Almost Done . . .

Not much interesting happened today so you  just get a repost of the last of our first year of Gate Guarding in 2012.

 

Only one blog repost today, as we were counting down the last two weeks of our first year of Gate Guarding.


August 8, 2012

Six and Counting . . .

That’s not how many days we have left here, it’s how many flat tires I’ve had here since April.

Oh, and two new tires, because two of the flats couldn’t be repaired. And to make it worse, I had road hazard insurance on both tires, but with Discount Tires. And the nearest one is in San Antonio, 75 miles away. So no help there.

I think from now on, I’ll just start getting all my tires from Wal-Mart since they’re everywhere. I’ve used Discount Tires in Houston for years, but since we’re on the road all the time now, Wal-Mart might be a better choice.

Hopefully we’ll get through the next week and a half without another one.

Under the heading of why the US Post Office is going broke, check out the tracking data from a small computer fan I ordered off of eBay. It was shipped First Class with Tracking, and apparently is somewhere in orbit over Texas.

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-08, 00:07:00, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78284
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-07, 13:28:00, DALLAS, TX 75398
Depart USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-07, 00:00:00, DALLAS, TX 75398
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-06, 16:04:00, MCALLEN, TX 78501
Depart USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-06, 00:00:00, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78284
Depart USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-06, 00:00:00, MCALLEN, TX 78501
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-05, 21:58:00, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78284
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-04, 21:20:00, SAN BERNARDINO, CA 92403
Dispatched to Sort Facility
2012-08-04, 14:37:00, MURRIETA, CA 92563
Acceptance
2012-08-04, 13:39:00, MURRIETA, CA 92562

Note that it got from Murrieta, CA to San Antonio, TX in one day. Good so far.

Normally at this point I would have gotten it the next day.

But for some reason it next went to McAllen, TX, then back to San Antonio, then back to McAllen. After that it apparently went through Dallas twice before ending up back in San Antonio today.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing where it will end up next.

On the Food front, we’ve had two great meals in two days. Yesterday being Tuesday, of course it was Chile Rellenos from Galindo’s. Unfortunately next Tuesday will be our last meal from there before we hit the road. Bummer!

Then today it was a surprise catered Steak Dinner here,  And as usual, really, really good. The steak was tender and juicy, and the beans had big chunks of sausage in them.

Catered Meal - Summit Casing

And we hear there might be another meal coming in the next few days.  YAY!

I was reading an article the other day about how more and more people are not wearing watches anymore because they always have the correct time on their cell phones and it got me to thinking about my first digital watch in 1975.

It was a Sinclair Black Watch, and it was available as a kit.

Yes, a kit!

It looked like this when you got it.

Black Watch Kit

 

And if you put it together right, it looked like this.

Black Watch

According to the article a lot of people had trouble with them, but the only trouble I remember having was that the holes on the case where the wrist band attached kept wearing out and the band would come loose.

Of course it probably didn’t hurt that I had been building electronic kits since I was about 12, and when I was working as a DOD contractor in the early 70’s, they sent me to the NASA Certified Soldering  School in Cherry Point, NC.

I also built our first color television, a Heathkit 25” GR-2000 console.

Heathkit Color TV Chassis
 

When i finished it looked something like this, although I built my own cabinet. But it was in the same Mediterranean style.

1974-Zenith-TV

Hey, I’m a geek. What can I say.

Wrapping Up:

Finally!    Coming Soon to a Blog near you.

Daily Blogging again. Once we leave here on the 20th of August, I’ll be back to daily blogging.

Consider this your only warning.


Thought for the Day:

I just received my tax return for 2011 back from the IRS and it puzzles me!!! They are questioning how many dependents I claimed. I guess it was because of my response to the question: “List all dependents?”

I replied: 12 million illegal immigrants; 3 million crack heads; 42 million unemployed people on food stamps, 2 million people in over 243 prisons; Half of Mexico; and 535 persons in the U.S. House and Senate.”

Evidently, this was NOT an acceptable answer.

I KEEP ASKING MYSELF, WHOM DID I MISS?