Running Bear’s April 2026 Coffee Shop

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troyphoto said:
If you're in the Midwest, and don't have a plastic bag filled with plastic bags, why are you in the midwest? That's part of the starter kit every midwesterner has to have in their home.

I forgot what our coffee-shop pest inspector suggested for controlling them myself. Would you please remind me so I can add it to the hardware store list?
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Mine is on the service porch. That's what garbage goes in and then outside to the can.

Borax I believe is what you are looking for. I was reading about this when the tiny ants in the yard decided to set up multiple households in my older patio chairs.
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Good morning this cool day. It's 54°F right now heading for 65°F. It rained and rumbled most of yesterday afternoon from the back side of the cold front that brought the tornadoes Monday evening. The front was fluctuating back and forth, north and south, destabilizing the atmosphere and kicking up rain and light thunderstorms. I think it finally quit around 2200 last night. Nothing violent, just wet.

Today, they promise it will be dry...according to their Magic 8-Ball.

Have a safe day!

Servus!
 
troyphoto said:
well, howdy there internet peeps and those whose cables are are on the fritz.

It's Troy again.



I also need to call and cancel the Orkin contract for the Carpenter Ants.

I forgot what our coffee-shop pest inspector suggested for controlling them myself. Would you please remind me so I can add it to the hardware store list?
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Treat the exterior perimeter of the foundation with Termidor SC, twice per year, as per the label. It's an amazing termiticide. Follow the label instructions to the letter.

Also make sure that no landscaping is touching your home. Ants & pests will use this to get to your home avoiding the barrier you sprayed on.

Tempo 1% insecticide dust works great in wall voids. You don't need to apply a lot. If it doesn't look like dust when you apply it you've used too much and they will avoid passing through it. Follow the label instructions to the letter.

Optigard gel bait is amazing for Odorous House ants and several other species. It is labeled for Carpenter ants also. You get 4 syringes in a box.

Remember that "the label is the law". Follow it to the letter. You have pets.

Orkin has the best training in the industry, but it comes down to quality of the tech. Unfortunately, they are owned by Rollins (a publicly traded company), so their goal is to increase shareholder equity.
 
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Marlin39 said:
Treat the exterior perimeter of the foundation with Termidor SC, twice per year, as per the label. It's an amazing termiticide. Follow the label instructions to the letter.

Also make sure that no landscaping is touching your home. Ants & pests will use this to get to your home avoiding the barrier you sprayed on.

Tempo 1% insecticide dust works great in wall voids. You don't need to apply a lot. If it doesn't look like dust when you apply it you've used too much and they will avoid passing through it. Follow the label instructions to the letter.

Optigard gel bait is amazing for Odorous House ants and several other species. It is labeled for Carpenter ants also. You get 4 syringes in a box.

Remember that "the label is the law". Follow it to the letter. You have pets.

Orkin has the best training in the industry, but it comes down to quality of the tech. Unfortunately, they are owned by Rollins (a publicly traded company), so their goal is to increase shareholder equity.
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Thanks!

I have no complaints about the company, nor the employees.

Except for the YOU NEED A YEARS Contract! Then you have to call to cancel so you can get the sales pitch again.

I don't want inside service... on their schedule... where I need to move the funrniture and stuff in the basement where most of the bugs come in.

I got a big bottle of Ortho Home Defense, so I can treat the basement myself (lots of centipede and silverfish type of creepy crawlies. Orkin's idea was to toss glue traps in every corner after their bimonthly spray. They didn't pay attention to "can the cat get to the glue trap?" idea. I had to ask them not to, after I saw the cat batting one of the traps around. It would be tough to get a paw in it, but it could happen. I don't need the cat slapping me awake at 3am because it chased a bug into one, and now can't get it off.
 


troyphoto said:
Thanks!

I have no complaints about the company, nor the employees.

Except for the YOU NEED A YEARS Contract! Then you have to call to cancel so you can get the sales pitch again.

I don't want inside service... on their schedule... where I need to move the funrniture and stuff in the basement where most of the bugs come in.

I got a big bottle of Ortho Home Defense, so I can treat the basement myself (lots of centipede and silverfish type of creepy crawlies. Orkin's idea was to toss glue traps in every corner after their bimonthly spray. They didn't pay attention to "can the cat get to the glue trap?" idea. I had to ask them not to, after I saw the cat batting one of the traps around. It would be tough to get a paw in it, but it could happen. I don't need the cat slapping me awake at 3am because it chased a bug into one, and now can't get it off.
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House centipedes are there because you have spiders. Silverfish are there because of excessive moisture/humidity.

Recurring sales is where you make money. One time sales are just gravy.
 
Morning All! The Mud Jackers are coming today. I misread the calendar, thought it was yesterday. After today I'll have a patio that's level except for a nominal slope for drainage, and no more tripping hazards. It'll be nice to stop hemorrhaging money on the place. Rained last night, so I'm glad I cut the grass yesterday. Funny story of the day: Remember the MRC power pack that died? Well, it's been resurrected. I removed the test leads from it and attached them to the Troller. Always recycle! Well, the Troller seemed to be dead too. Turns out one of the test leads was shot, or partially so. Wiggle it and it worked. Remember the old pack of multicolored test leads from Radio Shack? That's how old those things are! I put together a new set and Presto, a live pack. Now I have a spare. 😁 I miss Radio Shack, but that's another story!
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and a cooler 58° this morning. Today is the beginning of a three (or maybe four) day cool spell where the afternoon high doesn't get out of the low-60's. It will be a welcome respite for the unusually warm (for April) days that we have been having. Dodged the severe weather twice yesterday, once in the morning when the system veered north through Oklahoma, and again in the afternoon when a much more severe system shifted south through the Dallas/Ft Worth area instead of here. Tornadoes and baseball-sized hail SW of Ft Worth near Mineral Wells. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow and Friday, but it will not be the severe type. Wind will be out of the NE, different weather pattern. The Sun won't return until the weekend.

Other than the 911 call while I was at the doctor yesterday, all went well for me. No med changes, although that may change once the blood draw results come back...usually within 36 hours. The on-site Phlebotomist (vampire) was quite busy yesterday, but I was in line early. One patient before me and three after...
Very short afternoon since we were quite late returning home. Chores about the house took a while.

Today I hope that the dew dries early so I can mow where I intended to mow yesterday. The Carnitas dry-marinated in the fridge for an extra day, since we decided to go out for steak/grilled Redfish at Saltgrass for supper last night. So that's on the menu for tonight.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I mainly did more ground cover in the neighborhood. I didn't bother to take any pictures since the forum wasn't acting nice at all yesterday. It is better today. Ran a few trains while scenery was drying.

Michael -
RhB Michael said:
No Diesel this morning, no barking dogs, no garbage truck, etc. Wow.
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A neighbor of mine (Bubba's dad) about 3/8 mile across our adjoining pastures, raises roosters. He currently has over 250 of them. I know from them and from my own experiences raising my own chickens, that roosters don't just crow at sunrise. It's 24/7! They're just barely audible through the open bedroom windows, but only if the wind is from the NW. We've gotten used to it as he's raised them for over 30 years.
Kusojiji - Congratulations on finally getting the picture transfer thing worked out. It took me a while to get my Canon camera to work, but just a few hours. Passwords were an issue to me!
Troy - Plastic bag collection is not just confined to the Midwest. My daughters save them to use when they walk their dogs.

Long time musician and activist Willie Nelson is 93 today.
Everybody have a wonderful Wednesday. It is Wednesday, isn't it???
 
Hmm....

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Howdy folks, 62 here and sunny, supposed to be a bit cooler here too for a few days. My Missus may give me a haircut this afternoon, she started doing it during Covid and does a very nice job. Three more weeks of this Semester's Bible Study Class, then we will have about three months off til the next one starts. Great class, but three hours is a bit long.
Anyway, you all have a great day.
 


Well howdy there internet peeps and those trapped in the Matrix

It's Troy again.

Rebased some Trolls for my Desert Orcs. They kept popping off the sculptamold. So only real or plastic rocks from now on. No plaster.

i-VrhCxH6-X2.jpg


Got a little heavier with the drybrushing desert dust than I wanted, but it was a quick job to get them on the table.

Also got the new generator rod installed on the Coleman 533 camp stove. Fired right up after that. I managed to pull the end off the cleaning wire that is inside the brass tube on the old one. I've still got 1+ gallon of old gas to burn off. I may need to dismantle the generator, and blow it out a few times during the next few weeks to keep it functioning. That four year old gas sure clogs it up.

i-BZmhXR8-X2.jpg


The generator is the brass rod across the top
 
troyphoto said:
Well howdy there internet peeps and those trapped in the Matrix

It's Troy again.

Rebased some Trolls for my Desert Orcs. They kept popping off the sculptamold. So only real or plastic rocks from now on. No plaster.

View attachment 264474

Got a little heavier with the drybrushing desert dust than I wanted, but it was a quick job to get them on the table.

Also got the new generator rod installed on the Coleman 533 camp stove. Fired right up after that. I managed to pull the end off the cleaning wire that is inside the brass tube on the old one. I've still got 1+ gallon of old gas to burn off. I may need to dismantle the generator, and blow it out a few times during the next few weeks to keep it functioning. That four year old gas sure clogs it up.

View attachment 264475

The generator is the brass rod across the top
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Troy, I have had good luck with latex caulk on gluing down minis on bases, especially those that get handled a lot.
 
with "Bags of bags" are we talking the plastic bags you get at stores? A bag full of those? We have that too. We use them in all the small waste bins in the bathrooms etc.

At first I thought it was a large gallon ziplock filled with smaller ziplock bags for re-use. I have that too. When I used a ziplock bag for dry material like my vitamin pills/supplements (when I'm out and about and take them with me) I save the bag for re-use. Any ziplock bag that holds anything with moisture gets thrown away but if used for dry items I save to re-use...
 
kbkchooch said:
Add me to that list! I used to build little flasher circuits for FREDs and constant lighting circuits for analog locos. Still have my little Radio Shack projects books by Forest Mihms.......Ahh the good old days!!
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I still have a couple of those booklets around here somewhere. I was a RadioShack store manager for six years. I got out before it became CellPhoneShack and SatelliteTVShack. After they alienated their core customer base, it was only a matter of short time before they went down the toilet.

When Len Roberts left the company I knew it was over. He was a great leader.
 
RhB Michael said:
I still have a couple of those booklets around here somewhere. I was a RadioShack store manager for six years. I got out before it became CellPhoneShack and SatelliteTVShack. After they alienated their core customer base, it was only a matter of short time before they went down the toilet.

When Len Roberts left the company I knew it was over. He was a great leader.
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Its too bad some of those old stores didn't stick to their roots, many would still might be around today.

I remember going to the mall as a kid and wandering around in the Radio Shack for a half hour or more looking at all the neat electronic components (didn't know what most of it was or what it did but cool none the less), playing with the scanners, and stereo equipment.

I am guilty of buying my first cell phone from them.

Great times!
 


Marlin39 said:
My asparagus plot is producing a couple of pounds per week right now. I brought a big handful in and asked Nicki if she wanted a stir fry for lunch.
She said that she's burned out on asparagus.:confused: Ok, so I had a great plate of asparagus, shitake, and some smoked turkey for my lunch.
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I don't care much for Asparagus, but that looks rather good, and healthy too!
 
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