Daily Archives: May 8, 2023
Toeies . . .
Today was a typical Monday at work, since I didn’t really do anything in my normal job description (like I really have one!).
I purchased things for my client’s home, made his quarterly tax payments, edit some booklets for his wife, and worked on his ‘95 Thunderbird.
Otherwise, not much happened today.
Tomorrow is lunch at Snooze, followed by Jan getting her toeies done. Then it’s on back down to our area for a WalMart stop.
Thought For The Day:
Since I know a few of you don’t make it all the way down through the Retro-Blogs™,
I thought I’d repost up here our time on our European Viking River Cruise today in 2019
May 8, 2019
Würzburg
Würzburg, Germany 5/8/2019
Our ship docked at Würzburg at 7am after traveling all night from Bamberg, but we got to rest up since our Würzburg Residenz and Walking Tour didn’t start until 1pm. So we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast and a nice lunch with our friends before we headed for the buses.
Our first stop was, of course, the Würzburg Residenz.
Originally the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg resided in the Marienberg Fortress located on a hill overlooking the Main River and the city.
Note the vertically-planted vineyards. We saw vines planted like this all over Europe, but they’re apparently being phased out due to government safety regs. It seems that the workers slipping and rolling all the way to the bottom is a real problem. So now they’re moving to terracing.
But the Prince-Bishops thought that the Fortress was just too small to measure up to their exalted position. This is what they thought was too dinky for them.
So in 1720 construction was started on the Residenz, but like a lot of these projects, it dragged on through several different rulers, and it took 24 years to finish the exterior buildings, and then another 36 years to finish off the interiors in 1780..
But it was worth it as you can see from these exterior shots.
And what it looks like from the read, out over the gardens.
Unfortunately, like many of these places, the Residenz had a ‘no photos’ rule. Now, of course, I can understand a ‘no flash’ rule, but really, why no photos at all?
And as usual, somebody’s taking photos because they’re all over the Internet, so you get to see some of those. And the place is really something.
We spent a couple of hours touring the palace, and as happened in Nuremberg, when we came out, it had gotten much colder and was now sprinkling. None of which was forecast. Nothing new, of course.
We started the Walking part of the tour, heading into town, about a 15 minute walk, first checking out the Old Stone Bridge.
The first bridge here was built in 1120 A.D., but was destroyed in a flood in1342. It was rebuilt, and, until 1885, was the only to get to Wurzburg from across the river.
Of course, when it was built, it was a pedestrian bridge, and still is.
As we walked around we came across a number of these burled trees.
I don’t know what the story is on these, but there’s nothing on the Internet about them.But they were all over the place.
Our next stop was at St. Michael’s Church.
Like many churches over here, there have been a series of churches here, with the first one dating to 1221 A.D.
This incarnation dates from 1763, a veritable youngster in this area.
As this point, as evidenced from the raindrops on the photo above, and the fact that it was getting even colder, we decided to end our participation on the walking tour and headed back to the bus. And so did a lot of others.
One last fact is that in 1895, William Roentgen, working in his lab in Wurzburg, discovered X-Rays, and in 1901 was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.
The same one that Sheldon won.
Later at about 7pm, warmer and drier, and with a nap under our belts, we met our friends for dinner.
We both started off with the Ginger Carrot Soup,
Really declivous, and reminded us of the fabled Pie-O-Neer in Pie Town, NM.
Jan had the Grilled Tilapia,
while I once again had my favorite Angus Ribeye. You just can’t have too much steak.
And for dessert, we both had the Apple Strudel.
You can’t go wrong with Apple Strudel in Germany.
Next Up: Wertheim Am Main (Wertheim on the Main River)
May 8, 2009
And Panthers too…
We got into our park here in Homestead about 2:30pm.
We had a great drive through the Everglades. Didn’t see any Florida panthers, but did see their signs.
Our park is called GoldCoaster RV Park and it has over 550 spaces. It’s got both RV sites and permanent mobile homes. Because it’s off-season for Florida we got a week here for only $100.00.
While we’re here we plan on seeing the Coral Castle, take an Everglades airboat tour, and hopefully, drive up to Cape Kennedy on Monday to see the Shuttle launch.
They say there’s an 80% chance of good weather for the launch so we’ll see.
We still don’t know exactly when we will be heading down to Keys, but sometime in the next week.
May 8, 2010
Monterey and Carmel…
We left the rig about 9 am and headed south to Monterey and Carmel, about 160 miles away.
About 40 minutes later we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and heading into San Francisco itself. We stayed on SR 1 thru town and on out the south side and along the ocean.
Around Half Moon Bay we pulled over to get some shots of the rocky, but beautiful Pacific coast.
There’s all sorts of vegetation clinging to the cliff sides.
A little further down the road we stopped off at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse to take a look. There’s also a hostel here. 
A little while later a client called with a computer question so I pulled over a handy turnout so I could talk safely. Jan immediately notice a vendor selling fresh cherries at the other end, so she grabbed my wallet and took off.
And they were delicious. I think this was the first time I’ve ever eaten fresh cherries. Except for maraschino cherries, I’ve never been a big fan, but these are really something. Later on we passed some cherry tree orchards along the coast.
About 30 minutes later we came into Moss Landing where we planned to have lunch. Somewhere along the line, I made a note of Phil’s Fish Market as a good place to eat, so we were going to give it a try.
When we found it I knew immediately that it was going to be good. There were absolutely no signs on the highway advertising the place. It was way off the beaten path. You had to know where it was to get there. And when we got there, it was very difficult to find a parking place.
Phil’s is located in working waterfront area, with docks, boat yards, and warehouses, and people were parked along the side of the road, in little nooks and crannies, and in the parking lots of closed on the weekend businesses.
And the food was great. You order at the counter and then try to find a open table. Although there was a long line, it moved quickly and it wasn’t long after we sat down that a waitress showed up with our food.
Jan had the Fried Shrimp and Oysters and I had the Fried Fish and Shrimp, and they were both great. Well worth the stop.
Leaving the restaurant and walking back to the truck, we passed a somewhat rundown house with a fantastic flower bed, with a little bit of everything.
Leaving Moss Landing we headed about 20 miles further south to Monterey and took a drive around the Bay. Everywhere we looked we had a great view!
This seal didn’t look too happy to have his picture taken.
Following the coast around the point we passed thru Carmel. Actually it’s really Carmel-By-The-Sea, but everyone abbreviates it. The coastal drive was maybe even more beautiful than Monterey Bay.
After Carmel we turned north and headed back home, taking the more direct Interstate route. One of the towns we passed thru was Morgan Hill, recently in the news because the Assistant Principal sent home a number of students for wearing red, white, and blue clothing on Cinco de Mayo. After it all blew up in their faces, the school quickly backed down and apologized.
Coming back into the fairgrounds where we are staying, we found a field full of large geese grazing in the grass.
Where we’re staying is really kind of primitive. It’s just a scraggy open field with about 6 hookups. We’re the only ones here except for the caretaker.
It really doesn’t compare with where we were at Park of the Sierras. But it is quiet and the power is good. 
Tomorrow is going to be a stay-at-home Mother’s Day.
May 8, 2011
Mother’s Day II . . .
Got up about 10:30 this morning, and after a Mother’s Day kiss for Jan, and coffee and a Cinnamon Crunch muffin for breakfast, I started my day.
Jan got Mother’s Day calls from our son Chris and our daughter Brandi so that made her day.
After working on some Internet jobs, I started on some more chores.
First up was to check the tire pressure in the driver’s side inside rear tire. Back in Show Low and Williams I was having trouble with the pressure dropping overnight. But now, suddenly, the problem has disappeared. Hopefully for good.
Next was the big window awning on the coach’s right side. It wouldn’t open when we got here, but getting out the ladder and fooling with it a little seems to have fixed it.
Then, last I wanted to repair the slide-out tray on my computer desk. The screws had pulled out on one side and needed to be replaced with larger ones. It took Jan’s help to hold it in place while I worked underneath with the drill driver, but a little effort got it fixed.
By then it was getting close to 3 pm when we headed out to the Mother’s Day Buffet at the Boulder Station Casino right down the road. We had about a 30 minute wait in line, but, as previously, the meal was delicious.
We got home a little after 5 to find the high winds had blown over our sat dish so that took a while to get set back up.
And the high winds were from the big weather changes we had the last few days. Three days ago we had a high of 98 degrees here in Las Vegas, and tomorrow the high is supposed to be 69 degrees.
Nice!
May 8, 2013
Getting out of town just in time . . .
Another nice night last night. The temp dropped into the mid 50’s so it was great with the windows open and the fans going. But that’s not going to last very long.
Today the high was 75, but by Monday it’s going to be 97, with 101 on Monday and Tuesday. Really glad we’re leaving for South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, with highs in the high 60’s/low 70’s and lows in the high 30’s. Really, really nice.
About 11am I called Pacific RV Parts to order my replacement lower mirror. There was no problem getting the mirror on its way via UPS, but what did tick me off was the shipping cost.
The mirror was $20, but they charged $14 for UPS Ground shipping from California. For a 1# package! If you go to the UPS website and figure the cost for a 1# package from Garden Grove, CA to Las Vegas is $8.05, not anywhere close to $14.
About 5:30 we picked up Jim & Peri Dean and headed by down to Lindo Michoacan. Jim and Peri have been blog readers for a while and when they found out that our visits here would overlap, they suggested that we get together for dinner.
Although we weren’t able to get a window table this time, it was nice to be able watch the lights come up on the Strip as the sun went down.
After a great dinner and a lot of good conversation, we took the long way back to the park by taking a leisurely drive up ‘The Strip’ checking out the lights and the new casinos that have appeared since we were here two years ago. Jim said he really enjoyed the drive, because since I was driving this time, he got to sightsee. Glad to oblige, Jim.
We got back to the park about 9pm and said our goodbyes. We had a great time getting to know Jim and Peri, and certainly hope we can get together again before we leave next Wednesday.
Tomorrow Jan wants to try Bingo at Boulder Station Casino. We checked out the game the other day, and it was quickly obvious that they play a much faster game her than Jan is used to. They call a new number every 12 seconds and play a number of games that Jan hasn’t seen before. So she figures there will be some trial and error until she gets the hang of it.
May 8, 2014
Called on Account of Rain . . .
OK, we tried to have our coffee and muffins outside this morning, we really did. But the weather just wouldn’t cooperate. Well, it did to start with, but that only lasted until the raindrops interrupted. It stayed pretty overcast all day with a lot of rain promised that never really showed up.
Maybe we’ll try again tomorrow.
One of the things I forgot to mention the other day amidst our close shave at the Flying J over in Brookshire was that I used my Flying J RV Plus credit card.
This is a deal between Good Sam Club and Flying J, and so far it’s worked great since I got it last year. This is not a discount card like the RV Frequent Fueler card that I had for years. That card promised discounts and promised to let you charge up to a $500 fill-up on your credit card. But it seems about half the time it didn’t work,
Either you didn’t get the discount, or even more of a pain, it wouldn’t let you do more than a $100 or $150 fill-up on your credit card.
But this one is a true credit card and always works. And the discounts always work too. On diesel it gives you the cash price, and then an additional 6 cents off that. On unleaded, it gives you a 4 cent discount.
In additional, you can also charge items inside the store, and even meals in any restaurants there.
As far as the card limits, if you elect to pay the bill manually. you have a $1000.00 a month credit limit. And if you let them do an automatic withdrawal from your account, you have a $2000.00 limit per month.
Since I don’t let anyone pull money out of my account, I find the $1000 limit works fine for me.
Check it out.
Later in the afternoon, Jan baked up a big batch of Pumpkin Spice cookies. Even the smell drifting through the coach was delicious.
For dinner we heated up the leftovers from our visit to Ichibon last night. And we made it any better by adding Sriracha sauce and some of the special hot sauce from Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro, which by the way, we’ll be eating at tomorrow night.
Tomorrow morning we’ll head back down to the Clear Lake for Jan’s oncology visit, which will hopefully finish things up.
May 8, 2015
Well, As They Say . . .
No News is No News.
And that’s what we got today. Zip, Zero, Nada.
In fact we never even saw anyone from the service department at all today. I kind of wondered if maybe they take a half day off on Friday afternoon. And I don’t expect much this weekend either.
About 5pm Jan and I headed out for dinner, with a first stop at the Fry’s right across the street for a few groceries. Then it was on to BiGA Café (yes, that’s the way they spell it) over on Miller Valley Rd, just a few miles away.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem to be big enough to be a restaurant. Or at second glance, either. It’s small, with only 8 tables that seat 28 folks, with another 5 stools at the bar. And they were all filled when we got there.
But the 4-1/2 stars on Yelp with 46 reviews explains why they’re so busy. The menu is American comfort food, with a flair.
The menu explains that ‘biga’ is an ingredient used in Italian bread making, that makes the bread more ‘complex’. Not really sure what that means, but the homemade bread that they use in their sandwiches tells the story.
Their menu partially changes every week, and actually everyday as they cross things off when they run out.
Jan had the BLT with Cheddar cheese and Basil Mayo. I would have gotten a picture, but while I was taking the photo of my sandwich, she started eating hers because she said it looked so good.
;I got the Pastrami Reuben on Rye with the Green Chile Mac N Cheese, while Jan got the Potato Salad with hers. Although it’s hard to tell from the photo, these bread slices are a good bit bigger than a standard bread slice, so it makes for a heck of a sandwich.
I tried to order a cup of the Chicken and Sausage Gumbo but they ran out a few minutes earlier. Bummer. It looked really good.
We split our side dishes so each of us got some of both, And both were good, especially the Green Chili Mac N Cheese. Although it looks kind of plain in the photo, ;it was delicious, not really hot or spicy, but the green chili flavor really came through.
For dessert Jan and I split an order of their Salted Caramel Bread Pudding, and I think we got just about the last piece of it too. And I’m really glad we did,
It was really great. Ranks right up there with the Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, AL.
Tomorrow, who knows. I may start trying to trace out the shredded wire bundle, mostly out of boredom, and wanting to get something moving here.
May 8, 2016
Time Heals All Wounds . . .
and Internet Connections?
First up, night owls and early risers may have noticed that I didn’t upload the blog last night as usual. Don’t know what problem was, my blog writer program couldn’t connect to the blog server. But it worked fine this morning about 7am.
Jan and I were both up at our usual travel-day 6:30 am, and pretty much ready to roll by about 7:45. But we wanted to make our regular visit to have the breakfast buffet at Schobel’s Restaurant down in Columbus.
But they usually don’t have the buffet set up until about 8:30, so we waited to until about 8:15 to leave the rig.
It’s hard to believe they can put together this good of a buffet for only $7.95. Scrambled eggs, (or you can order them the way you want them. No extra charge.), potatoes and onions, grits, crispy bacon, patty sausage, link sausage, grilled ham, chicken fried something (pork, chicken, or steak. It varies), sausage gravy, biscuits, and bread pudding.
Really good.
Back at the rig, we were hitched up and leaving the park by 10am. The trip was pretty uneventful except for the usual windy conditions. And as usual, it’s always a headwind.
Out on I-10 my Silverleaf was showing about 7.5 mpg doing 60 mph. But as soon as we got passed Katy and into Houston proper, the wind starts to be blocked by all the buildings and our mpg started to creep up. And by the time we got around to heading north on I-45 I was showing 8.7 mpg.
We pulled into the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails about 12:15, got a nice site in the ‘E’ ring, and got set up. Then my problems began.
I could not get my computer to connect to anything. Or well, it would connect. It just showed No Internet Access. Zip, Zero, Nada. No matter whether I was using a direct Ethernet connection to my Cradlepoint router, or connecting by Wi-Fi.
So my thought was a problem with the Cradlepoint. But then I found that my Galaxy Tab could connect just fine. So next I hotspotted my Galaxy S5 phone and connected the computer to it via Wi-Fi. Still No Internet Access.
But again, the Tab connected to the phone just fine. So it was obviously the computer. But it worked fine before we left Colorado River. But then I remembered.
I’ve learned to always shutdown the computer the night before we travel, because a number of times in the past, I’ve shut down right before we were ready to leave, and then saw –
Installing Update 1 of 55.
Do Not Turn Your Computer Off.
Crap!
So I shut the computer off the night before. Which I did last night. But when I shut down this morning, I got the Installing Update 1 of 1.
But it only took a couple of minutes, and it was done. So maybe this was the culprit. But until I could get online, I couldn’t find out what this morning’s update was for.
So next step was to invoke the connection troubleshooting functions built in to Windows. So that that point I started on another project.
The HD in our granddaughter Piper’s HP laptop had died (that seems to be going around a lot lately) and I was going to replace it with a new one, and then re-install Windows 7, which it had originally, and then upgrade it to Windows 10.
I can’t go directly to Win10 because I only have a product key for Win7. So I have to do that one first, and then I can do the ‘free’ upgrade to 10.
So after I got the laptop apart, the old drive out, the new one in, and was installing Win7 from the USB stick, I happened to look over at my computer monitor and it was showing a website.
So I guess either the troubleshooting routine found the problem and fixed it, or it fixed itself. Either way it was working.
Well, working except for the crappy Internet service in Conroe. It seems to get worse every time we come.
Back at Colorado River, with the recent XLTE upgrade, I was showing about 45 Mps on 4G and about 2.75 Mps on 3G. But here today, I’m showing only about 1.15 Mps on 4G. I’m afraid to look at 3G.
If I was even more paranoid than I actually am, I might think it’s a conspiracy to force us to use the park’s new FastWave Wi-Fi system for $3.95 a day, or $14.95 a week.
They wouldn’t be that sneaky, would they?
About 4:30 we drove over to Culver’s for Jan’s Mother’s Day dinner. It’s not that I’m not cheap, I am. But’s it’s what she wanted, and we avoided the crowds.
Then it was on to Wal-Mart for a few things, and Starbuck’s on the way home for a couple of Cinnamon Dolce Lattes.
Unfortunately, our new favorite Smoked Butterscotch flavor is no more.
May 8, 2017
That’s Karma, Not Emma . . .
OK. Despite what yesterday’s blog said, it’s Karma, not Emma.
I guess my only excuse is that for the first year we kept calling her Emma out of habit, and she wore one of Emma’s old tags, because it did have our phone number on it.
And of course, both names end with ‘ma’. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
We finally did get Karma her own tag at the Escapade back in March, when we had the Two Crazy Ladies make one for her.
Later in the morning our next door neighbor came by with some delicious homemade Gingerbread Banana muffins.
And we know they were delicious because we each had one for lunch. While she was here we made plans to have dinner down in La Pine at the Cinco de Mayo Mexican Restaurant sometime later in the week.
Next up was to see if I could get the bracket down that holds our Sony rear camera monitor. And by taking the TV and the DirecTV DVR I was able to finally get that last screw out.
And in doing so, I may have discovered where the noise is coming from. The bracket was cracked through two of the five screw holes which may be causing the ‘popping’ sound as we drive.
But I thought I’d go ahead and try to shockproof everything by cutting up a large rubber washer and placing it between the bracket and the overhead panel.
Then I put smaller rubber washers between the monitor and the bracket.
Then I put it all back together. But of course I won’t know if my fix works until we’re back on the road on May 17th. If doesn’t work I’ll probably have to have the bracket cracks tack-welded. But we’ll see.
About 3:30 we headed into Bend to have dinner at Baldy’s BBQ, another of our favorite local places. But first we made a detour by the local Dodge dealer to try and get a new coolant recovery tank cap, but no luck. They didn’t have them in stock.
Getting to Baldy’s I was planning to order their delicious ribeye, so I was disappointed to find out that they no longer offer it on the menu.
So Jan and I went to their strength. It is a BBQ place after all.
Jan got the full rack of ribs with Fries, Beans, and Mac N Cheese.
I went with the BBQ Combo with Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, and Smoked Ham, along with Salad, Beans, and Corn Pudding.
All really, really good, and of course, plenty of leftovers.
Coming home about 6:30 we stopped off in Sunriver to get a car wash. As usual when we’re in the mountains and are using the PacBrake we got a fine mist of oil on the truck due to blow-by. Unfortunately the car wash didn’t do a very good job so I guess I’ll have to redo it by hand.
Tomorrow I’m going to pull the motor out of the rig step and see if I can figure out what the grinding noise is, and if I can fix it.
May 8, 2018
Nicer Than I Expected . . .
Jan and I headed out about 1pm with our first stop at the Monterey’s up in Alvin for lunch, Jan getting her usual Chicken Ixtapa,
and my big bowl of their great Chicken Tortilla Soup,
the Chicken Tortilla Soup that all others are compared to.
Then we headed back down Hwy 6 and then FM517 to check out storage units. For a long time, before and after we started RV’ing, we had a large storage unit, at 10’ x 25’. It started out as a temporary storage area for our furniture while we were remodeling our house in the mid-90’s. And then it just hung on like a bad cold.
But this time we’re downscaling, probably to a 5’ x 5’ unit, the smallest size they seem to have, at least around here. What we’re looking for is a place to off-load seasonal stuff like our electric heaters, winter quilts and clothes, and then stuff we don’t need unless we’re traveling, like our Brake Buddy braking system.
At first I was thinking about getting 3 of those large plastic shelving units, which would run about $90 and then we’d stack plastic storage bins on them. But then I realized that if we’re just stacking the bins, what do we need shelves for?
The first place we tried, and the one we’re most likely to use, the clerk was at lunch, so we’ll have to check back. But according to their website, a 5’ x 5’ would be $23 per month. Not a bad price, I guess.
Heading up I-45, Jan remembered that there was one of those multi-story Public Storage places at the Victory Lakes exit so we decided to take a look.
Turned out to be about what I expected. Well, except for the price or prices. First off, the price was $42 per month. But then there’s the $25 lock purchase fee, one time only though. And of course you’re required to have insurance on your contents. Which runs a minimum of $11 per month. And then there’s first and last month’s rent.
I’ve rented apartments with less trouble. So we’ll check out the $23 place later this week. Hopefully it’s priced a little more reasonably.
Then it was on to WalMart to pick up new prescription for Jan that got updated after her blood work the other day, and a few other things.
Next up I stopped off at my clients to pick up an Amazon package that had come in this morning. It seems like I’m always looking for a screw, or nut, or bolt, digging through drawers and bins. So when I saw this assortment on Amazon I thought I’d give it a shot. And it’s really nicer than I expected.
It’s a 1300 piece set of SAE bolts, nuts, and washers, metric bolts, nuts, and washers, and an assortment of metal and wood screws, packed in three nice trays that combine into one case.
Deluxe Hardware Assortment
Check it out.
Finishing up, we made a last stop at Harbor Freight for a set of set drill bits for my remote dump valve project. Then it was home about 6pm.
A very nice day.
May 8, 2019
Würzburg
Würzburg, Germany 5/8/2019
Our ship docked at Würzburg at 7am after traveling all night from Bamberg, but we got to rest up since our Würzburg Residenz and Walking Tour didn’t start until 1pm. So we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast and a nice lunch with our friends before we headed for the buses.
Our first stop was, of course, the Würzburg Residenz.
Originally the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg resided in the Marienberg Fortress located on a hill overlooking the Main River and the city.
Note the vertically-planted vineyards. We saw vines planted like this all over Europe, but they’re apparently being phased out due to government safety regs. It seems that the workers slipping and rolling all the way to the bottom is a real problem. So now they’re moving to terracing.
But the Prince-Bishops thought that the Fortress was just too small to measure up to their exalted position. This is what they thought was too dinky for them.
So in 1720 construction was started on the Residenz, but like a lot of these projects, it dragged on through several different rulers, and it took 24 years to finish the exterior buildings, and then another 36 years to finish off the interiors in 1780..
But it was worth it as you can see from these exterior shots.
And what it looks like from the read, out over the gardens.
Unfortunately, like many of these places, the Residenz had a ‘no photos’ rule. Now, of course, I can understand a ‘no flash’ rule, but really, why no photos at all?
And as usual, somebody’s taking photos because they’re all over the Internet, so you get to see some of those. And the place is really something.
We spent a couple of hours touring the palace, and as happened in Nuremberg, when we came out, it had gotten much colder and was now sprinkling. None of which was forecast. Nothing new, of course.
We started the Walking part of the tour, heading into town, about a 15 minute walk, first checking out the Old Stone Bridge.
The first bridge here was built in 1120 A.D., but was destroyed in a flood in 1342. It was rebuilt, and, until 1885, was the only to get to Wurzburg from across the river.
Of course, when it was built, it was a pedestrian bridge, and still is.
As we walked around we came across a number of these burled trees.
I don’t know what the story is on these, but there’s nothing on the Internet about them.But they were all over the place.
Our next stop was at St. Michael’s Church.
Like many churches over here, there have been a series of churches here, with the first one dating to 1221 A.D.
This incarnation dates from 1763, a veritable youngster in this area.
As this point, as evidenced from the raindrops on the photo above, and the fact that it was getting even colder, we decided to end our participation on the walking tour and headed back to the bus. And so did a lot of others.
One last fact is that in 1895, William Roentgen, working in his lab in Wurzburg, discovered X-Rays, and in 1901 was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.
The same one that Sheldon won.
Later at about 7pm, warmer and drier, and with a nap under our belts, we met our friends for dinner.
We both started off with the Ginger Carrot Soup,
Really declivous, and reminded us of the fabled Pie-O-Neer in Pie Town, NM.
Jan had the Grilled Tilapia,
while I once again had my favorite Angus Ribeye. You just can’t have too much steak.
And for dessert, we both had the Apple Strudel.
You can’t go wrong with Apple Strudel in Germany.
Next Up: Wertheim Am Main (Wertheim on the Main River)
May 8, 2020
Würzburg and It All Came Out OK In The End . . .
Heard back from DakotaPost, our SD mailing service, and our Stimulus Checks are on the way down here via Priority Mail. Yah!
Is this the end of Buffets and Cafeterias?
Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, a chain of 97 locations nationwide has announced that they’re shutting down permanently, as they see no way forward in the WuFlu environment.
And I would imagine cafeterias like Luby’s and Piccadilly’s are in the same boat. And I know Ryan’s was already on the ropes as well as Home Town Buffet and Old Country Buffet, also. So can Golden Corral be far behind?
The problem is that these places can’t even afford to open with only a 25% occupancy requirement, or probably not even at 50%. They depend on moving a lot of people through at a steady pace, otherwise they can’t even recoup their costs on the food that they’re putting out.
Jan and I are worried about our local favorite Yummy Yummy. The sign on their door says that they’re closed temporarily and will reopen soon, but I don’t see how until the occupancy % is pretty much back to 100. Crossing our fingers.
Oh, on a separate note, Logan Roadhouse has also filed for bankruptcy, but again they were already having troubles pre-WuFlu.
On a personal note, a few weeks ago after our annual physicals, our doctor gave us both ColoGuard tests to take and send in. Well, last week they came back, with Jan’s coming out negative, but mine came back positive.
Rut Roh!
The last time I had a colonoscopy was December 2007 while I still working full-time and had insurance. Everything was fine, and in fact the doctor was surprised that I had absolutely no polyps whatsoever, especially since I had never had any removed before.
I told him I figured it was all the extremely hot stuff I ate, and that it just cauterized everything down there. He laughed and said, “Could be”.
Reading up on the ColoGuard test, I found in the fine print that it has 13% false positive rate. This from a test that costs $650. So as a double-check, I got a FIT test from the drugstore to check for blood. And it came up negative.
The ColoGuard test actually checks for suspicious DNA that might indicate cancerous polyps, while the FIT just checks for bleeding polyps that might be cancerous.
My doctor has given me a FIT test every other year for a while now and it’s always come back negative too.
So setting up the appointment last week, yesterday was Prep Day for today. And I must say they’ve really improved the whole prep thing. Last time it was a gallon of really foul tasting, chalky liquid that almost made you gag when you drank it. In fact the prep was much worse than the actual colonoscopy.
But this time it was really easy. The SuPrep kit came with two 6oz bottles of liquid and 16oz plastic cup. At 5pm yesterday, I dumped one of the bottles into the cup, topped it up to 16oz with Lipton’s Diet Green Tea and drank it down.
It was a clear liquid with a vague cherry flavor, and mixed with the Green Tea, it was very palatable. Then within the next hour I had to drink two more 16oz drinks.
The only thing that bothered me was the cost of the SuPrep kit. It was $105! And it was just a mixture of sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate, and magnesium sulfate. Now I can buy a pound of food grade sodium sulfate on Amazon for $10, as well as the potassium sulfate (potash), and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts). So for about $30 I could enough of this to make about a hundred kits.
Guess that little plastic cup must be really expensive.
Then at 9pm I had to do it all over again. And all I can say, boy, this stuff will clean you out quick.
I was told that I needed be there at 11:30 for the 12:30 procedure. And for once they were right on time.
After I was prepped in Pre-Op, inserting the I.V., blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, etc., I was rolled into the endoscopy suite at 12:21 and woke up back in my Pre-Op room at 12:45pm. Wow, that was quick. I didn’t even remember dozing off.
And it seems that it was quick because once again I had absolutely no polyps, just a little bit of diverticulosis on one side that’s never caused me any problems.
So I guess I’m one of the lucky 13% of false positives.
In other words, it all came out OK in the end.
BTW you can thank Jan for the fact that I didn’t post the color pictures I was given of the inside of my colon.
May 8, 2021
Happy Almost Mother’s Day . . .
We spent a time this morning sitting out on the patio with our coffee, while wondering how much longer we’ll be able to do this before it gets too hot.
So we’ll just have to enjoy it while it lasts.
Yesterday Brandi posted something Landon gave her for Mother’s Day, and it brought tears to everyone’s eyes.
Brandi said he did this completely on his own, typing it up and decorating it, and every line relates to something about our families.
So sweet.
Oh, BTW He’s ten.
And following up on this, about 4pm we met Brandi, Lowell, and Landon up at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood in Webster for a Mother’s Day get-together.
While Jan got her usual Catfish Filets and Veggies,
I tried something new on the menu, their version of a Wedge Salad.
Really good, and a great addition to their menu.
Lowell got his favorite Chicken Fried Chicken and Fries,
while Brandi got the Chicken Fried Steak and Mashed Potatoes.
Just as delicious as always, and why we’ve been eating here for over 20 years.
Brandi brought along some of the product from her backyard hydroponic garden, Butter Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, Thyme, and Baby Zucchini.
It started like this,
And a few weeks later, it looks like this.
Looking forward to adding this to next week’s salads.
And on another restaurant note, our long-lamented Monterey’s Mexican Kitchen, the one in Dickinson that never reopened after damage from Hurricane Harvey, is scheduled to reopen soon. At least that’s what the banner says that just went up on the front. They’ve been working on it for a couple of months, so it looks like it’s almost done.
Looking forward to it.
Looks like the Chinese booster rocket should be coming down in the next few hours, but no one yet knows where. And we may not until it actually hits something. Or someone, I guess.
It’s like one someone said, paraphrasing Yakov Smirnoff, “In America, you go to Space Station. In China, Space Station come to you”.
May 8, 2022
She Chose Wisely . . .
Especially to Jan, Brandi, and Linda. But also to all Mother’s everywhere.
When I asked Jan where she wanted to go for Mother’s Day, I was expecting her usual go-to place, the Saltgrass Steakhouse down in Galveston. But she surprised me by saying the Pappasito’s Cantina up in Webster.
Now we used to eat here fairly often, but it’s probably been at least 15 years, or maybe more, since we’ve been there. So last Sunday, today being Mother’s Day; I went online and made a reservation.
And as it turns out, she chose wisely.
Turns out that TXDOT decided this past Thursday that starting Friday, to completely close down I-45 both north and southbound leading into Galveston, channeling 3-4 lanes down to one lane on the feeder. And Friday people were reporting that it was taking people 3 hours to drive the 10 miles between La Marque and Galveston.
And the same coming back north.
Jan chose wisely.
Even though we had a reservation, we didn’t know what to expect. Sometimes a reservation doesn’t seem to speed things up. Plus we’ve been spoiled by Saltgrass where we’ve been seated immediately, even though there was a large crowd waiting.
So when we checked in at the desk about 5 till 2, and were told they would text us when our table was ready, I thought to myself, ‘Here we go’. But then they called us for our table right at 2pm.
Great!
And we got a very nice table on the enclosed patio.
Jan had the Camarones Tijuana,
with Broiled Butterflied Rock Shrimp With Chicken And Beef Fajita, Guacamole & Pico De Gallo.
Jan said it was delicious, especially the Rock Shrimp.
I had the El Sombrero,
with a Beef Fajita Soft Taco & Cheese Enchilada, With Guacamole & Pico De Gallo.
We both had leftovers to take home, specifically so we have room for dessert.
Jan had their Homemade Tres Leches,
with a Rich Mexican Vanilla Cake Soaked In Three Milks & Topped With Meringue.
While I had the Dulce de Leche Chocolate Pecan Pie,
With Vanilla Ice Cream & Homemade Cajeta (Caramel Sauce).
Note that we had the desserts packed to-go because we didn’t think we’d be able to finish them either.
And we weren’t. So we had desserts to take home too.
Finally done with our delicious meals, we made quick stops at Sam’s for Jan’s Joint Juice, and HEB for a few groceries, before getting home about 4:30.
For Mother’s Day I got Jan a pair of these earrings.
They’re Sterling Silver, and look like this on an ear.
I know they’re kind of off the wall, but when Jan saw them a couple of months ago, she went ‘Oohhhh!’
So I filled that away for Mother’s Day.
And here they are.
