Daily Archives: November 24, 2020
Thanksgiving In A Box . . .
With a full day of errands in front of us, and lunch of course, we left the rig about 12:30 with our first stop at the Snooze up in Webster for brunch.
Then it was on back down to the League City Cracker Barrel to pick up our Thanksgiving Dinner. Which despite all the trouble initially ordering it, the pickup went very smoothly. We just had to pull around back, pay using a credit card, and a few minutes later they brought out a big box and put it in the back seat.
But then things slowed down when I went inside to order some slices of pie. We didn’t want whole pies, just a couple of slices each of Pumpkin and Chocolate Pecan. But we were told that to get slices we’d have to do that inside. But that’s when things slowed to a crawl.
First off, they were out of Pumpkin Pie and wouldn’t have any more for several hours yet. So I just ordered two slices of Chocolate Pecan. And 45 minutes later I finally had my pie.
Finally!
I noticed that they were still telling people that they could order Thanksgiving Dinner online, or using their app
Good Luck With That1
Finally leaving CB we headed back up to Webster to pick up some Amazon orders at my clients, but along the way I stopped off at the UPS Store to drop off a Amazon return. Quick and Easy.
Then after our client stop, we drove over to the nearby HEB so Jan could get her Pumpkin Pie, in this case a whole Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie.
So we still ended up with a whole pie. YUM!
Getting home, we unpacked our Thanksgiving Dinner and stored it away in the fridge.
What we got is a Turkey Breast, Cornbread Dressing, Turkey Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Yeast Rolls, Green Bean Casserole, and Candied Carrots.
And of course, PIE!
November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving . . .
I was up about 9 this morning because I had a couple of chores before we head out for our Thanksgiving feast.
My first chore was to empty the backseat of the truck because we need to go by and pick up Lowell’s sister, Sherry since she’s going to be having dinner with us today. I also wanted to remove the ball hitch from the rig and reinstall our Blue Ox tow bar system.
Next I dug through the bins and found my 100ft tape measure so I could measure the two possible sites that might be available tomorrow.
While I was working outside the rig, Kathy Brophey stopped by to say HI. She and her husband Dennis have been here at Galveston Bay RV Park since this past Monday. They’ve been reading our blog for several months, and after reading about our time here, decided to stay for a month and check out the area. We’re going to get together for dinner sometime next week.
After finding the tape measure, I drove over to the other two sites we may move to tomorrow to check them out. And it’s going to be a tight fit.
The site that’s empty right now, site 76, is only about 34 feet long. If we could put our tires right at the end, we could fit with the overhang, but there’s a tree in the way so that won’t work,
Site 77, the one we were supposed to move into tomorrow, is still occupied. We were told they were there to move it several days ago, but couldn’t get their slides in. It’s on a curve, and is 46 feet on one side and 39 on the other, so we’d fit, especially with the overhang.
I guess we’ll find out more tomorrow when the office opens.
About 10:45 we headed up to Brandi’s to pick up Sherry, and then back down I-45 to La Brisa where we were meeting Chris, Linda, and Piper for the Thanksgiving buffet.
Everything was good, except the dressing. Readers will remember that Jan’s pretty adamant that if it ain’t cornbread, it ain’t dressing. And this was just those little cubes of white bread with some spices and chopped celery and onions and stuff. Yuck!
But everything else was delicious. And along with the usual traditional Thanksgiving dishes, being a Mexican restaurant, they did have some Mexican dishes too. Tamales, great cheese enchiladas, carnitas, refried beans, etc.
All in all, a great meal. Certainly a possibility for next year.
Saying our goodbyes, and dropping Sherry off, we headed home via King Food, hoping to get some Hot & Sour Soup to take home to go with our King Food leftovers from Sunday night, which was going to be supper tonight.
But they were closed. Bummer.
And after a Happy Thanksgiving, it was time for one of those full-of-turkey Thanksgiving naps. My head hit the pillow and I was gone for about two hours. Nice.
About 5:30 Brandi called from Oklahoma to check in and double-check we got all the photos they sent.
Then about 7:30 Jan heated up our leftover Chinese supper for a great supper.
Brandi and Lowell sent this Landon pics down from Oklahoma.
After getting some driving lessons from Dad,
it looks like he’s ready to take off on his own.
And this is what happens when you eat entirely too much turkey. Just too full to move.
Landon invents a new sport: Cooler Riding. ‘Faster, Grandma!”
And of course, he still enjoys merry-go-round riding with Mom.
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Thought for the Day:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” – Thomas Jefferson
November 24, 2012
Brisket, Ribs, and Cobbler, Oh My!
Today, being our last day here in Marble Falls, started off in a relaxing way, but picked up as the day progressed.
It began with us out on the dock watching Lowell, Brandi, and Landon tooling around the lake in the paddleboat, while drinking our Starbuck’s coffee that Lowell had picked up earlier. I told Lowell we were getting spoiled and now expected him to deliver coffee to us every morning at the rig. He said “No”.
Darn.
o
After a nice, slow morning, we got ready to head down south about 60 miles to have ‘lupper/linner’ at one of our all-time favorite BBQ places, The Salt Lick BBQ. In fact we all like it so much, Brandi and Lowell had their wedding reception dinner there in 2010.
Lowell, Brandi, and Landon were driving straight there, but Jan and I left earlier because we were making a detour a little further south to pick our friend Gina. Gina lives on a 600 acre cattle ranch near Fischer, and we always get together when we’re in the area.
We got there about 1:45 and found the usual large crowd waiting for a table. But it was even more busy when we were here last February.
Brandi and Lowell had beaten us there by a few minutes and already had us on the list, but even then they said it would be a 30-45 minute wait.
Our wait turned out to be about 40 minutes so I guess they split the difference. But this place is worth pretty much any amount of wait.
This is one of the 3 pits they have in operation, cooking up Beef Brisket, Pork Ribs, Sausage, and Turkey. That is a lot of good meat there.
They have your BBQ sandwiches and plates, but with a two meat combo plate with all the fixin’s being priced at $15.95, the best deal is The Family Style Dinner.
For $19.95 per person (Landon was free), they bring out platters of Brisket, Ribs, and Sausage, along with Beans, Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, and Bread, and then just keep it coming until you say “No Mas, No Mas”, or just explode, whichever comes first.
None of us has ever exploded, but it’s been close.
And strange as it may seem, no matter how full we are at this point, we always seem to have room for their Homemade Blackberry Cobbler, Peach Cobbler, or Pecan Pie. We usually get a Cobbler Combo, which is half Blackberry and half Peach. And of course it’s got to be a la mode with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.
By the time we finished up, dropped Gina off, and got back to the lake house, it was after dark.
A long day, but well worth it.
Tomorrow we’ll head back to Houston about 9am, but first we’ll stop at the famous Blue Bonnet Café on our way out of town.
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Thought for the Day:
“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” — Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With The Wind”
November 24, 2014
Porked Out . . .
After a rude awakening this morning, (the power glitched and the white noise generator shut off, making it very, very quiet), Jan and I headed out to the Livingston Wal-Mart to pick up some things for tonight’s get-together at Dennis and Carol Hill’s. Later, while Chris and Charles packed, I worked on some Internet stuff for Chris and some other clients
Around 3pm, Lynette and Gregg McHenry showed up, on their way to Dennis’ party too. Fellow Gate Guards, we were last together with them last week while we were at the Lake Conroe TT.
After talking for a while we all headed down the road to Dennis and Carol’s for some of Dennis’ great smoked pork. Last time it was ribs, this time it was pulled pork. And boy, was it good. Dennis really knows his way around a smoker. And we got to meet a lot of new people.
Along with Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, BBQ Beans, and warm buns, the pork really hit the spot. And there was certainly plenty of everything, including Cheesecake Pie and Pumpkin Pie for dessert. So hopefully Dennis will keep his ears attached and invite us back again sometime.
Later, after we got back to the rig, Jan and I helped Chris and Charles carry stuff out to their rig getting ready for their trip. Then Chris and I went over some last details on her website, as well as some computer questions she had. We were trying to wrap everything up since they’re leaving for Yuma tomorrow.
For our part, tomorrow I’m going to use Charles’ pressure washer to wash my rig and get all that drill mud off the roof.. Then Wednesday Jan and I will head back over to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for a two week stay.
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Thought for the Day:
“There is no comparison whatever between an armed and disarmed man; it is not reasonable to suppose that one who is armed will obey willingly one who is unarmed; or that any unarmed man will remain safe….” – Niccoló Machiavelli, The Prince. 1537.
November 24, 2015
Desperation Coffee . . .
A week or so ago, while we were still on the gate, our Mr. Coffee didn’t want to make coffee one morning, not something you particularly like in a coffee maker.
The problem was that it heated up OK, and then water started coming out of the spout onto the coffee grounds. But after a few minutes the water just stopped flowing. You could hear it still bubbling in the heating unit it boiled away and the until beeped to signal it was finished making coffee. To finish it up manually , I heated up water in the microwave and poured it directly on the grounds. So at least we had coffee.
Later in the afternoon, I took the Mr. Coffee outside to flush it out with the hose, figuring it was stopped up somehow. And in washing it out, I did find some coffee grounds in the bottom of the reservoir. I’m not sure how they got there, but I was hoping that it would fix the problem.
And it did for a few days.
At least until yesterday morning when the problem reoccurred. And again I finished up our coffee by pouring in microwaved hot water. But with our leaving at 1pm and not getting home until after 9pm last night, I forgot about the problem until this morning.
Not wanting to put up with this again, and desperate for coffee, I decided to take the thing apart and either fix it or trash it. And ‘trash it’ is what Jan wanted to do with it. “Just buy a new one.” is what she said. But I’m cheap.
You do remember I’m cheap, right?
Anyway we just bought this one back in July, and I wasn’t ready to give up on it yet. So getting out my screwdriver set, I tore into it.
First off I removed the spout after taking out one screw.
I disassembled the tube and the spout , but found no blockage there. So turning the unit upside down, I took out the six small screws, including the two hidden under the removable rubber feet., something you see a lot in equipment.
Note I’m once again using my trusty WORX Power Screw Driver.
Opening it up I found the heating unit and the associated plumbing.
The first thing I noticed was some sort of blockage in the lower tube.
At first I thought it was a clump of grounds doing the blocking, but when I looked closer,
I found it was something mechanical. So I removed the tube and tried to blow through it, finding nothing would go through in either direction. Probably not the way it’s supposed to work.
Using a screwdriver I pushed the object out and found this.
Getting a closer look, I saw it was a check valve of some sort. Perusing the layout of the unit I figured out that the water pressure in the reservoir pushes the water down past the check valve where it is heated up and pushed up the tube leading to the spout. The check valve keeps the heated water from being pushed back into the reservoir, only letting it go up the spout..
But since I wasn’t able to blow through the tube from either direction, it was obviously stopped up, and cleaning it out, I did find a small bit of coffee grounds in it.
Hoping this was the problem, I put everything back together and crossed my fingers. And a few minutes later I had this.
Ahhhh! Coffee.
About 3pm Jan and I headed out for a late lunch and some shopping. I wanted to stop back by the Convenience RV Store to pick up the bulbs and the latches I ordered yesterday. We had also decided to eat at the adjoining Fish Pond Restaurant while we were there. We’ve eaten here twice before and always enjoyed it, and it was no different this time.
Jan had the ‘small’ Catfish Platter.
and I had the Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich.
What I want to know is if that’s the ‘small’ platter, how big is the big one?
My Grilled Chicken sandwich was maybe one of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had, possibly because it also had grilled onions on it, not a usual ingredient on a Club sandwich. We both also had a small salad with our meal, made even better with their delicious homemade dressings.
After our great meal, and picking up my parts, we headed back down I-45 to the Kroger’s in Willis to pick up a few things before finally heading home for the night.
Another nice, non-gate day.
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Thought for the Day:
Men are like steel; when they lose their temper, they lose their strength. –— Chuck Norris
November 24, 2017
We Have A Visitor . . .
Jan and I spent the day huddled in the rig staying as far away from the Black Friday madness as possible.
But Jan didn’t stay quite as ‘huddled’ as I did, since when I got up at 11am, she was gone. She finally showed back up a little after 12, having been down visiting Janice Evans, as I had figured.
For lunch we finished off our Pho 20 leftovers from our visit Wednesday night. Really heats up well.
Even though I didn’t leave the coach, I did my part, albeit small, to contribute to Black Friday sales by ordering a couple of things from Amazon.
First up was a DVD of all 20 episodes of Kolchak: The Night Stalker starring Darren McGavin. The series, which ran in 1974 and 1975, was the acknowledged inspiration for the long-running X-Files.
The series was preceded by two made-for-TV movies, The Night Stalker in 1972, and The Night Strangler in 1973. The Night Stalker became the highest-rated TV movie at that time. And The Night Strangler wasn’t far behind.
One of my all-time favorite series, it’s always been in the $50 range in the past, but now it’s going for under $17. It’s been digitally remastered with all cut scenes restored. Really looking forward to it when it comes in on Monday.
While I was at it, I also ordered a new First Alert Smoke Alarm for the coach, an upgrade for our other one.
And on the subject of X-Files, it’s coming back for an 11th season this coming summer.
We have a visitor passing through, though actually it’s already heading out of town. Or rather out of the solar system, anyway.
Named Oumuamua by its discoverers, it’s the first verified ‘visitor’ to our solar system from interstellar space, coming from the direction of Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and heading toward the constellation Pegasus. Oumuamua, (pronounced oh MOO-uh MOO-uh), is Hawaiian for “a messenger from afar arriving first.” Very apropos.
Besides the fact that it’s from the stars, its shape has never been seen before on any other object. At over 1/4 mile long and about 120 feet in diameter, it’s spinning along its long axis like a bullet.
Scientists are looking at a way to rendezvous with Oumuamua to take a closer look. Called Project Lyra, it would have to be launched in the next 5 to 10 years to have a chance to catch the asteroid, which is presently traveling at about 59,000 mph, faster than any man-made object has before, meaning that the rendezvous would take place far beyond Pluto.
Sounds a lot like ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ by Arthur C. Clarke.
The Word of the Day is: addled
Thought for the Day:
Remember, the truth is out there.
November 24, 2018
Taking the First Watch . . .
For lunch/breakfast today we decided to give First Watch another try. They’re another of these breakfast places that keep springing up.
We weren’t real crazy about the place when we first tried them back in May, but decided to check them out again since we may not have a choice much longer.
We both like The Egg and I better, but recently found out that First Watch actually owns Egg and I (and several other breakfast chains like Le Peep and Good Egg) and they’re in the process of converting most/all of the Eggs over to First Watch’s.
We got there about 1:30 and pretty quickly experienced one of the reasons that we weren’t real happy with the place last time – slow service. Plus they don’t have the delicious Hazelnut coffee that’s our favorite at the Egg.
But they did have Jan’s favorite Avocado Toast,
as well as the Dressed Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette she likes.
She wasn’t sure why, but Jan said she didn’t like the eggs that came with her Toast as much as the Egg version.
Rather than my usual Eggs, Bacon, Fruit, and English Muffin, I went in a different direction with the BLT Benedict,
along with an order of their Million Dollar Bacon.
Which is four slices of their hardwood-smoked bacon with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle. And although the BLT Benedict was pretty good, the bacon was the best part of the meal.
But isn’t that the way it always is. The only thing better than bacon is . . . more bacon, right?
After today’s visit I’m not sure we like FW any better than after our first visit, and apparently it’s not only us. As I was checking out at the counter I asked the guy if he knew if they were planning to convert the Webster E&I over to a FW.
And he said, “Lord, I hope not. I like their food better than here. Unfortunately I started working here before I ate there.”
So it’s not just us, I guess.
Afterwards we went right across the street to pick up a few things at WalMart. We were a little leery of the post-Black Friday crowds, but it wasn’t really any busier than a normal Saturday.
One thing I’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks that, rather than going up in anticipation of Thanksgiving traveling, gas prices have been dropping even more. This past Monday when I got gas at the new Costco, it was a new low at $1.98/gallon.
But now it’s at $1.91. And it looks like the Sam’s Club right up the Interstate has started matching them.
A gas war is a good thing.
Thought for the Day:
“Spock, I’ve found that ‘lies’ usually triumph–unless the ‘truth’ is very, very careful.” – Dr. McCoy in “The Omega Glory”
November 24, 2019
They Don’t Like Us As Much . . .
After a late breakfast here at our La Quinta Inn, we headed back east on I-10 to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at the Los Cabo Mexican Restaurant in Columbus for lunch.
They were taking Jan home with them so she can Landon-sit/pet-sit next week until I pick her up next Sunday. I will be coming to go out for Thanksgiving Dinner with her on Thursday, either from Santa Fe, or maybe even from here, I guess.
We’ve eaten here quite a few times, usually when we’ve been staying at the Colorado River Thousand Trails park just a few miles up SR71, and it’s always been good.
And the portions are huge.
This is the Fajitas Mexicanas for ONE. There’s a pile of beef underneath there. And I took home enough for two more meals.
This is Landon multitasking.
He’s listening to music, playing checkers (and Winning) against an online opponent, AND eating chips and queso, all at the same time.
Multi-Talented too!
After getting my hugs and kisses in with everyone, I was back in Luling by about 2:15, with my first stop at the rig. I didn’t expect anyone to be there (and they weren’t ) but I wanted to double-check that the refrigerator was still ticking along, and it was, so that’s one less worry, I guess.
Tomorrow, right after breakfast, I’ll head on over to Dix’s to try and get an idea on when the parts will be in and when I can possibly get on the road. If it’s any time after 11 or 12, or so, I plan on spending the night a the nearby River Bend RV Park and leave out mid-morning on Tuesday, so I can avoid the going home traffic through Houston.
Of course I still could be here on Thanksgiving too.
I guess that Dix’s doesn’t like RV’ers very much. I notice that their Shop Rate for Trucks is $95 an hours, but it’s $125 an hour for RV’s.
I’m wondering if I can self-identify as a Truck, rather than an RV so I can save the $30 an hour. I don’t see why not, since guys can now self-identify as girls so they can use the girl’s restrooms and play on the girl’s sport teams.
Thought for the Day:
Drink Plenty of Coffee: That Way You Can Do Stupid Things Much Faster And With More Energy.
