Running Bear's February 2023 Coffee Shop

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Morning All,

Posting early today due to Dad's Cat Scan at VA this afternoon. Started out in the train room by assembling the 2-bay window/cupola then attaching the sub-roof and finally the walking area that travels the length of the cabin.

On the subject of money, my parents felt that children had no right to be involved with family finance discussions. Based on that I made plenty of my own mistakes as an adult. :rolleyes: MOH and I have worked hard to pay off our debt over the years. I truly believe that credit is legalized slavery because it can take away your future.

Talked to Phil today and he and Deb are doing well.

Thank you for the photo likes.

Chad- Your house is really starting to look like a house.

Chet- More excellent layout photos.

Jaz- Great modeling and very true words.

Todd/Willie- That is great news about saving parts of Chet's layout.

Joe- Thank you. For some reason when you mentioned walking on the beach, I had a flashback to this:


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I hope everyone has a good night.
I agree credit,easily leads to debt as you buy the item and pay the interest on top, and horrific penal9ties if you default,cheaper to save regularly and buy for cash,discipline yourself for an item like a car can be an issue but saves you masses, I have always told my kids to go without, buy secondhand,if necessary, we lost a house and once in the housing market again we overpaid the mortgage massively until we were debt free.
the problem with credit cards they are only useful if you finances are good,a steady income,savings in case, they do offer extra insurance,and if the seller rips you off you can let the credit card company fight the fight often upto 100 pounds is automatically covered, but get into arrears and the interest which is often 33 percent can sink you fast,
I own clothes 40 years old,if it has a hole or a rip I use it outside gardening or cleaning animals,I keep my best for best, we have a really nice Italian leather suit, but the cushion on the threee seater has worn,I just put a matching black throw on it,and an arm has sagged so I add cushions I paid a lot of cash for it 27 years ago the other two pieces are as good as new, in the picture a duvet cover on a summer weight duvet, I like my monies worth
we bought good wood furniture second hand same time 27 years ago, all but one piece are still in good condition, there’s even a couple of 80 year old plus pieces hanging around, unit with the wolf 1940s even has the original sales ticker on the back, a 1920/30s unit has been nibble by a long departed chinchilla…oops he nibbled between the cage wires, and we did not notice for ages…ooops
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my tiger avatar originated 40 years ago, I did an update 15 years ago
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the coffee table under the chess set second hand 27 years ago
lord of the rings chessset bought for my kids cheap 20 years ago but I never let them use it as a toy, undamaged gell I still have the box and the cardboard chess layout lol
the dried flowers a Mother’s Day present to my mum, several years before she died, she has been dead 32 years so likely 35 years old
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the 2 turquoise Chinese jars I bought one for my mum she scoffed the ginger inside so I bought a second which I kept but gave her the ginger,now I have both I think I bought from a health shop likely Holland and Barrett,
although this fireplace is now gone the stainless steel bar on the bottom hid the fact the stone was heat cracked
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top shelf chewed lol
i still have a wool rug which moths got at I treated it asap but it cost a pretty penny, and I really like it, I do often visit items before I buy them though
my home might not suit a lot of people, but I buy stuff I like, and look after it, usually.
oh the clock I think I said my grandad was a dustbin man it was thrown out from a posh house 1980s but not popular and only worth a couple of hundred, I also have a number of broken damaged items from my mum, she had a couple from her mum lol, damaged they might be but they have family history. to me the association to people I love/d is stronger than having something new and shiny. I also have a book fetish, we have a LOT of bookshelves lol
people often get in debt needing the latest new fashion item, even my train layout is an investment, once retired if strapped for cash, I will sell bits off.
Still over the years I have been asked by people to weather kit, I could likely make an income from weathering a load of my layout or painting cheap models

sorry I meant to do thumbnails and just automatically hit full image…doh.
 

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Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those counting luft balloons

It's Troy again with your earworm for today


Well, with trying to ditch sugar from my diet, right after consuming a bunch of girl scout cookies, I discovered the hard crash. Up at 2 am yesterday with a brain that was mush. Slept most of the afternoon. Then took the wifey to Culvers for a valentines day burger. Used a coupon, too! Look at me. Big spender.

Anyway, I did manage to "box set up" some ebooks yesterday, design out the covers (which involved pulling in past covers. Got the peorder for this one uploaded. And the one after it. No words though. That was a bridge too far for my sugar starved brain.

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Fortunately, I pay for an app that takes the parts, and makes it look like a box. Since this is all on Amazon's kindle, I don't actually have to produce a box with books. Just one big file people can read on their tablets. The box photo communicates that it's multiple books in one go.

Also managed to get clear coat on my new 1:56 scale Italian WWII Bersaglieri troopers.

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I need to correct the hand grenade to red, and dot all the badges on their pith helmets with brass. If I'm brave, I'll dot in green, white, and red circles behind the brass badges.

I don't feel that brave.

OK, time to word real words. The next chapter is about a magical chicken feather. 🐔 :p
 
I misread that, thought you said "a magical chicken farmer"
now that would have been a book to read. 😂
Well, this series is set in a magical village just west of Offa's dike, somewhat SW of Shrewsbury. It still involves pixies, leprechauns, and a girl who can see ghosts. Her ex-boyfriend died in a nasty accident involving his motorcycle, an opossum, and an artic lorry hauling live chickens,.. but over in the states.

I'm writing book 10, and finally had the idea to have a magical ghost chicken feather... it makes a nice magufin for the book.

Edit: the ex boyfriend, Jake, is a recurring character, along with his ghost chickens, but only the main character can see them.
 


Morning all,

Currently 35° and clear with a high today near 50°, then overnight we're are supposed to get some snow and depending on whom you listen to anywhere from a trace to 2" of the crap.

Valentines day was a bust. In try I had a day off fashion, I worked 14 hours yesterday due to a high priority Microsoft Exchange server update. Let's not publish the update at 7:00a when I'm rebooting the Exchange server for the new malware\antivirus software. They didn't push it until after 2:00p. Anyway got back 5 hours of the vacation time I was going to use on Monday's day off. And they wonder why I don't take time off....

I agree with the statement debt is voluntary servitude. In the past couple of years and with help from the Covid payments, finally have everything paid off except the house, but even that's on track to paid off within the next couple of years if we only make the required payments, and even that's 4 years earlier than the note's payoff date. We probably have almost enough set aside to actually pay the stupid thing off, but then that leaves no emergency funds. Sadly I figure if we paid it off today, it would still cost us about $700 a month to live there with the taxes and insurance on the place. I know that's still cheaper than renting somewhere.

Try to BBL
 
Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 48°, going up to 77° this afternoon. The NWS has added thundershowers to this afternoon's forecast - they weren't there yesterday. Wind yesterday was quite brutal, between 35 and 40 mph all day, Thankfully though it didn't rain after the sudden downpour at 0500. Overall between 6pm Monday and 6am Tuesday I got 0.9" in the gauge. Not quite as windy today and it will shift out of the north for a chilly day tomorrow with a high around 48°; 30° cooler than today's high. A few cool days and nights coming up before it's back in the 70's by Sunday.
OK, enough of the weather around here. Things are otherwise good in the neighborhood, no train wrecks, no overhead balloons spying on us and there is some water in my pond after eight dry months; albeit just a foot at most.
Last night's Valentine's supper of Beef Wellington with smashed Cauliflower was a rousing success. Beef Wellington is not a run of the mill meal, and is a bitch to prepare. We have only made it twice, and both times were after the kids had left. It is Dijon rubbed seared beef tenderloin wrapped in a minced mushroom/shallot mixture, wrapped in prosciutto and enclosed in a pastry crust and baked. The prosciutto keeps the meat juices from making the pie crust soggy. Smashed cauliflower is a no-carb substitute for potatoes and was adorned with a mushroom/onion gravy. A jar of homegrown green beans from the 2021 garden completed the meal.

Thanks for all of the reactions and comments yesterday.

Out in the train shed, I finished up painting the park maintenance building, painting the door and foundation.
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This small simple laser-cut wood structure that is being used as a maintenance shed for the public park in Gainesville. The park is lined out, but no construction or detailing has started there yet.
For Candy's Confectionery, I added a sidewalk using Evergreen 1/4" sidewalk sheet.
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I used a new to me concrete paint from Badger. My last jar of Polly S is getting low and I need to find the best substitute. It looks a little dark to me. I have scouted out six different locations where I might put this; I need a few more days to decide and then I will add figures. I also have to review some of the other structures.

Todd - I got none of the Logan Valley rolling stock, as it is all too far out of my era. Vehicles on the other hand don't matter. In the locale that I model, they don't use salt on roads so it's not unusual to find many 30+ year old vehicles around. I am honored to be able to keep some of the Logan Valley alive and well on my layout.
Curt - Thanks for the update on Phil and Deb. I miss his dry wit and humor.
James - Good luck with the re-kindled relationship.
Chrιstιaη -
Willie - How many houses did you build ? Just curious.
What are you referring to? Homes to live in? Houses on the layout? Structures on the layout?
Jaz - Thanks for the comment. I do try to include gems on purpose.

Everyone have a great day.
 
Good morning from So. Central Cheeseland. The weather has been mid 40’s for 5/days but we still have white on the ground, facing north. Over 1” of rain last night but the white in the front yard is still there. More 40’s today but 3-6” of white stuff predicted over night with the possibility of 12”. Sounds like my haircut at 9 tomorrow morning maybe a problem. The wind is howling at a consistent 19mph with gusts in the 30’s.

Ticked off the bride yesterday. I have a healthy PayPal balance due to selling off my trains over the years and my weathering fees. I moved some money from PP to an account so I can get cash from a ATM for this weekend’s train show. I rarely have more than $5 cash in my wallet. While she has access to my PP account she rarely views it. When I moved the PP money to the account, that account alerted her that the balance changed. She looked at where it came from and appeared quickly next to my work bench. Her, what r u doing? Me, weathering… Then we discussed what I did. She said with your monthly allowance and now this transfer what are you planning to buy, a store? Me, not sure, still building the list… I use my PayPal account for all my modeling and gift buying. So this transfer was unusual for me and since I “forgot” to tell her she was concerned. She walked away shaking her had but I did see the small grin she was trying to hide.

I am finishing the 3 covered hopper weathering project this week.

Then since I have no other commission work I will paint the walls in the trainroom and work on the sections of the layout I have up. Our plan is to leave around the 11th for 10 days on Maui. My brother is coming with the g/f on 3/1 for our grandson’s State Hockey Championship and has some business to handle but will base out of here. They will fly out with us as will my sister. We haven’t been together with this much family since before Covid. We used to get the 9 of us together every quarter.

Enjoy the day
 
On the topic of Real Estate...

About 7 or 8 years ago, we bought 12 acres about 25 minutes outside the hustle/bustle of Columbus, Ohio. Our kids were out of high school, so we decided to move out into the country to 1) have some space, and 2) pay lower Real Estate Taxes.

We built on the land, which already had a small house, so now we have 2 dwellings on the same piece of land, but we cannot subdivide our property, because the municipality we live in has a huge footprint that is mostly farmland. The people who merged townships and a village into a municipality many years ago, had the foresight to put zoning restrictions in place to preserve farmland. You cannot create a new parcel that is less than 10 acres. That's great to prevent a new housing development from popping up next door, but it makes to difficult to do anything with the extra house. How do you rent a house to someone then say we have to share a mailbox?

Anyway, I digress. The issue we have now is that Intel is planning to build their multi-billion dollar manufacturing facility 10 miles North / Northwest of us.

The bad news... our property taxes will be going up... not necessarily because the voters approve a rate increase, but because the Auditor's office will be increasing all the property tax assessed values...

Double edge sword there... I'm happy to see my investment in this piece of land grow, but I'm not sure I want to pay huge taxes just to live that close to a HUGE manufacturer.

I'm thinking we will likely sell our place in a couple years, and move somewhere else... We no longer have large families in Central Ohio. Maybe it's time to consider relocation to another region... It will be hard to say "no" to selling our place for a tidy profit.
 
HAPPY BELATED HEART DAY TO ALL ...
Sorry Guys and Gals! I have been AWOL for yesterday and part of today.
Had a 5 hour HOA meeting last evening and I knew it was going to be long as I had spent several hours yesterday reading over the agenda. Among other things we have two neighbors squabbling over the fence separating the two lots. Not going into the details - just to say that it is a real bailiwick - and probably going to take attorneys to sort it out. A .38 would make short order of that problem!

OK - in further news it dropped to 28 degrees last evening along with some wind and rain. It has climbed all the way to 32 at this moment of 8 AM. The sky is clear and they say 58 will be the high, maybe?

CURT - YES, we had "charts". They were published by Jeppesen and had all the airways, headings, minimum altitudes, and such. They just did not have landmarks and details that make looking at maps enjoyable. I was taught that x-country I should only fly on the right side of the railroad track due to the possibility of colliding with a NAVY guy coming the opposite direction. (true story - LOL)
Starting out - when I was ferrying planes all over the country sans radio, navs, and com - I learned pretty quick how to circle a water tower in order to read the name and figure out where I was!
Fun days!!
TOMO - Sorry that you were not able to get lucky! Neither was I, darn it. I guess not enough chocolate? Yours and WILLIES financial advice coulda, wouda, shoulda been taken in my case, but I could not resist the taco! However, I am a happy camper where I am cept for the State I live in?
CHRISTIAN -- This is for you! https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I got more to say, if anyone's interested, but I am hongry at the moment!
I be back!!
 
Good morning, all! It is a partly sunny morning, 74°. The weather guesser are calling for a "backward" day, where the high is the morning. and then crashes down during the afternoon into the 40's.

The conductress wasn't that thrilled with my play on words, Balentine / Valentine. No luck here either.

A few chores need doing today so I suspect train time is going to be little or none.

STAY SAVE
LATER
 
Hi all,
for those whose loved ones have left us, can I wish them a happy valentines on behalf of the women who otherwise would have celebrated their day with their other halves.
A lot of people go on about spending Xmas alone and I get it, but today must be as bad if not worse when the one you shared much of your life with is no longer here. I made a ribeye steak and a lamb chop for mine, and a Keto doughnut..actually not that doughnut texture but it was the first time trying and the results were actually rather pleasing
so no picture just thought of these and I made 5 at 200 calories each which we scoffed.
doughnut
1 egg
1/2 cup almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour (less calories per 100g and sweeter)
2 tbsp Sweetner of choice
1 or 2 tbsp of softened butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup freshly boiled water (mix the butter in it asap)
…
topping
1 tbsp almond butter (similar to peanut butter this can be substituted)
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp Sweetner of your choice
upto a 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon - optional

mix the water butter Onot egg if water still very warm)
mix the dry ingredients mix with the water butter then add the egg, divide into 5 balls (you can do r or 6, I used a 1/3 cup measure pressed the slightly dry dough spooned out on to parchment paper)
cook 375 deg f or 190 deg c for 15 mins, I use an air fryer with shelves so no spinning

meantime warm the butter,almond butter or peanut, and Sweetner of choice so just soft enough to drizzle over the doughnut
once doughnut cooked I transferred to a plate,drizzle the nutty topping.
each one is about 225-250 calories give or take.
eat with a spoon is likely best
for those with a jam option you can warm jam just enough (beware boiling and scolding) and drizzle that instead,sugar free sugars are available. So if strawberry jam is you thing your on a winner

this is really not doughy, eat over a plate in case it breaks up and lands on floor…..faints
and use finger to catch every last drop…..or your tongue if no one is watching lol.
if any way tried it give me your feedback.
personally as a non gluten wheat eater I give it a 5 star, although describing it as a doughnut is a tad wishful thinking, it does taste really nice though Imo in my opinion.

happy valentines all.
I forgot to photograph but they were soo arty ( tasty I hate autocorrect) and I made mini ones
added chocolate 25g to the topping,then chopped hazelnuts Ferraro richer style and coconut topping because I love coconut and some git (‘got) a mix as I was lazy and used the same bowl, I started with 15 for 625 cal, I don’t think I should admit how many are left…I have the plate :D
I did keep in my calories tho as I allowed for them, I knew they would not last lol
 

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Morning all,

Currently 35° and clear with a high today near 50°, then overnight we're are supposed to get some snow and depending on whom you listen to anywhere from a trace to 2" of the crap.

Valentines day was a bust. In try I had a day off fashion, I worked 14 hours yesterday due to a high priority Microsoft Exchange server update. Let's not publish the update at 7:00a when I'm rebooting the Exchange server for the new malware\antivirus software. They didn't push it until after 2:00p. Anyway got back 5 hours of the vacation time I was going to use on Monday's day off. And they wonder why I don't take time off....

I agree with the statement debt is voluntary servitude. In the past couple of years and with help from the Covid payments, finally have everything paid off except the house, but even that's on track to paid off within the next couple of years if we only make the required payments, and even that's 4 years earlier than the note's payoff date. We probably have almost enough set aside to actually pay the stupid thing off, but then that leaves no emergency funds. Sadly I figure if we paid it off today, it would still cost us about $700 a month to live there with the taxes and insurance on the place. I know that's still cheaper than renting somewhere.

Try to BBL
How’s ers 700 after you pay the mortgage

so we are looking at

house insurance
water in drinking
water out sewage
water land if applicable
do you count electricity
or gas
or wood
local taxes

where we are every weekend I am hearing chainsaw and woodcutters as those with open fire or woodburners are cutting wood to replace bought in fuel,we never had this previously and we are as bad.
 
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