Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

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Well, howdy there internet caffeine addicts

And those who don't partake of the morning magical elixir

It's finally caffeinated Troy again.

Brain kicked in at 4 am this morning, after hitting bed before 10p

Started the morning routine: filled up the wife's humidifier, put hot water in the thermal coffee carafe that heads to the basement. Added cold filtered water to the brewer of the magical elixir and hit the make magic happen button.

Then I retrieved my slice of precooked bacon, put it on a plate, and zapped it for 10 seconds.

While finishing that up (mmmmmm bacon) I noticed the magic elixir was extremely pale. Transparent, in fact.

Seems I was so busy on the layout remodel, I forgot to put the magic ground beans in the brewer of the elixir.

Well, crap...

So, I had to hit the stop and do what I forgot to prep last night.

So, 15 minutes later...

Troy has his coffee and is safely ensconced in my recliner.
 
Good morning Coffee Shop, it's Saturday! The temperature is 32°F (0°C) and mostly clear. :cool:
Have a great day!
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Getting the roof worked on today. I lost some shingles in the 80 mph winds earlier in the week.😲
 


troyphoto said:
I had freshwater tanks
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Yeah, keeping fish is a lot of work and needs constant attention.

I have always went with freshwater. Salt seemed very difficult and expensive with all the equipment requirements, etc. I had a 75, 29, several 10s while growing up in Hawaii. My cousing had a goldfish farm at his house and a giant koi pond. He made wooden vats that were at least 10 feet long and about 3 wide and 1 deep, with windows on the sides so we could see the fish. He had several of these made and would breed and sell to the fish stores.

He made a giant concrete pond and had Koi, Pacu, Oscars, Plecos and some other types of large type fish. They grew humongous in that pond.

It was funny to watch how the fish acted when the pond was having the water changed. They would all go to the sump when the water was shallow and then as the pond got started filling, I would watch as the Pacu, which were probably 10-12 inches long, would start eyeballing the swimming space as it deepened. When it got to about 3 inches, they'd turn sideways and swim around, flapping one fin around. The Oscars would see that and follow suit. I was careful not to scare them when they did that.

While in the Nav, I bought and gave away tanks as I moved, which was quite often. A couple of 55s, 10s and all the filter equipment. Gave up on fish about 20 years ago and got interested again 5 years ago.

All of my fish are named George. I had George the Oscar, George the Convict Cichlid, George the Golden Mbuna and so on. My mom said that the Mbuna lived a long time after I left. He dug a hole in the sand and the rock fell on him and broke his back, but he lived.
 
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I have been contemplating getting a booster for my NCE system. I run only 2 locos at a time, but all of my coaches have lighting. I'm currently running a Kato EF81 with two coreless motors, an Accurascale Pannier with a coreless motor, and 6 lighted coaches. The NCE is showing only .06 amp, which seems quite low.

Edit: I changed the locos to iron core motor locos and still saw .06 amp. So, I went back into the NCE cab and enabled the ammeter again. Now it is showing about .14 amp. Still kinda low, so I guess I have my answer.

Edit 2: I found one of the locos stalled on the track. Cranked both up to 3/4 impulse and now I am seeing .31 amp.
 
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Good morning all!

A quick check in!

Today is getaway day! We set out for Florida this morning. I wanted to be out of here at 5-5:30 but as you can see that isn't happening. We are
driving to Birmingham AL and will stay the night there then do the rest tomorrow. Tomorrow is no hurry since we cant get into our condo till 3:00
and we will only have about 4 1/2 hour drive left.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
Good Morning All!

34F @64% cloudy and dark

Dau Jordan is off on her new adventure this am. Not sure what time they will leave. Pods left Wednesday so they should have a week-ish for screwing around. Her work gave her a going away party which was unexpected. Hmmm, what kind of party do that have at a pot store... Anyway, Maria showed me pix of the pods and they got them loaded pretty good. Jordan and Chan have had almost a week to rest up so I am not to worried about them and the 1200 mile drive. Weather looks pretty good for the next few days, so we will see what trouble they can get into.

Born Ready. Ya, have always had a 'bag' in the vehicle for those quick get out of town trips, work or play. Normal toiletries, shirts, shorts, sneakers, couple bottles of water and a few bags of Jerky. When I met Maria, our 1st kinda date was down to Vancouver,Wa to see a NP Steamer make the run to Pasco. Ya should have seen what she brought....nothing. Had to buy sneakers, jeans .. the works plus a ton of girl stuff. That small bag turned into almost the whole back of the seat area; that was circa 2000. She is still with me and loves just going places with no plan. Now days, she has her own bag, bout the size of mine.

Maria asked me if 'I had seen the dog bowl?'. I didn't even know he could.

L8r
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 51°, might hit 60° later today. 81° tomorrow when the sun appears. They're still predicting rain for five days beginning on Wednesday. The predicted rain for yesterday did not make it to us, stopping just north of the Oklahoma border.

Windy all day yesterday which made outdoor tasks less than pleasant. I did stack some more firewood to try to make it look more organized, and pruned some branches from trees that I missed this past winter. Wife filled the dishwasher with cookie sheets and oven racks, so I had to add that to my household tasks for the day. The chocolate chip cookies are great, but I have to be careful about how many I eat. 3 1-gallon Ziplocs in the freezer right now, better fresh from the oven but good anytime.

Frustrating day out in the train shed yesterday, sort of. I spoiled the Nehi sign that I was intending for the front of the General Store and I had to redo it with a "Hires" sign instead.
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As you can see, I made a new railing for the missing one on the LH side of the steps.
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I also gave the base a fresh coat of brown paint, although most of it will eventually be covered with ground cover soon. After looking at these pictures, I still need to do a bit more cleaning on those steps. They are slated to be painted a concrete color soon. I quickly turned to running trains since the modeling mood was just not kicking in too well.

Mike - Have a safe trip if you're still around to read this.
Tom O - Working with 120v can be fun! I have done it for over 50 years and I am still here. I work with 240v as well but nothing greater. The cost of getting an electrician out here was cost prohibitive when we were first settling down, so I did my own. Is it all to code? I think so even though I don't have to follow any codes out here. What I didn't know for years, is that my next door neighbor of 45 years (Bubba's Dad), is a licensed electrician. I only knew that he owned an air conditioning installation business and I never put 2+2 together!
On the subject of poachers, I did see two game warden vehicles drive past on Wednesday this week. Something going on as they were driving quite rapidly. Right now, only squirrel and rabbit are in season, although turkey season opens today.
Alan - Ditto here on roofs and ladders in general. Wife forbid them when I turned 70. I still use the 4' stepladder though.
Chad - What an opportunity to do the meet and greet with the members of Yes. Steve Howe does look like the Grim Reaper though!;)
Mikey - Kudos to you and the church group for your charity work.

Although I don't listen to her, Lady Gaga is 40 today.

Everyone have a great Saturday.
 
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Good morning Crew. It’s cool out at 20f degrees but it’s got a wind chill of 10! Low 40’s later and it’s very sunny.

The kids got home by noon yesterday or 24 hours late from the Florida vacation for Spring break. It really though is for celebrating hockey season was over! They have decided they are not flying United unless absolutely necessary. Delays, delays and cancellations. But they are home. Third United trip where the original flight ended up cancelled for lack of available flight crew.

I spent most of yesterday when in the train room sorting 3 bins from my friend I am building the paper mill for. Turned 3 messy bins into a use now bin, maybe use in 2026 bin and a toss in recycling now bin. I then did the same for 2 of my detail bins but my toss it out now bin had very little in it.

I have had some additional ideas for my new paper mill since I tore down the frame work it was on. Basically location of structures in the production process. My old pulp yard and wood chip pile were to be used on the new paper mill but it’s not to be. Now I’m thinking of tearing down that saved section of the old layout. My mill is modern 2015 to current where the one for my friend is 1965 and in the Tacoma, Wa area. Mine is still North Central Wisconsin. Right now for the friend I have been building his tanks for white, black and green liquors. Those are by-products from the pulping process. Though the mills are 50 years apart there are similarities in these vessels so while it slows down the build process for his mill, I am making extras for me! It’s why I did the deep dive into sorting those bins yesterday. Looking for materials and useful details. While both mills follow the production flow for the time I’m modeling for they are mostly scratch built and if a kit is being bashed it’s not Walthers typical paper mill buildings. I was shocked how easy my own paper mill sold.

After sorting bins yesterday my friend came by to pick up the maybe use in 2026 bin and the recycle bins. He also dropped off plans for Cashmere, Wa. Bulk oil, small lumber yard and a fruit warehouse all but the bulk oil distributor rail served. Fun little projects to work on when I’m tired of working on the paper mills. He also took 12 weathered freight cars for delivery to a client who will be at an OPS Session they are both attending in Door County, Wi today. That saves me from having the daughter going to the post office next week while we are gone.

Later today I might if I remember watch the Men’s NCAA hockey tournament. The Wisconsin men play Michigan State at 2pm on ESPN2. I have no real interest in the game but it’s a Badger team. But there are no monitors in the train room and that is where I plan to be

Safe travels to MIGALYTO (Mike) and his family and anyone else traveling today

enjoy the day
 


Good morning. 31°F here under a Freeze Warning. The last freeze a week ago did the buds in on my tulips. I didn't even see any buds and I think the freeze stunted their grown for this year. These tulips are old. I don't know how old, but I didn't plant them and I've been here 15 years now.

I doubt the last owners planted them either as they used to rent this house out when the new power plant was being built in the mid 00s. I figure these tulip bulbs have been here at least since the early 90s when the last real homeowner lived here.

At least the sun is out. The warmup begins tomorrow for a few days before temps return to the upper 50s and lower 60s. Supposed to be 85°F Monday and 84°F on Tuesday. Then rain chances for the rest of next week and lower temps.

New sights for the PDP arrived on time. Still waiting on the pusher to arrive today. Out for Delivery now. I've used a brass punch and a hammer in the past, but that was when I had a heavy bench vise and wasn't banging on sights with Tritium vials installed. I wouldn't bang on these even if I did have a bench vise. I gotta get one of those. Too many times I needed one and didn't have one. The only problem is that it takes up too much real estate on my work table and would be in the way more often than not.

Might put an apple pie in the oven later. Nothing else planned for today. Especially outside.

Have a great Saturday. Servus!
 
RhB Michael said:
Good morning. 31°F here under a Freeze Warning. The last freeze a week ago did the buds in on my tulips. I didn't even see any buds and I think the freeze stunted their grown for this year. These tulips are old. I don't know how old, but I didn't plant them and I've been here 15 years now.

I doubt the last owners planted them either as they used to rent this house out when the new power plant was being built in the mid 00s. I figure these tulip bulbs have been here at least since the early 90s when the last real homeowner lived here.

At least the sun is out. The warmup begins tomorrow for a few days before temps return to the upper 50s and lower 60s. Supposed to be 85°F Monday and 84°F on Tuesday. Then rain chances for the rest of next week and lower temps.

New sights for the PDP arrived on time. Still waiting on the pusher to arrive today. Out for Delivery now. I've used a brass punch and a hammer in the past, but that was when I had a heavy bench vise and wasn't banging on sights with Tritium vials installed. I wouldn't bang on these even if I did have a bench vise. I gotta get one of those. Too many times I needed one and didn't have one. The only problem is that it takes up too much real estate on my work table and would be in the way more often than not.

Might put an apple pie in the oven later. Nothing else planned for today. Especially outside.

Have a great Saturday. Servus!
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Just an FYI,
I was in the shop yesterday to answer emails and noticed 108 watchers on the Sig. That's significantly more than any other firearm I have listed since I started doing this.
 
Good Morning, Happy Saturday!

598848470_1157018049927803_1899081883628819134_n.jpg

Blast from the past: Undated Penn Central era late afternoon photograph of Waverly section of Newark NJ. Foreground MP54E commuter train from New York Penn to either Trenton NJ or South Amboy. To the right, a Waverly Yard Drill Crew. Tracks from left to right. Running 5, Main tracks 4 - 1, Waverly Yard tracks. Background Lehigh Valley RR Bridge to Oak Island Yard, and the McCarter Hwy Bridge (NJ21).

In other news, my tax return was deposited to my account overnight.
Enjoy the weekend.
 
Good day y'all!

Got up at 7:30 this morning , got showered and dress and had an 8 am arrival time at the local all you can eat breakfast buffet . After bacon, eggs, scrapple, sausages, home fries & a stack of pancakes, I went back for sausage gravy & biscuits. Oy I was a piggie!! Took wifey to Michaels so I did get a good walk in following here around.

Now she is off to the local no Kings rally and I am working on the electronics for my lift bridge across the laundry room door. She's a member of the League of Women's Voters working the front gate and counting attendance.

Today I'm cutting the DCC bus and wiring in relays and contacts so that when the bridge is raised 3 feet of double track main on each side of the bridge goes dead along with the bridge. Once this is done there is another lift bridge to wire up.
Todays 1st issue was cutting rails to insert styrene and make gaps. The rail cutting was fine, and I found styrene strips that fit the gaps snugly.
The problem came CA'ing them in place. Somehow I glued 3 fingers on my left hand together. Thank goodness I keep Zap de-bonder handy! I must have been a sight grabbing the bottle with my right hand and taking the cap off with my teeth to put the stuff on my left hand. Thank goodness it works!

BBL
 
Todays project. I keep on losing the wireless video feed from my cable box to my computer I think because of all the wireless Bluetooth devices I have hooked up now. I'm running a hard wire from the cable box to my computer because I can't have my horse looking like he's going to win the race and then the video cuts out. Unfortunately, the shortest route is over my model railroad. Swal


Cat_5_Wire_Project.jpg
 
santafewillie said:
Chad - What an opportunity to do the meet and greet with the members of Yes.Steve Howe does look like the Grim Reaper though!;)
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Yeah, it was cool. I'm a huge Chris Squire fan. Have been since I was in high school.

Howe kind of acts like that too. You notice he's gazing off. He didn't really engage with you much -- just went through the motions. The other guys talked with you, joked, whatever for your 45 seconds with each plus the group photos. Alan White was the most engaging. You notice he has his hand on my son's shoulder. He tried to make you feel at ease, comfortable, and "part of the group." It was a sad day when he passed.
 
RhB Michael said:
New sights for the PDP arrived on time. Still waiting on the pusher to arrive today. Out for Delivery now. I've used a brass punch and a hammer in the past, but that was when I had a heavy bench vise and wasn't banging on sights with Tritium vials installed. I wouldn't bang on these even if I did have a bench vise. I gotta get one of those. Too many times I needed one and didn't have one. The only problem is that it takes up too much real estate on my work table and would be in the way more often than not.
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The sight movers are great tools. Make it so much easier.
 


kbkchooch said:
Good day y'all!

Got up at 7:30 this morning , got showered and dress and had an 8 am arrival time at the local all you can eat breakfast buffet . After bacon, eggs, scrapple, sausages, home fries & a stack of pancakes, I went back for sausage gravy & biscuits. Oy I was a piggie!! Took wifey to Michaels so I did get a good walk in following here around.

Now she is off to the local no Kings rally and I am working on the electronics for my lift bridge across the laundry room door. She's a member of the League of Women's Voters working the front gate and counting attendance.

Today I'm cutting the DCC bus and wiring in relays and contacts so that when the bridge is raised 3 feet of double track main on each side of the bridge goes dead along with the bridge. Once this is done there is another lift bridge to wire up.
Todays 1st issue was cutting rails to insert styrene and make gaps. The rail cutting was fine, and I found styrene strips that fit the gaps snugly.
The problem came CA'ing them in place. Somehow I glued 3 fingers on my left hand together. Thank goodness I keep Zap de-bonder handy! I must have been a sight grabbing the bottle with my right hand and taking the cap off with my teeth to put the stuff on my left hand. Thank goodness it works!

BBL
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At least you didn't glue your three fingers to your forehead or some other part of your anatomy.
 
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