Running Bear's January 2023 Coffee Shop

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Bruette said:
My first thought was to cut back. The heat in July will still be a problem for me. I also worry that people will show up regardless of what I do.

I've always hoped the young ones would step up. They enjoy being guests too much.
They do all the decorations.
The real problem is me. They have tried to help, I think to myself, "get out of the way, I'll do it". They don't have the experience. My wife has often asked me "how are they going to get any experience".
I need to step away and let them take over completly.

That is what I am hoping will happen. I've been hinting at it for years. The time has come to ask flat out.
I don't even have much of an appetite anymore. Two hotdogs, one beer, and salad and I am done for the day.

That is exactly right Curt.
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May I suggest:

Dear Fam:

I'm here to eat. (assuming the party is at your place). If you want the party on the 4th - it's up to you. I'm not doing it again. It's just too much.

That means, I don't want to hear about problems on the day of. It's your party now. Call me when food is ready.

I'll be in the train room running trains with the grandkids until you tell me it's time to eat. If you can't do the crabs correctly, get them catered. I'm here to eat, and to run trains.

Love Dad!

PS: don't burn holes in my crab pot. Ever!
 
I'm up. Quick check in before word some words, pull some more horsies off the 3d printer, then leave to take mom to the eye doc for her shots.

Getting ready to start book 10 in my main series. This one is at the royal palace on Avalon. Going to be fun to figure it out. I know who the Moriarty is. He's finally making his hand known. But, who is his patsy? Who dunnit? hmmmm
 
Good Morning All!
36F and dark. 1" of snow over the last couple of days, but pretty much has gone away because of the temp. Weather guessers say 43F on Friday - ya, we will see.

Inventory: What do you all do for this? USAA wants a list for coverage AND I also want a list to know what I got. Ok, so that is probably the easy part. What about if you have the capability to put it on-line for all to see? Is that something that you would do? I can envision some of the not so legal people could 'case' your stuff and possibly mark you for a midnight visit. I currently show what I have entered in my Inventory and have decided to change and not include the purchase price for visitors outside of my local network and possibly limit the number of items shown. In other words, not the whole 9 yards.

There are a lot of 'spendy' items in RPO, and if you are posting build threads you are kinda showing what you have anyway. Maybe it is just not having 'the big list' somewhere? Being in Libby, I am not overly worried, but it is something to think about. I have stuff starting from the late 70's when BB's were $1.50. Those now are upwards of 15 - 20 times the price of then. On top of that, what about the time spent doing maintenance and weathering - makes them a even higher $$$. In the last 10 years, DCC stuff has been from $150 up. Recently Ken told us about a guy at a train show loosing a Bigboy ( MTH I think ) and that was a wack of $600 if I remember correctly. As you know, we as MRR's seem to hoard stuff and maybe not think about what it is worth. It also might be that it is worth more to us than others which then this would pretty much be moot.

Ideas?

Later
 


Hello Happy Members !
More big power on the Longvallon RR ! Maybe in the real world these four diesels can't run together...But on the Longvallon RR, they can !

201106.jpg


 
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ctclibby said:
Good Morning All!
36F and dark. 1" of snow over the last couple of days, but pretty much has gone away because of the temp. Weather guessers say 43F on Friday - ya, we will see.

Inventory: What do you all do for this? USAA wants a list for coverage AND I also want a list to know what I got. Ok, so that is probably the easy part. What about if you have the capability to put it on-line for all to see? Is that something that you would do? I can envision some of the not so legal people could 'case' your stuff and possibly mark you for a midnight visit. I currently show what I have entered in my Inventory and have decided to change and not include the purchase price for visitors outside of my local network and possibly limit the number of items shown. In other words, not the whole 9 yards.

There are a lot of 'spendy' items in RPO, and if you are posting build threads you are kinda showing what you have anyway. Maybe it is just not having 'the big list' somewhere? Being in Libby, I am not overly worried, but it is something to think about. I have stuff starting from the late 70's when BB's were $1.50. Those now are upwards of 15 - 20 times the price of then. On top of that, what about the time spent doing maintenance and weathering - makes them a even higher $$$. In the last 10 years, DCC stuff has been from $150 up. Recently Ken told us about a guy at a train show loosing a Bigboy ( MTH I think ) and that was a wack of $600 if I remember correctly. As you know, we as MRR's seem to hoard stuff and maybe not think about what it is worth. It also might be that it is worth more to us than others which then this would pretty much be moot.

Ideas?

Later
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Take a series of photos of each item, or of similar items grouped. Depending on how anal you want to get, you can type out and print a list of what they are, and how much they cost, and include that in the photo. Then save the photo to a flash drive. Do this for all your stuff. Then make a copy of the flash drive, and put that in a location well away from the first, that you can still readily access.
 
bnsf971 said:
Take a series of photos of each item, or of similar items grouped. Depending on how anal you want to get, you can type out and print a list of what they are, and how much they cost, and include that in the photo. Then save the photo to a flash drive. Do this for all your stuff. Then make a copy of the flash drive, and put that in a location well away from the first, that you can still readily access.
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Terry: Was not asking about how to inventory something - already do that - have it all on the server in the house, which is backed up once a week to the server in the train cave. What about your thoughts on 'the rest of the story'?

Later
 
ctclibby said:
Terry: Was not asking about how to inventory something - already do that - have it all on the server in the house, which is backed up once a week to the server in the train cave. What about your thoughts on 'the rest of the story'?

Later
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My answer was there, though maybe in the omission. Don't post prices online. People that know, know. Those that don't, don't need to.
 
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 57° on the SFW estate this morning. Expecting 82° again today before it starts cooling off to more seasonal weather tomorrow. Near freezing tomorrow and Friday nights, and then back to the 60's and 70's by the weekend.

The quarterly primary care doctor's appointment is this morning. Fortunately nothing major to complain about. My only complaint is his location. When I first started seeing him, he was just 25 miles away. He has moved twice since then, getting further away each time, now 48 miles away. But I like him and he has been good for me. I would like to find someone closer, but I am not very good at "doctor shopping".
Since the weather was so nice yesterday, I did a lot of chores outdoors. I started my winter tree pruning, although it didn't seem like winter in my shorts and tee shirt. I did some more hauling of compost to the garden - the urge to plant during this wonderful weather is great, but I will not be fooled into planting too early.

Thanks for the reactions yesterday regarding my progress.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I completed the headhouse for the grain elevator and mounted it on top. I assembled the ventilators and added the guardrail on top as well. No pictures of the progress today, as I am just halfway done with the painting of the stuff. Due to the nice weather, I am just not spending as much time out there as I hoped. Maybe winter will return again.

Here's a grain train running through my town of Vernon. Looks like it's headed up with an almost unseen pair of GP35's.
03-12-19 017.001.JPG

03-12-19 018.001.JPG


Louis -
Bruette said:
My health has been mostly stable, but my energy and stamina are low.
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Pace yourself, it happens to all of us as the years mount.
Troy - That John McPhee essay was rather interesting, but it was too long for me to finish. It almost seemed like he had a word count goal and over-described everything!
Dennis - Seems like it's time to put your locos on a maintenance schedule. Disassemble, clean, lube and most important, keep track so you don't forget to do one.
Todd - I don't put my train inventory on line because I see no need to. If you want fellow modelers to know, just send them a copy.

Off I go for now. Everyone here have a great day.
 


santafewillie said:
That can definitely be a problem in areas like I live in. I have volunteered the water in my swimming pool as an emergency supply to the VFD if needed to refill their trucks. It holds 14,000 gallons, enough to fill their trucks several times over if needed. They have not needed it in 30 years. They used to give me free tickets to their BBQ dinner fundraiser each year as a thank you, but they stopped about 10 years ago when I started paying for them anyway.
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Yep. We used to live in a Rural fire district. Our pool was a re-fill station for some 25 years until they put in hydrants that pulled water directly from the lake. The pool was used once for a neighbors house fire.
 
Hi there happy modelers! Hoping for a "dry-out" day ... my back yard was floating in water yesterday afternoon.
It's a balmy 42f and looking for 60f later under clear skies.

I woke up too darn early today - bah!
A nap is in order later.
Morninf FLO ... just coffee at the moment!
 
CambriaArea51 said:
Got news today that one club member past away and another is in a nursing home and not doing good. A few of us are going to help the families sort through their trains to get them ready for sale.
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Myself and several friends all entered into a "gentlemen's agreement" several years ago about our collections on our demise. We've all committed to helping the surviving spouses get the most for our stuff. So far only 1 of our group has passed, and his wife was very appreciative of our help.
 
Good morning from Wisconsin. A ”Wintery” mix is falling as its 32f degrees. 49 is predicted for later.

Inventory, my insurance company used to request a yearly update on my train inventory. Just as they did for art and jewelry. Structures, electronics, freight cars and locomotives. The actual layout structure was never covered. I now just keep my own inventory updated on a thumb drive and because I churn (buy/sell) my freight cars constantly I update it frequently. That is the only time I use that thumb drive. I don’t believe there is any info left on the IPadPro when I remove the drive.

I have the retail pricing that I would list for the insurance company. I also put the prices of what I actually paid for myself on it but did not show that line to insurance. I still do all this but no longer separately insure the trains.

As to security, yes …

when I go, the LHS owner (he is aware) will be contacted by the family, the wife and daughter know the password for the thumb drive

Not sure what will happen today, just going with the flow
 
santafewillie said:
Troy - That John McPhee essay was rather interesting, but it was too long for me to finish. It almost seemed like he had a word count goal and over-described everything!
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Welcome to long-form narrative journalism.

There is an excellent tome of his writing (several, in fact). The one I recommend is "Basin and Range..." You get a lot more words of description. He's talking geology, mountains, rocks. Things that happen on a glacial scale. The mode of writing fits that time scale. From a writer's world, he captures the character of the mountains through the use of words, and creeping, lengthy sentences. Those are punctuated by the actions of humans, told in quick words. Short sentences.

Compare and contrast that with his essay "Giving Good Weight" about the hustle and bustle of a NYC farmer's market. When I had to write a recap of that story (500 word max), I used short, choppy, action sentences. Duplicating his efforts. Capturing the spirit of the market.

If you want to study the use of words and sentence structure to capture character in a narrative, read McPhee.

His first major story was on basketball for the New Yorker... you might have heard of the subject of that piece. Remember, this is long-form narrative. Its got words, and a lot of them. You'll see the length and structure of sentences shift based on the action and the mood of the moment he's describing.

www.newyorker.com

What Makes a Truly Great Basketball Player?

John McPhee’s 1965 Profile of the Princeton basketball star Bill Bradley, whose achievements broke barriers in the Ivy League, where athletes of the highest calibre usually don’t show up.
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com
 
Good morning. 39° and cloudy, going to 44°, with even more clouds. (Typical winter day on the Jersey Shore). Today is essential grocery day, as soon as I get my butt moving.

Caps vs. Flyers tonight at 7 ET, if you have Cable or satellite. Cable cutters get nada. :(

I started a spread sheet inventory, several times, incorporating purchase price and photos, but found it tedious. I feel the greedy insurance carrier is going to do all in their power to get out of paying a fair price, pulling the depreciation card and all of their other sharp practices, so why bother.
My plan is to liquidate my stuff before my expiration date, so there is no loss in case of a fire or other event.
 
kbkchooch said:
Myself and several friends all entered into a "gentlemen's agreement" several years ago about our collections on our demise. We've all committed to helping the surviving spouses get the most for our stuff. So far only 1 of our group has passed, and his wife was very appreciative of our help.
Click to expand...
What happens when you’re the last man standing?
Enquiring minds want to know!
 


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