Running Bear's December 2023 Coffee Shop

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kbkchooch said:
I consider the area I live in as Absurdistan!
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1. Nice haul from Rapido. Better than I expected.
2. Jury Duty: Last time was Christmas week, two years ago...Checked in on line, each day, but didn't have to go to the Courthouse. Now that I'm over 75, I'm no longer required to participate....(ain't that special?)

We all live in Absurdistan...the names and faces change...the expectations and results don't.
 
Good morning, Everybody!

My wife and I had a great day yesterday! Although we didn't see each other much as she was decorating the living room, and I was in the family room. I did see her in passing as I made many trips to the attic. The floor part of the family room Christmas is almost done. All I need to do is add some vehicles and other little details. The hard part is over! I started sometime before 6am and I did not finish until 4:30pm. Don't worry, I took numerous breaks and I feel fine this morning.

If you are interested in more details of my Christmas adventure I will post them in the thread Christmas Trees, Trains and More, after I send this reply.

I almost forgot to mention my big surprise yesterday. My wife put up and decorated a white Christmas tree in our bedroom. Like a little boy, I fell asleep looking at it.
 


The Origin of Santa Claus.
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For some of us, the real Santa Claus.
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Good Morning!
Presently 52f looking for 79f today with clear blue skies.
It reached 86f for a high yesterday - Yep - eighty six!
I'm having another almost sleepless night and shortly putting a JW Western on the telly.

Spousal Unit and I have been drilling down on the series 'BOSCH' on her Prime connection.
Really an excellent, well done story line.

As MELL hasn't opened, Going to find a cuppa down the block?

WILLIE - Christmas Decor are sure to win a prise!
 
Good morning all. There must be a rule somewhere where people should not tell us the temperature is in the 70s/80s whilst I am freezing at zero C. :confused:🤣

Grandson number 2 is ten today. Presents to deliver. Then a visit to the local model shop. Not wanting anything in particular, but I hope I find something.
 
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Morning all,

Currently 217.15° going for a high later 287.59°. Supposed to be sunny today as well.

Not a lot going on yet, but the construction guys keep flipping the lights trying to turn on the lights that are on the timer. Should be on in a few minutes. Can't wait for them to get the City Hall remodel done.

Another song of the season, Enjoy!!!

 
NorthBrit said:
Good morning all. There must be a rule somewhere where people should not tell us the temperature is in the 70s/80s whilst I am freezing at zero C. :confused:🤣

Grandson number 2 is ten today. Presents to deliver. Then a visit to the local model shop. Not wanting anything in particular, but I hope I find something.
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That's why I call the Fahrenheit scale, the F-degrees!
 
Well howdy there internet peeps, and those currently serving on grand juries who can't admit it, lest you let the cat out of the Jack Smith bag. ;)

It's Troy again.

Went to the NEINS meeting last night. Interesting bunch of gents. It was the Holiday pizza party night, so I chipped in my $5...

Here's the featured layout of the host...

NEINS.jpg


I let him know he should mount a toad on his Estes Rocket (the black decoration on the tree) so he'd have a Missile-toad for the holidays.

These guys do N-track and T-track modules, so the home layouts are few and far between. But, they've got a wide range of experience and skills in the club.

Of course, the next train show they're setting up at is this Saturday. Need to decide if I'm going to game store for monthly gaming, or off to Ohio for the train show?

As for JURY DUTY: I actually sat on a weeklong Medical Malpractice jury once,.. the deliberations were tense. Most people in the jury room seemed to want to go with whatever the majority said. They weren't sure, but would agree with the rest of the room. None admitted this, but we did a debrief following the trial with the defense attorneys. They wanted to get feedback from the jurors on how to improve their approach, etc.

It came down to me and one other girl arguing the final decision in the jury room. She finally admitted: "But a teenage girl is dead, someone has to pay..."

I agreed that it was a sad case, but where had the medical community screwed up her case - BASED upon the standard of care at the time??? We were 10+ years past the death, and it was an unfortunate case. But the standards of care had been met. We danced around the Logic vs Emotion debate until she relented. I felt bad that we weren't awarding dollars to the parents of the deceased, but their case was very weak.

And, most of what you see on TV courtroom dramas isn't close to reality... Perry Mason and Matlock are mostly wishful thinking.

Jury duty is an inconvenience, but I can't say it's a bad experience. It was eye-opening about the legal process. While I'm not in a rush to do it again, I won't be disappointed by being selected.
 
Good morning to those on jury duty watch and wait, those pasted the accepted time to be a juror and those who model trains.

Troy, love the tree and train under…

Jury duty, never felt like a bother to me. 2 times was just on the list and called in on Sunday night to see if I had to appear. The 3rd time I was part of a jury pool they were picking from. Got interviewed by both the defense and offense. Turns out I knew a person in the gallery who was a good friend and one of the arresting officers. The judge tossed me.

Today the high should get to 39f/3.8c. The sun had disappeared since Thursday but is shining bright up there now.

Unexpected last minute dinner with seldom seen friends last night. Good time but politics were part of the reason we don’t hang out as much together. It’s ugly head tried to raise itself last night but they wisely stopped and went in a different direction.

Dinner tonight is with friends again but it’s a well planned event and WE are the hosts here at the house. It will have political overtones as Terry’s old friend the current governor and his wife will be there. However, it is very doubtful any political discussions will be heard publicly as the invitation is clear it’s just old friends getting together and there will also be no fund raising. Everyone had to agree as part of the RSVP. 8 plus Terry and I. All old friends from working together in educational administration of one kind or another

Trains! Yes there will be some train stuff going on after I clean up the room and my shop. A few of the guys will want to see my lack of progress so I will be prepared. 2 consists of diesels on 2 trains and one diesel working a partially started paper mill. If they want to run a train, they can use their own cell phones. It’s like a 30 second down load. Other wise about 30 minutes under the lights to stave off the SAD. I will spend most of the day downstairs or hitting golf balls in the simulator to stay out of the way of the prep for the party. I will be available if needed but I have learned to stay out of the way until asked to do something.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 41° here this morning. Short warming trend through Friday and then another norther hits about dawn Saturday. Not expected to last long and shouldn't bring any freezing temperatures yet. Maybe rain next week.

Another glorious day yesterday. While I engaged in several outdoor tasks, mowing, tree trimming, general brush cleanup, I also relaxed in a lawn chair and sipped beer for a while. Because of the near freezing overnight temperatures lately, there are no insects right now. It reminds me of a business trip that I took to Austria in 1984. I noticed and asked the host "Why are there no screens on any of your windows?" He replied that since they were in the Alps, there were no flying insects.

Jury Duty: I have been summoned a few times, but the trials have always been cancelled by the time I had to call in. Plea bargaining is the most common adjudication in our county. We really don't have a serious crime problem around here because most citizens are armed and the would-be criminals know it. It used to be that cattle rustling was the biggest crime in our county, but that was supplanted in the early 2000's by meth labs. The use of drones has reduced cattle rustling to near zero. The meth has declined as well due to aggressive enforcement of the "three strike rule" and the fact that those people don't live long anyway.

I did do some stuff out in the train shed yesterday. I made the roof for the small shed.
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And assembled the shed, primed it and painted everything and added the roof.
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Today I will fill that gap in the trim and paint it.
And then, I blame Mike for this since he tempted me last week.
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A 3D printed Beverly Hillbillies jalopy and figures. It took a while to trim up the figures, but I did so , interrupting work on the cemetery.
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From l-r, Miss Hathaway, Mr. Drysdale, Jed (with the shotgun), Granny, Jethro, and Ellie May. I am having to search for pictures with the appropriate colors because most of the shows were in black & white. I have a couple of good ones of the car, but I need to find full height ones of the characters.

Hughie - I tried out that AI stuff yesterday with this result.
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Interesting stuff there. I fear that it could get addictive. I am going to try it for backgrounds though.
Karl - 5¢ for that Rapido chocolate bar?
Sherrel - Now that that damn wreath is up, wife wants to put the tree up earlier than my usual 12-15 date. What a can of worms I opened. And the wreath bangs and rattles against the glass panel in the door every time I go in or out.
David - If you guys would just use the °F scale instead of the °C scale, it might seem warmer to you. 32°F seems warmer than 0°C to me!;)

Everyone have a great day.
 
TLOC said:
An odd happening over the weekend. I finished weathering 3 diesels for a first time commission. The client received the in progress pictures as I moved along and I received his approvals. The 6-8 week lead time is at 6 weeks this week and he has known I planned to ship this week. He asked Saturday if I would ship them out and he’d pay in January. That’s a big no! He is an angry person when he doesn’t get his way and I could literally feel the venom in his text messages. I saved all communications with this guy so when he files a claim with PayPal of some made up excuse I have proof of whatever he’s trying to pull. It’s been a strange last 3-4 months of weathering. I understand the economy is bad for the working person but this one takes top prize so far. He offered no reasons other then mail them now and I’ll pay later…
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I'm reminded of that sequence in "Goodfellas" with the restaurant owner when he takes Paulie on as a partner. Business a little slow? F*** you, pay me! Cash flow problems? F*** you, pay me!"

When I took on projects I had a simple set of rules:
1: (most important) I'm slow. I have a day job. This will be done on MY schedule. expect 6-9 month lead times.
2: I'm expensive. I'll quote your project and the quote will be +/- 20%. If there are issues above that margin, we'll negotiate. This was very important with brass models because you never really knew what you'd be getting into until it was in your hands.
3: Mechanical work was $40.00 per hour for as long as it took. Nonnegotiable. Flat rate doesn't exist for brass models. :)
4: In the event of an issue, I pay for return shipping both ways and fix the problem at my cost. This happened once in some 20 years of projects.
5: Payment upon completion, then the project will be shipped. My credit manager is Helen Waite. If you want credit go to Helen Waite.

I would then state that if those rules are unacceptable, I won't be able to work with you, good luck finding someone who meets your needs. I always had plenty of work. Eventually I, like most painters, burned out. Now I just do it for myself.
 


Espeefan said:
I'm reminded of that sequence in "Goodfellas" with the restaurant owner when he takes Paulie on as a partner. Business a little slow? F*** you, pay me! Cash flow problems? F*** you, pay me!"

When I took on projects I had a simple set of rules:
1: (most important) I'm slow. I have a day job. This will be done on MY schedule. expect 6-9 month lead times.
2: I'm expensive. I'll quote your project and the quote will be +/- 20%. If there are issues above that margin, we'll negotiate. This was very important with brass models because you never really knew what you'd be getting into until it was in your hands.
3: Mechanical work was $40.00 per hour for as long as it took. Nonnegotiable. Flat rate doesn't exist for brass models. :)
4: In the event of an issue, I pay for return shipping both ways and fix the problem at my cost. This happened once in some 20 years of projects.
5: Payment upon completion, then the project will be shipped. My credit manager is Helen Waite. If you want credit go to Helen Waite.

I would then state that if those rules are unacceptable, I won't be able to work with you, good luck finding someone who meets your needs. I always had plenty of work. Eventually I, like most painters, burned out. Now I just do it for myself.
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So true Alan, thanks for your insight.

I have approached burn out a couple times and thankfully we can still travel enough that helps balance things out. I stopped selling on FB and have not posted anything on EBay for a few weeks now. Strictly commissions now but I can now see an end coming for that too

I have enough of my own fleet to weather that I will still be busy enough to avoid issues with the wife
 
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