Running Bear's September 2025 Coffee Shop

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Well, howdy there internet coffee shop peeps and those wondering what the @#$% Robert DeNiro was doing on Kimmel last night.

It's Troy again

Started to get a little headache this morning. So I got up and watched the great return of Jimmy K on the youtubez. Yes DeNiro made a cameo. Can't go farther due to shop rules. But you can fill in the blanks. Capiche?

Woke up with a bit of a headache... Yep. It's "Weathering" outside. And that darn front is right on top of us again. At least it's not my root canal teeth aching.

Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 4.53.01 AM.png


In other news, my Sternly Worded Email to the HOA board about the Dog 💩 on the walking trails lit a small fire. Yesterday afternoon this went out from the HOA Prez:

Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 4.55.13 AM.png


💩There was more to the email, but they took my suggestions seriously.

I may take some cleaning supplies and a scooper around today, and do what I can to clean the areas affected. I said I'd help clean up if they took action, so I will. Then I'll get even more pissed off if the dog owner continues to ignore their pet's needs, and sullies our walking trails.

Later this morning I'm heading out to get my ears lowered. That's always a fun conversation with the stylist. I bet we talk about dog excement and careless neighbors. :p

I finished reading an urban fantasy book yesterday (Urban Fantasy is adult versions of a magical world like Harry Potterland existing in a major real world city - but with adult characters. Thriller and Action vibes tied to some displace wizard or witch).

Fortunately, I know a lot of the Indie authors from my time at Author Conventions rubbing elbows across the genre. I know the author on this one, and he always has a glass of Jameson whisky in hand. It's no wonder the central point of the story was an Irish pub in a Pacific Northwest City.

Started another Urban Fantasy book, by a different author friend. I'm trying to pay attention to how they set up their alternate history approach to having magical elements in something close to "our modern day world". Usually, they have some form of magical or mundane world apocalypse event occur that unlocks the magic, or brings it out of hiding. Hmmm???

Since I'm about to branch off into Urban Fantasy for a full series I need to see the tropes and trends of well-selling series, and make sure I stay within the traffic lines when I build out my own world.

Since I've already got an existing cozy mystery world that is tied to some of the characters, I just need to open the door out into their "real world" .... and I see a need to time jump ahead and get past the crazy in our world right now. I keep asking myself, where are we going to be 10 years from now?

Zombies. That's where! Maybe. But my imagination keeps going to zombies. 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️
Yes, there are zombie emojis in the forum list! 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️
 
Good morning all!

Happy hump day!

Should be a decent day. Currently 57F heading up to a high of 73F. The rain has been taken out of the forecast. I see the warmth is
going to return for the weekend. I'm kind of ready for fall.

Not really a whole lot planned for around the house today. I do have a few errands to get done and maybe a load of laundry, but a
quiet day I hope.

Volleyball last night was a win. Kind of a long trip though. Almost 3 hour round trip for a 40 minute game. We did have Culvers for
dinner on the ride home. No game tonight so we will see if I get any train time.

Have a safe day everyone!
 


Sometimes life throws a beanball.

That is what happened to my wife and I early yesterday morning. She had been feeling poorly, early yesterday morning, it became a full-blown emergency. Complete with a trip to the ER. With pain in her back on the left side and trouble breathing I wasn't taking any chances. Women often experience back pain rather than chest pain when having a heart attack, as my mom did.

When we arrived at the ER, they wasted no time in rushing her back. Leaving me to complete the paperwork. After about 30 minutes she emerged from the back with all sorts of things hooked up to her. I was so relieved to see her return. I knew from experience it was not a heart attack if they brought you back out so quickly. She never looked more beautiful to me; she would disagree of course.

They took her back and forth for numerous tests, x-rays and finally a CAT scan. They determined she had phenomena in both lungs. My wife has a history of phenomena; it took a CAT scan to see through the scar tissue. This time she has out done herself, double phenomena!

The good news is she was already showing improvement, and they allowed her to decide if she wanted to come home. Of course she chose to come home. With instructions for me to watch her closely. She is doing well, no more pain and breathing easier. She is sleeping like a little Angel, I know because I am watching her closely.

If you can't duck the beanball, you hope to survive it. So far so good. God willing, we will survive this too. I use the word we because I would be lost without her.
 
Good morning fellow Crew people of all genders, religions, political views, biases and model type! It’s a cloudy goofy looking pre-sunrise morning where so far the dog walkers have been good neighbors and continue to pick up their animal waste.

Troy, I’d put up my own trail cam if this was a continuous issue on my sidewalks. So sad, glad your getting some action by the HOA board even if it is just notices

Weather is happening sort of. Forecasted to be a gloomy cool day where currently it is 58 heading to 70f degrees with single digit % chance of rain. The winds are at 2 to 4 mph

MIGALYTO, Mike sounds like the daughter has a good VB team. When the kid’s team is competitive it sure makes those long drives worth while. The daughter played college hockey and we hit all her away games except the 3 each season in North Dakota. Some of those Winter trips to Western Minnesota were scary snowy drives. The seasons move too quick when it’s your kid playing. Enjoy it

We did Shake Shack for dinner out last night. Used the BOGO coupon. The fries were very good and would have rated excellent but they came very salted. The hamburgers were good, double cheese burgers cooked their way which was well done but still good. I’m ok with Shake Shack because we only go only if we have the BOGO coupon. We have many better burger joints in the region. After that we dodged campus traffic to get to Kilwins Chocolates to use a BOGO coupon. Kilwins even though they are a national chain make most everything on location. We were there last week but compared to last night’s spree last week was just a minor fudge stop. I am not a fudge connoisseur as I border on not liking it at all and of course it’s horrible for my glucose levels. I rarely eat it but Terry loves it. So the 2-1 deal she ended up with was on a German chocolate cake fudge and a sea salt carmel. I had a sample sliver of the German Chocolate cake fudge and it basically melts in your mouth. I’d say the slabs sold are 1” thick, 2.5” wide and 4” long. Good deal for 2-1. I purchased a custom blended block of milk chocolate that I will cut a 1 oz. slice of every other day for months. We give chocolate as gifts to some friends and Terry spent on the remaining 2 September birthdays and 4 in October. I purchased a to die for cashew cluster carmel chocolate bear claw with my BOGO coupon. My normal bedtime glucose reading has been 108 the past 90 days average and the A1C reading last week was 5.8 at the doctor, so I lived aliitle yesterday. I ate 1/4 of 1 claw. This morning the reading was 112.

Finally we drove another 13 miles east to a Baskins Robbins. We were both surprised to find out we have one in the area as truly I thought they had gone out of business years ago. BOGO was the deal there and I got a 1 scope sundae, Terry splurged on a 2 scooper! It was fine but not as good as the local ice cream shops we have near the house. The last time Terry thinks we were at a Baskin Robbin’s was while we were dating which means 50+ years ago. It was as a kid maybe a twice a year treat and known then as 31 Flavors.

I did something last night unheard of for me. I watched a late night monologue for a late night network comedian, Jimmy Kimmel on his return to ABC. It was excellent and truly heart felt. Long live free speech
 
69°F/69°F this cool cloudy morning.

That 'wall of water' that was heading this way when I last posted, split into two areas with a shower we received as both halves passed us by. I wish I had a job (before I retired) that allowed me to be wrong more than 50% of the time and still get paid.

It was barely enough to wet the sidewalk.

Nothing scheduled today, just going to take it easy and wait for more rain their Magic 8 Ball says is coming for later today.
 
Good morning gang, and happy hump day!! 🐪🐫🐪🐫

64° under cloudy skies, heading to a high of 77° with showers likely today. I had a fright driving to work today. Driving in the dark following a line of traffic something (possible a bird?) struck the passenger side of my truck with quite a loud thump! At 50 mph there wasn't anything I could do about it but drive the last 2 miles to work. I checked the truck and there was a strange smear on the passenger rear door glass looks like some creature hit it. No feathers, no fur, and luckily no 💩 in my britches! 😆
 


Good morning all,

50 and dense fog this morning. Supposed to be dry for the next several days, lows upper 40s, highs in 70s

Perfect camping weather.

I am heading up to the Boundary Waters for a few days - no cell service. Will enjoy some solitude!

Louis- will pray for your wife's health and well-being. I have had pneumonia 3 times at age 12, 30, and 32. Rest and fluids. You may be the designated cook for a while.

Boris- shingles hit me in 2023. Some scarring on my forehead residual, thank God it did not get in my eye. Ran me down, slowed me down, woke me up.

Dave LASM
 
Troy, I’d put up my own trail cam if this was a continuous issue on my sidewalks. So sad, glad your getting some action by the HOA board even if it is just notices
I would if it were "My Property"

The joy of condo living is that all outdoor space is "shared commons". So, if we have cameras like ring doorbells, or security cams, we need approval for them. Usually not a problem on our units. they want to make sure they're not set for spying on neighbor's patios and such.

That's why I pushed the HOA to adopt the trail cams. I'd have to get approval to put them up, so let the HOA shoulder the cost. My share of that would be a few pennies.
 
Sometimes life throws a beanball.

That is what happened to my wife and I early yesterday morning. She had been feeling poorly, early yesterday morning, it became a full-blown emergency. Complete with a trip to the ER. With pain in her back on the left side and trouble breathing I wasn't taking any chances. Women often experience back pain rather than chest pain when having a heart attack, as my mom did.

When we arrived at the ER, they wasted no time in rushing her back. Leaving me to complete the paperwork. After about 30 minutes she emerged from the back with all sorts of things hooked up to her. I was so relieved to see her return. I knew from experience it was not a heart attack if they brought you back out so quickly. She never looked more beautiful to me; she would disagree of course.

They took her back and forth for numerous tests, x-rays and finally a CAT scan. They determined she had phenomena in both lungs. My wife has a history of phenomena; it took a CAT scan to see through the scar tissue. This time she has out done herself, double phenomena!

The good news is she was already showing improvement, and they allowed her to decide if she wanted to come home. Of course she chose to come home. With instructions for me to watch her closely. She is doing well, no more pain and breathing easier. She is sleeping like a little Angel, I know because I am watching her closely.

If you can't duck the beanball, you hope to survive it. So far so good. God willing, we will survive this too. I use the word we because I would be lost without her.
Good vibes heading your wife's way. I've avoided pneumonia, fortunately, except for once. It wasn't fun. Lung issues are scary.
 
Sometimes life throws a beanball.

That is what happened to my wife and I early yesterday morning. She had been feeling poorly, early yesterday morning, it became a full-blown emergency. Complete with a trip to the ER. With pain in her back on the left side and trouble breathing I wasn't taking any chances. Women often experience back pain rather than chest pain when having a heart attack, as my mom did.

When we arrived at the ER, they wasted no time in rushing her back. Leaving me to complete the paperwork. After about 30 minutes she emerged from the back with all sorts of things hooked up to her. I was so relieved to see her return. I knew from experience it was not a heart attack if they brought you back out so quickly. She never looked more beautiful to me; she would disagree of course.

They took her back and forth for numerous tests, x-rays and finally a CAT scan. They determined she had phenomena in both lungs. My wife has a history of phenomena; it took a CAT scan to see through the scar tissue. This time she has out done herself, double phenomena!

The good news is she was already showing improvement, and they allowed her to decide if she wanted to come home. Of course she chose to come home. With instructions for me to watch her closely. She is doing well, no more pain and breathing easier. She is sleeping like a little Angel, I know because I am watching her closely.

If you can't duck the beanball, you hope to survive it. So far so good. God willing, we will survive this too. I use the word we because I would be lost without her.
Hope she gets better soonest. She may feel bad about not watching you, though...
 
Louis,
I know you'll take good care of her. I'm sure her recovery will continue quickly with you there. Having just taken my wife for an ER visit I know the level of anxiety you've been through.

Just out of curiosity, is she not able to or has she had the Prevnar 20 or the PCV15 with her history?
 
Good Morning All. Raining right now and 69°. We had a brief thunderstorm earlier this morning that just barely wet the rain gauge, but there is another that will be here in a few minutes, bigger than the first. Major thunderstorms all around me last evening with several momentary power losses. Within 5 miles of me, there were a few places that got nearly 1" of rain according to the Weather Underground stations located there. I only got 0.25" in my gauge. The ones here now were not even on the radar 2 hours ago, just popped up out of nowhere. Last night and this morning's storms are not violent ones like Sunday night. 10 day forecast shows cooler weather for a week with highs just in the upper 80's before 90's appear again. My high reading yesterday was 96°.

A cardiologist visit is on tap for me today. Another follow-up. It's at the insane time of 12 noon! My wife must have been the one who agreed on the time without my input. On our last visit, she made the appointment while I was still talking to the PA in the hallway.
Yesterday's visit to the dental hygienist was just routine, no problems to discuss. Before going to that afternoon appointment, I cut and split more firewood and mowed for about 15 minutes. Later on, I made what will be the last visit to the pool this season. Water was even warm enough for my wife at 84°. I thought that the last visit was going to be about three weeks ago, but Mother Nature was just fooling us back around Labor Day. While this is a little later in the season than average, we have gone into October before, last year being one year.

Another shortened day in the train shed yesterday. I temporarily set aside my figures that I am working on until I build up my reserve of patience. Even though I now know which sets of arms go with which bodies, they don't fit well. I am looking at a super-human effort with a file, some super glue and then some body putty to get everything together like I want them. The drummer and band leader will be easy since they just need the arms attached, but the other four with the instruments just don't fit right. Doing anything with them will take more time than I have in one sitting right now and I don't want to interrupt in the midst of doing them. Probably this weekend when I don't have medical/dental appointments to interrupt my day.
Instead, I sorted through some trees that I made last spring and touched them up a tiny bit. I have about 40 of them that I either made or rehabbed, which I got from Chet, that suffered on the 1000 mile journey here.

Speaking of Chet, I spoke with him for about 20 minutes on Monday. He wishes everyone well and he and the two dogs are doing well. He misses modeling and is getting ready to dispose of his remaining stuff. I told him to get back on the forum and advertise some of it here. I plan to get some more vehicles from him, but I have all of the structures that I can use. I previously got about 20 structures, many of which I featured in past Coffee Shops. Todd, you need to go over and see him to see what's left.

Swal - Is that a castle next door in the picture that you posted in post #1493???
Mike - Why didn't the city remove the 6 evergreens since it was their sidewalk?
Dave - I'm with you on the cruises. Not just the crowds, but the expanse of water with no land in sight.
John - I have had to repair racoon damage to my Havahart trap a couple of times. I'm surprised that both of your visitors died in the trap. None of mine were that easy to remove. They don't like being inside, but it can be a real pain to get them out!
Louis - Wow! Hated to read about Angela. And I thought it was a different reason that you didn't post anything yesterday morning. My prayers are with her for a speedy recovery.

Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday while I watch the raindrops fall into the pool; which doesn't need more water!
 


Sometimes life throws a beanball.

That is what happened to my wife and I early yesterday morning. She had been feeling poorly, early yesterday morning, it became a full-blown emergency. Complete with a trip to the ER. With pain in her back on the left side and trouble breathing I wasn't taking any chances. Women often experience back pain rather than chest pain when having a heart attack, as my mom did.

When we arrived at the ER, they wasted no time in rushing her back. Leaving me to complete the paperwork. After about 30 minutes she emerged from the back with all sorts of things hooked up to her. I was so relieved to see her return. I knew from experience it was not a heart attack if they brought you back out so quickly. She never looked more beautiful to me; she would disagree of course.

They took her back and forth for numerous tests, x-rays and finally a CAT scan. They determined she had phenomena in both lungs. My wife has a history of phenomena; it took a CAT scan to see through the scar tissue. This time she has out done herself, double phenomena!

The good news is she was already showing improvement, and they allowed her to decide if she wanted to come home. Of course she chose to come home. With instructions for me to watch her closely. She is doing well, no more pain and breathing easier. She is sleeping like a little Angel, I know because I am watching her closely.

If you can't duck the beanball, you hope to survive it. So far so good. God willing, we will survive this too. I use the word we because I would be lost without her.
Louis-I will also send thoughts and prayers your way!

Hopefully its a speedy recovery!
 
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