Monthly Archives: January 2023
Boy, Is It Fast!
Lunch today was at our other breakfast favorite, Snooze AM.
And Jan always gets the same thing, their Bravocado Toast.
However I tend to wander around the menu, but today I was back to the Shrimp & Grits.
And we split an order of their Bacon But Different,
which is Thick Bacon, with Brown Sugar, Cayenne Pepper, Chili Flakes, and Black Pepper Maple Syrup.
Delicious!
Then it was on over to the nearby Aldi’s so Jan could pick up a few things, before heading back to the WalMart in our area for a few more things.
It seems like we never have enough ‘things.’
My Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, my faithful companion since 2014, finally gave up the ghost this morning. Well, it didn’t actually die, it just would no longer boot up, hanging about halfway.
I tried all the tricks, holding the power and volume down buttons down for a complete reset, holding the power button down for 2 minutes, etc. But nothing helped .
So after 8 years it was finally time to upgrade to something a little newer. As in 2023.
After doing some research, and wanting to stay with a Samsung tablet, I chose a Galaxy Tab A8 like this.
And even better it would be here this afternoon. And it was waiting for me when we got home from our lunch/errands.
And boy, is it fast!
I had forgotten how much faster these newer tablets are compared to 8 years ago.
I’ve gotten most of my favorite apps installed, and the rest I’ll just install as I need them. This helps me weed out apps that I don’t use anymore.
Thought For The Day:
So Now We Know!
January 17, 2011
Mammoths and Ibises . . .
And the clouds parted…and the sun came out.
Finally!
We were beginning to get waterlogged.
It was supposed to be even warmer and sunnier this afternoon, so after coffee I headed out for clients and errands. But many of my errands did not go as planned, since I didn’t remember that today was a Federal Holiday.
Heck, most days I’m not sure what day of week it is, I’m supposed to keep track of holidays, too?
I mean, that’s why we have one of these hanging in the coach.
Of course I have to remember to look at it, don’t it.
I did stop by Kroger’s on the way to get some PowerBall tickets, then it was on to my client’s office.
Looks like I’ll be going back up there tomorrow night while Jan’s at Bingo. I need to install the new 2011 UPS shipping software when the office is closed since I’ll have to take their computers offline for about an hour or so.
Leaving the client’s I stopped off at Home Depot again trying to find an icemaker water filter that will work in place of the one I have now, which has been discontinued. It goes under the sink at the rear of the cabinet, and there’s not a lot of room to mount anything too much different.
Luckily I was able to find something that I think will work, and even better, it costs less money than the original.
Heading home, I stopped by the H.E.B. Market in the Victory Lakes area to pick up some unsalted butter and decaf coffee for Jan, finally getting back to the rig about 3pm.
Just as I was entering the park, our daughter Brandi called to see if we were in her area, and if we could pick up Landon at daycare, and meet her at his pediatrician’s.
Last night he developed a allergic rash on his face that had subsided this morning, but came back during the day, so Brandi wanted to get it checked out.
Unfortunately, it would have taken us about 45 minutes to get back up there, so we weren’t much help.
The doctor gave him some Benadryl and said to see what happens in the next couple of days.
As soon as I got home I started working outside on the wheel well flanges. I was able to get all the old rivets drilled out and ready to mount the new ones.
I also found out I like my new Sears air compressor even more than I thought.
I wanted to top off a couple of tires on the truck, and while I was looking for an extension cord, I noticed that the tank gauge still showed 130#. I found that I was able to add air to three tires and the tank pressure only dropped about 5#. Great!
By the time I was finished, Jan was ready to go out to supper. Tonight it was the Chili’s up in Kemah. Jan had the Margarita Grilled Chicken and I had the Chicken and Green Chile Soup and Salad.
Coming home I stopped off at the O’Reilly’s Auto Parts on SH146, looking for some diesel fuel algaecide, but with no luck.
Getting back to the rig, I had enough light to start mounting one of the new flanges, but the wind had picked up and with the temp in the low 50’s my fingers started to get numb fast.
So I’ll try to finish up tomorrow, since it’s supposed to be even warmer.
And now to other stuff.
First, I found some more info on the story about cloning a mammoth in the next few years. Check it out here.
I got these photos the other day of a group of birds around one of the ponds around the park.
I call this one “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
It turns out this is a juvenile white ibis. It’s the first time I’ve seen an ibis in this area. They apparently become pure white when they reach adulthood.
And this is our old friend, the Great Blue Heron. He’s always around here somewhere.
That’s it for today. More tomorrow.
January 17, 2013
Mission Accomplished . . .
or Oops!
Well, I got our Splendide washer/dryer reinstalled this afternoon and so far it’s working fine.
I mentioned yesterday that I was going to put straps on the washer to help me get it out next time. And there will always be a next time.
The straps are fastened at the top rear of the washer and run down the back and then underneath and out to the front. I’ll then tuck them behind the retainer strip so it will look like this.
About 5:30 Jan and I headed to Chris and Linda’s for a meal of homemade gumbo. Chris did the cooking and did a great job, making it with shrimp, crabmeat, and Cajun sausage. Really, really good, served with rice and French bread.
And for dessert we had homemade bread pudding with rum sauce. Heavy on the rum, very heavy. And very, very good.
And even better, we got to see Piper and her boyfriend Casey since she wasn’t working tonight.
We finally headed home about 8pm after a long, busy day, and a delicious meal. And it looks like tomorrow will be busy too.
As far as the “Oops!”, it seems like in their hurry to ban magazines that hold more than 7 rounds, the New York State Legislature forgot to exempt police from the ban, and their pistols all hold 13 – 17 rounds. After being told by law enforcement that the law applied immediately to civilians, civilians are now trying to perform citizen’s arrests on police officers.
The Legislature says that they will fix problem in the next week or so. Several people have said that they plan to file lawsuits to force the police to obey the law.
January 17, 2014
WARNING !!!
There are some really dangerous emails floating around. Here are the From: and Subject: lines.
Amazon Voucher Amazon Survey Rewards
Walmart Voucher Walmart Reward
They can be opened safely. but do not open the link to ‘claim’ your reward. Just delete them and then permanently delete them by emptying or deleting your Trash.
Stay Away!
After a 1 mile walk and our morning coffee, I spent most of the afternoon working on the on-going truck cleansing, as well as starting to go through a couple of the rig bays with the same intention.
Then about 2 PM I drove up to Clear Lake to check in on a client to be sure we were all set for my visit tomorrow night to work on a problem with their Point of Sale system.
Getting back home, we headed out about 5 PM to meet our friends, Maria and Connie, for dinner at the Kelley’s Country Cooking in Alvin.
Above is a follow up photo illustrating why I wish restaurants still had ashtrays. And, no, this is not all mine, just for 4 people.
Leaving the restaurant about 7 we all headed over to the Alvin Opry for the evening, and finally getting home about 10:30, after a very nice day.
Since we got home so late, this is all the blog you get.
January 17, 2015
Save The Date . . .
and The Time.
Gate Guarding for Fun? & Profit
Day: Wednesday, March 11
Time: 11:30
That’s the schedule for the Gate Guarding Seminar that Jan and I will be giving at the upcoming Escapade in Tucson, AZ, March 8 – 12th.
* * * * *
About 3p Jan and I headed down to the Clear Lake area for her annual coworker get-together. Jan’s been getting together with her hospital coworkers ever since we started RV’ing the beginning of 2008, and they always have a great time.
Along the way, our first stop was at Brandi and Lowell’s in Katy to pick up some packages that had come it. They were off at a birthday party so we just made a bathroom stop, let Miss Kitty out to pee, grabbed our stuff, and got back on the road.
We had started early enough that I hoped we wouldn’t have a lot of traffic, especially since it was Saturday. And although our Garmin GPS Live Traffic Alerts system did give us the “Traffic Ahead” warning several times, showing anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes delay, they always evaporated before we got to them.
I dropped Jan off at the Longhorn Steakhouse a little after 5pm. The place was already starting to get busy so Jan wanted to her name on the list for a table for six, before everyone else got there at 5:30.
For my part, I went next door to get a new cartridge for my Moen shower faucet at the Home Depot. Although I found the 1222 cartridge I was looking for, HD does not carry actual Moen parts. Instead they only had a Danco version for $35, as in the Danco Universal Faucet Hose replacement that I got a couple of weeks ago while we were in Conroe. You remember the Danco Universal Hose that wouldn’t fit our Moen kitchen faucet, and when I called the company to complain, I was told this:
Next up, I called the Danco Co. up in Irving to find out why my Universal Kitchen Faucet Hose won’t fit my Moen faucet, even though the package says that it Fits All Faucet Brands.
The Danco Tech Support guy acknowledged that the hose would not fit my faucet, and that the Fits All Faucet Brands statement didn’t really mean that it fits ALL Brands, just a lot of them. Ironically the picture of the faucet on the box is my Moen faucet.
Yeah, that Danco. So I don’t have high hopes about this cartridge. But we’ll see.
I also picked up some Plumber’s Silicone Grease for the O-rings on the cartridge at the same time..
Then it was across the Interstate to our son Chris’. Since he has a floor jack I wanted to pull the right front tire on the truck to see what was causing a front end shimmy that started recently. It felt like an out-of-round tire, but when I ran my hand along the tread as Jan slowly drove forward, I couldn’t feel anything. Chris thought it might be a warped brake rotor, so this afternoon we were going to find out.
If it was a warped rotor, I would have to replace both rotors and both sets of brake pads. Only replacing one rotor can cause uneven braking problems, so it’s better to do both. And of course, while you’re in there you might as well put on new pads to go with the new rotors. All in all, not real hard to do on my Dodge Dakota, and only about $125 for the parts.
But as soon as Chris got the tire off, it was very apparent it was not a warped rotor. There was a bubble on the tire thread, but it was on the inside edge of the tire, which is why I missed it when I checked. It looks like a cord in the tire separated.
We went ahead and put the spare on, and I’ll get a new tire later in the week when we’re back in Conroe. Based on what I paid for my last new tire, the complete front end brake job would have been cheaper.
When Chris and I finished up, Linda had a delicious meal waiting for us, Pork Roast, Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, hot rolls, and sweet tea. Really, really good, and much appreciated. And she sent me home with leftovers. Nice!
Leaving Chris and Linda’s about 7:15, and heading in the direction of the steakhouse, I made a stop at the Baybrook Mall Starbuck’s to pick us up Chestnut Praline Lattes for the ride home. On my way there, Jan called to say to pick her up about 7:50pm.
Leaving the Starbuck’s about 7:30, I decided to swing by the nearby Lowe’s. Surely they carried Moen faucet parts. But no, just more Danco. And they didn’t even have the part at all. But they did have a Moen Cartridge Repair Kit for $2.49 so I grabbed one of those.
Picking up Jan right on time, we had a easy run home with no traffic, and got home about 9:30pm
And no more front end shimmy, either.
January 17, 2016
Goodbye and Pie . . .
As we’ve done in the past, Jan and I drove into Columbus about 7:30 to have breakfast at Schobels Restaurant before we headed for Lake Conroe about 10am.
When we do this, we get everything ready to roll before we go eat, so when we come back it’s pretty much just bring in the slide, disconnect shore power, crank up and go.
We had our usual great omelets at Schobels with grits and bacon for me, and hash browns and bacon for Jan. And their coffee’s really good too.
Their breakfast buffet doesn’t start until 8am, so we missed that, but I did check it out before we left, and it really looked good. Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy, Grilled Sausage Chunks, Grilled Ham Slices, Thick Sliced Bacon, Grits, Scrambled Eggs, and a lot more. Maybe we’ll come a little later next time.
We were out of the park and on the road by 10:30, heading east on I-10. As in past trips, I pretty much just set the speed control on 55, and go. We did make a pit stop just east of Brookshire, but that was our only stop.
We pulled into the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails about 12:45 and got checked in. We’ve been here so many times that Kim, the head ranger, now knows us by name, which makes for a much quicker check-in. Nice.
So 2 hours and 15 minutes for the 120 mile trip, an hour shorter than our ‘shortcut through the countryside last time. And a lot less stressful, and a lot less tiring to me.
Kim said our new favorite space over in the G section was taken, but that a couple of sites over in our old favorite E section. Hey, so I guess we’re fickle. Heading over to the E ring we did find a nice spot there with easy back-in parking, and were quickly in and set up.
Coming up the ring, we did see our friend’s, Garland and Valencia’s Phaeton as we drove in, so it looks like we’ll maybe have some walking partners again.
We goofed off the rest of the afternoon, reading, napping, and computing, one of the great perks of being a full-time RV’er. Later Jan heated up our leftover Mexican from Los Cabos, and some of our homemade Queso and chips. A great meal, again.
Earlier, when I was outside hooking up, I began talking to our neighbor and found out that he runs the MyRVTalk website, with over 3300 members. it’s more on the form of something like RV.net with many different forums areas on a number of different RV’ing subjects. It looks like there’s a lot of good information on there, so check it out.
Tomorrow I’ve got several things on my plate, with a call to Colaw RV Salvage to see if they have any screen door hinges for our coach. American Coach said they don’t have any in stock, and the door company is out of business, so Colaw is my last hope.
They were able to supply a lot of the parts for our blow-out repair in Prescott, AZ this summer, so I’m hoping they can come to my rescue again. If not, guess I’ll see if I can repair/reweld them somehow.
I’m also going to remove the screen door for now, because the sagging hinge keep jamming the screen door against the main door, and makes it hard to open and close the door. I’ll just store it in the truck for now.
I also want to check/replace the check valve on my water system. Yesterday afternoon, to get a head start on this morning’s travel, I went ahead and disconnected the water and sewer hoses and stowed them away.. I hate to wrestle with stiff water hoses in 33° weather, and it’s one less thing to do on a travel morning.
I disconnected the shore water and put us on our internal tank, which was full . . . then. But about midnight, when I went to my shower, I found the pump running and the tank now empty. So I got dressed, went outside and hooked us back up to shore water . . . in 35 degree weather. Otherwise, no shower for me, no shower for Jan tomorrow morning, and no water for general use on the trip today.
But it may have just been the really cold weather, since when I checked it out after we got to Lake Conroe, it was fine. So we’ll see.
I also plan on restarting the screen replacement project on my son’s Galaxy S5. The new screen/digitizer I ordered came in on Friday, so now I’m all set . You can check our my previous adventures on this project here.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2016/01/but-the-patient-died/
Hopefully things will go better this time.
January 17, 2017
Frack By Night . . .
Last night was a little quieter than last night, with only about 20 trucks coming in, so not bad at all.
Except for the rain. And rain. And more rain.
It wasn’t long until the entire pad was flooded, especially the potty trailer area.
What wasn’t under six inches of water, was just six inches of mud. Very heavy, very sticky mud. Your boot would sink in and it was hard to pull it back out.
But even rain doesn’t stop the frack. Nearby lightning, yes, rain, even heavy rain, no.
Otherwise the crane is just one big lightning rod.
And it doesn’t stop at night either. With enough light, they just keep going.
It’s looking more and more likely we’ll move over to Westhoff. a town without a traffic light, just a two-way stop sign in the center of town. But instead of a 2 hour round trip back to Kenedy, we’ll only have about 10 minutes. Much nicer.
And much cheaper, with both gas and park rent.
January 17, 2018
OOPS!
It went down to 23° here in Santa Fe last night, our lowest so far this year. But we made it through with no problems. Our water bay, where I installed the heat lamp last night, never dropped before 37°. I also wrapped a towel about our site water faucet, a PVC pipe that extends about 2 feet above the ground, And when I checked this afternoon it was still OK.
The only thing I ‘OOPS’ on was that when I was being sure my truck door wouldn’t freeze up by opening it several times during the evening, I completely forgot about Jan’s side of the truck.
So when I went out this morning it took me about 5 minutes to get it open. Of course it wasn’t as bad as in 2008 in Sturgis when it took me over an hour to get in then.
I did go outside about 8:45, cranked up the truck, and then turned the defrost and heater on High, so the windows were clear and the inside was toasty when we were ready to go.
Originally before the storm came through, we had planned to leave the rig about 9:45 for Jan’s 10:30 appointment this morning. But with this weather, we left home a little after 9am. Based on all the reports, I was expecting a real mess on the roadways, but zero, zip, nada. The roads were clear and dry.
I wasn’t planning on taking I-45 north due to the many overpasses along the way, and the news reports of all the wrecks this morning. I just had to get over the FM646 overpass and over to Hwy 3. I figured then I’d be home free with no overpasses.
And if I couldn’t get over on 646, I had a backup route to turn around and then take FM517 up to Alvin and then into Clear Lake on FM528 with no overpasses along the way. But this would take a lot longer so that’s why we left so early to allow for this reroute if necessary.
But the 646 overpass was heavily sanded and not a problem, and it was clear sailing the whole way to the hospital.
Jan’s procedure was scheduled for 12:30 and it all went pretty much on schedule. They have a really neat service where they text you as things happen during the procedure.
For instance, I got one when she was taken into the Operation Room, another when the procedure actually started, and another when she was taken to the Recovery Room.
Everything went fine with the lithotripsy, and we were on our way home by 5pm. She said that she was really surprised that she was not having any pain or soreness and probably won’t need any further painkillers.
On the way home we made a Jason’s Deli stop for a couple of large Broccoli-Cheese soups for Jan to have over the next couple of days.
She’s got a follow-up checkup on Feb. 2nd and then hopefully will be done.
January 17, 2019
The Eyes Have It . . .
We were out the door a little after 6:30am, heading for the Bay Area Surgicare Center adjacent to the Clear Lake Regional Hospital, where Jan used to work before we started RV’ing.
By coming in at 7:30, Jan was in the ‘second wave’ of cataract surgeries, so, after all the pre-op stuff. she was finally taken in a little before 9am. And as on her left eye, she was out in post-op, and ready to leave by about 9:45.
However, unlike last time when we went out for breakfast afterward, this time Jan was very nauseous and didn’t want to eat, so we just headed home. Then as we got closer to FM646, Jan decided that she would like a Broccoli Cheese Soup from Jason’s Deli, so I made a slight detour for that.
Back at the rig, and since neither of us slept very well last night, Jan had a little bit of the soup and then we both went back to bed. When Jan got up later she was feeling fine, so a little before 5pm we headed out to have dinner at Chili’s.
We both had our long-time favorite Grilled Chicken Caribbean Salad, something we’ve been eating there for years.
In fact, when they stopped carrying it about 15 years ago, we stopped going until several years later, when they brought it back. Guess they missed us.
Recently I noticed that the hot water from our Atwood 10 gallon Water Heater didn’t seem to last as long as usual. Normally the amount of hot water is not a problem for us, since I usually take my shower at night and Jan takes hers in the morning.
So I figured it needed to be flushed out. So when Jan got her shower that morning I had her turn off the water heater beforehand, so I wouldn’t have to dump a lot of hot water down the drain before I worked on it.
When she was done, I opened the faucet to drain the rest. Then I went outside and turned the water off. Then I removed the T & P valve and opened the drain plug enough to dump out a couple of gallons of water.
Next, using a funnel, I added about a 1/2 gallon of vinegar to the water heater and then replaced the T & P Valve. Back inside I opened the hot faucet and flushed the air out until the water heater tank was full. Then I turned it back on and let it percolate for a couple of hours.
Back at it, I turned the water heater off and drained the hot water out again. Then outside again, I turned off the water and opened the drain plug to empty it.
Then using my water heater wand hooked to a hose, I used it to flush out the heater by directing it in through the drain plug hole and twisting it around until nothing lumpy came out.
Then all I had left was to reinstall the drain plug, turn the water back on, and checked for leaks. Last up, I flushed the air out from the hot water faucet, turned the heater back on, and I was done.
Be aware that if you do this, be very careful not to turn the heater back on while the tank is empty of water. If you do, you will burn out the heater element in just a few seconds. So be safe out there.
Tomorrow morning, Jan has her checkup for today’s operation, then we’ll head off for breakfast before I head into work.
January 17, 2021
Really, We Only Planned To Eat Half . . .
Today being sunny and in the mid-60’s, it seemed like the perfect day for another visit to the Three Acres Food Truck Park.
Along with our usual Clam Chowder and Fried Mushrooms, we tried a couple of new things, a Chicken, Cheese, and Bacon Quesadilla,
and an order of their Chicken Tenders.
Both really good, as usual.
And of course we had to finish up with a Deep Fried PB&J, mine with Grape Jelly, and Jan’s with Strawberry.
We cut them in half, planning to eat half and take half home, to have with all the rest of our meal that we took home for later. But it didn’t work out that way.
Though we had plenty of Friend Mushrooms, Chicken Tenders, and Chicken Quesadilla left over, none of either of the PB&J’s made it home.
Then it on over to the HEB for a few things before heading home.
A very nice end to the weekend.
For you Murdoch Mysteries fans, Season 14 is set to premiere on February 20th, 2021. Starting out on Ovation, it will consist of 11 episodes. Really looking forward to it.
Patient Circumference?
I spent most of today at work trying to convert the manual for a new product we’re carrying into something that approximates American English. Made in Poland, the manual they supply is in English.
But even though all the words are in English, when they’re arranged in sentences something seems to be lost in the translation.
For example, tell me what this means.
“automatic control of patient circumference”
I dare you.
But I’ll figure it out eventually.
Here’s a couple of more photos of yesterday’s Falcon Heavy launch,
showing the power of the 27 engines.
And they’re not even at full power yet. That doesn’t happen until after MaxQ.
Tomorrow looks to be Snooze, Aldi’s and WalMart.
Thought For The Day:
I always mean what I say. But usually I don’t mean to say it out loud.
January 16, 2013
Completely Unexpected . . .
We woke up to something completely unexpected this morning, something we haven’t seen in almost two weeks.
A bright sunny morning. Even Mister wanted to go outside.
Still cold, at 39 degrees, but bright and sunny anyway. And it should stay that way for the next 10 days or so.
Of course the same people that are telling us that, originally told us that it would be cloudy and rainy for the next 3 days,
After a nice morning Jan and I headed out about 2pm for some errands and dinner. My first stop was at a client’s office to take care of some orders, and then I walked across the street to a friend’s Heating & Air Conditioning office. He only does HVAC now, but used to do appliance repair as well, and I thought he could give me lead on getting a replacement thermal fuse for our dryer.
My friend sent to another place that he thought might have it, and those people sent me to a third place who didn’t have it.
Well, they didn’t have the exact part, but I did find a substitute that I think will work.
The only difference is that it blows at a slightly lower temperature, which should work OK. We’ll see
Our dinner stop was at Jason’s Deli, our favorite soup and sandwich shop. We’ve eaten here for years and always enjoy it. Jan had a 1/4 Turkey Muffuletta and a cup of Broccoli Cheese soup, while I had my usual Southwest Chicken Chili. Always delicious.
Next was a stop at the house to pick up our mail and a couple of packages, and then it was on to Wal-Mart for a few things.
Finally getting home a little before 7, and after we got things put away, I installed the new part in the washer/dryer and put the top back on. I’ll install it tomorrow morning.
I did do something different this time that should help me get the washer out easier next time. I fastened two straps to the washer inside the top, one on each side.
I will pull them down the back and under the washer, and leave them out of sight underneath the front of the washer. Then the next time I have to pull it out of the cabinet, it should be a lot easier. Time will tell.
January 16, 2014
Is Your Refrigerator Spying On You?
I spent most of today completely emptying the back of our Dodge Dakota, sorting stuff, throwing away stuff, saving stuff, and then trying to put it all back in some logical order.
I did find some things I’d been looking for, but what’s really funny is that I not only found things I didn’t know I was missing, but I also found things that I didn’t even know I had.
I guess these were things that I bought either right before or right after we started RV’ing 6 years ago, but in some cases I don’t even remember buying them.
Oh well, that’s what Spring (early) Cleaning is for.
After commenting yesterday about how our old gate was still going strong, I must have jinxed things. Our fellow gate guard, Orlyn, called this evening to say that our replacements, Jim and Linda Mossman, were released from the gate this afternoon, and Orlyn and his wife will be leaving their railroad crossing gate as soon as new warning signs are made up and installed. Hope they get a new gate soon.
And now for something completely different. Well, maybe a few things.
First off, for all those stars who botch the singing, or forget the words, to the National Anthem, check out 5 year old Rhema. A couple of the notes she hits are amazing. This should be required watching for all prospective National Anthem singers.
Rhema sings the National Anthem
Next, if you’re of a technical bent, here’s the first detailed explanation of how the Target credit card data theft was done. Turns out the malware was actually installed on the credit card terminals themselves, which explains how they were able to also get the PIN numbers too.
And here’s an article that talks about how your cat thinks you’re just another big, lazy cat. This can’t be right. Mister thinks he’s people, just like us.
Well, maybe not just like us. Mister thinks he’s smarter. And in some cases, I think he’s right.
Lastly, your TV, thermostat, or refrigerator may have been infiltrated. Basically, anything that now connects to the Internet is open to hackers. In this case, more than 100,000 devices were under hacker’s control and used to send out malicious emails.
Could your water meter be next?
January 16, 2015
Well, It’s A Start . . .
After my call to American Coach yesterday about my leaky shower, I decided to give Moen a call to double-check about the leak. I had asked American if it was possible that a faulty cartridge could cause the leak. They didn’t think so, but couldn’t be absolutely sure.
I replaced the cartridge back in February 2011 when we were in Yuma, but for a different reason. It didn’t want to turn off completely.
So just to be sure I called Moen who said, yes, it is possible for a defective cartridge to leak out the back without showing any leakage from the front. So I’ve got a reprieve from cutting a hole in the wall, al least until I try a new cartridge.
I’ll pick one up when we’re down in the Clear Lake area tomorrow.
They’re about $40 or so, but if I don’t need it, I’ll keep it for a spare. I did find my cartridge puller in one of the bins outside this afternoon, so I’m all ready to go.
I’ll probably pull the old cartridge out Sunday morning so I’ll have the entire day to work on it.
Later in the afternoon, I got the ladder out of the truck and had another go at the drilling mud on the roof. The white semicircle is from my first vinegar test.
I sprayed the front area down, and was hoping to see the stuff start running off. But it didn’t quite work like that. It still took a lot of scrubbing with a brush, but it did start to come off. One problem was that the sun was out enough to dry up the vinegar before it really had time to soak in. So it was squirt and scrub, squirt and scrub. But I did make some progress.
It’s a start, I guess.
I’m kind of thinking about getting some old towels, soaking them in vinegar, and then laying them on the roof so that the vinegar will have time to do its work. Then I can just spray the towels to keep them wet. So I’ll see how that works.
About 4pm Jan and I headed up to Peter’s BBQ for their Friday Night BBQ Buffet. At $11.50, including drink, it’s a real bargain. Unfortunately, it may be our last visit for a while, since we head back to Conroe this coming Wednesday. And hopefully down to Galveston Bay RV Resort soon after.
Tomorrow afternoon, Jan’s having her annual coworker get-together dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse down in Webster, so we’ll be heading down that way about 3pm.
January 16, 2016
Last Time For A While . . .
Well, our walk this morning was rained out again. 52° and wet is not very conducive to a pleasant walk out in the countryside. So I guess we’ll pick it back up at Lake Conroe on Monday. Hopefully in our next two weeks there, we’ll be able to bump our 1.5 miles a day up to 2 miles. But I guess it depends on if the weather holds.
Last night/this morning I got on the phone with Godaddy to move the last of my web hosting accounts from Superb.net over to Godaddy. The means that they will now host all my domain names, websites, and blogs. And it will be nice to have everything in one place.
When I first started doing websites for clients back in 1997, GoDaddy had only gotten off the ground, and I don’t think I had even heard of them at the time. At that time there was only one place to register domain names and that was with Network Solutions. And there weren’t a lot of hosting companies either.
And most of the ones that were, were pretty expensive. But finally I found Superb.net, a company that was formed to support small business users. So I was able to bulk-buy 500 megabytes of host space where I could set up as many websites as I needed.
I started out with one hosting account, and eventually added a second one, where I hosted over 40 websites at the peak. But over the years, as more host companies came online, rates started dropping, and as they dropped I started moving more and more stuff off Superb and over to Godaddy.
But I kept the last two domains on Superb because they hosted a very busy online shopping site and was protected with an SSL certificate to allow safe credit card processing. But recently I bit the bullet and started moving the last of it over.
And last night was the last of the last. All that was left was one domain, which was only being used for as an email forwarding address site. So I wanted to get things moved over to Godaddy quickly to be sure no emails were lost. The domain name itself was already hosted at Godaddy so it was just a matter of changing out the DNS addresses to move it over.
Now normally when you do this, it can take from minutes to hours to days for the switch to be actually be made. This can be a problem here, because until the switchover is made, I can’t set up the email forwarding addresses, so emails can be lost. But this time Godaddy surprised even me. It literally took seconds.
I made the DNS changes, clicked SAVE, and then opened a new tab, typed in the URL, pressed RETURN, and the changeover was complete. Literally seconds.
Well done, Godaddy!
Tomorrow we leave for Lake Conroe for the next two weeks.
January 16, 2017
First Night on the Gate . . .
Well, Jan and I survived our first night shift on the gate, her as Gate Guard out by the highway in the guard shack and me working out of my truck on the pad, 5 miles inside the gate.
The night went fairly fast, with the only downside when it rained for a bit and turned my little corner of the pad into a mudhole.
The route into the pad is very convoluted, with a lot of turns, Y’s, T’s, and deadends. There is maybe 40 pads spread out over miles of roads, none of which are on any map or GPS.
I’m really glad I drove out there on Saturday in the daylight, otherwise I might have had a problem too. But, although no roads show up on the GPS, it does leave a trail of blue dots on the screen that I can now follow in and out.
One guy left the pad about 7:30pm heading home for the night. The he showed back up about an hour later, lost and bewildered. I guess I got him back on track because he never showed back up.
Of course he could just still be driving around out there somewhere.
The whole phone thing continues to confused. I was happy to see that we have a good signal and can make calls from the proposed new RV park, so that’s a plus for moving.
But on the strange side, apparently, although I can’t make calls from that area, I can receive them.
Weird.
And of course I still have text and data.
Landon’s doing the flag football think this year.
Looks like he’s having fun.
Since I can’t do the blog from our gate right now, new blogs may be kind of intermittent. But I’ll get them up when I can.
January 16, 2018
A Three Dog Night?
We don’t have any dogs so it’ll be a 3 heater and one cat night.
Well last night’s low was 31°, and the high today creeped up to 40° and that was about it. And then tonight we’re looking for either 21° to 23° depending on which weather service you want to believe, Of course neither one is ideal.
With these upcoming temps I had planned to set up my heat lamp in our water bay to keep things warm. But I found my heat lamp bulb hadn’t survived storage in the basement and the lamp wasn’t much better so around 11:30 I drove over to the Santa Fe Tractor Supply to pick up a new set.
The temp was about 37° so I had no problems with ice on the roads, but it had rained last night and again this morning so as the temp drops it’s going to get messy.
If fact, based on the predicted dangerous road conditions tomorrow morning I’m worried about whether or not we’ll be able to get to the hospital tomorrow morning for Jan’s lithotripsy procedure.
And with all businesses and schools already closed tomorrow, when a call came in from the hospital around 11am, I was expecting a cancellation, but it was just a confirmation call. But I wouldn’t be surprised to get a call tomorrow morning.
They’re saying tonight will be the coldest in Houston in 22 years. Yikes!
I know Jan just wants to get it all over with, but we’ll have to see. Hopefully it will work out.
By the time I went out to set up the heat lamp in the bay, it was 31° and ice was everywhere. I even had trouble unscrewing the hose connections so I could disconnect us from shore water. I also put a remote thermometer in the bay so I can monitor things.
I was happy to see the temp in the bay quickly climb from 30 to 39°, so hopefully that will take care of things.
About 8:30 I went outside to check on the truck for tomorrow morning. Rime ice was already coating things so I unstuck the wiper blades and left them folded out so they won’t be froze to the windshield tomorrow. I also got the truck door unstuck and open. But it did take a bit. I went out a couple of hours and repeated the process, and I’ll do it again before I go to bed. Hopefully we’ll be able to get in the truck tomorrow.
Stay warm out there.
January 16, 2019
A Reprieve . . .
This morning started off at the Post Office. We had a package that tracking showed as out for delivery on December 28th at 11:07am.
Then sometime later that day an Alert popped up saying that ‘due to an unforeseen operation issue’ delivery was rescheduled for the next business day. And at that point it just disappeared. Never to be tracked again.
After letting the Holidays passed, I called the PO on Monday the 7th, gave them the tracking number and left my name and phone number. And then did it again on the 9th when I hadn’t heard anything.
And when I still hadn’t heard anything on Friday, I called again, and the let the phone ring for about 15 minutes with no answer. And then again this past Monday, I made two more unanswered calls for 10-15 minutes each.
So figuring that the Post Office had started the Government Shutdown early, by not answering the phone, I stopped in on the way into work. And, in a ‘new’ twist, they took my name and phone number and said they’d call me.
For some reason I’m not really hopeful. But that’s probably just my cynical nature.
And in a related note, I also handled another missing 1st Class package, this one we sent out to a customer in Bogota, Colombia, where as it happens I used to live in the early 60’s. And in a ‘strange’ coincidence, it also disappeared on the 28th of December. But in Bogota, this time.
And even the tracking was funny. It left Houston on the 13th of December and then took 4 days to get to Chicago. Why Chicago, I don’t know. That’s kind of in the wrong direction.
Then, it sat in Chicago from the 17th to the 28th. Doing what, I don’t know. Finally on the 28th, it left Chicago, went to Atlanta, and then on to Bogota. All on the 28th.
And then it too disappeared. Something strange about the 28th, I guess.
Landon’s just started his 3rd year of Hockey, and he’s ready to go.
We’re going up there on Sunday to see him play, and then have lunch with them at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood. Really looking forward to it.
And even better, Miss Piper may be going up with us.
Finishing up, we did get a little reprieve on Jan’s cataract surgery tomorrow morning. Last time we had to be there at 5:15am. But we get to sleep a couple of hours extra tomorrow since we don’t have to be there until 7:30.
Woo-Hoo!
