Bill Tidler Jr.
Retired N&W/NS Signalman
Good morning! It's 61°F and partly cloudy in Tipton. 
Last edited:
Running Bear's May 2025 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter Bill Tidler Jr.
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I saw him play with both bands, with Pure Prairie League at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin in 1972, and with Little Feat in the late-80's sometime. I don't believe that he is the same person in the video.
Or am I thinking of someone else?
This weeks Blast from the Past. South Yard Pier, Sun Ship Building & Drydock, Chester, PA. November 1959. USS Minneapolis CA36 arriving to be scrapped. Used to be the Largest Privately owned Shipyard in the Country, if not the world. Now the land is the site of a Casino and Race Track, or vacant.
Neither can I. Dawn says we have never been to Pizza Hut.
L8r
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santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
For those of us who are into rock music history, Craig Fuller was the founder and guitarist of the soft rock/country rock group Pure Prairie League in the early 70's. Among his many composer credits was the top 40 recording of a song "Amie". Later in his career, he replaced the late Lowell George as frontman of the band Little Feat.
I saw him play with both bands, with Pure Prairie League at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin in 1972, and with Little Feat in the late-80's sometime. I don't believe that he is the same person in the video.
migalyto
Well-Known Member
Isn't he the owner of of the group Firecrown that purchased Kalmbach a while back?
Or am I thinking of someone else?
TLOC
Well-Known Member
That’s only if you take the lease agreement
NorthBrit
Well-Known Member
That's where I know the name. Thanks Willie for jogging the memory.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Yes he purchased Kalmbach
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Good morning Crew.
Truthfully, I cannot ever remember a bad pizza at Pizza Hut. They were always reasonable costing and when the son and daughter were in grade schools the local Pizza Huts in Wausau and Steven Point, Wi. rewarded grade school kids for reading achievements with the small personal pizzas. Probably twice a month we did Pizza Hut before the traveling hockey kicked in strong. We had a walk-in and sit down Pizza Hut about 4 miles from us. But a couple years ago they tore it down replacing it with a strip mall that has a PH in it but the store front to me seems like pick up only. We have quite a few drive through and pick up Pizza Hut’s in the area.
It’s 48f degrees now and we should be in the mid 50’s later. The WeatherChannel app is up and running again this morning. The wind is at 0mph.
Terry says we have nothing planned today but I will be looking for a new to us place for the Friday night Fish Fry. Terry wants blue gills.
Haircut at 9:30 this morning. Just a trim instead of a cut because of the niece’s wedding on May 24. Both my brother and I will be walking the bride down the aisle. Our sister wants to but doubts she can do it without her walker, so…
Hopefully with 2 operating sessions coming up Sunday and Monday the juices will flow for a few days. I had some weathering fun at the bench yesterday and then about 4pm I cleaned up the bench and walked away. I watched the NHL playoffs last night but I did not work on building any trees. I would like to finish a intermodal weathering project due for July before we leave 5/10 for our travels. The client said he’d take them early.
I am shipping my golf sticks out to Maui, either Sunday or Monday. I am waiting for the shipping labels in my email. That usually takes a day or 2 and I was convinced by the brother and my wife last night to try to golf when we are out there.
Enjoy the day
Truthfully, I cannot ever remember a bad pizza at Pizza Hut. They were always reasonable costing and when the son and daughter were in grade schools the local Pizza Huts in Wausau and Steven Point, Wi. rewarded grade school kids for reading achievements with the small personal pizzas. Probably twice a month we did Pizza Hut before the traveling hockey kicked in strong. We had a walk-in and sit down Pizza Hut about 4 miles from us. But a couple years ago they tore it down replacing it with a strip mall that has a PH in it but the store front to me seems like pick up only. We have quite a few drive through and pick up Pizza Hut’s in the area.
It’s 48f degrees now and we should be in the mid 50’s later. The WeatherChannel app is up and running again this morning. The wind is at 0mph.
Terry says we have nothing planned today but I will be looking for a new to us place for the Friday night Fish Fry. Terry wants blue gills.
Haircut at 9:30 this morning. Just a trim instead of a cut because of the niece’s wedding on May 24. Both my brother and I will be walking the bride down the aisle. Our sister wants to but doubts she can do it without her walker, so…
Hopefully with 2 operating sessions coming up Sunday and Monday the juices will flow for a few days. I had some weathering fun at the bench yesterday and then about 4pm I cleaned up the bench and walked away. I watched the NHL playoffs last night but I did not work on building any trees. I would like to finish a intermodal weathering project due for July before we leave 5/10 for our travels. The client said he’d take them early.
I am shipping my golf sticks out to Maui, either Sunday or Monday. I am waiting for the shipping labels in my email. That usually takes a day or 2 and I was convinced by the brother and my wife last night to try to golf when we are out there.
Enjoy the day
Boris
Beach Bum
Then you have never been to one in Jersey or Eastern Pennsylvania. Used to be a go to place, especially with the kids. They are pretty much gone from around me...
Boris
Beach Bum
Best wishes - hope he can help.
Boris
Beach Bum
This weeks Blast from the Past. South Yard Pier, Sun Ship Building & Drydock, Chester, PA. November 1959. USS Minneapolis CA36 arriving to be scrapped. Used to be the Largest Privately owned Shipyard in the Country, if not the world. Now the land is the site of a Casino and Race Track, or vacant.
ctclibby
Well-Known Member
Good Morning All!
40F @ 67% clear again - made 73F yesterday, to be 75F at 1800 today.
Solar: Looked into it couple of years ago and still am wanting. Don't want ( or care ) if we feed back into the grid as that doesn't get you cash, only credit on your bill. Haven't looked to see if that changed, suspect that it will. Think we will start in pieces - generator first as that gets the 'house switch' installed as part of the genset. Probably like everybody else, went to Generac first and thought that 24KW would do the trick. I have since down sized that to 20KW. Got to talking to others that have installed solar here, and Cat gensets according to them are the better thing to do. Problems with the Generac; 1: wants to start and run once a month ( self test ) to make sure it is operational; which you need to physically turn the thing off. ( that may have been fixed by now ), 2: no battery setup to get from loss of power to genset up - no way to modify the 'house switch' or use one that has that capability; warranty problems. The Cat system also does the once a month thing, but does not fire up the genset and there are provisions for battery back up which is expandable. Both are almost the same price.
PV: Now seeing 15 year panels at a great wattage. Also, there are mini-inverters that can be installed for a row ( 1,2,3,4 ) of PV which keeps the the whole system from going offline when something breaks. At first, I assumed that the metal roof on the Train Cave; 42'x24' would work just fine. More thought brought possible trouble - snow, leaves and debris which are impossible to clear off without getting on the steep pitched roof. PV Panel problems too. So, PV sitting above ground a couple of feet in metal frame with 2 or 3 panels in a row. All electronics and connections are 'reachable' for trouble; ya, ya - remember to cover the PV when playing with it. We do not have a HOA, or any covenances.
Batteries: This is/was the major cost. Deep cycle marine types are spendy - 5 years tops besides the footprint. Now that Li-Po's are in the mainline, that looks to be the way - 15 to 20 years battery life and they are cheaper than just about any of the rest.
We are pretty far North, so either very long or no ROI, even at the $200/month for electrons. Our problem here is the electric coop, power goes down multiple times a year for this or that. Sometimes for a week at a time. Last time was 3 or 4 months ago at 4 days. The 4th day found me getting the Expedation to the back door and hooking up the 3500W inverter to run the 4 freezers ( and refer ) for a bit along with the water pump to fill stuff up; not all at once. We rely on freezers for buying food in bulk to keep prices manageable so loosing a couple grand in food is not the way to go. The main part of the house is log, so we don't use air conditioning all that much. Have small ones in 2 bedrooms. No electric heat so we should be able to keep PV/Battery ratio down.
Maybe one day!
L8r
40F @ 67% clear again - made 73F yesterday, to be 75F at 1800 today.
Solar: Looked into it couple of years ago and still am wanting. Don't want ( or care ) if we feed back into the grid as that doesn't get you cash, only credit on your bill. Haven't looked to see if that changed, suspect that it will. Think we will start in pieces - generator first as that gets the 'house switch' installed as part of the genset. Probably like everybody else, went to Generac first and thought that 24KW would do the trick. I have since down sized that to 20KW. Got to talking to others that have installed solar here, and Cat gensets according to them are the better thing to do. Problems with the Generac; 1: wants to start and run once a month ( self test ) to make sure it is operational; which you need to physically turn the thing off. ( that may have been fixed by now ), 2: no battery setup to get from loss of power to genset up - no way to modify the 'house switch' or use one that has that capability; warranty problems. The Cat system also does the once a month thing, but does not fire up the genset and there are provisions for battery back up which is expandable. Both are almost the same price.
PV: Now seeing 15 year panels at a great wattage. Also, there are mini-inverters that can be installed for a row ( 1,2,3,4 ) of PV which keeps the the whole system from going offline when something breaks. At first, I assumed that the metal roof on the Train Cave; 42'x24' would work just fine. More thought brought possible trouble - snow, leaves and debris which are impossible to clear off without getting on the steep pitched roof. PV Panel problems too. So, PV sitting above ground a couple of feet in metal frame with 2 or 3 panels in a row. All electronics and connections are 'reachable' for trouble; ya, ya - remember to cover the PV when playing with it. We do not have a HOA, or any covenances.
Batteries: This is/was the major cost. Deep cycle marine types are spendy - 5 years tops besides the footprint. Now that Li-Po's are in the mainline, that looks to be the way - 15 to 20 years battery life and they are cheaper than just about any of the rest.
We are pretty far North, so either very long or no ROI, even at the $200/month for electrons. Our problem here is the electric coop, power goes down multiple times a year for this or that. Sometimes for a week at a time. Last time was 3 or 4 months ago at 4 days. The 4th day found me getting the Expedation to the back door and hooking up the 3500W inverter to run the 4 freezers ( and refer ) for a bit along with the water pump to fill stuff up; not all at once. We rely on freezers for buying food in bulk to keep prices manageable so loosing a couple grand in food is not the way to go. The main part of the house is log, so we don't use air conditioning all that much. Have small ones in 2 bedrooms. No electric heat so we should be able to keep PV/Battery ratio down.
Maybe one day!
L8r
Solar just doesn't pencil out for me. Even here in the predominantly wet, cool & damp PacNW.
My electric bill for April was just under $70. My furnace, clothes dryer, water heater, and stove are NG and that bill was just over $100. The average low temp, for April '25, was 42 and the average high was 57.
As we go into warmer weather my electric does go up because of AC, but the gas bill drops because of not using the furnace. It did help that we replaced the HVAC system in 2022.
My electric bill for April was just under $70. My furnace, clothes dryer, water heater, and stove are NG and that bill was just over $100. The average low temp, for April '25, was 42 and the average high was 57.
As we go into warmer weather my electric does go up because of AC, but the gas bill drops because of not using the furnace. It did help that we replaced the HVAC system in 2022.
NorthBrit
Well-Known Member
Neither can I. Dawn says we have never been to Pizza Hut.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 62°. A cold north wind is blowing this morning and it isn't supposed to get above 70° today. Scattered thunderstorms are around, but the main "big" storm is north of the Red River in Oklahoma, I saw lightning flashes on every bathroom break last night. Nothing here and we don't need any. Supposed to be near 50° tonight and tomorrow night with nothing above 79° for the next ten days forecast. Great for the garden, but those upper 80's days in the last 2 weeks followed by this cooler period has caused some Lettuce & Spinach plants to "bolt", that is sending a seed stalk up thus ending the harvest of them. It's only affecting some plants, not all. I'll cut them off this morning and see if the affected plants will rejuvenate. It's also affecting a small number of Onion plants, usually does every year, but those I will harvest as Green Onions over the next few days.
No issues yesterday with the weekly grocery trek. My Kroger is now competing with Sam's Club and Costco with the whole roasted chicken thing. They've always had them, but at $6.99@. Now, on Thursdays only, they are $5@. I got one for my wife to make chicken soup and chicken stock. We'll have it for supper tonight and I will use some for chicken salad or chicken quesadillas over the weekend. One chicken goes a long way in our house. Unborn chickens (eggs) were $2.99/dozen, still no where near the 49¢/doz I was paying 5 years ago. Quite a wide range around the area with gasoline prices. Out in the country at the convenience store near me, it was $2.63/gal. Around the city, it ranged from $2.83-$2.99/gal. Topped off the evening with a return trip to the city for a country-style supper at Houlihan's. New menus with a couple of our favorites now gone, and of course new higher pricing. They did up the size of the Rib-eye from 8 oz to 12 oz though. My wife's Meatloaf was the same size, albeit $2 higher with less Onion Rings. They also took the Corn out of the salad.
Weather will once again dictate what I will do today. The east yard looks like crap compared to the adjoining south side which go mowed a couple of days ago. Some garden harvest is necessary and so is the minor task of tucking the rapidly growing Tomato vines into the cages.
I completed the P2K covered hopper build yesterday out in the train shed. Two of the most difficult parts to install were done, the air reservoir and the brake lever.
The shaved end to the brake lever is necessary in order to enable it to fit into the end cage assembly where it can't be seen.
That broken ladder on the side of the end cage showed up when I started assembly there also. Expected that but it is fixed.
It's not perfect, but I will position the car with the good side facing the aisle and it will never be seen.
The Proto couplers included with the kit are no more than glorified McHenry plastic couplers disguised to appear as Kadee #5's, so they were trashed.
I couldn't immediately locate more than one old #5, so I installed a pair of #148's. The brass centering springs went into the parts stash.
This happens to be the last of the over 2 dozen of these kits that I had. It takes good eyes and steady hands along with many proper tools to assemble. Chief tools are the Optivisor, single-edge razor blade and patience. Several pairs of different shaped tweezers, a few fine files, a hemostat, #11 Exacto knife and a small drill bit helped along the way. I believe that I counted once that there are 89 individual parts.
Kirk - If I remember your name correctly, I like those night scene shots.
Patrick - In one of my gardens of the past, some Pumpkin seeds made it through the composting process and were still viable. I grew several Pumpkins in excess of 20# that I mostly gave away. Problem was that they matured in July and the vines died...not a convenient time for Pumpkins!
Mike - Regarding the solar panels, I had a salesman reach out to me by phone a few years ago. At least for us, it was not worth it with a 12 year payback. And that was with "ground-mounted" panels which he was very hesitant about. As I recall, Sherrel was always very happy with his out in California.
Regarding the video that Tom O posted about the model train industry. Athearn was not represented possibly because they are part of a much larger conglomerate named Horizon Hobbies; which probably has the resources to weather the storm.
Marlin - I'm not interested in controlling the ants, just getting them to move somewhere else on my property. The Spearmint oil works like a charm. I sprinkle a few drops in a half-circle around the mound, leaving an escape route for them to take in the direction that I want them to go. They move en-masse overnight, to somewhere else. For whatever reason, they generally stay away from the house and train shed. They may also not be true piss ants, that's just what us locals call them.
Everyone have a fine Friday. Today here in Texas, it's the start of a long Cinco de Mayo weekend, a truly Americanized Mexican holiday. It's not really a holiday in Mexico except for one state. After an hour and a half of thundering, we currently have a light drizzle. Ooops no! It just turned into a moderate rain. That changes all outdoor plans.
No issues yesterday with the weekly grocery trek. My Kroger is now competing with Sam's Club and Costco with the whole roasted chicken thing. They've always had them, but at $6.99@. Now, on Thursdays only, they are $5@. I got one for my wife to make chicken soup and chicken stock. We'll have it for supper tonight and I will use some for chicken salad or chicken quesadillas over the weekend. One chicken goes a long way in our house. Unborn chickens (eggs) were $2.99/dozen, still no where near the 49¢/doz I was paying 5 years ago. Quite a wide range around the area with gasoline prices. Out in the country at the convenience store near me, it was $2.63/gal. Around the city, it ranged from $2.83-$2.99/gal. Topped off the evening with a return trip to the city for a country-style supper at Houlihan's. New menus with a couple of our favorites now gone, and of course new higher pricing. They did up the size of the Rib-eye from 8 oz to 12 oz though. My wife's Meatloaf was the same size, albeit $2 higher with less Onion Rings. They also took the Corn out of the salad.
Weather will once again dictate what I will do today. The east yard looks like crap compared to the adjoining south side which go mowed a couple of days ago. Some garden harvest is necessary and so is the minor task of tucking the rapidly growing Tomato vines into the cages.
I completed the P2K covered hopper build yesterday out in the train shed. Two of the most difficult parts to install were done, the air reservoir and the brake lever.
The shaved end to the brake lever is necessary in order to enable it to fit into the end cage assembly where it can't be seen.
That broken ladder on the side of the end cage showed up when I started assembly there also. Expected that but it is fixed.
It's not perfect, but I will position the car with the good side facing the aisle and it will never be seen.
The Proto couplers included with the kit are no more than glorified McHenry plastic couplers disguised to appear as Kadee #5's, so they were trashed.
I couldn't immediately locate more than one old #5, so I installed a pair of #148's. The brass centering springs went into the parts stash.
This happens to be the last of the over 2 dozen of these kits that I had. It takes good eyes and steady hands along with many proper tools to assemble. Chief tools are the Optivisor, single-edge razor blade and patience. Several pairs of different shaped tweezers, a few fine files, a hemostat, #11 Exacto knife and a small drill bit helped along the way. I believe that I counted once that there are 89 individual parts.
Kirk - If I remember your name correctly, I like those night scene shots.
Patrick - In one of my gardens of the past, some Pumpkin seeds made it through the composting process and were still viable. I grew several Pumpkins in excess of 20# that I mostly gave away. Problem was that they matured in July and the vines died...not a convenient time for Pumpkins!
Mike - Regarding the solar panels, I had a salesman reach out to me by phone a few years ago. At least for us, it was not worth it with a 12 year payback. And that was with "ground-mounted" panels which he was very hesitant about. As I recall, Sherrel was always very happy with his out in California.
Regarding the video that Tom O posted about the model train industry. Athearn was not represented possibly because they are part of a much larger conglomerate named Horizon Hobbies; which probably has the resources to weather the storm.
Marlin - I'm not interested in controlling the ants, just getting them to move somewhere else on my property. The Spearmint oil works like a charm. I sprinkle a few drops in a half-circle around the mound, leaving an escape route for them to take in the direction that I want them to go. They move en-masse overnight, to somewhere else. For whatever reason, they generally stay away from the house and train shed. They may also not be true piss ants, that's just what us locals call them.
Everyone have a fine Friday. Today here in Texas, it's the start of a long Cinco de Mayo weekend, a truly Americanized Mexican holiday. It's not really a holiday in Mexico except for one state. After an hour and a half of thundering, we currently have a light drizzle. Ooops no! It just turned into a moderate rain. That changes all outdoor plans.
ctclibby
Well-Known Member
Marlin: Ya, when we lived in the Everett, Wa area, I think that the power went off once in 5 years; some drunk managed to cripple one of the transmission towers. Wish I could say that for here, hence solar thoughts. Funny thing for here is we have Libby Dam 20ish miles upstream from Libby which is a producer for BPA and it was supposed to produce for Libby. Ya, right. The 3,4 month ago thing I was talking about above: They finally figured out how to cross connect to the Troy/Bonner's Ferry transmission line, somewhere West of us along the Kootenai River. Got us power. Still have electric water heater, switch to on demand propane sometime in the very near future. Dryer is electric, cook stove is propane. I know there is a difference of 20+ years, cost in the Everett area was something like $40 month just before we left. Here is a different story. When we got here in '04 the 1st bill we saw was $90. Go figure. You won't even believe city water/sewer - $85 just for the hookup, Cubic Foot billing after that. Voters voted it down, but it got rammed through anywho. Lucky we have a well/septic. Oh, checked the other day - propane is $1.45 and going down. Year over year - lowest we have seen -24F year before last, highest 105F pretty much for a week or two in late summer. Spring and Fall is our rainy time, nothing like the 50% gray most of the time in Everett.
L8r
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