Daily Archives: July 31, 2022
$556 MILLION DOLLARS!
A while back a couple of our blog readers asked why I always select the Annual Payments option for the lottery rather than the Cash Payment one.
Well, for starters, if you took the Cash Option for this past Friday’s $1.337 Billion Mega Millions lottery, you would have gotten $780.5 Million before taxes. Whereas if you took the Annual Payments, you would get the entire $1.337 Billion spread out over 30 years.
That means you would be giving up $556.5 million!
That’s a lot of money to give up for taking the Cash Option.
One thing I didn’t realize until recently is that the 30 yearly payments are not equal. Instead the payments are increased by 5% every year.
For instance, the 1st year payout, i.e. what you get initially after you win, on the $1.337 Billion is $15,294,064, while the 2nd year’s is $16,058,767. And by the time you’re at year 30, you will get $62,952,442. And these amounts are after Federal Taxes, but if you live in a state with a state income tax (Texas doesn’t have one), you would get less.
Now that way I look at it, what am I going to do with the $780.5 million Cash Payout that I couldn’t do with the $15+ million Year 1 payout.
And I’m still giving up over $556 MILLION DOLLARS!
And in case you’re wondering, yes you can leave your Annuity Payments to your heirs.
Jan and I headed out to Gator’s for lunch about 1pm. Jan got a Side Salad and the Keto Birria Pizza once again.
They call it a ‘Pizza’, but actually it’s more of a Quesadilla, with the Keto part being that the top and bottom layers are not made with tortillas, but with fried cheese. The inside is shredded beef soaked in Birria sauce, with more on the side for dipping.
Her new favorite.
I also started with a Side Salad, and then a bowl of their Cilantro Beef Soup. Also really delicious.
Then it was on up the feeder to HEB for our week’s worth of HEB stuff.
Then home for the night.
Thought For The Day:
“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” ― Elizabeth Taylor
July 31, 2009
Rainy day in Connecticut…
Today was a quiet, rainy day in Connecticut.
We drove over to Clinton, CT to mail a package and then on to Old Saybrook for lunch at The Log Cabin restaurant.
After lunch we headed to Walmart and then the grocery store.
And then home in a driving rain storm.
This evening Jan and I spend some time mapping out our path for the next month or so.
Looks like we’ll be taking two ferries between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and back, and it will probably take us about two weeks for the roundtrip to and from Maine.
We’ll see.
July 31, 2010
Chinese Food and a Big Fish…
We left Little Farm on the River RV Park in Rising Sun, IN a few minutes after 9 and headed north on US 127, arriving in Celina, OH about 12:15.
We drove into the Mercer County Fairgrounds and spent about 10 minutes driving around trying to find where to check-in. Finally saw a small sign in front of an RV parked over in one corner that said “Camp Host”.
Way to make it easy, guys..
We parked and got set up along the side of a barn with no problems, and settled in.
This fairgrounds is a lot nicer than others we’ve stayed at, and makes for a pleasant stay. We were here last September for a rally and really enjoyed it then too.
About 1 pm we headed out to China Wok Buffet, one of our top five Chinese restaurants, and it was as good as we remembered. After lunch we drove over to WalMart, and along the way we encountered “Big Bob”, “The World’s Largest Man-Made Bass”, a promotion gimmick for Grand Lake here in Celina.
Constructed in the 1800’s as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie Canal which connected the Ohio River with Lake Erie, Grand Lake was once the largest man-made lake in the world. Strangely though it covers over 13,000 acres, it’s only 5 to 7 feet deep.
And in case you’re wondering, Owen Falls in Uganda is now the world’s largest man-made lake.
After getting back to the rig about 3 and having a short nap, I got the satellite set up.so we could watch some TV.
Then about 6:45 we drove over to our other favorite restaurant here in Celina, La “Carreta Mexican Restaurant. They make a great Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Jan really likes their Grilled Chicken dishes. The chips and salsa are really good too.
Tomorrow we travel about 155 miles further north to Elkhart, IN, where we’ll be for a month.
July 31, 2011
The last time I was at 11,000 feet, I was on a plane . . .
We picked up Al and Adrienne about 9 am and then headed down the street to Peter’s Coffee for traveling food, coffee and muffins.
Hitting the road again, our trip took us back up into Montana on SR72 to Belfry (Yes, they have two belfries in town and the football team is called ‘The Bats’) about 50 miles north of Cody.
This was the route we came into Cody on a week or so ago, but luckily today we didn’t have to go far enough north to hit the 11 miles of one lane, gravel road construction we had to go through then.
At Belfry we took a left onto SR308 heading to Red Lodge, MT about 12 miles away. On the way we passed through the small town of Bearcreek, home of the worst coal mine disaster in Montana history.
On February 27, 1943, seventy-seven miners went down into the Smith Coal Mine. After an explosion later that morning, only three came out alive. And beside ending these seventy-four lives, the explosion also ended the local coal mining industry in Bearcreek.
Getting into Red Lodge, we took a bathroom break at the Visitors Center, and then did some shopping along the nice Main St. area.
On one corner was this old bank that’s now a ladies’ boutique. Waiting for Jan I took a moment to read the plaque on the wall in front.
And, lo and behold, this was a famous bank. On September 18, 1897, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and others of the Wild Bunch attempted “to make an unauthorized withdrawal from the Carbon County Bank.” The “withdrawal” went bad, and after an 80 mile chase, they were captured and returned to Deadwood, SD, where they later escaped again.
Leaving town and heading south on the Beartooth Highway we came across this store selling furniture and art made from juniper trees,
including this neat elk, and even a moose.
Really very nice work.
It didn’t take long for us start encountering the fantastic scenery and multiple switchbacks that the Beartooth is famous for.
This map picture shows just one of many switchback sections that takes you from about 5000 feet to just over 11,000 feet.
WOW!
The higher we got the more snow we saw. And looking at one of the snow fields I thought I saw movement, so zooming in with my camera I saw
this herd of Big Horn Sheep crossing the snow. This was above 9000 feet.
And we just kept getting higher and higher.
When we would think we couldn’t go any higher, we’d look up and see more switchbacks above us.
At one of the pullouts where we stopped to take in the view, we did see this marmot sunning himself on a rock.
Although they kind of look like a beaver or a big guinea pig, they’re actually a type of large ground squirrel.
Cute, though I hear they can be mean.
The views just kept getting better and better.
Finally we reached the namesake of the Beartooth Highway, the beartooth.
See it, it’s right at the tip of the red arrow.
Maybe this closeup will help.
We came across a lot of pretty flowers along the way, some of which only grow at high altitudes,
like this Sky Pilot Flower, that only grows above 10,000 feet, and also has a slightly ‘skunky’ smell.
Reaching our 11,000 foot peak, we started back down, with of course, more switchbacks and hairpin turns.
After our 50 mile journey on the Beartooth, we reached SR296 and took a left onto the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.
This 45 mile section had its own set of switchbacks, although we didn’t get near as high as on the Beartooth.
Finally we merged back into SR120, about 17 miles north of Cody, and headed home, getting back about 4:30.
After dropping Al and Adrienne off at their rig, we all met back at Proud Cut Saloon and Steakhouse for dinner about 5:30.
The steaks were delicious, but more important Jan and I had our first chance to try Rocky Mountain Oysters when Al ordered them as an appetizer. If you don’t know what they are, don’t ask.
First off, they were good, nothing like real fried oysters, which Jan and I love (raw oysters, too). More like fried slices of roast beef.
Actually I think they just prove the old adage that pretty much anything battered and deep fried will taste good.
After a great meal, Al and Adrienne came back to the rig to check out Jan’s Amish rug, and then we talked a while.
Finally, after saying our goodbyes and getting in our last hugs, they headed back to their rig. Tomorrow we leave for Billings and we probably won’t see them again until next March in Yuma.
After they left, I walked next door to visit with Jack Allen and Nell Dahl, who we had met before at a rally.
They wanted to say hi, and find out more about using South Dakota as a residency. I had a great time getting to know them better, and talking about our travels. I’m sure we’ll see them again soon.
Counting Down On Our First Year Of Gate Guarding
July 31, 2012
Tuscan Chicken and Drill Rigs . . .
The drill rig is finishing up cementing the last of the casing in and getting ready to skid? the rig over 25 feet to the next hole.
Although I’m not sure if ‘skid’ is the right word for moving something that weighs 300 TONS. More like ‘drag’ if you asked me.
I talked to the supervisor of the move today, and right now they’re planning it for Wednesday morning. He said they’ll use two big cranes, one on each leg, each pulling separately, so they can ‘steer’ it as they move. He also said the skid itself takes about 7 hours and he’d already done another rig earlier this morning.
I’m really looking forward to seeing this. I’ll try to get some pictures if I can.
Today, (Monday) Jan fixed a delicious meal of Crockpot Tuscan Chicken, along with a Peach Cobbler made using a yellow cake mix. Of course we have plenty of leftovers, but since tomorrow is Tuesday, we’ll be having Chile Rellenos from Galindo’s that I’ll pick up on the way home from getting groceries in Pleasanton. So the leftovers will have to wait a couple of days.
That’s about it for what’s going on here at Rancho Peggy (Peggy is the nearest town to where we are. I think it’s one store and a Post Office.).
Meeting An Old Friend in Elkhart
July 31, 2013
Choo Choo Trains . . .
First up, Brandi sent over this latest Landon-ism.
I was driving Landon to school this morning and up in the sky was a Hot Air Balloon. With all the enthusiasm I could muster at 7am on a Wednesday, I exclaimed, “Landon, look at the COOL hot air balloon up ahead!!!”
Landon, in his most non-enthusiastic, deadpan voice admonished, “Hot Air Balloons aren’t COOL mommy, Choo Choo Trains are COOL!!”
Ugh. My kid already thinks I’m a dork… LOL
Gotta love that kid!
Several people had asked where they can get one of the Pharmacy Prescription Discount Cards that I mentioned yesterday. You can get one free from here.
I also had some inquiries about gate guarding and how to get started, so here’s some more info:
When we started last year, we just showed up at the Gate Guard Services yard in Whitsett, TX and told them we wanted to gate guard. We did not call ahead.
We had heard to do it that way because they get so many calls and requests for info that they really don’t pay any attention until you get there in person.
We got there on Thursday, April 5th about 5:30, but every one had already gone home at the office. But the guy working the yard showed us where to park. They have 5 FHU sites and a number of places with power and water. There is no charge for parking there while you’re waiting for a gate or coming off a gate.
The next morning. I went to the office and got our info packets and fingerprint cards. We then drove over to Floresville about 20 miles away and got our fingerprints done at the Sheriff’s Office.
Then we had to drive down to Corpus Christi on Tuesday, April 10th to process our applications and take our security guard tests. We had to wait until Tuesday because they only process apps on Tuesday and Thursday.
Then 5 days later, on Sunday, April 15th, we were on our first gate.
Doing it this way will work in the Spring and Summer, but probably not as well in the Fall and Winter when the all the snowbirds are down in south Texas.
After a lazy, overcast day, Jan and I headed over to the King Wha hinese (The C fell off the sign) Restaurant to meet Al Hesselbart for dinner. After being greeted by the owner, Helen, who remember us from last time, we enjoyed a great meal. And along with the meal, we really enjoyed Al regaling us with stories of his two trips to China to consult with them about developing the RV industry there. In fact, we had so much fun it was two hours before we said goodnight.
Working our way back to the rig, we stopped off at Kroger’s for some things, got some gas for the truck, and some Powerball tickets for tonight’s 235 million drawing. Busy, busy, busy.
Tomorrow, with better weather on tap, we’re planning driving down to the Shipshewana area, and maybe Goshen too. We’ll see.
More Fun in Ohio
July 31, 2014
Wanted: $1000 Reward . . .
Today was another tourist day for us. so we all headed out about 10:30 on our way south, to Georgetown, OH. to visit President U. S. Grant’s boyhood home and other sites. So after a quick stop at the Post Office in Wilmington, we headed down US 68 for Georgetown, about an hour away.
Grant’s boyhood home was built in 1823 by his father Jesse, and Grant lived here until he was 17, and left to attend West Point in 1839. And in a strange twist, going to West Point accidently changed Grant’s name.
His real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant, but realizing his initials on his trunk would HUG, he was afraid he would be teased, so he submitted his application under the name of Ulysses Hiram Grant. But the Senator who recommended him, mixed up his name even further, submitting it as Ulysses Simpson Grant.
When Grant got to West Point, he found out they didn’t have an opening for Ulysses Hiram Grant, or even for Hiram Ulysses Grant, but they did have one for Ulysses Simpson Grant. So he decided his name was now U.S. Grant. Anything was better than HUG.
His father owned a tannery right across the street which is also still standing.
It’s amazing how much of the original furniture is still in the house.
Our next stop was right down the road where Grant attended school from 2nd grade to the 8th grade
And they’ve still got the desk he used.
And they also had this Wanted Poster for one of Jan’s ancestors. John Hunt Morgan of Morgan’s Raiders fame . . . or infamy, depending on which side you were on during The War of Northern Aggression.
Leaving Georgetown we headed further south down on the Ohio River to Ripley, OH, and the home of John Rankin, one of the leading Abolitionists during the period.
Rankin’s house sat on a high hill overlooking the Ohio, and served as a beacon for slaves escaping from Kentucky right across the river. Rankin’s home was one of the first stops on the Underground Railroad, and it’s estimated over 2000 slaves passed through his hands on their way to freedom.
Leaving the Rankin house and heading back down the hill, we encountered something none of us had seen before: A blonde squirrel.
This photo was taken through the windshield so the coloring is a little off, but in the sunlight he seemed to be the color of a palomino horse. And like a palomino’s mane, his tail was much lighter than his body, almost white. The Internet has a lot of pictures of these, but no real explanation as to what they are. They’ve definitely not an albino of any type.
After stopping off at Rankin’s gravesite in town, we made another cemetery stop up the road a ways to the grave of Rose Washington Riles, otherwise known as Aunt Jemima, or at least one of them. Apparently there have been 6 ‘official’ Aunt Jemima’s, and a bunch of regional ones. Reading online it’s a pretty convoluted story.
Heading west along the Ohio River, we stopped off at Point Pleasant, OH to check out Grant’s actual birthplace where he lived until the age of 1, when his parents moved to Georgetown
At that point we turned north, heading for Loveland, OH, on the eastern outskirts of Cincinnati, and after a quick stop at a Chase Bank we arrived at our dinner location, the Montgomery Inn. We had heard good things about their BBQ. And the menu said that every President since Gerald Ford had eaten there.
The ribs, their specialty, were pretty good, with a sauce that was different, but very good. However, the pulled pork was more like what we called ‘Chopped’ in Texas. And like we’ve encountered before up in this area, the Beef Brisket is more like Roast Beef with BBQ sauce on it, rather than the Brisket we get in Texas.
But the Ice Tea was really, really good. What can I say?
Our last tourist stop for the day was Loveland Castle, or Chateau Laroche. Unfortunately they were already closed, and good pictures were hard to come by, so I got these from their website
Construction was begun in 1929 by Boy Scout troop leader and World War I veteran Harry D. Andrews, who said this about the project:
“Chateau Laroche was built as an expression and reminder of the simple strength and rugged grandeur of the mighty men who lived when Knighthood was in flower. It was their knightly zeal for honor, valor and manly purity that lifted mankind out of the moral midnight of the dark ages, and started it towards a gray dawn of human hope.”
Apparently Andrews built the place pretty much by himself over the next 50 years, assisted by the Boy Scout troop he found, The Knights of the Golden Trail.
Reading about the castle and its builder on the Roadside America, Loveland Castle page, it kind of reminds me of Edward Leedskalnin, the guy who built the Coral Castle down in the Miami FL area.
Our last stop of the day was a nearby Barnes & Noble for a few magazines, before we finally headed home.
Another long, but fun day.
Still At Cherokee Landing Thousand Trails
July 31, 2015
Why Bother?
I finished my AC voltmeter install today, mounting it on the bottom of the cabinet right above my head, fastening it with double-stick tape. There are two AC outlets in the cabinet above, one of which goes off when the engine is running, and one that stays on, which is the one I plugged the meter into.
Today was the 3rd day of Jan’s 3 day migraine pattern, and she still didn’t feel like making the long drive in Memphis, so about 3pm Jan and I headed back into Corinth, MS to once again have linner, this time, at Ruby Tuesday’s.
One thing I noticed as we turned onto US72, was that the Exxon truck stop that had diesel for $2.37 yesterday, had it for $2.32 today. I had already thought about topping off our rig tank there, and this just makes it more attractive. But it all depends on how busy they are when we get there. Maybe it will go down even more by Sunday.
One of Jan’s favorite places, she loves Ruby Tuesday’s large salad bar, but we don’t eat there a lot because we don’t come across them very often.
We both had really good burgers and then added the Salad Bar for $3. A really good deal.
One thing we did was bring all our devices, two Kindle Paperwhites, my Galaxy Tab 4, and my Galaxy S5 phone, with us. With the mostly bad Internet here at Cherokee Landing, we wanted to update our Kindles with books we’d ordered, as well as apps on the two Galaxy’s.
But in the case of Ruby Tuesday and many other commercial Wi-Fi’s I’ve encountered, you’ve got to wonder why they even bother. After I started updating our Kindles, I noticed that it was even slower than what we have at the park when we’re on 1X. So using my Tab, I ran Speedtest.net and got a 712 ms ping, 0.10 Mbps download speed, and 3.1 Mbps upload speed.
I have never actually seen a ping that slow, and 0.10 Mbps download speed is just pitiful. But even worse, the 3.1 Mbps upload speed, 31 times faster than the download speed, almost certainly means the download speed is being artificially and deliberately throttled.
You might see this situation when a connection is severely overloaded, I.e too many people trying to use the connection. But since there were only two other couples there at the same time, and neither seem to be going online, I’m sticking with my conspiracy theory.
As I said, if you’re not going to offer a usable connection, then why bother?
Tomorrow is our last full day here at Cherokee Landing, so we’ll start putting stuff away and getting ready to roll on Sunday.
July 31, 2016
Poche’s and Gumbo . . .
We had a 307 mile trip scheduled for today, to Poche’s Fish N Camp near Breaux Bridge, LA, so we wanted to get an early start.
So we were up about 6:30, and I was pulling out of our site a few minutes after 8am, with Jan following in the truck. Our first stop was the Brookshire Bros. Groceries gas station in Columbus for $2.03 diesel, about 80 gallons worth.
It was easy in and out, with plenty of room to hook up the truck after we were done. The only problem was a really slow pump, so by the time we were done and hitched up, it was a little before 9. But as it turned, we were still on schedule, since I wanted to be on the road by 9 anyway.
Our first stop was at the Buc-ee’s in Baytown, right on the way. We picked up couple of their Cranberry Nut muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast, a couple of Cream Cheese Kolaches for today’s lunch, and a couple of Cappuccino/Coffees for the road.
Our next stop was supposed to the rest area just getting into Louisiana, but it was being completely rebuilt so we keep moving, finally pulling over for a bathroom break on a wide shoulder.
We got into Poche’s Fish N Camp a little before 3pm after a smooth trip. It’s a Passport America park, so $20 for a $40 a night park. Pull-thru site, 50 FHU and a concrete pad. Very nice. And a very nice view, too.
About 3:30 we drove into Breaux Bridge to have dinner at Pont Breaux, one of our favorite Cajun places. Under this name, and the previous one, Mulate’s, we’ve been eating here for almost 40 years.
Jan and I got our usual bowl of Seafood Gumbo,
and then Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce for dessert.
They have live music here, Cajun of course, and in fact the band was setting up just as we were ready to leave.
Tomorrow’s trip is a little shorter, a 165 mile run to Bay St. Louis, MS, and the Hollywood Casino.
Jan said she’s feeling lucky.
It’s Almost Sold
July 31, 2018
Just Batching It . . .
The high bidder on our house emailed over a copy of the contract all filled in and ready to sign.
Except that Jan’s name is not on it, and needs to be, since her name is on the deed as well as mine.
The contract is the standard Texas Real Estate Commission version so there shouldn’t be any hanky-panky with it. But just to be sure I downloaded a sample copy from the TREC website and compared the two, and found no discrepancies.
But there are still some parts that I don’t quite understand, so I’m going to check with a real estate lawyer just to be sure.
We’ve been needing rain and today we got it in spades. Over 3.5 inches here at the coach, and more officially in the area. And the lightning/thunder was pretty serious also.
About noon it started to come in buckets, large buckets. And the thunder was jarring the coach, so much so that it apparently jarred the DirecTV satellite out of alignment also.
I thought that when DirecTV went out, it was because it was raining so hard. But it was still offline when I got back home later in the evening and it wasn’t raining. So I set the dish to realign and got the signal back.
Jan and I headed out about 12:45, in the rain, of course. with our first stop at the Webster Rudy’s BBQ. Not for BBQ, but for a big jar of their coarse ground pepper.
We use a lot of it and theirs is really good.
Our next stop was our favorite East Star Chinese Buffet for lunch, great as usual. Then while Jan was getting her hair cut at the local SuperCuts, I stopped by my client’s to finalize things on the website for our August sale.
Next we headed over to the house to go through some boxes, and also wait for Brandi, Lowell, and Landon to meet us at King Food for dinner about 5:30. They were coming down to pick Jan up and take her back up to Katy to Landon sit. He’s decided that he doesn’t like his Day Camp so Jan’s going to stay with him the rest of this week and all of next week, until school starts on August 15th. I’ll pick up her this Friday, and then Brandi, et. all, will pick her back up on Sunday.
But until then, it’s just me and Karma, batching it.
Fun In Costa Rica
July 31, 2019
Monkeys, Toucans, and Sloths, Oh My!
I mentioned before that the one thing Landon was looking forward to on their Costa Rica trip was all the wild monkeys that live in the area. And it looks like he got his wish, and more.
And not just Monkey’s,
but Toucans
and even a Tree Sloth.
Here’s a video from Facebook of Landon feeding the monkey’s, but I don’t know if you can see it or not if you’re not on FB.
And what better way to top off a day full of Monkeys than with a Banana Split.
July 31, 2021
SD vs HD . . .
While we sat outside on the patio with our coffee this morning I was experimenting with the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone and it continues to amaze me.
This is a photo I took of a cardinal about 50 feet away using the standard 1X magnification. That’s the little red dot on top of the branch.
And this is the same shot using the 10X optical zoom.
What continues to amaze me about this camera is how good it is at knowing what I’m taking a photo of. I mentioned before how it knows that I’m taking a picture of plates of food, but yet if I pan off the plates and just shoot the table, the little food icon goes away.
And even when I took the 1X photo of the cardinal it recognized that the little red dot was an animal.
So how does it know?
A couple of days ago I posted a side-by-side photo of 4K video vs HD, so I thought I’d also post this one of SD vs HD.
To me, it’s a more noticeable difference than the one between 4K and HD. And at least we can stream HD now, but we’re going to have to wait for Starlink for the 4K stuff.
Jan and I had lunch a Gator’s Bar & Grill once again, and as always, really good. Then it was on up to Webster so Jan could pick up some stuff at the Big Lots. It’s been years since I’ve been in one, and it’s really changed. In fact, it’s more like a high-end Dollar General now, just bigger, with more stuff, and higher prices.
Our next stop was by the office to pick up an Amazon order that came in after I left yesterday, and then it was on up the street to Kroger to pick a prescription. And the cost, $6, just reinforced my decision to switch all our prescriptions to Kroger’s’ Pharmacy Plan. In this case the same drug would have been $24 at WalMart/Sam’s.
Coincidently our next stop was at WalMart/Sam’s for a few things before we headed for home.
All in all a very nice day.
Thought for the Day:
According to an audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Special Agents at the IRS accidentally shot their firearms 11 times between 2009 and 2011, and at least three of the cases “may have resulted in property damage or personal injury.”
In fact, these 11 ‘accidents’ were 3 times the number that they intentionally fired their firearms in the field.
Don’t you feel safer now?
