The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

[bama_ed]

More puzzle progress. Filled in more of the red/green/brown/yellow/blue trains.



Beautiful day here after a cloudy start. Out to the west <away from the lake> I can see angry gray clouds out in the distance.



Me on the east side in the lower left photo (blue sky). The west side far away at upper right (angry gray and distant rumble of thunder). Here is the radar view.



Radar confirms rain over Mobile County and Mobile Bay and sunshine in Gulf Shores.

ED

PS - might be heading out to dinner tonight ...

 

[tiggerdad]

Oh my. Am I going to be a party to this?

Teamubr, we knew him well. RIP.

Ed

PS - we're gonna sit around the campfire some day and tell Teamubr stories (some of them might even be factual) .....

 

[bama_ed]

Not a breath of wind this afternoon or tonight.



Went to Original Oyster House for dinner - it's DW's favorite restaurant here in GS.



DW got a shrimp po boy.



I got broiled flounder stuffed with crab plus fries and red beans/rice.



It was all good.

Weather Friday and Saturday in the 80s, lows in 60s, very low chance of precip, no bugs. But still red surf flags. Gonna be beautiful for the next couple days.

Ed

 

[tigger92662]

So it was time to clean the kitchen before I cooked. (used to work in a dining hall. cleanliness is first and foremost).

Hmmm, that big red solo cup looks familiar. Maybe you shoulda used it for the chardonnay.

 

[jbrostek]

Man that food makes me hungry even after breakfast......

Our next trip won't be as extravagant, though I do hope to find some nice wines to go with our packed picnic lunch

 

[bama_ed]

Beautiful day with a gentle breeze.



Progress after the morning puzzle work session.



Ed

 

[bama_ed]

Late lunch today at DeSoto's (often voted as the best lunch/dinner place in Gulf Shores).



On 1st Avenue where Hwy 59 meets the beach hwy at the Gulf Shores Public Beach area (behind the shark mouth souvenir store).

Lunch menu (cheaper than dinner menu) has daily lunch specials at $10. Here is menu choices for those:



Note some non-seafood options are there too.

Lunch favorites are a little higher priced and slant toward seafood.



There is also salad, po boy, and pasta options. I got the broiled seafood platter (flounder almondine, shrimp, scallops, 2 sides, bread, tea).



DW got the lunch special on the sign coming in. For $10, get tea, bread, 2 sides, and flounder parmesan. It looked REALY good.



Lovely sunset tonight. A gentle breath of a breeze. Quiet. No bugs. Was 82F today, going down to 60F. Nice day.

ED

 

[4077]

Especially

That looks like a scary setup for a late night bathroom trip.

Especially if your the person walking by below during said bathroom trip (in my mind, a bathroom trip for this set up is to the opening and then “fire away”… )

 

[Teamubr]

Camping in Southern Illinois at Rend Lake. Because a Wal Mart within 30 minutes is a requirement for DW, we made a trip in to WM this morning.

They had an isle just for Ed and me. Not sure I have ever seen this combo around here.



j

 

[bama_ed]

They had an isle just for Ed and me. Not sure I have ever seen this combo around here.

View attachment 615693

j

Jim, I will have to check my local WM when I get home to see if they have any Cardinal stuff.

ED

 

[bama_ed]

Here is the aforementioned sunset from last night.



Slept in today, had breakfast, then put in some puzzle time before going for a walk.



Gonna keep plugging away at it while watching some football on the computer (tethered to cell phone).

The walk was from here down through the pull-through section and down to the beach and back. (2 mile RT).

I think it was Jim or Michael who reported some improvements down at the intersection of Campground Road and the Beach Highway. Shaded bike stands and they reinstalled about 6 parking spots for the campground beach (no rental chairs, no potty, just a board walk to the sand).





Room for about six vehicles.

Yellow flag for surf but the wave action was actually quite mild.



Never tire of this view coming down the boardwalk.



Pretty beautiful and empty.





Came back up (for a different view) along the Campground Road headed toward the check-in building.



Then it was lunchtime so we headed over to Sunliner Diner. No food pix because I was into my Buffalo Chicken Sandwich before I remembered. DW got a salad.

Gorgeous day, not too hot, enough breeze off the lake to cool off, and both DW and I have noted how many butterflies there are around us this week.

ED

 

[bama_ed]

Forgot to mention that at the Campground office (as the walk was wrapping up), we popped into the office and I noticed some new things in the racks of interest to campers.

First some discounts for things out towards Fort Morgan, the Mobile Bay Ferry, and Dauphin Island on the other side of the bay.



Some other things were there that had URL's on them that don't work so I'm not going to post them. They may not be ready for prime time yet.

This afternoon I finished the steam loco puzzle.



Note one edge piece is missing on the upper left side. Normally I would accuse @tiggerdad of stealing a piece during construction to mess with my mind. Oh well. It was a new puzzle. Only thing could be I transferred the pieces to a gallon zip lock bag at home before heading to the beach and it may have hit the ground during the transfer. Won't know till I get back. I did bring a second puzzle.

Beautiful day here . Gotta get off my duff and make my DISMeet reservation.

Ed

 

[Sjm9911]

Ok, so about 7 days out now. Decided to restock some stuff in the camper, remove other stuff. To acess some things put out the rear slide bed. Then noticed the end of the rail wasnt secured. Took off the little panel they put on the end and found this. Not good. I will kit bash something tomorrow to fix it. At least the whole bed didn't fall off, lol. I have to be more diligent in my camper checks. If i didnt notice it, i think that could have been a big problem.

 

[bama_ed]

Yeah. At least you found it now, Spence, rather than later. ED

 

[tiggerdad]

Interesting...the broken slide I mean, not the part about me stealing puzzle pieces. Looks like it just snapped off?

As far as puzzle pieces go I may, or may not know anything.

 

[Sjm9911]

Ok , so 2 hours of grind8ng, cutting and drilling. After 2 hours last night thinking about the best way to repair it, its done. Lol. So what a pita. I took a tiko hanger cut and ground it down to fit inside the rail, lined up the holes, and put a support bolt to stop the rail from splitting. Nuts on the inside to keep it in line. So done, now looked at the pther side and its on its way to the same fate. I may just get by with inside support since its not broken yet. Im gessing all the bouncing on the road stressed the conection point.

 

[Sjm9911]

2nd side was easier, because i know what i needed to cut and what tools were needed. No trying snipes, saws all, and then the grinder. We went stright to the grinder on this cut. So done, cleaned up and vacumed. No bolt through in the 2nd one, I cant find another one with full threads in my mess of crap. No big deal, it should work good, I can add it later. Slide sqeeks less, the rails were deforming and becoming more round then square. I had to use a hammer to get my rebuilt peace in. Originally i wanted to go outside the rail with a bracket, but good thing i went on the inside, as it reformed the rail back to where it should be. Cost to do 0 only a few hours of time. Cost if I took it to a shop. Probably 1000$ and it still wouldn't be right. Plus it would be there for a month. So , im

 

[4077]

Was it the Fall Guy who could make anything??? Anyway, it seems you are him… lol. Nice job… almost time!

 

[Sjm9911]

MacGyver, lol. The fall guy was the unkown stuntman. I like both of those shows. Especially the fall guy theam song.

 

[4077]

Well, woke up in middle of night to find floor flood in camper for 3rd time since purchase of this one in FEB of 2020. First 2 times (once in bathroom and once under kitchen sink into the kitchen) it was where white “garden type” hose taps off the cold water lines… the white hose is clamped over 3 way pex hose fitting, where it taps off to the shower head in bathroom location and to the water pump under the kitchen sink. That white hose is not designed to work on pex hose fittings, so even clamped, it eventually loosened up and dripped out while under pressure. Found them once I had large puddles that I had to trace back to source in all those maddeningly inaccessible behind and under behind areas of a camper. Well, this time was another flooded bathroom at 1 AM when my soon asked, why is the bathroom flooded? Ugh? Anyway, turned off water for night.. towels down to soak up and went on hunt in morning. This time turned out to be an easier find and will be easier to replace. The white hose off of the cold water line to my outside sink has developed a hole where it kinks/bends when it is pushed in and pulled out. Tried some flex tape to get through weekend, but because the hole is in the middle of a kink, can’t get tape smoothly over hole, so water under pressure just finds its way out of tape. Ended up using a plastic mat as a channel to direct leak over board to outside when sink is pulled out during day and then turned water off at night. Anyway, will just end up with section of hose replaced… perhaps a longer section than what was installed so it curls instead of kinking and doing that again.

the leak in progress coming down it’s “channel” to the outside….