Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

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Morning all. Cloudy and mid 30s to start the day. Not sure if it is going to get clear or not.
Great news Louis!

Search and Rescue training went well except for our lost hiker "victim" actually getting lost and not going to where it was planned for hm to be by the training coordinator. We ended up finding him way to early in the evolution and the carry out was shorter as well. LOL Still a fun day in the woods and running comms.
 
Great news Louis!

Good morning crew. Not the best night of sleep. Somewhere after 2am I finally was tired enough to turn off the lights and hit the pillow. Woke at 6:20 feeling pretty good. The 2pm 20 minute nap though may need an alarm so I don’t nap the afternoon away!

The Wisconsin Badgers and Ohio State for the 4th year in a row will play in the NCAA Women’s Hockey Championship game this afternoon. I don’t have a good feeling about this as OSU is good. Going for our 9th championship since 2006. OSU has won 2 in 2024 and 2022. UW has won in 2025, 2023, 2021 and 2019. Our best team if not 2025 was 2020 with the tournament canceled because of Covid! 5 Olympian’s on the Badgers 4 for team USA, OSU has 4 with one on team USA

High today should be 44f degrees. Yesterday it was in the 70’s!

Monday’s snow in my yard is 99% gone and what remains should be washed away by the rain moving in.

I will post today in my build a paper mill thread

Enjoy the day
 
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This Lego locomotive has been on the layout for forever. Not that I have lines of potential visitors lined up around the block,
but for those who have visited (including a few modelers); nobody has noticed it. The layout is 5 ft x 8 ft so it not a case of it
being lost in the expanse.
 


Good morning folks. Woke up at 0630 but fell asleep again until 0800 and here I am. Don't know why I slept so long after retiring at 2230 last night. No Turbo Diesel alarm going off either this morning. I guess the range trip was more strenuous than I thought.

67°F out there right now. Looking for nearly 90°F around 1600. Very wet here right now with a 62°F dewpoint. Never saw it this high in March.

Louis, great news!

Everyone have a wonderful Sunday! Servus!
 
Well, howdy there you smokin' hot internet peeps, or is that just the decoders you have?

It's Troy again.

Heading off to the game store today, then take the wife out for a tenderloin tonight.

Spent this morning whipping the game rules into a quick reference document. It ain't perty, and could use a good clean up pass. But it will work.

I did work on the train table yesterday after Willie chided me. Kinda. I started removing detritus from the upper deck. Amazing how horizontal surfaces attract clutter. but every other item I removed turned into a mini-chore. Stuff I've been meaning to list on FacebookMarketplace kept distracting me as I moved it off the layout deck.

So, I have my 3D printer, and some spare gaming stuff up on marketplace. Nibbles but nothing sold yet.
 
After a complete teardown of the problematic U boat and its factory NCE decoder, I have it operating again using its own road number, and I have to remind myself I am living in an extremely high-humidity environment and that corrosion from said humidity is a thing, even if not visible. It still stalls on two turnouts, which indicates I’m going to have to take a closer look at the contact points on the front truck.
Meanwhile, its identical twin in all but road number continues operating flawlessly… They were stored in their boxes side-by-side.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 65° this morning. Going for a high of 95° today before settling back down to normal March temperatures in the low-80's. Yesterday was our first day this year with a temperature in the 90's, at 91°. There's a hint of rain in the forecast for April Fool's Day, we'll see.

Tried to adjust my sleep/awake cycle to DST yesterday, but it didn't quite work. Got up at 5:30, took my nap early and hit the sack earlier; but first pee break this morning wasn't early! It didn't happen until 6:30. I guess that the nice thing is that I slept 7 hours without a potty break! Haven't done that in years.

Yesterday's unplanned day didn't go as planned. I did do a load of laundry and then the honey-do list got into the way. I did get to hoe the area in the garden for the Green Beans again and I still have the seeds soaking in water; but I didn't get them planted. Soaking them in a jar of water helps when the soil is dry like it is now. I will water the planting once it is made of course, but without the pre-soaking it won't work as well. I don't want to irrigate the whole garden yet. Jumped on the mower for a bit to finally get some unfinished areas of the yard. Since it hasn't rained in over 2 weeks, it has now stopped actively growing.
SIL is coming for the granddog this morning, while we are at church; so I won't have to help put the supplies in the car! Unless he's late...

Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued with the great blank area. Painted the horizon, my usual simple swath of green paint highlighted with another shade of green.
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Moved the backdrop poster over to the right, but I most likely will not use it in the final set up.
The track to the left isn't really set up to be a yard lead, but is a spur off the main which is used as the yard lead, so it has a backdrop structure.
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OK, it looks better now that I added the black construction paper behind the windows!
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I must point out that I had the package of black construction paper stored in a place under the layout far from the workbench for over 12 years. Earlier this year, I moved some things around both for better access and because I was doing some work under the layout at that place. But I spent over 15 minutes looking for the paper yesterday because I forgot where I had put it!:mad:
Ballasting begins next.

Troy -
That fence faces south. Image was taken Mid April at 4:30ish PM... Either the condo or the garage (big brown detached building to the back-left) Shades that area. My wife keeps trying to grow veggies, and we've had to put her planter boxes on wheels so she can chase them around the patio following the sun.
Bet that shade tarp doesn't help either!
Tom O - OPS session 2.5 hours away is a bit much even by Texas standards. I could almost drive to Austin in that time.
David (Marlin) - I have always rotated peas and beans, as both add nitrogen to the soil. I sometimes plant Austrian Winter Peas as a winter cover crop for the same reason. They also add to the tilth of the soil when tilled under in the Spring.
Swal - Driving a train across that bridge is not for the faint-hearted!
Louis - Great news. My prayers are still going out for her.

Everybody have a great Sunday.
 
Ewww…
I got another Fleabay purchase in the mail yesterday, and have been getting it ready for the layout along with diagnosing the U25B.
It is an Atlas SD60, painted in UP, and is slated to join a Triclops SD60M I already have. I installed MT couplers and a decoder, and programmed and loaded speed tables on the Lenz decoder.
I took a close look at the engine, and saw there is a spot between the cab and the blower duct on the side of the shell that looks like there should be “something”. It is a round harbor-mist-gray spot that sticks out and should have something covering it. A search of Atlas’ website and several other searches turned up nothing. Then I bumped the piece with tweezers, and realized—it is the remains of somebody sneezing on it…
It’s now been cleaned and disinfected.
 
UP 6253 and 6028, examples of EMD’s finest circa 1988, pose for the company photographer before taking their inaugural trip on the railroad. 6253 arrived on the property requiring repairs after a collision necessitated replacement of the front truck, plow, and front coupler. 6028, forever now known as the Boogermobile, merely required some cleaning and decoder install before being placed in service. UP GP60 2069, barely visible behind the duo, has been relegated permanently to trailing unit status after having the motor and electronics removed. You can almost hear the “Ying ying ying ying” of idling 710 prime movers.
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Festus, Mo is reporting 100°F right now. We're at 88°F so far and it's very comfortable inside. I wish it was this comfortable at this temperature in July.

Ordered a new set of suppressor-height Tritium sights for my PDP. These absolutely co-witness right in the center of the screen so there will be no guesswork if something should happen to the optics. They are the same XS brand and model currently installed on the PDP, but these are about twice as tall.

This is the sight picture currently:

PDP Sight Picture0011.jpg
 


Ewww…
I got another Fleabay purchase in the mail yesterday, and have been getting it ready for the layout along with diagnosing the U25B.
It is an Atlas SD60, painted in UP, and is slated to join a Triclops SD60M I already have. I installed MT couplers and a decoder, and programmed and loaded speed tables on the Lenz decoder.
I took a close look at the engine, and saw there is a spot between the cab and the blower duct on the side of the shell that looks like there should be “something”. It is a round harbor-mist-gray spot that sticks out and should have something covering it. A search of Atlas’ website and several other searches turned up nothing. Then I bumped the piece with tweezers, and realized—it is the remains of somebody sneezing on it…
It’s now been cleaned and disinfected.
Maybe it was some errant Bullfrog Snot.
 
Good afternoon folks and Happy Sunday to you all. 87F here right now and sunny. The Missus is starting her packing for a 4 day getaway with our Niece and her Daughter. They're heading to St Louis for some fun together. We had a great day at Church, I really love having the Second Service at 1pm instead of in the evening. Work tomorrow, should be another pretty day. We have a local grocery chain called Harp's with excellent fried chicken, so I will pick some up tomorrow night on the way home.
Louis, thank you for the wonderful news, continuing to pray for Cecilia and family as she recovers.
@shortwrench I love the Lego locomotive! Thanks for the smile.
 
Same state, and the temperature contrast is amazing! Were sitting at 43F.

Temp now down to 78°F and falling rapidly. We just missed a thunderstorm watch on the extreme southwestern edge. The next county over is the last county in the watch area. We had a small thunderstorm form to the west and moved northeast, just on the northern edge of town, and then dissipated. Wind has picked up a lot.
 
We drive up to Evanston Wyoming today to attend the church service where my sister and her family attend. My niece was speaking as one of the speakers. It was a nice sunny day though it’s clouded up a bit. It was 58F when we left and was 56F up there the whole time and in the mid 60s when we got home.

It’s interesting as yiubdrive up there through valleys and cutouts. Mountains on the sides. But then you get to the top and still have 20 or 30 miles or whatever and it’s pretty flat. Slight undulations. You wouldn’t know you’re at the top of the Rocky Mountains. It was a nice drive and a nice family get together. Some relatives were also there. My mom, her sister and brother in law, and others. My sister and her husband and daughter who live in Provo. We had a luncheon afterwards. It was a nice day and she spoke well.

On the drive home we saw a wicked long UP train. While it was 75% or so well cars with double stack containers, the first about 25% were mixed hopper/gondola, box car, tank car, auto rack, and I thought I saw some flats with trailer but I had to keep my eyes on the road. I didn’t see what was at the front doing pulling duty but there were to locomotives somewhere in the middle as well. You usually see a train or three going up or down from Wyoming into Salt Lake City.
 
Ok, at the risk of retelling, I'll...risk it. If you've heard it, just move on.

I know I did relate the saga of the crashed and totalled RAM 2500 pickup back in January, but I probably didn't fill in the context as to why I even needed it. All THAT relates to the bigger picture, and all THAT relates to the saga of the last two years. That said, we all have our own sagas, and mine might only be a bit different than yours because of the relative violence it entailed. Gangs, break-ins, drawn guns, etc.

So anyway...I'll start with the Porsche. I had and still have (because it was stolen and then recovered) a Porsche 911 Cabriolet. Technically speaking this is a second generation water-cooled Porsche 911, not the first air-cooled generation*...and mine is more formerly designated as a 996. 3.4L automatic transmission soft top. The car can't be driven now, or even started because the thieves punched out the dashboard lock. But it's sitting out in my driveway under a car cover and a tarp until I can figure it out...or just sell it to someone else who wants to take on a project at a good price.

So, long story short, I went into a Porsche Forum to ask for advice on how to recover the car and that led to several discussions...and at one point I offered to tell the whole story if they were interested in hearing it. And a couple of them were, so I told the story.

It will follow, but I have to cut, copy, paste and link, so it might not be quick.
 
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It still stalls on two turnouts,
Not for nothing, I had a similar problem develop on a connecting track, (Crossover, connecting the Penn to the Reading). Turns out the point rail is not making contact as well as it should in diverting position. Solution on this ballasted switch is a ground throw. Switch is Micro Engineering. Got to use my new DCC Specialties Digital volt meter. :p
 
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