RV Tips. Winterizing and Storage Checklist. Thanksgiving. First Mercedes. JFK is Fourth.

 

For “tRaVersing Thursday”, or RV Day, which is also Thanksgiving Day:

Tip for Campground and RV Park Owners

Include the location – city, zipcode, and state -- of your park on the home page of your website. Make it easy for us to see if you are on our travel route or near our RVing destination.

RV Shoe Tip

Here's an easy way to make a place for your shoes, so they are out of the way, yet readily accessible: Mount a towel bar near the floor on the backside of the dinette seat, along the bottom of the bed, or wherever you have room. Slip your shoes in toe first. We used wooden one, so it matches and blends in. The one we used is long enough to hold several pairs. If the back of one of your dinette seats is near the trailer door, it is super convenient to slip shoes in the rack when you come in and easy to grab them as you are headed out.

RVing with Pets Tip

If you are traveling with pets who routinely take a prescription medicine, your primary veterinarian may be able to mail you the prescriptions on a regular basis. It may be easier and less costly than going to a new vet each time.

RV Laundry Tip

Before heading out to do your laundry, pour your liquid detergent onto a washcloth or other item in the laundry. That way, you don't need to carry the jug of detergent there and back. Some detergents do contain bleach, so be sure to put the detergent on a colorfast item.

Stuck in cold country? Tips for winter RV survival
With winter coming on, some RVers may find themselves "stuck" where they are in cold-country. How can you survive a cold winter in your rig? It's not impossible. Here are some tips to help you make your RV winter-survivable.

Bill's Hints - Fire extinguishers
Check your fire extinguisher for proper charge before every trip.  If you can’t check it, replace it annually.  Make certain that everyone knows where it is stored.

Foreign Accent on 1-800 call?

When you call an 800 BUSINESS OFFICE PHONE # that connects to the other side of the world (judge by the accent) you can request to be connected to the USA – it is the law. If everyone does this it will create more jobs in the USA. Give it a try and be surprised at being connected to a home based rep.

STUFF YOU DIDN’T KNOW from Jeannie
Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?   A. Their birthplace 
Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?  A. Obsession
Q. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers have in common?     A. All were invented by women.
Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year? A. Father's Day

Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?     A. Honey

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RV Winterizing and Storage Checklist

Print it from: http://rvtravel.com/sites/default/files/files/Win-storage.pdf

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Now let’s get on with Thanksgiving, and please don’t forget to feed the birds.

A True Thanksgiving

“Almost 400 years ago the Mayflower sailed into the harbor near what is today Cape Cod. It was a difficult voyage for the crew and passengers. On board were the group known as Pilgrims—English citizens seeking refuge from religious persecution, looking for a new start in a new land where they could freely worship God according to their faith and conscience.

Dissension and bickering threatened to disrupt the venture. The ship landed north of its intended destination. Some on board said, "None had power to command them." Mutiny and revolt were spreading. Before setting foot on shore the group determined to bind themselves together by mutual agreement. The idea of a "compact," later to be called the Mayflower Compact, took shape.

This is a little known document of American history. The Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution came later and are enshrined in memory. The earlier compact between men and women was voluntarily agreed. They determined to submit themselves to work together for the common good, with nothing but their shared allegiance to a higher authority, in this case Kings James I and God. On Nov. 11 they agreed to cooperate "for the general good of the Colony unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."

It was an effort at self-government based on common consent, the basis for any form of government. In America this Compact, at least the will and intent behind it, led to the democracy that has endured for more than two hundred years. On this small ship off the coast of North America the idea of self-government first took root. Anchored in free will and choice it sets the baseline for true liberty.

Pilgrims and the Mayflower are associated with Thanksgiving. The first Pilgrim celebration came later, after a hard first year on the land. This first American Thanksgiving is special because of this compact made among free men and women submitting to one another in the name of God. They were exercising personal freedom, a fundamental right given by God to each of us. True gratitude begins when we acknowledge God as not only the giver of every good and perfect gift but also the right to choose our response to His grace.   May we always choose for life and never forget to thank God for this precious gift.”       From: http://www.ucg.org/blog/true-thanksgiving/

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A Message of Thanksgiving

“As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with our loved ones in the coming days, I am again reminded of the reasons I love Texas and her people, and why I am so proud to call the Lone Star State home.

During the past few weeks, Texans across the state have come together to find ways they can assist the many residents of the Northeast who were displaced by Hurricane Sandy. From Houston, Elena Davis, founder of the I Am Waters Foundation, and her team of volunteers directed 76,000 bottles of water to victims on the East Coast. Davis and her husband Gregg traveled to New York to oversee the distribution.

Bud Royers, owner of Royers Round Top Café, in Round Top, Texas, and a friend are drove to the Jersey Shore, Staten Island and the Rockaways, to deliver more than 650 of his handmade pies to relief kitchens in hopes of providing comfort food to hurricane victims on Thanksgiving. The Dallas Market Center is financing Royers’ trip, and he will also deliver gift cards donated by other generous Texans.

From the Texas Panhandle, Red Cross volunteer Nick Rocha traveled with 3 other volunteers to the East Coast to help victims recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Rocha, who was named 2010 Volunteer of the Year by the Red Cross’ Texas Panhandle chapter, told the Amarillo Globe-News he has helped victims in previous natural disasters such as tornadoes and fires, but had never witnessed anything as devastating as the scenes he encountered when he arrived in New York. One highlight of his trip was the opportunity to boost the morale of children at a relief shelter when he built a snowman, which he topped with a cowboy hat and named “Little Texan.”

On November 2, a group of 60 volunteers from Texas Baptist Men in Dallas drove three giant trailers to New York that were fully equipped with showers, kitchens and laundry facilities to provide hot showers, warm meals and clean laundry to hurricane victims. Volunteer Stan Knight told NBC 5 KXAS, "It's a Hilton on wheels. We have three showers in this room, three over here.  We'll have three washers, four dryers. They're large capacity so we can do a lot of laundry." He added, "It's unbelievable what clean clothes and a shower will do on your overall outlook on things.”

These are only a few stories of Texans who have risen to the occasion in the past few weeks to show their fellow Americans in need the Texas spirit of generosity and kindness. Across the state, many other individual Texans and Texas businesses have donated their time, resources and supplies to a wide variety of relief organizations. For this I am deeply thankful this Thanksgiving.

May God bless you and yours this holiday season, and may He continue to bless the great state of Texas.”   By U.S. Sen. John Cornyn

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Is Thanksgiving Being Replaced?

“Saying thanks to God is what Thanksgiving was all about. Is it still? This year some U.S. retailers are starting their Christmas sales even earlier than Black Friday—now on Thanksgiving Day. Have our priorities changed?

So before America replaces the meaning of Thanksgiving, let’s remember that the day was intended to pay homage to God, not to ourselves.

When I was a child, the American Thanksgiving Day was a big event. We were taught in school about the history of the day and to be thankful to God for our blessings. Even television commercials were focused around family togetherness and being thankful.

But times have changed.   Black Friday becoming Black Thursday?

For years the Christmas shopping season “officially” started the day after Thanksgiving in the United States.

The term “Black Friday” got its name from retailers making their largest profits during the holiday season. Profits put retailers “in the black.” Since Friday was the start of the Christmas season, the...  Read More

From: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/blog/is-thanksgiving-being-replaced/   by Tim Groves - November 19, 2012

Tim Groves is a member of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He and his wife, Teresa, along with their four children, live in South Carolina.

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On This Day:

First Mercedes goes for a test drive, Nov 22, 1900:

“On this day in 1900, the first car to be produced under the Mercedes name is taken for its inaugural drive in Cannstatt, Germany. The car was specially built for its buyer, Emil Jellinek, an entrepreneur with a passion for fast, flashy cars. Jellinek had commissioned the Mercedes car from the German company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft: it was lighter and sleeker than any car the company had made before, and Jellinek was confident that it would win races so handily that besotted buyers would snap it up. (He was so confident that he bought 36 of them.) In exchange for this extraordinary patronage, the company agreed to name its new machine after Jellinek's 11-year-old daughter, Mercedes.

In 1886, the German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach had built one of the world's first "horseless carriages," a four-wheeled carriage with an engine bolted to it. In 1889, the two men built the world's first four-wheeled automobile to be powered by a four-stroke engine. They formed Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft the next year.

In 1896, Emil Jellinek saw an ad for the D-M-G auto in a German magazine. Then, as the story goes, he traveled to D-M-G's Cannstatt factory, charged onto the factory floor wearing a pith helmet, pince-nez and mutton-chop sideburns and demanded that the company sell him the most spectacular car it had.

That car was sturdy, but it could only go 15 miles per hour--not even close to fast enough for Jellinek. In 1898, he ordered two more cars, stipulating that they be able to go at least 10 miles per hour faster than the first one could. Daimler complied; the result was the 8-horsepower Phoenix. Jellinek was impressed enough with the Phoenix that he began to sell them to his friends: 10 in 1899, 29 in 1900.

At the same time, he needed a racing car that could go even faster. Jellinek went back to D-M-G with a business proposition: if it would build him the world's best speedster (and name it the Mercedes), he would buy 36 of them.

The new Mercedes car was fast. It also introduced the aluminum crankcase, magnalium bearings, the pressed-steel frame, a new kind of coil-spring clutch and the honeycomb radiator (essentially the same one that today's Mercedes use). It was longer, wider, and lower than the Phoenix and had better brakes. Also, a mechanic could convert the new Mercedes from a two-seat racer to a four-seat family car in just a few minutes.

In 1902, the company legally registered the Mercedes brand name.”

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Kennedy becomes fourth president to be assassinated,  Nov 22, 1963:

“On this day in 1963, the nation is shocked by the assassination of its president, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was riding in an open car in Dallas, Texas, when a gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at him from an upper-level window of a nearby building. Kennedy was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Dallas hospital. He was the fourth president in U.S. history to be assassinated.

In 1865, Abraham Lincoln became the first president to be assassinated when he was shot by a Confederate sympathizer while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. In 1881, James Garfield was shot by a disgruntled federal employee and lived 80 days before succumbing to his wounds. William McKinley was killed by an anarchist in 1901. Several other presidents have survived or narrowly avoided assassination attempts. Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest in 1981, but survived. Gerald Ford escaped two assassination attempts. An attempt on Andrew Jackson's life in 1835 was foiled when both of the gunman's two pistols failed to discharge properly.”

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Yesterday:

Ray did a bit more painting, until he ran out of paint, and I cleaned a few more windows, until I ran out of steam!

As I didn’t have a family life as a child, I have never put a Thanksgiving dinner together by myself, so I had to look up some of the recipes. 

Some of the ingredients aren’t anything that I would have in my pantry, so I had to substitute.  Shay always had devilled eggs, so for Ray’s sake I made some, especially as I had an abundance of eggs.  As I am allergic to mustard, I don’t have any mayo (which usually contains mustard flour) or mustard, so I found a recipe for cream cheese devilled eggs: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-deviled-eggs/ . 

Because I have a tendency to high cholesterol, I only eat eggs that the yolk has not been broken and subjected to high heat, as that is what is bad for you.  “Over easy” on toast, or toast ‘soldiers’ dipped in soft-boiled are my favorites.

(“So where do scrambled eggs fit in? Well, when you cook omelets or scrambled eggs, you break the yolks. Since the yolks contain most of the egg’s cholesterol, breaking and scrambling them allows that cholesterol to be exposed to much more air and heat than other cooking techniques that leave the yolk intact. That air and heat can cause the cholesterol in the scrambled egg yolks to oxidize before you even have a chance to eat them, potentially contributing to atherosclerosis.”) From: http://www.couragetobehealthy.com/2012/08/truth-cholesterol/

Most recipes call for fresh green beans, but I have several cans of French cut green beans, as I keep them around for dogs who are eating grass. It settles their stomachs.  I found a recipe that I have all the ingredients.  “1 can green beans, slivered almonds, water chestnuts, a bouillon cube, 8 -10 ounces water (or enough to completely cover the green beans) and a smidgeon of apple cider vinegar. Pour into small cooking pot.  Turn down to simmer for approximately 45 minutes, or until most all the liquid has evaporated.”  Sounds interesting!

Well, I had better go and get started on cooking the tiny turkey breast. 

Happy Thanksgiving Day.