Running Bear's January 2024 Coffee Shop

[bnsf971]

 

[migalyto]

We have been below zero for a little while. Okay it is C, but it is still cold.

Your zero degrees and ours are a little different.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

WAY TO GO - Green Bay!

 

[migalyto]

We already have sub-zero temperatures thanks. Dawn is not impressed with the 'gifts'.

In this time of the season, It's the thought that counts.

 

[troyphoto]

We're close to the negatives, but still have positive F-degrees. All three of them.

Is negative F-degrees considered the "Naughties"?

 

[CambriaArea51]

Actually the game had to be moved because of the NY governor’s decision. The NFL was not consulted

The game was moved do to the heavy lake effect snow and the high winds blowing the snow. The stadium got about 20" of snow.
The Governor was in talks with the NFL and the Commissioner to make the decision.

 

[CambriaArea51]

We already have sub-zero temperatures thanks. Dawn is not impressed with the 'gifts'.

Now you know how we feel about the cold Canadian air that we get and don't want but they like to share it.

 

[Boris]

That Network Administrator from Wichita Kansas that we haven't heard from lately.

Silly me, I wasn't thinking. Your right, it's been a while since I've seen him post. Hope he's all right! BTW, you take care with the cold snap...you're not used to it either. Right now, it's 32 here which is not unusual, but the wind is sucking the heat right out of the house. It's cold. Looking ahead, it's going to be a rough two weeks. Be careful.

 

[chadbag]

Your zero degrees and ours are a little different.

C and F are a little different, until you get to -40. Then they’re the same for that one measurement.

—

Hello everyone freezing and getting snow. We to have had snow this last week. Am I ch or three every other day of dry powdery stuff. Wasn’t so bad. Got more snow yesterday. A little heavier and wetter. Last night it got up to the mid to high 30s and rained some after dumping a few inches. Then the temp dropped back down to 30-32F (about -1 to 0C). This morning the snow was more like snow cone consistency. Been hovering g around that temp ass day and was lightly snowing again this late afternoon.

last week we had the quite cold nights and cold days. This weeks supposed to be a bit warmer in the mid to upper 30s some of the days. We’ll see what happens to our 4-8” that accumulated over the last week.

the mud and drywall guys were there until 12:30am last night and came back this morning for an hour or two.

I was working trying to put the outside wall lights on the front of the house but the screws that came with it weren’t long enough because the siding guys put a square of trim around the hole where the box is to hook it up. After removing the cross piece that screws to the box and to which the future is attached I went to see what to do. I thought they were 8-32 screws, of which I had a bunch but the decorative enclosed nut that holds the fixture to the cross piece and screw would turn in more than an 1/8 or so so I went off to Home
Depot and got a box of assorted length 6-32 screws from the electrical department. Came back and they were too small a screw diameter wise.

So I started to suspect a metric one and went back to Home Depot. Luckily a new one opened up about 2 or 2.5 miles away at the end of October. I found the sample screw and nut that you can use to test your screws and nuts to determine their size/spec. Mine turned out to be M4-0.7. So I found those and bout enough 40mm long ones for all the fixtures I have and went home. Assembled the cross piece and got it screwed back into the box mounted in the wall. Mind you it is now dark and has been lightly snowing all afternoon and evening. They were still too short though the ends were about long enough to expose themselves in the holes in the fixture. I got it disassembled again and got ready to drive to Home Depot again to buy some 45mm and 50mm long ones when I. Noticed it was 10pm straight up.

They had just closed. At least I figure that out before I got im the car.

I wanted to have some sort of success so I went and got the trims I had bought for the 6” cans in the porch ceiling and got those installed and the LIFX smart bulbs I had for the porch in and got them added to my “Home” settings. So at least those work fine.

I also tried to get the switches in the garage for the ceiling lights in the “wide garage” to work — I had tried the night before without success. The lights were wired for 4-way use (three switches) and I’m using Lutron Caseta smart switches. In the previous days I had gotten the install to work with one smart switch and the mechanical end 3-way switch, but the middle mechanical 4-way switch wouldn’t work right. I tried a bunch of different things but couldn’t get them to work so I had tried to follow a wiring diagram that showed one smart switch as master and 2 smart switches as slaves but couldn’t get that to work. Last night I tried again and tried various things and measured with my meter and finally gave up at 1am. I did enough sleuthing to discover that the wiring diagram is for a different Lutron Caseta compatible switch and slave accessory switches. They’ll work with the same hub but are a newer switch.

i ordered enough for two switch setups as the long garage also has 3 separate switch locations I think and Amazon brought them tonight. I’ll get them installed tomorrow. Luckily I used Wago lever nuts to install them so it will take about 5 min to swap them in for the existing ones I had been working with.

mill also try and get all the outside front lights (wall sconce style) installed and breakers in and also try and get all the fixtures in the garage as well.



some shots of the current drywall situation. Lots of progress. Also various shots of the stilts they use. Plus remember the super tall ones I posted a few days ago

 

[TLOC]

WAY TO GO - Green Bay!

The wife was thrilled, it was a great game!

 

[TLOC]

The game was moved do to the heavy lake effect snow and the high winds blowing the snow. The stadium got about 20" of snow.
The Governor was in talks with the NFL and the Commissioner to make the decision.

The way it was reported here was the governor told the NFL to move the game. They discussed if the Monday game would need to be moved. I’m sure someone got a donation to at least leave the game alone on Monday. But it’s the national media reporting, so what is the truth. Your version makes sense

 

[TLOC]

Good evening. Most of the 43 folks that passed through the house today have gone. Between our house and the daughters there are 10 staying overnight as planned. All others who left passed the gate keeper’s testing who had everyone’s car keys. Other than the way the game played out that no one needed a ride home was kind of shocking. We always have one or 2 that can’t drive.

A recent divorcee ( I was unaware of it) took the now very recently unattached brother for a ride after the game and gee he’s not back! My sous chef ditched the kitchen for a women! Can you believe that…

We had a ball! I was in the kitchen working with my back to the IPadPro streaming the game but the house almost shook the screaming was so loud on that opening drive TD. I saw the replay! Again for the pick6 it was deafening but also the realization they really were going to have a great chance to win.

If you go back to last week I did predict the Cowboys would lose to the Pack because of the experiences the Packers had with Coach McCarthy. He doesn’t lose the games but his defensive coordinators, quinn in Dallas and Capers in GB were hand picked by ownership or in GB case the GM not coach Mike. Those coordinators are chokes but because McCarthy is the HC its his fault. I do believe Mike will be searching for a new job by Wednesday and Jerry Jones will hire Bill B from New England who is a free agent. That will come back to haunt the Boys.

A fun day!

 

[Bruette]

WAY TO GO - Green Bay!

I was hoping to enjoy a close game.

Dallas could do nothing right. The Cowboys defensive players were overzealous, trying to do too much. Especially their front seven. That resulted in one or two players being out of position on almost every down. On offense Dallas was not much better. I've never seen Dak so inaccurate. By the time Dallas corrected their mistakes the game was out of hand.

Green Bay was impressive! The Packers played with nearly perfect precision on both sides of the ball. The young Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love and their running back Aaron Jones exploited nearly every Dallas mistake.

It was an ugly game to watch.

 

[Bruette]

C and F are a little different, until you get to -40. Then they’re the same for that one measurement.

—

Hello everyone freezing and getting snow. We to have had snow this last week. Am I ch or three every other day of dry powdery stuff. Wasn’t so bad. Got more snow yesterday. A little heavier and wetter. Last night it got up to the mid to high 30s and rained some after dumping a few inches. Then the temp dropped back down to 30-32F (about -1 to 0C). This morning the snow was more like snow cone consistency. Been hovering g around that temp ass day and was lightly snowing again this late afternoon.

last week we had the quite cold nights and cold days. This weeks supposed to be a bit warmer in the mid to upper 30s some of the days. We’ll see what happens to our 4-8” that accumulated over the last week.

the mud and drywall guys were there until 12:30am last night and came back this morning for an hour or two.

I was working trying to put the outside wall lights on the front of the house but the screws that came with it weren’t long enough because the siding guys put a square of trim around the hole where the box is to hook it up. After removing the cross piece that screws to the box and to which the future is attached I went to see what to do. I thought they were 8-32 screws, of which I had a bunch but the decorative enclosed nut that holds the fixture to the cross piece and screw would turn in more than an 1/8 or so so I went off to Home
Depot and got a box of assorted length 6-32 screws from the electrical department. Came back and they were too small a screw diameter wise.

So I started to suspect a metric one and went back to Home Depot. Luckily a new one opened up about 2 or 2.5 miles away at the end of October. I found the sample screw and nut that you can use to test your screws and nuts to determine their size/spec. Mine turned out to be M4-0.7. So I found those and bout enough 40mm long ones for all the fixtures I have and went home. Assembled the cross piece and got it screwed back into the box mounted in the wall. Mind you it is now dark and has been lightly snowing all afternoon and evening. They were still too short though the ends were about long enough to expose themselves in the holes in the fixture. I got it disassembled again and got ready to drive to Home Depot again to buy some 45mm and 50mm long ones when I. Noticed it was 10pm straight up.

They had just closed. At least I figure that out before I got im the car.

I wanted to have some sort of success so I went and got the trims I had bought for the 6” cans in the porch ceiling and got those installed and the LIFX smart bulbs I had for the porch in and got them added to my “Home” settings. So at least those work fine.

I also tried to get the switches in the garage for the ceiling lights in the “wide garage” to work — I had tried the night before without success. The lights were wired for 4-way use (three switches) and I’m using Lutron Caseta smart switches. In the previous days I had gotten the install to work with one smart switch and the mechanical end 3-way switch, but the middle mechanical 4-way switch wouldn’t work right. I tried a bunch of different things but couldn’t get them to work so I had tried to follow a wiring diagram that showed one smart switch as master and 2 smart switches as slaves but couldn’t get that to work. Last night I tried again and tried various things and measured with my meter and finally gave up at 1am. I did enough sleuthing to discover that the wiring diagram is for a different Lutron Caseta compatible switch and slave accessory switches. They’ll work with the same hub but are a newer switch.

i ordered enough for two switch setups as the long garage also has 3 separate switch locations I think and Amazon brought them tonight. I’ll get them installed tomorrow. Luckily I used Wago lever nuts to install them so it will take about 5 min to swap them in for the existing ones I had been working with.

mill also try and get all the outside front lights (wall sconce style) installed and breakers in and also try and get all the fixtures in the garage as well.

View attachment 179568View attachment 179569

some shots of the current drywall situation. Lots of progress. Also various shots of the stilts they use. Plus remember the super tall ones I posted a few days ago

View attachment 179570View attachment 179571View attachment 179572View attachment 179573View attachment 179574

Chad, these details can be frustrating. I'm glad to read you figured it out, kept your cool and moved on. I tend to get angry and make a tough situation worse. I'm working on it.

I hope you have some kind of gloves for working in that cold. Even latex gloves like mechanics wear will help to retain the heat from your hands.

Progress is looking good, keep on keeping on and thanks for the updates!

 

[NorthBrit]

Good morning all. The little amount of snow last night disappeared as soon as it landed. A cold night. It is even colder now (10.30am).

Time for a coffee, then train room.

Back later.

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet peeps and those not sleeping at TomO's house last night,

it's Troy again...

Had a decent night's sleep. Unfortunately, it was too audible of one for the wife. She retreated to the guest room. I zonked 10 to 4:30. Woke up and saw that side sans pillows. Check your snoring fellows. You could be driving the ladies off! I'll apologize once she's up and moving.

For making the tiki drinks, I haven't been able to get crushed ice easily.

Yes, we do have an ice-crusher on our Samsung French door fridge. But we shut off the ice maker. Our model of fridge has severe issues with the ice maker (up in the fridge part) icing over and getting stuck shut, with the drawer frosted over as well. So after about a month, I had to take the hair dryer to it. There's a class action suit making it's way through the system right now, but that doesn't fix the fridge.

So, I started looking online. There are old style crank-type ice crushers. I remember my parents had one. But the new models are all low reviews on the Largest River store.

But, I have a couple yards of canvas for an abandoned project... and a wife who sews.

Now I have a Lewis bag.

Ice into bag. Fold it over. Place scrap 1x4 on it. Smack with hammer.

Scoop out as needed. The cloth of the bag absorbs the melt off, and I got pretty decent and dry-ish ice That's about a buck for the canvas, $3 for the small hammer, and scrap wood was a cast off from the benchwork.

I can now make the wife a Mai Tai with good ice, and not have to head to Chix-Phil-Hey for a bag of their pebble ice. You can also find pebble ice by the bag at Sonic Drive Ins, but the closest is 45-60 minutes away... That's a long way to go for small bits of ice.

Last night's cocktail (for me, wife said she was tiki'd out) was a bourbon Lion's Tale with Allspice Dram, lime, and demerara syrup... That flavor is OK in tiki, not what I want a bourbon cocktail to be like. I had a second glass of straight rye to wash it down with. Need to remember to remove the sticky tab from the Cocktail book lest I be temped to make that one again.

 

[TLOC]

I was hoping to enjoy a close game.

Dallas could do nothing right. The Cowboys defensive players were overzealous, trying to do too much. Especially their front seven. That resulted in one or two players being out of position on almost every down. On offense Dallas was not much better. I've never seen Dak so inaccurate. By the time Dallas corrected their mistakes the game was out of hand.

Green Bay was impressive! The Packers played with nearly perfect precision on both sides of the ball. The young Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love and their running back Aaron Jones exploited nearly every Dallas mistake.

It was an ugly game to watch.

You aren’t wrong on your analysis except on your point of view. From our end it was a beautiful game to watch

 

[TLOC]

Well, howdy there internet peeps and those not sleeping at TomO's house last night,

it's Troy again...

Had a decent night's sleep. Unfortunately, it was too audible of one for the wife. She retreated to the guest room. I zonked 10 to 4:30. Woke up and saw that side sans pillows. Check your snoring fellows. You could be driving the ladies off! I'll apologize once she's up and moving.

For making the tiki drinks, I haven't been able to get crushed ice easily.

Yes, we do have an ice-crusher on our Samsung French door fridge. But we shut off the ice maker. Our model of fridge has severe issues with the ice maker (up in the fridge part) icing over and getting stuck shut, with the drawer frosted over as well. So after about a month, I had to take the hair dryer to it. There's a class action suit making it's way through the system right now, but that doesn't fix the fridge.

So, I started looking online. There are old style crank-type ice crushers. I remember my parents had one. But the new models are all low reviews on the Largest River store.

But, I have a couple yards of canvas for an abandoned project... and a wife who sews.

Now I have a Lewis bag.

View attachment 179581

Ice into bag. Fold it over. Place scrap 1x4 on it. Smack with hammer.

Scoop out as needed. The cloth of the bag absorbs the melt off, and I got pretty decent and dry-ish ice That's about a buck for the canvas, $3 for the small hammer, and scrap wood was a cast off from the benchwork.

I can now make the wife a Mai Tai with good ice, and not have to head to Chix-Phil-Hey for a bag of their pebble ice. You can also find pebble ice by the bag at Sonic Drive Ins, but the closest is 45-60 minutes away... That's a long way to go for small bits of ice.

Last night's cocktail (for me, wife said she was tiki'd out) was a bourbon Lion's Tale with Allspice Dram, lime, and demerara syrup... That flavor is OK in tiki, not what I want a bourbon cocktail to be like. I had a second glass of straight rye to wash it down with. Need to remember to remove the sticky tab from the Cocktail book lest I be temped to make that one again.

Troy! Have you thought of the sleep divorce?

 

[ctclibby]

Good MorningAll!

-12F @ 48% clear, clear clear. Supposed last day of the deep freeze.

I actually got some stuff done out in the Train Cave. More today.

Thought that I would share this with you:

Taken across the street from Mickey D's ( to right ). Sketchy on information right now. Apparently this was dragged from somewhere on South Hiway 2 to the other end of Libby where they lost it. The Sheriff finally got him near Bull Lake which is about 25 Miles East and South of Libby. Have heard that the guy died just after or during the arrest. Will have to wait for the local paper to come out to see.

Oh, and the consensus is that is a strap, not some kind of metal tube or the like. Hmm, it was icy so sliding was pretty easy.

Nobody recognizes either truck ... so far so we still don't know who dun it. If Brice is out later today I will ask as he probably will know.

Might have to go to traffic court for this one!

Later

 

[santafewillie]

Troy! Have you thought of the sleep divorce?

I guess that we should both be glad that Troy wasn't sleeping at our homes last night. Sound travels well in mine.