Monthly Archives: November 2020
Now To See How It Sleeps . . .
With Brandi, et al., heading up to Oklahoma to have Thanksgiving with Lowell’s parents, and Chris’ wife, Linda having to work on Thanksgiving, Jan and I are on our own for this Thanksgiving.
So Cracker Barrel it is.
But when I asked Jan when she wanted to to, at 11 when they started serving TG dinner, or later in the afternoon, she said “Neither.”
“So you don’t want to eat around all those people?”
She said it wasn’t that, since we eat out all the time. She just didn’t want to have to eat that early, or wait in line for an hour or more if we wanted to eat later in the afternoon.
So ‘call ahead and pick up ahead of time’, it is.
But when I used the CB app to try and place my order, it gave me a Order Error, saying that orders at this location could only be placed between 11:59 pm and 12:01 am, in other words, the 2 minutes around midnight.
Now that’s a tight timeframe.
Next, I tried to call the store itself, and after getting switched around a couple of times, I placed my order and said I wanted to pick it up at 3 pm on 11/23, this Tuesday. But I was told that I couldn’t pick it up at 3. However, I pick it up at 2:15 or 5:45.
Obviously this is something new, since we’ve picked up stuff for Thanksgiving and Christmas a number of times and never had a time restriction like this.
But it explains why the app didn’t work. If you don’t happen to pick an open timeslot, it won’t let you order.
So Tuesday at 2:15 it is.
A few days ago we ordered a new mattress topper for our bed here in the RV. Our old 2” one seemed to be wearing out and getting thin in places, so I ordered a 3” one this time.
Inside the cover it looks like this.
Hopefully it will be a lot cooler than our old one. And couple with Jan’s new Moose Quilt, it looks like this.
Thought For The Day:
Someday all of us will be dead. But only some of us will die as cowards.
November 22, 2009
Last Day in Paradise…
Today is our last full day in Gulf Shore for a while. It will probably be this time next year before we’re back.
About 11 or so we headed out to have lunch at one of our favorite places here, Lulu’s. Lulu is Lucy Buffet, whose brother Jimmy is a little more well known.
Her place is right on the Intercoastal Waterway with a great view of passing boats and tugs.
And the food is great too!
Jan had the Jerked Chicken Salad Sandwich and I had the Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas. And we always save room for dessert.
And the dessert is great! Jan and I split the Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, made, of course, with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts as the bread. MMMMM! MMMMM! GOOOD!
Before going back to the rig, we decided to drive down West Beach to see what was new.
The first thing we saw was this sign.
What’s up with this? Now we’re worrying about mouse habitat? Don’t they sell traps for that?
Nearby we got these great pelican shots. They were all sitting on large pipe, paralleling a bridge, just feet from the road and the inlet bank.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, Jan is crazy about pelicans…and moose…and flamingos…and octopus…octopuses…octopi…whatever.
Heading back toward the rig, we stopped off to walk down to the beach.
A lot of nice waves due to the storm last night.
Getting back to the rig, I got the satellite dish set back. Hopefully no more high winds tonight.
Next I wanted to check the water level in the coach batteries. I tried to check them at least once a month, and the last time I’d done it was about a month ago while we were in Elkhart, IN.
Upon opening the compartment door I immediately noticed a problem with a battery cable.
The lead connected the two 12 volt banks was broken off. At first I thought it had burnt thru. But on looking closer I was able to tell that it was probably broken off by age and vibration. Something similar happened back in June with a control wire on my starter solenoid.
Due to the remaining length of wire I could see I would probably need to replace the entire wire. And this would be difficult on a Sunday afternoon. And we would need the batteries tomorrow night when we Wally Dock in Breaux Bridge, LA on our way back to Houston.
Thinking about it for a minute, I decided to do this.
I used one of my jumper cable sets to temporarily make the connection until we get back to Houston and I can make up a new cable. I think it should hold OK.
About 5:30 we drove back down the beach to DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen. They always have great food, but we especially like one of their sides, Sweet Potato Casserole with Caramelized Pecans. You almost want to just order a whole plate of it.
Tomorrow we will start back toward Houston, stopping in Breaux Bridge, LA about 300 miles from here, so we’ll get an early start, probably about 8am.
Thought for the Day:
“When faced with a problem you do not understand, do any part of it you do understand; then look at it again.” – Robert A. Heinlein
November 22, 2010
Landon-Sitting
Our day started early, and with two problems. Brandi called to let us know Landon was not feeling well and she was taking him to the doctor. She wondered if Jan could babysit today so Landon wouldn’t have to go to daycare.
And, of course, Jan said ‘Sure!” More Landon time.
But the second problem was that despite her eagerness to Landon-sit, Jan was in the second day of her usual 3 day migraine sequence. But she took another Imitrex which helped a lot and we were on our way to Brandi’s by about 10:15 am.
The doctor said Landon just had a slight head cold and would be fine. She told Brandi to just stop and get some Triaminicin for him.
I got this picture of him after we got there.
One thing we’ve found out about Landon since he’s been in daycare the last two weeks, is that apparently he’s crazy about cows.
They actually start showing babies Landon’s age (3 months) flash cards with large pictures of animals, and telling them the names. They have about 20 different animal cards, and when the girl would show Landon a cow, he would start laughing and giggling. But only for the cow.
She thought maybe she was imagining it so she got another girl to try it, and Landon did exactly the same thing.
Strange!
While Jan was Landon-sitting, I visited a couple of clients, and then on the way back to Brandi’s I stopped off and picked up the Honeybaked Ham we’ll take up to Shawna’s for Thanksgiving. While I was out and about, our friend Gina called to check in. She was in town for her sister’s memorial service and wanted to get directions to a favorite restaurant of ours, Floyd’s Cajun Seafood.
I also stopped off at Sam’s Club to picked up some more Imitrex for Jan, and a couple of pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving too.
After Lowell got home, Jan and I headed over to Jason’s Deli for supper. She had her favorite Turkey Muffaletta and I had a bowl of their great Southwestern Chicken Chili.
We got home a little after 5 pm and sat out drinking coffee and just relaxing.
That’s about it for today.
Thought for the Day:
Sometimes the good you do doesn’t do you any good.
November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving . . .
This morning started real early for some of us. Landon gets up very early, 6am this morning, so no one stays asleep long. Lowell went down to the local Starbucks and brought us back coffee so that helped some.
And yes, Starbucks was open from 5:30 to 9 this morning, and Lowell said they were pretty busy, too.
Jan and Brandi, with Lowell and I helping, got the green bean and broccoli casseroles started, with Jan also working on the cornbread dressing.
We sat down about 1pm for a Thanksgiving meal of Honeybaked Ham and Turkey, Cornbread Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, Heavenly Hash, and Rolls.
Then for dessert, we had the Pumpkin and Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pies we picked up from Brother’s Bakery and Café yesterday on our way into town. We pretty much all stuffed ourselves silly, of course, but boy was it good.
Then after lunch we all spent a good bit of time sitting on the dock just enjoying the sun and the nice breeze. And of course Landon’s antics as he ran around.
About 6:30 we all headed into Marble Falls to see the Christmas Walkway of Lights they have set up along the banks of the Colorado River.
The last time Landon was here he was only about 4 months old so it was all new to him. And he really enjoyed it, pointing at everything and naming them.
Landon had so much fun tonight we may have to take him back again.
Thought for the Day:
“Only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other is to let her have it.” – President Lyndon Johnson
November 22, 2013
Almost Done For This Year . . .
Today was our last full day here on the gate, and it was really pretty quiet. And cold.
Actually very cold. The temp finally inched its way up to about 42°, but didn’t even hold that for very long. And the 20 mph didn’t help out at all.
So while I started breaking things down outside (with frequent inside trips to warm up) Jan handled the gate by just coming out when a vehicle came though. And it certainly helped that we only had about 40 vehicles today.
A lot of people stopped off to say goodbye, and some with more “lovely parting gifts”, in this case a couple of beautiful ribeye steaks. How about a new tradition – Steak for Thanksgiving.
I picked up the truck from the repair shop about 3pm, and it cost about what I thought – a little over 4 gate days. The repair guy said the water pump was the original one, so not bad for a little over 208,000 miles. Our truck, a 2004 Dodge Dakota, had 101,000 miles on it when we bought it toward the end of 2007, so we’ve put another 107,000 on it in the last six years. And that doesn’t include the 60,000 miles that we’ve towed it behind the rig.
Once I got the truck home I could really start loading things up, and by about 7pm and after stopping for supper, pretty much everything was done except for taking the canopy down. And we’ll do that tomorrow morning.
The reason we didn’t finish it up tonight is that it started to SLEET! I’m sorry, but I didn’t come back to south Texas for the winter to have SLEET!
We plan on heading over to the Gate Guard Services lot around 10 am tomorrow after our relief arrives. A blog reader, Jim Mossman, commented yesterday that he might be our relief. If so, we look forward to meeting them.
That’s about it for gate guarding this year. Next up, home to Houston for holidays with the kids and grandkids. YAY!
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Thought for the Day:
“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” – George Mason, who along with James Madison, is called the “Father of the United States Bill of Rights.
November 22, 2014
Happily Ensconced . . .
We pulled out of our site at Omega Farms RV Park about 10:15, on to Livingston, about 50 miles away. We wanted to get an early start because of all the bad weather that’s supposedly coming our way this afternoon and evening.
And after an easy hour and 15 minute trip through the rolling countryside, we were quickly and happily ensconced on Chris and Charles Yust’s lot, right next to their rig here in the Escapees Park.
Then after some ‘catching up’ time we all headed out to Chris and Charles’ favorite Mexican place, La Casita.
And it was the perfect ‘trifecta’; close by, cheap, and good, especially the salsa, with a real ‘smoky’ chipotle taste. Jan had the Beef Fajita Nachos, while I had the Beef Fajita Lunch Plate, both very good.
After a nice ‘after lunch nap’, Chris and Charles and I spent several hours going over changes and updates to their C and C RV Insurance website. We’re adding several new products, as well as online quote forms, and more.
By the time we wrapped up for the day, it was after 6pm and time for dinner, so it was off to Florida’s Kitchen, another of their favorite places.
And it was easy to see why. Or maybe, taste why.
Written up in Texas Monthly, Florida’s is known for their ribs and their fried catfish. And luckily for Jan and I they have a Sample Platter with some of both, plus two sides and hushpuppies, perfect for Jan and I to split. And that left us enough room for ‘takehome’ desserts of Italian Cream Cake and Chocolate Pie for later.
The food here is well worth the rave reviews. Hopefully we’ll be able to come back to both places.
Under the heading of ‘Our Future Van Gogh’, Brandi sent over this picture of Landon’s latest artwork. She said he drew this from scratch in about 10 minutes. Drew, not traced, not colored in. Drew.
Wow! Not bad for 4 year old. In fact, much better than a lot of the ‘modern’ art I’ve seen. Thought it does look like some of the NBC Peacock slipped in.
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Thought for the Day:
“It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.” – Vincent van Gogh
November 22, 2015
Off the Gate . . .
We were up about 5:30am for our last morning on the gate for this year. When I checked the outside temp, it was 30 °, a little colder than the 33° that was forecast. In fact when I went out about 20 minutes later to turn the lights on, everything was covered with a thick last of frost.
And of course on our last day here, the workover crew has to change everything up. Normally the first one doesn’t come in until about 6:15am, but today he showed up about 5:50, just what we needed this morning while we’re trying to get on the road.
But as the other mornings, the last guy was in by 6:40 so I was able to get back to finish up packing, mostly a combination of both ‘leaving the gate’ stuff and normal ‘pack up and leave the RV park’ stuff.
But it all was complicated by layer of frost covering all the stuff I had positioned outside to be packed away this morning. I set some things out in the sun, or at least out where the sun would be when it got up over the trees, hoping to thaw things out.
Giving up for a while I went inside to finish up putting away the TV’s and other regular travel day stuff. Then taking a break, I made coffee and Jan heated us up some Sausage and Egg biscuits for breakfast. While we ate we talked about all the stuff we planned to do in our post gate time. Back at work, and finding the stuff outside a little less frosty, I finished up stowing everything away from the gate.
I had planned to move our rig out of the way between 8:30 and 9:00, expecting our replacements to show up around 10. This would let them pull straight into the site and get hooked up. But I guess anxious to get started, Donna and Jim showed up a little after 8am.
One funny thing that did happen, at least funny to us, was that they first went to the wrong gate, the frack site up the road, guarded by two women, Brenda and Patsy. So Jim and Donna pull up and tell them, “We’re here to replace you.” Apparently there was a look of surprise and panic on the other guard’s faces until they got things straighten out.
We spent the next 45 minutes or so getting them briefed on what to expect here, and then I got the our rig pulled off to the side about 9:15, allowing Jim and Donna to pull their camper into our old spot.
The first problem I had was trying to wrestle a frozen power cord into the electrical bay, kind of like throttling a python with your bare hands, but finally I got it stuffed in and the bay door shut.
Then as soon as I started backing up, I kept getting a ‘Jacks Down’ alarm. I knew the jacks were up, so I figured the system was just a little low on fluid, and the cold weather probably didn’t help either. Normally when you get an alarm like this, it means that you need to add hydraulic fluid to the reservoir, and this seemed to be the case today, since I didn’t have any more problems with it after we got on the road.
In 24 hours our gate went from this,
to this,
and then to this.
We were hitched up and on our way by a little after 9:30, taking SR 315 south until we picked up US259. In Nacogdoches we turned onto US59 which took us through Lufkin and on to Livingston, home of the Escapees RV Club. Then a series of FM roads and SR roads took us through the countryside into Willis and then across I-45 and to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails.
Lucky for us, we got the last 50amp site in our favorite ‘E’ ring, so we were happy about that. We’ve been here enough times that it seems like a home base for us. Kim, the head ranger even said, “Hello stranger, where have you been?”
But I bet she says that to all the guys.
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Thought for the Day:
November 22, 2016
That’ll Teach Me . . .
Just as soon as I told you how much I liked my PowerMax Power Converter that I got from Amazon, it cratered.
Well not completely. It’s still putting out 13.2 VDC and keeping the house batteries charged with no problems. But it’s no longer running through its 3 voltage level cycle.
When it’s first plugged in, the power converter starts up in ‘Boost’ mode at 14.4 volts to quickly bring a battery up to full charge. It then switches into ‘Standard’ mode at 13.6 VDC. This mode is where the converter stays when there is a steady drain during normal use.
When there is little or no drain, the converter drops back to ‘Trickle’ mode at 13.2 VDC, and then toggles back and forth between ‘Standard’ mode and ‘Trickle’ mode as needed. By itself that’s fine and dandy. But I need more.
Because the isolator between the house batteries and the engine batteries only pulls in above 14.0 VDC, that means that the engine batteries only get charged when the converter is first turned on and is in ‘Boost’ mode. And since the converter normally stays on all the time when we’re on shore power, that means that the engine batteries weren’t being kept charged.
But I had a plan. (I always have a plan. Often three or four of them) My idea was to just put the power converter on a heavy-duty timer. Initially I set the the timer to turn the converter off for 30 minutes (the minimum the timer allows) every 8 hours. After a couple of weeks, I backed it off to powering off only twice a day. And that’s the way it’s been for the last two years. This keeps the engine batteries topped off with no problems.
Until a few days ago. Coming in the rig I noticed that the engine voltmeter was showing only about 12.4 volts, lower than it should be. Thinking maybe there was a timer problem, I restarted it manually. With no luck.
The power converter was stuck in ‘Trickle’ mode at 13.2 volts and would never run through its cycle. I even unplugged for a couple of hours, but that didn’t help either. So this morning I put in a call to PowerMax to see if there was any thing else I could check. Turns out, No.
Right now I’ve got my auto battery charger keeping the engine batteries charged, while I see about getting the converter replaced. When I purchased the converter from Amazon in December 2014, I did purchase an extra 2 year warranty for only $9.90. Seems like a really good deal now.
My next call this morning was to the McDonald’s in Cuero, TX to see if they were going to be open Thanksgiving morning. Finding out that they would be, we’ll stop there for a breakfast sandwich on our way to our daughter Brandi’s in Katy for Thanksgiving.
Then it was outside to install my new Sylvania SilverStar Ultra headlight bulbs. Unlike many vehicles where you can access the bulb sockets from under the hood, with our Dodge Dakota the entire headlight assembly has to be pulled by removing 3 bolts from around the outside of the lens.
One thing you need to watch with these halogen bulbs is that you don’t touch the glass with your fingers. The grease from your fingertips will burn black and create a hotspot, cracking the glass. If you do it accidentally, use an alcohol-soaked cloth to clean the glass.
I finished up by adding a quart of oil to the truck. Even at almost 250,000 miles it only uses about a quart every 1000 miles, pretty much the way it’s been since day one.
A little after 4pm Jan and I headed out to have dinner at Bella Sera once again. We’d always heard how good their pizza was, so this time we wanted to give it a try.
We got the large (16”) Meat Lover’s Pizza, adding mushrooms to the pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger, and Italian sausage. We always get the large so we have leftovers.
Jan and I both agreed that this was probably the 2nd best pizza we’ve ever had, second only our number 1 favorite, Grimaldi’s. The only thing Bella Sera misses out on is the coal-fired brick oven that Grimaldi’s uses. You can taste the difference.
Before heading home, we made a Wal-Mart stop to pick up a prescription for Jan, gas for the trip, and finished up with a carwash to get all the dust and grime off before our trip on Thursday.
Thought for the Day:
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ― Jack London
Klunk!
Jan and I headed out for about 2pm for lunch at Los Ramirez Mexican, our favorite local place. We’ve been going there for 3 years now and pretty much always ordering the same thing. So much so that all the waiters know what we’re going to order when we sit down.
Jan gets the Pechuga Rellena, a grilled Chicken Breast with Shrimp and Broccoli, all covered in cheese, no rice,
while I had my usual Beef Fajita Taco Salad.
Just as delicious as always.
And we’re very happy that Los Ramirez has survived during this recent unpleasantness, especially since we’ve lost several of our other favorites since this all started.
Then it was on to WalMart for a few things, including some new floor mats for our Jeep. And coming home we made a Cowboy Coffee stop for some caffeine replenishment, a sugar-free Hazelnut coffee for Jan, and a cold sugar-free Pumpkin Spice coffee for me.
This past Thursday I was flushing our toilet, and when I pushed down on the foot pedal, it just went ‘KLUNK!’, not a noise you really want your toilet to make.
And after it went ‘KLUNK!’, the pedal just laid there. And it didn’t flush either.
So getting out my socket wrench I removed the two screws that hold it all together.
Pulling the water valve aside, I removed the spring cylinder,
and the pedal itself.
Looking things over I expected to find that the spring cylinder had failed, since it’s the part that both turns the flush valve and then the spring returns the pedal back up. And these have failed before.
But there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. So I took a closer look at the the pedal.
And inside I found that part of the pedal had broken loose.
This is the area that turns the spring cylinder and makes it flush.
So just get a new pedal, right? Easier said than done.
I checked several local places without any luck. And going online on Amazon and ebay, I found a few, but all showed delivery dates after Thanksgiving, and were in the $45-$50 range. For a piece of plastic.
So being cheap, (but you knew that, didn’t you) and knowing Jan did not want to be flushing the toilet with a pair of Vice Grip pliers for very long, I decided to see if I couldn’t repair the pedal using JB Weld Steel Epoxy, giving me this.
I layered the epoxy into the broken-off area, raising it a little above the surface where the spring cylinder is supposed to ride. Then after it hardens, I’ll file it down flush with the rest of the rim.
So we’ll see how it works tomorrow. Hopefully no more Vice Grips.
Thought For The Day:
November 21, 2009
Old memories are the best…
Our day started when about 11:30 am we headed over to Pensacola, FL to eat at Sonny’s BBQ for lunch and then visit one of Jan’s favorite gift shops, Artisana.
Coming home we drove past one of my favorite childhood playthings.
When I was a kid I loved to play on this locomotive. Of course it didn’t have a fence around it then.
A little Googling tells me that #1355 was originally built in 1912 as a 2-8-0 Consolidated and operated mainly in Missouri. In 1945 it was converted to a 2-8-2 Mikado and ran the St. Louis – San Francisco – Pensacola line until 1952. It was stored until 1955 when it was mounted on what was then the main street into Pensacola.
I was always fascinated in these big machines. Up close, they’re even more massive. I mean, these drive wheels are over 6’ in diameter.
It’s always good to see stuff from your childhood still around. Makes you feel not quite so old!
Heading back toward the rig, we passed another series of the mascot statues. We’ve seen pelicans in Seabrook, TX, moose in Coeur d’Alene, ID, mermaids in Beaufort, SC.
Here in Perdido Bay, FL they have more pelicans.
Getting back to the rig I installed the new metal drain plug in my water heater. The old one was plastic and was leaking. Besides that, it had become rounded off so it was hard to get off and impossible to tighten. The metal one works great.
About 5:30 we headed out for supper at Sea N Suds, a place we had seen here in Gulf Shores, but had never eaten at. I guess we kind of figured it was just another bar on the beach. But we saw a recommendation online and decided to check it out. And boy I’m glad we did.
Not only was the food good, but looking at some of the old pictures on the wall, I discovered a picture that I didn’t know existed anymore.
It’s a picture of my parent’s motel here on the beach, circa 1955.
I know this is 1955 because that’s when we built the new bigger house/office and two more cottages on the back row. In 1956 we added three more cottages on the back row for a total of 10. The pier at over 300 feet long, was the longest one on the Gulf Coast at the time.
Here’s a picture of the pier during a storm.
It turns out that the Sea N Suds was built on the site of my parent’s motel. (They sold it in 1958). I had lost track of exactly where it was because all the old landmarks that I remember are gone. And it’s possible that the Sea N Suds building is built around our old “Tackle Shack”
Here’s what the area looks like now.
Here are some other pictures. This first one was taken about 1954.
And this one, taken about the same time (Note I’m still wearing my favorite cowboy suit), shows me and my best friend, David Duddy, and gives a view of the cottages from the street.
This next one was taken in early 1951, a few months after we moved to the beach.
And this last one was taken in the summer of 1952.
Coming back from Sea N Suds we hit the the thunderstorm that had been building all day. By the time we got back to the rig, it was pouring and blowing. So much so that the satellite dish had blown over.
So it was reading and computing for the rest of the night.
November 21, 2011
Musical Chairs . . . er . . . Sites . . .
We headed out about 10:30 for a day of errands. And our first stop was at the park office to see if we could stay where we were, or not.
Apparently it’s, “or not.”
There is someone coming into this site tomorrow so we’ll have to move over to site 4 in the center area in front of the office. Then as soon as it’s open, we’ll move into in site 77.
Site 77 is on the water, and about halfway between our two past sites, 80 and 73. But it has two problems.
This site is configured for a 5th wheel as a back-in, so if we want to have our windshield facing the water, I’ll have to run our hookups underneath the rig. Not a big problem, but I’ll probably have to buy another section of sewer hose.
The real problem is that the site may be too short. It looks like that if we park far enough back so that we’re not sticking out in the street, my wheels will be at the edge of the concrete pad and my levelers will be on the grass. Not good.
I’ve got a 100 ft. tape measure in one of the bays so I may dig it out and measure the site and see.
Otherwise we could wait until December 10th when we could move into site 81, right next to where we were parked the first two years.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Our next stop was lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico, one of our favorite local Mexican places. After a few months on the road we start to crave their Chicken Tortilla Soup. We’ve had good Tortilla Soup other places, but none quite measures up to Monterey’s. After that was done we headed home for the afternoon.
After a nice nap, Jan and I met our son Chris, and his wife Linda, at Tookie’s, a fabled local hamburger place where we’ve been eating since we moved to Houston in 1978. However it was badly damaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008 while we were in Alaska, and it never reopened.
But it was purchased by a new owner, refurbished, and reopened this past July. And we found it certainly lived up to its past reputation.
Their Double-Meat Burgers are a full pound of hand-formed lean ground beef, loaded with your choice of goodies, like bacon ground in with the beef, burgers soaked in wine, covered with jalapenos, mushrooms, cheese, onions, picante sauce, BBQ sauce, or chili.
Your choice of artery-clogging, heart-stopping, stomach-filling meaty goodness.
Tookie’s is back!
On another note, we traveled 9,924 miles this year, for a total of 47,455 since we picked up the coach January 6th, 2008. We traveled more the first two years since we went to Alaska in 2008, and Newfoundland in 2009.
And since the coach had 62511 miles on it when we bought it, we’ve now got 109,966 total miles on the coach.
So far, so good.
Thought for the Day:
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.” – Oscar Wilde
November 21, 2012
They Want Us Back . . .
After having a breakfast of the Buc-ee’s Sausage and Cheese Kolaches we picked up when we got gas last night, we headed out for Marble Falls about 8:45am. We made a brief stop at Brandi’s to pick up the cooler with the perishables, since we had more room in our truck, and then we were back on the road.
Our first stop was in Brookshire about 80 miles down the route at the Flying J, with the second one at the Buc-ee’s at the Luling exit on I-10. These two stops are the same ones we’ve been stopping at for years, even in the RV.
About 10:30 I got a call on my cellphone that I didn’t recognize. It turned out to be from one of the supervisors with Marathon Oil that we had worked with this past summer. He wanted us to take over a gate for them, and sounded really disappointed that we weren’t gate guarding right now. Guess this bodes well for us getting another gate next year.
This stop was also where we left the Interstate and headed north on US-183. A little later we got on the new TX 130 Toll Road that took us on into the outskirts of Austin. The thing that really makes this Toll Road worth it is the fact that the speed limit is 85 mph. Nice!
Then we hooked up with SR-71 and headed west. This is where we ran into our first traffic problem. SR-71 starts out as a limited access 4 lane divided highway but deteriorates into a 2 lane road with a stoplight. This means that the traffic starts to back up at the light, such that it took us 20 minutes to go just a little over two miles.
But finally we were out in the country for the last 30 miles. We got into Marble Falls about 2:30 and first stop was Brother’s Bakery and Café. Brandi had called ahead to reserve a couple of their pies for our Thanksgiving, a pumpkin and a chocolate bourbon pecan. We know they’ll be delicious because Brother’s is the bakery that did Brandi’s wedding cake a couple of years ago, and it was great.
Then it was only about 15 minutes to our rental lake house. As advertised, it’s right on the water and really nice.
Jan and I got unloaded and then took it easy for an hour or so until Lowell, Brandi, and Landon showed up.
Since everyone was getting hungry, we all headed right back down the road to a place we saw on the way in, the Farm House Restaurant. And it turned out to be a really good idea.
The Farm House Restaurant has been famous in the Texas Hill Country for more than 30 years, and has hosted customers such as Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, and Tommy Lee Jones. We all had Chicken Fried ‘Something’. Lowell had steak and the rest of us had chicken. And we all agreed it is was some of the best Chicken Fried ‘Something’ we’d ever had.
Getting back to the house Landon played for a while before it was bath time. And since the two bathrooms here have only showers, Landon got his bath in the kitchen sink. He was a little unsure at first, but quickly decided he liked it.
I had to add the green fig leaf to the photo to avoid any legal problems.
Watching Landon running around the house while Lowell and Brandi were trying to get him dressed and down for the night, really brought back memories for Jan and I.
When Brandi came back out of the bedroom, hot on Landon’s heels as he ran naked and squealing down the hall, I told her that watching all this brought a phrase to mind.
When she ask “What phrase?”, I said,
“Payback’s a Bitch!”
For some reason she didn’t think it was as funny as Jan and I did.
Thought for the Day:
Procrastination is (I’ll finish this later)
November 21, 2013
Getting back in the habit . . .
and no, a nunnery is not involved. That would be kinky.
I’m just trying to get back to doing a blog every day now that we’re coming off the gate on Saturday.
We got some good news about our Houston home yesterday. No, not the one we still own, but Galveston Bay RV Resort, where we’ve spent the winter the last 5 years.
They’ve finally got their big expansion under way, adding 54 new sites to the 80+ they already have. The 54 will be a mixture of pull-thrus, marina, and waterfront sites, and are greatly needed. Several times over the past years, blog readers have wanted to stay at Galveston Bay on their way through the area, but found the park filled up.
Master Landon is going through this phase where he doesn’t want his picture taken and turns away anytime he sees a camera. Here’s the latest two examples during Turkey Day at his daycare.
That’s him in the very center with the blue bat on his shirt.
And here he is, second from the right.
School pictures are going to be loads of fun for the photographer, I bet.
Well, the saga of the truck continues. Orlyn, the gate guard down the road, took me into Pleasanton to pick up my truck from the “Complete Auto Repair” place that doesn’t do water pumps, so I could drive it over to another place that does do water pumps.
Luckily it was only about a mile or so away so I didn’t have to worry about overheating. In fact the temperature gauge never got off the stop. I was happy to see that the new place is a NAPA repair shop, so I’ll have some recourse if I have a problem down the road, and somewhere else.
When I talked to the shop yesterday, the guy said he probably wouldn’t be able to get to it until Friday morning, but then this morning he thought he’d be able to get started this afternoon. And about 4:30 I got a call and they said they were working on it, and said they recommended that I have the radiator hoses replaced because both of them were hard and brittle. I told them to go ahead since they were already replacing the drive belt because it had stretched from being soak in the coolant. That’s why it was squealing.
They should have it ready sometime tomorrow morning, they think. They didn’t say, but I figure the repair will run $400-500, or as we say, 3 to 4 gate days.
Well, our flare put on another great show this afternoon. Crude (black gold, Texas tea, etc.) got backed up in the system and started coming out the stack along with the gas. The first thing that happened was the flaming oil came pouring down the sides of the stack like molten lava, starting fires on the ground. Then the sirens started going off.
You can see in this next photo the reddish glow of the fire on the ground through the trees.
Next we got fireballs and big ‘booms’ shooting out the top.
Reminded me a lot of artillery fire.
Just glad there was no ‘incoming’ associated with the show. The only thing that would have made it better was if it had been night time.
Starting to break down our site tomorrow is probably going to be interesting.
And cold.
And wet.
Right now at about 2am, it’s 76°.
At 7am it supposed to be 70, but it’s forecast to be 57 by 8am when the ‘arctic blast’ cold front moves through.
Then about noon we’re looking at 49°, and 45 by 3pm. And then there’s the 70% chance of thunderstorms and heavy rains to add to the fun.
Oh boy!
Thought for the Day:
There’s a difference between a hand-out and a leg up.
November 21, 2014
Out with Tamoxifen . . .
In with Anastrozole.
This morning Jan and I left the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails about 10:45 and headed 1.66 miles down the road to the Omega Farms RV Park, our shortest campground to campground move ever.
This was done to preserve our ‘out’ days at the Lake Conroe TT, so that we can come back in the day before Thanksgiving for a full two weeks before moving on to the Colorado River TT in Columbus.
The park was/is completely full and pretty much stays that way all the time apparently. Since it’s so close, a lot of TT members use it for their week out. He even has a special rate for TT members.
Since it was very overcast and raining when we came in this morning, we couldn’t tell a lot about the place, but when we drove through the other day to make our reservation for today, it looked to be really nice. With a fishing pond,
60 full hookup 50 amp sites (30 pull-thrus),
and enough trees to be nice, but not enough to block your satellite view, it’s one of the nicest small parks in the area. And if you need some ‘out’ days from the Lake Conroe TT, you can’t get much closer.
As soon as we got parked, I plugged in shore power, set up the satellite, and then we headed down to the Clear Lake area primarily so Jan could talk with her doctor about the side effects she was having on Tamoxifen.
The doctor already took her off it about 10 days ago, and the improvement has been dramatic. Jan and I discussed ahead of time about her just not taking anything at this point, because when you actually dig into the statistics, it’s not exactly cut-n-dried about the benefits.
Case in point, one combination study of studies shows that 3.74% of women taking Tamoxifen had a reoccurrence of the cancer, and 6.71% not taking Tamoxifen had a reoccurrence. So when you look at this alone, you have a 44.2% decrease in cancer reoccurrence while taking Tamoxifen. Other studies put the percent decrease closer to 50%, which all sounds pretty good.
But now turn the percentages around. This also says that 96.3% (100% – 3.74%) taking Tamoxifen did not have a reoccurrence, but neither did 93.3% (100% – 6.71%) of the women not taking Tamoxifen.
So either way, you’ll looking at a better than 90% chance of no reoccurrence whether you take Tamoxifen or not. Looking at the stats this way lines up with what one of my first Statistics professors said. “In the last two years the unemployment rate in Luxembourg has doubled. Sounds really bad, doesn’t it? But what it means is that last year Luxembourg had 4 people unemployed, and this year they have 8. It’s all in how you look at it.”
As a side note, all these studies define a ‘reoccurrence’ as a new cancer in the same breast. If you get a new cancer in the other breast, that doesn’t count and all the stats start over.
One last datum point is that all these percentages are done for the first 5 years. For the 2nd 5 years, you’re looking at 97.4% vs. 96.5%, less than 1% difference. And after that, completely even, no effect.
So based on this, there’s a pretty good case to be made for not taking Tamoxifen at all, or to stop taking it if the side effects are too bad. It’s up to the individual.
All this being said, Jan decided to try the other breast cancer drug, Anastrozole, for a couple of months. It does the same thing as Tamoxifen by blocking the estrogen receptors, but does it in a different way. So it’s possible that it would have some of the same side effects, but maybe not.
Jan will be going back to her doctor in February for her annual checkup and they will reevaluate then.
Finishing up on a high note, we later met Chris, Linda, and Piper at King Food for dinner. Piper’s left arm is still in a cast from her ATV accident a couple of months ago, and she will probably have to have another surgery on it before all is said and done.
But her really exciting news is that she’s starting a new full-time job next month as a Patient Care Technician at UTMB hospital in Galveston. This will let her get experience in the medical field while she’s still continuing her schooling. Way to go, Piper!
Tomorrow we’ll make the 45 mile drive over to the Escapees Park in Livingston to stay on Chris and Charles Yust’s lot, and visit with them and Dennis and Carol Hill for a few days. Really looking forward to it.
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Thought for the Day:
Yep, that’s exactly how it happened.
November 21, 2015
Last Day and Counting . . .
Well, at 3:30pm we finished up our last full day of this year’s Adventures in Gate Guarding. And Jan and I both agree that this was our best gate yet.
We were in a very nice location with trees, grass, cows, and donkeys. No scorpions, no tarantulas, and no snakes. We also had good cell and data services, and we were only about 7 miles from Wal-Mart and Whataburger.
What more could you ask for?
We did manage to dodge the really cold weather this year, with our lowest temperature about 40 degrees so far. Tonight’s low is supposed to be 32 degrees, but then we won’t be out in it , now will we? One of the many advantages of being a 12 hour/10 hour/8 hour gate, take your pick.
Today was sunny and about 55 degrees, unlike two years ago when we were packing up to leave our gate down in Whitsett, TX, and it was 25 degrees and sleeting. And it never got out of the 20’s all day. Can you say FUN?
We did have a good bit of wind this afternoon, but by that time we already had the tarp off the canopy frame so it really didn’t matter.
By 4:30 I had everything stowed away, except for the foldup table we used under the canopy, and few odds and ends I’ll find a place for tomorrow morning. The table goes in the same bay as the satellite dish stand so they’ll all be stowed away at the same time.
Earlier in the afternoon our landowner came by to say goodbye since he’ll be out of town tomorrow. We’ve really enjoyed being here on his land, and he’s been a big help to us. His son Billy has been our mail drop for receiving Amazon packages, which has been a big help for us.
I finished up everything I was going to do today about 4:30, so to celebrate we’re heading into Carthage about 4:45pm to have one last meal at Jalapeno Tree. We’ve eaten here twice before and really enjoyed it. And tonight was no different.
It was the perfect end to what turned out to be a very nice gate guarding experience. Too bad they’re not all this way.
Tomorrow morning will be mostly just regular ‘getting ready to leave the RV park’ stuff. By about 9am I plan to have the rig moved over to the side road, while Jan runs the gate out of the truck. But if that’s like today, she’ll have 5 vehicles in between 6:15 and 6:45, and maybe nothing more until they leave around 4.
We did have a few more vehicles today, but those were mostly one-time things with them coming in to take out the last of the frack pond pumps and equipment. So that probably won’t be a factor tomorrow.
Having the rig out of the way will allow our replacement gate guards to just pull right into the parking area and get set up. Then while Jan is going over the gate stuff with them, I’ll pull the truck over behind the rig and get hooked up. Then all we’ll have to do is say our goodbyes and hit the road for Conroe, as a another year of gate guarding comes to an end.
We’ll have about a 4 hour trip down to Conroe where we’ll stay for two weeks before we move over to the Colorado River Thousand Trails. Then it’ll be the same routine back and forth for the next couple of months.
As far as I’m concerned, it’ll be nice to sleep longer than 4 hours at a time.
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Thought for the Day:
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it. Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”- George Washington
November 21, 2016
Snow Plows and Pumpkin Pie . . .
It was really nice to sleep in this morning and not have to be up at 4am.
But I’m sure it won’t the last time I have to get up that early. Even this Thursday we’ll both need to be up by 6am to be on the road by 7 to make our trip back to our daughter Brandi’s house in Katy for Thanksgiving dinner.
But today was a little more laid back. After our morning coffee and some conversation, we headed out a little after noon, first for the lunch buffet at Barth’s once again. It’s hard to top soup, salad, chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, and veggies, all for $6.50. Then after a great meal, it was right up the road a short way to Great Clips so Jan could get her hair cut.
Next we drove out to the site where I’ve been working for the last three days. I wanted her to see it in case she ends up working there at some point so she’ll know where it is.
We ended talking to the guard on the gate, Joe Speed, for about 45 minutes, getting to know him, since we hadn’t met him before.
Next up was a trip to Wal-Mart for Thanksgiving dinner stuff, and a few other things. Then it was a last stop at HEB for the pumpkin pies we get there.
Tomorrow I’ve got a few things to do on the truck, install the new headlight bulbs, and then get it gassed up and washed down at the HEB.
Finally, what’s up with ‘Gender-Neutral Snow Plowing’ in Sweden?
Apparently last year the government of Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, declared that all of the city’s snow plowing should be done on a gender-neutral, or gender-equal basis.
Formerly Stockholm plowed the main roads and streets, and then he construction sites first, before they then moved into side streets, sidewalks, public transport facilities and bicycle lanes.
But looking at it from the gender point of view, plowing the main roads and highways first benefits men, since men do more driving than women. But women, who supposedly use the sidewalks and bike lanes, were being ‘dissed’ because the side streets, sidewalks, etc., were left until later.
So this year it was decreed that the side streets, sidewalks, public transport facilities, and bicycle lanes first, before the highways. Can you see the problem here?
Anyone? Anyone?
So when the first major snowstorm hit Stockholm this year, the heaviest one in 111 years, chaos erupted. With the highways not plowed, nothing went anywhere. No one could even leave the now-plowed side streets because there was nowhere to go. Everything just ground to a halt.
Who could have seen that coming?
Thought for the Day:
“There are no good girls gone wrong – just bad girls found out.” ― Mae West
