Monthly Archives: December 2020
Jan Has To Get Her Own Next Time . . .
Coming Up:
Today is a typical December day in Texas, with a high of 79° and a low tonight of 39. And then for the next few days we’ve got days in the 50’s and nights in the 30’s.
Nice for a change!
About 1:30 Jan and I headed out for the afternoon, with our first stop back at the New England Lobster and Chowder Food Truck located at the Three Acres Food Truck Park on FM1764.
Of course we wanted more of their fantastic Clam Chowder,
but we also wanted to try a Hot Lobster Roll.
(They also have it cold, but it’s better hot with the melted butter)
And I also got Jan an order of their Fried Mushrooms.
All really good.
But what turned out to be the actual highlight of the meal was something I really got just for me.
A Deep Fried PB&J Sandwich.
I figured that Jan, not being a big PB&J fan, might want a bite just to try it.
Boy was I wrong.
Once she had one bite, that led to several more. So many more bites that next time she has to get her own.
I’m not sharing again.
The Clam Chowder was just as delicious as before. And the Fried Mushrooms were also ‘Have Again’ good.
The Hot Lobster Roll was also very good, but not $19 good. At least to us.
Even though we split it in half. Hey, it costs a lot to fly lobster in from Boston every day or so.
And this one was just as good as what we had in New England when we were up there in 2009. The thing is that neither of us are really big lobster fans. I’d much rather have a pound of boiled shrimp than a pound of lobster.
It may be just that I was raised in the South. Now up in New England in 2009 even the McDonald’s had a McLobster sandwich.
But we’ll certainly go back soon. Just not for lobster, I guess.
Finishing up with lunch we next made a WalMart for a few things, and we were surprised that it really didn’t seem much busier than usual. Nice, though.
Tomorrow I’m going to pick up a set of front disc brake pads for the Jeep. They’ve started scraping some, so hopefully I can do them on Saturday or Sunday.
Also tomorrow of course, we’re meeting Brandi, et al at King Food for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Really looking forward to it.
Thought for the Day:
Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Except bears.
Bears will kill you and eat you.
December 23, 2011
They grow Big Chickens here in Texas . . .
Jan was up early this morning making her renowned Sausage Balls to hand out to friends and family. Then we had coffee and sat back and just enjoyed the view out the front of the coach.
About 1pm we headed out for an afternoon of errands and cookie visits. Our first two stops were actually here in the park before we headed up to Brandi’s. Along the way we detoured by the storeroom to pick up Landon’s Rocking Horse so we won’t have to do it tomorrow.
We bought this for him several months ago when we were up in Elkhart, IN. It’s not just a plain rocking horse, because if you squeeze his ears, he makes galloping noises and then neighs and whinnies. Landon’ll love it.
Stopping at Brandi’s I picked up my new Garmin nuvi 1490LMT GPS. Of course I had to unbox it and turn it on right there. I got to play with it while we drove around the rest of the afternoon, and so far, I’m impressed.
Leaving Brandi’s, we dropped off a plate of cookies at Bob & Beth Young’s before heading over to Lowe’s to return some Christmas lights and pick up a Surfoam plane.
After that it was several quick client visits to check on things and wish them a Merry Christmas.
On the way home we stopped at Kelly’s Country Kitchen in League City for supper. Jan wanted Turkey and Dressing a few days early, and also one of their giant biscuits to have for breakfast tomorrow morning.
But as it turns out, they don’t have Turkey and Dressing on Friday, and they only have the giant biscuits for breakfast. Bummer for Jan.
So Jan ended up with the largest Country Fried Chicken Breast I’ve ever seen. Jan ate all she could, and still had enough for 2 or 3 more meals. They grow’em big here in Texas.
Getting home Jan started wrapping presents for tomorrow night’s get-together.
Our normal Christmas Eve family tradition is to have a family dinner at King Food and then go to someone’s house to open presents. This year we’re going to add going to church with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Crosspoint Community Church up in Katy, along with lunch with Brandi’s BFF Shawna and her family.
A busy day.
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Thought for the Day:
Recycling should not apply to politicians.
December 23, 2012
Sunflowers and Stew Kits . . .
Jan and I were up very early this morning, but it was for a good reason. We were meeting Lowell, Brandi, Landon, and Aunt Sherry at the Sunflower Bakery & Café for breakfast down in Galveston about 8:30am.
On our way, leaving the park area, we took down the signs we had posted after finding the lost dog last Thursday.
Since we never got a call from anyone, we’re even more convinced he was dumped. But he’s got a good home now.
Just not our home.
We had our usual great breakfast at Sunflower, but what was funny was watching Landon flirt with a cute blonde hostess. He would stare at her with a big smile on his face, and then when she would smile back at him, he would quickly look away or put his head down below the table edge.
He would then peek back over the edge to see if she was still looking at him. And he did the same thing with the same hostess when we were here two weeks ago. He’s gonna be a real heartthrob.
Leaving the café we all drove down to the Seawall to let Landon run around on the beach.
I think Brandi and Lowell’s real reason for this was to just let him run around and tire himself out.
Finally saying our goodbyes, we headed up to the Kroger’s on SR96 to get some groceries.
While perusing the meat department I came across a Beef Stew Kit.
Really. A Beef Stew Kit?
Some Assembly Required?
Is it a kit because you still have to cut up the veggies?
And it was $13.95!
For a couple of bucks of veggies, and 3# of stew meat. Sorry, but this is just ridiculous.
Are people really this lazy that they can’t spend 5 minutes in the produce section?
The bright note in our Kroger’s stop was getting gas there. Their new method of giving you gas points for your purchases meant that I got $1.30 per gallon off my fill up.
Which meant that I only paid $1.67 per gallon.
Nice!
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Thought for the Day:
By reading this blog, you’ve collapsed my wave function. Thanks.
December 23, 2013
Santa and Miss Claus . . .
First up, here’s Landon’s visit with Santa this year. Lowell said that he marched right up, sat down in Santa’s lap, and told him that he wanted a Hug Me Elmo and Stuffies (the stuffed animals with hidden pockets). This is one kid who knows where his presents come from and is not afraid of Santa.
Maybe it helps that his PaPa kinda looks like Santa.
Our day started this morning with lunch at Jan’s new favorite place, Twin Peaks. She had her usual Chicken Ranch Sandwich, while I upgraded from a cup of the Venison Chili to a full bowl. I had the cup last time and it was really good.
I decided to stay in the Appetizer part of the menu and also got an order of Average Joes. These are mini jalapeno-cheese brats slathered in spicy mustard and garnished with onions and fresh jalapenos. Very, very tasty.
I’ll definitely have both again. But next time I’ll just have the cup of chili again. The bowl, along with the Average Joes, meant I was too full for the Bread Pudding dessert. And that’s just sad.
And of course, it wouldn’t be right to not have a picture of Miss Claus, our waitress Lauren.
We asked for Lauren again this time because she took such good care of us last time. We had to wait about 10 minutes for her to have an open table, but it was worth it. She even remember what Jan ordered last time and how she wanted it fixed.
And she’s cute to boot.
This sign in Twin Peaks confuses a lot of people apparently. When they ask where the restrooms are, they’re pointed in this direction. But then they just stand there and look at the sign.
But then they finally sound it out, smile, and go in.
But then they’re confused again.
Because one door says: Sit2P
and the other one says: Stand2P
There’s just no helping some people.
Leaving Twin Peaks we went right down the road to one of my favorite places, Fry’s Electronics. My purported reason was to look for a new laptop for a client, but somehow I only left the store with a new helicopter.
I just had to have this one because it will fly inverted as well as right side up.
Santa came early this year.
Thought for the Day:
The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case examining whether sectarian prayer should be allowed at government meetings. Ironically, they opened the Supreme Court session with a prayer, just as they have every session since 1789.
December 23, 2014
Wiring and Re-Wiring . . .
Luckily the forecasted rain bypassed us this morning, so after coffee and a sampling of some of Jan’s freshly-made sausage balls, I went next door to Randy’s so we could finish up his electrical repair and rewiring.
But first I wanted to see how his batteries were doing after being discharged down to about 6 volts. We turned off shore power and check the voltages, and everything looked pretty good. Then I turned on the inverter and then the TV and the refrigerator, and voltage only dropped about a 10th of a volt, and didn’t budge after another 10 minutes or so. So far, so good.
Next I had him start up the coach to see how his engine batteries were doing. The first thing I noticed was that he just put the key in, tuned it on and started the engine. No waiting for the ‘Wait To Start” light to go out. In fact the ‘Wait To Start” light never went out, even after the engine was running.
Randy said that PPL (finally found out that’s where he bought the coach from) told him it didn’t work right, but it wasn’t important and not to worry about it. He said the engine runs just fine and he’s had no problems with it.
Suggested that he might want to wait 15 – 20 seconds before cranking up anyway, and that he should have it checked at some point. I suspect that a sensor is not returning the correct code to the computer that shuts the light off.
Oh well. Just another problem.
Now it was on to the rewiring. Or maybe I should say the re-rewiring, since the problem seems to have been caused by the rewiring that the solar guy did.
The other day, in trying to get the power converter working, I moved the end of the short red wire shown in the orange box from one side of the isolator, indicated by the orange arrow, over to the output side of the power converter. That meant that the power converter was now feeding the house batteries as it should.
But I was bothered by the fact that the hole in the wire lug was not big enough to fit down over the stud of the power converter fuse block. I was able to jam it on there so that it was working, but it wouldn’t stay on when the coach was moved. Circuitwise the wire should go there, so why didn’t it fit?
Then the other night I was thinking about it and realized that maybe the solar guy had removed the wire completely, and then put it back on backwards And when I took the wire off today and reversed the ends, it fit perfectly. Yeah!
Next I disconnected the wire that the solar guy had used to connect the engine batteries and the house batteries together, and rerouted it up the isolator terminal where it needed to go. And it too fit perfectly.
So now I had the power converter feeding into the house batteries as it should, and the engine battery and house battery banks connected together through the isolator as it should.
The only real question is the isolator circuit. I physically tested the isolator and it works, but I don’t know If the signal that controls the isolator is working, i.e. is it switching over to keep the engine batteries charged when it s supposed to. So I told Randy to keep an eye on his engine battery voltage to be sure it’s working.
Wrapping up, the last thing that needed to be done was to move the output of the solar system from the engine batteries to the house batteries. That’s the smaller red wire with the black lump in it.
The black lump is an inline splice, so all I needed to do was to remove the short wire from the splice and connect a longer one with a lug on the end to reach into the next compartment and connect to the house battery banks. I had the right wire to do it, but no lugs of the right size so I told Randy to go into Columbus and check out the AutoZone for some.
In the meantime it was time for Jan and I to walk across the circle to have dinner with Janice and Dave Evans. They had invited us over for a Grilled Chicken and Sausage Dinner, and boy, was it good. Especially the Roasted Veggies that went with it.
We always have a great time with Janice and Dave, and this time is no exception, but unfortunately this will be our only chance to get together for now. We’re headed to Conroe tomorrow, and they’re heading on to San Antonio in a few days. But I sure we’ll connect back up soon. We always do.
Getting back to our rig a little after 6 I found that Randy had gotten the lugs so I went back over, crimped the new lug on the wire, connected it into the splice, and hooked it up to the house battery bank.
And after checking out all the voltages, the inverter, and everything else we could think of, we declared it a job done. Whether it was ‘well’ done or not, will remain to be seen. I’ll keep you updated.
Tomorrow we’ll pull out of our site, get propane for the first time since September 18, 2011, then get diesel at Colorado County Oil for $2.58 a gallon (YEAH) and then make the two hour run back over to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails. And as soon as we’re parked and hooked up, we’ll head down to Clear Lake for our annual Christmas Eve Family Dinner at the King Food, something we’ve done every year for about 30 years.
Then it’s back up to Brandi’s to spend the night so we can be there with Landon on Christmas morning. And then of course Brandi’s big friends and family Christmas Party that afternoon.
No wonder everyone’s exhausted after the holidays.
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Thought for the Day:
December 23, 2016
You Know You’re A Regular When . . .
After a somewhat busy time on the gate last night/this morning, I was back at the rig and in bed by 5:45am.
This gate is the Sand Truck Staging Pad for the frac gate right across the street, so we had a lot of sand trucks in and out, but we don’t have to log them at all. We’re really just a traffic cop because this is a one lane road, so we have to be sure another truck isn’t coming out before we let a new one in.
I was back up about 11 and about 11:45 Jan and I headed out to Barth’s for their Chicken Fried Steak Strips/Fried Catfish lunch buffet.
I guess we’re officially ‘Regulars” at Barth’s since the waitress now brings us our drink orders without me telling her what we want.
And when we left they had our Christmas dinner takeout meals of Turkey & Dressing with Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Green Beans, Mac N Cheese, and Cranberry Sauce all ready for us.
Leaving Barth’s we made a swing by the bank to see if my checks had come in, but they’d closed at noon so it’s next week I guess.
This gate I’m on for the next 3 days is a 5pm gate, rather than a 5:30 one like yesterday’s, so I have to be on the road about 30 minutes earlier today. So when we got back to rig I went down for a couple of hours of nap.
When we came back from Beeville the other night we followed up on a tip Nancy Christian, our RV park owner, had given us about where to see Christmas lights in Kenedy.
And although there weren’t a lot of them, there were some really nice ones.
But this house was the best. On a corner lot it rivaled anything in the ‘small’ house category that we’ve ever seen.
I say ‘small’ because Jan and I have seen some mansions in the Houston area that looked this good, but never on a home this size.
Here’s a close-up.
Everything is so ‘right’ that I’ve got to think that this one is professionally done, or done by someone who does this for a living.
As I said, this is a corner lot so here’s the other side.
I guess Kenedy doesn’t have a Christmas Lights Competition because this one should have a big Blue Ribbon on it.
There’s been talk about some gates closing for Christmas, but so far nothing about this one. So I guess we’ll see.
Thought for the Day:
“We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.” ― H.L. Mencken
December 23, 2017
Catching Up . . .
Coming home from the TSO concert on Thursday night we had no more overheating problems, probably because it was a lot cooler and we weren’t sitting still in traffic.
But when we stopped at the Longhorn Steakhouse I could smell antifreeze over the hot engine, so I’ve got a leak somewhere that I’ll have to check out.
Dinner at Longhorn was great, the perfect end to a nice day that started off so rocky. We both started off with salads, Jan with her standard salad,
while I got the Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese and Bacon. But while most wedge salads are made with a ‘wedge’ of iceberg lettuce, Longhorn’s is made from stalks of romaine lettuce.
Really good and crunchy.
Jan always gets the New York Strip which Longhorn does perfectly for her, somewhere between Med-Well and Medium, pink with no juice.
I of course always get the Ribeye, Med-Rare, and again done perfectly.
Afterwards we spent about an hour just stilling and talking about the concert, before getting home a little before 10pm.
Now on to Friday.
Heading in to work I had planned to get gas at the HEB but it looked pretty busy, so I decided to wait until I was on my way home, a plus since it was also on the right side.
Bad decision! Costly decision!
When I passed the station in the morning, gas was $1.93. but coming home it had jumped to $2.05, a 12¢ Christmas present to holiday travelers. Ho! Ho! Ho!
I spent most of the day at work going through the paper catalog page by page, making corrections, deleting products, and rearranging products.But with130 pages it’s going to take a while.
Getting home about 4:30, Jan and I turned around pretty quickly and headed back out, over to Stomp’s Burger Joint on 146 in Bacliff to meet up with Wil and Cyndy Olsen. When they’re not waiting on their truck to be reassembled, they work with Adventure Caravan’s, guiding RV tours around the US, Canada, and Mexico.
We had originally planned to also be meeting up with Jan and Dale Thompson there, but Jan hurt her back a couple of weeks ago, so this time it was just us four.
We started off with an order of Texas Rattlesnake Eggs. We had fun telling Cyndy that this was Texas so of course they had real rattlesnake in them.
But they’re really a big ball of cream cheese mixed with bacon and jalapenos, and then battered and fried.
Wil and I both had the Hog Wild Burger, the one with raw bacon ground into the patty.
I did drop back to the single patty version, with only 8oz. of Angus Beef, instead of the 1# version with two patties that I’ve gotten before. I told Jan afterwards that this time I was just pleasantly full, rather than the painfully full as before.
Cyndy got the smaller Cheeseburger, while Jan got her usual Outlaw Burger with a little bit of everything.
Hopefully we’ll be able to get together with both Jan and Dale and Wil and Cyndy before they leave.
This morning, Saturday, was a nice quiet one before we headed out about 1:30. Our first stop was our son Chris to pickup our mail and a few other things. Then it was on to the nearby Kroger to get supplies for the Christmas dishes that Jan’s making for our Christmas Day family get-together. Tomorrow will be a busy day.
It seemed like almost everything in the store was discounted with our Kroger card because we bought $104 worth of groceries but only paid $87 because we saved $17 with the card. Nice
Finally heading back toward Santa Fe, we stopped off and Pho 20 for a light linner of salads and a couple of appetizers. Delicious as always.
I know I promised more about TSO, but I’ll catch up with that at a later time.
The Headline of the Day: Amazon realizes DIY circumcision kit might be a bad idea.
Thought for the Day:
Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
December 23, 2019
Day And Night . . .
Or rather DayQuil and NyQuil.
Today was pretty much lost to a routine of DayQuil at work and NyQuil here at home. I’m trying to get rid of my head congestion, feeling like my skull is packed with cotton. Very tightly packed.
It’s been years since I’ve take this stuff, and it didn’t seem to be working as well as I remember. Then, looking at the label, I think I know why.
Prominently featured on the DayQuil and NyQuil bottles are the words, “Alcohol Free’!
And they think this is supposed to be a PLUS?
And I even bought the ‘SEVERE’ version.
But my biggest problem is that fact that my head is so stopped up that I’ve lost a lot of hearing in my right ear. And due to gunfire and loud rock music, my hearing isn’t too great in that ear to begin with.
So hopefully this stuff will help. Unfortunately though, it seems like I’ll have to get better completely sober.
Jan Wouldn’t Let Me . . .
Be sure and check out our 2017 blog on this day a little further down, about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.
I was on my way up to the Westpark area about 10:15 to retrieve Jan, drop off my latest repair project, and pick up another one.
When Lowell passed it on to me after our Sunday lunch at Floyd’s, it looked like this.
It’s an Idylis HEPA Air Filter, a pretty expensive one even when it was bought back in 2014. So when it got knocked over recently and died, it was worth me taking a look at it to see if I could bring it back to life.
And a few minutes after I got it back home, it looked like this.
Of course this was after I had plugged it in and confirmed that, yes it was dead.
One thing I noticed was that, I guess since it’s pretty expensive, it’s actually made to be serviced. Or at least they have a ‘Wiring Schematic’ on the base.
Of course it’s more of a block diagram, but hey, it’s something.
Looking it over, the first thing I noticed is a micro-switch, that from the size of the wiring, is routing 120VAC power, and was a perfect candidate to cause this problem. Especially after the unit was knocked over.
So as a quick test, I plugged the unit in, triggered the micro-switch with a screwdriver, pressed the power button, and with a beep, the unit came to life.
And looking more carefully at the switch it was easy to see it had been knocked out of position by the fall.
The switch is triggered by the removal of the front panel, something you have to do to changeout/clean the filters. But it also exposes the motor and the squirrel cage blower fans. So it’s a safety system.
This turned out to be one of those easy ones where it takes me longer to open the unit and then put it back together than it did to actually fix it.
And getting it all back together, plugging it in, and turning it on, gave me this.
Next up, a dead video game console.
Anyway, coming home, we made a Sam’s Club stop to pick up a prescription and then it was on to Twin Peaks again, and again it was Jan’s idea.
No, really.
And as it turns out, this week’s theme was Santa’s elves – Naughty and Nice.
And there was a whole lot of Naughty, believe me. And not much Nice. Though I guess it could be said that Nice is in the eye of the beholder.
Back few years ago, this was the Naughty outfit worn by our favorite server then, Lauren.
Who as I said before, was a Senior in Engineering at U of H.
But it was Nice compared to what many of the girls were wearing today. Which were basically thong panties and skimpy bras. Think Victoria’s Secret, but skimpier.
Maybe that explains why they were so busy on a Tuesday afternoon. Which is the idea, I guess.
Jan not only wouldn’t let me post any of today’s outfits, she wouldn’t even let me take any photos.
You know, for posterity and all.
She said she’d never seen so many cheeks, and she wasn’t talking about, well, the ones you’re usually talking about when you talk about ‘cheeks’.
So you’ll just have to use you imagination, I guess.
Sorry, guys.
December 22, 2011
An Unusual Day . . .
This was definitely a very unusual day.
For the first time in quite a few days I didn’t have to be anywhere or do anything away from the rig.
No shopping, no clients, no nothing.
Well, I did get a call from a client, but I was able to take care of his problem over the phone, so no biggie.
But I did have stuff to do around the rig. I started out by replacing several bulbs in the floor lights that we use in the rig at night, Then I started to prepare the cabinet area for the re-installation of the washer later this weekend.
I replaced the old rubber water hoses with new steel mesh ones. The old ones are almost 13 years old, and although they look to be in good condition I would hate to have to pull the washer back out in 6 months to replace a leaky hose.
Better safe than sorry.
Next I got the vacuum out and cleaned all the dryer lint out of the vent hose. There wasn’t a lot since I had cleaned it from the outside about 6 months ago. I also replaced the 16 x 20 air filter that filters the fresh air coming into the coach. It can be replaced from underneath the washer cabinet, but it’s easier to do it now.
While I was puttering, Jan was back in her cookie baking frenzy. This time it was rum balls, walnut chocolate chip cookies, almond crescents rolled in powdered sugar and pumpkin nut cookies.
Hmmmmmm!
And although not cookies, tomorrow she’ll wrap things up with her famous Sausage Balls.
More Hmmmmmm!
On another note, I ordered myself a new toy for Christmas – a new Garmin nuvi 1490LMT GPS for our toad.
We’ve used a Lowrance iWay 500c since we started RV’ing in 2008 and it’s been a real workhorse.
And it’s still working fine, but since it originally came out in late 2005, it’s no longer being updated. We haven’t had a POI update in two years, and though we got a map update this past February, it is the last one they’ll offer.
So when I got an email from Amazon last night with a great deal on this Garmin GPS – Reg. $340, now $170, with free Next Day Shipping, I bit.
The other big selling point is that all updates are free for life. Of course they don’t say whose life they’re talking about. But at least they’re free as long as they’re available, unlike the Lowrance where they were about $75.00.
The only problem I foresee is coming up with a way to transfer all my waypoints from the 500c to the new Garmin. I’ll do it manually if I have to.
I’ll let you know how I like it after I play with it for a while.
About 5pm Jan and I headed up the road to La Brisa for a quick dinner, and then a stop at Kroger’s for a few things before heading home.
After we got back, I installed the new fan motor in the washer, put the cover back on, and then checked it out by plugging it in and setting it to dry. And it works.
Sometime in the next few days I’ll stick it back in the cabinet, though I’m still not quite sure how I’ll get the vent hose connected, but I’ll figure something out.
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Thought for the Day:
Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Nothing!
December 22, 2012
Jabba the Catt . . .
or, this is why keeping the dog was a bad idea!
Here’s Mister in his “Jabba the Cat” pose. He likes to sit like this in my computer desk chair. Kind of Master of All he Surveys.
Tonight Jan talked to the lady that took in the dog we found. They’ve named him Opie and said he’s doing fine. Seems like he’s found a good home.
Just as long as it’s not ours.
Brandi said Landon has become the front page poster child for the Children’s Lighthouse Childcare Center where Landon goes. You can see him here.
https://www.facebook.com/childrenslighthouse#!/clightbayarea?fref=pb
Jan and I headed about 1pm to first have lunch at the Chili’s up in Kemah before doing some errands.
Our first stop was at Fry’s Electronics looking to purchase 3 copies of Microsoft Office 2010 for a client, but all they had was the Student version which does not have Outlook which the client needs. So I’ll have to see about ordering it, or downloading it.
My next stop was right up Hwy. 3 at EPO – Electronics Parts Outlet, to find a replacement switch for a client’s computer. They had what I wanted but I found a little something extra.
A G-Maxtec 860 Quad-Copter at 40% off.
You can fly it inside or out, and it will do flips and rolls. Check out the video below.
Our next stop after EPO was Brandi and Lowell’s for a little Landon time, and also to pick up our mail. Then after a nice visit we headed over to Kroger’s to pick up some things before we met our friend’s Bob and Maria, and Connie at Coffee Oasis, a local coffee shop. We had a great time talking and drinking coffee. In fact we spent about 2 hours without even realizing it.
All in all, a nice day, well spent.
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Thought of the Day:
The NRA set off a firestorm suggesting that we put armed guards in schools.
If we can’t have armed guards in our schools, why do we have them in our Federal and State office buildings?
Why will we protect our politicians and not our children?
December 22, 2014
Batteries and Balls . . .
I woke up to the delicious smells of Jan baking Christmas cookies, candy canes and chocolate chip, so the day was off to a good start.
And coffee and a few cookies (we did have to test-eat a few), and working on a few other things, I drove into Columbus to pick up our prescriptions at Wal-Mart,, as well as a couple of other things. I stopped off at the hardware store to get a spray bottle to spray vinegar on the rig roof to help remove the drilling mud, and also three conduit rings for the case of my new transfer switch.
The case just has three 1-1/4” holes for the shore power input, generator input, and power out cables, so I need something to shield and cushion the wires.
It’s amazing how much smaller these units are now than in 1999.
After I got back from Columbus, I went next door to talk to Randy about his electrical problem. I have about come to the conclusion that this problem was almost certainly caused by whoever wired up the solar system, and possibly because he ran out of wire.
Here’s a photo of the engine battery bay.
The solar system output comes in from the upper left on the red wire which goes to the positive terminal on the engine battery. The black tape-wrapped bulge is an inline splice. The large red cable runs from engine battery positive terminal through the wall to the positive terminal of one of the house battery banks, thus tying the two systems together. So both battery sets are being charged by the solar output.
He then rewired the isolator system, so that rather than being between the engine batteries and the house batteries, the isolator is now between the two banks of the house batteries. But since the two house banks are connected together by another cable, the isolator does nothing.
The real mystery is why the power converter output was left unconnected. Did he think that it wasn’t needed anymore since the rig had solar? I don’t know.
Tomorrow Randy and I are going to disconnect the batteries and the shore power and try to get things rewired halfway right. We’ll see how it and the weather goes.
Later after supper, I changed over the hallway fluorescent fixture to LEDs. I can do the change out for little more than the cost of one new bulb, much less two. And the light is brighter and whiter.
2 ea Super Bright COB White Car LED Light 12v
It only took about 30 minutes.
First thing I just pulled the plastic cover off the fixture, exposing the bulbs.
Next just remove the bulbs and discard them.
Then just squeeze and pull the ballast cover off, exposing the wiring.
Clip away all the wires except for the two black and wires coming into the fixture from one end. Cut these two off as close to their connecting points on the ballast (the circuit board), and strip the ends. I did not remove the ballast because it was riveted on and I would have had to break it to get it out. Too much trouble, and not necessary.
Peel off the backing on the self=adhesive strip on the LED’s and mount them in the fixture. Then connect the two red wires from the LED’s to the black wire in the fixture. Now connect the two black wires from the LED’s to the white wire in the fixture. You can use wire nuts, solder, crimp, whatever floats your boat to make the connections.
Now ty-wrap the excess wire together and tuck it away as you replace the metal ballast cover strip that you removed earlier.
Put the plastic cover back on and you’re done.
Quick, easy, and cheap. Three of my favorite things.
When the time comes, I’ll see how many sets it will take to replace the four 4ft fluorescents tubes in the two living room/kitchen fixtures.
Tomorrow Jan will be wrapping presents and making her famous sausage balls for Brandi’s Christmas party Christmas afternoon. So more good smells and maybe a couple of samples.
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Thought for the Day:
In order to train a dog you must be smarter than the dog.
December 22, 2015
Livingston Bound and BBQ . . .
Jan and I were up about 8:00 and on our way to Livingston by 9:00. Dennis and Carol Hill had invited us over to their place at the Escapees park there. We had been promised one of Dennis’ smoked pork butts for lunch, so we were really looking forward to it.
Although it was sunny when we left the coach, by the time we were on FM1097 after passing through Willis, we started running into a lot of fog. And although it didn’t slow us down much, it did presage a much bigger slowdown as we came into Goodrich, TX on US59, planning on turning off on FM1988.
A couple of miles before our turnoff, traffic came to a stop, and then began inch forward. When we finally got up to our turnoff, we saw that the police had US59N blocked off and was routing all traffic onto FM1988. Which then was backed up all the way over to FM146.
All 5 miles of bumper to bumper traffic. Which took us over 30 minutes to get through. It was only after we got back to the rig that we found out what happened.
Turned Over 18 Wheeler Blocks Traffic on 59 North at FM-1988…
GOODRICH, December 22, 2015 – At around 5:15 am on December 22, 2015, an 18 wheeler hauling wood shavings was north-bound on US-59. According to the driver, a car cut in front of him causing him to suddenly brake, then causing his rig to turn over on the slick roads. Another 18 wheeler behind him swerved to avoid colliding and went into the center median and got stuck. Nobody was injured. Deputy Glen Edwards with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the scene along with Trooper Chris Cain with the Texas Highway Patrol. North-bound traffic on 59 is being rerouted to the FM-1988 overpass. Riley Wrecker Service out of Corrigan was dispatched to clean up the mess. At time of press (6:35 am) the mess is being cleaned up, and traffic is still being rerouted.
But finally we got to Dennis and Carol’s about 11am, just in time to meet up with a number of other RV’ers, and dig into a lunch of Dennis’ great BBQ. Really, really good as always.
We all had a great time talking over past and future travels, including another upcoming Alaskan trip for Dennis and Carol. Jan and I also got a tour of the Class C that they’ll be taking up north this time instead of their Winnebago Journey Class A.
We finally all wound down about 3pm and Jan and I headed home, but this time without all the traffic problems.
We both want to thank Dennis and Carol for the invitation, along with the great food, and fun. Thanks again.
Coming back into Willis about 4:30 we made a stop at the Fish Pond Restaurant to pick up the Coconut Cream Pie we had ordered the other day.
We got one for our family Thanksgiving get-together, and it was so good that we wanted another one for Christmas.
Before leaving the ‘Pond’ I called the Wal-Mart Pharmacy to see if our prescriptions were ready to pick up, but since they weren’t, we just headed back to the park for the night. Along the way we saw a lot of the tornado damage left over from last week’s storm. Roofs torn off, campers turned over, and even smashed flat, it was a close call for the restaurant with damage all around.
Getting back to the rig, I checked out my latest repair project. I was redoing the mounting of Jan’s “Oh Sh$t! Handle” that previously resided right by her chair. But over a period of time, and a lot of use, she broke it completely off.
The problem was that whatever mounting system was being used to hold the handle in place fell down in the open space between the inside metal wall and the outside metal wall, leaving only two empty openings.
That’s the inside of the outer wall in the photo below.
Back in November while we were still gate guarding, I used the toothpicks and Gorilla Glue trick to provide new mounting points for my outside lighted grab bar. You can read about it here. Chore Day.
But that won’t work here because there’s nothing really there for the toothpicks to grab on to. Just the 1/16” or so internal metal wall, and nothing else. But after thinking about it for a while, I came up with a new idea. Or at least an improvement on the toothpick idea.
Why not just use one really big toothpick, i.e. a 5/8” dowel rod.
My thought was to use Gorilla Glue to fasten the end of the dowel rod to the inside of the outside wall, and also glue it around the circumference of the rod and the inner hole.
So I glued in all together yesterday afternoon and let it sit overnight
So after we got home this evening, I was going to drill pilot holes in the dowel rods and mount the handle, only to discover that the screws I had planned to use weren’t really long enough.
So there’s probably a trip to Lowe’s in my future tomorrow, when we hopefully are able to pick up our prescriptions at Wal-Mart. And while I’m at it, I’m also going to pick up some White Oak Pickling Stain to redo all the handles.
Finishing up, I mentioned in Sunday’s blog how far forward the power pedestal is on this site, and only the fact that our rig was ordered with an extra-long power cord let me hook up at all. And here’s what I’m talking about.
As I said we may be one of the few Class A’s that can park here. So this may be our go-to site every time we’re here.
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Thought for the Day:
Those of you preparing Christmas dinner for people with a lot of different food requirements will appreciate this.
December 22, 2016
Never In The Right Place . . .
At The Right Time . . .
Today was a ‘turn-around day’ for me, getting fully adjusted to the next four days of night shift on a gate. Of course since I’m normally up until 2 or 3 in the morning anyway, it’s not a big problem, anyway.
I did stay up until after 3:30 this morning, Then got up at 11 and had coffee. Jan heated up the delicious leftover Bella Sera pizza about 12:30, and then I went back down for a nap from 1:30 to 4pm, and was on the gate by 5:15pm.
I’ve got one night here and then three nights at the Mocyzgemba Gate I’ve been at before. So we’ll see how it all goes.
Tomorrow we’ll go out about 11:30 or so to have the Chicken Fried Steak Strips/Fried Catfish Lunch Buffet at Barth’s, and also pick up our Turkey and Dressing Christmas Dinner takeout while we’re there. We have to do it on Friday because they close at 2pm and then don’t reopen until Monday morning. But turkey and dressing always taste better as leftovers anyway.
Now in other Dakota Access Pipeline news, some new info has come out in the last few days confirming one of the ‘conspiracy theories’ I talked about in The Dakota Access Pipeline – Pipeline Politics article I did a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s what I said then:
Why, out of over 50 tribes, are the Standing Rock Sioux so against the path of the pipeline when it’s not even going through their land?
Well, the thought is, because it’s not going through their land!
The Standing Rock tribe is broke. They received a $48 million settlement from the Federal Government in 2012, but spent it all. They had a $6 million deficit in their 2015 budget. So now the tribe is playing hardball.
Stay with me here. It’ll all make sense in a minute.
The pipeline took the path it did, following an already-existing pipeline, because that’s where the Corps of Engineers said it should go. It would be the least disturbance to the environment, and bypass the Indian lands completely.
But remember those 50 other tribes? Many of them got millions of dollars because the pipeline right of way went through their land. But because of the Corps of Engineers’ decision, the Standing Rock Sioux got left out. So the theory goes that when enough zeros show up on a check, suddenly they’ll be perfectly fine with the pipeline.
After all, the Standing Rock Tribal Chairman, Dave Archambault, owns a convenience store and gasoline station on the reservation and is happy to sell gas to both protesters and police alike.
Of course the more cynical among us might say that the entire problem with the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline will be made moot sometime during the afternoon of January 20th.
So here’s the rest of the story.
The Indians used to get paid per barrel for the oil to trucked across their land before the pipeline came along.
The pipeline was originally going to go through their land, but they wanted the same per barrel fee for oil in the pipeline that they were getting from the trucks. The oil companies offered a lesser amount and the tribe turned it down.
Note that this was the oil companies, not the pipeline construction company.
So, with the approval of the Corps of Engineers, the pipeline was routed around the Indian land. But the tribe still demanded to be paid, and were told No.
The tribe then promised to protest and stop construction, which is where we stand today.
The original pipeline still would have crossed the river at the same spot, but they were OK with it then.
Next up, an interesting article from WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks, ND. Dated back in November, and entitled What Dakota Access Pipeline protesters aren’t telling you it details the many meetings and consultations the pipeline company and the Corps of Engineers tried to have with the tribe. The article is an interesting read.
Here are some highlights, the information coming from Federal Court records.
Protesters claim that the pipeline was “fast-tracked,” denying tribal leaders the opportunity to participate in the process. In fact, project leaders participated in 559 meetings with community leaders, local officials and organizations to listen to concerns and fine-tune the route. The company asked for, and received, a tougher federal permitting process at sites along the Missouri River.
. . . . .
Protesters claim that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to consult tribal leaders as required by federal law. The record shows that the Corps held 389 meetings with 55 tribes. Corps officials met many times with leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which initiated the lawsuit and the protests.
. . . . .
The Corps alerted the tribe to the pipeline permit application in the fall of 2014 and repeatedly requested comments from and meetings with tribal leaders, only to be rebuffed over and over. Tribal leaders ignored requests for comment and canceled meetings multiple times.
. . . . .
In September 2014 alone, the Corps made five unsuccessful attempts to meet with Standing Rock Sioux leaders.
The next month, a meeting was arranged, but “when the Corps timely arrived for the meeting, Tribal Chairman David Archambault told them that the conclave had started earlier than planned and had already ended,” according to a federal judge.
Remember as I wrote before, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe lost both times in Federal Court. Then they started protesting.
Finishing up, I’m never in the right place at the right time.
Why is it that when I’m in Vegas I never get to see Half Naked Hookers in a turf war fight on the Vegas Strip?
Now when Jan goes to New York she managed to get groped by the Naked Cowboy,
and seemed to really enjoy it. Said it was on her ‘bucket list.’
But when I’m in Vegas this is what I get to see on Fremont St.
Of course, it seems to be my lot in life. Jan once talked me into going to see one of the Sex and the City movies with her by promising me nudity.
The only nudity in that movie was some guy’s bare butt.
Thought for the Day:
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”
― Mark Twain
December 22, 2017
We Get TSO’d . . .
As I mentioned last night our attending the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert got off to a very bumpy start. In fact for a while it looked like we wouldn’t even be able to go.
During the night I remember just turning over and getting very dizzy for a few minutes. Then when I got up around 10:30 I was very dizzy and nauseated. I told Jan if I didn’t get to feeling better I didn’t think I would be able to go, so I went back to bed.
But when I woke up at 1:40, I felt much better, not dizzy or nauseated, but just a little washed-out. So we were out the door by 2pm, heading for the Toyota Convention Center in the downtown Houston.
We made really good time, and were at the parking garage about 2:35 and got in the line to enter the garage, where we had already paid for parking. And 30 minutes later we had moved one whole block. The problem was that unlike the location where we got in line with police directing us, there were no cops at the first corner. So you had cars coming from three different directions all trying to get in the line, which led to complete gridlock, with no one moving for minutes at a time.
I was hoping that when we finally made the left turn onto the next street we see would the ‘Yellow’ entrance. But no luck. The line just wrapped around the next corner at the end of the block.
At this point I noticed that, out of the blue, my truck started overheating, so we pulled out of the line and looked for another place to park, maybe one of the many private lots nearby.
We finally found one about 4 blocks away and started walking back toward the Center, finally getting here about 3:30, which is when the performance was scheduled to begin. But there was still one more problem.
We had great floor seats, but we didn’t realize that the arena floor was about 30 feet below ground level with those steep stairs leading down.
Jan doesn’t do steep stairs in the dark very well, but by the time we realized it, we were stuck in line and not able to turn around and look for an elevator.
But finally we were on the floor and in our seats which lucky for us were on the end of the row.
I guess to all the parking problems they didn’t start the concert until 3:45, about 15 minutes late, so we only missed the first couple of sounds, though we heard them coming down the stairs.
it’s been a while since we’ve been to a major concert like this, so the advancements in laser effects was amazing. I figure if they group all there lasers together, they could probably shoot down one of those North Korean ICBM’s that Little Rocket Man keeps lofting.
The first 90 minutes of the show is built around a movie shown on the multiple large screens about a young girl runaway who seeks shelter from the weather in an old abandoned theater.
Watched over by the old caretaker, played by Ossie Davis, the girl is shown dreams of her life, past and future. Interspersed with TSO’s amazing Christmas music and theater effect, the story ends with the girl finding money and a bus ticket in her notebook, and running out the theater to go back home. A real tear jerker.
The last hour of the show was mostly music and lights from some of their other rock opera presentations, like Beethoven’s Last Night., Night Castle, and Dreams of Fireflies.
And you thought they only did Christmas music. What do you think they do the rest of the year?
The staging of the show was just amazing with more movement than you can imagine. Everything tilted, turned, raised, lowered, swung, and spouted flames. There was also fog, glitter bombs, and giant sparklers10 feet high.
In between the two segments they talked about the staging. The unit travels with 15 Prevosts, 13 semi’s, and about 100 people. And this is just the West Coast unit. There is another identical troupe that does the East Coast.
The MC said that at their first date this season, in Omaha, NB, about 6 weeks ago, the crew spent 30 days doing the initial setup and fine turning.
Now they do it in 7 hours.
One funny is that TSO doesn’t actually travel with an orchestra as such. TSO’s performers are the band members, drums, keyboards, piano, guitar and bass guitar, and the violin. Plus about 10 female singer/dancers.
The orchestra, about 15 musicians, horns, saxes, flutes, etc. is recruited locally ahead of time at each location.
I’ll tell you more tomorrow, but I’ve run out of time and energy, plus about our dinner last night at Longhorn Steakhouse, and our dinner tonight with Wil and Cyndy Olsen at Stomp’s Burger Joint..
The Headline of the Day: Elderly couple busted transporting $336,000 worth of ‘Christmas gifts’, i.e. Pot.
Thought for the Day:
A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
December 22, 2018
Finally Done . . . For The 3rd Time!
Jan spend the morning putting together a Green Bean Casserole for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner, before getting started on her much-requested pièce de résistance.
Some time in the early fall she starts getting requests for her World Famous Sausage Balls, so this time she did 8 dozen, which still probably will disappear very quickly. Certainly the 4 dozen she made for Thanksgiving didn’t last long.
This time, due to popular request, she used 3 Hot and I Regular Sausage to bump the Heat a little.
Jan originally said all our Christmas shopping was done with the last of the arrival of the last of the Amazon orders. That’s the first one.
Then we were done when we got some last minute stuff on Thursday. That was the second one.
We were finally done today when we braved the WalMart for a couple more things. And surprisingly it wasn’t that bad. They had 11 of the 12 checkouts open, and of course all of the DIY versions were open.
I did have my first real People of WalMart sighting during today’s visit.
At least I think that wearing Cat Suit Jammies to shop here should qualify, right?
Tomorrow morning we’ll head up to Brandi’s about 9am for our Christmas get-together. Really looking forward to it to seeing everyone again.
Thought for the Day:
Mirrors can’t talk, lucky for me they can’t laugh either.
