Running Bear's January 2026 Coffee Shop

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!

7° under sunny skies, with a high temp of 23° expected. I switched off the 4wd as soon as I cleared the neighborhood. No shoulders on the roads to speak of, and the turn into the shop parking lot was a bit tight, but doable. . We have a week of high temps near 20° so, so this is going nowhere fast.

Well, I'm officially old, even though I'm still about 2.5 weeks away. I got my Medicare card in the mail yesterday. I have to call the insurance lady to get the part D coverage I still need as my city plan isn't creditable, but my health plan is. Go figure! I'm on part A only as my city plan is cheaper with better coverage for both myself and the Mrs. and less than what they'd take for part B for her alone.

Same here. part A only. Wife is 5 years younger on county insurance, keeps me away from parts B,C, and D. Gotta love it!

 

[Kusojiji]

Watching Megaprojects on u-tube and he's covering the U-hawk, an unmanned Blackhawk H-copter.

The concept sounds neat, but can't see it working in poor weather, under fire, or a high RF interference area. While it can carry a lot of cargo due to not having all that pilot creature comforts, they may be able to increase some of that capability with a blow up doll filled with helium in the driver's seat.

This is a variant of the SH-60 that I flew in 1990. The air crew had an issue with their door falling off and I offered a solution that worked. They took me up in the bird and I snapped a couple of shots of my ship.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 18°, warmer than they predicted. Should get above freezing around noonish. Still have over 2" of ice on the cars so maybe some will melt off. Forecast keeps changing, but it may reach 52° on Thursday before the next cold wave comes through. Friday night should be cold but all precipitation has been removed from the forecast. Maybe then back to normal on Sunday. Schools are still closed in all of the DFW area again today. Vehicles are still passing on the road out front, but at a much slower pace than Sunday.
Yard is still covered with 4"-5" of ice with some snow in places on top of that. I did get out and walk around staying on the snow covered areas. Easy to tell because that's where the bunny tracks were! Firewood was the chore for the day. I do have a clear path to that because I put down some scrap pieces of MDF board which I had to pry up with the crowbar. I attempted to get the garden shovel but it is still frozen in place.

I did venture all of the way out to the train shed yesterday, carefully. Temperature out there was not all that great at 52°. That's about the limit with the space heaters out there. I only ran trains for a while. I do not work on the layout or anything on the workbench when I have on long sleeves due to snagging of stuff. Trains ran well.

Michael - Home-bound neighbors must be a small blessing.
Tom O - Do you have to attend the political gathering or did you get a reprieve? I've only been to a couple many years ago and found them boring.
Swal - Yea! They do expect one to know a lot of things about this modern electronic equipment, that they don't tell you about. Glad that you finally got it working.
Patrick/Karl - Be sure to check out whether your wives health plans qualify under Medicare. If not, there's a life-long penalty if you don't sign up for parts B & D when you turn 65; if you use them later. I don't use part D but use a separate drug plan through Humana.

Everybody have a safe Tuesday. Stay warm.

 

[Patrick]

Same here. part A only. Wife is 5 years younger on county insurance, keeps me away from parts B,C, and D. Gotta love it!

Make sure the drug part is creditable. Mine isn't (cheaper for everyone else). That's why I have to get a part D plan, but we have a no cost one for the wife and I'll get the same for this year. Still trying to figure out how I get it for free. The one script I use regularly is already free with my Sam's membership.

 

[Patrick]

Patrick/Karl - Be sure to check out whether your wives health plans qualify under Medicare. If not, there's a life-long penalty if you don't sign up for parts B & D when you turn 65; if you use them later. I don't use part D but use a separate drug plan through Humana.

Everybody have a safe Tuesday. Stay warm.

Mine is as she's on my creditable city health plan. We checked on that when she turned 65 a couple of years ago. But good advice Willie!

 

[TLOC]

This surprises me. Around here — at least at the RC based LHS — CA is much cheaper per weight or volume or however they sell it at the LHS than at HD. That’s because HD sells it in small DIY containers and the LHS sell it in hobby sized containers.

For the CA I’m looking for something that bonds Sintra PVC board with styrene. The gorilla CA I use now has gotten ridiculous with the price at the ACE Hardware and while I’m looking for a better price the size of the bottle is important to me. Gorilla sells bigger bottles than I’ve been able to find locally per an Amazon search. HD yesterday however did not have the bigger bottle CA gel Gorilla sells per an online search yesterday

Life got in the way of actually going to Home Depot yesterday and I have medical appointments most of this afternoon so not sure now when I will get there

 

[TLOC]

Last Saturday (24th) a taxi arrived at our hotel and took us to the railway station. The Dolce Vita Orient Express was waiting.
Three wonderful days on board travelling to Venice and Siena.
Arrived back in Rome this evening (26th).

Visit Italy by La Dolce Vita Orient Express train

Give in to the charm of pure luxury and the pleasures of an iconic train La Dolce Vita Orient Express and experience an unforgettable journey through Italy

www.orient-express.com

Another day (tomorrow) in Rome, then we travel to the port of Citivecchia.

Reads like a wonderful trip. Like the pictures you posted at MRH

 

[NorthBrit]

Reads like a wonderful trip. Like the pictures you posted at MRH

A journey of memories, Tom. We have visited Italy a number of times and have loved every visit.
MRH asked me to post pictures as we travel. As have two U.K. Forms. Plus a Travel Log to write.

Our suite on the Dolce Vita Orient Express.

From the rear of the train

We travel to Civitavecchia tomorrow. A ship to be on.

 

[migalyto]

MRH asked me to post pictures as we travel.

We request it as well!

Our suite on the Dolce Vita Orient Express.

Those look like deluxe accommodations!

Continued safe travels!

 

[NorthBrit]

Double Post.

 

[TLOC]

Good Morning All. Clear and 18°, warmer than they predicted. Should get above freezing around noonish. Still have over 2" of ice on the cars so maybe some will melt off. Forecast keeps changing, but it may reach 52° on Thursday before the next cold wave comes through. Friday night should be cold but all precipitation has been removed from the forecast. Maybe then back to normal on Sunday. Schools are still closed in all of the DFW area again today. Vehicles are still passing on the road out front, but at a much slower pace than Sunday.
Yard is still covered with 4"-5" of ice with some snow in places on top of that. I did get out and walk around staying on the snow covered areas. Easy to tell because that's where the bunny tracks were! Firewood was the chore for the day. I do have a clear path to that because I put down some scrap pieces of MDF board which I had to pry up with the crowbar. I attempted to get the garden shovel but it is still frozen in place.

I did venture all of the way out to the train shed yesterday, carefully. Temperature out there was not all that great at 52°. That's about the limit with the space heaters out there. I only ran trains for a while. I do not work on the layout or anything on the workbench when I have on long sleeves due to snagging of stuff. Trains ran well.

Michael - Home-bound neighbors must be a small blessing.
Tom O - Do you have to attend the political gathering or did you get a reprieve? I've only been to a couple many years ago and found them boring.
Swal - Yea! They do expect one to know a lot of things about this modern electronic equipment, that they don't tell you about. Glad that you finally got it working.
Patrick/Karl - Be sure to check out whether your wives health plans qualify under Medicare. If not, there's a life-long penalty if you don't sign up for parts B & D when you turn 65; if you use them later. I don't use part D but use a separate drug plan through Humana.

Everybody have a safe Tuesday. Stay warm.

This one I will have be there. There are a few I skip. Only the retiring governor will be speaking and he’s a good guy even at events like this. He’s more a realist than a practicing party hack. He also keeps these type of speeches short. I agree political fund raisers are usually a snooze fest especially if you disagree with them. I don’t need to or want to network but this is a must attend event if you are an upcoming political person. The drinks will flow after all it’s free but I’d say over the years just a couple drunks got out of hand. For the most part these folks are friendly and while a few of the high rollers are snobbish the majority are not.

 

[chadbag]

Watching Megaprojects on u-tube and he's covering the U-hawk, an unmanned Blackhawk H-copter.
View attachment 255942

The concept sounds neat, but can't see it working in poor weather, under fire, or a high RF interference area. While it can carry a lot of cargo due to not having all that pilot creature comforts, they may be able to increase some of that capability with a blow up doll filled with helium in the driver's seat.

This is a variant of the SH-60 that I flew in 1990. The air crew had an issue with their door falling off and I offered a solution that worked. They took me up in the bird and I snapped a couple of shots of my ship.
View attachment 255943

My brothers BiL is a UH-60 pilot (and currently stationed in Japan by Camp Zama). Not sure how much he’ll appreciate the pilotless version but he’ll be retired soon I think.

I saw a video on the U-Hawk on Task & Purpose. It’s interesting concept.

 

[NYC_George]

Swal - Yea! They do expect one to know a lot of things about this modern electronic equipment, that they don't tell you about. Glad that you finally got it working.

That wasn't the end of it Willie. It's working but the person from ID.me is not seeing me on his computer. Before I can recover my veterans' records from EvetRecs I have to be verified by ID.me. They need to see who I'm and although the webcam was working on my end that didn't happen on their end. Now I have to use the phone app Google Meet. Everything has to be done by phone now. I don't know what Google Meet is, but they tell me to download it from the Google store. How I even got it to work and connect with ID.me had to be all luck. I had to call my friend who went in the Maires with me and ask him what the dates we joined and were discharged. They had to be correct, or I wasn't getting any records. So now eVetRecs has all the information and maybe I can now receive the $500.00 Honda told me I would be entitled to for buying a car from them. Swal

 

[RhB Michael]

For the CA I’m looking for something that bonds Sintra PVC board with styrene. The gorilla CA I use now has gotten ridiculous with the price at the ACE Hardware and while I’m looking for a better price the size of the bottle is important to me. Gorilla sells bigger bottles than I’ve been able to find locally per an Amazon search. HD yesterday however did not have the bigger bottle CA gel Gorilla sells per an online search yesterday

Life got in the way of actually going to Home Depot yesterday and I have medical appointments most of this afternoon so not sure now when I will get there

Looking at the ingredients, I would think that PVC pipe glue would work for both. Not sure plastic styrene cement would work as well on PVC. I'm not a chemist though.

 

[TLOC]

Looking at the ingredients, I would think that PVC pipe glue would work for both. Not sure plastic styrene cement would work as well on PVC. I'm not a chemist though.

PVC pipe glue works but the stuff I’ve tried had a smell that I couldn’t handle

 

[TLOC]

Good still barely morning in So Central Wisconsin. Still a bit chilly at +9f degrees and -9 wind chill. The sun is bright and there is some melt on the sidewalks.

Doctor at 2 and I expect that my medicines will be changing, again! The changes made in September were fine but the adjustments to those changes that happened in December have not had results expected.

We did the grocery run today only because she has a special $1.00 off per gas gallon fuel saver coupon. Needed to spend a hundred which now a days is barely buying anything. She concentrated on the fish/seafood though. Shrimp for me, salmon, trout and tilapia for her. Dr Pepper was 4 for $12., it keeps creeping up but Coke 6 packs are $6.49 each. Glad I avoid the Coke products.

Be well, stay warm

 

[bnsf971]

For the CA I’m looking for something that bonds Sintra PVC board with styrene. The gorilla CA I use now has gotten ridiculous with the price at the ACE Hardware and while I’m looking for a better price the size of the bottle is important to me. Gorilla sells bigger bottles than I’ve been able to find locally per an Amazon search. HD yesterday however did not have the bigger bottle CA gel Gorilla sells per an online search yesterday

Life got in the way of actually going to Home Depot yesterday and I have medical appointments most of this afternoon so not sure now when I will get there

I don’t know about there, but HD will deliver here. It’s free if it’s over a certain dollar amount.

 

[chadbag]

PVC pipe glue works but the stuff I’ve tried had a smell that I couldn’t handle

Be very careful with CA. CA fumes can very easily lead to CA allergies.

 

[montanan]

Watching Megaprojects on u-tube and he's covering the U-hawk, an unmanned Blackhawk H-copter.
View attachment 255942

The concept sounds neat, but can't see it working in poor weather, under fire, or a high RF interference area. While it can carry a lot of cargo due to not having all that pilot creature comforts, they may be able to increase some of that capability with a blow up doll filled with helium in the driver's seat.

This is a variant of the SH-60 that I flew in 1990. The air crew had an issue with their door falling off and I offered a solution that worked. They took me up in the bird and I snapped a couple of shots of my ship.
View attachment 255943

A little more modern than the ship I was on. USS Luce - DLG-7. Unfortunately, her time had come. She was commissioned in 1961 and decommissioned 1n 1991. I was on board from 1966 to 1969 working as a Guided Missile Fire Control Technician.

These photos were taken in Philadelphia when she was scrapped.

Just got an important call. Gotta run.
LATER

 

[DeaconKC]

Howdy all, slept in this morning due to my back complaining and taking some really good drugs last night!
Anyway Uncle Kevin is back to operation and getting hugs. 34 here right now and sunny. Might actually see a little snow melt off today but no way it will clear off enough for us to get out.
A question on N scale locomotives, how good are the Microace ones compared to Kato. The Kato JNR steam locos run beautifully, so I was curious.