PTs Plantation Project

Its still oficially winter here in North Texas but plans for my plantation are already in motion. Today I ordered my tobacco seeds. After doing my research I have decided to plant Virgina Gold #2. This plant should do well in North Texas.
While waiting on the seeds, I will begin preparing a spot in the garden. hopefully planting will happen in early April.
I will be posting pictures in future updates. stay tuned!

Lights, Camera, Action!

PT's Really Big Show is almost ready for the first show of the new year. Yeah, I know it's already the middle of February but things have been busy here in the Deluxe Trailer & RV Park. A few finishing touches on my recently re-loaded PC along with some additions to the playlist are still in order. As soon as everything is ready I will post the next show date and time on the website.

Stay tuned!!!

What a Snow Day

Here in North Texas we usually don't see much snow. The typical "Winter event" is usually a dusting of snow maybe once each winter. Maybe an ice day here and there. Yesterday we set a record for a single day snow fall. 12.5 inches of snow. Here at our place we have 10.5 inches on the ground. The snow just kept coming and coming and coming. I have some video, I'll post to show everyone what it looks like here. It's a record amount of snow, it's a Friday and the kids are out of school. What a cool day.

Social Networking - Time Bandit

Isn't it amazing how much time we spend keeping everyone up to date on the various social networks? If you're connected to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc. you can spend a significant amount of time using these sites. Someone with a lot of "internet friends" could spend hours chatting, posting, and blogging their time away. Shortly after the first of the year I stepped back from being connected. I nearly stopped checking email and updating the various social sites. You know what, I'm still doing fine. I'm alive and doing just fine. The biggest change was a lot of extra time on my hands and that isn't a bad thing.

Try to step back from the constant updates folks. Think what you could do with a few extra hours of free time each week. What would you do? Read a new book? Try a new hobby? The choices are endless.

Social networking is fun, no doubt about it. But it can be a huge time bandit.

I've survived my month long dis-connect with the social networking world. Could you do it??

Give it a try. maybe try it for a week and think about how you spent your free time.

It's Time For 2010

Well Christmas has come and gone in what seems like a blink of an eye. Time to take down the tree and the lights. Not nearly as time consuming as getting everything up a few weeks ago.

The one thing that I always find odd is the number of people that flip a switch and turn Christmas off on Christmas day. In our neighborhood several homes with Christmas lights burning since late November went dark on Christmas day. I think the tree and lights should stay up until New Years Day. Mine did.

Some parts of the world leave their tree and lights up until Twelfth night.

For many, Christmas expires as soon as the packages are opened.

For me, I look forward to the holidays every year and hate to let them go so quickly.

Welcome Festivus!!!!

It's December 23rd. The Day of Festivus!!! Festivus, the Latin world for "festive." The December 23 observance calls for little more than the erection of an aluminum pole, the airing of grievances and the demonstration of feats of strength -- which preferably culminate in wrestling down to the ground and pinning the head of the household.

What a wonderful Holiday. Happy Festivus everyone!!!

The Computer Controls The Xmas Lights

The Christmas tree and lights have been up for a while now but for some reason I couldn't get my home automation software to control them. In years past this has been a pretty simple part of the Christmas preparations. This year it just didn't work. I control the Christmas lighting using the popular X10 automation hardware and some customized software. It's all available off the shelf at many electronics stores like Radio Shack and Frys.

X10 works by sending signals over your household electrical wiring to special modules. Simply plug what you want controlled into a module, then plug the module into any wall outlet. It sounds pretty simple and most of the time it is. X10 signal can however, be confused by some other electrical devices through out the house (motors, laptop power supplies etc...). So the introduction of something "new" (plugging in a new toy) could disrupt the X10 signals.

Back to this year's problem. It seems that sometime during the past year something new was plugged in, somewhere in the house, and it affected my seasonal lighting. After several days and some strong language I finally gave up trying to control the lights using my standard automation PC. I installed a separate automation platform using a different automation package on another PC in the house. Bingo!!! the lights are worked!!!

So for the Holidays, I am running separate automation PC's. No more going outside in the cold to plug/unplug the Christmas lights. No more fumbling with the cord behind the Christmas tree. The computer now controlls the Christmas lights......