Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

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More Snow I already have 28 inches of the stuff in my front and back yard and it's not melting. It goes down to the teens at night.
Swal

Carmel_Snow.jpg
 
troyphoto said:
Yep, but if I’m not close enough it doesn’t help.
Click to expand...
I was at a Texas Rangers game a few years ago, that let out after dark. Of course many fans were inebriated and had to use the button to locate their cars. I joined in the fun, as did many others as well, and the whole parking lot was alive with honking horns, flashing lights and confused drivers. Almost like a sound and light show from a 60's concert!
 


santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 62°, high of 82° later. Rain is still in the forecast for tomorrow, but it has been changed to just afternoon showers instead of thunderstorms. Those come Thursday thru Tuesday. Temperatures still in the upper-70's every day except Saturday. The forecast is for 2" of rain spread out over 7 days. We shall see!

Primary election day today in Texas, so we'll be off to vote around mid-morning. Polling place is about 7 miles away so a short drive through the countryside. Highly contested race for US Senate in both parties. Both will probably result in runoffs in late May. Dems are running a current US rep against a current Texas State House member. Republicans are running the current State Attorney General against the incumbent Senator. Both races are fracturing the internal party structure. I know who I am voting for, but I have seriously thought about voting in the other primary for the more "unelectable against my choice" candidate. Voters in Texas can vote in either primary, but can only vote in the runoff of the party that they originally cast their vote in.
I want to show a good example of Gerrymandering that hits close to home. Look at this picture of my neighborhood map.
View attachment 259223

Michael - Good to read that the UPS dilemma is close to over.

Was it rumbles of thunder or the neighbor starting his truck???
Terry - Never had to put the shorts and tee's away this winter except for a week!

Yes, this website has been giving me trouble for a few days now, more so this morning. Frustrating.
Everybody have a great Tuesday. If you live in Texas, go out and vote.
Click to expand...

It was actually FedEx, but I have the firearm now.

The neighbor's truck was a separate wake-up at 0305 this morning.
 
Good day to folks on the forum................

Home last night from my trek to Dallas around 9:30 pm.

Due to the war going on in Iran, the oil companies have found another excuse to raise gas prices. Within about an hour of the oil price increase yesterday, every gas station jumped their prices from around $2.35 a gal up to $2.89, $3.09 at one station I saw. I had to stop in Ft Worth Tx yesterday on my way home as I was on fumes. So I bit the bullet on the $2.89 price as all gas stations I passed were at this price. Just my luck, I travel down the road about three blocks and WalMart gas was still at $2.34 a gallon........just my luck.
I picked up my 3D printer at Micro Center and paid a visit to the folks at Discount Model Trains in Addison Tx on my way back west.

I took my old buddy out to lunch for his birthday and we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. As per a recent poll of the best meat loaf, as listed by taste testers, we ordered the meat loaf. It was not too bad but by far not the best I have ever had. Apparently the taste testers were young folks having never ate real meatloaf from days gone by. Meatloaf my mother made was outstanding and I remember making meatloaf sandwiches from leftovers. As a comparison, the meat loaf at Golden Corral is about the same as the Cheesecake Factory, only cheaper and is all you can eat (or stand). I passed on a slice of cheesecake.......at $11.95! Sorry, no cheesecake tastes that good for me.

Gonna get my truck from the shop today around 1:30 pm as that is when my neighbor can take me to town. I sure hope the vibration is gone.
Gonna go vote after that.

I get a voter guide from iVoterGuide that I like. The iVoterGuide is put out by a Christian non profit group, not aligned with any political party.
They show a lot of verifiable info on each candidate and really, that gives me insight on a candidate maybe I am not really familiar with. Not a political statement here, just my choice for info on candidates in my state.

Sunny and warm here toad. Rain was in the forecast but not here yet.

My ride just called so gotta go.

Take care....John
 
I finally have the firearm I ordered seven days ago. I'd like to just forget about the FedEx FU until the next time they FU.

To say I'm very impressed with Walther's latest handgun would be a gross understatement. The trigger is everything reviewers and my friends at the Walther forum said it was. However, it is not all that much better than my already-broken-in Walther P99 that I've been carrying and shooting for 25 years now. Who knows though, the trigger in the new Walther may get even better with some wear-in and use.

The reset is extremely short at 2mm; about the same for the Walther P99. There is a bit more take-up in front of the wall in the PDP, which in a SA striker pistol is a good thing. The trigger breaks cleanly at 4.6 pounds which is slightly under the P99 at 5.1 pounds when the P99 is in SA mode. In DA mode, the P99 pull is at 10.2 pounds.

Of course, the PDP doesn't have a DA trigger so that's sort of a moot comparison.

Handling is simply awesome. Between the two, I cannot tell there is an extra 1" of slide and barrel out front on the PDP, and balance C/G with a loaded magazine is 1/4" behind the trigger face. The P99 loaded weighs 2 pounds, .01 ounces. The PDP loaded weighs 1 pound 15.08 ounces. The PDP is lighter than the P99. Almost the same weight, and not enough to tell the difference in-hand.

Holster is on the way, and just finished ordering 100 rounds of Federal Hydra-Shok 124gr to feed it.

Treating myself to a Hofbräu Hefeweisen now! Walther really did a great job with this model.

Brothers in arms:

Walther PDP001.jpg


20260208_131204.jpg
 


Good afternoon, all! It has been a rather nice day with temps in the low 80's and a mild breeze. Later in the week has rain predicted and we could really use it. I just came in from gassing up the truck. Per Gas Buddy, 11 hours ago, regular at Buc-ee's was 2.28, I paid 2.68. A forty cent jump in eleven hours. I am pretty sure it is going to go a lot higher.

Louis - Great news about Cecelia
Troy - Ain't it great when you sleep in your own bed after being away.

It is tough to fight an enemy when your morals say don't shoot/kill innocents, but the enemy doesn't wear a uniform and hides amongst the innocents.

Klingers is coming along. Should be finished in a day or so, pics to come.

STAY SAFE
LATER
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 62°, high of 82° later. Rain is still in the forecast for tomorrow, but it has been changed to just afternoon showers instead of thunderstorms. Those come Thursday thru Tuesday. Temperatures still in the upper-70's every day except Saturday. The forecast is for 2" of rain spread out over 7 days. We shall see!

Primary election day today in Texas, so we'll be off to vote around mid-morning. Polling place is about 7 miles away so a short drive through the countryside. Highly contested race for US Senate in both parties. Both will probably result in runoffs in late May. Dems are running a current US rep against a current Texas State House member. Republicans are running the current State Attorney General against the incumbent Senator. Both races are fracturing the internal party structure. I know who I am voting for, but I have seriously thought about voting in the other primary for the more "unelectable against my choice" candidate. Voters in Texas can vote in either primary, but can only vote in the runoff of the party that they originally cast their vote in.
I want to show a good example of Gerrymandering that hits close to home. Look at this picture of my neighborhood map.
View attachment 259223
The blue "X" is my house. The property across the road (about 2500 acres) is in a whole different congressional district. This map also shows that a trip around the block is just a tad over 10 miles. My mailbox which I have pointed out before, is just a little below where the red line turns left.

On to other things now. I now have the whole garden tilled to a depth of 8"+, except for a 5' strip on the east side that will lie fallow this season. That will be used for the hoped for fall garden starting around October. Haven't planted anything yet, as the soil is still a bit cool; currently at 58° according to the USDA sensor a few miles away.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I started painting the Fordson tractor. Most of the pictures I found showed it to be Gray, which is what I painted it despite being molded in Gray to begin with. Some parts are black and the wheel rims are Orange. Original wheels appear to be Gray metal wheels, but it looks like they switched to Orange rims when they went to rubber tires. At least that's what pictures of restored ones show.
Something unusual happened out there sometime Sunday night. Even though I am very rigid about turning power off when I leave, apparently I wasn't on Sunday. So I had a train running on the upper level for nearly 20 hours. At some point, the paired engines came uncoupled from the train and then ran into it from behind. Lead engine derailed completely as did the rear truck of the second one. But the front truck maintained contact and ran all night and part of the day yesterday. I now have deep grooves in the wheelsets! Bummer. I haven't yet figured out how to access the wheelsets on a ScaleTrains SD40-2. Initial search on the Internet came up empty. I will have to call them once I get the RH hearing aid back from the shop. Engine still runs fine but has no traction. Track is OK though. I still can't understand how I let this happen.:mad:

Mike - Casmir Pulaski, a very unlikely American hero!
Tom O - Sorry to read about the additional stress your relative is putting the family through.
Michael - Good to read that the UPS dilemma is close to over.

Was it rumbles of thunder or the neighbor starting his truck???
Terry - Never had to put the shorts and tee's away this winter except for a week!

Yes, this website has been giving me trouble for a few days now, more so this morning. Frustrating.
Everybody have a great Tuesday. If you live in Texas, go out and vote.
Click to expand...
Wow! Your runaway train sounds like a sequel to 777 in the movie Unstoppable.
 
westtexjohn said:
Good day to folks on the forum................

Home last night from my trek to Dallas around 9:30 pm.

Due to the war going on in Iran, the oil companies have found another excuse to raise gas prices. Within about an hour of the oil price increase yesterday, every gas station jumped their prices from around $2.35 a gal up to $2.89, $3.09 at one station I saw. I had to stop in Ft Worth Tx yesterday on my way home as I was on fumes. So I bit the bullet on the $2.89 price as all gas stations I passed were at this price. Just my luck, I travel down the road about three blocks and WalMart gas was still at $2.34 a gallon........just my luck.
I picked up my 3D printer at Micro Center and paid a visit to the folks at Discount Model Trains in Addison Tx on my way back west.

I took my old buddy out to lunch for his birthday and we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. As per a recent poll of the best meat loaf, as listed by taste testers, we ordered the meat loaf. It was not too bad but by far not the best I have ever had. Apparently the taste testers were young folks having never ate real meatloaf from days gone by. Meatloaf my mother made was outstanding and I remember making meatloaf sandwiches from leftovers. As a comparison, the meat loaf at Golden Corral is about the same as the Cheesecake Factory, only cheaper and is all you can eat (or stand). I passed on a slice of cheesecake.......at $11.95! Sorry, no cheesecake tastes that good for me.

Gonna get my truck from the shop today around 1:30 pm as that is when my neighbor can take me to town. I sure hope the vibration is gone.
Gonna go vote after that.

I get a voter guide from iVoterGuide that I like. The iVoterGuide is put out by a Christian non profit group, not aligned with any political party.
They show a lot of verifiable info on each candidate and really, that gives me insight on a candidate maybe I am not really familiar with. Not a political statement here, just my choice for info on candidates in my state.

Sunny and warm here toad. Rain was in the forecast but not here yet.

My ride just called so gotta go.

Take care....John
Click to expand...
Meatloaf is one of my favorite comfort foods. My high school cafeteria had one of the best meatloafs. Serving over 1500
meals per day, the cafeteria staff had some very talented cooks. Should have asked them for a copy of their recipe back then.
 
I love meatloaf too. My Mom's was the best I ever had, but I'd never tell my Grandmother that. I tried maaking it once, but it tuned out pretty bland without ketchup. I followed a recipe, but I'm no cook unless it's something I can grill.

I've been buying Stouffer's Meatloaf frozen dinners for years. It's better than mine.
 
Did my civic duty today.
1772579279594.jpeg

Besides the usual candidates for Senate, Representative, Governor and other State/County officials, there were non-binding ballot propositions on each ballot. Ten on the Republican ballot and 13 on the Democratic ballot. The usual crap that you would expect from the involved parties.
Here is a non-partisan summary of them Texas ballot propositions. I voted yea or nay on all but one, which I chose not to vote on because I hadn't formed an opinion.

John - I have to agree with you on iVoterGuide, I have used it several times over the last month for information on the lesser know candidates who are running. A nurse during my recent visit in the hospital recommended it to me.
 
Day was a bit busy as I started with voting, then headed to a town about 45 miles away for running to some shops, lunch at Golden Corral, which was very good. Picked up some sheet styrene at Hobby Lobby and RMC and NGSL Gazette, then to the eye doctor. WHEW. Anyway a good report at the Doc and a beautiful day to have the windows down on the car while driving. Gas had gone up to around 2.60 a gallon here but spotted Walmart was still 2.39 so filled the van up.
And my wife makes a GREAT meatloaf!
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with CRS syndrome

It's.... ummm.... (checks Drivers License)... Oh, yeah... It's Troy again.

Took the wife out to pizza king (an Indiana staple for pizza, thin, greasy, and salty)... The chain was owned by two brothers. They split, but share the brand name. One half does G scale railroad delivery of drinks to the table. The other half does "Ring the King" with old landline curly cord phones connected to an in-house system to call your order into the kitchen staff. We live in the Ring the King area

So I call the order in after we sit at the table.

"Yeah, table #1, I need a 12 inch pizza, pepperoni, sausage, extra ham"
Wife looks at me stranger than she normally does: "Cheese!" I could almost hear the unspoken "Dumbass" at the end of that.

Me to the staffer on the phone: "Sorry, change that to extra cheese not ham!"

Of course the young pups who work at the restaurants don't actually know how to hold that type of phone receiver so it picks up their voice, and with my hearing, it might not matter if they did... But I think she repeated the correct order.

So when they bring the pie out, it looks like a pepperoni pizza. Right size, just one topping only. Oh well, I screwed that up, so we start eating.

Server comes running back.... "We gave you the wrong pizza. It was for table 2. Here's your pizza. You can keep both. We're remaking the order for table two.

The couple at table two looks like my wife and I back in our first year of marriage. We'd seen them trying to cross the 5 lane road from the apartments behind the shopping center across the street. Possibly married, with limited funds, trying to make life work, that sort of thing.

I felt bad for eating their pizza and not sending it back as not correct. But I knew I had our order so screwed up that I was willing to eat whatever they brought out.

Hopefully the couple at table two got a good discount for the late pizza.

Had I been thinking, I would have purchased their pizza for them. But I was embarrassed at my role in the situation and wasn't thinking fast.
 


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