Daily Archives: December 14, 2022
A Christmas Interview . . .
Our grandson Landon called me this evening to interview me for a class project. He wanted to know about my Christmases as a child, i.e.,
My all-time favorite gift – My Lionel 027 gauge Train Set when I was 10.
Other favorite gifts over the years – A Winchester .22 Semi-Auto Rifle
– Geniac Analog Computer Kit
– Allstate Moped
How Christmas is different now from when I was a kid – When I was a kid Christmas was for me. Now Christmas is for Jan, our kids, and grandkids.
How was Christmas celebrated back then as opposed to now – It seemed more family-oriented back then. More decorations and lights in the towns and homes. Big department stores downtown with animated displays in the windows. And the Sears Wish Book Christmas Catalog.
Biggest change in Christmas decorations – LED Lights and Blow-up Yard Decorations.
What are your thoughts?
Earlier this evening my HP printer started printed out recipes for Christmas eats. Microwave Peanut Brittle, Chocolate Covered Cherries, and Saltine Toffee Cookies. But I wasn’t the one doing the printing.
Looks like going to have to password protect my printer WiFi. Never had a problem before though.
I do wonder though why they kept printing out recipes when nothing was happening on their end.
But they do look tasty.
Tomorrow we’re heading up to the Spring area for our monthly get-together with Debi and Ed Hurlburt at El Palenque Mexican Restaurant. On our way by about 9:45.
Really looking forward to it.
Thought For The Day:
Think the recent tornados are because of ‘climate change’?
December 14, 2010
Happy Wanderers . . .
When I got up this morning, Jan said our son Chris had just called and we were meeting them about 11:30 for lunch. That meant we had to get a move on to get our walk in before we needed to leave.
After we got back, and while Jan was in the shower, a lady from the Happy Wanderers, the full-timing chapter of the American Coach Association that we belong to, called to check on our ACA membership numbers. She was trying to reconcile her database with the national chapters, and apparently our numbers weren’t correct. I told her that I would look them up and call her back.
About 11:15 we headed up to Kemah to Stomp’s Burger Joint to meet Chris and Linda for lunch. I’m glad we got there early because by 12 the place was full and people were waiting outside.
Getting back to the coach, I turned around and headed back out to run some errands
After stopping off at the bank to make a deposit, it was off to Fry’s Electronics to pick up some Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, I forgot the refund certificate that I was going to cash in, but I’ll do it another time.
Then it was on to Brandi’s to check our mail and pick up some packages that I knew had been delivered. Lowell was already home so we got to talk for a few minutes.
I got back about 3:30 and a nap seemed to be in order. Then about 5 pm Jan and I drove over to meet Bob and Maria Sutton at Spring Creek BBQ for dinner. Then they headed off to Bingo while I went back to the rig to work on the 4 computers that I’m trying to de-virify for clients.
When I picked Jan up at 10pm she said Maria had won the $750 grand prize for the night. Unfortunately Jan didn’t win anything this time. But then Bob called right after we got home to say that Maria had stopped and bought a Lotto ScratchOff and won $100. Sounds like she should have been buying PowerBall or Mega Millions tickets, if she’s that lucky.
December 14, 2011
Washer Repair Day . . .
Today was the day.
I couldn’t put it off any longer. Or, at least Jan said I couldn’t.
It was time to tackle pulling the dryer out of its cabinet and checking out the dryer fan motor.
The first step was to remove the retaining strip at the base of the cabinet. It looked like this was the only thing holding the washer in place, and it was.
Kind of.
After removing the strip I found the washer still wouldn’t come out because the screws on the door hinges protruded just enough to block it.
So, off with the doors.
Then after placing my furniture dolly underneath, I started inching the washer out.
Once the washer was out of the way, Mister had to immediately investigate things.
It was obvious that the cabinet was built around the washer since both the dryer vent hose and the water drain hose were too short to allow the washer to come all the way out, and in fact pulled loose before the washer was halfway out.
I’ll have to add extensions to both before I reinstall the washer.
Jan’s now got that island counter in the middle of the kitchen she’s always wanted, at least until I’m ready to reinstall the washer.
Luckily, only four screws and the top comes off. And even better, the fan motor is right at the top.
And here’s the alleged culprit.
Looking closely it was easy to see what had happened. The circle with the tabs on it is actually a cooling fan for the motor underneath it. The motor bearings had worn enough to let the shaft with the fan on it drop down and start rubbing against one of the motor’s electrical connectors. This caused the noise I first heard for a week or so before the motor finally died.
A blog reader, Tom Van de Bussche, had already clued me in on where to get a new motor, so I was on the phone to Westland Sales in Clackamas, OR to get one in the mail to me.
As it turns out, it will be shipped out from their Elkhart, IN location. Sure wish it had died a month or so ago, I could have picked one up while we were there.
December 14, 2012
$2.69 a Gallon!
Today was pretty quiet. After an easy morning, I left the rig a little after 1:30pm and headed up to the Clear Lake area for a couple of client visits and a stop at Sam’s Club for a prescription.
Along the way I stopped for gas and was amazed. Yesterday Unleaded was $2.92 at the Wal-Mart up in Kemah.
Today it was $2.69. YES $2.69!
And Diesel is $3.39. Don’t know what is happening, but I hope it keeps up.
Next up was a stop at a couple of clients. One of them had a new Sony Vaio laptop that they couldn’t get to connect to their office WiFi system. It turned out that the problem was that it was locked into WEP encryption mode, but the office system uses the better, safer, WPA2 encryption.
Normally the WiFi software has a drop-down menu so you can select the one you want use, or it will even set it automatically based on what your router is set for, but this one was different. I had to go into the adapter settings and enable the other encryptions.
And this was a brand-new laptop running Windows 7. Most people don’t use WEP anymore because it’s so easy to break. Why in the world it would default to WEP I can’t understand.
After checking in with the 2nd client I headed over to Sam’s to pick up a prescription and a case of bottled water. I was kind of dreading stopping by there because of Christmas shopping, and the fact that there’s a Wal-Mart right next door, compounding the problem, but it wasn’t bad at all.
As I tried to get on I-45S to go back to the rig, I ran into a lot of traffic around Baybrook Mall. And a lot of smoke. Turns out there was a car fire in the northbound lane, and a lot of rubberneckers on the southbound side.
I finally got back to the rig about 4:30 and then Jan and I headed right back up to the Kemah Chili’s for dinner. They have a great new soup, Southwest Chicken and Sausage, that I probably could eat every day.
Then heading home, we stopped off at a nearby Walgreen’s for a few things.
And that was about it. A pretty easy day.
December 14, 2013
Blasphemy . . .
Brandi sent over this latest video of Landon singing Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer. Really Cute.
Landon Sings Rudolph
Landon’s black eye is due to a errant flying Lego at day care.
Also we got this photo of Jan’s nephew, Jason and his beautiful family.
From left to right, that’s Laura, Avery Jane, Ella, Annisten, and Jason.
We always enjoy seeing them when we visit Jan’s sister, Debbie, in Illinois.
About noon we headed out for the afternoon.. On the way we checked out the construction taking place on the new section of the RV park here..
Don’t know when the new area is supposed to be open, but the 90 new spaces are really needed, since the present 81 spaces stay pretty much full all the time.
Our first stop was our favorite burger place around here, Stomp’s Burger Joint. But I may have called down the anger of the burger gods. I didn’t get a hamburger, one that looks like this.
Instead I ordered a hot dog. But not just any hot dog.
This was a Drunken Dog. A spicy jalapeno hot dog soaked in beer for 24 hours, then battered and deep fried, and garnished with spicy mustard, sauerkraut, diced onions, crispy bacon bits, and shredded cheddar cheese.
Delicious, and well worth irritating the burger gods.
And of course we had to have a order of Stomp’s Half and Half, onion rings and fries.
After lunch our next stop was to drop off some Christmas cards at the PO before headed down to the Victory Lakes Wal-Mart, a different one than last night, since I wanted to get another printer to replace the bad one from yesterday.
And even better, the same printer was $10 cheaper at this Wal-Mart than last night.
After finishing at Wal-Mart and stopping by a nearby Hallmark store, I came across this conundrum
What to Do, What to Do.
Next, after a quick stop at a Family Dollar for some Christmas wrap, we headed up to SR96 to get coffee and muffins from Buc-ee’s.
While we were there I got this shot of a boat ready for tonight’s Clear Lake Christmas Boat Parade.
We went last year and had a great time with the fireworks and the many decorated boats, but tonight’s weather is supposed to be cold and rainy. So we’ll just have to enjoy some pics from last year.
Speaking of boats, there’s a boat yard near the RV park that we pass by quite often, and it’s interesting to watch the boats come in looking much the worse for wear, and then in a few weeks looking brand-spanking new.
So over the next few weeks I’ll try to document the changes.
Later in the evening I set up the new HP 2542 printer that I picked at Wal-Mart this afternoon and had no problems this time. So I’m now back in the printing business.
December 14, 2014
Fish Tales . . .
Jan and I had another nice, slow morning with our coffee and muffins. She read and I did computer stuff, and then I read some. That was pretty much it.
My new Transfer Switch is on its way and should be here Wednesday, but it may be awhile until I have a chance to get it installed. But it’s not exactly like we’ll need it anytime soon.
About 3:30, we formed up a convoy of 3 vehicles here at the park and the 8 of us headed to Sealand Seafood in La Grange. We’ve eaten here several times in the past and it’s always been good. And tonight was no exception. You wouldn’t think that there would be an especially good seafood restaurant over a hundred miles from the Gulf Coast, but Sealand is.
Jan and I both had the 2 Catfish, 6 Shrimp, 6 Oysters Platter. The catfish is cornmeal-battered, and light and flakey. the large shrimp and oysters also lightly-battered, have a crunchy crust, and are moist and delicious. It really doesn’t get much better than this. And even better, we both brought half of it home for later.
And here’s our ragtag group. That’s Tom Christian on the left, then the shy one is his wife Lily, next is Donna Huffer and Bob Parker, Jan, of course, and lastly, our new friends, Judy and Ken Bennett.
Donna and Bob are leaving tomorrow for Rockport, and Judy and Ken are leaving for Medina Lake. And hopefully we’ll hear something from Galveston Bay RV Resort in the next day or two so we can firm up our plans too.
One thing I noticed yesterday when we drove up to Peter’s BBQ was that Hruska’s had diesel for $2.84, a nice drop from the previous low of $2.99 I’d seen a week or so ago down in Webster, and the $3.09 I saw last Wednesday right down the road from the park here.
But in La Grange this afternoon, I saw diesel for $2.69 at several stations right off of US-71. The last time I bought diesel just about a month ago I paid $3.39 a gallon at the Buc-ee’s in Madisonville, so this is a nice change. Hopefully it will keep going down for a while.
As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow we’re heading over to Austin to visit the Gone with the Wind exhibit at the University of Texas and have dinner while we’re there. Really looking forward to it.
December 14, 2015
Picchu and Pumpkin . . .
Well, today’s journey didn’t get cancelled like yesterday’s trip to Galveston, so we headed out for Conroe 120 miles away about 9:30 to meet up with our friend Linda at the Chili’s there. Leaving the park, it was nice to see that the river was no longer running over the bridge leading into the park.
We made a potty stop at the Flying J just after we got onto I-45N, getting to the Chili’s right before noon. Linda showed up a little later, and after ordering, we got down to the serious business of catching up on each other’s lives.
Linda just recently returned from Peru where she was teaching English, and also investigating the possibility of opening her own bed and breakfast there. She spent most of her time near Calca, Peru, which is about 12,000 feet up in the Andes, though she’s visited places all over Peru, including Machu Picchu and many other ruins. Sounds like a lot of fun.
After we finished eating, Linda brought her laptop into the restaurant, and after hotspotting it to my phone for Wi-Fi access, I checked out and fixed a couple of problems for her.
After saying our goodbyes, Linda headed out for Fort Worth, and Jan and I drove across the Interstate to pick up a few things at Sam’s Club. Then it was back on the road for the 120 mile trip back to the Colorado River Thousand Trails park.
Out in Katy we detoured by Brandi and Lowell’s to pick up some Amazon packages that had come in during the last few days. Then it was back on the road for Columbus.
We made another stop at the Sealy Oasis at the Bernardo Rd Exit for some Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee, and a pit stop. Then when Jan discovered that they also had Pumpkin Munchkins, DD’s version of donut holes.
And of course with Jan, it’s all pumpkin, all the time.
We finally got back to the rig a little before 6pm after a really nice day.
Tomorrow I want to get back looking for my shower leak.
Hopefully I’ll be able to track it down now since the paneling is open.
December 14, 2017
It Was The . . .
Jan and I left the rig a little after1pm heading up to the Clear Lake area.
Our first stop was King Food for our usual delicious meal of Hot & Sour Soup and Extra Spicy Chicken with Jalapenos in Hot Garlic Sauce. We’ve been eating here for so long that when we walked in this afternoon, the owner asked, “The usual?”
While we were eating, I got a text message from Amazon saying my new Echo Dot had been delivered to my client’s, so after we were done, we went by to pick it up.
Then it was on to Staples to make a return of some card stock we didn’t need and then it was on up the Interstate to the Wal-Mart for some gifts and supplies.
I had hoped to get home early enough to install the new awning, but didn’t quite make it. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of daylight to finish the job in one session. So now it’s put off until Saturday morning sometime. I hope.
Getting home I set up the the new Echo Dot and installed it in the bedroom. Besides the usual Alexa stuff, we’ll also be able to use it as an intercom between the Echo in the front of the coach and the Dot in the bedroom. It’s called Drop-In, and once it’s set up you just say, “Alexa, drop in on the bedroom” and you’re in communication.
I mentioned a couple of times in earlier blogs about the video/audio blackouts that I was experiencing on our Direct TV DVR/Samsung TV.
Since the blackouts weren’t recorded, but only seen on live TV, I pretty much eliminated a problem with the DVR. And I eliminated the HDMI cable between the DVR and TV by plugging and unplugging it, and wiggling it along the entire length with nary a glitch.
So I was narrowing it down to the TV itself. I did try swapping inputs but the problem still occurred. But before I looked in to replacing the TV under our Wal-Mart extended warranty,, for some reason I swapped out the HDMI cable with the longer one that connects my computer to the TV.
And after two days the problem had not reoccurred. And then when I swapped the original cable back in, it no longer worked at all. For about 30 seconds, and then it started to work again.
And again, shaking the cable and twisting it didn’t make any difference.
Then that evening when we came home the screen was pink with no audio. And once again, no amount of plugging, unplugging, twisting, shaking, wiggling, etc. made any difference to the picture.
So I swapped the long cable back and ordered a new one from Amazon which should be here tomorrow. So it was the cable.
What I still don’t understand is why the cable was acting like this. There are no active components, just wires. And if there’s a problem, it should be sensitive to any kind of vibration. But every now and then you come across something that makes you say WTH?
Then you just accept it and move on.
December 14, 2018
Jan Feels Better Now . . .
Today was Jan’s 2nd checkup after her left eye cataract surgery last Thursday. We left the rig a little before 8am for her 8:35am appointment up in Alvin. And it took a bit, but she feels better now.
As I mentioned yesterday, Jan was really unhappy with the remaining blurriness in her eye, and was afraid that the operation had gone awry . Not exactly the words she used, but I can’t use those words here.
Part of the problem was the number of our friends that were apparently seeing perfectly the next day. And Jan wasn’t. I told her she just needed to give it a little more time, and then get new lenses for her glasses once her eye had stabilized. And the doctor pretty much told her the same thing. And what he said explained what the problem really was.
The problem was not with her eye. He said her eye was doing fine, and would finally settle down in 2 or 3 weeks. He said her real problem, the blurriness, was actually being caused by her glasses.
Once the cataract was removed, the prescription in her left lens was about 10X more powerful than she now needed.
So, of course it was blurry. Just like wearing someone else’s glasses. But I don’t think she really believed this until we got back to the rig and did what the doctor suggested, and just removed the left lens from her glasses.
The doctor said that, of course it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be much, much better. And that with the correct lenses in a month or so, she would have 20/20 vision in that eye. In fact, in both eyes, once she got the right eye done.
So Jan feels better now.
She’s got another checkup on January 9th which is when she should get her final prescription. Then we’ll just order a new lens, and get started on the right eye.
I spent most of the day at work going back and forth with UPS International trying to arrange the pickup of two 20# packages in Edmonton, AB, Canada, to be shipped back here to us. We do this fairly often, even from overseas, but this is the first time we’ve really had any problems. And it’s still not worked out.
I guess that’s what Monday’s are for.
For dinner Jan was in the mood for Chili’s ribs again, so we headed back over there around 4:30. Jan got the Full Rack this time so we could share,
along with my Grilled Chicken Caribbean Salad.
Jan gets the Honey-Chipotle sauce which has a nice little kick to it. Really good.
Finishing up, maybe it’s just me, but it sure seems like that if you’re going to go to all the trouble to get a domain name and a website to advertise your house for sale, you could put a little more effort into the sign announcing that fact.
But, again, maybe that’s just me.
December 14, 2019
Cart X 2 , , ,
Today was our first real day to just zone out and do nothing since we got back from New York. But as Jan says about me, ‘I don’t do nothing well.’ So after goofing off in the morning, I spent some time in the afternoon finishing up a project that I kind of started before we left on our trip.
Back in 2014 we bought this Chrome Kitchen Cart on Amazon.
It resides in the area where the slide occupies when it’s pulled in. So we roll it into the bathroom and bungee it in place when we travel. Since we’re always looking for more storage space, recently I checked online to see if a taller one was available, or maybe an extension for this one, but no luck.
But in looking the cart over, I pulled off the plastic caps that covered the top of the 4 support rods and found that they were hollow inside, and about 12” deep.
Grabbing a 7/16” dowel rod I had, I found it a perfect fit, and this gave me an idea, so I ordered a 2nd cart from Amazon, a great deal for only about $33.
But since it only came in a few days before we NYC’d, today was the first day I’ve had a chance to get back on it.
The included wheels screw into a a threaded insert at the bottom of the rod. So I purchased a couple of hanger bolts like this, in the same 1/4” – 20 thread as the wheels.
Then I drilled a starter hole in the two dowel rods and screwed in the bolts, giving me this.
I only did this on two of the support rods, using long machine bolts for the other two, figuring this will lock everything in place, and also save me buying another dowel rod.
Screwing the dowels into the support rods gave me this.
And then putting it all together gave me this,
complete with our Moose On A Shelf.
And Jan’s really happy with all the new space, and that’s the important thing.
I’m still going through all our NYC photos, so stay tuned.
December 14, 2020
A Full Deck . . .
I took a dive into Privacy.com this morning to give a try. For you latecomers, Privacy.com is a (free) service that allows you to create one-time credit cards, or cards locked to a particular account. You can also set weekly, monthly, yearly, or even overall total charges.
Starting out, I set up 5 cards for particular accounts, our two storage rooms, our EZ-Tag account, and our Acorn TV, and CBS All Access streaming services.
This took me about 10 minutes total. Then I went to each of the accounts and entered the card information and saved it off.
Easy Pezy!
Then as a test, I created a one-time card and then immediately used it to buy something online. And it went through fine.
But when I tried to use that same number a few minutes later for another charge, it was declined. Just like it should be.
So far, I’m very impressed with Privacy.com, especially since I’m using the free version. This one lets me create 12 cards, of any type, per month. Then for $10 per month I can create 36 cards per month, plus I get a 1% cashback refund on purchases
So far I’m very impressed. But I’ll keep you informed.
Last up, a Miss Piper update.
When I told you about her graduating from college tomorrow, I forgot to mentioned that she’s graduating from the University of Houston, and she has a 4.0 GPA.
Way to Go, Miss Piper!
