We Bought An Air Fryer

Exciting things last week.  First this happened:

Yep, a brand new Dollar Tree opened here and Mom was there for the grand opening!  BOL!  She said the store is beautiful.  All the shelves were stocked and she probably used a cart that no one else had ever used.  I think she was there five times the first four days it was open.  She buys laundry detergent, dish detergent, some frozen food, pain relievers, doggy bags, etc from Dollar Tree.  Oh, they have 18 eggs for $1.  When we were in CA, we were paying $5 for a dozen.  She has bought eggs from Dollar Tree before and they have been fine.  She checks the expiration date.  A clerk told her that the eggs go fast.

The second exciting thing is that she finally bought an air fryer.  She has been wanting one for quite some time, but did not know if it would work as advertised.  We don't have a lot of space, so that was also a concern.  She started doing research and read a ton of reviews.  She was planning on getting a certain brand and then the reviews left her with doubts.  She joined an air frying group online and that is where she heard of Paula Deen's Air Fryer.  The reviews on that one were really good.  It has an enamel basket which doesn't chip or flake which was a problem with the one she had planned on buying.  It also had the accessories that she wanted.  She decided to go for it.  I think she stalked the shipping of it constantly from the time she ordered it on Monday.  It finally arrived on Friday.

TA DA!

It comes with a cake pan and a small pizza pan. It also has a steaming rack which she has used to do tier cooking.  It comes with a trivet but it is really small.

So what does an air fryer do?  It cooks food with little or no oil.  Basically it is super heated air that circulates and cooks the food.  The food is supposed to taste like you have deep fried it in oil.   Does it?  Well, the fries she made did not.  She did play around with them and found that if she put a little oil on them and then seasoned them, they were good.  As good as deep fried?  No, but they are good and less calories.  They were steak fries, so maybe a thinner fry would taste better.  Most people seem to make their own fries, but Mom is probably not going to do that.  She bought the fries at Dollar Tree which is why she visited so often last week.  She stocked up on their frozen items so she could try out the air fryer.

She fixed chicken thighs the first night and they turned out great!  She just dipped the chicken in self-rising flour, salt and pepper and cooked for about 30 minutes.

Very crispy on the outside but juicy on the inside.

Dad was impressed with the chicken. I thought it was really good too!

She made grilled cheese sandwiches and Dad thought they were really good.  She has also made hamburgers, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, chicken fried steak, and frozen burritos and she hasn't even had it a week.

She let the mozzarella sticks bake a little too long, but the clean up was easy.

A hamburger in the air fryer. Steaks are supposed to turn out good, but we haven't tried that yet.

This is the basket that the food goes in.  It has the grease from the hamburger.  Clean up is really easy.

The only thing that hasn't turned out was a cake.  Mom thinks she messed it up.  She didn't flour the cake pan, so it stuck to it.  She put foil on top as directed, but it also stuck to the cake, so she needs to make an adjustment.  She will give it another try.

She really wants to try hot wings.  Oh and fried pickles.  There is only so much food we can eat, so she is pacing herself.

This is a great appliance for us because our convention microwave/oven does not work properly.  It is very hard to get things to brown in it.  The air fryer browns like a champ.  As far as space goes, it really isn't that big.  She is just leaving it on the counter for now.   It doesn't heat up the RV and it is quiet.  Five days in and Mom loves it.

We also got a power head for our central vacuum.  I am not really thrilled with it since I hate vacuuming, so I am not going to talk about it.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Likes When His Mom Cooks

Not Much Happening

Dad is back home and I am happy.  I was quite upset that he went to work on Monday.  I pouted all day and worried that he might be on another trip.  He took his computer with him and his computer is in a piece of luggage.  I don't like luggage.  When he finally got home, I was so excited that I barked.  I am not suppose to bark.  We are back in our routine now of getting up with an alarm clock and Dad going to work.  Mom and I hang out together.

Panoramic view of sunrise.

The weather has been hot.  Last week, it was really bad.  We had dew points of 82.  That is crazy!  It felt like 110 degrees. We mainly stayed inside and hid from the heat.  Mom was disappointed that they didn't get to do anything after Dad got back from his trip, but it was just too hot.  Every day, Mom watched the radar and waiting for the storms to come and they never did.  We had a couple of quick showers but that was it.  She really wanted rain to cool off our roof.

This week, the weather has been better.  We are in full sun though and our AC runs a lot.  Mom says we are spending about $5 a day on electric.  It could be worse.  We are getting a good rate here.

There isn't too much that goes on here.  The grass is supposed to be cut on Tuesdays, but that didn't happen this week.  We don't know why.  We moved our chairs and other items out of the way, but the grass just continues to grow.

The campground is all but full.  There are some people like us here that are long term, but many of the people are here on vacation.  They are usually gone all day.  People usually stay for three or four days and then they move on.

Mom has taken Buddy out a few times this week. She hasn't drive through any horse poo, but has passed some buggies. Today, she visited the farmers market.  She bought a pecan sticky loaf for tomorrow's breakfast and a jar of pickles from a place she really likes.

More views of the sunrise last week.

Mom continues to do her online job.  I prefer that to cleaning.  Cleaning interrupts my napping.

Mom went to the Minute Clinic last week because she has a rash on her hands.  It started out on just one finger back in May.  It was really bad then.  She tried all sorts of things on it.  She finally decided she had eczema.  She bought cream for it and started using non-perfume soaps.  It basically healed up, but it still itched and hurt. It took two months to clear it up.  Then, she developed an irritation between all her fingers.  It was painful and itched.  After two weeks of that she decided to see the doctor.  The doctor said it is not eczema.  Mom got in trouble for using the Internet to diagnose it.  However, the doctor does not know what it is.  She said it is a reaction to something.  Mom was given a steroid cream and by the next day, she was feeling better.  Today, she cleaned the bathroom with a mixture of Dawn and vinegar and her hands are hurting again. She washed them good and put the cream on them.  She was thinking that the hair dye she used might have been the cause, but now she thinks it could be the cleaner.  She will either need to stop using it or use gloves when using it. Dad doesn't agree that she should not be doing dishes and cleaning.  BOL!

Today, she visited the farmers market.  She bought a pecan sticky loaf for tomorrow's breakfast and a jar of pickles from a place she really likes.

Oh, I just thought of something funny that happened.  The folks were watching a woman give her husband hand signals to help him back their motor home into their spot.  Her signals made no sense at all.  It reminded Mom of the time that Grandma directed Grandpa into a spot, but she was really trying to wave gnats away from her face.  Her hands were going in every direction and Grandpa didn't know what she wanted him to do. BOL!  Sorry, Grandma, but you thought that was pretty funny. Grandpa didn't, but you did.  BOL!  Anyway, this lady had several hand signals but that were all strange.  Her husband didn't pay attention to her anyway.  The sites are tight so it is interesting to watch people get into them.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Doesn't Like An Alarm Waking Him.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - August 10, 2016

My Dad is coming home tonight!  That is all.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy That His Dad Is Coming Home

Relaxing In Lancaster County

We enjoyed our stay in the Boston area.  We stayed at a KOA and had a premium site. That is all that was left when we made our reservation.  It was hard getting into our site due to the sites across from us having cars parked in our way.  We ended up having to move to another site on Tuesday because we extended our stay and our site was already rented out.  It turned out to be a good thing that we moved because we were put in a pull-thru site that was much easier to get out of when we left on Wednesday.

Our premium site. We had a nice patio, a table and chairs and a swing.

Here I am preparing the coach for take-off. The carpet is rolled up so that our walls can move in.

We left Wednesday morning at 6:45 a.m.  We quickly made our way through several states.

 Dad had planned out our trip the night before, but our GPS decided to make some changes overnight and we ended up going a different way.  It turned out that we avoided $70 in toll charges, but we ended up being delayed an hour due to construction. Mom was nervous because she had to read the map and determine if the route was okay for us.

We are going to get a different GPS.  The one we have came with the RV and it is really difficult to alter the routes it gives you.  Dad doesn't like that the GPS screen changes to a camera when he turns his signal on. They saw the one that they want at Escapade and Mom is going to order it.  We will be able to plan our routes on the computer and transfer it to the GPS.

We arrived in Lancaster County after 4 p.m.

This is our view from our windshield.  

This is one of our neighbors.

Amish farms are on three sides of us.

The dog walk has a fire hydrant.

Scenery at the dump station.

Another view from our window.

Hot air balloons are seen daily here.

We have horses, a cow, pigs, chickens and donkeys here.

The campground is really small.  The owners are super nice and always say "HI JOEY!" whenever they see me.  I wish the place was a little bigger for walking.  I am not allowed to "water" the trees.  Mom doesn't understand that because the trees are large, not baby trees.

I think the owners picked out our site just for us since we are going to be here for three months. We have a nice view and we have the morning sun in our windshield and not the afternoon sun.That is a good thing except when it is cold.  We don't have anyone on our door side because there is a well house there. They owners talk to us every day when they see us out on our walks and they check to make sure everything is okay with our site.

This trip really wore me out.

Enjoying my new yard.

Dad is in Chicago for the next few days.  Mom said it is nice being in a place where if she has any problems, she can go to the owners and they will definitely help us.

There is a ton of shopping just a little over a mile away.  This is where Mom and Dad used to come to shop at the outlet mall when we were in Maryland.

Mom will be able to ride Buddy here, but she will have to watch out for horse poo on the roads.  Yep, there is a lot of poo on the roads here.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Can't Water The Trees, But Horses Poo In The Streets

Plymouth, MA

Yesterday, the folks drove to Plymouth, MA to see Plymouth Rock and Mayflower II.  Before they left, Mom took me on a long walk around the campground.

Come on!

We found a small road to explore.

The folks then drove to Plymouth.  There is a lot of street parking along the waterfront and they paid for four hours of parking.  It was only $4. They really only used a little over two hours.

They visited Mayflower II.  No one knows for sure what happened to the original Mayflower, so another Mayflower was built between 1955 and 1957.  It is a reproduction of the original ship and is the same size.  She sailed from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA.

Admission to tour Mayflower II is $12.50.

The Mayflower II

Visitors are allowed to explore the boat.  There are a few workers on board that answer questions.  There was only one in costume when the folks were there and she gave an insight as to what it was like for the passengers.

This is where the passengers actually lived for the 66 days they were on board.  It is below deck .

102 passengers lived here for 66 days.  There were more beds here, of course during that time.

 

The passengers rarely went above this floor because there was not room with the workers. They were basically told to stay below and out of the way.

There was a lot of seasickness during the voyage.  They used "buckets" to relieve themselves and according to the guide, they were not cleaned out often and the smell was really bad.  Can you imagine living there for 66 days with 102 people?

The kitchen which was on the upper deck from the passengers.

This lady showed how to make the bag like the one that is standing.

The Mayflower did not actually reach Plymouth Rock.  The water was not deep enough for that.  Instead, the Mayflower was about two miles from shore.  The pilgrims actually arrived by a small boat.

This is the type of boat they used to get to shore.

After the self-guided tour, the folks walked over to Plymouth Rock.  The folks had read reviews about Plymouth Rock and were prepared for it to be smaller than originally expected.  Mom expected it to be smaller after reading the reviews.

The rock is actually under this area.  It has to be out of  reach because people have chipped away pieces through the years.  It was also split in half at one time and is now cemented back together.

So, the pilgrims did not actually land on Plymouth Rock in the Mayflower and actually, they didn't even land on this rock in the little boat.  Nope, it was a hundred years later that Plymouth Rock was actually named and it is not even known if they stepped on this rock.

The folks then walked to a restaurant for lunch.  It was Dad's birthday, so he chose a seafood platter for lunch.

They ate outside.

Morton Fisherman

 The folks then got the car and tried to find Burial Hill.  They couldn't get in the entrance they planned on because it was closed. They walked a huge hill to get to the top of Burial Hill.  It is said that some of the pilgrims are buried here.  The stones were so old that they had trouble reading them. They didn't stay long because they were worried the car would get a ticket in the place they left it.

The Pilgrims' fort was actually built here and I guess eventually it just became a burial ground. Half of the people died after they arrived here.

Can you see the water in the background?  It is a nice view.

There was a lot more to see and do, but the folks were tired so they came home to me.

Mom said Plymouth probably takes a few days to really explore.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Headed To Pennsylvania