Monthly Archives: November 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.
Like A Baby . . .
Or Babies, I guess.
Jan said she loves our new mattress topper and I’m really glad to hear that.
She’s got a ‘Princess And The Pea’ kind of back, and she’s really sensitive to what she sleeps on. And I’m happy too, since so far it’s seems a lot cooler than our old. Probably because of the open coils of gel-infused foam.
Well, it looks like Cracker Barrel has run out of Thanksgiving. Or at least Turkey Dinners.
I mentioned yesterday all the rigmarole I had to go through to order a Turkey Dinner Bundle to be picked up tomorrow afternoon. But we really lucked out in comparison to my client’s office manager.
She also tried to order using the app last Friday and it didn’t work for her either. But when she called the local store, they told her to call back on Monday. But when she called back this morning they told her they had no more openings, and thus, no more Turkey Dinners. And they said that all the CB’s in the Houston area were booked up.
So how the heck does Cracker Barrel run out of Turkey Dinners. I mean they have serve Turkey and Dressing every Thursday anyway. It’s not like they could over-order or anything.
Yesterday Jan and I had breakfast for dinner at Denny’s once again, both of us having our favorite omelets, mine their Ultimate Omelet, with a little bit of everything, ham, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, onions, and cheese, along with fruit instead of the hashbrowns, and an English muffin.
Really good, too.
Thought for the Day:
The reason ya’ll are so jealous is that the voices only talk to me.
November 23, 2009
Gumbo…Gumbo…Gumbo…
Today was the first day of our two day trip back to Houston. We left the Gulf State Park at Gulf Shores about 8:00 am, but we didn’t get far. Only to the Cracker Barrel in Foley where we decided to stop for breakfast..
Finally, about 9 we hit the road…again. Being pretty much all Interstate, we had a smooth trip, all 300 miles of it. About 2:45pm we pulled into the parking lot of Mulate’s here in Breaux Bridge, LA, (pronounced ‘mu lots’) pretty much our favorite Cajun place. There’s a place in Houston that runs a close second, but this one is the best.
I have been eating the gumbo here for almost 15 years. From 1994 until 2006 I made the round trip from Houston to Birmingham every month to visit my mother. And I always stopped at Mulate’s both going and coming. It go so that I would just walk in and sit down and they would bring me my order…large seafood gumbo, extra rice, and Ice tea, and then bread pudding and coffee for dessert.
Actually, I’m starting to salivate just typing this. And I just ate there 5 hours ago. It’s that good! It was nice to walk in, have Tracey run over and give us a big hug, and then bring us our order. Just like old times.
Right now we’re parked right down the street in the Walmart parking lot for the night. Tomorrow we’ll make the 250 mile run to the Galveston Bay RV Park on Dickinson Bayou, where we’ll be parked for the next couple of months or so.
Thought for the Day:
“Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” – John Adams: letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814
November 23, 2013
Changing of the Guards . . .
Well, it’s done. We’re off the gate for this year.
I spent last night getting everything but our canopy taken down and packed away, even if somewhat soggy. Tearing down the canopy can be a one man operation, but I didn’t want to chance it in the 20 mph winds we were having all night. Before I can take it apart, it has to be completely unstaked and all the tie downs removed. And of course right about then a big wind gust would make it look like Dorothy’s house in the tornado. So I saved that for when Jan got up about 7am.
About 8:45 I called our support guy Todd, and got Joseph instead. Todd was off this weekend and Joseph was filling in. I called to be sure he would have an extension cord on his truck. While I was reconfiguring the cords getting the rig unplugged from the generator, I found the plug on one cord had overheated and just came apart when I pulled on it.. This one powered the front set of light stands and also the bell. So the new guards were going to need it.
At about 7:30 Jan and I started in on the canopy, and since the wind had died down it went pretty easy. The only problem was that the canopy was wet from the rain when we took it off, so rather than pack it away in the case, we just stuffed it in a large garbage bag, and we’ll dry it out after we get back to Houston and the weather improves.
My last chore was to stow the water and sewer hoses, leaving only our electrical cord to unplug from the generator before we pulled out. Well, that and the slide.
Then it was just a matter of waiting for our relief. I forgot to ask Joseph whether it would be just him relieving us until the new guards showed up, or if he was bring them with him.
As it turned out, Jim and Donna Mossman showed up with Joseph about 9:30. While Jan went over the logs with Donna, I caught Jim up on some things about the site. Interestingly, Jim and Donna are long-time blog readers, so It was good to finally meet them. I think we left our gate (ex-gate?) in good hands.
When I saw them pulling in, I went ahead and cranked up the rig, so by the time we were ready to leave, the rig was up on the airbags and ready to roll. After saying our goodbyes, and unplugging the electric and bringing in the slide, we pulled out.
Well, I pulled out. Jan on the other hand, took off like a bat out of hell, never looking back and leaving me in her dust. I finally caught up with her at the Gate Guard Services yard and we parked and got set up. As it turns out we’re parked in exactly the same spot as when we first got here in April last year for our first gate guarding adventure..
We’ve just got 50amp, but that’s no problem for one night. As soon as I was done with the set up, I headed off to bed since It was now 10:30, and I was already 3 hours into my normal sleep time. So a nap was in order to start getting me back on a somewhat normal sleep schedule.
About 3:30 Jan and I headed over to Pleasanton for dinner and some grocery shopping. On the way we drove by the gate to check things out, and it looked like Jim and Donna were all set up and had made themselves at home. Good to see.
Dinner was at Chili’s, and the shopping was Wal-Mart and HEB, and we were home by a little after 6pm.
Tomorrow, we’ll head for Houston about 9:30 with a stop at the Buc-ee’s in Luling for coffee and a kolache for breakfast. Tomorrow night we’re meeting Chris, Linda, and Piper at our favorite Chinese restaurant, King Food.
Family and good food. Can’t be beat.
Thought for the Day:
November 23, 2015
First Day of Freedom . . .
Our first day of gate freedom and I slept in until about 11am, my first full nights sleep in 3 months. When I’m on the gate I normally sleep 3 or 4 hours at a time, twice a night. I can do this for long periods with no problems, but it’s certainly nice to not have to.
Along with our morning coffee and pumpkin bread, we enjoyed just sitting and talking, and not jumping up at the sound of the bell alarm. Jan did say that she still hears bells in her sleep. For my part, I find myself checking out tag numbers to see if I recognize them as we walk around.
About 1pm Jan and I headed out for some shopping and then a trip down to Katy to have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. They leaving tomorrow for Oklahoma to visit some friends and then spend Thanksgiving with Lowell’s parents before coming back home Sunday night.. So this would be our only chance to see them for a week.
Our first shopping stop was the Convenience RV Store a couple of miles north of here next to the Fish Pond Restaurant. I was looking for a couple of things, 12v light bulbs, and a shower door latch.
in our bathroom, besides the overhead lights, we have six light bulbs, three on either side of the vanity mirror. A week or so ago, four of them suddenly died, all three on the left side, and one on the right.
Now three bulbs going out in one fixture is kind of suspicious, and makes you think that maybe there’s a problem with the fixture itself. But I took a good bulb from the right side and it worked in the left fixture, and one of the dead bulbs still didn’t work in the right side. At first you’d want to chalk this up to just a coincidence, and it kind of is, but not quite.
In the 8 years we’ve own this coach, I’ve replace two of these six bulbs, both on the right side. And I’d be willing to bet that those two bulbs are the ones still working. The other four are original to the coach when we bought it in 2008, and may just be original to the coach from1999.
And actually it’s not that unusual for bulbs with the same amount of hours to go out in a group. Back in my younger, skinnier (stupider?) days when I was working in radio and TV broadcasting, I used to moonlight replacing the bulbs in the transmitting towers for a number of stations in the area. I have no fear of heights, and I worked cheap, so I usually got the job. And one thing you did when you went up to replace a bad bulb, you replaced them all at the same time. Otherwise, if one went out, more would follow, sometimes within a few days.
These bulbs were kind of expensive, and sometimes the station would try to cheap out by only replacing the bad one. I’d warn them that I’d be back in a short time, but they wouldn’t listen. And anywhere from few days to a few weeks, I’d be back.
I was also looking for a new shower door latch, but as it turned out they did not have either the bulbs or the latch in stock, but they did order them for me, and they should be in by noon tomorrow.
Nice service.
Our next shopping stop was Wal-Mart, of course. It’s not really shopping without a Wal-Mart stop. Beside the groceries and stuff, we both got haircuts while we were there. I hadn’t had one since the 1st of October so I was starting to look a bit shaggy, at least on the sides. Not a lot to worry about on top.
Finally about 4:15 we were on our way down to the Katy area to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at one of our favorite restaurants in that area, Torchy’s Tacos.
Where else can you get a taco with a grilled jalapeno sausage, queso fresco, shredded cheese, and pico de gallo. Not your average taco.
Later, after some time at Brandi’s, we finally headed back to Conroe, getting back to the rig about 9:15.
Another nice, but long day.
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Thought for the Day:
“If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going.” Professor Irwin Corey
November 23, 2016
Space Pens . . .
I spent the afternoon finishing up a couple of things on our truck for our trip tomorrow.
After I filled up the windshield washer fluid tank with the Rain-X washer fluid I got at Wal-Mart yesterday. I’ve used this stuff for years and it really works. During light to medium rainstorms you don’t even have to turn the wipers on. The water just beads up and rolls up the windshield.
Well it was a lot of work but we now have all our Christmas lights up in the rig.
I think the one most impressed with them was Karma. After I put them up, she got on the kitchen counter and just stared up at them for about 20 minutes.
Over the years we slacked off our decorating. This was what we did in 2009, our first Christmas in our rig.
Talking about Karma, this afternoon she jumped up on the back of the sofa and was chasing something in the front end of the window, pawing at it. Then I heard a ‘yelp’ and Karma started licking her left paw. Looking down in the window track I found a honey bee. Don’t know how it got in, but I got rid of it.
Karma only licked at her paw for a few minutes and then it didn’t seem to bother her any more. I looked at it awhile later and it wasn’t swollen and didn’t seem to be tender, so I guess she’s OK.
This afternoon I came across this graphic on Facebook and couldn’t resist making a comment correcting all the misinformation in it.
And here was my comment.
Having spent 10 years at JSC on the Shuttle program, I can tell you why NASA didn’t use pencils. Pencil ‘lead’ is graphite. And graphite is electrically conductive.
When you use a pencil in space the tiny graphite particles shed by the pencil float off around the cockpit, coming to rest everywhere, inside instruments, electronics, etc., causing random shorts and problems. With the wrong short at the wrong time, you could lose a spacecraft.
While the part about the Russians using a pencil is true, the rest is just completely wrong.
Paul Fisher of the Fisher Pen Co. spent $1 million of his OWN money to develop the Fisher Space Pen for sale to the public. In 1968 Fisher sold 400 pens to NASA for $2.39 a pen, a 40% discount from the retail $3.98 because they bought in bulk.
In 1968 the Russians saw the light and ordered 100 pens and 1000 refills for their space program.
Then in 1969 the Apollo 11 crew used parts of a Space Pen to fix a broken rocket engine arming switch, letting them make the return trip back to Earth
A pretty good deal for $956 of Fisher Space Pens. And a lot better than the fictitious $12 Billion.
Oh, yeah. The pen won’t work at 300° Celcius either. That’s 572°F. The pen would melted long before that. As well as the person using it.
Thought for the Day:
If life hands you lemons, you’re less likely to have scurvy.
