Our RV Adventures

About 2:30 this afternoon, I got a text from Todd, our SiteWatch supervisor, wanting to know if we had plans this afternoon. I told him it sounds like I do now.

So same gate, same time. I told him that they made a TV show about this gate a while back. It was called One Day At A Time.

At least I got the call a little earlier today. As far as tomorrow, who knows. I just take it On . . . well, you know.

So far it looks like I’ve solved the program with my dashcam. I first noticed it a few weeks ago when we were almost sideswiped on a day trip to San Antonio. Later when I checked the camera I found that it had stopped recording about 5 minutes before the incident.

Looking over the video files, I noticed other gaps where it started and stopped. And this got me to thinking about how recently the dashcam screen would come on at random times and after a few minutes go back off.

Wondering if this might have anything to do with my problem, on my next drive I noted the time the display came back on and then went off again. And checking later confirmed my suspicions. The video files stopped at the time the display came on and resumed when it went off. So that’s what’s happening, but what’s causing it?

My next step was to email the company’s Tech Support, and after laying out the symptoms, mentioned that I was using a SanDisk memory card. The return email said that SOME cameras have trouble with SOME SanDisk cards and to maybe try another brand. So I did.

And now after about a week and a half the problem has not returned. But the card itself seems to be fine and works perfectly as a standard SD in my computer. Plus I have SanDisk cards in my camera, my phone, and my tablet, all with no problems. So who knows.

As I mentioned, we’ll be leaving this year’s gate guarding stint on February 15th, when we’ll head back to the Colorado River Thousand Trails for two weeks while we get our medical stuff taken care of for this year. Then it’s on to the Lake Conroe TT for a week, and then back to Colorado River for a few days before we head out for Tucson and the Escapade Rally.

So today I once again fought my way through the Thousand Trails’ website and made the prerequisite reservations. And as usual, every time I finished making a reservation and then booking it, I got an error message telling me that there was a problem (at least it wasn’t blue, or green) and my reservation could not be completed.

But, also as usual, when I would go to Current Reservations and check, it would show that the reservation was made, and I would also get an email confirming it.

Earlier this evening we had a Sun Coast fuel (diesel) tank truck come up to the gate looking for pad X29 where a new drill rig was going up. Told him that we were a frack and not a drill site, and I hadn’t heard of a pad X29 around here. Then I ask to see his directions.

The directions are printed on a long strip much like a Wal-Mart receipt, and have pad name and the directions to get there, as well as a contact number for any problems. And as it turned out, he had followed the directions perfectly. They led him right to us. But we weren’t where he was supposed to be. So I suggested he call his contact number to see if they could straighten him out.

Well, his ‘contact’ number turned out to be some lady’s house who was very irate that she had been getting calls at all hours of the day and night for the last two days, asking for directions.

He said “She told me where to go, all right. But I don’t think I want to take a tanker full of fuel there.”

In a starting development this week Microsoft stunned the Tech World with the announcement that  the fabled BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) will be retired.

Long time PC’ers will remember that the BSOD indicates that your computer had just come to a sudden stop, lost its mind, and then threw up on itself.

It seems like the BSOD no longer fits with Microsoft’s image of a giant Tech Company.

And in a related development, Microsoft said today that from now on, the screen that indicates your computer has come to a sudden stop, lost its mind, and then threw up on itself, will now be GREEN.

And no, I’m not kidding. The BSOD is now the GSOD.

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We still didn’t make it to the movie in Beeville once again, but mostly because we didn’t try.

I had a feeling I might get called in on this gate again, and I was right. And about 3:30 the text came in. It did help that they moved the shift time back from 5 to 5 to 5:30 to 5:30. This was done to better match up with the frack’s shift change.

A lot of guards around here seem to be leery of working a frack gate because they’re supposed to be really busy. This is the second ‘frack’ gate I’ve worked with SiteWatch and so far I’m not impressed.

I don’t know if these are smaller fracks or what. But the 4 to 6 sand trucks a hour is not much. And using the iPad it just takes about 15 seconds to log them in if they’re already in the system, and maybe 30 to 45 seconds if they’re not. And since they usually all come in together, you’re looking at most 5 minutes to get them all in.

It’s kind of like Crocodile Dundee, when he said, “That’s not a knife. This is a knife.”

Six sand trucks does not a frack make. A frack is sand trucks lined up as far as the eye can see down the road. 40 to 60 trucks an hour for hours at a time.

That’s a frack.

We have a staging pad turnoff about 75 yards before the gate where the sand trucks are supposed to wait to be called into the pad. But last night as things were starting up, the truck drivers didn’t know that they were supposed to wait so they’d come on up to the gate. Then I’d have to make them back up until they could make the turn, and then wait on the pad.

But it looks like I’ve got them all trained now, since I haven’t had the problem tonight so far.

Jan fixed up another batch of her Hot & Spicy Chicken Vegetable Soup this morning so I had some before I left for work, and bought a mug of it with me on the gate to heat up for a late night meal.

You can find her basic recipe here – Jan’s Chicken Vegetable Soup. But she spices ours up by using Hot Habanero Rotel Diced Tomatoes rather than the Crushed Tomatoes listed, plus a lot of hot seasonings for that added kick.

Handy Tip of the Day:

If you ever wonder if your remote control is working, just hold down a button and point it at your digital camera.

Digital cameras see much farther down into the infrared part of the spectrum, the area where remotes live, so they show up bright and clear. This is also why your digital camera can take such good pictures in dim light.

This will only work with in the same room, point it at the TV, type of remotes. It will not work with those remotes like the ones with the Dish receivers that will work from another room. Those work on RF (radio frequencies), not infrared light.

I noticed recently that HP is now offering an Instant Ink option for their Wi-Fi enabled printers. When it gets low, it just orders more ink for you. And then a few days your ink order shows up on your doorstep. Well and good, but what I want to know is, what else is it ordering.

Pay-per-view porn? Escort Services? Extra paper so it can print out filthy pictures? What?

I wanna know what my printer is doing behind my back.

After once shooting a cigarette from the mouth of newly crowned German Kaiser Wilhelm II, Annie Oakley later said it she hadn’t been quite as good a shot, she could have prevented the first World War.

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