Running Bear's January 2023 Coffee Shop

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Espeefan said:
Nice place but yeah big money. Easy to spend $150.00 a plate with that ala carte thing they do. More if you like cocktails and desert! OTOH if you don't treat yourself once in a while, what's the point? In that vein I splurged a little over Christmas. I wanted to try some really good caviar. It was sort of a bucket list thing. I ordered it online, and it came in next day air. Verdict: it was delicious, but I don't think I'll spend that much for that little again! Note: The good stuff doesn't taste fishy. :)
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I so agree. I and my wife have worked very hard to get to where we are in our 70’s. I have wanted to do Ruth Chris since we moved here in 2014 and Terry really doesn’t enjoy beef. So we didn’t go. She loves seafood but as a kid in my 20’s I was told by my boss if the client wants seafood do not take them to a great steakhouse.

I was though shocked by the 2 Homeless groups picketing outside the parking lot. Not interfering but making their presence known
 
Good morning, 37°, cloudy and wet, but no precipitation. Clearing after lunch...high of 45°. So much for all the snow hype leading up to this morning.

Hanging out, fasting, and just chilling, until we have to leave for my CT Scan around noon. Should be done by two or earlier. Have to fast because of the contrast dye...

Ruth - Chris, Haven't been there in years. I see they haven't changed. Well worth the cost, though.

Caps silenced the Columbus Cannon, 1-0. Backstrom and Wilson are back. Caps are back in a playoff position....all is good.
 
Lion fans, sorry but not really too sorry

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PRR Modeler said:
In line with TomO's musings: How long will it take to empty the rest of the world into the U.S. and turn our country into what the fleeing people left from?
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Patience, CURT! They are working as fast as they can!

OAN:
Packers lost - which was no surprise to me. Just do not think that A. Rogers has much umph left - seems he has three plays left; Run, Pass, Sack - he once could scramble with the best of them. He has changed from the time that he was hit hard and injured. I have lost some of my enthusiasm, after all, they have been "my team" for the past 50 years. Perhaps I should now switch allegiance back to the K.C. team? which was my introduction to PRO Football back in the 60's. The Chiefs' Dolphins' 3rd overtimes game in the 60's was the only PRO game I have been too; It was a classic! Mostly I remember how COLD it was !!
Speaking of Overtime play - the way it is done today really sucks!

A client of The Spousal Unit is a "died in the wool" Tennessee fan ... we will cry in our beer together!

I'll get back to the natural gas after a bit! Willie, I know that there are no LNG terminals here - nor on the West Coast. I have a ton of UNG ETF shares which have declined a bunch from when I bought them; something is "fishy"!
 
kbkchooch said:
Gary
Is your LED wired backward? When I 1st got into DCC I was forever hooking up the anode (+) side to the function lead, but decoders don’t work that way. The decoder keeps the blue wire “hot” all the time, and grounds the function lead to complete the desired circuit. I always have to stop and remind myself of this when wiring LEDs to decoders
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I thought we did it right, long end of the LED is supposed to be positive I thought. I hooked the blue wire up to the negative side. Its at my buddies house right now, so I wont see it again till tomorrow night.
 
Ah good morning shop dwellers!

Dagum Packers lost....that is it ! I am done with the NFL until Super Bowl. A Rod should have not played he was off for sure. I think it is time for retirement. It was sad and gave me the feels when I saw him and R Cobb walk off the field together after the game. It is time to for them to go. Jordan Love should have played in my opinion but there is another underlining issue. The O line. Bakhtiari needs to go as well. We need to recruit some new guys there. The team that played the Vikings last week......certainly did not show up yesterday to play the LIons, Disappointed for sure. They are still my team though. Nuff said! Oh by the way the Lions won't even get anywhere closer to the SB not a chance in hell.


Willie - Jerome, I miss him something terrible. I have not spoken to him in a long while. I did buy a few items from him off ebay about 3 months ago. No communication ensued though. Whatever his reasons are they must be some serious life alteration or changes for him, I can only hope and pray he is ok. I did not have a chance to get to N Carolina last year due to my family loss of my sister etc. I may try to go this year and may give it a go to see him. He was/is a master at his craft for sure. Life happens as we all know. He is one of a kind and a great guy. He has mad skills for modeling that is out of this world.


TomO - Prices on any rolling stock or trains for that matter is cra cra crazy from one extreme to another. There are times in my searches I find super high cost then others dirt cheap. The hunting for the right thing and price is a game in itself. Knowing that there are some reasonable prices out there it is good but it's getting more and more like out of hand. More and more people are actually doing this for a living or side work income so they will try to maximize their profits as much as they can. Some do not have a clue what they are selling and some do. The ones that do not have a clue will over price but will have options for offers at times. These are the ones that buy storage units or realestate for liquidation. Sometimes talking to them can help on side deals too which I do quite often. Sometimes they don't respond if thats the worse case scenario who cares right? Most of my buys are just sheer luck or happen stance for super deals others not so much. All in all as you know what we buy can be re-sold and there is always that somone who will pay the price if they want it bad enough. A few years ago I thought about getting into buying for liquidation but I decided to wait on doing that as it takes up a lot of time and man power to do that. I am just not in that place where I need to do something like that.


Gary - I wanted to tell ya that depot you are doing is awesome! I cannot wait to see it finished and lighted up with LEDs! Keep at it!


Weather here is chilling down a bit we went from low to mid 40's to the teens in a flash. Currently 17° F today and will reach a high of 37° F.
I stayed home again today to work from home. I think tomorrow I will go in the office. We will see. I am on the tail end I think of getting away from being sick. I still have a nasty cough and nasal congestion. My ears are not "red" or sore so that is a good thing though.


I picked up 2 more locomotives (SD45 UP and AC4400 fantasy scheme both DCC and sound) on the real dirt cheap side again and I will share those when they come in. I also picked up a weathered box car that was 42 bucks shipping included. The pictures looked fantastic and I cannnot wait to see it in person. Hopefully it was worth the purchase but I believe it was. We shall see. Once I have them I will post on the RPO thread for sure!

About 3 weeks or so ago I mentioned I got a collection of 35mm kodak slides. I am working on those to be converted to digital. I got a some old metal cases to store them in that have pr-emolded slots to hold the slides. I will probrably re-sell them once I have done all the scans. Some real gems in the collection. I may share one or two pics later. I may do a thread on them we will see.

18 more days until the Big "E" show.......ya I can't wait.

I gotta call the fuel guy to have my tank topped off and this will get me to the end of the season. We shall see what the fuel will be per gallon. Hopefully it has fallen a little from the last purchase, we shall see.

Well I gotta go do some work, Ya'll have a good day and week. I will check in later of course.
 


Good Morning All. Clear and 32°. Wasn't predicted to be that cold overnight. It's now predicted to be 81° tomorrow and Wednesday.

We went to Dallas yesterday for my daughter's birthday party for me. Steak, potatoes, mushrooms and salad, plus drinks. A good time was had by all. Fifth weekend in a row that I had to go somewhere. Wears me out!

Thanks for the reactions to yesterdays scenes.

No train shed time yesterday, as a result of heading to the big city.
From the archives, there are a few more industries in the town of Graham that are rail served. Here are a few more. All are in unfinished areas.
IMG_7931.JPG

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Then there is another grain elevator, Valley Growers Association.
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And the John Deere distributor and the adjacent Star Manufacturing.
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Jeff - Neat sighting of the fox. I only get coyotes here. Foxes are not originally native to Texas, but exist in pockets mainly around heavily wooded areas and near cities. Wolves are also non-existent here. The last one sighted state-wide was in 1970.
Tom O - Following up on your musings:
The rains out west will not help the drought. They're scheduled to remove four dams on the Klamath River that not only store water, but generate hydroelectric power. The last reservoir built out in CA was in 1980. Between excessive regulation and just plain ineptitude, it might be 50 years before another one is built, if at all.
It doesn't matter who drives the clown car. As I posted last week and Alan posted this morning, "crap shoot investigations" based on revenge will prevail.
As I had previously posted, most Americans don't realize how bad this illegal immigration actually is. Big city mayor's are complaining about getting 30,000 migrants in the last six months, we're getting that many every 10 days in Texas. Now those mayors don't want them. Many of the migrants are stuck now, as they will be persecuted if they are returned home, for leaving to begin with. While it is true that they do add to the economy by doing jobs that Americans don't want, there's too many now to absorb.
I have no comment on Musk.
401K's - Yes I believe that changed with the passage of the most recent "Spend Taxpayers Money" bill through Congress. Interesting that they delayed receiving taxes as part of a spending bill. This was part of the budget bill passed in December that included the Michelle Obama Trail in GA.
Troy - Good that you got the printer back on track. I enjoy your figures.

If you're in a big city, then today is No Pants Subway Ride Day. That could be half interesting.
Everybody have a great day.
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Clear and 32°. Wasn't predicted to be that cold overnight. It's now predicted to be 81° tomorrow and Wednesday.

We went to Dallas yesterday for my daughter's birthday party for me. Steak, potatoes, mushrooms and salad, plus drinks. A good time was had by all. Fifth weekend in a row that I had to go somewhere. Wears me out!

Thanks for the reactions to yesterdays scenes.

No train shed time yesterday, as a result of heading to the big city.
From the archives, there are a few more industries in the town of Graham that are rail served. Here are a few more. All are in unfinished areas.
View attachment 159508
View attachment 159509
Then there is another grain elevator, Valley Growers Association.View attachment 159510
And the John Deere distributor and the adjacent Star Manufacturing.
View attachment 159511

Jeff - Neat sighting of the fox. I only get coyotes here. Foxes are not originally native to Texas, but exist in pockets mainly around heavily wooded areas and near cities. Wolves are also non-existent here. The last one sighted state-wide was in 1970.
Tom O - Following up on your musings:
The rains out west will not help the drought. They're scheduled to remove four dams on the Klamath River that not only store water, but generate hydroelectric power. The last reservoir built out in CA was in 1980. Between excessive regulation and just plain ineptitude, it might be 50 years before another one is built, if at all.
It doesn't matter who drives the clown car. As I posted last week and Alan posted this morning, "crap shoot investigations" based on revenge will prevail.
As I had previously posted, most Americans don't realize how bad this illegal immigration actually is. Big city mayor's are complaining about getting 30,000 migrants in the last six months, we're getting that many every 10 days in Texas. Now those mayors don't want them. Many of the migrants are stuck now, as they will be persecuted if they are returned home, for leaving to begin with. While it is true that they do add to the economy by doing jobs that Americans don't want, there's too many now to absorb.
I have no comment on Musk.
401K's - Yes I believe that changed with the passage of the most recent "Spend Taxpayers Money" bill through Congress. Interesting that they delayed receiving taxes as part of a spending bill. This was part of the budget bill passed in December that included the Michelle Obama Trail in GA.
Troy - Good that you got the printer back on track. I enjoy your figures.

If you're in a big city, then today is No Pants Subway Ride Day. That could be half interesting.
Everybody have a great day.
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Willie: Your comments are interesting... I agree on point 1, (California), seems the government and electorate there all live in Disney's Fantasy Land, or believe in the Wizard of OZ. Point 2. Clown Car...They are all selfish, vindictive and only concerned about keeping their seat and their privilege, irrespective of their affiliation. Point 3. Immigration and Homelessness are two major problems, but the sign carriers only offer slogans and not solutions. 4. Musk...another egotistical rich guy who thrives on attention. 5. 401(k), Yeah, they made changes. Since I already withdrew everything I really didn't pay any attention to the changes. However, the Tax Consequences of 401 (k)s and IRAs, are not made clear to participants, only that they are deferring current taxes. Boy was I surprised...
 
Chrιstιaη said:
I bought a nice Bachmann diesel...but all I got it's a dummy ! When I put it on the track for a test all I got it's a wonderful fume. The motor burned right behind me. WTF !

View attachment 159513
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Usually those pancake motors make it a couple of laps around the layout before they go *poof*. It's probably older than you are, so getting a replacement motor that's any good will be--difficult.
 
Hey, I’m a builder! I put up a shelf this morning for the Rubber Maid type bins. Purchased at Menards most of them are over 30 years old. But thankfully a lot less of them since retirement in 2014. On top go the seasonal bins that are not Christmas related. Underneath goes 5 rows 3 high of the Christmas bin items. This moving into a new place is exhausting.

That is my layout room Shark vacuum cleaner. In the far end of the aisle is my wire rack of detail pieces, extra walls from kits, my egg crates for holding rolling stock to be worked on and duplicate kits from Walthers. I have to recycle all the cardboard since the recycling bin was full yesterday but empty as of about 90 minutes ago.

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After lunch, I will move the bins in. Storage out of the way but accessible is great


edit. Added new picture after dinner (spaghetti) tonight. 7.5 hours later the Bins are stored in the new area.
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Afternoon All,

Started out the day with a walk at 55F. After breakfast I did a couple of chores then headed to the train room while the getting was good. I soldered the 6 track joiners I missed before. It took longer in prep than soldering, then I put down 2 coats of A&I on everything and finally used some Tamya Grimy Black to cover solder spots and bare track spots. I think tomorrow I will start going through my MRR storage to see what can be thrown and what can be given away to a needy modeler. I'm talking mainly buildings both craftsman and Walthers. After lunch I chauffeured the wife to Wally World😢 and now waiting on son to get home to help me take down subdivision Christmas lights (entrance) that I was mandated to do by the HOA president (MOH). I'm sure the president will act presidential by telling us what to do and how to do it.:rolleyes:

Louis- I knew a guy that had two 2-8-8-4's in HO. They were huge. I can only imagine in "O" scale. Joe can correct me if I'm wrong, but the Pennsy didn't use Berkshire (2-8-4) and instead used Mountain's (4-8-2). Of course, you can never say never about the Pennsy.

Karl- I hope your back is better. I can certainly sympathize with poor sleep lately.

Willie- Nice scenes. That's a lot of JD's.

TomO- I don't envy you having to move and all the associated crap that goes with it.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 


One of the things that I found funny in Japan was some store names. They like to use English names on stores. This is not the first time I've documented this in photos, having done so on previous trips, but here are some I got this time around. Mostly fashion type stores.

There were a bunch of other "interesting" names but I only got these documented...

IMG_1643.jpegIMG_1645.jpegIMG_1646.jpegIMG_1647.jpegIMG_1652.jpegIMG_1653.jpeg
 
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