Running Bear's November 2024 Coffee Shop


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Morning all,

Currently 37° and clear, with clouds moving in and a possibility of rain this afternoon. High of 46° later.

Because I worked 2 hours longer on Monday that I was supposed to, I get off at 1:00p today. Yeah!

Saturday we're meeting with a Medicare rep as changes in my prescription plan means my wife can no longer be on my cheaper, better health insurance. She has only part A, but the Medicare rep thinks we can buy only a drug plan and not submit drugs to my health portion. It would be less if we could, but still more than we're paying now. For some reason the feds think it's better for a Medicare recipient on part A only, to overall pay more for everything, in order to possible not have to spend more at the pharmacy.

Oh well, they get you either way...

BBL
 
Good morning happy campers, and chicken littles everywhere!

36° under sunny skies, with a high of 53° later.

Breakfast consisted of 2 cinnamon rolls from Safeway, had to stop on my way in to restock the garage fridge with soda for the holiday, stopping at lunch time to the liquor store to restock the beer fridge in the basement.

Then after work food prep and then I've got to stuff the bird. 3 of the boys will be home, 1 with spouse. Daughter, SIL and kids will probably stop by in time for dessert later. The only ones not reporting for duty will be son#2 and spouse who will be at my sisters house in N.C.

On the puter front. I did get Decoder Pro and Java to play nicely together. Next issue is getting the NCE system to play nice. My Keyspan serial data connector seems to be the issue. For reasons unknown (yet) I seem to have a driver issue, and I can't find my original driver disk. I have to find them online I suppose. I was gonna do it last night but it was getting late. Maybe tonight ??

BBL
 
Good morning Crew including those in dread or not. I understood it Troy!

Weather is cool at 27f degrees but up from an overnight low of 20. We may get up to 40 per the guess on the app!

Checking what I thought was an empty calendar I found a volleyball game on campus at 8pm. So other then some time at the bench today the day is free till 6:30 when we will leave for the game. Unless I am sent to the grocery store for a last minute item (highly unlikely) as Terry preps for our dinner tomorrow.

The grandson got hurt on the playground yesterday. They were playing a bit too rough as they all got written up but one of his friends stepped on his ankle and another kid fell on his leg. They called his parents and the school nurse called the ambulance and the daughter got there before the ambulance. She rode with him as they air casted the leg. He’ll survive. Nothing broken per x-rays but the ankle/foot is in a boot and the knee is braced as just a bruise per ER. He’s off school today anyway for T-giving but he sees an Orthopedic doctor at 8 this morning. He did manage at 6:15 with his mom, sister, grandmom Terry, his other grandmom to go see Wicked the movie. We were all to go to eat at a Hibachi place last night but things were changed. I didn’t realize this is only part 1 of 2 parts of the movie. I’m told they all loved it. Terry said 3 refills on a big popcorn yesterday!

Enjoy your day
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 52°, revised forecast has today's high at 78°, 3° lower than the before. OK, I'll take it regardless. Back to the shorts today only, as tomorrow's high is only expected to be 50° after the cold front comes through around sunset. The next week or so will be dreary with colder temperatures and no sunshine. I don't mind the cold if I have sunshine.

Yesterday was the big day. We, (me and 4 other neighbors) got our easement road graded so maybe the rain will run off. There had been some ruts up the hill from me that were 10"-12" deep stretching for 25' or more. It won't last because all of the delivery drivers from Amazon, FedEx and UPS will now speed up and down the road, throwing the gravel to the side again. I wish that we could have put in some speed bumps. Getting hold of the dispatchers for any of these services is nearly impossible. Good news was that the contractor reduced his price from $1600 to just $1000, thus reducing the cost to all of us by $120. He and his partner brought out 2 pieces of equipment and spent 4 hours doing the job.

Otherwise, it was a perfect day to bring out the chainsaw again after a few days of being idle. I might get to it again today if time permits.

Today is food prep day for tomorrow's giant family feast. We got creamed onions and deviled eggs for 45 people. Onions will be easy, as only a few hardy folks eat them. I'll make 2 lbs. Peeling all of those cherry tomato-sized onions will be the hard part. Wife is boiling and peeling the eggs. I'll make the filling but won't actually stuff them until I get to brother's home, since they won't travel the 75 miles too well. Irony! Two parties were assigned beer, one, a nephew who is single is a teetotaler.

Didn't spend a lot of time out in the train shed yesterday, and I really won't see it again until Friday. I continued to just run trains as my creative spirit is in remission for a few days until we get this holiday out of the way.
Sorry, I don't have time this morning to search the archives for anything interesting, but that will return in due time.

David - Best wishes for your visit to the hospital today. Hope that it isn't anything serious.
Troy - I think that half of the US is actually looking forward to January. It will be interesting either way.
Patrick - In our case, both retired, it was less expensive and better coverage to go with a separate prescription plan rather than Medicare part D. In retrospect it was also better than the deductible on my company provided insurance plan. But the company provided plan could not be separated and I wasn't old enough for Medicare.
Tom O - Hope that it is quick recovery for your grandson.

Today is the birthday of Jimi Hendrix. Of course he is no longer with us but his music still lives on.

Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
 
Made the mistake of listening to a podcast about what happens in Jan.
Don't do that again.

Oh well, they get you either way...
Coming and going.

stopping at lunch time to the liquor store to restock the beer fridge in the basement.
Don't forget the Twisted Tea.

More like the impact of an ass-troid.
Brilliant!

he sees an Orthopedic doctor at 8 this morning.
That is fast! I hope all is well. On the bright side, young people heal quickly.

It will be interesting either way.
I'd say that is an understatement.

Today is the birthday of Jimi Hendrix. Of course he is no longer with us but his music still lives on.
One of my favorites.
 
Good afternoon all. At the hospital this morning. It was like a conveyor belt as I saw one nurse, then another, then another, then---
I think they pinched an arm of blood from me. The scanner worked different to previous times, but the nurse said it was giving the results they wanted. Yeah!

Arrived back home hungry as I was told not to have anything to eat.
A friend has arrived for afternoon tea. She says her son has been diagnosed with Cancer. Yes, no matter what, there is always someone in a worse position.

On the way home from hospital I called in at my local model shop; leaving £80.00 lighter and a new 'Peckett locomotive in hand. The owner said it is 'second hand', but never ran. He is correct. One happy customer.

Back later
 
Good morning all!

Happy Thanksgiving eve, AKA: prep day!

Been a early, but productive morning. Bird is in the oven (along with the extra breast) as we speak. Meat and cheese tray is all sliced up and ready to go, and everything is chopped for the stuffing. Still have tables to set up and some vacuuming yet to do. We are having a smaller crowd this year than normal. I believe only about 14. Usually its over 20, but some opted not to travel home and come for Christmas instead. Its not our year to host Christmas so that's a relief.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
Good morning all. I got about three hours of sleep in the recliner. Forced myself to get up at 7:30.

Going to start stocking up on canned goods again while they're still cheap. Haven't done that for over a decade, back when I was in Tea Party leadership here in Indiana. It would be nice to put in a wood burner, but our unit doesn't have a fireplace so it's building time. Money the wife won't want to spend. And the other obstacle... the HOA would be more of a pain than the building permits.

I anticipate food and fuel/energy going up if the talk of tariffs becomes policy. Hope our car holds out two, since half of the autos are built with parts from our neighbors south and north.

Need to get back to work today. These books need to be written fast, since the Big 5 publishing houses are trying to figure out how to use AI to generate prose in the "voice" of sellable authors.

On the plate for later is designing some 3-in-1 volume omnibuses with a "signature" page that will have a graphic of my signature with a generic message. I'll make those available outside of the US, for when I get requests for autographed copies. Not the best solution, but a lower cost one, since the printer I'm using has printing facilities in the EU, UK, and Oz.

Been playing around with my magical secret agents in the image generator. Here's a sample that I haven't fixed the hand & swords up yet. AI can't do swords well.

Time to start wording the words

elain 1.jpg
 
Good morning, all! Much like Willie, it's warm today with a cold front moving in tomorrow. Predictions are we will stay cool for a few days. I got the yard mowed, trimmed and edged yesterday, even sweeping the street in front of the house. The turkeys are smoked, pies will be baking today. Most of the family will be here for Thanksgiving, a couple opted to wait for Christmas.

Not a lot going on with the trains. I did run a few for about 45 minutes on Monday.

Since I'm not sure if I'll make into the diner tomorrow, I'd like to wish each and every one a Happy Thanksgiving from the hobo camp.
1732725892938.jpg


STAY SAFE
LATER
 
Good evening all. A Pusser's Rum please, Flo.

Nearly time to make dinner. A chicken curry has been requested.

Pictures on the wall in the train room

British India S.N.Co. 'Uganda'.

Uganda .JPEG



Consett Locomotive Shed
Consett.JPEG



Tyne Railway Bridge. Southernmost point of North British Railway

Tyne Rail Bridge  NBR.JPEG
 
Good morning Crew including those in dread or not. I understood it Troy!

Weather is cool at 27f degrees but up from an overnight low of 20. We may get up to 40 per the guess on the app!

Checking what I thought was an empty calendar I found a volleyball game on campus at 8pm. So other then some time at the bench today the day is free till 6:30 when we will leave for the game. Unless I am sent to the grocery store for a last minute item (highly unlikely) as Terry preps for our dinner tomorrow.

The grandson got hurt on the playground yesterday. They were playing a bit too rough as they all got written up but one of his friends stepped on his ankle and another kid fell on his leg. They called his parents and the school nurse called the ambulance and the daughter got there before the ambulance. She rode with him as they air casted the leg. He’ll survive. Nothing broken per x-rays but the ankle/foot is in a boot and the knee is braced as just a bruise per ER. He’s off school today anyway for T-giving but he sees an Orthopedic doctor at 8 this morning. He did manage at 6:15 with his mom, sister, grandmom Terry, his other grandmom to go see Wicked the movie. We were all to go to eat at a Hibachi place last night but things were changed. I didn’t realize this is only part 1 of 2 parts of the movie. I’m told they all loved it. Terry said 3 refills on a big popcorn yesterday!

Enjoy your day
Of course that bruise and attendant care will be billed at $10k for ambulance and ER and aftermath and settled for $5k from the insurance company.
 
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Just a tip.........

For those who are signing up for Medicare for the first time. I suggest looking into Medicare Part G.
This is a part of Medicare not often mentioned but offers, in my humble opinion, the best bang for your buck.
After being on a Medicare Advantage program for several years I finally found out about Part G. I wanted to change over but no can do.
I wish someone had told me about part G when I first signed up.
Also if you are elegeble for VA benefits you can "opt-out" of Medicare altogether. Now that VA pays Doctors bills for those who have a long drive to a VA center, this option works well and no medicare payments.
Just food for thought...........hope this might help someone.
John

And a Happy Thanks Giving to all.
 
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