Daily Archives: March 22, 2016

March 22, 2016   Uncategorized

Slobberless . . .

We again did our 1 mile (actually 1.12 miles) walk this morning and then sat outside holding Karma while we drank our coffee. She seems to like it better being held rather than on the ground and on her leash.

At least until a couple walking their dog passed by about 25 yards away. The small white dog wasn’t much bigger than Karma and never paid any attention to her, but Karma freaked and started scratching to get down and away.

Luckily I was able to keep ahold of her as she tried to claw her way to freedom, and I was able to get her back in the rig. Of course five minutes later she was at screen door meowing to get back out.

I’m not falling for that again.

When we were back inside, I gathered up the garbage and walked it back over to the dumpster. I also took my camera along to get some photos of a really neat 5th wheel we saw on our walk.

5th Wheel Motherboard 1_thumb[1]

It’s painted up as a computer motherboard, complete with case cooling fan.

5th Wheel Motherboard 3_thumb[1]

And a really neat circuit pattern on the front.

5th Wheel Motherboard 2_thumb[1]

On this slide they’ve started painting computer components like capacitors, transistors, and other parts.

5th Wheel Motherboard 4_thumb[1]

Even better, the white circuit traces are covered with glow-in-the-dark strips, so the whole thing lights up at night.

The rig is owned by Oran and Angie, who travel with their two kids, selling TV Boxes and providing remote desktop and website support to clients. You can find him here at TechEvolution.info.

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Later in the afternoon I crawled back under the rig to check the contents of my recently-installed slobber can.

When we traveled from Lake Conroe to Colorado River about three weeks ago I found our truck with a good cover of engine oil when we arrived. I had seen this to a much lesser extent when we used the PacBrake a lot in the mountains out west. But this was a good bit more oil.

While we were there I researched possible causes of this problem and came up with idea that the oil spray was coming from the ‘slobber tube’, also known as a breather tube.

So before we left Colorado River I hung an extension tube and a soup can from the slobber tube to see what was happening.

Slobber Can Install_thumb[5]

But although I confirmed the can was still there when we got here, Ididn’t get under the rig until today.

And I found an almost empty can with just a little bit of sludge at the bottom.

slobber Can Update_thumb[1]

So was this just a one-time problem, or what?

I’ll leave the can on for now, and if I don’t get any oil collected on our trip to Colorado River next Sunday, then I’ll remove it and see what happens on the next trip.

Last Tuesday coming back from our our daughter Brandi’s in Katy, we decided to try out the newly-opened Grand Parkway Tollway section between I-10 in Katy and I-45 north near The Woodlands. Our friends Jim and Peri Dean had tried it and like it, so now it was our turn. And after giving it a try, we found we both liked it and didn’t like it.

We liked it because we were coming home during the afternoon rush, and it was 75mph the entire way, only slowing down to a crawl once we were back on I-45 N.

But for what it’s worth, it’s 5 miles longer than taking Beltway 8 like we usually do, and it’s more expensive – $7.62 vs. $3.00 for the Beltway.

I also mentioned at the time the weird pricing at the six toll spots along the way, and today I finally logged into my EZ Tag account to double check the amounts. And they are weird.

1. $1.98
2. $1.03
3. $1.35
4. $0.95
5. $1.20
6. $1.11

What kind of toll is $1.03?

So we’ll probably just reserve this route for rush hour travel.

Thought for the Day:

“Finding things to tax is becoming quite a problem. You see when taxes first started, (who started ’em anyhow?) Noah must have taken into the ark two taxes, one male and one female, and did they multiply bountifully! Next to guinea pigs, taxes must have been the most prolific of animals.” – Will Rogers, May 13, 1934.

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