Running Bear's March 2020 Coffee Shop

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's partly cloudy and 61.

 

[Patrick]

Good Morning all,

Currently mostly clear and 47* expecting cloudy and rain late afternoon into this evening..

Time for coffee and the Blue Plate this morning. Thanks Francine.

Had time to get the control panel cut and glued up. I just have to get it screwed together for reinforcement and the some wood screws in it. As I looked through my wood screws, all I seen to have are slotted wood screws. So I need to get to the hardware store to get some with phillips or Torx heads.

No language in the local or state orders regarding 2nd amendment issues, but still...enough said.

After leaving work Saturday, stopped off to get the weekly shopping as there is a large Kroger affiliated store which I thought would have most of the grocery items I'd need for the coming week. As I was finding the store well stocked, I got called by one of my daughters and filled her list as well. All in all, I didn't get distilled water for the son's CPAP and the pepperoni pizzas wanted by the daughter. Pizzas were on sale, so I was surprised to get the cheese ones on her list. The son still has a couple of gallons of distilled for his CPAP, but I got them later at the smaller local branch of the same store. They had the water, but being a smaller store, don't get the deliveries that the larger stores do.

BEADY: Sorry to hear about your mom. condolences to you and your family.

Willie: great looking model. Do you paint them before assembly or do the come already painted?

Well, off for the rest of my day.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning.....Thanks for all the likes on the CSX hopper.
Coffee,eggs and some french toast today Flo.
On and off rain today so I'll get some more painting and decaling done.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Everyone. 60° and light sprinkles, looks like the heavier rain is about a quarter mile south. Busy day outside yesterday, finished mowing all of the yard and planted 24 tomato plants. Decided that the soil was still just a little bit too cold for planting pepper plants or the green beans. Tomatoes can tolerate cooler soil. And yes, I checked it with a temperature probe inserted into the ground.

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday regarding the structure; Guy, Mike, Garry, Karl, Sherrel, Tom, Chad, Mikey, Joe, Jerome, Phil, Curt, Patrick.

Eggs over easy and a big stack of sausage patties this morning Flo. I'll be over in the corner socially distancing myself. I saw Terry's salesman lurking outside.

Another short session in the train shed yesterday. I got the individual "rafter tails" installed on the left side of the building (now the front) as well as the new entry door.

There's two different ones with different angles. It took much longer than planned since the slots on the annex weren't quite wide enough for them to fit into. I had to use a really thin file to widen the slots a bit. Since I wanted to wait for the glue to set up a bit, I ran trains instead of doing the other side.
Here's a pair of CF7's bringing some empty grain hoppers to switch out the new grain elevator. Since this is an out and back job, I need to figure out the switching moves needed to get the caboose on the rear of the train after the exchange is made. There is a passing siding just to the right of the photo.

I may have to come in from the yard on the other end of the layout. Then it's a matter of remembering the moves for the future. Maybe I should start a notebook.

Sherrel -

Willie - You sure don't let any grass grow under your feet? I am surprised that you have to mow?
That is really a nice kit you are working on ... The siding almost looks like individual boards in a couple photos there.
Better watch out though -- The paint jars and tools are crowding out the workspace?

Mowing is just a part of life here on the prairie. It's a ten month a year task with a break in January and August. Right now, it's the native wild oats that self sow and grow throughout the winter. That gives way to the Bermuda grass in another four or five weeks.
Paint and tools are always getting in the way!
Mikey -

I do like that shade of blue, Did you spray paint it or use a brush?

That's a rattle can from Testor's, #1208 - Gloss Light Blue, that I bought years ago to use as sky color but it is too dark for that.

Guy - Does it ever stop snowing up there?
Greg - That Tortoise sure seems to be giving you fits. Good luck going forward.
Ken - Nice job on that covered hopper.
Phil - What are you doing staying up so late?
Karl -

In response to Covid19, to limit our exposure, they are limiting our work week. 4 day week instead of 5. Nothing else has changed. Still 3 people sitting side by side, facing the public

That ought to do it! Seems more like they are trying to limit their financial exposure.
Patrick - Bar Mills kits are just plain wood and need to be primed and painted. Sometimes I paint them before assembly and sometimes after. In this case it was before. See response to Mikey above.

Regarding business shutdowns, some don't seem to make any sense to me, while some allowed to stay open don't make sense either. A friend's employer was made to shut down last week. There are just four guys working in a 300,000 sq ft warehouse pulling orders, applying labels and putting them on pallets on the shipping dock. No interaction is required between them unless they choose, and no interaction with either the incoming or outgoing freight companies. Paperwork is all paperless scanning except the labels. Go figure! We'll get through this.

Everyone have a great day and keep your distance.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Good Morning - At present It is 44 and dark - going up to 71 and sunny later on.

I spent the afternoon yesterday re-doing the pool pump. We must have not seated the large housing "O ring" properly.
When I left at 5 PM - it was not leaking! That O Ring is almost the size of a sheet of paper and has a bulge out on one side.
I am of the opinion that it should be a gasket - trying to keep the O Ring in place in a shallow groove while man-handling a two HP motor leaning over between the pool heater on one side and the pool filter on the other is a bitch.
The motor and pump should have been on one side of the other two!

Willie: You misunderstood my pun ... The way you stay busy shouldn't let the grass grow! Well aware of how it grows - remember that I grew up about 250 miles East of you?

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Oh Joy -- They are talking about 1 MIL virus cases in LA County alone by May 1st!
I better start looking for some additional TP...

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning, All! Made it through another night in peace and wellness; now it's time for a coffee.
It seems to be maintaining a fairly steady -10C around here, with mild warm-ups in the afternoons. The worst of the storm is supposed to be coming through later today. I know this is just the last dying gasps of winter, though, and it should be warming up soon enough.

Karl - With work policies like that, it makes one wonder how some people even get to become managers. You go tell him that under the present Covid situation, a monkey could come up with a better plan than a shortened work week.

Patrick - It's not all that hard to take a photo of your panel work, ya know! It only takes a moment; and you're an IT guy.

Tom - You did a fine job on that hopper, and I like it very much. Just pressing a 'like' button doesn't seem enough, sometimes.

Willie - It will stop snowing here at some point. Admittedly, though, I do sometimes look out the window and wonder what the ell am I doing here!
My mom and dad came here after being liberated from a Nazi concentration camp in Holland; they were both radio operators for the Dutch underground. So I was born here, and this environment is all I know. We do have real sweet summers, though; short n sweet.
I'm going to try that rafter end idea on my next building; I like that idea better than having a facia.

Sherrel - I hope you have that pool leak looked after. I feel sorry for you. Most of our outdoor pools are called skating rinks, and they don't leak all that much.

Well, it's getting long in tooth. So I'll leave you with a little bit boring train related picture of a moving boxcar:

All I know about that boxcar, is that Ernest seems to be a considerate artist, leaving the numbers unpainted like that.

All Have A Great Day!
Guy

 

[santafewillie]

All I know about that boxcar, is that Ernest seems to be a considerate artist, leaving the numbers unpainted like that.

Good graffiti artists (if you can call them that; many prefer the term vandals) know that their work will last a lot longer if they don't cover up the reporting marks. Note that the newest Union Pacific freight cars have the reporting marks up at the top of the car so they don't get painted over.

 

[Raincoat2]

Good morning everyone. 52 and cloudy out here. Working from home these days. Mayor mandated a 30-day stay-at-home order except for "essential businesses" - his definition made us wonder who ISN'T an essential business. But our school does meet the criteria for an essential business so we technically can stay open. However, our president decided we should work from home except for a skeleton crew that needs to be in the building. There are over 100 of us there when we're all in the building, so to make sure we comply with the social distancing reqs, we're working from home.

Patrick, Tom, Karl, Burlington Bob, Sherrel - thanks for the likes on my post from last Friday.
Mike - nice work on that endcap of your layout. Can't wait to see how your layout looks.
Chet - nice photos of your layout.
Willie - nice work, great photos.

No photos to post today. Maybe tomorrow.

Have a good day everyone.

 

[Patrick]

Patrick - It's not all that hard to take a photo of your panel work, ya know! It only takes a moment; and you're an IT guy.

It still had the clamps on it when I left for work this morning. Overnight in my overthinking the process, realized I may have made dc power controller shelf portion too small for the 2 dc controllers I want to use.

I'll get some shot when I get home.

 

[Flip]

Hi y'all. Already 79* , heading back up to 92* or so. Still no rain. Can hear the grass/trees crying-water,water!. Slight overcast with no breeze.
Fire threat high.
Hope all stay well
Phil

 

[NYC_George]

Having trouble with my computer in the last few days. The program I rely to fix the issues is Zookaware. It use to be one computer $59.00 a year but now it's $29.00 a year for 5 computers. With my layout computer and 2 other laptops I think it's a bargain especially for fixing registry problems. I uninstalled so many useless programs which were most likely logging on to their home site. You really can tell what their doing but their gone now.
I created a restore point before and after the fixes. It's seems to be much quicker now I'll have to see how it all works out in the days ahead.
George

 

[ShermanHill]

population density probably plays a part in that sort of thing.

Absolutely! That's gotta be it.

 

[kjd]

I was just informed we'll be off work until at least May 1. I can hear the honey do list growing.

 

[ShermanHill]

OK, gang, this is a bit of a downer. My mother died at 1:01 this morning.

Ah damn, Beady, that's too bad. It sucks when one generation leaves us. My sympathies.

 

[Beady]

FORGIVE EVERYONE FOR EVERY THING.

Like hell!

Here's a little gallows humor:

 

[bob]

OK, gang, this is a bit of a downer. My mother died at 1:01 this morning. The hospital called us at 9:30 last night and we met my brother and his wife there at 10. They only let my brother and myself up to the room, so we sent the wives to bro's house. Afterward, the four of us sat around talking for an hour or so. When we got home, I couldn't sleep until about 7.

Some of you may wonder how an atheist deals with death. Well, we mourn our loss and then move on. The thought does occur that the last of our family's previous generation has died, and now it's our turn. Shrug. There's nothing I can do to halt the process and, having recently seen extreme old-age close-up in two instances, I wouldn't want to. One thing believers and nonbelievers have in common is that, for both, death can be a release.

Thanks for any thoughts, prayers and good wishes. I really like this bunch.

So sorry for your loss. Sounds like you're dealing with it as best as you can, but it's still very challenging. It has to be even harder in these already uncertain times. Sending good wishes to you and your family in these challenging times.

 

[bob]

Good graffiti artists (if you can call them that; many prefer the term vandals) know that their work will last a lot longer if they don't cover up the reporting marks. Note that the newest Union Pacific freight cars have the reporting marks up at the top of the car so they don't get painted over.
View attachment 45775

That photo is screwing with my brain. They Photoshopped the model over the real thing, didn't they? Something's just not quite right about that.

 

[bob]

Anyone here using Gmail for their forum e-mails? I need one or two folks to do a bit of testing for notifications.

 

[kjd]

That photo is screwing with my brain. They Photoshopped the model over the real thing, didn't they? Something's just not quite right about that.

It looks like a diorama to me, even the car in the background has fat model wheels.