Running Bear's July 2019 Coffee Shop


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Morning from HOT country! Was 95* yesterday and expect 95* today - clouds are hiding down near the Gulf Coast.
Last year the temp was 95* and the record was 105* in 2006.
I did a little picking up in the garage yesterday and wanted to start cleaning the doggie hair out of the P/U for my daughter to use when she shows up with the two G sons this coming Friday, but it was just too hot for me. I'll try this morning to start on it before it really gets warm. The Spousal Unit will come down off the mountain this afternoon - then I will have the RV to clean out - oh joy. I Still have to save a little energy to pick up the house as well; I did manage to clean all the A/C - Furnace filters yesterday and they needed it pretty bad.

Speaking of our fuzzy/furry friends - I feel sad for all those who do not survive the stormy weather for various reasons!

CURT - Your gun barrel really looks nice - how do it bend in order to travel around the 18" curves?
TERRY - I think I mentioned it before, but my mom had migraines for several years - they were so bad that she would vomit, couldn't eat, and would be in the bed (dark room) for two-three days at a time.
DAVE - Glad that you are able to push the headaches aside - they are murder!
CHADBAG - Your trip sounds wonderful ... as others have said - lots or pics - we like them!

santafewillie said:
I posted an instrumental.:rolleyes::(
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I'm glad you clarified that, Willie. I thought someone dropped a tray of silverware!

bnsf971 said:
Okay, when I saw "Rush", I kept scrolling... :(
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Me Too; but I couldn't understand the words, so I "Rushed Away"!

Everyone try and stay cool.
 
santafewillie said:
might be a Boley excavator.
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I have two, very similar to that. It's definitely not a Norscot. The ones I've got were produced under the Trucks'n'Stuff label, the same #972K. Several features distinguish it, Now it is produced by Diecast Masters, at an increased price and comes in a fancy tin instead of a card box with windows. I also have the 966K as well. The Norscot's were the "G" version and not as detailed. D.M., have taken over most of both of those other lines but dropped some of the Norscot.
 
Good morning guys, we are headed for 91 today. Yesterday we left the air off all day and it was 85 in here at 7pm. Bothers my wife way more than me. Today we started the air at 8 am.

Willie-- I like the Excavator load best, Nice Job!

Here is how far I got on the depot. Have to add some barrels and a couple people. Next I will be building a tool shed:

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The way the light shines in I can't really get a shot of the other side. It was a really nice kit!

more later, Dave
 
A quick good morning. Been busy as usual. On Friday we did get our new stove installed to heat the place for winter.

thumbnail_20190712_130015.jpg According to the installers, this Canadian built stove should be a lot more efficient than the 20+ year old one it replaced.

Tried to mow the lawn yesterday, but got rained out pat way through. We had a string of thunderstorms come through one after another. I won't complain as some areas were starting to get dry and I would have had to start watering. Should be dry enough now to finish. Maybe an hour or so on the mower should finish it. The rain did allow me to visit the train room for the first time in a couple of weeks to run trains.

Chad - Enjoy your trip to Japan. Only got there once while in the Navy returning to the states after 7 months of being stationed in Bahrain. We took the long way back as we were home ported in Mayport, Florida. Nothing like a cruise around the world.

Curt - The gun barrel project is coming along nicely.

Willie - Nice flat car loads. Well done.

Dave - The building sure came out nice. Another nice addition to your layout.

We have a crop duster spraying a field about a quarter of a mile south of us. Think I'll watch him for a while and then finish mowing.

Later
 
It's been a few days. Sunny, 80° and 44% humidity. A thoroughly gorgeous day. Unfortunately, I can't fully enjoy it.

Back in November, when they put that 3rd stent in, I was put on a blood thinner that caused severe shortness of breath (Brilinta?). I couldn't even get out of a chair without gasping. I talked to the doctor and he switched me over to Plavix. That solved the breathing problem, but one side effect is severe constipation, which sometimes I can only "treat" with a nitril glove, if you know what I mean. Yesterday was one of those days, and today I'm still too sore to do anything except to (carefully) sit on the front porch and watch the world go by. I really hate the aging process.

I mentioned this before, but I might as well bring it up again: If you've got a little money to spare ($500), google the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan. They've got two steam engines, including the real-life model for the Polar Express, and they'll teach you to drive them. I live an hour away, and I'm thinking of selling a couple of my locos to fund a session.

That reminds me, still no word on my Big Boy.

Oooh! She's nice. I love sitting on my porch in the summer.

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Good afternoon ...

Curt .... Your loaded flat car project is remarkable.

Willie .... Nice looking loaded flat cars.

Dave .... That is a nice little depot with a platform made with individual boards.

Everybody ..... Cheers.
 
That reminds me of the time my wife's mother passed away. Her will stipulated she be cremated, and her ashes scattered at a location in the North East. We drove to that location, and proceeded as her will directed.


That's the only time I truly enjoyed traveling with my mother in law.
 
Good evening Shop Dwellers! 79*F and clear in my central MD neighborhood. As always, I appreciate the continued prayers and well-wishes regarding my situation.

Terry, so sorry to hear about the migraine affliction on top of the back problem! My mother would get them and sometimes they kept her bedridden, as with Sherrell's mom. Bad as my current medical issues are though, I honestly would not want to trade them for yours; I'll definitely keep you in my prayers!

Chet - my trains are seldom in a spot where I can spontaneously start to run them like you do. I had to spend a few afternoons last week getting the layout de-cluttered and unpacking the rolling stock.

Speaking of running trains...I decided to build a coal drag long enough to occupy two staging tracks, then took one throttle to control the head-end motive power and a second throttle to control the helper engines. I installed a "junk" coupler [with the knuckle clipped-off] on the end of the loco that pushes against the train, to avoid possible stringlining in case one of them hesitates. This is the type of 'speed-matching' I truly enjoy, it helped keep my mind off the impending ordeal.

Today was the final day before my surgery, I was on a diet of nothing but clear liquids so I had episodes of feeling light-headed; a bottle of Gatorade usually alleviated that problem. Of course now I think I've nearly depleted my body's finite supply of stored calories. Before attending Mass this morning, I went to Confession and then got the Anointing Of the Sick - so now at least I'm well-prepared in the event they have to implement Plan B! ;)

I'll see you guys in a few days, God willing...
 
santafewillie said:
Chad -

Some of us grandpa's consider that Son in Law!:)
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Exactly. I am actually old enough to be a grandpa if I had gotten married in the early 20s, immediately had a kid, and that kid married in the early 20s and immediately had a kid. My grandkid would be about 7 assuming age 22 to get married and 23 to have the kid. As it is, I was 34 and my kids are 11 and 16.

Have a good time and a safe trip. Take plenty of train pictures to post for us. We like pictures of young women in bikinis also.
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Thanks. I plan on taking lots of pics and riding lots of trains. Not sure I'll be anywhere that has bikini clad women.

Yes on Yes. You're not old enough to have seen them during their best years of 1970-1980, but they were really fine in concert.
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I first heard of Yes, knowingly, when I was in HS. A friend went to the 90125 concert series. I got interested and soon learned about the earlier Yes era, 68/69, 70-75/78 but I did miss that era in terms of seeing them in person. I first saw them in 1989 and again in 90 as ABWH, without Squire, and saw them a few times late 90s and again around 2014 where I had front row at the Mesa Arts Center concert that was later made in to a live album and DVD. Geriatric rockers, got to love them.
 
Good Morning All. It's a cool 69° and clear. Last day of our cool spell, high temperature yesterday was only 88°, lower than predicted. Tomorrow should see 99°. Good morning Flo, how about some Eggs Benedict this morning, with the usual orange juice.
Today is an important day in my life. It marks the fourth anniversary of my last day of employment. Retirement is the best move I have ever made. Drinks are on me everywhere.
While we are discussing Irish wakes, my whole family is Irish, my late father was quite upset when he learned that his casket wasn't allowed to be at his wake due to a city of Dallas ordinance. It was traditional in his family going back years. He was quite an anal person and he did however set aside $5000 in his will to pay for the wake. He even specified who to invite and based his liquor listing on those persons. The local deli had a previously made list of the food that he wanted served, and all my brother (the host) had to do was call them and pay the bill. It was quite a raucous affair and my college age daughter later stated that in five years of college that she never attended a party quite as good as that one!

Thanks to all who liked or commented on yesterday's post; Sherrel, Jerome, Ray, Dave, Phil, Chet, Tom, Garry, Ken.

I managed to get out to the train shed for a while yesterday. Had some unexpected visitors while there. Local neighbors out for a walk with their latest family member.
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Youngster is the one in the middle still with a lot of down. Too young to fly yet, so they just walk around. Green field in background is the part of my hayfield that was actually planted this year. Closer is the area that has native grasses on it, that was too wet to plow earlier this spring. While it looks close, the house in the background is slightly over a quarter mile away.

I did get some modeling done while I was out there. I posted a blank space last week that I intended to put a low relief background structure into. I am using Walther's discontinued modular walls.
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Pause for a rant.
Walthers came out with these modular kits probably twenty years ago. I was always looking for an alternative so every structure that I built didn't look similar. They are not as good as similar DPM kits and are a bit wacky in the way that they are made. For example, wall columns. With DPM, the appropriate number of wall columns are included with each wall kit, with Walther's, they were a separate kit. Here's an example of the columns.
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The problem is that they didn't make an appropriate number of column kits to match all of the wall kits, so....
I was given 36 wall kits by my LHS owner when he retired and closed shop. I had only two column kits that I had already purchased. I tried Ebay and all sorts of other online suppliers and there are no column kits out there anywhere. I have read quite a few comments on various forums regarding this unfortunate situation, but Walther's seems to be standing firm about their decision to discontinue these kits a few years back.
End of rant!
Fast forward, I have painstakingly cut wall columns out of some of their blank walls and off each side of their dock doors, but it is difficult. DPM columns do not work unless the structure might be used in the far background because the brick courses don't line up. So this time I took a different approach. I am using .250" x .020" Evergreen styrene to make concrete columns to secure the walls together.
Here's a picture of the painted assembled walls with the unpainted styrene strips.
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Next is the assembled walls, weathered and in place on the layout. Surrounding scenery will be next. Structure represents a small town newspaper printing company.

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Thoughts?

Ray - You may be correct that the excavator actually was a Trucks 'n' Stuff model.

Let's all keep Ken in our thoughts today.

I am going to do my best to keep from causing Amazon's website from crashing today. Join me in toasting my retirement anniversary, but not until you get off work today if applicable. Everybody have a great day.
 
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