Monthly Archives: October 2013
Jan says I can run with Scissors now . . .
Bobby, our inside guy here at the frack site, says the way this job is going it might be Christmas before they wrap things up. Maybe.
Certainly bodes well for us to be here until we leave for Houston on the 23rd of November. But we’ll see.
Yesterday, Monday, was our Day Off from the gate. Officially it was to celebrate our 46th anniversary this past Saturday. Unofficially it was to quell Jan’s cabin fever. This was the first time she’s left the gate since we got here five weeks ago.
Michelle, our replacement guard, showed up right on time, and by a little after 1pm we were on the road to San Antonio, about 60 miles away.
Jan said she was ‘giddy”.
Our first stop on our Day Off was the Alamo Quarry theater complex to see the “The Family”, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones. Based on the previews we thought it looked “cute” and “funny”. Well, it was very funny, even hilarious in some places. But “cute”, not so much. I mean, it’s about a mob family in the Witness Protection Program. What could be funnier? Well, if you look up “dark comedy” in the dictionary, there should be a review of “The Family” there.
BTW does anyone still look up things in the dictionary, since the Internet? I mean everyone pretty much has their phone with them all the time. You have to go hunt down a dictionary.
Jan and I both really liked the movie, but be forewarned. It’s very graphic, very violent, and very bloody in places. But funny.
I did say it was funny, didn’t I?
Our next stop, about 3 miles away, was one of our favorite San Antonio restaurants, Magic Time Machine. They have great steaks, and an entertaining waitstaff. I mean a salad bar in a car, what’s not to like.
And here’s my beautiful sweetie!
After a great meal, plenty of leftovers, and a Happy Anniversary serenade from the waitstaff, Jan and I headed out for some shopping. Our first stop was a Joann’s Fabrics to get some heavy duck cloth to redo our director chairs. After three years in the sun, they’re starting to come apart at the seams, so I’m going to recover them.
Our next stop was a three’fer, Sam’s Club, PetSmart, and Wal-Mart. It seems like we always need more ‘stuff’. Apparently it is not possible to have too much ‘stuff’, even living in an RV.
After a great day, and finally heading home about 9:30pm, we stopped at a Pilot/Flying J along the way to get a coffee. And a blueberry scone, as it turns out.
Don’t laugh. I think overall I like Pilot’s coffee better than Starbuck’s. And it’s certainly a heck of a lot cheaper. We both had coffee/cappuccino mixes, with Jan having Pumpkin Spice coffee and Pumpkin Spice cappuccino, while I had Hazelnut coffee with Caramel White Chocolate cappuccino. Pilot keeps their coffee fresh made 24 hours a day, and throw it out before it sits too long.
Lucky for us, (and our diets) the Cinnabon bakery was closed for the night so we were able to resist the temptation. Yes they do have a kiosk there that makes fresh, hot Cinnabons. And it’s located right by the front door, and you walk in and the smell just overpowers you.
That’s just cruel.
We got back to the gate about 10:45 and found Michelle had everything well in hand. Before she left we set it up with her to come back on the 22nd of October so we can take off for our birthday’s, both of which are in October. And then since we leave the gate a month later, that will probably be it for this year.
Today, Tuesday, we had a couple of visitors at the gate. Blog readers, Margaret and Rich Bergen were visiting San Antonio and wanted to get a first hand look at the gate guarding life for when they start full-timing in a couple of years.
We had a very nice visit and hopefully we’ll meet up again on the road in couple of years.
Finally, as far as the whole ‘scissors’ goes, my 65th birthday is in a few days, so as of yesterday, I’m officially on Medicare, so now I’m allowed to run with scissors again. It was really a pain only being able to walk with them before.
When Jan and I retired and hit the road six years ago, we decided that since we were both healthy and had no real medical problems, we would just forego the whole health insurance thing and take our chances. And for us, it worked out fine. However, your mileage may differ.
So now, where I used to pay about $300 for my yearly checkup and tests, I get to pay $1200 a year for the same thing. Yay!
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The World According To Student Errors:
Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advise. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock.
sfgsfg
