Running Bear’s April 2026 Coffee Shop

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Good morning all!

A beautiful Sunday on tap weather wise. Currently its 45F with an expected high of 71F under mostly sunny skies.

Got most everything done yesterday with the exception of mowing. That is a must when it dries out. Other than that,
not much else planned for today.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
56°F here this morning and sunny. High of 80°F forecast.

Northwest of Ft. Worth took a beating last night. I could hardly believe the storm I was watching on local radar out of Dallas/Ft.Worth. I tuned in their FOX network channel and looked at their doppler winds radar. I don't think I've ever seen a mesocyclone so very clearly on radar before. Even in visible precip mode, the cyclonic rotation was very evident. I was watching a tornado form right on the radar. Amazing. Stuff like this gets amateurs like me mesmerized.

I wish the SPC had this radar display available to the public instead of having to find one in the local area where it's happening. It would eliminate chasing down a TV station that live-streams to the internet. Not all of them do, and those that do are sometimes not working, spotty reliability, or black screen when trying to get it to full screen mode.

Nothing planned today except more weather monitoring. Today the road show is moving to Kansas, so I'm going to see if I can get a KC station set up for later. Maybe Topeka too since that will be closer to the show.

Thawed four angus ground sirloin burgers for either today or tomorrow. Haven't decided if I want to cook outside today. Tomorrow is supposed to be 84°F so I might wait.

Have a blessed Sunday. And if you're in Kansas pay attention to the weather today.

Servus!
 
Good Morning All!
36F @ 71% cloudy with mo rain coming.

Tresspass: Over the years I have found that being up front with it all works the best for me. In Western Washington I would go into a yard office or shack, intro myself and ask if I could take some shots; while telling them I would not climb on any equipment and otherwise leave stuff alone - the 'take only pictures and leave only footfalls' part. And yes, I would tell them I know about big things moving slow while getting my yellow safety vest on. Most of the time when I went back to the shack to tell them I was done and thanks, they would ask about camera's and stuff like that. When I got DSLR's in the middle 90's they would even take a look at some of the pix. I once got a 'personalized' tour of the Interbay RH/TT with the Road Master as he was going that way and asked if I was interested.

I don't do much of that anymore, unless something really sticks out/up. Most of the time now is with a long lens with tripod sitting on the side of the road. In this neck of the woods, you rarely see anybody lineside anyway. MoW workers smile when they realize that they are in the pix. Signal Maintainer John lives down the block from us, we have seen each other in the wild.

Oh, Uncle Pete was the only big carrier that would flatly say no; no matter what.

L8r
 


That is sad, nobody is a know it all, but everyone has a way that works for them. Any video that you watch is an example of that, they have their way of doing weathering that works for them and they are sharing that. I myself have watched and continue to watch to learn and pickup different tips to try and experiment with.
I hope to see you in the thread as I enjoy your imput.
It’s the way of the world right now. I am building structures basically since 11/2025. I show my work, I mention mention formulas for paint schemes and will respond to questions. Again I build structures my way, my frame supporting process is different but it works for me
Model railroading is Fun.
 
Well howdy again, all of you not at the correspondents dinner last evening. Makes me glad my journalist days are over, even though I'd never rank high enough for that invite.

It's Troy again.

I switched gears from a book I was writing, to a new one. I needed to get out of the Urban Fantasy headspace where the plot dealt with a lot of international affairs.

So, we're doing wereshark mafia shenanigans combined with murder at the Drag Show on the amusement pier. A classic whodunnit with some shifter noir elements. And lots of snark.

I did get 1300+ words worded this morning.
Screenshot 2026-04-26 at 8.47.58 AM.png


Also, I tried asking Claude if the AI agent side of it could sense when I first wake my laptop in the morning, and shove the writing software to the front of my Macbook's screen.

It said no... but i could write a set of scripts to go in my Mac's background files. I had it write the files, but since I have to open terminal a couple of times, I'm not sure if it's safe for me to install them...
Screenshot 2026-04-26 at 9.47.58 AM.png

If any of you coders want to have a look see, let me know and I'll send you the files. I have NOT installed them. I do have the .plist, .md, and .sh files sitting on my desktop at the moment.
 
Good morning from So. Central Wisconsin. It might hit 70f degrees as they are showing 68 for the high. The past week they have been off (low) by like 3 degrees on the predictions. We have chances overnight for heavy rains but on the WeatherChannels 24 hour radar we get missed to the north or the local ABC media outlet’s radar we get clobbered.

Yesterday I watched a fun soccer game. (I am not a fan of the game but the g/s plays) The grandson’s team was down 0-1 when he took a pass and in the same motion kicked it in. Sort of the soccer version of a hockey 1timer. Anyway the tie lit up the action with both goalies playing great and even rarer there were many shots on goal. The grandson right before 1/2 time scored again to break the tie. That seemed to take the wind out of the other team. Final was 1-7 as it was up and down the field with honest shots on goal. Another game at noon today and then around 3 he has to come over to cut grass. 2 today, mine and the immediate next door neighbor and then Tuesday 2 other neighbors. After school is out he’ll start cutting all 4 the same day. There is a 7pm hockey game but it’s in the next rink over and I’m not going

I watched the NHL playoffs being a bum yesterday afternoon and evening. Usually this time of year (NHL playoffs) I build the wire armatures for trees in the 1st round and continue each round advancing on the production process. This year I had no interest from anyone regarding trees and I don’t even have the wire supplies. I think it was Wednesday I get a text from a past tree buyer. Are you making trees? What do u have? I answered said no and no trees in any stage of production. Would I build 35-50 trees for him? I asked what type and heights did he want.? Well my layout in May is coming down and heck yeah I have trees on it. So last night I asked if he wanted 35 of my pre-owned trees. We came to a deal and he is now coming over before noon tomorrow with cash. He can harvest what he wants to fit his wallet! I still have 30 to 40 big flats that plants come in from a garden nursery. 36 segments you drop the seed or 2 into the dirt, nicely divided and for me keep the trees nicely separated. The 36 container I put 18-24 trees in depending on height and spread. They have a foam from a can blown into them as when I add leaves to the armatures I pop them into the foam. It really works well for building and tomorrow for transport

Enjoy the day
 


Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 72°. Unseasonably warm for the next three days. While the severe storm missed us last night, it apparently did some damage about 40 miles SW of here in Springtown TX; possible tornado there. That town is a bit NW of Ft Worth. While I couldn't detect anything in my rain gauge, the Weather Underground station around the corner reported a laughable 0.01". One drop must have hit his gauge. Same weather pattern today and tomorrow.

I resumed mowing yesterday, attacking the tough SW corner of the yard over the septic field. Always grows over there. Not sure if I will do any more today, since it is supposed to be quite warm after Mass and lunch. Maybe I can squeeze 30 minutes or so in between the two. Rest of the day is open, but will probably have a few honey-do's to do.

Nothing special about yesterday, besides mowing I emptied the dishwasher, made a couple of treks to the dumpster and tended to back porch garden. The planter box has Oregano, Cilantro, Dill, Thyme and Italian Parsley growing in it. It was time to harvest both Oregano and Dill leaves. Both are now hanging to dry in a spare bedroom.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I planted trees. Fourteen of them to be exact.
1777213586339.jpeg

1777213621763.jpeg

I expect to plant some more today as time permits. Still haven't decided what I am going to do with the blank area in the RH corner.
I plan to resume the quarterly layout cleaning project today after taking a day off from it yesterday. All track , main, sidings and industry spurs has been inspected, cleaned and vacuumed; so I can move on to the structures. There's what I roughly count, 60 of them including 2-grain elevators, 7-backdrop structures (some with rail spurs), and many others. All will be taken to the workbench and cleaned, repaired/painted if needed, and some will get additional details added if I see fit. Overall, this area has one unfinished large area with no current plans, and several swaths with structures but no landscaping. In one case I need to finish a road as well. That will probably get done this time since I recently added the under-deck lighting above the area.

Snowman - I'll echo David and advise spending the money and time with an estate attorney. This is something that you want right the first time.
John - It took me a while to get used to my DJI mini-drone. I probably flew it a dozen times before I let it get out of my viewing range.

Melania Trump is 56 today. Her party last night didn't go too well!

Everyone have a wonderful Sunday.
 
I picked up a new pair of glasses this morning, and on the way home I noticed Culver's wasn't as busy as they normally were. So, I took advantage of the situation, and got lunch there. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they didn't put any napkins with my order.Hopefully it was an oversight, and not a cost-cutting measure. The food was as good as I remember, though I'm wearing more than I normally do.
 
The first thing I notice about a new subdivision is the lack of trees. It looks like they built all of the homes out on the back 40. Trees really do make a layout come alive. Just like backgrounds do.

Looks good Willie.

Lack of trees??? There ain't no room for trees. This subdivision is about a half mile down the road from me. Basically zero lot line.

 
I picked up a new pair of glasses this morning, and on the way home I noticed Culver's wasn't as busy as they normally were. So, I took advantage of the situation, and got lunch there. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they didn't put any napkins with my order.Hopefully it was an oversight, and not a cost-cutting measure. The food was as good as I remember, though I'm wearing more than I normally do.
Most important question, did you get a concrete mixer?;)
 
Lack of trees??? There ain't no room for trees. This subdivision is about a half mile down the road from me. Basically zero lot line.

Oh boy, looking at the prices, there pretty proud of those houses eh?
 
I picked up a new pair of glasses this morning, and on the way home I noticed Culver's wasn't as busy as they normally were. So, I took advantage of the situation, and got lunch there. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they didn't put any napkins with my order.Hopefully it was an oversight, and not a cost-cutting measure. The food was as good as I remember, though I'm wearing more than I normally do.
In Wisconsin on orders to go orr drive through u have to ask for the utensils and napkins. Thats been forever
 


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