Our RV Adventures

I was outside a little early this morning hitting a bunch of weeds with Roundup, and thinking about how I really needed a grass trimmer to edge around the patio and the Flamingo Flamboyance. But I didn’t want to buy a big one so I went to the font of all products and found just the thing.

String Trimmer

it’s small, battery-powered, and uses Tie-Warps instead of trimmer string.

And even better, it’s only $18 and will be here Tuesday.

Lunch today was at Denny’s once again, and our Ultimate Omelets just seem to get better (and bigger) every time.

It just seems to get bigger, and thicker, every time.

I think Hugo, the cook, is just wanting to see how much he can cram into one 3-egg omelet.

Fine with us. This is what you get when you tip the cook $20 at Christmas.

I’ve mentioned yesterday about our 3 favorite servers, Sylvia at Twin Peaks, Juana at Texas Huddle, and Miss Angie today at Denny’s.

As I said, all 3 are great servers and remember what we order.

Then afterwards we moved across the I-45 to get our weekly stuff at HEB and then the P.O. and home.

A very nice weekend.

Finishing up, some people in England are upset about the placement of this McDonald’s sign.

In fact it’s shown up on lot of different sites. And some of the comments are hilarious. Although I think the one saying it was ‘Tasteless’ was actually serious.

Someone else asked, “So does this mean ‘Oven Roasted’ and ‘It’s To Die For’ are out, too?”

But maybe the worst one (or best one, depending on your point of view) was someone wanting to know if this explained ‘Chicken Nuggets’.

Your turn now.

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Thought for the Day:

Sticking with today’s Super Bowl theme, I saw an article online about Marshawn Lynch, who plays for the Seattle Seahawks. It talked about how, unlike many NFL players who retire broke, Marshawn still has all of the $49.7 million he’s made in his nine years in the NFL. Instead he’s lived on just his $5 million a year from endorsements and business ventures.

When I told Jan about this, she looked over at me and said, “He’s not married, is he”

Truer words were never spoken.

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February 12, 2011

Year 4, Day 1

First off, to recap yesterday, we started off with lunch at the Texas Tea Room with Landon’s other grandparents, Lendell and Sonja.

And, as usual, Landon charmed everyone in the place with his big blue eyes.

Brandi and Lowell left early Friday morning for a long weekend in Colorado, so Lendell and Sonja had driven down from Oklahoma to Landon-sit for the weekend. We couldn’t do it since we were leaving the next day.

Of course, the fact that it was –29 in Oklahoma a few days ago didn’t hurt either.

Reluctantly leaving Landon, Sonja and Lendell, Jan and I headed over to Wal-Mart to stock up for our upcoming travels. Next, we went by a locksmith to get some keys made, before heading over to a client’s office to pick up a final check (always fun).

Finally it was time to head home and start packing to leave tomorrow. Since it was really nice outside I spent the rest of the afternoon working around the rig, packing the toad, and tidying up the site.

At 5pm we drove up to T-Bone Tom’s for our last dinner in Houston. I got a order of Armadillo Eggs, but since I also got a steak, I was only able to eat 1 egg of the 4. These things are Big. They’re made by slicing open a large jalapeno, stuffing it with chopped BBQ Brisket, battering it in 3 different coatings, and then deep-frying them.

Delicious! And leftovers, too.

After dinner we drove over to say goodbye to Chris and Linda. Of course, being Friday night, Miss Piper was missing in action. But we had said goodbye to her on Tuesday night, anyway.

Getting home about 8 we continued to put away stuff and get set up to travel. When you’ve been parked for 5 months you spend a lot of time trying to remember where everything goes.

The last time we were in one place this long was the 5 months we spent in Alaska in 2008. Normally we’re only in Houston for two months or so, but Master Landon’s arrival changed things this year.

I finally got to bed a little after midnight, early for me, but I wanted to get up around 7, 7:30 or so.

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Today . . .

I did manage to get up about 7:30, leaving Jan to sleep for awhile longer. It was 27 degrees outside, and everything was covered in a light frost. We even had an icicle.

I started by packing away the sat dish, and stowing our solar lights that line the driveway.

Then about 8 I went inside to gently awaken Jan by putting my ice-cold hands on her feet that were sticking out from under the covers.

I did say ‘gently’, didn’t I.

I told Jan I thought either all the wet weather we had the last month or so had shrunk the coach, or we bought too much new stuff.

Finally, about 10am Eldy and Jeannie came over to say goodbye. They’ll be here a couple of more weeks before we’ll see them again in Yuma the first part of March.

We pulled out of Galveston Bay RV Park, our home for the last 5 months, about 10:30, with Jan following me in the toad.

8.4 miles later we made our first stop . . . at Monterey’s Little Mexico in Dickinson. It’s been our ritual for 4 years now that we always stop here for lunch before we hit the road. We really need that one last bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup.

It also makes a convenient place to hookup the toad and check things out.

While we were eating lunch, our daughter Brandi called from Colorado. She said that they were having a great time, and that Lowell had won $1300 playing blackjack at the casino. Of course Brandi had lost $300 on the slots, but hey, they’re still up $1000!

She had earlier sent this photo from Colorado. Beautiful country!

We got back on the road about noon and made our next stop at the Buc-ee’s in Luling about 3:30 to get coffee and also some pastries to take to Gina.

We got to the park a little before 5, got set up and checked in with our friend Gina, who we are visiting here.. She said she’d already had a sandwich, and wasn’t feeling well anyway, so she didn’t want to go out to eat.

So we said we’d see her tomorrow, and about 6, Jan and I headed over to the Italian Garden Restaurant right down the street. Always great.

Getting home about 7:30 I set up the sat dish and we settled in for the night.

Another cold one at about 29 degrees.

And, of course, more tomorrow.

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February 12, 2015

It Wasn’t Me . . .

Despite the many rumors,I was not the person in Texas who won the $560 million Powerball Lottery.

Darn it!

After calling to say he was running a little behind and would be here between 1:00 and 1:30, the RV Mobile Lube guy showed up at 1:15 and got right to work.

He did the complete Full Service Oil Change which consisted of changing engine oil, oil filter, primary and secondary fuel filters, lubing the chassis and driveline, checking all fluids, and correcting tire pressures. And he also did the Coolant Service which consisted of testing the coolant, and changing the coolant filter. He pointed out a couple of things to keep an eye in the next year, and two hours later he was on his way. Total cost was $430, and now I’m done for another two years.

Another thing I like about using RV Mobile Lu is that they give you a complete online list of all your service work. Here’s what mine looks like.

Today’s service has not been added yet.

* * * * *

Unlike my call yesterday to Starlights RV Lights people about my defective patio lights, today I had the pleasure of talking to a company that knows what customer service is all about.

In 2008, when we had only been on the road for about two weeks, one of the first things I purchased for our coach was a Progressive Industries EMS-LCHW50 unit like this one.

It is hardwired into our incoming shore power, such that it monitors the quality of the power. It not only acts as surge protector, but will detect a multitude of power problems, I.e. overvoltage, under voltage, off frequency, open neutral and ground, and several others. When you first plug into a pedestal, it will not let the power into your coach until it is satisfied that it meets all of the criteria.

Twice in our seven years of RV’ing, our EMS unit has kept us from letting bad power into our coach, including one time when the power was so bad it burned out a board in the unit, but nothing got into our coach. And since the unit has a LIFETIME WARRANTY, Progressive Industries OVERNIGHTED me a new board with just a phone call.

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This is a travesty.

It is served as cornbread. They lie. It is not. If anything, it is corn cake.

It has the texture, taste, and sweetness of cake, and almost certainly has more flour than cornmeal in it.

If you iced it, you could sing Happy Birthday around it and nobody would be the wiser.

And don’t even get me started about ‘cornbread’ dressing.

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February 12, 2016

Four Hours Later . . .

We got back to walking this morning, but took a different route, racking up 1.25 miles in a single trip. I was hoping we’d be able to get up to two miles while we were here at Colorado River, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until Lake Conroe next week.

About 2 pm I drove over to the welder’s to pick up my screen door hinge – whether it was ready or not. But as it turned out, it was done. In fact I guess he had seen me drive up since he was standing in the office holding it in his hand. So $20 later I was out the door.

Well, pretty it’s not.

In fact it;’s actually pretty ugly. Structurally it seems strong enough. At least it doesn’t flex, anyway.

The sliver bead material seems to be aluminum metal from the weld, but I would have felt better if he had ground it down smooth like the original weld. That way I would have had a better Idea about its strength. I did stop off at the hardware store on the way home to pick up a spray can of semi-gloss black to cover up the ugly.

Getting home I soaked the hinge in Dawn and water, and then scrubbed it down to get any residue and oil off, and then got in one coat of black before it was time to head out for dinner.

I’ll do another tomorrow morning, and then remount the screen door tomorrow afternoon. I’ll also start prepping for our move on Sunday morning, back to Lake Conroe for another two weeks.

One thing I do want to do is check all my tire pressures. With all the temperature changes, I want to be sure I’m in the ball park with 105 psi in the front and 100 psi in the rear duals.

And I’ll probably go ahead and dump the waste tanks and take us off shore water. That way I won’t have to wrestle with a cold, stiff water hose Sunday morning.

About 4:15 Jan and I headed up to Ellinger to meet our friends Jim and Perri Dean at Peter’s BBQ. They just got in to the park this morning and we wanted to get together at least once before we leave here on Sunday.

We first met Jim and Perri in Las Vegas when we were all staying at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails in 2013. Then in 2014 we were all here at Colorado River and got together several times with them, along with Gregg and Lynette McHenry.

And I guess we need to get together more often because we spent four hours talking along with dinner. When we got there about 4:30 we were the only ones there, and when we left at a 8:50, they were putting the chairs on tables around us, and shutting down for the night. So we finally took the hint and headed back to the park.

One of the things that took up a lot of the conversation was Alaska. They’re planning a trip up there later this year, so we were trying to give them an idea of what to expect. At least based on our 5 month visit in 2008.

The food at Peter’s was a good as always, but it’s gotten kind of expensive. And that’s just since we were here a month ago. The last time we ate here, January 8th, I think the buffet with BBQ and all the rest was $10.50 for Seniors. And our bill with drinks and tax was about $25.

But this time, they didn’t have a price on the wall for the BBQ buffet, but did have one for the Catfish buffet at $9.95, which is what Jan had. but our total bill this time was about $32

Subtracting out tax, that leaves about $29.50 for the meals. Then subtracting $4 for drinks, and $10 for Jan’s catfish, that leaves my BBQ buffet costing about $15.50, meaning the price has jumped almost 50% in the last month.

Ouch!

Maybe I’ll have the Catfish next time too.

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February 12, 2017

Hair Dryers and Hollywood . . .

Two more days, but unfortunately, there’s a 50% chance of rain tomorrow and a 100% chance on Tuesday. But at least Wednesday when we move back to Columbus is supposed to be clear.

Last Minute Flash Update:

I will not be working both Monday and Tuesday. Monday night will be my last shift. My day shift counterpart, Art, and his wife Mollie, who works days on the inside gate, are already leaving tomorrow on vacation. So Todd just wants to replace all four guards in one fell swoop.

Although I will lose the day’s pay, it will make it a lot easier since I won’t have to get off work at 5:30am and then drive the rig to Columbus later in the day on just a few hours of sleep.

So YAY!

Following up on the whole Celebrity Six Degrees of Separation theme, I got this comment from my cousin Joy.

* * * * *

Taking a day off to recharge and read your blog. I cannot compare my own experiences to yours -since I have obviously been sheltered & a wall flower – but I did meet Dan Blocker in Six Gun Territory many years ago (should still have his signature somewhere), and, while working at Bank of America in Malibu, met countless stars – most notably was Roy Orbison, Martin Sheen (offered to help me with my car) and Brian Keith (a surprising horse’s ass).

So many others: Cindy Williams (not as cute or nice as on TV), Cheech & Chong (not at the same time), Henry Mancini’s mother (she was interesting), lots of character actors and support people (you see their names in the credits) like Dan Wallin (his wife was so sweet, very genuine person). It was an interesting time for me – just never knew who would come through the door next.

Oh, thanks for sharing the obit! Funny stuff. I would like to think he actually helped write it – which would be even funnier!

* * * * *

This kind of made me thing of a new game where you link yourself to another person you know through one or more celebrities.

For example, I have met Johnny Cash, so we have a Bacon Number of 2 to each other.

And with my cousin Joy, she’s met Roy Orbison who knew Johnny Cash and then back to me. So we have a Bacon Number of 3. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she put some thought to it, Joy could come up with some more names that might get us down to a BN of 2. Because I actually have a bunch more too.

It’s fun to thing about.

Now since my friend Tricia spilled the beans on the whole Katherine Ross hair dryer thing and several people asked, here goes.

For the first several Shuttle launches, I was part of the NASA television crew that was set up on White Sand Missile Range at a location called Northrup Strip. Northrup Strip was designated as the backup landing site for the Shuttle.

STS-1 and STS-2 both landed on the dry lake bed at Dryden with no problems. But when STS-3 came along in March 1982, problems. Between the Shuttle launch on the 22nd and the landing scheduled on the 30th, heavy rains flooded the lake bed and made a landing impossible.

At this point the landing strip at Kennedy Space Center was still under construction, so White Sands it was. And when it was announced that the Shuttle would be landing there, it seemed like the entire world invaded the little New Mexico town of Alamogordo where we were staying.

There were only two nice motels there, a Best Western and a Holiday Inn. Located side by side, I think they may have both been owned by the same people, since they shared the same restaurant and bar.

We probably only had 30 people staying at the hotels, but when pretty much every television crew and film crew in the world descended on the town, they found both motels already full. And that’s because, without a lot of publicity, they were filming part of a movie there. And the stars and the crew were taking up most of the other rooms.

The movie in question was “Wrong Is Right”, a dark comedy starring Sean Connery, Katherine Ross, Robert Conrad, Leslie Nielson, John Saxon, and others. There were other stars in the movie whose names you would recognize, but these are the ones concerned because they were staying at the hotels with us.

The sands of White Sands were standing in for sands of Saudi Arabia which is were part of the movie was supposed to be taking place. So they were here for a couple of weeks to get those shots.

Now before all the Shuttle Landing commotion, we had a nice tight little group, with both the movie and NASA people. We even had several astronauts with us, Anna and Bill Fisher, and Story Musgrave.

We all got along great, trading autographs for Shuttle patches, etc., getting drunk together in the bar, and sometimes some of us eating together in the restaurant.

Sean Connery was full of great stories about shooting other movies on location, including the Bond films, while Robert Conrad and Leslie Nielson were constantly throwing jokes back and forth at each other. Katherine Ross didn’t say a lot, but seemed content to listen and laugh at the jokes, and she had a beautiful laugh.

Then one morning as I’m almost ready to leave my room to go down for breakfast and then leave for White Sands, there was a knock at the adjoining door to the next room. Not knowing who was staying next door, but figuring it was a NASA type, I opening it to find Katherine Ross standing there wearing a robe and with a towel wrapped around her hair.

And she was holding up a hair dryer by the cord like it was a dead rat.

“You do electrical stuff, right. Can you fix my hair dryer? I’m already running late and it keeps going on and off every time I move it.”

“Let me guess. You always unplug it by just yanking on the cord like my wife does, right?”

“Well, yes.”

Now luckily for Katherine, I had a side business at the time. I soldered up computer boards for a couple of local computer stores in the Houston area. Back when I worked for the Department of Defense, they sent me up to the NASA Certified Soldering School at MCAS Cherry Point, NC. so my boards looked like they were factory done.

The stores would give me the blank circuit boards and all of the individual parts, IC’s, transistors, resistors, caps, etc.. I would then populate them and solder them up. I got paid $10 a board and I could do 3 or 4 an hour. Good money for 1982, especially since I was doing 100 at a time.

But what this all meant was that I had tools with me in my room since I always brought a bunch of boards with me on these trips. And I just happened to have a replacement AC plug to boot.

So it only took me a couple of minutes to snip off the old one and install the new one, which garnered me a Thank You! and quick hug from Katherine Ross.

Now the next night the bar was kind of quiet, with only the NASA people and some of the film crew there, with the stars all off at some press thing. But things picked up when Katherine walked in, dressed to the nines. Like Academy Award night nines. I assume it was for a Wrap Party of some kind.

She walked up to the big round table where I sitting with 6 or 8 other guys and stopped in front of me.

“Thank you for what you did for me this morning. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. I was glad I could help.”

Then she winked at me and walked off.

There was dead silence around the table, with all eyes on me.

Well, at least after Katherine left the bar.

And my reputation among my coworkers was greatly enhanced.

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February 12, 2018

Nomads Yes, Desperate

No . . .It just barely made it into the 40’s all day today. But hopefully it will warm up in the next few days so I can finally take the last window awning down and get it off to Sundowner Canvas.

Coming home from work I stopped off at the Victory Lakes’ Whataburger to pick up burgers and salads for supper tonight. Hmm, Hmm, Good.

Last September a book came out called Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.  The website MarketWatch.com recently had an article about it entitled, “Many older Americans are living a desperate, nomadic life. They live in RVs and drive from one low-wage job to another.”

The book “reveals the dark, depressing and sometimes physically painful life of a tribe of men and women in their 50s and 60s who are — as the subtitle says — “surviving America in the twenty-first century.” Not quite homeless, they are “houseless,” living in secondhand RVs, trailers and vans and driving from one location to another to pick up seasonal low-wage jobs, if they can get them, with little or no benefits.”

I guess Jan and I will admit to being Nomads, but I don’t remember being Desperate anytime recently, or anytime at all, for that matter. And we’re not ‘houseless’ either since we still own ours.

I certainly wouldn’t pay for this book, but I do have it reserved on OverDrive through the Harris County Public Library Kindle book program. Right now I’m #5 on 2 copies.

A blog reader and friend, Jan Mains, recently asked me about virtual credit card numbers. She had received some info from her bank about them and wanted a little more explanation.

Virtual credit card numbers are temporary, sometimes one-use, credit card numbers that you can get from your credit card company’s or bank’s website. For example, Chase Bank, my bank, makes them available to me.

Maybe you want a credit card to use online without leaving a trail, or worry about getting hacked. You get a virtual number from their website and then use it.

And it only works once ;and then goes away. If you, or anyone, tries to use it again, it won’t work.

If you think you might use it more than once, you can sometimes set a ‘valid until’ date for a week or month ahead. Of course you never have to use this if you don’t want to.

I’ve used one once to pay for something on eBay that I was afraid was a little sketchy since they didn’t take PayPal, but it worked out OK.

Not sure what’s on tap for tomorrow, but I’m sure it won’t be desperate.

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February 12, 2019

Little Choo Choo’s . . .

Today Jan and I headed out about 2pm first for our usual breakfast bill of fare at the local Denny’s. Then it was on up to Clear Lake for a stop at the office to pick up a couple of packages that came in earlier today. And while we were there, an Amazon delivery van pulled up with a package that wasn’t suppose to be delivered until tomorrow. Nice!

And even better, a few days ago I returned a defective item to Amazon, for which they provided a paid shipping label. And in addition, as soon as the package showed up in the system as having been shipped, Amazon immediately refunded my money. Nicer!

Then it was off to WalMart and Sam’s Club for a couple of prescriptions and some other stuff. Then finishing up there, we made a loop by our old house to see if any thing had changed. But not much, though it stills had the same broken window in one of the garage doors that it had a month or so ago.

Regular readers will know how much I like railroads and trains, especially model railroads and model trains.

And I recently came across these great examples of model railroad layouts.

And this one is a larger scale layout with amazing detail, including a brothel for the logging camp. Something for everyone.

Check’em out.

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February 12, 2021

It Just Gets Worse . . .

Tonight was Alvin Opry Night once again, so about 5:30 Jan and I headed up to Alvin to first have dinner at Monterey’s Mexican, our usual stop here.

Then it was on over to the Alvin Opry which is held in the American Legion Hall there. Due to the weather the audience was a little sparse, as was the band, due to the bad weather coming in.

Several of the band members live north of Houston where the roads are already icy, so they begged off. We ended with a Steel Guitar, Lead Guitar, Drummer, and a Bass Guitar. All you really need for a CW band.

The weather forecast just gets worse here. The low Sunday night is supposed to be 25° and raining. Then the high Monday is supposed to be 28° and more rain, falling to a low of 17° Monday night. And again with the rain.

But for some reason, even with all the rain, and the way below freezing temps for over 24 hours, they’re still not showing much in the way of snow.

But we’ll see.

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February 12, 2022

They Like Us. They Really Like Us . . .

As I mentioned in yesterday’s non-blog, we had the Alvin Opry last night, this time with a Valentine’s Day special. They served a Spaghetti dinner, along with bread, salad, and a drink. And I don’t know if there was a direct connection, but they had the largest crowd we’ve seen so far.

And this is early on. By the time the show started, almost every table was filled.

Nice to see.

Also nice to see were the special Reserved signs Shalane Colston, the Event Coordinator, had made up for the regulars.

The Texas Express Band did their usual great job, and had a new fiddle player, Jeanette Shackleford since Keith Junot, the regular one, is in the hospital. And she turned out to be really good.

A really great night.

Today was lunch at Denny’s with Angie, our usual great waitress, and our usual delicious Ultimate Omelets. Angie always remembers what we order, though she always double checks it with us first. And apparently it’s not just us.

Someone who came in right after us also asked for her, and a few minutes later, I heard Angie confirm their regular order too.

Wonder how many she remembers?

Then it was on up the Interstate to drop off a lot of money at Costco. Of course we got a lot of nice stuff in return.

One thing was a new chair mat for under our computer desk gaming chair. I got one from Amazon that was essentially a rug with sticky stuff on the down side. But it tends to wrinkle and catch the chair wheels.

So I was glad to find this heavy-duty hard plastic one for only $30, the same price I paid for the cloth one.

But even better is that we found that Costco carries Junior’s Cheesecake, from our favorite place off Time Square in NYC. So we couldn’t resist getting one.

Though we’ve never had the Irish Cream flavor, it was the only flavor they had in stock.

And when we had a slice this evening, it turned out to be Irish Cream coffee flavored.

Really good and great memories of our times in NYC.

So now we have access locally to two of our NYC favorites, Junior’s Cheesecake and Grimaldi’s Pizza.

Happy times!

First off, a very Happy Birthday to our favorite son-in-law Lowell.

Of course, he’s our only son-in-law, but even if he wasn’t, he’d probably still be our favorite.

Like most of our Saturdays, this was a busy one.

First up was a haircut for both of us with Kristina at our local CostCutters, nee TGF. She does a great job on my beard.

Then it was on up to the Webster area to have lunch at Texas Huddle once again. We often go on Sunday, but tomorrow, Super Bowl Sunday, is not the day to go to a Sports Bar.

We both started with their really good Side Salads, hers with Bleu Cheese dressing,

and mine with their great Jalapeno Ranch. Which is so good that I ask our server, Juana, if it was a commercial brand like Kraft or Newman’s that I could buy at the store. She quickly told me that all their dressings and sauces were made-in-house.

Bummer!

Jan got her usual what I call a ‘deconstructed’ Keto Mushroom Cheddar Burger, I.e., one with no bun.

I got my usual Wings, all Drums, with Flaming Raspberry sauce.

But this time I only got 5 instead of 10, since I usually can only eat 3 after the salad. And I did have 2 wings left over to bring home.

I’ve mentioned before that we have 3 favorite servers, ones who remember what we always order, and even bring us our drink when we sit down.

One is Miss Angie at our local Denny’s, the much-mentioned (and shown) Sylva at Twin Peaks, and Miss Juana here at Texas Huddle.

She’s a real sweetie, and we’re not the only ones who ask for her specifically.

Leaving Huddle, we stopped by the office so I could install a ‘new’ laser printer at the office manager’s computer. The pickup rollers and the tension springs in the paper pickup path were just worn out. My client had me try to install another used one yesterday that he was sure was a working one.

It wasn’t. It would not even connect via USB.

So I went back today to install a new one, a Canon D570, that he’d had stashed away for a while. Don’t know why he didn’t want to use it to begin with. But the new one connected right up with no problems, and only took about 45 minutes. And that included unpacking the new one.

Last up was a stop at the nearby Kroger’s to pick up a couple of prescriptions before heading home.

Another nice day.

Jan has always been a real ‘Grease/John Travolta’ fan, so she really enjoyed seeing this T-Mobile commercial with Travolta and a ‘Grease’ theme.

This will be shown during tomorrow’s Super Bowl.

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Thought for the Day:

Ouch!

Actual obituary from the family of a Galveston resident who died recently. Although the sentence structure is a little jumbled, you can tell it’s from the heart.

Leslie Ray ‘Popeye’ Charping was born in Galveston on November 20, 1942 and passed away January 30, 2017, which was 29 years longer than expected and much longer than he deserved. Leslie battled cancer in his latter years and lost his battle, ultimately due to being the horses ass he was known for. He leaves behind two relieved children: a son Leslie Roy Charping and daughter Sheila Smith, along with six grandchildren and countless other victims, including an ex-wife, relatives, friends, neighbors, doctors, nurses and random strangers.

At a young age, Leslie quickly became a model example of bad parenting combined with mental illness and a complete commitment to drinking, drugs, womanizing and being generally offensive. Leslie enlisted in the Navy, but not so much in a brave & patriotic way but more as a part of a plea deal to escape sentencing on criminal charges. While enlisted, Leslie was the Navy boxing champion and went on to sufficiently embarrass his family and country by spending the remainder of his service in the Balboa Mental Health Hospital receiving much needed mental healthcare services.

Leslie was surprisingly intelligent, however he lacked ambition and motivation to do anything more than being reckless, wasteful, squandering the family savings and fantasizing about get rich quick schemes. Leslie’s hobbies included being abusive to his family, expediting trips to heaven for the beloved family pets, and fishing, which he was less skilled with than the previously mentioned. Leslies’ life served no other obvious purpose, he did not contribute to society or serve his community and he possessed no redeeming qualities besides quick whited (sic) sarcasm which was amusing during his sober days.

With Leslie’s passing he will be missed only for what he never did; being a loving husband, father and good friend.  No services will be held, there will be no prayers for eternal peace and no apologizes to the family he tortured.  Leslie’s remains will be cremated and kept in the barn until “Ray”, the family donkey’s wood shavings run out.  Leslie’s passing proves that evil does in fact die and hopefully marks a time of healing and safety for all.

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February 11, 2012

Herons and Spoonbills . . .

I was up about 8 this morning, mainly because I don’t sleep well when Jan’s not here. Of course she’s not far away, just over at Brandi’s, Landon-sitting for the weekend while Brandi and Lowell take a break.

I picked up Jan and Landon about 10:15 and we headed over to The Egg and I for breakfast. I hadn’t expected it to be too busy since most breakfast places are busier on Sunday, not Saturday.

But boy was I wrong about Egg and I. We had a 20 minute wait, but Landon was great, just spent the time looking around at all the people and pointing at things.

As usual he was a good eater and plowed through his pancake and fruit like Sherman through Georgia.

One funny thing that happen at the end of the meal was after he had been eating with the spoon, he banged it on the plate several times pretty loudly, and I said “No, Landon. Don’t do that, Don’t bang your spoon on the plate like that.”

He looked up at me kind of solemnly, and then took the spoon and tapped it on the plate very softly, “Tink, tink, tink.” And then looked up at me again with a big grin on his face. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Brandi and Lowell are going to have their hands full with this one, believe me.

Finishing up breakfast, we drove over to Fry’s Electronics so I could pick something up, and Landon fell asleep on the way, so Jan stayed in the car with him. And when I came back about 20 minutes later, they were both asleep.

Leaving Fry’s we headed down to the rig to show Landon around and introduce him to Mister the cat. On the way we stopped off at the bank and then Kroger’s for some Powerball lottery tickets for tonight’s 325 million dollar drawing.

Getting to the rig, Landon was really fascinated by our cats, Mister and Emma, especially Mister. His cat at home won’t let him get near, but Mister was just rubbing up against him and purring.

Landon also spent some time riding Jan’s Moose Footstool and watching Barney on the TV.

He’s crazy about Barney so Jan had prerecorded some episodes to keep him entertained.

Before heading back to Brandi’s, Jan went outside with Landon to let him help her feed the birds, and I got some shots of the heron and the Roseate Spoonbills.

They’ve gotten a lot redder since we go here in November.

Getting back to Brandi’s, and getting Jan and Landon squared away, I headed over to a client’s for awhile, still working on finishing up some last minute tasks.

Leaving the office and heading back to Brandi’s, I got a call from Sam’s Optical saying Jan’s glasses were ready . . .  for real this time. I told them we’d try to get by before they close at 7 pm.

Getting to the house, we decided to have dinner at Barcenas Mexican Restaurant right down the road, but looking at the time, we went by Sam’s Club first to get Jan’s glasses, and then it was on to the restaurant.

Then after leaving Jan and Landon back at Brandi’s, I drove back over to my client’s for a while.  Earlier this afternoon I had been making the System Recovery Disks for all three new computers, but ran out of DVD’s. So I picked up another 100 pack while we were at Sam’s, and now I was back to finish the job.

I got back to the rig about 9:45 and then started back to work on this laptop I’m upgrading. Another long day.

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February 11, 2013

More of the Same . . .

Yesterday started off with another breakfast at The Egg & I for Landon, Jan, and I. Landon got his favorite Mickey Mouse pancakes this time, and ate a lot better than yesterday.

After another delicious breakfast, I dropped Jan and Landon off at Brandi’s, and I headed over to a client’s office to install the HP Deskjet 1000 printer I picked up for him the other day.

By the time I finished up and made a quick stop at Home Depot, Brandi and Lowell were home from their weekend. They wanted to show us another model of home they’re interested in, so we drove over to Pearland to take a look. They still plan on buying up in the Katy area, but the same model is also down here in Pearland which is a lot closer.

Getting back to the rig, Jan and I immediately both napped out. She, because keeping up with a 30 month old is exhausting, and me, because . . . well, just because.

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Jan and I left the rig a little after 7 this morning heading up to our doctor’s office for my yearly checkup. We always try to get our appointments the very first thing in the morning, so we never have to wait because they’re running behind.

After a clean bill of health for another year, Jan and I headed over to Webster to once again have breakfast at The Egg & I. And yes, that’s 3 days in a row. Love that Hazelnut coffee.

Later, after stops at a couple of clients and a quick pass through Home Depot, we made our weekly pilgrimage to Wal-Mart for a bunch of stuff. Then it was next door to Sam’s Club for our prescriptions.

Next up it was a stop at Kroger’s for a few things that Wal-Mart was out of, along with a full tank of gas.

After a quick at Brandi’s to wish Lowell a Happy Birthday, and pick up our mail, we headed back to the rig.

By now it was almost 3:30, and since Stomp’s Burger Joint was on our way, we decided it was a good time for a last shot at one of their delicious burgers.

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February 11, 2014

Landon’s Man Cave . . .

First off, Jan and I want to wish our son-in-law Lowell a happy birthday!

Landon has decided he likes to sleep under his bed, rather than in it.

To this end, he’s established a nest under there with all his favorite stuff. Looks like he’s really comfortable.

On the subject of ‘under things’ I spent some time today thinking about the best way  to fill in the pedal area under the dashboard.

The area is just too lumpy and uneven to fit the flooring in there. So I think I will find a piece of rubber mat to cut and fit under there. It should look pretty good. We’ll see.

I had also hoped to spend some time working outside on some projects, but with it raining on and off, and the temps never getting out of the 30’s, working inside seemed a better idea. At least the next several days are supposed to be better.

Later, Jan and I cleaned up and put things back into place that had been moved while Chris was putting the new floor down. We’ve also been going through a lot of stuff and throwing out some more stuff.

I also got the last of the three chairs wired back up. The big problem is hooking up the cable that controls the rotation release. There’s only about 3 inches between the floor and the bottom of the pedestal and you’ve got to hold the cable in place while trying to get the circle clip installed. Not easy.

But after a lot of fiddling I finally got the last one done. I was surprised to learn that, unlike the front two chairs that only lock in forward position, the computer chair only locks sideways. I’ve never rotated it that far so I never noticed.

I also need to go by Home Depot or Lowe’s and get some trim strips to cover the edges where the new floor butts up against the wall. I’ll check on this tomorrow.

For supper tonight we had the rest of the Grimaldi’s pizza from yesterday. Still great. I think one thing that makes Grimaldi’s pizza so good, besides the fact that they use the same flour, same water, and the same coal-fired oven they use in New York, they use sliced mozzarella cheese on the pizzas, rather than shredded. That makes the cheese more of a solid covering, and you can taste the difference.

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February 11, 2015

They Admit It Was Defective, But . . .

I’m set up with RV Mobile Lube for late morning tomorrow. They’ll be doing a complete Full Service Oil Change which consists of  changing engine oil, oil filter, primary and secondary fuel filters, lubing the chassis and driveline, checking all fluids, and correcting tire pressures. And they will also be doing a Coolant Service which consists of testing the coolant, and changing the coolant filter. Costs should be around $400.

I called the Starlight’s RV Lights people today about a problem with my Smartlight 1000 patio lights. In 2008 I bought a pair like this one for our rig.

It’s a motion-sensing light that turns on and off at night, but shuts down during the day. They worked great, but did have a problem. When they turned on as you came home at night, they turned off too quickly, and the sensors didn’t look down enough to trigger when you were at the door.

But by 2012 they had come out with a new model with a longer activation time and a better look-down angle. In addition, they now used a very bright LED bulb, so at a recent RV rally I purchased two new ones, this time in black, because the original white ones had started to yellow slightly.

A couple of months ago, I noticed mine had both stopped working, even manually. But with all our oscillating back and forth between the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails and the Colorado River Thousand Trails, I didn’t have a chance to check them out until the other day. And what I found was this.

Both of the sensor lenses on either end looked like they had been smashed out, which of course let water in and killed the lights. Jan thought maybe someone had poked them out for some reason (sometimes she’s more paranoid then I am) but our son Chris thought they might have just deteriorated from the sunlight.

And he was right. When I climbed up on the ladder, I found that the plastic was so brittle that merely touching it with your finger made pieces break off.

So I talked to Customer Service about my problem. The guy said that that they knew about the problem, and that the first run of the new LED models were done by a different manufacturer who used an inferior plastic for the sensor lenses.

I said I knew I was out of the one year warranty, but since this was a manufacturer’s defect, did they had any remedy. He said they would be happy to send me new replacement lenses, but when I reminded him that the units were already dead, he agreed that that wouldn’t help much.

So now I guess I’m supposed to buy two new units ($100 – $150) and hope I don’t run into the same problem after another two years, again with no support.

It’s really a shame when a company  takes a good product and then destroys their reputation by failing to support it with their customers.

Not Recommended.

Our son Chris showed up about 8:30 this morning and finished up his part of the fiberglass bumper repair today.

Remember it started looking like this

and now looks like this.

and started like this

and now looks like this.

The passenger side started like this

and this

And finished like this

and this.

Now when the wind dies down, I’ll mask off the area and spray on some sand-able primer and do the last bit of sanding and prep work before spraying on the final coats. Again when the wind dies down.

Chris did a great job, and I really appreciate all his hard work.

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February 11, 2016

Jan and I Missed Our Chance . . .

Or Joining the Tenth Mile High Club

I slept in late this morning, actually no later than my normal 10 to 11 am, but later than all the recent early departures we’ve been doing lately. So that was nice for a change. Especially since I didn’t go to bed last night (this morning) until about 3:30 am.

We didn’t walk this morning, both because we didn’t want to, and because we made up for it yesterday. I turned on Runkeeper when we got out of the truck in Fredericksburg, and from start to finish, we walk 2.54 miles. Of course it was stretched over several hours, but it all counts, right?

For breakfast this morning, we had coffee and our Buc-ee’s kolaches, Jan’s Ham & Cheese,

and my Sausage, Cheese, and Jalapeno version.

The sausage link in these is very spicy, and very good.

And as I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, along with our kolaches and muffins we picked up for breakfasts, we also got a couple of their Sliced BBQ Brisket sandwiches to have for dinner after we got home last night.

This was our first time to try the BBQ there, and like everything else from Buc-ee’s we’ve had so far, it was very good. I got mine with pickles and onions, while Jan got hers without.

These are done on the big “Quarter Pounder”-sized buns, so they’re a good handful / mouthful, and well worth a visit to Buc-ee’s.

Later in the afternoon, I replaced the floor mat hooks that I had installed in our truck back last December.

But I had two problems with them. One, I didn’t like the white color, and Two, I needed to move them further back because the ones on the driver’s side interfered with the position of our  Brake Buddy auxiliary braking system when we’re towing.

So now it looks like this. Much better in silver, I think. And while I was at it, I also installed the two hooks on Jan’s side as well.

Another job checked off the list.

Tomorrow afternoon I going over to the welder’s and pick up my screen door hinge, repaired or not. But hopefully repaired.

Karma is still doing well, and she’s fitting right in. It’s easy to see that she’s putting on some weight, though I doubt she’ll ever get in Mister’s 25+ pound territory. I guess she’s eating a little more regularly now.

One thing she does have in common with Mister, is that she almost never makes a sound. Certainly not a meow. If anything it’s more like a squeak. So maybe that’s what she learned from, since she had several squeaky toys that the people who were feeding her had bought.

Mister was the same way, only doing a silent meow for the first year or so we had him. And ever later he was always pretty quiet. So maybe it had to do with them both being ‘on the run’ so to speak.

I put in an Amazon order which should be in this coming Monday. One of the items is a full harness for Karma so we can see how she does outside.

Back last April we spent two weeks at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails, and one of the things we did was a nighttime ride on the 550 foot High Roller Ferris Wheel right off the Strip behind the Flamingo Casino.

You can read about our adventure here: Riding the High Roller

Last week, not to miss an opportunity to join the Mile High Club, though really it’s more like the Tenth Mile High Club, I guess, a couple was arrested after applying for membership in the club. Hanky Panky on the High Roller

And in case you might be thinking about making your own application, here’s some tips that might help keep you out of jail. High Roller Tips

I guess Jan and I missed our chance.

For this year, anyway.

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February 11, 2018

Too Many Alexas . . .

The Russians have too many Alexas on their various Olympic teams. The announcements of these names keeps turning on OUR Alexa, making her light up and ask what we want . . . over and over again.

Make it stop!

After a cold,damp, overcast  morning, Jan and I headed up to Clear Lake a little before 4pm to have dinner once again at Cheddar’s, pretty much our favorite ‘comfort food’ establishment.

Jan got her usual Key West Chicken and Shrimp, with Green Beans and Carrots,

while I followed up on her theme of Green Beans and Carrots with my Veggie Plate, and a croissant, of course.

After dinner we drove by Chris’ house to say Hi and pick up our mail, and then it was on to the nearby  Kroger’s to get gas. It’s nice to see the price starting to creep back down, but unfortunately a lot slower than it went up.

I was reading recently about two guys that had been arrested for stealing a gold bar for the Mel Fisher Museum in Key West, FL. Apparently in 2010 they smashed a display case and took off with this $550,000 gold bar.

Although they caught the guys seven years later, they’ve never recovered the gold bar. Probably because it was quickly melted down, though I guess it’s possible that it was sold to a private collector.

Jan and I visited the Mel Fisher Museum in 2009 when we were RV’ing in the Keys. We both held this bar at one point, but Jan got an even bigger thrill.

A lady at one of the counters was unpacking a box of new gold artifacts and asked Jan if she wanted to hold one. A gold coin about the size of a silver dollar, the lady said that yesterday it was on the ocean floor.

Jan said the coin was actually hot in her hand and it made a real impression on her.

Just think how hot the stolen one would be.

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February 11, 2020

First Cousin Once Removed . . .

After a light breakfast about 8:30 here at the hotel this morning, we headed out about 11:30 to meet my cousin Margie and her husband Walter at the nearby 306 BBQ.

She’s the daughter of my grandmother’s sister, so Google says she’s my First Cousin Once Removed, but I’ll stick with just ‘Cousin’.

We’ve eaten at 306 BBQ a number of times before and always enjoyed it, so we happy to meet Margie and Walter there.

Jan had the BBQ Chicken with Squash Casserole and Brown Sugar Green Beans,

while I got the 2 Meat Plate (Ribs and Pulled Pork) with Baked Beans and Collard Greens.

One thing funny did happen while we were ordering at the counter. Athens being basically a small town, pretty much everyone knows everyone else. So when a gentleman spoke up and said ‘Hi’ to Margie and Walter we didn’t think anything about it. But since we were all  ordering, Jan and I didn’t get introduced.

I’ve mentioned in the past when we were visiting up here, I found myself checking out people around us in stores and restaurants, wondering if I would run into one of the 3 girls I dated when I lived here in the mid-60’s. But then I realized that I was looking for the young ladies as they looked when they were 16 or so, the last time I saw them, and not at them in their late 60’s or so like they would be now.

I also mentioned that a few years ago, when my most serious girlfriend, now divorced, moved back to Athens from Michigan, she called my Aunt Virginia and in a roundabout way, inquired as to my ‘present marital status.’

Well, after lunch when we were back at Margie and Walter’s, I found out that the gentleman, who was about 6’5”, at the counter with us was the younger brother of that girlfriend. I think he was 2 or so the last time I saw him, and still in diapers.

Oops!

Like I said, Athens is a small town.

Tomorrow we’re getting together with my Aunt for a late lunch and then some time together at her house.

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February 11, 2021

Hunkered Down . . .

First off, Jan and I want to wish Lowell, our favorite son-in-law, a Happy Birthday today.

However we won’t mention the fact that he’s our only son-in-law. But, he would be our favorite one, anyhow.

Jan had another of her yearly doctor appointments today, so after that was done we headed down to the Cracker Barrel in League City for Jan’s Thursday ritual, their Turkey and Dressing.

Jan says they’re the only place whose Cornbread Dressing comes close to hers. In fact over the years, several holidays we’ve bought a couple of big pans of it there for large get-togethers.

I will also sometimes have the T&D, but today went with breakfast.

Three eggs, over medium, bacon and sausage . . .  and grits. You can tell CB is a southern favorite since I think every breakfast comes with grits.

Coming home we made a quick Kroger stop in Dickinson, and then wrapped up with coffee at, where else, Cowboy Coffee, finally getting home about 5pm.

The temperature today never got above 48°, and was only there for a couple of hours before it started dropping. And it’s pretty much supposed to stay in the 40’s/30’s range through the weekend and then into the 30’s/20’s range.

In fact Monday night we’re looking at a low of 19°. And SNOW, since it’s supposed to be raining too. And we’ve heard about single digit temps up north of Houston.

So we’re just going to hunker down and try to stay warm. Sunday I’m going to disconnect from shore water and then put my heat lamp in the water bay for a couple of days. That’s worked for us down to 6° without any problems.

BTW that was in Garrison, MT in March 2008 on our way to Alaska. In fact it’s the coldest temperature we’ve every encountered anywhere, even in Alaska and Canada.

Of course there’s this temperature in Fairbanks in Feb. 2009 that a friend sent us after we left there in late September 2008.

Makes the 19° here look a lot better, now doesn’t it.