Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

[kbkchooch]

You can always vacation in sunny Florida for the next couple of weeks. It’s supposed to be sunny and 85-90.

Been to Florida twice in my life, no more. I think the heat down there make some folks nutso. We got enough of them up here!

 

[migalyto]

And here is the almost finished berm and coal trestle:

That's some excellent modeling there!

The textured paint looks like it worked out well.

 

[ctclibby]

Good Morning All!
32F @ 71% and snowing like a bansheee. Started about 1.5 hours ago; have 2+ inches on the ground .... so far.

Ya, and we thought spring has sprung. Did see some stink bugs ( with other friends ) but this should kill them off. Saw the 1st 'hover' bee too. No Jackets or Honey's though.

This years deer heard looks to be somewhere between 8 and 14; couple of spikes, the rest mostly bambies, last years model and what have ya. The bigger bucks are probably still up high. Dogs are busy keeping them on the outside of the fence. All of the Turkey's are closer to town - want a cheap meal I guess.

@Patrick Blower motor under the jockey box? Bang around above the floor board there with your fist. Had same problem in the Expedition and determined that was the problem; no, not the banging around. Pretty easy fix, except for the elbow don't move that way.

L8r

 

[Marlin39]

Been to Florida twice in my life, no more. I think the heat down there make some folks nutso. We got enough of them up here!

Lived in Miami way out in the sticks (back then) by FIU, for 2 years, so I could complete my B.S. degree. This CA kid came from perfect weather to hot & humid, flat as far as the eye could see, BUGS, and my time there was right in the middle of the Mariel boatlift. It was a cross between Scarface and Miami Vice. I swore I would never step foot in South Florida again.....and haven't. We did go to Disneyworld back in April 2016 and it was very pleasant.

 

[troyphoto]

Good morning Crew. Yesterday it hit 73f degrees in my area of Wisconsin. Today if the guessers are right we will be lucky if we hit 50!

We took a day trip yesterday because it was so nice and I never even opened the door to the train room yesterday. We headed over to Lake Geneva one of the Wisconsin playgrounds to Chicagoans who can afford it. Just a beautiful spot that in season is unbearably crowded and even in the off season ridiculously expensive. We like visiting before and after the Summer season, so it was great being there yesterday and it was surprisingly busy, but it was 73 degrees. Seemed like the locals were out. We ate at a waterfront eatery and it was excellent. No off season dining or drinking pricing reductions though! The Spotted Cow a Wisconsin Craft beer normally $4-5 in the Madison area was $8.50 for 16oz and 10 for 24oz. But prices are what they r so I can’t complain as we knew prices would be higher. Terry was questioned about her Brewer ball cap as the host said they see so few Brewer fans and mainly Chicago team caps. A pleasant 80 minute each way drive. I did keep the spending at the chocolate shoppe and beef jerky store below $100 in each place. The Beef Jerky place sells a spicy Jamaican jerky the son in law and granddaughter love, so…

This morning after I hit post reply the chore of the day is to clean the train room floor. I have part bins out, poster board scraps and cut offs on the floor. It’s a mess…

Be well

Did you take a ride on the Mailboat that delivers mail to the docks at the swanky homes?

 

[RhB Michael]

The new glasses are great for my far vision, and reading is now no problem. But I have no intermediate correction and the computer screen is fuzzy.

How can Walmart sell a pair of reading glasses for $5 that work at all focal lengths (2.5 diopter) off the rack, and an optometrist can't do the same for an expensive pair of glasses? I can't figure this out.

????????

 

[NorthBrit]

Our next leg of our journey to Australia is now booked
It means we have six weeks to travel on trains to Albany, to Toronto, then across Canada.

Then a ship to Sydney in June, calling at Panama City and Auckland, New Zealand first.

 

[RhB Michael]

Been to Florida twice in my life, no more. I think the heat down there make some folks nutso. We got enough of them up here!

I lived in Jacksonville for a year with my Dad in 1978-79. The humidity is even worse than the Midwest. I was so glad to get away from there. My son and his family live in Tampa. I don't know how he can stand it.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Hughie - Interestingly enough, the farm in Chatham NY that I posted about above was originally owned by an aunt of ours many generations ago, who sang in the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. She sang sometime between 1890 and 1920. My brother documented it all a few years ago.

The story, as told to me, my grandfather went to the Met to apply for a job. It was during the Great Depression. He was told that the great Caruso could apply and wouldn't get hired. Then the guy told my grandfather he should change his last name. He suggested Friel to Frielano. In the small world category, my wife's aunt sang at the Met, but would have been in the 30's and 40's. And continuing in a small world, one of my good friends growing up in NY owns a 50 acre farm in Chatham.

 

[migalyto]

The new glasses are great for my far vision, and reading is now no problem. But I have no intermediate correction and the computer screen is fuzzy.

How can Walmart sell a pair of reading glasses for $5 that work at all focal lengths (2.5 diopter) off the rack, and an optometrist can't do the same for an expensive pair of glasses? I can't figure this out.

????????

Yea, it kind of makes you wonder how much of this is a racket?

 

[migalyto]

Our next leg of our journey to Australia is now booked
It means we have six weeks to travel on trains to Albany, to Toronto, then across Canada.

Then a ship to Sydney in June, calling at Panama City and Auckland, New Zealand first.

Sounds like you have already been on one heck of a journey with more to come! Thanks for all the updates
and continued safe travels!

 

[RhB Michael]

I just ordered another pair of the same Walmart glasses I've been wearing for the last five years. The old ones are pretty beat up with me having to fix the frames twice because of cracking and the lenes are getting a bit foggy.

The new glasses in the Randolph frames will be great for reading and outside though. Not a total waste. I guess I expect too much from glasses.

 

[chadbag]

N scale, 12v max is what he guarantees up to. He does offer HO scale lights but I haven't checked into them.

So these are N. Still you shouldn't be using 16V caps on N without a zener diode in the circuit that cuts the voltage. I doubt you damaged it with soldering unless you left the soldering iron on it for a long time at high temperature. I think you're just too close to the limits and with variance in components, variance in voltage, etc you crossed it.

You should be using 25V pieces. I've only used 16V caps on my boards that have the zener diode on them that are 11V.

 

[DeaconKC]

Good afternoon folks, slept in then coffee and fresh eggsalad on pumpernickel for a brunch. 74 here and cloudy, supposed to be rainy the next few days with temps in the 70s and some t-storms. Going to get the taxes done in a bit, hopefully we have held enough out to cover everything. If we are good, we'll call some family and treat them to dinner. Pizzas probably. @MilwRoader_Steve the texture paint turned out really well. Plan for this afternoon is some plastic work on a "Ruptured Duck" [imitation Galloping Goose] and working on a couple of battlemechs needing stage 2 paint.

 

[TLOC]

Did you take a ride on the Mailboat that delivers mail to the docks at the swanky homes?

Did that as a kid with mom and dad. Then took our kids on it in the early 90’s. 2 years ago Terry, her friend and me took a lunch cruse that was not part of the mail run. Good meal and tour though

Lake Geneva pales to what it was in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Lots of the “real” mansions from the early 1900’s are gone replaced by the modern equivalent of a mansion. To me now they are just big with no heart and very few have a style

As a teenager with a license (1968) I had a girlfriend whose dad was the head groundskeeper at the Wrigley estate on Lake Geneva. The grounds and his cottage were spectacular. His cottage seemed twice as big as the house we lived in. Her parents were divorced so we saw him every month in the Summer when we went up for a weekend. Never in 2 summers did I ever see a Wrigley family member. That estate while still there and still big the boat tour guide a couple years ago said it’s around 10% of the 100 acres it used to be.

We did a couple years ago hike the trail that goes around the lake right through the property of every lot on the water. Open public trail and it might be 3’ wide through some properties but it’s there. It’s there by law and even the Wrigleys and Ken Griifin who recently tried again to put up a fence couldn’t overturn it. It has made it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court back in the 50’s but the Wrigleys lost. Griffin was so upset he moved his housing and business holdings to Florida I think in 2024

No boats in the water including the tour cruise boats

Still icy slush on the water

Off on that point of land is what is left of the Wrigley estate

 

[Marlin39]

So I finally received my Bar Mills kit. I am disappointed and frustrated after opening the box.

1. Bar Mills numbers the parts in the instructions, so you can look on the parts diagram and find which piece it is on. There's 3 structures in this kit and no parts diagram. I finally figured out "part #17" was cut from a piece of 1/8" square stock.

2. There is no photo of what the largest structure should look like, but there's plenty of the 2 small ones.

3. There's supposed to be some Insta-Fence in the kit......nope, ain't there.

4. There's supposed to be a piece of straw to make one of the smoke stacks.....nope, ain't there.

I'm sending an email worded firmly, but politely and will wait for a response.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

For this area, I used 27', enough for parking on both sides but just one lane down the middle for driving. That mimics the suburban area that I grew up in, although those streets were 36'.

Your streets look typical on the layout, so I think you have a good width.
My streets are late 50s, without curbs or sidewalks, so I skinnyed up to 24 foot wide.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Kusojiji]

You should be using 25V

Space is the final frontier...

I don't know where he is sourcing these caps from. I searched the interweb and can't find anything this small, locally.

 

[Kusojiji]

Well, up early today. Going to see the optometrist, ophthalmologist, or whatever today at the local hospital. We'll see what he/she says about what can be done about the floaters.

 

[chadbag]

Space is the final frontier...

I don't know where he is sourcing these caps from. I searched the interweb and can't find anything this small, locally.

What's their footprint?