Our RV Adventures

And A Clean Bill Of Health!

When I gave Jan a list of suggestions on where she might want to eat today, she picked Twin Peaks.

Note: She picked it, not me.

I just made sure it was in my list of suggestions.

Jan started off with a cup of the Tomato Basil Soup,

and move on to her usual Spicy Chipotle Chicken,

but with two broccolis, rather than the normal mashed potatoes.

I had the Soup and Half Sandwich, with the Brisket Chili and their Old Fashion BLT, along with the Green Beans, instead of Fries.

The Chili was Texas Style, with No Beans, but very good. The overall taste reminded me of their late-lamented Venison Chili.

One thing I like about the TP version of the BLT is that they don’t skimp on the B part.

There are six! slices of bacon on this 1/2 Sandwich.

They weren’t real busy today so we had some extra time to talk with Sylvia, our favorite server.

We were talking about the outfits they wear, and Sylvia said management has had to crack down on some of the girls for being a little too ‘cheeky’. Not on the standard outfits, but on the ‘special’ holiday ones, where it seems pretty much anything goes.

Sylvia said that the only things TP gives them are the plaid tops, the socks, and the belt pouch. The girls have to furnish everything else, including their ‘special’ outfits.

Sylvia is a real sweetheart and always has a big smile for us.

That was the Good Food.

Next up is the Clean Bill of Health.

After lunch Jan had her yearly Mammogram and everything came back clean. Since she had breast cancer back in 2014 she’s always very anxious about it.

One thing Jan really likes is that her mammograms are immediately read by a physician, so she knows the results before she leaves. And even better this year, she didn’t have to have the additional 3D Ultrasound that they’ve done every year since 2015. After looking at the mammogram this year, the physician said it was identical to last years, so no ultrasound was needed.

Jan also wants me to pass on her insistence that every woman of a certain age needs to get a yearly mammogram. After getting them for years with no problems, when 2014 rolled around, she almost skipped it that year. And of course, that’s the year they found her cancer.

In her case, it was a Stage 0 lump and had not spread. So just a lumpectomy was required, with no additional treatments needed, like Chemo or Radiation.

And almost certainly not the result if she had waited another year before it was found.

And ironically I was diagnosed with a Squamous Cell Carcinoma on my head several months later. Luckily I also came up clean after it was removed, though I still have a large dimple on top of my bald head.

Tomorrow night we’ve got another visit to the Alvin Opry. Looking forward to it.

Thought For The Day:

If You Can’t Stand The Heat, Don’t Tickle The Dragon.

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You’d think I’d learn.

i worked on a number of projects yesterday, but wasn’t able to finish any of them.

First up was to replace my leaking water tank fill valve with a new one. I couldn’t find an exact replacement, since it’s now only sold in Europe.

But I did find this one on Amazon.

It was a little shorter than the original one, but i thought I had enough slack in the tubing to make up the difference.

I was wrong.

My first task was to remove the water line connecting to the left side of the old valve. Although it took a little work, I finally got the 23 year old joint loose and pulled it apart. At this point, water started running out of the open line, draining from our 100 gallon fresh water tank. Prepared for this, I immediately screwed the new valve onto the line to stop the flow. Leaving me with this.

Then I removed the line going to the other end of the valve, a little more difficult since it was hanging free. But it finally came loose.

So now I switched the old and new valves, using the old one to keep water from running out of the fresh water tank. Next I screwed the new valve onto the open line and tightened it down. But when I removed the old valve and tried to hook the line up to new valve, it wouldn’t quite reach.

Bummer!

So I put the old valve back in place and tightened it all down, done for the day. I was going to have to find a short extender piece to make it work.

Moving on, I wanted to change out my rusted 2 hose splitter with my new solid brass 4 spout one like this.

Using my water pump pliers (nee Channellocks), I started loosening the connector. At least I thought I was loosening it. But then I realized that the outer yellow plastic ring was all that was turning, not the actual inner metal connector. It was not turning at all.

And then, suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this. It was déjà vu all over again.

I had been here before.

And the last time I actually to cut both the plastic ring and the metal connector off, using my oscillating multi-tool. This, because I couldn’t really force the connection since it was all mounted on a PVC pipe, which I did not want to break off.

And I also remember that to forestall this happening again, I used both Teflon tape and plumber’s grease on the connection.

Which apparently didn’t work very well.

So now I’ve got to dig out my multi-tool and cut this one off too.

Done for the morning, we headed up to Webster to have lunch at Snooze for brunch.

Jan had her usual Bravocado Toast,

while I got the Goldilock’s Porridge, a mix of steel cut oats, quinoa and millet simmered in almond milk and topped with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, toasted almonds and hemp seeds.

Really very good.

Thought For The Day:

Well, at least this way you will always know if it’s ‘Occupado’.

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