Running Bear's July 2023 Coffee Shop

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NorthBrit said:
Jim has put me in with the 'Old Farts'. Thanks Jim. :)

I am with the longer the cruise, the better.:cool:

Leaving Dubai.

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David
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Its not the length of the cruise, no problem with the cruise itself, its just that there were so many intolerant people on board. Who has the time for long cruises, mostly retired. One incident that comes to mind, they were doing a class in the atrium, about Hawaiian drinks, and some old fart come out of the card room and yells at the instructor, "Can you turn the mic down were playing cards here". That was just the tip of the iceburg.

The ship had a photo backdrop of the Staircase from the Titanic movie. My wife and I got our life jackets, and snifters of brandy, and had our picture taken, it was a classic.
 
Good evening from Camp Swampy, where it's raining and 81.
Spectrum internet was out here earlier this evening, because they still don't believe they don't offer service here. So, after the third technician came out, and once again affirmed they don't in fact offer service to me, they're agreeing to stop trying to make me keep internet service with them in order to keep my cell phone.
 


Good morning, Everybody!
Montgomery Wards on Monroe Street, Baltimore, Maryland
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Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those who wish they could start decorating for Halloween without getting "the look" from the spousal unit....

It's Troy again...

Sent the book out to the beta readers on Sunday evening. One report back. Good marks from the little old lady in the Netherlands, but I need the typo reports too. Others in the group are more skilled in the typo field. Hopefully those will hit today.

Was about to go put shoes on and head out for the morning walk. Then I looked at the weather and AQI. Looks like Wisconsin is sharing their second hand smoke with Indiana now.

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I'll be heading from the 116 orange dot, farther west towards South Bend today to take Mom to her optometrist today. It's been about 8 years since she got new glasses.

Wife and her mother are still dealing with idiots trying to get the new diabetic sensor. MIL has called CCS med (name correct???) several times and gets the run around. They say to call Medtronic. Medtronic was helpful once my wife emailed in her medical power of attorney for MIL... but CCS says that's not a real form, and refuses to deal with my wife.... She had already spent an hour on hold, been dropped three times, routed to two wrong departments, and finally got to speak to Miss Rude-I-don't-have-to-talk-to-you-good-day! and got hung up on...

So, wife will go sit at her mother's place today for a few hours and have mother right there to force CCS to answer questions. Wife can push and be the badarsed medical manager.

All this because MIL got a new insulin pump, and they're ready to push the upgraded software through, but they need the new type of arm sensor for the upgrade to work, or something like that.

Wife and her sis the nurse want this, because they can remotely tap into the readings of Mom's Blood Sugar via their iPhones, and help catch the crashes before they get bad.

But, CCS is the distributor through which medicare moves...
 
Good morning gang!

73° and cloudy, looking for a high of 86° and maybe a pop up thunderstorm later, maybe not.

Strange day at work yesterday as they let my immediate supervisor and boss of 7 years go. His boss and the general manager say that me and my co-worker are good and no worries, but hey, this is the car biz. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Plus when I started here 9 years ago it was a family owned business until 3 years ago. You knew on a daily basis where you stood, now it's corporate and it's all about numbers. 5 more years til retirement,, I hope I can hang on til then. Bob had 8 months to go. It's unsettling.

Didn't feel like playing in the basement last night, maybe tonight.

Louis, they look like stone crabs on the AI pics, like you said, so much for what IA knows.

Troy. Sounds like the wife has both barrels loaded and hunting for bear. I wouldn't push her buttons in her mood!!

BBL
 
NYC_George said:
Ane the ship bows were almost diving under water. No one was on the deck that day.
Swal
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I was forever impressed by my crossing of the Chesapeake between Little Creek and Cape Charles during a full Gale, on the Tug Philadelphia.
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It is a small wonder that I didn't get sea sick, as I was told I was a little green around the gills. One thing about the Penn Central was as a manager,one never knew what adventure you would have next. It was all a learning experience. I learned that a Harbor Tug, like the Philadelphia, could handle the Chesapeake in any weather.
 


kbkchooch said:
Strange day at work yesterday as they let my immediate supervisor and boss of 7 years go. His boss and the general manager say that me and my co-worker are good and no worries, but hey, this is the car biz. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Plus when I started here 9 years ago it was a family owned business until 3 years ago. You knew on a daily basis where you stood, now it's corporate and it's all about numbers. 5 more years til retirement,, I hope I can hang on til then. Bob had 8 months to go. It's unsettling.
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Yes. I was in a corporate business and was 'just a number'. One week the suits from HQ "Your jobs are safe," they said. The following week they started letting staff go.

Then I was told my 'job was safe' for another three months.
I threw a box of coloured pencils on the desk, and said "Colour me gone," and walked out.

David
 
Morning all,

Was busy when I first got in this morning and just now playing catch up here.

Fortunately didn't hit 100° yesterday, but 103° predicted for today. Heat advisories in effect with us not supposed to get below the 100° mark for highs the remainder of the week. It is the end of July.

Gotta schedule some vacation as I'm sitting on way too much.

Boris said:
Lot of Jarheads here, lot of sailors, and a few GIs also.
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And at least 1 AF guy. Although my time was brief. In short, was let out to correct problems in my paperwork, told my job would not longer available when I came back and I didn't want to do any of the jobs offered, so I didn't re-sign the paperwork.

Karl: I'd be leery if you have a pension involved. I know we both have less than 5 years until we can get full SS benefits.
 
Good morning from the haze department in So. Central WIsconsin. Yes, I am doing my best to share with the wonderful State of Indiana our Canadian smoke haze. It is much less today though than yesterday with the Air Quality number at 112. The meteorology staff at our local station has been scrambling with its on air talent since the chief guy left for an overnight shift in Minneapolis. We have the formerly semi-retired chief meteorologist back and he said he expects the smoke haze to diminish enough that they drop the alerts today. We can hope. It is 70f degrees now, with a calm breeze heading to the 90’s.

Terry said she is staying this week for sure. I thought with the haze and the unrelenting heat she was going back sooner but there are a few reasons. #1 though she wants to see how the kitchen ends up. The stove will definitely be delivered tomorrow. My wife, sister and daughter were on a video call yesterday talking about heading out next week with the granddaughter and a couple of the daughter’s friends and kids. The daughter told me last night at the grandson’s hockey game that they want to get out to Paradise before the school year starts. The son in law, the hockey star and me will make do easily enough.

I am in the midst of a weathering run, I have been completing 2-3 daily for the last 8 days. I should have all the remaining rolling stock commission (27) work done by August 10th if I don’t have anymore mishaps. I spilt a bottle of thinner yesterday and didn’t know it splattered on a completed sulfur car. Had to strip the weathering after a couple hours when I was getting ready for the final publicity shot for the car. That should give me plenty of time before 8/15 to finish up some priority diesels (5). I will be in Nova Scotia the evening of the 15th and back home on the 20th. Then I will finish up the balance of the no rush diesels (10 more) by time I head out to Maui on or about September 10th. I have promised the spousal unit I will stay at least through 10/15.

I tried yesterday to talk her into booking a cruise to Alaska in September and was shut down with she rather be in 80f degree weather than iffy temperatures on a boat! She did agree to look at dates for Alaska cruising next Spring and Summer. We did agree that January will be 10 days on Maui together and we will be whale watching. Thanks guys for the encouragement!

Our son will be here this afternoon for dinner. He is flying a group up to Oshkosh today for “air venture”
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It’s a gathering at the EAA grounds and is a huge draw. He will fly then here and wait for another charter. Beyond his “regular” clients he signed up with Vista Jet that keeps him and his planes in the air more often. We ar very proud of him and his business adventure.

enjoy the day
 
kbkchooch said:
Good morning gang!

73° and cloudy, looking for a high of 86° and maybe a pop up thunderstorm later, maybe not.

Strange day at work yesterday as they let my immediate supervisor and boss of 7 years go. His boss and the general manager say that me and my co-worker are good and no worries, but hey, this is the car biz. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Plus when I started here 9 years ago it was a family owned business until 3 years ago. You knew on a daily basis where you stood, now it's corporate and it's all about numbers. 5 more years til retirement,, I hope I can hang on til then. Bob had 8 months to go. It's unsettling.

Didn't feel like playing in the basement last night, maybe tonight.

Louis, they look like stone crabs on the AI pics, like you said, so much for what IA knows.

Troy. Sounds like the wife has both barrels loaded and hunting for bear. I wouldn't push her buttons in her mood!!

BBL
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You are wise to be skeptical...especially when GM's call yesterday stressed more "cost savings".
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 75°. Heat advisory and triple digits still in the forecast for the next 10 days, at least. No rain in sight, grass fire season is upon us. On the bright side, I am not spending any money on gasoline for the tractor/mower. AQI has moved into the moderate range though, at 55.

After a day of mostly household chores yesterday, I have the same to look forward to today. The dishwasher awaits.

A look at my hayfield yesterday.
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It counts out at 2.1 bales/acre; about an average harvest. It's been lower before, and the highest yield in a very rainy season was 5 bales/acre

Slow, short day in the train shed yesterday. For now, I am leaving the accidental weathering on the side of the Stone Bakery alone. As for the concrete pad out back, the spackle didn't really work, so I just added another coat of paint and added a van to obscure the view.
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Next I will add some trees to the grassy area on the right.
And then a very minor project of adding a guardrail around the entry porch on Majestic Hardware & Feed over in Budville.
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Don't want anyone falling off and onto the floor. I'll be looking at the figure collection for an appropriate person to add to the scene today.

Curt - You hit the nail on the head about the migrants. I don't know which ones are causing us more problems, the ones coming across the southern border, or the ones arriving from the West Coast.
Jim - I've noticed intolerant people multiplying everywhere, so I don't think that cruise ships are cornering the market. Being held captive doesn't help.

Everybody have a great day.
 
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Morning: We are advertising 98 degrees (again) today with Ultra Clear !
Feeling a little better - FLO - A large cup this morning please.
From the time that I posted yesterday - I stayed in bed until about 2 hours ago.
Arm still hurts from the injection, but otherwise feeling much better.

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Grocery run today is complete. No soda purchases as the best deal was a 6 pack for $4.99. Deli ham at the deli counter is my favorite sandwich meat. Cheapest today was $9.99 per pound, ended up with oven roasted chicken at $7.99 per #. Meats are higher than last week. I use 99% Isopropyl Alcohol for thinning Tamiya Arcylics and cleaning the models. 99% is now $27.99 per gallon up from under $9.00 before Covid at the grocery store pharmacies. I will look online for a better deal. This will become my 3rd gallon purchase this year. In the past 1 gallon would last almost a full year.

The daughter is waiting for her daughter’s softball game at 6:30 tonight to be cancelled due to the heat index that should be over 100. After freezing at the hockey rink last night I wasn’t looking forward to being baked alive tonight at softball.
 


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