1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Sign

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

It’s Country Fried . . .

Jan and I headed over to Pearland about 12:15 to meet up with Jan’s long-time friend and coworker Bonnie Horner. They worked together about 30 years ago and we try to get together a couple of times a years.

But this will very possibly be the last get-together, since Bonnie is in the process of packing up and moving back to North Dakota, her home state, to be with family.

We decided on Cracker Barrel for some comfort food, and CB came through.

We all ordered their Country Fried Turkey, with two sides.

Really, really good. And not our first time to have it.

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at CB back last year, and had the Country Fried Turkey, because we had to. Their turkey delivery truck didn’t show up the day before so they had no regular turkey, just the Country Fried.

After spending almost 3 hours talking over old times, and saying our good-byes and getting our hugs, Jan and I headed toward home. But as we usually do when we’re in the Pearland area, on our way home we stopped by El Pollo Loco to pick up a couple of their 3pc White Chicken Dinners to have later in the week.

Always delicious.

Tomorrow we’re checking out a new place that just recently opened up the Webster called Vida Mariscos. We’ve been wanting to try it, especially since Juana, one of our favorite servers, is now working there, as well as still working at BoomerJack’s. She’s a real go-getter.


Thought for the Day:

People are like sheep, and only have two speeds: graze and stampede.
That’s why I chose to be a sheepdog, once I saw what happens to the sheep.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


November 5, 2010

That’s Mr. Coffee to you!

Jan and I spent the morning enjoying the view and the nice weather. The rain has finally gone, but it’s still a little windy. But the front that brought the rain and wind is also bringing us some cooler weather finally.

It’s supposed to go down to 40 here tonight and only be 70 tomorrow. Right now at a little after 11pm it’s 50 here, 30 in Elkhart, IN, and 9 in Fairbanks, AK.

I think I like right where we are.

I made coffee this morning but it took forever. It’s been getting slower and slower, and boiling a lot of the water away. Normally this means it needs to be de-mineralized with CLR or vinegar, but I did that a couple of days ago and if anything, it’s worse now.

I think maybe the heating element is getting flakey. It seems to just start and stop brewing, so much so that it took almost 30 minutes to make 8 cups of coffee this morning. This Mr. Coffee is over 5 years old, so I think it’s time for a new one.

I headed out about 1pm to drop some papers off at a client and then dropped our warm weather comforter off at the cleaners. We have a lightweight comforter and a heavier one, and we swap them out when the weather starts to get cooler. So now’s the time.

Heading back to the rig, I stopped by Fry’s Electronics to pick some things I saw in today’s sale paper. While I was there I decided to take a look at their coffee makers.

I found the updated model of the Mr. Coffee that we have now, and then checked the Internet to see how the prices compared. Everyone was within a buck or so, plus or minus, except for Costco which was about $5.00 cheaper, but they’re all the way across town. It would cost me more in gas than that. So we now have a bright shiny new Mr. Coffee, this time in black rather than white. Should be easier to keep clean.

About 5:30pm we headed up to Floyd’s Cajun Seafood in Webster to meet our friends Bob and Beth Young. We try to get together once a month or so while we’re in town.

Jan had a shrimp cocktail and the grilled catfish, while I had a bowl of red beans and rice and a grilled boudin link. Bob and Beth had blackened and grilled fish, respectively, but I’ve forgotten what kind.

As usual we had a great time talking, and hopefully we’ll be able to do this several more times before we leave town.


November 5, 2011

Happy Early Thanksgiving . . .

We got a really slow start this morning, For some reason, after I came to bed about 2, I had trouble falling asleep, and then when I finally did, I woke up with a headache about 5 am, took some aspirin, and then didn’t wake up again until 11:30. So I felt loggy all morning. You just can’t win.

A little before 3 pm I chopped up the onions so Jan could get started on her Broccoli-Cheese Casserole for the park Thanksgiving dinner tonight, Then she mixed all the ingredients up in the roasting pan and popped it into the convection oven for about 55 minutes so that it came out looking like this.

Brocolli-Cheese Casserole

A little before 5 we loaded up and drove across the way to the Family Lodge where the dinner was being held. There were already a good many people there bringing in their covered dishes. I was actually kind of surprised to see this many people there, this late in the year.

This is just part of the spread set out on the tables.

Indian Lakes Thanksgiving 1

A few minutes after 5 every one lined up for the feast. And between the dishes the attendees brought, and the meats and side dishes the park furnished, it was a real feast.

To Jan’s delight, they had real dressing, cornbread dressing, that is.

Indian Lakes Thanksgiving 2

And as usual at these things, it got quiet as soon as everyone started eating.

Indian Lakes Thanksgiving 3

We sat across from a local couple and their son, Bob, Dottie, and Brandon Hartman. They have a lot here at the park and keep an RV on it during the summer, but then store it away in the winter.

We had a good time getting to know them, and hopefully we’ll run into them next year.

About 6:30 Jan and I waddled back to the rig for the night. Well, we should have waddled all the way back, but really, we waddled out to the truck and drove back. Could have used the exercise.

Since we leave here Monday morning to start our trip back to Houston, I’ve been going over our route, and planning stops and visits along the way.

If we took the most direct way back, we’d have about 1150 miles to go, but of course we never take the most direct route. Where would be the fun in that?

Instead, it will take us about 1850 miles to get there. I mean, what’s an extra 700 miles? it’s only diesel, right?

Tomorrow will be our last full day here at Indian Lakes. So we’ll probably go into the Cincinnati area again for dinner and probably a little shopping. We’ll see.


November 5, 2012

Bummer!

Didn’t make it to Gulf Shores today.

About a mile from our RV park, our coach engine quit like it was out of diesel. But it wasn’t.

Got towed in to an RV dealer in Huntsville. Nothing found so far.

They’ll be back on it tomorrow.


November 5, 2013

She’s Done It Again!

or A Reprieve . . . Kind of.

Long-time blog readers will remember that I posted a couple of years ago that I knew a very famous author.

And you’ve almost certainly heard of her. Here’s what I posted almost exactly two years ago.

Some of our blog readers may remember that when I was growing up in Gulf Shores, AL, my babysitter was Patsy Neal.
She was about 4 years older than me and her family and mine were good friends. They owned a small amusement park while my parents owned a motel on the beach.

I had not seen Patsy since I was about 8 years old until Jan and I, and Jan’s mother, went to see her at a book signing in Houston in 2005. Although we hadn’t seen each other for about 50 years, our parents had kept in touch until they died in the 1980’s and 1990’s, so Patsy and I were able to pick right up seemingly where we left off. I think we held up the book-signing line for about 15 minutes.

Oh, you probably know Patsy by her stage name – Fannie Flagg, author of “Fried Green Tomatoes” and a number of other best-selling novels, plus being an actress, screenwriter, and Academy Award Nominee.

Well, the reason for this post is that Fannie has a brand-new book out. It’s called “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion”, and it’s really good. Here’s the review I posted on Amazon.

Fannie Flagg has done it again with another true-to-the-south, heartwarming story.

Always feeling like she never lived up to her mother’s expectations, probably because she was constantly reminded of that by her mother Lenore, and also worried that she might end up in a ‘home’ like her crazy aunt and uncle, Sarah Jane (Sookie) Poole discovers that her perceived humdrum life is a lot more interesting than she ever imagined.

Jumping back and forth between the small towns of Pulaski, Wisconsin and Point Clear, Alabama, “The All Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion” takes us on Sookie’s journey of enlightenment and fulfillment, chronicling the lives of two families, past and present, with a connection known only to one person.

From Fannie’s first book Coming Attractions/Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, through Fried Green Tomatoes, Standing in the Rainbow, and A Red Bird Christmas, “The All Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion” takes its place among her very best.

And this glowing review has nothing to do with the fact that Fannie used to be my babysitter growing up. “Hi, Patsy. It’s Greg from Gulf Shores”.

And you can get it here.

Fannie Flagg Book

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion: A Novel

One thing I really like about Amazon is that when they say the book will be out on November 5th, they really mean it. At 5 minutes after midnight, November 5th, it’s on my Kindle. Neat!

So buy Fannie’s new book. You won’t be able to put it down.

* * * * *

As far as the reprieve, Jan was told this morning that we won’t be leaving the gate this weekend, but that we’ll probably be here until we were originally planning to leave on November 23rd. You know me, I’m happy not to miss out on those last two weeks of pay, but unfortunately, after the possibility came up, Jan was really looking forward to getting off the gate early

* * * * *

The flare stack really put on another show the other night, lighting up the whole area with a flickering orange glow. Enough so that I could feel the heat coming off of it.

Big Flare

And then in the morning, not to be outdone, the sunrise put on a pretty spectacular show too.

Gate Sunrise

Sunrises are kind of novel for me here on the gate since it’s only been after Daylight Savings Time ended that I’m awake to see one. Normally I’m already in bed asleep by then.

And then a little later, without any rain in the area, we got a rainbow.

Rainbow Gate

Several people have asked about the gate guard program that I wrote. It’s pretty much done and working great. And GGS said they didn’t care what I used to log people in, as long as they got logged in. But it’s kind of late in our stay to start using it now for logging, but it comes in really handy for tracking vehicles, since every vehicle tag number, company, and driver is in the database. So once we recognize a tag number, we can just flag them through without them having to stop.

Readers know how much I like hot food, spicy hot, not just temperature hot. The hotter the better.

And now I have a new favorite hot seasoning. It’s called “The Hottest F****N’ (except it’s all spelled out) Seasoning.

Hottest F Seasoning2

The ingredients start off with Ground Red Pepper. Ok, not bad, but bring on the heat.

And they do. And it’s not any habanero ‘this’ or even Ghost Chili ‘that’. No, they go right for the jugular.

It’s just pure Oleoresin Capsicum. That’s the stuff that makes all the other stuff hot. And it really does the trick.

I think I’m in LOVE.


November 5, 2014

Make It Stop . . .

It’s been raining for two days now, never really heavy, just steady. And it’s not supposed to stop until around 6am tomorrow morning. And then just to top things off, this evening it started to get cold, down to the low 50’s.

What’s amazing is how big this storm line is, running down in Mexico all the way up to Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada.

Screenshot_2014-11-05-01-55-07

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s no slope where we are, so the water (and mud) just puddled at our feet. I asked Jan to call the Company Man to see if they would drop off a load of pea gravel so I could spread it around under our canopy.

Well, my Sweetie done good! This is what I found when I came out to relieve her at 1pm.

New Gravel

They not only brought the gravel, they spread it all around for us too. Really nice.

Our frack has been down for two days now, due to interference with the drill rig. I mentioned this possible problem before when we had two fracks going at our other gate. Strangely the other two fracks were closer to the rig then this one, but this is the one having the problem.

When they shut down the frack, they sent out an email to all the trucking companies so that the dispatchers would halt the sand truck deliveries. But apparently a lot of guys didn’t get the word so they started piling up here in the staging yard.

Sand Trucks

There’s another row behind this one, and more parked around the sides, hoping I guess, that the frack would start back up some. And by the time I came back out at 11pm, there were only four left.

The restart date for the frack runs from ‘any minute now’ to Saturday, and times in between. So we’ll see how it goes.

Tomorrow morning I’ll make a run over to Bryan/College Station to pick up groceries/supplies, and also bring back lunch. I’ve also got to pick up the flasher control module that I ordered to fix my turn signals.

Well, right now it’s FedEx 1, UPS 0. Last week I ordered something from Amazon and FedEx delivered it right here to the gate. But this past Monday I ordered something else from Amazon that was shipped via UPS that was supposed to arrive today.

But according to the tracking info, it’s been sitting in Bryan/College Station since 5:45am this morning, and hasn’t moved. And I’ve got something else coming in today via UPS so we’ll see what happens.

Just about given up on Frack Food.


November 5, 2015

Hacking and Leaking . . .

I don’t even want to talk about the weather anymore. Either the weather or the weather forecasters can’t make up their minds. Actually I suspect a little of both.

I think I’ve solved my problem with people (well, bots) trying to hack into my blog. I bit the bullet and installed a CAPTCHA program on the login page. In case you haven’t come across it online, CAPTCHA is that program that shows you weird, twisted letters and numbers like this.

CAPTCHA

Hopefully you can figure out what the letters are and type them in better than a bot script can. At least it worked in my case.

I went from over 250 attempts a day to 3. That’s a big difference. And I’m not exactly sure where the 3 attempts came from, because it won’t show a ‘failed login attempt’ unless it gets past the CAPTCHA program. So maybe this was an actual person trying to get in, or trying to see why his bot wasn’t getting anywhere. But it’s a big improvement.

‘Billy Claus’ dropped off our Amazon stuff yesterday, so it was almost like Christmas. Besides a couple of tools and stuff I needed, the main thing I got was nine more sets of the Super Bright LED Light Strips. It looks like they’ve actually come down a couple of dollars, since they’re now $5.99 a set.

LED Strips

This will give me enough to do all the rest of the fluorescent lights in the coach. I have two of the small fixtures in the bedroom and two more in the living room. That will take four sets, but since those are all working OK with the fluorescent tubes, I’ll wait a while on those.

The other 5 sets will be to finish up the big fixture in the kitchen where I was short one strip, and then remount the strips on the top of the fixture instead of the glass.

Ceiling LED Lights 1

But even with only 7 strips it’s still brighter than the fluorescent tubes that they replaced.

Ceiling-LED-Lights-2a

Then I’ll do the other big fixture right next to it over the dining room table. That will leave me one strip left over for a spare, I guess.

Around 4pm this afternoon I went around back to check the level in the water tank and discovered that we had a diesel leak in the generator where the line comes out of the fuel filter. Not good.

So I put in a call to Todd, our GGS service guy, to let him know about the problem. He was supposed to be here tomorrow or Saturday anyway to top us off with diesel and change the oil, so maybe he could swing by a little early.

Turns out he was almost two hours away, so it was a little more than a ‘swing, but he got here pretty fast and fixed the problem. I assume it was just a loose fitting since I was asleep by the time he got here.

I’ve been having a lot of fun the last few days, doing something I haven’t had a chance to do in a while. No, not that.

What I’m talking about is ‘hacking code’. Specifically someone else’s code. As in the guy who designed the theme that I’m using on the new blog I debuting in the next few weeks. I’ll let you know more about that later.

But the code I’m ‘hacking’ is the style sheet, the ‘style.css’ file that pretty much determines the size, look, and feel of the theme. It looks like this.

#sidebar-secondary {
overflow: hidden;
float: right;
width: 220px;
margin-left: 15px;
}

/* =HEADER
————————————————————– */

#header {
height: 66px;
padding:22px 0;
}

.logo {
float: left;
margin-left: 15px;
}

.logo h1.site_title {
margin: 0;
padding:0;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Sans-serif;
font-size:48px;
line-height: 40px;
font-weight: bold;
}

.logo h1.site_title a, .logo h1.site_title a:hover {
color: #404040;
text-decoration: none;
}

.logo h2.site_description {
margin: 0;
padding:0;
color: #4040FF;
/* =LAYOUT
————————-#A0C20B————————————- */
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Sans-serif;
font-size:14px;
line-height: 14px;
}

.header-right {
float: right;
margin-right: 15px;
}

/* =MENUS
————————————————————– */

/* Menu Primary
—————————-*/

.menu-primary-container {
padding:0;
position:relative;
height: 34px;
background: url(images/menu-primary-bg.png) left top repeat-x;

This new theme is very similar to the one for this site. In fact it’s written by the same guy. And although it has some nice features, I didn’t like some of the layout, and the green and black color scheme just had to go. So my job is to comb through this code, figure out what’s doing what, and then change it to do what I want.

Sometimes it’s just trial and error. And a lot of error. You make a small change and then see what happens.

Oops. That’s bad.

But after a while you get a handle on how this guy does things, and figure out what you need to change.

Fun!

As I said, more about the new blog later. As a hint, it is related to this blog, but with a lot of new stuff. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow is Wal-Mart / Whataburger day, and I really hope my Whataburger experience is better this time. But I’m not holding out any real hope.

It is amazing what I’ll go through for a good burger, though.


November 5, 2016

Putting a Light on Things . . .

Today was my first morning to start out on a gate at 6:30am. Needless to say, I’m not a big fan.

One thing I do really like about SiteWatch gates is all the lights. With a light tower on the generator and another one on the shack, plus the other lights around the roof edge, the entire area is lit up almost like daylight.

SiteWatch NightLight

What this means operationally, is that I no longer need a high-power flashlight to read the tags of incoming vehicles. And I don’t have to juggle the flashlight while I’m trying to write down the data on the log sheets.

Speaking of log sheets, I’m not a big fan of the ones we’re using here. I don’t know if they actually come from Marathon, or just what they want. to see.

SiteWatch Log

What’s with all the white space? They give you little tiny blocks to write down the time in and out, and the 4 digit tag numbers, which means it can be hard to read back later.

Make the forms bigger people!

I don’t yet know if this is going to be a long-term gate for me, but if it turns out that way, the night shift guy and I want to switch shifts.

In thinking about it, it turns out to be really simple.

I work my day shift and then Bill works his night shift

Then Jan comes in and works 6 hours of my day shift and Bill’s wife works the remaining 6 hours of the day shift.

Then I come in on night shift.

Easy Peazy, and it keeps the money straight too.

Today was so overcast that I kept all the lights on until almost 8:30, but it finally burned off later.

Not too busy, though I did have one 12 vehicle convoy show up about 7:30. Otherwise I think I only did about 50 vehicles all day. So not bad at all.

Tomorrow’s day shift is my last scheduled one, until I hear more from Todd.

So we’ll see how it goes after that.


November 5, 2017

Baby Steps . . .

Jan wanted to try out her new Instant Pot today, but decided to ease into it by first making a batch of her world-famous Chili using it in the slow cooker mode.

Rather than a list of ingredients, how about a photo?

Instant Pot Chili Ingredients

Actually we ended up two more cans of beans after seeing the level in the pot. The cans in the photo pretty much filled up our 5 qt. Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker, but the 8 qt. IP had more room.

In getting this meal going I ran into a couple of problems (annoyances?) with the IP.

First off, in Slow Cooker mode anyway, you can’t change the cooking temperature, Less, Normal, More, while you’re actually cooking. You have to shut off the IP and then start all over again.

Nor can you change the cooking time, say to add an hour. Again you have to start over.

The other problem is with the cooking temperature itself. It’s too low on all three settings. After an hour on Low today, the chili wasn’t even warm, but it would have been in our old H-B Slow Cooker.

So next I rebooted the IP and set it for More. And after about three hours it was warm enough to eat. But after three hours in our old H-B it would be boiling. So I guess we’ll have to adjust our times and temps with the IP. Or just keep using the H-B  for slow cooking, since Jan wants to keep it anyway.

About 2pm Jan and I headed out to check out another couple of RV parks in the area, one new one to us, and one old favorite.

First up was Green Caye RV Park over in Dickinson, just north of FM517. We’ve never stayed here but it’s supposed to be pretty nice so we thought we’d check it out.

Turned out to be very nice, but kind of a weird layout, like a giant ‘T’, woven around the park models,  apartments, and homes. When I saw the cost, $485 per month, I thought that was kind of high until I looked closer and found it also includes electric.

Pretty unusual for a monthly rate. And not a bad deal after all.

Then it on over to Galveston Bay RV Park, the park where we spent every winter from 2008 through 2013. Then it seems to be almost impossible to get a reservation, and we haven’t been back since. And that’s when we started spending the winter bouncing between the Lake Conroe TT and the Colorado River TT in Columbus, TX.

This was our site the first two years, Site 80.

Site 80 Big

But since then a new RV Park was built right next door, so this is the view now.

Galveston Bay Site 80

Not near as nice.

And this is site 75, where we stayed in 2011.

Galveston Bay Site 75

When we stayed here, we pulled in instead of backing in so we could have the bayou view out the windshield. Then we just hooked up to the pedestal underneath the rig.

And it looks like they’re getting ready to open a whole new area on the north side of the park.

Galveston Bay New New Area

Coming home we made a quick stop at the Kroger’s on Hwy 96 before heading back to the rig.


November 5, 2018

Potpourri & More . . .

I got a prelim version of my shipping program up and running today at work.

You enter the destination zip code and package weight, and It gives the rates for Priority Mail, Flat Rate Priority Mail, Regional Boxes, and Cubic Boxes.

And this can make a lot of difference in the shipping cost that you charge the customer, especially since, unlike many places, my client only charges the exact amount, with no ‘Shipping and Handling’ charges added.

For example, the cost of a 10# package shipped cross-country can range from $9.70 to $28.45, all with the same 3-day delivery time. A lot of difference.

Next I want to pull in the First Class rates, since that’s the way we ship a lot of small stuff. Then I’ll clean up the GUI (Graphical User Interface) so it looks pretty.

I’ve thought about trying in with the UPS system, but I don’t think it’s really necessary since we normally only use UPS for heavier shipments.

I’ve also been putting in a lot of time lately working with Zen Cart for a new client. I’m trying to get ZC to import a slightly off-beat version of SQL. It kind of works, but not consistently. I would think that there’s actually a glitch in the SQL file, but it doesn’t consistently fail at the same spot in the file. But I’ll get it figured out eventually.

Didn’t hear anything back on our truck. I told them to take their time since we had a rental car. Hope they didn’t take that too much to heart.

We’ve got a number of travel things coming up in the next week, and I’m not sure I want to trust the truck until I drive it for a few days. So we’ll probably keep the Malibu for a few extra days after this Thursday when we’re supposed to turn it back. Jan would also like us to take it in and have the inside cleaned out and detailed.

Of course this decision has nothing to do with the fact that I’m really enjoying driving it.

As I said yesterday, tomorrow we’ve got our ophthalmologist appointments. Besides getting some more info on the cataract in my left eye, I’m also hoping to get a full clearance on my nighttime vision problem diagnosis, since I can’t see any difference between my night vision in either eye when I cover one and then the other.

Of course, my optometrist said that’s just my ‘perception’.  Isn’t that what vision is anyway?

I ordered Jan a set of Bluetooth Headphones like these that came in today.

Bluetooth Headphones

This will let her listen to her programs on the TV without my having to hear them too. It can also connect to our Alexa, and has a built-in FM radio.

And if you Bluetooth it to your phone, you can also answer phone calls using the built-in microphone.

Oh, and you can just plug it in and use it as regular wired headphones.


November 5, 2019

Time Compression . . .

Jan and I were just talking today and realized how much we have going on in the next few weeks. It’s like time is compressed into shorter and shorter moments.

In a little over a week, on the 14th, we’re heading up to Kingsland for a big family get-together for the long weekend. So we’ve got a lot to do to get the rig ready to roll. Especially important since we haven’t taken a trip since last April when we went up to Kingsland right before our European jaunt.

The following Saturday, the 16th, Jan’s doing a local Home Tour with Jennifer, my client’s Office Manager. And then the next day, Sunday, she’ll be going up to Katy to Landon-sit while he’s out of school for Thanksgiving. But she’ll stay over until the next Sunday, the 1st so she can dog-sit for Brandi while they’re up in Cleburne TX for Thanksgiving with some friends.

I’ll go up on Thursday so Jan and I can out to Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving dinner. After she comes home on Sunday, we’ll be leaving on Thursday for our long weekend up in New York for our Christmas trip.

This afternoon I tried to book our limo ride up to Hobby Airport and then our ride home. But when I tried to enter our Southwest flight info, it came back as invalid. So I called Action Limo and they also said our flight numbers didn’t come up.

I put in a call to Chantelle Nugent, our favorite travel agent, and left her a message about the problem. She called back about 30 minutes later to confirm that sometime since the past August when we booked the trip, that SW had changed the flight numbers, and also the departure times. But only by a few minutes on the times.

Jan and I headed out about 1pm, first for brunch at Snooze, and then some errands. I wanted to be sure that my laptop GPS was still functioning after the recent GPS day number problem. So I took my laptop with us, running in the backseat and tracking us.

I was concerned if my ancient Earthmate GPS module would still work.

Earthmate GPS module

And even though it was 12 years old, it worked fine.

I’ve had it since 2007 when we used it on our first RV trip in a CruiseAmerica Class C rental.

CruiseAmerica Class C Trip 2007

These 3 weeks out west, including attending one of the late-lamented Life On Wheels seminars in Tucson, are what told us that we wanted to full-time RV.

And about a year later we were on our way to Alaska in our American Eagle Class A and starting a new life.


November 5, 2020

The Elusive Holy Grail . . .

First off, do any of our readers know anyone, or know anyone who knows anyone, or know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone . . . Ad infinitum, know anyone who is on, or is going on an expedition to Antarctica?

You see, it’s getting toward the end of the year and Google, who tracks these things, has told me that over the years I have had blog readers from every continent . . . except Antarctica.

So every year about this time I put out a call trying for the elusive holy grail of blogging. So any help would be appreciated.

Jan and I headed out about 11am for the 90 minute drive up to Conroe to make a lunch date with long-time friends, Debi and Ed Hurlburt, at a local favorite, El Bosque.

When we made the date, Ed warned us that the place had moved since we last ate there together. But the move was just from the west side of I-45 at 105 to the east side of I-45 at Davis St. So not a big difference for our trip.

El Bosque Ed and Debi

Jan got her favorite El Presidente platter with Rock Shrimp, Chicken and Beef,

El Bosque El Presidente 2

while I got the Fajita Diabla, with Beef and Chicken Fajitas, along with Grilled Shrimp and Mushrooms covered with a Bacon Chipotle Sauce.

El Bosque Fajita Diabla

Really delicious, with enough left over to bring home.

And after a great time with Debi and Ed, and an idea to meet up again in about a month, we made good enough time to get back to Santa Fe about 5 minutes before Cowboy Coffee closed at 6pm.

Really needed since we didn’t have coffee this morning.


November 5, 2021

A Branson Precursor . . .

A month from today Jan and I will be on our way up to Branson for our Christmas adventure. So I thought I’d reposted our last visit back in 2009.


November 11, 2009

Smirnoff and SIX…

Sounds like a new drink, doesn’t it?

Today was a twofer.  We saw Yakov Smirnoff at a 3pm matinee,  and then SIX, a singing group at 8pm.

But first we stopped off for lunch at Sadie’s Sideboard, a well-regarded buffet restaurant on the Branson Strip, and not too far from Yakov’s theater. The fried chicken was really good!

Yakov’s show was great!  And as I expected, very pro-American.

What I didn’t expect though, was how decidedly conservative some of his comments were.  Having been born and lived in Russia until he was 26, he says,
“I know socialism when I see it, and I don’t like what I see”.

Smirnoff 1

Smirnoff 2

Smirnoff 3

He also had a team of Russian folk dancers that were really good.

Smirnoff Dancers 1

And the “Santa Claus and the Pirates” was cute , but corny.  As Yakov said during the scene, “Maybe we should have hired real writers”.

Smirnoff Pirates 1

Smirnoff 4

And his President of the United States skit was pretty good, too.  He took real questions from the audience and answered them both seriously, and hilariously.

Smirnoff President

And everyone seemed to enjoy his Secret Service detail.

Smirnoff Secret Service

And of course, the obligatory dancing toys Christmas skit.

Smirnoff Xmas 1

Smirnoff Xmas 2

Smirnoff Choir

It was a great show, and as good as we had heard.  It was easy to see why Yakov has been filling an 1800-seat theater almost daily for the last 17 years.

What I didn’t know is that he is a well-recognized artist.  His large mural painting “America’s Heart” has hung at Ground Zero in New York after 9/11.

Yakov Artwork 1

And this one is called ‘God and Country”

Yakov Artwork 2

Leaving the show we decided to eat dinner at El Portal again, since we liked it so much last night.

A little before 7 pm we drove over to the Hughes Bros. Theater to see SIX.  We had never heard of them before, but we saw their billboards coming into Branson, and the ticket guy said it was one of the most popular.  We only got tickets because of a cancellation.

SIX is a group of six brothers who have been performing since the late 70’s.   They are the six oldest of ten boys and no girls.  As they said, their parents really wanted a girl!!

The really neat thing is that they perform everything a cappella, but not without instruments.  They make the instrument sounds, too.

They do drums, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, etc., and they are dead on.  It’s really amazing.

And their harmony is fantastic.  Check out their version of the Star Spangled Banner on YouTube.  And this one too is done a cappella.

SIX 1

SIX 2

And they do dead-on voice impersonations of Elvis, Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, etc.

SIX Elvis

They also did a great “Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons”.

SIX 3

SIX 4

And the tribute to their mother who died of cancer in 1992 brought tears to everyone’s eyes.

SIX 5

If you’re in Branson, this is a show to see.

By the time we got home it was almost 11 pm.

Tomorrow we’re going to take a road trip about 90 miles up the road to Colaw’s RV Salvage in Carthage, MO.


November 5, 2022

Dr. Piper?

Jan been feeling a little under the weather the last couple of days with a headache, a slight fever, and a loggy feeling, so I did the WalMart shopping this afternoon. One of the things I picked up was a 24-pack of Coke Zero.

And I was astonished, stunned, amazed (take your pick) at the price increase. Last April the price for the 24 pack was $8.38, then a couple of months later, it was up to $9.38. Not too bad.

But today, the 24 pack was $12.83. Yikes! That’s a 50% increase in just 7 months.

Sounds like we might need a Windfall Profits Tax on Big Soda.

Since it finally went free on Amazon Prime recently, Jan and I finally watched Downton Abbey- A New Era tonight. The second movie which continues on from the award-winning TV series, wraps up several storylines and lays the groundwork for a few more.

Jan and I both enjoyed it. And supposedly there’s a third one in the works.

We got a text from Miss Piper this morning, saying that she had been accepted to an MS (Master of Science) program with a major in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a Concentration in Trauma and Crisis.

And next?  Dr. Piper?

After last week was kind of quiet, next week gets a little busier with the Nutcracker Market

Nutcracker Market 5

on Thursday, and then the Alvin Opry Friday night.

As is our usual custom, we’ll have lunch at Katz’s Deli up in the Montrose district before the Market.

But next weekend is still up in the air.


November 5, 2023

It’s Lemongrass . . .

After our ‘Fall Back’ last night I only had to manually change a couple of clocks here in the rig, and the one in the Jeep. Everything else took care of itself.

We were on our way out about 12:30 this afternoon, with our first stop at the Victory Lakes T.J.Maxx for Jan’s Christmas Card foray. She had tried a couple of weeks ago but they hadn’t come in yet, but today she struck the mother lode and found just what she was looking for.

Then it was on over to Denny’s for Ultimate Omelets once again. Next up was HEB right across the Interstate for our weekly stuff. After getting gas there, we headed home.

We had thought about doing a quick stop at our local Kroger’s but decided to save that until Wednesday.

Next week looks to be a busy one.

Since we’re coming up on the 2nd Anniversary of my Cervical Spinal Fusion, tomorrow I’ve got X-rays scheduled to check if there’s been any further changes or damage. Then Wednesday Jan’s also got a doctor’s appointment, and since it’s over in Pearland, we’ll get to eat at El Pollo Loco once again.

On Thursday we’ve got the Nutcracker Market down at the NRG area. We went last year and really enjoyed it, so we’re back again.

And of course, as usual, we’ll have lunch at Katz’s Deli before the Market.

Our new Amazon Echo that we got a few weeks ago is really an improvement on our old Amazon Echo.

Amazon Echo, 4th Generation

Of course, it should be since our original Echo dates back to 2015.

It’s been a real workhorse, but the new one has much better sound, and more importantly, it’s much more sensitive to our voice commands, seemingly not having a problem hearing over the A/C and the TV.

The Small Of The Day: Lemongrass

   

 

 

 

It’s Not Just Jeeps, I Guess . . .

The first thing I did after I got up this morning (well, after peeing, of course) was to check out our heated mattress pad. Jan’s side was working fine, but mine was dead. At least until I plugged it back in. Unlike most of these, this one has separate AC plugs for each side.

So now we’re good to go for winter.

* * * * *

It now seems that rubber ducks are now just a Jeep thing. It seems that cruise lines, especially Carnival Cruises, are now doing the ‘rubber duckie’ thing.

Carnival Cruise Line makes a bold statement on cruise ship ducks

Hiding cruise ship ducks has become a phenomenon: People simply love buying, decorating and hiding ducks for kids (and maybe adults) to search for on ships.

For the most part, duck hiding has been an unofficial thing. It’s not endorsed by Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean or any of the other family-friendly cruise lines. But largely the companies have simply looked away.

Passengers on the other hand have led the way in creating this phenomenon. They’ve built websites and social-media pages for people to share when and where they will be hiding ducks, as well as enabling them to show off the ones they find.

And here’s Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carnival Cruise Line Introduces Trendy New Mascot

Carnival Cruise Line is going all in on the hot cruising ducks phenomenon with a brand new mascot. None other than “Ducky” will soon be spotted across the Carnival fleet, joining in the feathery fun and adding more smiles to every sailing.

The new mascot has already appeared aboard the cruise line’s newest ship, Carnival Jubilee, and has been seen posing with the ship’s Hotel Director, Pierre and Director of Guest Operations, Greg.

I’m sorry, but couldn’t they have come up with a better name than ‘Ducky The Duck’?

* * * * *

Prolific author and long-time friend Jason Deas, knowing how Jan likes Thanksgiving, and Turkey & Dressing, sent over this photo.

Told him Jan’s already put it on her Wal-Mart list.

Well, at least there’s no pineapple on it.

* * * * *

Tomorrow we’re heading over to the Pearland area to have lunch with Bonnie, an ex-coworker and long-time friend of Jan’s. Bonnie is moving back to North Dakota to be with family, so it may be a while before we see her again.


Thought For The Day:

Just be yourself isn’t always good advice, especially for me. Just ask Jan.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


November 4, 2010

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza . . .

The rain finally let this morning after dropping another inch or so overnight, but it was nice and sunny when I left about 10am to visit a client in Pasadena.

I finished up with Tricia about 12:45 and then had to come back to the rig to get my phone that I’d left at home this morning. Without it I couldn’t call my next client.

I dropped off Barbara’s laptop at her office on NASA Parkway and then headed over to another client for a while, finally getting back home about 4:30pm.

And here I thought I was supposed to be retired!

After resting up with a short nap, Jan and I met Chris and Linda at Mario’s Pizza up in Seabrook about 5 miles north of here. We’ve eaten there a couple of times and it’s always good. But, unfortunately, Miss Piper couldn’t be with us since she had to work.

After a long day, we finally got back to the rig about 7:45pm.

Luckily, I don’t have anything scheduled for tomorrow so far, so maybe it will be a quiet day for a change.

Since nothing much happened today.


November 4, 2011

A Ray of Sunshine . . .

Looks like yesterday’s hard rain has gone away and we should have pretty good weather until we leave here on Monday. We’ll see.

About 1 pm I went down to the park office to pick up a package from Amazon that had come in yesterday afternoon. That should be it for mail while we’re here.

Getting back to the rig I went through the activation setup for Jan’s new LG Revere cellphone. That only took a few minutes, but a good bit longer to get the contacts transferred over. It’s still not set up quite like I want it, so I’ll have to play with it some more tomorrow.

Later, I called the Wal-Mart in Vandalia, IL so they’ll have our prescriptions ready when we get there on Monday. Since we plan on Wally-Docking there for one night while we visit Jan’s sister, it’ll be really convenient.

Our daughter Brandi called a little after 5 to catch us up on Landon’s Halloween adventures Monday night. They walked him around to some houses in the neighborhood, and, at first, he was a little reluctant to go up to the door. But quickly got the hang of it.

Landon 366

Brandi said that at one house Landon walked up to the door holding open his bag, and that when the lady put the candy bowl down to talk to him, he reached into the bowl, picked out one piece of candy, and put it in his bag. Smart kid!

Several readers had asked for Jan’s Broccoli-Cheese Casserole recipe. Since it uses so many prepared ingredients, it’s easy to throw together on the spur of the moment.

And even better. it’s really, really good. When she takes it to get-togethers’, I’ve learned to get my fill there, because there’s usually none to bring home.

For bigger groups, like tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner, she makes a triple batch of it.

BROCCOLI – CHEESE CASSEROLE

1 16 oz. pkg. Frozen cut-up broccoli
1 cup cooked Minute Rice
1 cup Cheese Whiz
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 can mushroom soup
¼ cup Butter

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 for 45 min.

I’ve also posted one of her other delicious favorites, Squash Casserole. She usually makes this with fresh squash, but sometimes during the holidays, it can be hard to find. It’s still great with frozen squash.

SQUASH CASSEROLE

2 cups cooked squash – fresh or frozen
1 T sugar
½ onion, finely chopped
1 egg
½ cup mayo
½ cup sharp, shredded cheese
salt & pepper

Drain cooked squash and mash. Beat in egg, mayo and cheese, onion, and salt and pepper.

Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 40 min. If the center appears soupy, let it cook a while longer.


November 4, 2012

My Home’s in Alabama . . .

Although we had a line of heavy thunderstorms come through last night and bring much cooler temps, this morning started out bright and sunny. Since we had nothing scheduled until later in the afternoon, we used the morning for some delicious vanilla crème coffee and to catch up on some of the programs we had recorded on our DVR

After Jan fixed us cheese toast for lunch I spent some time taking a look at the starting problem I had last Thursday morning leaving Heflin, AL. The American Coach tech I had talked to had mentioned a couple of fuses in the Battery Control Center box that might have blown and caused the problem, but I checked the two 5 amp fuses that were listed as being part of the start circuit, but both checked out OK. I then reseated all the connectors on the board, replaced the dummy plug, and tried the engine. But no luck.

Since it was Sunday I couldn’t talk to the American tech, so I’ll have to follow up while we’re at Gulf Shores next week.

About 1:30 we headed down to the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before heading over to my Uncle Ed’s to say goodbye and thank them for their hospitality. Then it was over to my Uncle Theo’s and Aunt Virginia’s to visit for a while. It’s always good catching up with my family and we look forward to coming back next year. And even better, when we left, my Aunt Virginia gave us a couple of loaves of her delicious sourdough and banana nut bread.  Hmmmm!

And since my Aunt Jan gave us some of her pear preserves and green tomato salsa, we’re all set.

Saying our goodbyes to Theo and Virginia, Jan and I headed over to Hwy 72 to have dinner at Bojangles’, a chicken and biscuit chain we’ve seen up and down the East Coast, and we wanted to give them a try.

They turned out to be pretty good. Jan liked their Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, and I had a Steak Biscuit and a Country Ham Biscuit. Both good, and their biscuits are really good. In fact we got a couple of their egg, ham, and cheese biscuits to have for breakfast before we head out tomorrow morning.

Coming home, we drove through a nearby Texaco station to verify that we can fit in there to fill up with diesel tomorrow morning.

Finally this evening, Brandi sent over this photo of Landon in his new Mickey Mouse jammies.

Landon in Mickey Mouse Jammies

Tomorrow we’ll head out about 8:30 for a 370 mile run down to Gulf Shores, AL for about 12 days before we head home to Houston.


November 4, 2014

Called on Account of Rain . . .

A short blog today, called on the account of rain.

Lots and lots of rain.

After staying north of us all day, about 6:30, right after I’d gone to bed, the bottom fell out, right on my now-somewhat soggy Sweetie. Never really hard, but steady all evening. And it looks like more of the same all day tomorrow, at least until tomorrow evening.

Here’s what it looks like on the Rainy Days app on our Galaxy Tab 4.

Screenshot_2014-11-05-00-42-45

That’s us, the little red dot in the center.

And as I had thought (feared?), there’s no slope or drainage here, so we’re now sitting in a big puddle. Along with all our electrical cords, heaters, fans, radios, etc.

Oh boy!

I’m going to check with the Company Man and see if we can get another load of pea gravel to put down here like we did at our other gate. At least that will get us out of the puddles.

On a bright note though, my new steel-toed boots from Wal-Mart seem to be very waterproof.

But on a dark note, still no Frack Food.

Oh, The Horror.


November 4, 2015

Six Days . . .

That’s how long they lasted this time.

The weather actually got a little better today, with the sun and some blue sky peeking through the clouds. Nice for a change.

But last night was another story. It was forecast for fog, but I think it got a little carried away. In fact between 2:30 and 3:30am, it was like a black curtain descended and I couldn’t more than about 10 feet in front of me. And even stranger, I could no longer see the 3 big light towers down at the site. It was just Black.

One of the tanker drivers who came in about that time said he had trouble following the road. But after about 3:30 the really heavy stuff lifted and it was just normally foggy again.

But it does look like tomorrow night will start off several more days of rain, although it’s not supposed to be nearly as bad as last week, at least not around here.

With the cooler weather, it has been nice not to have to run the AC. Sitting right behind us, it’s pretty loud, even on low fan. But it was heaven when it was 98°.

Readers will remember my frustration a few weeks ago trying to add some Thousand Trails parks in the northeast to our membership. We plan on attending the 56th Escapade up in Essex Junction, VT next July, and our present Alliance membership doesn’t have anything north of New Jersey.

When we were at the Verde Valley TT this past July I talked to a salesperson there about getting a Ready Camp Go card, and she said it would be perfect for that. It was $299 for a year, so I thought I’d wait until this fall to purchase it so we’d get the most use out of it.

But when I went to purchase one a few weeks ago, I found it was no longer available to Alliance members, or the general public for that matter, but you had to be an Elite or Elite Connections member to purchase one. And I could upgrade to an Elite membership for the measly sum of only $5000, well, $4995 anyway.

And then the $299 for the RCG card. I’m sorry, but for $5300 I can stay at a lot of RV parks.

Next I was told that I could add a Zone pass to my membership. At $545 it was more expensive than the RCG card, but it would do the job. Then I found out that, like the RCG card, the Zone Pass was now only available to Elite or Elite Connection members.

I’m starting to detect a pattern here.

Then a couple of days ago I logged into the Thousand Trails website to pay my dues, and I found this.

Camping Pass

It says, “Thousand Trails is currently offering exciting new opportunities for you to enhance your membership benefits, such as. . .”

Now let’s parse this out.

“…exciting new opportunities…” It’s plural, more than one.

Well, that fits, because I see two different things being offered, a Camping Pass and an Elite membership.

Now then, “…enhance your membership benefits…” and the Bold is theirs.

So we’ve got “enhance”, as in add to something.

So I read this as saying you can add one of these ‘exciting new opportunities’ to your present TT membership. And this is reinforced by the fact that this is only seen inside the TT website, where you have to already be a member to log in.

But then when I called the number listed with the ad today, happy to have finally gotten this taken care of, I was told, “Oh, no. You can’t add the Camping Pass to your Alliance membership.”

Me: “Then who can buy a Camping Pass?”

Her: “You can’t be a member and buy a Camping Pass.”

Me: “So you can’t get one if you’re an Elite member?”

Her: “You can’t be a member and buy a Camping Pass.”

I’m starting to detect a pattern here.

Me: “Then why is it offered inside the TT website, where you have to be a member to log in?”

Her: “I don’t know, but you can’t be a member and buy a Camping Pass.”

I resisted the impulse to chant it along with her.

So, at this point, I’m dead in the water again. I don’t think they like me anymore. Of course, maybe they never did.

Since I got the charger port on the laptop fixed, Jan had been using it at night to watch some of her favorite old shows we have on DVD. Right now she’s going through the entire series of Northern Exposure. I bought her the entire set for Christmas 2009, but I think this is the first time she’s had a chance to watch the whole thing at once.

Northern Exposure Series

Northern Exposure – The Complete Series

In 2008 on our way to Alaska, we stopped and visited Roselyn, WA where NE was filmed. And it’s all still there, The Brick, Ruth Anne’s store, Dr. Fleishman’s office, the Café, and the KBHR radio station.

Here’s a blog post I did about our visit.

On the Road to Alaska

Check it out. There’s even some Mister stuff there.

Six Days. My second pair of expensive ($6.50 a pair) boot laces made from cheap cow parts from India (they worship them and then turn them into shoelaces), lasted only six days this time, instead of the previous record of ten days. So until I can order these 550 Paracord Steel Tip Boot Laces from Amazon, I’m back to my cheap ($1) laces from Wal-Mart that last a couple of months.


November 4, 2016

Last Minute Gate . . .

or Home Sweet Shack

Todd called this morning about 8:40 telling Jan he had a gate for me, and then texted me the directions. And by 9:30 I was logging in vehicles at the gate.

This is a brand new gate, one that has 3 holes that eventually will be fracked, but needs to be prepped first with coil tubing.

When I got to the gate about 9:15, there was no gate there. Todd had just arrived and was rolling out the containment pad that goes under the generator trailer to catch any leaking diesel. So no generator trailer, no guard shack trailer, and more importantly, no potty trailer.

Davila Pad

Since we already had people on the pad who hadn’t been logged in, and I didn’t have any log sheets anyway, I just started logging people in using tag numbers and times. About an hour later, John the maintenance guy showed up with the generator trailer. Of course with no shack yet, we had nothing to plug into it.

But finally about 11:30 Todd showed up with the shack, and he and John got it set up.

Davila Pad 2

So by 12:30 I was logging in for real, with a lot of trucks circling through with load after load of big equipment and large drilling fluid tanks. The rest of the afternoon was steady, but not really heavy, so not too bad.

Even though we’re about 10 miles out in the country, I’ve still got good 3G on my Verizon AirCard so that’s good, and the over-the-air TV signals are fine as well.

My relief, who was supposed to show up at 6:30pm, didn’t make it until about 6:40 because he took a wrong turn. Turns out he’s two spaces down from us in the park.

It’s kind of confusing about the shift times at different gates. So far we’ve been at 5 to 5 gates, 5:30 to 5:30 gates, 6 to 6 gates, and now a 6:30 to 6:30 gate. Not sure why it works out like that.

We don’t know yet where this gate is going to go. It could expand to have a greeter on the pad and one on the staging area, as well as my gate out front. Or, I guess it could all go away tomorrow. You never can tell.

Next up is to try to figure out the nighttime guard and I can switch. He would rather work days, and I would rather work nights. So I need to sit down and figure out how we can switch shifts. It may be our wives can help us out, but I’ll have to write it down to be sure.

Now I’m going to bed. I have to be up at 5:30AM ! Yikes


November 4, 2017

Fallin’ Back . . .

Heads up.

In case you haven’t heard, tonight’s the night the clocks fall back, so at 2am Sunday morning, it becomes 1am Sunday morning.

We both did little or nothing today. Jan read, napped, and watched TV, while I mostly did computer stuff . . .  and napped, too.

I’m sure we’ve all seen the ‘snarky’, or downright nasty comments that show up in the many Facebook RV groups. I’ve regularly seen friends John Huggins, and Ed Hurlburt threaten to kick people off, or actually kick them out of their respective groups because of what they said, even after repeated warnings.

But you would think that a cooking group would be immune, but no. Recently in the Instant Pot for Beginners group, one of the admins had to threaten several members with expulsion if they didn’t stop berating and arguing with other members.

So much for civility.

Elsewhere on the FB front, we still don’t have our ‘Like’ emoticons back. And according to Google, we’re not the only ones to have the problem, some dating back four or five years. A number of different fixes have been recommended, but none have worked so far.

I do know it’s not the browser since it does exactly thing in Internet Explorer as it does in Chrome. So I’ll keep looking.

On the Amazon front, a couple of weeks ago I ordered a 4TB external hard drive to keep on-site system image backups of the 3 PC computers at my clients.

4TB HD

4TB External Hard Drive

At 4-1/4” x 3-1/4” x 3/4” it’s tiny, at least compared to my very first HD, a 10MB SCSI drive that was connected to my Commodore Amiga. It was the size of a shoebox and cost $995 in the early 90’s. In comparison, the 4TB drive costs only $110 and holds 400,000 times more data.


November 4, 2018

A Busy Week Ahead . . .

I spent most of the morning trying to straighten out our prescriptions at WalMart. First up, the first part of October both Walmart and Sam’s Club updated (changed) their discount drug lists.

Luckily the ones that WalMart dropped got picked up by Sam’s and vice versa. So it just means we’ll have to move some of our scripts back and forth. But the real problem came with the prescription renewals that our doctor faxed over this past Friday.

Yesterday afternoon we got a text from WalMart saying 8 prescriptions were ready, for a total of $1358.92.

That’s One Thousand Three Hundred Fifty Eight Dollars and Ninety Two cents.

YIKES!

Checking out both discount lists, my drugs should have totaled $46 and Jan’s about $84.

It was also a problem that the nurse sent all the scripts to WalMart, and not the ones that were supposed to go to Sam’s.

So where did the $1300+ come from?

Looks like I was going to have to talk to the WalMart Pharmacy directly for that.

Jan and I finally left the rig a little before 2pm with our first stop for lunch at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood. It’s been a couple of months and Jan was jonsin’ for their catfish fillets, and I could certainly go for a big bowl of their Shrimp Gumbo.

But we both started with a Side Salad, Jan’s with Ranch and mine with Blu Cheese.

Floyd's Side Salad

It’s kind of funny, but I never really liked Blu Cheese Dressing until I got hooked on Wedge Salads. Now it’s my choice on regular salads as well.

Jan of course, went with the Catfish and the Grilled Veggies,

Floyd's Grilled Catfish 2

while I got the Shrimp Gumbo, also with the Grilled Veggies.

Floyd's Gumbo with Grilled Veggies

And when I say Shrimp Gumbo, I mean Shrimp.

Floyd's Shrimp in Gumbo

And Floyd’s is the place that turned us on to the Grilled Veggies, and we’ve gotten them at several other places too. They’re just the normal Steamed Veggies thrown on the grill for a few minutes with a little butter or oil.

Just ask. We’ve never had anyone tell us No. Give it a try.

Our next stop was WalMart and their Pharmacy. Turns out that for some reason the nurse had sent over a prescription for Vescepa. And a month’s supply of it is $858.

YIKES, again.

And we don’t know why it was sent over anyway. It’s for high triglycerides, and it’s never been prescribed to Jan before. So we dropped that.

Next up was Losartan, which should have been sent to Sam’s, not WalMart. At Sam’s it’s $12 for a 90 day supply. At Wal-Mart it’s $345 for a 30 day supply. So that was out too.

So now all we had to do was to send the other ones over to Sam’s and it was all straightened out.

Heading home we drove by the house to see what was up with it. And rather than looking better, it actually looked a lot worse than when we left for Florida over a month ago.

House Condition

The front yard was littered with trash and branches that had fallen from the trees. Plus about 15 feet of the sidewalk was gone, seemingly dug up to replace the water meter box, which looked new.

Don’t know what the problem was, but it wasn’t there when we owned it.

Next week looks to be a busy one for us. Besides work, Tuesday afternoon we both have ophthalmologist’s appointments to take a look at our cataract situation.

Jan has had hers for a number of years, waiting for them to get big enough to be operatable.  Mine, only in my left eye, wasn’t there a few years ago, so I don’t know if it’s large enough to take out too.

Then on Thursday, we’ve got tickets to the Houston Ballet’s Nutcracker Market.

Nutcracker Market 2

Put on for the last 37 years, it’s a fantastic event full of gifts, food, and sugar plums. All as a fund-raiser for the Houston Ballet.

Nutcracker Market

It’s been a number of years since we’ve been and we’re really looking forward to it. And even better, Brandi will be meeting us there.

BTW if you really need Vescepa, with a discount coupon from GoodRx you can get it for only $242.00.


November 4, 2019

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain . . .

Some of you will recognize the above as one of the last lines in replicant Roy Batty’s dying soliloquy in the finale of Ripley Scott’s movie, Blade Runner.

But something you may not know is that Hauer rewrote his lines the night before the scene was filmed.

Originally the scripted lines went like this:

I’ve seen things… seen things you little people wouldn’t believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion bright as magnesium…
I rode on the back decks of a blinker and watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
All those moments… they’ll be gone
.

But Hauer’s rewrite went like

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die

Shorter and much more to the point.

But rather than try to describe it, you can watch Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford (Rick Deckard) in one of my all-time favorite movie scenes.

The reason I’m really talking about this is that this 1982 film was set 37 years in the future. That’s right.

November 2019

So where are my flying cars? I want my flying cars!

Along with the many films Hauer did, he was also originally cast in the Peter Weller part as Robocop. But they decided he was just too broad-shouldered to look right in the suit.

And in a fitting wrap-up to all this, Rutger Hauer died this year just as did Roy Batty.

After 3 or 4 months of twice-daily use, the battery in my SwitchBot battery is finally on its last legs.

SwitchBot Battery Level

I can actually read the battery level from the SwitchBot so I know it’s time to change it out. It’s never failed to work yet, but I don’t want to take a chance on waking up to no coffee.

It turned out to be really easy to change, and I didn’t even have to detach it from the Mr. Coffee.

SwitchBot Battery Change

Just pop off the back, pull out the CR2 battery, plug in the new one, and now I had this.

SwitchBot Battery Level 1

So our coffee is safe for tomorrow.


November 4, 2022

My Bubba Stik . . .

Since my cervical spine fusion about a year ago, I have occasionally used a walking stick. (Note, It’s not a Cane. It’s a Walking Stick!). Not to walk, really, but pretty much just to stand still.

My inertial balance (middle ear) is still a little wonky so if I stand still for any length of time I tend to wobble and it bothers my back. So I use the walking stick to stabilize myself.

In the past, I’ve used one of these adjustable walking sticks that we bought for our European trip back in 2019.

Blue Walking Stick

But I found that the ‘adjustable’ part doesn’t age well, and tends to become a ‘collapsible’ feature as the joints wear. This came to a head last Saturday, when using it for the first time in a good while at the Wings Over Houston Airshow.

When I was stepping down from a curb, the stick suddenly became about six inches shorter, and almost dumped me on my rear.

So the next day I ordered a Bubba Stik like this.

Bubba Stik

It’s 39” of Texas Red Oak hardwood, made in Texas by Texans. The brass knob at the top is actually one of two at the top part of a horse collar, and is called a hame.

Horse Collar with Hames

The hames are where the traces or reins are attached to guide the horse.

It has several indented rings around the bottom end to make it easy to cut down to a comfortable size

Pretty sure this one is not going to collapse on me.

Plus it’s heavy enough that it probably would come in real handy in a bar fight.

Recently I found that the rain sensor for my La Crosse Weather Station had stopped working.

La Crosse Rain Gauge

It had been working fine, but then we went through about 3 weeks with no real rain. And when we finally got a downpour, nothing showed up on my display.

La Crosse V61

The past readings were still there, just nothing new. Figuring the batteries had died, I changed them out and rescanned for the sensor. Still nothing.

So after trying a few more things, I contacted the La Crosse company and told them about my problem. And then today I got an email back from them telling me to give them the sensor serial number and my name and address and they’d send me a new sensor. But that they were on backorder and weren’t expected in until the end of December.

I suspect that the reason for all this is because they’ve been having problems with these units, since they don’t list them for sale on their website, and they’re listed as Currently Unavailable on Amazon.

The PowerBall is up to $1.6 Billion, a new lottery record. The previous record was set back in 2016, with $1.583 Billion split by two winners.

As the amount goes, the odds of there being multiple winners goes up. This is because as the winning amount increases, more and more people start buying tickets


November 4, 2023

Fall Back . . .

Remember, tonight, Saturday is the end of Daylight Savings Time so set your clocks back for that extra hour of sleep.

We left the rig at about 12:30 this afternoon, and after dropping my coat at the cleaners, we headed over to Texas Huddle for lunch. Our favorite server, Juana, wasn’t coming in until 3pm so we were on our own. But our new guy took good care of us.

We both started out with the Side Salad, along with their house-made Bleu Cheese dressing.

Then while Jan got her usual Mushroom Swiss Bacon Burger, with Cheddar instead of Swiss, and no bun for the Keto version,

I got the 10 traditional wings, all drums, done up in Flaming Raspberry, with a side of Mango Explosion for a dip.

I got 10 wings, but since I only can eat 4, I had 6 to take home for a couple of meals next week.

Finishing up, it was on back down to our area for our weekly WalMart stuff.

Then home by about 4.

Jan and I have been talking about what we want to do for Thanksgiving. Brandi, Lowell, and Landon will be up in Oklahoma with Lowell’s parents, so Jan and I will be on our own.

In the past we’ve just gone to Cracker Barrel for our meal, and then got a couple of extra meals to go so we’d have leftovers, but year before last when we tried this, they wouldn’t let us, and said we needed to have ordered them ahead.

But they didn’t really have an answer when I asked them, “So if we had been a table of 4, we could have ordered 4 dinners, but can’t order 4 dinners as a table of 2?”

I wonder what they’d say if we ordered our 2 meals, ate them, and then ordered 2 more. And then when they came, just ask for 2 to to-go boxes?

Or what we may do is just order 2 meals for pickup, and get them after we finish our meal inside. The only problem with this is that we have to get in the car pickup line and wait.

And strangely enough, even Texas Huddle is getting in on the Thanksgiving Dinner Meal thing.

This is what they’re offering.

Not sure how this compares with Cracker Barrel’s Family Meals since they don’t really define how big a ‘pan’ is.

They say it will feed 8-12 people, but the CB version for 8-12 people is only $149 and comes with 2 turkey breasts and 2 pies.

But we’ve got a while to decide.

* * * * *

So, how much pumpkin is actually in that can of 100% Pumpkin?

Well, either 100% or 0%, depending on what your definition of ‘pumpkin’ is. But whatever it is, it almost certainly is not the typical Jack O’ Lantern pumpkin you see at the grocery store.

Yes, there is pumpkin in canned pumpkin. But there’s also squash. Why? Because all pumpkins are squash.

Pumpkins, squash and gourds are all part of the Cucurbita family, which encompasses about 975 species of plants. Since the term “pumpkin” doesn’t have any botanical meaning, it’s considered squash. The Cucurbita family has many varieties with various flavors and textures. Canned pumpkin has been packed from certain types of firm-shelled, golden-fleshed and sweet squash for years.

In fact, if it’s a name brand like Libby’s or Nestle, it’s almost certainly made from the Dickinson Pumpkin. Also known as the Dickinson Squash. And it looks like this.

And depending on the time of year it’s canned, it may have a couple of other varieties of squash mixed in.

But rest assured it’s all pumpkin. Just not the one you think it is.

The Smell of the Day: Hocus Pocus