Our RV Adventures

or Snakes and Scorpions and Tarantulas, Oh My!

After first seeing a 4 foot long black snake (but no rattlesnakes, yet), and a two inch scorpion,

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Jan now has the Trifecta of gate guard animal sightings.

A big black tarantula!

She saw it a little after 8pm last night (Saturday) coming from around the front of the RV and heading out across the road. Said it was about the size of her hand and scurrying pretty quickly. Once it got to the rocks along the roadside, it stopped to groom itself before heading off into the woods.

Jan was so proud of herself. She said she didn’t scream once.

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Under the heading of Why won’t Chase Bank take my Money?

You know that Chase Bank commercial where the guy gets all dressed up to go make a bank deposit, then holds his check up in the air and takes a picture of it with his cellphone, and he’s done.

Well, it doesn’t work quite like that. First off, you can’t just hold the check up like that. It has to be on a flat surface, and it usually takes me 2 or 3 tries before I get one that the app likes.

But it usually works pretty well and it’s very useful while we’re gate guarding, since the nearest Chase Bank is about 60 miles away, and unfortunately Gate Guard Services doesn’t do direct deposit. But up until now I’ve been able to pick up my check at the office and then upload it right there before heading home.

But not this past Friday. I tried it three times and each time it told me my deposit was too large. Huh? The check was for the same amount as always, and in one case it was larger.

So what gives? Heading back home I called Chase, and after being told by two different people that there was no limit on QuickDeposit deposits, finally one person went away for about 10 minutes and came back to say there is no limit on individual deposits, but that there is a limit on how much money you can deposit in any one 30 day period. Again, huh?

Apparently you can deposit no more than $5000 in any 30 day period. I then pointed out that despite what she said, there is a limit on individual deposits, since I assume the system would not let me deposit $5001 all at one time, even if I had never deposited anything before.

She hesitated, and then said “Yes, that’s true, but there’s still no limit on individual deposits, just a limit on deposits in a 30 day period.

Whatever!

She then noted that I could make another deposit on the 15th of June and that would solve my problem, but she was stumped when I reminded her that a week later I would have another check that I couldn’t deposit.

And it looks like the way the 30 period rolls though the calendar, at one point I could end up with as many as 3 pay checks that I can’t deposit.

Bummer!

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Thought for the Day:

I was always taught to respect my elders, but unfortunately it keeps getting harder to find any.

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With apologies to Bruce Springsteen (or Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, as your taste may run) I think that’s what happen to this armadillo who wandered into the area the other night. He came out of the trees and grass across the road and seemed to be doing fine until he came into the glare of all the lights. Then he couldn’t seem to figure out what to do, or where to go.

He bumped around the fence for a while, then managed to crawl under the gate, but then turned around and started bumping into the gate again. Finally he got out of the glare of the lights and continued on his way into the darkness.

And if that wasn’t strange enough, about an hour later, I see something moving off to my right on the road leading up to the gate. It’s a bunny rabbit, and unlike the armadillo, he seemed to know exactly where he was going, and wasn’t bothered by the lights.

He got directly opposite where I was sitting, stopped, looked over at me, and then continued hopping through the gate. When he got to the crossroad, he stopped again like he was checking for traffic, and then, making a left turn, hopped on down the road and off into the darkness.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was hippity-hopping down the bunny trail.

Sorry. I just couldn’t help it.

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As a follow-up on some of my recent gadget evaluations, the cooling mister is still working great.

Since we’re starting to see a few days in the upper 90’s, I added a 2nd nozzle to the water line this morning, about two inches below the first one. According to the thermometer, this immediately dropped the temperature another two degrees, and difference was noticeable.

The Vehicle Sensor alarm that I recently purchased is also working out great. Once I saw that, I ordered a second sensor, and now have one at each end of the approach roads. Each one is located about 150 yards from our rig and does a great job giving us a heads up on approaching vehicles.

Lastly, an update on the Kindle Fire tablet we got a few weeks ago. Jan uses it at night  to read books, play games, and surf the Web. She’s really kind of taken it over. Because of the glare, it’s pretty much useless outside in the daytime, but then she just switches to her regular Kindle.

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Ryan Etheridge, the Marathon Safety guy here just came back from his two weeks off and brought us back some great boudin direct from his hometown of Lafayette, LA. Thanks again, Ryan.

And speaking of food, this afternoon we had another great meal dropped off by a rig catering company. Steak, potato salad, green beans, and banana pudding for dessert.

Yum!

A guy could get used to this.

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On a final note, if you’re a Beach Boys fan, they’ve got a new album out called “That’s Why God Made the Radio”. With 12 new, mostly Brian Wilson songs, the album really has that vintage Beach Boys sound. Backed up by studio musicians who played with them in the 60’s, the guys, most of them in their 70’s, can still hit those harmonies just like the old days.

It’s a $4.99 MP3 download on Amazon, so check it out.

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Thought for the Day:

When life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt.

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