Running Bear's December 2021 Coffee Shop


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McLeod said:
Since it's so cold and I'm not going outside to play, I may as well consider what to do to start layout modeling. Perhaps I'll start on the automobile roads and parking lots. I'm fairly new at this, so it's all trial and error.
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The first thing to save later misery is to layout and mark where the track will go ( in pencil). After measuring and getting the final track space, use a marker. THEN, you layout the roads and structures which are easier to move around. Less error in your trials.
However, your railroad and you may do as you wish.
 
OBTC 1909 said:
So instead of being at work by now, I'm parked alongside the highway with a blown out tire. Second time I've had that happen on my way to work in the last two years. The idiots who maintain the gravel road in front of my house love to go by dragging the road with a rake and dig up nails and other sharp objects all the time. Really helpful in that it makes sure I have flat tires on a regular basis. So now I'm sitting alongside the road waiting for a tow truck because I can't even change the tire the way I came to a stop. Happy day after Christmas LOL
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My god if that is your thre you are so lucky to have kept control, stay warm,hope they arrive soon.
 
Well, howdy there internet cafe dwellers lining up for some of Mrs. Willie's artwork

It's Troy again.

I'll keep this one short(ish) nope, it went long...

Worked on painting Roman sandals and shields and helmets yesterday.
Romans.jpg


Above is with fancy footwear, but sans shield, and the helmets aren't metallic yet.

Two years ago, we moved back to Indiana because our mothers were both advanced in years, and dealing with medical issues. We settled in the "big city" of Ft. Wayne, about in the middle of the moms. An hour West to mine, and 45 min South to wife's mother.

Welp...

Wife spent yesterday in the ER with her mother. MIL is diabetic with a pump. Even with the pump, it's really easy for her to get lopsided on her insulin. She's even got one of the implanted meters. She gets off with her insulin enough that wife and her sis take turns calling every evening to check on MIL. They'll call the nearby relatives (MIL's nephew) to run over and help (give her a glucose tab or drink, sit with her to make sure she's back to normal).

She's not been right since May, and dealing with tremors to the point where she thought her implanted defib was was going nuts (it was not). They're finally piecing together that she might have had breakthrough Covid back in May. She had not-quite cold symptoms then but didn't get tested. She's been mentally foggy, off and on, and has some balance issues, as well as tremors, weakness on one side.

Sounds like it might be mini-strokes too, but they're not finding current evidence of any (No MRIs due to defib in her chest, only CT scans). She's seeing a neurologist, and he put her on a new med that would let them know if it's a misfire in the brain somewhere (I forget the term for what they suspect)

Well, the new med really complicates things. She was tired and wobbly on Christmas day. Enough so all the grandkids lined up in the kitchen for a group photo with her. (Hmmm... I was on photo duty, imagine that). People are realizing we might be in the twighlight year with her.

Wife's sis (my SIL) is an LPN. My wife is a medical lab tech. Between them, they can figure out most things medical. They deemed it unsafe for MIL to take the full dose of the med that was supposed to eliminate tremors (IF it was what the neurologist suspected). Being the holiday weekend, they told her to drop to half dose of that one, and they'd call the Dr first thing on Monday for clarification.

Nope... she took full dose (because that's what the Dr said to do-she's stubborn that way). Was groggy, tipsy, and ended up with the niece and nephew over after she tottered into a wall. That knocked her insulin meter sensor loose. So, low blood sugar, mental fogginess, and already unsteady and weak.

So, a trip to the hospital yesterday. She knew she needed to go, and called the daughters. Unfortunately, she lives 45 min south of us, very rural area. The local hospital is little better than a stabilize them and send them home or off to the big city. So, a trip up to the hosp right down from us (in the big city).

Indiana is maxing out on ICU rooms, and fullish on normal rooms (thanks to the unvaxed getting covid). But, she got admitted. Her insulin clinic for the pump, her cardiologist, and her new neurologist all practice near this Big hospital. So, she's where she needs to be.

Wife will check in on her later this morning, and IF she's released today, will go spend a few days with her. This is one of the few times I wish we had a second vehicle. Fortunately, MIL is happy to let wife drive her snazzy Buick (MIL's pride and joy). So, I'll drive them down to the family homestead, and return when wife says MIL is stable again.

OH, and our upcoming cruise at the end of Jan is with the SIL nurse. With both medical daughters out at sea for a week, there is no-one to check on MIL, or troubleshoot if there are issues. I'm giving them about a week before one of them volunteers to sit the cruise out.

This is going to be a fun first month of 2022...

Oh, and I have a popcorn hull stuck between two of my front teeth. Gonna take the sonic toothbrush to get this one out.
 
Good morning all! 60 degrees heading for 60 degrees with a small chance of rain for today.

Thanks to all for the well wishes regarding my tire situation yesterday. I called roadside assistance through my insurance company and they arrived pretty quickly, especially for having to drive about 40 miles to get to me. The ground was so soft they had to put a 2x4 under the jack to keep it from sinking in the mud. They had a little trouble getting the lug nuts off to change the tire but with a little help from tools and brute force they finally got it. I was super happy with their response time and work.

After that, I decided it was a good day to just go back home and drink more coffee. Got a nap in too. After that, started working on a new to me website that teaches web development and am enjoying the course so far. I used to do a very tiny amount of website development, but that was years ago and I wasn't that good at it. Once I get some of the new tech under my belt I'm going to start building a new Oil Belt Traction Company website. Gonna be a while, but gotta start somewhere. I also want to build a site for our model railroad club.

@troyphoto Sorry to hear of all the problems for your MIL. Hope things get better soon!
@IronBeltKen Sorry to hear about your OH having the rona. Hope it continues to not be overly hard on her. I know when I had it I felt pretty terrible and the fatigue from it held on for months.
@santafewillie Wow, that's a cool drawing! Wish I could doodle like that!

Hope you all have a great day!
 
Morning all,

Had to attend to the daughter's dogs this morning as they went to Arkansas for a couple of days. So "Dad can you watch the dogs for us?" it's easier for them to stay at the house than board them for a couple of days. My son lives next door and has the evening shift. I take them out for the 5:00a that the SIL normally does, son takes one of the 3 out at noon as he works local, I take them out for the "after school" time the grandkids do and then the boy gets the evening duty.

45° and clear this morning going for a high near 60°, a bit warmer tomorrow and a high of 38° on Wednesday. I'm at work already as the dogs did their stuff pretty quickly. Coffee and Iced tea are already made, and so far it's pretty quiet after the long for me weekend. I'm here by myself all week (ok the 4 work days), but it shouldn't be a big deal as I have handled everything alone before.

BBL
 
gjslsffan said:
The lead unit is an Athearn RTR GP35 that was modified detailed and painted by myself. The second is Also an Athearn product that detailed and weathered, The third is Atlas U25B.
Thanks for the comments and likes :)
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Sirfoldalot said:
I just saw that 400 flights have been cancelled out of LAX today - seems there is a shortage of crews?
Hmmm .. Maybe I should volunteer .. I need the Benjamins!

Always tell folks that flying is easy - There has never been a case of an airplane failing to return to Earth!
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Sherrel. Former airline guy that you were…

How can they cancel 400 flights out of one airport? Don’t they have computers doing the crew scheduling and shouldn’t those match the # of flights to fly. Seems to me, don’t schedule flights if you don’t have available crews. What do I know? I for got to hit reply before midnight yesterday when I wrote the response.

TomO
 
Good morning. It's cloudy and 45.
Off to what looks like my last 4 day work week until next Christmas, since the new company doesn't close for any other holidays.
And I just checked my calendar, Christmas falls on a Sunday next year, so we aren't even getting that....
 
Good morning global modelers. So. Central Wisconsin has a blanket of heavy wet snow. the 3 remote weather stations on the property are all reporting less then 1” of accumulation but we will have to wait for the TV guy for what the official total will be.

Willie, I ‘d be proud to display the wife’s doodle that to me looks more like art. Congrats to you for getting such a wonderfully nice heart felt gift.

Troy, wow is the word and like your mother-in-law I have a few of those medical issues you described. Of the 2 medical sisters who is the oldest? My guest is the oldest stays home from the cruise.

On the 26th I started a thread on this site called:

2022 is arriving soon. What are your future modeling plans.

Please take a read and join in. There are some well thought out and intended plans already discussed. Join in

The son is here till Tuesday afternoon and intends for me to learn how to do video of the layout. We experimented last night with the IPhone and I really am amazed on how well it works. Editing will be my issue as I seemed to have lost some of my renown (not) patience! I maybe posting soon or not.

Enjoy your day
TomO
 
Chad, you were not alone. It appears Santa was generous throughout the country. The early numbers indicate retail sales for Christmas were up 8.9%.

I'm with you. It feels good to see the surprise on faces when they open their gifts. Even though I took the easy way out and bought gift cards. An extra zero catches their attention.
 
Good morning Everybody!

Thanks Everyone for the kind words for the loss of my cousin. For me the best way to deal with this kind of loss is to focus on the fact that I was blessed to have such a wonderful cousin. He was a kind, considerate and fun guy. I will miss him.

Another slow day on tap for me.

My plan is to rest up this week to hopefully rid myself of this pesky respiratory infection.

Have a great day Everybody!
 
Good Morning Everyone!

Happy day after - hope that all went well for ya.

Currently 15f and we have about 8 inches of the white stuff. Temp is supposed to drop to around -3f for the next few days. No sun in site as we are to be overcast.

Everybody had a blast with Christmas stuff. Had both daughters along with the oldest daughters kids - 12 and 17. 17 YO had his squeeze with him. Our dogs did not know what to do with all the people in the house. Cat disappeared completely. Guess it is pretty quiet around here for the most part.

Have been playing in the Train Cave as much as I can get away with. Yesterday was finishing a table build; got formica on top, routed the edges and painted them. Gonna use that for electrical stuff. Today is: route wire for a quad outlet, set up computer on it, get scope, solder station and other associated tools gathered and placed on it. I am getting more and more stuff cleaned out and organized. Boy, THAT is a never ending battle.

Y'all enjoy your day!
 
Good Morning!
At -38C (-36F), it's cold enough where the Christmas blinking light electronics are acting up. I've shut them down for the season, and will discard them when I take them off the house. Usually, I only trust Christmas lights for a couple of seasons, and then get new ones.
I'll need to go out and shovel snow at some point today. I believe I'll wait until we hit the anticipated high of -20F. Right now, the dog don't want to go out there to take a leak, and I have to push her out. What a whimp.

PNKFLOYD said:
The first thing to save later misery is to layout and mark where the track will go ( in pencil). After measuring and getting the final track space, use a marker. THEN, you layout the roads and structures which are easier to move around. Less error in your trials.
However, your railroad and you may do as you wish.
Click to expand...
Mikey - The tracks on that module are already nailed down. The track plan is in my head; kinda. The plan is to build a town on that module, and then run off to the left with various industries. I figure that if I make a 12' circle, I should wind-up back in town, coming in from the right.
The idea is to make an 8x12' oval with industries spotted along the way, using up the 12 turnouts I have left.
I'm more interested in modeling the buildings and scenery than I am in running trains.
Thank you, for the very kind suggestion!

IBKen - I'm sad to hear the bug has come amongst you're family. Prayers that it is only a brief and harmless illness, and departs you're world in short order.

I hope to get some time into modeling today. Hoping to work on a scratch building for the module. Don't know how much time I can put in with snow-shoveling in the way, but, I find that if one spends 5-10 minutes a day with purpose, things get done.
I'm still using the wife's PC, and she don't like me downloading photos. So any photo posting will have to wait until I get my PC back up.

Suppose that's enough jabber, and I should get on with it.
Have a good one!
 
Hello Happy Fellow modelers !
And now a little bit of culture in this wild world. I'm currently reading this wonderful book (in French of course !).
I don't understand all the concepts but it's still extremely interesting. And yes, we also know how to read in France.
Incredible isn't it? :)

The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).JPG
 
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A very late Good Morning to All. 64° and partly cloudy, this morning's fog is slowly disappearing. Won't be as warm here as it has been, though the highs will still be in the 70's until next Sunday.
Great to read that Christmas went well for all who reported in. Today will be the last day of relative visits as we head out to a restaurant in Ft Worth for a small gathering with my wife's family. Everyone is from out of town, the closest relative is about 25 miles from this place. We're 44 miles away. One niece and her daughter will not be there as she tested positive yesterday at a local Urgent Care facility. She had not been vaccinated.
Speaking of which, my SIL who rested positive last week has had really mild cold-like symptoms and wouldn't have been tested at all except my daughter had previously bought a dozen test kits! Since he works remotely, he'll be at work today. The gathering with my relatives in Dallas at my brother's house was a well attended affair. He showed off his new 280 sq ft train room addition, which doubled its size. I didn't bring either my camera or phone, so I cannot post any pictures.

How about them Cowboys?!?! I no longer watch TV, especially sports, but I did look at a little of the game last night.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding my project update yesterday. My wife is also appreciative of the likes and comments regarding her "colored pencil" drawing that she gave to me.

Just a pair of over easy eggs and a handful of bacon this morning Flo, before Jesse gets here and orders it all! Never mind, he's out of town.

No train shed time yesterday as the holidays must go on. I'll get some today since I will be returning home around 3:00.


Jaz -
Jaz avalley said:
Excellent models,who. makes them?
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I know that you asked Tom this question, perhaps he didn't see it, but I have the Santa and the female figure on the ground and I got them pre-painted from Preiser.
11-17-19 002.JPG

I believe that the other helper also came from them.
Sherrel - I read that highway 80 was closed through Cajon yesterday. Good news regarding your son.
Hughie - Nice haul.
Mikey - Check PM.
IB Ken - Take good care of MOH. I see that she is up to date on vaccinations, surprised at no booster though, as I believe you had once posted that she is an MD.

I have another page to catch up on, but I need to split for the festive luncheon today. I'll be back later.
Everybody have a great day. Stay Safe.
 
santafewillie said:
A very late Good Morning to All. 64° and partly cloudy, this morning's fog is slowly disappearing. Won't be as warm here as it has been, though the highs will still be in the 70's until next Sunday.
Great to read that Christmas went well for all who reported in. Today will be the last day of relative visits as we head out to a restaurant in Ft Worth for a small gathering with my wife's family. Everyone is from out of town, the closest relative is about 25 miles from this place. We're 44 miles away. One niece and her daughter will not be there as she tested positive yesterday at a local Urgent Care facility. She had not been vaccinated.
Speaking of which, my SIL who rested positive last week has had really mild cold-like symptoms and wouldn't have been tested at all except my daughter had previously bought a dozen test kits! Since he works remotely, he'll be at work today. The gathering with my relatives in Dallas at my brother's house was a well attended affair. He showed off his new 280 sq ft train room addition, which doubled its size. I didn't bring either my camera or phone, so I cannot post any pictures.

How about them Cowboys?!?! I no longer watch TV, especially sports, but I did look at a little of the game last night.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding my project update yesterday. My wife is also appreciative of the likes and comments regarding her "colored pencil" drawing that she gave to me.

Just a pair of over easy eggs and a handful of bacon this morning Flo, before Jesse gets here and orders it all! Never mind, he's out of town.

No train shed time yesterday as the holidays must go on. I'll get some today since I will be returning home around 3:00.


Jaz -

I know that you asked Tom this question, perhaps he didn't see it, but I have the Santa and the female figure on the ground and I got them pre-painted from Preiser.
View attachment 137677
I believe that the other helper also came from them.
Sherrel - I read that highway 80 was closed through Cajon yesterday. Good news regarding your son.
Hughie - Nice haul.
Mikey - Check PM.
IB Ken - Take good care of MOH. I see that she is up to date on vaccinations, surprised at no booster though, as I believe you had once posted that she is an MD.

I have another page to catch up on, but I need to split for the festive luncheon today. I'll be back later.
Everybody have a great day. Stay Safe.
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Willie - Ya ever been to Soulman's BBQ? One of our favorite spots when get thru that neck of the woods! Usually buy about 10Lbs of the stuff and eat it for a couple days - it is so good!

Unfortunately I am a Dallas Hater and have been for years - How about those Redskins - gawd awful! !!
 
gjslsffan said:
The lead unit is an Athearn RTR GP35 that was modified detailed and painted by myself. The second is Also an Athearn product that detailed and weathered, The third is Atlas U25B.
Thanks for the comments and likes :)
Click to expand...

I think I did answer him Willie on post #1554. I was using my phone to answer it is new to me and I fat finger a lot of letters, buttons maybe it didnt post.
 
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