Running Bear's November 2025 Coffee Shop

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Northern Lights Were visible in Northern Illinois tonight.

I have checked an item off my bucket list. I have never seen this phenomenon in person and
have always wanted too. Tomorrow is supposed to be more active and can be seen a little
farther South.

I got to share the experience with my daughter.

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I saw the Northern lights in the 1970's when I was at annual training with the National Guard at
Camp Drum, N.Y. A little eerie and surreal because it covered the whole sky and it was a
spectacular light show.
 


Good morning gang! Happy hump day to one and all whether or not you saw the lights last night. Wife said she could see him from our back deck, I was too busy dealing with an errant Loco.

Currently 34° under partly cloudy skies think should be clearing a little bit and then the high temp should wind up around 54°. Don’t put those T-shirts and shorts away just yet.

Later y’all
 
Good morning all!

happy Hump day!

A bit warmer this morning than the last couple. Currently 38F heading up to a decent 57F. Looks like a warming trend over the
next couple of days. We may come close to 70F Fri, and Sat. I have not put the shorts away yet.

Usual Wed household chores today. Laundry, dishwasher empty, and some vacuuming.

Daughter has an early out from school today at 11:30. Have to set an alarm to pick her up or I will pay dearly if I forget her!

Not much else going on here at the moment.

have a safe day everyone!
 
Morning all,

Hopefully a quiet day today.

Got a bunch of stuff yesterday and 6 free lunches to use by the end of the year and several more to use by the end of May. A local place gives pillows and they are nice pillows.

Bill: TEOTWAWKI When I saw that this popped immediately into my head:




BBL
 
Northern Lights Were visible in Northern Illinois tonight.

I have checked an item off my bucket list. I have never seen this phenomenon in person and
have always wanted too. Tomorrow is supposed to be more active and can be seen a little
farther South.

I got to share the experience with my daughter.

View attachment 247737

View attachment 247738

View attachment 247739
Congrats. I have tried many times this year but also in past years. Usually cloudy on the days I tried. Too share it with the daughter makes it even better
 
Good morning viewers. It’s 38 now and 54 this afternoon. We are day tripping to the western shore of Lake Michigan to the fabulous (not) eastern Wisconsin city, Racine. There it’s 39 and later 51against the shore of the lake. Time to see Terry’s best friend.

There is a 40 minute planned stop at Hiawatha Hobbies on the way down. But to surprise my wife I called the order in, they asked me to use the online and then they let me know yesterday afternoon it’s ready.

I hope to come home on I94 from Racine to Madison depending on what Maps shows for the congestion in the Milwaukee area. Normally I take a back road local tour home but if it’s dark I handle the lights easily on the Interstate versus a 2 lane road. But the deer have been moving and I dipont need to greet one with the car.

Be well
 


Good morning all. 42°F here this morning, and a high of 64°F expected and a warming trend has begun at least until early next week. Supposed to be 77°F by Sunday.

Back to the train room this morning to work on my feed store. Coffee for now and the news.

Have a great day!

Servus!
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with lights in their northern

It's troy again.

Had pasta casserole (I didn't know how to spell that word, but the computer did) last night for supper. Rotini, sausage, sauce, mixed, put in a casserole (had to look at the last iteration to spell it again) dish, cover with mozz cheese and bake. After pizza on monday, and pasta on tuesday, I asked the wife if she wanted to go hit the Italian place tonight. She glared at me.

Playing catch up after the writer convention is always fun (in a sarcastic way.) I have advanced three chapters in the current book, so that's good. But, I'm playing with new software for plotting and story bible tracking. Looks promising, but its still in its infancy. I asked the developer what's coming, and she mentioned three AI centered features that are spot on what I need. I'll have to start migrating what little I have in another piece of software over to this one. They cost about the same, and I'll get the annual subscription in two weeks, then let the other one drop.

And, I found an AI service specifically geared to doing a marketing report on a manuscript. I paid for it on my main book series - book #1. Got some gold from it. So now I have to start implementing those suggestions to turn the figurative gold into real dollars. That will take some time. I can bounce between two tasks, but not three. So the marketing will have to wait until I get the current book written. Then I can do the marketing tasks while I wait on the book editor to do her stuff.

Time to shower, then head off to the hardware then the grocery.
 
Good Morning All!
37F @ 91%

Northern Lights: Got to see them my 1st time in Anchorage and Homer circa '85. Wow, made the trip even more worth it. In Spokane circa '86 I heard that they could be seen. So I looked outside and it was clear as a bell, so grabbed the GF telling her we were going for a ride. Went to the prairie up the hill from Millwood and parked on the side of a 'back' road. Pretty much zero ambient lighting. Layed on the hood with our heads against the windshield and watched. Pretty amazing watching the colors change and move around. Not quite as good as AK but still good. GF had never seen them before so a lot of gasps and grins. Anyway, Sheriff pulled in behind us with lights a blaring and came up to the car. "What are you doing?" he asked. I pointed North and he looked. He went back to his car and turned the front lights off and we overheard him "Car[xxx] come up to Stoneman and Bruce Road" on radio. Few minutes later we had 2 Sheriff cars behind us with both of them watching. They stayed about 1/2 hour until dispatch gave them something to do. The 2nd guy had never seen them. When they left, we got the standard 'Don't stay too long and be safe'. We had enough by then anyway and went back home.

More help Maria today. Think we can get at least 1/2 of the OSB up on the inside walls. She has already done the insulation but needs to be stapled at the top.

L8r
 
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Question for you tire aficionados:

How often do the pressure sensors go bad?

I've had a low pressure warning for about four days now. Tis the season to add more air for winter since it's cold. Had all of them under 30 on Sunday morning. So I added air to get them up to between 32 and 35psi

All tires at 32 psi or a tad more. I keep checking the tires every time I see the warning light on the dash. Still 32 psi.

In the meantime, I'll schedule a rotation at Discount tire. I'm overdue for one.
 
Question for you tire aficionados:

How often do the pressure sensors go bad?

I've had a low pressure warning for about four days now. Tis the season to add more air for winter since it's cold. Had all of them under 30 on Sunday morning. So I added air to get them up to between 32 and 35psi

All tires at 32 psi or a tad more. I keep checking the tires every time I see the warning light on the dash. Still 32 psi.

In the meantime, I'll schedule a rotation at Discount tire. I'm overdue for one.
Did you check your spare in the trunk?
 
Question for you tire aficionados:

How often do the pressure sensors go bad?

I've had a low pressure warning for about four days now. Tis the season to add more air for winter since it's cold. Had all of them under 30 on Sunday morning. So I added air to get them up to between 32 and 35psi

All tires at 32 psi or a tad more. I keep checking the tires every time I see the warning light on the dash. Still 32 psi.

In the meantime, I'll schedule a rotation at Discount tire. I'm overdue for one.
Troy: I have never seen a pressure sensor go bad. Suspect they could though. Just for giggles and grins, what is the recommended pressure written on the tire? The Expedition has a max of 50Psi, so I try to keep them at 40. Aluminum rims? If Aluminum, they will leak at the tire bead around the rim sooner or later and need to be wire brushed and 're-seated'. Discount will do that for nothing depending on how old those tires are. At least they will around here.
 
Question for you tire aficionados:

How often do the pressure sensors go bad?

I've had a low pressure warning for about four days now. Tis the season to add more air for winter since it's cold. Had all of them under 30 on Sunday morning. So I added air to get them up to between 32 and 35psi

All tires at 32 psi or a tad more. I keep checking the tires every time I see the warning light on the dash. Still 32 psi.

In the meantime, I'll schedule a rotation at Discount tire. I'm overdue for one.
Typically tire pressure sensors only last 5-7 years. The easy way to check them is to pull them up on your dash. If any of them read with a blank or -- then the little battery inside has died. The batteries are not serviceable so the sensor has to go. I generally replace them every time I replace the tires. Find out what the OEM part number is, then Google search it. I get OEM sensors from Rock Auto for less than what I can buy them for from the dealer. I try to stay away from the Amazon el-cheapo sensors.
 
Troy: I have never seen a pressure sensor go bad. Suspect they could though. Just for giggles and grins, what is the recommended pressure written on the tire? The Expedition has a max of 50Psi, so I try to keep them at 40. Aluminum rims? If Aluminum, they will leak at the tire bead around the rim sooner or later and need to be wire brushed and 're-seated'. Discount will do that for nothing depending on how old those tires are. At least they will around here.
stock rims on s 2016 Toyota Camry SE.

Did not check the spare.

Finally remembered I can reset the maintenance warnings via the control panel on the dash. Did that at a stoplight about a mile from home this morning.

I always thought the tire warning went away if you drove for a few miles.

In other news, if you live near a Menards big box store, this is the last week for their 11% rebate. They discount for the holiday shopping season, and that starts soon. So I bought a head on some stuff just to get it in the rebate window. I'm good on humidifier filters for the season.
 


Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 48°. Last chilly night for a while. High 70's today and then 80°+ for at least a week. However the freeze Sunday night killed the Basil in the planter box on the back porch already. No worry though because I have two pots of it growing that got moved inside and are thriving under the lights. They'll be moved outside today...should have done that yesterday!

Doctor visit yesterday was really a prep for the upcoming ablation procedure. Besides the one atrial flutter event that I knew about, there were several others during the 30 day monitoring period that I wasn't aware of. The monitor also recorded several instances of atrial fibrillation that I didn't know about. The procedure is on December 11. It's similar to a stent procedure but don't ask me to explain it. It's something about destroying tissue inside the heart. It's in and out on the same day.
I'm letting the fire in the wood-burning heater go out today; won't be needed for a while. I have my last PT session this afternoon. I'll miss that but I will not miss the time spent. That time is at the peak of my internal energy clock which is better spent at home. Other tasks include gathering and stacking firewood that's already cut. Much easier retrieving it from an organized stack than traipsing around the estate picking it up off the ground during cold weather.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I managed to finish all of the windows. They have been set aside for now while I work on the sign painted on the side of the building. I need to put shades in them before I install them due to the depth of the structure walls. I also completed the roof but I won't install it until I finish with the sign either. I painted the black background for the sign and it's drying overnight.

Chad-
a well insulate home is far cheaper to heat and cool over its lifetime. And also probably easier to sell if he ever needs to move.
While I was working in the window business, I read many studies proving that this is correct.
Tom O - Yes, I definitely miss Gregg and his layout pictures. We did some PM'ing about several things as well. His job of managing a shopping mall had many similarities to mine managing the work of 600 people in a factory.
Additionally regarding the used Exacto blades, I resharpen mine using a whetstone until I wear them down too far to be useful. Single-edge razor blades get put into the used blade container without resharpening. I still have hundreds of new ones from the samples that I received from vendors during my window days. My recycler is a scrap yard that doesn't have human contact with the scrap iron/steel. They don't care as long as the magnet picks it up.
Bob - Nice face plates, but it seems that six screws is overkill!
Joe - My maternal grandparents as well as a couple of the nuns at school in Brooklyn still called it Armistice Day into the late 50's when I was growing up.

Singer/composer/guitarist Neil Young is 80 years old today; still rockin' in the free world!
Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday.
 
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