Monthly Archives: December 2022
She Didn’t Have An Answer . . .
I was out the the door about 9:20 this morning on my way up to Webster for MRI/X-Ray series for my lumbar area. They had called and asked me to come in earlier than my 10:15 first scheduled time, so of course I wasn’t actually called in until way past my scheduled time.
The X-Rays were up first, and only took about 20 minutes for all the different views they wanted to get. Then it was back to waiting for the MRI series.
And this time, unlike my last visit in October 2021, they had earplugs to help cut down somewhat on the noise. But they didn’t help all that much. I still ended up with a blinding headache just like last time.
I had to describe the noise, it’s like being in a 55 gallon drum, and someone is either beating on it with a baseball bat, or attacking it with a jackhammer. Sometimes both at the same time. And by the time the 40 minute series and the MRI shut off, the ringing in my ears went on for another 10 minutes or so.
When the tray I was lying on was moved out to the MRI chamber, I got up and and said to the MRI tech, “It might be the engineer in me, but why didn’t you put me in the other way?”
She looked puzzled and said, “What do you mean?”
I said, “Well, since you were only doing lower back, if you had put me in feet first then my head would have been outside the chamber and I wouldn’t have had to listen to all that noise.”
She looked at me with a puzzled look on her face for a moment, and then went, “Huh”, like nobody had ever thought about that. She didn’t really have an answer.
Maybe next time
My new La Crosse Rain Gauge showed up in the mail today, as well as a beautiful gift from our new Canadian friends, Ron and Anne. Apparently they forgave us for serving them Thanksgiving dinner without any Cornbread Dressing and sent this lovely ornament on to us.
Thanks a lot guys.
Well, it’s officially the Christmas season now. I just saw my first Chia Pet commercial, this one for Baby Yoda.
____________________________________________________________________
Thought for the Day:
”If life gives you lemons, and you get melons, you’re dyslexic” – Piper White, Our Beautiful Granddaughter.
December 12, 2010
Herons On The Mudflats . . .
Well, the wind is still blowing like crazy, but it has changed directions. Yesterday before the front got here, the wind was out of the south. This morning when we went out for our walk, the wind was out of the north.
Because it was also low tide, the wind blew water out of the bayou, leaving exposed mudflats. This attracted a lot of seagulls looking for a quick lunch.
It even attracted our old friend the Great Blue Heron that lives in this area.
And along with the wind, the weather has really changed. Yesterday the high was about 75 and the low last night was 41. Then today it got all the way to 55.
But the real change is tonight, with a low of 28 degrees. But at least by Tuesday, it’s supposed to be back in the 70’s again.
About 2pm Jan and I drove up to Brandi and Lowell’s to take Landon off their hands for a few hours.
After we got him packed into the truck, we drove to Baybrook Mall to pick up some presents, and then down to Garden Ridge where Jan was looking for a vase and some decorations.
While we were there I got these photo of Landon and his big blue eyes.
Leaving Garden Ridge we went by the storage room to pick up some outside Christmas decorations for the rig, and then just drove around for a while until it was time to meet Brandi and Lowell at 5:30 for supper at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, our favorite local Cajun place.
Although you wouldn’t know it by what everyone ordered. Jan, Brandi, and Lowell all had the Chicken Fried Chicken, while I was the only one who went Cajun with a cup of delicious Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and a grilled Boudin link.
Then reluctantly relinquishing Master Landon to his parents, Jan and I headed back to the rig for the night about 7.
December 12, 2011
Two More Hours of My Life I’ll Never Get Back . . .
or ATT&T still sucks!
Jan and I both slept great last night. Me, because I wasn’t sleeping alone. Jan, because she was back in her own bed.
Works for me.
I was up about 9 this morning since I had a client visit at 11. Had to allow enough time for coffee.
Getting to the client’s I spent about 3 hours getting her two computers cleaned out and updated for the next year.
My next stop was back into AT&T hell. I spent another two hours on the phone with them trying to get my client’s DSL service working again.
And after two hours they said the new DSL modem, that replaced the old DSL modem, was bad, and they want my client to pay for the new one!
By this time my cell phone battery was on its last electrons so I got a Trouble Ticket number and told them I’d take it up with Customer Service tomorrow.
I think it’s a lost cause.
December 12, 2012
All Done . . . Pretty Much . . .
Chris and I started back in on our trim replacement project about 10am this morning. And except for a somewhat balky nailgun, things went pretty quickly.
As far as what we’re doing, we making this,
look like this.
Chris ran a string along the trim level to give us a guide for the boards. After that it was merely a matter of holding them in place as Chris nailed them up.
This is the before:
And this is the after:
It took us about an hour and a half to do both ends of the house. For the second end, we didn’t use a string, but just got a good starting point and then used the 4ft long level to keep things on track.
Finishing up here, we knocked off for lunch at Hooters for hot wings. Hmmm, Good.
Back on the job, it took another 45 minutes to do the courtyard and finish up. I’ve still got some places to fill in some missing trim on a couple of other areas, and some touchup painting to fill in. But the hard work is done, and my son Chris did his usual great job helping me (or actually doing most of the work. I just held things in place.)
Leaving the house, I stopped off at a client’s to check out the new Cloud Print system I set up the other day, and so far it seems to be working fine.
BTW I started to install Cloud Print on my Kindle Fire and discovered that for some reason Google changed the name from Cloud Print to Easy Print for the Fire. But it works just fine.
On another subject, I had been looking to try a French Press system for making coffee since people say it’s the best way. And I was also interested in a Keurig or K-Cup coffee maker. That’s the system that uses the small 1 cup packages like this.
Sometimes in the evening I would like a cup of coffee, but it’s just too much work to set up the Mr. Coffee 12 cup machine for one or two cups. And we just don’t have the counter space to spare for another appliance like a Keurig.
Then last week I came across this on a TV infomercial. And it’s both a K-Cup brewer AND a French Press.
The basic model just does the K-Cups, and is $29.95. But for $10 more you get two extra adapters. One lets you use the round coffee pods that kind of look like large tea (coffee?) bags, and the other one lets you use your own loose ground coffee.
And it’s quick and simple to use. Your cold water goes in the blue container with the handle. This then goes in the microwave to heat up.
Your K-Cup/pod/loose coffee adapter fastens to the bottom, and then the clear plastic collection cup fastens over that.
When your water is heated, you pour it into the clear cylinder at the top. Then the blue container, which has an O-ring at the bottom, is inserted into the cylinder and pressed down. And your hot, fresh coffee comes out into the bottom cup. And you’re done.
It really takes longer to tell you about it than it does to just do it. Just what I was looking for.
I’ve used it a couple of times so far and it works just great. And it comes with three sample K-Cups to get you started, 1 tea and 2 different coffees.
You can get more info here – MyCoffeePress.
December 12, 2013
Problem Solved !
or at least it is according to our friend, Dennis Hill.
His solution to our leaking shower is to just stop showering in the rig.
Well, I guess Jan and I could just hose each other off outside the rig. Hopefully the neighbors wouldn’t complain. I mean we don’t wear clothes when we shower INSIDE the rig, so we’ll see how it goes.
We decided to make today a fun day for ourselves so about 11:30am we headed down TX146 to Galveston. Our first stop was for lunch at Sunflower Café. We’ve had Sunday Brunch here several times with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, but we’ve never had lunch there. And as it turns out, their lunch is just as good as their brunch.
We both ended up ordering the soup and half sandwich. Jan had the Chicken Salad with the Tomato Basil Soup, while I had a Chicken BLT, also with the Tomato Basil. My BLT, pictured above, was great, with the bacon thick and fried extra crispy. And we both agreed that the Tomato Basil soup was delicious.
After lunch, Jan picked out some cookies to take home from their in-house bakery. And just like what happens when we eat at Cracker Barrel, we spent as much in their gift shop as we did on lunch when Jan found a pair of vintage ear-rings that looked too good on her to pass up.
After lunch we drove around a bit, checking out what’s changed since we were here last year. It’s always interesting to see the old houses being refurbished,
and the ones that have already been redone.
It’ll be interesting to check out the first house in a couple of years and see what it looks like.
Then driving along the Seawall we saw the latest incarnation of Galveston’s Historic Pleasure Pier. It’s been very popular since it opened a couple of years ago. It combines several restaurants with a pretty complete amusement park.
Of course this is not the first version of an amusement park located in this location. In fact the first one was built in 1907.
Constructed after the previous seedy midway area was wiped out in the Great Hurricane of 1900, this one, ironically, only lasted until the next big hurricane in 1915. So it will be interesting to see how long the new one lasts.
Heading back up I-45 we took a detour through a new high-end subdivision on Galveston Bay called HarborWalk. The area is also the location of the newest Floyd’s Seafood, Floyd’s On The Water. We’ll have to check it out soon.
Those are some really big homes being built out on that island.
And you know it must be a high-end place if it’s behind a gate.
We also saw a lot of birds in the area, including these two.
And then there was this sign. Maybe you could feed the seabirds TO the alligators?
Coming back up to Webster we made a stop at one of my favorite electronics/computer places, EPO (Electronics Parts Outlet) to look for those soldering iron tips I need, and I was surprised to see this in the middle of the store.
Richard, the owner, buys and sells a lot of surplus stuff, but it’s the first time he’s ever bought a 1923 Model T Ford.
Later, after a quick stop at our storeroom, we made stops at Starbuck’s for lattes, Kroger’s for groceries, and PetCo for pet stuff.
Finally heading back toward the rig, it was after 6pm so we decided that some Chicken Tortilla Soup from Monterey’s Little Mexico sounded good. And it was.
We started out to have a really fun day and it worked out really well.
December 12, 2014
Finally . . .
We finally managed a stay-at-home day, which was really nice after the last few non-stop days. We sat outside for a while with Mister, having our coffee and muffins and watched the whitetail deer run around the fields. Then a little later Donna Huffer and Bob Parker came over and spent some time.
Then we all headed back in, first pulling off the stickers off our shoes, and then picking them out of Mister’s coat. And even with all that, one or two sneak through, only to be found later by our bare feet. It’s the one real downside to staying here at Colorado River.
Later in the afternoon, I strung up some Christmas lights along the rig’s awnings. We’ve also got a lighted wreath that I’m going to put up later.
Of course it’s hard to go all out when we don’t know how long we’re going to be here. But since we’re still waiting to hear from Galveston Bay RV Resort as soon as they get their new sites open, we don’t want to go overboard and then have to take it all down.
For example, here’s what we’ve done in the past at Galveston Bay.
We’ll have to see how soon we get down there before we decide how much more we’re going to decorate.
My new power converter is humming along just fine, keeping both the engine batteries and the coach batteries topped off with no problems. I’m probably going to order the new 50 amp transfer switch in the next couple of days so I can go ahead and get everything installed under the bed.
Progressive Dynamics (PD52V) 50 Amp Automatic Transfer Relay System
In looking at the size of new power converter and the size of this transfer switch, it’s amazing how much smaller these components are now compared to the units installed 15 years ago when our coach was built.
Later, about 5pm Jan heated up our leftover German food from our visit to Schobel’s Restaurant this past Wednesday night. With the Schnitzel, German Potatoes, and Red Cabbage, it was just as good as the other night.
December 12, 2015
Squalls and Scones . . .
Since I didn’t get to bed until almost 4am this morning, due to not getting home until after midnight and then having to do the blog, I really slept in, not getting up until about 11:30.
But when I finally did get up and got the coffee going, Jan and I sat outside for a while, drinking our coffee and eating some really good Blueberry Scones Jan found in the Kroger bakery department. Our next door neighbor, Bonnie, came by for a while so we could get acquainted. They’ve been full-timing for 15 years.
But our visit was cut short by a rain squall moving in, with it raining on and off the rest of the afternoon and evening. But as we ran for our respective rigs, we said we’d get together soon for dinner.
The rest of the afternoon was interspersed with light and heavy rains, which made it really nice to just hunker down in the rig, with our time divided between reading, computing, and TV’ing.
Really nice on a dreary December afternoon.
I forgot to mention that Wednesday, while I was working on the toilet, our friend Randy came by to say “Hi”. He had just pulled into the park a couple of hours earlier and noticed our coach parked across the circle from him.
Readers of our blog just about a year ago may remember my adventures with Randy’s new-to-him Monaco Diplomat. He had bought it from PPL here in Houston a few days earlier, and ended up parked right next to us here at the Colorado River Thousand Trails. He saw me outside working on my rig, and asked for some help with his rig’s electrical system.
After he’d been parked here several days, both his coach and engine batteries had run down. You can follow the story of what I found wrong with his coach, and how I fixed it. How it ever got off the dealer lot that way is a mystery.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/charge-2/
https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/batteries-and-balls/
https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/wiring-and-re-wiring/
Tomorrow morning we’re heading out to Galveston, about two hours away to have lunch with an old friend and ex-coworker of Jan’s. A while before we started RV’ing, Linda got bored with the Houston/Galveston area and up and moved to Billings, MT. Quite a change from Houston.
We’ve visited her there first in 2008 on our way to Alaska, and later on our way coming back. On the way up, at the end of March, it looked like this,
and coming back in the middle of October, it looked like this.
Like I said, quite a change from Houston.
December 12, 2016
Cloudy with Meatballs . . .
The weather continues to be overcast, supposedly with rain on the way. Of course, just as I’m going back on a gate.
It was a short day for me. At least the ‘awake’ part. Trying to get myself oriented onto night shift, I didn’t go to bed until about 3:30am and then was back up at 11.
Jan had fixed up a delicious batch of her Crockpot Spaghetti and Meatballs for lunch, and this was possibly the best batch yet, probably due to the new meatballs we tried.
This time we used the Sam’s Choice Premium Angus Meatballs, and you could really taste the difference. At least you taste a lot more meat than breading, and the Romano cheese inside certainly didn’t hurt.
YUM!
And enough left for tomorrow.
And then after lunch I was back down for a nap until about 3:45. I need to leave for the gate by about 4:25 since it’s a 20 minute trip. I always like to get to the gate a little early the first day in case anything has changed since my last visit.
When I did arrive about 4:45 I found things had really built up since my last time here.
They’ve even got a flare stack going. At least it’s a pretty good piece away.
When we were down here in 2013 working a frack site near Whitsett, we had a big stack less than 100 yards from us. One afternoon oil got mixed in with the gas and the whole thing became a flaming oil volcano.
At first it started spurting the the flaming oil out, a couple of times even making a flaming ring, like a smoke ring. Then the flames just started rolling down the sides and out on the surrounding brush, setting it all on fire.
Alarms started going off all around and guys were rushing over to put the flames out. Even at that distance I could feel the heat. And luckily they go it out before it reached the storage tanks.
December 12, 2017
Awning Off, Awning On . . .
With nothing on our slate for today, we had a nice relaxing morning, reading and computing.
About 2pm I went outside to take down the other rear awning, Since I’d down the first one about a month ago, this one went faster.
First off I started by clamping the flange that connects to the torsion spring. This allows me to control the unwinding of the spring.
Next I removed the screw that fastens the flange to the tube.
Then I pulled the flange off the arm while holding the vice grips to keep the spring from unwinding. After lowering the arm to the side of the rig, I carefully unwound the spring, counting the turns so I would know how many turns to rewind it.
At this point I put the now-loosened flange back on the arm.
This let me now drill out the rivets so I could remove the spring.
Now pulling the tube from the other end, I could pull it off the bottom of the awning fabric.
So now I should have been able to pull the fabric off the top rail, but it wouldn’t budge. So I removed the screw right above the rail that holds the first link of the cover in place.
This let me pull the fabric and the cover segment out from the other side.
This let me see that the reason the fabric wouldn’t come out is the fact that the rail was crimped on each end.
Normally if they want to lock the fabric in place they just use a small screw through the rail and into the fabric.
But after I use a screwdriver and a pair of pliers to open the channel, the fabric slide right out.
Tomorrow I’ll drop this one off at Sundowner Canvas and pick up the new one. I am going to ask them to hold off on doing the next one until I reinstall the new one. That’s to be sure that everything is OK with how this one was done.
I did get a chance to check out the laundry room here at Petticoat Junction RV Park and it looks pretty nice. We normally don’t use a park laundry because we have our own washer/dryer, but Jan does occasionally like to do her throw rugs in one.
Really nice and clean.
I mentioned earlier that Jan and I have been going through a lot of old photos, many I’ve never seen before.
My father was a police officer in Birmingham AL starting the 1930’s. During WWII he enlisted in the Navy and ended up in the Shore Patrol, guarding the Navy Pier in Chicago.
Here’s a photo of him in his uniform.
After the war he came back to the Birmingham Police Department as a Detective Sergeant until he retired in 1951. Then he and my mother moved down to Gulf Shores, AL where they opened a motel right on the beach.
I always knew he was an excellent shot, starting when he began to teach me to shoot when I was six. Somewhere along the line I was told that he had won the Alabama State Pistol Championship five years in a row, until finally they pretty much asked him to stop competing and give someone else a chance.
But I never had any hard info on this until I came across this clipping from the Birmingham newspaper. I’m assuming this was from the late 1930’s since they refer to him as a police officer and not a detective.
Since the clipping is kind of hard to read, I’ve transcribed it below.
Man, That’s Really Some Fine Shooting
Police Officer W. H. White today had a room all to himself in the Police Department’s Hall of Shooting Fame.
At annual target tournament this week, Sharpshooter White sent 30 slugs into the bulls-eye with 30 pulls of his pistol trigger, then followed up his perfect score with 29 out of 30 shots in the second round.
Capt. H. V. Early, director of target shooting said Officer White’s perfect 300 was the first ever scored by a member of the Police Department, which rates 250 out of 300 the work of an expert.
Shoot is at three speeds – 10 slow shots at 25 yards, with five shots required in five minutes; 10 timed shots at 25 yards, with 20 seconds allowed for five firings, and 10 rapid shots , with 15 seconds the maximum for five shots. A bulls-eye score 10, each succeeding ring one point less.
So for the first round he got all thirty shots in the bulls-eye, while on the second round he got 29 shots in the bulls-eye and 1 shot in the 9 ring.for a total of 299 out of 300.
December 12, 2018
Good BBQ and Great Friends . . .
Today was another of those work days where I ran around doing a lot of different things, but didn’t seem to actually get a lot done.
I did spend some time completely disassembling the unit I mentioned the other day, getting it down to bare circuit boards and the case. This will allow me to build it back up, fixing the broken connections as I go.
Then I get to see if I can get it working after all that. Otherwise I’ll just junk it for parts. We’ll see.
A little bit after I got home, Jan and I headed up to Alvin, and Joe’s BBQ to have dinner with friend’s Janice and Dave Evans.
It’s been years since we’ve eaten at Joe’s, maybe close to 20, but it was always good, and that hasn’t changed.
Jan had the Grilled Chicken Breast with the Salad Bar, while I had the Chicken Fried Steak.
Janice and Dave went the actual BBQ route with her BBQ sandwich, and Dave’s BBQ Plate.
Now that looks GOOD!
We had a great time with Janice and Dave, and hope we can do it again soon.
As I said yesterday, tomorrow I’ve got my next, and hopefully last, Photo Dynamic Therapy session. giving me a years worth of sunburn in 16:40.
At least this time I’m bringing some packets of Hydrocortisone lotion with me to put on afterwards.
December 12, 2019
Back in the Groove . . .
Although we had a great time in New York, it’s nice to be back in Santa Fe in our own home and our own bed.
I did order our new Samsung TV from Amazon this morning, and it should be here on Monday.
I did double-check my measurements to be sure that it would fit first, but it looks like we’re good to go.
Jan says she’s good to go in the meantime since I bought our 22” TV from the bedroom and set it up on the end of the sofa.
One thing I did find interesting when I was looking at different models on Amazon is that I could buy a ‘Renewed’ model, which I assume means that it’s been returned and checked out, i.e. Refurbished.
Strangely though, the ‘Renewed’ one is only $1 cheaper than a brand new one. Why would anyone one buy the used one?
Certainly not me.
I also bought the 4 year warranty for $45, which includes ‘damages’, so Karma can do her worse now, I guess.
Speaking of Karma, she apparently doesn’t want us leaving her again. She spent pretty much all night actually sleeping on top of me, something she’s never done before. She sometimes will sleep beside me, but I guess she’s taking no chances now.
Even more so, she spent most of today sleeping on top of one of our suitcases just to be sure.
Heading out about 1pm we first had lunch at Snooze before heading over to WalMart to stock up the fridge now that we’re back.
Then it was over to the Sam’s Club next door to tank up the truck. Gas was $1.97, two cents more than the last time we filled up two weeks ago. But still not bad.
December 12, 2021
Back Home in Santa Fe . . .
Santa Fe, Texas, that is.
We left Texarkana about 8:30 this morning on our way back home, 333 miles away. And it was a very smooth trip until we got right into downtown Houston on US59, and about 1.5 miles from getting in I-45 south when all 4 lanes came to a complete stop.
After we sat there for about 10 minutes, I checked Waze and found a ‘major crash’ out in front of us. Then my amazing wife, who freely admits she has absolutely NO sense of direction, navigated us through the surface streets of downtown Houston after we were able to get off 59.
She used to work in this area a while back and remembered which streets would get us through and out the other side and on I-45 past the wreck.
Way to go, Sweetie!
Getting back into our area about 2:30pm we had decided to have lunch at Gator’s before heading home.
Jan got her usual Strawberry Walnut Salad with Grilled Chicken,
while I got a bowl of their delicious made-in-house Baked Potato Soup.
Even with the great time we had last week in Branson, it was really good to be back home.
*Crickets*
or 59 Years Ago Today.
The rain that held off for yesterday’s Christmas Market made itself known last night and into this morning with a lot of thunder along for the ride. Glad it didn’t spoil it for everyone.
*Crickets* is what I’ve heard back from Cracker Barrel since I submitted my complaint to them last Monday evening. Here’s what I sent them.
I’m writing this because I don’t dare let my wife near the keyboard.
On November 11, I ordered online the large Heat N Serve Thanksgiving Dinner to be picked up at your League City, TX location.
We picked it up as scheduled on Sunday the 20th about 12 noon on our way to our daughter’s house in Katy, TX, about 60 miles away.
When we got there and unpacked the large box, we found the two turkey breasts, a large pan, six smaller pans, 2 labeled ‘SP’, 2 labeled ‘GB’, and two labeled ‘MP’, all tightly sealed with foil.
As well as two quarts of Turkey Gravy, a quart of chicken broth for the dressing, along with Rolls and Cranberry Sauce.
So we packed everything away in the refrigerator and waited for all our guests to show up on Thursday.
Then, with our guests there, including friends from Canada, experiencing their first American Thanksgiving, and my wife raving over how great Cracker Barrel’s Cornbread Dressing is, and that it’s her favorite part of the meal, it all came crashing down when she discovered that we had NO dressing at all.
Just a large pan of Sweet Potato Casserole, to go with the two smaller pans of Sweet Potato Casserole.
At this point my wife was actually in tears. And using words I very seldom hear her say.
Hoping to fix this, I immediately got on the phone to the League City CB trying to see what could be done about the problem. I was thinking maybe they could call our local Katy CB to give us a pan of dressing.
But either the phone stayed busy (off-the-hook) or it would ring and then you could tell that someone picked up the handset and put it right back down.
I then tried calling the Katy location directly (they answered) and told them my problem, asking if I could just come by (about 10 minutes away) and buy a pan of dressing.
However they said I would need to have ordered the dressing ahead of time to be able to pick it then. So that was no help either.
Giving up for the day, my wife tearfully served friends and family a ‘dressingless’ Thanksgiving Dinner, I.e. Turkey & ????.
The next day (Friday) around 10:45 I called the League City location once again and spoke to a female manager, who, after I told her what had happened, told me to call back after 2pm. And when I did I was told that the manager was busy and that she would call me back later. And she never did.
And since that time, for the last week+, I have called a couple of times a day, always being told someone will call me back. And no one ever has.
And, ironically, this is not the first time we’ve had a ‘dressing’ problem at Cracker Barrel.
In 2014 we stopped off at the Conroe, TX location to pick a to-go Thanksgiving Dinner for my wife to have later in the week. And once again, no dressing.
Turkey, Ham, Veggies, and Pumpkin Streusel Pie, yes. But no Dressing.
So my wife was devastated, embarrassed, and in tears over this. And for her part she feels we should get the entire $162.36 that we paid for the dinner refunded.
So I’ll leave it up to you.
FWIW the many readers of my daily blog are also waiting to hear your response.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Greg White
Still thinking about my next move might be.
For Jan’s part, she says she never wants to eat at CB again, and she love’s CB.
Jan and I were on the way out this afternoon around 12:30 with our first stop at the Dollar General along FM646 for some Christmas stuff. Then it was on up to Webster to have lunch at Texas Huddle again. And they were probably busier than we’ve ever seen them, probably due to the fact that there was a Houston Texans-Dallas Cowboys game going on, as well as a couple of playoff games that actually counted.
And we got to watch the 1-10-1 Texans blow a 23-20 lead to the 9-3 Cowboys in the last minute of the game, going to 1-11-1 for the season.
But we got to eat some really good Wings and Tenders, along with salads, fries, and fried okra, so it more than made up for it. But we did stay for an extra 20 minutes or so to watch the Texans lose.
Then it was on down to our HEB for this week’s stuff, before getting home a little after 4pm.
Tomorrow morning I’ve got my lumbar MRI/X-Rays to see if there’s been any further deterioration in that area since last October. What I find out from this will give me some idea on how to proceed.
59 Years Ago Today –
It was Christmas time, 1963, I had just turned 15 a couple of months before, and I had somehow been roped into narrating the Christmas Story play at our church in Athens, AL, I think because I was the only teenager who’s voice wasn’t still squeaking.
As I told the story, of the Manger, the Three Wise Men, the Angels, and the Shepherds, a bunch of young kids were acting out the story in front of me. One of the Shepherds even had a live sheep on a leash, who immediately crapped on the floor.
The Sheep, not the Shepherd.
Anyway, I had asked the Minister if I could also perform a couple of hymns afterwards. He just asked if I needed the organist and I said no.
At the end of the pageant, I pulled out my trusty Sears Silvertone acoustic guitar from under the podium, and after a shaky start, (my $24.99 guitar never was very good at holding tune for very long. If fact the A/C coming on would cause it to lose tune. ) I first played and sang Stille Nacht in the original German, and then again as Silent Night in English. I was taking German in the 10th grade and we had to learn it for class.
Silent Night was originally written in German and first played in an Austrian church for Christmas Eve midnight mass on December 24th, 1818. it was written for the guitar because the church’s organ had been damaged by a recent flood.
So it made sense to do it on guitar in a church again.
I finished up with one of my two favorite hymns, ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ (the other one is ‘In The Garden’), kind of covering from the beginning of the Christmas Story to the very end.
I got a lot of compliments afterwards, from parishioners who didn’t know I could play and sing, and especially from my surprised parents, who knew I could sing, but didn’t know I could play the guitar, since I had practiced in secret.
And it all worked out great, since I ended up getting a new Fender Stratocaster Sunburst for Christmas.
I really wish I had kept it, because though I thought it was expensive at the time (about $300 if I remember correctly), it would be worth $35,000+ by now. Yikes!
I later played guitar in two college bands, as well as trumpet, French horn, and baritone in school bands.
Thought For The Day:
Self-respect: that secure feeling that no one, as of yet, is suspicious.
December 11, 2011
I can’t believe he ate the whole thing . . .
First off, our son Chris won a big screen TV last night at his office Christmas Party. Unfortunately he didn’t find out about it until later, because he was at work!
Lucky for him, he didn’t have to be present to win.
Getting over to Brandi’s about 10am, Jan, Landon, and I headed into Webster to have breakfast at The Egg and I, probably our favorite local breakfast place, besides maybe, IHOP.
Jan ordered Landon a pancake off the Kid’s Menu that started out like this,
and then went from this,
to this,
and ended up like this.
Plus the cup of fruit he had before the pancake came. In fact his tummy was so full he fell asleep on the way home.
We had planned to let him take his nap and then head over to Bass Pro Shop’s Santa’s Wonderland, but just as we got back to the house, Brandi and Lowell showed up.
Jan thought they wouldn’t be back until later in the afternoon, but I had laughingly said that I wouldn’t be surprised if Brandi couldn’t stay away from Landon any longer.
Turns out I was right.
So after putting the still-sleeping Landon to bed, Brand went with him, and Jan and I headed home. Hopefully we’ll be able to take Landon to the Santa’s Wonderland a little later.
Getting home, Jan went right into nap mode. Keeping up with a 15 month old all weekend is hard work. In fact we both had naps.
About 5pm we headed over to Dickinson to have dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico. Yeah, I know we were just here Friday night, but what can I say, the Tortilla Soup is great.
Tomorrow, it’s back to doing the client thing with three to see tomorrow, maybe more if I can fit them in. We’ll see.
So far, our humming ghost hasn’t reappeared. As Linda Sand commented, maybe he hums because he forgot the words.
Works for me.
December 11, 2013
Back to Dreary . . .
This morning we were back to dreary once again with no sun to be seen. A little warmer to be sure, but only in the low 50’s. The only good thing was no wind. Dickinson Bayou in front of our rig was smooth as glass.
But it was a little different up in Fairbanks AK today. We spent 5 months there in 2008, but it was the summer time. But even then it only made 80 degrees one day, and that was the 4th of July.
This was taken sundown today at 2:20pm. It was 3 degrees, with a low expected tonight of –11 degrees.
Makes our weather not sound so bad.
About noon I headed out for some errands with my first stop at the Post Office to get some Christmas stamps and mail off the first batch of Christmas cards.
After that I checked a nearby Radio Shack looking for some soldering iron tips, but they don’t stock them, and it looks like no one else in town does either so I’ll probably have to get them online. Amazon here I come.
My last stop before heading home was to pay some bills. Then after a quiet afternoon that included a nap, Jan and I headed out about 5pm to meet Chris and Linda at Barcenas Mexican Restaurant, right near our house. And even better, Miss Piper showed up since she got off work early.
We’ve been eating at Barcenas since 1998 when it opened and it’s always good. And tonight was no exception. We spend some time talking about our plans for getting together Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, trying to figure out everyone’s schedule. But somehow we’ll make it work.
Not sure yet what’s on the schedule for tomorrow. But I’ll probably take another look at my leaking shower problem. I have a couple of more ideas I want to try. And if the weather stays halfway nice I want to look at the problem with our step not wanting to retract or extend.
It’s always something.
December 11, 2014
Original Mexican and Old Friends . . .
As happens quite often, our stay-at-home day turned into a road trip. In this case, a 280 mile round-trip to Galveston.
Jan got an email late last night from her long-time friend/coworker Linda Furlong. wanting to get together today down in Galveston. Linda and Jan used to work together at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster. Then a few years before we started full-timing, Linda decided she wanted to move somewhere completely different, so she upped and moved to Billings, MT. And we’ve visited her there several times over the years as we’ve RV’ed around the country. But it’s going to be a lot harder to visit her next time.
She’s moving to Peru next month!
Her long-term goal is to open a bed & breakfast there. Though she’s visited there a number of times, now she’s going to be teaching down there, while she gets the lay of the land.
She’s going to be staying in Cusco, known as the Historical Capital of Peru, and the ancient capital of the Inca Empire. In addition, the famous Incan city of Machu Picchu is located nearby.
Wow. And people thought we’d gone off the deep end just because we chucked it all and started RV’ing.
We left the Colorado River Thousand Trails about 11:30am, heading for Galveston, about 135 miles away. After a quick stop for gas and a restroom break along the way, we met Linda at The Original Mexican Café.
Built in 1916, it’s the oldest continuously operating restaurant on Galveston Island still at its original location. We eaten here a lot over the years, but not recently. So we were happy to try it again. And we weren’t disappointed.
And with the great food and good company, we spent two hours talking and eating, laughing and going over old times. Then Linda and Jan drove over to Murdoch’s Souvenirs on the Seawall so Jan could get some shells for her new shell jar, and I followed.
Finally saying our goodbyes, and promising we’d try to visit her sometime, Jan and I headed home about 4:45 with a detour by Brandi and Lowell’s to pick up my new Power Converter which had been delivered this morning.
Powermax 110 Volt to 12 Volt 55 Amp Power Supply Converter Charger
We finally got back to the rig a little before 8pm, and the first thing I did was to hot-wired the converter into my battery circuit using the jumper wires off an old battery charger that I had thrown away. I knew they would not take the full 55 amp output for a long period of time, but I didn’t expect them to have to.
I was happy to see that the converter quickly brought my engine and coach batteries up to 13+ volts, and held them there, even as I went around and turned on every 12 light in the rig. I was happy to see that the coach voltage hardly dropped a tenth of a volt, still staying above 13 volts, as I did this. And the cooling fan on the back of the unit never came on. Nice.
Next up, I’ll order the new transfer switch and wire up the power converter permanently under the bed. I’ll probably do these both at the same time so I only have to get under there once, but it may be after Christmas before that happens.
December 11, 2015
Old Friends and Good Music . . .
Since our daughter Brandi’s day surgery for sinus problems got pushed back to 1pm today, our original reason for staying at Brandi’s house, to take Landon to school this morning, went away. So we were able to sleep in a little, or at least I was. Jan’s pretty much always an early riser
A little after 10am Jan and I made the half hour trip over to Richmond to have lunch at Sandy McGee’s, an almost legendary restaurant there. Jan and her coworkers used to eat here a lot when she worked at Polly Ryon Hospital there in the 1990’s. And I always wanted to eat here whenever I was in the area too.
Located in an old pharmacy building on Main St. in downtown Richmond, its very eclectic décor is a large part of its charm.
But the food is what makes the place famous. Their awarding-winning broccoli-cheese soup, along with their great sandwiches and cut-to-order fruit selections really can’t be topped.
My favorite is the Miller’s Choice, which has fresh oven-roasted turkey breast, big chunks, not dinky slices, melted Swiss Cheese, fresh spinach, with mayo and a honey-mustard vinaigrette,
as well as a cup of the broccoli-cheese soup, and fruit.
Really, really good.
Jan had their Chicken Salad Croissant,
a fresh baked butter croissant with creamy chicken salad, lettuce, tomato and avocado slices, as well as a cup of the broccoli-cheese soup.
Getting back to Brandi’s, we thought we now might have to pick Landon up from school, since we weren’t sure if Brandi’s surgery would be done in time for Lowell to pick him up. But after Brandi was taken in for the surgery, Lowell drove back over to the school to pick him up a little early, and then took him back to the hospital.
So since we were no longer needed for possible Landon duty, about 3:15 we headed out for Pasadena and the Jimmy Changas restaurant there to meet up with some old friends for dinner and then a visit to the local Opry.
Our daughter Brandi called about 4:15 to let us know she had survived the surgery, and was on her way home. Hopefully this will put a stop to all the sinus problems she’s been having.
When we got there about 4:30, we were seated immediately, but within about 15 minutes the place started filling up. Unfortunately part of our group got hung up in the Friday afternoon traffic and didn’t make it until after 5. But we all had a good time, and a good meal.
Afterwards we headed right down the street to the Pasadena Hometown Opry. Jan and I have never been to this one before, but we went to the Alvin Opry for more than 15 years, until it closed about a year ago.
But seeing the schedule of performers tonight was like being back there. Four of the six performers were Alvin Opry alumni, and, as it turns out, some of our favorites, too.
Earl Epps looks like George Jones, and sings like him too.
And in some cases, maybe better than the original. Probably because Earl is always sober.
Missy Brown has a vocal range that would astound you, and she really put it to use on O Holy Night, hitting a couple of dog-worthy notes there at the end.
She’s as good as anybody you hear on the radio.
Shawn Johnson started singing at the Alvin Opry as a kid, and we’ve watched him grow up.
His version of the Christmas song, ‘The Gift” brought tears to a lot of eyes. Not mine, of course. I just have allergies.
Margie La Blanc is from Louisiana, and really knows how to belt out a song.
She’s a much-featured performer on the Opry circuit, and her take of Brenda Lee’s “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree” was a real hit.
During the intermission, we had a chance to say Hi to them all, as well as a lot of familiar ex-Alvin Opry faces in the audience as well.
The show ended right on time at 10pm, capping off a night with good friends and familiar faces. Really nice!
After saying our goodbyes, we were on the road for the trip back to the rig by 10:15. After a potty break, and refueling with coffee and gas at the Flying J in Brookshire, we were home about 12:15, wrapping up a really nice day. Long, but very nice.
December 11, 2016
Never Boring . . .
You know you’re in Texas when it’s 45 degrees and you’re running the heaters on one day, and it’s 70 degrees with the AC going on the next day.
It’s never boring
Jan and I headed out for lunch at Barth’s about 12:30, not wanting to miss their Turkey & Dressing and Fried Chicken.
In fact not wanting to waste plate space on the creamed red potatoes and veggies, Turkey & Dressing and Fried Chicken was all I got.
And it turns out that we just missed fellow gate guard, JW Wilks, who apparently arrived about 5 minutes after we left. We’ll try to meet up next time.
Then it was on up to Wal-Mart for some baking stuff for Jan’s Christmas Cookie Bake-off. We also picked up a boy’s toy and a girl’s toy that we dropped off at the Toys for Tots booth outside the exit.
Coming home, we just goofed off and napped during the afternoon.
I did get a text from Todd, our SiteWatch supervisor, changing my work schedule tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 5:30pm – 5:30am to 5:00pm – 5:00am. Not a problem for me.
Seen Around the Web:
I’ve talked several times before about the future of 3D printing. And it’s amazing what they’re doing with them. Whether it’s astronauts printing repair parts on the International Space Station, Jay Leno printing new parts for his collection of antique cars, doctors printing new body parts, or even builders constructing entire houses, there’s always something new coming out.
Now it’s 3D Printing in Molten Glass.
Now they can make things from glass that can’t be made any other way.
Ever wonder about those expensive vehicle inspections that a lot of you go through every year? Wonder if they really do any good?
Well according to this GAO (Government Accounting Office) report no one really knows, but probably not. And the 15 states, including Texas, that still have the inspections, spend $100’s of millions a year for what seems to be no discernable benefit. Apparently that’s why a number of states over the last few years have dropped their inspections, and now Texas is thinking about it.
Tomorrow, it’s back to work.
December 11, 2018
How do they do that?
Jan and I headed out about 12:45 with our first stop The Egg and I up in Webster for lunch. As is normal, Jan got her Avocado Toast with a side of greens. and I got my eggs, over medium, crispy bacon, English Muffin, with a side of fruit.
But unlike our usual visits, this one was kind of a near-miss in several cases.
Jan’s side of greens was really just a side of ‘green’, as in it was only made from spinach. Of course the green shortage isn’t really their fault, and it’s better than getting E. coli, I guess.
And I still don’t understand the Hazelnut coffee situation. They bring an insulated pot of it to your table, and then pour your first cup for you. But this time, rather than the scalding hot version I usually get, it was just lukewarm.
So, for my second cup I asked for another, hotter, pot of coffee. And so when the waitress poured a cup from the new pot, it was nice to see the steam coming off the cup. But somehow it was still only lukewarm. How does that work?
And how do they cook one side of a couple of eggs different from the other side?
As I said before I always get two eggs, over medium. But somehow today they managed to cook one egg over hard, as in solid hard yolk, and the other egg, just an inch away, was cooked over easy. But maybe they were just going for the average. You know, half over hard and half over easy averages to over medium.
How do they do that?
Next, it was on over to WallyMart for a few things, before a stop by my client’s to install a new sound card, well, actually a sound USB plug, on the office manager’s computer. She likes to listen to music during the day and last week the sound card up and died.
But, unfortunately, the sound card in this system is built in on the the mother board, so no plug-in card to just switch out. I could, of course, just install a card, but then I found this on Amazon.
It wasn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow, but I got a email saying it had been delivered, so I thought I’d go by and get it installed.
And just like the instructions, I just plugged it into a front panel USB port, plugged in the speaker system, and it worked.
No separate drivers, nothing else. Nice!
Then it was a couple of gift shops looking for Christmas gifts, Bodhi’s in Kemah for some of Jan’s Neuropathy Essential Oils, some Coffee ice cream from Marble Slab, the PO to put the Christmas cards in the mail.
And then home. Whew!
The rest of the week is pretty busy too, first with dinner tomorrow night in Alvin with long-time friends Janice and Dave Evans. Then it’s my next 16 minute 40 second trip through the Devil’s Easy Bake Oven on Thursday
and Jan’s next appointment with her eye surgeon on Friday.
Wasn’t there supposed to be something ‘restful’ about retirement. I mean, it’s been 11 years now since we retired and hit the road fulltime in our RV, and it’s not slowing down.
Instead it seems to be speeding up.
December 11, 2019
It’s God’s Way of Telling Me . . .
There’s the old saw about that having a heart attack is God’s way of telling you to slow down.
Now, don’t get excited. I’m just fine.
But I think this was God’s way of telling me that we need a new TV.
When Jan and I came back from supper last Tuesday night, right before we left for New York, we found our 40” Samsung TV on the floor of the RV, and Miss Karma trying to look innocent.
She said it was the dog. But we don’t have a dog.
Anyway, when I set it back up, this is what I found when I turned it on.
BUMMER!
Strangely enough, last weekend when Jan and I were shopping at Walmart, I checked out a 43” Samsung that they had on sale.
The big problem for the size of the TV we can have is whether or not it will fit below our cabinets at the front of the rig. And it looked like it would.
So tomorrow we’ll go TV shopping, I guess. But in looking things over online, I think I may upgrade to the newer 2019 model that’s more expensive, but has a better picture, and is also Alexa compatible.
This morning I took the 22” TV we have in the bedroom and set it up on the end of the sofa so Jan could have TV until we get the new one. So she’s happy with that for a while.
I’m still going through all the New York photos that I took. When that’s done I’ll start recapping our trip on the blog.
Stay Tuned.
December 11, 2021
A Wonderful, Magical, Delightful, Fantastic Weekend . . .
is how Jan described the last week, and I certainly agree.
We saw:
Yakov Smirnoff
The Titanic Exhibit
Legends
SIX
Beach Boys Tribute
Showboat Branson Belle
The Platters
The Aquarium Exhibit
Jesus
The Haygood’s
Neil Diamond Tribute
Pierce Arrow
Lights of Joy Drive
We ate at:
Famous Dave’s BBQ
Billy Bob’s Dairyland
Showboat Branson Belle
Starvin’ Marvin’s
Billy Gail’s
and Famous Dave’s again.
In the next few days I’ll start catching up on all this.
