Beach

The City of Galveston reopened the beaches this week - sorta.  Folks can walk, jog, run, swim or fish, but there's no parking and lawn chairs and beach umbrellas are prohibited.  And, the beaches are only open three hours a day, from six until nine in the morning!

I've been trying to make sense of this, trying to see how this is a good thing, but I just keep coming back to "Why bother?" 

The picture above doesn't have anything to do with Galveston.  The guy in the Grim Reaper outfit was expressing his opinion of Florida beaches reopening last week.

(Thirty) Third Time's A Charm

It may be a bit difficult to tell what you're looking at, but it is the underside of the vanity sink in our camper.  About the time we moved back out of the camper into our home, we discovered that the faucet was leaking. 

I told the RV service guy "No problem - I'll fix it myself."  I went to Home Depot and got a new faucet in early January, but only completed the successful installation yesterday.

I removed the old faucet without a problem, but connecting the water back up was next to impossible.  You're probably thinking Hey - plumbing is easy.  Well, I'd always thought so, too. But...

First, everything is up in a corner behind the drain pipe so that if you can see it you can't reach it.  Everything had to be done by feel.

Second, the Pex pipe is flexible but very stiff making it a real pain to line up.

And Third, if you don't line it up exactly, it is impossible to get the fittings to seal.

The fittings I'm talking about were both like the one on the left, and after four or five tries I finally got both of them to seal - no leaks - only to learn that the pipes had shifted and I had the hot water going to the faucet handle on the right!

I was sorely tempted to leave well enough alone, but everyone knows the hot water goes on the left, so I marked the hot water pipe with electrical tape, disconnected them both and started over.  I got the hot water to line up after a few tries, but the cold water just would not. I said thirty three in the headline, but I honestly lost count of how many times I tried and failed.

I don't know why the manufacturer used those L fittings to begin with, they certainly weren't necessary and, for me anyway, made things more difficult to line up.

This past Saturday, I went back to Home Depot and picked up the fitting on the right.  They were into Social Distancing Protocol and had a winding line of tents in the parking lot like some Disney attraction, but once in the store, I found what I wanted and was back out in under five minutes.

When I got home, I cut the L fitting off, installed the Pex to 1/2 pipe fitting then slipped the Pex pipe on.  I crimped it down with a hose clamp, and VOILA! we have a functioning faucet  again.

Boyd Couch

My little brother, Boyd, passed away yesterday.  He died of a brain tumor, and once he was diagnosed, he went very fast.

My folks adopted Boyd when he was three years old and I was twenty-two.  They were originally going to adopt him and his two older siblings, but my mother got ill and his brother and sister went to other families. He was finally able to reconnect with them just a few years ago.

The lady in the picture is Tina Western who loved him and cared for him in his final days.

Boyd led an interesting but challenging life, working at a variety of jobs including as a deck hand on fishing boats in the Gulf of Mexico, at a chicken processing plant in North Carolina, and as a dancer at La Bare, a male strip club in Houston and Dallas.

I remember making a service call at an insurance company in Conroe and seeing a full-sized cut out of Boyd wearing his trademark grin and a gold lame jockstrap.  The lady who had it in her office noticed me looking at it and when I explained that it was my little brother she got all excited.  I never told her he was adopted.

A Novel Idea

If this year had been a novel, the author would have had to self-publish, and the all of the reviews would have been unbelievably bad.

Ill Wind - Update

The tree guys got this much done on Saturday before the ground got too muddy to haul wood out to their trailer.  If the weather remains dry, we hope to get the job completed by next weekend.

An Ill Wind

We had a front blow through yesterday about five o'clock.  

The squall line dropped rain by the bucket load and had straight line wind gusts in excess of 70 miles per hour.  It took out two huge trees at the edge of our woods.  The one you can see here was over 70 feet tall and had a trunk about four feet in diameter.

It also took out power to the neighborhood, and as of now (11:45) it is still out.  The light crews are out there working, so it shouldn't be much longer.  

Our generator has been running for the last 18 hours, so we are fine - but I'm thinking of all those houses with children who were already going nuts because of the Covid-19 protocols.  They must be going through Hell with no TV, no internet, etc.

The Rose That Didn't Bloom

It's remarkable how much the stay-at-home order has affected our lives.  As an old (and face it, we are) retired couple, we didn't do much that is being discouraged now, but the fact that we are prohibited from doing things we had no desire to do a few months ago is getting on my nerves. 

Another thing I've discovered is that things we might not have even noticed in April of 2019 have assumed huge importance.  

For example - Honey's favorite rose is a pink beauty called Belinda's Dream.  We have been watching the first rosebud of the season getting fatter every day for the past week. Then this morning we went out to find the bud on the ground.  Overnight something had severed the stem.

In a normal world, we might not have even noticed, but today we were almost in mourning.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Tried placing an order for curbside pickup at HEB.  I got a notice that said ALL pickup times were taken, and to try another store.  I tried three other stores and got the same message.
I'm holding my order for now and may try again later.  Meanwhile it reminded me of this cartoon from 2011....

Imelda-Imelda-Imelda

Remember Imelda?

I have posted several times about the flood damage we suffered and the repairs to our home.  The inside is complete and we have been back in the house for months, but we have been going back and forth forever with the insurance folks over what to do about the exterior of our house.  

The appraiser and our contractor finally  came to an agreement and a figure was sent to the insurance company for payment.  Then some genius bean counter decided that - since the water only came up a foot and a half or so - they should only pay to remove the bottom two feet of brick.  The appraiser tried to explain why that was a stupid idea, but couldn't get through to the genius who was holding the checkbook.

They finally agreed to consult a structural engineer - who may or may not come look at the house - and go with whatever he decides.

Meanwhile, we just have to wait.

Curbside Shopping - HEB vs Kroger

I reported last week about my first experience with on-line shopping and curbside pickup at HEB.  This week I tried Kroger, with pickup at their Atascosita store.

The on-line portion of the experience was very much the same - both websites are, generally speaking, user friendly.  If there is an edge, it is very subtle, but probably goes to HEB.  Kroger more than makes up for it with a day or two shorter lag time  between order and pickup.  HEB does let you modify or add to your order closer to pick up time, Kroger has a 24 hour cutoff.

Pick up at both stores was painless and went without a hitch, so I'll rate that as a tie.

Both stores warn that items ordered may not be available by the time your order is processed, and each gives you the option of allowing substitutions. I'll give the edge here to HEB, mostly because two of the items I ordered from Kroger (Kroger brand zip lock freezer bags in quart and gallon sizes) were not available even though they were listed as sale items on the front page of their website at the time I placed my order.  No substitutions were offered on either size - have freezer bags become the new toilet paper?

I had no serious complaints about the quality of the fresh items from either store, but the overall feel was that the items from HEB were generally fresher.  That corresponds to my past experience when I was actually shopping in their stores.

The bottom line - when going head-to-head, neither store scored a knockout, but, in a split decision, HEB wins on points.