Emma loves to go bowling ... and the last time went was the last time we were in Tampa, back in March. So we were overdue. We grilled dinner here (Cajun shrimp this time, blue-cheese burgers, and salad) with Barry and then met Brett at the University Lanes.

Emma demonstrates her "drop" technique for bowling

Dad demonstrates his body English. Photo by Emma

A couple of readers have said to me that the 12v dimmer we are planning to install won't save us any electrical energy. For example, Jim wrote:

Some light dimmers don't reduce consumption, only output at the light bulbs. Switch consumes the other energy. I don't know about 12vdc. We are in process of switching out some of the 43 10 watt bulbs to 5 watt. Then judiciously selecting which ones to use will extend our battery capacity.

I'll verify if this is correct in our case, after we get the switch installed. The Trimetric amp-hour meter will tell us exactly what's going on. Even if we don't save power, we will like the added flexibility in lighting options.

Last night, a cold front came through with heavy rain all night. I am always nervous when it rains, because I've owned so many vintage trailers that have leaked. But as usual, the Safari had no problems. Still, the huge crashes of lightning all around and frequent downpours woke up us several times. It was a night of fireworks, sultry with humidity.

We used neither heat nor air conditioning last night, as the temperatures have hung around 72-74, but today "winter" is expected to arrive, plunging temperatures into the upper 60s for a week. I can live with that.