Monthly Archives: March 2023
Country Cookin’ . . .
Lunch today was, as hoped, at Kelley’s Country Cookin’ over in Alvin, and if there’s one thing Kelley’s is known for, besides really good food, is the size of their portions.
And my ‘cup’ of Vegetable Beef Soup is a perfect example. I’ve seen smaller ‘bowls’ at other places. And on top of that, it’s more Beef Vegetable that Vegetable Beef, since there were several more large chunks of Beef underneath there.
And it was really good.
Jan got one of the Thursday Specials, the Grilled Fish with 3 sides, in this case, Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, Green Beans, and Fried Okra. And this, with two large Catfish fillets, was only $10.49
After the soup, I’ve got the Grilled Chicken Breast Salad.
So much food, that I had leftovers, and it’s the only time I’ve taken home chicken from a grilled chicken salad, a lot of chicken. In fact, I’ve got enough for a whole ‘nother meal.
Delicious!
Then it was on back down the road for Jan’s long-delayed visit to pOpshelf, a very upgraded version of a Dollar General, with much higher quality merchandise, and no food, except for snack stuff.
And a much brighter look to the store.
One of Jan’s new favorite stores.
I was able to get my new Roku installed and set up yesterday. And it was really easy, pretty much leading me through it. One thing nice was that it gave me a long list of streaming apps and let me chose which ones I already use, and it downloaded and installed them for me.
And I was thinking that my Firestick didn’t offer to do this. But then I thought that it might have offered, but since I had not installed any apps on anything yet, I probably just bypassed the offer.
The only downside is that we now have another remote to keep track of, along with the dozen or so others we already have.
But it’s working well so far, though we have used it to watch anything yet.
But soon.
Thought for the Day:
A Hallmark greeting card that plays a little jingle when you open it has more computing power than the entire USAF in 1960.
March 7, 2009
Throwing Rolls…
Yesterday, Jan and I had a late lunch/early supper at Lambert’s Café up in Foley, about 8 miles north of here. Lambert’s is known as the home of the ‘”Throwed Rolls”
And they really mean it!
The place has a rustic look and feel about it, with large wooden tables and bench seats.
And they really mean the part about “Throwed Rolls”. Waiters walk around with big trays of fresh-baked yeast rolls a little bigger than a softball, waiting for someone to yell out or hold up their hand.
And suddenly a roll is sailing across the dining room…sometimes 20 or 30 ft. If you miss it, keep your eyes open because a replacement is right behind it. When they’re really busy, you may find 3 or 4 rolls under your table, left over from the previous uncoordinated occupant. I’ve sometimes seen 2 or 3 rolls in the air at the same time criss-crossing the room.
And the servings are enormous. I had a BBQ Pork Steak that came out in a large aluminum skillet about 15″ in diameter. After eating until I was stuffed, I still had enough for two more meals to take home.
Jan had the Fried Chicken. It looked like she had two or three chickens piled on her plate.
Hmmmm!, leftovers.
The other neat thing, besides the great ‘sides’ that come with your meal, are the ‘pass-arounds’. Waiters stroll the aisles with large buckets of fried okra, black-eyed peas, fried potatoes and onions, pasta and tomato salad, and sorghum and apple butter for the rolls. They will load you up with as much as you want.
Hmmmm!, more leftovers.
When we’ve gone here in the past during the summer, there’s been as much as a 2 hour wait. And it’s easy to see why.
Before pigging out at Lambert’s, the morning was dedicated to fixing things around the coach. After Lambert’s, I was too full to do much more than nap.
I oiled the balky retractable step that didn’t want to close all the way when we left Houston, replaced the outside water filter, worked on the hitch pins that I had trouble with when we got here, screwed down the pull handle at the door, and started work on rearranging the contents of the plastic storage bins in the basement.
And I’ve still got plenty left to do to keep me busy.
March 7, 2011
Rally Days are Here Again . . .
This morning started out early, way, way too early. But we got moving with a lot of hot coffee and some of those delicious cranberry muffins our friend Gina made for us. Toasted in the oven and slathered with butter, they are fantastic.
So we hit the ground running about 8am, (well, maybe not running) but after working at pretty much a dead run yesterday, today was almost restful. We only had about 2 dozen rigs come in, and they were pretty spread out during the day. It seems a number of rigs still haven’t shown up, very possibly due to the very high winds we had here today. So we still may have a few stragglers tomorrow.
Most of my day was spent fielding questions and complaints, but nothing really major. A lot of it just being sure people knew they needed to go to register, and where registration was, etc.
Finally at 3pm we shut down parking and got everyone together in the Main Hall for the Welcome Meeting.
About 5:30, Jan and I headed down the street to EAT . . . well, to eat at EAT. EAT is our favorite local Chinese buffet place, and the favorite for a lot of RV’ers since we saw many familiar faces there.
About 7 we had our evening meeting that started with a great talk and Q&A session with a Marine Captain from the Marine Corp Air Station across the street. She answered a lot of questions, and was very informative. So much so, that she got a standing ovation at the end. We really appreciate her service to our country.
Then it was time for everyone’s favorite, the Door Prize drawings, with a wide assortment of things, from restaurant gift cards, books, computer GPS mapping software, to stays at RV resorts. With even more on coming nights.
Tomorrow is another early morning with Jan on gate duty starting at 8am. We always have locals who come in on day passes, and Jan will be handling that at the front gate.
And I have to finish up my prep for my seminar tomorrow entitled “Ten Things to Never Do with your Computer”. Hopefully everyone will get something out of it.
March 7, 2013
Not Much . . .
is pretty much what happened today.
Jan’s still staying with Gina, and will be until I pick her up on Saturday.
So it’s just me and the cats.
And the deer. So yes, I not only have to feed the cats while she’s gone, I have to feed the deer too. And she said no fair feeding her 9 pound cat to my 27 pound cat.
Darn. I could have killed two birds with one stone, or one cat . . .
Never mind. She’s probably reading this.
Yesterday, on our way up to Fredericksburg, we made a potty stop at a Love’s Truck Stop just off of I-10, and while wandering through the truck accessories area, I found these.
They’re called Wiper Huggies. They’re a pair of spring-loaded braces that are installed on your wiper arms and are supposed to increase the force pressing the wiper blades against the windshield.
The online reviews are mixed, but for $5 I thought I’d give them a try. I’ll let you know how they work out.
Later in the morning I drove down to the guard shack to pick up a package that had come in for me. I’m still ticked off at this $2.50 charge to hand me a box.
The rest of the afternoon I spent working on some of my projects around the rig. Slowly but surely, I’m making a dent in the list.
And tomorrow, pretty much the same as today.
March 7, 2014
Our Truck-House . . .
We had another beautiful sunny day, just perfect for this segment of bin decluttering. I managed to get through every bin in the basement area. But this first pass was only a throw away/send to storeroom pass. But I got 6 big garbage bags to take to the dumpster, and a big plastic bin of stuff to go to our storeroom in Houston tomorrow.
Since it’s supposed to rain here on Sunday I probably won’t do anything, but Tuesday, after we get to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails on Monday, I’ll get back to work. I want to pull all the bins out of the basement and then scrub them down and hose them out.
Then I can start sorting through the stuff and then rearrange it all into categories.
Here’s the list of categories that I’ve come up with so far.
Lubes / Adhesives / Paints
Plumbing / Hoses
Electrical
Tools
Computers / Satellite / Cables
Electronics
Books
Towing
Air Tools
Lawn / Holiday Decorations
Coach Spares / Tools
Cleaning / Waxing Supplies
Airplanes / Helicopters / Toys
If you’ve got any further ideas or suggestions, let me know.
As I sort things into the bins I’m going to try to do an inventory so I can keep track of what I’ve got.. While I been going through things lately, I come across stuff that I had forgotten I had in the first place.
Today I came across a list of the 10 Best BBQ Chains in the U.S.
.
Jan and I have eaten at 2 of these, and I’ve eaten at another one by myself.
Jan and I both loved Famous Dave’s and eat there whenever we’re near one. We’ve eaten at the Dickey’s in Los Cruces and weren’t overly impressed.
I’ve eaten at the original Jim N’ Nick’s in Birmingham and didn’t care for it. I liked Golden Rule BBQ there much better.
We’ll keep this list in mind and try to check out some of these as we travel around the country.
Finally, Out of the Mouth of Babes:
Lowell, Brandi, and Landon drove up to Oklahoma yesterday to visit Lowell’s parents. When they told Landon they were going to visit his grandparent’s, he asked, “The ones that live in the Truck-House?”
That’s us. I guess we’re now Truck-Houser’s.
March 7, 2015
Recaps and Coconut Ice Cream . . .
Recapping yesterday:
Jan and I were up at 5:30 this morning so we could get on the road around 7, since we had a 265 mile trip to the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson for the upcoming 55th Escapade RV Rally.
We were hitched up and on our way a little after 7am. Jan was a little worried about ice on the road since it had gone down to 28 last night, but with no moisture, it wasn’t a problem.
About 100 miles along the way, we passed thru Lordsburg, and Kranberry’s Restaurant, our usual breakfast stop on this trip. But since we wanted to get to Tucson as early as possible and get parked, we passed it by. We like to stop here because the food is good, and they have RV parking in the rear. In fact, normally there are several Class A’s and 5th wheels parked with us.
Regular readers know that I usually drive 55mph when we travel, which I admit does feel kind of slow on I-10 in west Texas where the speed limit is 80. And there’s the tollway near Austin that has an 85mph speed limit too. Bit I like to be able to see some of the country side, and my fuel mileage is better, so 55 works for us.
There are two lane roads in Texas with a 70 mph speed limit, and I will drive 60 on those, and try to pull over to let traffic by when I can. But since we wanted to make good time, I bumped it up to 65 today.
I could definitely see the difference in MPG. At 55, my Silverleaf VMSpc engine computer display showed me using about 6.5 gallons per hour of diesel. At 60 I using about 7.5 gph. And at 65 I’m using about 8.5 gph. So I used an extra 8 gallons of diesel, or almost $23 worth, to get there 40 minutes earlier. Not sure how well that works in the long run.
What was kind of funny was that doing 65, I was passed several times by Class A’s that must have been doing the 80 mph speed limit or better. Two of them had very distinctive paint jobs, and who do you think I found right in front of me waiting to get parked at the Escapade. Lotta good it did them.
We stopped along the side of the road about a mile from our exit to the park and unhitched the truck so Jan could follow me in. The rally ask everyone to do this to cut down on the congestion.
For the first day, the parking went pretty smoothly, and we were in our spot and set up in less than 45 minutes. At first our power didn’t work, but they got it fixed in about 20 minutes, and so far it’s been pretty robust. We’ve been at other rallies where the 30 amp power was kind of iffy, but we haven’t had an outage yet.
As far as today, Saturday:
Jan and I were able to sleep in some this morning, a big improvement from yesterday’s 5am wakeup call. Mostly we just took it easy, with coffee and the sopapillas left over from our visit to La Posta in Las Cruces Wednesday night.
About noon we walked over to the Registration area to turn in our data sheet and get our badges and info packets. After that we walked around checking out some of the booths,
A little after 5pm, we drove up to Luckie’s Thai, one of our favorite local Asian places. We discovered this place several years ago, and always go back when we’re in town.
Although the food is delicious, they’re not the most organized place. The girl taking your order at the window will stop and take a phone-in order in the middle of taking your order, and your food comes out in dribbles and drabs, I.e., first Jan’s Sesame Chicken came out, then about 5 minutes later, my General Tso’s Chicken. Then about 5 minutes later, our Coconut Ice Cream desserts, which I sent back to hold in the freezer. Finally about 10 minutes after that, the Hot and Sour Soup I ordered.
But it was all good.
Getting back home, I worked on our upcoming seminar. It’s called Gate Guarding For Fun? and Profit, and will be held on Wednesday the 11th in the Old Pueblo Hall, Room 1 at 11:30am. So check us out.
Tomorrow is the first day here that the vendors are open, so Jan and I will be checking them out early. Then at 1pm I have a meeting for the seminar speakers, followed at 3pm with the official opening get-together for the rally.
A busy day.
March 7, 2016
Seven’s A Lucky Number . . .
We did our 1 mile walk this morning amid a lot of wind, very nice as a tailwind, but it really sucked as a headwind.
We did sit outside for a while, which was OK since the rig blocked the wind from our chairs, Luckily for us, since my anemometer showed wind gusts of almost 25 mph, when I walked out into the open.
But finally it started spritzing a little so we headed inside, just ahead of a heavier drizzle. We’re still looking at 3 or 4 more days of rain, so this is probably just a little taste of what’s to come. But before it got a good start, I had a chore to finish up.
Now that the washer seems to be working OK, I needed to re-install the vent deflector cover on the outside of the rig, so that any rain doesn’t get blown back into the dryer vent. That only took a few minutes and then it was on to a couple of more things.
Getting back inside, I started the seventh load of laundry in the re-repaired washer, and during the rest of the afternoon, it ran through its cycle with no problems, so I guess the seventh time really is the charm.
Back inside I finished up with washer cabinet by installing the keeper bar and the doors, so hopefully it will be a couple of more years before I have to take them off again.
Jan and I have decided that Karma must be able to tell time. She spends most of the day sleeping up on the dashboard, but then every day at almost exactly 4pm, she comes back to her food bowl and meows to be fed. Smarter than the average cat.
About 4:30 Jan and I headed up to La Grange to have dinner at the Sonic Drive-in. We both really like their hot dogs, Jan’s Chili-Cheese Coney with Grilled Onions and my New York Dog with Mustard, Sauerkraut, and Grilled Onions.
After that it was right down the road to the Wal-Mart for a prescription and a few supplies, before finally getting home just as it started to rain again.
Another nice day in the neighborhood.
March 7, 2017
Balmorhea and Southern Star . . .
In between the heavy rains this afternoon, I tried to top off my coach batteries with distilled water. (My engine batteries are sealed), but found I didn’t have enough distilled water left, so it went on the Wal-Mart list for later this afternoon.
Next up I called Saddleback Mtn. RV Park in Balmorhea, TX to double-check our stay this coming Saturday, and I’m glad I did, since they’re booked solid for the foreseeable future. And this is even with all the new sites they’ve added.
So my next call was to the Southern Star RV Park. It’s a nice little park in Van Horn that we stayed at two years ago when it was a Passport America Park. It’s not now, but it’s still a good deal, and even better there’s a really good steak house right next door for dinner.
And luckily for us they have a site for Saturday. So now we’re booked all the way through the end of April, and a few parks after that.
Later, about 2:30 Jan and I headed out for some errands before meeting Ed and Debi Hurlburt at the Conroe Golden Corral.
Our first stop was the local Academy so I could pick up another bottle of Biobor Biocide for our rig’s diesel tank.
I bought a bottle here last year and so I wanted to pick up another one since mine’s getting low. Academy normally carries it in their Marine section, but either they were our or don’t carry it anymore. I’ll check the Academy down in Clear Lake on
Then it was on to the Lowe’s for some vinyl tubing, but their stock was so scattered and disorganized that I finally gave up trying to find the size and length I needed.
Then it was on to the Sam’s Club right next door to pick up a prescription, and then to Wal-Mart for a couple of more prescriptions and some groceries.
We normally get our prescriptions at Wal-Mart, usually on their $4/$10 plan if possible. But some others are much cheaper at Sam’s on my Business Plus card. In this case, it would be $62.82 at Wal-Mart, but it was only $10 at Sam’s.
Then it was on to the nearby Golden Corral to meet up with Ed and Debi for one last meal together, at least for 4 or 5 months. We’ve eaten here a number of times and it’s pretty good. And much better than the Ryan’s right down the road.
Finally saying our goodbyes for now, Jan and I headed out, this time for a stop at Kroger’s for another prescription, a 3 month supply of Jan’ breast cancer medicine, Anastrozole.
In the past we’ve gotten it for about $55, but this time it suddenly skyrocketed to $171, of course with no explanation. But looking online, I found I could get it from Kroger’s under GoodRx for $27, a big difference. So done and done.
Getting home, I finished up adding water to my batteries, so that job was done.
We’ll leave for Colorado River TT about 10am, calling ahead so that we can meet the propane guy to top off our tank before we park.
Then Friday we’ll head for Tucson.
Finishing up, several of our readers have asked for a Karma the Cat update.
At about 16 months now she’s a big kitty now.
March 7, 2018
Got Root?
Why, yes. Yes I do.
Since I started back working for my old client back in August, I’ve been trying to get full access to everything, especially the Linux-based Webserver that hosts our two websites. Well, today the last wall crumbled.
I finally got full ‘root’ access to the webserver, I.e. ‘God’ level. This means I can now install the new SSL certificate. . . just as soon as I can figure out where the previous guy hid it. But it’s only a matter of time.
And more importantly for the long haul, I will now be able to expedite moving the websites off the in-house server and up to Godaddy.
Colorado State University just recently accidently sent out 11,000 acceptance emails to prospective students. Including some who had already been turn down, some that had not been officially accepted yet, and some who had not even applied.
And now it looks like the The Grand 1894 Opera House down in Galveston is trying do their part. This morning I got TWO copies of this email, reminding us that we had tickets to see The Smothers Brothers on 11/11/07.
PERFORMANCE REMINDER
We’re delighted that you have tickets to Smothers Brothers on 11/11/07, 12:00 AM at The Grand 1894 Opera House.
We look forward to seeing you at the show! If you have shared your tickets with friends or family – please forward this reminder to them
If you are unable to attend this performance, we hope you will consider returning your tickets to The Grand which provides you a tax credit for your donation.
Thank you for being a Grand patron!
Sincerely,
Ticketing Services Staff – The Grand 1894 Opera House
409-765-1894 or 800-821-1894
This was a last little getaway weekend we had, staying at a bed and breakfast down there. But really this was a little getaway right before our big getaway. Two months later, on January 6th, we picked up our American Eagle from the dealer in New Braunfels, and one month later we were on our way to Alaska.
After I got home from work Jan and I headed back out to have dinner at Pho 20. But before we got out of the park we at text message from our friend’s Rudy and Caroline Legett. They were in the area and wanted to get together for dinner. So we told them to meet us at Pho 20.
Although we’ve talked on the phone a number of times, the last time we got together was a couple of years ago when we were both at the COE park in Fort Davis, AR and had dinner together.
Rudy and his wife shared a plate of Chicken Fried Rice and a couple of Spring Rolls, while Jan, still working her way down the Chicken menu, had the Tempura Chicken, and of course, a House Crunch Salad.
I went back with an old favorite, the Chicken Breast Pho with Mixed Veggies, a little of everything.
Everything was delicious as usual.
It was great seeing Rudy and Caroline again, and we hope to do it again soon up in Pasadena.
March 7, 2019
Well, Did He Ever Return? No, He Never Returned …
And his fate is still unlearned.
Well, the blog theme is back. though I’m still trying to get everything lined up again. But the emailed blog part should be working again.
Although it was supposed to rain all day today, it was pretty nice this morning and the same was forecast for this afternoon. So I decided to wait until we got back from lunch to work outside on my rig wipers and maybe, pre-loosening the oil filter.
But of course it was pouring down rain when we got home. so that took care of that.
Jan and did head out about 12:30, for lunch/breakfast at our new fav, SnoozeAM. We’ve kind of become disillusioned with The Egg and I, due to the lackluster service we had on recent visits. And since Jan found they have her favorite Avocado Toast,
she’s a happy eater, too.
Although I really like their Shrimp & Grits, it’s pretty high in calories, so I went back to the Snooze Classic 3 Egg Breakfast, with Bacon, Fruit, and an English Muffin.
But on the way, our first stop was Rudy’s BBQ for another shaker of their coarse ground pepper and 3 bottles of their BBQ sauce.
After lunch I dropped off Jan at her favorite nail place for a No-Mani/Only Pedi. She really likes this place because of all the hygienic measures they take.
While she was there I made a run over to the nearby O’Reilly’s to pick up a couple of bundles of shop rags for my filter change out.
Just when you think they can’t come up with another scam.
He may fly forever in the skies above us.
He’s the man who never returned.
Subject: Nigerian Astronaut Wants To Come Home
Dr. Bakare Tunde
Astronautics Project Manager
National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA)
Plot 555
Misau Street
PMB 437
Garki, Abuja, FCT NIGERIA
Dear Mr. Sir,
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He is in good humor, but wants to come home.
In the 14-years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $ 15,000,000 American Dollars. This is held in a trust at the Lagos National Savings and Trust Association. If we can obtain access to this money, we can place a down payment with the Russian Space Authorities for a Soyuz return flight to bring him back to Earth. I am told this will cost $ 3,000,000 American Dollars. In order to access the his trust fund we need your assistance.
Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount to your account or subsequent disbursement, since we as civil servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating foreign accounts in our names.
Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to offer you 20 percent of the transferred sum, while 10 percent shall be set aside for incidental expenses (internal and external) between the parties in the course of the transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance 70 percent to other accounts in due course.
Kindly expedite action as we are behind schedule to enable us include down payment in this financial quarter.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message via my direct number 234 (0) 9-234-XXXX only.
Yours Sincerely, Dr. Bakare Tunde
Astronautics Project Manager
March 7, 2020
OK, So Who Smuggled The Snake In?
Or I guess it could be a water moccasin. But it would be a long swim.
And just where is St. Patrick when they need him?
I mean, they gave him a whole day, and a parade and everything.
Ireland records first-ever venomous snakebite
Who’s the patron saint of snake-charmers?
When I did a dump on Thursday I noticed a pinhole leak in my sewer hose, so after checking WalMart’s prices, I reordered the same one I bought from Amazon 5 years ago.
I’ve never had one last for 5 years before so I thought I’d go this route again. Of course some of them died from an errant Weed Eater, so nothing’s for sure.
R.I.P. DirecTV?
It seems that the word of the street is that AT&T, who now owns DirecTV, is thinking seriously about shutting it down. In fact, according to this USA Today article, they are no longer marketing the service except in “more rural or less dense suburban areas.”
The problem is that DirecTV is bleeding subscribers, down from 20 million in 2015, to 16 million now, all the result of ‘cord cutting’, I.e. everyone getting their TV via streaming on the Internet rather than cable or satellite.
Supposedly one of the remedies of this is for DirecTV and Dish to merge into one larger unit. Not that Dish is in any better shape than DirecTV. About half the size of DTV, Dish is hemorrhaging viewers at just about the same rate.
To me this possible merger of two ‘failing’ companies reminds of the merger of Sears and Kmart. Merging two almost-out-of-business companies just gave them one larger almost-out-of-business company. Probably the same here.
We’ve been DirecTV subscribers since 1998, ten years since we started RV’ing, and while the park Wi-Fi here is fast enough to stream even without our satellite dish, it will be a lot more ‘iffy’ when we travel. Either way I would hate to see DirecTV go away.
Wrapping up, Miss Karma and I will be on our own most of next week. Brandi and Lowell are picking up Jan tomorrow so she can Landon/dog/cat sit during Landon’s Spring Break next week. Then I’ll go up and get her Thursday afternoon.
But at least we’ll have lunch at King Food before they go.
One Last thing.
Don’t forget to Spring Forward tonight.
March 7, 2021
I Hate ‘Updates’ . . .
After some heavy caffeinating, I went outside about 12:15 to replace the motor/fan combo on our rear Fantastic Vent Fan.
With Jan supervising from the patio, and Karma on the lookout from her travel cage,
I climbed up on the roof (cue The Drifters) and got started.
Jan says I’m not allowed to be up on the rig roof without her supervising. When I asked her if she was going to catch me if I fell off, she said “No”, but that she would call 911. Well, don’t I feel better.
And it turned out to be pretty quick and easy. The first thing was to remove the vent cover,
leaving me this.
Then, 4 screws and two snips of the power wires, and the old motor/fan was gone. The quilted foil is from the vent insulating cushion.
And after another 5 minutes the new one was in place and connected up. The new wires already had crimp connectors installed, making it really easy.
So 45 minutes and a couple of tie-wraps, and I was done. Then Jan came inside and tried it out and it worked fine. And it’s a lot quieter than the old one, too.
Taking a break, we headed out for lunch at Denny’s about 2pm, with both of us getting the same favorite, their Ultimate Omelet with Bacon, Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions, Roasted Red Peppers, and Cheese, along with Fruit instead of the Hash Browns, and an English Muffin.
One thing about these Ultimate Omelets is that there’s as much piled on top as inside. Delicious as on every visit.
Back home, and ingesting more caffeine, I started in on my AC problem, taking off the inside cover, allowing me access to the Control Assembly up inside the unit.
And while I was looking up at it, all of a sudden, there was a sizzling, cracking, pop, and an orange glow from inside the case behind the multi-color connectors on the right side. And then some smoke came streaming out.
Now I’ve been in this long enough to know that once you let the ‘magic smoke’ out of a piece of equipment, it will no longer work,
So I removed the two nuts holding it in place and popped off the back and found this.
A wire had burned off the connector to the AC compressor relay, so much so that it had charred the insulation for about 3 inches back up the wire. Definitely an indication of a dead short, without a fuse or circuit breaker’s intervention.
So later this week, I’ll have to start tracing things back.
I hate ‘Updates’, software updates, in particular. I can’t tell you how many times over the years that I had a piece of software ‘updated’ into uselessness. Recently it was Evernote, where I actually had to download an old version to get back to one that worked for me.
Then on Friday, February 26th, Godaddy updated my WordPress blog software with the latest version, and since that I’ve been having a lot of behind the scenes errors, making it hard to upload daily blogs, answer comments, etc.
So now I’m trying to see if I can ‘downdate’ WordPress.
I Hate ‘Updates’.
If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be . . .
Kelley’s over in Alvin for lunch, and then the several-times-delayed PopShelf.
Maybe. But we’ll see.
And now on to the Retro-Blogs below.
Thought For The Day:
When you truly don’t care what anyone thinks of you, you have reached a dangerously awesome level of freedom.
March 6, 2009
For old times sake…
As I mentioned earlier my parents and I moved down here to Gulf Shores in January 1951 to build a motel on the beach.
My father was a police detective with the Birmingham Police Department and mother was a Public Health nurse with Jefferson County. They had discovered Gulf Shores after flying their plane down here for a weekend.
They sold their house in Birmingham and borrowed from my father’s mother. They had 6 cottages ready to go in time for the 1951 summer season which then lasted only 3 months, June, July, and August.
Me and My Dad – January 1951
This is my father and me right after we moved here.
White’s-by-the-Sea
They called the motel “White’s-by-the-Sea”. Original, huh? Note the cowboy suit. It was my favorite.
David Duddy and me
This is a shot of my best friend David Duddy and me with some of the cottages in the background. Probably the summer of 1954. The cottages were very nice for the time with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, dining area, and living room. There was also a porch on the side facing the Gulf. A couple of years later they put window airconditioners in the units, the first place on the beach to have them. Note I’m still wearing the cowboy suit. I probably slept and bathed in it, too.
Me and my firetruck
Based on the car tag, this picture was taken in the summer of 1952. Don’t you just love my shorts. Since my hair was all slicked down and I was dressed nicely, I would think this was before or after we had been to church.
If you look carefully you can see chicken wire around the pilings on the left side of the picture. This was my ‘playpen’. I considered it my prison. I was very bad about wandering off when my parents were busy with the motel and it was hard to keep an eye on me. One time I ended up almost a mile away, so my father enclosed a large area under our house to keep me corralled. I don’t think it ever worked as well as he had hoped.
I, however, viewed it as a challenge to my escape artist skills.
I very quickly learned to undo the door latch he had installed. So my father put a padlock on the door.
I promptly climbed up the chicken wire and squeezed over the top edge (I was a lot smaller then).
My father extended the chicken wire all the way to top, so I proceeded to tunnel out thru the sand underneath the wire.
Another time my father found me with a saw trying to cut my way thru one of the pilings. I think I got a spanking for that one.
March 6, 2011
Early Birds, No Worms . . .
I’m stiff and sore in places I didn’t remember I had places.
Starting at 1pm, we spent the afternoon parking RV’s. Lots and lots of RV’s. And all I did was ride around in a golf cart all day. And of course, jump out, then back in, then out, then . . . you get the picture.
Today was Early Bird Day for the rally here in Yuma. Early Bird Day normally is for a few rigs to come in a day or so early to get settled in.
But this is just ridiculous. We had 145 rigs show up today, out of the 175 to 200 that are supposed to attend the rally.
Apparently some people just haven’t figured out that if everyone shows up on Early Bird Day, it’s no longer Early Bird Day, it’s just the first day of the rally. If everyone’s a Early Bird, there is just not going to be enough worms to go around.
Somewhere during the day, lunchtime came and went, and I never even noticed it was gone. Suddenly a little before 6pm there were no rigs in the front lot, and we were done. I parked the golf cart, stepped out . . . and almost fell on my face, I was so stiff.
Finally about 6:30pm, Jan and I headed out for supper. We had originally been going to Famous Dave’s BBQ, but they had a line out front, so we went next door to Logan’s Roadhouse and got seated in about 5 minutes.
We were so thirsty we just told our waiter to bring water and iced tea, and keep it coming. Unlike Houston’s 95%, the humidity here in Yuma is around 30% and it really sucks the moisture right out of you without you realizing it, and suddenly your throat is so dry you can’t talk and you’re feeling lightheaded from dehydration.
I think I had a steak, and I think it was really good, but I’m so tired I not sure.
I think this blog is coherent, but I’m not really sure, but hopefully this is enough, so I’m going to bed.
So more tomorrow . . . if I survive.
But first, here’s a new Landon pic for your viewing pleasure.
Landon finds out he has toes. Now if he can only figure out what to do with them.
But he’s working on it.
March 6, 2013
Mushrooms and Wild Seeds . . .
Today was a busy travel day, just not in the rig, but in our truck. We left the park about 9:30am, heading for Fredericksburg 60 miles away.
The reason was to eat lunch at Der Lindenbaum, probably the best German restaurant we’ve ever eaten at.
It’s pretty much a given that if we’re in the area, we’ll eat here at least once. Or more.
Jan had her favorite Jager Schnitzel, which is a pork cutlet, breaded and pan-fried, and then covered in a fresh mushroom gravy, along with hot German potato salad and red cabbage.
I had the Burgermeister Platter, which consists of bratwurst, knockwurst, and wienerwurst sausages, along with warm sauerkraut, spicy German mustard, and of course, red cabbage. It’s not really German food if you don’t have red cabbage.
Before we left we got an order of the Jager Schnitzel to take with us to Gina’s since it’s her favorite too.
After lunch we headed out for our friend Gina’s about 50 miles away. But about 8 miles out of town we made at quick stop at Wildseed Farms
Wildseed Farms is another place Jan always wants to stop when we’re passing though this area. 
It’s a combo gift shop, plant nursery, seed farm, landscape supply, and cat store.
Not cat house, cat store.
There are always 3 or 4 cats sleeping on the long checkout counter, just waiting for a passing customer to lavish some attention on them.
Then it was off again to Gina’s, getting to the ranch a little before 2pm, and I was glad to see my Amazon packages waiting for me. Would hate to have them sent after us if they didn’t come in on time.
After getting Jan settled in and getting my hugs in with Gina, I headed off to a nearby Subway to stock them up on sandwiches.
Jan will be staying with Gina until Saturday, while I come back to the rig and take care of things on this end.
So after checking out a problem with Gina’s color laser printer, I headed back to the rig about 4pm. Right outside of Boerne, I stopped at a Valero to get a coffee, and then another stop at Home Depot to pick up a couple of things.
Getting back to the park about 5:30, I tried to track down a UPS package I was expecting, but all the offices were closed, so I’ll try again tomorrow.
March 6, 2014
Idiots and Frostbite . . .
With the nice weather and the sun, I got a lot of bin work done outside. Even got a start going through some of the basement bins, not sorting stuff yet., but making a first pass throwing stuff away.
Looks like I’ll have a couple or three bins ready to go to the storeroom on Saturday. Don’t know how much, if any, I’ll get done on Sunday because there’s a 60% chance of rain. And then on Monday, we’re moving to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for two weeks, so I’ll start back up when we get there.
I got a couple of requests so I’ve posted Jan’s Heavenly Hash recipe over in her Jan’s Favorite Recipes area, so you can check it out there.
This is about all I’ve got for today, with not much else going on.
But I did add a story to my What Were They Thinking? file. Check out what happens when a 14 year old girl is made to stand outside in 5 below weather in a wet bathing suit.
Idiots!
March 6, 2016
Slobbering . . .
We had our coffee and breakfast inside this morning, so we wouldn’t have to worry about being blown away. The wind picked up during night, prefacing the front coming through tomorrow, bringing 3 or 4 days of forecasted rain. But, as usual, we’ll see.
I spent the morning working on some internet stuff before heading outside to look for my slobber tube. But first I crawled back under the passenger side of the engine again to check for any more leakage around the oil pan drain plug.
I had wiped it off the other day to see if it was leaking around the plug, but found no new wetness. So I was out and back under on the other side to check out there. And after a quick look, it was obvious where it was.
![Slobber Tube 1_thumb[1]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Slobber-Tube-1_thumb1.png "Slobber Tube 1_thumb[1]")
Based on what I’d heard about the location I was expecting to find it hanging down a little further, but it’s actually above the oil pan gasket area.
And it was obvious from the surrounding wetness that it had been leaking.
![Slobber Tube 2_thumb[1]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Slobber-Tube-2_thumb1.png "Slobber Tube 2_thumb[1]")
So now, again based on what I’ve read about it, my next step is to come up with a way to hang a bottle or can under the slobber tube to catch the outflow. One, to contain the oil so it doesn’t end up on the toad, and two, to check that that is actually where the oil is coming from.
So hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with something before we leave here next Sunday.
While I was under there, I also noticed another oil leak, coming from the hydraulic line that feeds the engine cooling fan. So I’ll keep an eye on that too.
![Cooling Fan Oil Line_thumb[1]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Cooling-Fan-Oil-Line_thumb1.png "Cooling Fan Oil Line_thumb[1]")
And also I was able to see the oil filter that had been changed out last February by RV Mobile Lube.
it’s nice to see that they sign and date them to keep track of them.
Finishing up, and coming back in to find Jan napping on the sofa, I decide that was a good idea too, so I headed back to the bedroom for my share of nap time.
When I got up I got back on my pantry organization project using Alexa on the Amazon Echo to record and print out the list as I sorted through the items and consolidated them on the various shelves.
By the time I got finished later tonight, it looked like this.
![Pantry Shelf_thumb[1]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Pantry-Shelf_thumb1.png "Pantry Shelf_thumb[1]")
And here’s what my list ended up looking like.
sixth shelf left side splenda raw sugar
sixth shelf right side medicine and cough drops
sixth shelf right side calcium chews
fifth shelf left side hazelnut coffee
fifth shelf left side jim & nicks cheese biscuit mix
fifth shelf left side mini moo half and half creamers
fifth shelf right side captain’s wafers
fifth shelf right side drinking straws
fifth shelf right side hot tea packets
fourth shelf left side bacon horseradish dip mix
fourth shelf left side corn starch
fourth shelf left side onion soup dip mix
fourth shelf left side splenda brown sugar
fourth shelf left side stevia sweetener
fourth shelf right side campbell’s slow kettle tomato & sweet basil bisque
fourth shelf right side cheesy bacon potato soup mix
fourth shelf right side chicken enchilada soup mix
fourth shelf right side creamy broccoli soup mix
fourth shelf right side jif peanut butter
fourth shelf right side mango habanero sauce
fourth shelf right side minestrone soup mix
fourth shelf right side pam olive oil cooking spray
fourth shelf right side pasta fagioli soup mix
fourth shelf right side penne pasta
fourth shelf right side pure vanilla extract
fourth shelf right side roasted raspberry chipotle sauce
fourth shelf right side spicy brown mustard
fourth shelf right side starkist chunk light tuna 5 packets
fourth shelf right side strozzapreti pasta
fourth shelf right side tortilla soup mix
third shelf left side chicken rice a roni
third shelf left side lemon bar mix
third shelf left side slow cooker seasoning hearty beef
third shelf left side slow cooker seasoning homestyle chicken herb
third shelf left side spanish rice a roni
third shelf left side uncle ben’s brown wild rice medley
third shelf right side fideo noodles
third shelf right side large elbow macaroni
third shelf right side multi color twirl pasta
third shelf right side spaghetti
third shelf right side whole wheat elbow macaroni
second shelf left side baking soda
second shelf left side bisquick buttermilk biscuit mix 2 packages
second shelf left side bisquick cheese garlic biscuit mix 1 pkg
second shelf left side carnation dry milk powder
second shelf left side jiffy blueberry muffin mix 2 boxes
second shelf left side jiffy corn muffin mix
second shelf left side lemon poppyseed scone mix
second shelf left side martha white blueberry muffin mix
second shelf left side sweet potato biscuit mix
second shelf left side sweet potato muffin mix
second shelf left side table salt
second shelf right side bacardi rum
second shelf right side balsamic vinegar
second shelf right side bisquick mix
second shelf right side confederate marmalade
second shelf right side extra virgin olive oil
second shelf right side huckleberry jam
second shelf right side jalapeno orange jelly
second shelf right side marion blackberry preserves
second shelf right side new orleans scorpion hot sauce
second shelf right side nutcracker spaghetti sauce
second shelf right side prego Italian meat sauce
second shelf right side protein bars 5 each
second shelf right side rachel ray extra virgin olive oil
second shelf right side soy sauce
second shelf right side tabasco sauce
second shelf right side wild maine blueberry syrup
second shelf right side worcestershire sauce
bottom shelf left side cheese wiz
bottom shelf left side cream of mushroom soup
bottom shelf left side hunt’s tomato paste
bottom shelf left side ro-tel hot tomatoes
bottom shelf left side skyline chili 9 cans
bottom shelf right side black beans
bottom shelf right side bush’s country style baked beans
bottom shelf right side bush’s grilling beans bourbon & brown sugar 2 ea
bottom shelf right side canned beef cooked
bottom shelf right side cut green beans
bottom shelf right side extra hot alaskan umami sauce
bottom shelf right side ginger wasabi sauce
bottom shelf right side reeses magic shell chocolate peanut butter
bottom shelf right side sliced peaches
bottom shelf right side smuckers magic shell chocolate fudge
bottom shelf right side steel cut oatmeal
For dinner tonight we had the Chicken Tortilla Soup that I put together yesterday, and let simmer all day. Really good, if I do say so.
And Jan does too.
I’ve now done the magic six loads in my repaired washer, so hopefully, it’ll keep on working.
March 6, 2017
Old Friends . . .
This morning was my 8:30 appointment with Junior’s Upholstery in Conroe to have the headliner of our Dodge Dakota replaced. II had started coming loose and fraying around the edges, and even disintegrating in some places.
So about 8:15 my friend and next door neighbor, Ed Hurlburt, followed me down to the shop so he could bring me home. They said they’d try to have it done by 2-3pm so we could head down to Clear Lake on time for our dinner with old friends.
Getting back home I got on the phone to try and solve another credit/debit card problem. Whenever I tried to use the card for our Karnes City / SiteWatch account as a credit card where it ask me for my Zip Code, I.e. gas pumps, it would reject the card for an incorrect Zip Code. But when I called the bank they couldn’t find any problem. The Zip Code on my bank account was correct.
Then yesterday I was trying to set up the Uber app on my phone and had the same problem. When I entered the card number, exp. date, CVV, and Zip Code as requested, it said there was a problem. And since I double and triple-checked the card stuff, it had to be the Zip Code.
So I again put in a call to the Karnes County National Bank once again, and after going through three people, finally found a nice young lady who figured out the problem.
The bank account there uses our Friendswood, TX Zip Code of 77546, which is the one I had been entering. But, because I had requested that the cards be sent to the bank for us to pick up there, instead of sending them to our Friendswood bank account address, the bank’s Zip Code is what got entered into the computer with the card info.
She said she would correct the problem and then a little later I tried setting up the Uber app again, and this time with no problems. So this problem is solved.
Still working on the iDrive credit card problem.
BTW the Uber app is pretty neat. It shows you where you are on the map, and also shows several free vehicles in your vicinity. Look forward to giving it a try.
Later in the afternoon, our friend Debi Hurlburt took Jan and I down to the upholstery shop to pick up the truck so that we could leave from there on our way to Clear Lake. They were running a little late finishing up due to the rain, so we didn’t get on our way until about 4pm.
Turns out that because of the glue fumes they try to do as much work as possible outside, and the intermittent rain caused a problem.
But the job was worth the wait. It was perfect, even down to the color match of the original to the side trim strips on the truck.
Great Job! And Junior’s Upholstery is very well recommended.
Though we got a later start than I had hoped, wanting to avoid the Houston going-home traffic, today turned out to be one of those rare Houston traffic days with no accidents or major construction slowdowns, so we were able to make the 70 mile trip down to Dickinson in only 90 minutes, a new record I think.
Having known them since the mid-80’s, Bob and Maria are our oldest Houston friends, so we try to get together whenever we can.
Maria even got a good picture of Jan and I. Well, Jan anyway.
And as is usual for these things, we once again spent about 3 hours catching up with each other’s lives. And we look forward to doing it again as soon as we can.
After a potty stop at the Flying J, we got back to the rig a little before 10. Finally remembering to do it, I brought our Garmin GPS in from the truck to check it for map updates.
Turns out there were several small ones, an FM traffic info provider update and a Time Zone data update, and one big one, a 2.66 GB map update. The small ones only took a couple of minutes, and even the big one only took about 45 minutes. Pretty good for 2.66 GB on 3G.
So that’s done for another year.
Tomorrow? More last minute chores before we hit the road for Colorado River on Wednesday, and Tucson on Friday.
March 6, 2018
No Goofing Off . . .
Being an off-day from work today, you’d think I could have goofed off some, but noooo.
As soon as I got into work yesterday, the office manager told me she was getting calls from customers saying that the website’s credit card checkout was no longer safe to use. Turns out our SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate had expired this past Saturday. News to me.
But it was news I should have gotten about a month ago, but my boss didn’t forward the renewal notice from Godaddy to me. But I was able to catch up by tracking down the replacement certificate and downloading it from Godaddy.
Bu then things came to a screeching halt as I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out where the previous (dead) IT guy had installed it. As I’ve mentioned before our website is hosted on an in-house Linux server, in this case running CentOS. But the certificate is not installed where it normally would be. And not any of the other places that it could possibly be either.
So I spent today here at doing a lot more research and making a couple of phone calls, trying to figure out what he had done. But no luck so far, but I’m back on it tomorrow.
Right now there is a notice on the website inviting customers to call in their orders.Hope this will hold things for a short while until I can get this fixed.
I did take a few minutes this afternoon to go outside to fix a broken spade connector on the driver-side turn signal on the rear of the truck. Recently I noticed that often the left turn signal would fast-flash and then work the next time. Checking it out while we were up Brandi’s, I found that there was a cracked connector on one wire, but I didn’t have a replacement with me.
So it was just a couple of minutes today to crimp on a new one.
For you Camp Verde/Cottonwood/Verde Valley devotees, there’s a new, large RV park coming to the area later this year. The 425 site, high-end park will be located just a mile or so north of the I-17/SR260 interchange at Camp Verde, between there and the Verde Valley Thousand Trails park.
March 6, 2019
It Was Venerable . . .
My venerable HP 2520 color inkjet printer died on Monday. It is no more, it has ceased to be, it is bereft of life, it rests in peace. It is an ex-printer.
But I originally bought it in 2013 while we were on a gate down in south Texas, so I’ve certainly gotten my money’s worth I guess. I replaced it last year with a new HP 4650 because it was bigger, better, faster, and since it was still working OK, I took it into work for my desk, just so I’d have a printer.
But then I started printing out a lot of color labels, and mail-out postcards, heavier stock stuff. And Monday when I was printing out some cards, the printer went ‘snap, crackle, pop’ and stopped pulling in paper. Any type of paper.
So this morning I stopped off at our WalMart to pick up a new one, a HP 5252 this time, which is the newer model of my 4650.
I also picked up an XL B&W and XL Color cartridge since the starter cartridges in these new machines are always small, even smaller than the standard ones, much less the XL ones.
Getting to the office, I set the printer up and started to print out a dozen page sized postcards, and I was amazed to see how much faster than my old 2520. The 12 cards that would have taken me 15 minutes on my old one, took only about 4 minutes on the 5252.
Nice.
Once I got the printer set up, the size difference between the old and new printers meant it didn’t really fit in the old spot so I ordered this printer stand.
And then since I was on an Amazon ordering roll, I ordered the office manager a new chair.
Her old one broke a wheel off this morning, so she’ll have a new one Friday, along with my new printer stand.
It’s supposed to be almost 70 tomorrow, but with a 50% chance of rain I’ll have to see how conducive it is to crawling under the rig and doing a trial loosening of the oil filter.
I’ll let you know.
March 6, 2020
Do Only Old People Buy Sausage?
I’m sure you’ve all heard the Jimmy Dean Sausage commercials recently on TV using his voice. So my question is, does anybody but people our age know who Jimmy Dean is?
Though he sold the company to Sara Lee in 1984 for $80 million and didn’t die until 2010, he was essentially fired from his spokesman job in 2002.
Why? They told him he was too old! But now he’s back from the grave.
So it’s been at least 18 years since anyone has heard his voice, and now they’ve brought him back (or his voice, anyway), and they’re advertising to who?
Who under the age of 30 even knows who he is?
Our long-time friend and fellow RV’er, Debi Hurlburt, of Debi and Ed Hurlburt fame, has long had a Facebook area called Debi’s RV Kitchen. But now she’s venturing into the video field. And here’s her first video.
Dirty Rice – Cooking in the RV
Looks like our upcoming storage shed project will be a true do-it-yourself project. Turns out Home Depot, where we’re going to get the shed, doesn’t offer any assembly assistance, and it looks like using one of the online services like TAKL would cost me about twice what the $269 shed is going to cost me.
And that’s just for one guy helping me, not me getting watch two guys doing it all. So it’s just going to be me, with Jan helping out as needed.
We do want to get it all done without too much delay, so I’m going to take off work on a Friday and a Monday so we’ll have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, if necessary.
March 6, 2021
Prince of Darkness . . .
Jan drove into work with me yesterday morning so she could spend the day getting her nails done, and then some shopping at Baybrook Mall for a while.
In fact, she’s decided to do it again once a month or so.
This afternoon we left the rig about 12:30 heading up to the new Eggcellence for brunch.
Jan tried something new this time, the Avocado BLT.
But I stuck with my favorite, the Texas Sampler.
We both get Fruit instead of the Hashbrowns, and I get an English muffin rather than the buttermilk pancakes that’s supposed to come with mine. Every calorie helps.
Then it was on up the feeder a bit to one of Jan’s favorite places, Harbor Freight. Yeah, I know. She’s weird, but then she does love me. So I guess it works.
Our next stop was back down at FM646 where Jan got her hair cut while I picked up a few things at the HEB next door. Then it was home for the night.
Tomorrow it’s up on the roof for me. I’m going to replace the motor/fan unit for our rear Fantastic Vent Fan on the rig. Then I planned to take a look at the overhead AC unit to try and find where the problem with it is.
It seems I’ve been coming across a number of neat cars in parking lots lately, And today it was this really nice 1955 Chevy.
For some reason it doesn’t look as nice in the photo as it is in real life. But it’s spotless. The owner, who walked up while I was taking the photo, and told it was a 150 model, without all the chrome trim of the Bel Air.
And the he showed me the engine,
He said it’s a LS series Corvette engine that he put in after burned out the original one. And when he cranked it up, you could hear the 3/4 grind cam’s ‘lump, lump’ idle. And the dual glass pack mufflers.
Another really neat ride.
And on the subject of cars, anyone who ever owned a British sports car, or any British car, really, will appreciate this.
In 1967 I bought a 1965 Triumph Spitfire like this one, except mine was race-prepared for SCCA racing and had a roll bar.
I bought it from the brother of an ex-girlfriend (it did not end well). And in hindsight this should have been a warning. But the brother did warn me about some of the car’s, let’s call them ‘electrical idiosyncrasies’.
‘Idiosyncrasies’ like the left turn signal also turned the radio on and off. And turning on the radio would sometimes honk the horn. And there were a number of other intermittent ones. I’d fix one and another one would pop up.
Finally out of patience, I spent a couple of weeks pulling an entire new harness thru the frame and fixed it once and for all.
March 6, 2022
Pho Barr and Family . . .
We were on our way up to Katy a little before 11, to introduce Brandi, et al, to their Pho Barr location. which is only a couple of miles down the Westpark Tollway from their home.
Like our Webster location, this Katy location is located in a strip mall, and strangely, right next door to a Thai restaurant, the same as ours down here.
First up, they brought us a couple of orders of their Grilled Pork Spring Rolls with their Spicy Peanut Sauce.
Really crunchy and delicious as always.
Jan got her usual Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl, but in this case, it was done with white meat chicken, rather than the dark meat they use down in Webster. Jan likes both, but white meat a little better.
Brandi had the same thing, but with the Grilled Ribeye instead.
Lowell went in a different direction, with the Grilled Chicken Rice Plate, complete with a Sunnyside Up Egg like this.
For my part, I stayed the course with my usual Pho Ga, which means white meat chicken.
Everyone agreed it was all really good, and that we’ll probably eat here again when we’re back in the area.
All the dishes here were the same as our local Pho Barr, but a little different, I guess due to different chefs.
Then it back over to Brandi’s so I could install the HP 4650 printer/scanner that I was giving Landon. I’m upgrading to a HP 6978 which should be here this Wednesday.
Later, heading home, we made a detour by the Katy Trader Joe’s so Jan could pick up some of her favorite stuff. Hopefully they’ll get one down in our area someday soon.
After that, and almost home, we made a HEB stop at our local one for a few things for dinner next week, finally getting back to the rig about 4:30.
A really nice day.
We’ve gotten a lot comments and questions about Streaming so I thought I give you some more information about it.
Starting at the Home screen you can choose which app you want to use to stream.
Then, in the case of YouTubeTV you can chose to watch Live TV, selecting from a list of channels.
This list is customizable, showing only the channels you want to see, and in the order you want to see them.
And when you do select a show to watch, you get this choice.
If the show is already on, you can select ‘Start from beginning’ and do just that.
Or you can join it live and in progress.
If you go to the Library, you can see all the shows you have selected to DVR. And you can set an unlimited number to record, even at one time.
In our case we’re recording 176 shows right now.
And as I mentioned, when you set a program to record, you get every season it was on the air.
As you can see, when you set Law & Order to record, you get all 20 seasons of reruns, plus the new 21st season of first runs.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
A few days ago I posted this photo of Jan’s Flamingo Flamboyance, showing the two new additions.
But as I mentioned, you can’t really see all the flock hiding in the back, so I took this one from the side.
Some of them flutter, some spin, and some light up at night. Though the effect of that is somewhat lost because of the streetlight right out in front of us.
But if Jan’s happy, I’m happy.
