1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Sign

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

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.

Mister in 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.

Mister in TV Mount

He’s always like to get as high as he can.

Mister Asleep

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.

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 at Sunflower Cafe

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.

Pleasure Pier Overview 2

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.

Flagship Hotel

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.

Pleasure Pier Overview

With a 100 foot high Ferris Wheel,

Pleasure Pier 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.

Pleasure Pier Iron Shark

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.

Pleasure Pier Star Flyer 2

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.

Toilet Seal 3

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.

Toilet Seal 1

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.

Toilet Seal Vscuum 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.

Toilet Seal 4

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.

Toilet Seal 5

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.

Toilet Seal 8

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.

Toilet Seal 9

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.

Toilet Seal 6

And after greasing up the two new seals,

Toilet Seal 2

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.

Toilet Seal 7

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,

Husky Faucet Nut 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.

Faucet Removal 1

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.

Faucet Removal 2

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.

Jan's Cranberry Orange Nut Bread Sliced

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.

Jan's Chicken Vegetable Soup2

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.

Grinch Christmas Labels

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.

Moose Christmas Labels

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.

Bob snd Maria Sutton at IHOP

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,

Chuy's with Jan

showing off her Christmas sweater and Christmas earrings.

While we were there, I also found the ceiling in our dining room kind of neat.

Chuy's Ceiling

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.

Jan and I in FL 1968-3

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.

Jan - 1964

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.

Pink TV Screen

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.

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 08

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 10

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 17

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 19

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 20

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 21

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 23

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,

NYC 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.

Van Gogh Irisis

Van Gogh Wheat Field with Cypress

Van Gogh Daisys

Van Gogh White Flowers

And of course, one of our two favorites, the other being Starry Night, Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat.

Van Gogh 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.

Van-Gogh-Cat-Shirt_thumb

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.

Serendipity 3

Since we were saving room for dessert, Jan just got the Chicken Tenders,

Serendipity 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,

Serendipity Foot Long Hot 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.

Serendipity Peanut Batter Frozen Hot Chocolate

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.

Serendipity Jan and Greg 3

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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December 8, 2024   Uncategorized

Rock & Roll . . .

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Catching up on last night, we had dinner at the Chop’s Grille Steak House, one of the Jewel’s Specialty restaurants, I.e., one with an additional charge. But in this case it was really worth it.

Jan started off with the Jumbo Crab Cake,

and then moved on with the Wedge Salad.

Then for her entrée, she got her usual Filet.

I got the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail,

and after my Wedge Salad, I got the Bone-In Ribeye.

And then after all of this food, we had absolutely no room for any dessert, though, based on how delicious everything else was, the dessert probably would have been fantastic, Well worth the upcharge,

We did hit some rough water for a while last evening. The ship was rolling enough that the bathroom door was swinging open and closed with each roll.

Rock and Roll.

This morning we were down in the Main Dining Room by about 8;30 for breakfast. Jan got her usual Eggs, Bacon, and Sausage,

while I got a Fruit Plate,

and some pastries.

Getting back to our room, we sat out on the balcony for a while watching the waves go back.

My question is, Should I be worried that our balcony seems to be held together with Ty-Wraps?

One of the channels on our TV is a shot from the Bow Camera.

Surprised someone isn’t playing Titanic out there. And I don’t know if the camera is just not very good at night, or if they turn it off, but the screen is just black at night.

At 2pm we attended a seminar on our upcoming shore excursions, with a lot of good info, before heading back to the room for a nap.

Naps are good!

Before heading out for dinner for our 5pm seating, I did get this shot of the sun setting off our balcony.

Tonight was Formal Night in the Main Dining Room, and as we had heard, there are a lot of different interpretations of ‘Formal’.

For some, yes, it did mean tuxedos and evening gowns. For others, it seems to have meant their best Hawaiian shirt, or maybe a T-Shirt with no holes in it.

Well, maybe only 1 hole.

And some tables were mix and match. I saw a table of eight, with couple in a tux and an evening gown, another couple with a guy in his full-dress Army Senior Master Sargent uniform, and his wife in a evening gown. The 3rd couple were both in T-Shirts, and the 4th couple were both wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Go Figure!

Jan and I were somewhere in the middle.

This was our first night eating in the Main Dining Room, so we didn’t quite know what to expect. But the service was fantastic, and the food was even better.

After a Wedge Salad, Jan got the Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast with Steamed Veggies,

while I got the French Onion Soup,

and the Roasted Beef Tenderloin.

All just perfect.

And making up for going dessertless last night, Jan and I each got two desserts.

Jan’s was the Cappuccino Chocolate Cake and some Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies to take back to the room.

However I went in a more substantial direction, with the Warm Apple Cobble with Ice cream, and the Crème Brulée.

Really delicious, and I wasn’t able to eat all of both.

And since this was our first time to eat dinner in the Main Dining Room, it was also our first time to meet our seatmates,

Jimmy and Lois, who are from San Antonio,

and George and Trudy, who are from Bullhead, AZ.

Both really nice couples.

Jan and I look forward to seeing them tomorrow night.

And getting back to our room, we found this little guy waiting for us.

I think it may be a bunny rabbit, but I’m not sure.


Thought for the Day:

“This is the biggest fool thing we have ever done. The bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives.” – Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy during World War II, advising President Truman on the atomic bomb, 1945.[6] Leahy admitted the error five years later in his memoirs.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


December 8, 2010

Cold Weather and Seafood . . .

Well, our really beautiful weather went away last night when it started raining about 9:30pm and pretty much downpoured all night, and got a lot colder too.

And it didn’t get any better today, with a heavy overcast and more wind. It never got out of the 40’s, and with the wind chill probably was in the 30’s.  Brrrrr!

So this was a great morning to just sit around the rig with a hot cup of coffee, listening to the wind and a little rain.

A little after 1 we headed over to Dickinson to have lunch at Dickinson Seafood, which is one of the best places in the area for inexpensive seafood. Jan loves their 1 catfish fillet, 3 Shrimp, 3 Oyster Combination Platter.

Then it was on up I-45 to Sam’s Club to pick up our prescriptions, then next door to Wal-Mart for some groceries and other stuff.

After stopping by Brandi’s house to pick up our mail, we drove over to Chris’ to visit for a while.

Leaving there, we headed back toward the rig, stopping off at the PO to mail out the first batch of Christmas cards. We finally got home a little before 5 and settled in for another cold night with temps in the 30’s again. More hot coffee was in order.

This ‘Snowbird’ thing isn’t working out quite right. Of course, right now it’s 25 degrees and snowing in Elkhart, IN where we were a couple of months ago, so, on second thought, we’re not doing too bad.

And I think it’s colder in Florida than it is here.

How’s that Global Warming working out for you?


December 8, 2011

Just what I need . . .

another thing to fix.

Jan and I headed out about 11:30 for a day of errands, but our first stop was at King Food for lunch. As usual, our Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce XXXX Spicy with added Jalapenos was delicious, and hot enough to make my head sweat. A really good batch.

After that, I had a series of client visits. First up was a stop at my biggest client to check in and see if he was having any problems.

Finding it all good, I headed over to another client’s office to pick up a check they had left for me. The office was closed today, but luckily this is an office I have a key for, so it was no problem getting my check.

Next I drove over to this same client’s home office to retrieve my Verizon Aircard and Cradlepoint router that I loaned them before they left town. And, since I had never heard back from AT&T Level II Tech Support, I wanted to see if, perhaps, they had fixed the problem remotely.

But getting there, I still did not have an Internet light, so I guess I’ll be back on the phone again tomorrow.

Our next stop was the Wal-Mart near Brandi’s house to pick up some supplies, and then across the street to Sam’s Club for our prescriptions, Kitty Litter, and Joint Juice.

After a stop at a nearby Kroger’s for some lottery tickets, a relaxing Starbuck’s coffee, and a quick pass through Chase Bank to deposit the check I had picked up earlier, we ended up at our daughter Brandi’s for the evening.

We’re babysitting Landon this weekend while Lowell and Brandi have a weekend in Galveston, and Jan wanted to go over Landon’s bath and bed routine.

For supper Brandi fixed a delicious Turkey Enchilada Casserole using ground turkey meat. We want the recipe.

After a long day, we got home about 8 pm, and true to form, Jan was asleep on the sofa by 8:30. Of course, she got up about 6am this morning to watch the sunrise, so it was to be expected.

Tomorrow looks to be another busy day, with two client visits and maybe more. We’ll see.

Now as far as my next repair job.

A few days ago our Splendide washer/dryer combo started making a funny noise that occurred only when the dryer fan motor was operating. But due to the trouble it would be to get the washer/dryer out of its cubbyhole, I decided to take a wait-and-see attitude.

Well, all that gained me was a few days respite. After doing a load of clothes this morning Jan said they not only weren’t dry, they weren’t even warm.

Starting up the dryer and listening, I could tell that although the drum was still turning, the fan motor was not running at all.

So after we got home this evening, I was able to find a Splendide repair manual online, and it looks like it won’t be too difficult . . . I hope.

My first task will be to get the unit out. To aid in that, I’ll use a furniture dolly from our store room, and pull the washer out and on to the dolly, and that way, be able to easily move it out into the living room to get access to it.

Furniture Dolly

According to the manual, removing the top should give me easy access to the fan motor. I also want to check the nearby heater coils to be sure that they weren’t damaged by the lack of air flow over them. There is a thermal overlimit switch in the circuit, but sometimes these don’t work, especially 12-year-old ones like this.

I’ll keep you updated as I work on this, though it’ll probably be this weekend before I have a chance to really tear into it.


December 8, 2012

Fireworks & A Boat Parade . . .

After a very nice day doing pretty much nothing, Jan and I headed out about 3:45 to meet Chris, Linda, Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Franca’s Italian Restaurant up in Clear Lake. Unfortunately Piper had to work, so she couldn’t join us.

We were getting together to have dinner and then park down on Clear Lake to watch the annual Clear Lake Boat Parade. Every year people decorate their boats and cruise around Clear Lake and then out into Galveston Bay and then back to the marina where prizes are awarded for the best looking boat in a number of different categories. We attended a number of times over the years and have always enjoyed it.

Franca’s was called Franco’s until a few years ago when the daughter took over the family restaurant from her father, Franco.

We first ate at Franco’s on December 17th, 1978. I remember the date so specifically because it was the first place we ate at after we moved here from Montgomery, AL when I went to work for NASA on the Space Shuttle.

When we first were there, Franca was just a little girl running around the restaurant. It doesn’t seem like long enough for her to have grown up and to be running things now.

But after all the buildup for going to Franca’s, Jan and I got there first and found they didn’t open until 5pm, which wouldn’t give up enough time to have a nice dinner and get to the boat parade by 6.

So I called an audible (by calling Chris and Brandi) and we moved things to Mom Alone’s Mexican Restaurant right next door. The food was good, and Landon was good (he really likes chips and salsa), so it was a very nice meal. We’ll save Franca’s for another time.

Leaving the restaurant and meeting back at Chris’, we all headed to the Lockheed building right next door where we could sit our chairs right out on the side of Clear Lake and watch the boat parade come by.

But this year they started out with a great fireworks show out over the lake that lasted for almost 10 minutes.

Boat Parade 1

Boat Parade 2

Boat Parade 3

Boat Parade 4

Boat Parade 5

Boat Parade 6

Boat Parade 7

Boat Parade 8

And like all good fireworks shows, this one had a great finale.

Boat Parade 9

Boat Parade 10

Boat Parade 11

Boat Parade 12

Then a few minutes later the boats started moving into position and headed our way. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a lot of good boat pics. The distance was too great, and the light was too low. But I did get a few good ones.

They had everything from sailboats,

Boat Parade 14

to cabin cruisers,

Boat Parade 13

to speedboats, and more.

Boat Parade 18

Boat Parade 15

Boat Parade 19

One thing that was kind of interesting, at least for us, was that the sailboat shown before, the one with the tilted mast, got stuck in the mud. The channel is a little narrow there, and outside the channel, it’s just a mud bottom, perfect to get your keel stuck in.

After the parade was over, several power boats converged and pulled him out of the mud.

Boat Parade 17

So after a really nice family evening (except for Piper) we all headed home for the night.

Looking at the weather report, it looks like winter is finally on its way. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 81 with a low of 51. But then Monday the high is 53 with a low of 35. And that’s pretty much the way it’s supposed to stay for the next 10 days or so.

Nice.


December 8, 2013

A Dreary, Sleepy Sunday . . .

Today was just such a cold, overcast day that we just decided to stay home. A few days ago I had put together a crockpot of Chicken Vegetable Soup, and this certainly seemed like a good day for it.

I did come across a couple of interesting things online. The first one is the Best Tourist Attraction in Every State. Check and see how many you’ve done and let me know.

The second one is pretty neat. It’s the LA CARAVANE DANS LE CIEL. This translates to “The Caravan in the Sky”. A Caravan is what most of Europe calls an RV.

RV in the Sky 2

I guess this might be the solution if you’re parked in that beautiful heavily wooded RV park and find your satellite dish blocked.

RV in the Sky 1

Although it might be a problem if you take the dog out for a late night walk and forget you’re 50 feet in the air.

An RV in the Sky


December 8, 2014

Yummmm!

After a nice, slow morning, Jan and I headed out a little before 2pm for lunch and errands. Or errands and lunch. Or more like, an errand, lunch, and more errands.

Our first stop was over in Willis to pick up my pants and one of our Alaskan coats at the alteration place. I had my FRC jeans from our gate guarding hemmed and our Alaskan coat repaired.

We never had time to get the pants hemmed because we bought them at the Cavender’s in Huntsville, and then started on the new gate later that afternoon. So we just kind of let them bunch up at our ankles.

Our Alaskan coat

Alaska Coat

that did such a great job keeping us warm on the gate had a couple of seams coming open under the arms so we wanted to get that repaired too.

Finishing up. we headed about 15 miles down I-45 to the Red Robin located at The Woodlands. Jan and I have been wanting a good burger, and it’s hard to do better than Red Robin. And of course there’s the Bottomless Fries.

Red Robin - The Woodlands

Jan got her usual Shroom Burger with Cheddar Cheese, but I went with something a little different this time, the Big Sky Burger.

Red Robin Big Sky Burger

I normally do something like their Burnin’ Love Burger with the Ghost Pepper Sauce, but the Big Sky Burger has a 1/2 pound blackened Black Angus beef patty, topped with crispy bacon, onions drizzled in Sriracha sauce, goat cheese crumbles, arugula and roasted garlic aioli served on a toasted ciabatta bun.

With the aioli and the arugula, it was a little more froo-froo than my usual choices, but the picture in the menu convinced me to try it.

And I was really glad I did. A really great burger. And did I mention the Bottomless Fries?

Finishing our meal, we drove across the Interstate and down the road to The Container Store, one of our favorite places. We both enjoy just walking up and down the rows, checking out all the neat storage ideas and gadgets. We always find something we want, but not necessarily need, but then that’s the fun of the place.

Heading home, we made a quick Kroger’s stop before getting home about 5 pm.

Another nice day.

Tomorrow, I’m going to do some stuff around the rig before we head over to the Colorado River TT on Wednesday.


December 8, 2015

See, I Knew It Was Just Her . . .

Jan and I headed out for Houston about 1:15. We were meeting up with everyone to do the Houston Zoo Lights Christmas light show. But we had left early so we could make a stop and then grab some lunch before ending up at Brandi’s house.

Our first stop was Harbor Freight Tools because I wanted to get a couple of extra blades for my Multi-Function Oscillating Tool that I plan to use to cut into the wallboard behind the shower to track down my leak. But Harbor Freight is one of those places that you can’t just go in and buy only what you want. You end up with 10 or 15 other things things that are on sale and you just had to have. Even Jan found several things she needed.

Well, maybe not needed, but really wanted.

Finishing up at HFT, and remembering there was a Whataburger nearby, this became our go-to place for lunch. Although I went to the one in Carthage, TX once or twice a week while we were on the gate, this was both Jan’s and my first time to actually eat in one. It was always take-out before.

Regular readers will remember my regular trials and tribulations with the cashier at the Whataburger in Carthage. She could just not get my order straight, no matter what I did.

I would repeatedly tell her I wanted a #6 with cheese, and ONLY mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, and grilled onions. Her next utterance would always be, “You want lettuce on that?”

And then we would circle back around a couple of more times until I finally saw the correct items on the little screen in front of me.

And then we would start in on mine.

“You want lettuce on that?”

ARGGGGGGHHHHH!

But this time when I told the young lady that I wanted a #6 large combo with cheese, and ONLY mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, and grilled onions, she hit a few keys, read my order back to me, and we were ready to move on to my order.

See, I knew it wasn’t me.

Well, sometimes it is. But not this time.

Wrapping up our really good Whataburger meal, we headed over to Brandi and Lowell’s about 15 minutes away, getting there just in time to hop in the car with Lowell to go pick Landon up at his school which is only about 10 minutes from their house.

Then we were off to pick up Brandi at her office building at the corner of Westheimer and Beltway 8, so we were in the thick of the Houston going-home traffic by then. But we got to the Houston Zoo about 5:15, still in time to get a good parking spot close to the entrance, which was nice considering how tired we were walking back to the car.

The Zoo itself closes at 5pm, and then reopens at 6pm for the Zoo Lights, and Chris, Linda, and Piper showed right just a little before they opened the gate.

The Zoo Lights were really spectacular, much better than the ones at Moody Gardens in Galveston that we checked out several years ago. However I think that’s mainly due to all the big oak trees at the zoo that they don’t have at Moody Gardens.

Zoo Lights 1

Zoo Lights 2

Landon got one of those whirling LED wands and had a great time with it.

Zoo Lights - Landon

Zoo Lights 3

Zoo Lights 4

Zoo Lights 5

Even the flamingos were still up and about, although they don’t look as pink in the dark.

Zoo Lights - Flamingos

Zoo Lights 6

Jan even had a moose sighting, probably her first one in Houston.

Zoo Lights - Moose

Brandi, Piper, and Landon even got a carousel ride together.

Zoo Lights - Carousel

Every time you turned a corner it was just one spectacular scene after another.

Zoo Lights 7

They even had a large ‘S’ gauge train set on display, one of which was Landon’s favorite, Thomas the Tank Engine.

Zoo Lights - Trains

Zoo Lights 8

Zoo Lights 9

Zoo Lights 11

Zoo Lights 12

One of the last places we visited had this display of Jellyfish. Really neat.

Zoo Lights - Jellyfish

Zoo Lights - Jellyfish 2

Finishing up on a real Christmas note,

Zoo Lights 10

we got our hugs and goodbyes from Chris, Linda, and Piper, and headed out, reversing our trip by dropping Brandi off at her office so she could pick up her truck, and then we all headed back to Katy to Brandi and Lowell’s house.

Then getting Jan settled in, I turned around and headed back to Columbus and the rig. I did stop off at the Kroger’s for gas, now down to $1.56 a gallon.

How Low Can It Go?

I finally got home about 10:15, got this blog done so I could get to bed early and get an early start tomorrow on all my plumbing projects.


December 8, 2016

Sam & Steven . . .

Jan was in Happy Homemaker mode this morning, so she whipped up a loaf of Cranberry Orange Nut Bread, made with fresh cranberries.

Jan's Cranberry Orange Nut Bread

Unfortunately it wasn’t quite cool and ready to try before it was time to leave for our San Antonio day trip. So we were on the road about 11am with our first stop the Tuesday Morning in the Olmos area of town.

It only took Jan about 10 minutes to find 4 boxes of high-end cards, a total of 60, that were originally priced at $20 a box, so $80 of cards for only $25. Nice.

Then it was back down south to the City Base area to the Sam’s Club for my prescription and a couple of other things. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to use the new Scan & Go app that I talked about yesterday. Since I checked out at the pharmacy, I just let them handle the other two items as well. Maybe next time.

Then it was a couple of miles down the road to the theater to see Dr. Strange, the latest in the Marvel Universe pantheon of superhero movies. Although I guess you can’t really call Dr. Strange a ‘superhero’.

His backstory is a little different from the typical superhero one – you know, born on another planet, bitten by a radioactive spider, really a Norse god, or maybe given a green lantern by a dying alien, all the normal ways to gain superpowers.

No, Dr. Steven Strange was a world-renowned, but arrogant and egotistical, neurosurgeon whose hands were seriously injured in a car accident. As a result he can no longer do surgery. So after exhausting the range of Western medicine, he journeys to Nepal to seek out an ancient sorceress to heal him. Instead he becomes a master sorcerer himself and resolves to spend his life making up for his past.

The casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange is an almost perfect match to the comic book version that I remember from the 60’s.

doctor-stranges

Although not nearly as cerebral as Arrival , the sci-fi movie we saw a couple of days ago, it was fun and added a new link to the ongoing storyline in the Avengers’ movies and TV series. Well recommended if you’re into this kind of movie.

It seems like most sci-fi movies, and Marvel movies in particular, have extra scenes during the credits, scenes that usually add a lead-in to the next movie, and sometimes the whole over-arcing Marvel storyline. And the RunPee app always gives us the info on these extra scenes.

Since this movie’s been out for over a month, there were only about 10 people in the theater, and most of them stayed for the first extra scene in the middle of the credits, but only Jan and I, and two others, stayed for the second one at the end of the credits. When I see people leaving early like this, I’m always tempted to yell out that there’s more, and I have done it a couple of times in the past, but not this time.

After the movie, our last stop was the nearby Cracker Barrel for their Thursday Turkey and Dressing. Just as good as always.

Then it was back on the road, heading home, getting back to the rig about 6:30.

A very nice day.


December 8, 2017

Snow Flurries? No, 2” of Snow Instead . . .

When I went to bed this morning about 1pm, I looked outside and it was not snowing. But a few minutes after 7 when Jan got up, I heard her squealing.

Getting up and looking out, it was, to quote Landon, ‘a winter wonderland’.

Snow in Park

Snow on Tree

Snow on Truck

That’s 2” on the ruler.

Snow on Ruler

In case you’re wondering, that snow in my rain gauge melted out to .25” of rain.

Snow on Rain Gauge

Although the ground was covered in snow, the roads were clear and not slick at all, so I had no problem getting to work.

It never got out of the 30’s today, with high 20’s tonight. But tomorrow we’re looking for low 60’s  That’s Texas weather, what can I say?

I spent most of the day repairing epilator cords. Going through some old cabinets I  found a box of cords of all different types, many with no or broken connectors. When I asked my client about them he said no one had been able to repair them.

Don’t know who had worked on them before, but by the time I left a little before 4pm, I had 17 of them repaired. And most of them only needed to be resoldered, so I don’t know what the problem was. The other few did need new connectors made, which I did out of old ballpoint pen tubes and heat shrink tubing. They looked almost new.

I’ve still got about a dozen more to go that I should finish up on Monday. Unless another crisis rears its head.

Getting home about 4:45, Jan and I headed right back out and up I-45 to the Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant up in Webster. And yes, we had Mexican just last night.. What’s your point?

We pretty much go to Chuy’s for their Mexi-Cobb Salad along with their Creamy Jalapeno Dressing.

Chuy's Mex-Cobb Salad 2

But I also started out with a small bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup. Very good, and filled with chicken and white cheese.

Chuy's Tortilla Soup

Then for dessert, we shared a piece of their Tres Leches cake, but we were so full that we had to bring h half of it home.

Chuy's Tres Leches

We’ve got a busy social schedule for the weekend, with lunch tomorrow with old friends, Bob and Maria, followed up with dinner on Sunday with another old friend down in Galveston at the Old Mexican Café.

Really looking forward to both get-togethers.


December 8, 2018

Baby, It Was Cold Outside . . .

We had a nice slow morning/afternoon today, mostly just doing much of nothing.

Really nice.

Jan and I headed out for the Kemah Boardwalk about 3:45, wanting to get ahead of the expected crowd for the Boat Parade. Miss Piper was supposed to meet us there but had to bow out at the last minute.

Her loss, and ours too, since we were hoping to see her.

We planned to have a leisurely dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse and then walk right next door to the channel between Clear Lake and Galveston Bay for the parade.

We got seated within a couple of minutes so we didn’t need to use the Priority Seating that comes with our Landry’s Select Club membership, but it was nice to have as a backup.

We started off, as usual, with our favorite Wedge Salad, one of the best we’ve found anywhere.

Saltgrass Kemah Wedge Salad

Then, continuing on down our ‘favorites’ path, Jan got the Center-Cut Filet, with the Grilled Green Beans,

Saltgrass Center Cut Filet

while I got the 12oz Ribeye, also with the Grilled Green Beans.

Saltgrass Kemah Ribeye

The beans are really good, but are not on the ‘Sides’ menu. On our last visit to Saltgrass, Jan noticed them in a photo of another entrée, and found we could order them too.

We also each got a serving of the creamy horseradish sauce to go with our steaks. And it also makes a good dip for the green beans.

Everything was as good as we’ve come to expect from Saltgrass, and so knowing we wouldn’t be able to finish them, we both got desserts.

So Jan got the Cheesecake,

Saltgrass Kemah Two Fork Cheesecake

while I got the Pecan Pie Bread Pudding with Bourbon Cream Sauce.

Saltgrass Kemah Pecan Pie Bread Pudding

As the waiter sat it down in front of me, I was stunned. It looked a lot smaller in the photo on the menu. It was the size of my dinner plate.

Delicious, and both of us had plenty to take home.

By now it was a little before 6pm, so we headed over to the channel to get a viewing spot along the rail.

And it was a good thing since the crowd filled in behind us pretty quickly. The bad thing was that the first of the boats didn’t show up for another hour, and it was freezing. Or at least darn close.

Although we were bundled up pretty good, with coats, gloves, and watch caps, the 45 degree temps and the15 knot wind running along the channel gave us a wind chill in the mid to high 30’s. Yikes!

But finally the boats started showing up a little after 7pm. So to finish up I’ll just post some of the photos, with some more tomorrow night.

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 1

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 2

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 3

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 6

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 7

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 12

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 13

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 18

2018 Christmas Boat Parade 9


December 8, 2019

Subways and Ferry’s and Roses! Oh My!

Today was another long, busy day, starting with the breakfast buffet here at the hotel, then an Uber to the 911 Memorial, a subway ride, a ferry ride, another subway ride, a walk in the park, and another Uber back to the hotel.

Then about 5:30 we took an Uber down to Chelsea Pier 61 for our Bateaux Holiday Lights Dinner Cruise, which went from 7pm to 10.

Jan on NYC Dinner Cruise

We had great views, great food, a great band, and a fantastic time.

And Jan got roses since this was pretty much an Anniversary celebration, delayed from this past September.

Jan on NYC Dinner Cruise with Roses

And like last night, we didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 10:30.

Tomorrow we plan on spending as much time as possible at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then dinner at Serendipity.


December 8, 2020

Jan Goes For The Food . . .

I Go For The Scenery . . . And The Food!

After all, their slogan is Eats!  Drinks!  Scenic Views!

About 12:15 Jan and I headed up Webster way to the Clear Lake Dermatology Office near Ellington Field. It had been a year since I had last seen Dr. Joe and it was time for another head check.

I had a couple of spots I wanted him to look at, and hopefully just freeze off. At least I hope that’s all it needs.

Or else it could be another session in, what I call, The Devil’s Easy Bake Oven.

PDT Extra Crispy 500

Or Photo Dynamic Therapy.

I had called yesterday, wanting to get an appointment before the end of the year so I wouldn’t have to pay the annual deductible yet. I asked for a Tuesday or Thursday appointment before the end of year, and after a few moments, the nurse said, “How about tomorrow at 1:15. So I guess they had a cancellation.

Great!

And as it turned out, a little poking and prodding, and a few squirts of Liquid Nitrogen, and I was done for another year. So no Extra Crispy in the Easy Bake Oven this time.

I did have a little fun teasing Dr. Joe about his ‘toy’ that I found around back of the office parked in a little, almost hidden, alcove.

It was a shiny red, very new-looking, Porsche 911, which starts out at about $100,000, and goes up, WAY UP, from there. So when I asked him if that was his shiny red toy hidden around back, he looked surprised, and somewhat sheepish, and mumbled something about “his other car was in the shop.”

I was afraid to ask what his ‘other car’ was.

Then it was on down Hwy 3 to one of our X-favorite places, Twin Peaks. I say ‘X’ because we used to eat here all the time, maybe about once a week, and even coordinated our visits to the work schedule of our favorite server, Lauren.

Twin Peaks 4 500 Twin Peaks 4a - Lauren Bell 500

But we kind of drifted away when Lauren left to get married, and they kept dropping our favorite dishes, first the Average Joes, mini-hot dog sliders, and then the Pulled Pork Sliders.

But they still have Jan’s favorite Tomato-Basil Soup, and my Spicy Venison Chili, so with that, a House Salad, and splitting a Smoked Pork Cubano Sandwich, we’re back.

And like I said, the scenery was nice too. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t Lingerie Week.

Twin Peaks Lingerie Week 500

But you can’t have everything, I guess.

Then after Jan dropped off a favorite Christmas Sweatshirt to be altered, our next stop was the Webster PO for Christmas Stamps, and then a quick visit to my client’s to fix a small problem. Then, after an HEB stop for a few things we were home about 5.

A very nice day.


December 8, 2022

And The ETR Is . . .

Lunch today was at Gator’s, a first of us during the week. Normally, Gator’s is a weekend thing for us, for their great brunch. But we noticed a FB ad a couple of days ago for their Thursday lunch special, the Fried Catfish Dinner, and it looked really good.

Gator's Catfish Dinner

With Fries, Cole Slaw, Jalapeno Hushpuppies, and Cornbread, it was delicious, and at only $9.95, it was a great deal.

Then it was on up the road to Wal-Mart for a few things before heading home for the day.

I called into Roland’s this morning to give them a credit card for a deposit on the engine repair and ask the receptionist if she had any idea what the ETR (Estimated Time for Repair) for our Jeep might be, or would I need to talk to Roland. She said they had the engine out, and the repair would take 2-3 days, which sounded about right to me.

I’ve done engine rebuilds like this in the distant past, and I could have done it in about that time. And I always did them ‘in situ’, still in the car, since I didn’t have the luxury of an engine lift or stand.

BUT, she then said it might take a couple of weeks to get all the parts in, said that they’re having a lot of problems getting on-time deliveries from their suppliers.

So now we wait.

Tomorrow is another Alvin Opry night, with dinner first at the local Monterey’s beforehand, so probably little or no blog tomorrow night.

Then on Saturday we’re still hoping for the rain to hold off for the Three Acre Food Truck Park’s Country Christmas Market. The rain chances have been dropping, so there is something to look forward to.


December 8, 2023

Christmas In Cuero . . .

I picked up Jan at Brandi’s about 1 this afternoon for our 2-hour trip down to Cuero. We spent several months down here when we were gate-guarding back in 2016-2017 and really liked the small-town flavor. So when Jan saw an ad in one of the Texas magazines for Christmas in Cuero, it went on our calendar.

We got into Cuero a little after 3pm after a nice ride through the Texas countryside. Not an Interstate in sight. Of course, two-lane back roads in Texas have a 70 mph speed limit so it’s all good.

Like most places we’ve spent any time in, we have our favorite restaurants, so we decided to have ‘linner’ at one of them, Maya Mexican Restaurant, before we checked into our hotel room.

And Maya was just as we remembered it from when we last ate here in February 2017. And it’s your typical old-timey Mexican place with the colorful carved booths, tables, and chairs.

Jan got the Beef Fajita Chile Relleno,

covered in mushrooms and cheese.

I got the Fajitas Regias (Royal Fajitas) with a little of everything, including a grilled sausage link and a large roasted jalapeno that came out separately.

I will say though that either the serving size got larger or my stomach got smaller, since I don’t remember it being this big, but it was all delicious, and we both had some to take home, Or maybe take hotel, I guess.

We got checked in to the Fairbridge Inn & Suites Hotel for our two-night stay about 4pm, and decided to nap for a bit, since all of the Christmas stuff didn’t start until 6pm.

Finally heading out, we drove around for a while to get our bearings and then decided to do the Christmas In The Park drive-thru and save the Downtown part for tomorrow.

And starting the drive-thru, we both quickly agreed that it was probably the best Christmas Light drives we’ve ever seen. And that includes the one in Branson two years ago.

The photos really don’t do it justice. You’re just surrounded on all sides by lights.

Really nice!

As to why we were gate-guarding down here in this area, this Google Maps view shows you. This is just one small area near here, covering a few square miles, and each one of those white dots is a drill site.

Oil that is. Black Gold. Texas Tea.