Running Bear's March 2023 Coffee Shop

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Good evening. 41° and foggy. A Nor'easter with 45mpg gusts is forecast for tomorrow, into Wednesday. :( We may even get an inch of snow :rolleyes:, then again these storms are unpredictable...anything can happen. Today's rain dropped 0.68" on us. Not sure whether that was more or less than forecast.

When it comes to bank failures, it's amazing how History repeats itself. What's also interesting is that going back to the failure of the Penn Central, to the SVB failure, all have a common denominator...(actually numerous common denominators, but I was thinking about an Investment Bank/Advisor). What I really find amusing in the current crisis, is the number of Libertarians, calling for Government intervention and loss coverage.

Spent some time in the basement running trains...no walking today. I imagine there will be more train room time the next couple of days.

My Scale Trains Rivet Counter PRR GP30 is on the way. Should have it in a week or so. It appears all of my remaining pre-orders from 2021 will be showing up within the next 6 weeks, except the Rapido Reading (Northeast) Cabin cars. They are lost in near space...:rolleyes:

I received my copy of the new "Keystone" magazine from the PRRT&HS today... Quite a few good articles to enjoy.

Concerning Lou and the Babe...Scooter and Yogi...Joltin Joe, Billy, Mick and Roger, and Catfish, today's pitching clock Yankees don't provide the same resonance...Maybe we lack great sports writers and news outlets, or maybe our talent pool is diluted, or maybe I'm just getting old, but it ain't the same.

Got my Spring Yard Clean-up scheduled, and my lawn service arranged for...there are on average only 16 games remaining in the regular season NHL schedule...then comes the playoffs, so we know spring is close by.
 


Good Morning All!
37F @ 84% with severe clear.

Not much to report other than we are off to the Spo VA in 1/2 or so. Have camera, phone, V/MC and glasses; so I should be good to go. Want 2 additional pairs of glasses. I am taking the pair that needs to be duplicated as that pair is better than the others given. I can not do the band on the glasses arms around the neck thingie, as they hang down and always seem to get in the way which could possibly scratch them. I can't think of the number of times I have smashed or broken the cheapo reading glasses. Probably does not help stepping on them after they fall. So the good ones sit at the computer desk in the case. We will see how that goes. In any event, I will pay the freight if need be.

Think that I can get pix that Smudge wants on the way there. Since I will not be able to see very well after the eye exam, getting the Wife to go where I want is sometimes out there; and on top of that, I need to be able to look through the viewfinder.

Gonna stop on the way back in BF for groceries as Libby seems to be getting more and more expensive for no real reason. Probably will spend $100 or more on little stuff. Need mo chicken, butter, milk and others. I know stuff will magically jump into the cart too.

Dinner tonight is Alligator - Wait, I only have a croc pot so that is out.

Later
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with a wicked slice on the links.

It's Troy again.

Completed the run of steroids. Whatever muscles might have pulled are relaxed. But there is still a nagging ache just to the left of my spine. If it were another couple of inches over, I'd say kidney stone. But it's not quite in that area.

I'm mobile, but still being very careful on bending and twist. Not sure if this is a herniated disk, or just a bad case of getting older. Glad I'm not dealing with the aforementioned ruptured disk. Ouch. Best wishes for your wife.

Dentist later today. And in an odd twist, my mother-in-law has an appointment at the same time, same office, different hygenist. We'll pick her up, and drive together.

With my dental anxiety, this is going to be really awkward. It feels like this just became a spectator sport.

So, to take my mind off of that, here are some goblins in process. Older models from 2012, and not the best sculpts. The molds were getting tired, and losing detail as well. I'm having a difficult time picking out what is what on them. And I'm trying to fast paint. I need to get a horde of about forty of them done this month for an online-slow-grow army challenge.

gobbos.jpg
 
Been up for 4 hours - have no idea why no sleep, but it is happening more frequently.

I guess that all you East guys are getting a dose of our weather a couple weeks back?

Dogs go to the groomer at 1 PM. How they see is by me - ---hair is really long.

Sat here watching ' Angel and the Bad Man' with J. Wayne. BTW - The spousal Unit has a client coming over this morning whose first name is Wayne!

TODD - I was funning you on the battery reference. Your photo looked like a miniature battery sitting on that board.

Going to go and nap now? maybe ....
 
Good Morning All. Happy Pi day (3.14). Ides of March tomorrow! Partly cloudy and 39° with a 30% chance of rain this afternoon; that was added to the forecast about an hour ago. Let's check the radar. I guess that the big storm over the Texas Panhandle (Amarillo/Lubbock area) that's moving east may have clued the NWS in. If I'm lucky, it will stay north of the Red River in Oklahoma, but probably not.

My wife's laser eye surgery yesterday went off without any hitches, supposedly a follow-up to the cataract removal done last year. Today is my turn to visit the pulmonologist who hasn't done a thing yet. Today will determine whether I pull the plug on him. He's run a bunch of tests that all indicate that there is nothing wrong, although in December when I made my first visit, I was short of breath and wheezing greatly. That's all gone away on it's own. Today he's supposed to discuss the home sleep test that I did, although I don't really see a connection!

While my wife was undergoing her procedure, I spent time at several places looking for a new garden tractor. Two of the four places that I went to, Lowe's and Home Depot, had a few in front of the store but both sales associates told me to look on the Internet. Tractor Supply had a few just like the ones I saw at HD, at a higher price, but no one offered to assist or talk. A local place was really helpful and was really pushing the brand that they had on the floor. They used to be a John Deere dealer for years, but now there wasn't a green machine in sight. They dropped them over quality and maintenance he said. Most of what was available were those "zero turn" models, which was not what I want. I want a traditional tractor type that can pull a dump wagon and maybe some other attachments as well as mow. Those "zero turn" ones are a bit pricey as well. Still got more looking to do.

Meanwhile, everything in the garden made it through the extra rain last week unscathed. Still too wet to do any work in, but nothing is really needed except to re-place two 4"x4" raised bed walls that became dislodged. Spent too long yesterday with the medical procedure to have much time there when I returned home. My next deadline is later this week to finalize the tomato beds which need to be ready for transplants in about 10 days.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I also didn't spend much time. I cleaned up the area around the Ethanol refinery and moved all of the structures back in place to see what else might be done. Then I did some very light weathering on a covered hopper. Prior to leaving town, I had applied graffiti decals to both sides and painted the trucks.
IMG_3205.JPG
IMG_3206.JPG

I usually only decal one side since as long as I don't physically remove a car and turn it around, only one side is ever visible. But this time I just did both. From there I made a light application of AIM weathering powders. I do not make rust buckets.
IMG_3208.JPG
IMG_3207.JPG

Mostly I added dirt around the discharge hoppers, rusted some of the weld seams and toned down the bright Santa Fe lettering.
Then I made some tentative plans for the area north of the refinery, in an area about 14" x 38". I hope to use two of Chet's Logan Valley structures and two of mine that I have assembled over the years just waiting for this spot to open up.
IMG_3209.JPG
IMG_3210.JPG
IMG_3211.JPG
IMG_3212.JPG
IMG_3213.JPG

These may shift a bit either way, and I'm not sure yet about having the auto parts store so close to the refinery. Refineries are usually more out in the open, but this is a layout!

Sherrel - Yep! You spelled it right this time. Quite the milestone.
Curt - Belated Happy Birthday to your wife.
Patrick - As I have posted, there's train derailments every day, over 1000 a year that are reported. We're just hearing about each and every one until the next big news story comes along. Now we can hear about bank failures for a while, and derailment stories will go away.
Joe - I'm still waiting for the dust to settle regarding these bank failures. Ironically, last week I put $10K into a 6 month T-bill.

It's Albert Einstein's birthday today. He had nothing to do with π.
Everybody have a great day.
 


NYC_George said:
Tom 96 to 79 and 6 /3 putts? and still shot 79. That's 18 holes? Print out the card. I need to see this.
Swal
Click to expand...
Yes 18 holes. Course rating yesterday was 70.5 which is fairly easy with wide open resort like fairways. I will try to get a copy of the card. I stopped saving them many years ago when they went over 500. I do carry a USGA handicap of 5 but playing to a 8 with these sharks as I hadn’t seen a real course since October. My brother and his “friends” put on about 8 of these type of Calcutta outings each year. He does 2 on Maui and 1 at Koehler, Wi. I used to play in all of them, now 2-3 a year minus the 2 Covid years. Every-time I say I am done he draws me back in. Terry though says I really come alive when I golf and encourages me to hit at home and play whenever I can. I hate riding but these courses are just too long and way to much space between green and tees to walk at my age.

Even as a kid and in my 20’s I never have even been a reasonable putter. I have missed 1’ putts my whole playing career. But tee to green while not as long as I used to be, I am still pretty good. The equipment is so good now, I can still hit it 240-260 off the tees (mostly 240) and I always have been pretty straight. This is a resort course. The hard one will be the Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort in Kapalua where the PGA plays in January. Always a well conditioned course and very long but wide open. It’s about 20 miles north of my brother’s place. While I haven’t played outside since October till Sunday’s practice round I hit 100-200 balls every other day or so into the simulator at home. It is programed to the Masters practice range and the courses these events are held at.

I no longer belong to any clubs but when I play at home with the SIL and grandson it’s at University Ridge outside of Madison about 2 miles from home. It’s a tough course and where my USGA handicap is from.

Started typing this at 3:25ish as I can’t sleep. Wide awake at 3AM. But I do have 5 hours of sleep in. Just not scheduling it right.

The last of my train orders arrived yesterday per the daughter. When we get home I will have plenty of model railroading to catch up on
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Happy Pi day (3.14). Ides of March tomorrow! Partly cloudy and 39° with a 30% chance of rain this afternoon; that was added to the forecast about an hour ago. Let's check the radar. I guess that the big storm over the Texas Panhandle (Amarillo/Lubbock area) that's moving east may have clued the NWS in. If I'm lucky, it will stay north of the Red River in Oklahoma, but probably not.

My wife's laser eye surgery yesterday went off without any hitches, supposedly a follow-up to the cataract removal done last year. Today is my turn to visit the pulmonologist who hasn't done a thing yet. Today will determine whether I pull the plug on him. He's run a bunch of tests that all indicate that there is nothing wrong, although in December when I made my first visit, I was short of breath and wheezing greatly. That's all gone away on it's own. Today he's supposed to discuss the home sleep test that I did, although I don't really see a connection!

While my wife was undergoing her procedure, I spent time at several places looking for a new garden tractor. Two of the four places that I went to, Lowe's and Home Depot, had a few in front of the store but both sales associates told me to look on the Internet. Tractor Supply had a few just like the ones I saw at HD, at a higher price, but no one offered to assist or talk. A local place was really helpful and was really pushing the brand that they had on the floor. They used to be a John Deere dealer for years, but now there wasn't a green machine in sight. They dropped them over quality and maintenance he said. Most of what was available were those "zero turn" models, which was not what I want. I want a traditional tractor type that can pull a dump wagon and maybe some other attachments as well as mow. Those "zero turn" ones are a bit pricey as well. Still got more looking to do.

Meanwhile, everything in the garden made it through the extra rain last week unscathed. Still too wet to do any work in, but nothing is really needed except to re-place two 4"x4" raised bed walls that became dislodged. Spent too long yesterday with the medical procedure to have much time there when I returned home. My next deadline is later this week to finalize the tomato beds which need to be ready for transplants in about 10 days.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I also didn't spend much time. I cleaned up the area around the Ethanol refinery and moved all of the structures back in place to see what else might be done. Then I did some very light weathering on a covered hopper. Prior to leaving town, I had applied graffiti decals to both sides and painted the trucks.
View attachment 164361View attachment 164362
I usually only decal one side since as long as I don't physically remove a car and turn it around, only one side is ever visible. But this time I just did both. From there I made a light application of AIM weathering powders. I do not make rust buckets.
View attachment 164363View attachment 164364
Mostly I added dirt around the discharge hoppers, rusted some of the weld seams and toned down the bright Santa Fe lettering.
Then I made some tentative plans for the area north of the refinery, in an area about 14" x 38". I hope to use two of Chet's Logan Valley structures and two of mine that I have assembled over the years just waiting for this spot to open up.
View attachment 164366View attachment 164367View attachment 164368View attachment 164369View attachment 164370
These may shift a bit either way, and I'm not sure yet about having the auto parts store so close to the refinery. Refineries are usually more out in the open, but this is a layout!

Sherrel - Yep! You spelled it right this time. Quite the milestone.
Curt - Belated Happy Birthday to your wife.
Patrick - As I have posted, there's train derailments every day, over 1000 a year that are reported. We're just hearing about each and every one until the next big news story comes along. Now we can hear about bank failures for a while, and derailment stories will go away.
Joe - I'm still waiting for the dust to settle regarding these bank failures. Ironically, last week I put $10K into a 6 month T-bill.

It's Albert Einstein's birthday today. He had nothing to do with π.
Everybody have a great day.
Click to expand...
I wish I could build the city/town scenes you do. Excellent and thanks for posting.
Nice work on the graffiti decals. I have done a few while still playing around with the custom painted graffiti.

I just can’t understand a business putting 26million like Roku did and expect that the FDIC will protect it. While the bank losses should not cost taxpayers any money, in reality it does. Banks pay fees to the FDIC for the protections, those fees will go up and passed on to the consumer, us, the taxpayer. Politicians and their f…ing word games. Funny how public officials who opposed the previous bail outs are now calling for Silicon Valley Bank to be bailed out.

Terry was thinking T-bills when we discussed it on the plane Friday. You and her think financially alike. Great minds
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Happy Pi day (3.14). Ides of March tomorrow! Partly cloudy and 39° with a 30% chance of rain this afternoon; that was added to the forecast about an hour ago. Let's check the radar. I guess that the big storm over the Texas Panhandle (Amarillo/Lubbock area) that's moving east may have clued the NWS in. If I'm lucky, it will stay north of the Red River in Oklahoma, but probably not.

My wife's laser eye surgery yesterday went off without any hitches, supposedly a follow-up to the cataract removal done last year. Today is my turn to visit the pulmonologist who hasn't done a thing yet. Today will determine whether I pull the plug on him. He's run a bunch of tests that all indicate that there is nothing wrong, although in December when I made my first visit, I was short of breath and wheezing greatly. That's all gone away on it's own. Today he's supposed to discuss the home sleep test that I did, although I don't really see a connection!

While my wife was undergoing her procedure, I spent time at several places looking for a new garden tractor. Two of the four places that I went to, Lowe's and Home Depot, had a few in front of the store but both sales associates told me to look on the Internet. Tractor Supply had a few just like the ones I saw at HD, at a higher price, but no one offered to assist or talk. A local place was really helpful and was really pushing the brand that they had on the floor. They used to be a John Deere dealer for years, but now there wasn't a green machine in sight. They dropped them over quality and maintenance he said. Most of what was available were those "zero turn" models, which was not what I want. I want a traditional tractor type that can pull a dump wagon and maybe some other attachments as well as mow. Those "zero turn" ones are a bit pricey as well. Still got more looking to do.

Meanwhile, everything in the garden made it through the extra rain last week unscathed. Still too wet to do any work in, but nothing is really needed except to re-place two 4"x4" raised bed walls that became dislodged. Spent too long yesterday with the medical procedure to have much time there when I returned home. My next deadline is later this week to finalize the tomato beds which need to be ready for transplants in about 10 days.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I also didn't spend much time. I cleaned up the area around the Ethanol refinery and moved all of the structures back in place to see what else might be done. Then I did some very light weathering on a covered hopper. Prior to leaving town, I had applied graffiti decals to both sides and painted the trucks.
View attachment 164361View attachment 164362
I usually only decal one side since as long as I don't physically remove a car and turn it around, only one side is ever visible. But this time I just did both. From there I made a light application of AIM weathering powders. I do not make rust buckets.
View attachment 164363View attachment 164364
Mostly I added dirt around the discharge hoppers, rusted some of the weld seams and toned down the bright Santa Fe lettering.
Then I made some tentative plans for the area north of the refinery, in an area about 14" x 38". I hope to use two of Chet's Logan Valley structures and two of mine that I have assembled over the years just waiting for this spot to open up.
View attachment 164366View attachment 164367View attachment 164368View attachment 164369View attachment 164370
These may shift a bit either way, and I'm not sure yet about having the auto parts store so close to the refinery. Refineries are usually more out in the open, but this is a layout!

Sherrel - Yep! You spelled it right this time. Quite the milestone.
Curt - Belated Happy Birthday to your wife.
Patrick - As I have posted, there's train derailments every day, over 1000 a year that are reported. We're just hearing about each and every one until the next big news story comes along. Now we can hear about bank failures for a while, and derailment stories will go away.
Joe - I'm still waiting for the dust to settle regarding these bank failures. Ironically, last week I put $10K into a 6 month T-bill.

It's Albert Einstein's birthday today. He had nothing to do with π.
Everybody have a great day.
Click to expand...
Nice job on the graffiti Willie.
Swal
 
Boris said:
Absolutely. Several issues here...1. I'm against entrapment for the purpose of raising funds, (fines & costs). 2. The stupidity of those who will circumvent the "laws" to enable under aged drinkers. This group is too dumb to realize what they are doing, and two stupid to know they are walking into a "trap". Some part of me says they deserve their fate for being so dumb.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

I was thinking bigger though. Not just kids "trying" to buy alcohol. But those dudes who troll internet forums trying to pickup on teenage girls and that sort of thing. They always make sure they know they are underage. Besides the scum who prey on young girls etc being scum, they are totally stupid as they fall into the trap. Good thing they are stupid so we can get them off the streets. ANy of this entrapment stuff should be easy to spot a mile away if you have more than 2 brain cells.
 


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