Running Bear's November 2025 Coffee Shop

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5:42am here as I start typing. I’d say waking at 5:30 now took 8 years of retirement to finally wake at 5:30 or later. If I wake now after 6:15 it feels like the day is mostly over. Bed time is usually 11:30pm to 12:15am. 5-5.5 hours sleep is plenty.

Happy Monday from the grandkids house just about 3 miles from our place with all the street detours going on around here. 41f degrees feels like 34 but heading to 59. We slept at the g/kids house because their parents are enjoying Vegas at my brother’s place there. The niece and hubby along with our son and his girlfriend are enjoying a quick cousins weekend. All had some troubles with the airlines due to ATC shortages.

The grandkids have late school start today. The grandson leaves at 9 for middle school on his scooter and the granddaughter in our car at 10 for high school. Teachers in service every Monday of the school year. It was School District crybaby parents who protested teacher in service full days off every 6 weeks. The kids needed sitters to watch them because parents work. That was quite a dividing line maybe 7-8 years ago.

As soon as we drop the granddaughter off at HS I’m heading home to the bench. I have 3 commission projects that just need final touches and check ups. I’d like to get them finished, approved and paid out the door Wednesday or Thursday.

I watched the second half of the Packer need to hit their scaredy cat head coach in the head. I watched the last 4 minutes of the Bears/Bengals game. Find a replay and go to those last 5 minutes. We will be seeing highlites of it for the next 10 years

Enjoy your day
 
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santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Cloudy and now 53°. Weather radar from two different sources show that it's raining here, but my weather rock says no. I doubt that it will get as warm as the NWS says, due to the cloud cover; maybe upper 60's at best. Low 80's later in the week.

Had a rather lazy day yesterday after the late morning doctor visit. No changes in health or medications. He did prescribe a cream for a rash that's developing on the side of my right knee, I hadn't even noticed it but my wife spotted it on Wednesday. She likes my body to be perfect! Despite the early morning outside temperatures in the low-40's the past few days, I still haven't brought out the blue jeans since it's been pleasantly sunny with no wind. I did do some push mowing later in the garden to begin the fall cleanup.
As usual, no trick or treaters last night. Not sure what I would give them if they did come. Everyone at my doc's office was decked out in their Halloween costumes except the doctor himself. Then again at the pharmacy. I didn't recognize the owners mother who always manages the checkout.
Not sure what might be on the agenda today; depends on whether it really rains or not. There are lots of choices of tasks, mowing, cutting already downed trees, splitting firewood or brush removal. I did note yesterday that there were a couple of small fallen branches from the intense wind earlier in the week, under some trees bordering the hayfield.
Granddog has not been her usual self on this visit. I don't think that there is anything wrong, just not an ordinary visit. In the past she generally came into our bedroom and slept on the floor there at night. She has been spending the nights in the living room on her doggie bed this time. It's not the same one that my daughter usually brings with her, so maybe it's her favorite one. It does look new. The dog is spoiled. At home she has 4 beds. One in the living room in front of the floor to ceiling window, so she can watch the neighborhood dog walkers, walkers, squirrels, cars and joggers go by. A second one in the den, a third one in the master bedroom and another one in the game room. She used to also have one outside on the covered patio, but they decided that it was not necessary.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I made progress on the two projects that I am working on, I got the fourth wall glued into the Hydrocal structure, but I needed to clamp it into place overnight, since something is slightly warped. There is a gap of approximately 1/64" at the top on one side. I believe that the Walther's Goo will hold it in place. If not, some Testor's Putty will have to be used. I am looking forward to the next step of painting the walls. That's where a real difference can be made to set it above a plastic structure.
I also finished painting the handrails on the GP9U. Looks good from 3', or when moving. I still need to paint the horns, but beer drinking took over by that time. Thanks Tom O for the suggestion regarding the alcohol pre-paint. Unfortunately by the time that I read it, only the fireman's side short hood rail was left to do. My results while better, still needed a second coat, but it might be because of the craft paint that I am using. I'll be trying it again on the horns.
I didn't take any pictures of either one yesterday, so I'll show the progress later.

Mac - Great picture of BNSF 4062. It's really clean there also. Did you take it? Pretty far east for such a clean machine. It does resemble the quality of the photos that you take.
Chad - I guess that my doc missed your call, because he saw me less than 5 minutes after the appointment time. And that's because he had to wait on the nurse to do the weigh-in, BP check and other stuff. It's one of the long list of reasons that I like him, always on time. Especially since his office stopped seeing walk-in patients when the great Covid scare started up. He also ignored the mask mandate well before our governor issued an executive order ending it in Texas.

Besides being All Saints Day, singer Anthony Kiedis of The Red Hot Chili Peppers is 63 today.
Everyone have a super Saturday.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what picture are you referring to.
 
Good morning gang. Busy weekend getting absolutely nothing done. But i did go to a big train show in Syracuse, NY. For the layout builders here, some inspiration; the first few are Amherst Belt Lines modular layout:
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I didn't record the name of that second one, but it was absolutely beautiful:
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Good morning all!

Currently 40F heading up to a high of around 60F. Should be a mostly sunny day.

Birthday party was fun yesterday afternoon. It was mostly a few adults and his school class. Lots of 8 year olds running around,
but the pizza and cake were good, and it was in town so no real travel involved.

Usual Monday laundry and straightening up from the weekend today.

Daughter starts HS basketball practice tonight.

Have a safe day everyone!
 


Well howdy there internet peeps and those with excess Reese's cups...

Who am I kidding, there is no such thing as excess Reese's cups

I'm in Vegas, doing the author convention thing. Started waking at 3am then dozing again. Wake at 4am... doze and was shocked when I looked at the clock at 4:55 am

That's all on Vegas time, not my usual Indiana time. I don't seem to be fighting Jet lag after the lack of sleep and very very long day on Saturday travelling here.

I visited the Cake Machine, but have held off opening it. The double chocolate slice of heaven is my "just in case I need a snack" emergency rations. I can make it last all week.

Off to shower, then go in search of coffee and more authors to chat with.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 48°, headed up to near 80° today. This weather will continue until Sunday when the next Norther hits. But it is forecast to last just 2 days.

The usual Sunday yesterday for me. Early morning walk, Mass, bed linen laundry plus a load of clothes as well, and then on to fix supper. The Lamb Chops turned out very tasty. There's 11 clocks in our house and 1 in the train shed, other than phones and computers; only 2 automatically reset the time so I had to deal with the other 10. The 12th one on the back of the house facing the pool, stays on DST all year since I only use it in the summer! Requires a ladder to get to it anyway. I'll have to reset the one in the Lexus, but the Accura resets itself. I did a little yard work in the afternoon.
It appears that the cream that my doctor prescribed for the rash on my leg is working very quickly. Just two days and it is disappearing.
Today will eventually start with the dishwasher which ran overnight and after the dew dries (an hour earlier now), I'll mow the east side with the tractor, which usually takes about 45 minutes as it's the largest area.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I painted the other side of the Hydrocal structure.
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It will all be toned down when I apply the mortar wash. Still thinking about what color to paint the Grandt Line windows/doors that came with the kit. In preparation for painting the rockwork, I painted the whole area a concrete color first, as that's easier than doing the mortar between the rocks later.
1762177938821.jpeg


Tom (Cambria) - I never had any luck duplicating fresh steel color, so I made my I-beams painted.
1762175746094.jpeg

Mikey - I have been unsuccessful at detailing faces on the HO scale figures that I have painted. Couldn't even get eyeballs right when using a needle tip dipped in paint.
Mac - The second set of pictures this morning look to be straight out of the George Selios FSM layout. I know that they are not, but the builder appears to have gotten the inspiration from George.

Everyone have a great Monday.
 
Popped out of bed at 5am. The dog is still on normal time and expected to go out. I made her wait until I finished my first cup of coffee.

We get outside and she does her stuff down the street. We turn around and she suddenly freezes & goes stiff. The biggest racoon I have ever seen strolls across the street about 30' in front of us. It knew no-one or no thing was going to mess with it. Sugar doesn't bark, growl, or do a thing until it vanishes into the brush......damn smart dog. I don't even think my bear spray would have fazed that mutant trash bandit.
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Clear and 48°, headed up to near 80° today. This weather will continue until Sunday when the next Norther hits. But it is forecast to last just 2 days.

The usual Sunday yesterday for me. Early morning walk, Mass, bed linen laundry plus a load of clothes as well, and then on to fix supper. The Lamb Chops turned out very tasty. There's 11 clocks in our house and 1 in the train shed, other than phones and computers; only 2 automatically reset the time so I had to deal with the other 10. The 12th one on the back of the house facing the pool, stays on DST all year since I only use it in the summer! Requires a ladder to get to it anyway. I'll have to reset the one in the Lexus, but the Accura resets itself. I did a little yard work in the afternoon.
It appears that the cream that my doctor prescribed for the rash on my leg is working very quickly. Just two days and it is disappearing.
Today will eventually start with the dishwasher which ran overnight and after the dew dries (an hour earlier now), I'll mow the east side with the tractor, which usually takes about 45 minutes as it's the largest area.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I painted the other side of the Hydrocal structure.
View attachment 246592
View attachment 246593
It will all be toned down when I apply the mortar wash. Still thinking about what color to paint the Grandt Line windows/doors that came with the kit. In preparation for painting the rockwork, I painted the whole area a concrete color first, as that's easier than doing the mortar between the rocks later.
View attachment 246594

Tom (Cambria) - I never had any luck duplicating fresh steel color, so I made my I-beams painted.
View attachment 246591
Mikey - I have been unsuccessful at detailing faces on the HO scale figures that I have painted. Couldn't even get eyeballs right when using a needle tip dipped in paint.
Mac - The second set of pictures this morning look to be straight out of the George Selios FSM layout. I know that they are not, but the builder appears to have gotten the inspiration from George.

Everyone have a great Monday.
Click to expand...
Yes, Franklin and South Manchester, one of the most famous layouts in the country. This was not it, but also reminded me of that great work. Growing up in the "Old World" i also tend to look for scenes like this in the real world; Brownsville, Pa:
IMG_20251004_171144307.jpg
IMG_20251004_171123382_HDR.jpg
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IMG_20251004_171256205.jpg

Belle Vernon, Pa
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Morning all,

Spent the weekend running jobs against the servers after running the Windows updates. Can't blame the issues on MS, but the updates did find some other things that were previously unknown. So still running consolidation on the last server this morning and monitoring the rest all weekend from home. 12 hours of OT for the weekend. I do have the servers running, they are just a little slower than normal.

Then I gotta restart the backups. Yeah, it wasn't fun.

Time Change: I hate it. Now I gotta watch as my drive to and from work coincide more with the deer moving cycles. Either way leave for work or go home, driving in the dark.

Started this over 3 hours ago, it's been a busy day.
 
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