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Back at work today, I was able to make some headway with the 3 new computers I’ve brought online in the last month or so. The problem was getting the machines onto the office network. I had checked all the usual suspects, so finally, today, I started checking all the stupid things that it couldn’t possibly be.
And it turns out that, despite what all the documentation says about the default settings in Win11 Pro, networks are not set to Private by default. And once I did that, they all came online.
* * * * * * *
Yesterday afternoon, I rebaited my 3 Wasp Traps with a sugar-water/dish soap mixture instead of the Shiner Bock beer I started with. But when I checked my Trap Line this afternoon, I still found no takers.
So I guess the wasps are not only tea-totalers, but they don’t have a sweet tooth either?
* * * * * * *
My new Sensi A/C thermostats have been working fine, except for a funny glitch this morning. It went down to the high 50’s last night and was 66° in the coach this morning when Jan came out this morning. So she was surprised to find the A/C running.
And so was I. In fact I teased her a little, wondering if she was just imagined it.
Until it came on while I was sitting there.
Sorry, Sweetie.
Looking at the Sensi app, it showed that the LR A/C was still set at 77° and the rig temp was 68°. So why was the A/C running.
Well, it wasn’t, really. What was running was the fan. And why was the fan running?
Well, as it turns out, the Sensi app has a feature called Circulate Fan that lets just the fan come on for a set number of minutes in each hour to circulate the air in the area.
The only problem is that this ‘feature’ doesn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere in the manual.
So why was the A/C coming on, as well as the fan.
Well, as it turns out, due to a broken compressor control wire somewhere in the rig’s wiring, I had to connect up the front A/C unit so the compressor comes on when the fan comes on.
So why wasn’t the Bedroom A/C doing the same thing?
Well, it wasn’t turned on. So why was it turned on for the front unit?
The only thing I can figure out is that the previous owner (remember, this was a used one from Amazon) had turned it on at some point.
But it’s fixed now.
I did go ahead and order two 3VDC power supplies to replace the two ‘AA’ batteries, so I won’t have to worry about replacing them.
* * * * * * *
I mentioned before that it looks like we’re finally getting 5G Verizon here in our area. It kind of alternates between 4G and 5G, and when I would do a Speedtest when it was 5G, the results were unimpressive.
But when I checked yesterday, things were looking up.
That’s 197 Mbps!
Now, if it would only stay in 5G mode all the time.
Tomorrow it’s back to Saltgrass Steakhouse once again for our monthly Alvin Opry group get-together.
It’s a rough life.
Thought For The Day:
No matter how cynical I get, it’s getting harder and harder to just keep up.
Your Retro-Preview Highlights –
2009 – Gliding thru the ‘Glades’
2011 – Wednesday on ‘The Talk’
2013 – Ziplining Down Fremont St And The Heart Attack Grill
2014 – Bad BBQ in Memphis
2016 – Landon’s Treadmill Faceplant
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
May 12, 2009
Gliding thru the ‘Glades …
This morning, we headed back up the Tamiami Trail into the Everglades to take an airboat ride.
We passed a place called Coopertown Airboats on our way down through the Everglades from Ft. Myers and thought we’d check them out.
Not Us, but one like ours!
And it was a blast!
The water levels are low in the Everglades so in some cases we were airboating over mud flats and not water, but an airboat doesn’t really care as long as there are no stumps.
And there were alligators everywhere.
May 12, 2010
Redwood Bound…
Today was our last full day in Petaluma. Tomorrow we’ll head about 300 miles north to Klamath, CA to check out the Redwoods in the Redwood National Park.
Jan woke up under the weather today so about 11:30 am I headed out to get my leaking truck tire fixed at the Big O Tires down the street.
Later in the afternoon, Jan was feeling better, so about 2:30 pm we headed up the road about 15 miles to Santa Rosa to pick up some magazines at the Barnes & Noble and scout out a place to take on about 90 gallons of diesel on our way north tomorrow morning.. I’ve still got about 60 gallons onboard, which is more than enough to get us up to Klamath, but since we will then be in the middle of Redwood National Park, I figure it’ll be better to fill up now.
Coming back we checked out a small truck stop about 12 miles up the road that has enough room for us to get in and out, so we’ll stop there tomorrow morning.
Getting back to Petaluma about 4pm we stopped at the Gourmet Garden for supper. This is a great Chinese buffet that we ate at last week and it was just as good this time.
We got back to the rig a little before 6 pm, and I started getting things ready to travel tomorrow.
May 12, 2011
“Wednesday on The Talk . . .”
Yesterday was The Talk talk show day, so after getting up about 6:30, we tried to have the breakfast at the hotel. But there was a tour group there that was taking up all the tables, and then some. So after waiting a while we went ahead and just checked out and hit the road about 7:45 am.
It was about a 35 mile drive that due to the traffic, took us about 90 minutes, but we’d allowed for that so we got to Studio City about 9:15, 30 minutes before the 9:45 deadline when we would lose our seats and have to go on standby.
Everyone was given a number card in the order of their arrival. We got numbers 52 – 53, and after going thru security, we were sent to a waiting room to fill out our cards, and also sign a release form that pretty much allows them to do anything they want to us, and we just have to grin and bear it.
Then, after walking us a couple of hundred yards to the soundstage, about 10:30 they led us to our seats in the studio.
And right at 11 am the show started. This show is live, and runs in real time. They don’t do retakes or corrections.
And like our visit to the Bonnie Hunt Show last year, during the breaks, about 30 people swarm out onto the stage. Fixing hair, touching up makeup, adjusting clothes, talking about the script, etc. It’s a busy place.
Then the Floor Manager starts a countdown with “IN FIVE, FOUR . . . and Poof! everyone disappears.
The first guest was Alex Trebek of Jeopardy fame, and his introduction and entrance gave us our little claim to fame.
We got on National Television! Aren’t we a handsome couple?
The second guest was Ellen Kunes, who wrote the bestselling “The Carb Lovers Diet”. Normally, when an author is on the show, everyone in the audience gets a copy of the book, and today was no exception.
Just what I need, a diet book! (Well, actually, we probably do need it. We just don’t want it.)
It seemed like before you know it, the show was over. We had been told we would be taping two full shows today, but we only did one and some parts.
Parts, as in pieces that will be stitched together to show later.
While we were waiting to get started again, the crew passed bananas, granola bars, and water to the audience as a snack.
First off, there was a cut-in with the editor of Redbook Magazine, along with the man voted ‘Hottest Husband” and his wife. The audience all got the latest issue of the magazine and a coupon for a year’s subscription. Whee!
Next was a cut-in with Megyn Price from “Rules of Engagement”. This 5-minute segment will be added to another show later. This usually happens when the guest star can’t be there when the show airs live.
Then everyone went off and changed clothes, and they taped the opening and closing for another show that will be shown next week when the cast and crew take a break.
Finally, they ended up with the cast members doing some promos for tomorrow’s show. You know, those ones that go “Tomorrow on The Talk, our guests will be”.
And by about 1:30 we were done. As we filed out we were given our free diet book and our Redbook stuff. We were also given some free eco-friendly perfume, whatever that is.
At least last year, The Bonnie Hunt Show fed us hot dogs and cupcakes.
After a quick walk to our car, and a slightly-less quick stop at the nearby McDonald’s, (no breakfast, along with a banana and a granola bar, only takes you so far) we headed back toward Las Vegas.
Going home we took a longer way with a slight detour up through Palmdale and Lancaster.
By about 5 pm we were in Yermo, CA where we stopped at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner. We’ve stopped here a couple of times before as we passed through the area and it’s always good. And this time was no exception.
Hitting the road again, we headed up I-15 toward Las Vegas and home, and after a quick pit stop at Primm’s, we got back to the rig about 9:30, very tired, but happy we had such a good time.
May 12, 2012
Our New Home ??
Yesterday (Friday) marked our 2nd week of gate-guarding here at this Marathon site. And we probably won’t hit 3 weeks because our rig will be leaving around the middle of next week, and we’re probably going with it.
At least we think so. The Marathon people want us to follow them, but we haven’t heard definitely from Gate Guard Services yet.
Since I was over near the new drill site today I decided to take a look at the area. The road is pretty good, much, much better than our first gate. The first 3 miles are regular two-lane paved road, with the last 5 miles consisting of a very good gravel road. There are already a couple of drill sites in the area, with a lot of heavy truck traffic, so the roads are being kept up.
Here’s the turnoff to the drill site. The pad is a mile or so down this road, so I don’t know if we would be parked here, or closer in. I couldn’t get to the drill site itself because they were still working on the road back in there.
But this doesn’t bode well. Just to the left of this turn-in, I saw this.
Maybe this move isn’t such a good idea after all. Or is the road back in there worse than I thought?
Also, yesterday, our diesel generator started acting up. The diesel part was fine, The generator itself was the problem. The L2 side kept dropping below 105 volts, and our Progressive EMS was shutting down power to the rig to protect our A/C’s.
The L-1 side was also low, about 112 volts, but still within limits. Since it was in the 80’s and we needed the A/C’s, I disconnected from the generator and started up our coach generator. Then my next step was to call Mark, our support guy.
He was out here in about 20 minutes to check things out. By this time, the L2 voltage was down to about 80 volts. Not good. And after fiddling with the voltage adjustment with no success, he declared the generator deceased and called to have a new one brought out.
So, in about another 30 minutes, our new generator trailer was in place and purring along. The replacement generator also solved our other problem of the frequency being off and making our clocks run slow. So that was a bonus.
I’ve now had some time to play with my new Kindle Fire, when I can get it away from Jan. It looks like we may end up being a two Kindle Fire family like we ended up with two regular Kindles.
Getting down to basics, I really like it. It’s great for reading Kindle books in low light, and even outside as long as you’re not in the direct sun. The color screen is bright and looks good.
The web browser works great and seems to be fast. I’ve not noticed any problems on my regular websites.
Battery life seems to be pretty good. Although, like the regular Kindle, it helps to keep the Wi-Fi turned off when you’re not using it.
Now for the Cons:
The glass screen is very reflective and attracts fingerprints like a toy store attracts kids. But I’ve ordered a screen protector sheet kit that’s supposed to take care of that problem. I also ordered a case that looks pretty nice. I’ll let you know how they work out.
I was surprised to find out how many of my favorite Droid apps aren’t available for the Fire. Especially odd since they both use pretty much the same OS.
That’s about it for today. I’ll talk more about the Fire as I play with it. (When I can get it away from Jan, that is.)
May 12, 2013
I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing . . .
And Lived To Tell About It.
So far.
First off, an update on the 3D printer story. Staples has announced that they will soon be selling several different models of 3D printers in their stores, and will also let you bring in your own files and print them on a store machine.
Other big-name companies will soon follow.
After a lazy morning, I went outside to do some battery maintenance. I wanted to add some distilled water to the batteries and double-check the connections. But I quickly found a problem.
My 1-gallon jug of distilled water had sprung a leak and was empty. So I’ll have to pick up a gallon or so today or tomorrow to finish things up.
Jan and I headed out about 2:30 for an afternoon of dining and sheer terror. Well, maybe sheer terror for her.
Our first stop was the ATM at a Chase Bank and then it was over to the Fremont Street Experience at the top of the Strip.
We got parked at a nearby parking garage, and then first up was the terror part.
Jan had decided that despite her somewhat fear of heights, she was going to do the zip line that runs down through Fremont Street.
So we got her ticket at the FlightLinez Zip Line store and then took the elevator up to the 5th floor.
That lets you walk directly out on the platform. The smaller tower in the front here is the one presently in use. The taller one in the back is the new one coming online soon. It will be higher, faster, and longer.
Some of you may be wondering why I’m not doing this.
Well, someone has to take the pictures, right? But the real reason is the weight limit of 225 pounds. I could probably squeak by on the limit, but I would have to do it in the nude, and I don’t think that would be an option.
Or a pretty sight for anyone looking up. Just saying.
The present zip line stops at the platform at the lower side of this photo. The new one will be higher and go all the way to the end of the covered area.
Here they’re getting Jan and her flight buddy strapped in and ready to go.
Ready, set, GO.
And a safe touchdown at the other end.
Here’s the video of her flight.
Jan said she enjoyed it, but that her knees were still shaking a half hour later.
It will be interesting to see if she will do the higher, faster, longer version next time.
The next item on our agenda was a little scary too. The Heart Attack Grill. It’s located at the front of the Fremont Street Experience, right on the Strip. It’s a place we had to try at least once.
They do have a lot of fun with the concept.
From the disclaimers,
to the hospital gowns everyone has to wear,
to the ID bracelets everyone is given. The white one is for the Heart Attack Grill, the blue one is for the Zip Line. Actually I think the gowns would be a good idea at some BBQ rib places I’ve been to.
Jan got the Single Bypass Burger and the Flatline Fries. I got the Double Bypass with Bacon, but without fries, because we were going to share Jan’s order.
The Flatline Fries were really good. They’re sliced and then fried to order. IN LARD.
HMMM! LARD!
Besides their large selection of alcoholic drinks, the only others are water and Cokes. But the Cokes are the ones from Mexico made with real sugar, and not corn syrup.
Here’s the burger menu, with one to eight patties, and 5 to 40 strips of bacon (5 per patty).
And here’s the Octuple Bypass Burger. How do you even eat something like that.
Even my Double I ended up eating with a fork. If I went here again I’d have them leave off the Chili. It’s good but it makes it too messy
Oh, and if you weigh over 350 pounds you can eat here free. Or just eat here a few times until you then weigh over 350, and then eat free from then on.
Ready to leave, we stopped in the Walgreen’s there and I got a couple of gallons of distilled water for my batteries to use when we get home.
Along the way, we stopped off at Boulder Station Casino once again to register our Boarding Passes for the weekend drawings. And as it turns out, I won 1000 points in the last drawing. That’s $10 in the slot machines.
Getting home, I had planned to work on the batteries again, but that burger made me too sleepy, so I took a two-hour nap. Very nice.
Tomorrow we’re going to eat at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville in the Flamingo Casino with Jim and Peri Dean, and then check out the fountain show at the Bellagio.
May 12, 2014
Never, never, ever, ever . . .
Order Brisket at a Memphis BBQ place!
Since we had a long 360-mile run today, we were up at 7, had our coffee and muffins, and were on our way by 8 a.m. This was made easier by the fact that we didn’t unhitch the toad, or even lower the levelers last night.
We stopped at a couple of rest areas for breaks, and Jan fixed us peanut butter crackers for a snack at one of these.
About 2:30, we pulled into the Tom Sawyer RV Park right on the Mississippi River in West Memphis, AR. We’ve stayed here twice before, and it’s one of our favorite parks.
After getting set up and resting up for a while, about 4:30 we headed across the river to have some Memphis BBQ. We had planned to eat at Charles Vergos’ Rendezvous where we ate two years ago and really loved, but to our disappointment, they’re closed on Mondays.
So, checking online for Memphis Best BBQ, Central BBQ kept coming up in pretty much every list. So we decided to give it a try.
And it was good, but it was no Rendezvous.
I ordered the Rib Combo Plate with ribs, pulled pork, and ‘brisket’. Note the ‘brisket’ is in quotes. For my two sides, I got BBQ Beans, and homemade garlic potato chips.
First, the pluses:
The pulled pork was delicious. Really good.
The Ribs were also good, with a lot of meat on the bones.
The BBQ Beans were also very good, and chock-full of meat pieces.
Also good were the homemade potato chips.
The mild sauce was very good, very tasty, so I had high hopes for the hot version.
Now the minuses:
Although the ribs were good, they were the smaller baby-back ribs, and not the full-sized pork ribs. But that’s just personal preference.
As far as the hot sauce goes, it tasted like they had just added Tabasco or some other vinegar-based hot sauce to their mild sauce. And again, it seemed all I could taste was vinegar. So I ended up using the mild sauce, and then adding some of my ghost pepper/ground habanero powder to heat it up.
Now to the ‘brisket’. But I’m not sure I would call it brisket, and I doubt anyone from Texas would either. Note the pile of meat-looking stuff in the photo above, between the chips and the ribs.
It’s more like thinly sliced roast beef, tough and chewy, and with no real taste. It reminded me of deli meat you buy in a package at the supermarket.
But not as good.
I had seen a couple of references in the online reviews about the brisket at restaurants around town, but did not imagine it would be this bad.
As far as Jan’s meal, she had the pulled pork sandwich and said it was delicious.
One interesting thing about Central BBQ is that it’s right across the street from the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot in 1968. The entire area is now part of The Civil Rights Museum.
Getting back to the park about 6 we sat out on the river bank and watched the boats and big barges go by.
Mister enjoyed it too. If you look carefully below, you’ll see a big furry lump rolling around on the concrete.
The sites here have concrete pads and are right on the river.
Mister certainly enjoyed it.
Some enormous barges go by here. This one consisted of 21 separate barges strapped together.
The tug’s props really stir up the water,
making a continuous ripple effect behind the stern.
We first stayed here in 2010, but the flooding of the Mississippi in 2011 just about wiped the park out. The sign below marks the high-water point during the flooding.
‘How long can you tread water?”
Tomorrow we’ve got a short run of 137 miles up to Sikeston, MO, home of Lambert’s Throwed Rolls.
Guess where we’re eating supper?
May 12, 2015
I Feel the Need for Speed’s . . .
As far as the rig repair goes, we’re still waiting to hear back from the insurance company, but since our agents, (and friends) Chris and Charles Yust of C and C RV Insurance are on the case, we’re not worried.
A couple of days ago, Peter and Patty Louchheim got in touch with us about getting together. They were coming up from Scottsdale to stay at the Fairgrounds RV Park in Prescott Valley to stay for a while. We first met at a rally in Yuma.
Peter and Patty showed up at our rig a little after noon. After talking for a while, we then started talking lunch and decided on Speed’s Hanger Deli, a repeat for us and a first time for them. But they had read the blog post about our last visit and were happy to give it a try.
Jan and I did a rerun on our last visit, with her again getting the Rosie the Riveter,
while I got the Fatman, but on rye this time instead of sourdough.
Still delicious, and so big that both Jan and I took half home, along with some of the great potato salad.
Peter got the 8oz Sirloin Steak Sandwich, which looked so good I may try it next time, or the time after that. After all, it’s not like we’re going anywhere anytime soon. Unfortunately, I lost track of what Patty ordered, but I’m sure it was good.
Since we hadn’t seen them in several years, we spent a good while just catching up. Like us, they have an older rig, a 1994 Safari, and are well aware of the trials and tribulations of keeping things running.
Since they’re staying over at the Fairgrounds RV Park in Prescott Valley, hopefully we’ll have a chance to get together again. After all it’s not like we’re going anywhere anytime soon.
These people were also lucky, as you can see in this photo.
And here’s a link with more info about the crash.
May 12, 2016
Faceplant . . .
Yesterday, while we were down in the Clear Lake area, I stopped by Fry’s Electronics to pick up a few things, one of which was a new video card for my new computer.
After trying a number of different ineffective fixes for my HDMI problem, I wanted to try one last thing. My old computer was set up with a 12ft. HDMI cable feeding video and audio to our 32” LCD TV at the front of the rig.
So if one of us wanted to show the other one something on the computer, all we had to do was change the TV Input from HDMI1 to HDMI2 and there it is. And it still shows up on the computer monitor as well, which is fed by a DVI cable from the same video card.
But when I plugged the HDMI cable into the computer, it killed the monitor output, and nothing showed up on the TV either, neither video nor audio.
Now I knew the HDMI cable and the TV input were still good, since it still worked from my ASUS laptop. So my next step was to download the latest drivers from AMD Radeon. Then I deleted the old ones and installed the new ones.
And struck out again. Nothing changed.
So my last gasp was to just replace the video card and hope for the best. I once again deleted the old Radeon drivers, removed the old card, installed the new nVidia card, and turned it back on. I had deliberately bought a different brand card from the original one to be sure that there was no interference between the old one and the new one. The uninstall routines are bad about not deleting everything, sometimes causing some weird problems.
Of course, when it came back up, with no drivers installed, it was in the blocky default 640 x 480 mode, or the Commodore 64 mode as we call it. I had already hooked up the HDMI cable and switched the TV over, but still had a black screen. But since the monitor was still working, maybe I was on the right path.
Putting the Driver Disk in the drive, I got them installed and then did the mandatory reboot.
And, Voilà!, I had video on both the TV and the monitor. And sound too.
Now Jan can get back to streaming Big Love, so she’s happy.
We had planned to pick up Landon tomorrow afternoon at his home in Katy, and then bring him back here to Conroe to spend the night in the ‘Truck House’ as he calls it. There are a lot of kids here on the weekend, and he can check out the playground and swim in the pool with the others.
But it may be on hold until next Friday, because Landon came down with a bad case of Treadmill Face.
He was upstairs playing and he decided to try out the treadmill. He had been told a number of times to stay off of it, but I guess it was just too tempting.
So, turning it on, the result was a faceplant right to the mat. At least he didn’t lose another tooth.
Poor kid. But I bet he stays off the treadmill now.
And after hearing the story, Jan and I couldn’t help but think of the Polar Bear on the Treadmill cartoon. Check it out.
May 12, 2017
April Showers Bring May . . . Snow?
Well, the Weather Channel has been promising/threatening snow for the last few days, but this morning Mother Nature finally delivered.
I looked out about 11:30, and it was really coming down, heavy enough that it was hard to see the rig next door for a few minutes. It only lasted for about 20 minutes, but nothing stuck since it was in the 40’s. But it was neat!
And then a little after noon, it did it again. Not quite as heavy, but it lasted a little longer. There’s more forecast for tonight, and with temps in the mid-20s, it might actually stick. We’ll see.
About 12:30, we headed into Bend once again, first for another visit to The Sparrow Bakery, but the other, larger location this time. Located in a high-end neighborhood market area, it has a completely different, modern feel.
Like last time I again got a Cardamon Latte, this time with a better leaf.
Here’s last time’s.
We both started out with a cup of their Minestrone Soup. Very good, but more as a really good vegetable soup with pasta, well seasoned, but not very Italian tasting.
Jan once again got the Chicken Waldorf Croissant Sandwich, the same one she got last time.
But she liked this one better, because it was made using white meat, not dark.
I decided to try their Monte Cristo Sandwich with roasted turkey, gruyere cheese, onion marmalade, raspberry preserves, served on battered slices of miche bread, a type of French sourdough.
This was one of those sandwiches where the whole is less than the sum of the parts. It wasn’t bad, but just didn’t have a lot of taste, kind of bland. I used to get the Monte Cristo sandwich at the late-lamented Bennigan’s years ago and it was really good.
One thing that might have helped would have been if it had more raspberry preserves on it. A Monte Cristo should be a little sweet. It is dusted with powdered sugar after all. But the Sparrow version just had a schmear. In fact, I couldn’t even taste it.
I’ll know better next time.
Before we left, we did pick up a couple of their famous Cardamom Ocean Rolls.
Jan got the chocolate version while I went plain.
Coming back down US 20, we made a loop through the Fred Meyer’s to check it out for topping off the rig’s diesel on our way out of town this coming Wednesday. And at $2.55;/gallon, it’s one of the cheapest in the area.
While we were at Wal-Mart I came across this VR headset.
Though actually it’s only a holder for your smartphone, and not a full-blown VR headset with its own screen. And according to the box, it’s made especially for Wal-Mart.
But since this one only costs $12.88, and the others are $100’s of dollars, it’s a pretty good deal. It says it will fit smartphones up to 6”, and it will fit my new S8+ . . . almost.
It would fit perfectly if I didn’t have the Otterbox case on my phone, but it won’t quite latch shut. So I’ll have to find some way to keep it fastened . . . maybe Velcro.
As it turns out, there’s actually a lot of VR software available for the Android phones, roller coasters, space battles, sky diving, etc.
Pretty neat. Check it out.
Google has their own version called the Cardboard VR, because that’s what it’s made of. They give you the scored cardboard and a set of lenses, and you roll your own.
But since the Wal-Mart version comes with a headband and only cost $12.88, and the Google version cost $15, I know which one I’d pick. And did.
Tomorrow, dinner at Cinco de Mayo down in La Pine.
May 12, 2018
Snow and BBQ . . .
One year ago today we were in Bend OR staying at the Bend/Sunriver Thousand Trails park for two weeks. And it was SNOWING!
With the weather starting to tickle the 90’s here in the Houston area, it’s starting to sound good.
With another busy day planned, Jan and I headed out about 11am to first have lunch at the Cheddar’s up in Webster. We figured that by getting there early we’d beat the crowd and we were right. But by the time we left less than a hour later, they were on a wait.
Our next stop was at my client’s office to pick up an Amazon package that came in yesterday, and to tell my client that his office parking lot becomes an overflow parking lot for the restaurant right down the street. That’s what keeps setting off the Wyze camera’s motion detection alarm in the early evenings.
The camera is mounted in the lattice work along the roof edge of building and it’s pretty invisible from any distance if you don’t already know it’s there.
Don’t know how we’re going to handle this, possibly by not turning on the alarm until after the restaurant closes. We’ll have to figure it out.
The Amazon package I picked up while I was there was a sunshade for my Garmin GPS.
Seems like no matter which direction the sun is, the glare is always on the GPS screen, so I ordered this.
It’s a quick setup, only taking a couple of minutes to snap it on and add the extension hood. It’s not specific to Garmin, but is more based on the size of the unit. But it fit mine perfectly.
Our next stop was a local electronics place for some more Remote Dump project parts. I was looking for a couple of mini DPDT toggle switches and a couple of momentary SPST switches to mount on the control box to be able to manually control the valves from the water bay.
I did find the two DPDT switches,
but I didn’t find any momentary switches that I liked, so when we got home, I ordered a couple of these from eBay.
Hopefully next weekend I can start putting it all together.
Finally heading back down towards Santa Fe, we made a Lowe’s stop so I could return the outlet box I got last week that turned out to be too small for the dump valve controllers. Then it was right next door to WalMart to return the storage room lock we got that turned out to be too large for the slide lock, and then get another one, this time a combination lock that’s a little smaller.
Then it was back to the rig to continue sorting and packing stuff to take over to the storeroom in the next few days.
Tomorrow we’re driving up to Katy to have a Mother’s Day get-together with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. Unfortunately, Chris and Linda will be up in Kingsland prepping for their move next month, so they’ll be missed.
May 12, 2021
A Sad Day, But It Ended Nice . . .
We got word last night that the mother of a long-time friend had died on Monday, and they were having a viewing from 3 to 5pm this afternoon at a funeral home in Friendswood. So Jan came into work with me this morning to do some shopping before we drove over to the viewing about 4pm,
We’ve known Connie, the daughter of the deceased, since about 1997 when we first started attending the Alvin Opry. And we ran into a lot of old friends that we haven’t seen for a while there this afternoon.
A couple of ministers gave a nice service talking about Hazel and her life, and then a number of people who knew her told stories about what a character she was. The reason there was only a viewing here in Friendswood is that Hazel wanted to be buried in California where she was from, so her body was put on a plane this evening.
A very nice tribute.
After it was over, Harry and Sadie said they were going to have dinner at the Texas Roadhouse over on I-45 and invited us along, so we happily (and hungrily) accepted. And getting there about 5:45 we were happy to be seated immediately.
Interestingly, the first thing we saw as we entered was a large sign saying that masks were optional, and the majority of the diners seemed to be taking them up on that.
Looking over the menu, Jan and I decided that we wanted something a little lighter than steak, so we both got the Combo Platter, with Boneless Buffalo Wings, Rattlesnake Bites, and Loaded ‘Tater’ Skins.
Very, very good. And in fact all four of us ended up getting the same thing.
We did talk about setting up a schedule to get together for dinner regularly, especially since they actually don’t live too far away from us in Santa Fe.
A sad day, but at least it ended on a nice note with old friends.
May 12, 2022
Good Steak and More . . .
Jan and I were on the road by 10:30 this morning, heading up to the Spring area for our monthly lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse, along with friends Debi and Ed Hurlburt.
We all started out with salads, Jan and mine’s, with Bleu Cheese dressing.
Very good.
Then, of course, everyone got steak, with Jan getting her usual Flo’s Filet, the 9oz version,
with the Steamed Broccoli.
The white sauce on both our plates is Creamy Horseradish, which we both like with our steaks.
I got a Ribeye, what else, the 12oz one, with the Fried Okra.
The Fried Okra was delicious, though different, from the usual Southern fried version.
Though I usually like Saltgrass’ steaks better, this ribeye was one of the best I’ve had.
Really good.
We had our usual great time, and have already scheduled the date/time/place for next month’s get-together.
We were on our way home a little after 2:30, and were home by about 4pm, after a stop at Cowboy Coffee for Cold, Blended, Sugar-Free Hazelnut Lattes with Almond Milk.
A very nice day.
May 12, 2023
Alabama Bound . . .
Heavy into trip prep, so just the Retro-Blogs™ tonight.
We’ll leave about 8am tomorrow and be back in a couple of weeks.
May 12, 2024
Happy Mother’s Day . . .
To All My Favorite Mothers
First off, I want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in my life . . . Jan, our daughter Brandi, and our daughter-in-law Linda. Jan, of course, heard from both of our kiddo’s today. Always nice.
Love You All!
We made two trips out and about today, with the first one down I-65 to the local Buc-ee’s. I wanted a new drink Koozie, and Jan had some things she was looking for.
Found this one, which is actually a well-insulated drink koozie, as well as a mug.
Then it was back up to the Wal-Mart right down the road from us for a few more things.
Then, a little later, Jan finally decided where she wanted to have her Mother’s Day dinner, which turned out to be the Longhorn Steakhouse back over in Huntsville.
Which I’m sure had nothing to do with the fact that it’s very close to the Trader Joe’s where she visited yesterday, and wanted to go back again today,
No, not a thing.
Though they were busy, we only had about a 30-minute wait, but the meal was certainly worth it.
We started off with Salads with their made-in-house Bleu Cheese Dressing.
Then Jan moved on with her usual 9oz. Flo’s Filet and a Loaded Baked Potato,
while I of course got the Ribeye, along with a Loaded Sweet Potato.
Really liked the char on my steak.
And after seeing the photo on the menu, we couldn’t resist sharing a piece of the Strawberry Shortcake.
Then it was down the road to Trader Joe’s again, and then back to the motel.
Tomorrow’s exact schedule is kind of up in the air, since my cousin Marjorie has a doctor’s appointment in the early afternoon. So we’ll work around it.
