Monthly Archives: August 2022
Best Buds . . .
Jan and I were on our way out for lunch/HEB about 1pm. It’s been a while since we’ve both been to Pho Bar, though I had lunch here while Jan was up in Katy Landon-sitting.
And as always it was delicious, and we both had enough to take home for dinner tomorrow night.
Then it was on up to HEB for this week’s stuff. And then Tuesday I’ll be time for WalMart, and maybe Costco stuff.
One thing very noticeable about our time at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games yesterday was the very high noise level. But it did give me a chance to cycle through the 4 environmental settings of my BeHear NOW Hearing Assistants. However none of the 4, Indoor, Outdoor, Crowd, or Live Music did anything about damping the noise. So finally I just turned my BeHear off.
But that didn’t reduce the noise level that much. In fact it was still very loud even to my bum ears.
I’ve mentioned before that Sophie and Landon are best buds, and have been for a number of years.
They’re both computer nerds, and their birthdays are only 4 days apart, with Sophie being 4 days the older.
Until a year or so ago they were pretty much the same height, but as girls often do, she got her growth spurt early.
I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth repeating. About four years ago, while Jan and I were up in Katy Landon-sitting, we were out driving around and Landon was on his iPad in the backseat, and talking to someone. By himself
When I asked him who he was talking to, he said, “Sophie.” So I said, “But isn’t Sophie in Sweden visiting her grandparents?”
And he said, “Yeah, so?” Now that’s a long-distance call.
Kids today have it so rough.
My missing package, the one that had been orbiting around in Florida for almost two weeks, finally showed up the other day. Last seen over Hialeah, FL, it suddenly appeared at our front door with no intervening tracking. Apparently UPS is magic.
Since we were only subscribing to Acorn TV so we could watch the latest season of Murdoch Mysteries. And since we recently watched the last two episodes for this, the 15th season, I cancelled our Acorn membership last night. No use paying $6.48 a month for nothing, right?
But I was happy to read the other day that Murdoch has been renewed for a 16th season of another 24 episodes, though no word on when the next season will start up. But whenever is does restart, I’ll re-subscribe.
Thought For The Day:
“Understanding is a three-edged sword – Your side, their side, and the truth” – Ambassador Kosh
Bangor, ME
August 21, 2009
Cruisin’ to Nicky’s
Today was another very restful day.
I spent some time on the phone with American Coach concerning some upgrades to our coach I’m thinking about.
Going outside I was surprised to see another American Eagle like ours parked next door. Don’t know what year it is, but it’s newer than ours, since it has two slideouts. We’ll try to get to know the owners soon.
Then we headed out for a late lunch at Nicky’s Cruisin’ Diner, a 50’s style place with jukebox controls at every booth, and 50’s memorabilia on the walls. Food was good too.
After lunch, Jan wanted to drive around Bangor and its suburbs, so we spent an hour or so cruisin’ around.
After stopping off at Sam’s for some new wiper blades for the coach, we stopped back by Nicky’s for some of their soft serve ice cream. Uniquely, Nicky’s has 26 flavors of soft serve, where most places just have vanilla, and maybe chocolate, too.
Returning to the rig, we were again surprised to find ANOTHER American Eagle on the other side of the one from this morning. It’s unusual to find one other Eagle in a park, much less two.
We’re supposed to have rain tonight and tomorrow.
August 21, 2010
Your Landon Update for Saturday, August 21st
Latest Brandi and Landon Morrison Update.
Lowell (the new baby daddy) called a little while ago and said the doctors had been in to give Landon his checkup. They said he was A+ on everything.
YEAH!!!
Brandi might come home this afternoon, but it will probably be around noon tomorrow.
LATEST PICTURES:
Jan and Landon —
Landon with his full head of hair —-
About 2 pm I drove over to Goshen to pick up some things for the rig, and also check out a restaurant that looked good.
Near Terre Haute, IN
August 21, 2011
It’s A New Record!
We’ve been parked here at the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails Preserve since last Wednesday, and we haven’t left the park since we got here. In fact Jan hasn’t left the rig since we got here.
And that IS a record.
But tomorrow we head to town for a full day of stuff; a movie, hair and nails for Jan, Lowe’s and Radio Shack for me, Wal-Mart, Sam’s, and somewhere in there, dinner.
Like I said, a full day.
After coffee the first thing, and then lunch later, we work on a few of the things on our chore list, but really didn’t accomplish much. It was kind of nice to just take it easy today.
That’s about it for today.
Wrapping Up Our First Year Of Gate Guarding
August 21, 2012
Closing Out Another Chapter . . .
Well, we pulled out of the Whitsett Gate Guard Services about 9 pm this morning, closing out our 4 months of The Adventures in Gate Guarding.
It’s kind of hard to sum up in just a few words, but maybe the best way is just to say “It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard.”
More than anything it can be just boring. Based on our average of about 60 vehicles a day coming through the gate, and about 30 seconds per vehicle, we actually only worked about 30 minutes a day, and that’s for a 24 hour day. Jan read 84 books during the time, and I lost count of how many I read.
I’ll talk more about our time on the gate in the next few days, so stay tuned.
Following up on today’s trip, we stopped off for lunch at Fuschak’s BBQ in San Marcos. We’ve eaten here a number of times, but never in the RV. The parking lot was too small for us, but I was able to pull off to the side along a vacant lot.
Back on the road, about 3:15pm we pulled into the Lake Whitney Thousand Trails in Whitney, TX, about 50 miles north of Waco. After driving around a little, we found a 50amp pull-thru that was long enough so we didn’t have to unhitch the toad since we were going to eat at home tonight.
One “rut roh” moment happened about an hour into our trip when our Onan generator up and quit. And wouldn’t restart. We were running it so we could use the roof A/C’s.
It would crank and then catch for a second, before quitting. My first thought is a fuel problem. The filter was changed back in February, but it could be the fuel pump.
It was raining a little when we got here, so I’ll check it out tomorrow morning before we leave. It may be that I can’t do anything about it until we get to Celina OH. Luckily for us it’s getting cooler as we head further north so hopefully we won’t be too uncomfortable.
I’m back to daily blogging again, but this one is going to be short since I’m a little under the weather with a bad cough and a sore throat. Don’t think it’s a cold since I’m not stopped up or sneezing, so it may be allergies.
Tomorrow we’ll travel about 200 miles up to Mount Pleasant TX.
August 21, 2013
On To The Gate . . .
Today is our last day here in Houston for a few months and we still had some last minute things to wrap up.
Getting down to the Clear Lake area, our first stop was at a client’s office to look at a few problems that they were having. One of them I couldn’t do anything about because the client was trying to run a new piece of software on an old laptop running Win XP. He just couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t work. I told him he had to buy a new laptop at least once every 10 years or so.
Then after a quick stop at a nearby CVS, we headed over to the Friendswood area to get haircuts. I dropped Jan off at a SuperCuts and then I headed over to the barbershop I have used for about 20 years. I was in and out is less than 15 minutes (Hey, I don’t have a lot to work with), and went back over to wait for Jan.
An hour and a half later she finally came out. She said the place was jam-packed. Don’t know why it would be on a Wednesday afternoon. Maybe because school starts on Monday?
I then called a take-out order into King Food and we headed over there to pick it up. Brandi and Lowell have really been jonesing for KF Chinese since they moved up to Katy. So we’re taking a big batch up there to have a last dinner with them.
Finally on our way to Katy, we made a quick stop at a Sam’s Club to pick a few bulk things. The nearest Sam’s to where we’ll be gate guarding is about 60 miles away so we wanted to stock up on a few things.
We got to Brandi’s about 5:30 to find Lowell already there and then Brandi and Landon showed up a few minutes later.
After a really good dinner, Jan wanted to recreate a series of photos we had made of Landon sitting in the same chair with his big green frog.
Here he is at about two months. He’s not really sure what that is sitting next to him.
And here he is at about 7 months. Happy Go Lucky and the frog’s his best friend.
However now is a whole ‘nother story. Same chair, same frog, but now with a 3 year old. Here’s what we got this time.
And we only got the last shot right before he threw the frog at me.
After saying our goodbyes and getting last hugs from all, we headed home a little before 8. Tomorrow we’ll leave out about 9am, heading for Whitsett, TX and the Gate Guard Services yard about 255 miles away.
We’ve got several stops planned along the way, the first being at the Buc-ee’s in Luling on I-10 for coffee and kolaches. Then after we turn south onto I-37 at San Antonio, we’ll stop at the Pilot at exit 125 to top off our diesel. Last we’re going to stop at the Wal-Mart in Pleasanton to stock up on groceries, just like we did last year.
Don’t know yet how long it will be before we get a gate. Last year it was about 10 days, but that included driving down to Corpus Christi to apply for our Security Guard Licenses and then waiting for the OK to come back. That was only about 4 days, so we’ll see how it goes.
August 21, 2014
Hunkered Down . . .
First off, Jan wanted me to thank everyone for their best wishes on her good breast cancer checkup. She really appreciates the nice thoughts.
Jan and I started this morning with coffee and a couple of the Cranberry Nut muffins we got yesterday from Buc-ee’s.
Besides the fact that these muffins are delicious, they’re HUGE, about 5 inches across.
Now that’s not all muffin. But it does have a really nice overhang.
Buc-ee’s uses specially-made muffin tins that give you this wide rim. And the rim is part of what makes this muffin so good. It has a chewy, crusty texture that adds to the cake-like taste of the muffin body. And I don’t know if it makes it taste any better, but these are baked right in the pan, no paper cups used.
The rest of the day Jan and I just hunkered down and tried to stay cool. It hit 100 degrees today here in the Columbus area, and it’s supposed to be 101-102 for the next few days.
We picked up our Sunshield Vent Insulator covers at Brandi’s yesterday and installed them last night. And installing them just meant taking off the plastic wrapping and sticking it up in the opening.
It has a fuzzy fleece side.
And a shiny insulated foil side.
And as they say, keep the shiny side up.
And they do seem to make a difference.
But even with them, the rig AC’s run pretty much non-stop all day when it’s 100+ degrees, but the rig did stay comfortable. And we do have our sunscreen shades up on the windshield and side windows.
And when we’re on a gate, and it’s 108 degrees, then it’s even worse. Depending on where we end up this year, I’ve thought about getting small window AC unit to put in the driver’s window. A 5000 BTU unit should take some of the load of the rig’s AC’s.
We’ll have to see how it goes.
Yesterday was Landon’s birthday. You can see which one here.
They even celebrated his birthday at his school.
Although Landon’s real birthday was yesterday, the 20th, his big party is this Saturday. We’re really looking forward to it.
Rainforest Cafe
August 21, 2015
Clean Bill . . .
Although tomorrow is Landon’s Birthday Party, yesterday, August 20th, was his real birthday, so Brandi and Lowell took him to his favorite place, The Rainforest Café in Katy Mills Mall.
Looks like he really liked their version of his birthday cake.
Jan and I headed for Clear Lake this morning, leaving about 8am. We noticed as we drove into Columbus that the sky was really black to the south and east of us, just the direction we were going to be going. We made a stop at the Jack in the Box for a breakfast sandwich, and when we came out, the rain had started.
It just got worse as we headed into Houston, sometimes slowing us down to 30mph on I-10. But by the time we got onto the South Beltway it had started to clear up, and the sun was out by the time we got down to Webster.
Jan’s appointment was just a 6 month checkup for her past breast cancer, and everything was fine. So we were out of there in time to meet our son Chris at another of our all-time favorite places, King Food for lunch.
After our great meal, Chris headed home and we stopped off at Kroger’s for a few things before meeting up at Chris’ to pick up some gate guard supplies. Then after a Wal-Mart stop to pick up some more 150 pound strength rope for my upcoming AC project, we stopped by Starbuck’s for a couple of iced Cinnamon Dolce Lattes before we headed home.
Tomorrow we’re driving into Katy to Brandi’s about 9am to help her get ready for Landon’s birthday party. Then after the party we’re all getting together at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro to introduce Chris, Linda, and Piper to their great food.
On Our Way To This Year’s First Gate
August 21, 2016
Hawkwood and Indian Woods . . .
Jan and I headed out about 9am to have what may be our last meal out together for 3 months or so.
Unless the gate turns out to be like last year’s gate outside Carthage, TX.
We can only hope.
We had the great Sunday breakfast buffet at Schobel’s in Columbus, and then made a quick stop at Brookshire Bros. for a few last minute things. Coming back into the park, I stopped off at the office to let them know we were leaving a week early.
Hopefully my $56 that I paid for next week will show up in my HOA account (that’s what TT calls it) A while back I had some credited that just disappeared somehow.
I finally was able to get in touch with the Indian Woods Campground, the Passport America park outside Normagee that we were planning on staying tonight. Our full hookup site will be $12.50 and looks to be a nice park.
We pulled out of the Colorado River TT and headed up toward La Grange on US71 to get diesel before turning onto US77 and heading for Normangee. Getting close to town, we thought we saw the pad site, but I had a line of traffic behind me so I couldn’t slow down too much to check it out.’
But as soon as we got parked, we headed back to check out the pad, about 30 minutes back up the road. So now we finally got some more info about our gate guard site. It’s about 10 miles west of Normangee right off TX-OSR (Old Spanish Rd.). Jamie of Gate Guard Services said it’s a Hawkwood Energy site with a Nabors workover rig, and maybe the largest pad we’ve ever worked.
Looks like our spot will be heading in toward the PortaPotty right inside the gate. There are about 8 trailers on site, so it looks like they’re here for the long haul which bodes well for filling out our full 3 month stay.
Jamie’s going to meet us there about 8am to get us parked and set up with our support trailers. The workover rig is not on site yet, so I don’t know exactly when we’ll actually start. We’ll see.
We’ll head out from here a little before 7am to allow us plenty of time to get there by 8am.
More tomorrow from our new pad.
August 21, 2017
Silver Alerts and Beaver Nuggets . . .
When you’re driving along and see one of those Silver Alert signs,
do you check it out to be sure it’s not you?
Us too.
Jan and I spent the late morning and early afternoon watching the eclipse , , , on TV, starting with the beginning out in Newport, OR, where we’ve been.
One thing I found very interesting was the visibility of the solar prominences on the right side of the disk.
Here in Conroe, it started getting noticeably dimmer around 11:45, with totality (for us, at least, about 67%) about 1:15pm. The most obvious change for us was the fact that the AC was cycling on and off at noon, something that doesn’t normally happen in August.
I really liked this photo from Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute showing the totality here from one of their telescopes, again showing the prominences erupting from the sun’s surface.
The next total eclipse for the US is due in April 2024, with a path that includes Texas this time. So get your RV park reservations in early.
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon, on the phone and TeamViewer, setting up a client’s daughter’s new laptop, installing anti-virus, anti-malware, and iDrive online backup software, and taking off some of the crap that comes installed on new machines. It went very smoothly.
Finishing up, for those of you in the Katy area, the new Buc-ee’s there is now scheduled to open at 6am on Monday, the 28th, so your Beaver Nuggets craving is almost over.
August 21, 2018
Passports and Satellites . . .
Jan and I headed out about 1pm with our first stop at the Santa Fe Post Office to get a PO Box for our local mail. For the first time since we started RV’ing in 2008 we no longer have a local address.
We could have used our daughter Brandi’s up in Katy, but then it’s always a hassle getting it from her in a timely manner.
I could have it sent to my client’s like all my Amazon packages, but the packages are easy to separate out from their stuff. But mail maybe not so much. So a PO Box was probably the best idea.
And it turned out to be pretty painless. I was in and out in about 10 minutes. The only thing kind of funny was the fact that I need an ID with my photo on it and an ID without my photo on it. BUT it had to be one with and one without. When I tried to use my Driver’s License and my Passport, no dice.
But they did accept my auto insurance card, so I was good to go with a 5” x 5” for 6 months for $38. Not bad.
Then it was on up to the Clear Lake area to have lunch at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood. Grilled Catfish with Gilled Veggies for Jan, and Shrimp Gumbo with a side of the Grilled Veggies for me. Delicious as always.
Our next stop was Friendswood Post Office to renew our passports. They expired last fall, but we kind of forgot about them until we started planning our European trip. So we want to get a jump on getting them renewed. Turns out that we can do it all by mail, so we got the forms to take home with us..
Then it was by Sam’s Club for a prescription, followed by a visit to the Kemah Boardwalk area so Jan could get some new essential oils at Bodhi’s.
From what I’ve been reading, it seems like that DirecTV is dropping all their SD (standard definition) channels sometime next year. Although we already have an HD DirecTV we only got it for the bigger hard drive and more storage space. We don’t have HD because our Winegard CarryOut Dome won’t receive HD signals, just SD.
So I guess at some point I’ll have to replace it with a new HD dish, something more like this.
Certainly won’t be as convenient and easy to set up.
August 21, 2019
At It Again . . .
I meant to mention this yesterday, but somehow I left it out.
Yesterday was our grandson Landon’s 9th Birthday.
Hard to believe that he’s 9 ready.
I spent this morning before work looking at a YouTube video detailing a rear brake job on my 2004 Dodge Dakota, my Job One for tomorrow. Assuming it doesn’t rain like it did today, but they’re still only showing a 20% chance, so we’ll see.
Then this evening I watched a second one . . . and found out I wish I had watched it first. It’s been 50+ years since I’ve replaced rotors and I forgot about the fact that the rotors come covered in a lubricant to keep them from rusting.
I probably could come up with something to get it off, but I think I’ll make an O’Reilly’s run tomorrow morning for a can of brake cleaner spray before I get started.
I did tell them at work today that I might not be in on Friday if I couldn’t get the truck back together by then. And once I get the brakes apart I’ll have to take an Uber to get more parts.
I’m at it again.
Getting home this afternoon, I started disassembling our new Mr. Coffee. And it turned out to be as easy as I hoped after I looked it over yesterday. I just removed one screw underneath the front and the entire control panel just popped right out. And on this model the cable is long enough to actually work on the board.
And then two more screws and the board is loose. It really looks like this model was designed to be repaired.
Or at least for me to modify it.
August 21, 2020
Steaks and Gates . . .
Brandi texted us this morning with another Landon story.
Went to tell Landon it’s almost time for class and he is watching a video, I asked what it is and he said “Henry the VIII”
I mentioned Catherine Parr and he right away said “yes, I am watching about how he did not hang her like the others” and I told him we are related to her. Of course, he was excited.
I asked how he ended up watching that and he said, “I was watching a youtuber and he had a coin with London Fire of 1666 on it and I wanted to know what that is, so I looked it up, and the fire video led to Henry the VIII, and here we are”!
This kid
Jan and I decided it was time for a nice dinner out, and for us, that means Saltgrass Steakhouse.
As usual, we both started out with our favorite Wedge Salads.
Then Jan got her usual Filet,
and I got the Pat’s Ribeye.
Delicious as always.
August 21, 2021
Hot! Hot! Hot!
About 1pm Jan and I headed up to Webster to try a new place that’s getting good reviews, The Cookshack. Located in the old Black-Eyed Pea building at the corner of Bay Area Blvd and Hwy 3, it’s been open now for a few weeks, so it’s time to give it a try.
It’s a simple menu, with just different combinations of Chicken Tenders, Waffles, and Ribs, and like a number of places where we’ve recently been, you order at the counter and then they bring it to your table.
Jan got the 3 Grilled Chicken Tenders and a Side Salad.
I ordered the Chicken and Waffles, with Sweet Potato Fries as a side, and then the young man asked me, “How hot?”
As Jan chuckled, I said, “As hot as you’ve got.” And he said, “OK, Texas Hot”
But when I looked up at the menu board, though it’s hard to see here, there was a whole other area to the right of ‘Texas Hot’ called ‘AMF’.
So I told him I wanted ‘AMF’. He looked at me kind of wide-eyed, and stammered, “You’ll have to sign a waiver.” So he rang us up, apparently so flustered that he forgot to have me sign the waiver.
As I headed over to our table, the owner said that he should have told me just get one tender at the AMF level since I wouldn’t be able to eat one, much less four, and they would just go to waste.
Jan chuckled … again.
When the owner came over later, he was amazed that I was not only able to eat one, but two. And the only reason I didn’t eat all four was that I also ate two waffle pieces and some of the fries. So I was just full.
He told me that he had started requiring a waiver because at his Houston location he had people demand their money back because they were too hot, and in a couple of cases, several people almost passed out and had to be helped out of the restaurant. He did seem a little upset when I told him that I hadn’t actually signed the waiver.
He did tell me that he actually has two more levels hotter than what I got today, but I got the idea that nobody has ever ordered it.
Now as far as how hot these tenders were, they were very, very hot, possibly the hottest thing that I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. But I’ve made things hotter myself using my Carolina Reaper Pepper Flakes.
And it didn’t take long for my personal hot food meter to begin registering. For me, my bald head starts sweating and my nose starts running. And boy, did it this time.
Now, as far as next time, I’ve got to take up the challenge and try the ‘Two Levels Hotter’ version. But only for one tender. The rest I will probably get at the Texas Hot level.
Sometimes it’s worth beating a challenge, and that’s why I’ll try one at the very hottest, but overall it’s just not pleasant to eat. So a little less heat next time.
But we will definitely go back. Soon.
Start Your Engines . . .
Jan and I were on our way up to Katy by about 10:45 this morning, meeting Brandi, Lowell, Landon and Sophie at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games in Katy. Though we encountered a lot of on and off heavy rains, the trip was pretty smooth.
And once we got close it was pretty easy to find.
The place is huge, bigger than a football field.
I dropped Jan off in front while I found a place to park on the side of the building, not too far from the front door. And parked right next to me was a high-end Cadillac SUV. And I don’t know how he got here, but I don’t think he’s leaving anytime soon.
This was his passenger side front tire,
and this was his rear tire.
And his driver’s side front tire was almost flat, but the wheel didn’t appear to be damaged.
Getting inside we found Lowell and Brandi in the Food Court area, while Landon and Sophie were out and about playing games.
Brandi and Lowell had already eaten so Jan and I ordered ours from the Food Trucks.
You put your order in and they bring it right to your table.
Jan got the Buffalo Chicken Wrap with Fries,
which she said was Delicious!
I got the Bacon Cheeseburger with Ghost Pepper Cheese, and Onion Strings.
Also really good.
A few minutes later Landon and Sophie showed up to say Hi.
One thing neat about this place is that none of games or rides use money. You’re given a card that’s loaded with money at the front desk. Then every time you want to play a game or ride a kart you just swipe your card.
About 1pm Landon and Sophie’s ride number came up and we all walked over to watch them.
That’s Sophie in the 2nd kart on the first row, with Landon right behind her.
And here’s Landon coming up the hill in front of us.
And here’s Sophie passing by.
This is a short video of Landon in his yellow shirt passing by.
And here’s Sophie with a little wave.
Besides the karts, there’s also hundreds of video games. Every type and kind you can think of.
And of course what’s game area with crane/claw machines.
But this one in the center is the most popular.
And here’s why.
It’s full of dinosaurs.
But your chance of actually winning anything is determined by the computer inside and not your skill.
Here’s a blog from 2015 where I talk about how they can be programmed for any rate of profit you want. Just like a slot machine. The Crane part is about half way down.
And how about a crane game for adults.
Of course you could get a prize the good old-fashioned way.
Just climb inside.
Thought for the Day:
“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” – G.K. Chesterton
Bangor, ME
August 20, 2009
Oriental Jade . . .
After sleeping in this morning, we drove over to Bangor to a Chinese restaurant, Oriental Jade, that we’d seen yesterday on our way to Pepina’s.
It turned out to be really good, especially the Hot & Sour Soup. We’ll try to go back.
Leaving the restaurant, we drove down the street to Sam’s Club and then on to a brand-new Walmart down the road a piece. This may have been the biggest Walmart we’ve ever been in, and the layout is completely different from any we’ve ever been in. Except for the checkouts being in the front, nothing was where it was supposed to be.
I think it took us twice as long to shop as it normally would.
Getting back to the rig, we let Mister play outside for a bit while we enjoyed the nice weather.
Don’t know how long that will last though. I can’t believe we’re almost in Nova Scotia and we have to worry about dodging a hurricane!
We’ll see how the weather goes.
I’m in Elkhart, IN, Jan’s in Houston
August 20, 2010
Friday, August 20 – Landon Thomas Morrison’s Birthday !!
Jan called this morning a little before 9 am EDT to say that Brandi’s labor is coming along fine, and Landon should be making his appearance sometime later this afternoon.
Update:
Jan called around 11:45 am EDT. Brandi’s still doing fine, with Landon expected between 1 and 2 pm EDT.
More updates as they come in.
UPDATE !!!
Landon Thomas Morrison was born at 1:02 pm CDT weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
Mother and Baby doing fine.
YEAH!!!!!!
Presenting Landon Thomas Morrison !
A nice quiet end to a very exciting day!
Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails, Terre Haute, IN
August 20, 2011
How to run both AC’s on 30 Amps . . .
or, Happy 1st Birthday to our grandson, Landon Thomas Morrison.
We both slept late this morning. Even Jan didn’t get up until about 9:30 and I followed about an hour later. Later, along with our morning coffee, we caught up on a bunch of TV shows from our DVR.
After lunch I set up the computer so we’d be ready to Skype Landon’s Birthday Party later this afternoon. We’ll just wait until they call.
Then I got back on my chore list. Since Jan planned on cleaning out some more stuff under the bed I thought I’d make my AC modification today.
A week or so ago I had a problem with the front AC not getting any power, but the circuit breaker was OK. After a call to American Coach I found out that the front AC passes back through the Heart Source Manager Inverter/Converter Transfer Switch through an AC Lockout relay.
Why, I don’t know. And I also don’t know why it suddenly engaged, even though the Source Manager is mostly disconnected due to my previous transfer switch problems.
Anyway, at the time, the solution was just to pull the wires off the relay and tie them together like below.
This not only fixed that problem, but gave me the solution to another problem.
I had been thinking for a while about a way to break out the power leads to one of the AC units so that when I was plugged into 30 amps I could power one of the AC’s separately from the additional 20 amp outlet that most pedestals have.
I originally thought about tapping into the circuit breaker panel, but kept putting it off. But this seemed to be the perfect solution.
The first step was to replace the wire nuts with a set of male and female power plugs. Note that the end that supplies the power has the female plug for safety.
This allows me to plug them back together to get back to normal.
But it also allows me to plug the AC into an extension cord that I ran in through the bedroom window. The other end is plugged into the 20 amp receptacle on the power pedestal outside.
This of course was only a test. I used it to run both AC’s all afternoon with no problems. Now I’ll run a permanent cord down through the engine bay and into the power bay. That way I can just plug in from outside whenever I need it.
This will probably only be used occasionally, Right now we only have 30 amps, but since the temperature is in the 80’s, one AC works just fine. But we have sometimes been in high 90’s temps and with only 30 amps available, one AC really can’t keep up.
So now you know how to run two AC’s on 30 amps. If you have any questions, let me know.
About 2:15 our computer rang and we were online Skyping Landon’s birthday party. Our signal quality varied a lot, so the photos do too.
The party started off with Landon opening his presents. Although sometimes he seemed as interested in the wrapping paper as to what was inside, he did a good job tearing everything open, And he seemed to be happy to find toys and other stuff inside.
Of course, after the presents, it was time for cake and ice cream. And Landon got his own cake.
And he dug right in and really enjoyed it.
We were online for the party for almost 30 minutes, and really enjoyed being included in the festivities. As a follow-up Brandi called about 5:30 to bring us up to date.
On another note, we’ve been noticing the first signs of Fall here. There is a slow but steady rain of yellowing leaves floating down from overhead. I’m sure everyone around the country will be happy with the cooler temps. I know we will.
Almost Gate Guarding
August 20, 2013
Wrapping things up – Almost . . .
Today we started wrapping up our time here in the Houston area. So Jan and I headed out about noon down to the Clear Lake area. Our first stop was Monterey’s Little Mexico, down in Dickinson. No way could we come through the area without getting a big bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup. the soup that all others are compared to.
And it’s always nice to see Julie, our favorite waitress, who still remembers what we order, and how we want it. Even the young man who brings the chips and salsa to our table remembered we always want two salsas instead of the normal one salsa and one green sauce.
Finishing up at Monterey’s and telling them we’ll be back in November, we headed up I-45 to Academy Sports. I was looking for a canopy for our gate guarding sojourn.
Based on our experiences last year, we wanted a canopy that has an air vent at the top, and has a UV coating to shield out some of the sun. But after looking at Academy, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart with no luck, I’ll probably order this one from Amazon
It’s Amazon Prime so two-day shipping is free, but what may be the only downside is the fact that at 13 x 13 feet, it’s 69 square feet larger than the 10 x 10 one we had last year.
Our next stop was to check in with one of my clients for a few minutes before making a stop at Half-Price Books so Jan could stock on Gate books.
Then, after a another stop at our storage room to pick up some gate-related things we had stored away last year. Then it was on to Chris’ to kill some time before we met Piper for dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, our favorite local Cajun place.
Gooood Gumbo!
It was really nice to have Piper all to ourselves and be able to catch up on what’s going on in her life. It’s really hard to believe she’ll be 20 next month. It seems like only yesterday she looked like this.
or like this.
Yep, she started on computers early.
Tomorrow we’ll wrap things up here in Houston, and then have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon tomorrow night.
Almost Gate Guarding For This Year
August 20, 2014
It’s All A-OK . . .
Jan and I headed out this morning about 9:30, way too early for me normally, but we had a full day of stuff planned.
Our first stop was about an hour away at Brandi and Lowell’s to trade out trucks. Lowell had been nice enough to offer us the use of his Toyota Tundra for the day since we had a lot of driving planned and still no AC in our truck.
Getting down to the Webster area about 11:30, our first stop was at Twin Peaks to have lunch.
Unfortunately our favorite waitress, Lauren, was off today so we didn’t get to see her, but our lunch was as good as always.
After lunch, and after a quick client visit, we headed over to Texas Oncology for the real purpose of our trip down here; Jan’s six month checkup after her breast cancer operation.
Based on her post-op visit right before we left Houston last May, she figured it would take a couple of hours or more, but they called her in right on time, and she was out in 40 minutes.
The Doctor told Jan everything looks good with no problems. Her blood work was normal and she has not been having any of the possible side-effects from the Tamoxifen that she’s taking. The Doctor just wants to see her again in six months.
Insert ‘sigh of relief’ here.
Our next stop was down the road a piece to the Buc-ee’s on League City Parkway to pick up some of their great Cranberry Nut muffins. Turning into the place I was really surprised to see their price for diesel.
You just never have an RV with an empty fuel tank around when you need one.
Our next stop was the home of Bob and Maria, pretty much our oldest friends here in the Houston area, who we’ve known since the mid-80’s. After checking their new dog we all headed over to Monterey’s Little Mexico for dinner and talk.
A lot of talk. About two and a half hours of talk.
Hey, we had a lot of catching up to do.
After saying our goodbye’s and getting our hugs from Bob and Maria, Jan and I stopped off at our storeroom to pick up our gate guarding stuff, I.e. our canopy, tarp, big fan, misting system, etc. Wanted to have it handy since we hope to get a gate sometime next week.
Before leaving the area we stopped by Chris and Linda’s for a few minutes, and found Linda had a warm Blueberry Bundt Pound Cake to take with us.
Great! Now we have muffins AND pound cake.
Finally about 8:30 we got our truck back at Brandi and Lowell’s, and headed home, arriving about 9:30pm.
A long day, but one with good news, good friends, and great family.
Colorado River Thousand Trails, Columbus, TX
August 20, 2015
Why I Got Nothing Done On The AC Today . . .
And since tomorrow and Saturday are booked up with doctor’s appointments and Landon’s Birthday Party, it’ll be Sunday until I can get back on it. Bummer!
Later this morning Jan and I changed the sheets on our queen size bed and commented on how good they still looked. No pilling, no fading, and no snags.
We’ve had these for over a year and a half and they still look new.
Striped QUEEN Sateen Sheet Set
We bought one set, used them for a month, and then ordered a second set. They’re 1500 thread count, come in a bunch of colors, and are only about $30 a set.
Check ‘em out.
The last couple of mornings we’ve been enjoying the coffee Brandi and Lowell brought us back from Costa Rica last week.
It’s called Britt Tres Rios Valdivia and it’s really good. Very bold, but still smooth, and a different taste than other coffees we’ve had. And even better, we don’t have to go back to Costa Rica to get more. Turns out it’s also available on Amazon.
Café Britt Tres Rios Valdivia Ground Coffee
The last several parks we’ve been at, I was disappointed in the water pressure. That is, until we got back here to Colorado River TT, where I knew the pressure was great. Then I thought about my Camco EVO Water Filter, so I bypassed the filter and got good pressure back. But I noticed that in the shower I could smell the chlorine in the water, where I couldn’t before. So it was still working, I guess.
So this past Monday I ordered a couple of new filters from Amazon and picked them up from Brandi’s yesterday. This afternoon I pulled the old filter and this is what I found compared to a new one.
Quite a difference, and old one is about twice as heavy as the new one. And as I figured, replacing the filter took care of my pressure problem. And I’ve got a spare for next time.
Jan got a new toy this week, a new Oster electric skillet to replace her old one.
Oster DuraCeramic 12-Inch Electric Skillet
The only problem with her old one was that there was almost no Teflon left on it. That was probably because, when we got to thinking about it, we’ve had it for about 40 years. We don’t remember exactly, but it was from Sears & Roebuck and we got it before we moved to Texas in 1978. They don’t make them like that anymore.
Plus this new one has a ‘DuraCeramic’ coating that’s supposed to last 4X longer than a normal coating. So I guess in about 160 years we’ll be ready for another one.
Tomorrow morning Jan and I will head down to the Clear Lake area for Jan’s doctor’s appointment, and then lunch and some other errands.
August 20, 2016
We Got A Gate!
A Short Bog Tonight!]
Because we’ve got a lot to do.
We don’t have all the particulars yet, mainly the exact location, but it’s northeast of Bryan/College Station in the same general vicinity as our 2014 gate near North Zulch.
It’s a 3 well workover project that should take about 3 months . . . we hope. And even better, no FRC’s. The only downside is it’s $125 a day, and not $150 like last year. But it’s a Gate, so It’s hard to complain.
The only other problem is that we have to be there at 8am Monday morning, so we’ll have to travel up to that area tomorrow afternoon. Luckily, going the back way through La Grange, it’s only about 120 miles.
So after Landon’s birthday party in Katy, tonight we had to drive down to our son Chris’ to pick up our canopy frame. Then tomorrow morning we’ll pick up some groceries to last us a while, before we head out about 1pm.
I’ll have to update you on Landon’s birthday later.
August 20, 2017
Happy 7th Birthday Landon Thomas Morrison!
I spent the morning and afternoon working on client’s computer stuff, most trying to figure out the mail server situation at my client in Clear Lake.
I use TeamViewer, a program that once installed on the client’s computers, allows me to login and control it remotely. So I can do a lot of stuff from the rig and not have travel down to Clear Lake quite as often.
Last night I dumped a box of baking soda in a bowl and left it in the fridge overnight and almost all of the remaining odor is gone. Now to restock all the staples we had in there.
About 3:15 Jan and I traveled down to the Katy area to meet Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and Lowell’s sister Sherry, at the Rainforest Café in Katy Mills Mall to celebrate Landon’s 7th birthday.
We took the Grand Parkway around this time, since we’d never done in this direction. And since I updated our Garmin GPS a couple of months ago, that’s the way it wants to take us anyway, and not by the Sam Houston Tollway as before.
Jan and I got to the restaurant and got seated along with Sherry, as we waited for the birthday boy, et. al.
Jan had the Shrimp Tacos,
while I had the Awesome Appetizer Sampler.
Plenty to share with Jan, and plenty to take home for later.
For dessert, and to celebrate Landon’s birthday, we all shared Rainforest Café’s famous Volcano ice cream cake, complete with sparkler
About every 30 minutes, a rain storm rolls through the jungle, illuminating things with flashes of lightning as the thunder rolled on.
Landon opened one present from his Aunt Sherry,
but the rest waited until we got back to Brandi’s.
If you want to see the eclipse here in the Houston area, it will start about 11:45am, and will be at its maximum at 1:45pm, before fading away around 2:45. At its peak, it will look something like this,
with about 2/3’s of the sun obscured.
Don’t forget your special glasses and don’t look at the sun without them.
August 20, 2018
More Phở
Today was another work day for me, mostly catching up on price changes and catalog corrections.
Coming home about 3:30 it started pouring down rain just as I got off I-45 and kept it up until I got into Santa Fe. But stopped before I got home.
I told Jan I was hankering for some Phở so we headed right back out to have dinner at nearby Phở 20. Jan went with something new, Chicken and Veggies Lo Mein,
while I got my usual Chicken White Meat Phở with Extra Veggies,
along with an order of the Shrimp Spring Rolls.
Tomorrow I’m going to raise the bed and take a look at the top of the engine to see if I can get a handle on my oil leak. Wish me luck.
August 20, 2019
The Operation Was A Success, But . . .
The Patient Died.
Also know as OOPS!
When you last were here, I had successfully interfaced my WiFi Module to my Mr. Coffee machine, allowing me to control it remotely from anywhere in the world, and also set up timed brewing without worrying about power glitches erasing the times. And last night it worked fine with no problems, making our nightly decaf brew.
And this morning, it again worked fine . . . for about 5 minutes, and then it shut off, never to work again. When I tried to restart it, it just beeped like it was finished brewing and then quit. Over and over.
Now, Jan’s first thought was that I broke her Mr. Coffee, and she was not happy without her caffeine this morning. So to soothe her withdrawal pangs, I heated up water in the microwave and poured it over the grounds.
I looked back over my wiring and found nothing loose or changed. So was this somehow the fault of my modification, or just bad luck that our 8! year old Mr. Coffee just up and croaked.
Maybe it just died of old age.
About 1pm Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area for lunch at Snooze and then mutual haircuts for the both of us, as well as a Wal-Mart stop for more stuff.
Apparently we can never had enough ‘stuff’. At least that’s what I assume, because we just keep buying more.
And of course, one of the things from WalMart was this shiny new RED Mr. Coffee machine.
And it looks like it might be even easier to get into to modify than the old one.
You didn’t really think I was giving this up, did you?
I will say that Jan made me promise that if I do kill this one, I have to leave the new new one alone.
Yes Ma’am.
We did have a nice cool snap today, with our temps staying in the 80’s with a lot of overcast. It would be really nice if it holds for Thursday for my brake job.
August 20, 2020
Happy 10th Birthday . . .
Ten years ago today, Landon Thomas Morrison looked like this.
Then nine years ago, he looked like this.
Five years ago he looked like this.
Three years ago he looked like this.
And this is Landon recently doing his online classes with Jack helping out
Of course Landon’s birthday wasn’t all cake and presents today. Earlier this morning Brandi texted this over.
Poor Landon.
He is on a Zoom with his music teacher and was trying to tell him it was his birthday, but it autocorrected to “Its my bitch”!!
He came to me crying and showed it to me. I ran over and you could tell he was reading it because he stopped mid sentence and was kinda shocked for a few seconds.
Still kinda upset.
He did text back and told him he was trying to say “it’s my birthday”.
I called the school so they could tell him too. He’s very worried he’s going to get in trouble.
Of course, I could not stop laughing.
I told him to not try to type so fast.
LOL
August 20, 2021
I’m Jealous . . .
Jan went into work with me this morning so we could leave for Brand’s from Clear Lake rather than me coming back to the rig to pick her up first, saving us an hour on the trip up to Katy.
And Brandi was already for Landon when he got home from school this afternoon.
And then once Lowell got home Landon got to open his presents first before dinner.
After a delivery dinner from Hasta La Pasta, I got a look at Landon’s computer setup. And I’m jealous.
That curved monitor is really something, and very sharp.
One of the birthday presents he got was a specialized gaming keyboard and mouse, and it does everything but the dishes. He got the keyboard installed and configure pretty quickly, but had some trouble with the mouse and asked for help.
I think the problem is that that mouse has more buttons and adjustments than the Space Shuttle. Seriously, the mouse has 8 different buttons on it, and 3 computer screens of setups and configurations.
And when we looked at the tiny manual, even he with his now 11 year old eyes, wondered, “Why do they print it so small?”
And even worse it was in about six different languages. So he went back to his old gaming mouse, and said he’d do some research online to get get some help.
And the lighting effects alone on the keyboard are really something. It’s lightshow all by itself, with the colors rippling back and forth across the keys, and even doing the wave.
A really nice setup.
There’s not much on the agenda for tomorrow. We’re probably going to have lunch at a new place up in Webster called The Cookshack, specializing in Chicken, Waffles, and Ribs.
Sounds like our kind of place.
