Monthly Archives: September 2022
Well, That Answers That Question . . .
Looks like we’ve got another of our family excursions in the planning stage.
Lowell, Brandi, and Landon had such a good time staying at the Gaylord Texan Resort up in Grapevine, TX over the Labor Day weekend,
that we’re thinking about us all going up there for their Christmas Celebration. But for the week after Christmas when it’s cheaper.
We’ll check with the Kingsland/Austin park of the family to see if it will work out for them.
I had wondered the other day how Rob, our RV park owner, was going to get rid of this old house trailer that was left behind after he bought the property to add more sites to the park.
Was he going to have it towed off, or maybe bring in a excavator to break it up and haul it out in pieces?
Well, when I got home this afternoon, I found this in the yard.
So tomorrow should be very entertaining. Glad it’s happening on an off day.
Thought for the Day:
In the Spring of 1863, General Robert E. Lee was conducting a military review of his Army of Northern Virginia for the benefit of an English military observer, Col. Arthur Fremantle.
When members of Hood’s Texas Brigade “marched” past the reviewing stand, Fremantle, who knew of the unit’s amazing effectiveness as shock troops, was puzzled by what he saw and exclaimed: “Why General Lee, these men hardly have shirts on their backs.”
To which Lee replied: “That’s okay, Colonel. The enemy never sees the backs of my Texans.”
September 12, 2009
Headin’ Home…
We left Wayside RV Park about 10:30 headed 180 miles away to Moncton, NS on our way back to the States.
As I mentioned yesterday, we stopped and got diesel. Because the pump cut off at $150 I decided that would be enough to get us back the US, so I didn’t fill up.
We arrived at Moncton about 2:45pm and parked at Camper’s City RV Park. This is the same park we stopped at on our way in to Canada, so it was easy to find. We got set up, and, after puttering around the coach for a while, we headed out to Boston’s Pizza for supper, one of our favorite places to eat.
Coming back to the coach, Jan sat outside with Mister while I got the satellite dish set up. After letting Mister roam around a bit, we headed in for the night.
Tomorrow we’re going down to the Bay of Fundy area to see the 30 foot tides in the Bay.
September 12, 2010
Gumbo!
We left Jackson, MS about 10:30 and headed south on I-55 toward Breaux Bridge, LA, and some of the best gumbo in Louisiana.
Most of the road was really crappy. A lot of the Interstates down here are the old concrete type with the expansion joints that go BANG…BANG…BANG.
Pretty soon your fillings start to get loose.
But finally we were on I-12W and then picked up I-10W in Baton Rouge.
About the same time we also started picking rain, a lot of rain, and, of course, the winds to go along with it.
By the time we were coming up to the Breaux Bridge exit, I was really looking forward to registering and setting up in the pouring rain. But I really lucked out.
By the time we got to Poche’s RV Park about 5 miles north of I-10 and Breaux Bridge the rain had stopped in that area.
By 3:15 pm we were set up and had a chance to look over the park.
Poche’s is not just an RV park, it’s also a fish camp with cabins, and 5 – 10 acre fish ponds.
It’s really a beautiful park, and it’s Passport America too, only $15.00 per night. The only downside is that Internet and cell phone service just sucks.
About 4:00 we drove over to our favorite Cajun restaurant, Mulate’s. I’ve been eating there for more than 20 years, including twice a month for 10 years when I would drive to Birmingham from Houston and back to visit my mother.
They have a Cajun band every night and a big dance floor that’s always crowded.
Their gumbo is just about the best around, with shrimp, crab, and oysters, and a great roué. And it’s not a Mulate’s meal without a dessert of their bread pudding with bourbon sauce, and a cup of strong Cajun coffee. (BTW it’s pronounced ‘Mu lots’)
Getting back home about 5:30 I got the satellite dish set up and we settled in for the night.
Tomorrow we’ll make the 230 mile trip back to Houston and the Galveston Bay RV Park, where we’ll be for 4-5 months.
September 12, 2011
Much, Much Better . . .
First off, I want to thank everyone who commented or emailed me while I was under the weather last week. A few of you even hoped I’d get well soon. 
(Sorry about that)
I’m pretty much back to normal, or at least as normal as I get.
A little after 1 pm we all headed over to Mishawaka for some shopping. On the way we took a detour through the construction mess in downtown Elkhart to drop off some mail at the Post Office. They’ve got most of Main St. torn up and it seemed like every street we tried to turn down was closed.
Our first stop in Mishawaka was at Sam’s Club. Jan and I needed to pick up our monthly prescriptions and we all did some shopping while we were there.
Our next stop was up the road at University Park Mall. While I hung out at Barnes & Noble, Jan headed out through the mall to the Bath & Body Works store to pick up some soaps.
Getting back home about 4:30 I did some client internet stuff and then around 5, Jan and I drove over to North China Buffet, to meet Al Hesselbart, Dennis and Carol Hill, and Larry & Marilyn Forbes. Dennis and Carol and Larry & Marilyn recently returned from an Alaska RV caravan trip and it was interesting to compare notes from our trip in 2008. As usual we spent a lot of time talking and didn’t get home until almost 8pm.
On the weather front, winter is coming in with a rush. By Thursday night we’re supposed to have temps in the 30’s. Nice.
September 12, 2012
Oldenburg . . .
Jan was feeling a little better today so about 1:30 we headed over to Oldenburg for lunch and some sightseeing.
Oldenburg was founded by German settlers in the 1830’s, and because of its many church steeples, along with a convent, it is known as “The Village of the Spires”.
Unfortunately in the summer time it’s hard to get a good photo of them because of all the trees. Locals say the best time is in the fall after all leaves have dropped.
But it’s also known for its many decorated fire hydrants as you can see.
After driving around for a while we stopped at The Brau Haus for ‘lupper’. With a mixture of German and American dishes there was something for everyone. And it was pretty good. Jan and I both wished they had had red cabbage, but it must be a regional thing since none of the German restaurants I’ve checked in this area seem to have it.
I mean what’s a German restaurant without red cabbage, right?
After lupper, we drove around for a while longer, this time looking for the fabled “Polka Dot Fire Plug”, but without any luck. When we asked some locals they said the city was in the process of repainting them, which explained why we saw a lot of plain white ones around town, and also why we couldn’t find the polka dot one.
Finally leaving Oldenburg, we drove back through Batesville and stopped at DQ for dessert.
I think tomorrow we’ll have another stay home day so I can get some things fixed around the rig, and maybe I can fly my RC plane.
September 12, 2014
A New Record!
A record low, that is. We had only 80 vehicles through the gate today. Now this I could get to like. But it probably won’t last, unfortunately.
About 11am I made a run over to Bryan to the Sam’s Club to pick up our prescriptions. And for the first time since we started RV’ing in 2008, Sam’s screwed them up.
Well, not Sam’s in general, but the Sam’s Club in Mishawaka, IN, the last place we had these particular ones filled back in June. For some unexplained reason, after they filled them, and we picked them up, the Mishawaka Sam’s cancelled the prescriptions.
The Pharmacist here had no idea why they would do this, and had never heard of it happening before. So I took the 3 that were ready, and the Pharmacist said she’d get it fixed. And I guess she did, because later in the afternoon I got a text message saying that they were ready. I’ll pick them up early next week.
My next stop was Home Depot to pick up a new shower hose for our Oxygenics Hand Held Showerhead. The old one had started leaking so I picked up a new one at Wal-Mart earlier this week. But it turned out to be pretty useless.
The hose was so stiff that it was more like a piece of flexible copper tubing. Without the flex part. It wouldn’t just hang there, it stuck out sideways and resisted any effort to corral it. Jan said it was like wrestling an octopus.
Funny, I thought that’s what she said about me when we were dating.
Anyway, I found a much better one at Home Depot, and the other one will go back to Wal-Mart next week.
The Oxygenics Hand Held Showerhead is the best showerhead we’ve ever had. It gives a great shower no matter what the water pressure and has a bunch of different patterns.
Try one. You’ll love it.
On the way home I stopped off at a McDonald’s to pick up lunch for us. And this has to be one of the fastest McDonald’s I’ve ever been in. I ordered two burgers, a large fry, 4 apple pies, two iced coffees, and a Coke. When I finished paying, I took my cup and went over to the drink dispenser to fill it. And before I had the lid on the drink, they were calling my name that my order was ready. That’s fast.
And they didn’t screw it up either, Everything was exactly like I ordered it.
Getting home about 1:30, we sat out together and ate our burgers and fries before Jan went in. She said while I was gone one of the rig guys dropped off a steak dinner for us. A big rib-eye, potato salad and beans. Apparently the guy was apologetic that he only had one dinner. Jan assured him that it was big enough for the both of us.
Now we have dinner tomorrow.
About 6, when Jan came back out to relieve me, we had two of the apple pies for dinner. Made a nice snack.
It rained on and off for a good part of the afternoon, sometimes heavy, sometimes light. The biggest problem with rain here is keeping the log sheets dry. We’re always trying something different, plastic bags, Ziploc bags, etc., with only some success. Everything just gets damp.
September 12, 2015
Fixed!
Well Kinda . . . Almost.
Well, our cooler weather has finally arrived. It made it up to a blistering 85 degrees today, and sunny with a light breeze. Couldn’t be much better. It’s supposed to stay like this for a few days before the temps creep back up into the low 90’s. Right now at midnight, it’s 60 degrees and I’ve got a long-sleeve shirt on. Nice.
Today’s count was 108, compared to yesterday’s 111, so maybe that’s what it will settle down to. Like I said yesterday, very doable.
I finally had a chance this morning to get back to my water heater problem, and finally got the access panel off so I could get to the electrical connections on the back.
The electrical side of the water heater died a couple of months ago, but with everything going on with the gate, I’m just now getting back on it. We’ve been using the propane side since then, but I didn’t want to have a problem running out.
The first thing I did was to turn off power to the unit using the switch on the side of the box. Well, I tried to, but the switch snapped and then went spongy with no more clicky-clicky. But I don’t think that was the initial problem.
So what I did was pull the wires on the switch, and after cutting off the old spade lugs, I stripped the ends and joined them with a wire nut. So now I was finally ready to troubleshoot the real problem. And a couple of minutes with the ohmmeter told me what it was.
I used the ohmmeter to check the two thermostat units here, with one of them being the actual thermostat, and the other being the high-temp cutoff. The one on the left tested good with 0.0 ohms, but the right one showed open, or bad. They’re not marked, and I was hoping the bad one was the ECO cutoff, but after checking my Atwood manual, I found it was the thermostat itself.
Normally the power comes into the left unit, loops over the right unit, and then feeds power to the heating element.. So what I did was to move the wire going to the heating element over, bypassing the bad thermostat, so I could check the system.
At the lavatory I measured the hot water temp at 96 degrees. Then I turned on the wall switch for the heater, waited 20 minutes, and measured again. This time it was 132 degrees, so I knew the bad thermostat was my problem. But of course the problem won’t really be fixed until I replace the thermostat itself. I probably won’t replace the power switch
Checking, I found one on Amazon (of course) for $12 and it will be here Tuesday. But for right now we’ll just turn it on 20 minutes before our showers, and then turn it off when we’re done.
The other thing I fixed recently was the AC blower in our truck. The air flow just wasn’t what it should be, and it was a struggle to get the cab cool in hotter weather. Back before we left the Houston area, I replaced the blower resistor pak and that helped somewhat, but it just didn’t seem to be as strong as it used to be.
So after doing some checking I decided to go ahead and replace the blower motor itself. The reason I hesitated before is that changing one of these out can be a real pain in the rear. In some cases you almost have to disassemble the dashboard to replace it.
But this one was so easy it was almost ridiculous. Just reach under the dash, unclip the power connector, remove 3 – 8mm bolts, and the blower motor falls out in your hand. Then reverse the procedure and 5 minutes later your done. Easy Peezy.
And boy, did it make a difference. It’s back to cooling like it used to.
September 12, 2016
Well, Isn’t That Just Fine and Dandy . . .
The temp was a little hotter today, and the traffic a little heavier, but all in all, not a bad day. I guess except for the fact that when I get groceries this Thursday, it looks like I’ve got to buy a new front TV.
A few days ago, the 32” RCA we have in the front of the rig started losing video. The audio still works fine, but the screen goes black.
At first it might do it once a day, and just turning the TV off and back on fixed the problem. For a while. But over the next few days it got more and more frequent , until now it will only work for a few minutes before the video dies.
When the problem first appeared I thought it might the HDMI input itself, so I switched the cable over to HDMI-2, but the problem still occurred. So I dug out a 3 wire video cable, the one with the Yellow, Red, and White RCA phono connectors and tried that,
Again with the same result. So the problem seems to be in the actual video output stage, and not on the input side. And it doesn’t seem to be a loose connection, since rapping on it doesn’t fix the problem, even temporarily.
Now back in the day, when you could still fix things like this, I’d just order a Sam’s PhotoFact for the set and tear into it. Using my oscilloscope, I’d trace through the video section until I found the bad component, and then replace it.
Back in the early 90’s I used to contract out to several computer stores in the Houston area to do board level repair on Commodore VIC-20’s, Commodore 64’s, Commodore Amiga’s and Radio Shack TRS-80’s. At that time you could get service info from the manufacturers, and even specific parts, like IC’s and transistors, and you could actually fix something.
But no more. In many cases, depending on the TV, there may be no real parts to replace anyway. Just a couple of large chips that do everything. And without very specialized equipment, it would be almost impossible to safely unsolder the chip and replace it.
And you probably couldn’t even get a replacement chip anyway, since the manufacture won’t sell you one. So now it’s off to Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club for a new one.
We bought both of these TV’s from Sam’s Club when we were in Fairbanks, AK in 2008 to replace the old CRT models that came with the rig, and this is the first problem we’ve had with them, so I guess 8 years is a pretty good record.
After all of this, at least my problem with my DVR randomly rebooting turned out to be a simple fix. The DVR plugs into a AC receptacle on the underside of the cabinets over the dashboard, and I noticed that often the reboots happened as one of us came into the rig and shut the door. Turns out that the AC plug was a little loose in the socket, so I spread the prongs apart, sprayed a little Strike-Hold on it and problem solved.
At least that’s something I could fix.
September 12, 2017
The Critics Are Wrong!
When my WiFi adapters came in this past Monday at my client’s, also in the Amazon box was another Wireless 4 Channel Remote Control Unit like the ones that I not use to control our rig’s slide and rear AC’s.
My next project was to remote our outside ‘porch lights’ so I can turn them on from the truck when we come home at night.
Of course I only need to use one of the four relays for this, but when I checked the price on Amazon the single relay models were only a couple of bucks cheaper.
Using my 12v power supply I hooked it up using alligator clip leads and it worked perfectly. But when I tried to wire it into the 12v in the pedestal by the door I found that the 12v wasn’t consistent. It measured 12vdc on the meter but when I put the load of the module on it, the voltage dropped to about 7v. And although the unit lights up, that voltage is not enough to operate it. So I’ll have find another 12 voltage source in the pedestal.
The Critics Are Wrong!
The Orville, is a new science-fiction series from Seth MacFarlane, who both created the show and stars in it.
MacFarlane, better known for his other TV shows, the cartoon’s Family Guy and American Dad, stars as Captain Ed Mercer, new captain of the exploratory ship, The Orville.
I guess that’s a better name than The Wilbur, but not by much.
The Union (think Star Trek’s Federation) is short on XO’s (Executive Officers – think Commander Riker on Next Gen) and so Mercer is force to accept his ex-wife who he caught cheating on him with a blue alien, who Mercer calls Papa Smurf.
The back and forth bickering between the two, even while under attack, is a refreshing change from the stiff attitudes of most similar shows.
Set in 2418, he crew is the usual ragtag combo of aliens, both organic and mechanical, including a gelatinous blog voiced by Norm MacDonald. In addition, the special effects are great, the equal to anything I’ve seen recently.
The critics are all over the map about the show. It’s too much like Star Trek or Galaxy Quest, or not enough like them, but they pretty much uniformly hate it.
Which right off the bat told me I was probably going to like it. And I did.
Sure, there were a few rough spots, pretty much standard in any new show, but I’m sure it will all gel down the road.
Well Recommended!
Tomorrow it’s back on the road down to Clear Lake for the day, and then coming home in the afternoon, I’ll detour over to Katy to get my wife back, and then it’s home, probably with dinner along the way.
Hopefully, I’ll get to keep her for a while this time.
September 12, 2018
A Two-Fer . . .
Today at work was another of those ‘firefighting’ days. The ones where you spend the day stomping out fires.
And sometimes it works, and sometimes you catch your feet on fire. Today was a little of both.
Coming home I stopped by the Post Office to hand in our Change of Address form or forms, I guess, for our new South Dakota address with Dakota Post.
I said ‘forms’ because I had to turn in two separate ones for our one address. That’s because when we got our Driver’s Licenses renewed 5 years ago, they made a mistake on our address and put our Box # in the system as PMB 110.
That was actually the street number from 110 E Center St.. Our real box number was #798, so we had to submit two different change notices, one for #110 and one for #798. Hopefully they don’t get confused again.
Last December 21st Jan and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, one of our all-favorite shows, and really enjoyed it. So this year we had to make it a Two-fer, so I now have tickets to see their doppelganger competitor, Mannheim Steamroller on December 30th at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugarland.
Hopefully I won’t have another attack of BPPV or Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo like I did last year. You can read about it here.
So far I’ve never had it again since then. Fingers crossed.
I printed out the 98 page Service Manual for our Onan QD 7500 Generator and I’ve been poring over it trying to figure out what’s wrong with it.
To recap, we had it serviced last May when RV Mobile Lube serviced it with the rest of the rig, and when we left on our Illinois/Alabama trip in June, it worked perfectly . . . for the first day. Then it died ten minutes into the second day, just like I had shut it off. And it’s never started again since. It cranks just fine but just never catches. I’ve checked the fuel system and it’s working fine, so it’s something else.
Something that not only keeps it from starting, but also stopped it when it was running. So this eliminates a few things like glow plugs and some others.
The last time I worked on it was when we were in Athens, AL before we headed back to Houston, and I was looking at the Governor Actuation system that controls the fuel injection, so that’s where I’ll start this time.
If it ever stops raining long enough, that is. So right now it’s just book work and talking to Onan Tech Support.
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but I’m not optimistic.
September 12, 2019
PB B & M . . .
Today was Black Bear Thursday so we were on our way by about 1pm where we’ve both have gotten hooked on their ‘Super’ salads.
This time Jan went with their Taco Salad, staying Keto by eliminating the taco shell and the refried beans.
But adding their delicious Bacon Ranch dressing.
I once again got the Bacon Cheeseburger Salad, also with the Bacon Ranch. But unlike last time, I asked to have the burger done medium. Last time it was so well-done it was actually crunchy and hard to even cut. But they got it perfect this time.
But even well-done their hamburger meat is delicious, both mine and Jan’s taco meat.
Next up was a stop at the big Flagship HEB store over on Hwy 96. We’ve never been to this location before, but we were looking to bulk up our Lola Savannah coffee stocks. We were running low on our nightly Decaf ration, and also wanted to see if they had any additional flavors, and we hit the jackpot.
So besides the Decaf, we got a pound of Chocolate Crème, Almond Delight, and Cozy Winter Night.
The Chocolate Crème is pretty much self explanatory, while the Almond Delight has a blend of almonds, coconuts, and dark chocolate, so pretty much a candy bar. And Cozy Winter Night has butterscotch and caramel flavors accentuated with flavors of cream, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
One flavor we didn’t get was Lunch with Elvis, a blend of peanut butter and banana flavors, mimicking Elvis’ favorite sandwich. And one of mine too. Of course to make it perfect you’d need to get some mayonnaise flavor in there somewhere.
You just can’t beat a peanut butter, banana, and mayonnaise sandwich. On white bread, of course.
Found out this evening that Brandi, et. al., have a new dog.
Jack, a shelter pup, is part Doberman, part Rottweiler, and has made himself right at home with the two other dogs, and the cat.
September 12, 2020
Rethinking The Plan . . .
We now have a real, physical address. Rob, our park owner, put in mailboxes a few weeks ago, and a couple of days ago he dropped off our key.
We also have a PO Box here in Santa Fe, but a lot of financial institutions won’t accept a PO Box, but require a physical address. Previously I’ve used either work, or Brandi’s up in Katy. So now we’re all set.
While I’m tracing out my lighting problems I’ve been rethinking my oil leak repair plan. Back in February after the repair place in Luling replaced the oil cooler gasket with no change in the leak problem, I got back under the rig to replace the single oil filter head adapter gasket with a double set. Several people, including a Cummins tech, recommended trying that before any doing anything else.
But when I got under the rig I found that the Luling shop had apparently over-torqued two of the four bolts holding the adapter head on the oil cooler. They’re only supposed to be tightened down to 212 inch pounds, a little over 17 foot pounds. And unfortunately the two stripped bolts are both on the same side, so I was wary about driving the rig anywhere, or even cranking up the engine.
So I was looking at having the rig towed up to the Channelview area to get the oil leak repaired once and for all. And that’s where things stood until the last couple of days. And then I had a thought. One word – Helicoil.
Thinking about how the stripped-out threaded holes would need to be fixed, I’m thinking about just doing this myself, which will probably save me several hundred dollars having the diesel shop do it in addition to fixing the leak problem.
That way I can just drive the rig up there rather than go through hassle of getting it towed. But after I repair the bolt holes, I’ll go ahead and replace the gaskets. And then do an extended rig test drive while towing the truck.
Who knows? That might fix the problem anyway.
But I’m still thinking about it, while I’m working on the lights.
September 12, 2021
Where Everybody Knows Your Name . . .
First, a Jeep update.
When I went by our mechanic’s shop Thursday afternoon after he had closed, I was happy to see our Jeep in his lot where the tow truck driver had dropped it off. I left Joe a note telling him about the starter problem, and also asking him to take a look at a pesky oil leak around the engine that I’d known about since we bought the Jeep from our friend’s Debi and Ed Hurlburt last November. Well, when Joe called me back about 10:30 Friday morning, I found out the two problems were connected.
Turns out that the oil had been leaking down into the starter and had fried it. Now, since the starter is down on the bottom side of the engine, and is presumably waterproof, you would think it would be oil-proof too. But apparently not.
And it also turns out that both the leaking valve cover gaskets, source of the oil leak, and the starter are known problems with the 6 cylinder version of this engine, but not the 8 cylinder version we have in Ole Smokey.
Joe also said that there is a aftermarket fix for the leaking gaskets that’s better than the ones from the dealer. So that’s what we went with.
He said he’d try to get it all down by that afternoon, but probably not, just because of the time it would take to get the parts delivered. I told him to take his time, and that we had Old Smokey as a backup. So it should be ready Monday afternoon.
Several readers have asked about Uber and how it works. Well, it works great and it’s easy to use.
Just download the Uber app on your phone, create an account, and enter your credit card info. BTW supposedly this info stays on your phone and is only sent to Uber when needed, just as if you entered it manually.
Then when you need a ride, just open the app, and enter the address where you want to go. In this case, since the app saves recent addresses, our RV Park address was already entered. And when I selected it, told me how much the ride would be, and how long it would take. Then once I gave it the OK, it told me our ride was 8 minutes away, and gave a map tracking our driver as he came to pick us up.
For safety purposes, the app also gives you the driver’s name, the type and color of his car, and the tag number. And since we were inside Costco when I booked the ride, it told us we had to meet him outside at the entrance. The app also told us that we would arrive at our destination at 5pm. It was wrong.
Our driver dropped us off at our rig at 4:59pm.
At that point the app asks you to rate your ride, 1 to 5 stars, and then asks if you’d like to leave a tip, all strictly voluntary.
So no cash is necessary, just click and go. Very nice!
On the TV front, you fans of Murdoch Mysteries will be happy to know that season 15 kicks off tomorrow night on Acorn TV. The first one of a full 24 episode season, a big jump from last year’s abbreviated 11 episode season.
Really looking forward to it starting up again.
Jan and I are also looking forward to “Only Murders In The Building”, a new series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selma Gomez. The first 3 episodes showed up on Hulu August 31st, with the other 7 episodes in the series showing up every week afterwards.
We don’t have Hulu, so what we’ll probably do is to wait until the last episode drops and binge-watch all ten episodes during the 30 day free trial they offer.
And with Steve Martin and Martin Short it should be hilarious.
Apparently even the Cloud is a place Where Everyone Knows Your Name, even Alexa. At least she now knows my name.
Often, before I get out of bed in the morning, I’ll ask Alexa what the weather is. She always starts off with, “The temperature in Santa Fe is . . .” and moves on, and since last week, ending up with “Have a nice day, GREG.”, instead of just “Have a nice day.”
So sometime in the last week, Alexa had cross-referenced my accounts and now has a name for my account. Not sure if I sure be proud or scared.
Or both.
Thought For The Day:
Pucci And Gucci . . .
Jan and I were on our way up to Katy by about noon this morning, with our first stop the Torchy’s Tacos in the La Centerra area of Cinco Ranch. You know you’re in a really ritzy area when your Torchy’s Tacos is next door to a Pucci’s and across the drive from a Gucci’s.
You know, Pucci’s, where you can pay $11,230 for this dress.
Or Gucci’s where you can pay $4,600 for this bag.
And this is a cheap one.
So, yeah, a ritzy area.
Luckily, Torchy’s is not that pricey.
Jan got two tacos, the Baja Fried Shrimp and the Brushfire, with Jamaican Jerk Chicken.
And I got two of their Jalapeno Cheese Sausage Dogs.
Both delicious!
Then it was on around the corner so Jan could make a Trader Joe’s run while I stayed in the Jeep. Then it was on over to Brandi’s to drop Jan off, and a few minutes later I was heading back to Santa Fe, getting home a little before 4.
I mentioned a few days ago about the faceplate design I did for some epilators we’re having made for us in Poland.
I sent them a faceplate design that looked like this.
They sent me back a revised design like the top one in this comparison below.
So I told them that wasn’t acceptable, and I wanted something more like what I originally sent them. To illustrate I sent them this comparison showing them another unit they had done, and what I wanted.
In return they sent me back this one.
Much better, and I chose the bottom one.
Thought For The Day:
September 11, 2009
Titanic and Atlantic…
Today was our day to tour the Halifax, Nova Scotia area.
We had planned to get an early start, but then Jan woke up with a migraine. So she took her Imitrex and went back to bed for a while
Later, after the Imitrex had worked its magic, we went to breakfast about 10:30 am at the Finer Diner and then drove to Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
One of the things we wanted to see was the Titanic exhibit that they have. They also have an exhibit on S.S. Atlantic, a ship that went down off Nova Scotia in 1873. The 635 people who died when the Atlantic went down made it the largest loss of life until the Titanic in 1912.
They also had an interesting exhibit about the explosion of a ship in Halifax harbor that killed over 2000 people, very reminiscent of the Texas City explosion in 1947. In this case, it was a shipment of ammunition for use in WWI that blew up, rather than fertilizer, like in Texas City.
Finally leaving the museum about 2:30 pm, we were attracted by the smells coming from the Dragon King Chinese Buffet restaurant across the street and decided to give it a try.
And it was really good. Especially the Hot & Sour soup.
Leaving the restaurant, we drove around downtown Halifax for a while before taking the scenic drive down toward Peggy’s Cove. And it was certainly worth the trip.
On our way down the coast we passed St. Margaret’s Bay, a very picturesque dock area.
Arriving at Peggy’s Cove, we found a charming little village on the Atlantic Coast, filled with quaint little multi-colored houses.
The rocky coast is something we don’t see in Texas, but it’s always a scenic view.
And of course, the obligatory lighthouse.
With the sun setting, we headed back to the coach, stopping off at a hardware store, and driving thru a nearby gas station, scouting it out to see if we can get in and out easily in the coach.
Because fuel is so expensive here (about $3.60 a gallon vs. $2.50 in the US), I was hoping to be able to get back to the US before filling up the coach with diesel, but it will be too close for comfort. So we will probably fuel up tomorrow on our way out of Halifax.
One thing we found interesting in the area was this McDonald’s complete with lighthouse.
Arriving back at the coach, we sat outside for a while and let Mister roam around for a bit and then it was in for the night.
September 11, 2010
Leaving Memphis . . .
We left Tom Sawyer RV Park about 11:45 to make the 220 mile run to the Moose Lodge in Jackson, MS.
Since we were leaving so late, we had a lunch of leftovers before we left. And while we were eating our daughter Brandi called with the latest Landon update.
Only two more days until we get to see him, me for the first time.
It started sprinkling a little while before we left, and then got progressively harder as the day went on. By the time we were about 30 miles outside Jackson it was really coming down, and the wind had picked up.
We got into the Moose Lodge about 4:15 pm and got set up. I just hooked up power, and didn’t worry about water or sewage. And lucky for me, the rain was gone by the time we got to the Lodge.
About 30 minutes later, we drove down the road about half a mile to Sonny’s BBQ, one of our favorite BBQ places. One thing I like about Sonny’s is that they have sliced pork, instead of just pulled pork.
By my thinking, sliced pork is much better on a sandwich than pulled pork.
Getting back to the rig, I got the satellite dish set up and we were in for the night.
Tomorrow we’ve got another 220 mile run down to Breaux Bridge, LA for one night, and then it’s on to Houston for the next 4-5 months.
September 11, 2012
Another Quiet Day . . .
Jan woke up still under the weather this morning so we just made it a stay-at-home day.
I spent part of the morning making some phone calls, trying to solve some rig problems I’m having.
My first called was to Brake Buddy.
For the last 5 years I’ve used a Brake Buddy Classic as the braking system when we tow our truck behind our RV with absolutely no problems. But recently the 12 volt cigarette lighter on it has gotten kind of ‘iffy’ and needed to be replaced. But the typical replacement plugs I found locally are not heavy duty enough.
All I could find were ones rated for 5 amps, but the Brake Buddy needs one rated for 20 amps. So my next try was to call Brake Buddy and get one from them.
And what I got was excellent service. When I told them what I needed, the guy took my name and address, and said a new plug would go out to me this afternoon. No charge, no nothing, just great service.
Kudos to Brake Buddy.
Taking care of that, my next call was to Westland Sales about a problem with our Splendide washer/dryer. Once last month at the end of the wash cycle the door wouldn’t unlock. So after fooling with it for a while, I ran it thru another wash cycle and at the finish the door unlocked with no problems.
But then a couple of days ago it happened again, and this time running it through the cycle again didn’t help. But I left it alone for a few hours and it unlocked on its own.
So I called Westland to get some ideas what the problem might be, and after talking for a few minutes, Ryan, the tech, gave me some things to check further, and then get back to him.
After that my last chore was to order some new checks from Checks In The Mail. Unfortunately they have to be shipped to our home address in Houston, so I’ll have to have our daughter ship them back out to us to where ever we are.
For the rest of the afternoon I worked on client website stuff, getting some new domain names, and typing in some text filler for the web pages.
Since Jan didn’t feel like going out for dinner, in fact didn’t feel like eating at all, so I fixed a little something to eat. Hopefully she’s on the mend.
We’ll see tomorrow.
September 11, 2014
Another Nice Drop . . .
Today’s vehicle count dropped off even more, from yesterday’s 148 to a nice 126. But it may be the calm before the storm.
We had heard they were soon going to be fracking a well further on in past our gate, but then the gate guard up the road said they were going to be fracking three wells at one time. I didn’t say anything at the time, but you always hear rumors about things like this. And when you look at them closely, they don’t make sense.
For example, last year when we worked a frack gate down south of San Antonio, our peak days were about 300 vehicles, and that was pretty exhausting. Remember that the 300 number is just the vehicles coming in. You have pretty much the same number going out, but not quite. Let’s call it 500 total in and outs. So three frack jobs would mean 1500 ins and outs a day. That means that in a 24 hour day, one vehicle a minute would have to past through our gate. But that’s physically impossible.
The road leading through and past our gate is pretty much a one and half lane road. Two pickups can squeeze by each other if they’re careful, but a semi and anything else just won’t fit. For this reason, there are several pull outs along the way so vehicles can pull over to let someone pass.
Plus our gate and cattle guard is only wide enough for one vehicle. And some of the semi’s hauling a big load have to be careful about squeezing through the gate.
Very quickly you would have a solid gridlock of vehicles clogging up the road. So logistically that’s just not going to happen. Then today a company guy came through, and to Jan’s question, confirmed that there are three frack jobs coming up.
But ONE AT A TIME. Now that makes more sense.
Our drill rig finally started drilling about 4am this morning. Kind of.
But I’m not sure they’re doing it right. I have never heard a rig make these kind of sounds. There’s clanking, clanging, squealing, and screeching. And then there’s this.
I’m not sure what happened, but all of a sudden this big cloud appeared tonight for awhile. It wasn’t smoke, and didn’t smell like anything, and it didn’t look like steam. So maybe it was dust. I don’t know.
But it’s certainly entertaining.
September 11, 2015
Doable . . .
Friday is usually Grocery Day, and today was no different. So I headed out to Wal-Mart a little after 11am making the 8 mile trip into Carthage.
Being this close to town could really get you spoiled. We’ve been at other sites where it was two hours each way, and considered ourselves lucky at others when we only had a two hour round-trip.
Today’s visit was a lot less eventful than Wednesday’s tête-à-tête with the Pharmacy there. The only problem is that this store, being a ‘mini’ SuperCenter, doesn’t always stock some of the brands/items that we normally buy at Wal-Mart. But it all works out. And of course this being Grocery Day means it’s also Whataburger Day, so I made the obligatory stop there before heading home.
After lunch, and after I came on shift at 1pm, Jan decided she was going to go into town to get her haircut, so off she went about 1:30. This is only the second time in the four years we’ve been gate guarding that she’s left by herself. A real milestone. I hope she’ll do it more now that we’re so close to town.
She was back about 2:30, happy with her hair, but very unhappy with the price. Her wash and cut was $45, about twice what she usually pays at a SuperCuts, etc. At those prices, the hair places here better hope they don’t put a TGF or a SmartStyle in at the Wal-Mart.
It looks like the frack is off and running, but it does sound like it’s a little hit or miss so far, at least based on the starting and the stopping of the noise and the smoke/dust cloud that hovers above the pad. But the sand trucks are coming in, albeit, less than the 20 a day we were told. So far it’s been about 10 or so a day, in batches of 3 or 4. So that’s been nice.
Things did settle down to what I imagine will be a more usual pace, now that all the prep/startup stuff is done. Down from yesterday’s 135, we had 111 trucks come through today. A nice, very doable, pace.
Just after I went in at 6pm, we did get another light, dust-settling rain which was nice. Jan said it lasted for about 20 minutes with no wind, so it didn’t blow in under the canopy. Right now there’s a lot of lightning in the clouds to the south of us, but looking at my Rainy Days app, it doesn’t look like it’s heading our way.
So far.
September 11, 2016
School Days . . .
Between a new low vehicle count of only 29, and a high of only 85 degrees, it was a really nice day.
I’ve decided to go back to school. And I’ve been accepted to Harvard. Well, HarvardX anyway, which is Harvard’s online presence.
Over the last few years I’ve seen articles and ads about Khan Academy and edX, Both offer free online courses on hundreds of subjects, pretty much on anything you can think of.
Khan Academy seems to concentrate on general subjects, like Chemistry, Biology, or Electrical Engineering, using their own class materials. They even have math classes for K – 8th grade, that are used by many homeschoolers. And another focus is on test prep for SAT, MCAT, GMAT, and more.
But edX offers actual specific classes from major universities around the country, like MIT, Harvard, UT, and many others. And again, they’re all free. The only possible charge is if you want an actual Verified Certificate or Diploma, which runs about $100.
edX offers two main types of courses, scheduled and self-paced. Scheduled is just like any college course, with a definite start date, and assignments due at a definite time. Self-paced are just that. You can start anytime and work at your own pace. In fact edX lists over 300 self-paced courses.
I thought I’d start off with Introduction to Computer Science, a course given, as I said by Harvard. I figure it would be interesting to get a more recent overview of the subject, since the last time I took a Intro Computer class was 1973, when Jan and I were both back in college.
Jan had to take the Intro class as part of her Medical Records degree curriculum and was worried about it. I had an open period at the same time so I signed up too. We did our programming assignments on an IBM 1170 at the school using punch cards.
My previous Intro class had been in 1966 at Vanderbilt University on a IBM 360 that took up a whole floor of the Science Building, again using punch cards and Fortran IV. But my first actual programming was on a Geniac analog computer that I got for Christmas in 1958 when I was 10.
If you’re anywhere near my age (I.e. ancient) you probably remember ads in magazines like this one
The actual computer looked like this – a Masonite board with six Masonite wheels, and a lot of jumper wires, as well as batteries, light bulbs, and a buzzer.
You wired it up using the jumper wires, and then you could solve simple math problems, guess your age problems, and many others. For me the best thing was that it taught you to logically break a problem down in small pieces and then construct a program to solve it.
At 10 I was already into electronics and shortwave radio, collecting SWL cards from all around the world, and studying for my ham radio license, so the Geniac was just another step.
Anyway, after the Intro course, I want to check out some of the newer languages that have come along in the last few years, like C++, C#, and Linux. I programmed in Unix at NASA,, but Linux is a newer version. Then after that, probably Java and Ruby.
Who knows?
For dinner tonight we had our leftover Blue Moon BBQ from yesterday. Since Jan had also fixed us a dessert we found we had leftover leftovers, so we have another meal for tomorrow too.
Tomorrow I’ll put in another call to Wilson about my DBPro cell phone amplifier, and see if I can get it working.
September 11, 2018
Alvin Opry Get-Together . . .
Jan and I headed out about 12:30 for a WalMart run but since we were in the area we decided that, with the rainy, overcast day, another big bowl of King Food’s Hot & Sour Soup was in order.
Since we were planning on having dinner with friends later tonight, we each just had soup.
Hot & Delicious!
Next up was a quick stop by my client’s office to pick up something I forgot yesterday, and then it was on to our WalMart stop.
Coming home we made a gas/lottery ticket stop, finishing up at the Santa Fe Post Office for our mail, and also to pick up a Change of Address card. Now that we’ve gotten our new address from Dakota Post, I can submit an address change for our old My Dakota Address address.
In our mail was my renewed Passport America card and a paper PPA park catalog, which I didn’t want. I didn’t want the catalog because it’s pretty much useless, since it’s out of date pretty quickly, and I can get all the info online. But I had to pay $5 shipping for it anyway.
What I don’t understand is why my account number changed? I’ve had the same PPA number since I first joined in 2007. But suddenly with this new card I’ve got a new number for some reason.
About 5:15 Jan and I headed over to the TGI Friday’s in Pearland for a get-together of a lot of our Alvin Opry friends.
We’ve known most of them since the late 90’s, but don’t get to see them as often since the Opry closed a while back.
Jan had the Dragon-Glazed Grilled Chicken with Veggies,
while I had a bowl of their White Cheddar Broccoli Soup.
Guess I’m on a soup kick recently. But it was all good. As was the company.
Hopefully we’ll be able to do it again soon.
September 11, 2020
Testing, Testing . . .
I was back on the phone this afternoon talking to Spartan about my brake lights. And then I called American Coach with the same question.
And now I have two different answers. Spartan says the brake lights should work with just the ignition on, and without the engine running and the air brakes working.
But American Coach says No, the brake lights won’t work without the engine running and air pressure built up.
So I guess I’ll have to ring it out manually. I know that both the brake lights and the turn signals work from the rear PDC (Power Distribution Center). so next I’ll try to trace the wires from the front panel back to the PDC.
Several people have asked me about the test switch that I’m using to test the rear lights at the PDC. It’s really pretty simple.
It’s just a toggle switch with spade lugs on the leads.
That way I can pull the relays and control the lights directly.
So back to it tomorrow.
September 11, 2021
A Family Reunited . . .
Jan and I were in Smokey The Truck and on our way to Katy about 9:30, really looking forward to getting together at our daughter Brandi’s for post and pre birthday celebrations, and getting all the family together again.
We did make a quick gas stop along the way before hitting the Interstate where Ole Smokey easily kept up with the 70mph traffic with no problem. Maybe we should call her Ole Reliable instead.
She’s got almost 310,000 miles on her, and is only running on 7 of 8 cylinders, but she’s always ready to go in a pinch and get us where we need to go. And save us having to rent a car while the Jeeps in the shop.
Good girl!
We got to Brandi’s a little before 11 and found everyone in the pool.
Well, everyone except Landon. He and his BFF Sophie stayed up all night playing video games, and, though Sophie was up, Landon was still sleeping in.
Jan and I said how good it smelled when we were walking up to the front door. And this is why.
They got a new pellet grill and there was a brisket slow-smoking it in it.
And as soon as Piper and Derek showed up, we all dug in.
Really, really good, as well as the pan of Burnt Ends she did too.
And of course all the fixin’s were on hand also.
It was interesting to watch the interaction between all the dogs, big and little. Brandi and Lowell have two, Jack and Baxter, both big, and Chris and Linda brought their two, both small, and then Piper and Derek brought their two, one big and one small.
There was no real fighting, but a lot of ‘arguing’ for a while. In fact, Baxter just went over and hid in one of the bushes to wait it out.
But eventually it all settled down.
Then it was all back in the pool, this time including Piper and Derek.
This was Jan and my first time to meet Derek, and he seems like a really nice guy. He’s an electrician, working for a company doing electrical work for places like Tesla and Dell, and he has his own company on the side. And he and Piper are remodeling a house together.
He said he’s hoping to have his Master Electrician license next year, and then wants to go out on his own. He’s also a big SpaceX fan, so we had a good time talking about that.
This was our first time to have the whole family together since this past January, and it really felt good. And even better, it looks like everyone (including Derek) will be coming to our big family reunion in Gulf Shores, AL next June.
Can’t wait.
