Monthly Archives: December 2022
Dueling Forecasts . . .
The dueling weather forecasts, from Accuweather and The Weather Channel, have started to coalesce into a median, at least on the low temp of 20° from TWC and 21° from AW. Where they still different somewhat is in the high for the day, with TWC pegging it at 64° and a blistering 71° from AW.
So I guess we’ll see.
I’m going disconnect us from shore water tomorrow and then drain the hose. Our faucets already are freeze-proof so I won’t worry there. I will get out my heat lamp and reflector clamp light and set it up in the water bay to keep things warm and toasty down there.
After that, we’ll see.
Tomorrow will be lunch at Twin Peaks, and then, once again placing our lives in peril, we plan on picking up some last minute stuff at Costco.
So if there’s no blog tomorrow night, you’ll know why, I guess.
Thought For The Day:
I always give myself great advice. Unfortunately I don’t always follow it.
December 21, 2010
Birthmarks and Santa Claus . . .
This morning started with Jan heading out about 10 am to get a pedicure. I got up about the same time and started catching up on some more computer stuff.
While Jan was gone, our daughter Brandi called to check in after her doctor’s visit at Texas Children’s Hospital. Landon’s pediatrician had suggested they take in to have the hemangioma birthmark on his forehead checked out.
Funny thing for being a birthmark is that it wasn’t there when he was born. It didn’t appear for over a month, and at first just looked like a small scratch. Now it’s almost the size of a dime.
The doctor said there was no problem and that most of these disappear by age 2, and can be treated by a pulsed dye laser if needed.
So everyone was relieved.
Now that all of Brandi’s Christmas cards have gone out, I’m now allowed to post this picture of Landon and Santa that was on their Christmas card.
Landon certainly seemed happy about the whole thing. Santa must have told him that he was getting everything he asked for.
About 5 pm we drove over to Victory Lakes to meet our friend Maria for dinner at Denny’s. Then afterwards, Maria and Jan headed down to La Marque to play Bingo.
December 21, 2011
Fans and Cookies . . .
One of the packages that came in yesterday was the new fan motor for our Splendide washer/dryer. So before I went to bed last night I pulled the old motor out.
I had been told when I ordered the new motor that I would have to remove the squirrel cage fan from the old motor and install in on the new one.
It also helped that they told me that the nut holding the fan on was reverse threaded. Otherwise I might still be trying to get the fan loose.
It’s reassuring that the new motor is much heavier and better built than the old one. I mean the old one only lasted 13 years.
What kind of quality is that?
Here’s the new motor and fan all ready to go.
But Jan says I can’t finish installing it yet. She’s in Christmas Cookie baking mode and really likes having the washer by the kitchen counter for the extra space while she’s baking.
I might have to come up with something similar that I can put up and take down for Jan.
This morning started out with coffee and a call from a client whose computer wouldn’t boot up this morning. Told him I’d be there in the next hour or so.
But after heading out, my first stop was at Brandi and Lowell’s to start a load of laundry since Jan won’t let me fix the washer yet.
LOL.
Then I headed over to the client’s. At first I thought his hard drive had died. The computer would start up and then hang at the point where it should start booting from the drive. But the BIOS setup said the computer was still seeing the drive, and I could hear it spinning up.
So while pondering this, I looked down at the bottom of the computer case on the floor and noticed Max had gotten himself an early Christmas present, (or probably a Chanukkah present), an brand new iPod Nano.
Which was plugged into a USB port. I unplugged the iPod, rebooted the machine, and everything was working fine.
Many computers are set up by default to boot from a USB port or the CDROM drive before the hard drive. A thumb drive is usually not enough to trigger this, but a iPod Nano looks enough like a bootable device that the computer tries to access it and then hangs.
Finishing up there I headed back to Brandi’s to put the clothes in the dryer and then it was back over to Lowe’s to pick up some things, including a piece of 3” metal duct to help me reconnect the dryer vent when I reinstall the Splendide.
Then it was back to Brandi’s to pick up the laundry. Lowell was there and we got to spend some time talking and that was good.
Getting back to the rig, I could smell the results of Jan’s labors as I came in the door. Batches of her famous melt-in-your-mouth Candy Cane Cookies were coming out of the oven. There’s nothing like the taste of one of these in your mouth, straight off the cookie sheet, almost too hot to eat, but you don’t care, they’re so good.
Resisting the urge to eat more cookies, Jan and I headed out about 5:15 to meet our long-time friends, Bob and Beth Young, at King Food for a great Chinese meal. We always try to get together several times while we’re back in the area, and enjoy hearing about what’s going on with their big family of five kids. We’re going to try to do this at least once more before we leave town.
December 21, 2013
Terry and Phil . . .
The big thing on yesterday’s schedule was the annual Christmas Show at the Alvin Opry. But it was made better by meeting our friend Maria at Monterey’s Little Mexico for dinner before heading over to the Opry.
As I said before, we’ve been going to the Alvin Opry since 1996, and the Christmas Show is always a must.
But the star of the show last night was Alvin Opry newcomer, 11 year old Tori Vourganas. Tori plays the fiddle and the banjo, and sings to boot. And she’s cute as a button, too.
And along with Tori, perennial favorite Tony Booth made one of his too-infrequent appearances to the delight of everyone.
Then coming home about 11pm, we stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, and also avoid the Saturday Christmas crowds.
On another note, here’s a picture of our son Chris and Dick Mott comparing their cigar box guitars out in La Brisa’s parking lot.
Today was a pretty much nothing day. In fact we never even left the rig.
There’s another front coming through bringing more cold weather so after a high of 78° at about 1:30pm, the temp dropped 15° in 3 hours.
And the low tomorrow night will be in the mid-30’s, so it looks like winter is back again.
With all the Duck Dynasty controversy, I thought I’d throw something else in the mix.
Most people don’t know that pre-Duck Dynasty, Phil Robertson was a star quarterback at Louisiana Tech University, and heavily recruited by the pros. But he gave it all up because he’d rather hunt than play football.
The other part of this was that his backup quarterback almost never got to play because Phil was so good. In fact in an interview, he said Phil had the best arm he’d ever seen. Oh, and Phil Robertson’s backup quarterback, it was TERRY BRADSHAW. Yes, that Terry Bradshaw.
If you’ve ever wanted to check out Adobe’s Photoshop but didn’t want to shell out the big bucks, you can now download a legacy version for free.
With CS6 the current version, Photoshop CS2 was released in 2005, and replaced by CS3 in 2007. And now you can have a copy of CS2 for your very own.
The reason for the freebie is that Adobe no longer wants to maintain the authentication servers for a 9 year old version, and so decided to release it into the wild.
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html
Just click the above link, select Windows or Mac on the right side, and set back and wait, because it’s a 340 MB download. The program works fine up to Windows 7, but will not work on Win 8.
Below you will find the serial number needed to register the program.
Windows Serial number: 1045-1412-5685-1654-6343-1431
Mac OS X Serial number: 1045-0410-5403-3188-5429-0639
December 21, 2014
Let There Be Light . . .
Our day really started today when we headed out about 1:30, on our way to Brand’s for the afternoon. Going through Columbus, we got gas (for $2.19. So far the cheapest I’ve seen is $1.98. $2.64 for diesel) and then made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up our prescriptions. But that didn’t work out One of the two pharmacists was out sick so the other one had to close the pharmacy while she went to lunch. And guess when her lunch period was? So I’ll have to run back down there tomorrow to pick them up.
We got to Brandi’s a little before 3, and after getting our Landon hugs, Lowell and I got to work.
A couple of weeks ago, the power in a bedroom and the adjoining bathroom went out at their house, both lights and wall outlets. I had looked at the problem a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t have any tools with me. But today I came prepared.
Since Lowell already knew that a number of the labels on his circuit breaker panel were incorrect, we started there by taking the cover off the panel and checking the output of each breaker with a voltmeter. And no luck there. They were all good.
Normally the way these things are wired up, one hot wire (black) comes from the breaker panel and then loops to each outlet and switch in a daisychain.. So a break anywhere along the line will knock out everything below it. The problem is figuring out which device is first in line, next in line, and so on.
And as was the case here, sometimes you just have to pick a place and start opening outlet boxes and switches, and testing them. In this case, the seventh time was the charm. When we took the cover plate off the 4th outlet (one on each wall) in the room, and then pulled the outlet itself out of the wall box, the lights came on for a few seconds. Got it!
These outlets and switches have a quick connect feature that allows you to just strip the wire and push it in a hole on the back of the outlet. It suppose to lock in like sticking your finger in one of those Chinese finger traps. But in this case it was broken and the wire would not stay in. So I just used my needle-nose pliers to bend a hook on the end, and tightened it down under the old-fashioned screw terminals. Slower to hook up, but more reliable.
Our job done, we all headed right down the street to Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro for our usual delicious meal.
On the home front, my new transfer switch came in, which I’ll probably install next week, and I’m going to have to do an electrical repair of my own here in the rig. The last fluorescent tube has died in the ceiling fixture in the hallway, and, as I did the bathroom, I’m going to replace the tubes with two small LED strips. Cheaper and brighter.
December 21, 2015
Old Friends, New Friends, and Chinese . . .
Jan and I headed our for our inaugural walk here at Lake Conroe Thousand Trails. Since they don’t seem to have a real designated walking path like Colorado River, I used Google Satellite View to map out a 1 mile route, which is pretty just the circumference of the park.
About a quarter of the way around, we ran into our old friend’s Garland and Valencia Scott. We first met them last winter when we were parked near each other here at Lake Conroe.
Since we were both out walking, we ended up making the circle together as we caught up on our travels this last year, and talked over our travels to be for the next year.
Garland and Valencia are the couple closest to the camera, and behind them are Gordon and Merlyn Pendergast, also new RV’ers.
Garland and Valencia are leaving for a week starting tomorrow, but they’ll be back while we are still here, so we’ll get together then. Really looking forward to it.
A little before 4pm, Jan and I headed out to meet Ed and Debi Hurlburt at the nearby China Delight Chinese Restaurant. Ed is the moderator of two popular Facebook RV groups, RV Tips and RV Chat. And not to be outdone, his wife Debi has her own Facebook group, Debi’s RV Cooking. Jan says she’s gotten some really good recipes from there, so check them all out.
Ed and Debi have been eating here for years, and after trying the food, it’s easy to see why. We’ll definitely go back.
That’s Ed in the blue shirt and Debi to his right.
Along with themselves, Ed and Debi also brought two other RV’ing couples for us to meet. That’s Jim and Claudia Horak on the right, and Jack and Lynette Starwalt behind Jan.
We all had a great time comparing places we’ve been and places we’d like to go around the country, and talking about all the things RV’ers talk about when they get together.
Leaving the restaurant, we stopped off at Kroger’s to pick up the last of the needed Christmas food supplies, as well as some Christmas gift cards. This should wrap it up, except for the Coconut Cream Pie we’ll pick up from the Fish Pond Restaurant tomorrow evening, and the Cornbread Dressing and Turkey Gravy we’ll pick up from Cracker Barrel Thursday morning on our way to our daughter Brandi’s down in Katy.
Tomorrow we’re driving over to Livingston to visit Dennis and Carol Hill at the Escapees park there, and having sampled his past culinary delights, we’re really looking forward to whatever Dennis pulls out of the smoker.
December 21, 2016
Even Closer Than We Thought . . .
As I said yesterday, today was just a nice stay at home day, or at least it started out that way.
Jan whipped up another loaf of her delicious Cranberry Orange Nut Bread, that we’ll have for breakfast over the next week or so. Nice.
Then later in the afternoon Jan and I took several of our big heavy throw rugs over the RV park laundry to give them a thorough cleaning. If she does them in our rig washer, but only one at a time. But with a FREE laundry right across the road that’s the way to go.
Jan’s used the washers once before, but it was my first time to look it over. And I was really surprised at how nice it was. Three new looking washers and three new looking dryers, all big heavy-duty units. And I did mentioned there were FREE, didn’t I.
And as it turned out, Nancy Christian, the park owner, and furnisher of the FREE washers and dryers, dropped by with some Christmas goodies and a couple of small gifts for us.
The goodie was a big batch of ‘Christmas Reindeer Crack’, a snack mixture I don’ think we’ve had before, but it sure was good. Maybe the best-tasting of any of these mixtures I’ve tasted.
I’ve posted the recipe for the Christmas Reindeer Crack under Jan’s Favorite Recipes if you want to take a ‘crack’ at it.
In another Attack of the PC Idiots, the classic Winter/Christmas song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is an assault on women and is considered, ‘rapey’. In fact one couple, who I won’t waste a link on, wrote a ‘less sexually aggressive version of it.
Here’s a quote from them:
“You never figure out if she gets to go home,”
“You never figure out if there was something in her drink.”
“It just leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.”
So apparently there was even a date rape drug involved.
The song was actually written in 1944 by Frank Loesser for him and his wife Lynn to perform at parties, and it quickly became a big hit.
Here’s an article on the Baby, It’s Cold Outside controversy
And falling even further down the PC rabbit hole, some SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) now want grandmas (and granddads, I suppose) to get active consent before they hug a grandchild, even signed consent forms in some cases. You can read more about it here: Grandma Consent Forms
For dinner tonight we again made trip down to Beeville to have dinner at the Beeville Diner. Last time we each had a salad and split an order of their wings. But the wings were so good that this time we each got an order of the wings and split a salad.
We get the wings with their Sweet Tangy Golden Sauce and they’re delicious. They’ have a crispy, crunchy crust, juicy insides, and an a really great sauce.
We split the Berry Nut Salad, the same one I had last time, but this time with grilled chicken instead of fried. Just as delicious as last time.
Tomorrow we’ll have the leftover Bella Sera pizza and then I’ve got a gate starting at 5:30pm, and then the next three days at another gate starting at 5:00pm.
Work, work, work.
December 21, 2017
Fantastic !!!
After a multi-bumpy start, including my being very under the weather this morning, we did make the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert at 3:30 this afternoon.
But we’re both pooped and are going to bed early so I’ll tantalize you with a few pics, and post a detailed blog tomorrow night.
December 21, 2018
Christmas Comes Early . . .
And an unconventional one, at that. At least as far as Christmas dinner goes.
Because of all the different travel plans this year, December 25th for the White/Morrison clan will be on Sunday, December 23rd. And rather than the usual boring turkey/ham cuisine, Brandi’s doing a brisket with potatoes, baked beans, green bean salad, tortillas, and brownies.
If that doesn’t scream ‘A Texas Christmas’, I don’t know what does.
And even better, Lowell will be heating up the pool/hot tub area for some prime soaking.time.
Most of my day at work was going back and forth between eBay and PayPal to get a refund on a machine that my client bought off eBay that looked like this on the sale page.
But what we received looked like this.
And since the seller is no longer answering our emails, I submitted this to both eBay and PayPal, and then it was back and forth between the three of us trying to work out the details.
Coming home this afternoon I stopped off at the Costco for gas, this time down to $1.78. And according to GasBuddy the Sam’s Club down in Texas is at $1.74.
Nice.
Originally we were going to eat at home this evening, and then do our Christmas dinner shopping and eating out tomorrow. But with the Christmas/Christmas Dinner scheduling change, we had supper at Chili’s once again. And with Jan’s favorite Honey Chipotle Ribs and my Grilled Chicken Caribbean Salad, the food was as good as always. However, as usual, the service sucked.
And although it was Friday, it wasn’t busy when we got there. At this point we might be better off checking out one of the other Chili’s in the area.
Tomorrow will be a busy day of present wrapping and recipe making so we’re ready for Sunday’s get-together. We’re still looking for just the perfect gift for Landon, and then I came across this. Since their new house has a big fire pit, I thought this would be perfect.
I’m not sure how Brandi feels about it, however.
December 21, 2019
Jan’s Gonna Need A Bigger Freezer . . .
On our Saturday, December 7th, in New York, we spent the day riding buses. Gray Line buses like this one.
Thursday afternoon when first visited Times Square, we purchased a pair of 24 hour Gray Line bus passes from one of the many vendors on every corner.
They listed four Hop-On Hop-Off tour routes: Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, and a Night Tour. They also offered a Boat Tour, but since we had already visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in 2009, and we were doing a East River/Hudson River Night Time Dinner Cruise the next day, we didn’t plan on doing it.
We planned on taking all four trips, starting with the Downtown one that first left out at 9am, with buses every 30 minutes afterwards. And luckily the starting point was diagonally across the corner from our hotel, so very convenient. So after another run at hotel’s breakfast buffet, we were on the corner at 9am for the first bus, along with a lot of other people.
We actually didn’t plan on doing any hopping-on hopping-off. We just wanted to see the city, as much of it as we could. Unfortunately, we managed to chose the coldest day of our trip . . . to ride in an open-air double-decker bus.
The Downtown Tour was a pretty good overview of the city landmarks, taking in Times Square. Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Financial District, Battery Park, and South Street Seaport.
In the low 30’s, plus of course the wind chill factor, I could only take a few photos before I lost feeling in my fingers, so all you get are these four.
We were kind of surprised to see Christmas trees being sold on the sidewalks, but they seem to sell everything else there, so why not?
I did get to play with the really nice zoom on my Panasonic FZ80 while we were passing the Empire State Building.
And that’s all the photos I got that day. With my gloves on I just couldn’t operate the camera.
Finishing up our first tour in about 2 hours, and ending up back in the Times Square area, Jan had been wanting some New York Clam Chowder, and Google said there was a place on the next block. But when we got there, they not longer served it. So we didn’t stay.
What we did do was to backtrack a block and have Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks at the Olive Garden we’d passed. Really good on a 35° day.
Back at the hotel we napped a little and then were back out at the bus stop for our Uptown Tour. It covered Central Park, American Museum of Natural History, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Harlem, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim and a lot more on the famous Museum Mile.
The Uptown Tour pretty much just segued into the Brooklyn Tour, which covered the Botanic Garden, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Antique Furniture District, Fulton Mall, The Brooklyn Museum, Grand Army Plaza, Cadman Plaza, The Brooklyn Public Library and much more.
Back at the hotel in the late afternoon, we crashed a bit, and then had a little supper at the dinner buffet, since we’d also had lunch. Then we just goofed off for a while until our 8pm Night Tour. It included a subset of the other 3 tours, like the Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown, the Lower East Side, Rockefeller Center, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, but at night.
Then it was back to the room, tired and happy, with Jan’s Fitbit saying we’d done over 5 miles today.
A couple of days ago there was a news story about a 75 year old Utah women found dead from natural causes in her home. But the surprising thing was that they also found her dead husband . . . in the freezer. Along with a notarized letter saying his wife didn’t kill him.
And with a little checking, the police found that he’d been dead for about 10 years, since the last time anyone saw him was the spring of 2009. Apparently she had told friends that he’d run off and left her.
Well, of course, all the commenters on Facebook and a lot of the blogs thought the wife had done him in, and the letter must a forgery. But as I told Jan, I thought it had a simpler, more benign explanation, even a loving one. Turns out the husband was being treated for a terminal illness by the VA. and had his last appointment in February 2009.
I figure the husband, knowing he was dying, and wanting his wife to be able to continue receiving his VA and SS benefits after he died, planned the whole thing, including the freezer part. The wife had received almost $180,000 in the last 10 years so it makes sense that the letter was just so his wife wouldn’t get in trouble.
Of course I don’t think people are asking the right question.
How do you get a notary to notarized a letter by a guy stating his wife didn’t kill him?
I told Jan that it’s something that I would do for her if the time came, but I think she’s gonna need a bigger freezer.
December 21, 2020
Just Karma and Me . . .
First off I want to thank everyone for the many prayers and condolences.
It means a lot.
The shock was two-fold. Not only losing two aunts in two days, but also the fact that we would have been up there during all this, but then canceled because Aunt Virginia’s doctor was so concerned about us infecting her.
Could we have done anything? I don’t know.
Would just the fact that we were up there to see her have helped? No way to tell.
But it’s hard not to second guess things.
Once again, thanks to everyone.
I’m meeting Brandi, Landon, and Jan for lunch tomorrow at 11:30 at the Cheddars on Westpark, then I’ll bring Jan back home with me, much to both Karma’s and my relief.
Of course Karma will be glad to have her back since Jan gets up a lot earlier than me, so Karma gets fed earlier.
Me, I’m just lonely and will be glad to have her back.
December 21, 2021
Naughty AND Nice!
Out and about today, our first stop was the Santa Fe Post Office to get the last of the Christmas gift cards in the mail, via Priority Mail, so that’ done.
Then it was on up to Webster for lunch at Twin Peaks once again. And like our last visit right before Thanksgiving, the week before Christmas is another ‘dress-up’ time.
Sylvia, our regular server, who always remembers everything we always order, made her own little skirt to be a little less ‘cheeky’, but many of the young ladies don’t seem to worry about that. Jan says she never knows which way to look.
Somehow I don’t seem to have that problem.
Jan says that this time of the year they should call the place ‘Twin Cheeks’.
Of course you can see a lot more skin any summer weekend on the beach at Galveston.
It does seem that the Twin Peaks dress code has changed a bit in the last 8 years. Here’s Lauren, our then-favorite server from 2013.
Jan got her favorite Spicy Chipotle Chicken along with a cup of the Tomato Basil soup.
And as usual for me, I got the Half BLT and a Bowl of the Green Chile Chicken Soup, along with fries.
Leaving TP, we headed right across the Interstate to Costco. Yes, Costco 4 days before Christmas.
But as our visit to WalMart this past Sunday, it was crowded but not overwhelmingly so. Even the check-out went fast and smooth. Finishing up, we were back home by about 4pm.
Later in afternoon, we got a couple of things from Amazon, shirts for both of us.
I got this one.
Jan says that it is so true.
Then she got this one.
I said that it was so true.
Who To Believe?
AccuWeather’s forecast, or The Weather Channel’s
AccuWeather says Thursday we will have a high of 73° and a low of 16°, a 57° temperature swing, But The Weather Channel says that Thursday will be a high of 66° and a low of 21°, a 45° swing.
But, except for this difference, the next four days leading up to Christmas are only a few degrees apart.
And even if it goes down to 16°, that won’t be the coldest we’ve seen while RV’ing, even around here. About 10 years ago we had a 19° while we were staying at Galveston Bay RV Park down on Dickinson Bayou.
But our absolute lowest temp was in late March 2008 with 6° in Garrison, MT on our way up to Fairbanks, AK. So we should be able to handle a 16° or a 21° temp. I did top off our rig’s water tank the other day, so I’ll disconnect us from shore water Thursday morning, and we should be good to go.
Lunch today was at Pho Barr once again. Though it’s a favorite of ours, somehow it kind of fell off our radar, but it’s back now.
And our waiter remembered us from the their Webster location.
We started with our usual Grilled Pork Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce.
Then Jan got the Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl,
and I got the Pho Ga, which is Pho with White Meat Chicken.
Delicious as always. It’s back on our list.
Next up was WalMart, and amazingly, we survived the place 5 days before Christmas. Actually it really wasn’t that bad. And, incredibly, they had more than the usual one full service checkout open. So even checking out went pretty quickly.
With this, and Amazon, our Christmas chores are pretty much done. Whew!
I’ve mentioned before that we have a heated mattress pad on our rig’s queen size bed, and we turn it on about 30 minutes before we go to bed. And Karma knows this so she’s usually waiting for us to come to bed, having already staked out her spot.
Thought For The Day:
And Even Better, He Doesn’t Have To Take Them Down.
December 20, 2010
Olive Garden and A Great Time . . .
I ended up sleeping in ‘til a little after 11 this morning since I didn’t sleep very well last night. For the last 4 or 5 days I’ve been hobbling around in the middle of a gout attack, which has also knocked out our walking every morning.
I think I’m on the downside of this, because I’ve got a lot of projects to work on before we leave in February, and I can’t get much done limping around like this.
But a big pot of coffee and keeping my foot elevated helped after a while. Hopefully it will keep improving.
I pretty much goofed off the rest of the afternoon while Jan caught up on the laundry.
Then about 6 pm we headed over to the Olive Garden in Pearland to meet up with Sue and Gene Hofford, the owners of the Alvin Opry, and a bunch of friends. Over 20 people were there and we all had a great time.
We got home about 10 after a pretty quiet day.
December 20, 2011
SilverStar and the Guppy . . .
This morning got off to a fast start with visits to two clients that were having problems. It took a couple of hours to clear their problems and make them happy.
But happy clients are paying clients.
My next stop was Brandi and Lowell’s to pick up our mail and packages that had come in. Getting out of the truck, I saw the Super Guppy flying over and snapped this photo.
Built from parts of a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser fuselage, and first flown in 1965, it has been involved with NASA and the US space program ever since. It is still used today ferrying parts of the International Space Station and other NASA projects.
Finally getting home I got my tools out and went to work replacing one of my headlight bulbs that had lost its low beam. These SilverStar Ultra bulbs really light up the road, but they have a weak point.
They trade lifetime for brightness.
In my case this bulb lasted a little less than two years. Since I installed both sides at the same time, I expect the other side to fail soon.
Jan’s had a nagging headache for the last couple of days so she decided not to do Bingo tonight, but about 4:30 we did head over to Dickinson to have supper at Monterey’s Little Mexico for soup and nachos.
I mean, Chicken Soup is supposed to be good for what ails you, so Chicken Tortilla Soup has to be even better, right?
December 20, 2012
At least Mister didn’t eat him yet . . .
Well, the cold front showed up about 3am this morning, and really made itself known.
When I went to bed a little before 2am, the temperature outside was still 72 degrees. But Jan and I were both awakened a little after 3 by wind, rain, and the sound of flapping awnings. In a little over an hour the temperature had dropped to 55 degrees, which was pretty much going to be the high for the day.
The rain didn’t last all that long, but the high winds continued well into the afternoon. About 11am Jan and I heard a loud bang, and looking out, saw our neighbor’s large dog kennel tumbling end over end. It was only stopped when it crashed into our bird feeder and smashed it to the ground.
Then a little later, I looked out to see one of our director chairs had almost blown into the bay. Luckily I was able to grab it in time.
Later in the afternoon Jan and I headed out for a couple of errands, and then dinner with some friends. But we didn’t get far, just barely out of the park.
As we were turning on to the road looping under the bridge, we saw a small dog running down the highway. There was a car going around the corner, but we didn’t know if the dog belonged to them or not.
Since the dog was running away from any houses, we stopped and picked him up. It took Jan a few minutes to coax him to her, but once he was in her arms, he was shivering, but pretty calm.
After driving around for a while looking for someone looking for the dog, we went back to the rig so I could make some posters.
The lady next door said she thought it looked like a dog that would sometimes chase her when she biked in the area where we found the dog.
While we were at the rig, Mister, our 27 pound cat, discovered the canine intruder and was not pleased at all, except maybe in a “dinner is served” sense.
Mister hates dogs and will attack any that get near him. Here he is stalking a poodle that got too close.
Luckily for the poodle I put Mister inside at this point.
With people, kids, and even strangers, Mister is just a big cuddly pussy cat. But let a dog near him and he goes into full attack mode.
His ears go back, he lets out a loud yowl, and then he charges. He’s gone after German Shepherds, Chows, and Great Danes. And so far, I’ve never seen a dog stand up to him. They all turn and run.
He’s got his claws and seems to know how to use them. He even used them on me once.
He was a stray who was living behind one of my client’s offices, and when I brought him home in 2006, I was holding him in my arms as I walked in the front door when our Border Collie/Chow mix ran over and started to jump up to greet me.
Mister’s head whirled around, and with fire in his eyes, his claws came out and he darn near took my nose off, before jumping out of my arms and going after the dog.
But then as soon as I got the dog outside, stopped the bleeding, and sat down, Mister was right back up in my lap, wanting to be petted. Apparently all was forgiven.
Anyway, before we put the posters up, we checked a couple of businesses in the area and no one recognized the dog. Bummer.
Hopefully someone will see the posters tomorrow and call. There is an no-kill animal rescue place right down the road (unfortunately, they’re full) and tomorrow we’ll take him down there and see if he’s chipped. Hopefully so.
Now we just have to keep him away from Mister.
December 20, 2014
Planes, Cars, and Chickens . . .
Finishing up yesterday’s road trip, about 3pm we headed out on the 2 hour trip down to Alvin, Texas to attend the Alvin Opry Christmas Show. But our first stop was at the Kelley’s Restaurant to meet our friend Maria for dinner. We always allow extra time there because they get really busy on Friday nights, and this time was no different. But finishing up dinner, we got to the Alvin Opry a little after 7pm, just in time for the 7:30 show.
It was really great catching up with all our old friends, and meeting new ones. But the show was even better. But besides all the great Christmas songs and music, the highlight of the show for us was John Mark Davis. Here’s what I wrote about him last year.
John Mark is the full-blooded son of a chief of the Adai Caddo Indians of Louisiana, and has performed all over the country. He has opened for Mark Chestnutt and Tracy Byrd, and was offered a slot opening for Dwight Yoakum, but due to a prior obligation was unable to accept.
He was also twice an award winner in the Nashville’s Music City Song Fest, and really knows how to work a crowd and keep you entertained. He’s also know for his hilarious versions of Kaw-Liga, Running Bear, and Please Mr. Custer.
You can go here and download for free, or listen to one of John Mark’s songs oh his website.
It’s hard not to like a guy who sings ‘Running Bear”, complete with pow wow dancing and war whoops from both him and audience. And in the background, the band is singing, “Um Chucka Lucka, Um Chucka Lucka, Um Chucka Lucka . . .”
Politically correct, John Mark is not.
After a great night, we finally got home about 12:15am after I made a stop for coffee since it had been a long day.
As far as today, after coffee this morning, I checked in with Randy next door to see how his battery situation was going. Found out that so far the power converter is still keeping the batteries topped off about 12.8 volts. Tomorrow when we’ll have more time, we’ll take the converter offline and see how the batteries handle some load from the coach.
But today, we wanted to do some tourist things, so about 1pm we made the 30 minute trip west to Schulenburg to visit the Stanzel Model Aircraft Museum. We visited, or rather, I visited here in March 2007 on our very first RV trip in our CruiseAmerica rental Class C.
Since it was a ‘toy’ museum, Jan wanted to stay out in the RV and finish packing things away for our 3 week trip out west. So she never saw it.
But they have added a new building since then and I knew that Jan would want to the see the restored 1800’s family home next door, we were back here again.
The Stanzel brother’s Victor and Joe, were pre-eminent in the model aircraft world from the late 1920’s until the early 2000’s when the last brother died.
The Stanzel Company started out making ‘ornamental’ (I.e. non-flying) aircraft models that were sold to nearby cadets and collectors. Stanzel models were known for their absolute attention to detail, and proved to be very popular.
Later in the early 30’s they started selling their planes as kits with 11 different models available. In fact they were selling so fast they had to expand their production and hire more people. . . . in the Depression.
A few years later they were building full-size aircraft and rocket ship rides for fairs and carnivals.
Next up was a tour of a mockup of their factory.
The center display was another carnival ride that the company was working on when the last brother died.
This is an injection molding machine that was used to make the many small plastic parts used on the models.
At the peak of production, the factory employs over 170 people, and made every part of their many products, including printing and cutting the boxes for the products. Nothing outsourced to China here
Next up was Jan’s favorite part, the restored Stanzel family home right next door.
Originally built in the mid 1800’s, it has been restored and furnished as it was in the 1880’s.
Miss Lillian, our guide, has worked for the family for years, starting out in the factory.
The kitchen with the coal-burning stove and the dry sink.
The bedroom with the rope bed.
And of course the obligatory chamberpot.
This is a quilting frame for large quilts.
The baking and food preparation area.
And an old time washing machine and a bath tub. All near the kitchen since the water had to be heated on the stove.
The Stanzel Museum is a fun visit, especially if you owned some of their toys over the years as I did. And even better, unlike some private museums, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to visit. Just $4.00 for adults, and $2.00 for seniors. Nice!
There are a lot of other museums around town, but for some reason Jan didn’t want to visit this one.
You’d think she didn’t like the accordion, or something.
Next up, we turned around and headed back up TX71 almost to La Grange. We had passed Timeless Texas Classics a number of times, but this was our chance to stop and visit.
As the sign says, they will sell you a restored auto, restore yours, or sell you parts from their own bone yard out back.
We were warmly greeted by Lance Herrington, the owner., and given the run of the place. As long as we didn’t touch anything.
The sign says that “Buttons and Buckles scratch. So please do not lay on these cars unless you are NAKED!”
Then in smaller letters underneath, it says, “And FEMALE!”
Sounds like he’s serious.
This is his personal T-Bird that he bought new over 40 years ago, and he still has it. But it can be yours for a price.
$300,000.
Sounds like he really doesn’t want to part with it.
This is a rare 1963 Falcon Sprint Convertible. Not that many were made, and not that many survived.
And this Ford Fairlane Victoria can be yours for only $36,000.
Another rare beauty, this is a 1963 Thunderbird Sports Roadster. Only 455 were made, and it’s NOT for sale.
This is a 1946 Ford Deluxe Delivery Van, complete with the fabled Flathead V8.
As you can tell, Mr. Herrington is partial to Fords, especially Thunderbirds.
If you like cars, you’ll like this place. And even better, it’s free.
Our last visit of the day was to a Texas icon, one of the most famous places in Texas history. Storied in books, plays, movies, and songs, everyone in America knows exactly what you’re talking about.
And, no, it’s not the Alamo. And it’s not the Houston Astrodome.
This is the former location of the one and only . . .
Chicken Ranch, I.e., The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
It’s not much to look at now. In fact, there’s nothing to look at now. In 1977, four years after the place closed, two Houston lawyers bought the place and moved the building and the furnishings to Dallas where it reopened as a restaurant with the former madam, Miss Edna, as the hostess. It closed the next year.
Seems like Miss Edna was better at running a whorehouse than a restaurant, because in its heyday in the 50’s, it was making over $3.5 million a year, with each of the 16 girls averaging over $2000 a week in today’s dollars.
You can read more about the history of the Chicken Ranch here. It’s an interesting read. I think my favorite part is the helicopter that the Army supplied to ferry soldiers to and from the place. Your tax dollars at work.
Tomorrow afternoon we’re driving in to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. And of course, eat dinner at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro. Can’t miss that.
Finally, I received confirmation the other day that Jan and I will be giving our seminar on gate guarding at the 54th Escapade in Tucson, starting March 8th. Called “Gate Guarding for Fun? And Profit”, it will cover everything from how to get started to how to survive on the gate, the do’s and don’s, and what to expect.
I don’t know the day and time yet, but I’ll let you know.
December 20, 2015
Back in Conroe . . .
Jan and I were up about 7:30 this morning. early for me since this in a travel day. But since we weren’t leaving until around 10am, we relaxed for a while, with Jan fixing us egg and cheese biscuits to have with our coffee, Really good.
I started up the rig about 9:40 and raised the levelers so I could get the pads out from under the rig. About this time Bonnie and Vance Clegg, our next door neighbors and new friends, came over to say goodbye. They’ll still be here when we come back in two weeks so we made plans to get together then.
We were hooked up and pulling out of the park by about 10:15. Getting out on I-10E we found it had become a very windy day, and stayed that way all the way to Conroe. Not windy enough to be a real problem, but enough that I had to stay on top of it.
We pulled into the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails a little after 1pm, and Kim, the head ranger got us checked in. She said that there were no 50amp open sites in the ‘E’ ring where we normally like to stay, but there were some in the newly-remodeled ‘G’ area. So after we got unhitched, we drove over through that area and quickly found a prime site.
So nice in fact, I kind of wondered why it was empty. But we quickly got backed in and parked. But when I went to get power, water, and sewer hooked up, it quickly became obvious why the site was empty. Probably 95% of 40ft Class A’s couldn’t hook up here.
When the rig is far enough toward the rear of the site so that you can park your toad out in front, the power pedestal is actually about a foot out in front of the rig. In fact I doubt anyone with a standard length power cord could hook up at all. Luckily for us, the first owner of our American Eagle ordered it with the optional extra-long power cord, and a couple of times I’ve been able to connect to the power pedestal at the site next to ours during power problems.
But even with my long cord, I was just barely able to connect to power. In addition I had to use two sections of sewer hose because the sewer connection is also way forward. But since we can hook up here, and most rigs probably can’t, maybe this will be our spot from now on.
After goofing off for a while we headed about 3pm. First up was ‘linner’ at one of our new favorite places, Raisin’ Cane’s Chicken Fingers. We first ate at one on last year’s gate near Bryan/College Station, and a few more times since then.
And it’s always really good.
Then it was next door to the Home Depot to pick up a 5/8” countersink for my next project that I’ll talk about tomorrow. After that we made a stop at an HEB to pick up a few things, including a couple of their oven-roasted turkey breasts to have for our family Christmas dinner on Friday.
We’re really looking forward to getting together with everyone.
December 20, 2016
A Snow Day for Jingle . . .
Last night only went down to the low 40’s but I waited until this morning to put us back on shore water just in case.
Looks like it’ll stay above freezing for the next week or so, especially nice since I’ll be working nights on a gate Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Much better than in 2013 when we working on a frac gate down here in Whitsett and of course sitting outside under our canopy. The problem was that it was 26° and sleeting, with icicles hanging down from the canopy flaps. Don’t miss that at all.
Landon apparently got a chance to make his own milkshake at the new Willy Burger in Katy. Here he is getting prepped with his gloves.
This 4 year old Landon photo recently showed up on Facebook and I’m not sure I’ve seen this one before, but he sure is cute.
Why do Amazon ads keep showing me things I already bought? As I move from website to website, including this one, I see ads for products I’ve search for, both online and on Amazon. But if they know all this why do they show me ads for things I’ve already bought and received, in some cases, weeks ago. And why don’t show me things similar to what I’ve already purchased, not exactly the same thing?
And they even do it for Kindle books. A month or so ago Saxon Andrew, one of my favorite science fiction authors, came out with his latest book and I bought it the same day.
Then yesterday, I got an email telling me that Saxon has a new book out, the same one I bought a month ago. My email address is the one linked to my Amazon account so why don’t they know I already have the book?
December 20, 2017
We Got Plucked . . .
No much new happened at work today. I did get a call from my client yesterday evening saying the Shipping area machine was down.
I asked if he wanted me to come and take a look at it, but he said no, just wanted me to know for this morning. And I’m really glad I didn’t go in since it only took me about 5 seconds to fix it.
The machine was offline, so I just unplugged the USB WiFi adapter and then plugged it right back in. And Bingo!, it was fixed.
When I got home about 4:30, we turned right around and headed back up to Webster to get Plucked.
At Plucker’s, a wing place that just opened a couple of weeks ago.
In fact, I just noticed them a few days ago as I was going into work.
Plucker’s has a pretty varied menu from wings, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and apps, but why would you go to a place called Plucker’s and get anything but the wings.
But we started out with an order of their Fried Pickles, free for a limited time. Really good. And even Jan, who doesn’t like dill pickles, liked them.
Next up was Side Salads for both of us,
with their really tasty home-made Ranch Dressing.
And finally the pièce de résistance, what are advertised as the largest wings available.
And they are big, much bigger than Hooters or Buffalo Wild Wings. Jan got 10 wings, half with Honey BBQ and half with Buffalo Medium.
I got my usual all drums with Ginger Peach Sriracha sauce. along with a side of their Fire in the Hole sauce, the hottest they have. The wings were delicious and Ginger Peach Sriracha is my new favorite sauce, topping Buffalo Wild Wings Mango Habanero, my past favorite.
However I was disappointed in their ‘superhot’ Fire in the Hole sauce. It was not as hot as BWW’s Blazin’ sauce and all I could taste was the vinegar base. And that vinegar taste why, though I like really hot stuff, I don’t care for any of the standard hot sauces, like Tabasco, Frank’s, Texas Pete’s, etc. All I can taste is vinegar.
However I do really like Sriracha. Although it has vinegar in it, it’s not enough for me to taste.
So as it stands now, Plucker’s is our new favorite wing place, and we’ll go back soon.
Tomorrow is a busy day. I’ve got to stop by Cracker Barrel around 11am to pick up the big pan of Cornbread Dressing that we ordered the other day.
Then in the afternoon, we’ll head into downtown Houston for Jan’s Birthday Present. Although her birthday was back in October, her present starts at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon at the Toyota Convention Center and the
We’ve both wanted to see TSO for years but this is the first time it’s worked into our schedule.
And then afterwards, another favorite of ours, Longhorn Steakhouse, when we get back to the Webster.
Looking forward to a great day.
December 20, 2018
The Conroe Bunch . . .
OK, let’s get this straight. I’m not going blind.
We don’t even know if I HAVE Fuchs’ Dystrophy. It’s only a possible diagnosis. The only reason I’m looking into it is because the Sam’s Club optometrist thought I had a cataract.
And I don’t
As far as what I see, I don’t have a problem. My left eye will only correct to 20/50, but my right eye is 20/20. And using both eyes on the eyechart, my total vision is 20/20.
I’m not seeing any glare or halos around lights at night, not any diminishing of my night vision. All in all, it’s not a problem.
Down the road, we’ll have to see.
As far as today, Jan and I headed out about 10am for our get-together with the Conroe Bunch up in Spring at the El Palenque Mexican Restaurant there. We’ve passed it a number of times, but this was our first visit
Starting on the left, it’s Ed Hurlburt, Dick Mott, Judy Mott, my Jan, Janice Evans, Karen Headley, Debi Hurlburt, Sandy Mills, Mike Mills, Richard Headley, and Dave Evans.
A motley group if I ever saw one.
We had a great time getting together with old friends Ed and Debi, Dave and Janice, Dick and Judy, and new friends Mike and Sandy, and Richard and Karen. Hopefully we can maybe do this once a month or so.
Finally saying our goodbyes and heading home about 2pm, our first stop was at the Friendswood WalMart for a few groceries, and to pick up the prescription I had dropped off on the way up to Spring.
It was for the steroid drops that I’m supposed to be putting in my left 4 times a day, but they didn’t have the saline drops I’m supposed use 5 minutes before the steroid drops.
Then it was next door to the Sam’s Club for another prescription, plus they had the saline drops, so I was all set for the eye stuff. Then it was back home by 4:30.
A really nice, fun day.
Today I sent this photo over to Brandi, threatening to buy this for her for Christmas.
The only problem I see is that she’s gonna need a bigger pool.
For her part Brandi sent over this photo of the Gingerbread House Landon build for school. Unfortunately it didn’t survive the trip home, so of course Landon had to rebuilt it better.
Tomorrow it’s back to work before the upcoming 4 day Holiday weekend.
December 20, 2019
Friday, December 6th in NYC
Since nothing much happened today, I thought I’d jump back two weeks to our NYC trip.
Friday December 6th was our first full day in NYC after we got in yesterday morning. But before we headed out, first we checked out the hotel breakfast buffet. And we were happy to find that this was no ‘make your own waffle’, cold cereal, and stale muffins buffet, but a full-blown one with eggs, two kinds, bacon, sausage, basmati rice, as well as baked beans. And of course, all the fruit, cereals, etc.
There were also a lot of other ‘unusual’ breakfast dishes, or at least unusual to us. We did recognize the ‘baked beans’ as being an English breakfast dish, since we saw it on the menus in London. But we don’t know who was eating rice, at least for breakfast.
But the most confusing one was laid out with the oatmeal. They had all the standards, fruit, brown sugar, honey, etc., but strangely never any bananas. What they did have that was different was ‘peanut butter’. Not sure who normally eats that way, but since I really like peanut butter, I might try it sometime.
Leaving the hotel, we Ubered over to the first place Jan want see, and that was Rockefeller Center.
Our driver let us off pretty much right in front of the big tree, which even in the daytime is pretty impressive.
Walking over to the side we looked down on the famous ice rink.
I guess I was expecting something a little more grand, but it’s not nearly as big as the indoor rink where Landon plays hockey up in Sugarland.
Noticing a Lego store right next to the rink I took a look inside. Landon’s a big Lego fan so I thought I might find something for him for Christmas. But the only thing that really caught my eye was this Millennium Falcon.
At least until I saw this price.
I mean I love the kid and all, but I wouldn’t buy that for me, much less someone else.
Sorry, Landon.
Jan also wanted to look in the window to the Today Show set,
but unfortunately they were just doing camera setup shots, so Jan didn’t get to see her favorite, Hoda Kotb.
Exploring further, we walked around the corner and found the entrance to the Tonight Show,
and, although I didn’t get a photo, we also saw the Saturday Night Live entrance.
I enjoyed seeing all the many Art Deco ornamentations inset into the Rockefeller Center buildings.
Reminds me a lot of the decorations on the Empire State Building.
Finally, after several hours we headed back toward our hotel. But this time we just walked. I had noticed on Google Maps that we were actually only 5 or 6 blocks from our hotel. It took longer for our Uber because of the one-way streets. I think we were able to walk it quicker than we Ubered.
And cheaper, too.
We checked out a few gift shops as we walked back, and then took a nap in our room for a while.
Then about 6:30 we went back downstairs to have dinner at the hotel buffet. And once again ran in to the international cuisine offerings. Among other items we had our choice between Lamb Ragout and Fried Calamari. Not on of our Favorites List.
We finally settled on hamburgers. Pretty good, actually.
Then we walked back over to the Rockefeller Center to check out the tree at night.
Really beautiful!
And of course, a lot of other Christmas on every corner.
Then it was back to the hotel to rest up, so we could do it all over again tomorrow.
December 20, 2020
Gave My Wife Away . . .
Well, not so much as gave her away, but loaned her out for a couple of days.
Jan and I left the rig a little before 11 heading up to Webster to meet up with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood for lunch. Then Jan was going back with them up to Katy to Landon-sit for a couple of days until I pick her up on Tuesday morning.
Then on Thursday night, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, plus Sonja and Lindell, Lowell’s parents, and his sister, Sherry, will all be back down here to have our annual Christmas Eve family dinner at King Food, something we’ve done for over 30 years, with only a few misses.
The next day, Christmas, Jan and I will drive up to Brandi’s to spent Christmas Day with everyone all over again.
Our meal at Floyd’s was just as delicious as always. I started off with my usual Shrimp Gumbo,
just full of shrimp.
Jan, Lowell, and Brandi all got the Chicken Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatoes.
Part of the secret of how good this is is the gravy. Maybe the best we’ve ever tasted.
And yes, those are mashed potatoes, just artfully dished out. And delicious.
For me, I tried something a little different, at least for what I usually get here, the Blackened Chicken Breast with Grilled Green Beans.
The Green Beans are a new addition to the menu, and grilled with onions and bacon, I’ll certainly have them again.
Landon had a Salad with Fried Chicken Tenders, with Ranch Dressing.
The kid likes salad, who knew?
December 20, 2021
Busy In Branson . . .
Today was another day in the 50’s, going down to the low 40’s again tonight. But by Christmas day it’s going to be back in the 80’s again. Not exactly Christmas-like.
And certainly not like December 2017, just a couple of months after we moved down to Santa Fe from Conroe.
But not much chance of that this year.
Here’s another catch-up blog for December 6th, our first full day in Branson, two weeks ago.
Last Time I Died . . .
Today was our busiest day with 3 shows and exhibits booked, with our first stop being the Titanic exhibit right on the main drag.
The building is said to be the same basic size as the Titanic, but only half the length.
This was also one of only two places where we had to wear a mask. Of course the bow of the ship should have been a giveaway.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
The other place that required a mask was our Showboat Branson Belle non-cruise Dinner Cruise, due to Coast Guard regulations.
When you enter, the first thing you see is the famous Grand Staircase.
This staircase was built from the original plans using all the specified woods and materials of the original.
We were told we couldn’t take any photographs inside the exhibit, but somebody did it, resulting in all the online photographs like the one above. Don’t know what the problem is. Are they afraid someone will take a lot of photographs and then build their own museum?
It’s here that they give you a random card with a passenger or crew member’s name on it, and then at the end of the exhibit you can check the passenger list to see if you lived or died.
We did a traveling version of this in Houston years ago, and that time I was a Third Class Steward, and I died.
This time I was a young, healthy male 1st Class passenger who certainly wasn’t going to up HIS seat in the lifeboat for any Third Class riff-raff, so I survived.
They had a lot of really neat exhibits with artifacts recovered from the ship. In addition there were a lot of interesting facts along the way.
The Titanic was not fully booked. Capable of holding 2,566 passengers and crew, there were only 2,240 onboard for the maiden voyage.
If every lifeboat had been filled, they would have only held 1,178 people. But the ship was ‘unsinkable’, right? So why would you need more than the 20 lifeboats onboard?
The iceberg became visible to the the lookout in the Crow’s Nest only 37 seconds before the impact.
And
If the Titanic had hit the iceberg head-on, it almost certainly would not have sunk. The ship had 16 water-tight compartments, and could stay afloat with as many as 4 flooded. So a head-on collision would have breached 1, or maybe 2 compartments, leaving the ship afloat.
But because the Titanic grazed along side the iceberg, ripping open 6 compartments, the ship was doomed.
After our 90 minute Titanic visit it was time for lunch. We had been asking locals about good places to eat, and Billy Bob’s Dairyland kept coming up.
And since it was right down the Strip, we were off.
And although there were other obvious tourists like us there, it was easy to tell the locals, who were greeting each other, and joking with the waitresses. And the burgers make it obvious why the locals like it so much.
Jan had the Cheeseburger with Sweet Potato Fries.
I had the Cheeseburger with a side of Chili. And it was easy to see why the locals like the place so much. Nothing fancy, just a delicious burger.
Then after a nice nap back at the room, we were off to our next show, Legends, at the iconic Dick Clark American Bandstand Theater.
First up was Dean Martin, complete with the Gold-digger Dancers.
This guy was really good and passed my test. When I closed my eyes, I was listening to Dean Martin.
Next up was the Blues Brothers, again dead on, including the dance moves.
Also really good.
Next up was Whitney Houston, who was just amazing.
Her voice was just fantastic.
Last up was Kenny Chesney, of You Had Me At Hello, and She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy fame.
Also very good.
Then they wrapped up with everyone on stage.
A really great show!
After another rest-up we were off to our 3rd and final show of the day, SIX. We were looking forward to seeing them again, having seen them 11 years ago during our last visit to Branson.
Made up of six brothers, they sing acapella, including making the instrument sounds. They’re really amazing.
All 3 of these exhibits/acts are much recommended.
And now tomorrow we do it all over again.
