Monthly Archives: January 2014
Peaks and Fountains . . .
We’re both pretty much back to normal this morning (well, as normal as we get, anyway) , and after 4 days at the rig, Jan was starting to get cabin fever, so about noon we headed up to Clear Lake. Our first stop was Twin Peaks for lunch at Jan’s new favorite place. Mine too, but don’t tell her that.
She had her Spicy Hot Chicken Ranch Sandwich, while I had a cup of their really good Venison Chili and an order of the Average Joes, the mini sausage dogs with spicy mustard, and chopped onions and jalapenos. A great meal.
And of course it wouldn’t be Twin Peaks without our lovely server, Lauren.
Our next stop was Bed, Bath & Beyond for a couple of things. A blog reader said that they had a good K-Cup selection, and Jan wanted to check out their bed sheets
They did have a large K-Cup selection but nothing that really caught our eye, and Jan didn’t find any sheets she liked, so our next stop was at a client’s office to install some updates.
Then it was off to Sam’s Club for a few things before heading over to our son Chris’ house to pick up Jan’s Mary Kay order that had come in yesterday.
Heading home, we stopped off at the Victory Lakes Wal-Mart for a few things. And I finally found some K-Cup Hot Chocolate.
It was Café Express by Green Mountain Coffee, so we thought we’d give it a try.
We got home about 5:30 and then about 7:30 I fixed Jan and I some of the K-Cup Hot Chocolate to have with some of the cookies she bought.
The Hot Chocolate turned out to be pretty good, but I doubt we’ll buy it again. It’s more expensive in K-Cup form, and compared to the Swiss Miss packets, it’s more work.
With the packets, I can microwave enough hot water to make a cup for each of us at the same time, but the K-Cups have to be done sequentially. Plus if you follow the directions, you’re supposed to run a cup of just water through your brewer to clean it out after you make the hot chocolate. Just more trouble.
One thing I did figure out is that why the all the K-Cup hot chocolates seem to have both sugar and sucralose (Splenda) in them. Some of our blog readers, as well as some online reviewers don’t like the taste of sucralose and wonder why they put both in the K-Cups, but not the packets.
I think it’s because it won’t fit if you sweetened it only with sugar. I took an empty K-Cup pod, cleaned it out and then try to pour a packet of the Swiss Miss into it. And it overflowed the K-Cup. By a good bit.
Artificial sweeteners are much sweeter per weight than sugar, so they use as much sugar as they can, and then finish it off with Splenda. A bad break for people who don’t like Splenda or NutraSweet. Personally I can’t tell the difference between sugar and Splenda or NutraSweet, but Sweet N Low taste bitter to me. Different strokes, and all that.
It looks like the freezing weather is gone for a while so I hooked us back up to shore water this morning. It did get down to about 27 degrees last night, but tonight’s supposed to be in the 40’s.
However it was much colder last night up in the Katy area where this fountain froze over.
You’d think we were up north, or something.
Thought for the Day:
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." — Arthur Schopenhauer
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I Depend On The Kindness Of Strangers . . .
I’m sure you’ve been seeing the PSA’s on TV and ads in the magazines saying that everyone should be getting a flu shot right now, especially due to the H1N1 (Swine) flu that’s also going around.
When Jan was working at the hospital, she was required to get a flu shot every year, whether she wanted to or not. On the other hand I haven’t gotten a flu shot since 1965 when I was in military school and didn’t have a choice.
I tried to tell the doctor at the school clinic that I had been told to never have a flu shot again by my doctor at home because of my severe reaction and resulting hospitalization from it. But the doctor didn’t believe me, and the Commandant said I could either take the shot, or starting walking PT’s until I did.
PT’s, or Penalty Tours, consisted of walking around the Quadrangle with a pack filled with 60# of sand while carrying an ‘03 Springfield rifle which weighed another 9# or so.
So I took the shot.
Getting out the hospital 10 days later, I was told I didn’t have to take the shot next year. Well, thanks a lot.
So now, like Blanche DuBois, I depend on the kindness of strangers. I figure if everyone else gets their flu shots like good little girls and boys, then I won’t have to. There will be no one for me to catch it from. Works for me.
I’m sure many of you out there remember The Great Swine Flu Pandemic of 1976? The one that the government said would be so devastating that they rushed an untested vaccine into production and use, resulting in dozens dead and hundreds reporting serious side effects like blindness and paralysis?
No, thank you.
And now we have dozens of people contracting narcolepsy after receiving the most recent vaccine.
And to answer your next question, yes, I have had the flu a couple of times since then. But that just means that you aren’t doing your part. So everyone get on the stick out there.
Well, after a high today of 38 degrees and 29 last night, we’re looking for 25° tonight.. I pulled a second electric heater out of the basement, that along with the heated mattress pad on our bed, keeps us warm and toasty.
If it gets down in the ‘teens’, I have a small cube heater like this that I put down in our water bay.
With the heater plugged into this Inline Thermostat, we’ve been good down to 6 degrees (Garrison, MT in 2008).
The thermostat turns anything plugged into it on at 35 degrees and off at 45 degrees. Works like a champ.
Thought for the Day:
Give power to imbeciles, you get imbeciles with power.
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