Our RV Adventures

Lunch today was at our local Barcenas where we were meeting up with long-time friend Tricia.

Tricia started out as a computer client back sometime in the 1990’s, and we both remember that someone recommended me to her, but neither of us remembers who it was.

Jan and I have been eating at Barcenas since 1998 when they opened their first location right outside our subdivision. And now we’ve got one down here in our area, and it’s just as good as the original.

And Jan has pretty much gotten the same thing all these years – Their Tex-Mex Enchiladas.

For me, I pretty much wander through the menu every time we go, this time getting the Fajitas Con Enchiladas.

Really tender and delicious, and we both had leftovers for tomorrow night’s dinner.

We always have a great time catching up with Tricia, and are already looking forward to our next get-together.

* * * * *

It looks like Chevy owners have gotten jealous about Jeeps and their ducks.

Here’s Why People Are Putting Toy Sharks On Chevy Windshields

So, what exactly is Chevy sharking? In short, sharking is a trend that has taken off on social media, where Chevrolet fans place a small toy shark or a foam shark keychain on a Chevrolet vehicle they admire, usually a Camaro. This trend is similar to Jeep “ducking,” wherein Jeep enthusiasts leave a rubber duck on a Jeep as a gesture of goodwill and mutual appreciation for the vehicle.

One social media user recently shared their sharking experience: “Hey people, I was leaving Walmart and I saw this Camaro,” they wrote. “Today was a good day for Camaro sharking! I did eight today, and the last guy was really nice! I gave him a couple of my sharks so he could start sharking. Spread the love.”

Still think they’re just jealous.

* * * * *

Finishing up, KHOU-11 here in Houston put up this video of a really great drone show for Labor Day.

GALVESTON, Texas — Thousands of people were treated to a spectacular drone show in Galveston Sunday night.

The event over the historic Strand District was part of the Labor Day Weekend celebration that also included fireworks and a concert.

Thought For The Day:

Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2009 – Fresh Haddock and Fortress Louisbourg

2014 – New Adventures in Gate Guarding

2017 – Don’t You Just Hate It When

2018 – It Just Wasn’t To Be

2019 – I Blame Crows

2021 – Shuttle Flyback Booster

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™

September 3, 2009

Fresh Haddock and Fortress Louisbourg…

Today we packed up and headed toward Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, which is about 40 miles from where we will catch the ferry tomorrow…or rather,  tomorrow night at 11:00 pm for the 15-hour ferry ride to Argentia, Newfoundland.

Our park here in Antigonish is actually right downtown,  and is pretty nice.

And it came complete with a bridge and a babbling brook.

The 135-mile drive to Louisbourg, to put it plainly, just sucked!

We had long stretches of bad road,  intermixed with shorter lengths of really, really bad roads.  And we had a 25 minute wait for construction.

And I’m really dreading the trip back to the States after we return from Newfoundland, because we’ll have to go back on the same road.  There’s only one.

Anyway, we pulled into the RV park about 3 pm and got set up.  The park is right on the water next to the docks.  Talk about scenic!

That’s our rig in the very front.

This time I didn’t even try the satellite since there was a building in the way.  And since we’ll only be here one day before we head to Newfoundland, I won’t worry about it.

Later we drove over to the Fortress View restaurant for a great meal of Fish and Chips.  This was fresh haddock, right off the boat.  Really good!

After dinner we took a drive around the town.  One of the sites to see is Fortress Louisbourg,  built by Louis XV when the French held this area.

And of course, more great views.

Coming back to the park,  I walked down to the docks in front of the park.  It’s easy to see why the fish at dinner was so fresh.

September 3, 2010

Vampires and Werewolves . . .

About 12:30 Jan and I drove over to Mishawaka to eat lunch and see the Twilight vampire movie. I know Jan enjoyed it more than I did, since she’s read all the books, but I thought it was pretty good, too.

Then around 6 pm we headed over to Lunkers to have dinner with some friends, and while we were there, Michele Henry of Phoenix Commercial Paint called and said my remaining four cargo bay doors were ready.

YAY!!!!

I thought about picking them up tonight but it was almost 8:30 by the time we left the restaurant, and I would have to make two trips, since I can only carry two doors at at time in the backseat.

I’ll get them tomorrow as soon as Michele calls.

And of course, what’s a blog entry without the obligatory Landon pic? He’s a real cutie.

September 3, 2011

Fall is Almost Here . . .

After coffee this morning I got back on some things on my chore list. I wanted to go through some bins and bags, throw some of the clutter that’s stacked up, find some things I’m looking for, and just generally tidy up. One thing I’ve started doing is consolidating things into different sizes of ziplock bags. Make them easier to keep track of.

About 3:30 I decided to take a nap break, and then a little after 5 pm, and right before the thunderstorms hit, we headed over to Mancino’s Pizza for a great meal. They have the best garlic breadsticks I have ever eaten, and their pizza is second to none. Jan and I had the Meat Grande with pepperoni, sausage, ham, ground beef, and bacon. Fantastic!

It really poured down while we were eating, but by the time we left, it had slacked off. Then a little while after we got home it started really coming down again.

The nice thing about the thunderstorms is that they’re bringing the cold front, or rather the cold front is bringing the thunderstorms, but anyway, while the high temp was 94 today, for the next 10 days or so we’re going to have highs in the low 70’s and lows in the mid 50’s.

Very, very nice!

Tomorrow I want to concentrate on cleaning out some of the the bins. After that we’ll probably head over to Mishawaka for some shopping, and maybe a meal. We’ll see.

September 3, 2012

The Fountain . . .

Jan and I started out the day by having breakfast again at The Fountain, our favorite local breakfast place. Good food and nice people.

Later I hit the road to Lima, OH. I wanted to pick up a new laptop at the local Sam’s Club as well as some other things.

After getting the laptop, I checked the nearby Wal-Mart for some more stuff with no luck, so it was off across town to the Office Depot where I found what I was looking for and then headed home.

On the way, I checked out a nice little RV park along the way.

Then it was back to the rally for the afternoon.

Getting back to the rig, Brandi had sent this pic of Landon kicking back and watching Caillou (his favorite show) on TV.

September 3, 2013

104.7

Well, although ‘officially’ it only made it to 99 here today, our thermometer said it made it to 104.7. But what’s strange is that it did it in a fairly sharp spike. About 3pm I noticed the temperature starting to climb and in about 15 minutes it was up to 104.7. Then it started to fall, a little more slowly than the rise, but by 3:45 it was back down to 99.

The thermometer hadn’t moved, and the sun wasn’t on it. Nothing changed but the temperature. I might put this down to a strange coincidence, but I’ve seen this happen on other days too. And it didn’t even happen during the time of the ‘official’ high of 99 which was a few minutes after 5pm.

Strange.

But according to the 10 day forecast, by next Friday our temps should start trending down into the low 90’s. Nice.

They were supposed to start the fracking today, (Actually, they were supposed to start it yesterday.), but so far nothing’s happening. We were told that they would crank it up about 3:30 using the sand that they already brought in, and then the replacement sand would start coming in, 4 trucks an hour, 24 hours a day, until they’re done in a month or so.

But nothing so far.

However, the good news is that we got our first catered meal. A little after 1pm, a van from Hell Fighter’s Kitchen pulled up and handed me a large Styrofoam container filled with our dinner. He also said he’d be coming through pretty regularly. YUM! We’d heard that the catering is more frequent on the fracking sites, so we’ll see how it goes.

Our meal consisted of sliced brisket, jalapeno/cheese sausage, carrots and peas, Cole slaw, potato salad, fruit salad, and peach cobbler for dessert. And although we only got one serving, it was so large that there was more than enough for both of us.

Once more. YUM!

September 3, 2014

New Adventures in Gate Guarding . . .

or Go Left to Turn Right.

We finally pulled out of the East View RV Ranch in Georgetown, TX at 9:20, about 20 minutes later than we planned because of an emergency repair.

Jan followed me in the truck to the front of the park where I hitched up. I had started the generator running to let it warm up a little before I put the A/C loads on it, but when I came back in and turned them on, I had no power to the back of the coach, which meant the back A/C and the refrigerator weren’t working.

So lifting up the bed, I dug into the transfer switch and I found I had power on both sides coming from the genset, but it wasn’t getting to the breaker. Wiggling wires around I found a loose connection on the bus panel that feeds the breaker so I went back up front to turn off the genset. Tightening the connection fixed the problem and a few minutes later we were on our way.

We took the SR130 Toll Road south for about 8 miles and then got on US79 east which took us all the way to Hearne. This was mostly 4 lane with only a few small towns along the way. At Hearne we turned south on US190 heading for Bryan.

Getting into Bryan we turned east, still on US 190, heading for North Zulch. (still looking for South Zulch) In North Zulch, we were told to turn right on FM39. But you can’t. Despite what Google Maps and Delorme Street Atlas tells you, you have to go left on FM39 which loops back over US190.

After we got turned around and heading in the right direction, we turned off FM39, and after passing an Emu ranch and a Llama farm, we arrived at our gate.

Pulling in we found Todd, who we knew from last year at Whitsett, waiting for us. The other couple had already left, so we got parked and I started setting up while Todd briefed Jan on the sign-in requirements.

And that looks to be pretty simple, just like last year. We get first and last name, company, tag number, and which of the 6 sites they’re going to. And as far as any passengers, it’s +1, +2, etc. Easy, Peazy.

The only slight complication is that we have to remind them going and coming that the speed limit is 15mph. And they’re really cracking down on it.

We’ve got a nice big oak tree that keeps the rig in the shade for most of the day, so that’s nice. But the nice big oak tree also blocks our view of the DirecTV satellite so I’m going to have to dig out my longer cables tomorrow so I can get the sat dome in the clear.

I’ll have pictures tomorrow.

September 3, 2017

Don’t You Just Hate It When . . .

That Happens!

I found another, longer article about the Magic, or Dialog Oven with more information about the actual cooking process. Interesting.

So now, how about a microwave-sized unit that not only cooks your food, but will also cool it, or even freeze it?

Called the Frigondas, it was developed in Spain, and unlike the Dialog Oven, it should only cost about $1000, rather than $10,000, when it finally comes to the US.

It will flash-freeze fruits and vegetables in just a few minutes, or chill your beer to a perfect 37° in just six minutes. And then make your popcorn, all ready for the big game.

BTW it’s probably very apropos that the very first food cooked in a microwave during development was popcorn. The second thing was an egg . . .  which promptly exploded all over the inside of the oven.

Been there, done that.

Several nights this last week Jan has fixed us chicken salads. Well, not chicken salad, but salads with chicken on it.

Now normally we get a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store, and Jan puts shredded pieces on our salads. But with the storm, none were available this week, so she used canned chicken from the pantry.

Turned out to be really, really good, especially with the creamy poppy seed dressing.

Tomorrow morning I’ll drop Jan off at Brandi’s in Katy, and then head down to the Clear Lake area to spend the day at my client. Then I’ll come back to the rig while Jan spends the week Landon-sitting since his school doesn’t start back until next Monday, the 11th.

We had DVR’d the TV series Fargo this past spring, so tonight we were going to start watching it. That was when I discovered that we had somehow missed two episodes, the third one and the ninth one.

Don’t know why, or what happened. The DVR just didn’t record them. Luckily we should be able to stream them both when the time comes.

Now we’ve also been DVR’ing The Guest Book, on TBS, and it looks like that we missed an episode of that one too – Story Five. But that one we knew about because we missed it when the coach was being repaired.

Haven’t looked yet, but we’ll probably be able to stream that one also. I hope.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

September 3, 2018

It Just Wasn’t To Be . . .

As you know I had planned to top off the rig’s engine oil this morning and then check for leaks,

But it just wasn’t to be. It poured down most of the night and continued into the morning. Not exactly conducive to working outside. So I’ll try again tomorrow morning. But I don’t have high hopes since The Weather Channel says there’s an 80% chance of rain tomorrow. And pretty much the rest of the week too.

Oh well.

About 2pm we headed out through the drizzle up to Webster to have lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse, our toss-up winner for local steakhouses.

As far as steaks go for us, it’s pretty even between Longhorn and Saltgrass. Strangely enough for picking steakhouses, the clincher is the salads. Saltgrass’ Wedge Salad has become our new favorite, and since Longhorn doesn’t normally have a Wedge Salad, they lose out.

I say ‘normally’ because sometimes they do . . . kind of.  Occasionally they have what they call a Wedge Salad, but it’s not really.

Unless you call a stalk of Romaine a ‘wedge’. Now I like Romaine lettuce (Jan doesn’t), but a wedge it’s not.

This is a Wedge.

And yes, I like a lot of pepper on my salads. Actually I like a lot of pepper on pretty much everything.

I got the 16 oz. Pat’s Ribeye with Steak Fries, first time for potatoes in a while.

And since I really can’t eat 16 oz. of steak anymore, the first thing I did is to cut it in half for leftovers.

Jan got the 6 oz. Charlotte’s Center-Cut Filet with the Grilled Green Beans, Unfortunately for photo purposes, she got started on it before I could get a picture.

Note how ‘red’ Jan’s steak is. And it only took me 50+ years to get her here.

When I first met Jan she liked her steaks WELL-DONE. Note the CAPITALS. And by WELL-DONE, I mean Burnt. Shoe-Leather Burnt. But it was baby steps to get her to this point.

After many years I finally got her to Medium-Well. Then a few years back she segued all the way over to halfway between Medium and Medium-Well, which is sometimes hard to meet.

But today was a watershed moment. She actually ordered her filet Medium. And then proceeded to tell me repeatedly how ‘tender and juicy’ it was.

Well, duh. I’ve only been telling her this for more than 50 years. She said that she always ate her steak like that because her father ate his that, so that’s all she ever knew.

Now she knows better.

September 3, 2019

I Blame Crows . . .

After coffee this morning I was outside about noon to pull my rig oil filter and oil filter adapter so I can replace the gasket.

As before the filter came off with no real problems, using this filter wrench especially sized for the large filter size.

When I do this I have a bucket ready to hold the filter since it’s full of oil. But then after taking a closer look at the adapter, I went inside to call Cummins. I was told there were two bolts to remove, but I thought I saw four. So I wanted some clarification.

And I was told that yes, there were four and not two. I also asked what size the bolt heads were,  and I was told 8mm. Which was a problem.

The other day while I was doing my rear brakes, I was using an 15mm, a 13mm, a 10mm, and an 8mm. And after doing one wheel I moved everything over to the other side, then came inside to cool off and hydrate.

And when I came back out my 15mm, 13mm, and my 8mm were missing, but the 10 was still there. As was the rest of my Crescent 1/4” and 3/8” drive metric and SAE which was right there too. But the only ones missing were 3 of the 4 loose ones.

We’re are the only RV’ers here, with most of the other residents working at the Texas City plants so I doubt anyone just walked by and picked up 3 sockets. And they’re no kids around either.

So I blame crows, who are known to like and steal shiny things. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

So I came in and got cleaned up a little and Jan and I headed out to have lunch at Yummy Yummy, pick up our Amazon packages from work, and buy some new sockets.

But the first couple of stops, Harbor Freight, and Lowes, didn’t sell individual sockets, so I ended up at the O’Reilly’s on the way home and found just what I needed.

Then back under the rig when we got home, I found that the Cummins guy was wrong, that it was a 10mm socket. Oh well.

I had to plug together 2 feet of 3/8” extensions to get up to the adapter, but I quickly had the 4 bolts, expecting the adapter to fall off and hit me on the head. But it was stuck.

After thinking for a few minutes trying to figure out how to reach it, I got my plastic mallet and tapped on it a bit, with no luck.

So next I screwed the old filter back on hoping to use it to give me more leverage to break the adapter loose. But again no luck.

So it’s back on the phone to Cummins tomorrow to see why it’s stuck. I did take this photo before I came in, and once inside I took a closer look at it,

I could see some type of screw up in here. So I’ll ask about that too.

As it stands now, it’ll be at least Sunday before I can get back to it.

September 3, 2020

Once Again . . .

After spending some time on the phone with Spartan this morning, I was back outside tracing wiring harnesses. And I was able to confirm what I had come to believe, that all that mess of wiring is just several different owner’s attempts to wire in their toad light hookups.

I was able to trace the wiring harness that runs from the rear PDC (Power Distribution Center) to the right taillight and found no problems. So, back on the phone with Spartan, I’m again looking at the fuse panel/front PDC in the dashboard, that looks to be my Saturday.

September 3, 2021

It’s Here!

Well, as I had hoped my new Atwood Water Heater showed up this morning, so I know how my long weekend is going to be going. At least if it doesn’t keep pouring down rain all weekend like it did today

I mean, we’re talking gullies being washed and pets falling from the sky, type of rains.

Tomorrow I need to pick up a tube of caulk to seal around the outside door, and that should be all I need. Except time, I guess.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m setting up a new computer for our Shipping department, and one of the programs I’m trying to move over is our copy of USPS’ Click N Ship Business Pro. And it should be really easy.

All I should have to do was to install a new copy of the program, and then export the Address Book from the old computer and then import it into the new computer. But someone at the PO doesn’t know how to program, because every time I tried to export the list, the export crashed with an error message.

Turns out that, though the Click N Ship program allows you to have an ‘ in a name or address, like O’Neal, it won’t let you export names or addresses with an ‘ in them. Nor will it let you import them either. And it won’t let you choose another export format like Tab Separated rather than CSV.

Of course I’ve figured out a work-around, but it’s going to be a little time-consuming since there are over 4000 addresses in the file. Oh, well.

Continuing with yesterday’s rocket video’s, here’s a really unusual launch technique, if you can call launching sideways a ‘launch’.

Turns out that one of the two engines shut down right at the launch, and the software did a great job of recovering. However with only one engine, it was never going to make orbit, but they wanted to get as much data as they could before they let it crash back into the ocean. And since the launch was from Kodiak, AK, they weren’t likely to hit anything.

Originally the Space Shuttle was supposed to use a Flyback Booster for the first stage instead of the flawed SRB’s that brought down the Challenger in 1986. The Flyback Booster consisted of the 5 main engines from a Saturn V mounted to a Shuttle-like manned glider that returned to the Cape after separation

This next video is an amazing animation of a Shuttle utilizing the Flyback Booster concept, It’s so well done it’s hard to believe it’s not real. From the flickering of the helicopter blades overhead, to the scratches in the film segments, to the heat waves rising from the landing strip. Really something.

Tomorrow we’re thinking Los Ramirez for lunch and then back home to work on the water heater changeout, assuming the weather holds.

September 3, 2022

Miss You, Sweetie . . .

Jan and I were on our way up to Katy about 11am for Jan’s dog-sitting gig, but our first stop was at the El Pollo Loco up on Mason Rd.

We got 3 Piece White dinners (I already ate my wing) to eat there, and 1 more dinner to go for Jan to have another day.

We’ve been eating at El Pollo Loco since we discovered them out in California in 2008, and we were glad to see them working their way east a while back. We actually had two down here in our area, one in Webster and one in League City, a couple of years ago, but they only lasted about 6 months or so. They were very badly managed, unlike the one up in Katy.

Finally heading down Mason Rd toward Brandi’s, we made a quick HEB stop so Jan could pick up a few last-minute things. Then after getting her set up, I headed back toward home, hoping to stay ahead of the rains coming in.

On our way up there we hit one heavy patch of rain for about 10 minutes, but we could see more was heading our way. And it held off until about Baybrook Mall when it really started coming down. And getting close to our RV park, I could see all the ditches were full.

And checking our rain gauge showed it had rained over 1.5 inches by the time I got home about 3pm. And it looks like more is on the way.

Here’s another couple of shots of the U.S.S. Texas heading down the Houston Ship Channel and passing under the Fred Hartman Bridge.

Coming home from Galveston Thursday afternoon, we got gas at the La Marque Sam’s Club for a new low of $2.97. Well, today, two days later, it’s now $2.82.

Now it just has to drop another $1.40 to be where it was in November 2020 when I bought gas at Costco for $1.42.

September 3, 2023

Too Many Apps?

This is one of Tesla’s new Supercharger stations in California, and with 98 chargers, it’s the largest so far.

But what you may not notice are these unmarked metal enclosures off to the rear of the setup hidden in plain sight behind a Shell station

These are the multiple DIESEL generators to run the Supercharger station, since they cannot pull enough power from the local area supply.

Most people are not aware that almost 60% of our power in the US comes from coal and natural gas. Less than 15% comes from Wind and Solar. And in fact, HydroPower supplies almost twice as much as Solar.

And HydroPower works at night.

So when it comes right down to it, your EV runs mostly on Coal and Natural Gas.

And Diesel.

Lately I’ve been getting error messages from my Amazon Firestick saying it’s running out of memory, and can’t install/update apps.

Now you can go through and clear caches or even delete apps, but you’ll still run out eventually.

But you can add memory to your Firestick for only about $17

You just need a OTG cable like this and an 128G USB 3.0 Flash Drive. And since the Firestick only has 8GB to start with, an additional 128 GB should last me a while.

Just plug the Flash Drive into the USB port on the cable and the cable into your Firestick.

Easy Peazy, I hope.

I’ll let you know.

Lunch today was on our usual Sunday schedule, with Denny’s/HEB/gas.

Simple.

Tomorrow we’re meeting a long-time friend Barbara, over at Schafer’s Coastal Bar & Grille in Seabrook. We were last here back around the end of July, and were happy to try it again. Then we’re following her over to her new apartment to help her set up her Internet/TV/Roku system.

First up, our condolences to our long-time friends and monthly lunch companions, Debi and Ed Hurlburt. This past Friday their RV, parked next to their home, went up in flames .

Luckily it didn’t spread to their house or any adjacent areas.

So sorry for them.

* * * * *

Today, after about 3” of rain overnight, it finally staggered up to 80° about 2pm. And now they say we’ve got a cold front coming in toward next weekend. And it shows in the forecasted temps, going down to the high 60’s starting Saturday night.

* * * * *

Lunch today was at Yummy Yummy, probably one of the top 5 Chinese buffets that we’ve encountered during our travels. Really, really good.

Then tomorrow, we’re meeting up with long-time friend Tricia for lunch at our local Barcenas Mexican Restaurant. Looking forward to seeing Tricia again.

Thought For The Day:

There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo.
Please use them in that order.

Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2009 – McLobster and Pizza

2014 – Should We Stay, or Should We Go

2015 – A 12 Hour Gate?

2017 – The Magic Oven

2018 – Perfect Day For A Swim

2021 – Big John Can Be Yours

2023 – R.I.P. Jimmy

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™

September 2, 2009

McLobster and Pizza…

Today is our only full day in Antigonish before we head east toward Newfoundland so we wanted to drive around a bit to see the area.

On our way out of town, we decided to stop at the McDonald’s drive-thru for a breakfast sandwich.  We also wanted to see what this was.

But we still don’t know.  They only had the breakfast menu posted at the drive-thru.

So, Canada gets McLobster, and we just get McRib?  What’s up with that?

We then headed back northwest to the town of Pictou.

Pictou is known as the “Birthplace of New Scotland” as it was here that the first wave of Scottish immigrants landed in 1773.  And of course, Nova Scotia means New Scotland.

It’s kind of hard to describe the scenery here, and the pictures just don’t do it justice.  It’s rolling hills of forests and farms falling away to rocky cliffs that overlook the North Atlantic.

Here’s a Googled pic of Pictou from the air.

After wandering aimlessly for a while just admiring the view, we headed back to Antigonish for dinner at Boston Pizza.  We always get a large pizza just so we’ll have leftovers.

Arriving back at the park, I decided to spring for the $3.50 to get the cable turned on at our site, since I couldn’t get the satellite working because of a large tree in the way.

And surprise, the channels are pretty clear. Unusual for an RV park.

September 2, 2011

Great Day to Be Alive . . .

This morning was one of those nice mornings when it’s just great to be alive, and great to be RV’ing.

After coffee, Jan played Brain Age on her Nintendo DS. She used to do this a lot, but it somehow got packed away before a trip and Jan just recently found it again.

After lunch, I went out to take care of some errands, hitting Radio Shack, Menard’s, and Lowe’s.

Later on, we went out to get gas and drop some mail off at the Post Office. Back at the rig I worked on some client stuff for a while, and ended up taking a nap at my computer desk.

A little after 6 pm Jan, and I, along with Al Hesselbart, historian for the RV Hall of Fame Museum, all headed over to Ryan’s for dinner. It’s always fun to get together with Al. He’s a real character, and knows everything there is to know about RV history.

After getting our fried chicken fix at Ryan’s, we got home a little before 8 pm, just in time to avoid the hordes of mosquitos swarming outside, and were in for the night after a very nice day.

September 2, 2013

Ahhhh, Cool Air . . .

Since we got a water delivery last night, our misting system was working again today, and it really makes a difference in keeping us cool. Officially we only hit 97 here, but our local temp was 102 for a little while before settling back down to around 99 for most of the afternoon. Still hot, but really not too bad.

I was able to arrange to have our defective Coleman canopy replaced by Amazon with no problems. They’re sending out a new one, which should be here Thursday. Then I’ll pack up the old one in the new box and they’ll pick it up from the office whenever I tell them it’s ready to go. The usual great service from Amazon.

With our replacement canopy on its way, I was beginning to wonder if I’d have anything left to send back to them after today. There was a very large thunderstorm area down around Corpus this afternoon, but our only result was some dark clouds to the south and a strong southern wind. VERY strong.

And with the two broken struts, the canopy is not at its best in high winds. Without the rigidity, the sides tend to want to torque over and bend, almost collapsing the whole thing. A couple of times I actually had to hold the southern side down to keep things under control. But luckily, as sundown neared, the wind finally died down, and our canopy lived another day.

Brandi and Lowell have been in New Orleans this past weekend while Landon stayed home with Aunt Sherry. But she was not expecting to come home and find that Landon had turned to piracy.

A sleepy pirate, but a pirate nonetheless.

Pirates was the theme of Landon’s recent 3rd birthday and I guess he had some party favors left over.

Finally, in one of those headlines you just have to love, you have this one. Global Warming Expedition Foiled by Ice. To quote, “It’s just ice, ice, and more ice.”

This is what happens when you tempt fate by organizing an Arctic expedition to highlight the perils of global warming; the worst Arctic ice conditions in more than 20 years.

September 2, 2014

Should We Stay, or Should We Go . . .

So we went.

Talk about your ups and downs!

After starting coffee this morning I walked over to the office about 9:15 to see if Mark had anything coming up for us. He said nothing definite, but you never know.

Then about 9:40 Diane called me from the office and said they had a gate for us, and it was close by, only 7- 8 miles from the office. Sounded great so I told them we’d be ready to pull out in 45 minutes to an hour.

About 10:25, about 5 minutes before we were ready to crank up and pull shore power, Diane called back and said the gate had been cancelled.

Bummer!

But knowing something could come up any time, we left everything pretty much ready to travel. Only thing I did was put the satellite dome back out and put out the window awnings.

And what do you know, about 1:45 Jamie called us from Madisonville with another offer. He had a gate for us near Madisonville, starting tomorrow (Wednesday) if we wanted it. It’s a long-term gate, apparently not too busy, just sign people in and out, and tell them to watch the speed limit. Told him I’d call him back in a few minutes.

Jan and I talked it over after I checked out the route. Looked to be about 300 miles, (better than the 450 miles to Shreveport he offered us last week.) Figure, yeah, it was 300 miles but we would be working starting tomorrow, and we don’t know how much longer it would be before we got a gate in Whitsett. Plus Jamie said this gate would last our entire anticipated time (end of November) so we wouldn’t have to move around. So we decided to go for it. And after checking the route out some more, we decided to go ahead and get on the road today, and not wait to start out tomorrow.

So I called Jamie back and said we were on our way and would see him tomorrow. Then I headed over to the office to tell them we were leaving. And as I walked in the door to talk to Mark, Diane waved and said, “Bye.” Turns out Jamie had already called them to let them know he was ‘poaching’ us. Glad we weren’t leaving Mark in a lurch though, since there was another couple in the yard also waiting for a gate.

So right now, Jan and I are parked for the night at the East View RV Ranch near Georgetown, TX. We did 175 miles today, with about 125 tomorrow.

It was an easy trip with some rain on and off, but nothing too bad, and some one-lane construction on I-410 around San Antonio.

We’ll head out tomorrow about 9am. It sounds like our gate is somewhere on FM39 south of North Zulch, which is west of Madisonville on US190.

Apparently Jamie is going to give us directions directly to our gate tomorrow morning.

So we’ll see how it goes.

September 2, 2015

A 12 Hour Gate?

Well, that’s what it’s turned out to be the last few days. The last truck leaves before 6pm, and the first one doesn’t come in until after 7pm. But during the day we’re pretty busy, actually a little busier than when we were going 24 hours.

Monday was our busiest day so far with 41 vehicles coming in, but then Tuesday was our slowest day with only 21. The difference being that Monday we had two crews here, the ones that had been working this past week and were finishing up, and the new crew that was coming in to do their thing. And Tuesday looked to be just the new crew.

Today was back up to 32, but a lot of that was just the same guys going in and out, bringing equipment, including a number of fluid trailers. We’re still hearing the frack will start sometime next week, but that’s only a rumor. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

Although it may seem strange, even with no nighttime traffic I’m still staying outside all night just like my normal schedule. One, it’s nice out here, and two, with the frack starting up soon, I don’t want to get off my sleep cycle and then have to get back on it when we get 24-hour busy again.

Both our new A/C’s are still working well, the new Coleman 15K on the roof, and the window unit that we’re using under the canopy outside. With the low 90’s temps we’ve been having, neither one is having to work very hard.

The last couple of days we’ve had power line people in here working on the high-voltage lines that are just off to our side.

They’ve painted some of the towers and sprayed weed-killer around the tower bases and along the fence lines. These lines are probably 200,000 volts or more, and could be as much as 800,000. I was told they come from a power plant north of here and run all the way to Houston, and that’s over 180 miles.

At every gate guard site we’ve had for the last four years, we had coyotes in the area. It always seems that around 3 in the morning, different groups start yipping at each other, kind of a bark, that goes back and forth. Don’t know if it’s a wakeup call, or maybe just checking in to see what the other group caught and killed for dinner last night.

But out of all these times I’ve heard them, last night was the first time I’ve ever heard the stereotypical coyote howl, the one that goes with the picture of the coyote on the top of a mesa howling at the moon.

And it does send shivers down your spine.

September 2, 2016

Stood Up Again . . .

At 94 degrees, yesterday was the hottest we’ve had here so far, and then today was the coolest so far at about 86 degrees. So maybe Fall starting to make a little appearance.

And I’m not sure if it’s connected, but yesterday, at 85 vehicles, was our busiest day so far, and today was our slowest day, at 66 vehicles. Of course, neither one is bad compared to past gates where we’ve had 200+ trucks, or even two years ago, where we were doing 400 to 500 vehicles a day.

We did have about 30 minutes of heavy rain, thunder and lightning this morning after I had gone to bed. Jan said one crack of thunder seemed to be right overhead, and it was loud enough to even wake me up, But the new tarp I put over the old, leaky one held up just fine, with no leaks.

Well, about 3:30 this morning I swapped out my two Winegard satellite domes to see if the intermittent Guide data problem would reappear. And it didn’t. So now I’m not sure what the actual problem is, or when it will reoccur.

The problem went away as soon as I put my old dome back in place, and hasn’t returned. I didn’t change anything else, or even reboot the receiver. So now I guess I just wait and watch.

This afternoon I found out how Blue Moon BBQ got its name, when Toni Moon, the owner, came through to deliver some food to the Company Man’s office. I told her how much we enjoyed their BBQ, and that I’d be there tomorrow morning because I wanted to try their HotShots. She said to get there early since they run out fast.

As I mentioned before, HotShots are large fresh jalapenos, stuffed with 3 cheeses and chopped brisket, and then wrapped in bacon and cooked over the pit.

Can’t wait to try them.

Our first Amazon order from here is supposed to be delivered via USPS tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. Then we’ve got a Jet.com order coming in next week sometime.

If those work then Tuesday I’ll call American Coach and order a new screen door latch plate. This is the part that is mounted on the door jam that the latch on the door engages. Ours broke recently which means we can’t leave the main door open and the screen door closed. Otherwise, Karma might try to make a break for it.

Well, Jamie stood us up on our water delivery, again. First he was going to be here last Monday or Tuesday. Then it was first thing this morning, and later, it was between 3 and 5 this afternoon.

Now it’s early tomorrow morning. But we still haven’t had to switch over to our rig water tank yet, so we’re fine. And I know Jamie stays busy trying to cover guards in East Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

But it is fun to kid him.

September 2, 2017

The Magic Oven . . .

It seems like the Jetson’s automated kitchen is getting closer. Well, maybe except for Rosie, the robot maid.

Miele, a major European appliance company has announced the Dialog Oven, to go on sale in Europe starting in 2018. Another article can be found here.

Cooking with electromagnetic waves, the frequency allows the cooking energy to be beamed more directly into the food, allowing you to put veal, tomatoes, and zucchini all in a pan, place it in the oven, and in just a few minutes, it all comes out perfectly done, all at the same time. This is because the energy can be beamed in different directions, cooking some items more than others.

Or say for some reason, you need to cook a piece of cod frozen inside a block of ice.

And in just a few minutes, the cod is cooked perfectly, but the ice doesn’t melt.

Now I’m not sure why you’d want to do this, but it’s a neat trick.

The only party pooper on this new oven right now is the price . . .  about $9500.

Of course that’s less than the $54,000 (in 2016 dollars) that the first Amana Radarange cost in 1947. And it was almost 6 feet tall, weighed 750 pounds, and was water-cooled.

Things have come a long way. I saw one at Wal-Mart a while back that you could hold up with one hand, and only cost $49.

After a long nap-filled afternoon we met Ed and Debi Hurlburt over at the Fish Pond Restaurant at 5:45 for dinner.

Jan was really glad they suggested the Fish Pond because she’s really been wanting their Chicken Fried Steak again.

Normally it comes with the gravy on it, but since one of us ordered theirs on the side, we all got it on the side.

Since we just had dinner with Ed and Debi this past Wednesday at China Delight, we were able to reduce our normal 3 hours dinners down to only two hours.

A real improvement.

Saying our goodbyes and heading back to the park, we made a quick stop at the Willis Walgreen’s for a few things.

As we left the park earlier we noticed that the Code3 Large Animal Rescue people had pulled out and moved on.

Probably moved over to the west side of Houston where it’s still flooding.

Tomorrow I’m going to get the ladder out of the truck and caulk a couple of small leaks around the top right windshield gasket. It didn’t lead all the time during Harvey, just when the wind was blowing from a certain direction.

September 2, 2018

Perfect Day For A Swim . . .

At least for some of us.

It was pouring down rain when Jan and I headed up to Brandi’s about 10:30, and it continued to come down hard until we turned onto the Sam Houston Tollway.

We did stop at the Santa Fe Valero for gas on the way for $2.47. It’s nice to see the price coming back down. I have actually seen prices in the area for as low as $2.31, but just not when I need it.

We got to Brandi’s about 11:45, about 20 minutes earlier than her previous house. So, nice for us, and also for her drive into work.

Brandi had fixed us a really good lunch of street tacos, with smoked pulled pork, red onions, fresh cilantro, cheese, and salsa, along with Deviled Egg Potato Salad. Really delicious!

Then a while after lunch we all headed out to the pool for swim time. Well, most of us, anyway. After nagging me about swimming, Jan sat this one out, but at least she got her feet wet.

The dogs, Miss Kitty and Mister Baxter, are not too sure about the whole ‘pool’ thing either.

One thing kind of unusual is that their pool is filled with salt water, and doesn’t use chlorine, or a lot of other chemicals, Just salt, and muriatic acid/baking soda to balance the pH. So the water is soft, and doesn’t burn your eyes or turn your hair green.

It’s also very buoyant. Sometimes it’s hard to keep your feet under you. But it feels great on your skin.

It was a perfect day for being in the pool. It was very overcast, and at about 80°, very comfortable. In fact they were heating the pool a little, keeping it at about 90 degrees. And the heat will be really nice this winter.

Coming home about 4:30 we made a quick WalMart stop before getting back to the rig about 6pm. A really nice day, and it looks like we’ll get to do it again after Landon’s birthday party next Saturday.

Tomorrow, since my client’s office is closed, I’m going to top off the rig engine with oil and then run it at high idle for an hour or so, or at least until I see some leakage. Since we’re parked on gravel, I’m going to put down some plastic drop cloth sheeting underneath the engine area to catch any drips and make it easier to see any leaks.

After that, it’s either BBQ or Steak for Labor Day.

Decisions, decisions.

September 2, 2019

Run, Run, Vrooom . . .

Tomorrow I  plan on crawling under the rig and pulling the rig’s oil filter and then the oil filter head adapter so I can replace the gasket that I hope has been causing my reoccurring oil leak.

It looks to be fairly easy, just drop the oil filter, which I’ve done below, then remove the two cap screws that hold the adapter in place. and pull it. While I’ve got it off I’ll also clean off the residual crud that’s inside where the oil filter mates with the adapter.

I’ll probably have to scrape off the old gasket, then replace it with the new one,

and then put it all back together.

At this point in the past when I’ve replaced the filter trying to fix this leak, we’ve taken the rig out for a 50 mile or so test drive, but the leak never occurred.

That only seemed to happen as soon as we hit the road on a trip. So this time I’ll just run the engine at high-idle for 30 minutes or so to check for regular leaks.

But before I can do any of this I need to bring the rig up on the levelers to give me enough room to get under the rig. When we’re going to be parked for a while, and we’re pretty level, I don’t put the levelers down.

So this afternoon I had to dig out my leveler pads, put them in place, and then lower the levelers, But to do that I had to crank up the engine. So it was very reassuring that when I turned the key, the engine went Run, Run, Vrooom!

It only turned over for a couple of seconds before it caught, and never stumbled. Very nice since it’s been about 5 months since I last ran the engine.

It only took me about 10 minutes to get the levelers down and the rig raised high enough room for easy access for tomorrow.

Then about 2pm Jan and I headed out for lunch at Los Ramirez Mexican Restaurant. They were really busy, busier than we’ve ever seen. And apparently busier than they had expected to be, since they were short-handed and it took us a good while to get our food.

We were both able to stay Keto, Jan getting her usual Pechuga Rellena,

with a Grilled Chicken Breast, Grilled Shrimp, and Broccoli, all covered in Cheese.

I got my usual Beef Fajita Taco Salad with Queso,

staying Keto by not eating the taco shell as I usually would.

All really good.

September 2, 2021

Big John Can Be Yours. . .

According to the tracking, our new Atwood water heater is here in Houston as of this morning, so I’m hoping it will be delivered by UPS tomorrow morning. That way I’ll have the long Labor Day Weekend to get it installed.

Jan and I headed out a little after 1pm to have lunch at The Catch up in the Almeda area. And as we passed the Monterey’s in Dickinson, they had a new banner up saying they were now training people and to check back next week. Getting close.

It’s about time. It’s only been 4 years since Hurricane Harvey flooded it out.

At the restaurant, both of us had our usual, the Grilled/Blackened Catfish with 4 Shrimp and Grilled Green Beans.

And of course, the free margaritas. Well, margarita, singular. I just got one, this time Strawberry-Lime, and Jan has some too.

I was talking to the manager about getting one of these down in the Clear Lake area, and he said they were actively looking. And when I mentioned a couple of possible locations, the old Eggcellence and the old Slim Chickens, turns out that they were actually looking at both of those locations. Fingers crossed.

SpaceX has a new droneship out in the Atlantic. Called A Shortfall Of Gravitas, it will be the first fully-automated landing vessel. Both of the other ones, Just Read the Instructions, also in the Atlantic, and Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific, have to be towed into place and serviced by a crew stationed on a nearby ship, and then towed back to port.

Love those names.

But A Shortfall of Gravitas is self-powered, and leaves port on its own, sails itself in position, and then comes back to port all by itself. However for the first couple of trips it will be closely monitored by a close-by service ship.

And in addition, SpaceX has configured two new multipurpose recovery ships, to be used to recover the Crew Dragon capsules returning from the Space Station with our astronauts. So what else would you name these ships but . . . Bob and Doug.

What else?

And for A Shortfall of Gravitas’ first mission, how about a night landing of a Falcon 9 booster?

Big John is up for sale. And he can be yours for a high bid of a little less than $2 million.

And Big John is big. At 8 meters, he’s the biggest Triceratops ever discovered. He lived in what is now South Dakota about 66 million years ago when he was swept away in a flood.

Wonder how he would look next to Jan’s Flamingo Flamboyance?

September 2, 2022

Or Longer . . .

Tomorrow I’m taking Jan up to Brandi’s in Katy so she can Baxter/Jack-sit over the Labor Day weekend while Brandi et al. are taking a trip. They’ll be back Monday night, but as of right now, how long Jan stays is kind of open-ended.

Tuesday morning Brandi has a Federal Jury Duty summons, so she could be gone only one day for that, or months if she gets sequestered on a long trial.

They’ll be leaving about 9am or so, and after stopping for lunch at the El Pollo Loco along the way, we’ll be there by about 2pm. Then after getting Jan all set up I’ll head back down to Santa Fe.

So it’s just me and Karma for the next few days. Or longer.

And then the week after next, from Sept 11th through the 15th, Brandi’s got a Business Conference out in San Diego, so Jan will be back up there then, this time Landon-sitting.

Ever notice how these ‘conferences’ are always in places like San Diego, Miami, or Las Vegas? And not in places like Detroit, Pittsburgh, or Newark.

Why is that?

September 2, 2023

R.I.P. Jimmy . . .

In case you’re one of the few people who hasn’t heard, Jimmy Buffett died last night at the age of 76 from what was described as skin cancer that had progressed into lymphoma, something that he had secretly suffered from for the last 4 years.

It seems that this is what caused him to cancel a number of tour dates over the last two years

Forbes magazine listed his net worth at about $1 Billion, with about 23 Margaritaville restaurants, hotels, casinos, and resorts operating under the brand, and a $1 billion retirement village in Daytona Beach, known as Latitude Margaritaville.

There’s even one of his resorts in our area up at Lake Conroe.

When asked how he became a billionaire, he said this.

‘I’m not about to apologize for being a good businessman,’ Buffett told The Washington Post in 1998.

‘Too many people in music have ruined their lives because they weren’t. I’m not a great singer, and I’m only a so-so guitar player.

‘I started running the band years ago because nobody else could, and I turned out to be good at this stuff. There’s never been any grand plan to this thing. I’m making it up as I go along. … Just trying to work the system while maintaining my ’60s anarchic soul.’

Our daughter-in-law Linda turned me on to Jimmy when she gave me his latest album, “Banana Wind”, back around 1996. I was really taken with his song, “False Echoes (Havana 1921)” about the death of his father, my father having died a few years before.

And as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, Jimmy and I kind of knew each other.

Until I was 13+ we lived in Gulf Shores, AL. In one of his books, Buffett talked about how he and some friends would come over from Mobile and surf at Alabama Point (great waves from the crosscurrents) and he mentioned that there would always be local kids there too.

And I’m pretty sure I was one of those ‘local’ kids he was talking about since when we were down there (Surf’s Up) there would often be some guys from Mobile there too.

Jan got her toesies done this afternoon, and as she’s been doing for a while, she paid extra for the Gel Polish version. She finds it lasts longer, and because it dries under UV light, they’re dry when she leaves the salon. Then it was right next door to King’s Bierhaus for lunch.

Jan really likes their Chicken Cobb Salad, though she gives me the sliced boiled egg. Her loss.

I got a cup of their Goulash

and their regular Sausage Sampler Plate.

All really good.

Last time I got their Exotic Sausage Plate, with Venison, Elk, Bison, Rabbit, Wild Boar, Antelope, and Rattlesnake. But it’s a good bit more expensive than the regular one.

And besides, it all just tasted like chicken to me.