Our RV Adventures

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Somewhere around 12:30 am this morning, I proved Rajesh and two other UPS Support Techs wrong.

I was able to finally convert the UPS database and get it installed on the new Shipping computer. I think it was actually the fact that they told me it couldn’t be done. So I just kept gnawing at it until I figured it out.

We had a lot of rain the last couple of days and it really shows.

That’s normally a grassy lot, and it’s not the only one around here. And all the ditches are full too.

Today was our bi-weekly lunch at our local Denny’s

Delicious as always.

Then it was on across the Interstate for our weekly HEB visit, and then gas on the way home.

When we were heading up to Webster yesterday we saw a demonstration going on in front of the Tesla dealership. They also had armed security in the lot keeping the protestors out on the sidewalk.

Also while we were at East Star Buffet, we saw this guy with a .50 caliber cartridge for a car antenna.

I’m assuming it’s a dummy. At least I hope so.

You never know.

Thought For The Day:

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

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

March 30, 2011

We leave tomorrow–Yay!

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Jan is really under the weather. She woke up this morning with a headache, and then later in the morning started feeling queasy. And it just got worse as the day went on.

By the evening she still had her headache, queasy stomach, and maybe a little fever and joint aches. Basic symptoms might indicate flu, but she has no cough or runny nose. And to the best of my knowledge, we’ve not been around anyone with the flu. The normal incubation period is 1 – 4 days.

We got up about 9 this morning and had coffee before I put in a call to Thousand Trails to see if the TT computer had spit out our membership number. And lo and behold, it had.

We were now officially Thousand Trail members. So I immediately tried to make a reservation at Verde Valley. And found out that you can’t make a reservation without a PIN number, and you can’t get a PIN number online, even though it says you can generate a new PIN, you must already have one to get one.

So after calling TT Membership Services and being given one, I went back online and made a reservation for tomorrow.

We’re on our way.

About 3 I drove over to Ace Hardware to pick up some 3’ #10 wood screws to use with the EZ Anchors I already had.

I was trying to remount the grab bar mounted under the dashboard at the entry door and the original holes had enlarged too much when the bar came off. But these anchors will hold 50# a piece, so we’ll see if they hold.

About 5:45 Al & Adrienne called to say they were ready for supper, but Jan was just too sick to go, so we made a date for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8am at Poco & Mom’s. Hopefully, Jan will be feeling better by then.

Later in the evening, I decided it was time to finally install Service Pak 1 for Win7 which came out a few weeks ago. And I also installed Internet Explorer 9 at the same time. I’ve learned over the years to never install an update when it first comes. It’s much safer to wait a couple of weeks for MS to get the bugs out.

But luckily everything went fine. I’m still trying to get IE9 configured like I like it, since they moved some things around and hid others.

More from Verde Valley tomorrow.

March 30, 2012

Living in Las Cruces . . .

Today was the day we would finally get our coach back and be back on the road.

NOT!

We had a breakfast of coffee and muffins at the hotel about 8:30. OK muffin. Bad coffee, BAD COFFEE, BAD!

Then about 10am I took a load of stuff from the hotel room back to the rig and checked in with the repairs. Found out our new exhaust manifold had not come yet, but was expected shortly.

Getting back to the hotel I asked the front desk if we could stay a couple of hours past checkout time and they said ‘no problem”. About noon Jan and I headed over to Carl’s Jr. for a lunch of burgers and fries. Really good. We’ve always liked Carl’s since we first ate at one up in Fairbanks, AK in 2008.

Returning to the shop, I found that the exhaust manifold had finally come in and the tech was hard at work on it, but didn’t think he’d be finished up until between 2 and 3, too late for us to head out for Balmorhea. So it looked like we’d be spending another night in Las Cruces, but this time in our rig.

About 3pm Jan and I headed out on our test drive. We did about 6 miles including a couple of miles on I-10 with no problems. I did notice the increased power on acceleration, and the better working Pac Brake, both a result of replacing the leaky exhaust manifold.

However, I did notice a problem with my air pressure. It was varying a lot, and dropping way down at slow speeds. This was not normal. Before I left on my test drive, the tech had mentioned my purge valve was venting air, and I said it seems to do that when it’s been parked for a while. But when we got back from the test drive, it was still venting, wide open apparently. In fact it kept venting after the engine was off until there was no pressure left in the system.

Again, not normal.

While we were on our test drive, I noticed that Coachlight RV Park where we planned to stay was pretty full, so as soon as we got back I called and found out they only had a couple of sites left, so while the tech was looking at the purge valve, I drove the truck over to the RV park and got us a site for the night.

When I got back, the tech had run another coolant pressure test on the engine and again found no problems, or coolant in the oil. Finally, some good news.

He took the purge valve off and tried to clean it, but to no effect, so I told him to just replace it. And a few minutes later he came back and said they didn’t have one in stock and would have to order it. I said OK and told him to overnight it.

Then came the bad news. It was too late on a Friday afternoon to get an order in so it would have to be ordered on Monday, and so even overnighted, it wouldn’t get here until Tuesday.

CRAP!

But I didn’t want to head out across West Texas and have the purge valve fail and leave me with locked-up brakes at the side of the road.

The tech then said they might have the complete kit in stock that would include not only the valve but all the filters and parts to basically rebuild the air system. He said the valve by itself was $28, but the kit was $160. I told him let’s go with the kit. Of course, he came back a few minutes later and said they didn’t have the kit either.

DOUBLE CRAP!

I told the tech we would wait until Tuesday, and to go ahead and order the full kit and get it fixed right.

At that point, I told him I’d check with him Monday afternoon, and with Jan following me in the truck, started to drive the rig right down the road to Coachlight.

Note, that the operative word is “started”. As in the engine would start, but the rig wouldn’t go. The air system would not build up enough pressure to release the brakes. So I tracked down the tech and told him the problem, and after a few minutes of work, he managed to bypass the valve temporarily and get us on our way.

So it now looks like we’ll be here until Tuesday, at least.

A little before 6 Jan and I headed over to El Comedor for another really good meal of Mexican food, That’s one good thing about staying here a few extra days. They’ve got some great Mexican restaurants here, and the way things are going, we might get to eat at all of them.

We got back to the rig about 7 and settled in. We’ve still got some stuff to put away after living in the hotel for 5 days, but it’s good to be home.

March 30, 2013

Wrapping Up . . .

here in Tucson.

Today is our last full day in Tucson for this trip. It’s been a great time, but we’re really looking forward to moving on, especially since we’re heading up to Apache Junction, where we’ve never spent any time.

New is almost always good. Usually.

We decided we needed one more Brushfire BBQ fix so we headed out about 10:30, but this time we just split a Rib-Brisket Combo Plate. Even that was a lot of food. But it was as delicious as before.

Getting home, I got back to work wrapping up my two electrical projects. First up, I redid the grounds on my truck taillights, and that seems to have fixed my problem once and for all. I hooked the truck up to the rig and tested all the lights. And now everything works.

Next up was my dash lights/Headlights-On Alarm. I decided not to do anything about the headlight switch problem that’s causing the dash lights to work intermittently. I can make them work by fooling with the switch, and I don’t want to try to get it out/repaired and not have it working when we travel tomorrow.

So I went ahead and installed my Headlights-On Alarm, got it tested and the dashboard put back together, so we’re ready to roll tomorrow morning.

We don’t plan to leave here tomorrow before about 11 because it’s only about a 150-mile trip to Apache Junction, and TT parks sometimes get fussy if you arrive before the check-in time of 2pm. So we’re probably going to go up to Bruegger’s Bagels for coffee and a breakfast sandwich before we head out.

March 30, 2015

T-Ball and BBQ . . .

Our daughter Brandi sent over some photos of Landon’s first T-Ball game this season.

Pre-Game Huddle

Who’s on Third?

Heading for home.

Later in the afternoon I went outside and installed the new Camco EVO Premium Water Filter that I bought on closeout from Wal-Mart yesterday. It was very easy to install and set up, and replaced the smaller type of blue Camco filter that we’ve used for years.

Per the instructions, I hooked it up to the faucet and let the water run for a couple of minutes to flush out the filter before I connected it to the coach water intake. The box said that this filter is high-flow at 5GPM, and it seems to show up in the water pressure inside the coach.

The instructions say the filter will last an ‘entire camping season’. Not sure exactly what that means, but I’ll check it in a month or so and see what it looks like. A replacement filter seems to be less than $15 so that’s not bad.

Our daughter-in-law Linda posted this pic of some new patio furniture that our son Chris repurposed out of scrap wood. It’s also nice to see some of our ornaments, the piranha and the lizard, are still in view.

About 6 Jan heated up some leftovers for dinner. She had her chicken pasta dish from The Tilted Kilt while I finished up the rest of my BBQ Combo Platter from Famous Dave’s BBQ last week.

March 30, 2016

Still on the Trail . . .

After coffee this morning, I got back to looking at my A/C problem, this time starting to run tests at the control box from inside the unit.

The first test was to look for 12vdc between the ‘Y’ terminal and the ‘B’ terminal on the control box, and there’s where it went off the rails.

Instead of 12v, I found 0.77v, not quite enough. This voltage is what pulls in the relay that turns on the compressor. So if it’s not right, then no compressor, no cooling.

Looks like I’m on the right track.

Since this 12v signal is supposed to be coming from the thermostat, I thought I’d next eliminate the thermostat itself by swapping out the control heads between the front and back units.

I was hoping this might be a quick fix, but no. So next I measured the voltages on the thermostat base plate.

To get a baseline on a working unit, I measured the voltages on the unit in the bedroom, and found that from the red wire connection on the left, I had 12v on the White, Yellow, and Red wires. The switch is something I added a while back to let me manually switch between HIGH and LOW fan speeds.

But when I measured the unit up front, I got 12v, 5.9v, and 12v. And the 5.9 volts is on the Yellow wire which is the compressor signal. So I’m still on the trail.

OK, but why when I measure the voltage on the yellow wire at the control box I get .77v, but when I measure it at the thermostat base, I get 5.9 v. It’s supposed to be the same wire. I mean, according to the diagrams, it is.

But, next, when I checked the continuity between the two yellow wires, I got nothing. It’s completely open. But it couldn’t have been this way to start with. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have worked . . . ever.

Then in looking over the Coleman diagrams again, I suddenly realized something. I don’t know where the 12v is coming from that feeds all this. On a home system, there’s a 24VAC transformer that provides the power to the thermostat and to the relays. But this thermostat runs on 2 AA batteries.

Thinking maybe it was coming from the A/C unit somehow, I switched off the breaker feeding the A/C, and still found the 12, 5.9, 12 voltages at the thermostat base. So next I checked the rig’s 12 volt fuse panel, but found nothing there either.

So the 12v must be coming from the rig somewhere, but where? The wires just feed out the side of the opening where the A/C unit mounts and into the area between the roof and the ceiling, and the 120vac wires do just the same.

At this point, I called it a night, and I’ll call American Coach tomorrow to see if they can help me out.

A number of you ask about Jan’s Funeral Potatoes recipe. First off, Jan will be the first to tell you it’s not hers, it’s Ree Drummond’s, from The Pioneer Woman cooking show. But if you want to try it out, I’ve posted it on Jan’s Favorite Recipe page.

Bon Appétit !

March 30, 2017

Chili Today, Chilly Tomorrow . . .

Well, the cold front started moving in this afternoon, announced by the strong, gusting winds that really rocked the coach. Glad we’re not on the road today.

After a high of 85° today, we’re looking for a high of 66° tomorrow, but still sunny. And then it’s down to 48 tomorrow night. Very nice.

I again spent the morning and early afternoon doing some website work, before heading out about 2pm for some errands, with my first stop at the park office for our mail and to ask permission.

The park has a firm rule against any vehicle washing, rig, toad, golf cart, or whatever. But I noticed a lot of people here have gardens that they water every day, So I asked the manager lady if I could use my flower garden water allotment to finish cleaning off the rig wheels. And after making a face, she said OK.

A while back at an RV Rally I bought a spray bottle of Busch’s Aluminum Wash that was supposed to clean off the corrosion on the rig’s aluminum wheels.

I tried it a couple of weeks ago while we were at Cochise Terrace RV Park in Benson, but the spray nozzle was defective and it just kind of spritzed out, but after waiting the required two minutes and then hosing it off, it was easy to tell that it was really working. It went from this

to this.

Streaky, but it’s obvious it was working. So now I can do all the wheels.

Leaving the office, my next stop was the Chase Bank on Apache Trail to get a $60 money order to mail in with my Arizona CCW application tomorrow. Then it was on to the Fry’s right down the road to pick up a few things before finally heading home.

One of the things that came in the mail was the replacement Moen cartridge for our rig shower. I requested a new one under Moen’s Lifetime Warranty, but it didn’t come in until after we left for Tucson. So as soon as we were in one place for a while our daughter Brandi sent it on out to us.

So it’s now on my repair list. Glad that I got a free one under warranty since a new one is about $50.

About 4pm Jan served up big bowls of Jan’s Famous Chili, which was as delicious as usual. This time, rather than adding corn tortillas, we crumbled up tortilla chips in the bowl along with the shredded cheese.

Gives it a crunchy bite. And yes, it has beans in it. And, no, I don’t want to hear about it.

And this time we got to try out the padded bowl holders Jan bought at the recent Escapade.

They not only keep your hands cool, but they also help hold in the heat in the bowl. Very useful.

Tomorrow? Shiny Wheels and a Non-leaking shower?

March 30, 2018

Soup!

Not much new at work today. Set up a new Canon laser printer and got it working on the network. It’s a high-speed duplex printer and will be used to print out our catalogs.

Getting home about 4:15 I put together a batch of quickie vegetable soup. I start with chicken broth, spiced (salt, pepper, minced garlic, minced onions, thyme, and oregano plus ground habanero for some heat) to taste. Then I dump in a large package of Birdseye Frozen Mixed Vegetables (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Squash, and  Zucchini)

And after about 7 minutes in the microwave, it’s all hot and bubbly.

And delicious.

March 30, 2019

No Hikes, Bikes, or Hills . . .

Jan and I went back through the possible Added Cost Excursions for our upcoming Viking River Cruise, trying to nail down which ones, if any, we wanted to tack on to the trip.

The first pass was easy. Jan said we were eliminating any with the words, Hike, Bike, or Hills in the title. And that got us down to about 15 out of 40 or so. Even though this is only a 15-day cruise, some days have 3 or 4 different ones available.

Then we went through them again checking for conflicts with the free excursions that we’ve already booked. Luckily Viking makes this easy by listing any possible conflicts for us. So then we had to decide if we wanted to do the Included one or the Added Cost one.

By the 4 or 5th pass through the list, we’d narrowed it down to 3 add-ons, and not a hike, bike, or hill in sight.  So now all we have left is a couple of possible tours during our stay in London.

With that done Jan and I headed out for lunch and some errands about 1pm. Before leaving the park, we dropped off some garbage at the dumpster and checked out the changes going on.

It’s always nice to see park owners putting money back into a park, and this is a nice upgrade. Over the next few months, all the sites are being updated to have a full concrete pad.

Looks like what’s going to happen is that we’re going to play musical rigs as they do one site at a time and we move around.

One thing we wanted to do at lunch was to check out the traffic changeover at I-45 and FM646 scheduled for this weekend. The southbound side of I-45 was to be shut down, but the northbound side was supposed to be routed over part of the new overpass. But, apparently, they lied.

Both sides of the I-45 were closed and traffic was backed up for miles. We got out of it by driving back up an entrance ramp onto the feeder and following Google Maps out into the countryside for a while.

We finally got to our lunch stop, Crazy Alan’s Swamp Shack, about 2:30, an hour after we should have gotten there, but it was certainly worth the delay. We had received a coupon in the mail giving us a free appetizer with an entrée so we thought we’d give it a try.

We started off with the Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms as our freebie,

made with fresh mushrooms stuffed with crab, green onions, garlic, sherry wine, bread crumbs, and topped with white wine cream sauce. One taste and we knew we had made a great choice, both the appetizer and the restaurant.

While Jan followed up with a really good Side Salad with Ranch,

I couldn’t pass up checking out their Shrimp and Crab Gumbo.

It is a Cajun place, after all. And it too, was really good. A little thicker, darker roux than my other fav, Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, but with a slight burnt aftertaste that made it great.

For our entrée’s, Jan got the Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Grilled Veggies,

while I got the Spicy Shrimp Boil.

All I can say is that we have a new favorite place, and it’s close by, too.

And we didn’t even get to try the Crown Royal Whiskey Bread Pudding. We were too full. So next time, no to the appetizer, and yes to splitting a Bread Pudding.

After that great meal, our next stop was right up the mall to the Verizon store to find out if my Galaxy S8+ phone is unlocked so that I can use a European SIM card on our trip to get phone, text, and data while we’re over there. They couldn’t tell me, but gave me a number to call that would know.

Then it was a little further up the road to one of Jan’s favorite spots, The Container Store, so she could check out their travel section for packing stuff.

Finishing up, we made Sam’s Club/WalMart stops to pick up and drop off prescriptions, and then headed home via the long way down Hwy 6 to avoid the Interstate shutdown.

And now I’ll have to plot a new route for our rig check ride tomorrow to avoid I-45.

March 30, 2020

What’s the End Game?

After our successful A/C repair on Saturday, Sunday seemed like a good day to get started on our Rubbermaid storage shed. I had already opened the box to get out the manual and some of the parts bags,

So, following the manual, I pulled out the 3 floor pieces and laid them out on the patio. But before I could screw them together I first had to use a screwdriver to punch out the holes in two of the panels.

After I put the first couple of screws I could tell my battery-powered screwdriver wasn’t going to hack it for all 16 screws, and it was going to be a lot easier if I drilled some 1/8” pilot holes in the planks. And it did make a big difference.

I was pleasantly surprised at how sturdy the flooring was, with no sags or give when I walked on it. Next, I laid out the side and roof panels in place to see how it all fit together.

Because of the emphasis on keeping the shed level as it’s being assembled, we decided to put it together on the patio and then slide it over to the plywood platform we’re setting up on the rocks behind the patio.

I sometimes wonder if the people who wrote this manual ever had an outsider put together a shed using it. For example, the manual tells you to punch out the screw holes in the left rear wall panel,

and then snap the panel into place on the floor. But the panel has to be held upright by one person while the other one is told to punch out the holes in the rear wall and then set it in place.

OK, why not just tell you to punch out ALL the holes in ALL the panels before you start putting it together, rather than have someone just stand there holding a panel up?

We decided to do just as much prep work as we could on Sunday and then start the actual assembly on Tuesday. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get all the walls up and fastened together, and maybe a little of the roof done.

March 30, 2021

She’s All Clear!

After lunch at Dickinson Seafood once again, I dropped Jan off at the Solis Mammogram Center up in Webster a little before her 2pm appointment. Then I was off up the feeder to pick up some stuff at the nearby Lowe’s. Next, I headed over to the office for what I thought would be a couple of hours before Jan was ready to be picked up. At least that had always been the time in the past.

But I was only able to get a couple of things done, when I got a call from Jan saying she was ready to be picked up, and it had not even been a full hour yet.

And even better, she had the All Clear signal for another year.

Yay!

Picking her up at the Mammogram Center, we drove back down toward Santa Fe, with a stop by the HEB for a few things before getting back to the rig about 4pm.

All in all, a Great Day!

Well, as usual, Texas weather can’t make up its mind. Today we had a high of 81° and are expecting a low of 70 tonight. And tomorrow we’re looking at a high of 77. But then tomorrow night it all changes.

Tomorrow night we’re looking at a low of only 46° AND Gale Force winds. And  Thursday and Friday night, it’s supposed to be 48° and 52°.

‘Gale Force Winds?’

March 30, 2022

That’s Twice Now . . .

You’d think I’d learn.

I worked on a number of projects yesterday, but wasn’t able to finish any of them.

First up was to replace my leaking water tank fill valve with a new one. I couldn’t find an exact replacement, since it’s now only sold in Europe.

But I did find this one on Amazon.

It was a little shorter than the original one, but I thought I had enough slack in the tubing to make up the difference.

I was wrong.

My first task was to remove the water line connecting to the left side of the old valve. Although it took a little work, I finally got the 23-year-old joint loose and pulled it apart. At this point, water started running out of the open line, draining from our 100-gallon fresh water tank. Prepared for this, I immediately screwed the new valve onto the line to stop the flow. Leaving me with this.

Then I removed the line going to the other end of the valve, a little more difficult since it was hanging free. But it finally came loose.

So now I switched the old and new valves, using the old one to keep water from running out of the freshwater tank. Next, I screwed the new valve onto the open line and tightened it down. But when I removed the old valve and tried to hook the line up to the new valve, it wouldn’t quite reach.

Bummer!

So I put the old valve back in place and tightened it all down, done for the day. I was going to have to find a short extender piece to make it work.

Moving on, I wanted to change out my rusted 2 hose splitter with my new solid brass 4 spout one like this.

Using my water pump pliers (nee Channellock’s), I started loosening the connector. At least I thought I was loosening it. But then I realized that the outer yellow plastic ring was all that was turning, not the actual inner metal connector. It was not turning at all.

And then, suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this. It was déjà vu all over again.

I had been here before.

And the last time I actually had to cut both the plastic ring and the metal connector off, using my oscillating multi-tool. This, because I couldn’t really force the connection since it was all mounted on a PVC pipe, which I did not want to break off.

And I also remember that to forestall this happening again, I used both Teflon tape and plumber’s grease on the connection.

Which apparently didn’t work very well.

So now I’ve got to dig out my multi-tool and cut this one off too.

Done for the morning, we headed up to Webster to have lunch at Snooze for brunch.

Jan had her usual Bravocado Toast,

while I got the Goldilocks’ Porridge, a mix of steel-cut oats, quinoa, and millet simmered in almond milk and topped with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, toasted almonds, and hemp seeds.

Really very good.

March 30, 2023

Kountry Eating . . .

Today was an easy one, just lunch at Kelley’s Kountry Kitchen once again and then home.

Jan got her usual Grilled Fish and Veggies,

while I got their Chili & Eggs with Grits and Wheat Toast.

Yum-Yum!

So far so good with my unwanted Windows 11 upgrade. It just looks a little different, but doesn’t seem to be any better,  or faster.  More like just coder make-work to justify their salaries.

Now back to the remainder of our Friday in Kingsland.

After our Bluebonnet drive out in the country,

we had lunch at one of Chris and Linda’s favorite places, The Potato Shack.

Jan had the Strawberry Chicken Salad,

while Chris and I had the Rib/Potato Combo.

Really good.

And you know it’s got to be good when they only serve breakfast once a month and have to take reservations because it’s so popular.

Getting back to Chris’ we sat around outside just enjoying the view, including the resident animal life.

And that includes Bob.

Bob is a mostly outside cat who roams the woods, apparently not afraid of the coyotes and foxes that inhabit the area. He will come inside to eat, or if the weather is bad, but he soon wants back out.

Jan and I stayed around until after sunset, wanting to get a good photo of the backyard with the lighting that Chris had installed.

Unfortunately, the camera in my Galaxy S21 Ultra is just too good at taking low-light photos

This was taken about 30 minutes after sunset, with the only real light coming from the trees.

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon will be coming in later tonight, with Piper and Derek arriving tomorrow afternoon.

Looking forward to seeing everyone together.

March 30, 2024

You’ll Never See This At Wal-Mart . . .

Just a short blog tonight since I didn’t get home ‘til almost 8pm after helping a friend with some computer/TV stuff.

Today started out with Jan getting her toeies done at Galaxy Nails, and then she came right next door to where I had been waiting at the King’s Bierhaus restaurant. I just sat and read on my tablet while I waited.

And once again, Jan was not happy with her nail visit. She got there at 11:45 for her Noon appointment, and still didn’t get called in until about 12:20.

What’s the appointment for? And this is the second time this has happened.

And then after a great meal at the Bierhaus, it was on over to the HEB for our weekly HEB stuff, this time on Saturday because they’re closed tomorrow.

And this is something you will never see at Wal-Mart.

Every single one of their 24 checkout lanes was open. That’s 17 full-service lanes and 7 self-checkout ones.

I’ve been in Wal-Mart on Christmas and the day before Thanksgiving, and you’re lucky to find even half of theirs open.

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Once again, not much of a blog today. I’m still fighting the UPS wars. Plan D was a bust, so on to Plan E.

If that doesn’t work, right now I’m out of more plans.

I’ll let you know.

Lunch today was at the East Star China Buffet up in Webster. I think it’s the first time we’ve been here since the WuFlu faded away.

Our local favorite, Yummy Yummy, closed down during the Wu, we thought at the time, forever. There was even a For Rent sign on it. But East Star stayed open, just asking people to use gloves. So it became our go-to Buffet place.

But then, out of the blue, Yummy Yummy came back from the dead, so since it’s so much closer, they went back to the top of our list.

Then it was on over to the office to pick up something from the office and then back down to our area for our weekly Wal-Mart stuff, and then home for the day.

More tomorrow from Plan E.

Thought For The Day:

Take That, Paula Dean!

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

March 29, 2009

Gulf Shores – Home to the World’s Tiniest Hooters!

Get your mind out of the gutter!

Not those kind of hooters.  This kind of Hooters!

Well, on second thought, maybe we are talking about the same kind.

Anyway, Jan and I went to the Gulf Shores Hooters for dinner tonight.  And as the sign says it is the world’s tiniest Hooters!

It’s actually built on a double-wide trailer.  In fact, when we were here back in November, one of the waitresses said that if you looked underneath, you could still see the wheels.

Jan and I have always called this place ‘Hoots’ because it was too small to be a real Hooters.

We started going to Hooter’s about 9 years ago and it quickly grew to be one of our favorite places

We were eating at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood with our son Chris, his wife, Linda, and our then 7-year-old granddaughter, Piper. We also had Trudy, Jan’s mother, with us.

We were eating something, onion rings, or fried cheese, I believe, and Piper looks at us and says,” This is good, but the ones at Hooters are better”.

I looked at her and said, “How would you know?”  And she said, “Daddy and I go there all the time!”

Ah Ha!  Busted!

We went to the NASA Hooters with the family a week or so later and were pleasantly surprised. They don’t serve hard liquor, just beer and wine. And we really liked the chicken wings.

Almost every table in the non-smoking area had a family with kids sitting at it. And they regularly have kid’s birthday parties there.

I mean, I would have liked to have my 12th birthday party at a Hooters!

Happy Birthday!

Anyway, we hadn’t been there more than about 10 minutes when I heard someone yell “Greg!”  Suddenly someone was hugging me from behind and kissing me on the top of the head.

Without even looking, I knew Jan was giving me “The Look”.  You remember “The Look” don’t you?

It took me a few seconds to realize this was a student I knew from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.  Well, I mean, she wasn’t dressed like that the last time I saw her!

A few weeks before, she had come to my office at the university almost in tears.  The ZIP disk that held her only full copy of her Master’s Thesis had become corrupted and she was afraid she had lost all her work.

It took a little work, but I was able to recover the entire document, and she was apparently very grateful.

After the explanation, Jan was somewhat mollified, but she still wasn’t too happy about the big lipstick kiss that remained on the top of my bald head.

Oh well…

Besides this young lady who was finishing up her MBA, we later ran into another one who was just about ready to take her CPA exam.

She said she made enough working at Hooters for just 2 – 3 days a week to pay her way through college.

Remember, your ‘dumb blonde’ Hooter’s waitress may be smarter than you.

Anyway, as I said, Hooter’s became one of our favorite places.

I used to tell people that my wife and my mother-in-law insist I take them to Hooter’s at least once a week.

Am I a lucky guy, or what?

March 29, 2010

The Fremont Street Experience…

About 5 pm Jan and I drove back over to supper at Claim Jumper. But it was not to be. When we got there the parking lot was almost empty and a young lady was telling everyone that they were closed until Wednesday for some remodeling.

When we asked about another good place to eat, she suggested Cheesecake Factory across the street. So off we went.

Over the years, Jan and I have been to several other locations, but not this one.

We just had appetizers so we would have room for cheesecake. I mean, why go to the Cheesecake Factory if you don’t have cheesecake?

And as with our previous visits, everything was really good.

Then it was over to the north end of the Strip to Fremont Street for The Fremont Street Experience.

Fremont Street is really what’s left of Old Vegas, before casinos started expanding down the Strip. In the mid 90’s the local merchants and casinos looked for a way to revitalize the area and bring the tourists back.

What they came up with, was a canopy 90 feet high and 1500 feet long, spanning 4 city blocks, Fremont Street became a pedestrian mall with a movie screen / light show overhead.

The canopy/screen is what you see held up by the tree-looking supports.

And this is what it looks like in action.

Along with the video show is a sound system pumping out 550,000 watts of music.

Although the original version used colored incandescent light bulbs, in 2004 the system was upgraded to a display consisting of 12.5 million LED’s.

They have a different show every hour for about 10 minutes. Right now they are running shows with tributes to Don McLean, the Doors, Queen, KISS, and others.

We all agreed that this was the best thing we’d seen in Vegas so far.

March 29, 2011

Interstates and Exit Now . . .

Jan and I both slept late this morning so no time for coffee before we had to be ready at 10:30 to head out to Camping World.

I wanted to pick up a grey water valve to complete my set, and while there the new issue of “The Next Exit” caught my eye. In case you’re not familiar with it, “The Next Exit” lists every exit on every Interstate in every state in the US.

It also tells you what stores, gas stations, restaurants, etc. are located there, and whether or not, diesel is available and if you can get a big RV in the station. It also shows rest areas and pullovers. All in all, very useful.

But last year, after I had already bought the 2010 “Next Exit”, I came across a new one from Good Sam’s and Camping World called “Exit Now”.

Although it’s more expensive ($16 vs. $10 on Amazon), “Exit Now” is spiral-bound and uses much better quality paper. And the brighter-white paper should be easier to read compared to the newsprint-type paper used in “The Next Exit”. So it looks like in 2011 we’ll be giving “Exit Now” a try. We’ll see how it goes.

Leaving Camping World, Jan and I headed toward Corona de Tucson, a small town south of the Pima County Fairground on S. Houghton Rd. We were meeting Al & Adrienne at Argenziano’s, an Italian restaurant they like.

Getting there about 10 minutes early we stopped at the Ace Hardware next door, but ran out of time before I found what I wanted.

Argenziano’s was really good, with Al & Adrienne splitting a pizza, while Jan had ravioli stuffed with roasted garlic and shrimp, and I had spaghetti and meatballs. We had our usual good time with them and made plans to have dinner tomorrow night, our last night in Tucson, hopefully.

I say ‘hopefully’, because it depends on our getting our Thousand Trails membership number tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.

Leaving the restaurant and Al & Adrienne, we went back next door to Ace Hardware to finish up our shopping. Heading back to the fairgrounds, we detoured to get gas and stop off at Fry’s to pick up a few groceries, and while we were there, I talked to Thousand Trails to see how our membership processing was going. Again, ‘hopefully’, we’ll have our number tomorrow.

Later, we left the rig about 5 to have dinner at Chuy’s – Tucson. It turned out to be more bar & grill than a restaurant, and you had to order at the counter, but the food was good, even though the service was spotty because they were so busy.

Hopefully, there’s that word again, ‘hopefully’, we’ll traveling up to Verde Valley Thousand Trails RV park near Camp Verde, AZ. on Thursday . . . or Friday . . . or when we get our TT membership number. Hopefully.

We got home a little before 7 and were down for the night.

March 29, 2012

A Little Bad News . . .

This morning we had a late breakfast and called it lunch.

It’s Thursday and it’s Turkey and Dressing Day at Cracker Barrel and Jan needed her cornbread dressing fix. Remember, If it ain’t cornbread, it ain’t dressing.

Our cats, Mister and Emma have really taken to hotel life. They normally avoid each other, but they’re OK sharing the king-size bed. Don’t know what they’re going to think going back to the rig tomorrow.

Later I went by Rush Truck Service to check in on the rig. They still found no coolant in the oil after yesterday’s test drive and still have no idea how it got there in the first place. They also did another pressure test on the engine while it was hot and found no further coolant leakage anywhere.

The system stayed pressurized without losing any coolant. So we’re back to square one on this problem. I’ll just have to keep a close eye on it for a while. They were working on getting the exhaust manifold gasket replaced, and said they still expected to have the rig ready to go by 4:30 this afternoon.

But then about 3pm Clayton called with a little bit of bad news. The exhaust manifold is cracked and will need to be replaced. They will have the new manifold in tomorrow morning and expect to be done about noon. We’ll see.

About 4:30 we headed back to Chachi’s for a repeat of last night’s delicious meal. I again had an 3 item combo plate, but this time substituted a chicken flauta for the tamale. Just as good as last night. Even the rice and beans are good. Especially the beans. They’re the lumpy kind of refried beans, with whole beans mixed in.

Jan had a repeat of last night’s plate with a Chile Relleno and a soft beef taco.

Chachi’s is definitely on our list when we come back to Las Cruces next year.

Heading home, we stopped off at the Wal-Mart right next door to the hotel for a few things before getting back to the room for the night.

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be on the road to Balmorhea, TX.

March 29, 2013

Not Much . . .

happened today.

I kept telling myself I was going to get back on my taillight or my dash light/headlights-on alarm projects, but somehow it just never happened.

I ended up spending most of the day doing a map overlay for all the Thousand Trails parks we can access. I recently found out that a number of the parks we can visit are not on the standard Thousand Trails list.

I found that I can access a park in the Florida Keys, and two more in Florida, one near Daytona Beach.

Also parks in Bar Harbor, ME, the Wisconsin Dells, and additional parks in California, Washington and Oregon. Of course, some of these are Encore parks and cost us a whole $3 a day, but according to the Thousand Trails office, staying at those parks doesn’t count against our 50 free days each year, and it appears that we can stay at one of these parks for longer than our normal two weeks. Neat!

At about 5pm we headed out to meet our friends Al and Adrienne for dinner one last time before we leave Tucson on Sunday. And as usual, we spent more time talking than eating since we didn’t say our goodbyes until after 8:30.

And with any luck, we’ll be able to catch up with them again later this summer when they’ll be in Cody, WY. Hope it works out.

That’s about it for today. As I said, ‘Not Much . . .”

March 29, 2014

All Landon, all the time . . .

Or so we wish.

After yesterday’s thunderstorms and hail, today was just perfect, with a high of 75 and a nice breeze all day. Mister spent most of the day outside on his leash, curled up in one of our chairs, basking in the sun, and coming in only when the guy mowing the grass came onto our site.

When Mister’s outside on his leash, we leave the screen door open so he can come in whenever he wants. He won’t go to the bathroom outside, so he comes in for that, or to eat or get a drink of water. He just comes up the steps and into the rig as far as his leash will reach, and then waits for one of us to unhook him, and then comes back to the door when he’s ready to be hooked back up again and go back out. He just runs to the door and waits for me to put his leash back on. Smart Cat.

Brandi and Lowell had talked about coming out to visit today, but we didn’t know if that was still on since Brandi’s been sick. But she felt well enough, and said they’d be out about 3:30 or so. So I headed down to the office to get them signed in as a guest.

They did show up about 3:30 and Landon had a blast, checking out the river and trees behind the coach, and was even pretty good about letting us take his picture.

Landon was really fascinated with Mister. He wasn’t used to being around a ‘nice’ cat. They have a cat at home named Mooshe, otherwise known as ‘The Cat From Hell’. Mooshe would just as soon scratch your eyes out as hiss at you. She only just tolerates Brandi, and hates everyone else.

So Landon at first was scared to even pet Mister, much less play with him. But after a while they were running around the rig, chasing the ball Landon was throwing. But after a while, Mister got tired and just laid down and went to sleep on the floor at the front of the coach. Landon would kind of poke at him, but Mister wouldn’t move. He was done.

About 5pm we all headed back into Columbus to have dinner at Los Cabos Mexican Grill, a place we ate at a couple of weeks ago when we were here. And once again we all really enjoyed it.

Jan had a chicken breast stuffed with shrimp, tomatoes, cilantro, and onions, topped with butter wine sauce made of mushrooms, tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions. Said was one of the best things she’s ever eaten.

One thing we both enjoy is their specially-made extra-spicy salsa. Not only is it very hot, but it has a really smoky chipotle taste. And this time they gave us a big enough bowl to have some to take home.

Tomorrow we’re heading down to Clear Lake to visit Chris and his family, and also make a quick client visit. Then on the way home, we’ll stop off to have dinner with a former coworker of Jan’s.

March 29, 2015

A Name Change . . .

One of our blog readers, Jim Hamm, commented that with all the restaurant reviews and pictures we do, that maybe we ought to rename the blog, “Our Dining and Gourmet Adventures, With RVing as a Sideline.”

Figuring he was probably right, I met him halfway. While the blog name is still Our RV Adventures, we have a new subhead underneath. Instead of the old one, “I Wish You Could See What We See”, the new one is “Eating Our Way Across The USA”.

Pretty apropos, actually. Thanks, Jim.

I mentioned a while back about the dashcam I bought. But our trip up from Tucson to here in Apache Junction a week ago was the first time I had a chance to set it up here in the rig.

The movies, at 600 megabytes per 5-minute segment, are too big to post here, but here are some stills of our trip up here.

This first one was before we pulled out of our site at Voyager RV Resort.

This one is from right after we pulled out of the Flying J after fueling up.

Here we’re turning onto SR 77 which will take us to Apache Junction.

And this is our rest stop at the Tom Mix Memorial.

With the wide-angle lens, and recording at 1080p HD, the videos are really stunning.

A118 Full HD 1080P Car DVR Dash Camera

The camera is only about 2” x 3” and comes with a windshield mounting kit. A great deal for only $80. Check it out.

Around 1:30 Jan and I made a Wal-Mart run to the store up on Apache Trail. Jan was looking for a few things, as was I. But the thing we were both looking for was a new foam mattress topper. We’ve had a 2” one on our bed since right after we bought the rig, and it’s always been very comfortable. Except for one thing. It’s hot.

I’d heard that the newer gel-infused ones are much cooler, so I wanted to see what Wal-Mart had. Turns out that they have a queen size 2” Memory Foam, Gel-Infused topper for $100, but I wanted to check Amazon also.

And checking Amazon, they have a similar one for the same price, so I’ll probably pick up the one from Wal-Mart in the next day or so.

While I was there I also checked out the paint department to see if they could mix or tint the Rust oleum Protective Enamel that I used on the rig bumper since I want a lighter shade of gray. Finding they couldn’t, I bought a small can of white to see if I can mix something up that I like. We’ll see.

As usual when I’m in Wal-Mart, I wandered through the RV section, checking things out. And this time I came across a pretty good deal.

This Camco EVO Premium Water Filter was close-out priced at $15 (normally $49 or so, even on Amazon, and uses the standard filter inserts. The reviews are pretty good, except for those people who ignored the instructions and over-tightened and broke the connectors.

I’ll let you know how it works.

About 4:30 Jan and I headed out to the #1 Eastern Super Buffet, our go-to buffet place here in Apache Junction. The place stays busy enough that the food turns over quickly, so it’s always fresh and hot.

March 29, 2016

Another Day of the Blahs . . .

I woke up this morning, again kind of ‘blah’. I think it’s from the doctor changing one of my prescriptions, and if it’s like in the past, it’ll take a while to adjust to it. Blah!

After getting some coffee in me, I started to dig into the rig A/C. But before I get up on the roof I wanted to take a look up at the inside part. After taking the cover off, I realized I needed the stepstool to get up in the unit, while I was out at the truck for the stepstool, I went ahead and got the ladder out, since I knew I’m going to need it eventually.

About this time, Jim Dean dropped by to see if there was any progress on Barbara Spade’s refrigerator problem. Told him she was looking for a residential replacement, but not having a lot of luck due to the size constraints.

Then, as if my day wasn’t screwed up enough, a client down in Clear Lake called with a request, so about 1:45 I headed down that way, sans Jan, who just wanted to stay at the rig.

So much for A/C repair.

Along the way, our friend Chris Yust, of C and C RV Insurance fame, called with some questions about a Thousand Trails membership she and Charles are thinking about buying. It sounds like she looking at one just about identical to ours, 63 parks, 14 days in, and park to park. I assume she would also have 210 days in advance reservations, but I didn’t ask.

Chris, check this too.

Of course, when I got down to Clear Lake about 3:30, the client had decided he didn’t want to do what he thought he wanted to do. So, after getting gas, I headed back for Columbus a little after 4pm, not getting to the rig until about 6:45, due to having to come home through Houston Rush Hour Traffic (pat. pending).

After a delicious dinner of Dennis Hill Smoked Pork BBQ sandwiches on King Hawaiian Bread, Jan’s Funeral Potatoes, and Kroger’s Cranberry Nut Salad, I called Jim Dean to help him set up his new Silverleaf VMSpc computer virtual dashboard.

Mine looks like this, running on a laptop along with my Delorme Street Atlas GPS program. It sits on a shelf to the right of my chair, making it easy to keep an eye on things.

Looking at this graphic, it’s been a while since I screenshotted (screenshat?) this. The number under the yellow header that says Miles Since 1/6/08 and reads 44118.2, now reads over 71,000. And 1/6/08 is the day we picked up the rig at the dealers in New Braunfels and drove it back to La Marque, TX. And a month later, on 2/6/08, we headed for Alaska.

Of course that was via Yuma, San Diego, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Colorado Springs, Billings, Cle Elum, Coeur d’Alene, and Bellingham, finally ending up in Fairbanks, AK on April 26, 2008.

Getting back to Jim Dean, we discovered that the Serial to USB converter cable he had does not like Win10. So he’ll have to pick up another one tomorrow before we can proceed.

Later I did some inside checks on the A/C hoping it would be something simple like a bad freeze-up sensor. This is a thermistor that sits on the evaporator coil and if it detects that the coil is icing over, it turns the compressor off for a while, leaving the fan running until the ice is gone. Then it turns the compressor back on. So if this is bad, it won’t cool at all.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t the sensor. But it’s only the simple thing when you don’t check that first.

March 29, 2017

Chili Delayed . . .

After our morning coffee, and while Jan read, I spent the morning working on a new website proposal for a customer. Hopefully, he’ll like it.

Then about 1:30 we headed out for some errands and then later an early dinner. Our first stop was a nearby O’Reilly’s for another jug of AW32 Hydraulic Fluid to keep on hand for when I need to top off the rig’s reservoir next time.

Then it was off to the car wash next to Countryside RV Park where we’ve stayed several times before. It did a pretty good job, but not as good as the ones at HEB or Ocean’s back in the Houston area. This one didn’t have the separate rotary brush on an arm that comes down and scrubs your wheels.

Next, it was on to Wal-Mart so Jan could get her hair cut while I picked up our prescriptions and then shopped for a few things while I waited for her to be finished.

Since Jan’s Chili got put on hold until tomorrow, leaving Wal-Mart, we made the 20-minute run over to Gilbert to have an early dinner at Joe’s Farm Grill, another of our favorite places here in the Apache Junction area, and also featured on Triple D with Guy Fieri.

We’ve eaten here a number of times, and it’s always been great.

And today was certainly no exception.

We each got our favorites, with Jan’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Avocado, along with a side of their Asian Slaw on the right, while I got the Sonoran Dog with a side of their Fried Green Beans with Pesto on the left. The green beans are fantastic and big enough to share.

And of course, we couldn’t leave out a big glass of their homemade Strawberry Lemonade, made from strawberries and lemons grown right here on the property.

In fact, much of the fruits and vegetables used in the restaurant are grown right here on the adjacent farm. And actually, the restaurant itself was built around the family home which was built in the 1960’s.

All of the brown and green areas are the farmland next to the restaurant.

I still haven’t heard back from the glass people yet, so hopefully soon. And based on suggestions from several blog readers, I’m casting a wider net looking for new window awnings for our rig.

So thanks for everyone’s suggestions and ideas.

March 29, 2018

Peaks and Wings . . .

Unlike last week’s doctor appointment, today’s lab work appointment wasn’t scheduled until 1pm, so we had a quiet morning, finally leaving the rig around 12:15.

The actual blood draw only took a couple of minutes, but why did they have to do over all the same stuff they just did a little over a week ago. Stuff like blood pressure, pulse rate, weight, temp, etc.,  and then there’s all the medical history that I just gave them last time. Don’t they write this stuff down?

But by 1:30 we were on our way back over to Webster and the Twin Peaks there to have lunch. Although it’s one of our favorite places, it’s been a while since we’ve been here. In fact the last time we were at a Twin Peaks,  it was the one up in the Woodlands.

One thing about TW is that they regularly change their menu. You won’t get bored, but you will lose some favorites now and then. In our case, we lost their Creamy Tomato Basil Soup. But we gained their Green Chile Chicken Soup. Delicious!

Jan had the Greek Salad along with six Spicy Thai Chili wings.

I again went the soup and veggies route, with a bowl of the aforementioned Green Chili Chicken Soup, as well as the Sautéed Broccoli, the Sautéed Green Beans, and the Grilled Asparagus.

All done perfectly, and delicious.

After finishing up we headed up the Interstate a piece to do the Sam’s Club/WalMart thing for prescriptions and groceries. And then it was back to the rig.

Our Dodge Dakota ran perfectly with absolutely no problems. It’s good to have it back. And being able to borrow our son Chris’ truck for the interim was a big help.

Thanks, Chris.

March 29, 2019

Four Weeks And Counting . . .

As I’m posting this blog, four weeks from today we will be about 6 hours into our flight from Houston to Frankfurt, Germany, on our way to Budapest, Hungry, and the beginning of our European vacation.

That flight is about 9 hours 45 minutes, and then after a 3-hour 35-minute layover, we’ve got a 90-minute flight on to Budapest, arriving on April 27th at about 1:45 in the afternoon. So a total journey of almost 15 hours.

Then, counting our two pre-cruise days, we’ll spend four days in the Budapest area before heading on to Vienna.

We can’t wait.

Glad We Didn’t Go

Over the years Jan and I talked about visiting the Grand Canyon Skywalk on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, located between Las Vegas and Kingman, AZ.

But we didn’t, for two reasons. There was no way Jan was getting out on a piece of glass dangling over a 1000-foot drop. Even if it is supposed to safely hold over 800 people, and they only allow 120 on it at a time.

And at the time, the way the tickets worked, she had to buy a full ticket, even if she didn’t go out on it. However, I think that’s changed now.

For my part, I would have no problem going out on it, but there’s apparently one more catch. You’re not allowed to take a camera, phone, or anything else out with you. So no pictures of your own. Just high-priced ‘professional’ photos of your visit.

But maybe Jan had the right idea, since yesterday, Thursday, a tourist from Hong Kong was taking photos along the unfenced edge of the canyon, stumbled, and fell 1000 ft. to the bottom of the canyon.

Yikes!

Tomorrow we’ll do some prep work for our Sunday rig test drive. Things like checking that the slide will come in without problems, and that the refrigerator will switch over to propane. Luckily the last couple of days the rain chances have dropped from 60% to 20%.

So hopefully it will stay somewhat dry.

March 29, 2021

Wrong Line Of Work?

We’re getting an early start tomorrow because Jan has her yearly mammogram tomorrow afternoon, something that she’s very careful not to skip each year since she was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2014.

Luckily back then, she only needed a lumpectomy, with no radiation or chemo involved. But it was a big enough scare that she never misses one now. Especially since she almost skipped the one in 2014 when they found the lump.

So she wants to remind everyone to get this done every year.

Anyway, we’ll be leaving the rig about 12:30 so we’ll have time to eat lunch first, and then after I drop her off, I’ll probably go by work for a while and catch up on some things.

Then this Thursday, we’ve both got our big annual physicals starting at 8am, that way we’re the first appointments of the day, and don’t have to wait.

Then we’ve got lunch all planned, at a new place called Texas Huddle Grille, located on NASA Rd 1. And I already know what I’m having.

The PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger.

It’s harder to imagine two greater sandwiches combined into one.

Looks like we’re all getting together up at Brandi’s this Sunday for Easter. She doing a Prime Rib Roast, Potatoes, and a dessert,  with everyone else bringing side dishes.

And the pool will be open, and heated if necessary.

Sounds like a lot of fun. And delicious food too.

Well, it’s obvious I went into the wrong line of work. Back in high school, I was a lifeguard with Red Cross certifications. I had both Basic and Advanced Certs, and was also certified as an instructor, though I never ran a class.

But if I’d known it could have turned out like this, I might very well have stuck with it.

Top paid LA lifeguards earn up $392,000 annually

Life’s a beach for these California lifeguards.

The highest-paid Los Angeles lifeguards earn up to $392,000 annually — and dozens of others rake in more than $200,000 a year, according to an investigation by Forbes.

Seven LA County lifeguards earned more than $300,000 in taxpayer dough by tapping into overtime pay in 2019, the latest year available, Forbes found.

Maybe I could have been on Baywatch too.

March 29, 2023

Bluebonnets and Firepits . . .

Getting back to our Texas Hill Country visit last week, we’re always amazed at the new projects Chris has added to their home.

In the past, we have seen the large Wind Chimes he built.

Over 20 feet high, they gently ‘gong’ at the slightest breeze.

And then there’s his Firepit that he cut out and welded up by hand.

He even cut out the patterns by hand using his plasma torch. He said he tried to use templates, but ended up doing them completely by hand.

And this time we found that he had completely fenced in the yard so the dogs can’t roam too far.

But the most impressive addition was actually an art project that he calls his ‘Door Wall’.

And once again he did it all by hand, from the tree mural

to cutting out each petal on the daisies and the intricate random pattern in the center.

Later we took a drive out in the countryside checking out all the Bluebonnets along the backroads, including this one long stretch with a solid border on both sides of the road.

And large areas off to each side.

But I think my favorite is still this shot I got over in Marble Falls.

March 29, 2024

So Now It’s Us?

NOW IT’S US!? Study Says Human Breathing ‘Contributes To Global Warming’

A recent study, funded by the UK government and conducted by scientists at the Center for Ecology and Hydrology, has claimed that human breathing is contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Published in PLOS One, the peer-reviewed study talks about greenhouse gas emissions of methane and nitrous oxide released through human breath, which it states are harmful to the environment and contribute to global warming.

While some individuals may find the study’s findings amusing, with conspiracy theories suggesting that depopulationists may seize on the report to advocate for mass suicide, others feel the findings are alarming. Although the human race may not regard breathing as an enemy, it is critical to be mindful of their impact on the environment and develop ways to minimize it.

So how long can you hold your breath?

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore took about 5 years and $200 million in today’s dollars to build. But now they’re saying it could take more than 10 years and cost 2 to 4 times as much.

By comparison, the Apollo program that put a man on the moon required seven years, eight months, and 23 days. And — this is the really exciting part — everything about Apollo, from the massive Saturn V rocket to the “tiny” flight computer, had to be created from scratch. Those seven-and-a-half years included a monthslong delay following the tragic loss of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee during an Apollo 1 dress rehearsal that ended in a deadly crew capsule fire.

Construction began on the Hoover Dam on July 7, 1930, and five years later, it was complete. It started generating electrical power on Sept. 11, 1936 — exactly six years, two months, and four days after the first shovelful of dirt was moved.

The Empire State Building was erected after just one year and 45 days of construction.

But those were all 20th Century projects, back when we used to get things done. Welcome to 21st Century America, where everything is needlessly time-consuming, expensive, stupid, or (most likely) all three.

This is why we can’t have nice things anymore!

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon are up in Pauls Valley, OK visiting Lowell’s parents for Easter, and it seems they came across this place.

Lowell said it’s now a furniture store, but they kept all the RS names and logos. Brings back a lot of memories.

When Jan and I were living in Tuscaloosa, AL while I was attending the University of Alabama, I managed an RS for a while. And I certainly spent a lot of bucks there over the years, as recently as 2016 or so.

Normally we do our Wal-Mart shopping on Saturday and HEB on Sunday, but we’re going to flip-flop this weekend since HEB is closed on Easter Sunday.

Since Jan wants to get her toeies done, tomorrow will be at the King’s Bierhaus German Restaurant right next door, and then on to HEB. Then after dropping Jan off at the rig, I’ll head over to a friend’s place to fix a computer problem.

For Sunday we’re thinking BBQ, either Spring Creek or Rudy’s. We’ll see. Then it’s over to Wal-Mart for more stuff.