Running Bear's May 2026 Coffee Shop

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Kusojiji said:
I'm of the opinion that too high of an octane would prevent a full combustion as it takes higher compression to ignite, which is the inverse of normal thinking. My itty bitty motor, even with the turbo, recommends regular gas. The base only had high octane for a while and when they started carrying regular, I started buying that instead, saving money and not seeing a change in performance. They still have one pump with the high octane, which is good for the sporty cars. But, I've heard that the high octane includes better additives? Not sure.
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There is no reason to use premium in a car not tuned for it. The reason cars that use premium get better performance (more HP) is because they are more aggressively tuned. That aggressive tuning allows them to move compression etc to work best in that engine for HP but requires the better gasoline to avoid pre-detonation. Cars not tuned aggressively don't get any benefit.

Modern cars that have computer controlled engines can adjust the tune to meet the octane. If you have a car that requires premium but don't put premium in the engine can try and compensate for it by a slight detuning (changing the timing). Since most of us are not race car drivers we don't notice the difference. My 2016 Audi A3 e-tron Sportback says it requires premium though I've basically been running mid-grade in it since I got it 10 years ago. Never knocked once. Righ tnow its mostly regular -- since I stopped buying id grade ethanol free (to save a buck because of my employment situation etc) I put regular in and occasionally top it off when down 1/3 - 1/2 with premium. Never had an issue but I'm not pushing the car to get every last HP. My wife's 2019 Jetta has. the same basic 1.4 VW engine with turbo as my Audi -- 3 years later model and recommends regular. It's the same basic engine in a 3 year later model, tuned for pedestrian VW use and rated at 147 HP. My 2016 Audi is rated at 150 HP and supposed to ue premium.
 
Boris said:
View attachment 264817
Take a Ride on the Reading! Departing Hamburg Pa.
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I rode a very similar train recently:
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A special to the Antracite country from Nesquehoning
 
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Good morning Coffee Shop, it's Sunday!

Weather:
The temperature is 39°F (4°C) and clear :cool:
Areas of frost toward daybreak. Sunny toward daybreak then partly cloudy with a chance of showers through early afternoon. Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers late this afternoon. Highs in the lower 60s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.

Have a great day! ;)
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Kusojiji said:
I'm of the opinion that too high of an octane would prevent a full combustion as it takes higher compression to ignite, which is the inverse of normal thinking. My itty bitty motor, even with the turbo, recommends regular gas. The base only had high octane for a while and when they started carrying regular, I started buying that instead, saving money and not seeing a change in performance. They still have one pump with the high octane, which is good for the sporty cars. But, I've heard that the high octane includes better additives? Not sure.
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Higher octane does not require higher compression to ignite. It resists ignition, burning slower and preventing spark knock.
Getting into some engineering, the flame front of the fuel/air mixture inside the combustion chamber moves at 55mph. When it moves faster than that, it can exceed the speed of sound, resulting in tiny sonic booms that you hear as pinging, or spark knock/preignition. That's why spark knock is considered bad, because I know everybody has seen/heard a sonic boom, and how it makes everything not secured rattle and sometimes break.
 
Good evening, currently 68F outside with a high guesstimate of rain after midnight until the morning. I shut off my automatic watering for tomorrow and hope I don't forget to turn it back on. I did make preps for the rain by closing the windows this time. Luckily, the last rain didn't come with a lot of wind, so just had to wipe the sill.

Waiting for the black cat delivery service to deliver my jungle site order of HO scale peoples. Since I have the body apart of my tram, I want to get them folks seated before final assembly. They're going to have to be cut mid shin to fit. I guess I've come to peace with doing that.
 


But, it does burn better with higher compression and spark timing. If I don't have either, then the possibility of an incomplete burn exists, probably not very likely, otherwise we could get a cat burn. Or is that happening?

And we definitely don't want a sonic boom breaking the windows in the engine! haha
 
bnsf971 said:
But have your little people come to peace with it? I'm having mental pictures of a bunch of N scale people running after you on their stumps with pitchforks and torches.
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Although I am slow, I could probably run/walk away faster than they could. Unless they come enmass while I'm sleeping. I guess I should put salt around the bed. Works on Supernatural, which I am currently catching up on.
 
Good morning all!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!

Crazy spring weather continues. As per the forecast yesterday morning today was supposed to be mostly sunny and 70f. It has now
been raining for the last hour. By the looks of the radar its a stray shower that is just about out of the area. I mowed and trimmed
yesterday so it really doesn't matter. Currently 46F but with the 15mph breeze it feels like only 35F. They still say 70F today. but no
sun till later this afternoon.

Not much on the agenda for today. Laundry, grocery, shopping, mowing were all done yesterday. Might get to head to the basement
early today. Wife may have other plans when she gets up.

Have a safe day everyone!!
 
52°F chilly degrees this morning with an expected high of 78°F. I don't believe that for a second. We'll be lucky to see 72-73 today.

I hope it gets warm, I would like to spend more than 10 minutes outside today and soak up some rays. Nothing else planned today.

Have a great Sunday! Servus!
 
It's been a good week....sort of.

Couldn't ask for better weather. Mid 70's most of the week and supposed to hit 90 today, then drop back down. Humidity staying in the 30% range. Vegetables are growing well. I should have the first strawberries in about 2 weeks.

Our son was promoted for the 3rd time in 5 years. He's still a chemist in the R&D department and discussed advancing into an engineering role at his review. They agreed to start the process. Real proud of his work ethic.

I won't have to take my wife to Europe this year.:D:D:D:D She went to the dentist to have the implant finished along with her 6 month cleaning and the x-rays showed a bridge on the same side was failing and would need two more implants.:mad::confused: Poor dental habits early in life are coming back to haunt her.

My 93yo "wonder woman" mom went in for her annual echocardiogram and they found a valve was starting to fail. No loss in blood pressure, no pain, etc. I'm taking her in for the all the imaging tests next week, then the surgical conference. She says that she's enjoying life, is in great health, and is too active not to get it fixed. It's supposed to be a 15 minute procedure inserting a catheter through a femoral artery, then placing a valve against the old one. She had a hernia fixed a couple of months ago, from lifting too heavy at the gym and at home. She weighs maybe 100 pounds, still drives, hits the gym 4 days a week, can do a 4 minute plank, and still takes care of about 80 rose bushes. At least she calls me when a ladder is required to do something. My brother and I honestly think she's trying to make it into the Guinness Book as the oldest living woman.:D My goal is still just to outlive her.

I had no issues at my annual dermatology appointment this time.

Auctions closing today are doing much better than expected.

So it's been a pretty good week.
 
Good morning! Got to the bed and pillow around the normal midnight time but slept straight through till 8:13 this morning! Haven’t done that in a while and it was a good sound sleep. It’s gloomy with a now light rain that will prevent the cutting of grass today by the grandson. Terry said she looked at 7am and it was coming down pretty steady. The g/s texted me a few minutes ago and i said fine. Told him to text the next door neighbor so she knows. Tomorrow after school and before hockey practice is the new time.

G/S’s soccer team blew leads of 3-0, 5-1 yesterday as they lost 8-10. One of the coach’s son’s wanted to play goalie and he’s still short at 12 years old. SIL said every goal went in over his head because he can’t jump or didn’t want to yesterday. He is the 3rd goalie but threw a hissy fit in practice Thursday that he wanted to play goalie Saturday so his dad let him. SIL said the parents on the sideline are already rattled up for the season and yesterday didn’t help. On more intrigue on the pitch. Another away game today but it’s a 5 minute walk from the house.

Willie. I do the tree armatures between periods with the expert talking heads sound muted. It’s only the second time I used the voice to print feature and posted it. It picks up surrounding voices from the tv or music when at the bench. It was an experiment last night. I have been starting to use it though on the ChatGPT Ai that I am paying for on a 3 month trial.

Enjoy the day
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 54°, warming up to 83° later on. Won't be as perfect as yesterday's high of 78° but close. Cool front later in the week and then warmer again next weekend.

Not much yesterday except for about 45 minutes of weedeating. Made the trip to North Dallas last night for the early Mother's Day celebration from my daughters. Supposedly a really highly rated restaurant, but I wasn't impressed. I'd give it a rating of 7.5 out of 10. Prices were way over the top though! $60 for the same Ribeye that I payed $28 for just 2 weeks ago at Longhorn Steakhouse. Longhorn was "prime" while last night's grade was "choice". I won't be returning. Besides all that, there was no subbing of menu items. I'm not a mashed potato fan unless it comes with gravy. Our server barely spoke English!

I didn't make it out to the train shed yesterday, so nothing to report from there.

Even though I've read since the 80's that this hobby is dying, I don't see that happening from my point of view. The twice a year train shows in Plano TX are always crowded and over half of the attendees seem to be under 45. That's the case even in January when the show then is competing with NFL playoffs on TV! I think that buyers are being more discriminating in what they buy though. I don't think that engines have gone up in price as outrageously as freight cars. Yes they have gone up, but since the early 2000's it seems that the increase has been just 3x, while freight cars have gone up at least 5x. The detail now is really top-notch. Buyers are being more prudent with their purchases, just buying what will fit on their layouts. I remember visiting home layouts 20 years ago and seeing closets with hundreds of Blue Box kits in them, that I doubt ever got built. I see them now at estate sales and estate tables at the train shows! In Texas, we don't have basements, so layouts tend to be smaller, stuffed in spare bedrooms and maybe half of a garage. Wife's car always gets the other half! In my case, I had the room and built a dedicated train shed in the yard, so I have more room than most. It's not dying but evolving.

Mac - Have a safe and enjoyable trip out West. I'll wave if you pass nearby.

Gotta leave for church now, so everybody have a great Sunday.
 


Well howdy there internet peeps and those with high octane! Welcome to May in Indiana!

It's Troy again.

already got 3300+ words worded today. Someone might turn into a frog in the book. If she does, she had it coming! 🐸

Heading out to Mexican in a bit, then I'm at home working on cleaning up the hobby space in hopes that our electrician gets our breaker panel replacement scheduled soon.

Our last Orkin visit is tuesday. I'll let them do their thing. Since they never seem to spay anything more than they have to inside, I'm not worried about what they spray. I may pick up some Diatomaceous Earth (DE) to spread along the baseboards in the basement to keep the bugs down. Not sure what to do about the spiders?

Sweetie is making a 15 bean soup and cornbread for dinner tonight. I'm not complaining!
 
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