Running Bear's December 2022 Coffee Shop

[Boris]

1950 Photo of Reading's Crusader (Philadelphia - Jersey City), behind new FP7s that replaced 5 year old G3sa 4-6-2 locos. Photo by Charles Freed. Photo taken at Green Street, Philadelphia, PA.

 

[Alcomotive]

Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 50° here. Radar indicates rain at my neighbors house a quarter mile away to the west, but not here! Should clear up by noon and then sunshine again today. Yesterday's sunshine after the morning's brief spell of severe weather was much appreciated, first sunshine in over a week! That severe weather/tornadoes did some damage about 40 miles SW in Decauter TX and a few more places in the Metroplex, fortunately sparing me. And brief it was, lasting no more than 30 minutes here. Sideways falling rain and 30 mph winds from the west, left about 0.75" in the Weather Underground gauge around the corner. I received a little less, but my gauge couldn't catch the stuff moving horizontally. I'm looking at cooler temperatures for the next ten days, with a possibility of temps in the 20's at the end of next week, but that's a long way away for the weather geeks.
Today we head into town for the rental car and then drop the damaged car off at the repair shop, thanks to Rudolf's father last week. Slowly but surely the Christmas tree is coming together. Wife was bugging me to get it up and the lights on, which I did; but she has done no decorating yet. That's OK since it looks good with just lights. I am not allowed to decorate!
Looks like I will have to finally reignite a fire in the wood-burning heater tonight, ending an incredible 12 day span in December without using it; after using it for at least 20 days last month. It's been a warmer than normal fall so far, I didn't use it at all in October.

Shifted gears a bit out in the train shed yesterday. I did ballast more track, about 8' total on two lines. I also made a concrete spill barrier to go around the four loading platforms.
View attachment 157714
It's a bit sloppy, but that will be covered by ballast next.
And while I had the concrete paint out, I did the concrete bases on all of the loading platforms.
View attachment 157716
View attachment 157715

To All - Several of you have made reference to a free phone app for measuring decibels, but no one has given a link. I am a cell phone challenged individual and would like more info if possible. I have a Samsung Galaxy S-9 if that makes any difference. I have however learned to text and use the alarm clock! I may even learn to use the camera and the calendar next! I intentionally did not acquire a cell phone until 3 or 4 years ago. It was a peaceful life.
Louis -

I spoke with Sherrel yesterday. I know that he has been lurking occasionally and he did say that he was contemplating posting again. But he had previously told me that about three weeks ago. He and Kate are doing fine though.
Chad - Get well soon.
David -

Not sure what you are referencing there???
Ken - All of my locos can travel from tie to tie faster than 2 seconds. Otherwise I couldn't see them move at all.
Troy - Get well soon.
Curt - I learned years ago to keep my pictures and music duplicated on an external drive. While I have in the past sometimes recovered them from dead computers, it is always a hassle.
Tom O - I know that hand laid track can look great and give a lot of self-satisfaction; but at my age, flex track was the way to go if I ever wanted to run trains for any length of time. Other than the modeler themself and perhaps a fellow modeler with good eyesight, no one else will ever know or probably care. That being said, I have always liked the concept of staggered rail joints.
Chrιstιaη -

Thanks. That may be the case, but I could do a lot more if I spent more time. But then it would be just like a real job that I retired from!

Since I started posting this, the outside temperature has fallen to 42°. Guess I will need a jacket today.
Everybody have a great day.

Willie

like some said go to the Play Store app




Then choose Sound Meter...

The second one in this picture....



I think Troy mentioned this one as well. I chose this one too because of 2 reasons: one because of the 4.8 rating and second, because of the number of users...

Hope this helps. I am currently using it and so far it works and I am still working with it in a few experiments while programming sound adjustments on my locomotives.

 

[Bruette]

I'm watching my wife decorate the living room Christmas tree. I'm doing my part. I'm picking Christmas songs from YouTube and playing them through the TV. It's a good chance to test my new Samsung 300-watt sound bar with sub-woofer I got December 6th. Thank you, Saint Nicholas!

 

[Bruette]

Louis, I'm practicing self restraint. I had a reply to George, concerning what the home is pulling on him and his wife, posted it, then took it down. I find that right now I'm too angry to provide a rational dissertation. So, for now, I will restrict myself to posting cool photos I find elsewhere.

You are a good man! We should not comment when we are angry.

Take all the time you need. I am so incredibly happy to enjoy your photos.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Louis, I'm practicing self restraint. I had a reply to George, concerning what the home is pulling on him and his wife, posted it, then took it down. I find that right now I'm too angry to provide a rational dissertation. So, for now, I will restrict myself to posting cool photos I find elsewhere.

I think unless you have a go at the politicians you are likely to survive, sometimes expressing anger is healthy, if you wish to take a volley at me anytime feel free, a bun fight can be fun and we know our friendly moderator will clip our teeth if we get too close to the jugular, although that might be taking advantage of his good will. but in my experience if you stop talking to someone who offended you, you could quickly run out of friends.
That said the photos are always welcome.
I think a lot of people have angst at the moment, bad weather, bad politics,war too close for comfort, inflation,fuel bills,interest rates you name it there is little good news, one reason why I retreat in here to share time with people who are similarly inclined, and we are all capable of having a bad day or longer, that does not mean we should boot them o ut, but if people are offended then they should also say so that people know they are easier offended.
We are all different, thank god, if I had to live with only clones of myself there would not be a hole deep enough to hide lol. Vive la difference!
Quite often a bit of teasing makes my day, because people need to pay attention to who you are to tease.
Perhaps we should consider an item to debate on - not politics - and take a stance - guns at 20 paces and fire lol. as most of us have similar ideas on modelling there’s not a lot there, I tell you what though, which did come first the chicken or the egg, for me I would argue the egg, because it had to come from somewhere I.e. somethings ‘butt’ plus that thing had to evolved enough to be able to lay the egg, but had to have changed enough to count as a definitive different species, so you have a little dinosaur that runs around ,aging eggs like lizards can, then it jumps from trees, and bigger arms allow longer glides when in danger then its lizardy scales get finer and finer until feathers, I bet the first mum who discovered it had a cute chicken then turned into a hen pecking little morning crowing cockerel was like wtf…..and abandoned it.
ok gone off to[ic left the reservation….anyone got a better argument?

 

[santafewillie]

Jaz - You lost me on that post!

 

[santafewillie]

Good Afternoon All.
OK, picked up the rental car and got the Accura to the shop. What a piece of crap this rental car is!!! It's a Ford EcoSport. I looked it up on the Internet and it states, 0-60 in 8.7 seconds. More like 12 seconds to me! And WTF??? when you stop at a red light, it automatically shifts into neutral after you have your foot on the brake for 2 seconds! Duh! That adds to the time to accelerate. And this touchscreen is not only distractive, but it just sticks up in the middle of the dashboard.

This thing has the roughest ride that I have ever had, even worse than my old '61 VW Bug. It's like riding down the road in an enclosed roller skate.
Glad that we're only keeping it for a short time.
RANT OVER

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Yeah, I'm not sure what I was reading either. My eyes glazed over, and I soon found myself thinking what I still need to do for the op session this coming Saturday.
Hearing problems, yeah, I spent a lot of time over my 23-year career in the Corps listening to radio static, radio teletype, Morse Code, lots of rifle fire, cannon fire and military vehicles running. I don't know if the occasional fast movers and rotary craft noise counts. The VA did give me hearing aids to help, but I still have trouble listening to group conversations, especially women. A lot of their words seem to be clipped.

 

[Smudge617]

Jaz - You lost me on that post!

Lost, I feel like somebody just dumped me in a maze still blindfolded, but I did notice she mentioned Dinosaurs, maybe Jaz has decided to offend the Frenchman.

 

[Bruette]

Jaz - You lost me on that post!

That's our Jaz and why we love her!

Jaz is like a complex book or movie. Watch it or read it again. There is truth and wisdom to be found.

 

[ctclibby]

Good Afternoon All.
OK, picked up the rental car and got the Accura to the shop. What a piece of crap this rental car is!!! It's a Ford EcoSport. I looked it up on the Internet and it states, 0-60 in 8.7 seconds. More like 12 seconds to me! And WTF??? when you stop at a red light, it automatically shifts into neutral after you have your foot on the brake for 2 seconds! Duh! That adds to the time to accelerate. And this touchscreen is not only distractive, but it just sticks up in the middle of the dashboard.
View attachment 157731

This thing has the roughest ride that I have ever had, even worse than my old '61 VW Bug. It's like riding down the road in an enclosed roller skate.
Glad that we're only keeping it for a short time.
RANT OVER

Willie: We got a Ford Escort in Dallas at the beginning of summer. Was not a good ride either, but. It was a crotch rocket - 80Mph @ just under 2000RPM and got there FAST. Freaked me out when it shut down stopped at a light with foot on brake; thought WTF. I can just image how long a starter will last under those circumstances. It did get just under 30Mpg at highway speeds and the stereo was pretty good so we just turned it up with all the ride bounce around.

Later

 

[Smudge617]

especially women. A lot of their words seem to be clipped.

That could be your "selective hearing" kicking in my dad had the same problem when my mom was talking, then I inherited it when my ex wife was talking too.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Started out with some chores then basically sat on my backside the rest of the day. Tomorrow I'm heading up to my buddy Jon's for my Shark's, some conversation and coffee. He also asked me to bring him some of my wife's homemade chocolate peanut clusters.

Joe- Great photos. A 2-car passenger train is right up my alley. Like Louis I look forward to you posting comments again.

Chad- Have fun and I hope you get over your cough.

Dave- You can keep that weather thank you very much. Our low tomorrow when I do my walk will be 52 F. Chilly for us.

Willie- Nice job on the platforms. Hopefully you won't be driving it for long.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[ctclibby]

Yeah, I'm not sure what I was reading either. My eyes glazed over, and I soon found myself thinking what I still need to do for the op session this coming Saturday.
Hearing problems, yeah, I spent a lot of time over my 23-year career in the Corps listening to radio static, radio teletype, Morse Code, lots of rifle fire, cannon fire and military vehicles running. I don't know if the occasional fast movers and rotary craft noise counts. The VA did give me hearing aids to help, but I still have trouble listening to group conversations, especially women. A lot of their words seem to be clipped.

Ken: Ima pretty much the same; teletype's, computer: printer, disks, tapes and what ever, along with all the air conditioning fans and air movement that comes with computers and comm centers. Of course, rifle and cannon fire on occasion and lots of fast mover stuff when stationed at what ever air wing. I just had to go to the end of the runway and watch up close and personal! The choppers did not seem to bother me that much even when in the air as I did not notice the wop, wop, wop stuff.
Nowadays I am being told by the docs to see the local DSO and file a claim for tinnitus as the hearing aids do not get rid of it as I was told they are supposed to. I guess that if I get approved ( or what ever they call it ) it amounts to a 15% benefit. And also told to find out about PSD at that time too.

As far as Jaz, I look at the book she writes and pretty much skim looking for stuff I could be interested in. Don't get me wrong, she needs to keep doing the same thing as I would not want it any other way.

Later

 

[JeffH]

Hearing loss, especially due to tinnitus, is well known to cause problems understanding what people are saying when in a somewhat chaotic immersion of sounds.

In other words... I can be standing, face to face, with a person right in front of me, and if I'm in a loud restaurant, or bar, I cannot tell what they are saying. BUT... I can tell you exactly what some person behind me, 15 feet away just said. I know.. it makes no sense, but it's real.

My issue is worse, because my tinnitus has graduated to spatial hearing loss. Trying to converse with people in a loud environment gives me intense claustrophobic-like anxiety. It's strange... if I cover my ears with my hands, it gets much better... Like it's the higher frequencies that cause it. But I'm a little too vain to stand there with my hands on my ears all night, lol.

It's quite debilitating, and I avoid places like that whenever I can. Unfortunately, there are times I can't avoid it. Yesterday, after our daughter's graduation ceremony, a bunch of us went to PINS mechanical to celebrate and do some Duck Bowling. The place was extremley loud. Even my 29-year old daughter complained, which is saying someting. Add in all the bowling and other noises, and it was my own little personal Hell on Earth for 5 hours. We got home at 21:45, and it took me until 01:30 this morning before I could get the ringing in my ears to stop.

By the way... whoever called it "ringing" ears lied... It's more like a constant tidal wave of white noise you can't silence. Normally, the tinnitus doesn't bother me much, but something happens when I'm bombarded with noise to make the ocean of sound worse.

 

[Boris]

Jaz - You lost me on that post!

Me too.

 

[NYC_George]

I tell you what though, which did come first the chicken or the egg, for me I would argue the egg, because it had to come from somewhere

I've gone over this before it's impossible for anything to appear from nothing whether it be an any type of matter or electrical charge that they now say matter came from. So where did the electrical charge come from? It's a puzzle that can't be solved.
Swal

 

[santafewillie]

file a claim for tinnitus as the hearing aids do not get rid of it as I was told they are supposed to.

They don't get rid of it, but they can be set up to mask it somewhat.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I would describe tinnitus as similar to Cicada noise.
As for disability, I get 10% for the hearing and another 10% for back injury. Nothing for damaged knees or hips. Despite the documented incidents that caused the damage, that's all they'll offer. In the meantime, I know guys who get 100% for sleep apnea and were never in a fleet assignment. Guys with PTSD who never fired a shot in anger or were never in a combat zone.

 

[Bruette]

They don't get rid of it, but they can be set up to mask it somewhat.

turn the TV or radio up.