helps me out over the phone in diagnosing issues. He's always been right.

Still wondering what happened to Beady? Maybe Eric might know. Eric?

Everybody have a great day.

Willie

 

[BigE]

Still wondering what happened to Beady? Maybe Eric might know. Eric?

Sorry. I got no idea as well.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Good Morning all..overcast and cool in Wisconsin. Appliance guy just left after repairing the gas starter switch on the boiler in the stove. $$$

Down to tackle some of the dust problems. Then lay some track.

Glad to have tomorrow to work on the layout as well.

That's all for now.

Greg

 

[montanan]

Good morning. 41 degrees to start off the day, but I see that they have a winter weather advisory out starting tonight.

Terry - Good luck with the doctors. I love the way that they'll refer patients to other doctors and then want to run tests that have probably been run in the past costing the patient more $$$. Glad you found your shoes also.

Johnny - MOH doesn't even come down to the basement. She did at one time even offer to let me expand my layout into another room.

Joe - I like those animated sign but until Greg put me onto the Chevy OK used car sign, I couldn't find one that would be appropriate for my location of time period. Going to have to look into it and see what it takes for power.

Garry - There will NOT be another North Coast Limited. Still trying to figure out why I am building this one.

Greg - Let us know if you find any dust bunnies.

Willie - I used sage brush for the tree armatures. The natural plant has a surface that looks just like real tree bark. Doesn't take lonfg to make them either. I will agree with you when it comes to older appliances. They were built to last, unlike the crap they put out today. I used to do a lot of appliance repairs not only on my own appliances, but on family nad friends equipment, but unfortunately, with all of the electronics in modern appliances today, it is a lot more difficult.

Appliances - We did go into town yesterday afternoon and bought a new dishwasher at Home Depot. Found a Maytag that was a special buy for their Black Friday sale. Regular price was $649 and on sale for $448. I read numerous customer reviews that were almost all positive. It was also the only one we saw that had stainless steel spray arms. All the other ones were plastic.

BLACK FRIDAY - Are any of you going to venture out and get involved with Black Friday shopping? For me, not a chance in hell. The closest I'll be getting to town is when I open the door to let the dogs out.

Here's a rail picture for today.



Later

 

[tootnkumin]

Black Friday on the 17th? We have ours on the 13th if it so falls on that day. Thought that was worldwide. Does explain where the junkmail I got today from ostensibly a local grocery retailer comes from. In to the phishing dept it went unopened. Seem to have been pounded with a lot of this crap lately. One even had my actual name, not just the email address.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

...BLACK FRIDAY - Are any of you going to venture out and get involved with Black Friday shopping? For me, not a chance in hell. The closest I'll be getting to town is when I open the door to let the dogs out.
...

Later

Ohhhhh, I'll probably go into a few stores, stand in line then when I get to the cashier I'll stand there and ask endless stupid questions, then take along a few expired credit cards and go through them until I find one that accepts the charge. I want to try to beat last years count of how many people will get outa that line and go to another. Gotta beat 13.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Evening All,

Another day spent working on crap for next week. A buddy of mine called and said that the wooden water tower kit that he ordered for me (40% off) came in, so I'll go pick it up Saturday. Sounds like a good project to start on Black Friday. I'm taking my parents out to supper Friday.

Garry- What kind of vehicle did you get?

Willie- You are correct about the wife's input. Anytime I go by myself MOH complains because I only get what's on the list.

Chet- Miller signs can run on a battery pack or they have a device (transformer?) that allows you to plug into house current. Nice track photo. The last time I participated in the insanity was probably 10 years ago.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[Trussrod]

Good afternoon fellow Rail Benders and Ballast Tampers,

Hi Flo & Francine, Things seem fairly busy here at Jeffreys' Dinner. How about a nice slice of Berry Pie and Coffee please. Thank Francine.

Let me check Weather Underground 'WU';
58°F Mudge Ranch Station | Report
2:17 PM PST on November 16, 2017 (GMT -0800) | Updated a few seconds ago
60°F | 48°
58°F - Feels like 58°F and it's Cloudy;
Winds are from the East at 1.5 mph with Gusts to 3 mph;
Humidity is at 43%
Today is forecast to be Cooler than yesterday with a lot of rain! ?

Yes, according to the Cell Phone App I was supposed to get steady heavy rain from this morning through now at about 2:30 Pm till about 6:00 Pm., with Flood warnings to boot!! Well the Storm of the Century sure didn't materialize. I do have have High Cumulus Clouds at around between 20,000 to 30,000. I did get a dozen or so drops of rain but that's it so far.

But as Samuel Clemens said, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a Minute"!
So lets see what the rest of the day holds in store for me.

I'm off to see my Dr. to get a referral to see my Chiropractor to try and get some relief from some of my sore joints.


Talk with you later.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Finished for the day....major dusting of one area completed. Now clean, test and test run each locomotive before they go back into service. Back to work tomorrow.

Curt: The Miller signs can operate 4-6 hours on fresh AAA batteries and power packs (Miller Web are available or run off off a 4.5 volt source. I will purchase a power source instead of my running off batteries, it's a hassle to change batteries and they can get expensive in the long run.

Ken: So you're the one that holds up the lines!!!

Chet: I'm with you on Black Friday and shopping. After 39+ years in shopping development and operations, Black Friday no way for me either!!! Maybe the liquor store?

That's all for now.

Greg

 

[tootnkumin]

Ohhhhh, I'll probably go into a few stores, stand in line then when I get to the cashier I'll stand there and ask endless stupid questions, then take along a few expired credit cards and go through them until I find one that accepts the charge. I want to try to beat last years count of how many people will get outa that line and go to another. Gotta beat 13.

Is this some sort of revenge thing for when you've joined the shortest queue, only to find it comes to a standstill thereafter, while all the others speed up and if you change the same thing happens immediately on doing so?

 

[tootnkumin]

Picked up a copy of a local magazine by the Southern Cross model railway association, December issue because it features an update to a Queensland layout called Wet Wacol under Wires. Set in the mid 1990's. Can be googled in images for the cover illustration and another image. The interesting feature of this layout, apart from the QR trains and scenes is the concept of an after rain scene. The roadways, car park are done with a "wet look" preparation which apparently was too heavy to be applied to roof surfaces, but really represents wet tar seal brilliantly, so the layout has the scenario of an approaching thunderstorm after a preceding heavy shower and a break to allow some drying out. The backdrop is mostly of Australian bush with the sky and distant trees shrouded in a misty rain. Can't say I've ever seen one done in this manner, but it is very typical of South East Qld.

An interesting fact is the origin of the station's (main locale modelled) name of Wacol, is not as I thought, an indigenous name, but what actually used to be the station's purpose. It is on the main line to the west of the city of Brisbane, inland, and was a important stopping point for the trains that transported coal from the mines much further west of there. Here, the wagons got weighed, before proceeding to the port in Brisbane, so, Wacol became it's name and later the area around it.

Here's a link to the blogspot, clicking on the pictures will enlarge them where you can get an impression of a couple of the scenes. http://australianmodelrailwaymagazine.blogspot.com.au/

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Is this some sort of revenge thing for when you've joined the shortest queue, only to find it comes to a standstill thereafter, while all the others speed up and if you change the same thing happens immediately on doing so?

Yeah, when ever I get in a line, I'll tell anybody who gets in line behind me that this one will be the slowest moving line, regardless of how few people might be in it.
When there are a lot of customers lined up at the store check outs, I'll wait patiently until its my turn. That's when the three extra cashiers will come up and open other lines.
I usually end up behind the person who wants to argue about an expired coupon that gives them 3 cents off an item. The cashier can't grant their wish so they want to see the store manager who happens to be out in the parking lot gathering the shopping carts.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good evening .

Curt .... We took advantage of GM's deals on 2017 closeouts to purchase a fully loaded Buick Enclave to replace Shelley's 2004 Cadillac SRX with 171,000 miles on it. The Caddy can continue indefinitely and may go another 171,000 miles. We are passing it on to our son in Cincinnati.

Chet .. I wonder why they call the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday. I know it is the biggest shopping day of the year, but we don't use it for that. We usually have family time on Thanks giving as well as the next two days. ... ... Looks like you will have multiple observation cars on your NCL.

I am being summoned for honey do's ... Later...

Cheers.

 

[Boris]

Chet .. I wonder why they call the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday. I know it is the biggest shopping day of the year, but we don't use it for that. We usually have family time on Thanks giving as well as the next two days. ... ... Looks like you will have multiple observation cars on your NCL. ​

Garry: Good luck with your new Buick!

Chet: You obviously like the North Coast Limited. Once you have one assembled to reroute over the Logan Valley, Walthers will finally come out with their version.

Terry: The medical profession forgets that you hired them, not the other way around. Sounds like you were blindsided by the referral...Your new primary should have discussed that with you first.

Curt and Chet: When I worked Management on the Passenger side, Day before Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Sunday after were no on allowed off days. Wednesday before was all about people trying to get home, Black Friday was all about people headed to Macy's 34th Street, hoping for a Miracle, and Sunday everyone who came in on Wednesday, was going back...at the same time. Never got into the shopping madness, and don't intend to. BTW: Around here, Back Friday, began the week before Halloween. Meanwhile, Hobby Lobby already has their Christmas Trinkets on closeout, at 50% off their already high discounted price...Gotta make room for Valentines and Easter merchandise, now in a container from the Far, Far East .

DIL and Grand Children + dog are coming for Thanksgiving. Everyone is overjoyed, except Molly the cat. Glued some roadbed down today, for the PRR staging track. Also ran the drill. Did some yard work, and few other mundane things around the house.

WTF Department: CBS 2, NYC, has been running this promo about an investigative report about the threat to aviation, from drones operated by -"unlicensed, unauthorized pilots" - followed immediately in the loop, by a commercial from a local electronics store featuring Black Friday prices on "Drones"! You cannot make this stuff up.

Microsoft, had another "major" upgrade for Win10 today. This is after smaller upgrades the previous two days. It may be my imagination, but I think things don't work as well, since this upgrade. Clearly, based on recent transactions, they already know entirely too much about me and my computing habits. Just call me paranoid.

Have a nice evening.

 

[bnsf971]

Terry: The medical profession forgets that you hired them, not the other way around. Sounds like you were blindsided by the referral...Your new primary should have discussed that with you first.

He did discuss it with me first.
Him: You have too many headaches. I'm giving you a referral to a neurologist.
Me: No, thank you. I've been poked and prodded, tested, and been subjected to more side effects than I can name. I have had it with the side effects of whatever somebody thinks I should be taking to make the headaches stop being worse than the headaches themselves, and then I still have the headaches.
Him: You should get a call in a couple of days from a neurologist to set up an appointment for tests and an exam. Your next appointment with me is in May, you can bring the test results from the neurologist with you at that time.