Our RV Adventures

As I prognosticated yesterday, lunch today was at Denny’s for our favorite Ultimate Omelets and then a stop nearby for our weekly HEB stuff.

But before that, we took down the last of our outside Christmas decorations, specifically the Snowflakes. For Christmas they looked like this.

It’s a little involved to pack them away, so they don’t get tangled up. The large snowflakes have to be bundled up and rubberbanded together, as do the small ones. But it still only took about 20 minutes and we were done.

I’ve mentioned before that Rob, our park owner, is adding some more sites right across the entrance road from us. After clearing out all junk over there, Rob started bringing in truck loads of fill dirt.

This is because according to the new rules, all new construction must be elevated about 2’ above the surrounding ground to combat flooding. Which is why his recently built garage/workshop is elevated above the ground level. This, even though there was no flooding here even during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, just a couple of months before we moved down here.

Today they brought in a dozer and started leveling the dirt piles.

Now I assume at some point they’ll have to build some kind of retaining wall to separate the two levels.

This evening, a little before 5pm, Jan and I got to watch the launch and landing of my favorite SpaceX vehicle, the Falcon Heavy.

it’s amazing to watch the launch with all 27 engines running, giving over 5 million pounds of thrust.

In this case, since they were launching a secret military payload into geosynchronous orbit, only the two external boosters were recovered. The center core later dropped in to the Atlantic. And both of these side boosters had already been used twice before.

But I think my favorite part is to watch the two boosters come back down side by side and touch down at the Cape. Ready to be refurbished and launched again.

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Thought For The Day:

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January 15, 2011

Our Cute Blond Chipmunk . . .

Catching up on some old stuff, someone had asked about Brandi possibly having the flu last week. Turns out it was a false alarm. After having flu-like symptoms on Monday, she felt fine on Tuesday. Dodged a bullet there.

I did get a chance to check out my new Sears Air Compressor yesterday and found it worked as advertised. It was able to inflate a rig tire from 90# to 100# in less than a minute. Probably better than I could do with on-board air compressor. Really worth the money.

On a completely different note, I found this fascinating, and maybe a little scary.

They could actually have a real live Wooly Mammoth born in the next 4-5 years.

Jurassic Park, anyone?

The other day I was going thru some paper work and came across the title for our toad, a 2004 Dodge Dakota Crew Cab pickup. It had about 101,000 miles on it when we bought it in December 2007, just a little over a month before we hit the road.

I noticed the other day when I had the brake work done that the Dakota now had over 163,000 miles on it, which means that in our 3 years of traveling, we’ve put 62,000 miles on it.

What’s amazing about this is that this does not include the 37,000 miles being towed behind Beauty. When the truck is in tow mode, it doesn’t register mileage.

This means that besides that 37,000 miles, we’ve driven the truck almost twice that distance just riding around seeing the sights after we park the rig.

This morning, after a very late night (early morning??) we left the rig a little before 11am heading to the Texas Tea Room to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon for lunch. We’ve really grown to like this place, with their great soups and sandwiches.

Jan was going to Landon-sit this afternoon while Brandi and Lowell take in a movie and run some errands, so she rode home with them while I headed out to do some errands myself.

First stop was Kroger’s to pick up some lottery tickets, then it was on Chris’ to drop off some magazines for Miss Piper.

Piper had two wisdom teeth pulled out Friday morning and the poor thing was still suffering. Her cheeks were still puffed up and swollen.

I told her she looked like a “cute blonde chipmunk” and wanted to take her picture for the blog. She told me in no uncertain terms “NO”.

Sorry.

Then I stopped by Home Depot looking for my under-sink icemaker water filter. But they didn’t have it. Turns out a little later research showed that my model had been discontinued. So I’ll have to try and figure out how to fit another type in its place.

Finally I headed over to Brandi’s to get the small share of Landon-sitting that Jan allows me. I only somewhat jokingly said that Landon may not walk until he’s two, because between Jan and Brandi, he never gets put down.

Brandi and Lowell got back home about 5 pm and we decided to have dinner at our favorite King Food.  Hmmmm! Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce, Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra Spicy, and then add jalapenos!

We got home a little after 7, certainly better than last night’s 1:30am.

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January 15, 2012

Second Times the Charm . . .

This morning started out a little after 10am with with the breakfast buffet at La Brisa right up TX 146. One nice thing about their buffet, unlike a lot of others, is that all drinks are included in the $10.50 price, including coffee, milk, and OJ.

And on top of that, the food is really good too.

Getting home I finally decided to do something about my leaky tire. It’s the driver’s inside rear dual, and it’s been leaking on and off for a while. It will go for several months with no problems, and then gets where I have to add air every few days. I had pulled off the Tire Pressure Sensor and the valve extension to be sure they weren’t the problem, but it didn’t help.

It was fine when we got here almost two months ago, but in the last week or so it’s been dropping overnight so it’s time to do something about it. So after we got back from breakfast, I put in a call to Coach-Net to send someone out.

But it took two tries to get it done. I told Coach-Net that I needed someone with a air jack that could lift at least 10,000 pounds, and the gear to handle a 22.5 inch tire.

The first guy came out in a pickup truck with a 2000 pound floor jack and no way to remove the large lug nuts on the wheel. So after sending him on his way, I called Coach-Net back and told them the problem. They said the guy had told them he could handle the rig. He lied.

But the next guy had what it takes – a big dually truck with a large gas-driven air compressor, a 20,000 pound air jack, and a big impact wrench to get the lugs off.

And this guy knew what he was doing. He had the inside tire off in about 15 minutes, and found a slight leak with the valve core. But the big leak was caused by a loose nut on the valve stem itself. He replaced the valve core, and then after putting a little Loc-Tite on the valve stem threads, tighten up the nut.

After airing up the tire to 110 pounds (I normally run 100 pounds in the rear), he dabbed bubble soap all around and found no leaks. Then, before remounting the tire, he carefully checked for any nails or leaks on the tire itself.

He quickly had everything back together and ready to roll in a total of only 45 minutes. A real professional.

Coach-Net covered the service call, and all I had to pay was $65 for the labor. Not bad at all.

Later, after doing some other chores around the rig, I headed up to my client’s office to install the new computers and router. Kept finding other things to do, so I didn’t get back to the rig until after 9pm, but I did get a lot done.

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January 15, 2013

And so it begins . . .

and where does it stop? As I expected the other day, the bans have started.

New York State has now banned “Assault Weapons” with only ONE cosmetic feature, not two like before. So now 100’s of thousands of New York gun owners that owned legal guns yesterday are now criminals. So having a folding or adjustable stock on your rifle, even a standard deer hunting rifle, makes you a criminal. Even if it’s only used so your wife or son can shoot the rifle more comfortably.

They have also redefined a “High Capacity” magazine to be one that holds no more than 7 rounds, down from the previous 10.

You can keep your old 10 round magazine, but if you ever put more than 7 rounds in it, you’re a criminal, even if you never put it in a gun.

And of course you can forget that 13 – 17 round mag that came with your pistol. It’s now a felony to posses one.

Maybe the government ought to take a look at the first 9 ‘Killers’ on this list before they worry about guns.

Under the heading of “Make your own Assault Weapon at home”, it’s almost here.

You may or may not have heard about 3D Printing. A 3D printer is a device that allows you take something designed by a computer and print it out in plastic, or in some cases, glass or metal.

Think Star Trek Replicator.

If you’re a car company, you get a multi-million dollar model to literally print out the parts of a new prototype car, rather than making them by hand.

And if you’re Jay Leno you can use one to made new parts for your large collection of antique cars.

Ever owned an HP LaserJet or InkJet printer? Now you can own an HP DesignJet 3D printer. This ones about $15,000.

You don’t even have to own one. You can design your part at home and then send it off to have it produced.

You can print everything from simple things

to very intricate ones.

Even better you can get one for home use as a kit for between $500 and $1000.

And even more better, you can use this one to print the parts for a new one. Kind of self-replicating. So where does this all lead?

Like I said, make your own AR-15 “Assault Weapon” at home.

Most people may not realize that the important part to an AR-15 is the lower receiver.

This is the part that has the serial number, and is regulated and tracked by the government. The barrel, stock, etc. are all readily available. But now, you can print one at home.

Of course it’s a work in progress, playing off the type of plastic used, the design, and the durability of the piece.

The first lasted for one round, the second one lasted for six, the third for 40 rounds, the fourth, fifth, and sixth, who knows.

But even better, and what works now, is a print-it-yourself magazine.

They’ve printed magazines that will work with no problems, and will hold up to 100 rounds.

Now that’s a High Capacity Magazine!

So now, let’s ban 3D printers, right?

Also apparently now finger guns are illegal.

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Next up: The Splendide Repairman

I had two problems with our Splendide washer/dryer. The first was a flaky door switch that sometimes would not allow the door to be opened after use, sometimes until the next day.

But while I was waiting for the new switch to come in from Westland Sales, another problem appeared. The dryer stopped drying. Everything worked except for the heating up part.

At first I was hoping it might have a connection with the defective switch so I could fix both problems with one repair. But a close look at the schematic in the service manual proved that wrong.

I could have replaced the switch from the outside, but I now couldn’t avoid pulling the washer out of the cabinet, a real pain in the rear.

So today was the day.

After I removed the retaining strip at the bottom of the opening, I next removed the cabinet doors, and other parts like this latch.

Then I started inching the washer out.

Since there is plenty of room inside the cabinet you think they could have left a little more room in the opening.

You can’t even get a screwdriver in between the washer and the wall.

But finally I had it out far enough to tilt it onto the floor dolly. The dolly makes all the difference in getting it out of the hallway.

Now I could get to the water hoses, after turning off the water, of course.

The string is left over from my fan motor replacement last year. It lets me push the washer back in and hold the drain hose out of the way so it doesn’t get crimped as I do.

Now I was able to push the washer aside so I could get inside the cabinet, unplug the power cord, and turn off the water at the valves, This let me turn the coach water back on.

The gob of sticky Plumber’s Putty holds the drain hose in the drain pipe so it doesn’t come loose while bouncing down the road, and then flood your RV once you get to the RV park.

Now with the lid off I was able to start checking components. And my first test proved to be the last one. Because it found the culprit.

And this is it. It’s a thermal fuse. And it’s your last-ditch protection against the dryer catching fire.

If the High Temp thermostat shorts out, the dryer would just run hotter and hotter, possibly starting a fire. A clogged exhaust vent can also cause this to happen.

But these fuses sometimes just die and open up, which is what happened here.

The markings on the fuse does not tell me the temperature rating, nor does the schematic. So I’ve got a call into the Westland Sales to see if this is a part I can find locally, or one I will have to order from them. Hopefully I’ll be able to talk with them tomorrow.

Coming Up Soon: The Blind Repairman, or How to repair/restring your RV Day/Night Shades.

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January 15, 2014

TSC and PPL . . .

Another nice day. Another nice walk. And nice hot coffee afterwards.

Jan and I  headed our about 1:30 PM for an afternoon of errands and then ending up with dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

Our first stop was the Tractor Supply Company in Alvin for a magazine Jan likes and a few other things. Then it was on to PPL Motorhomes at the junction of Beltway 8 and US59. We were stopping there to pick up the Linkage Repair Kit for my Kwikee step.

Now something on my ‘do before we leave’ list.

We also picked up a new step stool since our other one finally wore out.

After a stroll through their RV Parts Store we headed on out to Brandi’s, getting there about 3:45. Lowell was already home and Brandi showed up about 30 minutes later after picking up Landon at his daycare, which is conveniently located right down the street from their house.

After talking for a while we all drove a little down the road to Fulshear to have dinner at Dekker’s Mesquite Grill.

Lowell and I had their great Chicken Fried Steak with smashed potatoes, and really,really good green beans. They were cooked until just crispy and very well seasoned.

Jan had the Shrimp Scampi with Fried Asparagus. Also very good.

Brandi had the Rotisserie Chicken which she said was some of the best chicken she’s ever had.

It was lucky we got there early because by the time we left about 6:15 the place was pretty full. Really good. We’ll go back.

Out of 6 tries in taking Landon’s picture, this is the only one that came out.

Heading home after saying our goodbyes and getting Landon hugs, we luckily missed most of the ‘going home’ traffic. Getting back to the Clear Lake area, we stopped off at the Sam’s Club to see if they had a K-Cup storage drawer like the one that Lowell and Brandi had gotten there. But we didn’t find them.

Since we were so close, we next stopped off at Chris’ to pick up our mail, and then started home again. But remembering the Sam’s Club down in La Marque, only about 5 miles further down I-45 from our normal Dickinson turnoff, we drove on down there.

But that Sam’s said they hadn’t had any since around Christmas, so then it was finally home about 8:30 PM.

Later I found one on Amazon and it will be here Friday.

K-cup Storage Drawer

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Orlyn, one of our fellow gate guards who was down the road from us last year, called about my blog concerning changing the batteries in his Tire Pressure Sensor like I did, and wanted know how I did it. Turns out he has a Pressure Pro system, and like the previous Doran system I had, the batteries are not replaceable. You have to send the sensors back to the company and they will sell you new ones. That’s one of the reasons we changed to the TireTraker. Orlyn also said our gate is still going strong, and our replacements, Jim and Linda Mossman, are still there. Glad to hear they’re doing OK.

On another note, one of our readers, Jerry Criswell, alerted me to the universally bad reviews on Amazon for the One Touch Can Opener that I mentioned the other day.

I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe they made them better 10 years ago or so when we bought ours, but ours has worked perfectly every time. As they say, Caveat Emptor.

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January 15, 2015

Scary Cherries . . .

When I got up this morning I saw something I haven’t seen in a while, bright sunshine, finally nice enough for some outside work. But first I had some client web stuff to work on, updating some things and working on a couple of other problems.

A little later I called the client who’s computer I delivered yesterday to see if she was having any problems. She said that she was having a problem with YouTube videos being scrambled. Audio was OK, just a video problem.

After a quick Google, I told her to left-click on the YouTube screen, select Settings, and turn off Hardware Acceleration. She said that fixed the problem. Good!

Then I was on the phone to American Coach to ask about a leaky shower. For a while now I have had water leaking from the shower under the wall into the bedroom and wetting the carpet.

It only happens when the shower is running, and by looking into the access port in the shower base and I can see the water dripping down from the back of the shower enclosure. Which is where the Moen single handle faucet is on our shower as you can see here.

It was obvious that I would have to cut an access hole through from the bedroom to the rear of the faucet since there was no access panel, but first I wanted to double-check with American Coach.

And as it turns out, I’m supposed to have an access panel there. Apparently there is normally a mirror on that wall and the access panel cover is behind it. We don’t have a mirror just a blank wall, with no panel.

So it looks like I will be cutting through the wall. In anticipation of this, when I was at Harbor Freight Tools the other day,, I found a Multipurpose Oscillating Tool on sale so I picked one up with a set of blades.

It should cut right through the thin wall with no trouble, and then I should be able to see what the problem is. If I’m lucky it will be something easy like a loose connection.

As far as outside, I did a few easy chores that were at the top of my list.

First up, I repaired the Charge Wire connection on the truck. I noticed it had come loose a few weeks ago, and wanted to get it fixed before we head out west this year and encounter a lot of hills.

The Charge Wire is part of the electrical hookup between the RV and Truck that syncs the truck taillights with the rig’s. On flat terrain, it’s not really needed, but when we’re going though a lot of hills, the truck’s auxiliary braking system gets a workout. And since the Brake Buddy runs off the truck’s battery, you can sometimes arrive at your destination after a long day of hill climbing and descending and find your battery dead

The Charge Wire takes care of this by connecting the truck battery to the RV battery so that the truck battery is kept charged as we travel.

Next I dumped a batch of Biocide into the fuel tank to take care of any algae growth caused by the high humidity and cold weather we’ve had. I got caught by this in 2009 up in Massachusetts and ended up with a clogged fuel filter. Been using a biocide every since and have not had another problem with it.

Finally, I did my monthly check of the water levels in the house batteries. Not needed for the engine batteries since they’re sealed and maintenance free. I was happy to see that the water levels were fine, especially since I recently install the new power converter.

For dinner Jan fixed up our steak leftovers from last night, really good, and then for dessert, I made Scary Cherry Sundaes.

Scary Cherries were one the ‘hot’ gifts that our son-in-law Lowell gave me for Christmas

Scary Cherries are Maraschino cherries soaked in hot pepper solution, in this case, Carolina Reaper peppers, the hottest in the world. They also have two weaker heat levels, one with Ghost Chiles, and one with Scorpion Chilies. But why mess around with the kiddie stuff?

To make the sundaes, I started with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, and then dusted them with three chopped-up cherries each. Then I chopped up some Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses and sprinkled these on. Last up was a heaping pile of whipped cream, topped off with a whole cherry for me, and a chopped-up one for Jan.

She was kind of worried about eating a whole cherry by itself, so that’s why hers was chopped up.

As it turned out we both really liked the heat from these cherries. Glad I’ve got more ice cream and more cherries.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be even warmer than today, maybe more conducive to spraying water and vinegar on the roof to remove the drilling mud, but we’ll see.

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January 15, 2016

More ‘V’ . . .

Later, about 4:15 we all headed into the Katy area to meet up with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at one of our all-time favorite places, Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro.

Landon decided we were laughing and talking so much that we were making too much noise, interrupting his game play. So he stayed underneath the table using the seat as a rest for his tablet.

After a great dinner, we all headed back to Brandi’s for a bit so I could pick up some mail, then it was on back to Colorado River.

And then tomorrow, believe it or not, we’re going to do it all again.

Yeah, like we have a problem with that. Back when our kids were small, we once ate at the same restaurant every night for a week So two nights in a row is no problem.

If it’s good once, it’s good twice, right? Or even seven times.

We saw online about a big frack site fire up in Oklahoma, near Chickasha. So far it seems that truck off to the side caught fire and then it quickly spread, finally consuming the entire site.

The site, owned by Continental Oil, and being fracked by FTS has been rated as a total loss, with 22 trucks, valued at over $1 million a piece, burned to a crisp.

Luckily, probably because it started as a fire and not as an explosion, everybody got out safely with no injuries.

Even though we’ve never been extremely close to our frack sites, glad this didn’t happen at one of our gates.

The story about one of the PowerBall winners that was going around the Net yesterday, about the California winner being given the 1/3 winning PowerBall by her boss, turned out to be a prank, one that apparently got out of hand. The boss did give all of his 9000 employees a PowerBall ticket. That part was true.. But the winner part of  it came about when a son called his mother at work, and as a prank, told her she had won.

But things quickly got out of hand, the press was called, and the announcement went out nationwide, with TV and news reporters crowding into her workplace. I suspect that her son is now very sorry he did this.

If he’s still around.

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January 15, 2018  

I Give Up . . .
Back at work this morning, I gave up.
For the last couple of months I’ve been trying to move my client’s website and online store off the in-house Linux server and up onto Godaddy. But so far everything I’ve tried has been a dud

To do that I need to set up a new version of Zen Cart on Godaddy and then copy the Zen Cart MySQL data from the Linux server and then just install it on GoDaddy’s version.

Yeah, right!

Well it would be that easy except that access to the MySQL file is password protected. And the password is not any of the ones from my list of the previous guy’s passwords..

But I kind of figured out a workaround only to find that the data file itself is encrypted. Why the hell, I don’t know. There’s no reason for it.

And even worse, it’s encrypted with AES-256 encryption, the same standard used for online banking. So good luck breaking that. So now it’s down to grunt work.

We presently have about 1680 products in the database, so my fall-back is to just start copying the individual products over one at a time. It’s likely to take several months, but as I told Jan if I’d done this to start with, I’d be done by now.

At least it’ll keep me off the streets and out of trouble. Well, one of them, at least.

We had originally planned to have our left-over El Pollo Loco for dinner tonight, and then eat out tomorrow, but the incoming weather intervened. With tomorrow, we’re expecting temps in the low 20’s with freezing rain, sleet, black ice, and snow flurries/snow. Sounds like a good day to stay home.

So as soon as I got home we turned back around and headed back up FM646 to have dinner at our local favorite, Pho20.

We both started out with their delicious House Crunch Salad, with Miso Dressing and Tempura Crunches. Then while Jan again went with the Hibachi Chicken,

I once again got the White Chicken Pho with Vegetables.

Really good and enough to bring home more than I ate to start with.

Before heading home we made a detour by the nearby HEB for a few things.

Tomorrow I’ll double check that our fresh water tank is full and then disconnect us from the Shore Water for the next couple of days, since we’re looking at 23° tomorrow night and 26° on Wednesday.

Since we’re looking at possible icy road conditions Wednesday morning, we may find that Jan’s lithotripsy gets rescheduled. We’ll have to see.

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January 15, 2019

No. 5 Is Alive . . .

I had several outside projects on tap for today, but the weather wasn’t very cooperative. It just barely got into the 50’s here, and the sun never even sent a beam in our direction.

So, catching up on 2019 so far . . .

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon came down from Katy on New Year’s Day to meet us at King Food for lunch. Landon brought along his latest creation, a Lego robot.

Brandi said a few hours before this was a bunch of small parts in a box. When Landon was done, he had a robot that he can program and control from his iPad. Cant’ wait to see what he comes up with next.

Brandi says she’s thinking about signing him up for a kid’s coding class called Code Ninjas. Sounds like it would be right up his alley.

On the 3rd of January Jan and I met the Conroe Bunch up in Spring at the Potatoe Patch restaurant there. Good food and great friends. Couldn’t get much better.

Left: Debi Hurlburt, Sandy Mills, Judy Mott, Mike Mills and David Evans. Right: Janice Evans, Jan White, Logan Unterzuber, Ed Hurlburt, and Greg White.

A motley group if I ever saw one.

Dinner today was breakfast at Denny’s, followed by a WalMart excursion.

While we were doing the WalMart thing, I set Runkeeper to track our distance to compare the mileage accuracy with Jan’s new Fitbit. Runkeeper, a Android phone app, uses GPS to very accurately track your mileage.

When we got back to the truck, I showed a distance of .43 miles, while Jan’s Fitbit showed 0.47 miles, a different of 0.04 of a mile. Not bad at all.

After Jan’s initial panic last month after her left eye cataract removal, her vision settled down just as the Dr. said it would, so Jan scheduled her right eye operation for this coming Thursday morning, with a quick checkup Friday morning.

For my part, after using the steroid drops on my left eye for the last month, I’m going back to get my problem checked out to see if I have Fuch’s Dystrophy or not.

I guess we’ll see.

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January 15, 2021

Drink More Coffee . . .

I mentioned the other day that according to the IRS website, GET MY PAYMENT, our two $600 Stimulus Checks were mailed out on January 6th, and then yesterday I got an email from DakotaPost saying that our checks, and well as a DMV refund from our Jeep tags, were sent via Priority Mail yesterday, the 14th. So it should be here in the next couple of days.

Is there anything it can’t do?

A new study was just released showing that drinking coffee helps reduce your chances of prostate cancer. And the more you drink, the less your risk.

The highest level of coffee consumption ranged from two to nine or more cups per day, while the lowest level ranged from none to fewer than two cups per day, they said.

Good to hear since I average about 10 cups a day.

And for those of you of the non-prostate persuasion, you’re not left out either. Past research has linked coffee consumption to a reduced risk for liver, bowel and breast cancers.

So Drink Up!

Today was nice and easy, with lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico, and that was it.

Nice and easy.

Some more info has been release about the Great Wolf Lodge going up in Webster. It will have 532 rooms and a 95,000 sq. ft. indoor water park, plus a smaller outdoor one.

It’s supposed to be open in mid to late 2024.

But big as it is, Great Wolf Lodge is just a small part of the Flyway at Clear Creek development adjacent to it.

That’s Great Wolf at the top-center-left of the above photo.

From the Internet:

The 80+-acre destination development will fuse the indoors with the outdoors with best-in-class dining and entertainment venues amid a walkable, inviting atmosphere with a boardwalk, event lawn, and unique amenities. Flyway takes patios to the next level, creating walkable spaces and allowing visitors to extend their stay and visit multiple venues. Visitors can purchase drinks from any establishment, stroll along the boardwalk, talk amid the trails, and enjoy the natural surroundings.

Looks like a lot going on.

Tomorrow’s probably going to be Denny’s for lunch and then HEB for the week’s stuff.

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Thought For The Day:

Husbands are the best people for wives to share secrets with. They’ll never tell anyone, because they aren’t even listening.

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January 14, 2012

Fajitas and Tea Rooms . . .

Jan and I left the rig about 11 this morning to meet Brandi, Lowell,and Landon at the Texas Tea Room for lunch. Landon was his usual lovable self and we had a great meal.

Landon with his daddy. Look at those beautiful blue eyes.

After a fun lunch with Landon et al, Jan and I headed over to Texas Art Supply so she could find a large set of crayons. Then it was on to Brandi’s to pick up our mail.

Then on the way home, we stopped off at Monterey’s Little Mexico again for more Chicken Tortilla Soup to eat with the leftover Beef Fajita Nachos we didn’t eat last night.

Getting home, the day was so nice that we spent some time outside. Jan fed the birds and then set out in the sun for a spell while I worked on a few things. First off I cleaned the battery terminals on the truck, and then plugged in my new power window unit just to be sure it worked before installing it sometime next week.

Next I worked on tracing the door lock wiring on my truck so I can fix the problem with the alarm not turning off when I unlock the door.

Later we came inside and caught up on some TV that we had recorded on our DVR. We were down to about 20% so it was about due.

All in all, a very nice day.

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January 14, 2013

Cloudy, Cold, Wet, Damp, Flu – Blah . . .

We’re now into our 5th day of cold, rainy, miserable weather. Today’s high was 45 with a low tonight of 37. Then tomorrow it’s 40 and 35. And of course don’t forget the intermittent rain.

And even better, we’re looking at another week of this.

Blah!

I had appointments with several clients this morning, but that got cut short due to the flu.

Not me. Them.

But since it’s been about 10 days since I’ve seen them, and the incubation period for the flu is 1 to 4 days, I should be OK.

So far they’re the only ones I know with the flu, so I hope my luck holds.

I didn’t get the flu shot this year, and haven’t gotten one since the mid-60’s. I the shot twice back then and both times I got sick. The last time I had to be hospitalized.

So now I depend of the kindness of strangers. I figure that if everyone else gets their flu shots like they’re supposed to, then I don’t need to get mine.

So, get your flu shot today.

My continued good health depends on it.

So after checking in with my healthy client, I headed over to the house to check the mail. I was hoping that the door switch to fix the washer had come in, and it had. Of course I still have to pull the washer out of the wall to fix the ‘no-heat’ problem, but I’d rather only pull it out once to fix both problems.

Leaving the house my next stop was Fry’s Electronics to pick up a new computer for a client. Fry’s is starting to run out of Windows 7 machines, so I hope they hold out until Jan and I leave here next month.

Getting back to the rig, Jan and I headed back out about 4pm to first have dinner at Chili’s and then on to Kroger’s for some groceries. Then it was home for the night.

Tomorrow I play Splendide repairman.

And now for another rant.

Bullets, High-Capacity Magazines . . .

and the Gun Show Loophole.

Today I’m going to try and address some of the misinformation I’ve heard recently concerning guns.

Since the Newtown School shooting I’ve heard numerous commentators talking about how ‘deadly” the 5.56 ammo that was used, is.

Well, it’s so deadly that many states don’t allow it to be used for deer hunting. Not because it’s too deadly, but because it’s not deadly enough.

That’s right. The 5.56mm/.223 cal. ammo used in the most popular “Assault Weapon” is not considered powerful enough to go hunting with. It boils down to the fact that the .223 is basically a souped-up .22, like kids shoot tin cans with.

The caliber, or diameter of the bullet, is the same. But it is longer, heavier, and loaded into a case that holds more powder. Here’s a photo comparing a .223 round and a .22.

But now look at the difference between the .223 and the 30.06, pretty much the standard hunting round.

Note that I’m not saying the AR-15/.223 is not deadly. Even a .177 cal. pellet gun, much less a standard .22 can be deadly. But it is not this super-deadly round that it’s made out to be. By most standards, it’s under-powered. But the way some talk, you could take out tanks with it.

But some will point out that it’s deadly enough for the U.S. Army to use in the M-16. And of course that’s true, but its ‘deadliness’ is not why it was picked.

The M-14 that replaced the M1 after WWII both used the same .308 cartridge. The M-14 was also the first combat rifle that featured fully-automatic fire. Which required more ammo.

But more ammo was heavier to carry. So when the military was looking to replace the M-14 in the late 60’s, they went with smaller, lighter rounds that allowed more to be carried for the same weight.

Here’s a photo showing the difference between the .223 and the .308.

Of course some cynics have said that a lighter, less deadlier round was chosen for another purpose. Some military tactics say that it’s better to grievously wound an enemy than to kill him outright. A wounded enemy takes others out of the battle to care for him.

But whatever the reason, many soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan have gone back to using the more powerful M-14/.308 combination because it travels further, is not as readily deflected by intervening brush, leaves, etc., and hits harder.

Next up – High Capacity Magazines.

The first problem is to get someone to define what a “High-Capacity Magazine” is. Kind of like getting a politician to put a number to what someone’s fair share of taxes are.

Depending on the locality and type of firearm, the cutoff between a ‘normal’ capacity and ‘high’ capacity magazine is 3, 7, 10, 12, 15, or 20 rounds. The old federal ban set the limit at 10 rounds.

So for some, two rounds are OK, three is too many. Kind of funny when they don’t seem to have a problem with a standard 6 shot revolver.

But there are several problems with a ban, beside size.

1. The first problem is that, except for .45’s, pretty much every recent semi-automatic pistol comes with a standard 13-18 round mag. What do you do about these?

2. How do you ban them?

The last time they were banned in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, the manufacture and sale of any new ones was made illegal. The sale and possession of pre-existing magazines remained legal. This just created a seller’s market for the legal ones.

3. Do you ban them all?

There are probably 100’s of millions of “would-be banned” magazines out there. According to some stats, there are 350 million firearms in the U.S. Although I wasn’t able to get an idea of how many of these are handguns, but figuring half of them are, and figuring that each one has 4 magazines to go with it, that means there could be 700 million magazines out there, probably a large percentage of them illegal “High Capacity” magazines.

As has been called for by several politicians, how do you outlaw, ban, seize, expect-to-be-turned-in, that many magazines?

And what about making 10’s of millions of otherwise law-abiding Americans into criminals overnight?

And if you outlaw 10’s of millions of magazines, how long does it take to get new, smaller ones manufactured to replace them. I saw an article the other day that said that magazine manufacturers are now back-ordered on the 1 MILLION magazines that have been sold just in the last few weeks.

4. What good would it do to have only 10 round capacity magazines available to the public?

It takes less than a second to change magazines out. You simply press the magazine release button on the side of the pistol and the empty magazine drops to the floor. The new magazine you’ve already taken out of your pocket and are now holding in your hand is now slammed home. Release the slide and you’re ready to go. I can do it on my 9mm in a little over a second and I haven’t practiced lately.

5. Why would I want a “High Capacity” Magazine?

Because I want one, and because I might need one.

You may have read recently about the mother in Georgia who was home with her 9 year old twin daughters when someone started to break in to her house. She grabbed her six shot revolver and her daughters and started retreating up the stairs. She finally ended up in the attic crawl space with the intruder following her upstairs. When he opened the door into the crawl space she shot him 5 times, hitting him in the neck and chest. As she stood over him, telling him to stay down, she realized she was out of ammo,  so she grabbed her daughters and ran.

But the intruder was able to exit the house, get into his car and drive away, although he didn’t make it far due to blood loss.

The mother now says she wants a bigger gun with more bullets.

This encounter turn out OK for her this time. Her 6 shot revolver worked for her this time. But what if in the heat of the moment she missed a couple of times and he kept on coming?  Would she and her daughters just be another crime statistic?

Recently in OK a woman was home alone and three intruders kicked in her front door. But she was waiting with her gun, and when they saw it, they turned and ran.

But what if they had kept coming? Want to take on 3 bad guys with 6 shots? I know I would rather not.

A blog reader recently sent me an article written by a supposed “ex-FBI agent”. I don’t know. While I agreed with some of what he had to say, I found this quote hard to swallow, I e., a lie.

“When I came out of the FBI Academy in 1984, I was issued a six-shot revolver and 18 rounds of ammunition, and I felt well-armed. To this day I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would want to own, much less carry, a weapon with a magazine holding 15 rounds and more. If you need to do that, join the Armed Forces.”

But then there’s this from

In the early 1980s, the FBI began really shifting towards semi-auto pistols beyond just the 1911. First up, the Smith & Wesson Model 459 — a double/single-action pistol in 9mm Luger. 

So who’s lying here?

And are we suppose to believe that he doesn’t know that for years FBI agents have carried the Glock 22 or 23 that holds 18 rounds?

So he thinks they should still be carrying 6 shot revolvers?

Or that I should?

One last thing about magazines.

A clip and a magazine aren’t the same thing. This photo might help.

A clip is used to feed rounds into a weapon with a fixed magazine. An example would be the M1 Garand Battle Rifle from WWII.

A magazine actually holds the rounds and feeds them into the weapon as they are fired.

One last thing on this overly-long blog post is the fabled “Gun Show Loophole”.

In reality it is just a “Private Sale”. It really has nothing directly to do with Gun Shows. It’s just one private individual selling or giving a weapon to another private individual.

It could just as easily be called the “Father-Son Loophole”. or the “Brother-in-law Loophole”, or maybe the “Next Door Neighbor Loophole”.

Want to sell or give your spare rifle or shotgun to your brother-in-law or son without going to a licensed dealer, filling out forms, and paying a fee. You’ve just availed yourself of the “Gun Show Loophole.

Don’t you feel like a real criminal now?

The vast majority of gun show sales are made by Federally-licensed dealers, who fill out the Form 4473’s, run the NICS background checks, and cross all the paperwork T’s and dot all the I’s.

Even the Department of Justice says that over 95% of gun show sales involve licensed dealers and are perfectly legal.

Yes, sometimes an individual does sell a weapon to another individual at a gun show. But it could have been done anywhere. And most of these are legal transfers too.

Your average drug lord or gang member are not getting their weapons from gun shows. They buy them on the street, or from a friendly ATF agent. (Google “Fast and Furious” for more info.)

One final note. Stag Arms, just one manufacturer of AR-15/.223 rifles, says they have now sold out their entire output for the next two years.

That’s about it. My rant has run its course. But hopefully I’ve corrected some of the misinformation that’s floating round out there.

It’s also possible I’ve introduced some of my own. If I have, let me know.

Getting down off my soapbox and putting away my talking stick, it’s all yours.

Coming soon. Ban knives!

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January 14, 2014

Never Again . . .

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Jan and Mister and I sat outside and enjoyed our coffee. Well, Mister didn’t have coffee. He just enjoyed licking himself.

But we all had fun.

I took the day off from chores and worked on some computer things for a couple of clients. Still working on the laptop that was infected with the Conduit Search problem. I’ve got most of it cleaned out, but there’s still a ‘poison pill’ left in there somewhere. After Conduit Search is removed, everything works, but it keeps trying to come back. SuperAntiSpyware is blocking it, but warnings keep flashing up which gets to be annoying very quickly. But I’ll find it eventually.

Conduit Search is one of those programs that you usually infect yourself with. It normally gets installed because you didn’t check carefully when you installed another piece of software. You need to read all the fine print in the “Terms and Conditions”, and at the bottom of the install screen, usually a number of check boxes that if you don’t uncheck them, you get all sorts of junk along with the problem you wanted.

Conduit Search is not a virus per se, but is usually referred to as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program), though I think the acronym should be Positively Unwanted Program.

Running the paid version of either SuperAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes should protect from this being installed on your system. Note I said the ‘paid’ versions, because the programs have to be actively running to do this, and only the paid versions allow this.

FWIW I run the paid versions of both. They don’t conflict.

For the record, these are the “protection programs” I run.

AVG Free Virus Protection
ZoneAlarm Firewall
SuperAntiSpyware – paid version
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware – paid version
CCleaner
Glary Utilities
Microsoft Security Essentials

If you have any questions about any of these let me know.

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About 1 PM Jan and I headed out to have lunch at King Food and then some errands. After lunch I made a client stop for a few minutes to update some software. I’ll be back here Saturday night to do some stuff that can’t be done in the daytime when they’re using the system.

We next decide to check out the Wal-Mart down in Texas City, and Jan said “Never again”. Traveling around so much, we’re used to finding Wal-Marts with different layouts, but this one looked like someone had just scattered the rows out at random. It was the screwiest layout I’ve every seen.

As Jan says “Never again”.

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January 14, 2015

Hot Stuff . . .

Jan and I headed out about 10am with our first stop Katz’s Deli in the Montrose area for lunch around 11:30. We always try to eat here when we’re in this part of town, and it never disappoints.

We always start out with some of their complementary pickles and coleslaw.

The kosher pickles are the kind that you bite into with a big ‘crunch’. Jan doesn’t really like pickles, but she really likes these. And the coleslaw is also unique, as it’s sliced rather than chopped, and has a very spicy , but a little sweet, dressing.

Jan had a Tuna Salad Sandwich with a cup of their Broccoli Cheese Soup, and I had a Rueben on Grilled Rye with a cup of their Corn Chowder.

Leaving Katz’s, our next destination was about 15 minutes away with a stop at iBurn.

Our son-in-law Lowell turned us on to this place, and has given me several items he got there for us,  but this was our first time to actually visit.

The place is ‘Hot Stuff’ heaven with row after row of bottles, bags, and boxes of the hottest concoctions you can imagine. I was like a kid in a candy store, believe me. And I came away with $30 of hot stuff. Yummm!

The next stop was at my client’s in Pasadena to deliver her new computer. But in trying to get it set up, I ran into a problem. She has an older keyboard she likes, and by older, I mean it has the big AT connector, the one that’s about the size of your thumb. But for her last couple of computers, we used a AT to PS2 adapter like this:

But computers these days no longer have PS2 Keyboard/Mouse connectors on them, so I needed another adapter, a PS2 to USB like this one:

But after checking a nearby Office Depot and a Best Buy, with no luck (they didn’t even know what I was talking about) Jan and I headed down to Clear Lake to the Fry’s Electronics, who of course had exactly what I needed.

Finally getting the computer set up and configured to her liking, and after I fixed a couple of problems on her laptop, Jan and I headed for home. We quickly decided to put our El Pollo Loco visit on hold due to how late it was, And after looking at the traffic delays on Sigalert , we decided to have dinner along the way and wait out the traffic. We looked for a Texas Roadhouse, but couldn’t find one along the way so we ended up at a Saltgrass Steakhouse.

Luckily for us, we got there just before the rush and were seated immediately. Our steaks and steak accessories were just as good as our last visit to the one in Conroe, and we had enough leftover to bring some home.

Our last stop was a nearby Kroger’s for a few things as well as gas for $0.79 a gallon (with my $1 a gallon Kroger’s Card discount).

Heading home, we found the traffic was gone, and we were able to do the speed limit all the way, getting home about 8:45.

Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be sunny, so maybe I can get some stuff done outside. We can only hope.

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January 14, 2016

We Have A Winner . . .

are back together again.

Well, it was spitting rain this morning, so we didn’t walk today either. But there’s always tomorrow, right?  And if you can keep a secret, a world-famous mystery writer and his wife may be accompanying us along the way.

On the PowerBall front, as I thought, the prize made it up to $1.6 Billion right before the drawing last night, and yielded three winners. And the California winner didn’t even have to buy his ticket. His boss gave it to him.

A multi-millionaire, who owns 80 assisted living facilities in California, bought 18,000 PowerBall tickets and gave them to his employees, and one of those tickets was a winner.

I guess now it’s possible that the employee might be able to buy out his boss.

Quite a few blog readers emailed me about the odds of winning the top prize, and how that works.

Here’s some info I posted here in a comment, and also in several forums online.

Actually the odds of YOU having a winning number never changes, no matter how many people enter.

It’s always one in 292,201,338. This is based on the possible number combinations derived from the first five numbers 1 to 69, I.e, 11,238,513,  and the Power Ball number that goes from 1 to 26.

And so 11,238,513 x 26 different Power Balls gives you 292,201,338 chances.

But two things do change as people buy more tickets as the jackpot increases.

1. The pot IS more likely to be won by someone. The more tickets, the more combinations sold, the more likely a winner.

2. And the chances of there being more than one winner also increases.

I heard yesterday that over 85% (it was 90% at the time of the drawing) of the possible number combinations, I.e. the 292.2 million, had been sold. Thus there is an ~85% chance that someone will win. But for an individual, it’s still one in 292.2 million.

Statistics are funny things and often run against ‘common sense’. For example, if you flip a coin, and it comes up heads 10 times in a row, it is no more or no less likely to come up heads again, I.e. a 50% chance.

Later we headed out to have dinner down in Columbus at Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant, a place we really like.

Along the way, we found that diesel at the Colorado County Co-op had dropped another 5 cents a gallon, to $1.75. This past Sunday, it was $1.85, and then yesterday, it was $1.80. Ten cents in 5 days is a big drop.

And as with previous visits, everything was delicious.

Coming back to the park, we made a stop at the hardware store in downtown Columbus, and then Brookshire Bros. for some supplies, before getting back home a little after 6pm.

Not sure what’s on tap for tomorrow.

We’ll see.

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January 14, 2017

We May Have To Move . . .

Now the Oil Patch picks up, when we’ve only got a month left down here.

About 8am this morning, my Tab tablet chirped, and I was awake enough to check it out, hoping it was a gate job. But it was just a reminder to pay a bill. Bummer.

Then a couple of minutes later, another chirp, now a text, and now a job.

And a job that looks to have a major effect on us.

The gate is north of Westhoff, a little over 40 miles from here, a little less than an hour away. But it does have a lot of plusses . . . steady employment. There’s a good possibility. that this gate could keep us BOTH working until we leave Feb. 15th.

But it was a scramble this morning. By the time we knew where and when, it was almost 8:30. And we were supposed to be at the gate by 10am. Yikes.

But we were showered, dressed and out the door with enough time for a McDonald’s stop, and we got there at 9:59am. To find no one waiting for us. We had beat Todd, the shack, the generator, and the potty. In fact it was after 10:30 before they showed up. Well, not the potty.

Brownie points for us.

Today it’s only a one person gate, at least today. Jan and I shared the Gate Guard job at the entrance right off the highway, working from 10am to 5pm. Then tomorrow, we turn around to night shift, with Jan working the shack at the entrance, and me working at the pad, about 5 miles in, out of my truck.

So two paychecks.

This should hold for a week to two weeks. Then after a break for a few days, the frack will start, and with 4 holes should last until we’re scheduled to leave. But this will mean another shift change for us.

The job will drop back to just the shack with Jan and I on opposite shifts, days for her and nights for me. Not easy, but doable for two or three weeks.

So two paychecks.

That’s the plusses. Now the minuses.

The distance, of course, is one. It’s about twice as far as our farthest gate, with nearest big town, and Wal-Mart, being Cuero.

This is why we might move. There is a small RV park in Westhoff, that looks OK. It looks to be a worker’s camp, just like ours now. Not as nice, I.e. no Wi-Fi, or free laundry. In fact no laundry at all. So back to using our Splendide.

With 3 big free washers and dryers, and located 50 feet away, Jan had gotten used to using the park facilities, doing one or two loads and not five or six. But the park cost is less than 1/2 of what we’re paying here, so that’s a plus too.

Another minus is again, no Verizon phone service at the gate. Don’t know yet about the RV park location. I do have text and data, though. So it’s workable, I guess.

BUT the possibility of the move is probably going to be decided by whether or not we have Verizon phone service at the RV park. So we’ll see,

If we do move, it will be during the short downtime before the frack starts up.

The other minus is that although Jan is exempt, I will have to wear the the full FRC regalia, including steel-toed boots, hardhat, and safety glasses. YUCK!

As least it’s cooler now.

Finishing up, I want to thank all of you for your RV park suggestions from yesterday. I’ll try to get them combined and compiled as soon as I can, but it may be a few days with all the job stuff that’s come up.

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January 14, 2018

Crazy Chicken . . .

I really did plan to do the awning today., The weather was perfect, sunny and in the low 50’s with no wind.

Bu business intervened. I spent the morning and early afternoon mocking up website designs for a couple of possible new clients.

Separately, two people approached me recently to do sites for them, and I’ve found that it’s easier to get a sale by having something to show them to start with.

I’ll know more in the next couple of days.

A little after noon, Jan’s urologist called to see how she was doing, and also to say that based on some later test results that came back, he wants to put her on Keflex for the next four days until after the Lithotripsy on Thursday afternoon. Said he’d call it in to Wal-Mart and we could pick it up. This is the second time he’s called to check up on Jan, and on a Sunday too. Very nice.

About 4pm Jan and I headed up to Clear Lake to have dinner and pick up the new script. We hadn’t been to El Pollo Loco for a while so that was our first stop.

We first discovered them in 2008 when they were only out in California, so it’s nice to see them heading east finally.

Jan and I have both been trying to cut down for our New Year’s Resolution so we’ve been watching our calories. And it’s amazing the difference between different items.

For instance, if you get the individual size Chunky Guacamole it’s 220 calories. But if you get the same size with chips, it’s 980 calories. Or the Creamy Cilantro Dressing is 320 calories, but the Light Creamy Cilantro Dressing is 70 calories, a big difference. And it’s hard to taste the difference

So by choosing carefully from the menu, all of this was only 820 calories.

That’s two pieces of their chicken, two sides of steamed broccoli, a small Tortilla Soup, and a Classic Chicken Salad. And I couldn’t finish all of the salad.

And besides coffee and an apple later, that was it for the day.

And it was really good.

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January 14, 2019

Steamrollered . . .

I’ve installed and set up Jetpack so the blog email function should be working now. If not, you might try re-subscribing using the using the requestor at the top right of the blog.

Wrapping up 2018

In yesterday’s blog I covered our Christmas get-together at Brandi’s on Sunday the 23rd. And after seeing Brandi’s brisket, several readers ask for the recipe, so here it is. And it’s really pretty simple

10 pound brisket
1 bottle of Allegro Original Marinade

Put the brisket in a pan.
Cover it in the marinade.
Cover the pan
Cook it at 250° for 6 hours

Easy Peezy!
Though I might try it with the Hot & Spicy version of the Marinade.

For most of the last 40 years, we’ve eaten a family Christmas Eve dinner at our favorite King Food. But since we’d already had our family Christmas, it was just Jan and I this time.

Since I’ve already posted many pics of KF food, just know that our Hot & Sour Soup, Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken Wings, Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce with Jalapenos, and Special Fried Rice, was as delicious as always.

Christmas Day we decided to head out to the movies to see Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen biopic. We both really enjoyed it, though they did play fast and loose with some of the timeline.

But all in all, a really good movie.

As I said, Brandi’s brisket was delicious, but it was Christmas after all, and Jan had to get her Turkey and Dressing fix, so Thursday we were off to Cracker Barrel, meeting Miss Piper, for their really good T&D.

Sunday the 30th found us up in Sugarland, first eating dinner at the Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, starting with a dozen raw oysters,

along with Shrimp Gumbo, Grilled Catfish, and Grilled Veggies.

Then it was right down the road to the Smart Financial Centre to see Mannheim Steamroller.

And, unlike last year’s Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert, I didn’t have another attack of BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo). And except a couple of small attacks over the next few days, I’ve never had a reoccurrence of the problem. And I don’t know what caused it then, either.

We both really enjoyed the concert, but were surprised to find that it was a much smaller production than TSO.

In fact the touring company consist of only 6 musicians. The rest of the orchestra consists of about a dozen musicians hired locally at each stop. And I think the only equipment they travel with is a snow machine for that real Christmas spirit

And while the light show with Mannheim was nice,

it really didn’t compare with the light show put on by TSO. With multiple stages overhead,

enough lasers to take on the Deathstar,

gigantic flame pots, and enough speakers to make your fillings rattle, and you could feel the heat.

it was a totally awesome experience.

But as I said we also really liked Mannheim, with more of a homey, intimate feel. They did mention that this performance was the last one of the season for them, starting back on November 9th, with a show almost every night.

But actually like many similar shows, there are two touring companies for Mannheim, a Red Unit and a Green Unit, that let’s them cover more cities.

All in all a great  time.

New Year’s Eve found us at a wild party at a local restaurant. Well, actually we had an early dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse up in Webster. We both had our usual Wedge Salads and steaks, but, since it was New Year’s Eve, we splurged a bit and split a Pecan Pie Bread Pudding. Party Hearty.

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January 14, 2020

Wings, Wings, and Steak . . .

Our only real activity today was Jan and I traveling over to Pearland this morning to have lunch with Bonnie, Jan’s long-time friend and a former coworker. She and Jan worked together about 30 years ago at the old Medical Center Del Oro Hospital, up in the Houston Medical Center area.

We took her to our favorite Saltgrass, the one in the Pearland area, which turned out to be her favorite too.

It was really good to see Bonnie again, and look forward to doing it again soon.

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January 14, 2021

Then What’s The Point?

Jan and I headed up to the Webster area for another visit to Snooze, our favorite local breakfast-for-breakfast place, well, as opposed to Denny’s, which is our favorite breakfast-for-dinner place.

Jan loves their version of Avocado Toast and says it’s the best around.

For my part, I got my usual Shrimp & Grits, with a side of Fruit.

Then it was on up to the Ace Hardware for a few things before finally heading back to the rig.

Elsewhere on the repair front, a few days before we made our New Year’s trip up to Fredericksburg and Kingsland in our new (to us) Jeep, the AC/Heater blower lost all speeds except HIGH.

Luckily this is pretty easy to diagnose since if the blower runs on HIGH, that means that it’s OK. And it’s highly unlikely that a problem with the speed selector switch would affect all 4 speeds. So that leaves the blower resistor pak. Which turns out to be an easy fix, at least in the Jeep.

It’s located right behind the glove box. Just open the door, pop the side latches and there it is.

Then it was just a matter of unplugging the cable, removing the resistor pak,

screwing down the new one, plugging the cable back in, and I was done.

Next up on the repair list is to replace the Jeep’s Driver’s Door Window Actuator Motor. It’s been getting noisier and noisier, and sometimes doesn’t want to completely unlock the door. So I found I could buy a new one for about $135, or get a used, tested, guaranteed one for $43.

Guess which one I got?

And it looks to be pretty easy to replace. At least according to YouTube.