Daily Archives: January 18, 2016

January 18, 2016   Uncategorized

When One Door Closes . . .

Jan felt kind of ‘blah’ this morning so we didn’t walk. But she did fix us great breakfast sandwiches, using the biscuits and the leftover omelet from yesterday’s breakfast at Schobels in Columbus.

Jan's Breakfast Sandwich_thumb[1]

Toasted up in the oven, it’s made for a very tasty breakfast.


After a lot of computer stuff, I took a look at my screen door problem. I had planned to remove the door and store it in the back of the truck, but that didn’t work out. Due to the fact that the door is almost 7 feet tall. It sure didn’t look that tall, but a measuring tape told the tale. It wouldn’t fit.

But I still wanted to take it off to look at the hinges, even if temporarily.

Screen Door Removal 1_thumb[1]

I sprayed the 4 screws with WD-40 and let it penetrate for a while. After about 30 minutes I used my large #3 Phillips head bit and long extension to get the screws loose.

Screen Door Removal 2_thumb[1]

Using a small hammer, I tapped the driver bit a few times in each screw. This did two things, it helps break the screws loose, and it sets the bit into the softer screw metal, making it grab better and not wallow out. And it worked. When I used my ratchet with the extension and driver bit, the screws broke loose with a snap and came right off.

About this time our friend Rudy Legett called and said he was in the area, and wanted to come by and say ‘Hi’. We last saw Rudy and his wife Carolyn last July up in Fort Smith, AR while we were heading back to North Alabama after our two month sojourn in Prescott, AZ for our blow-out repair. Rudy and his wife were heading north for the summer and our paths crossed for a couple of days.

We were staying at the Springhill COE park, and they ended up parked right across from us. We first met Rudy and his wife several years ago when we were staying down in the Dickinson area, and went out to lunch with them and Nick and Terry Russell.  So it was good to get back together for dinner here too.

Rudy is an Aqua-Hot technician, and services their hydronic systems that act as both a water heater and heater for your coach. A really nice system.

After Rudy left, I took a quick look at another door problem that I’ve had. When the rig is up on the levelers, the door is torqued slightly, and it’s sometime difficult to get the door to lock correctly.

Door Lock 1_thumb[1]

What I found is that the latch just barely clears the bottom of the hole, keeping the bar from engaging and locking the door. So I thought for a few minutes and decided the quickest way to fix the problem is just to ‘brute force’ it.

So breaking out my recip saw, and chucking a metal blade, I cut a couple of notches in the bottom and ended up with this.

Door Lock 2_thumb[1]

Now the door locks just fine, with no binding. I’ll dig out a file tomorrow and even out the cuts, to neaten it up. But for now the problem is fixed.

Tomorrow it’s back the screen door.

About 4pm Jan and I drove into Conroe to have dinner at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, a chain that we first encountered in the Bryan/College Station area in 2014 when we were gate guarding about 20 miles east of there.

Cane's Chicken Fingers_thumb[1]

We’ve also eaten at several of  them on the road, and this one in Conroe. It’s a simple menu, with only chicken fingers, fries, cole slaw, and Texas toast.

But simple is good, especially when you do it right. And they do.

Really good.

Coming home, Jan wanted something sweet, so we stopped at a nearby Panera Bread where Jan picked out a Chocolate-filled Croissant and I got a Cranberry Orange Muffin. Both really good several hours for a late night snack.

The weather should be nice tomorrow morning so maybe we’ll be able to get a walk in. I’ve mapped out a new route for here at Lake Conroe since we’re walking further now since we were here two weeks ago.

But we’ll see how it goes.

Thought for the Day:

Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.

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