Running Bear's August 2023 Coffee Shop

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TLOC said:
Good morning sports watchers, travelers and modelers. So. Central Wisconsin’s 90% chance of rain did happen at around 5:30am as predicted. My morning walk scheduled for then turned out needing to be done on the machine that goes nowhere. The rain though only lasted no more then 10 minutes from start to finish. Basically a non weather event.

Talked to my brother Thursday at noon WIsconsin time and 7am Maui time. He said they were still doing ok but when he went to the grocery store on Wednesday he said supplies were low. Most of the local places were on reduced hours for lack of staff and products. He was saying things locally for him were fine but food stuffs could become a problem with the harbors messed up. Said he has enough food for at least a week. Terry’s greenhouse is producing and they have plenty of fresh green beans, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, zucchini, squash and whatever else she grows in there. Terry has taught his girlfriend a few years ago how to tend the garden there and he says she has really gotten “into it”. He says he doesn’t want to but could handle salads and veggies to eat so they will be fine. The son told me tried his uncle last night and said he got a message that lines were busy. I tried before bed last night around midnight and I just got a buzzing sound. Sounds like the cell service on Maui near him is having issues. I will try again in a couple of hours.

I am waiting for my DCC system to show up. Ordered Sunday and I have an acknowledgement of the order but nothing indicating it been shipped yet. I also purchased some more sulfur cars on Tuesday and also have not seen anything about them being shipped.

Questions and some thoughts for the day…

Good to see the Supreme Court stop the stupid settlement in the Pharma case.

Would you take a Robo taxi? Not me…

I recently started selling HO weathered freight cars via EBay to minor success. My Facebook 1st time buyers are way way down. So I am trying EBay. Question is to the EBay buyers here. DO YOU check anywhere else before buying on Ebay. The items I have sold are a minimum $30 more than the prices I list on FB? On one car the bidding made the car $110 more then what a very similar one I sold on FB. I am happy but has society become this lazy?

How can it be that College players are not allowed to gamble but the conferences can let the companies that take legal bets be team and conference sponsors? The NFL is the same way. Can we say DOUBLE STANDARD. I think if any of the suspended players went to court to overturn the suspensions they should win

enjoy the day
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Tom: Been eBay'r since 1995. It has gotten more confabultated over the years. But, just like anywhere else, I price check 1st; usually in multiple places.

Used to be I would list everything in auction format. Then I started to realize that the Buy It Now format works for those that do not have time, or do not want to wait until auction ends. Been awhile since I did eBay as a seller. Used to be that you could have both Bid and/or BiN of which the BiN would go away if the Bid was higher. Ya, some folks have ID ten T problems. One of the things I always build into my 'have to have price' is shipping if it is a lighter item. I figure shipping from the tip of Wa, to the tip of Fl and only allow that to the lower 48. Then make the auction 'Free Shipping'. That in itself attracts folks. If a heaver item, do 'Actual Shipping $$$' from [your zip].

You may not know; the USPS has flat rate boxes AND they will ship them to you for free - no need to buy something. I expect that those long cars you are selling probably won't fit in one with suitable protection though.

Later
 
ctclibby said:
You may not know; the USPS has flat rate boxes AND they will ship them to you for free - no need to buy something. I expect that those long cars you are selling probably won't fit in one with suitable protection though.
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They also have various flat rate envelopes etc which may work as they can "fit" around your own box/padding. There are also larger flat rate boxes if shipping multiple items and also not flate rate but cheaper set sized zone A/B/C boxes which increase by distance but cheaper than regular priority mail.

The Zone A/B/C or whatever they are called is only available for click and ship online and not at the counter IIRC. Yes USPS will send you the materials and is how you get the Zone A/B/C boxes or whatever they are called.
 


ctclibby said:
Tom: Been eBay'r since 1995. It has gotten more confabultated over the years. But, just like anywhere else, I price check 1st; usually in multiple places.

Used to be I would list everything in auction format. Then I started to realize that the Buy It Now format works for those that do not have time, or do not want to wait until auction ends. Been awhile since I did eBay as a seller. Used to be that you could have both Bid and/or BiN of which the BiN would go away if the Bid was higher. Ya, some folks have ID ten T problems. One of the things I always build into my 'have to have price' is shipping if it is a lighter item. I figure shipping from the tip of Wa, to the tip of Fl and only allow that to the lower 48. Then make the auction 'Free Shipping'. That in itself attracts folks. If a heaver item, do 'Actual Shipping $$$' from [your zip].

You may not know; the USPS has flat rate boxes AND they will ship them to you for free - no need to buy something. I expect that those long cars you are selling probably won't fit in one with suitable protection though.

Later
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Todd, the USPS flat rate boxes have lately NOT been the best way to ship. During Covid I bet I shipped over 1/2 the weathered stuff in those flat rate freebies from the Post OFfice. Especially the shoebox size that was part of the flat rate plan back then. Now the shoebox from the USPS is just a priority box. I keep medium and large flat rate boxes at the shipping bench. I do buy in quantities of 25 4x6x16 boxes and some 6x6x 10. But basically if it’s a clients piece to be weathered I return it in the same box it arrived in. I love to see the boxes that arrive that are taped together just using scotch tape!!!

I have compared the listed EBay shipping prices shown on the auction to MY USPS rates and the Ebay rate is almost 40% less than what I can ship it for. I do have a USPS account so I can put things out for our local postal person to pick up because I print out the labels as I do for the EBay sales, no money exchange with the driver. Thats nice and I use it for bad weather but I dont mind going to the local post office
 
chadbag said:
They also have various flat rate envelopes etc which may work as they can "fit" around your own box/padding. There are also larger flat rate boxes if shipping multiple items and also not flate rate but cheaper set sized zone A/B/C boxes which increase by distance but cheaper than regular priority mail.

The Zone A/B/C or whatever they are called is only available for click and ship online and not at the counter IIRC. Yes USPS will send you the materials and is how you get the Zone A/B/C boxes or whatever they are called.
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The regional packaging pricing has been discontinued as of 8/1/2023. I don’t know about Zone. I have an account with the USPS and print the majority of my labels and give the boxes to my daily driver. No money exchange especially in bad weather is very nice. I sent out in a bad week 3 packages. In a good week, daily.
 
kbkchooch said:
Just out of curiosity, what is your item number?
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Greetings All -- Missed a couple days and hurry read the past pages, so forgive me for not commenting on many of the items.
67 degrees this morning and only supposed to reach 80 (was 81 high yesterday).
It has been very cloudy for now three days, but only a smattering of raindrops - just enough to dirty the wind screen.

I have been attacked by something? Started with a severe head cold that I was able to beat back - now, yesterday my throat started swelling and hurt like crazy when I tried to swallow.
Went to bed last evening without eating - just couldn't swallow.
It is better this morning, but still have some soreness. The throat problem just sprang up from nowhere yesterday afternoon and very quick?

GTW - thanks for the link for the ovens. Spousal unit was impressed, however, she said that she wanted one of the ovens to be larger - not the same.

Well, it is late morning here as it is - so going to cook myself up a bowl of grits with a couple eggs up on top. That's about all I feel like eating with my throat problem.
FLO - Sorry to stiff you this morning - please put everyone's coffee on my tab!
I'll be back later.
 
Afternoon All,

Started out the day with a walk at 80F and humid. This was at 5:45 am :(. But it's a wet heat.:D The heat index locally for today is 111 F. Today I did inside chores thankfully, but tomorrow I have hedges to trim. I'm looking forward to it. Sunday we're driving out to Patrick AFB to use the commissary. It's a 90-minute drive to get there.

I went up to the train room to start on the fence only to discover the cow pond was now cloudy in the center deep area. It was clear and hard when I left on vacation. What fresh hell is this? I'll wait a couple of days then I'll have to cover it up if it remains cloudy.:mad:

Hughie- Nice job on the build. Hope the surgery turns out well.

Willie- When are the services for the chops being held?

Troy- Safe travels and have fun.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
TLOC said:
The regional packaging pricing has been discontinued as of 8/1/2023. I don’t know about Zone. I have an account with the USPS and print the majority of my labels and give the boxes to my daily driver. No money exchange especially in bad weather is very nice. I sent out in a bad week 3 packages. In a good week, daily.
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Ok, good to know. I didn't know teh regional pricing had been discontinued. That is what I was calling Zone as I couldn't remember the name. I used to use it a lot but recently had just been mailing stuff occasionally. When eguns.com was my main business I mailed packages every day... Now I just help out existing customers occasionally so don't have recent experience
 
Boris said:
This was a prime example of a team losing focus as to what their mission was. Their focus was on gender politics, not soccer, so they were vulnerable to a less talented team that wanted to play soccer and win .
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Once they take the field, elite players are seldom bothered by any off-field distractions. To play at an elite level requires a passion that results in a laser-like focus and determination once the game begins.

Like most closely contested games, it was decided by great individual effort. Sweden's goalie, Zecira Muscovic played the game of her life! For ninety minutes she blocked or otherwise saved shot after shot. She blanked the world's number one ranked team throughout regulation. Like any overtime game, it's anyone's to win. Our ladies simply failed to outscore Sweden on penalty kicks.

Big money has and will cause pressure and distractions. The are no multi-million-dollar contracts awaiting our ladies. Most elite players play for the love of the game. Otherwise, they would not and could not be elite players.

They felt pressure, it was not to lose, and it showed in the penalty kicks. Our ladies are a young team, they will do better next time!

The world is catching up to our women's team.
 


Boris said:
This was a prime example of a team losing focus as to what their mission was. Their focus was on gender politics, not soccer, so they were vulnerable to a less talented team that wanted to play soccer and win .
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chadbag said:
They went to a protest and a soccer* game broke out.

*Football for you heathens (though the word "soccer" comes from Britain)
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Boris and Chad, I must have watched a different game then you guys.

Chad, this is America! The only football is the National Football League! We don't care what the rest of the world says. 😛
 
Bruette said:
Boris and Chad, I must have watched a different game then you guys.
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I strongly disagree with you; and agree with Chad and Joe. Any team that doesn't recognize their own country's national anthem is not there for the sport. Heck, they even turned down a White House invitation in 2019. They existed for politics and individual glory, not as a team representing USA. It's too bad as they were on the cusp of setting a world record that might never be broken. Note that I don't think politics was the real reason that they lost, just a contributing factor. Egos, poor coaching and injuries also contributed, but they still weren't a team representing their home country.
 
santafewillie said:
I strongly disagree with you; and agree with Chad and Joe. Any team that doesn't recognize their own country's national anthem is not there for the sport. Heck, they even turned down a White House invitation in 2019. They existed for politics and individual glory, not as a team representing USA. It's too bad as they were on the cusp of setting a world record that might never be broken. Note that I don't think politics was the real reason that they lost, just a contributing factor. Egos, poor coaching and injuries also contributed, but they still weren't a team representing their home country.
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Yep, on company time you represent the company, not yourself. Any national team is on company time at any game or event or activity that includes them as a team.
 
Did anyone watch the game?

Sports are not political. Any political nonsense that enters into sport or emanates from the players should be ignored for what it is, nonsense.

Athletics, acting, singing or any entertainment celebrity has nothing to do with politics. I don't listen to them anymore than I would listen to the drunk at the end of the bar talk politics.

"It's the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" nothing more, nothing less.
 
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