Running Bear's June 2026 Coffee Shop

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santafewillie said:
I wondered if you knew him when I read the article.
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Not sure which is better the Paper Mill or the steel Mill. While I can just run trains the groups I belong to are believers in hard core operations yet keeping it fun and no clocks. Arpad’s main crew of 10 are a mix of I’ll run a train or 2 around the layout and go home and timetable operators. They love fast clocks! His sessions are a hoot as has 3 guys run trains as through trains and then they go home. Operated there twice in 2024, 3 times in each of 25 and 26. He has run for years but basically since 2021 every couple months guys come from all over the state. He is an absolute gem of a guy
 
Morning all, been a bit since I past posted. 70's all day with rainstorms predicted for this evening.

Spending the day prepping the car trailer to load up the Jeep for a weekend trip to upper central NH. Meeting up with friends coming down from Canada for a shakedown run and camping trip prior to our cross country journey to the Rubicon Trail near Lake Tahoe.
 
You car guys are amazing. I sort of remember my cars but as I have written before the car genes from my dad skipped me. Both my sister and brother can tell you the make, year and engine spec of every car they have owned. Not me but I have a search engine to help me remember. I know in 1980 I purchased a Fiat x19 for her 29th birthday. Just her second brand new car and the first of many 2 seater sports cars or if they had back seats mostly useless
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IMG_7157.png

The car was fun but it didn’t look this good as those online images after running in through the top branches of a large tree laying in the road in a massive thunderstorm. The headlights never retracted again. Engine right behind the front seat. Traded in for a family sized Buick SkyHawk as she became pregnant with our 1st a few months later
 


A police officer was consoling a distraught man after he reported his wife missing.

PO - what was she wearing when she went missing?
Man - Uh, I think she had a t-shirt and some jeans.
PO - what color t-shirt?
Man - uh, might have been blue?
PO - can you give me a description of what your wife looks like?
Man - I think she's about this tall.

PO - ok, what kind of car was she driving when she went missing?
Man - 1971 Porsche 914 targa, yellow with a black top and bumpers, chrome center hubs, with a 2L type 901/36 F6 engine making 100 bhp. Had a Blaupunkt cassette am/fm stereo with 6.5 inch coax speakers in the doors.
PO - don't worry, sir, we'll get your car back.
 
Good morning Crew. 68f degrees heading to the high 80’s but dry! Maybe less humidity per the app but it’s to be cloudy all day. So probably good outdoor deck time this morning.

I cleaned my workbench up after dinner as I am packing it up. I am moving my shop completely to the daughter’s work shop/office space 2 miles away. I already have a L shaped space over there plus my older paint spray booth. But except for a work top and a few tools it’s all moving including my drafting table. Because I will have much more space I ordered a laser cutter, an ultra sonic cutter and a new sanding pen.

Read between the lines as this is my announcement we will be moving.

Terry finally agrees this place is too much space for us. Essentially 5 bedrooms and 4.5 baths on 2 levels I am ok with this decision. We have the property and the ability to build. But will this place sell? We will not be converting it back to the offices it was. It will but how long will it take? What type of place and will it have a basement? I will not live in a condo with a HOA. We are not moving in with the kids and while on the same property we will be at least a mile away by road. This may not be fun. I didn’t push or even prod. Terry’s health is decent my is always iffy. But she is having leg issues and as always the doctors practice. She has been using the elevator to come down to use my big screen for the NBA playoffs or to see how I am doing in the train room. She is very frustrated. We have places we can move to while we decide what exactly we will do. The only thing agreed between the 2 of us is we are staying in the area though I would or could move full time to Wimberley, Texas in a heart beat! We will though be there some during the build process.

Enjoy the day
 
KriegslokBR52 said:
The first car i have actually driven still as a kid (maybe 11 years old), was a Fiat 126. Which was also built in Poland starting in 1973 on a license. View attachment 267260
Picture taken from Wikipedia. This vehicle basically motorized Poland and was one of the "gifts" you could say by a very forward thinking Edward Gierek, who was the leader of Poland from late 1960s to about early 1980, when he was outsted by new leadership. These are now considered a "cult car" in Poland and the prices for a good condition examples can be very high.
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How was the engine cooled in that without a front grill opening?
 
They say most health issues are cause by your diet. Processed foods are the worst. I cut out all processed foods. I've been walking 3 miles in the morning every day for a least a month now, but they say before you can burn off the visceral fat around your organs you have to fist burn up all the glucose in system and that doesn't happen until 20 hours after your last meal. So, you either have a short 4-hour eating window in a 24-hour day or you have to do at least a 2 day fast, I want to burn it all off, so I guess it's going to have to be a 2 day eating fast every other 2 days. I didn't eat for 7 days not too long ago so a 2 day fast should be easy for me. These are the sacrifices' you have to make to stay above the ground. Swal
 


Rubicon said:
Morning all, been a bit since I past posted. 70's all day with rainstorms predicted for this evening.

Spending the day prepping the car trailer to load up the Jeep for a weekend trip to upper central NH. Meeting up with friends coming down from Canada for a shakedown run and camping trip prior to our cross country journey to the Rubicon Trail near Lake Tahoe.
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That sounds like an awesome trip. Keep us posted and with pictures.
 
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 69°. The NWS originally had rain in today's forecast, but took it out yesterday, and have now put it back in. Maybe it's because there's a large thunderstorm about 15 miles west of me that's headed in this direction. It has gotten rather dark in the past few minutes and it will probably be raining hard by the time that I finish this post. Total rainfall from yesterday with a smidge from Friday night was 3.35", so I did indeed jolt Mother Nature by topping off the pool Thursday!

Yesterday was an indoor day with the usual laundry and dishwasher tasks being primary. Scratched off a few items on the honey-do list as well. Slight mishap later on due to forgetfulness. I had loaded up the cart with trash to be taken out to the dumpster, chlorine bottles, beer bottles, Amazon packaging and a plastic bag of kitchen garbage. Got hung up doing something and forgot it was there. Stepped outside around 9:00 to expel some used beer and noted a tattered bag and a raccoon messing around. Sent the raccoon running and had to take the cart out to the dumpster and empty it it in the dark. I never know what kind of gremlins are there because of the warped top that allows varmints in. None noted at the time.

Rain this morning, it has started, will put a damper on outside activity today, but church is coming up soon so that works out for a while. Good to excellent roads between here and there. Never much traffic either. We'll get into our daily discussion (debate???) regarding what to do for supper so I can take something out to thaw while we are gone.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I did some more ground cover before running trains. By default, I am just going to be content to use 2D backdrop structures along the back wall of the current project area. Two are somewhat in place next to the freight terminal which is mostly finished.
1780839427689.jpeg

I have added a third that's a little more built out.
1780839511305.jpeg

1780839527060.jpeg

To be continued.

Michael - Thanks for the suggestions, but interlock towers were being phased out by the time era of my layout, and there already is a maintenance yard and shed at the north end of this town; albeit 30' away!
Tom O - I would love to get an opportunity to participate in an operating session; but I don't know of any close enough for me to participate in. And I am certainly too laid back to use a fast clock. I'll just have to be content to operate in my own world of sequential operations.
Another move!!!! Another opportunity to buy new furniture.

The late singer/songwriter Prince was born on this day in 1958. I didn't listen to much of his music, but he was one hell of a guitar player when he wanted to be.
Everyone have a great Sunday, and yes it's raining but no thunder!
 
Good morning folks. 76°F here this morning. I don't even want to check the dewpoint. I can tell it's near 70°F already.

Cloudy here today with a chance of rain. Odds increase overnight. It was a little sticky last night in the house, but not unbearable. I need to get out my box fan and stick it in a window. Now I know why these old houses had windows that were 32"x72". They had no A/C back then and these windows open w-i-d-e to let more breeze in.

Didn't play yesterday with watching radar most of the day. I had my second bar-b-q chicken dinner last night and after dinner couldn't keep my eyes open. I dozed off until about 1830 and still took another 30 minutes to actually be alert. That really wiped me out. Slept like a rock and in bed at 2230. Birds woke me at the same time today 0545, but I managed to scare them off for the rest of the early morning and managed to sleep until 0730. Woke rested and ready to go.

Willow was out on the floor by 1900 and didn't move around much except to go out to do her business. She seems much calmer than when I first brought her home and is doing really well here. She needs a lot of attention that I don't mind giving, and it helps to be here most of the time.

Have a wonderful Sunday! Servus!


KriegslokBR52 said:
Rear engine air cooled... just like in the VW Beattle.
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I thought about that, but it didn't look like there was room for the engine in the rear.
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 69°. The NWS originally had rain in today's forecast, but took it out yesterday, and have now put it back in. Maybe it's because there's a large thunderstorm about 15 miles west of me that's headed in this direction. It has gotten rather dark in the past few minutes and it will probably be raining hard by the time that I finish this post. Total rainfall from yesterday with a smidge from Friday night was 3.35", so I did indeed jolt Mother Nature by topping off the pool Thursday!

Yesterday was an indoor day with the usual laundry and dishwasher tasks being primary. Scratched off a few items on the honey-do list as well. Slight mishap later on due to forgetfulness. I had loaded up the cart with trash to be taken out to the dumpster, chlorine bottles, beer bottles, Amazon packaging and a plastic bag of kitchen garbage. Got hung up doing something and forgot it was there. Stepped outside around 9:00 to expel some used beer and noted a tattered bag and a raccoon messing around. Sent the raccoon running and had to take the cart out to the dumpster and empty it it in the dark. I never know what kind of gremlins are there because of the warped top that allows varmints in. None noted at the time.

Rain this morning, it has started, will put a damper on outside activity today, but church is coming up soon so that works out for a while. Good to excellent roads between here and there. Never much traffic either. We'll get into our daily discussion (debate???) regarding what to do for supper so I can take something out to thaw while we are gone.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I did some more ground cover before running trains. By default, I am just going to be content to use 2D backdrop structures along the back wall of the current project area. Two are somewhat in place next to the freight terminal which is mostly finished.
View attachment 267286
I have added a third that's a little more built out.
View attachment 267287
View attachment 267288
To be continued.

Michael - Thanks for the suggestions, but interlock towers were being phased out by the time era of my layout, and there already is a maintenance yard and shed at the north end of this town; albeit 30' away!
Tom O - I would love to get an opportunity to participate in an operating session; but I don't know of any close enough for me to participate in. And I am certainly too laid back to use a fast clock. I'll just have to be content to operate in my own world of sequential operations.
Another move!!!! Another opportunity to buy new furniture.

The late singer/songwriter Prince was born on this day in 1958. I didn't listen to much of his music, but he was one hell of a guitar player when he wanted to be.
Everyone have a great Sunday, and yes it's raining but no thunder!
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There are quite a few operating sessions in the Forth Worth area of guys I know fairly well. I know we will be in Austin and College Station 9/11 and 13 to watch volleyball. I can check if anything in the area is coming up then. The plan last week was 9/5 to 9/16 in Austin at the son’s condo as the house in Wimberley is behind schedule. I’ll let you know if I can find a session. These are laid back professional railroads that operate model trains to relax, meaning no pressure.

Furniture! We always take the 2 main bedroom sets and my cave furniture. We’ll see this time but I have no issue with buying new, we’ve earned it and she doesn’t go crazy

Prince was a master for sure
 
Good morning all!

Currently a pleasant 76F but clouds are building for rain that is supposed to start at noon and go thru 11pm. Not as warm as
yesterday with the high of 92F we had. Today is only supposed to reach 85F.

No real plans for today. Pretty much everything was done that need to be yesterday!

have a safe day everyone!
 
Rubicon said:
Morning all, been a bit since I past posted. 70's all day with rainstorms predicted for this evening.

Spending the day prepping the car trailer to load up the Jeep for a weekend trip to upper central NH. Meeting up with friends coming down from Canada for a shakedown run and camping trip prior to our cross country journey to the Rubicon Trail near Lake Tahoe.
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Have a safe and enjoyable trip. Sounds like a blast!
 


Slight break in the rain, so I went out to empty the gauge. 3.4" fell in just under 2 hours. There's now standing water everywhere, flooding between the house and train shed and most of the front yard until it gets a chance to drain off. The county hasn't maintained the roadside drainage ditches in over 7 years, so drainage is slow. Maybe this will drown some of the grasshopper nymphs that usually occurs in May, although they are possibly too big now and might survive. My pond has refilled and water is headed over the spillway, contributing to the already full roadside ditch! And of course, the pool overflow through the skimmer box is aggravating the flooding between the house and train shed. We are under a flash flood warning now, upgraded from a watch; however it doesn't affect me directly. The main road in front of the house might be temporarily flooded from runoff for a few hours, but that's all. There's one spot about 3/8 mile north and another about 3/4 mile south.
Nothing to be concerned about, as this normally happens 2-3 times a year. Both the house and train shed are built on slightly higher ground and are safe. May is normally our wettest month, but this year it has rained more in 36 hours of June (6.55") than all of May (3.25").
 
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