Saturday, December 28, 2013

HITCHITCH

OVER THE YEARS WE’VE HAD TONS OF READERS BROUGHT TO OUR BLOG FROM OUR LISTING ON HITCHITCH.COM.

RON AND TERRY MAINTAIN AN EXCELLENT LIST OF FULL TIME RV BLOGS. WE RECENTLY WERE “CUT” FROM THE LIST. I CAN CERTAINLY UNDERSTAND THE REASON AS WE HARDLY PULL OUR TRAILER UP AND DOWN THE ROAD ANYMORE.

OUR MOUTAINEER TRAILER WAS JACKED UP THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO AND MADE PERMANENT WHEN WE ADDED THE 10 X 30 PORCH. THEN WE BOUGHT A PARK MODEL UP ON “THE MOUNTAIN”, THAT IS ALSO SET UP PERMANENT.  BOTH TRAILERS ARE IN RV PARKS.

BEING “CUT” FROM THE LIST GOT ME TO THINKING, IF WE AREN’T FULLTIME RV’ERS ANYMORE, BUT HAVE TWO TRAILERS SETUP IN RV PARKS, DOES THAT MAKE US SOME KINDA TRAILER TRASH?

TRAILER TRASH, MEDICARE, RETIREMENT, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND BINGO. DOESN’T SOUND LIKE GOOD BLOG TOPICS FOR THE COMING NEW YEAR, DOES IT?

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year !!!

By Uncle Hans

Thanks for the Christmas card.  We don't do cards, so you get a Christmas blog.  The  pictures are a reminder of why you don't live here any more.  I just finished snow-blowing for the 6th time.  A record for Christmas day!

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The yardstick is not a good measure.  We must have had 24 inches of actual snowfall so far.  The snowmobiling is great, going out this evening with Jake and Jen.......

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.......The heavy snow is a problems for the lakes.  It insulates the ice and causes slush to form under the snow but above the ice.  The little speck in the picture is one of the sleds, frozen into the slush.  Jake got it stuck in the slush a few days ago trying to set some tip-ups to do some ice fishing.  Getting that sled back will be a challenge.........

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

By Uncle Hans

 

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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

CHRISTMAS EVE CAMPFIRE

I’VE BLOGGED BEFORE ABOUT CHRISTMAS WITHOUT SNOW, BUT A CHRISTMAS CAMPFIRE WITH THE NEIGHBORS ACTUALLY SEEMED KINDA FESTIVE.  THE BEER AND THE WINE WENT DOWN SMOOTH AND ALL SEEMED RIGHT FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

EVERY OTHER LAP SEEMED TO HAVE A DOG ABOARD, AND A BLACK MINATURE DACHUND MADE ME SMILE.  THIS MORNING WHEN I WAS WALKING UP TO THE DUMPSTER TO THROW OUT MY CAT SHIT I MET THE SAME DOG WITH A CHRISTMAS WREATH AND RED BOW FOR A COLLAR.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !!!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Be Careful….Very Careful

I’ve mentioned once or twice how much I like Trader Joe’s.  A stop at Trader Joe’s is the carrot Rex uses to get me to look forward to going to Vegas.  Otherwise I am not that much of a Vegas fan. 

Trader Joe’s puts out a publication called Fearless Flyer in which they feature various items on their shelves.  These items are not “sale” items because they never have sales.  The philosophy behind their store is they offer the best prices they can each and every day…..so no “sale” items.

Anyway when we first get to Trader Joe’s Rex always heads for the Fearless Flyer and looks it over.  A few months ago he found an item that interested him called Cookie Butter.

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The label reads “Speculoos Cookie Butter”, a deliciously unusual spread reminiscent of gingerbread and made with crushed biscuits.  All you have to do is taste it to understand!

Since the first time we bought it,   it has been on our list every time we go.  So a couple of weeks ago when we went to Vegas to have the car serviced, I looked for the Cookie Butter.  What, NONE on the shelf…..sorry Rex you are out of luck.  Then just by chance I head someone else ask one of the employees about the Cookie Butter and he was told it was at the customer service counter.  How come I wondered as I headed for the customer service counter.

And the reason is:  The stuff sells out EVERY DAY so they limit people to two jars.  WOW!  That is how addictive it is…so be careful if you try it!!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

OUCH !!!

JESUS, WHAT’S THAT SMELL? IT SMELLS LIKE BURNING HAIR AND IT REALLY STINKS.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE MIDWEST FARM STORY OF THE YOUNG BOYS CATCHING PIGEONS AND STICKING FIRECRACKERS UP THEIR BUTTS?   IT WAS GREAT FUN UNTIL ONE OF THE PIGEONS TOOK OFF AND FLEW INTO THE HAYMOW AND THE BARN BURNED DOWN.

THAT’S WHAT WENT THRU MY MIND AS I REALIZED “AZ” GOT TOO CLOSE TO THE GAS HEATER AND TOOK OFF TO THE BEDROOM……

I HAD VISIONS OF THE BED IN BLAZE OF FIRE…..

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MY SPOTTED CAT HAS A COUPLE OF WEIRD LOOKING SCORCHED SPOTS ON HIS BACK. THE HAIR BURNED ABOUT HALF OFF AND IT DIDN’T GET DOWN TO HIS SKIN, SO DELETE THAT E-MAIL TO THE ANIMAL RIGHTS PEOPLE WILL YA?

   “SUNNY & 64”

Thursday, December 12, 2013

INTERNET PROBLEMS

WE’VE BEEN OFF LINE THE LAST 10 DAYS WITH INTERNET PROBLEMS. THE COMPANY THAT PROVIDES OUR SERVICE STOPPED OUT YESTERDAY AND REPLACED ALL OF THEIR EQUIPMENT. NOW WE’RE BACK UP AND RUNNING FINE.

WHILE WE WERE GONE,THE PACKERS FINALLY WON A GAME WITHOUT RODGERS, YAHOO!!!

OUR TIME OFF HAS BEEN SPENT TAKING THE CAR TO LAS VEGAS.  IT STARTED WITH A SIMPLE OIL CHANGE, AND ONE OF THOSE SMALL GRINDING NOISES TO CHECKOUT. THE NEXT MONDAY WE RETURNED TO REPLACE A WHEEL BEARING AND AXEL BEARINGS. ON THE ROAD TEST THE NOISE WAS STILL THERE SO IT’S BACK TO VEGAS A THIRD MONDAY IN A ROW TO REPLACE THE WHEEL BEARINGS ON THE OTHER SIDE. FORTUNATELY THIS STUFF IS ALL UNDER WARRENTY.  WE MET UP WITH PAULIE THE FIRST TRIP AND IT WAS GOOD TO CATCH UP WITH HIM AND HEAR ABOUT HIS FALL TRIP TO NORTHEAST IOWA. AFTER THREE WEEKS IN A ROW, WE MAYBE REGULARS AT JAKE’S LOUNGE ON EASTERN.

LIKE YOU, OUR WEATHER HAS BEEN IN COLDSNAP MODE, AND WE’VE BEEN BURNING LP BY THE TANKFUL. UNLIKE YOU, OUR TEMPS WILL RETURN TO THE LOW 70’S NEXT WEEK.

THIS IS WEEK #20, ONLY 20 WEEKS UNTIL WE TAKE THE SUMMER OFF FROM THE CASINO BUSINESS.

  “SUNNY & 52”

Sunday, December 1, 2013

South Padre Island

By Uncle Hans

So we were forced to go to South Padre Island recently to fix this problem.  The upper bunk bed has no ladder and no safety rail.  A child could fall out, strike the tile floor, break his skull or neck,.... and sue us.
Can't have that.
(we did NOT go down there because it was 6 degrees here and 85 degrees down there!)

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  .....we took along an 8-foot decking board, and measured it to the right length....

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.....sand it.....

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.....cut it.....

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....paint it (two coats and sand in between).....

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......and install it.   Problem solved......

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  ....of course, in between those steps we had nothing to do but walk the beach with Charley to our local beach bar (200 yards) at 85 degrees.  The Miller Lights never tasted better!

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On the way home we went a couple hours out of our way to Houston to see the USS Texas Museum.


The US has 8 battleship museums.  The Texas is the oldest.  100 years ago, it was under construction.  It served in WWI and WWII and was retired to Houston in l948 as a museum.  It has been rebuilt once in the early 90's in a dry dock because it was corroded that it was sinking.  Now it is getting there again and a plan is in place to put it permanently into dry dock in the next few years......

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....the first picture is out an old-fashioned porthole cannon  (no more side port cannons after this ship was built).  If you look closely, you sill see that the Rialta is in the cross-hairs!). 

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The second picture is of the galley (900 men, three meals a day)

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and the third picture is of some 14 inch shells. 

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These guns were the most advanced in 1914, about 1000lbs and a range of 12 miles.  Performance peaked in l943 with the 16inch/50calibre Mark 7 guns of the Iowa class.  2700 lbs and range 24 miles.  And accuracy?  If they were shooting at someone's house, the gunnery officer had to ask, "the living room or the kitchen?"


Seriously


  These guns were last used in Iraq, Desert Storm, on, of course, the USS Wisconsin.


      If you think of how many people in the world live within 24 miles of the water, that puts nearly 80% of people in range of those guns. 

Almost all of North Vietnam was in range of the New Jersey until the Russians quietly demanded that she be withdrawn or there would be no peace talks.  They wanted our pilots to be put at risk and killed or captured, whereas the New Jersey could cause much more destruction while putting NO ONE at risk.  This Russian demand was carefully kept secret until recently.  We wanted peace talks, so the New Jersey went home to "be repaired".


     The US has 63 of these 16 inch guns, 9 each on the other 7 museum ships (USS Massachusetts, USS North Carolina, USS Alabama, USS Iowa, USS Missouri, USS New Jersey, and the USS Wisconsin.  Kathy recently toured the Wisconsin.  I did too in about 2005.  You don't get much more than a deck walk on the Wisconsin tour.


    I suspect that is because she is really secretly being kept in nearly combat ready condition for the use of those big guns, if ever needed 

     I have now seen 3 of the 8 and will report on the blog if I ever get to see the other 5......

By Uncle Hans