Running Bear's March 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning All. 57° and partly cloudy. A bit cooler today than the last few days, only 65°. Early morning doctor appointment today for both me and my wife. Annual physical time. Nothing stressful about the appointment itself, it's the trip to the doctor and the wait in the waiting room that bums me out.
Yard maintenance time again yesterday. Does it ever end? Shredded about 4 yards (after shredding) of brush left over from tree pruning, only 20 or so more to go!:( It will all go on the garden paths this summer as mulch. It was successful as there were no injuries.

No breakfast for me this morning Flo, I'm fasting for the vampire. I'll be back later for a hearty lunch.

Thanks a lot for all of the likes and comments yesterday regarding the progress and the hoppers; Sherrel, Mikey, Bob, Karl, Jerome, Joe, Guy, Curt, Phil, Bill, Dave, Garry, Ken, James. Always appreciated. I like to see diversity in my mixed freights.

I made some progress out in the train shed yesterday with the trailer scene. Planted some trees and installed a gate into the goat pen. After viewing things a bit , I determined that the scene needed some more "backwoodsy" details; so I made a "burn" trash barrel and a grill.
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Closeup of the scratchbuilt grill.
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Hopefully today I will complete the fence and add the patio furniture, along with Mama who is currently in the paint shop, er, the beauty shop.

Mikey -
PNKFLOYD said:
Do you need some sort of water trough or bucket for the goats?
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See post #686 last month for the watering trough. In case you can't find it, here's another, along with the burn barrel.
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Bob -
Burlington Bob said:
Willie- I think that may be a fainting goat!
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After I went out and looked, the goat was upright, so it was just the camera shot that made it appear to be lying on it's side.
I am looking forward to seeing what you do layout-wise when you are able to get to it. I just cannot see me working in N scale.
Greg - Personally I prefer the Kadee or Intermountain wheelsets as they are already "blackened". Saves the trouble of painting them. The Walther's are just too shiny and I don't always get around to weathering them immediately. My favorites though, are the original P2K ones that Walther's discontinued.
Dave - I have built Middlesex Manufacturing and it currently resides on an unfinished part of the layout. Nice kit; I liked building it. I have a second one that I intend to use to expand the original when I get to it. Joe's pictures are the inspiration for the expansion.
Garry - Best wishes on the surgery. Looking forward to the same thing later this year.

Today is Dr. Seuss's 116th birthday. Y'all eat some Green Eggs and Ham with the Cat in the Hat in his honor.
Everybody have a great day
 
Good morning everyone. 48 and wet. Monster storm came through around 1 this morning, woke up the dead with lightning and thunder!! Stopped now, and sun is in the forecast for most of the week, with highs in the 60s. Turning the corner to spring!!

Wheeler, IronBelt Ken, Garry, Willie, Chad, Sherrel, Flip, Patrick, Karl, Jim, MoPac Eagle, Boris, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments on my post last Friday.
Willie - Love that mini grill with the 1:87 burgers. I'll take a hundred burgers please!! That guy's truck is in way better shape than his mobile home!!

Nothing much to report from the train room. Ran trains a little over the weekend, but with such nice weather, especially on Saturday, outdoor work interfered with much train time. That ever happened to you? :rolleyes:

Have a good day everyone.
 
PNKFLOYD said:
Alan- I liked your write up, but did not understand much other than you had a very frustrating time. My knowledge of DCC and chip's is rather meager. Mostly limited to basic Digitrax equipment. Oh, and that you should not let the smoke out of the chips.
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I would rate the frustration level as moderate Mikey. Higher than replacing Kadee knuckle springs or breaking detail parts off of brand new expensive freight cars, but lower than making a limping brass steamer cooperate or blowing it on the last step of a paint job. Consider me just a dozen steps or so ahead of you. I know how the basic stuff works, can program basic values, and can install decoders with or without sound in just about anything. The brass roster has made me very capable with hard wire installs. This latest thing got started for a couple of reasons. First our club is having a huge growth spurt. We have 16 new probationary members, including my son. They are mostly younger guys in their 20's and early 30's. (Take THAT you "the hobby is fading away" doomsayers!) The club program track is being used heavily these days. Sometimes there's a line. We're putting in a second one. I didn't want to hog the facilities while I climbed the learning curve. Second was my foray into Scale Rails and Rapido. Third was Mike. The seed I planted those many years ago has sprouted and is growing like Kudzu! He has a thousand questions, and we have been doing a lot of work here. Last, we have a shortage of guys who know JMRI, and I got tired of hunting one of them down if I needed to do something, so I figured "time to broaden the horizons" a bit. Then there's my ego. It wasn't reacting well to having to ask these young whippersnappers for help, after so many years of being the one asked :). Once you get into it, it isn't terribly hard, though I admit I'm just past the fumbling around stage. I just thought I'd share my experiences. After nearly 30 years in the hobby there's still plenty to learn!
 
kbkchooch said:
Good Happy Sunday everyone!

Just got done a homecooked Sunday breakfast of Eggs, fresh from the oven biscuits, and sausage gravy with big hunks of sausage.....yes that woman CAN cook!

Speaking of the woman and cooking, she LOL'ed when I showed her the campfire cooking utensils , thanks Terry.

Thanks to all for the congrats on the new truck. The real reason I got it wuz cuz I wanted to be more like my idol Terry! LOLOLOLOLOL! ;):D

"Further adventures with the Lok Programmer and/or the PR-4" or "Why I threw my laptop against the wall today."
Alan, interesting title there. I've been trying to follow along but I am wondering if I even need the PR4. I have an NCE PHP system, that is tied into a dedicated PC (a.k.a. #2) along with the layout. Decoder Pro in the PC with a Keyspan usb-serial data adapter.

There is another PC in the basement (this one, a.k.a. #1). Do I really need the adapter to marry everything to #2, or just put the Lokprogrammer on my PC#1 with a seperate test track and call it a day??

Willie, I have to agree with Bob, I think you have a fainting goat.

Ken, Spring is coming soon, and soon the A/C will be needed in the layout room!

Finally, a sort of semi-rant. I recently listed some engines and autos on 2 different facebook ho railroad group sites with pictures, prices , and terms (Paypal only, etc) #1, is reading a lost skill? I did get a few pm's with folks asking questions that the answers were clearly right there, and #2, WHY would you click like on a facebook sale item post, especially if you have no intention of following it up with a pm or an offer????
Needless to say, nothing sold, its all going to auction next week. I'm done selling on FB. Watching paint dry is better.

L8ter!
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Karl- when my buddy up north was still married his first wit... I mean, “wife”, they had a handful of fainting goats on their hobby farm in up in Phlox.
 
Joe, Willie -That's 2 yays and no nays for the Middlesex building. Thanks for your input. I will put it on my shopping list. I cant find a good photo of the building online but I will be in Santa Maria soon (for a funeral) and hopefully the museum has some pics I can refresh my memory with. Its been 45 years since I was hauling sugar out of the mill. Heres a postcard I found and another from above after the mill was demolished.
sugar plant postcard.jpg
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Morning everyone!
Variably cloudy, Chance of showers, and a high of 63 today. Yesterday's chance of showers was a no show.

WILLIE - Your latest details win the prieze price trophy for today!
ALAN - I have really enjoyed reading your musings - even though I have no idea what you are talking about?
It sure is nice to hear of the younger generation getting into railroading - that's fantastic!

My bod has a few new aches and pains this morning -- managed to get the 2 new wheels for the dolly and get them installed. I also came home from Harbor Freight with a hundred bucks less in my pocket, although I got both pneumatic tires for the price of one - so for ONE dollar more than the cost of that stupid patch kit, I replaced both tires.
Managed to drag the old couch and chair back out to the curb - hopefully, they will get hauled away this morning ... if not ... then I may just burn in place. That will get someone's attention for sure!

Spousal Unit and I were jolted away from an old western movie late afternoon when we received a phone call that the local daughter here was involved in a really bad wreck over near Newport ... a car hit her, spun her into the path of an oncoming car. She is home, but pretty badly beat up; so thankful that is all at the moment - the car was a total - 2018 Chevy Cruze.

Off to check on her this morning - later guys

TOOT (RAY) loved the pic! A couple of them did not print to my screen - I;ll ask about them later.
 
Sirfoldalot said:
Morning everyone!
Variably cloudy, Chance of showers, and a high of 63 today. Yesterday's chance of showers was a no show.

WILLIE - Your latest details win the prieze price trophy for today!
ALAN - I have really enjoyed reading your musings - even though I have no idea what you are talking about?
It sure is nice to hear of the younger generation getting into railroading - that's fantastic!

My bod has a few new aches and pains this morning -- managed to get the 2 new wheels for the dolly and get them installed. I also came home from Harbor Freight with a hundred bucks less in my pocket, although I got both pneumatic tires for the price of one - so for ONE dollar more than the cost of that stupid patch kit, I replaced both tires.
Managed to drag the old couch and chair back out to the curb - hopefully, they will get hauled away this morning ... if not ... then I may just burn in place. That will get someone's attention for sure!

Spousal Unit and I were jolted away from an old western movie late afternoon when we received a phone call that the local daughter here was involved in a really bad wreck over near Newport ... a car hit her, spun her into the path of an oncoming car. She is home, but pretty badly beat up; so thankful that is all at the moment - the car was a total - 2018 Chevy Cruze.

Off to check on her this morning - later guys

TOOT (RAY) loved the pic! A couple of them did not print to my screen - I;ll ask about them later.
Click to expand...
Hope your daughter's doing OK. Sending good vibes her way.

We gave up on a stuffed chair the other day; nobody wanted it so we paid the city $33 to haul it away.
 
Morning Ya'll!

Western Omelet and a medium rare steak (still mooing is good) and biscuits will work Flo!

I didn't work on the layout or bench work yesterday. I had other things like house keeping and such lol. Bachelor life...gotta do those things that ya end up putting off to long.

Anyways, Jerome hope you had a great Birthday yesterday. Nice chatting with ya!

I hope to do some more bench work tomorrow night. Tonight I will look at trying to find some old EZ track in one of my umpteen boxes and set up a test track to pacify my urge to run something lol oh boy.

I have been researching laptops and desktop computers for value and pricing currently. I plan to get one of each. A laptop for my layout only and the desk top for my main everyday use that will be hooked to my big screen TV in the man cave etc. I have a 75" Vizio down there lol. Love watching train related stuff on that screen. My laptop I have now is on the home stretch of being decommissioned after 12 years. I have been offloading all pertinent information on my wireless Western Digital hard drives (6TB) weekly. This is also hooked to my TV for viewing pics. Almost done. The 2 new computers will be networked together. I am a bit of geek in that area. I do not use any service provider other than my cellphone service to connect to the outside world. I refuse to pay 200 bucks for cable or satellite services. I use Verizon and pay 112 bucks for unlimited everything and use it for a hot spot for my TV and computer. I also use a digital antennae system to get local channels. You really would be surprised what you get with that for free.

Well enough rambling ya'll have a good day it's still chilly here. March seems it may come in blowing in like lion. Still have snow of course, we usually get hammered with one "big snow storm" in middle of March. We will see.
 
Good Morning Everyone.....Sunny and mild in Wisconsin and it was in the upper 50's yesterday but I didn't find that out until I saw the 10:00 PM news. Cooler today and then mixed weather to come.

Willie: Good looking grill and burning barrel...Here in Wisconsin burning barrels can be used for anything that isn't recyclable, but not painted wood, plastics, food containers or other toxic producing materials when burned. When you read the DNR's list of items you can't burn, the items that can be burned is few.

Sherrel: Positive thoughts for your daughter.

First project today is find out why my VCR remote isn't working. I don't know how you can put away a piece of electronics and then the next time you want to use it, it doesn't work. Watched Ford vs. Ferrari last night. I used to love attending Indy and Road Racing at Elkart Lake's Road America and at the Milwaukee Mile. One year we had VIP pit passes and had full access to all the teams' work area, have lunch in the team's food tents and access to the wall just behind Pit Road at Road America for a Indy car race. Al Unser almost hit Cathy with a golf cart, but it was a great experience to watch the teams work and see the drivers and owners up close and personal. We saw Paul Newman with his team's in the pits. We were in Victory Circle when Michael Andretti came in as the winner.

Not sure of what model training projects I'll do today.

Alan: That's good news about all the new younger model railroaders that want to join NAPM. I was considering joining NAPM, but I live some distance from the club, if that's any excuse. I did many late night trips to Southgate Mall for emergencies when I was in charge of the day-to-day operations at Southgate mall as well as Mayfair. Time flies so fast.

The hardest part of my using Digitrax's PR-4 was checking on the drivers install and not having anything show that the drivers were Digitrax but showed a Window's download if I remember correctly. I don't know how many times I downloaded the drivers with the same results that I thought were incorrect, but were the right drivers for the PR-4. This is one part of Digitrax's instructions that could of been clearer. Other than that, I like the PR-4 for my programming requirements.

Alcomotive: March snow storms are common and some of our worst have been in April! Hope we don't have any this year, but we've been lucky so far. The nice thing is a foot of snow melts fast in March and April. I can recall one May snow storm with 7 inches of snow and the leaves were out on many trees and there was a lot of damage de to the wiegth of the snow on the tree branches.

Sounds like you a real compete computer/television setup.

That's all for now.

Greg

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Cabin Snow March 12.jpg

Early March at the cabin after 71 inches of snow alone in February that year.-Greg
 
Morning all,

Due to the lateness of the morning, I'll have the Club sandwich with Onion Rings and a Diet Coke. Don't want to mess up my figure....Thanks Flo.

Had my MRI on Friday and am waiting for the results. This shoulder is killing me at times. Otherwise not much going on with my railroad stuff.

I did repair one of the undecorated N-scale cars I got for the grandson. I still need to work one other as it has a coupler that won't connect. I'm still trying to figure how I want the recess-able control panel for my layout to be. I need to be able to have the wires for the blocks and switches and 2 DC controllers. I probably need to invest in a couple of good controllers at some point as my "good" one has a broken power switch and I'm using a I don't know how old MRC 501.

Note for today: A day without sunshine is like.....night!
 
Good morning. 25 degrees to start off the day with an expected high near 50.

What happened to February ??? We have some out of state visitors visiting and haven't had much of a chance to get on the 'puter.

Joe - Nice shot of the Seaboard passenger train.

My old truck still runs also. Might be a bit older being a '72. No spring chicken but starts right up and does what I need it to.

Beady - Know right where the trench is in Reno. It is right south of the National Bowling Stadium.

Mikey - When I was a cop in south Florida, we used to call the older drivers "condominium commandos".

Garry - Best of luck on the surgery.

Willie - I sure enjoy all of the small details that you've been adding. Nice work.

Greg - Still have a VCR. Holy moley. Do you still have to wade through a shag carper to change the channels ??? Grin.gifGrin.gif
Grin.gif


I did get the little gadget my son ordered hooked up to the V, internet and audio system without his help. I have enjoyed a few YouTube videos on it and some shows on Amazon Prime, but with visitors, haven't had a chance top see what else i can get.

Did get to run some trains for a while on Saturday when the visitors arrived. Nothing yesterday.

Here's my photos for today.

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Later
 
Montanan: Yes, when I purchased the VCR player it was the last VCR Best Buy planned to have in its inventory forever and I purchased the last one the the store had in stock maybe five ago. It also plays DVD's. I wanted the VCR because of all my Allen Keller model railroad videos.

Hey, I love our Orange shag carpeting that was a builder's special when we built our house in 1977!!! After two dogs and years of abuse it still is sort of a Orange color. Shag really absorbs spilled grape Cool Aid and requires no cleaning what so ever!!!

Seriously, we were talking about getting a Blue Ray soon, but the VCR will stay. I want to find someone who could convert my VCR's to DVD's at a reasonable. First....we have to replace our Motorola black and white console television.

Greg
 
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Alcomotive said:
Morning Ya'll!

Western Omelet and a medium rare steak (still mooing is good) and biscuits will work Flo!

I didn't work on the layout or bench work yesterday. I had other things like house keeping and such lol. Bachelor life...gotta do those things that ya end up putting off to long.

Anyways, Jerome hope you had a great Birthday yesterday. Nice chatting with ya!

I hope to do some more bench work tomorrow night. Tonight I will look at trying to find some old EZ track in one of my umpteen boxes and set up a test track to pacify my urge to run something lol oh boy.

I have been researching laptops and desktop computers for value and pricing currently. I plan to get one of each. A laptop for my layout only and the desk top for my main everyday use that will be hooked to my big screen TV in the man cave etc. I have a 75" Vizio down there lol. Love watching train related stuff on that screen. My laptop I have now is on the home stretch of being decommissioned after 12 years. I have been offloading all pertinent information on my wireless Western Digital hard drives (6TB) weekly. This is also hooked to my TV for viewing pics. Almost done. The 2 new computers will be networked together. I am a bit of geek in that area. I do not use any service provider other than my cellphone service to connect to the outside world. I refuse to pay 200 bucks for cable or satellite services. I use Verizon and pay 112 bucks for unlimited everything and use it for a hot spot for my TV and computer. I also use a digital antennae system to get local channels. You really would be surprised what you get with that for free.

Well enough rambling ya'll have a good day it's still chilly here. March seems it may come in blowing in like lion. Still have snow of course, we usually get hammered with one "big snow storm" in middle of March. We will see.
Click to expand...

Alco- up here, March is coming in like lamb, aka Fool’s Spring, which likely means that it will roar back like a Lion by month’s end.
 
Afternoon All,

Did some chores then went to Lowes tp pick up stuff for 2 wife projects. One is the continuation of the previous kitchen shelf project and a shelving project in the sewing room.

Patrick- Sorry to hear about your back.

Chet- Neat pictures. The engineer better watch out if he pisses off that goose!

Willie-Nice scene. Awesome job on the grill.

Joe- Interesting photos. I'm glad you got your short fixed.

Bob- Good luck with the teeth.

Toot- Nice 1:1 photos.

Terry- I had to look up on Amazon what a USB wifi adapter was.

Sherrel- Glad your daughter is OK. I hope she heals quickly.

Greg- Way too much snow.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
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