Running Bear's May 2019 Coffee Shop


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Hi SHERREL- It's already 82* under a clear blue sky, heading back to 91 or more. Haven't had any rain for 3 or 4 days and don't expect any for another week. But we will have temps into the mid 90's Don't care what the calendar says, it's SUMMER TIME.
Phil
 
Afternoon All,

Did some chores then ran some trains. Nothing planned for the weekend. I need to adjust the startup speed and momentum on my FP7 A&B that somehow got changed.

Sherrel- Our temps next week are supposed to be in the high 90's so the heat index will probably be above 100.

Dave- Nice scenes. In Central Florida most people can see the launches after they get some altitude on them.

Johnny- I hope the weather improves for you.

Joe- Thanks for the history. I have heard the term but didn't know what it stands for.

Chet- Your club has a beautiful layout.

Willie- Your skunk is definitely more to scale than mine.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Good Morning All. 72° and mostly cloudy. It's been three days since it last rained!:cool: Just a sausage and cheese omelet this morning Francine, gotta start the outdoor chores early today. First up is removing the pool cover and stashing it for the summer. I'm expecting clear water this year since there are no visible rips in it. I still have about an acre and a half of yard left to mow; I got the toughest areas done yesterday, today is mostly open areas. Still have some mushy area around the pond that I won't do til Monday. I found and transplanted two volunteer oak seedlings yesterday, the result of that damn squirrel not remembering where it buried its acorns. They were growing in the garden!
Good news on the medical front, the cardiologist cleared my wife for the knee replacement surgery, so we'll go see the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday to formulate a plan. I say do it right away, but she is concerned about being mobile for an already paid for vacation trip with the kids planned for the second week of July.

Thanks everyone for the recent likes and comments.

I did spend a little more time in the train shed yesterday. i did mostly boring stuff like painting a rather large parking lot in front of another distribution center and adding lots of ground foam to various areas. It sure takes a lot of foam to cover 20+ sq ft. While waiting for things to dry, I explored my shelf of unbuilt kits for a project to occupy my time at the workbench. I came up with a very old cardstock and stripwood kit that I bought over twenty years ago for my old layout but that I never assembled. First of all, I didn't realize that it was cardstock when I bought it from an individual at a train show; it was still in the original factory plastic wrapping. Secondly, it was perceived as too daunting and time consuming at the time. It is a model of the Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles. While it won't work in the scene that I am working on now, I have two or three other undeveloped areas that it could fit in. It's from a company known as Classic Miniatures. I have seen a few of their kits on the internet, but they don't seem to still be in existence.
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The cardstock itself is .050" thick and will take considerable careful effort to cut and trim some parts. Here's one of the front wall pieces. Three of them are layered together to make the actual wall.
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Again, this is going to be a side project to work on while work modeling proceeds/pauses on my main project.

Chet - The scenery lady at the club does a great job. You need to show more examples of her work, close-ups if possible. I've seen some other photos of her work in the past that you posted.

Looking forward to this three day weekend. I'll give the grill a good workout. Hmmmh! I guess that it won't really be any different than any other day/week/weekend etc., at least for me!
Everybody have a great weekend and remember why we commemorate Memorial Day.
 
Good morning ...

We are in Cincinnati area. Our granddaughter graduated from high school last night . She did well . 14th in her class of about 200 . Has a lot of scholarship money for college. ... Our grandson in Michigan graduated at same time with similar record of achievements but we can’t be two places at the same time.

We should be home Monday.
 
Good morning, 55 and sunny. Gonna be a banner weekend in central Minnesota with sunshine and seasonable temps.

I came to the office this morning to paint it, only time to do that since very busy around here during the week. Don't expect to spend more than a couple hours.

Garry-- great about the grandkids.

Willie-- new project looks very interesting.

Sherrel, Boris, good to see you at the coffee table this morning already

I got the ballasting done on my module, will post that on my build thread

In the meanwhile, here is another powerline photo.

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There are wires going everywhere. I went a little overboard with wires strung to each building as well.

Have a great weekend, otherwise more later

Dave
 
Afternoon All,

Since I have a wait to order the next set of flat cars I decided to start on one of the Tichy tank cars that my buddy Tom gave me a week ago. This is a old kit and has another name on the box (The Gould Company) but it's definitely a Tichy kit maybe in a previous iteration. Nothing special planned this holiday weekend.

I hope everyone takes a minute sometime this weekend to think of the men and women that gave their lives for our country.

Willie- My recommendation would be to do the surgery after you're vacation due to pain and range of motion issues. Just my 2 cents. That looks like a interesting kit that you could probably use as a bank or governmental building if you don't want a Masonic temple.

Dave- Nice scene.

Garry- Safe travels home. I'm sure the roads will be a zoo.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Got a major job done at work, painted my office and a couple other areas that I walk by every day that looked bad.

My door is right next to the soils lab so we are constantly processing samples and making dust, also kick and pushing marks from years now are gone.

Curt, why not post a photo of the flat car kit

Phil, we are enjoying nice weather as well

Terry, I hope you don't get hit with some big storm

On another front, I have been thinking about these big chunks of cement along the old right of way that I am modeling. The more I look at them the more I think they are the actual footings from the old tank.

Herre is the tank, I marked out the footings:

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(the small building in the foreground is the one I am getting ready to model)

Here is the photo I took last week at the actual location of the tank:

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The rough part would be the ground end of the footing, poured right on packed gravel presumably. They were tossed or pushed out of the way in this rough arrangement sometime after the tank came down, I think.

Dave
 
Afternoon Folks .. My favorite temp of 69 as we speak. Record high this date in 2001 was 86.

BIL and I played around with the RV and CRV today for a couple hours. We managed to hook up the towing package and - believe it or not - after a few adjustments - had everything working just as advertised. We had to monkey around just a little to get the 'sensitivity' and 'braking force' set correctly. First time I stepped on the brake, about stood the CRV on it's nose it stopped so suddenly.
OK -- Ready for some mileage now if only I can find the funds to fill the tank - at least enough to get across the State line!
 
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 73°. Looking at another day near 90°. Sausage and two eggs over easy for me today Flo. Started the day off yesterday mowing the south and southeast parts of the yard while adding the last 1200 gallons of water to the pool. Turned the electricity on and started the filter pump. Added the recommended doses of chemicals (very little needed this year) and installed the ladder. Then noted a pinhole leak in one of the return hoses that was not previously evident without the high pressure. Went to Denton to purchase a replacement and installed it easily. In over 30 years of owning an above-ground swimming pool, this year was the quickest and easiest startup of all, despite the hose. Temperature is a cool but acceptable 79°, I prefer 81°-86°, but I'm OK with 78°. I was in it within four hours of start-up. I have had years where it took 8-10 days to get an acceptable startup. Part of this years success is the switch to liquid chlorine (bleach), which didn't require dissolving time like the granules. Plus it's inexpensive. Rough calculation is that chemical cost for four months of operation will be less than $75 this year, well under the $200 + from years past.

Thanks for the positive comments and likes from yesterday's post; Garry, Sherrel, Dave, Phil, Curt, Jerome.

Minimal time in the train shed yesterday as that trip to town took almost two hours. Saturday afternoon is not a good time to be driving in Denton TX. I did a little ground cover, but mostly studied the instructions for the structure project. I did cut out the door openings in one of the three front wall panels.
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No nicked fingers yet!:)

Garry - Congratulations to your two grandchildren for passing one of life's many milestones. Going to my 50th reunion last weekend brought back a lot of fond memories of those years. Have a very safe trip home and beware of holiday revelers.
Dave - That is a lot of wires. One reason that I have been hesitant to start adding power lines is because I would try to get all of the details done exactly as it is, transformers, wires to homes and businesses etc. It will happen some day, but not before a whole lot more scenery gets done.
Curt - You're most likely correct about delaying the surgery for my wife. The vacation could also interfere with the rehab and PT schedule. On the other hand, unless things improve on their own right now, she's mostly immobile and in pain.
Regarding the Masonic Temple; it was never my intention to use it as it was designed for. I am wanting to use it as a small town city hall or courthouse. A bank would be good as well, but I have five or six of them already.

Everybody have a great day and enjoy the Indy 500 if that's your thing. Grillin' and chillin' are the order of the day here.
 
Good morning,

we have 56 and sun. Headed for 77 today!

Karl-- nice view

Willie-- can't hardly wait to see the building come together.



Here is what our place looks like, the fence is a work in progress:

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Have a great day all, enjoy it if you can

Dave



PS almost forgot to post todays Layout photo, another powerline shot, is the same location as yesterday, different angle:

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Good morning all. Already 82, clear and dry Should hit 93 today. TV news said we hit 95 but puter news said only 92. Doesn't much matter which is correct- IT"S HOT. And will get hotter next week.
Hope all are well or getting better. Enjoy the weekend-Remember our troops, those who have served and those NOW serving.

Phil
 
Morning Everyone ... Like a youuggee cup of coffee there, Francine!
The weather is crummy again here today - We are at the high forecast of 56 degrees and cloudy again.
The record high for this date was 91 in 2004!

Stayed up too late last night, so slow moving this morning. Spousal Unit and I have become "fixed" to the Netflex series of the show "Longmire"! He is a sheriff in a small town somewhere in WY - and there is always something going on. Neither of us can hardly wait to watch the next episode ... usually after dinner.
I was able to clear out the table saw yeaterday, and found some 1/2 inch ply to make the shelves for my lady. I will grab a second cup of coffee and press on with the chore as soon as I press "post reply".

KARL -- That looks like a beautiful place to walk the dog.

Willie -- How is the ex-con neighbor working out? See or hear anything from that way?

DAVE -- Another nice photo from you of prior construction - Like the view of your place as well.
 
Been busy the last few days with our only grandson's high school graduation. He's autistic, and was held back a year at one point, so it was a slightly greater accomplishment than usual. His father, our eldest, flew in from Seattle for the occasion. It was a religious high school, with a graduating class of maybe 16 (when did they start saying a pledge of allegiance to the Bible and another to the Christian flag?). How come high school girls didn't look like that when I was that age?

Meanwhile, I've actually been working on the layout (I have a layout!!!). I'm starting to add "features" to the basic inner-outer loop; spent last night adding the turntable-roundhouse complex inside the loops (current capacity is 15 locomotives). Next up will be adding a "yard" for locos that are too large for the turntable. After that, there will be a freight yard on the other side of the inner loop; that's a lot of turnouts! When all that's done, I can get to the other half of the layout, with the town, woods and Area 51.
 

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