Running Bear's Coffee Shop July 2024

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Güten abend alles!

Not much going on tonight. Thankfully the cool front that came through last night helped with the temps today

DIL's birthday today, her and son#3 are coming here for dinner tomorrow night.

Been working little by little on the layout. Hope to be able to run trains end to end by Christmas if not sooner, but there is still more mainline to lay. The problem is I am still trying to figure out where I want the industries to fall.

Cars. I started my driving life with a 1969 Mustang. At that time my mom had a 66, my dad a 67, and my oldest sister a 70. Yes, we were a Ford family, along with Dad's F150, moms 75 Gran Torino and my other sisters 77 Maverick. My Uncle who lived next door was a Ford Technician by day, and a farmer by night and weekends. Then one fateful day I came home with a new Pontiac Sunbird and was almost disowned. The little car with the 231 v6, 4 speed and RTS suspension package was more fun on a back road than any car I had ever driven. The curvier the road, the better! Since then it was all GM, with the exception of a Ford Ranger( that was💩) Wife had a Jeep Liberty(more 💩) when we met. I was so glad when that went down the road! I dated a girl who had a Diesel VW Rabbit. It was no rabbit, it was a snail! The only other VW I've ever driven was a rental Passat. I was not impressed. Over the years of working in Ford, GM, Chrysler, Honda, Saturn, Lincoln-Mercury, and Kia shops. They are all plastic, tin, and rubber. They all have issues and idiosyncrasies, and they are all holes you throw cash into. We love, we hate em and we can't get away from them.
So folks say I'm jaded. I agree. Every time a new model comes out I am the last person to oooh and aaah over them. I liken my view to the piano player in an old time whorehouse. I've seen it all, the models change but really there is nothing new, so I keep playing!
 
My first car was a 1983 (? could have been an 82 or 84 but more likely 82/83) Dodge K Car 2 door Dodge Aries with manual transmission -- one of the loss leader cars that they'd put in the ads to get you to the lot). It had been my dad's car but he wanted to get a Dodge Colt hatchback for his commute and I needed a car, having started my first real job at DEC in 1988. He sold it to me for $1. I drove it for about 6 months and noticed an oil leak so I took it to our town's local garage / mechanic. He put it on the lift and then told me it wasn't worth fixing as the frame was rusted through and hiytting a railword track hard could snap the frame.

I drove up to the Honda dealer in Nashua NH but they didn't have any cars on the lot (cars sold out within a day or two of getting a shipment back then for Honda) so I went to the VW dealer across the street. I bought a new 1989 model year 2 door Golf GL. It was an awesome car. I've basically been a VW guy since then (I outlined that in an older post).

My dad basically converted the family to being a Honda family a year later when he got a Civic for my mom. He eventually replaced his Colt and they've had Hondas since. We actually have my dad's 2007 Honda Fit that he sold me for $1 for my kids to use when he stopped driving (before he passed a year or so later). They had a 2001 Civic that got destroyed by an idiot in a crash, a 2004 Accord, and this Fit in addition to the 89 Civic. The 89 Civic he sold to the Honda salesman that sold him the Accord in 2004.
 
Good morning! It's 66° in Tipton.
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Good Morning All!
64F @48% clear with great stars. Only to 97F yesterday, better. Cooling trend for the next few days.

Weather: Usually we see a week or two of 100F+ in the middle of August. Here it is the middle of July and already have had 100F+ days. Forest is pretty dry but no fires around us. Hope the cooling trend brings in some wet stuff.

Trip to the Spo VA yesterday was good. Did not have to 'get dilated' for the inside of the eye pix so that was a good thing. The issue they saw 3 months ago apparently has gone away. Speaking of Spo, the place has turning into a homeless/junkie spot. Most of the folks walking around when we got there ( 0600 ) looked like zombies. What a waste. Downtown proper is still pretty clear/clean, just don't go North as it is infested. Did not go South this time, so unknown. We started seeing little 2 wheeled electric scooters on about every corner. Looks like those rental ones. So, ya get on one, give it your card and a ride to your destination. Get off and leave it? They don't look to be solar powered, so batteries probably dead. I can just imagine the hoop jumping of finding/getting them back to a central location. Suspect they have GPS's and call home telling the last known location before the battery dies? Surprised the junkies are not parting them out.

Construction on US2 between Troy and Bonner's Ferry coming back was almost an hour delay. The asphalt mill was in use from Moyee to about 15 miles West. Had not been done when we went by at 0430. What a PITA. Tried to go up 200 but could not get on it because of construction ( 13 miles longer, but a bunch faster ).

Thanks for all the posted pix likes yesterday. It is good to get our butt's outa the house. We are done now for awhile. 326 miles Wednesday, 340 Yesterday. Back is dying as I am not used to going 600+ miles a day anymore.

Later
 
Good afternoon all. A cloudy day Temperature nowhere near 100 degrees.
A large coffee please Flo. A busy morning and I am behind time.
Youngest grandson visiting after school. Not sure if he is staying over?

On my soapbox.
For months Dawn has been without some medical supplies.
Unable to get them because of the war in Ukraine? Apparently 'everything' the country is short of comes from the warzone? (Ukraine must be the richest country in the world.)
Now call me what you like, but the war is still going on. We have a new Government in power. Dawn's medical supplies are available?
End of soapbox.

Time to make some lunch.

Later
 
Morning all,

Supposed to hit 100° later. Not looking forward to that.

After PT yesterday we hit the part of RT 66 called the Ribbon or Sidewalk road. I see why the county wants to replace the road. Then started back towards home along the route. Funny how we saw things we missed when we did that link a couple years ago.

I think we overdid it with the short trip, but we had a good time.
 
Just received another $900.00 bill for from the lawyer concerning my wife's Medicaid case bringing the total to $8,500.00 so far. The invoice read for 2 hours work done on Mary's Medicare application. It didn't say what kind of work or if it's going to be settled anytime soon. Reminds me of when her son died, and Verizon sent us a bill for $2,800. When I asked them what it was for, they told me for stuff. What stuff i said? They didn't get back to me on that for 5 months. The lawyer's fees are now half of the amount the nursing home wants Medicare to pay for my wife's stay $16,500.00. Of course, if I pay the nursing home privately, it's $36.500.00.
Swal
 
Good morning gang!

70° and raining, with a high of 79° predicted with scattered showers all day. Maybe my lawn will go green again?

DIL birthday dinner tonight, plus I gotta be at the shop tomorrow, so no trains tonight.

New adventure on the car front. The fuel pump died on the red 2003 S10. Rather than drop the tank I think I may just lift the bed off of the frame about 2 feet. 4 bolts and unhook the tail lights and its off, Then I can get to the pump in the tank. 2 good things, 1) it died in the driveway at home so no tow bill, and 2) its a spare vehicle anyway, so I'm not pressed to fix it asap.

My Dad was right, if it has tits or tires, it's gonna give you trouble!
 
Good morning gang!

70° and raining, with a high of 79° predicted with scattered showers all day. Maybe my lawn will go green again?

DIL birthday dinner tonight, plus I gotta be at the shop tomorrow, so no trains tonight.

New adventure on the car front. The fuel pump died on the red 2003 S10. Rather than drop the tank I think I may just lift the bed off of the frame about 2 feet. 4 bolts and unhook the tail lights and its off, Then I can get to the pump in the tank. 2 good things, 1) it died in the driveway at home so no tow bill, and 2) its a spare vehicle anyway, so I'm not pressed to fix it asap.

My Dad was right, if it has tits or tires, it's gonna give you trouble!
Karl a friend had his fuel pump die in his van and then found out it was just a loose wire going to the pump. I would check that out first.
Swal
 
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howdi folks

- already around 3PM (CEST)
- airport of course running
- temp outside around 25 celcius
- some rain and thunderstorm should come tonight again..

picture of today:

mack.jpg


iam not shure if i already showed you this truck?
the story behind: this truck was my dads truck. he built this over iam not shure maybe 10 years, all by himself. he always had the dream of driving with a road train like the australians do. he was never in australia, he was just a truck driver all over europe. he built this truck with a poster by his side. he won several prizes all over the country and europe for best looking truck.

then one night around midnight he called me. ky dad never calls that late, well it turned out that the place where hes workshop was, was set on fire by some stupid kids that where working on an old car with a flex, next to a old woodpile. the whole barn burnt down, with it over 40 motorcycles of my dad and also hes truck.

not to mention, 2 years from then he was away from hes retirement.. he still has around 20 motorcycles, also hes old racing bike but he lost hes truck that he wanted to convert into a RV to cruise around europe after hes retirement..

because of this iam always looking for model MACK Rs in my scales (atm H0) to buy and build, so the truck can life on my layouts. i have one in N scale that i still have to build :D
 


My first car was a 1983 (? could have been an 82 or 84 but more likely 82/83) Dodge K Car 2 door Dodge Aries with manual transmission...
I had a 1981, 4-door, 2.2L with Automatic Transmission, Plymouth K car, briefly. The car was given to me, 1987 maybe. The dealer said it was worthless as a trade in. (I'll take most anything if it's free) My intention was to go over it, inspect it, sell it, and make a few dollars. I was a MD state inspector and no I would never cheat on an inspection, I lost a few friends, but who needs friend like that!

The body, white paint, red vinyl top and red "leather" looking interior looked good. After repairing or replacing anything it needed. Brakes, tires, battery, belts, hoses, fluids and filters, my Mom saw it. She loved it, so I gave it to her. She drove it for about 10 years, trouble free until she was no longer comfortable driving. Several of her grandchildren have told me of their memories of going shopping and other places with "Mom-Mom". It was a great little car!
 
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