Our Readers -- Bless Them All

What would a blogger do without readers? Probably stop blogging, that's what. Maybe we wouldn't stop writing, because folks like Al of the Bayfield Bunch does like to write, as do I. As a matter fact, I've been writing a book about our travels for quite a while -- not much progress recently, though.

But we do appreciate our Followers and those who read perhaps more casually and haven't yet chosen to actively Follow. We certainly appreciate you folks out there who leave us a comment. It is my practice to respond to every comment, at least those that show up also in my email, which a lot of them do.

So bless our readers!

Recently I wrote that daughter Kathie and her husband Shawn had bought us some beautiful wine glasses, but that we were concerned about how to store them safely in the motorhome. Kevin and Ruth, of Travels with Kevin and Ruth, suggested buying plastic quart-sized milk bottles and cutting them down to size. How clever. We went one step beyond (because I accidentally bought half-gallon jugs) and encased each glass in one of my heavy sweat socks (after they were washed, of course), then placed the wrapped glasses in the milk bottles and moved them to the back of the cabinet.

Here are pix of the glasses and of the glasses in their snug harbor.


Such pretty glasses!



Now safely tucked away for travel.


In yesterday's post, I wrote about grilling fresh pineapple that had been dipped first in coconut milk, then in turbinado sugar.


Yummy pineapple

 While Merikay, of Merikay's Dreams are Written in Smoke, mentioned she had some turbinado sugar in her cupboard, Sue and Doug of Big Dawg and Freeway and Judy of Travels with Judy and Emma both wondered about turbinado sugar. Even my very own Suzy had never heard of it. Turbinado sugar is pure cane sugar that is not quite as fully processed as regular white sugar. You can find it in your favorite supermarket under the brand name of Sugar in the Raw. It has a certain amount of molasses left in the crystals which add a shade of color and a delightful shade of flavor.

Also in yesterday's post, we lamented that our nearly new barbecue grill that we had bought at Costco in Tucson, AZ, had been blown over and damaged beyond repair in a heavy windstorm. We purchased a replacement at the local Costco here in Carson City. Dave of Dave Dods Off to Mexico suggested that, if we had purchased the first grill with our American Express Card, we should see if they have an extended warranty that would cover replacement. He had just had a successful TV replacement experience with American Express.

On the same issue, Clark, of Clark Rambling suggested that Costco's return policy is such that they might have made an exchange for the damaged grill.

Well, we looked into American Express's website, and it looked to us that this would not be covered. We drove the quarter mile or so up to Costco, explained what had happened, and the lady at first sounded skeptical, since we hadn't brought in the damaged grill, nor did we have the original receipt (it is tucked safely away in our casita in Benson). However she did agree to a refund on the condition we bring in all parts of the old grill. Since our original plan had been to toss the old grill in the dumpster, I had kept out a couple of parts that could be interchangeable (such as the grill rack itself). The rest of the old grill was in the new grill's box in the car, waiting to be dumped. I hurried home, got the old parts from the new grill, and dashed back to Costco, luckily finding an up-front parking place (on Friday of the Memorial Day weekend!). The lady promptly issued us a refund in the form of a Costco Cash Card,

THANK YOU, reader Clark! You saved us $100!

We will certainly use that cash card next week as we feed Rosie a bunch of gasoline for the next leg of this journey in ... Our Life on Wheels!