Fickle Finger of the Weather

 

Mi 

Here is what happened in a matter of days.  Unfortunately the aftermath of that 14 degrees coupled with 13 hours of no heat at our house, to days on end at others’ houses, has done billions of dollars in damage.  I am learning a lot about Texas energy and the idiots that run it.  Most do not live in Texas (one a resident of Germany) and half have no gas or oil background.  I am surprised Hunter Biden wasn’t on the board.  A half dozen have resigned.  Imagine that!

I can’t even remember anything about the days after the big freeze!  We have the water off into the house, faucets are open, the heat is on, the backflow for the sprinkler system had been drained and shut down before we left.  The plumber is set to meet us the morning after we arrive home,  we will stay in the motorhome until everything is squared away. Having the water off before the pipes froze would have been better but everyone was busy tending to their own affairs.  It was an acquaintance who is good friends with my friend who I asked to go to our house because she lived close.  God bless her and her husband for doing so.

I played and finally won at mahjong on Tuesday.  I had a very long dry spell.  On Wednesday Sue, Marissa and I went to the beauty school to get facials and then to lunch.  We sat outside on a beautiful patio in perfect weather.  Thursday was ladies’ breakfast and I picked up Marissa and Chris.  When turning off the feeder road to head north, my car shifted from D to 6!  I have told Ted repeatedly that the car changes gears usually from D to S (sports) or I (no idea) and today 6!  A new one!  

Chris said she heard and felt it change gears and saw my hands on the steering wheel, not near the console gear shifter.  It jerked enough to catch the curb at the edge of the rim but the car was driving ok.  Then the tire monitor came on showing my tire losing air.  I pulled into an Advanced Auto store parking lot and called Ted.  He came to give me his car while I got Coach Net on the phone and gave them all the info.  We left for the restaurant while he waited for the tire service.  We needed new tires on it so he just went to where he bought 4 new tires for the Expedition the day before and had 4 new ones put on the Jeep.

I Googled Jeep GC Summit gear issues and a whole lot of stuff came up!  It isn’t my imagination!  There is lots of info and recalls concerning this gear shifter.  So off to the Jeep dealer we will go.  This putting out fires crap is getting old!  Niles and Sue sold their coach house site across the street so everyone was over there helping clean out the storage area.  We decided to all gather for dinner on the patio at their new house.  It was a beautiful and fun evening.  

Friday was my third day in a row to get up early!  That hasn’t happened for a year.  We had 9 am appointments at the dentist in Mexico.  I requested a cleaning and exam, Ted went for a cleaning only.  I have a sensitive tooth I wanted her to look at.  From what she told me, it is a periodontal issue due mostly to nerve sensitivity from shrinking gums that comes with age and is not a tooth issue.  I haven’t been to the periodontist since we left Florida in 2001!  

Ted had his cleaning and a crown came off.  We didn’t even know he had a crown!  Since he has swallowed at least two teeth off his plate, we were glad it happened there.  They re-cemented it and no harm done. 

Ted went for his departure pedicure (as opposed to his arrival pedicure) while I finished up.  We met up and had coffee at Renee’s then headed to Jessica’s to get our last, maybe second last, trip to the drug store.  We had a few lists to fill.  By the time we started back across the bridge to Customs, it was 93 degrees!  

We chose to go to Southern Fried for dinner.  This restaurant has a very limited menu but what they have is very good.  Entrees are fish fillet, fried shrimp or chicken tenders.  They have about a half dozen sides.  No bread, no desserts!  We waited half an hour for a table, our drinks were brought and she announced they had no fish!  This is a Friday night in Lent in an 85% Catholic Hispanic area and you have no fish!?! I don’t like fried shrimp!  Shrimp cocktail and coconut shrimp are fine but not fried shrimp.  I couldn’t eat the chicken tenders so we got up and left.  Luby’s was closed so we ended up in the drive through at McDonald’s.  Whatever!  

We are down to two weeks before we leave.  It has been a different experience down here this year.  The stopping of the walls has left construction sites a mess.  The daily track meet sees up to 1000 people PER DAY coming across into the US in our sector.  The tent cities and “containers vs. cages” are back in style.  Same thing, different names.  Helicopters have been a daily occurrence.  We have had several nights of what we refer to as “the track meet.”  Our entertainment has been almost non existent.  We did see three shows but that was all.  Most entertainment was within our “bubble.”  The weather allowed lots of impromptu meetings in the street.  Everyone was so ready to communicate with others.  Ted had his shooting, I had my mahjong!  They were lifesavers for us.  Staying home probably wouldn’t have been much different.  However, we look forward to getting home and dealing with what awaits us!

Almost to 80!

How fickle our weather!  Just enough winter weather like Texas has not seen in 40 years and then quickly back to spring temperatures as if nothing had happened.  But oh so much did in those freezing hours.

Trucks were sidelined because of the roads and deliveries stopped.  Vaccinations were stopped.  Gas stations ran out of gas.  Supermarket shelves went bare.  Ceilings collapsed, pipes burst and the whole grapefruit harvest down here is ruined.  Sheltering in place meant no heat and no water for so many.

People in the next park got frustrated enough to get hooked up and move over here.  There are several empty spots where people have not come down so they made arrangements with the absentee owners.  Five days later, when their power and water returned, they moved back.

We never lost power or water so where unscathed by the predicament.  We could not get bananas or eggs.  A few days later we got both.  Eggs, bread, milk.  That’s what everyone was looking for.  Does everyone eat French toast during storms?

Our big concern is what has happened at home.  Pipes froze.  The water was turned off after the fact.  The faucets are now open.  When the thaw came we are hoping what water remained in the pipes between the shut off and faucets drained out.  We have decided to have a plumber meet us the morning after we arrive home to turn on the water.  If it is ok, great!  If not, he will be there to fix it before we get much damage.  We also want someone in the know to tend to the gas water heater.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

Ted is back to shooting and I am still playing mahjong.  We play 2-4 in the afternoon.  Those are the hours that can drag so it is a nice diversion.  Last night we attended Mass, ate out and then saw a family act at the park down the road.  They have a several hundred person clubhouse and I estimate about 100 were socially distanced inside.  Absolutely no food brought in or for sale.  Not sure that would be more of a super spreader than 100 bodies but I just put on my mask and eat before I go.  Whatever makes them happy.

In the meantime stay warm!  Stay healthy!

The laughable boil water notice!

My friends ceiling collapsed.

Worst Texas Weather in 40 Years

We have experienced weather you would never think you would find in Texas.  I am grateful that we have not lost power or water here in the RV.  We turned our hydroponic heater on, I laid towels, pillows and blankets along the bottom of the slides.  We never realized how much air came in at the floor but it was so cold you couldn’t ignore it.  Those two things kept us very comfortable.  We also have a generator we can use if power ever goes down.  Ted put diesel kleen in our tank to keep the fuel from gelling in the cold temps then ran the motor with a load on it and then through the generator too.  Next up was the water situation.  We get water in two ways.  First is a hose connection right to the faucets or a heated tank that is filled with a hose and is used with a built in pump.  We also use a pressure regulator between the faucet and hose.  

Our pressure regulator froze so Ted unhooked it and brought it in to defrost.  He also took the hose off the bib.  We had to use bottled water to drink and cook and the water pump with the filled tank for other tasks.  It worked fine.  There is a pump switch at every sink so it is easy to flip the switch to wash your hands or fill the sink to wash dishes.  Flushing is a little more thought provoking in that you have to remember to push the switch to flush and it might be a bit out of reach from your seat!  

We have a weather station so watched it religiously.  We had no precipitation so no ice or slippery steps.  But we couldn’t put the hose back on until the temp was above 32 degrees.  Ted did not get to shoot due to the weather but we continued to play mahjong in the clubhouse  

Things had gotten worse at home and I was monitoring our thermostat there.  I knew the power was on as long as I could get the temperature.  Then the inevitable happened, the app went off line.  It took 13 hours before the heat came back on.  Now we were concerned about what had happened over those 13 hours.  The streets were too bad to ask anyone to drive far so I called a friend across the highway.  She and her husband went over the following morning.  It was determined we had no water coming in.  Something was frozen somewhere and it seemed to be stopping all water flow.  Ted asked them to turn off the main water valve in the garage.  We had two outside faucets opened a tiny bit to deal with pressure, vacuum, and thawing.  The jury was still out.

Our clubhouse was offered up as a warming spot or overnight shelter to the folks next door in the park with no power or water.  So we moved our mahjong to Sue’s house.  We are not prepared to go in there for awhile until it has been thoroughly cleaned.  Our bubble is very careful and unknown people sleeping and using the bathrooms just didn’t sit well with our plans.

On Tuesday morning when I knew we had power I asked a friend close by to go over.  She and her husband went in and checked our water.  Nothing coming through.  Ted told them to turn the water off at the main valve in the garage and open a faucet a bit.  On Wednesday Nancy went over and checked for stained ceilings and walls, water on the floor or sounds indicating running water.  Nothing at all was found. But still nothing came out of the faucet.  Both she and my friend from Tuesday had burst water pipes so I am hoping if there was any water languishing in the pipes for two months, perhaps it had “disappeared.”   We will keep an eye on it.  If a pipe bursts it can’t be too much water left in there.  

Out temp went to 57 today so we walked to the mailbox and then stopped at Marissa and Steve’s to ask a question.  We ended up staying with another couple for a visit.  Everyone is starved for social contact.  Ted’s gun guys and my mahjong ladies have been our life savers.  

A bright spot was a photo and short video of CeCe helping Kelly make breakfast.  She spent the weekend with Grammie so her parents could have a Valentine’s weekend.  In the video she stirs, then applauds her effort, picks up the spoon and flips Bisquick into her hair.  Kelly could not contain her laughter and neither could we.  

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I hope everyone is weathering this storm.  The stories we are hearing are heartbreaking.  I guess it isn’t nice to fool Mother Nature whether it be a virus or a storm.  

And the Cold Has Arrived

Not too much is going on.  Between covid and such cold temps, everyone is pretty much just hibernating. Tuesday and Thursday I played mahjong and said goodbye to Tom and Eileen.  They planned to leave on Valentine’s Day but with the weather moving in they decided to get in front of it and make it home to Florida.  They should be home now.

In honor of our cold weather we had tortellini soup from the freezer one night and chili another night.  Just to get out we went to Southern Fried for fish and chicken tenders.  Saturday was Mass, Cracker Barrel and then disappointment.  We went to a park that had advertised a show featuring a hypnotist plus dinner.  It said $20, $8 for only the show.  Not true!  It was a dinner and show package for only park residents.  No $8 show tickets.  Since we all live and die by The Winter Texan newspaper, it would be nice if the park social directors checked their write up on Thursday when the paper comes out.  Corrections could then be put on their Facebook page!  The lady apologized and we came home.  I will call parks from now on since this is the third thing that was canceled or advertised incorrectly.  First year this has ever happened.

We are, of course, concerned about these frigid temps both here and at home.  We shut the sprinkler system down and drained the backflow before we left.  Ted covered the outside faucets.  I can control the thermostat from here so I put the temp up just to be a little more careful.  We have Nancy and our friend Barry watching it all, meanwhile we are praying nothing bad happens.

We will have to drop our hose overnight and maybe even longer.  We are watching our weather station. Ted put water in our fresh water tank which is heated.  We will use that with the water pump to shower, do dishes, laundry and flush.  The rest will be bottled water.  Our furnace has been running constantly.  We stopped at Auto Supply to get diesel additive to keep the fuel from gelling during these freezing temps.  Now all we can do is wait and hope we don’t lose power.  We have a generator though if that happens.  

Just a touch of humor over all the concern about China.  I learned my first mandarin word!

Running Out of Things To Do

Thursday was our biweekly breakfast out.  There were 16 ladies present.  We had a good meal and a great visit.  There was time between returning home and leaving for mahjong.  Then there was a little time before we had our pizza in the coach house, taking advantage of a sale of $8 for a large one topping pizza.  

We just hung out on Friday, playing Mexican Train in the evening.  And I won!  Saturday we went to Mass and then to the Mexican restaurant.  The show we had planned to see was cancelled.  One of the 4 ladies in the group had lost a son in a truck accident and the show was cancelled.  I don’t know if the 2/20 show will go on or not.  Such a terrible thing for a mother to bear.  

Sunday was the normal shooting for Ted, mahjong in the afternoon for me.  Our biggest decision each day is “what should we have for dinner?”  An extra tray of lasagna that I put in the freezer filled in on Sunday along with Texas garlic toast.  We have a tabletop oven we keep in the coach house so Ted tended the lasagna and toast out there.  I carried our plates and drinks out and we ate at the table. Makes for easy clean up.  

I decided on Monday to work on our summer trip.  Using RV Wizard I plotted our course for 5,000 miles over 68 days.  It will take us to the west coast of Florida, then the east coast of Florida and up through the Carolinas, into Virginia and then Pennsylvania with a week at Gettysburg and another week at Raystown Lake for my family reunion.  Once that is over we will travel across Ohio, into Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and home.  I sent the info to Ted and Eileen telling them now is the time to speak up.  So far, no comments!  

That afternoon, the four of us decided to do the hamburger night drive thru at Mission West park for dinner, followed by more Mexican Train.  I did not win!

We are due for some very cold weather this coming weekend.  It has been such a beautiful 7 weeks that I guess we shouldn’t complain but I am dreading the cold temps!

I did get our March wedding trip all set up too.  We will fly on a Thursday, arriving late so we will stay at the airport Hilton.  Then we have a 110 mile drive to the wedding venue the next day.  As godparents of the groom we are invited to the rehearsal dinner and because I will be a Communion Minister I will have to attend the rehearsal to know how I am to carry out my duties.  A dinner will follow.  

The wedding is at 1:30 pm on Saturday, followed by a gathering at a local brewery, followed by a cocktail hour at the event center, followed by dinner, then dancing!  No wedding is complete in our family without a Proud Mary moment complete will “rolling on the river” (floor)!  We are a bit long in the tooth to be rolling around on the floor so we will just clap and cheer.  

We will return to Cincinnati on Sunday, returning to the airport Hilton where we will spend 2 nights.  It just makes sense to not check in a hotel Sunday night and check into a new one on Monday.  We have an early morning flight on Tuesday.  I have contacted Ted’s family and we will have lunch on Monday.  I will make time to visit my family that did not attend the wedding.  I hope to see a few friends too if we can work it out.  We stay busy when we go “home.”

Still Summer!

Ted went to Mission Skeet Club on Sunday and I played mahjong, still not winning!  I had put the tough brisket in the crockpot before I left, along with with onion soup and liquid.  Several hours later it was eatable.  We had open faced roast beef sandwiches for dinner and they weren’t bad.

Monday was another beautiful day.  We took advantage of the sunshine and went to Mexico.  

We did some shopping and then availed ourselves of the beautiful new restaurant on the second floor of the new Canada store.  There were only four other customers and yet there was lovely live music.  Food was good and very reasonable.  It was a pleasure to leave a nice tip for both the waiter and musicians.  

Here are a few photos of the restaurant and the plaza where our dentist is.  We have our teeth cleaned once a year here and then another time at home.  

After eating a late lunch we didn’t really want another meal so we used our BOGOF sundae at Star’s drive in that evening.  They were small and the ice cream grainy, not nearly as good as the shakes the week before.  There is a coupon in the Winter Texan weekly newspaper.

Tuesday, Ted shot clay birds from our gun range and I went to the clubhouse to play mahjong.  I not only won, but won three games!  Kathy won one and the rest went to the wall (no winner).  Tough crowd.

Wednesday was an unplanned day where I had no specific plans but Ted went back to Mission Skeet Club.  He usually shoots three times a week and I play mahjong three times so our time apart and together really evens out.

My friend Marissa and her husband Steve arrived from Nebraska.  They were held up having endoscopies for Barrett’s.  They had stopped by on Tuesday and visited with Ted so I walked over to welcome them.  I was so happy to hear the same halo ablation that helped Ted, helped Steve too.

Sue wrote and asked if I wanted to play Rummikub with her and Kathy at Kathy’s coach house in the afternoon.  I was finished with my “housework” so said yes, even though I didn’t know how to play!  We sat outside in the drive because it was so nice out.  We didn’t keep score but I did fine.  It involves a lot of observant strategy. 

Neither of us took anything out for dinner so we decided to use our free Whataburger coupons.  Then Ted wanted to use his 50 cent cone coupon on the back of our old Star receipt from last week.  I told him I didn’t want one.  I didn’t think the ice cream was that good and thought he would get a kid sized cone of mediocre ice cream.  Wrong!  I should have taken a photo.  It was about 6 swirls around the top of the cone.  It was a good 5 inch high!  He gave me a bite and oh what a difference!  Rich and creamy!  We must have gone to the wrong Star last time!  On Thursday there will be a new coupon!

Tomorrow will be busy.  I am picking up three ladies to join the group at a restaurant for our bi-weekly breakfast.  In the afternoon, we will play mahjong, and dinner on Niles’ patio is scheduled!