Running Bear's April 2023 Coffee Shop

[Sirfoldalot]

TomO - Very sorry to hear of the damage. You have had some "wicked" weather around there this year. BTW -as a note - if memory serves me, the aspen trees in SW Colorado had mostly a straight trunk up to the canopy?

 

[TLOC]

Good evening. 50° and foggy, as it has been all day. temperature range for the day, 52° to 50°.
The category for the tornado that passed within a half mile of our estate, is EF-2. There is debate as to whether the tornado, a half mile to the South, was the same one or another. Lots of damage from #2, which just missed a senior housing complex by a few yards. Some neighborhoods don't have power back yet, and others are back with temporary fixes. The HVAC team was back today, and reattached the cap on to the chimney. 20" work including setting up the ladders, to correct the problem. $250.00 total cost.
Cardiac Rehab, then some minor repairs in the house. We have Easter shopping tomorrow, as well as cleaning the downstairs. DIL and Grand Children are coming for Easter.
Tom O: Wisconsin weather sucks worse than ours. Sorry to learn of the problems the hail caused you. Like the trees so far.
Willie: Sorry to hear of your wife's back injury/pain. Hope the discomfort doesn't last.

Thanks again, we are fine and the windows, sidings and door will be fixed

 

[Sirfoldalot]

JOE - Close one! Aren't tornados fairly rare around where you are?
Glad there was no major damage to your home.

 

[TLOC]

TomO - Very sorry to hear of the damage. You have had some "wicked" weather around there this year. BTW -as a note - if memory serves me, the aspen trees in SW Colorado had mostly a straight trunk up to the canopy?

Thank you Sherrel, as you know crap happens, shake it off and continue. The house is fixable.

As to the Aspen trees, yes straight trunks. The wire armature I use is 22ga wire and the melted candle wax has distorted the straightness. I have some 18ga. wire I can experiment with the next couple of days. I also have some straws that are the environmentally friendly cardboard crap. Terry thinks I should try those to keep the straight trunk. Adding the canopy with individual wire branches drilled into the trunk for these 9 trees. But, if I do that no way could I make decent sizes batches, that is why I want to use the twisted wire.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Mostly clear and 42° out there this morning. Watching the conditions very carefully this morning but I don't believe that a frost will happen to set back the garden full of tomatoes. Frost can occur with a temperature above freezing under the right conditions. But the dew point here right now is 30° and there is a slight breeze so I should be safe. Weather today should almost repeat yesterday but with more clouds; mid-60's, moderate breeze, but warmer overnight due to the cloud cover. It will be Saturday before we see 70's again if one is to believe the weatherpersons.
I was able to plant Squash and Green Bean seeds yesterday in the garden, but I still have 12 tomato plants on the porch.
Hopefully today will not be as hectic and dramatic as yesterday. Wife seems to be reassured by the doctor that she's not facing some catastrophic life situation, and seems to have slept well overnight. Maybe it's the two glasses of wine last night! She has some Hydrocodone pills left over from her knee surgery that she could use if needed. I'll know more this morning.
Back to the normal routine today with the weekly grocery/beer trek. Some expected sales like hams and briskets, and an unexpected sale on prime ribs! Briskets are normal as Easter is the beginning of grilling/smoking season around here. I personally don't stop when it's cold! The prime rib is on sale cheaper than ground beef this week! However unlike Christmas/New Year time; there is a limit of one this week. I have room in the freezer for one as well as a ham and boneless pork chops which are on sale. Spare ribs, T-bones, Rib-eyes and Italian sausage are also on sale. I may be spending some time in the meat department this morning. I just noted that the prime rib was the same price per pound as boneless skinless chicken breasts. Additional sale at Kroger this week is 25% off all wine if you buy six bottles. They have a very well stocked wine department where we go, with great brands and competitive prices, so the discount really comes in handy. Of course taking advantage of all of these sale items and discounts cuts down on the number of fuel points that I earn.
I have to buy gasoline today and I noticed yesterday that it jumped to $3.39/gallon already.
Is there any news this week other than criminal charges in NYC or gender identity??? That's all that's on my Microsoft feed.

Nothing in the train shed yesterday, as the day was taken up with other stuff. I did manage to snap a picture of that area next to the feed store that I added ground cover to the other day, but that's all.

If I add an uncoupling magnet back there in the future, I will add a few more trees, but for now I need to keep enough "body room" for uncoupling the deliveries to the feed store. I do have a handful of magnets available.

Guy - Nice catch there. Ice fishing is just something that I could never get into, even if the lakes here would even ice over.
Tom O - Sure glad to read that you and the rest of the family are OK after Tuesday night.
Jeff - And I thought that the "L" on the gearshift was for "Loud". Put it in "L" and go 60 mph and it's loud.
Karl - One is never too old for Karma Sutra, but I did donate the book to the local school library about 25 years ago. Never received a thank you note.

Today is known as New Beer’s Eve, tomorrow marks the first day of beer sales after Prohibition ended in 1933.
Everybody have a great day.

 

[rgeiter]

Good morning from a calm and beautiful looking day in the So. Central part of Wisconsin. It is 28f degrees now feels like 16 but heading into the mid 50’s.

Thank you to all who expressed concerns and offered well wishes here in the forum or direct text messages regarding our storm damage. Terry and I appreciate it. Again we are both fine, I was more shaken then her but OK again.The insurance people and the glass company guys that came out were great.

I just placed another order with SpringCreeks Models in Nebraska. I ordered more of the yellow TBOX box cars. I put 3 cars on Facebook around 8PM on 2 of the 8 sale sites I normally list at. A Canadian Pacific, a BNSF and a yellow TBOX car, all weathered. Before I could get the cars listed on the third site (I just copy/paste for the ad and then the pictures) I had 6 requests for the yellow TBOX. I replied to them in order that the car listed sold with pending payment, but I had other numbers. I had another 5 already weathered and showed them the numbers and they sold. Guy #6 understood I had no more weathered. But I told him I had a few more unweathered and if he could wait a few weeks I would sell at the listed current price. I gave him the 5 numbers available and he took them. He then asked if I had other numbers on the BNSF and he took that too. (he said he has the number I listed) That was fun last night as I got payment I packed each of the cars up and I will head to the post office by 10.

The 78 intermodal car weathering project has gone well with 1 exception. I didn’t note which wheels go into each truck on the articulated units of 3 for the 9 Kato sets. Looks like the wheels are 28” and 33”. Got it figured out though. The rest of the cars are either individual Walthers well cars, 6 Athearn sets of 5 or Bowser spline cars. He spent a lot of time changing out the car numbers as there are no duplicate numbers in the 78. When I texted him yesterday about the progress he mentioned adding containers and trailers to the train. I mentioned I have never done a container and don’t know what the pricing would be. So this morning after the post office I will head to the LHS with a list of possible containers to buy to work on.
View attachment 166124
Does anyone know why BNSF buffer cars have patches of white paint on the roof?

Enjoy the day

I have a friend who is a conductor for NS AND he’s a BNSF n-scale modeler. I’ll try to find out for ya.

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!

Ice-fishing is over for the year, for us. Slush fishing season has started, with the temperature moving into double digit warm.
The wife and I do not like slush fishing. It's just to wet, and not enjoyable.
Even 'Sky' just likes to sit in her toboggan, so she don't get her rear wet sitting in the slushy snow:

I noticed yesterday that the Osprey's are back from migration. They can't catch fish through the remaining ice, so some fisherman are leaving any Suckers they might catch laying on the ice, for the hawks to pick-up. I personally have left fish on the ice in the past, for the Great Blue Herons that have returned early. They swallow those fish head first, whole.

Anyway, it's back to home renovations for me, for awhile. Don't look like I'll be getting much hobby time in. Not this year, anyway.

I feel sorry for all you that get tornados, hurricanes, and knock-out hails. Frankly, I'd rather live with the snow, where there are no horrific window busting, barn leveling storms. The worst I need to worry about is a brief -40F blizzard. - But, if you want warmth, I suppose you gotta put up with the odd tornado.

Time to get to work, folks. Have a wonderful, safe day!

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Not looking forward to going on vacation in 2 weeks. More like not looking forward to the mess I'll be coming back into...Already 2 meetings on the agenda for that Monday.

Got a temporary buildup on the broken tooth that should keep it stable until the appointment for the crown prep in 2 weeks. Right in the middle of said vacation. Dentist asked where we might be going and I said "nowhere as I'm spending my vacation money on a crown." LOL We weren't going anywhere anyway, and insurance is paying 50% for the new crown, so not terrible. I would though rather have spent the money elsewhere.

Got the initial mowing on the yard done yesterday afternoon. First pass to take the tops off and second pass to get it lower. I like the first mow to be lower than I'll keep it the remainder of the season. Found the sprinkler system has sprung a leak. Not sure if it is a valve or pipe. The valve box was full of water and the meter was running while the system had water. So in a couple days, I'll hopefully have the water gone to where I can get into the system again. If it's the valves, it's going to be more as they no longer make the valves. I bought a bunch of the diaphragms a few years ago and cleaned out 2 online vendors to get them.

Got to 32° overnight and supposed to be 63° later. 35° overnight tonight and then even warmer through the weekend. Looks like we should be really close to having the last frost\freeze of the season.

BBL

 

[CGW121]

A good morning. Wife is sleeping most of the night, walks to the bathroom instead of using the bedside commode. Its a nice clear day with temps about average for early april. Gonna pick up MORE tree turds today. We have a huge Norwegian Spruce in our yard that drops pinecones in the yard which we call tree turds. I have broken windows with them.
Mike

 

[JeffH]

@Patrick I know how you feel about vacations. I'm 40 years into my career, and I can only remember one time when a vacation was worth it to me.

They were all worth it for the family, but for me... All but one was stressful, but I took one for the team.

I get more benefit from strategic long weekends than I do from a whole week off. It's impossible for me to step away from the office for more than a couple of days. The pile of crap I have to deal with when I return is not worth the time away to begin with.

 

[NorthBrit]

@Patrick I know how you feel about vacations. I'm 40 years into my career, and I can only remember one time when a vacation was worth it to me.

They were all worth it for the family, but for me... All but one was stressful, but I took one for the team.

I get more benefit from strategic long weekends than I do from a whole week off. It's impossible for me to step away from the office for more than a couple of days. The pile of crap I have to deal with when I return is not worth the time away to begin with.

Vacations from work.

Loved them. I never bothered about the pile of paperwork on my return. It all got done. If there was a lot I knew my job was required.

I am not saying it was easy. Stress levels were very high and I was well rewarded. Later in my career I knew the company wanted 'young blood'. They could have it. I took early retirement. Walked into the Manager's Office. Threw down a crayon and told him to 'Color Me Gone' and walked out.

The 'young ones' couldn't handle the pressure causing the company to close.

I never took work home. The company did not pay me for that.

David

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Morning Chaps from the Never-Never Land!
43f this morning and looking for 67f with clear and sunny.
Supposed to reach 80 this weekend, but has now been changed to mid 70's.

Plumber came yesterday and changed out my yard sprinkler valve. It happened to be the middle one in a "rack" of 5 - and like I said before - I got dizzy when I got down to work on it. I was shocked when I bought the new valve ... it was $32.95 (gulp). I remember the last one I replaced several years back cost me $17.95; what a jump!

GUY - That is an outstanding photo of 'SKY'! What a gorgeous pup!
Certainly cannot blame him as I wouldn't like to plop my tushe in the mushy snow neither.

BOB .. Very nice video of the park! Do you get to run the train - LOL.

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet people. And those with some of that fluffy white stuff still on the ground.

It's Troy again.

It hit 70 here in the fort the last two days (with high humidity due to the rain). So I had to turn on the AC, and get the dehumidifier going in the basement. We keep our on-furnace AprilAire going all winter due to the wife's proclivity for nosebleeds. And it was toooo muggy to do so.

But, the humidifier is back on, the furnace switched back to heat as we get Spring weather.

But I still had to run to the grocery and get some teabags. It's Iced Tea season.

NO LEMONS... I have no idea who decided to mix Tea and Lemonaid or whatever. One of my college girlfriends made it, offered me "Iced Tea" and I puckered up in a not good way when I took a swig.

The jug below is sans lemons.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning from a calm and beautiful looking day in the So. Central part of Wisconsin. It is 28f degrees now feels like 16 but heading into the mid 50’s.

Thank you to all who expressed concerns and offered well wishes here in the forum or direct text messages regarding our storm damage. Terry and I appreciate it. Again we are both fine, I was more shaken then her but OK again.The insurance people and the glass company guys that came out were great.

I just placed another order with SpringCreeks Models in Nebraska. I ordered more of the yellow TBOX box cars. I put 3 cars on Facebook around 8PM on 2 of the 8 sale sites I normally list at. A Canadian Pacific, a BNSF and a yellow TBOX car, all weathered. Before I could get the cars listed on the third site (I just copy/paste for the ad and then the pictures) I had 6 requests for the yellow TBOX. I replied to them in order that the car listed sold with pending payment, but I had other numbers. I had another 5 already weathered and showed them the numbers and they sold. Guy #6 understood I had no more weathered. But I told him I had a few more unweathered and if he could wait a few weeks I would sell at the listed current price. I gave him the 5 numbers available and he took them. He then asked if I had other numbers on the BNSF and he took that too. (he said he has the number I listed) That was fun last night as I got payment I packed each of the cars up and I will head to the post office by 10.

The 78 intermodal car weathering project has gone well with 1 exception. I didn’t note which wheels go into each truck on the articulated units of 3 for the 9 Kato sets. Looks like the wheels are 28” and 33”. Got it figured out though. The rest of the cars are either individual Walthers well cars, 6 Athearn sets of 5 or Bowser spline cars. He spent a lot of time changing out the car numbers as there are no duplicate numbers in the 78. When I texted him yesterday about the progress he mentioned adding containers and trailers to the train. I mentioned I have never done a container and don’t know what the pricing would be. So this morning after the post office I will head to the LHS with a list of possible containers to buy to work on.
View attachment 166124
Does anyone know why BNSF buffer cars have patches of white paint on the roof?

Enjoy the day

I’m pretty sure it means “do not load” .

 

[NorthBrit]

The jug below is sans lemons.
View attachment 166131

I see the cat is not impressed.


David

 

[kbkchooch]

I see the cat is not impressed.


David

Cat is too busy contemplating murder!

 

[CGW121]

I hate mixing lemons with anything. Lemons are vile!
Mike

 

[shortwrench]

Quaking Aspens are back on the bench.

The bark separated after drying (curing). So I have to find a fix.

Tamiya xf21 seems like a close match for the bark. But it wouldn’t penetrate the candle wax. So On this now experimental tree I will mix some arcylic paints Liquitex. It is more like a paste then the Tamiya very runny paint
View attachment 166093
the tree
View attachment 166094View attachment 166095View attachment 166096

Try rubber cement.

Vacations from work.

Loved them. I never bothered about the pile of paperwork on my return. It all got done. If there was a lot I knew my job was required.

I am not saying it was easy. Stress levels were very high and I was well rewarded. Later in my career I knew the company wanted 'young blood'. They could have it. I took early retirement. Walked into the Manager's Office. Threw down a crayon and told him to 'Color Me Gone' and walked out.

The 'young ones' couldn't handle the pressure causing the company to close.

I never took work home. The company did not pay me for that.

David

My last employer issued us company cell phones. They were for company business and we weren't supposed
to use them for personal business, which was not the case for managers and executives. So for 6 months
I carried their cell phone and my personal cell phone.

When I got home after work, the company cell phone got shut off and placed on the dresser and got turned
on when I left for work in the morning. Then cost cutting measures were instituted and some of us were
asked if we willing to turn in our cell phones. I promptly turned in the company cell phone but never
gave them my personal cell phone number although I had given it to some co-workers.

 

[JeffH]

Well, early in my career, I had jobs that would allow going away for a week at a time, and return to work without a pile of problems that have festered while away. But back then, I couldn't afford to take vacations. For the past 20 years or so, I've been the one in charge of finance and HR in companies small enough to not have any redundancies in job duties. So when I'm out, many things just don't get done.

 

[troyphoto]

Cat is too busy contemplating murder!

There be chipmunks out there, and I make him stay inside unless I'm out with him. Too many hawks in the area. Once we get the canopy/sun shade up over the patio, and the outdoor furniture out, so he can hide under them, he can go get his murder button engaged with Chip n Dale.