Running Bear's February 2019 Coffee Shop


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FWIW - I believe that stories like this should NEVER make the press, or anything else!
Gives ideas to others, I feel!
 
It rained all day yesterday. Today it is raining and windy . Cold temperatures expected tonight.

Chet .... The NP F7 A and B units look great. The rail picture of the day captures a mood with that sky.

Mike ..... The story of the drunk on a train is remarkable. I don't like drunks.

Louis ..... I have long been familiar with the great Chicago fire of 1871, but did not know much about the 1904 Baltimore fire.
 
santafewillie said:
Louis -

No such thing as a free lunch as the saying goes. You are paying for those free meals with the 50% piggyback and the high property taxes and other items that you mention. I know that you are OK with all this (you've posted so before) except when it comes time to pay.
Hopefully the past tax deductions that are "under review" pass muster. Once the IRS finds a questionable or disputed one, you're on the audit list for years to come. Even if you beat all disputes, you will still expend a lot of time and maybe money arguing with them.
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Willie my youngest grandson does not eat the free lunches, he is too picky. I pack his lunch every morning. I'm glad to pay for those lunches, I know what it is like to be hungry at school and have no money. I should add occasionally my grandson will tell me they had something he liked at school. When he does he brings home most of what I packed for him, it becomes part of my lunch the next day. That happens maybe twice a month.

I not upset about the state and city taxes. I do complain about the state having a surplus, while canceling expanding the subway, raising tuition at the state colleges, and universities, not fully funding public schools or giving teachers substantial raises and not sharing the surplus with the tax payers.

My property tax is offset somewhat by the lower price of houses in the city. My house would cost well over double what I paid for it if it was in the county. My water bill is higher because of an outdated (over 120 years) agreement with Baltimore county. Our reservoirs are in the county, but the city pays for all the infrastructure. The problem with the water system infrastructure is the city government never bothered to spend any money until the last 30 years when it began to break down. At least our water quality is high enough to meet the standards of bottled water. Pepsi use to bottle city water, but they moved all packaging out of the city when the city foolishly imposed a tax on soda sales.

Last month I washed both of our vehicles, my water bill went up almost $16! Like most problems in my city, they are not from this century and they are complex, but everybody wants a fast, simple solution.

I didn't complain about state taxes when I put my kids through catholic schools or I paid for them to go to college. My state is always building new, upgrading and improving excising roads, provides health care for people in need, invests in new technology and much more. If they have a surplus I want to see it being put to good use or give some back to me!

For the most part I'm content with my local taxes because as you point out, nothing is free.

Our state and local taxes were actually a little, tiny bit lower this year. Our federal taxes are another story.

Listen for this name in the near future, maybe in the republican primary; Larry Hogan. He is our current governor and he is becoming a national figure with the republican party. He is being encourage to run for president in 2020. His state of the state address sounded more like he was addressing the nation, not just our state, but has yet to say if he is running. I'll give him credit, he has maintained our AAA bond rating, but I never voted for him.
 
GarryCBQ said:
Louis ..... I have long been familiar with the great Chicago fire of 1871, but did not know much about the 1904 Baltimore fire.
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Before Chicago and Los Angeles, Baltimore was the "second city", but our proximity with DC has many Baltimoreans feeling like a rented mule. :)

I don't, I love my city :) I hope you enjoyed the link.

For the record I see Baltimore and Washington as 1 big metropolitan area. It's only 35 miles from Baltimore to Washington and the Redskins play in Maryland! As a Baltimorean I am in the minority in thinking this way.
 
Good Morning Everyone.......overcast and a Winter Storm Warning for just north of here and many counties in Wisconsin. Freezing rain over night and the driveway is coated with ice. I was going to Walther's today, but I'll do that tomorrow instead. Besides after the 70T switcher, a RDC car and a cow sound module, my Capital One card is at its spending monthly limit for hobby related items. I may have to give the household bookkeeper some cash to help pay the Capital On card. I can't wait to hear what she had to say her after she sees what I spent this month on the hobby.

Willie: Happy to report my taxes are finished and I am just waiting for the revised IRS forms that at due out on February 14th.

Burette: I enjoyed the posting of the tunnel construction. Amazing work and project. While in Boston for a business trip to New Hampshire we drove through the new tunnel that was recently constructed and completed. The tunnel was called the "Big Dig" and was the most expensive tunnel project in United States' history due to construction problems and cost over runs.

Jim: That photo of the cut with the locomotives is something I always wanted to model. Maybe on the layout addition. In western Wisconsin, a area where the glaciers missed is called the Drift-less Region. The countryside is full of buffs and valleys with beautiful scenery. This area borders the Mississippi River. At one point there's a rock opening for the road called Cooley's Pass, the opening was hand cut through the stone by Chinese labors.

Listening via the internet to the local radio station in a town near our cabin. An oldies station. Helps keep me in touch with the Central Wisconsin woods. The county where the cabin is located has one of lowest populations of all 72 Wisconsin counties so the area is fairly wild and rustic.

Model railroad today. I've spend hours working on the new 70 T switcher to have it run smooth at all speeds. Finally, yesterday I get to the point where I can now run the critter that speed step one on my Digitrax throttle. "That's slow". Today it will run for more break-in time. Wired the new cow mobile sound effect and it sounds great. I control the sound effects via remote control and the speaker is mounted under the layout and out of sight. I have a blacksmith shop sound module thats next in time to be installed for the small, two stall engine house at Saxeville Interchange.

Here's a sample of the cow:

http://ittproducts.com/media/gl400.mp3

Enough said.

That's all folks.

Greg

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Wis con with junk metal.jpg

Wisconsin Central work train. Photo credit unknown.
 
Here is an example of the "brilliance" of my city, Baltimore's government. The City's states attorney say she and her office will no longer prosecute marijuana possession cases. The acting police commissioner says regardless, the city Police will continue to make arrests for marijuana possession.

Why is it that people think they can make/change the laws at will? We are a nation of laws, we should respect the laws or change them through due process. We can't make this shit up as we go along "that is not how it works"!
 
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B&O , No.7321, 2-8-8-2 , class EE-2 , ex BR&P … Brooks 1918 …. the B&O took over the Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh in 1932 … BR&P locomotives were absorbed into the B&O roster … the 7321 photographed in Cumberland Md. 7-1947 H. K. Vollrath collection …. SLP library photo
Stephen Phillips‎ - Steam Locomotive Photographs
 
Beady said:
Spent all yesterday doing "the prep" for my colonoscopy. For those who haven't had a colonoscopy, the preparation is exactly like waterboarding, except in your ass. With a couple of laxatives mixed in, to boot. The exam itself is nothing, especially since you're only semi-conscious. This is my third in 10 years, sigh. Think of me, about 1 pm, eastern time
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Agreed...the prep is the worst part...the drugs on the other hand :D:D:Do_Oo_Oo_O:D:D:p
 
Afternoon All,

Today I decided to change my plans for the next step on the build. I was/am afraid that if I build the stairs first there may be a issue with height afterwards because the bottom sits on the platform. Based on this I decided to build the platform first. I'm making the whole thing out of wood instead of matboard and wood. I built the underframe and cut out 180 planks from 2x10 strip wood. Everything was stained with Hunterline Medium Brown. The NWSL Chopper paid for itself again!;)

Max- Thank you and neat photos. I like the Harpers Ferry one the best.

Louis- Great photos.

Johnny- Glad you're OK, and I hope the weather moderates.

Chet- Nice looking F units.

Migalyto- That guy is an idiot.

Sherrel- I feel the same way you do about the media stories concerning security concerns and some of the military things they talk about. Ready to depart CA yet?

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
19 degrees out there, and icy spots on rural roads. City streets are okay. Been snowing all afternoon too, Heading home now and hope ice is not too bad on roads out in the country where we live.
 
Good Afternoon Everyone....still overcast and at times pouring rain followed by sleet and tonight back into the deep freeze.

Today fixed a crooked railing on the mine hopper, added some wooded fencing and plantings, a poor chap hanging from the hopper and more weathering. Ran the 70T pulling a loaded three ore cars (heavy ore cars and a caboose) for several hours and no derailments. Tomorrow, I'll reverse the cab's direction and run some for two hours to complete the motor's and gear break-in.

Opened my new Rapido RDC....it's a beautiful model and the instruction booklet is the best I've read and it's funny and humorous with direct warnings about the model's dis-assembly, adding details and the operation of the RDC. It plainly states "Do not pull any cars with the RDC, serious damage could happen to two drive motors!"

In a future post I'll copy the best and funniest paragraphs of the RDC owners manual.

Curt: A platform totally constructed of wood will look great.

Tomorrow hopefully more trains and I'm going to forget going to Walthers.

That's all for now.

Greg
 
Bruette said:
Why is it that people think they can make/change the laws at will? We are a nation of laws, we should respect the laws or change them through due process. We can't make this shit up as we go along "that is not how it works"!
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Louis: Prosecutors have always determined what laws they choose to enforce, and when they were going to enforce them. Here in Monmouth, our county prosecutor will not prosecute burglary, auto theft of other property crimes...his reason, that's why we buy insurance. Politicians, and all prosecutors here are political appointees, have no respect for the people or the law, only their career and how to enhance it.

Burette said:
For the record I see Baltimore and Washington as 1 big metropolitan area. It's only 35 miles from Baltimore to Washington and the Redskins play in Maryland! As a Baltimorean I am in the minority in thinking this way.
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Louis: The folks in PG and Montgomery Counties see Baltimore as another world. They are Washingtonians, and think the same way as Baltimoreans but in the opposite way.

Sherrel: The difference is that we were "promised" a Middle Class Tax Cut, by El Supremo. Instead we gained a Middle Class Tax Increase. At the same time those very successful and wealthy folks in neighborhoods I'm not allowed to drive through, have really great reductions in their taxes...Increased withholding, is still a tax increase. I am really curious as to how our marginal tax rate will fare, compared to last year, and the year before. Right now, my moneys on a tax increase, and I'm not happy with El Supremo. I'm long tired of subsidizing the underachievers among us, the Farmers, the Corporations and the Wealthy, all the while they are telling us that we will have to have our retirements and retirement benefits cut for the greater good.

Boris
 
My report about the farmers welcoming the rain up in northwestern Queensland after the years of drought has been short lived. The pictures of cattle, drowned in their pens and yards, has brought home the reality of how disastrous this 1 in 100 year weather event has been.
 
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