Running Bear's May 2026 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter bnsf971
- Start date
ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
It's places and industries like this that are the reason unions were created, and I can see unions making a comeback if it continues.
When I started working on RVs professionally a couple of decades ago, it was a good industry to work in. You got paid for your time, you didn't need a degree in electronic engineering, and flat rate was for suckers and con artists.
Over the time between then and now, all the car industry people that couldn't make it there have moved in to the RV industry, and are bent on making it just like the world of car dealerships. Every year, a little more of what made this industry special is removed and replaced with what makes working in the car industry so bad. Everybody in the auto industry is complaining about not being able to find competent people, refusing to listen to anybody telling them how to fix it because it would mean cutting into their profits, and the RV industry is racing to the bottom as fast, if not faster, than the auto industry. I am the only employee there that still gets paid hourly, everybody else is flat rate.
I'm just trying to ride it out until I can retire.
Not so much anymore! Its still somewhat better then when it routes to Chicago, all bets are off then. Lately it has been going from St Louis to Peoria. Don't know what has changed.
Rest assured my friend I eat very little prepared foods, canned or boxed. The few exceptions are Betty Crocker's Au Gratin potatoes but only with a baked ham two or three times a year. Canned vegetables and hotdogs, of course! Angela even buys no salt added canned vegetables. Salt, I don't have a problem with i usually run at the low end for sodium and potassium. Angela is sensitive to salt too much and her blood pressure will go up. I should be so lucky
We seldom if ever eat out. I'm blessed to have a wife who is happy to cook for me. Angela does not like to feed me anything we don't know what it is or we can't pronounce. Angela did buy me a Whopper on the way home from surgery.
I don't understand what has changed either. I wrote a few days ago, that St. Louis has gotten so bad that two state representatives have introduced a bill in Congress to try and fix St. Louis mail service. It's not just packages either. Bags and bags of mail have been repeatedly found abandoned in various places around the city that have not been delivered.
Several news stations have reported these problems over the last year+. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. I do remember the time before Covid when packages arrived on time, if not early.
For example; I order pipe tobacco once a month from N. Carolina. If I ordered early in the week, it would be here in three days, sometimes two. Now, the same Priority Mail is no less than a five day transit, and I have waited a week or more in several instances with a non-movement Sunday thrown in.
The worst part of the whole screwing we get from USPS is that no one is held accountable, there's no one to file a complaint with, no one to call, nothing. They rule their own little fiefdom and no one can, or will do anything about it.
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)
- Status
ctclibby
Well-Known Member
Good Morning All!
45F @ 63% dark
Maria decided to buy a 'computer desk' from the jungle site for Angela. Wanted 55" and when it was delivered the box was 36x36ish and it said on the side "20x36 computer desk". Called Amazon and they refunded money, found out what she wanted and ordered another 55 incher. Welp, the 2nd one showed up ... same thing. UPS picked that one up after another Amazon call and ordered from a different seller. Ya, you guessed it, another 36x36ish box showed up and I got a great laugh out of the whole nine yards. This time though it said 55x20 desk on the side. Decided to open the original and guess what? 55x20 desk. So now we have 2 of them. I put it together for Angela ( 3 piece top ) but Maria decided that she wanted the put together one and Angela and friend could put hers together. This is where yesterday's trouble began. She measured in her office where she wanted it to go. She said there was about 1/2" play end to end. So we moved stuff out of the office to give us room. Well, she forgot about the floor/wall moldings - just lost that 1/2". Her 1st reaction was 'Cut the end off' of which that would not make any difference cuz of the floor moldings and where the desk legs were positioned. So, me with tape in hand went in; she was really grumping by then. Found that we could move the current desks/tables to the opposite corner ( 180 spin ) and stuff would fit. More stuff had to come out of the office to accomplish. Now all most all of her office is sitting in the mud room. We got the desks positioned and quit. It was a good 4 hours of fussing, and we were beat. I am not too sore this am, but can feel it.
[EndRant]
Some good things did come from it. She is the stuff it here/there and sort later type. We found stuff in the 'somewhere place' - Family pix that I did not even remember, a bunch of little things and a whole bunch of 10 YO not needed crap. Anyway, since we moved her computer and laser printer, this morning is get the wiring done: power, net cable... stuff like that; all wire-tied to something. Help with the big stuff then out to the chicken house to put up some wall OSB. Going to HD on Monday for R19 for the roof, more wall R13 and OSB, then continue to Priest Falls for Mexican brunch, Super One in BF on the way back for fruit, veggies and other small stuff.
@bnsf971 Gawd Terry - is that place the only game in town?
Vacuum Sealer: Been doing that for *years*. I have found you only need to almost freeze the 'wet stuff' before bagging. Just remember to check each seal, and just do a seal ( no vac ) again if not complete. I have pulled buried stuff out of the freezer 5 years old and still is good to go; even though I try to 'rotate' stock when putting in.
Guess I missed the Polytic stuff - drat the luck.
L8r
45F @ 63% dark
Maria decided to buy a 'computer desk' from the jungle site for Angela. Wanted 55" and when it was delivered the box was 36x36ish and it said on the side "20x36 computer desk". Called Amazon and they refunded money, found out what she wanted and ordered another 55 incher. Welp, the 2nd one showed up ... same thing. UPS picked that one up after another Amazon call and ordered from a different seller. Ya, you guessed it, another 36x36ish box showed up and I got a great laugh out of the whole nine yards. This time though it said 55x20 desk on the side. Decided to open the original and guess what? 55x20 desk. So now we have 2 of them. I put it together for Angela ( 3 piece top ) but Maria decided that she wanted the put together one and Angela and friend could put hers together. This is where yesterday's trouble began. She measured in her office where she wanted it to go. She said there was about 1/2" play end to end. So we moved stuff out of the office to give us room. Well, she forgot about the floor/wall moldings - just lost that 1/2". Her 1st reaction was 'Cut the end off' of which that would not make any difference cuz of the floor moldings and where the desk legs were positioned. So, me with tape in hand went in; she was really grumping by then. Found that we could move the current desks/tables to the opposite corner ( 180 spin ) and stuff would fit. More stuff had to come out of the office to accomplish. Now all most all of her office is sitting in the mud room. We got the desks positioned and quit. It was a good 4 hours of fussing, and we were beat. I am not too sore this am, but can feel it.
[EndRant]
Some good things did come from it. She is the stuff it here/there and sort later type. We found stuff in the 'somewhere place' - Family pix that I did not even remember, a bunch of little things and a whole bunch of 10 YO not needed crap. Anyway, since we moved her computer and laser printer, this morning is get the wiring done: power, net cable... stuff like that; all wire-tied to something. Help with the big stuff then out to the chicken house to put up some wall OSB. Going to HD on Monday for R19 for the roof, more wall R13 and OSB, then continue to Priest Falls for Mexican brunch, Super One in BF on the way back for fruit, veggies and other small stuff.
@bnsf971 Gawd Terry - is that place the only game in town?
Vacuum Sealer: Been doing that for *years*. I have found you only need to almost freeze the 'wet stuff' before bagging. Just remember to check each seal, and just do a seal ( no vac ) again if not complete. I have pulled buried stuff out of the freezer 5 years old and still is good to go; even though I try to 'rotate' stock when putting in.
Guess I missed the Polytic stuff - drat the luck.
L8r
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Happy Mother's Day to all of the wives and mother's out there. It's cloudy and 66° here. Another thunderstorm just missed me overnight; it formed just a bit east and is moving towards Shreveport now. May is historically our wettest month, but other than a trace the other day, we've seen nothing at this location. Some nearby places have seen 2"-3" so far. As much as I complain about mowing, we really do need some rain here. It's dry enough that the wheat field next door is turning amber already, about 2 weeks early. Still might rain later today and the high is only expected to be 75°.
Must have been a few posts that I missed in the late morning yesterday, as I never saw anything political in the posts that I read.
Nothing planned for today yet except for Mass. Is that too religious??? Mother of the house will have to decide whether she wants to go out or have me fix something here.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I only ran trains. For a change-up, I took all 9 of my Autoracks off the storage shelf and assembled a short unit train with them. Ran it both ways on the upper level, but had random uncoupling issues with one car. I took it over to the bench and took off the EZ Mate scale couplers and put on KD #148's instead. Seems to have resolved the problem. I only run these cars occasionally and keep them on a storage shelf because they take up so much room elsewhere. While nine cars with a double-headed engine set and a caboose do not fill any of my passing sidings, they do not make good use of any tracks in any of the staging yards.
Louis -
Joe -
Singer Bono from U2 is 66 today.
Everybody have a great Sunday.
Must have been a few posts that I missed in the late morning yesterday, as I never saw anything political in the posts that I read.
Nothing planned for today yet except for Mass. Is that too religious??? Mother of the house will have to decide whether she wants to go out or have me fix something here.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I only ran trains. For a change-up, I took all 9 of my Autoracks off the storage shelf and assembled a short unit train with them. Ran it both ways on the upper level, but had random uncoupling issues with one car. I took it over to the bench and took off the EZ Mate scale couplers and put on KD #148's instead. Seems to have resolved the problem. I only run these cars occasionally and keep them on a storage shelf because they take up so much room elsewhere. While nine cars with a double-headed engine set and a caboose do not fill any of my passing sidings, they do not make good use of any tracks in any of the staging yards.
Louis -
Good that Angela is making you some homemade Chili. I'm sure that they taste good, nut both Wendy's and Hormel's Chili are really high in salt content, with way too much modified cornstarch and MSG, along with several other unpronounceable ingredients.. Note that Wendy's Chili is made with leftover pre-cooked hamburger patties from the day before.
Joe -
Since we don't have basements here in Texas, I often wonder when the steps become "too much"?
Singer Bono from U2 is 66 today.
Everybody have a great Sunday.
Last edited:
Happy Mother's Day.
Making the bride homemade pasta for dinner today. Cloudy and not supposed to go above mid 60s all week. Heading back to TX in the morning to finish on the units I was working on last week, needed to order parts and they didn't make in by Thursday.
Forum seems to be slow again right now.
Making the bride homemade pasta for dinner today. Cloudy and not supposed to go above mid 60s all week. Heading back to TX in the morning to finish on the units I was working on last week, needed to order parts and they didn't make in by Thursday.
Forum seems to be slow again right now.
It's not the only game in town, but it's the best of a bad lot.
It's places and industries like this that are the reason unions were created, and I can see unions making a comeback if it continues.
When I started working on RVs professionally a couple of decades ago, it was a good industry to work in. You got paid for your time, you didn't need a degree in electronic engineering, and flat rate was for suckers and con artists.
Over the time between then and now, all the car industry people that couldn't make it there have moved in to the RV industry, and are bent on making it just like the world of car dealerships. Every year, a little more of what made this industry special is removed and replaced with what makes working in the car industry so bad. Everybody in the auto industry is complaining about not being able to find competent people, refusing to listen to anybody telling them how to fix it because it would mean cutting into their profits, and the RV industry is racing to the bottom as fast, if not faster, than the auto industry. I am the only employee there that still gets paid hourly, everybody else is flat rate.
I'm just trying to ride it out until I can retire.
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
61°F here and a rather dreary, cloudy morning. Sun might come out later today. a rain shower just passed to my south, and the high is supposed to be about 68°F. Maybe. It starts warming tomorrow, and by Friday should be around 90°F.
Nothing planned today. Hoping my new HT radio will be delivered tomorrow. It arrived in St. Louis last night, but who knows where it will end up tomorrow. Might end up in Nebraska or Arkansas, or even back in California knowing the track record of USPS.
Hope you all have an enjoyable Sunday. Servus!
Nothing planned today. Hoping my new HT radio will be delivered tomorrow. It arrived in St. Louis last night, but who knows where it will end up tomorrow. Might end up in Nebraska or Arkansas, or even back in California knowing the track record of USPS.
Hope you all have an enjoyable Sunday. Servus!
migalyto
Well-Known Member
St. Louis used to be the benchmark for USPS. If it went there it was pretty much guaranteed to be at my door by 9am the next day.
Not so much anymore! Its still somewhat better then when it routes to Chicago, all bets are off then. Lately it has been going from St Louis to Peoria. Don't know what has changed.
Airstream was one of my customers. They had a fairly large manufacturing/retro fitting operation out here. This was 5 years ago, but everyone and I do mean everyone I came in contact with was happy. Everyone from the detail shop to the cabinet maker seemed to really love what they were doing. I guess it comes down to management philosophy..
kbkchooch
Verified Human
Good morning gang!
70° and sunny skies looking for a high today of 76°. I suppose to be getting some rain later, so wifey is outside playing in the garden already.
Terry, you and I both are on the same plan. We’re just trying to ride out the dealership mentality till retirement comes.
BBL
70° and sunny skies looking for a high today of 76°. I suppose to be getting some rain later, so wifey is outside playing in the garden already.
Terry, you and I both are on the same plan. We’re just trying to ride out the dealership mentality till retirement comes.
BBL
Bruette
Well-Known Member
That sounds like a good idea to me.
Rest assured my friend I eat very little prepared foods, canned or boxed. The few exceptions are Betty Crocker's Au Gratin potatoes but only with a baked ham two or three times a year. Canned vegetables and hotdogs, of course! Angela even buys no salt added canned vegetables. Salt, I don't have a problem with i usually run at the low end for sodium and potassium. Angela is sensitive to salt too much and her blood pressure will go up. I should be so lucky
We seldom if ever eat out. I'm blessed to have a wife who is happy to cook for me. Angela does not like to feed me anything we don't know what it is or we can't pronounce. Angela did buy me a Whopper on the way home from surgery.
troyphoto
Snarky Old Fart (in training)
Snowman
Well-Known Member
Oh, no! I'm older than Bono!
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
I don't understand what has changed either. I wrote a few days ago, that St. Louis has gotten so bad that two state representatives have introduced a bill in Congress to try and fix St. Louis mail service. It's not just packages either. Bags and bags of mail have been repeatedly found abandoned in various places around the city that have not been delivered.
Several news stations have reported these problems over the last year+. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. I do remember the time before Covid when packages arrived on time, if not early.
For example; I order pipe tobacco once a month from N. Carolina. If I ordered early in the week, it would be here in three days, sometimes two. Now, the same Priority Mail is no less than a five day transit, and I have waited a week or more in several instances with a non-movement Sunday thrown in.
The worst part of the whole screwing we get from USPS is that no one is held accountable, there's no one to file a complaint with, no one to call, nothing. They rule their own little fiefdom and no one can, or will do anything about it.
Last edited:
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Is that a reorganization chapter?
troyphoto
Snarky Old Fart (in training)
Well, one alibi checked out, so a potential suspect isn't any longer... so, maybe a "reorganization"
John from Indiana
Well-Known Member
Friday, Joan and I celebrated 45 years being together. Still stuffed from great dinner. I was married to my first wife for 18 years and when I graduated from High School, I went straight into the Air Force. I have never lived by myself, never had a room mate, and never cooked an evening meal in my life. But I do like model railroading, so that says a lot
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
Happy belated Anniversary. Glad you found the right one. I stopped looking 20 years ago.
- Status
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)