Running Bear’s June 2025 Coffee Shop

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The low is starting to move farther northeast, but its effects are still occasional showery precip and the dewpoint has topped 70°F with a temp of 70°F. Nearly 100% humidity. I hope this isn't going to be what summer is like, but Southern Illinois gets pretty soupy most summers.

Not doing a thing today. I might run trains later. I'm waiting for some deliveries from Home Depot for a window replacement (glass only) and some roll aluminum screen to repair the damage my German Shepherd did when she was with me.

It'll be a few days until any of this shows up so my time is my own for now.
 
Good Morning All!
52F @ 63% clear. Only to 75F yesterday, 78F today maybe.

Like Willie I also have a ton of music, not as many although almost all is classic rock - 800 vinyl, 600 CD's. Ya, a few CW's here and there. Have a 50 CD changer of which I do not remember the last time I rotated new in....

Bronco project is moving along - 20 mile loop yesterday mostly at 65Mph. Pretty tight little vehicle. Does wander slightly which probably has something to do with the new Twin I-Beam under the front. Alignment soon. Gas gauge did not move much, no smoke or oil coming from anywhere.

I accidentally got some Ketchup in my eyes, now I have Heinzsight.

L8r
 
troyphoto said:
Got up at 3:30 after a strange dream.
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And this came to mind.

santafewillie said:
Blackfoot is a really underappreciated band. Nice to know that you like them.
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I agree! I saw them open for Def Leppard in 1980 or 1981. Before Def Leppard became bubble gum pop. I still love early Punk/Metal from England and listen to it regularly.

Blackfoot blew me away! They were nothing like I was expecting. I was expecting something like Lynard Skynyrd, maybe Molly Hatchet, what I heard was more like Judas Priest! They rocked as hard as most any Heavy Metal band I had ever seen.

Blackfoot is/was an elite live band! Combined with Def Leppard in their prime it was one of the best shows I had ever seen. I think I paid about $8-$10 or to sit up close, eight-ten rows back in the center of the floor.

Happy USA Flag Day Everybody!
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For those of us who were born or live here it is a true Blessing. As my wife often says, "So much depends on where a person is born" She is usually referring to people born in the USA but not in the best of circumstances. I wasn't born with a silver spoon, but I was able to rise above my station because of this great country! The American Dream has always been alive and well. If you are willing and able to work hard and make it happen!
 


ctclibby said:
Good Morning All!
52F @ 63% clear. Only to 75F yesterday, 78F today maybe.

Like Willie I also have a ton of music, not as many although almost all is classic rock - 800 vinyl, 600 CD's. Ya, a few CW's here and there. Have a 50 CD changer of which I do not remember the last time I rotated new in....

Bronco project is moving along - 20 mile loop yesterday mostly at 65Mph. Pretty tight little vehicle. Does wander slightly which probably has something to do with the new Twin I-Beam under the front. Alignment soon. Gas gauge did not move much, no smoke or oil coming from anywhere.

I accidentally got some Ketchup in my eyes, now I have Heinzsight.

L8r
Click to expand...
I didn’t know what to click for your post, like, love or laugh! So, I went with wow.

I'm glad to hear all is going so well with the Bronco!
 
Willie has me beat on albums. I have probably 100 vinyl and a few hundred CDs.

I listened to pop / top-40 on the radio, and stuff like Herp Albert and whatever my folks had as LPs, when I was a kid until 10. We moved and I was trying to break bad habits and associations and associated some of it with music so stopped with the pop/rock stuff and pretty much just listened to “jazz”. Not hard core stuff as I was not aware but as a a trumpet player, especially as I got into late junior high and high school I did more which is how I got that Chuck Mangione album (and many others). Also did big band etc. As a senior in high school I started listening to The radio again — mostly top 40 with some hard rock stations. I started getting LPs and later CDs. Mostly through the record clubs (both the BMP and the Columbia one but also at the store). That grew in college and just too off from there. Including a lot more jazz and fusion. I was also getting into MIDI and eventually bought a bass guitar. In between I applied to and even try ally was accepted at (how I don’t know) Berklee School of Music as I wanted to do a parallel professional degree with my CS bachelors but I never went.

Even in high school I was interested in music theory and composition at a hobby level. (I’m still just an advanced beginner but my copy of The Real Book is a real older illegal edition and not the currently available licensed one).

When I was younger I only saw a few live bands. Mostly yes and ABWH tours plus Spyro Gyra on a date. 10 years ago I was trying to expose my kids to various music and classic bands so we went to a lot of the geriatric tours (Boston, Van Halen, Heart, etc) then touring the country for a few years. My kids both play instruments (my son bass and daughter guitar) and did or do “rock band” class at a local music school. My daughter is 17 and has been playing guitar since she was about 6.

I don’t have that pedigree of live music but my CD collection did have good growth in the late 80s through ye early 2000s. (Not music from that time but buying in that time).
 
Good morning all!

Welcome to the weekend!

Currently 68F heading up to a high of 77F, but very humid out there this morning. Sun is out at least.

Didn't accomplish the mowing yesterday as planned. That will be on the agenda shortly. Other than
that, not much else going on. Been a pretty lazy morning thus far.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
CDs...
I may or may not have posted this before, but in 2007 we went through a pretty radical downsizing with our house. Pretty much anything not essential was shed off. I had rented a small storage unit for the things we didn't want to part with, and one of those things was my 4000+ CD collection. We had a pair of very large picnic coolers, the kind you'd use for several cases of beer, and I carefully placed the CDs in those coolers, with the intention of storing them in the place I'd rented for that purpose. My wife had arranged for one of the charity organizations to come to the house and pick up whatever we hadn't sold or promised to friends or family. I had to tow our second travel trailer to North Florida over the weekend to drop off at the buyer's place. So, I was not home when the Salvation Army showed up to haul our stuff off. Among the things they unknowingly hauled away was two large picnic coolers filled with my CD collection.
When I got home Sunday, my first question was, "where are the coolers full of CDs?"
Of course, when I called Salvation Army on Monday morning, they didn't know what I was talking about...
I was--unhappy in the extreme.
 


I did a good deed this morning and I feel really good about it.

Young couple a few doors down have a 4 year old son. Our son will probably not give us any grandchildren, so today I got my grandchild fix.

It was time to pull carrots and beets, so I invited the family over. My wife watched from the deck above and the dog was being a real sweetheart to all of them. Watching the joy on their little boy's face as he was pulling carrots out one by one was great. His parents were taking photos to show to their parents the whole time. I let him keep half of the carrots and beets he pulled, for all his hard work.

My Spring veggies were about done, but I sill had a few heads of speckled romaine, buttercrunch, and red lettuce left to give them. I also pulled the one remaining bunch of Wasabi Arugula. My snow peas were just about done, but I was able to find & pick a big handful. I ended their visit by harvesting a heaping pint of strawberries.

It made me feel good to share.
 
Good afternoon,

I had a schedule to keep with the Wife this morning so showing up a little late,

Tinkered more with the old Varney yesterday, same old thing, runs fine and smooth for a while then likes to burp. It ran well in my most recent video and generally has been a good runner, at a reasonable speed, but now does not like to play,

I ordered the new Bachmann 0-6-0 with NP paint and short haul tender, which is appropriate for my application, so solved that problem. Not sure if I want to part out the Varney or spend more time tinkering on it. The Bachmann had all sorts of prices on it, the cheapest was the Walthers website where it was only $129. Their flyer advertised $149, and Bachmann listed it at $199.

Tinkered with my landscaping so will post one of those pics here for a change:

shanty2.JPG


The little work vehicle is also featured in one of the model RR catalogs as a promotion for its sale. Drat, do not remember which one--

FUNNY you would mention the gas getting stirred up. I noticed a couple months back they were filling their tank at a small local station I sometimes stop near the time I filled up. The truck was running a little off on that tank then within a week the fuel pump went out, first one in this truck. I think it did have something to do with their gas, I am now avoiding that station.

We went to a parade at a small town nearby today, mostly fire trucks and construction vehicles, one small band of 5 people. When I played in High School Band, we visited 8 parades each summer with about 40-50 people marching, and all the other towns reciprocated.

I have to wonder what happened, since band is exponentially cheaper to participate in than Hockey, and a lot more fun (to me).

Have a great afternoon!

Dave LASM
 
Well, howdy there (again) internet peeps

Been a busy little gaming beaver, trying to get that box of toy soldiers put together quickly. Finished Unit #2 and #3. They're the same type, and can run as one big block, or two smaller ones.

Initiates-1.jpg


The guys in the front will eventually hold the really big shields in front of them, while the back ones with the long pokey spears walk behind them and poke the bad guys. These are the "dwarven" faction in this game. And they're grumpy, so every other opponent's army is "bad guys". Even other dwarven forces.

I'll paint the shields separately, then add then to the bases. It's kinda hard to paint the guys carrying the shields if the shield blocks their entire front.

Up next: The Ironclad Drake. Basically, a cheesed-off armored dragon with a honked off dwarf on it's back.

WILLIE: Wife made zucchini bread with the produce she's been growing. But her Zucchini plants may be spent. The last four or so fruits are going yellow and failing before their flowers open (hope I got that report correct???). I see a zucchini seed float in a cup prior to planting, so we may be starting.
 
troyphoto said:
WILLIE: Wife made zucchini bread with the produce she's been growing. But her Zucchini plants may be spent. The last four or so fruits are going yellow and failing before their flowers open (hope I got that report correct???).
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They are not being pollinated correctly. Indoors or out, I hand pollinate all of mine rather than depending on the bees; they might be busy elsewhere like the abundant wild Sunflowers in my neighborhood. Find a male flower, those without the Zucchini fruit attached, strip off the flower petals and then insert it in the pistil of the female flower and twirl it around. Use a donor from a different plant than the receptor flower, as they usually are unable to fertilize females from their own stem; incest or something like that.

EDIT: If you only have one plant, it won't work. Gotta have at least two.
 
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Good evening everyone!

Turned out to be not a half bad day once the cloud and haze burned off. Spent most of the mid-morning mowing,
and trimming. The humidity dropped from this morning as well. Didn't really seem that bad out.

I ran down to Staples to return some Amazon items. My wife and daughter wanted Olive Garden for dinner. I ordered
through the app and brought it home. I was pleasantly surprised that the portions were somewhat bigger than previous.
I had 4 good size meatballs in my spaghetti instead of the normal 3 and a much bigger mound of pasta. The minestrone soup
was full to the top. Wonder if enough complaints were hitting corporate that prices spikes and portions went way down and
now they are trying to correct that?

Have a great night everyone!

I leave you with some Saturday night humor.

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santafewillie said:
They are not being pollinated correctly. Indoors or out, I hand pollinate all of mine rather than depending on the bees; they might be busy elsewhere like the abundant wild Sunflowers in my neighborhood. Find a male flower, those without the Zucchini fruit attached, strip off the flower petals and then insert it in the pistil of the female flower and twirl it around. Use a donor from a different plant than the receptor flower, as they usually are unable to fertilize females from their own stem; incest or something like that.
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She's been doing that, mostly. She likes the q-tip method, because she can pollinate a couple if she only has one male flower. I'll tell her to "male it up" when she pollinates. Evidently she hasn't been paying attention.... 😜
 


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