Running Bear's February 2025 Coffee Shop

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Good morning gang.

Clear and 45° currently. Daytime high is supposed to get up to 46° with gusty wind. Temp is supposed to drop after sundown rapidly. Tomorrow the daytime I will be close to the freeze point but the day after will be 50°. Gotta love these temperature roller coasters!

BBL
 


Well, howdy there internet peeples

It's Troy again...

Just sent out the first two rounds of ebook rewards to my followers. Still a lot more to do with it, but we're moving into the physical products (and audiobook). Those I have to rely on other businesses to get me my stuff. And printing books takes a while.

Wife is taking mother to her Edno appointment to get the blood sugar and Insulin pump checked over on the every quarter visit. MIL is a "fragile" diabetic (type 1) and has intense swings. So the sensor and pump combo works best for her. Until it errors for some reason. That's why MIL lives just down the road (5 min walk from our condo).

Last night we did another pizza on the grill
pizza.jpg


Wife made the crust the regular way, and not with the gluten free flour mixed in. But she insisted on rolling out then leaving it sit for a second rise. I should have gone in with the pizza screen (the aluminum piece you see under the dough), but the grill wasn't up to temp yet. She wanted a thicker crust and wants it to rise after rolling it out. But it expands and is too large for the screen then. So I have to nip and tuck it, or I ball it up and re-roll it.

I don't have a post bake pic, because I had to manhandle it soooo much to nip and tuck it back into shape to fit on the screen (which is same size as the pizza stone). The dough got pressed into the screen and didn't want to break loose. We never worried about second rise at the pizza shops I worked at. Dough came out of the fridge, flip it, size it to the screen, add toppings, and bake it.

I did let this one go too long in the oven. It was that one-minute too long. I get the grill up to about 375 to 400, and it is almost... almost...almost... almost...almost... almost... Now!... Oops too late. Nothing was burned. But on the crispy side of done. Since this isn't tomato sauce and cheese on a cracker, we want it in the NOW range.

I've got a 10 inch cast iron low baking dish for the grill. I might try that next time with the "deep dish" approach so the wife can get her 2nd rise out of the dough.
 
kbkchooch said:
Good morning gang.

Clear and 45° currently. Daytime high is supposed to get up to 46° with gusty wind. Temp is supposed to drop after sundown rapidly. Tomorrow the daytime I will be close to the freeze point but the day after will be 50°. Gotta love these temperature roller coasters!

BBL
Click to expand...
Yes, last week the temps here were around 30 for lows, now the highs are around 85.
 


Good Morning All. Cloudy and 52°. Only supposed to warm up to 62° today due to the clouds, after reaching 83° yesterday. Back to the mid to upper 70's tomorrow. Spring weather until Sunday night when it returns to wintertime temperatures. Broke out the shorts again Sunday since it looks like that kind of weather for at least a week.

Yesterday I mowed some parts of the yard that have been inaccessible due to the downed trees from last May's tornado. Chewed up a lot of small twigs in the process. Some of it will be raked up and spread over the garden. Stacked more firewood and generally piddled around the yard. More of the same today.

Tariffs: You have to remember that they are being proposed by the noted author of the 1987 book The Art of the Deal. It's all just posturing for something else. I was being tongue-in-cheek when I asked about the China tariff being added to the Canadian one. Anyone who thinks that the consumer isn't the one who eventually pays is quite uninformed.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I mostly ran trains while trying to decide which project on my list to tackle next. I did almost finish the DPM kit, just needing the view blocks installed and I need to fashion a handrail for the dock steps.
IMG_0301.JPG

This broke when cutting it off the sprue. I haven't decided whether to try to fix it or just make another out of a piece of wire.
Meanwhile here are some final pictures.
IMG_0298.JPG
IMG_0300.JPG
IMG_0299.JPG

I did have one issue with a pallet jack which eventually got fixed with a good dab of Super Glue.
IMG_0291.JPG


David - Absolutely awesome diorama from your granddaughter. I see that you have passed on your talent.
Patrick - Good question regarding the unglued ballast. I use track nails for my track, not glue; but I do use white glue on my ballast to keep it in place.
Mike - I have never seen a layout where the ballast wasn't glued down. Heavy ground cover might keep it in place temporarily, but I feel that as much running as I do it would vibrate around. But I also don't ballast until I have run trains over new trackwork for at least 4-5 months in case I eventually have to move track...only once on this layout.
Len - Thanks for the comment.
Hughie - I don't even ask about tire prices any more, I just get the best Michelins that our local tire shop can get. Sometimes takes them a couple of days to get what I ask for.
Swal - Balanced budget, maybe you should run for Congress.
Louis - No need to worry about the weight loss, it's all coming from the waistline, at least now. I'm just consuming less at mealtimes.
I don't consume soda fast enough to empty a 2 liter bottle before it goes flat. Most of my fluid intake is water with beer and juice running a very distant second. Soft drinks are behind that.
Jay - Thanks for the comment.

Today is Alice Cooper's 77th birthday.
Everyone have a great Tuesday.
 
Good Morning All!
18F @ 63% overcast still. To get 5 - 8" of white in the next 2 days. Guess that the Groundhog is right. We are getting tired of winter!

Anybody else notice that this site is ...um... not as fast as usual? Checked a few other sites and they bang in.

Building a table for the new laser cutter as I can. L shaped thing with 48" x 48" on one end, 36" x 48" on the other. Big end for the cutter, smaller end for my crap, computer and monitors. Any of you have LightBurn? Got to get it fired up with key installed. Says I can have it on multiple PC's and I can register other devices but not sure about that. Ideas?

Put the code reader on the Nissan and got notta, nothing.... Guess that it will have to wait for warmer days and I can dig into it more. Else, take it to Robin and let him play with it. His reader goes more in depth than mine so maybe something will fall out of that. I found that the front hubs are growling and need replaced. No zerks, factory sealed. Could feel a little wobble when wheel was off the ground and checked. Right headlight assembly is pretty opaque and have that too. It looks to be somewhat easy, we will see. At that time I decided to get the parts installed the plan was to keep it, but things change as y'all know. I still can't tell you why I don't like it, just don't.

Keep warm for those still in winter.

L8r
 
Hmmm... adding to the wishlist.

Since I've settled on Conrail for a large section of my layout, I'm still going freelance, but adding the "proto" to the front of it. Probably modelling mostly in the late 70s to early 80s. That means i can have some power still in their fallen flag color...

That means PRR black. Though I'm not as fond of the solid black. I like interesting paint, or a color other than black. (partial to cool colors like Blue and Green). I try to avoid yellows. So Chessie always confounds me when they mix the yellow with the blueish tones.

Someone mentioned Yankee Dabbler on another thread, and I hadn't been there yet.

Now I'm comparing... what loco should I get for "old paint" on a Conrail early era layout?

Do I stick with blue and get a U boat?
Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 9.33.31 AM.png


Or do something like PRR Black?
Screenshot 2025-02-04 at 9.29.47 AM.png


Maybe save the blacks for the Alco yard switchers? Hmmm...

Anyone have a favorite I should consider in N scale? Sound isn't needed, but I want DCC onboard.
 
Good mornin' y'all from a rather cool Cheyenne. It's 16 and partly cloudy with wind chill 12. Winds are from the SSW @ 6mph gusting to 14. High for today 52 low tonight 31 and no precipitation in the forecast. Overall looks like another pleasant day in SE Wyoming.
UP Steam Club posted #4014 Roundhouse and Shop tour tickets for later this month - sold out within minutes... They'll have another round of tours later in the year.
Sold our 2019 KIA Sportage yesterday. 102k miles - time to go plus our car insurance kept increasing. Been a good car - had to replace anti-knock sensor a couple of months ago and brake pads about 85k miles was about it for maint/repair. Don't really need a car here like we did in Nac. D#2/SIL have 2 cars and they added us to their insurance. Car insurance seems to be quite a bit less than Texas. I drive very little daytime and not at all at night. NJ(ret.) & D#2 are both good drivers, but I still close my eyes, keep my mouth shut, and hope for the best...
Ordered a kit from SierraWest yesterday. Had nice phone conversation with Brett. Good guy, produces some quality stuff.
If it warms up a bit, I may get out in the garage today and see what I need to do to clean up the space for the layout. Posted yesterday in Pine Flat thread in "Layout Design and Construction."
Well I see NJ(ret.) is stirring about and the Love's mug could use a warm up.
Y'all have a good day and take care.

Troy: I've had good experiences with Yankee Dabbler. Decent prices and good service.
 
troyphoto said:
Hmmm... adding to the wishlist.

Since I've settled on Conrail for a large section of my layout, I'm still going freelance, but adding the "proto" to the front of it. Probably modelling mostly in the late 70s to early 80s. That means i can have some power still in their fallen flag color...

That means PRR black. Though I'm not as fond of the solid black. I like interesting paint, or a color other than black. (partial to cool colors like Blue and Green). I try to avoid yellows. So Chessie always confounds me when they mix the yellow with the blueish tones.

Someone mentioned Yankee Dabbler on another thread, and I hadn't been there yet.

Now I'm comparing... what loco should I get for "old paint" on a Conrail early era layout?

Do I stick with blue and get a U boat?
View attachment 211029

Or do something like PRR Black?
View attachment 211030

Maybe save the blacks for the Alco yard switchers? Hmmm...

Anyone have a favorite I should consider in N scale? Sound isn't needed, but I want DCC onboard.
Click to expand...
That SD45 is not black. It is a very, very dark green.
If you’ve decided on early-mid Conrail, that opens up a lot of Northeastern roads. You can get away with PRR and NYC, though they had merged with each other and New Haven in the late 1960s, so most of it would have been painted PC black. There were also LV and RDG, as well as a couple of smaller roads such as EL.
 


santafewillie said:
No need to worry about the weight loss, it's all coming from the waistline, at least now. I'm just consuming less at mealtimes.
Click to expand...
In that case; will done sir! I know from your updates you are in good health. I only wanted to make sure you stay that way.

I don't know much about weight loss. Except from the little I’ve learned about women. I learned a safe amount is 1-2 lbs. per week for a woman. I was concerned when you lost so much. For all I know it could be different for men. God knows I never worried about my wieight.

The women that worried me were already skinny enough in my mind. I like curves, no bumpy roads, just smooth curves. My little wife is perfect, and she eats healthy. I make sure she eats enough.

Several of my ex-girlfriends were obsessed with their weight. They eat like birds, and they are always hungry, but won’t admit it. “Have a cheeseburger for God’s sake and shut the f… up!”
 
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