Running Bear's December 2022 Coffee Shop

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chadbag said:
Here in Kobe, Japan it is 8:15am Monday morning. 42F it says and supposedly will be rainy. Jet lag not too bad. We were so tired when we got here we were able to sleep. We did nap Sunday afternoon but mostly slept well last night. I’ve been using a small amount of melatonin to adjust but the others haven’t, except the wife who did the first night but not the second.

I got a cheap bluetooth keyboard for the iPad Pro and just got it working this morning. Kind of different experience from my normal iPad experience. I got it so I could carry it around in case I am needed for my servers I run on the side without having to drag a heavy laptop around.

To French fries. There are two different styles of French fries In terms of how they are prepared prior to cooking. Most fast food fries are aiming for crispness and the potatoes are soaked to help remove a lot of the extra starch. This allows them to be crisp and crunchy. Most of the feast food places do this and also apply a coating to enhance crispness and to make up for the crappy “vegetable” oil used instead of the beef lard.

The other way is to use the fresh potatoes without any soaking and no starch removal beforehand. For example, In-N-Out slices the potatoes with a big hand machine right in front of you and soon they’re after cooks them. When fresh they are very good but I personally find that they are kind of starchy, dense, and not great after they’ve sat for 10-15 minutes and cooled down.

Today’s agenda is to go to Costco and help my sister in law get groceries and also find stuff we like, and to eat at the food court (different food than US Costcos but they do have Pizza and hot dog), get our rail passes validated and go to Osaka (me and the son — women will go other shopping). I want to go to a large train store (actually the “Kids Land” special stores from an electro chain called Joshi Denki — kind of a super Best Buy — there are several stores in the same area with special emphasis in each one and one has a whole floor of model railroads [and another floor of models and another floor of air soft guns]). We also want to go to Yodobashi Camera — another very large electro store that has some model railroad stuff as well and sells tax free to tourists.

The first day or three here is usually decompressing from the travel with stuff like shopping and the lIke.

Thursday we head to Yokohama for 4 days to visit the other sister-in-law and then 3 days in Tokyo. After that back to Kobe for the duration. We’ll do short day trips and various activities yet to be planned. Maybe a one night trip in Kyushu — I was proposing Nagasaki.
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Have a safe fun trip
 
Good evening gang!

I see the paint is different, but Mel's food still smells the same. Yes it's been awhile.

Glad to see familiar faces again, I pray everyone has been doing well.

Been distracted by a bunch of things of late. The little red truck (my toy) 1:64 scale diecast racing, (new hobby), employment requirements , yard work, and frequent trips to the Doctor. Now it's too cold to play in the garage, the race cars have been modified and sent to California to compete, the job is the job and both doctors are going to leave me alone til the end of January (they say). Time to spend more time in the basement. Not only do I have the layout to build, but also a dozen engines that need paint and detail work to get out of the "undec" state. I'll work on it until next summer when the little red truck gets it's new engine (5.3 V8) and the yard gets crazy again.

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This is the little $300.00 pickup, out in the sunlight for the 1st time last weekend. She gets "Historic" plates next month, so it will be exempt from state emissions testing! New Tonneau cover and window tint are in the works also, just like her 4x4 brother.
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Son #4 has absconded with this one!
Now these 1:64 die cast race cars are another story. Yes, for the most part these are modified Hot Wheels® cars, but also from other makes as well.
Here are 2 I did with Greenlight® cars but with Hot Wheels® wheels and axles. Both have rear body mods to accept the oversize wheels/tires. I had 2 others I sent to Cali.
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I did buy a yard sweeper this year, no more raking leaves for this kid! Between blood sugar and ticker issues, the wife and the Doctor agreed it was far better for me.
Anywhoo that's where I have been. Here's to hoping everyone is in good health,, good spirits and a little bit lucky!
 




D&J RailRoad said:
Geez Chadbag, you travel halfway around the world to an exotic country and one of your primary things to do is post here?
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We have lots of down time at my sister in laws place. I don’t speak Japanese so while they are yammering away I can play on the computer, phone, or iPad. Got to share with you guys and gals. :).

Currently 2:15 pm. Sitting on a commuter express train from Kobe-Sannomiya to Osaka-Umes a with my son.

today we went to Costco. It is physically 1 mile from my sister in law’s house but about 2 driving miles and 10 min. Closer than I am in Utah to Costco though there we have a dozen within an hour to choose from. We are at the food court as we wanted to try the cheeseburger. It was about $5.50 and was quite large and thick. Was pretty good though now that I’ve tried it I’ve scratched that itch. Their offerings at the food court are a bit bigger and more varied. They actually have a couple items on a sign around the corner as well. Bulogi Bake. Like a chicken bake but with Korean style BBQ beef. I’ll have to try that next time.

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Good late evening fellow spike drivers. How are things here at Jeffreys' Dinner ?

Hi Flo, Francine, I'd like a nice slice of Rhubarb pie and black coffee

Yesterday and early this morning about did me in due going back and forth emptying ice cream pails of rain water. Then to top it off walker out back wearing rain jacket, lucky, to get more fire wood using my rolling walker only to have it start raining with the wind blowing to find the black cover over the 20' longpushing od stacks half uncovered and there I am pushing the walker and trying get the two layers of plastic to stay put while I found some wood from the pile to weight it down while the wind and rain were trying to reclaim it but somehow I succeeded and then still had to fill three cat food bags with fire wood.
Well I'm better tonight and no rain !!

So let's see what's new at the dinner.

Take care.
 
My day get's better and better, the "emergency" was another driver taking the wrong vehicle (mine) which is only a 40 seater, for a job that requires a double decker (70 seats), so had to take the decker out to his pickup point and swap them over.

Do my usual college run, and while waiting for my second run for the day, some numbnut learner driver while trying to do a hill start, rolls back and hits the 🚍.

Accidents happen, but this idiot then decided to do a hit and run, not a registered instructor, someone "teaching" a friend or family member I think, my boss isn't a happy bunny either, fortunately lots of cameras on large vehicles these days, so insurance company have to by law inform the Police, that should be an interesting conversation, explaining a hit and run.
 
We didn’t ride this one but saw a Hankyu local train with “Miffy” livery. You often see Japanese trains with special liveries from cartoons or movies or sometimes attractions or Disney, etc. I have several other trains with characters.

We heard there was a Taco Bell in Osaka at Umeda and we found it. It wasn’t bad. Once is enough but in a pinch I’d go there again if need be. One of those things you have to try.

We went to a few stores with model railroad stuff. One in particular had a whole ton of it including some US n scale KATO and some Fleischmann, Minitrix, Hobbytrain, and KATO European besides a whole ton of Japanese. Mostly n-scale, which is the most popular scale but also a bunch of Z including Rokohan and Märklin as well as Japanese H0.

I didn’t buy anything (yet) but may get a few things before we come home. With the house construction I have no real toy budget at the moment.

Finally made it back home to where we’re staying around 8pm. Feet hurt. But a plate of Costco(!) sushi was waiting.
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Morning all,

45° and fog in the area. Going for a high later of 55° and then gets colder through the rest of the week.

Today my kids are 36 years old, but that can't be because I'm not old enough to have 36 year old kids... 🤣 However my nearly 13 year old grandson reminds me that I'm old quite often. No trains yesterday, but that was on me as I just didn't get into the basement. I found myself doing some other things that I needed to do but had been putting off.

Karl: Welcome back. You have a couple of nice S-10's.
 
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Good Morning All. Cloudy (again) and 53°, on the way up to 59° later on. Low tonight is only supposed to drop to 58°, not too significant! It's supposed to rain again today, 60%, but there's nothing on the radar for over 1000 miles in any direction. Wind shift out of the west tomorrow about noon will bring colder weather for at least a week. Of course cold to me is not like cold to you guys in Wisconsin or Alberta. Our lows will be near freezing with the highs in the mid-40's to the low-50's. However, counting today, I haven't needed a fire in the wood-burning heater for the last 10 days so I am way ahead on firewood.

This morning brings a breathing test at the pulmonologist office at 9:15. He wants me back for a follow up in two weeks, so the genius at the front desk scheduled it for January 24th. Office will be closed for 2 1/2 weeks for vacation beginning on the 22nd.o_O I am not sure why, but I have been short of breath ever since the stent was put in on 6-1. I also have fluid in my lungs, but the cardiologist says that the stent is good.

Well I did get all of the Christmas stuff out of the attic yesterday, but my wife decided to bake instead of decorating. I am only required to put the lights on, under her watchful eyes of course. I am not allowed to decorate except the angel or star (varies from year to year) on top. That's because she will not get on a step ladder or step stool. This new tree does not fit in any of our usual placement spots, because it's 54" in diameter at the bottom! Old tree was only 42" even though both are 90" tall. Guess what I will be doing this afternoon.

French Fries - I can't judge from fast-food places since I don't go to any of them any more. My homemade ones whether fried or oven-baked are the best. Of the "sit-down" places were I have eaten them, I like Red Lobster's the best. I do try to not eat any potatoes any more because I count carbs, but occasionally I slip up.

Thanks for the comments and reactions yesterday regarding the Oakleaf facility. that one was a real joy to assemble.

As usual for a Sunday, I didn't get a lot of time out in the train shed. Just added more ballast and painted additional track. Keeping score,, I have painted 64' of track and ballasted 30' in that 32 sq ft section. I'm itching to start ground cover to break the monotony. No pictures today since I didn't take any, and I have to go and get ready to leave early.

Todd - I certainly thought about keeping the carcass and dressing it for myself. However my wife said no, and I would have had to leave it for morning if I did. With temperatures in the mid-60's overnight, it wouldn't have been a good idea anyway. As it turned out, I may not have killed it since there was no body the next day. There isn't any animal in our neighborhood who could have carried him away, as it looked to be at least 200 pounds.
Patrick - I love chimichangas smothered in sour cream with plenty of salsa verde on the side. I make mine with leftover pulled pork.
Alan - Interesting factoid regarding the GS-4 in a reefer train. I liked the videos.
Swal - Did you go out and buy a lottery ticket after finding the part without looking???
Chad - I am enjoying the commentary. I think that I would be bored stiff on a journey like that where I couldn't speak the language.
Jeff - Nice looking cattails, just not enough.

Everyone have a great day.
 
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