Running Bear's March 2023 Coffee Shop

[TLOC]

Good morning to Meyers-Briggs personality test takers, to those that read and of course the modelers on board. About 3 years before retirement the company decided to give the M-B test to 300+ employees including the grounds crew. What a joke, I already knew the personality traits of 60% of the staff. Why? Because I talked with them. I am an extrovert.

A wet beginning to the morning in So. Central Wisconsin. I was jolted awake at 3:30 by the T-storm that rolled through. Supposedly per the TV guy last night we are looking at total rainfall by 6AM Saturday of around 3”. After that maybe an inch or 2 of accumulating white stuff. Highs today should be in the high 60’s. SPRING in Wisconsin.

The word antsy is rolling around the house this week. Terry took off with a friend yesterday for a horse auction but thankfully didn’t buy. But the friend did. This morning we are off for breakfast at a hole in the wall place about 45 miles away. Just to get out.

I have 1 locomotive that should be finished being weathered today. After that, I am taking a break till Tuesday. The locomotive guy had delivered me a total of 4 diesels and 2 bins with 25 boxes of intermodal cars. I thought there was one car per box not sets! I was rudely awaken when I opened the 2 bins yesterday. 3-5 cars per box, they are sets! Totally changes my scheduling and my approach. I am ok for the underside of most of the cars and sides as there are lots of pictures. The inside of the well I need to do more research. The spline cars though I can’t recall seeing them personally out in the wild. Online pictures are not much help. There is an intermodal yard in Milwaukee I can get to without trespassing near the casino. I might take a trip depending on the weather.

enjoy the day

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Had a hectic non-train related day yesterday.
March 30th is my wife's birthday. We have been looking at new cars for the last couple month to replace our Hyundai Tucson.
After graduating from college in 1969, she drove a 1967 red Camaro for 8 years. We normally buy used vehicles and she has wanted another red car for about 40 years.
We decided to trade her Tucson in and commit her monthly social security check for the next couple years to a new Hyundai Santa Fe with the bells and whistles she wanted. I think we signed more papers purchasing this car than when we purchased a house.
Anyhow, she seems pleased with the car. And it is red....but has not been weathered, yet

 

[TLOC]

 

[chadbag]

But US Sales tax for the states.... Ummm.... they'll collect it and send it to me. If memory serves, there are 42 US states who want their cut from anything I sell to their residents. Including ebook and audiobook files.

Do you really sell enough to hit the limits on that many states? I know some states have an item or a $ limit to hit, and others just a $ limit.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and a quite warm 71° right now. It actually went up overnight! Possibly going above 81° today before an anticipated cool front comes through late this afternoon. The rain has been removed from the forecast for today after the "severe" weather failed to materialize yesterday. The NWS has a rather dismal record so far this year around here. They did correctly predict the start of Spring and Daylight Savings Time though!?!?

Yesterday was a fun-filled day, not! First was the power outage. I was mis-informed and they didn't work on the pole/transformer in front of my house, but a different one down the road. Wouldn't have been a biggie but they also shut the power off at 8:45 instead of 9:30! Of course that shut down the tankless water heater so I had to take a chilly shower. I had to make it quick and did not wash my hair. All was good when we returned.
The weekly grocery trek went OK, as usual the costs overall were higher but I saved an incredible $62.xx with sale items, digital coupons and printed coupons. I still spent over $170 which only included 1-12 pack of beer. I'm a little overstocked right now. But we stocked up on sugar-free soft drinks with a total of 8-12 packs of 12 oz cans. Last week they were 3-12 packs for $14, this week they were 4-12 packs for the same $14. That's still $4 above what they were on sale for just 18 months ago. Gasoline around the city of Denton remained around $3.09/gal.
Then I stopped by Sam's Club for my annual hearing test and hearing aid service. I was at least three months late. That took 80 minutes! Good news/bad news. The good news is that my hearing has not deteriorated in the last 15 months. The bad news is that they were not able to re-calibrate my hearing aids for the new speakers that they installed or the minor adjustments in hearing ranges. Additionally they were unable to fix the malfunctioning volume control on the right aid. I was still able to adjust the volume/filters with the phone app so I wasn't completely screwed up. So to correct the problem, they had to send the aids to the lab for repair. I chose the option of sending them both at the same time so I wouldn't be unbalanced while wearing just one. It will take a week before they are returned, so I will not be able to listen closely until next Thursday! Better than being only half able to hear for a total of two weeks including the family gathering at Easter. Additionally to those who don't have to use artificial ears, balance can sometimes be an issue while moving around with only one working. Dinner conversation last night was strained!
Later on, I planted some more tomato plants but not all that I have left.

Eventually I made it out to the train shed, but did no project related work. I straightened out some areas and put away some tools that I will struggle to find the next time that I need them. I determined that I will work along the area between track and fascia in front of the refinery/town.

Initially I added ground cover on the right, unsure of how far I was going to go. I have now determined that I will move left to the paint bottle there and fence it along the RR side to represent a cow pasture. I'll make use of some of the imported Logan Valley livestock which I received from Chet.

Yep! There's 89 of them critters here, I'm looking at using 10-11 in this area.
If you remember, there's a similar horse pasture to the right of this area.

Hopefully the cows will follow their example and not step off into the void.
Further south to the left, the area widens out enough that I will be adding structures, starting with a few trailers that I have already built.

Jeff - Good deal on the furnace. You should have a happy tenant.
Mike - I'm not a baseball fan, but opening day and weekend nearby, has the Texas Rangers playing three home games this weekend. Competing with them at the football stadium across the street is three nights of Taylor Swift concerts. This will be a true traffic nightmare for the cops and neighbors there.
Jaz - Yep! Lots of other good stuff on this forum besides the Coffee Shop. So much that I am consistently behind in my reading!
Thank you for the comment. I do wish that I had the time to do a better job of documenting the layout on this forum, i.e a specific thread. Maybe someday.
Todd - See response to Jaz.
Tom O - Lots of luck seeing any spline cars these days. Most were removed from service years ago due to instability.
Mikey - Belated Happy Birthday to your wife. Nice present.

I was never bullied, nor was I a bully during my pre-college days. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years and that kind of shit just wasn't tolerated. Any stepping over the line and the school disciplinarian or in many cases the individual teachers, would take you out. They were the real bullies. Yes, we actually had a priest with that title/responsibility in high school, also known as the vice-principal.

Everyone have an awesome day and a great weekend.

 

[NYC_George]

Had a hectic non-train related day yesterday.
March 30th is my wife's birthday. We have been looking at new cars for the last couple month to replace our Hyundai Tucson.
After graduating from college in 1969, she drove a 1967 red Camaro for 8 years. We normally buy used vehicles and she has wanted another red car for about 40 years.
We decided to trade her Tucson in and commit her monthly social security check for the next couple years to a new Hyundai Santa Fe with the bells and whistles she wanted. I think we signed more papers purchasing this car than when we purchased a house.
Anyhow, she seems pleased with the car. And it is red....but has not been weathered, yet
View attachment 165735

Nice car. I don't like car payments or any other kind of payment so my wife's 2013 Kia with 36,000 miles will have to go on forever and so with my 2016 Nissan Frontier with 55,000 miles.
Swal

 

[JeffH]

A paid-for car is the best car there is!

 

[Sirfoldalot]

For what it's worth -- I HAVE RETURNED ...
We have had almost continuous rainy days for the past week - things are quite soggy.
It has not been very heavy, but mostly enough to get you wet if out for more than just walking to your car in the driveway and enough to make the pups hesitant to go out.
Spousal Unit should return from her Club cruise in a couple more days. She called me yesterday on her sister's phone; for some reason she had been unable to txt or call as she has iPhone and I have Samsung and nothing she sent came to me?
Weather looks to be clearing up this morning - presently 37 degrees ?(winter won't go away) and going up to 55 later with patchy sunny skies. The next two days are forecast clear.

I have no idea what I had, but it did such a number on me that about the only time I was out of the bed was to feed the pups - they eat once a day around 4-5pm. I had nothing to eat for three days and then only a can of soup - a couple days scrambled eggs and toast. I lost 8 lbs in the process. Did not even spend more than one hour a day opening the computer - then head hurt too much to try and read anything - I have never had such a headache such as that in my life - mostly in the sinuses. I felt like something had invaded my brain?

Dodgers won their opener last night 8-2 over the Diamondbacks - good start.
I have 11 pages to browse - may be awhile catching up.
BBL

 

[migalyto]

A paid-for car is the best car there is!

If only my wife would see it that way!

 

[migalyto]

For what it's worth -- I HAVE RETURNED ...
We have had almost continuous rainy days for the past week - things are quite soggy.
It has not been very heavy, but mostly enough to get you wet if out for more than just walking to your car in the driveway and enough to make the pups hesitant to go out.
Spousal Unit should return from her Club cruise in a couple more days. She called me yesterday on her sister's phone; for some reason she had been unable to txt or call as she has iPhone and I have Samsung and nothing she sent came to me?
Weather looks to be clearing up this morning - presently 37 degrees ?(winter won't go away) and going up to 55 later with patchy sunny skies. The next two days are forecast clear.

I have no idea what I had, but it did such a number on me that about the only time I was out of the bed was to feed the pups - they eat once a day around 4-5pm. I had nothing to eat for three days and then only a can of soup - a couple days scrambled eggs and toast. I lost 8 lbs in the process. Did not even spend more than one hour a day opening the computer - then head hurt too much to try and read anything - I have never had such a headache such as that in my life - mostly in the sinuses. I felt like something had invaded my brain?

Dodgers won their opener last night 8-2 over the Diamondbacks - good start.
I have 11 pages to browse - may be awhile catching up.
BBL

Welcome back to the land of the living!

 

[Jaz avalley]

Thanks for talking about me specifically!
Actually, I am not smart enough or talented enough to be that way.

No matter we love you anyway.
(fyi not girl for boy but mate for mate, grr friend for friend lol)

the thing is I agree with Boris sometimes a subject does not interest me, or I lack enough knowledge to add anything worthwhile (some may say I overstep that already lol) I usually like a picture as I rarely see something I don’t like, and I try to catch up if I can, and appreciate the odd joke.

Had a hectic non-train related day yesterday.
March 30th is my wife's birthday. We have been looking at new cars for the last couple month to replace our Hyundai Tucson.
After graduating from college in 1969, she drove a 1967 red Camaro for 8 years. We normally buy used vehicles and she has wanted another red car for about 40 years.
We decided to trade her Tucson in and commit her monthly social security check for the next couple years to a new Hyundai Santa Fe with the bells and whistles she wanted. I think we signed more papers purchasing this car than when we purchased a house.
Anyhow, she seems pleased with the car. And it is red....but has not been weathered, yet
View attachment 165735

nice car she certainly looks happy, I do not think I would be brave enough to try weathering it tho. Must say it’s nice looking too in my own opinion.
Although people purposely weather VW beetles, not a uk thing,if I tried it on the Tesla I would be in the other half’s bad books lol.

Happy trails.

 

[Jaz avalley]

For what it's worth -- I HAVE RETURNED ...
We have had almost continuous rainy days for the past week - things are quite soggy.
It has not been very heavy, but mostly enough to get you wet if out for more than just walking to your car in the driveway and enough to make the pups hesitant to go out.
Spousal Unit should return from her Club cruise in a couple more days. She called me yesterday on her sister's phone; for some reason she had been unable to txt or call as she has iPhone and I have Samsung and nothing she sent came to me?
Weather looks to be clearing up this morning - presently 37 degrees ?(winter won't go away) and going up to 55 later with patchy sunny skies. The next two days are forecast clear.

I have no idea what I had, but it did such a number on me that about the only time I was out of the bed was to feed the pups - they eat once a day around 4-5pm. I had nothing to eat for three days and then only a can of soup - a couple days scrambled eggs and toast. I lost 8 lbs in the process. Did not even spend more than one hour a day opening the computer - then head hurt too much to try and read anything - I have never had such a headache such as that in my life - mostly in the sinuses. I felt like something had invaded my brain?

Dodgers won their opener last night 8-2 over the Diamondbacks - good start.
I have 11 pages to browse - may be awhile catching up.
BBL

Welcome back , hopefully it is not catcheble and your poor spousal unit arrives while you are contagious, IF that’s a risk she could wear a Covid mask for a week or so to protect herself to sone extent, but that means seperate beds art night, so I suspect that won’t happen lol.

Hope she brings you back a nice treat to up your appetite, am assuming the dog is better also.

 

[Chrιstιαη]

Hello Happy Members !
My internet access problem has been solved, I can now post a short video. Have fun !

 

[santafewillie]

I try to catch up if I can, and appreciate the odd joke.

Then you would have liked our former odd fellow visitor Beady, whom we haven't seen in just over two years.

 

[CGW121]

Surgery went well. No complications at all.She is home now resting on the couch. Mild discomfort ( read that major pain ) but that will improve. What pain she has is nothing like before with bone on bone. Thank you for your prayers.
Mike

 

[TLOC]

Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and a quite warm 71° right now. It actually went up overnight! Possibly going above 81° today before an anticipated cool front comes through late this afternoon. The rain has been removed from the forecast for today after the "severe" weather failed to materialize yesterday. The NWS has a rather dismal record so far this year around here. They did correctly predict the start of Spring and Daylight Savings Time though!?!?

Yesterday was a fun-filled day, not! First was the power outage. I was mis-informed and they didn't work on the pole/transformer in front of my house, but a different one down the road. Wouldn't have been a biggie but they also shut the power off at 8:45 instead of 9:30! Of course that shut down the tankless water heater so I had to take a chilly shower. I had to make it quick and did not wash my hair. All was good when we returned.
The weekly grocery trek went OK, as usual the costs overall were higher but I saved an incredible $62.xx with sale items, digital coupons and printed coupons. I still spent over $170 which only included 1-12 pack of beer. I'm a little overstocked right now. But we stocked up on sugar-free soft drinks with a total of 8-12 packs of 12 oz cans. Last week they were 3-12 packs for $14, this week they were 4-12 packs for the same $14. That's still $4 above what they were on sale for just 18 months ago. Gasoline around the city of Denton remained around $3.09/gal.
Then I stopped by Sam's Club for my annual hearing test and hearing aid service. I was at least three months late. That took 80 minutes! Good news/bad news. The good news is that my hearing has not deteriorated in the last 15 months. The bad news is that they were not able to re-calibrate my hearing aids for the new speakers that they installed or the minor adjustments in hearing ranges. Additionally they were unable to fix the malfunctioning volume control on the right aid. I was still able to adjust the volume/filters with the phone app so I wasn't completely screwed up. So to correct the problem, they had to send the aids to the lab for repair. I chose the option of sending them both at the same time so I wouldn't be unbalanced while wearing just one. It will take a week before they are returned, so I will not be able to listen closely until next Thursday! Better than being only half able to hear for a total of two weeks including the family gathering at Easter. Additionally to those who don't have to use artificial ears, balance can sometimes be an issue while moving around with only one working. Dinner conversation last night was strained!
Later on, I planted some more tomato plants but not all that I have left.

Eventually I made it out to the train shed, but did no project related work. I straightened out some areas and put away some tools that I will struggle to find the next time that I need them. I determined that I will work along the area between track and fascia in front of the refinery/town.
View attachment 165730
Initially I added ground cover on the right, unsure of how far I was going to go. I have now determined that I will move left to the paint bottle there and fence it along the RR side to represent a cow pasture. I'll make use of some of the imported Logan Valley livestock which I received from Chet.
View attachment 165731
Yep! There's 89 of them critters here, I'm looking at using 10-11 in this area.
If you remember, there's a similar horse pasture to the right of this area.View attachment 165733
Hopefully the cows will follow their example and not step off into the void.
Further south to the left, the area widens out enough that I will be adding structures, starting with a few trailers that I have already built.

Jeff - Good deal on the furnace. You should have a happy tenant.
Mike - I'm not a baseball fan, but opening day and weekend nearby, has the Texas Rangers playing three home games this weekend. Competing with them at the football stadium across the street is three nights of Taylor Swift concerts. This will be a true traffic nightmare for the cops and neighbors there.
Jaz - Yep! Lots of other good stuff on this forum besides the Coffee Shop. So much that I am consistently behind in my reading!
Thank you for the comment. I do wish that I had the time to do a better job of documenting the layout on this forum, i.e a specific thread. Maybe someday.
Todd - See response to Jaz.
Tom O - Lots of luck seeing any spline cars these days. Most were removed from service years ago due to instability.
Mikey - Belated Happy Birthday to your wife. Nice present.

I was never bullied, nor was I a bully during my pre-college days. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years and that kind of shit just wasn't tolerated. Any stepping over the line and the school disciplinarian or in many cases the individual teachers, would take you out. They were the real bullies. Yes, we actually had a priest with that title/responsibility in high school, also known as the vice-principal.

Everyone have an awesome day and a great weekend.

Thanks Willie.

I had a nagging suspicion about the spline cars. Then this morning I found a photographers site where he has spline car pictures taken in 2021 at Fort Madison on the Mississippi River. Great pictures of the sides, the trucks and wheel faces. Nothing top down.

Spoke to the client a while ago and said yep spline cars are going away. Just do a medium weathering job, “don’t over think it”.

 

[TLOC]

For what it's worth -- I HAVE RETURNED ...
We have had almost continuous rainy days for the past week - things are quite soggy.
It has not been very heavy, but mostly enough to get you wet if out for more than just walking to your car in the driveway and enough to make the pups hesitant to go out.
Spousal Unit should return from her Club cruise in a couple more days. She called me yesterday on her sister's phone; for some reason she had been unable to txt or call as she has iPhone and I have Samsung and nothing she sent came to me?
Weather looks to be clearing up this morning - presently 37 degrees ?(winter won't go away) and going up to 55 later with patchy sunny skies. The next two days are forecast clear.

I have no idea what I had, but it did such a number on me that about the only time I was out of the bed was to feed the pups - they eat once a day around 4-5pm. I had nothing to eat for three days and then only a can of soup - a couple days scrambled eggs and toast. I lost 8 lbs in the process. Did not even spend more than one hour a day opening the computer - then head hurt too much to try and read anything - I have never had such a headache such as that in my life - mostly in the sinuses. I felt like something had invaded my brain?

Dodgers won their opener last night 8-2 over the Diamondbacks - good start.
I have 11 pages to browse - may be awhile catching up.
BBL

Glad you are back among us

 

[Jaz avalley]

Nice car. I don't like car payments or any other kind of payment so my wife's 2013 Kia with 36,000 miles will have to go on forever and so with my 2016 Nissan Frontier with 55,000 miles.
Swal

A paid-for car is the best car there is!

apart from Company cars we have only ever bought one new car, the Tesla, we have had demonstrators with a couple of hundred on them, but I have to say I begrudge buying new driving out of the showroom and immediately losing the vat cost..faints. personally if you have a good runner it is worth holding onto in my opinion. I used to drive a little yellow 107 Peugeot not even got electric windows, and I would be still using it except my son has it at the moment, a decent back for shopping and nippy if a small engine fine for short runs and parking in car parks.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Started out at 61F this morning and currently 82F. I had a bunch of chores today that took up the morning. After lunch I took out my Polaroid Cube (1" each side) and charged it up so I can start doing videos. Tomorrow, we need to have Dad at the airport at 6 am for his flight at 8:30 am. He'll be away for 3 weeks. Kathy leaves for a week Sunday morning.

I talked to Phil (Flip) today and he and Debbie are doing well.

Karl- Nice display of motive power.

David- Interesting photos.

Troy- Would a part time CPA be an option? I don't need to know-just an idea I had.

TomO- I guess I misunderstood that you and Terri were getting out of the horse business except for personal use.

Mikey- Congrats on the new car. Our newest is 8 y/o and the other is 13 y/o. Both run well. That's all I care about in a car.

Willie- Nice scene. I don't remember what I did in grade school, but I got spanked by the V. Principal (public school) then when I got home Mom spanked me and when Dad got home, he spanked me. Whatever I did I probably never did it again.

Sherrel- Great to see you posting again. Sorry that the illness was so bad.

Christian- Nice layout action.

Mike- I'm glad the wife's surgery went well.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[NYC_George]

I used to drive a little yellow 107 Peugeot not even got electric windows, and I would be still using it except my son has it at the moment, a decent back for shopping and nippy if a small engine fine for short runs and parking in car parks.

This is why most the residents of Myrtle Beach SC use their golf cart for everything.