Monthly Archives: July 2022
More Unintended Consequences . . .
Tomorrow I have my 3rd Physical Therapy session, and I told Jan that I’ll probably do one more, next week, and then call it quits for a while.
By then I should have a nice repertoire of exercises to work with, saving me both the time lost at the class, and the $80 a month the sessions cost me.
Then after the class, we plan on lunch at SnoozeAM and a Costco stop.
Recently I’ve been reposted some old blogs that I wrote about “Unintended Consequences”
You know, like in British Colonial India when the government started offering a bounty for dead cobras, hoping to reduce the deadly population. For a while it worked . . . until people started breeding cobras so they could turn them in for the reward.
Then when the government scrapped the program, all of the now-worthless cobras were released, resulting in more cobras in the wild than they were to start with.
Oops!
Or when in 1859 an Australian imported 24 wild rabbits from England and released them into the countryside so he could hunt them. But apparently they could make new bunnies faster than he could shoot them, because by the 1920’s, less than 70 years later the population was estimated to be over 10 billion. That’s BILLION, with a B.
By the 1890’s they had devastated over 2.5 million acres of Australia. Today, due to heavy eradication efforts, the rabbit population numbers around 200 million.
And now it looks like they’ve done it again.
Back in 2019 New York state outlawed the catching of Atlantic menhaden using drawstring purse nets, hoping to increase the Menhaden stocks that were down from overfishing. But what they failed to realize was one of the other reasons that the menhaden stocks were down.
Sharks love menhaden.
And now that the menhaden stocks are flourishing, the sharks are flourishing too. And very close to shore.
This drone photo was taken over water only 3 feet deep.
And now six beachgoers have been bitten by sharks and there have been a slew of shark sightings from Rockaway Beach to the Hamptons, just in the past three weeks. On Wednesday, the corpse of a 6- to 8-year-old shark washed up on the beach in Quogue.
However, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, who sponsored the bill along with state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, said he didn’t consider the possibility it would lead to increased shark activity.
“I’m not sure that one could have predicted there would be the seriousness that this has become.”
And now scientists say the menhaden stocks are dropping again, not due to overfishing, but overeating.
By sharks.
it’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature.
Thought for the Day:
July 25, 2010
Hitting the road…
Today was our last day at The Rally, or half day really. I didn’t want to be trying to leave tomorrow morning along with 2000+ other rigs, so since there was nothing we wanted to see this afternoon, we decided to go ahead and leave. A few rigs have already started filtering out, and we won’t be far behind.
We did have a couple of early seminars this morning that we wanted to attend so we headed over to the hall about 8:30 am, and then afterwards, we did one last pass thru the vendor area, picking up a few last things.
Then it was off to lunch at Cottage Inn, the little local place we found the other day, except, apparently the Cottage Inn isn’t open on Sunday. So after a quick rethink, we headed over to Mark’s Feed Store, a really good BBQ place we ate at last Tuesday and wanted to try again.
On the way we came across another of the Louisville horse mascots
Here’s the one we saw the other day.
Mark’s Feed Store was just as good as last time, I decided to try a cup of burgoo, a local stew/soup in the Irish/Mulligan/Brunswick family. It had beef, pork, and chicken in it, along with corn, peas, and potatoes. Very tasty.
We also got an order of HoneyWings. These are chicken wings fried really crispy and then coated in a honey glaze. Really, really good, too.
On the way home from Mark’s we stopped off at a Verizon Wireless Store to get another case and belt clip for my Blackberry Storm 2, and the PO to mail a letter.
Back at the Expo it took us about 45 minutes to get ready to leave, and by 2pm we were on the road. But not too far.
We went only about 38 miles north on I-65 to the Yogi Bear Campground in Scottsburg, IN. Tomorrow we’ve got a 270 mile day over to Vernon, IL to spend a few days with Jan’s sister, Debbie.
Cody, WY
July 25, 2011
Buffalo Bill and Granny . . .
Today was another ‘play tourist’ day, so after coffee at the rig and a quick stop at McD’s for a breakfast sandwich we headed over to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
Today would be a ‘twofer’ with a 1 hour trolley ride around Cody, and then coming back to the Center to go through the five museums inside.
The trolley ride was fun and interesting, with a lot of good information from both Chuck, the driver, and Greg, the narrator.
It was interesting to discover that Cody (the town) was designed from scratch by Buffalo Bill to be a ‘tourist’ town. It was laid with very wide streets like the ones Buffalo Bill had admired when he toured Europe with his Wild West Show.
Also interesting was the story of his death and burial in 1917. He died in Denver, CO while visiting his wife Louisa. Cody hated Denver and its leaders with a passion, because they had once foreclosed on him due to a debt he owed.
His 1906 will stated he wanted to buried on top of Cedar Mountain just outside his beloved Cody. However when he died in Denver, the town supposedly paid his wife $10,000 to bury him there.
To the public they said that Cody on his deathbed had said he had changed his mind and wanted to be buried in Denver. The folks in Cody said “Yeah, right” and started hatching plans to steal his body back.
Hearing about this, the Denver leaders stationed the National Guard and a WWI tank at the grave. They kept this up for four years before finally sealing off the gravesite with 20 tons of concrete. You would think this was the end of the story, but it wasn’t.
Buffalo Bill died in January 1917 but wasn’t buried until June when the ground thawed out. Now as the story goes, a vagrant died in Cody who somewhat resembled Buffalo Bill, so the town mortician and several townsfolk got together and did some creative makeup on the vagrant’s body so he looked even more like Cody. They then put the body in a automobile, drove down to Denver, snuck into the funeral home where Cody’s body was being stored, swapped corpses, and hightailed it back to Cody.
They then buried his body on top of Cedar Mountain like he wanted, in a unmarked grave so Denver could not steal him back.
Now all this might seem kind of fanciful, but there was a break-in at the funeral home recorded in a police report, and apparently no one thought to look closely at the body, which although it looked like Buffalo Bill, was more than 6 inches shorter than Cody’s slightly over 6 feet.
Now this story didn’t come out until after Denver had concreted over the gravesite, so there was no way to really check.
But the people of Cody, WY say they know for sure.
My favorite part of the Historical Center was the Firearms Museum.
In the main hall they have over 1200 firearms on display, starting from the 1500’s to the present.
They also have rooms by manufacturer, with pretty much ever gun that Remington, Colt, Winchester, Browning, Savage, etc., have ever produced.
They also have a number of unique firearms, like the very first production M1 Carbine from Winchester in 1941. During WWII they made over 800,000 of these. I have one of these I got from my father.
Another very unique weapon is this Colt 1883 Gatling Gun.
It was acquired by Winchester in 1949 to test the feasibility of adding an electric motor to power it. This electric-powered Gatling Gun was the prototype of the M-61 Gatling Gun still in use on today’s military aircraft.
Except instead of firing 200 rounds per minute of .45-70 caliber ammo, the Vulcan fires 6000 rounds per minute of 20mm ammo (approx. .78 caliber)
I think one of these would be real nice mounted on the roof of our RV. Idiots would think twice about cutting me off.
Another little fact about Gatling guns. Custer had two of them with him at the fort before he took off chasing Indians, but he didn’t take them with him because he thought they’ve slow him down.
I imagine he was rethinking that decision a little while later.
According to the one of the museum displays much of how we see Indians of that era, tipis, warbonnets, warriors on horseback. etc. comes from Cody’s Wild West Show. But these only applied to a very few tribes of the Plains Indian.
I guess this is like supposedly much of the way we visualize Santa Claus today comes from Coca Cola advertisements of the last 100 years or so.
And apparently like many of today’s rock singers, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show did ‘Final Farewell Tours’ for a number of years. An ad in the Stockton Evening Mail of October 8, 1910 states that “Buffalo Bill Positively Bids You Good-By”. But 3 years later the show was still on tour around the country, including another show in Stockton 18 months later.
I’ve got a lot of other pictures but I’ll save some for later on a slow news day.
Leaving the Center about 2:30 we had a light lunch at McD’s before heading back to the rig to pick up Jan’s cat, Emma, and take her to the vet
Lately she’s been losing weight, always hungry, and always thirsty. She’s about 15 years old and we wondered if she had diabetes.
But after blood tests and $200 later, it turns out she had hyperthyroidism which should be treatable by a pill twice a day.
I do want to give a big thumbs up to Lifetime Small Animal Hospital here in Cody, and Dr. Erin Pedersen, our vet. She was great!
Two of our other friends recommended Lifetime and they were right.
After getting back to the rig, and a nice nap, we headed out for dinner about 8 pm, and ended up Granny’s Restaurant. It was very busy, and very good, just good down-home cooking.
Coming home we stopped off at Albertson’s to get a large disposable aluminum roasting pan to use as a secondary cat litter box.
Tomorrow we’re going down to Grand Teton National Park for a couple of days and this will make sure we don’t have any messes to clean up when we get back.
More tomorrow from Jackson, WY.
July 25, 2013
Three Things to Do When Visiting Mackinac Island . . .
1. Watch Where You Walk.
2. Don’t Step In Yellow Puddles.
3. Bring Plenty of Money.
After one of the muffins we got at Tim Horton’s yesterday, Jan and I headed about 50 miles south to St. Ignace, MI to catch the ferry over to Mackinac Island. To allow plenty of time to catch the 10:00 run, we left about 8:15. But making good time we got there about 9:15, just in time to catch the 9:30 trip.
Heading across the lake we found a lot of people already out there ahead of us.
One of the reasons we wanted to make the 9:30 or 10am ferry, is that these two make a quick detour over by, and under the Mackinac Bridge.
The two towers are 550 feet tall, and the suspended roadway between them is over 8600 feet long, making it the longest suspension bridge in the US, and the third longest in the world.
The supporting cables are 24-1/2 inches in diameter and made up of over 12,000 smaller cables woven together. And even though the roadway is open grillwork to let the wind blow through, the bridge can still sway up to 15 feet during high winds. Hopefully not this Saturday.
Finally approaching the island, the first thing you can really see is the world-famous Grand Hotel, site of two movies, including 1979’s “Somewhere In Time” with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.
Pretty much everywhere you look is a postcard view.
Getting our feet back on dry land, we spent some time walking the streets and checking out the scenery.
There are flowers everywhere you look.
Except for two police vans and three fire trucks, no motorized vehicles are allowed on the island. So this wagon is the UPS delivery van. There is a driver for the wagon, but a real UPS guy in his brown shorts actually delivers the packages.
And this is why you need to watch where you walk when you’re on the island. I also think it’s why the flowers are so bright and the grass is so green. They’ve got to do something with all that ‘fertilizer’.
Taking the Carriage Tour, we drove past the Grand Hotel, the only hotel I’ve ever seen that charges you $10 just to walk into the place. Needless to say, we didn’t visit.
Our next stop along the tour was Arch Rock that looks down on the beach way below.
Finally leaving the carriage tour at Fort Mackinac, we decided to have lunch at the Tea Room there that overlooks the harbor.
One of the other ferry companies uses jet boat ferries, giving them this distinctive “rooster tail”.
There’s even this beautiful two-masted schooner tooling around the harbor
Sometimes there are so many ferries coming into the harbor it’s almost a traffic jam.
Looking down from our restaurant perch, seeing all the neat, colorful houses, manicured lawns, and brilliant flower gardens, I almost expected to see a large white ball named Rover go bouncing by.
Walking back down the hill from the Fort, we once again walked along the quaint streets, checking out the many shops, even stopping to buy some of the famous Mackinac fudge from Murdicks.
Later we spent an hour or so sitting in the rockers on the big front porch of the Lakeview Hotel, just people watching. Very nice.
A little later we caught the 4pm ferry back to St. Ignace on the mainland, giving us this great view of the Mackinac Bridge, a bridge that we’ll be crossing in our rig this coming Saturday as we head for Elkhart.
Before getting back on I-75N we stopped for gas, giving Jan a thrill and ending her day on a very moosey note.
Taking our exit off I-75 into Sault Ste. Marie, we drove through a nearby Holiday gas station to check out rig access to tank up with diesel when we leave here on Saturday.
July 25, 2014
Damned If You Do . . .
For dinner Jan heated up our Chili Hot Dog dish from the other night, She added another can of Wolf Brand Chili to stretch it out some, as well as some more heat. Along with some garlic bread, it was a great meal.
And Damned if you don’t:
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a big drought going on out in California. And the state has asked people to cut back on water usage, especially for watering your lawn.
So this couple tried to do their part by taking shorter showers, doing bigger wash loads, and only watering their lawn twice a week.
And the State of California Water Board has now authorized fining people up to $500 a day for wasting water. In fact the Board Chairwoman said, “A brown lawn should be a badge of honor because it shows you care about your community.”
But now the city of Glendale is threating to fine the couple $500 because their lawn is brown and not green.
Your Government At Work.
Under the heading of “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”, check out this video of orcas racing a speedboat off the coast of Mexico. But not only chasing, but keeping up with the speedboat.
Thanks to David Cross for posting this.
We’ve been really surprised with what Landon is learning at his daycare. (He says it’s not daycare, it’s SCHOOL!) And I think he’s right.
Not only has he learned his numbers, his colors, and the alphabet, but right now they’re talking about the Revolutionary War, and learning the 13 Colonies.
And he won’t be 4 until next month!
Still At Cherokee Landing Thousand Trails
July 25, 2015
Code? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Code!
A little before 3pm we lost power to the rig, so after waiting a minute or so to see if it would come back on, I when outside to check the pedestal. I expected to find a popped breaker like we had earlier in the week. But both breakers were fine.
So next I double-checked our Progressive EMS to see if it had a problem, but it was dead with no power coming in. Looking at our neighbors 3 sites over, I could see they had an oscillating fan going, so they had power.
I then took my test plug and found that the sites on either side of us also had power. So it was just me. Then after I called the park ranger, I ran my AC breakout extension cord over to the empty site next door so we’d have at least one AC running while we waited.
Jason, the ranger, showed up about 10 minutes later and I saw him doing something at a large tree two sites over.
So that explains it. Our electrical system here at the park is run by Keebler Elves. But it turns out it’s even worse than that.
I walked over to see what he was doing and found a main breaker box on a pole right beside the tree. So, no Elves, I guess.
Looking over Jason’s shoulder as he reset our breaker, our 30 amp breaker, I asked him about these ‘fake’ 50 amp sites. He laughed and said they, ‘the park’, didn’t want to spend the money to upgrade panels for 50 amp service, so they just put 50 amp receptacles in the pedestals, but kept the 30 amp breakers. So we have this ‘50 amp pedestal’.
But wait, it gets worse.
It turns out that this ‘50 amp’ pedestal is actually being fed by the 30 amp one behind it on the same post.
And by ‘fed’ I mean it goes through the same 30 amp breaker that also feeds the 30 amp receptacle in the box.
So what we have is a 30 amp breaker in the main breaker box feeding through another 30 amp breaker in the 30 amp box and then through another 30 amp breaker into the 50 amp receptacle.
Note the cable looping between the two boxes, even though both boxes are also being fed via conduits from underground.
So even using my AC breakout, everything was still running off the same 30 amp breaker, or breakers, actually.
Whoever decided to wire things up this way wouldn’t know the Electrical Code if it bit him.
“Code? We don’t need no stinkin’ code!”
I’m really surprised the whole thing doesn’t just burst into flames.
So I told Jason I was going to keep my AC breakout hooked up to the pedestal next door, and he said he’d tell the office to take the site out of service until we leave next Sunday.
Hopefully it’ll all hold together for the next 7 days.
Leaving For Alabama
July 25, 2016
Simple, Quick and . . .
Delicious.
Just to keep an eye on things, I checked my electric meter yesterday to see where I stand at the 3 week point. So far I’ve used 1316 KWh’s which at $0.12 a KWh gives me a total of $158, a $50 increase over last week. So I guess I’m looking at about a $200 bill when we leave next Sunday.
About 2pm Jan and I drove into Columbus for a Whataburger lunch and then a few things at Brookshire Bros, as well as a lottery ticket for Wednesday’s nights Powerball drawing for $422 million. You can’t win if you don’t play.
Of course even if you do play, you probably won’t win.
Coming home I swung by the Colorado Oil Co Co-op to check the price of their diesel. Until recently it was always the cheapest place in the area, but not now. In fact now they are one of the highest. Don’t know what happened.
But maybe that’s why their diesel digital price sign no longer works. Which is why I was checking it out at the pump today. We want to top off our rig’s tank before we go too far so we don’t take a chance with our generator and AC’s quitting when we head to Gulf Shore this Sunday..
And once again, while Brookshire Bros. has diesel for $2.03, Colorado County was at $2.09. No wonder their sign doesn’t work.
Getting into the park, it started to rain, coming down fairly heavy for about 30 minutes. The really nice thing was that it lower the temperature all the way down to 82 degrees. Nice!
Then about 7:30 the bottom dropped out for a while, with a lot of wind and thunder. And then this knocked the temp down to the high 70’s. Nicer!
After we got home Jan whipped up one of her Pineapple Angel Food Cakes. Just combine a box of Angel Food Cake Mix and a 20 oz. can of Crushed Pineapple, juice and all. Mix it up and dump it into 9” x 13” ungreased cake pan. 350° and 30 to 40 minutes later you’ve got this.
As I said, Simple, Quick, and Really Delicious! Especially with some whipped cream on top. YUM!
Give it a try.
Our daughter Brandi says this is her serious “I mean business” face. I guess she was psyching herself up for the 5K (3.1 miles) Blacklight Run 2016 that she did Saturday night. She did say she ditched the ears after about a mile.
She said she’s going to do a half-marathon (13.1 miles) sometime in November. I know she’ll do it.
And apparently she wasn’t too tired, since she, Lowell, and Landon spent Sunday afternoon at the nearby Typhoon Texas waterpark in Katy.
July 25, 2017
Down To Clear Lake . . .
We were up about 8am and out the door at 8:45, for our two hour trip down to Clear Lake to meet up with our son Chris.
But our first stop was the Jack in the Box so Jan could get a Supreme Breakfast Croissant and me a Iced Caramel Coffee for the road. Then it was to Brandi’s.
We were hoping that the new Katy Buc-ee’s might be open, but no luck. But maybe when we get back from Alabama
Getting to Brandi’s, we found Lowell finishing up yard work before he headed up to Dallas on a business trip. While we were there, Jan took several photos of me so I can add myself to the Reunion Family Photo. More later
We also picked up our Amazon order that was delivered on Saturday. One thing new was the fact that this was actually delivered by Amazon themselves, not UPS, FedEx, or USPS. And just to prove it was delivered, they send you a photo with your tracking info.
We met our son Chris at King Food a little after 11 for a great lunch. Jan and I both gat our usual Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce XXXXXX Spicy with Jalapenos.
And it was a big enough serving that we had leftovers for supper tonight. Finishing up we followed Chris back to the house to pick up our mail, and also our rearview camera monitor bracket that he welded back together for us.
Getting there we were happy to find Miss Piper home early from work so we got to see her before we headed out. And after a stop at the bank and a nearby O’Reilly’s, we were on our way back to Columbus.
Leaving the Katy area we got a good look at Amazon’s new fulfillment facility being built just west of Katy.
At 1 million square feet, it’s the 3rd one here in Houston, with a 4th one right behind it. When it’s finally open, I wonder if they’ll have a Will Call desk so I can just drive over and pick up my orders.
We got home about 3:30, and started getting ready to head out to Alabama tomorrow.
July 25, 2018
Taken For Granite . . .
Ended up spending part of the morning at work helping my client’s wife on a problem she was having with her laptop.
Most of it due to the fact that her laptop is circa 2000 and is running Windows XP! The system is maxxed out on RAM at 1GB, fine for when it came out, but today’s programs are much more RAM-intensive, and 1GB just won’t cut it.
I’m trying to get her set up with something newer, but she is really reluctant to switch to a new computer.
I also found out that I’m working both tomorrow as well as Friday because my client will be out both days taking CE courses for his medical license. I will have to duck out for a while about 1pm to meet the last potential buyer for our house, and then we’ll probably make a decision this weekend. But we’ll see how that goes.
Several readers have asked about Karma the cat.
She doing fine, and as of our last RV trip, she’s finally settled down and doesn’t run and hide when she hears the rig engine start up. Now she either lays on the rug between our two chairs, or sleeps on the sofa.
And she’s grown up to be a good-sized girl, at 13.2 pounds. We know her exact weight because the digital scale in the bathroom is one of her favorite places to sit.
And when I’m at the computer she normally sleeps on her perch right beside my chair.
And she’s turned out to be a much better kitty than I had expected from a half-feral stray.
Chris’ wife, Linda, sent over some pics of their new home up in Kingsland, TX, and it looks like it’s really coming together.
And they’ve got Tonto, the real wooden Indian, in his new spot out on the front porch (shouldn’t he be called Kaw-Liga?).
And this is what 3-1/2 TONS of crushed granite looks like. Chris hauled it in, got it unloaded, spread out, and leveled.
Really looks great.
You all now I can’t resist a new toy, and this is my new one.
It’s a Digital Voltage/Amp Meter that I want to connect up to the rig’s shore power input. Actually I got two of them coming in from Amazon, one for each leg.
My Progressive EMS has an ammeter indicator on it, but it’s out the electrical bay. The newer models have a remote display but it wasn’t available when I got mine.
I’ll mount these back in the bedroom, probably connected to the output of the transfer switch. That will let me monitor both the shore power and generator power. Of course that assumes that I get it working again. LOL
Last up, here’s a neat website that lists RV Salvage Yards by state around the country. Check it out.
July 25, 2019
All Alone Am I . . .
Well, not completely, Karma’s hanging around too.
Jan and I headed for Katy about 1:30 with our first stop the El Pollo Loco just off I-10 south on Mason Rd. Jan wanted to stock on a couple of their 2 Piece White Meat Chicken Meals with Pinto Beads and Side Salads.
Then it was a little further south on Mason to the HEB for more Pet-Sitting survival supplies. For my part, I was happy to encounter the sales guy for the our favorite Lola Savannah coffee.
Told him that our HEB at I-45 and FM646 no longer stocked their coffee, and we had to go to another location to pick it up. He noted the address and said he’d check it out, since all HEB are contracted to carry it.
He also told me that they’re introducing some new flavors, and gave me a 1# bag of one of them, Cinnamon Stick. Since all their coffees are only sold as Whole Bean I went ahead and ground it up right there. And the smell was just fantastic.
Like their Texas Pecan has big chunks of pecans in it, the Cinnamon Stick has large pieces of cinnamon bark in it that get ground up along with the coffee.
We got to Brandi’s about 3:45, and after I got all her stuff unloaded, I got her laptop and Kindles logged in the house WiFi, and her device charger hooked up to keep her phone and Kindles topped off with juice.
A little later, after Lowell and Landon showed up, we drove over to have dinner once again at Astor Farm to Grill. Our first visit was when we were on the way from our Waco trip about a month ago after getting together with our long-time friend’s Bill and Carol Alverson, and Bill’s cousin June.
Jan got the same thing this time as last, the Lemon Chicken Breast with a side salad,
I went with something new, the Monster Pork Chop with Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Squash. as well as their homemade BBQ Sauce made with McCallan Whiskey.
Delicious, and the first time I’ve ever gotten a little buzz from a pork chop.
Back at Brandi’s I killed a little time to let the traffic die down, finally getting back to the rig about 8:30, about 15 minutes late due to road construction at FM517 where I normally get off I-45.
Tomorrow I start hitting my chore list.
Oh Boy!
I mentioned that Brandi, et. all, are going to Costa Rica for a week, leaving tomorrow afternoon. Which is why Jan is pet-sitting.
But this afternoon we finally got a look at where they’re staying. And all I can say is WOW! This place is fantastic!
It’s the Manuel Antonio 10 Bedroom Villa.
There are a total of 17 people going down so so they’ll need the room.
And it comes complete with a chef and a sous chef. And just about anything else you can think of.
Click on the link above for all the amenities and more photos.
Landon’s looking forward to all the monkeys that will come to the porch to get treats.
July 25, 2021
Sour Grapes ?
After we sat outside with our coffee this morning I prepped our Weber 200 grill for the hot dog roast this afternoon. Actually the prep just consisted by wire-brushing off the charred remains of our BBQ ribs from a few weeks ago. And it still smelled really good.
Since 2004 and up until July 20th of this year, the FAA said that a person who flew above 50 miles, or 80km, was entitled to Commercial Astronaut Wings.
Yes, there was that little quibble about outer space not really starting until 62 miles, or 100km. But the rules are (were) the rules.
At least up until July 20th.
On July 9th Richard Branson, along with 5 others flew a 53 mile high sub-orbital flight on his SpaceShipTwo, qualifying them all for Commercial Astronaut Wings.
At least up until July 20th.
Then on July 20th Jeff Bezos and three others, including both the youngest (18) and the oldest (82) crew members ever, flew over 62 miles high, again on a sub-orbital flight. Qualifying them for both Commercial Astronaut Wings and the honor of actually making it above the Kármán Line (62mi/100km) and officially into outer space.
At least up until that same July 20th. That’s the day that the FAA suddenly decided to change the rules.
Now you have to fly above 50 miles and that would-be astronauts must also have “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety,”
Well, I’m sorry, but I think ‘civilians’ putting 10 people ‘safely’ into space and bringing them ‘safely’ back to earth should qualify. Plus the rules weren’t changed until after Branson’s flight, so he and his crew should still qualify.
Otherwise it just seems like Sour Grapes. I mean, the last time NASA even put anybody into space was 10 years ago, in 2011 with the last shuttle flight. Since then all US astronauts sent up to the ISS went on Russian rockets, or more recently, on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, another one of those ‘civilian’ companies.
I may need a new front AC or maybe not. Sometime during the afternoon our front AC just up and quit. Every now and then over the last couple of days, Jan and I both thought we smelled something electrical getting hot, but I was never able to narrow it down to a specific location.
At first I thought it might be a bad breaker, but when I switched it over to another one, it popped back off immediately. So my first thought was that the AC compressor had a dead short.
But then I got to thinking that the AC compressor shouldn’t be coming on then anyway because the AC was turned off at the thermostat. Plus even if it were turned on, there’s a 2-3 minute delay when you put power back to the unit before the compressor would come back on anyway.
So now I’m wondering if it might be the same control box up inside the unit that I replaced back in March after it burned out.
So I’ll pull it down tomorrow and take a look at it.
But I’m beginning to wonder if there’s not a problem with these boxes, since everywhere I’ve looked online either shows them Out of Stock or Back-Ordered.
If it’s a burnout relay like the last one, I may end up kludging in a new one. I’ve got the schematic of the box,
so the first thing I’ll do is short across the NO and COM wires on the Compressor Relay. If the AC comes on, then I’ll know it’s not the AC Compressor, but the Compressor Relay.
But if I get a big, blinding arc, then I’ll know the AC compressor is shorted, and I’ll be looking at $800 or so for a new rooftop unit.
We actually weren’t too uncomfortable today. Our rear AC is ducted to the front. Plus the humidity was low and with all our fans running, it only got up to about 83° in the rig, so not too bad.
I did go ahead and grill the dogs and brats outside and they were delicious.
And we’ve still got enough for a couple of more meals.
Thought For The Day:
The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.
A Better View . . .
Jan and I were off for lunch a little before 1 heading for Gator’s Bar & Grill over on the Interstate and FM517.
Jan went with her latest favorite, the Keto Birria Pizza, after starting with a House Salad.
The pizza crust is made from shredded cheese grilled into a crust, then it’s covered with shredded beef covered in Birria sauce and more shredded cheese.
And of course, more Birria sauce for dipping.
For my part, I went with something completely different, starting with a cup of their new Cilantro Beef Soup.
Really good, and a new favorite.
For my meal, I went with their Apple Chicken Salad.
It’s hard to tell from this photo, but it’s a big bowl, about a foot across, filled with big chunks of chicken breast, apples, grapes, pecans, and celery.
Really good, especially with their house-made Blue Cheese dressing.
YUM!
Then next it was on up the feeder for our weekly visit to HEB, finishing up with a stop at the Post Office for the mail, before getting home about 3pm.
A nice day!
I mentioned a while back that Rob, our park owner, had bought the property right next to us to add some new sites.
This has been our view for the last 5 years since we arrived.
But all of this should be gone by the end of August, all the old vehicles, the sheds, and the trailer.
The view will certainly be a lot nicer.
Thought for the Day:
July 24, 2010
The Rally – Day 3…
Today started out with another round of seminars and vendors. Jan went to one about “Cooking with a Microwave Convection Oven” while I perused the vendor exhibits some more
At noon we met up for more corn dogs and fries. We like corn dogs, what can I say. I also had a ear of fresh roasted corn that the people from Progressive Insurance were giving out for a $1 donation to their charity.
At 1pm while Jan attended a talk by Bradd & Hall RV Interior Renovators, while I spend some more time at the PacBrake booth talking about the problems with my unit.
I was looking at buying the PRXB PacBrake upgrade and installing it myself. This would save me $200, and I figured by replacing the entire unit, that would fix my non-functioning PacBrake..
It looked like an easy replacement. Just loosen the two clamps shown below and the unit should come right out.
The problem was that we couldn’t figure out which unit I needed. The metal tag in the photo above should have had the model number on it, but it didn’t. Only the serial number.
Finally they offered me a good deal on letting them install the unit. This way they could take all the different possible units over to our rig, and, after removing the old one, install the correct one.
I ask how long it would take, and they said “about an hour”. I said “Go for it”.
One thing I was interested in is shown in the graph below. Unlike my old unit (when it was working) and PacBrake competitors, the PRXB doesn’t not need high RPM’s to work well.
True to their word, 45 minutes after starting, the mechanic was done. I’m really looking forward to trying it tomorrow when we leave.
We’ll see.
About 4 pm we headed out for supper at one of our favorite BBQ places, Famous Dave’s BBQ. And as usual, we had enough left over to take home for later.
Leaving Famous Dave’s we stopped off at WalMart for a few things before heading home.
Then about 6pm we drove over to the concert hall to see Super Diamond, a very good Neal Diamond tribute group.
After a great show, we got back home by about 8:30 and were in for the night.
Tomorrow, after attending the morning events we’ll head out a little early. I’d rather not wait until tomorrow morning when 2000 rigs will try to all leave at once.
Cody, WY
July 24, 2011
Something I never thought I’d hear in a Mexican restaurant !
Got this photo from a postcard. It shows a full shot of Jimbo, the 106 foot Supersaurus at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.
That’s one big dino.
And this is a little paleontologist humor from the staff bulletin board at the Dino Center.
Today was a do-nothing day for us, and after a couple of very busy days, we really needed it.
After coffee at 10 and lunch about 11:30, Jan napped and read, while I spent some time planning our trip to the Tetons later this week.
After a little research I found a Motel 6 in Jackson, WY for a $110.00 A NIGHT!
WOW! They’ve forgotten the whole concept of what the 6 in Motel 6 stands for.
We’ll go down on Tuesday, stay two nights, and then come back on Thursday.
We thought about taking the rig down, but RV sites in the area are $75 – $85 a night plus about $200 in diesel for the 360 mile round trip. So it’s still cheaper to pay $220 for the room plus much less gas for the toad.
About 5:30 we headed out for dinner, and decided to try La Comida, a Mexican restaurant right across the street from Zapata’s, where we ate our first night here.
And compared to Zapata’s it was a mistake. The chips tasted like they came out of a 50 pound bag from Sam’s Club or Costco. And I would swear the salsa came from ‘NEW YORK CITY”.
And when Jan ordered the Deluxe Nachos, I heard something I never thought I’d hear in a Mexican restaurant. She noticed on the menu that the nachos didn’t come with jalapenos, so she asked the waitress if she could have them add some.
And the waitress said, and I swear I’m not making this up, “I’ll see if we have some”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Well, at least they don’t put black olives on their nachos like some places up north do.
Coming home, we walked over a couple of rows here in the park to meet Sherry and Charley Dilworth. They had heard from Lu and Larry Tillotson that we were here and left a card on our door saying they wanted to meet us.
We spent an hour or so getting to know them and had a great time.
Coming back to the rig we meet our next door neighbors, Beth and her husband. I’m sorry but I didn’t get his name. They’ve only had their camper for about 4 months, so they still learning about the RV life.
Tomorrow we’re taking a trolley tour around Cody, and then we’ll take in the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.
July 24, 2013
Border Crossings and Bushplanes . . .
We left for the Canadian side of the Soo Locks about 1pm. And after showing our passports at the border, we first headed down to the Bushplane Museum.
First up was this Canadair CL-215 firefighting amphibious water bomber, one of the premiere planes of the type.
It fills its tanks by landing at high speed on a lake or river, opening the tank fill doors,
and then waiting until water starts gushing out of this overflow outlet. In 8 hours they can may as many as a hundred bombing runs.
Whenever I see one of these old Bell 47’s all I can think of is “Whirlybirds”, an old TV show.
Next up is this replica Fokker Tri-Motor, built for the movie, Amelia, about Amelia Earhart. Although I never flew in one of these, I did fly in a Ford Tri-Motor a number of times when we were living in South America in the early 60’s.
Here’s a neat little homebuilt amphibian, an Esperanza 4.
And this is pretty much the “end all and be all” of bushplanes, the de Havilland Beaver. First designed in the 1940’s, over 1600 were built until production ended in 1967, with more than 1200 still flying. A real workhorse.
And RC-3 Seabee
And for some reason, they also had several old cars there. This the fabled Stanley Steamer, a car that I had never actually seen in person before.
Doesn’t look like you’d have to change the sparkplugs on this one.
The next two are a couple of Fords. The only problem with the car displays is that there was absolutely no info on them anywhere, I even asked some of the guides and no one knew the make or year of any of them. Bummer.
After seeing a couple of good films on bushplanes and aerial firefighting, we left the museum and headed north up PH17, looking for moose.
Yep, we were on another Moose Hunt.
Jan had been told there were a lot of moose about 20 miles north of town in the Mile Hill area. So off we went. But although we found the area with a lot of “Watch For Moose” signs, no moose.
Sometimes I feel like Coronado searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. They’re always right over the next hill.
On our way north we had passed a Boston Pizza, one of our favorites, and by the time we came back past, it was 4:30 and we couldn’t resist stopping for dinner. And as usual, we ordered the large Meateor, to give us plenty of leftovers.
On a related note, what is it with the northern Midwest and cold drinks. First, pretty much every place we eaten since Bend, OR never has any sweetener on the table. And after they bring you your drink, they don’t even offer. You have to ask for it. What’s up with that?
And I’m sorry, but ordering a glass of ice water or iced tea does not mean three lonely ice cubes floating on top of a glass of tepid liquid. It’s usually pretty cold up here. Why do they have to ration ice cubes?
Leaving Boston Pizza and heading home, we stopped off at a Tim Horton’s to pick up some muffins for our next travel days, and also got Iced Hazelnut Cappuccinos to go.
Except for having to wait in line behind a bunch of semi’s, we didn’t have any trouble getting back across the border. I guess Jan’s past hasn’t caught up with her yet.
As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow we’re going to drive down to St. Ignace and take the ferry over to Mackinac Island, and then the horse-drawn carriage tour around the island.
After we were home for a while, Brandi sent over a bunch of Landon school pics for this year. A real cutie. Can’t wait to see him in about 3 weeks.
Love the hat and bowtie.
Later, just as the sun was going down, I got this shot of a big freighter going by.
Don’t know what ship this is, but there are 13 1000 footers here on the Lakes, the largest of which at 1013 feet, is the Paul R. Tregurtha. The American Century we saw going through the Soo Locks the other day is also one of those 1000 footers.
Cherokee Landing Thousand Trails, Saulsbury TN
July 24, 2015
I Guess Jurassic Park Just Sounds Better . . .
After a nice quiet morning, Jan and I headed into the Memphis suburbs about 2:15 for a movie, dinner, and Wal-Mart, all about 55 miles away.
Our movie of choice was Jurassic World, the fourth one in the series. The basic premise is that apparently they didn’t learn their lesson 20 years ago with Jurassic Park, as I guess not enough guests were eaten in the original. So for Jurassic World, they build a new, bigger, better park with more snacks, I mean guests, and larger, meaner, genetically-enhanced dinosaurs.
What could possibly go wrong?
All this said, Jan and I really enjoy the movie, with its non-stop action that never really let up. The two main stars are Chris Pratt, who was in another recent blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Opie’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, both very good.
On the bad guy side of things, are two Law & Order: Criminal Intent alumni, Vincent D’Onofrio and B.D. Wong. Plus Wong was reprising his same character from the very first movie.
One thing funny about the title, even going back to Michael Crichton’s original book, is that none of the movie’s featured dinosaurs, I.e. T-Rex, Velociraptors, Mosasaurs, and Pteranodons, actually lived in the Jurassic era, which ranged from approximately 200 million years ago to about 150 mya.
No, they all lived in the Cretaceous era, from about 85 mya to about 65 mya, just in time to look up and see a fast-approaching bright light in the sky.
But I guess Cretaceous World just didn’t have the same ring.
Leaving the movie and extracting Jan’s fingernails from my arm, we headed up the road a few miles to have dinner at Jim & Nick’s BBQ once again, where our favorite server, Joy, greeted us with a smile and her usual great service.
We once again started off with the Sausage Appetizer,
which I probably wouldn’t have gotten if I had thought ahead to what I was going to get for dinner. Even Jan, not a big sausage fan, likes this sausage, but I think she likes the accompanying Pimento Cheese even more.
For our meals, Jan again went with The Pig in A Bun, and Mac N Cheese, the same thing she got last time. She says that the Mac N Cheese is really great.
For my part, I expanded my horizons and went from the 2 meat combo to the 4 meat combo, adding Beef Brisket and Hot Links to my original Pulled Pork and Ribs.
For my sides, I again got the Baked Beans, but added the Slow-Cooked Collard Greens instead of the Potato Salad. And I’m really glad I did because the Collards were delicious.
I was kind of curious about their Beef Brisket, since when we’ve had it here a couple of times at other places here, it was more like sliced roast beef covered in BBQ sauce. Not good. But Jim & Nick’s came thru. Although not exactly Texas Sliced Brisket, it was very close, and very good. I’m glad I gave it a try.
As usual, with the big platter, I had plenty to take home for later, probably enough for a meal for both of us.
I mentioned on our visit last Sunday that we’d spent some time getting to know Todd, the manager. But tonight we got to talk with the other manager, Tyler. As soon as we mentioned that we were RV’ers, he said, “Oh, y’all are the ones whose card is on the wall in the office.” A very nice guy.
And even nicer, he comped our deserts, a couple of pieces of their made-in-house pies. We got some last time, and they were great, so we couldn’t miss out this time. Jan said their Chocolate Cream Pie is probably the best she’s every had, and my Lemon Cream was fantastic.
I mentioned last time about their great Cheese Biscuits that they serve with the meal, so good in fact that we bought a bag of their biscuit mix to make some at home. And of course we got a bunch to take home with us. They’re great for breakfast with our coffee.
Finally starting toward home about 7:30, we made a Wal-Mart stop along the way. They must be having a gas war in this area, because both gas and diesel are very cheap, and the same price. At some stations, gas is $2.26 and diesel is $2.27, and in others, gas is $2.27 and diesel is $2.26. Either way it’s all dirt cheap. So I filled up the truck, and wished I had the rig here too.
We finally go back to the rig about 9:39 after another very nice day.
Life is Good!
Colorado River Thousand Trails, Columbus TX
July 24, 2016
A Doppelgänger . . .
With our last couple of really hot days, it’s easy to tell that cleaning the rear AC evaporator coil a few days ago certainly helped things.
It seems a lot of folks think that cleaning a coil like I did will give you cooler air. But as a matter of fact, the air might actually get slightly warmer. A clogged evaporator coil restricts the airflow through the coil, which means less airflow, less cold air, into the coach.
But the restricted airflow means less ‘cold’ is being pulled off the coil, so the coil gets colder and colder until it starts icing over, which shuts the airflow off completely. Most AC’s have a freeze sensor mounted on the coil that when it senses this is happening, it cuts off the compressor, leaving the fan running. This will quickly thaw out the coil and let the cooling resume.
Of course this is only a temporary fix and you need to eliminate the problem at some point. So with the coil clean the unit puts out much more, I.e. a larger volume of cold air,
Of course a couple of other things can caused the coil to freeze up. The most common one is just a dirty or clogged filter, anything that slows down or restricts the airflow.
For technical reasons that I won’t go into (booorrrring!), low Freon in your AC will also cause the coil to ice over.
One other thing that I noticed when I was on the roof listening to the AC cycle on and off is that blower fan was still in good condition. It wasn’t making any strange rumbling or growling noises as it turned on and back off, so the bearings are still in good shape. Hopefully it’ll last another 17 years.
Jan was jonsing for fried chicken today, so about 11:15 we headed into Columbus to have the Sunday lunch buffet at Schobel’s Restaurant. With Fried Chicken, Roast Beef, Sliced Ham, and Grilled Sausage, six different veggies, as well as both a Salad and Dessert Bar, and including your drink, it’s a really great deal for $10.95. And delicious too.
My cousin Joy, who lives in Tampa, FL, posted a photo of her cat on Facebook, trying to stay cool in the hot weather
And I would swear it’s Mister’s doppelgänger. Even to the same coloring.
They both look so much alike it’s uncanny. And Mister used to lay just like this too.
Colorado River Thousand Trails, Columbus TX
July 24, 2017
Maybe, Maybe Not . . .
I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on the new website. The client said they really like it, so we’ll probably go live later tonight.
About 3:30 Jan and I drove into Columbus, with our first stop the hardware store just off downtown for a couple of project items. Then it was on to Whataburger for dinner.
Since we’re heading to Alabama on Wednesday, we wanted to get our Whataburger fix in. Of course when we’re in Alabama we’ll be able to take care of our Sonny’s BBQ fix while we’re there. So it all works out.
For dessert we split one of Whataburger’s new Coffee Shakes. We first had one last week at the Willis Whataburger, and it was good enough to have again. And again. And again.
This is probably the best coffee shake we’ve ever had. I don’t know what they’re using for flavoring, but it reminds both of us of those chocolate covered roasted coffee beans you can buy. Really good.
Next was a stop at Brookshire Bros for a few things before we headed back to the park. We did stop at the office for a bag of the fire ant poison they provide. When we were parking after we got here yesterday afternoon, Jan was standing back by the driver’s side rear wheel guiding me in when she was swarmed by tiny red fire ants. A little later her feet swelled up some, and she had small red bumps all over her feet.
So hopefully this will take care of the problem for the next RV’ers.
We’re heading down to Clear Lake tomorrow to have lunch with our son Chris and pick up my repaired rear-view camera monitor mounting bracket.
On the way we’ll stop at Brandi’s to pick up an Amazon order and also have Jan take my photo.
When we had our family reunion last month I took this family photo.
But without 3 of the family.
Annisten (who was napping)
Me (I’m taking the photo)
Jim (Debbie’s husband who is beside me also taking photos)
But what’s a family photo without the entire family, so I’ve added Annisten, the little girl on the right in pink, and now Jim who’s to the right of Lowell in the back.
Then Jan got a photo of me standing in the right spot and with the same lighting, and then I was in the photo too.
The Amazon order I’m picking up is a remote control relay like this.
I want to use it to remote control our slide’s in and out. For some reason American Coach decide to put the slide switch in the overhead cabinet above the dining table, which means it’s kind of hard to reach for Jan, and even I have to stand on tippy-toes.
So it should be pretty simple to wire up. I’ll keep you updated.
Our daughter Brandi posted this on FB yesterday. This was her ‘trying to sleep in Sunday morning wake up call’.
I’m not sure which one is cuter.
Finishing up, I may have an idea on my rooftop AC problem, or I may not, but I won’t be able to check it out until we hit the road on Wednesday. I’ll let you know.
Selling Our House
July 24, 2018
Great Friends and Good Offers . . .
Jan and I were out the door this morning by 10:15 this morning, to meet the next possible house buyer that we had scheduled to give us an offer.
He was just the first of three that were coming by to look at the house. And then we have one more coming by Thursday afternoon. Then as it stands now we’ll probably be making a decision this weekend whether or not we’ll accept one of the offers, or proceed to Plan B.
A little later we met long-time friend Tricia at the Barcenas Mexican Restaurant right outside the subdivision. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her, and since she’s been traveling a lot lately it was good to be able to catch up.
Then after saying goodbyes Jan and I headed back to the house to meet up with the second possible buyer.
When he was finished I went ahead and took Jan back to the rig since it was going to be a while before the third guy showed up. And by the time he was finished, things were really looking up.
We are now up over $10,000 from the initial offer we got from the first guy this past Saturday. And we still have one more guy to go.
Here’s hoping.
I dug up one of those adapters that lets you use one of those little Micro SD cards in a regular SD slot on your computer. And when I did this, I found that the card worked fine. So the problem is apparently with my phone.
Chris and Linda are getting settled in at their new place up in Kingsland,TX and sent over some photos of what they’ve done with the yard.
Really looks nice. We’re hoping to get up there in the next month or so to see them.
On a completely different subject, has anyone else noticed disappearing Facebook posts on your timeline. It seems at least once a day I will be scrolling down through the posts and then I will see a post start to scroll up and then there’s a jump and the post just disappears. As far I can see the post are usually political in nature, but I don’t think they’re from the same source.
So has anyone else see anything similar? Let me know.
July 24, 2019
The Designated Villain . . .
Jan watches a lot of ‘reality’ shows, and her most recent favs, and Miss Piper’s too, are Below Deck and Below Deck: Mediterranean, showing on Bravo. In fact it’s become one of their highest rated series.
Jan usually watches these shows using headphones, but I catch bits and pieces, reading the closed captions while I’m on the computer. And I’m always amused on how ‘real’ these reality shows are. Or aren’t, as it were.
Jan was talking about a crew member that she doesn’t like, in this case it was Rocky, the 3rd Stew. She was always getting into arguments with everyone, causing a lot of problems and just stirring up trouble.
When Jan mentioned that she didn’t like Rocky, I said, “Did you ever think that was on purpose?”
Every single season on both shows, six seasons of Below Deck, and four seasons of BD: Mediterranean, has a Designated Villain or Troublemaker. And if you don’t think that’s deliberate, think again.
These shows all have to have some drama, otherwise most them would be pretty boring. It would just the ship’s crew catering and pampering their rich guests. And by RICH, I mean very rich. It costs between $140,000 and $300,000 PER WEEK to charter one of these 150 ft. to 190 ft. Super Yachts as they’re called.
And having done so much video production over the years, I always notice how the camera shots are set up, with so much of it obviously staged.
In one recent episode, Rocky, after having a big fight with someone, has a big blowup, strips down to her bra and bikini panties, runs to the railing and dives off into the water about 30 feet below.
Now you see all this from behind as she goes over the railing. But the next shot is the camera looking over the railing down at her as she makes a perfect dive into the water below. Turns out she’s a championship diver.
But the real question is where did that camera shot looking over the railing come from? There was no cameraman standing there when she leaped over. Which means she had to dive off the ship twice, once for the shot of her going over, and then another time for the camera looking down at her.
But it’s a reality show, right?
The only redeeming part for me is all the pretty girls in skimpy bikinis. But we won’t go there.
I sent my Panasonic Lumix FZ80 camera off to the Panasonic Repair Center up in McAllen to get it repaired. About a week ago when I got it out and took a couple of photos with no problems. But when I turned it off, it didn’t.
I tried to turn off and on a number of times with no result. The only way to turn it off was to remove the battery. So I tried leaving the battery out for a few days to let the internal power run down, hoping something might reset. But no luck.
Since I did purchase the Asurion 4 Year Protection Plan that Amazon offers on higher priced items, I first contacted them. But they turned me over to Panasonic since this should be covered under the factory warranty.
The Asurion policy covers any damage to the camera like dropping it or spilling something on it, with no deductible or shipping charges. A good deal at about $8 per year.
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be taking Jan up to Brandi’s to pet-sit until Sunday week while she and her family are vacationing in Costa Rica. Then after we all have dinner together I’ll head back home. Then it’ll just be me and Karma for the next 10 days.
July 24, 2021
Who’s ‘Brilliant’ Idea Was This?
We sat outside with our coffee again this morning, really enjoying the nice weather. Especially after all the rain we’ve had recently It was only about 80° with a nice breeze, perfect patio weather.
We were also admiring Flamingo Frank in Paradise (yes, that’s his name), Jan’s latest addition to the Flamboyance.
But because he’s a statue we decided he would look better on the patio rather than out with the rest of his buddies.
We left the rig about 11:30 this morning, with plenty of time to meet friends Janice and Dave Evans up at the Floyd’s Cajun Seafood in Webster. At least we thought we had plenty of time, but some ‘brilliant’ highway planner decided to put shut down the northbound side of I-45 to one lane. All three lanes. Down to one.
And, believe it or not, the southbound side, too.
So, on one of the first nice, rain-free weekends in a good while, they shut down the main road to and from Galveston.
Brilliant!
So our normal 20 minute trip took us almost an hour and 20 minutes. So Janice and Dave were already there when we finally arrived.
But we quickly got our orders in while we caught up with each other’s adventures.
Jan got her usual Grilled Catfish and Veggies, and a Side Salad. I was also thinking about getting the Side Salad along with my usual bowl of Shrimp Gumbo. But as I looked over the menu, I saw Floyd’s 19th Hole Salad. I think I’d probably seen it before, but I guess I’d never really read the description. But then the word ‘Wedge’ caught my eye.
So along with my Shrimp Gumbo,
I got this really good Wedge Salad.
Rather than being just a wedge, it was more like half a head of lettuce. And they really piled on the Bleu Cheese too. Really delicious.
It was really good to see Janice and Dave again, and we’re already planning our next get-together in August.
Coming home we decided to take Hwy 3 back down instead of the Interstate to avoid the 3 miles of bumper to bumper traffic.
But guess what?
Some ‘brilliant’ highway planner (the same one?) decided that this would the perfect time to narrow Hwy 3 down to one land going and coming for repaving.
So we were back in bumper to bumper traffic once again.
Brilliant!
With this past week being so busy, we’re just staying home tomorrow and grilling hot dogs and brats on the Weber grill.
Tasty.
Thought for the Day:
Word Play
Ignoranus : A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly
