Daily Archives: October 20, 2022
Now They’ve Gone Too Far. . .
Today was another errand/lunch run, with a first stop at the Dollar General out of FM646 for a few things before heading on up to Webster for lunch at Torchy’s once again.
Jan got her new favorite, two Chicken Fajita Tacos,
while I once again got two Republicans, with Jalapeno Cheese Sausages and great toppings.
Really glad they opened a location down in our area.
Next up we drove up to the Ellington Field area to check out an RV park near there for some blog friends that are coming down from Canada and looking for a nice park to stay.
We already have one in mind but wanted to check out another one to give them a choice.
Then it was on back down Hwy 3 to make our weekly WalMart stop at the League City location. After that we made a PO stop and a park mailbox stop. And that was it for today.
Saturday morning we start off our second whirlwind weekend in a row with a visit to the Three Acres Truck Part in the morning for their Pumpkin Spice Market. Then about noon it’s on over to Runge Park in Santa Fe for a friend’s birthday party.
Finally about 1pm we’ll be on the road up to the Trinity/Huntsville area to meet up with friend’s Debi & Ed Hurlburt and Janice and Dave Evans for a wild weekend of Fun and Frolic.
Well, maybe just Fun. I don’t Frolic as well as I used to.
And it really doesn’t slow down next week either. We got Jan’s birthday on Tuesday and then the Wings Over Houston Airshow on Saturday.
Busy, busy, busy!
One thing that came in the mail today was a birthday card from Chris and Linda. Now my birthday was two weeks ago, but better late than never, right?
Then noticed that it was postmarked Sept. 29th, plenty of time to get here by Oct. 5th.
So I sent this message out on our family texting group.
Linda & Chris, in case you were wondering why I didn’t thank you for my birthday card that you mailed on Sept. 29th, it just showed up today. Thank you USPS.
Then Chris answered with this.
Same thing happened to Brandi’s birthday card except it was in a plastic bag and wet
Well I guess since mine was dry, I got lucky.
And Now They’ve Gone Too Far.
Even Jan doesn’t like the idea.
Their new pie takes their classic Neapolitan-style dough and tops it with smoked mozzarella, ricotta, kabocha (squash), caramelized onion and pumpkin spice candied bacon. The spicy notes of pumpkin spice are peppered throughout the gooey cheese.
Thought for the Day:
Good Luck With That!
October 20, 2010
Landon and the Big Monkey. . .
Brandi sent over some more Landon pics. Here he is trying his new sit-up chair.
And here he is trying out his first Halloween jammies.
Jan went out about 11 this morning to get a pedicure, and then we left the rig about 3:15 to head up to Pasadena to meet a friend at Office Depot. She’s been having trouble with a Toshiba laptop ever since she bought it in July, and she’s trying to get them it either fix it or replace it.
They keep saying it’s a malware problem, but I think it’s a hardware problem. We really didn’t get anything settled this time. We’ll have to check it out further.
Leaving Office Depot we drove back to Barbara’s house, and then she drove us over to Border Grill & Cantina on Spencer in Pasadena. It was our first time there, and it was so good that Jan ask during the meal if we could come back there for her birthday next week. I had the Chicken Tortilla Soup, and again, really good.
After dinner, we went back by Barbara’s to talk for a while. We finally headed home about 8:30 after having a great evening.
Still In Elkhart, IN
October 20, 2011
Pizza and Droids . . .
Got up early this morning, a little before 9. Last night we developed a leak in our slide coming out from underneath the sofa. Luckily it’s not hurting the floor since right now it’s still just plywood until I get the new flooring installed. See, sometimes procrastination pays off.
About noon I headed back over to the RV/MH Hall of Fame. I think I might as well put a cot over there and just stay. Every time I think I’m getting close to wrapping things up, they spring something new on me.
I got back to the rig a little after 5, so pretty quickly we headed over to Mancino’s Pizza for our weekly pizza fix. Love their garlic cheese breadsticks!
Then leaving Mancino’s we drove over to the Verizon Store. Both Jan and I are looking for new phones, so we thought we’d check things out. I really like the new Droid Charge and will probably get one before we leave Elkhart next week.
Then we walked next door to Martin’s to pick up a few things before we headed home.
On the weather front, it’s supposed to rain through tomorrow evening, then go down into the low 30’s tomorrow night before kind of clearing up to cloudy on Saturday. And then of course, more rain on Sunday. Don’t you just love it.
October 20, 2012
Last Day in Virginia . . .
Unlike yesterday it was bright and sunny when we got up this morning, so our day trip down south was still on.
But first there was time for Hazelnut Crème coffee. There’s always time for Hazelnut Crème coffee.
What a way to start the day.
While I was outside getting things in the truck ready to go, I met Doug and Patti Doty who were parked across from us. Charlie Kitchens, down the row from us, told them I blogged and they wanted the URL to follow us. They hope to be full-timing in a few years, so maybe we’ll meet up down the road someday.
Our first stop after we got underway was about 70 miles down the road at Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails that we wanted to check it out.
Turns out it’s a really nice park with almost 500 sites,
riverfront access for some sites,
and a number of nice lakes.
And the lakes have a lot of turtles.
This is a park we all would like to come back to.
Next up on the menu was Gloucester Court House, which is actually a town. It gets kind of confusing because it’s all called just Gloucester. And to make things worse it’s in Gloucester County.
It’s a quaint little town with a lot of neat buildings and shops. and what seems to be an historical marker on every block. In fact, there seems to be marker on pretty much every corner in the whole state.
Further down the road we were in an area where Jan and I spent some time in 2009. First up was Yorktown, the location of the final major land battle of the Revolutionary War. In October 1781, General Washington and the Continental Army, along with French troops, defeated British General Cornwallis. With the surrender of over 7000 troops to Washington, Great Britain opened negotiations that dragged on for almost two more years before the war ended officially.
Next up was a real disappointment.
We checked out the Williamsburg Outdoor World Resort and found it a real mess. Narrow, rough, hilly access roads, and very unlevel sites. Not a place we would want to stay.
Two thumbs down.
Our next stop was the Dunkin’ Donuts in Williamsburg. Jan wanted some more of their Pumpkin Spice Coffee Beans and we also picked up some Pumpkin Munchkins and muffins for tomorrow.
Leaving there we drove though the nearby Anvil Campground where Jan and I stayed when we were here in 2009. Still looks pretty much the same, convenient location, but tight sites.
By this time, since we didn’t have lunch, we were getting hungry so it was time for an early dinner. So we decided to check out Ginny’s Place.
It was recommended by Rueben Bristow, who lives in the area, and visited us the other day here at the park. And it was really good. A really good buffet. And for only $6.99, since we got there before the dinner pricing started.
We finally got home about 6:30 after a long, fun day. And the last day here.
Tomorrow we’ll head out about 9am for Dillon, SC, a one night stopover on our way to Savannah, GA.
Still Gate Guarding in south Texas
October 20, 2013
Nice Days, Cold Nights
or They’re Working On It.
The weather here has been really nice for the last several days, sunny with daytime times in the high 70’s/low 80’s, and nightime temps in the low 60’s, although last night it got down to a nippy 47 degrees. And weather.com says those ranges should hold for the next week or so. Nice.
As of yesterday (Saturday) we have five weeks left here on the gate, and Jan’s just giddy. But not only because of that, but because this coming Tuesday is our 2nd (and last) day off the gate. Last time it was for our anniversary, but this time it’s a combined birthday celebration. Mine’s on the 5th and hers is the 25th, and right now we’re in that 20 day period when we’re the same age every year.
Last time we had steak at Magic Time Machine, but now we’re jonesin’ for some good Mexican, and our ‘go to’ place here in San Antonio is La Fonda on Main. Opened by two sisters in 1930, it has grown (moved across the street in 1934) to one of the best Mexican restaurants in San Antonio.
Here’s what their website says about their history.
It is fascinating to hear how popular La Fonda has been as a dining spot of history’s most celebrated people. Every famous officer in World War II seems to have eaten here, including Generals Eisenhower, MacArthur and Hill. Even American presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson enjoyed La Fonda’s fare. Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Yul Brenner, Veronica Lake, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, along with many other stars, visited this historic restaurant.
Between the history and the delicious food, it reminds us a lot of La Posta in Las Cruces, NM, and we’re really looking forward to it.
The other thing we’re looking forward to is seeing ‘Gravity’ in IMAX 3D. Like our last day off, we’ll see the movie first in the afternoon, then dinner, and then Wal-Mart, Sam’s, whatever, finishing off with coffee/cappuccino/scones on the way home (at a Pilot/Flying J, of course).
On the Halloween front, Brandi and Landon are in the thick of it. Landon had his Halloween party at his daycare, and this year he’s a Power Ranger.
Look at those muscles. Guess he’s been working out.
In past years he’s been a dragon and a giraffe.
Brandi’s been doing pumpkin carvin’ thing and it came out really good, I think. She said it’s the first time she’s done one like this.
The other day I mentioned a problem solved (using vinegar to get the caliche crust off our glasses) and a problem found. But I forgot to say what the ‘problem found’ was.
Our PowerGear door step has stopped working. Well, it’s kind of working, I can hear the motor running, but the step doesn’t move. In fact you can push the step in and out by hand, so I guess the linkage has come loose. The strange thing is that it did it since we’ve been parked here on the gate. Seems like I remember a cotter pin on the linkage that may have broken off.
I know some people disable their step so it just stays out when they’re parked for a while, and I did this early on. But I found that after not being used for 2 or 3 months it didn’t want to work right anyway. You just can’t win.
I don’t think I’ll be able to look at it until we at least get back to the yard, and maybe not until we’re back in Houston. Because I had to use the levelers to compensate for the uneven ground here, the door side of the coach is really close to ground and there’s not much room to get under it.
Under the heading of “They’re working on it”, this is what I always say about problems with Verizon’s cell/data service. Because that’s what we’re always told when we complain to them. But this time it’s a good thing.
When we got here at the gate, we had two bars of 3G service, with about 500 Kbps data rate. Not great, but not bad, considering. Then about two weeks ago, the data signal would just be off all night. Nothing, and then it would come back on about 5am.
Made it real hard to get a blog posted. But then last week I noticed on my phone that I was getting a consistent 3 bars of signal and Speedtest.net says I now getting between 1.1 and 1.2 Mbps, more than double. YAY!
This is the same tower I was hitting last year on one our gates using our Wilson Cell Phone booster, from 19 miles away! When I first set it up, I was disappointed to only be getting 1X speed, but figured it was due to the distance. But a few days later I was driving right by the tower on the Interstate and discovered it really was only 1X.
Then about two weeks into our stay at that gate, suddenly it went to 3G. So I guess they really are ‘working on it” sometimes. Come on 4G!
On a final note, we apparently have a new neighbor in the area, a bobcat. One of truck drivers saw it loping along the shoulder of the highway (US281), passing in front of the gate. At first he thought it was a coyote, but with a better look he said it was a small bobcat. By small, he said it was smaller than Mister.
When Mister outside with us, he’s on a leash and we never leave him alone, but as some say, the bobcat kills for a living, so we’ll have to be a little more cautious.
Gate Guarding In North Zulch, TX
October 20, 2014
The Operation Was a Success,
but the Patient’s Still Dead.
Today’s vehicle count was in the mid-180’s, almost identical to the previous two. But that will probably change in the next couple of days as our last remaining frack job is supposed to finish up.
And we’ve been told that we’ve got another couple of weeks to go with our drill rig here before they started fracking it immediately afterwards. Hopefully it will all work out where we can stay here until we head back to Houston toward the end of November. But you never know.
The operation mentioned above was on Jan’s Kindle Paperwhite. Last night she was starting up a Mahjong game she plays when the screen froze and it locked up. So she put it aside until I could look at it.
Now normally, when the Paperwhite locks up, you hold down the power button for 30 seconds and then it will reboot. But not this time. It stayed stuck on the Mahjong startup screen. A little Googling to me to try holding down the power button for 60 seconds, release it, and then press it again. Well this didn’t work either.
At this point I was supposed to call Amazon Tech Support, and since Jan’s Paperwhite was six weeks out of warranty, they would sell me a refurbished one at a slight ($10) discount off a new one. Bummer!
But another post mentioned taking the Kindle apart and removing the battery for a while, before putting it all back together. Several people said this worked for them. So never able to resist tearing into a piece of hardware, I had at it.
Disassembly instructions are on the Internet and it’s really pretty easy. First you insert a small screwdriver (I used one for eyeglasses) in the corner of the front bezel and carefully pry it up enough to get a spudger inserted. A spudger is a small flat piece of plastic or wood similar to a popsicle stick but thinner.
In this photo, the screwdriver is at the top and the white plastic spudger is at the bottom.
Then you run the spudger around the edge of the bezel, breaking the glue seal that holds it on. This is very similar to how you break the bead between a tire and the wheel when change a car tire. After carefully peeling off the bezel you have this
Next up, you remove the 11 screws holding the mainboard in the case. Again, I used a Phillips eyeglass screwdriver. After gently prying out the board, you are here.
When you turn the board over, you find the big blue battery held in by another 3 screws.
Removing those screws gets you here.
I left the battery out for about 30 minutes, and then put it all back together in the reverse order.
But when I tried the reset procedure again, it was still frozen with the Mahjong startup screen. Bummer again!
Well, I’ve still got several more things to try before I give up. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Gate Guarding Near Carthage, TX
October 20, 2015
Why Did I Put It In There?
They just won’t quit. Over the last three days there have been over 300 attempts to hack into my blog, one every 10 or 15 minutes or so.
Give it up already.
Striking out looking inside for my soldering iron, I finally started going through the bins in the basement outside. And after checking out all the obvious ones, Tools, Electronics, etc., I finally found them, my primary one and my back up one, in the bin labeled Air Tools & Compressor Parts.
Why the hell did I put them in that bin?
This is my main soldering iron.
A Weller Soldering Station with adjustable temperature control, the soldering iron itself can be unplugged from the station and plugged directly into the wall socket.
My back up one is this Radio Shack one that I got for $5 at a Store Closing Sale.
Although it ‘s only dual heat, it’s better than nothing when you need one.
But even more importantly for the upcoming job of replacing the power jack on my laptop, I found my ziplock bag of solder wick.
It’s used to remove the old solder out of the connections so I can get the bad jack out and leave the holes open so I can solder the new jack in.
But by the time I found all this it was too late to start on the laptop today, so that’s on the slate for tomorrow.
I mentioned a few weeks ago about mounting a power jack on my heavy-duty 12v power supply,
and that I would solder it in later.
Well, today was that ‘later’, so I got out my Weller soldering gun (I knew where it was all the time) and took care of that chore. I took the cover off, and ran the wires through vent holes in the top and then soldered them to the binding posts on the inside.
Then, routing the wires out of the way, I put the cover back on and fastened it down.
And yes, I know that just running the wires through the holes like this is not ‘good practices’, but the holes are smooth, the wire insulation is thick, and there’s going to be no movement or stress on them, and the worse it could do is blow a fuse.
But mainly I didn’t want to have to dig out my drill to make a bigger hole and then find a grommet.
Taking advantage of the continuing lull, about 4:45pm we headed out for dinner once again, this time to track down the almost-mythical KJ’s Whistle Stop.
We had tried to find this place once before, back before our frack started, and discovered the restaurant had moved and apparently left no forwarding address. No, really.
Everything on the Internet, both address and phone number, all pointed only to their old address. And when I called 411 for their new number, they didn’t have one.
WTH!
But our landowner here at the frack told us where it was really located, and said it was his favorite local place. But when we finally tried it a few days later, it was a Saturday. And as it turned out, they’re closed on Saturday and Sunday.
WTH!
But tonight we thought we’d try again. And it turned out to be a good choice.
We’d heard about their Friday night Seafood Buffet, and their lunch buffet, but we didn’t know that they had regular dinner buffet. So that’s what we had.
After a nice salad bar, we had Chicken Fried Steak, Chicken Spaghetti, Baked Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Field Peas, Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and Hotwater Cornbread. All delicious.
Our landowner has good taste.
I had heard of Hotwater Cornbread before, but had never actually had it until the night we stayed in Henderson before we started on the gate the next morning back in August.
We really liked it then, so we were happy to find it here tonight. The texture reminds me of a cornbread stick, with a slightly tough skin, and a moist center. Again, really good.
Coming back, although we’d locked the gate when we left, it was open when we came back. I told Jan I guess the guy who came through had never lived on a farm, because the rule is that if you pass through a closed (or locked) gate, you leave it closed (or locked) behind you, and if it’s open, you leave it open.
Whoever it was, opened the same lock we used, so it was probably one of the frack water guys since they had a key too.
Before we parked, I went down to check out the new Mighty Mule Alarm that I replaced last week. I noticed yesterday that it had stopped working, so I wanted to check it out. What I found was that someone had driven so far off the road that they’d run over the cord that runs from the sensor at the edge of the road over to the transmitter. This was enough to pull the USB connector out of the bottom of the transmitter. So plugging it back in, I reburied the cable and sensor, hoping the trucks would do a better job of staying on the road from now on.
But this is the second time this has happened, so I wouldn’t count on it.
Almost Gate Guarding in Kenedy, TX
October 20, 2016
The Best Burgers . . .
After our coffee this morning, we met Todd at the nearby McDonald’s at 11am to go over the job and the requirements. It was also kind of a ‘get to know each together’ for all of us. After about 90 minutes, we parted ways, taking our employment packets with us.
Our first stop was a nearby carwash to try and get some of the mud off the truck. It was a so-so job and got about 90% of it off, but I’ll probably need to redo it with my pressure washer to finish up.
Todd had recommended RJ’s Burgers in downtown Kenedy. It’s often said that the best burgers are found in dumpy-looking places.
For example, here is Stomp’s down in Kemah, TX, with our favorite burgers in the Clear Lake area.
And then there’s Coyote Bluff in Amarillo, also at the top of our Best Burgers List.
And now there’s a new entry on our list – RJ’s Burgers in Kenedy, TX.
Here’s Jan’s Cheddar Mushroom Burger.
These are large burgers on 5” buns, with hand-formed 8 oz. burgers and hand-cut fries. And the scary part is that according to their menu, you can get this as a double, or even a TRIPLE! That’s a pound and a half of burger meat. WOW!
You’re getting into Heart Attack Grill territory with that one.
I got the Grilled Ribeye Sandwich, with an 8 oz. Ribeye, charred around the edges and medium-rare inside. And like the fries, their onion rings are hand-sliced and battered.
And for a small place, they’ve got a pretty extensive menu.
If there’s a down side to the place, it’s that they’re only open from 10am to 3pm, Monday through Friday. Bummer!
Finishing up we headed over to the Karnes County Courthouse in Karnes City to get our DBA from the County Clerk’s office. But as it turns out, the courthouse is shut down for a complete rebuilding / remodeling and the courthouse offices are scattered all over town. We had to make 4 stops to complete the paperwork.
Finally finishing up and heading toward home, we took a detour out on FM-2102 to check out the location of the Marathon Oil Company facility in this area.
We have to take their Orientation class tomorrow, or wait until next Friday when it’s given again. Everyone has to take the class now before you can work at a Marathon site, another thing that’s changes since we last worked for them in 2012.
Getting back to the rig, I spent the rest of the evening fighting my way through the online Security Guard license stuff. Looks like we won’t have to redo the fingerprints again, so that’s good.
Tomorrow we’ll try to wrap the bank account stuff before we do the Marathon class.
Then it’s just wait and see.
October 20, 2017
Moving On Down . . .
I decided not to make the Clear Lake trip this morning for a couple of reasons. One, I just didn’t feel like it. And two, we were going to meet up with some friends at the Fish Pond Restaurant about 4, which would have meant that I would have had head back toward Conroe by 2pm, not leaving me a lot of time down there anyway.
And now it looks like I won’t have to worry about the long trips much longer, since, at the recommendation of some friends, we found an opening at the Petticoat Junction RV Park down in the Santa Fe area, and we’ll be moving down that way this coming Thursday.
This means that I will only have a 15 mile drive to work instead of a 70 mile one. Very Nice!
And a lot less wear and tear on the truck. It already has 266K+ miles on it, and another 83,000 miles being dragged around behind the RV.
By the time 3pm rolled around, Jan decided she just didn’t feel like getting out and about, so I contacted Debi Hurlburt to let her know we weren’t going to make it.
Then about 5pm I drove over to Raising Cane’s in Conroe to pick up some dinner. We each got the 6 piece Caniac Combo, which will give us two meals each. Really good.
October 20, 2018
Hauling Shell . . .
With only 188 miles to go this morning, we pulled out of our site at the crack of 10am, heading for the Riverside RV Park in Robertsdale, AL.
Much better than yesterday’s 7:27am sunrise, let me tell you.
I had planned to get diesel at the park’s Marathon station like I did last time, but the place was a madhouse, with trucks parked every which way. At the pumps, in front of the pumps, on the shoulder, etc. And when I did find a pump that looked like I could get in and out of, it was bagged for diesel. But as it turned out, that saved me over $37.
Driving along, we quickly realized that the downed trees we saw yesterday was just a start. It was obvious that we were coming into the worst-hit areas, with solid lines of trees down along the roadsides for miles.
Then you’d come over a hill and there would be a whole forest of what looked like bare telephone poles. But a closer look showed acres of pine trees with the tops and the limbs just gone.
The first three Rest Areas we passed were closed due to the hurricane, but when we did stop and I did a walk-around, I found this sticking out from the passenger side of our rig.
Don’t know how it got there, and don’t remember hitting or running over anything. It was just kind of wedged in between the bay doors with no damage.
Coming up on the Crestview, FL exit, I saw the sign for a BP station that said it had RV access so we turned off. We got 93 gallons at $3.19 vs. the $3.59 at the Marathon this morning, So a $37 savings.
Our Silverleaf Computer Display said we had 58 gallons left on our 150 gallon tank. So 58 gallons + 93 gallons gives us 151 gallons. A 1 gallon difference, so close enough.
Since this system actually counts the fuel injector pulses, it really is that accurate. Thus our MPG readings are also very accurate.
Since we gained an hour getting back into the Central Time Zone, we pulled into the Riverside RV Park a little before 1pm. Since we were given our site number when I called in yesterday, we went straight to our pull-thru and got set up.
Later in the afternoon, we drove over to Big Daddy’s Grill on the Fish River to have an early dinner.
Not having anything else today except coffee, we were hungry, so we started off with an order of their Fried Okra. Really good and crispy.
I also had a cup of the Seafood Gumbo,
then we both got the Shrimp & Oyster Basket with Sweet Potato Fries, with Jan’s shrimp grilled and mine blackened. The oysters were just huge.
Just as delicious as last time, and well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Catching up on a few things.
When stopped off at a Shell station to get gas this past Thursday, I saw this Gopher Tortoise hauling shell across the large parking area near the pumps.
Since he had a long way to go and a two lane road to cross in the direction he was heading, I decided to help him out. Though he was moving along at a pretty good clip, he tucked in as soon as I got near and froze.
When I picked him up I was kind of surprised how heavy he was, probably around 15#. I hadn’t walked more than a few steps before his head and feet came out and he started ‘dog-paddling’ in the air, I guess trying to help me out.
I carried him across the parking lot and then across the road, putting him down in the tall grass over there. Without a thank you, or even a look back, he immediately headed out, aiming toward the trees in the background. Hope he stays off the roads now.
While we we passing through Titusville the other day, we turned into the Titusville High School parking lot.
Jan never went here since she had already graduated in Massachusetts before her father retired to Florida, but both of her sisters went here.
Although the place looked really nice, I was wondering if it was still in use, since it was a weekday and the parking lot was mostly empty. But when we ask someone, she said it was an ‘in-service’ day, so just the teachers were there.
