Running Bear's April 2025 Coffee Shop

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Cashed in my life insurance policies to raise some investment capital. That was the day before Liberation Day! Not panicking. My broker will tell me when to panic. You know, when the great crash of 1929 occurred some people had just enough money to rent a room in a highrise hotel. Used the room to open a window to jump out of! (Ty Cobb didn't. He had a bunch of cash and bought Coca Cola stock...made a fortune.) Me, I could only afford a basement window! Not worried. Viet Nam has already offered to drop their terrif if will drop the one on them, As far as the market is concerned, my grandfather used to say, "The stock market is run on emotion. The president sneezed; get me my broker!" Not worried about HO scale stuff going up. I can't/won't afford the prices on current stuff, anyway. And most of it is out of my era anyway!
 
Patrick said:
Afternoon all,

Getting a couple of quotes to do a bath to shower conversion. Sounds like $8-10 thousand range is the norm. We'll know more when they actually come and measure. Anyone ever work with Bathfitter? They are one of the 2 companies coming out in the next couple of weeks. Not money I really want to put in the house, but doing it will keep us able to stay here longer.

Bbl.
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Before:
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After:
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As for Tariffs, I hear that the Penguins on Heard Island are planning retaliation for the tariffs against their mating pebbles, and fresh sardines.
 
Patrick said:
Getting a couple of quotes to do a bath to shower conversion. Sounds like $8-10 thousand range is the norm.
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One of the best investments we ever made. We redid the whole bathroom, vanity and full tile floor as well and it cost about $7500 ten years ago. Got the taller toilet at the same time. Made wife's life much easier as she had mobility issues. I'd recommend it.
 


Terry has closed out all her plays from this week. She claims she is not going to even look at her investment computer this weekend. She’s still smiling but does not have the results from one of her transactions. Said the last 2 hours of market activity for her the system slowed to a crawl. The son said it did for him too. Probably everyone trying to get out before the weekend

Gotta message from my LHS that the Central Valley Tie strips and switch strips are in that I ordered early this week. I think I am going to remove my Grain Terminal
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and sell it off. That’s an old photo. I have some ideas for 3 businesses and 9 spots in the same space. Maybe this will rekindl interest in the layout

Had a guy I’ve known for a few years ask if I had any small paper mill plans to help him. I found this one.
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Next
 
westtexjohn said:
Real estate folks say you get the biggest return on your investment on new windows. Second best return is new bathrooms.
It looks great.

John
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We just had a quote for converting a 6’x10’ full guest bath to a walk in shower with no water curbs. $13,000 and 4 weeks from start to finish. We are thinking about it.

Did the windows and roof last August. Did the owners suite bathroom in January and I’m embarrassed by that cost

Our realtor says bathrooms are the best return in Wisconsin followed closely by kitchens. Pools are the worst investment
 
TLOC said:
Terry says buy the dip
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She's right! Problem is finding the bottom of the dip. I either missed an opportunity today, or spared myself from screwing up... won't know until Monday's trade...Things tend to go bad during the last two hours of the trading day, when we are in one of these cycles. There are bargains out there, but today's bargains could be Monday's disaster. Patience is needed. They will go up in time.
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those wondering if a "full English" is related to a Full Monty?

It's Troy again

MIL news: still in hospital. Minor progress being made.

Wife got a chance to start the DNR discussion with her. Fortunately, MIL has a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted already. So most life-threatening heart events are covered.

They brought a Doc in and had a good chat about it with Wife and her Sis there (both in healthcare professions). MIL agreed to it for this visit. They'll have to rehash the conversation once she's released, and get paperwork signed and notarized for the staff at the Senior Living facility.

In other news, I forgot to take my hearing aids out when I went to bed. You might recall I have problems with Tinnitus (currently at about a 7). I normally take them out, and put on a sound-headband with thin speakers over the ears. Its bluetoothed to my ipad, and I play water or crickets all night. I hear them and wife doesn't.

I heard them real well last night. So, the headband is still on (listening to waves lap on a lakeshore), while the hearing aids sit on the charger.

Not sure what today will bring, but I'll probably work on the book this morning. Do some tidying up while the wife is off at the hospital visiting her mother.

Back to tariffs, part of my gaming hobby is I count as a non-paid volunteer for the company in Greece that makes the models and writes the rules. As such, if I do my part and host two game days a month (or equivalent) then I get a $50 voucher to use in their online store. I still pay $18 shipping or more, but a $32 discount isn't bad at all.

But they ship from Greece. But I think the under $800 direct-ship is still exempt. However, companies are scrambling to figure it out on their end.

I was going to order a brontosaurus next month... Dang! Don't want to pay extra to get him shipped.
 


Good morning. It's 68 and clear.
I've unplugged my electric fireplace, and stored my space heater, the next time I need them will probably be near the end of November. I washed the exterior of the trailer, and today I am going to apply the spot sealant to the roof. Later, I plan on letting a couple of trains circle my layout while I put out my Summer decorations. It'll probably take longer to find said decorations than put them up, as they consist of a couple of small artificial floral arrangements I stored last October. Somewhere.
 
Boris said:
She's right! Problem is finding the bottom of the dip. I either missed an opportunity today, or spared myself from screwing up... won't know until Monday's trade...Things tend to go bad during the last two hours of the trading day, when we are in one of these cycles. There are bargains out there, but today's bargains could be Monday's disaster. Patience is needed. They will go up in time.
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Whatever you purchased this week you hold onto per the advice of the wife. She has some worries about what she purchased, especially Rivian and one of the Ford stocks. Says if they go lower, she’ll just buy some more of it!

She plans to be at her desk again Monday when she feels the blood bath will really begin.

Warren Buffet says buy and hold good companies, they will stick around

I say pray!
 
Good morning from Wisconsin. 39f degrees now maybe 50 later. It should be a calm but cloudy day.

The grandson is playing soccer today with 2 games in the Wisconsin Dells about 50 miles north of us. We are not going.

I am having some issues with the latest blood pressure medications and in a text from the doctor yesterday said he would recommend against driving. Received that message as we were out and about yesterday. Terry hasn’t been driving because of her medications so we are kind of screwed right now. We need to get away and we have a trip planned after the doctor visits this Thursday. I do recognize the symptoms now and can handle them. The doctor in the message said to cut the pills into 1/2’s instead of taking the full tablet. It’s fun to get older

Enjoy your day
 
Morning all,

Waiting to get tires rotated before getting to the office. Set the updates running from home before I left. Should be ready to reboot when I get to the office.

As far as the bathroom, I have the flooring and toilet sitting in the basement waiting on the tub. We've been tossing doing the conversion for several years. I asked about a cash discount, and got a funny look from the wife. After we got home and looked at what she'd been doing with our "escrow" , there's enough in that to pay for the bathroom and still pay next year's taxes and insurance. She had been putting the old house payment amount in the account.

Bbl
 
The Tariff Panic seems to have arrived on the auction site. I was going to pick up a couple of items for future use/parts, but I think I’ll just hold what I’ve got, and see how things shake out in the coming weeks/months. One thing I “did” do before panic sets in there, was pick up a laptop to use when my old one konks out. It was on clearance for 50% off retail. That is, 50% off the retail price as of January 1 of this year, not the panic-stricken inflated prices we seem to be finding now. Now that I did that, my current equipment will probably outlive me, but we all know how Murphy works.
 


Got dinner in the slow cooker (crock pot):
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Smoked Italian sausages (mix of mild and spicy) in a tomato sauce with diced tomatoes (from a can) and fresh diced bell peppers and onion. I'll add penne or rotini (whichever we have) later today.

Wife wants a tenderloin and mac-n-cheese for lunch before she goes to see her mom. So we'll be off to a small family owned chain (IN, Mich, and OH) called Wings Etc. I get the cowboy burger because it comes with an onion ring on the burger and BBQ sauce.
 
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