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Chicken & Waffles . . .
Today started off on schedule, but then skewed a little sideways.
Jan’s toeies appointment was for noon, and we got there about 10 till. And after dropping her off, I drove around the corner to work on the Jeep under the big shade trees. I wanted to install our new license plate tag stickers, as well as change out the passenger-side LED headlight bulb that I didn’t get to a couple of weeks ago.
About a year ago, I replaced the Jeep’s hood struts while parked there, and today there was another guy over there working on his truck. Wonder if his wife was getting her toes done too.
But just as I got out the Jeep to get started, Jan called and said the nail lady was running late, and it would be another hour before she could get to her. So we decided to go right back down the road so Jan could get her Target visit done. So I ended up doing my Jeep stuff in the Target parking lot. No shade, but it wasn’t bad.
And when we got back to the nail place, Jan was in the chair in about 10 minutes.
Then when she was finished, it was right back down the road to the Chick-fil-A for lunch. And ignoring the double line of cars winding around and stretching out to the street, we did something radical. We just walked inside, got our food, and sat down and ate.
Radical!
I’d been wanting to try their new Chicken & Waffles sandwich, in Spicy, of course, along with a fruit cup.
A really good sandwich, especially with the crunch of the waffle bun. And, besides the syrup, I added a little Ranch Dressing for some tang.
Delicious!
Jan, however, went Old School and got the Deluxe Chicken Sandwich with a side Kale Crunch salad.
Afterwards, though, we were both so full, we decided to eschew HEB and just head home.
A nap was calling.
* * * * * * *
SpaceX is still on course for Monday’s 7:15 am launch of StarShip #14, which will be the first orbital flight. Right now they’re planning on 6 orbits, which will take about 9 hours before reentry.
Plus, they will be releasing 26 of the new V3 Starlink satellites into orbit as well, totaling almost 115,000 pounds. Amazingly, this is more than the total payload weight of the Apollo 11 moon rocket.
Also, in an apparent homage to the soft landing and recovery of Ship 40 back in July, two of the thermal protection tiles from Ship 40 were installed and will be flying on Ship 41.
I recently found out that SpaceX was not trying to do this soft landing in any way. They were as amazed as the rest of us that it happened.
And speaking of Ship 40, it’s currently off the coast of Brazil and heading north toward Starbase TX and home.
Go Elon!
* * * * * * *
Tomorrow it’s going to be Las Ramirez for lunch and then the HEB visit we didn’t do today.
Thought For The Day:
Remember, you’re only young once, but you can be immature forever.
Just ask Jan about me.
Your Retro-Preview Highlights –
2008 – More Photos From Our Time In Alaska On Our Way Back To The US
2010 – The Egg and I & Cafe Adobe
2011 – Soup and Seminars – Rally Day 2
2012 – Exploring Hershey PA
2014 – Happy Anniversary !!!
2016 – Good News and Bad News
2019 – More Climate Stuff
2023 – Rig A/C Fan Replacement
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
September 27, 2008
More Photos From Our Time In Alaska On Our Way Back To The US.
September 27, 2009
La Carreta… ¡Muy Bueno!
We left our KOA site about 9:30 for our 200-mile trip to Celina, OH
We didn’t stop for lunch, so we arrived at the Mercer County Fairgrounds about 1:30 pm and were directed to our site.
While we are here for the 6 days of the Rally, we will only have power. So I topped off our 100-gallon fresh water tank, and Jan took care of all the laundry before we pulled out of the KOA this morning.
Since we got here early, we got a 50-amp site, unlike later arrivals who got a 30-amp, or even a 20-amp site. Lucky us.
About 2:30 pm, we headed out for a late lunch/early dinner at La Carreta, a Mexican restaurant we noticed on our way into town. We really needed a Mexican fix, and this place filled the bill.
Jan had the Beef and Bean Nachos, and I had the Carnitas. Really good, and so were the chips and salsa. We’ll go back before we leave.
We got back about 4 pm, and after setting out with Mister for a while, we went in for the night.
Tomorrow is the first day of the rally.
September 27, 2010
The Egg and I & Cafe Adobe. . .
Today started off with breakfast at Egg and I, probably our favorite local breakfast place. We also like Jimmy’s Egg, but for some reason, perhaps because they have flavored coffees like hazelnut, we like the Egg and I better.
Then we headed about 30 miles south to Galveston Island to show Jim and Debbie around, and also check out the changes since Hurricane Ike.
We drove west along the Seawall all the way to Jamaica Beach. Along the way, we stopped to check out the Jamaica Beach RV Park, which is right across the street from the ocean. For some reason, the park comes with its own alpacas.
We looked it over and got a brochure and a rate chart. It’s a nice park, and we might stay there on our way out of town sometime.
Coming back, we drove into town to drive around the Strand area and through some of the neighborhoods, looking over all the old but beautifully remodeled homes. Based on what we had heard, the Strand looked like it had really come back after Ike.
Leaving the Strand, we drove back over to the Seawall to get some ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s, and then headed back east to Murdock’s Souvenirs. I’ll have more about Murdock’s in the next couple of days.
Coming back from Galveston, we stopped by Brandi’s so Jim and Debbie could meet Mr. Landon.
Jim and Debbie also had to pass Kitty’s inspection. Kitty (Yes, this 105-pound Black Lab’s name is Kitty) is very protective of Landon, and if Kitty doesn’t know you, the dog will keep trying to squeeze in between you and Landon.
A little before 5 pm, the whole gang met at Cafe Adobe for dinner. Here’s a photo suitable for a Most Wanted poster.
From left to right: Jan, Debbie, Jim, Lowell, Landon, Brandi, Piper, Linda, and Chris.
And here’s Mr. Landon sleeping through all the commotion. He looks like he’s ready for a fight.
And here’s Debbie, with Jim getting in some Landon feeding time. Jim and Debbie’s youngest grandchild is 1 yr. old, so he’s not as out of practice feeding a baby as I am.
Leaving Cafe Adobe about 6:15 Jan and I dropped Jim and Debbie at the hotel, and then headed back toward the rig, stopping off at Buc-ee’s to fill up with gas.
Tomorrow we’re planning to head over to San Antonio to see the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and other sights.
But…when we got home tonight, Jan started feeling bad, so we’ll have to see how tomorrow goes.
September 27, 2011
Soup and Seminars – Rally Day 2
Jan and I were both up by 8 this morning for the first full day of the Rally. With the cold, rainy weather, the hot coffee and doughnuts in the Vendor Building really hit the spot.
After Jan headed off to her first class, I spent some time checking out the vendors and checking in with old friends and making new acquaintances. Then I headed back to the rig to finish up printing the handouts for my class.
During the morning, Jan met up with Mill and Nancy Pierce, who are doing oil field gate guarding down in Texas, something we’re thinking about doing next year, so we had an interesting talk. Hopefully, we’ll have some more time to spend picking their brains before they head out.
At noon, I went down and picked up Jan after her class, and we drove into town to have a big hot bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup at La Carreta. And with this weather, it really hit the spot.
At 3:30, I gave my first seminar on “Ten Things to Never Do With Your Computer”. We had a good crowd of over 45 people and a lot of good questions.
I try to structure the class so everyone will have plenty of time to ask questions as we go along. When I first did this class back in Yuma last March, I only had an hour and ran short on time. But this time I had 90 minutes, and we used every bit of it.
I got a lot of good feedback on the class, and pretty much everyone seemed to be happy with it, so I’m happy too.
We started up again at 7 pm for our nightly door prize meeting. Once again, we had a lot of great prizes, including Roger Marble’s donation of 4 raffle tickets with a 1 in 10,000 chance to win $24,000.
WOW!
Jan and I won a nice tote bag from Dennis and Carol Hill and the RV Driving School.
Next, we had a great 1-hour set from Judy and Whitt McKinney, The McKinney Washtub Two. They performed last year in Elkhart, and afterward, I referred to them in my blog as The McKinney Washboard Two, and was severely chastised by Judy. Well, she did fuss at me a little bit.
During the show, Judy played the washboard (see, I knew there was a washboard in there somewhere), the washtub (or thump bass), the ukulele, and the mandolin. A very versatile lady.
Whitt just played the guitar. (But very, very well)
They play a lot of new takes on old songs, and a lot of humor ensued.
They’re doing a different set on Thursday night, and we’re really looking forward to it.
September 27, 2012
Exploring PA . . .
We started out about 11:30 this morning. Ostensibly, we were also looking for a nearby Camping World so I could check out some step covers, but we ended up on a wild goose chase through some beautiful Pennsylvania countryside.
Some of our wanderings took us through Hershey, PA, “The Town that Chocolate Built”. And even the streetlights are shaped like Hershey Kisses.
All over town, there are hospitals, libraries, schools, colleges, and orphanages built by company founder Milton Hershey. And like all the towns in this area, it seems like every home is nicely painted and neatly landscaped.
Our quest for Camping World turned out to be a lost cause since we found out that Camping World’s website considers Camping World RV Sales sites the same as the camping stores. So we ended up at an RV sales lot, and found out the nearest Camping World store is actually in New Jersey, 87 miles away.
Oh well, we saw some beautiful countryside, anyway.
Our next stop was Staples, where Jan got some fancy paperclips, and I got a new toy – A USB computer-controlled missile launcher.
Just another fun way to annoy the cats.
Afterward, we drove through a few of the surrounding towns and also checked out a nearby Outdoor World RV Park.
We were all entranced by the unique architecture of the area’s buildings.
After some more driving around and a few more stops, we ended up having dinner at the Golden Corral in Lebanon, one of our favorite places around the country.
After a nice leisurely meal, we got back to the park to find our friends Stu and Donna parked right up the hill from us. It’ll be good to see them again.
It’s supposed to be a really rainy day tomorrow, so it’ll probably be a stay-at-home day. Those are always nice.
September 27, 2014
Happy Anniversary !!!
And a Very Nice Surprise.
Although this blog is dated the 27th of September, most of you will be reading it on Sunday the 28th, which is Jan’s and my 47th wedding anniversary.
I know it’s a cliché, but looking back, it seems like yesterday. Two kids, two grandkids, and 7 years on the road, and here we are.
Still in love, still best friends, and still having fun. You really can’t ask for more.
And because it’s our anniversary, we got a really nice surprise today. A little after 5:30, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon showed up to help us celebrate and brought brownies.
They’re actually staying overnight in College Station and will come back over tomorrow (Sunday) and bring Rudy’s BBQ for us all to have lunch together. Brandi said she figured this was the only way they were ever going to get to celebrate our anniversary with us.
The two previous years, we were gate guarding, but too far from Houston to visit, and then before that, we were always on the road somewhere.
Landon always loves to visit our ‘truck house,’ as he calls it, and had fun running around, checking everything out at our site.
While Mister decided to check out a new lap.
On the Miss Piper front, she’s up and around, doing much better, and has a new puppy to keep her company.
His name is Nigel (Nigel?), and he’s cute as a button. And about the size of one, too.
But their other dog, PJ, doesn’t look too impressed.
Or maybe he’s thinking more along the lines of ‘snack’.
In other gate news, the last several days have been very nice, weather-wise, and pretty slow traffic-wise. In other words, pretty nice too. It’s been partly cloudy, and in the mid-80’s in the daytime, and high 60’s/ low 70’s at night. Just about perfect.
And as far as traffic, we had 75 vehicles yesterday, and 67 today. So, also just about perfect.
And tomorrow, Rudy’s BBQ.
YUMMMM!
September 27, 2015
Anniversary Eve . . .
First off, although this blog is dated the 27th and our Wedding Anniversary is the 28th, (and I’ve never forgotten it, either), most people, and my Sweetie, won’t see it until Monday anyway. So
Happy 48th Anniversary, Sweetie. Seems like only yesterday.
As I said before, today was our afternoon off, so after Virginia and Bill Hickox, our relief guards, showed up right on time, we were off to Shreveport for our outing.
But on the way out, we stopped to drop some garbage off at the pad and to show Jan what it looked like now, since the last time she saw it, it looked like this.
But now it’s just jam-packed with equipment. This is what it looks like coming into the pad,
and this is what it looks like around the back.
Like I said, jam-packed.
Then we were off on our trip, and an hour later we were sitting in one of our favorite places, Grimaldi’s Pizzeria. We first ate at the original one (and at that time, the only one) in Brooklyn, NY, i.e., New York City, in 2009. It was located in an area called DUMBO. No, not the one with big ears. This DUMBO stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, but the neighborhood is actually located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.
And Grimaldi’s was located right under the Brooklyn Bridge itself, about 100 feet overhead. We had flown our daughter Brandi and our granddaughter Piper (aunt and niece) up to spend a week with us in NYC, and we all agreed this was the best pizza we had ever eaten. So we were really happy to find a few years later that they had started spreading across the US.
They now have over 40 restaurants around the country, and they’re all as good as the original, and the one in Shreveport was no exception. In fact, all eight locations we visited over the last few years have been equally delicious.
We started off with our usual ‘small’ salad, which doesn’t match its name. The big bowl of ‘small’ salad is enough for both of us to have two servings. I’d be afraid to order the ‘large’ one.
Next up was the large pizza (16″) with Pepperoni, Meatballs, Italian Sausage, and Mushrooms.
Yeah, I know this one has Jalapeños on it, but that’s because it’s not the one we had today. A couple of times in the past, we tried it with Jalapeños, but they seemed to overwhelm the taste of the pizza, so we stopped that. But for some reason, my photo of today’s pizza didn’t come out very well, so you got an old photo.
As usual, we have plenty of pizza to take home for later, which is why we always get the large.
After our meal, we decided to walk off some of it by taking a stroll around Mall St. Vincent, where Grimaldi’s is located. Jan was happy to find a Bath and Body Works, so she stocked up on some things.
Then, checking the time and what shopping we wanted to do, we decided to forgo the movie and just take care of some errands. So after Cavender’s for some better boot laces, the last Radio Shack in Shreveport for a mini toggle switch for my AC fan speed control, and a car wash to get the inch of dust and mud off the truck, we finally ended up at Wal-Mart.
Of course.
We always end up at Wal-Mart.
Jan wanted some new sneakers and some other things on her list, and when I noticed there was no one in line, I decided to get a haircut.
The last one I got was around the middle of July in Albuquerque, so it was about time. But when I was checking out, I had my first inkling that I was not going to like the new ‘chipped’ credit cards.
I got my new one back in August when we were in Houston for a few days. But today was the first time I had to use it that way. Rather than slide it through the reader, you plug it in, like an ATM machine.
It’s supposed to make credit cards safer and less likely to be used for fraud, but I’m beginning to think it does that by making it so hard to buy anything that you just give up and don’t use it at all.
I plugged it into the reader, and it said, “Processing. Do Not Remove Card.” And it kept flashing this for about 30 seconds. Then it said, “Card Read Error. Remove Card and Reinsert.” So I did. And then we did the whole “Processing . . .” thing over again, and again, getting the Card Read Error again. I’m now thinking I could have swiped my card, entered my PIN, and been long gone.
Finally, after doing the whole ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ thing a couple of more times, it worked. The young lady checking me out said they had this problem a lot. So I chalked it up to just their flaky reader.
I was wrong.
About 45 minutes later, I was checking out at a Wal-Mart reader, and things got worse. I inserted my card, got the “Processing. Do Not Remove.” thing again, and then after about 20 seconds, it asked if I wanted Cash Back.
Oh, good. It’s working.
NOT!
As soon as I hit “No Cash Back”, the screen said, “RETRY TRANS. CODE 01. PLEASE INFORM ASSOCIATE.” But my ‘Associate’ had no idea what CODE 01 meant.
So we went through this 3 or 4 times with no better luck.
Finally, she manually entered the card number, the expiration date, and the 3-digit code; then I selected Credit on the terminal, and it went through.
This all took over 10 minutes. As opposed to 10 seconds to swipe my card and enter my PIN.
Oh, and if you’ve got a ‘chipped’ card and are using it on a ‘chipped’ reader, it will NOT let you swipe your card and use Credit or Debit. You must use the slot.
If this is the future, I don’t like it. Not one bit.
We got back to the gate a little before 7 pm, and found that Virginia and Bill had actually been pretty busy with almost 6 pages done. That’s more than we’ve had in a good while. So much for telling them that Sunday would be an easy day.
September 27, 2016
Good News and Bad News . . .
The Good News is that Jan and I will have off tomorrow (Wednesday) to spend time together on our 49th Wedding Anniversary. And we’re really looking forward to having dinner together.
The other Good News is that Jan has completely recovered from passing a kidney stone today during a 4-hour stint at the CHI St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan, TX.
She woke up about 5:30 this morning with a severe backache on her right side, up behind her ribs. She’s had backaches before, though not recently, so no biggie at the time.
But after she relieved me at 7 am, the nausea and vomiting set in. Since she felt better after each time she threw up, we were then thinking food poisoning. But finally she came in about 9 am, woke me up again, and said she couldn’t take the pain anymore.
So after I quickly got dressed, I called Jamie, our GGS supervisor, and asked him to get started our way, telling him I had to take Jan to the ER in Bryan and we were leaving the gate. By then, we were both thinking kidney stone, but Jan has never had a problem before, but both our kids have. And apparently, in your 60’s is kind of late to have a first one.
Next, I went down to the pad to tell Pete, the Company Man, what was going on, and then we were leaving the gate, but had a relief guard on the way. Pete was out on the rig, but when the guy in the office heard what was wrong, he said, “Go, go. I’ll tell Pete.”
On the way back, I picked up the truck and then helped Jan in, and we were on our way. Her pain severity was cycling about every 20 minutes, peaking and then dropping off.
I ‘OK Googled’ the nearest hospital ER, using ‘hospital’ so we didn’t get sent to one of those Emergency Clinics, and she took us right to the ER entrance at the hospital. I got Jan inside in a wheelchair and checked in before I went and parked the truck a couple of blocks away. Walking back, I called Jamie and let him know we were here, but didn’t know anything yet, except that Jan was still in a lot of pain.
Getting back, they already had Jan in a room getting her vitals, and then wheeled her back into a room with me following. Very quickly, a nurse came in, got her into the bed, and started prepping her for an IV, while another nurse drew blood.
Wow! Not the usual ER service I’ve had in the past, where, unless you actually DIE in the waiting room, you won’t see a doctor for hours.
A few minutes later, after asking Jan about any allergies, etc., they used the IV/catheter to give Jan something for the severe nausea she was having, as well as a light dose of morphine for the pain.
Around 11 or so, Dr. Montross came in and checked Jan out, pushing on her abdomen, asking about any pain there. She had none, only in her back. Dr. Montross then scheduled her for a CT scan.
A few minutes later, about 11:30, another nurse came in and gave Jan a large foam cup of ‘contrast’ for the CT scan, and told her to have it finished by 1 pm, and they would take her for her scan right next door.
Jan said the ‘contrast’ wasn’t too bad, unlike some of this stuff, and had no problem getting it down. At this point, about 11:30, I called Jamie again to bring him up to date.
Jan was still having a good bit of pain and nausea, so they gave more nausea meds and another dose of morphine, which this time helped a lot. And at 1 pm, they wheeled Jan off to the CT scan, bringing her back in less than 10 minutes.
About 1:30, they were back with the results, and Yes, she did have kidney stones: a large one still in the kidney, probably not causing any problems, and the culprit, a much smaller one, on its way out.
In the meantime, after drinking all the contrast, I helped Jan across the hall to the bathroom so she could pee. And a few minutes after that, she said she suddenly felt fine, great even. When the doctor came back to release her a little before 2 pm, they figured she had passed the stone without really realizing it that last time.
So we were on our way home a little after 2, stopping at Whataburger for lunch to eat on the way, and calling Jamie to see if he wanted something. We were back at the gate by a few minutes after 3 pm.
And now for the Bad News. When I called Jamie at 11:30, he said we had lost our gate and were being replaced by another couple.
WTH?
He said that Chelsie, the GGS sales rep, said that the Company Man Pete had called her, mad as hell that we didn’t talk to him about what had happened to us and where we had gone, and wanted us replaced immediately.
WTH? That didn’t sound like Pete.
If I’d had his number with me, I would have called Pete, but it was written on the logs back at the gate. So I called Chelsie and asked her what happened, and told her I had left a message for Pete since I couldn’t go out to the rig and talk to him directly.
She said she didn’t know what had happened and that it must have been a liability issue for the energy company, leaving the gate unmanned for a while, but that, as far as Gate Guard Services was concerned, we didn’t do anything wrong.
Well, that was helpful.
So getting back to the rig, we had to start tearing down to move since the new couple was already on their way. Jamie was a big help in getting things packed up and stowed away, and I couldn’t have done it without him, because I was just completely worn out.
I had only gotten about an hour’s sleep that morning after Jan had relieved me at 7 pm, and only about 4 hours’ sleep the time before that, so by the very end, I was just barely moving.
I had told Jamie at 3 when we got back that it would be about 6 before we were done, and I pulled out of the site at 5:59 with Jan following in the truck. We stopped at the Exxon station about 8 miles down the road for diesel, and we’re presently parked at the Timber Ridge RV park here in Bryan for a couple of nights, before we move on to the Conroe Thousand Trails on Thursday.
But for the Big Finish, here’s the kicker.
About 4:30, Pete, the Company Man, walked up to the gate and asked how Jan was. What was wrong? Was she going to be OK, etc.?
Strange, I thought, from the man who had just had us fired. But I didn’t say anything, just told him what had happened, and that she had passed the stone and was OK now. He seemed relieved and then noticed we were tearing down.
“Are y’all leaving?”
Awkward Silence.
“Ah . . . Chelsie said you were mad because we left the gate without talking to you, and you demanded we be replaced, so a new couple will be here soon to take over the gate.”
Pete looked puzzled and said, “I wasn’t mad, and I said nothing about you being replaced. I just called, concerned and wanted to see how your wife was, and was she going to be OK.”
WTH?
So you be the judge. Was this miscommunication, or was it direct sabotage?
Jan thinks sabotage, because she and Chelsie have a history.
Oh, one final thing.
Jan says morphine is GOOOOODDDD!
September 27, 2017
The Big Five Oh!
50 years ago today, about 1:30 in the afternoon, Jan and I exchanged vows, rings, and “I Do’s” in a little chapel on Northington Campus, the married students’ housing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
I was wearing a suit, and my beautiful red-headed wife was wearing a wedding dress that she had made herself the week before.
Along the way, we had two great kids, Christopher Andrew and Brandi Leigh, and two fantastic grandkids, Piper Jean and Landon Thomas.
Jan later said she was determined for us to stay together for at least the first five years just to spite my mother, who said the marriage would never last even 5 years
I made the Clear Lake run again this morning, with a quick segue to get a haircut (quick because it doesn’t take long) before getting to the office.
I did make a lot of progress today, finally getting into the tattoo shopping cart and resetting the passwords, so that means I can now update prices and make corrections.
I also made a big leap ahead on hacking into the Linux web server, finally getting access to the Linux desktop on the machine. So now I can see where I need to get to, and to do that, I need to get ‘root’ access to the system.
That will let me get into the mail server and add and update email addresses. In addition, it will help me get further along on moving the Zen Cart shopping carts to an off-site server, along with the mail server.
So now I’ve got to start going through all the possible passwords I’ve gleaned from scattered text files and scraps of paper lying around. But as of yesterday, I’m completely on my own as far as the password situation goes, with no possible additional input from the previous IT guy, as he died in the nursing home yesterday.
Although I only met him a few times, I was sorry to hear that.
September 27, 2018
The Big Five One . . .
Although this blog is dated September 27th, most of you will not be reading it until tomorrow, September 28th, which just happens to be our 51st Anniversary.
51 years ago this afternoon, Jan and I stood before a minister in a small chapel located on the University of Alabama’s Northington Campus and said our “I do’s”. At that time, Northington, an old Army Hospital dating from the beginning of WWII, was the married students’ housing for the University.
The long wings, making up the hospital wards, were cut up into individual one- and two-bedroom apartments, each with its own entrance. There was a waiting list to get in, so it was a few months before we got an apartment there. In the meantime, we lived in a concrete block duplex with cracks in the wall that let in daylight.
Later in the winter, we got a letter from the rental agency reminding us that during extremely cold weather it would be necessary to put antifreeze in the sink, lavatory, and toilet drains to keep the pipes from freezing up . . . INSIDE THE APARTMENT.
We spent most of the winter cuddled up with our cats under the electric blanket.
Then ten years later, while we were living in Montgomery, AL, we got to watch Burt Reynolds and Sally Field have Northington Campus blown up around them in the stuntman movie, “Hooper”.
And, amazingly, it all seems just like yesterday.
Jan and I headed out about 11:30 to meet our son Chris for lunch at King Food. He had come down from Kingsland to pick up an engine for his Jeep that was being rebuilt.
He had come down with his friend and fellow retired fireman, Corky, who was off visiting other friends in the area.
After our lunch with Chris, Jan and I drove over to the nearby Sam’s Club to get new glasses for both of us. Now, as to whether or not they’ll come in before we leave for Florida next Wednesday, that’s a toss-up. If they don’t, it’s not really a problem, anyway.
I mentioned that I was looking at a Champion generator as a possible replacement for our Onan diesel generator, if necessary.
Besides being a little more powerful, it also has a 3-year warranty as opposed to Harbor Freight’s Predator’s 90 days. And an email from Amazon added to that idea.
First off, a dual-fuel version, both gas and propane, is actually about $50 cheaper than a gasoline-only version. Not sure if I’d ever use it that way, but I guess it would be nice to have.
Even better, for both the Champion generators, an additional 3-year warranty period is available from Amazon . . . for only $21. So a 6-year warranty on the generator.
Sounds better and better.
September 27, 2019
Wrapping Up Another Year . . .
I’ve gotten a lot of nice comments about my recent blog, Stirring The Pot – On Climate Change. And several people asked about a PDF copy, so I posted a copy under the Greg’s Musings tab on the top menu.
And here are a few more. And this one is from 1934.
And here’s one from the UN, saying we’re all doomed, if we don’t reverse ‘climate change’ by . . . 2000.
And here’s some data from our northern neighbor.
For example, Vancouver had a higher record temperature in 1910 (30.6C) than in 2017 (29.5C).
Toronto had a warmer summer in 1852 (32.2C) than in 2017 (31.7C).
The highest temperature in Moncton in 2017 was four degrees cooler than in 1906.
Brandon, Man., had 49 days where the average daily temperature was above 20C in 1936, compared to only 16 in 2017, with a high temperature of 43.3C that year compared to 34.3C in 2017.
I’ve talked about Elon Musk and his SpaceX company several times before, most recently about a month ago, with his Starhopper flight.
This first flight only flew to about 500 feet before it landed safely, just as was planned.
This was the first test of his Starship, built to take people to the moon. Now he’s readying the next version, the Mk1
This one will test-fly to about 60,000+ feet before returning to Earth.
One thing I like about Musk’s Starship is that with every iteration, it looks more and more like something that Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers would fly.
I still get goosebumps watching the simultaneous landing of the two Falcon Heavy boosters back at the Cape last April.
The Falcon Heavy used 3 Merlin engines with about 900 kN of thrust each and would be capable of lifting a fully loaded 737 aircraft.
The Starhopper that flew last month used one of the new Raptor engines, with a thrust of over 2000 kN. And the Mk1 will use 3 Raptors for over 6000 kN, or over 1.3 million pounds of thrust.
WOW.
But the full-blown Starship, capable of carrying over 100 passengers and cargo for a settlement on the moon, will use 36! of the Raptor engines, for a thrust of over 15 million pounds.
That’s twice as much as the vaunted Saturn V, which will make it the most powerful rocket in history.
Go Elon!
September 27, 2020
Well, Maybe Tuesday . . .
I was out under the rig about 1 this afternoon to get started on my Helicoil install. I had already gathered everything I needed on the table on the patio, so I was able to get going pretty quickly.
I first got the oil filter off and only managed to spill a little oil on me, so that was a good start. Next, I used a 10mm socket and 21″ of 1/2″ extensions to remove the four bolts holding the adapter head onto the oil cooler flange. Of course, two of them came out really easily since they were stripped. Which is the reason for all this, anyway.
Then a tap with a rubber mallet broke the adapter head loose, and off it came. So now I was ready to drill out the old threads so I could tap in the new threads that would let me screw in the Helicoils. But then I realized I had a problem.
I thought I had room to get my B&D drill up in there next to the flange mount, but I couldn’t get it into position to get the drill bit going in straight.
Coming back into the rig, I checked Home Depot online and found out I didn’t want what they had in stock, and they didn’t have the one I wanted in stock. So, checking Amazon, I found exactly what I wanted for a good price. And I was just in time to get it tomorrow. Which means I will have it to get back on the job on Tuesday.
While I was on Amazon, I went ahead and ordered a tap extension as well.
So now I’m all set for Tuesday.
September 27, 2021
Another Year, Another . . .
By the time most of you read this, it will be tomorrow, September 28th, which has the honor of being Jan’s and my Anniversary. In this, the big Five Four.
54 years ago today, about 1:30 in the afternoon, Jan and I exchanged vows, rings, and “I Do’s” in a little chapel on Northington Campus, the married students’ housing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
I was wearing a suit, and my beautiful red-headed wife was wearing a wedding dress that she had made herself the week before.
Along the way, we had two great kids, Christopher Andrew and Brandi Leigh, and two fantastic grandkids, Piper Jean and Landon Thomas.
Jan later said she was determined for us to stay together for at least the first five years just to spite my mother.
As I said, at that time, Northington, an old Army Hospital dating from the beginning of WWII, was the married students’ housing for the University.
The long wings, making up the hospital wards, were cut up into individual one- and two-bedroom apartments, each with its own entrance. There was a waiting list to get in, so it was a few months before we got an apartment there. In the meantime, we lived in a concrete block duplex with cracks in the wall that let in daylight.
Later in the winter, we got a letter from the rental agency reminding us that during extremely cold weather it would be necessary to put antifreeze in the sink, lavatory, and toilet drains to keep the pipes from freezing up . . . INSIDE THE APARTMENT.
We spent most of the winter cuddled up with our cats under the electric blanket.
And, amazingly, it all seems just like yesterday.
As far as celebrating, we’re going down to Galveston to have dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse there.
For the third time recently, when I went to order something this morning from Amazon, it told me that if I ordered it in the next few minutes- in this case, 42 minutes- I could get delivery between 2 and 6 pm TODAY!
But as before, when I actually ordered it a few minutes later, I was told that it would be delivered tomorrow. Bummer.
I think they’re just taunting me.
September 27, 2022
Five Five . . .
By the time most of you read this, it will be tomorrow, September 28th, which has the honor of being Jan’s and my Anniversary. In this, the big Five Five.
55 years ago today, about 1:30 in the afternoon, Jan and I exchanged vows, rings, and “I Do’s” in a little chapel on Northington Campus, the married students’ housing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL.
I was wearing a suit, and my beautiful red-headed wife was wearing a wedding dress that she had made herself the week before.
Along the way, we had two great kids, Christopher Andrew and Brandi Leigh, and two fantastic grandkids, Piper Jean and Landon Thomas.
Still in love, still best friends, and still having fun. You really can’t ask for more.
Jan later said she was determined for us to stay together for at least the first five years just to spite my mother, who said the marriage would never last.
As I said, at that time, Northington, an old Army Hospital dating from the beginning of WWII, was the married students’ housing for the University.
The long wings, making up the hospital wards, were cut up into individual one- and two-bedroom apartments, each with its own entrance. There was a waiting list to get in, so it was a few months before we got an apartment there. In the meantime, we lived in a concrete block duplex with cracks in the wall that let in daylight.
Later in the winter, we got a letter from the rental agency reminding us that during extremely cold weather it would be necessary to put antifreeze in the sink, lavatory, and toilet drains to keep the pipes from freezing up . . . INSIDE THE APARTMENT.
We spent most of the winter cuddled up with our cats under the electric blanket.
And, amazingly, it all seems just like yesterday.
Then ten years later, while we were living in Montgomery, AL, we got to watch Burt Reynolds and Sally Field have Northington Campus blown up around them in the stuntman movie, “Hooper”.
The two large brick towers were part of the steam plant that furnished heat and hot water to the complex.
As far as celebrating, we’re going down to Galveston tomorrow to have dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse there. Kind of our go-to celebration spot.
As far as this morning, I spent a large part of it on the phone, first with Capital One Bank. I noticed last night that Jan’s and my Capital One debit cards expire at the end of September, three days from today. And we had never received new cards.
So, after going online and confirming my mailing address was correct with them, I put in a call to their Customer Support. And a few minutes later, I was talking to a service rep. He had a very heavy Indian accent (A dot Indian. Not a ‘Come to our Casino’ Indian and probably named ‘Peggy’).
It took a while confirming my identity, SS#, and a text to my phone, and then a repeat for Jan, but the result was two new cards being FedExed to us in the next day or so.
Next up, I was on the phone with the Lake County Inn up in Trinity, TX, trying to correct our upcoming weekend booking there. I had made a reservation there for October 22-23 for when we’re going to be visiting friends Debi and Ed Hurlburt. At least I thought I was.
Turns out that Booking.com had, for some reason, carried over the dates from my previous booking for the weekend for our family San Antonio weekend, October 15-16. So I put in a change date request through Booking.com.
And heard nothing. Booking said that they were waiting to hear back from the motel. So finally, after a week, this morning I put in a call to the motel and got a different story. He said that he had heard nothing from Booking about any change, but that he did have a room available for the next weekend, no problem.
But he did say he couldn’t change anything from his end, and suggested that I just cancel the original reservation and then rebook for the correct date.
BUT! (there’s always a ‘but’)
For the first time for any of the dozens of our previous Booking.com reservations, this was Pay In Advance-Not Refundable. Another surprise to the motel owner, who didn’t know anything about that, and had not received any money from them. So if I canceled so I could rebook, I stood a chance of losing my money.
So next, I was on the phone with Booking, and it only took about 10 minutes to get it all straightened.
As far as lunch today, Jan said I’d been a good boy lately, so she took me to Twin Peaks.
Jan got her usual Chipotle Chicken with Double Broccoli,
while I went a little differently with the Soup (Brisket Chili) & Salad, and a side of their really good Green Beans with Corn and Bacon.
Really, really good as usual, as was the service from our favorite server, Sylvia, who today had a trainee, Mariah.
That’s Mariah on the left and Sylvia on the right.
If Mariah turns out to be half the server that Sylvia is, she’ll do great.
When Sylvia dropped off the check, it looked like this.
The ‘Grandparents’ is kind of an in-joke between us.
One time when we asked to be seated in Sylvia’s area, the hostess said, “Oh, are you her grandparents?” and we just laughed. Then, when the hostess told Sylvia that her ‘grandparents’ were here, she thought, ‘Who? I don’t speak to my grandparents.’
So we still laugh about it.
September 27, 2023
It Works!
I was up on the roof about 7:45, and then it took another 15 minutes to haul the replacement motor and all my tools up before I could get to work. The weather was perfect at only 69 degrees when I started.
Jan got this photo, saying that she wanted to get one before I fell off.
But I didn’t fall. Fooled her.
And here we have the culprit: the fan motor with the condenser fan on the lower right and the blower fan inside the housing on the upper left.
As several YouTube videos mentioned, the next part took the most time, almost 20 minutes of hammering to get the condenser fan off the rusty shaft.
Then once that was done, I was able to get the motor out and set it aside. I did find that the blower fan was heavily clogged and would need to be cleaned. So I lowered it down to Jan to spray with cleaner and hose off.
Getting the old motor out and disconnected, I was ready to install the new one,
pretty much just reversing what I had just done.
Jan did a great job of getting the blower fan clean. It looks brand new.
And it is all hooked up and ready to go after I wired it in, including replacing the capacitor.
At this point, unlike a number of the videos, I tested it before I buttoned it up. And for a few minutes, I thought we had a problem.
With Jan on the phone, I had her flip the circuit breaker back on at the panel at the bottom of the bed. Then she turned the thermostat to Cool, and we waited.
And waited.
I knew the thermostat had a lockout, so that after a power outage, it waits for about two minutes before it would let the unit come back on. But 5 minutes in, I was starting to get worried.
Especially since I knew that nothing I had done should keep the unit from running at all. And then it dawned on me that since it was so cool this morning, maybe the A/C just wasn’t switching on. So I had Jan lower the thermostat, and that did it.
The unit came right on and ran fine. And Jan said she had nice cool air coming out.
And it was very, very quiet.
After I had Jan shut it off, I got everything tidied up and the cover back on, and then another 10 minutes lowering everything back down.
And as I had figured, the hardest part was getting up on the roof and down off the roof.
Glad that’s done
And it’s very, very quiet.
Today was an anniversary for me. Two years ago last night, I went to bed feeling fine, and then today is when I woke up with a sharp pain in my neck down my left arm.
This was the start of my cervical and lumbar back problems that persist even now.
But tomorrow, Thursday, makes up for it, because it’s Jan and my 56th Wedding Anniversary. But I’ll have more about that tomorrow.
Tomorrow is also when I’m making another attempt to get my Texas Driver’s License. Hope it goes better than last time.
Then tomorrow night we’re having our Anniversary dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse down in Galveston.
Can’t wait.
September 27, 2024
3 Years Ago Today. . .
It All Started.
I woke up on this date in 2021 with what I thought was just a pinched nerve in my left arm and neck. I thought this since I’d had the same problem years ago, and it went away after a couple of days.
But this time, it didn’t.
It just got worse.
And by the time they had figured out what my problem was, and did my Cervical Fusion in November 2021, I had lost a lot of feeling in my hands and fingertips. Luckily, though, a lot of that came back after the operation.
And then, of course, my Lumbar Fusion back on Sept 17.
But on a happier note, tomorrow, Sept 28, will be our 57th Wedding Anniversary. Really looking forward to getting out and about, with lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse and then a Wal-Mart stop.
September 27, 2025
More Hot Ones . . .
Lunch today was at Los Ramirez Mexican, for the first time in a while, and it was just as good as always.
Then it was on over to Wal-Mart stuff and Wal-Mart gas at $2.42/gallon.
* * * * * * *
Then on the way home, we swung by Popeye’s to get the Last Dab Sachets that I paid for, but got left out of my order last Wednesday. I just showed the guy the order on my phone and then the photo of the Last Dab Ranch tubs that I got instead, and he handed them over.
I was trying to figure out what I was going to try it on, and decided just to get another Rojo Sandwich coming home on Wednesday to try it like I had planned to last Wednesday.
* * * * * * *
It All Started 4 Years Ago Today
I woke up on this date in 2021 with what I thought was just a pinched nerve in my left arm and neck. I thought this since I’d had exactly the same problem back in the early 80’s, and it went away after a couple of days.
But this time, it didn’t.
It just got worse.
And by the time they had figured out what my problem was and did my Cervical Fusion almost 2 months later, in November 2021, I had lost a lot of feeling in my hands and fingertips, and was having problems walking. Luckily, though, a lot of that came back after the operation. And then, of course, my Lumbar Fusion back in Sept 2024.
* * * * * * *
Looks like Mona at Doggone Crazy has really stepped up her game with bands and BBQ.
Glad to see it’s working out for her.
* * * * * * *
Tomorrow we’re heading down to Galveston for our Anniversary Dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse.
