Running Bear's May 2025 Coffee Shop

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Speaking of deer. While we have a problem in the U.S. with deer leaping out in front of you on the freeway or highway, in Japan they have a different problem. I guess you have to watch out for wild boar. This sign and many others like it were on the side of the highway we were just on.

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I’ll report more thoughts when we get to the mall we’re on our way to and I’m waiting for the women folk. At least I have my wallet today.
 
Quick post about lunch. We got to this mall (huge) and they wanted to eat lunch since it’s Saturday and would get really long lines later. We got there around 10:45 and the restaurant opened at 11 and there was already a long line. We were 35 and had to wait until a little after 12. It was a nicer conveyor sushi place.

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This would work on co-workers as well! 😀

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Reminds me of a time when we were standing in formation and a yellow jacket was buzzing around me. I swatted at it and the dang thing went up my sleeve of all things. I quickly smacked it against my arm and it fell out dead. Had to kill it quickly and only took one sting.
 
Is that the tip of an asahi super dry in the center pic? I used to be squeamish about prawn heads, but no longer. I even eat uni (sea urchin). Looks gross (like it came out of southbound end of a northbound baby) but tastes good.
Na. We’re all tea totalers.

I don’t care for urchin but my daughter and wife and SisIlaw all had some. The lower right* fried things in one pic are the deep fried shrimp bodies/heads. They’re really good.

* when looking at the pic from where I was seated. I think the pics ended up rotated 90 or something
 
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@chadbag Thank you for the updates from Japan! I will never go, but your updates are the next best thing. It's not that I wouldn't want to go, I could never endure the long journey. The direct flights to Budapest were all that I could endure. Now that Malev (Hungarian Airlines) has given up their slot at JFK there are no more direct flights. I won't be making that trip any more either.
 
Good morning, Everybody!

I endured a "not so good", health wise, afternoon through the next day and I'm feeling like my usual semi-lame self again, thank God! 😁

I felt so poorly I didn't bother to pick up my car Thursday afternoon and I didn't work Friday. I can't remember the last time we took a day off.

I'm back and ready for another day. Now if the Orioles can only get back on track...

Have an enjoyable day Everybody!
 


It’s 4:30pm and we’re driving home from the mall. It’s called Nishinomiya Gardens and it’s huge. Like 5 floors with all sorts of different halls. Lots of shores. Mostly clothes and shoes and the like and mostly women’s. Though some men’s. I didn’t buy anything. I mostly just sat and waited.

It’s a pretty long drive to get there. Not sure the route as when we take the train it doesn’t feel as long.

Coming from Utah it’s all über green here. Almost like a model train layout with a ton of lichen trees. These shots are all from the highway. Lots of tunnels. The one with the bridge supports is another freeway up above. All the highways are toll roads it seems.




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I already reported on the sushi lunch. After that we walked around for a while. Eventually we stopped at a drug store and I was able to buy a good toothbrush and some floss stick things. I had left my toothbrush at home and just had a cheap one from a hotel in my bag left over from a previous trip (unopened). Women bought various things there and then we stopped for a drink. I actually had a soft serve cone. Twist bit the chocolate was upper dark and rich and the vanilla super rich and the cone was a waffle cone but dark chocolate flavored. It was really good. Every one else has some fruit smoothie things.

Lots of stores have “funny” names. I got a few pics as proof. There are a lot more.


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We’re driving home and I was able to get a couple drinks from a vending machine. Luckily a lot of machines now take tap IC cards for payment. The IC card network is a stored value card usually used for transportation but also used at convenience stores, vending machines, and a lot of regular stores. They’re mostly issued by train companies though one is issued by a bus company. They’re all compatible but come from different regions. They all use the same NFC technology called FeliCa and I think they all run on the same backend. Luckily there are virtual versions available on iPhone so I can just load using Apple Pay as necessary. Android phones don’t have the tech in except for Japanese Android phones while al iPhones and Apple Watches have it. Makes it easy to travel in most transportation and grab a quick drink. There are physical cards you can get here and use cash to load but the virtual ones are so much easier.

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The small can is melon soda. Awesome.

Rainy all day today and in upper 60s.
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those living vicariously abroad thanks to The Adventures of Chad!

It's Troy again...

Louis! Hope you feel better, and it wasn't one of your favorite hot dogs that did you in.

Coming up today... Troy is smoking meat! Well, once I shower, and head to the grocery. Meat has been dry brining (Kosher Salt applied then put into the dry brining tub overnight in the fridge) NO WATER was used in the dry brine. Gotta use the kosher salt cause it dissolves fast, and an overnight rest lets it break up the meat's toughness.

More on that later.

If you need some inspiration for your models, Dave Meeks at the Thunder Mesa channel just posted a 19 minute overview vid from a gathering of On3 (and other gauges) enthusiasts. Small layouts were featured. It's all layout overviews. Amazing to see the work.

 
Good afternoon all. A large coffee please, Flo.
The overnight rain has stopped, with more forecast later.

Yesterday at the hospital was a lot of waiting around, but once being seen to it was soon over. I shall not know the results until later?

Called into my local model shop and purchased two new locomotives at nearly half price. They were without boxes hence the price.

Although in the wrong livery similar locomotives were seen around Leeds

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Another locomotive seen around Leeds was a Midland Railway 3F. This one is in a later livery.

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The locomotives are now 'in the workshops' for repainting and to be named.
 
Good Saturday Morning All. Clear and warmer at 75°, going up in to the lower 90's today and tomorrow. Rain still in the forecast for Monday and then another week of highs only reaching the low-80's.

Dishwasher and laundry started the day yesterday, then mowing took over as I finished what I didn't get to on Wednesday. Then the garden took over as I spent almost an hour inspecting Tomato plants and tucking errant branches back into their respective cages. Happy to report that I didn't find any Tomato Hornworms yet, but it's maybe a bit too early. On another potential pest situation, from early signs, it may be that most of the grasshopper nymphs were drowned during the "gully-washer" that we had on May 6th. Or the other possibility is that they may be late in hatching this year.
In weather history, today is the one year anniversary of the devastating tornado that passed through my property. If you remember, it took out two of my neighbors homes, took parts of roofs off five others including my train shed; and it destroyed my barn, one neighbors barn, another neighbor's shop, an unoccupied home and many outbuildings. I and another neighbor are still cleaning up damaged and downed trees. My barn will not be replaced but I had a new roof on the train shed in five days. This tornado also took the lives of 7 people about 4 miles east of me in three locations. I was soundly sleeping and would have missed the activity had my wife not literally dragged me out of bed to get into our safe space. That was either the upside or downside of not having my hearing aids in! My home and one other neighbor's home were undamaged.

Today is going to be entirely taken up by being on the road. There's a graduation reception for my grandson for friends and family from 2 until 6 at my daughter's home. It will be good to see his other grandparents again. They're here from South Jersey for the occasion. Prior to that we have an appointment at the Lexus dealer for scheduled maintenance at 12:30. Then I will also be stopping at Discount Model Railroad for a short shopping spree. I'll be dropping my wife off at the reception while I go there. It's less than 5 miles from daughter's house.

Still doing McHenry coupler change-outs out in the train shed. Did three more yesterday and still have five more on the list. Finding the individual cars is the hardest part of the task. That's all of the cars listed in my database, but there is always the possibility of another one. I'll have to wait for any more to fail before I find them unless I spot one by chance. Failure on one while running last week is what prompted me to check the database to begin with. Why are they all brown Santa Fe covered hoppers?

Karl - It's obvious that your boss knows how to bribe you; or is it really a reward?
Tom O - Continue to have a safe trip. My son's rehearsal dinner and the wedding the following night at the same venue in San Antonio were less than a block from the hotel on the Riverwalk. The after reception party that I was paying for at the hotel bar was halted by the police! Hadn't happened to me in almost 40 years at the time.
Louis - Changing the oil on our Accura RDX is relatively easy. It's high enough that I can slide underneath easily. I am actually only under the car from my shoulders up. It's the getting into and out of position that gets harder through the years. Karl has it easy with access to a lift.
Sorry to read that you were feeling down yesterday. I hope that the recovery last for a while.
Marlin - Really neat picture. How'd you keep the dog in check?
Our gun club is surrounded by national wildlife refuge land. Deer will walk fearlessly on to a hot range forcing a ceasefire until they depart.
Ceasefire? Hell. It seems like they're inviting themselves to your dinner!
Chad - We have a wild boar problem here too. They can do some serious damage to a car if hit. Don't ask how I know! No signs though.

Bob Dylan is 84 today.
Remember that it’s better to have something to remember than anything to regret.
Everyone have a great weekend. Be safe.
 


Chad - We have a wild boar problem here too. They can do some serious damage to a car if hit. Don't ask how I know! No signs though.
Yeah, Texas and a few of the nearby states do have wild pig problems. I often read about the pig hunts using night vision from helicopters and fun stuff like that... Or even just land based night hunting with fancy night vision or FLIR type sights...

However, did you know that they are not real wild boar? I think all the wild pigs in the US are descendants of "domestic" pigs that escaped over the last 400 or more years, in addition to small quantities of actual Eurasian Boar that were introduced in the late 1800s and into the first half of the 1900s, and that have mixed with the feral pigs populations... The Spanish brought the first pigs from Europe and let them "free range" with De Soto leaving pigs all along his route from Florida to Texas in the 1500s. Columbus brought pigs to some Caribbean islands in 1493 on his second voyage. They've had around 500 years to roam and become feral and to mix and hybridize and become what we know today as feral hogs...

(I did not remember the small amount of real wild boar that were introduced for hunting and escaped in the last 125 years until tonight when I went and looked it up -- they've all mixed and hybridized so that there are probably no pure wild boar left)

 
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