Monthly Archives: September 2022
She’s Home!
Brandi had to be at the Federal Courthouse at 7:30 for her Jury summons, and by about 9:30 she had been released and was on her way to work. Out of 62 people on the panel, two were let go. And she was one of them.
She said she oughta buy a lottery ticket.
So I was on my way up to Katy to retrieve my Sweetie a little after noon, with a smooth trip all the way. Getting loaded up, we decided to have lunch at the nearby Grimaldi’s Pizzeria over in the La Centera area. But first I put in a call to them to find out when they shut their ovens down.
Grimaldi’s uses coal-fired brick ovens to cook their pizzas, and once a day they have to shut the oven down for about an hour to remove all the cinders and ash and refire them. So I called about 1:30 right before we left Brandi’s to check their times (every location is different) and found that they shut down the Katy location’s oven around 2:30-2:45, so since we were only about 10 minutes away, we were good to go.
We got our usual, starting with the ‘small’ Spinach Salad.
Unless you’re a party of six, never, ever order the large Salad. The small one gives us both two large servings of salad, but it’s very good, so it works out.
Next up was The Don, which comes with Meatballs, Pepperoni, and Sausage, to which we added Bacon and Mushrooms.
We always get the Large pizza, the 18” one, so we have leftovers to take home.
Getting back on the road, luckily we were pretty much ahead of the traffic, and made it home a little after 4pm.
But I’ve only got my Sweetie back until this Sunday when we do this all again, so Brandi can attend a business conference in San Diego thru next Thursday.
Thought For The Day:
In his defense, there’s an awful lot of symbolism going on in this photo.
Apollo 8 Moon Launch, 1968.
Traveling Through Newfoundland
September 6, 2009
Icebergs and Puffins…Not!
After availing ourselves of the free breakfast at our hotel, we headed out for the 280 mile drive to Twillingate, an island peninsular north-north west of St. John’s.
Twillingate is known as Iceberg Capitol of the World and has boat tours to see them, and also puffins and whales. And we wanted to see them all.
But on our way out of town we stopped to take some pictures of the town. It’s a very quaint town of about 100,000 people, with brightly colored buildings, and, of course, the beautiful backdrop of the countryside.
And St. John’s has it own version of the icon statues we’ve seen in other towns. In this case, it’s an mermaid perched on an iceberg. Here’s an example.
On our way out of town, and talking over our schedule, we decided to stay an extra day if we could. So I called the RV park in Louisbourg to see if they could accommodate us for another day. When they said they could, I then called the Ferry to see if we could move our return trip from the 8th to the 9th. No problem. Five minutes and it was done. Aren’t cell phones wonderful!
Along the way, Jan finally had a moose sighting. It didn’t appear scared at all. It just stood there like a statue.
About lunch time we stopped at place called “Mary Brown’s Famous Chicken and Taters”. This is a Newfoundland chain that seems to be everywhere here. The ‘taters’ are fried potato wedges. I’m not sure it would beat “The Colonel”, but it was good.
After lunch we drove across the street to a combination gift shop/visitor’s center, where we had another moose sighting. This time it was a whole family. And, again, they seemed strangely unafraid of us. It was like we could have just walked right up and petted them.
A while later we stopped at a scenic pull-out to stretch our legs and take in the view. Noticing one of the telescopes you see at these spots, and thinking it looked familiar, I walked over to take a look.
And I was surprised to see who the manufacturer is.
I know this family, or, at least, I think I do. I assume they still own it, since it’s the same name.
I took piano lessons in the late 50’s, early 60’s from Mama Dot Cain. Her husband owned this company and they must be doing good, since I see them everywhere, and now in Canada, too.
Small World!
Along the way we saw a lot of interesting flora.
Arriving in Twillingate, we found a small, neat fishing village with a lot of local charm and atmosphere.
On our way into town, we stopped at the place that offers the boat tours to sign up for a tour tomorrow morning. And were very disappointed to find out that both the icebergs and the puffins had gone south for the summer. All we could see were whales and dolphins. Bummer!
We decide to pass, so went to check into our hotel. While we were registering, the manager said “Susan, come out here. These people sound just like you!”
Turns out the reason she sounded like us is that she’s from Houston too. She was here visiting the manager and his family. She lives in The Woodlands, and also worked at Johnson Space Center, like me, although she was just starting about the time I left. We even worked in some of the same buildings at JSC.
Another Small World moment!
After getting set up in our room, we took a drive out to Crow Head, an area at the tip of the island, that juts out into the North Atlantic, with some spectacular scenery just as the sun was going down.
Coming back to the hotel, we had a very good meal at the restaurant, and then turned in after a long day.
September 6, 2010
Winding down in Elkhart . . .
Found this photo this morning on Shawna Oakley’s Facebook page. Shawna is our daughter Brandi’s BFF, and this is her son Dylan holding our grandson Landon.
Today started out with coffee about 10, and then leftover lunch with fried chicken from Das Dutchman Essenhaus and potato skins from Lunker’s. All still great.
After lunch I finished up aligning my cargo bay doors and tightening them down, getting ready to travel on Wednesday.
Next I wanted to check out the Freon level in my dash AC. So first I started up the coach engine and raised the levelers. I went ahead and did this today since in the last month they had sunk into the ground somewhat, and I wanted to be sure I didn’t have any trouble getting them unstuck.
Luckily they came up with no problems.
Then I turned on the dash AC and went back to the engine compartment to attach the gauge and check the pressure. But the first thing I noticed was that the AC clutch did not seem to pulling in. I went back and forth between the dash and the engine several times turning the AC on and off while checking the compressor function.
Finally, the last time I stuck my head out of the rig and started to the rear, I saw smoke coming from out from back there.
A quick run (very quick) back there showed that the clutch had locked up and the drive belt was smoking. so I ran back up and shut the engine off and check out the damage.
I’m not sure if the compressor has died, or hopefully, the clutch has locked up. The clutch is much cheaper and easier to replace. But whichever it is, it won’t get fixed before we get back to Houston.
If we need AC before then, I’ll just run the generator and use the coach AC’s to keep cool. We had to this several times this summer anyway when the dash AC wasn’t enough to keep us cool.
About 4:30 Jan and I headed over to Bob Evans for dinner. We really like the place and it’ll probably be the last time to eat there this year.
Jim and Chris Guld of Geeks on Tour stopped by with their dog, Odie. Our cat Mister was outside and he and Odie sniffed at each other for a while and then agreed to ignore each other.
About 8:45 we called it a night before the bugs carried us off.
Another nice evening with friends.
More From Elkhart
September 6, 2011
Cold Weather and Old Friends . . .
We awaken to temps in the 40’s this morning, a sure sign Fall is here, and it never got out of the 60’s all day. You know Winter is on the way when Jan digs her sweat pants out from under the sofa. And we turned our heated mattress pad on for the first time in several months.
With a big mug of hot coffee to warm us up, we talked about how much Landon is growing and how much he will change before we see him again at Thanksgiving.
About 11:30 Jan fixed us a lunch of leftover pizza from Mancino’s a couple of nights ago. Pizza, and Italian food in general, always seem to improve as leftovers.
Later Mike and Elaine Loscher came by to visit. They’re in the area having their coach repainted by Michele at Phoenix Commercial Paint right up the road just into Michigan. They’ve been staying in a motel for the last couple of weeks while Michele is working her magic on their rig. They still have another week or so to go, so they’re really getting anxious.
After sitting around and talking for several hours we all decided it was time for dinner so we headed out to King Wha, a great local Chinese place that always makes us feel at home.
We got home a little before 6pm, just in time to greet Tom and Barb Westerfield as they were getting parked. They’re passing through for a couple of days, also to have some work done at Michele’s. In this case, by her sister, who specializes in awning repair. One of their large slide toppers tore and they want to have it repaired or replaced.
Just as we were getting back to the rig, our daughter Brandi called to check in, and of course, talk about Landon and the fun time they all had this weekend.
Fun Times!
Gate Guarding Near Whitsett, TX
September 6, 2013
It once was lost but now it’s found . . .
Our replacement canopy came in yesterday, right on schedule. So sometime in the next couple of nights, Jan and I will take down the old one and set up the new one. But first I’m going to check all the joints to be sure the bolts are tight so we don’t have a repeat of what happened with the first one. Hopefully it will only take about 30 minutes or so to switch them out, but it will also depend on how much traffic we have through the gate then. We’ll see.
One thing I’ve noticed recently is that apparently, bugs, specifically moths, have schedules. We have a couple of these work light stands that the company gives us to light up the gate at night.
And of course they do attract moths. But only on certain nights. So one night we have almost none, and other nights it’s like a plague of locusts. They’re everywhere, swarming around the lights and landing on the ceiling of the canopy, and on us. Other nights, zip, zero, nada.
The only thing I can figure is that they all get together as a group and rotate through visiting each of the gate guards in the area on different nights. Don’t want to get bored with just one location. Makes sense to me.
Speaking of lights, we love these powerful LED flashlights.
Techlite Lumen Master 200 Lumens High-Intensity CREE XPG L.E.D. Tactical Flashlight, 3 Pack
The 3 pack is only about $36, and you can get them in singles too, I believe. You just cannot look at one of these directly without being blinded. They have a high setting, a low setting, and an emergency strobe light setting. You will be amazed at how far these will throw a beam.
We use them to be able read license plates at a distance at night, and occasionally, I will flash one at a big rig driver who hasn’t dimmed his lights like he’s supposed to. It gets their attention quick.
I guess there was a late night party going on at the fracking site last night/this morning because at about 2:30 am, the Hell Fighters’ Kitchen truck came by and dropped off two Pork Tenderloin Dinners for us. This is the 3rd time they’ve stopped, and it’s always been delicious. We’d heard that fracking crews get fed more often than drill rigs and it’s looking to be true.
Under the Lost and Found department, I went in to Pleasanton to get groceries at the Wal-Mart today, and managed to lose my phone. Well, let’s say, misplaced. I was buying cat food, and at first, couldn’t find the flavor that Jan wanted (well, I guess it’s the flavor the cats wanted. I don’t think Jan has tasted it to find out if it’s a flavor she likes.) So I got out my phone to call her to get another recommendation. But I saw the one I was looking for and set the phone down on the shelf. Then after loading the cart, I wheeled away minus my phone. I wasn’t more than 30 feet away when I realized I had left it, so I went back.
NO phone.
I couldn’t figure out where it went. There was no one else on the row while I was there. I thought it might have fallen behind some of the cases on the shelf so I found a young salesgirl and asked her to call my phone.
NO luck.
Bummer.
So I went ahead and finished up my shopping and checked out, stopping by the Customer Service desk on the way out.
NO luck.
No one had turned it in. So I headed back to the rig after a quick McD stop for our lunch. After getting home, and Jan and I eating outside together, I called my phone from hers.
NO answer
Bummer.
Then waiting a few more minutes, I called again. And Wal-Mart answered.
YAY!
Someone had turned it in, so I told them I’d be back tomorrow and gave them my name. As I hung up, Jan mentioned that Rhonda, one of the railroad crossing gate guards, had left a little while ago, heading to Wal-Mart. So I called and asked her to pick it up for me.
And about an hour later, she shows up with my phone. Said she had a little problem getting them to give it to her. She said they told her they wanted to call me and get my permission. She said how are you going to do that. You have his phone. Duh!
I wasn’t really worried about any of the info on the phone getting into the wrong hands. There’s no passwords or any like that stored on it. And besides, I have “Where’s My Droid” on it.
This program gives me complete remote control of the phone. From another phone, or from their website, I can make it sound a siren noise, strobe the camera flash, take pictures from the front or back cameras and email them to me, locate the phone from the phone network or GPS coordinates, email them to me, or even display the location on Google Maps.
Finally I can lock the phone where it cannot be used, and, if worse comes to worse, I can ‘brick’ it, wipe it clean.
And if it was stolen, and the thief took the battery out for a while, just in case, then all of this will happen as soon as he puts the battery back in. This can also happen if he tries to remove the SIM card so he can reuse it.
Great product. Check it out.
Gate Guarding Near North Zulch, TX
September 6, 2014
Why did the Armadillo Cross The Road?
Gate traffic really picked up today with 144 vehicles through, most of them big trucks bringing in the drill rig that’s going up across the road from us. But things quiet down a good bit after dark. I normally only get 3 or 4 vehicles between 11pm and 7am.
This is what it looks like so far. I’ll post more photos as it goes up.
One thing nice about these rig trucks coming in is that it’s the same ones over and over, so once we recognize the tag number then we can just wave them through. Really speeds things up.
Now that the housing trailers are in place and set up, we’re getting the first of the crew in who will live onsite, either in one week or two week shifts of 12 hour days, seven days a week.
The armadillo apparently crosses the road to get to the scummy pond behind us.
He came across the road about 3am, and along the way, he bumped into the light stand and then into the generator trailer before he disappeared into the dark behind the rig. But about an hour later, he showed up again, heading home, I guess. Unfortunately I didn’t get the flash turned on on my phone camera in time to get a photo.
When I first saw the pond I was worried about mosquitos, but so far this gate has been remarkable bug-free. No tarantulas. No scorpions. And no enormous grasshoppers.
Besides the scummy pond we do have a nice view in the other direction.
Certainly a lot different than our gates in the Whitsett area.
Lowell sent over this photo of Landon at T-Ball practice. He’s playing pitcher, though the pitcher doesn’t pitch in T-Ball. It’s mainly a fielding position as the pitcher and the first baseman get most of the action since 4 year-old’s can’t hit the ball that far.
Since he’s a lefty at writing, I assume that he will be at ball-throwing too, although that’s not always the case.
For dinner tonight Jan fixed up another batch of her wonderful Nachos, and like the other day, made them with crushed canned Hot Chili Beans, rather than bean dip.
Quick, easy, and delicious. One of our favorite gate meals.
Gate Guarding Near Carthage, TX
September 6, 2015
Nuttin’, Honey . . .
and probably not tomorrow, either.
Despite several workers saying they’d be back in today, nobody showed up, except the landowner’s son, and he was just passing through.
Because we thought we would have traffic this morning, Jan sat outside until about 10:30am when it started to get hot and she still hadn’t had anyone come through.
A little before noon I drove into Carthage to pick up some 20 amp ATM fuses to replace the one that blew Friday night, taking out our bathroom 12 volt lights. Since the fuse panel also uses some 10 and 15 amp ones, I picked up some of all three types. After replacing the bad one, I tucked the rest away inside the panel so I’ll know where they are when I need them again. Otherwise, if it’s another 8 years until another one blows, I probably won’t be able to find them.
And of course I made a stop at Whataburger to bring back lunch, and also drop off a bag of garbage in their dumpster. The manager told me a couple of weeks ago that it wasn’t a problem, which really helps since we don’t yet have, and may not get, a trash trailer here.
Later in the afternoon, I dug out my other LED bulb to replace the one that burned out in the shower.
Both of these came out of my outside patio lights when I upgraded them to use the LED strips that give out a lot more light.
But after plugging the new one, I got an idea of what happened to the first one Friday night. As soon as I flipped the switch, the bulb lit up, and then flared and popped with a loud snap and a burst of light. The bulb itself had turned black and partially melted the housing.
Looking back, I guess we’re lucky that only the fuse blew. It takes a pretty good short circuit to blow a 20amp fuse, and not telling what could have happened.
Finishing up, here’s another photo of Landon having fun at the Woodlands Resort this Labor Day weekend.
Gate Guarding Near Blue Moon BBQ
September 6, 2016
Well, At Least They Were Nice About It . . .
With 61 vehicles through the gate today, our count was back to normal after the slow holiday weekend. Nice, but it didn’t last.
I did get both bells working again, at least for a while anyway. The one behind us, at the entrance from the highway, the one we really need, wears out the fastest, because it’s on hard pavement. But the other one, at the entrance to the actual pad, is on dirt, so it’s a little more forgiving and lasts longer.
About 12:15 this afternoon I drove over to the Hearne Post Office to retrieve my wayward Amazon package. I had called them at 7am this morning hoping to catch someone there early before they had a chance to send it back.
The lady was very nice and quickly found my package and said they’d hold it for me. But after getting there, it all kinda went downhill. But they were nice about it.
I explained my situation, and that according to the landowner, that this is valid address, and that he’s received UPS, FedEx, and Priority Mail there with no problems. I said we were just a quarter mile down the road from Blue Moon BBQ, and that I’d seen the mail truck there delivering mail.
They said that to have mail delivered to us I needed to put a mailbox out on the highway. I said that Blue Moon doesn’t have a mailbox. The carrier walked inside and handed them the mail so why can’t he just stop here and hand me my package.
That stumped them for a minute, before one of them said that I could just get a PO Box at the post office. I explained that Amazon won’t ship to a PO Box because they can’t guarantee how something would be shipped. If it comes by UPS or FedEx then the PO Box address won’t work.
I then ask if I put a mailbox out on the highway and I get a package that won’t fit in the mailbox, which I doubt any of ours will. (today’s package was the size of a briefcase), what’s going to happen? Will he drive the additional 50 feet and hand the package to one of us, or will he put a slip in the mailbox telling us we can pick our package up at the Post Office?
Stumped ‘em again.
Then I ask that if I were to get a PO Box there, and a package came in and it wouldn’t fit in the box, what would happen? One of them said that they would put a slip in the box telling me I had a package and that I could pick it up at the counter.
So then I ask how is that any different than what I’m doing now? Why do I need a PO Box when Amazon won’t ship to a PO Box. When Amazon notifies me the package is here, I’ll come over and pick it up.
Stumped ‘em again. But they were nice about it.
So I don’t know where I stand on this. I’ve got a couple of more packages in the pipeline, so we’ll just see what happens.
On the subject of Amazon, one of the things in our Amazon care package today was a Laptop/Book light like this.
I’ve already got one like it for our big clock in the rig, but I wanted another one to light our clock outside under the canopy.
One thing that I like about this one is that it is both battery-powered and USB rechargeable. Some I’ve used only work when they’re plugged into a USB port, and others are only battery-powered so you have to keep replacing the batteries.
Works great.
Wrapping up, it looks like Fall may be peeking around the corner, at least for a few days. By next weekend we’re looking at highs in the low to mid 80’s and lows at night in the mid 60’s.
Nice!
September 6, 2017
Little Green Trees . . .
Not wanting to get bit again by Miss Karma due to not feeding her at the accustomed time, I was up about 8:30 this morning.
But I also needed to be on the road to Clear Lake by about 9:45 to get down there for another client visit. But first I had to check out of the park here and then check back in for our next 11 day stay, ending on the 17th. Of course that’s only 11 days so we can extend another 3 if we have to. But sometime in there we’re going to have to move I imagine, since we will have been here over 30 days. All of course due to Harvey.
But I guess it’s still up in the air if we’re going to be able to move over to Colorado River as scheduled due to the severe damage they had from the flooding. So we’ll see.
My next stop was the Kroger’s over in Willis for gas. Found no lines and a $0.20 per gallon discount with my Kroger card, leaving it at $2.19 a gallon. Not bad under the circumstances.
Somewhere along I-45 south, near the Dairy Ashford exit, I saw this place.
I figure it must be new, otherwise I’m sure I would have noticed it before. But maybe not.
So what’s next? Drive-by Cremations?
Don’t know what was going on today, but the traffic going through downtown Houston and out the other side was really terrible. Almost like suddenly there were twice as many cars on the road as before.
Didn’t any accidents or breakdowns. Just solid traffic.
Getting to the client’s, I started trying to diagram out the hardware to get an idea of what’s what. I’m pretty much just going to wire everything up from scratch since I can really trust anything done by my predecessor. Right now I’ve got cables running down the hall keeping things going.
I keep finding hidden routers and switches, wires that he pulled that seem to have no purpose and don’t really go anywhere, and a server that is online and flowing data, but does not show up on the office network. That’s the one labeled ??? on the diagram.
It’s up on a top shelf in a closet with no monitor or keyboard/mouse connected to it. Of course it could be the almost-mythical porn collection that I’ve always suspected was around here somewhere. It is possible to to ‘hide’ a server so that it’s only accessible if you know its name. Otherwise you can’t see it.
This is kind of like on a WiFi signal you can set it not to broadcast the SSID, the name that people see when they scan for signals in an area, I.e Gerald4269 or Jabba 162. Or my favorite, FBI Surveillance Van No. 7. And the only way to connect to one of these WiFi signals is to know the name and type it in.
After about all the frustration I could take for the day, I headed back for Conroe a little before 4pm. Now normally heading north that early it’s not too bad. But this afternoon was just like this morning, but on steroids.
No accidents or breakdowns on the road along the way, but just bumper to bumper traffic, even in places where it normally moves right along at this time of the day.
As usual, coming north like this, I took 610 east and got on the Hardy Toll Road. Of course right now it’s just the Hardy Road since they’ve waived all tolls because of the Harvey recovery. Don’t know how long it will last, but it’s nice while it does.
One of the things Jan and I have always notice as we take the Hardy is a huge parking area where the new cars are unloaded from the incoming train cars. Now normally that lot seems to be only half full, or even less. But today it was jam-packed to the fences with no visible open spaces, and the long line of train cars parked there were full too.
Looks like the car dealers are getting ready for the insurance checks to start flowing and people replacing their flooded-out vehicles.
And of course up north, they can expect an influx of late-model, low-mileage used cars and trucks in perfect condition with prices that can’t be beat.
Just ignore the slight musty smell.
Hang one of those little greens trees from your visor and you’ll be fine.
September 6, 2018
And Me In A Body Bag . . .
I spent the morning talking with our travel agent, Chantelle Nugent, finalizing the last details of our European trip.
One of the things we were talking about is the trip insurance for the Paris/London land tour part of our trip. The trip insurance for the cruise part comes through Viking, but for the land part we’re on our own.
Chantelle said she had two possibilities. The first one covered pretty much anything for any reason. If your brother-in-law’s cousin’s neighbor’s hairdresser gets a zit, you can cancel for a full refund. That one cost about $475.
However, if I just wanted a policy that covers only cancellation for major medical/death reasons, personal or family, that one is $315.
Guess which one I bought.
I told Chantelle that as far as Jan was concerned, I don’t think my death would cause Jan to cancel the trip. She’s been wanting/planning this trip for too long. She would just go, come hell or high water, while dragging me along behind in a body bag.
I did get a call from Richard at RV Mobile Lube this morning saying he was in the area and would come by this afternoon to take a look at my leaking oil filter. For his sake I’m glad he’s coming this afternoon and not this morning, because it just poured down the whole time, but, as forecasted, it cleared up in the afternoon.
Richard showed up about 5pm and got right to work.
He pulled the old filter off and we checked it out. It wasn’t loose and the filter housing itself seemed fine, with no cracks or dents, and the threads looked fine with no burrs or cross-threading. Not ever having seen the gasket on one of these big filters, I figured that the gaskets were a flat fiber washer like on an auto/pickup vehicle.
But they’re actually a large rubber doughnut-looking thing, so no way to leave it off, or use the old one and the new one at the same time like on a car. And in this case the gasket looked perfect, also with no nicks or cuts. Richard also said the threads on the engine side of the filter looked fine too.
So at this point the next step was to install the new filter and gasket and see if it helped. After Richard got the filter cleaned off and the area wiped down, I crank up the rig, set it to high-idle, and then we waited.
When I checked it out on Tuesday and ran it for 30 minutes, oil started dripping within 10 minutes. But this afternoon, after 30 minutes, the ground pads were completely dry. I’ll check it again this weekend for maybe an hour for confirmation, but for now it looks the problem might be fixed.
Yah!
Richard’s last task was to top off the oil with about 6 quarts of Shell Rotella 15W-40.
I did learn a neat trick watching him do this. Adding oil though the normal oil filler cap is a pain in the rear on this engine. So I was surprised to see Richard adding it though the TDC (Top Dead Center) port.
But this looks like a much faster, easier way.
As soon as Richard left, Jan and I headed over to Whataburger for burgers and salads. Then afterwards, Jan noted that today was National Coffee Ice Cream Day and that we needed to stop by the nearby Marble Slab to take part in the celebration.
Personally I think she made it all up.
September 6, 2020
My Baby’s Back Home . . .
I headed up to Katy about noon to bring my Sweetie back home. We did take time for lunch at El Pollo Loco, one of our favorite places. We had a couple down in our area a couple of years ago, but they went under late last year. Both very badly managed and never once got our take-out orders right.
But the one up in Katy is always great.
I was back to looking at the fuse/relay panel on the rig’s dashboard this morning, and I think I made a little headway. I’m hoping that I found the interface plug from the fuse panel that feeds the wiring harness back to the PDC (Power Distribution Center) at the rear of the rig that then feeds the taillights.
I found it tucked away off to the side out of the way. So now I’ve got to start ringing it out, since I have absolutely no data, pinouts, or color-codes for it.
Somewhere around here I’ve got a circuit tracer that should help me out.
September 6, 2021
Labor Day ‘Q’
Well, the consensus is that the water heater is going to have to come back out. Of course it’s a consensus of one, me, but I’m the one who’s doing it, so that’s what matters.
It’s wedged in there tight, with about 2” still hanging outside the rig, and it won’t budge, or even wiggle. So the only thing I can see to do is to pull it back out.
But I’m not sure how easy that’s going to be. In or out, it’s pretty stuck. But I know it went in that way, so that’s the way it’s got to come back out. Then once I get it back out I’ll take a wood rasp to the opening and enlarge it enough so that it just glides right in, easy peasy.
But in the meantime, I figured out how to correctly wire up the new water heater. Turns out that unlike my old unit, it requires a separate 12VDC voltage remote switch to energize the relay that puts power to the heating element.
The problem is that 12VDC is nowhere to be found in that compartment, or even near by, that I can get to. So after sleeping on it, I came up with a solution.
I’m going to buy a heavy-duty 6ft. multi-tap extension cord and cut it in half. The multi-tap end will be wired into the main 120VAC power coming in. The plug end will be wired onto the 120VAC power leads going into the unit.
Then the new plug on the water heater will plug into one socket on the multi-tap end. And then this will be plugged into the other multi-tap socket.
After I cut off the cigarette lighter plug, that will supply the 12VDC that I need for the remote switch. It will supply 2A so that should be plenty.
But we still have hot water so I’m not under any time constraints.
About 1pm Jan and I celebrated Labor Day by having Baby Back Ribs and Brisket at our local Spring Creek BBQ.
After our last visit to Spring Creek when Jan sampled my brisket, this time Jan got Ribs and Brisket, rather than just ribs.
Jan gets her brisket lean with no bark, while I get mine Marbled with Extra Bark, like above.
Really good.
Thought For The Day:
When the world ends, will Australians say it ended yesterday?
Happy Labor Day . . .
Brandi, et al., including Landon’s BFF, Sophie, got home a little before 4pm and had a great time. They were at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, TX near Dallas for the Labor Day weekend.
Seems to a hotel/event center/water park all under one roof. And I mean ‘one roof’
So now Brandi has to see how her Federal Jury summons tomorrow turns out, before I know when I’ll get my Jan back. But hopefully tomorrow.
I’ve mentioned before that Sophie, Landon’s BFF, got her ‘growth spurt’ before Landon, actually not that unusual.
Here they are a couple of weeks ago.
And here they are two years ago when they had just turned 10.
Thought For The Day:
So The Tesla Service Vehicle Is A . . . Ford?
With A Gas Engine?
Is Elon Not Telling Us Something?
September 5, 2009
A Rough Night at Sea…
After finally falling asleep about 1 am, we woke about 7:30. It was a rough night. People coughing all night, people snoring, people talking in their sleep, etc.
About 8 am we headed down to Deck 5 for breakfast at the Cafeteria, stopping off to go outside on Deck 6, for a great view of the ocean.
After breakfast, we went to one of the many lounges to spend the morning. Jan settled in to read and I found an outlet to plug in my laptop.
Our ferry, the “Joseph and Clara Smallwood” is 587 feet long and can hold 1200 passengers and 350 cars, RV’s, and semi’s. We’re 200 miles out in the North Atlantic, and I have both WiFi Internet and cellphone service. This ship is really something.
But being built back in the 1990’s, I.e. ‘pre-laptop’, there are not enough electrical outlets in the lounges for everyone.
They were also showing movies on big screen TV’s. We watched ‘Night at the Museum’, “Shrek II”, and others.
Around noon we headed back to the cafeteria for lunch of soup and sandwiches. And then after lunch we moved all our stuff down to Deck 5 so we would be closer to our truck on Deck 3 when the time came.
We docked about 2:30 pm and were called to our vehicles about 2:45. We were told not to start our vehicles until it came our time to move, and then we started up and moved out…not.
Actually, I turned the key and only got a ‘click, click, click’. Dead battery.
I still don’t know what the problem was. None of my lights were left on. Anyway, I wasn’t the only one. Two other vehicles needed a jump start, also.
Finally, we were off the ship and on our way.
We decided to head south down the peninsular to drive what is known as the Irish Loop, though we only did a half-loop since we wanted to get back to St John’s to get a hotel room before dark.
And now some pretty pictures of our drive.
Tors Cove
And I’m glad we did come back a little early, because we had to try three hotels before we found a room.
While we were hunting hotels, we saw Montana’s Steakhouse and thought we’d give it a try later. And we did. And it was good.
Tomorrow…Tillingate!
September 5, 2010
Fall is in the Air . . .
Fall is here, at least in northern Indiana. Yesterday’s high was 63 and then down to 50 last night. Today it made it up to about 68 with a low tonight of 58.
Of course, if it’s too cool for you here, you could try Yuma. It was 114 on Friday, and 109 yesterday.
But it’s a dry heat. Of course, so is an oven.
About 11 this morning Jan and I headed over to Bob Evans for breakfast. As usual on a Sunday morning, there was a wait, but only about 5 minutes. Bob Evans has moved into their Fall menu so they’ve got their flavored cappuccino’s again. Really good.
After breakfast we drove over to the National New York Central Railroad Museum here in Elkhart.
They have a dining car set up and all ready to go for the restaurant they hope to open soon.
And here’s a display of signal lanterns ranging from the 1860’s to the present.
Maybe the most amazing thing they have there is this 8 foot long toothpick model of a Pennsylvania K-4 Pacific locomotive.
It has over 420,000 toothpicks, 40 pounds of glue, and took 7 years to build. The brakes, wheels, tie rods, and windows actually move.
The builder, Terry Woodling, has built several other toothpick models, including a DC-3 with a 5 foot wingspan, a Huey helicopter, a touring motorcycle, and a Learjet with an 8 foot fuselage.
They also have a model railroad layout that’s under construction.
Outside in the freight yard they have a number of old engines and railcars. The oldest locomotive is this L3A 4-8-2 Mohawk built in 1940, one of 25 in the series.
It ran until 1957 when the New York Central completed its transformation from steam to diesel.
They also had one the first diesels on the NYC, an EMD E8. Built in 1953, it’s 70 feet long and weighs over 330,000 pounds.
This wooden boxcar probably dates from the 1920 – 1930’s, but according to the reporting marks, it was rebuilt in 1965, probably as a maintenance car, and then retired in 1975.
This tank car is somewhat newer, being built in 1952, rebuilt in 1977. and then retired in 1985. It’s really in good shape.
This caboose was built in 1963, and was in use until the 1980’s when most cabooses were retired from service due to their function being handled by more modern technology.
Across the tracks from the museum is the Elkhart train station. Built in 1900, it replaced one built in the 1880’s. It’s still in use today as a regular stop on the daily train from New York to Chicago and back.
A lot of the museum is still under construction and we look forward to visiting again next year to see how things are coming.
Leaving the museum and heading home, we stopped off at Ace Hardware to pick up some new bolts for my cargo bay doors, and then stopping at Martin’s for some cat food.
About 5:30 Jan and I drove over to Cracker Barrel for supper and then back to the rig for the night.
We’ve only got two more days here in Elkhart before we leave on Wednesday.
September 5, 2011
Labor Day . . .
We woke up this morning to beautiful Fall weather, and about 50 degrees. I don’t think it finally hit 60 until later in the afternoon. Nice!
After coffee and bagels, I worked on organizing stuff in the coach for a while, and then about 12:30 Jan and I headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and other stuff.
Getting home about 2 and getting things put away, I set up Skype on my computer and waited for Lowell to call.
About 3pm Brandi SkypeCalled us and we spent about 15 minutes watching Landon play with his toys and run around the living room.
One thing we noticed when we saw him at the reunion a few weeks ago is that he’s not bald anymore. He’s actually got a lot of hair, but since it’s kind of white-blonde, it’s hard to see in photos. His mother Brandi’s hair was the same way when she was young too.
We’re really looking forward to seeing him again when we’re back in Houston right before Thanksgiving.
Earlier in the day Brandi and Lowell emailed us these shots of Landon at a nearby park.
I think he’s saying he’s No. 1 in this photo.
And here he is having his first Tookie’s hamburger. Tookie’s was/is a famous burger place in Seabrook, TX that had been around since the early 70’s. It was heavily damaged in Hurricane Rita in 2008 and never reopened, until just a couple of weeks ago. Took’em long enough.
Brandi said no matter when you go, there’s always a wait.
September 5, 2014
Found’em . . .
Well, today was a little quieter on the gate than yesterday, with only 119 vehicles coming through, against yesterday’s 130. Of course, that really means 238 vehicles, counting coming in and going out. But they’ve been bringing in house trailers for the new well, so we’ll be having people staying over pretty soon.
Another gate guard company is looking for a couple for a gate near Bristol, TX, about 30 miles southeast of Dallas. It pays $200 a day, which sounds great until you get to the kicker.
It’s a 600 vehicle a day gate!
So let’s see. $50 more a day than our $150, and you get to quadruple your work load. Sounds like a great deal to me. I wonder why they’re having trouble finding anyone?
In other news, I found my set of longer cables for the satellite dome, so Jan has TV again. The cables were right where I left them, but not where I remember leaving them. That seems to happen a lot lately. But the real culprit is the fact that before we left Houston I went through and reorganized all the basement bins in a logical fashion.
But apparently, what was logical then is not quite so logical now. That’s what I get for tidying things up.
Unlike a lot of gate guard couples, Jan and I don’t work 12 hour shifts. We find it much easier to split it up.
Jan works from 7am to 2pm, and brings out something for breakfast that we eat together. I’m scheduled come back at 2pm, but usually it’s earlier and I bring out coffee.
So I work from 2pm to 6pm, and Jan brings out supper that we eat together. Jan then works from 6pm to 11pm, and I work from 11pm to 7am.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
So Jan works a 7 hour shift and a 5 hour shift, and I work an 8 and a 4. Works for us.
Today was a sad day. Dinner finished off the last of the Sonny’s BBQ we got in Pensacola, FL while we were staying at Gulf Shores, AL about a month ago. We went there twice and always bought extra to freeze.
But on a bright note, there’s a Rudy’s over in College Station, not too far away.
September 5, 2015
Summer’s Last Gasp?
Well, it was another quiet day in the oil patch, our part of it, at least. We had 7 vehicles come in and later leave. Most of it was the Swire water guys finishing with setting up the pumps and water lines feeding from the frack ponds.
But there were a couple of guys out in the back laying out and discing up the area where they’ll put the used mud. And that was about it. And we expect even less tomorrow, and if we’re lucky, maybe nothing on Monday.
So we’ll probably go out to dinner again Monday night, since it’ll probably be our last chance for a while.
Our days and nights have heated recently with temps in the mid-90’s in the daytime, and mid-70’s at night, while just a week ago it was low 90’s and mid-60’s.
But starting next Thursday, Fall may be here. According to the Weather Channel, we’re looking at a week of low to mid 80’s and high 50’s to low 60’s at night. At least that’s the forecast. We’ll see how it pans out.
One thing nice about this site is that the rig blocks us from those cold north winds that will sweep through. Much better than the last two years.
After our iced coffee this morning, I took a look at my ‘no 12 volts in the bathroom’ problem we came home to last night. As I suspected, I found a blown 20 amp ATC fuse like this in the panel at the bottom of the bed.
I’ve never had to open this 12 volt panel before, since I’ve never had a 12 volt problem before, so I was surprised to find it use the larger ATC fuses, since everywhere else in the coach uses the smaller ATM fuses. The problem with this is that I don’t have any spare ATC fuses, just the ATM size. I checked the rest of the panel to see if there was one I could borrow, but no luck.
I did borrow one temporarily though, to be sure that it did fix the problem, and it did. Except for the light in the shower. It uses one of these LED bulbs and it wouldn’t come on.
I pulled the bulb out and checked the voltage at the socket and had 12 volts, so the bulb was the problem. But why?
That bulb gets left on as a night light, so it was on when we left for supper. The only thing I can figure is that the bulb shorted long enough to blow the fuse, and then opened. I say ‘opened’ because it had to short to blow the fuse, but it had to then open, otherwise it would have blown the new fuse when I plugged it in. I’ve got another of those bulbs, so I’ll have to get it out.
I’ll probably go into Carthage tomorrow to get some new fuses and also bring back lunch.
Brandi, Lowell, and Landon always spend Labor Weekend at the Woodlands Resort and Landon has a blast. Apparently he can even hula-hoop.
September 5, 2017
Leaving The Seat Up . . .
I had planned to sleep in this morning, I really did. But Karma had other ideas.
Turns out that just because Jan’s not here, doesn’t mean that Miss Karma doesn’t still plan on being fed at 7:30am like Jan does every morning. So her patience finally ran out about 9:30, and she jumped up on the bed and started BITING me.
One of the first things I did this morning (after feeding Karma) was try to get Jan out of Jury Duty. It seems like every year or so one of us gets a jury summons from Harris County. And we haven’t lived here since 2008.
The only thing I was able to do was to ask from disqualification due to not residing in Harris County. But I’ve done this before, and it never sticks. So I’ll probably have to just do it again next time.
I started to order something from Amazon this afternoon and have it delivered to my client’s office for working on his system. With 2 Day Prime delivery I figured it would be there on Thursday so I could use it Friday. And Amazon said it would be delivered on Thursday, but on September 14th, not September 7th.
So I guess they’re still having problems with delivery to this area. We’ll see.
Looks like our forecasted cooler weather is coming through tomorrow right on schedule. Today’s high here in Conroe was 91 with tonight’s low of 68°. But then tomorrow’s high is only 84 and tomorrow night we’re looking at 58°.
Then day temps in the 80’s for at least the next week.
So Fall is here early?
A couple of microwave updates.
Concerning the tabletop Frigondas unit that both cooks and freezes, one reader says his already does this. It’s easy, he said. He just turns the the wall plug around and run the microwave in reverse. Works every time, he said.
Y’all give it try and let me know how it works. My microwave just completely fixed itself and I don’t want to annoy it anymore.
I mentioned the other day how I had worked on it and fixed a persistent problem, but the light stayed on all the time. But since it worked now, I was going to just leave well enough alone.
Well, that worked out great, because I noticed this morning that now the light is going off and on just like it’s supposed to.
There seems to be a theory among wives that as soon as we slide that wedding band on her finger, our I.Q. drops 50 points and we are no longer able to feed and clothe our selves, by ourselves. Instead we can now only function under our wife’s detailed guidance and instruction.
Now in one way or the other, I’ve been taking care of myself since I went off to military school when I was 15. And from then until I met Jan almost 4 years later, I managed to feed, bathe, and dress myself, by myself, without anyone’s assistance.
I’ve washed my own clothes, ironed my own clothes (yes, I can iron) and even bought my own clothes. But by Jan’s reckoning, I’m completely unable to take care of myself for the 3 days that she will be gone. So I got detailed instructions on every bit of food in the refrigerator, how to prepare it, and how many seconds to set the microwave for. And even down to where the salt and pepper are in the cabinet.
It’s amazing I can even breathe on my own. But, of course with Jan gone, I can leave the seat up . . . on purpose.
September 5, 2019
See I Told You It Was Crows . . .
Jan and I headed out a little before noon this morning, with our first stop at the Black Bear Diner out on I-45 for lunch. BBD is presently our new favorite place, but probably just the latest one. At least until something newer comes along.
Though they were busy, it wasn’t like last Sunday and we got seated immediately.
While Jan got her usual bun-less burger with Avocado and a Side Salad,
I went with something new that I saw on the menu last visit, The Bacon Cheeseburger Salad, with their delicious Bacon Ranch Dressing.
With a Burger Patty, Bacon, Cheese, Dill Pickle Chips, Tomatoes, and Red Onions, WOW! was it good. And very filling and very Keto.
Finishing up we drove on up to the Webster area so Jan could get her toesies done while I drove over to the Sam’s/Wal-Mart for gas and a few groceries. I was happy to see gas at Sam’s now down to $1.98/gal,
Very nice.
As I was leaving the Wal-Mart I saw a Loomis Armored Car out in the middle of the lot surrounded by about 6 police cars and a couple of black pickups. And there was also a news helicopter circling overhead, though I couldn’t tell which station.
Something was obviously going on, but I never found anything online about what it was.
Picking up Jan when she was done, we headed up to the Katy area to drop Jan off at Brandi’s so she can team up with Lowell’s parents for Grandparent’s Day tomorrow at Landon’s school. Then I came home and then will go back up Saturday afternoon for Landon’s Birthday Party.
I guess because I posted the blog about crows stealing my chrome sockets, this article showed up in our Facebook timeline.
I wonder if she’s got my sockets.
Of course there this 83 year old lady who supposedly trained her 65 cats (and 17 kittens) to steal jewelry from neighboring houses.
So far I haven’t had much luck with Karma, though she did bring us a dead mouse once.
(and yes, I know this is a fake story)
September 5, 2020
Boats and Trains . . .
Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and Landon’s BFF, Sophie, are spending Labor Day Weekend up at The Woodlands, north of Houston, something they’ve done several other years. Which is one of the reasons that Jan has been doggie-sitting at their home in Katy.
Luckily for me, they’ll be home tomorrow so I’ll get my Jan back.
September 5, 2021
Hot-Wired and Hot Water . . .
I was outside about 10:30 this morning to start pulling the old water heater out of its cubbyhole.
I had already disconnected the water lines and the power wires inside, so after I loosened the gas line outside and removed the 16 screws holding the unit to the rig, I started trying to pull it out.
And it would not budge. Not even a wiggle.
And when I tried to stick a screwdriver in between the heater and the wall, I found the problem. Besides the 16 screws, they decided to actually GLUE the unit into the opening. With a very strong glue, too.
So I started prying the sides in so I could cut through the adhesive.
Finally then I was able to wiggle and pry, and eventually got the unit out of the hole.
The plywood platform came right out and then I did my best to clean and dry the area out. But before I could go any further I needed to move the inside water connections over to the new unit.
No problem removing the elbow on the cold inlet, but when I tried to remove the piping on the hot outlet, the 1/2” plastic coupling just came apart.
So since it was about lunch time, it was off to Home Depot by way of Gator’s for lunch. Turns out Home Deport didn’t stock the plastic couplings and was out of the brass ones, so I bought a valve coupling instead, which will also let me isolate the water heater from the system if needed in the future. It was a little longer, but there was enough flex in the piping to handle it.
My next problem was that it seems that the new Styrofoam-covered heater is slightly larger and less squishable than the old fiber-insulated and covered-in-cardboard unit. In fact when I gave up for today (I was just tired of fooling with it) there was still about 2” of the unit sticking outside the rig. But I wanted to be sure it actually worked before I went any further with it.
So I hooked up the water and power, filled the heater with water, and then turned it on. And 30 minutes later, NO hot water.
No power was getting to the heating element. Then a lot more search told that this unit requires 12VDC through a remote switch to get it work on 120VAC. So to get us hot water I pretty much hot-wired it directly while I figure out hot to get 12VDC in the water heater area, since it’s only got 120VAC there. But that’s for tomorrow.
Tonight we have hot water.
Thought for the Day:
Civilizations collapse slowly, then all at once.
