Our RV Adventures

I think maybe she just wanted a new vacuum.

It does seem like lately that small things keep disappearing here in the rig. A couple of weeks ago I was using one of those sets of metal measuring spoons. I set them down on the counter, turned around for a couple of minutes, then came back, and they were gone. We both looked everywhere with no luck.

Then about a week Jan was cleaning out her Sowtech vacuum cleaner.

She took it apart and set the HEPA filter section aside to empty the reservoir in the trash and when she turned around and started to reassemble the unit, the filter section was gone.

We looked on the floor under the cabinets and even in the trash. Just GONE!

That vacuum is being made any more (we bought it in Dec. 2019) so I ordered her this new one.

Though it’s a little heavier than her old one, it’s much more powerful and she really, really likes it.

Hmmm!

I wonder.

Tomorrow looks to be Texas Huddle for lunch once again, and then perhaps the delayed visit to PopShelf for Jan.

Easter Treats For Adults.

When we were at WalMart last Tuesday they had large displays set up with all sorts of Easter goodies, including these two adult treats.

That’s Guinness Chocolate Stout Cake and Bailey’s Irish Cream Loaf Cake.

Something for everybody.

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Thought For The Day:

Houston: The only place I can drive 15 mph OVER the speed limit and still have to stay in the right lane because everyone else is trying to pass me.

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March 3, 2009

Hitting the Jackpot!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Jan and I received two $25 Player cards from the Hollywood Casino as part of staying at their RV park.

The first card we ran thru the slots pretty quickly. Since we weren’t having much luck we decided to save the last one for this morning after we had coffee at the Casino coffee shop.

I usually let Jan play the machines because I just don’t have much luck with them.  And this time she really came thru.

In about 10 minutes she had run our free $25 up to $103.40.  Since this covered our two night stay at the park, our two meals, and our morning coffee, Jan hit the CashOut button and we walked away with all our expenses covered and bucks left over.

Sweet!

We headed out about 11 am on our way to Gulf Shores, AL,  stopping outside Mobile for lunch at about 1 pm at a favorite BBQ chain of ours called Sonny’s BBQ.

We moseyed  (we’re retired. we mosey a lot.)  on in to the Gulf Shores State Park RV Park about 3:30 pm.

We got a nice pull-thru* site far from the maddening crowd with a great view of the bayou right outside our door. It was kinda unnerving to find a sign right down the road that says “Do Not Feed or Aggravate the Alligators“.

Apparently, Alligator Alley is right outside our door.

Well, that’s reassuring!  I’ll certainly do my best not to aggravate them.

On second thought, what aggravates a gator, anyway?  Not letting him eat you, or what?

Gulf Shores is a favorite place of ours and has a lot of history for me. My parents moved down here from Birmingham when I was about 2 1/2 and built one of the first big motels on the beach. We lived here in the Gulf Shores / Foley area until I was 13 and we moved to Colombia, South America.  But that’s another story.

Anyway, we’ll probably hang around here for a week or so,  just resting up.  Retirement can be hard work, let me tell you.

* a pull-thru site is desirable since I don’t have to fool with backing the coach in or out, and if we’re really lucky, it’s long enough so that we don’t have to unhook the toad if we don’t want to.

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March 3, 2010

3:10 to Yuma… well, more like 2 hours even…

Today we made the 2 hour drive from Gila Bend over to Yuma where we’ll be for the next 10 days or so.

We’re here to help with the lead-in to the rally that will run March 8th thru the 12th.

For the next few days, Jan and I will be going around to local businesses soliciting gifts for door prizes for the rally.

We left Gila Bend about 11am and then stopped for lunch at a rest area about an hour later. Lunch on the road is simple when you take your kitchen with you.

Mister enjoyed the trip as usual. Here he is catching some rays on the dashboard.

We’ll be parked here until Sunday when we will move into our rally parking sites. Right now there is a Good Sam Club rally going on, so we have to wait until they’re done.

We’re hooked up water and 20amp electric, but no sewer connection. That means we’ll have to dump at least once while we’re here. Hopefully we can do get by with only dumping when we move on Sunday. We’ll see.

About 5:30 the six of us headed out to eat at a Chinese restaurant called, strangely enough, EAT.  Turned out to be really good. I imagine we’ll go back again before we leave.

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March 3, 2011

More of the Same . . .

You’d think we’re in the summer rerun season, since today was pretty much like yesterday.

I fixed coffee first thing this morning and then Jan watched things she’d recorded on the DVR while I did computer client stuff and worked on the two seminars I’m giving at the rally starting this Monday.

Then for lunch, Jan heated up our Famous Dave’s BBQ leftovers. I think it might have even been better the second time around.

About 2pm Jan and I headed out to get more door prizes around town. We hit a lot of places and had pretty good luck, but we still have call backs on a number of places. And we’ll try to finish up most of them tomorrow, with a final wrap-up on Sat.

We got back to the rig a little before 5pm, and we were ready to eat.

And boy, were we. We had been visiting restaurants all afternoon . . . really good-smelling restaurants. In fact the last one we visited, Applebee’s smelled so good, that’s where we decided to go for supper.

And, as usual, the four of us, Tom, Barb, Jan, and I, spent more time talking than eating, so we didn’t get home until almost 8pm.

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March 3, 2012

Resting up before the Big Day . . .

We really took it easy this morning. Jan had an on again/off again/on again migraine so we just ate in for lunch and watched stuff we’d recorded on our DVR.

I worked some more on my seminars, nailing down exactly what I’m going to talk about, and at I’ll have on the handouts and the CD’s. But mostly I just play it by ear, kind of going by the questions people are asking.

I had hoped I might get phone calls from some of the last minute door prize stragglers, but no luck. Maybe tomorrow.

We called a meeting at 3:30 for the parking crew so we could go over assignments. Many of them have done this before, so I expect things to come up to speed pretty quickly. Although tomorrow is Early Bird Arrival and Monday is actually the first day of the Rally, we always get the majority of the people coming in on Sunday, rather than Monday.

Jan and I will move our rig over to the parking crew staging area after dumping our tanks at the dump station. Then as soon as the Good Sam Rally people have pulled out, we’ll park over by the Vendor building where we’ll be until the rally is over next Friday.

At 1 pm we’ll start parking attendees, starting with handicapped and vendors first. And at the same time, Jan and a number of others, will start registering people as soon as they get parked.

It’s organized chaos, but we do get people parked pretty quickly once we get going.

After the meeting I drove around the fairgrounds checking out the area and deciding where we want to park some people with different requirements.

About 5 Jan and I headed over to eat at EAT, our favorite local Chinese buffet, and one of our all time favorites anywhere. Afterwards we called it an early evening because tomorrow will be a long, long day.

But at least we’re not forecast to have rain, hail, a lightning storm, and high winds all in the same day like we had two years ago.

Yay!

On another note, our daughter Brandi emailed us that she and her sister-in-law Sherry had stood in line for two hours at the grand opening of a new Bullritos in Friendswood, and had each won a year’s supply of their food, either a Bullrito, a Bullrito Bowl, or Bullrito Taco, once a week for a year.

Guess we know where they’ll be eating every week.

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March 3, 2013

The Best Laid Plans . . .

and all that.

Well, we had plans to go into San Antonio this afternoon for shopping and dinner at Magic Time Machine. But Jan woke up with a gout attack in her left foot this morning and it didn’t get better as the day went on, so we’ll try again tomorrow.

I spent some time checking out the lights on the truck this afternoon, but with no luck. The lights worked fine when I put external power to them.

I guess it’s possible I’ve got an intermittent short somewhere in the harness, but it’s hard to check it out like this. So I sketched out a circuit in my head for an automatic tester, and I’ll try to pick up some parts if we make it to San Antonio tomorrow.

For dinner we finished off the last of the Chicken Tortilla Soup from the other day. It wasn’t steak but it sure was good. Coming up, a big batch of Chicken Vegetable Soup in the next few days.

The weather is getting weird around here. Yesterday the high was 69 and the low was 30. Today the high was 75, and the low is supposed to be 35. But tomorrow the high is supposed to be 85 degrees!

And then we’re back with a high of 66 degrees on Tuesday. Don’t blink, you’ll miss it.

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March 3, 2014

Frozen . . .

Well, it got done to 25 degrees here last night, and with the rain we had yesterday afternoon, there was ice and icicles everywhere. In fact, when I got up about 9:30 this morning, it was still only 28, and didn’t get above freezing until about 1pm, finally making it up to 42 for about 15 minutes and then falling again.

About 2 pm I got a phone call from the park office, telling me that they had just cut my water off because water was running out of the front of our rig. I said, “From the front of our rig?”, thinking maybe he was talking about the drip that occurs when our fresh water overflows from the weak check valve.in the water.

He said, “Yes, it was pouring out the front of your rig.” I said, “Well, I don’t see anything running out.” Then he said, “ Where are you right now?”

“I’m sitting right here in our rig.” He said, “You’re in A32?” “No, I’m in C32.”

“Oh, Never mind.”

I can only think that someone left their rig overnight with the water on, the pipes froze and broke, and when they thawed out, the rig flooded. Glad it wasn’t us.

I did manage to get some more done inside, going through stuff, since it was too cold to work outside. Maybe tomorrow.

About 4:30 we headed out for dinner at Sealand Seafood in La Grange once again. Debi and Ed Hurlburt, and Jan and I first ate here last Friday, and it was so good we came back tonight, along with Gregg and Lynette McHenry.

Gregg and Lynette are blog readers, and also fellow gate guards, working for Gate Guard Services like us.

It was another of those RV’er meals where we spend 45 minutes eating and then sit there just talking for the next couple of hours.

On the way home with Gregg and Lynette riding with us, we stopped off at HEB for a few things. The park is having a potluck supper Wednesday night and Jan needed some stuff for her dish.

We’re now looking at snow and freezing rain tonight, with a low of 28 degrees.

Oh, boy!

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March 3, 2015

Headwinds and Peach Cobbler . . .

We were up about 6:45 this morning, much earlier than normal, but for two reasons. We wanted to leave earlier since we had a 315 mile trip today, and we wanted to have time to have breakfast at Isaack’s Restaurant, a mile or so away. Voted one of the best small-town diners in Texas, It’s a favorite of ours.

After another great meal, and after stopping for gas at $2.25, we were back at the park a little before 9. After stopping off at the park office, we were on the road a little before 9:30.

The weather was overcast and foggy, but not as bad as yesterday, especially with not as much drizzle. But the drive was still nice, at least until we hit a headwind a little west of Balmorhea. And my MPG went from about 8.5 down to 5.9.

Yikes!

Coming through Ft. Stockton we stopped for diesel at the Pilot, paying $2.79 a gallon. Still not bad. The only problem was the slow pumps. We were using the separate RV pumps, but it took almost 20 minutes to get 54 gallons. Unlike getting gas this morning, when I got 22 gallons in the truck in about 5 minutes.

We pulled into the Southern Star RV Park in Van Horn about 3pm and got set up.

Then a little after 5pm, we took the recommendation of the guy at the park office, and walked right next door to the Van Horn Cattle Company Restaurant. And we’re really glad we did. The salads and the steaks were great.

My salad had a delicious homemade Chipotle Ranch dressing that actually had some heat to it. Really good

Jan had their 8 oz.  Flat Iron Steak, something that they’re known for, and I had the 12 oz. Top Sirloin. Somebody in the kitchen really knows how to cook a steak.

Then for dessert, we shared their Peach Cobbler with Cinnamon Ice Cream, all homemade. The perfect end to a great meal.

We were sitting by the window looking out over the road, and watched a steady stream of RV’s coming in. And then a steady stream of RV’ers walking over from the park. Really hope the park guy got his kickback for the recommendations.

By the time we walked back to the rig, the 46 site park was about 3/4 full. Some of that may be due to the bad weather coming through here. The guy in the site next to us was worried, and said he was going to hunker down for a couple of days to avoid it.

Although the high tomorrow (Wednesday) is going to be in the mid-50’s, it’s supposed to start raining in the afternoon, and then go down to 22! degrees tomorrow night., with snow and ice. But we’ll be moving on to Las Cruces tomorrow morning and will be there for two days, so it should be gone by then.

Brandi send over some more ski trip pics, this one of Landon and Ruthie, the daughter of the couple they’re traveling with.

Really cute kids.

Brandi says they act like brother and sister. Of course that could mean they fight a lot, too.

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March 3, 2016

Well, That Didn’t Go Too Well . . .

Or Six Times Is Apparently One Too Many

We finally got back to walking again this morning, but I may have to start getting up earlier because it’s getting warmer earlier, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

Afterwards we sat outside with our coffee and breakfast and enjoyed the outdoors. Much nicer and quieter than back at Lake Conroe. Then a little later our friend Randy Lazarine came by walking his dog Sherlock, and stop off to talk for a while.

Later in the afternoon I did a couple of more loads of laundry before heading outside to crawl under the driver side of the rig to take a look at my oil leak from the other side and check where the oil breather (slobber) tube is located.

Apparently this is a known problem, and Cummins even makes a ‘collection’ kit that connects to the end of the tube,

to keep the oil from spraying out all over. Of course a lot of guys, probably me included, just hang a small bottle over the end of the tube. But I’ll know more when I get back under there. But that’s going to be delayed another another day or so.

I finished up one load of laundry and then started on another, the sixth one since I put the washer back in service, and I very quickly found that the sixth time is not the charm, at least in this case. Suddenly water was coming out from under the washer cabinet onto the kitchen tile.

After throwing some towels on the floor I ran outside to turn the water off at the faucet, and based on the amount of water I saw pouring out of the water bay, I figured that one of the supply hoses had broken or come loose. But when I got back inside I turned the pump on and looked into the side access panel where I could see the hoses and saw nothing leaking in that area.

So tomorrow the washer comes back out and I’ll see what I find.

For dinner tonight Jan fixed a great meal of Chicken and Dressing Casserole and her Green Bean Casserole, Cranberry Walnut Salad, and Grilled Bread. Really, really good, and plenty left over for a second meal.

YUMM !

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March 3, 2017

The Good and The Bad . . .

Awaiting the RV Mobile Lube guy at 8:30, I was up about 8am and got the coffee started. Then I got a call from the guy about 8:20 saying he would be about 15 minutes late.

And he showed up about 8:45 and got right to work on changing out my fuel filters, starting with the easy one at the rear of the coach. I went inside for a few minutes to make a phone call, planning on coming back out with my phone to get some photos of how he got under there for the hard one.

But when I came back out about 20 minutes later, he was already done with both filters and ready for me to start the engine and let it run for a few minutes to check for leaks. And with none found, and everything looking good, he was on his way by 9:20, about 35 minutes after he arrived. Great service from a great company.

And in another example of great service, the cartridge in our shower faucet has started leaking from behind the knob. But a quick call to Moen and a new cartridge was on its way, free, courtesy of their Lifetime Warranty. More great service.

And that’s the Good.

And now for the Bad.

Two years ago I set up an iDrive online backup account for a then-client. I put the charge on my debit card and just billed the client. When my work for that client ended in October 2015, I asked what they wanted to do about the account, and was told to just cancel it and they would set up their own system. So I emailed iDrive using their online form for that purpose and cancelled the service.

And since I used their online form, I have no record that I sent them an email. I did however receive an automated reply, stating that they had received my ‘inquiry’ and would get back to me. But I never received anything else, but still thought I had cancelled the service

Then a couple of days ago I noticed a $69.50 charge from iDrive. And going back through my 2016 bank statements, I found that I had a $59.50 last March also that I missed when it came through.

So last night I fired off an email to iDrive to find out what was going on. I was told the account was still active and that they would cancel it now as soon as I prove ownership of the account. And I had to do this by either giving them the password to the account, or the last four digits of the credit card used, as well as the expiration date.

Well, I don’t have the password, since I only logged into the account from the company’s computer. And when I gave them the credit card I have now, they said that wasn’t the correct card. And that’s because I got this new ‘CHIP’ card in June of 2015, and the iDrive account was set up in March 2015. And I have no idea what my old card number was.

So at this point I have no way to cancel this IDrive account.

So next I called Chase Bank to find out what card was used to make the charge, and was told it was my present card. But they weren’t able to explain how I was able to set up an account in March of 2015 using a card that they acknowledge wasn’t issued to me until June 2015.

I sent an email back to iDrive, asking if the fact that the account was still ‘active’ means that backups are being done every day, or has it just been sitting there, waiting patiently for the last 18 months. I haven’t heard back from them yet.

As a last ditch effort, I may just have to cancel the card and get a new one with a new number.

We were meeting Ed and Deb Hurlburt at a great local Chinese place, China Delight, at 4:30, but we headed out a little early to drop off some prescriptions at Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart before we met up.

Jan had the Beef with Orange Peel, while I, looking for something really spicy hot, went for the Chicken Volcano, Extra Spicy. But somewhere between the kitchen and our table, the Extra Spicy disappeared

And actually, the regular spicy went away also.

In fact, even the normally hot Chinese red peppers,

were mild enough to just munch on, without any noticeable heat. Our Hot & Sour Soup was actually hotter than my Chicken ‘Volcano’.

But regular blog readers will know I’m always packing heat.

No, not that kind.

This kind.

and with a few sprinkles of this, things warmed right up, ‘runny nose and top of my head sweating’ warm. Just perfect.

Dinner was great, as was the company.

And as is usual with RVer’s who haven’t seen each for awhile, after all it had been two whole weeks since we last had a meal together, this dinner took the usual three hours, before we all headed back to the park.

Tomorrow we’ll head back down to Clear Lake for Jan’s yearly former hospital coworker’s get-together at 6pm.

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March 3, 2018

Long Time No ‘V’ . . .

With another puppy-sitting gig on the schedule for this weekend, Jan and I were out the door by 11am, heading up to Brandi’s in Katy, about  90 minutes away. Brandi, Lowell, and Landon are spending the weekend with friends out in Colorado so we’re on dog-duty again, just like last weekend.

When we got there we let the dogs out and then brought all our stuff inside. Then with the dogs back in, we headed back out to have lunch at a long-time local favorite of ours, Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro.

We’ve been eating here for years since Brandi and Lowell introduced it to us. It doesn’t hurt that it’s only about 5 minutes away from both their old and their new houses.

The last time we ate here was back in October, and the time before that was the previous March, right before we left on our big out West trip. In between those two times, Tuen, the original owner had sold the place so we were anxious to check it out.

And as we left we all agreed that although it was really delicious, it wasn’t quite up to Tuen’s ownership. So Jan and I were interested in seeing what had happened in the last 6 months.

And things had changed, but for the good. They seemed to have taken the same dishes and improved them by putting their own spin on them. We started out with an order of the Pork Spring Rolls.

Last time we didn’t like that the wrapper was a lot chewy than before. But now the wrapper was perfect, and they had more of the crispy pork strips in them.

Jan went with her favorite Curry Chicken, which she said was as good as ever.

I of course got my usual Shaking Beef Vermicelli Bowl (still don’t know why the beef is shaking though.).

Last time, the beef, which was normally  melt-in-your-mouth tender, was pretty chewy. But the tenderness is back, and even better, it’s got bigger pieces of beef, and more of them.

And we always a dish of their homemade Soy Ginger Sauce. Really amazing flavor.

Neither one of us could finish our entrée’s, so we both had take-home containers. And because of that, we decided to bypass ordering our normal Crème Brûlée Spoons. But as it turned out, we didn’t have a choice.

When the young lady brought our check she also brought an order of two Crème Brûlée spoons. It seems they now include them with the meal, since we saw other tables getting them too. So it wasn’t just that we were special.

Tomorrow we’ll lounge around until about 6, then head home. Thinking about having dinner at the Plucker’s Chicken place down in Webster, but we’ll see.

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March 3, 2019

Chantelle Is Still Speaking To Me . . .

In one of those somewhat typical Texas winter days, after a low of 65 last night, the high for today was 66 . . . at 9am. Then the temp started dropping quickly into the low 50’s by noon.

Then tomorrow’s high is 50 with a 37 for tomorrow night. In Texas you can get Spring, Fall, Winter, and sometimes Summer, all in the same day. It’s always something.

But before it got too cold I went outside and crawled under the rig to see what was going to be involved in changing out the oil filter. And it looks like it won’t be a problem as far as actually reaching it and letting it down. Of course getting it up and back into place full of oil might be another story. But at least it’s not at the limit of my reach.

What I’ll probably do is that after I let the old one down and clean the base, I’ll first put the new one into place while it’s empty to see how easy it goes on and tightens down. Last thing I want to do is to cross-thread it.

Then I’ll fill it with oil and try it that way. So we’ll see how it goes.

After I completely changed our Paris/London travels plans . . . again, it looks like our travel agent, Chantelle Nugent, is still talking to me. After I called her yesterday morning to see about adding an extra day in Paris and an extra day in London, getting us home on Saturday, the 25th rather than Thursday the 23rd, I looked at it a bit more and we decided to add a second extra day in London. That would get us home on the 26th.

I think this about covers the changes that will need to be made.

Add Additional Day at Paris Hotel for Sunday, May 19th.

Change Private Transfer to Train Station in Paris to Monday, May 20th.

Change Paris to London Train Date to Monday, May 20th.

Change London Hotel Reservations to Monday, May 20th – Saturday 25th. adding two additional days total.

Change Total London Tour to Tuesday, May 21st or 23rd, 24th, or 25th.

Change Private Transfer to Heathrow to Sunday, May 26th.

Change Flight Home to Houston to Sunday, May 26th.

Hopefully the only increased cost will be 3 hotel nights.

Since we had breakfast for lunch yesterday at Snooze, today, of course, we had to have breakfast for dinner. At Denny’s this time. Then it was on over to the nearby Lowe’s for some longer bolts for my windshield wiper replacement.

After a PO stop for our mail, we got back to the park a little before 6pm, and found the rig’s parking (maker) lights on. I know they weren’t on when we left for Denny’s.

Since I had been fooling with some stuff near the dashboard, I thought maybe I had knocked them on accidentally, or maybe Karma the cat had done it.

Personally I blame the cat.

But when I checked they were not turned on, at least by the headlight switch. When I checked closer, I found that the front parking lights and the side marker lights were the on, including the roof ICC lights. But no tail lights at all.

And when I turned on the headlights, all the marker lights went out. Since it was getting dark, I decided to brute-force the solution by pulling some fuses. So after checking the chart, I first pulled the 20amp Marker Lights fuse. And lucked out because that killed the lights.

Another thing for the repair list, I guess.

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March 3, 2020

Reminiscing . . .

Recently I saw this headline from CNN News.

Apparently over 50% of Amsterdam’s tourists say they are visiting there to experience the many Cannabis Cafes, and the city thinks they’re are getting “over-touristed”.

Of course, you don’t really need to actually ‘visit’ a ganja café. Instead you can just walk down the street.

When we were strolling along a waterfront street near the Anne Frank House we saw a display basket of lollipops right out on the street. Jan said, “Why don’t we get Landon some souvenir candy to take home to him.”

I laughed and said, “Read a little closer.”

Yes, those are marijuana lollipops. In Strawberry, Blueberry, and Purple Haze flavors. Not sure I want to know Purple Haze tastes like. Maybe it’s what your vision looks like post-lollipop.

And just so you don’t forget you’re in Holland, those are tulip bulbs being sold right underneath the basket.

And if a lollipop is not your choice, you can try an cannabis ice cream cone.

And No, we didn’t buy any treats, nor did we visit a ‘café’.

In a way I’ve always prided myself that as someone from my generation, I’ve never smoked marijuana. And apparently that’s a rarity. Or at least if seemed that way to the U.S. government.

Over the years, between working for the DOD, and later NASA, I’ve had more security clearances than I can count, or remember. In fact some of them were so secret that I was never even told the name of it. Just that I was now cleared to work on something.

And a number of the early ones included lie detector tests.

But I had a lot of problems getting though some of them. Because I told the truth.

When I was asked, “Have you ever used marijuana, or any other illegal drugs?”, I answered, “No!”

And when he questioned my answer, I told him again that I had never smoked marijuana, but I had inhaled deeply at a few concerts.

He didn’t really see the humor in that. They actually thought I was cheating on the test somehow. I mean, everyone in college in the 60’s tried marijuana, right?

Somehow, they finally figured out I was just a weirdo and not lying to them. And luckily I guess it got entered into my record because it quit coming up.

And one of the times I ‘inhaled’ was actually with Jan. In early 1968 when she was about 6 months pregnant with our son Chris, we drove from Tuscaloosa over to Birmingham to attend a Beach Boys concert.

As we walked into the concert hall we could see a smoky haze hovering over the seats. I think Jan probably figured it was just from cigarettes, but as we got further into the hall, Jan sniffed around and said, “Why are they burning incense in here?”

Chuckling, I told my sweet little innocent wife that it wasn’t cigarettes, but marijuana smoke. Her eyes got real big and she said, “Really?”

And she was sound asleep within 20 minutes after the concert started.

I warned her not to inhale.

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March 3, 2021

And Now It’s Three . . . Again

Well, now that the Toilet Wars are over, it looks like I have a new project. Sometime in the last few days our front AC just quit AC’ing. But since it’s been in the 60’s in the daytime and the 40’s at night, it hadn’t gotten much use.

But I noticed a couple of days ago that it was a bit warm, and when I looked at the thermostat, the AC wasn’t coming on. So yesterday I checked the usual suspects.

I changed out the batteries and rebooted the thermostat. Then I checked the voltage at the circuit breaker, and double-checked my 30 amp bypass hookup. All with no problems found.

So tomorrow I’ll pull the thermostat off the wall and try to control the AC manually. If there’s nothing there, I’ll pull the cover off the ceiling unit and check the power coming in up there.

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March 3, 2022

Firestick TV . . .

Jan and I had lunch at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood for the first time in a good while. And although it was delicious, it was also kind of a comedy of errors.

Jan ordered her usual Side Salad, as well as Grilled Catfish along with the Grilled Veggies.

But as you can see, the catfish came Fried, not Grilled. Plus a large part of the Grilled Veggies was three big slices of Bell Pepper, which Jan doesn’t like. The Veggies have never had Bell Peppers in them before.

I started out with their version of the Wedge Salad, which along with Jan’s Side Salad, turned out to be the only correct orders we got.

And I told Jan it was probably the best Wedge Salad I’ve ever had. Really good.

Then, I had a bowl of their Shrimp Gumbo, or at least that’s what I ordered.

What I got was Seafood Gumbo instead.

Note the filé I asked for to add to the Roux.

The reason I like the Shrimp version better than the Seafood, is that all they added to make it Seafood is Crab Meat.

And a lot less Shrimp.

Now if they also added Oysters, it would be a different story.

Then, about the time I wanted a refill on my iced tea, Robby, our waiter, disappeared.

And didn’t show up for almost 20 minutes until we finally had to ask another waiter to find Robby so we could get our check.

And I never got my tea refill.

Then it was on over to Costco for a few things. I was happy to find that the La Crosse Weather Station I bought here a couple of weeks ago was now $20 more.

Several of our readers have asked about YouTubeTV that we use for streaming TV programs.

From 1998 until August 2020, we used DirecTV for our satellite TV service, first at our home, and then starting in 2008, in our RV. We started out using a Winegard foldup dish like this one.

This lasted until July 2011 when the plastic base finally wore out and started coming apart.

So I replace it with a Winegard Carryout like this.

The real advantage to this one was that it aimed itself. I would put it out when we got parked, and usually by the time I got back inside, I would have a picture on our TV.

The only disadvantage was that the Carryout could only receive SD (Standard Definition) video, and not HD (High Definition). Plus there was even talk of DTV discontinuing SD altogether.

This lasted until August 2020 when I finally got fed up with with DirecTV’s regular, excessive rate increases, and cancelled our service. It wasn’t my fault they were constantly losing money.

I had purchased an Amazon Firestick and we started using it to stream all our TV through it. Turns out the free WiFi here at the park is fine for streaming HD, and since they upgraded it a few months ago, we can stream 4K as well, though we don’t normally since it costs extra.

And though I can definitely tell the difference between SD and HD, it’s kind of toss-up between HD and 4K. The difference seems to have a lot to do with the program content.

But after I had switched over to streaming, I had to find a streaming service so we could watch live TV as well DVR programs. And after looking at the six possible choices,

Sling TV
DIRECTV STREAM
YouTube TV
Hulu with live TV
Philo
fuboTV

and after checking them all out, I chose YouTubeTV. At $70 a month, less than half of DTV latest price.

In addition to the 85 channels, including the local ones, it has unlimited DVR’ing of programs. Not only is that unlimited, you can also record as many programs at one time as you want. The only downside is that your recorded programs are only saved for 9 months. But we haven’t found that a problem.

The other neat thing is that if you tell YouTubeTV to start recording something like Law & Order, you will find all 20+ seasons of the program available to you.

To get YouTubeTV you just download the app to your SmartTV, Roku, Fire TV, or as in my case, a Firestick.

The Firestick is a small module about the size of a large pack of gum, and just plugs into your TV.

After we settled on YouTubeTV, we started adding additional streaming services, like AppleTV, Paramount+, Curiosity Stream, Discovery+, AcornTV, Peacock, and Disney+, all of which cost $5 or $6 a month. And then there are a bunch of other free streaming channels, like Crackle, Tubi, Vudu, PlutoTV, plain old YouTube, and a number of others. And even with all these, our cost is only about 60% of what we were paying DTV.

You just have to download the apps to your TV.

If anyone has any more questions, just leave me a comment.

Jan and I were out the door about noon heading up to Webster to have brunch at Snooze AM, one of our long-time favorites.

Jan always gets their Bravocado Toast,

while I got one of my several alternatives, this time their really good Shrimp & Grits.

Probably the best I’ve ever had, I think all due to the spices used.

And of course we split an order of their Bacon But Different. Made with Snooze Signature Bacon, rubbed with brown sugar, cayenne, chili flakes and drizzled with house-made Snooze Sriracha maple syrup.

Delicious!

Then we made a prescription pickup stop at Kroger before ending up at the WalMart on I-45 and El Dorado for some stuff, some of it stuff that our local WalMart doesn’t carry. And there are things that our local one has that this one doesn’t have.

What’s up with that???

Next it was right across the street to get gas at the Sam’s Club, for $2.66/gal, a new low for recently. Then it was on over to the dry cleaners to pick up a couple of things, before heading home.

PopShelf, originally scheduled for today, got put off till later.

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Thought For The Day:

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March 2, 2009

Hollywood Casino RV Park

We arrived here at the Hollywood Casino RV Park after a 390 mile, 9 1/2 hour drive, that included a lunch stop at Mulate’s.

Typically we try to hold our travel days under 300 miles. Since we keep our speed set at 55 mph, this means we normally travel about 5-6 hours. This lets us get set up at our next stop before dark, without having to get too early a start.

I mean, we’re retired. We try not to do ‘early’ anymore.

As usual, when we’re parked for several months, there’s always something that doesn’t want to work when we’re ready to hit the road.

In this case it was the retractable step under our door. It didn’t want to…retract, I mean.  A few swift kicks got it under control, but it goes on my list of things to double check when we next park for a while.

The park here is scenic and quiet. Jan is happy because it has cable TV, and I’m happy…well,  because Jan is happy. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “If Jan ain’t happy, Greg ain’t happy”, or something like that.

Words to live by, I say.

Our Temporary Home

My kind of park. Easy in, easy out, with wide pads.

Nice Park!

As part of our stay here, we each received a $25 Player card for use in the Casino. Somehow I got 2 cards instead of 1, but they’ll probably get it all back anyway.

The restaurants here are really good, better and cheaper than L’Auberge du Lac in Lake Charles or casinos we ate at in Las Vegas.

Tomorrow, after we lose the last of our ‘freebie’  player cards, we head out for Gulf Shores, AL for a week or so stay.

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March 2, 2010

Last Day in Paradi…uh…Gila Bend…

Today is our last full day in Gila Bend, AZ.

And it was another work-around-the-coach day. And, as usual, everything took longer than I expected.

I started out  trying to finish up my earlier repairs on the water bay in the rig, but, although everything is working OK, I was unable to get one of the panels back in place.

At this point I can only believe that the panel was put in place and then the coach built around it.

At least,that’s my story and  I’m sticking with it.

My second task was to start going thru the bins in the basement, sorting stuff into ‘Keep” and ‘Throw Away’ piles, and then consolidating similar stuff.

I did make a start on this, but basically ran out of time.  There’s always another day, or another park.

We really like this little park. It’s nice, quiet, and cheap. It’s our kind of threefer, especially the ‘cheap’ part.

And it’s pretty scenic too.

Maybe it’s not quite as nice as Voyager RV in Tucson,

But then Voyager costs over 5 times as much per day. $10 vs. $53.

One thing that seems strange to find out here in the desert is a…

Shrimp Farm!

The Desert Sweet Shrimp Company

So when we were here two years ago, we weren’t surprised to find that a local Mexican restaurant called Sofia’s.

Sofia’s sells a Shrimp Burrito that Jan says is to die for. So we figured that they got their great shrimp from the local shrimp farm. But when I asked I was quickly told that the shrimp farm shrimp had no taste, and they didn’t use them.

Who knew?

Tomorrow we have about a two hour drive to Yuma to get set up for the rally that starts next week.  But before we leave tomorrow I want to weigh our coach at the truck scales here at the nearby truck stop.

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March 2, 2011

Date Trees and Christmas Trees . . .

Just to recap yesterday. . .

Today started out with me dropping off Jan at Wal-Mart to get her cute little toesies done. Before they were bright blue, and now they’re bright pink.

While Jan was busy with her toes, I headed back out to the Fortuna area to check out several more places, including the DQ that gave us gift cards last year.

Getting back to the Wal-Mart about noon, I picked up Jan and we headed across the parking lot for lunch at the Der Wienerschnitzel, a hot dog chain that we enjoy. While we were there I noticed that they had Tastee Freez ice cream products.

I asked the manager who bought who, as I was curious since my father and I owned a Tastee Freez in Greeneville, TN back in the early 70’s. For those who aren’t familiar with them, they’re like a full menu Dairy Queen. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and pressure-fried chicken just KFC, and, of course, ice cream.

Although Der Wienerschnitzel bought Tastee Freez, they both carry each others products. DW’s have TF ice cream and TF’s have DW’s hot dogs.

After lunch we went next door to Barney’s to fill up for our trip to Gila Bend this afternoon. And since it was convenient, I also got a car wash. According the sign on the pump, a Deluxe Car Wash was $7, or $6 with 8 gallons or more of fuel. I put in about 14 gallons so I was surprised to find that I was charged $7 for the car wash on my credit card. So cheap me, I went inside to get my dollar back.

Hey, it’s a whole dollar!

The counter lady seemed kind of miffed that I was even asking. I just wonder how many people don’t notice the extra charge.

Hey, it’s a whole dollar!

Getting back to the rig, we both took a nap before we headed out about 3pm toward Gila Bend for my Elk’s Lodge initiation.

On the way we did make a couple of stops in Fortuna again to pick up some more gift certificates from Applebee’s and Tiki-Hut.

Then, soon after leaving Fortuna, Jan talked to both our son Chris and our daughter Brandi, catching up on Piper and Landon.

About an hour out of Yuma we encountered this Christmas tree in the median between the lanes. Don’t know who did it or why, but it is kind of neat.

It even has two of Jan’s favorite animal hanging from the limbs.

About 50 miles out of Gila Bend, we made a pit stop at Dateland, obviously named for the many date palms plantations in the area.

The place had a very nice gift shop where Jan found a bracelet she really liked, and we had to try a date shake from the ice cream shop. It was good but I’m not sure I could have recognized it as date-flavored if I hadn’t already known what it was.

I thought it was a nice touch that they had kennels for your pets with shade and water misters to keep them cool while you’re inside. Not really needed today, but probably a good idea when it’s 120 degrees in the summer.

I also saw this marker at the entrance to the store telling about the crash of a B-50 bomber on a training flight nearby in March, 1950. The “Long Ranger” as the plane was known, apparently blew up in mid-air after an engine caught fire. Only two of the crew of 14 survived by being blown clear in the explosion.

The B-50 was the last of the piston-powered bombers built after WWII, and was basically a souped-up, highly-modified B-29, but with so many changes that they gave it a new designation.

Getting into Gila Bend a little after 5pm, we stopped off at Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park to check it out. While we were there I saw this satellite dish with a really nice paint job. Wonder where I could get mine painted.

I had been told to be at the Elk’s Lodge at 5:30 and that they would start about 6pm.

Yeah, right!

They finally got started about 7:45 and the initiation was over in about 20 minutes. The part with the donkey wasn’t too bad, but I wasn’t too crazy about the thing with the goat in a dress!

I hope that the cheap RV parking was worth it.

They had a total of 10 people going through the initiation, including two women. And half of us were RV’ers.

After the initiation was over, we were stuck in a routine board meeting, with really interesting stuff like the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, and the detailing of the Treasurer’s report.

And poor Jan was waiting out in the car all this time.

Finally, a little after 8:30 we were released and Jan and I headed down to Sofia’s Mexican Food for dinner before heading home. Jan had her usual Shrimp Burrito and I had my usual Carnita Dinner. And of course, delicious as usual.

We finally got home a little after 11pm, and I was just too tired to do the blog.

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This morning started off with our usual coffee and an unusual email.

It was from John Anstey, the manager of the Anchor Inn we stayed at in Twillingate, Newfoundland in September 2009.

In fact I had recently reposted our trip there about a month ago. You can check it out here.

http://ourrvadventures.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/mermaids-and-moose/

He remembered us and just wanted to check in and say Hi. Nice man.

Then a little later our daughter Brandi to check in and see if I had survived my Elk’s initiation. I didn’t tell her about the part with the goat. It’s too embarrassing. I can probably never eat cabrito again.

About 2:30 Jan and I headed out to beg for more door prizes, and had good luck at Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and several others. The last place we stopped was Kneader’s Bakery where we dropped off a door prize request, and also bought two Pumpkin Spice Muffin Tops.

Finally on our way home, we stopped off at Sam’s Club for a couple of things, getting home about 4.

So Tom, Barb, Jan, and I headed off to IHOP for dinner. And even better, they were having a Buy one dinner, Get one free special for Seniors. Wheee! Cheap Food!

After spending almost two hours at IHOP, we were ready for dessert so we adjourned the meeting to a nearby DQ for another hour and a half or so.

Can we talk, or what?

Finally got back to the rig a little before 10pm. Counting dessert it was a 4 and a half hour meal. I think that’s a new record.

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March 2, 2012

Dust Storms and Seminars . . .

This morning started out with hot coffee and high winds, with a lot of sand and dust tagging along.

At times, it was hard to see the rig right in front of us.

I spent some time working on my seminars for next week’s rally. And I got talked into doing 4 different ones this time.

The first two, “10 Things to Never Do with Your Computer”, and “Do’s and Don’ts of Computer Security”, I’ve done before, both here and in Celina, OH.

But this time I’m doing two more, “10 Things Every RV’er Needs”, and “Computer Q&A”.

The first is a demonstration of 10 things I think every RV’er should have for their safety and convenience. The second one came about because one of the most popular parts of my other two computer seminars is where the audience gets to ask questions about problems they may be having. So I decided to just do an entire seminar of questions and hopefully, answers.

At about 1pm I headed back over to the Good Sam’s Rally vendor area before making one last door prize pass.

Today was mostly going by and picking up prizes that were promised for today, i.e. Cracker Barrel, Westwind RV Resort, Big O Tires, Log Cabin Quilts, etc. I’ve still got a few more places that are supposed to call me this weekend, and that will wrap things up.

Then a little while after I got back to the rig, we headed out for dinner at Las Herraduras, (The Horseshoes) the Mexican restaurant we’d eaten at on Wednesday, and this time the Gang of Six had become the Gang of Eight with the addition of Mike and Elaine Loscher, who had just arrived this afternoon.

Again we had another great meal at Las Herraduras. And Tom and Barb, and Mike and Elaine all agreed with us.

We’ll be back.

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March 2, 2013

It’s Delightful . . .

is what Jan said today was like, just sitting around enjoying the RV life, and pretty much doing nothing.

Later in the afternoon I did cross off some small items on my To-Do list. Wouldn’t want to get out of practice.

I did spend some time this afternoon looking at the problem with my toad taillights while I’m towing. They were working when I hooked up at Canyon Lake, but they weren’t working when we got to here at Lakehills. My U-Haul brand taillight converter has LED’s on the output connector, and although the rig lights were working, the LED lights showed no output from the converter. So it seemed like there was a problem with the converter.

But today when I turned my headlights and emergency flashers on and went out to check I found the converter working fine. Although I can’t find the manual for the converter, it seems like I remember that this one has a short circuit shutdown mode, so that may be what’s happening.

So now I guess I’ll have to go back and check out my toad lights again.

It’s always something.

For dinner, I once again fixed us Ground Beef Taco Salads just like we had last night. It was good enough to have two nights in a row and we wanted to use up the last of the lettuce mix.

After dinner we sat outside and watched the deer come running after Jan put out the last of the feed. Guess we’re due for another trip to the feed store. Just need to find one around here.

Since we didn’t satisfy our steak craving the other night, tomorrow we’re going to drive into San Antonio, about 50 miles away, do some shopping and then eat at the Magic Time Machine, probably our favorite San Antonio restaurant.

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March 2, 2014

Surf’s Up !

Well, it never really got below 70 degrees last night, but boy, did it change today. I was outside for a while this afternoon talking to our new neighbor, Gregg McHenry, for a while as the front came through. First it started misting for a while, enough to make us go back inside. When I came in the temperature was still 75 degrees, but that didn’t last long.

Within about 15 minutes the temp was down to 69, and then 20 minutes later it was 57 degrees. Then by the time we went over to Janice and Dave Evans’, it was down to 42. And by 6pm it was 32 degrees.

When I went to bed last night, the low tonight was supposed to be 32. When I got up this morning they were calling for 31 degrees. But by noon they had dropped it to 25 degrees. So who knows how far it will actually drop tonight.

I had hoped to be able to work outside today, going through some of the outside bins, but the weather took care of that. I was, however, able to go through more stuff inside and got one of the big bins emptied and moved outside, so some progress. anyway.

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Ever go surfing? Well, YouTube surfing, anyway. Jan and I often find ourselves watching a YouTube video, usually starting on Facebook, and then move onto another one, based on the suggestions on the right hand side. And then so on, and so on.

So we can start with NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon making a Jalopnik blog writer scream like a little girl,

and end watching the 2 Cellos rock out on ACDC’s Thunderstruck. They’re both great.

You never know where you’ll end up.

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March 2, 2015

I Should Have Listened to Randy . . .

Somehow we got an early start this morning, so we pulled out a little after 8:30 and got hitched up before leaving the park. Our friend Randy was just a little behind us as we headed out.

I was happy to find that our air system and levelers came right up this morning with no delay. I guess after yesterday it didn’t need to purge again.

Our first stop was about 5 miles down on US 71 BUS at the Colorado Oil Co.

When we spent December and January moving back and forth between here and Lake Conroe, Colorado Oil Co. was by far the cheapest place for diesel. So I expected the same this time. But our friend Randy said he had heard that the Buc-ee’s in Luling had the cheapest diesel around so he was going to check them out.

We were finished taking on diesel at $2.59 a gallon and were back on the road by about 9:30 with our first stop the Buc-ee’s about 70 miles west. We always stop here for coffee and kolaches whether we’re going east or west. There’s plenty of room to park the rig, and it’s easy in, easy out.

Since it was still the 40’s, Jan went on in while I locked the rig and the toad. As I was walking in, I noticed Randy pulling in and up to the fuel pumps. So after finding Jan inside, I went out to say ‘HI’ to Randy.

And I wish I hadn’t. I wish I listened to Randy.

The diesel at Buc-ee’s was $2.44, 15 cents a gallon cheaper than Colorado County, and it was right on the way. Strangely, the Love’s right across the Interstate was $2.90 a gallon, a even bigger difference.

Bummer!

Our trip was smooth, but mostly shrouded in a light fog that misted the windshield, but really didn’t cause any driving problems.

We pulled into the Junction – North Llano River RV Park in Junction about 3pm, and were quickly led to our site, the same site we were in two years ago, the last time we stayed here.

This is a really nice park, with a lot of space between the sites, and a lot of amenities like these gazebos.

Rather than going out, Jan heated up some of the Rudy’s BBQ that we picked up before we left the Clear Lake area. As usually, delicious.

As I mentioned the other day, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon are on a week-long ski trip out in Steamboat Springs, CO. They’ve got a great view from their room.

And it looks like Landon’s having a great time, too.

Tomorrow we’re going to have an early breakfast at Isaack’s Restaurant, listed as one of the top diners in Texas. We’ve eat here several times and it’s always delicious.

Then we’ve got a 320 mile day out to Van Horn for the night.

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March 2, 2016

Finally Fixed!

About noon I drove into Columbus to pick up some parts to extend my washer drain hose at the hardware store. I could have just bought a conventional drain hose for $12, but then I would have just had to cut it down from 5 feet to 18 inches, a big waste, and I’m cheap.

So I bought a 24” piece of vinyl tubing for $1.20 and a 1/2” x 2” threaded nipple for $.87, and it fit perfectly, screwing right in to the tubing,

Then the other end screwed right into the original drain hose making a nice, tight fit.

And now I was ready to go. But since it was now after 3pm and we going to be going out in a while, I decided to wait on the actual install until after we got back, so the path to the bathroom wouldn’t be blocked.

About 4:15 we headed into Columbus to meet up with Jim and Peri Dean for dinner at Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant. And as usually seems to happen with RV’ers, between the good food and conversation, it ended up being another 3 hour meal.

In fact, it was all so good that we decided to do it again tomorrow night. But this time at Sealand Seafood up in La Grange. Really looking forward to it.

After we got back to the rig, I started in on re-installing the washer back into the cabinet. But first  there’s the prep work getting everything hooked up.

First up, I inserted the drain hose into the drain pipe and used a big gob of plumber’s putty around the opening to seal it in place. Then I inserted a long rod into the dryer vent hose and out thru the outside vent.

Then I hooked up the water hoses to the washer. At this point, be sure you don’t forget to turn the water valves back before you put the washer back in the cabinet. (don’t ask how I know this).

The string is tied to  the drain hose and keeps it up and out of the way so it doesn’t get crimped as I pushed the washer in the cabinet.

Now I fastened the vent hose to the washer. The only way to do this is to use Gorilla Tape since the hose goes inside the connector and not outside where I could use a clamp.

Note that the rod still extends outside so that the hose can be pulled through.

Then it’s just a matter of getting the washer started in the opening and then slide it in, inch by inch, back and forth.

Once I got it flush in the cabinet, I first ran an empty load to be sure it was all working OK, and then started a small load for real.

So far it’s working great with no problems. In fact a couple of other problems seem to be fixed as well.

The dryer was making a funny noise, and it’s not any more. And the clothes are now drier at the end on the final spin cycle, so they dry faster. I think this is because the new pump is removing more water during the spin/drain cycle than the old dying pump was.

Tomorrow I’ll finish up by putting the cabinet doors back on, and connecting up the outside dryer vent deflector. Then it will be finally done.

And now it’s on to my oil leak problem.

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March 2, 2017

Missed It By That Much . . .

Today was my first day to sleep in a bit, but I still was up at 10 because I had a lot of chores to work through on my list. After coffee,  I took care of some inside stuff before heading outside to see if I was going to able to change out the fuel filters myself.

As I mentioned yesterday, I changed this filter myself back in 2009 when we were up in Vermont. You can read about it here.

https://ourrvadventures.com/2009/08/14/

https://ourrvadventures.com/2009/08/15/

https://ourrvadventures.com/2009/08/16/

https://ourrvadventures.com/2009/08/17/

https://ourrvadventures.com/2009/08/18/

But as I also mentioned yesterday, I did that on 2009 knees.

The coarse filter is easy to get to at the rear of the coach.

However the one I really need to change out is an entirely different story.

It’s just inside the frame rail and blocked by the exhaust pipe.

It wouldn’t be a problem if it were not for the pipe, but as it is I have to crawl underneath and then try to come up between the frame rail and the pipe. Well, after crawling under there I quickly discovered that my 2017 knees won’t do this anymore. I almost made it, but not quite.

In a emergency I could probably do it if I put the rig all the way up on the rear levelers, but then I’d have to wait for the exhaust pipe to cool down. But it’s not worth doing this with the RV Mobile Lube guy coming tomorrow morning.

Here’s the blog of my last RV Mobile Lube service in 2015.

https://ourrvadventures.com/2015/02/12/

While I was out and about this afternoon taking care of some prescriptions, I got a call from Maria at Guard 1 wanting to know if we were available for gate guarding. When I told her we had just come off a gate and wouldn’t be available again until the end of August, she quickly asked me if I knew anyone who wanted to gate guard.

So if you’re looking for a gate, call Maria at (713) 337-4300. I guess this is reflected in the US rig count we saw this past week, which was up 25 rigs just in the last two weeks.

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March 2, 2018

I’ll Have a #6 . . .

Today at work was spent stomping out a series of small buy irritating problems, some new, and some that had been hanging around for a while.

Heading back out to dinner, we once again passed this tree trunk carving so I thought I’d get a photo of it.

Very nicely done.

And right next door to this a new small RV park is going in, with about 10 sites.  They’ve still got one or more pads to lay so we’ll see how it goes.

Getting to Floyd’s a little before 5pm, we both ordered our usual. In fact it’s so ‘usual’ for us they should just make a menu item just for us. That way we could just order a ‘#6’.

And ordering a #6 would get us a dozen raw oysters for us both,

2 Grilled Catfish Fillets with a side of Grilled Steamed Veggies for Jan,

and a bowl of Shrimp Gumbo, and also a side of the Grilled Steamed Veggies for me too.

Coming home we detoured by the nearby Kroger to get some Mega Millions and PowerBall lottery tickets. Tonight’s MM is at $243 Million, and tomorrow’s night PB is at $321 Million.

Worth risking a few bucks. You can’t win if you don’t play.

By the time we got back to Santa Fe tonight it was dark enough to see how well my new LED headlights work. I really like the ‘white’ light they put out. Really lights things up.

Tomorrow morning sometime we’re heading up to Brandi’s to pet-sit once again, but this time only for Saturday and Sunday.

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March 2, 2019

A Change In Our Change Of Plans?

I got an email this morning reminding me that the final payment is due in two weeks for the Paris/London part of our upcoming trip. But as I was carefully looking over our itinerary, I noticed something.

I guess I didn’t make myself clear, but when I originally told Chantelle Nugent, our travel agent, that I wanted 4 days in Paris and 4 days in London. In my mind I was thinking that I was getting 4 full days in each. But due to the travel days on each end of each city, we only would have 3 days in each, and not 4.

So I put in a call to Chantelle to see if we could add a day in each city, and how much it would cost. It seems to me that, unless there are charges for changing the train reservations, limo rides, etc., the only increased cost should be the extra stays in the hotels.

This means that we would return to Houston on Saturday, May the 25th rather than Thursday the 23rd. But as Jan and I were talking about this while I was writing this blog, we decided that if we’re going to add two more days, why not add three, and come home on Sunday the 26th, after adding an additional, additional day in London.

Chantelle may not be speaking to me anymore. We’ll see.

We met Miss Piper at Snooze AM about 1pm, but though it was planned that she and Jan were supposed to go get Mani-Pedi’s, she had to beg off that since she was expecting a repair guy to come by her apartment later in the afternoon to fix a leak in her kitchen ceiling.

Turns out that they were doing some renovations in the apartment upstairs after the latest renter moved out, and started a leak that began pooling in the large fluorescent light fixture over her sink. Not good.

So we made plans to meet again next Saturday, though next time at Cheddar’s at 11pm. Then they’ll try the Mani-Pedi thing again then.

We did some news about Piper’s educational plans, though. She’s decided that she wants to stay in the psychiatric end of the medical field. She’s been working for a psychiatrist office as she’s finishing up her B.A, and has decided to concentrate her upcoming graduate studies in that direction. In fact, the office where she works has offered her a preceptorship in psychiatric nursing there.

In case you’re wondering, a preceptorship is an mentoring experience where a practicing physician gives personal instruction and training to a medical student during their medical school training..

So this meant that Jan would be coming with me to my client’s to install the new Brother 2840 Fax machine.

But that didn’t go as planned either, since it appeared to be defective out of the box. I had already cleared all sealing strips hidden inside and out, as well as adding paper, and removing and shaking the toner/drum combination as instructed.

So all I expected to have to do today was to put power to it  and program it with our name and phone number. But when I powered it up I got a PRINT UNABLE D1 message. Just to see if it made any difference I went ahead and programmed all our info into it, but with no change.

According to the manual, a PRINT UNABLE D1 error is a mechanical error, and the only supposed fix is to power the unit off for 10 seconds, then power it back on and let it sit for 15 minutes. And then power it off and back on again.

And if that didn’t fix it, “It’s Dead, Jim.” And to call the company about sending it back.

So that’s for Monday, I guess.

I now have a date to hopefully have our rig oil leak fixed by, The whole family is hoping to meet up at Chris and Linda’s place up in Kingsland for the weekend of April 5th. So I’ve got about a month to get the problem resolved. Of course, if we don’t get it fixed in time Jan and I will just drive up in the truck and stay in a motel. But I really would like to use it as a good test drive for the repair.

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March 2, 2020

Angry Management Gone Wrong . . .

Back around the first part of February, I posted a blog called Before Its Time – This Was A Peloton Before There Was A Peloton.

At the end of that blog I mentioned the rest of that story, involving a hammer, a brutal murder, a psychotic doctor, and 25 years in prison.

I started working with Dr. Patrick Doyle in the late 80’s working on a number of computer-related projects out of his psychology office. At the time I was doing a lot of computer consulting utilizing Commodore computers, both the Commodore 64 and the newer, much more powerful Commodore Amiga.

I had started out writing software to allow the Amiga to control and record data from his Biofeedback machines. But my big project for his office was to build a machine to grade his Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) tests that he gave to patients. At the time,the testing service was selling a grading machine for about $6000, and this was in 1987 dollars.

These tests ran between 400 to almost 600 questions and were a real pain to grade by hand, you know, those tests where you use a #2 pencil to fill in the little bubbles. But after thinking it over for a while I came up with an idea.

I tore apart an old Epson dot-matrix printer, removing the printhead and replacing it with a photocell. Then I wrote a program in Assembler to move the photocell back and forth. stopping at each bubble to record light or dark at each position. Then it moves down one line and does it again.

By placing the test in the sheet feeder, it could grade a test in a just of minutes. I charged him $1000 plus the cost of the printer, which I believe was $200 or so, which he was happy with.

But during all my work with Dr. Doyle, I always thought it was strange that a person who specialized in Angry/Stress Management, among other things, would get so mad about some little thing that he would have to go off into a corner and mumble to himself for 10 minutes or so until he calmed down. And I saw this over and over, even when we were working together at NASA a couple of years later.

10 years or so later, I was WebMaster for the School of Business at University of Houston-Clear Lake, where Dr. Doyle had been an Associate Professor for about 15 years or so. So it was not surprising that I would occasionally run into him in the hallways.

And in a way I was not really surprised in 2001 when another professor, who knew I knew Dr. Doyle, ask me if I had heard the news about him. When I said, “No”, he told me that Dr. Doyle had been arrested for a brutal murder up in Kentucky.

He had been visiting his mother in Bowling Green, got into an argument with his new stepfather, and beat him to death with a hammer.

UHCL Professor Held in Kentucky for Slaying

It wasn’t until 2 years later that he pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Doyle enters plea in murder trial

He had been diagnosed as ‘vastly psychotic and suffering from several brain diseases”, and was considered a suicide risk.

And according to this, it looks like he could be getting out in a couple of years.

Offender Information

Guess I should be relieved that I never made him really mad.

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March 2, 2021

And Now It’s Three . . .

Jan and I left the rig about 1pm first for lunch at our favorite Los Ramirez Mexican. And as usual, it was our usual usual.

Jan’s Pechuga Rellena, a grilled chicken breast with shrimp and broccoli,

and my Beef Fajita Taco Salad.

Then it was on down to Extra Space Storage to drop off some stuff at our storage room that we’ll come back and sort through later.

Jan has been wanting a new handbag so after our storage shed sortie we drove on down to the Tanger Outlet Mall to check out the Vera Bradley store. We were last here back in September 2018 when Jan was looking for some new things for our upcoming European trip.

She ended up with a couple of travel things, and these two handbags.

But as it turned out, the bag on the left was too big for daily use, and the one on the right, the one she uses now, was too small.

But now, apparently this one new one is just right.

And buying at their outlet store, we got a $89 degree bag for $31.15.

And Vera Bradley, the brand that coordinates everything, also had matching masks in stock.

Then it was on back up to the HEB for a couple of things before we headed home.

While we were at the storage room we loaded up our handtruck to bring home so that tomorrow we can roll the box with the old toilet in it down to the park dumpster. Of course getting it up and over the rim may be fun.

Today Jan came across a recipe posted on Facebook, purporting to be for Cornbread.

I say, ‘purporting’ because it called for 1 cup of Corn Meal and I cup of Flour. And even worse, 2/3 cup of Sugar.

And here was her response.

Sorry, but my husband says that if it has flour in it, it ISN”T cornbread. At least not in Alabama.

With that much flour and sugar, it’s not Cornbread, it’s just Corn Cake.

Here’s his grandmother’s recipe from back in the 1920’s.

2 cups Corn Meal – Coarse Stone Ground
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/2 cup Powdered Milk

Add water (about 1-3/4 cups) until liquid consistency.

Add 1 Egg and beat in.

Bake in 450° oven until set.
Turn on broiler until brown. Watch carefully.
Best done in a cast-iron skillet using about a tsp of bacon grease. Or Wesson Oil.

Since refrigeration was spotty back in that time, they didn’t always have fresh milk, but Powdered Milk was always on hand.

And you only want enough sugar to make the top brown up under the broiler.

Cornbread should not be SWEET!

And don’t have any bacon grease on hand? Well now you can buy it on Amazon.

Bacon Up Bacon Grease

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March 2, 2022

Beans or No Beans ?

In last night’s blog I talked about how the list of the 18 oldest restaurants in the US started all sorts of arguments about restaurants some people thought were older. Of course that’s not the only thing people argue about.

Point in fact:
Aggies or Longhorns
Alabama or Auburn

and important to Texans –
Beans or No Beans

Personally I think it’s probably what you grew up eating. In my case, in Alabama, chili had beans in it. If it didn’t have beans in it, it wasn’t really chili, more like hot dog sauce.

Chili is supposed to have beans. It says it right there on the can – Chili Beans. Where else would you put them?

Why is there any confusion?

Another example is that in some places in Louisiana when you order a bowl of gumbo, it comes with a scoop of potato salad that you’re suppose to plop in the middle of the gumbo. Other areas never heard of this.

On the subject of chili again, in the Cincinnati area another argument is Skyline or Gold Star. Though not chili in the Texas way, it’s really popular in Oho, Indiana, Kentucky, and even Florida. Skyline Chili has been around since 1949, a few years before Gold Star. And with over 160 locations, it’s the larger of the two chains.

The biggest difference with Cincinnati chili is that it has chocolate in it, not a lot, but just enough to have to give it that special taste.

The other difference is that Cincinnati chili is normally served over spaghetti, like this.

Cincinnati chili is rated in ‘Ways’. Above is Chili 5 Ways.
Spaghetti
Cincinnati Chili
Cheese
Beans
Onions

While Chili 3 Ways is:
Spaghetti
Cincinnati Chili
Cheese

And 4 Ways is with either Beans or Onions.

There is the fabled ‘6 Ways’ that’s kind of undefined. It could be sausage or cut-up hot dogs on top, or anything else you might want.

If you want to check it out for yourself, Kroger sells cans of Skyline Chili.

I mentioned the two new additions to Jan’s Flamingo Flamboyance, and we finally got them put in place the other day.

They’re the two big red ones in front.

And I think that’s about it. There’s almost no room to put any more.