Rants

Out For Delivery

Shipped with UPS
Tracking ID: 1Z814VE60227630000

Wednesday, January 15
4:26 AM Package has left the carrier facility
Roseburg, OR US
8:19 AM Package arrived at a carrier facility
Klamath Falls, OR US
8:55 AM Out for delivery
Klamath Falls, OR US
8:00 PM Delay in delivery due to weather or natural disaster
Klamath Falls, OR US

Thursday, January 16
6:47 AM Out for delivery
Klamath Falls, OR US
8:00 PM Delay in delivery due to weather or natural disaster
Klamath Falls, OR US

Friday, January 17
6:30 AM Out for delivery
Klamath Falls, OR US
8:00 PM Delay in delivery due to weather or natural disaster
Klamath Falls, OR US

Monday, January 20
6:37 AM Out for delivery
Klamath Falls, OR US
8:00 PM Delay in delivery due to weather or natural disaster
Klamath Falls, OR US

Tuesday, January 21
5:58 AM Out for delivery
Klamath Falls, OR US
3:55 PM Available for pickup
Klamath Falls, OR US

Last Sunday, the 12th, we ordered three items on Amazon. The order was broken into two shipments. Two items were Prime and scheduled for delivery on Thursday the 16th (so much for 2-Day Delivery) and the third was non-Prime and scheduled to be delivered between Thursday the 16th and tomorrow the 22nd.

When I checked on the Prime shipment last Wednesday I was surprised that it showed Out for Delivery. For two reasons, one: it was a day early and two: we had 4-5 inches of snow overnight Tuesday. We of course went nowhere on Wednesday. We did see a UPS truck deliver a package across the street in the afternoon and we did get our regular USPS mail delivered. But at the end of the day, no UPS package from Amazon.

On Thursday we still didn’t drive anywhere, but we did walk the mile and a quarter one-way downtown to the Post Office to check the box and on the way back stopped for a lunch of pizza at Rodeos Pizza & Saladeria. In the afternoon we saw a UPS truck deliver across the street again and a neighbor got a FedEx delivery. And again at the end of the day, no Prime package.

On Friday the non-Prime package came via our regular USPS mail carrier. UPS was again a no show. I tried calling the 1-800 number for UPS and after 2 attempts of dealing with the AI gatekeeper I finally got a human who could only tell me basically regurgitate what the website tracking info page was saying.

Monday we got an email from Amazon with an encouraging sentiment, it said, “Your package with Dunkin Donuts Dunkin Decaf… and 1 more item will be delivered today.” No it didn’t.

Today we drove over to the local UPS distribution center because it also has a three hour a day Customer Service desk. We spoke with a person there and they got in contact with the driver and we were told that he does have our package on the truck and he would try and get it to us today. If not she would hold it there and we could come get it tomorrow. The issue was the truck drivers, ever since the big snowfall last week have had a 7:00 PM curfew for their safety. Once the sun has been down a couple hours the temps have dropped enough that the snowy or slushy or wet roads become icy.

A little after seven this evening a UPS truck stopped at our house with the long delayed package was delivered.

My Kingdom For A Potentiometer

Instead of some arbitrary digital step.

Both in the quiet living room with the Visio soundbar or on the screened porch using Anker SoundCore Mini there is no right volume level. Pushing the volume button up or down on either remote moves the volume one level. One is too soft and the next is too loud, there is no in between. Because we are older usually the louder wins out, so in our living room it is not a problem. On the back porch it is different, we share a property line with four others and no one has said anything. Probably because they are hardly ever outside at all, just their dogs for a few minutes at a time.

Presidential Decorum

Not him, me as President of the MMC. Yesterday the Masters Miata Club participated in the Ridge Peach Festival Parade. This is a copy of my write up about the event for the Club’s web page. I wanted to get up on my soapbox and whine about the small participation, but thought it would be better to do that here, so I’ve included it at the end of the quoted post.

We had 7 cars parked out front of the Airport Grill for breakfast. The 12 of us did as usual and made ourselves at home by rearranging the furniture to line up about 4 tables in a row to eat at. Our orders were taken in the semi-random order of our arrival and the food was delivered in a different semi-random order which was in no relation to when the orders were placed. But, as always, this is not a problem for the Club because the conversation and flowing coffee kept us entertained. The inexpensive and delicious food, plus the capability of the folks there to put up with us, places the Airport Grill at the top of the Masters Miata Club’s Mom & Pop Breakfast spots. Glen and the Garners had other commitments, so they did not join us after breakfast for the drive or the parade.

Stacey had plotted out a different loop for this year’s pre-parade drive and at first it seemed like we were just heading straight to the parade start, only to pass right through the cute little town of Trenton and head east and who knows what other direction to zip around among the local peach orchards. Even though I’m familiar to a lot of roads in the area there were at least a few times I though we turned the wrong way. The Vandermaases probably knew where there were the whole time because at one point we drove right by their house. He ended our drive at the usual Ebenezer Church so we could find out our place in the parade line up. At this point, Sarah parted ways with us to head back home.

Even though Stacey was in communication with the organizers, when he asked our line up number we weren’t on the list. It was determined that they would just add us to the end of the parade. They did have mercy on us though as they vowed to put us at least in front of the horses… Even though we caught a break with the weather, it was only in the 80’s as opposed to the typical 90’s, Donna and I ran our A/C along the 9/10 of a mile route. For all you statistic junkies out there it took us just less than an hour to drive the parade, so our average speed was pretty close 1.0 MPH. During the trip we never left 1st gear, I depressed the clutch pedal roughly 3.8 millions times and we tossed 8 pounds of candy to an adoring crowd.

Afterwards we all found a place to park and headed into the fray of people, port-a-potties, speakers, bands, food vendors and craft booths.

I have discussed this before with the Club and have tried mightily to get across the fact that anything less than 6 cars is not a parade entry, but nothing more than a couple people with the same car randomly happening to be driving together. I’ve had little success. This year we had 4 cars out of 31, or 13% of the Club, line up for the parade participation.

Because they were a few “floats” ahead of us, I know the roughly 50 member Augusta Corvette Club Pride Riders had practically 40% of their club show up because I counted 20 ‘Vettes when they eased by. Also, even though I didn’t see them because we were so far back in the line-up, I would be willing to bet the Shadetree A’s had a better turnout with their 90-year old cars than we did.

Next year if the MMC commits to be in the parade, Donna and I will join them for breakfast and for the drive, but we are bringing lawn chairs and will watch the parade go by from a shady spot.

Mmmm, Derby Pie

Today was the Annual Chocolate Festival at St. Mary’s Church which is used as a fund raiser for their school. There are fun and games for the kids, a small vendor area, a silent auction, a couple of spots for lunch, a bake sale, a used book sale and a plethora of chocolate goodies for consumption. As we do almost every year we dropped in for a brief visit to look at the used books, check out the silent auction and eat some chocolate based food stuffs.

We actually bought a few books this time after having not for the last couple of years because of becoming Kindlized. Donna picked 8 books to mail off the munchkins in Washington state for a quarter a piece and a couple of paperbacks for herself at a half a buck each (one of which she is reading by flashlight on the back porch as I write this.) I bought 5 for myself, so for eight bucks we came away with 16 books. Which is pretty good considering the 8 we got for our reading pleasure were “trade” paperbacks that retail for like $15-17 each.

We hit the bake sale where we spent a bit on some cupcakes and cookies before heading outside to buy some other chocolate goodies. Donna found some chocolate covered pretzels for herself and I snagged a slice of Derby Pie. We found a shady spot to sit and enjoy our treats. As I took my first forkful of pie and brought it up to my mouth I was bopped in the hands by a volley ball. I did manage to save the bite on the fork, but the rest of the container of pie hit the ground. Neither one of us saw it happen, but a ball somehow got loose from the octagonal corral where a couple of kids were hand batting it around. One of the older kids who was running the game was very apologetic, but the other one just hung her head. I brushed myself off and went back over and spent another 75¢ for a second slice. This time I kept my head up while eating.

Not So Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder

We have a couple of the Super Stop-A-Squirrel Bird Feeders, one in the front yard and one in the back. You mount the top part to the tree and the bottom part rests on a couple of hooks making it easy to pull down and refill. They work pretty neat with a spring loaded perch that stays put when a bird lands on it, but when a heavier squirrel overcomes the spring, it closes the lid over the seed.

These have served us well for several years. You can see where the squirrels, foiled by the spring action, have tried other ways to gain access to the tantalizing seed within. There are a few spots where the paint has been scratched off from trying to dig their way in and a couple places in the back where the metal itself has been slightly pried apart, but not enough to get inside.

Last year one of our local squirrels figured out that if he keeps his back feet on the tree, braces himself with one front leg on the side of the feeder, pushes up on the bottom with the other front leg and letting go suddenly he can actually get the seed container to fall off one of the hooks holding it up and it will dump a bunch of seeds on the ground. With repeated jostling he/she can nearly empty the entire feeder out. I know this because this particular squirrel had the audacity to preform this maneuver while Donna and I were sitting on the porch watching it.

I came up with a solution that prevent this trick from working. I drilled two holes on the side that went through both the lid and the seed basket. I then added a couple of deck screws through the holes and now the bottom bottom part stays firmly in place (circled in the above picture.) The only down side to this is I now have to remember to take a cordless screwdriver out with me when I refill the seeds. I know it works because we have seen this squirrel try to perform the maneuver, climb down to the ground and get a little sad face on when it realizes there isn’t a bunch of seeds waiting for it.

We filled all out bird feeders before we left to go out west and when we got back the mixed seed in the hanging feeders was down 1/4, but the front squirrel proof feeders was down 3/4 and the backyard one was completely empty. So when we went shopping we bought a new bag and filled them both up. Within a couple days the front one had barely dropped, but the back one was way down. I knew the squirrels weren’t doing it, so maybe we just had a lot more birds using the backyard feeder.

Turns out it wasn’t birds at all. A couple of nights ago we were out on the porch late, listening to the FRS game on the radio, when there was a lull in the game sound Donna could hear something out in the dark backyard scratching around. Now we have plenty of birds around and more than enough squirrels. We’ve have seen a small bunny rabbit or two back there as well and just the other day a small box turtle wandered through. But this was different. I went inside and grabbed a flashlight and when I pointed it at the bird feeder, sitting right on top, was a Garfield sized raccoon. He was calmly reaching down and grabbing handfuls of seeds and munching away. Dona clapped her hands real loud twice and it stepped onto the tree, climbed down and scurried off into the darkness.

Well, I thought the deck screws worked on squirrels, maybe if I reversed them they would work on raccoons too. So, look again at the picture above and notice the top of the feeder. Tonight I drilled 9 holes through the top and threaded in deck screws, pointy side up, through the top in hopes to keep the raccoon from making him or herself at home at the sunflower seed buffet.

I filled the feeder with half the seed from the front, so we’ll see how long it takes to disappear. Donna thinks that it either won’t slow the raccoon down or it will, but somehow it will aid the squirrels in eating the seeds. We’ll see.

Is This The Straw?

Last year when we went to visit family in Washington state Donna came back from the trip determined that we should move out there. She even had a town all picked out, Sequim (pronounced skwim), it is out on the Olympic Peninsula which is close enough, but far enough from little Scott and family. It is small town, only 6,600 people, so we wouldn’t have the selection of restaurants or shops to choose from we do here. The temperature ranges are similar to Aiken and they actually get less total rain than here, but it is cloudy for twice as many days as Aiken with only 130 predominantly sunny days a year.

This year when we went to visit family out west Donna came back from the trip determined that we should move out there. She even had a town all picked out, Carson City, NV. The temperature is generally cooler year round as it is high desert at 4,100′ above sea level. It is a lot colder in the winter though with an average of 17″ of snow a year. It is a bigger town than Aiken with a population of about 50k, so there is that, but real estate is a bit more expensive, we’d end up with less house.

After a few weeks the fever to move wanes because it would be a monumental hassle, with trying to sell a house, move everything we own, including two cars 3,000 miles away, buy another house, pick out a new set of banks, doctors, insurance agents, etc. Besides we do generally like it here.

The photo above is of the closed Ridgecrest Coffee Bar. We drove by there the other day and were devastated to find that while we were gone this time the place closed. According to the sign on the door the owner was having legal issues from a previous location and landlord troubles at this location, so she pulled the plug. We have taken an early morning bike ride and ended up here for breakfast for nearly every Sunday for the last 4 years.

We have a backup plan for Sunday mornings, Dunkin Donuts1, but anything available there pales in comparison to the the breakfast panini we know and love, plus the bike riding out that way is not as nice. This loss may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and gets us to move out west somewhere.

Mandeville Morning

Day 29 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Hammond, LA. We are staying at a Holiday Inn here, not an Express, so no free breakfast, but when we checked in they gave us a voucher worth $20 towards breakfast at the in-house restaurant. Due to past experiences at Holiday Inn hotel restaurants we didn’t take advantage of it on the first morning, but for some reason we thought it might be worth a try today. If it wasn’t that good there was nothing ventured as it would be free. There was a buffet, but we thought we should order off the menu to make sure we got something fresh. Donna ordered her go to, Eggs Benedict, I just ordered scrambled eggs, hash browns and sausage. We should have known better.

It seemed to take an awful long time for the food to arrive. When it did arrive and the waitress put the plates down in front of us, mine looked fine, but Donna’s looked weird. The hollandaise sauce was a dark orange color and the ham slices were a 1/2″ thick. She took one taste of the sauce and it was awful. I dipped my fork in it and confirmed her opinion. It was inedible. She called the waitress back and told her that the food was disgusting. Waitress apologized, the manager visited and he apologized and Donna ended up just eating from the buffet. My scrambled eggs were fine and the sausage was half decent, but my hash browns looked exactly like hers (that came off the buffet) and my toast was at best, warm. We can now guarantee that this was the absolute last time we will ever eat at a Holiday Inn restaurant ever.

After eating we took another early morning drive over to Mandeville. Not for beignets this time, but for a nice walk along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The temperature was in the 70’s, there was a slight breeze off the lake, hardly a cloud in the sky and you could see the causeway stretching to the horizon. On the way back to Hammond we did get a good breakfast. Donna got a chocolate covered chocolate cake doughnut and I had glazed cinnamon twist from Dat’s Us Deaux-Nuts in Ponchatoula.