Running Bear's August 2022 Coffee Shop

[TLOC]

Good morning all! 56 heading for 80 degrees today. Should be a nice day. First day of the Fall semester! I went in early yesterday to try to get some things done and going to go in a little early again today. I got a lot done even working by myself yesterday. Got a few things to finish up this morning and then I'll be caught up on all the stuff that has to be done. Hard to stay caught up around there. It was a good day and there was a lot of activity around the campus. They had student orientations yesterday and made a party out of it with food trucks, music and other stuff going on. It was nice having students on campus again so I'm looking forward to what I hope will be a great semester.

I picked up 6 pizzas on the way home from work as we had the kids and grandkids, minus 2 over for dinner. Once they left I hit the shower and headed for an early bedtime. I was pretty exhausted from work and it'll probably be the same again today. Now that school is back in session I'll have homework again for the classes I'm taking. Hoping I feel like working on my math class this evening and then tomorrow I have speech class on campus. I had planned on using my lunch hour to go to speech class but the college president told me I am to use work time, not my lunch hour to go to class. He said I'm doing something to improve myself and that helps me in my job so it counts as work as far as he's concerned.

LOL Terre Haute is about 45 miles from my house.Used to be one terribly stinky city till they tore down the paper mill.

Have a great day everyone!

Glad the work week has gone well for you. I thought you lived closer to St. Louis then the Indiana side of illinois, what city r u In? You seemed last semester to handle the schoolwork load pretty good. Nice way to ease you into this semester’s bigger load with the additional class. Improvement is great but your reason for going back is admirable. Enjoy it

 

[NYC_George]

No time for golf or model RR this summer it's all about getting overdo things done around the house. My 4th project was to add drop boxes to the new downspouts I added this year. Since I installed drainage pipes to channel the gutter water 30 to 40 feet from the house, I didn't want the pipes to get clogged, so I formed out some concrete drop boxes.
George

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and only 73° this morning. North winds and the accompanying cool front blew in around sunset, if you call 73° a cool front! But it is only expected to reach 88° today after 98° yesterday. Things are really expected to cool off next week with seven days of cloudy, thunderstorms and modest east breezes. It is not expected to go lower than 70° though. Still a chance of rain today, although it appears to be sticking to the north side of the Oklahoma border and moving east.

Tomato picking really picked up yesterday for reasons unknown. I picked nearly 35 pounds and skipped all of the Cherry Tomato plants. Maybe the grasshoppers will eat them instead of the bigger ones. Actually the grasshoppers are going into their mating/egg laying stage and are eating much less right now. I'll be glad to see them go although they haven't really been bad this year. They are not near as bad as 2010 or 2014 was.

Later on yesterday, I made four more quarts of spaghetti sauce. It's more time consuming than just tomato sauce, but it also uses up some of the onions that I grew.

Fridge is almost empty, so it must be Thursday, time for the weekly grocery/beer trek. Looks like the pharmacy is also on the itinerary, seems to be there more regularly. .

Thanks for the reactions and comments regarding the scenic additions posted yesterday; James, Patrick, Smudge, Joe, Hughie, Louis, Mikey, Tom O, Dave B, Dave (PV), Jeff, Curt, Rick, Gary, George, Sherrel, OB Ken.

I continued to work on things yesterday out in the train shed. I did continue on the chain link fence, but that is a slow process. I returned to the backdrop structure made from DPM wall sections and applied mortar wash, weathering powders and signs.
Finished views only since I didn't take any pictures in between. Kinda dull anyway.

Now I need to decide whether to paint the windows or leave them in their stock plastic color.

Patrick - That computer failure tale made my day. My buddy in the IT department at work encountered those types of situations pretty frequently.
Jeff -

If that's junk that "shows up" places, I would have to put a random tennis shoe in there somewhere. Seems I always see a random tennis shoe along a road.

That just gave me a great idea that I will incorporate. I have dozens of pairs of legs that I have cut off from figures so they could fit into the drivers seat of vehicles. I'll cut off shoes and scatter them with other junk and debris.
Mike - I shaved just once in the last 48 years since I was able to grow a decent beard. Wife hates it as I didn't have it when we got married.
Terry -

You could always place it at the East end of the layout, and point it toward England... Or your least favorite state or national capital...

Pretty wide range of choices there.

Today is National Fajita Day. Get the grill warmed up and ice down the Corona.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[OBTC 1909]

Glad the work week has gone well for you. I thought you lived closer to St. Louis then the Indiana side of illinois, what city r u In? You seemed last semester to handle the schoolwork load pretty good. Nice way to ease you into this semester’s bigger load with the additional class. Improvement is great but your reason for going back is admirable. Enjoy it

I live out in the country south of Robinson, IL. The college I work at is on the very outermost east edge of Robinson. I actually have a Flat Rock, IL address but fewer people have heard of Flat Rock even than the few who have heard of Robinson LOL I grew up in Robinson then my wife and I moved south to the property out in the country where she grew up. The main claims to fame for Robinson are the Heath candy bar and the author James Jones (From Here to Eternity) are both from here.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from So. Central Wisconsin. It’s just hit 60 as I watched the weather app. It was 56 degrees 2 hours ago around 5:15 but the humidity is high at 87% with the dew point at 58 degrees. That means until it hits 65f out there I am by the pool deck behind the glass until it warms up. These damp mornings really mess up my wake up and exercise cycle. I alternate between walking and swimming for the daily exercise routine. Walking outside in the dampness is not pleasant to me. My trainer says starting in September I should switch to the 5:30 swimming to start every day and walk the 2-4 miles daily in the afternoon. I suggested where she could stuff herself. I can get the 2 miles done in 36-42 minutes with the goal being 3 miles in an hour. But I have no desire to do 4 miles an hour, those days are gone. She says otherwise.

Around 11:30 last night I was still in the train room. Working on the transload facility or as the guys on another forum says “oh,the fancy name for team tracks.” I am starting to enjoy the layout again. Today, I want to finish painting and then making it slightly dirty the Auger I got from Miniprints.com.

Today I hope to put down another section of the base for the Transload‘s concrete lot. I use 1/4” foam board. I buy the cheap stuff for now $1.25 at the Dollar Tree and it has been pretty good and consistent over the years. The stuff I purchased yesterday is most definitely not a consistent 1/4” thick, but it will work fine.

I did promise to ride with Terry and the daughter’s family including the hubby at 10AM. The kids start back to school the 1st week day in September and we are going to start riding together more often as a family. Just us, not the neighbors or friends.

Terry’s crew got a call from a rescue group from Northern Wisconsin around noon yesterday for 4 horses and a couple cows. Nervous about the cows but ok on the horses, they didn’t show up at 6 last night. The 2 cows were put down and one of the local neighbors nearby them decided to take in the horses. Saved the horses a 3 hour drive yesterday but the crew was all fired up. Ended up buying 16 pizzas extra large 22” ones yesterday and I only had 2 slices. Pizza is no longer good for me. The stable girls, guys and family sure can eat.

Terry says we have no rescue animals left on the property as some were put down, sold at Rescue Auctions or returned to where they came from. That part just slays me. Why return abused animals to the same owners just because they promise to do better? Thankfully for Terry’s crew most of the horses received are because the owner passed, lived alone and the animals weren’t fed. Those just seem to have happier results. January, February and March are the big rescue months for this place.

Looking out over the greenery through the south facing glass wall is a pretty site this morning. The fields and trees are pretty damp from the dew and continuing high humidity. Everything is shimmering. Maybe that sun will burn out the dampness.

The surveyor will be back late this afternoon. She had to make some changes for what my vision is not hers! I did offer her part of the package so she could do her thing on that. She said she has no money, lives pay check to pay check for herself and at times skips her paycheck to pay her 2 helpers. Said as a women it’s hard for her to break into the business dominated by men and she has been at it on her own the last 4 years. Been surveying since 14 with her dad. Never married but has had lousy boyfriends and the daughters dad has never paid a cent of child support. Yep, heard that story a few times. Just turned 34 with a 8 year old.

Done rambling thanks for being here for me

 

[TLOC]

No time for golf or model RR this summer it's all about getting overdo things done around the house. My 4th project was to add drop boxes to the new downspouts I added this year. Since I installed drainage pipes to channel the gutter water 30 to 40 feet from the house, I didn't want the pipes to get clogged, so I formed out some concrete drop boxes.
George

View attachment 150338

Looks good and a smart idea

 

[TLOC]

I live out in the country south of Robinson, IL. The college I work at is on the very outermost east edge of Robinson. I actually have a Flat Rock, IL address but fewer people have heard of Flat Rock even than the few who have heard of Robinson LOL I grew up in Robinson then my wife and I moved south to the property out in the country where she grew up. The main claims to fame for Robinson are the Heath candy bar and the author James Jones (From Here to Eternity) are both from here.

Ken

Well I sure had you on the wrong side of Illinois! I know nothing about the area you are in. Thank you for letting me know.

Loved Heath bars and heard of James Jones and saw the movie.

 

[McLeod]

Morning, folks!

Just a fast pass through the shop, as I'm overly busy working for an overly particular women who wants a fancy design fence. It matters not to me what a person wants built, but I don't care for the vulture style over-sight.

I did stop to take photos of an SD40 while shopping for some lumber the other day. Simply couldn't resist. Here's one of the photos:

I'm not seeing many SD40's anymore. When one shows up, I stop and take photos; I don't care how pushy a customer is.

Gotta get going! See ya all when after the fence is completed. Have a good one!

 

[logandsawman]

Good morning all,

62° and sun is now out. Looks like we are going for 76. Fog the whole drive in today, but sun broke through just a few minutes ago.

Tom- I wonder where my old hammer went. Looks like you have it, it shows up in yesterday afternoons pic. By the way, I prefer to walk below 2.7 mph. I notice when I walk faster, my knees get sore. Funny that, otherwise no knee problems. I used my hand held GPS to make that discovery when periodically noticed the sore knees and put two and two together.

Terry - Tuna is a food dreaded by me as well

Jeff - I was told the tennis shoes suspended in powerlines is a gang symbol, some kind of a turf thing. They were all over the place in the Bad River Reservation east of Ashland, WI

George - those downspout drop boxes are very clever

Willie - I like your paint technique on the new bank bldg

Curt - your model will be done in no time at your pace.

Last night I did some mowing and we watched Rockford files. Wife bought a utility shelf for the garden shed, I was skeptical but it turned out really nice, assembled and filled it full of stuff before Rockford last night. Have to get to the library to "rent" season 5 of Gunsmoke. Already have a bunch of "crap" to do on Saturday, kind of runes my day off. I am going to try to figure out how to do some after work.

Here is a shot shows some of my caboose also my one passenger car:

Potato warehouse on right, Wyoming depot in background

maybe posted this pic before

More later, Dave

 

[JeffH]

On the SD40-2s... Why such a large platform at the rear? I always thought the SD40T-2 looked better without such a large porch hanging off the rear end.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I heard that the loco was used extensively for switching and the crews needed a larger area on the loco to stand.

 

[JeffH]

[snip]

Jeff - I was told the tennis shoes suspended in powerlines is a gang symbol, some kind of a turf thing. They were all over the place in the Bad River Reservation east of Ashland, WI

I have heard that as well. I just figured it was the high school seniors being bullies to the freshmen, throwing their shoes and getting them stuck, lol!

BTW, it reminds me of either Breaking Bad, or Better Call Saul, where Mike tainted the bad guys' truck with drugs by sniping a bag of dope in a shoe dangling from power lines as the truck smuggling the drugs drove underneath... Pretty cool way to alert the authorities... sprinkle Crystal Meth all over the exterior of the truck...

 

[OBTC 1909]

Ken

Well I sure had you on the wrong side of Illinois! I know nothing about the area you are in. Thank you for letting me know.

Loved Heath bars and heard of James Jones and saw the movie.

I dearly love Heath bars.

 

[santafewillie]

On the SD40-2s... Why such a large platform at the rear? I always thought the SD40T-2 looked better without such a large porch hanging off the rear end.

It's because EMD used the same frame for a number of different locos back then, notably the SD45-2, which because of it's 20 cylinder engine needed a longer frame. SD38-2's and SD40-2's used the same frame with the longer porches.

 

[troyphoto]

Tomato picking really picked up yesterday for reasons unknown. I picked nearly 35 pounds and skipped all of the Cherry Tomato plants. Maybe the grasshoppers will eat them instead of the bigger ones. Actually the grasshoppers are going into their mating/egg laying stage and are eating much less right now. I'll be glad to see them go although they haven't really been bad this year. They are not near as bad as 2010 or 2014 was.
View attachment 150329View attachment 150330

There appears to be some fornication of the green kind going on.... Making more tomato munchers for next year?

That just gave me a great idea that I will incorporate. I have dozens of pairs of legs that I have cut off from figures so they could fit into the drivers seat of vehicles. I'll cut off shoes and scatter them with other junk and debris.

For some reason, after reading that, my mind wondered why you'd be scattering dismembered legs about your layout? Zombie Apocolypse?

 

[TLOC]

Good morning all,

62° and sun is now out. Looks like we are going for 76. Fog the whole drive in today, but sun broke through just a few minutes ago.

Tom- I wonder where my old hammer went. Looks like you have it, it shows up in yesterday afternoons pic. By the way, I prefer to walk below 2.7 mph. I notice when I walk faster, my knees get sore. Funny that, otherwise no knee problems. I used my hand held GPS to make that discovery when periodically noticed the sore knees and put two and two together.

Terry - Tuna is a food dreaded by me as well

Jeff - I was told the tennis shoes suspended in powerlines is a gang symbol, some kind of a turf thing. They were all over the place in the Bad River Reservation east of Ashland, WI

George - those downspout drop boxes are very clever

Willie - I like your paint technique on the new bank bldg

Curt - your model will be done in no time at your pace.

Last night I did some mowing and we watched Rockford files. Wife bought a utility shelf for the garden shed, I was skeptical but it turned out really nice, assembled and filled it full of stuff before Rockford last night. Have to get to the library to "rent" season 5 of Gunsmoke. Already have a bunch of "crap" to do on Saturday, kind of runes my day off. I am going to try to figure out how to do some after work.

Here is a shot shows some of my caboose also my one passenger car:

View attachment 150341

Potato warehouse on right, Wyoming depot in background

maybe posted this pic before

More later, Dave

Love the track level picture.


The Hammer. That boy has been with me since Terry and I moved in together in 1972. Dad gave me the hammer, a coupler of pliers, a screw driver set, 2 plumbing wrenches and a jimmy. Said I needed it as a homeowner and learn how to use them properly. The jimmy was for unlocking the car when the keys were left in.

 

[Boris]

I heard that the loco was used extensively for switching and the crews needed a larger area on the loco to stand.

The long "back porch" was because the frame was designed so that the same frame could be used for the longer tunnel motor, or a possible passenger version, (never built). The SD40 was and is extensively used for switching, local and through freight. It was the most reliable and versitile diesel locomotive ever built.

 

[Bruette]

I also tend to be a little cheap.
I think I let everybody here know about the electrical issue at my house, and that I had gathered everything up, and taken it to my friend at the computer store. He knows I am considering a move into smaller quarters, and gave me the laptop I'm typing this on in exchange for the stuff I brought.
I went looking for a spare power brick for this laptop, and managed to find a place that was selling the whole thing.
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I called him to make sure he meant to give me this thing. He said it was a "thank you" for bailing him out of the fire and not asking for anything in payment over the years.
I guess good friends are that. And some of them own computer stores...


I removed the link, I decided it wasn't appropriate.

Terry, I considered you to be frugal. That was why I asked you.

I'm glad, but not surprised to hear you have a good and grateful friend.

After hearing about the tuna, I'm leaning more towards cheap.

 

[ctclibby]

Just some things that tickled me today
View attachment 150304View attachment 150305View attachment 150306View attachment 150307

I always said the major problems with computers is the wingnut between the chair and keyboard!

 

[Bruette]

Have time for coffee only this morning, especially since the Dr confirmed the self diagnosis that I'm old and fat.

You are not alone,