Running Bear's July 2026 Coffee Shop

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Good evening all..........

It is hot and dry in west Texas. 105 here today and 106 in forecast for tomorrow. Cold front on Saturday, only 101.
I can't remember when we had our last rain but the forecast does say a chance of thunder storms in spots tomorrow afternoon.

Our Dollar Tree/Family Dollar store will be closing on Aug 29. They have discounts of 30, 40 and 50% on their inventory now. I stocked up on a lot of items as I made a trip to town today. On the downside, our United Grocery store ( only dedicated grocery store in town ) was, as usual, out of stock on sale items and some more prices have gone up. I think I'm done with their bs.
I believe I will now have to start going to Wichita Falls twice a month for shopping and gas. I can save about $50 to $60 by making the trip, only downside is, round trip, with all my shopping, takes about 5 hours. But thats ok as I usually hit Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Lowes and Michaels and eat a decent meal at some restaurant. Not really a bad trip.

Maybe a bit more work on my railroad later.

Take care....John
 
Storms heading directly for us often split as they cross the Mississippi River. Never have read or heard an explanation for why. It could have something to do with wind blowing into the side of the bluffs, but you would think with the added lift, the storm would intensify. Instead, it seems to weaken it at that point and causes the split.

It doesn't always happen, but usually with weaker squall lines, and single-cell storms that have organized into a line, but not reached us yet.

Seeing this happening on radar always has me scratching my head.
 
Good evening folks, got up to only 94 here today. Made the run to my [not so] LHS today, but turned out to be a profitable trip. A friend of mine is an Engineer for CN[IC] railroad and yesterday a drone had paced him and his locomotive as they traveled. Anyway, I found one of the locomotives in CN colors. Made a swap for it, dropped off a couple locos that need some work that is beyond me on some steamers, and the most needed item, some gray ballast. Trip took a bit longer than expected, but as it was a success, it was worth it.
Only one bit of rain in the last weeks and it has been a dry year so far. It is only good for one reason, that the cottonmouths are staying much closer to the ponds and not straying near our house [had to explain to two of the buggers that they weren't welcome near the house last year].
On Baseball, my Cards are still struggling to keep at .500, feels weird to have the White Sox in First Place in their division in late July.
 


santafewillie said:
Early voting does vary widely from state to state. When comparing mid-term elections between states, I noted that Wisconsin has an early voting percentage of 16% as reported from the mid-terms of 2022, Here in Texas, people like to cast their ballots in person, it's a social event! Our rate in 2022 was just 4.5% early voting in that mid-term year. Here, all early/absentee voting requires an excuse, such as disabled, elderly, overseas military or within 3 weeks of a pregnancy due date. No unexcused excuses! I don't know about your states rules, but I imagine that they are more lenient. Maybe peoples choices will change after this years disaster.
Click to expand...
I really don’t understand early voting. Just because you want to vote early doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t know when it started in Wisconsin and I’m not going to research it. Another former Lt. Governor dropped out today. 124,000+ ballots already in.

I will confess Terry and I early vote by just walking into the City Hall and ask to vote. Why, because we both dislike waiting in lines. Very flimsy excuse but it’s allowed. The voting set up is the same as a normal Election Day.

Absentee voting yes I agree with if you can’t get to the polling place or have a medical reason.

I do know the “expert” claims early voting encourages more folks to vote and Wisconsin always has national high rates of voters
 
good morning coffee friends

- airport still busy
- temperature outside is peaking at 36 celcius...

yesterday evening i was down in the trainroom again and did work again on my track. iam in a flow right now i have to say :) i started weathering (see my thread) the track. will add some more colors and then add the black oil wash. after that, ballasting.
lets see how it will turn out. i think one track i will add concrete plates in the middle. and i think i already know how i will do them :)

il keep you posted.
happy friday everyone.

cheers Marco

PS, here is one of my cat for you:

IMG_2490.JPEG
 
1785483306226.png


Good Friday morning, Coffee Shop! It's 64°F (18°C) and partly cloudy. :cool:

1785483340948.png


Weather is predicted to be partly dark toward daybreak, then becoming mostly daylight. Patchy fog toward daybreak. A slight chance of showers late this afternoon. Highs in the mid 80s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Have a great day! ;)

1785483448924.png
 
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westtexjohn said:
Good evening all..........

It is hot and dry in west Texas. 105 here today and 106 in forecast for tomorrow. Cold front on Saturday, only 101.
I can't remember when we had our last rain but the forecast does say a chance of thunder storms in spots tomorrow afternoon.

Our Dollar Tree/Family Dollar store will be closing on Aug 29. They have discounts of 30, 40 and 50% on their inventory now. I stocked up on a lot of items as I made a trip to town today. On the downside, our United Grocery store ( only dedicated grocery store in town ) was, as usual, out of stock on sale items and some more prices have gone up. I think I'm done with their bs.
I believe I will now have to start going to Wichita Falls twice a month for shopping and gas. I can save about $50 to $60 by making the trip, only downside is, round trip, with all my shopping, takes about 5 hours. But thats ok as I usually hit Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Lowes and Michaels and eat a decent meal at some restaurant. Not really a bad trip.

Maybe a bit more work on my railroad later.

Take care....John
Click to expand...
John: Welcome to the remote shopping group! I take it you are in a smaller town than we are. We have 2 major grocery stores, 1 big, other not so big. Both have about the same prices. We do have Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar General, of which service is a PITA as they can't keep staffed. Couple years ago we started going to Bonner's Ferry ( 45 minutes one way ) for our semi-monthly buys. Even with lunch and fuel we are ahead of the game saving upwards of $100. CostCo for bulk buys is either Kalispell ( 90 miles one way ) or Haden Id ( about 120 miles one way ). I can just imagine what it would cost here when we drop $300 - $400 in CostCo. And then there is the butcher shop in Spokane ( 150 miles one way ) where we buy whole Sirloin, Ribeye, Strip Steak, trays of pork links ... etc. Spokane jaunt is usually an all day affair with both morning and afternoon food, usually stopping in Hayden and Bonner's Ferry on the way back. Do we care? Notta. Gets our butts outa the house. You might laugh with us being stuck in a vehicle for 300+ miles - not a problem. We were both OTR and stuck in a vehicle together for more than 1 million miles...

L8r
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those rushing to "draw Marco's cat like one of the French girls"... (Titanic reference)

It's Troy again.

Heading toward a high in the mid 80s today. Then rain all weekend.

GenCon is going on in Indianapolis right now. Vids from the convention center, the surrounding hotels, Lucas Oil Stadium, etc, etc, remind me that even though I'm a NERD, I don't need to be there. I'd rather play games in smaller crowds.

As for AI, you might see this story today:

www.theguardian.com

Anthropic’s AI Claude hacked into three organizations during cybersecurity test

Company says it discovered unauthorized access during ‘proactive review’ after rival OpenAI revealed rogue agent
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

TLDR: Someone left the barn door open... so the AI horses got out and went on a romp. They didn't break out. Human error was involved.

TOM: as for early voting... remember that Voting is not only a right, it's a responsibility.
How often do we hear "don't complain if you didn't vote?"

Early voting and mail-in help those who can't take a day off (first responders, health care workers on 4-12s or worse, single parents rushing between jobs to pay the bills). The type of people who have one day a week to do all their errands, and it isn't Voting day.

Remember, the parties like to limit it to one day only. Why? because they know who will vote in person. Early and mail-in levels the playing field.

I've been a journalist covering elections here in Indiana, as well as a poll-watcher for a third-party, and the process is secure. I'm not a fan of the current electronic voting machines, but even the ones here in Indiana have a paper-trail attached. Hopefully everyone who votes watches the paper roll spool along with their recorded votes once they hit the buttons. We're supposed to call the election judge over if a vote is missrecorded so they can void the ballot and the voter re-does their votes.

My goal is for every citizen duly registered to be allowed to vote. Show your ID, get a ballot. Have your say in govt so you can complain later.
 
westtexjohn said:
Good evening all..........

It is hot and dry in west Texas. 105 here today and 106 in forecast for tomorrow. Cold front on Saturday, only 101.
I can't remember when we had our last rain but the forecast does say a chance of thunder storms in spots tomorrow afternoon.

Our Dollar Tree/Family Dollar store will be closing on Aug 29. They have discounts of 30, 40 and 50% on their inventory now. I stocked up on a lot of items as I made a trip to town today. On the downside, our United Grocery store ( only dedicated grocery store in town ) was, as usual, out of stock on sale items and some more prices have gone up. I think I'm done with their bs.
I believe I will now have to start going to Wichita Falls twice a month for shopping and gas. I can save about $50 to $60 by making the trip, only downside is, round trip, with all my shopping, takes about 5 hours. But thats ok as I usually hit Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Lowes and Michaels and eat a decent meal at some restaurant. Not really a bad trip.

Maybe a bit more work on my railroad later.

Take care....John
Click to expand...
Don't you still have access to a Dollar General, or DG Market as they are now being called??? While not really good for overall grocery shopping, they have some stuff. I have always leaned toward them instead of Family Dollar for some items.
 


Good morning from Wisconsin! It’s dry for now! The weather geeks have moved the rain from 8am to noon and the severe stuff to 2:45. If we get any rain it will be welcome. It’s 66f degrees heading to 75!

The layout work session where my birch trees are heading is cancelled! Owner is sick! So the 5 team crew is looking for another layout to work on but member #5 doesn’t turn his phone on till 7:30 and it’s his layout we want to get to. Won’t he be surprised!

If there is no session I’ll tag along with Terry on a grocery run of 3 stores in a 8 mile circle route. We buy enough to get through the upcoming week on produce not in the garden, can goods and staple items. Meat is different as she will freeze meat so will buy ahead


IMG_7733.jpeg


For grocery stores we are spoiled. 4 major stores on a 12 mile circle route plus Costco, aldi, Target superstore and a Walmart Supercenter are within the bigger circle route. Not members or no need to stop there

www.facebook.com

608K views · 10K reactions | Suzie Smith Boos on Reels

www.facebook.com www.facebook.com



Enjoy the day
 
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Happy Friday! 74° at the Reservoir, going to 86°. Sunny today. No Tropical weather in the Atlantic - Caribbean - Gulf. (Not withstanding clickbait news items about storms from 2020).

Shopping: We have had to expand our horizons as the local marketplace continues to shrink.

NFL: Training camps are open. Hey! Tomorrows August 1, 2016.
 
Good Friday morning. Rain to the west dissipating as it moves closer to us, but still a lot of it out there and we may get a shower. The SPC bumped us to a Level 2 risk for thunderstorms and severe weather, but not until much later this afternoon and evening.

It could get severe if cloud cover clears in time for this afternoon's round of weather. Temperature 72°F, dewpoint 69°F, so rather wet out, but still pleasant at a low temp for the end of July.

Have a great weekend!

Servus!
 
traiNscale said:
this looks like a awesome Kit. Wow. I really start to love all this wooden kits. they would never fit my era but maybe like you say, dioramas is the way to go. but first i have to finish some other projects :D
Click to expand...
Working with wood is great. Go to his website and check out the "University" tab, then go to the "videos" tab at the top of that page. He has short videos posted on his recommended techniques, little "mini clinics". His instructions are in a spiral bound notebook. The site is awesome. I'm building one of his kits now, and it's been a very good experience so far.
 
Good morning all!

Last day of July already. Where did that month go!

Its a very cloudy overcast morning out there. A big batch of rain is heading our way finally. Supposed to be here around 10am according
to the radar. Currently its 70F and the high is only supposed to reach 72F.

Usual Friday chores around the house today. Wont be any outdoor activities since its going to rain off and on most of the day. I have
enough stuff indoors to keep me busy.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
DeaconKC said:
the White Sox in First Place in their division in late July.
Click to expand...
I'm watching the replay of yesterday's Yankees @ White Sox game. Top of the 5th Yankees RF Jasson Dominguez leads off with a triple. The bonehead fails to hold on to the bag, sliding 2' past third, easy out. The Sox beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings, all the scoring coming in extra innings. Had Dominguez held on to the bag he likely would have scored. Which may have given the Yankees a 1-0 win.

I’ll give the Sox credit for playing their game clean; they let the Yankees take care of screwing things up. When two top teams face off, it often comes down to who makes the fewest mistakes. Just one slip can decide the outcome.

Overall, it’s been a great game to watch, featuring two excellent starters with contrasting styles - power versus finesse. I enjoy watching both approaches. Although I must admit I miss the days of both starters pitching complete games

The Sox starter Sean Burke (Power) had his A-game working today. When he commands his elite arsenal, he is one of the best. 6IP, 0R, 3H. 2BB, & 10Ks.

The Yankees starter (finesse) went one better. He induced mostly weak contact and a lot of ground balls. That my friends is the art of pitching. 7IP, 0R, 3H, 3BB & 4Ks.

Both bullpens performed well, but starting every extra inning with an automatic runner on second is tough to handle. The Sox reliver Seranthony Domínguez (former Oriole) was up to the challenge, he held the Yankees scoreless in their final frame.
 


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