Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

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I think Fleabay's algorithm is broken. I have probably 50 model-RR related items in my watchlist, and the home page recommendations are usually either generic, or for other things than what I have saved or searched.
Then, a week ago I searched for a replacement for the Kindle I dropped and broke. A single search, located and purchased the replacement, and I'm using it. Now, my recommendations are filled with electronics and computers, some related to items I searched for a decade ago. And not a model train in sight...
Other than that, all my Winter stuff is packed away, and Summer is here, with forecast highs in the upper 80s-lower 90s for the rest of the week.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and a rather cool 40° this morning. Mother Nature didn't follow the forecast yesterday and the high temperature never got above 50° after our high for the day of 73° was achieved at 4:00 am. I got a total of 1.75" of rain out of the thunderstorms that persisted all morning. Back into the 70's today and 84° tomorrow! Thunderstorms return Tuesday if the NWS is right; they have about a 25% accuracy rate around here this year.

I usually only have issues with this site between 0500 and 0700 in the morning, yesterday it was all day long. If it's truly the bots that are the cause, I did note that there were over 2300 guests at one time. As I type these words, there are over 3400 guests. Maybe the time change will make a difference - not!

Had a really lazy day yesterday. Probably did some chores but I don't remember them. I did finally get the wife's soft drink stash out of the car from Thursday's grocery trek; buy 3 12-packs and get 3 free! At the price of soft drinks, one must take advantage of these deals. Here the cost has doubled in the last 4 years; even more than beef has! Matter of fact, the cheapo American bland beer is now less expensive than the full price of soft drinks!

Out in the train shed yesterday, I piddled around with the newly created space a bit. Emptied the box with the stuff that I had previously had in the area before I packed it away.
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A total of six homes, a church, 11 vehicles, a stray chimney and 28 figures; some of which are in vehicles and structures. As best as I can remember, this is how I had them all set up, less the figures. Vehicles on the road are the ones with drivers/passengers.
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I'll look at it for a few days and make additions, changes or subtractions before deciding on anything permanent. I have a number of additional residential structures already built that would fit in the area in front, just have to find some that have a detailed backside. I have decided against adding the extra trackage on the outside of the loop that I posted about yesterday; it would serve no purpose. Got to figure something for the two corners though, as well as a transition to the staging yard on the left and the "nothing" still on the right..

Terry - The PC and DEI stuff hasn't really evolved around here yet. Probably has in the bigger cities, but overall Texas has some laws curbing it to some extent. However your type of business might be different.

Everyone have a great Sunday.
 


Well, howdy there internet people who are Life Sized but not 3D printed.

It's Troy again.

Had three people show for game day so I played Rules looker upper for the other two. One gent has a nice looking army of lizard folk

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The other guy has unpainted "Twilight Kin" aka "Naughty Elves" He's not much of a painter.

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It was a game of bouncing dice hot then cold on both sides. Elves were ahead early, then the Lizzies pulled it out in the end.

Also, I printed up a bracket to hang my build plate at an angle. Takes a bit of quick removal and reinstall, since I can't have the bracket there while the resin is getting printed.
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Even if it looks like the resin will hit the edge of the vat as it drains, it doesn't:

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Good afternoon, all! A rainy day here today. We received just over an inch last night.
I got to run some trains yesterday. I need to clean some of the sidings, since they don’t see much traffic.

Wish that FOS had N scale. Some really nice scenes could be made.

I planted Klinger’s.

Terry - Is there a way to differentiate between real visitors and bots. At the time of this post 2870 visitors.

STAY SAFE
LATER
 

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Good day to all on the forum..............

Forum running slow for me today. But that is OK as I am an hour behind anyway. As I get older, the time change seems to get harder to adjust to.
While I prefer daylight savings time, I wish Texas would decide on one time standard and stick to it.

We had rain in the forecast for last Tuesday through Saturday but not a drop, just overcast for a few days. A couple of Texas lakes have now gone to "Dead Pool" status and some cities are on water conservation status that means you can only water your lawn one time every two weeks. Some Texas cities have rejected permits to build new subdivisions, not because the land was not available, but because of the water supply situation. Some of these cities said they may be in trouble just suppling water to the existing homes and businesses in the next 6 to 8 years.
Weather here has been crazy as two days ago I had to run the A/C in my vehicle and at home, but the last two days I have had the heat on in the mornings and evenings. Thunder storms are forecast for next Tuesday ( 80% ) but today the forecast for next Tuesday says 50% chance of thunderstorms.
Warren Buffet said over twenty years ago that in the future, pure drinking water will be more valuable than oil or gas. I think we are getting close.

I did get to work some on my Walthers cattle pens yesterday but is slow going. I painted all the pieces before assembly so I have to remove the paint a bit to make for good gluing surfaces. Plus there are a lot of pieces that need to be trimmed or shaped for a good fit. Seems I spend more time prepping than assembling. Plus the instructions are a bit hard to follow......a well known attribute to a Walthers kit. However it is coming along nicely.

I also took some time to watch a few videos on using FreeCAD so I can get the new printer fired up. I was going to take a trip to Home Depot to purchase a work table for my new printer but I called ahead to check availability and found out they had to order them for store pickup. So I just ordered one and had it shipped to my place. One good thing is they offered free shipping. I just hope the table top is not damaged when it arrives as is often the case. It is supposed to arrive on March 13........we shall see.

My best wishes and prayers to those that are ailing and those with ailing/recovering family.

Willie..... I enjoy your layout updates.

Take care....John
 
Good afternoon all!

Had an early departure this morning for a travel volleyball tournement. It was up around the Chicago suburbs and we had to
be there at 7:15am for a 8am game. Alarm went off at 4:30 and it our internal clocks were telling us it was 3:30. Nice thing
it was a 4 game tournament in succession so it was done by noon. We stopped along the way home at Chili's for lunch.

Turned out to be a beautiful day even though it was windy. Sitting at 61 sunny degrees right now. Cant beat that for a early
March day.

Time to relax in the recliner and catch a small nap before dinner. Then venture to the basement for the rest of the evening to
play with trains.

Have a great rest of your day!
 
Getting the Honda Bluetooth setup. I was talking with a friend today about me finally getting the Bluetooth connection paired with my Android phone and 2026 Honda CR-V. I had brought it over to the dealership Wednesday and they couldn't get it done. I finally figured it out myself yesterday and was relying on the phone to be continually charged by the Honda wireless charger. Has anyone here who owns a Honda had issues with this phone charger? I don't know if will keep your phone charged on a long trip or not. What I found out just a few minutes ago is I don't even have to turn on my phone when I place it on the charging pad. The Honda screen automatically makes the Bluetooth connection with the phone off after I had set everything up yesterday. There's a brief moment the phone lights up and says phone charging 80% and then go dark but the car screen has all the phone apps available for use. I'm just passing it on to other Honda owners if you're having problems with the setup. Swal

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NYC_George said:
Getting the Honda Bluetooth setup. I was talking with a friend today about me finally getting the Bluetooth connection paired with my Android phone and 2026 Honda CR-V. I had brought it over to the dealership Wednesday and they couldn't get it done. I finally figured it out myself yesterday and was relying on the phone to be continually charged by the Honda wireless charger. Has anyone here who owns a Honda had issues with this phone charger? I don't know if will keep your phone charged on a long trip or not. What I found out just a few minutes ago is I don't even have to turn on my phone when I place it on the charging pad. The Honda screen automatically makes the Bluetooth connection with the phone off after I had set everything up yesterday. There's a brief moment the phone lights up and says phone charging 80% and then go dark but the car screen has all the phone apps available for use. I'm just passing it on to other Honda owners if you're having problems with the setup. Swal

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We have a 2019 CR-V. Ours is not Bluetooth connected and must be wired though the USB port in the car. It does charge while driving. I suspect if your phone is on the charger pad that it will keep it charged on a trip. The 80% might be a setting on the phone. My iPhone recommends setting it to 80% to prolong battery life.
 
Texas Hobo said:
We have a 2019 CR-V. Ours is not Bluetooth connected and must be wired though the USB port in the car. It does charge while driving. I suspect if your phone is on the charger pad that it will keep it charged on a trip. The 80% might be a setting on the phone. My iPhone recommends setting it to 80% to prolong battery life.
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Hughie I didn't want to use usb-c port and have to use a wire. Just another thing to get in the way. I wanted to use the usb-c port to play my song list that I created last year. It took me a while to figure it all out on how and hook up the Bluetooth connection. I was surprised the dealer's shop couldn't get it done. I'll give the charger a test and see how much it charges the phone in the next couple of days. Swal
 
Good afternoon folks, 69 here and bright sunshine. A great day at church then after the Afternoon Service had fun at getting the van washed as it was so sunny the automated license plate reader couldn't read the plates because of the glare! So the guy would come out when you pulled up and hold a board up to block the glare so we could get washed. Then once I got home tried to fit a receiver cover on an AK that has a rail for a scope mount. Well, wrong country build, so it wouldn't fit. Rats. Hope you all have a nice evening.
 
Turned out the be a nice day today. In fact the best day this year. Cloudy this morning. Sun came out in the
afternoon and temp up to 55. Good time to vacuum out the car and wash the salt encrusted floor mats.
Noticed the tires were a little soft so plugged in the air compressor in the garage. After 10 minutes the gauge
read zero. Unplugged the compressor and rotate the compressor pulley. No resistance at all.

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Put the compressor together 50 years ago. Found tank buried behind a pile of "stuff" in the boiler room at work.
A neighbor who did refrigeration service gave me the compressor which came from a restaurant walk in box
which was being expanded. Found the motor at a tag sale-don't usually find 1/2hp motors that will run on 120 volts.
Maintenance electrician gave me a nice Square D pressure switch and scrounged the filter-regulator from a
maintenance plumber. A few fittings and odds and end completed the project. Never got around to making a
guard for the belt. Didn't put out a lot of volume but served well for inflating tires.

Had to drag the pancake compressor up from the basement. Bought it for an air nailer when we replaced all the
woodwork in the house.
 
migalyto said:
Sounds like it served you well! ;)
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Yes, never expected it to last this long. Not that it was used daily or even weekly. Really expected the tank to be
the point of failure. No idea of its heritage when I found it. It was a fun project and advanced as parts became
available. The wheels came from a lawnmower I found on the tree belt. The air filter is a suction strainer-enough
to keep bugs and large air borne particles out.
 


Have a few orders coming twoday sum boogies to remove the traxion tyres from sum power units since I dont like traxion tyres and sum cupler parts to make them all work with another. Ordered a bras power unit that is make in many sizes. Hope it works gooder than the tenshodo stuff since that rans to quick and eratic-ally. what I see on youztube is it mite be noisie from the metal warm geers. If it is, i mite look four nailon geers.

(wow that hurt!) haha
 
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