Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

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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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Nice scenery especially dry stream bed. Power looks great.
 
Of course but the time we got home it had clouded over. Gray sky now.

Wife put a beef pot roast in the slow cooker before we left for Evanston so I guess that will be our supper once the veggies are cooked.

Luncheon in Wyoming was the main meal of the day.
 
Oh, boy, I'm having some trouble with tears right now, so bear with me.

When mom passed at Sundown on April 2, 2025...God rest her soul...my sister and I were both there at her bedside. We shared a last 45 minutes together, and mom knew us and smiled at both of us. I had phoned sis that she needed to get over to the house ASAP, because it was happening then...NOW...and she cut her meeting short and hustled over.

Mom, up until then was in a very far away place. I knew she was alive--she was breathing--but was also almost gone too.

We had at her bedside a "Pulse Oximeter," or what we call a "finger-poker." Anyone who's been to a doctor will have used one. It folds over your forefinger and records and reads back your "Blood Ox"--your blood oxygen absorbtion--and your pulse. My father used one for years as a G.A. pilot, so they were standard procedure in our house.

On the evening of mom's passing I put the finger-poker over her forefinger...and got nothing. No pulse, no blood-ox. Zero, zip, nada. The fact that it still worked at all is all that indicated she was still alive. Plus...I could see she was still breathing.

I told her: "Hang on, mom. She's coming. Don't go until she gets here."

And call me a liar or not as you choose, but rally she did. Mom came back from that very far-away place. And then she did something that will always astound me...or some higher power helped her do it.

That Pulse Oximeter went from no reading at all...quite literally to 100. In a mere instant.

And I have it on video, and can prove it. I could actually show you those moments on her deathbed (God rest her soul).

Never, in my entire life as a former athlete have I EVER had my own level above 96, let alone 100. And 100 from nothing. But the instruments do not lie. Or if they do and can, I'm convinced it could only be at the behest of a much higher power.
 


Good evening gang!

70° and partly cloudy. We should have temps near 50° with rain by the time I head out tomorrow. Got up late (noonish), got breakfast and a shower,and went outside to play pick up sticks in the front yard. We have a huge Maple tree in the front yard that has shed an inordinate amount of twigs and small branches over the winter. How big? 60-70 ft tall and a trunk big enough that my 6'7 son and I can barely touch our fingertips together hugging the tree. After that came NASCAR from Talladega, then dinner. After dinner and some final testing I reassembled the latest brass engine acquisition.
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NJ Custom brass Western Maryland H8 (rebuilt) consolidation. After reworking the running gear and the gearbox she runs great! Now she takes her place in the paint shop and decoder line along with her 5 bigger sisters (H9s) and a C&O 2-6-6-2.
I should be quite busy in the paint shop this summer!

There are also 7 or 8 diesels waiting for paint but I'm not sure now if I want to paint them or sell them off as undec units. The steam bug is a powerful master. Some part of me wants to give the heave ho to all the 2nd gen stuff. Hmmmmmm. Stay tuned!!

Terry, sorry to hear that you let all the magic smoke out on the GP60, but at least it is prototypical for a 3rd Gen EMD unit! ;)
 
I have found from experience that a home Pulse Oximeter does not work if ones blood pressure is too low.
Fair enough. And hers certainly was low if almost non-existent. Which is probably why, when I put it over her finger I got nothing. No readings at all. All that is understandable.

But what isn't understandable...but is astounding, at least to me (I was there and saw it) is the literal pegging at the top of that same finger-poker.

I really do need to post the video, so let me try to do that.
 
Fair enough. And hers certainly was low if almost non-existent. Which is probably why, when I put it over her finger I got nothing. No readings at all. All that is understandable.

But what isn't understandable...but is astounding, at least to me (I was there and saw it) is the literal pegging at the top of that same finger-poker.

I really do need to post the video, so let me try to do that.
It is relatively well-known that people, and some animals, will stage an 11th-hour rally, basically gathering and using all their remaining whatever you want to call it, in order to say goodbye.
 
Pulse Oximeter
When I was in the hospital, my readings were in the low 90s, which they said was ok, but should be higher so the nurse gave me a device that had 3 balls in their own tubes and a tube to blow into. You had to blow hard enough to get all 3 balls to hit the top. They told me to do this as much as I could, but not to the point of seeing stars.

Used this thing, but my readings were still low. So while they were measuring, I had to breathe deeply to get the readings up. Kinda like cheating the system...
 
My Apple Watch supposedly can take your o2-sat. (I believe another way of short handing saying your blood oxygen saturation). I just triggered it and it said 95% and notes that it was recorded at high altitude. Usually it’s mid to upper 90s when I trigger it but it records the data at random times automatically and mine trend down during sleep.

I don’t know how accurate the watch readings are but Apple was sued by a company who makes bold oximeters due to IP issues.

It’s interesting.
 


Good Evening All. Temperature has dropped from 93° at 6:00 to 70° at 9:30 as a cool front has moved in. Only supposed to hit 74° tomorrow after 53° tonight. Sadly I cannot open the windows due to a neighborhood skunk getting displeased, somewhere to the north nearby. Probably aimed at neighbor Neil's rooster guardian dog. He's good at repelling coyotes, but not skunks!
 
I used to see one around here every now and then before Lisl passed. We never went out much at night in the back yard because we never knew what might be back there that she'd want to go after.

Possums, skunks, foxes, even armadillos have all visited my yard at one time or another. She killed a possum and one armadillo.

I have found the skunks to be curious more than anything. They don't seem to be too excitable (as long as the dog is inside) and you don't surprise them.
 
I used to see one around here every now and then before Lisl passed. We never went out much at night in the back yard because we never knew what might be back there that she'd want to go after.

Possums, skunks, foxes, even armadillos have all visited my yard at one time or another. She killed a possum and one armadillo.

I have found the skunks to be curious more than anything. They don't seem to be too excitable (as long as the dog is inside) and you don't surprise them.
Got them all here, all of the time. WARNING: Troy - Snake picture ahead
Armadillos.
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Snakes
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Racoons
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Skunks
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Wild Boars
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Bobcats
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Crayfish
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Just a few. I have possums, coyotes, a mountain lion, deer and wild turkeys! Just can't locate the pictures tonight. A veritable wildlife park here.
And to clean it all up, here are the vultures.
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Got them all here, all of the time. WARNING: Troy - Snake picture ahead
Armadillos.
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Snakes
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Racoons
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Skunks
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Wild Boars
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Bobcats
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Crayfish
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Just a few. I have possums, coyotes, a mountain lion, deer and wild turkeys! Just can't locate the pictures tonight. A veritable wildlife park here.
And to clean it all up, here are the vultures.View attachment 261024
Good Grief, Charlie Brown! It's "Mutual of Omaha's Wild KIngdom" right here...and you don't even have to leave your lot!
 
We have a black bear here. Not on the lot, but in the neighborhood. Last winter she had a couple of largish sized cubs, and I would guess both have now left the nest, so to speak. But she likes to jump up and down, now and then on the bear-proof plastic bin outside my porch. And she once had a field day. I had just emptied out the freezer...all kinds of expired seafood goodies...all strewn across the lawn the next morning.

Borrowing now: "Bless the Beasts and the Children."
 
Ok. My saga. This was my first post to the Porsche forum, relating specifically to the car and it's problems. So I kept it tight and short.

---------------

The car: 2000 996 Cabriolet, Tiptronic 3.4L and just 42K on the clock.

The problem: The car was stolen and recovered, but because of a punched out dashlock and missing key I can’t start it. Electrically dead, as it sat in a tight garage for two years with a blown cooling system. It blew about ¾ mile from the garage, so I managed to limp it in, and it dripped for a year. Peed all over the garage floor, as it were.*

I THINK the cooling problem is likely to be something simple like deteriorated hoses but without the ability to even start it to verify a cooling system repair I won’t be able to confirm that even by doing something simple like watching for leaks and overheating.

I’m told the immobilizer and lack of a key or even an unbroken place to put it will require the car be reprogrammed in real-time to a server in Germany, and that will require it be done at a Porsche dealership...and it won’t be cheap.

Insurance company has been reasonable so far (USAA), and I have a couple of years yet before the claim is closed out and finished...but I’m going to be out a fair chunk of change before I get the rest of the costs back.

[*long story, and I won’t bother anyone with it unless there is real interest. Involves a family health crisis, a probable gang, and some slow responses on my part—I was astonished when they boosted it, but live and learn. They were more serious than I was cautious]

So…can I bypass or even eliminate the immobilizer system entirely? The car is 26 years old, and even though it’s a low mileage vehicle, it won’t break me financially if it’s ever stolen again and NOT recovered. And I like to keep things simple so even I can understand them too. I wouldn’t mind not having the thing I don’t think.

Any thoughts welcome. For various reasons I’m only starting to formulate a plan, as all the other crises are still higher priorities.

Thanks for any replies.
 
So you get the idea, I think. But a couple of those guys did actually want to hear the whole story, so I told it. And tell it again here. As I said in the intro, when your eyes glaze over, just move on.

-----------------------

I realize I cut enough corners trying to keep things simple the story doesn't make sense. It's definitely longer too. When your eyes glaze over, just remember--you asked for it.
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The coolant issue happened about three years ago now, and everything was running just fine. Only had the one key, and securing a backup was on the list, but it was then and still is now a long, long list. By that point I had already left top down in several days of light drizzle, and I did, later on have an issue when the top would not go up, but the original damage was caused by being at a point in life where it just wasn't important enough to go out and put the top up. Deep depression (which I would not wish on anyone). The lady closest to me in life was diagnosed with cancer, and the last thing I cared about at the time was cars.

But she's still here, and I don't think I would be if she weren't.

Anyway, I parked the car that day in a narrow garage, and I always had to angle it in to even open the drivers door wide enough I could get out...and I'm built like Dan Gurney--tall, thin galoot. But for that I don't know if I ever could have garaged it.

When the system blew it leaked from the drivers side about a third of the way forward from the back. Ahead of the engine. It leaked for months and I couldn't do a thing about it. Couldn't even hope to get a jack under the car on the P-side either due to a large concrete step, so it just sat for a long time. And leaked.

I was living at the house, but mom's health took a sharp downturn one day, and I moved back to the house I grew up in (about a mile away). Threw some stuff into a few boxes and was out the door.
Went back on a regular basis to get mail, check on things (the smaller house was built in the 50's), but never for long. I was mom's sole-care provider for eleven months, and during that time I managed about six entire hours of "off time." Otherwise, 24/7. No internet either, but I did get reasonably good with the cell phone. Otherwise I'd have gone completely round the bend, I'm sure.

Moved home in April, and I had last been at the small house at the end of July. Went back about four days later, drove in and had one of those "geezus, did I leave the garage door open like that" moments. Got a bit further in and realized no--the back door was bungied wide open. I sure didn't do that. So, royally ticked off I went in, found all my keys were gone, and also found a naked gal lying in my bed. Her english wasn't very good, and all she wanted to do was find the bus station. Not confrontational, apologetic, and embarrassed...just a gal trying to get through life any way she could, so I didn't call the cops, but just invited her out.

She said her friend "Jose" had just left, and "he said we could use this place." With a bad left leg and a few other issues, it's a good thing I didn't meet him face to face, 'cause I'd have lost the fight and maybe my life. So I got lucky, really.

Found out they had smashed the front door lockset to gain entry, and at some point they had a vehicle in there too, as one of the gate posts had been bent. But the 996 was still there. They certainly wanted it, and had the keys, but the battery was long flat, and they may not have taken much time trying to boost it, but planned to come back later. However, since they realized I was back and the the cops (by then) WERE involved, they just evaporated and didn't come back. This was about the time Tren de Aragua was making it's presence known in the Denver metro area, automatic weapons and all, and I don't own guns, so I had to be pretty cautious. Couldn't go near the place after dark except to see if they were there again and call in the law...but after the first time, they disappeared.

They DID get a fair bit of personal items, certainly enough to have made the connection to the big house where mom lived--they got my father's GA flight bag, which I kept after he passed, and the connection was easy to make, so I was pretty worried about mom's safety after that. She was terrified, I was pretty much on permanent watch at the big house just in case...and so I couldn't do much of anything about recovering the burglary scene at all, including getting the cars out and away (the other one, which had been under a tarp is a '99 Boxster 5 speed).

=============================================================

Unfortunately, the small house attracted a second group of burglars about eight months later--definitely a gang, and they just kept coming. I had police in there several times with weapons drawn and the bad guys just destroyed the place over the course of two months. Piled four feet high with boxes, bags, furniture, etc. and I just couldn't do much of anything about it because I couldn't leave mom alone. And more to the point I couldn't risk a confrontation that would get me injured or worse because it would leave her without the care she needed. So they just kept coming back.

I realized they were going to want the 996, but since I couldn't get it out myself, I figured they weren't going to either. They were also focused on the house...but eventually they tired of that and started focusing on the car. Several obvious attempts and quite a few fingerprints later they succeeded, and it turned out they lifted it up onto skates (had to lift it because there was no way to get a jack under the P-side) and got it out. Turns out they sold it on Facebook to a collector who just wanted the motor for another car he was restoring. Detective said he drove down about 150 miles with a flatbed and they sold it to him right there in the driveway. I had been there the previous night, cops had cleared it out (again), had seen the punchout and printed the car (again)...but they still hadn't got it out. So I figured right up until it was taken that they were having the same problems I had getting it moved anywhere at all. But they were smarter too, and more determined.

The guy who bought it knew there was no title--I had it--and he did a VIN check before buying it. I didn't get back to find it gone until about four hours later. Reported it stolen, and the good guys with the lights did NOT spot it being moved at all, because by that time it had gone all the way to it's new home.

BUT the new owner did another VIN check, realized then that it was stolen and he was involved, so he did the right thing and reported it. I got it back a week later, and now it sits under a tarp at the big house, alongside the Boxster.

Mom passed in April, and the last months were very difficult due to the onset of dementia, but in our family, and with my grandfather too some years before we like to meet the end at home. Was able to do that for my dad (COPD) and managed it for mom too.

And then, trying to deal with estate and a HUGE amount of her stuff--love her but the house was just packed to the gills, and it's still somewhat the same even now--the neighbors from hell started raising hell about stuff on the property. My brother had worked construction and had "staged" stuff to take to his own property project, but died before he could move some of it, and it fell to me. We've done this twice now with them over the summer and again this late fall. I've had three 20 yard dumpsters already and will probably need a couple more before we get stuff pared down to the estate sale point next year. Also have a 10x30 storage unit still filled too, and when the weather was better we were going through stuff outside the house...but then the neighbors leaned in....

This is a property about of about 1 3/4 acres, built in 1930 and with four outbuildings. When dad reached 60 he started telling my brother and me both that he just couldn't maintain it any more. We worked it out between the two of us that we could keep them there, and we managed it for a good ten years, but after bro passed it's just been me...and now I'm 65. Sis and I have pretty much agreed now that it's time to divest and I expect that we will finish it up in the next two years.

So that's where I am today. As it happens I also own a 330xi and a Cherokee XJ...which is needed just to maintain this place...and neither of them is running either. So I'm selling some market assets to get from here to the next crisis. Further updates as events warrant. Film at eleven

[Thanks for listening]

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Ok....if you suffered through all that, I will at last give you the more humorous part. As model railroaders and...NON smokers it might elucidate a chuckle:

There is one, somewhat amusing part to the ongoing burglaries: One of my other hobbies is model railroading, and there is a particular weed ("cow parsnip") I had been collecting for about six months before the original breakin. It's a good natural scenery item and I had collected about forty paper grocery bags of the stuff, all sitting in the upstairs bedroom at the small house. It finally dawned on me that the reason these guys were taking paneling down, pulling grates off the walls, and even diving into the ductwork under the furnace is that they were, almost certainly, looking for a safe...or a large money stash. Seeing all those paper bags filled with dried weeds they figured it was WEED...and that I was a grower and...retailer. I can picture them getting all amped up when they found it, rolling it and smoking it...and being pretty disappointed at the results. If anyone ever got high on cow parsnip I've never heard of it.
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Took me a while to figure it out in large part because I have never smoked anything in my life. Not even once--it killed too much extended family and didn't do dad any good either.
I still do get a small chuckle out of that bit. Small.
 
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