Running Bear's December 2019 Coffee Shop


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Good evening morning Shop Dwellers! I'm up way past my bedtime, but I just had to share this story:

We had an excellent Christmas, three out of four kids and their Significant Others were here (the other daughter was in Sherrell's town celebrating with SIL's family). As soon as I had finished with all my prep work for the Feast, I sat at the laptop to peruse the Forum; but first, I checked my Gmail inbox for some cellphone photos I had sent to myself, and deleted ~a dozen spam messages from the usual suspects (BestBuy, Michaels, Modeltrainstuff, TrainWorld and a few others). The cellphone photo messages were there but I didn't have time to edit them, 'cuz dinner was being served.

Everybody was reflecting on the various gifts they had gotten, and my 24yr-old daughter asked me "Hey Dad, did you get the email I sent you this morning?" [me] "Ummm..no. When did you send it?" [D] "Last night." [me] "Strange, I didn't see anything with your sender ID on it." [D] "It didn't come directly from my account, but from the vendor's." (Uh-oh...!) I mentioned that I might have deleted it, and she said "Bring up Gmail on your Android and let me see it." I told her to look in the "Trash" folder, which she did - then a few seconds later she said "Ok, here it is!" It was the Modeltrainstuff.com "spam" message that I had nuked earlier. I opened the message and, lo & behold - a $100 MB Klein Gift Certificate that I almost carelessly threw away.:eek::rolleyes:

I felt like an idiot, but my daughter reassured me that she, too, gets inundated with spam messages from her favorite vendors and ignores them if she's not expecting anything from them. I moved the gift certificate message back to the Inbox and marked it "unread" to keep it displaying at the top of the list. Bottom line is: When clearing out your spam messages on or near Christmas Day, make sure you read what is in them first!!!

(Now back to our regular programming...)
 
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Merry late Christmas to everyone. I do hope everyone is doing well. Nothing new really to report on. Seeing as how its supposedly winter eventhough it's been in the upper 60s here. How about some footage of Chessie in the snow? Label on this one is Chessie System 2. It's the follow up to my previous video share.
Before I forget. My one and only train related christmas gift. I know there are cheaper alternatives to this kit. However I'm not the one who bought it. It's always a surprise to get model railroad anything.
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Good Morning All. 46° and dense fog again. Should lead to another picture perfect day later, not quite as warm as yesterday's 70°, but close. A pleasant Christmas Day here at both of my daughter's homes yesterday. Grandkids were a handful and all were real excited. I got a bunch of model railroading stuff which I will post pictures later over on the Christmas present thread. It was all scenery items since I already have too many freight cars and engines(???). Day two of the holiday marathon is today with a 80 mile trip (each way) to my wife's side of the family's celebration at her niece's home. Not expecting gifts there, but the Mexican themed meal will be fantastic. Last night's prime rib and $50/bottle wine was fantastic.
Got home late last night to the sounds of the local coyotes barking at the departing reindeer; it was quite a symphony.
Part of the trip home was rather tense with a couple of places where there were drivers going 60mph in the leftmost lane of four; speed limit was 75 through those areas. Quite the hassle. One can't help but think that they knew they were obstructing traffic!@#$%&:mad: Or they were just belligerent a$$holes.

Just a couple of eggs over easy this morning Flo, maybe a handful of bacon to go with it.

Nothing to report from the train shed, as I didn't step into it yesterday. My engineers are getting a long Christmas curfew until tomorrow. Not to worry though, all of the bars are open.
Digging back in the archives brings us an old fashioned country store. This is a JL Innovative laser kit with a few extra details
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Tom - Very nice looking patches.
Alan - I know nothing about passenger cars, but I am sure that you will do a great job.

Have great day everyone. Happy Boxing Day to those in the Commonwealth.
 
The wife and I spent Christmas at home, alone. Could have gone to my brother's, but we were just too bloody tired. At the moment, we're back in Detroit, at the hospital. The heart guy was just in and said we're "getting near the end of the road." The plan is to remove her breathing tube today and let whatever happens, happen.
 
Good morning America! I hope everyone made it through the Christmas madness with their sanity intact. No matter how hectic it is at the time, after a little time to reflect, it all seems worth it and we're ready to do it again next year!

Christmas day was 64 degrees! It's 50 right now with a predicted high of 61. It seems like October, rather than December. I WILL appreciate this little bit of "summer" while it lasts! No opportunity to ride the motorcycle yesterday and it doesn't look good for today.

Tom- Nice patch job. Are you going to add any graffiti, or is that more common after your era?

Sherrel- Looks like a great way to spend Christmas!

Alan- That's a beautiful paint job! Maybe one day I'll get a chance to practice painting. I got a Badger air brush last year for Christmas but still haven't used it. I plan on learning now that I'm retired!

Ken- That was close a one on the MBK gift certificate! Glad that worked out.

Justin- Nice video. Boxcars that still had big emblems and little or no graffiti and being run in the train with open doors! Things sure have changed!
WS anything is pricey, but usually very good.

Willie- A Mexican meal would be a blast for Christmas. Hope you enjoy it all. I'm like you, more in need of scenery type items for my trains, other than some more sound decoders. Really like it when you, and all the others, post pictures of your layouts. I don't care if they're new ones or old ones, they're all good ones!

Beady- Sorry to hear that. You and your wife are in our thoughts and prayers. Remember to be there for your wife.

Twenty years ago today at just about this time, my Dad passed away. While most of the circumstances were different than what Steve Goodman sings about, the sentiments are the same. Here's to a life well lived, Dad!


 
Good Morning - it's 41 degrees and it's a really wet one!
FLO - Need some coffee over here... and I'll cover the doughnuts for everyone!
It started raining, spattering, around 6 PM and increasingly intensified all through the night.
Flicked on the TV to hear of several major freeways being closed due to flooding and that included Cajon and what's known as the "Grapevine" going towards Bakersfield... lots of snow at the higher levels.
Seasonal Rainfall Has surpassed the 1/2 way mark this go-round - a blessing out here.

BBob, Mikey, and others, Thanks for the comments on my photos. It was a nice trip with very light traffic a real treat! The daughter's meal was to kill for. It was really outstanding!

Willie -- We have those same drivers out here ... inconsiderate bas&^%$#! They go 55-60, sometimes even in the carpool fast lanes and the toll roads. Actually, I have seen the police pulling several of them over and issuing little pink slips of paper. (just not enough police cruising)

Beady - My sympathies to your family as to what you are dealing with.

We closed out Christmas with a nice brunch from the local daughter who brought it over around 9 am - then mosied out to the MIL's for a family dinner around 4 PM. Thank the stars that it only comes around once a year!
 
Morning all,

It was a good Christmas in Doo-Dah. The 2 oldest granddaughters got new bicycles from Grandma and grandpa and were happy to start riding them. We broke the high temp record of 66* set in 2016 and the new one of 68*. It was a pleasant day. If you can't have a white Christmas you might as well have a nice day. Temps have been dropping all night and through this AM. Supposed to get some rain over the weekend with a chance of the white stuff, but it looks mostly like rain here.

No train time as I was just too busy. I did get a gift cert. to Hobby Lobby. They tend to have some train stuff and usually on closeout in some fashion.


Beady: Prayers for your MIL.
 
Good morning all. We got to sleep in this morning, and boy did we need it. Looks to be a nice day shaping up.

Beady - Sympathies and prayers to you and your wife. A positive, you had an opportunity to say good bye.

Willie - One ones that get me are the ones that plod along in the left lane, under the speed limit and then at the very last moment shoot over to exit.

Some great photos being show here at the diner. You guys do have some skills.

LATER
 
Afternoon All,

Had a very nice Christmas at daughter's house but of course we had drama at our house...while MOH was cooking and baking our stove died. It still had 110v but no 240v so the stovetop and double oven was dead.:mad: So today I started out metering the plug which had low voltage on one side, I next checked the breaker at the panel and it metered correctly. Based on this I replaced the wall plug and now it works again.:) After taking the old plug apart I noticed a superworm (feed to the skunks) stuck (fried) against on of the terminals. Don't ask me how it got there.

Alan- Nice job on the cars.

Justin- Nice gift & video.

Ken- Glad you recovered the gift certificate.

Willie- Nice looking country store.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Good afternoon. Glad that Christmas is over. The grand kids had a good time and that's what counts for me.

Had my left leg start to bother me yesterday and went to urgent care this morning to find out that IO have a blood clot in the leg. Merry flippin' Christmas.

Justin - Enjoyed your video. Missed that one.

Beady - I really feel bad for you. That is one heck of a decision you have to make, but you do have to take into consideration that there is no quality of life. Prayers. Our anniversary was on the 22nd. 48 years and still alive.

Tom - Nice work on the hoppers.

Sherrel - Looking at today's weather map, looks like you may need a boat down there.

Alan - Nice work on those passenger cars.

Willie - Another interesting building. Nice work. I think one of my pet peeves on the highway are those A-holes who want to homestead the laft lane. In recent years we have had a few local roads widened and the same thing is going on up here. The other day I passed 26 vehicles on the right with my cruise control set at the speed limit in a 5 mile stretch.

Curt - Looks like Murphy was spending the holiday at your place. Hope you get the range repaired.

Speaking of ranges, the repairman was out last week and got the oven working properly on the gas range. Not only did LG send one set of new knobs for the cook top, another set showed up on Tuesday.

I did get down to the train room the other day and broke out the NP F-7's and let them run for a while.

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After running them for a while, got this RSD 4/5 (count the axles) out from a track where I park power and did a bit of switching with it.

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Later
 
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Howdy everyone!

Thanks to all who liked my stuff!

Flo - just a pecan sticky bun and coffee. We have lots of leftovers to finish.

Sherrel - Looks like everyone had fun. All's well that ends well.

Alan - Real nice paint jobs. You got me lookin'! Sweet!

Hughie - I would like to see a photo of your BLI SD40-2. Could you post it on the Christmas presents thread?

Mikey - Good to hear your MIL is doing well and your wife made it home for dinner and opening of presents.

Ken - Whew - that was a close one. Good to hear you recovered the gift certificate!

Justin - Good Chessie video!

Willie -
santafewillie said:
Got home late last night to the sounds of the local coyotes barking at the departing reindeer; it was quite a symphony.
Click to expand...
Well someone has to take care of those pesky reindeer!
We stayed home yesterday and didn't have to put up with the Holiday traffic. Good that you and yours made it home safely.
Great lookin' country store and the interior!

Beady - Sincere sympathy to your wife and you.

Curt - Does the superworm causing the short make it "Super"? ;):)

Chet - Too bad about the clot. It's good that you had it taken care of ASAP!
Great photos!
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About 4 AM, I woke for my regularly scheduled, middle of the night excursion to the bathroom. :rolleyes:
I laid back down, but was wide awake, so I went down to the layout. I finished wiring my "new" rail yard and began staging cars. That was about 5:00. The next time I looked at the clock it was 8:40! :oops::):)
Now, this is the first rail yard I've had in 20 years and was totally immersed in it! With the 6 cars, Old Jelly Belly brought me yesterday and the yard staging today - I'm one happy MRRer.
Ya . . . I had a good Christmas. I trust that all of you had a fine Christmas also!

Everyone have a great day!
Jim

Loading dolomite @ Dundas ON
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NS Conway Yard, Conway PA - turntable and hump hill
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