Running Bear's July 2022 Coffee Shop


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Tomorrow's post comes to you 12hrs early.

Good Morning!
The wife and I are presently driving to Jasper National Park for a one day mountain outing. Won't be back until late tonight.
It was either today or tomorrow, being as those are the only two days forecast without rain. Today will be Jasper, and tomorrow will be Silkstone for trout.

Little by little, the oil dealership is coming together:
OilDeal_07-10-2022.JPG

Still need to elevate the structures, build a loading dock for the warehouse, mount ladders and stairs, and complete the pump-house. Soon, I'll be able to throw down some sand and get into the scenery part. I'll put a yard light in-between the main structures and another one by the pump house. There will be lots of 55gal drums in the scene, as well.
I've got a 1952 fuel delivery truck coming in the mail. - My first layout small industry is getting done!

Willie - Love the figures. I have a few of those, but, I need lots more.

When I was young and broke, I lived in a 16' holiday trailer for one winter. Never again; I don't even want to own one, preferring a wall tent.
Having walls is ok; it's the condensation build up while trying to heat them that's the enemy. It's no fun waking up wet in -30 temperatures and the blanket is froze to the wall..
For me, it's a proper home, or a tent.

Leaving at 4:00am for the 3hr drive to Jasper, so I need to hit the sack. See ya when I get back!
 
PRR Modeler said:
Afternoon All,

Started out with some chores then got started with lighting hookup. I had one more Miniatronics distribution board that after everything was hooked did not work. I was afraid that I had burned out the LED's somehow but when I put a set of feeder wires on the main line it worked (so LED's weren't burn't out). After removing all the wires (9 sets) I attached them to the lighting buss and everything worked. I'll take some photos after dark.

Thank you yesterday for the photo likes.

Gary- Thank you.

Mikey- I've been involved in that situation several times.

Terry- I would never (personally) live in a trailer in Florida. Between hurricanes, tornadoes, and microbursts (which we get in Central FL) trailers seem to get hit the worst. When I retired I wanted to move to SC. The wife wanted FL because of the temperatures (hates cold weather) so here we are. Things have worked out well for us financially but as others have mentioned it's too damn hot and humid.

Karl- Nice addition to the family. I'm glad both dogs get along. Very nice job on the spline.

Jeff- Congrats on the new acquitions.

Joe- Wow. The layout looks great. I didn't realize (or forgot :rolleyes:) how large it is. Is that a Rapido RS11 in the photo?

Guy- Thank you. That's a nice backyard.

Willie- Nice Scenes.

Hughie- I'm a junior but I didn't continue the name with my son.

I hope everyone has a good night.
Click to expand...
I have an uncle who is a Frank III & a cousin who is a Leroy IV(he’s always gone by the name Skeet/Skeeter) & yes, he perpetuated the name with his son, who goes by the name Dutch.
 
Morning all,

Not much going on yet. Hopefully a quiet day at work. While my latest project works, it needs some additional work to do what I really want to roll out. 2FA is not fun, but working. We should be able to use a laptop like it is on the local network.

69° and clear going for a high of 100°

BBL
 
Good morning all! 60 degrees on the way to 89 for the day.

Had a very nice, relaxing weekend. I did manage to get another set of the new blinds put up, this time in our bedroom. We still need to buy three more for other parts of the house. We bought the last ones they had on the shelf at the time and need to go back and get the rest soon.

Back to work today. Both of my student workers will be gone so just me today. One student worker is having to deal with family issues and should be back tomorrow. Hate to lose him, but he'll be leaving in a couple weeks to attend a 4 year school. The other is gone for a few weeks with the National Guard. He'll be gone again in November for a month with the Guard on a trip to Columbia.

Contractors coming in again today to run more network cable. Glad they're doing it instead of me because it's a difficult job for sure. We have several jobs for them coming up and I'm happy to let them be the ones to do it.

Hope you all have a great day!
 
Good morning all, We have 66 headed for 72

Flo - lets go with just the coffee today. Thanks!

Guy - the slide out was cut out of the waferboard after the whole thing was constructed, so should work perfectly 😁
(keeping fingers crossed)

Willie - there are about 20 kinds of trees growing here. Great for the birds!

Ken - our family heritage is traced back 13 generations to Jacob Epke Banta. Came over in 1643 I believe.

Troy - If I was fuzzbut, I would want a more personal name to be called around the house.

I sort out the dry sand for use on the layout with kitchen strainers. Usually use a small teaspoon or pinch between thumb and forefinger to apply

IMG_2322.JPG


The black plastic canisters also contain different sizes and colors of "sand" that I collected while working in the construction materials lab. There, we had different size screens for how many openings per inch, "200" being the finest material. if it is "on the 100" that would be material that is coarser than the 100 screen. "passing 200" is the finest and works good for tire ruts or footpaths.

I did a lot of work on the slide out, still not done (is it ever) but this is where it is at

resize 2330.JPG


Today is a day off for me, going to take the wife to Duluth for a MRI, then get my permanent crowns on those three teeth they drilled on a few weeks ago. Easy day for me


Take it easy today

Dave LASM
 
Good morning!

[edited for clarity now that the coffee has kicked in]

I woke up this morning a little under the weather, so I'm sitting here with my dog trying to decide if I should go into the office or try to work from home. Having a hard time getting my motor started this morning.

I made a little more progress on the waterfront kit. The building is just about fully built. I glued on all the bits of window and door trim. Just need to touch up the paint, and then start on the pier.

I also made progress taking inventory of all the stuff I got at auction on Saturday.

I easily have about $1,200 worth of stuff (used value at that) that I got for $310.80. Tons of Kato double track, especially curve pieces. I found plans for a helix with hand written notes on it, so I'm pretty sure a good number of those curve pieces were used to build a helix. He had 102 45-degree double track curve pieces, but only 10 9.75" straight pieces. There are a lot of the "transition" pieces that ease into the super elevated curved pieces, but not enough to really use all the curve pieces unless they were part of a helix.

There are also 7 Double-Track truss bridges. I'm really stoked about these. I have a thing for bridges, lol.

Here are some pictures of the structures that were in a cardboard box.

PXL_20220709_193444422.jpg


PXL_20220709_193520750.jpg

PXL_20220709_193538353.jpg


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PXL_20220709_193459738.jpg


PXL_20220709_193514213.jpg

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And there are more drawers to go through... Mostly electronics. In addition to a complete MRC Prodigy Advance squared, there is AN AR module... Older with mechanical relay. There are 3 DS64's. Lots of other stuff I don't even know what it all is.
It's going to take a while to go through it all.

This guy either knew electronics, or paid someone to wire everything. The DS64's are mounted to a board, and there are brass screws making up an array on the board... Each DS64 can control up to 4 turnouts, and each DS64 has a 4-piece home made electrical device... They are covered in a translucent looking hard rubber-like substance, I assume to protect the stuff from accidental shorts, and to hold everything together. No clue what their purpose is... Possibly a Capacitive discharge system? What do you folks think about this array?

DS64s.jpg
 
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The summer soccer/bible program starts at my church this evening for kids. I usually do video work to capture some of the highlights of the week then compile a 5 minute video presentation for next Sunday morning. Getting the camera batteries charged up this morning to find out which batteries have died.
 
bnsf971 said:
A little more info...
If I stay here, the landlord is 90, his wife, who technically owns the house, is 85. Neither of them are in great health. If aand when something happens to either of them, the house will probably be sold, and I'll be looking for a place to live. I can't find a 1 bedroom apartment for what I pay in rent here. This week, the house has begun being repainted. Two weeks ago, somebody came by and cut down and trimmed a lot of the older trees. The writing is on the wall, and I'd be foolish to continue with my head stuck in the sand. Rent for a two bedroom apartment is roughly double what I pay now.
My nephew lives in Salisbury, 45 miles South of me. My sister in law lives in Asheville, 3 hours West of me. My son and daughter both live in Utah. I haven't seen or spoken to either of them in a quarter of a century.
If I stay here, the place I work has briefly become--difficult to work at, at times. If I stay here, and continue in my chosen profession, they are the only place other than massive chains. My pay currently covers my bills, with not a lot left at the end of the month, but I'm not starving.
So, a move in the relative near term looks to be coming, whether I want it or not. I'm trying to decide whether to stay in this area, or move South.
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Is there an option to buy the place you are in from the land lord? Rent to own? :rolleyes:🤔


EDIT:

Also I would get with a employment agency to find you a better job. The good ones do not cost you anything as they make their money from the company that hires you. aka Headhunters. I use them all the time to find good people.

On the note of possibility of buying the place you could buy it and then just flip it and sell when you are ready?
 
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bnsf971 said:
A little more info...
If I stay here, the landlord is 90, his wife, who technically owns the house, is 85. Neither of them are in great health. If aand when something happens to either of them, the house will probably be sold, and I'll be looking for a place to live. I can't find a 1 bedroom apartment for what I pay in rent here. This week, the house has begun being repainted. Two weeks ago, somebody came by and cut down and trimmed a lot of the older trees. The writing is on the wall, and I'd be foolish to continue with my head stuck in the sand. Rent for a two bedroom apartment is roughly double what I pay now.
My nephew lives in Salisbury, 45 miles South of me. My sister in law lives in Asheville, 3 hours West of me. My son and daughter both live in Utah. I haven't seen or spoken to either of them in a quarter of a century.
If I stay here, the place I work has briefly become--difficult to work at, at times. If I stay here, and continue in my chosen profession, they are the only place other than massive chains. My pay currently covers my bills, with not a lot left at the end of the month, but I'm not starving.
So, a move in the relative near term looks to be coming, whether I want it or not. I'm trying to decide whether to stay in this area, or move South.
Click to expand...
I thought you worked for the railroad.
 
Somedays - - ya should just watch TV.

Got to the layout yesterday afternoon, but nothing worked well. Was tired and not feeling it, but wanted to do some quiet work and wifeykins was watching TV. So what did I do? Two steps forward and three-and-a-half backwards.

Permanently glued down a Caboose throw (non-electric contact) to a Walthers curved TO. - - - - A fraction of an inch to far inwards, and now the points don't fully close. Best way to undo a CA joint?

Got the 28 AWG wire in yesterday morning, so decided to install the Caboose electrical contact throw. Soldered on the two feeder wires to the throw contacts. Went to fish the frog wire through the drilled hole - - - - - wire falls off the frog.

Solder the frog wire to the side of the frog. Frog wire just barely long enough, but get it fished through. Solder it to the throw. Solder the R/B feeder wired to the rails. Get out the multimeter to check connections. All solder joints good - - but no connection to the frog. Check the frog feeder wire - - it's good to the frog.

Now I've got a real head-scratcher. Normally I actually enjoy those, but not yesterday. Still not sure of the final answer, but for some reason either the brass switchplate of the throw is not contacting the legs of the contacts - - or maybe I got CA glue on the brass and it is insulating the contacts. Gave up and said, Let's have dinner and we watched TV.

Oh and whilst wrestling with the throw - managed to knock over that expensive new loco I just got. Think it is okay. But locos going over are like helicopter rides: You only get so many before disaster and you never know what that number is!

Busy week with evening activities/meeting every night. Will have to carve out some time to troubleshoot. Probably have to unsolder the throw and check it at the bench. Either I assembled it wrong, or who knows what. Argh.

Glad everyone had a better weekend! Steve J
 
Alcomotive said:
Is there an option to buy the place you are in from the land lord? Rent to own? :rolleyes:🤔


EDIT:

Also I would get with a employment agency to find you a better job. The good ones do not cost you anything as they make their money from the company that hires you. aka Headhunters. I use them all the time to find good people.

On the note of possibility of buying the place you could buy it and then just flip it and sell when you are ready?
Click to expand...
Headhunters come in two categories. Professional level and general run of the mill. If you're in the employment category below 100K, forget the headhunter and just use your employment security commission for leads. Far above 100K for those who are currently employed and don't have time to job search. All others will be sought by businesses who know where to look for the star performers.
 
Good morning to all the fishing folks to MRI users. What a bunch we are! Thankfully other then a fever ranging from 98.7 to 101.6 yesterday was uneventful. A rain event not seen by the WeatherChannel dropped more the 1.5” of rain between 3PM and 6PM. I followed it on radar so how could they not say rain was coming?

The son yesterday returned from flying the 2 new buddies up to Door County and back to see his sister and her family while they are on vacation. While there he took his niece and nephew for a flight up along the USA side of Lake Superior. He says they all had a great time. He offered to fly me around today and I suggested the Chicago area but he thought that might be too congested for him to get a flight plan approved. He’s been on his laptop for about an hour. The backup plan is chasing a few trains along the Mississippi River from south of St. Paul to north of St. Louis. He asked me last night for 2 places I want to see that Terry has no interest in. Niagara Falls and Mount Rushmore plus a trestle in Indiana we could fly over on the way to the Falls that I have to find the info on. He grinned, said maybe Tuesday!

I am on the north deck watching the grass dry and waiting for the Weedman to fertilize or apply the weed detergent. The grass has now gone 17 days without a cutting. That’s a bit off the normal Friday and Monday cuttings. Yesterday’s rain has definitely greened it up.

Dave, best to you on the MRI. I am petrified of those things and with the many I have had I know they are fine. Thankfully they have drugs to help me in those.

Guy, happy wife, happy life. Enjoy the fishing and scenery

Steve, yes some days just don’t work out. I took a Google Earth tour of that Rum River golf course you played the other day. Looked great and the $31 for a cart and play is a deal! The only course I have played in Minnesota was at Hazeltine in Chastka during the early 80’s. I have the scorecard in my chest full of scorecards that I started collecting around age 10.

JeffH, those buildings look like they are in good shape. Are your plans to use the items or sell them off?

James, good suggestion on the use of an employment agency to find a job for anyone looking. A marvelous resource for both the employer and job seeker.

Ken, our experiences using Employment agencies seem to be different. I have used them for both hiring professional level and service type jobs. I also have been headhunted by them. I would never in Wisconsin suggest anyone use our state government job service’s division to find a job. Ours are pathetic, glad your experience is better

Enjoy the day
 
MilwRoader_Steve said:
Somedays - - ya should just watch TV.

Got to the layout yesterday afternoon, but nothing worked well. Was tired and not feeling it, but wanted to do some quiet work and wifeykins was watching TV. So what did I do? Two steps forward and three-and-a-half backwards.

Permanently glued down a Caboose throw (non-electric contact) to a Walthers curved TO. - - - - A fraction of an inch to far inwards, and now the points don't fully close. Best way to undo a CA joint?

Got the 28 AWG wire in yesterday morning, so decided to install the Caboose electrical contact throw. Soldered on the two feeder wires to the throw contacts. Went to fish the frog wire through the drilled hole - - - - - wire falls off the frog.

Solder the frog wire to the side of the frog. Frog wire just barely long enough, but get it fished through. Solder it to the throw. Solder the R/B feeder wired to the rails. Get out the multimeter to check connections. All solder joints good - - but no connection to the frog. Check the frog feeder wire - - it's good to the frog.

Now I've got a real head-scratcher. Normally I actually enjoy those, but not yesterday. Still not sure of the final answer, but for some reason either the brass switchplate of the throw is not contacting the legs of the contacts - - or maybe I got CA glue on the brass and it is insulating the contacts. Gave up and said, Let's have dinner and we watched TV.

Oh and whilst wrestling with the throw - managed to knock over that expensive new loco I just got. Think it is okay. But locos going over are like helicopter rides: You only get so many before disaster and you never know what that number is!

Busy week with evening activities/meeting every night. Will have to carve out some time to troubleshoot. Probably have to unsolder the throw and check it at the bench. Either I assembled it wrong, or who knows what. Argh.

Glad everyone had a better weekend! Steve J
Click to expand...
I dropped one of my favorite Bowser locos several years ago. Some plastic pieces broke off. I managed to fix with gorilla glue but had to be so careful with it after that. It went on eBay eventually.

Bummer. Take a deep breath and move on!
 
Regarding jobs today.

Honestly.. anyone with a good work ethic should be able to find a good paying job. Not many people want to work. Most of them have never experienced a recession. And a recession is looming. People who forge a good work ethic today will be the ones who succeed tomorrow... especially when all the entitlement-minded people realize the free stuff isn't going to be free anymore.

Good luck, @bnsf971 ! It's never easy making a change, but if you never make a change, you'll always have you already have, and not much more.
 
I've never needed help in finding a job. During periods between contracts I was required to register with the state employment security commission if I wanted benefits. They didn't list the level of work I was qualified for but for the blue collar worker, there was plenty to choose from.
 
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