Monthly Archives: August 2024

One-Upmanship . . .

A couple of days ago I posted this photo comparing SpaceX’s new Raptor 3 engine with the previous ones,

noting the large reduction in the complexity of the latest version.

However, Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA (United Launch Alliance), SpaceX’s biggest competitor, made this passive-aggressive put-down about the new Raptor 3 engine.

Elon posted, “LOL’ and then posted this from Gwynne Shotwell, the SpaceX CEO.

 

It shows the Raptor 3 engine on a test stand firing its little heart out with no controllers, fluid management, or TVC.

That’s One-Upmanship, and shows why SpaceX has left everyone else behind.

Apparently there’s a big internal battle going on between NASA and Boeing, and in some cases, between Boeing and Boeing.

Boeing Not Happy With NASA Plan to Return Stranded Astronauts on SpaceX Craft

NASA is still hemming and hawing over how to return its two astronauts currently stranded on board the International Space Station.

Rumors continue to swirl that the space agency is considering making room for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is now scheduled to arrive at the station in late September.

As an alternative, Boeing wants to keep the two astronauts up there until sometime next February.

And as the Wall Street Journal reports, that potential plan has enraged Boeing officials as tensions continue to grow — and time is running out.

According to the WSJ, a review of Starliner’s readiness for its return flight was postponed, suggesting not everybody at NASA is convinced that it’s safe to fly.

In short, the agency is stuck between a rock and a hard place. It’ll need to either risk Williams and Wilmore’s lives by sending them back on board Boeing’s leaking Starliner, or undercut its multi-billion dollar contract with Boeing by opting for a ride from SpaceX instead — an admission that NASA’s over-budget and much-delayed alternative to SpaceX’s Dragon still isn’t ready.


Thought For The Day:

Just because I’m empathetic doesn’t mean I can’t feel for your problems and dislike you intensely at the same time.


Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2009 – High School Friends

2014 – A Shucker’s Dozen

2016 – Catfish Cabin, Again

2020 – Geniac and Fortran

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™


August 9, 2009

High School Friends and Memories…

Today we spent the day with Jan’s high school friend, Joan, checking out old memories.

We started off with breakfast at the Blue Sky Diner, not an old memory, but still good.

After breakfast we headed over to what used to be base housing at Westover AFB when Jan lived here, which was 1962-66.

When Westover downsized a while back, the old base housing was sold off to a private investor and turned into condos.  And they looked good.

Here is the front of the unit that Jan and her family lived in.

Jan's Base Housing

The front door is to the left inside the alcove to the left of the garage.

Here’s the backside.

Base Housing 2

After driving past where Joan’s parents used to live,  we headed over to Chicopee Comprehensive High School, where Jan and Joan went to high school.

Chicopee Comp 1

But this is not the school building that Jan and Joan went to.  That one was torn down in 2007 and replaced with this one.

Chicopee Comp 2

The old building was located where the new football field is located.

Chicopee Comp 3

I think Jan was kind of shocked to find her old school replaced, since it was brand new when she went there.  In fact, her class was the first one to attend all four years there.

Next we drove over to nearby Springfield where Jan attended church.

Church

Then, after dropping off a prescription at Walmart, we drove over to the Yankee Candle Store in Deerfield.

This store is really something, and they sell a lot more than just candles. And it’s the size of a small shopping mall all by itself.  Jan had a field day stocking up on decorations and knick-knacks for Halloween.  And she bought a couple of candles too.

By this time we were getting hungry, so Joan suggested Spaghetti Freddy’s, a restaurant that’s part of the Union Station complex in Northampton, MA.

And a great suggestion it was. We had a wonderful Italian meal and dessert.

After dropping Joan off at her house,

Joan's House

we headed back to the coach where we’re parked at Windy Acres KOA park.

Windy Acres RV Park

More reminiscing tomorrow…


August 9, 2010

Rainy Day Monday…but then it got better !

Today started off as a cloudy, rainy morning, but things got better as time went on. By later in the afternoon it was warm and sunny. Very nice.

Jan got up around 9am, but I slept in a while longer, a good while actually.  But Jan likes the ‘ME” time it gives her, and I’m perfectly happy to help out by sleeping late.

About 11:30 I talked to Michele Henry of Phoenix Commercial Paint, who was in the park and wanted to come by and check out the bodywork and repainting we want to get done on our rig while we’re here.

P1050638a

P1050639a

Most of the work is on the cargo bay doors, and after talking, we decided it will be easier for me to just take the doors off and bring them to her shop three or four at a time. So I’m going to take the first set over this Thursday.

After lunch, and fighting off a headache, I took some aspirin and went back to take a nap.

Then about 5 pm,  we drove up to Edwardsburg, MI to Lunker’s, one of the largest fishing, hunting and outdoor stores in the country. And they have a very popular restaurant there, as well.

I mean, where else can you get an Elk, Ostrich, or Buffalo Burger?

After dinner and back at the park about 8, we drove around among the rigs, checking out all our neighbors before heading in for the evening.


August 9, 2011

Carlock . . .

After a quiet restful morning, we finally left the Janesville, WI Moose Lodge about 11 am, heading for Kamp Komfort RV Park in Carlock, IL about 160 miles away.

The trip was pretty easy, a little windy, and with the usual Illinois bad roads as soon as we entered the state. And in this case, the worst one was a toll road. At least it was only $2.85.

It never got hot enough to have to use the house A/C’s, but when we got here I found the front A/C wouldn’t come on. The rear one works fine, and cooled us down with no problem.

Not only does the AC not come on, but neither does the fan by itself, which means the unit is not getting power. I checked the breaker and it’s fine.

So it looks like I’ve got some troubleshooting to do after we get to Vandalia tomorrow.

We pulled into Kamp Komfort, just west of the Bloomington/Normal, IL area, a little before 2 pm and got set up.

This is a very nice park, and even with all the tall shade trees, the satellite works fine.

Kamp Komfort 1

Kamp Komfort 2

We had planned to do the dinner and a movie thing again, but after getting here we decided to just stay in and Jan fixed dinner here.

Tomorrow we’ve got about 140 mile trip to Vandalia, IL for a week for our family reunion, and our first time with Landon since February.

Yay!


August 9, 2013

Cat Food . . .

When we were at the Timber Trails Campground up in Vandalia, IL the other day, there was a newish rig parked next to us for the first day or so. On the side was a small door labeled ‘Cat Food’, but unfortunately I didn’t get a photo. But I did wonder why anyone would store cat food in an outside bin. Then

DOH!

A door labeled ‘Cat Food’ is where you feed a Caterpillar engine its diesel.


Today was pretty much a rest-up day after the long trip yesterday, just sitting around enjoying our coffee and the view of the green pastures surrounding us. We can see goats, cows, geese, ducks, chickens, and even pigs. And of course, Dottie the RV park dog, who comes out to visit every new arrival.

Later in the morning we saw my 2nd cousin Luke come by on the riding mower trying to finish up before the approaching thunderstorm arrived, but he didn’t quite make it. There’s always tomorrow.

Unlike yesterday, today’s rain only lasted about 30 minutes before the skies cleared up. Glad it wasn’t as bad as before.

One of the chores I wanted to do this afternoon was to disassemble the Fantastic Vent Fan in our bathroom. First I wanted to find out why the motor stalls while lifting the cover. It sounds like a gear is slipping inside the motor drive housing, but I first wanted to be sure the lid lift mechanism wasn’t binding or sticking.

But after removing the motor, I could operate the lid manually with a pair of pliers with no problem, so that wasn’t it. This leaves the motor drive itself, which is definitely possible, since I replaced the same one 3 or 4 years ago for the same reason.

I also wanted to clean the fan and the housing from the accumulated dirt before putting it back together. But I’ll have to wait until I take a further look at the motor and see if I can take it apart.

A little before 5pm Jan and I headed out to have dinner at one of our favorite places here in Athens, Catfish Cabin. Don’t know how they do it 400 miles from the ocean, but they have some of the freshest seafood around. And their hushpuppies are fantastic. As soon as you sit down they bring you a big basket of them, hot out of the fryer. YUM!

Coming home we stopped in at my Aunt and Uncle, Jan and Ed Calvin’s house which is right next door to the RV park. It was good catching up with everyone since we were here last year. All my aunts and uncles are in their 80’s and 90’s so I don’t want to miss out on any time with them.

Tomorrow, more family time, I hope.


August 9, 2014

A Shucker’s Dozen . . .

After a quiet, easy day, resting up from yesterday’s almost 400 mile trip, we headed out about 5pm to have dinner at a new place, at least for us. Called Ginny Lane’s Bar & Grill, it’s located on the Intercoastal Waterway at The Wharf, a shopping/entertainment area in Orange Beach. They had really good ratings on Yelp, and even better, $6 a dozen raw oysters, our favorite.

Since we had the Seafood Platters last night, and couldn’t finish it all, we decided to go a little lighter tonight. So we started out with a dozen oysters on the half shell for each of us.

Ginny Lane's 1

Sorry, I forgot to get a picture until I was done. We noticed that we both received what’s called a “Shucker’s Dozen”. Like a “Baker’s Dozen”, it means you order and pay for 12, and they throw in an extra free. Nice.

I noticed on the menu that they listed a Sriracha Aioli for another dish, so I asked for a bottle of Sriracha to try with my oysters along with the cocktail sauce and horseradish they furnish. It was really, really flavorful and added a lot to the oysters.

For our next course, Jan had a delicious cup of Shrimp and Artichoke Bisque, and I went with their Seafood and Sausage Gumbo. Again, really good.

Wrapping up a great meal, Jan had the Strawberry Shortcake,

Ginny Lane's 3

and I tried the White Chocolate Bread Pudding. Really good, and I had enough to take home.

Ginny Lane's 2

A really good meal, and we weren’t stuffed. Perfect.

Ginny Lane’s is really good, and it’s now on our list of great Gulf Shores restaurants.
Leaving the restaurant, we drove around the beach area for a while, checking out all the changes since we were here two years ago. A lot of new condos, new stores, and new restaurants.

I think I liked it better in the old days.

One of the places we drove by was some beachfront property my parents used to own at Orange Beach.

Beach Property 1

At one time, my parents owned this 300-foot / 6-lot section of beachfront, all the way down to where the condo is now. Then in the early 70’s they traded four lots to a builder in return for him building them two beach houses on the remaining two lots, which they then rented out.

Later, sometime in the 80’s my parents sold one of the cottages. Then in 1993 after the death of my father, my mother sold the remaining one.

The people who bought the first cottage, tore it down to build a modern-looking two-story home. The couple who bought the second cottage also wanted to build new, but they bought a lot right behind theirs and moved the cottage about 100 feet away to the new location.  This is it now.

Beach Property 2

Then they build a 3 story brick home on the beachfront lot. At that point, there were 6 homes along here.

Then in September 2004, Hurricane Ivan passed through the area, bringing a 27 foot tidal surge up over the sand dunes. And then there were none. And it still remains that way to this day.

And the original cottage that my father designed and had built to his specifications, with strapping and reinforcements, is the only thing still standing.


About 8pm tonight I started getting emails and phone calls saying that Jan and I had gone viral on the Internet.

Again.

Yahoo Roller Coaster

And this time we made Yahoo.

This was taken in 2009 at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL. I posted it on our blog at the time, and then somehow it was picked up by the Awkward Family Photos site. It made the rounds all over the Internet, and we had friends telling us that they had seen it online.

In one case, a friend’s son was in class on the last day of school, and the teacher was killing time by showing some stuff from the Awkward Family Photos site. He finished up by saying “And this one is my very favorite.”

And our picture popped up. After a double-take, the son spoke up and said, “Hey, I know those people.” And the class roared.

Here’s the full picture.

CheetaChase3a

As I always say, One of us is having fun. The other one isn’t.

Jan won’t admit it, but the Cheeta Chase is the ‘baby’ coaster at Busch Gardens. It’s in the kiddie area with the Merry-Go-Round and the Bumper Cars.


August 9, 2015

Something New, Something Old . . .

The park really started thinning out today as people headed home after the weekend. I had really expected it to be a lot busier this weekend, but many schools start this next week, and this weekend is Alabama’s Sales Tax Holiday.

Every year Alabama cancels Sales Tax on pretty much anything related to Back to School, I.e. clothes, computers, school supplies, etc., so there was a lot of shopping going on. Too busy to camp, I guess.

Around 2:45 Jan and I drove down toward Orange Beach for something new and something old. The ‘new’ was to have linner at Wintzell’s Oyster House, a local chain where we’ve never eaten. With almost a dozen locations around the state, Wintzell’s has been around since 1938, but most of that time was with a single location in Mobile. It’s only since the 80’s that they’ve expanded.

Wintzell's 0

Actually the last time we ate here, this was a Ruby Tuesday, but that was a number of years ago.

Jan and I both started out with really good salads, hers with Bleu Cheese dressing and mine with Jalapeno Ranch, both dressings homemade and delicious.

Wintzell's 1

For our entrees, Jan tried out their Blackened Cajun Shrimp Pasta,

Wintzell's 3

which she said was one of the best pasta dishes she’s had. So much so, I thought she was going to lick the bowl when she was done. But I guess propriety won out.

I went with something I haven’t had for a good while, mostly because it’s the first time I’ve seen it on a menu in a long time, the Low Country Boil.

Wintzell's 2

With Boiled Shrimp, Conecuh Sausage, Corn, and Red Potatoes, it made a great meal.

In fact we’ve decided to eat here again before we leave here on Thursday. It was that good.

Leaving Wintzell’s we drove on down toward Alabama Point, checking out old haunts and new businesses. My parents owned a number of pieces of property down here at one time, and it’s always interesting to see what’s being built, rebuilt, or torn down.

We did make a stop at Tallulah’s Treasures, an Orange Beach gift shop that’s one of Jan’s favorites. We’ve been coming here for years, and Jan always finds a couple of trinkets she likes.

Our last stop before heading home was the something ‘old’: Ron Jon Surf Shop. Although it’s a new store in Orange Beach, only opening a few months ago, it’s something ‘old’ for Jan and me.

Ron Jon's

I used to rent boards from the Ron Jon’s in Cocoa Beach in 1967. At that time it was a hole-in-the-wall place about 25 feet x 40 feet, and filled with surfboards. Jan and I came here a couple of times when we were dating, and the place was so crowded with boards you could hardly walk around.

Now the Cocoa Beach location is two stories tall and covers 4 acres. And I doubt you can still score a little ‘alternative’ tobacco from the guy in the back like you used to.

Times change, I guess.


August 9, 2016

Heading North . . .

Since we had a 375 mile to up to Athens, AL today, we were up at 6:30am and I was pulling out by 8 with Jan following in the truck. We were going to get diesel at the Wal-Mart on Fort Morgan Rd. and, although we’d filled up there before, we scoped it yesterday to be sure we could still get in and out.

But all the planning was for naught. When we pulled into the parking lot, the diesel pump area was blocked off with cones because workers were redoing the canopy over the station.

Crap!

So I headed on up to Foley to Dodge’s to fill up there.  We’ve gotten diesel here before, but they were 6 cents a gallon higher, so Wal-Mart was my first choice.

Once we were done we got hitched up and were back on the road a few minutes after 9am, right on schedule.

One thing that slows this trip down is that you’re pretty much just putt-putting along on mostly two-lane, stop-and-go roads for the first 60 miles until you finally get on I-65. Then we just stay on 65 until we get off at the RV park exit 307 miles later.

We started running into some rain just south of Montgomery, most just light drizzle interspersed with only a few minutes of heavy rain. Then it was alternating rain and sunshine all the way to Athens.

We got into the Northgate RV Travelpark about 3:45pm, said Hi to my cousin Wes, and then got parked and partially set up, just plugging in shore power for now. Since we’d only had a breakfast sandwich before we left, and then just peanut butter crackers along the way for lunch, we wanted to get an early dinner.

So about 4:15 we headed out to Catfish Cabin, our usual first night dinner spot here.

Catfish Cabin

I guess it’s strange that we come 400 miles from the Gulf Coast and then have more seafood, but Catfish Cabin does it great, getting in fresh seafood daily. And they do a really great job with the basket of homemade hushpuppies they bring out when you sit down.

Catfish Cabin Hushpuppies

Jan usually gets the Cabin Platter with a whole catfish, shrimp, oysters, and a baked potato,

Catfish Cabin Cabin Platter

while I got the Combination Platter with catfish fillets, oysters, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp and a stuffed crab.

Catfish Cabin Combination Platter

Getting back to the rig, I finished hooking everything up and got the satellite set up and working.

Tomorrow we’ll start trying to get together with everyone. Looking forward to it.


August 9, 2017

Saturday at the Earliest, Monday at the Latest…

Which for us means we’ll probably plan on picking up the rig on Tuesday. Don’t know where that leaves Sunday.

I heard from Gary, the Big Wheel service rep this afternoon and he said the new fan motor should be here tomorrow or Friday. They’ve already got the old one out and confirmed what I thought. Not only is the motor leaking, but the top hose coming into it had been rubbing against the top of the motor mounting bracket, and was actually starting to weep fluid a little.

So he’s already got a new hose made and ready to install when the motor goes in. In addition, he’s reworked the u-joints on the driveshaft due to excessive wear.

And he’s going to pressure wash the underneath and rear of the rig which are pretty much covered in hydraulic fluid.

What a deal!  Now I just have to wait and see how much all this is going to cost me.

Either way, we’ll pick up the rig on Tuesday, and make the 95 mile trip to Poche’s RV Park in Breaux Bridge to spend the night, using that as a test drive so we don’t get too far away in case of a problem. Then Wednesday we’ll come on into the Lake Conroe TT.

But due to the shortened time schedule, we’ll only be there until Sunday when we’ll move back over to Colorado River TT. Then we’ll be back on our normal two-week schedule.

This morning Jan and I drove down to Webster to do some computer work for an old client who apparently wants me back. But we’ll see.

While we were down there, Jan and I had lunch at our favorite King Food. Hot & Sour Soup, Hot  & Spicy Garlic Chicken with Jalapenos, XXXXXXXX spicy. YUM!

Tomorrow I’m going to make another trip back down there for some more work, but unfortunately won’t have time for King Food, especially with Jan staying at Brandi’s this time.


August 9, 2018

The Last Time . . .

At least I hope it is.

Today was another ‘errand/chore’ day, and luckily for me, it’s also my last full day of being Janless for a while.

Tomorrow afternoon after work I’ll drive up to Katy to pick her up from her Landon-sitting duties and then bring her home after we all have dinner together. It’s a good thing because both I and the cat are lonely.

Once I was up and had some coffee in me, I went outside to caulk some spots on the rig’s passenger-side windshield. It had separated slightly at the top and rain would leak in.

This has been a problem ever since our blow-out in May 2015. The ironic thing though is that the windshield wasn’t damaged during the blow-out, but during the repair process.

They used one of these 10-ton lift jacks to pick up the front of the rig about 4 feet off the ground so that they could remove and replace the damaged 150 gallon diesel tank.

10 Ton Lift Jack

And as they were letting it back down, the passenger side windshield cracked. They replaced it a couple of days later, but it’s never been quite right since then.

In fact I suspect that by lifting the rig like this it may have torqued the frame because the glass has never quite seated right since then. In fact I even checked the part number of the new windshield to be sure it was the right one.

I’ve had a couple of glass places look at it and they all say it’s in no danger of falling out, so now I just want to stop the leaks once and for all.

Someone had recommended this Great Stuff Multipurpose Black Sealant. It’s very sticky, stays flexible, and resists UV rays.

Great Stuff Black

So I thought I’d give it a try. Since the stuff expands about 50% I just sprayed a line of it on top of the gap and then once it expanded, I used a popsicle stick like a spatula to spread it into the opening and smooth it over. I’ll come back later when I know it’s good and dry and use a razor blade to level off any bumps or protrusions. But I guess I’ll have to wait for the next rain to see how it works.
Or there’s always the hose. We’ll see.

About noon I headed up toward the house to try once again to move some stuff from the house down to the new storage unit in Dickinson. My previous attempt was foiled by a rainstorm, but today looked to be clear. But looking over the stuff the other day, I saw it would be easier to move all this stuff if I had a hand truck. And after finding out that I could buy a hand truck cheaper than I could rent one for just 4 hours, I decided to stop by Harbor Freight was in order.

Yeah, like I need an excuse.

And besides a nice 700# capacity hand truck for $38, I also found a cut-off tool on sale for $26.

Harbor Freight Cut-Off Tool

I’ve had a couple of rusted bolts on the rig that I want to cut off, so I grabbed this too.

Finally getting to the house, I loaded up the truck and headed back down to the storage unit and dropped the stuff off.

Only about 10 more loads to go.

I did a couple of things today that I hope I’ve done for the very last time. I paid the power bill for the house, and told the yard guy to mow it one more time.

For the last time, I hope.

See You Soon, Sweetie!


August 9, 2020

Geniac and Fortran . . .

I mentioned before that in trying to find the problem with our rig’s taillights, brake lights, and turn signals, I’m working with two different sets of schematics, one set from Spartan, the chassis manufacturer, and another set from the American/Fleetwood, the coach manufacturer. And not only don’t they always agree,  but sometimes they’re just plain wrong. For instance, this one.

Rig Marker Lights Red

Now I’ve only been doing electronics and computers since I was 10, but I don’t think the circuit outlined in red is ever going to work. I mean, you’re going to need a power source in there somewhere between the two grounds. And this is not the only mistake I’ve found.

And, yes, I was fooling with computers in 1958 when I was 10. But a lot different from what you think about today. My computer looked like this.

Geniac Board

It was a Geniac analog computer that you could program and make sounds, add numbers together, play games, etc.

My parents got it for me for Christmas that year from an ad like this.

Geniac Ad

Here’s some more info on the Geniac computer.

And then 7 years later, I was writing programs in Fortran on an IBM 360 computer at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

Doesn’t really seem that long ago.


August 9, 2021

A Big Day . . .

We were outside again this morning, enjoying the coolish weather and the bunch of new hibiscus blossoms that showed up this morning.

Three Hisbiscus Blooms

However it seems kind of inconsiderate that all the blooms didn’t bloom on the same side so I could get them all in the photo. But I did get this closeup.

Hisbiscus Bloom CloseUp

We’ve got a big day tomorrow.

We’re meeting Brandi, Landon, and his BFF Sophie first at the famed Cleburne Cafeteria for lunch at 11. Then it’s on right down the road to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, first for their special Pompeii exhibit.

It starts with a 15 minute 4D movie and then you move into the exhibit itself with hundreds of actual artifacts from excavations at Pompeii.

Pompeii Exhibit

And of course, dinosaurs.

Victoria T-Rex

Just the thing for a pair of almost-11 year old’s.


August 9, 2022

5229 . . .

I had my last Physical Therapy session today, at least for a while.

The last 3 sessions have just consisted of Jennifer, the tech, watching me do the same series of exercises I’m doing at home, with no new ones added. And it costs me $20 a session for this.

So I’m going to take a break for a month or so and just work on my own. And save the $80 a month.

Finishing up a little before 2pm, I just went right next door to have lunch at King Food once again.

Yeah, I know we were just there this past Sunday, but it’s that good, OK?

Gas prices have been all over the place recently, but mostly trending lower. This past weekend, the Buc-ee’s and the Sam’s Club, just south of us in La Marque, both had regular for $3.03

Yes, #3.03!

Then yesterday it was up a little to $3.08. But today, while Sam’s still has it for $3.08, Buc-ee’s has jumped to $3.21.

While up in Webster, Sam’s and Costco are both locked in at $3.29.

So where it goes from here is unknown. But hopefully down.

Jan and her new Chromebook are both doing fine up at Brandi’s. Jan was able to get it connected to their WiFi and is really enjoying it.

A couple of days ago I ordered Jan a set of Wireless Bluetooth Headphones like these to use with her Chromebook.

Wireless Bluetooth Headphones

Not only are they wireless, but they can also be used wired.

I also noticed that they had both an FM radio and an MP3 music player built-in, but didn’t pay much attention to it.

And when I tried them out, I really liked them. They connected very easily to both my phone and my desktop with no problem.

And then I noticed the Micro SD Card slot and discovered that it was for the MP3 player. So grabbing a 32GB SD card I copied a couple of songs over to it and gave it a try. And it worked great, cycling through the songs and then starting back over.

So pulling the card back out, I plugged it into my desktop and began copying our entire music library over to it.

All 5229 songs, totaling a little over 24.5 GB’s. Yes, GB’s.

That’s every LP record we’ve ever bought, every DVD, and all songs that we bought and downloaded directly from Amazon. All converted to digital MP3 format over the years.

We did have music that we bought on records, cassettes, and even 8-Tracks. But we later duplicated all those on DVD.

So now we have our entire music library in one pair of headphones.

Neat!


August 9, 2023

Bring Your Own Chainsaw . . .

It seems that the Grand Central Café in Kingsland is no more.

On our family visits up to Kingsland to visit Chris and Linda, Grand Central Café has pretty much been our go-to place for breakfast at least once a visit. But besides the great food, its other claim to fame was that before it was moved to Kingsland, it was located up in Round Rock and was used in the filming of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974.

Then toward the end of last year, a group bought the restaurant, and after renovating it with a chainsaw theme, and renamed it Hooper’s after Tobe Hooper, the director of the film.

The owners asked fans to donate a chainsaw for an art installation – telling them they’ll get it back in a year’s time.

Diners’ chainsaws will be stored on display at the restaurant, complete with the owner’s name and their tool’s backstory.

So bring your own. And not one of those dinky electric ones, either.

I’m heading out about 9am tomorrow morning, on my way up to our daughter Brandi’s in Katy to pick up my Jan after her recent Landon/Doggie-Sitting gig since this past Sunday. Then we’ll be on up to The Woodlands area to meet up with our friends Debi and Ed at the Twin Peaks up there.

Then on Friday night, we’ve got the Alvin Opry once again, with dinner beforehand at the local Monterey’s.


Did You Know?

The very first text message was sent on December 3, 1992.

It was “Merry Christmas.”

 

 

 

 

 

Kuntry Katfish . . .

Today was another Conroe get-together with our long-time friend’s Debi and Ed Hurlburt, this time at Vernon’s Kuntry Katfish.

We’ve been eating here for years, when we were RV’ing at the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails Park, and it’s always delicious.

When you sit down they bring out a plate of really good Hushpuppies and Tomato Relish, their version of Chips and Salsa, I guess.

Jan and I both got their signature dish, the Kuntry Katfish, of course. In this case, it was the Small version with 4 pieces, and not the Large one with 6 pieces.

And as it was, we both had two pieces to bring home, along with Fried Okra and Hushpuppies.

And we had our usual great time, spending 2+ hours talking and laughing.

Always fun.

Next month, Italian!

Not Off To A Good Start

I’ve mentioned recently about the Great Wolf Lodge resort that just opened yesterday right up the Interstate from us.

But they’re not off to a good start.

Though it didn’t affect any guests, 16 workers in a nearby service building had to be hospitalized after someone mixed two chemicals that shouldn’t be mixed. At least unless you’re trying to kill someone.

Webster Fire Chief Dean Spencer said crews responded to a call about breathing problems caused by a chemical reaction in the pool house, which is separate from the hotel and water park.

The chief said first responders learned a contractor had mixed two “unlike” chemicals – sodium hypochlorite and sulfuric acid – resulting in the chemical reaction.

Now, sodium hypochlorite is the chemical name for bleach, and when you mix it with any acid, not just sulfuric, you get chlorine gas. And chlorine gas was the first poison gas used in war.

This was the first effective use of poison gas on the Western Front and the debut of Germany’s newest weapon in its chemical arsenal, chlorine gas, which irritated the lung tissue causing a choking effect that could cause death.

This sometimes happens at home when someone uses Vanish (or something similar) Toilet Bowl Cleaner and then decides to

boost it by adding some bleach.

Poof! You’ve got chlorine gas billowing from your toilet bowl.

Don’t Do That!

Is There Anything It Can’t Do?

Coffee-Dementia Link Continues to Unfurl

Among 6,001 Health and Retirement Study participants in the U.S., drinking two or more cups of coffee a day was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia over 7 years compared with drinking less than one daily cup.

So, Drink Up!


Thought For The Day:

You're Fluffy


Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2012 – Six And Counting

2014 – Beach Bound

2015 – Throw’d Rolls

2016 – Last Day in Paradise…er…Gulf Shores

2017 – Pete’s OK . . .

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™


August 8, 2009

Good friends and old times…

We got up early after a night of Wally-docking (That’s staying in a Walmart parking lot).

We decided to have breakfast before we left so we drove over to a place called Yolks, which just serves breakfast and lunch.  Very good.

After coming back from breakfast we walked over to Walmart (a short trip across the parking lot) to do some shopping and pick up our prescriptions.  Having them at Walmart really makes things easy as we move about the country.

After puttering around the coach, we headed out around noon for Northampton, MA to visit a high school friend of Jan’s.

We expected the 100-mile trip to take us about 2 and 1/2 hours.  Instead, due to heavy traffic and congestion, it took almost 4 hours.  It took us an hour and 10 minutes to get 13 miles at one point.

After getting setting up here at Windy Acres RV park, we headed over to Joan’s house in South Hadley, about 13 miles away, to have pizza.

And both the pizza and the company were great.

I hadn’t seen Joan since 1972 and Jan hadn’t seen her since 1976, when she came up for her 10th reunion. But it was good to talk over old times.

Tomorrow we are getting together to drive around the area.


August 8, 2010

It’s Box-Worthy…

After a quiet morning, a friend stopped by and dropped off a package for Jan from the office. Mister took control of the empty box since he loves boxes, especially ones he can get into.

He didn’t quite make it on this one, but he gave it a good try. He actually fell asleep this way.

MisterInBox

A little after 4 Jan and I headed out to Mishawaka to eat at Famous Dave’s BBQ, one of our favorite BBQ places. And as usual, we sat around and talked even more after we finished eating.

Nice Day!


August 8, 2011

Transformers . . .

Since we only had about 200 miles to go today, we didn’t leave Pine Grove Campground in Shawano, WI until almost 11.

We were heading south to Janesville, WI where we planned to spend the night at the local Moose Lodge. And since we would only have 20 amp power, the later we got there the cooler it would be, since we would not be able to run the A/C’s without starting the generator.

But it was overcast all the way along today, and was pretty cool when we got here about 3:30. And even better it was supposed to be in the low 60’s tonight.

This Moose Lodge is really nice, with a big parking lot and plenty of room to maneuver the rig. As I said we only have 20 amp electric but that’s plenty with this cooler weather.

Moose Lodge 1

And the view is nice, too.

Moose Lodge 2

About 4:30 we headed out for another dinner and a movie night.

Dinner was at Red Robin, one of our favorite burger places, and after a quick stop at Wal-Mart, we went to see the latest Transformers movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

We had seen the first two, and wanted a complete set. We both liked it, although sometimes the action was so fast it was hard to tell who was fighting who. But the special effects were fantastic. It’s really amazing how they can make giant transforming robots look as real as the car they’re standing next to.

Tomorrow we’ve got another short trip, about 165 miles to the Bloomington/Normal, Illinois area. Hopefully, it’ll be nice and cool like today.


August 8, 2012

Six and Counting . . .

That’s not how many days we have left here, it’s how many flat tires I’ve had here since April.

Oh, and two new tires, because two of the flats couldn’t be repaired. And to make it worse, I had road hazard insurance on both tires, but with Discount Tires. And the nearest one is in San Antonio, 75 miles away. So no help there.

I think from now on, I’ll just start getting all my tires from Wal-Mart since they’re everywhere. I’ve used Discount Tires in Houston for years, but since we’re on the road all the time now, Wal-Mart might be a better choice.

Hopefully, we’ll get through the next week and a half without another one.

Next up: A new Landon video, taking his 4 Wheeler for a spin in a nearby park.

Under the heading of why the US Post Office is going broke, check out the tracking data from a small computer fan I ordered off of eBay. It was shipped First Class with Tracking, and apparently is somewhere in orbit over Texas.

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-08, 00:07:00, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78284
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-07, 13:28:00, DALLAS, TX 75398
Depart USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-07, 00:00:00, DALLAS, TX 75398
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-06, 16:04:00, MCALLEN, TX 78501
Depart USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-06, 00:00:00, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78284
Depart USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-06, 00:00:00, MCALLEN, TX 78501
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-05, 21:58:00, SAN ANTONIO, TX 78284
Processed through USPS Sort Facility
2012-08-04, 21:20:00, SAN BERNARDINO, CA 92403
Dispatched to Sort Facility
2012-08-04, 14:37:00, MURRIETA, CA 92563
Acceptance
2012-08-04, 13:39:00, MURRIETA, CA 92562

Note that it got from Murrieta, CA to San Antonio, TX in one day. Good so far.

Normally at this point, I would have gotten it the next day.

But for some reason, it next went to McAllen, TX, then back to San Antonio, then back to McAllen. After that it apparently went through Dallas twice before ending up back in San Antonio today.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing where it will end up next.

On the Food front, we’ve had two great meals in two days. Yesterday being Tuesday, of course, it was Chile Rellenos from Galindo’s. Unfortunately, next Tuesday will be our last meal from there before we hit the road. Bummer!

Then today it was a surprise catered Steak Dinner here,  And as usual, really, really good. The steak was tender and juicy, and the beans had big chunks of sausage in them.

Catered Meal - Summit Casing

And we hear there might be another meal coming in the next few days.  YAY!

I was reading an article the other day about how more and more people are not wearing watches anymore because they always have the correct time on their cell phones and it got me to thinking about my first digital watch in 1975.

It was a Sinclair Black Watch, and it was available as a kit.

Yes, a kit!

It looked like this when you got it.

Black Watch Kit

And if you put it together right, it looked like this.

Black Watch

According to the article, a lot of people had trouble with them, but the only trouble I remember having was that the holes on the case where the wristband attached kept wearing out and the band would come loose.

Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that I had been building electronic kits since I was about 10, and when I was working as a DOD contractor in the early 70’s, they sent me to the NASA Certified Soldering  School in Cherry Point, NC.

I also built our first color television, a Heathkit 25” GR-2000 console.

Heathkit Color TV Chassis

When I finished it looked something like this, although I built my own cabinet. But it was in the same Mediterranean style.

1974-Zenith-TV

Hey, I’m a geek. What can I say?

Wrapping Up:

Finally!    Coming Soon to a Blog near you.

Daily Blogging again. Once we leave here on the 20th of August, I’ll be back to daily blogging.

Consider this your only warning.


August 8, 2013

Four States in Eight Hours . . .

Getting ready for our long 400-mile day, we were out of Timber Trails Campground at 7:45 this morning heading the 10 miles into Vandalia to get diesel at the Wal-Mart. 34 gallons and $135.00 later I hitched up the truck and we drove the rig over to the Denny’s on the other side of the Interstate to meet Debbie, Jim, and Tana for one last breakfast together.

After saying our goodbyes for this year, we were back on the road a little after 10. It quickly became obvious that we were going to have to run the generator and the house A/C’s to be comfortable, as much for the humidity as the temperature.

Then, before we could even get out of Illinois, the humidity caught up with us in the form of rain. Lots and lots of rain. In fact the rain never really let up for the rest of the day, even though when I checked the weather along our route through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama this morning, it all looked fine.

And to make it even more fun, we had road construction. Lots and lots of road construction. Just miles of single lanes and orange barrels. Throw in a wreck that had traffic backed up for about 5 miles, and you’ve got the makings of a really fun day.

When the rain slacked a little, Jan decided she wanted to drive for a while so she took over for a couple of hours, and she did great, even in the pouring rain. But she was a little leery about driving through Nashville traffic with all the lanes, so I took it back over a little outside town, and drove the rest of the way.

We got into my cousin’s Northgate RV Travel Park in Athens, AL, about 10 miles south of the Tennessee border a little after 6pm. Since the park office was already closed, we just found a site and got parked. All I did at that point was plug in shore power and unhitch the toad, before we headed out to Cracker Barrel for dinner.

Thursday is Turkey and Dressing day there, and Jan didn’t want to miss out. They often run out of it toward the end of the day, and in fact, as we were leaving, they had taken it off the menu board.

Getting back to the rig about 8, I finished setting us up and we settled in after a very long day.

Tomorrow, reconnecting with my relatives here.


August 8, 2014

Beach Bound . . .

Since we had a 370-mile trip down to Gulf Shores today, we had planned to be on the road by 9:00, but in a pleasant surprise, my great-niece Stahlie and her mother Helen and brother Luke showed up to say goodbye.. We really enjoyed hearing Stahlie’s stories about her and her sister Darby’s recent visit to China, and what‘s going on in her life now.

So it was well-worthwhile getting on the road a half hour behind schedule. Leaving the Northgate RV Travel Park, we were back on I-65 in about half a mile and heading south. We made a pitstop about an hour and a half down the road, and while there, I checked the Birmingham Sigalert page for traffic problems as we passed through. When I had checked about 7 am there were a number of red areas, but they had dissipated by the time we got there.

A little south of Montgomery we ran into about 5 miles of heavy rain, but it cleared up pretty fast, so it didn’t really cause any problems. We did see signs of more rain further south that we missed out on.

Just as we turned off I-65 for the last 50 miles or so to the beach, the generator quit. I had been expecting it since I knew we were getting down to that level of diesel in the tank. But we quickly decided we didn’t want to drive the last 50 miles without any A/C. So a few miles along the way, I pulled into a Love’s to get some more A/C fuel.

The diesel pumps were pretty busy so we had to wait about 10 minutes for a lane to open up, but we were done pretty quickly and back on our way. And cool again.

We pulled into the Gulf State Park RV Park about 5:30, and got checked in and set up. We’re not right on the water this time, but we are right across the street from it.

Gulf State Park 2014-1

Gulf State Park 2014-2

After resting up for a while, Jan and I headed out for dinner at one of our favorite local places, DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen. We’ve been eating here for years and it’s always good, and tonight, very crowded.

DeSoto's Seafood Kitchen

We had to wait about 40 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. And in fact, on a  Friday night with only a couple of beach weekends left before school starts, everything down here is crowded.

Jan and I both ordered our usual, which is the same for both of us.

DeSoto's Seafood Platter

The Seafood Platter, with Crab Claws, Shrimp, Oysters, and Flounder, all fresh and delicious. And our sides were Fried Green Tomatoes and their fantastic Sweet Potato Casserole with glazed pecans.

The Flounder was really, really good, and we both had plenty of everything to take for later.

This is the first time we’ve been here during the season in a while and I had forgotten how crowded it can be. The last two times we were here it was November, and the time before that, in 2009, it was March. So this time was a shock.

Tomorrow will be a do-nothing, goof-off day except for going out for dinner at another of our favorite places.


August 8, 2015

Throwed Rolls . . .

I spent the morning working on a few things around the rig that needed repairing. Makes me really appreciate the picture someone posted on Facebook saying, “RV’ing Is: Visiting Beautiful Places and Fixing Things.” Tell me about it.

About 2;30 Jan and I headed up to Foley to have linner at Lambert’s Throwed Rolls. And as we expected, we had a little over an hour wait. But unless you want to get there at 10:30am, it’s always an hour or so wait.

Lambert's 1

When they open the doors at 10:30, the place immediately fills up. From then on it’s an hour wait pretty much until they close. And it was still an hour wait when we left a little after 5pm.

We always enjoy the “Pass Arounds”, especially the Fried Okra.

Lambert's 2

They also have Fried Potatoes and Onions, Black-eyed Peas, Boiled Cabbage, and several other items, but these require a plate. The Fried Okra doesn’t.

Jan usually gets the Fried Chicken, and she did this time too.

Lambert's 3

That’s two large breast-wing combinations. This way half of it comes home for later.

This time I got the BBQ Pork Steak, with White Beans, Turnip Greens, and Applesauce.

Lambert's 4

That steak is an inch thick and delicious. And big enough so half that went home as well.

And of course, you can’t forget about the ‘Throwed Rolls” And, yes, they do throw them. Think delicious yeast rolls, hot out of the oven and bigger than a softball flying overhead. I’ve seen four in the air at the same time, some traveling more than 30 feet.

And if you miss one, look out because a replacement is on its way. One time I saw them toss six rolls to a little boy before he finally caught one, and it made his day.

Missing one is embarrassing, but catching one can be painful. As it said, they’re hot out of the oven, too hot to hold, actually, so you drop it on the table as soon as you can.

One nice thing about Lambert’s is that the prices are very reasonable. Jan’s two big pieces of chick and two sides was $12, and my Pork Steak with three sides was $13. So $6 and $6.50 since we took half home. And of course, there are all the Pass Arounds and Hot Rolls you can eat.

Or catch.

* * * * *

While his parents are in Costa Rica, Landon and his Grammie Sonja got some cake baking down. Looks like Landon is right in there helping.

Landon and Sonja Cooking 3

Landon and Sonja Cooking 2

Landon and Sonja Cooking 8

Landon and Sonja Cooking 6

And of course, he gets the first taste. Looks like an early birthday cake.


August 8, 2016

Last Day in Paradise…er…Gulf Shores

We didn’t have coffee this morning when I got up at 11 since we planned on having an early lunch at Lulu’s at Homeport on the Canal.

We left the rig for Lulu’s about 12:30 with a quick stop at the Wal-Mart on the way for gas. Gas there was $1.97 a gallon, while right around the corner on the main drag it was going for $2.15.

Big difference for half a block.

The reason for the early lunch was this graph from a Google search. The blue graph at the bottom shows how busy the place is at various times of the day.

Lulu's Time Graph

We wanted to beat the crowds if possible, and it certainly worked, getting a water-side table on the deck.

Lulu's Deck

For those who don’t already know, Lulu is Lucy Buffett, Jimmy Buffett’s younger sister. After working in the Hollywood movie industry for years, and loving to cook, she came back to the Gulf Coast area in the late 90’s and opened a combination bait shop/outdoor burger joint/bar on Fish River near Mobile.

Losing her lease in 2003, she loaded the whole kit, kaboodle, and bar onto a barge and hauled it all down to its present location on the Intercoastal Waterway at Gulf Shores. And every year it seems to get bigger. And now she’s opened a new Lulu’s over in Destin, FL

I wonder if Key West is next?

We started out with an order for the Fried Green Tomatoes with their delicious homemade Remoulade sauce.

Lulu's Fried Green Tomatoes

Jan comes here for their Blackened Shrimp Tacos. She says theirs is the best around, even better than the ones at Outrigger’s in Seabrook, TX.

Lulu's Blackened Shrimp Tacos

I usually get either the Half and Half Seafood Platter, or today’s choice, the Half and Half Shrimp and Oyster Po’boy.

Lulu's Half and Half PoBoy

You can’t see it in this photo but there’s a bunch of fixings off the bottom of the photo, tomatoes, pickles, onions, etc. By the time you put it all together and slather on the tartar sauce, you’ve got a real two-fisted meal. Really good.

While we were eating, I watched a large group board their cabin cruiser at Lulu’s dock and head down the Canal.

Lulu's Boat

You could probably buy 2 or 3 RV’s for what that costs.

For dessert, we always split a piece of Lulu’s Krispy Kreme Donut Bread Pudding.

Lulu's Bread Pudding

But this time we were just too full, so we got it to go.

Finishing up our meal, and after Jan perused the gift shop, we decided to drive down Fort Morgan Rd to check out a couple of RV parks down that way, as a possible replacement for Gulf State Park for next year’s visit.

And we found a really nice one, Island Retreat RV Park. The price is certainly right at $211 a week, but I’ll have to check it further on RVParkReviews.

Island Retreat RV Park

We drove all the way down to Jan’s namesake fort, Fort Morgan. I say hers, because the fort is named after one of Jan’s direct ancestors, Daniel Morgan, a Revolutionary War hero.

Jan’s mother was a Morgan, going all the way back to Col. Morgan Morgan, one of the first settlers into the Virginia area. In fact Morgantown, WV is named for her family.

Of course, she’s also related to the famous pirate/privateer/buccaneer Capt. Henry Morgan, of Captain Morgan Rum fame.

That certainly explains a lot.

Tomorrow we’ve got a 375 mile trip up to Athens, AL to visit my relatives for a few days, so we’ll get an early start.

Really look forward to seeing everyone.


August 8, 2017

Pete’s OK . . .

First off, Pete, the tow truck driver is OK, and back at home. Looks like it was just heatstroke. Glad he’s doing better.


And again, I want to thank everyone for their best wishes and hopeful comments.

We had originally pulled out of the area where we’d been parked since Saturday afternoon about 2pm, but had just gotten out on to the periphery road when Pete stopped and got under the rear of the rig again. So I parked behind him and started reading on my tablet.

Rig at Covington 1

Looking up now and then I noticed Pete going back and forth for tools. But when I looked up a few minutes later, he was sprawled out from under the rig on his back. Just about the time I got out of the truck and was calling 911, another car stopped with a doctor.


In fact, in the first 5 minutes, we had a doctor, an RN, a Paramedic, and two EMT’s, all just passing by. Then a couple of minutes later we had a police car, a fire truck, and an ambulance.

And a big crowd of rubberneckers standing around, since they couldn’t get by with all the vehicles stopped.

By this time, I was on the phone to Big Wheel Diesel & Wrecker, Pete’s employer, to let them know what had happened, and that at some point they were going to need to get another driver out here to clear the road. They said they would, and also asked if Pete’s wife could call me, and I said “Sure”.

By this time Pete was responsive, and shortly after that, they had him up and walking to the gurney. So when Pete’s wife called a few minutes later, I was able to calm her down and get her to stop crying, telling her he looked to be doing OK. And after talking to one of the ambulance EMT”s, I was also able to tell her what hospital he was being taken to.


Then as quick as the crowd gathered, within 15 minutes everyone was gone, leaving just me and the rig sitting in the roadway.

Ambulance Leaving at Covington

Finally, after about 20 more minutes, two more guys from Big Wheel showed up. And after looking things over, they apparently didn’t like the way Pete had set things up, so they then spent another hour or so getting things configured like they wanted.

Rig at Covington 2

So it was about 4:45 before we were on the way again, this time with no mishaps or 911 calls.

I had to stop for gas on the way since I’d had the truck idling to keep Miss Karma cool since about 1pm. So by the time I got there, they had the rig parked on the lot, so all I had to do was to sign the paperwork and hit the road for Katy.

More tomorrow when I have more info.


August 8, 2018

Once And For All . . .

Luv Ya Sweetie!

I spent most of the morning ‘degunking’ a laptop that my client brought in for me to look at.

He said the email didn’t work, but that was an easy fix and the least of the problems. He had changed the email password on the same account on a computer at work, so all I had to do was give it the correct password and off it went. But it hadn’t been online since early 2017, so it was 37,201 emails behind. Which took about 3 hours to update. He gets a lot of Spam.

While that was going on, I uninstalled his expired Norton Anti-Virus and installed AVG Free. Next up I downloaded and installed both CCleaner and Glary Utilities to ‘degunk’ things but I didn’t run them until the email update was finished since using them often requires one or more reboots.

And when the email was finally done, it took about 6 or 8 run-throughs of both CCleaner and Glary before everything was cleaned out. My client said it was running faster now than he ever remembered it.

For a long while, and every time I work on our Splendide Washer/Dryer I’ve been unhappy with the way that the dryer vent hose connects up with the dryer. The Splendide, which is made in France, does not have a standard 4” flange like American units. where the hose slips over the flange and then is held in place with a circle clamp like this.

Circle Clamp

Instead the Splendide output looks like this.

Dryer Vent Hose Repair 1

And it’s sized so that the 3” hose that the rig uses just slips inside the ring. There is no way to fasten it down. The Splendide manual mentions something about a ‘special flange’, which nobody seems to know anything about. In fact the Splendide people out in Washington state have never seen one either.

In addition to the ‘flange,’ the manual also mentions using duct tape to hold the hose in place. And that’s how mine came from the factory, as well as the 3 units I’ve worked on for friends. But the duct tape solution has a problem.

Over time the tape dries out from the heat, the glue hardens, and the hose can actually fall off. So every time I pull out the unit for another repair job, I try to come up with a better way to connect the hose.

But it wasn’t until a couple of days ago, as I was walking through the A/C Duct area in Lowe’s, a piece of sheet metal caught my eye. It was a 3” to 2” duct adapter like this.

3 to 2 Duct Adapter

And it looked like it would be a good fit.

So yesterday I pulled the washer back out of its cubby and tried it out. And the reducer was almost a perfect fit over the outside of the washer flange. But to make it a little tighter and seal it better, I did wrap a couple of turns of Gorilla Tape around the flange.

Dryer Vent Hose Repair 2

Then with it in place, I put a couple of sheet metal screws through the adapter and into the plastic flange.

Dryer Vent Hose Repair 3

The 2” end was a perfect fit for the inside of the 3” vent hose, and a circle clamp held it in place. In hindsight, and the next time I have the unit out, I’ll put a couple of pop-rivets through the clamp and hose into the adapter to make it even more secure.

Dryer Vent Hose Repair 4

So now hopefully, once and for all, that problem is fixed.

Tomorrow, if the rain holds off, I’ll be able to move some stuff down to the new storage room and get a couple of things done around the rig.

Hopefully.


August 8, 2019

An Impactful Blog . . .

I was out at the crack of noon to take a look at the rear brakes on our truck. But first I raised both front wheels to check for a dragging sound.

Along with the grinding sound coming from the rear brakes, I can also hear a dragging noise when the truck is moving slowly. But I wasn’t sure if it was coming from the front or the rear. But when I spun both front wheels I got no noise, so it’s all coming from the rear.

So after cooling off inside the rig and hydrating some, I went back outside to take a crack at the rears. But I didn’t get very far.

When I tried to loosen the first lug nut with the wrench, it wouldn’t budge, even when I stood and jumped on it. So I pulled out my cheater piper and tried it. And after jumping on it. I got it loose, as well as all the others.

Except one.

When I tried that one, the wrench would slip, because the lug nut was slightly rounded off. I even tried a 3/8” drive socket of the correct size, but it slipped too.

WTH?

I lay this directly on Discount Tires, since they’re the last ones that worked on this when they sold me the tire last year.

There was no need for them to tighten the lug nuts like this. If I was at the side of the road and didn’t have my cheater pipe, I couldn’t change the tire, regardless of the rounded-off nut.

Somebody needs to have their impact driver confiscated.

I’ll go by Discount Tire this weekend and get them to get it off. And also pre-loosen the lug nuts on the other side, just in case.

After getting cleaned up, Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area so I could first get a haircut. But that didn’t work out either.

My usual barber shop, Esthela’s, was closed, with no reason why. Just the Closed sign. I started using this place about 30 years ago when it was Lou’s, but he retired a couple of years ago, and one of his barber’s, Esthela, bought him out.

So I hope there’s not a problem. It’s hell to break in a new barber. They never have your haircut records.

So we decided to head back down to our area to eat at Chili’s. But since I was low on gas, we detoured into the Costco to fill up. And it was nice to see a price of $2.16 on the pump.

Before we parked at Chili’s, we drove by the nearby location of the new Black Bear Diner to check it out. We were surprised to see how big it’s going to be, and it will be needed due to how busy they will be.

At Chili’s, we went with our usual favs, a bowl of their Chicken Enchilada Soup for both of us,

Chili's Chicken Enchilda Soup

and a Grilled Chicken Caribbean Salad to go with.

Chili's Grilled Chicken Caribeean Salad 2

Tomorrow night we’re going to Alvin to first have dinner at Monterey’s and then attending the Alvin Opry to see a long-time favorite, John Mark Davis.

Really looking forward to it.


August 8, 2021

The Big Dipper . . .

It was a little warmish this morning so we didn’t have our coffee outside, but a little later in the morning, I went outside to replace my leaking radiator overflow hose.

I had noticed that I kept having to add coolant a little more often than I had expected, but never saw any obvious leakage. At least until I had to pull the tank to replace the ignition coils last week and found the overflow return hose was splitting apart at the bottom of the tank where it couldn’t be seen.

So yesterday I stopped off at O’Reilly’s yesterday to get a new section of hose. And, as it turned out, the hose was free. The guy said he found a scrap piece at the end of a reel, so he just gave it to me.

Radiator Hose Replacement

You can see where the old hose on the bottom right is split apart.

It did take a little maneuvering to the new hose installed on the nozzle underneath the tank since I couldn’t see, and could just barely feel it. But finally getting it in places I topped off the tank with coolant and I was done.

Repaired Radiator Overflow Tank

However I will monitor the level over the next couple of days to be sure any air has been worked out of the system, so I may have to top off the coolant level a couple of times.

While I was putting the coolant jug back in our Rubbermaid storage shed, I took a few minutes to look it over.

Rubbermaid Storage Shed 20210808

It’s about halfway through its 2nd Texas summer and I was happy to see that it still looks brand-new. What looks like a sag in the roof is normal. It’s caused by the fact that the front section is on rails so that it can slide back over the back part, allowing you to stand up in at least part of the shed.

About 2pm Jan and I headed over to the FM646 Denny’s for what seems to be our weekly Ultimate Omelets. Always delicious

After lunch, our next stop was the Verizon Store across I-45 on the HEB side, but found this one closed on Sundays. I had wanted to get them to take a look at Jan’s Text Message problem.

Basically she can’t send or receive any.

I had originally thought it was a problem with her old S5 phone, and hoped the problem would go away when she moved up to my S8+, but the problem followed her account. But so far I haven’t been able to convince Verizon of that, so that they keep having me reset things on the phone. Saved for another day.

Then after an HEB stop for a few things it was home by about 4pm.


August 8, 2022

Rinse, Lather, Repeat . . .

Once again Karma can’t figure out where Jan is, and why she’s not here.

She sits on the floor staring up at the sofa where Jan normally sits. Then, after that doesn’t work, she will jump up on the sofa and nose around in case she might have missed her there somewhere.

Then Karma will jump down and sit in front of me, looking up at me like I’m supposed to go find Jan.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat.

Our daughter-in-law Linda sent over another photo of the new hot tub addition to their backyard.

Chris' New Hot Tub

Really, really nice.

And another nice thing is the house that Miss Piper and Derek have been remodeling over in Taylor, TX, a little northeast of Austin.

Piper New House 1

Piper New House 2

Piper New House 3

Piper New House 4

Really beautiful.

Apparently all they’ve got left now is the upper cabinets in the kitchen, and then the floors to finish up.

And on the Brandi front, Baxter and Jack were always fighting over the dog bed. So Brandi and Lowell pulled out an old corduroy bean bag chair and repurposed it as a new dog bed.

And now it’s big enough for both of them.

Jack and Baxter in Bean Bag Chair


August 8, 2023

The Internet Was Wrong . . .

Yeah, I know it sounds blasphemous to me, too. But it’s happened twice recently.

The first time was a month or so ago when I was trying to track down the cooling fan relay for our 2003 Jeep Liberty. The Internet said that it was located underneath the right headlight assembly. But it wasn’t there.

Then a faithful blog reader told me that in early-in-the-model-year 2003 Jeep Liberty, it was located on the left side, underneath the battery. And there it was.

In the most recent case, the dash’s 12v Power Outlet in the Jeep died. Since it runs both our Garmin GPS and our dashcam, I wanted to get it fixed ASAP. And when I asked Google where the Power Outlet’s fuse was located, it said it was #3. But when I replaced #3, it didn’t fix the problem.

And several YouTube videos gave me other locations, none of which fixed the problem.

But before I broke out my 12v Test Probe,

and tested each and every fuse in the panel, I did what I probably should have done to start with.

I read the manual. Or at least the Owner’s Guide in the glove compartment.

And it gave me a 3rd location which did work.

As they always say, RTFM!


Though I’ll get my Jan back this Thursday morning, I’ll have to give her back on Tuesday. Turns out that Brandi’s new job wants to fly her out to their headquarters in San Francisco for a get-acquainted get-together for next week, so Jan will be gone again from next Tuesday until Friday.

Karma and I are getting lonely.


Ironic, No?

Zoom Demands Workers Return To The Office


Did You Know?

Chuck E. Cheese Pizza was originally going to be called Coyote Pizza.

But when they ordered a Coyote costume for their mascot, they got a rat costume by mistake. So they went with it.

Also Chuck E. Cheese was started by Noah Bushnell, who also started Atari Video Games.