Running Bear's November 2025 Coffee Shop

[CambriaArea51]

What will they think of next.

 

[boogietrain94]

As far as I know it has always been like that. At least it was 40+ years ago when I worked part-time in a grocery store. It hadn't changed when my wife managed convivence stores 8-10 years ago.

I think it is a good idea. The grocery budget will go further if you cook for yourself.

There should be exemptions for disabled people who cannot cook for themselves. Being too lazy to cook is not an excuse.

All foods with high added sugar should be ineligible everywhere.

SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Added sugar and other empty carbohydrates are not good nutrition.

In the poor neighborhoods I see fast food joints, connivence stores and liquor stores.

It's no wonder diabetes has become an epidemic.

In those neighborhoods I see many more kidney dialysis centers, then I see traditional grocery stores.

I all in favor of making sure people don't go hungry, but we are letting them poison themselves. Not to mention complications of diabetes are expensive! I know all too well.

Until recently I paid cash for my health care. At my wife's urging and thanks to the ACA I was able to get insurance. They can no longer turn me down due to several preexisting conditions. But the premiums are expensive! "I made my bed, now I lay in it" Oh well, my wife sleeps better knowing we have insurance.

We should be teaching nutrition in schools. I had no idea a King Size Hershey bar and a large coffee loaded with sugar for breakfast was poisoning me. Super-size fries for lunch and snacks weren't helping. Nether was the beer and whiskey after work. Not to mention cheese steaks or pizza for dinner.

I agree but on the other when our government doesn't wanna play nice and screws everyone on snap I think they should aloow it for a month or two but I also feel when our voted politicals peoples cant work together they should be put down to no pay or minimum wage and see how fast the gov would reopen

 

[boogietrain94]

What will they think of next.

its cool but just another electrical thing to go wrong lol

 

[bnsf971]

What will they think of next.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Good Morning All. Clear and a quite warm 61°, in the 80's again today and tomorrow. Cooler weather Sunday and Monday before warming up again on Tuesday...mid-70's. Still no rain or snow in the forecast.

My weekly grocery trek yesterday went well, but took a longer time than planned. At the grocery store, I ran into a woman that I worked with for over 30 years, who I hadn't seen since retiring 10 years ago. She retired about a month after I did. She's always been a talker. We caught up on those coworkers that we each have kept up with over the years. It was good talking with her after all of this time. Stopped on the way home to pick up a pizza for my wife who doesn't want to go out in public with that hideous bandage on her forehead. Looks like I'll be cooking at home every night for the next 6-8 weeks!
Going to start my day today with the dishwasher again, then after the dew dries I'll haul and stack the firewood that I cut earlier in the week. Mowing is temporarily on hold since there has been no rain in two weeks, and the yard is transitioning from Bermuda Grass to the volunteer ryegrass and oats right now. I did go out yesterday with my can of white spray paint and marked a few branches to prune this winter, although it's too early to do that right now.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I put some miles on the four new GP30U's from ScaleTrains. Since I run DC only, I have to speed match them the old-fashioned way, spacing them and running laps. They're all pretty close, so I can MU them in any combination needed. Ran a few more laps with different pairings pulling my average train of 20 cars plus caboose, and they performed well.
Over at the workbench, I started the rockwork on the front of the Hydrocal kit, Addams Ave Part 3 structure. I wanted it to be a little different than the side of the adjoining building and I picked 5 different shades of brown and tan. Wasn't enough so I'll have to fill in with some of the shades that I had already used. I don't remember taking any pictures of the progress, but I left the camera out there anyhow.

Tom O - I feel somewhat the same about owning a 3D printer. I'm thinking that I might use it intensely for a couple of months, and ignore other stuff; and then it would gather dust afterwards.
How was brunch yesterday?
Best wishes to Terry regarding her eyes.
Mac -

Thank you. If it's not too much to ask, can you take a shot or two for me to compare?
Todd - I received that database error message yesterday morning as well. Fortunately it was about 30 minutes after I had posted, but I couldn't get back in to read some other threads.
Marlin (David) - I agree with you about the customer service at Bar Mills. I have spoken to Art and Jim several times to resolve parts that were either missing or that I broke; or to ask questions regarding assembly. I recall Jim telling me recently that Art has semi-retired.
Kevin -

Thanks for the suggestion. Answering directly, yes. I'm not real concerned at this point because the site for this structure is facing the aisle (upper level as well) and the back would never be seen unless someone picks it up to examine it. I am pretty OCD about completing the backs of structures though. This structure will go between the fascia and the main line, and if I ever made a cab-ride video, I would like it to be complete. In this case I will just be putting a dot of silver paint there which will suffice for now. I was just hoping that I might have a spare door to reduce my inventory of detail parts!
Swal - I am right up there with you on diet and nutrition. I never use salt, sugar, processed meals and very rarely eat fast foods. Whataburger about 4-5 times a year. I do consume some deli meats and a moderate amount of alcohol though. As you have probably read over the years, I grow many of my own organic vegetables. I do like my red meat though, which some so called experts disdain.
The Dr. Sten Exberg video did load for me, just had to watch on You Tube instead of directly on this site. Looks like you took it off though.
Terry - Attrition may close your place down before the new owners get a chance to.
Joe -

Yes it was. I think that her concerns regarding the potential scar are a bit overblown, but most women are obsessive about their looks!
Louis - Yes the hot food and SNAP has been around for a long time; I just wasn't aware of some of the limitations because I have never been exposed to it.

Today is composer/singer Joni Mitchell's 82nd birthday.
A little late posting this morning since I viewed Swal's now removed video.
Everyone have a great Friday.

Here are quick ones i found in my picture file on the phone:

This first one if you look at that brick structure (i don't know what it was) shows not only brick on top of the stone, but also wooden beams as part of the retaining wall. This is in Wilmington, Delaware on Northeast Corridor.
Next one is the station/hotel in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

You can see two different styles of cut stone at the hotel. Maybe i can find more from my picks, and now that you mentioned it, it gives me more reason for photography.

 

[santafewillie]

Thanks Mac.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Thanks Mac.

Found a few more and closer to the details; Spruce Creek tunnel on Pennsylvania RR mainline:

The inside is cut stone on the bottom with brick arch:

Saint Albans in Vermont:

A warehouse in antracite country of east Pennsylvania:

Norristown on Reading Railroad commuter branch:

This beautiful station is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It belonged to Central Railroad of New Jersey:

I'm planning to be at a train show tomorrow in Allentown (not far from Bethlehem). If you want, let me know to grab some more shots of that station.

 

[Marlin39]

Part of my fun running the internet sales is to answer bidders questions. Today I received one that made me stop and remember not to respond in a snarky way. I don't want to do anything to hurt the reputation of the business.

Most of you have some ability to determine fake from original. The question I received was, " are these reproductions?" I was dumbfounded, but politely replied that they were original. I'm still SMH.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1134087161

 

[bnsf971]

Part of my fun running the internet sales is to answer bidders questions. Today I received one that made me stop and remember not to respond in a snarky way. I don't want to do anything to hurt the reputation of the business.

Most of you have some ability to determine fake from original. The question I received was, " are these reproductions?" I was dumbfounded, but politely replied that they were original. I'm still SMH.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1134087161

Some people are not as familiar with firearms as they are with being scammed.

 

[NYC_George]

I brought my Lavales music speaker over to the golf course today and the people couldn't believe the sound this 2 inch speaker generated. They replied WOW! They wanted to know where I bought it. I copied 53 songs on it with many more to come. Swal

 

[Bruette]

I don't like to think about my weight or weigh myself. In my prime I was 325lbs when I ran a 40-yard-dash in full football uniform in about 5 seconds. My coach said it was under 5 seconds but the track at our ghetto high school was slightly downhill. Now I weigh 231lbs. and I wobble when I walk, forget running!

My old friend Willy I have known since high school saw me a few months ago he said "you look like a bag of bones"

I deliberately left out what my reply was, this is a family forum.

Why is it that certain words set people off? Like they have never heard it before. I haven't led such a sheltered life, forgive me if I offend anyone. I'm not in the best of moods.

 

[Bruette]

Some people are not as familiar with firearms as they are with being scammed.

I know little about guns, but I have known several "Confidence" men.

What can I say? I've led a colorful life.

But I did have lots of fun and adventures living it!

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Looks like they need to do some fine tuning to the molds and assembly process.

It's not the finished product.

 

[RhB Michael]

What will they think of next.

I have operating fans and pantographs on my SudExpress Euro Dual Br.159 locomotive. They've been out about two years now. Good to see the Americans catching up.

 

[kbkchooch]

@kbkchooch Don't read the rest of this post.

To pass the time while I work on odds and ends around the house, I have had Amazon's Holidayscapes Christmas channel on. Why not I have already seen Christmas commercials from Intel and Lowe's and many outside Christmas decorations in my travels.

November 30th is the first week of Advent!

55, you're not old. I'm 50. It's never too late to start even a minor exercise program. And contrary to what the pseudo scientists say now, milk is good for you.

Whole milk is good for you, but the pasteurization process kills all the good probiotics that occur naturally. Also pasteurization slightly negates some of the vitamins and minerals. Raw milk is awesome! I was raised on it but it makes store bought whole milk taste watered down. Ultra processed and skim milk is just plain nasty and look at all the added sugars. They have to add sugar to make it palatable. Not to mention all the chemicals that I can't pronounce. When a cold gallon of raw milk has to be shaken vigorously to separate the cream from the milk before you can pour it over your Cheerios, now that's livin!

Now I have to watch how much milk I drink, it raises my glucose through the roof!

It's not the milk, it's the added sugars. When they take out the fat, (cream) they add sugar.

Turned out to be a good decision, everything in the basic system works fine and it was the first time i have ran a DCC equipped locomotive in my house off a DCC address . First time for everything i guess.

Tis a slippery slope there, be careful. I started in 1999 with my system and I'm still learning and enjoying it!

My not so local LHS emailed me today, my Rapido Western Maryland 44 tonner with DCC and sound has arrived. Road trip Sunday!!

 

[Kusojiji]

And sometimes DCC can be frustrating. Put the decoder into the GP30 and can't make heads or tails of it. Instructions state to put the dip switches in the off position when it comes in the on position. I checked and both of mine were in the off position already. I can get the loco to move, but no lights work. ESU decoders on JMRI are very difficult and complex to figure out. I need to know which aux port is wired to what light. I thought just assigning aux 1 to fn1, aux 2 to fn2 and so on would give me something to start with, but noooooooooo...

So, I sent an email to scaletrains. Hope they have the assignments available.

 

[RhB Michael]

Tis a slippery slope there, be careful. I started in 1999 with my system and I'm still learning and enjoying it!

I've been working with ESU decoders for about six of the eight years of my layout. I will never learn everything there is to know about programming and working with these decoders. I have an ESU Loksound programmer that makes easy work of most of the programming, but I will probably never figure out the minute intricacies of these decoders.

One of the features of ESU decoders I really like though, is they hide nothing about them. It's all there if you have the intelligence and the fortitude to learn them and can understand the manuals.

 

[RhB Michael]

And sometimes DCC can be frustrating. Put the decoder into the GP30 and can't make heads or tails of it. Instructions state to put the dip switches in the off position when it comes in the on position. I checked and both of mine were in the off position already. I can get the loco to move, but no lights work. ESU decoders on JMRI are very difficult and complex to figure out. I need to know which aux port is wired to what light. I thought just assigning aux 1 to fn1, aux 2 to fn2 and so on would give me something to start with, but noooooooooo...

So, I sent an email to scaletrains. Hope they have the assignments available.

ESU decoders and JMRI are not entirely 100% compatible. AUX assignments are not always logically assigned. Some AUXs are logic AUXs and some are power AUXs. My best advice is to buy an ESU Lokprogrammer. You'll have that programmed the way you want in no time at all.

 

[troyphoto]

Made it home safe and sound.

the good thing about flying into Fort Wayne airport? They always have a bag of cookies. A long time ago they were archway cookies due to the local archway bakery. Now they're just this:

But, they're cookies. I'm not complaining!

got the first load of laundry going. Looks like maybe three more to do tomorrow.

Then I mixed up a cocktail: Remember the Maine!

And I didn't have to pay $25 for it, nor did I need to tip the mixologist

However, the cocktail inspector wasn't happy that the hand holding the rocks glass was not involved in rubbing him

 

[DeaconKC]

Glad you're home, I'm certain your Feline Overlord was pleased to have his regular staff back.