Monthly Archives: June 2020
She Who Must Not Be Named . . .
A number of you left nice comments regarding yesterday’s blog, Racist, Bigoted, and … Small?, which recounted a comment someone left on Friday’s blog, WuFlu Fallout . . . and my answer to her.
As I always try to do, I both posted my answer to her back in the blog comments area, as well as answering her via email. And then used my answer in yesterday’s blog.
And then this morning I received a long email reply from her, further disagreeing with my analysis of the WuFlu situation, and also upset that I had used her comment as a blog post. So I pointed out that she posted in a public area that anyone could read, but that I would not share anything she emailed to me.
I then proceeded to reply to her in a long, detailed email answering each one of her points, and then inviting her to comment again.
This apparently put her in to a complete snit, and she replied, telling me not to contact her again and not to use her name on my blog again.
So what ever you do, DO NOT go back to yesterday’s blog and read her name. She Who Must Not Be Named won’t like it.
You have been warned.
Another in our Where We Were 10 Years Ago Today series.
June 14, 2010
Another cow bites the dust…
We left Valley View RV Park in Ft. Sumner, NM about 9:30 am after getting 107 gallons of diesel at a Valero. It was $3.09 a gallon, which is better than the $3.69 I paid in Washington State a few weeks ago, but not as good as $2.89 in Salt Lake City about a week ago. And of course it was $2.74 when we got into Texas today. Oh well.
About an hour later we passed thru Clovis, NM, our daughter-in-law Linda’s home town, though we didn’t really get to see a lot of it just passing through.
Then, about 10 miles later we were back in Texas and the Central Time Zone, for the first time since late February.
It’s good to be home, and “back to civilization’” as Jan says. Of course, Jan defines “civilization” as any place that has a nearby WalMart. And today in Clovis was the first sign of a WalMart in 4 days.
Compared to the RV park from Hell in Magdalena night before last, the park in Ft. Sumner was a Rivera resort. And they were both the same price, $20. Here’s a couple of photos of the Ft. Sumner park.
The kind of funny thing about here in Ft. Sumner is that, although I had no usable cell service, just a signal, but with no bars, I had good Internet on my Verizon AirCard, which is supposed to use the same signal band. If I tried to make a phone call, it would try to connect and then just drop out. Funny.
And,although it’s hard to tell from this photo, the Amarillo Ranch RV Park we’re now at here in Amarillo for the next two nights is even nicer, and only $16.50 with Passport America. Whoopee!
After arriving at Amarillo Ranch RV Park about 2 pm we got set up, and then a little while later headed out for some shopping. Our first stop was Sam’s Club, and after that we headed toward Kohl’s so Jan could find some sandals for Brandi’s wedding.
But we discovered that the Kohl’s was way west of town about 12 miles away, and we’d decided we wanted to eat at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, which was the other way, before it got too crowded. So we headed back toward the RV park, and the Big Texan, which is is about a mile on the other side. We’ll do Kohl’s tomorrow.
Let me tell you, the Big Texan is big! It not only has the enormous two-story restaurant and gift shop, but a small casino with slot machines, and a motel next door.
Jan was apparently too hungry to get up close and personal with Big Tex here,
like she did with Babe the Blue Ox in Klamath, CA last month. Maybe next time.
The Big Texan claim to fame is their 72 oz. Steak Challenge.
Free Steak! I’m going to have to check this out.
The décor can be described as “Western Chic”, but who cares if the steaks are good.
And here’s where the action takes place. It’s up on a stage, complete with two live steaming Internet WebCams to record all the action.
And here’s the deal.
You have 1 hour to eat a 72 oz. Sirloin steak, shrimp cocktail, salad, baked potato, and a dinner roll.
If you do it, it’s all free.
If you don’t, it costs you $72.00.
I assume they get their money up front.
Yikes! That’s not a steak, that’s a roast. That’s 4 and a half pounds of meat!
I don’t know if you have to eat the two raw jalapenos or not.
The oldest person to complete the challenge was a 69 year-old grandmother.
The youngest was an 11 year-old boy.
The record time is 8 minutes 52 seconds by Joey Chesnut, the World Champion Hot Dog Eating Contest Winner.
And a Bengal tiger once ate the 72 oz. steak in 90 seconds. Don’t know what he did with the baked potato and shrimp cocktail.
We found out later that they have this limo that will come over to the RV park and pick you up and return you.
This is probably a good idea if you plan on trying the Challenge, since you’ll probably be too stuffed to drive, win or lose.
For our part, Jan had the 9 oz. Filet, and I did the Quarter Challenge, with the 18 oz. Ribeye.
Unfortunately I was too hungry to take a picture first, but 18 oz. of steak is big!
And, although I finished the 18 oz. steak, salad, baked potato, and a roll, I don’t think i could handle 3 more steaks and a shrimp cocktail.
I told Jan that I’d be willing to starve myself for a couple of days and give it a try if someone else wanted to foot the bill.
We were certainly too full for dessert, but we’d heard they had really good carrot cake so we ask for a slice to go.
And this is what we got.
When they say Big, they mean it. It fills the whole container!
As we staggered out to the truck, almost too stuffed to walk, our daughter Brandi called to check up on things since we had had spotty cell service for the last couple of days
Then it was back to the rig, to just sit around and digest.
More tomorrow…
but we probably won’t eat again ‘til Thursday.
Thought For The Day:
For a while we pondered whether to take a vacation or get a divorce. We decided that a trip to Bermuda is over in two weeks, but a divorce is something you always have. — Woody Allen
Racist, Bigoted, and … Small?
Early this morning, a blog reader from Canada, Breanda Brown, or maybe Brenda Brown, since she spells it two different ways in her comment, left this comment on last night’s blog, WuFlu Fallout.
You know I used to think you were an intelligent man but ever since the beginning of Covid-19 and you constantly calling it the Wuflu I can see you are a racist bigoted small man. Some of your information is just laughable as well.
I am done with your blog
So I assume I’m racist because I use the term “WuFlu”. Though I have to wonder why you have apparently been reading my blog all this time before suddenly deciding that I was a racist for calling it the WuFlu.
I first used that term on March 11, 2020, over 3 months ago. And you’re just now offended?
So, are you slow to make up your mind, or just indecisive?
Plus I’ve also called it the WuHan Virus, the Wuhan Flu, the Chinese Virus, the Chinese Flu, and even, wait for it… the KungFlu.
Would you like any of those any better?
Or are you still trying to make your mind?
So it’s:
Spanish Flu
Japanese Encephalitis
Lyme Disease (Lyme, CT)
German Measles
West Nile Virus
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Norovirus (Norwalk, OH)
Marburg Virus Disease (Marburg, Germany)
Valley Fever (San Joaquin Valley)
Guinea Worm
Zika Virus
Ebola (Ebola River, Zaire)
Hanta Virus (Hanta River, So. Korea)
African Sleeping Sickness
Montezuma’s Revenge
And finally . . . Chinese Food!
But Chinese Virus or WuFlu is racist?
Who Knew?
And honestly, I’m not sure where you’re going with ‘bigoted’
The Dictionary.com site says this about ‘bigoted’. adjective: utterly intolerant of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one’s own.
I’m not sure that I completely agree with this, actually. I could probably come up with a number of ‘beliefs’ that I won’t tolerate, and I would imagine you probably could too.
But I can tolerate a lot, and do. But I do reserve the right to point and laugh at any moment.
I can’t help but notice that you didn’t give me any examples of ‘laughable’ information. Everything I posted is ‘sourced’ and ‘second sourced’, though I normally only post one of the sources.
So I assume that you doubt sources like the CDC, NIH, NHS, WHO, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, MSMBC, CNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Times, Time, Forbes, etc., etc.
Again, I still would be interested to hear what you find ‘laughable’.
And, ‘small’?
I won’t even go there.
Another in our Where We Were 10 Years Ago Today series.
June 13, 2010
Pie At The Pio-O-neer …
A little over an hour after leaving the RV Park we crossed into New Mexico, heading for Magdalena, about 115 miles away. This is kind of a short day for us, but I wanted to be able to stop and see the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope facility about 20 miles before Magdalena. Plus I knew we would lose an hour crossing into New Mexico because, even though Arizona and New Mexico are both in same time zone (Mountain), Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time, so we still lose an hour.
Once again we were treated to some great scenery along the way. Rolling hills and sweeping vistas, punctuated by even larger hills jutting up from the terrain.
A little before 2 pm we started seeing signs for Pie Town, NM, and specifically The Pie-O-Neer pie place located there. So we decided we had to stop.
I mean it’s pie, right.
In a place called Pie Town.
It had to be good, right.
But it wasn’t just good, it was fantastic!
And it didn’t hurt that we we hungry.
And, although the place didn’t look like much on the outside, the inside was a complete surprise. It was bright, colorful, and tastefully decorated, with a lot of homespun touches.
The Pie-O-Neer got its start in 1995 when Kathy Knapp and her family drove 150 miles from Albuquerque to have pie in Pie Town.
What they found was The Old Thunderbird Trading Post..
Here’s what Kathy said about that visit. “Crossing the steps of the frontier-style porch we were anxious. “What kind of pie would they have?” Much to our dismay, NONE. The owners were old and tired and had a sign on the door that read “There used to be pie in Pie Town, but there ain’t no more — FOR SALE.”
So she bought it. She said a place called Pie Town should have PIE!
And it used to. Here’s a little bit of the history of Pie Town.
The small menu, which seems to only exist to give you an excuse to come there for pie, consists of two sandwiches, a Deli Sandwich and a Grilled Cheese with Tomatoes and Green Chiles, (sometimes three on BLT day. Don’t ask), a Spinach Quesadilla, and two soups, Green Chili Stew and the Soup of the Day.
And today the Soup of the Day was Carrot-Ginger. Huh?
Jan had to try a cup of the Carrot-Ginger and I got a cup of the Green Chili Stew. And we split the Grilled Cheese.
Our waitress told us to go up to the counter and pick out our pie now, because otherwise our selection might be gone. The pies are baked one at a time all day long, and are pretty much served warm from the oven, cause they don’t last long enough to get cold.
Jan picked a slice of Chocolate Cream pie and I got a slice of Pear-Pineapple-Ginger.
And everything was delicious. Who would have thought of Carrot-Ginger soup? And my Green Chili Stew was great, just full of chunks of chicken and potatoes.
Kathy, the owner, says she also uses turmeric, a ginger cousin, in her dishes, because it’s a little more spicy, and slightly bitter.
Jan said the pie crust on her Chocolate Cream was the best she’d ever eaten. Turns out that the secret is to use half butter and half lard in the crust. The butter gives it flavor and the lard makes it flaky. MMMM! Lard!
The crust on my Pear-Pineapple-Ginger was really good. It was like a Deep Dish Crumble crust, kind of crunchy, but melted in your mouth.
Jan ask Kathy if she had a cook book and she said yes. It was a compilation of pie recipes from people in the area, including Kathy, so Jan got one.
Hopefully that means more pie soon.
Leaving (reluctantly) Pie Town, we once again crossed the Continental Divide a few minutes later, this time at our highest point so far, 7796 feet.
No wonder our ears were popping.
About 20 miles out of Magdalena we got our first glimpse of the VLA.
From this distance it’s hard to tell how big the dishes are. Hint- They’re really big.
A sign told us the Visitor’s Center was open until sunset so we decided to go on into Magdalena and get set up.
Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a new winner!
The Western Motel and RV Park is now officially the worst park we’ve ever stayed in. The previous winner, the Casper East RV Park in Casper, WY, that we stayed at two years ago on our way to Alaska, has been soundly defeated.
The things wrong with this park are almost too numerous to mention.
1. They advertise 30 or 50 amp, but only have 30.
2. The hookups are at the front of the site, not the rear.
3. It is almost impossible to maneuver in the park. I hope the guy to my right leaves early, otherwise I might have to back out of here. So much for a pull-thru.
4. The place is a junkyard of old cars, refrigerators, and other miscellaneous stuff, all just scattered around.
5 The water doesn’t work, but there’s no discount for that,
6, Even with 25 ft of sewer hose I can’t hook up because the connection is too far forward. And there’s no discount for that either.
7. The place is Passport American and it’s still $20 blankety-blank dollars a night! So that means some people pay $40 a night? Yeah, right.
The problem is that there is no other RV parks in town. The other two are closed. And apparently you can’t park any where else either. As we were coming into town we saw a couple in at 5th wheel setting up in a wide open area beside the road. When we came back by about 30 minutes, they were almost finished packing back up.
And when we came back from the VLA about an hour later they were gone. We assume someone told them to move on.
About 5pm we headed out to the VLA in our truck to take a look. Turning off US 60 we crossed one of the railroad track arms of the array.
The radio telescope array consists of three arms made up of railroad tracks, each arm 13 miles long, like the letter ‘Y’, but each arm is the same length. The large telescopes are moved up and down the arms, depending on what they want to look at.
When the 27 dishes (9 on each arm) are spread out to the far ends, it’s like a camera lens zoomed in on an object.
When the dishes are brought in close like they are here, it’s like the wide-angle lens on camera, looking at the broad picture.
The dishes are moved around on a regular schedule during the year, from all the way out to all the way in.
Below you can see the tracks and the 90 degree sidings where the dishes are parked when in use. The track itself is kept open so that if a dish fails it can be brought back in for service and replaced with a spare.
The dishes are enormous. They are 96 feet high, 82 feet wide, and weigh 235 tons. Yet they can be positioned to a faction of an inch on the track, and aimed to a fraction of a degree in the sky.
Here’s a shot of the maintenance shed where the dishes can be repaired out of the weather, and a spare dish waiting to be needed.
We got back to the park about 6:45 pm and were in for the night. I didn’t even bother setting up the satellite dish, since nothing much was on tonight. So we just read, computered (Yes, I know that’s not a word, but it should be) and listened to music.
A little later Jan heated up our left-over wings from last night (Still great) and we topped it off with a sopapilla from a few nights ago.
Tomorrow we head out from Fort Sumner, NM, about 215 miles away, hopefully with a better RV park.
Thought For The Day:
Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll buy a funny hat. Talk to a hungry man about fish, and you’re a consultant. – Scott Adams
