Our RV Adventures

Tonight we saw Jeff Dunham’s ‘Still Not Canceled’ show up in Houston at the NRG Arena. And it was Absolutely Hilarious.

Toward the end the guy to my right was laughing so hard I thought he was having an asthma attack. Or maybe he was, but he was still having trouble catching his breath.

But we didn’t get home until after 11, so more tomorrow.

But before I go. I didn’t discovered until this afternoon that an entire section of the Titanic or Olympic post disappeared between when I wrote it and when I posted it.

So I’ll straighten that out as well.

Just know that Nobody Was Supposed To Die!

---

Thought for the Day:

A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.

The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

---

January 11, 2011

Yo-Yo’s and Bingo . . .

Today was a really busy day in contrast to yesterday’s lay-about the rig day.

It started off when I left the rig about 10am heading for a client’s up in Clear Lake. I was there until about 2:30, and then it was off to another client’s in Pearland to drop off a computer that I had taken home to work on a particularly pesky Trojan Virus. I hadn’t run into this one before so it took a little while to figure out how to get rid of it. I also spent some time talking to Bill and June about RV’ing since they have a 5th wheel and travel a good bit.

Then it was time to head back down south to the rig. And I got back just in time to get Jan and head back up to Nassau Bay to pick up our granddaughter Piper and her friend Helena.

Tonight is Bingo night and they’re both going with Jan and Maria to play tonight. Then it was back down to Dickinson to meet Maria at Garcia’s Mexican Grill in Dickinson for supper.

With all this back and forth, sometimes I feel like a yo-yo.

BTW did you know the yo-yo has been around since 500 B.C. in Greece and was made of terra cotta clay.

And when it was first patented in the U.S. in 1866 it was called a ‘bandalore’.

If I don’t tell you this stuff, who will.

After we finished dinner, and Maria, Jan, Piper, and Helena headed down to La Marque for Bingo, I headed back up to Clear Lake to another client’s office to do some updates and cleanups that can’t really be done during the day.

About 9:30 it was time to head down to La Marque to pick everyone up. And unfortunately, nobody won anything but Maria, and she only won $25. Wheeee!

And then it was back up to Nassau Bay to drop off Piper and Helena,  After that we finally headed back down to the RV park on Dickinson Bayou.

Told you I was a yo-yo.

---

January 11, 2012

Cheese and Books . . .

Jan and I headed out about 12:30 for another afternoon of errands and work stuff. But our first stop was for lunch at King Food, before heading over to Half-Price Books.

Jan had a large bag of books she wanted to sell, and a list of books she was looking for. And as usual, we got zilch for our books. I carried in a big canvas bag that must have weighed 25 pounds, and we walked out with 8 whole dollars.

Whoopee!

Our next stop was my client’s office. While Jan read in the truck, I finished setting up the second new computer for them. I’ll go back over some time later this week and get everything installed.

A little before 4pm we drove down to meet Brandi at Landon’s pediatrician’s office. Landon had a Dr’s appointment, and since Lowell couldn’t get free from work, Brandi wanted Jan along, so between the two of they could keep Landon in hand and still pay attention to what the Doctor was saying.

Afterwards, we all headed over to Brandi’s for a while, waiting until it was time to meet Lowell at Cheddar’s for dinner.

While we were there, Landon got his first chance to use his new Gyro Bowl, in this case, full of orange sections. As I thought he spent as much time playing with it as eating from it. He was fascinated by how it swiveled as he turned it.

After a fun meal, we finally all headed to our respective homes.

Tomorrow’s kind of up in the air. I may just work around the rig unless something comes up.

We’ll have to see.

---

January 11, 2014

See, I’m Not Crazy . . .

As Sheldon says, “My Mother had me tested”

I was up about 8:30 this morning, heading out about 9:30 to pick up our son Chris. On the way I stopped at Jack in the Box for a couple of Supreme Croissants for us to eat on the way. We were on our way into Houston to meet up with Lowell and Landon at the George R. Brown Convention Center for the Great Train Expo model railroad show.

The first shock was that it cost $20 to park at a lot about 6 blocks from the GRB. At least we got a lot of exercise for our money. But it only cost $10 each to get in, and Landon was free.

The show was pretty crowded with every aisle pretty much filled to capacity.

Landon was fascinated with all the different layouts and themes. And actually, so was PaPa.

He demanded to be picked up so he could see everything. This rocky ledge, complete with waterfall, was great.

These blocks of Styrofoam show how many of these hills and mountains start out before being carved into shape.

The scenery detail was really good.

Sometimes even the circus comes to town.

And of course, what’s a countryside without a farm. complete with a irrigation ditch.

This one even has an RV campground.  I mean, isn’t it a law that all RV parks must be located next to railroad tracks?

This is a Lionel 027 gauge layout like the one I started out with.

This photo shows that comparative size of the major different scales. The Z Scale boxcar in the foreground is less than 2 inches long. And, not shown here is an even smaller scale, known as T Scale. A T Scale boxcar would be less than 1 inch long!

At some point you’ll have to start using a magnifying glass to operate your train, if things get any smaller.

The part about not being crazy came about from my inquires about the Lionel train set I received when I was 11. I was never able to find the exact train in any of the old Lionel catalogs. In fact a few years ago, one guy told me I must have imagined it. He hinted that I must be crazy.

But based on something I read recently online, and was finally able to confirm with a vendor today, I figured out what was going on. Large Lionel retailer’s like Sears and Roebuck in my case, were able to order train sets to their own specifications. This is apparently where my train set came from.

So I’m not crazy.
Well, at least I didn’t imagine it.

My train set originally cost about $50. After talking to the vendor, and based on the present day cost of this Santa Fe F3 engine like I had, my train set would be worth over $1500 if I still had it.

Damn!

Notice that steam locomotive below my F3. It now sells for $1450.00.

This was the part that Landon was waiting for –  the Thomas the Tank Engine ride

While he and Lowell were waiting in line for the train ride, I went shopping and found this neat Glow-in-the-Dark Thomas the Tank Engine T-shirt for him.

After about two hours it was time to start heading home,  but we didn’t manage to get past the food trucks parked across the street at Discovery Green.

They were having a arts & crafts festival, and a lot of people were out and about on this beautiful day.

Lowell and Landon got Cupcake Pops, and Chris and I got wraps from another truck. I also got a couple of cupcakes to take home for Jan and I later.

Running into the usual I-45 construction, it took almost an hour to get back to Chris’ and then another 30 minutes to get back to the rig.

A little later Jan and I headed up to Kemah to have dinner at Hooter’s. We haven’t been for a while, and were happy to see that, probably due to the competition from places like Twin Peaks, Bonedaddy’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings, they’ve added a lot of new menu items, including even hotter sauces. Yumm!

By the time we got back home the sun was going down and I got some good shots of the park here. This is the views out in front of our rig.

Later, about 8 PM, I fixed us Hazelnut Cappuccino K-Cups and we had the Red Velvet and Carrot Cake cupcakes I brought home this afternoon.

A really nice way to end a great day.

---

January 11, 2015

Pucker Butt . . .

Mostly today Jan and I just waited out the continuing nasty, wet, cold weather. But it now looks like the next four days should be pretty decent, as in no rain and temps in the high 40’s / low 50’s. That should be good enough to get some stuff done outside.

Later in the day, after doing some web work, I started setting up my client’s new computer. When I was finished with the basic startup stuff, I connected with our rig Wi-Fi network and started to download 964 MB of upgrades and updates. Luckily I have an unlimited 3G Verizon air card, and there’s a good 3G signal here at the park so it only took a little over an hour to get them all pulled down and installed.

Next up I wanted to create the Recovery DVD’s, which according the program, would require 6 DVD’s. Unfortunately, as it turned out, I only had 3, so I’ll have to get some more tomorrow. The program doesn’t allow you to start and stop the DVD writing process so I’ll just wait until tomorrow when I have enough to finish the job in one sweep.

I also took some time to check out the client’s old computer as far as the hard drive goes. It certainly is bad, as with the side of the computer off, you can hear the drive spin up and then start ‘clicking’ and not initializing as it should. I won’t try the ‘freezer trick’ until everything else is set up on the new machine. But the fact that it is spinning, and not completely dead, is encouraging. But we’ll see.

In the afternoon, wanting a snack, I got a chance to try another of my Christmas gifts, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Caramel Candy, that my son-in-law Lowell got for me at iBurn.

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion peppers were acknowledged as the hottest pepper in the world until recently when it was surpassed by the Carolina Reaper.

While both the Scorpion and the Reaper look pretty much the same, with a average rating of 1.2 million Scoville units, the Scorpion is about 60 times hotter than a Habanero, while the Reaper is about 80 times hotter. I found it funny that the Carolina Reaper was developed in South Carolina by Ed Currie, owner of the Pucker Butt Pepper Co, the perfect name for a hot pepper company.

As far as the hottness of the candy, it was hotter than the Mango Habanero sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings, but not quite as hot as their Blazin’ sauce.

All in all, very good.

---

January 11, 2016

The Siren Call . . .

Jan and I were back walking this morning, since she was feeling back to normal after her migraine travails. And even though we’d been sidelined for a couple of days, we did bump our distance up to 1.52 miles.

By adding a couple of loops and swirls along the way, that gave us the additional distance without really modifying our basic route. We’ll probably  hold at this distance until we’re back at Lake Conroe after next Sunday.

Since we didn’t bump into anyone we knew, we were able to keep a good, steady pace at 27:38 min/mile. Not bad for old folks.

We did however split up the walk like we did the other day, by doing the top loop, about a mile, and then stopping for our coffee and breakfast bread. Then about 30 minutes later we completed the bottom loop. It was a perfect day for the walk, with a partly sunny sky and 50°, and couldn’t be much better.

Jan and I headed up to La Grange about 3:30 this afternoon, planning on having a light dinner at Sonic, and then a trip to Wal-Mart.. But as we came up SR71, we were lured by the siren call of the local Whataburger. It was almost like the truck was steering itself. And we just ate the Columbus Whataburger a few days ago.

But while last visit we stayed with our  tried-and-true burgers, this time we went off in a different direction. Jan had been wanting to try their Buffalo Ranch Chicken Strip Sandwich.

When she was almost done, I ask her how it was, and she said, “Good.” So I then ask, “Just Good, or Have Again Good?” She took another bite and said, “Have Again Good.” So there you have it, Jan’s Seal of Approval.

For my part I went with an repeat meal for me. one that I last had on the gate, their Apple and Cranberry Salad.

Topped with their really good, spicy Honey-Pepper Vinaigrette, it was a great meal. Of course I also had a large order of fries with it, just to be sure I was eating a well-balanced meal.

And with our last visit to the Whataburger in Columbus, there was absolutely no problem with my order. So beware of the Carthage Whataburger, I guess. Or just get it plain.

When I talked about the Bath & Body Works Touch Free SmartSoap Automatic Hand Soap Dispenser a few days ago,

Several blog readers mentioned that they had refilled different models of these soap dispensers, but I’m not sure how it would work with these cartridges.

There is a small hole, but you’d probably have to use a hypodermic or something like it, to put soap back in the cartridge.

Another reader mentioned that he had pried the lid off and refilled it that way, but I’m not sure how that would work. Right now it looks like that prying the lid off would break it.  So I’ll wait to see about doing that after the cartridge is empty.

One thing I did notice is that, although these soap cartridges are being sold online for about $15, according to the barcode price label, the retail cost is only $8.00. So that makes it not quite so important, at least to my bank account.

And besides, hacking the circuit would be a large part of the fun. I mentioned that I was going to try to modify the mechanism so that it doesn’t  put out as much soap. Since I figure that it might difficult to change the amount of time that  soap is pumped out, I going to see if I change the circuit so that it only runs when my  hand is in front of the sensor.

But I’ll have to wait until the first cartridge is empty before I explore further.

---

January 11, 2017

The One Day At A Time Gate. . .

About 2:30 this afternoon, I got a text from Todd, our SiteWatch supervisor, wanting to know if we had plans this afternoon. I told him it sounds like I do now.

So same gate, same time. I told him that they made a TV show about this gate a while back. It was called One Day At A Time.

At least I got the call a little earlier today. As far as tomorrow, who knows. I just take it On . . . well, you know.

So far it looks like I’ve solved the program with my dashcam. I first noticed it a few weeks ago when we were almost sideswiped on a day trip to San Antonio. Later when I checked the camera I found that it had stopped recording about 5 minutes before the incident.

Looking over the video files, I noticed other gaps where it started and stopped. And this got me to thinking about how recently the dashcam screen would come on at random times and after a few minutes go back off.

Wondering if this might have anything to do with my problem, on my next drive I noted the time the display came back on and then went off again. And checking later confirmed my suspicions. The video files stopped at the time the display came on and resumed when it went off. So that’s what’s happening, but what’s causing it?

My next step was to email the company’s Tech Support, and after laying out the symptoms, mentioned that I was using a SanDisk memory card. The return email said that SOME cameras have trouble with SOME SanDisk cards and to maybe try another brand. So I did.

And now after about a week and a half the problem has not returned. But the card itself seems to be fine and works perfectly as a standard SD in my computer. Plus I have SanDisk cards in my camera, my phone, and my tablet, all with no problems. So who knows.

As I mentioned, we’ll be leaving this year’s gate guarding stint on February 15th, when we’ll head back to the Colorado River Thousand Trails for two weeks while we get our medical stuff taken care of for this year. Then it’s on to the Lake Conroe TT for a week, and then back to Colorado River for a few days before we head out for Tucson and the Escapade Rally.

So today I once again fought my way through the Thousand Trails’ website and made the prerequisite reservations. And as usual, every time I finished making a reservation and then booking it, I got an error message telling me that there was a problem (at least it wasn’t blue, or green) and my reservation could not be completed.

But, also as usual, when I would go to Current Reservations and check, it would show that the reservation was made, and I would also get an email confirming it.

Earlier this evening we had a Sun Coast fuel (diesel) tank truck come up to the gate looking for pad X29 where a new drill rig was going up. Told him that we were a frack and not a drill site, and I hadn’t heard of a pad X29 around here. Then I ask to see his directions.

The directions are printed on a long strip much like a Wal-Mart receipt, and have pad name and the directions to get there, as well as a contact number for any problems. And as it turned out, he had followed the directions perfectly. They led him right to us. But we weren’t where he was supposed to be. So I suggested he call his contact number to see if they could straighten him out.

Well, his ‘contact’ number turned out to be some lady’s house who was very irate that she had been getting calls at all hours of the day and night for the last two days, asking for directions.

He said “She told me where to go, all right. But I don’t think I want to take a tanker full of fuel there.”

---

January 11, 2018

Seen Better Days . . .

I was really nice to just get up this morning and not really have anything that we really needed to do.

I did want to take the big awning down but it was overcast and looking like rain when I got up, and it was supposed to rain all day, so I wasn’t too hopeful.

I called my client to let them know that I would be in the office tomorrow since Jan’s lithotripsy has been moved to next Wednesday. Then I called the hospital to double-check our arrival time for that. Originally we were told to arrive at 9:30 for the 11:30 procedure. But now that the procedure is scheduled for 12:30, I wanted to be sure that our arrival time would be pushed back to 10:30, and it was.

Even though it was still overcast, when the rain hadn’t showed up by 2, I got ready to go outside and tackle the awning. But before I could get out the door the hard rain swept through.

But looking at the Rainy Days app, I saw that the rain was a long, thin line sweeping through so I still thought I might make it. And by 3pm I was outside and ready to go.

This one has seen better days. It got soaked in drilling fluid in 2014 when we were across the road from the drill rig and they blew a seal and covered the rig in sticky oil. I tried everything I could to get the stains out, but no luck.

And when the then tiny hole appeared I tried to patch it with awning tape, but it wouldn’t stick. In fact nothing I tried would stick. So that leaves us here.

I locked the pliers to the end of the spring, removed the screw, and unwound the spring, counting the turns.

One the left end I just let the spring unwind free, leaving me with this.

Then after removing the screw from the upper frame, I was able to slide the frame piece and the fabric off.

Finally I uncrimped the frame, slid the fabric loose, and I was done.

It only took about  30 minutes. I’ll try to drop it off at Sundowners tomorrow or Saturday.

About 4pm we headed down to the Victory Lakes area to have dinner at Jason’s Deli, one of our favorite soup and sandwich places. But this time it was Soup  and Salad.

Jan had a cup of her favorite Broccoli Cheese Soup AND got a bowl of it to go for tomorrow’s lunch while I’m at work.

I got a bowl of my usual Southwest Chicken Chili, my all-time favorite.

Really good. Unfortunately I forgot to bring in my Volcanic Pepper Flakes to spice it up a little.

For the salad part, we both got the Nutty Mixed-Up Salad,

with grilled chicken breast, greens,grapes, cranberries, feta cheese, raisins, nuts, apples and pumpkin seeds.

Really delicious and we both had some to take home.

There’s a Social Security Office in the same area as Jason’s and I had hoped to stop by and find out why my 2018 check amounts don’t make sense, but we ran out of time and they were closed. Maybe next time.

When we got to Jason’s, the sun was out and the sky was blue. But by the time we left about 45 minutes later, the sky was dark gray and heavy rain drops were starting. So our stop at the nearby HEB for a few things was postponed.

Although our high today as 70° our low tonight is looking at 33. And the front coming in presages 40/50 degree days and 30/40 degree nights for the next week or so. Our favorite temps.

Brandi, Lowell and Landon are all settled into their rent house for the next year while they’re looking for a new place to buy. The last we heard they close on the old house on the 22nd. But in our experience, that’s always kind of fluid. On one of our buys, we had 3  different appointments before one stuck.

Brand did send over this pic of Landon and his best buddy, Baxter. Too Cute!

Back to work tomorrow.

---

January 11, 2020

OK, I’m Confused . . .

We had our usual great time at the New Alvin Opry last night, catching up with old friends, and seeing some really good performers for the first time.

And of course, we always start an Alvin Opry visit with dinner at long-time favorite, Monterey’s Little Mexico Restaurant. We had been eating at the one in Dickinson for over 20 years, but it was flooded out in Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and it’s never reopened, though they keep saying they will. So we have to make-do with the one in Alvin whenever we’re up this way.

Jan, as usual, got her fav Fajita Beef Stuffed Avocado.

while I got the same Chicken Tortilla Soup that I’ve getting for 20+ years. Yes it’s that good.

Thought the Opry show didn’t start until 7pm, we got there when the doors opened at 6, since unless you have a large group with a reserved table, it’s the best way to get a good seat.

I had planned to get some photos, but when I got there I found that the battery was dead in my Panasonic Lumix camera, so no pics this time.

Ok, I’m Confused. (no snickering)

A couple of times a week, Jan and I have some whipped cream with our morning coffee, and of course, we have to share with Miss Karma. In fact she’s very insistent about it.

For a while now we been using the Great Value (WalMart’s brand) Sugar Free version, like this.

But the other day they were out of this, so I was looking at some of the other selections.  (What the heck is Fat-Free Whipped Cream anyway? Isn’t that kind of contradiction of terms?)

So I picked up a can of the GV Regular Whipped Cream, like this.

And when I compared them, I was confused to find that that Sugar-Free version had 5 more calories per 2 Tbsp. than the regular one.

OK, so you take the sugar out and replace it with Sucralose (Splenda) and the calories go UP?

How exactly does that work?

Today was a nice, laidback, quiet one, with lunch at Yummy Yummy, our favorite Chinese Buffet. And since it was a weekday, with our senior discount, it was only $9.49.

Nice!

Then coming home, we made a Timewise stop for gas and $1.1 Billion Mega-Millions Lottery tickets, along with PO and park mailbox stops.

Like I said, a nice, laidback, quiet day.

Tomorrow evening we’ve got tickets to see Jeff Dunham, of “Silence! I Keel You!” fame, at the NRG Arena at 7pm. Since it probably will go to at least 10pm, we plan on eating dinner first down in our area at the Longhorn Steakhouse before heading up to the Arena.

Though we’ve seen a lot of his TV performances, this will be our first time to see him in person, and we’re really looking forward to it.

One last follow-up on yesterday’s Lucas: Prince of Darkness electrical systems in British cars.

When asked Why do the British like warm beer?, the answer is Because Lucas also makes refrigerators.

---

Titanic or Olympic?

Jan and I just finished watching a fascinating video called “Titanic: The Shocking Truth”. Streaming for free on Amazon Prime, it lays out the theory that the Titanic that sank on April 12, 1912 was actually its sister ship, the Olympic.

I had heard about this years ago, but never paid much attention to the idea since it seemed like just another wild ‘conspiracy theory’. But this video puts the whole thing in another light.

It sounds crazy, but it all lines up.

Drawn from actual photographs, movies, court records, and eyewitness testimony, it lays out the reasons for the swap, and how easy it would have been, since both were built at the same time and were almost identical.

But the few small differences seem to give away the switch-out. Things like the the fact that the Olympic had 16 portholes in one location, and the Titanic had 14. All this is shown and verified from photographs at the time.

But strangely, when the ‘Titanic’ sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, it had suddenly grown two extra portholes.

And there are a number of other matches along the way.

But the real kicker, for me at least, was this still shot that I grabbed from the video of the 1986 French Expedition to the wreck of the ‘Titanic’.

It’s from the bow of the ship showing the nameplate. Part of the ‘Titanic’ name plate has fallen away, revealing the letters of another name underneath.

The letters M and P.

As in OlyMPic?

Check it out for yourself and you decide.

---

Thought For The Day:

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED:

Men Are Just Happier People — What do you expect from such simple creatures?

• Your last name stays put.
• You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
• People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.
• One mood all the time.

---

January 10, 2011

Chinese Food and Bad BBQ . . .

We got up about 9:30 this morning, looking forward to a nice quiet time just staying around the rig all day.

I fixed some of the coffee our daughter-in-law Linda gave us for Christmas. The gift that just keeps on giving. Thanks, Linda.

Jan and I talked about our upcoming travels for the rest of the year, and things we need to get done before we leave. Then Jan fixed left-over Chinese for lunch.

I think Chinese is one of those foods that, like Italian, gets even better as left-overs. And still spicy hot.

After lunch, I had planned to work outside on some rig maintenance stuff, but quickly found it too cold to work without gloves. And with gloves it was just too clumsy. So I’ll have to put it off until it gets a little warmer. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like that will be anytime soon. In fact it’s supposed to be even colder the next few days, with lows in the 20’s.

Later in the afternoon Jan made a batch of her great sugar-free fudge with walnuts using Splenda instead of sugar. Hmm, hmm, good.

And since I couldn’t work outside I decided to make up for it with a nice nap. While I was napping Brandi called and told Jan she thought she might be coming down the the flu.

I sure hope we don’t come down with it.

According to the web, you can be infectious one day before symptoms, and you will have symptoms 1 – 4 days after your infection. So if we’re still OK at the end of the week, we should be all right. We’ll see.

About 5pm I fixed coffee again and supper was the last of the Chinese. Still good.

That was about it for the day. Just another great day of full-timing.

---

January 10, 2012

Gyro Bowls and Bingo . . .

Woke up this morning to much nicer weather than yesterday. And after some delicious fresh-ground Chocolate Almondine coffee, a Christmas gift from our son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Linda, I headed out about 12:30 for some errands and client visits.

My first stop was Fry’s Electronics, and then my other favorite local electronics place, EPO (Electronic Parts Outlet) looking for some connectors, but I struck out at both places. I may end up ordering them online. We’ll see.

Then it was on to my client’s office. I had planned to come back here and work tonight while Jan is at Bingo, but my plans changed.

Next I went by my client’s house, the one that I had all the AT&T problems with. Seems like their network printer wasn’t working.

Turns out that when AT&T switched them over to Dynamic IP’s, they also changed their IP addresses around.

There are two IP address series used on internal home networks, 192.168.x.x and 10.0.x.x. Previously everything was set up to use the 192 series, but when AT&T switched things over, the IP address also switched to the 10 series. Why I don’t know.

But since the Xerox Phaser 8400DP printer was hard-coded for a 192 address, it was suddenly left high and dry on the wrong network. But resetting the printer to 10.0.1.100 instead of 192.168.1.100 fixed it all right up.

As Jan says, probably more than you really wanted to know.

By this time it was after 4pm so I headed back to the rig to pick up Jan so we could head back up to Webster to pick up our granddaughter Piper for Bingo. Then we headed back down to Dickinson to have supper at Monterey’s Little Mexico. While our friend Maria picked them up about 6:30, I headed back up to Brandi’s.

I feel like I’m going around in circles.

While we were eating, our daughter Brandi called to ask if I could ride up to north Houston with our son-in-law Lowell to pick up his truck and drive it back home. He started a new job on Monday, and had driven his truck to work, but then when he was issued his company car, he needed someone to drive his truck back home.

A couple of days ago I ordered Landon one of those Gyro Bowls they sell on TV.

It came today, but since UPS didn’t delivered it until after he was already in bed, he hadn’t seen it yet. But knowing him, I know he’ll be fascinated by it. The idea is that you can’t spill anything out of it. If you turn it upside down, the bowl stays level and the gimbaled cover rotates over it.

Also. surprisingly, my power window motor came in today. Very quick, since it was just shipped from Mesa, AZ yesterday. Guess I know what I’ll be doing later this week.

After picking up Jan and Piper at Bingo, and then taking Piper home, it was almost 11 by the time we got back to the rig.

A busy, but fun day.

---

January 10, 2013

Drying Out . . .

Well the rain is gone for a day or so, at least. But it’s supposed to be back for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and on through the end of next week.

Oh boy!

I checked Amazon today and found they finally had the .380 caliber laser cartridge

for my Laserlyte Training System back in stock.

I got the 9mm one when I got the Target System right before Christmas, but the gun store was out of the .380’s, and so was Amazon.

So since Amazon got them in first, I ordered it from them. Should be here Friday.

Fun, fun, fun!

About noon I started another batch of my world-famous (well, I think it’s really good) Chicken Tortilla Soup. I already had the poached chicken breasts in the freezer from the big batch I did last week, so I just started the chicken broth in the slow cooker and added the spices and a can Rotel Habanero Tomato Sauce, and let it heat up.

As soon as it was hot, I dropped in the frozen chicken breast halves so they could thaw out.

I thought I might add some carrots so while things were getting started, I chopped up a couple and precooked them a little in the microwave before adding them in too.

While that was working I looked at the no heat problem with the Splendide washer/dryer. Before I did anything else I wanted to be sure that my dryer vent wasn’t clogged. If it is, the lack of airflow will cause the over-temp sensor to shut off the heat.

But unfortunately, the problem couldn’t be that simple. So it looks like I’ll have to go ahead and pull the washer out of the cabinet when I replace the door switch. Like I said before, I was hoping to avoid that. Oh, well.

A little after 4pm I added the fresh Pico de Gallo we bought the other day, and about 4:30 we were ready to eat.

The soup turned out really good. Even Jan had a second bowl. And we’ve got plenty for leftovers. YUMMM!

Tomorrow I’ve got to get an early start because I’ve got a 10am appointment with a client I haven’t seen since last year. Always like repeat business.

---

January 10, 2014

Recipe for Murder . . .

Saw an article today that according to the Coast Guard the Great Lakes are freezing over at the earliest date since the 1930’s. And the same thing is happening at Niagara Falls,

Here’s what it looked like when we were there September 25th, 2009.

And here’s what it looks like now.

---

I finally got a chance to crawl under the rig and look at my Kwikee step problem. It just suddenly quit working one day while we were gate guarding late last year. I could still hear the motor running when it was supposed to, but the step could be pulled in and out like it wasn’t connected to anything.

At that point, I figured my homemade cotter key, I.e. a paper clip, had come loose.

But what I found was this. The linkage was hanging down, not connected to anything. All I could see was where it had broken off.

When I pulled it off, it looked like this.

And below is where it broke off from the motor shaft. It must have just been old age because there was never any binding to cause it. My next thought was “Oh Crap. I going to be buying a new motor.” I figure there was no way t was going to be able to buy just the shaft and linkage. I could see a lot of $$$$ in my future.

But luckily for me, I was wrong. A little interneting showed me this linkage kit for my Kwikee Series 28 step. And with a little more perusing, I found that PPL Motorhomes here in Houston has them in stock. So I’ll pick one up later in the week.

I was also happy to see that all the different parts for my model are available, including a complete new step for about $420.

---

Early in the morning I started a big pot of soup, basically using whatever we had in-house. I started out with a big box of chicken stock, a big tomato juice. a can of Habanero Rotel, a can of Diced Tomatoes, 2 cans of Kidney Beans, a bag of frozen kernel corn,  and 2 shredded poached chicken breasts. A few hours later we had a great batch of soup for supper, and plenty left over for more meals. Hmm! Hmm! Good!

---

Tomorrow Chris and I are going to meet Lowell and Landon in downtown Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center for the Great Train Expo, a traveling model railroad show. Brandi says he’s really looking forward to it, and talks about it constantly.

Me too!

This will probably be Landon’s favorite part.

---

I noticed the new ads for the Publisher’s Clearing House.

You can win a Million Dollars a year for life. That’s not an unusual prize these days, but the unusual part is that after you win, you get to designate another person to also receive a Million Dollars a year for life.

You can only imagine that no matter who you chose, you’re going to make someone, or a lot of someone else’s mad as hell. It will not end well.

Here’s another story about a elderly man who won $500 a week for life, and all his ‘relatives’ who never cared about him, came out of the woodwork.

Easy Come, Easy Go.

---

January 10, 2015

The End of An Era . . .

Jan and I headed out about 9:15 this morning for a day of fun and folic. Well, more like errands and eating.

Our first stop was in Pasadena to pick up a client’s computer. The hard drive in her several-years-old one had died, and rather than just  replace the bad drive, she decided that this was a good time to upgrade to a newer, better computer. So I was picking up her old one to see if I can pull anything off her hard drive using the ‘freezer trick’.

The ‘freezer trick’ sometimes lets you pull data off a supposedly dead hard drive by putting it in the freezer in a Ziplock bag for a few hours, Then you reinstall it in the computer ASAP and see if you can get data off of it before it warms up. In the past I’ve done this over and over on a drive to get everything needed off of it.

Of course, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t . We’ll see.

Then it was on to our son Chris’ to meet up with him and Linda for lunch. After a little discussion we ended up at a nearby Cheddar’s. Jan loves their Chicken Pot Pie so she was happy with the choice. And we all had a great meal, too.

After lunch we stopped off at our former storeroom to make the final payment to close out our 20 year long rental. The end of an era.

Back at the house we said our goodbyes and then headed back out. First up was a haircut. I’ve gone to this same barber for about 20 years, so I always come back here when we’re in town. My last haircut was in October up in Bryan/College Station while we were gate guarding in the area. Before that, it was back here last August.

Hey, when you don’t have much hair, you only need a haircut every 3 or 4 months.

Our next destination was the new Marina Bay Lake Cove RV Resort down in Dickinson. Although it’s looking more and more like we’ll get down Galveston Bay RV Resort in the next couple of weeks, we wanted to check out this park as a backup.

What we found though, is that, although the park’s 96 sites are nicely laid out around a man-made lake,

it’s mostly occupied by small campers and 5th wheels of the type used by workers. There is a nice office and a smallish pool, and the sites are nicely landscaped, but the overall feeling is of a trailer park.

There were only about 10 sites open, and I don’t think I saw more than 4 or 5 Class A’s. Of course there was this one.

The sites on either side of it were empty and I saw no evidence of burn damage there, so maybe they got moved out in time. It was hot enough to melt their satellite dish about six feet away.

After looking the place over, we both agreed that, with the rates about the same as Galveston Bay, it really wasn’t someplace we wanted to stay.

Next up was a stop at Kroger’s for gas, and then on to Harbor Freight Tools for some goodies that I really didn’t need, but couldn’t resist.

Finishing up there, we finally headed toward our daughter Brandi’s, but only after a Starbuck’s stop, since we didn’t have time for coffee this morning. Getting there, I found that my client’s new computer had been delivered, so I can start setting it up. So after checking out Landon’s new room, we all drove over to Brandi and Lowell’s favorite burger joint, J-Dub’s Burger Barn over in downtown Katy.

And it was easy to see why they like it so much. J-Dub’s mixes their hamburger meat in a 75 – 25 ratio of beef and brisket, and hand-cut their fries every day.

They also have their buns specially baked to their specifications, including this jalapeno bun on the Jalapeno Burger that I ordered.

Really, really good

---

January 10, 2016

$18.00!

or, How High Will It Go!

Well, as I said in last night’s blog, I decided to wait until next week to win the PowerBall, knowing would be over $1 Billion, and now it is.

They’re saying $1.3 Billion, but I suspect by next Wednesday it will be higher.

In case you didn’t follow yesterday’s blog link called Lucky You, you should. Even if you figure you’ll never win the lottery, it’s a very interesting read. And some of the things he suggests you do are kind of radical, but he gives good reasons for them.

The two most unusual ones are to legally change you name, and completely change your appearance – before you pick up your money.

Apparently it’s pretty quick and easy to change your name in most states. In fact you can even fill out the forms yourself and turn them in at the courthouse, and in 60-90 days you’re a new person. Then after a professional extreme makeover, you’re ready to go and pick up your money.

To show the change a professional makeover can make, here’s an example.

In yesterday’s blog when I was talking about EZ Tags, a blog reader reminded me that I didn’t tell you where to get your tag.
There are six locations around the city, all right along different toll roads.

EZ Tag locations

I really like the way Houston handles their tags. Other states are more expensive and not so convenient, especially ones the north and northeast.

We’ve spent a lot of time in Elkhart, IN, and would regularly drive over to the nearest big city, Mishawaka, a suburb of South Bend. And the quickest way to get there from Elkhart is to take I-80, which is also a toll road. So to make it more convenient for our traveling back and forth, I looked into getting a toll pass there.

But, first off, the tag itself costs about $15.00, and then there was a $1 a month fee whether you use the tag or not. We had hoped to get one and just use every year or so when we’re in the area. But the $1 a month fee would eat up any money left in the account, unlike our EZ Tag in Houston which we only use for a few months year with no monthly charges.

---

Recently I finally got around to updating and posting an About Us page here on the blog, so you can find out more about Jan and I, where we came from, and how we got here. You can find it on the menu at the top of the page, or use the link above. Check it out.

Jan was still under the weather from her migraine this morning, so we didn’t walk today either. It also didn’t help that it was 46° and windy outside. Maybe tomorrow, so we’ll see.

By the afternoon however, she was feeling a little better, so about 1:15 we decided to head into Columbus to try out the Sunday lunch buffet. I guess it says something that at 1:30, the parking lot was still full, but we did get seated immediately, and then headed over to  the very long buffet table.

We had previously only had breakfast at Schobel’s and always enjoyed it a lot, but this was our first time for lunch. And it turned out to be a really good choice. I know we’ve had friends say that they didn’t like Schobel’s, but our experience has been very different.

Everything was delicious, from the homemade salad dressing and croutons, to the many fresh vegetables. And the meats, ham, sausage, fried chicken and roast beef, were just as good. We’ll certainly go back for the buffet again.

Coming home, we stopped off at Brookshire Bros. for a few things, and while we were there I checked my four PowerBall tickets to see if I had one anything. And I did.

I won on 3 of my 4 tickets, with a $2 win, a $4 win, and a $12 win, for a total of  $18, which means I got back most of my $20 that I paid for the tickets.

So now I’m all set for my big win on Wednesday.

Let’s see, where did I leave that name-change paperwork?

---

January 10, 2017

Still Didn’t Make It . . .

We still didn’t make it to the movie in Beeville once again, but mostly because we didn’t try.

I had a feeling I might get called in on this gate again, and I was right. And about 3:30 the text came in. It did help that they moved the shift time back from 5 to 5 to 5:30 to 5:30. This was done to better match up with the frack’s shift change.

A lot of guards around here seem to be leery of working a frack gate because they’re supposed to be really busy. This is the second ‘frack’ gate I’ve worked with SiteWatch and so far I’m not impressed.

I don’t know if these are smaller fracks or what. But the 4 to 6 sand trucks a hour is not much. And using the iPad it just takes about 15 seconds to log them in if they’re already in the system, and maybe 30 to 45 seconds if they’re not. And since they usually all come in together, you’re looking at most 5 minutes to get them all in.

It’s kind of like Crocodile Dundee, when he said, “That’s not a knife. This is a knife.”

Six sand trucks does not a frack make. A frack is sand trucks lined up as far as the eye can see down the road. 40 to 60 trucks an hour for hours at a time.

That’s a frack.

We have a staging pad turnoff about 75 yards before the gate where the sand trucks are supposed to wait to be called into the pad. But last night as things were starting up, the truck drivers didn’t know that they were supposed to wait so they’d come on up to the gate. Then I’d have to make them back up until they could make the turn, and then wait on the pad.

But it looks like I’ve got them all trained now, since I haven’t had the problem tonight so far.

Jan fixed up another batch of her Hot & Spicy Chicken Vegetable Soup this morning so I had some before I left for work, and bought a mug of it with me on the gate to heat up for a late night meal.

You can find her basic recipe here – Jan’s Chicken Vegetable Soup. But she spices ours up by using Hot Habanero Rotel Diced Tomatoes rather than the Crushed Tomatoes listed, plus a lot of hot seasonings for that added kick.

Handy Tip of the Day:

If you ever wonder if your remote control is working, just hold down a button and point it at your digital camera.

Digital cameras see much farther down into the infrared part of the spectrum, the area where remotes live, so they show up bright and clear. This is also why your digital camera can take such good pictures in dim light.

This will only work with in the same room, point it at the TV, type of remotes. It will not work with those remotes like the ones with the Dish receivers that will work from another room. Those work on RF (radio frequencies), not infrared light.

I noticed recently that HP is now offering an Instant Ink option for their Wi-Fi enabled printers. When it gets low, it just orders more ink for you. And then a few days your ink order shows up on your doorstep. Well and good, but what I want to know is, what else is it ordering.

Pay-per-view porn? Escort Services? Extra paper so it can print out filthy pictures? What?

I wanna know what my printer is doing behind my back.

---

January 10, 2018

A Day Delayed . . .

I woke up this morning to a phone call from my client saying that the Internet was down at the office. Apparently they were doing some more remodeling in the off ice this morning and they had the power off for a while and when it came back on, the Internet was down. Or so they thought.

But when I went online from home I found the website up and running, which meant the Internet at least, was working. So I told the office manager to check out the Shipping computer to see if it could get online.

And since it could, I told her to check the Ethernet cable running from her computer to the the router in the closet, the same closet where the construction guys had been fooling with the power at the circuit breaker panel. And after unplugging and plugging the connecter, the Internet was back on in her office.

The office manager’s computer is the only one that is still hardwired to the router. All the rest are on WiFi. But after 3 different USB WiFi adapters and also an internal plug-in PCI card, I gave up. I was never able to get any WiFi adapter to work on it. So it’s the only one that’s still a direct connect.

Jan and I headed into Clear Lake about 12:45 for her 1:30 Pre-Op consultation, but it seemed to be all down hill from there.

Unfortunately we were given the wrong info about what door to come in, so we had to walk clear to the other side of the hospital to where she was supposed to check in. Normally this wouldn’t be problem, but Jan’s still not up to snuff so it was a little wearing on her.

But after filling out a lot of ‘paperwork’, both physical and digital, getting stuck for another CBC, and being told to show up Friday at 9:30 for her 11:30 procedure, we were finally on our way.

Then just sitting down for lunch at Cheddar’s I got a call from the hospital asking Jan to come back because they ‘forgot’ to get a specimen for a urinalysis. I told them we’d be back in about an hour.

Then about 30 minutes later we got a call from her Dr. telling us that when we left the hospital last Thursday they had ‘forgotten’ to tell her to stop taking her daily baby aspirin that she takes as a general heart attack preventative.

And since they want her to be off them for a week they were pushing her procedure back to next Wednesday. Bummer.

Jan just wants to get this over with.

I was hoping to get back early enough this afternoon to have time to take down the big awning to take it in to be duplicated, but no luck.

And tomorrow it’s supposed to rain all day. But maybe Friday since that’s now open.

We were supposed to get together tomorrow afternoon with our long-time friend’s Beth and Bob Young. They’re moving to Salt Lake City on Friday, so tomorrow was a last-ditch dinner, but unfortunately circumstances intervened, so we’ll have to catch up with them on our next pass through Salt Lake.

The King is Dead. Long Live The New King.

The SR-71 Blackbird was retired in 1999 after almost 40 years of out-running everything else in the sky, including every missile that tried to shoot it down.

I actually got a chance to work on one once while I was doing DOD stuff at Otis AFB on Cape Cod, MA in the early 70’s.

Rumors of its replacement have circled through the aircraft industry for years with project names like Aurora, Goblin, and others. But a while back the name of the new plane was seemingly locked down.

SR-72

And it may have been recently spotted on Google Earth at an obscure AFB in the swamps of south Florida.

Certainly looks like some of the drawings that have been floating around. And at a purported 4600 mph, it’s more than twice as fast as the SR-71.

The new King.

---

January 10, 2021

To Snow or Not To Snow . . .

It only made it up to 42° and rained a good part of the day, so all we did was head over to Los Ramirez for dinner about 4pm. Delicious as always, and with the rotten weather, almost empty.

We’ve heard that there was snow up in the Conroe area, but none down here so far, but it’s 39° and still raining so you never can tell.

Jan’s going to do up a big pot of her World-Famous Chili tomorrow for us to eat off of for the rest of the week. Really looking forward to it with all this cold, wet weather.

YUM!