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Happy 16th Birthday, Landon Thomas Morrison . . .

Though today is his actual Birthday, we’ll all be getting together on Saturday at the Cheesecake Factory at the Katy Mills Mall to celebrate it.

Really looking forward to it.

* * * * * * *

Back on the first of August, I posted about the Falcon 9 rocket crashing into the Moon.

And now we’ve finally got a good photo of the impact point.

Looks like it almost landed on another crater.

* * * * * * *

NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in July 2028 and spend six and a half years crossing the solar system to land on a moon that has weather, seasons, rivers and seas — with methane and ethane flowing across its surface instead of water.

Dragonfly’s July 2028 target launch begins a six-and-a-half-year journey to Titan, where a nuclear-powered flying laboratory will compare organic dunes, weather and impact terrain.

In July 2028, if the current schedule holds, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy will rise from the same Florida launch complex used by Apollo and begin sending a car-sized aircraft toward Saturn. The rocket will be familiar. The payload and destination will not.

NASA’s Dragonfly is a nuclear-powered rotorcraft built to fly through the dense atmosphere of Titan, land, drill into the ground, analyze samples, recharge, and then fly again. It will carry its whole laboratory between sites rather than asking scientists to infer an entire world from the patch of ground beneath one stationary lander.

The journey is expected to take six and a half years. When Dragonfly arrives in late 2034, it will meet a moon with clouds, weather and seasons; river channels etched into the surface; and lakes and seas fed by rain. The familiar nouns are almost misleading. Titan is cold enough that water is part of the bedrock. Methane and ethane are the liquids moving through its landscape.

* * * * * * *

Tomorrow’s our monthly get-together with our Alvin Opry group at Saltgrass Steakhouse once again. But as of right now, due to two broken limbs, it may once again be just Jan and I.

We’ll see.

Thought For The Day:

Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m just in a bad mood, or if everyone around me is just really, really annoying.
Or maybe it’s both.

Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2010 – Landon Thomas Morrison’s Birth Day !!

2011 – How to run both A/C’s on 30 Amps

2015 – Why I Got Nothing Done On The A/C Today

2017 – Happy 7th Birthday Landon Thomas Morrison!

2019 – The Operation Was A Success, But

2020 – Happy 10th Birthday

2021 – I’m Jealous

2022 – Start Your Engines

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™

August 20, 2009

Oriental Jade…

After sleeping in this morning, we drove over to Bangor to a Chinese restaurant, Oriental Jade, that we’d seen yesterday on our way to Pepina’s.

It turned out to be really good, especially the Hot & Sour Soup. We’ll try to go back.

Leaving the restaurant, we drove down the street to Sam’s Club and then on to a brand-new Wal-Mart down the road a bit. This may have been the biggest Wal-Mart we’ve ever been in, and the layout is completely different from any we’ve ever been in. Except for the checkouts being in the front, nothing was where it was supposed to be.

I think it took us twice as long to shop as it normally would.

Getting back to the rig, we let Mister play outside for a bit while we enjoyed the nice weather.

Don’t know how long that will last, though. I can’t believe we’re almost in Nova Scotia and we have to worry about dodging a hurricane!

We’ll see how the weather goes.

August 20, 2010

Friday, August 20 – Landon Thomas Morrison’s Birth Day !!

Jan called this morning a little before 9 am EDT to say that Brandi’s labor is coming along fine, and Landon should be making his appearance sometime later this afternoon.

Update:
Jan called around 11:45 am EDT. Brandi’s still doing fine, with Landon expected between 1 and 2 pm EDT.

More updates as they come in.

UPDATE !!!

Landon Thomas Morrison was born at 1:02 pm CDT, weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

Mother and Baby are doing fine.

YEAH!!!!!!

Presenting Landon Thomas Morrison !

A little after 5 pm, I headed over to Mancino’s Pizza for great pizza and some good conversation.

A nice, quiet end to a very exciting day!

August 20, 2011

How to run both A/C’s on 30 Amps . . .

or, Happy 1st Birthday to our grandson, Landon Thomas Morrison.

We both slept late this morning. Even Jan didn’t get up until about 9:30, and I followed about an hour later. Later, along with our morning coffee, we caught up on a bunch of TV shows from our DVR.

After lunch, I set up the computer so we’d be ready to Skype Landon’s Birthday Party later this afternoon. We’ll just wait until they call.

Then I got back on my chore list. Since Jan planned on cleaning out some more stuff under the bed, I thought I’d make my A/C modification today.

A week or so ago, I had a problem with the front A/C not getting any power, but the circuit breaker was OK. After a call to American Coach, I found out that the front A/C passes back through the Heart Source Manager Inverter/Converter Transfer Switch through an A/C Lockout relay.

Why, I don’t know. And I also don’t know why it suddenly engaged, even though the Source Manager is mostly disconnected due to my previous transfer switch problems.

Anyway, at the time, the solution was just to pull the wires off the relay and tie them together like below.

This not only fixed that problem, but also gave me the solution to another problem.

I had been thinking for a while about a way to break out the power leads to one of the A/C units so that when I was plugged into 30 amps, I could power one of the A/C’s separately from the additional 20-amp outlet that most pedestals have.

I originally thought about tapping into the circuit breaker panel, but kept putting it off. But this seemed to be the perfect solution.

The first step was to replace the wire nuts with a set of male and female power plugs. Note that the end that supplies the power has the female plug for safety.

This allows me to plug them back together to get back to normal.

But it also allows me to plug the A/C into an extension cord that I run in through the bedroom window. The other end is plugged into the 20-amp receptacle on the power pedestal outside.

This, of course, was only a test. I used it to run both A/C’s all afternoon with no problems. Now I’ll run a permanent cord down through the engine bay and into the power bay. That way, I can just plug in from outside whenever I need it.

This will probably only be used occasionally. Right now we only have 30 amps, but since the temperature is in the 80’s, one A/C works just fine. But we have sometimes been in high 90’s temps, and with only 30 amps available, one A/C really can’t keep up.

So now you know how to run two A/C’s on 30 amps. If you have any questions, let me know.

About 2:15, our computer rang, and we were online Skyping Landon’s birthday party. Our signal quality varied a lot, so the photos do too.

The party started off with Landon opening his presents. Although sometimes he seemed as interested in the wrapping paper as in what was inside, he did a good job tearing everything open, and he seemed to be happy to find toys and other stuff inside.

Of course, after the presents, it was time for cake and ice cream. And Landon got his own cake.

And he dug right in and really enjoyed it.

We were online for the party for almost 30 minutes, and really enjoyed being included in the festivities. As a follow-up, Brandi called about 5:30 to bring us up to date.

On another note, we’ve been noticing the first signs of Fall here. There is a slow but steady rain of yellowing leaves floating down from overhead. I’m sure everyone around the country will be happy with the cooler temps. I know we will.

August 20, 2013

Wrapping things up – Almost . . .

Today, we started wrapping up our time here in the Houston area. So Jan and I headed out about noon down to the Clear Lake area. Our first stop was Monterey’s Little Mexico, down in Dickinson. No way could we come through the area without getting a big bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup. The soup that all others are compared to.

And it’s always nice to see Julie, our favorite waitress, who still remembers what we order and how we want it. Even the young man who brings the chips and salsa to our table remembered we always want two red salsas instead of the normal one salsa and one green sauce.

Finishing up at Monterey’s and telling them we’ll be back in November, we headed up I-45 to Academy Sports. I was looking for a canopy for our gate guarding sojourn.

Based on our experiences last year, we wanted a canopy that has an air vent at the top and has a UV coating to shield out some of the sun. But after looking at Academy, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart with no luck, I’ll probably order this one from Amazon

Coleman 13 x 13 Canopy

It’s Amazon Prime, so two-day shipping is free, but what may be the only downside is the fact that at 13 x 13 feet, it’s 69 square feet larger than the 10 x 10 one we had last year.

Our next stop was to check in with one of my clients for a few minutes before making a stop at Half-Price Books so Jan could stock up on Gate books.

Then, after another stop at our storage room to pick up some gate-related things we had stored away last year. Then it was on to Chris’ to kill some time before we met Piper for dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, our favorite local Cajun place.

Gooood Gumbo!

It was really nice to have Piper all to ourselves and be able to catch up on what’s going on in her life. It’s really hard to believe she’ll be 20 next month. It seems like only yesterday she looked like this.

or like this.

Yep, she started on computers early.

Tomorrow we’ll wrap things up here in Houston and then have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon tomorrow night.

August 20, 2014

It’s All A-OK . . .

Jan and I headed out this morning about 9:30, way too early for me normally, but we had a full day of stuff planned.

Our first stop was about an hour away at Brandi and Lowell’s to trade out trucks. Lowell had been nice enough to offer us the use of his Toyota Tundra for the day since we had a lot of driving planned and still no A/C in our truck.

Getting down to the Webster area about 11:30, our first stop was at Twin Peaks to have lunch. Unfortunately, our favorite waitress, Lauren, was off today, so we didn’t get to see her, but our lunch was as good as always.

After lunch, and after a quick client visit, we headed over to Texas Oncology for the real purpose of our trip down here: Jan’s six-month checkup after her breast cancer operation.

Based on her post-op visit right before we left Houston last May, she figured it would take a couple of hours or more, but they called her in right on time, and she was out in 40 minutes.

The Doctor told Jan that everything looks good with no problems. Her blood work was normal, and she has not been having any of the possible side effects from the Tamoxifen that she’s taking. The Doctor just wants to see her again in six months.

Insert ‘sigh of relief’ here.

Our next stop was down the road a piece to the Buc-ee’s on League City Parkway to pick up some of their great Cranberry Nut muffins. Turning into the place, I was really surprised to see their price for diesel.

You just never have an RV with an empty fuel tank around when you need one.

Our next stop was the home of Bob and Maria, pretty much our oldest friends here in the Houston area, whom we’ve known since the mid-80’s. After checking on their new dog, we all headed over to Monterey’s Little Mexico for dinner and talk. A lot of talk. About two and a half hours of talk.

Hey, we had a lot of catching up to do.

After saying our goodbyes and getting our hugs from Bob and Maria, Jan and I stopped off at our storeroom to pick up our gate guarding stuff, i.e., our canopy, tarp, big fan, misting system, etc. Wanted to have it handy since we hope to get a gate sometime next week.

Before leaving the area, we stopped by Chris and Linda’s for a few minutes, and found Linda had a warm Blueberry Bundt Pound Cake to take with us.

Great! Now we have muffins AND pound cake.

Finally, about 8:30, we got our truck back at Brandi and Lowell’s and headed home, arriving about 9:30 pm.

A long day, but one with good news, good friends, and great family.

August 20, 2015

Why I Got Nothing Done On The A/C Today . . .

And since tomorrow and Saturday are booked up with doctor’s appointments and Landon’s Birthday Party, it’ll be Sunday until I can get back on it. Bummer!

Later this morning, Jan and I changed the sheets on our queen-size bed and commented on how good they still looked. No pilling, no fading, and no snags.

We’ve had these for over a year and a half, and they still look new.

Striped QUEEN Sateen Sheet Set

We bought one set, used them for a month, and then ordered a second set. They’re 1500 thread count, come in a bunch of colors, and are only about $30 a set.

Check ’em out.

The last couple of mornings, we’ve been enjoying the coffee Brandi and Lowell brought us back from Costa Rica last week.

It’s called Britt Tres Rios Valdivia, and it’s really good. Very bold, but still smooth, and a different taste than other coffees we’ve had. And even better, we don’t have to go back to Costa Rica to get more. Turns out it’s also available on Amazon.

Cafe Britt Tres Rios Valdivia Ground Coffee

The last several parks we’ve been at, I was disappointed in the water pressure. That is, until we got back here to Colorado River TT, where I knew the pressure was great. Then I thought about my Camco EVO Water Filter, so I bypassed the filter and got good pressure back. But I noticed that in the shower, I could smell the chlorine in the water, which I couldn’t before. So it was still working, I guess.

So this past Monday, I ordered a couple of new filters from Amazon and picked them up from Brandi’s yesterday. This afternoon, I pulled the old filter, and this is what I found compared to a new one.

Quite a difference, and the old one is about twice as heavy as the new one. And as I figured, replacing the filter took care of my pressure problem. And I’ve got a spare for next time.

Jan got a new toy this week, a new Oster electric skillet to replace her old one.

Oster DuraCeramic 12-Inch Electric Skillet

The only problem with her old one was that there was almost no Teflon left on it. That was probably because, when we got to thinking about it, we’ve had it for about 40 years. We don’t remember exactly, but it was from Sears& Roebuck, and we got it before we moved to Texas in 1978. They don’t make them like that anymore.

Plus, this new one has a ‘DuraCeramic’ coating that’s supposed to last 4X longer than a normal coating. So I guess in about 160 years we’ll be ready for another one.

Tomorrow morning, Jan and I will head down to the Clear Lake area for Jan’s doctor’s appointment, and then lunch and some other errands.

August 20, 2016

We Got A Gate!

A Short Blog Tonight!]

Because we’ve got a lot to do.

We don’t have all the particulars yet, mainly the exact location, but it’s northeast of Bryan/College Station in the same general vicinity as our 2014 gate near North Zulch.

It’s a 3-well workover project that should take about 3 months . . . we hope. And even better, no FRC’s. The only downside is it’s $125 a day, and not $150 like last year. But it’s a Gate, so it’s hard to complain.

The only other problem is that we have to be there at 8 am Monday morning, so we’ll have to travel up to that area tomorrow afternoon. Luckily, going the back way through La Grange, it’s only about 120 miles.

So after Landon’s birthday party in Katy, tonight we had to drive down to our son Chris’ to pick up our canopy frame. Then tomorrow morning we’ll pick up some groceries to last us a while, before we head out about 1 pm.

I’ll have to update you on Landon’s birthday later.

August 20, 2017

Happy 7th Birthday Landon Thomas Morrison!

I spent the morning and afternoon working on the client’s computer stuff, mostly trying to figure out the mail server situation at my client in Clear Lake.

I use TeamViewer, a program that, once installed on the client’s computers, allows me to log in and control it remotely. So I can do a lot of stuff from the rig and not have to travel down to Clear Lake quite as often.

Last night I dumped a box of baking soda in a bowl and left it in the fridge overnight, and almost all of the remaining odor is gone. Now, to restock all the staples we had in there.

About 3:15 Jan and I traveled down to the Katy area to meet Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and Lowell’s sister Sherry at the Rainforest Cafe in Katy Mills Mall to celebrate Landon’s 7th birthday.

We took the Grand Parkway around this time, since we’d never done it in this direction. And since I updated our Garmin GPS a couple of months ago, that’s the way it wants to take us anyway, and not by the Sam Houston Tollway as before.

Jan and I got to the restaurant and got seated along with Sherry, as we waited for the birthday boy, et. al.

Jan had the Shrimp Tacos,

while I had the Awesome Appetizer Sampler.

Plenty to share with Jan, and plenty to take home for later.

For dessert, and to celebrate Landon’s birthday, we all shared Rainforest Cafe’s famous Volcano ice cream cake, complete with a sparkler.

About every 30 minutes, a rainstorm rolls through the jungle, illuminating things with flashes of lightning as the thunder rolls on.

Landon opened one present from his Aunt Sherry,

but the rest waited until we got back to Brandi’s.

If you want to see the eclipse here in the Houston area, it will start about 11:45 am and will be at its maximum at 1:45 pm, before fading away around 2:45. At its peak, it will look something like this,

with about 2/3’s of the sun obscured.

Don’t forget your special glasses and don’t look at the sun without them.

August 20, 2018

Pho More . . .

Today was another work day for me, mostly catching up on price changes and catalog corrections.

Coming home about 3:30, it started pouring down rain just as I got off I-45 and kept it up until I got into Santa Fe. But stopped before I got home.

I told Jan I was hankering for some Phở, so we headed right back out to have dinner at nearby Phở 20. Jan went with something new, Chicken and Veggies Lo Mein,

while I got my usual Chicken White Meat Phở with Extra Veggies,

along with an order of the Shrimp Spring Rolls.

Tomorrow I’m going to raise the bed and take a look at the top of the engine to see if I can get a handle on my oil leak. Wish me luck.

August 20, 2019

The Operation Was A Success, But . . .

The Patient Died.

Also known as OOPS!

When you last were here, I had successfully interfaced my WiFi Module to my Mr. Coffee machine, allowing me to control it remotely from anywhere in the world, and also set up timed brewing without worrying about power glitches erasing the times. And last night it worked fine with no problems, making our nightly decaf brew.

And this morning, it again worked fine . . . for about 5 minutes, and then it shut off, never to work again. When I tried to restart it, it just beeped like it was finished brewing and then quit. Over and over.

Now, Jan’s first thought was that I broke her Mr. Coffee, and she was not happy without her caffeine this morning. So to soothe her withdrawal pangs, I heated up water in the microwave and poured it over the grounds.

I looked back over my wiring and found nothing loose or changed. So was this somehow the fault of my modification, or just bad luck that our 8! year-old Mr.. Coffee just up and croaked?

Maybe it just died of old age.

About 1 pm, Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area for lunch at Snooze and then mutual haircuts for the both of us, as well as a Wal-Mart stop for more stuff.

Apparently we can never have enough ‘stuff’. At least that’s what I assume, because we just keep buying more.

And of course, one of the things from Wal-Mart was this shiny new RED Mr. Coffee machine.

And it looks like it might be even easier to get into to modify than the old one.

You didn’t really think I was giving this up, did you?

I will say that Jan made me promise that if I do kill this one, I have to leave the new one alone.

Yes Ma’am.

We did have a nice cool snap today, with our temps staying in the 80’s with a lot of overcast. It would be really nice if it holds for Thursday for my brake job.

And assuming I’m not still working on my brakes on Saturday, or maybe Sunday, I’m planning on crawling under the rig and trying to replace the oil filter adapter gasket.

Hopefully, that will fix my rig’s oil leak problem once and for all.

August 20, 2020

Happy 10th Birthday . . .

Ten years ago today, Landon Thomas Morrison looked like this.

Then, nine years ago, he looked like this.

Five years ago, he looked like this.

Three years ago, he looked like this.

And this is Landon recently doing his online classes with Jack helping out

Of course, Landon’s birthday wasn’t all cake and presents today. Earlier this morning, Brandi texted this over.

Poor Landon.

He is on a Zoom with his music teacher and was trying to tell him it was his birthday, but it autocorrected to “It’s my bitch”!!

He came to me crying and showed it to me. I ran over, and you could tell he was reading it because he stopped mid-sentence and was kinda shocked for a few seconds.

Still kinda upset.

He did text back and told him he was trying to say “it’s my birthday”.

I called the school so they could tell him too. He’s very worried he’s going to get in trouble.

Of course, I could not stop laughing.

I told him not to try to type so fast. LOL

August 20, 2021

I’m Jealous . . .

Jan went into work with me this morning so we could leave for Brand’s from Clear Lake rather than me coming back to the rig to pick her up first, saving us an hour on the trip up to Katy.

And Brandi was already for Landon when he got home from school this afternoon.

And then once Lowell got home, Landon got to open his presents first before dinner.

After a delivery dinner from Hasta La Pasta, I got a look at Landon’s computer setup. And I’m jealous.

That curved monitor is really something, and very sharp.

One of the birthday presents he got was a specialized gaming keyboard and mouse, and it does everything but the dishes. He got the keyboard installed and configured pretty quickly, but had some trouble with the mouse and asked for help.

I think the problem is that the mouse has more buttons and adjustments than the Space Shuttle. Seriously, the mouse has 8 different buttons on it, and 3 computer screens of setups and configurations.

And when we looked at the tiny manual, even he, with his now 11-year-old eyes, wondered, “Why do they print it so small?”

And even worse, it was in about six different languages. So he went back to his old gaming mouse and said he’d do some research online to get some help.

And the lighting effects alone on the keyboard are really something. It’s a light show all by itself, with the colors rippling back and forth across the keys, and even doing the wave.

A really nice setup.

There’s not much on the agenda for tomorrow. We’re probably going to have lunch at a new place up in Webster called The Cookshack, specializing in Chicken, Waffles, and Ribs.

Sounds like our kind of place.

August 20, 2022

Start Your Engines . . .

Jan and I were on our way up to Katy by about 10:45 this morning, meeting Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and Sophie at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games in Katy. Though we encountered a lot of on-and-off heavy rain, the trip was pretty smooth.

And once we got close, it was pretty easy to find.

The place is huge, bigger than a football field.

I dropped Jan off in front while I found a place to park on the side of the building, not too far from the front door. And parked right next to me was a high-end Cadillac SUV. And I don’t know how he got here, but I don’t think he’s leaving anytime soon.

This was his passenger-side front tire,

and this was his rear tire.

And his driver’s side front tire was almost flat, but the wheel didn’t appear to be damaged.

Getting inside, we found Lowell and Brandi in the Food Court area, while Landon and Sophie were out and about playing games.

Brandi and Lowell had already eaten, so Jan and I ordered ours from the Food Trucks.

You put your order in, and they bring it right to your table.

Jan got the Buffalo Chicken Wrap with Fries,

which she said was Delicious!

I got the Bacon Cheeseburger with Ghost Pepper Cheese and Onion Strings.

Also really good.

A few minutes later, Landon and Sophie showed up to say Hi.

One neat thing about this place is that none of the games or rides use money. You’re given a card that’s loaded with money at the front desk. Then every time you want to play a game or ride a kart, you just swipe your card.

About 1 pm, Landon and Sophie’s ride number came up, and we all walked over to watch them.

That’s Sophie in the 2nd kart in the first row, with Landon right behind her.

And here’s Landon coming up the hill in front of us.

And here’s Sophie passing by.

This is a short video of Landon in his yellow shirt passing by.

And here’s Sophie with a little wave.

Besides the karts, there are also hundreds of video games. Every type and kind you can think of.

And of course, what’s a game area without crane/claw machines?

But this one in the center is the most popular.

And here’s why.

It’s full of dinosaurs.

But your chance of actually winning anything is determined by the computer inside, not your skill.

Here’s a blog from 2015 where I talk about how they can be programmed for any rate of profit you want. Just like a slot machine. The Crane part is about halfway down.

Trains And Cranes

And how about a crane game for adults?

The Lobster Claw

Of course, you could get a prize the good old-fashioned way.

Just climb inside.

August 20, 2023

Happy13th Birthday, Landon Thomas Morrison. . .

Everyone, watch out world. He’s a teenager now.

Looks like we’re all getting together the weekend of 9/9 to cover Landon’s birthday, as well as the others in September. Really looking forward to it.

Today was pretty laidback, with lunch at our favorite Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet, and then moving on to HEB for our weekly stuff. And then home.

As I said, a laidback day.

August 20, 2024

The Birthday Boy . . .

Happy 14th Birthday to our fantastic grandson, Landon.

Love you, kid!

Lunch today was at Texas Huddle for the first time since they reopened . . . again. But first up, we got our haircut at our local CostCutter’s. For me, it was more like getting sheared, rather than cut. Think Leslie took off enough hair to stuff a small throw pillow. Not off the top, of course. Just the sides and my beard.

Dehaired, we were on our way up to Webster to the Texas Huddle.

Glad to see they still had the same menu; we both started with their Side Salad, in place of fries.

Then Jan went with the Breaded Chicken Tenders, coated in their Golden Honey Mustard.

For me, I got what brought me here in the first place, the PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger.

But I replace the regular Apple or Grape Jelly with their Flaming Raspberry Wing Sauce.

Really good and spicy.

* * * * * * *

You probably have seen something recently about this massive data breach covering 2.9 billion people in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

Massive data breach that includes Social Security numbers may be even worse than suspected

(Right-Click on Link and Select ‘Open in New Tab’)

The company whose data breach potentially exposed every American’s Social Security number to identity thieves finally has acknowledged the data theft – and said hackers obtained even more sensitive information than previously reported.

National Public Data, a Florida-based company that collects personal information for background checks, posted a “Security Incident” notice on its site to report “potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024.” The company said the breach appeared to involve a third party “that was trying to hack into data in late December 2023.”

In the meantime, security experts say, make sure all of your online accounts use two-factor authentication to make them harder to hijack.

It’s also important to look for signs that an email or text is not legitimate, given the spread of “imposter scams.” Using messages disguised to look like an urgent inquiry from your bank or service provider, these scams try to dupe you into giving up keys to your identity and, potentially, your savings. Any request for sensitive personal information is a giant red flag.

Here’s a website where you can check to see if your data has been compromised.

You just enter your First Name, Last Name, Birth Year, and the State where you live, or have lived.

In our case, it’s Alabama and Texas.

They show you everyone in the state with your name or close to it, the address, and the last two digits of the associated SSN.

We found 2 or 3 entries for both of us, dating back to 1972 in Birmingham, AL. But some of them are useless since the associated SSN is incorrect.

Check your data out here.

Data Breach Checker

(Right-Click on the link and Select ‘Open in New Tab’)

* * * * * * *

Finishing up, here’s a great shot of the Northern Lights and the Perseid Meteor Shower over an 11th-century U.K. castle.

August 20, 2025

Fall Is Nigh Unto Us . . .

Though our daytime temps are staying in the low 90’s, with a few in the high 80’s, our nighttime temps have dropped from the high 70’s to the low 70’s for at least the next 10 days or so.

Hopefully, it will stay that way.

* * * * * * *

After pre-breathing for 10 minutes with pure oxygen, Vitomir Maričić, Croatian free diver, held his breath underwater for 29 minutes and 3 seconds, eclipsing the old record by over 5 minutes.

Nearly half an hour without air is mind-boggling. That’s roughly twice as long as a bottlenose dolphin is thought to hold its breath. With that sort of performance, Maričić could give a harbor seal a run for its money.

With each breath, a seal can replace 90 percent of the air in its lungs – but our species can only replace 20 percent. To keep up, we need more breaths to fill our lungs with fresh air.

Even when breathing normal air, however, the Croatian athlete’s abilities are impressive. He can hold his breath for up to 10 minutes and 8 seconds.

The Guinness World Record for unaided breath-holding is 11 minutes and 35 seconds, and it was set by Branko Petrovic of Serbia in 2014.

To put that in perspective, the average person can hold their breath for between 30 and 90 seconds.

Back in the early 60’s when I was heavily into SCUBA diving, I was able to hold my breath underwater for a little over 3 minutes. Never tried pre-breathing with oxygen, though – just air.

Quite a feat.

* * * * * * *

Our son-in-law Lowell sent this over this afternoon, since it’s right down the road from us.

So I assume they BBQ the Cockroaches after they race them?

* * * * * * *

Lunch tomorrow is going to be Adriatic Cafe again. So good, it’s on our every-other-week schedule now.

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An Update . . .

First, an update on the two big recent changes in our lifestyle: Consumer Cellular and Starlink.

Though it took us several weeks to pry ourselves out of Verizon’s clutches, our time with Consumer Cellular has been trouble-free.

And much cheaper!

With Verizon, we were paying $179/month for two lines with unlimited data, whereas now we’re paying $55/month for two lines with unlimited data. And much faster data, at that.

With CC, we’re getting 5G+ data rates, which, as I just checked with Speedtest.net, is giving us 839 Mbps, and I’ve seen over 1000 Mbps at times.

The other nice thing about the switchover is that the savings between the $179 with Verizon and $55 with CC have been put to good use.

$55 of it pays for our new Starlink Satellite system, which is also working great, consistently giving us 95 – 100 Mbps for our home WiFi.

Another $50 goes toward the new phones that Jan and I both got with the CC switchover, still leaving us about $20 to the good overall.

* * * * * * *

As I’ve mentioned before, I talked to Verizon several times, complaining about our bill and asking for a cheaper plan. But with no luck.

But then, A Day Later, A Dollar Short, I got this email from Verizon today wanting me back.

If they had done this a couple of months ago, I might not have switched over.

* * * * * * *

Well, after 24 days at sea, SpaceX’s Ship40 has finally worked out. Yesterday, the tow ships brought Ship40 to dock at Christmas Island.

After approx. 24 days at sea, the SpaceX Recovery team successfully guided Starship to a location just off the coast of Christmas Island. A team of SpaceX engineers is on their way to conduct additional analysis on the vehicle in calmer waters before attempting to return it to Starbase

In other SpaceX news, Flight #14 is still on schedule for August 28, but that may slip due to FAA foot-dragging on the launch permit.

But whenever it happens, they still plan of doing a double catch of both the Super Heavy Booster and the StarShip.

Can’t wait.

Thought For The Day:

Licenses & Permits:

When the government takes away your right to do something and then sells it back to you.

Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2013 – A Day with Landon

2014 – Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

2015 – New A/C Installation Project

2017 – Pet Peeves and CFS

2018 – Happy Almost Birthday, Landon!

2019 – It Works!

2021 – The Big One One!

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™

August 19, 2009

Good Mexican food in Maine?

We headed out from our overnight at Walmart about 10 am, heading toward Bangor, ME, about 150 miles away.

As we were passing through beautiful downtown Gorham, NH, we remembered what we’d heard about the great breakfast at Welch’s Restaurant, so we decided to stop.

Luckily, there was a spot on the next block where we could safely and easily park the rig and toad.

The meal was really good. Jan said her Blueberry Pancakes were the best she’d had since Whitehorse, BC, last year, and from her, that’s a lot. And my Meatlover’s Breakfast Sandwich really hit the spot.

After our meal, we again headed east on US 2… into a maze of road work, one after the other.

Apparently, they’re in the process of four-laning US 2, so long stretches of it were down to one lane with flag people, or even traffic lights, governing traffic flow. Several times we sat for as long as 10 minutes.

But finally, we pulled into Pumpkin Patch RV Resort in Hermon, ME, just west of Bangor, about 3 pm, and got set up.

After checking with the office for recommendations, we headed out to Pepina’s Mexican Cafe for what turned out to be some excellent Mexican food.

Coming back home, Jan sat outside with Mister while I finished aligning the satellite dish.

Tomorrow we don’t have much on the agenda, probably just rest up, sleep late, and make a Walmart / Sam’s run.

August 19, 2010

Landon Update

Well, this morning started off exciting with a call from our son-in-law, Lowell, about 9 am, telling us that Brandi was in labor, so they weren’t going to have to induce it.

Then our son, Chris, called about 15 minutes later to be sure we had heard the news.

Hearing this, we went ahead and booked Jan a flight out of Chicago Midway this afternoon at 5:50 pm, and she finished up her packing. She’d done most of it last night in anticipation of this happening.

We left Elkhart about 1 pm, stopping off at a CVS to get a new battery for Jan’s watch. She took it off Friday, November 30th, 2008, her last day of work, and hasn’t worn it since. So it definitely needed a new battery.

When she retires, she retires!

Of course, things can’t go too smoothly. About 30 miles down the road, we had a flat tire on the right rear of the truck.

My tire pressure monitor system alerted me that I was losing pressure in that tire, luckily right before an exit, so I pulled off, thinking I would find a tire place to put on my spare. But as luck would have it, by the time I got through the toll booth, the tire was down to about 10 pounds, so I pulled over to a nice big parking area and started changing it myself.

And as I was removing the old tire, I found a nail sticking out of it.

We got to Chicago Midway about 4:30 pm, in plenty of time for Jan’s 5:50 pm flight, only to find out that it was delayed until 6:50.

Bummer!

We had both brought something to read in case this happened, but ran into a problem. I had planned to stay at the airport until Jan’s flight took off, but we found there was nowhere to sit outside the gate area. We were hoping for a restaurant or something so we could sit and wait until it got closer to her boarding time. But no luck.

So after talking it over, Jan said I should just go ahead and head home. After thinking it over, I told Jan to go through security, and as soon as she got checked in at her gate, I would go ahead and leave.

She called about 20 minutes later, so I headed home. I was surprised to find almost no traffic on the way out of Chicago; I guess because I was on the toll road, but it was smooth sailing all the way.

Got back to the rig about 9 pm, and am now tracking Jan’s flight on a website called FlightStats. You enter the airline and flight number, and it shows you a real-time map of the flight position, along with the speed, altitude, and distance from the destination.

Also talked with Lowell, who said Brandi is doing fine. They’ve given her a pill to keep things moving along, and are still looking for Master Landon to arrive sometime tomorrow.

As it stands right now, it’s 10:47 pm EDT, and Jan’s plane is 22 miles out of Houston at 3500 feet, doing 315 miles an hour.

FlightStats says Jan’s plane has landed, so now I’ll wait to hear from her after she meets up with Chris.

It’s 11:04, and Jan just called to say she’d met up with the kids and they were going downstairs to get her luggage, and that she’d call me tomorrow.

Glad to know she’s safe and sound in Houston.

August 19, 2011

Lasagna and Laminate . . .

After coffee this morning, I drove down to the Thousand Trails’ office to settle up. We’ve used up our 50 free days and now have to pay $5 a day, still a great deal for 30-amp full hookups.

After lunch, I started working on another chore on my list. First up today was fixing a problem with my A/C intakes.

I’ve found that the open areas on the A/C intakes would allow the thin foam filters to be sucked up into the opening, causing the filter to stretch and tear.

So I purchased a couple of pieces of chicken wire and, using Gorilla Tape, taped them over the intake without obstructing the airflow.

I also found a thicker foam filter, 1/4″ instead of 1/8″. After cutting it to the right size, I placed it on the grill and screwed it back on the ceiling.

Another job checked off the list.

Next, I started trying to unbolt the computer desk from the floor so I could remove the carpet under it before I started laying the new laminate flooring. They definitely didn’t want this thing to move, as it is really fastened down. This will be a multi-day job.

Our daughter Brandi called a little before 6 to talk about Landon’s 1st birthday party tomorrow. She’s having the party at a friend’s house up in Katy, TX, and plans on Skyping it so we can watch some of it, too.

For dinner, Jan thawed out and heated up some lasagna. Along with cheese sticks and fresh hot garlic bread, it was a great meal. And we still have enough for another night.

Then, to top off a great day, our son Chris called a little before 9. We really missed them at the reunion last week, and are really looking forward to seeing them in November when we get back to Houston.

August 19, 2013

A Day with Landon . . .

Today was our chance to spend the day with Landon and his other grandparents, Sonja and Lendell, so about 10 am, we headed back over to Brandi’s to meet up with them.

But our first stop was at the Kroger’s near her house to fill up the truck with gas. At $3.33, it was the cheapest around, and with my $.30 a gallon Rewards Card discount, $3.03 was a great price.

Getting to Brandi’s and meeting up with Sonja, Lendell, and Landon, we decided to take their Ford Escape since Landon’s car seat was already installed in it. Our first destination was Sandy McGee’s in Richmond, about 10 miles south.

Jan and I have been eating at Sandy McGee’s for over 20 years. Back in the 1990’s Jan worked here in Richmond/Rosenberg for about 8 years at what was then Polly Ryon Hospital. She and her coworkers ate here regularly, and when I was in the area, we would always eat here too.

Their menu consists of delicious sandwiches, salads, and soups. Nothing is plain Jane. There’s an extra special touch to every item. They are known for their great fresh fruit salads, all year long.

But what they are most widely known for is their Broccoli-Cheese Soup. To me, the texture is more of a bisque, but whatever you call it, it’s delicious.

When I get the sandwich, fruit salad, cup of soup combo, I always upgrade the cup to a bowl. It’s that good.

We were happy to see that Sonja and Lendell liked the place as much as we do, and Landon went through his 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich and fresh fruit like a buzz saw.

Our next stop was supposed to be Katy Mills Mall, back up north on I-10, but it got delayed. Since Landon had eaten so well, and it was now really his nap time, he fell asleep just a few minutes after we got back in the car. So we decided to just drive around until he woke up.

So an hour and a half later, we were at the Mall (the kid’s a really good napper). They have a great kids’ play area that Landon really loves. So while Jan and Sonja supervised Landon, Lendell and I walked down to the Food Court to people-watch and have a smoothie.

After about an hour, Landon was ready for his second treat, a train ride. The Mall had this really cute train that runs all around the Mall. No tracks, just battery power.

After Landon and Jan had done the Casey Jones thing (without the big crash at the end), we all headed over to Books-A-Million for some light browsing. Jan was looking for some more books to read during our upcoming gate-guarding sabbatical. Last year, she read 84 books in 4 months, so she wants to be sure she doesn’t run out.

Wrapping things up at the Mall, we all headed back over to Brandi’s to drop off Sonja, Lendell, and Landon, and say our goodbyes. They’re leaving for home in Oklahoma this evening, but we’ll see Landon again Wednesday night when we get together with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon for one last time until November.

On our way home, we stopped off at Kroger’s again, but this time for some of their Private Selection brand coffee. It’s one of our favorites, but there’s no Kroger’s where we’ll be gate guarding, so we wanted to stock up.

We got back to the rig a little after 6 pm. Tomorrow we’re going down to the Clear Lake area to take care of some errands and eat lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico for some of their delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup.

August 19, 2014

We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat . . .

With no trip down to Webster today, it was another day to take it easy and goof off. Pretty much too hot to do anything outside, although it was actually a little cooler today. Only 98, rather than yesterday’s 101. Every little bit helps, I guess.

A little before 5 pm, we lost shore power. When it didn’t come back on in a few minutes, I went out and checked the power pedestal. I took my 3-light tester with me and plugged it into the 20-amp socket.

No power. And cycling the breaker didn’t help. Nor did resetting the GFI button

While I’m standing there thinking, I hear something familiar. The outside A/C unit is running at the bathhouse on the other side of the rig. So the power’s not out at the park

Going back to the pedestal, I took another look at the breakers. I had kind of concentrated on the 20-amp power and hadn’t cycled the 50-amp breaker. It looked OK, but when I touched it to flip it, it dropped into the middle position, showing it had really blown. So I cycled it, and the power came back on.

So I had been misled by a faulty 20-amp breaker or socket. But the other thing I noticed was that the 50-amp breaker was almost too hot to touch, an indication that either the breaker has a problem or the connections inside are bad. I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

Since I’m from Alabama, and we were recently there for a couple of weeks, I was interested to see this story about this record-sized alligator caught near Camden, AL

One thing that surprised me is that Camden, although near the Alabama River, is about 100 miles from the coast, and even further in ‘river’ miles. That’s a long way for a gator to swim, especially one this big

This big boy measured out at 15 feet long, and when they tried to weigh it, it broke the winch. Finally, using a backhoe, they weighed it out at 1,011.5 pounds.

And it looks very possible that this might be a new world record. A couple of months ago, the Safari Club International declared a 14-foot-8-inch gator caught in 2007 and weighing 880 pounds as a new world record. Sounds like this one has it beat.

The other thing surprising about this is that the boat that they used to capture this gator was only 17 feet long. According to the article, they several times found themselves being dragged around, towed up and down the river by the gator.

To paraphrase ‘Jaws’, “I’d want a bigger boat.”

Tomorrow, Jan and I have our trip down to Webster for Jan’s breast cancer checkup.

August 19, 2015

A Good Excuse . . .

I started on my new A/C installation project, first calling the office to see if, by any chance, they had a tractor with a front loader on it that I could use to lift the unit up, but no luck with that.

Then I dragged the box from the back seat of the truck and over to the patio. I had already popped the straps and removed the top last night so I could get the instruction booklets out.

There is a small wooden pallet underneath the box that I figured was bolted to the bottom of the AC and that I could use to lift the whole thing up on the roof. But as it turned out, everything was just stacked together and held in place by the two straps that I had already cut off to get to the manuals.

Foraging ahead, I unboxed everything and turned the unit on its side to check out the control box and how it was wired up.

That’s when I found there was no control box. So then I went round and round with a guy from PPL who said the control box was in the outside unit. I said, “No, it’s not. All I have in the outside unit is a foot-long cable with a nine-pin connector on it.”

Then he said that it must be in the inside unit. I told him it wasn’t, and that my inside unit had no controls of any kind on it, since it was for a ducted system with an external thermostat, like this.

Finally giving up, I called Coleman, and after I finally got through to somebody (apparently they’re not really geared to working with the retail consumer), we figured out what the problem was.

Normally, the control box is part of the inside unit and ties in with the controls on the cover. But since I was using an external thermostat, there were no controls there, and I would need to purchase a separate control box. Which looked like this.

ROAD TRIP!

By now it was 2:30, and we’d have to hustle to get into Houston and PPL before the rush hour hit. So by 2:45, we were on our way in.

PPL’s 75 miles away, but a good part of the distance has a 75 MPH speed limit, so we were there a few minutes after 4 pm and back on our way about 4:20. But that 20 minutes was just enough for the going-home travel to sock in, and it was now bumper-to-bumper on the Beltway.

It ended up taking us almost as long to make the 30-mile trip back to Brandi’s as it did to make the 75-mile trip into PPL. We had an Amazon package delivered there today, and we wanted to see if they wanted to have dinner with us, but they already had other plans. Jan had already said that our surprise trip to Houston was a good excuse to have dinner at Torchy’s Tacos, so that’s where we headed.

Torchy’s has about a dozen restaurants around the state, and it’s not your average taco place. They’ve got tacos with Blackened Salmon, Seared Ahi Tuna, Fried Chicken, Grilled Portobello Mushrooms, and Fried Avocado. And more. You can check out their menu here: Torchy’s Menu

Jan got the Brushfire Taco, which has Jamaican jerk chicken, grilled jalapeños, mango, sour cream & cilantro, and is served with Diablo sauce on a flour tortilla, along with a Baja Shrimp Taco, which has hand-battered fried shrimp with cooked cabbage slaw topped with pickled jalapeños & onions, queso fresco, cilantro & a wedge of lime.

I got the Green Chile Pork Taco, which has slow-roasted pork carnitas with green chiles and topped with queso fresco, cilantro, onions, & a wedge of lime, as well as a Grilled Jalapeno Sausage Taco, with shredded cheese & Pico de Gallo, served with Poblano Sauce and on a flour tortilla.

All really good, and a great place to eat.

We were back on the road about 6:30, getting home about 7:30, after another busy day.

So how do I get it up on the roof?

August 19, 2016

Sweet Rice and Food Trucks . . .

Although it did rain for a short time this morning, the afternoon was clear and not too hot. In fact, the forecast is for high 80’s to 90 for the next 10 days or so, and that sounds nice, especially for August in Texas.

Early in the afternoon, I started making gate-guarding calls. I left a message with Jamie of Gate Guard Services, and hopefully, he’ll call back tomorrow.

Guard 1 took my name and email address and said they’d email me some paperwork to fill out. She also wanted to know when we’d be available, and seemed pleased when I told her next week. But as of tonight, I still haven’t received any email from them.

As far as the wind farm thing, the girl at SiteWatch said she’d email Buster and he would call me as soon as he was free. But so far I haven’t heard from him either.

If I don’t hear anything in the next day or so, I’ll start calling down my list of gate-guarding companies and see what I can stir up.

Later, I spent some time working on new web stuff, getting things set up for a new company’s website.

A little after 4 pm, Jan and I headed up to Ellinger to have the Catfish Buffet at Peter’s BBQ. It was as good as usual, and at $10.95, at least they didn’t raise the price again.

Besides the Fried Catfish and Fried Shrimp, which are both delicious, I really enjoy all the veggies and salads almost as much. Corn on the cob, boiled red potatoes, pinto beans, green beans with bacon and onions, boiled cabbage, cooked carrots, mac and cheese, and sweet rice. The salad selection is good too, with potato salad, fresh pea salad, Cole Slaw, Jell-O salad, and macaroni salad.

As for desserts, they’ve got banana pudding, peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, and soft ice cream.

All in all, a very good buffet, especially if they don’t raise the price for the 3rd time.

I was surprised by the sweet rice. It looked like mashed potatoes, but the texture was different, and it was sweet. I’d never had it before, so I had to ask what it was. It was good, but the sweetness was a surprise when I first tasted it.

We spent a few minutes talking to one of the ladies working there, who confirmed my thought that all the vegetables were fresh, and the meats, like brisket, ribs, chicken, steak for chicken-fried steak, and hamburger, etc., are all bought fresh every morning.

And it certainly shows . . . and tastes.

Brandi’s been off this week, so she and Landon spent the day at the Typhoon Texas Waterpark right down the road from them.

Then later, the entire family all headed out to the Katy Food Truck Park to have dinner. Lendel and Sonja, Landon’s other grandparents, are down from OK for Landon’s 6th birthday party tomorrow. Jan and I thought about going into Katy for it, but Jan’s on the 3rd day coming off a migraine, so we begged off until we see them tomorrow.

We’ll head into Brandi’s tomorrow about 11:30 and then on to the Main Event Entertainment complex for Landon’s birthday party, until around 4 pm.

Really looking forward to it, and also seeing Lendel and Sonja again.

August 19, 2017

Pet Peeves and CFS . . .

First off, some pet peeves of mine.

First up, read all the other comments before you post a comment on Facebook, especially on one that asks a question about something. Being the 14th person to answer the inquiry doesn’t add to the conversation, especially if your answer disagrees with mine.

Second, please don’t turn on your emergency flashers in heavy rain. Although legal in a few states, it is illegal in most states.

The reason I bring this up was due to the fact that recently we were driving in the rig when a heavy rainstorm came up. I slowed down a good bit, and a lot of cars passed us, just flashing away.

The trouble was that as soon as they all got about 50 yards ahead of us, all the yellow and red flashing lights coalesced into a blinding mishmash reflecting around in the rain. You no longer had any idea how many vehicles were ahead of you, or how far ahead they were.

Plus, I don’t think many people realize that when your emergency flashers are on, your turn signals don’t work on a lot of vehicles. So you can’t safely signal a lane change.

But the real problem is the number of deaths this has caused, including wiping out an entire family.

Picture this. You’re driving your semi along in heavy rain, pretty much following the ‘colorful mishmash’ ahead of you. But what you don’t realize is that a family has pulled over onto the shoulder to safely sit out the storm, and turned their flashers on as they’re supposed to.

And you, following all the flashing lights in front of you, slam into the rear of the family car at 50mph.

And it’s happened a number of times around the country.

About 4 pm, Jan and I went out to the Fish Pond restaurant north of here on I-45 to meet our old friends Debi and Ed Hurlburt for dinner.

But our first stop was at the park dumpster to throw in three MORE bags of bad food from the fridge and freezer. &*^%^&&%!

Jan had the Catfish Platter,

while I had the Chicken Fried Steak with Fried Okra and Mashed Potatoes.

I must say I was simply aghast at the fact that a waitress at a restaurant in Texas asked me if I wanted white or BROWN gravy on my CFS.

Oh, the horror! Is nothing sacred?

As is usual with our dinners with Ed and Debi, we spent the usual 3 hours just talking about anything and everything, not leaving until after 7:30.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to get together again before we leave for Colorado River on the 27th. But then they’ll be following us over on the 29th, so it’ll all work out.

Tomorrow afternoon, we’re heading down to Brandi’s and Lowell’s to meet them at the Rainforest Cafe in Katy Mills Mall to celebrate Landon’s 7th birthday.

Really looking forward to it.

August 19, 2018

Happy Almost Birthday, Landon . . .

After a quiet morning and coffee, of course, Jan and I headed up to Brandi’s in Katy. We were all getting together for Landon’s pre-birthday birthday.

His real birthday is tomorrow, August 20th, but today we were all meeting at his favorite Rainforest Cafe over in Katy Mills Mall.

Not only were Chris, Linda, and Miss Piper with us, but Landon’s Aunt Sherry was as well. In addition, close friends, Chantelle, Eric, and Maddox were also there.]

And as a side note, Chantelle is the travel agent who’s putting together our upcoming European River Cruise/London/Paris trip.

After we’d finished our meals and Landon had opened his presents, they brought a Lava Birthday Cake for everyone to share.

Later, after getting our hugs, Chris and Linda headed back to Kingsland, about 4 hours away, while Jan and I, along with Miss Piper, left for Clear Lake. We dropped Piper off at her apartment before we finally got home a little after 4:30 pm.

Brandi and Lowell are closing on their new house this coming Friday, but it could be Thursday. Then, just as soon as the closing is done, the movers are scheduled to show up. They expect to be completely moved by the end of the day.

Landon still has another birthday party to go to, this time on September 8th at the Smith Ranch north of Katy, once again. This will be the one with all his friends, along with the giant water slide, the petting zoo, and a lot more.

August 19, 2019

It Works . . .

My WiFi Module came in today, and I also bought home some CAT-6 cable to wire it up. I pulled out a twisted pair of wires, and it’s perfect for making small connections.

It was easy to figure out which pads to solder to since they were only two that had a circuit trace going to them.

Then once I had it hooked up, I wired it into the module.

Then I downloaded the app, and after a few times going round and round, I finally got the module paired with the app, and I was good to go.

Once I confirmed that the app would turn the machine on and off, I then linked it with Amazon Alexa, and I was done.

For now.

I’ve got a small plastic box ordered that I will use to mount the module and then double-stick tape it to the back of the machine.

As it stands right now, I’m setting aside Thursday to do the rear brakes on the truck. Hopefully, the weather will hold, though there is a 30% chance of rain.

August 19, 2021

The Big One One!

After a quiet morning, we drove over to Gator’s about 1 pm for lunch once again.

Jan got the Strawberry Walnut Salad with Chicken again,

while I got my fav Blackened Chicken Breast Sandwich with Bacon and a side of Texas Toothpicks. And the Sweet Potato Waffle fries, of course.

We also spent some time with Margie, the owner, talking about all the new menu items coming up. We’ve actually known Margie since the 90’s when she was a manager/supervisor for Monterey’s Mexican Kitchen, so it’s always nice to see her again.

And in more Monterey’s news, their location on the other side of the shopping center from Gator’s, which has been closed since Hurricane Harvey in 2017, is getting close to reopening. They finally started renovating the place a few months ago, and it looks like it’s going to be ready real soon now. So close that there was a Coke truck out front. So any day now.

Tomorrow is our grandson Landon’s birthday, the big One One. And rather than the big get-togethers he’s had in the past, often with his BFF Sophie,

this time, Landon just wanted a small family party. So Jan’s riding into work with me tomorrow, and then we’ll head up to Brandi’s about 3:30.

Looking forward to it.

And we’ve got another one scheduled for September. Our granddaughter Piper’s birthday is the 7th of September, and her Aunt Brandi’s is on the 15th, so on the weekend in between, Chris, Linda, and Piper are all coming down to Brandi’s for a big family party.

Can’t wait.

I spent time this afternoon updating the software on one of our digital photo frames. We have two, one with photos of family, friends, and our RV travels, and the other one from our European trip in May 2019. But I had been meaning to add some photos from our Christmas in NYC trip, so I thought I’d work on that today.

However, while I was doing that, I also tried to fix a weird problem. Even though all the photos are at 4032 x 3024 resolution, for some reason, a few are rotated 90° to the right. So, trying to figure this out, I went online to see if the company could provide any help.

The first thing I found was that I was about 8 versions behind in updating the firmware on the photo frame. Well, to start with, who knew that a digital photo frame even needed firmware updates? But it was worth a shot.

The process was pretty simple. Just download the correct firmware update file for your model, put it on an SD card, and plug it into the frame. And in a couple of minutes, it’s done.

And it didn’t help.

So I went back to take a closer look at the photos themselves. And I can’t find any difference at all. In one case, the camera wasn’t moved, and the two photos were only about 30 seconds apart. So right now I don’t know what is happening.

But I’ll keep looking.

August 19, 2022

I Still Don’t Know How He Did It . . .

I spent part of today finalizing the design for the faceplate of a line of epilators that we’re having custom-made in Poland. We wanted something clean and simple with our logo on it.

My client is very happy with it, so I am too.

And if we order 10 at a time, there’s no extra charge for the custom faceplate. Nice.

This past Wednesday, when I was coming home, I found this guy blocking my left turn, trying to make his left turn.

And everyone else’s too.

What’s hard to see here is that there is a deep ditch on the left of this street, and a power pole on the right. So I’m still not sure how he made the turn. Or actually, if he did. I checked later, and there were no tire marks down into the ditch or in the grass next to the pole. I

He finally backed up so everyone could get by, and when Jan and I came back by 15 minutes later, he was gone.

You can get a better idea of how long he is here.

Going straight wouldn’t work since he’s got the same type of turn at the end of the next block. And he can’t turn right for the same reason he can’t turn left.

So I not only don’t know how he got out, but actually I also don’t know how he got in here, either.

But I’ve got an idea; I’ll check it out this weekend.

As I said in last night’s blog, tomorrow we’ll head up to Katy to meet up with Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and his BFF Sophie at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games for his birthday celebration.

Really looking forward to it.

August 19, 2023

Different, But Still Good. . .

Since Jan wanted to get her glasses adjusted today at the Sam’s Club Optical up in Webster, we decided to have lunch up that way, specifically at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux again.

And we both got something different this time.

Jan got the Ragin’ Blackened Redfish with Double Broccoli,

while I started with a cup of their Chicken and Sausage Gumbo,

and then moved on to their Voodoo Shrimp & Grits.

I regularly have the Shrimp & Grits at Snooze, and occasionally at Gator’s, so I was interested to compare and contrast the three.

And they’re all good, but different.

Snooze’s version.

Gator’s version.

But I’ll stick with the versions from Walk-On ‘s and Snooze, since they’re the top two.

First up, I like the Grits in Walk-On’s dish the best. It was creamier, probably because, according to the menu, it has cream cheese in it.

Seasoning-wise, I think Snooze comes out on top, with Andouille sausage and a house-made savory soffrito, a mixture of minced onion, carrot, and celery, gently fried in olive oil until soft and fragrant.

As far as the shrimp, Walk-On’s version squeaks by. Their shrimp is bacon-wrapped and crispy-coated with a sweet chili glaze.

But you’ll need extra napkins because the shrimp is sticky and messy. But delicious.

Finishing with lunch, we headed over to the nearby Sam’s Club so Jan could get her new glasses adjusted so they sit better on her nose. Before leaving Sam’s, we availed ourselves of their $3.19/gal gas, the cheapest around. Then it was on across the street to Wal-Mart for our weekly Wal-Mart stuff, getting home by about 4:30 pm

We’ve got a busy next few months coming up, starting with Landon’s 13th Birthday Party in the next week or so, date TBD. Then the weekend of the 1st of Sept, our friends Debi and Ed Hurlburt are going to be down in this area, and hopefully we’ll be able to get together a couple of times while they’re down here.

Moving on, besides Labor Day on the 4th, our granddaughter Piper’s birthday is on the 7th, followed by our daughter Brandi’s birthday on the 15th, followed by our 56th Anniversary on the 28th.

On into October, my birthday’s the 5th, and Jan’s is the 25th, and in between we’ve got the Wings Over Houston Airshow on Saturday the 14th, which is also the Ring of Fire Annular Eclipse. Then, finishing up the month, we got one of Jan’s favorite holidays, Halloween.

November brings us the Nutcracker Market on the 9th, and then of course, Thanksgiving on the 23rd. And of course, mixed into all this are our usual monthly get-togethers with friends.

Like I said, a busy time coming up.

August 19, 2024

Fall Is Officially Here . . .

The stranded astronauts just can’t catch a break. Now it seems that even if they have to catch a ride home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, they’ll have to ride as cargo.

Space Suit Designs Could Stall Boeing Starliner Astronauts’ Return From the International Space Station

It seems that back in 2014, when NASA awarded the contracts to Boeing and SpaceX, Musk tried to work with Boeing to standardize the suit sizes and the suit hookups. But Boeing refused.

So now not only will the astronauts wearing the Boeing suits not fit into the Crew Dragon seats, they won’t be able to even plug their suits into the Crew Dragon systems.

So if they come home that way, they’ll have to be strapped down in the cargo area like luggage.

And since the SpaceX suits are custom-made for each wearer, they can’t really have SpaceX-compatible suits sent up for them to use.

* * * * * * *

Tomorrow, Jan and I are getting our haircuts, now that Leslie is back from her medical leave. Then we’re going up to Webster to check out the newly reopened Texas Huddle. Unfortunately, Juana is not working there this week, so we’ll try to see her on Saturday back at BoomerJack’s.

* * * * *

Yes, though it’s a little early, Fall is officially here.

We’ve just had the first Pumpkin Spice sighting.

And a reader wanted to know why I said that Jan’s toes were ‘sparkly’ after her pedicure this past

Saturday. That’s because they are.

See, ‘sparkly’ toes.

August 19, 2025

Mexican Comfort Food . . .

Tomorrow, August 20th, is our grandson Landon’s 15th birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIDDO!

And as seems to be the case with kids these days, he’s in no hurry to get his Learner’s Permit.

Back in my day, we were at the Driver’s License Office, waiting for them to open, birth certificate in one hand and a #2 pencil in the other.

In my case, we had just moved back from Colombia, South America, a couple of months before my birthday, the first part of October, after I had just started 10th grade at Athens, AL High School.

But because I skipped 1st grade and went directly into the 2nd grade, I was pretty much a year younger than the other kids in my class. So while I was just getting my Learner’s Permit, most of the kids were getting their Driver’s Licenses.

Later during the school year, my mother wondered why I wasn’t asking anyone out, since I regularly dated when we lived in South Alabama, before we moved to South America.

I told her that it would go like this:

“Mary Ann, would you like to go to the Prom with me?”
“Oh, and by the way, can you drive?”

Nope. Not going to happen.

This grade-jumping is why Jan didn’t realize that she was almost a year older than me, since we graduated high school the same year (1966). I don’t think she really figured out the age difference until we were getting our marriage license.

By then, it was too late.

* * * * * * *

Jan felt well enough this afternoon to go out for some Mexican Comfort Food, i.e., Beef Fajita Nacho sat Los Ramirez.

Delicious!

* * * * * * *

Leaving Los Ramirez about 6 pm, we saw a young family with 3 little girls pull in and park this beautiful 1938 Ford.

Doubt the little girls are allowed to eat ice cream in there.

Then it was on over to the nearby HEB, before getting home about 7 pm.

* * * * * * *

SpaceX just successfully launched their 100th Falcon 9 rocket yesterday, releasing to orbit another 24 Starlink satellites. They’ve really bumped up their launch pace in 2025, not reaching 100 launches until late October in 2024.