Running Bear's August 2021 Coffee Shop


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by the time I finish this, it better be open!
We had a 94F high today with "quite" windy - typical!
This year is slipping by rather fast!
typical!
This year is slipping by rather fast!
Here's to a happy August! with a color photo- GP38-2 at TULSA, OK - February, 1980
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Well howdy there internet MRR people

It's Troy again

Happy August. Hope it's a good one for everyone.

Had some fun gaming yesterday. Played SAGA-Age of Vikings in a training game. I'm the newbie, and I showed up with a fully painted warband, minus one dude I had to borrow to make my points (Dang! Thought I had counted correctly.) My opponent still had his warband in their PJs. (unpainted metal and primed plastics)

Fun game, even if it was a training game. I technically squeaked out a win, but my trainer/opponent was not worrying about strategy, just about showing me what and how. The poor Celtic bloke below barely survived the third charge on his unit of 8 men by the mounted Normans... The fourth charge didn't go so well for him as he took it by himself.

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Also, I got up at the usual 5 am today... after breakfast, emptying the dishwasher, and putzing... I ventured out into the dark of the patio... Dang... the porch light doesn't reach far enough.

Back inside for an LED Lantern....

Then I remembered I still had to clean the ash out of the Kamado Joe grill...

Into the garage for the little broom and metal pail...

Once that was done, time for the charcoal... need enough for a ten hour cook...

Got it going, put the slow-roller in (pictured below, minus top plate, drip pan and grates)

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Then put the meat on about 6:45am

Wonder what we're having? Share your guess in a comment. I'll post a pic later today and see who got it correct.
 
Greetings and a fortuitous August to all. I'm ready for a change.

The weather seems to be moderating and hopefully the Big Heat is behind us for this year. Now if the smoke will just clear out. Nie day for a bike ride, but with so much smoke in the air from the Canada fires, I am worried about stressing missus' and my lungs. She has to fly Monday and Tuesday, so will be masked form several hours each day. Oh joy.

No train work done Friday or Saturday, well, except for a bit of detail painting whilst the dogs eating supper last night. WIfeykins did in fact return from her haywire day in need of TLC and alkyhaul so took her out. Yesterday spent the morning recovering (!) and then the afternoon touring a local craft distillery. Fascinating tour! Very educational and interesting Studio Distilling

Came home for a nap from which I fully expected to get up and work for an hour or so. But slept too long. Met daughter and BF for dinner at Greek restaurant and home early for some more TLC with the beautiful wife. WOke up this morning at 0430 and could not get back to sleep (perhaps the long nap yesterday) so got up at 0530 and start my morning routine. "Coffee, Flo!! - And get Vera on that reserve pot pronto!"

So instead of the bike ride after church - some outside chores and then train work. Should be a nice day. -------- Steve J
 
Good Morning!
59F this morning, and it's daylight at 6:00am. I still can't tell if there's blue sky outside with all the smoke in the air. Probably, if you could get above the smoke, you would see blue and not cloud. - I've seen Airsprays 4-engine Electra water bombers flying over the house.

I must take the wife downtown for a rapid test this morning. She was sent home from her work yesterday due to suspected Covid symptoms, but, her employers arn't doctors. So, we'll get her a test, and she if she can return to work when she's feeling better. We've both had the two jabs. - If she has Covid, then she must have caught it at work, as we haven't been anywhere or seen anyone close-up.

Troy - I don't know enough about cooking to wager a guess; but, I'm going to say it's a piece of pottery you made up out of mud. What else takes 10hrs in the kiln.

Here's a photo of a boxcar I would like to model. I already have proper Black Cat decals and a six-pack of the Tichy boxcars, so all I need is cooler weather and the motivation:
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I can't remember who's photo that is, but, it's not one of mine. Think it was taken in the early 70's.

I'm sure happy with that new Fuji camera I bought. The longer telephoto on it is helping me out. Here's a Chickadee photo I took using it yesterday:
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I will be testing the camera out on trains as soon as I get a chance. Results coming forthwith.

Well I better get ready to take the wife. Still have to walk the dog first. Have a good one!!
 
Good morning and here’s to a healthy and happy August, 2021. It is still 63f degrees on the front deck of the homestead in So Central Wisconsin. This morning though there is a double digit wind and it feels cooler then the last few mornings. The fire haze has been rather thick the last few days and yesterday there seemed to be a smell of a wood fire in the air.

I was at the office yesterday when FEMA rang the door bell. With FEMA was a NWS person. They were checking the damaged areas in Verona and the office is on the lists. They were still trying to determine if it was a tornado or not. I asked what the difference was. A declaration that a tornado hit will allow FEMA to pour resources into cleanup of the neighborhood and makes available low interest loans.

RANT is following:

SKIP starting here.
This is a high end neighborhood that has six duplexes across the street from a luxury apartment complex. They are all located at the main entrance to the subdivision. Beyond this area of the subdivision are higher end homes mainly in the $450,000 to 800,000 range. I seriously doubt any of them need FEMA’s help. The apartments, the townhouses and the 6 duplex’s are considered “affordable”housing. The duplexes are valued by the tax assessor at around $400,000 on each unit of the 2 or roughly 800,000 for total. The studio apartments go for 1650 per month and there are 32 of those. The 2bed 2bath go for 2250 per month with under ground parking and there are 311 of those. The 12 townhouses which are really more glorified duplexes rent for 3500 a month. Unless you look for the 4 corners of the apartment roofs that are tarpped to blend with the roof tiles, the neighborhood debris was gone by 8 PM Friday. Crazy as there are other places FEMA can concentrate on.

RANT over back to our regular programming.

Thanks and sorry but I needed that. My wife and my sister are very much on the same political specter. While I tend to bend to their beliefs this is one of those times I definitely don’t. I needed a release.

We were around town yesterday. Morning at the office, hit a farmers market and spent the afternoon on the UW Madison campus at Alumni park on the lake and the Memorial Union next to it. I am a little red from the sun but the cheese curds were excellent, the fries were supreme but the onion rings were ordinary. The grandkids had a good well behaved time, the daughter and SIL were just trying to relax. The ice cream on the way home was soooooo good.

Today’s adventure is 2 hours driving to Racine on the Lake Michigan west coast or SE Wisconsin. We were originally heading to TErry’s youngest brother’s girlfriend mother’s wake, funeral and dinner. Say that 10 times. Her mom was 96. He strongly suggested with Covid spiking that we don’t come to a family wake and funeral mass that will be huge and more then 70% of her family are unvaccinated and will not wear any masks. Andy and Renee have been together for over 20 years but she won’t marry him. She is very conscious regarding health and especially Covid. Her 11 brothers and sisters and their families are not. So we go anyway for a pizza on the lakefront and a visit with Terry’s best friend. She is the lady that had the NBA finals tickets. I am the designated driver. Hopefully I can stop at Hiawatha Hobbies as I want 1 more CN Gp40-2w Athearn Genesis at $113.00, Dcc ready.

enjoy the day
TomO

Covid Warning
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Good Morning!
59F this morning, and it's daylight at 6:00am. I still can't tell if there's blue sky outside with all the smoke in the air. Probably, if you could get above the smoke, you would see blue and not cloud. - I've seen Airsprays 4-engine Electra water bombers flying over the house.

I must take the wife downtown for a rapid test this morning. She was sent home from her work yesterday due to suspected Covid symptoms, but, her employers arn't doctors. So, we'll get her a test, and she if she can return to work when she's feeling better. We've both had the two jabs. - If she has Covid, then she must have caught it at work, as we haven't been anywhere or seen anyone close-up.

Troy - I don't know enough about cooking to wager a guess; but, I'm going to say it's a piece of pottery you made up out of mud. What else takes 10hrs in the kiln.

Here's a photo of a boxcar I would like to model. I already have proper Black Cat decals and a six-pack of the Tichy boxcars, so all I need is cooler weather and the motivation:
View attachment 130590
I can't remember who's photo that is, but, it's not one of mine. Think it was taken in the early 70's.

I'm sure happy with that new Fuji camera I bought. The longer telephoto on it is helping me out. Here's a Chickadee photo I took using it yesterday:
View attachment 130591
I will be testing the camera out on trains as soon as I get a chance. Results coming forthwith.

Well I better get ready to take the wife. Still have to walk the dog first. Have a good one!!

guy.

Great detailed pictures. Best to your better half on her Covid test. That must be scary to her and you.

TomO
 
Sun's UP! Looks as if we are in for another 95 degree, sunny, and breezy day - it was a 96 high yesterday.

The Marine SIL made it here from Camp Lejeune last evening around 10 PM. Everyone was glad to see him - as expected!

They are all starting to wander down so I will adjourn for a bit.

TomO - I got lost in the middle of your post? Still in the maze! Help - LOL !!
 
Good Morning Everyone. Clear and 76° to start August in North Central Texas. Still have a cool front approaching with a large area of rain also coming from over the Far North Texas Panhandle. Hope that it makes it here before petering out. While it might hit 94° later today, the high is going to hover around the low 90's until next Saturday. We're fortunate here in that we've seen very little smoke and haze from the Left Coast fires. Prayers for anyone out there who might be impacted. Hopefully it will rain here today and put a damper on potential grassfires; conditions are just about right except there is no real wind to speak of.
We had a nice visit from my granddaughter and her parents yesterday, I grilled burgers for all. My daughter made a dessert where she coated bananas in chocolate and put them in the freezer for a while. They were tasty, but not something that I will ever make for us.

Why not have Mel make me a couple of giant breakfast burritos this morning Francine. Spicy salsa and a tall OJ on the side.

Thanks to all who liked the photos yesterday; Christian, Tom O, Steve J, Karl, Rick, Gary S, Boris, Guy, Garry, Jaz, Chad, Ken, Sherrel.

The only time spent out in the train shed yesterday, was with my granddaughter. I let her run a train on the lower level from staging at one end to staging at the other end. She was excited as usual. She is extremely disappointed that she can't see or run trains on the upper level yet, my boosters are only 5" tall, just enough for me to work on most areas.
I don't remember which pictures that I posted last month, so I'll post some random pictures from over ten years ago. I'll start with a couple from my last layout before I dismantled and moved to the train shed.
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Here's one non-railroad one that I took while out for a walk one evening.
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That owl was just as surprised as I was to see each other as I rounded a bend. It's standing on a rotted hay bale with a rodent between it's feet, which was left there when it flew away before I could get a second shot.
Here's a shot of the train shed while under construction.
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The opening to the left is for the adjacent storage room. Here's an interior view of the train room itself.
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Guy - Haven't figured out yet who or what is eating the grasshoppers besides the large yellow/black spiders, but their numbers are going down. For a while I chewed them up with the mower, but I have only mowed once in the last week. By the way, I have counted at least a dozen of those spiders close to the house. They are tidy and don't put their webs in places that I would normally walk; unlike the brownish-yellow ones who string a new web every night after I knock them down in the morning.
1970 Mustang across tracks huh? Sounds like you know it firsthand.
Tom O - That was great that the contractor lent you the magnetic things. We once had an assistant manager who ran one of those things through the plant after work and then reprimanded the departments where he found too many screws on the floor! Eventually he stopped when he realized that employees from one department were taking screws from their work stations and tossing them in other departments! He had come to me with a large handful from one area, and I had to point out that the department that he collected them from didn't use that type of fastener! I also made him sort them out and return them to production and figure out who used what in the plant. We used close to a million screws a week during times of full production. I had to have two primary and one secondary supplier.
Terry - I sure hope that things turn out as you hope that they will with the doggie. One of our previous granddogs went through the same symptoms before....
Hughie - I like the looks of the Old Dominion Broom Co. I have had enough eye exercise assembling them in HO, even with Optivisors. N scale must really be a tough workout.
Ken - Wall is looking good. I use black construction paper behind windows. I don't remember whether I got it at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Probably available at Wally World too, but I avoid that place at all costs.
Steve (Dakota) - I'm sure that you're glad to have found Little Joe.

Today, August 1st, is Respect for Parents Day. What a shame! When I was growing up, that was every day of your life.
Everyone have a great day.
 
Good Morning all and happy August. Wow, the year is simply slipping by. It seems with the Covid limitations early in the year and seemingly returning, I've got little done. Some 2,000 miles put on the car but alas, only to go to the grocery store. Not one long road trip, and none planned.

Another hot one.

I hope to continue with the Old Dominion project and maybe run a train or 2 later this afternoon.

Willie - Looking at the empty room and thinking what a railroad empire I could build in N gauge.
Troy - A brisket or a clog?
Guy - Great bird pic.
Steve (Dakota) - How do you spell relief

STAY SAFE

LATER
 
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wrapped it for the cheat.

Had a dickens of a time trying to get the temp down after I got too much heat soaked into the ceramic dome. Too much is bad. Took a while to cool it down... then to warm it back up... Should have taken the extra half an hour to dial it in before adding the meat.

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Happy Sunday gang!

The lawn is cut, next months bills are paid, the house is clean and the washer is humming away in the next room. Life is good!

Bud is up and down. 1 day he has trouble walking, the next day you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with him except for a slight limp. SWMBO and the Vet have been in almost daily communication, adjusting med levels trying to get a handle on it. So far its like trying to pick up a greased pig. Just when you think you have it, whooooppss!!

Thinning the fleet continues. If anyone here is interested I have 3 candidates that are in perfect condition, but their boxes got wet and molded/fell apart. The Styrofoam inserts are fine on the Pennsy units, and the plastic "clamshell" for the WM unit is fine. I've tested them all on my DC test track and they run fine.
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Walthers H10-44. Runs smooth an quiet, headlight doesn't work. I do have the "goodie bag" with the handrails and other parts for installation.

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E-R Model FP7. This seems to be an exact copy of an Atlas FP7. Runs great, light works.

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Finally an Athearn RTR GP40 in WM "Circus" scheme. Nice loco, just not my favorite paint scheme. Real WM units are black! See the forum members sale pages for pricing.

BBL
 
Time for some modelling, this was a scratchbuild
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balsa wood, sized from googlemaps, cork,paint,’grass’,peco fencing,ballast
and original al for comparison
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Whoever guessed "Resting Pork Butt" is the winner, winner, pork butt dinner.

Yes, below pic is a real app on my phone. Goes with the probe sticking up out of the foil wrapped meat.

Very juicy, nice smoke ring, and tasty on the pulled pork.

Now... who's got suggestions on what to make with the un-sauced leftovers?


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