Running Bear's April 2023 Coffee Shop

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I'm up... Hopefully the last night of sleeping in the recliner.

Got the writing desk moved into the "new" area. Need to start putting up the bookshelves. Already have a list for the hardware. Going to need more brackets.

Tummy is a bit grumbly this morning. Think I overdid the MCT oil. Switched to ginger tea after the first couple cups of coffee (with the MCT oil).

I'll head to Menards in a few and get the brackets for the shelves.

As I'm rearranging piles of gaming and Train stuff, I've come to the realization that I'm not going to be assembling and painting all of the gaming stuff I have. Time to start selling off.

That's it for now. More pics later as I get stuff accomplished
 
Off work today and tomorrow. Got lots of packing to do. Today’s agenda, closets and dressers. We will donate what we haven’t used in years. We’re getting rid of our bedroom dressers, night stands and other stuff too. The new house master bedroom has two massive walk in closets and there is no need for dressers and such. Now to get motivated…….
 
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Good morning payer of extra taxes and modelers of the world. Thankfully we have never been notified to pay more. We have been audited a number of times, mainly whenever we started a new business entity.

The son is here and has a meeting in a few hours with the Bank of Mom, one of his business partners ( his sister) and the Business attorney. While he is not giving up his dream of a charter air service, he wants to adjust. Keeping 4 planes going is not the issue, it’s the logistics of it all. He wants to fly not be the guy behind the desk.

Today my plan is 3-90 minute sessions on Aspen trees spaced out to allow for drying time. I know the morning is mine but who knows after 2PM. Thankfully last night we were able to come home and sleep in our own bed and get up whenever, not because the grandson’s bus comes at 6:50. The gd/kids until right after dinner were beyond super. Mostly polite, calm and no issues between them for 6 great days. Then after dinner last night it’s like all the pent up nastiness was let loose. Good grief and I have no patience for that crap but I held it together, barely. I know Terry loved having time with them, (so did I) but when they went to bed last night, she said glad that’s over. She is out with her horses till about 8:30

While the kids were at school yesterday, Terry and I went down to the house. Under roof and enclosed it looks huge. The custom front entry door set came in last week and was scratched beyond what the contractor would accept and it also wasn’t sitting correctly in the frame. Yesterday the sales guy with a fixer tech came out. The fixer said beyond his repair skills so back the door system goes. 6-8 weeks. The fixer did repair the doors to the lower level coming in from the garage. Double doors that also didn’t sit in the frame correctly. To me someone at the factory needs instructions on how to inspect a door system. The insulating gasket wasn‘t setting in the kerf correctly. The tech told me the kerf is fine, the factory used the wrong gasket. Seems like a production line QC person fell down on the job.

Supply train issues the contractor says will keep us from moving into the new place. Based on product lead times and then the expected delays he is now hoping for Thanksgiving even though he is already 3 weeks ahead of schedule. We were hoping for October. His dry wall crews are ready but dry wall is is short supply. I did ok spec changes for the drywall in the lower level. Going with 1/2” thick instead of the specified 5/8” and 8’ sheets instead of 12’. The main level and the office loft will remain at 5/8”. Then we were told the wood flooring ordered has been cancelled by the factory as no longer available. At least we have enough time on that, it will be a month + after the drywall is in before the flooring is needed. Terry has to find another choice. Finally, bathroom fixtures. The designer, project manager and the contractor were told make every effort to buy American. The buyer purchased Toto bath fixtures and they are not USA made. Terry saw the cartons at the warehouse last week when she was there. The contractor/owner apologized and said he will handle it. The bathroom stuff in the garage yesterday was the Toto. This is his last project before he turns everything over to the daughter who is the acting project manager on our job. He looked at the daughter when Terry saw the stuff and the daughter goes, I guess I get to terminate my first designer. Heck, Koehler is based in Wisconsin, how hard is it to buy there?!!!

I am going to hit some golf balls, enjoy your day
 
Off work today and tomorrow. Got lots of packing to do. Today’s agenda, closets and dressers. We will what we haven’t used in years. We’re getting rid of our bedroom dressers, night stands and other stuff too. The new house master bedroom has two massive walk in closets and there is no need for dressers and such. Now to get motivated…….
Good luck with getting rid of stuff. Easier said than done. It is exciting though
 
I'm doing just the opposite, Geting rid of all our books. They become dust collectors. You can find everything online now. Maybe 300 books I'm throwing out.
Swal
When we moved after my retirement in 2014 the only places that would accept my hundreds of books was Goodwill and St. Vincent DePaul in North Central Wi. Even the used book buying shops didn’t want the amount of books I had, they wanted to pick and chose.

I know the local Goodwill here does not accept books but St. Vinnie here does. Terry gives them a mix of hard cover and paperback, 2-3 times a year. You may want to check if you have similar organizations near you before tossing.
 
I'm doing just the opposite, Geting rid of all our books. They become dust collectors. You can find everything online now. Maybe 300 books I'm throwing out.
Swal

Getting rid of books? No.No.No. I still like to read them (and look at the pictures lol).
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The DVDs to go though.

David
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 58°, nice night, had the windows open all night long. No wind currently and the outside temperature didn't change at all after 9:00 pm. For a week now, the NWS has been predicting major thunderstorms for today. True to their dismal record this year, it doesn't appear that it will happen. Looks like light rain moving west to east over Oklahoma into Arkansas for today. Their forecast still calls for a 50% chance today, but I don't believe that it will happen. They're now targeting strong storms sometime after sunset tomorrow. We'll see!

Reading Karl's post this morning reminded me that we received our $57 refund from the IRS just 4 days after filing electronically.

Blah! I had to wait in the doctor's exam room yesterday for a whole hour before he came in. Pretty much wasted the whole morning since we didn't get home until after noon. Later I stepped on my glasses and thought for sure that I broke them, but NO! Sam's Club had originally told me that the model that I got was practically unbreakable. I need them only for reading or modeling, even though they are a prescription variety, they're mandated by the DPS for my driver's license because I could not read the smallest line on their test. When driving, I wear them propped up higher than my forehead. The law reads that I only have to wear them, but doesn't state that they need to be in front of my eyes!

I returned to the area north of the Ethanol refinery on the layout yesterday, out in the train shed. I dug out my materials for tall grass and weeds to add accents to several places.
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I'm not done here yet and while I have the supplies out, I will be doing some other locations around the layout. It really adds to scenes as this type of vegetation is quite prevalent around North Texas which is the area that I loosely model.

Sherrel - Sorry to read about the current doggie issue. I understand the loss, it does hit home here since I had the opportunity to meet them both when you brought them to Texas.
Troy - Jack Burgess has written hundreds of articles since I saw his first ones in the mid-70's or so. I'm sure that he probably has many videos as well. He's started with RMC and has written for them, MR, and now MRH online.
Mike - I always enjoyed making bread. Made it all winter long which helped to keep the house warm. Used to freeze it in the space left as we ate frozen garden produce from the previous summer. Then I would reverse the process in the spring. Now we're counting carbs and I only rarely do it any more.
Curt - That "shack" is a cardstock structure that I downloaded from the Internet, then printed and assembled it. I added some styrene strips as window sills to add some additional dimension to it.
Guy - What happened to last year's garden fence??? It may not be layout work, but it is a break from renovation.
Chris - Sorry to read that there might be water damage, but at least you and your neighbors are safe.

Everyone have a magnificent day.
 
Opened a letter from the IRS yesterday. It seems there was an error on my 2021 taxes and I owed them almost 4,000 dollars. They kept my $960 refund from this years taxes, and are demanding the rest now, claiming that I was sent notification last year of the error last year. (Nope, not here) After pulling my tax records and research on IRS.GOV and being on hold with IRS for over an hour and speaking with someone, I wound up writing a check for $3,036.08. Ouch!



BBL

That sucks!!! Sorry to hear about that.
 


Guy - What happened to last year's garden fence??? It may not be layout work, but it is a break from renovation.
Willie - Last years garden fence didn't match the perimeter fence, didn't have a layered archway gate, and the gate was in the wrong place anyway. Plus, she wants a design that allows her to display more flowers on top or hanging from it.
I'm reusing the posts, but all the rails are new pressure treated, instead of wire.

Next will be painting the house exterior. The bathroom reno might wait until winter to be completed. There's still two other bathrooms in the house, so the main bath is not so important to get done right away.
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 58°, nice night, had the windows open all night long. No wind currently and the outside temperature didn't change at all after 9:00 pm. For a week now, the NWS has been predicting major thunderstorms for today. True to their dismal record this year, it doesn't appear that it will happen. Looks like light rain moving west to east over Oklahoma into Arkansas for today. Their forecast still calls for a 50% chance today, but I don't believe that it will happen. They're now targeting strong storms sometime after sunset tomorrow. We'll see!

Reading Karl's post this morning reminded me that we received our $57 refund from the IRS just 4 days after filing electronically.

Blah! I had to wait in the doctor's exam room yesterday for a whole hour before he came in. Pretty much wasted the whole morning since we didn't get home until after noon. Later I stepped on my glasses and thought for sure that I broke them, but NO! Sam's Club had originally told me that the model that I got was practically unbreakable. I need them only for reading or modeling, even though they are a prescription variety, they're mandated by the DPS for my driver's license because I could not read the smallest line on their test. When driving, I wear them propped up higher than my forehead. The law reads that I only have to wear them, but doesn't state that they need to be in front of my eyes!
Willie: That is akin to our State requiring windshield wipers to work. Trouble is that there does NOT have to be a windshield!

Later
 
Good Morning All!

38F @ 73% and sunny.

Four more Cottonwood trunks to cut up - we just might get them all done in the next 5 days.

The honeyDu list grew ... again!

Trackplan is as complete as it is gonna get until build time. Have just a tad of clean up then I will post for y'all to take a gander at. The show and tell will contain information that I have tried to follow according to my 'Druthers'.

Later
 
I'm doing just the opposite, Geting rid of all our books. They become dust collectors. You can find everything online now. Maybe 300 books I'm throwing out.
Swal
Swal: You talking about RR books, or general stuff? If RR, post them in Forsale ( for Free if you choose ) and let folks pay shipping. General books, geesh, tried to throw away a bunch of cook books - have not ever heard my wife scream like that. Some books are just worth keeping - I would never give up Trig 101 as it is a better reference than what is on the net; others also fit in that category. Don't touch my RR books AND wear cotton/silk gloves when reading!

Later
 
Good morning, all! A pleasant morning, 72, a nice breeze and sunny. Rain is however forecasted. Not sure what is on today's agenda.

Chris - good to hear everyone is OK.
Karl - sorry about taxes. What really is odd is, I got a check from the IRS yesterday for the exact amount of my refund. Problem is they, the IRS, reported that our refund was sent to our bank Apr.7. So now we are waiting for our bank statement to go to see. We do no banking online.

Spent a little time in the train room yesterday, just train watching.

B&M 1212, a NW-2 pushes a delivery into Pinkham's
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STAY SAFE
LATER
 


Man, I hate Cottonwood trees. About the only thing they're good for is to mark the run of white bass in local reservoirs. Seems the trees always shed their cotton around the same time as the white bass start running. They're not too good to eat, but they are fun to catch!
Jeff: Actually, Cottonwood is used for commercial trailer floors - the ones that haul BIG excavators/bucket machines. Well, at least it used to be. If I had a portable saw mill, I would plank them into 4"x12"x16' as they are pretty much straight as an arrow and pretty much knot free; up to the canopy at least. Trouble is that there are so many around here - call it dime a dozen, nobody wants to play and ya can't give them away. I would have to take them West to find buyers; like I have time for that.

Later
 
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