Monthly Archives: November 2020
Projected Is Not Elected . . .
As seem on the web.
FWIW, and despite what you may have been reading around the Internet, and whether you’re for him or against him, V.P. Joe Biden is not ‘officially’ the next President-Elect, and won’t be until January 6th 2021 when Congress tallies the votes of the Electoral College. And of course he then wouldn’t be inaugurated until January 20th, 2021.
Here’s a good timeline from the U.S. Government’s Congressional Research Service.
The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline
Everything you’ve seen so far has been simply ‘projections’ by the networks. In fact, even Facebook says Biden is only the projected winner. In other words, the networks cannot ‘declare’ who has been elected President.
In fact, states are still actually counting votes as I type this about about 7pm CT.
And since it was 20 years ago now, many/most people have forgotten that the Bush/Gore race in 2000 was not decided for almost 5 weeks after the election, even though networks had called Florida, and the Presidency, for Gore, and then had to recant it . . . twice.
So as they say in horseracing, “Ladies and Gentlemen, hold your tickets. This is going to be a photo-finish.”
I did take another shot at my leak problem this afternoon, by removing the oil filter, removing the 4 bolts holding the adapter head on, and then I got the adapter head off.
Leaving me with this on the oil cooler flange, just a few pieces of gasket.
And this on the adapter head.
The dark splotch at the upper left is just a shadow. I immediately sprayed Permatex Gasket Remover on the head and left it to soak while I went back under the rig to try and remove the flakey Helicoil.
But that didn’t go so well. I had planned to use a small, sharp pick to try and hook the coil and pull it out like I did the other one, but without any luck.
So now I’ll do some checking around to see the best way to get the coil out. But it’ll probably be Thursday before I get back to it.
November 8, 2009
The Gateway Arch…
Today is our last full day in the St. Louis area, so we left the coach about 10:30, heading about 60 miles away to St. Louis and the Gateway Arch.
But rather than going straight to the Arch, we stopped at a nearby Hooters for a hot wing fix. But even from there we could see the Arch.
After lunch we drove to the nearby park. Walking from the Arch parking garage we could see the Arch thru the trees.
The Gateway Arch was designed in 1947, but construction did not start until 1963. The Arch is basically built inside a imaginary square. It is 630 feet high and 630 feet wide at the base, making it the tallest monument in the US. Finally finished in 1965, it is covered in sheets of stainless steel, making it shine like a mirror.
Each triangular base is 54 feet on a side and had to be positioned on the ground within 1/64 of an inch or the Arch would not have met at the top. That would have been a bummer.
And even getting this part right, they still had problems. During construction, both legs were built up simultaneously. When the time came to connect both legs together at the apex, thermal expansion of the sunward facing south leg prevented it from aligning precisely with the north leg. This alignment problem was solved when the St. Louis Fire Department sprayed the south leg with water from firehoses until it had cooled to the point where it aligned with the north leg.
We entered the Arch thru an underground passage that took us to the Arch Visitors Center. To do this, we had to pass thru airport-style security, doing everything except taking our shoes off.
Another fascinating fact about the Arch is that there’s a Ferris Wheel built inside. Well, kind of. It consists of 16 cars like the one below, 8 on each side. Each car holds 5 people and makes the trip to the top of the Arch in a little over 4 minutes.
Because you are going up and around the Arch, the cars are gimbaled like a Ferris Wheel so they always stay level.
And the 5 people who cram into these are going to get real friendly. Luckily, going up it was just Jan and I.
Once we got to the top we were in a narrow open area with 16 small (7” x 27”) windows on each side. They let us look out over the city.
There’s a plaque at the top showing the height.
The windows look even smaller from the ground,
But the view is spectacular!
And here’s some more pics.
The trip back down is faster, about 3 1/2 minutes.
I didn’t take this picture, but thought it was neat!
Before we left the Arch area, we purchased a National Park pass that will give us a 50% discount at other National Parks.
Leaving the Arch we did some shopping and then stopped off for supper at Sweet Tomatoes, a soup and salad place we had last eaten at in Fort Myers, FL. They some of the best soups I’ve ever tasted.
Tomorrow we’ll head down the road to Branson, MO.
November 8, 2010
Landon Time
This morning started early, at least for me, when we left the rig about 8:15 heading up to Clear Lake to Jimmy’s Egg for breakfast with our daughter Brandi, her husband Lowell’s parents, Lendell and Sonja, and of course Master Landon. But we got a pleasant surprise when our son Chris and his wife Linda showed up too.
This is Sonja and Lendell’s last day here before they head back to Oklahoma tomorrow, so they’re getting in all the Landon time they can/
But somehow Landon manages to sleep thru it all.
Getting back to the rig a little before 11, Jan and I took our walk and then we both puttered around the coach for a while, taking care of some things.
Then about 1 pm a nap seemed in order, especially since I got up so early, as I said, at least for me, so I napped.
About 3 pm we drove up to Kemah so Jan could get her hair cut, and then afterwards we drove down to Dickinson to have ‘lupper’ at Monterey’s Little Mexico.
I had my usual Chicken Tortilla Soup and Jan had the Chicken Ixtapa, which is a grilled chicken breast with sautéed vegetables and charro beans.
We got back to the rig just in time for another beautiful sunset over Dickinson Bayou. It doesn’t get much better than this.
That’s about it for today.
November 8, 2011
Gain an hour, lose an hour, gain an hour . . .
or, Whipsawing through the time zones.
After a great Mexican meal at Tequila’s in Centralia, IL, and a great time with Jan’s sister, Debbie and her family last night, we wanted to get a early start this morning on a long day.
We had about 380 miles to travel, so we were up at 6:30 (OMG!) and on our way by 7am.
Since I had hooked up the toad last night after we got back, a quick walk-around and off we went.
Since we left Indian Lakes Thousand Trails Monday morning, and ended up here, we’ve taken a 170 miles trip and turned it into a 615 mile one by zig-zagging through four states and in and out of three time zones.
I think all my atomic clocks have just given up trying to set themselves.
We had light rain for the first couple of hours, but with the clearing, the winds came, and never left. Several times I thought I was going to change lanes without ever moving the steering wheel
About 10am, and 25 miles back into Indiana, we stopped at a Flying J / Denny’s for breakfast. One thing kind of funny here is, that despite Pilot and Flying J merging and combining their stations, this stop had a Pilot and a Flying J across the street from each other, and both very busy.
Right after we got back on I-64E we starting seeing signs saying I-64 was closed at Louisville, and we would have to take I-265N to I-65S back to I-64E. Turned out not to be a big problem and only added about 10 miles to our trip.
Found out that they had closed the I-64 bridge over the Ohio River going into Louisville about two weeks ago due to cracks being found in the bridge structure. They say it’ll be closed until March 2012 for repairs.
Coming through Lexington we got on I-75S, and about 50 miles later, we pulled into the RV park at the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center, home of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum, about 4.
Started in 1939, the Center provides a home for great classic country, southern gospel, and mountain bluegrass music, along with shopping and a number of restaurants. But right now, they’re just running on weekends through Dec. 17th. This past weekend they had B. J. Thomas and Gary Puckett performing here. Sorry we missed them.
We’ve pretty much got the park to ourselves, except for maybe one other RV. But for $16 a night for 30amp full hookups, it can’t be beat.
After we got set up, we drove down the road a couple of miles to McDonalds for supper. I’d been wanting a McRib since they came back out, so tonight was my chance.
It was good, but it needs to be hotter. Maybe they need to offer jalapenos, or maybe next time I’ll take some of my Ghost Chilies with me to put on it. That would do it.
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Thought for the Day:
Actual Question on College Ethics Exam:
Client comes in to pay an outstanding invoice of $100. He gives you a $100 bill. You flip it over and notice a $1,000 bill stuck to the back.
Question, do you report the $1,000 to the IRS?
November 8, 2012
Very Small Owls . . .
Our do-nothing day started with some of the delicious banana nut bread that my Aunt Virginia gave us before we left Athens, along with some really good Vanilla Crème/Chocolate Almond coffee.
It was really nice to just sit around and do absolutely nothing, and have nowhere to be. Later for lunch Jan made cheese toast using some of the sourdough bread that Aunt Virginia also gave us. Really good.
After lunch I got on the phone to American Coach to get some help with the starting problem I had last week. Bypassing the Battery Control Center temporarily fixed the problem and also isolated the problem TO the BCC,
And with their usual great support, American Coach emailed me a copy of the BCC manual, and also the name of an outside tech that specializes in the unit. They said he would be glad to give me any help I needed.
Kudos to American Coach.
We have 4G here at the park with a speed of about 11.5 Mbps. Not bad at all. But even better is the 3G speed that I use the most. At 2.5 Mbps, it’s one of the fastest I’ve seen. Very Nice!
About 4 Jan and I headed out to our favorite local wing place, the one and only Hooters. And in this case, it’s world’s smallest.
It’s actually built as part of a double-wide trailer complete with the wheels still underneath. Supposedly it can all be towed away in case of a hurricane heading this way. Don’t know how well that would work. But that’s the story anyway.
Getting back home we spent some more time catching up on some of our DVR’d shows. Then about 8 Jan heated up our dessert.
After we finished our supper at Lulu’s last night, we were too full for dessert, so we got a piece to go. And of course it had to be their Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.
It’s really hard to describe how good this is. I mean, it’s bread pudding made with Krispy Kreme donuts.
How could it not be delicious.
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Thought for the Day:
“’Need’ now means wanting someone else’s money. ‘Greed’ means wanting to keep your own. ‘Compassion’ is when a politician arranges the transfer.’” – John Stossel
November 8, 2013
All the Difference in the World . . .
It’s amazing what a 10′ x 20′ piece of tarp will do to keep things warm.
Wednesday night was pretty cold. It had been colder last week (42 degrees), but Wednesday’s 53 had a 10-15 mph north wind combined with it. And it just cut right through you. Plus it was actually blowing the heat from the two electric heaters away from me.
So the tarp really helps, though it does make our ‘encampment’ look a little more ‘Beverly Hillbillyish’. We probably need to add a still to complete the look.
But, hey, it’s an oilfield.
Yesterday was grocery day in Pleasanton, so as usual I stopped off at McDonald’s to bring home lunch. And maybe things are looking up there. Last week I waited 26 minutes for an Iced Coffee drink, 4 pies, and 3 packs of Apple slices.
Today the same order only took 8 minutes. Maybe the fact that they seem to have a new manager is what made the difference. We’ll see next week.
One nice thing about the time change is that I get to see a lot of really great sunrises.
Wrapping up, I just had to post this. If only to make you see what I cannot unsee.
It probably should have gone under my What Were They Thinking tab, but I’m not sure any ‘thinking’ was involved.
The link is for The 29 Whitest Family Photos for All Time.
This is No. 2, and one of the few that I feel comfortable posting on the blog itself.
And I don’t think I’ll ever get No. 13 out of my mind. And No. 6 is right up there.
See for yourself and don’t say I didn’t warn you if you end up gouging your eyes out.
But as a disclaimer I have to inform you that Jan and I are also on the Awkward Family Photo site too. Here’s the photo that got us there.
Check out the link below and be sure to read the comments down below, including a couple that I made explaining things.
http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/05/08/saturday-night-special-awkward-roller-coaster-photo/
And here’s the story behind the photo after we first posted it in 2009.
http://ourrvadventures.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/our-blog-has-gone-viral/
At least we’re not wearing pink fur suits.
Thought for the Day:
How can $40.00 bankrupt a multi-billion dollar company? Here’s how.
In the late 90’s, a Blockbuster customer returned a video one day late and was charged a $40 late fee. That really pissed him off. His name is Reed Hastings, and instead of just stewing about it, he went out and founded Netflix. Which killed Blockbuster. Then Redbox drove a stake through its heart.
Blockbuster, once having over 9000 stores, and now owned by DISH, just announced that they are closing their last 300 stores.
November 8, 2014
Hot Hands and Old Dogs . . .
Well, our frack started winding down today, just as another is getting close to starting up. In fact once again we may have two fracks going on at the same time.
Oh boy. More14 to 15 page days.
But at least right now we don’t have all the sand trucks coming in, so we’re down to 7-8 pages. A nice change.
Most of you will remember Old Dog and New Dog. They would visit us at our other gate across from the drilling rig. Well, as it turns out Old Dog’s name is Russell, and he’s a rig dog.
He lives and travels with the drilling rig. He adopted them a while back and has been with them ever since. On one move a few months ago, the rig crew was on the road and suddenly discovered that no one had Russell with them, so one guy turned back to look for him. He didn’t have to look far because when he got back to the pad, there was Russell waiting patiently by the wellhead. Smart dog.
The fact that he’s a rig dog might be why he was so protective of us, running off New Dog whenever he could. I guess Russell considered us part of the rig crew.
New Dog, the Great White Pyrenees, does apparently live around here and still comes around to visit us once a week or so. He’s kind of muddy in this photo.
But it’s kind of funny that he still seems to look around for Russell before he comes over to us.
I tried out one of the HotHands’ hand warmers last night and it really worked. I say I tried out ‘one’ of them, because, although they come two to a package, one for each hand, I only need one at a time.
I have a very warm glove for my left hand that does a good job of keep it warm. However on my right hand I wear a thin cotton work glove with the fingertips cut off. This is so I can write and turn log pages without taking my glove off for each vehicle. So I just tuck one in my right glove and it really warms up my hand. I’ve found that it’s almost too warm to keep in my palm, but on the top of my hand it’s perfect. And luckily the hand warmers are sealed individually within the packages so I can use one at a time.
One the UPS front, apparently they don’t work on weekends since no one answered when I called. So my Amazon order that should have been here this past Wednesday is still in limbo.
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Thought for the Day:
“If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.” — G. K. Chesterton
November 8, 2015
Jan Says It’s . . .
14 Days and Counting!
By this time in two weeks we’ll be parked at the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for 12 days before we move over to the Colorado River Thousand Trails for 14 days. Then it’s back and forth every 14 days as far as the eye can see. Well, at least until sometime in the March – April timeframe.
The reason we have the initial 12 day short stay is that back in late July/early August I booked us bouncing between Colorado River and Lake Conroe every two weeks from the end of August (in case we didn’t get a gate) until March (when we plan to head back out for the year). And it just so happens that, lucky for us, our time at Lake Conroe starts on the Friday before we leave the gate on Sunday. This means we only have about a 160 mile run down to Lake Conroe instead of 280 miles to the Colorado River TT in Columbus.
Today for lunch, Jan wanted to feed her hot dog craving, so around 11:30 I headed into Carthage to the Sonic to pick up her fix. Mine too, of course. But before I stopped there, I went on into downtown to pick up a couple of things from the True Value Hardware, only to find they were closed on Sunday.
I guess that explains why the Ace Hardware, that I drove past to get there, had an overflow parking lot. But then they didn’t have what I needed when I checked there on Friday.
I realize businesses can run their stores as they see fit, but I’m not real happy when it inconveniences me. Just sayin’. LOL
Coming into town, I noticed they finally got the new Little Caesar’s Pizza open, and it was really busy with a lot of cars out front and a long line at the drive-thru. Jan had been talking about pizza, so I swung by and picked up a menu on the way.
Sonic was our usual order, with Jan getting a regular Chili Cheese Coney and a Corn Dog, and I got a New York Dog and a Corn Dog, and we shared an order of their Ched’r Poppers. Great as always.
But I do wish I could get them to special order the coney on mine for me. My favorite way to cook a coney is to drop it in the deep fat fryer until it floats. It gets a crispy, almost blackened, crust on it, and it’s hot and juicy inside. Really, really good.
But they won’t do it. I guess they’re afraid of contaminating their fry grease. That’s why you don’t fry onion rings or fish in the same grease where you do your fries. But they fry the corn dogs in there, so why not pretend it’s corn dog without the breading. And we never had a problem with that at our restaurant.
Now with the weather getting colder, it seemed a good time for soup and sandwiches, so last night for dinner Jan made grilled cheese sandwiches, and heated up some of the Campbell’s Slow Kettle Tomato and Sweet Basil Bisque that we bought out in Prescott, AZ this spring.
We noticed Sam’s Club had 4 packs on sale for $1.99 so we bought one to try it out. And it was probably the best ‘canned’ soup we’ve ever eaten. When we checked at Wal-Mart, we found the individual cans sold for about $3.00. So we went back the next day and bought all 8 packs Sam’s had left in stock. And even better, the price had dropped to $1.89. We bought all of them because we’ve learned from experience that if you wait too long on a Sam’s Club sale, it probably won’t be there when you come back. And they had a lot less of them that day than the day before.
I did figure out the reason for the sale, and that was that the Best If Used By Date was later this year. But that seems to mostly be a ‘Use It Now or Throw It Out So You Can Buy More Date’
My CAPTCHA login program on this blog is apparently working great, since I’ve not had a single failed login attempt in several days. But it is nice to see that I’m not the only one having this problem. Here’s what you see when you log in to the South Dakota website to renew your license plates.
Apparently I got the answer right.
Wrapping up, for most people it seems like the World Wide Web has always been here, and I guess if you’re young enough, that’s true. But the Web actually had a beginning. And that was the at the CERN research organization located outside Geneva, Switzerland.
Now we’re not talking about the Internet. Although it seems these days the ‘Web’ and the ‘Internet’ are used interchangeably, they’re actually two separate things.
The ‘Internet’ started in the late 60’s with a few computers linking several universities. The first real consumer access came in 1979 with the startup of Compuserve, who offered email, real-time chat (called IRC chat), and the Internet Newsgroups.
I was first online a few months later with my Exidy Sorcerer computer and one of those 300 baud acoustic modems that you stuck your phone handset into.
But the World Wide Web began on August 6th, 1991, when Tim Berners-Lee created the very first webpage, written in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), a language he wrote especially for the Web. And that very first webpage still exists, and can be still be seen at its original URL address.
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
It’s a plain Jane page of links to other pages he created to show what could be done.
And look at what it’s become.
BTW Tim Berners-Lee didn’t like the acronym ‘Web’. He wanted to it to be called ‘W3’. I guess sometimes even the father doesn’t get to name the baby.
Thought for the Day:
The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: ‘Of course it’s none of my business but -‘ is to place a period after the word ‘but.’ Don’t use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about. — Lazarus Long
November 8, 2016
&$%#*& !
I knew it!
It always seems to happen.
Just as soon as I put the washer compartment doors back on from last month’s washer/dryer repair, the dryer up and dies.
No heat. Zip, Zero, Nada, Nyet.
Luckily the free washer/dryer building is just right across the street, so I’ve got a little leeway to get ours fixed.
The last time I had this problem was in January 2013 when it turned out to be the thermal Over Temp fuse.
The repair stuff is down toward the bottom of the blog.
Hopefully it’ll be that simple again. But it still means I’ve got to pull it back out again.
Our Mr. Coffee coffee maker has been doing a lot of gurgling lately, taking a longer than normal time to make our morning coffee. So yesterday I decided to run the Clean cycle on it.
You start off by pouring 20 oz. of vinegar into the reservoir and then select the Clean function. It then brews around 15 oz. through the system, sits for about 20 minutes letting everything soak and dissolve the calcium. Then it starts up again and brews the remaining vinegar.
After that you run a full 12 cup pot of plain water through the system. Then you do the vinegar thing all over again
When that’s done, you finish up by doing TWO 12 cup pots of plain water.
And this morning it brewed much faster and much quieter. Nice.
Yesterday morning I emailed our invoices into SiteWatch for the last two weeks. Jan had 1 and I had 3, because we have separate invoices for each gate we worked. We submit the invoices on Monday and then get paid by direct deposit the following Monday.
Some readers have been commented on our blog and on Facebook about Roadside Assistance companies like Good Sam’s and Coach-Net. We’ve had both over the last 9 years, usually depending on who was the cheapest when it was time to renew, and it would be difficult to rate one over the other.
Of course your mileage may differ.
We’ve had two long tows with our coach. The first one was in 2008, our first year on the road, when we were traveling from Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ. The radiator fan on our Cummins diesel came apart, puncturing the radiator. We were flat-towed about 50 miles into Flagstaff directly to a big truck radiator repair shop.
Thanks to the miracles of cellphones and the Internet, by the time the tow driver showed up, I had us a hotel reserved in Flagstaff, I had called Spartan and they were overnighting a new fan to the hotel, and I had the truck unhitched ready to follow the rig.
Taking about an hour to prep for the tow, the driver disconnected the driveshaft and hooked his truck air system into the rig’s tap in the compartment on the front driver’s side of the rig.
All told, it was about 4 hours from the time we called Good Sam until we were at the repair shop in Flagstaff. Not bad under the circumstances.
The second time was in May of 2015 when we had our infamous blowout, again traveling between Las Vegas and Flagstaff. (I’m starting to detect a pattern here.)
The closest tow truck was 90 miles away in Prescott, AZ.. What showed up was a flatbed. It took the guy about a hour to get us up on the truck and we were on our way.
Our blowout happened about 2pm and we were on the road a little after 6pm. Really good, considering the truck had to come from Prescott 90 miles away, drive 10 miles past us to get to an exit to turn around and come back to us, and then get us loaded up.
We’ve also had a couple of short tows, both only about a mile or so, and both in Canada, again in 2008.
In addition, we twice had to be pulled out of the mud at RV parks. And we had good service every time.
One thing to know is that each Road Service company does not have its own group of tow truck drivers everywhere around the country. In most areas there is a pool with a central dispatch system for all the services like AAA,, Allstate, GEICO, Good Sam, Coach-Net, etc., all draw from this pool. So when GS needs a tow truck in a certain area, they call the dispatch operator who knows what’s available.
So, if GS can’t get you a big tow truck for 5 hours, odds are Coach-Net can’t either.
And yes, you will hear horror stories from people with both GS and CN. Sometimes it’s just luck of the draw.
But now there’s a new player in town. SafeRide RV Motor Club with Roadside Assistance, sold by Chris and Charles Yust of C and C RV Insurance fame.
Because it’s also a ‘Club’ they offer a number of extra services, above and beyond what GS and Coach-Net seem to offer.
Check it out.
Didn’t hear from Todd today, so as it stands right now it looks like I won’t be working a gate tomorrow, unless it’s another last minute night shift gate like last time.
We’ll see.
Thought for the Day:
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein
November 8, 2018
It’s Beginning To Cost A Lot Like Christmas!
Today was the opening day for the Houston Ballet’s Nutcracker Market, and we were going to be there.
But our first stop was at The Egg and I up in Webster . . . for the second time this week.
What can I say? We really like breakfast.
We got up to the NRG Astrodome area about 10:45am, only to find a total mess.
The directions on our tickets said to enter the area from Fannin St., off the 610 Loop. So after you make the exit and then creep up to the turn onto Fannin, THEN there is sign saying All Fannin Lots Were Full and use the lots on the Kirby side of the area.
Why wasn’t the sign out on the Loop before you got off so you can go on down to the next exit (Kirby) and get off there.
When we did get all the way back on the other side, we able to pull right into the lot and get parked. Then seeing how far it was to the NRG Center (almost a mile) we flagged down a PediCab to take us right to the front door of the building.
The NRG area could learn a lot about managing large crowds from the Texas Renaissance people.
Our first quest was to find the Donne Di Domani (Women of Tomorrow) booth, more popularly known as the “Spaghetti Sauce Ladies”.
For 29 years the ladies have brewing up their special sauce which sells out earlier and earlier every year. Based on an authentic, old-world Italian marinara sauce recipe, all the profits go to local charities, over $2 million so far.
Needless to say, we got the ‘Spicy’ version.
After meeting up with our daughter Brandi and her friends (more like ‘cohorts in wine-drinking’) we wandered up and down the rows for several hours, buying a few things here and there, and just enjoying all the Christmas hustle and bustle.
After taking another PediCab back to our car, we headed home about 2:30pm.
We decided to stop at the Webster Hooter’s for some wings. The last time we ate at a Hooter’s was in April 2017 when we were out in LA at the location across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre while we were waiting for the TMZ but tour.
We noted that they had really upgraded their menu, and it was even more so today.
Jan got her usual Chicken Strip Sandwich,
while I went with the 10 Wings, Naked, All Drums, Half Chipotle Honey and half Habanero BBQ.
Both of these sauces all new, and both were really good.
Finally getting home about 4pm, and after a lot of walking, naps were in order
Thought for the Day:
“It’s a little hard to herd people onto the trains when they’re shooting at you.”
It’s Really A Hobby . . .
Well, I did plan on working on the rig today, I really did. But life intervened.
Somehow I had forgotten that Jan already had stuff planned for this afternoon. But at least the ‘stuff’ started out with Baby Back Ribs at Spring Creek BBQ, right over in nearby Victory Lakes.
Delicious as always.
So since today was given over to other ‘stuff’, tomorrow I’ll try once again to take a shot at the leak problem.
But as long-time blog reader, Rob, commented, it’s no longer a repair job. It’s now a Hobby. Unfortunately I think he’s right.
Thought For The Day:
It would amaze people from the 1960s if you were to say, “In my hand I am holding a device about the size of a deck of cards that has access to the sum total knowledge of all humanity from the beginning of time.
I use it to argue with strangers, tell people when and where I am going to the bathroom, and to look at short movies of cute cats.”
November 7, 2010
Baptism and BBQ . . .
Today was our grandson Landon’s baptism, so about 9:30 we headed up to Katy TX out I-10 west of Houston to Crosspoint Lutheran Church where Brandi and Lowell attend.
Sonja and Lendell, Lowell’s parents, came down from Oklahoma on Saturday so they were here too.
Here’s the proud GrandMa’s with Landon.
And here’s our granddaughter Piper holding her cousin.
The baptism was held outside in a heated pool, luckily for them, since it’s been going down into the low 40’s here at night, and I imagine it would be pretty frosty in there otherwise.
Brandi, Lowell, Piper, and Brandi’s BFF Shawna were all involved in the ceremony.
There was one other baby baptized at the same time, and then afterwards, we all went inside the sanctuary to attend the church service.
This church, like many others, is very high tech, with multiple large video screens and a great sound system. Before she got pregnant Brandi used to run the sound system at many of the services.
And that sound system is needed because instead of just a plain organ, they have an 8 piece band. The words of the hymns are projected on the screens, along with words of Scripture used during the service.
After the service was over we all headed down the block to a nearby Spring Creek BBQ where we had a great lunch.
Jan asked Shawna if after holding Landon, it made her want to have another child. Shawna, who already has two, laughed and said No, now she just likes to hold the babies and then hand them back.
We had a great time and it was good to see Shawna and her family again.
Tomorrow we’re having breakfast at Jimmy’s Egg with Brandi, Sonja, and Lendell.
Thought for the Day:
…”If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”. – Abraham Lincoln
November 7, 2012
On The Beach . . .
Well, when I turned the key this morning about 8:15, the rig started right up. Whewww!
Of course since it was about 35 degrees outside it did help I let the block heater plugged in all night.
We pulled out of Northgate RV Travel Park for the second time in three days, got on I-65 about a quarter of a mile later, and then headed south for the next seven hours. And except for some rough road through Birmingham, and a couple of rest stops along the way, it was a smooth, easy trip.
We pulled into the Gulf State Park here in Gulf Shores about 3:30 and were parked by 3:45. While Jan ran out the slide and unpacked inside, I got the toad unhitched and everything else hooked up.
Then it was time to check in with our friends Eldy and Jeannie. While we were still up in Athens, we got an email from them letting us know they were down here for the month of November. Since it was dinner time, we decided to meet up at the Canal at Lulu’s at Homeport
Lulu happens to be Jimmy Buffett’s sister, and has had a restaurant here on the Intercoastal Canal since 2004, and it’s one of the most popular places at the beach.
After a great meal, and about two hours of conversation catching up on our respective lives since we last saw each other, we finally called it a night.
On our way back to the park, we stopped by the local Wal-Mart to pick up a prescription that we had called in from Athens yesterday.
Tomorrow will be a rest up, do nothing day, something we’re really looking forward to .
Thought for the Day:
Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Give a fish a man, and he’ll eat for weeks. – Takayuki Ikkaku
Gate Guarding
November 7, 2014
FedEx vs. UPS . . .
Today turned out to be really nice, with a high in the high 60’s and a lot of sun. And tomorrow’s in the low 70’s. But pretty soon after that the temps take a nosedive with high’s in the 50’s next week as that Arctic cold front moves across the country, and a low forecast next Thursday of 32 degrees. Even now we’re having night temps in the 40’s, but one thing that’s helped is that Jan remembered our Alaskan coats
When we were in Alaska in 2008, we made several trips from Fairbanks down to the Denali area, and on one of those trips we found a great sale on coats at one of the gift shops. They were $35 a piece for a water-proof, fleece-lined, insulated, hooded jacket.
And you can tell they’re made for cold weather. The cuffs cinch up and have an extra fluffy lining inside to keep out the cold. The waistband also cinches up, as well as the hood and the neck.
They’re not real thick, but they are very, very warm. Much warmer than the hooded sweatshirts and jacket’s I’d been wearing out here. The other nice thing is how water-proof they are. We actually started wearing them as raincoats during the last few days of heavy rains and they were great. Never leaked.
With all the rain, I’ve been having a problem with our driveway bell system. Although the road has started to dry out, in some places the water is still draining onto the roadway from the surrounding land, leaving a soupy surface that’s like walking around in cake batter. This lets the hoses sink down in the muck so that only the heavy trucks will set them off. So 2 or 3 times a day I walk down to both ends and pull the hoses back to surface. Hopefully things will dry out soon.
In the never-ending speed saga, they brought a road grader in today to change them again. This time they took out the four steep humps and replaced them with two wider spaced humps that aren’t as high. They also lowered the height of the two single ones further on down. Now at least cars can get over it without scraping bottom or getting hung up. Of course they may come up with something else tomorrow.
In the battle between FedEx and UPS, FedEx is still the winner by far. A couple of weeks ago while we were at the GGS yard in Buffalo, I ordered something from Amazon that came by FedEx. They delivered it to an address that was essentially a fence gate with a 3’ x 3’ sign on it out in the country with nothing around it.
Then last week FedEx delivered a package here at the gate with just my name, the road name, Gate Guard Services Gate, and North Zulch, TX. No problems.
But UPS? Problems.
I ordered something from Amazon last Sunday. With Two Day Prime shipping, it should have been here Tuesday. Then on Tuesday morning, I ordered something Next Day shipping. It should have been here Wednesday.
According to the tracking, they both went Bryan and just sat there. Finally on Thursday morning they called and said they couldn’t find the address. I said to just Google the road and North Zulch, TX and it will bring right here. But just in case I gave him exact directions with turns, road names, and distances. He said OK, we’ll get it out to you this afternoon (Thursday).
This afternoon, NADA.
Finally, this morning one package shows up, but it’s the second one I ordered, the Next Day one. The other one is still MIA. So it’s back on the phone tomorrow.
I guess they work Saturdays. Who knows?
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Thought for the Day:
Seeing a murder on television… can help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some. — Alfred Hitchcock
More Gate Guarding
November 7, 2015
I Made My Own . . .
We probably had more rain last night and early this morning than we’ve had total since we’ve been here. And none of this drizzle stuff. It was heavy and just kept coming.
In fact it was the first time I’ve seen the small ditch between our canopy and road start to fill up. We have a couple of pallets laid across just for this possibility so it wasn’t a problem. Luckily we didn’t have any traffic because with all the lightning around, I think the flowback shut down for a couple of hours or more.
The one other thing the storm did was apparently put a real crimp in the first day of deer hunting season. In fact I didn’t hear a single shot all day.
Happy Deer!
After my recounting of my ongoing problem with boot laces, and my finding ones made from paracord on Amazon, a blog reader, Lloyd Jackson, suggested I could just get some paracord and make my own.
Doh!
And thinking back I remembered that last year I ordered 50 ft of paracord from Amazon just to have some on hand. After rooting through a couple of bins, I found it. It’s black and my boots are brown, but I’m not trying to make a fashion statement here.
So I cut off a couple of 50” lengths to give it a try. I did 50” pieces rather than the standard 54” lengths because the 54” always seem a little long. I then used a candle to melt the ends to keep the cord from unraveling. But this caused another problem. The ends tended to melt into a big knot that wouldn’t go through the boot eyelets.
I also found that the nylon outer braided covering and the seven inner nylon strands didn’t like to melt together, but wanted stay separate. But by melting the ends again and using a pair of pliers to squeeze them into a smaller shape, I was able to make it all work.
For my next pair (50” is a little too short, so I’ll try 52” this time) I’ll try Lloyd’s other suggestion and use a piece of heat shrink tubing to seal the ends. I guess I could make a fashion statement after all by using red or green heat shrink.
That would be snazzy.
I spent a while yesterday afternoon working on getting a warranty replacement for my Progressive Dynamics 50 Amp Automatic Transfer Switch that I purchased last December. It’s getting close to the end of the 1 year warranty so I wanted to get a start on taking care of the problem.
It worked great up until we hit the road again after the 2 month blowout repair hiatus that we spent in Prescott, AZ in May and June of this year. It was pretty cool the morning we left Affinity RV and drove over to Prescott Valley to have my new tires put on. But by the time we were finally ready to head on over to the Verde Valley TT park in Cottonwood, AZ, it had warmed up considerably. So once we were out on the main road I fired up the generator and . . . nothing. It was running, but no voltage was getting to the coach.
It was really too warm to continue without it, so I found a place to pull over so I could take a look. I figured the best place to start was the transfer switch under the bed. So getting to the switch, I pulled the cover off and checked the voltage on the contacts coming from the generator.
And they looked fine, 116v on both legs. Next I checked the output contacts going to the coach.
Nothing.
So the contactor wasn’t pulling in for some reason. Getting a large screwdriver, I pushed down on the top of the relay and with a loud snap, it locked in and we had power to the coach.
So we were good to go. And every thing worked fine all the way to Verde Valley. Then a few days before we were ready to leave there, I fired up the generator again, and the transfer switch transferred just as it should. So why didn’t work before?
I thought about this over night, and realized I hadn’t really recreated the conditions when the problem occurred. So I disconnected shore power to the rig and tried the generator again.
Nothing. No power to the rig.
Put shore power back to the coach, cranked up the generator, and it worked.
Again, no shore power, nothing generator power.
Thinking about it, this didn’t make sense. The transfer switch gets its power from the generator when it’s running, otherwise it wouldn’t be able to pull in the contactor. So why does it suddenly need shore power to pull in.
And when talked with the company tech, he said the same thing. It should be able to do that. Lucky me. In fact he really wants it returned so he can see what’s going on with it.
Looks like we’re going to have sunny, but cooler weather for the next three or four days, before the possibility of more rain on Wednesday. Not looking forward to that.
______________________________________________________
Thought for the Day:
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or an idiot from any direction.
Again With The Gate Guarding
November 7, 2016
Bazinga !
It was really nice to be able to sleep in this morning. No getting up at 5:30am.
After a quiet morning with our coffee and catching up on conversation, we headed out about 12:30 for lunch and shopping.
On our way we stopped off at Lone Star Real Estate to pick up an Amazon package. It was actually delivered by the PO on Saturday, but the office was closed. So it got delivered this morning.
What it contained was two new watches for Jan and I. And this time we both went old school . . . Analog.
Probably the first analog watch I’ve bought in 40 years.
My first digital watch, the Sinclair Black Watch, was a kit I built myself in around 1975.
And I’ve had digital watches ever since.
But digital watches aren’t much good at night when you’re trying to log in trucks and you need to press the little button so your watch lights up so you can read the time.
But this one has glow-in-the-dark numbers and hands so that problem is taken care of. And it was only $16.
Jan went with pretty much the same thing, for pretty much the same reason, again with a big, easy to read face. And hers was only $10.
Our lunch destination was once again Barth’s Restaurant, where we’ve been working our way through their daily buffet menu over the last couple of weeks.
This is number 5, with only two more days to go after today. And today was really, really good.
Chicken Fried Steak, Chicken Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Cheese Soup, and the Salad Bar. And all for a senior citizen-discounted $6.50.
Delicious and Cheap, a real two’fer. And only two more days to go . . . Wednesday and Thursday.
Next stop was Wal-Mart for a few things and a big laugh.
After we’d finished with the grocery shopping, I waited down front on the main aisle in front of the registers while she shopped for some clothes.
You may have noticed that there will often be an associate standing along that aisle offering to help people find things. In fact she even has her own place to stand.
When we walked in, there was a young lady standing there dressed up in Christmas garb. As we passed her, I commented that it was just too early for the Christmas stuff. She smiled and agreed, saying she didn’t really have a choice to wear it.
So, waiting for Jan, I was trying to stay out of the way and ended up standing there. A few minutes later the young lady walked back over, and seeing where I was standing, she hesitated, I think, trying to figure what to do.
At this point I looked up and said, “I’m in your spot.” After a couple of seconds you could see something click and she started to smile.
Then I said, “Bazinga!”, and she pretty much lost it, and walked off, still giggling.
Finally our last stop was for a few last things at HEB that Wal-Mart didn’t have, and then it was home. Just in time for it to start pouring down rain.
I’m hoping that we get our bank cards in the next couple of days. SiteWatch is putting money in there and I can’t get it out. As least not without actually driving to the bank.
And who does that anymore?
Thought for the Day:
“…even a newspaperman, if you entice him into a cemetery at midnight, will believe in phantoms, for everyone is a believer if you scratch him deep enough. – W.B. Yeats
November 7, 2017
That’s What I Get . . .
for ‘Dream-Solving’ a problem. At least without double-checking it.
I’ve mentioned before that when I’ve got a problem to solve, quite often I’ll ‘sleep on it.’ Whether it’s something I’m trying to fix or build, or a computer or software problem, it’s surprising how often it works.
Usually.
I ending up napping during Wheel of Fortune last night and when I woke up, I thought I’d come up with a solution to why our new Instant Pot fails as a slow cooker. At least in comparison to our old Hamilton-Beach slow cooker.
When I’m working on the blog during the day I’ll jog down themes or ideas, fleshing them out then or maybe later. And in this case I wrote down my idea immediately and then set it aside.
But something kept nagging me the rest of the evening. However I couldn’t put my finger on it.
But then as soon as I posted the blog and sat back to read some on my Kindle, it suddenly dawned on me. And by the time I checked my email and comments, “Nooo, don’t do it’s” were pouring in. So next time I’ll reread everything before I post.
I called in some prescriptions for Jan this afternoon, two transferred down from the Wal-Mart in Conroe, and two from the Sam’s Club. And about 30 minutes later I got a text rom Sam’s saying the two prescriptions were ready, and the cost was $133.92.
WTH!
When I called in the prescription, I told them to be sure to price them under my Sam’s Plus card and even gave them the card number. So I called them back and guess what? They hadn’t priced it against my card.
And when they did, the cost dropped to $24. Much better.
I guess they still like me. At least I got an email today from the Escapees wanting to know if Jan and I want to do our Gate Guarding for Fun? and Profit seminar at the upcoming 58th Escapade being held in Sedalia, MO May 27th to June 1, 2018.
Guess we’ll have to think about it, since we haven’t really talked about attending. We had planned to do FL and some of the east coast next year, so we’ll have to see.
We’ve got until January 15th to get our application in, so we’ve got time to decide.
It looks like winter is trying to creep back in. For the last couple of weeks it’s been days in the 80’s and nights in the low 70’s. But it’s going down to 60° tonight and 53 tomorrow night. And even better, days’ in the 60’s and low 70’s. Sure hope it holds.
The Word of the Day is: Stridulate
Thought for the Day:
“1984” was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual!
November 7, 2018
Commando Cody – Sky Marshall Of The Universe . . .
Not to be confused with Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow.
I recently read an article about the stalwarts of Saturday morning television, ones like Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley, Circus Boy, and many others, which led me to recall my Saturday favorite.
Commando Cody – Sky Marshall Of The Universe
I mean, he had a rocket on his back!
One of my favorite things was the control panel on the front of his suit.
Originally conceived as a syndicated television series, it was first released as a movie theater serial in 1953 before finally being syndicated on NBC in 1955. It also appeared in several previous incarnations as Radar Men from the Moon and Zombies of the Stratosphere in 1952.
But what’s really neat is that all the 30+ episodes are available on YouTube. Perfect for my late night viewing.
I did get my Shipping Program running today at my client’s. You enter the Shipping Wt. and the Zip Code and you get this.
The Package Weight is 15 pounds.
The Package Zip Code is 12345
The Package Zone is 7
Flat Rate Envelopes $ 6.35
Legal Flat Rate Envelope $ 6.65
Padded Flat Rate Envelope $ 6.90
Small Flat Rate Box $ 6.85
Medium Flat Rate Box $12.45
Large Flat Rate Box $17.10
Regional Rate Box A $10.29
Regional Rate Box B $18.47
Cubic Box 0.1 $ 7.28
Cubic Box 0.2 $ 8.22
Cubic Box 0.3 $10.26
Cubic Box 0.4 $12.48
Cubic Box 0.5 $15.39
Priority Mail By Package Weight
Shipping Cost is $39.76
As you can see there is a large variation in shipping costs depending on how the package is shipped.
Next up is to add in the First Class rates and then pretty it up.
Yesterday I was changing some configuration settings on our 40” Samsung TV and remembered that it can be connected to the Internet for streaming from Amazon Prime, HULU, Netflix, etc. using the Smart Hub function.
I had never set this up before due to the fact that with our Verizon MiFi hotspot and its restricted data limits, but since we’ve got an excellent high-speed WiFi here, I thought I’d give it a try.
It only took about 5 minutes to connect it to the Internet and set on Amazon Prime. And about 5 minutes later Jan had found Versailles Season 2 and was ready to stream the 4 episodes that she had missed.
Tomorrow Jan and I are meeting Brandi in downtown Houston at the Nutcracker Market. And on the way we’ll be stopping off for our favorite meal, breakfast, and at one of our favorite places, The Egg and I, for the second time this week.
Looking forward to it.
Thought for the Day:
It’s probably best not to wear panties if you keep getting them in a bunch.
November 7, 2019
OH, HELL NO!
Back in 2009, our 2nd year on the road, we left Houston about the 1st of March and headed east. Our first extended stop was Gulf Shores, AL, my old stomping grounds,where we spent the entire month of March.
Then it was on east following US98 along the Gulf Coast through Panama City, Apalachicola, and Carrabelle, before getting off 98 in Homosassa and cutting across the state to Bushnell.
All along our Florida travels we had been trying to book a stay at the Fort Wilderness RV Park at Disney World, without any luck. But everyone said to just keep trying every day in case something opened up.
In any case, we figured we had two shots at it, one as we came south and then another as we came back up the east coast. But while we were at Bushnell, all of a sudden they had a bunch of sites open and we had our pick. Turns out that they had taken a bunch of sites offline while they were refurbishing them. And we just happened to check again the day they went back online. So we quickly booked a two week stay.
We had already read that it was much cheaper to buy our tickets from one of the independent ticket brokers outside the park. And that was definitely true.
We were able to purchase 10 day All Park passes for only about $25 more than what a 2 day All Park pass would have cost us in-park. We were kind of looking forward to this visit since it was first time we had been to an amusement park by ourselves since November 1967 when Jan and I visited Six Flags Over Georgia in Atlanta when Jan was pregnant with our son Chris.
And we did have a great time, but we also discovered that no matter what Walt said, DisneyWorld/Land is NOT THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH. I have never heard more whining, crying, sobbing, whimpering, yelling, and screaming.
And that was the parents!
The kids were much, much worse. And it seems like you were never out of earshot of someone ‘whining, crying, sobbing, whimpering, yelling, and screaming’.
But all this leads us back around to today’s blog title.
One of Jan’s favorite shows is ‘OutDaughtered’, one of those shows about a family with a bunch of kids, in this case, six girls, five quints and an older daughter. And one of the real attractions for Jan is that the family lives right in our area, in League City, right down the road. So it’s interesting to watch them visit places we know and have visited ourselves.
So recently the entire horde, parents, six kids, other family members, and of course, the camera crew, all flew down to Florida to take a Disney cruise. So since Jan and I have been talking about (and booking) cruises lately, I asked her if she would be interested in taking a Disney cruise. And her answer to me –
OH, HELL NO!
I guess it would be just like DisneyWorld, except we would be trapped on the ship with all of them and nowhere to run.
Yikes!
Today was pretty much called on account of rain. We had a number of errands planned, but as usual, lunch came first, about 1pm. And while we were in Los Ramirez, the bottom dropped out and the wind picked up.
And by ‘bottom dropped out’, I mean you couldn’t see more than about a couple of car lengths in front of you. And with the wind whipping back and forth it was a real mess. so after lunch we just came back home.
So everything gets pushed back to Saturday now.
Thought For The Day:
Perhaps if Brains were described as an App, more people would use them more often.
