Running Bear's October 2023 Coffee Shop

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------ thinking back on things I used to be able to do back in the day, but which are long lost:

Ah! Those were the days. ------
Struggling to play sports, but rather difficult using my right arm and hand. (Told repeatedly I was lazy. Just recently told I had a mild stroke when I was born)
Still continued to play sports though - soccer, rugby and cricket. Not very good I add.

Now arthritis is 'hitting me hard' in my left hand. Railway modelling is taking a while to do now. I guess it is more the running of trains now. The scenery has to take a step back.

After the rain at Clarence Dock

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A smaller gym for these games. One of our guys had the keys and we played every Tuesday night for about eight years.

Half size courts, but we played both ends. Hard tile floor, like the floors you'll find in any grade school, and in fact it was. This was the auditorium, and there was an elevated stage at the south end.

Smaller group, no top level NCAA quality players here.

Maybe seven months before we finally closed up shop a new guy comes in. Big body, big zipper on his left knee due to an obvious knee surgery, and maybe one on his right too. Memory a bit vague about that one, but he does look familiar somehow too.

We're both even height, so we always match up head-to-head.

I've got him cold from outside. I'm good, and he can't jump much, zippers or not. Plus I've got the longer arms. He can't block my shots at all.

But inside he's got the big body and knows how to use it. So it's pretty much an even wash every week as far as our scoring goes.

We have our misunderstandings--he put me in the ER a handful of times for stitches, but he's a clean player, and without malice. A good sportsman. On one occasion he undercut me when I went up and he turned me sideways...and it's a hard fall from about eight feet up. A lot of blood after that one. If I was a boxer, I'd be a guy who's easily cut. But still all fair, as in both love and war.

He's also really quiet. Never says a loud word, even when calling a foul--you almost can't hear him, but he's THERE, and you can't ignore him.

After five months I finally find out his name is "Bob." But only second hand--he never told me himself, as best I remember.

------------

So...the last night we play together, he brings in a friend...who I recognize immediately as Steve Foley, starting safety for the Denver Broncos in the first Super Bowl. The Broncos lost to Dallas. There are no introductions or greetings though, so we all just get right into it.

After an hour and a half we are all gassed, and we are all lined up for a drink from the tiny little fountain at the wall...and are in recovery mode around the stage at the south end. Bob and Steve are up on the stage talking, when Steve suddenly turns to me and says in a loud voice: So Snow...what Junior College did you play for?

I'm pretty embarrassed by this. "Well I'm flattered Steve, and thanks...but I've never played even organized high school ball."

His left eyebrow shoots up and he gets a bit of a scowl--he's a Cajun guy--big eyebrows, as if he thinks I'm pulling his chain or something.

Now...even pro players watch the local news, so they know the local scene...and he knows.

"I went to Boulder High...and I wouldn't have made the team."

Well, he gets one of those "Ah, OK" expressions on his face. So he nods and turns back again to talk to Bob....

Ours was a State Championship caliber team you see, and I could only ever have hoped to play Junior Varsity at best--never varsity, but never did play even JV. So I was telling him the truth. Never even really learned how to dribble with both hands, in fact, until I forced myself to learn so I could play up at the CU gym.

-------------

So Steve turns away and I lean over to ask Terry--he's the guy who has the keys to the gym...and this is our last night....

"So Terry...how does Bob know Steve Foley?"

He looks at me and laughs...loudly...for about ten seconds.

At which point he realizes I actually don't know.

"Good grief! You really don't know, do you?"

Of course I've realized by now I've committed some sort of huge social gaffe but...no, I don't know.

"You've been playing against him all this time and you don't even know who he is?" It's more a statement than a question.

"Bob is Bob Swenson."

HEADSLAP! Well of course he is, and that's why he looks so familiar.

Bob is one of the original four "Orange Crush" linebackers. He's the guy Dan Reeves built the entire defense around, in fact.

But I had not a clue until that last moment. Doh!!!

================

Still, and even though I never seemed to get the memo's until "after-the-ball was over," as mom would say, those were good days. Fun stuff, even if I didn't realize it until after the fact in some cases.
 


Ruptured my left Achilles about ten years back. Always used to jump off my left foot and had a pretty decent twenty-four inch vertical. But now I can't jump even a tenth of a millimeter. The calf muscle is still there, but it's withered due to lack of actual work, being unattached to the left heel.
I guess it's been getting to me the last few days...the then and now thing. We all go through it, of course. Just my week for it, I guess.

The list of things I need to do just to keep up with rate things break down vs. things I ever could do is just...such a mismatch....

Eff word. And then another. And then another.

============

Thanks for listening.
 
Ruptured my left Achilles about ten years back. Always used to jump off my left foot and had a pretty decent twenty-four inch vertical. But now I can't jump even a tenth of a millimeter. The calf muscle is still there, but it's withered due to lack of actual work, being unattached to the left heel.
I guess it's been getting to me the last few days...the then and now thing. We all go through it, of course. Just my week for it, I guess.

The list of things I need to do just to keep up with rate things break down vs. things I ever could do is just...such a mismatch....

Eff word. And then another. And then another.

============

Thanks for listening.
I feel your pain Snowman, my left calf is withering away as well and I hate it. I can still walk and that is most important.
 
Ah! Those were the days. ------
Struggling to play sports, but rather difficult using my right arm and hand. (Told repeatedly I was lazy. Just recently told I had a mild stroke when I was born)
Still continued to play sports though - soccer, rugby and cricket. Not very good I add.

Now arthritis is 'hitting me hard' in my left hand. Railway modelling is taking a while to do now. I guess it is more the running of trains now. The scenery has to take a step back.

After the rain at Clarence Dock

View attachment 174774
You have an eye for grime, and I don't say it lightly. It's hard to do without overdoing it,

It looks oily...and smells of diesel, cinders and creosote (or whatever you use over there in the UK). I'm impressed.
 
I feel your pain Snowman, my left calf is withering away as well and I hate it. I can still walk and that is most important.
Yeah, and I try to remind myself of that. I have a friend who probably could have played then for the Buffs. Not a starter, but he'd have been there.

He has MS now. Left leg shorter by two inches than his right, foot twisted off at such an angle that he has special shoes made...big foam wedge on the outside. He was wheelchair bound for a year or two but he's back on his feet again.

Religious man too. And he says he's "one of the luckiest people on earth."

Well there's a headslap right there. But if I remember to look at it the right way--"pick myself up by my own hair and hold myself at arms length for a good, hard look," as I often say*--he's right and I'm a lot more fortunate than he is myself. The human condition pretty much sucks, and I've got it really good compared to most...but here I am whining and feeling sorry for myself. Meh!

Sometimes I stink...and not always because I need a shower. :-/

[*need to remind myself of my own all-too-trite words sometimes]
 
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Good Morning All. Clear, absolutely still and 67° out there this morning. Last two days of 90°+ temperatures coming up, so the pool will be shut down and covered on Friday. Rain in the forecast for Wednesday and now Thursday. While the water temperature is still in the 82°-83° range right now, it will drop rapidly with the cloudiness and the upcoming night time temperatures in the 50's starting Friday. We actually got about 2 1/2 extra weeks of good usage this season. There's no way I will pay to heat it, especially when you get out and the air is well below the water temperature.

Back to the doctor grind today, a quarterly appointment with my primary care guy at 9:15. After that, the prep for the capsule endoscopy scheduled for tomorrow. Similar to a colonoscopy prep but a little less severe. They want you empty before you swallow that capsule with the camera inside it. I won't go into the other yucky details, but it involves recovering that capsule. Interesting technology with the whole procedure, a camera and memory chip inside a capsule that takes 50,000 pictures of the inside of the small intestine. I assume that there is a power source in there too. Supposedly better and more accurate than the alternate of a capsule broadcasting to an external monitor strapped to you for 6 hours or so. Gee, I wonder if I get the video???

While on the medical front, I was informed that my sister-in-law has come down with Covid. Surprising because until she retired after the last school year, she was the principal of a Catholic grade school that didn't go to remote learning during the panic. She never contracted it back then.

Yesterday was generally wasted on household chores, emptying the dishwasher, two loads of laundry, early prep of the Carnitas for supper, (searing and getting in the crock pot before church), and helping my wife program the new automatic robotic vacuum cleaner. Briefly saw some of the Cowboy's game in the afternoon, looks like they had the Patriots number quite handily. I don't really keep up with sports any more, but the Cowboys do look interesting this year. But, if I am going to be indoors for any reason, the train shed takes priority.

Yesterday out in the train shed, I ran trains. I ran what Santa Fe called a "sweeper train". That was a crew that went out and picked up all of the empty freight cars in a given area. It was more efficient for them to do that than have the local switching crew deal with the extra movements when spotting or picking up loaded cars.
I also checked out locations for my next upgrade/finishing project. I picked an area in Ft Wish next to one that I finished up early last year.
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First step though is to install the overhead light fixture (that I bought last month) under the upper deck and paint more of the backdrop to the left.

Joe - Glad to read that you were not severely affected by the rains up there. When it actually rains here, 8" in a week is not unusual, but it is not a catastrophe like in the concrete jungle of NYC. Perhaps Mayor Addams can put illegal migrants to work cleaning the storm sewers! Wouldn't that cause an uproar?
Mike - Belated Happy Anniversary wishes.
Tom O - Best wishes for your son.
Todd - Happy Birthday to your wife. I like warm boobs as well.
Justin - Neat looking airplanes.
Karl - Love the doggie picture. She has a good home.
David - No more pets here either. Not a problem with leaving them alone in the house, but concerns about their care if something happens to either or both of us. One less concern in our daily lives.

Everybody have a great day.
 
Morning fellers. I hope everyone is well. Have to get tires installed on my wife's car this morning. The price of that endeavor is enough to make me dependent on antacids. Stumbled on something I forgot I even had yesterday. I found a decal sheet for c&o and b&o units. If I remember correctly I purchased these to do up a c&o gp40. Thinking I might do up a gp38 instead. Granted if I can find a pre -2 shell.
IMG20231001183136.jpg
That's all I have for now. I'll stop by again when I get a chance.
 
Morning all,

Supposed to be another record\near record heat day in the area, high of 93°. Supposed to get some rain tomorrow night and into Wednesday, yeah right! But supposed to be in the low to mid 70's the remainder of the week. That will be nice, it is autumn. Got the toilets bought and ordered for the bathrooms. One is in the garage and the other should be here after we get the flooring in. Why it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to get to the store when it's in a warehouse in Kansas City is beyond me. At least it's the one for the basement. That gives me a little more time.

Pet sitting the daughter's dogs and cat. The cat is a shop cat that lives in a crate while at my house. She is a sweet thing, but I'm not really into cats.
The dogs though are in the house and drive the wife nuts. Kids keep thinking I need another dog as one of the dogs currently in residence was one I picked at the shelter. Daughter and granddaughter took him over when they left and I've been without since. They even send pics of dogs I need to get. I keep telling them I'm not getting another dog. In some ways, I'd like to get another one, but just not now. I no longer have the messes to clean up, food and medicines to buy, Vet bills, etc.

Oh well, Time enough for a cinnamon Roll and a Diet Coke this morning, Thanks Flo! And put everyone's beverage of choice on my tab.
 


Morning fellers. I hope everyone is well. Have to get tires installed on my wife's car this morning. The price of that endeavor is enough to make me dependent on antacids. Stumbled on something I forgot I even had yesterday. I found a decal sheet for c&o and b&o units. If I remember correctly I purchased these to do up a c&o gp40. Thinking I might do up a gp38 instead. Granted if I can find a pre -2 shell.
View attachment 174780
That's all I have for now. I'll stop by again when I get a chance.
What is a pre-2 shell? Athearn GP38 bluebox shell perhaps?
 
Good morning.
After a pretty pointed discussion about being charged more $$$ without being told about it, they first told me it was in the copy of the papers they gave me when I moved in. I handed them the manilla folder containing said papers and asked them to point it out to me. After they admitted they forgot to give them to me, they did find an error where they were supposed to have reduced the electric allowance, leaving a net increase of less than $10/month. This will be a permanent increase and adjustment.
 
I got my 2022 taxes done finally! I will wait another day to file so that I can review them again for the third time.
LOUIS - I am happy that I am not in this boat alone! I have a couple hours work left and will get the whole mess to the accountant this afternoon!

DAVID, MIKE, and all others -- who are celebrating important "family" functions - Happy Birthdays .. Happy Anniversaries .. and any other Happy Days there are?

WILLIE - I'd have to look long and hard to come up with a tale that is both as amusing and tragic as burning down the house - that one ranks at the top of the list!

I'd better get busy for the moment. It has been totally overcast with drizzle and cool for the past couple days. Today is loking better with 76f for a high and sunny.
Later, guys!
 
Well,

I just had a 1 on 1 with HR.


I get another $1.50 per hour starting January 1st and another $1.60 on January 1st 2025. Along they way I'll also get my usual Merit raise. The raise is split between 2 years as they need to ease the budget to bring our pay up to what other area municipalities pay.
 
Well,

I just had a 1 on 1 with HR.


I get another $1.50 per hour starting January 1st and another $1.60 on January 1st 2025. Along they way I'll also get my usual Merit raise. The raise is split between 2 years as they need to ease the budget to bring our pay up to what other area municipalities pay.
Thats great Monday morning news.

Now you can negotiate a little more in the train budget.
 


You have an eye for grime, and I don't say it lightly. It's hard to do without overdoing it,

It looks oily...and smells of diesel, cinders and creosote (or whatever you use over there in the UK). I'm impressed.

Simple to do really. Patches of clear varnish on plastic gives a wet/dry look after rainfall. Clear varnish in small holes to give the look of puddles. Larger puddles have a piece of thin plastic over the varnish.
Darken the walls of the warehouses with water that has a very small amount of black paint in it. Do that in patches to give the wet/dry look. A small scattering of very tiny pieces of real coal and coal dust on the dock floor.

I do not use lighting, but if anyone does, keep everything as dull and dingy looking. In real life the bulbs would have been there a long time. Nobody would ever clean the bulbs or shades.

Just a case of 'See what you see and not what you thought you saw'.
 
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