Counting Down to Departure from Port A

Saturday, 30 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 85F (29C) / Lo 74F (23C)

Two days to go before we leave Port Aransas for our summer road trip.  We have a beautiful, sunny day ahead of us … until showers and “a heavier thunderstorm” hit us tonight.  That’s what Accuweather says is going to happen; we'll see.  I sure hope we’re not in for another 4:40a wake-up to severe weather alerts as was the case yesterday morning.  In any event, it’s all forecasted to clear up by the time we leave for Houston on Monday — our first stop on the road trip … just to get annual maintenance work done.

In the meantime, Mother Nature treated us to this colorful spectacle to jumpstart our day.  Good thing we were out to enjoy it … with a feels-like temperature of 102F (39C) forecasted as the day wears on, it’s doubtful that we’ll be spending much time outdoors today.

A colorful sunrise to remind us of our home @ GWRVR as we prepare to get on the road.

Mui took care of his pre-trip checks yesterday, which turned out to be a beautiful and not-too-hot day after the morning thunderstorms passed.  The air pressure in the tires is good; the fluid levels are within the norms.  The basement of the coach is packed up with the things we want to take with us; the rest is in the storage shed.  And yes, the toad has been given a check-up, too.  We’re ready to get the wheels rolling.

Live Writer / Blogger ... MY Workaround

Friday, 29 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas

I won't rehash the Blogger/Google/Live Writer (LW) debacle ... it's been discussed, and discussed, and discussed ad nauseam already. If you haven’t already been to it … here’s the thread of the outcries from around the world since the LW/Blogger connection was severed on May 26.  You can comment on it, or subscribe to it to follow the progression of the matter.

Nor will I go into the “integrity” of continuing to use Blogger to post my stories … corporate wheels turn too slowly for me to sit by and leave my stories untold.  Everyone is entitled to their opinions; I prefer to make my stand over matters that are more critical to me.  Suffice to say, I spent all day yesterday looking at alternatives — including WordPress — and none of them suits me at the moment.  Enough said.

(By the way, there have been posts and tweets since late last night that Microsoft and Google are working the issue now.  We’ll see!)

This post is about MY LW workaround, which a few people have expressed an interest in.  If not interested, or you are using Blogger’s own posting interface and are satisfied with it, stop reading here.  I have been writing my posts in LW pretty much the way I describe below ... including previewing in Blogger before finalizing the upload with the submit button. So really, the copy/paste is the only additional step in my workflow.

There won’t be any pics or screenshots in this post.  Not because I’m having any problems using them.  I simply have very little free time as we prepare to get on the road on Monday; so it’s just a time management issue.  If you want to see proof that what I wrote below works, check out this post in my Two to Travel blog.  The whole thing was written and posted as described.  If there are any formatting issues, I can’t see them.

To clear something up … as I’ve sensed some confusion in some of the comments I’ve read.  LW is not another blogging platform like Blogger or WordPress.  It is an offline, standalone tool that allows bloggers to write posts in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) format that is easier to manage than Blogger’s comparatively clunky user interface.  It works with almost any platform in the blogosphere.

CAVEAT: for this to work, your photos must already be uploaded to a photo hosting site.  I use SmugMug, but there are others out there from which you can get links to your uploaded photos. Stop reading if your photos aren't already uploaded to the web, or you're not willing to do so.

[The LW tabs are all at the left bottom of the screen.]

1. Write your post in LW’s edit tab as you normally do, saving the post as you go along to your drafts [disk icon in the toolbar in case you have not been using it].
2. Leave empty lines where you think you want photos; type a placeholder like PHOTO to make it easy to find the empty spots in the source tab later.
3. Go to your web-hosted photos and get the link for the photo you want [unless you’re a SmugMug user, I can’t help you here … but if you are and need help, drop me a note]
4. Go to the source tab in LW; find the empty line where you want the photo to appear; copy and paste the link over the word you typed as a placeholder [PHOTO in the example].
5. Repeat step 4 as needed.
6. Return to the edit tab to resize, center, and otherwise format your photos.
7. Go to the LW preview tab to make sure all looks well; edit as necessary in the edit tab.
8. Go to the source tab and copy all.
9. Go to your blog and open a new post window; make sure the tab at the top reads HTML and not compose … this is critical.
10. Paste the text you copied from LW … DO NOT go to the compose tab as this will mess up your formatting.
11. Add your post title and labels (if you use them).
12. Use the preview button [to the right of the publish button] to make sure everything copied over OK.
13. Click the submit button.
14. If you need to edit the post for some reason, you can do so on the HTML tab … just search and carefully replace whatever it is you want to edit; or do your edits in LW and then repeat the copy/paste from there into the post on Blogger and re-publish.

P.S. There’s also an option to add photos in Blogger’s HTML tab, which works quite well, but I won’t go into that since it is not my preferred way of managing my photos.

DIY Projects

Saturday, 23 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 83F (28C) / Lo 75F (24C)

The weather gods gave us a break of sorts this week, with just one major storm that dumped 4 inches (101 mm) in about two hours on Wednesday.  No tornado warnings; just thunder, lightning, and heavy rain.

All’s well here at GWRVR; no flooding as a result of that storm, but where the rivers and creeks are in flood stage in Corpus Christi, people weren’t as lucky.  At the moment, we are waiting for some more thunder-storms — Accuweather’s MinuteCast says it will start raining in 43 minutes … LOL!

Enough already with all this wet stuff — but saying so doesn’t make it so.  Sure hope, it will be drier when we get to Colorado in about two weeks’ time.

With nothing exciting happening, I thought I’d write about a couple of Mui’s latest projects.  The first — a home improvement project here at site 408 …

It doesn’t matter if you have sticks & bricks, or a motorhome pad — the work is never done.
In this instance, sealing the pavers to protect them from the elements.
Seems to be helping with the ant population, too.

The next project — the headboard.  We never cared much for the shiny fabric covering it, so when a stain we just couldn’t get rid of handed us an opportunity to re-upholster the headboard, Mui was on it like lightning!

The headboard — the way it looked until just a few weeks ago.
Note the pillow and the valance medallions as well.

What looked like a one piece headboard turned out to be made of three pieces, allowing us to replace the bulk of the fabric while retaining the trim piece to accent the new fabric and keep the cohesiveness with the rest of the décor.  All it took was the removal of a couple of screws hidden under the decorative trim to get the headboard off the wall — oh and there was some glue to contend with, but Mui managed to pry the headboard from the glue without damaging the wallpaper.

With the headboard in pieces, the next step is to get the fabric off the main piece by
removing the staples — pliers and a flathead screwdriver work well for that.

Instead of batting, Mui decided to use thin upholstery foam to add softness to the headboard.

Next came the upholstery fabric.  But Mui didn’t want me to see the headboard until it was done, so I was banned from the patio.  Suffice to say, this part of the project involved stretching, stapling, and making sure the pattern didn’t go askew.

And here’s the finished product.

As Mui was working on the headboard, I had the bright idea of incorporating more of the new fabric into the décor of the bedroom.  Why not change out the medallions on the window valances on either side of the bed while we were at it?  Sure, more work for Mui — but he thrives on this stuff ;-)

Four screws is all that attaches the valance to the wall around the window. …

… and four screws attach the medallion to the valance box; two are easy to get to, but two
are more or less hidden by the MCD roller shades and present a bit more of a challenge.

From this (gold dots) …	… to this (no gold dots)

And here’s the finished, finished project …

The designer’s rule of three successfully implemented … we have the same
fabric on the headboard, the medallions on the valance, and on the throw pillow.

(We don’t have a sewing machine; and even if we did, I’m not sewing-inclined … so we took our old throw pillow to a seamstress and had her alter it for us.)

Well, AccuWeather has changed it’s mind — no rain for 120 minutes.  We have a reprieve ;-)  I think I’ll go for a walk while I can.

And We’re Through Round 3

Friday, 15 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 84F (29C) / Lo 72F (22C)

After giving us a one-day respite, the storms came back today!

The initial forecast was for the worst of the weather to arrive in the area overnight and into this morning.  The front must have stalled somewhere; it was around noon when Corpus Christi started to feel the effects of the storm.  The bad weather found us soon after!

The thunderstorms came with booms and lightning, pounding rains, winds … and tornado warnings.  We pulled in the slides and hunkered down, keeping an eye on the skies for any signs of a funnel cloud.  Several weak tornadoes were spawned from what we heard on the TV, but they took a different course and spared us.  We’re grateful for that.  The storm was fast — moving along at 30 mph
(48 kph).  The speed mitigated any damage sustained rains would have done.  An hour later, we were in the clear; no flooding or any other damage at GWRVR.

Just before the storms dump on us, we watch these layers of fast moving clouds
pass over the area.  They remind me of the scene in the movie Independence Day
where the alien space ships come through the earth’s atmosphere!

Hunkered down inside the Phaeton, we watch the deluge from the cockpit — our “Florida Room.”

The rains returned after a while, but for all intents and purposes, the storms were out of the area and heading into the Gulf of Mexico.  Another hour — and we were in the clear for good, the day wrapping up with a breezy golden sunset.

Five seconds of wind and waves on the big pond on the property.
The high water is from the previous storms, although I’m sure today’s rains did add a bit more.

A sign of good things to come — I hope!

Very little, if any, rain is expected over the weekend!  But the winds are supposed to pick up more than they already have.  The weather guy said the “wind is our friend; it will dry us out.”  That would be a good thing for all those in the Corpus Christi area who are struggling with some pretty serious flooding issues.

Paradise Found Again …

Thursday, 14 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 80F (27C) / Lo 75F (24C)

There’s 95% humidity out there, but I don’t think anyone cares at the moment!  The sun is out and we’re drying out.  That’s what counts!

Is this paradise found … or what!

We had a quiet night, with just a tiny bit of light rain this morning.  After taking a break overnight, the “little-water-pump-that-could” is pumping its little heart out again to reduce the overflow coming from the big ponds into ours before the next storm hits.

Drying out the umbrellas on Site 408 — while we can!

Our respite from the weather events that have been plaguing us might be brief, but it is most welcome.