Monthly Archives: November 2022
It’s A Onesie . . .
Today began mine and Karma’s first day of ‘batchin’ it. As usual, especially when Jan is gone, Karma spent the night curled up at the bottom of the bed, enjoying the warmth from our heated mattress pad. So nice to crawl into a pre-heated, warm bed.
I mentioned awhile back that when Jan and I ask Alexa to do something for us, i.e. turn on a light, turn off the TV, etc., we always thank her. Our kids think it’s funny, but I always say that we want to be polite to our future robot overlords for when the machines take over.
Normally, she says something like “Anytime. Literally. Or sometimes she even sings her ‘You’re Welcome.’ But then a couple of weeks back, one time when I neglected to thank her, she was quiet for a few seconds, and then said, “Aren’t you going to thank me.”
Yikes!
And I’ve not forgotten to thank her since.
Then this morning when I thanked her for turning off a light, she said, “You’re Welcome. And Thank You for all the Thanks. They’re much appreciated and they make my day.”
Double Yikes!
Yesterday I got two Amazon orders, one that I didn’t order. It was addressed to me, and consisted of a 3-pack of Elmer Glue Sticks. I searched, but didn’t find them in my Recent Orders list, so I double-checked with Jan up at Brandi’s and she said she didn’t order the either. So I called Amazon, and as I figured, they said to just keep them.
Then this morning someone else got my order. When I got up, I found an email saying my order had been delivered at 7:13am. But when I checked outside, there was no order to be found.
So I called up the email and checked out the included photo.
That’s not our porch.
But I didn’t recognized who’s porch it was. So I thought I’d wait and check it out when I left for work. And when I did, I found it two sites over at #9.
So I went to their door and knocked, but no answer. So I grabbed my package and ran.
I recently read that Amazon had laid off a bunch of people. Maybe too many?
I mean, does this look like a 9 to you.
Brandi sent over this photo this morning of the view from where they’re staying with friends in Castle Rock, CO.
Nice View!
Back last month I bought Jan this Flamingo Hooded Blanket.
Jan loves it, and apparently so does Karma.
Knowing she also like octopuses, I told her I almost got her this Octopus Onesie. Note the flamingo stuff in the background on the right.
From her reaction, I’m very glad I didn’t order this one.
Thought for the Day:
Yep, that’s exactly what happened.
November 21, 2009
Old memories are the best…
About 11:30 am we headed over to Pensacola, FL to eat at Sonny’s BBQ for lunch and then visit one of Jan’s favorite gift shops, Artesana.
Coming home we drove past one of my favorite childhood playthings.
When I was a kid I loved to play on this locomotive. Of course it didn’t have a fence around it then.
A little Googling tells me that #1355 was originally built in 1912 as a 2-8-0 Consolidated and operated mainly in Missouri. In 1945 it was converted to a 2-8-2 Mikado and ran the St. Louis – San Francisco – Pensacola line until 1952. It was stored until 1955 when it was mounted on what was then the main street into Pensacola.
I was always fascinated in these big machines. Up close, they’re even more massive. I mean, these drive wheels are over 6’ in diameter.
It’s always good to see stuff from your childhood still around. Makes you feel not quite so old!
Heading back toward the rig, we passed another series of the mascot statues. We’ve seen pelicans in Seabrook, TX, moose in Coeur d’Alene, ID, mermaids in Beaufort, SC.
Here in Perdido Bay, FL they have more pelicans.
Getting back to the rig I installed the new metal drain plug in my water heater. The old one was plastic and was leaking. Besides that, it had become rounded off so it was hard to get off and impossible to tighten. The metal one works great.
About 5:30 we headed out for supper at Sea N Suds, a place we had seen here in Gulf Shores, but had never eaten at. I guess we kind of figured it was just another bar on the beach. But we saw a recommendation and decided to check it out. And boy I’m glad we did.
Not only was the food good, but looking at some of the old pictures on the wall, I discovered a picture that I didn’t know existed anymore.
It’s a picture of my parent’s motel here on the beach, circa 1955.
I know this is 1955 because that’s when we built the new bigger house/office and two more cottages on the back row. In 1956 we added three more cottages on the back row for a total of 10. The pier at over 300 feet long was the longest one on the Gulf Coast at the time.
Here’s a picture of the pier during a storm.
It turns out that the Sea N Suds was built on the site of my parent’s motel. (They sold it in 1958). I had lost track of exactly where it was because all the old landmarks that I remember are gone. And it’s possible that the Sea N Suds building is built around our old “Tackle Shack”
Here’s what the area looks like now.
Here are some other pictures. This first one was taken about 1954.
And this one, taken about the same time (Note I’m still wearing my favorite cowboy suit), shows me and my best friend, David Duddy, and gives a view of the cottages from the street.
This next one was taken in early 1951, a few months after we moved to the beach.
And this last one was taken in the summer of 1952.
Coming back from Sea N Suds we hit the the thunderstorm that had been building all day. By the time we got back to the rig, it was pouring and blowing. So much so that the satellite dish had blown over.
So it was reading and computing for the rest of the night.
Oh, Darn!
November 21, 2010
Chicken and Chili . . .
Our power went off a little before 2 am this morning. I don’t know how long it really stayed off, since the inverter kicked in almost immediately. But apparently it was off long enough to run the battery down on the computer UPS system.
Jan woke up with a headache this morning so we didn’t walk, but we did have coffee, of course. She took an Imitrex which usually works miracles, so we’ll see.
By about 2 Jan’s migraine had receded enough that she felt like eating so we drove up to Kemah to have lunch at Chili’s.
Jan had her favorite Margarita Chicken and I had the Chicken & Green Chile Soup & Salad. Jan also got a cup of Baked Potato Soup to go for later.
I don’t know if our order got lost or what, but this was the second time we’ve had really bad service at this Chili’s. It took almost 45 minutes to get our food, yet people at other tables were seated after we had ordered, and they still got their food before us.
We may have to find us another Chili’s.
More from us tomorrow.
November 21, 2011
Musical Chairs . . . er . . . Sites . . .
I woke up at 7 am this morning to call Brock’s Automotive and explain why there was a strange truck on a trailer in their parking lot. And that I would be in later to take care of it.
Then I went back to sleep.
We headed out about 10:30 for a day of errands. And our first stop was at the park office to see if we could stay where we were, or not.
Apparently it’s, “or not.”
There is someone coming into this site tomorrow so we’ll have to move over to site 4 in the center area in front of the office. Then as soon as it’s open, we’ll move into site 77.
Site 77 is on the water, and about halfway between our two past sites, 80 and 73. But it has two problems.
This site is configured for a 5th wheel as a back-in, so if we want to have our windshield facing the water, I’ll have to run our hookups underneath the rig. Not a big problem, but I’ll probably have to buy another section of sewer hose.
The real problem is that the site may be too short. It looks like that if we park far enough back so that we’re not sticking out in the street, my wheels will be at the edge of the concrete pad and my levelers will be on the grass. Not good.
I’ve got a 100 ft. tape measure in one of the bays so I may dig it out and measure the site and see.
Otherwise we could wait until December 10th when we could move into site 81, right next to where we were parked the first two years.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Our next stop was lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico, one of our favorite local Mexican places. After a few months on the road we start to crave their Chicken Tortilla Soup. We’ve had good Tortilla Soup other places, but none quite measures up to Monterey’s.
Then we headed up to Brock’s Automotive to take care of the truck and the trailer. I got the truck off the trailer and turned in to Brock’s and then hooked up the trailer to the Toyota Tundra we’re borrowing from our son-in-law Lowell, and then headed back past the U-Haul place and on to the RV park.
As it turns out, I realized that I had left the U-Haul paperwork back in the rig, so we had to go back to the park to get it before we could turn the trailer in. After that was done we headed home for the afternoon.
After a nice nap, Jan and I met our son Chris, and his wife Linda, at Tookies, a fabled local hamburger place where we’ve been eating since we moved to Houston in 1978. However it was badly damaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008 while we were in Alaska, and it never reopened.
But it was purchased by a new owner, refurbished, and reopened this past July. And we found it certainly lived up to its past reputation.
Their Double-Meat Burgers are a full pound of hand-formed lean ground beef, loaded with your choice of goodies, like bacon ground in with the beef, burgers soaked in wine, covered with jalapenos, mushrooms, cheese, onions, picante sauce, BBQ sauce, or chili.
Your choice of artery-clogging, heart-stopping, stomach-filling meaty goodness.
Tookie’s is back!
On another note, we traveled 9,924 miles this year, for a total of 47,455 since we picked up the coach January 6th, 2008. We traveled more the first two years since we went to Alaska in 2008, and Newfoundland in 2009.
And since the coach had 62511 miles on it when we bought it, we’ve now got 109,966 total miles on the coach.
So far, so good.
November 21, 2012
They Want Us Back . . .
After having a breakfast of the Buc-ee’s Sausage and Cheese Kolaches we picked up when we got gas last night, we headed out for Marble Falls about 8:45am. We made a brief stop at Brandi’s to pick up the cooler with the perishables, since we had more room in our truck, and then we were back on the road.
Our first stop was in Brookshire about 80 miles down the route at the Flying J, with the second one at the Buc-ee’s at the Luling exit on I-10. These two stops are the same ones we’ve been stopping at for years, even in the RV.
About 10:30 I got a call on my cellphone that I didn’t recognize. It turned out to be from one of the supervisors with Marathon Oil that we had worked with this past summer. He wanted us to take over a gate for them, and sounded really disappointed that we weren’t gate guarding right now. Guess this bodes well for us getting another gate next year.
This stop was also where we left the Interstate and headed north on US-183. A little later we got on the new TX 130 Toll Road that took us on into the outskirts of Austin. The thing that really makes this Toll Road worth it is the fact that the speed limit is 85 mph. Nice!
Then we hooked up with SR-71 and headed west. This is where we ran into our first traffic problem. SR-71 starts out as a limited access 4 lane divided highway but deteriorates into a 2 lane road with a stoplight. This means that the traffic starts to back up at the light, such that it took us 20 minutes to go just a little over two miles.
But finally we were out in the country for the last 30 miles. We got into Marble Falls about 2:30 and first stop was Brother’s Bakery and Café. Brandi had called ahead to reserve a couple of their pies for our Thanksgiving, a pumpkin and a chocolate bourbon pecan. We know they’ll be delicious because Brother’s is the bakery that did Brandi’s wedding cake a couple of years ago, and it was great.
Then it was only about 15 minutes to our rental lake house. As advertised, it’s right on the water and really nice.
Jan and I got unloaded and then took it easy for an hour or so until Lowell, Brandi, and Landon showed up.
Since everyone was getting hungry, we all headed right back down the road to a place we saw on the way in, the Farm House Restaurant. And it turned out to be a really good idea.
The Farm House Restaurant has been famous in the Texas Hill Country for more than 30 years, and has hosted customers such as Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, and Tommy Lee Jones. We all had Chicken Fried ‘Something’. Lowell had steak and the rest of us had chicken. And we all agreed it is was some of the best Chicken Fried ‘Something’ we’d ever had.
Getting back to the house Landon played for a while before it was bath time. And since the two bathrooms here have only showers, Landon got his bath in the kitchen sink. He was a little unsure at first, but quickly decided he liked it.
I had to add the little green fig leaf to the photo to avoid any legal problems.
Watching Landon running around the house while Lowell and Brandi were trying to get him dressed and down for the night, really brought back memories for Jan and I.
When Brandi came back out of the bedroom, hot on Landon’s heels as he ran squealing down the hall, I told her that watching all this brought a phrase to mind. When she ask “What phrase?”, I said,
“Payback’s a Bitch!”
For some reason she didn’t think it was as funny as Jan and I did.
November 21, 2013
Getting back in the habit . . .
and no, a nunnery is not involved. That would be kinky.
I’m just trying to get back to doing a blog every day now that we’re coming off the gate on Saturday.
We got some good news about our Houston home yesterday. No, not the one we still own, but Galveston Bay RV Resort, where we’ve spent the winter the last 5 years.
They’ve finally got their big expansion under way, adding 54 new sites to the 80+ they already have. The 54 will be a mixture of pull-thrus, marina, and waterfront sites, and are greatly needed. Several times over the past years, blog readers have wanted to stay at Galveston Bay on their way through the area, but found the park filled up.
Master Landon is going through this phase where he doesn’t want his picture taken and turns away anytime he sees a camera. Here’s the latest two examples during Turkey Day at his daycare.
That’s him in the very center with the blue bat on his shirt.
And here he is, second from the right.
School pictures are going to be loads of fun for the photographer, I bet.
Well, the saga of the truck continues. Orlyn, the gate guard down the road, took me into Pleasanton to pick up my truck from the “Complete Auto Repair” place, one that doesn’t do water pumps, so I could drive it over to another place that does do water pumps.
Luckily it was only about a mile or so away so I didn’t have to worry about overheating. In fact the temperature gauge never got off the stop. I was happy to see that the new place is a NAPA repair shop, so I’ll have some recourse if I have a problem down the road, and somewhere else.
When I talked to the shop yesterday, the guy said he probably wouldn’t be able to get to it until Friday morning, but then this morning he thought he’d be able to get started this afternoon. And about 4:30 I got a call and they said they were working on it, and said they recommended that I have the radiator hoses replaced because both of them were hard and brittle. I told them to go ahead since they were already replacing the drive belt because it had stretched from being soak in the coolant. That’s why it was squealing.
They should have it ready sometime tomorrow morning, they think. They didn’t say, but I figure the repair will run $400-500, or as we say, 3 to 4 gate days.
Well, our flare put on another great show this afternoon. Crude (black gold, Texas tea, etc.) got backed up in the system and started coming out the stack along with the gas. The first thing that happened was the flaming oil came pouring down the sides of the stack like molten lava, starting fires on the ground. Then the sirens started going off.
You can see in this next photo the reddish glow of the fire on the ground through the trees.
Next we got fireballs and big ‘booms’ shooting out the top.
Reminded me a lot of artillery fire.
Just glad there was no ‘incoming’ associated with the show. The only thing that would have made it better was if it had been night time.
Starting to break down our site tomorrow is probably going to be interesting.
And cold.
And wet.
Right now at about 2am, it’s 76°.
At 7am it supposed to be 70, but it’s forecast to be 57 by 8am when the ‘arctic blast’ cold front moves through.
Then about noon we’re looking at 49°, and 45 by 3pm. And then there’s the 70% chance of thunderstorms and heavy rains to add to the fun.
Oh boy!
November 21, 2014
Out with Tamoxifen . . .
In with Anastrozole.
This morning Jan and I left the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails about 10:45 and headed 1.66 miles down the road to the Omega Farms RV Park, our shortest campground to campground move ever.
This was done to preserve our ‘out’ days at the Lake Conroe TT, so that we can come back in the day before Thanksgiving for a full two weeks before moving on to the Colorado River TT in Columbus.
The park was/is completely full and pretty much stays that way all the time apparently. Since it’s so close, a lot of TT members use it for their week out. He even has a special rate for TT members.
Since it was very overcast and raining when we came in this morning, we couldn’t tell a lot about the place, but when we drove through the other day to make our reservation for today, it looked to be really nice. With a fishing pond,
60 full hookup 50 amp sites (30 pull-thrus),
and enough trees to be nice, but not enough to block your satellite view, it’s one of the nicest small parks in the area. And if you need some ‘out’ days from the Lake Conroe TT, you can’t get much closer.
As soon as we got parked, I plugged in shore power, set up the satellite, and then we headed down to the Clear Lake area primarily so Jan could talk with her doctor about the side effects she was having on Tamoxifen.
The doctor already took her off it about 10 days ago, and the improvement has been dramatic. Jan and I discussed ahead of time about her just not taking anything at this point, because when you actually dig into the statistics, it’s not exactly cut-n-dried about the benefits.
Case in point, one combination study of studies shows that 3.74% of women taking Tamoxifen had a reoccurrence of the cancer, and 6.71% not taking Tamoxifen had a reoccurrence. So when you look at this alone, you have a 44.2% decrease in cancer reoccurrence while taking Tamoxifen. Other studies put the percent decrease closer to 50%, which all sounds pretty good.
But now turn the percentages around. This also says that 96.3% (100% – 3.74%) taking Tamoxifen did not have a reoccurrence, but neither did 93.3% (100% – 6.71%) of the women not taking Tamoxifen.
So either way, you’ll looking at a better than 90% chance of no reoccurrence whether you take Tamoxifen or not. Looking at the stats this way lines up with what one of my first Statistics professors said. “In the last two years the unemployment rate in Luxembourg has doubled. Sounds really bad, doesn’t it? But what it means is that last year Luxembourg had 4 people unemployed, and this year they have 8. It’s all in how you look at it.”
As a side note, all these studies define a ‘reoccurrence’ as a new cancer in the same breast. If you get a new cancer in the other breast, that doesn’t count and all the stats start over.
One last datum point is that all these percentages are done for the first 5 years. For the 2nd 5 years, you’re looking at 97.4% vs. 96.5%, less than 1% difference. And after that, dead even, no effect.
So based on this, there’s a pretty good case to be made for not taking Tamoxifen at all, or to stop taking it if the side effects are too bad. It’s up to the individual.
All this being said, Jan decided to try the other breast cancer drug, Anastrozole, for a couple of months. It does the same thing as Tamoxifen by blocking the estrogen receptors, but does it in a different way. So it’s possible that it would have some of the same side effects, but maybe not.
Jan will be going back to her doctor in February for her annual checkup and they will reevaluate then.
Finishing up on a high note, we later met Chris, Linda, and Piper at King Food for dinner. Piper’s left arm is still in a cast from her ATV accident a couple of months ago, and she will probably have to have another surgery on it before all is said and done.
But her really exciting news is that she’s starting a new full-time job next month as a Patient Care Technician at UTMB hospital in Galveston. This will let her get experience in the medical field while she’s still continuing her schooling. Way to go, Piper!
Tomorrow we’ll make the 45 mile drive over to the Escapees Park in Livingston to stay on Chris and Charles Yust’s lot, and visit with them and Dennis and Carol Hill for a few days. Really looking forward to it.
November 21, 2015
Last Day and Counting . . .
Well, at 3:30pm we finished up our last full day of this year’s Adventures in Gate Guarding. And Jan and I both agree that this was our best gate yet.
We were in a very nice location with trees, grass, cows, and donkeys. No scorpions, no tarantulas, and no snakes. We also had good cell and data services, and we were only about 7 miles from Wal-Mart and Whataburger.
What more could you ask for?
We did manage to dodge the really cold weather this year, with our lowest temperature about 40 degrees so far. Tonight’s low is supposed to be 32 degrees, but then we won’t be out in it , now will we? One of the many advantages of being a 12 hour/10 hour/8 hour gate, take your pick.
Today was sunny and about 55 degrees, unlike two years ago when we were packing up to leave our gate down in Whitsett, TX, and it was 25 degrees and sleeting. And it never got out of the 20’s all day. Can you say FUN?
We did have a good bit of wind this afternoon, but by that time we already had the tarp off the canopy frame so it really didn’t matter.
By 4:30 I had everything stowed away, except for the foldup table we used under the canopy, and few odds and ends I’ll find a place for tomorrow morning. The table goes in the same bay as the satellite dish stand so they’ll all be stowed away at the same time.
Earlier in the afternoon our landowner came by to say goodbye since he’ll be out of town tomorrow. We’ve really enjoyed being here on his land, and he’s been a big help to us. His son Billy has been our mail drop for receiving Amazon packages, which has been a big help for us.
I finished up everything I was going to do today about 4:30, so to celebrate we heading into Carthage about 4:45pm to have one last meal at Jalapeno Tree. We’ve eaten here twice before and really enjoyed it. And tonight was no different.
It was the perfect end to what turned out to be a very nice gate guarding experience. Too bad they’re not all this way.
Tomorrow morning will be mostly just regular ‘getting ready to leave the RV park’ stuff. By about 9am I plan to have the rig moved over to the side road, while Jan runs the gate out of the truck. But if that’s like today, she’ll have 5 vehicles in between 6:15 and 6:45, and maybe nothing more until they leave around 4.
We did have a few more vehicles today, but those were mostly one-time things with them coming in to take out the last of the frack pond pumps and equipment. So that probably won’t be a factor tomorrow.
Having the rig out of the way will allow our replacement gate guards to just pull right into the parking area and get set up. Then while Jan is going over the gate stuff with them, I’ll pull the truck over behind the rig and get hooked up. Then all we’ll have to do is say our goodbyes and hit the road for Conroe, as a another year of gate guarding comes to an end.
We’ll have about a 4 hour trip down to Conroe where we’ll stay for two weeks before we move over to the Colorado River Thousand Trails. Then it’ll be the same routine back and forth for the next couple of months.
As far as I’m concerned, it’ll be nice to sleep longer than 4 hours at a time.
November 21, 2016
Snow Plows and Pumpkin Pie . . .
It was really nice to sleep in this morning and not have to be up at 4am.
But I’m sure it won’t the last time I have to get up that early. Even this Thursday we’ll both need to be up by 6am to be on the road by 7 to make our trip back to our daughter Brandi’s house in Katy for Thanksgiving dinner.
But today was a little more laid back. After our morning coffee and some conversation, we headed out a little after noon, first for the lunch buffet at Barth’s once again. It’s hard to top soup, salad, chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, and veggies, all for $6.50. Then after a great meal, it was right up the road a short way to Great Clips so Jan could get her hair cut.
Next we drove out to the site where I’ve been working for the last three days. I wanted her to see it in case she ends up working there at some point so she’ll know where it is.
We ended talking to the guard on the gate, Joe Speed, for about 45 minutes, getting to know him, since we hadn’t met him before.
Next up was a trip to Wal-Mart for Thanksgiving dinner stuff, and a few other things. Then it was a last stop at HEB for the pumpkin pies we get there.
Tomorrow I’ve got a few things to do on the truck, install the new headlight bulbs, and then get it gassed up and washed down at the HEB.
Finally, what’s up with ‘Gender-Neutral Snow Plowing’ in Sweden?
Apparently last year the government of Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, declared that all of the city’s snow plowing should be done on a gender-neutral, or gender-equal basis.
Formerly Stockholm plowed the main roads and streets, and then construction sites first, before they then moved into side streets, sidewalks, public transport facilities and bicycle lanes.
But looking at it from the gender point of view, plowing the main roads and highways first benefits men, since men do more driving than women. But women, who supposedly use the sidewalks and bike lanes, were being ‘dissed’ because the side streets, sidewalks, etc., were left until later.
So this year it was decreed that the side streets, sidewalks, public transport facilities, and bicycle lanes first, before the highways. Can you see the problem here?
Anyone? Anyone?
So when the first major snowstorm hit Stockholm this year, the heaviest one in 111 years, chaos erupted. With the highways not plowed, nothing went anywhere. No one could even leave the now-plowed side streets because there was nowhere to go. Everything just ground to a halt.
Who could have seen that coming?
November 21, 2019
Looks Like We Dodged A Bullet . . .
We’re still somewhat happily ensconced here at the Luling La Quinta, though we’re getting kind of bored.
Apparently you can only lounge around, read, play on the computer, and nap for so long without entering an advanced state of ennui.
I put in a call to Dix’s about 11:45am to find out what was what on our RV repair, and was very happy to hear that the air compressor problem was fixed. And they were starting to take a look at the oil leak problem. So we went ahead and re-upped for another night here.
Just more ennui, I guess.
But the news got even better when we stopped off there on our way out to dinner about 4. The air system problem was NOT the compressor, but something had come loose.
When I ask why I didn’t hear any air leaking, the mechanic said it was so close to the air compressor itself, which is mounted right on the engine, that I wouldn’t have been able to hear it over the engine noise.
Works for me.
I gather they did replace the air dryer filter which I think is $100 to $200 or so. A lot better than $1297.44 for a new air compressor.
A Lot Better!
I did get to talk to the mechanic that was working on the oil leak to bring him up to date on what I had checked and done previously, so he wouldn’t have repeat too many of my steps.
So I guess now we wait.
Some more.
November 21, 2020
Klunk!
Jan and I headed out for about 2pm for lunch at Los Ramirez Mexican, our favorite local place. We’ve been going there for 3 years now and pretty much always ordering the same thing. So much so that all the waiters know what we’re going to order when we sit down.
Jan gets the Pechuga Rellena, a grilled Chicken Breast with Shrimp and Broccoli, all covered in cheese, no rice,
while I had my usual Beef Fajita Taco Salad.
Just as delicious as always.
And we’re very happy that Los Ramirez has survived during this recent unpleasantness, especially since we’ve lost several of our other favorites since this all started. In fact we stocked up on their Gift Cards during that time to help them keep going, so hopefully they’d be around later for us to redeem later.
Then it was on to WalMart for a few things, including some new floor mats for our Jeep. And coming home we made a Cowboy Coffee stop for some caffeine replenishment, a sugar-free Hazelnut coffee for Jan, and a cold sugar-free Pumpkin Spice coffee for me.
This past Thursday I was flushing our toilet, and when I pushed down on the foot pedal, it just went ‘KLUNK!’, not a noise you really want your toilet to make.
And after it went ‘KLUNK!’, the pedal just laid there. And it didn’t flush either.
So getting out my socket wrench I removed the two screws that hold it all together.
Pulling the water valve aside, I removed the spring cylinder,
and the pedal itself.
Looking things over I expected to find that the spring cylinder had failed, since it’s the part that both turns the flush valve and then the spring returns the pedal back up. And this has failed before.
But there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. So I took a closer look at the the pedal.
And inside I found that part of the pedal had broken loose.
This is the area that turns the spring cylinder and makes it flush.
So just get a new pedal, right? Easier said than done.
I checked several local places without any luck. And going online on Amazon and eBay, I found a few, but all showed delivery dates after Thanksgiving, and were in the $45-$50 range. For a piece of plastic.
So being cheap, (but you knew that, didn’t you) and knowing Jan did not want to be flushing the toilet with a pair of Vice Grip pliers for very long, I decided to see if I couldn’t repair the pedal using JB Weld Steel Epoxy, giving me this.
I layered the epoxy into the broken-off area, raising it a little above the surface where the spring cylinder is supposed to ride. Then after it hardens, I’ll file it down flush with the rest of the rim.
So we’ll see how it works tomorrow. Hopefully no more Vice Grips.
November 21, 2021
A Very Fun, But Long Day.
We had a great time getting together with Brandi,m et. al, for lunch and then the second Van Gogh Immersive Experience Exhibit.
I haven’t yet got all my stamina back, so it doesn’t take a lot to wear me out.
But I’ll have more about all that tomorrow.
And Yes, We Did Have Mexican Two Meals In A Row . . .
What’s your point?
Brandi, Lowell, and Landon left for Castle Rock, Colorado about 6:30 this morning to spend Thanksgiving Week with long-time friends, so I was taking Jan up to their home in Katy so she could Jack and Baxter-sit for the week.
They certainly look like they need a lot of supervision.
Anyway, on the way we’re stopping off at the Cracker Barrel to pick up our Heat N Serve Thanksgiving Dinner at Noon. But there was a little bobble.
Getting there a little early, we used the supplied to let them know we were there, what Curbside Pickup Site we were parked in, and what we were driving. But when we haven’t heard anything by 12:15, I walked over to Drive-Thru Pick Up area and asked.
And was told, “Oh, we forgot to put the sign up to tell you to come over here instead of parking.”
Well, now they tell me. And a few minutes later we finally were on our way.
We had originally planned to have breakfast while we were there, but found a 90 minute wait. So after checking a couple of other places that also had full parking lots, we ended up further up the Interstate at our local Chuy’s Tex-Mex. It was busy, but no wait.
It’s been a while since we’ve been here, years probably, but we always both get the same thing, the Tex-Mex Cobb Salad with Chicken Fajita.
Coupled with their Creamy Jalapeno Ranch, it’s delicious.
And Yes, we did have Mexican two meals in a row.
What’s your point?
Wouldn’t be the first time, actually.
Getting to Brandi’s about an hour later, I got everything unloaded, including the big box holding our upcoming Thanksgiving meal.
It comes with two Turkey Breasts, Cornbread Dressing, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Beans, and Mashed Potatoes, along with Gravy, Rolls, and Cranberry Sauce. Oh, and Pumpkin and Pecan Pies.
A feast!
Before she left Brandi decorated the inside of the house for Christmas, with both trees up, and more. But she did leave us a little taste of Thanksgiving on the front lawn.
Actually he looks kind of lonely.
Heading home, I got back about 5pm and was done for the night.
Old Faithful made it again.
Brandi et al., are all settled in, and she send over this photo of their friend’s front yard.
She said there’s usually more than this.
And Master Landon’s already in Snowman mode, through a small one so far.
But it’s a start, I guess.
Thought for the Day:
Ever notice how when you look at an ad for something on one site, more ads for similar products following you around from site to site?
Well now there’s the story of the man who complained to Target because his high-school-age daughter was receiving promotions for baby clothes and cribs:
“Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”
Later he apologized. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August.”
November 20, 2009
Tallulah’s and Throwed Rolls…
Today we got a late start, leaving about noon to drive down toward Orange Beach and Tallulah’s, a must-stop gift shop there. It used to be called Tootie’s Yellow Broom and we’ve been going there for years.
Afterwards we drove down toward Alabama Point to check things out. While we were down there I got this great shot.
Leaving the Point we drove up to Foley to have a late lunch at one of our favorite places, Lambert’s Throwed Rolls. We both had the fried chicken and had plenty left over to take home.
After lunch I dropped Jan off to get a pedicure while I stopped off at Ace Hardware to get some hot glue sticks and a few other things.
Coming back toward Gulf Shores we took a detour by our old house on the Bon Secour River. My parents built it in 1958 after they sold our motel on the beach at Gulf Shores, and then sold it when we came back from Colombia, South America in 1963. It’s right on the river and was a really nice house.
On the way back to the rig we dropped by Books-A -Million to check out the new magazines, and then got cappuccinos at our favorite place nearby.
Getting back home we sat out with the cats while enjoying the beautiful view right beside our rig.
Even Emma came out for a few minutes.
After sitting out a while we headed in for the night.
November 20, 2010
Good Soups and Great Pie . . .
We got our 1-1/2 mile walk this morning about 10:30, taking about 35 minutes for the walk. Hopefully not too shabby for us old folks.
Right after we got back, the RV park called and ask if we still wanted our old site, since the guy is finally leaving on the 24th. Jan said we’ve been here for over two months now, we might as well stay. So I guess we’re here for the duration.
About 1:30 we headed up the road to Webster to have lunch at King Food, our favorite Chinese restaurant for a big bowl of Hot & Sour Soup.
Then after dropping off some things at our storage room, and stopping off at the bank to make a deposit, we did some shopping at HEB, a great local supermarket.
Next, Jan wanted to stop at Carter’s, a baby clothes store, to pick up some new outfits for Landon, finally, we stopped by Half-Price Books where Jan was looking for some books by a new author she likes, but had no luck.
We got home a little after 5, and that was it for the day.
I did come across this great archive of color pictures. These are amazing. Check them out!
Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943
But in looking thru the photos I noticed a number of them taken in Pie Town, NM. This brought back memories of our stop in Pie Town this past June.
Apparently Pie Town was a lot bigger back in the 30’s and 40’s. Now there’s just a couple of stores there.
November 20, 2011
Back in Texas . . .
We were up about 7:30 for our last day on the road for several months. After Wally-Docking in Breaux Bridge, LA we had a 225 mile run back to our winter site at Galveston Bay RV Park in Dickinson, TX.
I started the generator to make coffee, and while Jan microwaved our breakfast sandwiches, I went outside to put some air in my slightly-leaky tire. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered since it wasn’t down that much, but since I had an extra 750 pounds on the rear tires due to the weight of the trailer, I didn’t want to take any chances.
We pulled out of the Wal-Mart about 9 am and headed west on I-10.
After a smooth trip we pulled into the parking lot of Brocks Automotive about 2 pm. Brock’s have been my mechanics for about 20 years, so I wanted them to take a look at it. They’re not open on the weekends, so we just parked the trailer with the truck still on it in their lot. I’ll call them tomorrow morning and let them know.
About 2:30, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon showed up to meet us. They’re loaning us Lowell’s truck for a few days, while we’re having ours fixed, so they were dropping it off.
After getting in our hugs with Landon, we headed down to our park, but our first stop was at a Buc-ee’s on SR 96. Having seen diesel prices as high as $4.04 in Louisiana, I was very happy to find it here for $3.65, the lowest I’ve seen for a good while. And I’ve seen Unleaded here for as low as $2.99.
It’s great to be back in Texas!
I put in 130 gallons, having traveled 1071 miles since we last filled up 10 days ago on November 10th in Bowling Green, KY. But we actually only used about 120 gallons for traveling. The rest was for about 10 hours of generator time.
This means that on this last tank I’ve average a little over 8.9 mpg. Not bad. Driving 55 mph really works.
One thing that surprised me over the last two days is that pulling the extra 2200 pounds of the car trailer, I was still able to get almost 9.2 mpg on the flat terrain between Gulf Shores and here.
We got to the park a little before 4 pm, and trying to pull into the site we had been given over a month ago, only to find a 5th wheel already parked there. And it looks like they had been there a while.
Making a quick loop around this section, I found site 72 open, and on the bayou side as we had really wanted anyway. And it’s right next door to where we were parked last year.
So I took the empty site. After all, someone took my site, so I get to take someone else’s.
Right? Isn’t that the way it works?
Since the park office isn’t open on Sunday, I’ll have to hash it out tomorrow.
We did a quick and dirty setup, just power and satellite, since we were meeting some of the kids at King Food, our all-time favorite Chinese restaurant. We met Brandi, Lowell, and of course, Landon there, along with our other grandchild, our granddaughter Piper.
Here’s Landon finding out he really likes Lo Mein and Pan Fried Crispy Noodles. He would put the end of the noodle in his mouth and then suck it in just like spaghetti.
We had a great time seeing everyone again, and tomorrow we’ll have dinner with Piper’s parents, our son Chris and our daughter-in-law Linda who couldn’t make it tonight.
More fun!
November 20, 2012
Back on the Road . . .
but not in our RV.
Tomorrow morning we leave for 5 days in Marble Falls to spend the Thanksgiving holidays at a rental house on the lake there. So most of today was spent getting ready to go.
I talked to American Coach about my rear airbag problem. They gave me some info on the ride height valve to check. It sounds like it may be my problem, but it will have to wait until we get back next week to check it out further.
Next I went online and ordered my new truck and rig tags from South Dakota, and they should be here next week.
Then it was time for some truck maintenance. I notice the other evening that one of my headlights was out, so I pick up another set at Wal-Mart yesterday. I like to use the Sylvania SilverStar Ultra Halogen bulbs because of the bright light they give off.
About 3pm Laura Lee, the park manager, came by to the rundown on cat-sitting this week. She’s going to be feeding our cats while we’re gone. We really appreciate her helping out.
About 4:30 we headed up to the Baybrook Mall area to meet our son Chris, wife Linda, and granddaughter Piper at the new Cheesecake Factory that just opened last week.
We got there about 4:45 and still had a 55 minute wait. I can imagine what it will be like during the Christmas season. We really enjoyed our meal, but didn’t see Penny. Guess she must have been off tonight. Maybe next time.
November 20, 2013
These Lovely Parting Gifts . . .
Not sure if the guys coming through the gate are dropping off “these lovely parting gifts” because they’re sad to see us go, or are encouraging us to leave, but for the 3rd time this week we got another food delivery, this time a couple of BBQ dinners.
I guess what makes this special is that this is not a catering truck coming though, dropping off a couple of extra dinners for us, out of the 50 – 60 they’re doing for the crew. This is the workers going out for lunch or dinner and then bringing back extra just for us. We’ve even got one guy, Bobby, who brings us coffee every morning.
It’s amazing how involved you can get these guy’s lives, people we’ll probably never see again (we’ve not run into any of the people we met gate guarding last year). We know who’s got a baby or a grandbaby on the way. We know who’s ex is letting them have the kids this weekend, and even who’s getting ready to have an ex.
It is nice to be appreciated.
Well, we did our short move this morning and it all went fine. We cranked up “Beauty”, raised the levelers, and then backed up about 30 feet so that our rear wheels are up on the gravel area where we park the truck and we’re now angled so that come Saturday morning when we leave, I’ll be able to just pull straight out onto the road without having to turn my front wheels and possibly getting stuck.
The reason behind this is two-fold. One, there’s a big cold front coming our way, bringing heavy rain with it. Friday morning the high is supposed to be 85°, but the low that night is going to be in the mid-40’s. Then the high on Saturday is only going to be 49°. And when the hard ground under our RV turns to muck like it does when it gets wet, I don’t want to be stuck here when we try to leave.
The second reason is that after 3 months of sitting here, it’s always nice to be sure everything’s going to work when we go to leave on Saturday, I.e. the engine starts, the levelers come up, the airbags inflate, etc. Unlike other RV’ers I’ve talked to, I don’t regularly crank my engine up when we’re parked for long periods of time. The reason being that Cummins says not to, and Spartan (our chassis manufacturer) says not to. Two different Cummins reps at national rallies told us that unless you plan to run your engine for at least 45 minutes, just let it set. My engine manual says this also.
And Spartan says that to regularly start the engine and not bring the transmission up to running is bad for it too. So I don’t do it.
Twice we’ve been parked for 5 months without cranking up, and every winter we go 3 months while we’re back in Houston. Never had a problem. I do also throw some Biocide in the fuel tank to prevent algae growth, but that’s it.
If you’re going to break down, it’s always nice to do it in a repair shop’s parking lot. It does help to be the right repair shop, however.
Yesterday, I followed Orlyn, the gate guard down the road, into Pleasanton to drop off his truck for repair, and then I brought him back here. Coming home, I noticed my engine belt squealing some when I accelerated from a stop and thought I’d check it out when we get back to Houston.
Then this morning I took Orlyn’s wife, Gail, back in to pick up the truck and it happened again. In fact when I went to turn into the repair shop parking lot, the belt was really making noise and the power steering wasn’t working very well. So while Gail was paying for her repair I thought I check und the hood, and then maybe pick up a spare belt at the AutoZone down the street.
But raising the hood, I discovered the belt wasn’t the problem. It was the coolant squirting on the belt that was making it slip. It looked like it was coming out in front of the engine around the fan, which normally means water pump problems.
So when Gail came out, I told her I was going to ride back with her, and left my key and info with the lady inside, telling her I thought I had a leaking water pump and to check it out and let me know. And a couple of hours later they called and said Yep, you were right, Your water pump’s leaking.
They also told me they don’t fix water pumps. Huh?
This is a nice 4 bay shop, advertising “Complete Auto Repair”. Well, complete I guess, except for water pumps. Heck, my son and I have changed out water pumps in shopping center parking lots, and they can’t do one in their shop? They could have at least told me that before I left my truck there, telling them I thought I had a water pump problem.
So now I have to get another ride into town tomorrow to take the truck to another place. I did call them first to be sure THEY fix water pumps. Just in case.
The guy said he won’t be able to get to it until Friday, but that it shouldn’t be a problem to get it fixed before we leave.
My fall-back position (I ALWAYS have a fall-back position.) if they can’t get it fixed for some reason is to stop off on our way home to Houston on Sunday, and just tow it back as is. As usual, we’ll see how it goes.
Lately it seems like I’m getting a lot of annoying sales calls on my cell phone, even though I’m on the National Do No Call list. But I’ve come up with a pretty good fix, especially for repeat numbers.
Most people know that you can assign your own ring tones to specific phone numbers. But did you know you can have a ring tone that doesn’t make a sound?
My solution is to use an app like Hi-Q MP3 Rec (Free) to record 10 seconds of no sound. I then assign this MP3 file (called No Sound) as the ring tone for a contact called Annoying Sales Call. Then when I get one of these calls I just add the number to the contact Annoying Sales Call. My phone never rings again from that number. And it only takes a few seconds to add.
For me it’s easy to identify an Annoying Sales Call. First off I never answer my phone for a number I don’t recognize or expect. If they want me they can leave a message. And Annoying Sales Calls never leave a message. You can also type the number into Google (it’s important to use the format ###-###-####) and usually get some idea of who it is.
Wrapping up on this phone theme, ever long for the days of only 3 TV channels that sign off with the National Anthem right after Johnny Carson? For the days of no TV remote so one of the kids has to get up and change the channel? For the reassuring clicking of a rotary dial phone?
Well one of those you can still have today. Well, two if you let the batteries go dead in the remote, or lose it in the sofa cushions. Or a ferret runs off with it and hides it. (true story, He also liked to chew on the little rubber buttons).
Or you can get this Rotary Dialer Free program for your smartphone.
You get your choice of modern,
or not so modern dials.
Or if you really want to rock it old school, how about this jazzy number, quite possibly actually from the Jazz Age.
And it evens makes that ratcheting clicking sound when you dial.
Check it out.
November 20, 2014
Crème Brûlée . . .
About 3:30pm Jan and I headed down to Brandi, Lowell, and Landon’s in the Katy area. We were meeting them at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro near their house at 5:30, and I wanted to allow plenty of time for the trip due to going-home traffic. Normally the trip only takes about an hour and 20 minutes, but heading out on I-10 from the Sam Houston Tollway is always an experience. And this time was no different. Our ‘hour and 20 minute’ trip took us an hour and 55 minutes, and the HOV lane was really no faster than the regular lanes.
We had our usual warm reception from the owner, and our usual great food, with Pork Spring Rolls, Shaking Beef Bowls (Chicken for Jan) and the Crème Brûlée spoons for dessert.
Delicious food, and the perfect amount of dessert.
Before heading home we went back over to Brandi and Lowell’s to check out their new Christmas Tree.
They don’t have it decorated yet, but it comes pre-lit. It’s 10-1/2 feet tall and really stands out in their high-ceiling living room. Can’t wait to see it decorated.
We headed back to Conroe a little before 8pm thinking we would have smooth sailing and no traffic. Yeah, right!
They had 4 lanes of I-45 narrowed down to one, with all the accompanying gridlock, and then when you get there, nothing was happening, just some guys standing around pickup trucks with flashing lights. No work trucks, no construction equipment, no nothing.
We finally got home about 9:30, done for the night. Tomorrow, about 10:30 we’ll move a couple of miles down the road to the Omega Farms RV Park. Then we’ll head down to the Clear Lake area so Jan can meet with her Dr. about her Tamoxifen side effects. The Dr. told Jan to stop taking it on Nov. 11th, and the bad side effects have pretty much disappeared. So we’ll see if the Dr. wants to decrease the dose or change drugs.
Then we’re going to have dinner with Chris, Linda, and Miss Piper, and we’re really looking forward to that.
Saturday morning we’ll be moving over to the Escapees Park in Livingston to get together with Chris and Charles Yust, and Dennis and Carol Hill., and we’re really looking forward to that too.
November 20, 2015
Winding Down The Gate . . .
It just gets better and better. Today our 10 hour gate, nee our 12 hour gate, became our 8 hour gate, with the Company Man the last one out at around 2:30.
Now exactly why couldn’t they have started this months ago, instead of our last few days on the gate?
In fact, between when I came out about 1pm, and when the CM left, I only had two vehicles come in. All the rest of the traffic was just heading out. But this worked out good for me, since it gave me plenty of time to work on my ‘Leaving the Gate’ list.
After our storm damage this past Tuesday when the squall line with 50 – 60mph gusts came through, it left us with this,
I was able to pop the frame back into shape, although now reinforced with some tie-wraps.
At first I had thought about just going ahead and taking the canopy down for this year and doing without it for our last few days, sitting out in the hot sun with no shade quickly disabused us of that idea. So I came up with this.
Rather than try to patch together the old main canopy, I just put the small tarp back up, along with the solar screens. That will work fine for our last few days, and won’t be as involved in taking down.
Ok, so I’m a little hypocritical. Today being Friday, and apparently officially now Whataburger day for us, I drove into Carthage to pick up lunch. Now all the other 10 times or so we’ve gotten food from here, it’s always been the same thing.
For Jan:
#6 Whataburger Jr. With Cheese – Large Combo
With only:
Ketchup
Mustard
Tomatoes
Grilled Onions
Large Drink
And For Me:
#6 Whataburger Jr. With Cheese
With only:
Bacon
Tomatoes
Pickles
Raw Onions
Mayo on both buns
Large Drink
And it would have been the same order for me again, except for the fact that the guy in front of me was picking up 6 Grilled Chicken Cranberry-Apple Salads to go. And I got an instant craving to graze on one.
As it turns out, it was as good as it looks.
I think one reason for that was the fact that I watched them make the salad. Not just the Grilled Chicken part, but the salad itself. Most fast food places assemble the salads ahead of time, if you’re lucky, that morning, or if you’re not, the day or night before. But they put together this one right then, so it was really fresh.
You have a choice of a number of different dressings, including a couple of vinaigrettes, but I went with the Jalapeno Ranch.
So yeah, after I chastised someone for ordering a Chicken Fajita Taco at Whataburger, I get a salad there, possibly an even bigger blasphemy. But what can I say, I succumbed to temptation, and strayed from the path of burger righteousness.
mea culpa, mea culpa,
mea máxima culpa
But at least I didn’t have to keep telling cashier, “No, I don’t want any lettuce.”
While we’re on the subject of food, I wanted to post a photo of the delicious Prime Rib I had last night at Longhorn Grille.
Thursday night is Prime Rib Night, which is served as a complete meal, including a piece of their great Strawberry Cheesecake, which we split. A really great meal.
We’ll miss this place.
While we were eating lunch, we had something come through our gate that we haven’t seen this year.
A load of drill pipe for the workover rig. Just one truckload, apparently.
I remember our first year gate guarding in south Texas, we might get 20 loads of pipe in at a time, lined up all way out to the highway. Because of limited space on the pad, we could only let 4 trucks go in at a time. Then when they unloaded, one at a time, and came back out, 4 more could go in.
Well, some of the drivers would get impatient and try to break ranks, or just drive by all the other trucks and come to the front of the line.
But they didn’t figure on my beautiful wife Jan, standing in the middle of the road, hands on her hips, mad as hell, yelling at them to get back in line, using words I didn’t know she knew, and wait their turn like everyone else.
Now there was no way for them to turn around, so they’d have to slowly back all the way up along the long line of other trucks, with the drivers pointing and laughing at them, for being run off by a girl.
The rest of the afternoon was spent putting away everything that we wouldn’t really need again before we leave here on Sunday. I went ahead and topped off the big 500 gallon water tank for our replacements, and then disconnected and stowed away all our hoses, leaving us running on rig water for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I’ll go ahead and dump the waste tanks, disconnect us from the sewer system and put away that hose too.
Since we’re not expecting any wind for the next couple of days, I went ahead and dumped the water out the buckets we use to help hold down the canopy, and then rinsed and stowed them away too.
My goal is to get everything finished up tomorrow so that Sunday morning we’ll only need to unhook shore power and pull off onto the side road. This will allow our replacements to just pull into our spot and hook up.
At that point we’ll be able to just hook up the toad and we’ll be ready to roll.
At least that’s the plan. But you know what they say about plans.
November 20, 2016
And So It Continues . . .
Following up on yesterday’s blog, Are We Erasing Our Past?, the city of Louisville KY has started dismantling a 121 year old monument.
Located right outside the University of Louisville campus, the 70 foot tall statue was given to the city of Louisville in 1895 to commemorate the Kentuckians who fought and died in the 1861-1865 war.
The monument is being moved 40 miles away to Brandenburg KY where a Civil War re-enactment is held every two years. Another Out of Sight, Out of Mind thing, I guess.
Note that the monument honors Confederate dead, not the Confederacy or slavery. It’s a burial monument. So do we start digging up graves soon?
And that also applies to Arlington National Cemetery where there is also a Confederate Burial Monument.
Guess that one will have to go soon. (November 20, 2022 Update: They’re trying to get rid of it right now.)
Well today was my last day for a while to be up at 4am and on the gate by 5am. At least I hope it’s the last time for a long time. Yesterday we had a total of 119 vehicles in and out of the gate. Today was a little less with only 96 in/out. So not bad at all.
Especially since we didn’t have to actually log them in or out. Just be sure they’re in the right place and tell them to stay on the road and don’t leave ruts in the landowner’s pasture. Then on the way out, it’s a Marathon rule that I have to ask if they were injured on the site.
Having worked 24/7 gates outside under a canopy when it’s 117 degrees, or when it’s 26 degrees and sleeting, makes me really appreciate working a 12 hour shift in a guard shack.
With AC and heat, and a microwave and fridge, it’s a home away from home.
Getting home about 5pm we headed back out to have dinner at Taqueria Jalisco, a Mexican place that we first ate at in 2012.
Jan had her favorite Beef Chile Relleno,
while I tried Gordo’s Plate, Beef Fajita Strips topped with Monterey Jack cheese and sprinkled with Chorizo, along with Rice, Pico de Gallo, and Charro Beans.
Both really good.
Tomorrow we’ve got a number of errands to do to get ready for our Thanksgiving trip back to Brandi’s in Katy. Really looking forward to it.
November 20, 2017
A Mystery Solved . . .
I was very surprised, and happy, to find that the server ran all weekend with no more problems. I guess coming out of the closet was good for it.
Now that I’ve got the WebServer on my desk, I’ve started exploring the Zen Cart and the SQL database, trying to get a handle on copying the whole thing off and then up to Godaddy. But it’s slow going, trying to track it all down. But I’ll get it eventually.
I ordered my new tags, (well stickers, anyway) from South Dakota yesterday, and got an email today that they had been mailed out. Fast service.
I did note that my tag cost has almost doubled in the last 10 years, from about $250 for both our truck and rig in 2007, to almost $500 this time. Seems like we ought to get a discount since we only cause any wear and tear on their roadways every five years or so.
Several times over the years we’ve heard people right outside our RV talking about their RV. After listening in on a couple of these conversations, I noticed that it was always the same two guys having the same conversation.
They were actually following me around, from park to park, just so they could talk right outside our rig. But I finally figured that that was a little paranoid, even for me. And believe me, that’s saying something.
So since it wasn’t outside, it must be inside. So I started digging through some storage areas, until finally I found this:
It’s Cousin Eddie’s RV from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
I don’t know that when we bought that we knew it talked. But every once in a while something would set it off. There’s a little button on top that gets it going.
Apparently they didn’t make a lot of them so it’s become something of a collector’s item. So it you want one of your very own, you can get one right here on Amazon.
Cousin Eddie’s RV from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
If you get your order in quick you can have it hanging from your tree this Christmas for only $575.00, plus $4.95 shipping, of course. Order now because they’ve only got 1 left.
So now that the mystery is solved, I don’t have to be paranoid anymore. At least not about that. But of course I still have plenty of other things to be paranoid about.
Like this.
November 20, 2018
I Think I Figured It Out . . .
When I got up this morning I had no data service on my Samsung S8+ phone and only 1 tiny little bar of cell service, which was not enough to actually make a phone call.
I was more worried than I might have been normally because right before I went to bed about 1:30 this morning, I did a System Update on my phone. So I was a little concerned that the update might be the problem. But then I noticed that I had email coming In on the phone until about 8:50 am, so it had been working all night.
Finally, after waiting an hour or so with no change, I enabled WiFi Calling through the RV Park’s WiFi. All I really had to do was to turn it on and then give it a street address for the 911 system.
And it worked just fine to call Jan to say, “Good Morning!”
Then gradually as the day passed, everything slowly came back, with first 1X for a while, going in and out, then 3G most of the afternoon, although I didn’t seem to be able to get any data through it.
Then about 6pm I was back at 4G, with data, and my usual 3-4 bars of signal.
I spent most of the day playing with Zen Cart, working on figuring out how to load a new client’s data file into it and have it all come out in the right place. Not sure how it’s all going to fit., but I’ll shoehorn it all in somewhere.
I Think I Figured It Out.
Sunday afternoon I went online and signed us for the Movies Extra Package on DirecTV. It gives us 8 additional channels for $4.99/month, including a couple that I might like, C&I (Crime & Investigation) and Smithsonian. But the main reason we got it was because Jan wanted the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel.
It said I should have the new channels, starting at 565 in just a few minutes. But they never did show up. In fact we have no channels at all there, not even on the Guide. And I even tried rebooting the receiver.
So yesterday morning I called DTV and they said I should have it, and they tried to turn it on again. No luck.
I even went online and found out about the ‘secret’ reboot command CLEANMYBOX. This is accessed by going to the Search function and typing in CLEANMYBOX. Then select ALL and hold down the RED button.
This will cause your DVR to do a full reboot, reloading both the Schedule and the Guide data. I was hopeful about this since it had fixed similar problems for several others. But again, no luck.
Then today while I was looking at the DTV site again, one of the new channel names jumped out at me – HDNet. And it looks like that is the problem.
Although we have an HD DVR, we got it for the increased storage space. We don’t actually have HD because our Winegard Carryout dome won’t support it. But what’s curious is that, unlike other packages of HD channels, the Movies Extra package is not flagged as HD.
Nor did the girl I talked to mention it, strange since our account is not marked for HD. So I guess I’ll have to call them back and cancel it. At least until we have to get a new dish for HD next year sometime since DTV will be doing away with all the SD channels.
November 20, 2019
Ouch !!!
Well, maybe. I don’t really know for sure yet.
After breakfast I put in a call to the parts department at the Cummins shop in north Houston. As in the past when I called them, I just got a voicemail prompt and left a message. And when I didn’t hear anything after 3 more tries, I decided to call the Cummins parts people out in Gillette, WY, a smaller shop where we’ve gotten parts several times in our past travels.
And this time I got right through to a nice young lady in the parts department who quickly gave me the ‘Ouch!!’ news.
A new air compressor for our Cummins 350 ISC is $1,297.44. As I said, OUCH!
A lot more than the $600-800 total that I found online yesterday. But then I don’t really yet know for sure if they had to replace the air compressor anyway. I can only hope not.
When we went by Dix’s this afternoon on our way out to dinner, I was told that they were still waiting on a new air dryer cartridge for the air system. Which should be in tomorrow I was told. So we’ll see.
I was happy to see that our refrigerator was still chugging along and didn’t need to be reset. Which means that Dix’s hadn’t turned off the Coach batteries during the repairs. Since if even they do turn them back on after they turn them off, the fridge has to be reset before it will restart on propane.
So hopefully it keeps on going.
After dinner this evening we scouted out a nearby RV park in case we need it. River Bend RV Park is just west of us at the next exit on I-10 and looks really nice.
This is my backup plan in case the rig is ready to go late in the afternoon. We don’t want to drive back home that late in the day, so we’ll just spend the night at River Bend until the next morning.
When we were up in Lockhart for dinner yesterday we took a detour past the beautiful Caldwell County Courthouse on the town square.
This historic building was constructed in 1894 to replace one that had been outgrown. Built from cream-colored limestone and red sandstone, it has a near identical twin in the Goliad County Courthouse since they were built from the same plans.
November 20, 2021
Immersed Again . . .
We were on way over to Gator’s in Dickinson about 12:30. We were meeting up with long-time friend Tricia.
We’ve known Tricia since I started working on her computers in the late 90’s, but neither of us can remember how we got together in the first place.
Back then, besides websites, I did computer support for a lot of individuals and small businesses, all pretty much by word of mouth, and had all the business I could handle.
But we just can’t recall who recommended me to her. But we’ve been friends ever since.
When we got there owner Margie was out front with some of her people decorating the place for Christmas. And by the time we came back out, they had finished and it looked really nice.
You’ll notice that the blue is the predominant color. And that’s because Marjorie’s husband is the Dickinson fire chief. Margie is also a volunteer firefighter. So they have a lot of both police and fire visiting the restaurant.
Back The Blue
After saying our goodbyes to Trisha, we headed on up the interstate to the American Furniture Warehouse store, an enormous place just south of Webster. And it’s been there for a year or so now really big. We’d already checked out their business office chairs online and it looked like they had something we were going to be interested in.
After reading a lot of reviews, I had decided that I wanted to look at one of their gaming chairs, and it turned out that they had the one in stock, so I could do a sit-test and then decide what I was going to do.
And I think this Respawn RSP-100 gaming chair is what I’m going to order when the time comes. It really feels comfortable, it has an adjustable foot rest and will recline all the way back. So I really looking forward to getting it installed. But I’ve got to get the old chair and the mounting plate out first.
Tomorrow we’re meeting Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and his friend Adam at the Marq’E Entertainment Center, first for lunch at Russo’s Pizza, and then our second Van Gogh Immersive event.
