Friday, May 5, 2017

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!

Does anyone know what the 5th of May is all about?  Well I figured I'd just look it up and give you a little history since there's not much else exciting going on around here.

After the Mexican American War and the Reform War (Liberals against Conservatives who wanted to keep the church and the government as one), Benito Juarez issued a moratorium on debt payments since the treasury was empty.  Don't you wish you could do that??  France, Britain and Spain said no way Benito, and landed forces in Veracruz demanding payment.  Britain and Spain agreed on a payment schedule, but France's Napoleon III decided to make Mexico HIS.

The 6,000 strong French Army attacked the poor Mexican Army of 2,000 and guess who won.  The Mexican Army crushed the French, the premier army in the world at that time, on May 5th near Puebla, Mexico.   Thus came about the Cinco De Mayo celebration.

Unfortunately, it was short lived, as a year later, the French returned to take control, but that didn't keep the people from celebrating their victory every May 5th.  So get your margueritas and your tacos on and lets have some fun!!  That means another run to the grocery store for me, but this time I'll skip Walmart.  At least it comforting to know I'm not alone in the Walmart boat.

My trip to Fresno yesterday was uneventful, thank goodness, as I found the place right off the bat.  It's a huge building full of fabric and more machines than you can count.  I would expect to see this store in Phoenix or maybe San Francisco.   This picture is from the book they gave me that lists all the events for the next three months.  

I was quickly hooked up with Barbie ... yup a blond lookalike ... but this girl had brains!!  She knew absolutely everything about my machine.  I sat there for an hour while she showed me all the cool adjustments and how to find them.  This thing is like a computer!!  I wish I could have signed up for some classes, but I'm not sure what my schedule will be.  It makes it a little more difficult when you  have to drive 1-1/2 hours to class each day.  Guess I'm just getting lazy!!
With the correct bobbins, needles and more thread, I headed off back home .... starving!!  This diet thing isn't working so well for me.  It's hard to know what to eat and what NOT to eat.  I've cut out bread and potatoes almost entirely and am trying for meat and veggies.  Actually I had ONE Taco Bell taco in mind, but couldn't find one.  Since I needed fuel, both diesel and food, I hit Jack In The Box next door.

This is a Bacon Swiss burger.  Good heavens it was yummy!!  I peeled off the bottom bun and decided I wouldn't eat the whole thing.  That was pretty difficult, but I did throw about a quarter of it away.  I didn't try their fries since I'm off potatoes.  Not that it's working, after all this time I still have only lost three pounds.
On the fuel front in California, look out folks.  They are out to rip you off.  If I see a station I might stop at in my rig, I check it out first when in my truck.  I stopped at the Pilot Station near Madera to find fuel at $2.99 a gallon.  Not bad, so I put 30 gallons in my truck.  It was then I discovered the 76 Station one block away that had diesel for $2.45.  I thought Pilot Stations were cheaper!!  

They certainly sell more fuel to the big trucks!!  Even with their discount credit card, it's still MUCH more expensive.  To make it worse, I can smell that crappy diesel every time I drive the truck, which I have to smog on Monday.  It will be interesting to see if it passes with a tank full of crappy fuel.

Back home, I was out in the yard making further sprinkler adjustments.  The gardeners finally got the message when I stuck a big pipe in the ground with a large note taped to it ... PLEASE FIX SPRINKLER.  They did.  It works great, watering the neighbor's entire driveway with maybe three drops on my lawn.  Are these guys dumb or just incompetent??  Wouldn't you try it and see if it worked??

It's been in the mid 90's the last week, up to 94 yesterday.  With my last couple of crazy PG&E bills due to watering the entire neighborhood with the broken sprinkler, I turned both my AC units off.  This is my new air conditioning system.  It does double duty ... it keeps the door open for the puppies in the morning and it brings in cold morning air (68 degrees) to my 77 degree house, cooling it down nicely, which lasts the entire day.   About 9:30 am when the temperatures equalize, I turn it off and shut the door.
With another storm predicted by late today, the daytime high will be around 63.  That's a pretty far jump in one day!!  I'll be able to turn my mini AC off for awhile.  In the meantime, I'm gunning for the lawn crew, after which I'll hit the grocery store for taco material.   It's time to CELEBRATE!!






10 comments:

  1. Even with the Frequent Customer Discount Card you only save eight cents per gallon at Pilot/Flying J. If we're towing it's easier because of the RV Islands. If we are not towing we fuel elsewhere whenever we can.
    Good Luck with the Gardeners.
    Be Safe and Enjoy your Celebration.

    It's about time.

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    1. I didn't realize they were overcharging SO much!!

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  2. We've never stopped at a Pilot/Flying J. We have an auxiliary tank and get our diesel at smaller stations. Today we saw diesel as high as $4.33 and we paid $2.56--within 120 miles.

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    1. That's just crazy Jan!! Lucky you, you can always unhook and go to smaller stations!!

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  3. Oh boy where do I start

    Cinco de Mayo (pronounced: [ˈsiŋko ðe ˈmaʝo]; Spanish for "Fifth of May") is a celebration held on May 5.
    But being American we can't mistake that for Mexican Independence Day which is September 6
    What's the difference between a Mexican and a redneck
    Absolutely nothing they both lost the war
    But a redneck celebrate it 364 days of the year
    But a Mexican only one

    On your thermostat switch Shut the air conditioner switch off turn on the fan to manual Open One window on the west side of the house
    The manual fan will pull air from that window into the house
    And circulated throughout all the registers

    There is an free app called gas buddy you can use that to find gas or Diesel fuel prices anywhere in the country
    how can you tell if a Mexican is playing bingo



    They put beans on the numbers

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    1. Those are bad jokes Ed!! LOL I have the app Gas Buddy. It really doesn't do much for me since it never shows if I can get in with my rig ... only my pickup. I suppose I should have used it in this case.

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  4. Dare I tell you...I just paid $1.869 for regular in Oklahoma City at a Pilot Station! I think Diesel was going for around $2.35.

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    1. It's California for sure, Dave. I don't know if that includes the new taxes or not, but it's going up a ridiculous amount VERY soon.

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  5. In answer to the age old problem RVs pulling into fuel and diesel station and being RV friendly it takes a little planning ahead
    If your user of anyone of these. They all have a free app that you could put it on your smart phone
    Pilot
    flying J
    loves
    Hess
    And if that's not enough you also have free apps that you could download onto your smart phone and here is a partial list
    Allstay com. #
    Truck stop guide.com
    Truck stop pro.com
    Free truck stop app
    # theys only one that may be a paid app and I believe it's eight dollars is allstay.com but there are a lot of RV people that really like that particular app it's a good trip planning map as well

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  6. Now I know why I don't live in the state of California

    California seeks to tax rocket launches, which are already taxed
    The tax will be based upon "mileage" traveled by that spacecraft from California.

    The proposal says that California-based companies that launch spacecraft will have to pay a tax based upon "mileage" traveled by that spacecraft from California. (No, we're not exactly sure what this means, either). The proposed regulations were first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, and Thomas Lo Grossman, a tax attorney at the Franchise Tax Board, told the newspaper that the rules are designed to mirror the ways taxes are levied on terrestrial transportation and logistics firms operating in California, like trucking or train companies.

    I wonder if they're going to have to have a Space CDL and a space logbook
    On top of that who's going to fill out the 2290

    ReplyDelete