Running Bear's November 2018 Coffee Shop


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Greg@mnrr said:
Boris: A water bib is the name for an outside water faucet that needs to be drained for winter and in our area or the water left in the faucet will freeze during the winter. We drain the water lines in the basement and then just keep the water turned off and the faucet open to keep the faucet from freezing and and the faucet casting breaking.
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Greg: Thanks. I never heard of the term, which is why I asked. I have to do the same thing, even though two of the three faucets are frost free.
 
Sherrel: You're furry child looks none the worse for her ordeal. However, she is barely tolerant of her fashionable lamp shade.

Wow! Dust storms, wild fires, mud slides and monsoons. What a climate :rolleyes: We are more consistent here, mostly cloudy with rain. :(:(

Garry: Your railroad never ceases to amaze me, The Chicago Union Station segment is very believable.

Swept and raked the leaves from the patio, and brought more lawn furniture in to the garage. All of this in spite of a recurring rain squall. What we raked over the last two days looks like it was never raked. Some varieties of oak, still have many leaves to drop.:(
Boris
 
Boris said:
Louis: Never apologize. Your comments weren't any worse than any others. Rules are rules! Enforcement of rules is subjective. It is what it is.

* I liked the Orioles Orange Uniforms...thinking back, four twenty game winners on a pitching staff was awesome.

* Fort McHenry was a favorite place. I would go over there and sit by one of the batterys, stare out on the harbor and chill.

* Ailments and anger...it really sucks when one loses range of motion. It also becomes very frustrating when one is unable to do things that used to be second nature. As I grow older, I seem to be bothered more by little things, and it becomes difficult to avoid sources of irritation, without becoming totally isolated and immobile. As good as modern medical science is, it's useless if the provider is only interested in doing what generates more revenue. I have never finished wiring my layout because I can no longer scrunch down under the layout and run and splice wire like I need to do.
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Boris, when it comes to apologizing, I have no problem with it. In fact I probably do it too much. I always stand by my words because everything I say is well thought out before I say it. I never apologize for what I say, but I don't like to hurt anyone's feelings, or upset anyone. In my younger days I was a target on the streets. "take down the big Lou, make a name for yourself" If I saw them coming I would say "don't do it" when it was over I would help them off the ground and say "I'm sorry I hurt you, but I told you don't do it" If I did not see them coming, God help them because my temper would take over. I feel terrible if I hurt anyone, in any way. Thank God those days are over.

It sure is frustrating getting old, but it beats the alternative!

Doctor told me I would be lucky to regain 50% range of movement in my left shoulder without surgery after falling off the porch nearly 2 years ago. I have probably 90% on a good day. What worked for me was using it. Hurts like hell, but it keeps improving. I equate it to knocking the rust off an old hinge.

I don't take any pain medication, not good for my kidneys. Pain is best controlled with the mind. Pain is nothing new to me, I was diagnosed with arthritis when I was 13. it's in every joint, the my left hip joint is the worst of all. I'm not disabled due to orthopedic problems. It's the internal problems my life style caused that kick my ass.

After contracting viral pneumonia from my last knee surgery I hesitate to have another. Not to mention no antistegolist wants to touch me. Last time I had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder I had to promise to sit up all night after surgery to get one to do it. It took 3 days to find him. He could not have been over 30, but the rookie did good for me. I have had enough surgeries for 2 lifetimes.

When I hurt my left shoulder I was very disappointed because my right was even worse. I was hoping to pitch to the boys with my left arm the next season. So go the best laid plans. My right has improved because I was forced to use it. Now I can pitch with either arm again. Batting practice that is. I could not get anyone out if I tried. I doubt I could throw 50mph. I should learn to throw a knuckle ball, but trying to hit knuckle balls can mess up a hitters timing for days, not good for a batting practice pitcher.

I fall back on my old tried and true plan, "do my best and let God worry about the rest", works for me. The worst that happens is my sleep schedule gets thrown off. Oh well I just sleep when I can. I still do almost anything, just might only be able to work a few minutes at it each time in the worst case. Keep coming back over and over and stuff gets done.

GarryCBQ said:
Louis ... I always enjoy your posts with Lionel trains and with Baltimore history. :)
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Garry, I love my Lionel trains and history. I read every history book I can get my hands. I must have over 300 of them. My son bless his heart moved each and everyone for me when we moved. No easy task, I had them in my basement of my former home and he put them in my second floor train/play room.

Please accept my sincere apology if I hurt your feelings or upset you in any way and know that was not my intention.

Ps; I enjoy the pictures you post.

Greg@mnrr said:
Louis: Other than the main cable line coming into the house I wired the entire house for six television and internet myself. When the cable provider changed to HD, we need HD converter boxes for each television. The company sent out a contractor to install the boxes. He said that my six way splitter was cheap and need to be replaced, but I would need to make another service appointment. He finally gave me a new splitter for me to install.

I told him I would discard all the empty boxes the HD converters came in and I found 4 or 5 new HDMI cables and regular coaxial cables.

Then our new HD 4K television didn't work well and a call to the cable company and another service call. It was problems with the main line coming in to the house and the tech also replaced the "old" splitter.

We changed cable providers and the tech that came out said he was a supervisor. He went into the basement said said most of the wiring needed to be replaced. I think he fell asleep in the basement and hours he later came back up and said he was done. He installed some new wiring, a six way splitter and a booster. Unfortunately, he left all the old wiring and damaged some ceiling tiles. The new splitter was installed on a new fascia that part of the finished basement. What a mess. Later today I plan on cutting out the old cable and removing remaining second splitter.
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Greg, I don't understand people, I never did a half-ass job in my life. If I can't do it right, I won't do it.

Those HDMI cables can be expensive and the cable company gives out the highest quality, at least Comcast does, nice find!

I did my best to avoid boosters, but they are a necessary evil when you have long runs and half to use splitters. I don't like Wi-Fi, like you I hard wired everything. It's better to use a few routers rather than rely on Wi-Fi. Routers act like boosters for an ethernet connection and they are cheap.

Well done my friend, like the old saying goes "If you want something done right, do it yourself"
 
Good afternoon. Started off ar 12 degrees and are now up into the 40's.

Spent a lot of time running trains yesterday and after many years of construction, I can't be happier with the way operations worked out. Just as they were planned over 30 years ago. There is still one area where plywood is still showing where some tracks had to be moved. Some day I guess I can get that done. ll of the supplies are on hand. Just have to get my butt in gear and get it done (some day).

Louis - Nice photos of your grand kids field day. A lot of history there. I'm sure that they really enjoyed it.

Justin - Good looking herd of cabooses (cabeese?)

Garry - Another great photo, as usual.

Sherrel - Great rail photos. Happy that your pooch is in the mend. Bet he doesn't like that collar.

Greg - Sound like a real mess the installer left. A couple of years ago we put a new roof on the house and had out DirecTV dish mounted on the roof and needed it moved. The next day they had TWO installers come out and move the dish to the front of the porch. In the winter we had a few occasions where snow would build up on the dish and we would lose reception. Excellent customer service. When it comes to water and winter months, we have 2 frostproof hydrants on the house. One in the rear and one in the front. One year when we had winter temps in the minus 50 degree range, the one on the front froze up and flooded the basement. Thankfully, hojme owners insurance took care of the restoration. Since then I installed shut off valves in the basement where they tee off to the hydrants. In the front of the house, I have a hose bib also.

20181109_131743.jpg We built the front porch a few years after we built the house and realized that the hydrant was on the wrong side of the front porch. What I did was to install the hose bib on the front of the porch. Using a three quarted nipple with a three quarter pipe thread at the front of the porch, I used a three quarter piece of hose that screws to the hydrant at the fron of the house and termoinated the cut off end to the nipple at the hose bib. In the fall I turn off the frostproof hydrant and open the hose bib and let the water drain from the hose. We also have a hydrant at a corner of the house which comes up from the water line to the house buried six feet underground. Nothing needed for the winter months on it.

League bowling tonight and then the city open tournament Saturday and Sunday. I can feel my shoulder aching already.

Here's my rail picture for today. Quite interesting. Hope the trains aren't very heavy.

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Later.
 
Afternoon All,

Today the plan was to empty out the dining room, scrub the tile floor and paint baseboards, After everything was out the wife decided the walls needed paintingo_Oo_O. Everything got done except about 1/2 of the baseboards:confused:. Tomorrow I'm running down to see by buddies in Orlando.

Terry- I'm sorry to hear of the dialysis machine issues.

Louis- Thanks for the history lesson. It looks like your grandson had a good time. If I ever make it to Baltimore I will definitely go to Fort McHenry.

Willie- I paint mine the same color as the landscaping. Thank you for your comments.

Justin- I hope everyone is doing well at home.

Johnny- Thank you for your comments.

MILW113- Good to see you posting here again.

Garry- Nice layout picture. I am always impressed with the depth of field you are able to accomplish.

Sherrel- I'm glad Foxie is OK, but forced to wear the dreaded cone. Interesting rail shots.

I hope everyone has a good day.
 
Oh yeah, how could I forget. I also had to change 5 electrical outlets and 2 light switches and covers for all of them because they had previously been painted to match the old color paint.:eek:
 
kbkchooch said:
Good morning gang

I'm about to full Elvis on the T.V. Lawd gimme strength!
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Karl A suction cup tipped dart gun is a lot less destructive to the screen.


Bruette said:
Early last week I had a revelation. I realized I had a problem. When I am home alone working around the house I can lose my temper. I get frustrated that my body won't do what I use to be able to do. Working over my head is the most frustrating for me. When I can't do what I want to or do things poorly because of my limitations I occasionally I lose my temper. Then I loudly yell out all kinds of "colorful" language.

The revelation came when I was working alone during the day. I had one of my fits and then quietly sat in my chair in the living room. In comes my oldest (7) beagle, Tucker. He slowly, apprehensively walked over to me with his head down and tail between his legs, my heart sank. Feeling sorry for myself turned to feeling sorry for Tucker. My rage had upset him, I felt terrible. Tucker is a rescue dog, he has put up with enough, too much stupidity in his life. He came to me for one of our daily hugs. It's not good enough to console him, I need to stop upsetting him.

I thought long and hard about this over the next few days. I realized when I am on a baseball field with the little guys In over 20 years I have never lost my temper, I don't even get mad, never, not even once. No matter what happens and believe me when I tell you I have seen some crazy stuff from other coaches, parents and spectators, even umpires. Nothing can upset me because I have to remain calm so that the players feel safe and remain calm.

I came up with an anger management technique. That I put to the test last weekend.

The sun from the large glass windows in my front door was glaring on my TV. I did not want to put a curtain on the door. It's some kind of cut glass and my wife loves it. The light it casts is a very pretty light on the hardwood floor, but not welcome on my TV. I decided to move my entertainment center. I knew it was going to be a big job, for me. It meant taking down much of my drop celling in the utility room in the basement under the living room and rerouting ethernet and coaxial cables. I thought "this will be fun working over my head". Perfect time to put my new plan in action.

When I pulled down the drop celling I saw it was much worse then I thought. To make matters much worse the cable/satellite installers that had been there previously over the years had left a tangled spaghetti mess of wires and cables. When I moved in there where 2 satellite dishes mounted in the backyard in addition to comcast cable wires. so that meant it was at least 3 prior installers.

The guy that installed my cable used some of the existing wire, add some and only made the mess even worse. Even though the old coaxial was sub-par and the one going to my master cable box/DVR and router was frayed! There were also way too many splitters and unions. No wonder I had some problems with the OnDemand service. We were also having problems when we had high demand for bandwidth. My kids/grandsons have nearly every device know to man.

The installer accomplished his goal, get in and out as quick as possible. His job looked great, everything that was visible was new top of the line cable. Below the surface it was atrocious! My blood was beginning to boil. The two things that upset me most; lazy and or stupid, this was both!

I had a roll of ethernet cable and terminal ends, but not enough coaxial cable. Now I had to go to home depot, Once I start a job I don't like having to go get parts. Going out wears my already low energy level down. I returned with the parts disconnected everything and proceeded to pull out nearly a dozen splitters and unions, hundreds of feet of wires and cable. I even pulled out a 36' RCA cable! I'm not exaggerating, I filled a 20 gal trash bag with the mess.

The only way to do this right was to start over. It took me nearly 4 hours to do a job that I estimated would be no more than an hour. The good news is our service works fantastic, our internet is faster than and more stable than ever and best of all, I did not have one of my fits!

I'm getting to the point, thanks for sticking with me. My new anger management technique is this; I imagine myself on a baseball field. When that fails to work instead of using "colorful" language in an angry tone, I sing "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet", It works!

My goal now is to expand the use of my new technique to all things. Not only lazy and stupid cable installers, but politicians and anybody or anything else that upsets me.

After a hard look at myself I realized getting angry, being mean spirited and using colorful language makes me nothing more than a cry baby "female dog". May God, my beagles and anyone else I have upset, please forgive me.

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Congrats Louis, You realized you had a problem and took steps to control your thinking rather than letting your frustrations/thinking control you! That's a very positive step!
 
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montanan said:
Louis - Nice photos of your grand kids field day. A lot of history there. I'm sure that they really enjoyed it.
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Chet, thank you, they do a great job of entertaining the little ones on field trips to Fort McHenry

PRR Modeler said:
Louis- Thanks for the history lesson. It looks like your grandson had a good time. If I ever make it to Baltimore I will definitely go to Fort McHenry.
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Curt, it is a fantastic place. Like Boris, I stop by and visit when ever I can. I have not taken the tour in many years, but even the grounds outside of the Fort itself are a great place. They have picnic tables, great place to take the family. it's free if you are not going into the Fort and the view of the harbor is the best, if you ask me.

Trussrod said:
Congrats Louis, You realized you had a problem and took steps to control your thinking rather than letting your frustrations/thinking control you! That's a very positive step!
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Thanks David, Self-reflection is important to me and something I have always tried to do. If I close my ears and mind I will never learn anything. Thinking I am always right will never let me improve. Thanks for the positive reinforcement,.

I'm glad to hear from you, as always. How have you been?
 
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Many of you know I support the players right to kneel during the Anthem. The down side of freedom is it makes it hard to legislate stupidity. Thank God we have the right to be stupid. As we see many of us exercise that right on a daily basis. Including me, from time to time.

I think if these players came to Fort McHenry they might do things differently. The battle for Baltimore cost the lives of 4 Americans and 24 more Americans were wounded. The British lost over 300.

After defeating Napoleon The entire weight of the British empire came to take away our freedom. The brave men and women who maned the defenses of Baltimore were at best unsure of the outcome, but they stood their ground.
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Here is something I find interesting. Baltimore has a reputation as a place with lots of criminals. I hear some say they want a return to the "good old days". I have lived here all my life, I don't recall any better old days. The violence has escalated to murder rather then beatings, but it still remains. It's most prevalent among the criminal element. Rather then beat each other over gripes they kill each other. In the old days criminals would not report getting beaten down. "Snitches get stiches" was the motto. Murder is much harder to hide.

One of the reasons the British wanted to sack Baltimore was to confront the privateers/pirates based in Fells Point. Not much has changed in over 200 years. Fells Point is still a den of thieves. It's now a place for the millennials to hang out and be "cool", but if they are dumb enough to walk alone at night their appearance screams "I have money, come and get it". Not long ago a bouncer was killed right in front of the bar he worked at in Fells Point. I felt terrible for his widow, but I had to wonder "who did he owe money to or piss off?" One thing I learned about the criminals, they are not as stupid as many think. They pick soft targets for easy money. I think somebody was sending a message by killing a bouncer in front of his bar.

That's another interesting thing; Privateers. If you are sanctioned by a government you are a privateer. Otherwise you are a pirate, same people. doing the same things.

For the record, I love my city, I will never leave and for the most part it is a peaceful and safe place, just don't be stupid.
 
Good morning. It's mostly clear, and 37. Hard freeze warning for tonight, with a forecast low of 25.
We have had tentative plans to spend Thanksgiving with my stepson, his wife, and some of his friends at a campground in Hiawassee, Georgia. If we decide (today, no more stalling) to go, I'll have to turn on the furnace, to prevent the pipes in the trailer from freezing. If we decide not to go, I'll be Winterizing the trailer today. I know what I'm inclined to do, but it's my wife's health, and her son we'll be camping together with.
 
Good morning Everybody,

I feel like I went a few rounds with Joe Frazier, my favorite boxer and I love boxing. Baseball, football, basketball and boxing, that's what I call sports!I want to say something about Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, but... I won't. "Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet" :)

My internal problems are a ok, blood work looks good, for me. My appetite is great, watch your fingers if you sit down to eat with me. I'm back to 280lbs and it's been stable for over a week! My doctors goal for me is 290, but he worries too much. Keep in mind I am 6'8" (I use to be 6'9") and I have a 56" chest. They like me to carry a little extra incase my pancreatitis flares up, but that has been almost non-existent for over 3 years!

Life is good, thank God!

My brother-law is a devout Muslim, great guy. You won't find a more devoted father/grandfather, he was just as devoted to my late sister. I don't think he has missed 2 days work in 40 years. he is a very humble man.

I've read Koran from cover to cover, one of the many things I learned. A good Muslim should be humble and that ideal is repeated several times in the Koran. another thing I learned, they are not much different than us. They have similar versions of both the old and new testament in the Koran. Kind of like the way the Catholic bible is a bit different than the Protestant version, but they are all good.

Hey, it's less then 2 weeks to Thanksgiving and that means Christmas music coming soon! I'm already playing it daily in my house, but I know I'm a bit whacky when it comes to Christmas. God has been so very good to me, the least I can do is a big celebration for his only son. That is just my way of doing things, to each his own and like I said, I am a bit whacky! True faith is inside, not outside. God loves us all equally regardless of faith or lack there of. I strive to do the same.

I belevie we should all just be good to each other and respect each other. I'm working on it. We should focus on the things we have in common, not our differences. Scientists say there is less than 3% difference in any humans DNA, amazing!

Thomas Jefferson said "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God" You got to love those founding fathers!

Have a great day Everybody!
 
Here is a great wake up song, but maybe your neighbors might not think so. Fortunately for me my neighbors can't hear my music no matter how loud I play it. Maybe I should say fortunately for my neighbors. When this song first came out I would play it in my service truck on my way to whatever job I was working, usually at 3am.

The good thing about posting music here is that you don't have to click on it :)

This song would defiantly be a part of the sound track of my life. Enjoy, or not :)
Always, known in, all my time,
A little left of center now
Reflect as I realize,
That all I need is to find the middle pillar path to sit like the Sun by a
Star in the sky and just be.
I stand, not crawling, not falling down...
 
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