Running Bear's June 2022 Coffee Shop

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Hearing loss.
I really hate extended conversations.
People tend to talk with very little breath behind their words which makes it more like they are just muttering to themselves. It becomes very difficult to keep up with what's being said. As strenuous as a hearing test. Eventually I'll walk away.
I have hearing loss from my days in the Corps. Weapons fire, radio systems, loud vehicles and aircraft. Some people get pretty crabby when I ask them to say again. As if I volunteered to have hearing loss, like they are going to brow beat me into hearing better.
And have no respect that you were trying to pay attention asking them to repeat rather than tuning them out. my son had a tumour in his eat, two ops later. They were muttering a third, he had lost all the bones in one ear and the other was not in great shape, but he is seriously a pain at mislaying them,he had lost one for almost a month when my husband found if left on the garage shelf, why? who knows, and he swore it wasn’t him! oh yeah like we see his hearing aid and think oo it would be good on a shelf in the garage….Did not even thank his dad when he phoned him to say just found it.Go figure.

amazingly he sings really nicely.
 
Hope the stock market stays down today? I caught a good downdraft yesterday in the short options department and now I am only down 7% for the year; the Spousal Unit be down 20% with her "managed" M/L which is supposed to be one of their premiere products.
Clayton, son of BIL John is a pretty high "muckety muck" with M/L in Santa Barbara .. but their "buy and hold" thru thick and thin drives me bonkers!
 
Hope the stock market stays down today? I caught a good downdraft yesterday in the short options department and now I am only down 7% for the year; the Spousal Unit be down 20% with her "managed" M/L which is supposed to be one of their premiere products.
Clayton, son of BIL John is a pretty high "muckety muck" with M/L in Santa Barbara .. but their "buy and hold" thru thick and thin drives me bonkers!
Selling short is a guaranteed loss, holding may mean it’s down, but as the years pass it goes back up, more importantly when buying shares double and triple check the code! The other half once bought the wrong stock, luckily not too much cash, and it crashed asap and being a small company failed to recover and was pulled. Ooops.
 


Hope the stock market stays down today? I caught a good downdraft yesterday in the short options department and now I am only down 7% for the year; the Spousal Unit be down 20% with her "managed" M/L which is supposed to be one of their premiere products.
Clayton, son of BIL John is a pretty high "muckety muck" with M/L in Santa Barbara .. but their "buy and hold" thru thick and thin drives me bonkers!
My managed portfolio is still out performing all the indexed (which isn't saying much), so much for professionally managed investments.
It's just a matter of time until the Bulls come back....they have to bleed all they can out of the oil Bull Market first.

Retail interest rates have not yet reflected the interest rate increases. Dividends are still the only real yield out there.
 
Good morning and Happy Friday Peeps!!

Just saw the weather report for the southwest, OUCH! Triple digit temps, some as high ay 114°! Damn how can people stand it! 😱

Meanwhile its 53° here, looking for a high of 80°, much better!

Half day of work today, then I'll cut the grass and do some weed control, maybe toss some mulch, work on my tan. The weekend looks like 80% change of rain, time for trains!

BBL
 
Morning all,

You are all a busy bunch so early this morning.

63° and mostly cloudy, giving way to sun later with a temp of 85°. Possible rain this morning. Expected high of 102° and 100° Sunday and Monday.
Storms overnight got a bit rowdy, enough so I lost some sleep over warnings that weren't in my area, nor affected my home. Problem once again with living in the largest county in the state. Any storm for any part of the county sets off the system.

Oil change scheduled later today for the truck. I just turned 36,000 miles on it, still low mileage for a 10 year old truck. I told the wife last night that I'm going to start driving the shortest path to and from work. I'll save 6 miles a day or a bit over a gallon of gas per week. I'll add 10 minutes to my time. Speed average is bit lower due to a longer bit of a 45 mph speed zone (I drive 50 on that stretch of 4 lane improved road and get passed). The slightly slower speeds will improve my mileage as well.

Try to BBL
 
Good Morning!

A fishing holiday to coastal BC was in the works, until yesterday. The costs are just to high, so the BC trip has turned into trying to find big trout in Jasper National Park. Jasper is only 3hrs away, so we can go there and fish on one tank of liquid gold, and we don't need to fight for a ferry.

It's supposed to be over 70F today, which is Hot!! for me. That heat is supposed to be accompanied by cooling rain, though. All in all, it looks to be a great day.

I never watched a single second of the Amber/pirate adventure. Couldn't care less about the soap-opratics. Hardly even knew about it, until you folks started discussing the matter.

Yesterday, I wire fenced all the wife's prised flowers to protect them from deer. She was whining because a deer had chewed off some flowers the night before. Plus, a cat got into her garden and scratched up some carrots. I questioned the dog on her guard duty shortcomings.

There are a number of projects in my hobby room, that I'm working on. Individually, they seem to be taking a long time. That's not a bad thing, as it leaves sufficient dry times between paint sessions.
The photo is progress on two of the projects:
Models_06-09-2022 (1).JPG

Today, I'll work to get 3x oil tanks ready for prime, and do the wood floors in the buildings. After that, I can spray the wood with a 50/50 mix of Tamiya orange/yellow clear, and then possibly a grey oil wash to age the wood.
The buildings are primed and sprayed with Alclad dark aluminumium.
This will be a Shell heating oil distributor for a trackside industry. I've got lots of 55gal drums, pallets, garbage cans, and other objects to paint to complete the scene. Might even put in some diesel pumps, so that trucks can be fueled-up.

That's enough yap for one day! Suppose I'll get on with it. - Have a great day!
 
Morning all,

You are all a busy bunch so early this morning.

63° and mostly cloudy, giving way to sun later with a temp of 85°. Possible rain this morning. Expected high of 102° and 100° Sunday and Monday.
Storms overnight got a bit rowdy, enough so I lost some sleep over warnings that weren't in my area, nor affected my home. Problem once again with living in the largest county in the state. Any storm for any part of the county sets off the system.

Oil change scheduled later today for the truck. I just turned 36,000 miles on it, still low mileage for a 10 year old truck. I told the wife last night that I'm going to start driving the shortest path to and from work. I'll save 6 miles a day or a bit over a gallon of gas per week. I'll add 10 minutes to my time. Speed average is bit lower due to a longer bit of a 45 mph speed zone (I drive 50 on that stretch of 4 lane improved road and get passed). The slightly slower speeds will improve my mileage as well.

Try to BBL
I've just changed my car from a VW Diesel 1.8 to a Ford 2.00, worked out that although the Diesel gave me better MPG, Diesel is more expensive, but if I just work out my total milage for both versus cost, I'm no better or worse off having a petrol than I was having a Diesel.
 


Good morning all and Happy Friday to anyone looking forward to a weekend off,

We have 57° and cloudy, looks like a chance of rain. Our garden could use a half inch or so, just to spur things. I am sure we have plenty of moisture down a ways, however with the sun and wind of the last week or so I am not sure our smaller plants can reach it.

Flo - I would like a couple scrambled eggs and two buttermilk pancakes. Better add an order of the cheesy hashbrowns as I am hungry today.

Mike - I agree to some of these benefits of the north country. We are generally less than 90° throughout the summer, so that dread A/C doesn't have to be incessantly running. We have Central Air but it still feels "unnatural"

Guy - the Shell buildings look great!

Smudge - Wonder if the Ford or VW has a better reputation for reliability?

On the railroad I did some scenery last night, am stoked to get the sawmill area done tomorrow as most of my honey-do stuff is done.

I was looking for a photo to post today, this one dated 1948 is one of the last trains before the track came up from Wyoming MN to Taylors Falls MN, I believe.

The thing that struck me is the location of the crossbucks. Looks like they are in a wierd place. I have a few pics of the spot, not sure who took these photos they were in my Dad's stuff:

NP 328 1948, Wyoming spur.JPG


This is NP 328 in Wyoming MN. The camera is facing southwest

Wyoming @ 1920 (excellent).jpg


The crossbucks show up in this older photo as well, track is nearly invisible. I am amazed how clear this pic is considering how small the file is

Wyoming track plan.JPG


Shows earlier view. (Credits Steve Monson) The hotel in 1920 is newer, the one shown in 1903 was a wood frame structure which may have burned down. New one is brick.

The coal shed and outhouse show up in 1903 and 1920.

Thats out history lesson for today

more later, Dave LASM
 
Good Morning to All. Partly cloudy and 71° here. Approaching triple digits later today after a comfy 94° yesterday. Hot is the forecast for the next couple of days. Right now it is cooler due to the air outflow from the nearby rainstorms.

I slept an incredible 7.5 hours last night before the first bathroom break. Wasn't able to sleep after that. Feel great this morning.
Yesterday's grocery run was uneventful until I checked out. The cashier said $501.xx. I said no way! She looked at the already bagged groceries, agreed and called a manager to clear the register so she and the bagger could start over. New total of $171.xx was more like it. Even though the register had spit out a receipt for the previous customer, the cashier apparently didn't clear it. After re-checking the receipt at home I discovered two pints of whipping cream that I wasn't charged for. I called the store to report it since I tend to be honest, and was told to never mind in return for my inconvenience. $171 you say! Kinda high isn't it? I had a case and a half of beer and two bottles of wine which all together cost $75 alone. But alcohol is the only thing in the store that hasn't gone up in price in 2022!

Meanwhile the grocery store back home in the form of the garden is doing well in a few areas. Looks like a great year for my two hills of Yellow Squash, picking 2-3 a day right now. They'll last in the fridge for about a month. Consumption will go up as soon as my wife returns from South Padre Island on Saturday.
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IMG_1074.JPG

Cabbage plants are being eaten by grasshoppers, but only the outer leaves which don't matter much.
IMG_1080.JPG
IMG_1081.JPG

I don't usually plant cabbage since it all matures all at once, but my wife bought six starter plants earlier this season so I planted them. She'll complain about having too much to eat real soon! They won't survive the upcoming 100° heat so they will be picked this morning. I may try a small batch of sauerkraut which is easy to preserve.
There's tomatoes of all sorts everywhere, just slow to turn red!
IMG_1071.JPG

IMG_1075.JPG
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The plants are mostly over the tops of the four foot cages.
IMG_1066.JPG


Thanks for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's goose pictures; Sherrel, Todd, Patrick, Karl, Smudge, Troy, Dave B, Hughie, OB Ken, Louis, Tom O, Curt, Joe, Jaz, Guy, Rick.

No time out in the train shed yesterday, just too many other things going on. Hopefully that will change today.

Chad - No girth to the maple tree. It originally grew from a seed from a different tree and I didn't know it was there. I unknowingly mowed over it for a few years and it eventually developed 12 trunks before I noticed. Health and family issues got in the way and I just let it go like that. Now I have 12 logs about 5" in diameter!
Curt - I like to include some whimsical scenes on the layout. Glad to read that the surgery went well.
Ken (D&J) - Condolences on the loss of your friend and brother.
Todd - While it doesn't happen at home, the mask thing really affects my hearing of others as well.
Troy - I am lucky that I have only gotten into the shower twice with my hearing aids in. Both times I realized it before getting them wet, but it was close.

Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend coming up.
 
Good morning dwellers of Mel’s Diner. Flo, please surprise me with anything other then yogurt and granola. Western omelettes with American Fries, yes thanks.

We went yesterday to the 10 year old’s T-ball game for Special Needs children. What a hoot and a great time. Then we headed to the USA versus Canada hockey game. USA destroyed Canada 7-0 and this game wasn’t even close. Miserable game for me. I had the coughs and chills during the game. Got home, took a warm shower and that didn’t help. Drainage of the sinus are really bothering me. This has lingered a week now.

The SIL took Terry, the granddaughter and the daughter to the airport. They are heading to Paradise. Sick and alone today. I can see some sleep time coming today

Enjoy the day
 
I've just changed my car from a VW Diesel 1.8 to a Ford 2.00, worked out that although the Diesel gave me better MPG, Diesel is more expensive, but if I just work out my total milage for both versus cost, I'm no better or worse off having a petrol than I was having a Diesel.

We had two of the "Diesel gate" VW Diesels (Jetta [Golf] Sportwagon with the 2.0 diesel TDI). They were great cars. Mine was a manual and did quite well in the mileage department. The wife's was an "automatic manual" [drives like an automatic but is a real gear box and not transfer case] and was about 10% less in the mileage department. But still good. Back then (2013-2016) diesel, in our area, averaged about the same as gasoline (petrol) over time. Sometimes it would be less expensive, and other times it would be more expensive.

When VW USA bought them back due to "Diesel gate", we got a Volvo and an Audi plugin hybrid. The Audi has been good since diesel has gotten way more expensive, my state's residential electrocty is really cheap, and most of my driving is around town on electricity only. So in the last almost 6 years we've saved a ton on the Audi. The Volvo had OK gas mileage but was otherwise a great though quirky car, which we did Sweden delivery on, which was great fun. But 2 years in an idiot slams into it and totals it while my wife was driving home from work. No serious injuries except to the car. We replaced it with a VW Jetta [US model] sedan [all the premium stuff in it] and darn, with the 1.4 turbo TSi engine, it really drives nicely and gets great mileage. As good as the VW diesel automatic did and gasoline is a lot less expensive now.

The Audi is going on 6 years end of July and the VW 3 years mid July so we'll have them for a good time longer.
 
Smudge - Wonder if the Ford or VW has a better reputation for reliability?

I've been driving VW in the US since 1988. (Audi is an expensive VW). Have had great reliability with very few issues in the 7 VWs plus 1 Audi I've had or have. The only one that was a PITA (eventually) was the only used one I bought -- a 1988 Jetta sedan that, unbeknownst to me, had had 3 prior accidents before I bought it (this was before Carfax and the internet and all those sorts of services). I bought it in 93 and it was good for a few years but started to have issues. It was still pretty good when I gave it to my dad in 97 [I had bought a new Jetta GT 1997 model] mbut went downhill from there.

VW has a bad rep in the US but I've not seen it and my VWs have had fewer recalls than all my dad's Hondas in the same time (he bought his first Honda within a year of me buying my first VW). And Honda has that sterling rep of reliability.
 
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Selling short is a guaranteed loss, holding may mean it’s down, but as the years pass it goes back up, more importantly when buying shares double and triple check the code! The other half once bought the wrong stock, luckily not too much cash, and it crashed asap and being a small company failed to recover and was pulled. Ooops.

Jaz: Selling Short is not a guaranteed loss. "Selling short" doesn't mean to sell when it loses. It is a trading strategy for traders (not investors). It can be done with stocks or with options. It means a bet on the stock going down and is done in a way that you make money when it goes down.

Two examples: With stocks themselves, you borrow the stock and sell it, and when it goes down, you replace the borrowed stock with cheaper ones you buy back. (If it goes UP you are SOL).

With options, there are different ways but one is to sell a CALL option at a certain price and then when it goes down and stays below that price you keep the premium you got for selling the option and the option is never redeemed so no cost to you. A CALL option is where you promise in the future to sell someone a block (100 shares) of a certain stock in the future at a set price. You sell them when you think the price will go down and stay below the promised price, and you buy a CALL when you think the price will go up, as it allows you to buy below market value if the stock price goes up and you get to pocket the difference between the below market price you pay and the market price when you sell it. PUT options work the opposite. You promise to BUY at a set price in the future so you want the stock to go up so the market price is above the option "strike" price -- the promised price. Options have expiration dates so a lot of plays have to do with selling or buying an option and hoping the price does what you need it to do it until the expiration date. Once the expiration date passes you no longer care. These are trading strategies, and not investments.

Hope the stock market stays down today? I caught a good downdraft yesterday in the short options department and now I am only down 7% for the year;

Argh. I need the market to go up (or at least stabilize). My options keep getting blown through and needing to be rolled. Things were looking ok until yesterday/today. Still have a few more days.
 


We had two of the "Diesel gate" VW Diesels (Jetta [Golf] Sportwagon with the 2.0 diesel TDI). They were great cars. Mine was a manual and did quite well in the mileage department. The wife's was an "automatic manual" [drives like an automatic but is a real gear box and not transfer case] and was about 10% less in the mileage department. But still good. Back then (2013-2016) diesel, in our area, averaged about the same as gasoline (petrol) over time. Sometimes it would be less expensive, and other times it would be more expensive.

When VW USA bought them back due to "Diesel gate", we got a Volvo and an Audi plugin hybrid. The Audi has been good since diesel has gotten way more expensive, my state's residential electrocty is really cheap, and most of my driving is around town on electricity only. So in the last almost 6 years we've saved a ton on the Audi. The Volvo had OK gas mileage but was otherwise a great though quirky car, which we did Sweden delivery on, which was great fun. But 2 years in an idiot slams into it and totals it while my wife was driving home from work. No serious injuries except to the car. We replaced it with a VW Jetta [US model] sedan [all the premium stuff in it] and darn, with the 1.4 turbo TSi engine, it really drives nicely and gets great mileage. As good as the VW diesel automatic did and gasoline is a lot less expensive now.

The Audi is going on 6 years end of July and the VW 3 years mid July so we'll have them for a good time longer.
Mine was a VW Passat, had it for 11 years, serviced every year, only got rid of it because the floor was rotting away caused by all the salt we put in our roads every year come winter.
 
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