Running Bear's July 2026 Coffee Shop

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Boogie, You really don't know who Cliff Clavin is???
It's no wonder, the show ended in 1993.
Cliff was the know‑it‑all mailman on Cheers, known for his long, pointless trivia rants, “fun facts” nobody asked for, goofy theories, and being overly confident yet usually wrong. He lived with his mom and often hung out at the bar in his postal uniform. He’s the guy who’d start sentences with: “It’s a little‑known fact…” And then say something completely ridiculous.

Cliff as AI: that very well could be!
 
At 52,000 miles it's damn near new.
I can attest to that!

I have a 2020 Equinox I bought new. It now has over 218,000 miles on it. Aside from routine maintenance, the only part it’s needed was an alternator. Of course, I've had to replace: 4-sets of tires, 1-set of spark plugs, 1-set brakes and one battery. It still gets over 30 mpg while I'm delivering for Amazon, and the oil pressure never falls below 28 psi. Press the AWD button and it has never failed to take me anywhere I needed to go, in any kind of weather. The Equinox is by far the best car I ever owned. It's better than my BMW or Lincoln, and all the others I’ve had before, and I have had many others - Fords, Mercury, Olds, Pontiac, GMC and Chevys.

I was a Chevy guy before the Equinox; I will be a Chevy guy for life now!

Once again Karl, thank you for the tip on changing the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. Thanks to you the transmission still feels like new.
 
Now back to baseball. I'm watching Yoshinobu "Yoshi" Yamamoto baffle the Mets as I wait for yesterday's Orioles game to become available on MLB.TV. The Mets had a chance, but once again their defense let them down.

Pitching is my favorite part of the game, probably because i sucked at it as a kid! For me hitting was easy, pitching was impossible! I was more likely to hit two batters and be tossed from the game before i completed three innings. Honest to God I was not trying to hit anyone. I just didn't have the command to pitch inside. Looking back, I should have tried to be like Jim Palmer and work on the outside edges. But I wanted to be like Bob Gibson. Palmer was the pretty boy; Gibson was the intimidator!

As for why I choose to watch Tomoyuki “Tommy” Sugano yesterday when I could have watched Tarik "Tank" Skubal. I love to see to see a young man with elite stuff. But it is even better to watch an old master with average stuff get the job done. And the old master is about $20 million cheaper for his team!

Speaking of elite stuff, I see the Cardinals manhandled the Red's Hunter Greene. That young man has elite stuff, but primarily only two pitches. That is not enough for a starter when MLB hitters have good ABs and the Cardinals exposed it. The Red Birds are the real deal!

I love MLB.TV - I keep getting offers to upgrade my plan so that i can watch live games. Why would I want to do that? With my unorthodox sleep schedule, I am seldom awake when my Birds are playing. So what if I have to wait 90 minutes after the game to watch the replay. There is always another game to watch while i wait. I don't care about the drama of live games. I enjoy being able to rewind to study a pitch or a play and not miss a thing.

Play Ball!
 
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It's no wonder, the show ended in 1993.

Cliff was the know‑it‑all mailman on Cheers, known for his long, pointless trivia rants, “fun facts” nobody asked for, goofy theories, and being overly confident yet usually wrong. He lived with his mom and often hung out at the bar in his postal uniform. He’s the guy who’d start sentences with: “It’s a little‑known fact…” And then say something completely ridiculous.

Cliff as AI: that very well could be!
It's a little-known fact that John Ratzenburger, the actor who played Cliff, went on to host a series called "Made in America" that ran for several years.
 
It's no wonder, the show ended in 1993.

Cliff was the know‑it‑all mailman on Cheers, known for his long, pointless trivia rants, “fun facts” nobody asked for, goofy theories, and being overly confident yet usually wrong. He lived with his mom and often hung out at the bar in his postal uniform. He’s the guy who’d start sentences with: “It’s a little‑known fact…” And then say something completely ridiculous.

Cliff as AI: that very well could be!
Ah ok ive watched reruns of cheers but im not fsmilar with the charecters. Not like i am for mash lol
 
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Good Sunday morning, Coffee Shop! It's 68°F (30°C) and mostly cloudy. :cool:

Weather today will be mostly cloudy then becoming partly cloudy. Patchy fog toward daybreak. Warmer with highs in the upper 80s. Light and variable winds becoming west 5 to 10 mph.

Concert in the Park today at 3:30!

Have a great day! ;)

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Good Morning All. Clear and 78°, expected to reach 102° later on. Only made it to 99° (lower than our forecast) yesterday so we'll see if Mother Nature cooperates with the NWS today.

Pool was nice this morning, already been in it today. The temperature has nicely dropped to 85°. Longer nights and less solar radiation.

Another mixed day yesterday, puttered around the yard a bit. Used the weedeater around the pool and house, and looked at the mowers! I should probably start the tractor and let it run for a couple of minutes. Getting a break on laundry and the dishwasher since only one of us is here this week.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I finished up my rework of the Garner's Market and back on the layout it went.
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Not much else yesterday since I also ran some trains on the lower level.
Observation: Even my Kato engines don't run as well as my newer ScaleTrains ones do. Maybe it's because they're 25 years old.

Bill -
"Yes, Norfolk Southern’s Southern Railway heritage unit (ES44AC No. 8099) was severely damaged in a rock slide derailment on December 12, 2021, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it has since been fully repaired."
Did they settle the crew members lawsuit yet?
Chet - Nice picture of Garner's Market in the last picture that you posted yesterday. Here are a few of your other structures as they are now firmly planted on my layout.
Dusty Saddle Saloon and Town Drugs:
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Candi's Confectionery:

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And a home just put in a couple of months ago.
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Singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry (Ode to Billie Joe) is 83 today. Roger Taylor, drummer/vocalist for Queen is 77 today. One time overlooked vocalist for Van Halen, Gary Cherone is 65 today.

Everyone have a great Sunday.
 


Good morning gang. Excessive heat warnings are in place until Tuesday night, so I'll be holed up in the house for the next three day. I hate summer.

If you are sitting outside at the hottest part of the day, in the shade, it is barely tolerable. And that's if you are not moving. My forehead starts sweating after about ten minutes, then I can feel it on my chest and stomach and the back of my neck.

If you happened to be in the sun, it is truly unbearable. Sweat starts immediately and is non-stop. Like sitting in a Keweenaw sauna in the UP. Except that you can feel your skin start to burn on your forehead, forearms, and thighs.

Back to the train room this afternoon to forget about this heat for a few hours.

Counting the days until Autumn. Have a wonderful Sunday, and...

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Servus!
 
Well howdy there internet peeps and those with little known facts

It's Troy again.

Little Toy Soldier Game this morning got postponed a week.

So the wife said I'm taking her out for meatloaf! That's a trip to Logan's Roadhouse (chain steakhouse). This weekend we get an extra 100pts on the app if we spend over $30. That's easy. And 100pts is half of what we need for a free entry reward. SURE!

I've been looking at my "pile of shame" in the gaming hobby side of life, and realized I need to decrease it.

for anyone looking at historical wargames, I've got some Bolt Action (Russians) unassembled, and some American and British and Russian? tanks assembled and painted to gaming standards (all 1:56 scale). Also have Cruel Seas (WWII Pt Boats - I believe they're 1/300 scale. And the Blood Red Skies Air Combat game. DM is you're interested. Price will be fair, and close to what I paid.

Speaking of wargames, I've been having conversations with Claude about the availability of gaming hobby groups in Saskatoon should I ever convince the wife to move. It's turned into quite a chat. I finally had to admit through that conversation that with the way my brain works I need a variety of hobbies that I can be active in, and get social stimulation from. The Model RR side is very light on the social in-person side. So the games fill that.

Now I'm trying to figure out what games I need to set adrift, and which to focus on. The only game communities with a strong footprint here play games I'm not interested in (Warhammer 40K, and the Marvel Crisis Protocol game). So I know I'm going to have to go do tournaments despite how much I hate the highly competitive side of the hobby. So I want games that are more community than competitive like the 40K scene goes.

Time to get back to reading the internet.
 
Good evening gents.

Spent a good bit of the day getting son # 4 a new to him car. A 21 Equinox that one of my co-workers (known around the shop as my work wife) Recently traded in for a new 26 Equinox. This car has been overly maintenanced over the last 5 years. Oil Changes every 3,000 miles, trans service, coolant exchange, brake exchange and all filters done early. At 52,000 miles it's damn near new. He starts his new job in Frederick MD Monday. We won't pick it up til Monday night because of he has to pick the check up from the credit union when they open Monday. He has a pre-approval letter in hand, he just needs the check. He went online and purchased his own insurance policy for the car this afternoon after we got home.

Sometime next week I an going to get the blue S10 state inspected so It can leave. I don't need it anymore, no sense paying that tags and insurance on it.

Train wise I did cut another 8 ft of fascia board, painted and mounted on the peninsula. I also cut the fascia for the "fiddle" yard at the "west" end of the layout, and mounted one of the UTP panels on the peninsula fascia that I hung last weekend.

Tomorrow more of the facia to cut.

Boogie, You really don't know who Cliff Clavin is???

Nite all
Add me to the list as I didn’t know the character name either. I cannot recall ever watching cheers. Thanks for the video
 
I just noticed that the bots must be hitting the old Coffee Shop threads on the trending content. Wonder if some of our
banter will end up as AI content.

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Mike: Have been sorta watching the Trending Content. It has not changed for quite a while. AI fodder? Maybe. Trending from 2015? I think not. On top of that, you can not 'reply' to any of the old Coffee Shop threads. Do we need it? Probably not. Search works sorta so finding an old thread is pretty simple except you have to wade through a ton of stuff. Knowing whom posted and what thread is better. As @TLOC has stated - his post of ( I think ) "power house to hide a column" has shown up in Inet searches pretty much immediately after posting - so everything we type/comment or say in a thread is forever cast in stone. Don't know if that is a good thing or not.

L8r
 
Mike: Have been sorta watching the Trending Content. It has not changed for quite a while. AI fodder? Maybe. Trending from 2015? I think not. On top of that, you can not 'reply' to any of the old Coffee Shop threads. Do we need it? Probably not. Search works sorta so finding an old thread is pretty simple except you have to wade through a ton of stuff. Knowing whom posted and what thread is better. As @TLOC has stated - his post of ( I think ) "power house to hide a column" has shown up in Inet searches pretty much immediately after posting - so everything we type/comment or say in a thread is forever cast in stone. Don't know if that is a good thing or not.

L8r
Geesh, reply'n to my own. Put ctclibby in the search bar:
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Good morning. It’s humid, warm and ugly looking outside this morning. 76f degrees going to 91. They are saying severe storms this afternoon but the predictive guesses only say 20% chance of rain. We need rain but not severe storms

At 6 I went up to the daughter’s house and damn near got run over by a reindeer! Nope, just a momma deer and her juviniles! I heard them coming and got next to a tree. Not really close but it could have been.

Let the granddog out, named Crosby who I keep calling the previous granddog name of Brewer! Then after he ran around for awhile I used the pool. Damn it makes me want a pool again for mornings like this. But, never again as it’s too much work.

Then I spent an hour working on the grandson’s slot car track. Pit lane received a couple new garage areas with suites above the garages for the mucky mucks. His mom 3d printed the garage and suites about a month ago and I got around to painting them this past week. Ran a few laps and came home which is where I am now. Maybe later I will go finish the ground cover in the area, if not then tomorrow for sure

Boy Madison is a mess. Lots of peaceful protests that unfortunately have shut down some events in the City. There is a big divide on the incident that caused this upheaval. It’s seems like a lefty righty thing. Too bad

Had a visitor yesterday, 1st one here except for the daughter and grandkids who were coming by daily for cookies! Friend looked around and after dinner asked where the layout was going. Took him across the breezeway and showed him my shop space but there will be no layout building here. This is a nice space but it’s not for me but Terry has adapted well to it.

Amazon arrived between 8:15pm and 8:45. I know because I came in at 8:15 and my package had not arrived yet but when I went back out to let the granddog out the stuff was there. Got the Thermacells that repell mosquitos along with my tree building supplies.

Not exactly sure how today will unfold. It’s humid which usually keeps me indoors at the bench but we shall see

Enjoy the day
 
Good morning all!

A muggy hazy 77F, I noticed the humidity right away this morning while standing on the pack porch with the dog earlier. High is supposes
to hit 90F. Heat advisories are already up for the area. Pool will be in order this afternoon.

Not sure what the day will bring just yet. Grocery shopping, laundry, other misc errands were all done yesterday. My wife has been going
thru 2 closets of clothes and getting rid of a bunch. There are several garbage bags of them that will need to be run to the donation place.
I had 1 bag of stuff since I went thru mine 6 months or so ago.

have a safe day everyone!
 


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