Our RV Adventures

Today was our get-together with Jan’s long-time friend, Bonnie. Jan and Bonnie worked together at Medical Center del Oro up near the Astrodome back in the early 80’s, and have been friends ever since.

We got to Bonnie’s house a little before 11, and immediately headed back out to have lunch at Big Horn BBQ in that area.

The place is a little bit of everything. It’s a convenience store, a Chevron station, a meat market, a gift shop, and, of course, a BBQ place.

And, in fact, it’s a really good BBQ place.

Jan had their Rib Plate, with Cole Slaw and the Broccoli Salad.

And they give you a lot of ribs, much more than Spring Creek, and for a $1 less.

Bonnie got one of their Burgers.

She said it was big enough that she had half to take home.

I got their 2 Meat Combo Plate, with Ribs and Brisket, and Charro Beans and BBQ Beans.

The Ribs were very meaty and really good. The Brisket was tasty, but I was kind of disappointed that they didn’t have it available with the crunchy outside ‘bark’ on it.

But it was good, as were the spicy Charro Beans and BBQ Beans

Yuumm!

Then we drove back over to Bonnie’s to spend some time catching up on things, including Bonnie’s recent trip to Ireland, as well as getting to know her cats.

Finally saying our goodbyes, we headed back home with a slight detour by the nearby El Pollo Loco to pick up a Chicken meal for Jan, and a big bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup for me. This got us home about 3:15

One of the reasons we wanted to eat at Big Horn was that they are building one right down the road from us, at the corner of FM 646 and 1764. Supposed to be open sometime next month.

I think we’re going to like it.

Though yesterday was cold and rainy, today was sunny and 72°. However though it was still 72 at 5pm, by 7 it was 53, with the cold front bringing in another day of rain. Which we really don’t need, since we ended up with almost 5 inches yesterday.

But that’s Texas weather, now isn’t it.

---

Thought for the Day:

“Maybe we should start emailing each other copies of the Constitution.
That way maybe we can be sure that the government has actually read it.”

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

---

January 26, 2011

Tea Rooms and Cinnamon Buns . . .

14 Days and Counting. . . .

We had another appointment this morning at 10:30 so the doctor could go over some test results. So we headed out about 9:45.

Things went quickly, so by 11 we were having lunch at the Texas Tea Room. And as usual, it was really good. They make a great sandwich.

Our next stop was one of our storerooms. This one contains my mother’s furniture and I’m hoping we can get it emptied before we leave in two weeks.

Then it was on to a client’s office for a few minutes, followed by the bank ATM drive-thru.

Next, after a quick phone call, we headed over to a possible new client’s office in the Ship Channel area. They setting up a new office and want someone to wire it up for Internet and phone service. They’re interested in possibly using VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) for their phone system, which should be much cheaper, considering what 4 lines from AT&T would cost every month, not even considering the phones themselves. We’ll see how it works out.

We got home about 2pm and were in for the evening. The weather was nice enough to actually get some things done outside for a change.

We topped off the evening with hot coffee and the last of our cinnamon buns.

That was about it for today. More tomorrow.

---

January 26, 2012

Monuments and Battleships . . .

Today started with a trip up to the Houston Ship Channel for lunch at Monument Inn. Located right on the Channel, where, along with really great seafood, you get a fascinating view of the large barges and ships coming up from Galveston Bay to the Port of Houston.

We were meeting Rudy Legett and his wife Caroline there for lunch. Rudy is an Aqua Hot Repair Technician, and one of the few that will come to your coach, rather than you having to take your coach to them.

We had a great time getting to know Rudy and Caroline, and hope to run into them on the road again soon.

Leaving Monument Inn, we stopped off right down the road to get some photos of the San Jacinto Monument, where Sam Houston surprised Santa Anna and his troops, and defeated the 1400 main force with only 900 Texans. Over 600 Mexicans were killed, and more than 700 were captured. Meanwhile, only 9 Texans were killed.

Across the road from the Monument, lies the Battleship Texas, the only remaining dreadnaught battleship, and one of the few that served in both WWI and WWII.

The USS Texas fought at the D-Day Landing in Europe, and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific, and after being decommissioned in 1948, became the first US battleship to become a permanent museum.

Coming back to the RV park, I dropped everyone off and headed back into Clear Lake to work with a couple of clients.

Finally getting home about 5 pm, I napped for about an hour, before Jan and I watched one of our favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory, we drove over to Dickinson to have a late dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico.

Tomorrow we’re all going to drive down to Galveston to see the sights, and then tomorrow night we’re having dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

---

January 26, 2013

Jasper’s & More . . .

After a nice, quiet morning with our coffee, a little before 3 Jan and I headed up to Brandi and Lowell’s to meet up for a 50 mile drive up to the Woodlands area to have dinner at one of Lowell’s favorite places, Jasper’s – The Woodlands.

Jasper’s is the brainchild of Kent Rathburn, an award-winning chef, with 4 other highly-regarded restaurants in Texas. He trained in Paris at the famous Le Cordon Bleu Institute. But even more important to our tastes, in 2008 he beat out famed chef Bobby Flay to take the Iron Chef America crown.

We started off with a really delicious Shiner Bock Beer Cheese Soup, maybe the best soup I’ve ever eaten.

And yes, that’s popcorn in the soup, and it adds a nice crunchy texture to the dish. A novel touch.

For our entrées Brandi and I had their award-winning Ribs, Jan had the Crab Cakes, and Lowell had the Prime Rib. And we all agreed how good it was

For a light dessert, we tried out their “mini’s”, small, about the size of a shot glass, but just the right amount.

Jan and I split the Caramel Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream. Brandi also had the Bread Pudding, while Lowell had the Butterfinger Creme Brûlée.

The perfect end to a fantastic meal.

After dinner we had planned to take in a nearby movie, but realized that we were so full that we’d probably all just fall asleep.

So instead we just walked around the Market Street area and took in the many high-end shops and stores. Jan and Brandi made a stop at the Baby Gap store for some new jammies.

---

Jan’s sister, Debbie, sent over these shots of her granddaughters (our great-nieces). Below is Ella, the new addition, Annisten, and Avery Jane. Really cute kids.

And this little beauty is Gwen.

---

January 26, 2014

Do Big Cats Dream of Electric Dogs?

We got in a 1 mile walk this morning, and will probably do another one tomorrow morning since the weather starts to get cold and crappy from Monday night on.

Since it was not too windy, we sat outside for a while with our coffee and finished up the last of the Buc-ee’s Cranberry Nut muffins that we got a few days ago.

We left Mister outside on his leash with the door open most of the afternoon as we often do when the weather is nice. Later I heard dogs barking outside and looked out the door. I saw Mister in his usual place out in the sun, which puts him pretty much at the end of his leash. The two dogs, one, a young yellow lab about 40#, and the other a small poodle about 15#, were about 10 feet away barking at Mister, who for his part, just lay there watching them.

What happened next was really something. Mister had a strategy. He turned his back on the dogs and slowly walked back toward the coach, making about 6 feet of slack in his leash. Then he turned back around and crouched down, facing the dogs. I then realized what he was doing.

He had a plan. He was luring them closer!

And they fell for it. They both came nearer, ending up a couple of feet inside where his leash reached. And he knew it.

At this point his rear end came up and started swaying back and forth, just like you see on NatGeo right before the cougar pounces on the unwary antelope. But not wanting dog parts splattered all over the toad and the rig, I yelled at the dogs a couple of times and they ran off.

After a few seconds, Mister turned around and gave me a really dirty look, like I was spoiling his fun. Then he stalked back over to his spot in the sun, curled up and went back to sleep, probably dreaming of dogs that got away.

---

Our son-in-law Lowell sent over a photo of Landon wearing the glow-in-the-dark Thomas the Tank Engine shirt I bought him at the train show a few weeks ago.

Now all I need is a night shot.

Jan and I headed out a little before 4 PM so she could get the haircut she missed yesterday. And even on Sunday, she had almost an hour wait before she got started. But I was just fine waiting in the truck since I had my Kindle Paperwhite to keep me occupied.

For my part, I was happy to see her walk out of the hair place with a smile on her face. Sometimes she comes out with a scowl because she’s not happy with her cut, and I hear about it.

A lot.

Jan had said she wanted breakfast for supper tonight so after she was finished with her hair, we drove across the large parking lot to the nearby IHOP, the same one we tried to eat at with our friends Bob and Maria last Sunday morning. Then there was a 30+ minute wait so we ended up going to the breakfast buffet down on SH146 at La Brisa.

But tonight there were only a couple of other diners when we got there, though after a while the place started to fill up. I did note to Jan that I thought we were the only couple in there under the age of 70. If some of the others weren’t over 70, then they had led a really hard life.

Tomorrow it’s back to more client stuff. Busy, busy, busy.

---

January 26, 2015

Three in One Day . . .

After coffee and muffins this morning I got on the phone with Thousand Trails to change our reservations around. Originally we were staying here at Lake Conroe until Feb. 4th and then over to Colorado River for two weeks until Feb. 18th. Then it would be back to Lake Conroe until the 1st of March when we’ll head for Tucson and the Escapade.

But we’ve got friends coming into the Colorado River TT on Wednesday or Thursday, so we’ll flip our schedule around and go back to Colorado River a week early, on the 28th. Then when they head out around the 4th of February, Jan and I will come back to Lake Conroe for two weeks. Then it’s back to Columbus until the 1st of March.

Besides, it also puts us 120 miles closer to Tucson when we finally head that way. And of course, it’s still possible that we may get some time down at Galveston Bay RV Resort, but that seems less likely every day.

* * * * *

Last Wednesday, I pulled out my Sears Air Compressor to top off one of my rig tires before we headed over here to Lake Conroe, and quickly noticed it was taking a long time. In fact it wasn’t making a lot of headway at all. Looking closer I found that the hose coming out of the compressor was pulled loose and leaking air. I was able to get my tire taken care of, but wanted to replace the hose as quickly as possible.

I found one at Wal-Mart the other day, so I pulled out the compressor again today and took care of the problem. As it turns out the new hose is a lot longer so I won’t have to move the compressor around as much.

The old hose is the black one at the top of the photo.

Next up, I got back to work on the shower. I was finally able to get the retaining clip to seat correctly, which let me completely reassemble the handle. So now everything works like it’s supposed to, and, more importantly, so far it looks like the leakage problem is also fixed.

When we visited Brandi and Lowell yesterday and got our mail, one of the things that came in was a new spray nozzle for our Moen Kitchen Sink faucet. For once this was a simple repair. Just unscrew the old nozzle and screw on the new one. Leak fixed.

So that’s three repairs in one day. I wish every day was that productive.

---

January 26, 2017

Turn, Turn, Turn . . .

Well, we got our surprise turn-around to night shift today. After I got off today at 5pm, I come back in tomorrow evening at 5:30pm

But it’s only me that’s turning around. Jan is off until she comes back in for two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, only still on day shift. After that we don’t know for her.

We were hoping to both be able to work until we leave in a few weeks, but right now that’s up in the air.

We’ll see how it goes. It seems things change minute by minute.

I had only 5 vehicles into the pad today, but that’s all going to change in the next couple of days when the frack crew starts moving in. Then it’s going to get really busy.

After last night’s Whataburger visit, tonight we decided to again visit La Bella Tavola for dinner. This is our 3rd visit in the week we’re been here because it’s that good.

Last time we had pizza, but this time we went back for the pasta dishes. Jan once again got her favorite Chicken Alfredo.

While I had my new favorite dish for the first time, Chicken Florentine.

It’s two chicken breasts sautéed with fresh mushrooms, fresh garlic, and fresh spinach in a sherry wine cream sauce over spaghetti. Probably the best pasta dish I’ve ever had. So it’s my new go-to dish there.

Unless we have pizza.

We’ve been eating out more than usual just because of our limited time after working a 12 hour shift. And Jan (or me) just doesn’t feel like actually fixing anything. So we either eat out or we have leftovers from eating out.

We’ll both get another meal out of tonight’s dishes, and we got 3 leftover meals from the pizza. In fact the only place we don’t have leftovers from is Whataburger.

But that’s because it’s Whataburger.

---

January 26, 2018

Just in Time . . .

I mentioned the other day about my time crunch getting a mail-out ad card designed and the mailing list culled and cleaned up and off to the direct mail company by 1pm today.

It didn’t help that I was having to dodge the workmen putting up the new sheetrock ceiling throughout the office. Everything needed to be uploaded by 1 so that it could be printed, addressed, and in the mail by Tuesday morning. And I did it just in time with 5 minutes to spare.

Here’s the ad card I came up with:

FRONT:

BACK:

I could have probably done a little better without the time-crunch, but the client was really happy and that’s what matters.

Up until recently there were two blogs I read every day. First up was Dr. Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor and then Robert Bruce Thompson’s Daynotes Journal.

If most people have heard of Jerry Pournelle, it’s as a best-selling science fiction writer, authoring dozens of books over the years. But most people don’t know about his involvement in the very beginnings of the home computer revolution, and in the nation’s space program.

He is credited with originating the very first blog, before the term (weB LOG) was even created. He called it a ‘Daybook’ and it ran on BIX (Byte Information Exchange) and GEnie networks starting in the 1985 timeframe, almost 10 years before the World Wide Web got cranked up. However, he never called his Daybook a blog, since he never liked the term.

The other thing he was first in, was submitting the first major published book written on a home computer word processor . . . in 1977.

He started working in the aerospace industry with Boeing in the late 1950’s, working on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. He also was a consultant on the space program to President George H.W. Bush

Unfortunately Dr. Pournelle died at the age of 84 in September 2017. So now I was down to one.

Robert Bruce Thompson started out in 1980’ writing top-selling computer books, like Building The Perfect PC, PC Hardware in a Nutshell, PC Hardware Buyer’s Guide. etc. His prolific output lasted into the early 2000’s when the market for computer books faded.

But Robert was a chemist by background and in 2009, lamenting the death of the home chemistry set, started producing a line of Chemistry, Honors Chemistry, Biology, and Forensic Lab Kits specifically aimed at homeschoolers, but usable by anyone who was interested.

The kits allow students to cover everything normally available in the public school course, but on their kitchen counter.

And along with the kits, he also wrote the almost 400-page manuals that went with them.

In addition to all this, he was also into the prepping scene and regularly talked about long-term food storage, and being prepared for any disaster, natural or man-made, that might interrupt our way of life.

A real Renaissance man.

At 64 he seemed to be in good health, but about six weeks ago he caught a cold he couldn’t seem to shake and went to the doctor for the cough. The doctor gave him decongestants and other things and sent him home.

A week later he went to the ER because he was having trouble breathing. He was immediately hospitalized with congestive heart failure. And he never came out.

Although the blog posts from his wife and friends put a good face on how well he was doing, and how much he was improving, reading between the lines dispelled this.

He died six days ago on January 20th.

And that was two.

So I’m running out of blogs.

---

January 26, 2019

Jan’s Hooked . . .

We both are.

After a nice, quiet morning, Jan and I headed out about 12:30, on our way up to Webster to have lunch/breakfast at The Egg and I. Breakfast is pretty much our favorite meal, so we regularly have breakfast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

We both got our usual, with Jan’s Avocado Toast and a side of Dressed Greens, and my Eggs, Bacon, Fruit, and an English Muffin. And of course their great Hazelnut coffee.

Delicious as usual.

Then it was on to the nearby HEB for some more of the Lola Savannah Texas Pecan coffee, both regular and Vanilla Cinnamon.

It’s only sold as whole beans,  so I have to grind it there. You can see that it’s just full of pecan pieces. And it smells so good after it’s ground that even the checkout girl commented on it.

I mentioned the other day about my next step in looking for the oil leak on our rig. I’m going to use a sprayer to clean all the oil off the area, and then drop the oil filter to get a closer look at the area. Then I’ll reinstall a new filter just in case there was a problem with the replacement.

I’ve been around electronics long enough (pretty much since I was 10) to have run into cases where the replacement part is just as broken as the original. But my first thought was, what are the odds that two different oil filters would have the exact same leaking problem?

But then I thought that RV Mobile Lube probably buys filters by the case, and a case of filters is probably all from the same manufacturer’s lot. And maybe all with the same problem.

Maybe.

Anyway, since I’m taking the filter down I might as well replace it with a new one . . . from Amazon. And I also ordered the recommended band wrench to take it off. You can’t get a strap wrench in there,

and the 3-pronged ones are known for crimping the filters.

The only problem now is when the weather will cooperate, being warm enough/dry enough to make it work.

Finishing up, besides being the love of my life, Jan has a couple of other nice attributes. She likes airplanes/airshows and she likes science fiction. So now we’re both hooked on two new Sci-Fi shows – Project Blue Book and Roswell, New Mexico.

We’ve watched the first couple of episodes of both and they’re really good. Project Blue Book is a 10 episode limited series detailing Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s work on the Project for the Air Force, starting back in the early 50’s. He started out being a skeptic and evolved into a believer.

There are 3 episodes of Blue Book so far, and if you want to catch up you can stream them on History.com.

Roswell, New Mexico is a sequel to Roswell, a TV series that aired for 3 seasons starting in 1999. And Roswell was based on a series of books called Roswell High.

This new series picks up with the same characters 10 years after the original, but so far, you don’t seem to have had to watch the original to know what’s going on.

Check’em out.

---

January 26, 2020

Well, It Was A Nice Drive, Anyway . . .

I give up. It’s going to be Cummins’ problem now.

As you probably can figure out, I’ve still got my oil leak. But once again, things have changed. The leak was less than it was when we took the rig up to Kingsland last November, but more than it was originally when we would only lose about a gallon every 300 miles or so.

So it seems obvious that the leak is related to this gasket, because every time I fool with it, the amount of leakage seems to change, but I just haven’t figured out yet.

But other than that, it was a very nice drive since overnight the 80% chance of rain forecasted for tonight dropped to 10% overnight, and we ended up with a nice sunny day in the 60’s.

And since nothing came loose, broke, or fell off, it was really a nice drive. Except for the pesky oil leak, of course.

So after we get back from Alabama on the 16th, I’ll get on the phone with the Cummins dealer up north of Houston and see about scheduling a visit. I guess Jan and I will be hoteling it for a while while that’s going on. As long as we’re ready to go by the first part of June, we’ll be fine. That’s when we’ve got our big family get-together over in Gulf Shores AL and then Jan and I will head on over to Florida to visit a couple of old friends.

We got up to the Buc-ee’s in Katy about 1pm and a few minutes later Brandi, Lowell, and Landon showed up to take us over to Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro for lunch. We were all looking forward to it since we hadn’t been there for about a year. Brandi and Lowell used to live about 5 minutes from Little V’s so we ate there often, but since they moved a good bit further away, not so much.

Both Jan and I tried new dishes, with Jan getting the Chicken Skewers,

while I got the Shaking Beef Plate.

I don’t know what they do to make these chunks of beef so tender, but they literally melt in your mouth. Delicious.

Finally back at the rig, I topped off the oil and we headed home, getting parked in our site about 5pm

Site Sweet Site.

---

January 26, 2021

Aliens and Indians . . .

Our day consisted of lunch of Baby Back Ribs at Spring Creek BBQ. and some time consolidating some things at our storeroom.

Then it was a Cowboy Coffee stop on the way home for Blended Sugar-Free Pumpkin Praline coffees with Almond Milk. And when we got home we sat outside and listened to Jan’s Christmas.

Very nice day!

Jan and I are looking forward to a new show that starts tomorrow on SyFy (stupid name) called Resident Alien.

Starting Alan Tudyk of Firefly fame, it’s about an alien who crash lands near a remote Colorado mountain town. His mission is to scout the earth for an alien conquest, but disguised as a human, he ends up as the town doctor and helps to solve a murder. Only a 9 year old boy can see him for what he really is.

It’s billed as a Comedy-Drama, though it starts out a little darker it seems.

Recently I came across this neat photo showing a scene from Arizona Now and Then.

Even the path is still there. Amazing.

---

January 26, 2023

It Was Automatic . . .

Lunch today was at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood up in Webster, another of those places where we used to eat all the time, but it’s somehow fallen off our list. In fact the last time we ate there was last March.

But it was as good as always.

Jan started with a Side Salad,

while I led off with a bowl of their Shrimp Gumbo.

Just chock full of Shrimp.

Then Jan segued on to the Grilled Catfish with Grilled Veggies.

while I actually had a Wedge Salad for my meal.

More like half a head than just a wedge. But plenty of bacon and Bleu Cheese, as well as the other goodies.

All delicious!

Moving on, we decided to save our Costco visit until this weekend, so next up was a stop at the office before heading back down to our area for a Wal-Mart stop before heading home about 4pm.

Another nice day.

Had something strange happen while we were eating at Kelley’s Country Cookin’ last week. While I was eating, my phone was sitting on the table, and I had not touched it for a few minutes. Then suddenly my phone lit up with a flashing red screen and a siren sound, showing that it was now dialing 911.

I shut it down as soon as I could, hoping that I had gotten to it before it actually dialed. But no such luck.

About 15 seconds later I got a call back from Emergency Services wanting to know if everything was all right. I told her what had happened and that my phone seemed to have done it all on its own, and I thought I had stopped it in time.

She then got a little fussy about calls like this, saying that I should have called them to let them know that it was a mistake, because they got too many calls like this that they didn’t have time for.

OK, wait.

She wanted me to call 911 to tell them that my call, which I was hoping hadn’t gone through, was just a mistake so I wouldn’t be wasting their time with non-emergency calls.

Huh?

Now I knew that I had the Automatic SOS feature turned off on my phone, and that anyway, it normally took 5 presses of the power button to activate it. Then after 60 seconds it would automatically call. And I knew I had not pressed the Power button 5 times.

But when I got home I found that when I recently upgraded my phone to Android 13, that it magically turned the SOS feature back on, AND that it now only takes pressing the Power button 3 times to activate it.

Well, thanks for letting me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A groundbreaking study shows kids learn better on paper, not screens.

The Department of Education’s most recent survey, released in June, was certainly sensational: it found that text comprehension skills of 13-year-olds had declined an average of four points since the Covid-affected school year of 2019-2020, and more alarmingly that the average drop was seven points compared with the 2012 figure. The results for the worst-performing students fell below the reading skill level recorded in 1971, when the first national study was conducted.

Until recently there has been no scientific answer to this urgent question, but a soon-to-be published, groundbreaking study from neuroscientists at Columbia University’s Teachers College has come down decisively on the matter: for “deeper reading” there is a clear advantage to reading a text on paper, rather than on a screen, where “shallow reading was observed”.

For more than a decade, social scientists, including the Norwegian scholar Anne Mangen, have been reporting on the superiority of reading comprehension and retention on paper. As Froud’s team says in its article: “Reading both expository and complex texts from paper seems to be consistently associated with deeper comprehension and learning” across the full range of social scientific literature.

Funny thing about this study is that this has been known in the Graphic Design industry for years. At least 20 in fact.

Back when I was WebMaster at the School of Business at UHCL (University of Houston-Clear Lake) from 2001 to 2008, I took a number of Graphics Design courses. Hey, they were free since the University was paying for them.

And one thing that was emphasized over and over was that people don’t process words on the screen the same way they do on paper. I actually figured this out years before, noticing that it was much easier and more accurate to proofread text on paper.

And it also makes a difference in how you format text on the screen. Grammar rules say a paragraph should have at least 3 sentences in it. Not true on the screen.

That’s why you see short paragraphs on this blog, some with only 1 sentence. And also why I will print out anything that I need to read closely.

Tomorrow we’re getting together with one of Jan’s former co-workers for lunch. And we may try the Big Horn BBQ there, especially since we’ve got a new one going in right down the road from us here in Santa Fe.

Big Horn BBQ Menu

Basically BBQ and Burgers and associated fare.

Looking forward to it.

Since midnight, we’ve had 3.52 inches of rain, pretty much just steady all day, but not really heavy. And it looks like more to come over the next few days.

---

Thought For The Day:

Why is it some women won’t date a guy that still lives with his mom, but will date a guy that still lives with his wife?

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

---

January 24, 2011

16 Days and Counting . . .

Our day started off with good coffee from our daughter-in-law’s Christmas present, and then got even better.

About 12:30 Jan’s dentist called with a cancellation, so Jan will get her last appointment done tomorrow afternoon, instead of Feb. 16th.  So this means we can push up our departure date from the 17th to the 9th. Which means we’ve got 16 days and counting before we leave.

Yayyyy!

The hitch itch is getting bad, believe me.

Later we left the rig about 1:45 to meet our friends Bob & Maria at King Food up in Webster, our favorite local Chinese place. As usual we sat around just talking for a good while. We’ve known Bob & Maria since the mid-80’s and always have fun together.

Finally leaving King Food, we stopped off at Brandi’s to drop off some clothes for Landon that Jan got at Kohl’s yesterday. BabyDaddy Lowell was already home working from there when we stopped by.

As we were heading home, a friend called about a problem he was having with his slides and levelers. Sounded like to me that he was right in thinking that his hydraulic pump system was low on fluid. He said he’d checked the level with the levelers down and the slides out. I told him that on my PowerGear system, the levelers had to be retracted before you can check the fluid level. His HWH hydraulic system handles both his levelers and his slides. Our levelers are hydraulic, but our slide is all electric.

Passing through Dickinson, we stopped at the Sonic Drive-In to pick Jan up a foot-long chili cheese coney to have later for supper, along with some Ched’R Poppers.

We got home a little before 5:30 and were really glad to be in out of the rain. It started raining yesterday evening, and has pretty much rained ever since. All this rain we’re having is certainly not helping me get all the outside jobs done on the RV. Hopefully it will dry up soon.

My friend called back a little after 6 saying that his fluid level was low, and that adding a quart of transmission fluid had fixed the problem. Glad he got it taken care of.

---

January 24, 2012

Katz and Penzey . . .

Our busy day started about 11am when we headed into Houston for the day of shopping and sightseeing.

But our first stop was Katz’s Deli in the Montrose area. Jan and I have eaten here several times. Katz’s is an authentic New York deli that was transported to Texas in 1979 and it’s been booming ever since.

They have Reubens literally 6 inches high, that are delicious, and at that size, really hard to wrap your mouth around.

Along with the fantastic Broccoli/Cheese Soup, Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, and Crunchy Kosher Dill Pickles, it was a meal made in Heaven. Well, maybe not, since the Jewish religion is somewhat ambivalent on the whole Heaven/Hell thing, but, anyway, it was really, really good.

Waddling out of Katz’s, we headed over to the Heights area to visit Penzeys Spices, a mecca of attraction for Jan. They have pretty much any spice or seasoning you can think of, in any size or variety.

Need 9 different kinds of cinnamon from 4 different countries? They’ve got it.

Need 6 different forms of vanilla? You’ve come to the right place.

Of course I just sat in the truck and read my Kindles while Jan spent our money.

Finally leaving Penzeys a few dollars poorer, we headed over to the Galleria area to The Container Store.

Jan and I have been coming here for years, always fascinated by the many containers and gadgets they have. Pretty much any way to store anything you can imagine.

We left The Container Store about 3:30, hoping to get ahead of the going-home traffic. And we made it, but just barely. As we came down off Beltway 8 onto I-45, we started seeing lights, police cars, and fire trucks.

Turns out, an SUV traveling at a high rate of speed on the feeder, had jumped the curb, flipped over, knocked over a light pole, and crashed into 4 or 5 new cars at a VW dealership, ending up upside down on top of the cars.

Bummer! I hate it when that happens.

Back in our area, we stopped off at Brandi’s to pick up our mail, and then drove over to Fry’s Electronics for what turned out to be a fruitful visit.

Since it was now about 5pm and we were finally hungry after our big lunch at Katz’s, we drove over to King Food, which was nearby. Jan and I had our usual great meal.

Finally, after a long, but fun, day, and a quick stop at a CVS, we were back home for the night.

---

January 24, 2013

It’s Landon Time!

or A Random Act of Kindness.

Today was our day to get some quality Landon time, so we planned to take him to the Bayou Wildlife Park between Dickinson and Alvin, and then spend the rest of the day together.

We left the rig about 8:30 (OMG), but had a few stops first before we picked him up. First up was a Starbuck’s run to get some caffeine in us, since we didn’t make coffee before we left.

Then, after a quick trip through the bank next door, it was across the street to Jack Box’s place for a breakfast sandwich for Jan. Finally our last stop before getting Landon was to the house to get his car seat for the trip.

When we got to the daycare, he was in his Computer Class (he also has Spanish Classes there too) but was ready to leave with us.

I’ve always been impressed by the security at the daycare. First off, you don’t even get buzzed in unless they know you, or expect you. And if you’re not a parent, you can’t pick up a child unless a parent has told them you’re coming, and your name must be in their files ahead of time. Very nice.

Finally getting Landon buckled into his car seat, we headed out. While I was trying to get him situated, he kept looking at me like he was wondering what kind of idiot couldn’t do this.

Hey,  there’s a lot of buckles and straps, OK?

It was only about 20 minutes to the park, and we got there just as it opened. (I love it when a plan comes together.)

The last time we were here was in the early 80’s when Landon’s mother, Brandi, was only about 7 – 8 years old. So it’s been a while.

Paying our admission at the gate, and getting our food buckets,

and heading into the park, we were quickly greeted by a welcoming committee. They had figured out that they had the best shot at the food by getting there early.

We had llamas,

American Elk,

goats,

and even this evil-looking Emu. It’s easy to see why scientists think birds evolved from dinosaurs.

And they all just came right up and stuck their heads in the car window.

Landon wasn’t too thrilled about this part. He didn’t cry, but he did keep saying “Close window, close window. Go way, go way.”

Next we crossed over a cattle gate and drove out into a wide-open area just filled with animals. Everything from deer, antelope, llamas, alpacas, elk, ostriches, and emus, to kangaroos, swans, and ducks. Oh, my.

Parking at the main building we checked out the Petting Zoo,

and the giraffes in their pen right next door.

After seeing this sign, I told Jan I was going to search her before we headed home. We have two cats. We don’t need a goat.

By now it was time for our tram ride through the rest of the park. They’re completely open so you can get up close and personal with the animals. Sometimes closer than you really want to be, especially for Jan and Landon, as you’ll see a little bit later.

As we headed out there were animals everywhere we looked. And what was really amazing was how many of them Landon could name.

This guy would have emptied the whole bucket if Jan had let him.

These are ring-tailed lemurs. They have two different compounds of them, surrounded by water to keep them in.

You don’t realize how big swans are until you see them up close. This guy’s about 4 feet tall. That’s a lot of bird.

When the herd of American Bison surrounds the tram, you began to wonder just how sturdy the tram was.

And this Watusi Cow didn’t help things any.

I thought this Bactrian Camel (two humps) was going to climb into the tram with Jan.

He took a liking to Landon’s brightly-colored backpack and decided he wanted it.

And came after it.

She kept trying to push him away, but a 1500-pound camel doesn’t push very easily.

I’m not sure if Jan was trying to protect Landon here, or trying to get Landon to save her.

But luckily he finally gave up as the tram pulled away.

They even have gators. But luckily they don’t come up to the tram to be fed.

This is Cleo, their Southern White Rhino. She weighs almost two tons, and is 5 feet high and 9 feet long.

Now that’s a big girl.

A Red Kangaroo.

Getting back to the barn, Landon picked out a new friend at the gift shop. Jan asked him if he also wanted a T-shirt.

He said, “No shirt. Just Monkey.”

He named him Eek Eek.

I think he now has 3 monkeys named Eek Eek.

I saw this sign on the side of the barn, and it is correct.

Alvin, TX holds the record for the most rain in the continental US in a 24 hour period. Tropical Storm Claudette came in from the Gulf and just hunkered down and stayed.

We were very lucky our house didn’t get flooded, and we’re built pretty high.

And it looks like you can start your own zoo here.

Need a breeding pair of zebras? They’ve got them.

How about a half dozen Scimitar Horned Oryx . . . Oryxes . . .Oryxi?  Whatever.  You’ve come to the right place.

Or maybe you’ve always wanted a pet Water Buffalo?  You can git’em here.

About 12:30 we headed back to the house. We had a great time, and Landon said he did too. Maybe we’ll bring him back next year, so he can enjoy it even more.

On the way home, we stopped at Wendy’s for lunch. For Landon that was Chicken Nuggets and Apple Slices.

While Jan and Landon rested and played, I visited some clients and took care of some problems. And by the time I got back to the house, it was after 4pm, so we all headed out to Barcenas Mexican Restaurant, right outside the subdivision, a place Landon always enjoys.

He really likes their Queso.

As far as the Random Act of Kindness, I kept waiting for the waiter to bring our check after we were finished. Finally, I asked him for it, and he said the guy in the booth behind us had paid our check for us.

Huh?

I remember glancing at him when I sat down, and Jan said when he left she had looked at him and didn’t recognize him.

Maybe he was just messing with us. A couple of times over the years, I’ve paid the toll for the car behind me, just for the hell of it. But I never bought anyone’s dinner.

I did ask our waiter if the guy had also paid our tip. He smiled and said “No.” So I asked him how much our bill was, $35 as it turns out, and I tipped him on it.

Leaving Barcenas, we drove over to the nearby Wal-Mart for some groceries and a few other things, and then it was back to the house.

By the time we got back, Landon had finally zonked out, after a very busy day.

Brandi and Lowell had used this Landon respite to have dinner at Cheesecake Factory, so when they got home a little after 7pm, Jan and I headed out. We did make a quick stop at the Monterey’s Little Mexico in Dickinson for a call-ahead order of chips and salsa to go with our meal tomorrow.

Hopefully the day won’t start so early tomorrow.

---

January 24, 2014

30 Days and Counting . . .

Well, we did survive the storm. Here at the rig it was still 32 degrees when I got up at 10 AM (didn’t go to bed until after 2 AM). By noon it had dropped to 30 degrees and we had an ice film on the windows and icicles hanging from the awnings

At the same time it was 47 degrees in Fairbanks, AK. I think we sucked all the cold air down here from up there. Who ever heard of going up to Fairbanks to get warm?

I had planned to visit a couple of clients today, but since it never really got above freezing around here, and the TV kept talking about icy roads in the area, I just stayed home.

Jan did go outside for a few minutes to feed the birds, but I don’t like birds that much and just stayed inside all day where it was warm.

---

If we stay on schedule, we will be leaving here 1 month from today. The only problem is that we don’t know where we’re going yet. But we’ll come up with something by then.

The only definite time/place we have planned for this year so far is the 54th Escapade this coming May 12th thru the 17th in Goshen, IN.

And I just found out today that I will be giving one or more of my “Gate Guarding for Fun? and Profit”  seminars at the Escapade, the same seminar I gave last year at a rally in Celina, OH.  And now we’ve got another Gate Guarding experience under our belts. See you there.

---

Jan fixed a big batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies later in the afternoon. Warm cookies and hot coffee really hit the spot in this weather. It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow, maybe up into the 60’s, but not for long. The cold weather’s coming back with a vengeance and Tuesday’s low here in San Leon is supposed to be 23 degrees.

Make it stop!

---

Saw an interesting program the other day that really made me think. Right now car enthusiasts are still collecting 40 – 50 year old cars from the 60’s and 70’s. But 30 or 40 years from now there may be no classic cars from today. Or at least no running ones.

The problem is the computer chips/modules used in the engines for the last 20 years or so. Even now there are some cars manufactured in the 1990’s for which engine computers/chips are no longer available from the manufacturer. So some people are now scouring junkyards trying to find parts to keep their babies running.

So stock up now and corner the market.

---

January 24, 2015

Almost Fixed . . .

Well, as was forecast, it was sunny, dry, and 61 degrees today. Nice for a change.

About 3pm I set Jan up outside at the picnic table with a power cord so she could use the electric skillet to cook up the 4# of hamburger we got at Wal-Mart yesterday. We try to never cook anything like that in the coach since it really seems to get into the fabrics. Our ceiling is carpeted and the perfect medium to hold the smell. And the vent fan on the microwave doesn’t seem to help much.

I regularly see people cooking things like bacon outside, I guess for the same reason, since they don’t eat outside, but go back in their coach.

Later in the afternoon, I went outside to turn off the water so I could change out the shower faucet cartridge. Pulling it out proved to be more difficult than I figured. I used the puller to get it loose, but it would only come out about an inch and a half and then stop. I finally grabbed the handle with a pair of pliers and twisted it as I pulled, and it finally came out.

But it left large chunks of the rubber parts inside. Here the new and old cartridges.

There are two slots located at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock inside the faucet body where the hot and cold enters the faucet, and they were now stopped up with the pieces of rubber missing from the cartridge. But I was not able to get the pieces out with anything I had. I needed something with a sharp hook on the end.

So finally I drove down to Lowe’s and bought a set of picks like this.

With the right tools it just took me a couple of minutes to get the pieces out.

Next I coated the rubber parts of the new cartridge with silicone grease and slid it into the faucet, but when I tried to insert the retaining clip, I found it wouldn’t go all the way in. I played with it for a good while but finally ran out of time when supper was ready.

The faucet is working and I was able to turn the water back on, but because the retaining clip is sticking up, I can’t put the escutcheon ring back on. This means the handle does not hit the stops so you can rotate it continuously around and around. I’ll have to figure out the problem later. But it’s almost fixed.

Jan used part of the hamburger she cooked for tonight’s dinner of delicious Hamburger Mac, and we’ll vacuum seal and freeze the rest of it for later.

Tomorrow, we’re going down to Brandi and Lowell’s in Katy to pick up our mail, help Lowell set up his new computer, and, of course, have dinner at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro.

Looking forward to it.

---

January 24, 2016

PEMEX and Power On . . .

Today was a perfect day for a walk with 60 degrees and sun. Our first loop was 1.07 miles, a little further than our normal 1.01, but  I think that’s because I doubled back a couple of times to check out other sites where we might like to park sometime.

While we were walking the first loop, we passed a lady walking the other way and said hi. Then she stopped off while we were having our coffee and bread. Dorothy Weaver and her husband live in a BigHorn 5th wheel right across the street from us. They’re from Houston, and have traveled a lot in the past, but don’t travel as much as they used to. We did have a good time comparing the different places we’d been, though. Fun!

Before we walked our 2nd leg, Jan started a big batch of chili in the slow cooker for tonight’s dinner. Really smells good in the coach.

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I had finally been able to repair my son Chris’ Galaxy S5 phone.

The problem started with a dropped phone and a cracked glass screen.

https://ourrvadventures.com/2016/01/but-the-patient-died/

As I detailed above, I first tried to carefully remove the cracked glass from the digitizer underneath. A replacement glass is only about $10 so if I could just get it off without damaging the LCD/Digitizer screen underneath, I could save a lot of money.

But after repeatedly reheating the glass and carefully prying it off using playing cards as shims, and about two hours work, I finally was able to separate the glass from the screen underneath.

But that’s when I discovered that LCD/Digitizer screen was already cracked along a crack in the g;ass. and only the glued-on glass was holding it all together. So now the fix was going to be a good bit more expensive than $10.

More like $150.

After finally receiving the new glass-screen combo, I started carefully prying off the busted screen, trying to keep it in one piece so I don’t get little shards of glass all in the phone. But after several hours work spread over a couple of days, I got it off pretty much in one piece.

But the further problem I found was getting the broken glass from around the HOME button without damaging it or ripping it apart.

But another hour or so of carefully picking the glass off and then removing the glue residue took care of that problem.

Once that was done, it was a pretty quick job to remove the film covering the glue strips on the new screen, connect up the electrical cables, and then press it into place.

And a few minutes later, it was Power On.

It’s Alive, again.

When we were down in the Clear Lake area on Saturday, I saw a station selling Unleaded for $1.39⁹, 10 cents a gallon less than the cheapest station in the area.

A second look was even more surprising. It was a Pemex station, Pemex being the national oil company of the country of Mexico.

It’s certainly the first time I’ve heard of them opening stations in the US. I guess when you’re a country, it’s easy to underprice your competition.

Speaking of competition, why is it that you find two gas stations, half a block apart, both nice, big and brightly lit , where one, a Valero, is selling Unleaded for 1.49⁹, and the other, an Exxon station, has Unleaded for $1.79⁹?

With a 30 cents a gallon difference, why does the Exxon have any business?

For dinner tonight we had a big bowl of the Chili that slow-cooked all afternoon.

Jan tears up pieces of corn tortillas into the Chili, and then we have other tortillas with it. It’s good every time, and this was no different. YUM !

Tomorrow we’re meeting Janice and Dave Evans, and Debi and Ed Hurlburt for lunch at El Bosque, our favorite local Mexican place. Really looking forward to it.

---

January 24, 2017

Vehicular Overcast . . .

The first time we drove out to our new gate, we noticed this house high up on the hill overlooking the road. As we got closer we realized how large it was.

In fact it kind of reminded us of our visit to Hearst Castle out in California in 2010, but with less trees.

As we got closer we talked about where they got all their money, and I said, “Black Gold, Texas Tea.” And sure enough it was true.

Here’s the entrance to the estate.

“Oro Negro.” Black Gold in Spanish.

And when I zoomed in with my Panasonic Lumix, it was obvious how extensive the place really was.

And it turns out that they own all the land around the area, including the 100’s of wells, all pumping out money by the barrel full.

For the second time on my trips back to the pad, I came over a rise and found a skunk ambling down the center of the dirt road. It sometimes takes a couple of minutes of horn honking and light flashing to convince it to pull over.

I definitely didn’t do it the way a friend of mine handled the problem when we were teenagers. No, he didn’t just run over the skunk, he was smarter than that. He decided to carefully drive over the skunk, keeping him centered between the wheels

Big Mistake!

The skunk, obviously irritated by this vehicular overcast, expressed his displeasure by the normal means for a skunk. He pretty much hosed down the entire bottom of my friend’s car.

Did you know that cars aren’t airtight? Well, apparently my friend didn’t, or forgot, anyway. And with all our windows closed, so the skunk smell couldn’t in, right?, the stink wafting up from below was trapped right inside with us.

We rolled the windows down and drove real fast to get away from the smell, which worked until we stopped. Then we were engulfed again.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat.

After about 10 iterations of this, we finally gave up and drove home, still followed by that unmistakable smell. And although the smell didn’t stick to our clothes, it hung around on his car for weeks. Even his girlfriend didn’t want to ride with him.

And his parents made him park his car in the vacant lot across the street.

If only he could have figured out how to dip his car in tomato juice.

---

January 24, 2018

Tonto’s Horse Was Named . . .

I went into work this morning expecting a nice, quiet morning. I had a bunch of website and catalog price updates to catch up on, so an easy day.

But when I got there I found they had forgotten to tell me that I needed to a postcard mail-out ready to go to the printer next Monday morning, so it can be mailed out Wednesday, using the address list I also have to clean up, eliminating any bad addresses. All this for a month-long sale. They have another sale coming up in July, that one I knew about, but this one was a complete surprise.

So I was quickly elbows deep in my graphics design program coming up with a nice-looking card. I got far enough along that I’ll be able to finish it up on Friday with no problem.

I’ve already got the back done, the side where the address is printed, and I only need to track down a couple of graphics for the ad side.

Coming home from work, I made a last stop at the Webster El Pollo Loco. I say a ‘last stop’ because today is their last day of business. I had tried to do the order-ahead using their mobile app, but they had already deleted that location from the app.

When I got there they were already out of Mac N Cheese, Chips, Queso, and Cole Slaw, but lucky for me they still had their Chicken Tortilla Soup. Or at least enough for two large bowls to go.

And since after our two bowls they didn’t have enough to sell to anyone else, we got extra large servings. Nice.

I was picking these soups up as spares since we already had two in the fridge that we were going to have tonight. I had picked them up this past Monday for tonight, but when I came in this afternoon with the two piping hot ones, they became dinner. Delicious.

For Christmas, I got Jan what I thought at the time was kind of a joke gift, but she says it’s become one of her favorite.

LumiLux Toilet Bowl Light

Its motion sensor turns on as soon as you come into the bathroom from either direction and stays on for two minutes, although you can program it for longer.

Makes it really easy to find in the middle of the night when you’re half asleep.

Scout. Tonto’s horse was named Scout.

---

January 24, 2019

It’s in the TRUNK!

We were out the door about 8:30 this morning, eventually on our way up to The Woodlands’ area. But we had a couple of stops on the way.

I knew had been in the low 30’s last night, probably our lowest temps so far. But I didn’t expect what amounts to a freeze with frost on the grass

and a hard coating of ice on the truck windshield and windows.

Our first stop was at my client’s to pick up my battery charger that he’d borrowed. Then it on to Miss Piper’s to get her Mazda Miata started. However my client neglected to tell me that one of battery charger clamps had broken off.

I tried to get it reconnected, but could never get a good enough connection to get a charge on the battery, so I finally had to resort to jumper cables. I had not done this to start with because I didn’t have room to get the truck close enough without blocking other vehicles, many of who were leaving for work. But by the time I gave up on the battery charger, I now had clearance to get my truck in position.

Luckily my son Chris had clued me in on the battery location in Piper’s Miata. Otherwise, we might still be looking for it.

It’s in the TRUNK!

Shades of our ‘64 VW, where it was under the back seat. Of course the engine was back there too, so it kind of made sense. But the Miata’s engine is in the front.

Since the battery was completely dead, no blinky, no buzzy, Chris and I suspected that she had left something on, rather than a dying battery. And after I let it charge for a few minutes I had Piper try it, and it started right up.

So before we got on the way, I told her to drive it around for about 45 minutes or so, and then come back home, turn it off, and try it again. And as she texted later, it started right up again.

The battery looks pretty new, so hopefully it didn’t sustain any long-term damage. But we’ll see, I guess.

Then it was on up I-45 to The Woodlands and the Longhorn Steakhouse to meet up with some of our favorite RV friends.

From the left, we’ve got Ed Hurlburt, of Facebook’s RV Tips fame, my Jan, Debi Hurlburt, of Debi’s RV Cooking, Janice Evans, and Dave Evans.

Though we both like Wedge Salads, Jan hasn’t like Longhorn’s version since it’s actually done with Romaine stalks, rather than Iceberg. And Jan’s not a big Romaine fan.

But after she saw, and tasted mine, she’s changed her mind.

After a great time, and a plan to do it again in a few weeks, we all headed out, with Jan and I stopping at the HEB right down the feeder, looking for some of their Lola Savannah Texas Pecan Coffee. But they didn’t stock any whole bean coffees.

Then it was on back down to the Alvin area for Jan’s one-week checkup on her right eye cataract surgery. Her doctor said her eyes look great, and to come back in 3 weeks for her final checkup and a prescription for her glasses. Which should wrap all this up.

Leaving the doctor’s office we made an Alvin WalMart stop for some things before we got home a little after 5pm.

A really fun day, especially with the good news on Jan’s eyes.

And good friends, of course.

---

January 24, 2020

It’s Always Something Else . . .

It’s always something else.

As part of yesterday’s undone prep work, I went outside after I got back home from work this afternoon to check out our rig’s outside lights. I was worried about the right rear turn signal which sometimes goes on the fritz. But then as soon as I take the lens cover off.

But this time both turn signals were working perfectly. However, what wasn’t working now were the rig’s tail lights. So tomorrow I’ll pop the cover off the cover on the fuse panel that’s on top of the dashboard in from of the steering wheel. Hopefully it’s just a fuse. But you never know.

Although there’s only about a 20% change of rain tomorrow, unfortunately we’re looking a 50% chance on Sunday, when we’re supposed to be heading up to Katy and back for an oil leak test drive. After we get up there we’ll park at the Buc-ee’s for a while and go out to lunch with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon before heading back home.

Here’s hoping we’re leak-free.

I mentioned yesterday about my uncle Tom turning down the first contract offer that he received from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1951. But then the legendary Art Rooney, owner of the Steelers as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates, lured him back with a better offer.

Jan reminded me that a few years ago Tom told her that the offer he accepted was for $8,000. When Jan commented to Tom that it didn’t seem like a lot, he laughed and said that in 1952 it was a lot of money.

And in checking it I found out he was right. $8,000 in 1952 was the equivalent to about $80,000 today. While not a lot compared to what NFL players are making today, this is when a top-of-the-line Chevy ran about $1,800, and a Cadillac convertible was about $3,400.

So yes, $8,000 was a bundle of cash in 1952.

---

January 24, 2021

Laptops and Scenic Views . . .

Jan and I headed up to Webster to have lunch once again at Twin Peaks.

Hey, Good Eats and ‘Scenic Views’. What more can I say?

We were also meeting up with long-time phone friend, Donna. I’ve worked on her computers remotely for a number of years, but this was the first time to actually meet in person. And the reason for the meeting was to hand off a new Dell i7 laptop.

I had spent the last couple of days setting up and configuring the laptop for her daughter Alex, who needs this new one for college. And of course Alex had to come to pick it up in person.

We had so much fun talking that we were there almost two hours, and had a lot of fun getting to know Donna better. Later this week she’s going to drop off her own laptop for me to clean up too.

Coming home we made an HEB stop and storeroom stop before finally getting home about 5.

Nice end to a very nice weekend.

---

January 24, 2022

An Update To Yesterday’s Update . . .

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I had heard from the granddaughter of Robert McGowan, the man that my ex-coworker, Dr. Pat Doyle, was convicted of beating to death in 2003.

She was correct in that he recently died in prison, on January 18th, 2022. And she even found his obituary, along with a very strange photo of him.

Patrick Doyle Obituary – Lagrange, KY

He looks like he’s about 30 in this photo, years before I ever met him.

And I love the heading underneath the photo.

Celebrate the life of Patrick Doyle, leave a kind word or memory.

Nothing to say that he had spent the last 19 years in prison.

Tomorrow’s going to be my chance to take Arby’s Diablo Dare, supposedly the hottest sandwich on the market.

I think I’ll probably try the Brisket version, rather than the
Chicken one. But we’ll see.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

---

January 24, 2023

Flamingos Down . . .

Lunch today was the Torchy’s Tacos up in Webster once again.

Jan got her usual two Chicken Fajitas version,

while I digressed from my usual two Republicans (with a Cheese Jalapeno Sausage) to one Republican (They also have a Democrat)and one Brushfire.

The Brushfire is made with Jamaican Jerked Chicken and Mango. And they’re both delicious.

And nice and spicy.

It was raining a little when we left the rig this afternoon, but it got worse as time passed. In fact, after lunch and a stop at the office, we decided to adjourn the rest of our errands and head home. And I’m really glad we did as the bottom dropped out along the way, as well as the obligatory Tornado Warning for our area. Yikes!

And when we got home we had to sit in the car for a while to let the rain die down. And getting out we found the storm had proceeded us.

The patio was a mess.

There were downed flamingos everywhere. And we were very surprised to see that even the umbrella went down.

That base is very heavy.

Our LaCrosse Weather Station showed that we had steady winds of around 25mph, with gusts to over 35mph.

And while the temp was 72° when we got home, with the passing front it was down to 52 in just couple of hours.

And down to 40 tonight.

Nice!