Monthly Archives: November 2022
Emotional Support Bears and Sketchy Owls . . .
Well, 1 out of 3 ain’t bad.
I got another Amazon delivery today, and it actually ended on my doorstep. I’ve got more stuff coming on Friday, so I hope it holds.
Apparently some women want to cuddle with someone (or something?) that they say, “He doesn’t snore, he doesn’t grumble or get angry.”
So they get an Emotional Support Bear.
And as the article says, he comes ‘bear’ naked, so you get to dress himself.
Grown-up version of Ken and Barbie, I guess.
Arizona police are warning people about doing drugs or buying Sketchy Owls from strangers at gas stations.
Or maybe it was not to buy owls from strangers at sketchy gas stations.
One or the other. Either way you end up with an owl, it seems.
Tomorrow morning I’m picking up our Canadian friend’s Ron & Anne and driving them up to our daughter Brandi’s house in Katy for Thanksgiving Dinner with Jan and I.
Brandi, et al., are still out in Colorado visiting with friends, and will be back late Friday night. Then I’ll go up and pick up Jan sometime Saturday afternoon.
And speaking of Thanksgiving, here’s a long-lost photo of a Hooterville Thanksgiving in 1968, uniting the casts of Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction.
All 3 shows took place in the same TV universe, were produced by Paul Henning, and shown on CBS, so it was easy to do a combination episode.
Brings back memories.
Thought For The Day:
November 23, 2009
Gumbo…Gumbo…Gumbo…
Today was the first day of our two day trip back to Houston. We left the Gulf State Park at Gulf Shores about 8:00 am, but we didn’t get far. Only to the Cracker Barrel in Foley where we decided to stop for breakfast..
Finally, about 9 we hit the road…again. Being pretty much all Interstate, we had a smooth trip, all 300 miles of it. About 2:45pm we pulled into the parking lot of Mulate’s here in Breaux Bridge, LA, (pronounced ‘mu lots’) pretty much our favorite Cajun place. There’s a place in Houston that runs a close second, but this one is the best.
I have been eating the gumbo here for almost 15 years. From 1994 until 2006 I made the round trip from Houston to Birmingham every month to visit my mother. And I always stopped at Mulate’s both going and coming. It go so that I would just walk in and sit down and they would bring me my order…large seafood gumbo, extra rice, and Ice tea, and then bread pudding and coffee for dessert.
Actually, I’m starting to salivate just typing this. And I just ate there 5 hours ago. It’s that good! It was nice to walk in, have Tracey run over and give us a big hug, and then bring us our order. Just like old times.
Right now we’re parked right down the street in the Walmart parking lot for the night. Tomorrow we’ll make the 250 mile run to the Galveston Bay RV Park on Dickinson Bayou, where we’ll be parked for the next couple of months or so.
November 23, 2010
Bingo Bound . . .
Today was the 3rd, and hopefully last, day of Jan’s migraine series so we didn’t do much of anything, but sit around the rig and enjoy the view, and coffee, of course.
About 4:30 we headed up SH 146 to Stomp’s Burger Joint to meet our friend Maria Sutton for supper. Then she and Jan were going down to La Marque to play Bingo again at the Knights of Columbus Hall
Leaving them I drove over to Kroger’s to pick up a last few things for Thanksgiving dinner preparation, and then came back to the rig.
Then, about 9:30 I drove down to La Marque to up Jan. Once again she was within just a couple of numbers of winning the big prize. Bummer!
November 23, 2011
Turkey Day Eve . . .
Waking up to a cool morning, hot coffee was a big hit, with a later lunch of leftover Sonny’s BBQ from last week with a little of the delicious Creamed Corn from Rudy’s BBQ last night.
Jan doesn’t like corn, but she loves Rudy’s Creamed Corn.
About 1 I headed out on some errands, and another client visit.
My first stop was EPO, a great local electronics parts place that I’ve been going to since we moved here in 1978. I needed some heavy-duty ‘F’ connectors and they had exactly what I needed.
Then it was Sam’s Club for some Joint Juice. They were really, really busy with the whole parking lot full. I can imagine what it’s going to look like on Friday. I certainly won’t be there.
Then it was back to my client’s for a couple of hours. On the way home our daughter Brandi called to say that they’ve made it to Oklahoma OK. They left about 7pm last night for the 7 hour drive, and Landon slept the entire way.
Getting home about 5 pm, we turned right around and headed back up SR146 to La Brisa, another great local Mexican place, and even better, it’s close by. And they have really good Chicken Tortilla Soup.
And actually, we’re having Thanksgiving dinner at the La Brisa over on I-45 in League City tomorrow. But rather than Mexican, It’s a traditional Thanksgiving buffet with all the trimmings. It’s be our first time for their Thanksgiving buffet, but they do a great job on their Saturday and Sunday morning breakfast buffet, so it should be good.
November 23, 2012
Turkey Day + 1 . . .
This morning started out on the deck with Starbuck’s coffee, compliments of Lowell’s early morning run, though really it was Lowell, Brandi, and Landon who went. Jan and I were still asleep.
Actually even Landon slept in, since he didn’t wake up until about 6:45am.
We’d all decided that that today was going to be a do-nothing day, and it pretty much was. A lot of reading, resting, napping, and enjoying the view on the deck went on.
About noon Jan and Brandi put out the leftovers and we made another pass on all that delicious food, but it seems like we still haven’t made a big dent in it yet.
And after turkey it was nap time again.
About 3pm we all headed over to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some things. We were wondering how the Black Friday crowds would be, but although it may have been busy by small-town Marble Falls standards, for us it just a not-so-busy Saturday in Houston, so we were in and out relatively quickly, at least for us. But we were still there over an hour.
By this time we were all starting to get hungry, and by hungry, I mean we wanted some Mexican food. And the best place for that is The Maxican. And yes, that’s the way it’s spelled. We’ve been eating here for a number of years, pretty much every time we’ve come up here, though usually it’s closer to Christmas.
Jan had the Nachos, and I had the Marsha Special, which is a Poblano Pepper stuffed with Chicken and Cheese, and then covered with a Chipotle Cream Sauce. Really good.
Coming home we stopped off at Walgreen’s so I could get some cash from their ATM. They had a Chase Bank ATM so I wouldn’t have to pay a fee. And since we’re going to eat at Salt Lick BBQ tomorrow afternoon, and they don’t take credit cards, I’m going to need some of the folding stuff.
Tomorrow will be our last full day here, and we’ve enjoyed it so much, it’s going to be hard to leave Sunday morning. We all agree that we want to come back here again.
November 23, 2013
Changing of the Guards . . .
Well, it’s done. We’re off the gate for this year.
I spent last night getting everything but our canopy taken down and packed away, even if somewhat soggy. Tearing down the canopy can be a one man operation, but I didn’t want to chance it in the 20 mph winds we were having all night. Before I can take it apart, it has to be completely un-staked and all the tie downs removed. And of course right about then a big wind gust would make it look like Dorothy’s house in the tornado. So I saved that for when Jan got up about 7am.
About 8:45 I called our support guy Todd, and got Joseph instead. Todd was off this weekend and Joseph was filling in. I called to be sure he would have an extension cord on his truck. While I was reconfiguring the cords getting the rig unplugged from the generator, I found the plug on one cord had overheated and just came apart when I pulled on it.. This one powered the front set of light stands and also the bell. So the new guards were going to need it.
At about 7:30 Jan and I started in on the canopy, and since the wind had died down it went pretty easy. The only problem was that the canopy was wet from the rain when we took it off, so rather than pack it away in the case, we just stuffed it in a large garbage bag, and we’ll dry it out after we get back to Houston and the weather improves.
My last chore was to stow the water and sewer hoses, leaving only our electrical cord to unplug from the generator before we pulled out. Well, that and the slide.
Then it was just a matter of waiting for our relief. I forgot to ask Joseph whether it would be just him relieving us until the new guards showed up, or if he was bring them with him.
As it turned out, Jim and Donna Mossman showed up with Joseph about 9:30. While Jan went over the logs with Donna, I caught Jim up on some things about the site. Interestingly, Jim and Donna are long-time blog readers, so It was good to finally meet them. I think we left our gate (ex-gate?) in good hands.
When I saw them pulling in, I went ahead and cranked up the rig, so by the time we were ready to leave, the rig was up on the airbags and ready to roll. After saying our goodbyes, and unplugging the electric and bringing in the slide, we pulled out.
Well, I pulled out. Jan on the other hand, took off like a bat out of hell, never looking back and leaving me in her dust. I finally caught up with her at the Gate Guard Services yard and we parked and got set up. As it turns out we’re parked in exactly the same spot as when we first got here in April last year for our first gate guarding adventure..
We’ve just got 50amp, but that’s no problem for one night. As soon as I was done with the set up, I headed off to bed since It was now 10:30, and I was already 3 hours into my normal sleep time. So a nap was in order to start getting me back on a somewhat normal sleep schedule.
About 3:30 Jan and I headed over to Pleasanton for dinner and some grocery shopping. On the way we drove by the gate to check things out, and it looked like Jim and Donna were all set up and had made themselves at home. Good to see.
Dinner was at Chili’s, and the shopping was Wal-Mart and HEB, and we were home by a little after 6pm.
Tomorrow, we’ll head for Houston about 9:30 with a stop at the Buc-ee’s in Luling for coffee and a kolache for breakfast. Tomorrow night we’re meeting Chris, Linda, and Piper at our favorite Chinese restaurant, King Food.
Family and good food. Can’t be beat.
November 23, 2014
Websites and Enchiladas . . .
Based on the original weather forecasts, we really dodged a bullet last night as the bad weather moved through. But as far as Livingston was concerned, it was much ado about not much..
Looking at the radar during the night, the storm pretty much split into two parts and went north and south of Livingston, giving us only a steady, but light rain, and none of the extremely high winds that hit other areas.
Chris and Charles left about 9:30 this morning for a wedding down in Houston, so after coffee I went next door to clean the gunk out of their computers. Using CCleaner, Glary Utilities, SuperAntiSpyWare, and AntiMalwareBytes, I spent several hours going through them, optimizing them and removing useless items from the startup.
After finishing that I installed and linked DropBox on both machines, and then installed the Dropbox apps on Chris and Charles’ phones. Tomorrow I’ll do the same for Evernote, and then we’ll have an in-service on how to use them.
Our dinner this evening was in-house, with Chris serving Salad, and a delicious batch of her Homemade Hatch Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas, along with Pinto Beans, and Ice Cream for dessert.. A really great meal.
Tomorrow we’ll work some more on the C and C RV Insurance website, and talk over more ideas for changes and upgrades. Then we’ll help them load their RV for their upcoming trip on Tuesday.
About 4pm we’ll head down to Dennis and Carol Hill’s place on the next block for some of his delicious smoked pork.
We’re all really looking forward to it.
November 23, 2015
First Day of Freedom . . .
Our first day of gate freedom and I slept in until about 11am, my first full nights sleep in 3 months. When I’m on the gate I normally sleep 3 or 4 hours at a time, twice a night. I can do this for long periods with no problems, but it’s certainly nice to not have to.
Along with our morning coffee and pumpkin bread, we enjoyed just sitting and talking, and not jumping up at the sound of the bell alarm. Jan did say that she still hears bells in her sleep. For my part, I find myself checking out tag numbers to see if I recognize them as we walk around.
About 1pm Jan and I headed out for some shopping and then a trip down to Katy to have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. They leaving tomorrow for Oklahoma to visit some friends and then spend Thanksgiving with Lowell’s parents before coming back home Sunday night.. So this would be our only chance to see them for a week.
Our first shopping stop was the Convenience RV Store a couple of miles north of here next to the Fish Pond Restaurant. I was looking for a couple of things, 12v light bulbs, and a shower door latch.
in our bathroom, besides the overhead lights, we have six light bulbs, three on either side of the vanity mirror. A week or so ago, four of them suddenly died, all three on the left side, and one on the right.
Now three bulbs going out in one fixture is kind of suspicious, and makes you think that maybe there’s a problem with the fixture itself. But I took a good bulb from the right side and it worked in the left fixture, and one of the dead bulbs still didn’t work in the right side. At first you’d want to chalk this up to just a coincidence, and it kind of is, but not quite.
In the 8 years we’ve own this coach, I’ve replace two of these six bulbs, both on the right side. And I’d be willing to bet that those two bulbs are the ones still working. The other four are original to the coach when we bought it in 2008, and may just be original to the coach from 1999.
And actually it’s not that unusual for bulbs with the same amount of hours to go out in a group. Back in my younger, skinnier (stupider?) days when I was working in radio and TV broadcasting, I used to moonlight replacing the bulbs in those 400-600 ft. transmitting towers for a number of stations in the area. I have no fear of heights, and I worked cheap, so I usually got the job. And one thing you did when you went up to replace a bad bulb, you replaced them all at the same time. Otherwise, if one went out, more would follow, sometimes within a few days.
These bulbs were kind of expensive, and sometimes the station would try to cheap out by only replacing the bad one. I’d warn them that I’d be back in a short time, but they wouldn’t listen. And anywhere from few days to a few weeks, I’d be back.
I was also looking for a new shower door latch, but as it turned out they did not have either the bulbs or the latch in stock, but they did order them for me, and they should be in by noon tomorrow.
Nice service.
Our next shopping stop was Wal-Mart, of course. It’s not really shopping without a Wal-Mart stop. Beside the groceries and stuff, we both got haircuts while we were there. I hadn’t had one since the 1st of October so I was starting to look a bit shaggy, at least on the sides. Not a lot to worry about on top.
Finally about 4:15 we were on our way down to the Katy area to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at one of our favorite restaurants in that area, Torchy’s Tacos.
Where else can you get a taco with a grilled jalapeno sausage, Queso Fresco, shredded cheese, and Pico de Gallo. Not your average taco.
Later, after some time at Brandi’s, we finally headed back to Conroe, getting back to the rig about 9:15.
Another nice, but long day.
November 23, 2016
DashCams and Space Pens . . .
I spent the afternoon finishing up a couple of things on our truck for our trip tomorrow.
After I filled up the windshield washer fluid tank with the Rain-X washer fluid I got at Wal-Mart yesterday. I’ve used this stuff for years and it really works. During light to medium rainstorms you don’t even have to turn the wipers on. The water just beads up and rolls up the windshield.
Then I installed my latest new toy.
A week or so ago I found this article on Road and Track’s site about the Top 5 Best Dashcams. And their favorite was the cheapest one at around $50. Then in one of those serendipitous things, a few days later I got an online ad from Amazon listing the $50 cam for $30 so I ordered one. Amazon DashCam
It was quickly installed and configured. I like the bigger screen and larger, easier to use buttons. We’ll give a good try-out on our trip tomorrow and I’ll let you know.
Well it was a lot of work but we now have all our Christmas lights up in the rig.
I think the one most impressed with them was Karma. After I put them up, she got on the kitchen counter and just stared up at them for about 20 minutes.
Over the years we slacked off our decorating. This was what we did in 2009, our first Christmas in our rig.
Talking about Karma, this afternoon she jumped up on the back of the sofa and was chasing something in the front end of the window, pawing at it. Then I heard a ‘yelp’ and Karma started licking her left paw. Looking down in the window track I found a honey bee. Don’t know how it got in, but I got rid of it.
Karma only licked at her paw for a few minutes and then it didn’t seem to bother her any more. I looked at it awhile later and it wasn’t swollen and didn’t seem to be tender, so I guess she’s OK.
This afternoon I came across this graphic on Facebook and couldn’t resist making a comment correcting all the misinformation in it.
And here was my comment.
Having spent 10 years at JSC on the Shuttle program, I can tell you why NASA didn’t use pencils. Pencil ‘lead’ is graphite. And graphite is electrically conductive.
When you use a pencil in space the tiny graphite particles shed by the pencil float off around the cockpit, coming to rest everywhere, inside instruments, electronics, etc., causing random shorts and problems. With the wrong short at the wrong time, you could lose a spacecraft.
While the part about the Russians using a pencil is true, the rest is just completely wrong.
Paul Fisher of the Fisher Pen Co. spent $1 million of his OWN money to develop the Fisher Space Pen for sale to the public. In 1968 Fisher sold 400 pens to NASA for $2.39 a pen, a 40% discount from the retail $3.98 because they bought in bulk.
In 1968 the Russians saw the light and ordered 100 pens and 1000 refills for their space program.
Then in 1969 the Apollo 11 crew used parts of a Space Pen to fix a broken rocket engine arming switch, letting them make the return trip back to Earth
A pretty good deal for $956 of Fisher Space Pens. And a lot better than the fictitious $12 Billion.
Oh, yeah. The pen won’t work at 300°Celsius either. That’s 572°F. The pen would melted long before that. As well as the person using it.
November 23, 2017
They Lied . . .
About 2pm Jan and I headed up I-45 to League City to have Thanksgiving Dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Jan was hopeful that by getting there after 2 we wouldn’t have too long a wait. But when I caught with her after dropping her off while I parked, she sheepishly said, “An hour and a half”. But at least there were plenty of rocker openings.
And lucky for us (and Jan) they lied. It was only 40 minutes until we were called in.
Don’t know why they even give anyone menus
Everyone’s pretty much there for the same thing.
And even better is was surprising how quickly it came out. We were served only 10 minutes after we sat down.
So it’s Turkey & Dressing with Gravy, Ham, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Relish, Pumpkin Pie, with Biscuits and Cornbread Muffins. And a drink.
All for $12,.99. A really good deal.
As we were finishing up, our waiter brought our our Pumpkin Pie.
However I thought they were a little chintzy on the Whipped Cream. It should have looked more like this.
There is actually pie under there.
As we were eating I told Jan that it would have been hard to beat this with most homemade Thanksgiving meals. She agreed and said even better she didn’t have to worry about this.
Previously the one thing that Jan didn’t like about eating out for Thanksgiving is the fact that there’s no leftovers for the next day, for turkey sandwiches, etc.
So we solved this dilemma by ordering two more Thanksgiving meals to go. Now we’re all set for tomorrow.
When we left about an hour later they seemed to be just as busy as when we got there so I don’t think waiting until later would have really done any good. But the 40 minute wait we did have wasn’t too bad.
Our next stops were at my client’s to pick up the Pumpkin Bread that the Office Manager had given me on Wednesday which I forgot to bring home. Then it was the CVS right down the street before heading home.
A very nice, tasty day.
Amazon’s started their Black Friday Sales early and I really liked this
Furbo Dog Treat Tossing Camera
Pretty neat, and you can check it out. Pretty for those of you who have dogs at home.
Though I guess it would work with cats, too.
They’re also have a great deal on their Echo Dot, Alexa’s little brother.
Normally they’re $49.99, but now they’re only $29.99,
We’ve already got one, but that price is so good, I almost bought another one.
I’m not working tomorrow so I’ve got a nice long weekend off. Yah!
November 23, 2018
Black Friday . . .
I felt a lot better this morning, almost back to normal. Of course maybe it’s because Jan is back home. I certainly think so. And so does Miss Karma.
About 2pm Jan fixed us both a plate of the leftovers from the Thanksgiving feast at Brandi’s yesterday.
Then about 5 I fixed coffee and we had it with the pumpkin pie also left over.
Other than that, we stayed hunkered down, trying to keep out of the stampeding hordes on Black Friday. Or maybe Black and Blue Friday if you’re trying to fight your way through the crowds to grab that last Instant Pot or Grinch doll.
However we did order several things online that will just show up next. No fuss, no muss, no crowds. Nice.
The stuff we ordered last week from Costco came in right on time, matching Amazon. And besides gas, Costco is cheaper on a lot of stuff. The Rotisserie Chicken we got there week before last for $4.99 runs $7.98 at HEB. However I did get a Rotisserie Turkey Breast from HEB this last Monday to flesh out our leftovers.
Yesterday I got up to Brandi’s about 11, bringing the Cracker Barrel Cornbread Dressing that I had picked up the night before.
Of course, we had the Turkey that Brandi fixed,
a HoneyBaked Ham that Chantelle brought,
Jan’s Green Bean Casserole,
and much more.
Then it was time for everyone to line up for the feast.
Even Miss Piper.
How she eats like this and still stays this svelte is a real mystery.
This is my 1st plate.
Emphasis on ‘1st’.
Tomorrow we’ll probably sneak out for a bit, for some groceries and probably breakfast somewhere. Hopefully we can still avoid the leftover hordes.
Next week, on Tuesday, I’ll be taking Jan back to Brandi’s so she can dog-sit while Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, along with Chantelle, who’s also our travel agent, her husband Eric, and son Maddox, head down to Disney World for a week.
It’ll be Landon’s first trip to see the Mouse.
Then I’ll go back up on Monday afternoon to pick her up.
One thing about all these to/from trips to Katy is that they’re giving the recent transmission rebuild in the Dakota a real workout. With almost 300 miles on the meter, it’s still purring right along with nary a bobble. So far, so good.
November 23, 2020
Like A Baby . . .
Or Babies, I guess.
Jan said she loves our new mattress topper and I’m really glad to hear that.
She’s got a ‘Princess And The Pea’ kind of back, and she’s really sensitive to what she sleeps on. And I’m happy too, since so far it’s seems a lot cooler than our old. Probably because of the open coils of gel-infused foam.
Well, it looks like Cracker Barrel has run out of Thanksgiving. Or at least Turkey Dinners.
I mentioned yesterday all the rigmarole I had to go through to order a Turkey Dinner Bundle to be picked up tomorrow afternoon. But we really lucked out in comparison to my client’s office manager.
She also tried to order using the app last Friday and it didn’t work for her either. But when she called the local store, they told her to call back on Monday. But when she called back this morning they told her they had no more openings, and thus, no more Turkey Dinners. And they said that all the CB’s in the Houston area were booked up.
So how the heck does Cracker Barrel run out of Turkey Dinners. I mean they have serve Turkey and Dressing every Thursday anyway. It’s not like they could over-order or anything.
Yesterday Jan and I had breakfast for dinner at Denny’s once again, both of us having our favorite omelets, mine their Ultimate Omelet, with a little bit of everything, ham, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, onions, and cheese, along with fruit instead of the has browns, and an English muffin.
Really good, too.
November 23, 2021
Now I Know Why The 3 Bears Were So Upset . . .
Our day started this morning with two Amazon deliveries, one of which was my Respawn Gaming Chair.
Of course I can’t start using it until I get somebody over here to get the old one out of the rig.
Before my recent unpleasantness, I could have done myself in an hour or so, but not now, especially with the 20# weight limit on what I can lift. So I’m going to try and get someone over here this weekend.
I also ordered a chair mat to go on the floor underneath it. It should be here Friday.
The second delivery was a couple of small shelving units for Jan. So it should be a busy weekend putting all this together.
Before we left the rig this afternoon, we fired up our old faithful workhorse Dodge Dakota for the first time in several months. We were going drop off the Jeep at my mechanic’s so he can take care of a couple things before our upcoming Branson trip starting the 4th of December.
Then it was up to Webster to have lunch at Snooze, our first visit in a while. They’ve got a new Holiday menu, and one of those items caught my so I decided to give it a try. And now I know why the 3 bears were upset with Goldilocks for messing with their porridge.
The new item, called Goldilocks’s Porridge, was delicious.
Made with a mix of steel cut oats, quinoa and millet simmered in almond milk, and then topped with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, toasted almonds and hemp seeds, it’s probably the best oatmeal-ish dish I’ve ever had.
And I paired it with an order of their special bacon, rubbed with brown sugar, cayenne, chili flakes and drizzled with black peppered maple syrup.
Jan went with her usual Bravocado Toast. So mundane.
Finishing up our afternoon, we made a Kroger’s stop for a prescription and a WalMart visit for some needed stuff before getting back to the rig a little after 4pm.
Today was my first day driving again since my operation, and it felt good to be back behind the wheel.
Please Pass The Eel . . .
Where were you 59 years ago today?
I was in 10th grade Advanced Trig at Athens High School in Athens, AL, and we started hearing crying, and even a couple of screams out in the hall.
We had just moved back to the States from Colombia, South America, and at that time we had no TV’s at home because the stuff we had stored when we moved to Colombia had not been delivered yet, so that night my Uncle Theo called a friend who owned the local Western Auto who opened it up about 10pm to sell us a TV.
And we stayed glued to it for the next several days, and even saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV.
Well, Amazon did it again. Or maybe, didn’t do it again. Two days in a row.
Once again they mis-delivered my package to same RV that they mis-delivered my package yesterday.
What part of #7 don’t they understand?
How Eels Almost Became the Thanksgiving Main Dish
So Eel & Dressing?
It’s probably always better to pack your cat in your carry-on bag.
Cat found in luggage at New York airport didn’t belong to the traveler, TSA says
And yes, the cat was fine.
Thought for the Day:
“Only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy.
One is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other is to let her have it.” – President Lyndon Johnson
November 22, 2009
Last Day in Paradise…
Today is our last full day in Gulf Shore for a while. It will probably be this time next year before we’re back.
About 11 or so we headed out to have lunch at one of our favorite places here, Lulu’s. Lulu is Lucy Buffet, whose brother Jimmy is a little more well known.
Her place is right on the Intercoastal Waterway with a great view of passing boats and tugs.
And the food is great too!
Jan had the Jerked Chicken Salad Sandwich and I had the Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas. And we always save room for dessert.
And the dessert is great!
Jan and I split the Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, made, of course, with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts as the bread. MMMMM! MMMMM! GOOOD!
Before going back to the rig, we decided to drive down West Beach to see what was new.
The first thing we saw was this sign.
What’s up with this? Now we’re worrying about mouse habitat? Don’t they sell traps for that?
Nearby we got these great pelican shots. They were all sitting on large pipe, paralleling a bridge, just feet from the road and the inlet bank.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, Jan is crazy about pelicans…and moose…and flamingos…and octopus…octopuses…octopi…whatever.
Heading back toward the rig, we stopped off to walk down to the beach.
A lot of nice waves due to the storm last night.
Getting back to the rig, I got the satellite dish set back. Hopefully no more high winds tonight.
Next I wanted to check the water level in the coach batteries. I tried to check them at least once a month, and the last time I’d done it was about a month ago while we were in Elkhart, IN.
Upon opening the compartment door I immediately noticed a problem with a battery cable.
The lead connected the two 12 volt banks was broken off. At first I thought it had burnt thru. But on looking closer I was able to tell that it was probably broken off by age and vibration. Something similar happened back in June with a control wire on my starter solenoid.
Due to the remaining length of wire I could see I would probably need to replace the entire wire. And this would be difficult on a Sunday afternoon. And we would need the batteries tomorrow night when we Wally Dock in Breaux Bridge, LA on our way back to Houston.
Thinking about it for a minute, I decided to do this.
I used one of my jumper cable sets to temporarily make the connection until we get back to Houston and I can make up a new cable. I think it should hold OK.
About 5:30 we drove back down the beach to DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen. They always have great food, but we especially like one of their sides, Sweet Potato Casserole with Caramelized Pecans. You almost want to just order a whole plate of it.
Tomorrow we will start back toward Houston, stopping in Breaux Bridge, LA about 300 miles from here, so we’ll get an early start, probably about 8am.
November 22, 2010
Landon and the Cows . . .
Our day started early, and with two problems. Brandi called to let us know Landon was not feeling well and she was taking him to the doctor. She wondered if Jan could babysit today so Landon wouldn’t have to go to daycare.
And, of course, Jan said ‘Sure!” More Landon time.
But the second problem was that despite her eagerness to Landon-sit, Jan was in the second day of her usual 3-day migraine sequence. But she took another Imitrex which helped a lot and we were on our way to Brandi’s by about 10:15 am.
The doctor said Landon just had a slight head cold and would be fine. She told Brandi to just stop and get some Triaminicin for him.
I got this picture of him after we got there.
One thing we’ve found out about Landon since he’s been in daycare the last two weeks, is that apparently he’s crazy about cows.
They actually start showing babies Landon’s age (3 months) flash cards with large pictures of animals, and telling them the names. They have about 20 different animal cards, and when the girl would show Landon a cow, he would start laughing and giggling. But only for the cow.
She thought maybe she was imagining it so she got another girl to try it, and Landon did exactly the same thing.
Strange!
While Jan was Landon-sitting, I visited a couple of clients, and then on the way back to Brandi’s I stopped off and picked up the HoneyBaked Ham we’ll take up to Shawna’s for Thanksgiving. While I was out and about, our friend Gina called to check in. She was in town for her sister’s memorial service and wanted to get directions to a favorite restaurant of ours, Floyd’s Cajun Seafood.
I also stopped off at Sam’s Club to picked up some more Imitrex for Jan, and a couple of pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving too.
After Lowell got home, Jan and I headed over to Jason’s Deli for supper. She had her favorite Turkey Muffuletta and I had a bowl of their great Southwestern Chicken Chili.
We got home a little after 5 pm.
That’s about it for today.
November 22, 2011
4-Wheel Drive No More . . .
Our morning started off with a move from site 72 where we’d been since Sunday night, to site 4 over in front of the office. Since we were only going about 100 yards, we didn’t have to pack things away as much as normal, and we had no problems at all.
We can move into the waterfront site this Friday if we want, and then move again on Dec 10th to a better site. But we’ve been burned before when we waited and waited to someone to leave, and they kept re-upping.
So we’ll have to decide what we’re going to do.
About 12:30 I headed out to check in with one of my long-time clients. They’ve got 5 computers that need cleaning and updating, and some problems with a home entertainment system that I need to sort out. So this will keep me busy for several weeks.
Brock’s Automotive had called earlier and said my truck was done, so about 3:30 I headed over there to settle up with them, and then Jan and I will pick it up later this evening.
As it turns my previously 4-wheel drive truck is now a 2 wheel drive truck. The damage to the front transaxle was more extensive than thought. It wasn’t just one axle bracket that had broken, but the transaxle case mounts had snapped off which is why the whole thing had dropped down on the skid plate. In fact, if the skid plate hadn’t been there, it probably would have fallen to the pavement.
When I first talked to Brock’s I mentioned the idea that, since the truck is 7 years old and has 178, 000 miles on it, with another 47,000 miles being towed, I really didn’t want to put several thousand dollars into it to fix this. So I ask them about the possibility of just disconnecting the two drive shafts, leaving me with just 2-wheel drive. As it is the last time we used 4-wheel drive was in a snowstorm driving from Billings MT to Sturgis SD in 2008, so I don’t think we would miss it.
And once the full scope of the damage was found, it was obvious that the entire transaxle/driveshaft assembly would have to be replaced. When Brock’s started checking around they found that a used one was $800 – $1000, and a new one was $3200 #$%#@# dollars. With another $1000 or so for labor.
No way! (I would have put ‘Jose’ in there, but you never know what’s not politically correct anymore)
So for $375, they removed the transaxle and driveshaft assembly, and threw in an oil and filter change. You can’t beat that.
Still driving Lowell’s truck, I headed back to the rig, stopping off to fill it up with gas, before picking Jan up and heading back up to Clear Lake.
Our first stop was Rudy’s BBQ on I-45 in Webster. We’ve always enjoyed eating at Rudy’s in the Austin area, and while we were gone this year, they built one here.
Next, we stopped by Brock’s to pick up our truck while Jan drove Lowell’s truck back to Brandi’s with me following in ours.
Brandi, Lowell, and Landon are heading up to Oklahoma tonight to spend Thanksgiving with Lowell’s parents, so we said our goodbyes and then headed down to La Marque so Jan could meet our friend Maria and play bingo.
I then ran some errands and was back down to La Marque to pick her up at 10 pm.
Unfortunately she didn’t win anything this time. Maybe next time.
November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving . . .
This morning started real early for some of us. Landon gets up very early, 6am this morning, so no one stays asleep long. Lowell went down to the local Starbucks and brought us back coffee so that helped some.
And yes, Starbucks was open from 5:30 to 9 this morning, and Lowell said they were pretty busy, too.
Jan and Brandi, with Lowell and I helping, got the green bean and broccoli casseroles started, with Jan also working on the cornbread dressing.
We sat down about 1pm for a Thanksgiving meal of HoneyBaked Ham and Turkey, Cornbread Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, Heavenly Hash, and Rolls.
Then for dessert, we had the Pumpkin and Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pies we picked up from Brother’s Bakery and Café yesterday on our way into town. We pretty much all stuffed ourselves silly, of course, but boy was it good.
Then after lunch we all spent a good bit of time sitting on the dock just enjoying the sun and the nice breeze. And of course Landon’s antics as he ran around.
About 6:30 we all headed into Marble Falls to see the Christmas Walkway of Lights they have set up along the banks of the Colorado River.
The last time Landon was here he was only about 4 months old so it was all new to him. And he really enjoyed it, pointing at everything and naming them.
Landon had so much fun tonight we may have to take him back again.
November 22, 2013
Almost Done For This Year . . .
Today was our last full day here on the gate, and it was really pretty quiet.
And cold.
Actually very cold. The temp finally inched its way up to about 42°, but didn’t even hold that for very long. And the 20 mph didn’t help out at all.
So while I started breaking things down outside (with frequent inside trips to warm up) Jan handled the gate by just coming out when a vehicle came though. And it certainly helped that we only had about 40 vehicles today.
A lot of people stopped off to say goodbye, and some with more “lovely parting gifts”, in this case a couple of beautiful ribeye steaks. How about a new tradition – Steak for Thanksgiving?
I picked up the truck from the repair shop about 3pm, and it cost about what I thought – a little over 4 gate days. The repair guy said the water pump was the original one, so not bad for a little over 208,000 miles. Our truck, a 2004 Dodge Dakota, had 101,000 miles on it when we bought it toward the end of 2007, so we’ve put another 107,000 on it in the last six years. And that doesn’t include the 60,000 miles that we’ve towed it behind the rig.
Once I got the truck home I could really start loading things up, and by about 7pm and after stopping for supper, pretty much everything was done except for taking the canopy down. And we’ll do that tomorrow morning.
The reason we didn’t finish it up tonight is that it started to SLEET! I’m sorry, but I didn’t come back to south Texas for the winter to have SLEET!
We plan on heading over to the Gate Guard Services lot around 10 am tomorrow after our relief arrives. A blog reader, Jim Mossman, commented yesterday that he might be our relief. If so, we look forward to meeting them.
That’s about it for gate guarding this year. Next up, home to Houston for holidays with the kids and grandkids. YAY!
November 22, 2014
Happily Ensconced . . .
We pulled out of our site at Omega Farms RV Park about 10:15. Then it was on to Livingston, about 50 miles away. We wanted to get an early start because of all the bad weather that’s supposedly coming our way this afternoon and evening.
And after an easy hour and 15 minute trip through the rolling countryside, we were quickly and happily ensconced on Chris and Charles Yust’s lot, right next to their rig here in the Escapees Park.
Then after some ‘catching up’ time we all headed out to Chris and Charles’ favorite Mexican place, La Casita.
And it was the perfect ‘trifecta’; close by, cheap, and good, especially the salsa, with a real ‘smoky’ chipotle taste. Jan had the Beef Fajita Nachos, while I had the Beef Fajita Lunch Plate, both very good.
After a nice ‘after lunch nap’, Chris and Charles and I spent several hours going over changes and updates to their C and C RV Insurance website. We’re adding several new products, as well as online quote forms, and more.
By the time we wrapped up for the day, it was after 6pm and time for dinner, so it was off to Florida’s Kitchen, another of their favorite places.
And it was easy to see why. Or maybe, taste why.
Written up in Texas Monthly, Florida’s is known for their ribs and their fried catfish. And luckily for Jan and I they have a Sample Platter with some of both, plus two sides and hushpuppies, perfect for Jan and I to split. And that left us enough room for ‘takehome’ desserts of Italian Cream Cake and Chocolate Pie for later.
The food here is well worth the rave reviews. Hopefully we’ll be able to come back to both places.
Under the heading of ‘Our Future Van Gogh’, Brandi sent over this picture of Landon’s latest artwork. She said he drew this from scratch in about 10 minutes. Drew, not traced, not colored in. Drew.
Wow! Not bad for 4 year old. In fact, much better than a lot of the ‘modern’ art I’ve seen. Thought it does look like some of the NBC Peacock slipped in.
November 22, 2015
Off the Gate . . .
We were up about 5:30am for our last morning on the gate for this year. When I checked the outside temp, it was 30°, a little colder than the 33° that was forecast. In fact when I went out about 20 minutes later to turn the lights on, everything was covered with a thick last of frost.
And of course on our last day here, the workover crew has to change everything up. Normally the first one doesn’t come in until about 6:15am, but today he showed up about 5:50, just what we needed this morning while we’re trying to get on the road.
But as the other mornings, the last guy was in by 6:40 so I was able to get back to finish up packing, mostly a combination of both ‘leaving the gate’ stuff and normal ‘pack up and leave the RV park’ stuff.
But it all was complicated by layer of frost covering all the stuff I had positioned outside to be packed away this morning. I set some things out in the sun, or at least out where the sun would be when it got up over the trees, hoping to thaw things out.
Giving up for a while I went inside to finish up putting away the TV’s and other regular travel day stuff. Then taking a break, I made coffee and Jan heated us up some Sausage and Egg biscuits for breakfast. While we ate we talked about all the stuff we planned to do in our post gate time. Back at work, and finding the stuff outside a little less frosty, I finished up stowing everything away from the gate.
I had planned to move our rig out of the way between 8:30 and 9:00, expecting our replacements to show up around 10. This would let them pull straight into the site and get hooked up. But I guess anxious to get started, Donna and Jim showed up a little after 8am.
One funny thing that did happen, at least funny to us, was that they first went to the wrong gate, the frack site up the road, guarded by two women, Brenda and Patsy. So Jim and Donna pull up and tell them, “We’re here to replace you.” Apparently there was a look of surprise and panic on the other guard’s faces until they got things straighten out.
We spent the next 45 minutes or so getting them briefed on what to expect here, and then I got the our rig pulled off to the side about 9:15, allowing Jim and Donna to pull their camper into our old spot.
The first problem I had was trying to wrestle a frozen power cord into the electrical bay, kind of like throttling a python with your bare hands, but finally I got it stuffed in and the bay door shut.
Then as soon as I started backing up, I kept getting a ‘Jacks Down’ alarm. I knew the jacks were up, so I figured the system was just a little low on fluid, and the cold weather probably didn’t help either. Normally when you get an alarm like this, it means that you need to add hydraulic fluid to the reservoir, and this seemed to be the case today, since I didn’t have any more problems with it after we got on the road.
In 24 hours our gate went from this,
to this,
and then to this.
We were hitched up and on our way by a little after 9:30, taking SR 315 south until we picked up US259. In Nacogdoches we turned onto US59 which took us through Lufkin and on to Livingston, home of the Escapees RV Club. Then a series of FM roads and SR roads took us through the countryside into Willis and then across I-45 and to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails.
Lucky for us, we got the last 50amp site in our favorite ‘E’ ring, so we were happy about that. We’ve been here enough times that it seems like a home base for us. Kim, the head ranger even said, “Hello stranger, where have you been?”
But I bet she says that to all the guys.
November 22, 2016
That’ll Teach Me . . .
Just as soon as I told you how much I liked my PowerMax Power Converter that I got from Amazon, it cratered.
Well not completely. It’s still putting out 13.2 VDC and keeping the house batteries charged with no problems. But it’s no longer running through its 3 voltage level cycle.
When it’s first plugged in, the power converter starts up in ‘Boost’ mode at 14.4 volts to quickly bring a battery up to full charge. It then switches into ‘Standard’ mode at 13.6 VDC. This mode is where the converter stays when there is a steady drain during normal use.
When there is little or no drain, the converter drops back to ‘Trickle’ mode at 13.2 VDC, and then toggles back and forth between ‘Standard’ mode and ‘Trickle’ mode as needed. By itself that’s fine and dandy. But I need more.
Because the isolator between the house batteries and the engine batteries only pulls in above 14.0 VDC, that means that the engine batteries only get charged when the converter is first turned on and is in ‘Boost’ mode. And since the converter normally stays on all the time when we’re on shore power, that means that the engine batteries weren’t being kept charged.
But I had a plan. (I always have a plan. Often three or four of them) My idea was to just put the power converter on a heavy-duty timer. Initially I set the the timer to turn the converter off for 30 minutes (the minimum the timer allows) every 8 hours. After a couple of weeks, I backed it off to powering off only twice a day. And that’s the way it’s been for the last two years. This keeps the engine batteries topped off with no problems.
Until a few days ago. Coming in the rig I noticed that the engine voltmeter was showing only about 12.4 volts, lower than it should be. Thinking maybe there was a timer problem, I restarted it manually. With no luck.
The power converter was stuck in ‘Trickle’ mode at 13.2 volts and would never run through its cycle. I even unplugged for a couple of hours, but that didn’t help either. So this morning I put in a call to PowerMax to see if there was any thing else I could check. Turns out, No.
Right now I’ve got my auto battery charger keeping the engine batteries charged, while I see about getting the converter replaced. When I purchased the converter from Amazon in December 2014, I did purchase an extra 2 year warranty for only $9.90. Seems like a really good deal now.
My next call this morning was to the McDonald’s in Cuero, TX to see if they were going to be open Thanksgiving morning. Finding out that they would be, we’ll stop there for a breakfast sandwich on our way to our daughter Brandi’s in Katy for Thanksgiving.
Then it was outside to install my new Sylvania SilverStar Ultra headlight bulbs. Unlike many vehicles where you can access the bulb sockets from under the hood, with our Dodge Dakota the entire headlight assembly has to be pulled by removing 3 bolts from around the outside of the lens.
One thing you need to watch with these halogen bulbs is that you don’t touch the glass with your fingers. The grease from your fingertips will burn black and create a hotspot, cracking the glass. If you do it accidentally, use an alcohol-soaked cloth to clean the glass.
I finished up by adding a quart of oil to the truck. Even at almost 250,000 miles it only uses about a quart every 1000 miles, pretty much the way it’s been since day one.
A little after 4pm Jan and I headed out to have dinner at Bella Sera once again. We’d always heard how good their pizza was, so this time we wanted to give it a try.
We got the large (16”) Meat Lover’s Pizza, adding mushrooms to the pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger, and Italian sausage. We always get the large so we have leftovers.
Jan and I both agreed that this was probably the 2nd best pizza we’ve ever had, second only our number 1 favorite, Grimaldi’s. The only thing Bella Sera misses out on is the coal-fired brick oven that Grimaldi’s uses. You can taste the difference.
Before heading home, we made a Wal-Mart stop to pick up a prescription for Jan, gas for the trip, and finished up with a carwash to get all the dust and grime off before our trip on Thursday.
November 22, 2017
A Safe Ride . . .
As I mentioned in last night’s mini-blog, I woke up under the weather yesterday, and if I hadn’t had so much going on, I would have stayed in bed a lot longer.
So about 11:30 I was on my way up to Katy to pick up Jan from her Landon-sitting gig, where she’d been since Sunday afternoon. But now it was time to drop Landon off at his mother’s office along the SH Tollway and then head back to Santa Fe. But we did make a lunch stop at Taco Bell along the way, with Jan getting a Cheese Quesadilla, while I got a small order of Nachos Supreme, and London got an order of Chips and Queso. All good.
After dropping off Landon about 2:30, Jan and I headed down to the Clear Lake area. We were meeting our friends, Janice and Dave Evans, at the Floyd’s Cajun Seafood in Webster. They were worried that we wouldn’t want to eat there again since we’d just been to the one in Katy on Sunday. We told them, No problem. It’s hard to get too much Floyd’s.
Since we weren’t supposed to meet until 4:30, we first made a stop at the local PO to see if I could track down a missing Amazon package. It was supposed to be delivered on Monday, but for some reason they tried to deliver it to the office on Sunday.
When that didn’t work, they were supposed to redeliver it on Monday, but it was a no-show. So a stop at the PO was in order. And wouldn’t you know it, while I was talking with the mail lady at the PO, I got a text saying the package had just been delivered.
Since I didn’t get the the usual text saying it was out for delivery, this was a surprise. So our next stop was at work to pick it up. Then since we still had some time to kill, we made a Staples stop so Jan could find some Christmas note paper for her Christmas cards.
Then finally it was on to Floyd’s Cajun Seafood where Jan had her usual, her favorite Chicken Fried Chicken.
They always serve the gravy on the side so you can dip or pour, as you like. And of course along with their Sweet Potato Fries.
Janice and Dave are heading out this coming Monday so hopefully we’ll be able to get together once more before they leave.
After a good meal and a great time, we were on our way back to Santa Fe with only quick stop at the HEB for gas.
I woke up feeling a lot better this morning, so I headed off to work at my usual 10am. But it was a pretty quiet day so I was able to catch up on some stalled projects.
Since Chris and his family are mostly working tomorrow, we were getting together at the Cheddar’s in Webster at 7pm tonight, so about 6:30 we headed out. But we didn’t get far.
About halfway there, still on FM646, we suddenly heard a loud flapping from the rear of the car. At first I thought it was a flat, but the truck was still driving fine, so not a flat. We drove about 1/2 mile or so and pulled into a Citgo station.
Getting out I checked all four tires, all just fine, and even got down and looked underneath. Still nothing. So then I had Jan drive back and forth in the parking lot and then it was easy to find the problem.
A large piece of the outer tread had come loose and peeled back on the passenger rear tire, leaving the inner part still holding air.
After calling Chris to let him know we weren’t going to make it, I decided to try out my new roadside assistance service, SafeRide.
A few months ago when my Good Sam ERS expired, I decided to switch over to SafeRide, sold by Chris Yust of C and C RV Insurance. I had been screwed over by GS with their billing, and SafeRide offered more services at a better price, and had excellent reviews. And it was easy to see why, if my experience was any example.
I called SafeRide at 7:08. It took me about 6 minutes to give them all my info since this was my first call. So that took me to 7:14.
Then at 7:19 I got a call from the service guy saying he would be there in about 10 minutes. In the meantime I was directed by a text message to a website map that showed where the service guy was, and giving an animation of his truck moving on the map as he got closer.
Really neat!
And right on time, at 7:30 he (Rex) pulled up. Accompanied by his girlfriend/wife?, they got right to work. While she was lowering the spare from underneath the truck, he got out the floor jack and loosened the lug nuts.
As soon as the spare was down and out of the way, he jacked up the truck and removed the bad tire. Then noting the spare was a little low, he added air before installing it on the truck. A couple of more minutes and he was done.
When we pulled out of the Citgo station, it was 7:52, which meant from the time I called until we were on our way was 44 minutes. Surely a record.
Great service!
Figuring Chris and his family were already or almost done, we decided to just head up 646 a couple of miles to have dinner again at Pho 20
I don’t know how the owner knew we were coming, but she was sitting at one of the outside tables waiting on us. (Actually she was listening to music on her headphones.) And as before we got the personal treatment.
We started off with the House Crunch Salad again, but this time pre-split into two separate bowls for us.
Then it was on to their really good Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce.
I again got the Jalapeno Chicken, but this time had them leave out the green peppers and add more jalapenos. Las time I found that the green pepper taste was a little overpowering.
Jan, however, switched up and got the Curry Chicken which she really liked and said she’ll have it again. Always a good sign. However I was enjoying my dish so much I forgot to get a photo of hers.
A really great meal, and once again we left with a food gift from the owner. Very nice people.
Tomorrow, with Brandi and her family in Dallas, and most of Chris’ family working, Jan and I will be doing the Cracker Barrel thing some time in the afternoon. Looking forward to it.
November 22, 2019
Missed It By That Much . . .
So Close !!!
When I put in our daily 11:45 morning call to Dix’s Diesel Center, I got some really good news. Sam, the dispatcher, said the mechanic was waiting on some (a?) gasket(s) to fix oil leak problem. He didn’t know which one(s) it was, but I’m assuming it was for the oil cooler, which attaches to the the side of the engine block and feeds the oil through the filter that is mounted to it.
That gasket is about the only thing left in area of the leak, so it’s where I was going to look next. The only problem I foresaw was how I was going to get to the 11 bolts holding it in place. The cooler is mounted so far up on the side of the engine that they would be hard to reach while lying on the ground underneath the rig. And you can’t really get to them from under the bed because it’s back under the firewall area separating the bedroom and the engine compartment.
But it does look doable if the rig was on a lift, or over a pit, where you could stand up and reach the bolts that way.
However, all my good cheer was for naught, because when we went by Dix’s about 4pm, we found that the needed gaskets had no yet come in, and probably wouldn’t before the end of the day. And though, even if the parts did come in, and there are a couple of mechanics working tomorrow, Saturday, there won’t be anyone in the office to cash us out until Monday at the earliest.
So, missed it by that much.
However Jan is still due at Brandi’s on Sunday so she can Landon-sit until Wednesday while he’ out of school and the dogs/cat-sit until next Sunday while Brandi et. al. are out of town. So we’re meeting them Sunday afternoon in Columbus to hand her off to them.
Hopefully I’ll be back in Santa Fe back then, though Jan is worried about how I’ll do backing the rig into our spot at Petticoat Junction RV Park.
But I doubt I’ll have any problem.
November 22, 2020
Now To See How It Sleeps . . .
With Brandi, et al., heading up to Oklahoma to have Thanksgiving with Lowell’s parents, and Chris’ wife, Linda having to work on Thanksgiving, Jan and I are on our own for this Thanksgiving.
So Cracker Barrel it is.
But when I asked Jan when she wanted to to, at 11 when they started serving TG dinner, or later in the afternoon, she said “Neither.”
“So you don’t want to eat around all those people?”
She said it wasn’t that, since we eat out all the time. She just didn’t want to have to eat that early, or wait in line for an hour or more if we wanted to eat later in the afternoon.
So ‘call ahead and pick up ahead of time’, it is.
But when I used the CB app to try and place my order, it gave me a Order Error, saying that orders at this location could only be placed between 11:59 pm and 12:01 am, in other words, the 2 minutes around midnight.
Now that’s a tight timeframe.
Next, I tried to call the store itself, and after getting switched around a couple of times, I placed my order and said I wanted to pick it up at 3 pm on 11/23, this Tuesday. But I was told that I couldn’t pick it up at 3. However, I pick it up at 2:15 or 5:45.
Obviously this is something new, since we’ve picked up stuff for Thanksgiving and Christmas a number of times and never had a time restriction like this.
But it explains why the app didn’t work. If you don’t happen to pick an open timeslot, it won’t let you order.
So Tuesday at 2:15 it is.
A few days ago we ordered a new mattress topper for our bed here in the RV. Our old 2” one seemed to be wearing out and getting thin in places, so I ordered a 3” one this time.
Inside the cover it looks like this.
Hopefully it will be a lot cooler than our old one. And couple with Jan’s new Moose Quilt, it looks like this.
November 22, 2021
Decollared, And A Big Gnarly Scar . . .
I had the follow-up appointment for my recent cervical spine surgery this afternoon with my neurosurgeon. Well, actually his P.A. (Physician’s Assistant), Alexandria.
She seemed a little surprised at how well I was doing only 10 days out from the surgery, especially since I had never had to take any Tylenol/Codeine pain medication. So well, in fact, that that she told me I didn’t have to wear the “collar of shame” until Friday as I was originally told, but could stop wearing it right then. And of course that meant that I can drive again. Yea!
I can also stop doing the breathing treatments, using the AirLife Spirometer that I brought home from the hospital.
But I will have to keep doing my daily 30 minute Bone Graft Stimulator treatments for the next 6 months.
Plus I can now go back to taking all my daily meds, including my Anti-WuFlu Quercetin/Zinc/D3. Just no more low-dose aspirin for 3 months. And I can’t take Advil until then, either. But everything else is OK.
She then went ahead and pulled the Steri-Strips off my incision, giving me my first view of my Big Gnarly Scar. She was also happy with how well it was healing.
I will wear it proudly.
And it looks like that Brandi may be using Dr. Wang in case she also needs cervical spine surgery. Yes, she’s an hour away up in Katy, but Dr. Wang is rated as one of the top-rated Neurosurgeons in Houston. So worth the drive.
Because of this, Brandi had an appointment with Dr. Wang next Monday. Hope it goes as well as mine did.
