How Low Will It Go . . .
A couple of days ago I mentioned the forecasted Arctic cold front coming down our way. They say that it could equal the one in December 1983 when the high in Houston on Christmas Day was 28 and the low was 11°.
Texas Arctic Blast Update as Houston Faces Coldest Christmas in 39 Years!
Our present forecast only goes out until next Thursday, but this morning the expected temp for that night was 32°, but during the day it’s dropped to 25°. And it’s 21° for Brandi, Lowell, and Landon up in Katy.
I blogged a couple of days ago that a neighbor (still unidentified) was apparently printing out their Christmas treat recipes on my wireless printer. So after 3 came through, I just turned off the wireless connection, since I normally print through the USB hookup anyway.
I figured that I’d just set a password on the printer WiFi and that would take care of the problem. But it turns out I can’t.
The printer’s WiFi is actually passworded from the network it’s on, i.e. Petticoat Junction RV Park-Guest, the park’s WiFi. So anyone on park’s WiFi can print to anyone else’s printer that’s on the park’s WiFi. So I hooked the printer up to our Verizon MiFi’s hotspot which should take care the problem.
Late tomorrow afternoon we plan on driving down to Galveston to have a late (4:30ish) lunch at Sunflower Cafe and then spend some time driving around the area checking out the Christmas lights. At least we hope we’ll see Christmas lights.
Thought for the Day:
There is no more dangerous animal than a cornered government.
December 16, 2010
BAHEP and SATOP . . .
We awoke this morning to much better weather than we’ve had the last couple of day. Both warmer and less windy.
About 11:30 Jan and I did a 1 mile walk, though with less wind and higher temps, it was actually kind of hot. But it looks like that will change again in the next couple of days.
Getting back to the rig Jan fed the birds. At least today the feeder wasn’t blowing sideways.
I did get this photo of a pelican out in front of the rig. Unfortunately he didn’t come close enough for Jan to feed him.
A little before 6pm we headed up to Pasadena to have dinner with our good friend Barbara Cutsinger. Barbara is a great cook and we always look forward to eating with her.
We’ve known Barbara for about 5 years since I did IT support for BAHEP (Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership) where she works.
BAHEP is a membership group that works to stimulate regional economic development and employment. And through their SATOP (Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program) group they also connect small business owners who need technical advice with a NASA scientist or engineer.
One of the things that Barbara does there is compile and publish the Business Development Update, a document that details commercial and retail development in the area, along with office and warehouse space available.
When we’re on the road we always enjoy reading the latest issue since it lets us keep up with what’s going on back here.
We got back home about 10:30 and Jan went right to bed, since we’ve got to get an early start tomorrow. We’re Landon sitting after Brandi takes him in for his 4 month checkup.
December 16, 2012
It’s Landon Time . . .
We woke up this morning to pouring rain so it was time for hot coffee and no morning walk. In other words, a nice, quiet, overcast day.
But finally, a little before 2, Jan and I headed up to Friendswood to Landon-sit this afternoon. But we left early enough to make a couple of stops.
The first was at a CVS pharmacy to pick up the Christmas cards that I had uploaded last night. But as it turns out they were having printer problems and our cards weren’t ready yet. We’ll check back on our way home.
Our next stop was King Food for our Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce and Jalapenos, XXXXX Spicy. Seems we can’t go for more than a week without our King Food fix. And lucky us, we’ll be eating there this Thursday night with friends, and then again next Monday night, Christmas Eve, for our traditional family dinner together.
About 3:30 we headed over to Brandi and Lowell’s to Landon-sit for the afternoon. It’s Landon’s Aunt Sherry’s birthday, and Lowell and Brandi are taking her to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory right down the road at Baybrook Mall.
On a side note, on last week’s Big Bang Theory, the one about Santa Claus, Sheldon mentions his mother taking him to the Baybrook Mall in Galveston when he was 5. Baybrook Mall is not in Galveston. It’s actually on the very southern edge of Houston. Galveston County starts down the road a couple of miles, but Galveston itself is about 25 miles south of here. Just keeping the facts straight.
Landon likes to play Peek A Boo when he sees the camera pointed at him, so it can be a real challenge to get a picture sometimes.
This went on for about 30 minutes until Kitty decided to curl up on the sofa and bring the game to a halt.
Brandi, Lowell, and Sherry got back about 6:30 so Jan and I headed back to the rig. We did make a quick stop at Kroger’s for a few things, and another try for our Christmas cards at CVS, again with no luck. I told them to cancel the order and I will submit them to another CVS location tonight.
On a final note, I saw this sign the other day and I’m not quite sure what to make of it.
What exactly is “Psychic Karate”?
Mind over Matter, The Power of Positive Thinking, or maybe “Use the Force, Luke” from Star Wars. Almost makes me want to call the number and find out.
Almost.
December 16, 2013
A Delicious Two’fer . . .
Again with the Christmas song thing, here’s an a capella group called Pentatonix doing their version of ‘Little Drummer Boy”, and they do all the instruments too. If you’ve ever seen a group called “Six”, you know how good this can be. Check it out.
Today was a movie day for us, so we headed out about 10:30. Our first stop was up in Webster to have lunch at King Food. Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce with Jalapeno’s, and Hot & Sour Soup can’t be beat. The day was off to a great start.
After lunch and a stop by the PO to drop off more Christmas Cards, we headed up I-45 toward the theatre, but we were running ahead of schedule, so another stop at Sam’s Club to pick up a few things killed some time.
‘The movie we wanted to see was “Ender’s Game”, based on a famous sci-fi book first published in 1985. The story follows Andrew “Ender” Wiggin as he and other children are trained to combat an alien invasion force, not by actually fighting, but directing the Earth military forces as they fight in space. And like many good books (and movies) this story has a real twist at the end.
Having read the book when it first came out years ago, I enjoyed seeing Jan’s reaction when she realized what was going on. Kind of like her reaction at the end of “Planet of the Apes” when Charleton Heston sees the remains of t he Statue of Liberty and Jan realized the entire story has taken place on Earth all along.
A great story, and a really good movie. We both enjoyed it a lot.
Heading back south, and after a quick stop at Chris and Linda’s to pick up our mail and drop off some things, it was after 5pm so we decide to have dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico down in Dickinson. Combined with King Food’s Hot & Sour Soup, a big bowl of Monterey’s Chicken Tortilla Soup is what made today a great Two’fer
It looks like we’ll have to make tomorrow another movie day and see Thor: A Dark World, before it gets pushed out on Wednesday by the new releases that are starting early due to the holidays.
Oh darn.
December 16, 2014
Road Trip Wrap Up . . .
Finishing up yesterday’s road trip.
Before we left the Gone With The Wind exhibit, I discovered a rare treat in a side alcove, an original Gutenberg Bible.
Printed in 1454 or 1455, this two volume set is one of only 48 still-existing sets, and one of only 5 sets in the United States.
I was interested to learn that the red highlights were actually put in by hand, by a person called a ‘rubricator’. Gutenberg had originally tried to print each page twice, once for the red ink parts,and then for the black text. But he was never really able to perfect it, probably because of the difficulty of keeping the pages aligned.
So instead, he printed the pages in black, leaving empty areas to be filled in by hand by the ‘rubricator’, usually a priest or a monk especially hired for the task,
It was really amazing to look at these volumes on the other side of the glass case and know they were printed more than 550 years ago and handled by Johannes Gutenberg himself.
We left the GTTW exhibit and drove about 15 minutes to have lunch at Trudy’s Texas Star.
We used to eat here every time we came up to Austin to visit our daughter Brandi when she was in college here, and always really enjoyed it.
But it’s been a long time since we’ve been back, so we wanted to try it again while we’re in town. And we weren’t disappointed.
I had the Migas and Beef Fajitas
and Jan had the Beef Chile Rellenos
Jan said these were the best Rellenos she’s ever eaten, beating out the previous #1, Esther’s in Placentia, CA who are renowned in California for their Rellenos.
My Migas were delicious, but the Beef Fajitas were fantastic, probably the best I ever had. It seemed like that after they were cooked normally, they were coated in a rub of some sort and then put on the grill for a short time. This gave them a slight charred crust on them, making them really great.
Also really good were the Borracho Beans, cooked with bacon and onions. as well as the perfectly seasoned rice. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to go back soon.
Heading toward home after our great meal, we made a stop by a local Christmas Store so Jan could look for some Christmas lights she wanted and then it was back on the road home. After making a quick pitstop at Buc-ee’s, we got back to the rig a little after 6pm, another fun, but busy day.
Getting home I found a spray bottle of De-Solv-It Contractor’s Solvent sitting on the rig step.
I figured it was either left by Christmas Elves, or maybe my friend Tom Christian who thought it might remove the drill mud from the roof of our rig. And according to the label, it should remove just about anything. In fact the label warns you to test the surface you’re using it on to be sure it doesn’t dissolve it too. According to the website, it cleans stained concrete, removes silicone, caulk, putty nails, floor adhesive, water seal, wet paint (won’t harm dry paint), oil, roofing tar, wax, diesel soot, pine sap and resin, and more from virtually any surface! And apparently, according to one commenter, it will even take the skunk smell off of dogs. Who knew?
So later in the afternoon, I got the ladder out and gave it a try on the top of the front cap. But unfortunately it didn’t really touch it. I could see a slight darkening on the towel I was using, but I couldn’t see any change in the roof surface. But later I did try it on the diesel soot on the rig’s chrome exhaust pipe and it cleaned it right up.
So it’s back to the drawing board on the drill mud.
December 16, 2015
Great Food and Good Friends . . .
Once again this morning Jan and I sat outside with our coffee and pumpkin bread. And we were happy to have Bonnie and Vance Clegg, our next door neighbors, show up to talk for a while.
We had a really good time getting acquainted, comparing our travels and adventures. But, like our last outside visit, this get-together was called on account of weather, but a chilly wind this time, rather than rain like the other day.
Now that my immediate plumbing problems have been taken care of, I’ve been looking over my chore list, trying to decide what to work on next. I’ve got a couple of small projects already in the hopper, rewiring my patio lights to fix a problem that didn’t really get fixed after our blow-out repair in Prescott, AZ earlier this year, remounting an inside grab handle next to Jan’s chair, and emptying and pressure washing a couple of my basement storage bays.
But I think my next big (kind of) project will be to restring my day/night shades.
Again.
I restrung them once before, about three years ago, but a while back, they started breaking, one by one. From what I can tell, the cord, which is supposedly heavy-duty and made especially for day/night shades, just frayed until it broke. So this time, based on an online recommendation, I’m going to use 100# – 200# fishing line. So I’ll see how that goes.
You can check out my original blind repair here
A little before 4pm, Jan and I headed up to Ellinger to have dinner at Peter’s BBQ, our favorite local BBQ place. And to make it even better, we were meeting up with new friend’s Bonnie and Vance Clegg, and old friend’s Janice and Dave Evans. We had hoped our friend Randy would be able to meet up with us, but he needed to finish up his Christmas shopping over in Katy.
Since this wasn’t Friday night, there was no buffet, so we all just ordered BBQ plates and sandwiches. They did have the sides table with a number of veggies and a couple of desserts. And unlike a lot of places, they do great veggies.
As usual when RV’ers get together, we sat around talking for about 2 hours, which is actually not a long time for this kind of gathering. I think our record is about 3 1/2 hours.
Tomorrow we’ll probably make a run into Columbus to drop off some mail at the PO and see if I can get a new washer for my almost no longer leaking shower connector.
December 16, 2016
Flash and Cash . . .
I was hoping to get another text from Todd about a gate this weekend, but no luck so far. But I still could, so here’s hoping.
Of course, I’m not sure a gate in 30° weather would be much fun.
About 1pm Jan and I headed out for lunch and Wal-Mart. Our lunch stop was our second visit to Flashburger. Although it has the look of a franchise location, according to Google, it’s the only one.
As before, I had the El Jefe burger, with Two Patties, Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, a Fried Egg, Lettuce, Tomato, Onions Pickles, Chipotle Mayo, and Flash Sauce.
Which piled all together looks like this.
This time we got their Regular Fries which were really good. There are two different ways to fix French Fries, low heat and high heat.
High heat (375° – 400°) gets the dry, crispy McDonald’s type fries, while a lower heat (325° or so) gets you the softer, moist, textured fries with a lot of flavor. It’s not a matter of how long they’re cooked. In fact, if you cooked them longer at the low heat, they will just get tough and chewy, and not crispy.
Jan got a single patty burger, with Cheddar Cheese, Sautéed Mushrooms, Sautéed Onions, Tomato, Mustard, and Ketchup. Hers looked like this.
Both our burgers were delicious, as well as the fries. There will be a third visit for sure.
Before we left I told Jan that I was going to the restroom to wash my ‘good’ greasy fingers. When she looked questioningly, I said, “You know, good, from greasy hamburgers and fries, and not ‘bad, from spent the afternoon replacing the wheel bearings on the car’ greasy.
As we were leaving we told the cashier that the only thing that would make the meal better would have been onion rings. She said that they were working on onion rings, wings, chicken tenders, and fried green beans. Looking forward to it.
Then it was on to the Wal-Mart right up the hill, and that’s where things went off the rails.
Our first stop was at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Jan, and when I reached into my back pocket for my wallet, my hand all the way out the bottom of the pocket. The bottom was torn out and my wallet was gone.
I backtracked out to the truck while Jan made a quick stop at the Customer Service Desk to see if it had been turned in. Then we drove back to Flashburger and when I walked in, the cashier was holding up my wallet.
Whew!
I figured it would be rude to check things until I was outside, but was a little disappointed to see that, although my cards were all there, my cash was gone, somewhere between $20 and $40. Not a big deal, but really?
The only thing I can figure is that my pocket got hung up and tore on the booth bench seat slats, and then fell out when I went to the restroom to wash my hands. I’m assuming that that whoever turned it in took the cash.
Well, maybe a kid got a better Christmas.
December 16, 2017
HoneyBaked and Whipped Creamed . . .
I had thought I would install the new awning this morning/afternoon, but it was still in the 40’s, very overcast, and spitting rain a little so I put that on hold.
We were supposed to meet our friend’s Debi and Ed Hurlburt up at the Rudy’s BBQ in the Woodlands this afternoon, but they both came down with a bug of some sort so our get-together got cancelled. Unfortunately this was probably our last chance to meet up before they leave for Florida on Tuesday.
Jan and I headed out about 1pm up to the Clear Lake area, first to have lunch at one of our long-time favorites, Barcenas Mexican Restaurant, right outside the subdivision where our house is located.
We’ve been eating here since it was built back in the 80’s we think. A long time ago, anyway. And in 2007, as we were getting ready to start RV’ing, we moved into an apartment right across the street while we were remodeling our house to sell.
So we could just walk across the street for a great meal, (well, more like run really, since it was a busy road).
Then our next stop was at our son Chris’ to pick our mail and say hi. He was out in the driveway working on his new bike, welding on a new seat bracket to raise it higher above the rear fender.
Leaving Chris’ we drove over to the HoneyBaked Ham store to pick one up for Christmas dinner next week. By not waiting until next week, I avoided the long lines that happen as the holidays get closer. We’ll take it up to Brandi’s tomorrow when we go up to Landon’s hockey practice.
When we got home I decided to take a few minutes out in the wet, cold weather to at least slide the new awing into the rails to be sure the size is correct.
And it looks like a perfect fit.
I’ll call Sundowner Canvas on Monday to tell them it’s OK to do the next, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to complete the installation later in the week.
After our early lunch, we didn’t want much supper so we just split the Tres Leches that we got to go from La Brisa Mexican Restaurant last night.
With a little added whipped cream it was delicious.‘
Wrapping up, for you “A Christmas Story” fans, FOX is doing a 3hr Live version of it tomorrow night starting at 6pm CST. So set your DVR’s now.
December 16, 2018
Leftover Leftovers . . .
Today was a very nice, lay around the rig, day. Besides playing on the computer, napping, and talking with Jan, I spent a good part of it finishing up on the laptop setup for my client’s wife.
The old laptop was so slow it took forever to get all the files, docs, photos, etc., copied off so I could get them moved over to the new one. Part of the problem was that old one was so old that it would not recognize my portable HD drive, so I had to copy stuff off to flashdrives before I could move it over.
I then installed and set up LibreOffice and configure her Gmail account. Finishing up I install Remote Utilities Host program, so I can access the machine remotely, which I know I’ll have to do at some point.
Today was another one of Texas days with heaters in the morning, AC’s in the afternoon, and heaters again in the evening. But it sounds like our front AC may be developing a problem. When it first starts up there’s a ‘whirring’ like a bearing going bad, probably in the fan. At least I hope it’s the fan and not the compressor.
This is the Coleman unit that we upgraded to in the summer of 2015. At the same time the 19 year old unit in the bedroom is still going strong with only a start capacitor replacement back in 2013.
About a month ago I went online and upgraded our DirecTV account to add the Movie Extra Package, mostly so Jan could get the Hallmark Movie and Mystery Channel. But it never showed up on our Guide. I called DTV a couple things and they reset things on their end, and I rebooted and reset our DVR a few times too. But still no luck.
Finally yesterday I figured it out. All 8 of the channels are in HD only. And because of our Winegard Traveler dome not receiving HD, we are SD only. So I called today to cancel the add-on and get a rebate on the last month’s charges.
Supper tonight was leftover leftovers, with the last of the soup from last week, and the remaining pizza brought home last night from Gramaldi’s.
A perfect combination.
December 16, 2019
WOW! That’s Big . . .
Our new Samsung 43” Smart TV came in this afternoon, so Jan and I got it set up as soon as I got home about 4pm.
I got it put in place with a temporary mounting, but I’m going to buy a shelf board from Home Depot tomorrow to mount it on permanently.
This thing is so big that we’re going to have to reconfigure things up there, by moving the clock to allow me to move the TV to the left, because I can’t see the right 1/3 of the screen as it stands now.
Set up was really easy. I just plugged it in and turned it on, and it led me through the configuration, looking for Source Inputs, WiFi settings, and connecting everything up.
And just a few minutes later we had video. And the picture is fantastic, much brighter and sharper than our older 2015 model.
Very nice.
I did order a 2nd remote before I left work so Jan will have one over by her. Though it looks like most things, like Power, Volume, Source, etc., can be done via Alexa.
Tomorrow I’ll go through and set up our Prime Video, Netflix, and BBC accounts on in the streaming section.
Then it’s just Enjoy, I guess.
Tomorrow afternoon I’ve got a follow up Dermatology appointment to check out the procedure I had last year, and then a late lunch at Cheddar’s.
December 16, 2020
So Sad To Hear . . .
I heard from my cousin’s wife up in Athens, AL this morning that my Aunt Janis is dying of terminal cancer and only has a few days to live. She’s been in hospice for a few weeks, and three of her children have come from out of state to help take care of her.
I have a really warm place in my heart for my Aunt Jan, not just because she was family, but also because she was instrumental in my meeting my Jan 53 years ago, in 1967.
At the beginning of the summer my mother was talking to her and mentioned that I was thinking about heading down to the Alabama Gulf Coast or maybe Florida to work for the summer. So Aunt Janice invited me to come down and stay with them as long as I wanted.
At that time she and my uncle Ed lived in Sanford, FL, where Ed had a large veterinary practice and a big house with plenty of room. So around the first part of June I headed down that way, but stopping off in Gulf Shores, AL to catch up with some old friends along the way.
Sanford is about 30 miles from Orlando, so once I got settled in, I started checking out the want ads in the area, but nothing popped out at first. Then around the 1st of July I came across an ad in the Florida Today paper for a job at an amusement park over in Titusville, about 35 miles away.
It was called Florida Wonderland and they were looking for someone to do take care of the animals at their Marine Life facility, and also do the animal act performances there. So after meeting with them and getting the job, I started on July 5th.
Later that day I walked across US A1A to get a couple of buckets of ice. We didn’t have an ice machine, so to keep the fish iced down that we fed the animals, I needed to bring it back from there.
So that afternoon when I walked into the Miss Kitty’s Pleasure Palace & Saloon, part of Western town, to pick up the ice,
the first thing that caught my eye was a tall, redheaded saloon girl. And I guess you could say I was smitten.
It took me two weeks of nagging to get her to go out with me, so I guess today I’d be a stalker, but back then I guess I was just persistent.
And that’s how it all started.
December 16, 2021
So Far, So Good . . . So Far.
This afternoon was my 6 Week Checkup (after only 5 weeks less 1 day, but let’s not quibble) after my Cervical Spinal Fusion back in November.
Unlike my last checkup, they took X-Rays before we got to see Alexandra, our P.A. And when we did get to see her, she said that everything looked really good and that nothing had come loose or moved out of place.
I was also told that I no longer have to ‘baby’ my incision, but can now spray water directly on it in the shower and not worry about it. And I can now go back to taking my daily low-dose aspirin.
One thing I did ask was at what point I can consider that things have gotten as good as they’re going to get. Alexandra said it could be as long as 1 to 2 years, which was very reassuring. My fingers are getting more feeling in them, as well as stronger too. And in addition, my balance is slowly coming back.
So it looks like I’m good to go until my next checkup in February.
Finishing up at the doctor’s, our next stop was right down the road at Pho Barr for lunch.
As before, we started off with an order of the Grilled Pork Spring Rolls, along with their spicy peanut sauce.
Then it was on to our other usuals, with Jan getting the Vermicelli Bowl.
As I did last time, I got the Pho, but the Chicken instead of the Ribeye.
And as you can see it was just chock full of Chicken.
Really good, and we’re very happy to see that they’re working on opening another location near us.
Several times in the last week we’ve been hijacked. Or at least our VMAI sound bar has been.
This past Monday afternoon Jan called me at work to say she was hearing Christmas music in the rig that she thought was coming from the TV along with the program’s audio, and that she didn’t know where it was coming from. But before I could tell her anything to check, it disappeared.
Then early the next morning, about 1am, I was awakening by very loud Christmas music coming from the front of the rig. And when I got up to investigate, I found the TV still off, and the sound coming from the sound bar itself.
And then I knew what was happening. But wanting to get back to sleep I used the sound bar remote to just turn it off for now.
Then the next morning I confirmed my suspicions. One of our neighbors was hijacking our sound bar’s Bluetooth connection, probably accidentally.
Whenever we turn off our TV it loses the Bluetooth connection to the sound bar, so when we turn the TV back on, we have to reconnect it. And recently I had noticed that another VMAI sound bar was showing up, though a different model from ours.
So I suspect our neighbor was connecting to our system rather than his, and then turning the volume up since he wasn’t hearing anything on his system.
So right now I’m trying to see if I can change the unit’s standard Bluetooth password of ‘0000’ to something else so this can’t happen again.
To quote Roseanne Roseannadanna, “It’s always something.”
