Our RV Adventures

Today was another busy one, but it started off really nice with lunch at Los Ramirez Mexican once again.

This was probably our first time to eat there on a weekday lunch and we were really surprised how busy they were, almost like a weekend.

We both got our usuals, Jan’s Pechuga Rellena, with a grilled chicken breast covered in cheese, and resting on a bed of grilled shrimp and grilled broccoli.

Mine was my usual Beef Fajita Taco Salad which I then upgrade. Jan doesn’t care for that Shredded Lettuce/Diced Tomato salad so she gives it to me for my Taco Salad, which I then covered in their really good Green Sauce.

Next up was a stop at the Webster UPS store for an Amazon return, before making a stop by the office to drop off a package. Then it was back down to our area for a Wal-Mart/HEB/Gas stop before getting back to the rig by about 3:30.

A nice day.

Following up on yesterday’s SpaceX Starship #5 flight.

Besides the actual ‘catch’, one of my favorite parts is watching the booster just fall back to earth, before they ignite the rockets at the last second.

Several people online thought that the booster might have almost hit the tower, but it’s just the angle.

Here’s another viewing angle.

Remember that the booster is 232 feet tall, so it’s not that close.

I mentioned yesterday that the reason they’re doing this is that SpaceX hopes to do a one hour turn-around on Starship launches.

Catch the booster, lower it to the launch pad, check it out, stack a new Starship on top, fuel it up, and go.

One thing that’s kind of funny in all this is that this all started because Elon was upset about how much landing legs would weigh, cutting into the payload capacity.

It’s the little things.

Thought For The Day:

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

October 14, 2009

Legends of the Fall…

Today was another “tour the countryside day”.

We headed north at the crack of Noon up to Edwardsburg, MI for our first stop.  We’re only about a mile and a half from the Michigan border here in Elkhart.  In fact, because of this, the area is called ‘Michiana’

Our first stop was a restaurant called Legends which we had seen earlier. Turned out to be pretty good, too.

After lunch we drove over to Lunker’s Sporting Goods, one of the largest fishing, hunting, and outdoor stores in the country. They had a little bit of everything.  Neat store!

And since they had a moose,  Jan had to get her picture taken with it.

And they had a nice bear too.

Next we headed east about 25 miles out through the country to White Pigeon, MI and Bontrager’s RV Surplus.  I love wandering through these places.  I think you could probably build your own RV with all the parts they have here.  Of course, since all the parts are from different models and different years, you’d end up with a ‘FrankenRV”.

Now we headed south back into Indiana and on to Goshen, IN.  That’s where the nearest Dunkin Donuts is and Jan wanted a pumpkin latte and a pumpkin muffin.

They were out of pumpkin muffins, but did have pumpkin donuts, so we muddled through.

Heading toward home, we stopped off at another natural foods store, still looking for Aunt Gussie’s Sugar-Free cookies.  And again with no luck.

Coming home, we stopped off at the park office to pick up our mail.  Then we settled in for the night. And it looks to be another cold one.

Our daughter Brandi called to say Hi and it was good to talk to her.  Only about 6 weeks until we see her, and Chris, Linda, and Piper, our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.

Tomorrow night they’re talking about the possibility of snow showers!

I want my Global Warming and I want it now!

October 14, 2010

Lost in the Fifties Again, again . . .

The cooler weather at night means good sleeping weather, consequently Jan and I slept until about 9 am.

Then about 12:30 pm we headed up to Clear Lake to drop Jan off at Brandi’s for a little Landon time, and so Brandi could get a little extra rest.

In the meantime, I went over to work with a client for a few hours.

I then picked Jan up about 4:30 and we drove down to League City to meet our friends Bob and Maria Sutton for dinner at Cracker Barrel.

It’s Thursday so it’s Jan’s favorite Turkey and Dressing, and I enjoyed a vegetable plate, with Green Beans, Pinto Beans, Turnip Greens, and Sweet Potato Casserole.

All good.

We got home about 7:15 pm and that was it for the day.

We’re still hoping to see the guy in our old site pull up stakes in the next day or so. We should know something by Saturday.

October 14, 2011

Bad Weather Fairy . . .

Despite the forecast, apparently the BWF (Bad Weather Fairy) was so hung over this morning that she forgot to make it rain. So the sun was out, and although it was a little cloudy, all in all, it was a nice day.

After coffee and lunch I headed back over to the RV/MH Hall of Fame to get the last of the new computers configured for them. I’ll probably go back on Saturday afternoon to install them on everyone’s desk so I won’t disturb their work

I got back to the park about 4:30 and then we quickly piled into the truck and headed off for dinner at Ryan’s. Love that fried chicken!

A few minutes after we got there, Al Hesselbart, the RV Historian at the Hall of Fame, joined us. And as usual we spent a good while after we finished eating, just talking.

We got back to the rig a little after 7, and then about 9 the BWF finally sobered up and the rain started coming down hard, and kept coming down hard for the next couple of hours, hard enough to knock out the satellite a couple of times.

Things Every RV’er should have:

The last couple of days I’ve talked about things RV’ers need, and this is another one.

A VOM, or Volt-Ohm Meter. Every rig should have one, or more. And they’re not expensive.

This one costs about $5 on Amazon.

They’re good for a myriad of uses. Checking for a blown fuse, checking to see if a light bulb is bad, checking to see if voltage is getting to a switch or socket. I even used one under the rig to find a broken wire on my starter when my Cummins diesel wouldn’t crank. I also used one to fix a broken water heater.

Get one today!

October 14, 2014

The Problematic One . . .

Well, we have a new gate record, at least for us. 332 vehicles came through our gate today. Our previous best was last year’s frac gate, with a total of 291. It does keep us on our toes.

After previously making some snide comments over the last few weeks about the lack of ‘gate food’, we’ve now got it coming out our ears, or rather our fridge. Three days, three meals each. And since each one can feed us both, we’ve actually got 6 days of food. And of course we’ve still got some Rudy’s BBQ that our friends Pat and Judy Benson brought on their visit this past Sunday.

I did establish that the name of the restaurant that’s delivering the food is not Oma’s like I thought, or Anna’s like Jan thought, but it’s Ama’s Mexican Restaurant, apparently out of Hearne, TX. And the Yelp reviews are really good. And so is their food.

We had their seafood pasta this evening, with corn on the cob and bread. Really good, with large chunks of shrimp and fish, and maybe some chicken thrown in for good measure.

And it looks like tomorrow night’s meal will be beef fajitas with all the fixin’s. YUM!

I had a new dog visit last night. All white, and looks like a Great Pyrenees.

He’s very friendly and came right over when I called. But then suddenly Old Dog showed up and didn’t like me having anything to do with New Dog. He started growling, and even though he’s smaller, he ran New Dog off.

For a while. But later in the early morning, New Dog came back to visit. But he must have been playing somewhere because he came back pretty muddy.

Around 12:30 this afternoon, our rig (oil, not RV) had a ‘mud explosion’, as in drilling mud. They apparently blew a seal and mud went everywhere, even over here where we are, getting a fine splatter on the logs and on Jan’s glasses.

Glad it was just mud.

Then later tonight, a little before midnight, a young lady came through the gate in her car. She had a French-sounding name and a slight French accent, and when I asked her where she was going, she pointed at our rig, and said, “Is that the problematic one?”

I laughed and said, “Well, that’s a diplomatic way of putting it. Maybe snakebit or cursed might be better.”

She laughed and said, “Well, I’m going there.”  She came out a couple of hours later, so I guess she got everything fixed.

Charlotte, our relief guard, called today to confirm gate sitting for us on the 25th of October, which also happens to be Jan’s birthday. So that works out perfectly.

Looking forward to it.

October 14, 2015

Where The Heck Did This Come From?

For the last week or so, our temps have stayed in the high 80’s/low 90’s, with night temps in the high 50’s/low 60’s. Really nice overall.

Then last night, it dropped into the high 40’s, still OK. I just turned on the 2nd heater. But then today, out of nowhere, the high was 97, and tomorrow’s high is supposed to be 98 degrees. But our night temps are supposed to stay in the low 50’s. What the Heck?

If that holds, it will be the hottest day we’ve had since we got here the 25th of August. And even stranger is that after this two-day spike, the next few day’s go 89, 81, 80, 82, etc., all the way through next week, when it drops into the high 70’s. Now that’s the Fall I’m used to.

Apparently my stubborn Mule is now a dead Mule. It has just quit working altogether.  As I said the other day, after I swapped receivers, it was working fine. Then all of a sudden, it just died. I went out this afternoon, replaced the batteries, and moved the sensor a little closer to the street. But nothing.

“It’s dead, Jim”

BTW, in all the Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) episodes, Bones never actually says the words, “He’s dead, Jim”. Just like Bogie never actually says, “Play it again, Sam.” in Casablanca.

My new one should be in tomorrow (Thursday), but I probably won’t get it until Friday when the landowner’s son brings by our order.

Besides my new Mighty Mule Driveway Alarm system, I’ve got a few other goodies coming too.

The first one is a new power jack for my ASUS X53E laptop.

It’s become very hard to get the power plug in just the right position so it will charge the battery, so a replacement is in order. But the laptop has to be almost completely disassembled to get to the jack. And then the old one has to be unsoldered and the new one soldered back in.

Because something like this can end up being an all-day job, I’ll probably just try to keep the old one working until we’re off the gate, but have the replacement on hand in case it dies completely before then.

I also ordered another 3 pack of these lighted 8” extension cords.

Power Strip Liberator Lighted Extension Cord 3-Pack

Besides being a solution to the problem of a wall-wart power supply taking up two plug spaces, I keep one of these in my rig’s electrical bay as a pedestal power indicator. I plug one into the 20 amp socket and let it hang outside the pedestal cover. This way, if the power goes off in the rig, I can just look outside to see if it’s a park problem before I check further.

And of course, I ordered another of those great KJL Cree LED 900 lumens Flashlights before the price goes up again.

That was the original order I placed on Tuesday to be here on Thursday. But then this afternoon I was playing with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 camera. We’ve had this one since the beginning of 2009 and it’s been a real workhorse. But a couple of months ago it fell off the seat (I say it jumped) and broke off the little button that lets you look at the picture you just took on the display screen.

The FZ28 is 10MP with an 18X optical and 4X digital zoom, really good specs for 7 years ago (I didn’t realize it had been that long until I counted it up). It replaced an earlier Lumix model that I had for 3 or 4 years before that.

So I decided to check Amazon for a replacement, once again looking at the Panasonic Lumix line since I’d had such great luck with them. And this is what I decided on.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ70 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 60x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

As the link says, it has a 16.1 MP sensor with a 60x optical zoom, over 3 times better than my old one. It also has a 5x digital zoom, which under good lightning conditions, can give you an effective zoom of 300x.

Wow! Definitely going to need a tripod, or at least a monopod, for that.

I also ordered a Class 10 (fast!) 128 GB memory card to go with the new camera. The 32 GB one in my old camera will hold over 5000 photos, so nominally this new one will hold about 20,000. But since the photo file size will be larger due to the 16 MP’s, maybe 12,000 to 15,000 is a better estimate. We’ll see.

I paid $8.98 to get Next Day shipping on these two items, so it will all come in together with tomorrow’s delivery. And in Amazon’s inimitable style, I ordered these about 15 minutes before the cut-off time for Next Day delivery, and about 30 minutes later I got an email saying the camera and card had been shipped.  Nice!

New Toys in the mail!

October 14, 2016

SiteWatch Waiting . . .

After our move yesterday, today was a rest up / goof off / wait to hear from SiteWatch day.

Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

We did rest up. We did goof off. But we didn’t hear from the SiteWatch guy.

But in fairness, we were told it might be Monday, anyway.

One thing we’re going to have to do is to get our Level II Security Guard Licenses redone/renewed or whatever. We both first applied for them in April 2012 when we first started working for Gate Guard Services.

What was kind of strange about this is that my physical license came back very quickly, being issued on 5/1/12, just a couple of weeks after my application went in.

I don’t know if it had anything to do with how quickly it came back, but I wondered if that was because of all the security clearances I’ve had with the DOD and NASA over the years.

But Jan’s license was a whole ‘nother story. First off, she had to have her fingerprint card done twice more after the original one. And all three were done by the police. But finally, 17 months after her original application in April 2012, her license finally came through on Sept 9, 2013.

So while my license expired two years later in May 2014, Jan’s expired in Sept 2015. But back in 2014 when I talked with the Gate Guard Service office in Whitsett, TX, I was told that since we would still be working for them, they would take care of renewing them when the time came. But that didn’t happen.

When Mike Crosby, the SiteWatch guy, asked about them, I told him GGS said they would renew them, he kind of laughed. Apparently he’d seen this before.

And when I went here:

https://tops.portal.texas.gov/psp-self-service/search/index

and checked the status of our licenses, I found both of them had expired and had not been renewed. Oh, well.

And from what Mike says, it looks like we’ll have to start all over with it. Oh, well.

So it looks like we’ve been UN-Licensed Level II Security Guards for the last couple of years.

But then no one has ever asked to see them in the entire 5 years.

The more Jan and I hear about the guard shack deal, the more we like the idea of it. Of course that may be because we haven’t done it yet. But after going through a 25 degree sleet and ice storm down there in 2013, a heated and cooled guard shack, with a microwave, refrigerator, and a TV sounds kind of nice.

I spent the morning and early afternoon working with an old client, and a website I last worked on for him in 2010. But now when you Google his site you get this.

And when I logged in to his account, I found his site HAD been hacked, with some malware files left on there. But there was no sign that they had been, or could be, activated. So I cleaned everything out, double-checking any possible access openings, and then I changed the master password.

Later, as the client and I talked things over, he decided that now would be a good time to redo the site, since it was actually about 8 years old and looked pretty dated.

So we’ll be talking about that over the next couple of days.

About 4pm Jan and I headed up US 71 to Ellinger to have the Friday buffet at Peter’s BBQ. But before we left I got our South Dakota Absentee Ballot Request Forms ready to mail off. That way we can drop them off at the Ellinger PO on our way.

October 14, 2017

Her Name Is Helena . . .

Jan and I headed out about 2:15, first down to the Sugarland area and Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, where we just were last week.

I didn’t realize it until the next day, but I lost my checkbook there. Or at least I thought I did. And when I called a couple of days later, and talking to the manager, I found it had been turned in, and by another manager. I told them we were in Conroe and it might be a couple of weeks before we got down there.  They said no problem, and it would be in the safe. Then leaving Floyd’s we headed back up Hwy 6 and the Grand Parkway to Brandi’s in Katy.

We were all getting together at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro for dinner to give them a try. Yes, we’ve eaten there many times in the past, but things have changed since then.

The last time we ate at Little V’s was March 8 of this past year. the night before we left on our big 3 month out west travels. And since then, Tuen, the owner, had sold the place. And the reviews since then have been mixed, some good, some not-so-good.

So this afternoon we were going to give it a try.

We got to Brandi’s a little after 4pm and got a look at her new baby.

Brandi says her name is Helena, though I don’t know why. She’s a fully-loaded 2017 Ford Escape to replace her slightly long-in-the-tooth Lexus. Really nice, and red, Jan’s favorite color. A very nice ride.

As far as Little V’s goes, it was really delicious – if we hadn’t eaten at Little V’s pre-sale. But in comparison it just didn’t quite match up.

We started off with our usual Pork Spring Rolls.

The insides were good, but there was a more chewy wrapper with a different texture. Just not quite as good.

On the entrée front, Lowell said his Phở was good, but something was ‘missing’. As far as my Shaking Beef Vermicelli Bowl, it was the same theme.

The ingredients and the ‘taste’ was the same, but the beef, which before, was melt in your mouth tender and unlike any I had ever eaten, was cut differently and not near as tender, but more chewy.

Jan and Brandi always split an order of the Chicken Curry.

And Jan said the same thing. The Curry was good, but just didn’t have the intense flavor of Tuen’s version.

Finishing up, the Crème Brûlée spoons were the only thing that lived up to the original.

Smooth pudding with a crunchy sugar crust. Just perfect.

Wrapping up, if we hadn’t eaten here under Tuen’s regime, it would be one of our new favorite places. And I guess it still is.

But it’s just not the same.

October 14, 2021

Changing to Changas . . .

As I said yesterday we had a get-together planned for today at the Friendswood Texas Roadhouse with some old Alvin Opry friends. But that all came to a screeching halt when I went to their website to check over the menu and found that during the week they don’t open until 3pm.

So Jan got on the phone to update everyone and try to reschedule. We thought about changing to 3pm, but several people had conflicts. So we kept the time and changed the location to the Jimmy Changas on I-45 at Victory Lakes.

But even then one person couldn’t make it, but told us to go on ahead anyway.

One thing I’ve always liked about the décor here are the imaginative chandeliers, like this one.

Jan got the Pollo Mariscos a chicken breast covered in a cream sauce with Shrimp and Crawfish.

I got the Plato Soldado (Soldier Plate) a combo plate with a little bit of everything.

The price on this plate includes a $2 donation to Camp Hope, an organization that helps veterans. Nice.

Here’s today’s motley crew.

Next up before heading home we made an HEB stop for a few things along the way, finally getting home a little after 5pm.

Recently I have been checking out some of those apps that let you colorize black-and-white photos.

The ones I’ve found seem to do a good job of colorizing faces, but they often make incorrect assumptions about the colors of clothing and things in the background. So I’ve been looking for one that lets you change colors rather than just take what the AI gives you.

But as I go along I’ve been running some of my family photos through the apps, like this one of my grandmother Clara Calvin.

I have no idea how old she is here, maybe in her 30’s or 40”s. She was born in 1892 and died at the age of 93 in 1985.

And here is what one of the Colorizer apps came up with.

I have no idea about the real color of her dress, but it looks good.

And I am still looking at other apps that would allow me to change the color of her dress if I wanted.

October 14, 2023

Thunderbirds Are Go . . .

(obscure reference)

Long, but very fun day at the Wings Over Houston AirShow.

And between my Samsung S21 and my Panasonic Lumix FZ80 camera, I’ve got over 1000 photos to go through, so I’ll just leave you with a couple.

This from the opening of the AirShow.

And this one from the close.

Check back tomorrow.

First off, readers wanted to see Jan’s Glittery Halloween Toes, so here they are.

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

* * * * *

Our trip down to Galveston this afternoon to eat at Saltgrass Steakhouse had an ulterior motive. We were meeting up with Chris and Perry LaClaire who stopped off on their way back to Florida.

Besides our usual steaks, Chris ordered a platter of the Range Rattlers, large Jalapenos stuffed with Shrimp and Monterey Jack Cheese, as well as a side of delicious Onion Rings.

Our first time to have these, and they’re really good.

It’s been about 3 years since we’ve seen Chris, and though I did a website for Perry and I’ve talked to him a number of times on the phone, and via email, this was my first time to put a face to the voice.

After our usual great Saltgrass meal, we followed Chris and Perry back over to their RV park to check out the Entegra Class C that they purchased recently.

Really nice, and very spacious.

Finally about 5:30, we got our hugs and said our good-byes and headed back up to Santa Fe.

Hopefully, it want be another 3 years before we get to see them again.

* * * * *

They Did It!

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about SpaceX’s upcoming Starship #5 launch. And it went off pretty much perfectly, even the part where the booster returns to the launch pad and is caught in midair by the ‘chopsticks’.

Check out this 1:15 video detailing the launch and the chopstick recovery.

The reason SpaceX wants to do it this way is to accelerate the turn-around time between repeated flights.

After the booster is caught, it is lowered to the launch pad, checked out, and refurbished. Then another Starship is stacked on top of the booster. At that point, it’s refueled and ready to go again.

Tomorrow, probably more errands.

October 13, 2009

Hooooo! Hooooo!

We’ve had a gnawing hunger for hot wings, so finding out there was a Hooters over in Mishawaka, we headed out.

After a great lunch (with leftovers) of Three Mile Island (their 2nd hottest) chicken strips and wings,  we started looking for a Natural Foods store that was supposed to carry Aunt Gussie’s Sugar-Free Cookies, which are Jan’s favorites.

Unfortunately, the store was out of business.

After that, we headed over to David’s Bridal to look for a pair of earrings Jan had seen in a magazine. But no luck there either.

Getting back I walked over to a friend’s coach to see if he wanted to come over and look at my VMSpc computer interface.  This is a gadget that plugs into the engine diagnostic plug underneath the dash of our coach and gives you direct access to all sorts of engine readings, many of which aren’t available on the dashboard panel.

You can create your own gauges, make them any color, and place them anywhere on the screen. You can also set alarms for too-high and too-low values and also change colors.

And if you get a Check Engine light, it will tell you what the problem is.  A great product!

Jan and I are still going through boxes, trying to eliminate stuff we don’t need.

October 13, 2010

Direct TV and Stolen Property . . .

We got an early start this morning, getting before 8am because the Direct TV guy was supposed to be here between 8 – 12 to install our new DVR system.

Of course, I didn’t really expect him to be here at 8am, but if I slept late he’d be knocking on the door at 8am.

And lo and behold, at 8am the phone rang. And it was Direct TV and … he’d be here after 9, or maybe 10, or before noon, anyway.

Oh well.

About 9 I drove down to the office to pay up for another month and see if the guy in our old site, site 80, was going to leave any time soon.

Jan really wants to be back in our old site that we were in the last two years, but there’s someone in it. The office did say that he’s paid up through this Friday, so maybe he’ll be leaving then.

We can hope.

At 9:30 the Direct TV guy called and said he was running late and it would be after 10:30 before he got there.

And it was. He finally showed up at 11:30.

He got everything installed pretty quick with no problems.

But then … a problem.

He wanted to take my old receiver with him. He said his workorder showed the install was a swap. I told him this was my receiver and I had bought it from a pawn shop in Phoenix for $29 two years ago.

He said I would have to call Customer Service and get it worked out.

When I called and got put through to Access Control, I got a big surprise.

I was not the owner of the receiver, Some guy in Massachusetts was given the box by Direct TV and when the account was closed, the receiver was never turned in.

How it ended up in a pawn shop in Phoenix I don’t know. But basically I was in possession of stolen property.

So, needless to say, I let him take it.  No big deal.

But I didn’t tell them I had another one down in the basement!

By the time the guy left it was about 1:30, and it seemed like a good time for a nap.

Getting up about 3:30 pm we headed back over to Victory Lakes area, this time to try out the new Spring Creek BBQ that had opened last night.

We had been watching the ‘Open Soon’ banner stretched across the entrance for a week or so now, and were getting impatient.

When I drove by it about 5 pm yesterday afternoon, it still had the Open Soon banner on the front and there was not a single car in the parking lot.

When we pulled into the Chili’s across the street at Victory Lakes about 6 pm, the banner was gone, the parking lot was full, and there was a crowd of people out front.

We assumed it was open.

Wrong!

We drove over there about 4pm today to eat and found them not open and the banner back on the front. There were cars in the back however, and we could smell BBQ cooking.

So I guess it’s close, but not yet.

So our second choice was Ryan’s down in Texas City for some of their great fried chicken.

Sherry Morrison, Lowell’s sister and Landon’s aunt, posted this Landon photo on Facebook this morning.

And Brandi sent this one over this evening.

Master Landon, just laid back and hanging out.

I sent this info out to all my clients this morning, but I thought our blog readers might want to see the info too.

Nasty Virus Alert!

I wanted to let everyone know that I recently discovered a really nasty new virus attack.

This concerns anyone who has a router or wireless router.

It seems many people don’t change the default password when they install their router.

A new type of attack lets your router be taken over and controlled by using the default factory password.

Some symptoms are repeated virus attacks on your machine despite running virus/malware protection , being redirected to websites that you didn’t click on, and not being able to update some of your malware protection.

I discovered the problem when I could not get the MalWareBytes Anti-Malware program to update on several machines. It would always give me an error.

The quick fix is to:

1.  Physically unplug the Internet connection from your router.

2.  Check your router manual to see how to do a reset on your router. It is normally done by sticking a paperclip in a small hole on the back of the router.  But check your manual for the exact procedure. If you can’t find your manual, you can download a copy from the manufacturer’s website.

3.  Now check your manual to see how to access your router directly from your computer.  It usually is done by typing the router IP address in the address bar on your Internet Browser. It will be something like 192.168.0.1 or something similar.

4.  This should bring up the router login screen.

5.  Enter the default login and password.

6.  You should see a menu item to change the router password.  Change the password to something unusual. Don’t use your name, birthday, or something similar.  I like to use two words, separated by two numbers, I.e., ‘cabin46PluG’.  Try to stick a capital letter or two in there also.

7. Now save your changes and write the new password on your manual copy.

8. If you use a wireless router, be sure to check if you are using an encrypted connection such as WEP or WPA. WPA is better. Your manual will tell you how to set this up on the router and your computer.

9.  If you have a wireless router (It will normally have small antennas on the back) but you are not using the wireless, check your manual to see how to turn off the wireless portion.

10.  Now unplug the power from your router, wait about 20 seconds, and then plug the power back in.  Plug your Internet connection back into the router.

11.  Lastly, reboot your computer and run any/all of the virus/malware problems after updating them.

October 13, 2011

Keeping a Level Head . . .

or a level RV.

Woke up to a dreary overcast morning. So hot coffee really hit the spot.

After Jan fixed a great lunch, it was off to the RV/MH Hall of Fame to work on their computer systems some more. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought because their Internet connection is only 768K and it takes a good while to get all the software installed and updated. And still more to do tomorrow.

Getting home about 5:30 we all headed out to King Wha for a great Chinese meal. I think King Wha has become our new favorite Chinese place.

Now to leveling.

I’ve had really good luck using one of these.

It doesn’t matter which direction you have it turned, as long as you keep the arms parallel and perpendicular to your coach.

All you have to do is place it on the floor and press the center button. If one of the lights flashes red, your rig is low in that direction. So all you have to do is adjust your levelers until all the lights are green.

Done. And after a few minutes, the leveler turns itself off automagically.

The only thing you have to be careful of is to not drop it. That can throw the calibration off, and you will have to recalibrate it. And to do that you have to have a level surface.

October 13, 2014

Found It!

See, procrastination pays.

Well, eventually.

After two days of 192 and 199 vehicle counts, we had a big jump today up to 222 as both fracs came online. An extra 25-30 vehicles may not sound like a lot, but remember those vehicles usually come back out, which means about 20 vehicles an hour passing through, one every three minutes or so. Which doesn’t give you a lot of time to sit down, just enough to get them entered in the log, and get ready for the next one. But you don’t get bored and time passes pretty quickly.

But complicating things today was rain. Lots and lots of rain last night and all this morning. So much so that the pond behind us started to overflow its banks and out underneath the rig.

Then after the rain finally stopped, the wind really picked up, enough that I had to install some extra tie-downs on the canopy, mostly because with the tarp we’re using for a cover now, there is no relief vent at the top to bleed off some of the pressure.

But the upside to all this is the cool front coming through, giving temps in the high 70’s and no rain for the next week or so. Perfect gate weather.

And on another upnote, we got Frac Food today, but we’re not sure from whom. I thought the side of the truck said Oma’s Mexican Grill. Jan thought it said Anna’s. The problem was caused by the fancy script on the logo on the truck. But we know it was Mexican. Since Jan already had dinner planned for tonight and tomorrow night, we’ll have it a couple of days from now. Mexican food ages well.

Our son Chris is on a bike trip out west with some of his firefighter buddies, camping along the way. I’m not sure where this was taken, but it looks like he’s enjoying himself

Scotty, our GGS support guy showed up today to top off our diesel and water, and also to bring us more login sheets. With the increased traffic we’re going through them like crazy and were down to our last pad. Noticeably he did not bring us our new shirts that we’re supposed to have been wearing since last Friday. I didn’t bring it up either.

See, I even procrastinated until the very last paragraphs to tell you I found my basin wrench, and apparently it was right where I didn’t leave it.

I mentioned last week that I was going to replace the lavatory faucet in the rig, but I couldn’t find my basin wrench, and that I was going to buy another one so I could find the one I already had. And my scheme worked perfectly, as this evening I found the missing one without ever opening the new one. So back to Wal-Mart it goes.

To quote Col. Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

October 13, 2015

On Further Consideration . . .

After I posted yesterday’s blog about my Mighty Mule problem, I decided to forget about talking to the company and just let Amazon handle things. So in about 90 seconds I had my refund scheduled (They said it will be 2-3 days til it shows up), and had my new Mule on the way, along with a few other things sitting in my cart waiting for my next order. Everything should be here Thursday.

Later on, several readers suggested I do the same thing. Great minds think alike.

I headed into Carthage a little after 11am, planning to drop off our garbage at the trash trailer at the new frack site right up the road on the way. But that didn’t work out too well because there was no trash trailer there. But then we didn’t have one here for the prep work, but only after the frack actually started. And they’re obviously still not ready to frack here.

The gate guard at the other site asked me to bring her a loaf of bread when I asked if she needed anything. so it was off into town.

Normally this would have been just a lunch run, but I forgot to stock up on my Lipton’s Diet Citrus Green Tea last Friday when I was at Wal-Mart. Plus Jan needed more bottled water and I needed printer paper too. So I made a quick Wally stop before picking up lunch at Whataburger. We’ve been going there so often that the counter guy just about knows our order by heart. I even have it in my phone so I don’t forget and leave something off.

TO GO ORDER

2  Apple Pies

Jan’s Whataburger Jr. Large Combo
With only:
Cheese
Ketchup
Mustard
Tomatoes
Grilled Onions

My Whataburger Jr.
With only:
Cheese
Bacon
Tomatoes
Pickles
Raw Onions
Mayo on both buns

Large Drink

We get one large combo and then share the fries, and I get my own drink. I order the pies first, so I don’t forget them, and sometimes they have to cook them up fresh, so this gives them a head-start. We normally have the pies for breakfast the next morning after Jan heats them up again. I also stock up on the containers of Spicy Ketchup for our fries, and I get one of their Green Salsa ones to put on my burger. I really like that they have the little containers of this stuff and not the squeeze packets. No matter where you squeeze them out, it’s going to be a mess.

I saw on Facebook yesterday that someone’s new favorite meal at Whataburger is their Chicken Fajita Tacos. I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong.

You don’t go to Red Lobster and order steak. You don’t go to Longhorn Steakhouse and order seafood. And you don’t go to Whataburger and order tacos. It’s Whataburger’, not Whata’taco. And for good reason.

Let’s straighten up out there, people! LOL

One of the things I ordered from Amazon was another of those great KJL Cree LED 900 lumens Flashlights .

I only ordered one at the time, and one thing I noticed is that between all the ones sold through my blog, and all the ones sold through other blogs, Amazon’s pricing algorithms detected a run on them. And as I’ve seen before, they jacked the price up $1, from $8.99 to $9.99.

I’ve noticed this with several other items I’ve mentioned in the blog, like the super-strong magnets, and the LED strip lights to replace the small fluorescent tubes in our rig.

So get in while you can before the price goes up again.

October 13, 2016

Texas or Oklahoma?

Since we had breakfast yesterday at Denny’s, we didn’t do our normal travel day breakfast, at Cracker Barrel in Conroe, or Schobel’s in  Columbus, this morning, so I was able to sleep in until 8:30 this morning.

So after a somewhat leisurely morning, with coffee and breakfast sandwiches, we pulled out of our site a little before 11, got hitched up, and were on the road a little after 11am.

After a smooth trip (definition of a ‘smooth trip’ is that nothing fell off, came loose, or broke) we pulled into the Colorado River Thousand Trails about 1:30pm, got checked in, and set up in A25, a very nice site with a nearby tree.

Since we ran the generator the whole way, we also used our Amazon Alexa Echo to listen to the radio using iHeartRadio over our Verizon AirCard as we traveled.

Neat.

This morning before we left Lake Conroe, Jan noticed her LG Revere flip phone was dead. Now this actually happens fairly often as she doesn’t use it a lot and then forgets about it, allowing the battery to run down.

But when she plugged it in, instead of showing the ‘Battery Charging’ graphic, it said ‘Use a Genuine LG Battery’ and then shut off. After trying this a couple of times with the same result, I went for the big gun again.

So popping off the back and pulling the battery, I sprayed both contacts with Strike-Hold and then put it all back together. And a few seconds later, it showed this.

Strike-Hold does it again.

After we got settled in, I put a call into Mike Crosby of SiteWatch to talk about Oklahoma gate guard jobs. Turns out he and his wife started with Gate Guard Services about 10 years ago, and we know a lot of the same people, and have worked in a lot of the same areas.

Although he’s in charge of SiteWatch’s OK area, he also knows a lot about the south Texas area, specifically the Karnes City/Kenedy area. He said almost all of their gates in both areas use guard shacks and iPads, and not RV’s and paper logs. The more we talked the more I was considering south Texas again rather than Oklahoma for several reasons

First off, the Oklahoma area is almost 500 miles away, while Karnes City/Kenedy area is only about 180. Plus Mike said it’s starting to get cold up there, but much less so down in south Texas.

I’m now waiting to hear back from their south Texas guy, so we’ll see how it goes.

October 13, 2017

TT, PA, and More . . .

I spent a couple of hours today stuck between the dueling computers at Thousand Trails, Passport America, and Encore.

As I mentioned yesterday I was trying to use Passport America for our week-out here at Lake Conroe, from this Sunday the 15th to the 22nd. Then we’d come back in on the 22nd until the 5th of November. Then after that, Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Or at least we’ll see.

But when I called Encore to book our PA stay here, Erica found that she wasn’t able to book us here, apparently due to the ‘G’ section being blocked out due to the power problems. Because of that, the computer said that there were no open sites here to book us into, though she found she could book us in here under Encore.

She suggested that they should be able to book it here locally so I should try that. But when I got the Ranger’s Office on the phone, I found they couldn’t either, or didn’t know how to actually book a PA reservation.

First off they said, like Erica, that the park was full next week. So I suggested that they try to book someone in next week under TT and they found they could. But when I asked why they could book under TT but the park is full under PA, they then put me on hold, coming back in about 5 minutes saying they’d talked to Rebecca in the office and she said if they couldn’t book it under PA, then they couldn’t book it all and I was out of luck.

Knowing this wasn’t what Rebecca said yesterday when I talked with her and Randall Cox, the park manager, I made my own call to Rebecca. Turns out that’s not what she said, and they didn’t tell her the entire story. She said to tell them to just force the booking under PA, and if they still couldn’t, to call her back.

Well, they still couldn’t do it. So what they finally did was to book me in under one of the two one-week extensions my TT membership has each year. And for only $35 for the week it’s a great deal.

The problem is my membership doesn’t have these extensions. I’ve confirmed this with TT a couple of times. But since $35 is better than the $178.50 cost under PA, I let it ride.

But later in the afternoon, when I went into the TT website to book us back in under TT on the 22nd, it all came back to bite me. Since the TT computer showed me effectively here in the park for three weeks straight, it wouldn’t let me back in for another two weeks starting on the 22nd. Oops!

So I got back on the phone to the TT main office to try and fix it. I ended up talking to a very nice young lady named Jonnette who very quickly fixed the problem, unbooking my one week TT extension, she switched it over to a PA reservation and then booked us back into Lake Conroe under TT on the 22nd.

All this only took Jonnette about 5 minutes. Wish I’d been able to talk with her to start with. And hopefully this will all go better next time if we decide to do this again.

October 13, 2018

No Longer Virgins . . .

Charlee put us in her duplex condo, so after coffee and a relaxing morning, we headed back to the house. Later after Jan and Charlee spent some more time talking over recipes and cooking,  Charlee, Monica, Jan, and I drove over to the nearby Deli Inn Diner for breakfast/lunch.

One of those ‘hole in the wall’ places that’s mostly frequented by locals, Deli Inn proved to be a real find . . . at least for us. Charlee et. al eat there all the time, so much so that everyone greets them by name.

Jan had her first Cuban Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries. Made with ham, pork, cheese, mustard, and pickles, layered on bread which is then pressed and grilled.

Jan says she has a new favorite sandwich.

Being also a breakfast place, I had my two eggs over medium and bacon, with the addition of French Toast.

Really good, especially the bacon and the French Toast.

Great coffee, too.

Then toward the end of our meal, there was a gathering of waitresses around our table, chanting, “Vir-gins, vir-gins, Deli Inn Vir-gins” several times before giving us a couple of their enormous home-made muffins. And then squirting us with squirt guns!

So Jan and I are no longer virgins, especially the Deli Inn kind.

After that delicious meal, Charlee took us on a tour of all the hotels, mansions and estates in the West Palm Beach area, including The Breakers, Mar-A-Lago. and many others, as well as the beautiful, blue Atlantic Ocean

When we were through here in 2009 we checked the price of the renowned Sunday Brunch at The Breakers, and found it was about $80. Ouch! There is just no way either of us could eat $80 worth of food. Actually we couldn’t eat $80 worth of food together.

And in the intervening 10 years, it’s gotten worse, much worse. The Sunday Brunch is now $120. Bigger Ouch!

But it’s a real deal for your children 3 through 11. They’re only $50.

Back at their house, Charlee copied off a bunch of recipes for Jan, before we headed back to Mims about 2;30, getting home about 5:30.

Karma was certainly glad to see us.

October 13, 2019

Stille Nacht . . .

I spent most of the day trying to fix a problem I may have caused. But if I did, I’m not sure how.

Which also means I don’t yet know how to fix it.

I have a friend’s HP Envy 360 15m-cn0011dx laptop so I could upgrade the SSD from 256GB to 1TB, and the RAM from 8GB to 16GB. But along the way as I was removing the battery, one of the very, very tiny screws, only slightly larger than the ones in eyeglass frames, dropped off the end of my magnetic screwdriver and fell down into the computer underneath the touchpad circuit board.

So, no problem, right? I’ll just remove the circuit, retrieve the screw, and put it all back together, right?

Then I snapped in the new 8GB RAM stick, and put it all back together, and booted it up.  I only make one change at a time, so it’s easier to troubleshoot if there’s a problem.

So after I booted into the BIOS to update for the new RAM, I let it go on into Win10 with no problem. Until I tried to use the touchpad.

The cursor moved just fine, but the left and right click areas didn’t respond at all. So I took it back apart, removed the touchpad board, cleaned everything, and tried it again. And again no luck.

So that’s where I’m at right now. I guess I’ve got some Googling to do.

I mentioned in last night’s blog that I really enjoyed Dennis Ivey’s rendition of ‘Old Rugged Cross’, and I told Jan as we were driving home that it really hit me because ORC was one of the two songs I played and sang the very first time I ever performed in public.

It was Christmas time, 1963, I had just turned 15 back in October, and I had somehow been roped into narrating the Christmas Story play at our church in Athens, AL. As I told the story, of the Manger, the Three Wise Men, the Angels, and the Shepherds, a bunch of young kids were acting out the story in front of me. One of the Shepherds even had a live sheep on a leash, who immediately crapped on the floor.

The Sheep, not the Shepherd.

Anyway, I had asked the Minister if I could also perform a couple of hymns afterward. He just asked if I needed the organist and I said no.

At the end of the pageant, I pulled out my trusty Sears acoustic guitar from under the podium, and after a shaky start, (my $24.99 guitar never was very good at holding tune for very long) I first played and sang Stille Nacht in the original German, and then again as Silent Night in English. I was taking German in the 10th grade and we had to learn it for class.

Silent Night was originally written in German and first played in an Austrian church for Christmas Eve midnight mass on December 24th, 1818. it was written for the guitar because the church’s organ had been damaged by a recent flood.

So it made sense to do it on guitar in a church again.

I finished up with one of my two favorite hymns, ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ (the other one is ‘In The Garden’), kind of covering from the beginning of the Christmas Story to the very end of the story.

I got a lot of compliments afterward, from parishioners who didn’t know I could play and sing, and especially from my surprised parents, who knew I could sing, but didn’t know I could play the guitar, since I had practiced in secret.

And it all worked out great, since I ended up getting a new Fender Stratocaster Sunburst for Christmas.

I really wish I had kept it, because though I thought it was expensive at the time (about $300 if I remember correctly), it would be worth $10,000+ by now.

Yikes!

October 13, 2020

We’re Still Waiting . . .

We’re now in our 3rd week of waiting for our Absentee Ballots to arrive from South Dakota. According to the state’s website they were mailed out 9/28/20.

Thinking about checking out nearby ditches and Dumpsters.

Jan and I headed out for lunch and shopping about 1pm. Lunch was at East Star China Buffet up in Webster, our 2nd favorite Chinese buffet.

Why would we eat at our 2nd favorite, you say? Well, Yummy, Yummy, our 1st favorite, has not yet reopened since the recent unpleasantness, and may not ever, I guess. We don’t know. We’re hoping that they’re waiting until the rest of the restrictions are removed before reopening.

It’s our 1st favorite because it’s closer, cheaper, and has some specific dishes we like.

But East Star is pretty good too.

Then we made a stop at the office to pick up our Amazon orders, and then by the nearby HEB grocery for a few things that only they stock. Next it was by the WalMart down in our area for a prescription and a few more things before getting home about 4:30.

October 13, 2021

Texas Hot and More . . .

Catching up on yesterday, we had lunch once again at The Cookshack. But unlike our previous visits, I didn’t go for the superhot AMF tenders, but just stayed with their normal hottest hot, Texas Hot.

I decided to try the Ribs and 2 Tenders, with both done Texas Hot, along with their Sweet Potato Waffle Fries.

I really liked the fries, since unlike all the other Sweet Potato fries, these had just a light sprinkle of salt, the perfect complement to the sweet.

Though I ate ALL the sweet potato fries, I only ate one of the Tenders and half the Ribs, so I had the rest to take home.

Really good.

Jan had her favorite Shack Salad with a Medium Tender on the side.

Tomorrow we’ve got a get-together with old Alvin Opry friends, this time at the Texas Roadhouse here in Webster. Really looking forward to it.

Then next Thursday we’ve got another get-together with our RV friends, Debi and Ed Hurlburt, this time at the El Palenque up in the Spring area.

More Fun!

In a previous blog, I told you about the Brach Candy Company’s ode to Thanksgiving Dinner.

Well, today I came across this hilarious Facebook post reviewing the holiday goodness of their Thanksgiving Candy Corn medley.

Check it out.

October 13, 2022

A Wild Turkey Chase . . .

and No, not the booze.

Lunch today was at Spring Creek BBQ once again.

Jan got her usual Baby Back Ribs,

while I got my usual Hot Pepper Sausage & Beef Brisket.

Always delicious.

Then it was on up I-45 to the new HEB in Webster on a Turkey Hunt. Jan really likes their Rotisserie Turkey Breast that are rotisseried in each store and sold still warm.

But she hasn’t been able to find them for a while. They always had plenty of the Rotisserie Chickens in all the different flavors – Original, Lemon Pepper, Orange Pepper, BBQ, Mesquite, etc., but no turkey.

We did find that they put them out on Thursday, so we thought we’d make the rounds hoping to luck up. But the I-45 store was a bust. Plenty of chickens, though.

So next it was on down to my long-time barbershop for a trim before checking out the nearby Friendswood HEB on our wild turkey chase. And again, no luck.

Next up was a carwash/vacuum out at the Ocean Car Wash. The Works (which includes Ceramic Sealant, Soft Foam Wash, TRI-Color Foam Wax, Underbody Rinse, Wheel Cleaning, Tire Shine, Clear Coat Protectant, Rain-Guard, & Ocean LAVA Carnauba Wax) used to be $16, now it’s $20.

But the Jeep sparkles now. All shined up for our upcoming weekend trip.

Finished up in this area, we headed back down toward Santa Fe, making our 3rd HEB stop at the one in our area. And struck out again. But this time I asked a young lady in the Deli area who was running the big rotisserie ovens what the deal was with the turkey shortage.

And she said that was the problem. A shortage of turkeys. They had not been able to get turkey breasts in the size they needed. She agreed it might have been due to the oncoming holidays, but said they hadn’t had a problem in previous years.

So you might want to start stocking up now for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

October 13, 2023

Fire and Smoke . . .

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy – 16 Psyche launch went off right on time this morning, and it was really a sight as it threaded its way through the clouds.

The payload, a mission to the asteroid 16 Psyche, will take about 6 years to reach its destination, exploring the largest known metallic asteroid. An asteroid that could be worth quadrillions of $$$, if it can be mined at some point.

I was typing away at my computer at work this afternoon, when suddenly there was a loud crack and a ball of flame and smoke came up from the left rear of my Dell desktop.

Holy Crap!

Turns out that the power supply had given up the ghost (and the fire and smoke). Looking it over I probably could have replaced the power supply, but there was a good possibility that some other components might have been damaged.

The computer was a little over 3 years old, and was actually a refurbished model from Amazon. So it made sense to replace it with another one.

So I found this one, bigger, better, faster, for only $220. The new equivalent was over $800.

Dell Optiplex 3040 i7 Desktop

These refurbished models are actually trade-ins from large companies who replace their computers every two years or so. Outside companies buy them up, check them out, update the software, and sometimes the hardware like RAM or HD’s, and put them up on Amazon.

I’ve had really good luck with these. In fact this is the first one I’ve ever had die on me. The others just needed to be replaced by something faster.

Yesterday when we to the Texas Roadhouse for lunch with our Alvin Opry group, I noticed they now had 5G in the area and I thought I’d check it out using Speedtest.net. And we have a new winner.

428 Mbps!

My previous high was 299 Mbps, so this was a big jump.

Of course in our area, when we actually have 5G (it comes and goes), I only get about 30 Mbps.

Hoping it will get better.

Tomorrow morning Jan and I are heading out about 8am for our visit to the Wings Over Houston AirShow. We want to get there early to get closer parking to the gate. We’ve got tickets in the Family Chalet area just like last year. And the really nice thing is that it comes with both breakfast and lunch.

Really looking forward to it.