Running Bear's Coffee Shop July 2024

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Well, howdy there internet subjects and those wondering when the damn will break with Joe ;)

It's troy again

Wife and I just went to Pizza Hut (we have sit down classic ones in this part of the state). Unbeknownst to us, 3rd Saturday of every month, the Ukulele club meets for a jam session with a local Uke teacher.

Since we tend to save our discussion time for over meals, it was um... fun trying to talk over the Ukes the teacher and another were amplified with table top mini amp/speakers, and the teacher wore a headset for her vocals.

They weren't bad, but tempo was slow for 60s and 70s songs. My hearing aids did well. I was able to hear my wife's conversation better than she heard me. The AI deep network pulled the close speech out and made it discernable for me.

Pizza was good. Stuffed crust.
 
troyphoto said:
My hearing aids did well. I was able to hear my wife's conversation better than she heard me. The AI deep network pulled the close speech out and made it discernable for me.
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Yes, that is a setting on mine as well, although I have to manually set it for that mode. I also have a music setting and a wind setting that reduces the whistle of the wind. Works well when you drive with an open window.
 


While waiting for a friend to meet us for dinner at Cracker Barrel restaurant last night, I
strolled around the gift shop. I have seen MOXIE signs on layouts for years, but did not know it was still made.
Moxie.jpg


I found a couple of other bottles to try also.
I'll let you know what Moxie tastes like.
 
santafewillie said:
Yes, that is a setting on mine as well, although I have to manually set it for that mode. I also have a music setting and a wind setting that reduces the whistle of the wind. Works well when you drive with an open window.
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my newest Oticon brand rely heavily on the Deep Neural Network(tm) that Oticon developed. AI to parse out what kind of noise environment I'm in. And it uses directionality of the built in motion sensors to try to pick up speech as I move. Old hearing aids were very dependent on where I pointed my head.

I haven't tried the wind noise driving yet, but I suspect the DNN will handle that too. It's going well with concrete highway noise, which my other hearing aids couldn't compensate for.
 
santafewillie said:
Patrick - Good for you on the money market account. We've always used them in lieu of savings accounts.
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Patrick and Willie: The Money Market account is great for my Tax escrow account. My lender reluctantly turned mine back because it was in my Mortgage Contract, that once I had 20% equity, I could manage it myself. I use it for quarterly tax payments, the annual HO association assessment, and the Homeowners Insurance coverage. Works out well. It also covers unexpected home repairs. Good deal.
 
Good morning. Flo, please put all drinks till noon on my tab. I had a great 3 days of golf but am glad to be home today and Monday. Tuesday I will drive to Kohler, Wi (about 2 hours) and play 3 days there! Yep, it’s a tough life.

I got home around 10pm last night and promptly fell to sleep on my chair in the cave. About 3 I woke up and moved to my bed. Feeling good but it’s a touch too damp and cool at 61f degrees to be out on the deck. The weather guessers are saying another beautiful Wisconsin day that may hit 80. Rain chances all day and overnight are below 10% each hour…

I know the son is here per the note found in the diet Dr Pepper cooler. He obviously got in later than I did. We will hang out today and some of Monday. Per the note he’ll then fly to Indianapolis to pick up a group at 3 eastern time. I pulled the steaks for dinner out of the freezer. Looks like I need some potatoes for baking but the veggies will come from the crop in the raised garden beds or hanging baskets. The green beans, cucumber, squash and zucchini are growing wonderfully with the lettuces hit or miss. The peas have been a disappointment. The tomatoes are plentiful both in the raised beds and the hanging baskets. Terry found about 10 years ago she had better success with cherry and grape tomatoes in the baskets than in the ground or raised beds. There are quite a few in a bowl on the kitchen countertop. The neighbor behind us picks what she needs when I’m gone. I do think the neighbors have gotten more from the garden than I have this season.

I am going to venture into the train room

Have a great day
 


Good Morning All. It's cloudy and 74°, a bit warmer than I was expecting. But the secondary cool front arrived overnight and it won't get out of the upper 80's today and tomorrow. The rain today didn't materialize here, but it appears to be raining moderately a bit south in the DFW area. And the forecast for 4 days of rain has now been shortened to tomorrow only. Sure need the rain here.

The usual outdoorsy stuff yesterday, I cut another week's worth of firewood for this winter's pile. Today I'll finish up the dead tree in the backyard that I felled last week. I was hoping for the rain so I could take a day off without a guilty conscience. But I always followed the axiom of "Make hay while the sun shines". Pool yesterday morning was just 82° when I got in at 10:30; by the second dipping at 5:00, it was up to 84°. It really won't warm up again until Tuesday when the sun makes an appearance. Very unusual for this late in July.

Yesterday, I posted about stopping by an estate sale on my way home from the hardware store. It was at a place owned by a man who I have known for 52 years, although not as close friends. It's somewhat ironic that he bought the home and 15 acres about 4 miles south of me on the main road about 14 years ago. He was my first supervisor at the window company when I hired on in 1972. At some point he promoted me to assistant plant manager to him, thus starting my long career in plant management. He eventually left and floated around the industry, but returned in 2008 to manage our local sales and service operation, and he bought the place in the boonies shortly afterward. He retired around 2014 or so. He wasn't home at the time that I was there, and a professional company was running the estate sale and they had no clue regarding the circumstances. I called him to let him know that I was there, but no answer. I received a text from him yesterday explaining that he had throat cancer and couldn't talk or swallow, similar to what my youngest brother succumbed to in 2022. He has feeding tubes and has been undergoing chemo and radiation treatments. Sadly his wife was diagnosed with dementia about 2 years ago, so he was selling and they are going to move into an assisted living housing place. Very sad news, but the over 50 years of Marlboros probably didn't help. Coincidentally, during his retirement years, he worked part time with my next door neighbor (who's house was destroyed in the tornado) at the Ford dealership in the nearby county seat.

I did get back out too the train shed yesterday. Ran trains only, but I selected my next small project from the large list. Hint: My years in plant management, safety and OSHA are coming back to haunt me.
Here are some pictures of the predecessor to the TrainsTastic Museum in Gulfport Mississippi. In addition to their indoor stuff, they had some outside stuff for kids (and adults) to ride on, all included in the admission price.
09-27-19 trip 051.JPG

09-27-19 trip 050.JPG

I don't think that I have ever posted their old Lionel layout.
09-27-19 trip 046.JPG

09-27-19 trip 047.JPG

09-27-19 trip 048.JPG
09-27-19 trip 049.JPG


Troy -
troyphoto said:
Well, howdy there internet subjects and those wondering when the damn will break with Joe
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One has to wonder if it's going to break at all. While I think yes; he is certainly putting replacements at a disadvantage.

I forgot to post yesterday, that I spoke with Sherrel for about 25 minutes Friday evening. Other than being tired all of the time, he is doing as well as expected and seemed upbeat. Kate is also doing well and is extremely pleased with the kitchen remodel. His doctor has paused the chemo for now, last treatment was Tuesday; and he is going for an MRI next week to check on the progress. He said that he hasn't been posting because he is overwhelmed with his newest computer, but he has been reading posts.

Today is National Junk Food Day, which will happily pass me by. OK, maybe I'll eat a Ritz cracker or two with homemade Pimento Cheese. Maybe that's not really junk food. Today would also have been the late comedian Robin Williams 73rd birthday. RIP Mork.

Everybody have a wonderful Sunday.
 
Well, howdy there internet subjects, and those who thought I was bad in defending joe. (trying to stay out of the verboten zone)

The more I watched, the less sturdy I became. It's not good. I'm wondering about mini-strokes?

I've had to switch around my podcast listening because of how drunk some folks were on the Kool-aid. If you're in the mood, check out The Bulwark. It has some ex-gop campaign staffers there that said NEVER, and spun off. My new fave is Pod Save America with some staffers from campaigns before the 2016 cycle.

What's interesting is Mark Halperin is one of the primary sources I'm following about when-not if - there is an announcement. Halperin is on Newsmax (I know, what is Troy doing following a Newsmax journalist???). Halperin is actually well respected with a lot of contacts in both side of the aisle. The problem, he had some credible sexual harassment allegations against him while at ABC/NBC and Newsmax was the only outlet that would hire him after that.

FYI: Halperin was one of the two who wrote "Game Change" the book about Obama's rise and the campaign in 2008. It was one of the political-journalism books I had to read for my Masters degree final project.

Twitter is all afire with a ton of Blue infighting right now. There are those who are flat out kool aid drinkers for Joe. It's bad. I spent time watching his debate again, then his interviews, and his NATO presser. I have serious questions to ask about his health, and how his staff has been covering that up.

In other news:

Went to the grocery this morning. MIL was out of hot chocolate mix. She keeps it as an option when she gets a blood-sugar low. OJ, Bananas, and Hot Cocoa are her normal recovery methods.

And this is my morning.

high temp.jpg

What am I smoking?

Nothing. The grill is getting pretty sooty, so it's time for a high-temp cleaning burn. Need to get it up to 600+ for an hour or so.

Kind of like watching paint dry.

Wife said we're going to get Mexican today. Yay! Cheese-dip!
 
troyphoto said:
what is Troy doing following a Newsmax journalist???).
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Seeking knowledge requires listening to all sides and opinions before deciding?

Halperin, the name is familiar. Did he ever write for the Times?

Not for nothing, I try to limit my Twitter to Hockey, Baseball and Local News. I try to avoid what passes for Political debate...Sometimes that is difficult.

The puppet is definitely broken beyond repair.
 
Morning all,

69° and partly cloudy, may rain later and 84°.

Well, went to empty the dishwasher and found the sopa tablet in the bottom, so I restarted it. It fills and drains, but no wash cycle running.

It was 2 years old when we got it from the daughter, and it sat in my garage a year before I installed it. It has been installed a few years, so I may be looking for a new dishwasher shortly. At least I'm almost back to a point I can install the new pretty quickly. Worse things to have happen, except I have to wait for the machine to finish before I can rewash them by hand.
 
Boris said:
Seeking knowledge requires listening to all sides and opinions before deciding?

Halperin, the name is familiar. Did he ever write for the Times?

Not for nothing, I try to limit my Twitter to Hockey, Baseball and Local News. I try to avoid what passes for Political debate...Sometimes that is difficult.

The puppet is definitely broken beyond repair.
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Here's the Wikipedia page. I don't think he wrote for the Times, but may have guested there occasionally.

Halperin previously had worked as the political director for ABC News, where he also served as the editor of the Washington, D.C., newsletter The Note. In 2010, Halperin joined MSNBC, becoming the senior political analyst and a contributor. Along with John Heilemann, Halperin served as co-managing editor of Bloomberg Politics.[2] Halperin and Heilemann co-wrote Game Change and Double Down: Game Change 2012, were co-hosts of MSNBC and Bloomberg's With All Due Respect, and produced and co-starred with Mark McKinnon in Showtime's The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, which followed the presidential candidates behind the scenes of their campaigns in the 2016 United States Presidential Election.
 
Boris said:
something called Pork Roll. I Imagine they mean Taylor Ham.
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You are correct sir! (as usual) Pork Roll and Taylor Ham are one in the same.

Now we are talking about something interesting to me! 😁 I love pork roll, Taylor Ham, whatever, It's great! I love anything even close to ham, even Spam!

en.wikipedia.org

Pork roll - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
"Pork roll is a processed meat commonly available in New Jersey and neighboring states.[1] It was developed in 1856 by John Taylor of Trenton, and sold as "Taylor's Prepared Ham" until 1906.[2] Though since then food labeling regulations require Taylor and all other manufacturers to label it "pork roll", people in northern New Jersey still refer to it as "Taylor ham"
en.wikipedia.org

Taylor Provisions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
True hardwood smoked ham is #2 on my list of foods. Esskay was my favorite, but they no longer make hams. Smithfield is a good substitute. Any ham will do. But for Easter and Christmas it must be a good smoked ham.
 
santafewillie said:
I forgot to post yesterday, that I spoke with Sherrel for about 25 minutes Friday evening. Other than being tired all of the time, he is doing as well as expected and seemed upbeat. Kate is also doing well and is extremely pleased with the kitchen remodel. His doctor has paused the chemo for now, last treatment was Tuesday; and he is going for an MRI next week to check on the progress. He said that he hasn't been posting because he is overwhelmed with his newest computer, but he has been reading posts.
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Thank you, Willie.

Hello Sherrel, we miss you!
 


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