Our RV Adventures

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I thought we were done with winter for this season, but it looks like we got another cold snap on the way.

For the last couple of weeks we’ve had temps in the 70-80’s during the day and the low-mid 70’s at night. And that was the forecast for the rest of this week. But now we’re looking at night temps in the low 50’s and maybe high 40’s starting this Saturday.

Glad we didn’t take the last heater over to the storeroom yet.

Of course, they were wrong about all the rain we were supposed to get today, causing me to cancel my brake work on the Jeep. Though it stayed cloudy, with a little misting, no rain.

Oh, well.

* * * * *

We’ve got a couple of things coming up this week, starting this Thursday with the six-month follow-up for my Lumbar Fusion back in September 2024. Then on Saturday, Jan’s getting together with a couple of her former Medical Records coworkers down in Galveston at a favorite of ours, The Sunflower Cafe.

* * * * *

In what was probably the greatest institutional April Fool’s Day joke ever, in 1957 the BBC convinced British viewers that spaghetti, not widely eaten in Britain at that time, was harvested from spaghetti trees in Italy and Switzerland.

Here’s the story behind the story.

“The last two weeks in March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer,” the narrator of the segment, which aired on the BBC program “Panorama,” told viewers. “There’s always the chance of a late frost which, while not entirely ruining the crop, generally impairs the flavor, and makes it difficult for him to obtain top prices in world markets.”

The narration, performed by respected journalist Richard Dimbleby, accompanied video footage purporting to show a Swiss family plucking strands of spaghetti from trees. These farmers had just harvested an “exceptionally heavy” crop of spaghetti, Dimbleby said, before adding that recent growing conditions were especially favorable thanks to the “virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.”

The authenticity of the hoax relied heavily on Dimbleby, a distinguished presenter who had hosted “Panorama” for years. He was also well-known as the BBC’s first-ever war correspondent.

Hundreds of viewers reportedly called the BBC to inquire about the segment, the Associated Press reported. Some were even “so intrigued they wanted to find out where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush,” according to the BBC.

The BBC’s response? They told those viewers to “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best,” according to The Telegraph, which ranked the hoax as one of the “greatest” April Fools’ stories of all time in a 2011 article.

Read more at it here.

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Thought for the Day:

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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April 1, 2009

Heading Out Again…

After a month, today we headed out from Gulf Shores, AL  to Port  St. Joe, FL. It was supposed to be an easy 175 mile run, through Pensacola, Ft. Walton Beach, and Panama City. We stayed on US 98 all the way down, keeping off the Interstates.

But when we got to the park we had planned to stay at, we found the grass sites so muddy that it didn’t seem like a good idea to park and risk getting stuck, so we headed back out, checking online for another park as we went.

We finally ended up in Carrabelle, FL at a very nice park right across the street from the Gulf. But by the time we got there, it was getting dark, and bad weather was closing in.

I’m glad we were able to get off the road before it got completely dark.

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April 1, 2010

Road Trip !!!

About noon we headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for a lunch of hot wings and potato wedges. I really like their Mango Habanero sauce, but I wish it was hotter.  I had them combine the Mango Habanero, and Blazin’ which is their hottest, but it wasn’t that much hotter and it lost the sweetness of the mango. Oh well.

We also checked out the Lucky Star Chinese Buffet next door. We had seen it when we last ate at BWW. It looks pretty good, so we’ll probably try it out when we get back from New Mexico. Maybe we will finally fulfill our quest to locate a good Chinese buffet in Las Vegas.

Coming home we stopped off at Sam’s Club for some supplies, and then Lowe’s to return some toilet parts that I didn’t need.

But the real news is our upcoming road trip tomorrow to check off something on my bucket list.

Twice a year, on the first Saturdays in April and October, White Sands Missile Range opens public access to Trinity Site,

Trinity Site is where the first atomic bomb was tested on July 16, 1945 at 5:29:45 am. I spent a good bit of time at White Sands Missile Range back in the 80’s working for NASA and I always wanted to visit the site. But the open house never coincided with my schedule.

But we’re still in Las Vegas which is close enough to make the drive. It’s about 660 miles one way to the site, which is about 30 miles east of San Antonio, NM, which is about  65 miles south of Albuquerque. We’ll leave Vegas tomorrow morning about 8am and spend the night in Albuquerque.

Then Saturday morning, we plan on driving down to San Antonio and then out to Stallion Gate about 12 miles east. The gate will be open from 8am to 2pm for visitors to the site. Then it’s about 17 miles out to the site.

I mentioned yesterday that Tuesday night we went back to the Fremont Street Experience. We wanted to see the Don McLean/American Pie tribute again, and also see the Queen and KISS shows that we didn’t see the first night.

As before the shows were fantastic.  And here are some more pictures.

More tomorrow from Albuquerque…

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April 1, 2011

Buffets and Big Steaks . . .

I got up a little before 10 to find Jan was already up and feeling better. Not 100% yet, but definitely on the mend.

I fixed coffee while Jan tried to catch up on several days of email and blogs, but she tired out before she finished. There’s always tomorrow.

Around 1 Jan fixed us a lunch of cheese toast and chips. She’s still eating light while she’s getting back to normal. And of course, since the cheese toast was made with some great homemade bread, it was all good.

After lunch, I went outside to hang up the two side solar screens before the afternoon sun hit the side of the coach.

Although we can run both A/C’s on 30 amps, we can’t run both A/C’s with the TV and the computer on, so I want to cut down the heat load as much as possible.

I also cleaned the filter on the front A/C, as I noticed that the airflow from the vents didn’t seem to be up to par. Taking the vent cover off I discovered that the filter sheet was completely clogged. I was surprised to find this since I had just cleaned them less than two months ago.

But in looking closer I discovered the problem. The filters were clogged with dust, lots and lots of dust. Apparently, the six weeks or so we’ve spent in the dusty climes of Yuma and Tucson had taken its toll.

But a quick rinse in the shower took care of the problem, and the A/C started putting out a lot more nice cold air.

Jan said she kind of had a hankering for Chinese, and I remembered there was a Chinese buffet around here somewhere, but I didn’t remember which town, Camp Verde or Cottonwood.

So tracking it down, a little before 5 Jan and I drove over to Cottonwood to have dinner. And it was really pretty good.

After dinner, we drove around Cottonwood, checking out the town and the surrounding area.

After a nice drive, we got home about 6:30, but first drove around the park some, while also looking for a dumpster.

Tomorrow I’m thinking about installing the new grey tank valve I got before we left Tucson.

We’ll see how it goes.

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April 1, 2012

Eight Days A Week . . .

This morning we started our eighth day in Las Cruces with coffee and and some of the frozen croissants that our daughter Brandi and her husband Lowell gave us for Christmas.

They’re called Galaxy Gourmet Croissants and are available by mail. They come in both chocolate-filled and plain, and are shipped frozen in dry ice. And they’re delicious.

After catching up on the email and Internet stuff, I got back on some chores around the rig. That’s one nice thing about being stuck here, I’m getting some things done.

Brandi sent over these photos of Landon et. al., down on Galveston Island this afternoon. It’s amazing how much he’s grown in the 6 weeks we’ve been gone from Houston.

Getting back home about 2pm Lowell called us so we could Skype with Landon. Lowell was using his iPad on his end, and I tethered my Droid to my computer so I could use the 4G signal here in Las Cruces.

Unfortunately, though we had a great picture, every time I tried to do a snapshot, Skype would crash and we’d have to reconnect. It did it twice, so after that I just gave up trying to grab photos.

We really enjoyed watching Landon play in the backyard, talking up a storm. And now at 19 months, he’s talking in sentences

We ended up Skyping for about a half hour, and hope we’ll be able to do it again in a couple of weeks.

About 3pm Jan and I headed about 35 miles down to northern El Paso to have dinner at Famous Dave’s BBQ. We had a real hankering for ribs, and Famous Dave’s has some of the best.

And their BBQ Beans with meat aren’t too shabby, either. A really great meal.

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April 1, 2013

Home in Apache Junction . . .

First off, a recap of Sunday’s trip from Tucson to Apache Junction.

I’d already done a lot of pre-packing Saturday evening so we weren’t in any real hurry this morning.

And since we weren’t leaving here until around 11am, we headed out to Bruegger’s Bagels about 9 for coffee, breakfast bagel sandwiches, and some relaxing conversation.

Back at the rig a little after 10, we were hitched up and pulling out right at 11. Since it was Easter Sunday morning, we had little traffic, and it was pretty smooth sailing through Tucson.

About an hour down the road, we made a stop at Bowlin’s at Picacho Peak Plaza, a chain of 10 gas station/gift shops in New Mexico and Arizona, and one of Jan’s favorite stops. Somehow she always manages to find a piece of jewelry, a neat shirt, or something else at their gift shop.

In this case, she found a ring, a shirt, and a pair of socks.

I got a coffee. Funny how things work out like that.

On the other hand, if I had room in the rig I would have liked to have taken this with me. Well, room in the rig and $600 to blow up.

It’s a 4th of July in a box. It’s about 6 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and a foot deep. And it’s chock full of mortars, skyrockets, firecrackers, and pretty much everything else that goes bang. swoosh, or flash.

It’s not called The Big Bang for nothing.

After a smooth trip the rest of the way, we pulled into the Countryside RV Resort in Apache Junction about 2:15. The office was closed, but they had a check-in packet waiting for me in a box by the door

Containing almost 500 sites, Countryside is just one of many RV parks in the area, necessary to accommodate all the snowbirds who swarm into the area every fall.

Luckily our packet contained a good map to our site, and after unhooking the truck, we found our site and got parked and set up.  Once we were squared away, we went out for supper.

We ended up at JM Chinese, a small Asian restaurant that we’d heard about. And boy was it good. Jan said her Pan-Fried Noodles were some of the best she’s had. And my Schezwan Garlic Chicken was delicious. Very hot and spicy.

It was interesting to see some of the unique desert landscaping in the area. This yard is right across the street from us and shows what can be done. And even better, there’s no mowing.

We got back to the rig and about 7:30 and that was it for the day.

During the day my wrist had been hurting me a lot, not sure from what, maybe arthritis, maybe gout. But it hurt like hell, so much so that I didn’t feel much like typing.

Today we stayed around the rig all day, though about 11:30 I did drive down to the park office and turn in my registration form.

For dinner, Jan fixed Chili Taco Salads using a can of Skyline Chili, If you’ve ever been in the Cincinnati area and had Skyline or Gold Star Chili 5 Ways, you know what I’m talking about.

Using Spring Mix salad greens, jalapenos, cilantro, grated cheese, salsa, hot Skyline Chili, and some tortilla chips, it makes a delicious meal. One we’ll certainly have again.

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April 1, 2014

Like a Real Wal-Mart, only smaller . . .

They just opened the High Roller in Las Vegas.

At 550 feet, it’s the highest Ferris Wheel in the world, higher than the one in London, or in Singapore.

It doesn’t have open cars (some people would say “Thank goodness), but instead it carries pods that can hold up to 40 people at a time. It takes about 30 minutes to make a full rotation and costs $25 in the daytime, and $35 at night.

Here it is under construction, so the cars (pods) haven’t been installed yet

Jan and I can’t wait.

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Around noon Jan and I headed down into Columbus for lunch and a little shopping. Our first stop was the Sonic Drive-in for a couple of hot dogs. Jan always gets a Chili Cheese Dog, while I usually get the New York Dog with mustard, sauerkraut,, and onions, my favorite dog. And unlike our stop at Jack in the Box the other day, today’s visit to Sonic was as delicious as usual.

Then we made a stop at the HEB and Wal-Mart, which conveniently, are located side by side. But it was kind of a useless trip, because both of these are small stores, especially the Wal-Mart. They only stocked about half of the things we were looking for, things that we normally find at the larger stores.

After a nice, quiet afternoon, about 5pm we headed up to La Grange to have dinner at Sealand Seafood, where we’ve eaten a couple of times before. And it was just as good this time.

We both had our usual 2 fried catfish, 6 fried shrimp, and 6 fried oysters.

It’s hard to say enough about how good this place is. My family was in commercial fishing and shrimping on the Gulf Coast for years, and I like to think I know good seafood. And this place is good.

Everything is delicious, and I would swear it’s all fresh and not frozen. Even their fries, the double-battered type, are really good.

Did I say this place was good?

Coming home, we stopped off at the bigger Wal-Mart in La Grange to pick up the stuff we couldn’t find in Columbus. Oh well.

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April 1, 2015

At Least It Wasn’t Beer . . .

This is the second morning we’ve made coffee with the water coming through our new Camco EVO Premium Water Filter.

It may be our imagination, but we both remarked how much better the coffee tasted the last couple of days. Before this, we used one of those foot-long blue Camco filters you see everywhere. And along with that, we have another filter under the sink that feeds the water fountain dispenser. This one uses an ice maker type of water filter, and this is where we get our coffee water each morning.

According to the literature, the new filter takes out a whole lot more stuff than the little one, so maybe it really does make a difference.

Jan and I headed out about 1pm for a couple of stops. Leaving the park, I finally remembered to get a photo of these two cacti growing out of the rain gutter of one of the park models here.

I guess if they’ll grow in the desert, they’ll grow just about anywhere.

Our first stop was the Wal-Mart up on Apache Trail to pick up one of the Mattress toppers we looked at the other day. We wanted the Dream Serenity 2” Memory Foam Get-Filled one that we saw the other day. But the one Queen that they had in stock then, was now gone. Bummer.

But the Wal-Mart over on Signal Butte wasn’t too far away, so we drove over there. And lucked out because they had one in stock.

Then later we drove over to Organ Stop Pizza. We ate here when we were in Apache Junction several years ago, and we wanted to go back again.

Organ Stop is pretty much a pizza place built inside the world’s largest Wurlitzer organ. I say built inside because you are surrounded on all four sides by some of the many instruments connected to the massive keyboard.

One of the things really surprising about this place is that the pizza is actually very good. Plus they have pasta dishes, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, etc., and a very good salad bar.

The organist plays for about 45 minutes each hour, with a 15-minute break in between. And they take requests besides their standards. So we finished our meal and wanted to wait around for a little longer to hear more of the next set. But that was not to be.

We had really good seats only about 8 feet from the stage, and we had noticed a very tall guy walking back and forth between us and the stage, carrying a tray with four glasses on it. He must have gone by 4 or 5 times. We were sitting at long tables with benches for seats, and the seats on the other side of us didn’t really have a great view. Which is probably why no one was sitting there. But then another guy asked if the seats at the far end of our table were taken, and we said ‘No’. So he pushed past me to get by and then ‘told’ me to get up so he could move the bench. Note, told, not asked, or said please.

I happened to looking at Jan who was sitting right across from me, and suddenly out of nowhere the guy with the four glasses started to move behind Jan. I have played this over and over in my mind since then, and I would swear that the guy didn’t trip or anything. He just let the side of the tray fall and dumped the four glasses of ice water right on top of Jan, also splattering me too.

The guy didn’t even apologize, he just mumbled something and walked off. Jan jumped up and ran for the bathroom to try and wring herself out. I started getting our stuff together and suddenly the guy shows back up, still never apologizing, or saying anything, actually, and starts using his hand to wipe the ice and water off the table.

The suspicious part of me thinks that he and his friend were walking around looking for someone with a good table who was almost finished, and we were it. Or Jan was, anyway. At the time, she thought it was funny.

Funny, but very cold.

Luckily we had a long-sleeve denim shirt in the truck she could wear, but she still made a squishy sound when she walked.

She said she was just glad it wasn’t Coke or Beer.

Organ Stop Pizza is well worth a visit if you’re in the area. But bring a change of dry clothes, just in case.

As for me, remember my motto: Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean someone’s not out to get you.

Words to live by.

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April 1, 2016

Blahish . . .

We were both running kind of slow this morning, Jan nursing a migraine, and me still feeling kind of ‘blahish’. But as usual, after coffee, we perked up a little, at least enough for Jan to read, and for me to get back to looking at my A/C problem.

As I  related yesterday, I’ve narrowed the problem down to something in the rig wiring between the thermostat and the A/C unit itself. In fact, with a little creative rewiring, the A/C is working fine, which was nice yesterday when it got up to 88 here.

Post-coffee, I got back on the phone with American Coach trying to get some information on the wiring. They did email me the schematics for the rig, including one that shows the position of all the junction boxes in the rig, measured from the front axle.

But they also told me that there was no junction box for the control wiring, but then couldn’t explain why the wire gauge and insulation type changed between the A/C unit and the thermostat.

I did get some help from my posts on RV.net and the Yahoo American Coach group. One guy said that on his friend’s 1995 Dream, they found the front junction box in the same overhead cabinet as the Slide Control Panel, Tank Level Display, and Inverter Panel. He said they found a removable panel there. The problem is I don’t have a removable panel there. I may try removing a couple of the control panels to see if there’s anything behind them.

The guy also said that the one for the rear A/C was located in the back of the TV alcove in the bedroom, but I’ll wait till I need that one before I look for it.

And of course, now that I’ve got the A/C working, a cold front has moved in. Yesterday, the high was 88, while today it was 71, with tonight in the low 40’s. Nice.

If I hadn’t got the A/C working before the heat started back up, as usual, I had a backup plan. Right now we’re parked pointing directly east, so we get the sun through the front windshield all day long. So I was going to turn the rig around and point in the other direction.

We used to do this when we stayed at Galveston Bay RV Park and parked in one of their 5’er sites on the water. All our utilities could be pulled under the rig and connected up with no problems.

And even better we’d have a really nice view. Right now we’re just looking at the rigs across the street. But turned around, we’d be in the shade and looking at this.

Tomorrow we’re meeting up with our daughter Brandi and her family, and we’re all going down to Galveston to check out our granddaughter Piper’s new apartment.

Really looking forward to it, except for the ‘getting up at 6:30 to leave at 7 to be at Brandi’s at 8:15’ part.

That part I’m not looking forward to.

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April 1, 2017

WooChi . . .

Today was another nice, quiet, cool day with not much going on, though the excitement did pick up later in the afternoon.

I had thought that I might get around to replacing the cartridge in our leaking Moen shower faucet, but life, I.e. doing nothing, intervened.

A little before 2pm Jan and I headed out to have lunch at one of our two favorite Chinese places here in Apache Junction, #1 Eastern Buffet.

But as we had heard, #1 was now under a new name, and I assume, a new owner, since the place has undergone a major renovation.

Now known as Woochi Super Buffet, it seems like even the food has been upgraded.

Their Hot & Sour Soup was really good, almost King Food good, and everything else seemed hot and fresh.

In fact there were 4 or 5 young women roaming the food aisles, apparently calling in needed food on their cell phones which was then passed out through a window.

Our next stop was O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to pick up some Tire Black to finish off my recent wheel cleaning, and also check to see if they had phosphoric acid, but they didn’t, so it was on to the Ace Hardware right down the street. And that’s when things got interesting.

Turning into the parking lot, I followed a black Fiat Pop and parked right next to him. As I got out, a really strong gust of wind grabbed the door from my grasp and my door edge scraped along his right rear wheel well edge.

With no hesitation, the Fiat driver jumped out and started yelling at me, saying I damaged his car and he was calling the police. Which he did.

As we waited, I gave him my insurance card, which as it turned showed my National General Insurance had expired 13 days ago. It hadn’t of course, I just hadn’t yet put the new card in the truck after printing it out. And now he started ranting about how I didn’t really have insurance and I was lying to him.

He was calling National General when the police officer, and after about 30 seconds, he told the officer that they said I didn’t have insurance.

So I now called Nat Gen for myself, and noted that it took me  almost 3 minutes to work my way through the phone tree to talk to a person who could confirm that I had insurance in force. So at this point I handed the phone to the officer who after talking to the agent, glared at the guy who had lied to him. It was obvious that he hadn’t really talked to anyone since he didn’t have time to get through to Nat Gen.

While we were standing there, I looked carefully at the paint smear, about the size of a silver dollar, like this.

Wetting my fingers I rubbed the smear, noting that there was no damage to the metal. And as I rubbed, the paint smear just disappeared, ending up looking like this.

And this was with only about 15 seconds of rubbing.

30 more seconds with a dab of rubbing compound, or even toothpaste, and you couldn’t tell it had ever happened. When I showed it to the officer, he just grunted and again stared at the guy.

When I called Nat Gen around 8 this evening, no claim had been entered, and they said they would call me back if one was. Told them they shouldn’t pay any claim because there was no damage.

So we’ll see.

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April 1, 2018

SC vs. WM . . .

I spent part of the morning going through our new prescriptions, comparing Sam’s Club Extra Value List prices with WalMart’s $4 / $10 List, and Sam’s Club won out.

In fact, using Sam’s Club over WM directly saves $44 a month. And that’s just for drugs on both lists. And when you figure in Sam’s Club EV List prices against WM’s regular non-list prices, the gap becomes even bigger, approaching $70 per month.

Of course, to get the SC’s Extra List drug prices, you have to be a PLUS member, which is a $30 upgrade to the regular $69 membership. So for $30 a year, I get to save ~ $70 a month.

Sounds like a really good deal to me.

I spent the rest of the morning/afternoon working on a new website for a client, and correcting spelling errors. I started with this.

And after a little correcting, touching up, and brightening, I had this.

I also had a question about the spelling of ‘collectables’, but although the ‘I’ version is used more, either way is acceptable. (Or maybe I should say it’s ‘acceptible’.)

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Last week I was talking with my client about the cars we’ve owned. (he owns two Studebaker Avanti’s)

In talking about this I realized I had lost track of a few of ours, so Jan and I talked it over and finally came up with this list.

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1965 Triumph Spitfire                                             1967
Raced in SCCA races

1964 VW Beetle                                                       1968

1964 Chrysler Simca 1300                                     1969

1970 AMC Ambassador Station Wagon             1970 New
Our First New Car

1978 Plymouth Horizon                                         1978 New

1980 Plymouth Champ                                          1980 New

1983 Chrysler LeBaron                                         1983 New

1990 Plymouth Acclaim                                       1990 New

1992 Ford Ranger                                                 1992 New
Broke this one in half on the Atchafalaya
River Bridge in Louisiana

1994 Ford Ranger Quad Cab                               1994 New

1999 Saturn SL2 Sedan                                         2001

1996 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Police Car        2000
Bought this from a retired officer friend of
ours. Full-blown police car with the 9C1
package, LT1 Corvette engine, and all the
bells and whistles.

1998 Dodge Intrepid                                              2004

2004 Dodge Dakota Quad Sport                          2007
What we have now

What’s On Your List?

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For dinner tonight I whipped up another batch of my Veggie Soup, but added some grilled chicken breast and more carrots this time. Really good.

Tomorrow it’s back to work.

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April 1, 2019

It’s On Fire . . .

I put in a call to Verizon this morning and found out that we’re good to go on being able to use a European SIM card in both my S8+ and Jan’s S5. So another item checked off our travel list.

Tomorrow morning we’re heading downtown to make a day of it, with our first stop at Katz’s Deli for lunch about 11. Then it’s on down to the iBurn store on Bellaire to stock up on the latest in hot stuff. Since I recently got some Carolina Reaper powder off Amazon, now I’m looking for some Pepper X, which is supposedly over twice as hot as the Carolina Reaper. I’m always ready for another challenge.

Then it’s our long-anticipated visit to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and their new Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. Hopefully, they will allow non-flash photography so I can get some shots for the blog.

Amazon is having a great sale on their 7” Amazon Fire tablet. Normally it’s $49.99, but right now it’s on sale for $34.99

Jan has had one for a couple of years, and loves hers. So at this price, I had to have one too.

And in keeping with our upcoming Vincent Van Gogh exhibit, I also ordered this Starry Night cover for it.

Wrapping up, I finally found some green diesel antifreeze on Amazon and ordered a couple of gallons. I did stop off at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts this morning and found they not only didn’t stock it, but they can’t order it either.

Hopefully, these two gallons will hold me until I can either have it drained, flushed, and refilled with red, or do it myself.

I did check the RV Mobile Lube website, but they don’t list any coolant-related services except for a coolant filter change, or coolant testing. But I’ll call them later to make sure.

I mentioned a while back that when I found out how much my client was paying for simple 72” banana plug Electrode Cords, which was about $17 ea., I told him I could make him up top-quality ones with soldered connections (the other ones are crimped on) for about $6 each, including packaging. And here’s the first example.

Came out pretty good.

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April 1, 2020

We’re All Good . . .

Jan and I got our test results back from our doctor yesterday, and things look pretty good, for both of us.

Our A1C levels were in the mid-5’s, very good. HDL was high, LDL was low, also for both of us. The only small glitch was with the Levothyroxine that Jan takes because she doesn’t have a thyroid anymore.

Our doctor always gives us our prescriptions when we leave the office, but we’ve learned to wait until our tests come back before we fill them. A couple of times in the past, the doctor had prescribed something fairly expensive, only for her to change it up after our tests came back, leaving us with medicine we can’t use and can’t return.

But this time she just wanted to adjust the amount of Levothyroxine that she takes each day, so no problem.

I’ve noticed that Amazon seems to be doing a good job catching up on shipping. Twice in the last couple of weeks, I ordered things for work that were scheduled for 4 or 5 days out, but ended up coming earlier, in one case, only two days.

A couple of days ago while I was unpacking our Rubbermaid shed, Jan was sitting out in the shade ‘supervising’. But she quickly discovered she was getting bit by fleas in the grass.

So I got a sprayer of Black Flag Flea & Tick Spray to take care of the problem.

And yesterday afternoon I took a few minutes to hose down all the grass and rocks surrounding our site. It only used up about half the bottle, so I’ll do it again in a couple of weeks.

Regular readers know that Jan’s and my favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh. In fact we’ve seen his paintings in Paris, London, New York, and Houston. And our favorite painting of his is definitely ‘Starry Night’

Of course, this is the ‘animated’ version.

And here we have our personal ‘Starry Night’ collection.

That’s a Samsung Tab 4 case, an Amazon Fire cover, a checkbook cover, a set of luggage tags, and a tote bag.

So now, Jan, who normally hates spiders, has one she kind of likes.

This is a Maratus constellatus, an Australian Peacock Spider, one of a number of Peacock Spiders.

And here are some more examples.

Though these are very colorful, they’re also very small, ranging from 0.005 inches to 0.33 inches.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy and in the mid-70’s. perfect to get some more work done on our shed project. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the roof in place, and maybe a little more.

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April 1, 2021

Good News . . .

Jan and I are still among the living, and our doctor says we’re liable to stay that way for a while longer.

But to find all this out, we were out the door about 7am, getting to the doctor’s office about 7:35. We waited about 10 minutes before calling to let them know we were there, and they said to come on in. And everything was very different from our last visits.

Before they only let Jan and I in one at a time, and no one was able to wait in the waiting area, but had to wait in their car until they called you.

But today they let both of us come together, as well as a couple of other patients. And the nurse in the reception area who checked us in and took our temperature, wasn’t even wearing a mask, though most of the other staff was.

The other thing that was unusual was that we were both done and out the door by 9, only an hour after we got there, and not the usual two hours. Nice, but it was kind of a problem with our lunch schedule.

Figuring we would be done between 10 and 10:30, we had planned to make a Harbor Freight stop which would get us to our lunch destination right about 11. But now we had an extra hour to kill.

So we decided to head on down to the League City area for a car wash/vacuum, and then a quick stop by the HEB for some hibiscus food for Jan. And by the time we were done with that, a quick stop at HF and we were at the Texas Huddle Grille just a little before 11.

But on the way down to League City, we did see something new. A General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone. It passed over us as it landed at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, nee Ellington AFB. it was moving too quickly for me to get a photo, but it looked like this.

What was kind of funny was that as it passed over us, the next aircraft in the landing pattern right behind it looked to be a Cessna 172.

Ellington Field JRB is home to the 147th Attack Wing, who fly Reapers, and before this, MQ-1 Predators, on surveillance/attack missions around the world, but particularly, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, the ones they’re flying here are for training.

Getting to Texas Huddle, we found a very nice, sports bar-themed place, with the usual ubiquitous TV’s lining the walls.

Jan got a Mushroom Swiss Bacon Cheeseburger, but for her it’s a Mushroom Cheddar Bacon Cheeseburger, with Wedge Fries.

While I got my long-awaited PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger.

I’ll admit it doesn’t look very appetizing, but it was just as delicious as I hoped. Actually maybe, more so, since I had them bump the cheese up from Cheddar to their Ghost Pepper Jack Cheese, and then I added some of my Carolina Reaper flakes to bump it up a little more. Maybe a lot more.

Jan and I each took a bite of our respective burgers, and almost simultaneously said, “We’re coming back.”

And we definitely will.

Chris and Linda sent back some photos from their Utah trip. They got to their condo a little before 2pm our time and got settled in.

Note the name on the hood of his Jeep. “Franken Jeep”

As I mentioned yesterday, he pretty much built it using parts from a lot of other Jeeps.

Looks like they’re going to have fun.

---

April 1, 2022

One Way Or The Other . . .

Catching up on a few things –

I mentioned at the end of yesterday’s blog that we were going to attend the Alvin Opry tonight.

I was wrong. Somehow I lost a week. The Opry is next Friday, not tonight.

When I was trying to install my new water tank fill valve the other day, I found that with the shorter ball valve, the water line wouldn’t quite reach, so I got these two adapters that I’ll use to make up the difference in length.

Should work.

Another thing I forgot to mention yesterday was that while we were at Twin Peaks yesterday, our server, Sylvia, told Jan that her favorite Tomato Basil Soup was going away. Really upsetting for Jan.

And for both of us, it’s just another in a long line of our favorites that Twin Peaks has discontinued over the years.

Average Joes – A 3 Mini Hot Dog Platter
Pork Sliders – A 3 Mini Pork Slider Platter
Greek Salad

and more recently –
Venison Chili
Half Wedge Salad

and now –
Tomato Basil Soup

I guess we can hope that they’ll introduce something new that’s better.

I told Jan tomorrow we’re eating at Pho Barr one way or the other.

By that I mean we’re going to try the new one near us to see if it’s now open as promised. But if it’s not, then we’ll head up to the one in Webster instead.

When I drove by there this morning on my way to work, I did notice that they had taken down the white film covering all the front windows, hopefully a good sign.

But we’ll see.

---

April 1, 2023

No Cops or Gunfire . . .

Lunch today was at our local Monterey’s Little Mexico once again.

Jan got the Pollo Hacienda, with a Grilled Chicken Breast, Charro Beans, and a Side Salad.

And I got the same thing I’ve pretty much always gotten here, a bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Then it was on up the feeder to CostCutter’s for haircuts, and then right next door to HEB for our weekly stuff.

Then home.

---

This past Sunday, our last day in the Texas Hill Country started (and ended) with breakfast at Hooper’s (nee Grand Central Café).

Besides the really good food, the building’s other claim to fame was that it was a primary filming location for 1974’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre when it was located in Round Rock, TX. Then in 1998 it was moved to its present location here in Kingsland where it’s been a series of restaurants since then.

Then late last year the café was sold to a new group and was renamed  Hooper’s after Toby Hooper, the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But luckily, the food is still delicious.

Jan got her favorite Avocado Toast,

while I got my usual omelet, with meat, meat, meat.

And cheese.

The only other meal I was able to get a shot of was Derek’s Eggs and Chicken Fried Steak with Hashbrowns.

Looks good.

And by about 10:30 we were getting in our last hugs and saying our goodbyes, and all headed home.

Chris and Linda right down the road, Piper and Derek back to Taylor, and Brandi, Lowell, Landon, Jan and I back toward Houston.

All in all, a very nice, fun, and successful family reunion.

In Texas, at least, that usually means no cops and no gunfire.

But along the way, our first stop was at Pottery Ranch, just north of Marble Falls. A favorite of Jan’s.

But more about this tomorrow.

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April 1, 2024

A Good Run . . .

A few days ago I noticed that our rig’s 12 v was hovering around the low 12’s instead of the high 12’s to 13 volts that it should be. And after checking a few things I decided that my PowerMax 55 Amp Power Converter was falling down on the job.

But we’d certainly got our money’s worth. Looking back in the blo,g I had installed this one in December 2014, so we’ve had a good run. Here’s the blog post for this.

I Give Up.

So I ordered another one from Amazon this past Saturday which showed up the next day, yesterday.

Powermax 110 Volt to 12 Volt DC Power Supply Converter Charger

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the new one was only $129, while the old one was $117. So a $12 price increase in almost 12 years. Not bad at all.

Then last night, with Jan holding the LED flashlight, I made a ‘hot’ changeout of the power converter. By ‘hot’, I mean I only unplugged the AC line and left the 12 VDC lines connected up.

But it all went fine, and a few minutes later we had 14 VDC on the meter, which soon dropped to 13.6, and then later 13.2, the normal 3-stage operation of the unit.

When I get a chance, I’ll take a look at the old one to see if there’s anything obviously wrong with it, so I can possibly keep it as a spare.

I did notice that this new unit seems to be more heavily built than the original, with two 40 amp fuses rather than one 30 amp, plus it weighs more and is slightly heftier.

I thought I recognized that name.

Florida airboat flips sending 9 passengers into gator-infested waters, operator arrested.

An airboat tour in the Florida Everglades capsized sending passengers overboard on Friday, officials say. This happened when the airboat’s driver took a sharp turn to try to see an alligator in the water, according to multiple reports.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said three units responded to a waterway near Coopertown The Original Airboat Tour in the Everglades Friday afternoon. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, nine people and the operator all fell into the water when the boat took a quick turn.

By the time MDFR arrived, everyone had climbed out of the water, and only one patient was treated for injuries on the scene.

.And checking back through the blog, I found this was the same tour that Jan and I took back in May 2009.

Check it out below.

Gliding thru the ‘Glades…

Guess we lucked out.

 

 

 

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The installation and setup of the new Shipping computer went off pretty well at work today, with only a few bobbles in setting up the Thermal Label printer.

I had to take my computer’s monitor to use on the new computer since the other monitors were all 10+ years old and only had DVI and VGA inputs, while the newer computers have either HDMI or DisplayPort.

So I had to order two new LCD monitors, one for me, and one for the new computer I’m setting up for Dr. Heimlich.

* * * * *

I knew there was another SpaceX Crew Dragon flight coming up, but I thought it was next week. But it was actually tonight.

Called FAM2, it’s taking 4 private astronauts into a polar orbit, the first time in history astronauts have been launched into a north-south orbit.

The flight went off right on time at 8:46pm CDT and about 10 minutes later they were in a polar orbit. And the 1st stage booster landed safely on a droneship out in the south Atlantic, it’s 6th successful trip into space.

Looks to be a 3 to 5 day mission.

* * * * *

Well, I had planned to get back on the Jeep’s brakes tomorrow since late last week, it was showing nice weather for tomorrow. But now it’s showing heavy thunderstorms.

* * * * *

Referencing the Thought For The Day in yesterday’s blog,

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

long-time blog reader and regular commenter, Richard Rousseau had this to say:

In the summer of 2008, we were towing our Fifth Wheel through San Antonio doing 85 MPH, when a Police vehicle pulled next to us, waving us to go faster because we were holding up traffic. We make certain to do that on Sundays from that time on.

That’s Texas for you!

---

Thought for the Day:

If we’re ever in a situation where I’m the ‘Voice of Reason’, then we’re in a very, very bad situation.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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March 31, 2010

Fremont Street Redux and a New Throne…

Last night we went back down to the Fremont Street Experience because we wanted to see both the Queen and the KISS videos on the overhead screen.

In between the two videos we had supper at Mimi’s Café, a restaurant we first tried in Yuma, A good choice for our last meal, so to speak.

Jan and I went to an early lunch at IHOP before heading back to the rig. On the way back I stopped off at the RV park office and paid for another week.

Then it was time to get back to work on replacing the toilet, a job I started last week. But it was more fun running around Las Vegas than working on the toilet. Who knew?

About 4:30 pm we went out to Pepe’s Tacos right down the road from our park to check it out. Not bad.

Then it was back to the rig and the toilet.

Finally, about 8:30pm I had the new toilet in and working. I’ve still got some buttoning up to do on it, but at least we don’t have to walk down to the bathhouse to use the restrooms now.

Life is good.

---

March 31, 2011

Home in Verde Valley . . .

This morning began way, way too early, 6 am too early to be exact. I got up and let Jan sleep while I went outside and started disassembling our RV site. We plan on leaving the Pima County Fairgrounds here in Tucson this morning and heading about 230 miles north to the Verde Valley Thousand Trails RV Resort near Camp Verde, AZ

A little before 7 I went in to wake up Jan to get ready to go meet Al & Adrienne for breakfast at Poco & Mom’s. Although she was feeling a little better when I talked to her about 3 am, she definitely was feeling worse now.

So about 7:30 I headed out alone to meet Al & Adrienne. We had a great meal and talked about our mutual plans for the next few months.

They plan on spending the summer working in Cody, WY near Yellowstone National Park and we’re going to try to stop in and see them when we’re in the area later this summer, probably in June.

After saying our goodbyes and getting Jan a cheese quesadilla and iced tea to go, I got back to the rig about 9:15 to find Jan up and about, but without a lot of energy to do anything, but she was trying. I told her to stay on the couch and I would get us ready to leave.

By about 10:45 we were hitched and heading out. But the cats were very confused. They couldn’t figure out why we were moving, but Jan wasn’t in her chair for them to sit with. Finally, Mister apparently decided he’d just climb up there and wait on her. Then a little before Phoenix, Jan was feeling well enough to leave the sofa and join me up front.

After some steep grades, but a smooth trip overall, we arrived at the Verde Valley TT gate right at 3 pm. And they had all our check-in stuff waiting for us, smooth as silk.

The Verde Valley TT park is really nice. It’s out in the country, kind of carved out around the hills and valleys. And it’s got a really strong 30 amps. With everything else turned off except the frig and the water heater, we were able to run both A/C’s during the afternoon to cool the coach down quicker.

We didn’t do much for supper, with Jan having the rest of her quesadilla, and I had my spaghetti leftover from Argenziano’s on Tuesday.

Jan seems to be on the mend. Hopefully, she’ll feel even better tomorrow.

---

March 31, 2012

You can never have enough Chachi’s . . .

After everything that’s been going on, today was a pretty quiet day. I was up about 10 and got started on making coffee the first thing. We both missed having our morning coffee while we were staying in the hotel. And even when we did have coffee, it wasn’t very good.

And to make things even better, Jan discovered two Cinnamon Buns in the freezer, and along with the coffee, made for an excellent brunch, and a nice start to the day.

Then a little before noon, we headed out on a couple of errands. Our first stop was the park office to re-up through Tuesday. Next, we headed back over to the La Quinta after Jan realized she’d left some clothes in the dresser, and luckily they were still there.

Getting home I worked on some projects around the rig for a couple of hours, before finally deciding to take a nap about 3:30.

About 5pm Jan and I headed over to Chachi’s for more great Mexican food. They’re closed on Sunday, so we wanted to get our fix in for the weekend.

Tomorrow we hope to Skype with Brandi, Lowell, and Master Landon. Because of either traveling, or not having a good Internet signal, this will be the first time we’ve been able to Skype since we left Houston about 6 weeks ago, and we’re really looking forward to it.

---

March 31, 2014

Makeup Se . . . er . . . Makeup Blog . . .

Yesterday we left the rig about 10 am, heading down to the Clear Lake area to visit our son Chris.

And leaving the park we came across a trail ride, coming into camp after a weekend ride.

This is the Colorado River Trail Riders Group, and they do regular weekend trail rides out through the countryside. It looks like they have a lot of fun. Before the start of the Houston Rodeo every year, they may spend a couple of weeks on the road.

Getting into Columbus, we stopped at the Jack in the Box for a quick breakfast. But it wasn’t quick, and more importantly, it wasn’t very good.

Normally we really like the breakfasts there but this was an exception. It took over 10 minutes to get our Supreme Croissant breakfast sandwiches. So we figured since it was after 10:30, they were making them from scratch.

If that was so, then they made them fresh and then put them in the fridge for a while, because when they finally came out, they were lukewarm at best. And that was being generous.

The only positive was that the coffee was good.

Getting into Webster, our first stop was one of our favorites, Floyd’s Cajun Seafood. But it wasn’t for us. Our son Chris had stomach surgery last week, and is still on liquid meals. And what he really wanted was some of Floyd’s famous Crab Bisque. So we picked up a large order and headed over to his house.

Then after spending an hour or so with Chris, we headed over to a client/friend’s house to repair their wireless printer setup. They had recently changed Internet providers from Comcast to Verizon and this disrupted the network that the printers worked on.

Getting this fixed, Jan and I headed over to Pearland about 6pm to meet our friends Bonnie and Richard for dinner at Los Cuco’s. a Mexican restaurant that we like in the area. Then, after a nice, leisurely meal, we headed over to Bonnie and Richard’s for coffee and dessert, and more conversation. So by the time we got home, it was almost midnight. A long, but nice day. But, thus, no blog.

Unlike yesterday, today was pretty much a lay-about, easy day. Jan read her Kindle and napped, and I did computer stuff.

Later in the afternoon, I noticed that the A/C wasn’t working very well. Today was the first day it got hot enough to really use the A/C, so I hadn’t noticed it before.

My first thought was to check the filters on both units and that turned out to be the cause. Both were pretty clogged, and in thinking, I realized I hadn’t cleaned them since last fall when we were gate guarding, so it was about time. But in my defense, we really haven’t used them much this past winter

And cleaning them with the vacuum took care of the problem. I’ll have to put them on my maintenance list to look at more often.

For dinner, I fixed our version of Skyline Chili’s Chili Five Ways, which is made with spaghetti, Skyline Chili, Beans, Shredded Cheese, and Onions.

Actually, Jan has hers Four Ways, because she doesn’t like onions on hers. We also added Ground Habanero for a little spiciness.

Also, FWIW, if you sprinkle Oyster Crackers on top, it becomes Chili Six Ways. Never had it that way.

On the Landon front, Brandi’s boss gave Landon this puppet show. It’s up in his room and he loves it.

He spends a lot of time putting on his own shows.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be as quiet and laidback as today. But you never know.

---

March 31, 2015

Wide Open Spaces . . .

No, not the western plains, but the many RV parks around Apache Junction. Every time we drive around here at Countryside RV Park, we see more and more empty spaces where yesterday sat RV’s. And a growing number of the park models have obviously been closed up for the summer.

The annual northern migration of snowbirdus rves has begun in earnest.

Jan had been wanting some way to have her favorite earrings easier to find than digging through her jewelry case, so I mounted these hooks on either side of the bathroom cabinet to make it a little simpler.

Around 5pm we headed over to the Golden Corral about 7 miles away for dinner.

Later coming home, we made a PO stop to drop Landon’s Easter card in the mail.

---

March 31, 2016

Cool Again . . . for Now

First off, the link for the Funeral Potatoes got messed up and was pointing to my old Our RV Adventures website, so no recipe there. But it’s here on Jan’s Favorite Recipe page now.

After coffee, I got back on my air conditioner problem. Based on what I found yesterday, I’ve come to the conclusion that the problem is not with the A/C itself, but with the missing control signal, I.e. the one that turns on the compressor.

Obviously there is some sort of junction box somewhere, because the yellow wire that comes out from the side of the coach roof to the A/C unit is a slightly different gauge and has a different type of insulation than the yellow wire that ends up at the thermostat, plus it has to pick up the 12v from somewhere. So that’s what I need to locate.

So my next step was to put in a call to American Coach to see if they had any insight on my problem. But unlike most times, they weren’t any help. They kept trying to tell me about the control box inside the old AC unit, and how it was located in the duct.

Well, it’s not.

I’ll probably call back tomorrow and hopefully get another tech, and another idea. So my next task was to post my problem on RV.net and the Yahoo American Coach group to see if the Cloud Mind can be of any help.

With all this done, and no more things to check, it was time to put my theory to the test. The theory that this is all a control signal problem, and not an A/C unit problem.

My thought was that the 12v fan signal is working and will turn the fan on. So I figured that all I need to do is bridge the fan voltage over to the compressor contact, like this.

The red test clip jumps from the fan connection to the compressor connection, so that when the thermostat sends voltage to turn on the fan, it also turns on the compressor. The yellow clip lead is just a temporary jumper for the freeze sensor.

So I turned the thermostat to Cool, and about 30 seconds later I had this.

Not bad for an 85-degree day.

So we’re cool again, but I still need to figure out what’s causing the problem to start with. But that’s for tomorrow.

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon went up to the Dallas area to visit friends over the Easter weekend.

Looks like Landon got in some fishing,

and some drumming.

He may be taking after his mother, Brandi, who played drums, both in the marching band and a trap set like these.

Finishing up, our granddaughter Piper, has moved down to Galveston to be closer to her job. She is an Emergency Room Tech at UTMB Hospital, while working toward her R.N. degree.

She’s got an apartment 3 blocks from the Seawall, near the Bishop’s Palace, and only 5 blocks from work. A lot better than the 60 mile round-trip commute from Friendswood she had before.

Looks like she’s got a nice place.

Saturday we’re meeting up with Brandi, et al, and heading down to Galveston to check out her new place. Really looking forward to it.

---

March 31, 2017

Dead Shoes Walking?

Today turned out to be a mostly do-nothing day, just puttering around and enjoying the nice cool weather.

With a high of 66 today and a low of 47 tonight, it’s a nice respite from the upcoming 100° temps that will be here soon.

Later in the afternoon, I went outside to use up my daily flower garden watering allotment to finish cleaning the rig’s aluminum wheels.

After the first pass a couple of weeks ago, I ended up with this

due to a bad nozzle on the spray bottle. Blotchy, but it shows the possibilities.

So today I poured the solution into a new spray bottle and tried again. And this is what I got.

Looks great.

So next I tried it on one of the rear wheels, starting with this,

and then ending with this.

Again, really good.

Leaving the coach looking like this.

At least on the passenger side anyway. However, I ran out of the spray before I did the driver’s rear wheel. It’s almost done, but needs another coat and rinse.

But since the primary ingredient is phosphoric acid, I may just get a bottle of it at the hardware store or Home Depot and make my own. Or maybe just spray a can of Coke on it.

Yesterday, before I dropped my garbage at the park dumpster, I did my usual survey of the contents, looking for anything interesting. And there, sitting right on top, was a pair of black New Balance shoes, looking almost brand new. So they came home with me. Of course, the first thing I checked was the size, which was 10-1/2. Now, ideally, I wear a 9 EEEE or maybe EEE, if I can find shoes in that size. And yes, I have snowshoe feet, which I inherited from my father.

So I usually end up buying 10 to 10-1/2 shoes to get them wide enough. And getting these home later, they fit really well.

Free shoes!

Of course, Jan said the reason a perfectly good, little worn pair of shoes got thrown away, is that the guy died.

Dead Shoes Walking!

And it’s not the first time I’ve gone dumpster diving. Well, not ‘diving’ as it were, more like dumpster ‘reaching’, since I never actually get into the dumpster, but just reach in.

So far over the years, I’ve found a 6ft pre-lit Christmas tree, still in the box, a couple of nice paintings, a brand-new pair of Crocs, still fastened together, and my big score, a Winegard Carryout Satellite dome, in working condition.

Except for the lack of a power cord, don’t know why it was thrown away.

Tonight was the final episode of one of our favorite TV shows, Grimm, and we’re really sorry to see it go. But at least it was a great ending, although it seemed to be touch and go there for a while.

In fact, about halfway through, Jan said, “I hate this show!” But it got better at the end.

Grimm R.I.P.

---

March 31, 2018

The Place Even Smells ‘Shrimpy’ . . .

After talking it over about where we wanted to eat this afternoon, we finally decided on Pook’s Crawfish Hole. I think it was me more than Jan, but she was willing to give it a try.

Pook’s is located on FM646, just a few blocks east of Hwy 6, and only about 5 minutes from the rig.

We drive by it all the time and it’s always busy.  So busy that sometimes the parking lot is full and people are parking out along the street. So it must be good.

But we lucked out today because when we got there about 2pm, the place was only about half full, with most diners sitting in the open outside area.

Pook’s is unusual in that it’s only open about 6 months a year, pretty much from January to June, I.e. crawfish season. And boiled crawfish, boiled shrimp, boiled snow crab, and a few sides, are pretty much the entire menu.

Now growing up in South Alabama, shrimp was king, and crawfish (crawdads, mudbugs, etc.) were considered just bait. So we ordered a pound of hot boiled shrimp, an order of boiled mushrooms,

and just to stay in the spirit of things, a crawfish pie.

Jan and I split the pie, with Jan really liking it, but I found it kind of bland.

There were 16 shrimp in this pound, making them 16/20’s or Extra Jumbo, bigger than most places around here.

For example, Floyd’s sells a dozen shrimp for $13.99, ones that look like they’re 21/25’s, and on the high end at that.

Word to the wise, buy your shrimp by the pound, not by the dozen.

In this case, the shrimp were deveined, hot and delicious. And each pound comes with a corn and a red-skin potato, all boiled in the same water as the shrimp. As were the mushrooms, which Jan said were very tasty as well.

Just about everything here is ‘finger food’, so your fingers, hands, and faces, get kind of greasy, so this wash station is handy for cleaning up.

I think my grandmother had one just like this, complete with the wringer.

And like the sign out front says, they sell the crawfish live too, in these 30 lb. sacks in case you want to roll your own.

We’ll go back. Really, really good.

Not sure what’s on the schedule for tomorrow, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.

---

March 31, 2019

Nothing Caught Fire or Fell Off . . .

And no leaking oil was seen. So we declared today’s rig test drive a success. So we’re all ready to head up to Kingsland on Friday.

Thought today’s test drive was about 50 miles instead of last year’s 35, I’m not sure the extra 15 miles would have shown up any oil leak anyway.

Last October we didn’t see any oil leak on our test drive, but then it showed up when we headed out for Florida. So I guess we will see for sure on our upcoming trip.

We ended up taking the I-45 route today, since they had finally opened the northbound side, so we left the park heading south on Hwy 6 before looping back up on I-45. That took us all the way up to FM528 in Webster, where a left turn pointed us toward Hwy 35 and on back onto Hwy 6 and south back to Santa Fe and home. As I said, about a 50-mile loop.

That’s about it for today, with a busy week coming up. But more about that tomorrow.

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March 31, 2020

I Can’t Resist Any Longer . . .

Back in the mid-late 90’s, I dabbled in stocks, and I made some decent money. I probably could have made more, but unfortunately stock trading wasn’t like it is today.

Back then it was hard to find a brokerage that would handle small accounts >$1000. And if they did, the commission rates made it hard to make money on small trades.

However today, with companies like E*TRADE, Ally, and Charles Schwab, etc., offering $0 trades, as well as $0 to open an account, as well as all the good quality companies with severely depressed stock prices, I know where our Stimulus checks are going to go.

Probably my best trade was back in late 1996, after reading about a number of clinical studies showing the efficacy of zinc in treating colds, I bought $100 of ColdEze when it was basically a penny stock. Then 18 months later I sold it for about $5000, which paid for our Holland America Alaskan Cruise in May 1998 with a good bit left over.

But most of my profits came from short-term trades (3 – 6 months) for maybe $500 profit on a $100 buy. So we’ll see how it goes now.

Jan and I went out this afternoon and put some more time in on the shed, ending up with this.

I’m using the full Kitty Litter bucket to help hold it down in case the wind comes up.

And like before, there were a couple of problems with the instructions. The latches that hold the wall sections together were labeled ‘Q’ in the manual, but the parts I had were labeled ‘WC’. Plus some of the photos didn’t really match the parts that I had. But we got it figured out.

Thursday we’ll start working on the roof, including the front part that slides back and forth to make access easier.

We’re putting it together on the patio to be sure it’s level and square. Then when it’s done, we’ll slide it onto a raised frame behind the patio concrete.

Back when I booked our upcoming September 2020 Alaskan Cruise I didn’t book our flights at that time, because we weren’t quite sure about the dates. We already planned to fly into Fairbanks a week early so we could spend some extra time there, but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do when our cruise ended in Vancouver, B.C. on September 13th, 2020.

So Jan and I were talking the other day, about the one time we’d been to Vancouver was on our first Alaskan cruise in 1998, and then it was only to ride a bus from the airport to directly inside the cruise ship, and how we’ve like to spend some more time there.

We disembark from the Noordam September 13th, about 7am, then rather than get on the bus to the airport, we’ll take an Uber to whatever hotel our friend/travel agent, Chantelle Nugent, finds for us. Then we’ll fly back to Houston on the 17th.

So yesterday I went back to Expedia to check flights and prices, and boy, was there a difference. When l looked at flights/prices back in October, a One-Way ticket from Houston to Fairbanks was between $550 – $650 per person. And a One-Way ticket from Vancouver to Houston ran about $400 each.

But today, the same ticket to Fairbanks was now only $188. And the Vancouver ticket was only $147. That means that all 4 tickets totaled only $670, only a little more than one ticket to Fairbanks.

Of course, it’s all because of the WuFlu situation, and I wish the money we saved wasn’t for that reason, but of course, there’s always a chance that Delta and Air Canada will be out of business in September and I’ll lose the money anyway.

Jan and I headed out about 3:30 to make a Kroger stop and then pick up dinner at Los Ramirez on the way home. Kroger wasn’t especially busy, and Jan was able to score some baby wipes for the first time, so she was happy.

And our Los Ramirez was as delicious as always.

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March 31, 2021

Boats and Jeeps . . .

Well, I remembered last night to go outside and confirm that I had a good site line for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet system, so this morning I went online and signed up for the service and paid my $99 deposit. They’re saying mid to late 2021 to receive my system.

Really looking forward to 300 Mbps! And maybe a lot faster.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that Jan and I were going up to Brandi’s on Sunday for an Easter get-together. Well, that’s been expanded to all weekend.

Now we’re going up on Saturday afternoon to spend the day in the heated pool and the evening around the firepit, and then have our Easter dinner on Sunday. And probably some more heated pool time.

In the meantime, I mentioned that Miss Piper had to work this weekend, so she wouldn’t be at Brandi’s, and now it looks like Chris and Linda are off on their own adventure.

They’re off with a bunch of fellow Jeep enthusiasts on a week-long road trip out to Utah. But Chris is probably the only one on the trip who pretty much built his Jeep.

It started like this.

And then he ended up like this.

Of course, he once took a rotted-out boat that was out in a field with a tree growing out of it, and turned it into this.

And not only did he rebuild the boat, he also rebuilt the Ford 351 Windsor (Mercruiser) engine, and a Velvet Drive inboard/outboard drive unit.

Hopefully, we’ll get some photos back from the trip soon.

A few days ago I decided to upgrade the soundbar on our TV system. I wanted something with more bass, I.e. a subwoofer, and the ability to individually adjust the bass, and the treble, especially the treble.

I mentioned before that for some reason the treble on CuriositySteam seems muted compared to other streaming channels, so putting all this together, I ordered a new soundbar system from Amazon.

VMAI Soundbar with Subwoofer

It came in today, and once I got it home, it only took a few minutes to substitute it for the old one. The only thing new was the placement of the subwoofer, which I placed behind the TV itself.

And it sounds great!

The remote has pre-set equalizer buttons for Music, Movies, News, and a really neat 3D mode, that simulates Surround Sound. And then, of course, separate bass and treble adjustment buttons.

All in all, a really nice unit.

Tomorrow we’re getting an early start, leaving the rig about 7am. We’ve both got our annual physicals with our family doctor starting at 8am.

Here’s hoping for good numbers.

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March 31, 2022

Good Food . . .

And A Clean Bill Of Health!

When I gave Jan a list of suggestions on where she might want to eat today, she picked Twin Peaks.

Note: She picked it, not me.

I just made sure it was in my list of suggestions.

Jan started off with a cup of the Tomato Basil Soup,

and moved on to her usual Spicy Chipotle Chicken,

but with two broccolis, rather than the normal mashed potatoes.

I had the Soup and Half Sandwich, with the Brisket Chili and their Old Fashion BLT, along with the Green Beans, instead of Fries.

The Chili was Texas-style, with No Beans, but very good. The overall taste reminded me of their late-lamented Venison Chili.

One thing I like about the TP version of the BLT is that they don’t skimp on the B part.

There are six! slices of bacon on this 1/2 Sandwich.

They weren’t real busy today so we had some extra time to talk with Sylvia, our favorite server.

We were talking about the outfits they wear, and Sylvia said management has had to crack down on some of the girls for being a little too ‘cheeky’. Not on the standard outfits, but on the ‘special’ holiday ones, where it seems pretty much anything goes.

Sylvia said that the only things TP gives them are the plaid tops, the socks, and the belt pouch. The girls have to furnish everything else, including their ‘special’ outfits.

Sylvia is a real sweetheart and always has a big smile for us.

That was the Good Food.

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Next up is the Clean Bill of Health.

After lunch, Jan had her yearly Mammogram and everything came back clean. Since she had breast cancer back in 2014 she’s always very anxious about it.

One thing Jan really likes is that her mammograms are immediately read by a physician, so she knows the results before she leaves. And even better this year, she didn’t have to have the additional 3D Ultrasound that they’ve done every year since 2015. After looking at the mammogram this year, the physician said it was identical to last year’s, so no ultrasound was needed.

Jan also wants me to pass on her insistence that every woman of a certain age needs to get a yearly mammogram. After getting them for years with no problems, when 2014 rolled around, she almost skipped it that year. And of course, that’s the year they found her cancer.

In her case, it was a Stage 0 lump and had not spread. So just an outpatient lumpectomy was required, with no additional treatments needed, like Chemo or Radiation.

And almost certainly not the result if she had waited another year before it was found.

And ironically I was diagnosed with a Squamous Cell Carcinoma on my head several months later. Luckily I also came up clean after it was removed, though I still have a large dimple in the top of my bald head.

Tomorrow night we’ve got another visit to the Alvin Opry. Looking forward to it.

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March 31, 2023

Landon Looking Cool . . .

Our Saturday in the Texas Hill Country started early, with a 9am breakfast at The Dam Grill, one of our favorite spots. And since Brandi, Lowell, and Landon got in last night, we had a bigger group this morning.

Jan and I both got their 3 egg omelets, differing only in the ingredients. Mine was the ‘Kitchen Sink’ version with 9 different things inside.

And along with Hashbrowns, Biscuits, and Sausage Gravy, of course.

While Jan and I also shared a Blueberry Pancake too.

And, as always, it was DAM good.

(By the way, it’s called The DAM Grill because it’s near the Buchanan Dam.)

And leaving a little later we came across this neat Pontiac, I think.

Getting back to Chris’, and after resting up, a rousing game of Pickle Ball broke out in one area,

while Derek and Piper were playing Beerless Beer Pong.

Landon, for his part, just looked cool,

while Bob the Cat looked on warily.

BTW he’s called Bob because somewhere along the line, he lost most of his tail and just has a 2” stump.

Later in the afternoon, Linda fixed us a delicious meal of Stacked Enchiladas, Bean Taquitos, and a Bean & Corn Salad.

Really great.

Then after the sun went down we sat around Chris’ firepit while Linda served us dessert, Sopapillas, and Bluebell Ice Cream.

Another great day with family.

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March 31, 2024

Happy Easter To Everyone!

As I mentioned before, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, along with Baxter, Jack, and Max, spent the Easter weekend up in Pauls Valley, OK with Lowell’s parents. So on the way back home this morning, Brandi sent over this

A 3 Dog Nap . . .

photo of Landon’s 3 Dog Nap.

From front to back, that’s Baxter, Landon, Jack, and Max.

They all look really comfy.

Lunch today was at Spring Creek BBQ once again, with Jan getting her usual Baby Back Rib Platter, along with Beans and Beans.

while I got my usual Baby Back Ribs and Marbled with Extra Bark Brisket, as well as Beans and Beans.

And since this was our Easter dinner, we treated ourselves to a basket of their Fried Okra.

As usual, it was all really, really good.

Next up, Jan made a Dollar Tree stop right behind Spring Creek BBQ, before we ended up at the nearby Wal-Mart, and then home.

A couple of days ago I was following some links and came across this.

As the label says, it’s Momofuku’s Chili Crunch.

What caught my eye to start with was that it reminded me of the Roasted Pepper Flakes they have at our long-time favorite, King Food Chinese Restaurant.

I add this to my food whenever we eat there, and when we were RV traveling I would usually get a quart or so to take with us on the road.

So I ordered some from Amazon and it’s really good. It’s hot, but not overly so.

And it’s got a lot more than just pepper flakes in it, with grapeseed oil, puya chilis, coconut sugar, onions, garlic, sesame seeds, japones chilis, chilis de arbol, mushroom powder, salt, shallots, spices, yeast extract, seaweed.

The thing I really like about it is that it has no vinegar in it. That’s why I don’t care for most of the so-called ‘hot sauces’ is that the first or second ingredient is usually vinegar, which is all I taste.

I also ordered the Hot Honey version for me, and the Trader Joe’s Cranberry Orange one for Jan, so I’ll let you know.