Running Bear's January 2024 Coffee Shop


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Good morning gang!

Dry flurries this morning, of course the nervous Nellies driving at 15-20 below the posted made for a long drive to work this morning. You would think with today being a Gubmint holiday that half of the idiots would be home, but no, a few got out. We are supposed to get some actual accumulation tonight, so tomorrow may be real exciting!
 
Good morning from probably a very happy State of Wisconsin. Except its cold and the snow cover is drifting!

It is warmer than yesterday at this time and day temperature will climb to +3f. We never made it to 0 yesterday
IMG_3879.png

We have a high wind and a wind chill advisory and that will make this an indoor day. I forgot that today is MLK day and the post office is closed. I have quite a few boxes to mail, now needing to wait till tomorrow

I slept ok last night but when I stood up this morning I was dizzy, not quite spinning but definitely off balance. Laid down for maybe 20 more minutes and while I still feel off I can function. Maybe the 3rd time ever I have felt like this.

I have 2 of my own locomotives I want weathered for a op session tomorrow. I applied pan pastels to the roof to bring out the roof details and then watched as the pan pastels disappeared as I sprayed on the Tamiya brand Matt clear coat. 1st time using the Tamiya over pan pastels. I have been using Army Painters water based Matt clear Air brand and it was great but has become impossible to find and the Amazon price since Summer has more then doubled. Buying from online shops shows it back ordered and shipping has really gone up. The bullet was bitten around 1am as I ordered it from Amazon

enjoy the day
 
chadbag said:
C and F are a little different, until you get to -40. Then they’re the same for that one measurement.

—

Hello everyone freezing and getting snow. We to have had snow this last week. Am I ch or three every other day of dry powdery stuff. Wasn’t so bad. Got more snow yesterday. A little heavier and wetter. Last night it got up to the mid to high 30s and rained some after dumping a few inches. Then the temp dropped back down to 30-32F (about -1 to 0C). This morning the snow was more like snow cone consistency. Been hovering g around that temp ass day and was lightly snowing again this late afternoon.

last week we had the quite cold nights and cold days. This weeks supposed to be a bit warmer in the mid to upper 30s some of the days. We’ll see what happens to our 4-8” that accumulated over the last week.

the mud and drywall guys were there until 12:30am last night and came back this morning for an hour or two.

I was working trying to put the outside wall lights on the front of the house but the screws that came with it weren’t long enough because the siding guys put a square of trim around the hole where the box is to hook it up. After removing the cross piece that screws to the box and to which the future is attached I went to see what to do. I thought they were 8-32 screws, of which I had a bunch but the decorative enclosed nut that holds the fixture to the cross piece and screw would turn in more than an 1/8 or so so I went off to Home
Depot and got a box of assorted length 6-32 screws from the electrical department. Came back and they were too small a screw diameter wise.

So I started to suspect a metric one and went back to Home Depot. Luckily a new one opened up about 2 or 2.5 miles away at the end of October. I found the sample screw and nut that you can use to test your screws and nuts to determine their size/spec. Mine turned out to be M4-0.7. So I found those and bout enough 40mm long ones for all the fixtures I have and went home. Assembled the cross piece and got it screwed back into the box mounted in the wall. Mind you it is now dark and has been lightly snowing all afternoon and evening. They were still too short though the ends were about long enough to expose themselves in the holes in the fixture. I got it disassembled again and got ready to drive to Home Depot again to buy some 45mm and 50mm long ones when I. Noticed it was 10pm straight up.

They had just closed. At least I figure that out before I got im the car.

I wanted to have some sort of success so I went and got the trims I had bought for the 6” cans in the porch ceiling and got those installed and the LIFX smart bulbs I had for the porch in and got them added to my “Home” settings. So at least those work fine.

I also tried to get the switches in the garage for the ceiling lights in the “wide garage” to work — I had tried the night before without success. The lights were wired for 4-way use (three switches) and I’m using Lutron Caseta smart switches. In the previous days I had gotten the install to work with one smart switch and the mechanical end 3-way switch, but the middle mechanical 4-way switch wouldn’t work right. I tried a bunch of different things but couldn’t get them to work so I had tried to follow a wiring diagram that showed one smart switch as master and 2 smart switches as slaves but couldn’t get that to work. Last night I tried again and tried various things and measured with my meter and finally gave up at 1am. I did enough sleuthing to discover that the wiring diagram is for a different Lutron Caseta compatible switch and slave accessory switches. They’ll work with the same hub but are a newer switch.

i ordered enough for two switch setups as the long garage also has 3 separate switch locations I think and Amazon brought them tonight. I’ll get them installed tomorrow. Luckily I used Wago lever nuts to install them so it will take about 5 min to swap them in for the existing ones I had been working with.

mill also try and get all the outside front lights (wall sconce style) installed and breakers in and also try and get all the fixtures in the garage as well.

View attachment 179568View attachment 179569

some shots of the current drywall situation. Lots of progress. Also various shots of the stilts they use. Plus remember the super tall ones I posted a few days ago

View attachment 179570View attachment 179571View attachment 179572View attachment 179573View attachment 179574
Click to expand...
I haven't run into the issue of metric threads on electrical fixtures yet, but
I haven't had to change any lighting fixtures for a while. Thanks for the heads
up. For years the standard was 8-32 thread. As manufacturing continued
to move off shore, the fit of the threads on the screws and fixtures became
more sloppy although it still was 8-32. Pretty soon they'll probably go to
self tapping screws.

I had a similar problem with 3 way and 4 way switches. A neighbor called
and said he changed the switches from ivory to white. Of course he didn't
mark any of the wires before the change. So, with 3 wall boxes of white,
red, and black wires; took 2 hours of figuring out how the wires should
have been connected.

Been following your thread on the construction and I know I probably
would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. Can imagine the
continuing frustration and kudos to you for your perserverance.
Looks like you're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel; or at least
on the outside of the house.
 
Morning all,

Been a cold weekend. Currently nothing in the degree department. Yesterday was a bit rugged at the daughter's house. Got a call at a little before 6:00a as they had no water. After calling around a while, they finally got a plumber to come out to thaw their "frozen" pipes yesterday afternoon. Turns out their water meter froze. City was out within the hour to replace it as they had a water leak on the city side of the meter. Daughter upset they had to pay the plumber who actually called the city, but I told her that if she had called the city, they wouldn't have come out so quick. Plumber actually thawed the meter enough to know there was no pipe damage under the house.

Other than cold, not much going on yet, but I am at home this year...
 
Morning again,

Had to go back and read what I missed.

Bill T: Happy Belated and thank you for your service.

We didn't get the snow here they said we would. It stayed north and only dropped south to our east. They are still thinking we'll get a trace to an inch by this evening. Not looking forward for this week. Turns out the 4 hour meeting I have to attend tomorrow (which will be like a Monday) is actually a 3 day meeting. That's ok I guess as my office doesn't exist in a habitable form. I have no official landing spot for the next 3 weeks. Really shouldn't take that long to do what they are doing, but I'm not the contractor.

I've used my snow blower twice this year so far. That machine spends more time in the garage and shed than doing snow, but that's ok by me.
 
Good Morning All. Miserable weather continues as it's cloudy and 8°. At least it's not negative like some of you others. Well the wind chill is -5°. The high yesterday didn't make it up as high as predicted, just to 16°. Today's high is forecast to be 26°. Still won't get above freezing until Wednesday when we should have sunshine all day. Brief snow flurries last night about 8:00 pm, some very minor accumulation that The Weather Underground couldn't even record. More predicted for today, but there shouldn't be any accumulation. It actually looks like it all moved to the east per the current radar.

NFL Playoff Game - I wasn't expecting Dallas to win, given their playoff record since Jimmy Johnson/Barry Switzer left. The team can make it in, but can't continue. I never really gave it much thought since I no longer watch the NFL, but I hear that Mike McCarthy seems to stall out at playoff time before he even came here. Is it really the assistants? My wife says so. I knew that the game was over early when she switched it off to continue her binge-watching of Sopranos repeats. For all of you other football knowledgeable folks out there; she blamed some guy named Quinn who switched from the successful season-long man to man defense to zone coverage for this game!

It was only 48° out in the train shed yesterday, so I only went out once, just to be sure that all of the space heaters were operating. Despite being fully insulated, those two heaters and the oil radiator can only keep the inside temperature between 25° and 30° above the outside temperature. Together they are just not rated to heat that large of a room. So I gathered up all of my written assembly and maintenance records and spent a few hours at the computer entering data. I didn't realize that I was so far behind. My last entry was in September 2018, I am now up to January 2022. It's all pretty minor stuff like loose Blue Box coupler box covers and drooping trip pins. The most prevalent thing is dusting off those black tank cars which get dusty rather easily. And since I have over 100 of them, it gets done often; averaging about 3 years between cleanings. Most other freight cars seem to get cleaned once every 5-6 years. Some because they need it, some just because I'm doing it anyway like I am doing this month.
Some more random pictures from the archive. First a drone view of downtown Maultown.

IMG_7121.JPG

The same drone flew over Jamestown.
IMG_0201.JPG

Not quite a drone, but a couple of industries in Charlottesville.
08-10-16 005.JPG

A view down the tracks with the main drag of Vernon on the right.
IMG_3378.JPG


Tom O - I like the gatekeeper concept. Keeps all other drivers safe.
TLOC said:
Actually the game had to be moved because of the NY governor’s decision. The NFL was not consulted
Click to expand...
That's what was also reported here. She unilaterally moved it and consulted with the NFL after the fact. I don't dispute the decision regardless of who made it. All of my life, I never understood why someone decided to establish Buffalo NY where they did! ;)
Tom - I don't envy you at all in that snowplow. This weather will surely mess up that "spit & polish" picture that you posted recently.
Curt - Best wishes at the dentist.
Joe - While I don't like the really cold temperatures, I can tolerate them for the most part. It's just that they don't build houses here to account for this cold. Ground here moves too much for most slab foundations, so pier & beam it is; meaning some exposed plumbing.

OK, since I started this post a couple of hours ago, the sun has actually come out. I still don't think it will warm up significantly, but who knows?
Stay safe and warm today. Everybody have a great day.
 
TLOC said:
You aren’t wrong on your analysis except on your point of view. From our end it was a beautiful game to watch
Click to expand...
That's because other than in consideration of our collective dislike of Dallas, it was boring and not watchable. Our hope is not with any mid-west based team...Tonight...it's the Eagles chance to sink or swim, plus the Buffalo snow bowl. Don't expect much from the NFL...for some reason...I always feel "the Fix is In".
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Miserable weather continues as it's cloudy and 8°. At least it's not negative like some of you others. Well the wind chill is -5°. The high yesterday didn't make it up as high as predicted, just to 16°. Today's high is forecast to be 26°. Still won't get above freezing until Wednesday when we should have sunshine all day. Brief snow flurries last night about 8:00 pm, some very minor accumulation that The Weather Underground couldn't even record. More predicted for today, but there shouldn't be any accumulation. It actually looks like it all moved to the east per the current radar.

NFL Playoff Game - I wasn't expecting Dallas to win, given their playoff record since Jimmy Johnson/Barry Switzer left. The team can make it in, but can't continue. I never really gave it much thought since I no longer watch the NFL, but I hear that Mike McCarthy seems to stall out at playoff time before he even came here. Is it really the assistants? My wife says so. I knew that the game was over early when she switched it off to continue her binge-watching of Sopranos repeats. For all of you other football knowledgeable folks out there; she blamed some guy named Quinn who switched from the successful season-long man to man defense to zone coverage for this game!

It was only 48° out in the train shed yesterday, so I only went out once, just to be sure that all of the space heaters were operating. Despite being fully insulated, those two heaters and the oil radiator can only keep the inside temperature between 25° and 30° above the outside temperature. Together they are just not rated to heat that large of a room. So I gathered up all of my written assembly and maintenance records and spent a few hours at the computer entering data. I didn't realize that I was so far behind. My last entry was in September 2018, I am now up to January 2022. It's all pretty minor stuff like loose Blue Box coupler box covers and drooping trip pins. The most prevalent thing is dusting off those black tank cars which get dusty rather easily. And since I have over 100 of them, it gets done often; averaging about 3 years between cleanings. Most other freight cars seem to get cleaned once every 5-6 years. Some because they need it, some just because I'm doing it anyway like I am doing this month.
Some more random pictures from the archive. First a drone view of downtown Maultown.

View attachment 179595
The same drone flew over Jamestown.
View attachment 179596
Not quite a drone, but a couple of industries in Charlottesville.
View attachment 179597
A view down the tracks with the main drag of Vernon on the right.
View attachment 179598

Tom O - I like the gatekeeper concept. Keeps all other drivers safe.

That's what was also reported here. She unilaterally moved it and consulted with the NFL after the fact. I don't dispute the decision regardless of who made it. All of my life, I never understood why someone decided to establish Buffalo NY where they did! ;)
Tom - I don't envy you at all in that snowplow. This weather will surely mess up that "spit & polish" picture that you posted recently.
Curt - Best wishes at the dentist.
Joe - While I don't like the really cold temperatures, I can tolerate them for the most part. It's just that they don't build houses here to account for this cold. Ground here moves too much for most slab foundations, so pier & beam it is; meaning some exposed plumbing.

OK, since I started this post a couple of hours ago, the sun has actually come out. I still don't think it will warm up significantly, but who knows?
Stay safe and warm today. Everybody have a great day.
Click to expand...
That last shot is cool, almost like my train chasing escapades.
 
Good morning folks

Just another day testing the limits of heating the place with the wood stoves. It was 57 inside when we arose this morning. At least with today's cloudless sky, we should receive some decent solar gain. It was a bit warmer than it has been at -21F this morning but that still eaves a little to be desired. The forecast is +40 for later this week. Perhaps too warm for January but I will certainly be good with it---

I'm still working through my slide scanning project.

These two are from July 1988. Rarus Railway SD's southbound on the BN Garrison to Butte trackage.
53466286745_1d47933f43_b.jpg


53464953417_250ea36c81_b.jpg
 
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