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As I said yesterday, lunch today was at Denny’s once again. I had my usual Ultimate Omelet, while Jan got the Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad.
I’ve mentioned before how we regularly tip Hugo the cook here, and I think he’s a little sweet on Jan.
The peeled tomato on top, along with the spinach ‘leaves’, makes up a rose for Jan.
Gonna’ have to keep an eye on this girl.
Finishing up, we did the HEB thing and then home.
* * * * * * *
Seems like we just went back the other way, but this coming Sunday, March 8th, marks the return of Daylight Saving Time.
Remember: Spring Forward, Fall Back.
So we’ll lose an hour this time.
* * * * * * *
This next week’s the quietest one in a good while. Tuesday, we’re going to vote, and then I’m going to check in with my mechanic Joe about a problem with the Jeep. After that, and since we’ll be over in that area, lunch at Kelley’s once again.
Finishing up the week, on Friday, it’s time for our haircuts once again, followed by Jan getting a pedi on Saturday.
Thought For The Day:
Following up on yesterday’s blog post about the multiple Ice Ages the Earth has experienced.
Of course, now they call it ‘Climate Change.’ That way, they’re covered either way.
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
March 1, 2009
On our way, again!
Well, we’re on our way… again. Year Two, here we come!
We left Galveston Bay RV about 8 am and headed up 146…all the way to the Jack in the Box, about two miles away.
Jan wanted a breakfast croissant, and I wanted a good place to hook up our toad, the 4-door Dodge Dakota pickup, that we tow behind us. (It’s called a toad, because it’s ‘towed’ behind us. Get it? It’s RV humor, what can I say?
We had some tight turns getting out of the park, and sometimes, it’s just easier to wait a while down the road to hook up. When we’re towing, we’re almost 63 feet long, almost as long as most 18-wheelers, and we have to be careful about getting in and out of places.
‘Beauty’ on the road.
We stopped at Mulate’s in Beaux Bridge, LA, for lunch about 1 pm. Mulate’s is one of our favorite places to eat on the road, and we’ve been stopping there for almost 20 years. And lucky for us, they have a big enough parking lot for us to get in and out easily.
We pulled into the Hollywood Casino RV park in Bay St. Louis, LA about 5:30 pm. Many casinos have very nice RV parks attached to lure more customers (and dollars) in.
March 1, 2010
Throne Repair…
Today was repair day.
I started off by replacing the under-sink water filter. And as usual, a simple job turned out to be somewhat more difficult. The replacement filter was not the correct one. The connectors fit, but the filter itself was bigger and longer, so a 5-minute job became a 1-hour job.
Next came a job I had been dreading, but had to be done.
Our throne needed repairing.
Not this throne…
This throne…
Luckily, we are parked not too far from the park bathrooms, so we had a backup throne in the meantime.
Finally, after about 3 hours, and a useless trip to the Gila Bend hardware store for parts. I got it back together and working again. At least until I can get the parts I need in Yuma.
Tomorrow, our last full day here, I plan on working on putting the water bay back together, and then trying to reorganize the storage bins underneath the rig.
For supper tonight, Jan fixed a great meal of leftover ribs and fresh roasted vegetables. Very, very good.
March 1, 2012
Sam and Mimi . . .
After some of the delicious coffee made using the coffee bean grinder our son Chris and daughter-in-law, Linda, gave us for Christmas, I drove over to the Good Sam RV Rally about 11, first to look around, and second, to take care of a computer problem for my GMAC Insurance agent, Chris Yust.
After I got her printer working, I walked around a bit and checked out the vendors. I had a couple of new collar tags for our cats, Mister and Emma, and a neat moose ornament for Jan.
About 1 Jan and I headed out on our door prize scavenger hunt. Today was mostly follow-up calls to places that told me to come back the next day. We picked up a good number of prizes and only have a few more to check out tomorrow.
Our last two stops were at Red Lobster and Golden Corral to pick up prizes, and then on the way home, we stopped off at Sam’s Club for Kitty Litter, and so Jan could have her new glasses adjusted at their optical department.
We got home about 5, and then pretty quickly we all headed out to dinner at Mimi’s Cafe, a national chain we’ve eaten at several times and really enjoyed. Jan especially wanted to have their Broccoli Cheddar Soup, which is the Soup du Jour on Thursday.
We had a great meal and were also able to thank the manager who had given us some door prizes for Mimi’s.
Tomorrow we’ll try to hit the last few places and hopefully wrap things up. But we’ll see.
March 1, 2013
What Do They Know?
Last night, weather.com said the low was supposed to be about 35, but when I woke a little before 5 am, it was 29 degrees. By 6, it was down to 26 degrees. I got up several times until it started warming up about 7 to run the water in the lavatory long enough to get the warmer groundwater into the hose and pipes. The last time I turned it on, it was easy to tell that the line had started to ice up before the warmer water thawed it out.
Before we left Canyon Lake this past Monday, I mentioned how I upgraded my toad taillights to separate bulbs rather than sharing the truck lights through diodes. And I was happy to see that when I hitched up the toad before we headed out, everything was working fine.
But when we stopped to unhitch, the lights were not working. The output plug from the taillight converter has indicator lights on it that show when the signals are coming out of the converter, and no lights were now visible. So it may be that the taillight converter has died. I’ll have to check it out before we leave here on March 11th.
Another thing on the To-Do List.
Another thing that I fixed lately was the inside latch on our shower door.
This would be the 3rd time I’ve needed to replace it in 5 years. What happens is that the small spring inside the latch that pushes out the part that actually latches the door shut, rusts out due to the water from the shower getting into it.
I first tried some spray lubricant, but that washed away after a while. Then I tried some silicone grease, but that liquefied due to the hot water hitting the latch and also ran out on the floor, making things slippery.
So this time, rather than replacing the latch again, I cut a strip of stiff plastic from some packaging, folded it in half without crimping it, and stuck it down inside the locking bar. The latch now springs out like it should and certainly won’t rust.
Another item off the list.
For dinner, I fixed us Ground Beef Taco Salads once again, a quick, easy, and delicious meal. We’ll probably have them again tomorrow to use up the last of the lettuce before it goes bad.
About 6 pm, Jan went out to feed the deer once again, and once again, she was very popular. You stand there looking at a single deer, turn your back for a few seconds, then turn back around, and there are 30 or 40 of them standing there staring at you, waiting to be fed.
It looks like this guy put one of his horns where he shouldn’t have.
Tomorrow, more of the same.
March 1, 2014
I’m not Older, I’m just BETTER !
Jan and I headed into Katy about 9:30 with a breakfast stop right down the road in Columbus. We had planned to stop at the Denny’s shown on the Internet as being there, but found it was now a Chinese buffet. So our fallback was Schobels’ Restaurant right down the street. Debi and Ed Hurlburt had recently had a bad experience there, but it was the only place around so we thought we’d give it a try.
And all I can say is that they should try it for breakfast. Jan had a Veggie Omelet with mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions, while I had the Spanish Omelet with ham, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. We both quickly agreed that these were the most delicious omelets we had ever eaten, and it also quickly became evident why they were so good.
They had pre-grilled the ingredients before incorporating them into the omelet, and I believe that they then cooked the omelet in the liquid left over. This is such an easy concept that it’s a wonder we’ve never run into it before. Really, really good. And the grits and homemade biscuits just made it better. Hopefully, we’ll go back.
. . . And they call him The Streak!
We got to Brandi’s about 11:30 and settled in for a nice afternoon. While Lowell and I talked inside, Jan and Brandi watched Landon play outside in the water with the hose. Since it made it to 79° today, it was perfect for it.
In fact, apparently, it was so nice that Landon decided he would be more comfortable sans clothes. Jan and Brandi turned around, and Landon was streaking back and forth across the yard. Luckily, with the privacy fence, there were no horrified neighbors.
At that point, it was suddenly Landon’s nap time, so while Lowell took Landon down for his nap, Brandi and Jan watched some TV, and I also took a very nice nap.
Later, we watched Landon play for a while, showing us all his favorite toys.
Later, we all headed over to Wal-Mart for some shopping before coming back to Brandi’s area to have dinner at Little V Vietnamese Bistro. We had first eaten here a few weeks ago and really looked forward to coming back.
The first thing we did was to ask for an order of the Pork Spring Rolls, the best we’ve ever had, bar none. Brandi and Lowell ate here the very first day they opened, and the owner came over to say Hi, and offered us some of her off-the-menu sauces. The Garlic-Ginger sauce was fantastic, and her version of the famous Sriracha sauce was even better.
And we found out why the Spring Rolls are so good. They’re made to order by the owner’s mother in the back. Talk about your home cooking.
After we got back home, Landon got to play with the toy we had gotten him at Wal-Mart. A dragon that walks, growls, and bellows, and lights up.
Landon loved it.
And even better, it scares the hell out of the cat. It’s a win-win.
Saying our goodbyes, we headed out about 6:30, and after a quick stop for gas, we got home about 7:45 pm, after a really great day.
It looks like the weather’s going crappy again. Although tomorrow’s high is supposed to be 75, it’s going to be rainy, with a low temp of 32 degrees tomorrow night. Then we’re back to highs in the 50’s and lows in the 30’s for the next week or so. Oh boy!
I’ve decided that I’m not older, I’m just better. At least I am, according to a TV ad we saw yesterday. It was for a senior citizen apartment complex, and they said that it was “for active seniors, 55 and better.”
So from now on, I’m better, not old. At least that’s what I’m going with.
March 1, 2015
An Old Ritual . . .
The sound of heavy rain on the rig roof woke me up about 7:00 am this morning.
So I rolled over and went back to sleep for another hour. Happily, I had anticipated the rain today, so pretty much the only thing I had left to do outside was to bring in the sat dish and unplug the shore power. And even better, by the time I finally got up, the rain had died off for a while.
I went down to the office a little before 10 to settle up on our electric. We gave a $100 deposit when we checked in February 4th. Turns out we got a $5.32 refund, so that’s always nice.
Getting back to the rig, I cranked up and started getting us ready to roll, brought up the levelers, brought in the slide, and disconnected shore power. Then, after backing out and pulling ahead out of the way, I got out and went back to help Jan sweep off the concrete pad.
As we travel every year, the concave base pads of our levelers pick up a lot of dirt, mud, and gravel, which I always wash out while we’re here at Galveston Bay RV. I tried to get it all out from under the rig then, but there’s always some residue, and I hate to leave a messy site, so we swept up.
After that, I pulled down a bit so Jan could pull in behind me with the truck, and we got hitched up. It was slow going at first because, during cold, wet weather, our air system goes into an automatic purge to get rid of the moisture in the system, and doesn’t come up to full pressure until it’s done. Which means the airbag suspension doesn’t fully inflate.
But very quickly things smoothed out as we got down the road a short piece, and we were on our way. I could have waited a while longer for the purge to finish, but it was Sunday morning, and I was sure everyone didn’t want to hear my engine running at high idle for 10 minutes. And I’d rather be rolling, anyway.
Our first stop came about 5 miles down the road in Dickenson at Monterey’s Little Mexico. It’s a ritual of ours that we always stop here on our way out of town, and we’ve done it every year since we started RV’ing in 2008.
Finishing up our Chicken Tortilla Soup and Beef Fajita Nachos, we were back on the road about noon. By circling back around the mostly empty parking lot, I was able to get the ramp right out onto I-45N, and we were on our way.
Today was a short trip, only 120 miles, and 2-1/2 hours, over to the Colorado River Thousand Trails in Columbus, TX. The weather wasn’t great, but really not bad. Just very overcast, and enough drizzle and mist to keep my new wiper blades occupied.
Pulling into our site here, we noticed our friend Randy was back, so about 4:30, we all headed up to Peter’s BBQ for dinner and catching up. He’s leaving tomorrow, too, going over to the Medina (no longer any) Lake Thousand Trails.
Tomorrow night, we’ll be at the North Llano River RV Park in Junction, TX, about 240 miles away, so more from on the road then. It’s possible I won’t be able to post tomorrow from there. In the past, the Internet service has ranged from bad to non-existent, so we’ll see.
March 1, 2017
Made It By That Much . . .
As has been our usual habit when we leave Colorado River, we got pretty much ready to roll by a little after 8 and then went into Columbus to have breakfast at Schobel’s Restaurant.
Since it wasn’t Sunday, they didn’t have their breakfast buffet this morning, so we ordered from the menu. Normally, we both get an omelet, Jan’s veggie, and mine Western. But I decided to give the Chicken and Waffles a try. Described as a Belgian Waffle with two Chicken Tenders, so I was expecting a couple of small chicken strips, but apparently, that’s not the way Schobel’s does things.
What I got was a deliciously crispy waffle with real butter, and two LARGE chicken breasts, bigger than my palm. I wish I could gotten a picture but left my phone back at the rig. But I’ve now got my new favorite breakfast at Schobel’s.
Back at the rig, we were pulling out a few minutes after 10 am, hitched up, and left the park about 15 minutes later, with a smooth trip until we turned onto the Sam Houston Tollway North.
Even though I regularly put a biocide in my diesel tank in the wintertime, and try to keep the tank topped off when we’re parked for any period of time, sometime in the last few months, I picked up some algae in my tank, and my fine particulate fuel filter started to clog. FYI, my rig has two fuel filters, a fine and a coarse.
I first noticed it a little bit when we left Colorado River last October, heading down to Kenedy/Karnes City to gate guard, where it would stumble a bit under hard acceleration. And when we came back up to Colorado River two weeks ago, there didn’t seem to be any change.
I had planned to change both filters out myself (I always carry spares) while we were at CR, but weather and all our many trips to Clear Lake intervened. But I planned to do it here at Lake Conroe for sure.
But for some reason, today, as soon as we got on the Tollway, it really started to bog down. and very quickly too. So by the time we finally inched our way to the park, we could just barely do 45 mph.
But we did make it and ended up parked in G12, right next to our good friends, Ed and Debi Hurlburt, who we just saw last week over at Colorado River. Small world, as usual.
A little while after we got here, I went out to refresh my memory about the filter change-out. The coarse one, an FS 1242B, is at the rear of the coach and is pretty easy to access.
But the fine one, the one that clogs, is more problematic. It’s an FS 1022,
and you get to it from the side of the engine, working over and around the 6″ diameter exhaust pipe. I changed this filter out in 2009 while we were at the Moose River Campground in Vermont, but looking at the area I would have to squeeze into, I realized that when I did it in 2009, I was doing it on 2009 knees.
And I don’t have 2009 knees anymore. I’m now sporting the 2017 version, and I’m not sure they’ll bend that way now. But I’m going to give it a try tomorrow and see. And if my knees don’t cooperate, as usual, I have a backup plan.
The RVMobileLube people will come by Friday morning and change them out for me.
So I’ll let you know how it goes.
March 1, 2018
Flushed !
It was supposed to be rainy today, so it didn’t look good for my water heater flush project.
But as it turned out, it was bright and sunny. So the flush was on.
As I mentioned before, this should be done every year, but with all the things going on last year, it got missed.
This is the procedure I’ve always used.
1. Turn off power/gas to the water heater. Be careful not to apply electric power to the unit until it’s full of water. Otherwise, you can burn out your heating element.
2. Open the faucet and run the water until no hot water is left. Leave the faucet open.
3. Turn off the water to the coach.
4. Remove the drain plug (the bottom one) and let a few cups of water out.
5. Replace the drain plug and remove the T&P valve (the top one).
6. Pour about a cup of vinegar into the top hole. I use a turkey baster.
7. Replace the T&P valve and tighten it down.
8. Turn the water back on and check the open faucet. As soon as the water is flowing smoothly, turn it off.
9. Turn the power to the water heater back on and wait an hour or more.
10. Turn off the power to the water heater.
11. Open the faucet and run the water until no hot water is left. Leave the faucet open.
12. Turn off the water to the coach.
13. Open the bottom drain plug and let water run out.
14. Use your ‘magic wand’ to flush out all the gunk still inside the water heater.
You will be amazed at how much gunk will come out.
I got 4 handfuls like this, plus a lot of smaller stuff too.
The vinegar step and this wand are the secret to doing a good job on this.
15. Continue until only clear water is running out.
16. Replace the drain plug and tighten it securely.
17. Turn on the water to the coach.
18. Check for leaks at the drain plug and T&P valve.
19. Leave the hot water faucet open until it stops spitting and spurting.
20. Turn the water heater back on.
You’re done.
I originally got my cleaning wand at an RV rally, but you can get one online here.
One nice thing about these Attwood water heaters is that they don’t have an Anode Rod that needs to be changed out regularly. Just that much less work and money.
Tomorrow it’s back to work, with our dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood again.
Yum!
March 1, 2019
You Can’t Get There From Here . . .
Today was another of those work days that I spent running around doing a lot of little things, but mostly updating prices on the website and the paper catalog.
Since the Sterex month-long sale ended at midnight last night, they always raise their prices the next day. And they have a lot of product lines, and different sizes of each product, so a lot of prices to change.
I also set up and configured a new Brother FAX machine that came in yesterday. I’ll get it programmed and installed tomorrow afternoon while I’m killing time when Jan and Piper are doing the Mani-Pedi thing.
When I checked our Viking flight info online this morning, I found they now had us coming home on United from London/Heathrow on May 23rd, instead of coming home on May 15 from Amsterdam.
But for some reason, they also changed our outgoing flight also. Originally, we were going out on KLM #662 to Amsterdam, and then on to Budapest after a 3-hour layover.
Now we’re going out on Lufthansa #441 to Frankfurt, and then on to Budapest after a 3-hour 55-minute layover.
Not a big deal, but just curious why the change. I sent off an email to Chantelle Nugent, our travel agent, to find out why.
But at least everything is correct now.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, we had a great time getting together with Janice and Dave Evans, and checking their new Sticks & Bricks, along with Debi and Ed Hurlburt.
And we also got to get to know Roy and Nancy Lackey a little better. We first met them at Peter’s BBQ over near the Colorado River Thousand Trails a while back, so it was good to see them again.
But we almost didn’t make it. Our Garmin GPS led us on a really wild goose chase, complete with actual ‘geese’. At least there were some in a yard we passed, along with ducks, pheasants, and goats.
I had entered the address that Janice gave me for their new house near Trinity, TX, and off we went on the 125-mile trip. Passing through Trinity, we turned onto 356. We knew they lived out in the country, but at some point, we thought we might start hearing banjos.
We were on and off dirt roads, and one road that used to be paved, but large sections had cracked away, leaving big potholes the size of the truck. Finally, the GPS said their place was right around the next bend in the dirt road we were on. But making the corner, we found this.
So now I had to back up for about 200 yards on the one-lane dirt road, and then let the Garmin try another route. And then we got this.
At this point, giving up on the Garmin, I ‘OK’d Google’, and she told me that their address was back down 356 on the other side of the road, and inside a gated community. And 15 minutes later, we were there. So, in some cases, you really can’t get there from here.
I did get my Zoom Scope in yesterday, but beyond opening the box, I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.
I’ll let you know.
I also mentioned yesterday that when we got home, I found that our refrigerator had lost power. In doing some checking, I found that the circuit breaker at the bottom of the bed had gone all ‘mushy’ inside and kept popping. So I got it working again by running an extension cord to the plug in the outside compartment.
When I was looking at the breaker panel, I did notice that there was another identical 15-amp breaker right underneath the one that controls the fridge. And as far as I could tell, it wasn’t hooked up to anything. Or at least nothing went off when I flipped it.
So, hoping I could just move the fridge wires down to that one, rather than replacing the other one, I put in a call to American Coach Support, who confirmed that, as I thought, it was just a placeholder to balance out the panel on the other side. So I’ll pull the panel and swap the wires around in the near future.
Just another thing on the list, I guess.
As I mentioned above, tomorrow afternoon we’re meeting Miss Piper at SnoozeAM for brunch, and then she and Jan are going to get Mani-Pedi’s.
Really looking forward to seeing her.
March 1, 2020
A Family Get-Together . . .
Our son-in-law Lowell’s parents, Sonja and Lendel, were down from Oklahoma this weekend, so we had a family get-together at their daughter Sherry’s (Lowell’s sister) new place.
Back in November, Sherry bought a place just outside Huffman, which is just north of Crosby and west of Atascocita, but this was everyone’s first time to see it.
Sherry’s got a really large lot out in the country, plenty of room for Lacey, the Catahoula hound, to roam freely.
Sherry picked up BBQ from a great local place while Jan and I brought potato salad and baked beans. Brandi brought salad, buns, and some of her fantastic homemade brownies for dessert.
It was a really great meal.
We finally said our goodbyes and all headed home a little after 3 pm, getting home about 4.
March 1, 2021
Well, Wherever It Is, It’s . . .
Jan and I came back to the rig about 10:30 this morning, after an HEB stop, and coffee from Cowboy Coffee.
I had left the shore water turned off, as well as the pump, just to be sure that nothing came loose overnight. So I turned the shore water back on, and so far it’s working perfectly.
I’ll wait a week or so, take the pedestal cover back off, and then retighten the nuts back down.
But so far, so good.
Last week, after the Big Freeze, I ordered a thermometer that I can remotely monitor over the Internet, one like this one.
Govee WiFi Thermometer/Hydrometer Smart Sensor
So when it came in at work, I set it up and configured to check it out. And when it worked fine, I tossed it in my bag to bring home. Or at least I thought I did.
I actually forgot about it for a couple of days, but when I remembered it, I dug into my bag and came up empty. I figured at the time that it had either fallen out of my bag, or maybe not made it into my bag.
But when I looked for it back at work, I again came up empty. But on a hunch, I tried to monitor the sensor using the Govee phone app. And there it was.
Somewhere in the office. And I knew it was close since I could connect with it via Bluetooth as well as WiFi. And so far, I looked everywhere with no luck.
But wherever it is, it’s 72.6° with 55.6% humidity.
Tomorrow we’re going to move some stuff over to our storage room over in Dickinson so we can sort through it.
And as we’ve been sorting through stuff, Jan came across these two photos from the past.
This one shows my parents at one of their Gulf Shores, AL rental beach houses down at Orange Beach. According to the back, it was taken in 1984.
And this one is a favorite of ours.
It shows our two mothers pushing a cart together, Jan’s on the left and mine on the right, while we were shopping at Wal-Mart. This was probably around 2005-2006.
March 1, 2022
It’s A Crock . . .
Catching up from yesterday’s lost blog –
My ‘Small Emergency’ last night occurred when I was trying to close out the month in the Point of Sale program at the office. Now, normally, I can do this remotely from home using the Remote Utilities programs, Host and Viewer. But last night it wouldn’t let me connect.
I could connect to the two other computers there, so I knew it wasn’t an Internet or network problem. So about 9:30, I headed into the office to take care of the problem. And it turned out to be a good thing, because when I tried to print out all the monthly reports, I found the printer wasn’t working either.
Serendipity!
I decided to wait until tomorrow to figure out why it’s not working. After all, I won’t need it until the end of next month.
Several of our readers have asked what TV show we watch. Well, here’s the list of the main ones we watch.
Network Shows:
Young Sheldon
B Positive
Ghosts
The Rookie (Jan watches this one)
Streaming Shows:
Evil
La Brea
Resident Alien
Murdoch Mysteries
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The Orville (When it returns 6/2/22)
Also, the START TV channel on our YouTubeTV streaming service shows two episodes of The Closer, two episodes of Major Crimes, and one episode of Rizzoli and Isles every weekday night from 5 pm to 10 pm, which we watch all the time. I think we’re on about our 3rd time through. But we still enjoy them
I recently came across a list of the 18 oldest restaurants in the U.S., and according to the comments, a list like this is a good way to start an argument.
Kind of like CAT vs Cummins in the RV world
And between Jan and I, we’ve eaten at 3 of these:
Back in the late 50’s – early 60’s, my parents and I ate at Antoine’s and Commander’s Palace, both in New Orleans, LA, and two of the most famous restaurants there. When we ate at Commander’s Palace, both my parents got one of their most well-known dishes, Pompano en Papillotte, which is Pompano fish cooked in paper bag, with a champagne sauce containing shrimp, oysters, heavy cream, and more.
I, however, turned down the Pompano and got steak, probably a Ribeye, since it’s my favorite. And this worked out well for me, since my parents spent the rest of the night alternating throwing up in the hotel bathroom.
Another one was Cattleman’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City, OK, where Jan and I ate in 2015 when we were visiting with Lowell’s parents, Sonja and Lendell.
We had planned to eat at another one, Katz’s Deli, when we were in NYC in December 2019, but ran out of time. However, we have eaten at the one here in Houston a number of times over the years, and it’s always been great.
As soon as this list was posted, dozens of people chimed in from all over the country, naming restaurants that were as old, or even older than the ones on the list.
And we have one to add ourselves, Weidmann’s. Located in Meridian, MS, it’s been around since 1870, and we’ve eaten there a number of times over the years. And we’ll probably eat there this May on our way up to north Alabama.
One thing unique about this place is that, like you get chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant in Houston, at Weidmann’s, you get a custom-made crock of homemade peanut butter and an assortment of crackers.
This tradition dates back to the 1940’s, when legend has it there was a shortage of butter due to WWII. A guest mentioned to Henry Weidmann that peanut butter would be a good replacement to accompany the crackers. Henry embraced the concept and eventually found a potter in Louiseville, Mississippi to make the crocks. And you all know how much I love peanut butter.
And then there’s Golden Rule BBQ in Birmingham, AL, which opened in 1891 and is the oldest continuously operating BBQ restaurant in the US. We’ve been eating here since the 1960’s.
What’s on your list?
March 1, 2023
Brown Is Better . . .
Than Green, Pink, or White. Or even Grey, Blue, and Violet Noise.
A while back, I blogged about the ads on TV talking about brown noise apps for sleep aids. Now I had heard of white noise and pink for years. In fact, I’ve used both in audio testing setups in the past. But I had never heard of the others.
Now Jan and I have used a White Noise generator for years and find it hard to sleep now without it. So I was intrigued.
Although there are a number of different apps, I found one for Alexa called Sleep Sounds and decided to give it a try. And after trying Brown, Green, and Pink for several nights each, I was surprised to find that I really like Brown Noise the best. Even over the White Noise we’ve used for years.
It’s a deeper sound and does a much better job of masking outside sounds, like a car starting up next door, or a nearby train going by about 1/2 mile from us in the middle of the night.
Our new favorite sound.
Tomorrow looks to be a busy one, with lunch/brunch at Snooze up in Webster, a prescription stop at Kroger, shopping at Wal-Mart, dry cleaning pickup, and finally, a stop at the PopShelf over in Alvin before finally getting home.
Busy, Busy, Busy.
March 1, 2024
The Velvet Touch . . .
Tomorrow we’re going to check out the new Velvet Taco place up in Webster, before making an Amazon return at the UPS store, and then it’s on down to Wal-Mart, wrapping up with a Post Office stop to close out our P.O. Box.
Velvet Taco is in the same vein as our fav Torchy’s Tacos, with many specialized versions.
Like the Chimichurri steak with grilled flank steak, buttered cilantro basmati rice, chimichurri, avocado, pickled fresnos, queso fresco, cilantro, flour tortilla, or the Chicken & waffle with crisp tenders, peppered bacon, peppercorn gravy, green apple slaw, maple syrup, red chile aioli, scallions, house-made waffle tortilla.
Sounds delicious. Hope it lives up to the hype.
Sunday, we’re getting together with long-time friend Barbara at Schafer’s for lunch, after which we’ll head over to her place to take care of some computer problems.
Looking forward to it all.
My Eclipse camera and glasses are supposed to be in tomorrow, so hopefully this weekend I’ll have a chance to try the camera filter out on just regular sun photos to practice.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Busy, Busy, Busy.
March 1, 2025
Well, It’s Better . . .
I was back outside by about noon, taking another shot at fixing my Jeep’s right front brake caliper problem.
I did order this Camping Table from Amazon the other day to have a place to line up all my tools and parts.
It’s all aluminum, so it should last.
My idea of using my drill motor to raise the Jeep on the jack is a lot easier than cranking it up using the jack tools.
The only problem is that it uses up the battery pretty quickly. Next time, I’ll use my corded drill.
And it seems there will be a ‘next time’.
As I said, I planned to replace the entire caliper assembly, including the Disc Pad Bracket shown below. The bracket is what holds the Brake Pads in place.
However, try as I might, I could not loosen the two bolts holding it in place
They’re supposed to be tightened down to 100 ft.lbs., but they’re a lot tighter than that. Even using my foot-long 1/2″ socket wrench and a foot-long cheater pipe, and beating on it with a rubber mallet didn’t get it loose.
So I ended up just putting it all back together with new pad slides and greasing everything liberally. And it is better. It now only grinds when braking, and not when just driving along.
Not one to give up easily, or ever, really, I’m going to give it another shot next week sometime, depending on rain chances. I’m going to turn the wheel all the way to the right, which should give me room to get my 6ft cheater pipe into position, and then turn it all the way to the left to get to the other bolt.
But as usual, I have a backup backup plan, which is to take it down to Joe, my mechanic, and have him break it loose.
Getting it all back together, I did a test drive around the park, and then Jan and I headed over to Gator’s Bar and Grille in Dickinson to have lunch.
Jan went in a different direction from what she usually gets here, and got the 1/2 lb. Angus Mushroom Cheddar (she doesn’t like Swiss)Burger with the Sweet Potato Waffle Fries.
I went with something I’ve had a number of times before, the Blackened Chicken Breast Sandwich, with the Sweet Potato Fries.
And we noticed that Gator’s has a new mascot.
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Tomorrow’s probably going to be our usual Denny’s, HEB, and gas.
Maybe.
