Running Bear's April 2025 Coffee Shop

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Good morning all!

Currently 43F with a slight chance of rain later. The expected severe weather yesterday didn't materialize. which is a good thing. Looks like Southern Illinois got hit hard. We did have quite a bit of rain fall. When I went out to run my daughter to school I noticed that with all the rain and thunderstorms yesterday I looked like someone flipped a switch. Every lawn had turned green and looked like it grew a couple of inches. I guess that's my cue to get out to the shed this weekend and get the mower dug out and battery charged. Not really ready for mowing season to start yet.

Starting to get the train bug back slowly. I actually feel ready to head downstairs and so something on it other than run trains.

Nothing much else going on.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
Question for you Brits with Boat knowledge.

An acquaintance on another forum (for authors) is looking at purchasing a boat that was "It’s a former Admiralty Launch" because his wife wants to holiday on it or such. He's thinking of setting up a charter boat biz to occupy himself with Weddings, or Whisky Tasting Trips from the NW end of Scotland.

What does "Admiralty" in this case mean? Part of the Royal Navy that got decommissioned?
View attachment 215857Especially for this boat?

Admiralty Harbour Launch
Gloria

THE new summer season on the River Tamar opened last week, with a springtime trip aboard the 'Gloria,' a wooden ex-Admiralty harbour launch.
The operators of the Calstock ferry are this summer providing cruises on the 'Gloria' from Cotehele Quay to Weir Head, below Gunnislake, the furthest navigable point on the river.
 
I ordered $120 worth of coffee from my fav roaster to get me through the summer before the tariffs spike the price.
I've been buying 2 or 3 containers of Maxwell House or Folgers 100% Columbian coffee whenever it is on sale. I paid $6.99 for the last 23.1oz can... wtf 23.1oz! I had to get my glasses to be sure and I looked at it twice because I didn't believe my eyes the first time.

I don't know about tariffs, but the regular price has been steadily rising.

Libation day
Isn't that taxation without representation? Opps, I may have gone "one step beyond"

I'm not sweating it; I can afford it. I can't buy trains; I ran out of room to store them!
 


Good morning, all! We are in for a hot one as it is already 80 degrees. Lawn mowers are all a buzz, anticipating a stormy Saturday.
No specific plans for the day, most likely continuing work on the Mudd Creek kit.

Troy -
Admiralty" in the context of an Admiralty harbour launch refers to its association with the Admiralty, the historical authority responsible for the command of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. An "Admiralty harbour launch" is a type of boat that was designed and used by the Admiralty, often for purposes such as transporting personnel, conducting inspections, or providing support within naval harbors.
These vessels were once part of the naval operations and may have been decommissioned and repurposed for civilian use—like charter services or leisure activities—after their military roles ended. They're typically known for their robust construction, as they were made to endure the demands of naval operations.

Wille - The name of the kit is Babinski’s Pierogies. That will not be the name I'll use though. Here's my progress to date:
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STAY SAFE
LATER
 
You are traveling with two females, you know.

We made it. Two bathroom breaks. Each was around 5-7 minutes. I’m the only one that took both :). I drank a diet My Dew on the way and had some water before we left with some vitamins.

The Rocky Moubtains are geologically old mountains so you don’t get a lot of sharp peaks. It’s kind of flat land with hills and small mountains and ridges but you’re at 5500-7000 ft altitude. There were a few places you’d go up through some small peaks or ridges and stuff but a lot of it was like these pics.

It snowed off and on but a few places it was a bit heavier and the road was more than wet. Slushy or even white where it opened up to an extra passing lane. The speed limit is 80 except around settlements where it sometimes drops to 75. As long as it was just wet or even dry we did 84-88. But where it was snowing and trucks built up we’d drop down to 50-60.


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We’re at the first game.

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this weekend the discgolf pro tour is in Nashville (i say Smashville because iam rooting for the preds).
But as i heard, they had massive rain and flooding all around, so it could be that there is now discgolf to watch this weekend :(

But, on the bright side, wood will be rdy for delivery tomorrow morning. also track and turnouts should be arriving today or tomorrow morning. ALL under the radar because my girl will not be back till tomorrow night. what? what wood? noooo this is here since months. i dont know what you mean :D

Wish yall a great friday.

cheers
Marco
 
this weekend the discgolf pro tour is in Nashville (i say Smashville because iam rooting for the preds).
But as i heard, they had massive rain and flooding all around, so it could be that there is now discgolf to watch this weekend :(

But, on the bright side, wood will be rdy for delivery tomorrow morning. also track and turnouts should be arriving today or tomorrow morning. ALL under the radar because my girl will not be back till tomorrow night. what? what wood? noooo this is here since months. i dont know what you mean :D

Wish yall a great friday.

cheers
Marco
Best wishes on that strategy. If she can’t handle your spending on the hobby, there are other fish in the sea
 
Good morning gang!!

Cloudy and 64° with drizzle. Got woken up at 4 a.m. to a thunderstorm/gully washer! Dogs stuck to me and the wife like they were Velcro!
Pretty crappy weather on tap for the weekend, but hey, even a bad day at home is better than a good day at work!

But, on the bright side, wood will be rdy for delivery tomorrow morning. also track and turnouts should be arriving today or tomorrow morning. ALL under the radar because my girl will not be back till tomorrow night. what? what wood? noooo this is here since months. i dont know what you mean :D

Wish yall a great friday.

cheers
Marco

Wifey used to grouse about time spent with the trains. Then I got her a hobby (a Crikut machine) Now she has taken over the small bedroom and it is where I can find her most nights.
Best wishes on that strategy. If she can’t handle your spending on the hobby, there are other fish in the sea

Sometimes it is easier to retrain your fish than replace her! ;)
 
Good morning from a shaken Wisconsin. Lots of media over reactions to the still too early stock market melt down. I do know Terry was smiling a lot yesterday. Today again she will be in her office space monitoring her plays! I love it when she’s sitting there smiling

The National job reports are coming out later today but usually before the Stock market closes. That may intensify the meltdown. My beyond liberal wife normally would be appalled at the SM melting down. But the business woman shorting the market is a completely different person this past few days. Her adrenaline high is like nothing I’ve seen from her before. Higher than when we sold anything before. Yes there are nice benefits.

I’ve read where the government workers who got severances will not appear on today’s and for the next 6 months of reports. Supposedly 60% of laid off government workers did get a separation package and that means they don’t get unemployment until the end of the severance. It’s very hard to decipher what is true or not via any media. 40% of 100,000 is a significant number, 40% of 20,000 while massive to the person affected is only 8,000. I’ve not found any real numbers of how many actually lost jobs nor numbers with or without severances. I’ve lost trust in all of it. Interesting times that was voted in back in November. It’s what the majority who voted wanted, so if it’s legally done we have to give it a chance

Weather, 34f degrees now mid 50’s later with calm winds. Yesterday’s gusts into the 40’s did drop some neighborhood branches. My 2 chain saws got used by a couple neighbors. We had no damages

The son was countered with the original offer and said yes. He now owns a piece of Hays County Texas. The surveyors need to do their job and promise to be finished by Wednesday. The closing is Thursday. He was beyond happy. Wimberley is 45 minutes from Austin and his girlfriend is ok with that. She will put the place she has owned since September 2024 up for sale. She wants to buy a condo downtown near her employment. She however has no financial interest in the son’s deal. He will move all his business stuff to the ranch.

Mailed out some weathered models yesterday. The entire front window staff at the Post Office I had never seen before. I did ask where the others were but the worker said she didn’t know. I will watch for my delivery guy and ask him this morning.

The 2 buddies picked up 50 pieces of weathered equipment and headed out to Colorado. That’s where the show is they got a last minute shared table at. They told me they’d be gone at least a week. After the show they want to chase trains in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska if the weather is safe. If they sell 10 of my units I’ll be thrilled. I’ve pulled all my unsold stuff off the 8 Facebook sales sites I list at. It has been very slow again on FB. I will list some different models though this weekend as I keep trying

I’m not sure about today. Terry’s office since the daughter’s family have moved in is a corner of my cave. I know she’ll be there while the markets are open. Her classical music is too much for me. Her recovery from the cataract surgeries I would say is successful. Her memory lost and sometimes confusion while brief is very concerning. Noticeable enough that my brother mentioned it. She is aware and before finishing her transactions has had me double checking. The meds for her Trigeminal Neuralgia are possibly/probaby causing it. The warnings are on the bottles and her doctors told us to watch for it. They are weaning her off her meds but it’s a slow process slowed down further because of the eye surgeries

I need to look for a place to eat out tonight. Fish Fry Friday during Lent is even busier than a normal Friday night in Wisconsin. Very few places take Friday reservations but I’m going to search on the Open Table app.

Enjoy the day
 


Good Morning All. Cloudy with a bit of fog and 53°. It will probably rain today, but how much and when is a matter for Mother Nature to decide. Yesterday's rain was limited to what I reported, ending before dawn; which amounted to a measly 0.14". Current radar shows most of the activity moving north of here. Be careful on the road Patrick. Cold front arrives tonight and temperatures will drop until bottoming out near freezing Sunday about dawn. My new Tomato plants will come inside for a couple of nights as planned.

I made the weekly grocery trek yesterday flying solo, as my wife's shoulder was still aching from something that she did Tuesday. I once again ran into the wife of the retired LHS owner who I supported for 23 years. Our grocery shopping days are the same and I regularly see and speak to her. Or I should say that I regularly listen to her! I used to see Chuck for a while when she was recovering from some kind of surgery and was home-bound. Later in the afternoon, I was able to spend time pulling weeds in the garden in areas that I can't easily get to with the hoe, too close to the actual plants. They tend to proliferate wherever I put the garden from the untended areas around me like along the road easements where neither me or the county can (or will) mow. They're especially bad this year since I was unable to maintain it last year due to tornado debris clean-up.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued with the quarterly cleanup. I vacuumed all of the industrial trackage that I didn't get to on Wednesday and started removing buildings for cleaning and repair where needed. I just randomly grabbed Tina's Tick-Tock Shop, an establishment devoted to selling clocks. This structure is one that I bought from the consignment table at the LHS back around 2010. It's origin is a Walther's kit called Vic's Barber Shop. It was bare walls and roof when I got it and it appears that I hastily added an interior and sign to it. However the windows were never completed and the original builder never put any stiffeners in the roof.
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I had added the sidewalk, figures, sign and the interior to the storefront a few years ago
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The roof is currently under weights to remove as much of the bow as possible before I add some .080" styrene strips to it. Since most of the windows that need curtains are in the rear, I will just cut some simple pieces of colored cardstock for them.
I cleaned two other buildings without making any modifications. Forgot to take pictures.

Hughie - Thanks for the info. The reason that I couldn't find it is because I didn't open the individual items. Overall it's a neat looking structure.
Joe - Congratulations on the good test results. By the way, I really liked the city scenes that you posted.
Marco -
ALL under the radar because my girl will not be back till tomorrow night. what? what wood? noooo this is here since months. i dont know what you mean
Never had that problem with my wife. However, I used to go Christmas shopping for stuff that she and my kids could wrap and give me for Christmas. But I would take the new stuff out to the train shed and hand her a bag of Athearn cars from my unbuilt stash to wrap. She never knew that they were mostly the same freight cars year after year.

Lousy start to the day so far. The fog has turned into mist for now. Stock Market is down again today. I'm down 3.5% for the week. Wife wants me to sell which will lock in the losses! I want to buy the dip! So we will do nothing for now since she doesn't know how to work the accounts. She has complete access, but never took the time to learn the trading.
Y'all have a fabulous Friday.
 
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