Our RV Adventures

Ouch!

We were out the rig door by 7am this morning heading up to Friendswood for our yearly checkups with our GP. We always get early appointments since we usually get in and out faster. And it worked this morning.

And so far all the results were good. My BP was 121/68, my HR was 74, and the doctor was happy to see that I’m down about 25#. And Jan’s results were good also.

And we were done and on our way by about 9:15. But our first stop before lunch was at a nearby Quest Diagnostics so Jan could get stuck again.

Yes, that’s two sticks in just a couple of hours for Jan.

And needles and blood were why she decided not to be an R.N. and went into Medical Records instead. So she was not a happy girl.

This 2nd draw was for her endocrinologist’s. Now you would think that these doctors would be able to trade lab test results, but apparently not.

But then after a quick stop at the bank, we were on our way over to our lunch destination, Grimaldi’s Pizzeria. A place we’d been looking forward to for after our Doctor’s appointments.

And it didn’t hurt that since we had to fast for our lab work, we hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon. So when the Spinach Salad arrived we pretty much attacked it.

And we didn’t slow down much when our pizza arrived, either.

The 18” Don, with Italian Sausage, Meatballs, and Pepperoni, to which we add Bacon, Mushrooms, and Jalapenos.

Yummm!

And we had plenty to take home for later. Then it was on up to the WalMart for this week’s WalMart stuff, finishing up with getting gas at the Sam’s Club for $2.99/gallon before heading home.

But of course, since we didn’t have coffee this morning, we made a Cowboy Coffee stop for Cold, Blended Sugar-Free Hazelnut Lattes.

The perfect end to what turned out to be a nice day.

Just when you think Winter has faded away and spring has sprung, we’ve got a week of cloudy, rainy days in the 60’s and night’s in the 50’s. Of course we’ll look back on it fondly with it’s 99° in July.

We’re just never satisfied.

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Thought for the Day:

Sarcasm. Just another of the many services I offer to the public.

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April 6, 2010

A Take-It-Easy Day Redux…

We hung around the rig all day today just pretty much doing nothing. I worked on some things around the rig and Jan read.

Later in the afternoon it was nap time.

Retirement is hard work.

We left the rig around 4:30 pm to have the buffet supper at the Boulder Station Casino right down the street. We had finally accumulated enough points to get one of the meals free.

Of course, that ‘”free meal” only cost us about $50 in slot machine losses.

And of course, Jan had to run one last $5 bill through the slots.

After stopping off at the bank to get some cash, it was home for night.

We’re still trying to firm up our plans on where we’re going in the next few days.

We’ll let you know.

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April 6, 2011

I was right the first time . . .

In yesterday’s blog I posed the question to our readers about what this bird is. When I first took the picture I thought it was a Great Blue Heron, mainly due to the size. He was pretty far away so I could only really see it in the tiny viewfinder.

However when I got back home, I had second thoughts about it. The bird didn’t look like the other Great Blues I had seen before, mostly at Galveston Bay RV Park in the Houston area where we spend the winter holidays.

I began to think maybe it was a crane of some sort, either a whooping crane, or a sandhill crane. But both of them have a red patch on the top of their heads. So I threw the question out to our readers.

And two of them came through, saying I was right the first time. Judy Bell of Travels with Emma (Jan’s favorite blog) and Ron Olsen said it was a Great Blue.

So I went back and looked at the approximately 20 photos I had taken of Great Blues in TX. And in doing so, I saw the problem. In all the photos I took, none of them showed the Heron with his neck extended like that. In fact the bird guides we have all show the Great Blues as shown below, and the cranes with their necks extended.

Anyway, now that that’s settled, back to this morning, which for me started about 10:30 with a big pot of hot coffee. Today’s flavor was Entenmann’s Ultimate Cinnamon Crumb Cake, one of our favorite flavors.

I was beginning to worry because we’re almost out, and I haven’t been able to find it since we left Houston. But I discovered Amazon sells it and I now have some on the way.

Our daughter Brandi called about noon, saying she was sending over some new photos of Master Landon for our viewing pleasure. She also send some videos of him at the park earlier in the day. I’ll get those posted on YouTube a little later.

Later Jan fixed us a lunch from the leftover BBQ from Hog Wild BBQ a few days ago. Still really good.

Later in the day Brandi sent over these pics of Landon showing off his new spring chapeau.

Around 5:30 Jan, and I headed out for dinner at La Fonda, a Mexican place right down the road from here on the way to Camp Verde. We had heard good things about this place and they were not wrong.

We all agreed this was as good as Sofia’s Mexican Food in Gila Bend.  Everything was seasoned perfectly, and our server, Missy, was excellent. We said that this is one place we’ll go back before we leave.

After dinner we drove thru the nearby Western Horizons – Camp Verde park, just to get a look around. Nice park with a lot of trees, but maybe not as picturesque as our TT park.

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April 6, 2012

Hurry Up and Wait . . .

I was up about 7 this morning so we could have coffee before I tracked down the Gate Guard Services people.

About 7:55 I walked over to the office and found Jamie, the local supervisor, outside in his truck. After talking for a few minutes he directed me into the office to talk with Lori. Lori gave me the phone number of Patty at the main office in Corpus Christi.

Coming back to the rig, I then called Patty . . . and got Lori again. She laughed and said she forgot to tell me that until the Corpus office opens at 9, all calls are routed to the office here at Whitsett.

When we got here yesterday, Terry, the guy who got us settled in, said things had changed and we would have to drive the 90 miles down to Corpus Christi to complete our paperwork and fingerprint cards, and take our Level II Security Guard Test. I was hoping to be able to do that today once we talked to Patty. But that did not work out.

Lori called me about 8:30 and said Patty had told her to go ahead and give us the paperwork to fill out and fingerprint cards to bring with us. She also said that the Corpus office was closing at noon for Good Friday, and they were now handling new hires on Tuesday and Thursday.

So we were in a holding pattern until Tuesday.

I wanted to do what we could to expedite things, and when I ask Lori if we could go ahead and get our fingerprint cards done up here, she said the only place around was over at the Sheriff’s Department in Floresville, about 45 miles northeast of here.

So, after calling the Sheriff’s Office to double-check, Jan and I headed out about 2pm, first to Floresville, and then into San Antonio for dinner and some shopping.

The fingerprint cards only took about 15 minutes and then we were on our way. As far as Floresville, I’m not sure what was going on, but they seemed to be having their own diesel gas war there. Most stations in the San Antonio area have diesel for $4.05 to $4.10, or even $4.15, with a few places at $3.99,

But the HEB station in Floresville was selling diesel for $3.55, and the Wal-Mart had it for $3.57. WOW!

They even had semi trucks in line. As far as I’m concerned though, the 90 mile round trip would probably eat up any savings on the price.

Bummer!

For dinner we wanted to eat at the Magic Time Machine on the north 410 Loop. It’s probably been 30 years since we’ve eaten here, and we were glad to find it still open. We’ve also eaten at the one in Dallas, and the one that used to be in Austin before it closed.

The concept is kind of unique. The wait staff are dressed up as characters from movies, television, and literature.

The place is a warren of little nooks and crannies, a maze of alcoves, hidden rooms, and cul-de-sacs. You can very quickly end up going in circles.

In fact it’s easy to get lost, and almost impossible to find the restrooms without help. But when you ask a waiter or waitress for help, they grab you by the hand and lead you back and forth through the restaurant, loudly announcing that this is the Potty Train and anyone else that needs to go, can hop on board. Sometimes you’ll see an string of 5 or 6 people, all holding hands, being lead to the restrooms.

So it’s a good idea to “go before you go”, so to speak.

And of course, they don’t have a salad bar, they have a “salad car”. A 1952 MG TC.  “Soup in the front, Salad in the back.”

We saw many characters, like Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Alice in Wonderland, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Supergirl, Thor, and below, Ariel, the Littlest Mermaid.

We had the beautiful Diana Prince, who fights crime in her secret identity is Wonder Woman.

And Jan seems to have a real admirer in The Joker.

Personally I like the Jack Nicholson version better.

Our meal was really good, and well worth the trip. Hopefully we won’t wait another 30 years to visit again.

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April 6, 2013

Lions and Tigers and . . . No Bears!

Here’s the photo recap of yesterday’s visit to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium about 60 miles north of here.

Getting into the park the first thing we saw were these beautiful Black Swans. I’ve heard of them but I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen them.

They seem to be a bit smaller than their white cousins.

Spider Monkey

Jan and I almost bought a spider monkey early in our marriage, but in hindsight it’s probably better we didn’t. Though it might have been easier than raising two kids.

This is a Prevost’s Squirrel. Very colorful.

Jan and I were both impressed with the very nice habitat areas for the animals,

A very colorful Saddle-Backed Stork.

And of course, the Lions and

Tigers and . . .

Ocelots? Nope, not a Bear in sight here.

But they did have this beautiful Black Leopard.

  

Next up was Dragon World, one of the reptile exhibits.

This is a Monitor Lizard,

and this is a Green Iguana.

And this is Jan’s encounter with one in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They will bite, but this one’s mouth is taped shut with clear tape, though I don’t think she knew that at the time.

These guys are Uromastyx.

This is an Albino Alligator or White Alligator. These are pure albino with no color pigment whatsoever.

In our travels, we’ve also seen Leucistic White Alligators. They are not albinos, but have a little pigment on their mouths, and also piercing bright blue eyes.

These three frogs are Poison Dart Frogs.

Natives in South America used their secretions to coat the tip of their poison darts, hence the name.

Very colorful, but very poisonous.

This is a Veiled Chameleon. I kept waiting for him to change color, but he never did. I was hoping for plaid.

This big guy is a Reticulated Python. He’s about 8 feet long.

Jan’s not real partial to big snakes but our granddaughter Piper is crazy about them. Here she is with one in New York.

And here she is with one in New Braunfels, TX.

After a lunch of Chili Cheese Dogs, we took the Skyride up over the park.

A nice view.

A beautiful Military Macaw.

A White Rhino.

And these are Warthogs.

And this is also a Warthog, but the flying version.

Oryx.

A few years back we were surprised to find that hundreds of these are roaming all over White Sands Missile Range and the White Sands Monument.

Zebras, including a baby born a few months ago.

Baby, Mommy, and Daddy Giraffes.

Everyone’s favorite mongoose (besides Rikki Tikki Tavi), the Meerkat.

These are Scimitar Horned Oryx.

We took the train ride around the park, and once while we were stopped, this ostrich got closer than any one wanted.

The Flamingo Pond

Finishing up with the Zoo, we headed over to the aquarium area.

This is a Pipe Fish.

They did have some very nice display tanks.

This is a Amazonian Red Tail Catfish. Really pretty.

A Ridley’s Sea Turtle that’s missing part of his front flipper.

They also had a number of colorful Sea Anemones.

This is a colorful Cleaner Shrimp.

A Lionfish. One of our favorites.

These next two are Stone Fish. The bluish one in the center of this photo,

and the one in the lower right in this one. Very aptly named.

These next two are Starfish. The top one is wrapped around a mussel prying it open for dinner.

And these next two are different species of Moray Eels.

And this guy is the fabled Electric Eel, capable of generating over 600 volts. I’ve always wondered why they don’t short out. They are in saltwater, after all.

These are Shrimpfish, a relative of the Seahorse below.

A Red-Bellied Piranha.

And finally, a Stars & Stripes Puffer Fish.

Jan and I have visited small zoos all around the country, and we both agreed this was one of the best.

Check it out if you’re in the area.

As far as today, it was pretty quiet. Around 2 pm Jan and I headed back over to the SanTan Village area for some Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart shopping, picking up some salad fixings for tonight’s dinner.

But on the way home  we ended up back at J & M II Chinese Restaurant, our new favorite Chinese place

But as we were finishing up, we got a surprise. A gentleman and his wife walked up and that he enjoyed our blog.

Huh?

It turned out to be Jim and Norma Miget, blog readers who had recognized us and came over to say Hi. It’s always nice to meet our blog readers.

After Jim and Norma left, I ask Jan if this meant we were famous or infamous?

She said, “Yes”.

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April 6, 2014

Goldilocks Pins . . .

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve got Goldilocks Shear Pins. I’ve had one pin that was too big, and now I’ve got one that’s too small. So all I need now is one that ‘juussst right’.

Yep, that’s right. The new pin that I picked up at Brandi’s yesterday is also the wrong one, and is too small. In fact it looks to be identical to the one I got at Tractor Supply that lasted about a second before it snapped like a twig. The piece of the original pin shows that it is roll or coil pin. The one they sent me is what’s call a ‘tension’ pin. If you look at it from the end, it looks like a letter ‘C’.

So I guess I’ll be cranking the slide in and out by hand tomorrow.

So it’s back to square one. I’ve contacted Power Gear via email. And apparently it’s the only way to contact them. The only phone number listed on their website is a Fax number.

So I’ll just wait to hopefully hear from them for a couple of days before I reassess things. If all else fails, the company’s located in Mishawaka, IN where we’ll be in about a month.

* * * *

We did have the forecasted rain this morning, but It mostly cleared up in the afternoon. And lucky for us, it should be pretty clear for our trip back to Conroe tomorrow morning.

But before we leave, we’re going to drive the truck into Columbus to have one last breakfast at Schobels’ Restaurant. Then we’ll come back and head out.

* * * *

For our potluck tonight, Jan fixed her Strawberry 7-Up cake frosted with Cool Whip, and also did a pot of baked beans by combining a can of Bush’s Grilling Beans, using two cans of the Bourbon and Brown Sugar, and one can of the Steakhouse Recipe.

We headed over to Jim and Peri Dean’s about 4:30, and quickly sat down to a delicious meal. Jim had grilled up some great marinated chicken breasts, while Lynette and Gregg McHenry brought delicious potato salad and garlic bread.

After this great meal, we broke up into ‘discussion groups’, I.e. girls and guys, and spent the next 4 hours talking about a little of everything.

The perfect end to a very nice evening.

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April 6, 2015

Mister’s New Toy . . .

About 1pm I went up to the park guardhouse to let them know what site we were in and to ask about receiving packages from Amazon.

Their handout says they don’t take USPS mail, but with Amazon you never know how your package will be shipped. It could come via UPS or FedEx, which is not a problem. But often Amazon uses the UPS or FedEx version of Smart Post. This is where the package is shipped via one or the other to the local post office, who then delivers it to the local address. So what I wanted to know is if packages are delivered that way are considered USPS mail and would be refused. But when I ask the ranger about that, he said there is no problem with any USPS mail. So I guess I’ll put my order in and see what happens. During our last visit to Wal-Mart in Apache Junction we picked up a new toy for Mister.It’s made out of recycled corrugated cardboard, and is supposed to be a combination bed / scratching post. Well, he’s got the bed part down, and spends a lot of time on it, but he’s apparently a little unclear about the scratching post part. He’s used it once, but would rather use my leg or the curtain valances. Oh, well.

For dinner tonight we had leftovers again, in this case, the ones from Joe’s Farm Grill. We’ve still got our leftover Famous Dave’s BBQ, but we’ll probably go out tomorrow for dinner so we can stock up on more leftovers.

Looks like we’ve got a run of really nice weather coming up, with days in the low 70’s and nights in the high 30’s. Really nice weather, especially since we’ve only got 30 amp electric here at our site, so we can only run one A/C.

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April 6, 2016

Staying Alive!

Cue the Bee Gee’s.

One thing I noticed about Verizon’s XLTE upgrade in this area it that it has apparently spilled over to my 3G AirCard. Where normally I get around 1.5 Mbps day in, day out, now on XLTE, I’m pushing 3 Mbps, usually around 2.75 and up. Very Nice.

When I mentioned still having a 3G AirCard, several readers wanted to know why I haven’t upgraded to a 4G model. The reason is simple.

My AirCard, which dates back from 2007, still has unlimited data. And boy, do I need it.

Here’s my usage for this month.

Yes, that says 45.160 GB!

Now my usual usage is 25 to 30 GB for the month, but we’ve streamed 3 or 4 hour long TV shows this time, so it does add up. But I reset in 2 days, so it’s all good.

I came across an app a couple of days ago that solves a problem that has irritated me for a while on my Galaxy S5 and Tab 4. I hate it went I’m using an app, like Google Maps, and the screen shuts down on me. I’ll be using my phone to navigate somewhere and the screen goes black, so I have to reactivate it. Over and over.

Well, Stay Alive!, a free app, fixes that for you. Yes, you can just set your screen timeout for longer, but only up to 10 minutes, and then it stays on for everything whether you need it or not. Which doesn’t help your battery life.

But Stay Alive! takes care of that problem by letting you pick what apps you want to keep the screen on. For that me, that’s Maps (Google Maps), Sigalert, and Torque. And when you close the app, Stay Alive! turns off and goes to sleep.

Google Maps you know about, and Sigalert lets you check out the traffic data and cameras for major cities around the country, and Torque lets you monitor engine parameters using a Bluetooth interface like this one.

Installing Stay Alive! is super easy, but the setup can be a little confusing. After you open the app initially, all settings are done from the Notification dropdown menu. Like this.

Then when you tap on the Stay Alive! tab, it brings up this menu,

that lets you configure the app for the programs that you want to Stay Alive.

A great app.

Let me know if you have a problem setting it up.

Recently when we needed more laundry detergent, rather than getting our usual Tide, we decided to try Persil, the new one that’s being advertised. Actually though, it’s only new here in the US, and it’s been the #1 seller in England for a while.

And here in the US, it has dethroned Tide as the best liquid detergent, as determined by Consumer Reports. However I’m not sure we can really tell any difference, since we don’t really get that dirty, but give it a try and check it out for yourself.

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April 6, 2017

Down On The Farm . . .

About 1pm Jan and I drove over to the Gilbert area to have one last meal at Joe’s Farm Grill before we leave for Vegas on Saturday. And this time we went in a little different direction from our usual fare.

After having tried the Garlic Pesto Fried Green Beans last time, and loving the pesto, Jan got the Pesto Chicken Sandwich with Swiss, Roasted Red Pepper, Grilled Mushrooms, and farm-made Pecan Pesto, as well as another order of the Pesto Green Beans for us to share.

While instead of my usual Sonoran Dog, I got the Gouda Garlic Bacon Burger Stack.

Made with a half pound THICK burger (all natural, fresh, chuck, cooked pink), bacon, roasted garlic, imported Gouda cheese, grilled red onion, beefsteak tomato, pickles, house-made Caesar dressing, on a toasted bun, it was a complete feast. In addition we both got salads as our sides.

And of course we both got one of their homemade Strawberry Lemonades.

One thing we’ve noticed is that one of the family members is always circulating around, talking to the customers. and being sure they’re happy. Good business.

Our last stop before heading home was the nearby Sam’s Club to pick up a prescription and a few other items.

After a nice nap on a full stomach, a little before 6pm I went outside and dug out my Porter-Cable Air Compressor to top off the tires on the rig and the truck.

I’ve had this one since January 2011 and it’s still going strong, and has no problem taking my front tires up to 105#, while I run the rears at 100#.

However Sears no longer sells this under their name, but you can buy the Porter-Cable version from Amazon for about $110.

A great deal!

Everything went fine until I tried to finish up with the rear duallies on the driver’s side of the rig. For some reason my locking air chuck wouldn’t fasten tight enough to keep air from leaking out around the valve stem, letting air out faster than it was going in.

So tomorrow I’ll have to pick up a new air chuck at the nearby O’Reilly’s.

And along with that, we’ve got a 1pm lunch date with Dick and Phyllis Schell at Oregano’s, an Italian place over in the Tempe area.

Really looking forward to it.

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April 6, 2018

A Short Trip on a Long Bridge, Part One . . .

When I recently posted the list of cars that I’ve owned, I made a comment about my 1992 Ford Ranger, and how I broke it in half on the Atchafalaya River Bridge near Breaux Bridge, LA. And a couple of our blog readers wanted to know the rest of the story.

From the middle of 1992 until 2005, I made the 700 mile trip up to Birmingham from Houston every month to look in on my mother. My father had died in January 1992 and since my mother, then 73, no longer drove, I would buy her groceries, fix things around the house, take her to appointments, etc.

I would leave Houston about 10am on Friday, stop for lunch at Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge, and then get into Birmingham around 10pm But one trip in 1994 didn’t quite work out as I had planned.

When I left Mulate’s it had started raining, not really heavy, but steady. And about 10 minutes later I was approaching the ramp onto the Atchafalaya Bridge as the rain really started coming down. In the right lane, I was being passed on the left by a old model Lincoln with so much junk piled up in the seats I couldn’t even see the driver. Even worse he was passing me at about 1/10 mile per hour,  with a line of cars stacked up behind him.

As he finally got past me, he cut back over in front of me, so close I couldn’t even see the rear of his car, just the truck lid and the top of the continental kit, so I let off the gas to open a little space between us.

Then, just at that moment I crossed over one of those metal expansion joints in the road surface, and my truck broke loose and started skidding down the road. Later I discovered that one side of the joint was about 1-1/2” higher than the other , and the jolt was what caused the truck to start sliding.

My first thought was to keep the truck in my lane and stay away from the vehicles that were beside me, hoping to keep this a one vehicle accident. Finally I managed to get the truck up against the concrete guard rail trying to scrub off speed. Unfortunately about this time my rear bumper edge caught in one of the guard rail expansion joints gaps, ripped off my bumper, my tailgate, part of the rear bed, and my right rear wheel, tire, and part of the axle.

This also started me spinning, doing several 360’s down my lane, and slamming my head against the door pillar and the seatbelt mounting bolt, leaving me somewhat stunned. I again managed to slam the truck up against the guard rail again, but this time I as sliding in reverse, and shedding more pieces along the way.

When I finally slid to a stop there was a line of truck parts stretched out behind me as far as I could see. Several people stopped to see if I was OK and one called the police using one of the emergency call boxes along the bridge. For my part I did a quick concussion self-check, and though I had a headache I didn’t see any concussion symptoms.

(FYI You alternate covering each eye back and forth. If you see any difference in brightness between your eyes, there’s a good chance you’ve got a concussion of some severity.

The Breaux Bridge police showed up a few minutes later, followed quickly by two wreckers. One to tow the truck back to Breaux Bridge and the other to gather up all my discarded parts. The police officer said someone had wrecked in almost the same spot about a month before and had gone over the edge and into the water about 50 feet below. He said they never found the driver.

When I asked “Why?”, he just looked at me and said, “Gators.”

Gulp!

I rode back to the wrecker yard with the tow truck and then got a taxi to the nearby Lafayette airport so I could call Jan and then rent a car to continue my journey to Birmingham.

I’ll stop here for tonight and finish up in tomorrow’s blog.

Stay tuned because the story’s not over yet by a long shot.

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April 6, 2019

Too Much Food !!

Today was another long and fun day, emphasis on the long. So I’ll just give you the highlights and flesh out things later when we get home Monday night.

The day started with breakfast at 9am at The Dam Grill. Now this is WAY too early for breakfast. For Jan and I, breakfast is more like an afternoon or early evening thing.

Anyway, we met at The Dam Grill, which is right down the road from Reverend Jim’s Dam Pub, the Dam Vet Clinic, and across the road from the Dam Car Wash. Are you sensing a pattern here?

Apparently it’s a requirement that if your business is located anywhere near Buchanan Dam, you have to have ‘Dam’ in your business name. But that said, The Dam Grill was damn good.

Landon had some asthma problems last night due to all the pollen in the air up here, so they slept in. So it was just the White’s, sans Morrison’s.

Later we headed over to the Comfort Inn in Burnet to meet up with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, who was feeling much better. Then we all headed down toward Marble Falls, with our first stop at the Pottery Ranch.

Picture several acres, both inside and out, covered in pottery, large and small, metal sculptures, and pretty much anything else you can imagine.

Everything from rows of Mexican pottery,

and from a T-Rex,

to flying pigs and a red elephant. (Exactly how drunk do you have to be for your pink elephants to turn red.)

And even a field of metal bluebonnets.

And one of the small ones found its way home with us for our patio.

Then it was back to Chris’ for the afternoon, with Chris teaching Landon to drive on the golf cart. And he only ran into a few things.

Chris’ Backyard. Now with more daylight.

Then around 4pm we all headed off to the tiny town of Kempner for dinner at the Kempner Brick Oven, and one of the best German meals we’ve had in a long time. But more about that later.

But here’s the entire group including me this time.

Then it was back to Chris and Linda’s about 7, wrapping up with Linda’s delicious homemade Peach Cobbler with Bluebell Natural Bean Vanilla Ice Cream.

And we get to do it all over again tomorrow, but unfortunately starting even earlier, with breakfast at 8:30am.

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April 6, 2020

A Shed Update . . .

First up, Brandi sent this photo over this morning, of Landon and Jack checking in to his online school class.

Looks like Jack is just as interested as Landon.

Tomorrow I plan on running over to our nearby Home Depot to pick up a 4’ x 8’ sheet of pressure-treated plywood to make the base for our new shed. I’m also going to pick up couple of pieces of flat steel bar to use on the shed flooring to bolt it to the plywood.

I’ve already got the screw-in anchors and canvas strapping that I’ll use to strap the plywood to the ground. So hopefully in the next couple of days, we can start moving stuff into it.

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April 6, 2021

A Sous Vide Of Our Very Own . . .

Jan and I headed out about 8:15 for Jan’s last medical appointment, a final run-through from her oncologist, going over the results of her recent mammogram. Which was negative, so it’s just a formality.

Originally her appointment was for 1:30 this afternoon, but they called yesterday and changed it to 9:15 this morning, so we were out the door early this morning.

She was finished up about 10 so we on over to Snooze for breakfast, the earliest we’ve ever been there. So much so that one of our regular servers noticed.

Next up was a quick stop at a nearby Dollar Tree for some things Jan wanted, and then it was on over to WalMart and then Sam’s for a few more things.

Finally heading home, we made Cowboy Coffee stop for Cold, Blended Sugar-Free Hazelnut Lattes so we could have them to sit out on the patio when we got home.

After enjoying the fruits of Brandi’s Sous Vide machine, I went ahead and ordered one for us.

Inkbird Sous Vide Cooker

Looking forward to giving it a try.

Wrapping up, Linda sent over some more pics over her and Chris’ Utah trip.

She said that she and Chris walked up to some high lookout point, while one of their friends decided to do the ‘rock crawling’ thing and take their Jeep up over all the big boulders.

Chris said he didn’t do it because he didn’t want to break his Jeep.

Looks like Chris had the right idea. It took them 3 hours to get it fixed.

A lot of neat sights.

Looks like a fun trip.

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April 6, 2022

Thirty Years Ago Today . . .

After talking about our visit to the Buc-ee’s down in La Marque yesterday, I came across this article illustrating how much some places want a Buc-ee’s in their area.

Marathon, TX Buc-ee’s

So much so that they even build their own. And even stranger, no one seems to know where it came from. It just appeared one day out in Marathon, TX, out in the Big Bend area.

When I got up about 4:30 this morning for a potty break, I told Alexa to turn on the fan in our bedroom because it was kind of warm. And Alexa gave me the red ring light and said she couldn’t connect. So not thinking anything about it, I turned the fan on manually and went back to bed.

But when I got up about 8am, none of the Alexa’s were working, and Jan was complaining that she actually had to use the remote to turn the TV on.

Oh, the horror!

Our Alexa system uses our Verizon MiFi, and when I checked my phone, I found Verizon cell system was down, with no bars, nothing showing on my phone. And it stayed that way until around 9:30, when it suddenly popped back on.

And Jennifer, our office manager, said it was out at the Dollar General where she stopped on the way to work. Their credit card machines were only working occasionally, so the checkout line was long.

Thirty years ago today, on April 6, 1992, Microsoft moved on from the DOS environment, released Windows 3.1, and launched their domination of the computer world.

Though there was Windows 1.0, 1.01, 2.0, 2.01, 2.03, and 3.0, 3.1 was the version that really worked and began to come preinstalled on new machines.

A Tandy/Radio Shack ad from 1993

All this setting the stage for Windows 95, three years later.

And so it began.

First up, one our sharp-eyed blog readers, Gumo, noticed that I had the date wrong for the upcoming Starship Super Heavy launch. It’s Monday the 10th, not Monday the 11th.

I spend the morning nailing down our motel/hotel reservations for our upcoming Alabama trip next month. We’ll leave here on Saturday the 13th and be home Saturday 27th, giving us Sunday to rest up.

Now I’m working on coordinating all our get-togethers with relatives and friends along the way.

Tomorrow Jan and I have our yearly GP appointments with our long-time physician. Our appointments are always for 8am. That way we usually don’t have to wait too long to get called in. We’ll be glad to get these out of the way for another year.

Then just like last year, we’ll reward ourselves by having lunch at the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria up at Baybrook Mall.

It’ll be worth getting stuck.

Then next week Jan has her Mammogram, her oncologist’s, and her endocrinologist’s appointments. Then we’ll be done.

For this year.

As it stands now, looks like I’ll be staying with Windows 11. Except for the fact that it looks a little different, everything seems to work with no problems.

But we’ll see, I guess.

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Thought for the Day:

Unfortunately you can’t just talk to the voices in your head. Sometimes you have to talk to real people too. – Greg White

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April 5, 2010

A Take-It-Easy Day…

We left for lunch about 11:30 am for a last ditch try at finding a decent Chinese buffet in Las Vegas, and in our last few days, I think we found a pretty good one.in the Lucky Star Super Buffet.

It’s right next door to the Buffalo Wild Wings that we’ve eaten at twice. Last time while we were at BWW, we checked it out, and today we wanted to give it a try.

And it was the best in Las Vegas so far. It wasn’t quite as good as EAT in Yuma, or the Chinese buffet place in Celina, OH, but it was good. We’d go back, but we’ll only be here a few more days so we probably won’t have time.

After lunch we walked across the parking lot to pick up some stuff from Walgreens, and then it was on to the WalMart near the rig so Jan could get her hair cut and a pedicure. I dropped her off and went back to the rig to work on some things.

After I picked her up, we stopped off at Starbucks for our favorite Cinnamon Dolce Latte and then home.

Then about 6:00 pm we left for dinner at Claim Jumper. And once again we had a great meal.

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April 5, 2011

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a new ranking! . . .

After another frosty night with a low of 34 degrees, Jan warmed us up with some cheese toast made with the last of the homemade bread, and the last of the blueberry muffins from our friend Gina Ellis.

What a great way to start the day!

Then about 10 we headed out on our daytrip to the Sedona area, but our first stop was right outside the Thousand Trails park at Bignotti Beach, an area of BLM land used by many boondockers and campers.

Not exactly sure where the ‘beach’ went, but there was a river with a river bank. And we did find this large bird. When viewed thru the tiny camera viewfinder, the size made me think it was a Great Blue Heron, but when I saw it at home I’m pretty sure it’s a crane of some kind. But whooping cranes are white with a red head, and sandhill cranes, although gray, also have a red head. So I’m stumped.

Can anyone say for sure?

Heading into Cottonwood, and then northeast out on 89A we started encountering some really spectacular scenery. And it just got better and better.

About half way there we pulled over in a scenic viewing area for a few minutes and got these shots.

Then a few minutes outside Sedona we turned onto Red Rock Loop Rd., a loop that took us out in the countryside before joining back with 89A closer in to Sedona. And the view got even better.

And what’s even more surprising is that there are homes out here, very, very expensive homes. Can you imagine looking out your living room window to these sights.

About half way around the loop, we stopped at another scenic pullover and got some great photos.

Here’s one of my sweetie, Jan.

And here’s another one of my sweetie with some old geezer that follows her around a lot. I think he’s a stalker, myself.

Cactus fruit

And this is the view coming into Sedona.

After driving around Sedona, about 12:30 we decided to have lunch at the Red Planet Diner.

Decorated with a space and aliens theme, the décor was striking, and the food was delicious.

We both had sandwiches, Jan’s was a Rueben, and I had a Roswell Burger with green chilies, jalapenos, bacon and pepper jack cheese. Hmmmm, spicy! And all good.

After lunch, we parked in town and took in a few of the shops. The first thing I noticed was the Sedona mascots, a mother and baby javelina.

I only saw these two, but I’m sure there are more. In other towns on our travels, we’ve seen moose, bears, pelicans, mermaids, and dolphins, used as city mascots.

Though it’s hard to imagine, the view from downtown Sedona is just as spectacular as it is out in the countryside.

This is why Jan says there’s been a change in the rankings of the Top 5 Favorite Places she’s visited. Sedona is now on the list.

Of course when questioned closely, she admits there are at least 10 places on her Top 5 list, so I wouldn’t close the nominations too early.

We got home around 3 pm after a great day with scenic views. Life couldn’t get any better.

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April 5, 2012

A New Chapter . . .

and a Big Milestone.

Jan and I were up about 8:30 this morning, wondering what was going on with Landon’s hospitalization. Then a few minutes later we got an real, actual phone call. Don’t know why it worked this morning, but not last night.

Our daughter Brandi was on the way home from the hospital to freshen up and grab a little sleep. She said Landon was doing OK, but was still in ICU (which is normal at his age). They’ve got him on some steroids so he’s really restless and doesn’t like the IV he’s hooked up to.

Feeling relieved, we left the RV park in Junction a little before 10. Our first stop was the McDonald’s that is part of the Valero Truck Stop where we made our phone call to Brandi last night. We wanted to grab a couple of breakfast sandwiches to eat on the road.

Luckily since it was a truck stop I had plenty of room to park right next door and run in. As the manager took my order, I juked about the fact the fact that if his drive-thru cover was a little higher, I could have just taken the RV through. He laughed and said that some people don’t care, and that this was his 3rd cover in two years.  Oops!

We were on the road and headed east on I-10 by 10:15.

We passed more fields of bluebonnets and this one of Indian Paintbrushes. Really beautiful country through here, in contrast to the stark beauty of Arizona and New Mexico.

We took Loop 410 south around San Antonio and headed out on I-37. And about 25 miles down the road, we reached our milestone.

We hit 50,000 miles of travel on our coach. Of course our coach had 62,511 miles on it when we bought it, so now we’ve passed 112,511 total miles on our coach, and it’s still going strong.

Right after this, our daughter Brandi called and said Landon was home and doing fine. She said they had already taken the IV out, and after they heard from the doctor that they could leave, she ask Landon if he was ready to go home. He nodded, grabbed his toy, and headed out the door and down the hall to the elevator. He was ready!

Our first stop was in the town of Pleasanton at the Wal-Mart so we could stock up on groceries for the upcoming New Chapter in our RV life.

We were heading for Whitsett, TX and the local headquarters of Gate Guard Services

For the next 5 months or so, we were going to be oilfield gate guards.

The job of gate guard consists of parking our RV at the entrance to an oil well drill site and checking in and out all visitors, deliveries, and employees.

In most cases it’s 24/7 job with Jan and I each working a 12 hours shift. We may be parked right outside a town, or miles out in the boonies. You never known until you get your site.

The company furnishes the site and all utilities. In most cases that’s done with a trailer containing a diesel generator, diesel fuel tank, and a water tank. Sometimes a sewage storage tank is also included. If not, they have someone come by once or twice a week and pump your waste tanks out.

The good part is the job pays $125 to $150 dollars a day.  Nice.

We pulled into the Gate Guard Services lot about 4:15, and after talking to an employee, were directed to a place to park and hook up to 50 amp power with water nearby if we need it.

There is a full hookup area on the other side of the lot that we should be able to move to on Monday when some of these people move out to their gates.

Later I walked around the lot looking at the utility trailers that will supply us with power, water, and sometimes sewer, at the jobsite.

And it looks like they’ve got a bunch of trailers ready to go,

with the parts for more ready to be assembled.

The people we needed to talk to had already left for the day, so we’ll have to catch them first thing tomorrow to see how we get started.

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April 5, 2013

Another Busy, Fun Day . . .

Today started with us leaving the rig about 9:30 heading about 60 miles north of Phoenix to visit the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium.

We had a great time and really enjoyed our visit, but I’m going to wait until tomorrow to tell you more due to the late hour tonight.

*  *  *  *

Leaving the park about 2:30, and after stopping for gas, got home about 3:45.

Between the heat at the park and a lot of walking, we were pretty worn out, so naps were in order.

And after very nice ones, we headed out about 6 for dinner. We ended up a few miles down the road at Fuddrucker’s for a meal of hamburgers and good conversation.

The kitchen apparently confused the cooking instructions for Jan.

Mine however, was perfect. And, after all, that’s what matters, now isn’t it.

Our next stop before heading home was at a Half-Price Books across the shopping center. Jan found some books she had been looking for, ones that either aren’t available on the Kindle, or if they are, are much more expensive than Half-Price Books.

We didn’t get home until after 9:30, a very long day with a lot of walking.

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April 5, 2014

I didn’t know I liked Artichokes . . .

After our coffee and English Muffins, we pretty much just goofed off all morning. Around 2pm we headed over to visit with Lynette and Gregg McHenry for a few minutes at their 5’er at the top of the hill, to both get acquainted with their cat Jynx, and get a tour of their rig.

Then about 2:30 Jan and I headed into Katy to visit our daughter Brandi, son-in-law Lowell, and Landon.

Brandi showed us this photo of Lowell at about Landon’s age.

Here’s me at around that age. Note that I was born before the world had switched over to color.  Everything was entirely B&W up until about 1957.

And here’s Landon.

Looks like he gets the blonde hair from both sides.

Landon’s got a new bed and he really enjoys showing it off. It comes complete with a slide,

and an underground fort. Lowell says he often sleeps down here.

After visiting for a while, we all headed right down the road to Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro, one of our now all-time favorite places to eat, bar none.

As usual, we started out with an order of their spring rolls with peanut sauce, but this time we got shrimp rather than pork. Although the shrimp rolls were delicious, we pretty much agreed that we like the pork better, mostly because they’re served warm. And like most of their food, these are made to order, and by the owner’s grandmother.

Then the owner brought out another appetizer she wanted us to try – Grilled Artichoke Hearts. And they were really, really good.

And why do I have a picture of French Fries at a Vietnamese restaurant? Well, these are the fries that came with Landon’s order of Mini Corn Dogs. He doesn’t care for fries, but I tried one. And then we all did. They were delicious!

I knew immediately what the secret was as soon as I tasted them. Like most of the food here, they’re cut and fried up to order. Not frozen, not pre-blanched, but they go from a whole Idaho potato to your (or Landon’s plate) Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if the corn dogs were fresh-made either.

In the past, Jan has gotten the Shaking Chicken Bowl, but having tasted my Shaking Beef, she got that this time. And now says it’s her new favorite dish.

And, as before, all of these veggies are prepared to order. Nothing is cut, sliced, or peeled ahead of time.

For dessert we once again had Little V’s version of Crème Brûlée. And after the meal, the spoonful’s are the perfect-sized end to the night

And they’re as delicious as everything else.

Besides fixing everything fresh from scratch, the other thing that probably makes this place so good is the fact that it’s a family endeavor.

Besides the owner, there’s her twin sister, her grandparents, and her nephew. Family Quality Control.

We plan on eating at Little V’s again this coming Tuesday when we stop by to pick up a package at Brandi’s, and the owner has promised us a couple of special dishes.

We can’t wait.

Saying our goodbyes, and getting our Landon hugs, we headed home about 6pm, stopping for gas and HEB stuff along the way.

Back at the rig, I packed some of the outside stuff into the truck for our trip back to Conroe on Monday. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, and this way I won’t have to put it away wet.

Later this evening, I signed us up for RVillage, a new website that lets you login and see if you know anyone else at your RV park. Looks like a pretty neat app.

Tomorrow, potluck with Lyn and Gregg McHenry at Jim and Peri Dean’s. Really looking forward to it.

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April 5, 2015

Verde Valley Bound . . .

Jan and I were up about 6:30 this morning, wanting to get everything pretty much ready to go before we drove over to the IHOP on Signal Butte to have a Leaving AJ breakfast.

By the time we headed out for the IHOP about 8am, everything was done, except to let in the awnings, disconnect shore power, and crank up. By getting to the restaurant about 8:15, we had hoped to avoid a wait, but were told 15-20 minutes anyway. But they called us in about 3 minutes, so it worked out fine.

By the time we got back to the rig, pulled out of our site, got hitched up, and pulled out of the park, it was about 10:15. Once again we had no problem with the airbags coming up, so it looks like that cycling the airbag dump switch a couple of stops ago took care of that problem.

We headed west on US 60 for about 20 miles and then north on the 101 Loop for about 30 miles. This put us out on I-17, bypassing most of the Phoenix traffic. Once on the Interstate you start the long climb up through the mountains, gaining about 2500 feet along the way. The one really steep section, 5 miles of a 5% grade, we still stayed above 40, and even passed some trucks along the way.

Since what goes up, must come down, we then had about 5 miles of a 6% grade down into the Verde Valley. But our PacBrake Exhaust Brake kept us at a steady 55mph all the way down without having to touch the brakes.

We pulled into the Verde Valley Thousand Trails about 12:45, make the 135 mile trip in about 2-1/2 hours. These first two photos were taken with our dashcam.

We got the last site in the H section up top by the Club House, so we could have hopefully have decent cell/data service. But they don’t make the sites easy to get into. Nothing like having sharp, pointy trees along the side of the rig as you’re pulling in.

But we were finally parked and set up. And we do have a nice view out the windshield.

We decided to just stay in tonight and have the leftover pizza from Organ Stop Pizza the other day, and we may just have leftover Famous Dave’s BBQ tomorrow night.

Doing nothing for a while is nice.

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April 5, 2016

Buttoning Up . . .

Well, it was almost a stay-at-the-rig-do-nothing day. I didn’t stay at home, and I didn’t do nothing. I went in to Columbus and I worked on my A/C.

So a little after 1pm, I drove into town to for a couple of errands, First up was a stop at the hardware store for some – what else – hardware to finish putting our A/C back to together and up in the ceiling again.

After the hardware store, I make a stop at Brookshire Bros. to pick up a few groceries that that we forgot last night at Wal-Mart.

Getting to the rig, I started out by making up a permanent jumper that connects the fan voltage to the compressor contact, going from this

to this.

Then I re-installed the control box back up into the top of the unit. The white wire is the freeze sensor that’s mounting on the evaporator coil.

And ended up with this. All neat and buttoned up.

I still want to follow up on finding the junction box, which based on the help from Jim S, on the Yahoo American Coach Group, is probably located behind my Control Panel. But right now I want to get everything back together before we head back to Conroe on Sunday.

So sometime in the next week or so I’ll take the screws out of the the panel underneath my rig Control Panel and check it out.

A number of readers have ask for more info on the Windows 10 download to either a DVD or a Flashdrive. So here’s the basic procedure.

Go to this URL:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Scroll down and click on the “Download tool now” to download the “Media Creation Tool”.

Then run the program, accept the License, and click on “Create Installation Media for another PC”.

Click Next on “Language, Edition, and Architecture”.

Select which media you want to download, and click Next.

If you use a flash drive, it will erase everything already on the drive.

Let me know if you have any problems.

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April 5, 2017

Piece By Piece . . .

After lunch I got back on replacing my shower faucet now that I had a better cartridge puller. And pull it I did.

Unfortunately when I finally got it to work, it pulled the inside guts and shaft out, leaving the outside of the cartridge stuck inside the valve body,  the part that was stuck to start with, still stuck. And no way  to grab hold to pull it out.

Bu after a couple of hours, breaking it out tiny piece by tiny piece so I didn’t scratch the inside of the faucet valve, it finally all came loose and came out.

So what I ended up with was this pile of parts. And luckily when I ran my finger around the inside of the valve I didn’t feel any scratches or grooves, so hopefully the way I had to get the cartridge out won’t cause any leaks with the new cartridge.

After I took a break for a while, I slathered the inside of the valve with silicone grease, and did the same for the cartridge itself. Then I lined it up correctly and slowly pushed it into the valve body until it was seated.

And finally I was able to get the retaining clip seated, a task that has been a problem in the past, but luckily not this time. So now it was time to do the leak test.

Since I still have the shore water turned off, I turned on the pump, and listened to it run for a few seconds as the system pressurized. And no leaks, so far.

Next was the important one, so I turned on the shower and watched. Turning it both to hot and cold, everything was leak-free. And after I buttoned everything up, and went outside to turn the shore water back on, I was done.

Time for a nap.

For dinner Jan heated up our leftover Sofia’s from yesterday, still delicious. Mexican is one of those foods, like Italian, that heats up just about as good as new.

DON”T BE FOOLED!

Recently we’ve received a couple of fake Facebook Friend Requests. One from an already-friend, and the other from a stranger. And I’ve found it very easy to figure out who’s who.

First off , the listing tells you if the person requesting friendship is friends with any of  your other friends. If not, my suspicions are alerted. But due to the nature of our blog, we do get friend requests from strangers.

So my next check is to click on the person’s name and look at the Facebook page itself. And what I usually find is . . .  Nothing. A couple of photos stolen from the real page, and that’s about it.

Then I click “Delete Request”, and then “Mark As Spam.”

And requests from friends are treated the same way, except that I already know that these are fake to start with.

Stay Vigilant!

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April 5, 2018

A Coming Jaunt . . .

Jan and I left the rig about 12:45 for the trip over to Alvin to have lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico. We’re going up to the one in Pasadena to see our friend who’s a waitress there until the one down here in Dickinson reopens after the Harvey damage repair. But we couldn’t wait, and Alvin is closer.

We asked the manager if he knew what the story was about the Dickinson location. We had originally been told that it would reopen last December, and then it was this past March, I.e. last week, for sure. But apparently now, it’s this coming September or October. Maybe, I guess.

Jan had her favorite Chicken Ixtapa, minus the green peppers, which can give Jan a migraine. So she always has them leave them out.

I, of course, got my usual Chicken Tortilla Soup, pretty much the best I’ve had anywhere in the country.

Finishing up we left the restaurant and headed back over to the Friendswood Sam’s Club/WalMart for prescriptions and some groceries. Then we turned toward home, getting back to the rig a little before 5pm.

As we were leaving the rig this afternoon heading up to Alvin, we stopped by BayGas Propane to check out their hours and to double check big rig access. As it stands right now, weekend after next, we going to take the rig out for a little jaunt, probably for an hour or so. But they were closed due to an emergency. At least according to the note on the door. So I’ll check back later.

We’ve been parked here at the Petticoat Junction RV Park for about 5 months, which is the longest we’ve ever been parked without moving/running the rig. The first time was the five months we spent in Fairbanks, AK in 2008, and then in 2010 when we came back to Houston early after our grandson Landon was born.

Now some people will crank up their rig once a month or so, and let it run for an hour or more. But according to Cummins, doing it that way is a No-No. In fact they say that if you can’t get it up full operating temperature at highways speeds, it’s better not to run it at all.

And while we’re out and about, I want to stop off and fill our rig’s propane tank. It’s actually been empty since it ran out while our rig was being repaired in Louisiana last August. But since we haven’t been traveling we haven’t really needed it. So since we’ll be traveling again in a couple of months, I want to get it taken care of early.

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April 5, 2019

Long Day, Short Blog . . .

Just Chris’ Backyard at Dark.

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April 5, 2020

Finished . . .

I went out about 1 this afternoon to finish up the shed, and it only took me about 45 minutes.

First up, I put in the 11 screws that lock the walls to the floor, and then installed the corner braces at the corners where the doors mount.

Next up I installed the Cane Bolt, which locks the left door to the door jam.

Then all I had left was to attach the door handle, and then install the ceremonial padlock, and I was done.

Of course now I have to get a base put together and tied down, and then I can move the shed over to it and bolt it down.

Then, I’ll be done done.

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April 5, 2021

Chris and Linda’s Utah Trip Pics . . .

Thought I’d just post a few of many great photos Chris and Linda have sent us as they traveled in Utah.

That’s Chris’ ‘FrankenJeep’ in front on the left.

That’s salt, not snow.

Looks like they’re having a great time.

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April 5, 2022

Rewarding Ourselves . . .

Today was our annual exams with our GP, Dr. Spuhler.

Dr. Spuhler started out as the physician for both our mothers back in the 90’s, and then became Jan’s when she changed jobs and insurance, and needed a new doctor. And at some point I just came along for the ride, I guess.

One funny thing is that the first time I met her, I listened to her for a few seconds, and asked her, “Are you from East Tennessee?”

She smiled and said, “Yes.” And the reason I asked?

She sounded just like Dolly Parton.

And being from north Alabama (and living in Tennessee, among other places), I recognized that accent immediately.

We still have to wait for all our tests to come back, but so far the doctor was happy with us. And we don’t expect any problems with our tests.

So we decided to reward ourselves with Grimaldi’s Pizza for lunch after our good reports. Honestly, we would have probably rewarded ourselves, anyway.

But, hey, it’s Grimaldi’s Pizza.

Like most places we go to, we have our regular favorites here too, starting off with the Small Spinach Salad.

Just a warning. Unless there are 6-8 of you, do not order the Big Salad. The Small one gives Jan and I two servings of salad each.

Then it was on to our Pizza, the 18” The Don, with Italian Sausage, Meatballs, and Pepperoni, to which we added Mushrooms, Bacon, and Jalapenos.

We always get the 18” large one, so we can eat half and take the rest home for another meal.

And we also took a slice of their Caramel Coconut Cheesecake home with us to split later.

Like I said, rewarding ourselves.

Heading out, we make a quick HEB stop, and then another one at the Buc-ee’s on I-45 South in La Marque. I was looking for a new lid for my 40oz ‘Come And Take It” mug.

Found it, and we also got coffee to go, since we didn’t have coffee this morning because of our doctor’s appointments.

I needed a new lid because Karma the cat, as opposed to Karma the fate, knocked the mug off the counter one night recently, and though the metal mug survived, the lid was cracked.

In other Buc-ee’s news, I came across this article by a guy from Mississippi who visited the location just south of Birmingham, AL for the first time. I thought his description of the place was actually pretty apt.

He said it was like if “Love’s (Truck Stop) mated with a Walmart and gave birth to a small theme park…which was then exposed to a blast of gamma radiation.”

Sounds about right to me.

Getting home I went outside and finished up the installation of my new water tank fill valve.

After turning the shore water back on and filling our internal water tank, I watched it long enough to be sure that there were no leaks.

Now with that done, all that’s left is to dig my Oscillating Multi-Tool out of the shed and cut off the old 2 hose splitter so I can install my new 4 hose one.

Maybe Thursday.

Finishing up, here’s something from the News You Can Use department.

How to Keep Your Cat From Eating You Alive During the Pet Food Shortage

On our part, I’ve noticed recently the mostly empty pet foods shelves at WalMart. So the last time we bought 2-30 can boxes of Karma’s favorite.

I mean, would you want to trust your life to a face like this?