Our RV Adventures

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Well, our first day of 2025 consisted of Jan and I doing nothing. We never even left the rig.

A very, very nice way to start the New Year.

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The historic Pie-O-Neer Cafe in Pie Town, NM is for sale.

Back in the 1920s, it was unthinkable that Pie Town, New Mexico, could ever be without its namesake delicacy. But that’s what happened decades later when the last patissier in this rugged frontier town hung up their apron and closed shop. For almost three quarters of a century, travelers arrived weary and disappointed to find no pie in sight.

That all changed in 1995, when three generations of daring women traversed what they affectionately called The Great Pie Way. The Knapp ladies restored our nation’s dessert of choice back to the people of Pie Town and beyond. Today, the world class tourist destination eatery they nourished from scratch is calling forth a new generation of visionary pioneers ready to add their chapter to this quintessential American success story.

The Pie-O-Neer put this high desert mountain hamlet of ranchers, artisans, and retirees back on the map. Even a global pandemic couldn’t quash the demand for the Pie-O-Neer’s mouth-watering delectable desserts. With the help of neighbors, the warm and welcoming cafe is still baking the world’s best pie. Whether you’re a road-tripping traveler, a discerning foodie, or a hungry Continental Divide thru-hiker, you’re always in for a treat in Pie Town.

Your Recipe for Success

Total Investment is $350,000.00 for real estate and turnkey business operation, including:

Pie O Neer Pie Shop: 5613 US Highway 60, 2900 square feet
Conoco House: 5615 US Highway 60, 840 square feet
Conoco Station: 800 square feet

20% Down Payment, Owner Financing Available

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And here’s a repost of our visit to the Pie-O-Neer in June 2010

Pie Town Bound . . .

We finally left the Elk’s Lodge in Show Low, AZ about 10:30 am. A little over an hour later we crossed into New Mexico, heading for Magdalena, about 115 miles away. This is kind of a short day for us, but I wanted to be able to stop and see the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope facility about 20 miles before Magdalena.

Plus I knew we would lose an hour crossing into New Mexico because, even though Arizona and New Mexico are both in the same time zone (Mountain), Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time, so we still lose an hour.

Once again we were treated to some great scenery along the way. Rolling hills and sweeping vistas, punctuated by even larger hills jutting up from the terrain.

A little before 2 pm we started seeing signs for Pie Town, NM, and specifically The Pie-O-Neer pie place located there. So we decided we had to stop.

I mean it’s pie, right?

In a place called Pie Town.

It had to be good, right?

But it wasn’t just good, it was fantastic!

And it didn’t hurt that we were hungry.

And, although the place didn’t look like much on the outside, the inside was a complete surprise. It was bright, colorful, and tastefully decorated, with a lot of homespun touches.

The Pie-O-Neer got its start in 1995 when Kathy Knapp and her family drove 150 miles from Albuquerque to have pie in Pie Town.

What they found was The Old Thunderbird Trading Post.

Here’s what Kathy said about that visit, “Crossing the steps of the frontier-style porch we were anxious. “What kind of pie would they have?” Much to our dismay, NONE. The owners were old and tired and had a sign on the door that read “There used to be pie in Pie Town, but there ain’t no more — FOR SALE.”

So she bought it. She said a place called Pie Town should have PIE!

And it used to. Here’s a little bit of the history of Pie Town.

The small menu, which seems to only exist to give you an excuse to come there for pie, consists of two sandwiches, a Deli Sandwich and a Grilled Cheese with Tomatoes and Green Chiles, (sometimes three on BLT day. Don’t ask), a Spinach Quesadilla, and two soups, Green Chili Stew and the Soup of the Day.

And today the Soup of the Day was Carrot-Ginger.  Huh?

Jan had to try a cup of the Carrot-Ginger and I got a cup of the Green Chili Stew. And we split the Grilled Cheese.

Our waitress told us to go up to the counter and pick out our pie now, because otherwise our selection might be gone. The pies are baked one at a time all day long, and are pretty much served warm from the oven, cause they don’t last long enough to get cold.

Jan picked a slice of Chocolate Cream pie and I got a slice of Pear-Pineapple-Ginger.

And everything was delicious. Who would have thought of Carrot-Ginger soup? And my Green Chili Stew was great, just full of chunks of chicken and potatoes.

Kathy, the owner, says she also uses turmeric, a ginger cousin, in her dishes, because it’s a little more spicy, and slightly bitter.

Jan said the pie crust on her Chocolate Cream was the best she’d ever eaten. Turns out that the secret is to use half butter and half lard in the crust. The butter gives it flavor and the lard makes it flaky.

MMMM! Lard!

The crust on my Pear-Pineapple-Ginger was really good. It was like a Deep Dish Crumble crust, kind of crunchy, but melted in your mouth.

Jan asked Kathy if she had a cookbook and she said yes. It was a compilation of pie recipes from people in the area, including Kathy, so Jan got one.

Hopefully, that means more pie soon.

Leaving (reluctantly) Pie Town, we once again crossed the Continental Divide a few minutes later, this time at our highest point so far, 7796 feet.

No wonder our ears were popping.

* * * * *

A nice video from a Guinness World Record 1500 drones show from a year ago.

I believe the record now is 5000 drones.

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Thought For The Day:

Well, that will cut down on homelessness.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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January 1, 2011

1/1/11 . . .

Got this photo of Landon checking out his crib. He’s grown so tall Brandi said he’s outgrown his bassinet. His head would be touching the top and his feet would be touching the bottom. So now he’s moved up to the big boy bed.

Then our friend Maria called about noon to see if we wanted to meet for lunch. We ended up at Luby’s Cafeteria, which on certain days, is now an all-you-can-eat buffet. It turned out to be pretty good, too.

Leaving Bob and Maria, we drove over to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. We were surprised to find them not busy at all. Guess everyone was still sobering up.

Next we stopped by one of our storerooms to look over some furniture that belonged to my mother. I want to try and put some of it out on consignment before we leave. I’d actually like to get rid of this storeroom entirely, leaving us only one.

Getting back to the rig, we let Mister out on his leash while Jan fed the birds. And with the nice weather and a fully-charged battery, I was able to remove the last of the wheel well flanges. I’ve got all the hardware so I hope I’ll be able to start putting on the new ones tomorrow.

Then our son Chris called about 6 to set up a get-together tomorrow morning for the breakfast buffet at La Brisa at 11 am. After talking to our daughter Brandi, it looks like everyone will be there.

That was about it for the first day of 2011, a pretty quiet start to the New Year. And hopefully we’ll have as much or more fun as we did in 2010.

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January 1, 2012

Landon is Scary . . .

I was up at about 8:45 this morning with further confirmation of something I already knew.

I don’t sleep well when Jan’s not here.

She spent the night at Brandi’s last night taking care of Landon while Brandi and Lowell spent New Year’s Eve with friends up in Katy, while I came back to the rig for the night. Which I spent tossing and turning.

About 9:30 I headed back over to Brandi’s to pick up Jan and Landon for breakfast at the Egg and I, one of our favorite local places.

And this is where Landon gets scary . . . scary smart, that is.

While we were waiting for a table, Jan was sitting on a small bench with Landon standing beside her. I was standing in front of him so he couldn’t fall, going through my pockets looking for quarters for the newspaper machine, when I dropped a quarter that rolled all the way under the bench.

Facing the prospect of getting down on my hands and knees and crawling under the bench (Hey, it was a whole quarter and I’m cheap).

Jokingly, I picked up Landon and put him on the floor, telling to crawl under the bench and get the quarter. He looked up at me, dropped to his knees and crawled under the bench. A couple of seconds later, he popped back out, stood up and handed me the quarter clutched in his little fingers with a big grin on his face.

I was absolutely dumbfounded. How did he know what a quarter was, much less the concept of crawling under the bench and getting it?

I didn’t point at it or anything, Just told him. He’s 16 months old.

That is one amazing little boy, not just because he’s my grandson, of course.

And of course how better to cap off a moment of brilliance with a rousing game of Peek-A-Boo.

As before, Landon ate all of his Mickey Mouse pancake,

and then fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot on the way home, with his nap continuing at home for the next couple of hours.

Brandi and Lowell got home about 2pm so Jan and I headed out a little later, stopping off at a client’s before heading back to the rig.

Getting home, the first thing Jan and I did was to take a nap. Because she was always listening out for Landon, she didn’t sleep much better than I did last night.

Once home, neither of us felt like going back out, so we had our leftover Chinese from King Food the other night. Just as good as the first time around.

All in all, a good start to the New Year.

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January 1, 2013

Dinner and a Movie, Finally . . .

Jan and I left the rig about 12:15 headed up to the Clear Lake area. We were once again trying for our dinner and a movie. And this time we pulled it off.

We got to King Food about 12:45 in time for a nice leisurely, delicious meal of Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce, Shrimp Spring Rolls, and Hot & Sour Soup. It’s nice when you go to a restaurant so often that they pretty much know exactly what you’re going to order when you sit down.

About 1:30 we headed down the road to the nearby Cinemark theater. Being New Year’s Day, I expected it to be busy, but it was jammed. Probably because of all the new movies that just came out.

But I was surprised to see how busy Breaking Dawn, Pt. 2 was. This, the last movie in The Twilight Saga, came out the middle of November, so I expected the theater to be pretty empty, but it was about 3/4 full.

Jan and I each got a small popcorn because neither of us like to share. On the plus side, the popcorn was really fresh and good since they were popping it right there. Unlike some theaters, we found that pop it at a central location and bring it to the theaters in giant plastic bags and just dump it in the machines to warm it. But on the minus side, two small bags of popcorn cost as much as our tickets. Ouch!

If you’re not up on the best-selling series of Twilight books, it’s the story of a young human girl who can’t decide if she’s in love with a vampire or a werewolf.

Decisions, decisions.

I haven’t read any of the four books, (Jan’s read them all), but I have seen all but one of the five movies (book number 4 was split into two movies), and I thought the storyline was pretty enjoyable. The surprise ending (which I won’t give away) was a surprise to everyone, even Jan, since it differed from the last book.

Coming home from the movie, I stopped off at a couple of clients, and then a grocery store. We wanted to get some more Monterey Jack cheese for our Chicken Tortilla Soup tomorrow.

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January 1, 2014

A New Year . . .

Not much went on this first day of 2014. Jan’s feeling better. but still not quite up to snuff.

About 1 PM  I headed into Clear Lake to a client’s office to install the 2014 UPS software on his machines. UPS no longer sends out CD’s so I had already downloaded the 560 MB program, otherwise I would have been there a lot longer. I had to set the software up on 4 machines, one as the Workgroup Administrative Workstation, and the other 3 as Remote Workstations.

And as usual, there’s always one machine that wants to be contrary, but finally they were all up and running.

We’re still really liking our new coffee maker.

Hamilton Beach 49980A 2-Way Single Serve Brewer and Coffee Maker

It makes consistently good coffee, and I really like the fact that it makes both K-Cup packs and multi-cup carafe pots. And in addition, it also has a K-Cup adapter that will let you use the coffee pods, or even your own coffee grounds.

One plus I really like is that unlike our previous coffee maker, and a couple of other of our appliances, the LCD screen is backlit in blue so it’s very readable in the dim light under the counter. Some appliances have no backlite at all, and are hard to read.

The only possible addition I would like to see would be a reservoir for the water used to make the K-Cups, so I wouldn’t have to add that small amount of water each time. This is how our son-in-law Lowell’s Keurig K-Cup maker works, and I’m jealous.

But I guess you can’t have everything.

The other gripe I have, not just with this appliance, but pretty much all countertop appliances now, is that the cord is too short. All of our kitchen outlets are up underneath the cabinets or over the sink. So due to the length of the cords the appliance pretty much has to sit in the sink for the cord to reach. Which means I have to use an extension cord, which defeats the safety purpose of the short cords. I’m probably going to end up putting plug strips on the back walls of the kitchen area.

At first my new Kindle Paperwhite was supposed to be here until between Jan 6th and 10th. Then that got moved up to Sat. the 4th.

Yesterday Amazon said it had already shipped and now would be here Friday the 3rd. Way to go, Amazon.

Tomorrow I’ve another client appointment to install a new computer, 2 new printers, and also set up the UPS software at his office. UPS’ new software always keeps me busy this time of year.

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January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

Jan and I didn’t do much of anything today, just took it easy now that all the holiday stuff is over. I fooled around with some of the projects I’ve been working on, but never really got up enough energy to accomplish anything of note. It didn’t help that we’re on our 4th or 5th day of cold, rainy, miserable weather.

I fooled around with the sink faucet hose, trying to make it work, but no matter how I tried to put the pieces together, I couldn’t make it fit.

‘Fits All Brands’ my foot.

The company’s located in Irving, TX so I’ll give them a call tomorrow and see if they can help. I may end up buy a new faucet nozzle, but that’s another $25 or so, And coupled with the $25 for a new hose to replace the leaking one, it’s getting close to the cost of a completely new faucet and hose.

About 3;30, deciding that we both were in a ‘steak’ mood, we thought we’d give Saltgrass Steakhouse a try again. We last ate at the one on Kemah Boardwalk on Valentine’s Day 2013 and enjoyed it. So we were looking forward to trying it again.

And we weren’t disappointed. I don’t know why we don’t eat here more often. But it’s probably that there’s not as many of them around the country as Texas Roadhouse, Outback, and Longhorn, our other favorite places.

After our great meal, we headed back out in the cold, with our next stop at Lowe’s to return the other faucet hose. I did find out while I was at Lowe’s that I don’t have an American-Standard faucet like I was told by American Coach, but it’s actually a Moen. Which makes sense since the shower faucet is also a Moen. Leaving Lowe’s it was on to the Wal-Mart right next door to pick up a few things before finally heading home.

Tomorrow we’re probably going to get together with some friends here at the park, probably at El Bosque, a really good Mexican restaurant. At least we hope so.

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January 1, 2016

A New Year . . .

Our regular morning walk was called on account of possible frostbite. At 11am it was 41°, with enough wind to give a wind chill of 31°. Not gonna happen. But hopefully it will be better tomorrow, since we’re supposed to walk with Garland and Valencia again tomorrow.

So we just stayed  in the rig with the heater going, while I fixed coffee and Jan fixed us fried egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. Then I started in on a few chores.

The first thing I did was to remount Jan’s “Oh Sh?t Handle” using the longer screws I picked up from Lowe’s the other day. Looks like that should finally do the job. After we get over to Columbus, I’ll see about re-staining them with the White Oak Pickling Stain I also got at Lowe’s.

After taking care of a couple of more things, I tracked down my infrared thermometer that I’ll need to replace the glass on my son Chris’ Galaxy S5 phone. I’ll use Jan’s hair dryer to heat up the screen/LED combo until it’s the right temperature to loosen the glue holding them together, and the infrared thermometer to be sure I don’t get it too hot.

MeasuPro Wide Range Temperature Gun Non-Contact Digital Infrared Thermometer with Laser Targeting

These thermometers have a lot of uses around the rig, including checking your tires during stops to see if one is running hotter than the others. indicating a possible problem, to checking air temp output on A/C’s, etc.

About 2:30 Jan and I drove down to the Clear Lake area to meet up with Chris, Linda, and Piper for dinner, and also so I could pick up the phone in question.’

Since we knew we were going to be down there today, we had some Amazon stuff delivered there, including Jan’s New Kindle Fire cover,

and, of course, the glass replacement kit for Chris’ phone.

About 4:30 we all met up at the Cheddar’s in Webster, one of our favorite places for just plain good  food.

I had what is now my new favorite dish there, the Asian Chicken & Shrimp Salad.

Despite the fact that no one is smiling in this photo,

we had a really good time, our first get-together since Thanksgiving.

Piper leaves tomorrow on a ski trip to Breckenridge, CO with some of her girlfriends. Hope she’s taking a lot of warm clothes, since it’s supposed to be –3° there tonight

Leaving Cheddar’s and before heading back to Chris’, Jan and I stopped off at the Harbor Freight in Webster for a couple of things. I wanted to get one of the Variable Speed Reciprocating Saws they had on sale today only, as well as a 3 ton Floor Jack for Chris and I to use when we replace the shocks on our truck sometime in the next month or so. We have an old one that’s about given up the ghost, so this one is needed.

After stopping off at Chris’ to say goodbye and pick up our Amazon stuff, we headed out for Conroe, getting back to the rig a little before 8pm.

A great start to the New Year!

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January 1, 2017

Welcome 2017. Good Riddance 2016 . . .

Well after my surprise gate last night, tonight I’m back on a new/old gate.

I was here for two days last Monday and Tuesday, and now I’m back again, TFN. But at least I’m still on nights. Someone said ‘TFN’ really means ‘Two Freaking Nights’. Either that or this is all just a game of Musical Gates, like musical chairs.

The last one standing loses the gate.

I had nobody come through last night’s gate, and Tom, the day guy on this gate said he only had 1 guy come through today. I’ve had 1 guy come in this evening looking for a missing piece of equipment, but that’s it so far.

Jan and I have been talking about our travel plans for nex . . . this year, trying to decide on our itinerary. As of right now we plan on leaving our gate guarding here around the 15th of February and go back to the Houston area to get all our doctor appointments taken care of. Then around the 10th of March we’ll head toward Tucson and the 57th Escapees Escapade that starts March 17th, at least the Early Bird days start then.

It’s still up in the air on whether or not Jan and I will be giving our seminar, Gate Guarding for Fun? and Profit again. They’re apparently running behind in scheduling everyone. But hopefully I will hear soon, and I’ll let you know.

We’ve got a lot of new information on gate guarding from the guard shacks and how it’s different (better and worse) from doing from your RV.

After that it’s probably Apache Junction, Verde Valley, and Vegas, Baby!  Then maybe the Oregon/Washington area and then back over through South Dakota. Jan wants to do the Rapid City/Mt. Rushmore area again, as well as Deadwood, which we haven’t done.

After that, who knows? We normally come back to the Houston area toward the end of August for Landon’s birthday, but we’ll be coming back early this year for a family reunion in June. After that we don’t know. Maybe back on the road for a while before more gate guarding in August. We’ll see.

But we’ve definitely decided that all of our future gate guarding will be ‘shack-based’ from now on.

Following up on my problems with Sam’s Club Scan & Go and Wal-Mart’s Savings Catcher apps, I installed the Wal-Mart app on my Samsung Tab tablet to see if I still had the same problem with the camera. And I did.

Once again the little window where I should see the video from the camera is just a black square. So I don’t know.

So I’ll ask my readers. Does anyone else have either of these apps running on a Galaxy S5, and does it work?

Please let me know.

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January 1, 2018

Jan’s In The Hospital . . .

Jan’s spending the night in the hospital. But it’s not really serious.

But kind of.

She got hit with a combination of a kidney stone(s) and a UTI infection which all kind of knocked her for a loop.

Last night at Brandi’s she woke up nauseated and vomiting, and then passed a stone around 4:30am. And at the same time she started fighting off the UTI, I guess. But she’d had no other symptoms previously. But she was very drowsy and very weak and had trouble walking by herself.

I brought her back down to Clear Lake Regional where she used to work and took her to the emergency room. That’s when they discovered the UTI, and a second kidney stone after a CAT scan. And this is a big one, a little over 1 cm, which is closing in on 1/2 inch, too big to pass.

So tomorrow sometime they plan on going in and removing it.

That’s all I know now, but I’ll keep you updated. I’m going to bed.

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January 1, 2021

Too Cold For S’mores . . .

Jan and I left Fredericksburg about 11:30 this morning on our way to Kingsland, TX, about 55 miles away. We’re meeting up with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, who were coming up from Katy (Houston) this morning.

Once here we all headed out to Chris and Linda’s where we were soon joined by Miss Piper who drove over from Austin where she lives. So for the first time in a while the gang was all together.

Then after we had exchanged Christmas gifts with everyone here, Chris and Landon quickly ended in a Video Game Deathmatch on the console game Landon brought up with him.

But the most impressive gift went to Jan.

Chris makes these giant wind chimes, this one about 15 feet high, made out of drill pipe. He welded it together and then hand-tuned the pipes, so it sounds like Big Ben, with deep bass gonging sounds,

and not the high-pitched tinkle you get from the little ones.

But he recently made this slightly smaller one up for Jan’s Christmas present this year.

All of it is from scrap or repurposed materials, or handmade pieces.

The top is from a discarded store display,

while the wind paddles are made from old ceiling fan blades.

This is going to look great out on the patio by the rig. Jan loves it.

We had planned to do S’mores around the firepit this evening, but as the sun went down, and the temperature dropped into the high 30’s, daytime S’mores tomorrow afternoon started to sound a lot better.

But it is supposed to be warmer tomorrow night, so we’ll see.

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January 1, 2023

Happy New Year To Everyone . . .

We decided on a slow start to 2023 so the only thing on the agenda for today was lunch at the Whataburger over by the Interstate, the first time since the recent unpleasantness, when we just got our order to go. But today we ate in.

Then it was just home. Like I said, a slow start.

But nice.

January 2023 looks to be a busy one for us.

First up, we’ve got lunch with our friends Debi and Ed at Vernon’s Katfish up in Conroe this Thursday, the 5th. Then on Monday I’ve got my big evaluation with Dr. Wang, my neurosurgeon, about my possible lumbar fusion.

Next up, on Wednesday the 11th, we’ve got the Jeff Dunham show at NRG Arena. We’ve seen a bunch of his shows online, but this will be our first time to see him in person. Really looking forward to it.

Then the next day we’re meeting the Alvin Opry group at our local Red Lobster for our monthly get-together. And following up on that theme, the next night we’ve got the Alvin Opry itself.

Then later this month, on the 15th, I’m making hotel reservations for 2 nights in Waco, TX for April 7 & 8, 2024.

Why, you might ask?

Well, that’s the date of the next total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. And the last one for more than 20 years. So this one will possibly be it for us.

And checking this interactive solar eclipse map shows that Waco is the only decent-sized city in Texas that’s in the middle of the totality zone.

And why am I booking a room now? Well, I figure that as the time gets closer rooms are going to get in short supply as the world concentrates on the totality path.

And this month is the earliest that Booking.com will let me reserved a room.

Nothing like planning ahead, right?

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January 1, 2024

No Bones About It . . .

Lunch today was at the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria up at Baybrook Mall, our all-time favorite pizza place since we discovered it in NYC, well, in Brooklyn, in 2009. And we were very happy to find them spreading across the country a few years later.

We started out with their Small Spinach Salad.

It comes with Baby Spinach, Red Onion Slivers, Cherry Tomatoes, Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese, Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Bacon. Lots of warm Bacon.

Delicious! And the Small Salad is big enough to give us two servings each.

Next up was our The Don Pizza. The large 18” version so we’ll have leftovers. The Don comes with Italian Sausage, Meatballs, and Pepperoni, to which we add Ham, Bacon, and Mushrooms.

Yumm!

And the Coal-Fired crust is great too, so there’s never any Pizza bones left over. You know, those tough, chewy edges that end up left on the pan.

Coming home, we made a quick HEB stop before getting back a little after 3pm.

A nice easy day and a nice way to start the New Year.

Not sure if this is real, or an artifact of Google Street View, but it is weird.

And I want one.

Tomorrow is going to be our usual Tuesday stay-at-home day, finishing up our Kelley’s leftovers leftover from Sunday. Then Wednesday it’s back to work.

Bummer!

 

 

 

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After a quick stop at Office Depot so Jan could pick up a couple of notebooks and some new pens, we got to the Webster Saltgrass Steakhouse for our New Year’s Eve dinner, and were immediately glad I had made reservations last week.

They were already on a 45-minute wait.

But within a couple of minutes we were seated, and started out by ordering (splitting) an Amaretto Splash, Jan’s favorite.

And  since we forewent (yes, this is correct. I checked) the bread so we would have room, and spare calories, to split a slice of their house-made Carrot Cake.

Well worth giving up the bread.

Later this evening I logged into the POS computer at work and closed out the month, and of course, the year. Now, on to 2025.

One Hundred And Fifty Four is how many books Jan has read this year. Luckily, the vast majority of these were either through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited plan which costs $12.99/month, or through our local library which also lets her check out eBooks.

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Thought For The Day:

I’m not making any New Year’s Resolutions.

I’m fine. It’s the Years that suck.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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December 31, 2012

Happy New Year !

After a quiet morning with coffee and conversation, we headed out about 12:45 for clients, a movie, and dinner. Well, that’s the way it started, but not the way it turned out.

After spending a couple of hours with two clients, we were planning to catch a 4:45 movie and then have dinner. But we decided we wanted some Landon time instead as we hadn’t seen him since Christmas.

When we got there Landon was still napping so I tried to help Lowell with a VPN problem he was having. His company requires him to communicate with the company computer using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection for security.

Before he and Landon went to Oklahoma after Christmas it was working fine, but now back home, he can’t make a connection.  These VPN connections are always kind of finicky to set up, and Lowell said he had to spend some time on the phone with Tech Support to finally get it working initially.

I tried several different tricks I’ve used in the past, but with no luck. This VPN is a little different in that it uses an RSA SecurID card to authenticate the user.

The SecurID card generates a constantly changing 6 digit code that must be entered during login along with Lowell’s 4 digit pin. I’ve seen problems with these in the past when they get out of sync. I finally suggested that Lowell deleted all the VPN software and just start from scratch with the installation.

By this time everyone was hungry so off we went, and since everyone wanted steak, it was back to Outback again. Jan and I just ate there the night before last but had no trouble going again.

But just like last time we had a great meal, but not so great service. So I guess our last visit wasn’t a fluke. Brandi especially was upset because she worked there for several years in the 90’s while she was in college and hates to see this.

Saying our goodbyes at the restaurant, Jan and I headed back to the rig to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in our normal fashion: falling asleep before midnight even arrives.

Happy New Year!

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December 31, 2013

It’s Official . . .

Since Jan’s sore throat wasn’t too much better this morning, she made a doctor’s appointment for 10 AM, and $300 later, we found out she has

wait for it . . .

wait for it . . .

wait for it . . .

wait for it . . .

wait for it . . .

“THE CRUD”

Yes, it cost $300 to find out Jan has a bad cold.

After dropping the prescriptions off at Sam’s Club, we headed over to The Egg & I to have breakfast at one of our favorite places. One thing we like is that they have a number of favored coffees available, including a great Toasted Hazelnut.

Jan always orders the Blueberry Pancake. Yes, I said Pancake, not Pancakes.

This is why.

It covers 3/4 of the plate!

And they also make the bacon just like she likes it.

She calls it ‘Glass Bacon” because it shatters when you touch it.

Leaving breakfast we drove over to a client’s office to check out closing the books for the end of the year. Then it was on back to Sam’s for the prescriptions.

After that, it was back to the rig for the day. And the night.

We had originally planned to get together with some friends for New Year’s Eve, but with Jan still under the weather, we’ll stay in tonight.

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December 31, 2014

I’m Finally Getting My Sweetie Back Home . . .

I was up about 9 this morning so I could head out at 10:30 down to Brandi’s in Katy to bring my Sweetie back home. Jan had been Landon-sitting since Monday morning because he’s out of school this week and Lowell and Brandi both had to work the first part of the week.

I got there about 12 noon, and after a little while, Jan, Landon, and I drove into Memorial City Mall which is on I-10, just inside the Sam Houston Tollway. We were taking Landon there to have lunch at the food court and then let Landon check out the new kid’s play area called Frolic’s Castle. Billed as the world’s largest indoor mall play area, it opened in October 2014 and has been busy ever since. But first up was lunch at the food court, with something for everyone.

Landon had the Chicken Nugget Kid’s Meal from Chick-fil-A, Jan had a Burrito from Chipotle, and I had a Chile Cheese Hot Dog from Nathan’s Famous. Then for dessert, Landon had ice cream from Marble Slab, and Jan and I split an order of Pecan Cinnabites from Cinnabon. Like I said, something for everyone.

After lunch, we walked around to the play area, but ended up taking the long way due to some dicey directions. But as far as Landon was concerned, it was worth the walk.

At over 3000 square feet, it can hold over 160 kids and adults. Inside the 3 story castle, there are slides, tunnels, and plenty of things to climb on.

Frolic is the name of the green dragon who owns the castle. I kind of figure the castle is just a trap for tasty little kids to become dragon snacks. Kind of like the gingerbread house.

But that’s just me.

And it certainly kept Landon entertained. He disappeared into the castle and didn’t come out for almost two hours. Jan had to call him several times to get his attention.

Before we left Landon wanted to ride the big Merry Go Round that they have at the entrance to the food court.

Though for some reason, neither Jan nor Landon seem to be too happy to be on board, or have their picture taken.

Finally about 4:30 we all headed back to Brandi’s and Lowell’s for supper. She had fixed up a big pot of soup with veggies and ham and chicken. Really, really good. Especially in this cold, wet weather.

We got back home to the rig a little after 7pm and Jan fell asleep almost as soon as she hit the sofa. It’s hard work taking care of a 4 year old.

Me, I’m just happy to have my Sweetie back home.

Tomorrow it’s back to work on my chore list. First up will probably be finishing the power converter install.

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December 31, 2015

New Year’s Eve . . .

Jan and I headed out on our walk this morning, but this time with company. Our friends, Garland and Valencia Scott, drove over from their site in the ‘E’ ring in their golf cart and did the 1 mile circle with us. Then when we were done, they did another round, while Jan and I had our coffee and waited for them to return.

When they got back we sat outside and talked for over an hour before they headed home. We plan on doing this again Saturday, and then get together for dinner later that evening.

During our walk we passed this coach that I couldn’t identify right off the bat. It looked brand new, and the name of the side was Solitaire, something else I didn’t recognize. Usually that means it might be a Canadian rig,

But as we got around to the front, I saw this.

It was a Beaver motorcoach, a brand that I thought had been out of business for a while. But it looked so new, I figured the brand name had been resurrected, like Country Coach is being brought back.

But a little Googling told me different. Beaver has been dead since the 2009-2010 timeframe and no new Solitaires have been built since that time.

So this is just a very well-preserved 5 – 6 year old coach. Really nice looking

About 4pm Jan and I headed out for dinner, hoping to avoid all the wild and crazy guys out there tonight. We had decided on China Delight, a place that our friends, Ed and Debi Hurlburt, had introduced us to a couple of weeks ago.

I had the Spicy Mandarin Chicken (their definition of ‘Spicy’ is not mine),

and Jan had the Chicken Volcano. I would have gotten a picture of hers,  but it looked exactly like mine, except for the Bell Peppers (they give Jan migraines).

Of course I’m always packing a jar of Volcano Dust Pepper Flakes in case ‘Spicy’ food doesn’t live up to its name.

Tomorrow we’re heading down the Clear Lake area to meet up with our son Chris and his family for dinner, as well as take care of a couple of other errands.

Then Sunday we’ll make the trip back over to Colorado River Thousand Trails for the next two weeks. I think this time we’ll give the ‘fabled’ shorter route through the countryside a try, going through Egypt, Magnolia, Hempstead, Bellville, and beautiful downtown Cat Spring. It’s about 14 miles further, and according to Google it will take about 45 minutes longer. So we’ll see how the trip goes.

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December 31, 2016

An Unexpected Gate and A New Year . . .

Happy New Year to all our Family and Friends!

I was up about 1:30 pm today and got coffee started while we tried to decide where we were going to eat for our New Year’s Eve Celebration.

We finally decided on Gratton’s Cajun Kitchen out on US80 coming into Karnes City. We hadn’t been there yet, but the Yelp reviews were excellent and food pictures looked delicious. But when I double-checked the hours I saw they closed at 3 pm on Saturdays. So we dressed quickly and headed out the door.

But as we drove out toward Karnes City we began to get a bad feeling. Almost every place was closed. Only Bella Sera and Flashburger were open.

We had thought we might use Partner’s BBQ in KC as our backup place, but as we passed it, it too was closed.

And so was Gratton’s when we finally got there. So it was back to Bella Sera and their great pizza, so not all bad.

Even better, when got there we found our next-door neighbors and fellow gate guards, Bill and Meredith just getting ready to order. Turns out they had been planning to have dinner at Partner’s BBQ, and also ended up at Bella Sera.

Fun people, great time, good food. Not much more to say.

Guess I have to apologize to the Russians over ‘hacking’ my dashcam.

I kind of have an idea what’s happening with it. I’ve noticed over the last month or so that as I’m driving along, the dashcam screen will pop on.

Now, it’s set so that when you first turn the ignition on, it starts recording with the screen staying for 3 minutes. Then the screen goes off so it’s not distracting, but the unit keeps recording.

I wondered if the screen coming back on had anything to do with my problem. In troubleshooting equipment, if you have one weird thing happen, and then another weird thing happens, more than likely the two weird things are connected.

So as I left the gate this morning I waited for the screen to pop back and then noted the time. Later this afternoon I looked at the dashcam video and sure enough there was no video recorded after the screen popped back on. This explains why the video started up again as we were leaving the movie Wednesday night. When the unit is turned off and then back on, the whole cycle starts over again.

So now I just need to figure out what’s causing the problem to happen to start with.

Also I said yesterday that the 3 minute video files from the dashcam are 50 MB. But when I checked I saw they’re more like 120 MB. The file sizes get big quickly with HD video.

As far as the Unexpected Gate, I got a call from Todd about 10 minutes after 5 pm this afternoon, just a little while after we got back home from Bella Sera.

Todd: “Uh, why aren’t you on your gate?”

Me: “Because you texted me last night telling me I was off tonight and then moved me to another gate tomorrow night.”

Todd: Oh Crap!

Me: “You know, just like I worked for two nights at the other gate, then you gave me a night off, and then moved me here.”

Todd: Oh Crap!

Me: “If you need me to, I can be out there in about 20 minutes, no problem.”

Todd: “I’ll call you back and let you know.”

And he did.

And so now I’m back on the gate, which is completely dead, with no vehicles expected all weekend. Fine by me.

One thing I did do before I left the rig for the gate was grab my AirCard’s external antenna. It’s a flat plate about the size of your hand and has no powered amplification.

But it does make a difference.

I was hoping it would make my 3G data signal a little better here on this gate. As I mentioned, I have no phone service here, but just OK data through my Aircard. But it does slow down and just stops sometimes.

It plugs directly into my AirCard and I just hang it out the window.

And it definitely makes a difference here. And since I had pretty much the same problem at the other gate, I’ll take it with me there too.

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December 31, 2017

Brandi’s On The Move . . .

Wow! It turns out that a number of our blog readers also suffer from BPPV, actually more than I had imagined.

I don’t feel so lonely now.

I haven’t started the ‘canalith repositioning’ exercises yet, but probably will tomorrow. I’ve been trying to determine which side is affected. In my case it seems to be my right side. At least turning to my right gives me the most vertigo, although I do get a little when I turn to the left.

I’ll see how it goes, I guess.

A little after 11 this morning Jan and I headed up to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at La Finca, our favorite Mexican place in the Katy area.

While Jan had the Beef Fajita Nachos, I tried the Marcos Salad, a souped-up version of a taco salad.

This one comes with large chunks of Fajita Beef and was really good.

After lunch Jan and I followed Brandi et. al., over to their new home.

The reason we’re up here, and the reason Jan is Landon-sitting for the next several days is that Brandi and Lowell are selling their house.

They’ve had it on the market for a few months, and now have a buyer. Although they love the present one, they’re looking for something a little smaller than the almost 3800 square feet, but they want a bigger backyard, big enough for a pool. The house they’re in now might hold a lap pool, but that’s about it.

You can scroll through the Realtor.com listing of Brandi’s Old House here.

They close on January 15th, and since they want to take their time looking for their new one, they started moving into a rental home where they’ll be for the next year. It’s not far from their old one, but in a different subdivision. On the other hand it’s only a block from Landon’s school, so he’ll be able to walk in nice weather.

Here’s a photo of their rental house.

They just got the key this morning and are going to spend the next couple of days moving all the small stuff over. Then they’ll get a mover for the big stuff in the next week or so. So while they’re doing this, Jan will keep Landon occupied and out of the way, they hope.

Leaving Jan to ride home with them, I headed back to Santa Fe and the rig. I did make a few stops along the way, first at the nearby Kroger’s for gas, using some of my fuel points for a 20¢ a gallon discount.

Later coming into Clear Lake I stopped off at my client’s to close out the books for December and 2017. I also did some backups to cover the last year too.

Then finally getting to Santa Fe I stopped at the Valero for Powerball/Mega Millions tickets. With PB at $440 million and MM at $343 million it’s worth a few bucks.

I had hoped to get my new awning mounted tomorrow, but with a forecast high of 35°, I think I’ll pass.

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December 31, 2019

Sometimes The Easy Stuff Is The Hardest . . .

After a quiet last day of the year, about 3:30 Jan and I headed over to Yummy Yummy for a late lunch. As I mentioned yesterday we had originally planned to have dinner at Saltgrass and then head over to my client’s to install the new computer. But Jan still didn’t feel like wasting a good steak dinner on crippled taste buds. But Hot & Sour Soup sounded good to both of us.

I’m pretty much over my cold, but I’m still having trouble getting my right ear to clear and stay clear. Right now they still keep popping in and out.

While I’m on the downside of my cold, Jan is still in the middle of hers, with the coughing the worst part, especially when she’s trying to sleep. But she did feel good enough to go ahead and come to my client’s with me

After running the End of Month, End of Year reports on the old computer, I plugged in a flash drive and copied over the 30GB of POS data, and a bunch of other stuff. This much data took about 45 minutes, and then I set the new machine in place of the old one.

Now I was ready to copy all the data over to the new machine, which only took about 20 minutes, since the read speed of the flash drive is much faster than the write speed. And after finishing moving all the data over, everything checked out.

Now for the easy part, and I’d be done. Just install the Canon 530 Laser Printer and I’d be done. All I had to do was plug in the USB printer cable and let Windows find the right drivers and set it all up.

Right?

Well, No.

After I plugged in the USB cable a window popped up and said the printer was installed and ready to go. But it wasn’t. When I tried to print a test page the system told me no drivers were installed.

So I started over. And started over. And started over. And sta . . .

Paul Simon says, “There’s 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover!”. Well, there’s not quite that many ways to install a printer, but a bunch.

And it actually took me about an hour to work through a lot of possibilities until finally one worked.

And after testing the printer, I was finally done.

Sometimes the easy stuff is the hardest.

One thing funny did happen while Jan was out in the lobby waiting for me. I’ve mentioned before that they’ve had problems with possums getting into the building’s attic. Actually it can be a real problem around this area.

When I worked for the University of Houston-Clear Lake, we had a 3 story building that had raccoons and possums running around in the ceilings. And earlier this year, we had a possum fall through the ceiling into Jennifer’s office and then trash the place.

So while I’m working, I heard Jan squeal. And when I got out there to check on her, she had her feet up in the chair with her, pointing down the hall behind her. She said a possum had come down the hall past where I was, crossed through the lobby past her, and into the next office.

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December 31, 2020

A White Christmas ???

No, but it was a White New Year’s Eve in Fredericksburg, TX. Big, fluffy flakes.

Though it didn’t really stick, it was nice for a while. And we heard that parts of west Texas got 18 – 24 inches. Yikes!

The WiFi is pretty sucky here and keeps going in and out, so I’ll try to catch up tomorrow night from Kingsland.

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December 31, 2021

Happy New Year . . .

Work today was a real snoozefest with absolutely no phone orders or walk-ins. But I got some nice Internet surfing done, so it wasn’t a total loss.

And it allowed me to rest up for our big New Year’s Eve celebration. And that consisted of an early dinner at Los Ramirez and then back home before dark, just in time to start hearing the snap!, crackle!, pop! of fireworks from all around us.

And unlike a lot of pets, Karma could care less about the noise and just slept right through it.

A wild night, or what?

Jan got her usual Pechuga Rellena,

while I got my fav Beef Fajita Taco Salad.

The perfect end to the year 2021.

Looks like we may have dodged a bullet during our recent Branson trip. Literally.

Man charged in double homicide at Branson Famous Dave’s BBQ.

This happened in the parking lot at the rear of the restaurant where we ate twice.

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December 31, 2022

Glad We Did It . . .

Though normally we wouldn’t need a reservation for Saltgrass Steakhouse at 5pm, I figured that New Year’s Eve would probably be different. And I’m glad we did.

They were already on a wait when we got there but with our reservation we were seated immediately. And as usual the service was great and the steaks even better.

What was interesting was how quickly they were turning the tables around. They had busboys standing around the sides of the dining room watching. As soon as a table started to get up, the workers were slowly walking toward the table. And as soon as the diner’s backs were turned, the guy had the table cleared and wiped down in about 30 seconds. There were also managers walking around with iPads logging when the table was clear, and about a minute later new diners were being seated. Neat to watch.

Finishing up, since Saltgrass didn’t have Pumpkin Cheesecake any longer, coming home we made a Marble Slab stop for their delicious Coffee Ice Cream. Of course we both like it mixed, Jan’s with Amaretto, and mine with Peanut Butter.

The perfect end to a nice day and an OK year.

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December 31, 2023

Happy New Year 2024!

We got a text from Rob, our park owner, this morning. Besides the amount of our January rent (different each month due to electricity usage), he also said that, depending on the weather, they’ll be pouring concrete over a two day period. So they’re getting close. But Jan noticed something, and now we both want to know.

How are rigs going to get up on these pads?

Due to flood rules in this area, all new construction, including these pads, has to be elevated over 2 ft. above the surrounding land. All this even though this area did not flood even during Hurricane Harvey back in 2017.

And if they build ramps for the pads, then they’ll extend out into the roadway, blocking it. So maybe they’re going to raise the level of the entire road. But then that will block our site.

So I guess we’ll see.

Lunch today was at Kelley’s Country Cooking up in League City, with Jan getting her Turkey & Dressing, along with Mashed Potatoes, Carrots, and Green Beans ( not shown).

While I got the Chicken Fried Steak with Cornbread Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, and Candied Yams.

I didn’t get a good photo, but the CFS fills up half the plate. And it was all delicious.

But what I got was the regular-sized CFS.

This is their Super Texas-Sized CFS.

Yikes!

Even with the smaller one, I had half to take home for another meal.

The new struts for our bed came in today, so hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday, I’ll be able to get them installed.

Shouldn’t take too long, but you never can tell.

Tomorrow we’re going to have lunch at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, our all-time favorite pizza place. This since we first ate at the original one in Brooklyn, NY. And we’ve been hooked ever since.