Running Bear's November 2025 Coffee Shop

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Good morning on this fine day before Thanksgiving!

I don't know what the weather is neither do I care. We don't get much severe weather to worry about here in Baltimore.

Watching the weather forecast is like watching the news, I'm never sure what to believe.

Something I can be sure of; my Christmas tree in the Living room is up. No decorations yet, but the lights are shinning bright. Best of all the Lionel track under the tree is clean and the Thanksgiving train is running flawlessly! Even the light inside my 31-year-old caboose is bright with no flickering.

As part of our Christmas tradition, we put up the tree with just the lights by Thanksgiving, saving the decorations for after Thanksgiving.

I can’t believe I actually finished something ahead of time. It’s just one day early, but still, considering it’s me, that’s impressive! With God’s Grace, anything is possible.

Last year, I was excited to put the finishing touches on the Thanksgiving train on the morning of the holiday. It had been nearly a decade since I last had one.

🦃 2025 Thanksgiving Train Consist
• North Pole Central #1224 LionChief GP38 - Lionel 2034210
• 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Boxcar - Lionel 6‑39309
• 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Boxcar - Lionel 6‑39325
• 2012 Thanksgiving Holiday Boxcar - Lionel 6‑39359
• 2013 Thanksgiving Holiday Boxcar - Lionel 6‑25961
• 2017 Happy Thanksgiving Boxcar - Lionel 6‑83800
• 2018 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Boxcar - A Lionel uncatalogued exclusive only available through Macy's. No Lionel number.
• Christmas Illuminated Caboose - Lionel 6‑16547

Not sure if anyone cares, but there is my 2025 Thanksgiving Train. Luckily, (for me) you all have a first-class record of tolerating my nonsense.

Have an enjoyable day Everyone!
 


RhB Michael said:
Still problems with the site I see. Now I can't even complete a sentence without getting the "Oops, we have a problem" message.
Click to expand...
Yea, its really bad this morning.

It took quite a few tries to post my initial on earlier.

When I came back just now it took multiple refreshes and closeouts and re-tries. We have had this problem multiple times before, so
it will get worked out.
 
Morning folks, its currently 52 and just chilly enough to wear a jacket.

After work today I plan on making green bean casserole for the Thanksgiving party tomorrow. My mom and dad are having the party so I've been help them get the house ready for the onslaught of family.
Thankfully I'll be off Friday since my boss' daughter will be visiting him, otherwise we'd be back working.:rolleyes:
 
Good Morning All. Clear and a chilly 39° out there today. Varied weather coming up. Upper 50's for the next 3 days with 64 on Saturday. Then winter really hits with highs in the 40's and overnight freezes for a few days. Might rain Saturday before warming up. Yesterday it was 69°.

Yesterday I finally stacked that firewood that I gathered a couple of days ago. Had to make an unexpected 25 mile round trip to town due to the jerks at Amazon. They sent an oversized package to us via USPS, and the post office doesn't deliver to our house; only to a rural mailbox 1.25 miles away. What the hell am I paying for with Prime delivery???? Another Amazon package for us is MIA right now. I believe that they also sent it USPS.

An unexpected database error occurred. Please try again later.
It's getting to be annoying.
Today starts with the infernal dishwasher again. It's an issue during this part of the year because I have to get dressed first, the long sleeves on my bathrobe snag on the upright dish supports. After that, I'll assist my wife with holiday preparations if needed and stock up the inside bin with dry firewood for the upcoming cold snap.
Busy few days coming up, with Thanksgiving tomorrow at my sister's home; that is a 75 mile drive each way. Then the immediate family get-together at our daughter's on Saturday, 60 miles each way. Monday I might have to travel north to the county seat for jury duty. Supposed to call Sunday night to see if that's still on. I have no issue doing my civic duty, but the timing is just bad.

Out in the train shed yesterday, once again I just ran trains. I think that I have finally finalized the active locomotive roster. I have narrowed it down to 53 units. I officially retired 17 units and I have 12 more that are yet to be determined. All of the Blue Box units with the clear numberboards and ugly gap for the coupler are now off the layout, even though most still run well. Some of the other retired units are Bachmann Spectrum which never ran particularly well for me, even though they are upgrades from their train set products. I have two Walther's Mainline products that are also now retired. A third is on the undecided list. I have some Athearn RTR that run well, but the handrails have deformed and look ugly. I need to look to see if replacements are available. If not, I can always take the antique metal ones off the retired ones and use them.
I would post some more museum pictures this morning, but since the site is acting too flaky, I won't waste my time. Maybe later.

Mac - My honey-do list actually has far more items on it from me than my wife!
Todd - Yes, raucous is probably an understatement for our large family gatherings. As I posted, we're all Irish Catholics and alcohol flows freely. Plus the fact that all of us get along with one another eliminates any drama.
I thought that cracks in pie crusts were normal. Both my mother and MIL, who were both great cooks/bakers, had them in theirs.
Possum - Welcome back to the Coffee Shop.
Mike - Some station that my wife listens to was playing Christmas music over a week ago. And of course, she watches the Hallmark channel all of the time. They have a "Christmas in July" event every year and start again in November.

The late Tina Turner was born on this day in 1939. She could really belt out her songs.
Everybody have a wonderful Wednesday. Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving if I don't see you tomorrow.
 
santafewillie said:
Mike - Some station that my wife listens to was playing Christmas music over a week ago. And of course, she watches the Hallmark channel all of the time. They have a "Christmas in July" event every year and start again in November.
Click to expand...
That will probably be on the TV starting Friday for my wife and daughter.

Nice thing is on the weekends when they get on a binge watch it, I will be left alone to spend plenty of time
in the basement with no "honey do"
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Clear and a chilly 39° out there today. Varied weather coming up. Upper 50's for the next 3 days with 64 on Saturday. Then winter really hits with highs in the 40's and overnight freezes for a few days. Might rain Saturday before warming up. Yesterday it was 69°.

Yesterday I finally stacked that firewood that I gathered a couple of days ago. Had to make an unexpected 25 mile round trip to town due to the jerks at Amazon. They sent an oversized package to us via USPS, and the post office doesn't deliver to our house; only to a rural mailbox 1.25 miles away. What the hell am I paying for with Prime delivery???? Another Amazon package for us is MIA right now. I believe that they also sent it USPS.

An unexpected database error occurred. Please try again later.
It's getting to be annoying.
Today starts with the infernal dishwasher again. It's an issue during this part of the year because I have to get dressed first, the long sleeves on my bathrobe snag on the upright dish supports. After that, I'll assist my wife with holiday preparations if needed and stock up the inside bin with dry firewood for the upcoming cold snap.
Busy few days coming up, with Thanksgiving tomorrow at my sister's home; that is a 75 mile drive each way. Then the immediate family get-together at our daughter's on Saturday, 60 miles each way. Monday I might have to travel north to the county seat for jury duty. Supposed to call Sunday night to see if that's still on. I have no issue doing my civic duty, but the timing is just bad.

Out in the train shed yesterday, once again I just ran trains. I think that I have finally finalized the active locomotive roster. I have narrowed it down to 53 units. I officially retired 17 units and I have 12 more that are yet to be determined. All of the Blue Box units with the clear numberboards and ugly gap for the coupler are now off the layout, even though most still run well. Some of the other retired units are Bachmann Spectrum which never ran particularly well for me, even though they are upgrades from their train set products. I have two Walther's Mainline products that are also now retired. A third is on the undecided list. I have some Athearn RTR that run well, but the handrails have deformed and look ugly. I need to look to see if replacements are available. If not, I can always take the antique metal ones off the retired ones and use them.
I would post some more museum pictures this morning, but since the site is acting too flaky, I won't waste my time. Maybe later.

Mac - My honey-do list actually has far more items on it from me than my wife!
Todd - Yes, raucous is probably an understatement for our large family gatherings. As I posted, we're all Irish Catholics and alcohol flows freely. Plus the fact that all of us get along with one another eliminates any drama.
I thought that cracks in pie crusts were normal. Both my mother and MIL, who were both great cooks/bakers, had them in theirs.
Possum - Welcome back to the Coffee Shop.
Mike - Some station that my wife listens to was playing Christmas music over a week ago. And of course, she watches the Hallmark channel all of the time. They have a "Christmas in July" event every year and start again in November.

The late Tina Turner was born on this day in 1939. She could really belt out her songs.
Everybody have a wonderful Wednesday. Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving if I don't see you tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Today’s forum issues are reminiscent to me of the issues the Railroad Line forums started having a year before it shut down
 


Well, I was up early today, got the garage swept out and heaters going, tables and chairs cleaned, so hopefully it will be warm enough for the guys to eat out there tomorrow. First batch of family arrived last, another due here in a couple of hours and more late this evening. This place is gonna be packed out! And Uncle Kevin [me!] is gonna get tons of hugs! If you don't hear from me for a couple days, don't worry.
And as my Grandpa used to say, "It don't take nearly as much water to make coffee as some folks think."
 

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Our tree is staying under the basement stairs this year (just like last year). Now that the holiday family gatherings are set for "clubhouses" at either our condos (summer) or Sis-in-Law's (weekend after Xmas) so we don't get the daughter and her boyfriend visiting. No need to spend the energy on the tree. If a grandkid ever comes along (doubtful) that may change.

As for the family gathering this weekend, my sister in South Haven Michigan wants to host. But, it's looking like near blizzard for most of Michigan from Sat to Sun. I'm not driving in that YUCK if it happens. We're in the maybe 6-10 inch band by late Sunday. Still not driving in it.
Screenshot 2025-11-26 at 12.21.27 PM.png


the weather guesser is Ryan Hall, Y'all. Good weather coverage on youtube. He's cautious in his predictions, and the above graphic came with the warning that we're still over 100+ hours out from Sunday, so things may change. But he was confident the great lakes area is getting snow of some sort this weekend.
 
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Well, I was up early today, got the garage swept out and heaters going, tables and chairs cleaned, so hopefully it will be warm enough for the guys to eat out there tomorrow. First batch of family arrived last, another due here in a couple of hours and more late this evening. This place is gonna be packed out! And Uncle Kevin [me!] is gonna get tons of hugs! If you don't hear from me for a couple days, don't worry.
 

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Well, two years ago, when I bricked my MacBook Pro, I got a new one.

Neither of the last two MacBooks had CD/DVD drives. And I got rid of most of my music CDs in the move to LA back in 2016.

But, I'm trying to listen to more music in the evening, and less of the swampy stuff out of DC via youtube.

I decided I wanted to get more of my music digitized and onto my phone. Rather than buy it all again. Or spend time trying to find it via a music app, I found a CD/DVD external drive on the Big River Store for $35 BF special. I'm currently moving those songs into my Itunes Music library. I found a box and a flip case of ripped CDs squirreled away. So, about thirty+ CDs, and only a few repeats.
591321081_25249958071311362_8618294046393574577_n.jpg


I still regret selling my CD collection when we moved. Pennies on the dollar, but it would have been two more boxes we had to pay to ship back to Indiana.

I'll start haunting the used music stores and see what I can find. And the library. But I do want to rebuild some of my favs on CDs.
 
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