Cozumel And Stingerless Bees . . .
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It seems that most of the exercise on this cruise for Jan and I comes from our hike from the gangplank, down the pier, just to get to the dock. And then another 100 yard or so walk from the dock to where our tour bus is parked.
But what was strange was that getting to dock, the first places we saw were a Margaritaville, a Senor Frogs, a Hard Rock Care, and a Harley Davidson’s.
Pretty much like being back at home.
Our Island Roots, Honey and Chocolate Tour started a lot later this morning, 11:30 vs 5:30, than yesterday’s excursion.
But though it started later, it didn’t get off to as good a start. Well, it started, it just wouldn’t go.
The bus wouldn’t go.
Although the driver drove it there, when he tried to leave, it just wouldn’t go into any gear except 1st. And it took a lot of thrashing and grinding to get that. So we had to wait about 45 minutes for a replacement one. Which threw our whole schedule off down the road.
Our first stop was out in the jungle about 90 minutes away.
And the real ones aren’t this big.
In fact, they’re small, about the size of a BB. For example, this hole in the tree is only about 1/2” in diameter.
They look more like a wasp than a bee, and they have NO stingers. To protect the hive, it seems they will swarm your hair until you run away.
Yikes!
Next up was a visit to a Mayan Cacao (Chocolate) Company.
And Pedro, the Cacao Chef, gave us a really great demo on how to make different types and favors of chocolate. And then we got samples!
Yummm!
Later heading out down the coast, we made a stop at at local place right on the ocean.
And the view was really good. And the cold Dos Equis Jan and I had also really hit the spot.
And the area looked like it would be really good for surfing, except for these.
Because of our late start, we got back to the ship just in time for our 5pm dining time. Didn’t even get to stop off at our room first.
Jan started off with her Shrimp Cocktail once again,
while I got a bowl of Baked Potato Soup.
Then Jan entreed with the Lobster Mac & Cheese, which she liked, but one of our tablemates who also got it, wasn’t quite as enamored.
My choice was the New York Strip Sirloin, really tasty and tender.
Wrapping up, Jan had the Fudgy Brownie,
while I got the Warm Apple Cobbler once again. Still great!
Finally getting back to our room about 6:30, we found this towel crab waiting for us.
Who knows what we’ll have next?
Tomorrow when we wake up, we’ll be in Roatan, Honduras, and our excursion will be the Easy Roatan Monkey, Sloth and Iguana Interaction.
On to Day 5!
Thought for the Day:
“The view that the sun stands motionless at the center of the universe is foolish, philosophically false, utterly heretical, because it is contrary to Holy Scripture. The view that the earth is not the center of the universe and even has a daily rotation is philosophically false, and at least an erroneous belief.” — Holy Office, Roman Catholic Church, ridiculing the scientific analysis that the Earth orbited the Sun in edict of March 5, 1616
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
December 10, 2010
HPB and Buc-ee’s . . .
This morning started with a cup of Pecan Praline coffee and the beautiful view out the front window, while Jan and I talked about what we’re getting everyone for Christmas, and what still needs to be ordered.
When I got up Jan said our friend Gina had called with a printer problem with an Excel spreadsheet. She couldn’t get it to print in Landscape Mode, but by trying a few things on my machine I was able to tell her how to fix her problem.
Then about 2 pm we headed out to Dickinson Seafood again for lunch. After that we headed into Webster to the PO to mail off a package and the first batch of Christmas cards. Also picked up enough more stamps for the rest of the cards. Then it was on to Half-Price Books to sell some books back to them, and look for some more.
Then we stopped off at a local Hallmark store so Jan could get a “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament for Landon.
Heading home we stopped at Buc-ee’s for gas and a newspaper and Dollar General for some Christmas wrappings and bags.
We got home about 5 pm and I started working on a laptop for a friend of ours. It had gotten a bad update and wouldn’t boot up. It just kept rebooting over and over again. It took a couple of hours but I finally got it cleaned up and working.
That’s about it for today.
December 10, 2011
Lights, Landon, Action . . .
For some reason I woke up with a bad headache this morning. Must have something to do with sleeping in an otherwise empty bed.
But I was feeling better after taking some Advil, so about 11:30 I headed up to Brandi’s to meet up with Jan and Landon.
On the way I stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up some birdseed for Jan, and then Starbuck’s for coffee and Jack in the Box for Supreme Croissants for breakfast. I also stopped off at the storage room and picked up the furniture dolly for my upcoming washer repair.
I got to the house about 1pm, just in time to help Jan bathe Landon and get him ready for his nap. Then it was time for Jan’s nap. She’d been up since 5 am and needed one.
After Landon got up he played and watched Barney the Purple Dinosaur until about 4, when we headed out for an early dinner.
We drove up to I-45 and Fuqua to eat at Golden Corral. Although the wrong direction for what we had planned for later, we wanted to see if Helen, our favorite waitress, had ended up here.
We first met Helen years ago at the Ryan’s on Bay Area Blvd in Webster. When that Ryan’s closed, she moved down to the Ryan’s in Texas City, and we followed. But this year when we visited there a couple of weeks ago, she no longer worked there. In fact we were told she had moved back to Louisiana. We thought we were out of luck.
But when we ate at Barcenas Mexican Restaurant last week, we met another waiter we’ve known for a long time, and who also knew Helen. He said she was up at the Golden Corral.
And as if turns out, a number of her customers had also found her there too.
She said she had been trying to find our card so she could call us, so it all worked out.
Leaving Golden Corral, we drove down to Dickinson to visit their Festival of Lights. We parked at a nearby church where a shuttle bus took us to the park.
We had to wake Landon up after we parked, so he wasn’t too sure what was going on with the bus ride over there.
They really do a great job with the several acres of lights they put up. And it’s free.
Landon’s head kept swiveling around so much I was afraid it was going to fall off.
Not sure what he was looking at, but he apparently found it highly disturbing.
We got back to the house a few minutes before 8pm, with Landon amazingly still awake. But once Jan got him in his jammies and gave him his medicine he was ready for bed.
Time for Jan to catch her breath.
Once Landon and Jan were settled in, I headed back down to the rig for the night.
Tomorrow I’ll go over earlier so we can have breakfast at The Egg and I, before driving over to Bass Pro Shop to visit their Santa’s Wonderland with Landon.
Should be another busy day.
December 10, 2012
Printing in the Cloud . . .
Leaving Jan at the rig, I headed out about 8:30 to meet my son Chris up at Lowe’s to pick up the lumber for our trim project.
After getting our 1 x 6 x 10 Pressure-Treated boards we headed over to the house to decide how to proceed. What we want to do was install a horizontal trim board along the ends of the house, and also around the entrance way courtyard.
We decided to measure and cut the planks to fit, but leave the square end a couple of inches too long to allow us to cut it to fit as we installed the boards. But before we nail them in place, I want to paint them first. Then we’ll just have to touch them up a bit later.
Our next step was to set up my 12” compound miter saw so we could easily make the 45 degree angle bevels on the boards to make nice smooth joint between the individual boards. But our first cut showed a problem, The blade was shot and would hardly cut through one board.
My first thought was to head back over to Lowe’s and get a new blade. But on second thought, remembering that a new one is at least $50 and probably closer to $75, we decided to head over to our storeroom and pick up Chris’ saw.
While we were there we grabbed some other tools that would come in handy – a 4 foot fiberglass level and my heavy-duty air-driven nail gun. This will make it a lot easier to fasten the trim in place. But the flaw in this plan was we couldn’t find any extra nails to go with the gun, so we ended up heading back to Lowe’s anyway. But a $10 box of nails was a lot cheaper than a $75 blade.
By the time we left Lowe’s it was getting to be lunch time so we headed over to King Food which was nearby. Getting back to the house, it only took us about an hour to make all the cuts now that we had a good saw.
At this point we decided to call it a day because our next step was to paint the boards, and I hadn’t bought the paint yet. I didn’t figure we would get that far today, and I planned to pick up the paint on the way back to the rig anyway.
But before picking up the paint and heading home, I stopped off at a client’s office to finish installing Google Cloud Print on one of their machines.
Cloud Print is another neat free program from Google, that once installed, allows you to print to an attached printer from any other machine, anywhere on the Internet. This will allow me to print online orders directly to their office printer instead of having to fax them over, thus saving me a lot of time.
Installation on the printer end is very simple. Just install the Google Chrome browser. It does not have to replace your normal browser, I.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc., It doesn’t even have to be running. It just has to be on the machine. Then start Chrome, go to the Settings, and then the Advanced Settings, scroll down, and turn on Cloud Print. The only other thing you’ll need is a Google Gmail account. If you don’t have one, you can create one from here. And like Google Chrome, you never have to use the Gmail account again if you don’t want to.
Now if you want to be able to print from your Android phone, just download the Android Cloud Print app from the App Store (there’s also one for the iPhone too). The app will lead you through the setup using the login name and password of your Gmail account, and then you’re ready to go.
You can print anything from your phone that has a Share command, or you can choose a file from within the Cloud Print app.
As far as the PC, I’m using a free program called Paperless Printer. Once you install it and give it your Gmail info, Paperless Printer will now appear as a printer selection with your normal Print command. Just select Paperless Printer, click the Print button, and your document or picture is sent to the remote printer, anywhere on the Internet.
It’s magic!
December 10, 2013
Are You Talking to a Robot . . .
and don’t know it?
This story on the Internet about Samantha, the friendly robot voice, is interesting. Apparently it sounds exactly like a human and converses naturally, at least until you start asking her off-the-wall questions.
So the the next time you get a call from a telemarketer, ask them “Are you a buttercup?” and see what they say.
“Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do” (Now we’ll see who gets this one)
We saw that big orange ball in the sky today, for the first time in about a week. But it really didn’t get much warmer, with the temp never getting out of the 40’s. And it’s supposed to go down to the low 30’s again tonight.
And it looks likely to stay that way for the next week or so. It looks like that Florida is the only place in the country that’s halfway warm.
They’re hogging all the warm. Damn them.
I spent part of the afternoon looking for a leak. Every now and then our shower starts leaking a little under the wall separating the shower stall from the bedroom.
I first took off the access plate at the base of the shower to see if there was any moisture showing under there. Of course, if there’s an open hole, Mister has to check it out.
He just knows there’s a mouse in there somewhere.
Luckily for me, I found no sign of moisture under the base, which is a very good thing. I don’t even want to think about pulling the shower out to fix a leak in the base or drain.
My next thought was a leak up on the wall in the faucet/nozzle area, I.e., was it leaking down the back of the shower from the faucet. It only leaks when the shower is in use, but it could be leaking from the faucet itself when it’s turned on.
To eliminate this, I took our shower nozzle down and laid it on the floor next to the drain. Then I turned the shower on and let it run for about 15 minutes. And, once again, no leak.
So now I’m left with a leak between the glass/sidewalls and the base. The only problem with this idea is the fact that I have already gotten in there on my knees and gone over every inch of the seams and recaulked everything.
So I guess I’ll check it out all over again.
Too bad I can’t get Mister to help out. He is closer to it down there, after all.
But I’m not sure both of us will fit in the shower at the same time.
December 10, 2014
65,000 . . .
After an easy-going morning, Jan and I left the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails a little after 11:15, heading for the Colorado River Thousand Trails in Columbus, about 120 miles away. Turns out the trip was just as easy-going as the morning, and we pulled into the park about 1:30 and checked in.
We were getting set up when Donna Huffer walked across the circle to say Hi. We were already scheduled to go out to dinner with her and Bob tonight, so she and Jan set up the time while I finished getting us hooked up.
We’re parked in our favorite site at the top of the hill looking out over the field below, with deer all over the place. sometimes coming right up to the patio
We did hit a milestone on today’s trip, passing 65,000 miles on our coach since we picked it up Jan. 6, 2008. With the 62,511 miles on the coach then, that gives us a total of 127, 529 by the end of today. Our Cummins 350 ISC is just getting broken in.
Hopefully we’ll hear from the Galveston Bay RV Resort in the next few days, otherwise we’ll be heading back over to the Lake Conroe TT on Christmas Eve.
We met Donna and Bob for dinner at Schobel’s Restaurant in Columbus a little after 4pm. Jan and I have eaten breakfast there a couple of times, but this was our first time for dinner.
And it turns out that they have a pretty good selection of German dishes on their menu. In fact we all ended up ordering something German. Jan got her favorite Jaeger Schnitzel, Donna got the Wiener Schnitzel, I got the Tex-Mex version of Jalapeno Schnitzel, and Bob went with their German Plate with sausage and sauerkraut. And with a salad from the salad bar filling us up, we all ended up with take-home leftovers.
Tomorrow may be a stay-at-home day with me doing some chores around the rig. Or then again, it may not be. We never know.
December 10, 2015
Like Butter . . .
Wanting to get an early start, I was up about 8:30 (for me, that’s early)and off to the hardware store in Columbus soon after.
In fact I was back by 9:30 with everything I needed to finish up the faucet install; two flexible supply lines and and two 1/2” barrels.
I pre-installed the supply lines to the new Moen faucet after wrapping the threads with Teflon tape, figuring it would be easier to do it now rather than reaching under the sink.
I was glad to see that this faucet uses an all-metal clamping system to hold it to the countertop, rather than the plastic nut that I had so much trouble getting off on the old one.
And this clamping system let me just insert everything from the top, and then reach under with a 7/16” box wrench to snug it all down. A couple of more minutes to connect the coach supply lines to the new faucet flexible lines, and I was done.
Turning the water pump back on, I gave it a quick test, letting both hot and cold run for a few minutes while checking underneath for any leaks. And with everything showing high and dry, I was done with Job #2.
So now it was time for coffee and an English muffin, and to check in with Jan who had spent the night at Brandi’s.
And now came the part I’d been kind of dreading; cutting large holes in the bedroom wall. I measured the height of the shower faucet and then drew a 10” x 6” outline on the bedroom wall.
A while back I had bought this Harbor Freight “Multi-Function Oscillating Tool” just for this,
so I was anxious to see how it was going to work. I was only going to be cutting 1/8” wood paneling, but at least I would have an idea.
And since several readers had asked me about these tools, I recorded a video to show you how it did it. And I can tell you it cut through the paneling like butter. And when I made a small test cut into one of the 2×4 cross braces, it went very buttery as well.
One thing to note here is that I was trying not to cut too deep in case a water line was right against the back of the paneling. Otherwise it would have been much quicker and easier.
After making my three cuts and removing the cutout piece, I found this.
Absolutely no sign of any leak.
Bummer!
You’d think at least ONE of these three plumbing jobs could have been easy.
So now I’ve got to make another cut at the bottom. But before I did that, I wanted to check in with American Coach to see how it was hooked up down there. But it was their lunch hour in Decatur, IN, so I grabbed a sandwich too while I was waiting the 45 minutes until I could call back.
When I finally got through to American, I found out that the water supply first comes in by the toilet, then feeds the lavatory sink, and dead-ends at the shower. Which means I should just have the two lines, hot and cold, coming down that way.
I did my second cutout about six inches above the floor, right over where I could feel a horizontal brace.
Well, now I was seeing some signs of moisture, but more cobwebs than anything else. The wiring feeds one of those inset floor lights right underneath, and on the piece of paneling I cut out next.
Well, now I’m seeing signs of moisture and mold, but still no actual water. In fact, since I been off shore water and using the pump for the last several days, the carpet has not been near as wet as normal, I think due to the lower water pressure,
So I think my next step is to go back on shore water and then just wait a couple of days to see what happens. But that will have to wait until Jan and I are back at the rig tomorrow night.
Right now it was time for me to get ready and head into Katy to meet up with Jan, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon for dinner, and then Jan and I will spend the night there.
The original reason we were here was so that Jan and I could take Landon to school tomorrow morning while Lowell took Brandi in for her day surgery. But today they moved her appointment back to 1pm, so Lowell will take him in as usual.
But since we’re meeting friends tomorrow night in Pasadena for dinner, and then a visit to the Pasadena Opry for the Christmas show, we’ll just stay here tonight and shorten our trip.
For dinner tonight we tried a new place called Slim Chickens. It’s a small chain, with about 25 locations in 9 states, starting in Arkansas about 10 years ago.
Turned out to be really good, with breaded-to-order chicken tenders, chicken wings, chicken and waffles (the waffle is shaped like the state of Texas), grilled chicken salads, and grilled chicken wraps.
I’m detecting a pattern here.
It looks like they’re building one up in The Woodlands area, so I’m sure we’ll give them a try again.
December 10, 2016
Hep C and Big Pharma . . .
Well, it looks like our cold snap is over for a few days, but there’s another one following on behind in another week or so.
Luckily for us it never got quite as cold as they forecasted. But there’s always next time I guess.
Todd texted us this afternoon with another 3 days of gate work, this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and even better, it’s night shift from 17:30 to 05:30. Nice!
And lucky for me, the night temps are supposed to only be in the low 60’s for then.
There’s probably a rule somewhere that you’re not allowed to have Turkey & Dressing twice in one week. But officially tomorrow is the start of a new week, so tomorrow it’s back to Barth’s Restaurant for their Sunday lunch buffet. And then probably a Wal-Mart/HEB run.
I posted yesterday’s Cranberry Orange Nut Bread under the Jan’s Favorite Recipes tab.
Check it out if you didn’t get it yesterday. Really delicious.
For dinner tonight we finished up the last of Jan’s Chicken Vegetable Soup that she made up a couple of days ago in our slow cooker.
Just wish we had a larger slow cooker so she could make more at one time. But unfortunately a larger model is too high and won’t fit in our cabinet.
On a completely different subject, I am sure we’ve all been seeing the commercials for Harvoni, the new Hep C cure. I saw a mention on another blog on how expensive it was. So curious, I checked on GoodRx site to see what kind of expensive we were talking about. And all I can say is WOW!
Depending on what different strain of HEP C you have, and how chronic the infection is, you will need treatments ranging from 8 to 12 weeks, so 2 to 3 months. And according to GoodRx,, a one month treatment costs in the neighborhood of $32,000. That’s a very expensive neighborhood.
So now this is where we all yell and scream about Big Pharma and the high cost of prescription drugs. But wait, there’s more.
1. Presently it takes ~12 years for a new drug to be approved for marketing after it is patented.
2. According to Forbes, the average cost of getting a new drug to market is ~$5 billion.
3. Only 5 in 5,000 drugs that enter preclinical testing progress to human testing. One of these 5 drugs that are tested in people is approved. So that means that only 1 drug in 5000 actually make money for the company. Not very good odds.
4. But the real kicker is our patent system. Presently the Patent Office allows a time period of 20 years from patenting to expiration for a new drug. So this means that the drug company only has about 8 years to make back their $5 billion cost of developing the drug.
Then they have to make enough money to cover the partial development and testing of the other 4999 drugs that didn’t make it through the approval process.
So now they’ve covered their costs, but there’s still something missing – Profit.. Profit to keep the company in business, profit for the shareholders, etc.
So it looks like to me that the first (and very easy thing) to do to cut the cost of prescription drugs would be to make the 20 year patent time only start when the drug gets final approval and can go on sale. This would more than double the time for the drug development cost to be amortized, and reduce the price they need to charge for each dose.
Makes sense to me.
December 10, 2017
Bundle Up. We’re going to the Beach!
Last night after we got home I got a call from our friends, Bob and Maria, who we had just had lunch with earlier in the afternoon.
When they got home, they found that their refrigerator had lost power. So I led them through pulling the fridge out from the wall and checking the outlet, which was dead.
At this point I told them to find an extension cord to power the fridge for the night and that I would come over this afternoon.
So this afternoon Jan and I drove over to their house in League City to check things out. What I found was a funky breaker that had blown and was very hard to reset. But after I got it unstuck, it moved just fine and power was back on the outlet.
I told them to keep an eye on the breaker and if it acts up again it may have to be replaced.
Bob also has an older model Kindle with the keyboard that won’t charge. It feels like the connector inside the Kindle has come loose and fallen back inside the case, so I bought it home to take it apart and see if I can do anything for it.
Leaving Bob and Maria’s we headed down to Galveston for our meetup with our friend. But we were going to get there about an hour early so we decided to drive the Seawall for a half hour down and a half hour back.
The first thing we noticed was all the people on the beach. The second thing we noticed was that since it was 53° everyone was bundled up in heavy coats and sweat pants. You’ve got to really want to do the beach thing to be sitting out in the sand at the water’s edge swaddled like an Eskimo.
We drove all the way down to the Galveston Island State Park before we turned around and headed back. I guess I was expecting to see some Harvey damage but everything looked fine.
We got back to The Original Mexican Café, about 10 minutes before 4pm and got seated, just as our friend Linda showed up.
Jan and Linda started working together back in 2001, and then a few years later she up and moved to Billings, MT. So when we started RV’ing in 2008 we stopped by every time we were in the area. Then a few years ago she moved back to Galveston where she still owned a home.
Normally the food here is always great, but Jan got a Pollo ala Parrilla with a chicken breast that died of old age . . . in the Stone Age. It was thin, tough, chewy, and even hard to slice. She almost sent it back, but had enough other food to make up for it.
After finally saying our goodbyes about 6:30, we headed back home, on the way passing by the Houston Magical Lights that I’ve mentioned in the past.
Really looks great, and hopefully we’ll get to take Landon there soon.
December 10, 2018
More Mocha . . .
I spent pretty much all day at work trying to resurrect a used machine that my client had purchased on eBay.
It’s always bad news when a unit rattles when you unpack it. And taking it apart I found a number of indications that someone had opened the unit and seemingly tried their own repair. But in the process, they broke off several of the circuit board mounting standoffs as well as the solder joints for a power transistor to the board.
So it looks like I’ll have to take this unit completely apart, remove all four circuit boards, replace the standoffs, resolder the power transistor, and put it all back together. THEN I’ll finally be able to try to get it working again.
Not exactly coffee ‘purist’, Jan and I are always experimenting with our favorite coffee flavors. Right now our favorite seems to be two scoops of Lola Savannah’s Texas Pecan and one scoop of WalMart’s Mocha.
As I mentioned before, Lola Savannah is a local coffee roaster that produces a number of different coffee flavors. But our favorite is their Texas Pecan with real chunks of pecan.
And we really like the chocolate ‘mocha’ flavor addition as well, But we were looking a little more. So recently I’ve been adding a scoop of unsweetened cocoa powder to the filter basket for an extra chocolate ‘oomph’ And it really works. But I have to be careful how much I add, or where I put it in the filter because the powder is so fine that it can clog the filter and not let the water through. But it is really good.
Not much else happened today, and not a lot scheduled for tomorrow either.
Nice!
December 10, 2019
Our Last Day In NYC
We were down at our hotel breakfast by about 8:15, making the most of our last few hours here in NYC.
Delicious as all our meals here at the hotel, breakfast and dinner.
And by 9:30 we were over in Times Square checking out more of the high-end shops, and, of course, one last Times Square selfie.
Walking around, we came across a police horse, complete with a smiling policeman, who let Jan get in some petting time with his horse.
By noon we were back at Junior’s for our last meal, fitting since it was also our first meal when we got here.
For Jan’s part, she got what she said was the best Grilled Cheese sandwich she’s ever had, as well as her favorite Steak Fries.
I went old-school with a Sesame Bagel with Cream Cheese. You can’t get much more NYC than that.
And the only reason I didn’t get the obligatory lox with it was that their delivery was running late that morning.
Of course, you can’t have a meal at Junior’s without Cheesecake.
Jan got the simple, but delicious, Strawberry Cheesecake,
while I got my usual Carrot Cake Cheesecake,
which I think is the only cheesecake I’ve ever gotten here, including our visits in 2009.
And we had to finish up with a cup of their wonderful cappuccino, complete with the rock candy stirrer.
Wrapping up our time here, we were on our way out to La Guardia by 2 to make our 4:45 flight back to Houston, finally getting back to the rig about 10:30.
Safe and sound, tired but happy.
We had a blast!
December 10, 2021
Wrapping Up In Branson . . .
We’ve had a great time here in Branson this week. We’ve seen some fantastic shows and had a lot of fun.
But tomorrow we head back to the real world, overnighting in Texarkana before getting back home Sunday afternoon.
Then next week I’ll start catching you up on all the fun we had.
Keep checking back.
December 10, 2022
Three Acres and More . . .
Catching up with last night’s Alvin Opry visit, we started off as usual with dinner at the Alvin Monterey’s.
Jan, as before, got her new fav, the Stuffed Avocado with Fajita Beef and Charro Beans.
I got the same bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup that I’ve been getting for 30 or so years.
Then it was on over the Opry, which is held at the local American Legion Hall.
One thing Jan and I have really enjoyed recently is that they’ve started bringing back a lot of our favorites from the old, original Alvin Opry that we started attending in 1997.
Called the Alvin Opry Alumni, we’ve seen Margie La Blanc,
Pat Varley,
and then tonight, Mary Dooley.
And we also enjoyed the other new-to-us singers, like Kelly Hartsfield,
Pete Edwards,
Stevin Marsh,
and the headliner of the night, Randy C. Moore.
This show, sprinkled with a number of Christmas songs, was one of the best in a long time. There wasn’t a dud in the bunch, and they left everyone wanting more when things wrapped up about 10pm.
A really great show!
Moving on to today, we were worried about the possibility of rain taking out our attending the Three Acre Food Truck Park’s Country Christmas Market, but it held off, and it turned out to be a really nice day.
And a lot of other people thought so too. The parking lot was packed.
And there were a lot of booths, more than we saw at the Fall Market back in October.
We decided to check out KC Dawgs, with a lot of different versions of hot dogs, all using 100% Beef dogs. Jan got the Chili Cheese Dog,
She said the Chili was delicious and wondered if it was their own recipe.
I got the Big Boy Brisket Dog, with Grilled Onions and Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce.
Jan found a couple of things she just had to have, and a couple of more for Christmas presents for others.
Wrapping things up at the Market, Jan got her hair cut at our local CostCutters, and then heading back toward home, we dropped the last of the Christmas cards into the mail.
Already looking forward to the next Market day.
Tomorrow looks to be lunch at Texas Huddle once again, with HEB and Dollar General stops, and then home.
But of course, things can change.
December 10, 2023
Leaving Cuero . . .
I figured out the blog posting problem and I fixed the last two days worth of blogs.
and
I’ll catch up with our Cuero visit over the next few days.
As far as today, after a nice breakfast at our Fairbridge Inn hotel, we headed back into Cuero to gas up for the trip home, and get a couple of Caramel Mochas at the nearby McDonald’s.
We’ve really enjoyed them yesterday, and since it was 40° outside with a 10° wind chill, a hot drink for the road seemed like a good idea. And these are really good.
Coming through Hallettsville, we saw this store.
Not sure why they’re doing this, though Family Dollar has been owned by Dollar Tree since 2015 or so.
But really, why?
Coming into Eagle Lake, we passed an Exotic Ranch with a number of animals on display.
First up is a White Emu, which according to the Internet, are kind of rare.
And speaking of ‘rare’, how about a herd of White Buffalo? Or maybe Blonde, or at least, Blonde-ish Buffalos.
And I think these are a type of African Antelope.
After a quick stop at Brandi’s, and a somewhat longer stop at our HEB, we were home by about 3pm.
We had a great weekend, and have actually talked about doing it again next years.
More details to come.
Progreso And Merida . . .
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Jan and I were up way too early this morning. 5:30 is too early when you’re on vacation. But we had to get some breakfast and then meet up at 6:50 for our Xcambo Mayan Ruins and Lunch in Merida excursion.
Actually the hardest part really was the long walk down the pier where the Jewel was docked to the bus waiting for us. After you walk through a whole bunch of Gift Shops, of course.
We had about a 90 minute drive out into the jungle and mangrove swamps until we reached the Xcambo Mayan ruins. Along the way we were very entertained and informed by Reinna, our tour guide who is on Mayan descent.
Xcambo was an active Mayan commercial area from 250AD to around 1250AD, and they really don’t know why it faded away.
But it was really interesting to walk around and think about the history of the place.
I came across this sunning himself, and he let me get within about a foot of him before he turned and disappeared into the hole behind him.
However it seems he’s not as well hidden as he thinks he is. And when I bumped his tail with my foot, he didn’t flinch.
And after about 90 minutes at the site, we made the hour drive into Merida, the capital of the State of Yucatan for lunch and shopping.
Lunch was at a place called Mogy’s and it was really good.
They do have their own version of Chips and Dip, with fresh chips
a spicy green sauce, and a Black Bean and a Pumpkin Dip. All really good.
Our lunch plate consisted of typical Yucatan cuisine, with empanada, and tortillas with both shredded chicken and pork. Again, delicious.
It was interesting to see that with so many people carrying shopping bags, backpacks and knapsacks, they offer stands to hold them up out of the way.
Nice idea!
With everyone herded back onto the bus, started the drive back to Progreso and our ship. Along the way we did see this neat Christmas Tree.
Being the only cruise ship in port, it was to pick us out when we arrived back around 2:30pm.
After resting up for a couple of hours, we met our tablemates in the Main Dining Room for another great meal.
Jan started with the Shrimp Cocktail and I got the Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup, neither of which I got photos of.
For her entrée, Jan got the Spaghetti Bolognese, which she said was as good as hers. High praise, indeed.
I got the Carne Asada with Roasted Veggies, Beans and Rice.
Also, very, very good.
Finishing up, Jan got the Tres Leches,
while I got the Flan.
Both the perfect end to another great meal.
More tomorrow.
Thought for the Day:
In the prologue to The Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich wrote, “In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate…” Yet, never has food been more abundant on a world-wide basis than today. Starvation that exists is largely due to political causes and wars, not overpopulation. Ehrlich, regarded as a latter day Malthus, still has ardent adherents to his overpopulation theories.
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
December 9, 2010
What a Difference A Day Makes . . .
Today we woke up to great weather and a beautiful day. A big change from yesterday’s cold and rain.
Even Mister decided to catch some rays in the front window.
And with the great weather, it was time to get our walk in again. Since it had been several days since we had walked, we only did a mile.
Later Jan was rearranging things behind the TV in the bedroom, and when she turned her back, Mister jumped from the bed up into the cubbyhole.
He’s always like to get as high as he can.
I came out early one morning and found him sound asleep on top of one of the kitchen cabinets. That’s a jump of over 3 feet, and he’s a 25 pound cat. How he got up there I don’t know.
About 12:30 we drove up to Webster to have lunch and a movie at the Star Cinema Grill. As I’ve mentioned before, Star Cinema Grill is a movie theatre where they’ve taken out every other row of seats and put in small tables. There is a menu on the table and a button that will summon your waiter. The food is very good, and much like what you find at Chili’s or TGI Friday’s.
The movie we saw was ‘Tangled’, the new Disney version of the Rapunzel fairy tale. And it was very good, with a lot of laugh-out loud humor, and I dare you not to have a tear in your eye at the end. Very recommended.
After stopping off at Kroger’s, we got home about 4:30 and were in for the night.
December 9, 2011
We’re hearing things . . .
For the last several days we’ve been hearing a faint high-pitched tone in the rear of the coach. We can only hear it in the bathroom and just inside the bedroom. It seems to be coming from overhead, but you can’t localize it.
We’ve turned lights and appliances on and off, and listened in the closet and under the bed. I even went outside and checked the bays and engine compartment. You can’t even hear it at all out there. But inside, it’s been there day and night with no change.
So this morning I decided to shut off power to the coach and see if that made a difference. The first thing I did was to shutdown my computer, monitor, and color laser printer. Then I was going to turn off the breakers under the bed one by one, and see what that did. And if that didn’t change anything, I would go outside and shut off the shore power completely.
But when Jan and I went back to the bathroom, the sound was gone.
WTH?
The only thing I had done was to turn my computer off. So I turned my computer, monitor, and printer back on, but the tone was still gone.
And it’s been gone for about 12 hours now.
So I’m completely mystified as to how my computer could cause a tone that could only be heard in the bathroom, because in doing my checking I had repeatedly closed and opened both bathroom doors with no effect.
Guess we’ll just have to wait and see if it comes back.
About 11:30 I headed out to finish up with the client that I ran out of time with on Wednesday. This second machine was a lot less trouble than the first one, so I made pretty quick progress, finished things up with no surprises, and was able to get back home by about 4:15.
Then at 5:15 Jan and I headed down SH 146 to Galveston to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, as well as Brandi’s BFF, Shawna and her family, at Salsa’s, a Mexican restaurant on the Galveston Seawall. The plan was to have dinner at Salsa’s and then take the kids to see the Moody Garden’s Festival of Lights.
But just as we were almost ready to get on to I-45 that would take us into Galveston, Brandi called and said Shawna was running late, and by the time we had supper it would be too late to see the lights. So we decided to meet back up in Dickinson at Monterey’s Little Mexico to eat dinner and they would catch up with Shawna et al., down in Galveston a little later.
As I mentioned yesterday, Jan and I (mostly Jan) are babysitting Landon this weekend at their house, so after a fun dinner we headed back up to Friendswood, while Brandi and Lowell drove on down to Galveston to meet Shawna.
Landon was sound asleep by the time we got there, but woke up a little when Jan changed him and put his PJ’s on. But he started falling asleep again as Jan was reading to him.
About 8pm I headed back to the rig for the night to hold down the fort here. But I’ll be back over there tomorrow for a day of more Landon time.
December 9, 2012
Sunflowers and Ferris Wheels . . .
Today was a “Get Up and Head Out Early” morning, but it was worth it. We got more Landon time.
We left the rig a little before 8am to meet Lowell, Brandi, and Landon at The Sunflower Café down in Galveston.
Landon really loves the fresh fruit they have here, and was scavenging off everyone’s plate.
Jan and I are really proud of the great job Brandi and Lowell are doing raising Landon. He’s always so good when we’re out with him, even with other screaming kids seated around him.
After a great breakfast at The Sunflower Café (we’ll definitely go back) we got our goodbye hugs from everyone and all headed out. But before we went home, Jan and I decided to drive along the Seawall to check out any new additions to the area.
One place we were interested in checking out was the new Galveston Island Pleasure Pier. Basically it’s a amusement park/restaurant complex built on an 1100 foot pier out in the Gulf of Mexico.
Originally built as a recreation area by the military during WWII, it was turned over to the city after the war and called the Pleasure Pier.
Up until 1961, it was a well-known family entertainment destination on the Gulf of Mexico. Top dance bands played the enormous ballroom, while an open air movie theater, concessions, rides, and even an aquarium added to the fun. But Hurricane Carla damaged it beyond repair in 1961.
Then in 1965 the Flagship Hotel opened in its place.
Earning a place in history as the only hotel in North America built entirely over the water, it lasted until 2008 when it was severely damaged by Hurricane Ike.
Then in May 2012, a new Pleasure Pier opened. Developed by Tilman Fertitta, CEO and owner of Landry’s, a corporation that owns and operates over 35 restaurant chains, it’s now a prime tourist attraction in Galveston.
With a 100 foot high Ferris Wheel,
and a 1250 foot long roller coaster that features a 100 foot high vertical climb, a 100 foot high over-vertical drop, and 4 full inversions, it’s a real thrill.
But the one I’m looking forward to riding is the 230 foot high Texas Star Flyer, the tallest swing ride in Texas. Each spoke holds two open chairs that let you see in all directions as you turn.
I can’t wait.
It finally looks like our winter weather is finally coming in. Today’s high was 80, and tonight’s low is supposed to be 50. And tomorrow’s high is supposed to be 50 too. And tomorrow night’s low is going to be 35. Nice.
For most of the last couple of weeks, the low at night has been in the high 60’s, so this will be a nice change.
December 9, 2013
Turkey Cranwich and Chicken Chili . . .
Another cold, dreary, dizzily, windy day here on Dickinson Bayou, so it seemed to be a good day to do some shopping. And lunch, or course.
Our first stop was the Target over by I-45 and FM 646 to see if they carried some different brands from Wal-Mart. Jan did find some things she was looking for, but not everything, so it was off to the next-door Staples with not much more luck than Target or Wally World.
By this time we were getting hungry so it was off to Jason’s Deli up in Webster. Jan had a favorite, the Turkey Cranwich, while I had my usual Southwest Chicken Chili and a side salad. Jason’s Deli is one of our favorite places, but not always easy to find while we travel so we try to make up for it while we’re here.
After a nice long lunch, our next stop was Half-Price Books, while I shopped the Office Depot next door. Neither of us had any luck finding what we were looking for, so I ordered what we both wanted from Amazon before we left the parking lot, and it will be here Wednesday. I love Amazon Prime.
Then it was off to get my quarterly haircut at Lou’s Barber Shop, the same place I’ve been getting it cut for over 30 years. Of course I had a lot more hair when I started going there.
Our last stop was at Chris and Linda’s to pick up our mail from Linda. Chris had been called in for some overtime so he wasn’t there.
Earlier in the day, our daughter Brandi emailed over the latest Landon story.
I was driving Landon to school this morning and listening to the radio while Landon quietly ate his granola bar in the backseat. I had already previously tried to initiate a sing-a-long of some Christmas favorites but was promptly “advised” to quit singing, but I digress.
While driving along, minding my own business, I glanced quickly back and noticed Landon had a very serious look on his face. I asked him if he was ok to which I received the “look” so I assumed I should go back to minding my own business, but after a second or two he said, “Momma, is there Electricity?” I then responded with a most intelligent response explaining lights and TV’s, etc.
He then asked, “Does electricity make the wheels go on the car?” I tried explaining about motors and engines but I think he had already tuned me out so I asked what made him ask me that and he kept looking at the back of the seat near the floorboard pointing at something.
When we finally got to school I went and asked what he was looking at and he pointed to the knob that makes the seat go forward. We never use it so I am not sure why it got his attention or how he connected that with electricity but it was a fun conversation.
I still have no idea where he got the word electricity but he said it perfectly!!! No big punch line moment, just a proud mommy moment.
How to Make More than Minimum Wage:
1. Obtain a minimum wage job.
2. Tell your boss you want to work as many hours as possible and that you want him/her to call you if they ever need you to fill in for somebody else’s shift.
3. Show up early for your shift and be ready to work before your shift begins. Maintain a positive and cheerful “can-do” attitude at all times. Never complain and if you must, arrange a one-on-one with your boss in private and have a proposed solution.
4. Once you learn the basics of your job and have it down pat, tell your boss that you are ready for more responsibility. Offer to train your replacement.
5. Once you are promoted (and you will be), master your new job and tell your boss you are ready for more responsibility.
6. Repeat the above until you are running the place yourself.
December 9, 2014
Am I a lucky guy, or what?
She said I could look, but I couldn’t drool.
Since we leave for the Colorado River Thousand Trails tomorrow morning I had some things that I wanted to take care of this morning. First up was to top off my rig tire pressures. With the lower winter temps, I needed to bring them all up about 10# or so, as well as my one inside rear dual that usually needs about 20# or so after we’ve been parked for a week or so. I say ‘usually’ because sometimes I won’t have to add any air for a month or so, and then suddenly I have to again.
I’ve had this Porter-Cable Air Compressor for about 5 years now and it still works great. It has no problem taking big rig tires up to 120 # in no time. Check it out.
PORTER-CABLE 150 PSI Air Compressor
Next up, I checked the water level in the rig batteries. I try to do this once a month or so, but only have to add distilled water every now and then. The engine batteries are sealed so they don’t need any maintenance, just keeping the terminals clean.
One thing I wanted to do before I forgot about it was put my 2015 tag stickers on the rig tags. They expired the end of November, but this is the first time the rig will move since then. And while I was thinking about ‘tags’, I wrapped the truck’s EZ Tag in foil and put it away in the console. We have Toll Road EZ Tags for both the truck and the rig. But when we’re towing the truck behind the rig, we have to disable the truck’s tag, otherwise we’ll get charged twice for the truck, since the system detects that the rig is towing a truck behind it.
After I finished up a few other things, Jan and I headed out about 1pm. Our first stop was back at the Twin Peaks down in The Woodlands, where we just ate about a week ago.
Jan wanted another bowl of their Creamy Tomato Soup, and I got to eat lunch around a bunch of scantily-clad young ladies. And Jan said I could look, just not drool, but that was more difficult than usual. Because tonight is the night for the Annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on TV.
And in honor of that, all the waitresses were dressed in lingerie, and in some cases, not a lot of it.
I did mention that Jan said I could look, didn’t I?
Our next stop was right down the road at the Toys R Us. We were looking over some times for Landon, checking out some things we were interested in, and trying to get some new ideas.
Then it was across the street to the Post Office for some Christmas stamps for the Christmas cards that Jan’s almost finished with. After that, and a stop at Kroger’s, we got back to the park about 5pm.
As I said, about 11am tomorrow, we’ll make the 120 mile over to the Colorado River Thousand Trails at Columbus. We’re scheduled there for two weeks, but hopefully we’ll get a call from the Galveston Bay RV Resort saying they’ve got a site for us before then. Otherwise, we’ll be back here at the Lake Conroe TT on Christmas Eve.
I did mention that Jan said I could look, didn’t I?
December 9, 2015
Almost Finished . . .
but not quite.
I was up about 9:30 this morning, and after coffee, got to work on my first plumbing project, replacing the flush ball and seals on our Sealand toilet.
Actually the problem wasn’t with either the flush ball or the seals, but with the plastic shaft that lets the pedal turn the ball. Over time the square edges of the shaft rounded off until the spring cartridge and the foot pedal could no longer turn the shaft, which means you could no longer flush the toilet.
I guess this is why the shafts are now made of brass.
I had turned the shore water off when I got home last night, so all I had to do before I got started was to turn off the pump, and open the lavatory faucet to drain the system. Then I started out by loosening the band clamp that holds the bowl and base together and then removing the two plastic half clamps.
At this point the bowl is now just sitting on the base, so don’t bump it. Now I reached behind the toilet and pulled out the vacuum breaker.
Next I carefully lifted the bowl and set it aside on a large plastic garbage bag. Now I could remove the water valve, spring cartridge, and the pedal by taking out the two screws. Then I turned the flush valve upside down, and after removing the screw I was able to pull the flush ball and shaft out.
About this time I decided that maybe having my usual big 32oz mug of coffee this morning wasn’t a good idea when I wasn’t going to have a working toilet for several hours. Note to self for future plumbing projects.
At this point I going to reveal a closely held secret. The directions say to just install the new flush ball and shaft the reverse of how you took the old one out. But that’s impossible.
Oh, installing the new brass shaft is not a problem. Just coat the O-rings with Plumber’s Silicone Grease and slide it in place. But getting the flush valve down through the small hole, turning it sideways, and then squeezing it until it snaps into place is a whole ‘nother story.
It can’t be done that way, and a lot of complaints on RV.net back me up. But here’s the secret.
Use a tie-wrap to pre-squeeze the flush ball, lower it in the hole, turn it sideways, and holding the tie-wrap end so it doesn’t fall in the black tank, just snip the tie-wrap. And now it will snap right in place.
Now just insert the screw that connects the flush ball to the brass shaft and tighten it down. I noticed that they give you an extra screw with the flush ball kit because it’s real easy to drop one in the tank. It has to be inserted at an angle and then straightened up and tightened. And you don’t have a lot of room.
At this point I was on the home stretch . . . I thought. All I had to do was to install the spring cartridge, foot pedal, and the water valve. But the spring cartridge wouldn’t fit. It’s supposed to slide on the brass shaft, and then you twist it back and forth a little until the square end of the shaft fits in the square slot on the spring cartridge.
But it just wouldn’t snap into place. And after fighting it for 10 minutes or so, I took it back apart and looked it over. And here’s what was wrong.
The spring on the new cartridge was installed crooked, and looking down the hole you can see that it keeps the shaft from being able to line up with the square hole.
I pried at the spring for a while with no luck at fixing it. But lucky for me I had saved my old one, and since it still looked good with no wear, right back in it went.
Now everything went back together without a problem, and that part was done.
And after greasing up the two new seals,
I laid them in place on top of the ball, and set the bowl on top. Then I put the two plastic half clamps on, and used the stainless steel band clamp to fasten the top and bottom together.
Then plugging the vacuum breaker back in, I turned on the water pump and gave it a try. And it worked.
Water ran in, the ball opened and closed, and two hours later I still had water in the bowl.
One note here: Although they call that tube at the back of the toilet a vacuum breaker, which it is, it’s also the water supply to the toilet itself. This is where the water that fills the bowl comes from.
Readers may have noticed that I did a lot of describing stuff without a lot of pictures. And there’s a reason for that.
I was working on a toilet! And in some cases, the inside of the toilet! I won’t say any more. I’ve read about a couple of RV’ers who were going to do this type of repair for themselves, got it kind of apart, and were so grossed out by the smell and the sight that they gave up and paid someone to finish it.
I spent my junior and senior high school year summers working for an HVAC and plumbing company, and quickly got inured of this by having to crawl around under people’s houses looking for . . . and finding leaky sewer pipes, and wading around in septic tanks in hip boots looking for clogs. You just get used to it.
I’ve included a YouTube video below that details disassembling the toilet, replacing the seals, and putting it all back together. It does not cover the flush ball replacement.
And based on the cleanliness of his toilet, I can only suspect that either this toilet had never been used, or he spent a couple of hours cleaning it up before he made the video. This idea is reinforced by the toothbrush lying on the floor in a few of the scenes.
Besides mine, I’ve worked on three other RV toilets, and they all look more like mine, than his. Just saying.
I wonder if his wife knows that’s her toothbrush?
Next up was Job #2. Replacing the lavatory faucet.
I had worked on this several months ago, pre-gate, but ran into a problem. The water connections came loose with no problem, but getting the hold-down nuts loose, the ones that fasten the faucet to the countertop, brought things to a halt. I could not get them loose.
But now I had this faucet wrench,
and I was all set . . . I thought.
I again disconnected the water supply lines with no problem, and then the hot water side nut also came right off using the new wrench. But when I tried it on the cold water side, I heard a ‘snap’ and all three of the little ears on the plastic nut broke off. I don’t understand why these are so tight. I installed this American-Standard faucet 5 or 6 years ago, and I know I just hand-tightened them.
I spent the next hour trying a whole lot of different ways to get the nut off, but then finally went with one of my old standby favorites.
Brute Force!
I cut into the top of the faucet, peeled it back, and then used a hammer and a punch to break off the plastic nut from the top, and now the old faucet was free.
So all I had to do now was install the new one, connect the water lines, and I was done. But nothing in these plumbing jobs could be that simple.
The water supply lines coming down from the new Moen faucet hang down about two inches further than the old ones. And the rigid plastic supply lines from the coach stick up too high, so they don’t line up.
So I was going to need new connectors from the hardware store in Columbus, but it was after 6pm and they were closed. And since the coach water supply lines were still unconnected, I resigned myself to no shower tonight.
But thinking on things for a few minutes, I came up with a couple of good ideas. The first was just to connect the new faucet to the water lines temporarily inside the cabinet. Of course I couldn’t use the faucet, but I could take a shower.
The second good idea was, rather than cutting the plastic supply pipes shorter and installing new connectors, all I need to do is buy a couple of 18” flexible supply lines, and these will let me just hook the new lines up and route them around inside the cabinet. Easy Peasy.
So, tomorrow morning I’ll make a hardware store run, get the faucet finished up, and then it’ll be time to cut in the wall behind the shower and find the leak. Maybe it’ll be something as simple as a loose connection.
Yeah, Right!
December 9, 2016
Moose and Grinch . . .
It only made it down to 35° here last night, despite the 32° that was forecast. Today wasn’t much better with the temp finally crawling up to 45°, and tomorrow looks to be more of the same.
However we’re a lot better off than the dozen or so global warming protestors out in Denver CO waving signs in front of the Department of the Interior office there. They’re calling for the US to abandon ALL fossil fuels, and I guess, freeze to death. As for them, they’re walking around in 4” of snow, and it was –10° last night. This is called “The Al Gore Effect”.
We finally got a chance to try out the Cranberry Orange Nut Bread Jan baked yesterday morning. So we had a couple of slices for breakfast this morning, toasted with butter. Really delicious.
Here’s the recipe for now. I’ll post it later in Jan’s Favorite Recipes.
* * * * *
Cranberry Orange Nut Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 cup Orange Juice
1 Tbsp. grated Orange Peel (orange zest)
2 Tbsp. Shortening
1 Egg, well beaten
1-1/2 cups coarse chopped, Fresh (or frozen) Cranberries
1/2 cups Chopped Nuts (Jan used pecans)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease up a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan
Mix together all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Mix in egg, shortening, orange juice, and orange peel until well blended. Mix in cranberries and nuts.
Bake for 50 minutes (start checking at 45 minutes) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. Wrap and store overnight.
Continuing in Jan’s Happy Homemaker mode, she did another batch of her Chicken Vegetable Soup this morning. Perfect for this cold weather.
The recipe is already posted in Jan’s Favorite Recipes
But for us, Jan adds some heat by substituting a can of Hot Habanero Rotel tomatoes in place of the can of crushed tomatoes.
Jan started working on our Christmas cards this afternoon so I printed up a couple of pages of return address labels for her. I custom make them every year, using a different graphic.
Last year it was a candy cane, so this year I decided to go in a different direction.
Jan however, decided that was the wrong direction and suggested strongly that I reorient my aim and try again. So now it looks like we’re going with these.
Sometimes Jan just has no sense of humor.
I mused a couple of weeks ago under the Greg’s Musings tab about how we seem to be losing our history. In the article “Are We Erasing Our Past?”, I talked about how Political Correctness is causing us to change names of buildings, and even move or tear down decades-old monuments.
Well, this has come back to bite Yale University in the butt with a vengeance. Like many colleges and universities around the country, there have to calls to rename or remove statues, buildings, or entire colleges. In Yale’s case, the object of derision is the John C. Calhoun Residential College, part of the overall university.
John C. Calhoun was a Yale graduate, class of 1804, where he was valedictorian. During his years of political service, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a U.S. Senator, Secretary of War under President James Monroe, and Vice President under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
So all in all, it seems he would be the perfect candidate to have a Yale college named after him, and that’s what happened in 1933.
But in 2016 ole John has a problem. You see, besides all his other qualities, he had some other ones. He was also pro-South (being from South Carolina, probably not unexpected) and pro-slavery, the real deal breaker.
So recently Yale established a procedure for students and others to demand the renaming of any university facilities that don’t meet their ideals. Like for example, Styles College, named for Ezra Styles, the 7th President of Yale, and a founder of Brown University.
But, even though Ezra condemned the cruelty of slavery in the United State, he owned slaves, a contradiction found among many in that time period. But now Yale has a real problem.
You see, Elihu Yale, for whom Yale is named, was also involved in the slave trade. As an official of the East India Company, he oversaw the operation of an important node of the Indian Ocean slave trade and certainly profited from slavery.
So get your vote in now for your choice for the university’s new name.
Maybe the safest choice would be No Name University. It would probably cut down on a lot of arguments..
December 9, 2017
Old Friends . . .
After a quiet morning we headed out about 12:15 to meet our longtime friends, Bob and Maria, at the IHOP over in Seabrook.
We’ve known them since the mid-80’s when we first met at a local computer store and have been fast friends ever since.
Besides a good breakfast, we spent about 3 hours catching up from our last get-together, and we plan to get back together again soon.
Coming home a little before 5pm we realized we were a little hungry, but not a lot. So, passing Pho20 we stopped for a light supper of one of their delicious House Crunch Salads and a Shrimp Spring Roll, just the perfect amount of dinner.
I forgot to post this photo of my Sweetie last night at Chuy’s,
showing off her Christmas sweater and Christmas earrings.
While we were there, I also found the ceiling in our dining room kind of neat.
Shiny!
I’ve mentioned that we’ve been going through a lot of old albums and photos and I came across a couple of really old ones.
This is Jan and I in the Spring of 1968 when we were visiting her parents down in Titusville, FL. Jan’s about seven months pregnant with our son Chris.
And here’s my Sweetie in 1964, she says probably at Westover AFB in MA.
Beautiful even back then. She sure hasn’t changed a lot in 50 years.
I mentioned in Thursday’s blog that the Galveston County Animal Control truck had come by checking out the house, yard, and dog next door. We didn’t call them, but someone did. And apparently someone across the fence saw the Animal Control truck also,
So Jan was happy to see someone next cleaning up the dog’s area, drying out his shelter, redoing his slide line, and putting down a couple of bales of hay to make a bed and dry things out.
Made Jan’s day.
Tomorrow afternoon we’re driving down to Galveston to meet up with an old friend at the Original Mexican Café on 14th St. Looking forward to seeing Linda again.
December 9, 2018
Still Thawing Out . . .
it never really got above 50° today, and still trying to thaw out from last night, we never left the rig today.
Instead Jan made up a big batch of slow-cooker soup using a recipe she found on Facebook. Several cans of Dark Red Kidney Beans, a couple of cans of Diced Tomatoes, including a Habanero Rotel, a can of Bold Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce, a can of Minestrone Soup, and a pound or so of cooked hamburger.
Then dump it all into the slow-cooker, and spice to taste. Cook for a couple of hours on HI and then a couple on LO.
Eat!
Really good, as well as quick and easy.
I’ll post the full recipe to Jan’s Favorite Recipes later.
Jan’s eye is doing better every day, and even better, she’s learned to do her own eye drops so I don’t have to worry about being bit, like when I’m doing it. She also got her a sleep mask that she uses at night instead of the uncomfortable plastic shield.
I did play kind of a dirty trick on her though, right after we got home from the eye doctor the other day.
When she got everything taken care of and sat down, she turned on the TV and found this.
The entire screen was pinkish.
She looked over at me, terrified, and said, “Is there something wrong with the TV, or is it me?
So I looked up and said, “What? I don’t see any problem.” But before she could panic completely, I went over and the DVR off and back on, and the problem cleared.
I’m glad she didn’t have anything close by to throw at me.
Those of you who have WordPress blogs either have already or will have gotten the WordPress 5.0 update. And those of you who use the WordPress built-in editor may find yourselves completely lost.
The new editor, called Gutenberg, is totally different from the old one, both in concept and usage. Everything is done in ‘blocks’ which is the new rage in website programming. But it can be very confusing, especially if you’re just trying to post a simple blog with a couple of photos.
But you can go back to the old ‘Classic Editor’ if you like. From the Dashboard, just go to Plugins, Add New, and search for Classic Editor. Then install and activate that plugin. And now you’re back on the old editor.
I thought I’d post the last of the 2018 Clear Lake Boat Parade photos from last night. We did not stay until the last board passed by because we were so cold we were shivering. And even wearing gloves my fingers were so stiff and numb I was afraid I would drop my phone into the water.
Hopefully next year it won’t be so cold, or we’ll just bundle up more.
December 9, 2019
Frrrozen Hot Chocolate . . .
Waking up to the expected rainy day,
after another nice breakfast here at the hotel, we lay around the room for a couple of hours, waiting for The Met (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) to open. Then we Ubered over to the other side of Central Park to The Met.
There we made a beeline to the 2nd floor and the Nineteenth Century European Paintings area, Vincent Van Gogh, in particular.
Some of the display paintings we had seen before, in the traveling exhibit that visited Houston a while back. Others we had only seen as reproductions in museums in London and Paris.
And of course, one of our two favorites, the other being Starry Night, Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat.
Starry Night is part of The Met’s 16 work Van Gogh collection, but is out on loan right now.
Unfortunately Jan forgot to bring her T-Shirt, that pays homage to Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, his Sunflowers, and of course Jan’s love of cats.
We also took in several other very interesting exhibits that I’ll talk about in another blog.
Next up, we again took an Uber, this time over to Serendipity, a restaurant on Jan’s long-time Bucket List.
The place has a kind of eclectic, whimsical feel to it, with fun things to read and look at in every direction.
Since we were saving room for dessert, Jan just got the Chicken Tenders,
which she said were really crispy and delicious. And she especially liked the dipping sauce.
I went with the Foot Long Chili Dog,
though it looks like the bun shrunk somewhere in the process. But really, really good.
And you can’t eat at Serendipity without trying, or in this case, splitting one of their World-Famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolates, in our case, the Peanut Butter version.
This thing is enormous, delicious, and both hot and cold at the same time.
WOW!
And after we took a group photo for the family at the next table, they took one of us.
Tomorrow we’ve got about a half day left before we head back to Houston about 4:55, getting into Hobby a little after 8pm.
We’ve had a blast!
