Running Bear's June 2024 Coffee Shop

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chadbag said:
Yeah my daughter finished the last non weekend/holiday of May and starts mid August again as well. When I was a kid we didn't go back to school until after Labor Day holiday at the beginning of September.
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WIth a strong agricultural background in the US, the US school year was, I believe, developed to allow the summers to be off for working the fields. (Talking 1800s etc when wide spread schools started to be put in place). It can vary a little depending on where you're at but typically schools end in the Spring mid May to mid June and start up again some time in August to early September. It depends on how much holiday/vacation time is interspersed and if it is in a snowy area where they have to plan snow days off.

In Arizona as a kid we would start after Labor day. There were occasionally days or multi-days off -- I don't remember the details as this was the early 70s -- but school was done for the school-year mid May or end of May. We moved to Massachusetts when I was done with 4th grade. We had finished school in Arizona and then moved but the kids in Mass were still in school and didn't get out until mid or week after the mid-point in June. But they had to account for snow days, which we didn't have in the desert, so that always made the school year a bit longer (typically a week) and they had a multi-day or week off in the Fall, a couple weeks at Christmas, then they had "February Vacation", which was a week, and "April Vacation". which was a week. So they interspersed more days off throughout the school year than we had in Arizona. I think that they did it so families could take a week and go to Florida or elsewhere away from the snow in February... Now in Utah most schools seem to start right around the middle of August. They have a Fall vacation of usually around 3 days, and about 2 weeks at Christmas, and a "Spring Break" in April, usually a week but some districts only have like 3 days off. Thnnen there are a lot of individual days throughout the year (with names like "Teacher Compensatory Day" and "Professional Development Day". And a 3 day off (5 day weekend) at Thanksgiving. We only ever had 2 days as a kid. They're done with school work and the year end of May.
 


Good morning shop dwellers!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Swal is correct I live near Saratoga Springs but northeast of it anyways. My GF and I had some free tickets to go to the Belmont Stakes but we elected to avoid the whole debacle and stay away from Saratoga. The weather was cooler and windy, scattered showers here and there. I heard on the radio that the draw brought in over 125 million dollars! Also it was sold out to over 50k spectators. The influx of people was felt the start of last Wednesday. Traffic was gnarly. I took my country roads them tourist do not use so there is that. I grew up around the track scene as did my GF so we know all about it. We will be going later in the season. We chose not to go due to a number things. I ended up painting the exterior of my house, a couple of decorative panels between my windows. Took advantage of the cooler weather for this.

Wanted to go out on the boat yesterday but GF had other plans that turned out nice regardless.

I am waiting for my SD70Ace 8444 to come in. I did get a Prime to Grime box car in today. I haven't seen it yet as I am in the office today. Will see it when I get home. Will post all that later on on the RPO.

I will work on the front flower beds tonight that are badly needing attention. I have neglected it for some time now. So it needs TLC. GF will be planting but I have to get it prepped for that. Nice of her to partake in that. I also have to get my mountain bike out and start a routine for that in the early mornings b4 work. That will help me drop a few more pounds and increase the cardio. Swimming has already been added to my days. I enjoy that for sure. Having a GF sure keeps you busy and on your toes. I have been single for so long and forget all the things that come into having a GF lol....not to mention my wallet...lol the things that make you go hmmmmmmmm. It's all good though thus far.

We have been to the first concert of our season already. We saw Avett Brothers at the MVP arena in Albany NY. Next is the Hootie & The Blowfish this coming Saturday at the SPAC. Then on the 27th we have Brooks & Dunn! I am looking forward to that at the SPAC.. Then the next day we head off to Maine for a 4 day retreat on the coast. That will be great too! In July we will be seeing Tyler Childers concert as well then I have company coming to stay from Alabama, Florida, Texas and England. It will be a blast! We have a few float trips planned on the Ausable River up near Plattsburgh NY and a few float trips on the Battenkill River as well. Of course some fishing with my Godson. Which by the way he placed 4th at the Alabama State High School Bassmasters Tournament. He also go qualified to compete at the Nationals Bassmaster Classic for the High School Division at the end of July thru August 4th. GF and I are going to support him. We will be making it a week long trip vacation. First stop in NC to see a o'l buddy of mine in Etowah NC then we will go to the Biltmore Estate then a short tour on the Blue Ridge Parkway then on to Chattanooga TN for the tournament. We got an ARNB place to stay on Chickamauga Lake. That should be decent. Whew that's enough to report for now but it will be a busy summer. I hope to see train relate things in Chattanooga TN we shall see.


Ya'll have a good day and week!
 
Bill and "97" - that breakfast looks ewally good!
Looks like 81 with sunny today. - -still seems cool to me for this time of year but it will get plenty hot soon enough?

I have to make some headway on my 'office" today. It's a shambles and with GKids and an extra daughter showing up on Wed. I am going to have to make tracks! Not really looking forward to all the extra folks! Seems that the youngest of mmy daughter's (age 15) has had a few scrapes with the police.
I am not a Happy Camper. When he was around 8-9, he was dropped on his head and in a coma for several days. I have a feeling that that enters into the equation. This happened during one of his martial arts training - He received a judgement 0f $300,000. from the school.

OK .. I probably talk too much -- Next round of Chemo is set for M-T W of Next week .... I thought it was this week!
 
In other news!

DRAT!!! Some how we have misplaced the 'handicap" sign that the DR. gave us for the windshield.
Sh%# happens when switching cars back and forth !!!!!!! I think results of either being stolen if MOH, or daughter forgot to lock the truck, or one or the other scooping it into the junk mail pile of 8-10 pieces each day.
MOH sent an email to the Oncologist in hopes to obtain a "permanent" one. I have seen way to many people with them who are not in as much need as myself!
 
chadbag said:
... changing the oil in our two cars. What should have been a 2- 21/2 hour job for me (who only does it once a year per car)
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Nothing wrong with that Chad. I've trained young mechanics that have taken weeks to learn to be both fast and good. That's with changing oil daily, not annually.

Most important is to be good. Time is only relevant when you are trying to turn a profit.
 


Sirfoldalot said:
In other news!

DRAT!!! Some how we have misplaced the 'handicap" sign that the DR. gave us for the windshield.
Sh%# happens when switching cars back and forth !!!!!!! I think results of either being stolen if MOH, or daughter forgot to lock the truck, or one or the other scooping it into the junk mail pile of 8-10 pieces each day.
MOH sent an email to the Oncologist in hopes to obtain a "permanent" one. I have seen way to many people with them who are not in as much need as myself!
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Can you have the DMV issue you license plates with it on them, or is that what you meant by permanent?

I have seen them starting to crop up here in Illinois, maybe they have had them for a while and I just haven't noticed!
 
santafewillie said:
Swal - Are you sure that selling all of that stuff won't have an effect on the Medicaid process for your wife???
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Willie yes it will. They haven't asked how much my model railroad is worth yet. I think the Medicaid rules state that you're not allowed to have over 50 cars & 10 engines. I'll have to sell 50 cars this weekend. I ended up being around $100.00 ahead after betting on the Saratoga races for last 3 days. I hit the Grand Slam bet for $70.00 on Friday & won $110.00 on a Pick 5 yesterday. I lost about $80.00 of that back on other bets.
Swal
 
Bruette said:
Nothing wrong with that Chad. I've trained young mechanics that have taken weeks to learn to be both fast and good. That's with changing oil daily, not annually.

Most important is to be good. Time is only relevant when you are trying to turn a profit.
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I've been changing oil for 35 years so I should know what I am doing. The wife's Jetta uses a special 0W20 VW508.00 spec oil, which is hard to find around here so I had had it on a 6 month "subscribe & save" at Amazon for a couple rotations (they were cheapest and have it at the time in a Valvoline variety). It's been a while and I figured I had used one case of 6 on the previous change, with the bottle left over being used for top-offs recently (I remember that). So I was trying to figure out where the other case went. I looked at where I thought it was and in my garage and all over for a good long while. I eventually found it near where I thought it was but in a different, larger, box under some other stuff. Our house is a mess with empty boxes for moving as well as now sorting stuff and throwing stuff away and slowly packing. But I did find it. That was a waste of time. Then I couldn't find my socket ratchet wrench thingy. Any of them. I looked in my basement tools. I looked in the garage at my tools. Finally, I remembered where I had last used it on the car and found the one, and the other had been moved on the garage shelf from where I had placed it (could have been me or someone could have moved it to access something else). But more wasted time. Gather up the other sockets and stuff needed. That was only a slight delay as I went through the socket collection looking for 19mm which I found after 5 min. (The toolbox is a crappy Craftsman with "drawers" -- whole thing is plastic and the drawers stuick in the plastic body and then release suddenly so all the sockets go flying when you try and open it).

And then my T25 bits were no longer in my car from the house build as the wife cleaned out my car for me and moved all the tools into some boxes at the house. (Yes I can no longer find anything when I need it). I looked around the house for a T25 (I need a T25 and a T40 for the change to remove the aero-cover from under the engine -- the T40 is in my car toolbox). Finally I drove up to the house to retrieve one from there as there are a billion there as its the most common one we use on the house (wood screws).

I then got the wife's Jetta done. Oil drained, plug back in, old filter off, new filter on, clean up, fill with oil to the minimum line, start up for 5 min, and then let it sit a few minutes to check for leaks. Tighten the filter in case the single drop was a leak and not just oil missed when wiping it after removing the filer. Back it off the ramps, let it sit a few minutes so that the oil can drain to the bottom of the pan, and fill to the limnit. Start it. Then sit a few minutes and check. Done.

Then it's my car's turn. My Audi has the same (but earlier year) basic 1.4 turbo engine as the Jetta. It has some other accessories attached to it and the electric drive (PHEV) attachments and is tuned for premium gas so gets a whole whopping 3 hp more despite being a 2016 MY instead of 2019 MY engine...

Drive it around the neighborhood for 5 min to warm the oil up, and then let it sit for 5 mins to drain into the bottom of the pan and to slightly cool down.

Anyway, since it's the same as the Jetta, the same aero shield is on the bottom and all the tools are the same. Quickly get it on the ramps, aero shield off, open up the drain, and drain. Let it sit to get every last drop of old oil out :). Put the plug back in, take the filter off, clean up the engine from oil mess where filter came off (its horizontally attached) and try and put the new filter on. I had bought 2x Bosch 3330 filters as both cars use the same one. Jetta was no problem. But on the Audi I couldn't get it to turn on more than a turn before it would bind. Like it was cross threaded. I tried multiple times. No go. Put the old XG Fram on and it twisted on just fine, so I hadn't damaged the actual filter mount. Tried the Bosch some more, and then decided the filter was bad. So I had to drive to Walmart, get a filter drive home, etc. More wasted time. Got home and the new filter worked. Got it on, filled up oil to min, trie to run it for 5 minutes. But being a PHEV, I couldn't remember how to get the gas motor on. The normal ways when you're driving didn't seem to work. FInally Googled and they said to do something I had already tried, but then I thought maybe I should put the hood down. Voila, that was it. Ran the car 5 minutes, let it sit, and checked for leaks. No issues. Got it off the ramps and filled up and done.

But took more than twice as long -- more like 3 times as long as it should have and normally takes me. Two short food breaks and my brother calling on the phone didn't help, but for most of his call I talked to him while trying to work. He retired from the Army National Guard yesterday after 24 years (2 periods of his life with a long break in between). I hadn't known he was retiring as I thought he wanted another couple years but I had run into a love stream of his returement ceremony on FaceBook while eating (before I started the oil). Turns out he was encouraged to retire because of a bad report by a couple of Karens in Germany when he deployed to help them out of a pinch when they couldn't get anyone to go. A civilian in the office where he was based for some reason didn't like him and a Lt Colonel from the regular Army didn't understand some ways of how NG units worked and based on the civie Karen's report write a bad report to the national guard HQ of the state he is in so the state had to cover its tracks and get rid of him more or less. He hadn't told me any of this but called and told me all about it in a long call while he was doing errands and getting ready for his retirement party. I continued working through the call on the oil change but also was slower and stopped some to listen better.

All in all I got it done but was slow and didn't get as much on the house done as I needed to. I did go up in the evening until like 2am to work on it but stopped when I couldn't lift some cabinets up to their rail by myself.
 


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